The Missionary Review of the World — September 1938
SEPTEM8~
The Crisis-Looking Toward Madras Paul W. Harrison With Tibetans at the Crossroads E. B. Steiner Some Problems of a Midwest City L. Merle Rymph '
Why I Believe in Jesus Christ Chiang Kai..shek The Story of Meshed, The Sacred City Dwight M. Donaldson , The Modern Challenge to Christianity William Paton The Sunday Schools Over the World .
Robert M. Hopkins Practical Value of Missions to Pastors Archibald G. Adams 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Yea,.
I Church Management
For 1938 and 1939 IF YOU are considering the A Preaching and Worship Manual for the Year publication of a book, pamphlet, or tract, why not PRICE POSTPAID. $1.00 let us make it for you? Our facilities are most modem, (A full credit coupon in each book gives you a $1.00 and our location is at the credit on a Bubscription to "Church Management") "heart of distribution." Estimates on your particular re- ADDRESS quirements, with expert counsel, will be gladly fur- CHURCH MANAGEMENT nished on request. Auditorium Building Cleveland. Ohio e~ 8~ October 5 to 12-United Lutheran Obituary Notes p~ Church in America, Biennial Con- vention, Baltimore, Md. Dr. ~vi~on D. Lord, for over fifty years pastor of the First Baptist EFFECTIVE PRINTING AT October 6 to ll-International GOOd- church of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N. ECONOMICAL PRICES Y., the president of the American will Congress. Palaee Hotel, San Baptist Home Mission Society and re- The Evangelical Pre•• Francisco, Calif. cording secretary of the Federal October 9 to II-Home Missions Council of Churches of Christ in Jr_-.,. 2'1oe"""s"-i"e"u0I/0 / . For14 Conference. Bu1falo, N. Y. America, died in Brooklyn, on July October 14 to 20-American Luther- Third and Reily St…. an Church, Biennial Convention, 18th at the age of seventy-nine. Dr. H.rri.J,urg, Pennaylv.nia Sandusky, .ohio. Lord was born in Hillsdale, Michigan, October 20-Baltimore, Md., Insti- and was graduated from Union The- tute for Church Women. Mrs: ological Seminary fifty-five years ago. Bruce H. McDonald, 616 West Fay- He was instrumental in effecting the ette Street, Baltimore, Md. union of the Free Bapti8t Church, of October 23 to 2~Home Missions which he was a member. with the D.e. to Remember Conference. Cleveland, .ohio. • • Northern Bapti8t Convention in 1911. October 30 to Nov. I-Home Mi8- September 11 to 13-Italian Baptist 8ions Conference. Kansas City, Mo. • Convention o;f America. Cleveland. Dr. Lemuel Call Barnel, formerly THE PRESBYTERIAn secretary of the Department of Eng~ September 26-Home Missions Con- lish-speaking Mis8ions and Indian ference. St. Louis, Mo. • The only weekly in the Work of the American Baptist Home Presbyterian Church. Mission Society, died in Yonkers, N. September 11 to 16-International Y., on July 18th at eighty-three years Convention of the Disciples of • Its message is based upon of age. Dr. Barnes was born in Kirk- Christ. Denver, Colo. the Revealed Word. of God. land, .ohio, was graduated from Kal- amazoo College, Michigan, in 1876 September 19 to 30 (tentative)- • Goes into every state in and from Newton TheoloJieal Sem- School of Missions. Mrs. Mitchell, the Union, U. S. possessiOns inary in 1878. After servIng pastor- Langdon, Tex. and many foreign countries. ates in St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Newton Center and Worcester, he became the September 21 to 28-General Council, Subscription rate – $2.50 eftlclent field 8ecretary of the Amer- United Church of Canada, Toronto, Ministerial rate – – $2.00 ican Baptist Home Mi..ion Society Canada. from 1907 to 1917. He was the author SOc. extra–Canadian postage of 8everal volume8, including "Two September 26 to 30-Southern Cali- $1.50 extra– Foreign postage Thousand Years of Mission8 Before fornia (Los Angeles) School of Carey" and "Baptist Work Among Mission Study. Mrs. H. M. Horn, THE PRESBYTERKIn American Indiana." His widow, Mary 1811 Huntington Drive, South Pas- Clark Barnes, survives her husband adena, Cal. 121 7 Market Street after nearly sixty years of married Philadelphia. P •• life. September 27 to. 21i'-A Second In- ••• terdenominational Women's Insti- Dr. Paul Rader, the well-known tute is to be held in the McCormick "cowboy evangelist," fonuerly pastor Memorial Y. W. C. A., Chicago. of the Moody Memorial church in Chi- Dr. T. H. P. Sailer, Dr. Arthur E. cago, (1914-1921), died in Hollywood, Holt, Prof. Samuel Kincheloe, Mrs. California, on July 19th, at the age E. E. McClintock and Miss Esther of 68 years. He was born in Denver, McRuer will be the leaders. Dr. H. Colorado, and in early youth was a cowboy. His father, Rev. Daniel L. —–Paul Douglass will conduct a semi- Rader, was a Methodi8t minister and nar on church unity and Dr. E. K. Paul became interested in evangelism Higdon, formerly of the Philip- at the age of thirty-one. He began pines, will conduct a seminar on preaching on street corners in Pitts- the Madras Conference. Dr. Sam burgh and afterwards he fllied pas- Higginbottom will speak at an eve- (CO'1/eltuled on pa,ge 887.) ning mass meeting.
October 4 to ~Warren, .ohio, School of Mi8sions. Mrs. George Konold, 814 Scott Street, N. E., Warren, .ohio.
and because O'f the fine print-
THE MISSIONARY ing, paper and pictures used to' illus- REVIEW OF THE WORLD trate its articles."
DBLAVAN L. PIBBSON, BcUtor (2) "THE REVIEW gives a gO'O'd ac- cO'unt O'f different fields O'f missiO'nary VOL. LXI SEPT., 1938 No.9 wO'rk. I vO'te this as the best when Publication and Business omce– Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. cO'mpared with all O'ther missiO'nary Editorial and Executive omce– magazines. I like the way in which 156 Fifth Avenue, New York CltT. it handles each subject." . ~ Entered as second-class matter at (3) "THE REVIEW is a magazine;bf Post Omce, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. the three-star variety. All the main 25 cents a copy-$2.50' a year. articles are O'f timely interest. This Foreign Postage, 50' cents a Tear. Published monthlT, except August. interdenO'minatiO'nal REVIEW gives an All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. British agents – Marshall, Morgan unbiased view O'f the great issues at· and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, stake." . London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, 10' shillings a year. (4) "I place THE REVIEW first MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- amO'ng missiO'nary magazines. The LISHING CO., INC. department of Wa.ys of Working is BOARD OF DIRECTORS ROIIERT E. SPBER, Prellidcmt an effective feature fO'r the far- A. L. W ABNSHl1IS, ViC7e-Praridmt WALTER McDoUGALL, Treasurer sighted pastO'r. The World-Wide Out- DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretof'll look is alsO' far abO've all O'thers in giving wO'rld news. The magazine is PAUL J. BRAlSTED SAMUEL McCREA CAVlIlRT evangelical withO'ut being narrow." D. J. FANT MRS. ORRIN R. JunD Personal Items Malwa-the Great Temple WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIC M. NORTH Miss Anna Belle Stewart, for many When Ihe good wOl'k SAMUBL M. ZWBMBll years a very effective missiO'n wO'rker calls you Basi … sail Editorial Chat among the mO'untaineers O'f the SO'uth, is retiring frO'm active service under p&O Since nO' August number O'f THE REVIEW was published both July and the Presbyterian BO'ard O'f NatiO'nal 1938 begins a second century of P & 0 September issues are enlarged in size. service to the lands beyond Suez! When- If the subscribers will nO'te this it will MissiO'ns, having reached the age ever you are called to the other side of save extra cO'rresPO'ndence. the world, choose this traditional route. limit. Miss Stewart did a remarkable Cross to England by Cunard White Star Our October number O'f THE RE- ••. and then embark in a great liner of VIEW will be devO'ted to' India, the fO'r- wO'rk at ColcO'rd, West Virginia, and the P & 0 and British India fleets, led eign missiO'n study subject fO'r the by the new 23,SOO·ton Stratheden and cO'ming year, and a large number O'f fO'r the last few years has been pi- Strathallan, featuring air- conditioned very valuable and interesting subjects O'neering in the Smyrna CO'mmunity dining saloons in first class, hot and cold are in view. The main tO'pics and au- running water throughout, built·in outthO'rs are nO'ted O'n the third cO'ver O'f Center, Byrdstown, Tennessee. Her of·door swimming pools, children's playthis issue. These include articles by rooms! Regular service to Egypt, Sudan, outstanding authO'rities, bO'th Indian wO'rk is to' be taken up by Grace Jus- Persian Gulf, India, Burma, Ceylon, and fO'reign. Straits Settlements, China, Japan, Aus- tice, whO' has been associated with tralia, East and South Africa, Mauritius. *** Special reductions and generous bag- Miss Stewart as a vO'lunteer, and has gage allowance for missionaries. N O'W is the time to' O'rder quantities O'f this issue O'f THE REVIEW in O'rder shO'wn the ability, understanding and Convenient through bookings can be arto' take advantage O'f the special price ranged by your travel agent or any office of and to' avO'id the danger O'f waiting Christlike spirit that fit her fO'r this until the editiO'n is exhausted. CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE resPO'nsibility. *** General Agents Dr. E. Stan*ley*Jon*es O'f India, will Pastors and professors of missionll 25 Broadway and 638 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. in theO'IO'gical seminaries will be espe- address a meeting O'pen to' all mincially interested in the article in the present number O'n "The Practical isters in Marble CO'llegiate church, Value O'f MissiO'ns," by ProfessO'r Archibald G. Adams O'f Temple Uni- New YO'rk, at 10: 30 a. m., MO'nday, versity. In a persO'nal letter to' the EditO'r, PrO'fessO'r Adams quotes the September 26. He will participate in O'piniO'ns O'f many O'f his students as to' the interest and value of THE RE- the University Christian MissiO'n VIEW in keeping them in touch with wO'rld events and in helping them to' which will be cO'nducted this autumn educate their people and to' prepare at 14 American cO'lleges and univermissiO'nary sermO'ns and addresses. AmO'ng these O'piniO'ns O'f theO'IO'gical sities. •*• students are the fO'llO'wing (stated in substance fO'r brevity) : Dr. Douglas Horton, minister O'f Hyde Park CO'ngregatiO'nal church, (1) "THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF ChicagO', has been elected secretary O'f THE WORLD is rated high because O'f the General CO'uncil O'f the CO'ngregaits cO'ntent which is O'f wO'rld-wide tiO'nal and Christian Churches to' suc- ceed Dr. Charles EmersO'n BurtO'n, retired. Dr. HO'rtO'n was educated at PrincetO'n, Edinburgh and OxfO'rd Universities; has served as chaplain in the U. S. Navy, trustee O'f the American University in CairO' and at- tended many internatiO'nal cO'nfer- ences.
*** Capt. Ellis Skolfield, O'f the GO'spel Ship in the Philippine Islands, whO'
has been in America because of the ill health O'f his sO'n, has nO'w returned to' the SO'uth Seas to' cO'mplete plans fO'r taking the ship to' New Guinea and adjacent islands O'f the Dutch East Indies, as a preliminary to' O'pen- ing a permanent wO'rk there. It is expected that this survey trip will re- (Concluded on page 386.) [385 ]
I Itemi retary to the Board of Foreign Mis- What Shall We Study?
(Concluded from page 385.) sions of the Presbyterian Church, The American City and Its Church U. S. A. He assumed his new office (Kincheloe) presents the missionary quire about three months, after which on July 15, and is in charge of the task as emergent, with our rapidly in- Capt. Skolfield will return to America work in China. creasing urban population, treating to make his report and lay plans for ~!,mn5 the subject vigorously and construc- the future. *** tively. (Cloth, $1.00; paper, 60 cents.) City Man (Sears) is a special edi- Dr. Charles E. Maddry, Executive tion of a recent book that provides Secretary of the Southern Baptist of tbe Foreign Mission Board, who attended valuable supplemental material for the study topic. ($1.50 and 75 cents.) the Baptist Union of Italy in Rome, ctCbrl£ittan Urban Scene (Bro) presents the sailed from England for West Africa city today and its church in striking to visit Southern Baptist work in Ni~1 photographs, maps, pictorial statistics, geria. He expects to be back in Rich- 1Lt ~'f~ brief, gripping statements, etc. Inmond, Virginia, in September. dispensable for groups of all ages.
*** (25 cents.) ell BOOK of worship in song, com….. The foregoi,ng are for adu~t Mr. William Albert Harbison has resigned as treasurer of the American bining a hymnal for general groups. SpeCIal young people s >: Mission to Lepers and is succeeded by books are: Mr. W. Espey Albig, deputy manager A Course for Young People on the of the American Bankers' Association. Church in the City (Geer), which fur- church use and a song book for evan- ~elist. iC ~u'rposes: Onl d song~ • soun *** an the faith and Inspirational an char- nishes a guide to study, discussion, Dr. H. H. Underwood, President of acter included—emphasizing Evangel- worsh!p and. service, is based on The Chosen Christian College, Korea, has ism, Missions, and the Deeper Life. A merwan Ctty and Its Church and been elected President of Severance M any of the new—the best of the old. UrCblt;ttny SScheandeo. ws(25(Sceeanrtlse.)) – a coHec- Medical College, Seoul. At one time, tion of true stories challenging to Dr. O. R. Avison was President of 504 Songs Responsive Readings keenest interest. ($1.00 and 60 cents.) both institutions and under Dr. Underwood's administration these two Topicallndex Gold Embossed Street Corner (Hunting), a reading schools will continue to cooperate. and source book by which juniors ex- Published in round notes and Roxite cloth plore a city ($1.00 and 50 cents.) *** edition only at $65.00 per 100—an especiall~ low price. Single copy, 8Sc postpaid. My Community, My Church and Me Write today for returnable sample copy The Rev. Dr. Lloyd S. Ruland, for (Hallenbeck) is a helpful guide for eleven years pastor of West Presby- CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, Inc. city groups in studying their own com- terian Church in Binghamton, New 1502 NORTH THIRD STREET munities and developing a program of York, has accepted a call to be sec- HARRISBUltG, PA. local service. (35 cents.) HAVE YOU READ?
THE LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN OF BOMBAY By ROBERT E. SPEER The biography of a remarkable missionary whom the (then) Prince of Wales visited in Bombay at the request of his mother, Queen Victoria.
What some readers say of this book: Robert Speer's "Life of George Bowen of Bombay" is one was so far-sighted and so deep-seeing !-the former because of the richest of missionary biographies. the latter. If one wants to sum up the interests of our DR. J. LOVELL MURRAY, Director of the Canadian School of Missions, Toronto. students today-:-Biblical, social, theological-Bowen is a What a life! He was old enough to know why he went, representative figure. And what a lesson in apparent failure! . . . I ·feel strongly that every student and alumnus of our and bad enough to know the meaning of salvation. One by- Seminary needs this book. What better book to lead them to product of his experience was his wonderful humility-noth- feed on the Bible. One hears so much "vestibule religion"- men pointing to the door and taking their people as far as the ing in the show window and himself in the remote back- threshold, but no opening up of the treasures within the ground. It is inspiring. Father's House. Read the topics of current sermons, and . DR. GEORGE P. PIERSON, formerly of Japan. Bowen's expositions are precisely what Christians need in order We must all be grateful for this revealing of the main- to grow from puerility into spiritual maturity. Here is no springs of Bowen's character, his abiding faith in God, his adolescent, but a man in Christ. This is no volume to be earnest purpose to be a true and faithful follower of Jesus read and dismissed, but to be marked and to be turned to Christ; and his deep-seated conviction that the Gospel of Christ could meet the religious needs of India's people. repeatedly. HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, WILLIAM HAZEN, President of Union Seminary. Missionary in Sho/apur, India. The Memoirs of George Bowen will continue to be for A biography of one of the saintliest figures of the nineteenth century. I could not put the book down. There is a years to come a searching manual of devotion. He has set fascination and a depth in this man's soul which held me in before me an ideal which few could attain; his life is a scathdevout attention. I found myself marking his moving sayings which would serve as starting points for chapel talks. He ing rebuke to our ease, comfort, self-indulgence and inef- ficiency. J. Ross STEVENSON, President Emeritus, Princeton Seminary.
Send $2.50 to-day for your copy of this latest book by Dr. Speer THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING CO.
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Notes bined the supervIsIon of a Boy's The great white Empresses
School with evangelistic trips. Mrs. every speed record to and from (Concluded from .2d cover page.) Derr gave her time to personal evan- the Orient. 10 days direct to gelism, teaching girls' industrial Yokohama by Empress of Asia torates in Boston and Chicago. From classes and training Bible women. or Empress of Russia. Or only 1921 to 1923 he was President of the three days more via Hawaii by Christian and Missionary Alliance *** Empress of Japan, largest and and later was President of W orld- fastest on the Pacific, or Empress Wide Gospel Couriers, a Chicago mis- Miss Lucy H. Dawson, formerly of Canada. Connect at Honolulu sionary society. Mrs. Rader and three from California ports. daughters survive him. General' 'Secretary of the Presbyterian Woman's Board of Home Missions, From Vancouver and Victoria *** died in Baltimore, May. 22, after an to Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, illness of· several years. Her mission- Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila. Fred S. Goodman, for many years ary service included volunteer work Details from YOUR TRAVEL a member of the International Com- in city missions in Baltimore, re- AGENT or Canadian Pacific.: mittee of the Y. M. C. A. and for ligious work director of the Y. W. 41 offices in U. S. and Canada. some years an invalid, died at his C. A., in the Presbyterian Training home in Monclair, New Jersey, on School for Christian workers, the July 12th at eighty years of age. Mr. Daily Vacation Bible Schools and Goodman was born in Rockport, Illi- various women's missionary organizanois, in 1858 and was graduated from tions. After the consolidation of all Kalamazoo College, Michigan. He en- home mission agencies into the Board tered into Y. M. C. A. work in 1881 of National Missions, Miss Dawson and became associated with the In- became Promotion Secretary for ternational Committee twenty years women's work. later. During the World War he served on the World War Council and THE CITY had charge of the Religious Work Institutes for training those engaged The city-what is a city? in Y. M. C. A. war work. He was A city-that is where both Dives and retired in 1922 and then for ten years was American Secretary of the Wal- Lazarus live. densian Aid Society. He is survived A city-that is where men die of loneby one son, a daughter and eight grandchildren. liness in a crowd. A city -that is the land of plenty *** where men die of starvation. Dr. Charles C. Selden, formerly of A city-that is where a thousand peo- Canton, China, died suddenly in Oberlin, Ohio, June 15. He was an affili- ple live on an acre of ground that ated missionary of the Presbyterian they never see. Board, and devoted his personal for- A city is where thousands live in a tune and his life to work for the in- single block and never know they sane and the blind of China. He never have a neighbor. accepted any salary and lived simply A city is a place where may be seen in order to make conditions easier for both the glitter of vice and the the unfortunates. He retired in 1932. glow of virtue. but continued to live in China until A city is a place where vice centers in last March. sunless spots, and where virtue shines in secluded places. *** A city is all desert for some, all oasis for others. Mr. Walter W. Gethman, General A city is a place which some greet Secretary of the World Committee of with a cheer; others endure with the Y. M. C. A. from 1926 to 1936, tears. died in Geneva, Switzerland, July 8. But a city may not be characterized Mr. Gethman followed his war service in epigram. with the "Y" by founding a Y. M. C. A. in Czechoslovakia. He remained -CHARLES H. SEARS, in the there until taking up his post in Biblical World, October, Geneva. 1916.
*** Wherever the State claims to give Rev. J. H. Cope, American Baptist a theology to its people, or to set a principle of education, or tries to ormissionary to the northern Chin peo- ganize a conscience or impose a myth ple in Burma for thirty years, was upon the people, there you. will find stricken while on tour and died at the ultimate menace to the Christian Haka in the Chin Hills on June 13. Church.-Adolf Keller, G en e v a, Hundreds of converts and many Switzerland. churches organized among the Chins are testimony to the quality of his The fellowship of all the members service. In addition to preaching and of Christ's spiritual Church with one teaching, he translated the New another, overleaps all denominational Testament, Scripture portions and lines and all national boundaries.- Pilgrim's Progress; and also pre- President J. R. Sampey, Louisville, pared hymn books and school texts up Ky. to fourth grade in four dialects of Chin. The problem of more union among the churches of Christendom is not *** one of legislating ourselves together but rather that of the slow process of Mrs. Charles H. Derr, Presbyterian growing together.-T. S. Eliot, Lonmissionary to Chenchow, China, died don. in a sanatorium at La Vina, California on May 12. With her husband [387 ] she went to China in 1904, and located at Chenchow .where Mr. Derr com-
SANG TEACHING IN CHINA TELLING THE GOSPEL STORY IN
A WOMEN'S BIBLE CLASS IN KOREA WITH OVER 1 ,000 MEMBERS A SUNDAY SCHOOL IN NAZARETH, pALESTINE JAPANESE CHILDREN LEARNING OF CHRIST SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK AROUND THE WORLD (Bee arti ole by Robert M. Hopkins, page 402) electronic file created by cafis. org REVIB ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER, 1'938 Topics of the Times SOME THOUGHTS ON EVANGELISM There must follow guidance as well as training in the practice of devotion (Bible study and The University Preaching Mission has defined prayer) building up a Christian character, and its objective to be "to lead students to faith in finally help to enable the convert to give articulate God through Jesus Christ." If in this definition expression of his new found faith in service to his one were to substitute "men" for "students," one fellow men. Only then is the task of evangelism, might so define evangelism. However, when so so far as the convert is concerned, completed. doing, one should stress the fact that the term Faith without works is dead and of no avail. The "men" as used, refers to all men, male and fe- real test of faith is seen in the effect on a believer male, old and young, Jew and Gentile, black and and in what it impels and enables him to do.
white, agnostic and atheist, Buddhist and Mos- No doubt most people will agree on a basic lem without any exception whatsoever. This em- definition of evangelism and will probably admit phasis is essential in these days, when many its validity. Real difference of opinion arises foster a fellowship of religions, in which all re- when the question of methods of evangelism is ligions are more or less placed on a par, and who considered. Billy Sunday's high-pressure meththerefore protest against efforts to evangelize ods are not approved by some. The use of Bibmen as unwarranted "proselytism." The initial lical prophecy and scriptural appeal would be task of evangelism is to lead men to faith in God opposed by others; still others would claim sterthrough Jesus Christ. This task is not complete ility for any evangelistic effort that failed to until it has also helped such men to make a full stress personal sin, Christ crucified and redempsurrender to God and to articulate their faith, tion through His sacrifice. first to Him and then to. their fellow men in particular and to society in general. The intense emotionalism of many of the pre- war evangelistic campaigns and revivals are To lead men into faith in God through Jesus largely taboo' today. Such emotionalism is sup- Christ involves what is called conversion. Con- posed not to be in accord with present-day psycerning conversion Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof chology, practice and sophistication, though it is in his book "Stormers of Heaven" says: still used in certain Christian circles and appar- ently with success. No doubt the old revivals did There seems to be a uniqueness in the nature of Chris- often overstress the emotional appeal to the negtian conversion. Judaism is patient discipline, and Chris- lect of the appeal to reason. But today the tianity is sudden deliverance; Judaism is concerned with pendulum seems to have swung to the other exsocial development, Christianity is personal revolution. treme with intellectualism overemphasized al- 'fhere is explosive power in the Christian faith which can most to the complete exclusion of the appeal to the capture the souls of men in the calmest moment of their heart and conscience. True evangelism embodies self-contentment, tear down their spiritual organization, both. However much we may think and seek to and build it upon a new plan. understand God and our relation to Him, such an experience becomes ,articulate in life only when Would that more Christians had such convincing one feels it sufficiently to act. Mere argument faith in the explosive power of their Christian and apologetic, however convincing, rarely confaith! This tearing down of a man's "spiritual verts; invariably it is the Christian witness of a organization and building it upon a new plan," life that brings the'result. to use Freehof's words, is conversion or regeneration; this, is the first step in evangelism.
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Followers of Christ cannot evangelize others As we face the increasing human need in the until they themselves are more completely Chris- wake of wars, racial discrimination, social in- tian. Thus evangelism involves a further re- justice, moral relapse, and economic maladjust- sponsibility; it must include efforts to bring more ment, we are assailed by a sense of futility and Christlike reality into the lives of those already helplessness. What is the use of human efforts, known as Christians. This is of great impor-:- however sincere and energetic the individual may tance. We hear many criticisms of Christianity, be? Here one is forced to rely on God and away but few of Jesus, Christ. Many Jews, even the from dependence on man. As Fritz Beck writes: atheist type, assert that if Christians were more "A man without God, but with a knowledge Christlike, there probably would be no anti-Semi- of present world conditions, must surely despair."
tism, and more Jews would become Christians. At such times as these one realizes our utter de- Very true; but does not such assertion imply a pendence on GqQ and the need of Christ-centered remarkable faith in the power of the person of lives, projected out in service on the battle fronts Jesus Christ to mold lives and to influence human of human needs. Apart from God there is no relationships for good? hope or help for mankind.
One more word! God needs no proving. God One last word. Psychology stresses integra- is whether we are able or not to prove Him. Let tion of personality. That is essential. But inte- us not therefore be overanxious to prove His ex- gration of one's personality within one's environ- I istence by logic and apologetic. Let us not fall ment would seem to be of even greater impor- into the error of believing that God is simply a tance. In our world today, constituted as it is, one satisfying means of explaining an otherwise in- of the most difficult things is to be one's self, that explicable universe. God exists irrespective of is, to be an individual or to maintain one's dis- man's views or understanding of Him. And be- tinctive individuality. Independence of thought cause God is, I am. is not easy in the face of the intellectual "goose- IRRELIGION AND PAGANISM stepping" that is being enforced. We tend to conform to type and convention, like sheep which Today one encounters a lot of apparent irre- follow the bellwether. This is often especially ligion, if not out-and-out paganism. Experience true of the Christian. Some one has said "you reveals this to be very largely a veneer. Scratch it, cannot be Christian in this unchristian world and and you uncover great personal need and spirit- hope to survive." In other words, "Except a ual hunger. Men are hungry for spiritual and grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it soul-satisfying food. Many suffer from a spirit- can bear no fruit." How many are prepared to ual vacuum which craves to be filled. To others, go all the way with Christ? How many of us life means little or nothing beyond "eat, drink would do as the apostle Paul, or Kagawa, or and be merry, for tomorrow we die." They talk Schweitzer or Niemoller have done?
of the failure of the Church but hope against President Robert J. Hutchins of Chicago Uni- hope that the Church may somehow satisfy their versity, when speaking to a recent graduating personal and spiritual needs. Modern and so- class, declared: phisticated man still longs for guidance, for as- My experience and observation lead me to warn you surance, for a power that will give him victory that by far the greatest, the most insidious, the most where now he suffers defeat. He knows that paralyzing danger you will face is the danger of corrup- tion. Time will corrupt you; your friends, your wives or "the world within us means more than all the husbands, your business or professional ambitions will worlds without." " corrupt you. The worst thing about life is that it is demoralizing. One may well wonder whether all the interest, feigned and real, in world affairs, such as prob- Life was never more demoralizing than now.
lems of war and peace, of racial discrimination Never was there more need for Jesus Christ than and of economic maladj ustment, is not largely a now-not vague or general religion~but a per- smoke screen to hide this ache and yearning in sonal Christ and Saviour. To give men such a men's hearts. Christian Evangelists must deal Christ is the task of evangelism noW as ever in with these world issues, but our interest in them the past. CONRAD HOFFMANN, JR.
must not be a beating around the bush and an evasion of other essential factors. We need to THE YOUTH FOR CHRIST preach Christ and the forgiveness of sin. After conversion, then is the time to give needed ex- We thank God for youth. They are to the pression to the faith that has been born, and Church and the State, what fresh young shoots then it is necessary to project that conversion into are to the future harvest. Everywhere we hear service for others. But there is no first and of "Youth Movements."
second here in order of importance. We must do It is estimated that there are nearly twice as the one and not neglect the other. many people in the world under thirty-three as
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
over that age. It is a well-known fact that there the youth of the world wants is to be given a high is ten times as great a likelihood of a young man standard to imitate. or young woman yielding to the claims of Christ under twenty years of age as there is when they Primitive people look to those of more advanced are older. Youth is the time for taking new countries. India has copied England, Japan is steps, the time of adventure, the time of growth, imitating Germany; China is seeking a model in the time when foundations are laid and when the United States. Good patterns must be set in habits are formed. art, in literature, in education, in politics, in so- cial life and in religion if the world is to make And yet is not youth today largely wasting its progress and is not to slip back into barbarity. energies and opportunities? The spirit of ad- Inventions, discoveries and modern machinery venture is too often spent in seeking thrills in will not produce purity, peace, brotherhood and illegitimate and dangerous paths. Natural curi- love. All peoples are truly hungry for clear osity and the desire to investigate lead too fre- knowledge and for a better way of life. To inquently to spiritual skepticism and blindly look- spire them to higher things the youth need: (1) A ing for truth about God without finding Him. good example of unselfish service; (2) a good How often the strength of youth is wasted in fool- example of unpatronizing friendliness; (3) an ish self-indulgence. opportunity to learn and to improve their condi- tion; (4) the knowledge of God as revealed in And yet, humanly speaking, youth is the hope Jesus Christ. of the world. The young people of today must be the parents, the teachers and preachers, the All creeds and all "isms" are contending for the scientists and artists, the authors and leaders of enthusiastic and devoted support of youthtomorrow. If the youth of today are not won to though that support may not be intelligent and Christ what will become of the church, the school, unselfish. There is no ideal, no inspirational exthe home, missionary work, and still more im- ample and no assurance of power to attain ideals, portant what will become of the youth as they that is equal to those found in Jesus Christ. In pass through this life into the eternity beyond? Him and in His program are combined all the ele- ments that appeal to the best in youth of all ages. In ·the face of some disconcerting signs in the And youth is responding to the challenge in their world today, there are many encouraging signs of readiness to enlist in sacrificial missionary servpromise. All over the United States and Canada, ice at home and abroad. many thousands of youth are gathered every summer in Christian camps and conferences. No JAPAN'S LOSING BATTLE less than a half-million young people come together, under trained leaders, for physical and , In spite of Japan's military advantage in modspiritual recreation. At a thousand or more re- ern equipment and trained soldiers, her military sorts these multitudes of earnest young people party is waging a losing battle in China. This meet to listen to inspirational addresses and to is becoming more evident as the months pass. learn what life and service mean. Japan has disregarded justice and mercy, has alienated other nations that are not ruled by the Similar gatherings are being held in foreign same ideals, and she depends on deceit and force lands, not only in Great Britain and many parts to keep her people in line at home. While China of Europe, but in practically all the mission fields. has now the most enlightened patriotic and able There were pra.ctically no such Christian gather- rulers in her history, Japanese leaders in power ings for youth fifty years ago. They have grown exhibit less intelligence and more cruelty than has up as the result of the growing consciousness of characterized her and puts her dependence on the necessity for giving a Christian training _to armed force. The general sympathy of the world the youth of today to prepare them to be the -inactive as it is-is with the Chinese in their leaders of tomorrow. The Bishop of Uganda desperate struggle for life and peace. While the writes of African youth: conflict is welding China into a united country, it is sowing seeds of discontent in Japan; while Dr. Aggrey used to say that he would like to have nine China is becoming more Christian and is even lives if he could be sure that in each he would be an suggesting opening their schools to the teaching African and born one after the other in Africa in this of Christian truth, Japan is becoming more pagan present century. The future of the world lies largely and is forcing her Christian people to worship at in the hands of the youth. Very much, however, depends the shrines of the Sun Goddess; while China is on the next few years. Primitive youth is imitative-it showing mercy to the enemy, scattering peace is important that the youth of England and America leaflets in place of bombs by airplane over Japan, should give them a good example to imitate. Youth is the Japanese continue to spread destruction in perceptive: he looks below the surface and very quickly China by bombs and machine guns that ruthlessly sums up what a man really is.
There is a passion for reality in youth. People cannot "get away with" shams and "window dressing," at any rate for long; but youth is impulsive and so is easily influenced temporarily by an emotional appeal. What
bring death to multitudes of men, women and Thus failure to comply with the demand that all J apachildren; while China is looking forward to re- nese participate in certain Shinto ceremonies may be reconstruction after the fighting is over, Japan is garded as a good reason for withdrawing the privilege becoming more and more impoverished physically of freedom of religious belief. and spiritually; while China appeals for peace on the basis of justice and friendship, Japan seeks It is natural that special efforts should be made to control by conquest and alienates those who would secure the obedience of subject peoples when it comes to be her friends. Shrine observance. This has become an acute problem in Korea and Formosa, and will be so in Chinese terri- Other nations in past centuries have tried J a- tories which come under the control of Japan. pan's tactics and have failed, even when they have seemed to win a temporary advantage. If the Japanese realized what their military leaders are doing and planning in China we be- The situation in Japan is revealed by a letter lieve that they would rise up and overthrow the just received from one who has lived there for present regime… But they are misled by governtwenty years and who knows and loves the Jap- ment censorship and propaganda. They are told anese people. (The letter could not be mailed in that China must be protected from Communism Japan on account of the government censorship.) and liberated from the Nanking regime and from The Japanese themselves are kept in ignorance General Chiang Kai-shek, their Christian ruler. of the facts and the military propagandists pro- Staged motion pictures are used to show that the claim that ignorance, fear, selfishness and jeal- Chinese are welcoming the Japanese soldiers as ousy are the motives that actuate all foreigners liberators and benefactors rather than ravishers, who oppose the program of the Japanese mili- terrorists and spreaders of venereal disease and tarists. narcotics.
The letter (dated in Japan, June 12, 1938) is In the meantime the common people in Japan in part as follows: are suffering from economic depression through high prices and many restrictions. They are told We can easily understand the causes of the rising tide that such suffering and self-denial are patriotic. of anti-Japanese feeling in other lands. While the The work of missionaries of Christ, presenting Japanese' people themselves are conscious of the antago- His ideals and message of life, is more than ever nism of certain foreign nations, it is attributed in the needed and is welcomed. The Japanese are hunmain to Chinese propaganda and the jealousy 0:1; the gry for life and peace. It is a great opportunity powers who are losing their economic spheres of influence in China. . " The people here only know what for the missionaries who show spiritual life and appears in the newspapers, and the result is that they power and have the message of God's love and are the victims of a propaganda which interprets the salvation. And the missionaries with reduced war in terms of a righteous crusade "to deliver China forces and income are busy teaching, conducting from the peril of communism." They know nothing of conferences and summer camps, and working the ruthlessness which has apparently characterized the through the churches and Sunday schools. The operations of the army and believe that the conduct of Japanese are responding with larger attendance the war has been above reproach! at evangelistic services, and with increased en- As is the case in all wars, the common people are the rollment in mission schools and colleges. Dr. ones who bear the burden and they are the ones who Toyohiko Kagawa, and other Japanese Christians, suffer. In thinking of Japan we trust that you will dis- express the feeling of the sense of shame and tinguish between those who are leading the nation in chagrin that "Christians are so impotent to stem paths of conquest and the great mass of people who are the tide of militarism in Japan." in the dark and are having to submit to increasing regimentation and more personal self-sacrifice. The people ,Evidently humanity must learn lessons through are in darkness and need desperately to be "translated warfare and suffering that they are not willing into the kingdom of God's dear Son." The fact that to learn through peace and prosperity. Among militarism is in the saddle is no reason for reducing mis- these lessons are the futility of selfish warfare, sionary interest in J.apan. Recent developments here and the superiority of spiritual forces over the main other countries present a challenge to the Christian terial, the supremacy of true love over the seIf- Church to increase their missionary interest. seeking human ambitions. Christ did not estab- lish peace in the Roman world but He did sow the The Japane~e Christian Church is finding itself in an seeds of life and of peace and victory in the hearts increasingly difficult position. This is in spite of the fact that Japanese Protestants have always been distinguished of His followers. Among His last words to His by their loyalty to Emperor and nation, by their obedi- disciples were these: "These things have I spoken ence to law and integrity of character, and by their faith- unto you that in me ye may have peace. In the fulness in the performance of the various, duties imposed world ye have tribulation but be of good cheer, I by the State. But officialdom has not been satisfied with have overcome the world." . This is the peace and this and has seen fit to make the observance of the various the victorythat the world cannot give and cannot ceremonies of State Shinto the 'sign of good citizenship. take away. They have put believers who regard the observance of State Shinto as idolatrous in the position of appearing disloyal. The Imperial Constitution provides that: "Japanese subjects shall, within limits of law, not preju- dicial to peace and order, and not antago!listic to their duties of subjects, enjoy freedom of religious belief."
A Crisis-Looking Forward to
By PAUL W. HARRISON, M.D., Muscat, Arabia Author of "The Arab at Home"; Missionary of the Reformed Chutch in America A WORLD Missionary Conference is to be held will the Conference be a success. To the degree this year in Madras. The hope is that the that it fails to do this, the Conference will be a whole Church of Christ may focus there failure. her thanksgiving for the past, and her intercession for the future. Most of all we hope that God Nor is this something only for the few who go will give us guidance for the present. Certainly, to that South Indian city. Now is a time for us hitherto hath the Lord helped us, and we have all to bow down and pray for guidance and power come a long way in carrying out the command, from God. With our attention focused on gain- "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the na- ing God's guidance, and bringing our work into tions." We will stand with the Apostle Paul in line with His will so that we can go forward in Madras. In every direction, a great door and ef- His power, this should be a day, above all things, fectual is opened unto us "and there are many for reverent and careful study of God's Word that adversaries." If the Apostle could actually speak we may learn how He would have us carryon His to us, he would perhaps tell us that he faced no work. We need profound and prayerful studies such wonderful open doors, nor such appalling of the mind of Christ in regard to our missionary adversaries. problems. We must penetrate below the surface and understand what the Holy Spirit has to teach This is not the day of the grinning stone image. us in the life and policies of the Apostle Paul. We deal with emotional idols, terribly alive all of Different men will discover many different things them, fashioned after the likeness of Mohammed- in this Book which God has given us. No one anism~ Men and women and children, from the man will understand it all. Indeed, reflecting least to the greatest, deliriously worship some God's mind as it does, all of us together will enter class or race or nation, sure that thereby they be- only the fringes of the Divine revelation. God come the elite of the universe. Worship of that wants us to see visions and dream dreams out of sort must have an object of pers.ecution as well His Word. Thus He will guide us and give us as an object of worship. Jews serve the purpose power in carrying His message to a turbulent and excellently. So do Christians. Those of us who distressed world. work in the arid desert into which Mohammed transformed a sixth of the human race, look out Christ's View of the Kingdom on the nations today with a feeling very close to terror. It is a very dreadful disease that is spread- In the thirteenth chapter of Matthew we find ing over the world, but it is not a new one. And a remarkable group of parables in which Christ when this outbreak has run its course, and men's shows us the essential nature of the missionary enterprise. He was speaking of the Kingdom of hearts have hardened into shape under its pride God. The phrase has puzzled us and from it have and falsity, will it again be a thousand years be- been developed most diverse and complicated and fore the Good News of God's love finds its way materialistic notions. But evidently in Christ's into men's hearts once more and the first convert mind the idea was as simple as sunlight. Wher- is won to Christ? ever God rules over the human heart as king, No! It will not be even a thousand days for there is the Kingdom of God established.
when "the enemy comes in like a flood," the Spirit This was something new which Christ brought of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. -a gift from Heaven. With Him came the glori- But we must realize, with a deep and terrible ous opportunity of being under the direct and realization, that we on the mission field today genuine rule of God. Christ spent His time pro- need two things, and only two. We need God's claiming this good news of the possible realization guidance and we need His power. It will be only .of the Kingdom. He sent out His disciples two by to the degree that the Madras Conference sensi- two to carry the message further. He left us to tizes us so that we can hear and obey the Divine finish the task through the centuries, and finished voice, and opens. the windows of Heaven so that it will be, for "this good news of the Kingdom God can pour out a blessing,only to that extent shall be preached in all the world for a witness [393 ]
to all the nations." Here is a simple message: a seed which will grow in men's hearts. Indeed "The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at that seed grows. up to be Christ Himself abiding hand. Repent, and believe the Good News." in us. It is thus that God rules.
Christ emphasized three things about this King- Good news of that sort is not much of a seed, dom. In the first place it is open to all men. The philosophically and scientifically. Christ explained entrance requirements are simple. "Repent ye"~ carefully that it is "less than the least of all seeds" leave your old life; "and believe the good news" which are sown so assiduously in men's hearts. -accept as genuine and true this announcement It takes no extraordinary insight to see the truth that men can actually come under God's personal of that. Any monist has us beaten philosophically control. The offer is for every man to the ends before the debate begins. Any second-rate idol of the inhabited earth. It is an ecumenical thing. temple can surpass our most ehtborate rituals, and emotionally, ~_mpared with communism, and In the second place, this wonderful opportunity, fascism, and emperor worship, we are most prethis door to an eternal destiny linked to God cisely the least of all seeds. We feel a great urge himself, is to be found only in Christ. Even the to assert that the Gospel is really good seed, and God-given Jewish religion could not provide it. we spend much time measuring its philosophical Salvation to a few, that religion certainly did and scientific dimensions and convincing ourselves bring, but apparently not to many. This Kingdom of its impressive character. However, the Gospel of God that He preached was a new thing. Christ seed is really most unimpressive, as Christ told brought it, and its lowliest member stands above us long ago. Its virtue is in its vitality and in the highest of the prophets. The implications of the astonishing result that it can produce when this are tremendous. Even with the light of the sown in men's hearts. Epistles and of the Acts, we can grasp only a few of them. Christ, however, shows us the simplicity As God looks down on a faithless and perverse and unity of the wisdom of God. One thinks of generation, perhaps few things seem so incon- Fujiyama, as he meditates on it. gruous as the audacity of men who produce a showy and resplendent philosophy out of Christ's The third characteristic, in its way as remark- teaching, but lack faith to believe that God who able as the others, is that this Kingdom is to be spread merely by proclaiming the Good News of has embodied Himself in it, can by its means over- God's gift. The Kingdom of God is like sowing a come the idols of our time. We must pit the very seed. There is food for deep meditation in that power of God Himself against the terrifying teaching. It is a message much needed in these forc·es of evil which have become so strong. There days when the missionary finds himself confused is one way to do that, and only one, in season and and perplexed. Whatever else is true of our work, out of season, and that is to sow the Good News it must always be the proclamation of the Good of the Kingdom in the hearts of men. News of the Kingdom of God. That good news is CHRISTIAN MISSIONS-BANE OR BLESSING?
Why should we make sacrifices to support foreign missions? One great reason is because of the results of this work. Had there been no Christian foreign missionaries, then Cyprus, Ephesus, Philippi, and Berea would never have heard the Gospel of Christ. Except for mis- sions the message of Life which He came to bring would not have reached Rome, and from Rome could not have spread into Spain and Gaul. Without missionaries, Great Britain and America would not have heard the message of Christ; India, China and other lands would have no Christians and no Christian enterprises. Had there been no missionaries, there would be no Christian Church today. Most, if not all, of the humanitarian and philanthropic organ- izations that now minister to mankind would never have been established. Hospitals, homes for the aged, orphanages, colleges and public schools all have had their first inspiration in the ideals of life and service taught in the New Testament. History shows clearly that these un- selfish ministries of love did not exist prior to the coming of Christ and apart from the spread of Christianity. They are due to the revelation of God and His ideals for man as revealed through Jesus Christ and as they have been imparted to His followers.
'BY THE LIPU LEKH PASS INTO TIBET-ALTITUDE 16,750
With Tibetans at the Crossroads By REV. E. B. STEINER, Dharchula, United Provinces, India Missionary of the Tibetan Border Mission TIBET-called the "Roof of the World"-is and consist of peas, barley and some type of grain the loftiest country on the face of the globe. which. can be ground and made into very coarse The line of vegetation lies at 13,000 feet alti- bread, which the ordinary European stomach is tude. Tibet has successfully kept herself aloof not able to digest.
from the outside world for centuries, and because Tibetan traders are more numerou.s than farmof this has had a tendency to draw the country ers, especially in the south. They are made up of into seclusion. two classes-Khampas and Dokpas. The former spend summers in Tibet and winters in India. The Tibetan is what he is because of four fac- Leaving Tibet in October, they cross the Himators-altitude, lack of vegetation, seclusion and layas for their trading in the foothill cities of religion. His characteristics are the product of India. After bartering they return in March, these factors, particularly in that region over entering Tibet over Lipu Lekh Pass in June. They against Bhot on the south central border of Tibet.
This country can be conquered, not by war, but speak Hindi and other Hill languages. by the Gospel of Jesus Christ that will change The Dokpas cross by Lipu Lekh Pass into India these backward Tibetans into progressive citizens. only to near-by towns in the Upper Himalayas. Tibetans may be divided into four classes: They speak Tibetan only. These traders export farmers, traders, robbers, lamas. Farmers in wool, salt and borax; they import wheat, rice, Tibet are the least prominent of the four classes. dal, sugar and cloth. They reside in valleys only; their crops are few The Tibetan robbers are called Jokpas in our [395 ]
area. In India they call at our bungal.ow and beg and another 5,500. (We do not vouch for these alms and food. In Tibet they rob us, but not in figures.) India because the British Government would im- Lamaism is a religi.on of works. The word prison them. As liquor dealers in America pay "grace," as understood in the Christian religion, license to the government and are permitted to is not found in Lamaism. The doing of religious .operate drinking establishments, so in Tibet a acts is believed to be the means of entitling a per- robber buys a license to rob whomsoever he son to a place in the Tibetan heaven. Everything pleases. a lama does-whether worship, prayers, reading, In 1930 the Tibetan Government granted Mrs. eating, sleeping or working-is a religious act.
Steiner and the writer a passport to travel 145 The spirit of the mind or the condition of the miles in Tibet. We were accosted by robbers heart has nothing to do with securing merit for twice during our twenty days in the country. the Tibetan heaven. The larger number of acts One Saturday aftern.oon suddenly three Tibetan a lama can do in a given time, the greater his robbers galloping on horseback,with flags floating merit and the Lama can accumulate far greater and guns raised, rushed out from between moun- merit by prayers than in any other way. It makes tains, calling to our Christians who were half a no difference for what he prays or how; the thing mile behind: that counts is that he performs his prayers. Be- "Halt, you are traders; you have money; open cause of this erroneous conception, the lama re- your bags! And over there is a white man and sorts to all sorts. of devices for prayer to assist a white woman; they are traders; they have in the accumulation of merit. Am.ong these de- money; open your bags." vices the most common in our area of Tibet are They continued talking roughly and yelling. prayer-wheels, prayer water-mills, prayer-flags Soon those Tibetan robbers began to talk less and prayer-walls.
roughly and finally they rode away without tak- Every lama possesses a prayer-wheel which he ing anything. holds in his right hand and revolves it as rapidly A month later we received a letter from a wom- as he can. In the wheel is written a prayer and an in Indiana who said she was praying for us. each revolution counts for merit for the owner of That letter was dated JUly 17, 1930, the very day the prayer-wheel. Large lamasaries have made that we were accosted by those Tibetan robbers. huge prayer-wheels called "Sipo Khorlo," inter- preted, "Wheel of Life." We saw one prayer- Ten days later, just as we were breaking camp, wheel seven feet in diameter in the lamasary at a robber party of twelve appeared. One robber Taklakot. On his way out of the lamasary a lama examined Mrs. Steiner's coat sleeve and after- gives the huge prayer-wheel a couple of turns, and wards my water bottle. Seeing his primitive gun I began to examine it in turn. He was pleased S.o it registers prayers to his credit. The lama and looking into my face he smiled. After that he would not rob me. While .our party .of ten does not need to say a word for the prayer-wheel Christians stood with bowed heads in silence in does the praying for him. Inside of this wheel is our morning worship, these ten robbers stood a paper on which is written that meaningless there on the side listening. Mter prayer they prayer, "Om Mani Padme Hum," interpreted in passed on and we went our way. English: "0 Jewel in the Lotus Flower." We do not know why this prayer has been adopted as the The Buddhist Lamas lama's formal prayer, save that the Tibetan be- lieves that Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, The fourth class of Tibetans, and by far the sprang from the lotus flower. About the year most prominent, are the Lamas or Buddhist 400 A. D. a great lama adopted this prayer as a Priests. The home of lamas is called a lamasary model for his followers and it has been used ever and the religion of Tibet is called Lamaism, a since.
form of Buddhism. Many lamas attach dozens of "prayer-flags"
The first-born son of each Tibetan family must to a cord or rope that stretches from one building be surrendered to the lamasary to be trained as to another, or to a tree. These prayer-flags are a lama. As all families are small, the percentage small pieces of cloth six or eight inches long in of lamas is great. A lamasary is a training school strips, on each of which is written this same . as well as a church, and some are in training for meaningless prayer-"Om Mani Padme Hum."
twenty or thirty years. The women lamas are When there is no wind these prayer-flags are silent sometimes called nuns. They are not permitted and therefore produce no merit; but when the to marry. Lamasaries are therefore like medire- wind blows, these flags flutter in the air and pile val monasteries, and sometimes the number of up millions of prayers to the credit of the owner.
inmates runs into the thousands. One lamasary Riding on a pony a hundred miles into Tibetan in Lhasa is said to admit 1,100, another 3,300, territory, we came to numerous "prayer-walls,"
WITH TIBETANS AT THE CROSSROADS
four to eight feet high, made of stone. On each Lekh Pass; our two stations,Dharchula and was inscribed this same prayer. Some of these Sirkha, are located on this highway and all who walls were twenty feet long, some fifty or a hun- travel to the plains of India must pass our way.
dred or two hundred feet. As we traveled, I no- Many call at our bungalow for alms or for med- ticed that my horseman, a Tibetan, owner of the ical aid. Each call brings a contact and makes an pony, always passed on the left side of the walls, opportunity. To many we give a Christian tract never on the right. When we came to another and to some we tell the story of salvation by prayer-wall, I said: "Go on the right side," but Christ. Most of these Tibetan travelers halt near he only smiled. Coming to the next wall, I spoke our Sunday School for four or five days at a time firmly, "Why don't you pass on the right side?" and some draw near to see what it is all about.
He paid no attention. My cook, a Mohammedan They may remain for the hour. Our Tibetan evan- from that area, told me that if this Tibetan passed on the right he would receive no merit but, pass- ing on the left, each stone with that inscription (and there are thousands on a wall 200 feet long, on its four sides and on top), produces. merit to his credit. It is the movement of something that counts, not thoughts. of the heart.
The Dalai Lama, the ruler of Tibet who lives at Lhasa, is the head of this land of seclusion reli- giously and politically. Dalai Lama means "Ocean of Virtue." He is helieved by Tibetans to be an incarnation of Chewasi, the son of the God 0 Pak Me, "the Buddha of Boundless Light." They be- lieve that "0 Pak Me" has been reincarnated again and again; being an incarnation, they think that the Dalai Lama cannot sin. It is likewise believed that each is an incarnation of that same god and therefore does not sin.
Many Tibetans practice polyandry. A woman marries the oldest brother in a family and thus automatically becomes the wife of all the brothers.
Consquently morality among the Tibetans is low, and their conception of home and family life are vague. These concepts of loose marriage rela- tions even creep into the Christian Church. Some twenty years ago two Tibetan brothers became Christians; one was married; the other was a widower. It was claimed some years ago, al- though not proven, that when the married brother was. absent from home for a month or more, his wife lived with the other brother as his wife. A TIBETAN LAMA AND HIS FAMILY About three years ago a Tibetan Christian sought a wife among Bhotiya Christians for his nephew. gelists and Bible women preach in their camps, He had difficulty in persuading members of one and our Tibetan Christians have friends among family to give their consent so he came to us. We some and invite them to their homes. Our work- suggested that he try to secure the daughter of ers also display their Tibetan scriptures and tracts one of our Tibetan Christian widows. But the on a blanket to attract passing Tibetans. We are widow said, "He who marries my daughter, mar- not permitted to preach to the Tibetans inside ries me also." Is there any doubt as to the need Tibet, but on our evangelistic pilgrimage to Mt.
of Tibetans for Christ and His Gospel? Kailash, 60 miles inland, there were ten Christians , We are sometimes asked how we make contacts in the group, four of whom were Tibetans. The with Tibetans in order to win them to Christ. We government cannot prevent us from worshipping are located in Bhot, that triangle in India on the our God as we choose and therefore on Sundays borders of both Tibet and Nepal. Lipu Lekh Pass, in Tibet, we have services and Sunday school for at an altitude of 16,750 feet, is one of the six main ourselves. Tibetans often stand around listening.
outlets of Tibet; the great Tibetan highway of The ruler of Taklakot gave us permission to this part of India passes through Bhot. Hundreds visit the lamasary in his city and there we found of Tibetans annually travel out and in over Lipu 300 lamas, men and women, boys and girls-aged electro nic fil e created by cafis.org
6 to 60. In one room we heard a Christian hymn. A family of ten pure Tibetans, devil worshipers, Upon inquiry, we learned that the lama had heard left their home, sear.ching for the true God. One us sing that song last year in India. I recalled of the number, our Tibetan cook, tells the followthat the year before, I had sung this hymn at ing story: "My grandfather was a priest of the every camp along the Tibetan highway as I was devil. Often have I seen him beat his body with returning from Naini Tal. The wonder was that heavy cords until it bled. Three times did the this Tibetan, hearing this hymn but once, was devil demand everything we possessed. After the able to remember both the words and melody. third time, we began to think that there must be Leading lamas followed us, pleading that we sing, a God somewhere who would not make unreasonand there, beside the huge wall of that lamasary able demands. Ten of us left in search for this in that land where we were forbidden to preach, true God. We wandered around Tibet. Then an four of us sang a Christian hymn. These lamas epidemic overtook us, killing six of our number, then begged for tracts. They sent two messengers including both-iny parents. My grandparents, my to our tent and we gave them forty-eight tracts. aunt and I only were left. iWe continued our search and passed through vast areas. Our food A year later I toured along the Indian side of was gone and we could get none. We came to the the Tibetan border. From Kuti, the last town, I Holy Region, Mt. Kailas, the Lakes and Taklakot, ascended a mountain up ·to 16,000 feet, coming to but we did not find the true God in this so-called a large open plain where we camped. Here an- 'Holy Region.' Then we came over Lipu Pass nually Bhotiyas and Tibetan traders meet for bar- and down into this Kali River Valley to Sirkha. tering. Among other Tibetans, were ten wealthy The Bhotiyas told us not to go near the Mission traders with 7,000 sheep, who came across the Compound or we would be made Christians. We border from their Tibetan town some twenty days' did not know what kind of wkked people Chrisjourney distant. Before we could pitch our tent, tians are, but they visited our camp and invited us these Tibetans crowded about, gazing at me, for to come to the mission. They did not look like they had never before looked upon a white face. bad people, so we thought we would go and live A peculiar feeling comes over one to think that in the Mission Compound, but would not go to one's white face is the first such face another hu- their meetings. Then we heard singing which man being has seen. sounded good and we thought that this might be the place to find the true God. We sat outside to We were hungry and tired, for we had made listen and later we went in and sat in the rear. this ascent of 4,000 feet and had had nothing to Then we found the true God we had been seeking eat since seven in the morning. Our helpers con- and we forsook Buddha for Christ." The grandcluded that this was the time to conduct a service parents have passed on, but our Tibetan cook has for these Tibetans, and each in turn gave a mes- entered deeply into the Christian life and is now sage-including my Tibetan cook, a boy of seven- one of our strongest Christians. teen. The Tibetans listened eagerly and then bought every Gospel and tract we had. They A Tibetan lama student in one of the leading wished to buy also my Tibetan hymn book and lamasaries in Lhasa for twenty years left the offered me twice its value. We forgot our hunger, lamasary because he felt that he was not sinless. but I never before saw such hunger for scriptures He married and wandered around for three years and tracts. with his wife, who contracted tuberculosis. To- gether they came over Lipu Lekh Pass into our We have been told that in certain areas, pure valley as far as Sirkha, and there his wife died. Tibetans cannot be won for Christ, as their hearts Our Tibetan evangelist, Chirring, befriended this are impregnable to the Gospel. We have not lama, Lobsang, and invited him to our Mission found it so. A Tibetan widow with two little sons Compound. Lobsang was impressed and finally came begging alms of Dr. Sheldon thirty-three renounced lamaism in April, 1929. He is now years. ago. She was told the story of Christ and conducting a Tibetan school and preaches the was asked to give up her beggar life, but she Gospel. In 1937 Lobsang and his family made an would not. The next year she came again and evangelistic tour into Tibet and brought back a yielded herself to Christ. She remained true to pure Tibetan, who came from a town eight days' her Lord for thirty years, first as matron and journey north of Lhasa. This man was baptized later as Bible woman, until she went two years on January 16th. Lobsang is now trying to win ago to be with her Saviour. Dr. Sheldon died in another Tibetan, who came a couple of months 1912', but Bunden continued as Bible woman all ago from the interior of Tibet.· Was it worth these years. One of her little sons is now a Tib- while befriending Lobsang? etan evangelist and the other a Christian tailor.
Modern Challenge to
By the REV. WILLIAM PATON, London Secretary of the International Missionary Council W HERE does the Christian missionary a world there may be religion, but religion will enterprise stand in this world of national- have become like other things just one among the ism, racialism, economic struggle, and other parts of life, ruled by its own law, an interauthoritarian states? It is not enough to show est among the many interests of man. I know no that mission hospitals do much good and that more terrible example of the secular spirit than Christian schools in the East and in Africa are the acceptance by religion of a specialized place lifting the burden of illiteracy from thousands. among the affairs of men. When religion, and In our typical modern struggles. is the missionary above all the Christian religion, abandons its enterprise relevant? claim to shed light and guidance upon the whole What is the characteristic modern issue? Let life of man and becomes one professionalized in- us go back a little in our own history. There was terest among a mass of others, we have the once something called Christendom. The word supreme secularism.
covered the idea ofa region of the world in which This was our state until these last years; but there was a civilization dominated by a single we are not facing that sort of world now. The great view of the world. In that medireval Europe, disintegration of human culture and the fading there was a common faith, a single Church, a gen- away of the central and life-giving belief in God erally accepted philosophy, and a recognition of was not an affair only of the scholar; there set in the unity of life, in such wise that, whether or not a deep disintegration of society. The World War men kept the Christian moral law, it did not occur hastened the process. One can speak only with to them to suggest that, for instance, the world of great sympathy of the situation that faced Ger- economic life lay outside the boundaries of moral many, for instance, in these post-war years. To and spiritual rule. In that sense the whole of life see their country losing all its coherence and dig- was integrated around the truths of Christianity. nity may well Ikive men to desperate remedies.
We know how that world broke up; I am no And in many lands today, as we know so well,.
medirevalist and I am not suggesting that we there has come into view the new type of integra- regret that vanished world. There came the Ren- tion, or more truly the new type of religion. No aissance of learning and the Ref.ormation; nations longer do we face a negative kind of secularist arose in Europe and separate churches came into temper; we face the bold attempt to regiment the being. Natural science was reborn and as the life of man around the primacy of the nation, or years passed science was harnessed to production of blood, or of class, or of the State. This is what and industry and we had the industrial revolution. is meant by that ungainly word the "totalitarian"
Life became far more complicated as well as much State. It is more than merely nationalism or class- richer. But one great consequence followed. The loyalty. It is the claim that devotion to this cen- world of men-our Western world at least–':'no tral standard-race or blood, community or state, longer was integrated round the Christian view or class-has absolute worth, and that in obedi- of life. The life of European man became divided; ence and surrender to it man finds his whole the world of economics was believed to have its meaning.
own law and to be separated from that of ethics; In modern Germany we have a classical instance what was true there became true of all the parts of the struggle which such a mode of life must of life, and the characteristic of our Western entail upon the Christian Church. The Church in world was that it had no common governing idea that and in every land has two essential features and was not ruled by any universally accepted which make it the enemy of the totalitarian state.
view. Each part of life became a law to itself. They are, first, that every local or national Church This is what I understand by secularism; the is not only local or national but also a part of the loosening 'of the parts. of life from their proper universal Christian fellowship. It is therefore a uniting centre in the will of God, so that not only constant reminder of a fellowship and loyalty is there no God acknowledged but there is no wider than that of the nation. But the other rea- other dominating idea to take His place. In such son goes. deeper. It is the fact that in the last r 399]
analysis the Church is' not a human society only- work, only more rapidly than in the West. Among not a sort of club that we have formed to carry educated Hindus today one finds everywhere a out purposes of our own, but is a society divine lack of belief and a communal loyalty that has as well as human. It is human and therefore nothing at all to do with true religion. In such a stained with the sins of humanity; but its origins country as Egypt you will find Moslems of educa- lie in the Divine love and it is still the Body of tion and earnestness, but for many of them, real Christ in which His Spirit dwells. So that in the faith has gone and what is left is a keenly national last resort the Church of Christ can only obey consciousness cloaking itself in religious dress.
God first and can never assent to any other pri- In such countries it is inevitable that the same mary loyalty. sort of process should be followed as we have If we look at the world of our Western life, we traced in our Western world. A force of integra- see a society that once was Christian and now is tion there must be; life must have a common pagan, with Christian forces and groups at work energizing centre. Thus we find the old cry of within it; that the emptiness' of a purposeless Pan-Islam wholly discredited in the Mohammedan society is being for myriads today filled by the countries, and nationalism or, as in Turkey, a keen worship of new gods; that these gods are in fact racial loyalty taking its place. In India you see only Man himself, worshipped in some group such a portent as the opening and consecration of manifestation; and that as against all this there a temple in which there is no object of worship is today only one force, small and weak as it may except a great marble relief map of India- seem, that is inescapably committed to a wholly Mother India, into which the spirit of the god is different view. That force is the love of God in called as in other idols of Hinduism.
Christ with the transformation of life and the In Japan and her empire we see most plainly total view of the world ·and the active fellowship the rise of the new nation-state worship. It is an that accompany it. The Church with all its weak- ancient thing there, for the doctrine of the divine nesses is still the fellowship in which men cannot Emperor, his descent from the Sun-Goddess, and be thought of as submerged in racial or commu- the divine quality of the Japanes.e nation go back nity groups, or as mere automata in the interplay to the dawn of Japanese history. Yet is it not of economic forces, because men 'are known as certain that a country like Japan, in which there those whom God made for Himself and for whom is an almost unparalleled concentration of wealth Jesus Christ was content to die. in a few hands, must be exposed almost more than But this attempt to analyze our modern prob- others to the social strains that aooompany such lem has referred only to what used to be called an economic organization? It can hardly be a Christendom. What of the rest of the world? mere coincidence that in this modern world, sub- Do we realize to what a vast extent this same ject universally to the influences I have tried to process of disintegration and this same drift away sketch, there should be felt in Japan the need to from the religious centre of life have appeared in strengthen the claim of the nation-state and to the East also, and in Africa? In Africa the mat- use the old doctrine for this purpose.
ter is perhaps. plainer than in any other place. So it is that in Japan itself, and far more reso- One does not need to have lived in Africa to com- lutely and indeed ferociously in Korea, Formosa prehend something of what it means that, for and in the nominally independent but actually instance, tribesmen come great distances to labor puppet state of Manchukuo, we find the rites of in the copper mines, there to exchange the life of emperor worship, or a rite akin to it, pressed upon the tribe, in which the individual hardly exists the schools and the colleges. It is explained that and the tribal group is everything, for the life of the rites are not religious, but merely patriotic.
a modern industrialized settlement where a man This is not the place to argue this matter in detail, is forced to become an individual. But consider but I feel that when this claim is made it is meant the countries with the ancient religious cultures. really that the rites defined as patriotic, are more Hinduism has never been a religion only in the important than religion. It is the determination sense that it offered a religious consolation and of those who rule events in that empire to lay guidance to the individual; it has been a social down as the foundation of life the absolute accept- system and upon its precepts and governing ideas ance of the State. When you have that, then you a whole society rested. The word "caste" will may have your private religion – your sectarian suggest all that is. bound up in this statement. Or Shinto or your Buddhism or your Christianity.
again Islam has never been a reJi.gion in the nar- But that absoluteness of claim and of range which row sense; it has claimed to provide an under- we associate with religions is reserved for the standing of the whole of life. It has indeed been patriotic claim symbolized by the patriotic rite.
a boast of Moslem scholars. that Islam offered a It is therefore no matter for surprise that the synthesis of sacred and secular. But today we see Christian Church in these lands should be suspect.
exactly the same process of disintegration at I would only say here–for there are many things
THE MODERN CHALLENGE TO CHRISTIANITY
it is not expedient t.o say-that my own touch in .of economic forces, or a pawn in national policy, recent months with them left me with a clearer or that He is. in fact these and these alone. The and a more poignant sense of the meaning of the Christian faith, in basing man's dignity on God's Church in the modern world than I have ever had. love, offers the only ground on which that dignity and freedom can be maintained. Can we now gather up something of what this rough and most imperfect sketch suggests? Sec.ond, the Christian Church offers in the Christian fellowship something that transcends It is the inescapable and eternal paradox of the barriers of nations, race, and class. Where man's life that he cannot find peace within him- it fails to do this it is plainly false to itself; where self but only as. he returns to God. When he de~ it does this it is plainly true to itself and its parts from God-and even from the gods of the Founder. .old faiths of the East-he finds that the disorder of his life demands a commanding centre, and he Third, and here we touch the centre of the makes a god out of some part of his human endow- Christian struggle in our modern world, the ment-race and blood, or class, or nati.on. But Christian Church is a society not only human but that god not only leads him to war and strife and also divine, owing allegiance to God and pointing internecine feud, it demands also the total sub- beyond all human associations and loyalties, merging of the individual in the grQUp .or mass claims and obligations, t.o the unshared majesty or totality. of God and the absoluteness of His will, the pri- macy of His kingdom. The Christian asserts three things in opposition to this modern idolatry: First, we declare that In this struggle there is no East and West. It man is created by God, in His spiritual image, tQ is the peculiar significance of the Christian misdo His will in loving obedience, and that in the sionary movement that it symbolizes the univerpassion and death of Jesus Christ there is ex- sality of the Christian Church and provides the hibited the value that God set upon man. It is means whereby the older church can aid and not possible for Christians to agree that any .one, strengthen the younger in facing what is essenfor whom the Lord Jesus Christ was CQntent to tially and .universally a common task. die, should be a mere racial unit, or a plaything TRENDS IN MODERN MISSION WORK By THE REV. CORNELIUS H. PATTON, D.D.
Formerly Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
1. Transfer of leadership and ownership to the national Christians of each land at the earliest possible moment.
2. Recognition more fully .of the responsibility of governments and to cooperate with them in so far as fundamental Christian principles allow.
3. Efforts to encourage and conserve the values of indigenous religion and culture wher- ever found, seeking always to domesticate Christian ideals and institutions in the environment and tradition of each land.
4. Purpose to maintain, as may be necessary, the distinction between Christianity and so- called Christian civilization.
5. Interpretation of the Christian message in such a way as to make it applicable to the total life of a people.
6. Desire to make evangelism complete byemphasizing the Christ-spirit as the saving ele- ment in all processes of social improvement.
7. Stressing the improvement of rural communities as the special need of the hour.
8. Endeavors to offer motive and guidance in the effort to save the people of the East from the mistakes of the industrial order of the West.
9. Work for the consolidation of the Christian forces throughout the world.
10. In the selection and training of missionary personnel, insistence upon the highest de- gree of efficiency attainable. .
11. Preaching the eternal Gospel by word and in terms that men and women of this age will understand.
12. Attempts to find in the leadership and saving power of Christ the only hope of a dis- tressed and bewildered yet spiritually hungry world.
Sunday Schools Over the World*
By REV. ROBERT M. HOPKINS, D.D., New York Secretary of the World's Sunday School Association A S WE look over the world today it is increas- Word to the people than the Sunday School. Even .l'. ingly difficult to decide which nations may in the lands ""here antagonism to the Bible prebe called Christian and which are non- vails, Sunday School pupils grow up to have a Christian. Some lands that have had within their very keen appreciation of the Book. An illustra- borders a preponderance of people affiliated with tion will be helpful. In spite of the fact that the Christian Church are today following pro- Puerto Rico has the largest Sunday School enrol- cedures that are decidedly not Christian. Other ment of any Spanish-speaking area in the world, lands that have been known as, "heathen" are there is a distressing lack of copies of Spanish today conspicuous. for their forbearance and other Bibles throughout the Island. A little girl, whose Christian virtues under the most difficult circum- parents are affiliated with the Roman Church, stances. somehow found her way into an evangelical In lands that have been known as "heathen" Sunday School, and with the consent of her par- and where the Christian Church is young, and ents she became a regular attendant. As her the vast majority of the people have not as yet birthday approached, her father and mother pre- openly identified themselves with Christ, the Sun- pared a party, with invited guests and special day School 'is a great factor in the spread of the refreshments. When asked what present she de- Gospel and in Christian training. It is chal- sired most of all she said, "I want a copy of the lenging at the outset to learn that in Africa, Latin Bible." This request grew out of her attendance America and Asia the Sunday School is making at the Sunday School. Her parents discovered its greatest numerical advance today. In Africa to their amazement that they were unable to buy during the past fou.r years the Sunday School has a copy of the Bible in any of the regular book made more than half the net total gain of the stores, but she was not satisfied until a copy was entire world; South America came second. What procured. Thus the Word of God found an hon- are some of the reasons for such progress? ored place in an influential home that had hitherto First, the principal constituency of the Sunday not possessed a copy.
School is the children. Young people and adults Various kinds of related Christian literature mayor may not be enrolled in mission lands, ac- have also grown up with the Sunday School move- cording to whether the standards that prevail ment. Ofttimes in mission lands Lesson Helps have come from America or Great Britain. But were at first mimeographed copies of the patient everywhere the Sunday School serves the chil- work of some missionary. Frequently the surplus.
dren. Thus its contrihution is made in the plastic materials are sent from Sunday Schools in more period of life. A single illustration will suffice. favored lands. These are greatly in demand, par- In a Sunday School rally in Aleppo, Syria, chil- ticularly the colored picture charts and picture dren came from a wide variety of home back- cards. In the village of India, the forests. of Af- ground. When asked if any child wished to send rica, the crowded lands of Korea, especially in a message to the Sunday School children of the lands like the Philippines where English is known, world, a little lad arose and said in Arabic that such used materials are never sufficient to meet he wished to send the message : "We ought to love the demands. The street Sunday Schools in Egypt one another." This boy had been raised in a and Wayside Sunday Schools in other lands are Yezidee home where the basic doctrine is one of made possible by grouping the children for the hate, rather than love. He had learned the mes- first time about the picture rolls, and by giving sage of love in the Sunday School. out Httle picture cards.
A second reason is that the Sunday School is A recent report from China indicates that the concerned with the study of the Bible. Many National Committee for Christian Religious Edu- agencies are uniting to spread the Christian cation has published ever since the outbreak of Scriptures around the world, but none make their hostilities, a special Sunday School paper giving task more directly related to the teaching of God's simple teaching material for use in refugee camps.
• See Frontispiece. One copy of this publication has a picture of the r 402] soldier camp in the background, while a little National Committee for Christian Religious Education in China Chinese lad gives thanks for the bowl of rice of which he is about to partake. Thus,even in times Congo Protestant Council (Sunday School Committee for of war and distress, the children are taught to the Belgian Congo) thank God for the temporal blessings of life. Sunday School ASEOciation in Czechoslovakia Egypt and Sudan Sunday School Union Latin America has oeen one of the leaders in Esthonian Sunday School Union the development of indigenous Sunday School lit- India Sunday School Union erature. A graded series of lessons has been pre- National Sunday School Association of Japan pared, most of it written by Latin American au- Sunday School Association of Jugoslavia thors and largely published on presses in Mexico, Korea Sunday School Association Latvian Sunday School Union Puerto Rico, Argentina, Chile and other Latin Madagascar Sunday School Union fields. Brazil has also developed its Portuguese Concilio Nacional De Iglesias Evangelical (Mexico) literature, the demand for which has exceeded Bible Lands Union for Christian Education (Palestine, the Sunday School enrolment, since many outsiders are eager to have the lessons. Syria and Transjordania) Alianza Evangelica De Peru Philippine Committee of Christian Education The Sunday School has been greatly blessed as Sunday School Association of Poland a means for securing cooperation among the vari- Comrr.ittee on Christian Education of the Association of Evangelical Churches of Puerto Rico ous denominational churches. The World's Sun- National Christian Council of Siam day School Association is a federation of fiftyone national (or in a few instances international) We have not called the roll of the cooperating organizations each of which represents the organizations in lands where the work of the churches within a given area that desire to coop- churches has been long established. To include erate in Christian education. No ecumenical or- them would bring the number up to fifty-one con- stituent units of the World's Sunday ganization is more widely representative. In many School Association.
lands cooperation began in a An especially gratifying outreach of the Sunday School union. Sunday School movement has recently A recent visit to Cuba re- been witnessed in lands where the East- vealed the way this move- ern Orthodox churches have predominated.
ment is going forward. There Early approaches of West- is no organization there that ern missionaries were often brings Christian churches to- resented as proselytizing. In gether to consider their com- recent years the organization mon task. A conference held within the Orthodox church- in Havana upon the invita- es has opened new doors.
tion of the World's Sunday One of the first approaches School Association, resulted of the Sunday School was in a representative attend- SUNDAY SCHOOL BOYS IN INDIA made to the ancient Church ance from the seven evangel- of Armenia in the Near East.
ical churches. There was an outspoken desire to A loyal son of the Apostolic church, Levon Zenian, have some agency created that would enable them eager to serve his people, was introduced to the to work together in the task of Christian edu- Armenian prelates in 1929 and with their cordial cation. approval began the organization of Sunday The Sunday School has been thus at the very Schools. His work has been inspiring and has heart of cooperation in the Christian enterprise made· possible many new bonds of fellowship.
in many lands for half a century. It seems easier Within the Greek Orthodox Church the Zoe move- for Christian forces to unite for the Christian ment, stimulated in part by what was occurring education of their children and youth than in any in other Eastern churches, has resulted in the other Christian activity. This has been especially true in mission lands. Note this inspiring list of organization of many Sunday Schools in that organizations charged with responsibility for co- ancient body. Following the historic example of operation in the work of Christian education: Robert Raikes in Gloucester, England, the Greek Orthodox Sunday Schools were first limited to Council of Religious Education in North Africa (Algeria) boys, but recently they have included girls. The EI Comite De Cooperacion De Las Republicas De La Plata leaders of the Zoe movement are in cordial fellow- (Argentina-Paraguay-Uruguay) Conselho Evangelico De Educacion Religiosa De Brasil ship with Sunday School leaders of other churches Burma Sunday School Union and attended the last World's Sunday School Con- Ceylon Sunday School Union vention in Oslo, with the sanction of the Holy Comision De Educacion Religiosa Del Comite Consultor Synod. If a banner had been awarded at the Oslo De Cooperacion de Chile electronic file created by cafis. org
Convention to the city which reported the largest movement for religious education has been wiped proportionate gain in its Sunday School enrolment out. Also the totalitarian states in many parts of during the previous four years, that banner would Europe are now drastically retarding the growth have gone to Athens. . of the Sunday School. In America the growing Another very vital contribution to Christian spirit of secularism has likewise slowed down the progress in mission lands has been through the rate of previous progress, while in Great Britain, pioneering of World Sunday School Conventions. where the modern Sunday School had its origin, Twelve of these world .gatherings have been held losses rather than gains· are recorded. It is rein the past fifty years and each was widely repre- markable that, in the face of such adverse condisentative of the Sunday Schools in many nations. tions, there has been gain at all around the world. Three World Conventions have been pioneers in their respective lands-Jerusalem in 1904 in the This has been due to the so-called non-Christian Near East, Tokyo in 1920 in the Far East, and lands. In ~_me Latin American countries the Rio de Janeiro in 1932 in Latin America. These Sunday School enrolment has doubled within four representative gatherings of Christian leaders years. This movement is thus proving to be the from around the world have made great contributions to the lands visited. For the fourth time the medium whereby there is achieved a continued net gain of the total movement in behalf of Chris- tian education around the world today. .
Movement is proposing to pioneer with the first representative world gathering of Christian lead- ALL HAIL TO THE WOMEN! ers on the continent of Africa. The next World's The Central Committee on the United Study of Sunday School Convention is announced for Durban, South Africa, July 22 to 28, 1940. Thus one Foreign Missions This remarkable organization of women for the promotion of the study of foreign missions and the publication of missionary literature was or- ganized at the time of the Ecumenical Conference in New York in 1900. Now, after thirty-eight years of very effective service, it has closed its work of pUblication (July 1) and has turned it over to the Missionary Education Movement, with which the Central Committee has been cooperat- ing. Miss Abbie B. Child was the first chairman of the Committee. Mrs. Peabody, one of the or- ganizers, was the efficient chairman of this Com- mittee for thirty years. Miss M. H. Leavis has been the agent for the literature and is largely re- A SUNDAY SCHOOL IN LAPAZ, BOLIVIA sponsible for its successful business operation.
century after Livingstone left Scotland to make Other women leaders who have been very active his first momentous journey to the then almost include-Mrs. John T. Gracey, Miss Margaret unknown Dark Continent, a pilgrimage is planned Hodge, Mrs. Helen B. Montgomery, Mrs. Fredin which thousands of Christian workers from erick G. Platt and Miss Gertrude Schultz (the many lands will trek to Africa, now the continent most recent chairman). The Committee has pubwith the largest actual gain in Sunday School lished forty-eight senior textbooks, besides hymadvance of them all. nals, junior and kindergarten books and a chil- dren's magazine Everyland. The total number of We must not overlook the contribution which Committee books sold number 3,770,947 copies. the spread of the movement in mission lands is Three of the textbooks have been translated into making to the Christian cause ata time when in one or more of the following languages: Chinese, so many parts of the world Christianity seems to Japanese, Tamil, Urdu and German. The books be retrograding. The report for the last Conven- published by this Committee form a remarkable tion, held in Oslo in 1936 (gathered by World missionary library, covering practically the whole Dominion Movement at the request of the World's world, viewed as a Christian mission field.
Sunday School Association), was in many ways the most comprehensive review of Sunday School In one New York public school a recent religious census progress ever compiled. It showed a total Sun- showed that out of 457 "Protestant" pupils only 33 had day School enrolment for the world of 37,285,519. religious instruction in any church school. The New York This is a net gain of 894,579 over the report for Federation of Churches estimates that only one-half of the previous quadrennium. At the same time it the children of the city are receiving any religious train-. should be remembered that in Russia the entire ing under church auspices-Protestant, Roman Catholic or Jewish.
Practical Value of Missions to Pastors*
By PROF. ARCHIBALD G. ADAMS t Chair of World Religions and Missions, Temple University Philadelphia .nA.S A MISSIONARY for twelve years, bO'rn with preachers who are mostly underpaid, as they and bred and almost buried in the mission- see money gQing for unseen, unappreciated needs ary tradition and purpose, I am vitally interested in interesting young ministers in mis- elsewhere while their O'wn needs are sO' painfully sions, even more than I am in securing new re- present and felt. As prQtagonists. O'f the missioncruits for WQrld service. It is a difficult task, and ary cause, they are defenceless against the critifor several reasons. First there is the depressiO'n cisms O'f their people whO' seek every excuse to which has driven many churches tQrO'b Paul, the escape gIvmg. Thus they endanger their popmissionary, to pay Peter, the preacher. An Epis- ularity by supporting missions. copal Bishop was visiting the rector in one O'f the parishes of his diQcese, and as he left his auto- Moved by these conditions and cO'nsiderations it has been my purpose to' be as practical as posmobile he carefully lO'cked it. The rector ex- sible in ,presenting the .subject to my classes in claimed, "You don't need to' lock your car arO'und Temple University. I recall the resentment I felt here, Bishop, we're all honest." "I'm not sO' sure in college on being compelled to take courses that of that," replied the Bishop, "hasn't your church seemed of nO' possible use to me in my life work, been taking the missionary money for current ex- and the joy I experienced in the theological sempenses?" inary because all my studies were more or less geared into my preparation for service. There- SecO'nd, the effects of the Laymen's inquiry re- fQre it has been my intention to present the subport, "Rethinking Missions." Its unfortunate ject of missiQns in the most practical way in order publicity played up the failures of missionary work and soft-pedalled the successes. to' meet the O'bjectiO'ns to' missions and to' meet the need of ,pastors for information and training in Third, the keen competition in the ministry, missionary sermQn preparation. compelling young seminary students to bend every effort to prepare themselves for the demands of The Need for Information About Missions the pastorate, leaves, little time for so unrelated an interest as world missions. From my experience in teaching missions to As a pastor fO'r eleven years, I can sympathize high school students I did not expect to find much with the difficulties pastQrs experience in interesting their people in a subject on which the pas- knowledge of the subject on the part of seminary tors themselves are very slightly informed, and often greatly misinformed. There is hardly a students, but I was not prepared to find so little. subject on which the O'rdinary pastO'r feels it his None had ever heard of Adoniram Judson and duty to preach, or is compelled by his church rules to preach, which he finds SO' hard, dry and lifeless O'nly a few had heard of David Livingstone! At as the missiQnary sermQn. This attitude is naturally reflected in the sermon, and his people come least there would be novelty in the subject for the to' share his attitude. Then, too, in these days, O'f reduced income, one cannQt help sympathizing students, and their surprised delight at finding the subject so interesting was most encouraging.
Their need for information has been met in my classes in the following ways: (1) The history of missions has been made in- teresting by likening it to' a Prayer Rosary. This is an appropriate figure because most religions • CQndensed frQm a paper read at a HartfQrd Seminary CQnfer- use rosaries and the Prayer Rosary is a way by ence Qf ProfessQrs Qf MisslQns, 1938. which Christians have been helping to answer t the'Ir prayer: "Thy KI' ngdom, Corne."The lI'nks TahnQdugfhorI mhaanvye tyaeuagrhs t haadvuelttaBuigbhlet cmlaissssieQsnsmOinore ytQhuanng hpaeIQt pmle'ys f the ChaI'n h ave b een supplI' ed'In the connectI' ng life, 0 summer assemblies, I dQ nOot pretend tOo be a specialist In the field facts of each periQd Qf histQry; each student has Qf teaching. I Qwe my apPQintment tOo the Chair of WOorld RellgiQns and MissiQns at Temple University tOo the fact that I have spent a supplied a pearl in the chain, each pearl being the quarter of a century Qn the fQreign mission field, half as a bQY receiving vivid impressiOons Oof Qld China, and later as a missiOonary critical and atpapkreenciaf trQivme recponosret couft. Itvhee lip. feerloofdssomI.ne fQr 12 years tOo Western China, the rapidly changing China Oof tQday. mi"SSIQnary I attacked my new task at Temple University in the same way in Church history. These reports were read in class which I apprQach this subject, nQt as a specialist in educatiQn, careful tOo Qbserve the laws Oof pedagQgy, but as a missiQnary first, f::dt';~ N~ini~~k ~~~~~:~t!~.~~~ g~sl.eleven years have been spent [405 ]
at their chronological place in history. Each source of great satisfaction. One actually bought report of from 2,500 to 3,000 words covered the for his own library everyone of the eight mis- following points: a brief outline of the mission- sionary books assigned for his reading, after he ary's life; the influences which led him to enlist had read the library copies.. Of Morrow's life and his preparations for service; a description of Judson, entitled "Splendor of God," another of the most worth-while accomplishment of the student wrote in his review, "Thank you for put- missionary ; criticism of the least praiseworthy ting this on the required reading list. It is abso- missionary methods and attitudes; the suitability lutely the most -inspiring and gripping book I ever of his message in the light of present-day stand- read." Another said that missionary biographies ards; lastly, a portrayal of the most inspiring and "had so stimulated his thirst for more" that he impressive characteristics of the missionary. was reading biographies which had not been as- As far as possible each student chose the mis- signed, duri~_ his vacation, for pleasurable in- sionary he preferred; only a few had to take sec- spiration. .Another outstanding senior enthused ond choices. At each of our two-hour sessions over Brockman's "I Discover the Orient," saying throughout the semester a paper was read, taking that it had opened a window to better understand- about half an hour. In spite of a limited mission- ing and appreciation of the Chinese. A serious- ary library, by the end of the semester the stu- minded student wrote: "The life of Adoniram dents had come to know about sixty home and Judson by his son, Edward Judson, challenged me foreign missionaries, half of them thoroughly. with the question, would I be willing to serve They were assigned readings in other missionary Christ at such sacrifice? I thank God for having biographies, besides their individual assignments. read this book, and hope that if such a command (2) The students' need for information was comes I will be found in His will and not my own."
also met by the study of some fourteen mission- Yet another student laughingly declared that he ary magazines. They had to appraise these mag- always left his mission assignments to the last, azines, and classify, giving their reasons. Then because his weariness of mind and flesh from as- they described an ideal magazine that they be- signments in other courses would always be dis- lieved would meet all needs. In this way they in- pelled by the inspiration in his miss,ionary read- directly gleaned much information and learned ing. He would retire refreshed in body, mind and where more could be secured. The examination soul ~rom the stirring information he had secured.
called for a letter to the editor of each student's After making due allowance for a desire to get denominational periodical, making criticisms and a good grade, the character of students making suggestions. such testimonies, convince me that missions, if (3) Information was also imparted through given half a chance, can be made most interesting the eye-gate, both by the professor's own stereop- and inspiring. But the subject must find good ticon slides and, in one course, by the missionary soil in which to bear fruit. It is usually the most slides secured from various denominational head- intelligent, earnest and slerious-minded students quarters, the students delivering the lectures who respond most enthusiastically to the appeal themselves during the first half hour, followed by of the heroic in missions.
criticisms from other students. We must let missions slpeak for themselves in (4) For one course that presented "A minis- the following ways: ter's brief for world missions," information was (1) Reading good biographies of missionaries. provided in lectures and by 'assigned readings.. (2) Reading stories and bi,ographies of native (5) In the course on a "Critique of Modern converts to Christ. Bishop Frederick B. Fisher, in Missions," based on the Laymen's Report, a criti- his testimony to ministers of Buffalo at their ancal judgment was developed to evaluate informa- nual retreat some years ago, said: "When I went tion, and data on the outstandingly successful to India as a missi,onary my heroos were all ,of my missionary enterprises was given to the students own race: Livingstone, Carey and Judson. Now through missionary periodicals. my Christian her,oes are of another race: men In these five ways much information has been like Kagawa of Japan,and Sadhu Sundar Singh supplied in interesting ways. of India, and Sun Yat-sen of China."
The Students' Need for Inspiration (3) Many stories of missionary heroism and sacrifice were gleaned from the lives of my own To save missions from its reputation of being parents and other missionaries I have known.
one of the dryest subjects taught in seminaries it There are books like "Waste Basket Surgery" by was with no little concern that I undertook' to Dr. Gordon Seagrave.
make the subject inspiring to our School of The- (4) A study of Christ's missionary spirit, ology students. That most of them found the teaching and practice as the minister's chief missions courses unexpectedly inspiring was a source of inspiration.
THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF MISSIONS TO PASTORS
The Pastor's Need for Missionary Defence JudsQn's challenge to missionary effort, they grew by leaps and bounds until today they are 90 times At the outset of a course entitled "The Minis- as great (9,000,000) in a little over 100 years. ter's Brief for World Missions," the class was We read that in the Baptist churches in Lincoln's asked to bring in all the criticisms they have home town in Illinois, the majQrity refused to supheard in opposition to WQrld missions. These port foreign missions. Today thQse anti-missionwere met as fully and frankly as possible; then ary-minded churches are practically dead, while a series .of lectures followed which aimed to do the missionary minded churches have over 50,000 two things.: (1) to provide the students with the members in .one ass.ociation. most convincing arguments for maintaining world missions; and (2) to provide them with the foun- What would Sunday school teachers do without dation supports fQr a year's series of monthly ser- missionary stories? mons, which, with topical variations, could last them for a life time. Grenfell's mother was right when she said: "Labrad.or has doOne much more for my son than In selecting the eight most cogent arguments my son has done f.or the Labrad.or." for missions I am aware of what my friend Guy W. Sarvis, formerly a missionary in China, writes If there were no missions in the Christian in his review of Sewell's "China Through a, College Window." There Sarvis says: "The time Church we would have to invent s.omething like has passed to defend missions on the basis of Biblical texts and abstract ethics. They must be them to keep the Church alive and growing. evaluated for their worth to the persons and communities. directly involved as well as for their (3) Because we owe a debt to the past t.O pass significance in international relations at a time on the Gospel to the future. A mother and child, when the world is contracting physically in in East Aurora, New York, attended a missionary airplane tempo, while doctrines of national sep- service. When the mother put nothing in the colaratism are supplanting the ideal of human broth- lection basket, the child said: "Mother, aren't you erhood. The missionary process is essentially one going to pay for me?" Could that mother ever pay of the impingement of cultures, inevitable in the for her Christian home, husband, church, land and modern world, good or bad in terms of concrete Gospel? Never, yet someone had to pay! "The effects." noble army, men and boys, the matIlon and the maid," martyrs and pioneers, all the way back to While we attempt to apply this truth we do not the Cross, where the greatest price was paid, tesabandon the authority of the Bible as part of the tify that "We are not our own; we have been defense of missions, because in the rightly selected bought with a price." G€neral Pershing, when passages we find the support which Jesus Christ he laid the wreath at Lafayette's tomb in France, gave to world missions in spirit, teaching and said, "Lafayette, we are here." Should we not practice. Hence the first argument, practically say to the dead champions of the faith, pioneer the only Biblical one, is: missionaries who gave their all, to Christ and to spread the Gospel we now enjoy: "Pioneers, (1) Because Jesus taught and practised world we are here" ! missions. In this lecture the student is shown, in some cases for the first time, how Jesus gave much (4) Because the sacrifices of missionaries must of His time and effort to preaching to the Gentiles not be in vain. Using the theme of Col. John Mcof His own country. As He was almost lynched Crae's poem: "In Flanders Field": by fellow townsfolk because He said He was going to preach to the Gentiles owing to the Jewish To you from failing hands we throw the Torch; Be yours to hold it high! indifference and unresponsiveness, so the preacher If ye break faith with us who die of today, to be truly like his Master, must expect We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders field. to meet opposition from unenlightened fellow Christians to the world missionary program. But We read of heroic sacrifices of missionaries, of we must not, for that reason, desist from earnest missionary mothers, missionary children, of pareffort to spread the Gospel. ents at h.ome who have given their children for foreign service; sacrifices.of devoted Christians (2) Because the Christian Church needs world in the h.ome churches, to supp.ort missionaries. missions to keep it Christ-like and growing, by the As Paul said: "I .take pleasure in necessities for challenge of a great task, such as world missions Christ's s·ake." If soldiers, explorers, and scienpresents. "They who live unto themselves, die tists are ready to make sacrifices f.or their coununto themselves." TQ deny is to die, to give is try, why should we not be ready to sacrifice for to live. This is true of churches as of individuals. Christ? Baptists in 1818 numbered only 158,000. But, mainly because .of the spiritual effect of accepting (5) Because we should give of our best to atone for the w.orst we have given. Review of the his- tory of the white man's invasions of colored races -American Indian; African slave trade; parti- tion of Africa; Mexican conquest by Spaniards;
South American conquest; the occupation of In- lined in the previous. headings) so that they can dia, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of repeat the main theme with variations made effec- Oceania; the semi-partition of China. Albert tive by fresh illustrations. These can be obtained Schweitzer of Africa says: "A heavy guilt rests from missionary magazines. More than forty stu- upon our Christian culture," and he adds that he dents voluntarily took out a year's SUbscription to is there to try to make some atonement. a missionary magazine, and have been enthusiastic (6) Because those who sit in darkness deserve readers of it.
to share in the light of the world. Multitudes Popular magazines also sometimes supply mis- earnestly follow what light they have, though this sionary stories and articles. These are at work is often superstition; many have an earnest in minds of people who never read a missionary hunger for the truth; they are ready to make magazine. Missionary books, especially biog- sacrifices for their own religions; they suffer raphies of nY.ssionaries, are a fertile source of through ignorance, superstition, and wrong. The inspiring illustrations-stories of work, stories of least we can do is to share with them the greater converts, the products of missions. Other good light we have from Christ. missionary literature can be secured from denom- (7) Because when they have the light non- inational headquarters.
Christian peoples often rn,a,ke the best Christians. The suggestion is also made that five minutes While it is all that American Christians can do to may profitably be devoted during the Sunday get an hour or two of religious programs a day morning service to reports on missionary events over the air, the Chinese Christians of Shanghai and progress, under some such title as, "The March have their own broadcasting station and fill the of Missions" or "News Not in the Newspapers."
air with Christian messages all day long. If made brief and pointed, such a feature will edu- (8) Because the kingdom of G,od cannot come cate and inspire the congregations.
fully anywhere until it comes everywhere, and it Good missionary drama is immensely effective, cannot be accomplished without the help of Chris- and suggestions are made as to ways in which this tians of every race and nation. America could can be used. Lists of recommended missionary not be kept "dry" under prohibition, largely be- drama (one is by Rev. La Rue Cober of Colgate cause of wet Canada to the north and Mexico to Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, N. Y.) are the south, and wetter Europe across the Atlantic, distributed to the students and they or their wives so no land can ever beoome fully Christian until urged to try their hands at similar drama. every land has accepted Christ and His way of life. As Lloyd George said to Stanley High: "If The Need for Example and Practice missions fail, the rest of us will have to shut up shop!" , The seminary chapel furnishes an opportunity for the students to hear missionary speakers, as The Need for Missionary Ammunition examples of how (as well as, how not) to preach "The best defence is an offence," militarists tell on mISSIons. One speaker, using stereopticon us. The preacher needs ammunition for mission- slides, unsllspectingly furnished a good opportu- ary sermons and guidance in dropping his bombs. nity for the students to criticize pro and con, in The strategy of the Trojan horse is a wise prece- the light of their class training.
dent for the .general who would take the enemy of Only practice makes perfect. The practice pro- missions unawares. When one student started vided for the students was in sermon construction, his sermon with the bald statement: "This is a and in presentation of missionary lectures with missionary sermon," he was warned that he had stereopticon pictures in the classroom, and sermon made a tactical error before he had a chance to delivery in their own churches.
be heard. Opponents of missions close their ears Sermon construction was after this manner.
and hearts at the outset, while others need not be The professor assigned missionary books on told. The "Trojan horse strategy" is to iriter- which sermons were to be written, then to be sperse sermons with int~resting missionary illus- preached by those students who were supplying trations, occasionally at first, until an appetite for pulpits. Thus they "killed two birds with one such food has been stimulated, and a demand is stone," a feat which students alw'ays appreciate.
created for missionary sermons. Then give mis- Those students who had churches where they sionary sermons attractive, catchy titles, such as could preach the sermons prepared in class, re- Modern Miracles of the Master; Good News from ported impressions made upon their congrega- Far Countries; Saddle-Bay Surveyors of the tions.
Kingdom; Jesus the First World Missionary; At the beginning of each two-hour class half an Are Christians Color Blind? hour was given to stereopticon lectures by the Students are urged to collect clippings and students two at a time, each taking turns prac- notes on each of the arguments for missions (out- ticing the mechanics of running a stereopticon
RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS OF A MIDWEST CITY
lantern, andgIvmg the message. At the close sermons, because they have information and inthe students criticized the presentation and the spiration, and confidence in their ability to put mechanics, before the professor made his contri- the message across. bution. One of the examination questions called for a list of instructions as to the physical, mental Great encouragement to this method of teachand spiritual preparation for the presentation of ing missions comes from the fact that one student missionary lectures to guide the novice. Students was so much interested in his study of the history were also asked to criticize the quality of mission- of missions in the Caribbean islands (on which no ary lectures supplied by their denominational book has been written so that no little research headquarters, and to compose a letter to the au- on his part was necessary) that he submitted a thorities making suggestions. master's thesis, illustrated with handmade maps of every Caribbean island. The assignment had Thus the students are helped to become efficient been for a 3,000 word paper, and the student had in the presentation of missionary material so that not yet graduated. To have aroused such interest they will no longer dread that duty but will look in a missionary subject is one indication that the forward with pleasure to preaching missionary methods work.
Religious Problems of a Midwest City By REV. L. MERLE RYMPH, Wichita, Kansas President of the Ministerial Association and Minister of the Fairmount Community Church, CongregatiQnal W HAT are the religious problems of a Mid- Street and Douglas Ave. According to the story west city? Even a superficial study of of pioneers, Douglas Avenue became the prized facts, made by a casual observer, would business and residence street by a mere chance reveal a series of religious problems in a city like circumstance, in that the cowboy surveyor who Wichita, Kansas. These problems grow out of flung his rope across Douglas Ave. used a 114-foot five contributing social factors: (1) the rapid rope instead of a 100-foot rope as intended. Be growth of the city, (2) the missionary zeal and that as it may, this prairie city developed as most optimism of its pioneer founders, (3) the rapid prairie cities tend to develop in the form of a shift of its population from an agricultural econ- "cross" with the original business center at the omy and life to an urban economy and life, (4) the intersection. Douglas Avenue, being the wider secularization of its common life, and (5) the ex- and more beautiful street, attracted the more perience of chastened optimism during the more desirable business and residential development.
recent depression years. Main Street became the center of industrial de- I velopment north and south, as well as the center of the less desirable business and residential de- In less than seventy years the virgin praIrIe velopment. That fact has had its bearing today has been overlaid with a city population of 117,000 on the types of churches and the success of church residents. In the year 1867 the spot on which the developments in the various sectors of the city.
city of Wichita now stands was vis,ited by a corps In considering the city's phenomenal growth, of government surveyors. and this territory was it is well to remember that the city's growth to a laid out in government homesteads, laying the large extent has been the result of the develop- foundation for the rigid pattern of the City's north ment of the Southwest trade territory. The trade and south, east and west streets. The shallow territory in a very real sense made the city. In ford and the grove of cottonwood trees at the 1871,·800,000 cattle were driven through this city intersection of the Little Arkansas and the Big to the nearest market. When the Santa Fe Rail- Arkansas Rivers was a normal meeting place and road was extended to Wichita in 1872, two mil- trading center for homesteaders. In the year lion dollars changed hands in Wichita in the ship- 1870 the two original town plots, laid out by two ping of cattle. In the next few years most of the pioneers, Munger and Griifensteing, were joined immediate trade territory was homesteaded. By and incorporated as the city of Wichita, fixing the 1885 the Board of Trade in Wichita was adver- two main business streets of the city as Main tising the southwest territory, as "the cream of
the Southwest, . its land as rich as the plains As evidence of the underchurched situation that of Belgium, its breezes laden with the perfume is ours, I submit some facts revealed in a study of wild flowers and apple blossoms as sweet as of Week-Day Religious Education in Wichita as ever blew over Ceylon's isle, . . . its corn fields made by the Board of Week-Day Religious Edustretching mile on mile, which will ere long be cation in the year 1935. That year 10,950 elekeeping rhythmic time to those breezes." Such mentary children were eligible to attend W. D. optimism, such faith in the Southwest, such busi- R. E. schools in the churches, for one hour one day each week. Of these 10,950 elementary chilness and commercial enterprise set the stage for dren that were eligible for such instruction, only the rapid development of the Southwest and in 5,371 were in public schools adjacent to churches turn the rapid growth of the city itself. It is that were able and willing to offer facilities and against this background of individual enterprise, leadership f~. such instruction. Five thousand agricultural and business advance, that the five hundred and seventy-nine other elementary churches of Wichita have functioned until recent children were enrolled in public elementary years. schools either not adjacent to churches or adjacent What has the rapid development of the South- to churches not able and willing to offer this inwest, and the rapid growth of the city, meant to struction to these children. The proportion of the the church life of Wichita? It has reflected itself children that should rightfully be looked upon as in the mood of the churches. The churches expect a Protestant opportunity and responsibility is to grow. They expect to be fed continuously by the transfer of members from the great Southwest indicated by the fact that of the 5,371 who had -hence the success of those churches in the South- the privilege of attending W. D. R. E. in adjacent west as feeders into the church life of Wichita has churches, able and willing to offer them instrucbeen of no small consequence. The churches like- tion, 4,032 accepted the opportunity offered them. wise have expected the wealth of the Southwest The lowest percentage attending from any public to transfer itself to Wichita and express itself in school where the privilege was offered was 84% the building of great churches here. The wealth of cattle, and wheat, and oil has been a major con- and the highest percentage 96 %. These pertributing factor to the financial prestige of many of· our city churches, and not a single established centages indicate the measure of Protestant opchurch continues to function today entirely inde- portunity in Wichita, if only Protestantism was pendent of the wealth of Wichita's trade territory. organized and eager to serve the city, i. e., if the city was adequately churched. In the number of churches that have been founded in Wichita and in the number of Prot- I know that there are those that argue that estant sects and churches that are endeavoring to such things as Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, and W. D. continue to serve the city, it would appear that R. E. are not necessary features of the church much of the religious faith, so expressed, has been program. I know that there are those who still ill-advised. With the hopeful expectancy that fol- contend that a Sunday church program is suffilows pioneer individual enterprise, Protestant cient. Let me call attention to the fact that Sunchurches were established throughout Wichita day School attendance is not sufficient. I have with reckless abandon. Today we have, accord- only the figures on Sunday School enrolments at ing to the Saturday Church Page, 114 Protestant hand, and could only make a guess as to the regchurches and sects trying to serve the city. The ularity of Sunday School attendance. I would omit the wild guess in favor of the hard, known city may be, as some claim, 80 % Protestant re- facts. The study made in 1935 previously referred to also reveals the fact that throughout the city sponsibility, nevertheless, it would appear that it the average percentage of elementry school chilis beyond reason to expect 114 churches to accrue dren enrolled in Sunday School is only 58ro, the sufficient leadership and financial strength to adequately serve the needs of city people. Many of greatest percentage in any sector being 63 % and the churches are so weak and feeble that whole areas are unserved by the Boy Scout and Girl the lowest being 44 %. . Certainly these percent- Scout organizations. Many other churches make no attempt to set up Week-Day Schools of Reli- ages leave a clear picture of the underchurching gion because they feel themselves too weak in of Wichita by our present program of Sunday leadership and financial resources. Still other religious education through our Sunday Schools churches carryon very inadequate and low-grade in these 114 churches. Sunday programs of religious education and worship. Wichita is now underchurched because it A study of the relative childhood responsibiliis overchurched with inadequate church organiza- ties of neighborhood, subcenter, and downtown tions. churches is still more revealing. The same study referred to in the above paragraphs reveals that it took four downtown churches with a total mem- bership of 8,900 to care for 1,284 pupils in the Week-Day Schools of Religion. The study also
shows the fact tha.t at the same time three sub- ties. Right now the sense of competition exceeds center residential churches with a total member- the sense that is ours of cooperation in meeting ship of 1,750 were caring for 341 pupils in Week- our common religious civic responsibility. Day Religious Education. More surprising still is the revelation we find in the studies referred to, The Influence of Sectarianism that three outlying re!>idential churches of 1,400 total membership were supplying Week-Day Here one may face frankly the heritage that is ours of our frontier missionary zeal in the Religious Education facilities for 601 pupils. establishment of denominational and sectarian Certainly the cost of Week-Day Religious Educa- churches. On the Saturday Church Page of the tion and the leadership of these schools is not Wichita Eagle the 114 Protestant congregations very equitably divided in the system of W. D. R. E. are listed under 36 different denominational and as it now stands in Wichita. I understand that sectarian captions. I suspect that this listing since 1935 two of the downtown churches have minimizes the actual number of sectarian groupaccepted the responsibility of helping finance and ings. Protestantism in every city has its myriad types of churches and Wichita is no exception. promote schools in outlying unserved districts. All home mission boards in the early days were Yet only one-half of our elementary children are offered these opportunities of religious instruc- eager "to possess the land" and to gain their tion. Surely no one will deny the fact that a greater statesmanlike churchmanship must be ex- rightful place in this metropolitan center. A pressed if Wichita children are to be offered this study of the Saturday Church Page reveals that minimum of religious instruction. the individual with the most rare and sensitive taste should be able to find the congregation of In a Midwest city like Wichita, all churches his choice here. We have our defenders of the are accessible to the adult population on Sundays. faith and we have churches' most tolerant and lib- From the most distant outlying point the down- eral. We have rigid sectarian churches and we town sector can be reached by bus in 15 minutes have churches that practice intercommunion as and by car in 12 minutes. The Sunday program well as open communion. We have our highly liof churches then is highly competitive and. each turgical churches and our non-liturgical churches. church finds itself in real, though friendly com- We have national cultural churches transplanted petition with every other church in the city. The from European scenes and we have typical Amerbigger downtown churches have the prestige of ican churches. We have country churches that years, of central location, of greater numerical have merely moved to town and we have highly and financial strength, and of a more highly paid ,adapted city churches. We have the more regular staff. The outlying residential church has the typ,es of Protestant churches like Methodist, Bappower of neighborhood appeal, the social power tist, Presbyterian, Congregational, etc., and we of contiguous and intimate family and age-group have a more or less irregular list including Penterelationships, and the warm spiritual appeal of costal, Tabernacle, Mission, Spiritualist, The- osophy and Unity. We have churches that insist intimate understandings. The subcenter residen- on being known as Trinitarian and one that above tial churches, many of them, face the area of all things is' Unitarian. Then beyond Protestantgreatest human need as' indicated by juvenile de- ism are the seven Roman Catholic churches and linquency, transciency, low rents and divisive the one central Roman Catholic Cathedral. Bereligious competitions. Having served for 11 yond this the two Jewish synagogues, the orthoyears as pastor of the Fairmount Community Con- dox and the liberal, with which some measure of gregational Church, a residential church five miles fellowship exists through the local Round Table from the heart of the city, I am most familiar of the National Conference of Jews and Chriswith the adaptations that such a church must tians. make, majoring in its community responsibilities The problem of fellowship and cooperation in throughout the week, without minimizing those such a myriad situation at times becomes a most opportunities that remain for intensive religious baffling one. Some of the more recept questions work on Sunday. For my own part, I ch,eri@the that ,ha:v/il come up in cooperative church fellowspiritual heritage that is ours of religious''iree- ship cit.cles are these: "How can church groups dom, with the right of people to worship and;;erve work odt an effective cooperative publicity and wh.en and where they choose; but I do hope t.hat promotioriprogram?" "Just what churches should along with recognition of that freedom as Prot- be represented in the Council of Churches-more s,pecificalIy, are churches such as "The Reorganestants we can so enhance our sense of shared ized Church of the Latter Day Saints" and "The social and religious responsibility that the needs Unitarian Church" sufficiently like-minded and of residential, subcenter, and downtown churches alike in faith and practice to be welcomed into the will be adequately met, that these several types of churches may fulfil their God-given responsibili-
fellowship of these already in the Council?" churches which were thriving churches in 1888 "Just how far and in what way should the Prot- were so depleted in 1892 that the only way they estant ministerial group share its fellowship with could see their way clear to carryon was to merge the Liberal Jewish Rabbi, who is most fraternal their forces into one church. Some churches have and eager for greater fraternity?" "What part been left stranded, located in the center of illshall Protestantism play in championing the reli- advised real estate ventures that failed to work gious rights. of minority religious culture groups ?" out. Other churches have been made by being Finally this most perplexing modern problem: located in the center of rapidly developing resi- "How can the radio time offered by the two broad- dential territory. In the main all those churches casting stations be most equitably and effectively located in good time in the heart of the "city divided among the various religious groups within cross," north and south, east and west, have the city?" If the reader of this, article is inclined grown by leaps and bounds regardless of their to feel that these questions have no real signifi- denomination~t affiliation. The only churches to cance, it would be well to sit in on some of the exceed them in growth have been those first estabconferences where these items· are inadvertently lished and centrally located downtown near the and unexpectedly brought to the fore for solution. heart of the business sector. Location means Here they must be faced as factual and emotional much to a church. Nowhere is this more evident realities. Sometimes the emotional factor is the than in a growing city like Wichita, with its varymajor factor. The religious problems that now ing types of residential and industrial developcome to a focus in this post-home missionary ex- ment schemes. pansion period are the problems that arise out of the Babel of sectarians that insist on their rights Just a word about the mind-set of the people of being heard on the city's streets, yet are more who move from the farms to Wichita, for to a or less desirous of finding their unity of expres- very large extent the city is made up of those who sion with others at the point of common under- have moved here from its trade territory. The standing and purpose. population is homogeneous and, for the most part, native American stock. Some come from the rural The Changing City Populations area, crowded off of the farms either by the mech- anization of those farms or because of the fact In dealing with the religious. problems that that the families have been too large for homearise from a shift from an agricultural economy stead farms to support all members generation and life to an urban economy and life, many things after generation. They come to Wichita full of come to my mind, but I shall limit this treatise expectancy and hope, expecting to be absorbed in merely to those problems which arise out of real the industrial and commercial life of the city. estate promotion schemes and those that appear Many of them do find their permanent place in the in the mind-set of the city man, recently trans- work life of the community. Some rise to high planted from the rural to the urban scene. places in civic and religious leadership. Others are absorbed in the city's industrial and commer- When one begins to study the different real estate promotion schemes that have had their day cial activities for a time only. Many are "let out" in Wichita, one begins to suspect that at least in at 45 and younger. Then it is that the sense of this respect Wichita has just grown up "like lostness and conscious maladjustment seizes them Topsy." Many subdivisions of the city have been and they suffer severe disillusionments, growing sanely promoted and have come as a normal result out of their own false hopes and the inadequacies of the demands of a growing city. Charts made of our modern city civilization in making perfor the city planning commission as early as 1923 manent room for them. One could not catalogue indicate some 23 different city plots that were the personal, the home, the social and the spirannexed, undeveloped, tax delinquent, and va- itual difficulties that the alert pastor must face in cated. Since that time many of these have been the fulfilment of his day-by-day pastoral duties, reannexed and developed as residential sectors. ministering to city dwellers today. The burst of the real estate boom in 1887 was purely a resultant of wild land speculation that One tremendous opportunity that the city brought a stalemate to city growth for ten years. church has today is the religious opportunity of Fifty church fammes from one church group influencing various professional groups through alone moved their residence from Wichita to the channels of religious inspiration and counsel. Eureka because they thought it offered more se- This seems to be the growing edge of the church's curity for their religious colony, and a more per- responsibility in civic life. So much of the work manent location for a denominational school of the Christian pastor in these days must be done center. The church of which I am now pastor as a professional religious adviser on the city came into being in those years, when two young streets and in the marketplace. Jesus found the condition quite different in the temple of Jeru-
RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS OF A MmWEST CITY
salem and on the streets of the Holy City from inadvertently. Adults are caught today in the what it was on the plains of Palestine and along throes of diversified and competitive Sunday pulls, the quiet shores of Galilee. The city pastor today, until Sunday for many has become a nightmare, likewise, finds the demands of the city quite dif- instead of a day of rest and worship. Schools, ferent from that of the more distinctly rural field. particularly universities, tend more and more to Religious work in the city must be adapted to the use Sunday for extras such as rehearsals, open highly specialized interests represented in city house and public concerts. Recreational groups life. The churchman in the city must face with and institutions, particularly those heavily com- courage and vision the demands of the city and mercialized, make their appeal more and more to adapt the work of his organization to the meeting Sunday crowds. Certain industries and commer- of those apparent spiritual needs, if the church of cial enterprises feel that they must open Sundays, the city is to have transforming and redemptive and the fact that people, including some church power. The city religious worker, today, who is people, patronize these businesses would indicate true to his trust, will face fearlessly as Jesus did that there is a public demand for Sunday open- the clannishness, the bigotries, and the self-suffi- ing. Then as a more recent development is the ciencies of privileged city classes, as his Master growing practice of professional and civic groups did before him. Likewise, he will follow the foot- to use Sundays as their big days for opening and steps of his Lord in entering sympathetically into closing their festivities. One divisive pull alone the problems of the underprivileged, the confused, would not be so devastating to the work of the and the harassed individuals who walk the city churches-but the aggregate of all these divisive streets without a real sense of security and "at pulls make it most difficult for churches to carry homeness." The spiritual service man renders to on consistent and constructive work on the day common humanity is still the best indication of that was once recognized as the Lord's day, and man's divinity. the day of the church's major opportunity.
The Secularization of Life What is the church to do about the seculariza- tion .of Sunday? Some churchmen are militant The secularization of contemporary urban life about the situation – and seek legislation, safemanifests itself in a number of ways, but no mani- guarding the Lord's Day for church purposes, festations of that secularization are more signifi- particularly certain well established hours. Some cant in the demands upon the city church for are troubled in the face of the situation-and seek urban adaptation than those that grow out of counsel. Some are intensely serious in the face (1) the secularization of Sunday and (2) the secularization of youth's sense of relative values. of the situation and are seeking ways to make Sunday more meaningful and ways also to sup- The secularized competitive usages that city plement th,e church's Sunday work with mean- people are bringing into their week-end and Sun- ingful week-day activities. Who is there who day experiences handicap the work of city does not recognize the gravity of the situation churches more than any reader of this article fully realizes. The chart made by the Week-Day sufficiently to realize that the church's one day of Religious Education Board reveals the percentage major opportunity has been and is being ruth- of attendance of elementary children in attend- lessly dissipated by many thoughtless and needless ance at Week-Day Schools of Religion in 1935 and competitive usages? Easter Sunday, our churches . in Sunday Schools for the same year. The aver- were crowded to the doors. One member of the age percent for Sunday School attendance stands regular Sunday worshipping congregation was at 58.70, ranging from 44% to 63%. The average heard to remark: "This shows how many people percentage in attendance at the Week-Day can go to church when they really want to."
Schools of Religion, 90%, ranging from 84% to I wonder just where are we going, and what 9670 in the different schools. Many factors enter are we going to do next Sunday, and the next into the fact that a greater percentage go to Sunday, and the next. In Wichita, we are for- W. D. R. E. than to S. S.; among these factors tunate enough to have both a board of education are "clothes," "the gang spirit," and the fact of and a city council that are sympathetic to the "no collection"-all in the favor of the W. D. R. E. church's problem. The publicly owned buildings school-but beyond these factors is the factor of Wichita are not open to the public on Sunday that parents. do not take the children away from for commercialized, competitive programs. Some the public school and the W. D. R. E. school for professional groups have given consideration to picnics, visiting and rural outings-as they take the church's need of a real opportunity to carry them from the Sunday School and the Sunday on its constructive and creative work by recog- worship program of the church. nizing Sunday as primarily the church's day. In But children are not the only ones who have the the main, however, it must be confessed that the influences of Sabbath observance taken from them problem has not seriously been faced by most in-
dividuals and groups within the city that should to be as group- and class-conscious as the Chamber be most concerned. of Commerce. A city-planning commission has been working since 1923 to effect a more whole- The other aspect of secularization I feel led to some city life. In times past the problems of face is also most real-I refer to the subconscious Wichita have been problems of its youth, exsecularization of our youth that takes place when pressed in growing pains. The problems today youth is educated only in and by our public school are the problems of middle age. Day after tosystem. Such education, valuable as it is, alone morrow they will be the problems of age. Right is not enough. The public schools, the high now interest is being manifest in filling in the schools, and the municipal university in this mid- gaps in city development by encouraging the erecwest city are so big, that the youth program of tion of diagonal streets to the four corners of the our churches appeal to the youth as too small and city. One of these has already been constructed, insignificant, unless the youth program of our terminating 'tlJt the airport. Another, soon we individual churches really does for these youth trust, will terminate at the Municipal University. what no public school, no matter how big, can ever Individual, unrelated real estate promotion do. Life to be healthy and whole must be under- schemes are giving way to city plannng and cogirded both by an adequate religious faith and an operative promotion enterprises. One cannot lisadequate religious experience in real spiritual fel- ten in at Democratic meetings these days and hear lowship. The church that meets this two-fold the words "the present recession" and at Repubneed will have the loyalty of its youth. The lican meetings and hear the echo, "the Roosevelt church's opportunity seems to be in those small depression," without feeling that the buoyant ingroup and age fellowship organizations where a dividualism of the past is really giving way to a type of religious. work and experience is nurtured sense of chastened optimism and perhaps also a quite comparable to the experience and work sense of somewhat restrained social responsibility. Jesus shared in the intimacies of fellowship with His disciple band. This likewise is true of the The Church in these days is caught up by the Christian Youth Council and the "Y" organiza- mood of the times. No great church buildings or tions. cathedrals are now being built in Wichita. No church is rushing into. new territory. The Council Looking Into the Future of Churches is not reaching out to take advanced ground with the boundless enthusiasm of the days I began this paper with an expression of bound- of its youth-yet it is conserving its status and less optimism, growing out of the consciousness it is undergirding itself for real work ahead, as that Wichita has been a rapidly growing city, are many of the churches. The Council of from the time of its founding until now. A new Churches grew out of a sense of shared church factor, however, has come into our common ex- responsibility some 18 years ago. The principle perience in more recent years. These depression of unrestrained individual church freedom had and recession years have disciplined our minds as Wichitans, as it has the minds and spirits of men run its course, and through the vision and courage and women the world around. Weare beginning of men like A. A. Hyde, Wichita's chief philanto recognize that the problems we now face and thropist, and Ross Sanderson, Wichita's pioneer are destined to face in the future will be more cooperative statesman; the Council of Churches difficult and baffling, for they will grow out of a was organized on a sane and constructive basis. more static situation. We already have one-fifth Last fall the National Preaching Mission conof our population on relief-in that we are one ducted in Wichita demonstrated the increased with our nation. Our sense of self-sufficiency has spiritual power that is released within a city like been somewhat broken in recent years as we have Wichita when churches join wholeheartedly in watched great dust clouds roll in from the South- united Christian effort. The growing sense of west and· as we have watched government agency interdenominational interrelatedness that is ours after goVernment agency established with head- today is a powerful and latent spiritual force quarter§: in our city for the relief of those in need undergfrding the churches for better days ahead. of govenhment subsidy. Kansas wheat farmers, historic~1ly individualistic and independent, have The future is uncharted. Spiritual needs will sensed their dependence and their interdepend- forever manifest themselves as real and all-com- ence, and have been learning to cooperate to pelling: The spirit of the Christ in the churches forward common interests and welfare of the com- will forever rise up to meet those needs. Just so .mon weal. Then, too, group- and class-conscious- long as the church, as "the body of Christ," emness has been growing within the city itself. bodies His Spirit and adapts itself to the changing Under the Wagner Act, labor g"roups are coming needs of the city, just so long will spiritual transinto a consciousness of group needs and bid fair formations take place and Christ's redemptive power wiiI be felt in the life of this midwest city.
I Believe in Jesus
I I~.- –tijf By GENERALISSIMO CHIANG KAI-SHEK* of China · AITH and superstition are two entirely dif- did he receive a so-called higher education. He ferent things. We must all realize that super- was born in an ordinary home of the laboring class, the son of a carpenter. Because He per- Pstition is not faith, and that those who really have faith will not wander off into vulgar super- ceived that His nation was on the verge of ruin, stition. If a man lacks faith he can accomplish that Abraham's seed was about to be destroyed, nothing; nor can he accomplish anything if he He courageously decided to undertake the arduous admits superstition into his life. Men nowadays task of restoring His nation; He dedicated him- often regard faith as superstition, and supersti- self wholly to the cause, and resolved to struggle tion as faith, and because the two are confused, sacrificially for the salvation of his people; more those who oppose superstition also discard faith. than that, to save all mankind. So He led his fol- We should all know that the success of any lowers throughout the land, and by means of enterprise means that faith is indispensable. In preaching and healing, and through His divine these days when principles are in eclipse and de- wisdom and His unequaled power to present the sires run riot, when government is torn up, when three great themes of truth, righteousness and the people are suffering, and the nation is strug- life, He awakened His nation, He led His people, gling in disaster, how can we be saved from un- to bring about national revolution.
paralleled calamity unless there is vigorous faith Social Significance of the Gospel and confident assurance of victory? On the one hand we must break down all superstition, and Second, believe in Jesus because He was a leader on the other hand we must all the more exalt a of social revolution. The causes of a nation's de- cline are indeed many, but failure to remedy, by positive faith. For example, if we can believe in orderly change, the people's economic life is one the "Three Principles" first enunciated by Sun of the chief causes of national downfall. So who- Yat-sen, we can go and practice them. Because ever would promote a national revolution must we firmly believe the truth and righteousness. of first completely eradicate the ignorance, the corthe "Three Principles," we fear nothing. And ruption and the disorders of society, its selfishness this psy;chology of not being afraid, this spirit of and greed; then with a new spirit he can build fearlessness, comes from faith. up a new life, abundant, expanding and ascending. Thus he will seek the emancipation of His people. Jesus the Revolutionary First, believe in Jesus because He was a leader Jesus attacked with all his might the evil forces of national revolution. When Jesus came to earth. of His day; He tried with all His power to over- the Jewish nation was daily growing weaker. It come its pernicious mores. His purpose was none had suffered the full measure of insult and oppres- other than by means of His leadership and ideal- sion from the Roman imperial authority. From ism to deliver His submerged people out of dark- history we can see that the Jewish people, stag- ness so that they might become a new people. He gering under the violence of their enemies, were laid the foundat'ions of social revolution.
no different from cattle and slaves; all liberties Third, believe in Jesus because He was a leader had been taken away from them and all power put of religious revolution. Jesus saw the rottenness into the hands of Romans. At that time not only of religion in his day, the evil customs, and per- could Jewish national independence show no re- verted beliefs; the leaders one and all cheated the sistance, but even the will to resist had vanished. people, and imposed on them their false beliefs, Fortunately, at this point in the course of events seeking only their own selfish profit. Autocracy in Jesus Christ was born. the Jewish church, and the hollowness of its rit- He was not a scion of the nobility. He was ual, pained and deeply grieved Jesus. He recog- without temporal position and worldly power; He nized that unless the perverted beliefs and the did not grow up in a home of wealth, and still less hypocrisy were done away with He could not re- * A radio address broadcast fronl Hankow, China, ,on Easter eve, vive His prostrate people, and still less could He spread abroad and exalt the true spirit of religion. April 16, 1938. Translated into English by Prof. Warren H. Stuart So He constantly rebuked those who vaingloriof the College of Emporia, Emporia, Kansas. Reprinted from The Chl'istian Century.
[415 ]
ously prayed at street intersections; he vigorously China and C~ristianity opposed those who in the name of religion would Now look at our nation. Suffering the last hundeceive the people-evildoers who undermine so- dred years from the corruption and weakness of ciety. He cast out the traders and overthrew the the Manchus, its condition bears striking resemmoney changers' tables; by means of a parable blance to the situation in Jesus' day. He exposed the wicked husbandmen, brought to book the wicked tribute-eollectors, and rebuked Sun Yat-sen, cherishing love for God and man, the covetous capitalists. suffused with the revolutionary spirit of Jesus, and motivated by universal love, followed the path All these efforts were solely to lead his people of revolution for forty years as if but for a day. out of darkness into light, from defeatism into With utter self-sacrifice He sought freedom for active struggle, from riotous living into decency, the Chinese people. At last in 1911 the Manchus' from greed and corruption into frugality and holi- imperial rule was overthrown, and the Republic ness. This work of reforming religion and cleans- of China broul'ht into being. Thus was the work ing away its evils – how important it was, and of national revolution achieved. what a Herculean task! How daringly and decisively, and with what utter abando~, Jesus en- As Sun Ya.t-sen's successor, I look ahead into deavored to rescue the Church and SOCIety of that the consequences of the people's revolution and day from its myriad ills to awaken the masses think over the causes of our present spiritual defrom their ignorance! So Jesus was a leader of pression, I firmly believe that in seeking to bring religious revolution. national recovery and social progress, we must advocate Jesus' spirit of universal love and of Love the Law of Life sacrifice. I feel that whatever one does, whether As I constantly study the basis of Jesus' revolu- dealing with men and situations, or commanding tionary spirit-where it was actually rooted-I and carrying on the government, in all forms of feel that the basis lay entirely in His spirit of love. service, only love and peace are the foundations of He a.imed by this spirit of universal love to expel human life; and struggle and sacrifi·ce are a revo- lutionary's duty. This was the attitude of Jesus. the wrong thinking of men, to abolish their unj ?st This was my meaning on a former occasion when systems, to make it possible for everr man to .enJoy his God-given rights, and the blessmgs. of lIberty . I said, "Until peace has become hopeless, never and fraternity. Jesus felt that "all within the forsake peace; when sacrifice has become necesfour seas are brethren," so he wanted men to sary, then sacrifice without reservation." draw near and love one another, sharing in time During the last few years, whenever at leisure of trial, helping one another in time of illness. from pressing duties, I have been promoting a Between nations He wanted to promote peace and social movement which has produced some wide- spread results. I refer to the New Life Movejustice, so all his life He opposed v!olence and ?I?- held fair dealing. He always cherIshed the SPIrIt ment. I am well aware that in this movement the of mercy, and helped the weak. His ~ords an.d superficial aspects may easily be emphasized while deeds manifest at every point the realIty of HIS the heart of it is neglected; it is easy to stress its universal love, and His spirit of revolutionary material phase, while overlooking its spirit. Now I have something new to add: that is to say, self-sacrifice. Because Jesus desired to fulfill His heaven-ap- if we are really going to practice the new method of living, not only must we have a new spirit, we pointed mission to save mankind, h.e held. fast to must have a New Life. This new life must have an indomitable resolve, an unwavermg faIth; He Jesus' spirit of universal love, and His determinamaintained an attitude of perfect good will, even tion to sacrifice Himself; only thus can this qualat the cost of life itself, not hesitating to sacrifice ity of new life be obtained. all so that his courageous. heart might struggle to th; end. And even when He faced the cross, with In brief, the spirit of Jesus is constructive, sacits unparalleled torture, he still remained un- rificial, holy, true, peaceable, forward-looking, full moved, unshaken by his trials. He maintained of eager striving; and it is revolutionary throughsupreme loyalty to ideals and duty, supreme mag- out. My fellow countrymen, let us cherish the nanimity toward friends. and comrades. Such de- idea of a "new birth"; let us maintain the resovotion and sympathy are the more precious be- lution of "sacrifice." Let us hold Jesus as the goal cause so difficult to attain. Then see Him nailed for human living; let us keep the mind of Jesus high on the cross, asking His heavenly Father to as our mind, the life of Jesus as our life. Let us have mercy upon His foes because of their igno- bravely go with Him to the cross, to seek the everrance. Behold how limitless is His spirit of uni- lasting peace of mankind, and the renewal of our versal love! nation of China.
Jesus' creative revolutionary spirit is founded The economic mess in which the world finds itself today just on this, His spirit of universal love. is more a mess of sin than a mess of economic ignorance. ·-Professor John Baillie.
Transformations in West
By G. C. BEANLAND, Nkolmvolan, Cameroun.
THERE is warfare which is far more subtle out, then carry them to their towns where they and engaging than any military campaign; are planed and prepared for these new buildings the warfare carried on between the soldiers and for attractive furniture. Others are learning of the Cross of Christ and the hordes of evil in the art of burning brick and tile, with which they all parts of Africa. Here is the great adventure are constructing very durable and serviceable for the Christian Church. It is a difficult task to houses. Still others are learning to build houses overthrow the evil, superstitious practices of with mud walls, which, when whitewashed with paganism and supplant them with the truths con- white clay taken from the beds of the streams, cerning God, man, and nature. The missionaries' make very attractive houses. part in this great work is that of teacher of hand, Another change is noticed in the dress of the head, heart and health. His work is never done. He must be continually on the job and no matter people. Our Industrial School conducts a tailorin which of the four categories of mission work, ing class in which young men have been taught industrial, medical, evangelistic or educational, to make clothing like that worn by the white man. his work lies, all his talents must be engaged all After an apprenticeship of sufficient time, these young men graduate and, on returning to their of the time to be able to see hts cherished plants towns, set themselves up as "village tailors" and grow and flourish. very few of them suffer from idleness as they Cameroun Colony on the West coast of Africa, have all the work they can do for their towns- where the work of the American Presbyterian people. Chauffeurs and mechanics are trained in Church is carried on, is a mandated colony under our Industrial School who are in great demand to the care and protection of the French Govern- care for and drive the many motors which have ment. It was a German colony prior to the great been brought out by traders and government World War, and after the war was mandated to officials. In order for these motors to function France. Mission work was greatly hampered and properly, of course, there must be good roads, impeded during the struggle but the natives were and the old trails of former days have given way led to realize our great dependence upon God and to modern gravel roads threading the country and His protecting power over all of us and we suf- connecting the different administrative points and fered comparatively little during those terrible days. Changing regimes brought about many commercial centers. Our medical department ad- ministers to the many sick people who are broug~t changes in our mission work but we adjusted in to our hospitals from all the regions round ourselves to the new government and we have had about, so that the natives who are suffering from very cordial and sympathetic relations with the the various tropical diseases can have medical French administration since their occupation of attention. This is bringing about a great change the colony. in the health conditions of the country.
Certain changes are noted in which the mission Since the introduction of our mission schools, and missionaries have had some part since the which at first had a very skeptical reception, work of the mission was established along the there has been noticed quite an intellectual change West coast of Africa about fifty years ago. One among these people. They are a people of marvelnotices today new and attractive homes of some ous memories, keen perception and very vivid of the natives which are being built along the imagination. They are not such philosophers as motor roads of the country. The young men have are the sons of Shem and Japheth but they are learned in the carpenter shops how to saw the nobody's fools. They have a very rich storehouse planks from the great timbers of the forest and of folklore and traditions and much of their how to build their homes with these planks. Not past is to be known only as one draws it out of being able to haul their timbers to the sawmill, the older people in conversation. To introduce they resort to the primitive method of digging a our schools to them we had at first, of course, to pit and rolling a section of the log over the pit reduce some of their language to writing as they ancl with large saws laboriously rip the planks have never had any method of writing or record- [417 ]
ing their language. It has been merely handed of the hardest fields of the mission. He and his down from father to son through countless faithful wife were sent far away into the heart generations. After the first translation of some of a very heathen tribe and there they established parts of the Gospel, and after the school children a home and set up their family altar. Soon word had become able to read and write their own came down saying "I have one convert." Later language, the schools took care of themselves. on he gained others and slowly he built up a little Word spread to many of the tribes that the mis- nucleus of believers about him. Other evangelists sion was able to teach the children to read and were sent up into that tribe because the people, write and soon schools were asked for by many of through the influence of this first evangelist, be- the chiefs of the different tribes, until today our gan calling for them. Finally it was deemed ad- schools are scattered throughout the entire area visable to establish a church in that tribe and of South Cameroun, even to the border. today there is one of the strongest churches in Not only did we give them our schools but we Cameroun in "hat locality, which was formally have given them a literature. At first the Gospels a superstitious, pagan, cannibalistic tribe.
and Acts were translated and later the whole of Another young man, Ze Esim, is a very lovable, the New Testament was given to them in their Christian character. He came to us from one of own language and put into the schools as a text- the older mission fields and was placed in the book. Now we have about finished the translation center of a very wicked tribe as there were a few of the entire Bible. Other literature, such as boys there who were inclined towards the things Pilgrim's Progress, school books, pamphlets for of God. Ze scoured the country round about and distribution in the towns and a monthly· news attracted scores of children to his school where sheet are some of the materials which have been he saturated them with the Gospel and taught gotten out on our well equipped Halsey Memorial them verses of Scripture to carry away in their Press. The printed page is going into the homes hearts. Opposed by some of the old heathen men, of most of the people who have learned to read he would preach to them and pray with them until and it is having its effect of spreading the news several of these men came over into the camp of of the Kingdom of God into many parts of the Ze's God. "Pray for me," wrote Ze, "as old land. Satan is trying to tear up my work, but I know Besides the physical changes and the intellectual that if I am faithful and persistent, Christ will change of the people we notice a spiritual change give us the victory for has He not said, 'Lo I am as well. These Bantu people are animistic and with you always even unto the end of the world.' "
have nothing in their faith that we may class as Craving more learning and a better way to preach a religion, but there is a superstitious fear of the Word of God, Ze is preparing himself for the the Great Spirit (Zambe) who made the world pastorate. With such a spirit he is bound to win and peopled it. There are many lesser gods and many more souls for the Kingdom of God.
their idea of worship is only some method of On such men as these, whom we can number appeasing the wrath of the Great Spirit or of by the scores, we are depending to build up the these lesser gods by sacrifice of fowls or animals; Kingdom of God in Cameroun. It is told that the consequently the old Jewish custom of sacrifice authorities in one of the African ports desired to as an atonement for sin has a special appeal to build a wharf alongside of which ocean-going them. We have, however, sought to teach them vessels might tie up and discharge their cargo of the great sacrifice made once and for all for and take on other cargo, so they ordered great those who believe in the strong Son of God. This timbers from Europe. These timbers were sunk Good News has laid hold upon thousands of these into the mud at the mouth of one of the big rivers natives and for them there is joy and happiness and their wharf built upon them. Soon the ter- in the new found life in Christ. Young men and mites began to eat into these timbers and they women are turning away from their old fetishes crumbled away into the river. Then the authori- and are giving allegiance to the Man of Galilee ties went into the great forest adjoining and cut who "came not to be ministered unto but to min- down some of the fine old mahogony trees, squared ister and to give His life a ransom for many." the logs, and, bringing these down to the coast, There was a fine young man who entered our sank them into this same mud and built their village school. He came from a very pagan tribe wharf upon them. There they stand because they and, by persevering in his studies, progressed are indigenous to the country and the termites rapidly and later asked to be admitted to the theo- cannot destroy them. The foundations of the logical school. He was a bright, inquisitive fellow Church of Christ are strong and we have faith to and tried to carry out the instructions of his believe that the faithful, Christian men and wom- teacher very faithfully. He was noted for his en of Cameroun will withstand the ravages of all piety and prayerfulness and when licensed by the destructive agencies for they are built upon Presbytery to preach, he asked to be sent to one the solid Rock.
A MOSLEM FEAST IN GOLDEN BANQUET HALL OF IMAM RIDA
The Story of Meshed, a Sacred City y the REV. DWIGHT M. DONALDSON, -.<!Ii{ Meshed, Iran A.uthor of "The Shi'ite Religion",. Missionary of [ : the Presb'yterian Church, u. S. A.
THE modern province of Khorasan has an area This is the third largest city in Iran and lies of 150,000 square 'miles. This is a little less about as many miles east of Jerusalem as Rome than one fourth of the entire area of Iran. lies to the west. Among the Jews of the Disper- Its population, notwithstanding its vast stretches sion, who returned to their homes after Pentecost of desert, is about equal to that of the fertile prov- with the marvelous news of. the risen Christ, were ince of Azerbaijan (1,500,000). While in Azer- Parthians, liedes and Elamites, and dwellers in baijan, in the northwest, American missionary Mesopotamia. It must have been shortly after the work was begun as early as 1835, in Khorasan, writing of the great report of St. Paul's mission- the large province in the northeast, bordering on ary jour~ys and preaching in Rome, that other Afghanistan and Turkestan, there was no mission believers, 'such as the Apostle Addai and Tatian, work established until the opening of Meshed in made their way East with the Christian Gospel.
1911. This is the largest and most significant pil- We know that before the overthrow of the Par- grimage city in Iran. Preliminary itinerating thiandynasty in A. D. 225, there were more than journeys were made by American missionaries in twenty Bishoprics in Mesopotamia and in Iran.
1878, 1894, and 1905, and finally in 1911 Rev. Furthermore, at an Eastern Council in A. D. 424, Lewis F. Esselstyn, D.D., was ,sent to occupy delegates came from the distant cities of Nisha- Meshed. pur and Herat and Merw.
[419 ] electro nic fil e created by cafis.org
In spite of the severe persecutions of Christians which has acquired this significance because it by the Sassanian kings, there were still communi- has been taken from near the tomb of the Imam ties of Christians in Iran at the time of the rise Rida, whom he trusts as his Friend, his Guide, of Islam in the seventh century, but the power of hi~ Mediator, and his Master.
the old Sassanian Empire was completely over- It is believed to be a special advantage to be thrown, and the forces of Islam pushed rapidly to buried near the Imam, in order to rise along with the East. Arab influence swept across Iran and him on the Judgment day, and be thus rated Afghanistan and on to India. Devastating wars among the friends and supporters of the Prophet and famines followed, so that by the time of Mohammed. Accordingly, for nearly a thousand Harun aI-Rashid (who died A. D. 786), who years, high prices have been paid for cemetery showed marked hostility to his Christian subjects, privileges near the grave of the Imam. For ages the remote communities of believers in Khorasan were almost wiped out.We read that Christian camel caravans have wended their way on long doctors took part in meetings that were held for desert j ourne~' that ended in Meshed, and frereligious discussion before the Caliph Ma'mun quently, in addition to their loads of merchandise, early in the ninth century in Merw. they have brought the bodies of good Mohamme- dans who died in distant places but who had ex- The Imam Rida pressed the wish to be buried in the great ceme- tery here. It is the custom also for corpses to be Harun al-Rashid's last military expedition was carried in solemn procession around the Imam's to quell a rebellion in Khorasan, but when he tomb before burial. About this tomb successive reached the city of Tus he fell ill'and died.' He kings of Persia, (Iran) have built a magnificent was buried in a garden sixtl'len miles away, and . shrine, with a dome and minarets of gold. Behis son Ma'mun moved on. .with the troops. to side ·it is. a, mosque, with a still larger dome of Merw, where he established his capital and main- tiles of turquoil?e blue. The sacred center of the a tained the authority of the Abbasid Caliphate in city is thia;;shrlrte;area. Devout Moslems stop as the East. Ma'mun made what he thought was a they cross st:reetthat leads to it, and bow to- politic effort to unite the great schism in Islam be- wards its resplendent golden dome.
tween the Sunnites and the Shi'ites by designating Changing Time as his heir apparent to the Caliphate the highly esteemed lineal descendant of the "prophet" Mu- A new day has now come in Meshed. On the hammad, the Imam Ali al-Rida, who was the other side of the city from the tomb of the Imam, recognized spiritual leader of the Shi'ites. This but with money from the Shrine endowments, a expedient proved to be exceedingly unpopular large modern hospital has been erected. The gov- among the Sunnites, however, and when the army ernment is systematically administering Shrine was on the return journey to Baghdad, it is said funds for public welfare, and among the efforts that the Imam Rida fell ill from eating grapes thus subsidized is a school for boys, with an im- that had been poisoned. As he died during the posing building that resembles the main building days of the encampment at the tomb. of Harun al- of the American College in Teheran, a curriculum Rashid, the Caliph Ma'mun had him buried with for 12 classes and an attendance of over 700 boys.
conspicuous honor at this place, in the garden of There is a similar school for girls, all in the name Sanabad, which later came to be known as the of the Imam Rida, with money exacted from the mashhad, or place of martyrdom, of the Imam Shrine authorities by the government.
Rida. Meshed~The Shrine City In order to accommodate automobile traffic the streets of Meshed have had to be widened, and to In the ravages of the Mongol invasions in the the amazement of everybody a great thoroughfare thirteenth century the city of Tus was destroyed, has been cut directly through the famous old cemeand a new city gradually grew up aro~nd the tomb tery on the north side of the Shrine, and hundreds of the Imam. This was the city of Mashhad, of the flat tombstones were used to pave the new which foreigners have come to call Meshed. sidewalks. Stories were told of miracles of healing through After ten years of work; in rented houses, the prayer in the name of the Imam, or through drink- missionaries in Meshed secured the present coming water mixed with dust swept from the tomb. pound of something over fourteen acres. It lies The very clay from the garden was reported to inside the city and is within view of the Shrine. have magic powers, and tablets of it are regularly used in the ritual of the daily prayers. The wor- Formerly it was land used for truck-gardening shiper lays the clay tablet on a cloth or prayer-rug but now there are trees and lawns and it is known that lies before him, and in the prescribed pros- as "The American Garden." It was purchased at trations he touches his forehead to the sacred clay, forty cents a square yard, but now it is appraised at four times as much.
THE STORY OF MESHED, A SACRED CITY
On this land there are five missionary resi- the Mission compound. It has enrolled a small dences, a fifty-bed hospital, and an elementary but homogeneous group of boys, in spite of serious school for boys. At the entrance to the compound opposition from Moslem parents .and the keen there is a Reading Room, which is a center for the competition of government schools. The reasons sale and distribution of evangelistic literature, for the existence of Mission schools, both for boys with a room where individuals come for Christian and for girls, are at least as strong as the reasons instruction. Another small building, near the for such schools in any other city in Iran. There football field, is used as a recreation center. is no other mission school within a radius of al- Medical work was begun in 1915, in a rented most six hundred miles. Well within that circle Iranian house, with one doctor and no trained as- lies the great province of Khorasan, with a fourth sistants. After steady development there is now of the area and about a sixth of the population of a well-planned hospital with good modern equip- all Iran, and including about a dozen smaller cities ment and trained workers. In addition to the tens that would send some of the best of their boys of thousands of patients who have been treated in the base hospital at Meshed, many more thousands have been helped on itinerating trips to other cities in the province of Khorasan. In 1924 a trip was made to Herat in Afghanistan and an- other a few years later.
Patients include many Iranians, Turks and Afghans, as well as some Indians and Arabs, Rus- sians and other Europeans. The great majority are Moslems, but there are also Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, as well as some who have no religious belief. It is the aim of the hospital staff that all should receive loving care in the name of the Saviour of mankind. Many pilgrims to the Shrine also come to the "American Chris- tian Hospital," and when they return to their far- off villages they sometimes take with them, not only gratitude for physical improvement, but a new spiritual hope.
The hospital also provides medical care for lepers who live in a village two miles outside the city. This is the only organized work for lepers in all Iran. There have been some actual cures from the dreaded disease, and treatment almost always stops its progress and relieves acute suf- MOSQUE OF THE BLUE TILES .aT ME'SHED fering.
The hospital maintains a standard of medical and girls to Mission schools in Meshed if they work that may serve as an example to the na- were developed so as to have boarding departtionals as they build their own hospitals. To co- ments, a secondary school, an industrial branch, operate with the Iranian doctors there are med- and such other facilities for work as would be ical conferences and public health meetings to commensurate with the strategic location and the stress matters of hygiene, sanitation and pre- unique opportunities of Meshed. ventive medicine. Infant and maternal mor- tality, though slowly decreasing, is still appalling, The Church in Its Khorasan Environment and much attention should be given to the instruction of mothers in child-care, midwives should be The fresh-water streams of Khorasan disappear trained, and constructive public health programs in the great salt desert, for they flow from the should be inaugurated. Along with this growth upper plateau into the central depression, known are even more favorable opportunities for the as the Great Kavir. This may serve as a parable presentation of the Christian message of hope of much missionary effort which seems to have and salvation. been in vain. New converts from Islam may show Christian educational work was begun on a a kind of ecstasy and enthusiasm while they are very small scale, with classes in two hospital among the hills of vision, but too often their rooms; then the school moved to a rented building Water of Life seems to be lost as they come down and finally in 1929 a good building was erected on to the problem of making a living in Moslem SQ- electro nic fil e created by cafis.org
ciety. For several years the number of converts as their Saviour, may give more effective testiwho have been kept together in the Church group mony in their present occupations. Those Chrisin Meshed has been made up almost entirely of tians who are artisans and small tradesmen must those to whom the Mission or missionaries have be able to withstand petty persecution and boybeen able to give employment. Happily some of cotting and win their way by honesty and forthese have rendered faithful service and have bearance to recognized Christian influence. made progress in Christian living, but in the case of others, when Mission employment has not been It is said that the horses of Khorasan, the faavailable their loyalty has waned. mous Turkomans, have by adaptation to their environment become "bony and clumsy-looking At the present time there are significant changes quadrupeds, with marvelous power of endurance." in the social life in Iran and we believe that the The camels of Khorasan also are celebrated for time has finally come when it is altogether pos- their size and strength. "They have very long sible for Moslems who have become Christians to hair and beat"·cold and exposure far better than find employment without working for the Mission. the ordinary Arabian or Iranian camels, which With industry, foresight,· thrift, patience, and carry only 320 lbs., whereas the Khorasan camels other virtues that make for Christian stamina this will carry from 600 to 700 lbs." In like manner can be done. Nevertheless, these Christians, in it is greatly to be desired that the converts from their capacity as pioneer missionaries among their Islam in Khorasan, and likewise the missionaries own people, need much sustaining love and prayer who are sent to this distant province, will so adapt that those of them who became Christians as themselves as to take root as Christians in this young men in mission schools may continue to be difficult environment, and in consequence may known as Christians in the cities where they go develop exceptional powers of endurance with a to work and that those who were patients or help- strong faith to carry cheerfully extra-heavy ers in mission hospitals, and who accepted Christ burdens.
A Church Serving the Whole Community By the REV. WILLIAM C. MUNDS, Corpus Christi, Texas f3.- Rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd ,:' of splendid educational buildings and parish houses closed from Sunday to Sunday. That is I N VIEW of the communal life upon which so- why the Church is often looked upon as purely a ciety is organized and in view of the service one-day-a-week institution. In the use of its equip- ideal which undergirds all Christian activity, ment, the Church must lose its smug, ecclesiastical the whole community is the definite responsibility life in the effort to have the spirit of Christ per- of the Church. If this be not so, the Church has meate every phase of our every-day life. The no reason nor excuse for its existence. Church must become an integral part of the life of man. In assuming responsibility for the whole One of the outmoded concepts of the Church's community, the Church must set up a compre- mission is that the Church is merely a preaching hensive program. This will vary in different station. According to the Gospel record our Lord types of communities, therefore we shall suggest preached very little, but he did a great deal. The a variety of activities in the hope that those in- Church should concern itself less with words and terested may find some helpful suggestions. more with deeds. The work of the Church in the ; foreign field for the past quarter century is a con- To begin with, the Church needs to understand crete illustration of this method. its community. This can best be accomplished by careful survey to determine the community's We must also cease stressing the importance of needs. Many splendid programs have failed for denominational loyalty to the exclusion of a pri- the reason that they were conceived without any mary loyalty to Christ and His way of life. This reference to actual conditions. Since the trend larger view is necessary as one cannot think in today is in the direction of highly institutionalized terms of community interests if he is first forced programs, the temptation is strong to make our to hurdle denominational barriers.
Church buildings must serve community needs. It is nothing short of a disgrace to see thousands
A CHURCH SERVING THE WHOLE COMMUNITY
churches beehives of activity. But little is accom- The crux of the community problem is here. It plished through such activity unless it effectively is not possible to raise the general moral level of a serves a definite purpose. The wise minister will community until the basic causes for juvenile know his community. That is the first step. delinquency are eliminated. It is utter stupidity and neglect of duty to assume that the general In making a survey, it is also necessary to know moral tone of a community can be improved until the assets of a community as well as its liabilities. more attention is given to the underprivileged There are usually agencies doing splendid work groups. Leadership for such work should come both in the character building and in the general from our churches. health field. The Church should use these agencies and bring people in contact with the organizations The city slums constitute a terrible indictment best fitted to serve their needs. It is a sinful against the Church, for often individual church waste of energy and money for the Church to members are responsible for the continued existduplicate work already being done efficiently by ence of such areas. Every social study reveals others. Our communities need today wise social the downward pull of the slum areas upon the engineering, and the Church can make a valuable moral tone of a community. The slums are the contribution in the field by supplying the initia- breeders of every known type of crime, and they tive and leadership. must be eliminated before civilization can be pulled up to higher levels. That is a responsi- Responsibility Toward Youth bility of the Church.
But there are many other contributions that the The Church and Moral Evils Church can and should make to the life of a community. The list that we shall discuss will not be The Church, being responsible for the whole comprehensive, but merely suggestive. The most community, must assume some obligation for the important phase of the Church's responsibility for evil conditions, as well as for developing the the whole community is towards its youth, and forces that are good. It is fallacious reasoning to being responsible for youth, the Church must as- assume that God will be satisfied to receive a sume the responsibility for the whole life of youth, chosen few into close fellowship with Himself social and recreational as well as religious. The and not be concerned with the multitudes who, prevailing theory of Christian workers is that if because of unspeakably bad social conditions, are youth is given proper spiritual foundations, other outside the circle of His divine society on earth. phases of youth's life will take care of themselves. Christianity is not only a personal religion, it But such a theory does not work, for youth de- is also a social religion which touches every area mands more than religious training. A whole- of life. As our Lord so trenchantly said, "I am some, social and recreational experience is needed not sent but unto the lost sheep." and if the Church does not supply it, the youth will go elsewhere to find it, and much of the com- One of the most degrading and injurious elemercial, social and recreational activities offered ments of any community is prostitution. This sin to youth is unwholesome, even harmful to char- only encourages the beast in man, destroys the acter. The time has come to face this situation idealism of youth, harbors the criminal, spreads frankly and inaugurate a youth program which gonorrhea and syphilis to a degree which is alarmwill provide wholesome social and recreational ing, but it injures the home and takes toll· in huexperiences as well as religious. training. man life that is enormous. Far from protecting virtuous womanhood, prostitution threatens her An increasingly large number of parishes and life and happiness. Whenever it is abolished, sex congregations are now conducting socials for crimes are reduced to a low level and the moral young people with splendid results. Other forms tone of the community is raised. Nothing is acof amusement may also be provided: girls' and complished by merely publicly protesting against boys' basketball teams, choral societies, young the existence of this institution. Far better for people's service leagues, dramatic clubs, Boy the churches to employ trained experts to handle Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, and a score of other ac- the situation. Prostitution can be removed from tivities that not only fill a real need but also serve a community and it is the Church's duty to help to tie young people closer to the Church.. remove it.
In thinking through its responsibility for the If it is true, as someone has said, that "it is the whole community, the Church must also minister duty of the Church to always concern itself with to the underprivileged groups. There are chil- the social problems that harass humanity," then dren and young people who need the Church, but the Church should instantly concern itself with who belong to the group not often welcomed by the divorce problem, a problem that is threatenthe Church. Admittedly, there are very real prob- ing the stability of the American home. Christ lems presented, but such problems can be solved. cannot be a dominant factor in homes that are
being broken up by divorce. Here again preach- viding the young people with wholesome social ing will accomplish little. The roots of the divorce and recreational activities. Desiring t{) meet this problem lie deep and the Church must adopt a need, at least in part, the Church of the Good c{)mprehensive educational program if construc- Shepherd, Episcopal, decided to build a Parish tive results are expected. Since marriage is a House. Several civic-minded citizens, who were serious undertaking, greater care must be used not members of the Episcopal Church, petitioned in preparing young people for it. If ministers the Church of the Good Shepherd to allow this everywhere would refuse to perform a ma.rriage building to be used by the whole community. The ceremony until they were convinced that the con- Parish was immediately faced with the question tracting parties were well qualified to undertake as to the Church's responsibility to the whole the venture, many hasty and ill-advised marriages community. would be av{)ided. An increasingly large number of churches are offering courses for young people After carefully considering the problem, it was on "The Preparation for Marriage, Home and decided that t'he community's needs must be con- Family," with surprisingly good .results. The sidered before parochial needs. A separate cortime is near when such courses will become a poration was formed, and an Operating Board recognized part of every Church School cur- was also appointed which included members from riculum.* practically every church in the city. While it is not officially an inter-church project, yet it is an Then there is the field of mental health. Every evidence of the splendid cooperative spirit which clergyman is now called upon to deal with people exists among churches of this city. who need the services of a psychologist or a psychiatrist. While he may be able personally to The Corpus Christi Civic Center is a building handle some of these cases, yet most of them will dedicated "To God for Youth." That is its prineed the services of experts. By putting those in mary purpose although it will serve a variety of need of this type of service in touch with the uses. proper agencies, the Church gives evidence of its concern for every form of human need. Some The building has a large auditorium seating churches have sponsored mental health clinics about 500 people and a stage for amateur drawith excellent results, especially where there is matics. It will be an ideal place for lectures, conno other agency doing this type of work. certs, and particularly socials for the young people. A fully equipped kitchen will serve 200 How One Church Served the Community people. Offices are provided for the Camp Fire Girls, Y. M. C. A., and other agencies. The base- It may prove helpful to relate how one Church ment contains a handball court, shower baths and accepted responsibility for a whole community locker rooms, free clinic for indigent children, a and is seeking to fulfil its obligations. game room and two parlors where various civic clubs may meet. A survey of the city {)f Corpus Christi, Texas, revealed a deplorable lack of facilities for pro- While this building will in no wise be able to serve the needs of the whole community, yet it is • Some communions require their clergy to give some type of a step in the right direction. There was a need. instruction to all those who apply for marriage. Individual The Church felt a responsibility to meet that need ministers of many communions have long offered such courses to and then did something about it.
prospective brides and bridegrooms. Few clergymen, if any, are In Corpus Christi there is another communal project. The missionary societies of six different qualified to give technical instruction on sex matters, but in every churches support and manage a Community Mis- sion in the Mexican section of the city. Each large city there are maternal health clinics available for such .pur- church is responsible for the religious services poses. In smaller communities progressive physicians will be glad conducted at the Mission for one month at a time. A trained Christian worker is soon to be employed to cooperate. Also there are splendid books on marriage that will to work among the people of that section.
prove helpful to those who read them. Every clergyman should have Each Church, as has been said, must study its particular community, and work out its own such books in his library to lend those who are to be married. program.
Obviously, none of these services can be rendered so long as the Church and her clergy refuse to assume a responsibility for dealing with this problem. The Church has an obligation which is some- thing far greater than actually performing the marriage ceremony.
Many communions realize the seriousness of this problem and are taking steps to safeguard the stability of the .home. At the last General Convention of the Episcopal Church a measure was intro- duced forbidding any clergyman of that communion to marry any couple until they had presented him with a certificate of health which included a Wassermann test against syphiIls. The measure was defeated by a small majority and wl!l undoubtedly be passed at some subsequent convention. The home is an institution which is vital to every community. Sinee the Church sanctifies the mar- riage relationship, it must help to make it a more intelligible and a more harmonious relationship. W. C. M.
Too many Christian bodies of various kinds are spending more time and effort today in winning members one from the other than in winning souls from the darkness of the King- dom of Evil.
Christ Found a Mexican Colonel*
This is the story told to Rev. N. W. Taylor, of Mexico City, by Colonel Rodolfo Curti V., formerly an army officer and then chief of Traffic Department, Police Force, Mexico City. Now he is on the Military Headquarters Staff, the Garrison of Mexico City.
TWELVE years ago, when stationed with my carrying out this commission that I received the regiment in the Mixtec region of the State of commendation of General Calles. I received praise Oaxaca, I was taken very ill and in my suf- also and promotion for my part in the organization fering, my thoughts naturally turned to my young of the Traffic Department and for other things wife and our four-months-old baby, who were done in the interest of the welfare of the city.
then in the city of Puebla. As I became worse I But then came disillusionment! I resigned from cried to God, asking that he spare me to them. the Traffic Department and for a time it seemed Finally I sank into a state of coma and the people that I had been forgotten by the Government in the village thought that I had died. I was pre- which I had tried to serve faithfully. I was even pared for burial and surrounded with candles. tempted to commit suicide. This was God's op- After some hours I regained consciousness and portunity.
sat up, causing terror among those who were in One night I dreamed that I was hurrying down the room at the time. a narrow, dark, tortuous street. I met a group of It was thought that the only chance to save my people and inquired, life was to take me as quickly as possible to "Have you found Him?"
Oaxaca City for an operation. But the village, "No," they replied.
where I lay sick, was four days' ride from the "Then let us seek Him together," I answered.
railroad and, as, the heat was intense, it seemed We threaded our way along the narrow street impossible for me to make the trip unless they for an interminable time it seemed and our anxiety could keep ice packs on me continually. But there increased every moment. At last we turned a was no ice in this mountain village nor in the dis- corner and saw in front of us a figure sitting on trict. The General commanding the State advised a low bench in front of a closed door. His head us by telegraph that he would send ice from the was resting on his hands but as we approached he city as rapidly as possible, but it was questionable looked up and I recognized Him as Christ. His whether any ice would last long enough to get me face shone and His hands and feet glistened like to the city. The first day, while we were waiting mirrors. I fell on my knees before Him; and all for the ice, a heavy cloud overshadowed the part His goodness, from that day in the Mixtec village of the town where I was lying and hailstones, so when the hailstones fell, flooded my memory and great that they killed chickens and turkeys, fell I burst into tears.
heavily for some minutes. The people hurriedly I awoke crying and the burden of my ingrati- filled sacks with the hailstones and I was placed tude and sin seemed unbearable. For the re- in a litter and the journey to the railroad began. mainder of the night I could not control myself I recovered but so great was my unbelief I forgot and continued crying like a child. When morning my prayer to God and ascribed the hailstorm to came I was like one in a daze. I could not even mere chance. remember the name of my only daughter whom I A few years later, when stationed in Guadala- love dearly. This condition lasted for three days.
jara, I was passing an evangelical church and I was in an agony of grief and sorrow and walked heard them singing "Nearer My God to Thee." up and down my living room or in the garden for Something seemed to grip my heart and I could hoursi at a time, crying, "My God, help me. My not restrain the tears. However, feeling that such God, help me."
emotion was unworthy of an army officer, I hur- Then I procured aNew Testament and began ried away. Later, my wife and I attended a serv- to read. Still no light or peace came. At last ice but did not understand the message. there came to my mind the words of the hymn I Then I was called to Mexico City to aid my Gen- had heard in Guadalajara and I remembered eral in the reorganization of the police force. At where there was an evangelical church in the city.
that time it fell to my lot to superintend the clos- I attended a service without getting any peace.
ing of all the Roman Catholic churches in the city I went a second time but still could not understand on the 31st of July, 1926. So zealous was I in the Way of Salvation. On the third occasion the * From The Philippine Evangelist, May, 1938. speaker was giving a Bible study on sin. As the [ 425 ] •
different sins were written on the blackboard I The following Sunday was Easter. We atsaid to myself, "Someone must have told about tended the morning service at which we learned me," for it was a perfect description of my condi- that some new members were to be baptized that tion. At the end of the meeting an invitation was evening. After prayer, my wife and I decided to given and I went forward. As I knelt there at ask to be received into the church in order to make the rail to my joy found my wife was kneeling our public confession and thus cut all that bound beside me. That night the pastor of the church us to the old life. That evening we publicly took led us into the Light and peace came into our our stand for Christ. In the four months which hearts. have passed since then we have been experiencing the truth of Paul's "If any man be in Christ, he Then came a great struggle. To go on with is a new creature; old things are passed away; Christ meant breaking with the old life. Christ behold all things are become new." All things must be all or nothing. There could be no half- have become l1oriously new for us and we are hearted surrender. But what would be the re- seeking to follow His Will. suIts? Would it mean losing position, rank and friends? I walked up and down my garden fight- *** ing it out and then like a flash there came to my mind the words, "Be of good cheer; I have over- The only knowledge Colonel Curti had of the come the world." I hurried into the house and Gospel story was through a very slight contact called my wife. with Roman Catholicism, which, in Mexico, em- phasizes a suffering or dead Christ, not a glorified "It is all settled," I said to her. "Christ has one. How was it that in his dream he saw a resurovercome the world and nothing can touch us ex- rected and glorified Christ? cept as He wills." From that moment we have tried to give our all to Christ, to do His will each Today Col. Curti is active in personal work day and have determined not to let a single day among the military and political leaders of the pass without trying to win one soul for Him. country.
Enlisting the Privileged to Help the Underprivileged By the REV. SAMUEL E. WEST Rector of St. lames Episcopal Church, Wichita, Kansas T HE sort of church of which I am rector is alike repeat the words too glibly. I have caught easily labeled as "privileged" by the news- myself talking to children about their privileges papers. They revel in announcing "A fash- and urging them to realize their responsibilities ionable wedding of socialites in the swank, to the underprivileged, and then wondering if in exclusive Episcopal Church on the HilL" It is a so doing I was not actuaJly aiding and abetting form of reporting whioh is exasperating to say the the subtle process of creating snobs.
least. By the same token there are still many people As a matter of fact this congregation represents left in the land 'who, despite the fact that they have been up against it, are senSitive and have a a cross-section of substantial middle-class business lot of self-respect; they by no means wish to be and professional people, with a fringe of wealth classed among the "underprivileged." Would it and another fringe of poverty. One of my faith- not be much better to use a good old scriptural ful laymen is a WPA worker and another is a expression, such as "we that are strong ought to janitor working for $60.00 per month. We have bear the infirmities of them that are weak." It eighty employed women and girls in a communi- is true that there are in all of our cities many cant membership of seven hundred. strong self-supporting parishes and likewise many weak, struggling, mission churches. By all of Personally I am inclined to think that we over- the precepts of the Christian religion, the strong work the phrase, "privileged and underprivileged." Religious leaders and social workers
ENLISTING THE PRIVILEGED TO HELP THE UNDERPRIVILEGED
should do all in their power to help the weak. The ago, when churches were having a hard time raisdifficulty which most of us experience in enlisting ing their budgets, we were discussing missionary the so-called privileged is probably due to the ab- quotas. One of the Vestrymen said, 'I don't see sence of the personal element, rather than to any why we should continue to send money to the other factor. This is true in regard to the mis- Chinese when we are so hard up ourselves. Why sionary enterprise and to the great programs of not forget missions until times are better?" I social welfare. To many people, missions and said to him, "Would you apply that same prinphilanthropy today seem to mean programs and ciple to our own Bishop and his program in the quotas rather than personal service. Something Diocese?" He replied, "No, dog-gone it, we can't must be done to remedy this condition. let the Bishop down. I wish I were not so fond of him; then it would be a lot easier to cut out During the recent Lenten season we tried an our Diocesan Assessment." The man knew, of experiment along this line in the Diocese of Kan- course, that the Bishop was vitally concerned sas. Bishop Wise suggested that in all of the about his mission clergymen and their congregaparishes and missions we conduct a series of mis- tions. Sometimes I ask myself if I am really in sionary book reviews. I invited six women to earnest in appealing for the missionary enterundertake these reviews and a number of men to undertake a similar task for the Men's Class. We prise. Do I really care about the advancement of have had such noted personalities presented as the Kingdom, or am I motivated rather by paro- Bishop Schereschewsky, Bishop Hare, Dr. Albert chial pride? We all need to ask oUI'selves ques- Schweitzer, Bishop Franklin Spaulding, Bishop tions of that nature. We can appeal, plead, cajole, condemn, denounce, argue and quote Scripture by Talbott, Dr. Grenfell of Labrador, and David Liv- the yard, but if we ourselves are not thoroughly ingstone. In every case both the men and the converted to the cause of missions all of our pulpit women who undertook the task have, I think, been thumping will fail to produce results. The telling thoroughly converted to the cause of missions, and of a story of missionary endeavor and personal I believe that they were able to communicate their adventure is more effective in enlisting the interown enthusiasm to the others. The lawyer who' est and support of the local congregation than all reviewed the life of Livingstone made the most of the high-powered arguments of ecclesiastical complete commitment to the cause of missions, at spellbinders. the conclusion of his review, that I have ever heard from a layman. The woman who was to tell But I wish to tell about the relationship of this about Albert Schweitzer happened to be in New parish to a struggling congregation of colored York the week before her review was scheduled, Episcopalians in the city. It may not be common and had an interview with Madame Schweitzer knowledge that we have no separate denominawho was in America at that time. This woman tional organization for colored Episcopalians. had accepted the assignment rather reluctantly as They are under the same jurisdiction, are reprea '~church duty," feeling it would be dull and tire- sented in the same Diocesan Convention, are some but she kept the .other women on the edge of their seats when she told the story. To "per- confirmed by the same Bishop and many of their sonalize" missions, philanthropy and the relation ministerial candidates attend the same Theological of the strong city church to the weaker mission Seminaries as the white Episcopalians. Conseis a difficult undertaking, but in some way it must quently the relationship of the mission for colored be done. The well-to-do members of our churches people in this city to the two self-supporting white are, I believe, no less generous than they used to parishes is just the same as that of a mission for be, but they are more careful. They have lost white people. At the present time these colored much of their own security and some of them feel Episcopalians are fortunate in having a priest of that they are contributing a good bit to the under- their own race, but from time to time during privileged through taxation. However when I years past they have been without pastoral overhave a personal problem which must be presented sight except from the two white rectors. It has as such, I find that the purse strings are open. been my privilege for several years to minister to Recently a young man in my parish was ordered this congregation but it is not of this pleasant by his physician to move to another climate. He personal relationship I wish to speak. was almost entirely without funds and appealed to me. I, in turn, appealed to two laymen over We have in this parish four licensed lay readers, the telephone, and within five minutes the neces- all of whom, with one exception, have served an sary amounts were forthcoming. apprenticeship in conducting services at the col- ored church. The Daughters of the King, a group One of the important factors in "personalizing of women who have charge of altar work, from the need" is the personality, enthusiasm and sin- time to time have supervised the colored women cerity of the leader. One evening several years in the care of their own altar and finally organ- ized a similar group for them.
,In our parish we have a tradition that we thought in helping to solve the problems of this carryon no money-raising activities for the sup- weaker mission church. Our aim has been to port of the parish by dinners, bazaars, rummage- avoid pauperizing the mission congregation. sales or anything of the kind. The one exception Their membership of not more than fifty is made is that once a year the women give a Musical Tea, up of school teachers, chauffeurs, porters, domesthe proceeds from which are sent to the Bishop tic servants and some business men. But their for support of missionary work within the Dio- greatest need is not for money but for personal cese. On two occasions several hundred dollars leadership and genuine friendly interest on the from this source have been used for the support part of the stronger white congregation. They of the local colored congregation. The women of are now approaching the time when they can soon the parish also help the colored women byemploy- support themselves, but they will continue to look ing them to serve possibly half of the parish din- to their many friends in this parish for guidance. ners given in this parish. Incidentally t~s cooperation has undoubtedly helped to ease the tension which so frequently Three years ago this mission congregation was exists between the two racial groups. in great need of a parish hall, for their ramshackle structure was about to fall to pieces. They took Whatever success we have had in this respect the matter up with some of us in this parish and is due to the enlistment of so many of our white we were able to secure a loan from the American laymen for personal service to the weaker congre- Church Building Fund and also a temporary loan gation. Had it been our policy simply to make a from the Bishop of the Diocese. These loans were grant of money each year to the colored brethren, made on condition that the people themselves raise very little would have been accomplished. The a certain amount, namely, $500.00, in about eight most intensely personal story in the New Testamonths. I shall never forget a day when the ment is the parable of the good Samaritan. In committee from the mission church met me in a that story we are told that the Samaritan, who local bank with the $500.00 in hand to apply on was undoubtedly a privileged person, when he the note. When the time came to build the parish came to the man who had fallen among thieves, hall one of the members of our white congregation did several things of an intimate personal nature donated his services as a contractor and gave a -"He saw him, he was moved with compassion, great many days to the supervision of the work. he came to him, he bound up his wounds, he Later another layman, an architect, gave his time poured on them oil and wine, he set him on his in further improving and beautifying the church own beast, he brought him to an inn, he took care structure. Another member of my congregation, of him." And after all of that he told the inna lumber dealer, has helped very generously in keeper that he would stand good for the expenses their purchase of supplies for the church and the and would come back to see how the poor fellow parish hall. was getting along.
Last year the vestry of the mission church ap- It is that sort of thing which we have largely pealed for help and we appointed a committee to lost in these highly specialized modern days. give them what leadership we could in conducting Somehow we must recapture the method of pertheir own Every-Member Canvass. The joint sonal service both in religious work and in social meetings of the two committees have been held in welfare, and when we do recapture it, I am conmy study and again I find the business men of my vinGed that we will have no difficulty in enlisting own parish are willing to give of their time and the privileged to help the underprivileged.
MORAL OR FINANCIAL DEPRESSION?
Many plead hard times as their reason for failing to support the Church and to give to benevolent causes. As a matter of fact, Government reports show that income is not a cri- terion of the gifts that may be expected. In the year 1936, taxable incomes in the United States increased 30 per cent over the previous year, but for the same period contributions for religious education and public welfare work decreased. The United States Treasury statis- tics for 1936 show a total declared net income (exclusive of tax exempt income) of $19,069,- 137,719 as compared with $14,212,403,587 the previous year. The contributions reported for the same year amounted to only $388,142,000 or about 2 per cent of the taxable income. The highest percentage of contributions to charity ever recorded by the Treasury came in the darkest depression years (1930-1934). On the gross incomes reported to the Government, the contributions amount to less than 1.8 per cent. Contributions through the churches in 1936 were less than at any time between 192'0 and 1934, being 40 per cent less than they were in 1928. Moral depression is more difficult to overcome than financial depression.
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II Effective Ways of Working 'rested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MISS GRACE MCGAVRAN, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA ~~=================~~ How Awaken Interest BOOKS ON CHINA of its civilization. Its pictures in Books? HOUSE OF EXILE, by Nora range from the old court to mod- ern factories. A study of the missionary li- WaIn – a very sympathetic picbrary at the church was discour- ture of upper class country life That is enough to give an exaging. Old books; out-of-date in China, by an American girl ample of what was done. Sevbooks; books that not even the eral women have taken to readmost ardent missionary worker who lived for a while as an ing widely the library books on could call interesting! Worst of adopted member of the Chinese the subject of whatever country, all, fifty women supposed to do family. Read it for contrast race, or nation is being studied. missionary reading and no with Pea r I Buck's "Good The mission study books proper, money to buy new books. Earth." and books of missionary stories worth buying have, conse- Here is what the group lead- LIVING CHINA, by Edgar quently, had behind them a much ers did. more fundamentally prepared Snow – translations of modern group of readers than was pos- The few interesting, recent Chinese short stories, written sible before. and worth-while boo k s were pulled out. There were new and published in China for home Even where the public library members in the group who had consumption. They contain some d.oes not have much that is modread nothing. They could start things you will find it hard to ern, there are chapters in recent with these. books which may have decided stomach. But here is modern China, in at least some of its phases, as seen by the Chinese themselves. Read it to help you Four people were asked to buy decide whether China has any bearing. For example, in Dr. for themselves and then loan to real need of the Christian mes- Heiser's "Oddyssey of an Amerthe missionary society one each ican Doctor," the chapter on lepof the best new books bearing on sage and Gospel. rosy and the colony at Culion, the subject of the current Philippine Islands, is excellent studies. HO-MING: GIRL OF NEW background for a consideration CHINA, by Elizabeth Lewis (chil- The public library was ap- dren's library), a story which of missions to lepers. you will find interesting light proached, and a committee of reading, to give you a picture of Kn.owledge awakens interest. capable women chose and read young China in transiti.on. Read For a club paper many a woman those books which seemed to it because you want to know will read background books for have promise of being at least something of young China in the months. Why not as much for good background books; i. e., terms in which young people a talk in the missionary society? those which in addition to beirig read of each other. The deeper the knowledge, the vivid, interesting and accurate, WHAT AND WHY IN CHINA, by deeper the interest. gave a picture of home, school, Paul Hutchison – an answer to town or country life; or a back- the puzzle which modern Chinese How Get New Members ground of the country, race, or history is to most of us. Clear, One young women's missionnation; or, an interpretation of concise, and interesting, though ary group has an unusual prothe people; or, a picture of their very brief, it gives us an excel- portion of new working-memneeds; or, any other specific lent summary.of China's politics bers. They have a sort of unpresentation which would give to 1927. Read it for clearer written rule that no one is ever women a background pattern understanding of some of asked to join their missionary against which their program China's present difficulties. society. Instead, a prospective talks and considerations would LOTUS PETALS, by Princess member is asked to come as a stand out. The very best of der Ling-most interesting com- guest to one of the regular meetthese were listed. ments on va rio u smatters ings; she is greeted as a guest Mimeographed sheets, bearing Chinese by one who was first- of the one who has brought her, the following sort of informa- lady-in-waiting to the old Em- and is treated as such. She is tion, were given out at the early press Dowager. Read it so that asked by the same person to fall meeting, where background you may see China through Chi- come again, perhaps not next reading was stressed. nese eyes in yet another aspect time, but soon. She is welcomed [429 ]
as a visitor for as long as she ship plays when· well produced. the draping of the graceful garwants to come. Then, as she becomes a familiar guest, she is We also know how hard it is to ments of India. asked to help with this or that. And then, sometime, quite cas- discover from the printed de- Why not secure, in your disually, she is asked if she would like formally to join the group. scription of a play just what trict or state group, a demonstra- If she does join, it is because effect it will have. And even tion program of plays and dramshe knows the group, likes the fellowship, is interested in the after reading a play it is a bit atizations, suitable for use durmeetings, and has done some work in connection with them. hard to know what impression it ing this next year? It should be She knows, through regular reports and minutes, about the will give. held at least a month before such educational and financial aims of the group, and is already taking Why not have a demonstration plays will be given in the local time to attend. There is, thus, no influx of new members to be night for missionary plays and churches. coddled along. There is no un- playlets? A district or state con- .W~y not send someone to ~ee willing member who has joined vention is a fine place to do this. ~IssIO~ary plays that ar~ bemg because she was pestered to be- An institute or young people's ,~_gIven m other churches m .y.our come a member. Anyone is welcome as a perennial visitor to conference is also excellent. A own or near-by commumtIes? that group. But no one is asked to join until she has shown a de- county interdenominational Sun- Send someone who can coach a sire to become a working mem- day school council meeting gives play for yoU! ~roup. ber of the organization. . another opportunity. Why not Jom WIth other mlS- P. S. Oh, yes, its quite true that this group has an unusually Here are two examples of how sionary groups or churches to good time together, has good this has been done very success- ask a drama~lCs club to prepare programs, and carries an inspir- fully. The Boston University and pr~sent, m each of yo~r I?roing financial responsibility. But School of Religious Education grams m turn, the b~st I?IssIonthen, you know, so could your society. used to have one month before ary play or dramatIzatIon you Improving Missionary Christmas an'd one month before can find? P!o.duce t~at play! Easter, a program of plays, You can Meetings music and other items, given as Or you can Jomtly .wlth some "If we don't stop taking so demonstration, to which were o~her group secure Its ~rodu~ much time for business," sighed tIon. A~d you can be gUIded m a bored member of a missionary invited representatives from the your chOl~e and h~ve your p~th group, "I'm going to quit com- city's churches. Two or more ~ade eaSIer for ItS productIon ing." She was right. The busi- plays, of differing difficulty and If y:ou arrange for an~ual, or ness seemed interminable. The secretary's reports were espe- type, were given each time-new cially boring. Attack at that point seemed strategic. At the plays which were available for semI-annual demonstratIOns. by next election, one of the church's most devoted club-women, was, use that season. How much bet- competent amateurs, at pomts with her previous consent, elected secretary. Her minutes, ter they could be judged, when where many are together who brief and to the point, gracious in their necessary acknowledg- produced on the stage than in can use such plays. ments, and in perfect order, have been a joy. It is noticeable that any other way! Ideas were Looking Ahead when this new secretary is oc- gained for costuming, for lightcasionally not able to be present, there is no slipping back into old ing, for music, for setting, all October is the special issue on ways. An ideal has been set up within the ability of the ordinary India. All the glamour and color for making the minutes a real church and yet stressing simple of the Orient can be introduced contribution rather than a detri- and dignified treatment. ment. into your meetings. And against A second example, which bids When You Produce That Play! fair to become a yearly custom, it you will present the tragedy is the presentation of two dem- and the hope of that ancient We all know the effectiveness onstration playlets, one on the land. We shall give some of the of missionary and world-friend- ways in which m iss ion a r y home missions theme and one on groups and leaders here and the foreign missions theme, at a there have made India a live luncheon program of the Mis- issue in their meetings.
sionary Institute of Indianapolis, In November we hope to have Indiana, early each May. It some very helpful suggestions would be interesting to know in for developing a sense of stew- how many missionary groups, ardship among the people of our missionary groups. Stewardship over Indiana and in adjacent is more than a faithful presenta- states from which delegates tion of the regular dues. It is an come, those little playlets. with their missionary message are attitude of life. And a very im- given in the missionary year portant part of Christian educa- tion is the nurture of individuals which follows; and just because and groups in that attitude. they were demonstrated there in a fashion which could be fol- Christmas and World Peace lowed in the smallest church. seem more and more to be joined in our thoughts.. We like also to For the current year, 'such a think of Christmas around the demonstration might include the world. In our December issue correct winding of a turban and we shall have some very definite
EFFECTIViE WAYS OF WORKING
suggestions for making the A missionary in Mexico, not Such a project can become Peace emphasis effective, and for long ago, found no welcome in a part of the stewardship training achieving a deeper sense of the certain village. So she moved of the children. Through it they real meaning of Christmas. over there to live, as a neighbor, become aware of the needs of Some avenues of service will be in a tiny Mexican "adobe" hut- others, they review their own regiven which other groups have to be, not a missionary, but a sources, decide to part with some found meant much to their own neighbor. She did not know things dear to them through asdevelopment. whether during the few months sociation, yet too often "hung she planned to be there, she onto" for only that reason, and Ventures in Understanding would find more than one or two they give time and money and curious children who would be effort to make the things "as A young women's missionary friends with her and to whom good as new" in order that they guild were studying the living she could be a friend. She ar- may be useful gifts to make, valreligions of the world. When rived with some trepidation. ued by those to whom they are they came to Judaism, they in- But the village people, hitherto to go. vited a young Jewish social hostile, welcomed her as they worker to come as a guest of one would have received one of them- Seven Rules for a Good of the members. They met her selves. Great things arose out Meeting socially before their supper, of that determination to give chatted with her during the herself, in their own manner, to 1. Be friendly. The regular member meal, and later listened with friendship. Is there anyone of who is retiring can be as lonely deep interest to her talk on your group making herself a as the stranger-almost. Great Jewish Women. For the member of another group, for an first time, for many of them, the hour, for a day, for a week? Is 2. Begin on time. Announce, "Thurs- Jew was linked with modern so- anyone putting herself in the day at 2: 00 P. M., with the procial reform. They began to real- position of needing from them gram beginning promptly at ize that Jews are a force for that same friendliness which she 2: 15." Stress the earlier hour, righteousness in America today. hopes to give them? for the greeting of friends and Theirs was more than a dispas- strangers is as important as the sionate study of Judaism that A New Avenue for Children's rest of the business, but begin night. They had a personal ex- Giving the program very promptly at perience in deepening their the time set. understanding of and liking for In connection with your study the Jew. What such experiences of the City, it might be wise to 3. Conduct all business with dispatch. in understanding are you plan- find out about Toy Libraries in Having planned a proportionning for your group during the your own or in some adjacent ately suitable time for the businext few months? city. Many city children in the ness, do not let it infringe upon underprivileged sections have the rest of the program. If it is *** not one toy of any sort. One of running over, analyze your tech- the interesting newer projects is nique and improve it. A young people's world friend- the establishment of a "Toy Liship group meeting included a brary" in some such district 4. See that the devotional period is Chinese boy and a Japanese girl. where children may withdraw a short but reverent in every way. What happened? Sparks flew! toy for a week, gs they would Stress simplicity and dignity; Some regretted that the two had withdraw a book from a library. and frown upon starting with an been invited at the same time. excuse for lack of preparation, But others realized, as never be- Where such a Toy Library facetiousness, or last – minute fore, how pride of race can cre- exists, an excellent avenue is passing of hymn books, etc. If ate antagonism even when Chris- open for a service project for the hymns 'are familiar, announce the tian brotherhood exists. From children of more privileged verses to be sung and sing withthat situation rose a deeper areas. Most of these children out books, not adding the hope understanding of the problem of have toys – such as scooters, that the hymn is known to everyracial antagonisms, and a sleds, roller skates, .and games one. If not familiar use books stronger desire to meet such an- which they have outgrown but or do not have group singing. tagonisms in the spirit of Christ. which are, basically, still sturdy This alone can produce. as it did and good. Dolls, games, toy fur- 5. Give sequence to your study. Rein that group, a greater senti- niture, puzzles, and other play- mind the group of the general ment than that of race, and things are lying in attics or on theme of study or program being draw alien peoples together. Are back shelves. Why not have a followed. Review in a sentence you keeping your group clear of "Paint and Scissors Club," meet- or two the ground already covsituations which might prove ing weekly for a few weeks, to ered in past meetings. State the embarrassing? Or are you out which will be brought these old aspect of the subject to be conto demonstrate, right within but good toys, to be renovated sidered today. Introduce each your own circle, that the most there by the Juniors under the item of the program with a word difficult race relationship can be direction of one or two adults or as to its bearing on today's desolved if courageously faced and young people? velopment of that aspect. met in the spirit of our Lord? 6. Relate the offering to life itself. At the time of its presentation, have a two- or three-sentence preSentation of some service the group is rendering through its gifts. Have a prayer dedicating the day's offering to its use.
7. Close on time. Never run past closing time. A meeting which closes on time has a rhythm and effectiveness which is lacking where it just runs on and on. Prompt closing makes for much more careful preparation.
BULLETIN
Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y. I ==================I~'
SETTING-UP CONFERENCE The central theme run~ing FOR EASTERN MIGRANT ""–through the w.orship serVIces STAFF was the need for spiritual re- Hartford Theological sources in the midst of a c.om- Seminary plex and confusing world – "I JUNE 16-19, 1938 can do all things thr.ough Christ As Seen by Two Leaders who strengtheneth me."
The fourth annual Setting-Up THE STAFF OF THE NEW YORK AND The cl.osing session was held Conference for the workers in NElW JERSEY CENTERS; MISS HELEN Sunday morning in the Semthe Migrant centers .of the East- inary Chapel preceding breakern Area was held this year, WHITE, SUPERVISOR fast and was led by Dr. Miller. June 16-19, at the Hartford In that early morning hour the Seminary Foundati.on, Hart- message of the joy of service ford, Connecticut, when Dr. J. Quinter Miller, Executive Sec- in crafts, recreation, s.ongs, nurs- fell upon minds and hearts alretary of the C.onnecticut C.oun- ready prepared. And as these cil of Churches, his able assist- ery school methods, child care, highly endowed young people ant, Mr. R. Stanley Kendig and camp sanitation, first aid, be- Miss Vera MacCracken, Secre- haviour problems and religious had themselves been ch.osen tary .of the Hartford County education methods made a rich largely because of the privilege Y. W. C. A. proved to be m.ost program. genial and perfect hosts. of their experience, they left The earnest and energetic Hartford newly commissioned Thither they came – 40 Col- staff .of young men and women and eager to go out to serve. lege students representing the had crammed noteb.ooks, broad- ShaufHer College of Religi.ous ened minds and understanding Into my hearl's treasury I slipped a and Social Work, Pennsylvania hearts. There was a strong feel- State, Bennett College, Kansas ing .of fellowship and unity. coin State Teachers College, Bucknell University, Virginia State Am.ong those who were .of That time cannot steal nor thief pur- College, Kalamazoo College, very special help were Mrs. Maryville College, Muskingum Phyllis Williams, of the Insti- loin, C.ollege, Oberlin College, Amherst College, Yale University; tute of Human Relati.ons .of Yale o better than the mining of a gold- Divinity Students from Hart- University, who gave an inter- crowned king ford Seminary F.oundation and pretation of 'the Folk ways. of Andover Newton The.ological the Italians; Miss Lola De- Is the safe-kept memory of a lovely Seminary; and experienced Grille, of the International Inkindergartners, recreational and stitute .of New York, interpreted thing. -Sara Teasdale. home-economics folk, as well as Polish f.olk; Mrs. John Ainley, sch.ool teachers. Many were who taught songs and also gave LAURA H. PARKER, new to the work while others meth.ods in song leading; Miss PETRICHA E. MANCHESTER. had had much experience, for one of the sl.ogans .of Migrant Frances Hedden with concrete As Seen by a Worker Workers is "once a Migrant, al- and practical suggestions. in reways a Migrant." Here they ligious education; Miss Marie Sharecropping and its horr.ors .assembled to receive training in Gaertller in nursery scho.ol have been studied and effectively "center" technique, to plan f.or methods; and Miss Agnes Diehl dramatized to the country. Yet the current season, and to ex- the migration of w.orkers from change helpful experiences. community to community seek- Lectures and dem.onstrations ing new employment, supple- menting irregular employment at customary occupations, or habitually following seasonal employment is an accepted phe- in the field of crafts. nomenon in contemp.orary in- Saturday night the picnic sup- dustrial society.
per with the singing, camp fire Consci.ous .of the extent of the and worship service br.ought to problem .of migratory labor in all a nearness of God through the United States, the C.ouncil the great .outdo.ors and a realiza- of Women for H.ome Missi.ons in tion, by contrast, .of the severe 1920 established centers for the care of migrant families. It was and sordid things that would the staff .of these centers in the have t.o be faced during the ex- East which met at Hartford perience of the summer.
[432 ] electro nic fil e created by cafis.org
BULLETIN: COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
Theological Seminary fro m grant ranks. The emplQyer June 16-19, 1938. looks at his migrant laborers as It is evident that a s'Ocial prQblem as comprehensive and people "whQm he gets cheap." basic as migratory lab'Or- 'Originating from a search for Hence, there is n'O coordination economic security and creating or cOQperatiQn among the groups. further problems of disintegratiQn 'Of family life, inadequate The good migrant social worker child care, poor housing c'Ondi- can and must break down these tions with consequent health problems, lack of sufficient edu- barriers. This was discussed by cati'On 'On the part 'Of children and adults, lack of time fQr Mrs. Manchester, Messrs. NewrecreatiQn and aesthetic expression, lack of opportunity fQr field, Glick, and Dr. Miller. participatiQn in dem'Ocracy, and a feeling 'Of intolerance–has n'O The migrant mQvies and the 'One final answer. Hence, the conference could best be viewed visit to the tobacco plantatiQn by stating its issues in terms of fundamental questions. expressed more adequately than It appears that a rather vital words the actual physical needs pre-supposition that undergirds of the migrant. each 'Of the issues, and is im- THE STAFF OF DELAWARE AND MARY- LAND CENTERS; MRS. P. E. Definite prQgram suggestions plied in each is: that the educa- MANCHESTER, SUPIDRVISOR tional and religiQus processes and helps were given in the should it be arran~ed? What which culminate in creative in- should be its extent? periods. with Misses Hedden, telligence and human under- 5. In facing the problem of healthstanding can transcend the cul- What can we do as inexperi- GordQn, Diehl, Gaertner, Mrs. ture and develop it. Upon one's enced, untrained people in giving reaction to the pre-supP'Osition first aid, camp sanitation, ar- Maramarco, and Messrs. Thomhangs the hQpe 'Of the social mi- ranging meals, summoning the grant worker. For, as seen aid of county agencies ? sen, North, and Kullgren when 6. Accompanying the maladjustment through: the issues and the dis- in labor and home, certain unde- we learned (bQth through hearcussion 'Of them, the migrant so- sirable and abnormal behaviour patterns are developed. How ing and d'Oing) something about cial worker is expected t'O be shall we meet them? an educator, religi'Ous director, 7. The migrants represent every cul- children's work; folk games and nurse, home economist, libra- ture. One works best with those rian, musician, and business he knows and understands. dances; homemade games; eveman. Unless he has faith, then, What are the folkways of the migrants with whom we are to ning, Sunday and rainy day pr'Oin the power 'Of a creative dy- work? namic educati'On coupled with grams for yQung people and the Qmnip'Otence 'Of God, he is as Let us develop these issues briefly as they were discussed at adults; and crafts. . a lost sheep. the c'Onference. ThrQugh the help of D'OctQrs With this in mind some basic The seven-minute presentaquestions and issues which were tions 'Of the four areas discussed Calverly and Clifford and Mr. cQnsidered are: picturesquely and interestingly by the Misses Vera MacCracken, Scott V e were ,able to feel that 1. What are the duties and problems Mary Cannon, CarQI Ferwerda of a migrant social worker? and Gladys Corkum prQvided an untrained health educatQrs could How does his work differ from excellent backgrQund orienta- the social case worker? tion for the understanding 'Of do something. the duties and problems of the 2. The migrants-How do they live? migrant socialwQrker. How Inspired, challenged, and defi- What are their needs? different her work is frQm a city sQcial case w'Orker! HQW much nitely helped by the experiences 3. What are the values of the migrant is involved! No longer are y'OU program for the employer, com- a case worker, or a nurse, or a of the conference we strove to munity, migrant? What should teacher, 'Or religi'Ousdirector- be the relationship between the but you must be a combination plan 'Our programs. Balanced migrant and community, em- of them all. ployer and migrant, social work- as they may be, we can still feel er and community, social worker Because any successful pro- and employer, migrant and so- gram 'Of migrant education must a lack, f'Or our prQgrams cannot cial worker? Where should the represent this cQmbinati'On, it focus be? What are some of the must include the empl'Oyer and get at the real roots of the prob- methods of attack? the community as well as the migrant. There exists, undoubt- lem. It· is evident that the old 4. Our program-What should it in- edly, a feeling 'Of intolerance clude for infants, children, among the community folk be- econQmy, attitudes land educa- young people, adults? · How cause they dQ n'Ot understand their migrant brother. There tion are inadequate, but the is, therefore, "a man without a country" attitude within the mi- problems of migrancy can be abolished is our cry.
May we keep always in 'Our hearts the spirit 'Of the "Work- er's Prayer" which we felt at the close of the conference.
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak In living echoes of thy tone; As thou hast sought, so let me seek Thy erring children, lost and lone.
Oh, teach me, Lord, that I may teach The precious things thou dost im- part; And wing my weirds that they may reach The hidden depths of many a heart.
Oh, give thine own sweet rest to me; That I may speak with soothing power A word in season, as from thee, To weary ones in needful hour.
-F'rttnces R. H avergal.
DEBORAH CANNON.
World–wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events .~ EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO 1 ~'='===—-=-===–=-=======~ J APAN-OHOSEN who is a Christian and I see eight out of ten, because of the sQmething in his face that is dif- Japanese insistence on attend- A Soldier's Penance ferent. I want it." AnQther ance at the shrines. These were The United Church Record wrote: "I was riding a bicycle, "-great institutions wit h fine reports the following incident, told by the pastor in whose returning tQ my home from buildings, a good reputation, a church it .occurred: school. You gave me a tract. I capacity student body, and ap- A Japanese soldier came to a little chapel at Pingting, a rural town in believe now in the true God. I parently a future of great useeastern Shansi, on Christmas Day. He knelt and prayed before the Cross have .one friend who believes fulness. But it became imposwhile the pastor looked on with a great alsQ, and we gather the village sible to preserve the Christian deal of interest. children t.ogether sometimes and c.ontent of the sch.ools and at the Rising, the soldier approached the pastor and handed him a five-dollar talk to them about God." same time meet demands made note, explaining that he and three of -Presbyterian Survey. on them which loyal followers his comrades wished to donate this to the church. He Never Met a Ohristian of Christ would find impossible to meet with.out comprQmising Asked what was his calling before An .old man in the country their consciences, so we had no the war, the soldier revealed that he was converted by reading the choice left save tQ follow the and his three friends were all evan- Bible before he ever met a orders of our Executive Comgelists before they were conscripted. Christian. Hearing of Chris- mittee and make this great sac- Why didn't his friends come to the tianity, and thinking it sounded rifice for the sake of our convicchurch too? The answer was: They reasonable, he wrote to a city tion that we, as Christians, had no "face" to come to the church friend who sent him a Bible and should serve only one God, and after all the sinful things they had a Christian newspaper. After that our deepest soul loyalty bedone in invading China and killing the reading these he asked where he longs to Jesus Christ. Chinese people. They thought they could meet a Christian and was could not present themselves in front told there were some in Hamada. "There is still a strong native of Jesus Christ. Finding some of the Christian church that is witnessing for wQrkers holding an open-air Jesus Christ. It is working and He, however, decided that he could service, he joined heartily in the growing. There are also still at least atone for his sins by coming singing, making a joyful noise wide open fields for evangelism. to worship in the church, especially quite out of tune, and laughed The Gospel can be preached as since it was Christmas Day. He and chuckled all through the freely as ever, and people listen hoped that with the love of Christ the talks, so that the wo r k e r s as gladly. WQmen's work offers world might be changed, all national thought that he was mentally many opportunities for Chrisdifferences sunk and all human suf- deficient, until they realized that tian service in home and comferings avoided. it was his overflowing joy at munity. All the hospitals are meeting fellQw Christians for filled, and witnessing for Christ The Printed Word the first time in his life! He has is being emphasized in each of never turned back from the them. More extensive Bible Japan has one point of ad- faith he entered intQ through training is being planned, SQ vantage over all other mission reading the Bible. When he that every church may have fields in that practically every prays he follows no conventional competent leadership." Japanese can read. Education method, but sits down with open there is compulsory. A mission- eyes and chats to his unseen Presbyterian Survey. ary, therefore, can write out Friend as if he could see the .one anything he wishes to tell to the to whQm he talks. A Oommunist Oonverted thronging multitudes whQm he passes in city streets, or to Korea Mission Losses A United Church of Canada farmers he meets along country missionary visited a Korean palanes, and hand it with a smile Rev. L. T. Newland, D.D., .of tient in a hQspital and noticed a and a greeting, and know that the Southern Presbyterian Mis- copy of Luke's Gospel laying on it will be read and understoQd. sion at Kwangju, writes: "With- the bed. Upon being asked what As a result, letters come tQ the he thQught of it he replied: "I mission, confessing sins, telling used to be a cQmmunist. I .of dQmestic problems, asking thought the wQrld was in such hQW tQ be forgiven or how to find peace. One man wrote: "I in the last few months the a bad state that only by destroygQt yQur tract. I know a man Southern Presbyterian Mission ing everything and beginning in Korea has lost its schQols, all over again could things be [434 ] set right. Since I have been here deeming love is read with great two or three portable steel I have been reading this book, interest and appreciation. houses that will be set up by -Bible S.ociety Record. R. G. Letourneau, Inc. One of listening to the hospital evan- gelist, and have had time to NORTH AMERICA these will be used as a dwelling think. .I am now convinced that for exhibition purposes; another the Jesus' way is the only way Christian Youth Council will be the headquarters of the Christian Business Men's Comthat will work, that of changing Problems of war, poverty, un- mittee, while it is likely that a the world by first changing the hearts of men, and I have de- employment, slum living, race third will house a Bible exhibit. termined first of all to become a prejudice, crime, in d u s t ria 1 -Alliance Weekly. strife, alcohol and political cor- Christian myself." -Korea Mission Field. ruption cannot be solved by any- New England Bible thing less than a united Chris- Demonstration ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC tian movement, according to the At the Metropolitan Theater consensus of opinion among al- Bible Distribution in Hawaii most 3,000 Christian educators, in Providence, R. 1., this sum- Thirty thousand children in representatives of forty-one de- mer 3,500 Evangelical Chris- Hawaii's public s.chools have each received a copy of the nominations in the U nit e d ti·ans lifted their Bibles high Gospel of Luke. This was in response to a request of the chil- States and Canada, who came above their heads and repeated dren themselves, and the earnestness of the request was :r together in Columbus, Ohio, for three times: "The Word of the proved by the enthusiasm with which the gift was received. the twentieth quadrennial con- Lord endu~eth forever." he Some of the teachers wrote: vention of the International demonstrabon passed resolutIOns "The children are very much Council of Religious Education· recalling people everyw~er~, "~o pleased. Many read these little volumes during the free-reading in July. The delegates discussed a reverence for the BIble m period."-"Since the arrival of such problems as Christian fam- these ~ord~: "We again a!fi.rm the Gospels of Saint Luke a new ily life, Christian leadership for ~)Ur f~uth m. the . au~henbclty, interest in religious literature has been shown."-"This school the modern world missions and mtegnty and msplrabon of the wishes to express i·ts thanks and missionary educ~tion, drama, Holy Scripture as. being the ~ne appreciation for the wonderful story in the form received. A visual education, temperance and final authorIty. for. faith dozen different nationalities attend this school, and to many education, education and gam- and conduct; that, m VIew of this is a new book and a new story. We feel that much bene- bling, Christian education and the desperate need of the world fit will follow; for surely the industrial _economic problems, ~oday, we go on ~ecord as send- Word will bear fruit." Christian education and race re- mg forth from thIS rally a clear, Messages. like these cam e from the pupils: a Portuguese lations, and world peace. Facts pl·ain and forceful call to the about the world situation were world to return to that rever- presented, not by theorists but ence f?r the Bible w~ich sh.all by experts speaking b e for e result m earnest readmg, bellef small groups that took advan- in i~s rede~ptiye message and tage of the opportunity for ques- ~bedlence to Its mvaluable.teach- tions .and discussion. The task mgs."-Watch'lnan-Examtner.
of Christian education was viewed as one that concerns . Readjustments in Presbyterian Christian attitudes in facing our Foreign Board critical problems. Because of the retirement of girl remarked: "The first night Christianity on Exhibit several members of its staff, the I read four chapters to my whole Presbyterian Foreign Board is family. I shall read the whole At the Golden Gate Interna- readjusting the duties of other tional Exposition in 1939 an ap- members. Rev. William P. book for them."
An eighth-grade Japanese boy peal for Christianity will be Schell, D.D., continues as· chairproudly remarked: "Thanks for made to those who take no man of the Home Base Council the story. I carry it in my thought for religion. About and a new division of special pocket and read it every chance 8,000 square feet of outdoor gifts and annuities; Miss Ger- space will be leased, upon which trude Schultz remains in charge I get." A Japanese girl declared: will be erected a large steel audi- of women's work in the Home "Even though I believe in the torium, and in this Mr. Irwin Base. Rev. Charles T. Leber, Buddha, yet I like this story of A. Moon will present several D.D. has been transferred from times daily his "Sermons from the secretaryship for Japan, the Christ." These children carry the Science," a series of spectacular China, Siam and the Philippines Word of God to their various scientific phenomena used to il- to the promotional work of the homes-in the city, plantation lustrate spiritual truth. After Home Base, with a supervisory center, fisherman's hut, labor eight years of preparation, Mr. connection with young people's camp, homestead shack and Moon seeks to present the first work. Rev. Willis C. Lamott, primitive native houses, scat- century Gospel with twentieth D.D., of the Japan Mission, has tered from ocean shore to moun- century illustrations. In con- been asked to assume responsitain peak, where the story of re- nection with this exhibit will be bility for publicity work while
Miss Mary Moore, one of the appointed to deal with problems Church Cooperation and Union.
secretaries f.or y.oung people's of harmonizing rituals, co.ordi- Bishop Perry presented a resolu- work, will go to San Francisc.o nating pr.ograms and merging tion passed by the General Con- to replace Miss Marcia Kerr, organizations of the Methodist vention in Cincinnati: wh.o comes t.o New Y.ork t.o as- Episcopal Church, Methodist The General Convention of the sist Dr. Young in the new de- Episcopal Church, South, and Protestant Episcopal Church in the partment .of missi.onary person- Meth.odist Pr.otestant Church. U. S. A., acting with full realization nel. Rev. S. Franklin Mack will Other questions considered were of the significance of its proposal, church extension, missions, hos- hCehruebrcyh ininvthiteesU. tSh.eA. Ptoresjobiyntewriiathn give his entire time to directing pitals, education and young peo- it in accepting the following declarayoung pe.ople's w.ork.
Rev. George T. SC.ott, D.D. is pIe, pensions and publication tion: chairman .of the F.oreign De- work. A small committee .of The two churches, one in the faith lawyers will furnish counsel in onfatetheWLoordrd oJfesGusod,Chrreicsot,gmt~z~mginctahrepartment C.ouncil, with special alliega} matters. The next meet-"'·-Holy Scriptures as the supreme rule responsibility for interdenomi- national relationships. Rev. ing wIll be held January 24, of faith, accepting the two ~acra- LI.oyd S. Ruland, D.D., of Bing- 1939, at Jackson, Miss. minegnttshaotrdtahienevdisbibyleCuhnriistyt, aonfdCbherliisetv'shamton, N. Y., a former mis- Church is the will of God, hereby formally declare their purpose to sionary in China, becomes secre- School for Missionaries achieve organic union between their tary for China. Pending the The first Iowa School for Mis- respective churches. election .of a successor t.o Dr. Leber, Rev. J. L. Hooper, D.D., si.onaries will be held January -The Churchman. of the Philippines, will serve as 23 t.o February 18, 1939, at Iowa secretary f.or the four countries' State College, Ames, Iowa. The Library, and Racial Problem recently under Dr. Leber's su- first three weeks will be devoted t.o classes in the following sub- Here is what can happen pervision. jects: sociology and rural or- when a mission study class ganizati.on, agriculture and ru- learns something and acts upon Lutheran Unification ral education, foods and nutri- it. The minister of a Colored tion, family life and health, and church in Portsmouth, Va., city Delegates to the Eastern Dis- agriculture. The aftern.oons will of 50,000, told a white mission trict Convention .of the Ameri- study group that the Colored can Lutheran Church voted to be devoted t.o conferences and people of the city had n.o access put aside "doctrinal differences" field trips. A two-day rural mis- to a library. This was news to with .other Lutheran churches sions conference will be held many of the white people. and to unite "in fell.owship .of pulpit and altar" with them. during the course .of the school. The mission study class inves- The vote foll.owed long discus- The fourth week c.oincides with tigated, secured the cooperation sion of the reports of the Ameri- Iowa State Farm and Home of the National Youth Adminiscan Lutheran Church Commis- Week, the lectures and exhibits tration, which made the desired sion on Fell.owship with the .of which will be open t.o the mis- library a pr.oject, obtained aid United Lutheran Church in from the PWA, was given space America and with the Lutheran sionaries. The Iowa School for in Mr. Birchette's parish h.ouse, Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Missionaries is being carried on received gifts from citizens for .other states. by the Iowa State College at the lumber, paint, labor, and some request and with the co.opera- but n.ot yet enough furniturre T.h e Evangelical Lutheran an,d b.o.oks (the Church Periodi- Synod of Missouri has churches ti.on .of the Rural Missions C.o- cal Club assisting) and put a in every state of the Union, and .operating C.ommittee, repre- trained librarian in charge. a total membership .of 1,305,000 senting some eighteen foreign in the United States and Can- The library was opened by a ada. At the recent Triennial missi.on b.oards in the United States. -Agricultural Mission Notes.
Conventi.on the Syn.od auth.or- Presbyterian-Episcopal program inc Iud i n g eight ized a drive for a thank offering s pee c h e s by representatives Negotiations to commemorate the hundredth from co.operating groups.
anniversary .of the arrival in the A delegation fr.om the Pres- Border Cooperation United States .of the Saxons who byterian Church U. S. A., met f.ounded this church. The sum Every Texas city of moderate sought will be in addition to the last December with Bish.oP Per- size has its "Little Mexico," cut annual budget of $1,500,000. ry and Dr. Howard C. R.obbins .off from the rest .of the town by of the Protestant Episc.opal The- United Methodism Meets ological Seminary to confer on invisible but definite lines that a closer union ·of the tW.o b.odies. are seldom crossed except by The first large j.oint meeting Representing the Presbyterian teachers, missionaries or occa- .of Methodists held since unifi- Church were Dr. L. S. Mudge, sional tourists. Few of the cation was approved by the stated clerk of the General nearly 7,000 Mexicans in Texas Methodist Episcopal Church, Assembly and Dr. J. Ross Stev- speak English: they have their South, took place in Columbus, enson, chairman of the Presbyte- own stores, newspapers, church- Ohi.o, in JUly. C.ommittees were rian Assembly's Department on es. While the majority are
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Roman Catholic, every Mexican notified the large canneries at ment is given for an hour three center has a struggling evangel- Ho.onah and Yakutat that no na- times within one week, and then ical mission, and the American tives need bother to apply for the patient is allowed to rest for Bible Society tries to provide work either as laborers in the a month before the treatment is Spanish Scriptures at cost. Sec- canneries or as fishermen, for continued. retary Marroquin, American Bi- they would n'Ot be hired." The A wealthy philanthrQpist 'Of ble Society's Mexican agent, a natives in that region, threaten- Brazil has offered a set of the few months ago made a two- ing to take things into their own apparatus to the United States, weeks' tour of the centers of hands, are prepared to fight, if for use at the Leper Clinic in Mexican population in Texas; a necessary, fQr their right to Carville, La. journey of over 1,500 miles, work. The largest cannery in -The Christian Advocate. with stops in various centers Alaska, located at Kassan, has where local c'Ommittees had definitely decided not to reopen. Thr.ough Brazil with the Bible previously planned interdenomi- Others may do likewise, rather national meetings to hear his than yield to the unreas.onable An outstanding piece .of work during the year has been the reillustrated lecture. He shows demands of the labor unions. markable journey through Brahis audience how colportage Unless the deadlock is broken, zil of two colporteurs, George work is done in Mexic'O, takes Glass and the redoubtable Antao them over mountain passes, on thousands of Alaskan families Pessoa. They c'Overed 5,000 burro back or oxcart; and tells will suffer. them how, under the present Mexican g'Overnment, the circu- LATIN AMERIOA miles, mQstly by mule back, but lation 'Of the Bible increased the SQme 1,300 miles was in a "dug past year by 10,000 copies; how the Scriptures are being trans- Educati.on in B.olivia out" and almost 250 miles on lated into the native tongues of foot. There were perils to face, 3,000,000 Indians .of Mexico The public school teachers of such as terrific cataracts, rapids, who do not speak Spanish; how Bolivia have petitioned the wild beasts and hostile tribes, the 130,000 Protestants of that g.overnment to use for public the latter sunk in poverty and country contributed 4,152 pesos schools the money now given to ignorance. Once 'On trek they (over a thousand d'Ollars) to the support the State church. The came to an abandoned region support of the Bible Society; Roman clergy have jointly is- ruled by a murderer who tried how even the illiterates often sued a pastoral letter to all Bo- to get them in his p.ower, but buy copies .of the Bible, in the livian citizens warning them with the c'Onnivance of two 'Of hope that someone will read that their religion is in danger, the man's own cut throats they aloud to them-so great is their that Communism is just arQund managed to escape. desire for the Word of God. the CQrner. and that they should The largest sales were made c'Onsider very carefully for in the priest-ridden town of Eighteen such meetings were whom they cast their vote. This Campinas. One very suspicious held, and 'Over 7,000 Mexicans year 1938, may prove a momen-· old lady refused to touch the heard 'Of the work of Bible dis- tous .one for Bolivia, especially books, but as the colporteur read tribution, while 14,000 Gospels were left with local pastors to if the Congress and the Senate one passage after another she be given out. should decide on the separation began to make exclamatiQns of -Bible Society Record. of Church and State, which ac- apprQval, and finally bought a tion is not altogether improb- copy, say i n g apologetically: able. "You see, I thought the bOQk -Baptist Missionary Review. was Protestant." The lurid pic- Alaskans in Distress tures 'Of Protestants, painted by Oxygen f.or Lepr.osy the priests, had filled the people Native Alaskans, who depend Brazil is said to lead the wQrld with dread. entirely upon the fishing in- in the fight against leprosy, and dustry for their living, are fac- These two intrepid men had ing a desperate situati'On grow- a new treatment being tried ing out of the activities of the there is reported by Dr. H. W. many adventures and escapes, Wade, of Washington, D. C. It labor unions in the United but the greatest experience was States who seek to control the consists of the administration fishing and canning industry of oxygen under pressure, and the satisfaction .of circulating throughout the Alaskan Terri- the inventor is Dr. Ozorio de 100 Bibles, 700 Testaments and Almeida, wh.o first thought of it 3,000 Gospels in 'One .of the dark- est regions 'Of the earth.
-The Neglected Continent.
tory. Demands of rival labor as a means 'Of treating cancer. Five Year Increase in Brazil unions have prevented the re- The patient is placed in a tank opening of the canneries. These into which pure 'Oxygen can be The Presbyterian Church of unions insist upon determining introduced and the pressure Brazil reported at the annual who shall be employed, discrim- gradually increased until it General Assembly held this year inating against native Alaskans. reaches an atmosphere and a in FQrtaleza that there are now A correspondent of the Presby- half (some twenty-one pounds 266 organized churches and 140 terian BQard of National Mis- to the square inch) ab.ove the .other groups, exclusive of 1,522 sions writes: "The C. I. O. has normal pressure. The treat- places where the Gospel is regu-
larly preached. These churches EUROPE heads of families-men in good are organized into three synods Mohammed's Birthday Cele- standing with the governmentand are ministered to by 183 or- must be presented for approval. brated in London dained ministers and nine licen- tiates. There are 43,100 church On May 12, a group of Mo- Calvinistic Congress members, and a Sunday school membership of 47,939. It will hammedans in London cele- The fourth Biennial Calvinbe seen by comparison with the brated the birth of their prophet istic Congress met in Edinburgh figures published in 1932 in the World Dominion Survey of Bra- and Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer was in July, and created "no small zil that this is an all round increase during the last five years. invited to attend. Two hundred stir" in the city. An announce- This church has maintained a persons were present, of whom ment of a "Nazi ban on Edinworker in Portugal for some nearly half were women. SO!lle burgh Congress" drew attention time, and it is hoped that a col- of the men wore the Pers~an to meetings which might otherleague will be sent to him from headdress, a few the IndIan .wise have passed with less nothe Brazilian Church shortly. turban, but as to the rest they tice but the added interest was -World Dominion Press. might have been any group of justified. Four German pastors cultured London people. About were refused permission by der three-fourths of those pr~s~nt Fuehrer to be present, the reason were Moslems. :r'he presldmg being that the Congress was ex- officer was a R.usslan a~d prayer pected to take a sympathetic at- Cooperation in River Platte was offered III ArabIC by an titude toward the Confessional Republics Egyptian. One speaker declared Church as did the World Con- A new epoch in cooperation Mohammed to be "the redeemer ference' on Faith and Order at among Evangelical forces in Argentina, Uruguay and Para- of womanhood, the light of the :n Oxford last year. However two world and the glory of civilizaguay is believed to have begun tion" ! !-Religious Digest. Germans of the Ref 0 r e d Church were present, but took as a result of a conference called Bans and Concessions in by the Committee on Coopera- Roumania no part in the program. tion in Buenos Aires. This Con- The Congress was made up of ference considered the question The Religious News Service about 130 delegates, and inof organizing a Confederation reports that the Roumanian cluded a number of Europe's of Evangelical Churches in this Government has made it illegal foremost theologians. Holland area, and a committee of nine for eight different religious sects and Hungary sent some of their was appointed to draw up plans to continue the practice of their best thinkers, and others came for such a federation. faiths. . from France, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, South Africa, New Of the forty-five pastors and The sects banned are: the Mil- Zealand, Australia, America, laymen in attendance, repre- .lenium group (which, .according Eire and Northern Ireland. The senting sixteen church bodies to the decision includes the In- general topic was "The Reand organizations, twenty-two ternational Students of the Bi- formed Faith and its Ethical Consequences" in the Individual, were nationals; eighteen were ble, Jehovah's Witnesses and the Family, the Church, in So- ciety, the State, in Economics, missionaries of North American others) the Pentecostalists, the in Art. It was emphasized that the world must get back to the and British Boards; and five Tremblers, the Church of God vital principle of Calvinism, the were ministers to non-Spanish- the Apostle, the Penitent Naza- sovereignty of God.
speaking groups in Argentina. renes, the Reformed Adventists, -The Christian.
It was regarded as the most rep- the Illistii, the Innocents and the resentative group ever meeting Stilisti (the Old Stylers).
in Buenos Aires to discuss At the same time, the official decision granted new concesmeans of closer cooperation. Reformed Church of France An "Evangelical Youth Con- sions to Baptists, Seventh Day gress," held in Rosario, Argen- Adventists and Evangelicals. The Reformed Church of tine, last year revealed an in- Baptists received special men- France, which now unites the creasing solidarity among young tion, the last clause of the long four principal French Churches, people. Strong leadership was decision stating that they will will officially function in its unimanifest; the delegates declared be permitted to organize church fied form on January 1, 1939. their allegiance not only to the communions throughout the The new organization will be Church and its place in deepen- country by fulfilling certain con- marked by a work of conquest, ing the spiritual life, but also ditions, which in countries like consolidation and forward evanadopted important resolutions the United States and England gelism. in the field of social action. would be considered imposi- The churches in Paris are These young people edit and tions; for example, a minister seeking to spread among their publish two excellent periodicals must confine his activities to the congregations a desire for Bible in this district and share in a four walls of the recognized study, carried on by groups radio preaching broadcast twice "prayer house," and before such meeting daily in places of worweekly. a house can be lawful a petition ship. The great success which -The Christian Century. bearing the signature of twenty has resulted is due to a deep de-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
sire to know better the Word olics are not concerned, since AFRICA of God in order to spread this they concluded a concordant knowledge throughout ,France. nearly ten years ago. Jewish Islam's Sudan Campaign The fall in the value of the problems appear to be more po- As a result of Egypt's ac- franc and the rise in the cost of litical than religious.. knowledged rights in the Sudan, living presents a troublesome The head of this new depart- Azhar University in Cairo is deproblem to all the churches, and ment has traveled widely and is veloping a Moslem missionary es.pecially to the Paris Mission- conversant with all these prob- enterprise for various countries, ary Society with its large com- lems at first hand. and proposes that young Sudan- mitments in British Sou t h There will be seven divisions ese be trained at the University Africa. It will force them to in the new department, each in the technique of teaching Isconsider seriously the salaries under the direction of a special- lam to the pagans of the Sudan; of pastors, their pensions, and ist in such fields as education, and that they imitate Christian the maintenance and current ex- religion, labor, culture and eco- missionaries in acquiring the penditure of all Christian ac- native languages of these people. tivities. Yet the church has nomics. In spite of various discour- unanimously decided upon ad- The Gospel for Refugees agements, Christian missions in vance. the southern Sudan are meeting -World Dominion Press. In spite of the difficulties with great response. In some which beset the Russian Gospel areas, thousands attend the Sun- Evangelism in Greece Movement, conversions and bap- day services, and native Chris- A small group of Grecians, tisms are continually taking tians have started hundreds of converted to evangelical faith place among refugees. in various bush schools throughout the through reading the Bible, were country. charged by the Orthodox Church parts of Europe. Evangelistic with illegal proselytizing, for meetings are held regularly at Danger in Half Knowledge which the penalty is banishment. A Greek lawyer, now Montbard, France, where there Rev. P. A. Unwin, of the studying in England, was em- are numbers of refugees. The C. M. S., says that with the ployed to defend them and was Movement is responsible for the preaching of the Gospel there so impressed with the unfalter- must be systematic Christian distribution of a magazine and education, and clinches the point quantities of Gospel literature, mostly Scripture portions and ing faith of these unlettered books. with the following story: "A men that he entered into a During the International Ex- workman, educated in a governdee per spiritual experience position in Paris last year, more ment technical school, came to through their testimony, and is than 15,000 tracts in French and my room a short while ago. 'I now devoting his life to the Russian were distributed. Large want to see the thing which Lord's work. He reports that texts were on display, where makes the noise inside that box,'
this little group has started a they could be read by visitors. he said, indicating the wireless church which is growing stead- In this connection, it is start- set. I took off the back and ily. One old, illiterate woman ling to note in a report of the showed him all I could; but I asked a neighbor to read a Bible National Lutheran Council that am ignorant in such matters. chapter to her every day, and the 1938 budget of the Godless Then he railed at me and the gist half the village was converted of his remarks was this: 'You through this one instance, one of organization in Russia amounts English are all the same ; you the converts being a man who to 65 million rubles. Of this had spent seventeen years in sum 42 millions are contributed keep the African back. You do not want him to learn lest he prison. by members and 23 millions de- rived from the sale of anti-reli- should govern himself and you After completing his studies gious literature. During the would be deprived of the shillin England, this lawyer plans to year 14 millions will be allocated ings which you get from native return to Greece and help to to subsidize activities of the In- taxes. The Mission is the ear shepherd this flock. ternational Godless committee, of the Government. You are as and the remainder will be uti- bad as the rest. Have you not Situation Eased in Roumania lized for propaganda purposes refused to tell me how the wire- less works? Did they not refuse All religious questions have within the country. It is ex- pected also that a contribution to tell me how to make electricity been taken out of the office of will be sent to aid in financing at the technical school? And the Minister of Cult, and a the International Free Thinkers' why do you not let the African special department has been cre- congress to be held in London make his own shillings as you ated by the Roumanian Govern- next autumn. This amounts to do yourselves?' " ment to handle all minority a total of $13,000,000, of which questions, including religious -C. M. S. Outlook.
and ethical. This move is high- $2,800,000 is designated for Education Proceeds Slowly ly pleasing to such minorities as "foreign missions" in the United the Baptists, Evangelicals, Re- States and other Christian na- A diagram in the Gold Coast formists and Adventists. Cath- tions. Annual Education Report shows.
the total number of children at- man it was not for them to say WESTERN ASIA tending school for the past no. Hebrew University twenty-five years: according to the ratio of increase, it would Bantu Sunday Schools The Hebrew University in Jetake approximately 600 years before a child-population of the The s,econd Bantu Sunday rusalem, when founded in 1925, present size would be attending school. School Convention in Johannes- consisted of one building, a li- burg was attended by 117 dele- brary of 74,000 volumes, a fac- A further diagram, taking galtes from 43 centers in all ulty of 30, a student body of 64 into. account increases of population, shows the percentages of provinces of the South Africa and a curriculum of four departchildren of school age attending school to the total child-popula- Union, Basutoland and Swazi- ments. Today, on Mount Scotion year by year for the 25-year land. ~us there are 12 buildings, a period; and shows that it would take over 3,500 years before The Convention endorsed the lIbrary of over 350,000 volumes, primary education would be made available for the whole recommendation of the Inter-De- ",",a student body of over 800; a of the child-population of the partmental Committee on Na- faculty of 110.; and a currICU- Gold Coast. Figures for the tive Education that native edu- lum on a par! III both scope ~nd whole of Africa would be even cation should continue to be sta.ndar?~, WIth .that of leadmg more startling. centered in religion. It urged umve:;slbes. WIt.h some of. the upon the administration of Na- world s ou~standmg ~ ~ WI S h -World Dominion Press. tive Education and the teaching ~cholars on Its facu~ty, I~ IS mak- body to make religious educa- mg ~emarkab~e strIdes m schol- Pioneering in the Congo tion worthy and effective, and arshlp and sc!ence. . . Perhaps no type of mission- that every subject in the school In. connecbon Wlt~ t~e Ulllary service makes a greater ap- curriculum should be made a verslty, a great sClenbfic repeal to the imagination than pioneering. Rev. Malcolm Guthrie medium for the teaching of re- search activity is being deof the English Baptist Society writes an account for The Life ligion. veloped. This includes special of Faith of a pioneer trip in the de~artmen~s of ~rchreology, edu- Belgian Congo, when he covered Grave concern was expressed ~abon, sOCI~1 SCIence and agrar- 315 miles in less than four at the growing evil .of gambling Ian economIcs, as well as a deweeks, walking or cycling. "In among children both native and part!llent of par~sitol?gy, wh~re the most distant villages," he European. Chu~ches were asked specIal rese.arch IS bemg carrIed says, "they had not only never to give definite teaching on the heard the Gospel-they had never even heard of people with subject, and the Government on concernmg leprosy and cana Gospel to preach. The only was urged to curb gambling by cer.-Hadassah News Letter. white men they ever see are the government doctor who comes all possible means, and to de- Challenge to the Christian twice a year, and the tax col- stroy the facilities for the evil. Church lector once a year." -World Dominion Press. Most people showed a real desire to understand the message. Laborer Starts a Church An Arab Christian leader in In the first village visited, two Palestine writes the following boys wanted to go back with Mr. A young Portuguese, with his Guthrie in order "to get wis- wife and family, has gone to Sao letter: dom"; others asked for an evan- Tome, Portuguese Africa, to gelist to come and live among strengthen a work that was What can one say about Palestine them, and there were discus- started by an indentured la- at present! It is a country torn to sions as to how his belongings pieces by strife, hatred, rioting and could be conveyed such a long borer who had been converted aggression. Materially as well as distance. At Bokwo, another to evangelical Christianity in morally the country is on the eve of village, the people ran away in Angola; and whose initiative a total collapse, and what is still fright, and during the two days' resulted in the formation of a more painful is the fact that the services nobody took any notice small group of Christians. They troubles of the country may be traced at all. Later, a solemn conclave had no Scriptures to instruct back to racial ambitions based on was held to determine whether them, but found some fragments religious tradition and history. Jews an evangelist should be allowed of a Bible in some waste paper. as well as Arabs hold fast to their to locate in the village, and they These they copied by hand and claims in this respect, while the Chriscame to the conclusion that if distributed. At first they were tian Church has not yet come forward Mr. Guthrie wished to send a persecuted, but later it was with proposals to reconcile matters on recognized that the evangelicals the basic principle of Christianity, were the best workers, and they In the meantime unemployment and were no longer molested. what it entails is growing rapidly, suffering, hunger, dissatisfaction with This young Portuguese work- life, etc. Yet missionary activities, er has been commended by all hospitals, orphanages, welfare centers the denominations in Portugal, continue their work, often under very and it is hoped that the work In strained conditions and financial dif- Sao Tome will be adequately ficulties, particularly those who de- supported. pend for their support on Middle Europe. But nobody sees how this -World Dominion Press. country's affairs may be settled, there is not one, ray of hope that matters will clear up in the near or distant future, and I think that all of us have failed in the paramount duty of pray- ing constantly for this holy land, as
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
God only can send peace and He will meeting. "I have written the the divine power of the Good undoubtedly do so in His time if we unite in prayers to Him. music for the Lord's Prayer," he News. said, and handed me a neatly -Near East Christian Council.
Iranian Christian Art written sheet of music. "Will INDIA AND BURMA you sing it for us· tonight?" I Recent relaxation of the Mos- asked. He agreed, and later on lem rule in Iran against displays impressed us all deeply by sing- Legislators Face Problems of Christian work has been fol- ing "Our Father which art in Indian legislators are finding lowed by the use of Christian Heaven" to Iranian music of his pictures in educational p r 0- own composition. Then he gave that their economic and social grams. An Iranian was asked to a splendid testimony, telling the problems are not capable of select from a catalogue of Perry others what God had done for speedy solution. Mr. Gandhi's pictures those best suited to his him. educational proposals are called people. Unerringly, he picked impractical; and obstacles cononly great masterpieces, and one Field Widens in Arabia result has been increased sales tinue to arise in regard to childof Christian literature. Dr. Paul W. Harrison outlines marriage laws. The usual dis- some reasons for encouragement turbances involving Hindus and Converted By a Dream in medical work in Arabia. One Moslems result in clashes here of these is the steadily improv- Rev. W. McE. Miller, Presby- ing equipment. Better build- and there. However, most obterian missionary of Teheran, servers agree that the experi- ment of self-government is working not too badly. Iran, tells the story of one of the ings, instruments andautomo- A halt has been called in the latest converts, a man about 30. biles all contribute to the doc- prospects of any large communal He came to a meeting for in- tor's efficiency, but more im- movement of the d e pre sse d quirers and introduced himself portant than buildings and in- classes. Dr. Ambedkar is out at the close. He had been seek- struments, better trained men for guarantees that if any gen- ing the truth for five or six are now available, and with eral movement should take place, years, but had not found it. better training come increased assurances must be forthcoming Finally, one of his friends sug- resources of medicine itself; for that the political rights and sogested that he read the New anemia, they now have some- cial and economic well-being of Testament. He came to the gate thing better than powdered his community shall be conof our Mission where there is a shingle nails. served.
small bookshop and bought the As the friendlines:s of the peo- The general attitude of these book, and was profoundly in- ple grows, the field for medical classes is favorable to the recepfluenced by Christ's teaching. A work widens. Some have come tion of Christianity wherever year passed, and he did not be- to suspect that dirt is as much missions are in effective touch come a Christian. Finally, he to blame as the evil eye in mak- with them, and this work prohad a dream. He saw a great ing babies sick, and some of the ceeds in proportion to the abilmultitude, dressed in various most picturesque smells in the ity of missions to buy up the costumes, following a float on Near East are about to pass opportunity. The various "mass which a majestic Person was en- away. With all this have come movements" are proceeding· throned. A voice said to him, enlarged opportunities, and it is apace. The movement in the "Follow the teaching which is the day of beginnings for the Bhil area of Central India is exruling the world today!" He Christian Church. ceedingly promising, and if the tried to go nearer, but the crowd There are regular preaching missions were in a better posi- services where men and women prevented him. After ten days hear the good news about tion to follow up what is an unthe dream was repeated, and the Christ. Some of these are held doubted desire on the part of voice said, "Why do you hold in the Hospital compound, and these people to become Chrisback? Follow this teaching!" some of them in the little houses tians, there is almost no limit to the degree in which these This time he found himself quite near the glorious Person. He of the hospital helpers. There 2,000,000 people could be rerealized it was Christ, and he are social evenings where Chris- ceived into the Christian Church. determined to become a Chris- tian men and women learn how The five – year evangelistic tian, so on the advice of his Christ wants them to associate movement continues to occupy friend he had come to church, with one another. These are the attention of the churches, and the sermon had made a deep church affairs. The outside with notable results in many impression. We suggested that world is not invited. They are places. Conferences of farhe yield himself to Christ at hilarious and useful. The sum reaching importance are being once, and he said he was ready, total of all this is that the held in preparation for the so we prayed together, put his Church is emerging, and slowly Madras World Missionary Conhand into the hand of Christ, taking shape and growing, not ference, and there is a new spirit and he arose with a new light in because of any exhibition of hu- of optimism growing up in many his face. Next week he was the man skill or efficiency or wis- quarters. -World Dominion Press. first to arrive at the inquirers' dom, bp.t simply as a result of
Fighting Fear and demonstrated at a meeting of could be done for them, are now Superstition the Kolapur Church Council at being treated successfully. The C. M. S. Schools in Srinagar Sangli, when the eight or ten addition of this deep X-ray is are teaching their pupils to live up to their motto: "In all things missionaries present marvelled probably the hospital's greatest be men." Superstition and the at the progress made by Indian milestone in years, while for the fear of doing what "is not done," are twin evils in Kashmir. The Christian women in the past first time in its forty-five years' fear of public opinion is very strong, but the following inci- fifteen years since their first history an ambulance makes dent shows how this fear is being overcome. Those who lived participation in this organiza- possible more village work. The near the lake at Srinagar considered it useless to learn to tion. It was not just an occa- office has been made into a censwim because the "djinns" in the water would pull them down. sion to get together and talk; a tral unit, a cash register in- To disprove the theory, a yearly swim across the lake was organ- great deal of constructive activ- stalled to simplify routine work ized. Howe v e r, the "djinn" ity was reported. One village and a central storeroom makes woman reported apologetically. for greater efficiency and econ- for her group: '~'- omy. Plans are under way for I am only a country woman and I a second operating room and a library. can't read, but I'll tell about our so- -Western India Notes. ciety. We live in the country and Cholera Outbreak there is no one to help us or show us how we ought to do things. We don't even know how to pray proper- worshipers were not satisfied. ly, as we've never had a real opportu- In the recent outbreak of "It is true you have conquered nity to learn anything much, but we cholera in the United Provinces, the day-water 'djinns,'" they met regularly anyhow and did the 15,000 cases, out of 30,000, are best we knew. reported to have died. Fortysaid, "but how about those who four out of forty-eight districts inhabit the water at night?" The Here is a list of activities, are affeded. According to the challenge was accepted, and taken at random from reports Associated Press, entire villages thirteen boys swam safely across read: the lake at midnight. have been wiped out. Giving information regarding tem- The first crew of boys to pad- perance and missionary work of other India is one of the world's dle a boat through the city, lands. greatest cholera danger spots, about thirty years ago, hid them- Supporting Christian p rim a r y with more than 400,000 cases selves under b I a n k e t s, so schools for non-Christian children. every year. The ignorance and ashamed were they as sons of the educated to be seen engaged Helping support widows and or- superstition of the common in manual work. In various phans by sewing and other activities. ways the school is modifying people hinder the efforts of the the social customs of Kashmir. Conducting a nursery school in a officials to cope with the disease. For example, the rule that boys needy neighborhood. Native custom requires that under 18 who marry must pay double fees to enter the school Doing voluntary evangelistic work, bodies of cholera victims be is an effective method of reduc- usually in villages. thrown into streams, instead of ing the number of early mar- being buried or burned, and any riages. More than fifty widowed Conducting Sunday schools. attempt on the part of the govgirls have remarried in the past Supervising primary schools. ten years-another old custom Selling Christian literature (one ernment to prevent this is met dethroned. There is a new atti- enterprising woman sold over 100 tude toward the suffering of ani- Christian booklets to delegates in one with opposition. However, the mals; many boys are entering day). government is making every ef- Teaching illiterates to read. Teaching sewing, crocheting, knit- fort to deal with the problem on ting, etc. a large scale by using mass in- Helping small village societies to oculation and disinfection of conduct their meetings. dwellings as rapidly as possible. Cleaning the church, each woman voluntarily taking a turn.
-Western India Notes.
the veterinary profession. Bet- Bright Spots at Miraj Converts Walk 100 Miles ter still, more consideration is being shown the sick and afflict- Miraj Hospital is known all It is news when we hear of ed. There is a marked spiritual Christians so anxious to attend influence in the school, where over the world as one of the few a Christian service they will 1,400 boys and 280 girls are be- self-supporting mission instituing prepared for life. tions, and is unique in its being walk one hundred miles in order the only hospital to support a to be present. A group of eleven -The Christian. medical school. It is especially men in the Telugu area agreed Women to the Fore known for its surgery, a repu- they would walk the fifty miles tation which the late Sir Wil- there and fifty back to attend Daily papers in India indicate liam Wanless and Charles E. the conference in Hindpur. Then how rapidly women are coming Vail established. Notable acqui- they decided to make an evanto the front in politics, education sitions of the past year were the gelistic campaign of it so and social service, while their deep X-ray and the ambulance. preached in the villages en progress in the field of Christian Patients suffering from deep- route, and in order that they religion is becoming more and seated cancer, who were turned might reach as many villages as more noteworthy. This was away formerly because nothing possible with their witness, they
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
decided to return by a different Evangelism Among Bunnans result will be is not yet foreseen. route. Not only did they walk Educators find themselves in an 100 miles but it cost them at A writer in the National impossible situation. On the lease nine days' wages for the Christian Council Review asserts one hand, they face the humiliprivilege of attending the s e that Burma is today as strongly ating demands of the arrogant meetings. The leader of the Buddhist as it has ever been; invading army. On the other, group, who is a cripple, told and if the non-Burman Christian they must reckon with the risfriends how God had supplied community were removed, the ing tide of Chinese patriotism all their needs and kept them Church would number not more which suspects every attempt at from harm along the way, his than 15,000. Some have main- accommodation with the conface fairly beaming as he told it. tained that the time has come to querors as incipient treason. abandon work in Burma· and Sooner or later, the missions -Darkness and Light. concentrate upon more respon- will find it impossible to main- sive peoples, such as the Karens tain even a semblance of neu- Santal Christian Council and Chins, and thus form a ring trality under such conditions. of Christian people around the For the mission colleges in the An unusual feature of the land, trusting that the evangel- Peiping area, that time has evi- Santal Christian Council held ization of Burma will ensue. dently arrived. last February was that all the sessions, both devotional and The Burman cannot be said -Christian Century. business, were held in the Santal to be antagonistic to Christianlanguage. There were 14 Euro- ity. The message does not Farm Cooperatives for pean and American, and about arouse opposition. The Burman Refugees 40 Santal representatives pres- is influenced by public opinion ent. An entire session was which regards Christianity in a Plans are being developed to given to a discussion of the Sad- political rather than in a reli- form cooperative communities hu Movement. Sad h u s are gious light. The Burman Bud- of farmer refugees. It is estiknown as "clean people," and dhist attitude toward Burmese mated that between fifteen and they urge the Santal to give up Christians is that they have cut twenty million Chinese have eating unclean things, chickens, themselves off from the life of been driven off their lands in pigs., goats and sheep being their country by associating the devastated war zone, and classed as such. They urge the with the foreign cult. Preach- only heroic efforts by the Inter- Santals to worship the sun. The ing and routine work will not national Red Cross and similar fact that they respond to this bring the Burman into the agencies can save most of them teaching is proof of a heart Christian Church. He will from starvation before the end hunger which makes it all the change his religion only if he of next winter. Something more more imperative that they be cannot get away from the fact is needed than merely to feed given a chance to hear the that the new religion is better and clothe these helpless hordes, Christian message. than the old in the quality of and this something is now be- character it produces. ing sought by setting up in Two other subjects. discussed sparsely settled parts of China, were rural education and evan- CHINA AND TIBET far removed from the battle gelism. The following points lines where the likelihood of inwere indicated as essential: Japanese Orders Defied vasion is sma II, cooperative farming settlements. The money Training in handwork as well as Three Christian universities required to start these is coming academic subjects. in Peiping have risked their fu- in part from the Chinese gov- ture existence by refusing to ernment and in part from Chi- The use of materials easily avail- comply with orders to partici- nese banks. able in the district in which the school pate in celebrations of the Japis located, such as date palm leaves, anese occupation. The schools This establishment of farm jute and bamboo. involved are the Protestant cooperatives may have a far- Yenching University, the Ameri- reaching and permanent social Opportunities for gardening and can Catholic Fujen University importance in China. Perhaps the study of methods of improving and the French Catholic Peiping this may be one of the ways in agricultural work. University. The presidents of which an unexpected good may all three were ordered to hoist come out of the present evil of A cottage plan of hostel especially the flag of the puppet provision- war. for girls, and training in domestic al government, to make speeches science and the care of children. against Chiang Kai-shek's gov- Emergency Fund for Colleges ernment, to call on Japanese Opportunities for self-government army officers and tender official Nearly 4,500 individuals and in the hostel; responsibilities in the "thanks" for the Japanese in- organizations in the United Church and of service in· the village. vasion, and to send telegrams to States have united to raise an Chinese abroad denouncing Chi- emergency fund of $300,000 to The need for a positive faith, ang Kai-shek as "the arch crim- ensure the continuance of the 13 backed up by the testimony of a inal of eastern Asia." What the American – supported women's Christian life, was emphasized, as was also the need for a program of adult education among rural Santals.
-N a t ion a l Christian Council Review.
and coeducational colleges in Shantung Christian University, dhist theories in the form of a China, as the consummation of a seven months' campaign. The and the Central Government "Wheel of Life." The six reproject was undertaken by the National Emergency Committee University at Nanking have all gions of rebirth are painted on for Christian Colleges in China. moved to Chengtu. Dean S. N. a scroll which ranges from two This Christian educational work was begun by Americans Cheer, noted Chinese medical feet to several feet square, and as early as 1864. Some of the thirteen institutions have been educator and graduate of Har- which can readily be rolled and forced to leave their buildings temporarily; others have been vard, who has been in charge of unrolled. It occurred to misbombed, and are now in dugouts on the campus, but all of them the government medical school sionaries in Tibet that a Chrishave managed to maintain some, or all of their programs through- at Nanking, has been placed in tian Tibetan scroll on the lines out the past year. The total annual budget of the 13 colleges is charge of outpatient and inpa- of those used in the country normally about $1,600,000, of which a little more than $1,000,- tient clinical instruction at would be a novel and effective 000 comes from western sources and the remainder from Chi- Chengtu, thus centering almost way of presenting the Christian nese resources. Prevailing war conditions have reduced radical- all Chinese medical education in ". message. Services of Mr. John ly their income from Chinese sources, necessitating this spe- this one institution. ""Carey were secured, and he has cial fund of $300,000 both to replace losses of normal income -Christian Advocate. made some very beautiful paintand to meet heavy emergency expenditures. ings showing the life of Christ Another Rockefeller Gift Evangelizing Tibet and some of the parables. A lo- cal touch is given by depicting The Rockefeller Foundation Mass movements are not like- the learned men questioning J ehas made a grant of $35,000 for ly to occur in Tibet where travel sus in the temple as dressed like new buildings and modern is difficult and villages are sep- the lamas of Tibet. equipment at the University arated by mountainous districts. Hos.pital of West China Union Furthermore, the people are The scrolls, six of them, are University, Chengtu, Szechwan like the soil on which they live each sewn on to material of yel- Province. In addition to this -arid and stony. Statistically, low, blue and red, the colors gift, the University has received there is not much to show for used by the lamas. Each scroll $50,000 fro m an American the effort put forth to spread is carried in a sheath made of Methodist and $175,000 from tin with loops so that a string or sources in China. With its new the knowledge of Christ; yet leather strap can be attached equipment the University Hos- there is no doubt that the evan- when the evangelist goes on pital will have 275 beds and gelists who live among the peo- tour. -Moravian Missions. educational facilities for 150 ple and show the Christian medical students in nor mal times. In the present war emer- example are exerting a strong MISCELLANEOUS gency it has 325 medical stu- influence. An experiment is bedents from all parts of China. ing tried by opening a Gospel World Outlook for West China Union University, Inn for pilgrims and travelers Christianity "isolated" in the recesses of West China and far from the to and from Central Asia. The The World Alliance of Rewar area, is now the acknowl- object of this venture is to pro- formed Churches appraised the edged educational center of the vide lodging for these people, outlook for evangelical Chrisnation. It is a missionary in- and to tell them the Good News, tianity, and finds that in some stitution in which American besides distributing the Scrip- countries it is improving, in Methodists and Baptists, the tures to them on their depar- others declining. Adverse con- United Church of Canada, the ture. It is hoped later on to ditions affect the evangelical Friends of Great Britain, and keep an evangelist permanently churches in Italy, Germany, the Church of England combine posted in the Gospel Inn, and Ethiopia, Egypt, Chosen, Forto maintain. Faculties and stu- improve its usefulness as an mosa, Manchukuo, Russia, Spain dents of the University of Nan- evangelistic agency as circum- and Belgium. Protestantism, king, the School of Medicine of stances permit. however, is either growing or holding its own in Scandinavia, Another is the industrial proj- Holland, Switzerland, France, ect, intended to help indigent Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ruma- Christians to tide over a period nia, Greece, Hungary, India and of financial hardship, but the Africa. Finding a "marked re- isolation gives ve r y limited vival of Calvanism in the scope for such an enterprise. It Ref 0 r m e d and Presbyterian is encouraging that the little churches of Europe," the report attributes this in part to "the group of Christians in a village influence of the writings of Karl called oSheh are planning to build Barth." There is no doubt that a small church, independent of the attack of neo-paganism on any help from the Mission. -Baptist Missionary Review.
Christian Tibetan Scroll the Christian Church is driving evangelical church bodies in Eu- The traveler in Tibet frequent- rope back to the Biblical and ly meets in villages a pictorial spiritual fundamentals of their representation of current Bud- faith.-Watchman-Examiner.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
By-Product of Missions baptized converts among the year over 1936," the report states. Married women com- Missionary activity is not heathen and Moslems in the prised' 73 per cent and single limited to the field of religion, same period was 2,000,000, or women 17 per cent of this total, but flows over into other realms, one to every 525 of the heathen widows and divorcees making up and one important by-product and Moslem population. The the remainder. Their average is the contribution which mis- same degree of success among age was 41.5 years, the youngest sionaries have made to science, heathen and Moslems as among being 25 and the' oldest 65. Last especially in such fields as phi- Jews would have shown 7,000,- year's total is 115 per cent lology, geography, anthropology 000 converts, instead of 2,000,- greater than that of 1933, and and the study of ethnic religions. 000. Three times as many Jewish 159.5 per cent above the average Their contributions have often converts enter the Gospel min- yearly total number of women been of eminent importance, be- istry as of converts from among patients during the period from cause they have usually grown the heathen. A careful com- 1916 through 1936. out of a long personal contact parison of facts shows that no with the subject treated and mission field of modern times Turtle Eggs-Novel bear the stamp of a thorough has been so fruitful as the J ewand minute acquaintance, in viv- ish. Contribution id contrast with so many weak, theorizing productions of the se- The Great Delusion Dr. Albert W. Beaven, who cluded study rooms of univer- has made a recent visit to Bapsities. The New York Sun reports tist Missions in the Far East, these facts for those to ponder says that one of the queerest in- Progressive Ministry to Lepers who have thought that the li- cidents of the trip was one censing of strong drink would man's contribution of 4,000 tur- A summary of the past year's help America financially and tle eggs as his offering toward work of the Mission to Lepers otherwise: the Burma Baptist Convention. evidences an increasing scope of Some churches responded by this Christ-like ministry. Here In three years the Federal sending bags of rice, some a are some of the advances: in- government was defrauded of whole ox, while another church creased accommodations and $1,800,000 in alcohol taxes, and sent 2,000 ducks for entertain- New York State of $900,000. Five illicit stills were discovered, larger numbers in its institu- with capacities ranging from ing the 4,300 delegates. But one tions; a steadily increasing num- 200 to 500 gallons. More than man who specialized in turtle ber of out-patients; more service 500,000 gallons of alcohol were eggs sent 4,000 of them. These, for healthy children of lepers. distributed annually by the ring. being very perishable, had to be This work is developing rapidly Whiskey dispensed consisted of kept in wet sand in the basein India, especially. In China the a blend of alcohol, water, some ment of the church, and because need for such work is becoming coloring matter and a portion of of heat and humidity had to be more and more apparent, and in so-called "cooked whiskey." In turned over every ten hours to the widely affected areas of Af- this way 500,000 gallons of al- keep them from germinating. rica it is now realized how much cohol were converted into 1,000,- The entire time of two people can be done in this direction. 000 gallons of bad whiskey. It was required just to turn turtle The Children's Hospital Home was used chiefly by bars and res- eggs. in Uganda is an outstanding taurants to refill empty bottles Much has been written about example. Transcending all this that bore advertised brands and the missionary giving of the alleviation, is the spiritual com- labels of popular liquors. Karens, their self-supporting fort that is being brought to the Here was a triple delusion. churches and their evangelistic sufferers. This phase of the The government was cheated out work. Dr. Beaven was amazed work is proven of value in pro- of tax revenue. The legalized to find, instead of the bamboo, moting physical recovery. liquor industry suffered from thatch-c 0 v ere d shed for a -Life of Faith. illegal competition. The drink- church, a magnificent concrete ers were deceived into thinking and b ric k structure, seating Some Facts About Jews the bottles handed them by bar- from twelve to fifteen hundred According to the J ewish Year tenders contained what the la- people and with a pipe organ that probably cost about $15,000, Book the number of Jews bels said. throughout the world is over The K eel e y Institute at all paid for by the Karens 16,000,000. In the nineteenth Dwight, Illinois, reports that themselves. The seven or eight century 72,000 Jews accepted more women alcoholics took the other buildings, including high Protestant baptism, not to men- Keeley cure in 1937 than in any schools and dormitories, were tion the 132,000 baptized into previous year since 1915, and built 'and paid for by Karen the Greek and Roman Catholic the total number of patients of money. This in the face of the Churches. This is one Protes-' both sexes last year was the fact t hat the average Karen worker's income is from eighttant convert to every 156 of the largest since 1907. Jewish population at the end of "Women patients at the insti- een to twenty-five cents a day.
that century. The number of tute'increased 57.6 per cent last -Watchman-Examiner.
Missionary
Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information A History of the Expansion of Chris- jacket Df this vDlume which ….ance and especially what they tianity. (Vol. II.) The Thousand bears the symbDls Df falling pil- called the HDly Spirit-by their Years of Uncertainty-A. D. 500 to lars Df Crusader and MDslem very nature led to' variety and A. D. 1500. By Kenneth Scott La- tourette. Maps, Chronological Table warriDr; but the CrDss sur- to' extensive prDliferatiDn." This and Index. pp. 492. $3.00. Harper & Brothers, New York. mDunts the crescent and there is in line with the prDfessed in- are stars in the night-sky. One tentiDn Df the writer to' be "his- The first vDlume O'f this unsurpassed histO'ry Df the ex- reads these chapters with kin- tDrical and whDlly Dbjective" in pansiDn O'f Christianity was dling faith; thDugh God may his treatment Df the subject; reviewed at sO'me length (see December REVIEW, page 573). hide Himself, yet His truth and but his statement dDes nDt satisfy The purpDse and SCDpe Df the great wO'rk remain the same and right will win the day at last. Christians. every page bears the marks Df schDlarship and wide research. The treatment of sO' large a . Elsewhere the authDr ex- PrDfessor LatDurette has a clear theme is topical rather than presses his cDnvictiDn that Dnly style and does not waste wDrds. chrDnological. In the Introduc- thel"impDnderable"JDrces (sure- He Dmits nO'thing essential Dr tion we read: germane to' his theme and gives ly he means the HDly Spirit) "gDDd measure, pressed down, shaken tDgether and running First we will describe the conver- kept the Church alive and alight Dver" with very valuable fDO't- sion of those peoples who came into in medieval darkness. In dealnDtes. ing with the witness Df the the faith through Roman Catholicism, The title Df ProfessDr Latour- next of those who derived their faith martyrs and the patience Df the ette's book is arresting. The from Greek Christianity, and then re- saints during these dark days millenium Df racial migratiDns, count the territorial progress of the we IDng fDr a flash Df light and barbarian invasiDns and Islamic Nestorians and of the Syrian and fire. Even the stDry Df RaycDnquests seemed to be highly Coptic J acobites. Then chronologicalunfavDrable to' the spread Df ly we will double back on our tracks mund Lull is tDld in a rather Christianity. The hearts of the and tell of the spread of Islam and of lukewarm fashiDn, althDugh the faithful were perplexed. "At the the reverses which it brought to facts are faithfully chrDnicled. clDse Df the fifth century, Chris- But as Dne reads page after page tianity had becDme master Df Christianity. Next we will narrate the of the stDry Df the spread Df RDthe Mediterranean wDrld, which efforts of Christians to regain the was still, in spite Df its decay, ground lost to Islam and to carry man CathDlic Christianity in the majDr cultural centre Df their faith beyond the eastern bounds Spain, Gaul and NDrthern Eumankind. Within the next three of Islam into the lands of the Far rDpe, Df the missiDnary wDrk Df centuries it had IDSt abDut half East. Finally we will note the fresh this area and in the pDrtiDn outbursts of Moslem peoples which in the NestDrians in Ambia, Cenwhich still prDfessed the faith the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries tral Asia, China and India, Dne the level of civilizatiDn had dis- wiped Christianity from the map in is cDnfirmed in the cDnfessiDn: tinctly fallen." much of Asia and threatened it in "I believe in the HDly CathDlic Southeastern Europe. Following this The story Df these thDusand account of the varyin~ fortunes in the Church." years is black with tragedy, but expansion of the faith we will adnDt withDut rays Df hope. dress ourselves to the questions of the This secDnd vDlume Df PrD- effect of Christianity upon its en- Thrice blest is he to whom is given vironment and of the effect of the fessDr LatDurette's magnum The instinct that can tell environment upon Christianity. opus is a specific against all the That God is on the field when He Is most invisible. And the marvel is that such parDchialism and prDvincialism wealth Df material, such a sweep The entire hymn by F. W. Fa- across Europe and Central Asia, Df thDse whO' sDmetimes seem to' ber might have been put on the such a crDwding Df a thDusand years intO' Dne day, in Dne bDDk, think that Church history be- does nDt apparently Dver-tax the writer nor weary the reader. It gan with the RefDrmatiDn Dr is a great achievement. One sentence in the IntrDduction we with the DisruptiDn in SCDt- regret, where the author speaks Df the FDunder Df Christianity: land! Our LDrd Jesus Christ "The experiences which came to' His disciples after the crucifix- was head Df His church all iDn – the resurrectiDn appear- thrDugh all these thDusand dark years and made even the wrath Df men to' praise Him. He was cDntinually working Dut his eternal purpDse Df IDve in the midst Df human failure and un- certainty. S. M. ZWEMER.
[446 ] S. J. W. Clark. A Vision of Foreign presented here, are his lack of Forward Through the Ages. By Jesse emphasis on the importance of R. WHson. 139 pp. $1.00. The Missions. By Roland Allen. 12mo. prayer, his failure to state the 170 pp. 28. 6d. World Dominion Judson Press, Philadelphia. 1938. Press. 1938. This small but important book This unusual story of a Chris- necessity of the spiritual new contains a readable summary of tian business man should be read birth and the spiritual qualifica- "missions and missionaries of by every missionary and every tions for missionaries; there is yesterday and today." Mr. Wilexecutive of missions. In seven also no clear statement as to our son has written out of rich exjourneys, (from 1905 to 1924) dependence on the Holy Spirit in perience, first as a missionary in Japan, then as general secretary Mr. Clark looked into foreign the calling and preparation of of the Student Volunteer Movemission work as a pioneer "fact missionaries and in the actual ment; since 1936 he has been finder." He formed his own work that is being done on each western field secretary of the opinions as to the results of the field and in the offices at home. American Baptist Foreign Miswork and the way in which mis- Mr. Clark had positive convic- sions Society. It is an excellent sions should be conducted effi- tions and courage; he stood for book to put into the hands of ciently to be in accord with the new and better methods, rather young people and members of teachings of Christ and the ex- than for more life and better missionary societies. Even those ample of the early Apostles. As personnel; for finer mechanics who are well read in missionary a result, he severely but con- rather than for greater dynamic: literature will like its admirably structively criticized the work of clear and sympathetic survey mission boards to their face. He Der Arbeitslohn in China. By Prof. and evaluation of foreign miswas convinced that too much at- Dr. Paul Arndt, Dr. Djini-Schen sions, past and present. tention has been given to "dig- and Dr. Chii-Fen-Lo. Hans Buske. ging in" on the mission field, and Verlag. Leipzig. A. J. B. too little to surveying the fields in order to understand the need .Every missionary to China Who Is the Holy Spirit? By Henry and to evangelize the vast un- ~Ill find profit from reading this W. Flrost. 12mo. 124 pages. occupied areas. He believed that $1.25. Fleming H. Revell Co., New the Gospel of Christ must be mformabve boo k, evidently York. 1938. widely scattered as "living written after much knroeswelaerdcgh~ Many Christians are like the Seed," that the Bible must be and fro m first-hand disciples at Ephesus in that they of the field.
given to all mankind as the Word The 3,000 years of feudalism have scarcely "heard whether of God. He advocated the use of in China duplicated many condi- there is any Holy Spirit." Much "simplified script." Mr. Clark tions found in the world today, less do they understand His naheld that native leaders must be and suggests the way to organic ture, offices and relation to trained and indigenous churches cooperation among various eco- themselves. It is one of the most should be established and taught nomic groups. The study of important subjects in Christian to be self-supporting from the wages is fruitful for the scholar theology and life. Huge volumes start; and that these Christian the agriculturist, the mechanic: have been written in attempts churches must be the real agen- the tradesman and other work- to interpret the Scripture teachcies for the evangelization of ers, but not to the militarist ings. Here is a simple, clear their own people. What he stood whose life is built on the phi- and practical study that takes tip for deserves the attention of mis- losophy of force. briefly the Spirit's personality, sionary executives today. When This book traces the primal offices, baptism, filling, em- Mr. Clark died a few years ago social cell of China to ancestral powering and other subtopics. he left his fortune to make pos- relations, and then through prop- It is wholly Biblical with a few sible the world surveys of the erty holding, bartering and the -too few-facts of Church his- W 0 rId Dominion Movement. problems of industrial difficul- tory and personal experience to Mr. Clark's main principles in- ties. In an estimated population show how the Holy Spirit has cluded: (1) an organized, well- of 474,820,000 there are about been carrying out the predicconsidered plan for the evan- 78,568,245 families, of which , tions of the New Testament. Dr. gelization of the whole world; 80 % are active in agriculture. Frost 'has rendered a real serv- (2) cooperation and coordina- ice, especially to pastors and tion among all evangelical Chris- The economic facts help the young Christians, in giving us tian forces; (3) special empha- missionary to gauge not only the this illuminating and undersis on evangelization, rather condition of the people but the standable presentation of what than on institutional work; (4) possible support that may be ex- is to many a difficult or negan unpaid native ministry and a pected for the Church and its in- lected-but very vital-subject. stitutions. While there is no self-supporting native church from the beginning; and the de- direct reference to the Christian Following in His Train. By Mrs. J. missionary enterprise, every- W. Cox. 8 vo. 217 pp. 60 cents. velopment of truly indigenous thing in the book bears some re- Boardman Press, Nashville, Tenn. churches, independent of foreign lation to missions and to all life 1938. control. as related to sound economic Mrs. Cox, the wife of a deacon The essential elements that we principles. in the First Baptist church in miss in Mr. Clark's program, as JOHN M. G. DARMS. Memphis, Tenn., was for a time
President of the Woman's Mis- by friends and critics, by evan- would not accept her as a mis- sionary Union. Her chronicle gelists and by men of little faith sionary until she was twenty- of the women's missionary work in the things for which D. L. five, so she filled the intervening of the Southern Baptist Conven- Moody stood committed. These time with the study of medicine, tion is filled too much with seek to set forth the man, his and sailed for Africa in 1919.
names and dates to be popular message, his achievements and Her life was crowded with rich in style, but it gives evidences the secret of his power. All see experiences and achievements, of devoted service and real in him a great man who wielded interestingly recorded in this achievement. a vast influence and left a last- biography. Miss Veenstra died ing impression, but all are inade- in 1933, but the work goes on Dannie and the Alabaster Box. By quate. with signs of blessing.
Constance Savery. 12 mo. 62 Mr. Wilson, a Christian jour- H. H. F. pages. 9d. Pickering & Inglis, Glasgow. nalist, who never knew Mr. ""l'he Presbyterians: The Story of a Moody but has seen the results Stanch and Sturdy People. By An active, mischief-loving boy, through the dramatic, vivid of his work and sympathizes William Thompson Hanzsche. 194 stories of a former missionary, pp. $1.25. The Westminister with his faith and purpose, ha~ Press, Philadelphia. 1938. here tried to interpret the becomes enthusiastic in the "Meaning of Moody." He suc- Ministers, members of Prescause. When Dannie was kept ceeds in giving us many interat home by illness and could not esting glimpses of the man and byterian churches and other stu- attend the big Missionary Ex- some idea of the secret of his dents of religion will doubtless hibition, "Uncle Arthur" made power, but they are only frag- agree with Professor Gaius up for his disappointment by mentary glimpses and ideas. Jackson Slosser of Western telling him thrilling stories of Most of the biographical ma- Theological Seminary, that this Red Tiger, the converted robber terial given here deals with Mr. "is a distinct contribution to of India. He suggested ways Moody's early years, before he historical literature." In brief by which even a small boy could gave all his time to evangelistic compass it gives the main facts earn money to help send the work-in other words to the first regarding the founding and de- Gospel to people whose religious half of his life. velopment of Presbyterianism in beliefs often caused them to Mr. Wilson clearly points out treat even little children cruelly. that D. L. Moody's one aim was the United States, with some ac- count of home missions, but A treasured "Alabaster Box," only a short reference to the brought from India by Uncle Arthur, was chosen by enthusi- to exalt Christ and to win men extensive foreign missionary astic Dannie to hold their gifts to Him – not to himself. He w 0 r k 0 f the Presbyterian says: "I am one who doubts that Moody will ever pass out of the Church. The author, who is a and Dannie enlists his sister, pastor in Trenton, N. J., and a Charlotte, and many 0 the r friends in the good work. His picture. I doubt it because former edito,r of The Presbyenthusiasm, coupled with his Moody was never in any picture terian Magazine, has written in love of mischief, gets him into some pretty serious situations, that did not include the Cross of a fine irenic spirit, declaring and invites frequent correction. Christ. It is not Moody's par- The children are so bluntly that, while "we need to hold to truthful, that they often cause ticular job that explains his great amusement. meaning. It is the fact that he our standards in a world which became big enough for whatever job might be ahead of him. 'God apparently has no standards at is able,' he would say. Love will all, we need to be sympathetic find a way; and this means that to the viewpoint of other Chris- tians." A. J. B.
The small boy seems almost a man filled with the love of God Youth in the Toils. By L. V. Hartoo well informed, and too well becomes the capable man that rison and P. McN. Grant. 167 pp. acquainted with books, for a the world needs." $1.50. Macmillan, New York. 1938. child of seven but the story is bright, interesting and dramatic. Johanna of Nigeria. By Henry Beets. This study has two objectives: 8vo. 228 pp. Grand Rapids Print- to state a very real social proband should help any child or ing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. 1937. lem of every large city, and to a d u I t to become missionary stir public sentiment to the point This is the life story of a of dealing with it. Mr. Harrison Ir.inded. L. W. P. Dutch Mary Slessor. Johanna is an outstanding criminologist The Meaning of Moody. By P. Whit- Veenstra was born in Paterson, and Mr. Grant has devoted his well Wilson. Illustrated. 12mo. N. J., of sturdy Dutch parent- life to boy probleIru3. The book 151 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell age and at the age of sixteen includes actual stories of delin- Co., New York. 1938. worked in the Gospel Mission quent boys, some told in their One of the evidences of the conducted by Peter Starn. One own language, showing what greatness of D. L. Moody is the day at a Training Institute she made them delinquent. These fact that no biographer, and no heard Dr. Karl Kumm explain "case studies" indicate how difnumber of biographers do justice his idea of a chain of. Christian ferent handling might have to his life and work or fully por- missions across Africa asa bul- made good citizens, in place of tray him. We have "Lives" by wark to stem the tide of Islam. criminals. It is a timely book his two sons and his son-in-law, The Sudan United Mis s ion for this present day. H. H. F.
Book. Chiang Kai-Shek: Soldier and States- Foreign Missions Conference
man. Hollington K. Tong. 2 vola. North America. Report of Forty- 322 and 359 pp. Each vol. 158. fifth Annual Meetin(r. 188. pp. Missionary Arrives in Brazil A. T. Hum & Blackett, London. $1.35. Foreign MiSSIOns CoBler- Bentley Duncan. Svo. 192 pp. ence, New York. 28. 8d. Pickering & Inglis, London. Strong Man of China: Storr of Chiang Kai-Shek. 288 pp. ,3.00. W orId's Need of Religion, The. Pr0- New Testament, The. John Wesley's Houghton Mimin, New York. ceedings of World Congresa of Translation. Introduction by George Faiths, Oxford, 1937. 189 pp. 68. C. Cell 891 ])p. John C. Winston Christian Missions in Mid-India. J. Nicholson & Watson, London. Co., Phi1adelplUa. W. Pickett. 111 pp. 12aB. Jub- bulpore Mission Press. Educational Missions at Work. Ed- Forward Through the Ages. Jesse R. ited by H. P. Thompson. DIu. 128 Wilson. 189 pp~ $1.00. Judson Niger Ibos. G. T. Basden. Map. Il- pp. lB. 6d. S. P. G., London. Press, Philadelphia. Ius. 448 pp. 2lB. Seeley, Service, London. Buddhist Sects of Japan. E. Steinil- E,!aqelize or Fossilize. Herbert her-Oberlin and Kuni Matsuo. Lockyer. 92 pp. Bible Institute, Gambia: Country, People and Translated from the French. 308 Chicago. Church. John Laughton. DIus. 38 pp. 108.6d. Allen & Unwin, Lon- Seeing London With My Young pp. 6et. S. P. G., London. don. Friend&. C. A. Puncker. 144 pp. Drama of Madagascar, The. Sonia F. 28. Pickeding & Inglis, London. Howe. 359 pp. 158. Methuen, Christianity Explained to Muslims. L. Bevan Jones. 225 ])3). Rs 8. Roman Catholicism and F.reedom. London. Y. M. C. A. Publishing House, Cal- Cecil J. Cadoux. 207 pp. 58. In- cutta. dependent Press, London. Interpretative Statistical Survey of the World Mission of Christianity. An Open Letter to J ewa and Chris- Church Can Save the World, The. Edited by Joseph I. Parker. 331 tians. John Cournos. 188 pp. Samuel M. Shoemaker. 162 pp. pp. $5.00. International Mssion- $2.00. Oxford University Press, $1.60. Harper Bros., New York. ary Council, New York. New York.
Century of Mission Work in Basuto- Directory of World MiNions. Ed- Some ASl!ects of Religious Liberty land. V. Ellenbe}"ger. 882 pp. ited by Joeeph I. Parker. 382 pp. of Nationals in the Near East. Sesuto Book Dept., Morija, Basuto- $2.00. International Miseionary Compiled by Helen C. M. Davis. 182 land. – Council, New York. pp. ,3.00. Harper Bros., New York.
Children of the Rising Sun. Willard Sir, We Would See Jesus. D. T. Church and the Tribulation, The. Price. 816_ 3)p. $3.00. Reynal & Niles. 128 pp. 28. Student Chris- C. F. Hogg and W. E. Vine. 68 pp. Hitchcock, New York. tian Movement, London. 6d. Pickering & Inglis, London.
Send in Your Order Now for The October-Special India-Number of THE MISSIONARY ~'VlRID Some Leading Articles by Leading Authors with Maps, Chart., Illustrations INDIA AS A MISSION FIELD TODAY ……………… Alexander McLeish WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR INDIA …………………… A Record THE UNTOUCHABLES AND THE GOSPEL ………… Bishop of Domakal • INDIAN RELIGIONS TODAY …………………….. Nicol Macnicol ATTITUDE OF INDIAN STUDENTS TOWARD CHRIST …….. A. Ralla Ram. OUTLOOK FOR CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA ………….. E. Stanley Jones.
INDIAN ASHRAMS AND SADHUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Father Lash • HOME MISSIONS OF THE INDIAN CHURCH ………….. Thomas David CHRISTIAN VILLAGES IN INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. Z. Hodge OUTSTANDING INDIAN CHRISTIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. D. Devanandham NOTABLE MISSIONARIES TO INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C. E. Abraham INDIAN ATTITUDE TOWARD CHRIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. N. Wells • Expected but not yet received.
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Edilor.. SA..,.UEL M. ZWEMER, EDWIN E. CALVERLEY SOME ARTICLES IN THE JULY NUMBER Islam a Sevenfold Problem Samuel M. Zwemer "Some Libraries of _Cairo ,William M. Randall Islam in Sumatra Raymond L. Archer Allah Before Islam F. V. Winnett AI KUmai1: Companion of die Secret Dwi&ht M .. Donaldson 'The Moslem Antagonist Robert S. Darbishire Sins and Their Punishment in ISlam Francis T. Coo'lce Church and State in the Near East • Alfm-d Carleton A Theological Poem ' I. Lowrie Andenon Book Reviews-Current Topics ,f Survey of Periodicals Sue Molleson Foster _ ~ SUBSCRIBE NOW I( II[ '0 Cents a Copy. $2.00 a Year (postpaid) In combination with THE MOSLEM WORLD THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City '3.50 a Year. (Foreign Postage, 50 Cents.) ',…
British Agents: MARSHALL, MORGAN It SCOTT, 12 Patemoster Buildings, London, E. C. Price in Great Britain, Eight S~gs a Year, net THE LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN, OF BOMBAY By ROBERT E. SPEER 'Ibis is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the inBuential and able editor of the Bombay Guardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone"c;alled him, "The White Yogt..
When George Bowen died i~ 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character, forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and will richly reward the thoughtful reader. The book is now ready for delivery.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. ADecisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. XII. From 1850 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. XIII. Ten Years' of Independent Work. Life in New York, 1840-1844. XIV. The Bombay Guaraian. IV. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. XV. Relations with the American Board. V. Conversion to Christianity. XVI. Association with the Methodist Church. VI. At Union Theological Seminary. XVII. Bowen as a Writer. VII. XVIII; Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. Cosing Testimony. IX. The Voyage to Incha, 1847. XIX. X. Beginning Missionary Work.
This latest work. by Dr. Speer may be ordered at $2.50 per copy from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY- 186 Fifth Avenue. New York
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1938
1938
Influence of Christ in History Kenneth Scott Latourette From Mine-Boy to Moderator Life and Character of John McDowell Modern Dem~nds for Foreign Missions Charles E. Maddrj The Missionary Message for Today – Julius Richter Medical Work in Arabia w. Harold Stonn The Bible and Koran Contrasted E. w. G. Hudgell Christian Morale in War-Tom ,China Frank W. Price 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember wealth, religion
January 2-9-Universal Week of All Missionaries Try to and other topics. Some of these Prayer. Follow the Nevius Methods ideals which made him success- January 4-6 – Foreign Missions Con- But many miss the dynamic of them ful are: ference, Toronto, Can. an. which is I have always indulged the hope January 9-12 – Annual Meeting of BIBLE EMPHASIS that I should be able to establish effi- the Home Missions Council and t~e The Korean Presbyterian Church has ciency in giving, so that wealth may be of greater use to the present and 'i Council of Women for Home MIS- gained 180,640 new believers net in futu-re generations. sions Marble Collegiate Church, 9 years. This is the equivalent of New'York City. 70 new parishes of 300 believers ••• every year. Last year it had: January 11-I4-General Missionary One of the most important. of the Council Methodist E pis cop a I 2,844 Week-Long Bible Classe•• elements which go to make up ~ivilh:a Church, South, Savannah, Ga. (178,315 attending.) tion is the progress of moralIty and January 12-lnter-seminary Confer- 10,000 in Bible Correlpondence. the Christian religion. ence on Human Relations, ChicH¥o 844,268 in Sunday Schools. But I am never a pessimist–I never Round Table of Jews and Chris- 55,075 iu Bible D. V. B. S. despair. I believe in man and the tians, Chicago. brotherhood of man and am confident 4,509 in tHO Week Bible Institutes. that in the end everything will come. January 19-An~ual ~eetin~, Anier-. Read ti.e Story in the New Boo" out for the good of all. iean Waidensian AId SocIety, St. Nicholas Collegiate Church, New "THE NEVIUS PLAN FOR MISSION Do all the good you can. WORK IN KOREA" (370 pages). Be earnest. . York City. . Do not be afraid to work. By CHA.RLES A.LLEN CLARK, Ph.D•• D.D. January 19-Feb~uary 18-FI<?ri~a (35y….. inKorea) Persevere. If you make a mistake, Chain of MissIonary Assemblies In remember that it is human to err. 15 centers, beginning at Deland and CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY. Try again and try harder. ending in Tallahassee. Seoul, Korea. postpaid, • – – – ·Y5.00 Sons of wealthy parents have not January 31-February 6 – Founder's E. C. HEINZ, the ghost of a chance compared with Week Conference, Moody Bible In- 3624 5th Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., boys who came from the country with stitute, Chicago. postpaid, – – • – • – – – – – $2.00 the determination to do something in February 9-: Annual. M.eeting, Mis- 1927, she taught at Huping Agricul- this world. sionary ReVIew PublIshmg Co., New tural Normal School. . Live within your means. One of York. the swiftest toboggans I know of is •*• for a youn,' man just starting in life March 4 – World Day of Prayer. to get into debt. Rev. Yaroo M. Neesan. in charge of the Assyrian Episcopal Church in A clear conscience is worth more Flint, Mich., died in November at the and is a greater comfort than is a age of 84. He was born in Iran, at- great fortune. Obituary Notes tended a Presbyterian School at Mar- There is nothing in the world that gawar and at 21 was selected by the can compare with Christian fellow- Mr. Marshall Broomhall, who had America)l Bible Society to sell Bibles ship; nothing that can satisfy but been connected with the China I~la~d in Assyrian, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian Christ. Mission for nearly fifty years, died In and Turkish-all tongues which he England on' October 24th, in his 72d spoke fluently. He was a man of keen If you use year. He was a nephew of th~ la~e intellect, rich background of experi- Hudson Taylor and went to China In ence and unusual Christian character. PRINTING 1890. In 1900 he was appointed Edi- torial Secretary of the Missi~n, which ••• YOU Will profit from an ac- position he filled with effiCIency for quaintanceship with us. We twenty-seven years, until his health Dr. Chas. W. Gordon, better known do the Job complete in our own compelled him to re~ire. La~r" he r~ as Ralph ConnQr, died at his home in plant, whether it be large or sumed the editorshIp of Ch'tna 8 Md- Winnipeg, on October 31st at the age smalL lions and wrote a lar~E! n~mber. of of 77. Dr. Gordon won fame as the valuable books on missIOns In Chma. author of "The Sky Pilot" and other While our specialty is Boob, popular stories of missionary work MagatiftU and Pamphletl, yet ••• and life in the Canadian Northwest. we have a variety of modern He was the son of the late Daniel and equipment to meet all the ~ Dr. R. A. Hutchison, for thirty Mary Robertson Gordon. He was born quireanentl of your particular years General Secretary of ,the Board in Indian lands, Glen County, On- job. You will find our eervice of American Missions, United Pres- tario, September 13, 1860. His father prompt, careful and courteous. byterian Church, died in Pittsburgh, was the missionary of the Free Pennsylvania, on December 11th, of a Church of Scotland and after the son Will you allow UI to estimate heart attack. Dr. Hutchison was was graduated from Knox College, on your neztprintingl We be- born seventy-five years ago and after Toronto, he became a missionary to lieve you will be delighted with being graduated from Monmouth Col- the lumber, railroad and mining camps our product, price and service. lege and Xenia Theological Seminary, at Banff. In 1894 he became pastor Ohio, became pastor of the First Unit- of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church The EVANGELICAL PRESS ed Presbyterian Church at Altoona, in Winnipeg and in 1921 was moder- Pa. He was moderator of the Gen- ator of the Canadian Presbyterian Print",. of eral Assembly of his church in 1926. General Assembly. T.M Mulionary Revie", of the W Ot'ld ••* John D. Rockefeller's Philosophy PLANT AND MAIN OrneE . Mrs. Mary B. Hoy, a missionar~ in ThIrd ad Reily SIr…. Hao.." " , .. Japan and China for the Evangelical The late John D. Rockefeller,. and Reformed Church for more than Baptist layman and founder of a half century, died at Hankow, the Standard Oil Co.,. at various China, Nov. 5, in her seventy-fifth times made known his views of year. She help~d to found the girls' school now known as Miyagi College. .In 1900, Mrs. Hoy established the girls' school at Yochow, China, and later devoted herself to women's work at Huping. After Dr. Hoy's death in
MISSIONARY the condition of war in China making PARENTS
REVIEW OF THE WORLD it unwise to plan for it in Hangchow. In the Foreign Mission Field DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor The special Home Mission Study Number (June) will deal with Christ Endorse Calvert School VOL. LXI JAN., 1938 No.1 and American Cities; the Foreign Home Study Courses Mission Study Number (October) Publication and Business Otll.ce– will deal with the important topic: For Children Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. The Christian Cwmpaign in India. Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- Editorial and Executive Otll.ce– In the other months THE REVIEW tion Department, will give your child a 156 B'ltth Avenue, New York City. covers the world, home and foreign, superior elementary education … by mail, Entered as second-class matter at and keeps our readers in touch with regardless of where you may live. Mod- the main current events and mission- ern, approved courses from this famous Post 01flce, Harrisburg, Pa., under ary problems, great personalities, the school are being used by parents all .over Act of March 3, 1!l79. progress of mission work, the unoccu- the world with outstanding success. pied or neglected field, the best meth- 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. ods for promoting interest and the Give your children the advantages of these Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. current missionary literature. interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, Publisbed monthly, except August. and attractive materials. Instruction is All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. *** under the personal guidance of teachers in B"ltlsh agents – Marsball, Morgan Calvert's prominent and successful private and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, One reader writes: "There is no day school in Baltimore. London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, piece of literature that I get that has 10 shillings a year. great value as a source of illustra- Write today for booklet of complete in- tions of what the Gospel is doing right formation. Costs are low. MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- now in our world than that section of LISHING CO., INC. THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE CALVERT SCHOOL , WORLD called 'Our World-Wide Out- BOARD OF DIREC'l'ORS look.' "-W. E. Forsythe, Caledonia, IBOW. Tuscany Road Mo. ROBERT E. SPEER, PreSident Baltimore '<- Maryland A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President Personal Items ican Board of Commissioners for For- VALTER MCDoUGALL, ~,J.1rea8urer Dr. Conrad Hoffmann began his eign Missions in West Africa for duties with the Board of National nearly 20 years has become director DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary Missions of the Presbyterian Church, of Lincoln Academy, Kings Mountain, U. S. A., in charge of Jewish Evan- N. C., a work conducted under the PAUL J. BRAISTED gelization, on SeptemJer 1. Dr. Hoff- auspices of the American Missionary SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT mann will give nine months to this Association. Kings Mountain is called work, and by a special arrangement "The Negro Northfield" and is a D. J. FANT the remaining three months will be boarding school for Negro boys and MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD spent in Europe on behalf of the work girls. In the summer the campus is of the International Committee on the used for conferences. WM. B. LIPPHARD Christian Approach to the Jews. ERIC M. NORTH *** SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Dr. and Mrs.* Fr*ed *MacCallum are Dr. William E. Doughty, formerly Editorial Chat retiring after 40 years' work under one of the secretaries of the Laymen's the American Board in Turkey. They Missionary Movement and later of The New Year dawns with many plan to spend their remainin'" years the Near East Relief, has been made clouds overhead and on the horizon, in the Levant. One son is a mission- Grand Commander of the Greek Order but the sun still shines-the Sun of ary in Constantinople; a daughter is of the Phoenix in recognition of his Righteousness-on the world of time college librarian in Smyrna. twenty years of service to the people and nature that God made, and on the of Greece and the Near East refugees. world of men whom Christ came to *** The decoration was conferred by the save. The Editor and the Board of Greek Minister to the United States. Directors extend their very hearty Dr. and Mrs. John E. Merrill, Christian greetings to all the readers American Board missionaries at AKEEN That priceless of THE REVIEW and to the mission- Aleppo, Syria, have retired from ac- possession is aries and Christians in every nation, tive service. Through four decades race and tongue. There is evidently they have interpreted the Christian within YOUT more need than ever to spread the missionary spirit among churches of Good News of the love of God and the Cilicia and Syria. MEMORY reach! Follow salvation offered through Christ. This the simple, sen~ is the work for which THE REVIEW *** sible rules in was established sixty years ago and for which it is conducted today. We Dr. D. C. Henry is one of the mis- "HOW TO MEMORIZE" work and pray together for this end. sionaries of the United Presbyterian By Dr. William Evans Church still able to live and work in *** Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mrs. Henry The Possibilities of the Memory, and her children have received per- Principles of Memory Training, and A new Director has been elected to mission to return. step by step instruction on the fun~ THE REVIEW Board to take the place damentals of application. of our beloved friend and fellow work- *** er of many years, the late Dr. Wil- Many gladly paid $5.00 for this liam I. Chamberlain. The new Direc- The Rev. Mark A. Dawber, D.D., material in a correspondence coUrse. tor is the Rev. Paul J. Braisted, Ph.D., Superintendent of Town and Country Now compiled in a single volume the recently appointed Secretary of Work of the Methodist Episcopal bound in handsome cloth covers, the Student Volunteer Movement. It Board of Home Missions, has been gilt stamping, 95 pages, complete is especially fitting that Dr. Braisted elected Executive Secretary of the for 75c. and 6c. postage. should serve the missionary cause. Home Missions Council to succeed the through THE REVIEW since his wife, Rev. William R. King, D.D., who is BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASS'N Ruth Wilder Braisted, is the grand- resigning because of serious illness. daughter of Royal G. Wilder who Dr. King has been the efficient and 848 N. Wells St. Chicago, Illinois founded THE REVIEW and owned and loving Executive Secretary of the edited it for ten years. Dr. Braisted Council for the past ten years. is a graduate of Brown University and served as a Baptist missionary in *** India and Burma for about ten years. Dr. Henry McDowell, a colored *** missionary working under the Amer- Our year's program includes a num- [ 1] ber of articles preparatory to the next International Missionary Conference to be held in Madras next December,
by kind permission of the London Missionary Society
AN AFRICAN'S AWAKENING INTEREST IN THE HOPE OF THE WORLD REVIE ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 1 JANUARY, 1938 Tapies of the Times CLOSED AND OPEN DOORS labor warfare and anti-religious activity in some Looking back over the past year we see many circles. Mexico is still holding doors closed against missionary activity from outside countragedies, disappointments, lost opportunities and tries but is easing up on regulations against the doors closed or closing to the messengers of Christ right of religious assembly. Other Latin Amerand to true religious liberty. There is Korea and ican countries still seethe with unrest but open the Japanese effort to force Christians to take part in obeisance at Shinto shrines; there is conflicts are prevented by strong men in power. China, with the Japanese invasion, bombing of All over the world the greatest obstacle to the hospitals, schools and villages, the diversion of progress of Christian life and activity is in the lifeless or lukewarm churches, that have "a name money and life from a constructive program and to live but are dead," and in the divided, lifeless the efforts to destroy a truly efficient Chinese government; there is Japan with its strong mili- and stony-hearted Christians who are so only in name. The scandals on Christendom are always taristic party in control and their determined the greatest obstacles to Christian progress. effort to stifle freedom of thought and expression on the part of the people. There is Iran where But on the other hand, all is not dark and lifethe shah, Riza Pahlavi, has made himself dictator less as we look back nor as we look forward to the and is clamping down on religious freedom and New Year. What gloriously bright gleams there on all effort to oppose his selfish and narrow- have been in the faithful Christian life and testiminded program. There is Palestine, with the mony in every land – in Japan and Chosen in bitter conflict between Arabs and Jews and the spite of government regulations; in China in the still unwelcome British proposal to make separate midst of invasion, bombings and death; in India Moslem and Jewish states. There is Turkey, with where political strife has brought unrest and "units more enlightened dictator but prohibiting the touchables" are seeking social and religious freeteaching of religion to all youth under eighteen, dom; in Iran, Arabia, and Mesopotamia where thus handicapping the home and the school, the Christians are constantly being born in the midst mosque and even the Church. There is Russia, of fanaticism and in spite of bitter opposition; with its increasingly materialistic program, its in many parts of Africa where the Christian atheistic rules and its anti-Christian propaganda Church is growing through the work of African and its "purging" of the country by the death of Christians; in Germany where Evangelical pasleaders suspected of being antagonistic to the tors and people are ready to suffer imprisonment Stalin government. There is Germany and the for conscience sake; in Great Britain and Europe Nazi government seeking to control the Church, where Christians from all the world and all Protintroduce pagan traditions and worship and to estant and Eastern churches united in brotherly stifle faith in the historic Church and obedience to conference to bring better understanding and Almighty God. There is Spain with its homicidal closer fellowship in faith, life and work. In North strife, the interruption of Christian life and work, America the results of the Preaching Mission and the closing of some partly opened doors by com- Christian Youth Movements are still felt and are munistic, Roman Catholic and military activity, building for the future. In Mexico the evangelical and the impoverishment of the country. In North work goes forward, carried on by Mexican Chris- America there are tragedies in economic life, with tians among the youth and even among the 801- [3]
diers. In Central and South America the Gospel It will continue to prove true in Spain, in Russia, light also shines brightly in many obscure corners. Chile reports effective evangelism among soldiers in Ethiopia and in China. The only way to end and sailors and Indians; Brazil has Evangelical war by murderous warfare is to exterminate all self-supporting churches with over a thousand opponents; even then new antagonists will arise members each. After all, the most effective work and attempt to put down the victor who depends of Christ is carried on not in dramatic ways in on physical force to maintain his supremacy. great assemblies, but through the power of the Spirit of God shining out of individual lives in the A "war to end war" is rightly ridiculed today. homes, the churches and the communities in each It is as futile as is Japan's campaign to cure country. Chinese unfriendliness by a murderous invasion of Chinese territory. You cannot cure hatred by But what of the doors of service for Christ that hatred, or overcome evil with evil. It is nineopen out into the new year? Was there ever teen years since "peace" was declared in Europe; greater opportunity to show what Christ can and the Treaty of Versailles was signed by conflicting will do to set right this disordered world, if only nations; the World War was supposedly brought His followers are ready to leave all and follow to an end; the victors thought that they had been Him? What might not this new year – with able to make it unprofitable, if not impossible, for Christ – show in the establishment of peace in Germany, Austria and Turkey ever again to con- China and Spain; of religious freedom in Japan, sider renewing the conflict. They were believed Chosen, Iran, Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Mexico and to be too weak to take revenge. Germany; in producing the fruits of education, brotherhood and justice in Egypt, Ethiopia and Jesus Christ came with a message of peace to other parts of Africa; in promoting political the world and showed the way to establish and peace in Latin America, and economic peace and maintain goodwill among men. He gave His spiritual revival in North America? life to make peace between men and God and to establish the rule of love, and yet how little we This coming year offers new and rich opportu- have shown our desire for peace and goodwill. nities in the World Missionary Conference at There are still conflicts not only between men of Madras next December; in the coming student different nations, but also between those of differrevival meetings in American colleges; in the ent races, social and economic strata and ideas! revitalizing of churches, Christian organizations and institutions all over the world, but most of all We hate war and yet there are things worse in the opportunity to open individual hearts and than war-even worse than armed conflict and lives to the power and control of the indwelling death. Dishonor, disobedience to the laws of Christ. "Behold I have set before thee an open God, and cruel disregard of human rights are door and no man can shut it. . . . If any man worse than war. A truly righteous and strong hear my voice and open the door, I will come in government must endeavor to put down lawlessto him." ness, even by the use of force. "The powers that be are ordained of God." As long as thugs and "THE WAR TO END WAR" thieves ply their trades, armed police are neces- sary-locally, nationally or internationally. Such There probably never was a period in the his- a condition is not ideal ana does not make for tory of mankind when so much thought and lasting peace, but lawlessness should be made unmoney was being spent on warfare, past, present profitable. and future, as there is today – nineteen hundred years after the coming of the Prince of Peace. There is only one way to end war and that is Instead of peace and goodwill among men, there to establish the rule of love, to disarm the mind are murderous conflicts going on in Spain and and heart by taking away men's desire to fight China and more are threatened in Europe, Asia, one another. There is only one way truly to Africa and in the Americas. There were many conquer an enemy and that is to make him a who believed that the great World War was such friend. We are "more than conquerors" when a deadly and decisive conflict that "civilized" we overcome evil with good. This can be brought nations in future would be persuaded to settle to pass when men give their full allegiance to their disputes without arms. But a "war to end Him who loved us. war" is an idle dream. It is no homeopathic remedy; no inoculation that prevents taking the We hate war and yet there is war in which we disease in worse form. Warfare unleashes human believe. It is a warfare that is in full harmony passions; it stimulates greed, hatred and a desire with the Spirit of Christ and with the Will of for revenge. This has been proved by the course God. It is the Christian war against all evil- .of events in Germany, Turkey and Latin America. the war against selfishness and greed; against hatred and cruelty; against crime and lawless- ness; against intemperance and lust; against sickness and ignorance and degrading poverty.; against godlessness and all forms of evil
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
Men are belligerent by nature. Little children, churches in which they are reported as members.
as soon as they want something they do not His statements as to the decline of Protestantism possess, or find that someone else stands in the in America may not be wholly correct but it is way, fight their battles with a cry, with words, clear to anyone who investigates the facts that or a blow. But children and adults can be taught church and Sunday school attendance and vital a better way than to overcome by physical war- interest in Christian life and service have not pro- fare. There is a conquest by love, by truth and gressed but have declined,-especially in the by surrender. To "fight the good fight of faith," larger ecclesiastical bodies.
we need only courage and the whole armor of Some of the reasons for this d~cline may be God. The moral equivalent of war is the fight briefly stated: against evil, within and without. It is the fight for truth and for righteousness; the battle to 1. Decline of religious interest and responsibility carry out the loving Will of God. This is the in the homes. "war that will end war." When love takes the place of hate, and good takes the place of evil, 2. Increase of rationalism and materialism in the Kingdom of God will be manifest on earth. schools and colleges.
3. Increase of worldliness and self-indulgence in social life, with evidences of insincerity or IS RELIGION DECLINING IN AMERICA? hypocrisy in many professing Christians. 4. Indifference ·to spiritual things on the part of It is difficult to compare one generation with many in the church and out. This is fos- another. Statistics do not tell the whole story- tered by unwholesome fiction, theatricals and as to crime, customs, religious faith or Christian motion pictures.
progress. Each man's vision and information is 5. Increasing ignorance of God and lack of vital limited, especially in spiritual matters. Only God faith among young and old. The Bible is can know man's heart and only He can judge sadly neglected and misunderstood. rightly. Nevertheless air currents, weather vanes, barometers, social investigations, vital statistics 6. Absence of vital spiritual preaching of the and church attendance reveal some conditions and Word of God and lack of effective Christian tendencies. They are worth considering carefully. service in many churches.
There are some conditions in America that are 7. Lack of unity among Christians and failure to show true brotherly love among those of encouraging and there are also tendencies that are disturbing-politically, economically, socially and different classes, denominations and races. religiously. These tendencies downward should be studied carefully and corrected wherever pos- Christian leaders need to recognize these spirsible. Among the disturbing factors are those itual ailments and we should all earnestly and that indicate dependence on physical force rather prayerfully seek the remedy. Christianity, as pro- fessed today, has too often become formal and than on righteousness to settle economic and in- dead. So-called Christian nations have ignored ternational disputes. There is an increase of Christ's teachings as to righteousness and peace. divorce and a lowering of moral ideals; the Larger church attendance, better preaching, even growth of the gambling spirit, the development of Bible teaching and social service, do not in themlawlessness and the spread of intemperance are selves provide the remedy. We are coming to disturbing. The progress of atheism and material- recognize more and more that the first need is ism are evident, especially in some colleges and personal spiritual revival, with surrender to God among those with radical ideas. There is a de- and a vital relation to Christ; second, there is crease in Sunday school and church attendance need for new, more earnest and intelligent study among all classes. In general the growth of ex- of the Bible as the Word of God; third, we need travagance and self-indulgence is coupled with true prayer and obedience to the revealed will indifference to the revealed will of God as the of God. Finally, Christians must unite more standard for faith and life. At a recent National whole-heartedly in loving fellowship, in witness- Laymen's Conference it was pointed out that ing to Christ and in devoted service to mankind.
Christian church membership has declined in pro- There is power in Christ and His Gospel to portion to the growth in population. Mr. Roger transform the world. There is evidence of spir- W. Babson, former moderator of the Congrega- itual vitality in the Church and in multitudes of tional Council, has said that Protestant church Christians. They are still the "salt of the earth"
membership is declining to an alarming degree. but too much of the salt has lost its savour or is Others believe that he has based his statements confined in salt-cellars, not scattered to counter- on incorrect or insufficient data, but Mr. Babson act corruption. Christians are still the "light of states that official church figures include millions the world," when Christ loves and shines through who have now no vital connection with the them, but too many are hiding their light or it
burns dimly, in a small circle, with a poor dying Roman Catholic Church, with special privileges flame that cannot lighten even their own homes, as the National Church, then, in addiltion, the much less the dark corners of the earth. Waldensian Church, the Methodist Episcopal and Baptist Churches, the Friends, the Seventh Day An observer at the recent conference on Evan- Adventists, Plymouth Brethren, the Salvation gelism, held at Northfield, Massachusetts, reached Army and the Spezia mission. No other denomthe following conclusions: (1) We must recog- inations are allowed in the country. nize that the desperate situation in the world today cannot be remedied by reformation but only It is common rumor in Italy that the Vatican by redemption and regeneration. (2) Definite helped to finance the Abyssinian war. In return, decision must be made to accept redemption in it seems to have demanded that the civil authori- Christ producing a new character and not merely ties should restrain all Protestant denominations. improvement along the old ways of life. (3) To The first result was the disappearance of many accept Christ means to adopt His teachings as the independent missions and churches, which were practical plan of life in social, industrial, and in- merely extinguished in conformity with the law. ternational relationships, as well as in personal Particular attention has recently been paid to one conduct. (4) A definite Biblical foundation is independent work estimated to number some needed in thought and preaching. (5) Evan- 50,000 adherents but one that has been a pargelism must be carried to the people wherever ticularly aggressive and successful evangelistic they are and applied to their needs. This involves movement, and was spreading rapidly. A short street preaching, personal interviews, pastoral time ago no less than 1,000 of these people were contacts, clinics for personal problems, etc. placed under "house arrest," not allowed to leave (6) This is the work of the laity as well as the their village or town, and being obliged to report ministry. (7) Evangelism must be world-wide, themselves daily to the police. Nevertheless they not merely local. manage to hold meetings in caves and other secret places. EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN ITALY Attention was next given to those denomina- The British Weekly says that "so far as liberty tions recognized by the State, whose status is nomof worship is concerned matters are worse for inally guaranteed. The country is governed ac- Evangelicals in Italy than in Germany." Under cording to the exigencies of the moment. The a law promulgated in 1929, the following religious Vatican seems just now to be directing its activity organizations were recognized by the State and chiefly against three organizations-the Waldenallowed to conduct worship in their own way: the sian Church and its missions, the British and For- eign Bible Society and the Salvation Army.
RUSSIA'S NEW DRIVE AGAINST RELIGION Press reports from Moscow state that a new drive against religion took place in the Soviet Union to prevent the December influence of the Church or the clergy on the more susceptible voters in the elections. The first elections under the so-called Stalin constitution, now a year old, were held December 12. The clergy were accused of conducting an insidious propaganda campaign for the revival of the sorely oppressed Church. It was charged that their aim was the election of friendly deputies in the local Soviets and in the chambers of the new Supreme Soviet.
Trade unions, in particular, were urged to revive the fight against religion. Their news- paper, Trud, re-emphasized its purpose "to expose the counter-revolutionary machinations of the clergy and believers." The clergy of Russia, whether they are Evangelical pastors, Ortho- dox or Catholic priests, Jewish rabbis, or Mohammedan mullahs, are openly called parasites by the official organs of the Soviet Government and the Communist party and are designated as actual and potential enemies of the regime. Though the trade unions were enlisted in this new campaign against the churchmen, the drive aimed most particularly against the Church's in- fluence among the peasants since the Government seems to have had more difficulty suppressing religious expression among the peasants in the rural areas than in the cities.
Recent indications point to a determined revival of religious interest in Russia in spite of the most persistent efforts on the part of the Government. An indication of this trend is the fact that four years ago the Militant Godless League numbered 5,000,000 members. At pres- ent there are only 2,000,000 enrolled. Dispatches also note that in Russia today there are more than 30,000 religious organizations of various faiths.-Lutheran News Bureau.
Influence of Christ in
By PROF. KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE D. Willis James Professor of Missions and Oriental History in Yale University, Author of "The First Five Centuries of Christianity"
W HAT has been the influence of Jesus upon generation and even more than two or three cen- the human race? Is it waxing or waning? turies to determine trends. These are crucial questions. Upon the an- In general, the history of Christianity falls into swers which we give to them depends in part- three main epochs. First are the initial five cen- although by no means entirely-our attitude to- turies, in which the faith had its inception and in wards Jesus. Out of the~, too, arises to a large which it won the population of the Roman Empire.
degree our attitude towards Christianity and to- Then, second, approximately a thousand years in wards the outlook for civilization. If Christian- which geographically about as much territory was ity is losing in vitality, if it is a declining factor lost as was won but in which Christianity had a in human history, then the prospect for the future large share in shaping some new cultures. Third of the faith is dark, and if the human race goes and last, a period which began about the year 1500 on, its civilization will depart farther and farther and which is still with us (although some suspect from ideals which we think of as Christian. If, that it is now coming to a close), in which Chris- on the other hand, Christianity shows more vigor tianity experienced fresh internal life and ex- as the centuries pass and leaves a broadening and panded geographically beyond all previous limits. a deepening impress on mankind, then we can The first period is often regarded as the great- have more confidence as we face the future, both est in Christian history. The achievements were for Christianity and for civilization.· indisputably remarkable. In it the Church came Any full answer to these queries would require into existence, became second in strength only to a much larger space than the editor could permit. the state, and proved so vigorous that it survived Even a full summary of an answer would demand the state. In it the New Testament was put into a volume. However, it is possible to sketch in writing, and Christianity, beginning apparently brief compass the broad outline of a summary. as an obscure sect of Judaism, spread until it be- In general the answers can be stated as follows: came the religion of the vast majority of the Ro- (1) (This may seem so obvious as to be a banal- man Empire. The effect upon thj:! culture of the i.ty.) Through the centuries the influence of Jesus Roman world was profound. The ancient cults has been potent and beneficent. (2) (This also of the gods, to which the state had given its is a commonplace.) Never in any age or in any powerful support, were erased. The deities of large group of humanity has that influence been pagan antiquity remained merely as memories dominant. It has been one among many. Always and the ancient mythologies survived only in the it has met opposition. Always it has had to con- literature of the pagan ages and as literary allu- front elements in human nature and in society sions and devices. Laws were modified to take which are in complete opposition to it. Indeed, account of Christian principles, although not as the influence of Jesus has grown, the antago- greatly until after the end of the period. A new nism has become more pronounced. (3) In each literature was created, that of Christian devotion, of its major periods Christianity has successively apology, and theology, and new philosophies – if had a more profound effect upon the societies in one may so designate Christian theology – came which Christians have been numerous. (4) Never into existence. A new art and a new architecture, has Christianity been quite so vigorous and never although often incorporating pre-Christian forms, has the influence of Jesus been more widespread were created: Christianity aided in the processes and more effective than in the past century and which brought about the disappearance of certain a quarter. amusements, notably the combats of the arena.
The substantiation of these answers, as we have As its most outstanding contribution, the Chris- suggested, would require a volume. Here we can tian faith gave rise to transformed lives. A Paul give it only in the broadest outline. We must and an Augustine of Hippo are only the more disproceed chronologically. What is re$luired is his- tinguished examples of those who through a cata- torical perspective. We need to see more than a clysmic experience passed from moral and spir- [ 7]
itual defeat and impotence to triumphant living. out Roman rule and with it much of civilization. An Origen of Alexandria and an Ambrose of From the Southeast came the Arabs, carrying a Milan are, in turn, better known instances of those new, vigorous faith, Islam, and occupied Syria, in whom the change, while real, was wrought in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia, all the northern less spectacular fashion-in an Origen by Chris- shore of Africa, and practically all of the Iberian tian nurture. Peninsula. In the lands conquered by the Mos- lems the churches shrank in membership and in Great though the changes were, most of the some places disappeared. main outlines of Grreco-Roman culture were but little altered by Christianity. The vast majority Yet, in spite of this threat, Christianity not of Christians entertained no thought of destroying only survived in many of the areas which it had the existing order or even of withdrawing from formerly occupied, but, winning the pagan barit or of thoroughly reforming it. Many of the barians who threatened to overwhelm it, it also early Christians partly separated themselves from spread into Northern Europe far beyond the forthe world. Some sects, such as the Marcionites, mer borders of the Roman Empire into vast rewere pronouncedly ascetic in matters of sex. Dur- gions which before the year 500 had never heard ing its earlier centuries the Church tended to be the name of Christ. made up of communities apart-of the world but not fully in it. Before the first five centuries were New cultures arose in Northern Europe. They done an appreciable minority had entered the mo- grew up partly under 111e regis and inspiration of nastic movement, thus, in theory and to a large the Church and in them Christianity was more extent in practice, renouncing secular society and potent than ever it had been in the Roman Emembarking upon what appeared to them to be a pire. The Church became the vehicle by which purely Christian life. Moreover, in the first five much of the culture of the Grreco-Roman world centuries after Christ the structure of Grreco-Ro- was transmitted to the peoples of Northern Euman society and of the Roman state underwent rope. It was the nourisher of arts and letters. extensive modifications. However, in the main, Under it the universities of Northern Europe most of these modifications were not due to Chris- arose. Princes called themselves Christians and tianity. The vast majority of Christians more took oaths at their coronation which obligated nearly conformed to the world about them than them to rule as such. The Christian conscience they or that world were transformed by their did not fully accept war, as it had in the fourth faith. After Constantine the state controlled the and fifth centuries, but through the Truce of God Church much more than the Church controlled the and the Peace of God strove to regulate it 'and state. After originally holding themselves aloof reduce it. In chivalry a combination of Christian from the army, Christians reversed their attitude ideals wi,th the warrior's profession was made in and saw no inconsistency between their profession the attempt, probably seldom consciously exand service in the legions. Nor did they make pressed, to Christianize the 1<atter. The family any great effort to mitigate the horrors of war. came more fully under the control of the Church Slavery largely disappeared, but chiefly from than it had under the Roman Empire. The relief other reasons than repugnance to the institution of the poor, the sick, and travellers, and the proon Christian grounds. Some of the traditional tection of widows were largely through the Church amusements, such as the theatre, while still un- and were almost entirely the outgrowth of the purged of many features contradictory to Chris- Christian conscience. As in the Roman Empire, tianity, were as popular with the nominally Chris- so in Northern Europe, the pagan cults disaptian populace of the fourth and fifth centuries as peared. As in the Roman Empire, moreover, they had been with pagans of earlier days. Even popular religious movements broke forth from in the realm of religious practices and beliefs time to time, evidence that the impulse which many attitudes and some customs carried over came from Jesus was still fresh, and noble spirits from pre-Christian days. arose who bore unmistakably the peculiar impress of Christ. Threatened Collapse of Society Even in lands under the control of Moslems, In the next period, that from A. IT. 500 to A. D. Christianity was not without its effect. To be 1500, the story is somewhat different. From the sure, where Moslem law against apostasy was ensixth through the ninth century the very existence forced, as it was in regions in which the state was of Christianity was threatened by the collapse of Moslem, any extensive leakage from Islam to the society with which the faith had come to be Christianity was impossible. In such lands, moreclosely associated. The Roman Empire dwindled over, the Christian churches, on the defensive, to the Byzantine Empire. In Western Europe in- slowly lost ground. However, wherever Christian vasion after invasion of pagan barbarians wiped rulers permanently regained possession from Moslems, Islam disappeared more completely than
THE INFLUENCE OF CHRIST IN HISTORY
did Christianity in many a region permanently had the Christianity of Western Europe been so under the control of Moslems, Then, too, in Mos- vigorous or so far advanced towards the New Teslem lands Christians often had a profound influ- tament standard. ence. Moslem mysticism, or Sufism, came into existence and was molded in contact with Chris- In Europe the influence of Christianity became tian monks and hermits. Christians in Mesopo- probably greater than in the Middle Ages-"probtamia translated into Arabic the works of the ably," because precise measurements as the necesgreat Greek philosophers, so that Aristotle, who sary basis for exact comparisons are impossible. reached Western Europe in part through the Mos- The numbers who entered deeply into a Christian lems, had first come to the Moslems from Chris- experience appear to have been much greater. In tians. It was from Christian physicians tha,t society as a whole Christianity became the chief Moslem Arab physicians first learned much of the impulse back of the formation of international law lore which made them famous. What is called -an effort to put on a basis of peace and justice Arabic art appears largely to have been at the the relations between the rising nation-states. It outset the creation of Christian artisans in Egypt. also gave birth to fresh works of charity. It was the inspiration of the first pure democracies which At the close of the fifteenth century Christian- the world had seen. It entered as a major factor ity again appeared to face a dark future. From into the formation of the national traits of such the outside it was menaced by Moslem Turks. The peoples as the Scotch, the Dutch, and the Scandi- Turk, indeed, took that ancient bulwark of Chris- navians. It was potent in the genesis and fortianity against the Moslems, Constantinople, and mulation of the ideals of some of the most highin time overran Southeastern Europe. In Western minded leaders of the early stages of the French Europe, where Christianity retained its greatest Revolution. stronghold, the faith seemed threatened by internal decay. Medieval culture, largely the prod- Outside of Europe, Christianity spread more uct of Christianity, was disappearing. With the widely than had ever any religion or, indeed, than had any set of ideas, religious or secular. It was Renaissance came humanism, much of it pagan one of the causes of the discovery and exploration and hostile or indifferent to Christianity. A large of America, of the discovery of the sea route to part of the clergy were morally corrupt and a hiss- India and the Far East, and of the trans-Atlantic ing and a byword to all honest folk. For a time settlements of European folk. Christian missionthe Roman Catholic Church was divided through aries penetrated to the farthest confines of the an unseemly schism over rival claimants of the Americas, to the great nations of Asia, and to papal chair. In land after land the Church was various places in Africa. In all of these regions placed under the control of the secular authori- converts were made. ties-a process which continued in the sixteenth century with the further growth of monarchical Achievements of Christianity states. At the close of the fifteenth and in the Moreover, Christianity served to ameliorate the early decades of the sixteenth century the Throne impact of European upon non-European peoples. of Peter was occupied by a succession of thor- Much of the exploration and conquest was accomoughly worldly men. The sad state to which the panied by unspeakable cruelties of nominally leadership of the Church had fallen was drama- Christian Europeans on non-European peoples. tized by the martyrdom of Savonarola, with his Again and again missionaries protested against passion for spiritual and moral reform, through these iniquities. They appealed to the Christian the opposition of the Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, conscience of Europe and in consequence in edict the most infamous of the pontiffs of that low after edict the Popes came out against enslaving moral ebb of the papacy. the Indians and for generous treatment of the aborigines, and the Spanish monarchs enacted- Yet Christianity came back, and with unprece- but did not always enforce-the remarkably hudented power. In the succeeding centuries it mane Laws of the Indies. Missionaries, too, colexercised an influence on mankind far more wide- lected the Christian natives into settlements spread and profound than ever before. A series where they attempted to give protection against of revivals unequalled in the past purged organ- the rapacity of their exploiting fellow-countryized Western Christianity of many of its abuses men. and lifted it to a new level of moral and spiritual earnestness. Some of these revivals contributed In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Christo what we know as the Protestant Reformation. tianity became especially vigorous. The eight- Others led in the old church to what Protestants eenth century witnessed the dying down of the usually call the Counter-Reformation but to what fires of religious enthusiasm in Europe. At the is more accurately known as the Catholic Refor- end of that century the French Revolution and mation. In spite of palpable weaknesses, never the wars of Napoleon threw all Western Europe
into turmoil and in places dealt serious blows to education in Africa, in much of A,sia, and in many the Church. Yet, even in the eighteenth century of the islands of the sea. In China under Chrisrevivals were in progress in the Pietist and Wes- tian auspices a new medical profession came into leyan movements and in the Great Awakening in being. In their day of transition huge civilized the Thirteen Colonies. In the nineteenth century nations, notably the Indians and Chinese, had they became more numerous and more wide- their ideals profoundly modified by Christianity. spread. Always in Protestantism deeply reli- In the Occident, Christianity, far from losing its gious strains had existed. However, political mo- power to mold collectively the life of man, gave tives had been almost as potent as religious in the birth to movements for the abolition of the Negro formation of Protestantism, and the various state slave trade and of Negro slavery. The Red Cross churches in which until the nineteenth century by its very name and symbol bears witness to the most Protestants were found, suffered in their Christian origin of this most noteworthy of atspiritual life from the control exercised by their tempts to heal the wounds of war and of natural respective governments. Now, in the nineteenth disasters. In the OcCident both the menace of century, the Christian motive became more nearly war and the efforts to prevent war assumed undominant in Protestantism and the Christian ex- precedented proportions. Most of the latter had perience more widespread. New denominations Christian roots. The list might be greatly lengthcame into being to express this experience. Great ened to include prison reform, efforts to better movements and organizations-among others the the lot of the blind, the deaf, and the insane, and Sunday schools, the Young Men's and Young the founding of scores of colleges and universities Women's Christian Associations, the young peo- and of hundreds of hospitals. ple's soCieties, and the student Christian movements-arose to meet particular needs. Within As we have suggested, never in any age or peo- Roman Catholicism a new burst of life gave birth ple has Christianity been the only influence at to more new orders than that ancient Church had work molding the life of man. Chronically it has known in all its preceding history. Both the Prot- been vigorously opposed by tendenCies and tradiestant and the Roman Catholic foreign missionary tions which spiritually and morally are its exact movements expanded to unprecedented propor- oppoSites. Always a tension has existed. Always tions. In the new nations formed by peoples of where the light has shone there has been darkness European stock in the United States, Canada, -but the light has continued to shine and the Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, Chris- darkness has not overcome it. If in our present tianity not only held the settlers, but, at least in age the forces of darkness seem to' be espeCially the largest of these nations, the United States, the aggressive, powerful, and perilous to the highest proportion of the population who were members interests of man, we need to remember that never of churches actually increased. has the light shone farther or more brilliantly than in the past century and a half. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the influence of Christianity became more widespread What the future has in store no one of us ought and more potent than ever. Millions from scores confidently to predict. History does not necesof different races and peoples entered to a greater sarily repeat itself. If, however, past experience or less degree into the Christian experience. warrants any prophecy, it is that the light will Scores of tribes in Africa and the islands of the continue to shine, beneficently and more strongly. Pacific reconstructed their entire corporate life So far as we can see, for an indefinitely long peand their customs under Christian auspices. riod to come the darkness will also be there. How- Through Christian missionaries more languages ever, the light is there and we can be confident were reduced to writing than by all other agencies that the darkness will not extinguish it. Always, in all the preceding history of mankind. Chris- as in the vision of Bunyan, the oil of grace contians pioneered in introducing new systems of tinues to be poured and all the efforts of the enemy do not put out the flame.
THE APPEAL OF CHRIST TO MEN The more pagan people are the more Christ's message appeals to them as Good News. But go to people who term themselves Christians, who believe themselves within Christ's fold, and yet are really pagan in life and character, and you run your head into a stone wall.-Prof. Gonzalo Baez Camargo of Mexico.
*** Christianity is a life-a life of fellowship with God in Christ Jesus. All else that is Christian flows from that experience. Doctrines define and formulate that experience in in- tellectual terms.-Thomas Reeve of England.
Mine–Boy to
The Remarkable Achievement of John McDowell, Late Associate Director of the Department of So- cial Education and Action, Board of Christian Education, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
-"I By DELAVAN L. PIERSON I!B- __ J~==============~ ~==========~ TODAY most American parents seem to think not an easy job for a lad of eleven and he still had . that they must supply their children with all to rise early and work hard all day. Again he the education, the comforts, the amusements was faithful in that which was least, and he was and other advantages that their money can buy; cheerful and uncomplaining. Two years later the even then they tremble lest their boys and girls boy was promoted to be a "mule-boy" down in the may go astray and fail to make good in character damp, dark mines. His job was to hitch the mule or achievements. to the coal cars a·nd drive the animal to the shaft What chance of success has a lad of fourte~n, where the coal was hoisted to the surface. Here with only one arm, his remaining hand injured, was more responsibility and more risk to life and a broken leg and a wounded knee; moreover, a limb from accident, cave-in or explosions, but not lad who had received only a meagre primary much money and not very elevating or amusing school education, living in a miner's cabin sur- to a boy of thirteen! But again Jack was faith- rounded with many evidences of extreme poverty? ful, cheery and undefeated. He made friends with Such a number of handicaps would seem almost his mule and with the miners among whom were insurmountable. Not so were they accepted by strong, God-fearing men.
little Jack McDowell. The boy was made of What could John look forward to in life? Must sterner stuff, and did not know what it meant to he always be a poor miner, even if he survived the accept defeat because of adverse circumstances dangers which made the average age of miners and so-called handicaps. at death only about thirty-two? John's father John McDowell was born in DaIry, Scotland, wished better things for his son and, since times on September 24, 1870, and was brought to Amer- were a little easier, asked the lad if he would like ica by his parents when he was two years old. to go to school. It was an opportunity and the The father secured work as a miner in the an- boy had some ambition. In Miner McDowell's thracite coal mines near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- home the daily fare included oatmeal, and the vania, but the money he could earn was very in- Shorter Catechism. The children were taught to adequate for the needs of a growing family. believe in and practice hard, honest work, self- Every cent was needed that could honestly be respect, honesty, reverence for God and human gained and at eight years of age little Jack went sympathy. But the opportunities for financial or to work as a "breaker-boy" at the mines. He had intellectual advancement were very limited. John to get up before daylight-not in a steam-heated told his father that he wanted to enter an engiroom-eat a hurried breakfast of oatmeal, and be neering school and become an engineer. It seemed at the mines at seven o'clock. There he sat all like a high ambition. Could he achieve it? Then day, in the heat of summer and the cold of winter came the catastrophy!
with coal dust filling eyes and lungs, picking out One day, down in the mine, on his last trip, the pieces of slate from the coal as it came down the coal car started on the down grade, caught Jack chute from the crusher. Not much freedom, fun in the machinery, dragged him along, tore his left and opportunity there for a growing boy's mind arm almost off, broke his leg, put a spike through and body. But he was faithful, and uncomplain- his knee and endangered his life. The boy had ing. His help was needed to meet the household presence of mind to put his foot with its heavy expenses. boot in front of the wheel and stopped the car.
Three years later, Jack was promoted to be The mule went on alone and miners came to see door-boy in the mines. His daily routine was to what was the trouble. They found the bruised open the doors at the foot of the shaft to let the and bleeding lad and took him home, where he mules and coal cars pass through, and then to shut hovered between life and death. His ambition them again to keep out the draft from the mines to be an engineer was spiked; but John was un- deep down in the bowels of the earth. This was daunted. When the doctor said: "Well, my boy, [11 ]
you won't have much more than your brain left In Mount Hermon, John came to know and love to work with," Jack decided that he wanted an D. L. Moody and was known and loved by the education. But how was that to be obtained? great evangelist and his family. He heard some When he had recovered sufficiently, he started to of the world's great Bible teachers and preachers attend the public school, and he soon showed signs at the summer conferences and was moved by ap- of a clear, undamaged brain and a determined peals to make full surrender to Christ and to give spirit. his life to Christian service. At Northfield, too, About that time the great evangelist, D. L. he met a girl student-refined, attractive, sweet Moody, came to Wilkes-Barre. He told of his in disposition and strong in Christian character. school, recently founded at Mount Hermon, Mas- Minnie Fowler saw in the Mount Hermon youth sachusetts, where boys with little cash but much the signs of true nobility and promise. Those who earnestness might work to pay part of their way knew these two students then, and have followed and obtain an education. That was the place for them ever since, know what a perfect comrade- Jack. A friend who recognized the boy's worth ship has marked their life together-each conoffered to pay $100 toward the first year's ex- tributing rich stores of understanding love and penses if he could earn the remainder. The next talents to make their lives a united success.
September he went to Mount Hermon-a frail slip From Mount Hermon, John McDowell went to of a lad of fifteen, apparently with serious handi- Princeton University where he was graduated in caps-but again he was faithful, intelligent, dead 1894. He earned his way through and at the in earnest, cheerful and uncomplaining. He same time helped a younger brother to obtain an gladly began to work at his books and at the education. After leaving Princeton he spent a daily tasks assigned to help pay his way. But summer in mission work in New York's East Side, what could he do? Not drive a plow, work on the largely among foreigners. He showed himself a road, or even wash dishes; but he could work in friend to the poor and to handicapped workers the school office and in the summer time he could and gained a keener sense of the prime impor- sell newspapers at the Northfield Conferences tance of winning men to God as He has revealed -and he did. Himself and the Way .Of Life through Jesus But there was another and even greater handi- Christ. As a result John decided to enter Prince- cap from which he suffered. He studied hard but ton Seminary to prepare for the ministry-again though he answered the questions in his written paying his own way through, and using all the examinations, his marks were too low to pass. time he could spare for evangelistic work. He What was the trouble? The teacher told him was called to be pastor .Of a church at Steelton, that he could not receive better marks because he Pennsylvania, in a region not far from his old had failed in recitation. But did not the teacher home. There he came to know the miners and know the reason? Jack stuttered s.o that he could their problems still more intimately as their not recite-especially in translating Latin and in friend and spiritual adviser. But the field was too pronouncing unfamiliar names in history? The limited for his talents and he was soon called to teacher was sorry but firm-boys were required be pastor of Park Church, Newark. There, with to recite. "All right," the boy said, "I will recite his faithful and devoted wife at his side, he made next time." And he did, although he took the full his mark, not only on his congregation but in the lesson period to get out the words. At first the city, serving on juries and on commissions, set- class laughed and the teacher told him he could tling labor disputes, working for social justice sit down. But Jack set his jaw firmly and con- and seeking to exalt Christ and to show the impli- tinued the battle royal. Then his classmates were cations and application of His message for this silent and moved to tears-but tears of sympathy world and for the world to come.
and admiration. Finally they applauded. Jack After ten years in Newark, there followed other sat down a victor. He never stammered again. important pastorates in Detr.Oit and Baltimore, The lad discovered that he need never accept where he ministered to both rich and poor, win- defeat and he acquired a taste for overcoming. ning friends among all classes, in all denomina- He wanted to enter into athletics, but how could tions, in all political parties and among represen- he? Football and baseball seemed out of the ques- tatives of both capital and labor. But he never tion, so he took up tennis; he kept persistently at was willing to compromise or to win friends at it until he became a champion player. It was a the expense of truth or of his fidelity to Christ, great sight to see him toss a tennis ball in the air his Master. During the World War he rendered for a serve, with racquet held in his one hand, and noteworthy service as Y. M. C. A. Director of Re- then give it a smashing drive. He played with his ligious Work among industrial workers in the head and won many matches by out-maneuvering Eastern district. From this he was called to be his opponents. Secretary of the Board of Home Missions .Of the
FROM MINE-BOY TO MODERATOR
Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. (now the Board of standing, John McDowell never knew defeat. He National Missions), later serving as associate di- was never embittered in spirit and never lost his rector of the Committee on Social and Industrial courage, his optimism or his love for his fellow- Relations under the Board of Christian Education. men. He never sought to make capital of what He became president of the Home Missions Coun- others might look upon as his "handicap"; he cil, uniting all the evangelical churches, prepared ignored it and used his one hand more efficiently the annual Labor Day messages which were scat- than many men could use two. So normal and tered all over the land, working to settle labor complete was he in spirit and body that friends disputes and to establish principles of brother- even forgot he had only one arm. hood, justice and Christian love in the economic realm as well as in the Church. He was an able Almost the last public service that Dr. Mcand popular speaker at Northfield and other con- Dowell rendered was in organizing and directing ferences, and rendered important service at the the D. L. Moody Centennary meetings at the Charlottesville Institute of Public Affairs. He Northfield General Conference in August, 1937. was the author of several valuable and influential The general theme of the addresses, "Christ and books which set forth clearly the Christian faith the Bible," was chosen by him as these were the and the principles of social justice-"Dwight L. two main themes and sources of power on which Moody, the Discoverer of Men and the Maker of the great evangelist had built up his educational Movements," "Christian Essentials," and "Fellow- and evangelistic program. The meetings, preship of Toil." He sometimes said that while the sided over by Dr. McDowell, were a fitting trib- "Church has use for a one-armed preacher, it has ute to the man to whom he was so deeply atno use for a one-armed Gospel." tached and to whom he owed so much.
Many true and striking statements were made It would be difficult to point out all the factors in his addresses, books and published articles. that accounted for his success as a man, a life- These always breathed a Christian spirit of fair- partner, a friend, a servant of mankind and as a ness and wisdom, such as are evidenced in the follower of Jesus Christ. His courage, his faith following: in God and in man, his sacrificial spirit, his un- tiring industry, his intelligence and astounding "What industry needs is not better methods but memory, his fairness, sense of justice, good cheer better motives; not more perfect machinery but and keen sense of humor-all helped to make the more perfect mankind; not more laws but more man and servant of God. He owed much to his life, that 'abundant life' that Christ offers and Scotch inheritance; he owed more to his father's that Christ alone can give." faith in God and to his religious training in his home; he owed something to the fact that he knew "Labor belittles no man; wealth-owning be- the discipline of poverty and hard work; he owed littles no man. 'A man's a man for a' that.' much to his experience and to his ability to make There should be no classes-no laboring class, no friends; he owed more to his contact with D. L. capitalistic class. Laboring men? Yes, they are Moody and to his training at Mount Hermon, and the world's enterprise builders. But the laboring Princeton; he owed much to his faithful wife, man and the capital-owning man is each a man." but he owed most of all to the new life he received through Christ, to his daily study of the Word of "From the Christian point of view the primary God and to his fellowship with the Son of God. question in industry today is-shall the symbol of our industrial life be the dollar mark or the Cross? One of the finest tributes ever paid him was by Shall our ambition be self-seeking or sacrificial Dr. Robert Freeman of the First Presbyterian service?" Church of Pasadena, California, when presenting Dr. McDowell to the president of Occidental Col- The height of Dr. McDowell's career in the lege, Los Angeles, California, for the degree of Christian Church was reached when, in 1933, he LL.D. in 1932. Dr. Freeman spoke of him as one was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Gen- "who for fifteen years has been the spokesman of eral Assembly. This is the highest honor in the our denomination wherever social adjustment was gift of the Church of two million members. He lacking or industrial justice imperilled; who in filled the position with great effectiveness, travel- the day of honor and influence has not forgotten ing from coast to coast and from Canada to the the boys who have succeeded him in the choking Gulf, the former breaker-boy speaking sometimes dust of the coal breakers and along the slimy corthree or four times a day to churches, preachers, ridors of the mines, or the multitudes who have students, college professors, men's clubs, confer- trusted him to champion the fair claims of the ences, business executives, labor unions and other class from which he sprang; nor even feared to industrial workers. While at times physical weak- demand justice from them as he claimed justice ness and weariness overtook him and he suffered for them; one who blends evangelical fervor with from more than one accident; and while he often encountered criticism, opposition and misunder-
social passion; who treasures the heritage of the when he was a boy of fourteen but his soul lived old land and the old order and the old faith while on. Later he accepted the gift of Eternal life catching and pursuing the vision of the new through Jesus Christ and he lives today in the heaven and the new earth: John McDowell, presence of the Master whom he served so faithwhose name is a test of romance, a symbol of fully, and in whose promises he believed with all consecration, and an epitome of service." his heart. His memory will be honored by men and women of all creeds and classes; his influence Like the Apostle Paul, John McDowell fought will continue to bear fruit. His labor was not in a good fight, he has finished his course, he has vain for it was "in the Lord." John McDowell kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for him expressed his confidence in the Life Eternal when a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the he wrote of Jesus' attitude toward death. He righteous judge, will give to him and not to him said: only but to all those that love His appearing. He fell asleep in Christ on November 13th after a Christ never spoke of His death apart from His resurmajor operation which he faced with courage, rection. He never thought of His death as the end of His knowing its possible unfavorable outcome. But career; it was only an episode, and an episode opening up he is not dead. A part of his body was discarded the way for the larger part He was to playas the spir- itual leader of men in the Kingdom of God.
A Faithful Friend and True Christian From an Address by Dr. Robert E. Speer, Given at the Funeral Service, November 16, 1937, in Park Church, Newark, where Dr. McDowell was Pastor for Ten Years JOHN McDOWELL was one of the dearest business of the Church, and about God's relation friends, one of the best men, and one of the to man and man's relation to God, and man's rela- noblest Christians we have ever known or ever tion to his fellow men. Just as he sought to know can know. His character and his career is occa- the truth so he sought to speak it. No one ever sion for deep thanksgiving to God for the man found him equivocating or accommodating or that He made. His life is a fountain of ins·pira- using words with reservations. It was in love tion and a call to boundless hope for ourselves and and good will that he spoke and what he spoke for other men. His career reveals to us the un- was the truth. And he thought and spoke truth limited opportunities in our American life for because he was true and genuine. He sought such a boy as this Scotch miner lad; his life ex- wholly to follow Him who said, "I am the Way of emplifies the duty and privilege of ever-expand- Truth and the Life" and to be faithful to God, in ing thought and influence, and the full meaning whom "is· no darkness at all." of the Christian Gospel. No man can be faithful to truth as John Mc- But we are thinking here not so much of John Dowell was and not be a brave and courageous McDowell's career but of his character, and of man, either fearless or victorious over fear. that which was basic in him as it is basic in all John's career was a brave and courageous career. life and character, truth. God, who desires truth He never surrendered to his handicaps. He turned in the inward parts, we may reverently say, found them into resources. He could do with one arm and its maimed hand more than some men can do His desire largely fulfilled in John. He used to with two sound arms. He was an excellent tennis like to quote Mr. Moody's familiar aphorism, player, holding the ball on his racket and tossing "Character is what a man is in the dark." In the it into the air. He astounded a small boy in a dark or in the light, by night and day, John Mc- home where he was staying by speed of unlacing Dowell was unqualifiedly and uncompromisingly and relacing his shoes. He never asked for sym- and steadfastly true. pathy or allowance. He carried his full load. And in all his work he carried truth into action – in His thoughts were true. Paul's admonition was speaking and doing always what he believed to be . not second nature, but first nature with him. right. We have seen him tested in the matter of fidelity to what he believed to be true and right in "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things the midst of difficulties. As Chairman of the are honorable, whatsoever things are just, what- Graduate Advisory Committee of the Philadelphia soever things are pure, whatsoever things are Society of Princeton University, when there were lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if some hard problems in the religious life of the there be any virtue and if there be any praise"- University, and conflicting opinions, he never John McDowell thought on these things. He sought to find the truth of the Gospel, and the truth about his duty and about the nature and
flinched. He and Bishop McConnell bore the and self-control. I never knew him to be fretful brunt of the attack on the report of the Inter- or impatient or irritable, to bear a grudge, to re- Church World Movement Committee, of which sent anything personal, to be anything but steadthey were members, in the matter of the steel fast and straightforward. strike. John has now gone on beyond all the earthly confusions to the pure peace and effortless Professor Royce has made both a philosophy joy of a richer service. I do not think he will be and a religion out of loyalty, and all that there is reproached there, as he was reproached here, nor in loyalty for philosophy and religion John knew. will he need in that happy fellowship the grit and His loyalty to Mount Hermon and to Dwight L. tenacity with which he met his reproach here. In Moody was one of the brightest and most blessed recent years, in the difficult problems which had things in his bright and blessed spirit. As chairto be met in connection with the Seminary, how man last summer of the National Committee on clear were his convictions and how fairly but un- the Centennial of Mr. Moody's birth, he did a yieldingly he maintained them. And to cite but one more instance of his brave and courageous JOHN McDOWELL AS MODERATOR mind and spirit, we will all recall his true prophet's mission in the matter of human relations in noble piece of work. Noone has written articles the field of industry and the fearlessness with or made addresses on Mr. Moody more full of inwhich he spoke his mind, with no partial interest, sight, of true estimate and appreciation, of deeper truckling to no one class or group., but asking only love and loyalty than those that came from John what was right, and in consequence, commanding McDowell. One likes to imagine the meeting of the respect and confidence of all honest men. We the two in the Land Beyond. Mr. Moody, with thank God today for this memory of a good, brave the well-remembered twinkle in his eye, might man. reproach John for his over-praise and John might answer· him without a syllable of retraction. And it rests us to recall his quality of justice, Happy, happy must be their meeting in the Imof sound-mindedness, of fair and kind and reason- mortal Love and the Celestial Light of Paradise. able judgment. There was never any harsh or The loyalty of that friendship was the loyalty of intemperate speech. No one was left in doubt as all John McDowell's many friendships. I speak to his mind. His words were unmistakably clear out of the understanding of a great love. John and pungent but we never knew him to be illtempered or uncharitable. He kept his balance in a world of excesses and partisanships. He knew how to combine and proportion the personal and the collective aspects of Christianity and life. He saw the right place and relations of persuasion and authority, of private action and of legislative enactment. He was a good guide and counsellor in his just discernment of the true functions of the Church in its spiritual mission to human hellrts and wills, and its ministry as an agency of the Kingdom of God.
The rule and joy of John McDowell's life, its formulating principle, was unselfish service. He was the disciple of One who came "not to be ministered unto but to minister." He had no pride which could (be offended and no vanity to wound. He never sought anything for himself. While he was honestly and justly pleased at his election as Moderator and fulfilled the duties of his offioe to the delight of the Church, he did it without any ostentation or parade. Whatever he could do to help people he did with a happy, genial heart. He went in and out among us as one who served.
And it is a joy to recall his good temper, his humor. Again and again he would relieve the tension with some apt anecdote or illustration. Grave situations were lightened by his evenmindedness, his quiet voice, his fullness of poise
was a friend. It is not necessary to say "a true rity." "Uprightness, virtue, honesty, soundness"- friend." There is no other kind of friend. One these are the synonyms. "He that overcometh I knew that it was possible to put full trust on him will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and be safe. and he shall go out thence no more, and I will write upon him the name of my God." That was Supremely John McDowell was loyal to our John McDowell- a pillar, clean, upright, unde- Christian faith as passed down to us from the faced; he was white and true. He is described New Testament and from our fathers of the Re- for us in Mrs. Kingsley's exquisite dedication of formed tradition. He knew the words and he held the life of her husband: fast to the great formularies of our Church as they are, without glosses and unauthorized addi- TO THE BELOVED MEMORY OF tions or subtractions; but he knew the love and A RIGHTEOUS MANthe life of which the words are only the symbols. He remembered his Master's words, "Not every- Who loved God. and truth above all things; one that saith unto me, Lord! Lord!" He joy- A man of untarnished honorfully said, "Lord! Lord! My Lord and my God." Loyal and chivalrous-gentle and strong- But he said the words with his life and .he vali- Modest and humble-tender and truedated them by love and truth and life. Loyalty Pitiful to the weak-yearning after the erringwith him meant not only assent to sound opinion Stern to all forms of wrong and oppression, but also the glory of an obedient will, a gentle Yet most stern towards himselfspirit, the love of the brotherhood, and the com- Who being angry yet sinned not. munion of the saints. Whose highest virtues were known only To his wife, his children, his Sl!rvants and the poor. But our words multiply beyond the need. It is Who lived in the presence of God here enough to sum all up in one word alone, "integ- And passing through the grave and the gate of death, Now liveth unto God forevermore.
AMERICAN YOUTH SEEKING The Lutheran News Bureau says, as the result of a recent comprehensive survey under- I taken by the National Lutheran Council in an effort to refute claims of waning interest: :. "Young men and women in American Churches today are demonstrating a broadening and deepening interest in religion. Distinct evidence is the fact that they are turning in ever-increas- ing numbers to the Church, swelling the membership rolls of the various youth organizations in a most remarkable fashion. National leaders of a few of the Church youth organizations report that membership and interest has fallen off to an alarming degree during the past few years, and attribute that decline to an over-strong emphasis on the social aspect of their groups.
Already, however, they announce plans to effect a complete reorganization with a renewed emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the essential element of all Christian activity. They express confidence that this return to the fundamental purpose of the religious youth movement will create a thorough revitalization. Various youth groups have sought constantly to give primary emphasis to Christ and His Gospel. One organization reports a membership increase of more than 300 % during the past twenty years, and a youth leader of another Church states that 'during the year 1936-1937 we have grown faster than during any year since 1922. This is exceedingly encouraging since we have a very definite program built on spiritual values.'
"Stress the fundamentals of Christian faith; teach the regenerating Gospel of Christ; emphasize the challenge to decide on a life for Christ; instruct young people regarding the work of the Church and the extension of Christ's Kingdom; encourage Bible study; these ele- ments are basic in the programs of the successful; vital youth organizations and are offered as the only rules for success in appealing to the profounqest interest of young men and women.
"Evidence of the growing appeal of religion to American youth is the fact that attend- ance at their conventions-district, state, and national-is increasing rapidly. Bible camps, too, are gaining attention, and reports of activities during the past two summers indicate that it was impossible to accommodate the thousands eager to attend. Pocket Testament movements, Bible study groups, and various young peoples' service organizations have also developed and increased in significance during the past few years. Countless indications point to a renewed interest in the fundamental Christianity taught by Jesus Christ. There is a more vital interest in religion and the Church than we have had for some time."
Demands and Foreign
By the REV. CHARLES E. MADDRY, D.D., Richmond, Virginia ExecutitJe Secretary, Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention A FTER months of careful study and extensive and a host of pioneer missionaries have sowed the .l'" survey of mission work in thirteen coun- Gospel seed beside all waters. tries in which Southern Baptists have Then came the second stage of cooperation in work, we are more firmly convinced than ever before that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the growth and development of foreign work, the one and only hope of mankind. The funda- when the native Christian constituency and the mental missionary motives are eternal and un- growing churches worked with the missionary, changing. As long as the curse of sin and death under his direction and supervision. The sup- porting boards in the homeland still supply most holds the race in bondage, just so long will the of the funds for the growing work. During this good news of salvation be imperatively necessary period the missionary was the official pastor, di- for the redemption and restoration of the fallen recting head and teacher in schools, colleges and race. Man's need for a Saviour from sin has not seminaries. The work on the newer fields is still changed; God's love of the sinner has not changed; in this stage of development. and Christ's power and will to save has not changed. Everywhere in foreign lands, we have Now comes the third and most critical stage of the indigenous church in the development of the seen at close range the Gospel of the first century older mission fields. It is the stage when the miscoming to grips with the degrading heathenism sionary must step aside and work under a native and unspeakable sin and moral leprosy of the leadership. We have reached this period of de- twentieth century and everywhere we have seen velopment in South and Central China; in Japan; the Gospel gloriously triumphant. in Brazil; and in Argentina. The spiritual chil- The motive and the imperative of the Christian dren have grown up and we can no longer keep missionary enterprise are eternal and unchang- them in leading strings even if we wanted to do so. ing. But methods of doing missionary work in all lands, and especially in the older mission fields, Transition to Native Autonomy are changing rapidly. Weare now passing through a very trying and critical transition pe- This transition began in the older mission fields riod in mission work abroad; if we successfully of China twenty-five years ago, but only within pass this crisis, it is going to call for the most recent years has the tendency toward self-support, patient and sympathetic understanding and the self-guidance and equality become a blessed realmost Christlike compassion on the part of our peo- ity. Our Foreign Mission Board is ninety-one ple in the homeland and especially of our mis- years old and this has been the goal of all our ensionaries on the foreign fields. deavors. The business of a foreign missionary is to work himself out of a job, to turn over the Three Stages of Development established and expanding work to growing churches and responsible leaders, and then to There have been three stages in the growth and move on into new and unevangelized regions.
development of foreign mission work. There has been a mistaken tendency on the part First, there was the pioneer stage, when the of most mission boards and missionaries to linger missionary did everything and the supporting too long in the port cities and the older mission boards in the homeland paid all of the expenses. fields. It is always hard for fond and indulgent This period covered the work of Carey and J ud- parents to realize that children grow up and son in India, and of the hosts of other men and should be set free to work out their own destiny.
women, heralds and martyrs in all lands who That same attitude has sometimes been mani- wrought gloriously and triumphantly in this in- fested in the older fields. We are prone to linger itial and pioneer stage of foreign mission work. too long, like the early church, in the hallowed and They laid a good foundation and others have built blessed environment of Jerusalem, and we fail to nobly on this foundation. "The field is the world" realize the call of Antioch for a more aggressive [17 ]
and wider ministry of pioneer evangelism. We capacity and ability with any similar group in welcome with joy and deep satisfaction the fact America. that in many of the older mission fields we have now come to the third stage in our missionary pro- What part does the missionary play in all this? gram of development-the period when the work Well, it began with the Shucks and Roberts, and must be turned over to the native churches and it was brought to fruition by Graves, Simmons, the native leadership that we have won and and Greens, and in more recent years it has been trained for this very purpose. nourished and fostered by a host of younger mis- sionaries, men and women, too numerous to men- Some older missionaries are finding it difficult tion here. to readjust themselves to the new day and to accommodate themselves to the changed attitude of The same process has taken place in Shanghai the new and untried native leaders. The mission- and Central China and the same blessed process aries fear that the new leaders will make mis- is going on in North and Interior China, in Japan, takes, so that the work for which they have given in South America, and on our mission fields in the best years of their lives will be retarded. Of Europe. course, these younger and less experienced Christians will make mistakes and they will not always We are now in the critical transition stage in do things as we think they should. Yes, they will the development of our mission work in Brazil, make mistakes-many mistakes, almost as many Argentina, and Chile. On our recent visit, new as we have made. But they will never learn to agreements and new bases of cooperation were do, except by doing; however painful the ordeal, entered into between the representatives of the we must believe in them and trust them. We al- Mission Board and the National conventions. ready have some glorious examples of what our For the first time, nationals have been placed at young and ardent brethren and sisters in these the head of several of our colleges. There have mission fields can do, when they come to respon- been readjustments and reorganizations and new sible maturity and when we trust them and co- responsibility and support, much of which has operate with them. been assumed by the new and growing churches. The most heartening thing we found in South Native Leadership in Mission Lands America was the fact that many of our churches have come to full financial support and are now We have been at work in South China for a self-directing, self-supporting, and self-propahundred years and God has poured out his bless- gating. ing upon that work in a marvelous way. To those who have not seen it with their own eyes, it is The Missionary's Part almost impossible to convey any adequate conception of what God has wrought in these one hun- What of the future? Is there still a place and dred years. Twenty-five years ago the Leung- need for the foreign missionary in this time of Kwong Baptist Convention was organized. It has transition and readjustment. been strictly Chinese from the beginning and the missionaries had the grace and wisdom to adopt One thing has impressed us, as we have seen the policy and ideal of cooperating with and work- this trend. These younger Christians and growing under the native leadership. What has been ing churches greatly need the sympathetic underthe outcome? standing and loving counsel of the missionary. More than ever before, the missionary is needed Under Chinese leadership, and made possible for guidance and help in organizing the churches, by Chinese financial support, there is today a won- in matters of self-government, of discipline and derful organization and system of boards, com- doctrine. If the missionary, like John the Bapmittees, agencies and institutions equal to those tist, is willing to "decrease" that the native found in any land. There is a marvelous system churches and leaders may "increase," there is a of Christian schools, beginning with the kinder- greater need for his services than ever before. garten and running through the primary, middle school, college, theological seminary, and woman's Also in the matter of training a native ministry training school. There is a separate school for and leadership, there is a greater need than ever. blind girls, an orphanage, and a home for old peo- We can never send enough missionaries to evanple. There is a five-story hospital, owned, oper- gelize all the nations. Our supreme task in the ated, and staffed by Chinese. In the very center new epoch of missionary endeavor is to develop a of all this intense activity is the Tung Shan Bap- native ministry that will evangelize its own land tist Church with three pastors and twenty-five far better than we can. Therefore we are still hundred members. The leaders and directing going to need missionaries-many of them, to heads of all these institutions and agencies are teach in schools, colleges, and seminaries; we will humble and devoted Chinese Christians, equal in need missionary doctors and nurses; and men and women with gifts for writing, translating and creating worthy Christian literature.
But most of all, there is need for God-called
MODERN DEMANDS AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
and Christ-filled men and women who are willing The missionary of the future must be sound in to press out from the port cities and away from body. One who is not physically fit should not go. the beaten track; who are willing to break new We have recently set up a rigid and exacting ground and to do pioneer work in giving the Gos- standard to which every one must measure up, pel to the millions who have never had a chance undergoing physical, mental and nervous tests. to receive salvation offered by Jesus Christ. The missionary of the future must be thor- There are still millions of people and vast areas oughly prepared for service. He must have a that are as yet untouched by the Gospel message. good mind, adequately trained. It is sinful waste Whole provinces in China are almost without the of money to send out a missionary who is unable Gospel. Millions in Japan have never heard of or too intellectually lazy to master a native tongue. the God of love. Great tribes in Nigeria have been begging for missionaries for a decade, and we Most important of all, the new missionaries have been unable to answer the call. Seven great must be spiritually endowed. They must have the states in Brazil are still without any evangelical attitude of Jesus toward the lost and erring. If missionary. Only a beginning has been made in one has never been used to win souls to Christ in giving the Gospel to "all the world." the homeland, a mere change of residence to for- eign land will not make them soul winners. One Missionaries in the days ahead must press out who goes as a missionary to a foreign land, should into fields that are still unevangelized. The port be able to say with Paul: "For I could wish that cities are overcrowded with missionary personnel I myself were accursed for Christ for my brethwhile vast areas are untouched with the Gospel. ren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh." We need today missionary candidates with the The missionary must be one in spirit and purpose sacrificial spirit and holy devotion of the early with Jesus in his statement, "For whosoever pioneers. The call of the lost in the great un- would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever occupied places of earth have entered deeply into shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's our hearts and we are seeking for young men shall save it." and young women willing to go into these needy places and bury themselves for Christ's sake. Today, we must adopt new methods in mission- ary endeavors, but the missionary motives and The Missionary of the Future imperatives are unchanging for Jesus, the author and finisher of missions, is "the same yesterday, What type of missionary should be sent in this today and forever." day of changing methods in mif;sionary work?
ONE OF ISAIAH'S MISSIONARY MESSAGES The Book of the Prophet Isaiah is full of missionary messages, which fire zeal, faith and courage.
Isaiah 49 starts with "Listen 0 Isles!" and "Hearken ye people from afar!" It is His voice sending forth the news of the Gospel to all the nations, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Read the promise to the servant of the Lord. «I will also give Thee for a light to the gentiles, that Thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." After enumerating many blessings of the Gospel, the prophet predicts that people from all parts of the earth, from all points of the compass, will come to Him-"Behold, these shall come from far: and 10, these from the north and from the west and these from the land of Sinim" (an ancient name for China).
This great and wonderful work of salvation which is going on before our eyes in the uttermost parts of the world, brings forth from the heavens and the earth, and the very mountains, a loud song of praise. It is all the result of the great love of Him whose love is beyond that of a mother's love for her babe. To assure us that He will not forget or forsake us, He says, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." The word "graven" indicates the use of a sharp instrument, which carves deeply and permanently our names in His very flesh, as the sharp, Roman nails pierced the palms of our Lord's hands on the Cross. How can He forget or forsake us? The sacred work of engraving is done by God himself: "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." The death of the Cross was entirely voluntary. Can we wonder that such a message attracts the millions of the ends of the earth, even to the jungle people, who sometimes do not seem to have the intelligence of human beings? Many fall down, love and trust, and worship Him. Those from the interior of the remotest isles and from the land of Sinim are "coming, coming, from afar!"
-The Pioneer (Celebes Islands). The Missionary Message for Today By PROF. JULIUS RICHTER, Berlin, Germany Editor of Neue Allegemeine Missions Zeitschri/tj Author of "Missions in India," Etc., Etc.
D URING the last twenty-five years there has uniqueness has been restricted so as to fit into the been a good deal of discussion as to the line prescribed by this or that philosophy of reli- essential content of the missionary message gion. Of course Christian messengers have al- and the methods of its application. The content ways to be on their guard against such shortcuts.
of the Gospel message was set forth in the great Battles have never been won by continuous com- declarations of the Lausanne and the Jerusalem promise or repeated retreats.
Conferences. Some will wish to add particular At other times the greater danger has been to doctrines of their Church, yet all will agree that emphasize particular points of the Message so the main lines are drawn distinctly. The central onesidedly that they were out of all proportion to content of the Gospel message may be expressed its body. Sects generally have the tendency to in two statements: stress their particular doctrines to such an extent First, that in the fullness of time God sent His and in such wise that the message unavoidably only begotten Son that, through His death on the becomes distorted and disfigured. The history of cros!s and by His resurrection, the new era of the the Christian Church and of the missionary move- world was inaugurated in which everyone of us ment is full of examples, such as Christian Sci- is offered justification by faith in Christ and re- ence, Mormonism, chiliasms of different kinds, ceives sonship in God's household. The whole uni- Pentecostal movements, or even disNnct doctrines verse looks forward to the consummation of the of the Church, the Apostolic succession, the sacra- Kingdom of God in glory. ments, or the legitimate offices of the Church.
The other statement is that all New Testament On the other hand the doctrine as an all round writings harmonize in their teaching of the new system of theology, with all its definitions and conception of God as our Father through Jesus scholastic determinations, is pushed into the fore- Christ. There is reinterpretation of the Old Tes- ground so that wholesale acceptance of a partament in the light of the Christian conception. ticular creed has seemed to be all that was asked Jesus the Christ is the Messiah of the prophets for and needed, obliterating the maj or issues of and His sacrifice on the Cross was for the consum- regeneration and of a full-orbed Christian life.
mation of His Kingdom. At the same time He By manifold exchanges and reapproachments lives in His believers and the Holy Spirit is the of the churches at home and abroad, by interde- pledge and guarantee of the divine life. The nominaNonal missionary conferences, by the ecu- Church is the spiritual body of Christ. The two menical movements, by a widespread missionary sacraments are baptism and the Lord's Supper. literature and by maturing missionary experience, We have remission of sins through the Cross of common convictions are growing and, as a re- Christ, and look forward to the resurrection of suIt, we hope that the dangers of adulterating the the body in spiritual form. However we formulate message in one or another direction will diminish. this belief we are able to reach an almost general A danger of a different kind which is becoming agreement. more and more apparent-it has always been There has always been a subtle danger either of present yet we have not always recognized it-is shortening the Gospel by pushing into the back- the radically different character of the Asiatic ground some beliefs which seemed to be at vari- culture religions which renders very difficult a ance with generally agreed upon convictions. The satisfactory approach and a full understanding miracle in any and every form has been an offence by those to whom the appeal is made. Let us to those who regard the law of cause and effect as choose those main religions to make our point the incontrovertible foundation of science. Any- clear. thing supernatural, or anti-rational was relegated Hinduism is a variegated group of religions; to a time when rational minds ruled supreme. yet in almost all of them the pantheism of the Comparative religion has seemed to prove that Brahman conception, the disvaluation of existence Christianity is only one of many religions, though by maya, and the robbing of life of any meaning of course the best and the most perfect. Its by the doctrine of endless transmigrations are [20 ]
THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE FOR TODAY
lurking in the background. Redemption appar- Deep thinking is necessary to understand the ently is the common aim of Christianity and of points of view of those other religions, to value Hinduism, but its meaning is radically different aright the enormous amount of pious meditation in the two religions. In Hinduism it means ceas- that underlies them; to estimate the gulf seping to e}Qist, in Christianity it means consumma- arating them from the fundamental facts and contion of existence. The situation becomes more victions of Christianity; to build a solid bridge difficult and complicated as, in the numberless of clear thought and sound religious experience sects and currents of Hinduism; the variations of across that gulf and to lead the followers of these the foreground and of the background of life are religions carefully and lovingly across. so illusive that one never knows exactly where one stands. The spiritual history of converts of But the question raised was quite different. It first-rate, like Nehemiah Goreh, would be tragic is this: Should the simple Gospel of salvation under this point of view but it is instructive and through Christ be the main content of the misshould be carefully studied by Indian mission- sionary message or should additional teaching be included along more complex theological lines, aries. church polity, social service and other Christian The situation is slightly different with regard obligations? To this question we give fourfold answer: to Buddhism though it participates in all the fundamental errors of Hinduism, pushing the doc- 1. Doubtless the Gospel message must be intetrine of transmigration a disastrous step farther grated in the life of the messenger and in that of by denying any continuity of the soul or any real- the Christian congregation has accepted Christ's ity of self. Splitting into many branches in Hina- message and is sending the messages. The old yana, and even more in Mahayana, Buddhism has Latin proverb is quite right: Vita clerici evanbuilt up a religious structure which enables its gelium popali – the life of the clergyman is the devotees to live on two different levels-there is Gospel read and understood by the people. That the radical nihilism of the sunyata doctrine of the is even more true in pagan countries where the absolute emptiness of the universe and the won- missionaries' homes have glass walls, open doors derfully pictorial imagery of the western para- and windows and are scrutinized carefully, or dise; there is the radical atheism of original Bud- even suspiciously, from morning to night. How dhism and the temples of the ten thousand idols; often one false move of a young missionary has there is the almost superhuman concentration of spoiled his work. It is the same with the Chrismeditation observed by hermits immured in lonely tian congregation growing up under the message. caves in the wilderness, and the blatant sacramen- They must "show forth the praises of Him who talism and sacerdotalism of endless religious serv- has called them out of darkness into his marvelices, prayer wheels, and readings of canonical lous light" (1 Peter 2: 9). They must shine as books by the weeks and months. It is as if a pil- lights against their dark environment. grim were walking through a wonderful paradise, yet a dismal abyss were lurking below engulfing 2. It is unavoidable that the missionary movehim at every step. How extremely difficult it is ment in all times has had its concomitants in faeven to stir up a feeling of that realism with re- vorable or unfavorable contemporaneous currents. gard to religion which is characteristic of Chris- In the three first centuries the six or seven orientianity. tal "mystery movements" were competing with the young Christian religion, all of them equally Or lOOK at Confucianism. Since the brilliant profiting by the decomposition of the traditional expositions of Professor de Groot in his famous religions of the nations within the Roman empire, book, "Universismus," we have become fully con- and by the awakened hunger after the living God. scious of the scope of law and harmony in the On a different plane in the Middle Ages, and again world, the same laws pervading nature and men, in the nineteenth century, Christian missions individuals and society; every trespass troubling were regarded as the outstanding exponents of the harmony having its punishment; sacrifices the highest civilization within reach of their misnecessary for the restoration of the cosmic order. sionary constituency. Such situations are rapidly On this basis, of course, the Christian conception changing; for older Christians it is astounding of the fall, of sin, particularly original sin, of re- how the background has shifted from the general demption by the cross of Christ, of a radical re- admiration for the "Christian civilization" of the casting of a lost universe in the consummation of "Christian nations" to the anti-white and antithe Kingdom of God – all these are considered christian currents of the present time. Christian utter nonsense. Yet how can we convince a well- missionaries need wisdom to keep in view the trained Chinese, immersed from early boyhood in fundamental difference and the dividing line bethe teachings of his classics, that his optimistic tween their Message and their contemporaneous world view is wrong and that the Christian con- concomitants; they dare not confound the ideal ception fully agrees with the real facts of life? of democracy with the Gospel of Christ. If they battle with a united front, they must always march Fourthly, the missionaries are conscious that separately, or the opposite. they are nothing more or less than the channels through which the Spirit of Christ is working in Thirdly, there are situations and conditions of our generation. Their deepest desire is to open misery and degradation against which Christian these channels by keeping their own lives pure, philanthropy cannot remain callous and never has to make them an effective testimonial for this been. If thousands of "untouchables" are losing Spirit. To remove all obstacles which block the their meagre means of existence by conversion channels and hinder the flow of the Spirit is the and baptism, the missionaries would be hard- main content of their missionary meditations and hearted if they were not on the lookout for means planning. of improving their disastrous plight. If the present Bolshevistic communism is offering the hope- In a ruined castle in South Germany I read an lessly impoverished masses of the East a worldly almost vanished inscription: Hic transitat Cmsar: Gospel of a happy classless state, with complete "Here the emperor entered." I was awe-struck, equality of social standard, Christian missions remembering the glorious time of the emperors would be on a lost track if they did not add to and what they meant to my fatherland. I felt their preaching of the Kingdom of righteousness, near to their ancient glories. The invisible insome broad-minded and forward-looking schemes scription over the door of all foreign missions of social help that visibly interpret their Gospel. reads: Hic transit Christ: "Here our Lord Jesus Missionaries cannot remain stolid in view of the Christ invisibly passes through the lands." Only sea of sickness and suffering, particularly if they in so far as all missions follow in His footsteps; remember that European vagrants, colonial in- only so far as missionaries, "with open face befluences, and world commerce have transplanted holding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are new terrible scourges and plagues, and that the changed into the same image from glory to glory, natives rightly would curse the Christian civiliza- even as by the Spirit of the Lord" is their work tion and its exponents, if the missionaries piti- owned by the Lord and produces eternal value. lessly look at their doom. He is the living, life-giving message for all time.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF MODERN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 1. Modern missions have a more extensive geographic spread than missions in previous cen- turies, as well as contact with a much wider range of cultures and religion.
2. The number of kinds of Christianity propagated is very large in the modern era, because so many different communions are participating in spreading the faith.
3. In spite of the divisions of Protestantism there is very extensive cooperation between Prot- estant missionary forces.
4. Missions are almost completely divorced from the political policy of the lands from which they have come, in marked contrast to what was the common practice in previous cen- turies.
5. Missionaries are protesting as never before against the exploitation by their fellow coun- trymen of the people among whom the missionaries live. This is not to forget the work done long ago by Las Casas in trying to check the Spanish conquistadores. .
6. Missions have a much broader base of financial support, being participated in by a very large number of persons, as contrasted with missions in earlier times when they were mainly supported by the state, or by political or ecclesiastical magnates.
7. The large part played by women is one of the most distinctive features of Protestant mis- sions, women outnumbering men on the field, while at home women carry a large part of the burden of supporting missions.
8. The great number of social and humanitarian activities attached to modern missions is another very distinctive characteristic. Schools, hospitals, famine relief, agricultural improvement and cooperative societies are very common features.
9. The standard for admission to baptism is generally very high. Consequently there have been much fewer mass conversions than in previous centuries. Protestant missions have preferred to have fewer converts than to admit people who were not prepared for mem- bership.
10. Though there have not been many mass conversions there has been a great deal of "mass modification" of the customs and ethical standards of the countries where missions operate, much of such modification being due directly or indirectly to missions.-Prof.
Latourette of Yale University; International Review of Missions.
CROSSI:'-iG A PART OF THE, GREAT ARABIA:-I DESERT IN
Medical Work I• n Arabia W. H. STORM, M.D., F.R.G.S., Bahrain, Persian Gulf.
Missionary of the Reformed Church in America p MO,N,'G m,issionary statesmen, metho,ds of P,ro- In the following words the late Sir William claiming the Gospel are often indicated as Osler has well depicted the unique qualifications of direct and indirect. The direct method' a doctor: means the direct preaching of the Gospel alonl:i,) By his commission the physician is sent to the sick.
while the indirect method aims at reaching the and knowing in his calling neither Jew nor Gentile, bond people through education, healing, and various or free, perhaps he alone rises superior to those differ- ences which separate and make us dwell apart, too often philanthropic works, such as social uplift,,~ll oblivious to the common hopes and frailities which should bind us together as a race. In his professional relations, with varying degrees of preaching and personal though divided by national lines, there remains the feel- work interspersed. ' ','
Missionaries among Moslems are working witli ing that he belongs to a guild which owes no local al- legiance, which has neither king nor country, but whose the greatest social and religious system that has work is in the world. The Aesculapian temple has given evolved ,in the world since Christ. It is the place to the hospital, and the priestly character of the strongest opponent, today, of Christianity. Year physician has vanished with the age; still, there is with after year missionaries plod along using both us a strong feeling of brotherhood, a sense of unity, methods, of missionary endeavor with but little which the limitations of language, race and country have tangible results. The rock of Islam seems impreg- not been able to efface.
nable a.nd' the Christian Church remains asleep When to these qualifications strong missionary to its challenge. Everywhere among Moslems the zeal is added, the doctor then becomes peculiarly mi~sionary doctor has proved himself to be' a fitted for work among the Moslems.
most vaJifable asset in winning friendships and When we analyze our work as medical mis- thus making contacts for otJ:l.er workers ;,~()f br.eak~ sionaries, we ask ourselves the question; Is our ing down prejudice, opposition, fear, anQ super- task, i.e., the task of the medical people, dif- stition; of softening the fanaticism of heart and ferent from that of other missionaries? I think mind; and of opening up closed fields. it is the duty of everyone of us to first lay aside [ 23 ]
the mantle of his profession, and face the task It is too €asy for us medical people to say that in the light of all being first and foremost am- the evangelistic end of the hospital work is the bassadors of Christ. Our work is then what?' pastor's job. There ought to be the highest type In the words of the Master we read the Great of cooperation between the evangelistic worker Commission: "Go ye therefore, and teach all and the doctor, and, if in the hospital wards and the hospital clinics, and on tours, the evangelistic worker sees an opportunity to further his con- tacts and deliver the message of Christ, he should be encouraged. But in no sense does this l€ssen the responsibilities and duties of the doctor.
Let us look at our hospitals as a unit. What do they stand for in the community? Are they places where· medicine is given fr€e, and the doctor is some sort of Santa Claus doling out pills and salts free of char.,ge? Is it a competing insti- tution with other irtstitutions nearby? If so, I am afraid we have little excuse for existing. On the other hand, does it stand out clear-cut as a PASSING SOME OF THE BLACK TENTS OF ARABIA definite witness for Christ both in its ministry of nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, healing and its proclamation of His message? and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." If we cannot see in our hospitals this definite mis- sionary program, then in the name of all that is Our training has been entirely different, i.e., just, have we any right to POs€ as Christian misthe training of the teacher and the evangelist sionary doctors and nurses in a Moslem land? has been quite different from that of the medical person. The doctor can remove an appendix,. or Because of the extr€me isolation of mission stasew up a wound, while the preacher would find it tions in a field like Arabia, it is often necessary to extremely difficult; and vice versa, the duties develop one's own hospital staff. Native boys who. of the preacher and the teacher would be equally show an adaptibility to hospital work are trained.
hard for the doctor. Our applications must of necessity then be different, but is it not entirely true that we are aiming at the same goal and the same ends? What is this goal, and what are th€se ends? Are they not, in simple language, the giving of Christ as Saviour to the people among whom we work?
In the medical field, unquestionably, lies the op- portunity to show our training and our knowledge along medical lines. It is our job to teach, where- ever we can, the principles of hygiene. and sani- tation, and to do all in our power to lessen the spread of dis€ase and to relieve suffering; to put it into one sentence, to uplift the physical and social, and thereby the economical scale of the people among whom we work. Can we stop there and say that we have set a Christian exampl€ and thus take satisfaction in a job well done? In the name of social service, Yes; but in the name of Christian missions, No. Can we stop with the satisfaction gained by having done all we can to relieve human suffering among those with whom we have come in contact? We will have done a Christ-like service and given a picture of Christ in one of his most wonderful aspects. That is most worth while, but surely we cannot stop there.
We must link that s€rvice up with the real mes- sage and our real purpose so that the service and the one who serves will not overshadow the Christ whose ambassadors we are. DESERT URCHINS OF ARABIA
MEDICAL WORK IN ARABIA
Photo by W. Harold Storm A CLINIC HELD BY DR. STORM FOR ARABS OF THE DESERT By daily example of real Christ-like living among the medical and evangelistic points of view. Even those on whom he must depend for his assistants, when these women are interested in a Christ who the doctor has his greatest responsibility. If he would bring hope into their lives, they are forsets the proper example they will follow; if he bidden to attend church where they might hear fails they are in a worse state, for an ideal has more of Him, or if the evangelist is too zealous vanished. A daily prayer meeting to begin the she may find it difficult to gain access to the day's work, attended by all the staff from the women. And here is where the doctor is of utsweeper to the doctor where God's blessing on the most importance. She is too necessary to be forday's work is asked, and where everyone senses bidden to the houses, and so the way remains open the real purpose of the mission hospital, starts the for her to bring Christ into the harems. Even the day in the proper spirit and does much to win the most fanatical Moslem cannot remain too severely Moslem helper. The importance of a continuous antagonistic to the Christian through whom the Christian atmosphere among the hospital boys is life of a favorite wife or child is preserved. evident when' one realizes that they have even closer contacts with the patients than the doctor. In Moslem lands medical tours playa very large Inasmuch as they are natives they can enter into part in our work. The history of the Arabian an inner circle of thought that is well nigh im- Mission is indeed a history of medical tours. At possible for a foreigner to penetrate. A hospital first, tours were made along the coast, then inhelper in Bahrain who was an earnest inquirer land. In 1917, Dr. Harrison was called to Riadh and undergoing severe persecution, was on the and made the first inland tour to the heart of verge of throwing all aside. Because of the per- Arabia. Others followed reaching Taif near the sonal nature of these problems there was little Red Sea and Hail in the extreme north. Then, in that we could do for him except to show love and 1935, I was able to make a tour of 5,000 miles sympathy. One day he said to the doctor, "It is across the peninsula and around the coasts from love that has conquered me." Yenbo to Bahrain visiting all provinces. Thus medical tours have touched many parts of the Perhaps the most useful and necessary medical Arabian Peninsula. work in Arabia and among Moslems everywhere, is that done by the woman doctor. There are From a purely medical point of view and the scarcely any people more in dire medical need frequent discomforts it often causes the doctor, than Arab women and children, and there is also touring is far from satisfactory. But evangelistino work more difficult and discouraging both from cally, the opportunities are unlimited, and for making acquaintances among Arabs their worth
is invaluable. For example, we went to Jahara, taining the doctor and his friend? And so we all a village near Kuwait, unannounced, and in just gather around the coffee cups. a few minutes, despite the fact that we were at first told to go home, there had gathered sixty to I refuse to do more treatment and try to rele- gate myself as much as possible into the back- ground – a difficult and most essential part of every medical missionary's task. The evening clinic then belongs to my colleague. Conversation follows in a free and natural way. Invariably it takes a religious turn, for no one is more religious than our Moslem brother. In his mind several obvious comparisons are at work. He often asks questions. Why did the doctor come today? Why does he treat these people with love and kindness? Why do we not do the same?
He has seen the practical demonstration of the Christian message, and now it is our opportunity to proclaifu£the Good News to an interested audi- ence. Often we show them a beautiful picture such as the Good Shepherd, and follow that by reading to. them the Shepherd's story from the tenth chapter of John. Their Hfe is so wrapped up in their· desert and their sheep that this story registers with real meaning. They love to look and look at the picture. On into the evening we discuss together Christ as the Good Shepherd.
The mejilis breaks up and we retire to our rest under the bright stars of an Arab night. Our PUSHING OUR AUTO OUT OF TROUBLE ON ARABIAN TOUR seventy men. Some we treated with the few med- THE FAMOUS MINARET IN TARIM, HADRAMAUT icines we had brought along. Then they listened to the story of the prodigal son. We left; the casual hearts are thankful that God has given us this observer might say, what is the use of all that opportunity, and our prayers are, that His Spirit trouble? But in two or three days, four or five may speak and work in the hearts and minds of people came into the hospital as in-patients. One our Arab friends. man nearly dead from scurvy and malnutrition was brought in on a donkey the whole twenty miles and we were able to save his life. While he was an in-patient he saw for the first time in his life Christ's love in action.
The method which I have found most satisfactory in presenting the Gospel story to my Arab friends is itinerary village work.
There are many ways in which to carry out village tours, but this way is most effective. The evangelistic worker and I go to a village together. We start out in the late afternoon after the heat of the day has subsided. Immediately upon arriving a crowd gathers upon the shady side of one of their date stick huts, and I hold a clinic. We then eat dinner with one of the villagers. Following the meal, as is customary among the Arabs, they all gather together for coffee and to exchange the day's news. Our host's mejilis (meeting-place) is most popular. Is he not enter-
Bible and the Koran
By the REV. E. W. G. HUDGELL, M.A., Port Said Egypt Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society I T WAS a hot afternoon in Cairo. A young mis- him. This "having the mind darkened" is a fair sionary was wrestling with the grammatical reflection of the spiritual state of such men. As perplexities of the Arabic language. His for a copy of the Koran finding its way into the teacher, an Egyptian with a Western education, hands of an unbeliever (i. e., a non-Moslem), that, was patient and sympathetic. too, is generally looked upon with disfavor.
"English is a better language," he remarked. Reverence for Scripture "Why do you say that?" asked the astonished student. There is found in Moslem lands a reverence for "Because," was the reply, "with English you what may be termed "Holy Scripture," i. e. an read in order to know; but with Arabic you know authoritative book, divine in origin and an infalin order to read!" lible guide. This reverence may be regarded as Here is a fundamental difference of concept in exaggerated; but it exists. Not only do Moslems regard to the function of language. An equally display such reverence towards. the Koran, but deep cleavage of opinion exists between the Chris- many of them also include the Holy Bible. tian view of the function of the Bible and the Here is one case out of numb~rs that are re- Moslem view of the function of the Koran. The ported from time to time. "While 1 was waiting Christian will approve when he hears it said, "A for a train at the station, a Moslem approached Gospel is the best tract." For a tract is meant to and in a low voice asked for a Bible. 1 at once be read in order that a man may come to know- opened my bag and handed him one. He took it, may come to know his own sinfulness, his power- looked up towards the sky and said, 'Thanks be to lessness to help himself and "the loving-kindness Thee, 0 Lord, for sending me this Bible.' Then of God our Saviour" who provides a way of sal- he kissed ~t, enquired the price and paid it saying, vation from sin and furnishes men with the power 'I have lived all my life in sin, and have been a to live according to His will. great man only in doing evil. But a year ago a It is this view of the Bible-the view that it has man like you gave me a Gospel according to St. a divine message of its own apart from human John. 1 laughed at him for giving me such a expounding-that a man by reading it may come book, told myself that it would do me no good, and to know the message as .one for his own soul- put it in my pocket. One day while 1 was sitting which led Charles Spurgeon to ask the indignant alone, 1 took it out and began to read it from the question, "Defend the Bible? 1 would as soon beginning. 1 found it very interesting and went think of defending a lion! Let it out! It can take on reading until 1 finished it. Then 1 read it again care of itself!" and again. 1 asked Christians about the things 1 did not understand, gave up the bad things 1 It is this profound faith in the efficacy of the used to do, and became a new man. 1 believe in Holy Scriptures that is the motive that leads the Bible Societies to promote the widest possible dis- Christ that He is my Saviour, because He loved tribution in all languages, in all lands, in all sinners; and 1 always speak with my Moslem hands. brethren about Christ, so that they call me, in our Not so, however, is it with the Moslem and the village, the preacher of Christ.' " Koran. He believes that Arabic is "the language This respect for the Bible on the part of Mosof the angels" and regards it as blasphemous to lems is due in part to a passage in the Koran which translate the Koran out of its original Arabic into says, "We also caused Jesus the son of Mary to any other language. It has been done in some follow the footsteps of the prophets, confirming cases even by Moslems themselves; but only into the law which was sent down before him; and we five or six languages in all; and the .attempt is gave him the Gospel, containing direction and not generally regarded with favor. Such conser- light; confirming also the law which was given vatism towards the language of the Koran leads before it, and a direction and admonition unto to the unedifying spectacle of a Bengali, for ex- those who fear God; that they who have received ample, struggling to memorize it and to repeat, the Gospel might judge according to what God parrot-fashion, words which have no meaning for hath revealed therein." (Sale, "The Koran," p. 79.) [27]
This seemingly favorable passage is somewhat The literary Arabic is much the same in all nullified by one immediately following it: "We countries where Arabic is read, but the colloquial have also sent down unto thee the book of the differs widely from country to country. In Egypt, Koran with truth, confirming that Scripture for example, a request for "leben" brings milk aR which was revealed before it; and preserving the it is commonly understood; in Palestine, the same same safe from corruption." request would bring loppered milk. So great is the disparity between the colloquials of Egypt and PILGRIMS BOUND FOR MECCA Palestine that a scornful maidservant in Jeru- salem once remarked of the writer, "He can't This superiority ascribed to the Koran over the speak Arabic; he can only talk Egyptian!" Law and the Gospel is interpreted to mean that it has superseded them. What little favorable testi- The Bible Societies strive to make use of the mony the Koran does give to the Bible is appealed atmosphere of reverence for Scripture found in to and used, with mutual respect, when the Bible Moslem lands. "They find, on the other hand, obis offered to Moslems and is made a reason for jections to the Bible and seek for the right antelling them that they ought to read it. Often the swers. They also endeavor to surmount the reply comes: "The Bible is for Christians and barriers of colloquial speech by publishing Bible the Koran for Moslems." portions in different varieties of it. The Arabic Bible in literary style, that enduring monument The answer to this objection is, '''The Bible is to the careful and scholarly labors of two great the Word of God; and God means His Word to American missionaries, Dr. Eli Smith and Dr. C. be for all men whether they be Christians or Mos- Van Dyck, is firmly fixed in estimation of edulems or Jews." cated people, and circulates throughout the lands -South America, North Africa, Western Asia, Two Kinds of Arabic Arabia and the East Indies – where Arabic is It ought to be made clear that there are two read. Its potential outreach to people is greater, kinds of Arabic, literary and colloquial. The two perhaps, than that of. the Bible in any language are so diverse as to be almost different languages. save English. The importance of this can hardly A confident graduate of a Western university, be overestimated. But to those of little learning who had studied literary Arabic during his col- it is laboriously difficult to read and often uninlege career, arrived in Cairo and set out at once telligible. For such, therefore, there is a growing alone to buy a few necessities at native shops. His volume of pUblication in the language of everypolished periods, however, produced only uncom- day life, natural and easy, flexible and unstilted. prehending dismay in the faces of the shopkeepers. None of the necessities were produced The chief usefulness of these colloquial texts at until he was rescued by a passing friend who present is for reading aloud to small gatherings could chatter away in "the vulgar tongue." of the illiterate, especially the women and girls whose education is considered of little or no im- portance ! They also find some acceptance among Jews – of whom there are thousands in North Africa and Egypt, to say nothing of Palestine- who, although they may have some knowledge of Hebrew, yet do their trading in Arabic. A col- porteur reported recently, "I entered a Jewish shop where there were three men and began to read aloud to them from the Psalms in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. I noticed signs of delight on the faces of all three. Each of them bought a copy, and one of them added, 'If the Bible Society had not taken the trouble to publish this transla- tion, the Bible would have become to us but a venerable antiquity.' "
Problems of Distribution The great problem confronting the Bible So- cieties in Moslem lands is that of distribution. How can we get the books into the hands of those who can read, and especially those who are not Christians. There are some favorable factors in the situation but the unfavorable ones and the
THE BIBLE AND THE KORAN CONTRASTED
prejudices against the Bible are stronger far than Indeed, he does; and indeed God can through those for it. Illiteracy is general. It is useless to the Word! Several colporteurs are themselves dump books on people who will not and cannot converts from Islam.
read them. Under such circumstances the only For Ohristian Minorities hope of success is to pick men carefully for the personal work, train them in their task, and su- Christians are a minority in all the Moslem pervise them constantly in such a way as to allow lands except in the Republic of the Lebanon, of them freedom of spirit, while maintaining the which Beirut is the capital. It is necessary to level of their spiritual life and business efficiency. Such a ministry by a Bible Society agent forms a have lived with a Christian minority to appreciate very real "cure of souls." That it is done, is not known, as a rule, outside Bible Society circles- "the reproach of Christ" and what a shame (soand not always even within them! But it is done, and it produces results. It gives the colporteur cially) it can be to be a Christian. There is, morean honorable vocation. He is no longer despised over, an impalpable and silent but yet very real as one who has become a colporteur because he is fit for nothing else! "Ambition should be made pressure exerted on the soul by the presence of of sterner stuff." When once the colporteur real- Islam in the mass, and by the spiritual deadness izes that he holds an honorable place among the workers for the Kingdom of God, he gets the right and dryness induced thereby. If this is felt by ambition-the most unselfish and uplifting ambition in the world-to be boundlessly ambitious for missionaries from the West, with all their spir- God. As a Syrian colporteur observed, "I am itual advantages, how much more will it affect the happier at selling a man a Bible than at anything scattered native Christians! There will often be else I know." That same man spent his holiday but one or two Christian families in the whole of last Christmas Day in selling Bibles because, as a big Moslem village. Their lot is hard; for nothhe said, it was a good day on which to offer men ing is quite so cruel and inhuman as "religion" the story of the birth of Jesus. They are drawn without the boundless love and compassion of from many walks of life-weavers, tailors, boot- Christ. A visit from an itinerant Bible seller is makers, carpenters, farm-hands. Many of those often a God-send to people in such a case. Three in Egypt owe their education to the American cases have come to light in recent months where Presbyterian Mission-the largest in the country. such visits, accompanied by the reading of the Bible aloud, have slerved to keep back lonely Chris- What do these men accomplish in Egypt during tian men from apostatizing and denying their an average year? The American and British So- faith. One was in Trans-Jordan, another in a country village of the Nile Delta, and the third in Alexandria.
No less than 80 % of the population of Egypt is afflicted with eye-trouble in one form or an- cieties, both of which are at work in the country, other. It is imperative, therefore, that the Scripemploy about 32 men. The population of the tures should be constantly available in large, bold country is a little less than 16,000,000, of whom type. For those who have quite lost their sight about 1,000,000 are Christians. The total circula- and have to read with their fingers, the complete tion of the two Societies combined, in the year Arabic Bible is published in Braille type and fills 1935 in Egypt, was just under 152,000 books. 32 volumes. Each volume costs an average of In Syria during the same year the total circula- $1.25 to produce, but is sold at a flat rate of the tion of the two Societies amounted to nearly equivalent of 371;2 cents. Where poverty is too 34,000 of which the.colporteurs were responsible deep to raise even that much, a gift is made upon for the sale of 24,000. In Iraq the colporteurs the fulfilment of certain reasonable conditions.
sold nearly 12,000 books out of a total circulation "Drops of water hollow out rocks," albeit they of 15,600. It is not too much to say that the col- take a long time over doing it. Drops of the Water porteur is the backbone of Bible-work in Moslem of Life are being poured onto stony hearts. It lands. They themselves recognize the importance takes a long time to produce appreciable results.
and significance of their work, as is shown by the Who, in view of the method and the problem, following incident. would expect anything else? But there is an ex- A colporteur offered a Bible to some Moslems hilaration, an inspiration, sometimes even an ex- who were sitting in a shop. citement about keeping the drip constant-week "Are you a preacher?" one of them asked. after week, month after month, year after year.
"No," was the reply, "I am a colporteur." Here and there, in individual lives, there shows "Beware!" said another man. "This man is sufficient success to encourage-to counteract the worse than a preacher who speaks and goes away. gloomy entry, "Sold, and no result." Who knows?
This man leaves a book that is able to convert the Keep the drip constant; the results are in God's Moslems !" keeping. Christian Morale in War–Torn China By REV. FRANK W. PRICE, Shanghai Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S.
TETTERS from all parts of war-torn China re- from a well-known Christian educator and church- L veal a marvelous spirit of faith and courage. man in Nanking. He was still carrying on his The Chinese nation and people believe that work and his wife and children were still in the they are fighting a "war of independence" against city, in spite of 65 air raids between August 15 military aggression and oppression. Although and October 20.
weaker in material equipment and arms, China is "The growing interest and sympathy in Amer- strong in purpose and the people are ready for ica at present is in large measure the direct result every necessary sacrifice to win the ultimate vic- of efforts put forth by many friends China has tory for freedom. Missionaries in China are al- among your people. The American sense of jus- most unanimously in sympathy with China's cause tice and humanity is a rich source from which and believe that one of their great contributions will come a strong moral support that will nerve at the present time is to help maintain the morale China in her struggle and hence will bind the two of the people. Chinese Christian leaders are ris- peoples in closer and more solid friendship so as to ing to the emergency and are doing their part protect effectively the peace of the world. . . .
heroically by carrying on their regular work or "China has finally been compelled to defend her- special work in the face of great dangers and by self. She is now staking her all on the tremen- a devoted ministry of relief to the wounded and .dous task of breaking the yoke of oppression, and homeless. This work is winning praise on all of securing the right for independent existence.
sides. These are most terrible days that China has to go Four representative statements, out of a large through but she is quite prepared for the sacrifice.
number received within the past month, show how In no struggle has there ever been a more perfect missionaries and Chinese Christians are bearing example bf spiritual forces against the material.
their witness in this greatest crisis of China's China is opposing an enemy many times better history. armed than herself. It is a wonder that the Chi- lo Christian educational institutions. The fol- nese army has been able to meet the onslaughts lowing statement issued on September 24 by the and hinder the enemy's progress. We cannot forefaculty of Cheeloo· University, situated at Tsinan, cast the duration of this life-and-death struggle, in Shantung Province, is typical of what the but we are convinced of the determination of the Christian schools in China are saying and doing Government and people not to stop short of the in the war situation: achievement of an entire and independent national "The faculty realizes that the time may come existence. The present warfare has done away when heavy bombardment or the approach of the with the distinction of front and rear, of military invading army will make it seem wise for the re- and civilian, of combatant' and non-combatant.
maining faculty and students to scatter. It is The whole nation is bleeding; those who are not important for everyone to understand that such bleeding in flesh are bleeding in heart. The air- a contingency, or even possible destruction of raids make us feel glad in a way that we are shar- some of the buildings, and loss of equipment, will ing in the sacrifice of the nation."
not destroy Cheeloo. This institution consists not 3. Missionaries. Rev. Ronald Rees, secretary so much in land and bricks and tile, as in tradi- of the National Christian Council in China, writes tions, in its records of work, in loyalty of staff and of the changed situations and new opportunities students and alumni, in reputation and support facing the missionary. Speaking of the great mi- in many countries. These things are not easily gration from the coastal provinces to the interior, destroyed, and, from them, if necessary, Cheeloo he says: can rise again, whatever may be in store for her "Northerners have gone on to Sian, Hankow, buildings in the immediate future." Changsha, and many of them on farther. Gov- 2. Chinese Christiq,n leaders. The following ernment and educational organizations are estab-, paragraphs are taken from a letter just received lished now in Hankow, Changsha, Chungking. I [30 ]
CHRISTIAN M'ORALE IN WAR-TORN CHINA '31
think we may expect to see the tide rolling on to that would be heard above the din of battle strife Szechwan, Kweichow, Kwangsi and Yunnan. and reach every member of our home church.
"What effect will these movements have on the "Weare witnesses of the heroic sacrifices and people of China and their future? In the first sufferings of the people to whom we have been place ordinary men and women (not only stu- sent, in their determined oneness of purpose to dents and intellectuals) are conscious as never preserve at all costs their national existence and before of a national emergency and its cause. freedom against a powerful and inhuman military Secondly, national unity is being extended and machine. The bravery of the Chinese soldiers deepened by the common bond of suffering. In commands our admiration, and the patient en- the third place, the intellectual leaders of China durance of the ordinary people stirs our sympathy had been chiefly in the coastal provinces. Many and desire to help. But more than this, we are are now going far inland, perhaps for an extended touched by the turning of the people to us for period. The modernizing and westernizing proc- comfort and encouragement in this darkest hour ess is bound to be hastened in central and west- of their national history.
ern China. "Our Chinese friends in all walks of life were "The people staying in the coastal provinces are bewildered by the very suggestion that all mis- going to need the most tender and faithful sup- sionaries might be withdrawn from China. They port. So, also, those in the northern provinces could not see that it was necessary, and to them torn away from the main body and under foreign it looked like a flight. We have lived and worked (and probably ruthless) domination, if the experi- with them through peace and famine and pesti- ence of Korea and Manchuria means anything. lence and civil wars, and now at the moment of But the center and west of China are going to be their extreme national peril they still look to their open in new ways, for there the heart and mind Christian friends to stay by them and meet what- of China may be centered." ever may come. Their Christian leaders have said The following messages are taken from groups this openly, and innumerable individuals have of Southern Presbyterian missionaries whose said so privately to their missionary acquaintwork in Chekiang and Kiangsu has been acutely ances, and the faces of multitudes express their affected, to their home church. From a group at satisfaction at seeing their foreign friends carry- ing on as usual. Tsingtao: "Our work is slowed down, not stopped. Prac- "When we see these things we are profoundly impressed with the potentialities of these troutically all our churches and institutions are carry- blous times. We are now faced with the greatest ing on in one way or another through the faithful crisis that has ever confronted the Church of cooperation of our Chinese fellow-workers. The Christ in this land. The Chinese word for crisis outlook for Christian work in China at the out- is made up of two words, "danger" and "opportubreak of hostilities was unprecedented. The peo- nity." We are not blind to the dangers, but we are ple were more friendly and open-minded than at thrilled at the thought of the opportunities before any previous time. There was a steady stream of accessions to the company of believers and the us. We appeal to you for your loyal and faithful churches had made marked advance in church support as we face these dangers and opporconsciousness and self-support. They, too, were tunities. getting a fresh and inspiring vision of our obli- "This is not a time to quit, but supremely a time gation and opportunity. . . . At a time like this to stand by. On all sides we see stores with the the influence and opportunity of the missionary fronts boarded up as a protection against bombs who shares the sorrows of the people and com- and bullets, but with the sign on the door, "Busiforts and counsels is greatly enhanced as com- . ness as usual." As Christians in the business of the Kingdom, this should also be our motto. God's pared with ordinary times." work must not and cannot stop."
A group of twenty-three missionaries in Shang- These letters reveal the intrepid missionary hai, many of whom were going back and forth to spirit in China now. their stations in or near the fighting area, wrote as follows: 4. Chinese appreciation of Christian sympathy "With the resounding explosions of bombs and and support. In many ways government leaders shells, the hum of airplanes, and the rat~tat-tat of and the non-Christian public have expressed their machine guns in our ears, constantly reminding appreciation of the stand taken by missionaries us of the struggle to the death in which this be- and Chinese Christians. On September 27, the loved country of our adoption is engaged, we a China Press, a Chinese-owned daily newspaper in company of twenty-three of your missionaries the English language, published the following edi- temporarily in Shanghai, amid all the confusion torial under the title "Christian Loyalty": and misery around us, would fain send a message "Christian missionaries in China have ignored
their government's advice to seek personal safety. being confronted with danger. It might be easy They have been urged to leave their posts and for them to ask their governments to extend a concentrate in sectors from which evacuation paternal hand and deliver them from destructive under the protection of their national forces may forces, and yet to do so would be unchristian and be comparatively easy; and they have preferred unworthy of their Lord.
to remain in this war-torn country with their "Admittedly, the Sino-Japanese war must come Chinese fellow-Christians, unafraid and un- to an end sooner or later. While the missionaries daunted. must look after the present, they cannot ignore the future; By deserting at the first sign of dan- "The action of the missionaries has doubtless ger, they might betray the confidence reposed in been prompted by a sense of duty toward their them by the Chinese converts; by remaining toevangelical cause and toward their fellow men. gether with the converts, they would surely earn To God they have pledged to march onward as undying goodwill as well as affection and lay the true soldiers of the Cross, and to their fellow men foundation for a greater claim to Chinese support they have professed to bring a divine message of in the years to come. goodwill and spiritual comfort. At no other time is the spirit of the true soldier more manifestly "Devotion to a cause, be it Christian or otherbeing placed on trial, and at no other time does a wise, presupposes the willingness to sacrifice. war-torn race stand in more need of the benefits Unless the missionaries were, as they are, preof Christian goodwill and comfort. pared for sacrifices at any cost, it would be hypocritical to talk about devotion, and to claim "It would be highly disloyal to God and to man devotion from others. if the missionaries were to pursue the line of least resistance and withdraw from the field in which they and their predecessors have labored "The firm resolution of the missionaries to ful- so arduously to espouse the cause of the Gospel. fill the demands of the Christian movement in "As the Son of God, Jesus could have asked for China has already won the admiration of the God's hand to stay the Crucifixion, but Jesus the Chinese of all classes, irrespective of their per- Christ remained, to the end of His mundane exist- sonal beliefs. The challenge of Christian loyalty ence, the Saviour of men by giving His life and has never before been more severe, and happily shedding His divine blood for the redemption of it is being met in a true Christian spirit-a spirit man's sins. of which all followers of Christ may well be "The missionaries in China today are, no doubt, proud."
A PEACE HYMN FROM JAPAN Out of Japan came a peace hymn twenty years ago, written by William Merrell Vories, of Omi Hachiman. It is now in the Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in Japan.
Let there be light, Lo.rd Go.d o.f Ho.sts, Give us the peace o.f visio.n clear Let there be wisdo.m o.n the earth! To. see o.ur' bro.thers' go.o.d o.ur o.wn, Let bro.ad humanity have birth! To. jo.y and suffer no.t alo.ne; Let there be deeds, instead o.f boasts! The Io.ve that casteth o.ut all fear!
Within o.ur passio.ned hearts instill Let wo.e and waste o.f warfare cease, The calm that endeth strain and strife; That useful labo.r yet may build Make us thy ministers of life; Its homes with Io.ve and laughter filled!
Purge us fro.m lusts that curse and kill! Go.d, give thy wayward children peace!
The author founded the Japanese "Omi Brotherhaad," described as "an experiment in establishing the Kingdom of God in the province of Omi, Japan." It has come to be one of the most significant demonstrations in Japan of the Kingdom of God, a combination of business and missionary activity. The architectural department supervises and builds more than fifty structures a year. A publicity department prints books and periodicals. Two factories are operated. They are agents for Mentholatum and other products. The church is composed of four nationalities from nine different denominations. It has overcome the difficulty of getting Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, and Americans to work together harmoniously. Effective educational and medical work are also carried on and. good moving pictures offset the influence of vicious films.
A Miracle-Happy Lepers in
_.~I By R. M. WILSON, M.D.* I Missionary of the (Southern) Presbyterian Church 1 __ __ ~~=-~-===~~==~==== ~~~-J FOR over thirty-five hundred years leprosy has case of erysipelas. After two or three weeks this been considered the most hopeless of all dis- subsides, the fever drops, and then the patient eases, incurable, a curse; yet within the past begins to improve. twenty-five years it has become amenable to treat- In treatment an important thing is to clear the ment, and there is hope for lepers. We may call patient of intestinal parasites, malaria, syphilis, it a miracle, for so it is. or any other complication. Food is an important The Korean has no such view of it. He calls it part of the treatment, as well as exercise and Poong or the "Great Wind." He believes it is a keeping busy so as to occupy the mind. Sand curse from heaven. In desperation some Korean baths in the hot sun, as well as swimming, are lepers even eat human flesh, which they have been parts of the treatment; the daily hot, soapy bath told is a cure. Lepers in Korea taste of the bitter is important.
dregs of life. They are driven here and there, Our colony is as busy as a beehive, for all who sleep in culverts and caves, and often fall down can stir about must do their part towards caring before us saying, "Save a dead dog." So, coming for their gardens and raising pigs, rabbits, or into our beautiful Leper Home they soon find the some other form of the extra food needed in their great Christian hope and abide in its joy. treatment. Blind Pak passes his days by making Our leper colony is a little world in itself. The straw rope, and he can earn three cents a day, lepers have their own mayor and town govern- about our usual wage in the colony. Mr. F. E. C.
ment, and manage most of their own affairs, Williams of Kwangju has been a great help to us meeting annually for the election of the councils in training the lepers to a more scientific farming.
and officers. We have trained thirty who do most He comes every fall with a Korean teacher, and of the medical work and in the future this train- their classes, held for one week, mean a great ing will be an even more important part of our deal. An annual fair is held in the fall when task. Formerly we gave such men a general med- their crops, pigs, rabbits, and produce of other ical course, but now we confine a student to one kinds are displayed and prizes given. line of work; otherwise, some will run away and One of the worst wind and rain storms in years practice medicine! A man named Insune is the struck our colony last year and did much damage, head of the group of thirty. He makes rounds mostly to the roofs. The American Mission to and writes prescriptions; yet he was once one of Lepers sent an emergency fund of one thousand the most advanced cases we had. Another lad dollars at once, which about covered the losses. does most of the simple surgery-amputations of One of the queerest observations I ever made feet and hands. Two boys' time is fully occupied among lepers was when I came upon a man with filling prescriptions. One gives all his time to the sole of his foot in his lap. With a large npedle intravenous injections of glucose, calcium, sal- and thread he was sewing up a great crack in his varsan, and the like. Last year 6,206 of these foot. He had to do this about once a month, he were given, and 65,000 injections of chaulmoogra said, for sand and dirt would crowd in and in- crease the size of the wound. It was about like oil.
Very fortunately the chaulmoogra oil is not sewing up a baseball! very expensive. A pound costs about thirty-five A recent study of our seven hundred lepers cents and will treat a case about thirty weeks. For those who take it by mouth the cost is more showed some curious facts which will give an idea because the dose is larger and taken daily. The of their suffering. In answer to the question, oil apparently has a direct effect upon the bacilli. "What relative of yours was a leper?" sixty- Quite often when a case starts the treatment, one replied, brother; forty-five, father; thirtythere is a severe reaction, as though it were a bad eight, mother. Two hundred and twenty said they had lived with lepers; ten, that they thought they had gotten the disease from a leper's house; two • Superintendent of the Soonchun (Korea) Leper Colony aided hundred and twenty-nine said that lepers lived by the American Mission to Lepers, Inc., 156 Fifth AVe'. , New York, N. Y. in their village as neighbors.
[33 ]
"
As to the first sign of the disease, three hundred feet; two, arms; twenty, legs. In three hundred and fifty-nine saw it in their lower extremities, and sixty-one cases the vision was good, and in and two hundred and twenty-seven, in their arms three hundred and forty-one it was impaired.
and hands. Their chief suffering is from neuritis, Thirty-four had lost both eyes, and twenty-six, and four hundred and thirty (more than half the one eye.
colony) had it at the time of our study. Two The fact that four hundred and three are bap- hundred and eighty had ulcers, mostly on the feet; tized Christians and one hundred and fourteen in one hundred and forty-one were unable to do any the catechumen class shows that Christ is strong kind of work. As to recovery, two hundred and among them. Many of the others are new Chris- fifteen had slightly improved, two hundred and tians, but it takes about two years of study and sixty-six had greatly improved, and twenty-three testing before they are fully admitted to the had grown worse. One hundred and seventy- church.
three stated that the dead spots in the skin had It is a joy to see these wretched, sick, hopeless improved. Two hundred and forty had lost creatures recover and become happy, healthy fingers; two hundred and fifty-nine, toes; eight, Christian citizens of the land.
When Korean Preachers Illustrate* -<Ef I By th, 10" F. S. MILLER of Cho,," I!J;.- T HE illustrations Korean preachers and teach- not come and have lunch with us?' The yangban ers use let in the light not only on their sub- felt insulted by being asked to sit by the roadside jects but also on the inner workings of their and eat with coolies, and gave them a gruff reply. minds and hearts. "Several years afterwards, when the reformed Pastor Yune, speaking of mutual helpfulness: government had come in and the yang bans were "Two beggars came through our village, one was deprived of their especial privileges of living by a deaf and dumb woman and she was leading a oppression of the common people and by extorblind man. Both had happy, contented faces, tion, this yangban, like many of his fellows, was and seemed to get along together well enough. on the verge of starvation. One day he passed the same farmer and his hands, eating by the "Now, if the man had kept abusing the woman roadside. How good that white rice looked; those because she did not tell him .what she saw and she pickles made his mouth water. He hoped they had abused him for not telling her what he heard would ask him again to sit down and eat with they might have lived very unhappily together them but, remembering his former rebuff, they and have sought a divorce. As I observed them I ate in silence, not even saluting him. Going a thought, 'That is the way forbearance with each little further on, he felt so weak from hunger and other's weaknesses makes a couple happy.' the grinding of his stomach that he had to stop and sit on the bank of the stream. How he re- "In the leper asylum you will see those who pented of his former pride and oppressions!" have hands helping those who have none and those who have feet using them for those who are foot- *** less. Each of us has his peculiar gifts, let us use them for those who lack. Let us not despise the Deacon Pak, speaking of God's love for us sinhelpfulness of the weak; the bread and the fish ners, said: "One of the Christians in Seoul had did not belong to a full-grown man." five daughters and one son. One afternoon the youngest daughter wandered off. At two o'clock *** the mother discovered that she was missing and started out to hunt for her. Long after dark she Elder Song, pointing out the danger of pride, found her outside the East Gate. used this, "There was a proud yangban, gentleman, in a village who passed a group of farm- "When the father was returning at sunset, tired hands eating their lunch by the roadside. The and hungry, some neighbors told him of his loss. farm women had brought out a large gourd full So he turned back up the street and searched for of boiled rice, bowls of pickled cabbage and a her till eleven o'clock. When he returned home bottle of soy sauce. and found her safely restored, he wept for joy with his cheek against hers, saying, 'If we had "The coolies asked, out of politeness, 'Will you • From The Korean Mission Field.
WHEN KOREAN PREACHERS ILLUSTRATE
not found you we could not have slept tonight. from her parents-in-law and for the present of bread for her parents she thought she would take Thanks be to God.' . three pecks of rice. As she sat down in the sedan chair she thought, 'This rice, in addition to my "If a working man with five daughters and a own weight, will be heavy for the chair-coolies.' So she placed the rice on her head and carried it son to support by his labor could so rejoice over there all the way, instead of laying it at her feet. We are just as foolish when We carry our worries the return of his smallest daughter how easy it is instead of placing them in God's keeping."
to conceive of God's joy over one sinner who *** repents." When speaking of the way Christians lose their consciousness of the presence of the Holy Spirit *** in our hearts, Pastor An said, "An old man and his son were going to Seoul and lost their ticket Speaking of thankfulness, Leader Yi told of a on the train. The conductor said he would come through again and told them to keep up their pastor in Fusan who was returning from making search. They hunted through their clothing and baggage and scolded each other. Finally the son calls and heard the sound of suffering coming opened up his underclothing and there in a secret pocket, wrapped up in paper, he found the ticket. from under a bridge. He listened and heard a When you feel you have lost God, do not search the heavens above or the earth beneath, just look voice asking that God would send a Christian to in your own heart."
help the sufferer. Looking down, he saw a leper *** with one foot almost gone. When he spoke kindly Helper Kim told how he had been asked to hold revival services in a church. He started to do so to the leper the diseased one asked, "Are you a and they fed him the poorest variety of rice and lent him no covering for the night, so he could Christian ?" "Yes." On hearing this the leper neither eat nor sleep and spent the night in prayer for the church. The next day, praying for began praying the more earnestly as he thought strength, he went on with his instruction and ex- hortation and, though they did not improve the his prayer was answered. rice, they gave him a thin and unclean comforter. Again he was too cold to sleep but went on with The pastor hastened home and told the Chris- his revival services, with the result that the peo- ple relented and fed him on good rice and supplied tians to collect and send food and warm clothing him with plenty of bedding. As usual, it was not that they did not have the goods, but that they to the leper as he was on the point of departure lacked the grace.
for North Korea to lead some revival meetings in He went on to say that it is not always the Pyengyang. During the meetings he told the story of the leper praying under the bridge.
Someone in the congregation, without giving his or her name, placed forty yen in the collection plate marked, "For the leper." Others, hearing of the gift, contributed more till they had enough to send him to the asylum.
When the pastor visited the asylum after that, the joy, peace and thankfulness of this leper touched his heart. Leader Yi went on to say: "Thankfulness is not in the place and circum- stances of the person. Jesus was thankful under the reign of a Herod or when lying in the stern of a little boat in the midst of a storm."
*** Lay pastor An, telling how useless it is to worry, said: "A young woman in our village was preparing to pay her first visit to her own home LIFTING UP JESUS CHRIST There is a theory, held by some, that Jesus of Nazareth was only an extraordinary man, a Palestinian Socrates, a Galilean Francis of Assisi, a first century ethical teacher, a Jewish prophet, a lofty spiritual genius, the founder of a new religion to be ranked among the other religions of the world.
In reality Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life. He is the door. He is the bread of life, and the water of life. He is the vine. He is the morning star. He is the light of the world. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the resurrection. He is the eternal Word. He is the only Saviour from sin. He is God manifest in the flesh. He is the image of the invisible God, the effulgence of God's glory, and the very image of His substance. He is the foundation of the Church, and the head of it.
If any pastor, who feels that his ministry is futile and that his church is losing ground, will exalt the living Christ in his life and his preaching, he will be a winner of souls.-The Christian Observer.
worker who brings revival to the church; some- because it is the beginning of a new cycle. The times it is the church that revives the worker. eldest son usually provides a feast for the parent. There was a woman in a church who had lost her zeal and activity. Her son had gone to Japan to The church people, seeing how sad and lonely find work and when her sixtieth birthday came she was, gave her a better feast than her son could there was no one to provide a feast for her. The have done and she received such a revival from sixtieth birthday is the greatest one in a lifetime this kindness that she became an active worker in the church and well repaid them for their love.
Distributing Bibles to Russians By REV. 1. V. NEPRASH Executive Secretary of the Russian Bible Fund T HE Soviet Government gave permission ten from the police, that meant suffering and financial years ago for the printing of 50,000 Bibles losses to' the Believers, the work of distribution and 50,000 New Testaments under the aus- was organized and 19,966 New Testaments and pices of the Russian Bible Fund. The writer was 2,300 Bibles were distributed to those who wished asked to secure the necessary money and a con- them. Five courses for workers were conducted siderable amount was subscribed in America. daily for about 300 pastors and evangelists. Six Part of the program was carried out when, with- hours were given to instruction in the study of out warning, the Soviet Government cancelled the the Bible, how to organize a church, how to bring permission, and the remaining funds were kept in men to Christ and on the spiritual life of workers. America until there should be opportunity to use Every night large evangelistic services were held. them for the purpose for which they were given. With the help of the pastors, the program of dis- tribution was worked out in detail and it was de- Since Russia is still closed to any Bible distri- cided to give the Scriptures to unbelievers only, bution, the Committee in charge of the fund de- to those who are unable to pay and only to those cided to use the money to make the Scriptures interested enough to read the Book. available to Russians scattered in many places throughout the world. Many were stranded in The distribution was made through Believers foreign lands after the War and when the Com- who, with every copy, gave a testimony concernmunists started a drive for the extermination of ing the Book and the Saviour. the educated Russians, hundreds of thousands fled for life and are now scattered in various parts of One month was spent in Poland, where there the world. are several million Russians and Ukrainians. Services and conferences, with courses for work- Some Evangelical Christians organized the dis- ers were conducted. About 15,000 copies of the tribution in China, Manchukuo and Japan and the Bible are being distributed through the Believers. writer took up the work in parts of Europe where there are large settlements of Russians. Six Danzig proudly calls itself the "Free City." months were spent in Czechoslovakia, Roumania, About 2,000 Russians are in the city and its prov- Poland, Lithuania, Germany and France. The ince. Practically all belong to the former intelresults of this evangelistic work are far beyond ligentsia and many are unemployed, leading a expectation because of the spiritual hunger of the miserable existence. Their hearts are over-burmasses of exiles. dened with the situation. Much sympathy is ex- pressed for Jews who leave Germany and have Eastern Czechoslovakia is populated by over nowhere to go, but there is no mention of almost half a million of Carpathian Russians. Having 2,000,000 Russians who, persecuted by Commurecently traveled in seventeen countries in various nists, had to flee their homeland and have lost parts of the world, I have found nowhere such everything after seeing their relatives massacred poverty as among these people. The Scriptures for no other crime than that they were educated. were received most eagerly. Why is sympathy so one-sided? It seems that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only remedy to heal The eastern province is called Bessarabia, and the wounds. A Russian priest in Danzig was is a Russian province under the Roumanian flag. grateful for the Scriptures offered his poor pa- Three months were spent there with most gratify- rishioners. ing results. In spite of continuous interference
DISTRIBUTING BIBLES TO RUSSIANS
Lithuania is a comparatively small country with crossed himself to express his gratitude to God over 75,000 Russians scarcely touched by the Gos- and almost embraced the writer. pel. Two thousand copies of the Testament are being distributed as a start. When a bishop who has 185,000 in his care was offered the Scriptures, he asked suspiciously: In Germany we found complete freedom for preaching the Gospel and the spreading of the "Why do you do it?" Christian Scriptures. The writer answered that he had been an atheist and was converted through the study of In France there are between 300,000 and 400,- astronomy but had found this a wrong way to go. 000 Russians and about 80,000 are in Paris. Serv- He now knew that the shortest way is through the ices were conducted there every day, two on Sun- Scriptures and so devotes his life to their disday, in the opera house Pleyel, in the center of tribution. the city; they were well attended and the pres- "Through astronomy, you said? Please tell me ence of God was evident. Former colonels, gen- how it happened," begged the bishop with insist- TRAINING RUSSIANS TO BE EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN WORKERS One of Seven "Courses for Workers" conducted recently in different countries of Europe.
erals, doctors, professors, singers, leaders in the ence. When the story was told all suspicion disfinancial world, ladies of society, brought low by appeared and kindness, almost reverence, took its circumstances, listened intently. place, together with gratitude for the books.
The Russian missionary work in France and When a book is given by us to a Russian, it is Belgium (with her 3,000 Russians) is well organ- taken with the suspicion that it may be a sectarian ized. A Gospel periodical is published and 15,000 book, but when the copy comes from a bishop it copies every month go to Russians in all parts of is received as a holy book, is read with confidence the world. A campaign for the distribution of and believed. New Testaments has been begun and from 5,000 to 10,000 copies will be distributed, for the most Pray for the many thousands of New Testapart through individual Believers. In some cases ments and Bibles being distributed throughout the the clergy of the Russian Church are also ap- world, that they may bring a hundred-fold harvest proached. When a priest in Czechoslovakia was for the glory of God. Without God's blessing, the offered copies of the Scriptures for his parish- books may remain only printed matter, or be deioners he gratefully but hesitatingly asked for 100 stroyed; but through the influence of the Holy New Testaments and 50 Bibles. He did not know Spirit they may become a Living Word in the where to obtain the books. When he was asked hearts of the readers and lead them to Christif he would be willing to distribute copies among the Giver of a new Life of which these Russians non-members of his congregation, he gladly are so greatly in need because of their experiences agreed. When 250 Testaments were offered he of the past and hardships of the present, with no hope for a better future.
Youth Looks at
By CHARLES D. HURREY, New York Secretary of the Committee on Friendly Relations with Foreign Students .r-. AMERICA is in the spotlight. World youth is American the Chinese are laundrymen and con- watching us. They are visiting us, criti- sumers of chop suey and chow mein. We have cising us,and praising us. maligned the Japanese as sly and deceitful. For "You Americans are making us go faster," said most of us, the Filipino is still a tree-dwelling a Syrian young man, "but are you making us grow savage. When young Americans are asked t.o de- better? You can .organize gigantic industrial cor- scribe India, they give inordinate emphasis to porations, build skyscrapers and subways, but you caste, famine, and tigers. Our fear of entangling cannot write anything comparable to the 23rd alliances with Europe perpetuates the popular im- Psalm or the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians." pression of the French as gay and irresponsible, "You Yankee Americans built the Panama the British as lordly and "high hat," the Germans Canal, but how did y.oU acquire the Canal Zone?" as warlike, the Italians as "dagoes" and the Rus- was the disturbing questi.on put to me by a bril- sians as bewhiskered and red.
Iiant Latin American student. "You imperialistic To offset these weird and unfair judgments we people of North America think of us Spanish need to discover an that is best and beautiful in Americans as a backward people to be exploited others, and to reveal our best to visitors from for gain; you are not willing to meet us as com- overseas. If I could have my way, the schools of rades on a cultural plane." America would be visited frequently by cultured In far-off Australia some are saying: "You are spokesmen from the Orient, Europe, and Latin rapidly becoming a nation of law-breakers; you America. Our youth should be thrilled by the art condemn banditry in China but daylight holdups and musk and literature of other lands. More- menace your metropolitan areas." over we should receive in our homes, clubs, and The youth of Asia attack our color prejudice churches, these guests of culture and refinement.
and racial discriminati.on. They say: "You Fortunately, our college communities are fa- preach brotherhood but you practice injustice; vored with the presence of over 8,000 students you frown upon the caste system of India but you from all parts of the world; sons and daughters lynch the American Negro. Champions of liberty of high officials and business men abroad are now and freedom, you grant n.o Asiatic the rights of mingling with our youth on the American campus.
American citizenship." With alert and open mind they are studying our European 'youth likewise looks us over. "Why civilization at close range. don't you let us run our own affairs?" says a German youth. "Why do you think you are called On the brighter side, here is how they size us upon to be the moral leaders of the world?" up: British youth declare that we grant degrees to "You are a generous people; vast millions are generous donors to our colleges, who have achieved no academic standing. given annually to education, charity, and religion, not only at home but notably abroad. Your cham- "It is not the business of a student to be work- pionship of public health has overcome contagious ing in factory or harvest field," observes an Ox- disease and has enriched life for all. Under your ford student. "It is the business of a student to leadership warfare is waged against poverty, disbe a thinker and to think things through. You ease, ignorance, and crime in the Orient and Latin have achieved only mediocrity in music, art, and America, as well as within your own borders.
literature because in your devotion to popular edu- "Your technique intrigues us; how you do cation you fail to recognize superior talent and things fascinates us. We are here to discover the ability." secret of your gigantic achievements. After all, If these judgments seem harsh and unfair, let this is a land of opportunity, democracy still pre- us remember that we have brought them upon vails, and the people are free to say and write ourselves by maintaining an attitude of aloofness what they think. Here the humblest can rise to and superiority. Have we not thought of Mexi- the highest position in the land, through sheer cans as bandits and bull fighters? To the average merit and hard work.
[38 ] "Darkness is dispelled throughout the world AWAKE, YE CHRISTIAN MEN and mighty forces are placed at man's disposal Words copyrighted by George A. Brown, Elyria, Ohio. Tune-St. Thomas. S. M. by Aaron Williams. because of the inventions of Edison and other Awake, ye Christian men, Americans. We see you victorious in your strug- Behold the world today; gle to master the machine rather than be mastered Great multitudes, like scattered sheep, From God still go astray. by it. Through labor saving devices you are on Come, with a spirit stirred, the way to release men and women from drudgery Obey your Lord's command; and to set free their spirits for contemplating Pray Him to send forth laborers To ev'ry waiting land. eternal values." . Present your gifts to Him, Youthful eyes from every land are upon Amer- Your ·silver and .your gold, ica. What shall they see? Without our effort But,first of all, yourself He asks, That He your life may mold. they may not discover our best, but may drift Go forth, .ye Christian men, into our worst. The preservation of the noblest Proclaim His name abroad, ideals of American youth depends upon the con- That sinners, far and near, may come. To know the Son of God. servation of our Christian character and at the He gave His life for you, same time we must preserve the heritage of beauty His precious blood He shed; and truth possessed by our youthful guests from Serve Him who saves you by His gracet The Church's living Head. afar.
From the standpoint of the development of the Christian world community, no body of young people offer such opportunities as do the foreigtl students in America. If tactfully approached and enlisted in the work of the Christian churches throughout the United States, these young people will become the equivalent of as many foreign missionaries upon returning to their native lands.
TWELVE BASIC FACTS ABOUT ALCOHOL AS A BEVERAGE Whereas the income of people in the United come alcohol addicts; that is, they can dis- continue the practice only at the expense of States has increased 51 % in the past five years, grave discomfort and disturbance. 8. Of those who do not become addicts, the mathe gifts to benevolences have decreased 30% and jority suffer degenerative changes in the the amount spent on alcoholic drink has increased organs and in the vascular and nervous sys- tems. over 300 %. Is it not time we considered the in- 9. The traffic in alcohol is productive of waste, crime, and social deficiency. The social fluence of intoxicants on health and character? burden is comparable only to that of war The following facts are given by investigators: and disease. 10. The alcohol custom and traffic are rooted 1. Alcohol is an irritant, depressant, narcotic deeply in physiological, psychological,ec~ drug. nomic,social, and political motives. .The problem is allied to nearly every other prob- 2. It deprives the tissues of oxygen, hinders the lem, being at once cause and effect. ! functioning of every organ and endangers health by decreasing the efficiency of the 11. The social good can be served only by policies body's defense mechanism. which look toward a diminishing cortsump- tion of alcoholic liquors. Any policy with 3. Alcohol suppresses the higher controls which this purpose and result is acceptable; any are the products of moral and social teach- other ·policy is morally wrong and socially ings, thus causing. disharmony with the disasterous. modern environment. 12. Prohibition of the liquor traffic, by aligning 4. By its effect upon the central nervous system, all of the powers of government against the alcohol slows the reaction time, causing the habit and the traffic, has served the social deaths of thousands of men, women, and good better than any other policy so far children on our highways. tried. There may be better ways of dealing with the liquor traffic and the drinking cus- 5. It decreases physical effidency, impairs the torn; they have not yet been demonstrated. value of mental effort, and disturbs the psychology of the individual.
6. Alcohol is a habit-forming drug. A constantly increased quantity is required to produce a given effect. 7. Because of this habit-forming characteristic, three persons of every ten who drink be-
NEW GUINEA NATIVES HAVING A DANCE FESTIVAL ON A COCOANUT PLANTATION NEW GUINEA PAPUANS AT HOME-PREPARING FOOD
A PEACEFUL SCEKE IN A PAPUAN VILLAGE IN NEW GUINEA, MANDATED
New Guinea Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow -..a{ I By R. R. HANSELMANN I ~- ~==============================~ SLOWLY the wild and unknown spaces of the after the bitter experiences of the pioneers, the world are disappearing. Soon it will no present ten thousand white men are reasonably longer be possible to find a land that mission- safe and comfortable. The one quarter million aries, trade and international politics have not natives of this area have not accepted Christianity penetrated. Outside the polar regions there are as a mere veneer, but have experienced a rebirth but few unexplored areas, and the largest of these of varying degree. The native is pathetically is the vast tropical interior of New Guinea, an anxious to live like a white man, and to imitate island continent much of which is still shrouded both the good and the bad, so that one cannot pre- in mystery, dict the future of the race.
Throughout pioneer days patriots and empire In speaking of the native of yesterday, we mean builders, energetic fortune seekers and zealous the primitive man as he still is in his undisturbed missionaries, were called upon to display a hero- savage life. Possibly a million would be a eon- ism and self-sacrifice perhaps unparalleled in the servative estimate of the population. These naannals of history; and many brave and worthy tives are partly Caucasian, partly Mongolian, lives were as seed planted in the ground, after- with a little Ethiopian blood. Their features are wards to bear the fruits of civilization and right- not as outstanding as the Negro's; their skin is eousness. On a sixty- to eighty-mile border around in various shades of chocolate brown. The men New Guinea, the Christian religion and civiliza- are tall and sturdy, even the pygmies being husky, tion have established themselves securely, for but the women are very small. Men wear tapa [41 ]
cloths and the women grass skirts. Having an promise assistance or protection. When making aversion to water, the primitive man wallows in a new garden, sorcerers are called to drive infilth; fights to protect his clan; cultivates the land sects away. Certain shrubs are planted to attract for food (sweet potatoes, taros, yams, greens and rain and warmth from the sun. Daggers or arrow points are suspended from tree limbs to ward off evil influences. For fighting, hunting, fishing, courting, indeed for every step of life, some sor- cerer plays a role, and each one demands re- muneration. Especially in sickness and death, fear of unseen realities bring terror to the primi- tive man. Gruesome methods are used to scare the captive spirit from a limb or body, and when death comes the whole village laments. In their wailing, they extol the deceased, and try to justify all their past unkindnesses toward him. The widow covers her body with clay to protect her- self from her husband's soul which seeks to snatch her soul away. Suicide is committed, not out of despair or despondency, but out of revenge, for the belief in the power of the departed soul to do evil is real to the man of yesterday.
On the other hand, life in reality is a life of lust. There is nothing to curb desires. The only CANNIBAL PAPUANS CHRISTIAN PAPUANS TODAY (Church Erected by American Lutheran Mission.) bananas); raises pigs, dogs and chickens; and manufactures his own implements and clothing.
Each tribe speaks its own language. The theory is that private contentions caused many separations, and as each ostracized group survived and developed, their language underwent many changes. Unwritten languages are not static. Some tribes suffix their verbs, others prefix them. The irregular verbs in the Amele language number over six hundred. The rules of syntax are almost the opposite of ours. Interpreters that can speak two or three languages are very rare. Their strange melodies reveal an odd rhythm. War and love songs, dance music and mothers' chants are melancholy, like funeral dirges. Fear and superstition leave their indelible traces on the soul, as the weird music bears witness.
Fear of the life hereafter, superstition, and faith in sorcerers make the native of yesterday the most miserable creature on God's earth. A spirit of love and goodness is unknown. By sacrifices or efforts to delude the spirits the natives seek their safety. certain spirits are believed to have their habitation in caves and mountain peaks. There is no trespassing of these premises, and if accidentally or unknowingly entered, fear, or auto-suggestion, would soon claim its victim. The belief that a spirit or enemy may assume another body or form, such as a crocodile or shark, is common.
As animists they seek refuge in sorcerers who
NEW GUINEA YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
check is the sense of the welfare of the clan, and discover the reality of our God." After years of that is frequently at the expense of the individual. swaying forward and backward, suddenly it is Whatever the majority of the clan decides, the seen that the Holy Spirit has created a new heart, individual accepts. Gluttonous feasting and im~ new desires and lives are changed. After a thormoral dancing carry in their wake physical ough Bible course of two years' instruction, large wrecks. As no primitive tribe has been found that classes are baptized, and out of the night of darkunderstood the physiological phenomena of life, ness and the struggle with the unearthly powers our natives have their erroneous ideas. The girl of evil, children of light and of God arise. to be married is supposed to be a virgin; so rightly we speak of the morals of a primitive people as So it comes about that in the native of today one high, but we must add only in certain respects and sees brighter countenances; cleanliness in private that is due to ignorance and superstition. On the and public life; a lighter rhythm is felt in newly other hand the primitive man is found to reach composed music. Every event and problem of life the very lowest depths. is discussed in the light of God's Word. Public censuring of sin and congregational discipline are We see in the native of yesterday a truly ra~ realities. Church services are crowded, and daily tional human being, imbibed with a spirit created devotions bear witness that religion has com- SOME NATIVE :lEW GUI:lEA GIRLS IX THEIR M'ODERl': DRESS by God, living in constant danger of war, ensnared pletely gripped the masses. A different spirit is in a fearful superstition, given to live a life of astir. There is now no fear of evil spirits; the lust, covered with dirt and groping for a miser- blessings of civilization are self~evident realities. able existence, with the definite doom of falling Baptism becomes a custom. into Satan's hands. But there are influences that pull the other way. But we are thankful to say that many have been The indentured labor system takes the young men saved by the power of the Gospel. This has meant into different surroundings for three years. Over many years of careful, tactful, prayerful work and 33,000 young men are employed by white men, a fierce struggle between God and Satan. The absorbing the virtues and the vices of the white stationing of young Christian native men in bar- man. The native has had no time to adjust- himbaric areas, where in the beginning they are not self to the new mode of life. But always a nucleus called upon to teach and preach, but to live a in the church prays and works to overcome the Christian life, is an effective method, and calls evil influences. for the choicest vessels of God. The devil knows what influence these Christian riatives will exer~ Looking into the future, one sees either a promcise, and he tempts them to the utmost. Every ising nation, or the remnants of a dying race. Bible story is told with this appeal: "Tryout and Clouds are now threatening on the horizon. The Oriental world is making gigantic strides, and
whether New Guinea will remain in the white morrow can be helped to adjust himself to changed man's control is an open question. Japan has re- conditions, a new nation may develop, but if he ceived a lease for an immense area in Dutch New cannot acquire the proper psychological equilib- Guinea. Sea shell poaching between nations is rium, he will succumb. In any case, mission work waged like a little war. White population is in- in New Guinea has a glorious future. The Gospel creasing rapidly. Land is acquired, commercial must, and will be brought to this uttermost part enterprises enlarged, and there is an ever-grow- of the earth, and if the Lord's Word and prophecy ing demand for native laborers. Civilization, find fulfilment with this task, then may the end with its blessings and evils, comes into closer and come. Let us be found doing His will and workeasier reach of the natives. If the native of to- ing while it is day.
A Revival in East"Africa By LUCILDA A. NEWTON, Mabuki, East Africa Missionary of the Africa Inland Mission T HE long prayed for revival seems to be unheard of in this territory. But at our station, breaking upon Tanganyika in such power Nera, the powers of Satan seems to be stronger that it is completely changing the lives of than ever. Perhaps it is because here are gath- ered all the future leaders of the work in the Bible both black and white people. It began in our school and pastors' institute. But the Lord can conquer Nera. Already we have felt the Spirit's Africa Inland Mission teachers' institute in July. power in the giving of His Word such as I have never known before. What years of wasted ef- The native leaders received a real filling of the forts we put forth without His power. In these days, since we have really come to know Him as Holy Spirit, and this spread from them back to the never before, He is bringing us to see the power of His resurrection life. There is a stand of faith white missionaries until half of the Tanganyika where that resurrection power can be continu- ously at work against the enemy. force are so changed that their lives are hardly We feel that this reviving is a preparation for recognized by those who knew them two months something ahead. There is a fellowship of His sufferings that is awaiting us, but we do not know before. The Lord did not pass me by but has the details. With the ,Lord doing such a definite work in our midst, how we need grace, how we wrought such a new work in me that I can truly need humility and continued yieldedness. We feel the Lord has done all of the blessed work of resay that "henceforth I live, yet not I, Christ liveth viving and we cannot take ourselves out of His hand-but we can grieve His Spirit by pride and in me." He has so completely revolutionized my self-sufficiency.
home life that we now have complete unity in the things of the Spirit, whereas for a year we had only misunderstanding. This is happening in the lives of many. We have faith to believe that the work will not cease until every worker has been brought into this relationship with God, through the Spirit. '
We hear from a number of stations that rou- tine work has been put aside and daily souls are coming for prayer and to seek the Lord. It is ANCIENT KINGDOMS IN AFRICA Few people know of the existence of two native kingdoms in the heart of Africa, Ruanda and Urundi, which for centuries had each a line of hereditary rulers. Musinga, now de- throned, was the last of the great heathen monarchs of Central Africa, and in his day had exercised the power of life and death over all his subjects. This power was taken from him in 1916. The two kingdoms are now governed by Belgium under mandatory powers.
The Ruanda General and Medical Mission was founded by the Church Missionary Society. For its work it must depend entirely upon voluntary support, whereas Roman Catholic schools are in receipt of large State subsidies. The Mission has seven stations and nearly fifty mis- sionaries. Each station has its ordained English missionary and its doctor. The native evan- gelists and teachers number about 800; adherents are probably about 30,000 to 40,000. Photo by Mr. and Mrs,. Martin Johnson 'OLD SCH'O'OL AFRICAN WARRIORS-WITH THEIR WARDRUMS NEW SCIJ'O'OL AFRICAN WARRIOR-C'OLP'ORTEUR AT BIBLE DEPOT. KHART'OUM '~ Effective Ways·· of Working r 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO SUGGESTIONS FOR THAT No.4; "There.'s too much ml;t- New Philadelphia, Ohio, writes "NEW LEAF" chinery! There's too much ma- this Department as follows: chinery!" Do not be content with the Beside our Missionary Society proprogram of activities or the at- No.5; "Women are not inter- grams, and those of the Guilds, we tainments of 1937. Every liv- ested in missions anymore! intend having a School of Broadening ing thing must grow; even a Women are not interested in Horizons – for the children's groups change to a fresh plan in order missions anymore!" during the church worship hour; and to whet the appetites of the for the young people's and adult membership is well worth while. No.6; "No one reads mission- groups during the B. Y. P. U. hour. The material this month is of- ary lIterature anymore! Noone We expect to have one missionary fered to furnish enlargement reads missionary literature any- prayer meeting a month for eight patterns for pastors, Sunday more !" months. Four will be on the Moslem School workers and leaders of World and four on the Rural theme. both adult and junior missionary No.7; "Women are seeking It is surprising how much there is groups. As a keynote, read this honor only for themselves! available for interesting programs digest of a clever skit given at a Women ate seeking· honQr only when one begins to cast around. For meeting of the Methodist women for themselves!" the rural programs I expect to have of the Cincinnati district, at three progressive rural pastors, all Lakeside, Ohio, last summer: Indignantly the leader says: graduates of college and seminary, "They can;t do this to our new alive to present-day problems, come A Study in Ghosts program! Can't somebody quiet in and speak on such subjects as Co- them ?" operatives, Problems of the Rural The leader of a meeting, out- Church, and the Rural Home of Tolining the new plans for the At this seven women from the day. A stereopticon lecture on Colcoming year, was disturbed by audience rush up and reply for- portage Work will complete the Rural confused talking and groaning cibly, in turn. Each objecting programs. I find that within a radius behind the curtain to her rear. ghost repeats her phrase upon of thirty miles are living several mis- She said: being asked what is the matter sionaries on furlough. One is from with her, and is answered in in- Cairo, one from northern India "Somebody seems to be mak- dignant terms: (where the Moslems are strongest), ing a fuss back there. Will one and one from Nigeria. I am asking of you please go back and see "Others are doing this. . . . them to speak especially on their conwhat it's about?" There must always be a first tacts with the Moslems in these widely time for everything," etc. separated fields. I hope to have a According to prearrangement, moving picture on the Mohammedan a member of the audience looked As each ghost is told, in her topic complete this series. behind the curtain and said, turn, to "begone!" she slinks off, looking furtively behind, and the Your suggestions in the M,ISSIONARY "There's a whole group of the sixth speaker says: REVIEW OF THE WORLD are invaluable, queerest looking people back and I am looking forward eagerly to there. I think you'd better see "You're nothing new-you're forthcoming issues. them." all ghosts of creatures dead long ago." These kindly words of appre- The curtains are opened re- ciation are passed along to the vealing seven ghostly figures As the last ghost repeats her constituency, whose materials, in (sheeted and with faces cray- cry that women seek honor only the main, are used in our departoned) , writhing, t w i s tin g, for themselves, the leader looks ment. wringing their han d s, and up and says: groaning thus: Christian Youth in Missionary "Dear Christ, can it be pos- Action No.1; "It can't be done! It sible that this is true of many of can't be done!" us ?" She closes with a prayer Under this challenging title, of repentance and consecration, S. Franklin Mack, authorized by No.2; "We never did it be- while groans continue behind the International Committee of fore! We never did it before!" the scenes. Religious Education and in co- operation with the Missionary No.3; "It costs too much. It This scene is very forcible. Education Movement, has writcosts too much!" Try it. ten a pamphlet for the series is- sued for young people using the A Pastor Includes the Men United Christian Youth Move- ment literature. Rev. Rodney C. Gould, pastor of the First Baptist Church at [46 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
The pamphlet in question out- duce, we have usually come to use for Rally Day. Another was lines "what individual young a home mission play, 'The Mispeople and young people's socie- the end of the course rather sionary Barrel,' found in a colties can do for missions." It exhausted and wondering how lection of mission plays pubgives a brief survey of the voca- much we had accomplished. . . . lished by MacMillan; and tional aspect of missions, with a another was a foreign mission summary of the qualifications With all of our efforts, most of play called 'The Dawning of the required of the missionary of our churches are giving mission Morning,' published by the Abthe future. If your young peo- ingdon Press. ple are not already enlisted, by study to the very people who all means arrange a rally at the "Besides this program in the call of the pastor, Sunday school need least to be worked with, Sunday school we gave three superintendent or the Woman's while few of the great majority Wednesday evening services and society and present the cause in of people whose outlook is cold two Sunday morning church the most forceful way possible. or indifferent to the mission services to various phases of It is suggested that Mr. Mack's causes can ever be dragged to mission interest. leaflet be reviewed as an intro- the classes. ductory feature, and that talks "We found that the people follow on the sub j e c t s of "Last fall we decided to put manifested a spontaneous inter- "Friendship Frontiers – What mission study into the Sunday est in this mission program. We Are They?" "How Does One school. We carried on the reg- used no urgent methods to get Stake a Claim?" "Presbyterian people to come. Yet every de- Leagues That Work," "Maga- ular work of the school, every partment in the school began to zines and Program Booklets," class studying the Bible lessons_ have increased attendance. . . . and the "Youth Budget." Al- More men were reached with ready it is reported from a va- but we also found considerable mission study than ever before riety of sources that missionary time available for mISSIOns. by our church. giving has increased noticeably Class periods were lengthened since the adoption of the plans ten minutes, with the under- "By conducting our mission outlined in the pamphlet. standing that each teacher would course as we did, we accom- spend the extra time in giving plished s eve r a I worth-while For this material and other information missionary information. All achievements. One was the natwrite The Missionary Education Movement, uralness of approach to the mat- 150 Fifth Ave., New York. teachers were supplied with lit- ter and the effectiveness of the erature, properly graded accord- education given on behalf of the For Pastors and Sunday ing to departments. mission causes. Another was School Superintendents the discovery that mission edu- "We also arranged special cation provides a remarkably Rev. William Crowe, Jr., pas- missionary programs for united elastic technique. We believe tor of the First Presbyterian that we have only begun to Church of Bluefield, W. Va., assembly periods that lasted discover the possibilities for wrote recently in The Presby- from thirty to forty minutes delightful entertainment and terum Survey regarding his pas- each. These programs were de- attractive study offered by this torate of a similar church in signed to make as popular an method. Still another accom- Talladega, Ala. His article plishment was the unexpected (adapted) is as follows: appeal as possible. The united effect the program had on our assembly included ages from Sunday school attendance and "We believe that our experi- interest." ence offers at least one ap- junior to adult. The special misproach to the mission-study sion study period began with Sequence in Program Building problem that is elastic and Rally Day and went through adaptable and popular. seven Sundays to November It is scarcely necessary to 15th. stress the value of a dominating "For eight or ten years we topic as a picturesque feature in have devoted one or more peri- "For our assembly periods we a series of programs. It seems ods each year to mission study. used a variety of programs. to be one of those devices that Some years our method has have a universal appeal. This been to have classes for men, There was one address entitled, year the figure of "Windows" is for women, and for young peo- 'Under Seven Flags,' in which played upon in one or another ple. Other years we have had department of nearly all packets completely organized schools of there was given a brief summary of literature sent for inspection. missions with classes for every of our home and, foreign mission age-group. . . . We believe we Following this fig u r e, as have given this plan as com- responsibilities. The other pro- adopted by the Baptist women, plete and sincere a trial as grams were designed primarily for their national theme, the could be given. After inject- to give instruction and inspira- Woman's Society of the First ing into our plans all the inge- Church of Santa Ana, Calinuity and energy we could pro- tion through entertainment. fornia, has incorporated in its beautiful thirty-eight page year "We made arrangements in New York for a series of two- reel motion pictures presenting information or plots relating to the mission movement.
"Some of the most effective work done in the missionary education course was through the medium of mission plays. One was a home mission pag- eant, 'The Living Cross,' se- cured from the Northern Meth- odist Church and adapted to our
book a series of "vistas" as their STAGE SETTING FOR A SEPTE,MBER PROGRAM monthly program topics, with the undergirding idea of opening windows of opportunity for service, as well as placing them where none exists-as in Indian hogans and Moslem purdahs- to let God's love shine in.
Their theme song is, "Let the Blessed Sunshine in," and the devotional hymn, "Open My Eyes That I May See." The membership list is "Viewers at Our Window." A "Memorial Window" records the name of those who have died during the year. The devotional series in- cludes: "Outlook-Skyward" (Psa. 19: 1-3). After this program on "Open- August porch party to which "Outlook – into the Valley" (Psa. ing Our Window," there came: contributions for Christmas 34: 19.22). boxes were made and impersona- "Outlook-at the Fountain" (Deut. "Windows of Opportunity." tions given of missionaries- 8: 21; John 4: 14). "Dingy Windows" (rural work). home and foreign – telling of "Outlook-toward the Hills" (Psa. "Shining Windows" (union evening Christmas on their fields. 121) . meeting with the youthful mission- "Outlook-in the Garden" (Isa. 58: ary groups). "Tower Windows" – a pro- 11). "Desert Panorama." gram on student work at home "Outlook- at the Harvest" (Luke "Rose Window" (stewardship). and in union Christian colleges 10: 1-2). "College Windows" (Christian edu- abroad (Baptist Board of Edu- "Outlook – Looking at the Sun" cation) . cation, 152 Madison Ave., N. Y., (Mal. 4: 2). "Sunlit Windows" (White Cross and The Cheer Leader, Sept., work for missionary hospitals). 1936, put out by the Foreign "Outlook-toward the Cross" (Luke "Walls without Windows" (Moslem Mission Conference of North 9: 23). purdahs). America, 156 Fifth Ave., N. Y.). "Paper Windows" (Chinese work "Outlook-into the Pasture Land" for women). "Cottage Win dow s" – on (Psa. 104: 14). "Closing our Window" (annual Rural Work in America (MIS- meeting in June). "Outlook-at the Shadow" (Psa. The August space was labeled: SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, 91: 1; 63: 7). "Our Windows Closed, Blinds Drawn." June, 1937; 25 cents). All the monthly programs are Due to many requests In the past for "God's Windows" – women's samples of these lovely annuals, it is stated called "Vistas" and are intended that a limited number of copies are left and prayer meeting for missions may be obtained for 25 cents each. There with special effort to have older to open windows, as stated pre- is evidently no profit for' the compilers. women attend and take part, a Thanksgiving dramatization beviously. The September pro- More Windows ing given (Woman's Missionary Association of United Brethren gram – built around a beauti- The standard Baptist program in Christ, 1412 U. B. Building, built around .this theme includes: Dayton, Ohio). fully decorated stage-furnished "Memorial Win dow s" – a "Shop Windows" – a window a preview of the year's work. study on missionaries who have box opening and program on op- gone out from the participants' portunities for service. The stage was arranged as a own state. "Latticed Windows"-sketches garden and showed a sash win- "Cabin Windows" – migrant of Christian Nationals who are work-with a luncheon of foods witnessing for Christ ("The dow looking eastward. This picked by migrants and imper- Way of the Witnesses"). sonations on "Around the Campwindow, when opened by the fire." "Sunlit Windows" – imper- sonations of missionary doctors president, made way for nine "Stained Glass Windows"- and nurses at home and abroad. an evening meeting on Peace short episodes illustrating the (men of the church invited) at "Barred or Open Windows"- which a pageant, "The Triumph devotional me e tin g inviting phases of work to be emphasized of Goodwill," was given (Coun- women from other churches and cil of Women for Home Mis- presenting a good speaker on in the monthly programs. These sions, 105 E. 22nd St., New "Are Your Windows Open or York; 35 cents plus royalty of Barred ?" Opening of window episodes consisted of mono- $5.00 for each presentation). boxes follows. logues, pantomimes, dialogues, a "Casement Win dow s," an song, skits, and other features.
Through the year the window box will bear its blooms as the gift boxes are opened. At the left of the stage was a cathedral window, the framework of which stood five feet high and was made so that the designs could be filled in with various colors as the money was received. It was very lovely even before the colors were added. . The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
~'I~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PRICE OF SUGAR the greater part of the army of deeper; 1931-lost everything; migrant laborers of the United 1932 – hit the road; 1935- A summer under open skies, serving the farmers of Cali- A child-a thousand children, States. They had come to these fornia as a 'fruit tramp.' " A burning sun, cold rains shores to better themselves. To- -And sugar beets. day the grandchildren of these Where Do They Live? A summer working sugar beets, early immigrants are harvesting And youth – youth pulled and the crops. But even a greater Migrants have to live in all kinds of places, a shack provided topped number of the 2,000,000 and by the employer, a tent on the And plowed beneath the soil more migrant workers today are banks of an irrigation ditch, or -As fertilizer. Anglo-American, forced into mi- just under the trees. In one Youth pulled and topped, and grancy by misfortune. In 1937 camp where shacks were pro- vided by the employer, one fairly granulated, in a camp in Delaware, an ap- large room housed from one to And weighed – weighed out in palling number were people who three families-as many as eight had lost their homes because of people in a single room. In an- bags Florida floods, typhoons and other camp in the East there For us to buy, and please storms. Many had once been ac- were two water faucets for 420 Our tooth for sweets. tive in communities, taking part people. Because of the crowded A summer under open skies, in church work, lodges, and other condition in some of the shan- A child-a future forming; civic organizations. In this ties, straw was strewn over the No schooling to distract group were a trained nurse, an floor with no pretense of mak- From sugar beets. ing a bunk. experienced mechanic, a railroad FRANCES B. WILLIAMS. engineer, a fireman, a plumber. Squatters' Camps-a new de- velopment in the far west, are Father of all mankind, we They felt that all hope of ever even worse. Dr. Taylor tells of pause in the haste of our daily being anything but migrants a tour of these camps. "We lives to come with quietness into found filth, squalor, an entire ab- T'hy presence. May thy strength had fled. sence of sanitation, and a crowdand thy spirit fill us and may the In the West, and Southwest, ing of human beings into totally love which thou hast for all man- inadequate tents or crude struckind flood our hearts. We would refugees from the Dust Bowl tures built of boards, weeds and at this time bring before thee form the greatest part of the anything that was found at hand those men and women and young migrant labor group. "These to give a pitiful semblance of a people who earn their meager home at its worst. In this enliving. by gathering from the people," Paul S. Taylor writes. vironment there is bred a social fields the food that shall feed us; "are victims of dust storms, of sullenness. It is horrible that who bear the heat of the noon- drought which preceded the children are reared in such an day sun, the long hours of labor, environment." and the rush of the cannery serv- dust, of protracted depression ice while we benefit from their which preceded the drought. 'It What Do They Earn? toil. Weare conscious, 0 Fa- seems like God has forsaken us ther, of their longing for per- back there in Arkansas,' said' a "Employment is intermittent, manent homes, of their unful- jobs are often precarious, and .filled hopes for their children. former farm-owner at a San annual income is low. A study Make us eaually conscious of our Luis Obispo pea-pickers' camp. of 165 migrant families showed responsibilities as Christian citi- that 30.9 % received less than zens to mitigate so far as we can 'The cotton burned up' is the $300 annually and 13.3 % less the hardships of their toil. common story. They are largely than $200 per family."
M. KATHARINE BENNETT. farmers who have been carrying Who Wants Them? on agriculture on the family pat- WHO ARE THE MIGRANTS tern which has been so long re- "Only the employer and he TODAY? garded as the great source of wants them only until his crop stability in our nation. One of Twenty years ago immigrants them, recently picking fruit with from poorer countries made up his family in the Sacramento Valley, told succinctly this story of his decline from farmer to farm laborer: 1927 – mad e $7,000 as a cotton farmer in Texas; 1928-broke even; 1929 -went in the hole; 1930- [49 ] is harvested. "The develop- Council of Women for Home the way they used to. But they can't understand why Jesus didn't hate the ment of normal relationships be- Missions tell a story of the 'mean bad men' who killed him. I tween citizens and community, achievement of this Christian told the children that those who and between employer and em- service. wanted Jesus crucified thought they ployee, is not favored by con- In Tomatoes were doing right. This led to a dis- cussion. Charles said, 'If I had been stant movement. 'My father "I don't know if you'll recognize our there, I would have told them a thing was a track foreman at $1.25 a nursery, for now instead of rugs for or two.' Edna said to him, 'Jesus day, but we lived in a house and the toddlers to sleep on we have cribs. would have wanted you to love them.' " everybody knew us,' said a fruit A bureau which I painted cream to tramp. 'This rancher has us for match our green and cream linoleum, In Onions two or three weeks, and then holds the diapers, sheets, etc., on top "At lunch time long tables were athe's thru wjth me. He knows me tractively set by some of the children till he's through with me.' 'Resi- of which is a scale on which the babies and flowers picked for the center denters' look askance at the pieces. A wholesome well-balanced nomads, and treat them as 'out- are weighed regularly every two lunch was served and simple table landers.' Children are stigma- manners taught. When Mary was tized at school as 'pea pickers.' " weeks. Why, Annamae has already seated on a chair made from an orange crate, at the clean simple table, she What the Church Is Doing gained a pound." . . . ' beamed and said, 'My, just like Sun- day!' The hardships of migratory "And our Young People's Club, for life are only hinted at in the "After lunch each child took his above excerpts. Eighteen years youth of 14-20 has been a howling suc- new toothbrush from his own nail on ago the churches began to know about the migrants and their cess. Its purpose is to provide some- the wall, and enthusiastically went needs. It was then that the first through a peppy toothbrush drill. thing worth while for the young peo- After that they all lay down on the thinly covered floor for afternoon ple who are working. A program of naps. Some of the older children were so tired from caring for younger Negro History, Handcraft, and Rec- brothers and sisters, that they thank- reation has been planned. We meet two nights a week.
"A social hygiene forum meets each Monday afternoon and was composed of young men. The average attend- ance was a~out thirty. Some of the subjects discussed were Love, Venereal Diseases, and Marriage."
effort was made to help them. It In Tobacco fully fell asleep on the hard floor. was a unified effort of seven My how good just a small pillow women's denominational home "About twenty came to the recrea- would have felt." mission boards through the tion hall this evening. The group Council of Women for Home "Because many of the children Missions. They sought to im- planned a swim for Monday night. understood very little English, I tried prove these conditions through various ways to help them underthe enactment of protective leg- The group is starting to look on the stand the story. The most successful islation. At the same time they was to make paper figures of people felt responsible for meeting the schedule posted on the porch. Cipus and place them on the table as I went girls brought some Polish records. So along. Afterward they could make their own figures and re-tell the story far the young neople's group has in their own words. When one 10- immediate physical and spir- played darts, bean bag, toss golf, ping- year-old boy was re-telling the story itual needs of the migrants pong and quiet games. Last year of 'Let the little children come unto through public health nurses, me,' with the use of paper people, he recreational directors, visiting about all they wanted to do was said, 'The men wanted to keep the teachers and religious education children away, but Jesus said'-and he leaders in agricultural and can- dance." stumbled over the long verse he had nery areas. Through the years just learned, but finally said, usine: "Alvin came again today. The words of his own vocabulary: 'Jesus the Christian Service in Migrant little fellow asked if he could do the said, "Let 'em come."'" Camps has spread to over fifty dishes and clean the room. I have never seen a child who enjoyed clean- MY CREED ing up a room as much as he does. I wish he could do something in his own home." …
"While I made a game, Selma, who is about ten, read 'Songs from the Slums' by Kagawa. She enjoyed areas in thirteen states. Eight- them very much and from her com- ments I feel that she really under- "The food that I share with een denominations now cooper- stood them. She asked me questions ate. Employers are helping; lo- about him. Later in the afternoon others Is the food that nourishes me. cal communities are accepting a she said that when she read poems The strength that I spend for share in the work as a part of like those and about people who were others their home mission program. so kind she felt sorry for .all the lies Is the strength that I retain. On the World Day of Prayer The freedom I seek for others thousands of groups throughout she told." the country are remembering "As I work I enjoy noticing the Make's me forever free.
growing community spirit among the workers. Almost no profanity. Do a lot of talking about wearing ap- The pain that I ease in others the migrant families in their Shall take away my pain. prayers and in their gifts. The~ parel, menus, clothes, weddings. We The load that I lift from others had craft work. The boys made some Makes my l.Dad disappear. gifts have opened more Chris- checkers. One made a bouquet of flowers out of a tin can and some The good that I see in others tian Centers and sent more Comes back my life to cheer. paper." Christian nurses into migrant The path that I walk with camps. Work is under way in "It has always been considered adthirteen s tat e s, thirty-three mirable here to hit back, and to make others the person cry who is tormenting you. Is the path God walks with more states have migrants but The children favor the idea of loving me."
no work. the one who is mean to you, so he GRACE HILL FREEMAN. The following excerpts from won't want to be mean anymore. I notice them through the day trying it reports of the workers under the out. They don't seem'to admire fights
'~I Our World–wide
i A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events A EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO ~'I================================ MISCELLANEOUS cupied with the war. The hosts nearly fifty officer-instructors, of refugees are spreading infec- specialists in their various de- The Church's Challenge tion and a major epidemic may partments, assist the principal. accompany the turn of the year. United foreign mission boards Typhus, smallpox and meningitis -The Life of Faith. of North America and the Fed- are among the possible dangers. eral Council of the Churches of The Value of Christian Christ in America have formu- This is only an illustration of Colleges lated proposals regarding what how the whole world is influthe Christian Church can do in enced for good or for evil by It is interesting to know that the present world crisis. what takes place in one country. eight of our chief justices were Plague, cholera, influenza, war, college graduates, while seven of 1. Align itself with the condemna- crime, vice will spread if they the eight were from Christian tion of the practices of war as de- are not counteracted by health, schools. Eighteen of our nation's scribed in the words of the World peaceful pursuits, friendliness, presidents have been. college Conference in Oxford. education, morality, and the graduates, while .sixteen of the spirit of Christ. eighteen were from Christian 2. Declare its horror that in these schools. Eighteen of the twentydays any government should resort to Training for Salvation Army five masters of American letters war, "declared" or "undeclared," as a Workers were college men, while sevenmeans of obtaining political or eco- teen of the eighteen were from nomic advantage, or as a punitive The training of Salvation Christian colleges. Of the memmeasure. Army officers is a highly special- bers of our national congress, ized process: it has as much to whose efforts or prominence 3. Lead in arousing public opinion do with personality as with pro- have secured for them a place in to support the government in trans- gram. It is directed to fitness "Who's Who," two-thirds of forming a policy of irresponsible iso- for a keen-edged evangelism. them were graduates of Chrislationism into one of active participa- The original training period was tian schools. tion in the organizing of the political six months, but in 1904 it was and economic forces of tb.e world for extended to nine months. -George W. Truett. the purpose of establishing justice and goodwill. In urging such a proposal, London, England, has a train- NORTH AMERICA we repudiate the thought that it in- ing school which accommodates volves reliance upon military or naval 450 cadets, mostly from Great Paganism in U. S. force, or such measures as are apt to Britain, but there are also at lead to war. present representatives of South The Ministerial Association of Africa, Finland, the West Indies, Los Angeles, California, after 4. RecfJgnize the difficult position Holland and Java. In addition, nine months of investigation, rein which Christians in Japan and three junior officers from Swe- ported 120 pagan societies hold- China find themselves today. den and two native officers from ing regular meetings in and East Africa are taking the about the city. They teach and 5. Understand more clearly the im- course. All walks of life are rep- practice various non-Christian portance of its missionary enterprise resented – professional, skilled faiths, hybrid religions or phiand provide more adequately for its and clerical labor, and almost losophies, largely based upon support. The failure of Christians to every branch of industrial ac- Hinduism. Also it was found witness effectively throughout the tivity. The course include.s that Rosacrucianism has a larger world to the realities of their faith is Bible study, public speaking and nl'mber of followers than any one of the causes of our present dis- preparing addresses, principles evangelical church in the city. tress. and methods of social welfare work, first aid, home nursing -Alliance Weekly. 6. Translate its testimony into deeds and simple medical lectures; of mercy. also practice in house-to-house Religion Through Films visitation. Careful record is 7. Testify to its faith in the reality made of each student's progress, During the recent General of the Kingdom of God. which is tested both as to study Convention of the Episcopal and outdoor activity. A staff of Church held in Cincinnati, dem- -American Board News. onstration was given of a re- [51 ] cently launched plan for "visual A Warning to the World The League of Nations sends a warning that the whole world needs to be on its guard against an epidemic of disease originating in China. The cholera plague is rapidly spreading now in China, owing to the disturbed condition of affairs, the attention of the Government being oc-
religion." A fifteen- or twenty- she will provide an hour of care- Practical Cooperation minute film, to take the place of the sermon at the evening serv- fully planned religlOus nurture The Presbyterian Board of ice, relates to three or four sub- for from 600 to 1,uOO American National Missions has been cojects selected from newsreels youth, one half of whom have no operating with the Board of Forwhich present some phase of eco- vital connection with any exist- eign Missions in providing short nomic or social problems. While ing church or Sunday school." periods of training in National the film is being shown the Missions hospitals for new leader asks questions designed Here we see a new method in to stimulate the thinking of the the field of church work. A nurses under appointment to the congregation. After the pictures number of states provide for at foreign field. This arrangement have been shown, the leader, least an hour of Christian trainpreferably the pastor, would ing each week under the direc- gives the Foreign Board an optake a few minutes in which to tion of the church. In other portunity to tryout new worksummarize the Christian atti- states there is no prohibition .of ers, and gives the nurses experitude toward the problems seen such a plan. ence in extension or field nursing on the screen. The plan has been tried out in Spokane, One such teacher in New Jer- programs which both Boards are Washington, and leaders declare sey spends four days each week carrying on. It also renders the it met with a good response. National Board relief at two in four consolidated r u r a I points where, because of the in- The "Christian Cinema Coun- schools, passing from grade to creasing demand for medical cil" in England is considering a grade each period of the day. – care and the recent difficulty in plan to make religious films of This work is made possible by filling vacancies due to the Govthree types: (1) Films with a the cooperation of the Board of ernment's enlarged activities in moral or reI i g i 0 u s object; National Missions of the Pres- health, the nursing load has been (2) films illustrating the work byterian Church, the Board of too heavy for the staffs to carry. of the Church at home and Home Missions and Church Exabroad; and (3) films for direct -Monday Morning. -evangelism. tension of the Methodist Epis- Gideon Bibles in the Schools copal Church, and the public Stewardship Conference school authorities. A prelim- The "Gideons" of Canada have inary survey showed that many Church leaders representing been at work placing Bibles in of the children enrolled were 23 churches and other religious the Dominion's public schools. otherwise unreached by the bodies in the United States and The Gideon ministry of the U. S. church. Canada, with a communicant has now added this feature to membership of at least 23,000,- their work. Here is a quotation This plan is past the experi- 000, met in Philadelphia in Nofrom an article that recently ap- ment stage. For the millions of vember to search for a realistic peared in The Gideon: boys and girls unreached by a~y and scientific Christian attitude church it offers the only defimte toward money-making, money- The burglary insurance rate is religious training that they are spending and the use of life. $12.00 per thousand in Bos~on; ~22.00 ever likely to receive. The conference the m e was in New York; and $27.50 In ChIcago. "Stewardship as an Approach to Is there any connection between these -Christian Advocate. figures and the fact that the Bible has been read daily in the public Methodist Union Plan Experience and Problem!'." The schools of Boston for sixty-five years, discussions centered upon the for twenty-two years in New York, and excluded for thirty years from Unification of three Methodist principles of the Bible, interthe schools in Chicago? denominations, having approxi- preted in modern economic and Girl + Auto = Christian mately 8,000,000 members in all spiritual terms, the practical ex- parts of the world, lacks only the periences of every day, and Education final approval of the Methodist upon a number of definite rules "A college-trained girl with an Episcopal Church, South. O~ of daily conduct applicable to additional year of special train- cials announce that the ArmIS- every normal relationship of ing in religious education can tice Day voting increased to every human being. teach a junior department of thirty pupils in a Sunday school. nearly 90 per cent the majority Religious Work at Government Seven days later she can bring in favor of the merger. They the impact of her training and Projects personality back to the same said 30 of the 42 conferences task. Give this same welltrained young lady an auto- reported a favorable majority, "United Youth" is the name mobile, set her on the trail of and that approval was practi- of a society of young people in public school groups and, from cally assured. The general ses- the interdenominational work Monday morning to Friday night, conducted by the Home Missions sion of that denomination will be held in Birmingham next Council at Grand Coulee Dam, Washington. About 6,000 men May.
The new unified church, to be are employed by the federal gov- known as the Methodist Church, ernment at Grand Coulee, and will have five geographical juris- the community numbers at least dictions. A sixth jurisdiction 20,000. Three groups of moth- will include Negro churches and ers are organized as a federated conferences. club, and a young mother's club
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
has been organized. About 60 sink and running water, with to all the patients. Tracts and persons attend the morning tow rugs on the floor and cur- Gospels have been given to the church service, and 80 attend tains at the windows. The gar- prisoners in two penitentiaries dens have added all sorts of in near-by cities." Bible school. Similar projects are at Boul- flowers and many kinds of fruits der City, Nevada, where about and vegetables. Helpful as this is, the spiritual improvement Tension Eases in Mexico 180 attend Sunday school; at that has come is far more im- Bonneville Dam, Oregon, where portant.-Christian Advocate. With the exception of the 250 families live in this seven- states of Tabasco and Chiapas, mile-long par ish, and Boy LATIN AMERICA which contain less than five per S co u t s, Christian Endeavor, cent of the population of Mex- Sunday school and church serv- Gospels for Mexico's Soldiers ico, church services are being ice are conducted; and at Ten- conducted normally all over the nessee Valley, particularly Cum- Rev. N. W. Taylor writes that country, and the former tension berland Homesteads, where the the need for buying a new car is eased. Many Mexican priests pastor conducts the equivalent providentially led to a new de- have settled in the United States of an· institutional church pro- velopment in work among sol- near the border, where they are gram, features of which are diers in Mexico. He says: serving parishes of their own interdenominational Sun day nationals. school, worship service and "While breaking in the new young people's organizations. car I could not take it up into Although there seems to be no the mountains and so decided to law on the subject, theological Over the Tea Cups drive down the valley to a city seminaries have not been per- 75 miles away. There had been mitted to function in a conspic- The second annual Christian a few army outposts on this uous way during the past three Friendliness Tea in Seattle was highway and I planned to visit years. The Presbyterian Semattended by seventy-five people, them. The miles sped by with- inary in Coyoacan, a suburb of with G re e k, Spanish-Jewish, out finding any soldiers and we Mexico City, has been closed by Danish, Bulgarian, Italian, Al- began to feel that no work could the government, and it is feared banian, Japanese and Chinese be done. At last we reached an that the Union Seminary in the nationalities represented. The airport on the outskirts of the capital city may suffer likewise. guest violinist was Kosiko Ta- city, where we saw an outpost jitsu, a fourteen-year-old Jap- with a large number of soldiers. -Christian Century. anese girl, who two years ago Approaching the officer I found toured Japan as the soloist of that the adjutant of the battalion Building for Peace in Chile the Tokio Symphony Orchestra. was in ,the camp at that very Her talented thirteen-year-old moment. When he learned what Boys and girls in Valparaiso:s sister played the difficult accom- I wanted to do, he not only gave schools have addressed a peace paniments with skill. The girls me permission to distribute lit- message to all American school are members of the Japanese erature to the men in the outpost children. Congregational Church. The but insisted that I come into Japanese Consul's wife and the town to the barracks. There we Children of America – Again we wife of the Chinese Vice~Consul arranged with the Colonel to re- raise our voices over the mountains were guests of honor. turn on a certain day to give and across the rivers and plains to Gospels and tracts to all the men. bring you our message of peace-:-that -Watchman-Examiner. On that occasion we met the peace which we so much desire and to which the Christ of the Andes, with open arms outstretched over the eter- nal snows, seems symbolically to call us.
Self-Help for Negroes Colonel of another unit, and Children of America! Let us unite when he saw us giving litera- in an affectionate embrace and forget Mary Lee Jones, A.B., Rust ture to all the troops he invited the rivalries which have separated us College, home demonstrator in for so many years. us to visit his battalion. At the Listen – An anxious call comes to the Mississippi Delta:has proved same time an introduction was us from over the sea. It is the call of given to still another battalion our brothers and sisters in Spain. It that one can teach an old dog in a town about twenty miles is the anguished cry of the orphans, new tricks. She finds Negro innocent victims of that fratricidal women forty years old are eager away. struggle.
to learn and are adopting new "Since the first of 1937, twelve In these days of suffering, only our and better ways. Under Miss new regiments or battalions continent, America, conserves its land without war. A great love and a fra- J ones' guidance, eight school have received Gospel portions ternal hope should unite its inhabigrounds and four cemeteries and tracts when in formation on tants. Let us then take care, brothers have been improved; one com- their own parade grounds. In and sisters of America, that this fire munity has bought and installed the offices of three general burns and maintains itself, so that fu- ture generations may enjoy the fruits an eighteen-quart pre s sur e headquarters, New Testaments of eternal peace, which reflects the cooker and six other clubs have have been given to all the staff realization of the sublime desire of the half the money raised for such officers, including the General. Master when he said: "Peace on an installation. Eighty-two cab- Three military hospitals have earth, good will to men." -The Churchman. ins have been improved with a been visited and literature given 54 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [January Mennonites as Evangelists sum mer vacation in trekking neva Bible School. By the middle of October, about 3,000 copies in A group of more than 2,000 through the towns and villages fifty-one languages had been sold Russian Mennonites who left in three months. home penniless have lived for of the British Isles, in an effort some years in a colony in the Those in charge of the Kiosk Chaco, Paraguay. These years to reach the unsaved. Their tes- have had many opportunities for have been full of difficulty, partly personal witness and interviews. owing to the difference in climate timony is t hat unscheduled With every Bible sold, one or from that to which they were ac- two leaflets are given as a guide customed, and from the effects events and the consequent alter- to reading, and to the knowledge of the Paraguayan – Bolivian of personal salvation. war. The privileges of religious ation of plans invariably refreedom guaranteed by the Gov- -The Christian. ernment have been faithfully vealed divine overruling. On observed, and the church life of Outlook in Spain this colony is healthy. They are one occasion, finding that they interesting themselves in the Mr. W. C. Edwards, who has spiritual welfare of their Indian had a day to spare, the trekkers spent some time in Spain, says neighbors, and though their op- that the future for Gospel teachportunities of actual witness are pressed on to a town in York- ing in that unhappy land seems limited they have a deep concern very dark; and utterly imposfor their evangelization. The shire they had not intended to sible at present. The Catholic inclusion of an immigrant group Church, wherever it is under of evangelicals in the life of a visit. Holding an open-air meet.. Franco's rule, is all powerful, country has not always had as and every day it is applying the much effect upon the life of the ing there in the evening, they spirit and law of the Inquisition nation as might have been upon the poor terror-stricken hoped, and it is, therefore, an found the people hungry for the people. C r 0 sse s have been encouraging sign that this Men- erected in some central squares, nonite colony is concerned to Gospel, and six decided for and an altar, with policemen witness to the people of their always on the watch, and woe benew home country. Christ. tide the person who passes with- out bowing to it and giving the -World Dominion Press. Another benefit was the prac- Fascist salute. He is arrested at once. -The Christian. • Oonversions in Peru tical experience gained on the As a Militarist Sees Religion Rev. A. C. Snead, of the Chris- trek. Students learned how to tian Alliance, visiting Quechua While Hitler and Mussolini Indians, writes in .the Alliance concentrate in preparation of have fundamentally the same ob- Weekly: jective, the latter is pursuing a addresses when distances re- sounder plan to attain it in at- God is at work here in Peru, espe- tacking one obstacle at a time, cially in faraway mountain and nuired much time on the road. and has not as yet molested the jungle sections. In Tayabamba, Church or ,the Jews; while Hitwhere the first convert was won only Also, they learned how to adapt ler is attacking Jews, Catholics a little more than two years ago, and and Protestants at one and the where six months ago there were only their talks to varying types of same time. A great German twenty professed iJelievers, there are general recently condemned this today more than one hundred and people. -Life of Faith. as short-sighted folly, "because," twenty who show signs of definite con- said this general, "no army that version. Fourteen men walked eleven Missionary-Minded Youth goes into battle without hope of days over the steepest mountain trails, in France a life hereafter will fight sucpart of the way in altitudes where no cessfully." villages or houses could be seen, to The ninth annual conference attend the services at Pachas. of the Congres Missionaire de The Ohurch and Hitler J eunf!!sse in France last Septem- It was wonderful to be at Pachas, ber represented a missionary After failure to achieve Protwith 220 Quechua Indians from eight- movement among French youth. estant church unity by stamping een pueblos on mountain and in The students' Federation and all out opposition, Herr Hitler has jungle, who gathered to sing the youth movements in France sent declared himself tired of the praises of God, and to learn of Christ. delegates to the number of more whole church business. One of In the evening services the attendance than eighty. The vast territories the inexplicable myths which has of others from Pachas (a fanatical of the French colonial empire crept out of Germany has been Catholic center) brought the number will furnish a sphere for this that Hitler wishes to see the in the congregation to about 300. missionary interest. churches in Germany free to do just as they choose, that every EUROPE There is now a unified evan- gelical church in France com- Students' "Summer Trek" prising the Reformed Church, the Ref 0 r m e d Evangelical Students of Highfield Mission- Church, the Free Church and the ary Training Colony spent their Methodist Church of France. Commissions are studying a method of redistributing the congregations in regional dis- tricts in 1938. The evangeliza- tion of the suburbs of Paris constantly preoccupies the lead- ers. An effort is being made to create one new church yearly for ten years.
-World Dominion Press.
Bible Kiosk at Paris People of all classes and na- tions are being reached through the Bible Kiosk at the Paris Ex- position, maintained by the Geman should be allowed to wor- July, the Central Council of God- Most fanatical of the three reliship as he thinks fit. Hitler does less Institutions in Moscow plans gions is that of the false not understand the "church to hold an International Godless prophet. question." To him there is no Congress in London in April, intrinsic difference between a 1938, and has voted 150,000 Still another classification is: church and a skittle association. rubles towards the expenses. first, small groups of believers Hence, he does not understand The Oxford Conference must bearing witness to Christ; secwhy these oppositional pastors have convinced Soviet leaders ond, those who give evidence of should behave as they do. that the Church is a force to be conviction, but are still holding reckoned with, and that an anti- aloof; third, those who have Pastor Niemoeller, in a letter religious drive is called for. heard the Word, and evince a dewritten from prison to a friend, sire to know more. The great says he is not only unbroken, but The plans made to carry out mass of the people, however, are full of joy and gratitude for this propaganda include, among still ignorant and fanatical and God's gracious guidance. "I am other things, a new radio station there are only about twenty now resting in peace," he says, to be completed next year, from workers among 2,000,000 Mo- "after the abundant turmoil of which godless talks are to be hammedans. -The Christian. the last few years and await pa- delivered daily in European lantiently and with full confidence, guages, including English. An- .Capturing Souls should the Lord again need me ticipating that Great Britain for service outside these walls. may ban the holding of a God- African evangelists, elders, When and how? It is not for less Conference in London, the missionaries in Cameroon, West me to concern myself about that. Soviet Council voted that, in Africa, set as their centennial I know that I and many others this eve n t, the Conference goal the winning of 15,000 new whom God has committed to soli- would be held in Belgium or converts: they have won almost tary places are carried by many Holland. -The Christian. 18,00b, and the Good News is prayers." still spreading. But conversion AFRICA was not enough. Each new Baptists in Roumania Christian is being trained, that Waldensians in Abyssinia he may know what his new de- The Baptist World Alliance cision means and learn to live a reports that the Roumanian Gov- The Italian Government has Christian life. ernment seems determined to asked the Waldensian Church of enforce its decree that some non- Italy to send a second chaplain As their African forefathers orthodox groups are illegal. At to help Captain Bertinatti in went out to capture men and present the 70,000 Baptists in missionary work at Add i s women for slaves and wives, and Roumania are not directly de- Ababa, Ethiopia. Sig. Edoardo returned singing from a successclared illegal, but they are re- Micol, a young minister of 29, ful "raid," so these modern capquired to conform to conditions at present in Sicily, (Pachino) tors returned each day to hold which are to them intolerable in has been sent. It means a great a prayer service for those who principle and impossible in prac- sacrifice, from every point of have refused, and those who tice. Unless they conform, they view, for the Waldensians to have received their message. become illegal. This decree is in send more men to Ethiopia, but violation of the principle of reli- it seems a duty to meet the re- -Monday Morning. gious freedom to which Rou- quest to carryon the missionary mania has subscribed as a mem- work in the Italian colonies. Congo Women Send Greetings ber of the League of Nations. There are thousands of Evan- The Roumanian State Constitu- gelical Abyssinian Christians Ma Ngunga, chairwoman of tion also pays homage to reli- who are now like sheep without the Native Council's women's gious liberty. The Orthodox a shepherd. sessions, Belgian Congo, was Church of Roumania was repre- asked by a missionary what messented at the Oxford Conference -Prof. Ernest Comba sage she should send from them in July, and participated in the of Rome. to Northern Baptist women in unanimous decision to abjure America. She quickly replied: connivance with the repression Land of Three M's by the State of religious minori- "Tell the women of your counties. Yet the present crisis has The effective witness of na- try that we thank them heartily undoubtedly been brought about tive converts is one evidence of for sending us women missionby the influence of the Orthodox a new era in North Africa. In aries. At first even when we Church on the Roumanian Gov- Tunis, though political loyalty is became Christians, we were very ernment. divided between Fascism and much afraid to testify or to try communism, fellowship in the to do any work in the church. -Watchman-Examiner. Gospel has enabled many of both But we saw our white mothers groups to lay aside their differ- go about their work just the Moscow vs. Oxford ences. Mrs. E. E. Short, British same as the men. From them missionary who has been in we began to receive courage. Obviously to stage an answer Tunis forty years, says North Now we are no longer afraid; to the Oxford Conference of last Africa is a land of three M's- We still do not feel very strong; Moses, Mary and Mohammed. but we do want to take our share in the school work, in the med- 56 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD ical work, and especially in the James B. Barton Memorial toward organic unity, but all work of drawing other women work together with one purpose to Jesus Christ. Greet the wom- The Prudential Committee of -Latins, Greeks, Armenians, en of your country for us all." the American Board has hear.tily Anglicans and Protestants. In endorsed the thought of a Me- Christian schools, all the varied – Watchman-Examiner. morial to Dr. James L. Barton classes meet together, and slowly in Istanbul, Turkey, the city that are getting a common educa- Bantus: "Let It Go" spans the closest approach of tional and cultural background. Europe and Asia; the land of The watchword of Bantu Con- his first foreign service. The -The Living Church. gregational Churches is Mali- memorial is to be in connection hambe. What does it mean? with the American Hospital and Pray for Tender Hearts Literally, "Let it go"; that is, School of Nursing of Istanbul. let the evangel go – not let it The Jessie Taylor Kinderalone, not forget it, but release Modern nursing began in Is.!: garten was in the center of the it for its redemptive work. It is tanbul, when Florence Nightin- anti-Christian riots that took the equivalent of Christ's last gale entered the pestilential place in Beirut, Syria, early last command: "Go ye into all the Crimean War hospitals on the year, and the night school is still world." Bosphorus. With the restric- suffering from that antagonism. tions of the veil now removed in But as soon as the day school Malihambe has captuted the Turkey, over 100 young women could reopen, the chi I d r e n imagination, the enthusiasm and nurses have graduated from this trooped gayly back, and the the purse of Bantu Congrega- school since the Great War. school now proudly boasts a tional churches. waiting list. Mrs. J. H. Nicol -Missionary Herald. writes: "The day when the riots -Missionary Herald. seemed most threatening we The Child on the Street closed the school and escorted WESTERN ASIA the children safely home. Be- Turkey's Educational Admin- fore we left one small Moslem Religion in Turkey istration has noted the fact that boy said, 'Won't you please pray children of working families are before we go?' So, of course, I Turkey dealt a body blow to wandering in the streets after would. I asked him, 'What do Islam some years ago, but is still school hours, and it has been you want me to pray for?' He considered a M 0 s I e m land. seeking means to prevent this said, 'Ask God to make people's Among other amendments to the situation, harmful to the chil- hearts tender to each other so constitution last year, the State dren. For this purpose "child- that they will not hurt each is declared to be "laic"; that is, sheltering" rooms will be opened other.' So there were small the Government does not recog- in different parts of the city. heads reverently bowed while we nize an official religion, nor does asked the Father to give us lovit stand to support any par- The Administration has also ing hearts and minds to underticular religion. No one may decided to take strict measures stand each other." interefere with another's reli- to make school attendance more gion; in religion, as in intel- regular. Accordingly, when a Unhappy Assyrians lectual and political matters, pupil does not go to school for fanaticism has given place to one day, notice will be sent to The Assyrians seem to be the mutual tolerance. the child's parent or guardian. forgotten people number one. If a pupi1 is sick, an official doc- There are some 30,000 of them Lest this appear to be more of tor will be sent to his home. in Mesopotamia, the racial reman advance than it actually is, Also, in order to prevent a stu- nant, perhaps, of the great emdeputy Bey Ali warns the Turk- dent from going to the cinema pire of antiquity, and the reliish people that liberty of con- or cafes during the school hours, gious remnant of the greatest science is not a limitless free- such places will be very closely missionary force in the middle dom. The State may interfere controlled. ages, the Nestorian Church. Like in certain situations. For in- so much "Christianity" in the stance, he says, children under -Turkish Translation Near East, the religion has dried eighteen may be subjected to a Service. into ritual, leaving the people alkind of spiritual compUlsion in most totally ignorant of the gosreligion in foreign schools; this Unity Out of Palestine? pel, and many of their priests are already has happened, and will little better. They are a quarrelnot be tolerated. However, after Christian unity coming out of some lot, both among themselves passing the age of eighteen every Palestine is seen as a future pos- and the people among whom they individual is free to choose his sibility by Canon Bridgeman, live. They were staunch and own religion, "provided this does Episcopal missionary in J eru- valuable allies of the British durnot disturb the social order." salem. As the basis for this pre- ing the war; and the British He adds: "Youth must not be diction, Canon Bridgeman cites officially assumed "moral respondragged into Catholicism, and the cordial relationships which sibility" for them as a people thereby a culture foreign to our exist between the representatives when proposing the independthought and feeling be permitted of virtually all communions to spring up in the midst of the working in the Holy Land. Turkish people." There is no specific movement -Alliance Weekly. ence of Iraq to the League of say, "Well, anyhow now I know, ing, and nine the examination in Nations. But here they remain, and shall not spend any more weaving, held by the Committee after a number of unsuccessful time and money looking for a of Direction for Technical Eduattempts to arrange their emi- cure, for if you cannot cure me, cation. The scout organization gration. Six evangelists are at no one can, and I know you are has proved to be of inestimable work among them, patiently folk who do not flatter or tell value in training character and showing by word and deed the lies, but you tell the truth." encouraging the young people to way of the Gospel. be truthful, honest and active. INDIA-SIAM -Presbyterian Board News. -Dnyanodaya. World Conference at Madras Mothercraft in Iran A Requirement for Converts On account of war conditions, Mrs. J. D. Payne of Teheran, the great world conference of the Such a deep impression has Iran, teaches a course in "moth- International Missionary Coun- the Christian religion made upon ercraft" in connection with the cil, scheduled to be held at Hang- converts in India that there is a Woman's Club, which has a de- chow, China, in the fall of 1938, constant demand for teachers in partment of adult education for has been obliged to change its new villages. Before a teacher women. There are about 45 in place of meeting to India, and is sent to a community, at least each of three classes. No text- will convene at Madras Chris- 50 natives must attend daily books can be used; lectures and tian College in Madras, Decem- worship for a specified length of pictures must serve, since the ber 10th to 30th. time. Then the bishop is petiwomen are about in the first- tioned for a teacher. It costs reader stage. Some show inter- Value in Persecution $75 a year for such instructors. est, some indifference, while Instruction for a period of a others are openly opposed to Let no one think the day of year precedes baptism and antaking time to listen to a for- religious persecution has passed other year before confirmation. eigner talk about something of in India. On the contrary, re- Witness is the primary requirelittle value. God gave them ports show an intensified indi- ment of the Christian, and contheir babies, Kismet (fate) left vidual persecution in recent verts are frequently asked as them, or caused them to die, so years. This may even affect they come to church whether or why all this bother? They be- whole communities where new not they have brought others to lieved the world was supported work is being established. It is Christ. -The Living Church. on the horns of a bull; that the still possible to see the crops of sun was a man and the moon a a village being brought in with Christian Character Counts woman; that the foreigner was rejoicing, and those of a recent only to be pitied for her igno- Christian going up in flames. Some villagers in Assam were rance. But most of them ab- compelled by crop failure to try sorbed some of the principles But such persecution has a to get money by arranging with taught. Mrs. Payne writes: value in clarifying individual a timber merchant for a con- "One of the older pupils told me conviction, and the courage and tract. When they approached one day that she wanted another faith of the Christians continues him and asked for an advance baby. She had had nine chil- to make a deep impression in the of several hundred rupees so dren and they all died. I stared community. The revolution they could fulfil their contract, in amazement. 'Why do you created in family life, in cleanli- he was hesitant about giving want another, then?' I asked. ness of person and habits, of them the money. Just then a 'Before I came to your class I growing strength of character, non-Christian forest ranger apdid not want any more, but now are singularly manifest against peared, and after hearing of the I have learned so much from you a background of their previous difficulty said, "These men are I think that I could raise one if life. None can deny that things Christians and they always do I had it. You see, I made mis- have fundamentally changed in their work faithfully. They are takes.' " what, to them, is a miraculous industrious, and once they be- manner. gin to work they will stick to it. "Christians Do Not Lie" lt will be good business for you -World D.ominion Press. to give them the contract and Sufferers sometimes come 300 advance the necessary money." miles or more to the American Uplift for Criminal Tribes This assurance won the day. Christian Hospital in Meshed, Iran; some even come from An important nation-building Gandhi and Prohibition Afghanistan, in spite of the ex- process is going on by means of pense and difficulty of crossing the Criminal Tribes Settlement The prohibition policy of the the national frontier into a for- Work at Sholapur and other new Ministry of Madras Presieign land. Unfortunately, they centers. Eighty-three lads have dency is not mere talk. Gandhi, cannot all be cured, but such is been apprenticed to various in his Rarijan, expresses the the hospital's reputation that trades. There are 302 children hope of "bringing about total when told there is no cure for in the manual training classes in prohibition not later than three t.heir malady, they will sigh and settlement schools. During the years from July 14, 1937, the year, 18 boys passed the exam- ination in carpentry and draw-
date of taking office by the first For Pure Milk for India the interest your people have shown Congress Ministry." He de- in our work, and the concrete part clares fearlessly: They water the milk in India you have played in that work in the too, but Allahabad Agricultural years that are past. I sincerely hope I count the loss of this revenue Institute has found a way to that this cross which you are install- (from the liqu9r traffic) as of no ac- check on village dairymen by es- ing may be the means of linking us count whatever. Prohibition will re- tablishing milk stations, where more vitally, not only in our common main a far cry if Congress is to count the cows are milked before an interest, but also in our common worthe cost in a matter of first class na- inspector, who checks the sani- ship. It gives us much pleasure to tional importance. Let it be remem- tary condition of the animals, realize that Siamese workmanship is bered that this drink and drugs rev- workmen and utensils, weighs to assist the members of your church enue is an extremely degrading form the milk, and delivers it to the in making our common Christ more of revenue. The loss of revenue is Institute dairy. Where cleanli- real. only apparent. The removal of this ness, honesty, and the keeping of degrading tax enables the drinker- records were unknown before, -Monday Morning. the taxpayer – to earn and spend cooperative dairymen's societies better. are being formed. The Institute French Indo-China hopes to build up a system such Then, by way of a Hindu re~ as exists in some parts of the About a year ago a young Anbuke to Christian America, United States, where the cattle Gandhi says: "The American belong to individuals, but the namese evangelist began work example is a hindrance rather milking and marketing are than a help to us. In America, handled by a responsible central among a race of mountaineers, drinking carries no shame with organization. it. It is the fashion there to the Thais, who live in the hills drink." He graciously adds: -Monday Morning. "I do not despair of America north of Laos Province. Alonce more returning, with still Buddhist Worship in Tibet greater fervor and better experi- though these people are highly ence in dealing with it." Theos Bernard, 28-year-old American explorer, is the first intelligent, they are quite unciv- India has made progress when white man to witness, photoshe thus encourages us to try graph and par,ticipate in the re- ilized and untouched by the Gosagain in a moral crusade. ligious rites of the lamaseries and monasteries of Tibet. He pel. In Laos itself there are -Dnyanodaya. took motion pictures of cere- monies which even Tibetans had 60,000 Laotians and tribespeople Practice Training Experiment never seen. who are still in absolute dark- Church workers in Santa} In addition to his phototried an experiment which seems graphs, Mr. Bernard, who has ness, living in constant fear of to promise far-reaching results. recently returned to the U. S., After repe~ted visits were paid brought back a collection of rare evil spirits. Except for the Swiss to definitely Christian villages, a books and manuscripts, includcircular was sent out to clergy ing complete copies of the Kan- missionaries in southern Laos and catechists in charge of con- Gyur, the Buddhist scriptures, gregations, asking for the names and Ten Gyur, or commentaries, there have been no witnesses in of any villagers who would like and other works including 333 instruction in ways of present- volumes printed from engraved that vast, semi-explored district; ing the Gospel to non-Christian wood blocks. These were carried neighbors. Though illness kept in yak-skin bags for hundreds but recently the Christian and away many who sent their of miles by a pack caravan of names, twenty-eight men and mules and yaks over 18,000-foot Missionary Alliance has apeighteen women came. Bible mountain passes and streams. readings and talks on personal pointed a couple for service contacts, how to tell Bib 1e Siamese Present Cross stories, how to speak at a lan- there. tern service, how to teach in A teakwood cross, carved by Sunday school, wi.th practice in a young Siamese Christian, has There is also great need in doing such things, filled the pro- been presented to the United gram. During the last week Church of Hyde Park, Chicago. eastern Siam, with its fourteen end the people themselves sug- Rev. Pluang Sudhikam, of Banggested the following lines of fol- kok, wrote the officers of the provinces and a population of low-up acti,on: Prayer, both church: private and in weekly prayer 4,000,000; only three provinces meetings; Sun day schools; May I as Moderator of the Church preaching bands; personal work; of Christ in Siam take the liberty of are occupied by missionaries. teaching iIliterates to read and expressing the great pleasure and write. -C. M. S. Outlook. gratitude of our Christian people for Two new workers have been ap- pointed for this field, and six young men from the Siam Bible School have gone out on active service. -Life of Faith.
CHINA Who Says Evacuate?
A missionary of the American Board in North China writes the Church in the U. S.: Of one thing we are sure: there can be no abandonment of our work in North China. We have-you have -too large a stake here to think of running off and leaving it. The stake consists of far more than property and institutions. It is a spiritual stake and belongs to a Kingdom of God that still takes precedence over the Im- perial Japanese Government. Barely two years ago, in a personal conver- sation, the American Ambassador told me that he believed emphatically that in the new regime, which he then felt sure was coming, our contribution as Christian missionaries would be needed
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
even rrW're than in the 75 years of our order to win the game, but she among the Wa tribe near the mission's history which had just closed. is getting her pocket drained border of Burma. The Chinese While so many things are crashing every day she lingers in China. soldiers seem intent on destroyabout us, there are other things that She is killing us day by day but ing every vestige of Christianity dJ and must remain. The friendship this act of killing takes much in that tribe. Representations of Christians of the West for the money. Finally she will go through the American Consul stricken Church of Christ in this land bankrupt. We must pray for have proved worse than fruitwill be of enormous value. peace. I do not think all Jap- less. This is not, however, anese people are as inhuman as typical of the attitude of the The courage and good spirit in these war soldiers." Chinese Government, either civil which our Chinese leaders with whom or military, towards mission we are in daily contact are carrying War Impetus to Education work in Yunnan, for in almost on is in itself an appeal for all that every place there is toleration we can do to hold up their hands. Hin Wong, contributor to the and even friendliness. Many of China Weekly Review, says that the officials are either Christians Chinese Appeal to Christians the war now in progress, while themselves, or friendly to Chris- distressing in many ways, is tian propaganda. An open letter to the Chris- beneficial to the Chinese morally, tians of the world, signed by 20 especially to the women folk, in- Although definite statistics prominent Chinese Christians, cluding those in Szechuen, who are not available, it is highly both men and women, declares: now realize their short-comings probable that there are more "The present Sino – Japanese and are not slow to apply a rem- aboriginal Christians in Yunnan crisis may prove a test of the edy. Certain middle schools for than in all the other provinces moral strength of the Christian girls in and outside Chungking of China put together. Amer- Church throughout the world. have decided to use the off-hours ican Baptist workers have bap- Our earnest hope is that the of their students to organize tized over 28,000 aborigines. Sino-Japanese conflict may not mass education for adult women be viewed as a local and remote in order to interest the illiterate JAPAN-CHOSEN quar.rel. . . . We appeal to in reading, and thus in national Christian people all over the affairs. The women's division Shrine Problem Again world, including those in Japan, of the present National Defense, to share with us the sense of re- or anti-enemy, League in Chung- In carrying out the instrucsponsibility in this perilous king, has found itself inefficient tions of the educational departhour, and to adopt whatever and unable to meet the task as- ment of the government that all measures are within their power signed it, simply because of lack common schools in Japan adopt to set in motion the corporate of leadership among the women some sort of spiritual drill, many conscience of the Christian themselves; and all this may be principals take the pupils to a Church." traced to lack of education on near-by shrine once a month and the part of the masses. make them bow before it. The The "Truly True Church" National Sunday School Associa- Revival in Hong Kong tion is seeking to counteract this China is not without sec- influence in the lives of Christarianism. Independent groups Dr. H. Lechmere Clift, of tian pupils, and is endeavoring are springing up in the Chinese Emanuel Medical Mission, Hong- to make special plans to come in Church, and some try to draw kong, writes in The Life of touch with these pupils in some members away from others. Faith: active way. Reports indicate These groups have such names that the Sunday school enrolas the Glory Church, the Inde- The unJelievable has happened. Re- ment is steadily decreasing, due pendent C h u r c h, the Little vival has begun in Hongkong – al- largely to the rising tide of mili- Flock, the True Jesus Church, most the hardest place in the world tarism. Every effort is being and the Truly True Jesus to rouse saint or sinner. Suddenly, made to awaken church mem- Church. Obviously, the Truly with no herald announcing his ap- bers to a realization of their True have left the True. proach, a tall young American ap- duties in connection with this peared at our Mission. He was Mr. important aspect of their work. -So S. Times. Clifford Lewis on his way to Burma, India, Palestine and Britain. How- -World's Sunday School Extracts from Chinese ever, in answer to prayer, the Lord Association. Woman's Letter detained him, and he had more than a fortnight's meetings. Many souls Kagawa's Views Unchanged "Weare unable to send any have been saved and believers brought war news to anyone as mails are into fuller light and into more conse- Asked to comment upon the being censored. . . . China is crated surrender. rumors that Dr. Toyohiko Kagfighting a defensive war. Japan awa had modified his Christian is fighting a war of aggression. Persecution in Yunnan pacifist attitude because of Ja- China will resist to the end. pan's present action in China, China may die in the end but World Dominion Press reports his secretary and fellow worker, Japan will die with us also. that frightful persecution is go- Miss Helen Topping, declared Japan is acting like a gambler ing on against the American that letters she had received playing a poker game. She is Baptist Mis s ion Christians bidding the highest stakes in
from Japan quite recently were Educating Koran Girls from India, Tonga, Samoa, the eloquent witness to Kagawa's Ellice Islands and New Zealand. distress and concern at the pres- Great changes have taken It has been an official leper setent actions of his country. place in all the mission schools tlement since 1911. Since that of Korea. Twenty-five years ago year there have been more than -The Living Church. the average girl was sixteen to 900 admissions to Makogai, of twenty years old when she en- which about 580 remain today. Japanese Speaks Out tered. There were even a few The island is barely two and a married women. Educational half miles long and a mile wide. At a mass meeting in Madison standards were negligible. Most Square Garden, New York City, of the students were from Chris- Lepers able to care for themlast October, Mr. S. Okemoto, a tian homes and had for years selves are housed in one of five Japanese, said: been attending Sunday school, villages, according to their race. as well as Bible classes with Each village is ruled by a head- Enough has been said about the older women. man, responsible to the adminisreal aim of this undeclared war upon tration for its cleanliness and China by the Japanese military Fas- While the objectives have not the observance of health rules. cists who dominate their government. changed, they now enter at All lepers are expected to work, I shall speak about whether the peo- eleven or twelve years of age, if able. Most of them are farmple of Japan want war, whether the and a larger proportion come ers, raising bananas, sweet potapeople of my country wish to murder from non – Christian hom e s. toes, tapioca and kawais. Any helpless women and children. They There is sufficient evidence to surplus crops are bought by the do not want war.. they do not want prove that these modern stu- government and used for feedto murder the peace-loving people of dents when once they have ing the inmates at the hospital. China; nor do they wish to destroy yielded their hearts to God have the old civilization of China. I give the same burning enthusiasm for European nurses devote their facts to prove it. Christian service as have their lives to these sufferers. They older sisters, with even greater perform the minor dressings for First, the working masses of Japan poise and efficiency. the patients and aside from their have to work long hours for miserably aid in medical and surgical treatlow wages. What will they gain by AUSTRALIA AND THE ment .they spend their time engoing into China to shoot the Chinese ISLANDS couraging the lepers in work and or to be shot themselves? Is it in de- play. Besides the inevitable fense of their country? That cannot Sunday School by Mail movies, the inmates have fishing, be, for we all know that no country model boat sailing, cricket and on earth is threatening Japan. The Postal Sunday School native games for amusement. Movement, wit h headquarters Secondly, who is hearing the burden in Sydney, Australia, was started Surprisingly, the visitor finds of the tremendous expense of this four years ago to meet the spir- the whole atmosphere one of warfare? It is the working masses itual needs of young people in cheerfulness. This is due to the of Japan, where the prices of bare lonely homesteads and scattered fact that modern medicine has necessities, food and clothing- have al- settlements. More than 8,000 shown leprosy to be curable. ready risen 80 per cent. The people boys and girls are members, of of Japan cannot afford to pay for war whom 2,718 enrolled during the Women in the Philippines when they earn hardly enough to pay past year. Thousands of isolated for a bowl of rice! It is the military boys and girls still remain to be The U nit e d Evangelical clique, together with a handful of big linked up with the movement. Church of the Philippines' has financial and industrial interests, that just taken a forward step; it is started war, not the Japanese people. Joy Bells, a monthly periodi- the formation of a Woman's cal, is sent to everyone of them Association. Two years ago the – Watchman-Examiner. free, and contains Bible lessons Dorcas Societies of Mindanao requiring study and answers sent a resolution to the General How Churches Start which are sent to headquarters Assembly asking for more par- for examination and correction. ticipation. As a result, women The founding of a Christian Interesting articles in it foster delegates were invited to the church in a heathen village is al- an interest in the Bible among General Assembly last year for ways a miracle. Here is one these children of some 3,900 the first time. These women which had its beginning in the homes in every state of the Com- then got together to consider hear.t of a humble man from the monwealth, New Zealand, Fiji, how Church women could render mountains. He had heard the New Guinea, Nauru and the more effective service. After Gospel for the first time while Solomon Islands. their deliberations, and with the bringing lumber down for the encouragement of Dr. E. C. Sob- Chusil church, and a workman -World Dominion Press. repena, Moderator of the Gentaught him to believe in Jesus. eral Assembly of the United He went home, and succeeded in Leper Island in Fiji Evangelical Church, the Womconvincing four of his six broth- an's Union was organized, with ers of the truth of the Gospel. Makogai is a dreaded spot in Mrs. Julia Yapsutco as first Although he could neither read the Pacific Ocean. It is the president. nor write he bought several island of Fiji to which go lepers Bibles and hymn books to distribute among his brothers and neighbors who could read. He himself is now learning to read. There are about 400 homes in his village; about 45 attend worship services.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Mrs. Yapsutco has been a dy- growing interest in Bible study. Chautauqua World Missions Innamic leader in the churches of All this has challenged workers stitute: "A Moslem world dis- Mindanao, stimulating the de- to broaden their program, and turbed by the forces of nationalvelopment of a number of con- these are the goals they have set ism, social change, and science gregations and becoming pastor for the next two years: and education, was portrayed by of some of them. She is a wom- The Gospel shall be preached for Dr. Young, speaking on 'The an of deep spiritual life, and will not less than one week in every mu- Awakening of the M 0 s Ie m nicipality of the Bicol Region. World.' Approximately 250 milgive this association leadership In every town where there is an or- lion people are of Moslem faith of a high order. today, considerably in excess of ganized church, every precinct shall all the Protestant Christians in -Missionary Herald. hear the Gospel. the world. Dr. Young stated that the Moslem world is seeth- Every member shall strive to win ing with unrest today and turn- ing away from the orthodox Mo- Something New Under at least one soul to Christ. hammedan conceptions. In just Moro Sun what direction it is turning is Every family in the church shall not now evident. It may pos- possess a Bible and every member at sibly turn to a revised Moslem faith, adapted to modern condi- Under the inspiration and di- least a New Testament. tions; or it may turn largely to rection of Dr. Frank C. Lau- A definite work among the Negritos Christianity. bach, a group of young Filipinos (small aborigines) shall be estab- "Dr. Young pointed out that have launched a m 0 vern e n t lished through local contributions the thinking Moslem people can- alone. not reconcile the ideals of Chris- tianity with the practices of supbased upon seven tests of char- Family worshio shall be established posedly Christian nations and acter: (1) Abandonment of evil . in every evangelical home. people, particularly as to the Christian use of force, and alhabits of thought and action. MISCELLANEOUS coholism. The Moslems look to (2) Absolute honesty. (3) Ab- the United States as the most nearly Christian nation in the solute purity. (4) Absolute Missions and Peace world, thus placing upon us a tremendous responsibility in pounselfishness. (5) To be abso- The Federal C 0 u n c i I of lutely loving. (6) Seek and ob- tential power for good. This Churches and the Committee on serve the Will of God in every International Relations of the power can only be exercised if detail of life. (7) Help their fellow men find the "Good Life.'.' Foreign Missions Conference our practices are made to con- Every young Moro who wishes have agreed upon a plan of coto join must pledge himself to operation to relate the mission- form to our ideals." these principles. Over 43 to ary program of the Church more date have done so. Here is a real challenge to the closely to the cause of peace and better international understand- Christian churches of America Goals for the Future ing. It is widely recognized that and to the home missions forces. foreign missions have a part to The non-Catholic population play in the maintenance of world in the Philippines is increasing peace.
rapidly, while the Roman Cath- From a .Summer Oonference olic population is becoming more Notebook broad-minded and, in many cases is asking for Protestant training Dr. Herrick B. Young, Board for their children. .There is a of Foreign Missions of the Pres- deepened spirituality and a byterian Church of U. S. A., PERSECUTION THAT MISSED ITS POINT Christians have always been persecuted more or less in the Bhil country, Western India, but last year concerted effort was made to destroy Christianity in the village of Ubri. So far as can be ascertained, the reason was fear that the Christian community might become dominant. Whereupon the converts were beaten and constantly threatened, and finally given five days' notice to quit the village. Successful appeal was made to the local magistrate who ruled that Christians were not to be turned out of the village.
This organized persecution was not without encouraging results. The persecutors in Ubri were anxious for the persecution to spread into other villages. So they sent word to the head men of villages near by that unless they made it hot for the Christians in their villages, no brides would be forthcoming from Ubri for their young men. The head men responded by summoning the Christians in the various villages to a meeting. Nearly every Christian household was represented. Then such questions were asked as: "Why did you become Christians?" and "In what way is Christianity better than Hinduism?" and so a splendid opportunity for evangelism was given. The meeting broke up in quite a friendly atmosphere, and the attempt to spread organized persecution fizzled out. Not only that, but Christians were bound together as never before.-C. M. S. Outlook.
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I Our Missionary Bookshelf I Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information 1_ ~,~=====-=o…oo=~=======-==,~ The Solitary Throne. By Samuel M. glibly pray the prayer that we The Process of Change in the Otto- Zwemer. 111 pp. ish. Pickering may be filled with the Holy man Empire. By Dr. Wilbur W. & Inglis. London. 1937. Spirit. I shall never forget the White. Map. 314 pp. $3.50. Uni- professor under whom I .was versity of Chicago Press. 1937. The author was formerly a taught theology telling a man to missionary to Arabia, and re- stop as he prayed that prayer" Ranke, a century ago, unravelcently Professor of Christian and the man stopped in the ing the tangled history of Eur- Missions and the History of Re- middle of his petition. 'John,' ope and the Popes, wrote "No ligion at Princeton Theological he said, 'do you know what it history can be written but uni- Seminary; for twenty-six years might mean to your father and versal history." Dr. White, Ashe has been Editor of The Mos- sistant Professor of Political lem World. He has given us mother, to your home-ties, and Science at Western Reserve Unifive addresses delivered at the to your whole life, if you were versity, has well proven the Keswick Convention in England really baptized with the Holy truth of this quotation. In this last summer. The title is taken Spirit?' When we pray that Doctor's dissertation, he shows from a s tat e m e nt by Mr. prayer, it means combustion- hoW the drama of the Ottoman Gandhi: "I am unable to place sacrifice, 'my heart an altar and Empire, though enacted on the Jesus Christ on a solitary Thy love the flame.' " Near Eastern stage, was plotted throne." These addresses on backstage in Russia, Austria, The Solitary Throne, His Minis- The chapter on "The Glory of Great Britain and later Italy and ters a Flame, Photophobia, The the Impossible" is a summons Germany. The book is a mod- Glory of the Impossible, and The more imperative than any Muez- ern tragedy, with its theme the Hinterland of the Soul empha- zin's can to prayer; it is a sum- struggle of a single old Moslem size the finality of Christ, His Empire against new and vigposition on the Throne of God, mons to the exercise of Christian orous empires. His worthiness to open the seals faith, courage and determination of the Book of History, His abil- in carrying the Gospel to the Here is a condensed history of ity to make His ministers a flame Moslem world, where the author Turkey – the first chapter reof fire, and His glory in bringing spent many years of his life and viewing the rise of a military the Light of Life to men. which he knows so thoroughly. Moslem Empire during the Thir- "It is daybreak, not sunset in teenth Century, penetrating all Dr. Zwemer's style is not like the Moslem world" is his in- contiguous territories till in a smoothly running brook, but formed and eager cry. 1774, having attained its zenith, like a stream which is full of the process of disintegration berapids and cataracts. Like The closing chapter on "The came evident. The following Carlyle he is staccato, pungent, Hinterland of the Soul" is the chapters trace the methods used piercing, although the original call of a real leader and a true by European imperialism to and forceful address on "Photo- prophet to all Christians to rouse weaken and encroach on the dephobia" is an exception to this. from lethargy and to take pos- caying Ottoman Empire. There He is nothing if not original, di- session of the things which have is a trenchant criticism of the rect, interesting and often dis- been promised by the Lord. vision of political leaders during turbing. His whole soul is de- the nineteenth century in not voted to the Lord Jesus. First Dr. Zwemer's quotations and understanding the dynamic nahe gives the particulars which illustrations, with which the ture of change. Each step was show the supremacy, uniqueness book abounds, reveal a very considered as final-and no proand finality of Christ and Chris- wide reading, an excellent mem- vision allowed for later modifitianity; second he communicates ory, and a great gift of painting cation of circumstances. Yet to the reader something of the "apples of gold in pictures of Divine fire which has consumed each treaty was but a comprohim in Arabia and at Princeton. silver." Any man or woman who mise and soon after signing of Let the reader think of the pas- reads this book will have his or sage on page 50: "May we never her heart warmed and stirred such treaties, conditions had and inspired and called to deeper love for Christ and to greater changed, making the conditions courage in His service. unbearable to one of the many ROCKWELL S. BRANK.
Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[62 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
parties concerned. Any effort to Browbeaten by war and illegalities guide-book in the unspeakably from 1774 to 1920, Turkey rested its important work of winning peoaccomplIsh modIfications, trod last stand for national existence on ple to Christ and definite salva- military force-and won. With inde- tion. Packed with Bible referon the privileges of some other power. 'l'hus the only possibility pendence guaranteed by its own abil- of affecting change was by de- ity to protect itself by force, it has ences, discussion of casest and nuncIatIOn of a past agreement helpful directions in this work, and military accion. The history accepted existing peaceful instrumen- it is not dry rea din g, but breathes the holy passion of the of the Ottoman Empire is thus talities for the settlement of sub- sidiary questions. . . . It is interest- ing' that Turkey has been one of the one of continuous "illegality" leaders in accepting the instrumentali- Lord Himself, and communi- ties (of the League) and of the spirit and war. The main method used of that part of Article 19 of the Cov- cates the passion to readers who to break up the Ottoman Em- enant regarding the reconsideration already have a clear faith, and pire, was to fan the flames of a willing heart. Its chapters of treaties, the extension of which is national aspirations in the mi- prerequisite to the avoidance of war tell of "A Concern for Souls," and the development of pe,aceful innority races, encouraging revolt, ternational change. "The Fitness of the Worker," assisting by loaning arms or "The Place of Prayer," "Oppor- forces and making timely in- This book, though brief, omits tunity and Approach," and how vasions from outside, application no important material. It is to deal with various classes. The of diplomatic pressure to assure very skimpy on economic factors author's aim is to give in small recognition of new independent producing change; but is a compass the best instruction groups-till portion by portion political study, well documented, possible out of his own experi- the periphery of Empire (Egypt interesti.ngly written, and adds ence and that of other soul-win- in 1806; Greece by 1829-30; a valuable contributinn to the ners the world over. We agree Roumania in 1856; Cypres and literature seeking ways of peace- with the Foreword, by William Tunisia in 1877, etc.) had been ful change – the author's selec- P. Nicholson, that there never broken off, so that by 1914 only tion of the Ottoman Empire is was a time when such a book central A nat 0 I i a, Iraq and excellent and his treatment is was more needed than today, Arabia remained to the parent careful, just and timely. It is a because many believers have State. These were generously sad "case record" of nineteenth never won anyone to Christ, and disposed of in war promises. century imperialism, with hope are missing the heavenly joy of The Arabs were encouraged to for a better way, in which Tur- it and the reward. It would be revolt, and while France and key leads. EDWIN M. WRIGHT. well for the churches if thou- Great Britain retained important The New Walk. By Captain Reginald sands would read a book like Wallis. 78 pp. 40 cents. Amerportions for themselves, the re- ican Bible Conference Assn. Phil- this and have their heart enmainder was promised to Greece adelphia, Pa. 1937. flamed with a new desire and and Italy as the price of entry purpose really to do the will of on the Allied side. There was Like its predecessors – The Jesus Christ. FRANK LUKENS. but one miscalculation-that the New Boy, The New Girl, The "sick man" might revive and New Life, and other small vol- Notes on a Drum. Travel Sketches spoil the sale. This miracle took umes in the helpful series of in Guatemala. By Joseph H. Jackplace and under Kemal Ataturk, books by the well-known British son. Illus. 8vo. 276 pp. $3.00. the corpse jumped off the oper- evangelist-this is characterized The Macmillan Co. New York. ating table and drove out the dis- by clarity of presentation and 1937. secting doctors. an abundant use of Scripture texts. It is more than just a As the subtitle informs us, Nationalism, the disease which treatise, sprinkled with Bible these notes are not "from a references. There are helpful drum" but travel sketches writhad caused the amputation of illustrations, which add to the ten largely on a Guatemala Turkey's provinces, became the usable quality of the book. It drumhead used for a table. Mr. elixir which revivified her body should do much to clarify the re- Edwards is the author of "The in 1919 and produced her regen- sponsibility and privileges of Mexican Interlude" and is cheereration. The rebirth was more effective testimony for recent ful, chatty and an observing than political or military. It converts, as well as for more traveler. was social as well, reaching into mature believers who have not the religion, economy and life of fully realized the practical im- Guatemala is an interesting every Turk. There is a fine con- plications of the Christian faith. country, the most important of clusion: (page 260) the five Central American re- F. E. G. publics. The people and govern- Within fifteen years, it (Turkey) ment show all the characteristics has cut itself off from its past in al- The Divine Art of Soul-Winning. of Latin Americans; mixed with most every conceivable manner. . . . By J. O. Sanders. 96 pp. Is. Indians, temperamental, excit- Interestingly enough, he seems to have Pickering and Inglis, Glasgow. able, ambitious for independundergone a spiritual revivication 1937. ence and right to rule, but lackwhich is responsible for his physical ing in many elements that make recuperation. This new combination The author is superintendent for stable and wise government. of a vital spirit in a smaller, it is true, but much more homogeneous and ro- bust body has been able to throw off of the New Zealand Bible Train- Mr. and Mrs. Jackson went as the restraints of centuries and for- tourists to see the country and mally enabled Turkey to enter as an ing Institute and editor of The the people, apparently without equal into the family of nations…. Reaper. This is an inspiring
any prejudices and with only a his tragic death for its publica- befallen any other of the group purpose to tell what they saw. tion. Intimate personal ac- on the University campus, but The author tells of the climate, there can be no doubt that C. T. the picturesque scenery, the life quaintance with "Jack" Williams Wang was right in his letters of the people – high and low, gave Mr. Wheeler both a sympa- and his inscribed memorial, in rich and poor, Spanish, ladino declaring that "it was the demise and Indians, urban and rural. thetic understanding of his per- of the beloved vice-president The reports of life in Guatemala sonality and devotion and also which shocked the Chinese au- City, Chichicastenango, Quezal- access to correspondence which thorities into purging the coun- tenango and other cities and vividly reveals the man, his try of the Red Terror and effect- towns give a few graphic ing the union of the distracted glimpses but are very incom- times, his labors and his impress provinces of China." His death plete. There are notes on his- upon the new generation in "revealed the guilt of sin and the tory and architecture, markets beauty of love," and this biog- and slums, parks and flowers, China. raphy should bring to all readers volcanoes and lakes, politics and both these lessons and also the officials, hotels and tourists, Ro- John E. Williams, of sturdy infinite value, for time and eter- man Cat hoI i c priests and Welsh parentage, was born at nity, of every strong life devoted churches, festivals, customs and Coshocton, Ohio, June 11, 18'H. to making Christ known to a costumes, Indian idols and Cath- great race like the Chinese. olic images, superstition and Six years' labor with his father tradition; but there is nothing in the coal mines delayed his C. H. FENN. about the important evangelical schooling, but he took the course Christian work with its schools, at Marietta College and was The Man Who Moved Multitudes. churches and hospitals – all of By R. D. Johnston. 12mo. 138 pp. which are worth noting. The graduated from Auburn Theo- Ish. Pickering & Inglis. Glasgow. only references to Protestant logical Seminary in 1899. With 1937. work are unfavorable gossip. With all it is a readable, though his bride he landed in China on This brief biography of the very scrappy, travel book. the eve of "Boxer Year," and late D. L. Moody is scarcely more was assigned to Nanking. He than a sketch, with tributes to Miracles in a Doctor's Life. By the man from some prominent Walter Lewis Wilson. 121 pp. acquired much of his fluency in people. It is very sympathetic Paper, 20 cents. Bible Institute Chinese by constant mingling with the evangelist's spirit and Colportage Assn. Chicago. 1935. with the people. Charge of a purpose and is interesting to those who are not already fa- Here is a spiritual tonic for small boys' school impressed him miliar with the facts. On ac- any Christian doctor. Many count of its brevity there is work conscientiously and effec- with the call for union of such practically nothing in this rec- tively but they view their work schools, and from this grew the ord except about Mr. Moody''! as though the body were of chief evangelistic work. There is importance and as if man were Union University, of which he practically nothing about his only a higher order of animal. was for twenty years the strenu- home and family, the schools he Dr. Wilson looks upon man as ously promoting vice-president. founded, his work in the army an immortal soul with a body- In 1906-07, eight months were and Y. M. C. A. or the great both of which need to be kept Northfield Conferences. There strong and healthy, but the spir- spent with the many Chinese is no literary merit to the story ituallife being of supreme value. students in Tokyo, and there be- and it is exceedingly "spotty." He tells many soul-stirring ex- gan a strong friendship with One mistake is in saying that periences in dealing with souls Mr. Moody married the "daugh- and bodies and shows the joy C. T. Wang, a leader in the Rev- ter" of Fleming H. Revell. She and gratitude that follows when olution of 1911-12. Half of his was his sister. There are also a patient finds new life in Christ, remaining years, to his death in one or two mistakes in the spell- even if the body must return to 1927, were spent in securing ing of proper names. Neverthe- the earth from which it came. less, young people will find it Read the book and send it to your personal interest and financial easy and stimulating reading. doctor friends. support in America for the Uni- versity. N~w Books John E. Williams of Nanking. By W. Reginald Wheeler. Fleming H. From the beginning he was Accidents Will Happen. W. M. Revell Co. 222 pp. $2.00. 1937. Pearce. Is. 3d. Pickering & Inglis. an ardent advocate of an in- Glasgow. Though "better late than creasing measure of Chinese re- never," it is a pity that this me- sponsibility and authority in the The Approaching Advent of Christ. morial of a strong and success- University. His relations with Alexander Reese. 328 pp. $2.40. ful China missionary had to Marshall, M'organ & Scott. London. . await the tenth anniversary of Chinese teachers and students showed no sense of racial or cul- Congo-Past and Present. Alfred R. tural superiority, but always the Stonelake. 202 pp. 3s. 6d. World heartiest cooperative fellowship. He accepted China's problems as his own and declared his convic- tion that Christianity may yet "find a fuller and better expres- sion in the Chinese Church than it has found in any other land." The Anti-Christian Movement of 1922-25 and the anti-foreign agi- tation of 1924-27 did not shake his optimism. His death at the hands of an ignorant Red soldier, on March 24, 1927, might have
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London. L H It Is Hard to- Be a Christian. S. M. Zwemer. $1.40. 158 pp. Zonder- E A van. Grand Rapids, Mich. P The Process of Change in the Otto- U o man Empire. Wilbur W. White. 314 pp. $3.50. University of Chi- p 5 cago Press. Chicago. P E Quiet Hour Series – January, Feb- ruary and March, 1938. 95 pp. 35 E N cents. Zondervan Pub. Co. Grand Rapids, Mich. R T The Story of Topsy. Mildred Cable o and Francesca French. $1.50. 212 pp. China Inland Mission, R A' Philadelphia. L o T The Work of the Lord. Walton H. o Greever. $1.25. 142 pp. Revell. New York. M o Windows. Amy Carmichael. Illus. BALA.KHANA 246 pp.S. P. C. K. London. Desiqn~ed as the Daily Devotional Guide for 8,000,000 India Recalled. Cornelia Sorabji. MethodISts During the Aldersgate Commemoration-January 287 pp. 128. 6d. Nisbet, London. 1 to May 24 India Rev e a 1s Herself. Basil Mathews. 192 pp. 58. Oxford Uni- Approved as a Daily Devotional Gllide by the United Church versity Press, London. of Canada Flood-Tide in India. W. J. Noble. Used and A~proved by 20,000 Congregations Among Baptist, 92 pp. 18. Cargate Press, London. Presbytenans, Methodist, Congregationalist, Disciples, Behind the Garden of Allah. Ried F. Lutheran Shields. 196 pp. 75 cents. United Presbyterian Board of Foreign With This Quarter a Spanish Edition, El Aposento Alto, for Missions, Philadelphia, Pa. Spanish-Speaking People in America and Throughout the Across Africa in a Lorry. W. B. Red- World mayne. 128 pp. 38. 6d. Marshall, Morgan & Scott, London. Bala-Khana, our Hindustani Edition, Now Available in India Then and Now in Kenya Colony. One Million Copies of the January, February, March issue available Willis R. Hotchkiss. 160 pp. $1.50. for ~istribution. Pas!ors and .&'roup .leaders may use our liberal Fleming H. Revell, New York. consignment plan. SlDgle copies, 10 cents, postpaid. Individual yearly subscription, 30 cents, postpaid. Use one of the order Zulu Journey. Carel Kirkby. 299 pp. forms below. ,. 128. 6d. Muller, London. ————————- CONSIGNMBNT ORDBR INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIPTION. The Jew in Revolt. William Zuker- man. 255 pp. 68. Seeker & War- Illue for January, February, Merah THB U••BR ROOM. burg, London. (For u.. of Paltor or Group, L."er. Doc,tor.' Bilildin£ N..hvi1lo. TODD. ANew Church Faces aNew Wodd. Order ten or more oople••) Jesse H. Arnup. 259 pp. $1.00. United Church of Canada, Toronto. THB U••BR ROOM, Gendemen: Doctors' Buildinll, I om inolo.iiI, herewith thirty centl (lor- From Buddha to the Christ. Taisei Nashville, Tonn. Michihata. v 239 pp. 38. 6d. Gendemon: .i…. forty oent.) for which pl••e lend me Church Publishing Society, S. P. T,,_ U##M' R••• for on. ,ear, poltpoid, C. K., London. 01 PTlehaeR.UR#e#nedr mReo'o… po.tpaid. I …moo.pe1i.1. be.~…-.-….-….."..:.tUh_I….-_ _–'-_ _ _ __ Church and State in the Modern theRe lor five cent. per oop, and pay for World. Various authors. 231 pp. —'—-:–….;…_ _.qquart…I' illne. $2.00. Harpers, New York. at Rame when 00101. It is understood that I N–.
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LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN, OF
By ROBERT E. SPEER This is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the influential and able editor of the Bombay Guardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone called him, "The Wh'ite Yogi."
When George Bowen died in 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character, forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and . will richly reward the thoughtful reader. The book will be ready early in February.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. A Decisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. From 18;0 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. xu. Ten Years of Independent Work. IV. Life in New York, 1840-1844. The Bombay Guardian. V. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. XIII. Relations with the American Board. VI. Conversion to Christianity. XIV. Association with the Methodist Church. VII. At Union Theological Seminary. Bowen as a Writer. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. XV. Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. IX. The Voyage to India, 1847. XVI. Closing Testimony. X. Beginning Missionary Work. XVII. XVIII. XIX.
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The Missionary Review of the World — July 1928
GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN HOME MISSION
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IS CHRIS'l'IANITY MAKING HEADWAY IN AMERICA? ….. . .. JOH.'ol A. MARQUIS 517 SOME OUTSTANDING RESUL'l'S OF HOME MISSIONS … 524 THE PRESEN'l'-DAY CHALLENGE OI? HOME MISSIONS. 525 THE FRONTIER MOVEMENT IN AMERICA ………………… _CHARLES H. SEARS 526 THE FORCES ATTACKING THE CHURCH • • . . • • . . . . . • . . . • • • • . CHARI.ES E. SCHAEFER 533 MISSIONARY HISTORY IN THE MAKING 537 THE RISING TIDE OF COOPERATION IN HOME MISSIONS …… WILl.IAM R. KING 538 MOVING PICTURES OF HOME MISSIONS …………………….. JoHN T. FARIS 545 THE IMMIGRANT-AN ASSET OR LIABILITY? ……….. MRS. CI.ARA M. GOODCHILD 550 THE MENACE OF OUR JAILS … _…. _………………….. CIIARLES N. LATHROP 554 UNSOLVED HOME MISSION PROBLEMS …………… _…….. CHARLES L. WHITE 559 THE ORIEN'£ALS IN AMERICA .. _.. _…………………. GEORGE WARREN HINMAN 563 A KIOWA INDIAN'S TESTIMONy . . . • . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F. L. KING 570 THE UNFINISHED HOME MISSION TASK • • • • . • . • . . . . . . • • . . • • . • WARRE" H. WILSON 571 BEST METHODS FOR CHILDREN'S RALLIES ..•.•••.•••…••. MRS. JOHN II. MILLS 577 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN …••..•.•… EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINI.AN 581 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN . . . . . . . . • . • . EDITED BY EI.LA D. MACLAURIN 583 TOPICS OF THE TIMES ………………. _. . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK….••…..•…… _……………… _……………… 587 TwENTY-FIVE BEST BOOKS ON HOME MISSIONS ….•……………… _……. 603 TERMS: $2.60 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 1i0 cents. Single copies, 26 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1928, by MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
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ROBERT E. SPEIIB, Preddent Wlf. I. CXAMBBBLAIN, Vlce-Pre.idenl DELAVAN L. PlmBSON, SecretQ.fll WALTBR McDOUGALL, TreaBfH'Br Publication Omce, Sd /I: Reily St•., Harrisburg, Pa. 2ijc a copy. $2.50 a year. Editorial and BUN"lenwes.SYOOrmk~ltl!6 Flftb Avenue, '-' • Entered as seCond-C1asB matter at tbe Post Omce, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March S, 1879. OBITUARY, CANON W. H. T. GAIRDNER, missionary The ~~Christian Life" of the Church Missionary Society in Series Cairo since 1899, Arabic scholar, and author of "The Rebuke of Islam," "The SUNDAY SCHOOL Phonetics of Arabic," and other volumes, LESSON HELPS died in Cairo on May 22d, in the fiftyfifth year of his age. Orthodox! Practical! Unsectariall!
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REV. ELMER E. FIFE, D.D., Presby- Box 680 CLEVELAND, OHIO terian educational missionary in India for more than twenty-five years, died in DR. WILLIAM I. HAVEN, for 29 years Dehra Dun on May 16th. secretary of the American Bible Society, died at his home in Summit, N. J., on *** June 5th. Dr. Haven was 72 years of age, having been born 'in Westfield, REV. JAMES HAYES, D.D., a Nez Perce Mass., in 1856, a son of Bishop Gilbert Indian, and for thirty-five years a Haven. He was loved and highly espreacher of the Presbyterian Board of teemed in a wide circle and served effec- National Missions, of which he had been tively in many religious organizations. elected an honorary member, died on He was one of the founders of the Ep- April 26th at Kamiah, Idaho. worth League and was for some years a helpful member of the Editorial Council ** of the REVIEW.
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LI, No.7 July
IS CHRISTIANITY MAKING HEADWAY IN AMERICA?
BY REV. JOHN A. MARQUIS, D.D., New York Executive Secretary, Board 01 Na.tiona! Missions 01 the Presbyterian Ohurel., U. S. A.
I N SOME quarters this is a much sumed to exist, but to find out what debated 'question, at least a are the facts. In analyzing any much discussed question. In human situation, especially in the what direction religiously is this domain of religion, it will not do to country headed-toward Christ or accept, at their face value, assertoward paganism? Everyone ad- tions of either hostile critics or pesmits that considerable headway to- simistic friends. ward Christianity was acquired during the nineteenth century. At What are the facts in the Chrisleast the organized Church gath- tian situation in America today? ered a momentum unequalled in That this country is yet a long way any other century of Christian his- from the "millennium," no one will tory unless it be the first. But dispute. But is she any further since the beginning of the twen- from it now than she was at the tieth century, and especially since beginning of the twentieth century the World War, it is argued that or at the middle of the nineteenth this momentum has been lost, the century? whole Christian movement is slowing down, and some think that ere Our Lord, when He was on earth, long it will come to a stop. rebuked the Pharisees because they were not able to discern the signs The rejoinder might be made of the times. Their days were full that one decade, or even half a of portents, but those old Phardozen decades, is not a test of the isees, scholars and religionists as progress of a movement as old and they were, could not, or would not, as vitally intrenched as Christian- see them; and they would perish, ity, and that a temporary slowing and perish culpably because of it. down, if there' is such a slowing Our Lord severely arraigned that down, after the remarkable growth generation because of its closed of the nineteenth century, is only mind; He warned the nation of its a natural breathing spell. peril because of its sinfulness. Bigotry, prejudice, self-interest, But our purpose is not to ac- and pride of position blinded their count for a situation that is as- minds so that they could not see 617
the stately steppings of God all why some people think that it is around them. They could recog- doomed and must be abandoned: nize "the signs of the times" in the days of Moses and believed that "First, there are those who say that those signs were of God, but they science has revealed to us a body of facts refused to see that God was work- with which religion does not agree, and ing signs in their own day even consequently that religion is portraying more than He did in any day that an unreality which cannot long recomwas past. For this they were re- mend it. Second, others say religictn is buked ; Christ could not see any failing in its main task, which they conhope for the closed mind. As sider to be the business of furnishing a Christians we have a right to as- moral solution to our modern problems. sume that God will not leave us A third class of persons claim that it has without signs, given as clearly as no value, either moral or otherwise, for in the generations of the fathers. modern life."
What are the signs of the times He then proceeds to combat these today and which way are they positions as contrary to fact. Our pointing? They have not always question, however, is not whether pointed in the same direction in Christianity ought to be retained the past. 'For long periods the in- or abandoned, but how the battle dex finger for religion was dis- seems to be going at the present tinctly retrogressive. The signs of time. the times were unfavorable and the critics and pessimists had ground Any estimate of the headway of for glee or gloom according to the Christianity among a people must attitude or desire of each. Peoples, take into consideration the status whole nations of them, have be- of the Church. We cannot sepcome godless or pagan, even at the arate the life of a religion from its very time when they were most organization. Life, of course, must loudly proclaiming their piety. come first, but life always organ- They have been especially prone to izes itself into a body of some kind. do this in eras of great prosperity When the body dies, the life passes such as America has been passing on. We can speculate about Christhrough for the past twenty years. tianity apart from the Church and the speculation may be entirely The Trend in America Toda~ logical. But as things now are the world knows little about the Chris- Is there an irreligious trend in tian religion apart from the Chris- tian Church. The two for the time America today, a pendulum swing being are indissolubly connected against Christianity, or vice versa? and the fate of one will be the fate Is America going Christian or go- of the other. The contention of ing pagan, so far as present tend- antagonists and pessimists is that the Church is losing out, and thereencies indicate? Are the anti-re- fore that the religion which it proligionists right in maintaining that motes is losing out also. Christianity has served its day? Last winter the claim was broad- In a recent number of the New cast over the country and the York Times, President Cutten of world that the Protestant churches Colgate University discusses the in America had suffered a loss of question, "Shall We Abandon Re- 500,000 members during the preli8'ion?" He 8'ives three reasons ceding year and data were quoted to prove it. It turned out that the claim w~s bas~d on an error in th~
IS CHRISTIANITY MAKING HEADWAY IN AMERICA?
statistical reports, an error which and abroad. Today, in his abuna careful statistician would have dance, and such abundance as his caught at once. fathers never dreamed and the world never saw, year by year he The Protestant churches suf- is giving less and less in proporfered no loss at all in their mem- tion to his ability. The Protestant bership. It is true that their rate missionary boards of the country of increase in membership has generally are doing less work toslowed up. Until a decade or two day than they did ten years ago. ago the Protestant churches in the In a missionary cause a failure to United states increased at a much advance is a retreat. It is argued, more rapid rate than the popula- again, that the same thing is true tion, in some decades from two to of philanthropies in which the four times as rapidly. Today it is Church has always been interested not quite an even pace. The pop- and which she has always liberally ulation of the country is increasing supported. One of the most gen- erous churchmen in New York at the rate of about 1.7% a year, City recently remarked to the while the membership of the writer that he gives annually to Christian Church, including the three hundred philanthropies, and Roman Catholics, is increasing at this year most of them are behind the rate of 1~2% a year. In this in their receipts. All this is in face percentage increase the Roman of the fact that resort has been Catholics lead the Protestants, their made to all sorts of high-pressure promotional movements which, derate of increase being 1.5 %. This spite their tremendous energy and drive, have failed to produce the means, it is contended, that the results. It is asserted that Chris- Church's power to win converts in tian people, "so-called," have belarge numbers has spent itself and come indifferent and have let the life die out of their religion. A that in a decade or two more she corpse may be made to quiver by will be out of the running. the application of an electric cur- rent, but it is not thereby restored It is further pointed out that in- to life. This, our critics contend, – side the American Church there is about what is going on in the are on every side manifest evi- Church today. dences of decay, such as the prevalence of theological contro- Theological Disputes versies, for one thing, whose bitterness is in direct ratio to the petti- Another indictment of the Church is its inability to convince ness of their causes. Christians our generation, especially its youth, today are doing what the Pharisees of the truth of the Christian thedid in the days of our Lord, ological positions. The claim is wrangling over anise and cummin that one of the troubles with the while they neglect the weightier Christian ministers is that they do not believe their creeds and have matters of justice and righteous- ceased to preach them; therefore, ness and love to God and man. they cannot expect to convince the people to whom they preach. The decline in missionary and in philanthropic giving by the churches is pointed out as another item in the same count. There was a day when the American Christian sacrificed heroically and magnificently that the Gospel might be preached to every creature at home
Christians are ceasing to care for sister nations in our production of their Christianity or for the world criminals.
which it is supposed to save, and But the one bright spot in all when Christians cease to believe or this black record is in the field of care, who can expect the world out- religion. Christianity is the only side to do so? Today, it is said effective deterrant above the hori- that the Church is concerned chiefly zon. In New York City, of all the with its own maintenance. The multitude arrested for crime of large bulk of the money it raises is any sort in the last twenty-five spent to maintain elaborate and years, less than 5% have ever been costly services and to erect ex- in Sunday-school or had any reli- pensive and luxurious buildings to gious instruction whatever; of the gratify the esthetic taste of the Negro arrests for crime less than people and to minister to their 1 % have been connected with any pride. Last year the Presbyterian church. This means that 95 % of churches alone expended between the white criminals and 99 % of fifteen and twenty millions of dol- the Negro criminals are recruited lars in such palatial edifices. Any from outside of the Church. It increase in giving that is apparent would seem that the Church is the at all has been devoted to congre- only crimeless institution in the gational purposes, that is, it is country. Whatever we may allege spent on the donors themselves against the Church here is one and is equivalent to buying more spot where she has made headway finery or costlier automobiles. when no other agency has, and is The prevalence of crime in maintaining it.
America, together with the general Added to this is the claim that decadence in morals, is pointed to the Christian religion, with its or- as an evidence of an inactive and ganized Church, has lost its hold waning Christianity. Religion has on the intellectual element of the ceased, it is argued, to exercise re- country. University professors, straint over the passions and greed scientists and authors, who a gen- of the American people as it once eration ago were found in the did. Most of the moral precepts churches, are said to have now for which the Church has stood, abandoned them and to be repu- and for which it still claims to diating their teaching.
stand, are treated with contempt Finally, on this side of the count, and defied, as witness the increase it is claimed that Christianity is a of divorce, lax sexual relations, etc. disappearing factor in American The crime situation is bad, and life because the American people there is no use to deny it or at- very largely have ceased to attend tempt to palliate it. So far as church on Sunday and instead go to .
crimes of violence are concerned, the movies, play golf, go motoring we are the most criminal nation on and go off to baseball games, pic- earth. No other country in the nics and seaside resorts. It is esti- world can compare with us in the mated that twenty millions of the number of murders, assaults, hold- people in the United States attend ups, burglaries, etc. Whilst the a movie show every day. It would situation has been worse since the be drawing a long bow, indeed, to War, we have had for a long time say that an equal number attend a sinister pro~inence among our church in a wee~~
IS CHRISTIANITY MAKING HEADWAY IN AMERICA?
These are the principal points to have invariably been followed by support the charge that whatever revivals and the Church has gone may be the trend in things reli- forward with a bound. The re- gious in the rest of the world, in vivals are as historic as the slumps America that trend is non-Chris- and last much longer. Witness the tian, if not anti-Christian. great revival that culminated in The Other Side 1802, in many respects the greatest that this country has thus far Now, let us look at the other side. known; witness also the quicken- If our critics were simply telling ing that came about the year 1820 falsehoods when they make their after the depression of the War of allegations it would be a simple 1812. The revivals led by Charles matter to answer, but unfor- G. Finney a decade after the Mex- tunately there is more than a ican War are another instance, as modicum of truth in what they al- are also revivals led by D. L.
lege. However, the most dangerous Moody in the 70's and 80's which kind of a lie is the one that is half ended the depression of the Civil truth. It is true that there is now, War. The present depression will, and has been since the World War, we believe, end in the same way.
something of a slump in the rate The anxiety of the Church over the of our growth in church member- present situation is a precursor of ship. It is also true that our gifts such an ending. One thing the to the unselfish causes of religion skeptic without and the pessimist are disappointingly inadequate. In within cannot understand is the some aspects of our religious life Church's capacity for revival. If and activity we appear to be in one there is an institution in the world of those periods of depression that that will not stay stagnant it is the have come to the Church now and Church of Christ.
then throughout her history. The While admitting the unfavorable question is, how much significance symptoms, we do not by any means should be attached to it, and how take the gloomy statements of our much prophecy for the future can critics about the present situation be based on it? at their face value. It is not nearly American Christianity has be- as bad as they paint it. Church at- fore passed through lower depres- tendance is not as low as they say.
sions than we have touched thus It is encouraging that as many peo- far in our generation, notably in ple go to church as do in face of the days that followed the Revolu- the alluring and multitudinous ap- tionary War. As a matter of fact peals to go elsewhere that confront religion has always slipped back in the average man every Sabbath America after a war, despite the morning. Only the fact that he is fact that we always invoke the help "incurably religious," as Sabatier of God with pious unction and tre- states, can account for his going to mendous fervor while the war is church where he is faced with the going on. This is one of our chief stern realities of the soul when sources of military "pep"; but as there are so many easier and more soon as the war is over we proceed seductive ways of spending his day to backslide with equal emphasis of rest.
and zeal. Furthermore, there is far less On the other hand! these slumps repudiation, of the functaroentaJs of
the Christian faith than our proph- and to the disappointment of the ets of failure fancy. The Christian faith we have put in our religion faith of today is the legitimate to restrain the passions of men.
child of the faith of our fathers. This also has always followed a The data gathered by Dr. Charles war, and is probably no worse now Stelzle a year ago indicate that than it was in the first decade aft- 87% of the adult popUlation of the er our Civil War. The crimes which cities of the country believe the shock us today are old crimes. It fundamental teachings of Chris- is significant that in the course of tianity, and 77% of them are mem- recorded history the devil has nev- bers of the Church. From this it er invented a new crime or a new would seem that the Church has immorality. Criminals and sinners been more successful in convincing invent nothing new, although they the intellect of the country than it do work the old with vast zeal and has in winning adherents. In oth- vigor. Think of the vices that have er words, it has persuaded more been outlawed in this country in men to believe the basic doctrines the last two generations-slavery, of the Church than it has induced the curtailment of the age-old so- to come into the Church, live its cial vice; red-light districts in life and cooperate in its program. most of our cities are either cleaned What is needed is a shift of em- out or put under restrictions that phasis, less effort to convince peo- a generation or so ago would not ple of what they are already have been regarded possible.
convinced of and more to persuade Hoary institutions that were re- them to act on their beliefs. garded as impregnable have been Science and Religion wiped out. He who assails the courage of the Church as unequal Science has not affected the be- to the moral problems of his day lief of the American people in the is talking through his hat. What- basic truth of the Christian reli- ever we may think of the wisdom gion nearly to the extent that some or unwisdom of prohibition it is a loyal church people themselves sus- great tribute to the courage and pect and fear. It has played havoc fighting qualities of the Christian with some doctrinal extravagances population of America. A church and rules of conduct, for which that has nerve to tackle so power- every sane Christian ought to be fully entrenched and financially thankful. The marvel is that in profitable an institution as the these days when the discoveries of liquor traffic and the influence to science are all so new, still it has outlaw it, cannot be called a deca- not affected religious faith more dent church by any process of vitally. Any other cause, political, reasoning.
economic or social that could win The attack that is now being in such a time as ours the assent made by the same Christian forces of seven eighths of our adult city on humanity's greatest scourge, population would be regarded as war, is another instance of their an overwhelming success. The alertness and courage. The Church same thing is true of the alleged is making up its mind that it is slump in the morality of the peo- going to fight this evil as it has ple. Crimes of violence have un- fought other evils that for ages doubtedly increased, to our shame, were recognized as permanent. It
IS CHRISTIANITY MAKING HEADWAY IN AMERICA?
is going to do this, despite the ciety is toward the Christian propaganda of the militarists and the blacklists of patrioteers whose Church as never before. Statesmen zeal is only equaled by their ab- and even warriors are saying that surdity. whether or not we are to have an- other world war is up to the These are simply straws that in- churches. Diplomacy, finance, predicate that, however the religious paredness, and all the old prevenlife of America may vary its ex- tives have failed, and now we must pression, it is still here, and not look to the Christian leadership less virile than ever it has been. and the Christian conviction that A change of emphasis there has war, like every other force that been, and ought to be in a chang- preys on humanity, must be deing age, but when everything is taken into account I do not believe stroyed, and it will be. In the there has been the slightest diminu- providence of God America must tion of the Christian vitality of take a leading, if not the leading the American people because of part in the fulfillment of this exthe depression in certain aspects pectation. America cannot do this of their activity. unless she is infused and dominated by a regal Christianity. Without Lastly, there has never been a time in the history of the past two this she will disappoint every hope thousand years when the eyes of the world today is putting in her. the world generally have been so We do not believe she will do this longingly and trustfully looking to because we believe that despite all Christ as the Saviour of the future her ups and downs of idealisms as now. This has been especially and materialisms, her vacillations evident since the War. The ex- and hesitations, Jesus Christ is pectation for civilization and so- steadily and surely having His way. Rebuff is not defeat.
THE FIELD OF NATIONAL MISSIONS I N 1802, the total area of the United States was approximately 868,000 square miles but the area actually settled was only a fraction of that. The total population was 5,300,000. This population was almost exclusively rural. There were only six places having over 8,000 inhabitants and they contained all told only 4 per cent of the total population. According to the best estimates only 6.8 per cent of the population were members of all Protestant Churches.
In 1925, Home Missionary work has responsibility for an aggregate land area of 3,560,000 square miles, most of it settled, with a total population of 115,000,000. This population is more than half urban. Instead of six places of 8,000 inhabitants there are 924; instead of 4 per cent of the population they have 44 per cent. This population is composite of all the races in the world and work is conducted in 60 languages and dialects. More than one fourth of the total population of the United States are members of Protestant churches. The Home Mission program has expanded from simple itineration to include every form of service necessary to the development of Christian communities and a Christian Nation.
OUTSTANDING RESULTS OF HOME
T HE Christian religion was brought to America by the first explorers and colonists from Great Britain and Europe. In Education-practically all of the older colleges, including Princeton and Yale, and all of the denominational colleges were established by Christians, many as missionary enterprises.
In Evangelism-many of the strong churches in the middle west and far west were started as missionary enterprises, some in saloons or shacks, in schoolhouses or homes of pioneers.
John Eliot, the first Protestant missionary to the American Indians, began his work in 1649. Today, there are 35,000 Protestant Christian Indians and 80,000 adherents.
Millions of heathen Africans were imported to America as slaves between 1517 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. Since emancipation schools and colleges have been established for these freedmen. Today the Negro Protestant church members number 5,494,352. Many are Christian teachers and preachers.
Reclamation-over twenty millions of immigrants from Europe have come to America to escape poverty and oppression. Home Mission workers have welcomed them, taught them to understand and uphold American institutions and to know God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Since the Mexican War, and the annexation of Texas (1841- 1848), six hundred thousand Spanish Americans have found homes in the United States. Today a great evangelistic and educational work is being done for them in the southwest.
Hundreds of thousands of Orientals from Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia and India have come to America. These have brought with them their heathen habits and religions. Many Christian churches have been established among them.
To the slums of the great cities, where poverty, vice and crime have flourished, the missionaries have carried the light and life of Jesus Christ. As a result multitudes of those who were "lost" to God and society have become useful members of society.
A missionary, Marcus Whitman, saved Oregon to the United States and missionaries like Sheldon Jackson and S. Hall Young have helped to make Alaska a place where life and property are safe and where the name of God is respected.
The influence of Christ as interpreted by the missionaries has permeated the mountains of the South and the farthest corners of the country to raise the standards of morality, of intelligence, of patriotism and of worship.
The Bible and tract societies and Sunday-school organizations have distributed millions of copies of Bibles, Testaments and Christian tracts. This seed has sprung up into abiding fruit in life, character and service.
Foreign Missions-the work of Home Missions is directly or indirectly responsible for the foreign mission work conducted by the churches in America. Last year over 15,000 Protestant mis.- sionaries from America were scattered all over the non-Christian world and over $40,000,000 was expended annually in the work of winning those of other lands to Jesus Christ.
Surely Home Missions are worthy of whole-hearted support by prayer, money and life-service.
PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE OF HOME
O NE HALF of the people of America today are not linked to Christ through His Church. Many of these are children under no religious instruction. These constitute a challenge to evangelism.
Many residential areas are without the ministry of Christian pastors or churches. These include rural districts in older states,. . congested areas in cities and thinly settled districts in newer states•.. These constitute a challenge to occupy the field.
Millions of Negroes in the South are in need of practical train- ing and religious instruction. There is need for more educated Christian leaders of their own race. They constitute a challenge to Christian race relations.
Of the three hundred and fifty-five thousand Indians in the United States, thousands are still untouched by the Gospel of Christ. They constitute a challenge to acceptance of responsibility for the "Wards of the Nation."
Six hundred thousand Mexicans are in the United States but most of them are still ignorant of the true meaning and power of the Gospel. They constitute a challenge to true neighborliness.
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of over-churched communities, where overlapping involves waste of workers, money and effort. These constitute a challenge to Christian cooperation and unity.
Of the 235,000 Christian churches in the United States, it is re- ported that 60,000 reported no additions last year through confession of Christ. These constitute a challenge to prayer and faith- ful testimony.
One hundred thousand Protestant churches are without pas- tors. The inadequate supply of students for the ministry threatens to leave more churches shepherdless. This constitutes a challenge to more sacrificial service in difficult fields.
The great increase of wealth and luxury in America, and the eager pursuit of money, threaten to overwhelm the land with selfish materialism. This wealth constitutes a challenge to Chris- tian stewardship.
Unethical, selfish and often immoral practices in commerce and industry, in family life and amusements, in race relations and politics, constitute a challenge to the faithful application of the principles of Christ in all the relations of tife.
The growing sentiment in favor' of interdenominational fellowship, cooperation and unity constitutes a challenge to church executives to apply more adequately and extensively the unifying principles of Christ.
The advance of atheism and ungodliness in many American educational institutions, and the increase of rationalistic teaching, tendfng to destroy the Christian faith, constitute a challenge to cleare.r thinking, a better understanding of Christ and His teach- ings and more adequate religious training of coming generations.
The lack of vitality in the life of many churches and in pro- -iessing Christians, and the low plane of spiritual life and service in unnumbered homes and communities, constitute a challenge to a deepened prayer life, more Christ-like .''1tandards of life and service, more faithfuL Bible study and closer fellowship with God.
525
AND THE NEW IN A FRONTIE R TOWN IN
THE FRONTIER MOVEMENT IN AMERICA * BY REV. CHARLES HATCH SEARS, D.D., New York Gen eral Seuretar:u a/ th e Nti1c York Cit y B a.ptist MisslM Sooiety FOR three hundred years, up t o ment that there can hardly be said the end of the ninet eenth cen- to be a frontier line." tUry, the frontier movement It took one hundred years to was a dominant factor in Amer- drive the American frontier one ican life. During these three hun- hundred miles inland. True, the dred years the frontier was driven frontier line stretched along the three thousand miles from the Atlantic coast in a jagged line fol- Atlantic to the Pacific, from Can- lowing the indentation of rivers to ada to the Gulf of Mexico. the "fall line" at points reaching In 1890 the director of the back more than one hundred miles. United States Federal Census an- Moreover, the vanguard of pionounced that the frontier would no neers-trappers, explorers, miners longer be treated as a distinct topic and range frontiersmen – penein the Census. "Up to and includ- trated into the wilderness far being 1890 the country had a frontier yond the frontier line. "While the of settlement, but at present the miners and the cowpens were still unsettled area has been so broken near the fall line," says Turner, into by isolated bodies of settle- "the traders' pack trains were • One of a series of articles on population trickling across the Alleghanies m ovements in America.–the frontier movement , and the French on the Great Lakes t h e im m igration movemt"..nt. th e city trend, were fortifying these parts." We a nd th e 8ub llr bflD tr-cnd. T h e pu rpos e of th ese accept Turner's definition of the a rticles Is t o show the m iss ionar y implications frontier: "In American thought of t hese important popula tion m ovements and speech the term frontier has within the United States. Supp lementa l articles on the n oorrthtehren migration of Negroes, and the r eturn European immigrants ar e contemplated.-O. H . S.
626 come to mean the edge of the set- were chiefly concerned in fur contlement." cessions and in the commercial ad- vantages of exploitation, chiefly of The real frontier had progressed, the fur industry. The restrictions by the end of the seventeenth cen- which they imposed often imtury, only approximately one hun- periled the lives of the frontiersdred miles. In football parlance, men. Too often the Indians were 1700 marked the first down on the used as their allies and brutal 100-mile line with 3,000 miles to murders were the consequence. go, and this at the end of one hundred years of desperately stren- The frontier had penetrated but uous frontier play with heavy little beyond the Appalachian casualties. It took almost another Range at the time of the American one hundred years to drive the Revolution though the pioneer frontier line three hundred miles trapper, explorer and intrepid A FRONTIER CHURCH ON THE OPEN PRAIRIE, FISHER, WYOMING further westward to the foothills ranchmen were already in Kenof the Alleghanies, where in 1763 tucky, Tennessee and northern the British Government decreed Georgia. that it must stop. It took nearly another genera- This was not the only attempt to tion of hardy men to drive tho fix the frontier. Washington tried frontier line across the Mississippi, it, while both Jefferson and Mad- when the Louisiana purchase perison put forth their hands to stop mitted the frontiersmen to push the westward flow of the frontier the front to the foothills of the movement. Until after the war of Rockies where it had arrived about 1812 the growth of the West in- the middle of the nineteenth cenvolved the young republic in tury. But these frontiersmen serious complications with Eng- heard the call "We must march" land, France and Spain, The and the progress was relentless till American frontiersman was bent the covered wagon had reached the on land and set on permanent de- coast. "The fall line marked the velopment. The European powers frontier of the Seventeenth Cen-
tury; the Alleghanies that of the political, religious, economic and Eighteenth; the Mississippi that social.
of the first quarter of the Nine- It was the frontier, as Turner teenth; the Missouri that of the points out, that gave America uni- middle of this century (omitting versal male suffrage. In the Con- the California movement); and stitutional Convention of New the belt of the Rocky Mountains York in 1821 it was western New and the arid tract, the present York that fought for a liberal suf- frontier." Finally, just before the frage. So it was the frontiersmen close Df the nineteenth century, of Virginia who stood for the same the United States Government pDlicy in the Virginia Constitu- officially recDgnized the resting of tional Convention in 1830. "It the frDntier on the sands of the (American democracy) came out Pacific, and an heroic epoch in of the American forest, and it gained new strength each time it touched a new frontier," says Turner. In another connection he says that at first the frontier was the Atlantic coast, European in origin and type, but as the frontier pushed westward it became Amer- ican.
It was on the frontier that re- ligious liberty had its birth. Roger Williams went beyond the "edge of the settlement" before he found re- ligious liberty and before he founded the first free church in a WHERE A SUNDAY-SCHOOL WAS OR- free state as Straus, a Jew, has so GANIZED IN SILVER CREEK graphically described in his "Roger VALLEY, IDAHO Williams, the Pioneer of Religious American history had made its im- Liberty." .
perishable record. The Congregational C h u r c h This was more than the making dominated the original frontier.
of a three-thousand-mile natiDnal The Puritans were quick to forget expanse. The frontier made Amer- the European struggle of the Pil- ica. The frontier movement was grims and themselves entrenched far more than the shifting' of a the church behind the bulwarks of great population dominantly An- the state and entered upDn a war- glo-Saxon. It marked an extension fare of offense against Quakers of the world's spiritual frontier. and Baptists, as Straus points out.
The original colonies thought in Religious liberty was as unwel- terms of E u r 0 pea n culture. come in the new west as in old Though on western' soil, they were Europe. In the second century of essentially European in their con- the expansion new forms of reli- ception of an autocratic church in gious organization became dom- an autocratic state and in their inant. It was on the frontier thought of the relation of class to that these new forms of religion class. It was the frontiersman who found sDcial expression. For- broke up these European forms, tunately the experience of Roger
THE FRONTIER MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
Williams in Rhode Island was not Presbyterians for of the latter he an isolated expression of religious says, "Followers of John Knox, freedom. "By 1760," says TUrner, they had the contentious individ- "a zone of Scotch-Irish Presby- ualism and revolutionary temper terian churches extended from the that seem natural to Scotch Presfrontier of New England to the byterianism. They were brought frontier of South Carolina." He up on the Old Testament, and in pays tribute to the Huguenots and the doctrine of government by cov- Moravians. Speaking particularly enant or compact." of the development of the Ohio Valley he says, "The Scotch-Irish The frontiersmen had an equally Presbyterians with the glow of the potent influence in shaping social Covenanters; German sectaries ideals. Frontiersmen were demowith serious-minded devotion to cratic, resourceful, self-reliant, confident in their ideals, restless MODERN PIONEERING-A GOSPEL CRUISElt WORKING IN PUGET SOUND one or another of a multiplicity of under restraint and withal advensects, but withal deeply responsive turous pioneers in democracy. to the call of the religious spirit, and the Engl{sh Quakers all fur- In legislative assemblies, in connish a foundation of emotional re- stitutional conventions and in the sponsiveness to religion and a working out of social problems readiness to find a new heaven and generally, whether questions of ina new earth in politics as well as in ternal policy, matters of poJitical religion. In spite of the influence franchise, religious liberty or quesof the backwoods in hampering re- tions affecting relation to European ligious organization, this upland powers, there was a community of society was a fertile field for tillage interest among frontiersmen. They by such democratic and emotional were all working, however unconsects as the Baptists, Methodists sciously, toward national unity. and the later Campbellites, as well They had gone through common as by Presbyterians." experiences.
Turner was evidently not fond This interesting debate on the of Baptists, Methodists or Scotch floor of the Virginia Constitutional Convention has been preserved. 2
"But at home, or when they re- Roosevelt in his "Winning of the turn from Congress, they have West" says, "As soon as the region Negroes to fan them asleep. But grew at all well settled, clergymen a Pennsylvania, a New York, an began to come in. Here, as else- Ohio, or a western Virginia states- where, most of the frontiersmen man, though far inferior in logic, who had any religion at all prometaphysics and rhetoric to an old fessed the faith of the Scotch-Irish; Virginia statesman, has this ad- and the first regular church in this vantage, that when he returns cradle-spot of Tennessee was a home he takes off his coat and takes Presbyterian log meeting-house hold of the plow. This gives him built near Jonesboro in 1777, and bone and muscle, sir, and pre- christened Salem Church. Its passerves his republican principles tor was a pioneer preacher, who pure and u nco n tam ina ted." worked with fiery and successful (Quoted by Turner.) energy to spread learning and re- ligion among the early settlers of Not only were leaders of the the Southwest. His name was Samstate apprehensive lest frontiers- uel Doak." This pioneer was also men should move too rapidly and responsible for the founding of press too far inland but churchmen Washington College, "the ijrst inalso shared'this apprehension. In stitution of its kind west of the 1850 the editor of the Home Mis- Alleghanies." sionary says, "We scarcely know whether to rejoice or mourn over Roosevelt makes this observation this extension of our settlements. upon the emergence of Baptists While we sympathize in whatever and Methodists destined to become tends to increase the physical re- by 1920 the largest Protestant sources and prosperity of our bodies in America: "Presbyteriancountry, we cannot forget that ism was not, however, destined with all these dispersions into re- even here to remain the leading mote and still remoter corners of frontier creed. Other sects still the land the supply of the means of more democratic, still more in grace is becoming relatively less keeping with backwoods life and and less." Josiah Strong expressed thought, largely supplanted it. a like fear at the very end of the Methodism did not become a powfrontier movement notably in er until after the close of the Rev- "Our Country." olution, but the Baptists followed close on the heels of the Presby- Fortunately the Church had the terians. They too soon built log adventurous spirit. The pioneer meeting-houses here and there." preachers were as intrepid as In another passage referring to trappers. "They yielded," says the democratic appea1 of these two Roosevelt, "scores of martyrs, churches, he says, "The Baptist nameless and unknown, men who preachers lived and worked experished at the hands of savages or actly as did their flocks; their by sickness or in flood or storm." dwellings were little cabins with Among the most intrepid of these dirt floors and, instead of bedpioneer churchmen from the period steads, skin-covered pole-bun~s ; of 1750 to 1800 were Scotch-Irish they cleared the ground, split Presbyterians. We have already rails, planted corn, and raised seen how their churches dotted the hogs on equal terms with their frontiers.
parishioners. After Methodism cut in America an historical sense. We loose from its British connections need to see the social, political and in 1785, the time of its great ad- religious movements in America on vance began, and the circuit-riders the historic background of Asiatic were speedily eating bear-meat and and European progress. We think buffalo-tongues on the frontier." the frontier movement of the sev- Roosevelt was particularly im- enteenth century slow but when pressed with the revival of 1800. we think of the three centuries of He says, "In 1799 and 1800 a great the frontier movement ending just revival of religion swept over the before 1900, and compare it with west. Up to that time the Presby- similar population movements in terians had been the leading creed Asia Or in Europe, we find it in- beyond the mountains," and then credibly rapid and far reaching adds, "The great revival of 1799 in its extent. Roosevelt in speak- was mainly carried on by Method- ing of American settlements in ists and Baptists and under their 1800 says, "A thin range of settle- guidance the Methodist and Bap- ments extended from the shores of tist Churches at once sprang to Lake Erie on the north to the the front and became the most im- boundary of Florida on the south,"
portant religious forces in the but in less than a century the fron- frontier communities." tier movement had reached the Perhaps no more dramatic pic- western coast, an advance of near- ture of the progress of the Church ly twenty-five hundred miles!
has ever been drawn than that por- What a stupendous home mission trayed in Mrs. Honore Willsie Mor- task was presented by this century row's novel "We Must March." It advance! What was involved in is a story of the opening of the the adequate churching of a nation northwest and the great contribu- 3,000 miles in westward reach and tion of Congregational Home Mis- 1,250 miles in southern spread!
sions under Dr. Marcus and Mrs. How much intrepid living, how Narcissa Whitman. Where is there much adventure is compressed in- a better illustration of the part to this period!
played by the Church in the win- We can hardly comprehend the ning of the west, and in making vast extent of the Mississippi Riv- the west worth winning? er system with its 36,000 miles of Roosevelt pays this tribute to river and stream and its 5,000 frontier preachers: "The whole miles of navigable waters. The west owes an immense debt to the Hendrik Hudson on the Hudson hard-working frontier preachers, was but an incident in comparison sometimes Presbyterians, general- with the flat boats on the Missis- ly Methodists or Baptists, who so sippi and the little steamboats up gladly gave their life to their la- its tributaries. These boats dis- bors …… Wherever there was a tributed schools and churches.
group of log cabins, thither some These steamboats have not ap- Methodist circuit rider made his pealed to the imagination like the way or there some Baptist preach- "prairie schooners." It is the "cov- er took up his abode." ered wagon" that typifies the west, The Huge Task of the Church but let us not forget the advent of the steamboat. What did this vast We have lost or failed to acquire westward movement mean to the
Christian Church, particularly to We say that there was an excess its home mission agencies? of zeal in establishing rural churches. There was. Turner In a single decade, 1870-1880, speaks caustically of the rivalry of new farms came under develop- sects particularly of "emotional ment in the great west covering an sects such as Methodists and Baparea as large as the entire farming tists." But he hardly does justice area of France. In the next decade to the movement as a whole. The new farms were opened in this churches gave a religious foundanew America equal in extent to the tion to America that could not oth- erwise have been and that certainly combined farm acreage of France, has never been laid by any state Germany, England and Wales! church and in all probability would Can we visualize the task of pro- not have been laid under any sysviding religious institutions for tem of organic church unions. rural France, Germany, England and Wales all within a single dec- Now let· us set our house in orade, and that without government der! Let us correct the overgrants or the imposition of local churching revealed at the recent Cleveland Conference; yes, but let rates upon the farming population? us not forget the spirit, the energy, Providing religious advantages for the consecration and resourcefula free people within a free state ness that our fathers put into the through a free church over so vast laying of the spiritual foundation an area within so short a time had of America, particularly in connever before been l1nderlaken and nection with the frontier movecertainly will never be undertaken ment. Probably the frontier again. Let us stop to observe that spirit, its energy, resourcefulness this period of maximum expansion and consecration, has more in it in home missions, the nineteenth for our own generation than the century, was practically coincident dialectics of parlor critics. with the first hundred years of modern foreign missions. The Let the Church establish new thrust of the American Church spiritual frontiers! May Kipling's lines be as prophetic of our own during the nineteenth century was generation as they are of the Fronboth east and west. Its westward tier Movement! thrust was quite as significant as its eastward. Taken together are "We were dreamers, dreamers greatly in they not comparable to the thrust the man's stifled town. of the Church during the second and third centuries? We yearned beyond the sky line where the strange roads go down."
T HE nature of Christianity is such that the courageous acceptance of the larger tasks, so far from hindering the Church in the dis- charge of its responsibilities near at hand, will bring to it the inspiration which will enable it to meet those obligations.
Once our eyes have seen the splendid truth that life is something far richer and more valuable than material possessions, and that living means loving, the question at once becomes not how MUCH but how LITTLE we can afford to spend on ourselves.
ATTACKING THE
BY REV. CHARLES E. SCHAEFFER, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa. Gener..' secretary oJ the Board 01 Home Mia8irm8 Of the Reformed (fhurch in the United State.
I T DOES not require a prophet's Symptoms and Causes insight to obser:re that a ~eal~y alarming situatlOn prevaIls m The external symptoms of a disthe modern Church. The most integrating process are obvious casual observer recognizes the fact enough. Let us, however, not conthat the Church does not hold the fuse the symptoms with the causes. place in the affections of the people The symptoms of an illness are one and of influence in society that it thing and the germs and bacteria once did. By the Church we mean which produce such symptoms are the body of believers in Jesus different things. If we wish to get Christ which has been gathered rid of the symptoms we must probe out of the whole human race and for the causes. The outer signs of which is in the world to carry for- the declension of the modern ward the work of Christ through Church appear in the apathy and the Spirit and in the fellowship of indifference on the part of many the Word. The history of the church members, the falling away Church reveals the fact that as an of many others, the ever-increasinstitution it has always been ing difficulty which pastors and rethreatened with defeat if not with ligious leaders experience in maindestruction. It has always been taining the spiritual vitality and obliged to be a militant Church. growth of the Church, as well as in numerous other adverse expres- The early Church was shatterM sions. Statisticians report that and scattered, but its shaking was 500,000 names were erased from its making. Later, heresies and Protestant church rolls last year. divisions entered and threatened Many of these are accounted for by its very life. But it has always changes of residence and large adhad a strange way of coming back. ditions on confession reduce the Once in a while, practically every net loss to a much smaller number hundred years, there arise those than the erasures would indicate. who volunteer to bury the Church, Nevertheless the number of mem- bers dropped is not a healthy but when they are ready to per- symptom in church life. There form the obsequies the corpse can- are, therefore, some who are not be found! The reason for this trembling for the Ark of God and lies in the fact that the Church is are predicting an early demise of not a mere human organization. It the Church. is an organism. It is the Body of Christ. It is a divine human in- When one comes to investigate stitution like her Lord and Founder Himself. While, therefore, the the forces that are operative in this Church can never be obliterated, nevertheless it can suffer serious disintegrating process, one finds it consequences from conditions and circumstances to which it is being difficult to name anyone specific subjected from time to time. factor. A combination of forces is at work in human society express- ing itself in the thought life, in the 533
modern industrial, social and eco- what happened in men's concep- nomic order, in the viewpoint tion of the cosmic order and in the which people have relative to the world of politics is today taking values of life and in their general place in the ecclesiastical order.
conception of religion and its place The old order changes. Men's atti- in human society. tude towards the Church has Enemies of the Church changed. The Church has not yet been able to make a complete re- Towards the close of the first adjustment in its thinking, in its century of the Christian era, the organization and in its program to seer of Patmos in pictorial lan- the new spirit that is abroad in the guage describes the enemies that earth. This fact is undoubtedly arrayed themselves against the alienating a large number of peo- new-born Church of that day. He ple, especially the so-called "intel- calls them the beast, the false lectuals" and the vast body of prophet, and the fallen woman. young people, particularly those The beast represents the brutal, who are being educated in our col- selfish, devouring spirit which ex- leges and universities.
presses itself in those people that The Mechanistic Philosophy are seeking to trample the Church under their feet and snuff out its The mechanistic philosophy of very life. The false prophet stands life likewise is militating against for the false philosophy, the hy- the Church. Our conception of the pocrisy, the unchristian teachings values of life has greatly changed.
which prevail in the Church. And The present generation is rushing the fallen woman represents the madly after things, like hunters spirit of worldliness, frivolity and after game. This philosophy has sin. These three forces which the largely relegated spiritual ideals aged Apostle pictures in vivid and into the background and has eval- apocalyptic language in his genera- uated life in terms of material pos- tion are operative today and are sessions. This viewpoint of life is threatening the very life of the far more deeply entrenched and Church. more strongly regnant in human The scientific spirit and the society than is generally supposed.
spirit of democracy have wrought It is being fostered in the home, in a revolution in the thought life and the school and in the industrial in the attitude of people towards order which is honeycombed with every aspect of human life. When- its spirit. In this the Church it- ever great movements such as the self, which is to be the generator scientific spirit and the spirit of and promoter of lofty spiritual democracy break loose in the world ideals, is alike at fault with other they affect every part and depart- institutions of human society. It ment of life. They break forth has too largely become a machine.
everywhere – in government, in It depends too much upon organiza- education, in industry and also in tion, wheels within wheels, upon religion. The scientific spirit, for mechanical arrangements instead example, gave men a new view of of upon the spirit of the living God.
the world. The spirit of democracy It measures its success too largely wrought great changes in the gov- in terms of statistics, of elaborate ernments of the nations. Precisely edifices, of raising budgets and
FORCES ATTACKING THE CHURCH
other forms of activity which are human organism. Some folks dominated by the mechanistic phi- think of religion as though it were losophy of life and the spirit of a hand or a foot or the head or materialism. even the heart. But it is more than anyone of these or all of them put A Divided Church together. It is the vital and vital- izing element of life. To put re- The divisions in the modern ligion into one category and science Church are militating against its or education into another category efficiency as a spiritual force in is missing the mark. the world. In consequence of this fact the Church does not speak Now, the Church is the organ with a united voice. It does not through which religion works, alhave a common, compelling pro- though it is not the only instrugram. Protestantism has divided ment. There are other agencies. itself not only into denominations In fact, during the course of hisand sects, some of which are so tory other agencies have taken small as to be called insects, but over much of the work of the within denominational lines it has Church. In one sense the program arrayed itself in opposite camps of the modern Church is much such as fundamentalism and mod- larger than it formerly was. In ernism, each of which is a one- another sense it is more restricted. sided and an inadequate expression Once it included education, hospiof the Church's life and teaching. tality, even transportation, along Fundamentalism is essentially Ro- with ministration to the poor and man Catholic in its spirit and in its the preaching of the Gospel and its method of approach to the doc- mISSIOnary enterprises. Now trines of the Church and in its atti- many of these activities are cartude towards those who differ in ried forward by other agencies their views. Modernism is expend- which undoubtedly received their ing its effort in a mere intellectual impetus originally from the Church process without having the spirit and even today are sustained and of an all-challenging and compel- supported by church people. ling program for Christianity. Rein tegra tion Religion a-Life The reintegrating process of the The misconception of religion Church, the restoration of its which people so frequently enter- power in human society, must betain likewise has a perverting in- gin far back. Our motives must fluence with reference to the be given new content, new char- Church. Many people speak of re- acter and a new direction. The ligion as a department of human motives of life must change. Our life. They think of it as they do of educational standards and methods education, politics, industry and must likewise change. Our younger other phases of human activity. generation lacks a sense of grati- This is an altogether inadequate in- tude. Many of the material blessterpretation of religion. Religion ings, comforts and conveniences of is life itself. It is a spirit and this today are a direct or indirect spirit is supposed to pervade all product of Christianity which has departments of human life. Re- been maintained in the world ligion is what the blood is to the through the Church. The present
generation seems to be perfectly will mean the destruction of the willing to enter into the inherit- ideals themselves which such inance, the enjoyment of these bless- stitutions have cherished and in ings, without recognizing whence which they have been enshrined. they come or without making ade- In spite of the disintegrating forces quate provision for passing them in modern society which are at on to succeeding generations. The work against the Church, the indictment of the present genera- Church will come out gloriously tion is that it is self-centered; it and victoriously. It… has always lives too much unto itself; it has been so. When the Church seems to be well-nigh crushed it rises little respect for the past and again, like its Lord, unto new life scarcely any regard for the future. and power. Institutions hoary with age and holy with honor are readily put on "Oh, where are kings and empires now, the scrap heap. The decadence of Of old that went and came? institutions such as the Church, But, Lord, Thy Church is praying yet, A thousand years the same."
THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINEERS T HERE are two main mountain areas in the South. The area east of the Mississippi is the one most commonly referred to as "the Southern Highlands." This is the area of the Alleghany, Cumberland, and Blue Ridge Mountains. As its boundaries are ordinarily drawn, it includes parts of nine states, with a total area of 112,000 square miles.
Within this area dwells 5,500,000 people. They are predominantly rural, the few large cities being in the valleys. Less than a fourth of the total population lives in places of 1,000 inhabitants or more. They are more than four fifths "native born whites of native parentage." Outside the cities, Negroes are few and the foreign-born still fewer. Industrial development is, however, effecting a change in this particular in some sections. In the fourteen counties in northcentral Tennessee only two per cent of the population are Negroes and only three-tenths per cent are foreign-born. Nine per cent live in the villages. These same counties illustrate the economic problem. Farming is the chief occupation throughout the mountains, but except in the larger river valleys the proportion of good, tillable land is small and the agricultural resources are exceedingly meagre. In these counties the average farm has only 36 acres of imnroved land and has a total value of only $2,970. The mountains have natural resources in timber, minerals, and water power of incalculable value.
West of the Mississippi is the Ozark Mountain area, covering parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, with a total area of approximately 60,000 square miles. The general characteristics of this area, in population and resources, are about as described above, except that the agricultural possibilities are greater.
The chief problems of the mountains are: lack of economic opportunity and consequent poverty; lack of adequate medical and hospital facilities and consequent prevalence of disease; lack of proper schools and consequent illiteracy; lack of good roads and adequate transportation facilities and consequent isolation and retardation; lack of strong churches with educated leadership and consequent weakness of religious life.
HISTORY IN THE
Recorded in the July-August REVIEW, 1878 T HE Methodist Episcopal Church (in 1878) reported 278 American foreign missionaries, 173 assistant missionaries, and 18 missionaries of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society. Today it reports 1,165 missionaries of the General Board and 696 of the Women's Soc.i..ety. … …
Fifty years ago the receipts of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for both horne and foreign work, amounted to $628,977 and the amount expended for foreign missions was $280,000. Last year the foreign mission income alone was $5,350,473.
… … …
It was in 1878 that the Rev. William Taylor, of the American Methodist Episcopal Church, visited India and South America to establish self-supporting churches.
… … …
In 1878 the Bible was translated into 212 languages and dialects. Today it is translated into over 800 languages and dialects. … … …
Rev. George L. Mackay, a mIssIOnary of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, six years after he landed in Formosa, baptized thirty-two converts in the presence of two hundred hearers. He reported thirteen Christian chapels, each with a trained preacher. Today this Mission reports nineteen missionaries, 67 native staff and 4,109 communicant members.
… … …
The Peking Gazette of February 1, 1877, published a Chinese "Edict of Toleration" toward those who embraced Christianitythe first edict of its kind published in China.
… … …
Two missionaries, Lieutenant Smith and Mr. O'Neill, of the C. M. S., Nyanza Mission, were reported as murdered in Central Africa on their way to Uganda.
… … …
Messrs. Grenfell and Comber, of the English Baptist Mission, entered the west coast of Africa in 1878 to explore the territory in order to find a site for the mission. Today this society reports 78 missionaries in its Congo Mission, with 545 native staff, 95 organized churches, 9,230 baptized communicant members and 14,781 under Christian instruction.
… … …
The London Weekly reported 148,991 native Protestant mis- sion adherents and 34,010 native Protestant Church members in South Africa. Today there are reported 409,376 native Protestant church members, and 643,181 adherents.
537
RISING TIDE OF COOPERATION
HOME MISSIONS BY REV. WILLIAM R. KING. D.D.• New York Executive Becrctary~ Home Missio"tts Council V ICTOR HUGO said, "There is closer cooperation between de- nothing like an idea whose nominations in Home Mission time has come." Cooperation fields. between denominations in Home Over-Churching Mission work is "an idea whose The facts presented were along time has come." It has been talked three general lines – over-churchabout. Pious resolutions have ing, under-churching and Home been passed commending it. Com- Mission aid. The surveys revealed ity committees have been wrestling the fact that 60% of the town and with it, but not until within recent country communities have more months has' it seemed to grip the . than twice as many churches as are imagination of the Church. Today needed; in some instances four or there is a rapidly rising tide of in- five times as many as the comterest in interdenominational coop- munities can adequately support.
eration and fellowship. It has Out of 179 counties, scattered over come upon us with the suddenness the United States, in only six did of a mountain freshet caused by the ratio of churches to popUlation cloudbursts far up the canyon. approach the commonly accepted The Comity Conference, held in standard of one church to every Cleveland last January, did much 1,000 inhabitants. The average to quicken interest and arouse the was one for every 463; more than leaders of the Church to the im- twice the number needed. One portance of this subject. It was county in North Carolina had a without question the cloudburst church for every 95 people. In an that started the streams flowing at agricultural county in Maryland fuller tide. For three days more there were 17 churches within a than four hundred leaders of thirty radius of seven miles. A village in denominations in the United States central Pennsylvania, with 600 inand Canada, faced fearlessly the habitants and 1,900 in the whole facts that had been gathered by surrounding country, has 18 surveys from all parts of the coun- churches, one for every 107 people. try. This was the first time the These churches belong to nine dif- leaders of the denominations had ferent denominations. Eight of ever come together to study seri- them have less than 25 members ously the question of competition each. Altogether they have enand overlapping. The disclosures listed less than half of the people of facts presented at this confer- of the community. Within three ence shocked the delegates and, miles of a smaller village in the through the press reports, to a con- same state, in a district having siderable extent the entire Church, about 1,000 inhabitants, there are into a consciousness of the need of 17 churches representing four de- 538 nominations. Here there is not Catholic churches and ten Protes- only competition between different tant-just twice as many churches denominations but some of these as are needed to care for the 5,000 denominations are competing with Protestants.
themselves by trying to maintain In the face of such facts as the two or more churches where even foregoing, which could be multione may not be needed. A high plied at great length, one cannot official of a leading denomination help but sympathize with the vetsaid to a group of church leaders eran minister who writes, "We recently that there are in a certain hear of shortage of ministers; I state, which he mentioned, five or think it is a surplus of churches. six times as many churches of his There is undoubtedly a large numdenomination as are needed. One ber of churches absorbing national man writes that within fifteen minutes' drive from his home in all directions he can reach 17 different country churches. In another ham- let of fifty souls in the old Key- stone state there are three churches. In' one of the buildings, Reformed and Lutheran groups hold services on alternate Sundays, both conducted by non-resident pastors. The other two buildings, within a stone's throw of each other, belong to two kinds of Evan- gelicals. In each building are con- ducted a separate Sunday-school and preaching services on alternate Sundays by the same pastor. Sim- ilar situations exist in other places between other denominations.
This sin of over-churching is not confined to rural communities. It :-;UMBIDI: OF CHURCHE>l PER 1,000 exists in the cities as well. In Phil- INHABITANTS adelphia, one Roman Catholic A-Less than 2 C-3 to 4 parish is overlapped by nineteen B-2 to 3 D–4 and over Protestant churches. In aNew missions funds which ought not to England city, where the population exist, and if the denominations has not increased in sixty years, were a business organization cer- the number of churches has in that tainly would not exist."
time multiplied three times. In Under-Churching one of the larger cities in New York State there are nineteen While interdenominational riv- churches in the downtown section alry in Home Missions has led to within a few blocks of each other. overchurching in many places, it In a city in Illinois with 10,000 has led to under-churching and ininhabitants, who are about equally adequate churching in many other divided between Roman Catholic places. The more desirable and and Protestant, there are four promising communities have been
entered by as many churches as ized twenty years ago to bring the could crowd in, while the out-of- various Home Boards into closer the-way places, the "by-ways and fellowship and cooperation. The hedges," have been neglected. statesmen of that day saw the There are, according to a survey need and set themselves to meet it.
made a few years ago, 10,000 rural Their faith and vision have been communities that do not have a splendidly justified by the actual church of any kind. There are still accomplishments. The strongest other communities that are inade- argument in favor of cooperation quately churched, with part-time is that it works. The proof of the pastoral services, or only occa- pudding is in the eating. Denom- sional preaching, with poor equip- inations have found out through ment and no program. These experience that they can work to- neglected communities, these peo- gether. Such interdenominational ple who have no gospel privileges, organizations as the Federal Coun- are the ones to whom our hearts go cil of the Churches of Christ in out. Neglecting and overlooking is America, the Home Missions Coun- far more serious than over-church- cil, the Council of Women for Home ing. It is b,etter that a community Missions, and a large number of should have too many churches other national and state interde- than no church. nominational organizations, have The encouraging element in this been demonstrating the fact that whole situation is the awakening cooperation is practical and profit- of the Church, especially the able. There are scores of regional leaders in Home Mission work, to and local cooperative enterprises these evils, and the growing deter- that are meeting with success. In mination to correct them. The several states comity agreements men and women who are most alert are working with increasing satis- and anxious along these lines are faction. In Montana, eight years the members and secretaries of our ago, the denominational leaders mission boards. Whatever mis- made a survey of the state, organ- takes may have been made in the ized a State Home Missions Coun- past by our zealous Home Mission cil and entered into comity agree- Boards, that charge cannot be ments. At the first meeting imme- made against the ones who are diately following the survey, forty- directing their policies today. It nine consolidations of churches is the denominational Home Mis- were made and one hundred and sion Boards, cooperating through seven neglected communities were the Home Missions Council, which allocated to the different denomina- they support and control, that are ti-ons. Each one was assigned cer- promoting the comity principles tain neglected fields for which it and cooperation programs that are was to be responsible, all the other being pushed today. They are the denominations agreeing' to stay leaders in interdenominational out. For example, the entire comity and cooperation. eastern part of the state, one hun- What Has Been Accomplished dred and ten miles east and west, the entire width of the state from Much has been accomplished the Wyoming line to Canada, two during the last two decades. The hundred and seventy-six miles Home Missions Council was organ- north and south, was allocated to
THE RISING TIDE OF COOPERATION IN HOME MISSIONS
the Congregational Church. That enterprises. In New England denomination accepted the respon- great progress has been made.
sibility and proceeded to organize Massachusetts has for many years the work on the "Larger Parish been working out federations of Plan," with the assurance that churches and comity agreements.
there would be a free field and no New Hampshire has just completed competition. They established a state-wide survey, looking to the centers, put in good men,· gave elimination of over-churching.
them "Congregational S e r vic e There are already more than fifty Cars," equipped the stations with towns (townships) in the state adequate buildings and inaugu- where there is but one Protestant rated up-to-date aggressive pro- church and more than a score of gram. Today there are strong federated community churches.
churches across the entire eastern Recently I sat for two days with end of the state. Other denomina- the denominational superintend- tions were given special allocations. ents and executives of the state in The Presbyterians were assigned a review of the survey. There was the east side of Butte, Montana, a remarkable spirit of unity and the foreign section of that mining cooperation. Each community of city. With a free field and full re- the state was studied, and agree- sponsibility the Presbyterian Board ments arrived at for adjustments was encouraged to put on a real and exchanges and consolidations program with the result that in a that need to be made. If their short time the entire complexion recommendations are approved by of the section was transformed. the local communities involved, Baptists, Methodists and other de- New Hampshire will have one nominations were assigned special hundred per cent comity.
regions for which they accepted In Porto Rico the Evangelical sole responsibility with gratifying denominations allocated the terri- results. The State Council has held tory at the beginning of the work two meetings a year since it was in 1920. They maintain a Union started. Adjustments and ex- Theological Seminary at Rio Piz- changes have been made from time drus and carryon their publishing to time. So well has the plan work cooperatively.
worked that today there remain In the Southwest there is an In- but few places in the state where terdenominational C 0 u n c i I on there is any competition or over- Spanish-speaking Work, which co- lapping. ordinates all denominational work In Wyoming the same methods among the Mexicans in this coun- have been followed. At present try.
there is but one place in that state In Santo Domingo there is an where there is competition and that outstanding illustration of inter- is due to local conditions over denominational cooperation, where which neither the denominational three denominations are carrying leaders nor the grace of God have on a united effort to Christianize had any control. In Utah there is the people of that republic.
complete comity. In other western Another interesting development states comity committees and state in interdenominational cooperation councils have been working with is the Community Church Move- encouraging success in cooperative ment. Union churches have existed
here and there for some years, but biennial convention to discuss the movement as we have it today matters of common concern and is of comparatively recent growth. further interest in the movement.
The union churches of earlier years Recently two very interesting either died a natural death or were and illuminating books have been incorporated into the denomina- issued – "United Churches" by tional bodies. There are only three Elizabeth Hooker of the Institute undenominational union churches of Social and Religious Research listed now which were organized and "Community Churches" by prior to 1890. The movement be- David R. Piper.
gan to assume real proportions Whatever may be said for or about twenty years ago. It was against the Community Church coincident with the drift of popula- Movement it is a going thing; the tion from the country into the interest is spreading; the number towns and cities. Of the total is increasing. Like all movements number of community churches re- it needs to be carefully studied and ported today only forty-four were wisely guided lest it become a dis- formed before 1912. The move- integrating factor in our church ment is confined very largely to life on the one hand, or grow into rural sections. According to the another denomination on the other most recent figures available, there -either of which would be de- are 1,296 community churches, plorable.
1,066 of which are in villages of These things that have been ac- 2,500 and less. complished in the lines of comity There are four general types of and cooperation, together with the community churches – Federated new information that has been c h u r c h e s, Undenominational gathered through surveys, and churches, Community churches at- especially the findings of the tached to a denomination, and M- Comity Conference, have all com- filiated churches. The largest type bined to start a tide of sentiment is the Community church attached in favor of cooperation that is flow- to some denomination. The second ing through new channels and with largest type is the Federated rapidly increasing currents.
church. The Comity Conference in There are other influences at Cleveland declared in favor of the work in the hoorts of men which denominational community church ar~ helping to swell this tide of with a program and policy broad cooperation among the churches.
enough to receive into fellowship The movement is being accelerated Christians of all denominations by the new passion for the King- without subjecting them to the- dom of God that has come in recent ological tests. years and the consequent new con- This Community Church Move- ception of the Church's task.
ment is gaining headway and is at- Today there is a new emphasis tracting considerable attention. upon the Kingdom, a new hunger There is vigorous propaganda be- for reality, and a new set of ob- hind it. For some time The Com- jectives in church life. The leaders munity Churchman, an ably edited of religious life today are not and attractive monthly, has been thinking in terms of the Church so advocating the cause. The pro- much as in terms of the Kingdom.
moters of this movement meet in In this they are in harmony with
their Lord. He began and end~d of us all. Stanley Jones, in his re- His ministry preaching the King- cent book, "Christ at the Round dom. It was the Kingdom He Table," tells how, when Christians came to establish. The Church is and non-Christians in India met only a means to that end. The together to share with each other Kingdom is the ultimate objective. their inmost beliefs and experi- Men of vision today are beginning ences Christians found how much to look upon the organization and they had in common. He says, the activities of the Church in the "Our Round Table Conference re- light of the Kingdom. They are vealed the fact that we are the most beginning to discover that com- united people on earth and united petition and sectarian rivalries are in the deepest essentials of life. At not in the interest of the Kingdom. the center, at the place of Christian The old sins of denominational ex- experience we are one. We do not pansion, sectarian conquests and have to strive for unity, or ask for ecclesiastical supremacy are giving it, we have it. The Christian Church way to the real objectives of the is the most united body on earth Kingdom. Weare coming to think when it is really Christian. No of the task of the Church as beyond matter who was speaking, whether and above the building of organiza- it was an easterner or a westerner, tions to be confined within temples a brown man or a white man, a made with hands and to be valued high church Anglican bishop or a by their numbers, size and beauty. Salvation Army officer, a Men- The ideal that inspires our real nonite or a Methodist, a Protestant church leaders today is not church or a Catholic, wherever men ex- extension but Kingdom extension. perience Christ in reality we felt Their prayer is "Thy Kingdom we were one. Outward differences come. Thy will be done on earth." fell away as irrelevant. All other Home Missions began too largely unities are superficial compared to with the idea of extending the de- this."
nomination and planting our par- That is the conviction that istak- ticular type of church in every ing hold of Christian leaders community. Today the Kingdom around the world. In all real es- interests are more dominant. sentials, in the things that matter, Our Common Possessions the things that save, we are one. It is the things that are not im- Along with this new passion for portant that separate us. That is the Kingdom and the fine fellow- the tragedy of it. The scandal of ship we are having in our coopera- Protestantism is that we who are tive enterprises there is coming a so essentially united are so non- new appreciation of our common essentially divided. Our denomina- possessions in Christ, and the tional rivalries are belying our real negligible importance of the things unity. Our zeal for our particular that have been separating us. We denominational beliefs and activi- have come to see that no one de- ties, which are legitimate within nomination has any monopoly upon proper limits, has led us to em- Christ, or upon Christian truth. phasize them beyond their im- Noone church is in possession of portance. This has hindered the a single saving faith or doctrine coming of the Kingdom of God.
that is not the common possession The Church is fast becoming con-
victed of this thing. It is being it! this report: "My center is giv- converted. There is a place for de- ing, my left is retreating, the sit- nominations. They are essential to uation is excellent, I am attacking."
the progress of the Kingdom. The excellence of our situation to- There is a place for differences of day is arising out of the increasing religious opinion as there is for consciousness of our real condition.
different religious experiences. Our centers are giving, our lefts There is need for diversities of op- are retreating. We are seeing that eration in church work, as there it is time to attack. We can learn are varieties and types of people, a valuable lesson from the war in but there is no need for any of France. So long as the armies of these things to interfere with our the allies were not allied, so long as higher unities and our broader fel- they were fighting separately, each lowship. planning its own campaign, choos- Another cause for this rising ing its own position, directing its tide of cooperation is the growing own battles, the enemy gained.
conviction of the absolute hopeless- Not until the allies actually got to- ness of the Kingdom task so long gether and put themselves under as the Church is not united in its the direction of a coordinating efforts. There is a general feeling head did they stand any show of among church people that the stopping the German march to the Church is in statu quo. There is sea, or of breaking the Hindenberg much to justify this feeling. The Line. It was cooperation that won Church is not making headway as the war. That cooperation did not it should. Some think it is actually detract in the least from the pres- losing ground. Three of our lead- tige or national dignity of any ing denominations reported for the army. Each retained its own name, year 1927-28 one third of their its own personnel, its own uniform, churches as not receiving a single its own equipment, its own organ- member on profession of faith. izations. It simply became allied This is enough surely to make us with the other armies and threw think. The Church is not gaining its forces into line with the general in any appreciable way. In many plan. The denominations have places it is actually losing ground. nothing to lose in cooperation in Some are questioning whether the Home Missions. Each will retain country church can long survive. its own peculiar methods, organ- There is, however, an encourag- izations and uniform, its own sec- ing element in this situation. It is tors for defence and attack, but the fact that we are beginning to coordinated with all the others by see it. Marshal Foch, just before mutual planning and coordinated the first battle of the Marne, sent strategy the battles will be won.
AFRICAN PROVERBS Freely Translated into English by Mr. D. M. Miller "He weeps with one eye," meaning: He is insincere. ''You kindle a fire and leave it," that is to say: You are a talebearer. "He is a calf of the old cow," or as we would say: A chip of the old block.
PICTURES OF HOME
BY REV. JOHN T. FARIS, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa.
Editor oj Publicu-tions oj the Board of Chr';'~Ua,n Education~ Presbyterian Ohurch, U. 8. A.
SECULAR historians of the to go out as missionaries to Pitts- United States have delighted burgh. They are going into great to picture the stages of the ad- danger and perils, and it is likely vance of civilization from the East they will soon die. In anticipation to the West. And what a tremendously interesting story they tell! But it is not a tithe as interesting as the story that might be told of the movement of the men and women who have carried the Gospel from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
'" '" '" .. * * * * That story might begin with David Brainerd, the famous missionary to the Indians, who was expelled from Yale College, it is said, because he had said of a tutor that he had no more religion than a chair. It might be conti,nued with tales of Jonathan Edwards, who, when the people at Northamp- ton, Massachusetts, did not believe in him and his message, went to live among the Indians at Stock- bridge, Massachusetts, where he DAVID BRAINERD AND HIS .INTERPRETER began work without salary. The of this sad event we will now sing next scene described might be that their funeral dirge: of the villages by the Susquehanna "'Why should we mourn departing friends, in Eastern Pennsylvania where the Or shrink from deat~s alarms?' " .. .. .. .. . .. Moravians taught the Indians.'"* '" '" '" * * * .. .. Place should be given to the Now let us go to Ohio. The year incidents in the early days of Old Pine Street Church in Philadel- is 1771. David Zeisberger has led phia where, for three hours, 'a sol- a little company of Moravian misemn congregation sat sedately in sionaries from Bethlehem, Penn- their pews, while they listened to sylvania, to the Muskingum River.
addresses of farewell to departing There they founded three villages, home missionaries which were con- ShoenbrUn, GnadenhUtten, and Saeluded by the mournful message of lem, where they were surrounded the minister in charge : "We are by peaceable Christian Indians. gathered here today to say fare- Ten years of faithful, consecrated well to our friends who are about service followed. The story of self- 545 3
sacrifice, of dangers faced, of dif- to sing hymns and spoke words of ficulties conquered, is an epic of encouragement and consolation one the fro!ltier, about halfway be- to · another, until they were all tween the white settlements on the slain."
Ohio and the Wyandots and Dela- Undismayed, Zeisberger, who wares on the SanduRky. During was not present at the time of the the Revolution troubles increased, massacre, led a party back to Ohio for the Wyandots and Delawares when, in 1796, Congress granted became allies of the British. At to the Moravian Indians the tract length the enemy attacked Gnaden- of land in Ohio which they had hutten. The story of the tragedy formerly occupied. The town of New Goshen was built, and there the faithful missionary labored un- til November 17, 1808, when he died.
* … … * … * … … From Ohio to Indiana is easy.
Now see Baynard Rush Hall, who went to what in 1818 became known as "The New Purchase."
There he cleared his farm, and preached to people who came "from all quarters of the woods, along roads, traces, paths, or short cuts,"
on horses, "some with single riders of any sex, bursting at a gallop into view, through underwood, thickets of spicewood and papaw, or clearing log after log, in a kind BISHOP WHIPPLE, of hop, skip and jump gait." Apostle to the Indians … * '" … … * .* * In Illinois, on the Rock River, a pioneer home missionary alter- nated tasks like clearing the forest, that followed was told by Zeisberg- making a coffin, attending a ·funer- er in his diary: al where he was undertaker as well "The militia, some two hundred as minister, and preaching on Sunin number, as we hear, first came day at points forty miles apart to Gnadenhutten. Our Indians where the distance must be made were mostly in the cornfields and on horseback, through the forests, saw the militia come, but no one or over rough tracks called, by thought of fleeing, for they sus- courtesy, roads. And when, in pected no ill. The militia came to time, the churches grew so that them and bade them come into they could pay a salary, the amount town and no harm should befall was proudly fixed at $125 per year! them. They trusted and went, but they were all bound, the men being … … … * … … … …
On the prairies of Minnesota, put into one house and the women with Henry Benjamin Whipple, into another. The brethren began D.D. His Minnesota life began in
MOVING PICTURES OF HOME MISSIONS
1860, at Faribault. From that "Come again!" the men pleaded.
town as a center he drove his He did so. The next winter the horses three thousand miles each men of various camps asked him year for two years, as he did pio- to visit them. This he did gladly.
neer gospel work, always having in As he studied the conditions- mind the words spoken to him away from civilization for months, when he was consecrated as bish- spending the long evenings in the op: "Hold up the weak, heal the bunk house with but little to oc- sick, bind up the broken, bring cupy their minds, few having even again the outcast, seek the lost." a paper to read, seldom receiving Another part of the charge, less a letter, since most of the loggers personal perhaps, but even more are wanderers-his heart went out fervent, was, "Do not forget those to them. He won their confidence, wandering Indians, for they, too, can be brought into the fold of Christ." The first gift he received for his work was from a returned missionary from Cape Palmas, Af- rica, who said, as he gave it to the bishop, "Our· Christian black men gave me seventy dollars to carry the Gospel to heathen America. I give it to you for Indian Missions."
The story of the more than forty years that followed the faithful ex- penditure of the sacred gift is crowded so full of surprising and effective service, and of thrilling incidents, that it is good to read of them in full in Bishop Whipple's own book, "Lights and Shadows of a Long Episcopate."
******** ~'RANK HIGGINS, "LUMBERJACK SKY PILOT" Minnesota once more, but not the Minnesota of the Indians, but that of the lumberjacks, the sturdy and they talked to him as to a men who spend the long winter in "pard." He was amazed to learn the woods that they may help to that no missionary society was supply the world's call for lumber. working among the many tens of Their life is full of hardships, and .thousands of these men in the the camps are full of evil. In 1895 woods, though they were exposed there was a home missionary to the mercy of the saloon, the named Frank Higgins, whose work brothel, and the gambling hell.
centered at Barnum, Minnesota. The call was irresistible. He gave One evening he went to Kettle Riv- up his home, went into the camps, er to see the "drive"-men floating organized work for. the lumber- down the stream the logs that had jacks in Minnesota, Montana, been cut the winter before. That Washington, and California. And evening he was asked to preach, during his more than eighteen and from a log he did his best. years in the woods, where he was
the companion and friend of the in the days when great herds of hardy men, he won many of them buffalo still roamed northward in to a Christian life. After his death, the spring and southward in the in 1916, the man who succeeded winter, when three weeks were rehim said to the Presbyterian Gen- quired for the journey from St. eral Assembly: "Let us thank God Louis, young Sheldon Jackson and for the inspiration and vision he his wife went among the Choctaws. gave that noble man of faith, the There they taught the young savbest friend I ever had or ever shall ages who preferred to fight the have on earth, Rev. Frank Hig- teacher rather than to learn from gins. I had drifted into the log- him. And there he served his apging camps. At the age of twenty- prenticeship for his later wonder- ful work in Minnesota, Colorado and New Mexico, and finally in Alaska. Among his countless tasks, he transformed the educational sys- tem and brought physical life to the starving Eskimo by introduc- ing the Siberian reindeer among them, so paving the way for their entrance on the life more abundant.
******** Wyoming and Idaho. There Bishop Ethelbert Talbot went in 1887, and there he made the ac- quaintance of hundreds of cowork- ers who led him to testify: "The heroism, self-sacrifice and devotion evinced by our Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Roman Catholic, and other brethren in the Far West were such as to win my DR. SHELDON JACKSON. PIONEER reverent regard. And great is the two I had been driven from every debt which our civilization owes city and town in Northern Minne- to these pioneers of the Gospe!."
sota and North Dakota and de- That was high praise from the man prived of citizenship. I have who knew how to handle such un- fought one hundred and twenty- usual situations as that when, at eight contests in the squared circle · a mining camp, an Uncle Tom's with padded mitts. At the age of Cabin troupe sought an audience thirty-six, in a logging camp, I just when the bishop was busiest.
heard that big-hearted, godly man The leader of the troupers asked preach. The sermon reached the the bishop if, since both were seek- heart of the old outlaw, and I am ing a hearing, they could not make here tonight as a living testimony a deal. "Let me have the hall until of the results of the Lumber Camp nine o'clock," the bishop said.
Mission Work done by Frank Hig- "Your entertainment will follow gins." immediately after the service."
* * * * * * * * The surprised trouper said, "Well, The Indian Territory. In 1858, if that ain't treating us stage peo-
pIe white! You bet, I'll fetch all Cameron once said to a questioner. "I did not know what I was getti1'lg my troupe to your show, and we'll into when I began the work. Now I could not let go. I love these be mighty proud to be there, too!" girls. I must go anywhere when the call comes from one of those ******** who would be free."
California. It is a startling fact One who has written of Miss Cameron's work says that th~'Res'.. that one of the first missionaries cue Home charges itself with, the rescue of slave girls who have been to San Francisco, during the days brought unlawfully into the coun;- try. Its search for these girls may of the gold excitement, was sent lead from Seattle to Phoenix, into every form of den or secret hau'ht from the Sandwich Islands, where of vice. Tidings concerning these girls come in every way, by :whjzmissionaries had gone less than pered word or secret note; or po~ lite inquiry, often from Chinese twenty years before. When they themselves who know Miss Cam- eron's indomitable courage and went, theirs was a foreign mission- unfailing persistence.
ary field, but their successors have And the results! They may be seen in a picture of the entrance been home missionaries since 1898. to the home of a shrinking, fearful girl, the victim of superstition and So it is good here to think of their deception, and the departure from the home, a few years later, of a surprise when, in 1820, they landed self-respecting, well-poised Chris- tian, ready to carry light and joy at Kailua, Hawaii, and, expecting into a new home which she will help to make. Multiply that picto find themselves in the midst of ture by hundreds, and you can see the work carried on by San Franheathenism, ,they lea:rned that a cisco's Rescue Home for Chinese Girls. year before, by royal edict, idols The responsibility for the had been destroyed, and tabus civilization and Christianiza- tion of the world is most inabolished, so that the Hawaiians, cumbent upon us in the United States, in Britain and without a religion, were ripe for Canada, because of all nations we have come in contact, the work of the devoted mission- partly as traders, partly as governors, with all the backaries! ward peoples. It is urgent that we endeavor to meet that ****** * responsibility in this genera- You have heard of the Chi- tion.-J. A. MacDonald.
nese Rescue Mission in San Fran- cisco, w her e Miss Margaret Culbertson labored for years, and then turned over her work to Miss Donaldina Cameron. How those names have been detested by Chi- nese highbinders because they were unable to keep the bearers from thwarting their designs on Chi- nese girls destined for awful slav- ery in the dens of vice in Chinatown! It is said that Miss Cameron rescued from such slav- ery not less than fifteen hundred girls during the first twenty years of her superintendency of the res- cue work in San Francisco. What a tale of adventures could be told of those twenty years–adventures in the blind underground passages, in Chinese temples, in courts of justice. "No, I am not particularly ildv~nt1,lrous by nature," Miss
THE CHILDREN TO BE LOYAL AMERICANS AND GOOD
THE IMMIGRANT-ASSET OR LIABILITY BY CLARA M. GOODCHILD, Brooklyn, New York A CHINESE wall, compactly open-handed Scotch steel magnate; built around America, could Samuel Gompers, the friend of the not exclude our immigrants laborer; John Ericsson, who saved nor our alien problems; already the Union navy in 1862; James they are here-present and active. Gordon Bennett, the Englishman Even since the number was re- who gave America her first real duced by the quota, 538,000 aliens newspaper; Edward Bok, the entered the half-closed gate to the Dutchman, who said, "The sky is land of the free in 1927. Consider- the limit to the foreign-born in ing this inflow, though it is checked America"; Theodore Thomas, the from the flood-tide of 1914 when great orchestral leader; Nikola it reached 1,197,892, frenzied ora- Tesla, the electrical wizard; Autorical shouts of "America for gustus St. Gaudens, the inspired Americans" seem futile indeed. sculptor; the Serbian scientist, America has been called "The Michael Pupin; or Dr. Michael product of immigration." No one Anagnos, the Boston "eyes to the disputes the gain to America of blind." These and countless others such immigrants as Karl Bitter, have shared in America's making. the Austrian sculptor; Alexander They are God's gift to our young Graham Bell, the father of the nation. telephone; Andrew Carnegie. the Not so our sentiments towards 550
THE IMMIGRANT-ASSET OR LIABILITY
the unceasing stream of ignorant, convictions which opened America unskilled, illiterate ones pouring to the world. The patriots who endlessly through the portals of live in the dying glories of Amerfreedom, pushing against the ex- ica's morning years, deplore the clusion and quota bars, straining passing of a machineless, pastoral eager eyes across the seas for a age, an America independent of chance crack of admission. Some immigrant labor. How strange a friends of America call these immi- scene, America without immigrants our greatest menace. Cap- grants! italists, politicians and industrial No one to blame for crime; no 'ro TEACHING BOYS TO KNOW THE BIBLE AND BEl GOOD CHRISTIANS barons openly welcome and secretly one to do the hard dirty work; no fear them. Without doubt they one to supply wild oratory with spread turbidly over the scene like direful predictions of impending the muddy flood of China's "river doom. Where would be found ocof sorrow." Streets of old Amer- cupation for the social service ican cities, Lowell, Holyoke, New worker or the Americanization Bedford, on a pay night resemble zealot? Who would swarm into the port cities of Europe. The bronze Sunday resorts? Who would buy figures of revolutionary soldiers, the cheap autos choking our roads? the sacred monuments of Concord Who would furnish the gorgeous and Lexington and Bunker Hill colorful pictures of life in our tenelook down sadly on tramping thou- ment and slum districts? Who sands, utter strangers to the brave would take the prizes in our public
schools? Whose children would Then a brief hour for farewell. a crowd into our state colleges and last longing pathetic look on home, laboriously work out an education? sweet home, and these brave ones A huff and a puff, they are all set out for the strange and weary gone! America for:· Americans! journey, cuffed and bullied and What does it look like? No picks robbed all the way, yet with pa- ring on highways; no cages de- tient stoicism; for the hope set be- scend into mines; no smoke rises fore them enduring privations from foundry stacks; no cranes unbearable to our softer race.
swing in steel mills; no dynamos "Immigrants are all alike in pos- rotate in power-houses; no shut- sessing the spirit of the pioneer, tles fly in looms; no glow scintil- the innovator, the explorer, the ad- lates from blast furnaces. On the venturer."
morning after such an exodus the What has their E I d 0 r ado ancient American stock arise to a yielded? Higher wages but higher stupid and idle world. Countless cost of living; an unfamiliar and busy and bustling towns suddenly difficult language with unknown or have become useless and inanimate. obscure means of acquiring it; America ~s bereft of the labor wretched, dark, unwholesome liv- which has made her the envied ing quarters in swarming slums among nations, the richest land on in exchange for the village or farm earth! life in the open; free schools but These immigrants did not come the vicious playground of the con- uninvited. "By far the greater taminated gutter; and perhaps part of immigration is due to the hardest of all, universal ostracism industrial demand in the United by the people of the land, uncon- States for labor," unskilled, rough cealed contempt, deliberate and labor that has not appealed to those violent dislike. My Italian fruit who pride themselves on being "na- woman confided to me that Italy tive born." The call went out over- was a better land than America seas, a call richly colored with for there the rich always have a possibilities of higher wages, free- kind word for you; but here, she dom from conscript duty, easier said, "they treat you like dirt."
hours, free schools, irresistible al- Then why stay? Ah! the bridges lurements, and the response was are all burned, the choice is now instantaneous and startling. From irrevocable. The marvel is that Italy's vineyards and her noisy any virtues remain alive, even cities; from grain fields of Rus- though dormant, on which to graft sia; from lemon groves of Sicily; the bud of American democracy.
from Albanian wastes and Mon- And why this resentful American tenegrin rocks; from "little town gesture? Who is a foreigner?
by river or seashore, or mountain- Scratch any American deep enough built with peaceful citadel," they and you will find the alien.
listened and were snared. The tiny And these foreigners who have farm patch was sold; the goat and taught the map of Europe to pro- chickens and rude tools were con- vincial America, the geography of verted into cash; the meagre cloth- countries hitherto mere fantasies, ing and few priceless family bring with them certain precious treasures were crowded into ham- universal virtues; devotion to fam- pers or tied into shapeless bundles. ily life; the virility of rugged cen-
AN OPEN AIR MEETING IN A "FOREIGN BORN" NEIGHBORHOOD turies; inherent ability to work of being developed into useful lawhard, and a pathetic ambition for abiding American citizens. The their children. Possibly their low great majority of them desire to standards of living which we so become such citizens. The great loudly censure may be due to inher- majority of them, also, are here ited economy, or to a fond saving because of their faith in the ideals for eventual betterment. Their il- of America and in the principles literacy may be lack of opportun- of human justice which they beity or encouragement rather than lieve reside in this free land." bestial and craven indifference. Their ignorance of our language What then will turn the menace and customs, of our ·history and of immigration into a contribution ideals, may be the chief cause of to the common stock? What, intheir all-too frequent disregard of deed, but an appreciation and acour laws. Perhaps if we should knowledgement of the identity of appraise their limitations more interests of all people in America? justly and compassionately, they Whether belonging to the original would respond with greater recep- sons and first families, or arriving tivity and confidence. No doubt in the steerage; whether equipped "the great" majority of these adult with a pedigree, a university deilliterate immigrants are capable gree and a bank account, or with only bodily brawn and a dim, se-
cret, unphrased longing for some eigner as a gift, offered in the undefined better life than the old spirit of American liberty and de- world could afford them. mocracy, and with such genuine Willy-nilly the old-time Ameri- sincerity that the happy effect will can and the old-world immigrant be similar to the joy of the Syrian must pool their interests and rise Abraham Rihbany, who became or fall together. Thousands of im- the pastor of a wealthy Boston potent and impertinent "backseat church, and who exclaimed, "Just drivers" are offering their un- think of me, the child of ages of sought advice in these immigration oppression, now having a great problems; and still other thou- country to serve, to defend!"
sands earnestly and honestly in- Christian churches have the simquire, "What shall we do?" To all, plest, most persuasive and direct the first caution is, properly, do approach to aliens and foreigners, not criticize, it is worse than use- being fully equipped by their Diless. The foreigner is all blue and vine Master with both the requisite black and callous to the kicks of unkind criticism. Try a little hu- power and the definite command man kindness. Regard these stran- to "love one another," "do good to gers, unresponsive, unlovely, often all men," "preach the gospel" the uncouth, as in reality just God's good news, of the One who gave creatures like ourselves. As Shy- His life "a ransom for many." To lock says, "Fed .with the same change these outsiders through the food, hurt with the same weapons, fellowship that is in Christ Jesus is to bridge once and for all the subject to the same diseases, healed chasm between alien and Ameriby the same means, warmed and can. The Bible is the finest primer cooled by the same winter and sum- of the English language, and to mer. If you prick us, do we not graduate in its precepts is to bebleed? If you tickle us, do we not come indeed one of the sons of laugh? If you poison us, do we liberty, the liberty in Christ Jesus, not die? And if you wrong us, which makes every man a debtor shall we not revenge?" to every other creature. Possibly a fit habitation at a proper rental; fewer curses and The one thing lacking is prompt more courtesy; some intelligent obedience in pursuit of the difficult appreciation of his worthy ances- undertaking; the great obstacle is try might work wonders in clear- our own foolish racial pride; the ing his dark-browed animosity. He great motivation to diligence in is now indeed part and parcel of the work may proceed from our the pack. Will he enter proudly agony of apprehension lest "you the upward march to conquest, or and I and all of us fall down," and will he divert the entire course our land of the free become a deso· from the goal of prosperity into a lation and a by-word. stampede down the steep grade to '" '" '" destruction? It may depend wholly Some men live in a well-their on the treatment older Americans horizon is the well's mouth with a give him, seeking his cooperation tiny patch of sky above it; others in all undertakings on his behalf. dwell on a mountain top, and be- Any program, even of the utmost hold all the kingdoms of the world friendliness, must come to the for- at every sunrise.-W. H. P. Faunce.
ARE THEY-HOPELESS DERELICTS OR OUR FELLOW
THE MENACE OF OUR JAILS 0'BY REV. CHARLES N. LATHROP, New York Secretary th e Depart",e"t 0/ Olori.tian Soolal Service, Nallottl,l Co""c il of the P,'otelltant E piscopal Church I N THE lives of the first Chris- tiaries are removed from imme- tians, jails played an impor- diate contact or the possibilities of tant part. Both St. Peter and contact on the part of local com- St. Paul, as the Book of the Acts munities. They have their large shows, had remarkable experiences staffs with specially appointed in prison. But besides these two chaplains. The local jails, how- saints, hundreds of other Chris- ever, are near at hand and have no tians in the first century were sent large staffs, no regular chaplains, to jails. Perhaps this is one of and in many cases the inmates the reasons why in the great par- have no religious ministrations able of the last Judgment, our Lord whatever.
specifies particularly among all the There were in America, accord- acts the people might do to inherit ing to the census of the Depart- the Kingdom of Heaven: "I was ment of Commerce in 1923, over in prison and ye visited me." This three hundred thousand men held parable suggests a very specific as prisoners under sentence for and important responsibility on crimes or misdemeanor. A wide the part of His followers to be in- statistical study shows that about terested in those who are in the half of the prisoners in the county ,jails and prisons. jails have been convicted of crime.
Many of the great state peniten- Another half are awaiting trial, 555
unable to procure bail. Some are this way the criminal class is held as material witnesses. There formed into a compact group.
are, therefore, about 600,000 men When a million and a half are and women in American jails every thrown into such a situation every year. In addition, Dr. Hastings H. year, it is clear that here is one of Hart, of the Department of De- the great contributing conditions linquency and Penology of the to crime. .
Russell Sage Foundation, estimates Today this field is almosf" coni- that 900,000 is a very conservative pletely neglected by Christian in- figure for the number confined an- fluences. Most of our loc&l. jail,!
nually for a longer or shorter are also vermin-infested, with little period in city and village "lock- or no opportunities for men to ups." This makes about a million bathe and they must buy their own and a half people who go through soap and towels. There is almost local jails annually and come out no medical examination, in spite of marked in character and ideals. the fact that in the group are men This is one and a quarter per cent with all kinds of diseases and in- of our. entire population. fections so that it is almost impos- The young ,man, who for the first sible to exaggerate the disgusting time is charged with crime, is conditions that prevail in many of lodged in the county jail. One these jails.
would think that our socially The religious situation is equally minded groups would certainly deplorable. In many cases there bring their whole force to bear on are services on Sunday conducted a situation like this to save these by representatives of various de- "first offenders." Strange to say, nominations. Perhaps the best however, the man put in the work is done by the Christian local jail finds himself thrown with Scientists and Salvation Army.
people by no means socially- There is, however, an almost com- minded, not at all with religious plete lack of personal pastoral men; his companions are for the ministration. Here is a great re- most part the off-scouring of the sponsibility and a great oppor- city, awaiting trial, or convicted tunity for our Christian groups.
and serving sentence. They have If the first offender, at least, could nothing to do but to read maga- immediately have at his side a zines and papers, by no means up- brother who would not only visit lifting, to swap stories, to play him personally but would also be cards. Most of our jails have their the means by which his contact is cell blocks inside the buildings, maintained with the outside world where there is no fresh air and and with his relatives and family only artificial light. With neither this would be the beginning of a sunlight nor fresh air, nor work; movement to correct the failures and with degrading associates day and abuses of our present system.
after day, what can be expected as Surely in the churches there are a harvest? Christian laymen to whom young It is natural, where people are men in jail can look up, and who thrown together in this way, and can carry into their contacts the where they are deprived of better tender heart that our Lord expects.
influences, that they should make If such men would undertake at I!ssociations that are lastin~. In least to deal with the first offenders
THE MENACE OF OUR JAILS
in their jails, much could be ef- them by the jailor to make a sensafected. tional campaign to clean the jail. The condition of the jail, bad as it This is the first point for effort. may be, is not necessarily the fault It is in most places reasonably of the jailor. Even if he is persimple to get the jailor to drop an sonally incompetent, the responsiaddressed postcard to the leader in bility rests on the authority which such a group whenever a first of- appoints him. A sensational effort fender is put in jail, giving the will mean only a temporary cleanname. An immediate call ought to up. What we need is something be made. I use the word call with much more thorough and perintention. A Christian gentleman manent. We must develop in the is calling on another human soul in community a public opinion that trouble, and if he is to be success- HOW SHALL THEY SPEND THEIR TIME IN PRISON?
ful he must recognize the courtesy will not countenance any comand respect that he owes to one in munity institution in an unsanitrouble. It would be useful for tary and unnecessarily immoral these callers to make a close asso- condition. As this public opinion ciation with some mature social is developed, the improvement will worker in one of the community or- come. This is a slow method, but ganizations. A great many char- it is the only one that will succeed acter-problems require the trained in effecting a reformation. technique of a case worker. From this contact with the jail, there These men who work personally ought to be developed an apprecia- in the jail will be stirred to a wider tion of the kind of jail a commu- interest. They ought to begin the nity ought to have. practical study of the situation, go- ing further than merely acting as It is, however, almost useless for peopl~ to go into a jail and take ad- brothers to the men in the jail. vantage of the opportunities given They ought to study the arrange- ments of the county in the main-
tenance of the jail. In many This entire study ought to be counties the sheriff or jailor de- made as far as possible with the rives his own income from the sympathy of the man in charge of amount that he can save in the care the jail. If there are failures, the and feeding of the prisoners. This responsibility rests ultimately with is clearly an injustice and presents the community itself and the only all kinds of temptations. The permanent improvement will come sheriff and jailor ought to be given with a change in the attitude and a salary and a sufficient amount of state of mind of the members of money to care for the prisoners. the community.
The visitors should find out also Our effort must look further whether there is any committee of than the white-washing of dirty inspection, the state board of chari- walls. We should develop a real ties or some similar organization interest in every Christian memwhich has the right to inspect and ber of the community so that men make recommendations. It ought who are criminals may be treated to be possible if there is such a as human beings and given some committee of inspection for the stimulation of the higher ideals group to listen to a talk from some and purposes that certainly lie dormember of this committee, or to mant in at least some of them. confer with the officer responsible for the management of the jail, Sometimes I wish that we might asking questions like the follow- have a recurrence of the conditions ing: in the first century, that every min- ister of the community might be How many of the inmates are await- arrested and thrown into the local ing trial? Are there any held as witnesses? jail. I feel sure that the result How many are convicted misdemean- would be a change in the jail of the ants? community and II, permanent public How many altogether? opinion that would be nurtured How many cells are there in the jail? from the pUlpits of the churches. Is it fireproof? How many years ago was it built? This article is a cry of despair; How much money is allowed per capita for the care of the prisoners? little has been done for the im- What is the daily dietary? provement of the local jails. They Are there any children in the jail? are worse now than they were Has the jail a hospital ward? fifty years ago. They are forgot- Are all prisoners given medical exam- ten, unnoticed, ignored even by those who have that rather terrible ination immediately after commitment? statement in their Gospel: HI was Are prisoners in an infectious condi- in prison and ye visited me not." They are crushing hundreds of tion isolated from other prisoners? thousands of men every year under How often does the jail physician visit conditions that are not fit for any the jail? Are all prisoners required to bathe when first committed? Are clean blankets given each prisoner when first committed? Has the jail flush toilets?
Is there a system of parole? human being, be he criminal or Do the inmates have regular employment? saint. * How many hours do they pass in their cells? '" 'l'he writer will be glad to answer any in- How many hours together? quiries from those who want to undertake this How many hours at work? work, and he writes with the hope that some few may be moved to satisfy our Lord's de- Are there any women in the jail? mand: "I was in prison and ye visited me." If so, is there a woman in charge of Rev. Charles N. Lathrop, 281 Fourt,h Ave., New York. them? Are they employed? '
HOME MISSION
BY REV. CHARLES L. WHITE, D.D., New York Pre8ident oj the Home Missions Oouncil I N THE effort to Christianize which by missionary efforts can the peoples of the United easily be produced in the people States the Protestant forces of who have the hardihood to dare the nation are met by conditions the new and the unknown.
that have never prevailed in any The most fruitful way in which other country and which thus far we have thus far been able to minhave largely batHed the wisdom and ister to the dwellers in these negstrength of the churches and mis- lected zones is through colporteur sionary societies of the evangelical missionaries who offer for sale denominations. evangelistic literature and copies Scattered Populations of the Scriptures which they can even give away if people are not I. We have long neglected the able to pay the price. These depeople in the sparsely settled re- voted men conduct services in the gions who must be given the Gospel homes, barns and school-houses, with as much care as it is taken to and hold personal conversations those who can be more easily with those met by the wayside. reached in the more densely popu- They conserve such contacts and lated communities. The overlook- endeavor to bring these isolated ing of these people has not been people into relation with and under intentional, but it has been the in- the watch-care of churches· far evitable result of following along away. The widespread adoption lines of least resistance which have of the automobile may to a degree led us to mimster to groups of peo- not now appreciated solve the probpie who have lived in the villages, lem in part, as there would seem towns and cities. to be no reason why people inter- To reach these widely scattered ested in personal and family repopulations is still a missionary ligion should not drive twenty or problem of the first magnitude. In more miles each Sunday to a church communities where the homes are where they can have the religious widely separated, it is impossible and social advantages of the orto establish churches and in some ganized Christian community lift. cases even Sunday-schools cannot It is probabre, too, that the almost be organized, and yet it is encour- universal ownership of radio sets aging to discover that Christian already brings within the hearing men and women are quite evenly of the Gospel a great many famidistributed among the settlers in lies whose lonely lives were marked the open country. The heroism, by silence and isolation. Still after courage and initiative that are re- one has made due allowance for quired in those who push on into the possibilities of these two spirfrontier conditions in many in- itual allies of modern science, we stances are qualities which are al- are far from discovering how we ready possessed by Christians or can develop and preserve through 669
modern church life the spiritual ex- lands; laborers in logging camps periences of those whose homes are and dredging crews in the swamp miles apart in the prairie, desert, regions. These people, who must or mountain countries. But it is not be left without the Gospel, num- surprising to find how successful ber many hundreds of thousands among such people have been the and the boys and girls in these propagandists of strange cults and homes if reached and educated distorted interpretations of Chris- would go far toward leavening the tianity. Mormon missionaries do nation with the influence of the not overlook the people that live Gospel.
far apart. The Migrant People However, a study of the lives of men and women who have come II. Our wandering populations to prominence in the educational, make another gigantic missionary economic and religious life of the problem. More people are on the nation proves that a very large move from place to place in the number of them as boys and girls nation than we suppose. Farmers lived far from the centers of civi- sell their acreage when the land lization. It will be a wise man in- brings a high price and buy more deed who can discover a way to cheaply elsewhere. Others, as age care spiritually for the children advances, leave their farms and and parents and unattached men go to the smaller towns and live and women who constitute the rail- quiet lives. The people who hire road section crews that maintain these farms do so on shares and, the road-beds of our great railroad if crops are poor, pass on to new systems. Many of these live in regions that promise better things.
side-tracked box cars, in huts and Many a farmer whose children in simple homes that call forth pity have left the rural communities and sympathy from those who ob- for business in the cities or for serve them far away from towns years of educational preparation and cities. When we think of these for a life in a different world, people whom we have so long neg- clings a while to the old homestead.
lected, we remember the great Then advancing years compel him number of families and individuals to abandon the attempt and he goes who are living near or in the to live with his children. Such smaller mining communities; the generally become non-resident railroad building crews; desert church members and never get homesteaders waiting for the oft- their roots down in new communi- en long-delayed opening of irriga- ties. The abandoned farms are tion projects, some of which are either bought at a low price by n eVe r completed; oil-drilling those who wish to secure summer crews; sheep-herders and cattle- homes or they pass into too pos- men who often have their families session of people who speak an- in lonely places; canyon and moun- other language and whose presence tain dwellers; the people who have constitutes promising but difficult their homes in the sandhill grazing material for the churches with less- lands; those who live in canal ened numbers and weakened lead- boats, and dwellers along water- ership. One new family generally ways not touched by transporta- brings another of the same nation- tion; new settlers in cut-over al group and the large number of
UNSOLVED ROME M:fSSION
children among these new residents ity for the little churches that need increases educational taxes and de- their gifts and their presence. The mands fresh social adjustments. growing habit of visiting friends The young people who leave their or relatives or of camping in the homes for an education return only open over the week-end, the long for their vacations and more and trips on pleasant Sundays to the more are passing the summers in mountains or to the distant sea- travel or in work in other commu- shore, all illustrate the changes nities. When their education is that the low-priced automobile has finished, usually sever.al years thrust into the church-going hab- elapse before their homes are es- its of other days. Many retired or tablished and meanwhile they oft- prosperous people have two or en make two or three changes in more homes so that the heat and residence. cold may be avoided. Sometimes Those who join the army or navy they pass a part of each year in or enter the civil service are wan- foreign travel or in world tourR.
derers, as are sailors, teachers and The .suburban Trend preachers. Workers in the mines, in the lumber: camps, on the rail- III. The recent trend of our roads, traveling salesmen, sign restless population toward the sub- painters, explorers for minerals urban areas creates a third great and builders of pipe lines have no missionary problem for our Prot- stationary abode. We are sUrprised estant churches. In the older states to learn of the large number of the drift from rural areas to the itinerant carpenters, plumbers, cities has been proceeding for masons, roofers, barbers, book many years and probably will not agents, waiters, hotel employees, reach the crest of the movement garage men, chauffeurs and house- for another decade. The arrival hold servants. Wholesale houses, of people in the cities from the insurance, banking and other cor- rural communities particularly porations, local or interstate in during the last twenty years, has character, keep their agents away created great missionary perplex- from home much of the time, in ities, especially in view of the spite of frequent attempts to find waves of immigration from foreign convenient places of residence. The lands which have been breaking seasonal workers who harvest the simultaneously on our shores, crops or toil in canneries are mi- bringing millions of people into grants and are very difficult to these same urban areas, in which reach. The games which furnish the English-speaking churches relaxation keep people for many have been compelled to struggle to days a year away from their fire- preserve their spiritual life in sides and the time spent in com- these mingling tides of population.
mercial, fraternal, educational and The situations thus created have religious conferences and conven- brought difficulties which probably tions increases as the years pass. never have existed before in the Vacations are now the rule and a history of the Christian Church.
growing number of prosperous But these have been largely over- families have summer homes in come by the wise leadership of lay- places where there are no churches men and missionary secretaries in or where they feel no responsibil- our metropolitan areas whose ex- 4
perience has greatly assisted the in a popUlation composed of sixty or Christian leaders in smaller cities more nationalities, coming from all to plan their work sanely and with the countries of the earth. To leave high efficiency. to themselves these new suburban communities, busy with home And now when the city, state building which has mortgaged the and national missionary organiza- normal growth of family income tions have been endeavoring to for many years, without suggestreach with the Gospel the multi- ing the bUIlding of churches and tudes of newcomers in the cities assisting jn their erection in these with their better equipment and new communities, is to sit idly by modern methods of approach, sud- while paganized suburbs will indenly they are brought face to face evitably grow their baneful harwith new and trying conditions, as vests. the tides of population have turned from the cities to the suburbs. Indeed, this highly complicated problem, which is created by the This latest drift in population increasing number of removals of has been stimulated by automo- people from the cities to the nearer biles and rapid train service for and more distant unchurched subcommuters in recent years, and also by the Building and Loan As- urbs, has been well described by sociations which .make possible the Dr. Charles H. Sears, of New York, erection of homes on long-time pay- who remarked before the Baptist ments on low-priced land. Great Associated Home Mission Agencies numbers of young married people that a paganized suburb is as danby this means now live in the open gerous to our social life as a festercountry, and have flowers, vegeta- ing slum. ble gardens, playgrounds for the children, domestic animals, birds, These three out of many home squirrels and other wild creatures mission problems which the Protabout, as well as all the education- estant denominations of the United al and social necessities of family States and Canada are facing, are life. All these mutations in a homo- being studied with meticulous care geneous population would be per- by the missionary agencies repreplexing, but the problems increase senting the twenty-eight denomiin interest and difficulty of solution nations associated in the Home when these changes are going on Missions Council, and their solu- tion draweth nigh.
THOUGHTS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL "A man may be a blot or a blessing, but a blank he cannot be." "Let us fail in trying to do something rather than fail sitting still and doing nothing." "Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one's self." "Only consistent and cheerful giving keeps the soul from shrinking." "God will not look you over for medals, degrees, and diplomas, but for scars in likeness to His Son."
HOME AND FAMILY OF MR. KAJIMA, A JAPANESE LAWYER IN
THE ORIENTALS IN AMERICA BY REV. GEORGE WARREN HINMAN, D.D., New York secretary oJ Oriental and Spanish-Spea.kilng Missions, American Missionary A88()c-iaticm AMERICANS have only recent- Accepting the need of immigra- ly wakened to the dangers tion restriction, one must acknowl- of an immigration cultural- edge that Oriental immigrants ly different from Anglo-Saxon have suffered peculiar hardship in standards. We hoped to maintain the working out of a social con- a homogeneous nation. But the trol through the quota law. Sixty South and then the Pacific Coast years ago the Irish and forty years and then the East, in response to ago the Italians provided a text economic demands, began to im- for those who feared a loss of port cheap labor, and our cultural American cultural standards. But ideals began to fade. speedy naturalization of European The coming of Chinese, Japa- immigrants gave them the same nese, Hindus and Filipinos to Ha- status as American-born, while the waii and Continental United States Orientals, under the statute of was encouraged by interests which 1790, were not admitted to natu- thought largely in terms of man ralization. They are not "white power and overlooked social con- persons," according to various sequences. As a result we first court decisions. Being refused began to doubt the wisdom of mak- American citizenship, the Orientals ing America the refuge of the poor are discouraged from cultural as- and oppressed and to question the similation, with the result that Chi- efficacy of the "melting-pot." nese communities are the most 663
alien sections in our American life. public schools, welcomed at the bal- Under the handicap of their po- lot-box, and to a limited extent given an economic opportunity, is litical status and specially isolated the largest factor in the assimilaby the distinctive character of Ori- tion of the Orientals in America. ental customs there has never- Three in ten among the 62,000 Chitheless been much assimilation, nese in Continental United States particularly among the Japanese. are American-born and have the Prejudice and unwise missionary inalienable rights of an American methods have added to the difficul- citizen. Four out of fifteen among ties. But the social conditions in the 111,000 Japanese are Amerithe few large segregated Oriental can-born, although few of them are communities in New York, Chica- yet old enough to vote. In Hawaii, go, and San Francisco, though still the proportion of American-born is much higher. More than half of A BUDDHIST TEMPLE IN FRESNO, the Chinese in Hawaii and forty- CALIFORNIA five per cent of the Japanese are American citizens. Including Havery unsatisfactory, are steadily waii with Continental United improving. States, thirty-six per cent of the Chinese and thirty-five per cent of Thrown back upon themselves the Japanese in America are the Oriental groups have felt com- Americans. pelled to maintain their own cultural traditions and their contacts The economic position of the with the mother country, to which Chinese and Japanese in the life a large number have eventually re- of America is not so satisfactory. turned. Much of the new spirit in The effort to secure a permanent China and Japan and the Western- cheap labor group, especially for ization of the Orient is due to the agriculture, was not successful. returned Oriental emigrants, not The Chinese have almost wholly, alone students, but merchants and and the Japanese to a considerable laborers as well, and to their finan- extent, .escaped the status of day cial backing of new social changes. laborers, often in seasonal occupa- The second generation Oriental, tions, for which they were originborn in America, educated in our ally recruited. Only a sma II proportion still remain in house service. They all want their own little business and make it success- ful.
The religious situation is the worst. We have tried to do re- ligious work among Orientals in America without considering the social and economic implications. Even the most consecrated mis- sionaries in Chinese Sun d a y- schools and other religious enter- prises for Orientals have been com- promised by a popular attitude which denied to the Chinese and
THE ORIENTALS IN AMERICA
Japanese what Christianity prom- cestors and prayers for good luck. ised them. The devotion of those Elaborate public funerals, with diswho persisted in spite of this hand- play on an open platform of roast icap is commendable. But why pig, fruits and wine, and the inhave we not seen the inadequacy cantations of a Taoist priest, are of a Christian effort which left now rarely seen, though a Chinese them "boys," and aliens and social pariahs? Patronage and parasit- FOR GOOD OR FOR EVIL ? THE BELLE ism were often the result in con- OF 'rHE DISTRICT tacts with the small number of Orientals reached by American funeral still shows more evidence Christians. of religious influence than any oth- er custom likely to come to the Most of the Japanese in America notice of Americans. "Joss sticks" are nominally Buddhists, and most are still sold, and occasionally one of the Chinese are very little con- sees the paper money as an offercerned about any religion. J apa- ing to the spirit of the dead. But nese have several fine Buddhist religion plays a relatively small temples, in Seattle, San Francisco, part in the community life of the Los Angeles, Fresno, Salt Lake City, Honolulu and other centers of Japanese population. There are also a few Shinto shrines in the United States, at Los Angeles and Honolulu. Beside providing a place for ritual services, weddings and funerals, the Buddhist institution in the United States is a social and recreation center, often has a preaching service and has in connection a Y. M. B. A. to match the Y. M. C. A. Though the moral and social control of the Japanese in the United States through the Buddhist temples is undoubtedly of value, yet the presence of these institutions of an alien religion is an important factor in anti-Japanese feeling.
Many of the Chinese temples, so-called "joss-houses," are kept up to exploit tourist curiosity, quite as much as to give opportunity for worship. In San Francisco and New York they are part of the program of the sight-seeing busses, whose "visit to Chinatown" is surrounded with a great deal of artificial glamor. A good deal of Chinese worship is done in the home, and means reverence for an-
Chinese in America. Family so- ton. The Hindu immigration was cieties, clubs representing a cer- almost exclusively of men, and tain district, business organizations moral conditions among the groups and the more dangerous "tongs" of seasonal Hindu laborers seem are the agencies of social control to have been specially bad. There in the Chinese communities, ex- was a strong anti-British feeling tending their authority in a sur- among them brought from their prising way over scattered in- native country, and this with the dividual Chinese all over the other conditions of their life in United States. the United States made them pe- culiarly difficult to reach with any The twenty-five hundred Hindus Christian influences. Apparently reported in the 1920 census are large numbers have returned to India since 1920. A small number LEE HONG. A CHINESE CHRISTIAN of Koreans, about twelve hundred, TEACHER are reported for Continental Unit- ed States by the census, living largely Sikhs, with a distinctive mostly in San Francisco, Los Anand relatively high type of reli- geles and the San Joaquin Valley. gion. They had a temple at Stock- There are nearly five thousand in ton, California, and another at Hawaii. Vancouver, B r i tis h Columbia. Very many of the Hindus were There has been a considerable employed in building the Western immigration of Filipinos, especial- Pacific Railroad, and later settled ly since the restriction on the comin the upper Sacramento and the ing of Japanese. The 1920 census Imperial Valleys in California, reports twenty-one thousand in some securing ranches of their Hawaii and fifty-six hundred in own and employing their fellow Continental United States, mostly countrymen in raising rice and cot- in California. Many Filipino young men have scattered widely over the United States, often in hotel service, while the families have remained on the Pacific Coast in agriculture, sugar beets, etc. The number of Filipinos in Ha- waii and in Continental United States has probably largely in- creased since 1920.
The fact that Filipinos are Christians, while other Orientals are so-called "heathen," influences the mental attitudes of many peo- ple, though it is probable that mor- al standards of Chinese and Japanese living under normal so- cial conditions in the United States compare favorably with those of European immigrants. There is no ground for the charges of un- usual social depravity among Ori-
THE ORIENTALS IN AMERICA
entals except where some special in the United States from the very conditions, for which we ourselves beginning. In 1852, William Speer are largely responsible, have shut began work for Chinese in San them off from legitimate recrea- Francisco with the support of the tion and family life. The statement Presbyterian Foreign Board, and years ago to a Congressional com- the following year organized a mittee that the Chinaman had no church with four Chinese consoul, and another made very re- verted before they came here, one cently by a member of Congress of them a brother-in-law of Morhimself that he had never known a rison's disciple, Leung A-fah. Otis Japanese who was either honest or Gibson began work for the Methmoral, are rio more than the evi- odists in 1868, and William C. dence of a blind prejudice. Pond for the Congregationalists in 1870. Baptists and Congregation- However, the abnormal social alists had both begun Chinese mis- sion work much earlier, but not conditions of Oriental communities till 1870 did they establish a perin Continental United States, with manent and continuous work. only one woman to sixteen men among foreign-born Chinese, helps Chinese mission work has varied one to understand the smuggling in type from the individual instrucof Chinese slave girls, their sale tion in beginning English to the for thousands of dollars from one normally organized church with a owner to another, and the tong large institutional program, inwars which spring from such a cluding dormitory and recreation- al facilities, employment bureau, nefarious traffic. Parasitic occu- medical advice and help, social pations, like seIling lottery tickets clubs, Boy Scouts, dramatics and and running gambling houses, forums, as well as religious work in have attractions for men who are the Sunday-school, wee k-day shut out of most ordinary ways of classes and daily vacation Bible earning a living. It is natural to spend time in a gambling house, schools. Unfortunately, many of the when neither family life nor public institutions offer to the Oriental Christian undertakings for Chi- nese in the United States have nevany other form of recreation. If er gone beyond the simplest the moral conditions of Oriental elementary stage, partly because communities are bad, it is because there was a constantly changing the social conditions are abnormal. group of pupils, and partly because The establishment of family life, there was little expert direction by with proper housing, now very gen- Americans with missionary traineral among Japanese, and slowly ing in China and little development increasing among the Chinese in of Chinese initiative and leaderthe United States, with the grow- ship. Japanese, Korean and Filiing influence of the second genera- pino mission work began on a tion Oriental, will in time end the different basis, at a much later un-American conditions of our Ori- date and with a larger background ental communities, provided edu- of Christian development in the cational and religious agencies home lands. Christian work among wisely and adequately meet this these groups is, therefore, much opportunity. better developed than among the There has been a large amount of Christian work among Orientals
Chinese settlements in America. guage schools. When conducted A directory of all Christian in- under Buddhist or commercial stitutions for Orientals in the auspices, these schools may become United States, including Hawaii, un-American in their influence.
and Canada, has been issued by But without them the break be- the Home Missions Council and tween children born in the United Council of Women for Home Mis- States and parents born in the Ori- sions, and includes addresses of ent would be much more of a prob- churches, mISSIons or Sunday lem than it is now. For this schools for Chinese, numbering reason Christian work among Ori- 289, Japanese 162, Koreans 50, entals, when based on a sympa- Filipinos 33, and Hindus 1. No thetic understanding of their needs, figures are avaible as to the total usually includes the language number of Christians among Ori- school, where the Bible and the entals in the United States. An hymns can be taught in Chinese earlier edition of the Oriental Mis- and Japanese. Often adults who sions Directory, listing only mission have spent many years in the Unit- work west of the Rockies, reported ed States study the written lan- 3,072 members of Chi n e S e guage in these schools so that they churches, 5,390 Japanese, and 514 may be fitted for Christian service Korean. when they return to their native Some very encouraging union country.
enterprises have been developed From the very beginning, there among the Japanese, and the edu- have been some Christians among cational work of the Chinese the immigrants from China, Japan, churches in San Francisco has been Korea and the Philippines. It is united. Only a few denomination- said that when Neesima, the found- al churches for Orientals have be- er of Doshisha University, stopped come self-supporting, but there are over Sunday at Rock Springs, several independent Chinese and Wyoming, many years ago he Japanese churches. Rescue homes found no American church but was for Chinese slave girls, dormitories able to read the Bible and pray for Japanese women, for Chinese with some Christian Chinese and Japanese men, orphanages, among the large mining commu- day nurseries and kindergartens, nity there. A very large propor- as well as Chinese and Japanese tion of the Koreans who have come Y. M. C. A.'s and Y. W. C. A.'s, to the United States are Christians, have been organized in response to and trained Christian workers increased emphasis On the social have come with them or to them side of the work. from their own land. .
A distinctive feature of the Ori- Relations between the Japanese ental churches is the language in the United States and the Chris- school, where Chinese and J apa- tian churches in Japan have from nese children are taught the lan- the beginning provided initiative guage of their parents, usually and responsible leadership and a after public school hours. There pattern of normal Christian or- has been much criticism of this ganization. The reactions have work, and both Hawaii and Cali- been mutual. Many of the leaders fornia passed laws to examine and of the Christian churches in Japan, regu,late thl'l private Oriental lan- laymen and ministers, have been
THE ORIENTALS IN AMERICA
trained in service in the Japanese very large financial and moral supchurches in the United States, port of the new order in their home while Kimura, Kanamori, and country, there has been a very con- Harada have made frequent cam- siderable number of strong Chrispaigns for evangelism and under- tian Chinese leaders who have standing among the J apanesehere. visited and encouraged the Chinese in the United States. The missions for Chinese in the United States have had, until very The Chinese churches and misrecently, exceedingly limited con- sions in the United States have tacts with the Christian movement sent back to China hundreds of in China. At rare intervals, a mis- men who have become leaders besionary who could speak their dia- cause of their Christian faith, Dr.
THE JAPANESE UNION CHURCH OF LOS ANGELES leet (they are practically all Fong Sec, Rev. Young Park and Cantonese) visited the churches devoted laymen who have changed and Sunday schools. The Chinese the whole character of remote vilstudents in our American schools lages by the message they brought were generally from other prov- back from the United States. Such inces in China, and until lately men are now coming back on visits took little interest in the Chinese to the Chinese groups in America, merchants and laborers. As a re- often to secure financial help for sult, dependence on American and good enterprises in China, but inon denominational leadership was cidentally putting a new spirit into almost universal. The last few the Chinese Christians here which years, as a result of the national will necessitate a revision of the solidarity developed by the revolu- "unequal treaties" under which tion in China and the acknowledged much of the old Chinese mission obligation to Chinese abroad for work has been carried on.
A KIOWA INDIAN'S
M AMADA'S family came out to our car, and one of the In- dians said, "Brother King you must not go farther tonight, Mamada has been in great distress of mind for three days and he wants to be a Christian."
We went into the house and after supper I read from the Acts the account of Cornelius sending for Peter. Mamada listened intently and when prayer had been offered, he said that for more than a month the Spirit had been speaking to him. For the past three days and nights he could not eat or sleep well because of this voice. For a long time he had known that he ought to be a Christian; now he wanted to ask the Lord to save him.
"All these years," said Mamada, "I have been like a horse that could not be caught. Many things have come up to hinder me from being a Christian, but I have said that if the Holy Spirit should speak to me I would be a Christian. The Holy Spirit has been speaking to me and I want to obey. I have called you Christians to my home to tell you of this and to ask you to pray for me. I want to become an example to my children. I want my children to follow Jesus. My heart was touched more than a month ago and the struggle has been going on all this time until I cannot stand it any longer. I must tell you Christians that somebody has been praying for me and now that prayer is answered. I listened to the Gospel a long time but did not come to Christ. Now I believe in the Lord with all my life and heart. I want to be baptized. I believe and I want to pray."
Then Mamada prayed in his Kiowa tongue, a prayer for the forgiveness of sins. After this prayer he continued: "It has been a great battle within me. It has seemed as if some one was after me with a very sharp spear. But now the fight is over. Before this meeting I always tried to get out of difficulties the shortest way but every time something headed me off. Now I am out and saved. I believe I am already saved. Maybe your prayers did it. I want my Brother King to help me in this Christian life. I am wondering why I did not become a Christian a long time ago. In the years that have passed, many have talked with me about being a Christian and I put off saying that when I felt the Holy Spirit I would come. Now I am going to try to live up to the teachings of the Word of God. The Lord is very strong. I promise the Lord that I will live for Him."
Before this time Mamada had been praying to false gods, but now he prayed Jo the true God. That night he confessed Christ as his Saviour and we arranged for his baptism the next day. The Christian Indians stayed with him till late into the night to pray and give thanks.-F. L. King.
570
UNFINISHED HOME MISSION
BY REV. WARREN H. WILSON, D.D., New York Director oj Town and Country Depa.rtmcntj Bowrd oj National Missions} Presbyterian Church} U. 8. A.
C ONSIDERING Home Mis- U. S. A. nine tenths of our congre- sions as a whole, there is evi- gations were missions at the be- dence that the Boards need ginning-must still carry the to be released from a burden of church by paying its pastor a grant supporting pastors, in order that many years after it was estabthey may direct their attention to lished. 0 f the Presbyterian missionary extension, to the evan- churches 37.7 per cent are still gelizing of the alien and the aided; and of the rural churches un – Christian communities. In three out of every eight receive administrative costs, necessitated grants in aid. Of the Protestant by outworn methods, some Boards Episcopal churches 36.4 per cent are spending an amount almost are aided, and 48 per cent of the equal to that expended on mission- rural Episcopal churches are aided. aries. From this burden the Of Northern Baptist churches only Boards of Home Missions should 16% are aided, and 17% of rural be released. churches. Of the Presbyterian The unfinished task of Home funds paid in grants, 71 % is paid Missions therefore is national administration of the salaries of in- to the pastors of native white constalled pastors. The support of gregations. country pastors, in churches which are no longer missionary, is the The nature of the problem of burden upon the Boards of Home the Home Boards is indicated by Missions from which they cannot the fact that in the Presbytebe released so long as there is no rian Church, as Dr. Herman N. administration created by the de- Morse has discovered, the propornomination as a whole. tion of aided churches is about the same during the past hundred The heaviest load to be borne by years. In other words, the Presa denomination is the salary pay- byterian denomination does not ments to pastors. The next great bring its churches to self-support, cost is usually paid by the commu- but the National Missions organinity, namely, the cost of erecting zation has to carry year after year houses of worship. the load of supporting the churches once established. There is not suf- The history of American Prot- ficient money retained in country estant churches shows that in coun- communities or in the down-town try communities and in downtown parts of citi~s to support the gospel sections of the cities the congre- ministry. This condition is shown gation is unable to pay the salary by Dr. C. Luther Fry of the Instiof the pastor. Exceptions are so few that the Boards of Home mis- tute of Social and Religious Resions w hie h established the search in the statement that only churches in the vast majority of cases-in the Presbyterian Church 9% of the Presbyterian churches aided in 1925 had been organized in 1920-25, which were the five 571
years just prior to his study. More The end attained by this method than one half the Presbyterian is a business system suitable to the aided churches he studied in 1925 industrial system of the time in had been in existence for over which we live. It would stabilize twenty-five years, that is, Presby- the pastor's salary by making the terian Home Missions funds in whole denomination his guarantor 1925 were carrying at least one during the time of his service. It half their load composed of non- would steady the local church by missionary congregations. . requiring it to take part in a sys- My proposal is that this load of tem of banking. It would put the regular pastoral salary expenditure biggest cost borne by the Protes- should be administered by the de- tant churches on the basis of busi- nomination as a whole, or at least ness payment, and thus would or- nationally. To do so would release ganize "consecration of wealth"
Home Missions funds for the evan- about which we talk so much. A gelization of the Indians, about one systematic obligation would take half of whom are still pagan, and the place of benevolences, in those of the Negroes who are very poor, payments for which the churches and the churches among aliens. are already responsible in con- One commuhity in seven in rural tracts with their pastors: only the United States is now without a denomination, or at least the Cen- Protestant church. Very few of tral Fund, would be the adminis- these country communities have trator of the obligation undertaken Catholic churches, since the Cath- by the people.
olic church centers in the cities. There is good evidence that Here then is the Home Missions many Protestants prefer to pay in task, to release the Boards for this this manner to a going concern, kind of work by freeing them even more than they desire to pay from the burden of pastors' sal- to a missionary experiment or a aries in nearly one half the coun- venture. The gain, however, would try churches and the downtown be that individual Christians would churches of cities. pay to what they prefer. Those This can be accomplished by a who desire to contribute to mis- national fund for the equalization sions would have their monies ex- of pastors' salaries. This fund pended upon missions alone.
shall undertake to pay to every The great purpose of this under- pastor the "interchangeable part" taking is to set free the Boards of of all salaries of pastors, namely, Home Missions for purely mission- the first $1,000. In return the con- ary work. American missions is gregation of the pastor so sub- an adventure. It involves the tak- sidized shall pay to the fund a ing up of new work, the entrance fixed quota, according to its ability, into new territory, presenting the determined in a uniform manner. Gospel to those who have it not. It The congregation shan also agree is in strong contrast to the other that the pastor shall receive a sal- kinds of work with which the ary, the minimum of which shall Boards are today burdened, not be- be, let us say, $2,000 in a country cause the support of pastors is less church, $2,500 in a city church. worthy, but because it is not "Mis- This amount shall include the sions." The great gain to Amer- grant from the fund. ican religion in restoring the mis-
THE UNFINISHED HOME MISSION TASK
sionary motive by defining it more nominational headquarters atclearly in terms of joyous and con- tempting to control. It is only fair secrated adventure, far from home to say that the Pension Funds among alien peoples, is the spiritual established now in several denomend to be sought in this proposal. inations are of this sort, and the budget system so generally ex- Incidental gains are of high tended during the past two decades value. First, this undertaking will in American Protestant churches probably do more to bring about looks toward a system of adminiscooperation, or perhaps fusion in tration as its ultimate end. whole or in part between kindred denominations. It is quite possible Pioneer Missionaries that the discussion of it may bring to pass a union of churches in One is sometimes asked whether many country communities. The there are any old-fashioned home goal of a well-supported ministry missionaries any more. My answer would be a gain for the local com- to this inquiry is that the Presbymunity, which might decide the terian Board is supporting about argument in favor of having one five or six hundred home missionchurch instead of three. aries who are doing the same kind of pioneer work as was done a cen- Second, there would be a great tury ago. They are preachers and reduction in administrative cost pastors in new communities estabnow imposed on the Boards of lished every year in the states of Home Missions, because the pay- the Northwest, South and Southment of uniform quantities of west, where settlement is still exmoney is less costly than the pay- tending. They are Sunday-school ment of thousands of grants, each missionaries who have a wide unique, each requiring conference range in the mining and forest of highly trained minds. country, organizing schools and fostering them in the hope that Third, a great gain to the Amer- they will become churches of some ican Church would be the decen- denomination. They are lumber tralizing of administration. A camp missionaries following the secretary and a skilled treasurer itinerant loggers into the forest. can payout uniform amounts by Their story, if it could be kept bethis method because the local con- fore the mind of church people and gregation must make the decision. read in the spirit of land-seeking adventure, which moved the nation Now the Protestant denominations sixty years ago, would be a thrillare straining to administer their ing tale. funds from Board headquarters, and the local church is either com- A great obstacle to Home Mispelled to accept their decisions or sions is the diversion of the attento rebel. tion of church people from mis- sionary adventure to the conserva- Last of all this method must be tion of what we have. The latter established by denominational ac- is perhaps of greater worth to the tion in order that all parties shall missionary enterprise, for no adconsent to the system. Thus by venture is without an element of establishing a kind of bank, in experiment, while standing by which obligations would rule in- what we have and holding our stead of "benevolences," the local church would manage its own financial affairs instead of the de-
ground where we have conquered on the denominations as a whole or the ground is properly respected upon some interdenominational by the religious mind. If this in- agency for maintaining the estabterest of conserving what we have lished work, then they would be were committed to a fund for the free to undertake the conclusion of maintaining of the ministry, then the Home Mission task in evanwe would be free to follow the gelizing the rest of the country. It homesteader in such states as is a doubly difficult task and the Wyoming and Montana. There I Boards need funds greater in proam told more homesteads were portion than they did in the past granted in the decade beginning 1915 than in any previous ten to complete it. The mission station years. There are more Mexicans opened now in a Montana or coming in and across the border Wyoming settlement is more costly. at El Paso than before. Their in- It requires a more elaborate and vasion is extending throughout the more permanent investment. The whole country, especially are they preacher used to be welcomed in an penetrating the Middle West as a empty store or even in a tolerant new labor ,class. Many of them saloon. Now he cannot make an will remain permanently in the impression suitable to the estab- United States. They are eager for lished Protestant church which he Americanization and evangelists represents without the cooperation find them quickly responsive to the of other helpers, such as women offer of the Gospel. assistants; in some cases a trained nurse assistant; in some cases an Unchurched Rural Communities assistant in religious education. The Larger Parish is a method ac- The surveys made and published cepted by leading Protestant deby the Institute of Social and Re- nominations in mission work. It ligious Research disclosed in 1923 is necessary partly because a that there are in the United States change in religious idealism re- 10,461 country communities with no church in any of them; that is, quires it. The Gospel must not only any Protestant church. Inasmuch be preached; it must be demonas the Catholic churches are deliberately placed in towns and strated to persons settling new cities, it is probable that these country. communities have no church whatever. The second difficulty in complet- Here is the Home Missions task. ing the National Missions tasks is It has not been finished in the past in the recruiting of workers. The five years, for the Protestants have time was when the settlement of not been expanding; they have the West was in the minds of all been rather contracting their ac- men. Now their appetite for sentivities in this half decade. The sation is satisfied with aviation. difficulties in any great enterprises The grandfather marveled at Kit increase as one approaches its con- Carson; he prayed for and supclusion. The Home Boards have ported Sheldon Jackson. The been burdened with the very suc- grandson marvels at Lindbergh cesses they have attained. If they and he spends his money in seeing could unload this their success up- a moving picture by Tom Mix. There are earnest and consecrated recruits for Home Missions but they require a permanent employ-
ment. TMy are willing to enlist that supports him. He is willing but it must be for life, and they to be sustained by benevolences expect the wealthy Protestant and he rejoices in generous imchurches to equip them and sustain them as generously and as com- pulses. But a pastor has the pride fortably as they would be equipped of permanence. He serves a church in the teaching profession. This that knows not only how to give– its benevolences are well mainis quite reasonable for a United tained; but he and his people know States so rich as ours, with com- how to keep their contracts and to munication so swift to every re- pay what they owe. mote section of the land. If America is sincere in professions of The whole missionary enter- Christianity it should sustain its prise at home and abroad needs the "workers well in their ministry to support of a broader home base. the poor and to the lonely and the The body of Christian people must struggling settlers of the land. be steadied and united in support of the enterprise of giving the Gos- I do not mention the downtown pel to the world. The weaker city problem, for it would belong, churches that have ceased long I think, under the care of the Cen- since to be missionary are just as tral Fund. It should be adminis- eager to get into that enterprise as tered not as mission work but as the stronger ones are, but they are pastoral service. The cities are, confused by their assignment to a however, extending in the suburbs, lower class when they are called and the mi!!sionary problem of "missionary," while yet they are cities is the erection of Protestant required to do the steady maintain- ing rather than the joyous advenchurches in the wards or real- turing. They realize that someestate projects allocated to one de- thing is wrong. The work in these nomination or another. Here is churches is out of joint. It is disthe Home Mission problem of the couraging to ministers. The offuture. For the provision of resi- ficers of the weaker churches are dent pastors among these urban confused and disillusioned by the settlers large funds are needed in the hands of Home Mission Boards contradictions involved in the and Committees. process.
I may make my assertion clear The money is in America. These by contrasting with this mission- churches and their people have ary work the substantial service of much to do with its creation. They pastors in the home churches. The know it is concentrating in cities pastor is not a missionary; first, in the hands of a few, every year because he stays and continues the work already begun. He is sec- of a fewer of our people. They ondly, not an adventurer but a man require as sanction of their share of routine. Third, the pastor is consciously and deliberately a sup- in the task of the whole Church to porter of the whole enterprise of evangelize the world that there be the Church, while the missionary in the Church an equalizing of is consciously and joyfully a dependent. No true missionary feels pastors' salaries. If the Home ashamed of begging. He does not Boards could be free from the load object to the mendicant process of supporting these marginal churches, and the financial" prob- lem of the whole communion could be banked – as all other financial
matters of this country are organ- quires a consecrated attention to ized-upon a big basis, nationally, the glory of God. Hitherto Home they would be free to take their Mission work has been largely traplace, and would greatly increase ditional. A process of granting by their contributions to all forms of a year at a time has characterized missionary activity. Long pas- the Boards of Home Missions. torates of educated and respected Very few of them have adopted ministers in the churches of middle any administrative measures of a grade would enlarge the contribu- high order. Almost universally tions of churches to the cause. they pay a grant, reduced to the lowest amount, and they promise it There are two great considera- for the shortest possible time, tions which support this proposal. namely, a year. The reason is that First, if the greater churches are no consecrated attention has ever' to be united, as the Methodist and been given to the problem as a Presbyterian, it will be necessary whole. Only a profound religious to avoid the piling up of expensive conviction will complete the Home administration. Every recent con- Mission task, so well begun and so solidation has resulted in increased devoutly carried on, with symproportionat.e expense. pathy and benevolent impulse-a conviction thoroughly wrought in The second consideration is that the form of a national administrathe proposal I am making is a re- tion to conserve the best work and ligious one. It cannot be consid- to release the benevolent spirit for ered except in terms of devotion to the Home Mission task. the Master, in the greatest of the interests of the Kingdom. It re- THE AMERICAN INDIAN SPEAKS BY CATHERINE CULNAN Mr ydidGondo, taknndotwhewwhheirtee man's GHoidm, .areroonnelyankdnethwe same. to find that some- where, in the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or in the big wind blowing over me, The Father Spirit was.
Many white men came to me who did not know God any better than 1. They drove me off the land The Father Spirit had given me. When I sought to revenge myself, they forced my people into submission. We did not understand each other. And so we hated each other with a deadly hatred.
Other white men came who were different. They came not to rob or to destroy me. They were ambassadors of the Son of The Great Spirit. There was no fear in their faces, nor any hatred.
They smiled in the language of friendship, and made signs that told me, "We are brothers."
They told me that the Son of the Great Spirit had come and taught them, and had sent them to me.
I do not live any longer as those who have no hope.
I sit quietly at the door of my hogan, and look across the . changing desert to the great hills of God.
-Women and Missions.
CHILDREN'S MISSIONARY RAL- urday after,noon is chosen that will
LIES-WHY AND BOW1 not confiictwith othel' functions of··' By MRS. JOHN H. MILLS, Garden City, New York geneJ;:al interest, such as· girl and boy.: scout rani.es, or JQnior·C.: E. conven- . Secretary for OhHdren'g Work in the Brook! thins.· The dlite settled;i We·decide up~ l,ynv Na8sau Presbytery on a church centrally.·'locatetl, acces– Today our chi1dren have their own sible to all groups, and after'the offi- cial boards have promised thl! use of:'
mission objects, Foreign and Home; the church building for that date, we'
their own apportionments for their request the woman's missionary so- share in supporting their objects; ciety to appoint a committee to serve their own' annual thank offering and light refreshments during the social theit oWrttnission study topics, just hour, to plan for pianist, song leader, like -{yoman's societies. Why should and boy ushers. A committee of two they' hOt have also their own conven- is appointed to figure percentages of tiort and rallies, where they may carry delegations for attendance awards.
out their own programs, review their We ask the minister of the church to achievements, hear messages from reserve the date, if possible, and be their missionaries, bring in their ready to pronounce the benediction.
thank offering, talk about their plans This enlists his interest and assures for the coming year and greet their his presence. Our ministers should fellow-workers, as the older folks do? know what the children are doing and Why not? If rallies for young peo- what an. asset they can be, if organpIe and intermediates are good, should ized for service.
we not start right with the smaller While these details are being ar- children and begin to train them now ranged,. we take a survey of our field for future service and leadership? and prepare. our mailing lists. The How can we do it? In Brooklyn- leaders of all organized societies are Nassau Presbytery, New York, the se- on the permanent.,list, but for our ral- cret of success, in planning our annual lies we include Sunday-schools where children's missionary (world-friend- there is no organized children's mis- ship) rl111y, is in encouraging the chil- sionary work. We seek to have every dren to consider it their affair alto- church under our jurisdiction repre- gether. With the help of their lead- sented by a delegation· of children, and ers, they are taught to be responsible we suggest that potential leaders be for tlie delegations, program, singing, sent with them; with the hope that, and other items, even to the home- after they have felt the influence and ward carrying of the' attendance ban- inspiration of the rally, they will wish ners by the two winning societies. to organize societies in'their churches.
This means patient, persistent effort We try to find a "key person" in each on the part of the children's secre- church with whom correspondence taries, who carefully plan and prepare, may be established. By making. our then step aside and let the children rally the center' of the year's activi- themselves do the work. ties, we are constantly in communica- Several weeks before the appointed tion with all our churches and Jearn time we select the rally date. A Sat- promptly of changes in leadership, dis- 577 5
banded or leaderless groups and newly awarded to the societies (1) with the organized societies. largest delegation of active members present, and (2) with the highest per- Preliminary announcements are centage of members present. It is emsent to all leaders, asking them to re- phasized that all ~hildren are invited serve the date and to begin planning to our World-Friendship Rally, but for their delegations. In the outlying only organized societies may compete districts many arrange auto parties for the banners. These banners are for this happy afternoon, asking fa- held for one year, then are brought thers and good friends to bring their back to be again awarded. Should cars, fill them with children and make two societies tie, each of the winning a jolly excursion of it. With this ad- groups keeps the banner for six vance announcement, samples of the months. There is a ruling that a soprinted song sheets to be used at the ciety may not be awarded the same rally are enclosed, asking the leaders banner more than two consecutive to use in their meetings the ones years, but may compete for the other checked as rally songs. The song one. sheets are helpful but not necessary. Hymns familiar to the children and A child with loud, clear voice is found in all hymn books may be spec- chosen to give the roll call, asking the ified. The idea is that the children societies to give (1) number of memshall be practising them in advance as bers, (2) number of members present. rally songs: This is checked behind the scenes by the award committee. We endeavor Next in order comes the sending of to have the rules fair to all and thorletters to the groups chosen to be re- oughly understood, and every precausponsible for definite features of the tion is taken to avoid error or misunprogram. This is planned with the derstanding. thought of having as many groups represented as possible, delegations The only adults to appear on the from the societies which participate in program are these: (1) The missionthe program being assured. In the ary speaker who is, if possible, somesalutes to the flags, for instance, we one directly connected with one of our ask two societies to take their places children's special objects, gives a talk on the platform, one to be responsible limited to twenty minutes. (2) The for holding the flag, the other to lead children's secretary gives greetings, the salute. The thank-offering is di- reviewing briefly the accomplishments vided equally between two previously of prayer, work and gifts for the year. announced children's objects, Foreign She gives messages from the chiland Home. Before the offering is dren's missionaries on the field, and taken, representatives from two soci- presents goals for the coming year. eties present these objects. After the (3) One of the associate children's offering, another delegation repeats or secretaries .awards attendance bansings the prayer of dedication. The ners.' (4) The pastor gives the benewelcome is given by a child of the entertaining church, a member of the diction. missionary group if there is one, and Of course, back of it all lies the the features on the program are announced by a child. cooperation of consecrated leaders of local groups, who stimulate the enthu- Two weeks before the "great day" siasm of the children and encourage another set of notices is dispatched, them in preparing their parts on the this time including the Sunday- program. schools where there is no organized work, giving a definite announcement Following is one program used-it of place and time, the attractions of may be varied and adapted as desired. the program, speaker and subject, and of the two attendance banners to be 1. Welcome. 2. Salute to Christian Flag. 3. Bible Lesson. 4. Prayer Service.
METHODS FOR WORKERS
5. Devotional Song or Solo. know that the children of ….. . 6. Roll Call. and the children of America are 7. Greeting from Children's Secre- such good friends. That is why we are here today, because we tary. want to be the friends of all the 8. Offering Service. children of the world! Our at- 9. Missionary Sketch or Pageant. tendance banners will now be 10. Rally Song. awarded by ………….. As- 11. Missionary Talk. sociate Secretary for Children's 12. Award of Banners. Work. 13. Resolutions. 13. Before we close our program, 14. Salute to American Flag. surely we want to thank the 15. Rally Song; America the Beauti- friends of ………… who so kindly invited us to hold our ful. Rally in this Church; the 16. Benediction. ushers, the committees, Miss ………. , and all who have This program was sent to the child- worked to give us this interest- ing, happy afternoon. Shall we announcer in the following form, to be give them a rising vote of thanks? partly memorized and given as easily 14, 15 and 16. The last number on our program is the Salute to the and naturally as possible: American Flag, led by ……. . and …………… After the 1. The first number on our program Salute we will remain standing is a Welcome, given by ……. . and sing Rally Song No.1, '" ……….. of ……….. . America the Beautiful, and then Dr. .. ………….. , pastor of 2. Salute to the Christian Flag, led this Church, will dismiss us with by ………… and …….. . the benediction.
3. The Bible Lesson will be in charge During the get-together time, while of ………… and ……… . the children are enjoying their little "party," the leaders gather around the 4. Our Prayer Service will be led by tables where samples of handwork and mission study books and materials are ……………… displayed. There is a plentiful supply of free literature, posters, etc., de- 5. Song; The Lord's Prayer, by the scribing the objects the children sup- children's societies of …….. . port. Church. There has been some discussion as 6. The Roll Call of the Societies will to the best time of the year to hold now be taken by …………. . children's rallies. We have experi- of ………………. . mented with spring and fall rallies and are now receiving replies from a 7. We will now have a word of greet- questionnaire sent out recently to our ing from ………….. , Secre- leaders. Some prefer the spring rally tary for Children's Missionary because it is a goal toward which to Work. work during the winter; others vote in favor of fall rallies because they 8. Before we give our Thank Offer- give ideas, objectives and inspiration ing, ……….. of ……… , for the new season's work. Some and …….. of …….. will frankly admit they would like to have tell us about the Objects our both! All agree that they find the Offering is going to. rallies helpful and wish them contin- After the ushers have received ued. our Offering, the dedication will be sung by ……….. . We are convinced that the work with Society. This is a special the boys and girls does count. They Thank Offering we are giving are the foundation of all future mis- today and does not apply on sionary effort, and at our rallies we our regular apportionments. The offering will now be taken.
9. A Missionary Sketch . . . . . . . . . . , by the ……………. Band.
10. We will rise and sing Rally Song No.2.
11. We are happy to have with us to- day, ……………. , who has spent several years in …….. , where we have one of our For- eign Objects, the ………… . Kindergarten. . …….. , will tell us about the children of 12. We thank ………. for this very interesting talk, and are glad to
take advantage of the opportunity to United States to the children of emphasize this thought; also the four- Mexico. fold service PRAY-WORK-GIVE-GO is presented as a challenge to be con- The words in Spanish above the sidered in the meetings of the local picture on the school bag may be groups during the year. translated, "World Friendship Among Children," and, underneath, "Good- We find a further answer to the will Greetings." The English words question,-"Does it pay?" as we look appear on the other side of the bag. into the faces of these hundreds of Children, individually and in groups, eager, enthusiastic youngsters, repre- from many churches, Sunday-schools, senting thirty to thirty-five organized organizations, and sections of the missionary groups. These children country, plan to bridge the Rio Grande are learning the advantages of world- by sending to the Secretary of Edufriendship and the joy in service. cation in Mexico City, throughout the They realize at our rallies that they summer months, good-will gift bags are a part of a nation-wide organiza- as a fitting sequel to the good will ention of children, all praying, working gendered by Ambassador Morrow and and giving together for the other chil- Colonel Lindbergh. The bags measdren of the world, and looking for- ure twelve by fourteen inches and are ward to the time when some of them made of durable artificial leather. may "GO" out as missionaries in the interests of world-friendship, world- The bags, or information concernpeace· and world-redemption. ing them, may be secured from the Committee on World Friendship Friendship School Bags for Mexico Among Children, 289 Fourth Avenue, New York City. They should be filled Following the very successful en- with gifts treasured by boys and girls terprise carried out two years ago everywhere, which are being purwhen the American school children chased for small amounts by the sent "Friendship Dolls" to Japan to American children themselves. The bags also contain a leaflet of explana- tion, and eight pictures of historical and patriotic interest to both coun- tries. Some of the American children write letters to their Mexican cousins and enclose them in the bags. One of these reads as follows: My DEAR LITTLE MEXICAN GIRL: I hope you will enj oy the little pres- ents I am sending you. I wonder if in Mexico they started a letter like we do here in American schools. I am in the sixth grade in Mt. Hebron School, Upper Montclair, N. J. My name is Geneva Leach. Would you please write me and tell me your grade-school, town, state and name.
I hope you like your school work.
THE FRIENDSHIP SCHOOL BAG FOR (Privilly I don't.) Please excuse my MEXICAN CHILDREN spelling and writing. I am enclosing cultivate international goodwill, this year the Committee on World Friend- and addressed envelope. Please write. ship Among Children has promoted the plan for sending "Friendship I'm trying to write backhand. School Bags" from the children of the Lovingly your little 11 year old Amer- ican friend, I am GENEVA LEACH.
P. S.-If you could send me some old used up stamps, and your age.
WOMAN'S HOME MISSION
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 105 EAST 22ND STREET, NEW YORK HOME MISSIONARY EDUCATION the problems of the day are being met. He presents Christianity as a message By E. JESSIE OGG, New York for the whole of life; shows how Christianity carries a health message Ohairman} Joint Oommittee ott Home Mi8B101J to sick bodies, brings enlightment to Literature darkened minds and the revelation of love and salvation to lonely hearts Home missionary education seeks to and lives steeped in sin. Today's mespresent the whole task of the Church sage of Christianity carries not only in the homeland. It seeks so to pre- wholeness for the individual but a sent the facts that the Church may be solution for the problems imbued in more intelligent and act more wisely man's contacts in society. The reader regarding the v a rio u s problems, is left with a forward look, a vision of whether these be racial questions, what Christianity may accomplish in class distinctions, economic relation- this land of ours when released for all ships or the one great underlying mo- of life of all men in their relationships tive of all-the winning of men, wom- one to another. en and children to a fullness of life in our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.
Last year an effort was made to see the missionary character of Christian- For Seniors ity itself. Jesus as the first great missionary with a world purpose, a world For seniors-youth of high school message and a world-wide love was age-G. Bromley Oxnam has written studied. Then came the followers of out of his own rich experience with the Master with their enlarging views that age group a book entitled "Youth of the task laid upon them. Pioneer and the New America." The author missionaries to all parts of the world seeks to prepare these boys and girls demonstrated the dynamic power of to make a contrihution by their liv- Christianity. ing and thinking to the country in which they live. He reminds them of After this view of the beginnings the rich heritage, religious and secuand inspiration of the missionary lar, which is theirs; brings to their spirit it seems fitting to spend a year attention some of the outstanding facing anew the task in America in problems of the day-industrial, racial the light of changing conditions. The and international; then proceeds to study of the year by adult and young point a way whereby the rising genpeople's groups on the theme, "Home eration may help to usher in a new Missions Today" will be on the mes- day by appropriating Jesus' teachings sage of Christianity to the various and applying them to these great probpeoples in America and the applica- lems. tion of Christianity to the moaern problems of American life. For Intermediates Dr. William P. Shriver, who is de- "Meet Your United States!" is the voting his life through a denomina- title of the book to be used by intermetional mission board to the solving of diates. The form of this book marks one of America's most acute problems, a new departure in method of treat- has written the text book for adults ment. It is designed for leaders of and young people, entitled, "What groups and presents a method of work Next in Home Missions?" Through rather than home mission stories.
typical enterprises the author sets The author, Miss Mary Jenness, is a forth the manner in which some of successful teacher herself, has devoted 681
time to studying the most modern primary teacher, as well as a gifted methods and has worked out with writer already known as the author of groups of intermediates the various "The Box Car Children," has proprojects presented in the book. A duced "Windows into Alaska." This leader may take the text and follow the book is published in two forms, a projects rather closely or may under- teachers' edition, containing a course take original work stimulated by sug- of lessons based on a series of stories, gestions in one special section of the and an attractively illustrated gift book. The attempt is made to provide edition comprising the stories alone. help for all leaders along a new line, As a supplement to this book on but much latitude is left the individual Alaska, use of "The World in a Barn," in carrying out the course. by the same author published in 1927, is recommended. This is a good read- For Juniors ing book and one chapter of it relates Alaska is the theme for juniors. how the children built an Alaskan Miss Katharine E. Gladfelter visited village. "Alaska Picture Stories" conthat far-off possession of the United sists of four large pictures with a States a year ago and from her experi- story about each written by Florence ence has written "Under the North Crannel Means. Star." Miss Gladfelter is eminently fitted, both- from practical experience Self-activity will be expressed in the and board responsibility, to supply a use of "To the Land of the Eskimo," book needed for work with juniors. a cardboard folder of colored pictures The text presents stories and lessons ready to be punched out and set up to by the project method and it further form an Eskimo village. Little hands furnishes suggestions for pupil activities, so that these little people may will become occupied in arranging this learn by doing and have built up in village and thereby enter into the life their minds ideas about Alaskan boys of these far-away children. and girls which will promote sane, sound and Christian attitudes of one A second racial group is also prerace toward the other. sented for study by primary groups, Miss Ethel M. Baader, a specialist in Materials for hand work are fur– primary methods having furnished a nished through "Alaska Eskimo House Cut-Out," which will be ready in the project course on the Navajo Indians. autumn, and an "Alaskan Picture The volume, entitled "Indian Play- Sheet," useful for note books and mates of Navajo Land," contains maposters. This latter is a twelve page terial for the leader's background, folder of pictures with interesting worship services, stories and suggescaptions. tions for handwork and dramatization. It is well for the children to become In addition to the materials on familiar with this primitive tribe who Alaska, a book containing biographies live isolated from civilization on their of a number of great home mission- own reservation and whose children aries has been written for juniors by are in large part without school or Harold B. Hunting, author of "Stories play in their lives. "Indians of the of Brotherhood." This latest produc- Southwest Picture Sheet" supplements tion from his pen is entitled "A Book this book through the eye channel. of Biographical Sketches" and will be published later in the year. It may be possible for many pri- mary groups to study in the course of For Primary Groups the year both the Alaskan and the In- dian while others will find it neces- Primary groups will be following sary to choose one or the other. Leadfor the most part the same theme ers will decide which material will of study as juniors, that is, Alaska. bring largest results with their own Miss Gertrude C. Warner, a skillful groups. The aim is to provide a cur- riculum to meet all needs.
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION
EDITED BY ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 419 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK RETURNING FROM JERUSALEM backgrounds of distinctly different cultures, conflicting national aspira- By MRS. EVELYN RILEY NICHOLSON tions and racial prejudices served to make the situation more tense. As President Woman'8 Foreign Mis8ionary So- one delegate phrased it, "This is a mety, Methodist Episcopal Ohurch dangerous meeting. We have more need of prayers than of speeches." The meeting of the International More than one shared her fears dur- Council marks another milestone in ing the first few days until the cementmissions, as did the Edinburgh Con- ing work of the Holy Spirit began to ference of 1910. We have traveled a evidence itself in a growing confidence long way since that eventful gather- and unity. One was often reminded ing. In nothing was that fact more of that other Council at Jerusalem reevident than in the personnel of the garding the new churches of the mistwo meetings. At Edinburgh there sion field when "there had been much were only twenty-six representatives disputing," but when agreement was of the churches of the mission fields, reached, as Stanley Jones reminded although the conference delegates us, on the basis of what "seemed good numbered 1,200. At Jerusalem, about to the Holy Ghost and to us." Espeone half of the delegates were mem- cially was the unifying power of the bers of the younger churches of the living Christ evident when the report mission fields. They were on a parity of the committee on "The Christian in every way with the representatives Message" was read. It was based on of the churches of sending countries. the preliminary study of specially pre- They made as definite contributions on committees, on the platform, in ex- pared papers, on non-Christian syspounding the Word and by leading us into the "secret of His Presence." tems, as compared with Christianity. This fact makes the Jerusalem Council unique in the annals of interna- It fairly appraised their values, but so tional missions. It marks the new day which we hail with a song in our clearly and cogently expressed the vihearts. talities of the Christian faith, so po- To be sure, the new day brings its tently made Christ the unique and sufown problems, questionings, readjustments. According to natural expecta- ficient Saviour of all mankind that the tions, the meeting on the Mount of audience as one individual breathed Olives, should have blown into a thou- its assent in hushed and reverent sand pieces. It was made up of as di- tones, whether of Confucian, Islamic verse elements as could well have been selected-representatives of rival po- or Christian "background." We knew ourselves one in Christ in that hour, and one in determination to make Him known to a needy world.
litical powers; of state churches and There was surprising unanimity, "free"; of conservatives and modern- also, on the other reports as finally ists; of black, yellow, brown and presented. The Committee on Induswhite races. They met, not to discuss try, of which Bishop F. J. McConnell generalities on which they might was chairman, and of which Harold agree, but to face frankly, fearlessly, Grimshaw of the International Labor the sensitive, irritating questions Office, was a member, brought in a a r 0 u n d which misunderstandings fearless and far-reaching report on might form. Barriers of language, the obligations of Christian bodies to- 588
ward forced labor, children and wom- question. Particularly valuable was en in industry, exploitation of back- their contribution when, under the ward peoples and the Christianizing discussion of the non-Christian re- of the whole social order. Toe Com- ligious sYfltems, the women of the East mittee on Racial Relationships called told what these systems had failed to on Christians to practice and preach do for womanhood. Said Mrs. Ku- equality in the right to hold property, bushiro of Japan, "No religion brought to enter all occupations and profes- to Japan-Buddhism, Shintoism, Con- sions, the right to the functions of fucianism-ever recognized woman as citizenship. The injustices practiced a person. Christianity has sown seeds by ruling nations on subject peoples which are giving woman her place."
were frankly charged. Measures to Similar testimonies to the redeeming debar colored races from missionary and releasing power of the Gospel were service were strongly condemned, imd given by the women of Persia, India, the desire of American Negro Chris- China, Korea. References were made tians to engage in missionary work in to these speeches again and again, and Africa was approved. doubtless they will bear fruit in fur- The frank discussion of the relation ther unleashing of the power of wom- of the churches of the mission field to an for the service of her Master.
those of the sending countries brought And now the delegates are hastening out the desi·re for self-determination across oceans and continents to the and naturalization, but it also gave ends of the earth. They achieved'
vigorous emphasis to the desire for unity in Christ, and go their ways, fellowship as an integral part of the conscious, as one phrased it, that they Church universal and to the fact that are "integrated" in fellowship. Said the help of the Western world is needed Dr. Braga, "You have taken Latin in the occupation of new fields, the America on to your mission map: maintenance of buildings, the service Henceforth the little worshiping con- of hospitals, schools, literature and gregations of my country may feel every instrument of evangelism. The themselves a part of the Christian task is barely begun. world." Said a lonely missionary, "I The Council realized the need for have looked clear oVer the world and reorganization in order to admit to have entered into the strivings, the equal responsibility in facing the mag- sufferings and the hopes of all mart~ nitude of the task, the strengt;h of the kind."
newer churches. In an enlarged sense, In their eagerness to become in- therefore, it becomes international, digenous there is danger that the and its Standing Committee now in- newer churches become sectional, iso- cludes members of twenty-six national lated and narrow. East and West councils. The committee numbers thir- need each other. The body of Christ ty-seven, of whom, regrettably, only must not be dismembered: One of two are women. Sentiment is grow- the functions of the Council is to make ing, howev~r, in the direction of a1- its members conscious' of their inter- l(}wing womet! to make their fuUejilt dependability. ThiJ;l it has achieved.
contribution in the task of werld evan, Through C6rPorat~ prayer this unity gelization. It was heartening to note must be maintained, .and tQgether, the very significant help given by black and brown; white and yellow, women of the Orient-of whom our may build the new earth in which Helen Kim was one-on the various dwelleth righteousness. The magni- committees. Women were in a minor- tude of the task calls for the utter sur- ity in the Council-three fourths of render of self and the employment of the delegations sent no women-but every spiritual resource. The pro- they were so generously treated by the gram of Jerusalem is an expanding Chairman, Dr. John R. Mott, that their and compelling one. Who is sufficient yoic!ls were h~ard on nearlr every for these thinp? .
OPICS OF THE
The Greatness of the 'rask and educated, but churches must be organized and .built, and the N OONE can survey this issue work of Christ must be established of the REVIEW without real- so as to be self-supporting and izing more fully the magni- with evidence of true vitality. tude and variety of the Home Missionary enterprise. The task The field is so large that the includes not only the giving of the Home Mission articles to cover th€! Gospel of Christ to the millions of field could not all be published in. the unsaved in our American cities this number. Later will appear and rural districts but the educa- articles on "The Mormon Church'" tion of the coming generations and by Dr. Wm. M. Paden; on an effort to apply the teachings of "Alaska" by Rev. A. J. Mont- Christ to industrial, social and gomery; on "Industrial Workers political life. and the Church" by Dr. John Mc- Dowell; "The Mountaineers of the Formerly Home Missions chiefly South" by Dean Baird of Berea comprised pioneer work in fron- College; "The Needs of the tier settlements and among In- Western Frontier" by Bishop dians. Today it covers a territory Barnwell of Idaho; "The Church as large as China and India com- and the Unevangelized" by Dr. A. bined; it has in its extensive Z. Conrad of Boston; "Bible Disparish almost as many men, wom- tribution on the Pacific Coast" by en and children as are found in Rev. A. Wesley Mell; "The Amerthe whole continent of Africa. ican Indians Fifty Years Ago and These people speak some sixty or Now" by J. M. Cornelison; "The more languages and have many Spanish – Americans Under Our different religions. They include Flag" by Rev. Charles A. Thomson nearly twenty million natives of and other papers of vital im- Europe; twelve million Negroes portance. and mulattoes whose parents were forcibly brought from Africa; the W descendants of the aboriginal In- The Real Task of Home Missions, dians and Eskimos of America; HEN our Lord commis- Orientals from Japan, China, . ' sioned His disciples to go Korea, India, Malaysia and the out and evangelize the Moslem East; the mountaineers world, He directed them to "begin an<J !'Georgia Cl"al!:e'l's" of the at Jerusalem." There was an Southern States; the lumbermen, abundance of religion there and harvesters, 1jshermen, soldie'l's, the p~ople were highly educated sailors and other migrant workers. acc(lrding to the ideas of the day.
Not only must the unevangelized In t;Uany ways they were above the ~nd non-<)hristillns b~ t:lvangelized intellectua~ !J.n9. spiritJl.al status of ~§§ •
their neighbors. Evidently it is there is no ground for hope that not enough if the people of our they will be willing to accept His principles or to apply His teachland are intellectually trained or ings as a rule of conduct. Men are "religious." must first become His disciples and followers before they will accept Christ put one command on His His laws of the Kingdom to govern disciples who themselves believed themselves and their human relain Him and followed His Way of tions. If we are to follow the com- Life; that command was to bear mand of Jesus Christ the real task witness to Him. It was not first of the Church today in the Home of all to agitate for a change in the Mission field is first to bear witness political policies of the nation, to to Jesus Christ, by words and by inaugurate temperance, purity or life, as the Son of God and only other reform movements; it was Saviour of men; that new life and not to promote a better relation- power comes by personal surrender ship between the races or between to Him and submission to His conemployers and employees; they trol; that the eternal life is gained, were not directed to change the not by our good works but by the Jewish educational system or work death of Christ for us. for Church unity. Many of these and other transformations were This is the Gospel that turned expected to result from the carry- the world upside down in the days ing out of the main commission of of the Apostle Paul. It is the Gos- pel that won over all opposition of Christ. That commission, to bear witness to Him, included personal worldliness, unbelief and political testimony, founded on personal ambition in the days of Rome; it knowledge of the purpose and is the Gospel that gave effective- ness to the Reformation in Europe; power of Christ to save men from sin and its deadly consequences. it is the Gospel that has proved its Their witness included testimony power in America and throughout to their faith that He was, as He the world, wherever it has been claimed to be, the Son of God who practiced with vital faith and concame to earth to reveal the father sistent life. and His offer of Life; that He Is the chief task of Home Mislived a perfect life and taught the sions today anything else than to Way of Life; that He died as a bear witness by word and by life willing sacrifice on the cross to to this Gospel so that the Holy save men from sin and its penalty; Spirit will convict men of sin, of that He rose again from the dead righteousness and of judgment and and appeared to His disciples to so that those who believe will enter prove His victory over death and into Life and will, in turn, become the certainty of immortality; that living witnesses to Christ among He ascended alive, with his resur- their fellow-men? rection body, into Heaven where He lives in power and from whence It has been abundantly proved He will come again to reign. that when the living seed is planted in good soil it will grow and spread Has Christ's commission changed and bear fruit. It is the Home today? Until men and women, as missionaries' task to plant this livindividuals, accept the claims and ing seed, to water it and to pray revelation of Christ as to Himself, His mission and His Way of Life, God to give the increase.
AMERICA offered to match dollar for dollar
contributions in excess of the total for Bibles for Aviators last year, up to a limit of $250,000. Donations received through regular AGOLD-LETTERED German Bible, channels; from churches and indi- printed in New York City by the viduals, aggregated about $320,000 American Bible Society, was pre- more than the year before. With Mr. sented to Baron Gunther von Huene- Rockefeller's $250,000 added, this feld for the crew of the Bremen on makes the actual net gain $570,000. May 1st by Rev. George William The receipts now reported are the Brown, General Secretary of the So- largest in three years. Mr. Rockeciety. The inscription included in feller has made an identical offer ap- German lettering the Baron's sum- plicable to the fiscal year that began mary of the flight: "Durch, Gottes May 1st. He gives $250,000 outright, Gnade Gerettet," (saved through the as he did last year, and offers an addigrace of God). Leather-bound copies tional $250,000 conditionally, on the of the New Testament, with a gold same terms as before. superimposed airplane on the cover, were also given to Baron von Huene- feld, Captain Koehl and Major Fitz- AD1erican Tract Society maurice by the Society. T HIS organization held its one hun- Increased Gifts to Missions dred and third annual meeting in New York City on May 2d. All the T WO of the leading denominational present officers of the Society were re- mission boards are rejoicing over elected for the ensuing year. The aft- their financial status. The Southern ernoon meeting was followed by a Presbyterians had been threatened Bun y a n Tercentenary Dinner, at with a cut in their foreign work next which Hon. P. Whitwell Wilson spoke year, but the receipts for the year on "The Burden of Bunyan," and which ended March 31st were suffi- Maurice H. H. Joachim, a native of cient to prevent this, and also to wipe India, on "Pilgrim's Progress from out a large part of the deficit which the Oriental Viewpoint." The ban- has been carried for several years. quet was held on the eve of a drive for The Executive Committee of Foreign a $50,000 Bunyan Tercentenary Fund Missions received from all sources for to reprint Bunyan's books in English the year $1,662,443. The deficit on and "Pilgrim's Progress" in many lan- March 31, 1928, was only $131,898. guages now out of print. The report The deficit reported a year ago was of the General Secretary, Dr. Wm. H.
$289,947. Matthews, showed a much larger work With the total receipts of approxi- accomplished than the Society has been mately $5,000,000 for the fiscal year able to do for many years. Recent which ended April 30th, Northern propaganda of atheistic associations Baptists not only met the conditions has stirred Christian people to the which entitle their missionary organ- necessity of publishing and distribut- izations to the offer made by John ing more Christian literature to coun- D. Rockefeller, Jr., but went far be- teract the activities of such organiza- yond the mark set. Mr. Rockefeller tions.
587
Methodist Home Rule Abroad nity has suffered one of the worst un- T HE General Conference of the employment crises in its history. In M.eth{)dist Episcopal Church, meet- a year when one might reasonably ing in Kansas City, Mo., in May, have expected a decrease, these loyal passed a constitutional amendmenf. people have responded with an inwhich, if ratified by two thirds of the crease which is both an encourage- 117 local annual conferences, will give ment and a challenge.
Methodists in other lands now affili- ated with the American church the American-Born Japanese Problems K power to elect their own bishops and AZUO KAWAI, who, though he holds the B.A. and M.A. degrees govern their own affairs. The issue was brought in by a special commis- from Leland Stanford University, can sion of twenty-five delegates, eleven get nothing to do but sell vegetables, of them from conferences outside the contributes to World Call an article on United States. This commission was the problems of the second-generation headed by Dr. Lewis O. Hartman of Japanese in the. United States, of Boston, editor of Zion's Herald, who whom there are some 60,000 on the said, in speaking on the question: Pacific Coast mainland, not counting We are going back to Wesley. From Hawaii. He says: "Having been edu- England, in tJ:1e days of the Revolution- cated in this country, they speak nothary War, he sent out emissaries of ing but English. Having been raised Methodism who were to allow America in this country, their ideals, their psyto organize and rule its own Methodist chology, their attitude toward life, are Church. From America, now, 'We send typically American. They are Ameriout emissaries to start self-governing cans in all but physical appearance. and independent Methodist churches in They know nothing of Japan. The all parts of the world. We will stand American-born Japanese is realizing united in this diversity, one power be- bitterly the fact that he has succeeded fore God, democratic and Christian, too well in becoming Americanized. truly. It is the secret of a 'World Meth-. odist church. .
If he had remained like his immigrant Gifts from a Mission Church laborer parents, America would have T HE Church of All Nations of New given him some work to do, humble York City, an institution conduct- though it would have been. But he ed by the Board of Home Missions has made himself unfitted for these and Church Extension of the Metho- cruder forms of work by acquiring dist Episcopal Church, contributed on skilled training. He has gone through Easter Sunday, through its various American universities, often loading congregations, a total of $567.72 for himself with honors and demonstrat- World Service causes, that is, for mis- ing unusual ability, only to be told sionary 'Work outside of the local that there is no place in American inchurch program. The Russian group dustrial life for a successfully Amer- . gave $87.72, the Chinese, $130, the icanized Japanese."
Italian $100, and the International group $250. For World Service this Work for Mormons in Canada T year the Church of All Nations gave HE Utah Gospel Mission an- nounces: "For many years we $1,085. During the same time the people contributed for annual confer- have wished to get our Bible truths ence benevolences a total of $8,847. into touch with the considerable num- The significance of this report lies in ber of Mormons in Alberta Province, the fact that the Church of All Na- Canada, directly north of Utah-Idaho tions is a missionary institution lo- Mormonism. In 1923 an imposing cated on the lower East Side of New 'temple' to Mormonism was dedicated York City, and that the record covers there, at a cost stated at $750,000; ~ .period during which the cQmmu- and mainly in that reg-ion there are
19281 WORLD-WIDE OUTtOOK'
about 10,000 of the Utah brand of Eskimoes as a whole are honest and Mormons, who surely need the real Gospel as much as perhaps anybody. will not lie-few exceptions. We have had with us one or two Cana- There are no swear words in the dian missionaries at different times, and have broached the matter of Eskimo language. whether one or more could not un- In these northern regions none of the dertake the work of visiting these Alberta people. At last arrangements Eskimo drink booze, desire to, or make it. have been possible, and Brother John Lowry is now starting for that field, Porio Ricans in New York under engagement to prosecute the work for six months, Providence per- PORTO RICAN evangelical Chrismitting, and as much longer as may tians are well represented among be feasible. He will follow the same the tens and perhaps hundreds of methods as we do in our usual fields; thousands of Spanish-speaking peoand we earnestly hope for a large ple ih Greater New York. There is a measure of success both in direct gos- Porto Rican Brotherhood with attracpel work and in helping the people to tive headquarters, and various other see the great truths of the Bible in Porto Rican organizations. Five hundistinction from the vast and danger- dred and fifteen Porto Ricans are atous errors of Mormonism." tending colleges in continental United States, many of them in New York Christian Eskimo Community City. Recently, Dr. Orts Gonzalez, editor of La Nueva Democracia, one AT POINT BARROW, Alaska, where of the cooperative enterprises aided by the American Missionary Associa- .tl. Captain Wilkins began his recent tion, addressed an audience of over three hundred in the Spanish Evan- Arctic flight, stands the only hospital gelical Church in New York City, and built within the Arctic Circle. It was thirty new members were received inerected by the Presbyterian Board of to membership. One of the deacons National Missions and serves a parish administering the Communion service one thousand miles long on the north- was a coal-black Porto Rican Negro, ern shore of Alaska. Here are located from the neighborhood of the Blanche three Presbyterian churches minister- Kellogg Institute. There were several ing to a thousand natives. This work other Negroes in the audience, but was begun in 1890 by Dr. Sheldon apparently no race problem. The pub- Jackson who secured the use of a room lic schools of Porto Rico employ 733 in a refuge station for the first Negro teachers out of a total of 4,500. Eskimo school. Later the school was "Perhaps," says The Congregational. taken over by the Governme~t and the mission concentrated on medical and ist, whi~h gives these facts, "Porto evangelistic work. The hosIlital was built in 1921. Dr. A. W. Newhall, in Rico can help us somewhat in our charge of the hospital, lists the fol- problems of race adjustment." lowing encouraging points: LATIN AMERICA Every Eskimo in the village attends every service as a rule. Evangelical Books in Spani.h Everyone in the audience sings or tries AMONG the activities carried on in to, thus making a joyful noise. fl. the past ten years by the Litera- Every man, young or old, will pray publicly and consider it a privilege. ture Committee of the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America are the Every _Eskimo in the place over four- following: Dr. Juan Orts Gonzalez, teen is 'a'member of the church. a converted Spanish priest who, in ad- dition to his Roman Catholic training Every Sunday-school teacher attends in the universities of Spain, had been every training class weekly as a rule. graduated from a Presbyterian theo- logical seminary in the United States Every man is willing to do janitor and had experience as a Protestant work at church when requested by the missionary in Cuba, was employed as Eskimo deacons. editorial secretary. The first task was
to let all the various Spanish-speaking type of work now being carried on mission fields know, through the pub- successfully in several Latin Amerilication of a bibliography, what each can cities. In Tixtla, Mexico, the was producing. The second step was Federal Government has opened a new to secure the publication of new books, school for the training of rural teacheither translations or original works. ers, occupying a large house on the Questionnaires were sent to mission- central plaza and facing the parish aries to discover for what books there church. The hostel for men conducted was the greatest demand. Then an by Southern Presbyterian missioneffort was made to have denomina- aries occupies a house on another side tional presses accept responsibility for of the plaza, while the hostel for wompublishing some of these. All in all en has an almost palatial residence on there are now available for the evan- the fourth side, once the home of Gengelical minister's library 480 different eral Vicente Guerrero, the great religious books in Spanish. The com- leader in the war of independence. mittee is now working on a new Span- Here is a state school cooperating ish hymnal. It also publishes a with two missionary hostels, which monthly magazine, The New Democ- furnish living quarters for its sturacy. dents while the Government pays the salary of three Presbyterian teachers Education in Nicaragua in the school who also live in the hostels. Rev. William Wallace writes: T HE school supported by the Amer- ican Baptist Home Mission Society We have joined hands with the Govand the Woman's Home Mission So- ernment in a tremendous program of ciety in Managua, Nicaragua, has au- education. They are providing the inthority from the Government to con- tellectual equipment while we are buildfer the degree of Bachelor of Arts. ing character, without which any school This is not the equivalent of a Bache- program is doomed to failure. lor of Arts degree in a North American college, but represents consider- A Seminar on Mexico able work beyond the North American high school. It is based on the French T HIS title was given to the selected system of a lycee and prepares one for group of American citizens under professional courses in a university. Congregational leadership who, in Of a class of three which was gradu- April, 1926, and in January, 1927, ated in 1928, one went to Mexico to made a first-hand, sympathetic study study medicine. He is an enthusiastic of conditions in Mexico, and who since Christian and good lay preacher. A their return have sought in many girl graduate has continued in the ways, especially by lectures and ar- Managua school as a teacher. The ticles, to interpret the hopes and ideals majority of the students in the higher of the people of Mexico to the people grades are m e m b e r s of Baptist of the United States. A similar group churches and will become intelligent under the direction of Rev. Hubert C. leaders in Nicaragua. The boys in Herring, D.D., expect to spend three the boarding department number weeks, July 5th to 26th, in Mexico twenty, and the building is being en- City. The announcement of the trip larged to accommodate ten more boys. reads in part: Hostels fol' Mexican Students A group of citizens of the United States will meet in Mexico City for three T HE provision of homelike living weeks in July, 1928. During this period, quarters, under missionary aus- they wiIl have the opportunity of hearpices, where students in government ing from the lips of the men who control schools can be brought under Chris- the situation in our neighboring republic tian influences, is a comparatively new the story of the purposes and hopes ()f the Mexican people. They will hear about oil laws, land reforms, educational policies. They will hear about labor movements, church questions, and eco-
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
nomic tendencies. They will see Mexi- are among the fifteen different nationcan schools, churches, public works, alities represented here, and the great mines. They will have ample time in and difficulty we have in evangelizing. around Mexico's capital to talk with the Our parish, including Tigre the base, people, and to ask questions. They will represents a population of about forty thousand." hear the music of Mexico, see its art, visit its places of historic interest.
Gamhling at Church Feuts EUROPE RICARDO JIMENEZ, President of Annual C. M. S. RepGrt Costa Rica, is praised for his "courage, uprightness, and patriot- T HE following summary of the reism" by the Latin American Evangel- port presented at the annual meetis,t, which, as an illustration of his ing of the Church Missionary Society character, quotes the following inci- in Queen's Hall, London, May 1st, is dent from a paper published in Costa given by The Christian (London): Rica: "When in the Central Park the "In Africa, with constant expansion, church feast, organized for the collec- there is adaptation to changed condition of funds by the Venerable Coun- tions, while cooperation between govcil of the Metropolitan Cathedral with ernments and missions in the sphere the help of all the local priests, was of education is being carried into pracabout to begin, it was seen that the tical effect. In Egypt, the Anglican gaming tables were set up and that as Church shows signs of healthy growth usual the people thronged to them. and development. In Persia, there is From the President's house orders the hope of securing a united Church. were transmitted by telephone that In India, men and women are coming these tables should be immediately forward openly to avow themselves the taken away. The Chief of Police at followers of Christ. In Ceylon, the once put into effect the law which pro- Holy Spirit is moving in the hearts of hibits gambling and with a piquet of men and women. In China, the gendarmes saw to it that the Presi- Church stands stronger and purer dent's orders were respected ….. . than before, with a keener sense of Naturally, the fact that gambling was eternal values and a greater deternot allowed meant a big slump in the mination to make its witness clear and church's gains and took away all ani- penetrating. With an expenditure mation from the feast." amounting to £484,000, the net in- crease in the deficit is £11,000, which Argentine River MissiGn brings the total deficit up to £88,000."
T HIS mission, founded by E. A. Medical Mls.iGnary Association Strange and F. Hesse, with headquarters at Tigre, Argentina, seeks to T HIS organization, established fifty evangelize the people of fifteen differ- years ago, with headquarters in ent nationalities who dwell on the London, has the following objects: banks of the River Parana in its (1) To aid suitable Christian men southern portion, its tributaries and and women who desire to become medthe group of islands split up by 250 ical missionaries. It has a hostel for rivers and creeks known as the Delta. men at Highbury, where the students The prospectus of the Mission de- live during their five years' course of scribes its equipment as consisting of study for full legal qualification at one "the launch Buenas Nuevas for long of the medical colleges of London. journeys, and the launch Evangelista The women take a similar medical for day trips, two rowing boats for course at the School of Medicine for evangelizing small creeks, and a gos- Women. During this period it is pel hall and home in the Delta." Mr. sought to strengthen the spiritual life Strange writes: "You can understand of the students by Bible study, to surthe varying shades of religion there round them with a strong Christian
arid milOSibnar,y atmosphere, and to eu- dencies in the present life of. the courage such spiritual activities as are Church are perhaps worthy of notice.
compatible with professional studies. The Lutheran Church has never relied (2) To promote interest in medical on the Sunday-school as much as· have missions among medical students in the churches. in. the English-speaking London. (3) To diffuse information world, partly because it was satisfied as to medical missions by means of with the teaching in the schools. But lectures, meetings, and the publication now there is: a strong movement for of the magazine, Conquest by Healing. the developmerit Of the Kindergott68- (4) To make grants or otherwise help dienst (Children'~ Service of Wor- existing work abroad, as funds are ship). Thos'eWinterested in this are provided. It does not itself conduct 11O~sliiw". a special conference or sum- foreign missionary work. But it has mer SC11001 at Eisenach in September.
helpdd to provide more than sixty med- There -is also a strong movement to- ical'missionaries, who have worked or wards reviving the use of the old are now working in connection with German chorales. In the last fifty some fifteen missionary societies; thus years there has been a considerable the Association, itself undenomina- use of what they regard, I regret to tional, acts as a bond of union between say, as typical, English hymns, i. e.
the various societies which are repre- translations ·of Moody and Sankey.
sented on its executive committee. The return to the chorale receives an Books for Lighthouse Keepera additional impetus from the example of the secular youth movements, whose T HE Lighthouse Literature Mis- high standards of musical taste lead sion of Belfast was founded in them to sing Bach.and Palestrina as 1904 by Mr. Samuel H. Strain, a Bel- music, if not as religion."
fast business man who carries on this Vodka Drinking Increasing work without compensation as a Christia'n avocation. The literature sent SPEAKING in Moscow at the Conout is all soundly evangelical, Spur- gress of the Communist youth Orgeon's sermons, and the like. Prac- ganization, Which has 2,500,000 memtically every parcel. is accompanied by bers, Nikolai Bukharin said: "Al- a personal letter, and· there is suitable coholism has become a direct social literature for the children in remote danger. There are cases of workers lighthouses. .The report of this mis- spending fourteen or fifteen per cent sion throws a sharp light on the life of their wages on drink. This is not of those to whom it ministers. One an exceptional figure. Even Leningirl writes from a lighthouse in grad sometimes surpasses its pre-war Alaska, "My father has just six years 'record' in the number of drunks." more to serve, and then I shall be able to go to church on Sundays." Last The Alliance Weekly makes the fol- Year Mr. Strain sent Qut a thousand lowing statement:' "The manufacture letters and six hundred parcels of lit- and sale of vodka is considered the erature, ranging from Antartic Trista most important and surest item in the de Cunha to Arctic Alaska, and the budget of the Sovjet Government, last world around. year's net income from it being nearly $150,000,000. Needless to say, the Government is making every effort to Ge..man Church Life Today increase its sale, although the con- J0'ffN M. THOMSON, Educl;1tional sumption in 1927, the highest figures Work Secretary of the Scottish reached, was forty times greater than National Y. M. C. A., writes after a in 1926. At Leningrad alone the recent visit to Germany: "In the last death toll from alcohol increased six- ten years the Protestant Church in fold, while the increase of drunken- Germany has passed through a very ness throughout the country is tre- severe time of testing…… Two ten- mendous. Some communities are pe-
19281 WORLD-WIDE
titioning the Government to 'remove and especially in Macedonia, we find this curse,' and the press is actively well-established villages, averaging supporting the 'new society to fight from five hundred to several thousand drinking' which intends to establish souls. Houses which compare favor- homes for the cure of inebriates." ably with the peasant homes of neigh- boring Serbia or Italy have been "Christ-Believing Jews" erected, seed and cattle have been sup- REV. GISLE JOHNSON, a Nor- plied, industries inaugurated, schools wegian Christian missionary to ,and churches erected. The average the Jews for more than a quarter of a cost per family has averaged £55 as century and for the past six years compared with an expenditure of £850 located in Budapest, Hungary, is per family'in Palestine."
quoted in The Lutheran as· follows: "A Society of Christ-Believing Jews New Movement in Greek Church R is the name of a group of baptized EV. SAMUEL McCREACAVERT, Secretary of the Federal Council and unbaptized Jews, men and women, C who· have for some time banded of Churches, who hall recently been themselves together in Budapest. The studying the ancient Eastern Churches, name itself indicates the inner strug- writes: "In Greece a new force known gle experienced before it became clear as the Zoe Brotherhood (Zoe is the how they' should appear before the Gre,ek word for life) promises greatly world. Christ-believing Jews! Hence to enrich the spiritual life of the not Christian Jews! For whoever church. This brotherhood includes wishes to be known as a Christian Jew both clergy and laity, who have alike acknowledges that he is first and fore- renounced worldly ease, are bound to- most a Christian; while a Christ-be- gether in a democratic society under lieving Jew considers himself first and the motto 'For me to live is Christ,'
foremost a Jew . . , The outcome and aTe sounding the notes of sim- will depend altogether on how success- plicity and reality in the religious life.
ful the deepening of the spiritual con- It may almost be described as a home sciousness will be, the necessity of missionary agency, and seems to be which, is fortunately" recognized by bringing about something of a revival our friends." of preaching in many Greek churches, Welfare Work in Macedonia a greatly-needed emphasis in a church in which religious instruction has had REV. WILLIAM C. EMHARDT, far too small a place as compared with Ph.D., a Field Director of the Na- ritualistic observance. The brothertional Council of the Protestant Epis- hood is also producing popular pamcopal Church, writes after a recent phlets on religious subjects and pubvisit to Greece: "Macedonia as it lishing a weekly religious paper which exists today will, I believe, be recorded is developing a large circulation. The in history as one of the wonders of lay members of the movement who the world. ~ know of no other in- engage in business pledge themselves stance in history where a population of to live in great simplicity so as to de- 1,400,000 refugees, both co-national- vote'much of their earnings to the purists and foreigners, have been ex- . poses of the movement." The begintended hospitality, colonized, and nings of this movement were noted in started on the way toward self-sup- the May, 1927, REVIEW. port. This has been done in Greece in about five years. The achievement as- AFRIqA sumes greater proportion when we re- "Many Tong~~8n R call that Greece formerly contained EV. W. C. JOHNSTON, of the Presbyterian West Africa Misless than five million people, warwearied and impoverished. Through- sion, tells a story that recalls the many out the length and breadth of Greece, languages of Pentecost: He was hold- 6
ing a communion service at Bafia, at Africans Plan Home Mi.-ions which more than three thousand were present. As the people belonged to THE Christians of the Efulan various tribes that used very distinct churches in the West Africa Mislanguages, they were pl~ced in lingual sion of the Presbyterian Church (U. groups where the voice of an inter- S. A.) are making inquiry about the preter could easily reach all who spoke cost of the entire work of the Nnanga that particular language. Then he Aboka district, saying that they want adds: "I preached in Bulu, and three to do more than support a catechist, young men translated into different and would like to undertake the cost native languages to their people-all of an entire district. The Elat misspeaking at once. Then the French sionary society is also inquiring for Administrator was seated on the plat- fields for its missionary effort. "We form, and the French school teacher rejoice," says the annual report of the translated the sermon into French for Missions, "in the desire of our older him, so that there were four inter- churches to have a part in the evanpreters going at the same time." The gelizing of the people in the newer Presbyterian comments: "The whole fields, but we must somehow instil into story of missionary triumphs in that these missionary societies such a section of West Africa is an echo of spirit of consecration and prayer that the apostolic- victories of the early they will give not only of their money, Church." but an ever-increasing number of lives for the work. Our various schools Sunday-School Methods in Egypt train teachers, catechists, and pastors; our churches train up a Christian con- T HE World's Sunday-School Asso- stituency to support the work; the ciation through its Moslem Lands missionary doctor multiplies himself Committee at Cairo serves all missions many times in trained young men and churches engaged in Bible-school working under his supervision. All work. This is done by: (1) Produc- these fit together as the machinery ing Sunday-school literature in Arabic. needed to establish the Kingdom of Nine books and fifteen pamphlets have God in this part of Africa." been published and are widely used. (2) Helping to develop fifteen confer- Liberian Christians in O:IB.ce ences for teachers held in various cities each year by the Evangelical T HE Government of Liberia has re- Church. (3) Aiding with pictures cently appointed several of the naand teacher-training the classes for tive clergy to government posts, street children in the slums of the chiefly educational, and has reapgreat cities. (4) Inspirational and pointed a number of others. In all educational work all over Egypt by five counties the county school in- Sheikh Metry Dewairy, Field Secre- spectors are clergy; another clergytary. (5) Executive work and cor- man occupies the newly-created posirespondence by Rev. Stephen Trow- tion of supervisor of teachers for the bridge, in counsel with a committee of entire repUblic. Another is collector missionaries and delegates from the of internal revenue. The president of Egyptian Synod, to correlate the work Liberia College and three of the facin Egypt with that in the Sudan, ulty are native clergy. Among the Algiers, Palestine, Syria and Iraq. Christian laymen, three recent ap- (6) Helping the hospitals with illus- pointments are the Secretary of the trated books for patients, especially Treasury, Judge of the City Court in children. (7) Commencing the for- Monrovia, and Justice of the Supreme mation of an Egyptian Sunday-school Court. The activity of the Advisory Union which shall in time carry the Committee on Education in Liberia is main responsibility. (8) Promoting becoming effective in increasing coworld-friendship and world-vision. operation between the government and
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
the mission schools. Two teachers' nection with mission stations, but they institutes, in Cape Mount and Mon- will-as indeed they are doing-take rovia, have brought together the charge of branch dispensaries at county school teachers and others points remote from the actual centers from government and mission institu- of missionary enterprise. There they tions. reach people who would otherwise go Training Sudanese Preachers unhelped, and, in addition to relieving pain, showing the way of health and ARECENT letter from Mr. and Mrs. combating disease, lead their own peo- John Hay, of the Sudan Interior ple in their own way to the Physician Mission, reads as follows: "We are in of souls. This also is true of the nathe midst of our first Dry Season tiye Christian maternity nurses, now Bible School for Gbari Evangelists. recruited from several mission schools, We have built a little compound for who, when their training is completed, them. The old school has been re- exercise such a beneficent ministry far paired and there are ten living houses, and wide in the districts where they a kitchen, a corn-grinding house and live. These infirmiers and nurses are a cornhouse around it. Nine students, the earnest of the Congolese medical five wives, our own house-boys and men and women presently to be." lots of children live there, and it is one of the happiest places in the Gbari BridgDlan MeDlorial Hospital country. The students are all tremendously keen and seem to value THIS American Board enterprise in every minute of their study time. We Johannesburg, South Africa, is have been emphasizing, on every pos- progressing toward completion. Sucsible occasion, their tremendous re- cessive steps have been the securing sponsibility and our inability to reach of the first $25,000 in America; the all the Gbari people with the Gospel. opening of clinics; the growing inter- As a result of this, a number have est of the white people of the city; volunteered to go to our villages the formation of an interdenominaaround and sit down as witnesses for tional hospital board; the securing of Christ, supporting themselves by an excellent site; and the laying of farming. When the school closes we the corner-stone, on January 7th. All are hopeful that a number of villages the speakers at that ceremony laid will have a chance to hear of the Lord upon Johannesburg as a duty of honor and see how He changes lives. This the completion of the building fund. is a big thing for these boys to do." When one considers that last year's reports show an infant mortality Medical Training in Congoland among natives of the Gold Reef area of 705 per 1,000 as compared with 74 REV. C. E. PUGH, Field Secretary per 1,000 for Europeans, one realizes of the English Baptist Missionary the scope for this hospital, the only Society, contributes an article to Con- maternity hospital for 15,000 native quest by Heating, in which he says he women. Already the 'clinics established has been asked, as "a non-medical mis- in affiliation with it are doing casionary," to discuss the value of med- pacity service and the example they ical missionary work in those portions have set is being followed by other soof Equatorial Africa with which he is cieties. most familiar. Of one aspect of the question he says: "In the training of native Christian infirmiers, which is African Fears S being carried on at the various hos- OME people near the river Nlong believe that the American mission pital centers, lies the great hope for a healthier Africa. Such trained natives is made up of the ghosts of the BuIu, will not only be of service in hospitals so they say they cannot accept God and dispensaries established in con- lest they have to work for the Bulu.
THE NEAR EAST organs of the community, also for the ritual slaughter of animals, for the Religions Contacts in Syria baking and sale of unleavened bread, and for the granting and ratification FOR the fifth successive year the of certificates. The elected Assembly, little Arabic-speaking Protestant the General Council, and the local comchurch in Tripoli, Syria, welcomed its munities will exercise general superdeputation of Christian, Moslem and vision over the affairs of the Pales- Druze students from the American tine Community." University of Beirut. They taught its Sunday-school classes and took charge N. E. R. Boys Good Workers of some of its exercises. Last year one of the student speakers to the 'I'RIBUTE was paid in the April school was Fadhil Mohammed Jamali, REVIEW to the so-called "gradson of a Shiite Moslem sheikh in Bag- uates" of the Near East Relief ordad – a loyal, liberal, spiritually- phanages. Edward W. Blatchford has minded young Moslem, now teaching organized among the boys who have in the government teacher-training gone out from the orphanages in Palcollege in Bagdad. This year, the estine four working boys' clubs: two Moslem class teacher and speaker was in Jerusalem, one in Nazareth, and Obeid Abdunur, a Sudanese, who will one in Jaffa. The four clubs have a return next summer to work for the membership of ninety boys. By livdepartment of education in his home ing in such clubs the boys not only land. Four years ago he came to have a home and good food, but are Syria, pious but fanatical. During able to save from twenty to thirtythis period he studied and played with five per cent of their wages. The boys Christians, Jews and Druzes; and now work at all sorts of trades. There are speaking in a Protestant Sunday- tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, carschool, he could sincerely state that he penters, photographers, surveyors, valued all men by their character pharmacists, marble-cutters, coopers. rather than by religious labels. Other members of the deputation were three In Cairo, Egypt, R. M. Davidson Greek Orthodox and a Druze. has found positions for 500 boys from N. E. R. orphanages in Greece. After Palestine Jewish Organization a recent visit to the boys and their employers Mr. Davidson says: REGULATIONS for the organiza- tion of the Jewish community in In not a single instance did I receive Palestine, formulated by the Per- a complaint of any importance, and in manent Mandates Commission of the every instance employers granted the League of Nations, have been sum- boys an increase of salary of a substanmarized as follows in Foreign Affairs: tial nature. Several of the boys have "There is to be an Assembly elected been able to bring their mothers and sison a very democratic basis by the ters and brothers from Greece and Turvotes of all adult Jews and Jewesses. key to their homes in Egypt, so that This Assembly will in turn elect a Na- many long-separated families are now tional Council or Executive Commit- united, solely through the boys' own eftee, which will supervise the general forts and success, without any expense affairs of the community as a whole to the Near East Relief. and will act as the representative body of Palestine Jewry. It is highly im- Speech of Persian Children portant to note that the Council will have vested in it general powers of F M. STEAD, writing from the taxation, which will be exercised for • Faraman Industrial Farm School the purposes of education, poor relief, near Kermanshah, Persia, says: "The care of orphans, care of the sick, and thing that I rejoice over more than the maintenance of religious and lay anything else, is the way the children have changed in character. Persia is a country of liars, and abusive and foul language seems to come easily
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
and without shame of thought, to the INDIA AND SIAM lips of all. Babies are taught to tell lies and say bad words when they are Strengthening NellT Converts first learning to talk. If a wee child calls his mother by some horrible REV.. J. ?,. TAYLOR, D.D., of the name, or tells his father that he is a Umted Church of Canada Misliar, all who are within hearing burst sion in Indore, Central India, writes nut laughing and think the child is of a visit to an out-station where very bright. These orphan children seven young men had been baptized of ours, when they came here, were about a month before: "We went to as bad as they well could be with re- the home of the leading man of the spect to the language they used and number, and by the light of our the lies they told. But the influence lanterns had worship on his humble of this Christian home and the love of verandah. Knowing that this little Jesus in their hearts have done away group was already being persecuted, with all that. Now I hardly hear an I spoke on our Lord's temptation, and unseemly word from their lips for sought to show that He was with them weeks at a time and, with one or two in their trials. Then the pastor from possible exceptions, I rarely catch one the little out-station who was with us of them telling a lie. Truly, the way on tour spoke out of his own ex- God touches the lives of little children perience in a most inspiring way. is beautifuL" Himself a converted Brahmin, he had faced more severe trials than these "Many Adversaries" in Iraq new converts would be likely ever to have to face. The Spirit of God was REV. MR. MOERDYK, of the manifestly present in our midst, and United Mission in Mesopotamia, I feel sure that these babes in Christ reports from AmaJ:ah: "'And there got a view of their new guru, their are many adversaries.' For some rea- new Lord and Master, such as they son the Mohammedan zealots of the had not dreamed of before." Sunnis and more particularly of the Nejf Shi'ahs seem to have taken to Ready to Be the First Martyr themselves the duty of arousing the people against our Christians and in- A MEMBER of the Christian and quirers . . . A man from Baghdad Missionary Alliance writes of an preached for three or four days to out-station of Sanand, Western India: large audiences in the mosque to "Opposition to the Gospel has been arouse the Mohammedans to be loyal very intense and active in this new and zealous in their religion and to center, and up until a few months ago slander the Jews and the Christians. our people were positively forbidden Our work was especially mentioned. to draw water from any well in the A man from Yemen passed through whole town. Consequently we had to Amarah and was used by the Shi'ahs pay for every drop of water our peoto address audiences on the subject of ple used. Last year we moved from our work. Three other religious the center of the city to a quieter spot ~eaders were sent in turn from Nejf, on the outskirts. At this time a new all of whom remained in the town for worker was stationed there. Upon his longer or shorter periods . . . There arrival he proceeded to draw water has been a spy among the inquirers, from the local well,. and, as we exwho visited the different religious pected, was immediately confronted by leaders to tell them the names of their all kinds of protests and threats from near apostates. You can imagine the the Hindus. The police then came on result." The adversaries opposing the the scene and declared Chuggan must work of Christ among the Moslems not take water from the well. Whereare numerous and persistent. Many upon Chuggan calmly replied, 'Withare blind; some are diabolical. out water my family and I will die; and if I take water from the well, you
will kill me, so I shall be the first this same man found it wise to avoid martyr for Christ in the Baroda the "fatted calf" when telling the State.' This settled the water strife story of the Prodigal Son. Christ's in Kadi. Since that day our people humble station in life in contrast to have drawn water with the Hindus." that of Buddha, born a preacher and married to a wealthy widow, is Loud Speaker Used stressed by one member of the con- ference. A converted holy man exl/fOHAMMEDANS have been the plained how Christ's purity impressed him in contrast to the questionable If.l first in India to make use of the life history of some of the gods and goddesses he was worshiping at the loud speaker in the service of religion. time of his conversion. For seven "This startling innovation," says The weeks these preachers and pastors, Indian Witness, "was made in Bom- ranging from twenty-two to seventybay on the occasion of the Id celebra- two years in age, studied, sang, ate tions at the close of the Ramazan fast, and slept together.-Missionary Herand did not go unchallenged by Mos- ald. lem orthodoxy. Thousands of 'the faithful' gathered on the Esplanade A Layman's Work in India Maidan for the Id service and namaz. The voice of the preacher was so mag- T HE Church Missionary Society renified and conducted through the ports that a fine piece of voluntary crowds that heard plainly all that was work is being carried on by J. P. said. Who will be the first to preach Bunter, who is public prosecutor in Christ to great mela crowds with the Poona and a former member of the help of the loud speaker? Such work, Bombay Legislative Council, at Hadapif undertaken, would have to be done sar, a village ne~r Poona. Schools with the consent of the organizers of have been opened, regular Christian the mela and in utmost consideration teaching is given, social service is of the feelings of the attendants, for carried on, and a very marked change it would be grossly unfair to force on has come over the life of the village. the crowds what many of them might Of this piece of work an Indian misseriously object to hearing. But we sionary of the C. M. S. goes on to are persuaded that there is a use for say that "the highest men in the land, the loud speaker on such occasions and from His Excellency the Viceroy that, if the opportunities thus pro- downwards, have gone and seen and vided are not abused, great good can have returned 'glorifying andpraisbe accomplished through them. The ing God for all the things that they chief difficulty to be met is the lack of have seen and heard.''' Mr. Bunter electricity where many great me/.as has been awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind are held but this difficulty will not be medal as a mark of the official appreencountered everywhere." ciation of his fine service.
Problems of Indian Pastors Militant Islam in India SOME of the difficulties that con- MOSLEMS in India, according to a front a Christian Indian preacher paper published in Lucknow, today are hinted at in the report "have had to face a revival of Hinduof a re-training class at United Di- ism as a proselytizing religion and vinity College, where forty Indian the Shuddhi and Sangathan move- Christian men sat together, absorbed ments devoted chiefly to the conin the study of various questions re- version of certain groups of Moslems lated to their work. One man told to Hinduism, the faith of their fahow a Brahmin rose and walked off thers. They have looked with deep because his sensibilities were offended feeling upon several scores of Rajput at the mention of the Disciples catching fish; and on another occasion,
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Moslem tribes returning to the Hindu OHINA field. Indian Moslems have been pushed into an effort to appraise them- Minionaries Back at Work selves to discover, if possible, what they ought to do in the new situation. ~~HOME again! If you have never They have discovered that they are been exiled from your home educationally a backward community and in relation to the vastly larger and work by circumstances over which Hindu community are very poor, both you had no control you cannot know in the sum total and the average of the joy that is ours to be back in their possessions, and last, but not Kaifeng!" So begins a letter written least, are very much in the minority. by Rev. Eugene Sallee, D.D., mission- Their leaders were aware of these ary of the Southern Baptist Convenfacts before the war but the com- tion, after he and Mrs. Sallee and munity has just discovered and begun some women missionaries had reto ponder them. They are organizing turned to their station, Kaifeng, and adjusting their forces, with a H 0 nan Province. It continues: three-fold program of intrenchment, "Though soldiers were everywhere in repulsion and aggression . . . The the compound and all missionaries' leaders of the movement use military homes occupied, still we found two terms, thus showing the militant atti- rooms in our house the first night. tude of present-day Islam in India to- We have our entire house now, and ward other religions." renovating, cleaning, aIring and scrubbing have kept seven or eight Tibetans in Darjeeling men busy for days. We began preaelI- ing twice a day to the wounded ,IN ENGLISH society, with head- soldiers in our school chapel the first Sunday after our return and carried 1"1. quarters in Darjeeling, on the In- on the two services throughout the week. Yesterday wa~ our second Sundian border of Tibet, reports: "Our day at home. It was a wonderful day. activities during the past year have The morning service was one that we been confined to Darjeeling. Tibet shall never forget. The chapel which seems faster closed than ever. Per- seats about six hundred was crowded mission to enter the country as mis- to capacity. The window sills, the sionaries is still refused. We have pulpit platform, and the aisles were continued the work of preaching in all full." the bazaar hall, in the Tibetan settlements, and at the rickshaw stands. Attitud.es of Chinese Stud.ent. Our ministry has also included services in English for the Union Church, TWENTY-ONE Y. M. C. A. student in the Tibetan Mission, and for the secretaries of China, in conference Nonconformist soldiers in barracks at at Hangchow Christian College, pre- Lebong. The religious obstacles to pared a summary of the situation as our Tibetan work are greater. There they see it among Chinese students. is a revival of Lamaism in the district. It was forwarded by T. Z. Koo, and A new monastery has been built with- reads in part as follows: (1) A genin a hundred yards of us. The lamas eral pessimism prevails among stuwalk in procession round the town reg- dents in their attitude towards the ulalrly, carrying the Lamaist scrip- Nationalist Movement. Their hopes tures. Ritualistic services are held at had been raised to a high pitch by the intervals in open spaces of the town, initial victories of the South. (2) A and lamas of rank are more numerous feeling of bewilderment as well as of than ever now. Display of this kind expectancy is noticeable among them. overawes the people, so that they seem They do not know where to turn for hypnotized by it-which is the aim of guidance and seem to be waiting for something to happen. Many are quite it all." slack in the matter of study. (3)
The problems which confront students work there very interesting as well as today are: (a) What should be our very far-reaching. The boys have attitude towards sex questions? (b) come from Chinese communities in What shall we do after graduation? fifteen different countries, in addition (c) How does communism as a theory to those from many provinces of and practice compare with the "Three China. A teacher who has been in the Principles of the People" of Dr. Sun? work for some years notices a great (d) What is a sane and true philoso- many differences in this student body phy of life for Chinese young men to- with its 'returned emigrant' Chinese day? (4) Many students are still as compared with the more purely 'nahostile or indifferent to religion, look- tive soil' group with which we dealt in ing upon it as something quite useless earlier years. Chinese teachers comin human life. plain that these fellows are not so pa- tient with the grinding task of learn- Ohinese MOJIle:ms Won ing to read and write Chinese, and not so ready to do what they are told DR. L. P. RAND, of the Borden to do. But no one will deny that they Memorial Hospital in Lanchowfu, are an interesting group." Kansu Province, writes of conditions in the neighboring city of Hochow: Foes in Anna:m "There is now a group of a dozen open believers, meeting more or less reg- I RVING R. STEBBINS writes from ularly at the hospital· for worship. Cochin China: "Annam with its One of these, not a local man, was 12,000,000 still waits in this year 1928 baptized in a near-by town a year or for the Gospel." The treaty existing so ago. No Moslem has yet been bap- between France and Annam gives the tized in Hochow, but one young man Catholic Church permission to carry who was driven .out of his home and on its propaganda, but says nothing shop because of his stand, was bap- regarding Protestant missions. The· tized by us here in Lanchow in Au- following editorial, however, recently gust. He has now gone to a distant appeared on the front page of the city to seek empioyment. He is the Saigon newspaper, L'Impartial: first Hochow Moslem to be baptized. Another man is preaching openly on A royal ordinance forbids the preachthe streets of that fanatical city, and ing of Protestantism in all the Kingdom was recently given a public beating by of Annam. It is evident that this meashis father who recognized the voice of ure has been taken for political motives, his son preaching outside the door of as this religion hardly conforms to our the food-shop where he happened to ideas. But it is certain that the treaties, be eating. This man and his wife are such as have been made between France holding daily services in their home, and Annam leave the Government the which are attended by quite a group right to decide thus. Mr. Fries, the of outsiders." French Governor, who has spent most of his career in Annam, understands the Schoolboys in Canton situation sufficiently not to ignore the meaning of this step. This is indeed · HE so-called Middle School, which strange in the light of the fact that the T prepares students for Lingnan Governor Mr. Fries is a Protestant him- self. In what direction are we headed? University (formerly Canton Christian College), is described by Henry JAPAN-KOREA B. Graybill; its principal from 1907 to 1926, when he was succeeded by a Japa.:ilese S. S. Delegates Chinese, as having a "very varied and active and open-minded student body." T HE delegation of more than two He says: "The cosmopolitan cha·racter hundred Japanese Christians who of the middle school has made the are coming to the Tenth World's Sun- day-School Convention in Los Angeles, July 11th-18th, is believed to be the greatest Christian pilgrimage in his- tory from a non-Christian land to a
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
world's Christian gathering. The Na- "Here we found a strong, though tional Sunday-School Association of small, group of Christian students, led Japan was the first to be organized on by an outstanding Christian Japanese a representative basis in any foreign teacher. This, because it is indigenous country. The Japanese have raised and self-sustaining, is a more healthy the largest amount of money for re- and vigorous organization than the ligious education that has ever been usual like group in a mission school, raised in any non-Christian country, where it is hard to keep out of the but they need financial aid in carry- church and Y. M. C. A. because the ing out their plans for a headquarters school authorities are backing them.
building in Tokyo. It is proposed, In the non-Christian school only those therefore, that advantage be taken of with personal conviction and will- the visit of these Japanese Christians power are likely to brave the hostile by taking offerings in Sunday-school attitude of the majority, including or church services, and by securing often the most powerful faculty men.
subscriptions to create a Goodwill Again, as on several recent occasions, Fund to put into the hands of the we were fairly astonished at the faCt delegates as they return to Japan. that within the buildings of a govern- ment school it was permitted to hold A Japanese Widow's Gift an evangelistic meeting."
BISHOP NAIDE, of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Japan, writes Buddhist Unity T from the Diocese of Osaka: "You have HE Buddhist high priest, Yamada, of the Nissenji Temple in Nagoya, heard of our orphanage, the Hakuaisha.
A Japanese widow with no children Japan, has thus described the origin has been so much struck by the de- of that temple: "When the late King voted labors of Miss Hayashi and the Chulalongkorn of Siam so gracefully other workers that last year she made offered to Japan a golden image of a donation of $25,000 with which we Buddha, Buddhism in my country was have built a mothers' house for wom- divided against itself. There were en and their babies. We have also thirteen different sects, to which were started a kindergarten and a night attached hundreds of lesser sects.
school for factory girls. The giver of There was very little cooperation be- this magnificent gift, Naruo Toku, tween these sects. The teachings of made it at her baptism as a sign that Buddha were being lost through in- she gave herself and all that she had ternal strife. Therefore, when the to our Lord. She went the day before announcement was made of the King's her baptism to the temple with which gift, Buddhism in Japan was faced her family had been connected, to tell with a great problem. Each sect the priest that she was becoming a wished to have the honor of accepting Christian and to take leave of him, the King's gift! But, encouraged by and next day I baptized her. She has the Government, the sects finally determined to leave the remainder of united in order to receive it. There- her property after her death for the suit was the establishment of the Nis- same work. Such a thing has not senji Temple in Nagoya. Each of the hitherto been known in the history of fifty-eight sects of Buddhism now in the Church in Japan." Japan now has its representative in this temple, which unites all the Bud- Christians in GoverlUllent Schools dhists in Japan. Small grievances are AMEMBER of the Omi Mission, forgotten. All are working together to Japan, which was referred to in disseminate the teachings of Buddha. the May REVIEW, writes thus of a visit We are going to build a still greater to the city of Oita, where there is a temple to receive the King's gift.
government commercial college, to When this was announced, gifts speak to its Student Y. M. C. A.: poured in from all parts of Japan. We
now have three million yen for this the following testimony, quoted in the purpose." Evangelical Christian and Missionary Witness: "I thank God that He made Korean Gives Store me a leper. One time I knew nothing about Jesus, but now He stop alonga A RECENT occurrence in Syenchun, my heart. You know sometimes you Korea, is thus described by a see beautiful box, very nice outside, Presbyterian missionary: "During an but when you open it, nothing stop inindustrial exposition in the city, the side. And sometimes you see ugly old Christians took advantage of the pres- box, no good at all, but when you open ence of thousands of outsiders to do it, beautiful jewel stop inside. That evangelistic work among them. Six like me: this body no good, he soon groups of workers were organized, go finish, and you can throw him each to hold meetings in a different alonga rubbish-heap, but I got beautisection of the city. One of the most ful jewel. Jesus stop alonga my heart, desirable spots for meetings was a and when I die, He take me to be with store building on the main street near Him. Before 1 was a leper, 1 not know the entrance to the exposition. It be- Him, so now 1 thank God He made me longed to a Christian who was expect- a leper." ing to rent it to exhibitors for the six days of the fair, and the evan- Trained Filipino S. S. Teachers gelistic committee approached him with an offer of the same rent he T HE Philippine Islands Sunday would have asked anyone else. 'For school Union conducts daily vacapreaching – evangelistic work 7' he tion Bible Schools throughout the issaid. 'No, I can't rent it to you under lands, from Cazayan, in the north to those circumstances.' 'But,' the com- the Visayas and Minanao, in the south. mittee protested, 'you were willing Well-attended institutes for the teachto rent it to exhibitors for the fair.' ers have been held in Silliman Insti- The Korean owner enjoyed his little tute, Dumaguete, in Harris Memorial joke a moment longer and then said, School and Ellinwood School of Manila 'I can't rent it to you. The only way in Girls' Training School at Lingayen you can have that place for preaching and in various small centers. It is is to take it for nothing.' " reported that every Presbyterian con- gregation in Manila and south of Evangelistic CRlJ1paign Manila planned to have at least two representatives in the preparatory T HE Presbyterian churches in school. The Teacher Training Depart- Pyengyang City have decided to ment of the Union is now in the midst make the present year a year of of its fifth year. There has been a special evangelistic effort. Plans are steady increase in the number enbeing made to erect a temporary tent- rolled. There are now 1,017 students covered structure in the center of the from all parts of the Philippines, 418 city to seat five thousand people and of whom are Methodists, 185 Disto hold a union revival meeting next ciples, 176 Presbyterians, 84 United fall. An aggressive preparatory cam- Brethren, 44 Baptists, 44 United paign of house-to-house visitation and Church, 33 Congregationalists, 20 special prayer meetings will be con- Christian Missionary Alliance and 53 ducted for months in advance of the who are non-affiliated. Certificates and revival meeting. Twelve churches seals covering 25,000 units have been will have part in this campaign. earned in five years, of which 12,000 were granted to Methodists. There are ISLANDS OF THE SEA 27 graduates and 20 of these are Methodists. A Leper Boy's "Jewel Inside"
AT AN open-air meeting, a Kanaka .tl. boy in the South Sea Islands gave
WORTH
Any books mentioned in these columna will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-THE REVIEW.
THE TWENTY-FIVE BEST BOOKS Why is this? Home Mission books ON HOME MISSIONS are being produced constantly. Why Suggested by the Department of Educa- are they not read by the ministers? tion and Publicity, Presbyterian Board of .National Missions Is it that our pastors read them un- awares, not recognizing them as such?
Twenty-five "outstanding" books With the present boundaries of Home would have been a less dangerous at- Missions shading off on one side into tempt of course. A list of "best" the general work of the Church, and on books is always an impossible venture. the other into social service and edu- Yet in any case an endeavor of this cation, it is not difficult to enter its sort calls out more dissent than agree- preserves unwittingly. Perhaps we ment. If diversity of opinion is for- suffer from a period when our field tunately inevitable, let us provoke and· also our aims are being redefined.
from the opposition its liveliest pro- Or has Home Missions lost its ro- test. Therefore, your blessing, please, mance? Is it still seen as a crusade on the title! "to make America Christian"? Or But are there Twenty-five Best does it appear an affair of drab Books on Home Missions? Certainly drudgery, pinching along with a near- not, in the minds of the pastors. That sighted stoop? Why do not the pastors is, if we may conclude anything from read Home Missions? Shall we hlame a restricted sampling of their infor- them? Shall we blame the books? Or mation. A dozen, scattered through- shall we look somewhere else? Cer- out the country, more or less prom- tainly if the pulpit is unread in this inent, young and old, were invited to field, the pew will lack interest and insuggest books for this list. One New formation. .• York pastor responded: "My knowl- But are there Twenty-five Best edge of this field is so slight that what Books on Home Missions? In addition suggestions I could make would be to the pastors a group of Home Mis- almost worthless." Another replied: sion executives and missionary edu- "My reading of books on this subject cation leaders were asked to cooperate is very limited." A third, in an in the making of the list. One re- eastern state, writes: "I am not well ported inability to suggest any books.
enough acquainted with the material But twelve others, representing eight to be able to give you the names of 25 various denominations, responded with books that I could recommend." A more successful efforts. Something pastor on the Pacific Coast regrets also over one hundred and ten titles were his inability. States a fifth: "I have mentioned altogether, though no one not kept abreast of Home Mission lit- of them received more than five votes.
erature for several years. There is, Of this total only twelve were books of however, one suggestion. There is no biography, half of them out of print.
better Home Mission book that I know Twenty-two were mission study books.
of than The Acts of the Apostles." Their number may suggest the ques- Only one of those approached offered a tion of their evaluation. What does it more extended list. mean for Home Missions that so many 603
of its books are of this character? 3. Hall Young of Alaska. An Auto- biography of S. Hall Young, D.D. Excellwt on the whole for their pur- $4. Fleming H. Revell Company. pose,theY yet partake of the nature of The fifty years that Dr. Young textbooks; and textbooks are not spent in Alaska saw the transition noted for their universal appeal. The of a primitive people from heathen- ism to civilized life, from tribal production of mission study books is customs to an orderly government, definitely promoted. Well and good. and from paganism to the Chris- tian faith. Dr. Young is a story But are we wise in limiting promotion teller, and with incident and aneclargely to this type of book? dote makes every page vivid. A book to be read aloud of an eve- But now for our list. What do we ning. mean in it by a Home Mission book? 4. Frank Higgins, Trail Blazer. Thomas A glance at the list will show that it is based on a rather broad definition. D. Whittles. Cloth, $0.75; paper, Included are not only books on the $0.50. Missionary Education Move- ment. "I love these fellows. I love Home Mission enterprise as such, but to pick them out of the gutter. also volumes which treat its environ- It's more fun than helping Pharing problems, particularly in the field isees . . . They say it's no place for a minister. But the dirt of social and race relations. One or doesn't shock me. I'm thinking of two selections may appear also to stray clean souls"-this was Frank Hig-. into the field of general church ac- gins' approach to the lumberjack. tivity. But jf Home Missions is con- Though written for young people, sidered as expressing the purpose of this book is of interest to all lovers of heroes. the Church to make America Chris- 5. Francis Asbury, the Prophet of the tian, our whole list finds itself ade- Long Road. Ezra Squier Tipple, quately covered. D.D., LL.D. Illustrated. $3. The Methodist Book Concern. This is The books have been chosen with an a personal estimate, not a biogeye for "the man in the pew." They raphy, of one of the great repreare selected for the adult general sentatives of the Methodist movereader. Recency and availability are ment. The story is told with rare also considered. If our information is skill, and the portraiture is graphic and lifelike. correct, none of the books are out of 6. The Life and Labors of Bishop Hare, print, and by far the greater number Apostle to the Sioux. M. A. De- have been published during the last Wolfe Howe. $1. Sturgis and five years. It is regretted that no Walton Company; (Purchase from books on the Indians, and certain The Book Store, Church Missions other important groups are included. House, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York.) At the age of thirty-four, History and Biogra.phy after a successful pastorate and administrative career, Bishop Wil- 1. The Story of Missions. Edwin E. liam H. Hare was elected Mission- White. Cloth, $1; paper, $0.60. ary Bishop of Nebraska. Convinced Missionary Education Movement. that the heathen Indians of this A picture of the great on-moving country needed the Gospel, and missionary endeavor throughout better treatment from the white the centuries. Chapters on the man, he accepted the challenge. planting of Christian missions in the New World and the winning of Fields or Groups America. A background book; brief, vivid, readable. 7. Our Jewish Neighbors. John Stuart 2. The Frontier Spirit in American Chris- Conning. $1.50. Fleming H. tianity. Peter G. Mode, A.M., Revell Company. Dr. Conning Ph.D. $1.75. The Macmillan Com- calls this book "An Essay in pany. That the frontier spirit has Understanding"-a general survey had its influence on both American of Jewish conditions, chiefly in history and American literature, America, and a discussion of the students readily admit. Basing main problems involved in Jewish his premises on available source evangelization. material, the author seeks to show 8. The Land of Saddle-Bags. James Watt that the frontier has likewise given American Christianity distinctive Raine. $1.50. Missionary Educa- characteristics. tion Movement. A study of the Mountain People of the Appa-
1!)28] 1300J(S WORTH READING
lachia. These folk were isolated ulation and environment that are once, but are being modified now in inherent in urban development. ways, pleasures,· homes, and pur- poses by an oncoming civilization Social and Race Questions which awaited only the building of roads. 14. The Church and Social Relations.
9. The Farmer's Church. Warren H. Hubert C. Herring and Benson Y. Landis. $1. The Pilgrim Press. Wilson, Ph.D. $2. The Century As a textbook for discussion and Company. Born on a mountain for general reading, it is designed farm in Pennsylvania, taught his to stimulate thinking and action a, b, c's in a "little red school- about social relations on the part house," pastor of a country parish, of young people's and adult groups Dr. Wilson has always been a in church schools and in other or- strong advocate of evangelism in ganizations. the country church and of religion 15. Christianity and the Race Problem. as the only thing which can really J. H. Oldham, M.A. Cloth, $2.25; bless the sacrifice and toil of life paper, $1. George H. Doran Com- on a farm. pany. The theme is well set forth in the Preface: "The question with 10. The Trend of the Races. George E. which this book deals is whether the Christian Church has any con- Haynes, Ph.D. $0.50. Missionary tribution to make to the solution Education Movement. Obviously, of the problems involved in the states the Foreword, if our neigh- contact of different races in the bor is to be loved, he must be world today; and if so what is the known: his racial mind and spirit, nature of that contribution and his handicaps, his achievements, how it can best be made." his capaCities, his honor, and his 16. Business and the Church. Edited by goals. Here the author is speak- Jerome Davis. $2.50. The Cen- ing dispassionately but authorita- tury Company. The editor asked tively for his own, the Negro race. twenty-one prominent business He deals, too, with the trend of the leaders in the United States to white world, closing constructively state their views as to ways and with suggestions for bringing means of translating Christianity about interracial peace and good- into the everyday life of the na- will. tion. The book is a symposium of these views. 11. That Mexican. Robert N. McLean. 17. Christian Ideals in Industry. F. Ernest Johnson and Arthur E. $2. Fleming H. Revell Company. Holt. $0.75. The Methodist Book This timely book discusses "the Concern. If the Christian people common denominator between the have fairly clear in their minds the United States and Mexico," the essential principles of Christianity, Mexican immigrant who in recent what do those principles require in years especially has crowded across terms of industrial life? The authors frankly reply, "The Chris- our southern border. One half the tian ideal for industry cannot be volume sketches delightfully the once for all prescribed; it must be modern Mexico from which he worked out." comes; the other half his activi- ties, his contributions, and his General problems here in the United States. 18. The Adventure of the Church. Samuel 12. Peasant Pioneers. Kenneth D. Miller. McCrea Cavert. Cloth, $1; paper, $0.60. Missionary Education Move- Cloth, $1; paper, $0.60. Mission- ment. This is a study of the mis- ary Education Movement. The sionary genius of Christianity. It European backgrounds, the recep- sketches vividly the expansion of tion in America, the daily tasks, Christianity, summarizes results of the community life and religious the missionary enterprise at home life, and the future of these Slavic and abroad, analyzes new problems pioneers are limned with the brush before the Church throughout the of a master. Here is a summation world, and shows fresh applica- of our home mission work with the tions of the Christian missionary immigrant. spirit in the life of today.
13. The Church in the Changing City. H. 19. What Next in Home Missions. Wil- liam P. Shriver. Cloth, $1; paper, Paul Douglass. $4. George H. $0.60. Missionary Education Move- Doran Company. Dr. Douglass here studies intensively sixteen big city churches, each one of which has faced and solved, in its own way, the ever-recurring problem of the church in the city-how. to keep pace with the changes of pop-
ment. Our frontiers, says the The Highwayman and Other Stories. A. author, are now measured not so B. Lloyd. 8 vo. 67 pp. Illustrated. much in terms of distance as in 18. London. 1927. terms of human and social need, of relationships in the community, Three stories give an insight into in industry, and among the races the African's search for truth, his of the world. His aim is to bring the reader to a study of these sit- realization that somewhere is a Higher uations within his own community, Being and his deep desire to find a and through experiment to help God of Love, instead of one of Hate find ways "by which the purpose and Revenge. The stories are enter- of Christ can be made increasingly tainingly told, and will make an espe- potent in a highly involved and cial appeal to young readers. H. H. F. complicated machine age."
20. United Churches. Elizabeth R. Hooker. The Measure of Margaret. Isabel"Brown $2.75. George H. Doran Com- Rose. 8 vo. 256 pp. $1.75. New pany. Nearly a thousand united York. 1927. churches have taken the place of weak and competing denomina- This clever, freshly written love tional churches in the rural dis- story is interwoven with entertaining tricts of America covered by this pen pictures of England and Italy, as study. The author tells how these well as of India, but the missionary united churches have developed; theme is a mere fringe for the tale. how they have met their puzzling One reaches the last page in some dis- problems; how they have affected appointment that it has been so sub- the church situation in their com- munities; and how denominational ordinated to the love plot. H. H. F. and interdenominational organi:za- tions have reacted toward them. The Golden Stool: Some Aspects of the Flotlon Conflict of Cultures in Modern Africa. Edwin W. Smith. Pp. xvi, 328. $1.50.
21. We Must March. Honore Willsie Mor- New YOJ;k. 1928. row. $2. Stokes Publishing Com- This mystifying but appropriate pany. We Must March can now be title is thus explained: "The Golden purchased for 75c. from A. L. Burt Stool came to the Ashanti people out Company, the publisher. A Novel of a cloud amid the rumbling of of the Winning of Oregon. "The thunder. Worshiped for a magical more I read of Narcissa and Mar- change in fortune which it wrought, cus Whitman, of Jason Lee, of Sir it became the embodiment of the na- George Simpson, of Dr. McLough- tion's soul, and long after the en- lin," writes the author, "the more croachment of the white man was I am convinced that their lives be- zealously guarded as the emblem and longed not only to the historical but reminder of Ashanti identity." also to the writer of sagas. .. Only the saga could hope to picture the While Dr. Smith has not extended beauty and poignancy of the ef- his illustration of the Golden Stool to forts and the sacrifices that made seven volumes, as Sir James Fraser their plain human lives heroic." A novel of compelling interest. "
22. The Quare Women or The Glass Win- did his famous "Golden Bough," he has used his limited space to set forth dow. Lucy Furman. Each $2. a wonderful array of facts which il- Little, Brown, and Company. De- luminate the varied conflict of cul- lightful word pictures of the south- tures found in the Negro Africa of ern highlanders, drawn by one our time. who began missionary work among them a number of years ago. In- teresting books for group reading. The contrast between the Continent The reader will graciously note that in 1876 and 1926 is almost unbeliev- to safeguard amply the right of pri- able, as he sketches it graphically: vate judgment, only twenty-two of the material progress of world importance, twenty-five "best" are listed above. won by European avarice at the cost That the most unfortunate omissions of Negro liberty and independence.
" may be wisely supplied, the remaining Even the most valuable aid coming to three are to be chosen. by him. the African through Christian mis-
BOOKS WORTH READING
sions has been so unwittingly misap- with an emphasis on an education that plied in some respects, that Negroes have lost part of their racial heritage. will best develop Negroes and serve Yet our author is not writing like "Trader Horn" to please the general personal and missionary purposes. public by a mixture of facts and unfounded fancies, the latter to dispar- Our duty is pressed upon the reader's age Christian missions. He shows instead, how much Christian teaching conscience in a brief epilogue. The and influence have changed the situation. book contains the fairest, most sym- Dr. Smith's aim is to clarify the pathetic, most commendable presenta- African situation by telling his readers in what the nobility of the tion of the African Negro and of race consists. The African's worth is set forth under the headings, "What Christian efforts in his behalf, just as the Blacks Have Thought of the Whites," "What the Whites Have "Trader Horn" supplies a misrepre- Thought of the Blacks," "Superstitions Regarding the African," and "The sentation of missionary efforts in be- New Attitude of Respect." As we read of the problems arising from half of Africa. H. P. B. commerce and industry, the fundamental questions of population and Guidance Through Life's Contradictions. land, and read of the way in which Don. O. Shelton. 12 mo. 151 pp. $1. Negroes have been governed and how New York. 1928. they are ruled today, we can see that the indirect rule of Basutoland, Nothing is more important for the Uganda and Northern Nigeria is Christian than to be able to distinvastly more developing and Christian guish clearly between the devil's hinthan the direct rule of Germany in the drances and the Lord's turning aside; Cameroons and in East Africa, or between Satan's allurements as an even the methods of assimilation in angel of light and the Lord's guidance, French possessions. This indirect often in the dark. Dr. Shelton has had method, while "checking the worst many years of experience in the abuses, tries to graft our higher civ- Lord's leadings and has found that ilization on the soundly-rooted native they are always forward. The meditastock, bringing out the best of what tions in this volume are on Scriptural is in the native tradition and mould- truth, illustrated with lives of God's ing it into the form consonant with servants. They are not a record of modern ideas and higher standards, God's dealings with the National and yet all the time enlisting on our Bible Institute but have those experiside the real force and the spirit of ences as a background. They will be the people." helpful to any earnest soul seeking to see and follow God's leading. The value of Islam to the African is first set forth in an honest attempt to Young Hearts in Old lapan. Maude show the best in Mohammedanism, Madden. 159 pp. $1.50. New York. and then the author kindly shows the 1926. other side of the shield. The place of Christianity is also set forth, both in These sketches of Japanese friends its imperfect presentation and in its show the author to be a keen and more perfect impartation, mainly sympathetic observer, and an excelthrough friendly, godly living. The lent story teller. Each portrait is a varied departments of missionary en- peephole into events that could never deavor are described and evaluated, occur on "Main Street" but which happen to folk who are surprisingly like one's next-door neighbors. Unfa- miliar customs, a strange environ- ment, and daily habits of thought and conduct, so foreign to impetuous, in- dependent American ways, are por- trayed in warm colors. Through Mrs. Madden's understanding eyes we see beneath these superficial dif- ferences in "beating human hearts that laugh and weep" like our own.
Her friends appear so interesting, so There are sixty pages with a separate lovable that we wish we could know story almost on every page.
and enjoy them, so pitiful and patient Vol. II-Tat·o and Vme is com- that we want to share with them the posed of two longer stories about chil- freedom and joys that grow out of the dren in Japan, and is suited to readers Christian life. G. P. C. a year or two older. 'fhe pictures in both books are realistic, and the Christianity or Religlon. Arno C. Gaebe· stories are written in a way that will lein. 12 mo. 176 pp. $1.50. New York. help to bridge the gap of race dif. 1928. ference with the spirit of Him who said, "Other sheep have I which are Dr. Gaebelein is a Bible student and not of this fold. "-w. G. H. well informed on religion and philosophy. He is a clear thinker and has here presented forcefully the radical Arnot of Africa. Nigel B. M. Grahame.
difference between the revealed re- 59 pp.
ligion, the "good news" that came Moffat of Africa. Norman J. Davidson. 12 mo. 59 pp. 65 cents each. New York. through Jesus Christ, and the world's 1925. religions that have been evolved from human thought and experience. Any The lives of these two, missionary who are confused on these points will heroes of Africa make fascinating be set ril>'ht by a careful reading of stories of adventure for children. At Dr. Gaebelein's exposition of Chris- the same time they reveal the guid· tianity as contrasted with religion. ance and power of God as experienced by these two remarkable men in their The Triumph of an Indian Widow- brave and victorious lives among l'andita Ramabai. Mary L. B. Fuller. wild beasts and savage men.
75e paper. 12 mo. 72 pp. New York.
1928. Memories of the Mission Fields. Christine The romance and inspiration of I. Tinling. Foreword by F. B. Meyer. Ramabai's life have been felt, not only in India, but in all Christian circles. 158 pp. $1.25. Philadelphia. 1927. Here the story is given by one who was born in India and who knew This book is frankly not an attempt Ramabai well. This biography is to give a connected account of mission worth reading, not only as the life work in anyone country, though the story of one who had an unusual character and history, but as a record scenes and stories from China preof God's faithfulness and power in dominate. As Dr. Meyer says in his directing and caring for one who de- foreword, "These pages contain the pended on Him. Ramabai's work still record of many phases of life and continues, though she has gone to her work which have arrested her interest. reward. We may call them snapshots which re- veal traits and characteristics salient to the vast populations of the Far East."
Miss Tinling has traveled exten- Everyland Children. 60 pages each. sively in mission lands and has been 25 cents, paper; 50 cents board covers. associated with workers of many na- Cambridge, Mass. 1927. tionalities and denominations, between Vol. I-J'ust Like Yau, published 1920 and 1924.
by the Central Committee on the She has emphasized particularly the United Study of Foreign Missions, evangelistic side of mission work, giv- North Cambridge, Mass, is the first ing many instances of lives trans- book of stories for children about five formed by the Gospel of Christ. She years of age, in a series by Mrs. Lucy voices her deep conviction in these W. Peabody. They can be read or words, "One thing at least I learned told to younger children even, who in the Orient, namely, that nobody can will take great delight in the attrac· appreciate missionary work until he tive pictures that adorn the book. sees it for himself." M. s. P.
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1928
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By ARNO CLEMENS GAEBELEIN, D.D.
In five chapters a most powerful argument is advanced against evolution and modernism.
I. What is Religion? II. The Universality of Religion. III. The Origin and Growth of Religion According to Evolution. IV. The Origin and Growth of Religion in the Light of the Bible. V. Christianity not a Religion but the Supernatural Revelation of God,. the ..<:,inality of Christianity.
It is the work of the widest, scholarly research, on which the author spent several years.
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456 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK ~~============================================~ Plea"" mention THE MJSSIONABY R1ivmw OF :rHB WORLD In writing to advertisers. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor FEBRUARY TAJJLE OF CONTENTS Page FRONTISPIECE-STUDENT VOLUNTEER CONVENTION IN DETROIT CAN THE CHINESE CHURCH CARRY ON? ……………………. W. F. ROWLANDS 101 An encQuraging story of how the Christian churches have become 8elJ~8upporting ana are extending their work in one 01 the Chinc86 missions.
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL REVIVAL IN CHINA ………………… GEORGE T. B. DAVIS 109 A mm.:t intci e.,ti'ng account uf recent awakenings among Ohineee Ohristians in. spite 01 the disturbances and difficulties in 10M-torn areas.
THE LOYALTY OF CHINESE CHRISTIANS ……………•••.••.•••………….. 112 A HALF CENTURY OF GROWTH IN MISSION CHURCHES … ARTHUR JUPSON BROWN 113 The author oj the book liThe Rising Ohuychcs in Non-Ohristians Lands" gives an en- couraging picture oj the progrc8e oj theBe churohes toward 8BU-BUpport and mi88ionary aotivity aur,ng the la8t fifty year•• CO·OPERATIVE FELLOWSHIP IN CHINA ………………••…. FRANK RAWLINSON 116 The Btory of recent .uoeeBBful effort. to bring together member. oj various ProteBtant denominatio1ts} foreign and Ohincse) in clo8er cornradeehip and united activity.
THE "MUSHING PARSON" OF ALASKA …………………… FARRAND B. PIERSON 121 A biographical .ketoh <of thc late S. Hal! Younll, one of the mOBt in.pirinll ana pictur- 6sque home missionary 'Workers Of the last hal! century.
LOOKING TOWARD THE FU'l'URE …………………… KENNETH S. LATOURETTE 129 As others have looked Over the paat fifty years to discover signs oj progress.. the Pro- l.,/es80r 01 Missions at } al{' Univereity examines signs oj the times to discover the prom- oj future a,velopment•.
STUDENTS AT DETROIT SEEK TRUTH …………………….. HARLAN P. BEACH 134 A 'L~eteran missionary and former Educational Secretary oj the Student Volunteer Move- ment gives an illuminating account oj the ",ecent convention in Detroit, including some compwrison8 with earlier conventions.
YOUTH AND THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE FIFTY YEARS' AGO AND NOW ..•••. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ' ••••••••••••••••••• HOWARD B. GROSE 137 A MISSIONARY PATRIARCH OF I iI!Ne DaInAa ………………•…………. J. J. Luc.,s 143 An appreoiative sketch Of the work 01 the late Dr. E. M. Wherry, one 01 the veteran missionaries 0/ the Presbyterian Board oj Jl'oreign Mis8ions.
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LI, No.2 February
THE MISSIONARY 1ieWO….—- ~ CAN THE CHINESE CHURCH CARRY ON?
BY REV. W. F. ROWLANDS, Siaochang, Chihli, North China M",si<>"""11 of tlw Londo", 111''''.'''''<»11 Society T HE question of self-support cult and, very often, discouraging in the Chinese Church has be- as well. In many cases the Chinese come one of urgent and press- are unwilling to take over so great ing importance in these latter days, a burden, and in many other cases, when the nationalist conscious- where they would be willing ness has grown so strong and as- enough, they feel unable to do so. To sertive and the position of the for- assume suddenly so great a load, eign missionary in many parts of to attempt to do with their very China has become an exceedingly limited resources in men and mon- delicate one. It is felt, both by the ey what the foreign societies have Chinese Christian leaders and the done with much larger resources, missionaries, that the day cannot would seem to them a disastrous be long delayed when the Chinese policy, which would be bound to Church must shoulder the main end in failure. The only alterna- burden of responsibility for both tive is that nominal control be its finance and its work, and be- placed in their hands, the foreign come indeed a "self-supporting, funds being continued for the pres- self-governing and self-propagat- ent, and that the transfer of actual ing church." For this reason most responsibility for funds and work of the missionary societies today be made in a gradual way as the are earnestly considering ways by Chinese are able to bear it. But which the churches which have this, as I have said, is often a com- grown up under their care can plicated and difficult business, and "take over" (as the expression a further trouble is that, under goes) the buildings, institutions present conditions in China, there and organizations which the mis- is often not sufficient time to effect sionaries have developed in the this transfer peacefully and satis- past generation or two, and with factorily.
them the responsibility for carry- I cannot see how difficulties of ing on the work of evangelizing this sort can be avoided under the and Christianizing China. plan of missionary work which has Now this problem of transfer is prevailed almost universally up till exceedingly complicated and diffi- now, though of course the problems 101
of those societies which have pre- the church would not rank as a pared for self-support and started self-supporting church; it would the process of transference at an be, in some way or other, an in- earlier stage are much less than complete, dependent church.
the problems of those which have Should the Church be Self-Supporting1 postponed the task to the present and have been caught napping by Although the above, or some- the surging tide of nationalist feel- thing like it, is the common view ing. But I beg to suggest that for it is open to at least two very seri- the future, where new work is con- ous objections. (1). It is not cerned, it will be possible for us Scriptural. I do not say this be- to avoid most of these difficulties cause there is no church of this by taking a deeper view of the idea kind to be found in the New Tes- of self-support, and by so planting tament-that might not in itself churches that most of the problems be an objection-but because the which now perplex us will never things emphasized above as essen- arise. It is quite possible, as Paul tial to a complete church are not showed us long ago, for churches the things which are regarded as to be from .the start self-support- essential in the apostolic churches, ing in a very real sense and in and because the ideal of a church every essential way, and in so far which is commonly held today on as this ideal is reached, the prob- the mission field is of a lower type lems of devolution and transfer- than the scriptural ideal and rep- ence are avoided. It is the purpose resents a degeneration' from the of this article-written from the pattern showed to us on the mount.
point of view of an evangelistic Thus the common view of self-sup- mIssIOnary whose work lie s port chiefly concerns itself with amongst the myriad villages of the material things; if a church has great plain of North China, a field this, that and the other external which is, spiritually, largely virgin and palpable possession or re- soil-to show how this ideal may source it is a complete self-sup- be reached in the concrete condi- porting church. No doubt these tions of Chinese life today. are not the only elements which Before, however, we discuss how enter into our conception of a to reach self-support it is necessary church, but it must be said that to be sure what we mean by self- these financial matters do bulk support. The ordinary meaning of very largely in all thought about self-support as applied to churches the Chinese Church, in the minds is a financial one; the church of Chinese and missionaries alike, which is able to pay its bills, i. e., and very often prevent our seeing to meet, from its own resources, clearly the really important issues all the expenditure that it finds with regard to the progress of the necessary for its life and work, is church. In the New Testament the a self-supporting church. Among contrast to our modern viewpoint its needs are generally included a is very marked. There is little place of worship, a certain amount organization; there is no talk of of equipment for the building, all "church finances"; there are not running expenses such as heating even church buildings, much less and lighting, and finally, the salary paid pastors. But there is abun- of its pastor. Without any of th~se dance of spiritual life, which wells
CAN THE CHINESE CHURCH CARRY ON?
THE MAIN STREET IN A SMALL COUNTRY TOWN IN CHINA up from an inexhaustible spring church whose motto is, as Paul within the church. Paul thanks puts it elsewhere, "Faith working God frequently for the report he through love" (Gal. 5: 6)-this is hears of his churches, not specially a genuinely independent, self-supfor growth in numbers or wealth porting church. And though no or influence, but for their "faith one would deny the attributes of in the Lord Jesus and love for all faith and love to many of the modthe saints" (Eph. 1: 15). Faith ern highly-organized churches in and Love! A church which lives every land, yet in our ordinary by its constant fellowship with the Lord and expresses its secret life talk about what constitutes a of faith in active love to men-a strong church how different are our emphasis, our working ideal, from
those set forth in the Acts of the do this work without waiting for Apostles or the Epistles of Paul! the central churches to take it up.
(2) A second objection to the But all this would take a consider- common view is that it is not prac- . able time and meanwhile it may ticable. That is, not practicable well be asked, "What about the on a large scale or for a long time 6,000 villages with all their men, to come. Let me illustrate this women and children, who are just from the district which is best as needy and just as deserving as known to me. It comprises 8,000 the people of the county towns?"
square miles, more or less, and in- Aye, there's the rub! The bread cludes 14 counties (each of which of life is not accessible to them, has its county town) and some- because there is no church near thing like six thousand villages. enough to which they may go to The population is estimated vari- hear the Word preached and to learn to worship God and serve Him. Some would have to go more than half a day's journey to reach the church in the city, and why should they even want to do this if they have never heard of Christ?
If, therefore, the organized church- es we generally think of when we speak of self-support can only be planted on a limited scale-for at the best our resources are very limited-then they are not really a practical proposition when we have to consider vast areas and A VILLAGE SHRINE AND BELL give living bread to vast masses of starving people.
ously at between four and six mil- It seems, therefore, that we must lion. Now it would conceivably be reject as inadequate the common possible to establish a limited num- conception of what constitutes a ber of churches of the recognized church, of what is necessary for Western type in this area-say, the existence and well-being of a one in each country town-and we church, and accordingly we come could give our energies to building back to the New Testament ideal up these churches so that they of a church as being more useful should be strong enough, at some for our purposes as well as being future date, to take over the full better and finer. The New Testa- organization which we have sup- ment conception of the Church is posed (and taught them to sup- really the only prac~ical one for pose) is necessary for a complete work on a large scale, for work church. We might then hope that, which needs also to be done both being themselves established, they quickly and well. It is the only would goon to evangelize the coun- universal kind of church suited to ties of which they are the centers any condition in any country be- and gradually build up other cause it rests almost entirely on a churches of a similar type round spiritual basis. It is also the poor about; or we might go ahead to man's church (suitable, therefore,
CAN THE CHINESE CHURCH CARRY ON?
for the peasant farmers of North First, How is such life produced; China), because it is simple and and· secondly, How is such life cheap (though it will involve sac- maintained? The answer to these rifice too) and is capable of repro- two questions will give the key to duction on a wide scale with very most of our problems. small resources. (1). In the first place, it is ob- Let me try to make this clear in vious that "belief cometh of hearreference to actual missionary work ing and hearing by the word of A church, in its most elementary Christ" (Rom. 10: 17). People terms, consists of a body of men cannot believe in a Christ of whom and women, whose hearts have they have not heard. And hearing been awakened to repentance from involves preaching (or at least sin and to faith in Jesus Christ, speaking) and preaching means and who are united to each other preachers, heralds, evangelists. in love by virtue of their common Now if the primary business of a allegiance. The one thing that real- missionary society is to evangelize, ly matters is that they should have i. e., to proclaim the Good News of life-that having been dead in tres- salvation and to evangelize places passes and sins they should be where Christ is not known, it is quickened with Christ and live in evident that men must be specially Him. A group of men and women sent to do this work. But it is also which has life in Christ is essen- the task of the church and every tially a church. This being so, two Christian to evangelize in their questions of vital importance arise: own neighborhood, and as a mat-
ter of fact the Gospel is spread humble peasant folk could remain very largely by this passing on of Christians long, under the stress the message by one individual to of superstition and sin around another. Weak as our little them and often persecution, unless churches are, and weak as is the they had others near at hand to faith of most of the Christians, the help them and share their sorrows layman is still our mightiest evan- as well as their joys. But fellow- gelist. But the adequacy of this ship generally implies a place of work and its effectiveness entirely meeting; can any small group of depends on the quality of our own Christians in a village afford to spiritual life ("our" includes mis- build a church? The answer is, sionaries, evangelists and volun- Yes, if they want to, and of the tary Christian workers); if we kind that is sufficient for their have abounding life, and if Christ present needs. They may be con- really means something to us, by tent to meet in some Christian's God's grace and Spirit we shall be home and be thoroughly apostolic; able to reproduce life in others. but as their numbers grow, they Not otherwise. will want a common meeting-place, (2). But how shall life be main- and this-a smaller or larger room tained? It is a spiritual thing and similar to their own homes–they it can be maintained only by spir- can secure by borrowing, renting, itual means. The following seem buying or, it may be, building with essential: (a) Prayer. The newly their own hands. The tables and born Christian needs to learn how benches, the heating and lighting, to hold fellowship with God and to etc., for this building, can be also find his chief strength in so doing. provided by themselves if they Great emphasis must be laid here, really want it. And as this is their for if he has no secret inner life own property, however crude, they wofhcicohmmatunfiiorsnt with God, his faith, will value it and look after it and may be vivid and use it. Experience in the district strong, will not long maintain its I am speaking of has proved again pristine vigor, much less grow and again that all this is true, and deeper and firmer. (lj)Ghristian that there is no need for the mis- Fellowship. It is ~ssential that he sionary society to build chapels for should have opportuniti-es of meet- any group of Christian people who ing with other Christians, worship- feel the need of fellowship with ing with them, and receiving God and each other.
counsel and inspiration from them.. (c) Bible Study. The reading "You must either find companions of the Bible is also essential for on your way to Heaven or make the maintenance of spiritual life, them" someone said to John Wes- because it contains the life-giving ley in his early years. "The char- Word of Truth, the Gospel which acteristic of the religious or originally created our Christian seeking soul, is solitariness ….. . life. It is certain that few Chris- The characteristic of the godly, the tians can remain faithful and grow accepted soul, so joined unto the in spiritual power and goodness, Lord as to be of one spirit with unless they habitually feed on the Him, is fellowship." (Dora Green- Bible and are able to get nourish- well.) A solitary Christian is an ment therefrom. This is true for anomaly; certainly. few of the aU Christians, but it is especially
CAN THE CHINESE CHURCH CARRY ON?
true for the people of these little herself and should learn to use it churches. For, unless we are regularly as a source of inspiraworking on a very limited scale tion. indeed, it will be impossible either to provide a pastor who shall reg- An immense difficulty, however, ularly minister to their needs or confronts us at this point, viz.; for them to support such a pastor. the fact that a large percentage of A sufficient number of men is not the country people in China are available for such work, even if illiterate; practically all the womwe believed it was desirable to tie en are so, and probably not less men up to individual churches than 60% of the men. We have solved this problem very largely CHINESE PATIENTS AT A MISSION HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY while there are still myriads who by the introduction of a phonetic have never heard the Gospel; and script, originally invented by a the cost of maintaining salaried Chinese scholar, which uses only pastors is, and will be for a long seventy symbols, or radicals, and time, beyond the resources of these village churches. Failing a regular can be learned in a few weeks by spiritual instructor, however, it is almost anybody. The value of this urgent that every Christian should script is untold, and it is enabling have a fount of spiritual truth ac- hundreds of Christians, to whom cessible at all times, and for this the Bible was a closed book, to read reason we feel it to be absolutely the story of Christ and the gospel vital that each one should be able message for themselves. to read the Bible for himself or (d) Christian Service. "Faith working out through love." This
is the sign and index of real faith, by day. This, too, could be illusof genuine life on the part of Chris- trated from experience, if space tians, that they love one another permitted. and serve their fellowmen. Now in Such, in brief, are some of the the New Testament Church, where things needful for maintaining the life was abundant, each member spiritual life of a group of Chrispossessed some "spiritual gift" in tians, in virtue of which they· bevirtue of which he could serve the come a church; and such a church Church, such as preaching, teach- is not only a scriptural one (aping, healing, governing, etc. The proximating to the model set forth whole body together possessed all in the New Testament), but it is gifts sufficient for their life and in all essentials a self-supporting work. Surely the same thing is church. And if one such church is true today. In every church of self-supporting, a series of sucn living men and women, there is an churches in a given area is also inexhaustible spring of spiritual self-supporting; and as these life, and "spiritual gifts" are churches are multiplied-which bound to be manifested-some pre- can be done more easily than with eminent, some humble, some spe- the other type-a really indigecial, some more common; but there nous church comes into i:)eing. I do they are, and a church grows and not pretend that in such a church blesses others by making use of there would be no problems, for these gifts, by "stirring them up" even Paul had to face difficulties and developing them c.ontinually. of administration ami' leadership, For this reason there is a definite discipline, etc., and the quesiion of advantage, whatever loss there the relation of the foreign missionmay also be, in the fact that these ary to this indigenous church village churches are not able each would necessarily bea somewhat to have a pastor. A little tree will delicate one. Yet I think it may not grow well under the shade of truly be said that, in the' kind of a big one, and when one strong church sketched above, problems personality is dominant, the of control, transfer, devolution, growth of the humbler ones tends etc., would be far less acute than to be hindered. But where the they are in present conditions of members feel the church is their missionary work, and we should, job–that they must carry it on, therefore, be wise in the future support it with their gifts, conduct to aim, far more definitely than its services, do its pastoral and hitherto, at building up a church evangelistic work, and so forth- based primarily on life and mainthey tend to try their wings and tained by spiritual means, which often find that it is quite· possible is largely independent of foreign for them to fly, that is, to conduct funds and Western organization a service, or preach at a fair, or and is chiefly dependent on God manage the miscellaneous affairs for its progress. Such a church is of the church; and if they cannot in accord with the essential genius fly, at least they can run or walk! of Christianity and such a church The result is that they themselves alone will be found able to face ungrow in power and the church also dismayed the storms and troubles grows, and the Christian life is which the future may bring upon kept fresh by renewed exercise day it. Pray for the Church in China.
OF SPIRITUAL REVIVAL IN
BY GEORGE T. B. DAVIS SEVERAL months ago commu- "We wondered how the Lord would nism was sweeping over China intervene this time. About fifteen min- . like a tidal wave. The move- utes after the parade started fire broke ment was accompanied with in- out in the house of the general. The tense persecution of the Christians, soldiers drove the people home with rifles desecration of churches, and loot- and knives. Some were killed and ing of mission property. wounded. We are now caring for some of the severely wounded men. All the Today a change is taking pl~ce. anti-Christian movement has gone. The people are as friendly as ever. It was a real miracle. No one could have fore- The onward sweep of commUnIsm seen such a change."
has been checked, and in some Mr. Becker has applied for 13,- places the communists are in hid- 000 copies of the New Testament ing instead of the Christians. The for distribution in his district. One opposition to communism by the thousand Testaments have already Chinese people has increased great- been forwarded. He writes: ly during the past few months. This is God's doing in answer to "We are waiting and longing for t~e the cry of His children in many New Testaments. The whole church IS praying for the distribution of them."
lands. It is a striking testimony The blessing of God is resting to the power of united intercession. upon the nation-wide distribution But a great volume of persistent of New Testaments in China. The believing prayer is still needed to Chinese pastors and evangelists make the victory complete. and workers are cooperating most heartily and enthusiastically in the The anti-Christian agitation is presentation of Pocket Testaments still strong, but it is perceptibly to Christians and inquirers to build decreasing, and in one place at them up in the faith, and to the least has ceased entirely. Mr. Her- unsaved to lead them into a knowlman Becker, of Yuanchow, Hunan, edge of the truth. tells of the remarkable manner in which God answered prayer in Dr. Jonathan Goforth, who has their city. He writes: been as greatly used as any mis- sionary in China in revival meet- "The students forced the people into ings, gives the Testaments to those a big parade. They wanted to take some of our helpers and Christians and drive them through the streets. The Christians who make confession of their faith decided that if they should take one of in Christ. He writes of the readi- them they would ring the large bell and ness of business men and others to all the Christians would go with those receive and read the Word of God bound. I also offered to go with them. and asks for a consignment of eight The whole city became nervous. We had or ten thousand Testaments for a day of prayer and fasting. The parade use in his new field of labor in was very big, but, except for some crying Szepingkai, Manchuria. against us, they did nothing. A Chinese pastor in Shantung "On the 19th they wanted to have a province expresses the gratitude of big lantern parade, and after that to de- 7,000 church members for the stroy our chapel. We prayed much. books already received, and re- Just when the parade started, a big thunder storm came and all had to flee. It was the Lord! On the 20th we still . had rain, so they began the parade in ·the evening of the 21st.
109
quests a further supply of 3,000 sweeping over China. Already re- copies. He says: markable revivals have occurred in "This year I have been appointed lead- certain places. In two districts at er in a revival movement and have visited all the churches in this district. I least the outpourings of the Spirit received 2,000 Testaments which have already been given out. But many more have been largely along the lines are needed. Letters begging for copies come daily without break. I beg that of the Welsh revival. you will quickly send me 3,000 copies. Mr. A. J. Smith gives the fol- "From the time we received the books the believers have made great advance lowing account of how the revival in studying the Scriptures. Those who formerly had no Testaments now have recently began in Tamingfu, Chihli one. Those just beginning to learn the doctrine are more zealous, and have al- province: ready become believers. The gift of the Scriptures has greatly influenced and "The missionaries had been praying confirmed their faith. They are mutually for some time, and the Chinese also, that encouraged to search the Scriptures to God would send a revival in His own the great benefit of the church." way and in His own time. We had ceased to pray for more missionaries One of the most urgent requests and more money, but we were praying for Testaments has come from Mr. for a spiritual revival. Everything else was secondary. We also got to the place Hwang, a Chinese Christian who where we said, 'Lord, send a revival; has recently contracted leprosy, no matter in what mission, no matter in what province or station, just so a and is now in a leper colony in Holy Ghost revival is started.' Fukien province. He writes: "We were greatly encouraged in our "My gratitude in receiving your letter praying as we received letters from was greater than I can express in words; America, and from other parts of China, and to know that you look on all coun- telling how the Lord was laying it upon tries as one family, and all the people as their hearts to pray for a revival, and blood brothers. This is what is spoken of the faith they had in God for a reof as 'loving others as one's self.' vival. A letter from a friend at T'eng Hsien, Shantung, said, 'Some day there "All in this infirmary are lepers who is going to be the greatest revival in the have never been able to hear God's Gos- world here in China, and we cannot get pel. They dare not go to the different ready too soon. His day is coming.' We halls for fear of infecting others. In gave prayer the preeminence. The best 1900 I went to the South Seas to preach. hours of the day and night were spent This year at the age of sixty-nine I have in prayer. contracted this disease. When I came to this infirmary I gathered my brethren "God has wrought far beyond our together to worship God. Most of them fondest expectations. If anybody would are poor and unable to buy Testaments. have told us five months ago what would I hear that your honorable Society is take place among the Chinese and forgiving away Testaments. I am pleased eigners we would not have believed it. beyond measure. I write first to ask for Some of the missionaries would be called Testaments, and second to thank you." out of bed at two o'clock in the morning to pray. After the burden of prayer had That last sentence from Mr. rested upon our hearts for a number of weeks, the burden also came upon the Hwang's letter reminds one of the Chinese. They would get up at midleper in the Bible who returned to night, and weep and pray for the lost. They would get up early in the morning give thanks. Weare gladly send- in .the dark and cold and pray for a ing him a consignment of the life- revival.
giving little books. "Thousands of confessions have been made. Our best workers confessed to Just as the Lord has so marvel- have sins in their lives. All kinds of lously answered prayer, and has confessions have been made. Restitution raised up forces to oppose and put was made to the extent of hundreds of dollars. There was little preaching done. down communism in China; so in People would get up and quote a Scrip- ture verse, then comment on it. Others answer to the united prayers of would testify or tell of some experience His children in many lands, He can and people would come to the altar of prayer. Such praying, and such godly send a mighty spiritual awakening sorrow for sin, I have never witnessed in all my life. I knew that God had the power to work in such a marvelous way,
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL REVIVAL IN CHINA )11
but I had not expected it at this time by the American Consul, we had a comnor to such a large extent." munion service with the Chinese which was followed by prayer and testimony. Surely not only in China, but in The Chinese said, 'It used to be you the homelands, glorious revivals can be brought to pass if prayer missionaries and we Chinese, but now is given the preeminent place. we are one.' Praise God! Charles G. Finney declared that we can have a revival anywhere if "Before this revival began it was imwe will pay the price. They paid possible for the Chinese to see the imthe price in China; and the fire portance of strict Sabbath Day observfell from Heaven. ance, but now conviction seizes them, and they are strongly reproved for desecra- tion of the Lord's day. Praise God! The benefit of tithing was also never understood by many, but now some are Almost simultaneously with the revival in Tamingfu district, an equal or even more remarkable outpouring of God's Spirit took place in the Chao Chen district, across the border in Shantung province. Mr. L. C. Osborn recently sent the following account of how the church was transformed: "Since the revival began the Chinese PAUL WONG. CHINESE POLICEMAN, have shouldered responsibility as never PRISONER. PREACHER before. A large Dart of the work that having to make up years of back tithing, we have heretofore carried has. been and tithing in general is a joy. Others who have never tithed are promising to shifted to the shoulders of the Chinese. do so. We will give ourselves to prayer, and the preaching of the Word. Praise the "What God has done He can do again! Lord! What He has done in one place He can do in all places, therefore let us pray "It was such a blessing to see open and believe for a mighty revival." Bibles all over the house. Some of the sins confessed were as follows. A young Are we on the eve of an era of unparalleJed spiritual progress in man was so deceived by the devil that China? A missionary writes from he intended to murder his whole family, Hong Kong that the leading native and then commit suicide. Another stole evangelist of South China recently said "There will be a hundred thou- over $300.00 worth of narcotics. Still another defrauded a friend out of $100.00. One church member, before conversion, poisoned two of his neigh- bor's cows; another confessed to shooting a man.
"The revival spread to the outstations and whole families were united and rec- onciled to each other. One Sunday there were over one hundred seekers at, 'the altar of mercy. Practically all of these were people who had heard considerable preaching: parents, relatives and friends 'of the Christians. On this day there was much weeping and people dropped to their knees all over the house confessing their sins. Dismissed church members were praying for mercy, and those for whom we had given up hope were mightily revived. People came in for many miles around. God was in our midst.
We shall never forget it. But if Jesus tarries and we are permitted to return to our work, we believe we shall see the ~greater things.'
"The night before our party left head- quarters for Tientsin, being ordered out
sand more Christians in China two prayer that a righteous governyears from now than there are at ment may speedily be established, present." and that peace may prevail; for the missionaries and the Chinese Chinese pastors are distributing Christians; for the millions of unamong their people many thou- saved; for the nation-wide distrisands of prayer cards asking them bution of New Testaments; and to spend a few minutes daily in for an era of unparalleled spiritual earnest intercession. Will you set progress? apart a little time daily for special Loyalty of Chinese Christians· D ING CHANG HUA is a Christian pastor in Yenping, in Fukien Province, whose life and whose loyalty are typical of hundreds of Christian pastors in China.
Some time ago a number of Christian leaders of Yenping signed a petition to the Chinese National Government asking for the return of church properties that were being occupied by military forces. The first signature on the petition was that of the Rev. Ding Chang Hua. A notice from the local authorities gave him three days in which to leave the city, but he only smiled and was in the pulpit the following Sunday morning. A few minutes before the service began someone notified the congregation that the church was to be "raided" and that it would be advisable to hide the Bibles and hymn books. Raids upon other churches had usually meant the destruction of Christian literature. So the books were hidden. Then a young officer and several soldiers appeared. He told the waiting congregation not to be afraid. "All we want is a man by the , name of Ding Chang. Hua," he said. When the soldiers placed him under arrest they bound him and led him through the streets of Yenping to their headquarters. .
The congregation remained for a while in silent prayer and then met to consider the plight of their pastor. They talked the matter over for almost two hours and finally decided to go in a body to the chief officials of the city and ask the release of their pastor. They also pledged them- selves to ask the officials to put all of them in prison with their pastor if he were not releaE!ed. "If one is to suffer, all of us will suffer," they said. As they marched through the city streets in a body other Christians joined them so that there was a goodly number by the time they reached the office of the acting mayor. He expressed surprise at seeing so many Christians voluntarily coming together at a time when Christians were being persecuted. He expressed surprise also to hear of the arrest of the pastor and asked for a formal complaint in the matter. The military commander of the city was equally surprised at this demonstration and promised to have the pastor released at once. Then the congregation marched to the building in which Pastor Ding was being given the for- mality of a trial by a jury of anti-Christians. The determination of the Christian group to suffer along with their pastor so impressed those who were prosecuting him that they found themselves compelled to let him go free. That evening the whole city was aroused by the sight of the congregation marching through the main street singing songs of praise and thanksgiving and carrying Pastor Ding at the head of the procession. This episode bound the Christians together as never before and moved them to decide to die before they would see the church rooted out of Yenping City.
• From World Service New••
A HALF CENTURY OF GROWTH
MISSION CHURCHES BY REV. ARTHUR JUDSON BROWN, D.D., New York Author oj uThe Foreign MiB8ionary.." Etc.
T HE rise of the Christian The progress in the last fifty churches in non-Christian years has been notable. While lands is the most inspiring foreign missionary work has now fact of the present age, but it is been in progress more than a cenattracting scant attention from a tury, it was, save in a few fields, preoccupied world. Politicians still in its pioneer stages fifty years and generals, poets and scientists, ago. Indeed some of the present the devotees of fashion and amuse- missions, as for example, Arabia, ment, give little heed to the distant Mesopotamia, Korea, the PhilipgrOUps of Asiatics and Africans pines, and French Indo-China, had who worship the crucified Naza- not then been begun. In the older rene. "No more," said Lecky in his mission fields missionaries were History of European Morals, "did still endeavoring to communicate the statesmen and philosophers totally new ideas to people who had of Rome understand the char- been made sodden and apathetic acter and issues of that greatest by an inheritance of centuries of movement of all history, of which heathenism. It is difficult for us their literature takes so little who were born and bred in a notice. That the greatest religious Christian land and who have been change in the history of mankind familiar with the Gospel from our should have taken place under the infancy to understand how hard it eyes of a brilliant galaxy of philos- is for the Oriental mind to grasp ophers and historians, and that the conceptions which Christianity they should have treated as simply inculcates. We need to remember contemptible an agency which all that our own ancestors were slow men must now admit to have been, in grasping them, and that sevfor good or evil, the most powerful eral generations passed before moral lever that has ever been ap- Christianity was clearly underplied to the affairs of men, are stood even by Anglo-Saxons. It is facts well worthy of meditation in not surprising, therefore, that every period of religious transi- Asiatics and Africans listened tion." apathetically and deemed the mis- This movement is being repro- sionary "a setter forth of strange duced in our day in lands of which gods." the early disciples had never heard. The modern missionary had to Humble but earnest men and begin among a people who were not women are hearing the message of only totally ignorant of the true the Gospel and receiving it with God but who, in many places, apgreat joy. The scenes so graphi- peared to be quite unable to con- 'cally described in the New Testa- ceive of a SUpreme Being in terms ment are being reenacted on a of personality. The notion of one wider scale throughout the mission God with attributes of holiness, field of the twentieth century. justice, and mercy, lovingly inter- 2 113
ested in the 'individual man how- of Him as a historical personage is ever humble, was quite foreign to beclouded and distorted by the hosthe Japanese, the Chinese, and the tile presumptions of age-old preju- East Indians. Some of them in- dices, supersitions, and spiritual deed had a hazy conception of a apathies. In such circumstances, Supreme Being, but it was so to make Christ intelligently known vague and shadowy that they did is apt to be a long and perhaps a not recognize its relationship to wearisome effort. The first mistheir daily lives. The lower classes sionaries in India and China toiled thought of a supreme power in seven years before their hearts terms of innumerable demons, usu- were gladdened by a single convert. ally malignant in character and be- Fifteen discouraging years passed setting man at every turn with evil in South Africa before the first intent. Zulu accepted Christ, and twenty years in Mongolia before visible It is not surprising, therefore, results appeared. After the nonthat when the missionaries spoke Christian mind fairly grasps the of God in the Christian sense, the new truth, progress usually bepeople gave them stolid and un- comes more rapid; but at first and comprehending attention. Curios- sometimes for long periods it is apt ity to see the stranger with his to be painfully slow. peculiar dress and color often drew a wondering crowd. Sometimes Statistics are not dry if we will men would gather about a mission- stop to consider what they mean. ary as the men of Athens gathered Missionary statistics throb with about St. Paul and say in effect: life. They tabulate the visible re- "Thou bringest certain strange sults of years of devoted toil by things to our ears: we would know men and women of whom the therefore what these things mean." world is not worthy. Accuracy in But when the message was ex- such statistics is indeed peculiarly plained, the result was apt to be difficult. It is not easy to collect even more discouraging than in the reliable data of churches in Amercase of Paul. ica. The task is enormously in- creased when we deal with Slowly and laboriously the seed churches in many widely separated had to be sown and the first fruits lands, which are under a distracttended. Even yet, Christ is un- ing variety of organizations and known to a large part of the non- whose affiliations are with hun- Christian world and most of tholie dreds of different agencies whose who have heard of Him know Him methods of computation are not only in such a general way as uniform. Fifty years ago, statis- Americans have heard of Mencius tics were not as carefully kept as or Zoroaster, without any real un- they are today. A table in Dr. derstanding of His character and William D. Howard's "History of mission. What little they do know Foreign Mis- Income of sionaries and Native Commu- Scholars of the societies Ph,ysicians LabOTers nicants both, sezes in 1875 & 1873 American Societies 578 5,201 103,487 63,349 $1,809,295 British Societies …….•.. 1,078 10,652 307,883 318,828 3,173,764 Continental Societies .. . . • . 581 2,354 69,609 45,475 601,911 "Local" Societies •…….. 27 323 21.518 18.086 2,264 18,530 502,497 445,738 $5,584,970
A HALF CENTURY OF GROWTH IN MISSION CHURCHES
the Origin of the Board of Foreign 65,370 adherents. If these be added to the totals for India we have a total of Missions of the Presbyterian 108,170 communicants and 369,673 ad- Church," published in 1872, is herents for India, including Burma, for the year 1878. given on the preceding page. PERSIA. The Church Missionary So- Mr. Charles H. Fahs, Director ciety in 1878 had 35 communicants and of the Missionary Research Li- 125 other adherents. The Presbyterian Board reported 1,134 communicants for brary, New York, has kindly col- Persia. The total communicants would, therefore, be 1,169. lated for me the following data TURKEY-IN-ASIA. Apparently the regarding some of the principal only Board at work in 1878 was the American Board of Commissioners for mission fields: Foreign Missions whose report for 1878 gives 5,308 members for its three mis- JAPAN. In 1879 Dr. R. Grundemann, sions. a German pastor, scholar and author, gave the church members for Japan as TURKEY-IN-EUROPE. The Ameri- 2,965. can Board's report for 1878 gives 511 members for Constantinople and its out- KOREA. Not yet entered in 1878. stations. FORMOSA. In 1878 the Presbyterian Church of England reported 947 commu- Contrast these figures with nicants, and the Presbyterian Church of those in that monumental and au- Canada, 182, a total of 1,129. thoritative work, the "World Mis- CHINA. The Records of the General sionary Atlas," issued in 1925: Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China, at Shanghai in 1877 give Protestant Christian the number of communicants as 13,035. Communicants Community PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. Unentered in 1878. Japan…… … 134,547 164,700 NETHERLAND INDIES. Dr. Grundemann, who had access to the Dutch re- Korea….. . .•. 112,059 277,377 ports and periodicals, found difficulty Formosa …… 10,481 21,081 with the dates and the terminology used. China ……. ,. 402,539 795,075 He was not able to find figures for 1878, but used scattered dates from 1880 on to Philippines …. 64,184 111,299 1887. Gathering together his figures, Mr. Fahs gets a total of 105,647 as the Neth. Indies…. 475,848 779,893 outside figure that by any possible inter- Siam ……..• 8,344 14,846 pretation could be regarded as "members," in the Netherland Indies in the Br. Malayia…. 10,781 17,849 early eighties. India ……… 811,505 2,242,798 FRENCH INDO-CHINA. Unentered in 1878. Ceylon ..•….. 32,388 64,589 SIAM. The report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Persia ……•. 865 2,071 Church in the U. S. A. for 1878 gives Turkey 3,987 15,299 123 communicants. BRITISH MALAYA. Only the An- Total ……. 2,067,528 4,506,877 glicans and the Plymouth Brethren were at work as early as 1878. The latter of- Grant that mere members are fers no statistics. The Anglicans (S. P. not always a fair test of success G.) in Singapore reported a membership and that in some important misof 285 in 1887 (whether English or na- sion fields the number of converts tive or both is not stated), and in Pen- is yet small. Taking the work as ang a native membership of 110 in 1880. a whole, we have reason for mighty In British Borneo the S. P. G. in 1878 encouragement and gratitude to had 583 communicants and 1889 adher- God. The advance in some fields ents. has been wonderful. It is a story CEYLON. In 1878 there were 6,079 of toil and self-sacrifice, of magcommunicants and 23,774 adherents. nificent courage, of superb loyalty INDIA. Dr. Grundemann gives his to Christ. Within the first hunstatistics for India in two tables: one dred years of modern missions the for North India and one for South India. number of Christians in the mis- Adding the totals for communicants in sion field was larger than the 1878 for the two sections gives a total of number of Christians in the whole 86,093. The inclusive total for adher- world at the end of the first cenents is 304,303. Burma is listed sepa- tury of the Christian era. rately with 22,077 communicants and
CO-OPERATIVE FELLOWSHIP IN
BY REV. FRANK RAWLINSON, D.D., Shanghai Edit"'" oj The Chinese Recorder CHINESE Christian experi- to dig deeply in the problems. Yet ence is being rapidly articu- the discussions and plans for,future lated into a conscious reality. work made it clear, as Dr. C. Y. At the same time the old thought- Cheng, general secretary of the patterns of China and the Chris- Council, said in his closing speech, tian Church are breaking up in the that this meeting disclosed the diminds of such Chinese leaders as rection in which Chinese Christian make up the National Christian experience will express itself. In- Council membership. Such leaders deed one felt that this was preare resolutely facing a new future. cisely what all the delegates were This was the impression gained at looking for. They were in an inthe annual meeting of the Nation- vestigative and experimental mood. al Christian Council of China in Detailed and dramatic programs Shanghai last October. did not stand out in their thinking.
It was really a China Christian Only the experimental attitude can gathering. It thought in terms of disclose the best ways whereby a unified Chinese Church. Three Christians may serve a China fourths of the delegates were Chi- awaking under the spell of revolunese and all but two of the officers tionary aspirations. (two foreign secretaries) are na- There was a marked absence of tionally known Chinese leaders. Every report and all but one or strain and tensity in this meeting. two of the main speeches were Dispassionate earnestness marked made by Chinese delegates. the discussions. Of course refer- ence was made to China's now This meeting appointed seven well-known political aspirations. commissions to carryon work for Treaties and the treaty-status of the ensuing year; all under the missionaries likewise received honchairmanship of Chinese Chris- orable mention. Chinese control tians. Dr. David Z. T. Yui, general of Christian institutions was also secretary of the National Commit- noted in passing. But none of tee of Y. M. C. A. in China, for these topics struck fire. No one five years has been the chairman seemed anxious about them. This of the Council. His continuance may have been due in part to the in this office was urged upon him prevailing uncertainty as to how with enthusiastic unanimity. China's Revolution may be best carried forward. Christians have One would expect in such a meet- suffered much from Nationalists. ing to gather hints as to the emerg- Some of them are conscious of the ing Chinese Christian mind. I say necessity of a new start. But I "emerging" advisedly, for this was think it was due much more to a not a gathering which loaded its. feeling that generally missionaries minutes with resolutions. It had and Chinese Christians see fairly a tentative mind. Its Chinese lead- clearly and are in the main of one ership was rather conservative mind as to the principles which than otherwise. It is taking time 116 must be applied to all these issues. the articulating point of their faith Those being to a large extent rec- and effort. This relates the Chrisognized Chinese Christians can af- tian experience to a life interest in ford to wait their consummation personalities and their influence. and apply themselves more directly to the internal and immediate One of the major notes of the problems of the Christian Move- meeting was that of the insistent ment. Then these Chinese leaders Chinese Christian desire for a being conscious that the destiny of fuller and visible degree of Christhe Council and to a large ~xtent tian unity. This, it is evident, Christian work is now on their means a freer cooperative fellowshoulders are on guard against im- ship centering in personal relationpulsive decisions as to how the new ship and loyalty to the personality situation should be met. The Chi- of Christ. It does not center in nese Christian leaders in this meet- creedal uniformity or one all-eming showed no desire to run away bracing organization. The desire with their job or break the bonds of Chinese Christians seems to be set up between them and Western for a more dynamic fellowship Christians. Noone, therefore, demonstrated in and through coseemed to have a program or set operative relationships and activiof ideas he wished to put over on ties. In short the Chinese Chrisanybody else. The fundamental tian mind when it seeks to simplify motive of this gathering headed the Christian Message aims to up in the successful search for a achieve this by centering the Chriscommon Christian mind. tian heart on "Christ Himself" and demonstrating that concentration The present bond of Christian of faith and faithfulness in a deepunity in China is that of a coop- er cooperative fellowship. Such, at least, is my impression. Chriserative search for the contribution tians in China tend to put their Christianity can make to an emerg- Message in terms of living relaing new China. In all its work tionships and vitalized experience this meeting of the Council rose and effort.
above disruptive issues. It re- Religious Education corded no far-reaching formulations. It also registered no breaks The second problem, given long in fellowship. It did demonstrate and careful consideration, was that the possibilities of a cooperative of religious education: There was fellowship. It was in a real sense a common mind that the critical Chinese-church-centric. But it al- point in all efforts and systems of. so moved within the larger bonds planting religious ideals and asof an international cooperation. pirations in students is found in the personal relation of the teacher Much time was spent discussing and the pupil. A dynamic personal the Christian Message. This dis- influence is the chief agency in cussion was far above the plane winning pupils to the acceptance of Christ as their Master and of the fundamentalist-modernist Friend. The proble~ of making controversy. There was a common religious instruction voluntary in desire to simplify and so refocus accord with tendencies in China's this Message. Creedal complexities educational plans was kept in and subtilties were laid aside. The delegates were united in the desire to make the personality of Christ
mind. There was no attempt at and carefully scrutinized. There a pronauncement therean. Yet it seemed no disposition in this meetwas clearly recognized that the ing to pronounce for or against new registration regulatians pre- any particular definition of relisent a situatian to be met rather gious liberty. My own impression than directly appased. It is evi- is that the Chinese mind is apdent that many Chinese Christians proaching it from a different angle desire ta meet gavernmental wishes than that in vogue in the West. in this regard, thaugh there is na There is, of caurse, a rising Chrisabsalute unanimity .of apinian tian ~esire that the ideal set up in the new canstitutian of China therean amang either Chinese be achieved. There is also a rec- Christians .or missionaries. Just ognition an the part of Chinese previaus ta the meeting of the Christians that religious liberty, Cauncil the United Church .of no matter how defined, is in dan- China held its first General As- ger in China thaugh these aspects sembly. This bady naw includes of the problem were nat discussed about one third of all Pratestant in this meeting. It is, however, Christians in China. Its decisian clear that the direction of the Chion this problem is therefore of con- nese Christian mind is towards siderable significance and may well emphasizing the personal aspects be referred to here. This Assem- of religiaus education rather than bly vated ta make religiaus instruc- "requirements" or methads that tion voluntary in middle schools seem compulsory. and colleges but decided ta request the government, or governments, The West and the East concernedta permit required religious instruction for the chil- The third subject which received dren .of Christians in schools below special attention in this meeting those grades. In its discussions the was that of the relation of the olddelegates to the National Christian er churches in the West to the Council laid special emphasis upon young churches of China. It was the necessity of further develop- recognized that the experience of ment of the Sunday-school as one the Chinese Church is young and way of meeting this situation. One perhaps, on the part of many of its members, still immature. That could nat but feel, however, that there is a Chinese Christian extheir general tendency was to meet perience was made quite clear. the canditions being created rather Reference was made also ta the than to seek to impose their own high degree of carrespandence bepreferences. They sought a way tween Chinese and Christian ethito meet the situation in a patient cal ideals. This point of contact and Christian spirit. was recognized as a doar thraugh which other Christian ideas might There was in .one of the four fittingly enter the Chinese mind sectional meetings some discussion and life. In spite .of their youthfulof the general problem of religious ness the Chinese churches have liberty. It was announced that the samething ta cantribute ta their Council is preparing a pamphlet older cantemporaries. It was sigon this topic. One had the feeling, nificant to nate that, generally however, that the whole problem speaking, the form this relation- of religious liberty in China is one that is being dug UP by.the roots
CO-OPERATIVE FELLOWSHIP IN CHINA
ship will take is becoming most Christian work. The evacuation apparent in connection with Chris- of missionaries has placed the re- tian work in Canton where the rev- sponsibility for Christian work olutionary influences have been upon the shoulders of Chinese most strong and Christianity is Christians and deepened their con- older as years go. Several aspects cern therefor in a striking way.
of the future relationship between A new and delicate balance be- Chinese and Western churches are tween Western and Chinese Chris- there emerging in an encouraging- tians has been set up which must ly easy manner. Missions, it is not be upset. In this way the expected, will be merged into the Revolution has pushed forward Chinese church bodies. Mission- the Christian Movement in China.
aries will come at the caJ.l of these While definite and detailed plans Chinese Christian bodies, work for the conduct of Christian work under them and be appointed to did not roll easily or in any great their tasks by them. There was, numbers off the mind of the Coun- however, a feeling that the Nation- cil in this meeting yet one felt that al Christian Council should stimu- nevertheless Christianity in China late the organization of Chinese has come to a new starting point.
Christians in such ways that they Of course there is uncertainty on can pronounce on the coming of the part of some missionaries that missionaries to China and outline these movements may go too fast more definitely than is now possi- for the "backward" churches.
ble their tasks. It is quite clear True enough. But it should be that the Chinese churches tend to kept in mind that no one antici- move along the above lines. Every- pates t hat these "backward"
thing. possible must be done to in- churches should be set free from crease this rising church-centric external guidance. What is con- consciousness of Christianity in templated is that in some way they China. Missionaries will, of course, will all go under Chinese Christian be on a basis of equality with Chi- guidance.
nese Christian leaders. This Chinese Laborers and Peasants standard of relationship was also set up in the recent Assembly of Among other things a new eco- nomic consciousness has been born the Church of Christ in China. As to the relationship of . in the hearts of China's peasants churches in China and the West and laborers. The standard of a the common mind was summed up higher level of economic life has as desirous of achieving "free co- been mooted far and wide. In the operation" between them. That is fourth place, therefore, this meetthe psychological and spiritual ing discussed at length the obligastarting point for the new relation- tions of the Christian Church to ship now emerging. It is quite China's social, industrial and ecoevident, also, that institutional and nomic needs and aspirations.
church work has passed under Chi- There was some reference to the nese control. though the Chinese world's need for a Christian social delegates did not seem inclined to order. The delegates, however, make much point of this fact. The were not in a mood to stop and Revolution of the past year has outline it. They were looking for dislocated and disturbed' much a practical idealism. They soug-ht,
therefore, to find some concrete agent for the expression of Chi- tasks that might show what such nese Christian experience and a social order involves. Special aims. A special commission was reference was made to the appren- appointed to study the problem and tice system, domestic servants, put the desired reorganization in- cooperative loan ,societies for to effect as soon as possible. It farmers and improvement of agri- was not felt necessary to wait for cultural conditions as fields in the meeting of another general which the Christian community National Christian Conference be- might well seek to apply definitely fore doing this.
its principles. Bolshevism, Com- Opportunity was given for the munism and other espoused new delegates to express themselves on social orders were, it was stated, the usefulness and effectiveness of lacking in moral dynamic and the Council. This opportunity was ideals. Such moral ideals the freely used. From the many ap- Christian Movement should seek to preciative remarks one gathered amplify. In his closing address that the Council serves to keep Dr. C. Y. Cheng plainly stated that scattered and isolated churches in Chinese Christians do not wish a communication with the rest of the special "socia,} gospel" but an ap- Christian Movement and thereby, plication of the 'whole Gospel of contributes vitally to the building which social effort is an integral up of Christian solidarity. Fre- part and to which must be added quent appreciation was expressed mystical and spiritual emphases. of the way the Council had kept The investigative and experimen- such churches in close touch with tal mood of the Council was at no recent developments. The knowl- point more in evidence than here. edge of what Christians weresuf- The committees appointed to apply fering in many places had he1ped Christian principles to social and to strengthen the bonds of Cbinese economic problems are out on a Christian sympathy and fellow- search for those concrete tasks ship. It was suggested, however, through which the ideals of a that the Council should pay more Christian social order might be attention to the needs of rural built into visible realities. Thus churches and to prepare more lit- did the National Christian Council erature of a simple type for the of China show its determination use of those Christians who have to meet China's new demands for very little contact with the wider a better economic and spiritual world.
life. The Council has had during its A frequerit note heard during five years of life many and varied the meeting was the demand for difficulties. That it has helped to the reorganization of the Council. bind the Chinese Christians to- This had not so much to do with gether and stimulate much Chris- its work and function as with the tian effort is quite evident. It will necessity of making it more direct- of necessity change as conditions ly and adequately representative change. But its permanence as an of the Chinese Christian Church. agent for the expression of the It was the rising church-centric common Christian mind in China Christian consciousness trying to and the articulation of united fit the Council to become a better Christian effort is assured.
Fro", the Autobfography of S. Hall You,ng (Revell
MUSH ING ON THE WHITE PASS 'l'RAIL, ALASKA THE "MUSHING PARSON" OF ALASKA BY FARRAND B. PIERSON, M. D., New Rochelle, New York The Story of Dr. S. Hall Young, Pioneer Missionary to Alaska Gold ,I Diggers NTENSE enthusiasm and cour- and had a morbid sensitiveness age were enlisted to overcome that led to outbreaks of temper. He the handicap of frailty and iIl- was unable to attend school until ness that made S. Hall Young's de- his tenth year, but patient home termination to go as a missionary training and a love of outdoor life to Alaska appear suicidal in the carried him through a succession eyes of his friends. His body bent of physical ills. Measles, leaving to his will and he responded to weak eyes, scarlet fever, dysentery, what he believed to be the call of Whooping cough, and typhoid fe- God. ver, one after another vied with As the youngest of eight chil- bleeding and dosing after the med- dren in a minister's family, Hall ical fashion of the day, in sapping Young was familiar with grinding his strength. Nervous headaches poverty. His father was compelled were constant and later blindness to eke out a salary of five or six threatened. The dislocations of hundred dollars a year by teaching both shoulders left a tendency to and farming. Hall was a sickly boy recurrence which later nearly cost 121
his life. What material this was July, 1878, the steamer reached for a candidate for pioneer mis- Fort Wrangell and he was met on sionary service amid the vigors the rickety wharf only by an old and privations of a little-known German roustabout and a dirty territory! He says, "I never saw native, whose face was covered a really well day until I went to with the usual cosmetic, lampblack roughing it in Alaska at the age and grease. It is not strange that of thirty." the romance and fascination of life The intense earnestness and en- in Alaska vanished for a time. As thusiasm of Young's nature, his he contemplated this specimen, the outdoor life, and his love for read- warning from an old Hudson Bay ing and study, so far overcame Trader, a fellow-passenger on the these handicaps, that at seventeen steamer, "Don't become an Indi- he secured employment as teacher an," seemed grotesquely inappro- in a country school. For a time he priate and unnecessary. Later tried to break away from his early experience with people of refine- religious training, proclaiming ment and culture and even mission- himself a skeptic, until he was re- aries who had "gone native,"
pelled by the scoffing and profanity taught him the wisdom of guarding of his associates. Genuine conver- his concessions to native ways, and sion followed in 1878, and the im- the danger of growing familiarity mediate resolution to give his life with the vileness about him.
to the ministry. The lives of great The cordial welcome of Mrs. Mc- missionaries gave him an impulse Farland, with whom he enjoyed a toward travel and foreign work good breakfast, and a meeting with and a visit of Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the few Christian natives, soon dis- dUring his senior year at the the- pelled the depression caused by his ologicalseminary, focused his at- first contacts. As the steamer con- tention on Alaska. tinued on to Sitka, Mr. Young took In spite of the warning of physi- the opportunity to visit two recent- cians that he "would not live a year ly arrived missionaries, one of in such a climate," Mr. Young of- whom Miss Kellogg so effectually fered himself for service and was dispelled any remaining gloom that accepted. Soon after graduation six months later he returned to Sit- he was on his way to the newly ka to carry her back to Wrangell opened northern field. The graphic as his bride.
pictUres given by Dr. Jackson, and The beauty of Etolin Harbor letters from Dr. Lindsley of Port- with its picturesque islands and land. Oregon, and from Mrs. Mc- background of snow-clad moun- Farland, the first American mis- tains contrasted sharply with the sionary to Alaska, had created squalor of the town. On one side an eager desire to reach the neg- of the fort lay the Stickeen village lected natives of this almost un- and on the other was the foreign touched region, while his love of town. The Stickeens lived by fam- beauty made his journey up the ilies in large community houses coast a keen delight and bred in "from thirty to sixty feet square him that appreciation of Alaska built of split cedar plank set on end which, all his life, made him con- and windowless." Men, women and sider it the finest place on earth. children were herded together un- On a gray, drizzly morning in der moral conditions that were no
THE "MUSHING PARSON" OF ALASKA
less revolting than the filth of the of sorcery continually fomented beach, which was covered with feuds. Even a "dream" of an evedecaying meat and offal, dead dogs, ning's guilt might bring cruel torand the bones of men and beasts. ture. The head, hands, and feet of the accused would be drawn to- Family feuds caused the build- gether behind the back while the ings to be separated at musket- victim was lashed with thorns, or range, often with high stockades dragged over sharp stones. between them. Witch-torture, slave-sacrifice, and murders were In spite of all the difficulties, common and brought little inter- evil and opposition, Mr. Young alference from the fort. Government ways maintained the conviction, was conspicuously deficient and unshakable, that the Gospel of corrupt, with no magistrates, Christ was adequate to transform courts, or police, and only the fear these people into Christian citizens of reprisals from a gunboat pro- and that this was the only power tected the white population. White sufficient for the task. There was traders and miners, and Indians the problem of adopting the primifrom other tribes, camped in the tive Chinook jargon to the teachforeign town in shacks or crude ing of Christian truths to the cabins. Lax morals made disease Indians. The expression of abalmost universal, while drunken- stract ideas was almost impossible ness, superstition and ignorance in this language and ten years of preaching in it never fully overcombined to make the task before came the difficulty. The simplest ideas must be repeated- over and the missionary seem almost hope- over in the effort to penetrate the less. The witch-doctors kept the people in fear, and the accusations
minds of the hearers. "The same tives and chiefs recognized the word stood for verb, noun, adjec- missionaries' friendliness and feartive, adverb, preposition and inter- lessness and began to attend the jection." services. So rapidly did this inter- est grow that Mr. Young wrote, Early in his ministry Mr. Young "1 could have baptized the whole got Billy, a fifteen-year-old boy, to tribe of Stickeens the first year at help him translate the Twenty- Fort Wrangell." Many natives Third Psalm, and later discovered were drawn by curiosity or cupidthat the result in effect read: ity, and expected to be paid for accepting the new doctrine, or "The Chief abo;,e 'is a goat-hunter who thought were conferring a favor hunts me. on the missionary by their adher- ence. Long periods of probation I do not like him. were required before candidates He shoots me down on the quiet sea- were received into the church. Even so there were relapses, and beach." • drunkenness and superstition had constantly to be fought. One day This inadequacy of language led Mr. Young took an axe and went to the decision to have the young out to break up stills in native people in all the schools speak English only, rather than to attempt houses. In two months the stills the translation of the Scriptures so destroyed amounted to about into their own tongue. twenty, and even on trips to other tribes he smashed the stills he A beginning had already been found in the camps. Though this made at Wrangell by one of Wil- was backed by no authority, and liam Duncan's Christian natives, there were frequent threats made so that Mrs. McFarland was able against his life, no harm came to to gather a few converts about her. him. The better natives saw that She also opened a home for girls the Way was good, and the greatwhere they could be removed from est triumphs were won by the hardthe corruption of their home sur- est fights against these foes. roundings. Meanwhile the churches at home Mr. Young's enthusiasm and were being stimulated by the letcourage applied to unselfish serv- ters from Mrs. McFarland and Mr. ice soon began to bring results. Young, and during the following Those accused of witchcraft found summer new impetus was given by in him a protector; the sick were a visit from the Secretary of the treated with what skill and medi- Board, accompanied by Dr. Lindscine he could command, and fre- ley and Dr. Sheldon Jackson. On quent quarrels were settled by his the same boat came John Muir, the influence. He urged on the Board naturalist, who proved a kindred at home to send men trained in spirit and for many years was one medicine and other arts, and on of Young's warmest friends. Toevery visit of the government gun- gether they made long trips exboat he impressed the surgeon into ploring the country, while Young service to supplement his own lim- took the opportunity to preach to ited knowledge. At one visit the those whom he met in the native surgeon examined a hundred and villages. Both men were full of fifty patients before he stopped exhausted, unable to complete the rounds.
Gradually the tide turned toward the mission. The influential na-
THE "MUSHING PARSON" OF ALASKA
appreciation of the beauty and. maj- Young resumed his visits to outesty of the scenery and vied with lying Indian tribes, preaching and each other in glowing descriptions preparing the way for the estabof glaciers and sunrises. lishment of permanent stations. A visit to William Duncan at Metla- It was on one of these trips that katla also provided much inspira- Muir saved his friend's life by an tion and counsel. almost impossible feat. When climbing a mountain Mr. Young Funds began to come from the fell over the side and landed on a home church for schools and ledge where he lay, with both homes, and new helpers arrived. shoulders dislocated, a thousand The ten thousand natives of southfeet above the glacier. With great eastern Alaska also were aroused difficulty Muir climbed down and to new hope. Many came to live From the Autobiography 01 8. Hal! Young (Revell). A CHURCH BUILDING AT COUNCIL, ALASKA succeeded in grasping the mission~ at Fort Wrangell in order to have ary's coat in his teeth, carrying the privilege of the schools for him up the steep mountainside as their children. It was a severe a cat carries her kitten! blow when the McFarland Home for Girls was burned, but a return Together these two friends dis- to the States for deputation work covered Glacier Bay and Muir's among the churches enlisted many name was given to a great glacier. new friends, and brought in funds These experiences in outdoor life for a new home, a hospital, and finally ended the physical ills from for industrial work. A new conwhich Mr. Young had suffered and struction program was well asenabled him to bear even more than sured and it was decided to center his share of the burdens and work most of the work in Sitka, while of the trail. Only his shoulder that at Wrangell was reduced. weakness remained. After ten years of close contact After Muir's departure Mr.
with the ·natives Mr. Young felt forward. Bill McFee, the saloon- the danger of an arrest of intel- keeper came and, putting his arms lectual and spiritual growth so that around Mr. Young's neck, said he resigned his post and returned "Parson, you are here to help us to the States for further study. and we all love you. We have just Nine years of pastoral work fol- completed a hall for the Yukon Pi- lowed during which Mr. Young lec- oneers, and I am going to propose tured on Alaska as opportunity that they let you use it as a meeting presented. Then the discovery of house without charge."
gold on the Klondike and the wild In this hall he continued all win- rush of prospectors presented such ter. Later Dr. Grant and Mr.
a strong call that he started for Dickey arrived and he returned to Alaska again and in 1897 was the States to present the needs of again at Fort Wrangell, en route the miners to the Church at home.
for Skagway and Dawson. Thus Then he returned with new helpers began the second phase of his serv- and more funds. He accompanied ice, this time mainly among Eng- the new stampede to Nome, where lish-speaking gold-diggers. For he found even more difficult con- the most part these men were en- ditions. On the treeless tundra the tirely deprived of religious help, dampness made the cold more se- and the saloons were the only so- verely felt; sanitation was want- cial meeting-places. ing, and the pollution of the water Mr. Young reached Dawson aft- in the swampy soil brought a ty- er many hardships, partly due to phoid epidemic which for six the hopeless inefficiency of the weeks claimed his time day and young recruit who accompanied night. Working alone, holding him. This man even lost in gam- meetings, conducting funerals, do- bling several hundred dollars of ing relief work, nursing the sick, their joint funds. At Dawson Mr. he held out until other workers ar- Young found a cabin where he rived. Then an attack of typhoid, could hold services, and by renting with many pt:otestations that he out sleeping rooms to miners he had "no time to be sick," compelled helped to pay expenses. Soon he him to receive in turn some of the was also able to gather a library kindness he had sown.
and opened a reading room. This Milk was essential to the sick .station he made the center of a man's recovery and it was almost sixty-mile parish, preaching when- unobtainable. Billy Murtagh, sa- ever he could find a room in cabins, loonkeeper and bad-man, buckled saloons, or roadhouses, making on his guns and interviewed the friends by his unselfish work for owner of the sole cow available.
the sick and for all who appealed He thus superintended her milking, to him for help. The small church and for three months brought the room at Dawson was crowded at milk in a beer bottle to the mis- the services, and a Bible class of sionary. Mr. Young loved the forty men was organized. All roughest of the miners and they re- seemed to be going well, when sud- ciprocated; their kindness and care denly a drunken lodger set fire to brought him back to strength after the building. The missionary had an almost fatal illness. He was no money but a new start was forced to return to the States for made. Unexpected friends came a time to recuperate but as soon
THE "MUSHING PARSON" OF ALASKA
as his health permitted he was as far as three hundred miles dis- back at work. This time he went tant. A fall on the ice brought to Fairbanks and worked in other on attacks of lumbago which new mining towns and railroad filled these trips over rugged, camps. Finally locating at Cor- heavy trails with pain, but Dr.
dova, he spent two years of hard Young followed the advice of an pioneer work making trips by dog- old-timer, who said: "The only team, building halls, and organiz- way to do when you git the lumba- ing work in camps. go is just to keep on mushin'." At When he returned to New York times he had to be lifted from bed in 1910 for work in connection and set on his feet before he could with the Home Mission Board, his get started on the trail, but the heart was still in Alaska. He could warmth of his welcome and the joy say "There may be hardships in of the work helped him to forget that great territory of the North- the suffering.
west but I have never found any. In 1913 he again returned to the Life there is the freest, most pleas- States to lecture and raise friends urable, and most comfortable to and money for his Alaskan parish- be found anywhere. I live there ioners. This work he continued because I like to do so, and work for several years, and he piloted there because it is to me the most many excursions under church aus- satisfactory work of all; and as pices among the scenes he loved.
to its dangers, I consider it far Here he met old friends, and found more risky to cross Broadway than men whom he had formerly known to go with my dog-team from one as savages now respected as Chris- end of Alaska to the other." tian citizens.
Failing in a six months' search The latter part of Dr. Young's for new workers to go to his be- life was devoted to an effort to loved field "Lonely New York" promote the evangelization of the drove him back to Alaska where land through a United Evangelical at Iditarod he found a new camp Church of Alaska. He attended with five thousand men. Books the General Assembly of the Presand magazines that he had brought byterian Church in San Francisco with him were welcomed and men in June, 1927 and spoke on the filled his reading-room day and fiftieth anniversary of his going night. He served in every capacity out as a missionary. In September "from a spiritual advisor to um- he was on his way to speak at a pire at a basket-ball game." Trips pioneer celebration in French to outlying camps were made by Creek, West Virginia, where his the aid of a five-dog team given grandfather had settled over a cenhim by a woman of somewhat un- tury ago, when he was struck and savory past whom he had married killed by a trolley car. The end to one of her husbands. She had came suddenly but peacefully. In raised the dogs from puppyhood his pocket was found an uncomand when finally forced to part pleted poem which reveals the spir- it of his soul and the ideal of his with them she gave them to Mr. Young with the words, "As I am life. Let me die working, not good myself, I wish my dogs to do some good." On many trails Still tackling plans unfinished, tasks unthey carried cheer to lonely cabins done, Clean to its end swift 'may my race be run.
No lagging steps, no faltering, no shirk- The wine of life, the cup of mirth still ing, quaffing, . Let me die working. Let me die laughing.
Let me die thinking, Let me die giving, Let me fare forth still with an open *•* •**•*****,**,*** mind, Fresh secrets to unfold, new truths to Let me die aspiring.
find, His body rests at Butler, Pa., My soul undimmed, alert, no question where for thirty-five years his fa- ther, Rev. Loyal Young, D.D., was blinking. pastor of the First Presbyterian Let me die thinking. Church, and where his parents, brother and only sister are buried. Let me die laughing, No sighing o'er past sins; they are for- given, Spilled on this earth are all the joys of Heaven.
Some Things That Christian Missions Have Accomplished T HEY have been the means by which the followers of Christ have growil from a despised sect in a small subjugated colony until they are today the most numerous of any religion in the world. By peaceful means, the preaching of the Gospel, they have transformed the countries of Europe and of the Americas from paganism to centers of Christian civilization.
They have introduced into non-Christian lands, schools and colleges which have now a total membership of over 2,500,000 pupils.
They have been the first to open in many non-Christian lands, hospitals and dispensaries in which today there are employed over 8,000 doctors, nurses and assistants and where twelve million treatments are given annually.
They have been the first to establish philanthropic agencies to care for orphans, lepers, the blind and the deaf where today over 27,000 unfortunates are provided for.
They have been the leaders in educating the people of many lands in habits of cleanliness and health and in the care of children, thus lessening the danger of the spread of plague, pestilence and disease.
They have introduced into many lands trade schools and better tools and methods of work to increase the ability of backward peoples in selfsupport, to promote better standards of living and to develop Christian character.
They have cooperated in efforts to establish peace and to promote righteousness, to abolish human slavery, polygamy, intemperance and other social evils.
They have been the means of opening the doors of education to women and have helped to set them free ~rom social bondage, to lift them out of degradation and to relieve their suffering.
They have reduced thousands of languages and dialects to writing, have prepared dictionaries and grammars and have translated the Bible, in whole or in part, into over 800 languages and dialects, distributing over 20 million copies in a single year.
They have trained thousands of Christians in non-Christian lands to take leadership in their own chu-rehes so as to make Christianity and its institutions indigenous in these lands.
The victories of the past and the needs and opportunities of the present are a sublime challenge to the Church to complete the task of evangelizing the world.
TOWARD THE
BY PROF. KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE, New Haven, Conn.
Professor of M'.sions in Yale University W HAT does the future hold in factors are still to be with us and store for the missionary because of them missions and mis- enterprise? Will the mis- sionaries are to continue to be sionary continue to be needed? If needed. It remains as true as when so, what will be his functions? it was first uttered that "if our What changes must be made if the faith is false we ought to change enterprise is to continue to prove it; if it is true we ought to propa- useful? The world moved far in gate it." The need of men for the half-century that is just behind the Gospel gives no indication of us. Startling and unpredictable abating, even though some may were the changes. Who fifty years state that need differently and not ago foresaw the place now occupied always see clearly how the Gospel by Japan, or .the present complex meets it. The churches in the lands revolution in China, or the prob- which we choose to call "mission lems which confront us in Africa? fields" have grown with phenom- It seems reasonable to suppose that enal rapidity and have developed the course of events a generation able leadership but are still ahead can also not be foretold. We numerically too weak to carry the must be prepared, as were the gospel message to all the corners wisest of those who preceded us, to of their respective countries. adjust ourselves and our methods Protestant Christians are only to ever recurring new days and about one fourth of one per cent new problems. of the population of Japan, about With all the movement in the an eighth of one per cent of that past generation, however, there of China, and only a slightly larger have been constants as well as vari- proportion of that of India and ables. Man's nature remains un- Africa. Leaders of these churches changed, and his fundamental are almost unanimous in insisting weaknesses, his hopes and fears that they wish more missionaries.
and questions have altered, if at all, Witness the remarkable recent only in details. He may use dif- statements by Chinese in The ferent phrases, talk about com- Chinese Recorder and by Japanese plexes instead of habits, and of in "The Christian Movement in mental depressions instead of a Japan." So far as one can see, for consciousness of a lost condition, years to come the missionary will but he still needs to be made whole be needed to supplement the work and the Gospel of Christ continues of the "native" churches. Not until to be the power of God unto sal- these churches are relatively much vation. All the past half-century, larger than they now are can their moreover, we had the impact of the older sisters in the West wisely Occident upon the Orient and of withdraw their assistance.
European peoples and cultures Moreover, the missionary con- upon non-Europeans. tinues to be necessary to make So far !'Is we can see, these wholesome the impact of the Oc- 3 129
cident upon the rest of the world. much of this no right-minded That impact is primarily economic Christian can fail to sympathize.
and hence materialistic and often Certainly we must not perpetuate destructive of the good in non- in the Orient Occidental forms and European cultures. We rightly divisions. There is danger, how- strive so to transform our Western ever, that in accommodating Chris- life that its business, diplomatic, tianity to India or China or Africa racial, and intellectual contacts the Gospel will be even more will be embodiments of the Chris- warped and denatured than it has tian spirit, but so slowly does been in the Occident. The Gospel society improve that with all our is revolutionary: to be itself it can best efforts Western civilization is never completely conform with any not likely soon to be perfect or its existing culture, for no culture is effects on other people to become fully Christian. Contact through entirely wholesome. For more the missionary with the parent than a generation to come many churches, if the missionary and the Americans and Europeans will parent church will only remember heave the Ten Commandments never completely conform to any overboard when they sail east of church into uniformity, will, there- Suez. The missionary seeks to fore, continue to be needed. The bring to bear upon non-Occidental same results can in part be obtained peoples the best that Europe and through the education of "native"
America have to give and so to Christian leaders in North America make the transformation that re- and Europe and in the frequent sults from the expansion of the exchange of visitors, but the resi- West constructive and not destruc- dent missionary, being constantly tive. Fortunately he is not the only on the ground, is a more effective factor working in this direction, agent.
but he is often the chief one. He Missions, then, are far from be- is, accordingly, as indispensable as ing over. So far as we can see, they ever he was. One needs only to ought to continue for at least an- think for a moment of the impend- other generation.
ing collapse of primitive African While all of this is true, it is society and the present transition perfectly obvious that in the situa- in China to see that this is true. tion there are variables as well as So active, indeed, have recently constants. The missionary enter- been some of the non-Christian prise is facing new conditions, and forces from the Occident that the if it is to fulfil its proper function presence of the missionary is more it must undergo radical modifica- imperative than ever. tions. To try to hold it completely Then, too, the presence of the to the traditions of the elders is to missionary is still required to keep wreck it.
the rising young churches in Asia The most important new condi- and Africa in touch with the older tion that confronts us is an intense and larger Christian bodies in and rising nationalism which is Europe and America. We hear largely the result of contact with much of nationalism, of the urge the West. Pride of culture and race to make Christianity "indigenous" we have known, but not in the ac- and of impatience with Western centuated form in which we have interpretations of Christ. With it today. Under the influence of
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
nationalism, non-European peoples than Anglo-Saxon. When all of are more resentful of the domina- this is said-and it must be said tion of the Occident than formerly often in the next few years-the and are agitating against it. No fact remains that we have sought longer is the white man the un- to force non-European peoples in- challenged lord of the planet. In to our denominational forms. We Egypt, China, India, and even in have endeavored to perpetuate in negro Africa we are witnessing A s i a and Africa Methodism, restlessness and revolt, and Euro- Presbyterianism, Congregational- pean and American observers write ism, and Episcopalianism. For a books with the startling titles of time we may seem to have some "The Revolt of Asia" and "The success, but ultimately the Church Twilight of the White. Races." will either break our artificial com- All of this means, first, that partments or be suffocated by Christianity must more than ever them.
stand or fall on its merits. The Nor can the white man domi- missionary cannot, as he has been nate the Church as he once did.
able to do for the past half-century, In the earlier stages of mis- count on the .prestige of Western sions that control was unavoidable.
peoples and cultures to gain a hear- In some places it is still necessary.
ing for his message. In many More and more, however, and quarters the Gospel is now under a sometimes before it is prepared to handicap because its proximate do so, the "native" church, with all source is the Occident, and there the impedimenta with which we are earnest endeavors to present have presented it-schools, hospi- Jesus apart from the Western garb tals, and printing presses-must in which we are believed to have seek "native" .leadership. Some of clothed Him. us still in early middle life were In the second place, we must, as appealed to when stUdents, to go the last sentence has indicated, to the mission field because we seek as rapidly as possible to make could there become "leaders."
our peace with this national spirit. Foreign leadership is still in de- As has been suggested above this mand, but the type desired is that cannot be done fully without prov- which does not hold offices and ing traitor to -the Gospel. Christ which becomes greatest by being is supernational and we lose Him the inconspicuous servant of all.
when we try to confine Him in The time for missionary bishops, national straitjackets. We do not missionary college presidents, and want in Japan or China or India missionary chairmen and secre- the narrowly nationalistic churches taries of committees is passing.
that we have all too often had in In many places the transition the Occident-praying to the same will be painful and in it the God to bless in battle the armies Church may for the time suffer of rival governments. Much, too, loss, but it must be made. We in the national heritage of these must be prepared to ask the nations is unchristian and will dis- rising churches what assistance appear if Jesus is really followed.- they require in men and money and Christ cannot be made a Hindu let them decide whether a missionwithout doing violence to Him. Nor ary shall return after furlough.
is He more Chinese or Japanese This is a consummation for which
the missionary has prayed, and, God is ever seeking individuals, we fortunately, in many places the must see that the whole man is faithful work of the past century saved. We must be conscious of all has resulted in a growing Church un-Christlike attitudes and strive with suprisingly capable leader- to eliminate all that cramps and ship. The transition, too, should wrecks human personality. Jesus free the missionary from much of taught us to pray: "Thy will be the time now spent on boards and done on earth as it is in heaven,"
committees and give him leisure and the Great Commission includes for the work which at his best he the charge "teaching them to has most wished to do–reaching observe all things whatsoever I individuals through personal con- have commanded you"-the "all tacts and starting new congrega- things" obviously including loving tions. one's neighbor as oneself with the We must, too, be fully apprecia- love which works no ill to its tive of the good in "native" faiths. neighbor. In the past missionaries Missionary addresses, the presenta- have fought slavery, disease, the tion of the situation in "mission" o p i u m traffic, ignorance, and lands to the home constituency famine. They, together with the must seek to paint the lights as Church as a whole, must more and well as the shadows. We need more seek to eradicate war, the never fear that the Gospel will suf- evils of our economic system, and fer by the comparison and to sensi- the crimes perpetrated in the name tive ears every slur is a handicap. of our racial and national divisions.
It may well be that when all pos- Race conflict in South Mrica, the sible adjustments have been made causes of friction between this to nationalism, the Church will country and Japan and between not for many generations win to Occidentals and Chinese, and the its fellowship more than a minority exploitation of labor, whether in of a given nation. It may be, too, Shanghai, the silk mills of New that outside the Church will arise Jersey, or Portuguese Africa, all great national movements, such as come within the purview of the that of Gandhi, which are in part Church.
the result of Christianity but which Man's intellectual outlook, too, is do not call themselves Christian. enlarging. Modern science has If life outside the Church is raised altered many of our views of the more nearly to the level of Christ, world and of ourselves. God's even if the debt is not acknowl- truth does not change, but our edged, we should thank God and knowledge of it does. We must re- take courage. We should be will- think what we already know of ing to cooperate with any who will God, of Christ, and of "the Bible, walk even part way with us. to make our ideas about them con- Nationalism is the greatest new sistent with th~ new information factor which missions must face. which science is bringing to us. If It is not, however, the only one. the modern man, whether in India, Great problems, economic, intel- in China, or in North America, is lectual, and social, are confronting to be led to God, religious truth the race and in pursuing its world- must be presented in forms which wide task the Church must reckon will to him be convincing and with them. While we believe that which he can accept without do-
ing violence to his sense of mental with Christ in God. It is through integrity. Theology, which is the the contagion of one life upon anorderly statement of what we know other that the essence of the Gospel about God, must be so far re- is transmitted. That must conthought and reframed that it will tinue to be as it has always been take account of all relevant new in- our most effective missionary formation derived from whatever method. source. We must not ignore what the fathers knew of God, but mere- Thanks to the faithful labors of ly to repeat the formulas through the generation just ending it is which they sought to express that more and more possible to see the knowledge, even though that be coming of the Church Universal, done with sincerity, may at times a great world-wide fellowship in which all races share and to which do violence to the Spirit of God they contribute. The time is alwho speaks to men in every age. ready here when we Christians of the West are being enriched by It is obvious that if all the new the Christian experience of those conditions are to be met, fully as of other lands. Many of us have high a grade of missionary is re- heard in this country Chinese, quired as ever. The missionary Japanese, Koreans, and Africans must have an even more thorough telling of what God in Christ has training both in the heritage of his meant to them and at least one of own country and in the language our American churches has had a and culture of the people to whom Hindu as pastor. In the fifty years he goes. The forces with which we ahead we can more and more look deal are so complex that good in- forward to an exchange of leaders, tentions alone are increasingly to the tide of missionaries flowing dangerous. Above all, the new con- both ways, to gatherings in which ditions make it imperative that the representatives of all races and missionary have something to give, nations shall sit together on the that he have a distinct and vital basis of complete equality, sharing Christian experience, that he shall in plans for bringing to the whole have thought through his experi- world the Christian message and ence of God arid know how to ex- making possible for all men the press it, and that his life give ever life that is life indeed. clearer evidence of having been hid A MISSIONARY CREED We believe in God the eternal, omnipotent Creator and Ruler, the loving Heavenly Father of all mankind.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of all who believe and follow Him.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who witnesses to Christ and who makes effective the witness of men.
We believe in the Church of Christ, composed of His followers, and charged with the duty and privileges of witnessing for Christ and His salvation to all mankind.
We believe that it is the duty of every Christian to manifest the Spirit of Christ at all times and to put the teachings of Christ into practice in all relationships of life, social, industrial and political.
We believe it to be the duty of every Christian to help forward the extension of Christ's Kingdom on Earth by prayer, by gifts and by personal service.
AT DETROIT SEEKING
BY PROFESSOR HARLAN P. BEACH, D.D., Madison, New Jersey* A Review of the Tenth Student Volunteer Convention T HE first angry notes of Detroit, have introduced the great youthful revolt against the Cause to a new stadium where the management of the Student young disciples of Christ still prove Volunteer Movement's Quadrennial to be valiant torchbearers and imi- Convention were heard at Des tators of St. Paul. We regretted Moines in 1920. Four years later that none of the "old guard," except that revolt had organized itself Drs. Mott, Speer and Sherwood into the quasi-independent gather- Eddy, were there to impart facts ing of Indianapolis, when the spirit that the new education demands as of lawlessness seemed to express the basis for discussion. These its challenge: "Now we will show older men made some fine addresses you venerables how a student con- and the absence of other former vention should be managed." Many leaders was far more than made up of the best friends of foreign mis- for by the youthful leadership of sions were tempted to feel that the such men as Fay Campbell of Yale hour of doom was sounding. While and Jesse Wilson, the new general many of the innovations introduced secretary of the Movement, and by into that convention were credit- the first-hand testimonies of speak- able, the bedlam of its discussion ers from foreign lands.
groups was disconcerting. The stu- Few old missionaries were pres- dents were trying to carry out the ent, b:ut new ones were there, not latest ideas of Teachers' College, as platform speakers, but as fellow but were foiled by tumultuous riv- members to add evidence when alries, as all insisted on being asked informally to do so. Promi- heard, whether or not their ideas nent nationals of other races, full were relevant to the subject. The of youth and hopefulness, were present writer, who has attended heard as to matters affecting their all these Volunteer Conventions ex- lands and the non-Christian beliefs.
cept the first, was deeply concerned A few middle-aged missionaries for the future of the Movement. spoke from the platform, however, At the recent Detroit Convention, notably Dr. Hodgkin, British sec- however, this fear has been re- retary of the National Christian moved and his faith has been Council of China; Dr. W. S. HoI- strengthened in the missionary land, an Oxford man who emerged concern felt by students. He is as a leader in Volunteer work at thankful that he has been privi- the Liverpool Convention in 1897, leged to see that radical changes and is now in the thick of the stu- and the emergence of youth in dent life of India; Dr. Frank C.
larger control of such a gathering, Laubach, who with Higdon, is lead- as when 3,500 students gathered at ing the Catholic-Protestant stu- • Prof. Beach has attended all of the Stu· dents of Manila along the paths of dent Volunteer Conventions for the past forty brotherhood in the train of Jesus year. except the first at Cleveland in 1891 of Nazareth; and Dr. John when 680 delegates were present.
134 Mackay, an Aberdeen-Princeton it were part of the daily life of the Scot, whose friendly canniness, in- campus, instead of a once-a-stutellectual keenness, and wide sym- dent-generation occasion, rarely pathy for truth-seekers all over equaled throughout the world. Latin America, allured his conven- One unique experience in Voluntion hearers to a similar life and teer Conventions was being enterwork as he told his story. tained in the most expensive Ma- There was also a spiritual tone sonic Temple in the world. Its to the Convention such as was labyrinth of rooms and halls sup- given in the early days by such plied all the needs of the Convenspeakers as Dr. A. J. Gordon who tion and its auditorium, so warm, spoke upon "The Holy Spirit in Missions," the first address of the long line of conventions in 189l.
The first address of the Detroit gathering was practically upon the same subject, and was given by Dr.
Richard Roberts, the well-known Welsh preacl).er of England, Can- ada and the United States. If we missed the holy presence and won- derful addresses of Dr. Hudson Taylor of early conventions, we found the simplicity and spiritual- ity of the British Friend, Dr. Hen- ry T. Hodgkin, almost equally impressive. Many of the platform speakers and informal talks at the various meetings reminded one al- most as much of Dwight L. Moody's student meetings at Northfield as of a missionary convention. The JIlJ,;:';1lJ R. WIL"ON. main quest was for truth and life General Secretary of the Movement of the Christlike type, rather than so faultlessly adorned, carpeted and for information as to one specific comfortably seated, was a marvel line of Christian activity, foreign in acoustics. Speakers from the missions. platform and questions from all One missed unspeakably the parts of the auditorium could be dominating, powerful chairman- heard distinctly, rivaling the ship of the world's greatest mis- Washington Auditorium when a sionary convention leader, Dr. full cluster of micrometers are in John R. Mott, and in the technical action. All were clearly heard.
details we noted the absence of the Sincerity and honesty among the guiding hand of his second, Fen- student delegates were markedly nell Turner. But what a joy it was present, and no attempt at impas- to see the unperturbed, quiet Fay sioned oratory was even suggested.
Campbell, as he· presided, or sub- Speakers were witnesses and sim- stituted other men and women in ply told of how life's problems or the chairmanship. The Convention opportunities had come into their seemed to go on as naturally as if lives. It might be a thrilling tes-
timony of how God came to Nor- teers going to the fields, and no man Taylor of the Royal Air Force, shot down three times in the Great students were asked to sign Dec- War; or it might be the story of a college graduate who found Jesus laration Cards at any time during in a dormitory largely occupied by unpopular and unlovely girls, the Convention. The students at whom she resolved to live with because she found that Jesus had this gathering were scientific rathoften to consort with those who were repellent. His spirit led to er than emotional, and they pachanges in these girls and produced a love for them. The platform, tiently sought for Christian light generally, was honest with the audience, thus fulfilling Wilson's on Christlike living and service. idea, "Under God we did our best to make this Tenth Quadrennial We add the testimony of Profeshonest with the honesty of Him who said, 'I am the Truth.''' Few sor T. H. P. Sailer. He and Drs. speakers gave out "facts that are not so," as Dr. Arthur H. Smith, Mott and Speer were probably the the China missionary, used to say. only persons who have attended all In open forums or "colloquia" at Detroit the turbulence and com- ten of these epoch-making Convenpetitive clamor of Indianapolis were absent and'they were characterized tions. by a quiet, frank search after truth on every side.· The leaders did lit- "For the last thirty years the quadtle but lead, and though they were rennial conventions of the Student usually competent to answer the Volunteer Movement have had a strong student questions, neither they nor family resemblance. Des Moines, missionaries were expected to do 1920, was strikingly similar to Clevemore than reply to definite inquir- land, 1898. Some of the addresses ies put to them. The discussions were by the same speakers on the same followed usually the questions subjects. Missionaries. and board secwhich on the previous evening had retaries held up conditions on the field. Indianapolis, 1924, marked a striking been asked from the auditorium contrast. Board secretaries disapaudience. The smaller size of the peared and their place was taken by groups and continuance of dele- nationals of different countries. Congates at their assigned group from siderable time was spent in discussion day to day were other improve- groups. Concern shifted from the needs of the non-Christian nations to ments over 1924. the shortcomings of Christendom. The great hotels of Detroit pro- "Detroit, 1928, continued for the vided excellent accommodations at most part the spirit of Indianapolis. reduced rates to all delegates with- There was the same desire to get rid out distinction as to race. This of superiority complexes and achieve was a great advance over previous real world brotherhood. Race prejuconventions. dice, denominationalism, and gun- boats were consigned to perdition. The closing meeting was with- Radical Christianity, in the best sense out stirring appeals from volun- of the word, was given free expres- sion on the platform as was applause by the audience. On the other hand, the platform was frequently far in the lead of the student delegations. But in general, students seemed anxious to face reality. It was encouraging to have them take their own faults more seriously than those of other people.
"The best thing in the older conven- tions was their broad surveys of the world. The best thing in the recent ones is the spirit of sincerity. If stu- dents can take the problems of the whole world with the same sincerity that they do the things within the range of their own intimate experi- ence, the prospect is bright." FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW BY REV. HOWARD B. GROSE, D.D., New York City Editor oj ((Mis8ion8"
FIFTY years ago, aside from ever formal work existed was the Sunday-school, the young sporadic if not spasmodic. And people were unrecognized in as for any attempt to awaken the the life and activities of the interest of the Church's young peochurch, save in special and isolated pIe in missions, at home or abroad, instances. Some of the more pro- in any systematic way, that was gressive and aggressive churches, hardly to be expected of churches led by pastors of exceptional vision that had not themselves become and appreciation of the human ma- imbued with the missionary spirit terial with which they had to deal, to any large extent. had instituted various form~ of simple organization for their This was the general situation so far as the Church's young people young people, but few of these or- were concerned, when, in Februganizations survived a change of ary, 1881, Christian Endeavor was pastors or a declension in the born. When the Reverend Francis spiritual conditions, and very E. Clark, who recently died with rarely did one attain to a degree a world paying tribute to his charof permanency. acter and work, organized the first I remember well how it was Young People's Society of Chris- tian Endeavor in Williston Conwhen, as a boy, I came into the church with a goodly group of gregational Church of Portland, young companions. Of our own volition we started a prayer meet- Maine, he started a movement ing, but little or no attention was whose swift spread and astonishpaid to us, and after the initial en- ing development in all lands can thusiasm and novelty wore off the only be accounted for by the fact attendance decreased until the that something like it had long meetings ceased, unnoticed and been needed. The very name was unsung. Indeed, I suspect that the an inspiration, and the response pastor in that particular church of the young people to its spiritual frowned upon separate meetings of and service challenges was immethe young people, nor was he alone diate. Christian Endeavor has in that feeling. So far as I have girdled the earth, and its ideals been able to ascertain, fifty years have ever been held high, through ago there was no general organiza- the widely pervasive influence of tion that attempted to unite the its founder. It was the first interdeyoung people of the same church in nominational society that brought spiritual growth, to say nothing of the young people into beautiful uniting the young people of differ- fellowship and sense of oneness in ent churches in the same denomina- Christ and into common forms of tion, and beyond that of other de- service; the first that revealed the nominations in a common cultural young people to themselves and to and spiritual movement. What- the churches; the first that made 137 the spiritual life development the the leaders. Thus it brought mis- supreme aim. sions, with the other forms of serv- Christian Endeavor from the ice, directly home to the local first gave missions a place in its churches, while through its interconstitution, on its program, in its mingling of the young people of local meetings and conventions. The missionary committee was one different denominations in local, of the three committees named in state and national conventions it the original by-laws. A monthly gave momentum to the rising tide missionary meeting was a feature of enthusiasm and interest in of the program, and missionary w 0 rId evangelization through Christian missions.
lesson topics were carefully se- Denominational organizations of lected and ably treated in order young people resulted from the to attract, instruct and interest. Endeavor movement. The Ep- The societies in time made their worth League was organized in way into all the foreign mission 1889, with the aim of developing fields, and the movement carried the Jife and activities of the young exceptional enthusiasm and bless- people of the Methodist Episcopal ing to the missionaries and the Church along the lines of its selecnative young converts. No conven- tion and under the guidance and tions in this country surpassed in control of its ecclesiastical leaders.
zeal and helpfulness those in The Baptist Young People's Union Europe, Asia and Africa. As of America also resulted from the Father Endeavor Clark made his Endeavor movement. Since there way repeatedly around the world was no central Baptist church govhe was met everywhere with the ernment to direct that the existing same Christian warmth of wel- Endeavor Societies in local Baptist come. He lived to see Christian churches join the new Baptist or- Endeavor, represented in a World ganization, most of them remained Union, become one of the strongest in the Endeavor fellowship. Other ties between the nations, one of the denominational societies of young most effective allies of interna- people have also followed similar tional brotherhood, interracial un- lines and have maintained and fos- derstanding, and world peace. tered missionary interest.
I have given this space to Chris- Grouping these young people's tian Endeavor because it was the organizations which are in and of first organized movement of young the churches, the published statispeople that waS wholly within and tics show that between five and six indeed an integral part of the millions of youth are members of Church. Each local society be- societies that regularly call attenlonged to its own local church, was tion to home and foreign missions, under the direction of the pastor bring them information from misand church officers, and had loyalty sion fields, and seek to stimulate a to the church as one of its prime sense of personal responsibility principles. Whatever associations and relationship. Estimate the it might form with kindred socie- millions enrolled in the years since ties of young people in other the origin of the young people's churches, its first allegiance to the movement in 1881, and it will then home church was clearly under- be possible to apprehend in some stood and constantly impressed by measure what has occurred within fifty years. While it is true that offered themselves for service in these societies did not develop the the mission fields. Y. M. C. A. sumspecific forms of missionary train- mer conferences, beginning in 1886 ing and life enlistment which came at Mount Hermon, have increased later, it is also true that they in number in America and have created the constituencies of young spread to many other lands. In people ready to hand for the new 1895 the student societies were movements. federated in the World's Student Christian Federation, which cre- We now come to another factor ates for students an international of great moment in its immediate bearing upon the important and .TOHN R. MOTT AS A STUDENT LEADER influential body of youth-the IN 'rHm EARLY DAYS OF THE students. Here the origin of the S'l'UDEN'l' VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT missionary movement came from the Young Men's Christian Asso- bond of sympathy and goodwill ciation, organized in the United similar to that of the International States in 1851. The Student Asso- Union of Christian Endeavor for ciations were first formed in 1858. young people at large. The Inter- national Y. M. C. A. which has Foreign missions assumed a promi- sponsored the Student Volunteer nent place in the Association work and World Student Movements, when John R. Mott came into it under Dr. Mott's leadership, has with his missionary enthusiasm not only established Associations and vision. The Student Volun- in foreign lands and led in evanteer Movement, which grew out of gelistic effort, but its foreign de- partment has steadily advanced, mission study classes in Student until its budget has passed the mil- Associations, marked a new era in the relation of youth to the missionary enterprise. Organized in 1886, it presented a definite goal and objective, and issued a challenge to youth in the colleges and universities that met with ready response. Its conventions have given a marked impetus to interest in missions, and impressed the general public as well as the church members with the magnitude of the worldwide cause. It is impossible to judge adequately the influence which the Student Volunteer Movement has exerted. In a single year, for example, its mission study classes had an enrolment of 8,500, and nearly 9,000 students were directed in community service. It has a record of many thousands of life decisions for missionary or some other form of Christian service, and through its agency 11,700 students have
lion mark, and earnest endeavor that the leaders of these two has been made to inform and ac- powerful agencies, allies of the tively interest the Association Church, have been so thoroughly membership at large in the mis- imbued with the missionary spirit sionary cause. and purpose. And this missionary Working in close cooperation development, remember, has taken along missionary lines came the place within the last fifty years.
Young Women's Christian Associa- All this was preparatory to an- tion,organized in England in 1855, other youth movement, designed to in this country in 1866, and reor- interest all the young people in a ganized here as the National Y. W. personal, definite way, and reach- C. A. in 1906. Both in England ing out indeed for the entire church membership. This was the Mis- sionary Education Movement, which in July of this year cele- brated at Silver Bay its quarter century of service. This is not the place to give a history of this great inspirational and educational movement, which has provided textbooks of high merit for both home and foreign missions, trained many thousands of leaders, led large numbers to life enlistment through the spiritual influence of its conferences, and greatly pro- moted interdenominational fellow- ship and cooperation. It also served to pave the way for denomi- national departments of mission- ary education which are full of promise, as they increasingly en- ROBERT E. SPEER AS A STUDENT compass the local churches in LEADER IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE hitherto unreached areas. This is STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT preeminently the day of the mis- and "the United States the Associa- 'sion study class and the church tion maintains a missionary de- school of missions. The latter in- partment among the foremost cludes in the range of the program features. It has place on the Coun- all ages and grades from the kin- cil of North American Student dergarten and junior to the young Movements, and is affiliated with people and senior adult-the whole the Student Volunteer Movement church engaged in mission study, and Student Christian Federation. with adequate leadership and Through its mission work it inter- equipment for intelligent and in- ests its home membership in the spiring presentation of the cause world cause. The Student Associa- which our Lord committed to His tions numbered 721 in 1922, with disciples in the Great Commission.
61,500 members. It is fortunate These various movements which for the cause of missions and for have interested the young people the young men and women alike in the missionary enterprise have naturally been aided by the modern best missionary magazines of toinventions which have annihilated day. Indeed, the twentieth cendistance and brought the world tury covers the rise of these amply illustrated publications.
It is significant that in the youth movements of today, as signalized by recent conventions-things un- dreamed of fifty years ago-the missionary enterprise has received full measure of attention, with plentiful advice as to the proper conduct of missions; proving be- yond question how widely the in- terest of the young people has been enlisted.
It is safe to say that never be- fore has the attention of the Chris- tian Church been called to and con- centrated upon missions as it is today. As we have noted the chief UOBERT P. WILDER-'l ' ODA Y One of the Founders of the Student Vol un· teer Movement f or F oreign MIss ions a nd until recenUy the General Secretary into neighborhood, with the re- sultant advance in knowledge of hitherto little-known and misap- prehended lands and peoples. The newer literature, moreover, has presented the missionary pioneers in those aspects of courage and heroism that particularly appeal to youth, and the real challenge of the work has been pressed. All things have worked together to make this for young people the era of mis- sionary education and enlistment.
Nor have the modern missionary magazines played an unimportant part in awakening interest through spreading information.
The fact that THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD is celebrat- ~HI<lHWUOD I<lDDY-TODAY ing its fiftieth anniversary affords ' A Popular Convention Speaker on Missions, and It'oreign Departmen t Secretary opportunity to call to mind the fur- of the Y. !'.I. C. A.
ther fact that prior to fifty years movements which have brought ago there was no missionary maga- this about, which were all youth zine of the type and grade of the movements in origin, the contrast
between fifty years ago and now movements they are assuming a stands out vividly. Fifty years ago leadership hitherto unknown. The there was as yet no organized ef- summer conferences, conventions, fort which sought specifically to training institutes and study enlist and train the young people classes, interdenominational and of the churches in spiritual growth denominational, are found in all and active service; no definite parts of the United States and means or attempt to awaken their Canada. The literature provided interest in missions. The young is remarkable both in quantity and people's societies, the Student Vol- quality, covering every phase of unteer Movement, the Young Peo- world missions. Now, the church ple's Missionary Movement, which that evades or escapes the appeal later became the Missionary Edu- and study of missions must either cation Movement, were all non- have a non-missionary pastor, no existent. Fifty years ago there pastor, or no young people. This were no mISSIOnary training does not mean, of course, that 'the churches are now sufficiently alive classes for leaders, no cooperation to the missionary needs or suffibetween denominations, no mis- ciently imbued with the missionary sionary literature, no graded spirit; but it does mean that, in classes, no church schools of mis- contrast to conditions fifty years sions, no local, national and world ago, so far as the young people are concerned, they have been brought conferences. into a place of responsibility, of Now the conditions are so influence, and of spiritual develop- ment that promises much for the changed that those who were not future of the churches, the raising living in the old days cannot realize up of missionary recruits, and the the vast difference and advance. extension of the Kingdom of God. Now' the young people are not only recognized as potent forces in the Church, but through the youth Thoughts for the Thoughtful The inexhaustible and perennial spring of missionary devotion is the constraining love of God in Christ.
The Christian view of God and of His purpose must transform the whole of life.
A civilization based on materialism and selfishness must in the end compass its own destruction.
We cannot be Christians in the full sense without setting ourselves to Christianize the social order.
There are open to the Church possibilities of moral and spiritual renewal, which, because they can be measured only by the love and power of God, may be truly described as infinite, The man who has seen that God is love knows that our human life can reach its full stature, perfection, and satisfaction only in the measure that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
The firm hold of the unseen and the sense of the absoluteness of God's demands on us, which are characteristic of New Testament life, are what we most need to recover if we are to do the work of God in our generation.
A MISSIONARY PATRIARCH OF INDIA*
An Appreciation 0/ the Li/e and Work 0/ the Late Rev. E. M. Wherry, D.D.
BY REV. J. J. LUCAS, Landour, India WHEN a student in Princeton years until he went on furlough to Seminary over sixty years America. ago, Elwood M. Wherry After his return from America decided to go as a missionary to in 1898 he was appointed once Turkey, but a letter from Dr. S. again to Lodhiana and there spent H. Kellogg, then a missionary at Fatehgarh, .turned his heart to In- dia. On his graduation in 1867 he and Mrs. Wherry set out for Cal- cutta on a sailing vessel, taking a long and . wearisome voyage around the Cape of Good Hope.
His first station was Rawal Pindi and after two years he was trans- ferred to Lodhiana where he spent the greater part of more than forty years as a missionary.
In the early years of his mis- sionary service Mr. Wherry estab- lished and continued to edit the Nur A/shan through which, for ma.ny years, he spread far and wide throughout North India the light of the knowledge of Christ. In those early days he began the preparation of his Commentary on the Koran which was published by the Triibners in four large volumes -a magnum opus indeed. Tract after tract and book after book ELWOOD M. WHERRY came from his pen, each dealing largely with questions relating to most of the active years of his Islam, answering Indian Moslems' service until he retired and reobjections to- the Gospel. When turned to America five years ago; the Presbyterian Theological Sem- Dr. Wherry's long years of service inary was resuscitated in 1883 aft- in Lodhiana founding and editing er seven years of suspension and the Nur A/shan, preparing and was transferred from Allahabad publishing books and tracts, takto Saharanpur Dr. Wherry was ing a leading part in the founding appointed the first professor, and and building up of the Lodhiana held this position for four or five Boys' Boarding School were among ; • Dr. Wherry died on October 5. 1927. the most fruitful years of his serv- 143
ice. After his return to India in mission in Lodhiana in 1834 up to 1898 he set himself, with a few the present. Thus from the beothers, to revive interest in the ginning to the end of his sixty union of all the Presbyterian years of missionary service his pen churches in India. In this he was busy in writing the things and they were successful, so that which are vital to the growth of the organic union of eight of the the Church of Christ in India. Presbyterian churches in India Those who had the privilege of was consummated at a meeting in loving fellowship with him during Allahabad in 1904. A few years many of these years give thanks later this Presbyterian Church of at every remembrance of him and India recognized Dr. Wherry's now think of him as still serving, services by electing him Moderator still praising and still growing of the General Assembly. Recently through all the experiences of the he prepared a History of the service here and now, in prepara- American Presbyterian Missions tion for yet better service-the in India from the founding of the service of an ever growing life.
THE BRITISH CHURCH DISPUTE T HIS issue threatens to rend in rally disturb the British people and twain the Church of England. the Anglican Church. For nearly four centuries High, Low, and Broad Churchmen The main contest is over the have found it possible to use the Communion Service. To the Low Prayer Book which embodied the Churchman the standard proce- Elizabethan Compromise. But the dure on Sunday morning should be accord is breaking down over an at- Morning Prayer and the sermon. tempt to revise the Prayer Book. To the High Churchman the servi~e The Church has to decide whether its face is set towards Roman culminates in the Eucharist, ex- Catholicism or toward the Protes- alted into the predominance contant interpretation of the Bible. ceded by the Papacy to the mass. The Church of England is a state church, the Church of the royal In the proposed Prayer Book the family, of the ancient universities Communion Service has been rearand schools and of the Government. ranged and elaborated and a page The prelates of the Church sit in of italicized rubric has been inthe House of Lords and crown the serted wherein there is permitted King on his accession. The mon- the reservation of the sacrament. arch is required to be a communi- This change has aroused England. cant of the Established Church that guarantees the Protestant succes- While the revised Prayer Book sion. This same Church also pre- was accepted by the Church CounsHies over much city dnd most cils a large number of influential rural education of children. To Churchmen are opposed to it and surrender the Church to the Ro- the State has vetoed the decision of man Catholic party would natu- the Church Council. As a result a movement towards disestablish- ment has already been started. Such a consummation would be a blessing to the Church.
Of THE
A Student Rally for Missions an inspirational gathering. It caught the imagination of the T HE Student Volunteer Move- Church and mission boards saw the ment is passing through a possibilities. More travelling sec- transition period. It was or- retaries were employed and the ganized forty-one years ago to en- office force was enlarged. An Edu.
list Christian students in the work cational Secretary guided the misof carrying out the great Commis- sion study groups and textbooks sion of Christ to evangelize the were prepared. The budget inworld. One hundred students volunteered at the first college student creased to $20,000 a year, then to conference in Mount Hermon, $87,000. The conventions in- Massachusetts; in 1886. Two stu- creased to include 5,000· delegates. dent secretaries, Robert P. Wilder Volunteers enrolled until up to date and John N. Forman, both of eleven thousand seven hundred are Princeton, arranged to visit Amer- on record as actually having sailed ican colleges and present the Call for foreign mission fields in the past forty years. to other students to help realize the watchword: "The Evangelization Then came a change. Many stuof the World in this Generation." dents attended the conventions who were not really interested in the The movement grew. John R. for e i g n missionary enterprise. Mott of Cornell, Robert E. Speer Some were not even professing of Princeton, and others, volun- Christians. Christ's commission to teered and became leaders. The evangelize the world meant less to great emphasis was laid on the them than problems nearer home. command of Christ to give the Acquaintance with foreign stu- Gospel to others who had never dents and consciousness of the heard. The non-Christian world failu;e of Americans to live up to was painted in dark colors. Stu- Christian ideals led to questiondents were asked to declare their ings. A revolt from conservative purpose, God willing, to be forei~n missionary leadership was threatmissionaries. They enrolled In ened. Students were invited to bemission study classes and prayer come members of the Governing groups in schools, colleges, medical Board and for a time there seemed schools and theological seminaries. to be danger lest the Movement The purpose was clear and the goal was definite; the organization was would lose its missionary purpose, simple and the spirit was devout. its Biblical basis and its spiritual The work became more complex. power.
The first Student Volunteer Con- The recent Detroit Convention, vention at Cleveland in 1891, with its 3,500 delegates from 600 brought together 558 student dele- institutions, has been reassuririg in gates from 150 institutions. It was many respects. While there was a 4 145
noticeable change from the old type India, should Christian missionaries in- tervene or interfere or take part in the of inspirational and informational work? addresses to more intimate and What should be the attitude of mission- frank discussion of problems and aries in such lands as China and Japan, policies, the conv'ention was dis- on the problem of race discrimination as tinctly devout and missionary in its expressed in our hnmigration laws? spirit and aim. The delegates were .wide awake, open-minded, honest Are there any great religious truths in and sympathetic to the great pur- the Oriental religions that they can conpose of the Movement. While some tribute to Christianity?
were inclined to look upon Jesus In regard to exchange of missionaries Christ and His Gospel as only a between China and the West, if China way of life, the general conviction sends missionaries to the West, will the expressed was that He is "Thp. West welcome the Chinese missionaries and upon what basis?
As an aid to the breaking down of de- nominationalism would it not be possible to have a non-denominational sending agency?
Way, the Truth and the Life," and What can we students on the college that the only revealed way to God campus do to foster this spirit of world and into eternal Life is through fellowship? His Son Jesus Christ. While this Is it possible to eradicate race hatred, and if so, how can it be done?
does not deny that there is truth in While there was naturally a lack other religions, it rejects them as of information and some shallow inadequate to meet man's greatest thinking manifest among the stu- need for this life or the Life to dents, there was evident a spirit of come. honesty and sincerity and earnest- Some of the questions raised by ness that was reassuring. One the students at the convention show noteworthy sign of a desire to be the trend of student thought and consistent was the fact that racial their attitude of mind. differences were ignored in the How is it going to be possible for placing of delegates by agreement people who want to go into missionary with the Detroit hotels. This was work to go without military protection? a great step for principle as against prejudice. What are we, the youth who love the truth and who love adventure, going to do Missionary methods, problems and leadership are changing. This to overcome and break pernicious denom- is to be expected and is a hopeful inationalism? sign. The great need is to guard against forsaking or overlooking Is our belief in the fact that Jesus is the great aim of the enterprise, to the Way, the only Way, strong enough give the Gospel of Christ to all for us to impose it on other people? men, to practice His teachings and to manifest His Spirit in all de- Is not the failure of missionary work in partments and contacts of life, to China due in part to the fact that mis- seek the guidance of God, and to sionaries have gone there with education depend on the power of His Holy rather than with the idea of spreading Spirit. Students and all Christhe simple Gospel of Jesus Christ? tians need to bear in mind the words of Christ, "Without me ye Is there not danger in modern mission- can do nothing." ary work of emphasizing the amelioration of the world rather than its redemptiOll? February 19th is the Universal Day of Prayer for Students. What mistakes are missionaries making today, in good faith, which will hamper us in the future as past mistakes made in good faith hamper us now?
Should the modern missionary go as a guest of the national church, subject to its discipline and s~aring in all its privileges and responsibilities?
Should foreign nationals assist in selecting prospective missionaries to their own communities?
If Christianity breaks out beyond the borders of the Christian Church as in
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
Foreign Missions Examined work and the attitude of their F OR the past thirty-five years people to Christ; the viewpoint of the Foreign Missiona~y execu- the pastor was presented by Dr. A. tives of North AmerIca have met in annual conference to ex- W. Beaven of Rochester and of the amine their united task, to discuss college professor by Rufus M. their problems and the possible Jones of Swarthmore. Dr. John R. Mott gave a masterly report on solutions and to see how they may the plans and purposes of the comwork together more effectively. This year they met at Atlantic City ing International Missionary Con- (January 8th to 13th) in sessions ference in Jerusalem. that were unusually interesting and Several convictions were genereffective. ally and decidedly expressed: Great problems are before the (1) That Christian missionaries world and the Church. The inter- are still greatly needed in nonnational, industrial, socia~ and re- Christian lands; (2) that financial ligious conditions and attItudes of thought have been rapidly and and prayerful support of missionradically changing. China is in ary work should increase rather upheaval; Japan is looking more than diminish; (3) that gunboats critically at missionaries; India is and government protection are not generally favored by missionaries; seeking greater expression. for (4) that the national Christia~s nationalism; Africa is awa~enmg; should be given as large responSIrace relations are being readJusted; bility as is possible for the support there is a growing demand that and management of their own Christians at home put their own churches and schools; (5) that house in order; the missionary message, motive, objective and there should be closer cooperation methods are being re-studied and between national churches and misre-expressed. Denominational ri- sionaries and a decreasing emphavalry is discredited and larger con- sis on denominationalism in Christrol in their own churches and tian work; (6) that race prejudice schools is demanded by Christians among Christians should give way on the mission fields. to expressions of brotherhood; (7) that greater dependence on God is This year at Atlantic City, a required for success in His work. large place was given to the views of men and women outside the mis- Those who attended the sessions sionary boards. Both at the ses- at Atlantic City must have been sions of the Federation of Woman's impressed by the clear-headed, Boards and at the general confer- open-minded, forward-Ioo~i~g and ence meetings, the business men, hopeful character of the mISSIonary represented by William E. Boyd.of leaders. Difficulties were frankly the Curtis Publishing Co., were In- faced but there was no pessimism. vited to give impressions of ~i~ Responsibility was acknowledged, but it is a responsibility to seek and to follow the leadership of God.
sionary work and to offer crIti- [A number of the addresses will be published later as will also addresses and cisms; men and women from other reports from the Student Voluntee! 90nraces represented by Rev. W. Y.
Chen'of Foochow and Dr. Decio de vention, the Comity and Home MISSIons Conferences in Cleveland a!ld the .Inte!- Paula Machido, of Brazil, were national Missionary Councll meetmg m asked to give their views of the Jerusalem.]
Laymen and Evangelism witnesses" to Christ and to organ- PERSONAL evangelism seems ize these witnesses into groups of to be a lost art for the large six or twelve, each with a leader, maj ority of Christians. In the that will cultivate a definite area early days of the Church when the and meet occasionally for confer- Christians were scattered abroad ence and prayer. It is hoped that -"except the Apostles" or regular the groups will be augmented conchurch leaders-the laity "went stantly and that at certain times in everywhere preaching the Word." the year all groups in a congrega- As a result multitudes believed in tion will meet and report to the Christ and the Church grew in whole church. numbers, in purity and in power. The plan is not to increase the Today, out of nearly two hundred number of organizations but to million professed followers of adopt a simple, natural and effec- Christ in Protestant churches, how tive method for personal evangelmany bear any true witness among ism and spiritual work in order to unbelievers? Outside of the ranks enlist as many spiritually minded of professional preachers, mission- men and women as possible to do aries and Christian teachers, prob- personal work among non-Chrisably not one in a hundred are wit- tians. The declaration of "witnesses. Who can measure the nesses" reads as follows: effect if Christian men and women I hereby accept membership am<!ng the "One Million Witnesses" now bemg bore witness to Christ and His enrolled, by declaring my purpose: 1. To endeavor to lead at least 0l!e pe;rpower among non-Christians? son each year into personal !al~h In The newly organized Men's Jesus Christ and into membership m the Church League (of New York) is Church of Christ. 2 To become a member, as soon as possending out a challenge for the sibie, of a small group of similar "wit- fuller enlistment of laymen in nesses," either in my own churcl} or com- munity to meet at stated tImes for Christian service. They are urg- prayer'and conference. (See Matt. 18: ing each church to enlist and organ- 19-20, Luke 10: 1, 2.) . ize its members into groups of 3. To endeavor to lead at least one per- son each year to become paunrpoesnerso.l*led eight or twelve for continuous per- "witness" with these same sonal work. In Schenectady, New The Men's Church League, of York, the churches have endorsed which Dr. J. Campbell White is a Neighborhood Group Plan and have decided to assign every block General Secretary, was formed in in the city of 100,000 inhabitants October, 1924, to enlist Christian to some church for spiritual culti- laymen in active Christian work. vation and evangelism. What Such an awakening among prowould be the effect if this plan fessed followers of Christ is very greatly needed. Too many were carried out in every city and churches, which means· church town on the continent? members, are like the Church of Laodicea. A spiritual reviving by The Men's Church League is the Holy Spirit is needed to purify seeking to form a committee of one and empower the Church and all thousand laymen who will be ac- Christians. tive in enlisting the church members all over the United States in ., Cards for enrolling IIwitnesses" may be se- cured from the lIen's Church League, 156 active spiritual service. They are endeavoring to enroll "one million 5th Avenue New 10Y0o,rkorC$it~y.,50atp 10 cents for 20, 30 cent. per er 1,000.
ELLIS ISLAND-SIs'r ERS FROM EUROPE SEEKING ADMISSION
"THE PROMISED LAND"
WHEN THE WORLD COMES TO preter of life and manners and cus- YOUR CITY OR CHURCH toms of many lands and peoples.
The Value of Missionary Exhibits The testimony is that widespread interest is one great gain; that there By MARY LATHROP BISHOP, Cleveland, O. is value in its research, its spontaneity sccrct{V"l,ng~,.Lij::;:"~~ '1";:!,tr.~b~J/J.i'1 the and its creativeness; that the exhibit furnishes opportunities of self-expres- Mission. Society The Missionary Exhibit as a vehicle sion. Certain it is that many lessons for teaching missions is unsurpassed, may be taught through the medium of for "the mind best sees things that Missionary Exhibits. International are pictured." A wise handling of the friendship with its peace program, in- subject brings us into contact with the dustrial ideals of working together for past, links up the work of yesterday the common good, the fellowship of the with the aims and purposes of today gospel and the unity of spirit, all may for tomorrow's fulfilment. It gives a be visualized until the worker has a better appreciation of progress and vision of what it is to be a member in achievements and may be the inter- the Family of Nations of the Kingdom 149
of God. The exhibit if carefully say among the nations, The Lord planned may represent the meeting reigneth. 1 Chron. 16: 29,31. place of the nations. Leader-Yea, many people and The World in Our Church strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to If the exhibit is to be held in a pray before the Lord. church, the Sunday-school assembly With the accompaniment of soft music, representatives of the nations enter in costume, each carrying a flag of her own country. They march to the platform and place their flags in the holders prepared for them. Forming a group in front of the plat- form they sing, "We've a Story to Tell to the Nations."
Announcements are then made of the plan of the missionary tour. Each group of ten as designated, will follow one of the nationals to the various ex- hibits wherever placed. When the bell rings all progress to the next exhibit.
The Sunday-school rooms may be utilized for the different countries. At the booth there may be brief dramatizations or sketches typifying work done in the special fields, or there may be simply a description room may well be the gathering place. FROM 'i'HE LAND OF CHINA Use flags of all nations for the decorations, with the American and the given of the curios. It adds to the Christian flags entertwined. At the interest to have missionaries as special entrance of the room a lighthouse may aids. Pictures, posters, costumes and be very effectively used. In the center of the platform and slightly raised, place an illuminated cross. Around the base arrange standards which will hold the small flags of the nations.
A brief devotional service would be effective, using the thought of the King of the Nations.
Leader-Give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Response-Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men
METHODS FOR WORKERS
literature may be obtained from local sionary maze. When once the journey or national headquarters of denomina- was begun there was no turning back. tions. An attractive literature booth One had to follow the trail through should be a part of the exhibit. The Africa's forest, by China's pagodas, pass through Japan's gateway, stop at the Filipino huts on stilts, see In- dia's temples, and ride in Burma's ox cart-in fact see all the countries in which the missionary organizations were at work.
AMEHICAN MOUNTAINEEH8 OF Working Out an Exhibit THE SOUTH A practical working out of an ex- hibit for city, state or national groups, was put into operation in Cleveland, Ohio, last July, 1927, as one of the features of the thirty-first Christian Endeavor Convention. The Mission- ary Exhibit was under the direction of the Woman's Committee of the Federated Churches. All details were arranged by this committee with the heartiest cooperation of the General Chairman and Secretary of the Cleve- land Convention Committee. Countries were chosen and allocated to different groups. Each group secured its own helpers may be dressed in costumes made of the various publications.
Ways of Putting On Exhibits AN AMERICAN INDIAN EXHIBIT One church used as a prelude to the curios, costumes and helpers. The evening's tour of missionary fields, the backgrounds for the booths were plays of different nationalities. A painted py a young artist from designs trained leader gathered about her a made by the committee. The size group of children and taught them how the children of many lands play their games. It was gratifying to witness the eagerness of the children to know just how other children played. After the games were over they were interested in the missionary exhibits, asking many questions and manifesting appreciation.
A city mission society doing a large work among foreign-speaking people held a parliament of nations in a large up-town church. The various groups participating presented songs of the nations and a varied program as a part of the exhibit.
At an annual national convention, the exhibit took the form of a mis-
varied from 22 feet square to 22 by 15 that fifty-seven of its seventy-seven feet. Each of these displays ran churches and seven preaching points across the back of the booths and was had either been having no form of set against a background of black cot- Missionary Education or else a study ton flannel. Rugs, posters, curios, class only in the adult Missionary So- baskets, images, etc., furnished the ciety-the young people and men be- decorations. Small daylight screens ing entirely unreached.
were used to show pictures, and play- The Director of Missionary Educa"
lets were given at intervals. There tion organized a committee from the was always a moving procession and Presbytery and Presbyterial composed the hours had to be extended. Many of the officers for Foreign Missions"
interested young people returned again National Missions, Young People's and again to study the exhibits, and to Work, Presbyterial President and make notes for use at home. Missionary Education Secretary. This The whole effect was realistic and committee planned a visitation to each impressive, and at the same time cap- of the fifty-seven churches, choosing able of reproduction. A college en- the Sabbath school and Christian En- thusiast drew a word picture of her deavor Societies as the best places t9 impressions: reach the uninterested.
"A trip around the world in Cleve- Each visitor made a brief address to land. Adobe houses silhouetted the Session stressing the need of interagainst the bl~e bowl of the sky, In- est and education in missions and pre- dian women with papooses slung over senting some plans and ideas. How- their shoulders weaving blankets-"' ever, the main object of each visit was New Mexico. Low white igloos of to have a conference with all Sunday- scintillating snow. Log houses in school teachers, officers of Sunday- Alaska. Blue water of a southern Pa- school 'and organizations, when we cific harbor. Low buildings and tall urged a monthly presentation of mis- palms, brown huts on stilts-The sions in Sunday-school (ten ,minutes Philippines. Pale pink cherry blos- at least), the appointment of a Mis- soms in Japan, dainty little women sionary Education Secretary for each dispensing tea. Stately Chinese church, 0 r g ani zed Sunday-school pagodas. Gold Buddhas. White classes taking up mission study, read- mosques of India. Wayside dispen- ing contests for, uninterested men and sary, with doctors and nurses. Afri- women, missionary organizations for can grass huts. Fur rugs and hemp children and young people. We took hammocks. White robes, dense jun- large packets of material to leave in gles. All these may be seen in the each church consisting of catalogues Missionary Exhibit. of literature, and lantern lectures, "Impressions gained from such a sample magazines, story leaflets, leaf- world tour will not easily be effaced." lets on methods, etc. These were a great benefit for. we found many MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN A churches that did not seem to know LOCAL CHURCH of the available materials, due of course to there being no organizations, By MRS. BOWERS, Lewistown, Po,. hence no one but pastor on any of- Comparison of records covering sev- ficers' mailing list. eral years brought to the attention of Results: Six or more missionary the Director of Missionary Education of the Huntingdon Presbytery* and organizations already formed and the Secretary of Missionary Education definite points of contact established for the Huntingdon Presbyterialt in each church, which will permit the various officers to do efficient follow- * Presbytery-Ministers and laymen. up work-much of which ~ill be t Presbyterial-Women, yonng people and needed to nourish the seed that has children'8 organizations. been sowed. '
OMEN'S
COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS and FEDERATION OF WOMAN'S BOARDS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 419 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK and MISS FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 105 EAST 22ND ST., NEW YORK SUGGESTIONS FOR CHILDREN'S used to secure someone who knows how to speak to boys and girls. RALLY 11. Badges for the different groups, Under Auspices of the Local Women's arm-bands for ushers, banners, special Interdenominational Group costumes, etc., might be used as helps in creating interest and atmosphere. 1. The group'should be strictly limited 12. Where the different groups come to children under twelve years of age, with their teachers or leaders. from some distance, it might be sug- gested that trucks be secured and that 2. A committee of children and leaders the boys and girls bring their lunch and should be appointed to make plans for have a picnic en route. the Rally. 13. If refreshments are served they 3. The different groups of children should be asked, early, to make contribu- should be simple and typical of the tions to the program-probably in the country and people studied. form of a brief dramatization-the contributions from each group to take not 14. Where there are only to be a few more than five minutes, preferably three groups represented much more responsiminutes. bility can be placed upon each one and the contribution of each can be greater. 4. The worship material should be sent Where there are many groups it would out in advance and be memorized by the probably be impossible to have the boys various groups so that they can all par- and girls participate in more than the ticipate. worship service (which has been sent to them and learned in advance) and very 6. Letters should be sent to each group, brief responses to Roll Call telling what early, asking them to write about the has been best in the work of the year. offerings either in money or other gifts that they have made during the year. 16. In order to make the suggestions A few of the replies should be read at concrete, three programs based on the the Rally. suggested study for 1927-28 are attached. Some of the items in each may be se- 6. Care must be taken that the pro- lected and built into one prOln"am. Of gram for the Rally does not attempt to course, any committee will build its own cover so many different groups that it program, varied to meet the particular lacks unity and conciseness. conditions of its own field.
7. The program should be based on the work of the year. Exhibit A 8. The program might include a pageant, the episodes of which might be WORSHIP SERVICE. given by different groups. 9. There should be a special room in Opening Sentences (In unison): "Give which exhibits might be displayed-this thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, material to be the actual work of the declare his doings among the peonIes, children, with a committee of boys and make mention that his name is exalted.
girls in charge. The time for showing Sing unto the Lord for he hath done the material should be after the regular excellent things: Let this be known in all program, when it may be explained by the earth." (Isa. 12: 4-5.) the committee of boys and girls. "0 Lord, … thou only art holy; .. 10. 'A speaker might be secured, either all the nations shall come and worship a National from one of the mission fields, before thee; for thy righteous acts have or a missionary: Care would have to be been made manifest." (Rev. 16: 4.) 153
"All nations whom thou hast made shall Cavanah. (Secure from denominational come and worship before thee, 0 Lord; headquarters) or and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou A dramatization based on "Please art God alone." (Ps. 86: 9-10.) Stand By." The scene may be a radio broadcasting room and the various peo- Song: "Jesus Shall Reign Where'er ple mentioned in the book may enter and the Sun." tell their stories.
Song; "We've a Story to Tell to the Address. Nations." By a National or a missionary. (Not Scripture; Ps. 98 or 67. more than ten minutes) Song: "God's Children Live in Many Lands," from "Song and Play for Chil- Benediction. dren." (Pilgrim Press, 14 Beacon St., Boston, Mass.) (Children in costume.) AFTER THE MEETING.
Prayer: Our Father, we thank Thce A personally conducted trip to Japan that Thou art interested in all people in charge of the children who are preeverywhere. We are glad that all the pared to describe objects. boys and girls in the whole earth are a part of Thy great family. We are sorry Japanese games. that some of Thy children know nothing of Thy love and care~ May those of us Refreshments. who love Thee help all the boys and girls everywhere. to know Thee. May they A personally conducted trip around the learn of Thy love and of Thy desire to world (not more than twenty in the help them. May we remember all the group) with games, curios•. objects, boys and girls in our own country and posters. This to be in charge of a group in other countries as together we say. of children who have prepared and are "Our Father. who art in heaven." able to describe curios, etc., and to lead in the games. Refreshments may be some Lord's Prayer. little thing in each country or all may assemble in one room for simple refresh- Song: "In Christ There Is No East or ments. West." (This might be dramatized by older Juniors.) Trip may take the place of "Roll Call -a" in the program. Roll Call. a. Exhibit of curios and material from Exhibit B other countries (not the things the children made) . One from each THEME: BUILDING A BETTER WORLD group may describe the contribu- tions. These may remain permanent- Worship service (See Exhibit A or C). lyon the platform and supply "local Contributions from each group-"What color." or We Learned This Year," preferably in b. The best thing our group did this dramatic form and taking not more than year. (Three minutes or less.) three minutes (five minutes if only a few This may be dramatized. or in groups participate). dialogue form, or presented in any Dramatization or stories-(By individ- other way. ual children or by groups) "How Some Negroes Have Helped"-from "The Up- Dramatizations. (Secure books from de- ward Climb;" "How We Can Help Some nominational headquarters). of the Indians in Our Country"-from "A Puppet Show" from "Kin Chan and "Indian Playmates of Navajo Land;" "How Some People in Japan Are Helpthe Crab." ing-"-from "Our Japanese Friends" and "At School in Japan" from "Our Jap- "Kin Chan and the Crab;" "Some People Who Need Our Help"-from "Please anese Friends." Stand By." "At Home in Japan" from "Our Jap- Address: (By a National or a mis- sionary.) anese Friends." Benediction. "At Play in Japan" from "Our A trip around the world, games, etc. (See Exhibit A.) Japanese Friends." Play one or more games on the plat- Exhibit (l form such as, "Large Lantern, Small THEME: KNOWING SOME OF THE PEOPLE Lantern," etc. IN OUR OWN COUNTRY A Play. "Alice Through the Postal Card." Worship Service (Secure from denominational head- Hymn: "America." quarters) or Scripture: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all "0 Shining Mountain"-a play pro- thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is duced with marionettes. (August, 1927 the great and first commandment. And issue of "Pilgrim Elementary Teacher," 14 Beacon' St., Boston, Mass.) or "The Honorable Guest" by Frances
WOMEN'S BULLETINS
a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt an interdenominational Young Womlove thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt. 22: 37-39.) en's Council or Federation? Is it a separate organization, a de- "Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen partment of the women's interdefor his own inheritance." (Ps. 33: 12.) nominational group or a department "Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people." (Prov- of the Federation or Council of erbs 14: 34.) Churches? • Story: "A Strange Pedlar." (Pil- What is its relationship to other logrim Elementary Teacher" – August, cal organizations, such as the Council 1927.) Prayer: of Religious Education, Interracial Leader (May be Junior boy or girl): Committee, Committee on Internation- For our nation and all that it has meant al Relationships, the denominational to the people of other lands, young people's organizations? What Boys and girls: We thank Thee, our are its activities? Heavenly Father. Please send replies and suggestions Leader: For all the opportunities for life more abundant that have been here to Miss Florence E. Quinlan, 105 East made possible-schools, and churches, 22nd Street, New York City. playgrounds and homes, Boys and girls: We thank Thee, A Few Suggestions Heavenly Father. Organization. Leader: For all the people who dwell Interest all the young people's or- in our land, ' ganizations of the city: Missionary circles, Christian Endeavor, Boys and girls: We pray Thee, Heavenly Father. Baptist Young People's Union, Epworth League, etc. Leader: Mayall of us find here justice and friendship and love; may all of Be sure to interest the young business us be friendly ourselves; may we really women of the city, and to include the love our neighbors as ourselves so that students, foreign and American. we, like one loving. family, shall each help the other to have the best that we Have a city-wide representative comknow. mittee.
Leader (continuing): For all who live Begin with young women, but do not in this, our land, and for those who live forget the young men. in every other land, Be careful that the women do not con- Boys and girls: We pray Thy blessing, trol too much the young people's work. our Heavenly Father. Make the organization a very simple Reading letters from groups telling 'If one.
their activities. Projects.
Contributions from various groups. 1. Leadership training group. "The Best Thing We Did This Year" 2. Participation in the World Day of (Not more than three minutes for each). Prayer. Annually held on first Friday in. Lent. May be the Roll Call. Primary Children-What We Learned (February 24, 1928.) About the Indians (Presented in any way There should be a very real sense of the leader and the group decide upon). worship in the meeting. Aim for dignity May include showing doll, rugs, jewelry, in music, sense of communion with God, and appreciation and understanding of etc. Junior Children-Dramatization: "The prayer. Roll of Honor." (See "The Upward 3. Dramatic presentation of race Climb," by Sara Estelle Haskin, p. 137.) groups, games, folk songs, etc. Address (By a National or a mission- Possibly an outdoor May festival in a park ending with a brief talk by a good ary-ten minutes.) speaker emphasizing the bigness of the Benediction. task, the "adventure of the Church." Games. 4. Promotion of Young People's Sum- Refreshments (if desired). mer Conference or School of Missions and of week-end conferences. YOUNG PEOPLE A Few Questions 5. Particjpation in Institute or School of Missions in the fall. In cooperation Is there an interdenominational with the Women's Council or Federation. Program Material: Interracial, Inter- Young People's Church Federation national, and Industrial: (including young men and young Young People's Secretary, denomina- women) in your community? Is there tional headquarters.
World Day of Prayer supplies (inter- that we are compelled to face its imdenominational). Program, Call, Retreat, Seal. Order from denominational plications. We dare not pray for the headquarters. breaking down of barriers unless we are willing to do all that we can to Federation of Woman's Boards of For- make possible an answer to our own eign Missions, 419 Fourth Ave., New York City. Informative material on various activities. Christian Literature for prayers. What an adventure for most Women and Children in Mission Fields. of us! It is an adventure which will Women's Union Christian Colleges in appeal particularly to our girls and Foreign Fields. young women who are eager for dar- Council of Women for Home Missions, ing experiments in world friendship. 105 East 22nd Street, New York City. The breaking down of barriers is, Informative material on various activities. Farm and Cannery Migrants. Re- essentially, a process of sharing and ligious Work Directors in Government the thought of sharing will lead in- Indian Schools. Bureau of Reference for evitably to plans like the following: Migrating People (Follow-up of New Americans) . 1. A committee including representa- tives of as many nationalities as possi- Church Women's Committee, Commis- ble to arrange for the observance. sion on the Church and Race Relations, Federal Council of the Churches, 105 2. The program itself will be an ef- East 22nd St., New York City. fective demonstration of broken barriers if it is carried out by as many repre- Commission on International Justice sentatives of different races and nations and Goodwill, Federal Council. as may be feasible.
Commission on the Church and Social 3. The "atmosphere" of the place of Service, Federal Council. meeting should suggest this spirit of sharing by a prodigal use of the flags The Inquiry, 129 East 52nd Street, of the nations, pictures, Oriental hang- New York City. ings, etc., so far as these are available.
"Folk Songs of Many Peoples": Wom- 4. The rich varied music of as many an's Press, 600 Lexington Ave., New countries or races as the program will York City. allow may be illustrated, especially in the organ numbers. National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, 1010 Grand Central Ter- 5. There should be preparation for the minal Bldg. Day of Prayer by definite reading about the people of other races and lands for Educational Department, League of a better understanding and a finer ap- Nations Non-Partisan Association, 6 preciation of the best among all peoples. East 39th Street, New York City. We need something more than plans. Missionary Education Movement, 150 Fifth Ave., New York City.
Student Volunteer Movement, 419 Fourth Ave., New York City. These are empty forms unless rein- International Council of Religious Ed- forced by Christian attitudes. We must be conscious within ourselves of ucation, 5 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, a spirit of sympathy, of consideration, Ill. and of appreciation. We must be dominated by a desire for knowledge BREA,KING DOWN BARRIERS Day of Prayer, February 24, 1928 There is something very inspiring and understanding. Nothing which in the thought that on February 24, we do externally in formal programs 1928 we may have fellowship with will break down barriers if this inner those of virtually every country under attitude be lacking.
the sun, who love Christ and whose If you who read this message are dominating purpose is to establish His living in a community where the day Kingdom throughout all the earth. has not been observed, will you not con- For many years the women and girls sult with women of other churches of the United States and Canada have and plan to share in this blessed fel- had this annual fellowship of prayer, lowship on February 24, 1928? All but a year ago for the first time the supplies may be secured from the circle was widened to include the whole Woman's Mission Board headquarters world, and the invitation sent to other of your own denomination. Program, lands was accepted with keen joy. $1.75 per 100; "Call to Prayer," free; Our theme for the next observance Retreat, 10 cents; seal, $1.75 per is so specific and of such consequence 1000, 25 cents per 100.
ORLD..WlDE
CHINA be for them today. Moreover, many had to stand alone then; now there is A Letter from T. Z. Koo a band of earnest folk, men and women, yes, and girls and boys, who T HIS well known Y. M. C. A. leader are standing together, supporting each in China wrote recently to one of the other's faith. The Christian comthe editors of The Congregationalist: munity has grown vastly in number, "Ever since the suppression of the and its leaven has worked on the noncommunists, the anti-Christian propa- Christian conscience. Zung Fuh, one ganda, especially in its more violent of my mother's schoolgirls of old days, forms, has noticeably decreased. With wrot~ to her lately, using the Romanthe exception of Nanking, all our ized script my father invented for equipment is now in our own hands them years ago. She told how the again and work is being resumed un- women's meeting was being carried on der more or less normal conditions. in the smaller outlying chapels, as Part of our Nanking building is being were also the Sunday services, seeing used as a hospital for wounded sol- that the big city church 'is stilI occudiers. This autumn, the main empha- pied by those who are against us'- sis in our work is being placed on the the anti-Christians." deepening of our spiritual insight and faith. A series of regional and local Nanking Professors Invited Back retreats is being planned, centering round the main topic, 'We Would See THE fifteen American missionaries Jesus.' Under this main topic four who were on the staff of Nanking studies are projected, as follows: The Theological Seminary, Nanking, China, God we see in Christ; Jesus' attitude until last spring when they left the toward God; Jesus among His fellow- city at the time of the tragic attack men; and Fellowship with God upon foreigners, have been unanithrough Christ. It is our hope that by mously invited to return to their posts going to Christ Himself, we may see a by the Chinese members of the faculty. fresh vision of God and receive a new Word to that effect has been received accession of power for our daily tasks from Dr. Li Heo-fu, secretary of the in these difficult times."
(JoDlparison with Baller Times faculty and professor of history, by the Methodist Board of Foreign Mis- J ADY HOSIE writes in the magazine L published by the United Methodist sions, the Woman's Foreign Mission- ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in England: "The Wenchow Church, the Board of Foreign Mis- Christians are doing their best to keep sions of the Presbyterian Church, all the light burning during the present of New York City, and by the Board storm that is upon them. It is not of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal easy. Yet it is easier than it was in Church, South, at Nashville, the Boxer days, only five and twenty years United Christian Missionary Society, ago, when our Christians suffered tor- St. Louis, and the Executive Committure and martyrdom for their faith. tee of Foreign Missions of the Pres- It is no longer thought in China to be byterian Church at Nashville. These doing God service to slaughter them Boards unite in carrying on Nanking like vermin, however hard things may Theological Seminary. The petition 157
bears the names of nine other Chinese hall work. It is most interesting to professors and instructors in addition see how many of our missionaries have to Dr. Li, and reads in part as follows: found avenues of service whilst here and praise God the various efforts are The Chinese faculty, the Chinese pas- being blessed beyond all thought. Pertors, and the seminary students sincerely sonally I find much joy in bookselling hope that the foreign faculty of our Sem- and tract distribution among the tens inary will return to China as soon as of thousands of people passing to and possible. The Seminary has educated fro on the streets and in market many good pastors within these fifteen places." years. The success is really due to our foreign friends who have helped with all their heart and strength in various ways.
Famine Spreads In North China JAPAN-KOREA T ATE in December the American Red Prohibition in Japanese Colleges L Cross was appealed to by the ALTHOUGH the Japan Intercollegi- China International Famine Relief .tl. ate Prohibition League is only Commission for aid in the work in four years of age, it already has forty- Shantung Province. Sixty-five of 107 one branches in as many colleges and counties in the province are now suf- universities, including the imperial fering and it is certain that conditions universities of Tokyo, Kyoto, Sendai, will be appalling later in the winter. and Sapporo, and the large private uni- Of the sixty-five now stricken, thirty- versities of Waseda, Keio, Meiji and five report less than ten per cent of Nihon, as well as in many commercial, normal crops and the other thirty technical and Christian colleges. In from ten to forty per cent. The bad 1923, it was organized by representa- crops were due to drought and locusts, tives of nine college prohibition clubs complicated with banditry, civil war in Tokyo. From the beginning of its and extortionate taxes. A vast area in organization, the League has had as Southern Chihli is also affected, a total special advisor the Rev. Mark R. Shaw, of 9,000,000 persons suffering in the missionary of the Methodist Episcopal two provinces. In much of the famine Church in Japan. The late Dr. Masaarea work by foreigners is impossible taro Sawayanagi, president of the Imdue to the banditry of the "Red perial Education Association, has been Spears." Conditions are so unsettled president. Mr. Shaw has given the that the usual methods of paying for League more than sixty volumes on the alcoholic problem, the basis of a prohiwork on highways are not feasible. bition reference library for the col- Street Preaching in Chefoo leges. Sixty official delegates attended M H. HUTTON, of the China In- the fourth annual convention of the • land Mission in Kweichow, who League, held this year in the Young was obliged by consular orders to go Men's Buddhist Association Auditoto the coast, writes thus of what he is rium of the Imperial University of doing in Chefoo: "I ask your prayers Tokyo. Plans were made for renewfor the street preaching, gospel books ing the League's work in aid of the sold and tracts given away to the thou- Juvenile Temperance Law which prosands of people of this port. The po- poses to raise from twenty-one to lice are thus reached, also the soldiers, twenty-five years the age at which business men, ricksha men, coolies and young people can drink or be sold pedestrians. It is a real joy to thus liquor. A large group in the Governserve the Lord among the' moving ment favor the measure.
population of Chefoo. God's Spirit has truly been at work here saving A New Union Seminary in Japan T American sailors, Chinese students in WENTY-ONE years ago the Southern Presbyterian mission esschools, and servants, as well as others reached on the streets and in gospel tablished in Kobe a theological semi-
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
nary which during the years of its the purpose, but each time missed him.
existence has established a reputation He heard others preach, however, and for piety and conservative scholarship. received a Bible from his son and be- Today many of the strongest and most gan to seek earnestly for salvation.
successful ministers are graduates of Just then our Tent Mission was held, this school. About twenty-five miles and we believe he was truly saved. He away in the City of Osaka the North- is attending the meetings regularly ern Presbyterian Mission has been and praying most earnestly."
conducting a seminary, and it was felt by all that it ought to be possible to Methods of Korean Colporteurs D unite these two schools, and thereby ISCUSSING the problems of the distribution of Christian literaeffect an economy in men and money, and make a larger and better school, ture in Korea, Rev. C. A. Clark, D.D., with a wider backing from the J apa- mIssIOnary of the Presbyterian nese Church. A plan was drawn up Church (U. S. A.) in Pyengyang giving three fifths control to the since 1902, writes: "I have been Southern and two fifths to the North- greatly interested in watching the ern Mission, the combined school to Bible Society colporteurs at work duroccupy for the present, at least, the ing the past few years. I remember buildings and grounds of the Kobe in- how they used to approach their cus- stitution. The plans for this union tomers abruptly just as other mer- were approved with a large degree of chants do, when I used to travel unanimity by both missions, and have regularly with my colporteurs twenty been sanctioned by the home boards. years or more ago; and I can remember Rev. S. P. Fulton, D.D., has been how often I have seen the customer elected president. The union gives a draw back from this direct attack teaching force of eleven, and a student upon his pocketbook. We used to de- body of between forty and fifty, and scribe the colporteurs as 'book-sellers'
makes the school one of the strongest in those days. Now they call them- institutions of its kind in Japan. selves 'book-exhibitors,' and they say Converted After Many Years that they 'give books' rather than 'sell books.' Now the colporteur approaches DESCRIBING some evangelistic his man and hands him a book. Then meetings in central Japan, M. A. he shows what a wonderful book it is, Burnet writes: "One man of about how interesting and useful, and only fifty, a small manufacturer in the at the end, almost as an afterthought, town, is a real trophy of divine Grace. does he mention the cost of it as When about sixteen years of age he though such a trifling thing was not heard Paul Kanamori preach and was worth discussing. He creates a dedeeply impressed, and bought some mand for the book and the book then hundreds of his books for distribution. sells itself." As there was no church anywhere near his home the impression gradually A Pioneer's Son Sees Results S faded, and after a time he became an HERWOOD HALL, M.D., who went to Haiju, Korea, in April, adherent of Tenrikyo, which is sometimes called Japanese Christian Sci- 1926, under the Methodist Episcopal ence. A number of years passed and Church, is the son of Dr. William J.
his son went to Kiryu and was con- Hall, medical missionary, who died in verted. He sent his father a copy of Korea in 1894. His mother, Rosetta Kanamori's new book, 'Three Princi- Sherwood Hall, M.D., is still a mission- ples of Christianity.' The father was ary there. He writes: "Among my astonished to see the name again after first patients were the son and grand- all these years, and determined to try son of a former Pyeng Yang official and hear the writer once more. He who was chiefly responsible in the pio- traveled both to Kiryu and Tokyo for neer days for cutting off the water
supply of my parents and threatening prayer-meetings to pray for the contheir lives as well as casting into version of their schoolmates. They prison the first ordained Korean min- were so eager that they would stay ister, whose son, Dr. Kim, is now my until almost dark. The night falls assistant in the hospital. The old of- quickly in the tropics, with no lingerficial visited his son and grandson ing twilight, and when the missionary while they were patients in our hos- would protest that it was time for pital and told friends that he little them to go, because night would overdreamed in those days of persecution take them on the narrow mountain that in the future the lives of his own paths, they would eagerly explain that son and grandson would be saved by they could make torches. One evening the very ones whose lives he had tried as the children left, five little tots were to take. Now, instead of being our noticed whose way led them through a persecutors, he and his son cannot do forest where monkeys played, and then enough for us and our work. The down a stony mountain trail. A little grandson is sent regularly to our Sun- six-year-old called out, 'Jesus is with day-school." us, why should we be afraid? We will run all the way while it is still light. TholUlands of Chin….e in Korea Then we will stop at a house and get a light for our torch of leaves.' As H OW one refugee missionary from they disappeared, we could hear them China has been working among softly singing, 'Keep close to Jesus.' " the Chinese in Korea was told in the September REVIEW. The need for Meeting the Challenge of Ceb.. such effort is made evident by the following quotation from the Presbyte- To THE missionaries in the Philiprian Survey: "Chinese are pouring pines, says one of them, Cebu preinto Korea in an ever-increasing sents an opportunity staggering in its stream. They come mostly from North challenge. The city has a population China, but there are also a few Can- approaching 100,000 and the province tonese colonies. The total number in over 500,000; young people are pour- Korea has probably reached 50,000. ing into the city from the country and They are drawn to Korea by the higher surrounding islands for study in the wages, the open field for business, and high school, the great Visayan Northe better living conditions. Business mal School, the Junior College of the men and skilled laborers predominate University of the Philippines and the in the cities and towns; in the country numerous private institutions. One near towns and in the smaller villages, recent attempt to meet this challenge Chinese are becoming famous for their has been the erection at a cost of about truck gardening. The Chinese is more $20,000 of a building called the Stuenergetic and has more business acu- dent Christian Center. The Philipmen than the Korean; consequently pine Presbyterian says: he is pushing the Korean out of various lines of business. The Chinese It was reported that when the Roman population is predominantly male; a Catholic bishop discovered that this few women and children are to be building was going up, he became very seen, but the majority of men leave excited, thinking that a branch of Sillitheir families in China and visit them man Institute was the intention. He imevery two or three years." mediately sent for more English-speaking priests to help stop the tidal wave. There ISLANDS OF THE SEA have been many things happening to keep the hierarchy on the verge of nervous Faith of Filipino Children prostration. The Evangelical Church was the first body to go in for dormitories for SEVERAL little children on the is- students, then the Roman Church found land of Cebu in the Philippines, that they had to do the same. The latter writes a missionary there, "were has always fought the introduction of found up in the mountains holding the Scriptures into the homes, but be" cause of large distribution of the Bible
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
by the American Bible Society and the and the building assured; "nevertheevangelical churches, and because also of less it seems probable," says The Interthe references to the Bible in the re- collegian, "that both Associations, quired literature in the schools, the Ro- while desirous of helping make the man Church is now permitting the use of new venture as successful as possible, the Douay Bible.
will go forward with much of their NORTH AMERICA long-standing and extensive work un- Theological Student Conference der Christian auspices. The land has AGROUP of 150 to 200 theological been purchased and the building com- seminary students, representing mittee of the university is taking imall shades of denominational opinion, mediate steps with the expectation met in Detroit Dec. 27th and 28th, pre- that the new building will be ready for ceding the Student Volunteer Conven- occupancy early in the next college tion. Church cooperation was the year."
principal subject discussed. This na- tional theological conference was Mormonism Near New York called by the theological committee of ACCORDING to an article in The the Provisional Student Division of .t. Christian Statesman, Mormon elthe Y. M. C. A. Its chairman is Dr. George Stewart, pastor of the Madison ders and women missionaries have Avenue Presbyterian Church, New found Long Island a fertile field for York City. Dr. Samuel McCrea their propaganda. The eastern states' headquarters are in Brooklyn, N. Y., Cavert, general secretary of the Federal Council of Churches, of New and there are many workers available. York, is a member. Among the speak- Their new President, H. H. Rolapp, ers were Henry Hodgkin, general sec- has ·organized non-Mormon Sundayretary of the National Christian Council of China; Robert E. Speer, schools, which he hopes will serve the moderator of the General Assembly of useful purpose of interesting not only the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., and children, but indirectly the parents Dr. Francis Wei, president of Boone also, and will develop into Mormon University, Wuchang, China. churches. Four Mormon women mis- sionaries are now located at Jamaica, L. 1., working among foreigners. Two of them who know the German lan- Berkeley International House guage are devoting all their time to THE president of the University of the Germans. Cottage prayer meet- California has announced a gift of ings are being arranged in many $1,750,000 from John D. Rockefeller, homes, where these foreigners who are Jr., to build a dormitory and social at first bewildered by the new customs headquarters for 300 foreign and 200 and language may be taught to adjust American students. It will aim to carry on work as much like the Inter- themselves to the new world conditions national House in New York as is pos- and to know what they are told is the sible in the general atmosphere of prevailing and greatest religion of this country.
Berkeley and under the restrictions of a governing board appointed by the Finnish aDd Hungarian Churches H president of a state university. The OW two great denominations are ministering to groups of foreign Chinese, Japanese and Philippine students now own their own houses at origin living in the United States is Berkeley and they have not been con- shown by the following reports: sulted and have not decided what their There are more than thirty definitely attitude is to be toward the new house. organized Finnish Congregational Neither of the local Christian Associa- churches in the United States, with tions were brought into the consulta- more than that number of additional tions until after the plans were made preaching places where services are 5
held regularly, while many other the Pacific Coast with a Filipino leader points are occasionally visited by in charge, who makes contracts for workers. These churches are con- them, and who meets the incoming nected with the usual local conferences boats from the Philippines to secure or associations; but besides these they recruits.
have three conferences of their own, unofficial, organized for mutual friend- Indian School in Arizona liness and the discussion and settle- T UCSON Indian Training School at ment of their own special problems, centering in the East, in Minnesota, , Escuela, Arizona, with an enroland on the Pacific coast. There are ment of nearly two hundred Indian fifty Presbyterian churches, missions boys and girls, shows progress along Or departments of work among Hun- many lines. The upper classes of the garians in America, thirty-three Hun- eight grades are well filled. Nine pugarian-speaking Presbyterian min- pils are going on to attend the high isters, and the church membership is school in Tucson and one is a Sophonearly five thousand. In the past more in Arizona State University. twelve years Sunday-schools have Time was when nearly the whole nearly doubled in attendance, and con- school was in the. four lower grades. tributions toward church support have "We are looking forward," says Marmore than trebled. tin L. Girton, the principal, "to a day when we shall have a well-educated Filipinos in the United States Christian leadership" among the 13,- 000 Pima and Papago Indians and THE large number of Filipinos among the neighboring Maricopa and (now said to reach a total of 20- Apache tribes. Each year the boys' 000) coming into the Pacific Coast industrial department undertakes one States is creating a new task for the large piece of construction work, and American churches. Most of these in the past they have put down a well newcomers are young men and about for irrigation that yields a thousand ten per cent of them are students. gallons of water a minute, a sewer line The pension system of the Philippine nearly half a mile long and a canal to Government makes it possible for cer- lead off flood water from the campus; tain young people to come to the States besides, they have planted over a for study. These young people of both thousand trees to protect the school sexes are to be found in colleges and farm from the river, have built a bath universities all over the country. house, a swimming pool, and a large There are also thousands of Filipinos machine shed and garage. of the laboring class who come here and find remunerative employment under climatic conditions with which LATIN AMERICA they are familiar. Besides these stu- Mexicans Building Churches R dents and farm laborers, a sort of EV. O. C. WILLIAMSON, of the Southern Presbyterian Church, middle-class Filipino is found working in the apartment houses, in club cars writes of a new interpretation of Mex- on trains, and as elevator boys, bar- ican religious law which has affected bers, cooks, and waiters in hotels. Protestant missionary work, because it With the system of American schools forbids any public religious service in the Philippines for twenty-five anywhere except within the four walls years, the younger Filipinos have ac- of a regular church that has been reg- quired the English language, which istered as government property. He makes them desirable as employees. says: "For a while we understood that A rising tide of immigration is pre- we would be allowed to hold services dicted for years to come. Labor in rented halls, provided these were groups consisting of twenty-five to registered with the authorities as fifty persons are found all up and down places of worship. But Catholic in-
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
fluence brought so much pressure to come to believe in it wholeheartedly.
bear on the authorities that it has One such is a woman school teacher in been decreed that all services in Bolivia who found a New Testament in rented or private property must close. the possession of one of the pupils.
. . . But of course this cloud has its She took it from him and told the silver lining. Many congregations school that it was a very bad book, and have risen to meet the emergency and that, if they should read it, they have built their churches, and thus the would be "lost souls," doomed to end- laws by forcing us to build have been less torment. Not long after this inci- a blessing in disguise. We have done dent, during vacation she went to visit our best to secure the maximum in a village where a certain man, who amount in money, labor and materials was a cousin of hers, resided. The man from the native congregations, and in had been a good-for-nothing drunkard, many places they have built their own one whom drink had brutalized until church without a cent of help from the he had become a nuisance. To her mission." astonishment she found him com- pletely changed. At length, before Deported for Christ's Sake leaving the village, she asked him the T HE conversion in Cuzco, Peru, of secret of the change. He told her that a Bolivian ex-monk was described it was due entirely to the Bible, of in the March, 1927, REVIEW. The most which he had obtained a copy which he recent reports tell of his imprisonment regularly read. More astonished than and trial. Religious hatred, working ever, the school teacher went secretly by treachery and intrigue, did its ut- to one of the colporteurs of the Society most and Sr. Montano was deported and asked for a Bible, that she might to Bolivia as "a pernicious alien." read it for herself.
During the days of his imprisonment in Cuzco he won the friendship of the The Gospel Tide in Brazil policemen and preached the Gospel to FREDERICK C. GLASS, of the them, and had the privilege of giving Evangelical Union in Garanhuns, the Word in print to all who entered Pernambuco, Brazil, writes: "The the jail. He returned to La Paz, Bo- Bible wins! Neither Pope nor Bollivia, and when his father learned of shevist, Modernist nor monk, can stem his deportation from Peru, he became the tide of life created by the living furious in his demands that he return Word. Together with two companions at once to Cochabamba and to the Ro- -Gillanders, of Auckland, and Antao, man Church, and made serious threats of the Amazon-I have just returned against him if he refused to obey. home from about the best three weeks' Sr. Montano's answer was, "You may work in my life. It was a miniature do to me what you can, but I will evangelistic campaign in a remote never return to the Roman Church." corner of one of the northern States of The priests of La Paz tried in vain to Brazil, where the living Gospel had secure from the authorities his depor- never before been preached, but where tation from Bolivia. Sr. Montano is faithful Bible colportage has been acnow at the Bible Institute in Costa complished during the last two years; Rica, preparing to be a preacher. and never has the supreme value of The Bible Conquers Its Foes this work had better exemplification." He continues : REV. ROBERT H. MILLIGAN, In one place a farmer requested us to D.D., of the Upper Andes Agency hold a meeting in the farmhouse, which of the American Bible Society, has contained an unusually spacious room. many incidents to relate of people who The service commenced at six o'clock, and have been forbidden by enemies' of the very rapidly, but quietly, the farm hands Bible to read it, and have afterward and neighbors from miles around slipped into the room, until about 120 men and
women were present, all breathlessly and unofficial. Many of the converts silent and attentive. I preached on the are prepared to give up all and face Prodigal Son, and one felt that the truth starvation for Christ's sake. Some was going home to many hearts. This gladly suffer imprisonment for the was immediately followed by a lantern Gospel's sake. The Mission was address on Bible subjects, concluding started, and is carried on, in faith, God with "The Pilgrim's Progress." honoring the confidence reposed in Him: Not only have hundreds of souls EUROPE been converted to God, but some £3,000 a year is received in answer to the L. M. S. Not to Curtail Work prayer of faith to carry on the work.
SHORTAGE of funds recently made A New Thing in Ghent it seem almost inevitable that the London Missionary Society, the body THE Belgian Gospel Mission has reto which Livingstone, James Chalmers cently opened work in the ancient and other famous missionaries be- city of Ghent, which is now a great longed, would have to withdraw from center of industrial activity, with a some of its work. At a meeting of population of 200,000. "From the bethe L. M. S. Board at Westminster ginning," so the worker writes, "the Chapel on Dec. 7th, it was decided that hall has been crowded and people no withdrawal would now be necessary, standing outside. Now a larger room, the Society having received assurances seating three hundred, is being preof increased support from churches pared, and we foresee the day when and individuais which amount to the that too will be too small." When it is twenty per cent increase asked for to recalled that many Protestant citizens enable the work to be continued on its of Ghent were martyred there at the present scale. The report was pre- time of the Netherlands Inquisition sented by Rev. Nelson Bitton, and Rev. in the Middle Ages, the following Godfrey Phillips, speaking on behalf incident seems almost unbelievable: of the missionaries in the field, de- The secretary of a public library, a scribed the event as a great deliver- man of prominent position in the City ance which would be a cause of re- Hall, highly educated, called one day joicing all over the world and would upon the mission worker. When the strengthen the faith and confidence in conversation turned upon the Bible the home church of thousands of and the worker read to him some parts Christians in the mission field. (Last of it, the man was astounded. "I year's income of the L. M. S. amounted never knew such a wonderful book exto £363,647). isted," he said, "I shall present to our Board the proposition to buy several A Gospel Mission in Spain Bibles for our library, for our people must read this book." AT THE recent annual meeting of the f t Spanish Gospel Mission held in ADlerican Methodists in Europe London P. J. Buffard reported prog- AT a recent meeting of the Board of ress and encouragement in connection 1"1. Foreign Missions of the Methodist with the work in south central Spain. The Mission is attempting to evangel- Episcopal Church, a report was given ize an area as large as England and by a special commission of ten pastors Wales, with a staff of twenty English and laymen who had visited European and Spanish workers. There are now mission fields of that denomination twenty-three halls, in towns and vil- during the past year. The Commislages, where the Gospel is preached, sion recommended that all Protestant besides cottage meetings where no hall churches and organizations which are can be had. But the need is great. for carrying on separate religious activiof the 33,000 towns and villages in ties in Spain unite in one Protestant Spain, not one hundred have regular in gosp~l preaching. The work is carried on face· of much persecution, official
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
evangelical movement so that instead national general director of the Greek of having a number of weak and in- Y. M. C. A., who is now in the United dependent Protestant churches, there States.
may be united Protestantism for Spain; that efforts be made towards Evangelical Alliance in Germany S closer cooperation between American PEAKING at the anniversary of the World's Evangelical Alliance Methodism and the Protestant Church in France; that endorsement be given in London, G. F. Nagel recalled the the effort to raise in the United States establishment of the German branch and in Germany an endowment of in 1851. He also said: "Now there is $100,000 for the Methodist Theological the foundation of a Bavarian branch Seminary in Frankfort, Germany; of the Alliance in Germany, and for that the Board recommend the ap- the last four years the annual confer- pointment of a Joint Committee of the ence has been held at Munich, the capi- Congregational Church and of the tal of Bavaria. In the Roman Catholic Methodist Episcopal Church to study State of Bavaria there has been much the question of uniting the work of hostility shown to these conferences, these two churches in Bulgaria; that but the truth and the unity of the study be made of the possibility of Christians make themselves felt. Anusing French missionaries in larger nual conferences are held in Wittennumbers in mission fields under the berg and in Mannheim, the capital of French flag; and that definite number Baden. An East German Alliance has of years be suggested to various con- been formed at Konigsberg, and the ferences of Europe within which they meetings there have formed a center might become self-supporting in their for the spread of spiritual life in the work. whole of East Germany. The super- New Y. M. C. A. Building in Greece intendent, or bishop, in that region of Germany welcomes the conference and TWO distinguished citizens of has given it his warm support. There Greece are expected to arrive in has been a North German branch of the United States about February 1st the Alliance formed, with its headin the interests of the Hellenic Na- quarters at Kiel. In the free town of tional Y. M. C. A. and especially the Hamburg there is also a branch of the new Y. M. C. A. Temple of Youth Alliance." which is to be erected in Athens.
While here they will be the guests of AFRICA the North American Committee of "The House of Free Speech"
T Friendship and Cooperation with HIS is the name given by Moslem students to the flat in which S. A. Greece, which is leading the campaign in this country for $1,000,000 to erect Morrison, of Cairo, began discussion the building on land given by the meetings in January, 1925. The same Greek Government. The men are His spirit has characterized the gatherings Eminence Athanagoras, Metropolitan as they have had to be moved to larger of Corfu, the youngest archbishop of quarters. Mr. Morrison, a C. M. S.
the Greek Orthodox Church, and Com- missionary, writes: "Discussion in it- modore Constantine Melas, comman- self is often barren and futile. But dant of the Greek naval academy at in a city like Cairo, with its tens of Athens and the commander of the thousands of past and present stu- Greek fleet which captured the lEgean dents, with its schools, universities, islands from the Turks in the Balkan and government offices, with its liter- wars. Formation of the Committee of ary influence that makes it 'the intel- Friendship has been going steadily lectual center of Islam,' discussion of forward under the leadership of Dean some sort is inevitable. We try the Alfange, president of the Greek Ahepa moral approach; we try the social and society, chairman, and U. L. Amoss, personal approach; we try the literary
and educational approach. But sooner new vistas opened to them. Emancior later we find ourselves forced to pation did not evoke any demonstradiscuss. Everything turns then on the tion. Indeed, their release is not yet spirit in which the discussion takes fully understood by many of these place and on how far we can transfer simple and ignorant blacks. They are these intellectual problems from the rather bewildered by the sudden plane of controversy to that of the per- change. Comparatively few have left sonal and spiritual life. We do not their former masters and it is probwant intellectual conversions. There able that many of them never will dehave been too many of them in the part unless they are subjected to past. What we desire is a transforma- cruelty, but will work as free men and tion of the whole personality, and that women for those who formerly had cannot be realized without the fullness their labor without pay. It is said of power of the Holy Spirit in us and that in many cases the former slaves in those with whom we discuss." will have little difficulty in getting grants of land from their old masters. Ca.iro University Students The question of what, if anything, will be done in regard to compensation of THE American University at Cairo the former slave-holders is not yet reports a one hundred per cent in- settled. crease in the enrolment of the college department. .Because of the strict Training African Leaders scholastic standards which have been maintained, the enrolment has never THE work of the Nyasa Mission, an been large and last year was about 150. English society, is carried on today But a campaign of publicity was in- very largely by its system of village augurated last spring and in the fall schools, now some 75 in number, which after a thorough selective process, 300 are grouped around the three central students were admitted to the college, stations of the Mission. Nyasaland 166 of whom are Mohammedans. Six- is a land of villages, and the only way teen students are from Palestine, all of evangelizing the country effectively of them fine, progressive young men. is to occupy these villages with the One is the son of the leader of the Gospel. The natives are eager for Arabic population of Palestine, who schools, and the rule is that if the during the past eight years has carried people will build their school the Mison negotiations with the British Gov- sion will send a teacher. The first lesernment in behalf of his people. One son every day is a Bible lesson, and in young man is the son of the confiden- addition to teaching all the week, the tial agent of Ihn Saoud, King of Mecca, teacher preaches the Gospel, Sunday by who was originally from Damascus, Sunday. The spiritual results are but was exiled by the French Govern- manifest in many hundreds of church ment. Two are the sons of judges in members and catechumens. Native the native courts of Cairo, one being Christian conventions are held each sent to the University by his uncle, year at the central stations of the Misthe Minister of Justice. sion, attended by upward of 2,000 peo- ple. Alfred Walker, secretary of the Slaves Freed in Sierra Leone Mission, writes: As a result of legislation begun in For some considerable time it has be- 1926, nearly 250,000 Negroes in come increasingly evident that several the Protectorate of Sierra Leone were of the senior teacher-evangelists posset free from domestic service on sessed qualifications for the exercise of January 1st. According to an Asso- the pastoral office in the native church, ciated Press dispatch many of the and were called of God for that purpose. older freed men and women will not Mter much prayer, and in full conviclive to know much of the fruits of tion that they were acting by the direcfreedom, but thousands of others have tion of the Spirit of God, the Council have approved the selection of seven
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
brethren to receive a special course of half a mile from the house. There are training to fit them for the office when thousands of lepers in this country, but God shall open the door. Yilu is the only place where they can be treated. In the Congo it is esti- Training Teacher-Evangelilots mated that about thirty per cent of the population is infected with the disease. VARIOUS higher schools are seek- In the evening translation work is ing to meet the demand from all done. So far they have only one Gosmission stations in West Africa for pel in the Moru language. Besides all more and better prepared catechists this the doctor is evangelist and takes and teachers. Rev. Joseph McNeill of the Sunday services in his beautiful Bafia writes of the new normal school: little church, while Mrs. Fraser runs a "We are grateful that the past year Sunday-schooL" delivered it to us-a very satisfying reality, at last. The evangelistic note Moslems in South Africa has been stressed and a great effort made to impress upon the minds of T HE largest number of Moslems in these young men the true meaning South Africa is, according to an of Christian education. The interest of article in The Mission Field, in the the boys in 'the things of God' has Cape Province, although there are been most gratifying to their teachers. some thousands in Natal and the Groups of boys have been faithful in Transvaal. It is estimated that there conducting house-to-house visitation are over 25,000 Moslems in the Cape and telling the gospel story in the Province; in Cape Town alone there towns of the neighborhood. They seek are twenty-three mosques. During the also those who have fallen from the last few years there has been an unline of spiritual march, encouraging doubted religious revival among these them to rise again and join the ranks. people. Numerous schools have been These boys, when after their three opened in which the Koran and Arabic years' course they shall have blos- are taught; they publish their own somed into manhood, will be more newspaper, and every year a number than teachers seeking a place in an make the pilgrimage to Mecca, where organization; they will be evangeliz- they meet their coreligionists from all ing organisms and centers of spiritual parts of the world, and return to Cape tumult." Town with a heightened sense of the greatness of their religion. Moslems A Versatile Milosionary in Africa in the Cape Province do not live in colonies but are to be found every- WHAT one missionary and his wife where among the colored population, are accomplishing at Yilu, a sta- which results in many mixed martion of the Church Missionary Society riages with Christians. in the Sudan, is thus described by a recent visitor: "I was perfectly THE NEAR EAST amazed to see the work being done by Dr. and Mrs. Fraser. The doctor has Mustapha Kemal and Islam crowds of patients in the early morning. Mrs. Fraser dresses the ulcers COMMENTING on a recent public statement by Mustapha Kemal Ma nrds . s oFrreas~'ert hbeeni ncgomteh et hneuor spee.r a t iTohniss, Pasha, President of Turkey, to the ef- fect that "the mention in the organic work over, they take the boys' school, charter of the Moslem religion as the and in the afternoon the doctor super- religion of Turkey was the result of a vises the building, sawing, brickmak- compromise with old and outworn ing, etc. At present he has fifty men ideas, and was destined soon to disapmaking bricks and they turn out 3,000 pear," a writer in the Manchester a day. Already he has built a splen- Guardian says: did hospital. Then there is the leper work in a colony of about sixty lepers, Already on several occasions the Ghazi has shown an astounding indifference to
public opinion in religious affairs. On Armenian by birth, although married one occasion at the opening of a school in to a Turk. She saw the girl several Erzerum he brushed aside the priest who times and was finally able to talk with was about to offer up prayers with the her intimately. Esma Hanum's guess remark that the president of the republic was correct; the girl was an Armecame first. It is reported that at a meet- ing of the Commissars, when his atten- nian and a nominal Christian, but she tion was called to some canonical law had no understanding of personal which could be urged against his policy, belief in Jesus. So the nominal Mohe pitched the Koran across the room hammedan pointed the nominal Chris- with the remark that progress could not be fettered by rules and re!(,ulations laid tian to the Way of Life, giving her her down for a past generation. own Bible and hymn book. 'I have had a great gift today,' said the grate- Turks to Publish SerULOns ful girl. Esma Hanum has been able T HE Turkish Government at An- to help some other such Christians, gora has announced, according to a and is steadily gaining in courage and wireless despatch to the New York readiness to share her spiritUal experi- Times, that the Friday sermons ences. There is a young man, Ali, preached in the mosques hereafter will who had somehow seen a copy of the be published for general circulation. New Testament when he was a boy, Until a year ago sermons were and had been captivated by the story preached in Arabic, according to Mos- of St. Paul. For six years he tried lem tradition, but Angora then or- without success to find another copy dered them delivered in Turkish. The of that book. At last, when a native publication order has provoked two Christian worker was calling in the conjectures. Although Islam is de- home, Ali asked where this story could clared by the Constitution to be the be found. That very day he had a state religion, many revolutionary so- copy for his own."
cial changes are taking public instruc- tion away from the mullahs, or priests, Selling Bibles in Bible Lands now that the mosques are deserted and REV. S. B. ROHOLD, F.R.G.S., liberalism and unorthodoxy are com- who is superintendent of the Mt. mon except in interior Anatolia. It Carmel Bible School and Mission, is being asked, therefore, whether the writes from Palestine: "It is a won- Government is concerned over the lack derful sight every night after the regof moral influence of religion or ular classes and services to see how our whether, since the abolition of the missionaries are kept busy with those Caliphate and the introduction of representing all classes and conditions state control of religion, Angora may of men who have come from different not regard the new order for publica- parts of the country and from the tion of sermons as a useful curb on the various colonies to purchase Scrippriesthood, as many of the mullahs are tures. It is a matter of much gratisecretly reactionary, resenting the ma- tude and at times of real astonishterialistic and unorthodox spirit of ment to us. Recently five young modern Turkey. workingmen came together to plead Non-Christian Bible Lovers for the gift of one Hebrew Bible be- tween them." The Zionist Halutzim REPORTS from the Levant Agency (colonists) have very little money, so of the American Bible Society these young men offered their comshow as follows how the interest of munal food tickets for the purchase of nominal Christians in the Bible is this copy of the Scriptures. "Of sometimes aroused by non-Christians course," continues Mr. Rohold, "we who have learned to love it: "Esma were glad to let them have the food Hanum, who is devoted to the Bible, for the soul without depriving them of met the wife of a petty government the necessary food for the body." It official and guessed that she was an is an unprecedented situation that the
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
demand for Hebrew New Testaments he tends, unconsciously, to recognize exceeds the supply of the Bible Socie- our standard of conduct as higher ties. than his. He does not despise, but greatly respects, those who devote Telephones on the Mecca Road their lives to spreading, by example THE pilgrimage for 1927 to the holy and by teaching, the Christian reli- cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, gion. There is no greater influence was carried through, says Current for good in the Gulf than the Christian History, "with greater numbers than missions; no Europeans are so uni- at any time since 1914, and with a versally respected as are the mission- more satisfactory care of the visitors aries."
than has been exercised perhaps in centuries. King Ibn Saoud maintained INDIA AND SIAM complete security from Bedouin at- An Indian Village Transformed A tack along the routes between the two DISTRICT superintendent in Hy- derabad Conference, south-central cities and Jeddah. Three telephone stations provided communication from India, reports a remarkable turning to points on the Jeddah road, and many Christ in two towns where a few years travelers took advantage of the motor ago Christian ministers, including car service and traveled in two and a several missionaries, were pelted with half hours a distance which formerly cow-dung and stones because they required as many days. The regent of came to preach Christ. Being greatly the Hedjaz, Ibn Saoud's son, has is- burdened for these towns he sent a sued a decree appointing a committee preacher there to live who set to work of investigation and reform, which is with a loving spirit and soon made to hear all complaints and suggestions, many friends for himself and his Lord.
study the administrative situation, and When the district superintendent made reform what needs to be reformed." his seventh visit to the town, he was led by a group of prominent people A British Soldier's Tribute into their homes and had the joy of I N a paper read before the Royal talking to them and of bearing wit- Geographical Society, Lieut.-Col. ness to them of Christ. He found them Sir Arnold Wilson, K.C.I.E., D.S.O., actively disposed to become disciples said: "I have seen American mission- of Christ. They professed to be deeply aries at work in Arabia, Mesopotamia, grieved that in former years they had and Persia for the last twenty years, hardened their hearts and refused to and I should not like to speak about listen to the messengers of God who the Persian Gulf without bearing tes- had brought the good news of salvatimony to the wonderful work they are tion. It seems that a sort of league doing. I do not suppose they have had been formed years ago and a made converts in appreciable numbers, pledge taken to refuse to be Chrisbut they have, by their labors, assisted tians. At that time it was agreed that by the high standard of rectitude dis- if anyone in the town should become played by British officials and British a Christian he would be compelled to merchants, profoundly modified the pay a fine of not less than 150 rupees. Arab outlook in ethical matters. The On his next visit three hundred were Arab is a Mohammedan first and an baptized.
Arab after, like all Islamic races; he regards Europeans, likewise, as Chris- A Brahmin Aids Gospel Meeting R tians first and foremost. He knows, EV. ROY T. MEEKER, of Fateh- pur, North India, writes of an experhaps better than we do, that our standard of conduct has its basis in perience on a recent evangelistic the religion of our country; he re- tour: "Thirty-two miles from Fateh- spects our standard of conduct, and pur and beyond some jungle land we without adopting our religious views came to the village of Ambi. The lead-
ing zemindar (landowner) greeted us by talking, partly by singing oft-relike an old friend, though he had peated refrains, adding humor, pathos, never seen us before. He led us to his and appeal to the delight and editicahouse and called the people for a meet- tion of his audience. Outdoors, in the ing. The zemindar stood by me and evening, under the clear tropical sky, helped hold the pictures as I told the they sit on the ground listening to the story. He insisted on the people keep- old tunes played by the strange thumbink quiet and listening. When I thrumming drums and droning flute, turned to the picture of Christ on the which they love so well. The Western cross he exclaimed, 'See there! See! violin and little harmonium have been Jesus was crucified to save us from added because they best suit Indian sin.' That zemindar is a Brahmin and music. Christian men are adapting a former sub-inspector of police. His material from the Bible to fit these old father, also a pensioner, now nearly a musical evenings, and are bringing a hundred years old and blind, was pres- wonderful new appeal to the villager. ent. The old man was quite happy He will not pay much attention to when I gave him a personal word about preaching as we know it. Oratory has the Saviour. The younger man has an never been developed in India, but the only child, a daughter, whom he loves people get ideas through song-stories. dearly. Her son is his heir. 'They These musical sermons show how all love Jesus,' be said to us earnestly." Christianity is being clothed with the Indian forms of expression." A Promising Purdah Pupil Stanley Jones in Malaya AN AMERICAN Presbyterian mis- 1. sionary in Ratnagiri, western In- DURING the recent evangelistic tour made by the author of "The dia, is now giving English lessons to Christ of the Indian Road" in South a purdah lady of Afghan birth, whose India, many reports came to this counhusband was formerly prime minister try of the success of his meetings for of a native state in North India. The the educated classes. A missionary missionary, who speaks of her pupil sends the following account of his as "an unusually bright and attractive work in one town in Malaya: "Both little person," says: "When permis- Christian and non-Christian gentlemen sion was asked of the husband to teach presided, and each evening the Town his wife the truths of the Bible, there Hall was crowded to its utmost cawas at tirst a slight hesitation, then he pacity. Dr. Jones kept his audience frankly admitted that he himself had so spellbound with interest and real been taught in a Presbyterian mission earnestness for the message, that perschool and that he had taken many fect silence reigned during his lecprizes in his Bible examinations, and so tures. The subjects dealt with were the interview ended in his unqualified certainly interesting and of vital imgranting of the request. She listens portance to one's life. For instance with the utmost outward respect to the the address entitled 'Conversionpresentation of the riches of the Gos- Horizontal and Vertical,' was a clear pel, but replies that though Moslems and plain exposition of what a really honor Jesus as a Prophet, they have converted Christian is. At the close their own way of salvation." of each meeting he answered plainly and clearly several questions on ·reli- Indian "Musical Sermons" gious subjects. There is no doubt that the lectures were productive of great MRS. A. A. MARTIN, of Battala- good and real awakening to life's re- gundi, South India, writes in the sponsibilities. He unflinchingly pre- Missionary Herald: "We rejoice to sented Christ as the Universal Saviour see the increasing use of Indian musi- who brings salvation to each one from cal art in the service of the Gospel. sin unto a regenerated life." In India a musician with a castanet in bis hand can tell a long story, partly
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Tlae Cruciftxion Story in Siam Stokes Fund, will also be in Jerusalem STEREOPTICON views of the life and take a leading part in the discus- of Christ are an important part of sion of this topic. Plans and suggesthe street chapel work carried on by tions for practical measures looking American Presbyterian missionaries toward the improvement of the condiin Bangkok, Siam. One evening, al- tions-social, economic, physical, spirthough alone to run the machine, direct itual, educational, etc.-of peoples in the service and preach the message, rural communities everywhere were Kru Charoern Vichai, one of the Si- outlined by a number of speakers at amese evangelists in Bangkok, sowed the meeting in New York.
the seed in the heart of a man who had PERSONALS never heard the story of the Christ of the cross before, although he has lived DR. ANNA S. KUGLER, though seventyfor years in the outskirts of the city two years of age, has been permitted by of Bangkok. The theme of the eve- the Board of Missions of the United ning was the story of the Crucifixion. Lutheran Church in America to return Many had gathered and at the close of to the hospital in Guntur, India, which the service they quickly scattered. she founded forty-four years ago. When all were gone but one old man, Charoern went to him and found the • ** tears streaming down his cheeks, and, with trembling voice, he spoke from a ARCHDEACON DING ING-ONG, a secondheart that had been opened by the generation Christian, has been consemessage of the Christ of Calvary. He crated Assistant Bishop of the diocese of declared it was the first time he had Fukien, China. ever heard the story, which he believed to be the true story of salvation. *** REV. ROBERT H. GLOVER, M.D., F.R.G.S., Associate Director for North America of the China Inland Mission, expects to sail with Mrs. Glover and their son for China on February 4th, in order to investigate the conditions and confer with the mis- sionaries.
GENERAL OBITUARY T.b.e Farmers of the World MISS JANE MOFFAT, the last surviving child of Robert Moffat, of South Africa, THE importance of giving larger and sister of the wife of David Living- thought, funds and men to the bet- stone, died recently in South London in terment of conditions for rural work- the eighty-eighth year of her age. ers the world around, which is being gradually recognized by some mission *** boards in America and in England, was the chief topic of discussion and REV. WM. H. SHEPPARD, D.D., F.R.G.S., of planning at the annual meeting for twenty years (up to 1915) a Negro of the International Association of missionary of the Southern Presbyterian Agricultural Missions, held in New Church in the Belgian Congo, died in his York City, in December. President home in Louisville, Kentucky, on Novem- ber 25, 1927. For the past twelve years he has devoted himself to missionary work among his own race in Louisville.
Warren H. Wilson of the Association *** was in the chair. Dr. Kenyon L. Butterfield, president of Michigan State CHARLES H. BAKER, the Treasurer of Agricultural College, a recognized the Home Mission Boards of the Congreleader of the rural forces of America, gational Church and of the Church Exand a vice-president of the American tension Board, died suddenly of heart Board of Commissions for Foreign disease on December 28th in New York Missions, will attend the Jerusalem City. For thirteen years Mr. Baker has Meeting of the International Mission- been a very active and efficient official of ary Council in March, primarily to the church and the 2,000 Congregational promote planning for greater attention Home Missionary Churches owe much to to this phase of world need. Dr. him for his efficient labors. He was born Thomas J esse Jones, of the Phelps- in Detroit sixty-seven years ago, was graduated from Amherst College in 1881 and for a number of years has been an active member of the First Congrega- tional Church in Montclair, N. J.
WORTH
Any books mentioned in these column8 will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-THE REVIEW.
A New Englander in lapan (Daniel place. Of that transformation in its Crosby Greene). Evarts Boutell varied aspects he was a close and sym- Greene. 374 pp. Illustrated. $5. pathetic observer, establishing per- Boston. 1927. sonal contacts of a kind quite beyond The title of this book is a happy one the reach of the casual tourist or even as it tells the story of a New Eng- the ordinary resident of a treaty port.
lander by ancestry and early life cast- A discriminating, though friendly, ing in his lot with the people of Japan critic of Japanese society, he felt at a critical period in the history of keenly his responsibility as an inter- that country. A very important impli- preter of that society to his own cation of the tjtle will perhaps suggest countrymen and as a defender of his itself at once, since so much of the Japanese friends against ignorant crit- contact of New England with the Ori- lClsm. A practiced historian as the ent during a good part of the 19th cen- author is, he has made admirable use tury was religious. This book has the of unusual material at his hand-a advantage of having been written by New Englander with a fine backone doubly qualified, both as a son and ground and Japan at a very formative as a trained historian. It is the story period. The Japan to which Dr. of a New Englander who, like many of Greene went in 1869 was a very difhis kinsmen, found a career far beyond ferent Japan from that in which he the limits of his native state; a career spent the closing years of his life. that was based on a great missionary Protestant missionaries had indeed purpose. Daniel Crosby Greene was a been working in that country for ten genuine New Englander. Born in Bos- years, but there were still very few of ton, he spent part of his boyhood in them, only ten Japanese having been Vermont and was graduated from baptized. Although Dr. Greene was Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. not one of the first pioneers of mis- He served in the Civil War in a Rhode sionary work in Japan, he began his Island squadron. He was also born life and work in very primitive times. into a missionary atmosphere. His Taking up his residence first in maternal grandfather, Jeremiah Ev- Tokyo, he early removed to Kobe.
arts, was the first Treasurer of the From 1874 to 1880 he served on the American Board and afterwards, until Committee in Yokohama which made his death, its Secretary. He inherited the first Japanese version of the New the gift for public life shown by his Testament. From 1881 to 1887 he was ancestors, Roger Sherman and William connected with the Doshisha Univer- M. Evarts. These inheritances and his sity founded by the American Board, own abilities and dispositions won for teaching the Old Testament. The rest him the distinction of a statesman- of his life (26 years) he spent in missionary. Tokyo, being again at the time of his The forty-four years of Dr. Greene's death engaged in the rendering of the service in Japan (1869-1913) very New Testament into Japanese. Thus nearly coincided with the Meiji Era of his work was varied, as preacher, Japanese history when the transition teacher, translator and general mis- from feudal to modern society took sionary, but he will probably be best 172
BOOKS WORTH READING
remembered by his work in the capi- On a thirty-thousand-mile journey tal, Tokyo, where he spent more than Mr. Seldon had three hundred interhalf of his life in Japan and had the views with missionaries, business men, government officials, travelers and nawidest contacts. tives. His report does not deal with Some of the chapters give particu- statistics but with the influence and achievements of the missionaries as larly strong impressions of the mis- he saw them in Egypt, India, Ceylon, sionary work in Japan in a period of Burma, Siam, Malaysia and Japan. unusual significance, as, for instance, those on "The Missionary and the The view that the author gives of Changing Order," "Some Phases of globe-trotting tourists and how they Missionary Service," "Problems of spend their time on shipboard and on Church and State," "Nationalism and shore is not very flattering, and he the New Theology," "International speaks plainly of the inadequate and Contacts and Interests." The student false view of America as seen in Oriof missionary work and of missionary ental newspapers and cinema films. problems will find much in these chap- He has a keen sense of humor and a ters of value. There is a discussion sense of justice and unprejudiced honvery relevant to questions alive in esty, together with ability to investi- China at the present time with refer- gate and describe what he saw, all of ence to the rights of private schools which make the reports entertaining and the freedom of religious instruc- and instructive. tion in connection with a well-coordinated and established state system of In his interviews with missionaries education. Dr. Greene was a man of and with converts, Mr. Seldon asked, quiet but wide influence, of strong among other questions, "What concharacter and of unusual ability. His crete thing in Christian teaching is service in building up the Kingdom of found most effective as an appeal to Christ in Japan was a notable one, and the non-Christian?" In India, the the story of his life, affectionately and Roman Catholic missionaries declared admirably told by his son, is well that it was the story of the crucifixion; worth the reading of students of mis- Protestants said that St. John's Gospel sions. appealed to Indians because it was more philosophical than the other Gos- The book is enriched with good il- pels. An Indian Christian student relustrations and a valuable index. plied that he had been accustomed to ridicule and criticize much of the Bible w. I. C. but could not find any flaw in the story of the Good Samaritan. Later when Are Missions a Failure' Charles A. Sel- he saw a Brahmin, in a rage, beat an don. TIIustrated. 8 vo. 270 pp. $2.50. outcaste boy for walking too near him, New York. 1927. the student realized the difference be- We need more such first-hand re- tween the spirit and teaching of Christ ports of the missionary enterprise and that of the Brahmin religion. He from unprejudiced, clear-minded ob- therefore decided to become a Chrisservers. Mr. Seldon is the Washing- tian. ton correspondent of the Ladies' Home Journal. He says that he "went to Incidentally Mr. Seldon discusses Asia thinking that the missionary en- the influence of Swaraj and of Gandhi terprise was futile"-an attitude due on missions in India; the characteristo his ignorance of the subject. While tics and customs of Buddhism in he found some failures due to mission- Ceylon, Burma and Siam; the probaries who were misfits, or who made the same mistakes as are made in lems connected with the untouchables America, he was convinced that the and with mass movements toward majority of missionaries "are the one Christianity; Mohammedanism among group of Western people living in the the Malays; Christianity and gun- East who are a credit to the West." boats in China; missions and denomi-
nationalism; religious teaching in in the Creation Calendar, which ushschools and colleges; and the influence ered in the sixth millennium, would of emperor worship and of the "Exclu- also usher in the Kingdom of God. In sion Act" on missions in Japan. the minds of the people this new era was to begin about 30 A. D. This It is an excellent book to put into chronologie fact accounts for the flamthe hands of a business or professional ing up at that time of the Messianic man who is not well informed and who hope of the people. Jesus' impassioned therefore has not been "sold" on the foreign mission enterprise. concern was to save His generation from the retributive judgment which Messianic Speculation in Israel. Rabbi would usher in the approaching mil- Abba Hillel Silver. 8 vo. 268 pp. lennium. On the eve of the doom of $3.50. New York. 1927. the world His message was of repent- This book deals with the persistence ance. of the Messianic hope among the Jews Rabbi Silver says: "Jesus may have and with the appearance repeatedly of men after the days of Christ who doubted His own Messiahship and may claimed the Messiahship. According have looked forward to the coming of to Rabbi Silver there were three fac- the Son of Man-the real Messiah. tors that contributed to the spread of If He believed Himself to be the Mesthe Messianic belief: the loss of na- siah, He clearly did not make this the tional independence with its conse- essential part of His proclamation." quent deprivations, the purpose of the But he holds that, in any case, Jesus people to live triumphantly in their re- was only one of many Messiahs-all of habilitated homeland, and the unfalter- them self-deluded, the product of peing faith in divine justice by whose riodic outbreaks of apocalyptic milunfaltering decree a national restoration was determined. lennarianism. This is what we might expect a National redemption was certain, but the perplexed people wondered rabbi to say. But a multitude of when the great event would occur. questions arise in the mind which this They sought to discover the secret by gifted Jewish leader completely iga study of the prophecies and espe- nores. Where is there another Mescially of the cryptic texts of Daniel. siah who lived so divine a life as Rabbi Silver has undertaken to show Jesus; or who taught such sublime the conditions out of which these cal- truths; or who proclaimed so spiritual culations emerged, the different per- a Kingdom; or who wrought such sons from Jesus to Shabbetai Zebi who deeds of mercy; who deigned to forclaimed to fulfil the Messianic anticipations of the people, and how each of give men their sins; or viewed a cross these adventist movements was vehe- of suffering as the means of a world's mently opposed by Jewish leaders. hope; or who rose again from the As a representative of Reform Juda- dead; or sent His followers out to the ism Rabbi Silver regards all Messianic conquest of the world with the assurspeculation centering in a person as a ance of His abiding presence? Who delusion. He believes that the only Messianic hope to which Judaism can among all these Messiahs, whom Rabbi intelligently witness is of a Messianic Silver lists, has won the devotion of time-yet far in the future. generation after generation of his fol- lowers, so that centuries after his As Christians, we are especially in- death they have been willing gladly to terested in what this cultured Jewish die for him? Which of them has leader has to say about Jesus of Naz- broken the shackles of sin for untold areth. He represents Him as sharing multitudes and won them to holiness the opinion commonly held at the time of life? Whoever thinks of mentionwhen He was born, that the year 5000 ing Bar-Cochba or Abraham Abulafia, or Shabbetai Zebi, or any other of the long list in the same breath with Jesus of Nazareth?
In spite of Rabbi Silver's painstak- Jews the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Un- ing and scholarly attempt to classify der the auspices of the International Jesus among the self-deluded saviours Missionary Council and the Confer- of the Jews, it is still true that Jesus ence of Missionary Societies in Great has become the Saviour not only of the Britain and Ireland, the report of the Jews but of the world. If Jesus has Conferences has been published re- not fulfilled or is not fulfilling the cently by the Arrangements Commit- noblest anticipations of the prophets tee, under the title of "The Christian . and if He is not carrying out the mis- Approach to the Jew." sion of Israel which Jews hold in theory, but disregard in practice, then The story of these conferences is there is no key to Jewish history or told graphically by the Rev. James prophecy at all. The marvel is that Black, D.D., of Edinburgh. Against earnest men can go through the pages the background of the ancient mutual of Holy Writ and walk down the Chris- hatred and persecution of Jew and tian centuries and miss it. Gentile, and the changing modern con- ditions and attitudes, he outlines the J. S. CONNING. preparation for the conferences and the work which they accomplished. Hall Young of Alaska: The "MuShing Par- son." An Autobiography. Illus. 8 vo. This story is followed by the find- 448 pp. $4.00. New York. 1927. ings of the two conferences. These "findings," as printed in English and On another page of this issue of the German, occupy some sixty pages, and REvmw we print a brief story of this constitute a carefully prepared and intrepid pioneer missionary to the ·comprehensive review of the present Northwest. He W2,S a courageous and condition of the Jewish people, and resourceful Christian hero who helped of the problems concerned and the to make history and to save men, body methods employed in presenting to and soul. For fifty years S. Hall them the Christian Gospel. Young devoted his energies to Alaska -the Indians, the Eskimos and the Among other facts upon which white settlers. This story of his life stress is laid the following may be is full of inspiration, of humor, of hu- noted: First, the present disintegra- man interest and thrilling adventure, tion of Judaism and the drift towards and of information about that great atheism. socialism, agnosticism, ma- territory with its tremendous re- terialism and irreligion offer to the sources, its hunters and explorers, its Church an absolutely unique oppor- fishers, farmers and gold diggers. tunity and a serious challenge. Sec- Those who read shorter biographiclil ondly, in comparison with the large sketches of Dr. Young will be eager to number of Jews, estimated at fifteen learn more of his remarkable character million, and their presence in all Chris- and experiences. tian communities, the efforts of the Church to bring them the Gospel have The Christian Approach to the lew. Re- been pitifully weak, sporadic, unor- port of the Conference on Jewish ganized and faint-hearted. Thirdly, Evangelism at Budapest and Warsaw. while the problems involved are pecu- 8vo. 75 cents and $1.00. International liarly complex and demand careful Missionary Council, New York. 1927. study and trained workers, yet the number of recent Jewish converts to During all the Christian centuries Christianity is surprisingly great, and few religious councils have been so the chief problem is not that of se- notable as these Conferences on J ew- curing access to the Jews, but that ish Evangelization held last summer. of arousing the Christian Church to For the first time in modern history, its present opportunity and its divine- the Christian Church, represented by ly appointed task. leaders from twenty countries of Asia, Africa, Europe, and America, faced "The Christian Approach to the the specific task of bringing to the Jew," contains also valuable sum-
maries of answers to a "questionnaire" but of all the various towns and dis- which present the facts and problems tricts where these Roman Catholic with which Jewish evangelization is Fathers are laboring, the spot of concerned. greatest interest to the student of It also includes some of the special Chinese Missions is Sancian,-Shang papers written preparatory to the con- Ch'uan, or St. J ohn's,-where the ferences and·a Dictionary of Christian famous Jesuit pioneer to Eastern Asia, Missionary Agencies working among Frances Xavier, died in 1552 before the Jews. C. R. E. he had even been able to preach in Stewardship Stories. Guy L. Morrill. 91 China. pp. 50c. New York. 1927. As usual with Roman Catholic mis- This book is unique. It meets a sions, medical work has been conducted need of long standing. Stewardship, almost without trained medical men, within a decade, a long neglected phase and the workers gratefully mention of the Gospel, has been, to an aston- the personal aid of Presbyterian hosishing extent, coming into its rightful pitals and doctors. They are also place in the thinking of the Church. filled with enthusiasm awakened by A considerable stewardship literature Protestant educational work, which is developing, both in pamphlet and they are imitating as far as their book form, but hitherto this has been mainly for adults. Mr. Morrill, out of means permit. a rich experience, has gathered in this The Roman Catholic Church has volume human interest stories, puzzles, poster material, acrostics-just reached a new stage in China. No the sort of material to appeal to the stories such as one finds in the Anyoung. The book has also the ad- nales de la Foi and in Lettres Edifianvantage of being neither too long nor tes, or in the later histories of Louvet too expensive. It is adapted for use in and Piolet, are here found with marthe Bible School and in the Young tyrdom as their moving pictures. A People's Society. At the close of each group of devoted young Americans, of the twenty-two short chapters is an men and women, here vividly, and at appropriate hymn, greatly enriching times humorously, report on the work of Catholic Missions in China.
H. P. BEACH.
the contents. From first to last, the A New Church Quarterly. book commands attention and stimulates thinking. The December issue of the Ckurck Missionary Review is the last number DAVID MCCONAUGHY. of this magazine. This publication of the Church Missionary Society first Maryknoll Mission Letters–China-Vol- appeared seventy-eight years ago as ume Two. Extracts from the letters the Church Missionary intelligencer, and diaries of the pioneer missioners the magazine receiving its new title of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society twenty years ago. The sounding of of America. Illus. xvi, 402 pp. $3. New York. 1927.
The first volume (1923) of this the World Call and the growing con- series of well-illustrated and interest- sciousness of unity in the overseas ingly written annals of the first Catho- work of our Church went to show that lic missionary Society of America, the time had come for a "quarterly re- were noticed in the REVIEW for view of the missionary work of the March, 1924. Church of England." This will be The initial work in southeastern published under the auspices of the China was under the auspices of an Missionary Council under the title older French Society. The new So- "The Church Overseas." The first is- ciety began activities in 1918 as the sue, that for January, may be ob- independent Prefecture Apostolic of tained from the Publishing Depart- Kongmoon. The Society has also ment, C. M. S., 6, Salisbury Square, started work in eastern Kuang Hsi, E. C. 4. Price 4s. 6d. a year.
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1927
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DEPT. No. 20 '~"'- NEW YORK ~e MOSLEM WORLD A Quarterly Review of current events, literature, and thought among Mohammedans and the progress of Christian Missions in Moslem lands.
Edited by REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., F.R.G.S.
cA.sodate EditOT.
PR.OF. D. B. MACDONALD, D.D., Hartford, Conn. REV. MURRAY T. TITUS, B.Litt., India CANON W. H. T. GAIRDNJ:R, B.A., Cairo MR. MARSHAI..[' BROOMHALL, London REV. H. U. WEITBR~CHT STANTON, London REv. E. M. WHERRY, D.D., India PROF. WM. G. SHlU.I.ABnAR, D.D .• Hartford, Conn. PROF. ARTHUR JEFFERY, Cairo, Egypt PROF. S. RALPH HARLOW, Northampton. Mass.
T HE Moslem World was founded in 1911 to follow up the work of the conferences on evangelization of Moslems, held at Cairo in 1906 and at Lucknow in 1911. It is unique in its outlook, at once on phases and conditions of contemporary Islam, and on the missionary work of all sections of the Christian Church among Moslems, WHAT SOME READERS SAY "THE MOSLEM WORLD is the best source of information in the English language with regard to religious movements among the Mohammedan peoples and with regard to Christian Missions to Moslems. It deals with the literature that relates to Islam and Irslamic ,Peoples _and it is indispens- able to all those who arc interested in their evangelization. Its attitude wlth reference to the world's need of Christ and the sufficiency of the Christian Gospel is unwavering but it deals with the great issue of Islam and Christianity with Christian kindness and goodwill."-RoBERT E. SPEER, D.D., Secretary Board Foreign Missions Presbyterian Church~ U. S. A.
"THE MOSLEM WORLD is indispensable for all friends of foreign missions who wish to remain in touch with the rapid and kaleidoscopic changes among the two hundred and thirtYMfour millions of Moslems. There is at present no livmg person commanding such worldMwide and intimate knowledge of the problems connected with the Moslem world as tho editorMinMchief of this Quarterly." -DR. JULIUS RICHTtR, D.O., Professor of Science of Missions, University of Berlin.
MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., 156 Fifth Ave., New York City Price in U. S. A., $2.00 or 50 cents per copy; in Britain, 8s. per annum. or 2s. per copy Please menUon THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON. EJitor CONTENTS FOR OCTOBER, 1927 Page FRONTISPIECE …… CENTRAL A}'RIC'A MISSION FIELD OF THE LATE DAN CRAWFORD MOSLEM LIFE IN RUMANIA AND BULGARIA …………SAMUEL M. ZWEMER 725 A report of observation;; and information gathered on a reolmt tour in South· oostern Europe. Some revelations of the prevalence ot Islam in the Balkan States. TRE CEASEL,ESS INNER URGE …………………………… S. D. GDRDON 732 A strikim,g study of the motive and power of the Christian missionary. enterprise as viewed by the author of the famous" Quiet Talks." WRY CHRISTIAN MISSIONS~ …………………….. P. WHITWELL WILSON 737 The authw of "The Christ We Forget" and other well-known volumes, gives reasons why Chris·tian mis8ionary alJtivity hoUls 81Lch an important and essential prave in the work of the Christian Church. SEVENTEEN YEARS IN THE PERSIAN GULF ……………. C. S. G. MYLREA 743 One of tke well·known missionaries of the Reformed Church tells of his experienoes among fanat;;oa~ anti-Christian Arabs ana shows the opportu.nities for in{})'ease-a missionary eilart. MOHAMMED AND THEOPHOLIS …………………….. OALVIN K. STAUDT 747 The head o<f a Christian boys' ..chool in Mesopotamia giv'es some interesting experiences in dealing with Mohanumedan boys. A FOCAL POINT FOR MOSLEM SEEKERS …………………… E. E. ELDER 749 A mil8sionary too.oher in aairo desoribes the influence of a Christian schoo~ ana: the seO/J'oh of followers of Mohantmed fot' the truth. TESTS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE ……………………… SADHU SUNDAR SINGH 751 The famous Indian Christian" holy man" expresses in Orilmtal style his interpre· tation of Christian truth. A GREAT AFRICAN CHRISTIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H. W. FEET 753 A sket"" of the life and work of J. E. K. Aggrey, one Of the most intelligent and outstandmg of African Christians who won honot's in American universities. AN EXPERIMENT IN AFRICAN EDUCATION ………………… F. W. COBB 755 The story of the purpose and: progress of the ed,ueationa~ institution in West· Africa to which Dr. Aggrey intended to devote his life. AMONG THE MEIXICANS IN TEXAS …………….. .TOSEPH MARTIN DAWSON 757 A picture of conrlcitions on the American side of the Rio Grande, showing the need and opportunities for evange1ical work. WALDENSIAN CHURCHES IN SICILy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F. S. GOODMAN 759 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON AND MISSIONS …………….. . .T. W. BURTON 761 TAKEN FOR KIDNAPPERS ………………………………. H. J. SHEET'S 764 BEST METHODS FOR USING MISSION STUDY BOOKS .MRS. DAN B. BRUMMITT 765 A MISSIONARY HIS'l'ORY TEST ON MOSLEM LANDS …… BELLE M. BRAIN 770 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN . . . . . . . EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN! 771 WOM'AN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN …… EDITED BY ELLA D. MAOLAURIN 774 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ………………………………………… 776 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY ……………………………………….. 793 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, liD cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published mont~ly. Copyrighted, 1927, by MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All l'l.ghts reserved.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc, Robert E. Speer. President Wm. 1. Chamberlain, Vice-President Delavan L. Pierson, Secretary Walter McDougall, Treasurer Publication om••, 3d & Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Editorial and Business Omce. 156 l"lttl> Avenue. Pa.. 25c" COPy. $2.50 a year. New York City Entered aa second-class matter at the Poet omce. Harrisburg, Pa.. under Act or March 3. 1879. PERSONALS DR. WILFRED GRENFELL of Labrador has Quadruple Dividends been made lly IGpg George of England a knight of the order of St. Michael and St. FROM George. Annuity Agreements * CASH DIVIDENDS-To the donor during life. DR. WILLIAM R. KING, formerly pastor of an important church in St. Lonis and re- Based on age when gift is made. cently district secretary of the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian SPIRITUAL DIVIDENDS-To Ihe donor during life. Church, has recently accepted the position "It is more blessed to give than to receive." of execntive secretary of the Home Missions CASH DIVIDENDS-To tbe project named by Ihe Council with offices at 105 E. 22nd Street, New York. donor.
* Any regular missionary work may be supported. RT. REV. PETER TRIMBLE ROWE, D.D., Bishop of Alaska, unable to await the government boat for the Arctic, made the trip to Tiagara from Nome and return by airplane for the visitation of missions.
~ SPIRITUAL DIVIDENDS-To tbe people reached as a result of your gift. THE REV. CHARLES E. VERMILYA, who was formerly superintendent of frontier work The life that is brought to Christ in the Methodist Episcopal Board of Home is the great dividend. Missions, and recently secretary of the Home Missions Council, has been appointed ex- For further informati"n write ; ecutive secretary of the New York State Council of Churches. His office is 105, East Morna W. Ehnes, Treasurer. Board 01 For. Twenty-second Street, New York City. agD Mi.lions 01 the Methodist Epitcopal Church, * 150 Filth Avenue, New York. N. Y., or MRS. DOUGLAS THORNTON, whose late hus- W. J. Elliott, Treasurer. Board 0/ Home Mi•• band was once a leader in the British Student Movement and a C. M. S. missionary .ionl and Church Extension "I the Methodist Episco. to Egypt, has been appointed a full secre- pal Chwch. 170 I Arch Street, Philadelphia. Pa. tary by the Church Missionary Society-the first woman to be called to such a position.
OBITUARY first Protestant church in Alaska, and was the author of "Alaska Days with John DR. GEORGE E. KING, head of the Borden Muir," "Adventures in Alaska, " and" The Memorial Hospital at Lanchow, KansuProv- Klondike Klan" and other volumes. His inee, China, and son of a veteran mission- autobiography is now in the hands of Flemary of the China Inland Mission, was ing H. Revell Co. drowned while fleeing, with fellow missionaries, on rafts from Lanchow. * * WILLIAM MOQUERE, a converted safe cracker and, for about twenty years, an REV. WILLIAM T. ELSING, D.D., an au- earnest Christian worker and superintendent thority on City Missions and for forty years of the McAuley Cremorne Mission of the pastor of De Witt Memorial Church, New National Bibt'e Institute, died suddenly of York City, nntil his retirement a few years heart disease on September 5th. ago, died in Merano, Italy, early in August, aged seventy-six years. COMING EVENTS * Octobe,. 4th to 6th-The Missionary Edu- eation Movement is to hold an important REV. S. HALL YOUNG, D.D., for nearly conference on Mission Study at Pocono fifty years a Presbyterian missionary in Manor, Pa. Alaska, died as the result of a trolley accident near Clarksburg, West Virginia, on ** September 2nd, 1927. Dr. Young would have been eighty years old on September The annual meeting of the Interdenomi- 12th. He was born in Butler, Pa., and at- national Council on Spanish-Speaking Work tended the University of Wooster, and will be held in San Antonio, Texas, from Princeton Theological: Seminary. Nearly December 14-18, 1927. fifty years ago, he was married to Miss Fannie E. Kellogg in Sitka. He was the Preparations are now being made in Engcompanion of John Muir, the naturalist, and land and America for the celebration of the in the gold rush to the Klondike in 1898, Three Hundredth Anniversary of the birth and carried on his missionary work by of John Bunvan in 1928. The American canoe and dog team to many settlements Tract Society' expects, as a part of its plan in this vast territory. He organized the for the celebration, to raise a fund of $25, 000 to print new editions of "Pilgrim's Progress" in many languages.
PI."… mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD In wrIting to advertIsers. o BELGIAN CONGO ~ LUBA 4.j .e; Katnevwe 8'
. .. LOU B A • Nielllbu 1<und,. ~ 6,'<?-· • … Sv· '.0-.–~'.-.~~'!ijl. lfu lenge . . . . . ._ o LAM Scal. lliles MISSION STATIO~S WITH RESIDENT WHITE NATIVE CHURCIIES WITHOUT ,RESIOENT WHITE RESIDENT EVANGELISTS" PRIMARY SCHOOL 270 28"
MISSION FIELD OF THE LATE DAN CRAWFORD, OENTRAL AFRIGA This map, drawn by Dr. Tilsley, Mr. Crawford '8 nephew and successor, shows the extent of the territory (200 by 300 miles) occupied by the Luanza Mission. Note the number of mission stations and outstations, with churches and with resident Afriean evangelists and native schools. The neighboring territory, occupied by the Methodist Episcopal Church, London Missionary Society and Congo Evangelistic Mission, is also indicated. L TEN Moslem Life in Rumania and Bulgaria BY THE REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., CAIRO, EGYPT- Author of "Arabia, The Cradle of Islam," etc., etc.
I T IS not generally known that in Southern Europe there are still nearly three million followers of the Arabian Prophet, chiefly in Yugo-Slavia, Albania, Rumania and Bulgaria. These are living, as minority groups, in the midst of the Christians. Their racial origin is in some places Tatar or Turkish, the descendants of the old Moslem conquerors. In other places Serbians, Bulgarians, (Pomaks), Albanians and Gypsies have been "converted" to Islam since many decades, and cannot easily be distinguished from orthodox Turks.
Eager to learn the needs of these people, and to know something at first hand of the missionary opportunity among them, we recently visited some of the great Moslem centers such as Rustchuk, Varna, Constanza, Sofia, Philopoppolis, Belgrade and Serajevo. We saw more, however, in the smaller towns, away from the usual routes, in places like Bazargic, Shumna, and Majidiya, where the old-fashioned life prevails, where men still mourn the abolition of the Caliphate, women go veiled, young men wear the fez, and old men smoke the waterpipe. We were reminded at Warsaw, on a visit to the mosque and the Moslem cemetery, that there are six thousand IMoslems in Poland; and by the noble marble monument to Sobieski that it was a Polish king who hurled back the wave of Turkish invasion from the gates of Vienna in 1683, and saved Europe.
In Budapest we visited the little mosque-shrine to the last saint of Islam in Hungary, but once across the border and into the great plain of the Danube in Rumania we saw the familiar dress that distinguishes Moslem men and women everywhere.
725
After arrival in Bucarest, 'the Paris of the Balkans, our host, the .r Rev. J. H. Adeney of the London ews Society, took us for a visit to the beautiful little mosque, built in Carol Park by the Government to adorn the exposition grounds, and now used for Moslem worship. We had a delightful hour discussing religious matters with the Mufti, who spoke Arabic quite easily, and gave us a warm welcome. Literature from the Nile Mission Press and the Scriptures in Arabic, Turkish, etc., were here and everywhere on our journey eagerly accepted. In fact our lack of faith was rebuked, for our supply ran out long before the demand was supplied. A converted Jewish soldier in the Rumanian army for example bought testaments for his Moslem comrades at the barracks.
On a visit to the old Academia Library in Bucarest we became acquainted with the output of the Moslem press, and through thp kindness of the American minister secured a special letter from the Government for crossing the rather disturbed frontiers.
On April 29th we left for Rustchuk to attend a conference of Christian. workers from every part of Bulgaria. We traveled by train to Giorgia on the frontier and crossed the Danube by the ferry.
Rustchuk is a town of some 40,000, of which perhaps one fourth is Mohammedan. Formerly it had twenty-nine mosques, now it has twelve: some were demolished during the war and others by the municipality because of new streets. It is still a stronghold of Islam, however, for all Northern Bulgaria, through its schools and press.
At Rustchuk we met two old friends-Ivan Gantcheff, agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society, and E. Max Hoppe of the German Hilfsbund and Orient Mission. Both were delegates to the Conference which met in the .Methodist church-too small to contain the audience that gathered at every session. There were able leaders and earnest words; the singing of a choir of young people (the girls in picturesque costume) was excellent. After an address on God's love for Moslems and His call to evangeli'ze them, a resolution was passed unanimously, which reads: We are greatly impressed with our Christian obligation to bring the Christ to our 750,000 Mohammedan neighbours in Bulgaria, therefore we, the delegates to the 47th Convention of the Bulgarian Evangelical Society representing the united body of Evangelical Christians working in Bulgaria, do hereby pledge ourselves to every possible interest in the evangelization of our Mohammedan brothers, and will give loyal cooperation to every effort to reach with the Gospel the thousands of Mohammedans in this land and elsewhere.
We trust the American Missions working in this area will follow such resolutions with definite plans for leading the Bulgarian Church out into this great unoccupied fied. Hitherto the Moslem has been much neglected, for special reasons and because of special difficulties.
MOSLEM LIFE IN RUlV!ANIA AND BULGARIA
Today there is peace, religious freedom, and no barrier to the tactful presentation of the gospel message,. The splendid work of such men as Max Hoppe, Pastor Ehmann and others of the German Mission, and the work of the two Bible Societies prove that the doors are wide open. In the village of Razgrad a converted Moslem is preaching to his former coreligionists.
In Rustchuk we met an earnest inquirer, a book-seller, who took us to the fraternity house of the Shathaliya order of which he was a member. I shall never forget his thoughtful questions and his pierc- ing eyes, hungry for spiritual vision. On the walls of the tekke were mottoes some of which we found on sale afterwards in other places.
One very striking motto written in Arabic reads: " 'Whoso hath a place for Allah in his heart will find Allah his helper in this world and the next; but whoso hath in his heart other than Allah, will find Allah his opponent in this world and the next." '
On Saturday; April 30th, we went to Varna. All along the railway there are Moslem villages and agricultural settlements. Varna, on the Black Sea, is an important center for trade and shipping, and is the seat of the Bulgarian orthodox metropolitan and of Roman Catholic clergy and schools. Among its population of 41,000 there M.0SLE'M BOYS AT SHUMEN. BULGARIA are some 4,500 rrurkish-speaking Moslems. The German Mission under Pastor Ehmann and Pastor Liiling is attempting literary work for the Moslems of Bulgaria for which there is great need. We met the daughters of Abraham Amirkhanjanz who, with Johannes Aveteranian, was a pioneer in this region. They left behind them a literary heritage which is yet to be more widely used-manuscripts, tracts, books in Armenian, Bulgarian and Turkish, a translation of the Koran into Armenian and one into Turkish printed on alternate pages with the text of the Turkish New Testament! Long before the war this seed was being sown in Bulgaria and it has born fruit. At Varna we held a union meeting in the Evangelical church, and our message was interpreted first into Bulgarian and then into Armenian. What wonderful talent the Bulgarian Christians have for song!
We spent one memorable day at Shumen, the great intellectual center of Islam in Bulgaria. The largest of its many mosques is called Tumboli Jamia and dates from 1648. Near it is the tomb of Hassan Pasha, a place of pilgrimage. From the verandah of the
GRADUATING CLASS OF 1924 IN A SCHOOL FOR R E LIGIOUS TRAINING AT MIAJIDIYA, RUMANIA German Mission House one can count twenty-two minarets, a panorama that reminds one of a miniature Cairo seen from the Citadel. We visite'd the Moslem press and called on the Mufti who accepted Arabic Christian books eagerly. Shumen is an educational center and in addition to primary Koran schools has an institution for the training of Moslem teachers. We met many of their "Young Islam on Trek" to schoo], (see illustration) but there are no radical educational reforms yet in this part of Bulgaria: the curriculum is oldfashioned and very orthodox.
Rather than take the meandering course of the railway, we went direct by automobile from Varna to Bazargic, crossing the frontier and rather enjoying the double unsuccessful custom-house search for tobacco, fire-arms or Bolshevist literature at two posts! Bibles were not confiscated but the copies given accepted gratefully. Bazargic has several mosques, three book-shops, and an active press.We also saw the young Moslem Club, its reading room, cafe and small gymnasium, all very primitive but harbingers of a new day. One of the small group of Evangelicals living here begged me, as they were without a pastor or missionary, to hold a service and baptize the twins of Ivan Petkoff. It was a polyglot service, by interpretation and interruption. The crying seemed to be American, they sang Bulgarian hymns, and the service was interpreted by a Greek lady, wife of an Armenian, whose father is pastor of a Greek church in New York City. The next day we took a car for Constanza. Our fellow-passengers were a Moslem judge and a merchant; both accepted a portion of the Scriptures in Turkish.
The city of Constanza has a very beautiful mosque recently built, with a high minaret of concrete; there is a learned Mufti but the city has only a small Mos]em population. Majidiya a much smaller town, forty kilometers away, is far more important as a
MOSLEM, LIFE IN RUMANIA AND BULGARIA
Moslem center. We spent a day there visiting the schools and studying the life of the people. In the Moslem high school for boys and girls, the Arabic language is well taught, and we heard them recite the Koran. There is a sort of theological seminary also with over one hundred enrolled, and eighty in the boarding department. They follow an eight-year course of study. Our illustration shows the graduating class with the faculty-a very impressive group, when you r ealize that such as these go out every year to strengthen the hold of orthodox Islam among the masses. In the middle of the town there is a fairly large printing press employing a goodly staff where three small rotary presses turn out Moslem literature.
R eturning to Bucarest we were surprised to see on the day of our arrival an account on the first page of the daily press of the public baptism of twelve Mohammedans. Afterwards we learned that these were villagers who had accepted Christian teaching and joined the Greek Orthodox Church by immersion. A prelate told us there were others preparing for baptism. Apparently the" Law of Apostasy" is no longer in force and no special danger or persecution follows the abandonment of Islam in Rumania. One longed for the occupation of this ripe field by some Evangelical Society, or at least for the opening of work in places like Silistra, Bazargic and Majidiya, now wholly neglected.
To reach Sofia and Philopoppolis we again crossed the Danube at Rustchuk On Sunday it was our privilege to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church in the morning, where the genial pastor Mr. Zapkoff is in charge of an important work. In the evening there was a crowded union meeting in the Congregational church. After an SOMEl. GYP SY MOH<AMMEDANS AT SOFIA. BULGARIA
address on Islam, opportunity was given for questions. They were not all easily answered, but were proof of a growing and intelligent interest of these earnest Christians in their Moslem neighbors. The next day we visited a Gypsy village of which there are many in Bulgaria. Some of the thousands of this wandering race belong to the Orthodox Church, but more are Mohammedans. They belong economically and intellectually to the lower strata of society. There is no regular mission work done among them. Living in their untidy villages or camps, their lot is pitiful in every way. Yet here too we found a rickety mosque and a woe-begone building that stood near, used as a school. To hear Gypsy boys repeat the Arabic Koran and to see Gypsy girls copying the Ali! Bay on their slates was proof that Islam is trying to win these outcasts.
Sofia is a mission station of the American Board whose activities in the Balkans date back to 1857. The Methodists also have an important work here. The Protestants in Bulgaria have 32 churches, 29 pastors and 14 lay preachers. The president of the United Protestant Church is the Rev. D. N. Fournajieff, pastor of the Sofia Congregational Church. There are schools and a theological institute. The oldest newspaper in Bulgaria is the Zrnitza, organ of the Evangelical Church. The Y. M. C. A. began work at Sofia in 1899 and has fifteen branches in Bulgaria, with a total membership of over one thousand. There is, however, little aggressive work among the Moslem population.
At Philopoppolis we had most interesting contacts with the Moslems. It is a city of mosques, fourteen in all, with an active Moslem press, and it is the educational center for Southern Bulgaria. To our astonishment we found the chief Turkish Mohammedan bookshop and press conducted by an Armenian Christian, Thomas Ismerlijan, who when exiled from Constantinople, where he was a bookseller, undertook this enterprise for a living. In his shop we found on sale five different versions of the Koran in Turkish, and many other books, especially catechisms and lives of Mohammed: a proof that Islam is active here. At a conference of all the Christian workers from the various societies held in the home of Mr. Holway of the American Board, the need and opportunity of work for Moslems were discussed. Some are trying to reach Moslems in the prisons, others have begun work among the Gypsies who are responsive to friendly approach. The great need is literature for Christians about Islam, and literatur.e of the right type for their Moslem neighbors. It was pathetic to meet an aged and learned Christian from Monastir, who brought his manuscript version of the Koran translated into Bulgarian. He had toiled to complete it, furnished it with notes and a fine introduction based on Sale's translation, but was able to print only three small portions. He asked for help to complete this labor of love, and then with a smile of hope, bundled
MOSLEM LIFE IN RUMlAI-nA AND BULGARIA
up his precious manuscript and walked home again. Who will encourage this lonely scrjbe and put funds at the disposal of the Christian Literature Committee to give Moslems better books than the Koran1 'With specially trained workers, the wide use of Christian literature, and the union of all the scattered groups, we believe the Bulgarian Church could speedily win the seven hundred thousand Moslems back to Christ. The Pomaks are really lapsed Christians, prodigals to be welcomed back home.
Just across the borders of Rumania and Bulgaria, there are the eighteen million Mohammedans of Russia; westward there are nearly two million Mohammedans in Albania and Yugo-Slavia. What a challenge to the Church, and what a strategic advantage the present missionary forces in Bulgaria and Rumania would have if they arose to their opportunity! We called on the Mufti in Philopoppolis and found him reading a marked copy of the Turkish New Testament. When asked why he had marked certain passages his reply was, "I ma.rked those places where I foun;d that Christians were not living in accordance w'ith the tca,chings of Jesus the Messiah." One wonders whether he had underscored the last paragraph of the Gospel according to Matthew.
'" After attendanco at the two conferences held at Budapest and Warsaw on missions to the Jews, it was my privilege to spend a. month in vi s iting and studying the needs and opportunities for Christian work among the Mohammedans in Southeastern Europe. S. M. Z.
A GROUP OF MOSLEMS BAPTISED AS CHRIST'IANS AT BUCARE'ST
Ceaseless Inner'
The Essential Missionary Spirit of Christianity BY S. D. ,GORDON Author of "Quiet Talks"
T HE spirit of a ceaseless aggressive urge is the breath and blood of the original Christian Movement. The distinctive message of the movement has the same instinctive insistent quality, deeply imbedded in bone and fibre, a spirit of aggressive ceaseless Go.
And, in distinct addition to these, there is an aggressiveness aroused and intensified by contact with the need, the tragic pathetic need of the world, in which movement and message are enmeshed.
This is the three-fold intensified spirit of urge inherent in the Christian Movement itself, in its message, and through the world's need.
Aggressive means taking the initiative, and doing it vigorously. It is of the very life of the Christian Movement that it takes the initiative. It attacks that which is neither good nor right.
Its aggressive sweep in the beginning stands sharply out. From the purely human point of view the strategy of the Holy Spirit here is simply unmatched and matchless.
It would be expected, of course, and there it is. Let it be said with the utmost reverence. Yet, let it be said, for the human comparison makes us better able to appreciate that strategy.
It may well be doubted if the Pentecost event has ever been fully appreciated, simply now as a bit of strategy.
Look at it afresh. At least five thousand men are involved in that Pentecost group as it quickly grew; not persons, but men, the natural leaders. They are Jews, the most intense racial group. They are from every city center of the earth literally. It is actually a world-wide group.
They are devout men, pilgrims to the Passover Feast. They have witnessed the crucifixion of Christ. Many of them, as many as five hundred at one time, have seen Christ after his resurrection.
They had gone through that untellable experience of the Holy Spirit flooding down, the tongues of flame, the rushing mighty wind, the speaking every common foreign language known, the dominant message of the crucified risen Christ, told with exultant praise.
That experience could never be forgotten, nor gotten over. It burned itself into their very being, scarred itself in, blessedly scarred. It revolutionized every man there.
Now, these men are scattered, scattered literally everywhere over the earth, aflame with the Holy Spirit's presence, and the tremendous fact of a crucified and risenM'essiah.
732 Every city center of the earth heard the story, saw evidence of a supernatural power, felt the power, actually felt the power, clearly a supernatural power. The earth was aflame with the Ohrist story and the Ohrist power.
As a bit of pure strategy the whole thing arouses the profound regard and reverent admiration, and more, of the student of strategy. There is nothing like it anywhere, simply nothing in the same class strategically.
And the inner spirit of it all was that ceaseless urge. It was the. urge of a living flame. It had the incessant move of the Holy Spirit's own presence. And this was the very breath and blood of that early Ohristian move. For intensiveness and rapidity of movement, over a wide area, earthwide, the thing is without parallel.
The distinctive message of the Ohristian Movement had the same tense throbbing pulse beat. It reveals at once its life, the reason of its being.
That message centered wholly in the person of Ohrist; who He was, the tremendous thing He did in dying, the terrific necessity for it, and the ceaseless appeal to men to choose. These four things stand boldly out. And their very daring and boldness made and makes an aggressiveness without parallel or precedent or successor. To these early leaders and their followers Ohrist was the Son of God in a distinctive sense true of no other. The significance of the virgin-birth is simply in this that it reveals at once His distinctive personality, quite apart from all other humans.
To them the central fact of Christ's life was the end of it, the death. It was voluntary. It was distinctly sacrificial for others in the substitute sense. The singular death of this singular personality, with the tre- mendous resurrection event, this was the tense, never absent, heart- throb of their message. The terrible tragedy of sin, man's stubborn opposition to God, was the one thing that made the sacrificial death of this singular Man of vital necessity. The sin score was settled by that singular death, and only so. And every man was urged to choose.
And it becomes of intensest interest in today's strange· cross- currents to mark keenly that this four-fold message they found, not alone in the events occurring then, but, burt rooted deep back in their Jewish Bible. These leaders had an intensive course in Bible study that resur- rection day. The teacher was Ohrist Himself. To the Emmaus couple, and then the larger Jerusalem company, He opened up their old Hebrew Bible. The whole story was, is, there. He had simply done what had been fully plainly foretold. Luke tells explicitly that He went through
every part of their Bible in that intensive course. One recalls with fresh interest the fact that their Hebrew Scriptures, so opened up, are identical in content with our Old Testament.
The Hebrew Bible, variously grouped and classified by Hebrew authorities, was the Pentecostal Bible of the early Church, and is the text reproduced in our Old Testament. Christ and His death explained and illuminated the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament.
The bold daring of this original message makes one gasp. A .distinctive solitary personality, "the only begotten God," voluntarily dying a singularly sacrificial death for men, and for their sin, and the issue with every man dependent wholly on his imperial right of choice-the thing is daringly tremendous.
It is its daring that makes its aggressiveness. There is a ceaseless inner urge in it that at once caught men, and aroused such opposition.
Then the urgency of the need of men for this Christ message, and for the Christ Himself, intensified the ceaseless urge within both movement· and message. The outside pressed hard on the inside. And this prodding has never ceased, and doesn't.
That urge of the need has greatly broadened in our day. Originally the world's need pressed in on the church group. The thing was simple, thus far.
Now the need for the Christ message, and the Christ, and the Christ power, has grown complex. It is a three-fold need-in the world as then, in the Clmrch itself, and in the missionary groups and fields.
THE UNDERTOW BECOMES A FLOOD The world's outside undertow and suction of early days has become a flood tide in our day, seeping and sweeping insistently inside church circles, as well as outside.
A washed-out, merely cultural message has swamped the sacrincial Christ message, in the Church, and on the foreign field. This is true of the American, the British, and the Continental Ohurch, and on every mission field. There are always fine exceptions. But this is the characteristic thing.
A-recent striking illustration of this is fonnd in the utterances, by tongue and pen, of an American missionary to the Caucasian Orient, during an extended visit to his homeland.
He is clearly a saint, utterly devoted to Ohrist and to his chosen life work, with a passion for winning men, and marked ability. He has been through sacrificial experiences for many tense years.
In his recent utterances, which have attracted wide attention, he tells of a certain radical change of approach to men in presenting the Gospel. This is the striking thing to note.
He makes some confessions. And they are good, partly, at least
THE CEASELESS INNER URGE
two-thirds. He confesses to discarding Western civilrzation as part of his missionary propaganda. What a stroke of genius 1 What a pity he hadn't done it sooner 1 But then he was clear in the lead of the whole missionary movement in doing it. What a sense of freedom that must have been 1 And with that went the distinctively 'Vestern type of Christianity. He tried to shake the Christ, and the Christ message, free of the Western world's scaffolding. What a relief!
But in the shaking process he went a bit far. He shook off the line of defence of the Old Testament, he says. His language is informing. He didn't shake off the Old Testament itself.
It was clearly certain fixed interpretations of the Old Testament that he threw off. And that would be a blessed throw. But the Old Testament, which tTesus opened up and explained on the Emmaus Road, and that same night to the Jerusalem group, the Old Testament which to the Pentecostal Church was all athrob with the crucified risen Messiah-Saviour for men in their sin-he seems not to have had that clearly in his mind.
Then he made a new message, with an omission. It is a wonderfully fine message. There is a positive part to it, and the omission. The positive part is a delight. The omission is the dangerous part.
He delightfully pictures Christ as human, a sympathetic fellowman, a teacher, an example, a leader, the leader. But Christ the Saviour, whose death saves men from sin, and the badness of man's sin that necessitates the one great sacrifice-this is the fatal omission.
Except for indirect phrasing, lost in the great flow of other words, Christ the Saviour is not set forth in his message.
If scantest indirect mention of the leading issue be a practical ignoring of it, and if repetition be the greatest emphasis, then the omission in this man's message glares openly.
It seems to be the unconscious blunder of the head, in the burning desire to win men, and not of a very earnest heart, in the sore stress; but none the less, it is critical, and vital, and fatal.
His changed message bears the relation of fragrance to rose. He uses some of the fragrance but has left out the thorny rose that exudes the fragrance.
Now this particular instance would not be worth so much space were it not for the fact that the thing is systemic, not incidental nor local. It is a symptom of general conditions.
You see clear to the horizon through a thin crack in a fence. You can see the whole field, mission lands and home church, American, British and Continental, in this incident. It strikingly reflects the whole present situation.
This man's utterances are having widest acceptance as a wondrously new putting of the gospel message. It is not new, and it is not
the vital message of the early Church. Its warm welcome shows how accustomed the Church has gotten to such a thinned-out message. And so the present situation reveals a tremendous intensifying of the need for the real Christ message, and the Christ power. The intensified need becomes a fresh prod on that ceaseless inner urge.
And, it is of the very essence of the Christian Movement, and of its distinctive message, that the spirit of love breathe through all, even as the fragrant locust blossoms in the springtime.
It is the love that is gracious and gentle, in voice and pen and personal contact, even while relentlessly intolerant regarding the person of Jesus. It is the love that is always tolerant of persons while incorrigibly intolerant of looseness and errors regarding the Christ, and all that is tied up with Him.
There are three kinds of intolerance. There is the intolerance that makes a creed of tolerating everything regardless, and is utterly intolerant of those who won't.
There is the intolerance of those who believe certain central facts about the person of Jesus, but in a loose, easy-going sort of way, and who fellowship heartily with those denying the facts. It is intolerant of those who won't tolerate practical compromise on es- sentials. And there is the intolerance of love. It is the intolerance of purity toward impurity, of honesty toward rank dishonesty, of chastity toward defilement, of truth toward the lie, of loyalty to the person of Jesus toward all loose teaching about Him.
And there is no intolerance comparable to this. It is gracious in personal touch, but incorrigibly intolerant where Jesus' personality and work are concerned. What is love ~ It can't be defined in words, only in actions. God is love. Jesus was God in human shoes, down on earth, telling us the meaning of love, the tremendous urge of it, in the language of action. Jesus, living our human life, sympathizing, teaching, healing, suffering, dying sacrificially, living again-that is Love. That is God. That is the underlying urge of Christianity.
PRAYING FORTH THE WORKERS W ITHOUT doubt the dearth of workers aetuated with a sacred sense of their vocation is due to lack of prayer on the part of Christians. Let the prayers offered in the pulpit and elsewhere evidence larger obedience to the prayer· command of Christ. Let the missionary prayer·meeting respond more faithfully to the call for intercession. Ask the officers and teachers of the Sunday-school to unite in prayer that the Holy Spirit may separate from among the young those whom God would have one day preach Christ. Exhort parents to pray that their own children may be guided into the work of God's own appointment. Influence earnest young men and women to make the choice of their life work and life field a matter of special prayer until God's win is made clear. Multitudes have been inspired while praying to God for guidanee to give their lives to missionary service at home and abroad.-John R. Mott.
Christian Missions?*
BY P. WHITWELL WILSON, NEW YORK Author of "The Church We Forget,' J etc.
.nA.S. IT seems to me, there is a stock taking today of influences that contribute to or detract from the more abundant life of the race-armies, navies, politics, arts, sciences, industries, colleges, hospitals and amusements-from which survey, searching and even revolutionary, it is impossible to exclude religion-the faith of man in things unseen. .
We are told that the churches have failed. But is that the sum- total of our disillusion1 Have agencies, other than the churches, succeeded1 Everywhere parliaments are disappointing democracy.
In many countries-for instance, Italy, China, and Spain-they have broken down. Has organized labor redeemed society~ Not in Britain, not in Russia, and it may be, not anywhere. Has diplomacy arrived at a, permanent peace 1 Has science foresworn poison gas ¥ Are schools what we hoped they would be¥ Even education arouses pessimism. If then the. churches are on trial, it means that man himself, in all his activities, stands before the judgment seat. He has pursued a happiness which he has not found.
It is not enough to say, then, that the churches have failed. The further question is whether, if the churches fail, any other agency can fulfil its true task. The Best is offered through the individual to the race. If the Best be despised and rejected of men, is any second best likely to be good enough ¥ By His name, Jehovah is defined as the Great I AM. He is the one Egotism that is supreme, the Mind of minds, the mind that is Love. Of that Word of God, Jesus Christ was the Incarnate-the "Vord made Flesh. He also said, "Without Me, ye can do nothing." Y ears ago, I wrote a little book in which I read the newsaper into the Apocalypse and the Apocalypse into the newspaper. The Vision of St. John the Divine, which we forget, may be symbolic but it is simple. It means that, in Christ, civiliza- tion can be perfected but that, without Christ, even an imperfect civili- !l:ation cannot be sustained.
There are those who argue that the religions of the world are like the colors of a rainbow, all of which are necessary to the blend of illumination that we call light. Why do we try to convert other people to our way of thinking? Surely, we should try first ,to correct the evil in ourselves and should seek the good in others. Christianity, yes; but why the Christian mission1 He who lightly disparages widespread and venerable religions '" Since I have never been a missionary or even a serious student of missions, it is surely a presumption that I should set -out these ideas, though they are invited, in a quarter where so much knowledge, so deep an experience and so willing a self-sacrifice rebuke the ignorance and the senularitles or a Iayman.-P. W. W.
737 2
other than his own, is foolish. But the test must be truth; and in the clarity of truth, it does not appear that the Confucian, the Shinto, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Moslem, and the Parsee faiths are today offering to mankind or any part of mankind, a salvation, whether it be personal, economic, racial, physical, or spiritual.
Over wide areas, China has expelled the foreigner. But has Zimri peace who slew his missionaries ~ The chaos of China is becoming chronic. It means that the country needs a greater than Confucius.
So with Hinduism. I do not accept Miss Mayo's "Mother India" as a complete picture of the many civilizations of India, but her broad statement that India is enervated by indulgence and disease, with her description of child marriage, of untouchability and of antihygienic rites and assumptions, is enough to dispose of India's mysticism as an adequate motive of well-being.
Has Islam a future~ Even, in Turkey, there is neither Sultan nor Caliph. The very faith that deports Christians from its borders is itself crumbling to a collapse under its own weight.
The hYIlOthesis that, if Christianity ceases to permeate the world, other religions will flourish, is not in accordance with the probabilities. Suspend Christian missions, and over most of this planet there will be no religion at all which is not a menace to science, to health, to womanhood, to education and to a reasonable prosperity. Man will have mutilated his own self by suppressing his soul.
If the! Christian mission were merely an attempt to make others believe as we do, Christ Himself would refuse a subscription. He denounced such attempts to win mere proselytes, and while He numbered the multitude fed and the lepers healed, He never counted converts. To win paradise for one thief, He was ready to die on the very Cross.
Indeed, among His disciples was Simon Zelotes, always described as such, who belonged to a sect other than the Nazarene, nor was the word, Christian, known until the faith reached Antioch, and even there, it was a label applied to the Cause by the pagan.
Evangelism is thus the offer not of what we see in Christ but of what in Him is more than we see-what we worship-what He is; the love that is larger than our love; the only love that is large enough to embrace the world.
That the Roman Christians evangelized the rest of Europe, or much of it, is thei,r glory. If, however, they made a mistake, it was in attempting to impose the faith as a spiritual empire on lands which, in the end, insisted on seeing Christ with their eyes or not at all.
This is a mistake that Protestant missionaries should be careful ourselves to avoid. In the heart of our Lord, there is room for the sheep that are not of our Occidental fold-Chinese who revere Him in terms of China; Negroes who are sure that He was colored;
1927J WHY CHRISTIAN MISSIONS'
East Indians who hint that he went on pilgrimage to Tibet. To break His Body seems a blasphemy. But His Body was given to be broken.
But the fold, however valuable, is not all. The fold may be a resting place at night for those who sleep, but the flock moves on and on to new pasture. When, therefore, we aim at progress, at liberty, at a pursuit and not a mere enjoyment of happiness, there is but one Shepherd Who is the Way, the Truth anLl the Life. "I am," said Our Lord, "The Light of the World "-not a light among other lights-not a colored ray among the many constituents of lightbut Light itself, universal, penetrating, inclusive. Here is one lesson from the Transfiguration. Moses is to be honored and Elijah is to be honored. So Confucius, Buddha and Mohammed may be honored, but at the end, Jesus alone is to be seen and heard and followed. Others may have been accepted as teachers in the past, but none survive comparison. Whatever of good there has been anywhere is summed up in Him.
This is 110 longer homiletic. It is history. In Jewry, in Greece and in Rome, this is what happened. It is Christ whose direct influence, working through society, has preserved the past and, indeed, rescued it from oblivion. What would be known today of classical art and literature if it had not been for Christian scholarship~ What would have been left of the treasures of King Tut-Ankh-Amen if they had been discovered by Moslems ~ How long would the Taj Mahal have stood serene if the Christian zeal for beauty had not been applied to its preservation~ If you want to study the sacred books whether of China or India, you will find them better arranged in the British MuseuIp than at any Asiatic library in Peking or Benares.
It is quite true that, apart from the Christian faith, man has achieved culture and accumulated wealth. But it is also true that this culture, this wealth has been an evanescent blessing. Successive Babylons, with their "merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and of pearls and fine linen and bodies and souls of men" have fallen into ruin. If Christ be not the chief cornerstone of society, there is none other.
Wherein lay St. John's distinction between the new Jerusalem and the old Babylon ~ Both cities were described as rich nor did the City of God suggest any return to what has been called a simple life. The fate of Babylon is no warning against the accumulation of good things, but it is a lesson rather that mere accumulation is not enough. Happiness, if it is to persist, must not only be increased, but distributed; and the Gospel of Christ is this distribution of true happiness. "Go ye into all the world and proclaiJn Good News." Whatever helps us, be it a rite like baptism, be it a science like healing, be it a school for teaching, must be offered to everyone else. To
be saved is to share salvation. The Lord's Prayer, is a family prayer; a prayer personal but plural. There is no Christianity that is not missionary-sending, giving, touching, speaking, healing. That is the very essenc~ of the whole faith. Without works, it is dead.
The story of the early Church, told in the Acts, is the story, not of the headquarters staff at Jerusalem, but of the soldiers going over the top into No-Man's-Land. Peter at Joppa, Philip at Samaria, Paul at Damascus, at CfBsarea, at Philippi, at Athens, at Rome. Note the widening yet concentric circles. The foreign missionary work of the Church today is the one unmistakable proof that the Church of our century continues to be Catholic, Apostolic and Christian.
In the cause of Christ, then, we are not conscious of a horizon. He deals with this moment and this man. But He embraces all men at every moment. His Gospel is not the meal which is meal and nothing else. It is the leaven which transforms meal into food. And the leaven must so work on the meal until the whole is leavened. There is no limit that you can set to the love which is the very being of the Eternal.
Christianity is the antithesis to a creeping paralysis. It is an evolutionary resurrection into life and health and joy and hope and peace. What we call piety is man growing in grace. What we call a church is society oVeT'coming sin. In Christ, something is always happening-a word said, an eye opened, a wrong righted, a 'truth discovered, an error abandoned, a sorrow comforted, an enemy reconciled, a home built, a world turned up-side-down. There is a power released and it is a Power which demands its full use.
To abandon missions would be like building a locomotive, filling its tender with coal, kindling fire in the furnac€, getting up steam, and then refusing to let the engine use its power. The pressure in the boiler, which is power, becomes a peril. The real safety lies, not in a valve which leaves the engine standing, but in the lever which allows the engine to move.
It was when the early Church ceased to advance that it began to doubt, to indulge in dissensions and to rend the ancient world on twain. The energy or, if you like to put it so, the fanaticism which found no outlet among the heathen seemed to explode under the stress of an internal combustion. The answer, both to Arius and to Athanasius, was Asia. But Asia was to them no more than an Asia Minor. At Nicea, they fought each other while, at Benares, they might have fought disease and dirt and evil.
After the Reformation, there was to be observed a similar phenomenon. Protestanism was intense but not expansive. And instead of going forth into the world to teach all nations, it concentrated its energies within itself, plunged into dialectics, attempted an impossible uniformity until, in the eighteenth century, there emerged a formalism which had ceased to deal with the needs of society, not
WHY CHRISTIAN MISSIONSf
abroad merely but at home. Among intellectuals, there was declared a reign of reason, and the kingdom over which reason thus reigned, was political corruption, vice, banditry, drunkenness and gambling. A Puritanism that did not include missions flourished in the worst England ever described by the historian.
The upheaval called Methodism did not only change the face of England. While the sinner at home repented, the heathen abroad heard of repentance. Methodism, like Apostolic Ohristianity, was a force that began in the heart and radiated everywhere.
My submission is that, in our own day, we must expect the same rules of history to operate. If our Ohristian faith, whatever be its form, omits the missionary impulse, it will fail to hold Ohristendom itself for the Gospel. 'fhe dissensions in our churches, the prevalence of divorce and crime and suicide, the decadence of the drama and the elaboration of an introspective philosophy are symptoms, everyone of them, which would have been recognized as familiar, by a discerning mind, whether in the fourth or in the eighteenth centuries. For the~e disturbing tendencies, the remedy is, as it always has been, to absorb the whole energies of the Ohurch in the task of carrying the whole Gospel of Ohrist to the whole world.
The way to defend the faith is to apply it. Take the Bible, rapidly becoming a closed book at a loss to the mind of the nation which can be measured by the tabloid newspaper. If the Bible is not read, it is because it is not used. This Book is not an ornament; it is a sword. Kept in its sheath, any sword rusts.
Also, the Bible is not a gift to us alone who happen to live in the United States in the year of Grace, 1927. It is a gift to all people at all stages in their development. Texts in the Bible which have offended our delicate sense of propriety-for instance, the condemnation of witchcraft-become the strong meat of common sense when we face the actualities of wizardry in mid-Africa or the South Seas.
We are asked sometimes what is the proper work of a mission. I suggest that if we would read our Bible, instead of merely talking about the book, we would be left in no doubt as to these matters. The Apostles were sent out by our Lord to preach and teach and heal and baptize; boldly to handle serpents or any deadly thing. It is clear, then, that the mission was spiritual, educational, ecclesiastical, medical and social. If a mission is only spiritual, it does not offer the whole Gospel of Christ. If it is only educational, or ecclesiastical, or medical, or social, it does not offer the whole Gospel of Ohrist. The complete mission must include all these activities. It must declare the Cross of Christ; it must open schools; it must form a church; it must conduct a hospital; it must combat evils like opium and slavery and cannibalism. I do not say that a mission is useless which does not achieve all these tasks. But I do say that Christ is inexhaustible and that His program omits nothing.
When, therefore, some people say that missions should be spirit- ual. while other people say that missions should be social, there is something lacking on both sides. Christ is all and in all. Writing to Corinth, St. Paul tells us what is meant by the missionary churcha body with many members, of which no member has the right to claim that the others are not equally necessary. Apostles-a word which is merely Greek for the Latin word, missionary-prophets or preachers, healers, linguists-all are needed and all equally are ellgaged in the service of the one Master.
For the churches, such a diversity of opportunity is surely a fact of an enormous significance. It means that, in the mission field, there is room for the doctor, the gymnast, the trained nurse, the scholar, the teacher, and the preacher-indeed, all may be useful abroad who would be useful at home. It means that the churches can meet their critics with an unanswerable argument-"You say we have failed. Then go out yourselves and do better." In the apologetic for Christianity, the Foreign Mission is the central argument.
Between the Church and the State, at home and abroad, there is no reason for conflict. The Church leads the way. The State follows. l". mission starts schools and hospitals-why~ Because otherwise there would be no schools or hospitals. If however the State, learning its duty from the mission, begins to establish these institutions, then the mission should not regard the State as a rival but should encourage the State, cooperate with the State and so display the spirit of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
For, after all, the church is entrusted with a task, the essence of which lies beyond the function of any State. If every school and gymnasium and hospital were to be entirely secular, the soul of man would still remain to be healed and sustained by the love of Christ. "Lo, I am with you alway" was what He said, and the Gospel-the spell of God-is His presence as the Companion of the individual. If missions on their social side were to establish in India and China and Africa a state of health, a properity and an enlightenment, equal to or exceeding what we see in the United States or Great Britain, it would still be a fact that Christ would be the Supreme Essential. The United States is today a proof that silver and gold and all that they can purchase of art and science and philosophy are no salvation from sin. Youth and beauty, wealth and genius, are finding it impossible to maintain a standard of marriage and a freedom from crime which were regarded as axiomatic in churches of an earlier day. No reformation, achieved by environment, is effective without the regeneration which is achieved by Grace. As Christ called Peter to Him, and John, and Mary of 1Tagdala, so does He still look through the haze of tendencies and points of view and demands a personal allegiance from the individual. He tells of the good Samaritan only to add, "Go and do thou likewise."
WOMEN LISTENING TO THE GOSPEL AT THE MISS.ON
KUWEIT (KOWEIT), ARAHIA Seventeen Years in the Persian Gulf BY DR. C. S. G. MYLREA, KOWEIT, ARABIA KOWEIT was the last station in the Persian Gulf to be occupied by the American Mission. We had for a long time wanted to enter the place but the Arabs refused to allow any white people to settle there. As the result of a surgical operation performed on the leading man of the town the American Mission received a formal request from the Sheikh of Koweit to go there and begin medical work. That was in 1910. Although the Sheikh and a few of the leading families were friendly, the general attitude of the city was bitterly hostile. The missionaries could not go out without having stones thrown at them, and one of our ladies was actually assaulted by a coolie in the bazaar. In fact it was almost impossible in the early days for ladies to appear in the streets of Koweit.
The first evangelistic missionaries were admitted to Koweit in 1912, while the doctors had been holding the place intermittently since 1911. In 1914 the American hospital was formally opened. By this time educational work of some value had also been started. With the progress of educational and medical work, the opposition of the people which had heretofore been mostly talk now crystallized into definite action. Funds were raised by the Arabs, and an opposition school was built at the cost of somewhere about $30,000.
743
This school was put in charge of a modern young Egyptian from Cairo, who, however, proved to be too modern for the conservative Wahabi leanings of Koweit, and was later on replace__ by an old fashioned type of teacher from Smyrna. This school has since resulted in two more schools being opened in Koweit, so that educational work in Koweit today owes its existence to the example of the American Mission school stinted in 1912.
At about the same time as the opposition school was being built, an opposition hospital was also started, the funds for this also being raised by public subscription. A Turkish doctor was placed in charge of their hospital, but as he turned out to be a drinker, and insisted that everyone should pay fees, as well as being in the opinion of the people a poor doctor, his stay in Koweit only lasted a few months. He was finally sent away by Sheikh Mubarek. A sequel to this was that not long after the departure of the Turkish doctor, the Sheikh presented the greater part of the hospital equipment to the American Mission hospital.
The eyangelistic work in Koweit is in many ways unique, for while all of the stations have dispensary preaching in the hospitals and regular church services to which Arabs are also invited, there is no special service for Moslems at which any large attendance is registered. The missionaries had been in the habit of holding an afternoon service in their Arab house in the heart of the city in the early days before the present missionary residence in the mission eoIT' pound was built. As the missionaries moved out to their new residence, it seemed hopeless to expect Arabs to come to an open modern house situated at the far end of the town. It was therefore decided to attempt to continue the old service in the house in which the doctor and his wife had lived in the first year of their mission work ther~. This service was planned specially for Moslems, it consisted of a simple prayer, lesson and address with three or four hymns at the usual intervals.
This service has now been carried on without a break for twelve years, and during all that time the attendance, men, women, and children, has averaged about 60. On occasion there have been congregations of about 200. These services have not been conducted without opposition, there have been persistent attempts to break up our service, parties of rowdies coming in and by noise and general disturbance have made the preaching of the Gospel extremely difficult. Parties of boys have been encouraged to stand outside in the street and shout. They have even thrown mud over the walls and of course picket everybody who tries to attend. Peaceful picketing! There is no doubt that all those who attended were more or less marked except probably the women, who since they were veiled were not so easy to identify. At first we used to think that the people came merely out of curiosity to hear the organ and to see just what
SEVENTEEN YEARS IN THE PERSIAN GULF
a Christian service was like, and never did our faith anticipate that the interest of the Gospel would continue to hold the people. But they still come, and we are justified in concluding that the people come because they get something.
We still have periods of disturbance, but as the years pass it is becoming more and more easy to preach in perfect comfort. There must be now many thousands of people in Koweit who are familiar with the parables and miracles that constituted so much of Our Lord's teaching, and the Sermon on the Mount has been freely used. In ad- dition to this there is the influence of the daily preaching in the hos- pital dispensaries both to men and to women, and when it is realized that about 25,000 people pass through our dispensaries annually, it will be understood that there is a definite witness for Christ in Koweit. fhere are also the pupils in our school who are under the daily influence of our clergyman and his assistant.
Converts in Koweit, as may be readily imagined, have to go through fire and water. One young fellow who confessed Christ openly in one of our Sunday afternoon services was threatened with death at the hands of his own fa- ther, and had to flee for his life to A YOUNG s~~~~~~ :Jw1V: ~fISSION Basra. He stood the test however and earned for himself the esteem of all who knew him in Basra.
He secured a good position in government service in the chlorination department, and on one occasion risked his life at a time when chlorine gas was escaping in the generating room, and no one else dared to go in there. It is more than likely that this noble act caused his death ultimately. He came of a tuberculous family, the dreaded disease attacked his lungs, and he came back to Koweit only to die.
During his last illness it was extremely difficult for the missionaries to have very much contact with him, and the town says that he died a "Moslem. The missionaries, however, knowing him as well as they did, feel very sure that if in his last hours of weakness he did confess Mohammed and deny Christ, it was under pressure which he was too weak physically to resist.
There was also another convert, a Persian, who came to Koweit to seek out the missionaries. He was a man who had done a lot of thinking and had been influenced first by the Ahmadi type of thought,
and then later by the Bahais, but had rejected them both. He eventu- . ally became a Christian and was bapti'zed in Koweit, but the incessant persecution to which he was subj ected wore him down and finally he left Koweit and returned to Persia. Since then we have lost sight of him. I believe he lives somewhere in Shiraz.
Still another convert is a Sheikh Arab who was baptized several years ago, is on the hospital staff and witnesses a true confession day in and day out. Without any doubt there are many many people in Koweit who in their heart of hearts believe that we have the Light of Light, and we must be patient and wait for God's own time when these hidden flow ers will come to Eght.
It will interest you all lo lenow that there is now in Koweit a very large Persian colony. The ma- jority of these P ersians belong to the coolie class and were attracted to Koweit by the high' rate of wages prevailing there. In addi- tiol! to these there is a growing community of Persian merchants. Altogether there must be at the very least 5,000 P ersians in Ko- weit today, and probably double that number. Our lady doctor has been studying P ersian in addition to Arabic for some time and hopes soon to be able to give the Gospel to her Persian patients in their na- A YOUNG ARAB BOY, WITH LONG HAIR tive language more and more. The Persian language is becoming a necessity to the missionary if he would be properly equipped. Sometimes fully one half of the hos- pital patients consist of Persians who understand little or no Arabic. In our Bible shop which is in the heart of the bazaar, we stock Persian Scriptures as well as Arabic, Turkish, and Hebrew, but as nearly all our Persians are illiterate it is not easy to dispose of Persian Scriptures.
It may be that in Isfahan there are Persians who have learned to know and love the Lord J esus Christ. If some of them could settle in Koweit to devote their lives to their countrymen, there, they could do far more than any foreign missionary can expect to do for some time. In Isfahan they have long since passed through the weary days of persecution and hatred and intolerance, in Koweit we are passing through those very times. Christ's call was to preach the Gospel to every creature-including those in this large Persian colony in Koweit.
and Theopholis *
BY CALVIN K. ST'AUDT, BAGHDAD, IRAK A Member of the United Mission in Mesopotamia M ORE than one hundred children and young people come to our house daily to receive instruction. These children represent different races and religions. They are Arabs and Turks and Assyrians and Armenians and Chaldeans and Indians and Greeks and Jews and Moslems and Protestants and Catholics and Gregorians and Nestorians and Greek Orthodox. These races and religions are antagonistic, and throughout the centuries these people have hated one another. In our school the barrier of hatred is broken down, and these children for the first time learn to love one another.
Mohammed is a Moslem, named for the founder of his religion. Theopholis is a Christian. He was named after that unknown person to whom Luke, the evangelist, dedicated two books in our New Testament.
These boys are about twelve or thirteen years of age, and are thrown together in the same class. Both come from influential families. Mohammed comes to school every day on his bicycle, which is a curiosity to most of the boys in the school. Mohammed is of pure Arab stock, and his ancestors for more than a thousand years, it may be, have been Moslems. Theopholis, on the other hand, is the son of the archdeacon of Julan, a Nestorian bishop, who came to Baghdad with the refugees from Urmia. The family tree would show that Theopholis descended from a people who have been Christians since the third or fourth century of the Christian era. The fact that the father of Theopholis held a high position in the Nestorian Church at once puts him on a level with the social status of l{'ohammed.
Mohammed has the Semitic features, the features of an Arab. His hair and eyes are coal-black, and his skin is somewhat dark, while his physiognomy is like that of the man you meet in the desert. On the other hand, Theopholis has a very fair skin, bright blue eyes, and light hair, indicating that he belongs to the Aryan race.
For a few days after he came to school Mohammed had no book out of which he could recite, and so I asked him to sit in the seat with Theopholis. The religious and racial antagonism showed itself clearly and unmistakably. Mohammed showed no willingness to move into a seat with a Christian, and after he had moved he showed no readiness to look on Theopholis's book. Moslems not only hate Christians, but the fanaticM'oslems also curse them. And there is no natural affinity between an Arab and the Aryan race.
Theopholis seemed to resent this intrusion, and was not too will- * Chri8tian Endeavor Worltf.
747
ing to share his book. It was the Moslem Turks who drove his parents from their happy home in Urmia, and it is the Moslem Persians who prevent their return. Thus these two boys could not help disliking each other when they were first thrown together. They had inherited a racial hatred and a religious antagonism. It was in the blood. Each was brought up in such a way as to look upon the other as unfriendly.
When Mohammed's turn came to recite, Theopholis found an opportunity to give vent to his pent-up feelings. We had the word "forgive," and I asked Mohammed what "forgive" means. He hesitated, and before he could give an answer Theopholis raised his hand, and said, "He can't know."
,Mark the words; it was not, "He doesn't know. " There flashed through my mind the whole history and tragedy of the Near East. I saw in the faces of these two young lads and in their actions an epitome of the land, and it gave me a vision of our missionary work. "He doesn't know" is what we should have expected as an answer from the son of a priest who has been taught the doctrine of forgiveness; but when he said in regard to Mohammed, "He can't know," that told me a story of inherited hatreds.
This happened several weeks ago. Today these bpys are bosom friends. They have learned to like and love each other. The one stands up for the other, and is willing to defend him. The hatred which they had inherited against each other, and that which had been taught them by their elders, are gone. Mohammed has taught Theopholis to ride his bicycle, and Theopholis is the only boy in the school, as far as I have observed, to whom this coveted privilege was extended. The other day, when I wanted to take a picture of Theopholis, he said, "Wait until I fetch my friend," and he called Mohammed.
NOT THE END-THE BEGINNING!
O NE of the Chinese Christian clergy, studying in the United States, writes of the anxiety he feels for his family in China and for the welfare of his American friends through whom he learned to love our Lord. He says: "I am so sorry and in a way as a representative of China in this country feel so ashamed of myself for the unnecessary and almost un· called-for high tide of anti-foreign and anti-Christian uprisings which are sweeping through the central and southern provinces of China. But it is just one more of the innumerable instances of people's knowing not what they do, and today we need your prayerful patience and sympathy and the being with us in spirit in going through the trials and sufferings )f the Church which is Christ's Body in China more than ever. And what a wonderful expression of the glorious faith of Christians it is, as uttered in mlny quarters today, No, it is not the end, but just the beginwing of missions!"
STU[JIDNTS IN THE AMERICAN M,[SSION SCHOOL AT CAIRO, EGYPT
These students include Copt. Moslem. Jew. Syrian. Greek. Italian, Armenian. Sudanese, Indian.
Ara.blan. SUmatran and Siamese A Focal Point for Moslem Seekers Students of Malfl,Y Lands at the E zbekia Mission School BY E. E. ELDER, OAIRO, EGYPT I N THE Ezbekia quarter of the city of Cairo, just across the street fr om Shepheard's Hotel, two American mission schools have been teaching Egyptian boys and girls for just fifty years. On one side of the main thoroughfa r e is the rendezvous of globe-encircling tourists, and on the other side is a girls' school, with an enrollment of 280, and one for boys, with more than 400 in daily attendance. Here the Christian ideals are being interpreted to the dsfng generation of Moslem lands.
The students of the Ezbekia Boys' School are predominately Egyptian. During a half century not only have hundreds and thousands of Copts, Mohammedans, and Protestants been educated here, but in addition many Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, and other nationals of the Near East have been brought into contact with a living interpretation of Christ. Thus the influence of the school has gone far beyond the expectation of its founders and to-day students come from the ends of the Moslem world, from Siam and Malaysia.
Last autumn two Siamese youths, Mohammad and Zacharia, presented themselves for admission as the first representatives of the Far East. When they left home they had no thought of entering a Christian mission school, else they need not have traveled five 149
thousand miles to find one. They were looking for a Moslem school, and reached the Christian school in Cairo by way of Mecca and the Azhar University.
They started on their long trip impelled by the desire to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, as a great religious duty. They took leave of friends and kinsmen, and sailed for Arabia, in company with many other pilgrims. After marching around the sacred Kaaba, kissing the venerated black stone, and performing other rites, they remained in Mecca to study in the mosque school.
Before a year had passed Arabia was in the throes of intertribal warfare. Ibn Saoud and his Arab puritans threatened the peace of Mecca and when the capture of the holy city seemed imminent the Siamese lads left Arabia for Cairo. They entered the Azhar, where the intricacies of the Moslem canon law are expounded and the vagaries and obscurities of the Koran are explained. Algerian and Arab, Turk and Tunisian, Sudanese and Javanese, rub shoulders in this great medieval university of Islam. But this great Moslem university, famed as the center of Islamic thought, was not what Mohammed and Zacharla had expected. To-day young Islam is not as docile and subservient as it once was and students are being stirred to demand a new curriculum. Being dissatisfied with the Azhar, these two Siamese youths looked around for more practical education and finally entered the American mission school. Here, on every hand, they are confronted with new conceptions and new ideals which are transforming their mental and spiritual outlook.
Another interesting student, Mukhtar, comes from Padang, Sumatra, in the Dutch East Indies. He is quick and intelligent and speaks Malay, English and Dutch. After he leaves Egypt, he hopes to go to Turkey and to Europe, to see how the modern world lives, und then to return to serve his country.
Abd al Wahad, the son of a Moslem merchant in Karachi, India, represents that part of Indian Islam which is facing the future. He is receptive to new ideas and finds in Christ's message the solution of many difficult modern world problems. In a Bible class in which are enrolled Christians and Moslems of many shades of opinions, he and a Moslem student of Meccan parentage often prove the most zealous for a thorough application of the principles of Jesus Christ.
Among the graduates of the school at Ezbekia are young men who enter the mission college at Assiut and the American University in Cairo; some have entered Christian work as ministers, teachers and evangelists or are prominent doctors, lawyers, and government em- ployees. The younger generation of Moslems are making enormous strides and one of America's greatest privileges is to share in the work of training and guiding young Moslems to understand Christ and His message and to enter upon lives of higher service.
of Spiritual
BY SADHU SUNDAR SINGH, SABATHU, INDIA YE SHALL know them, not by their roots, but by their fruits- (Matt. 7: 20). A tree never eats its own fruit whether it be good or bad but passes it on, seed and all, for others to eat. If the fruit be bad and useless it is cut down in due time, for so it deserves. But even though destroyed, it leaves bad seed for future generations. A good tree, while it fulfills its Creator's aim by bringing forth good fruit, at the same time leaves behind good seed for coming generations. So a real Christian, by spending life in the service of others, leaves behind a good example and a creative and inspiring influence like the seed of the tree. The man enters into his rest and his works follow him (Rev. 14-: 13). What kind of fruit and seeds are we going to leave behind us and what will we carry with us into the next world ~ The hen may sit on other eggs besides her own but the young ones brought forth are only after their kind. The poisonous tree receives the same air, heat and light as the good one; nevertheless they remain distinct according to their inherent good or evil nature. The fault does not lie with the rains or with the sun which shines the same for both; the defect is in the plant itself.
In the same way the Sun of Righteousness shines equally on all, good or bad, but the result is different. Those who live according to God's will and in His love and light are made blessed and fruitful for ever, while the wicked find the same Sun of Love to be a "consuming fire." (Heb. 12: 29.) When a man kills another man, it is not the revolver that kills but the hand behind the revolver and still more the heart and "will" of the man who used the weapon. If the heart could be changed and made the temple of God, an act of this kind would become impossible. For this reason God reveals Himself to the heart and spirit directly, for God is spirit. If he were to reveal Himself through the physical eye the body would become an intermediary, in which case the revelation would be only indirect. This explains why God reveals Himself physically as with Saint Paul to a very few, but He reveals Himself to most men spiritually-Spirit to spirit. When a man receives this spirtual birth or touch of God then is he made an instrument to save rather than kill. Thus it is that a man by saving others fulfils the purpose of real spiritual life.
There are many who remain in doubt as to the reality of the spiritual life on account of not being able to find complete intellectual satisfaction. But our abiding happiness and bliss does not depend on increase of knowledge and in dispelling of doubts but on living according to the Will of God and obedience. Our knowledge is 751
finite. Therefore there is always room for doubt, for doubt can be . absent only when our knowledge has reached the perfect and infinite state. Hence we should trust our Heavenly Father, who is Love, for every thing, and in whatever condition He may be pleased to put us we should be content and happy. For He knows our needs.
Whatever God discloses of the future is enough. If we were to know more beforehand what is to befall us on earth, it would do us more harm than good. The small trials and difficulties that await us in the struggle of life would appear like a terrifying mountain and would crush us with dismay. How could we endure to have all the ills and pains of life shown to us at once? If all our good prospects were revealed to us we might become careless and indifferent and might think that there is no need of making any effort. The consequence would be we would lose our reward. The goal of man is not merely the attainment of an external reward-an essential part of it consists in the soul acquiring a fitness of character by severe struggle and effort. Without this fitness of character that reward will be no reward, for the soul would be without capacity to enjoy it. For this reason our Lord warned us to hold fast that which we have that no man take the crown from us (Rev. 3: 11).
The silk-worm before putting on garments of silk for itself produces silk for others; they become beautiful only after they have spun the cocoons of silk for others. They even sacrifice their lives and die in producing silk for others. Are we, who are to have the crown of life from God, to do less than the worms in service for our fellow beings 7 There are countries on the earth where there is extreme cold, and others where there is extreme heat. In one place water is freezing and in the other perspiration is falling. The good and the bad also exist in this world simultaneously. In the heart of the wicked there is continuous restlessness and anguish, whereas under the same circumstances, and in spite of outward sufferings, the heart of the child of God becomes a paradise because the Prince of Peace dwells there.
MISSIONS OR O-MISSIONS In mU!SlOnary interest, some give themselves to foreign missions, some to home missions, and a good many to omissions. Among these last, the interest is often zero, as they are naught. Again, there are those who exclaim warmly, "0 missions! Yes they are, 0 so needed!" but the 0 compasses all they do. Would that many at home might turn from being o-missionaries to being go-missionaries. And may those who for sufficient reasons cannot now be go·missionaries, be co·missionaries, "holding the ropes," supporting by prayer those who really venture their lives in missionary service.
A Great African
The Late Dr. James E. Kwegyir Aggrey, Vice Principal of Achimota College, Gold Coast BY H. W. PEE'f, BECKENHAM, KENT DELIGHTFULLY ingenuous, with the charm of a man of genius who retained the true simplicity of a child, a man of rare ability, keenness and education, Dr. James E. Kwegyir Aggrey was a credit to the Negro race, and the work of the Christian missionaries. He did much to help races and nations to understand one another, and to work together. He belonged, not only to one section, but to the world. He was a real black diamond among the treasures of humanity.
The great work of interpreter, reconciler, . mediator, which we hoped Dr. Aggrey would continue and extend, has been brought to a sudden close by the news of his death in New York, on July 30th, after an illness of only one day, due to "Pneumococcus menin- gitis. " JAMES EMMAN KjWEOYIR AGGREY-AN Dr. Aggrey was born in ,Vest AFRICAN CHRISTIAN Africa fifty-one years ago, son of KodwQ K wegyir, a royal linguist, who could trace his family back to the battle of Ghineah in the eleventh century. He was the heir to state and public positions from his father, and inherited five state offices from his mother. He re- ceived his early education at the ,Vesleyan School at Cape Coast Castle, and with little effort could have become a person of considerable importance in his own land. "But, " as he wrote in a letter dated June 14th last, "it is enough for me that it is known that I have such dynasties. On my father's side I prefer to be spokesman for my entire country, 'Africa, my Africa.' On my mother's side I prefer the stool, the golden stool of education. I want all my people, my countrymen, men and women, to be educated in the larger sense in the hand, the heart, and the head, and thus render Africa indispensable in spiritual, intellectual and common civil products to the world."
3 ~3
The story of his journey to America for more education, after he had become a teacher at the Cape Ooast, is well known. In 1896 he accompanied his father to Kumasi on the Prempeh expedition, attached as interpreter to the Royal Telegraph Battalion. "I was present," he wrote, "that Sunday when Canon Taylor Smith (now Bishop) preached his remarkable sermon and I was standing next to the late Prince Christian."
At Salisbury, North Carolina, he followed the trade of compositor, which he had learned in the vVesleyan School, and also reporter. He also studied, and took charge of two rural churches. Here in the social work he began to get close to the social problems of his people. When he left Livingstone College, Salisbury, for Achimota, after twenty-five years in the United States, he possessed twelve degrees, some from Columbia University, New York, including doctorates in theology, literature, philosophy and psychology.
He was invited to join the first Phelps Stokes Educational Commission to West Africa in 1921 and his tact, his insight and his power of interpretation of the African outlook led to another invitation to join the East African Commission two year later. "He was the most valuable man we had with us," said Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, the chairman. This Commission gave him special opportunities to show his power, not only to interpret the mind of his own race, but to reconcile white and black in areas where prejudice and misunderstanding are too common. Dr. Loram, one of the South African Native Affairs Commissioners, pressed him to become a professor at Fort Hare. Aggrey had virtually accepted when the invitation came to help in the building up of Achimota. "I believed," he said, "that the greater service to Africa would be done by giving an object lesson of what might be done in this great experiment in ",Vest Africa, and so I decided to go as lieutenant to that great man, Alec Fraser."
What his passing will mean for that great institution in Africa none can say. "He will be an irreparable loss," said a high Gold Coast official. "Aggrey was an invaluable interpreter of the African to the white man and of the white man to the African."
"He it was who persuaded me to go to Achimota," the Rev. A. G. Fraser, Principal of the Prince of Wales's College, writes: "Never had a man a more loyal fellow worker, and he was invaluable in the special work he had to do. I have had many good things in life, but one of the best has been to know Aggrey intimately and well." Rev. J. H. Oldham, Secretary of the International Missionary Council, and member of the Colonial Office Education Committee, has called Aggrey "the greatest living African." All who knew him well felt that even such a description was not unjustified.
He was also an apostle of laughter, of the smile which wears
A GREAT AFRICAN CHRISTIAN
down scowls, and the attitude of mind which is the essence of the Sermon on the Mount; while glorying to be an African, he sought to be a bridg'e of understanding between his own and other races.
Above all Dr. Aggrey was a great Christian. "The one thing I am most proud of "he said in his last letter to me, "is my conversion to Christ. God understands me and makes me work harder every day to reach His stand for me, because, wonderful to relate, He has such faith in me. I pray in deep humility that I may never disappoint Him."
An Experiment in African Education BY THE REV. F. W. COBB, M.A.
H ISTORY is being made in the annals of the Gold Coast where, recently, the first all-black university flung open its doors in welcome to the five hundred students who will form the nucleus of an institution of which great things are expected.
In a single generation the lives and outlook of thousands of Africans on the West Coast have been changed as if a magician's wand had passed over the land. To these changes many circumstances have contributed, and foremost amongst these have been the opening up of great territories, a rapid influx of Europeans, and a vast increase in the country's trade.
With the expanding life of the African has not unnaturally come an insistent demand for education, and it is to meet this that the British Government has voted from funds provided by local taxes a sum of £500,000 for founding a college, with an addtional £50,000 annually for its maintenance. In this move of far-reaching importance the Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Gordon Guggisberg, gave a splendid lead, and the result has been the founding of the Prince of Wales College on the hill of Achimota, overlooking the town of Accra.
On the opening day, Sir Gordon Guggisberg described Achimota as "the main gateway on the highroad of the progress of the Africans." Here in the four square miles of territory given up to the C~llege everything that experience and ingenuity can devise will be introduced to ensure success.
The central aim of this great educational experiment will not be to exploit or to Europeanize the African but to enable him to stand on his feet in the high realms of life. Here he will be taught the essentials of true and worthy leadership of his own people. He will be trained to teach, and to train others to teach, and a similar aim will be centralized in such other industries as engineering, farming and merchandise, while the girls-for Achimota includes both sexes-when they receive practical training in home-
making, besides general education, will be learning how to shape the new homes that will go so far to make a new Africa. Underlying all the college efforts, whether amongst boys or girls, will be the aim to make them worthy Christian citizens.
Sports will occupy an important place at Achimota, and large playing-fields have been laid out where the African boys and girls, besides developing mind and muscle, may learn those qualities of endurance and unsefishness which all true sport should mature.
Achimota is to be the mainspring of a peaceful revolution, not a university merely, but the keystone of a far-seeing government scheme destined ultimately to include colleges, secondary and elementary schools, and kindergartens throughout the length and breadth of the land. These will be staffed by West African teachers all keenly interested in developing a new and higher civilization for the land they love.
Of first importance has been the selection of the leaders. It is no exaggeration to say that the world has been searched in order to find the right men. The Colonial Office chose two principals, black and white; the Rev. A. G. Fraser and Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey.
The white man is known to his friends the world over as "Alec Fraser." A lithe, wiry man, he has been a wonderfully successful leader of youth in circumstances that have tested his powers to the full. Mr. Basil Mathews thus describes him in his arresting little book, "Black Treasure": "Alec ]~raser ….. is in this new adventure in the same spirit that nerved him to struggle through the mud and blood and barbed wire of the Great War. The very breath of his nostrils is to do new things for the freedom of the world in comradeship with other races-it is the spirit that he absorbed as a boy in Scotland, and as a young man watching his father, Sir Andrew Fraser, serving the people of India as Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal; the spirit that he breathed into others in building up a wonderful college for the boys of Asia at Kandy, in Ceylon."
Dr. Aggrey (whose death has just been recorded) has a record as excellent as that of his British colleague. Born on the Gold Coast in a leading family of the Fanti tribe, he was himself a chief, and as a boy went to school near the old slave castle where in past years men or his own tribe were penned in filthy dungeons while waiting for the slave ship to take them to America. Aggrey found his way to America, and there, after a course at Livingstone College, he went on to Columbia University, where he took the highest degree in philosophy. One who knew him well has thus described him: "A cheery African gentleman, consecrated to the service of God and of his own people, who burns with desire to lift them to where they should be." It is a great experiment, which many will watch with sympathetic interest.
A. N . POR1' ER AND HER MEXICAN BAPTIST KI Nl)ERGARTEN
Among the Mexicans in Texas BY JOSEPH MARTIN DAWSON, WACO, TEXAS T HE Mexican population in T exas, which normally numbers about a million, is being considerably augumented by priests and nuns from across the Rio Grande, They are fleeing from the rigors of the enforcement of Mexican religious laws and in consequence there has been started a renaissance of Catholic devotion among the immigrants in Texas.
This little mission was organized in the basement of the First Baptist Church of Waco some years ago by Dr. A. J. Barton, then p astor, now executive head of Southern Baptists at Nashville, Tennessee. Upon the abolition of W aco's restricted vice district, once the notorious center of basest wickedness, North Second Street became the home of the Mexican Bautista Iglesia. One of the largest of th e former houses of ill-fame was purchased by the Mission Boa rd for the ch urch and here the Mission has remained to cleanse the district. "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle."
During fifteen years this little mission, four hundred miles from the border, counts evangelism its greatest means of victory. During this period its pastors have baptized more than seven hundred Mexican converts, chiefly adults. This despite the fact that at the present, when the church registers the highest enrollment of its history, many transient members have gone on to other communities to help establish other church es.
These Mexicau Christians, breaking away from Roman Catholicism, are intensely missionary in spirit. Their state conventions are marked by great missionary ardor. When, due to the financial 757
stringency, Dr. C. D. Daniel, the superintendent of Mexican Baptist missions in Texas was withdrawn, the Mexican Baptist pastors earnestly protested and said: "We must have Dr. Daniel with us. He won us to Christ and he has been a father to us in the ministry." One said, "Take ten dollars out of my salary"; others said, "Take five dollars per month out of my salary and apply it to the salary of Dr. DanieL" Thus $150.00 a month was provided for by workers, many of whom were receiving only fifty dollars a month.
If the American pastors and members should meet their challenge, there would be no debt on the Home Mission Board within a few months.
The Waco Mission is presided over by Rev. and Mrs. A. N. Porter, formerly at the head of the Baptist College in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Mrs. Porter conducts a kindergarten and has been able to promote twelve of her pupils recently to the public schools. She also carries on cooking and sewing classes in which she is assisted by young ladies from Baylor University. On Thursday evenings Mr. Porter, assisted by teachers from the public schools, conducts free classes in English, not only for the children but for adults, some of whom are old men, the classes being graded according to the advancement of the pupils.
The midweek prayermeeting in this EttIe Mexican church of 120, notwithstanding the fact that many of the members live miles in the country and have no automobiles to transport them, has. an attendance of over fifty a week. On Sunday at 9: 30 in the morning the Bible School is held and lasts until noon. At 3 0 'clock comes the Sunbeam Band, 30 strong; at 4 o'clock the B. Y. P. U., with 24 young people, and at night the evangelistic preaching service.
The Mexican is much misunderstood. He has no disclosures for the rude. There is resentment against the patronizing and there is vengeance for injustice and cruelty. He is patient, industrious, patriotic, religious. If energized by the illuminating spirit of the Gospel, he is an asset to the world in the present time of need.
A wealthv Mexican from Chihuahua said to me: "Your Christian mission ~chools along the border of Texas are doing more to bring about g'ood will between Mexico and the United States than any other one thing. They have unmeasured possibilities. Keep them going."
RELIGION A NECESSITY, NOT A LUXURY Striking testimony is being given in many quarters to the necessity of religion as a means for holding intad the social structure. Experience shows that irreligion dissolves hnman society. The Jate .Tames Bryce, in his work on South America, wrote: "Both the intenectual life and the ethical standards of conduct in these countries seem to be entirely divorced from religion." The impossibility of making such a situation work has been forced home upon several South American governments. Accordingly, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay are cooperating with the YOUllg Men's Christian Association in the efforts to establish a spiritual basis for life in South America. .Tapallose statesmen have also frankly declared the necessity of religion as a basis of national life.
Churches in
BY FREDERIC S. GOOD)1AN, NEW YORK Secretary of the American Walden sian Aid Society M AY fifteenth was a day of rejoicing for the Waldensian Chris- tian~ ?f Sicily. In the presence of the pastors and evangelists of SICIly, and a crowd of members and visitors, the beautiful new building for the church in Palermo was dedicated. The Moder- ator of the ,'Valdensians, Signor Leger of Home, conducted the serv- ices and the sermon was preached by Signor Fasulo of Catania. A conference on evangelism, and a spiritual retreat, participated in by the officers and workers of Sicily, occupied the two following days.
'1'he church at Palermo has been waitilig patiently for a new building for more than fifteen years. The old property on a growing business street was sold and the new site purchased, but when Italy entered the war all such enlargements had to wait.
The fine day school of over one hundred boys and girls, the Sun- day-school and the other features of a city church, as well as im- portant evangelistic .activities, were maintained amid steadily in- creased difficulties. The church has now one hundred and fifty-five communicant members and added twenty-seven last year. The THE WAJJDENSIAN CHURCH, PALERMO, SICILY church at Catania, with 200 mem- bers, is the only one of the nine organized Waldensian churches in Sicily with a larger membership tli.an that at Palermo.
The beautiful new building, exclusive of lot, cost about $55,000.
The equipment is being provided by special gifts. The organ, de- signed especially for this church, and $1,000 towards the educational equipment are covered by gifts from the New York Branch of the American Waldensian Aid Society. The importance of the completion and dedication of this building, in the capital city of Sicily, can hardly be overestimated. This is the great port city, with a population of 300,000, It is the military, political, commercial, educational and ecclesiastical headquarters of 759
Sicily. Great cathedrals and monuments of earlier civilizations attract many visitors. How fitting that the oldest evangelical church in the world should have here its appropriate house of worship and center of Christian work!
Probably no other part of Italy offers to the Valdensian Church :J more promising field for evangelism and Christian education, than does Sicily. The sad statistics of illiteracy of the island (reported as over seventy per cent), the poor educational facilities in many places, and the gross superstitions of multitudes of the people, have made a !Strong appeal to the Valdensians for more than forty years. Against big odds, and out of their own poverty they have planted missions, built humble churches and started schools. They have now nine organized churches and twenty out-stations, in the island, with a communicant membership of 955, adding 113 last year.
The pastor at Palermo, who is also superintendent of the mission work of Sicily, is Signor Rinaido Malan. He will welcome visitors at the new church and manse, centrally located at Via Spezia, 61, near the beautiful Garibaldi Memorial on Via La I..Jiberta.
The writer has visited all but one of their churches, and has seen the children at work in the day schools. Some of these schools enroll over 400 pupils, three-fourths of whom come from Roman Catholic homes. Every child has daily Bible study, and the children learn to sing with enthusiasm the beautiful Waldensian hymns. Hundreds of the Sicilians thus come within hearing of the evangel in the 'VaIdensian services, and the Gospel is shown again to be "the power of God unto salvation," to all those wherever they live who hear and receive Christ by faith. It is impossible to estimate the silent influence of the faithful testimony, such as was borne about two years ago, by a family that moved from Riesi to Piazza Amerina. The former town is a sulphur mining settlement in the center of Sicily and the latter is the capital of a province in the eastern section of the island. This Christian family began to tell the" Good News" to their neighbors and as a result, inside of a year, ten fathers had confessed Christ, and ten families were ready to form a church. Sicily is ready for an advance step in the preaching of the Christian evangel.
Why Roman Cathollcs Need to Be Evangelized 1. Because multitudes of them are ignorant of the Gospel of Christ as proclaimed in the New Testament.
2. Because their religious leaders do not give them the Gospel or salvation through Christ by raith-but substitute salvation by works.
3·. Because their Church does not encourage them to read the Bible so that they may become intelligent Christians.
4. Because their Church interposes the Virgin Mary and canonized mortals between the suppliant sinner and the Saviour.
5. Because their Church encourages many superstitious beliefs-as in relies, charms, etc.
6. Because many of their priests are ignorant aud immoral and exaet money for bapHsm, marriage, mass and other religious sacrameuts.
7. Because Roman Catholics truly converted to Christ testify to the new life and light, peace and power that have come to them through the evangelical Gospel.
Louis Stevenson and Missions *
BY REV. J. W. BURTON, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA T HERE is little doubt that the first state of Robert Louis Stevenson, in relation to Foreign MissionS', is that of many an uninformed writer today, and the manner in which his point of view was changed is one of the romances of literature. The quiet, persistent pressure of facts completely changed his attitude, and the bohemian "R. L. S.," who has charmed a world with his stories, poems and essays, actually became a Sunday-school teacher in a Samoan mission school, and a supporter of missions' to the day of his death!
"I suppose," he writes, in a paper read before a missionary meeting in Sydney in 1893, "I am in the position of many persons. I had conceived a great prejudice against missions in the South Seas. I had no sooner come there than that prejudice was reduced, and then at last annihilated. Those who deblaterate against missions have only one thing to do, to come and see them on the spot. They will see a great deal of good done, they will see a race being forwarded in many different directions, and, I believe, if they be honest persons, they will cease to complain of mission work and its effects. At the same time, and infallibly in all sublunary matters, they will see a great deal of harm done. I am very glad to think that the new class of missionaries are by no means so radical as their predecessors. I have spoken to many missionaries, and I have pleasure to say that the most intelligent among them are of one opinion, and that the true one. They incline to think that it is beiSt to proceed by little and little, and not by much and much."
It was in the Marquesas Islands that Stevenson first came into touch with the missionary on the spot, and his picture of the Pere Simeon, is one of the finest he has ever drawn. "I had feared to meet a missionary, feared to find the narrowness and the self-sufficiency that deface their publications, that too often disgrace their behaviour." But in Pere Simeon he found man tru1y serving in the Spirit of Christ, whos'e business it was "to smooth the pillows of this dying family of man." ….. .
It was, however, during his long residence in Samoa, where he built himself a beautiful home at Vailima, some four miles from Apia, that he came into the most intimate and sympathetic touch with missionary work, and there the missionaries were among his closest and most valued friends. Of the Rev. W. E. Clarke, a London Missionary Society missionary, he writes: "The excellent Clarke up here almost all day yesterday, a man I esteem and like to the soles * The Miossionary Review of the Methodist Church of Australia. 761
of his boots; I prefer him to anyone in Samoa, and to most people in the world; a real good missionary, with the inestimable advantage of having grown up a layman. Pity they can't all get that!"
Stevenson grew impatient with those easy critics of missions who blame without discrimination the heroic efforts of these comparatively unknown workerS': "Those who have a taste for hearing missions, Catholic or Protestant, decried, must seek their pleasure elsewhere than in my pages. Whether Catholic or Protestant, with all their gross blots, with all their deficiency of candor, of humor, and of commonsense, the missionaries are the best and most useful whites in the Pacific."
In the quality of the converts he rejoices and adds this testimony: "The best specimen of a Christian hero I ever met was one of the native missionaries."
It was' James Chalmers, the pioneer missionary to New Guinea, that captivated Stevenson's imagination and turned him into a heroworshipper. Writing to his mother on board the S. S. Lubeck, between Sydney and Tonga, he says: " We have a very interesting party on board. Messrs. Chalmers and Hunt, of the London Society, and Mr. Brown, of the vVesleyan. Chalmers and Brown are pioneer missionaries, splendid men, with no humbug, plenty of courage, and the love of adventure. I have become a terrible missionaryite of late days: very much interested in their work, errors, and merits. Perhaps it's in the blood, though it has been a little slow in coming out. No, to be sure, I always liked the type. Chalmers, a big, stout, wildish-Iooking man, iron-gray, with big bold black eyes, and a deep straight furrow down each cheek. JEtat forty to forty-five."
Over and over again Chalmers is mentioned in his letters. To his close friend, Sidney Colvin, to whom most of tl1e "Vailima Letters" were written, he says: "I wistl you to get Pioneering in New Guinea, by .T. Chalmers. It's a missionary book, and has less pretentions to be literature than Spurgeon's Sermons. Yet I think even through that, you will see some of the traits of the hero that wrote it; a man that took one fairly by storm for the most attractive, simple, brave, and interesting man in the whole Pacific."
A year later he writes to Professor Baildon: "I could hardly change (life) with any man of my time, unless perhaps it were Gordon or our friend Chalmers: a man I admire for his virtues, love for his faults, and envy for the really Al life he has…… I shall look forward to some record of your time with Chalmers. You can't weary me of that fellow: he is as big as a house and far bigger than any church."
Little wonder then that Stevenson confided to Chalmers himself in a letter written shortly before the latter's death: "But, oh! Tamate! if I had met you when I was a boy and a bachelor, how different my life would have been."
I Am the Immigrant"
BY FREDERWK J. HASKIN I am the immigrant. Since the dawn of creation my restless feet have beaten new paths across the earth. My uneasy bark has tossed on all seas. My wanderlust was born of the craving for more liberty and a better wage for the sweat of my face. I looked towards the United States with eyes kindled by the fire of ambition and heart quickened with new-born hope. I approached its gates with great expectation. I entered in with fine hope. I have shouldered my burden as the American man-of-all- work. I contribute eighty-five per cent of all the labor in the slaugh- tering and meat-packing industries. I do seven-tenths of the bituminous coal mining. I do seventy-eight per cent of all the work in the woolen mills. I contribute nine-tenths of all the labor in the cotton mills. I make nineteen-twentieths of all the clothing. I manufacture more than half the shoes. I build four-fifths of all the furniture. I make half of the collars, cuffs and shirts. I turn out four-fifths of all the leather. I make half the gloves. I refine nearly nineteen-twentieths of the sugar. I make half of the tobacco and cigars. And yet, I am the great American problem. When I pour out my blood on your altar of labor, and lay down my life as a sacrifice to your god of toil, men make no more comment than at the fall of a sparrow. But my brawn is woven into the warp and woof of the fabric of your national being. My children shall be your children and your land shall be my land because my sweat and my blood will cement the foundations of the America of Tomorrow. If I can be fused into the body politic the melting pot will have stood the supreme test.
'" From The Immigrant.
763 BY H. J. SHEETS, BAREILLY, INDIA W HY preach to us illiterate folks ~ We can't understand your message." '['ranslated into plain Anglo-Saxon, this was the Oriental's way of telling us to "move on." Vhy this hostile reception? For a week we had been most cordially received by both Hindus and Moslems, and given a splendid sympathetic hearing.
As we moved on, men in the fields stopped their work to stare at us. When we drew nigh to the next village no children appeared to greet us and the women with fear on their faces beat a hasty retreat. A few men armed with clubs came out.
In tl1is unfriendly atmosphere we began to sing and then to preach. Gradually the people became interested, but still held on to their clubs. More men came-not one without a bludgeon-but the women and children remained conspicuous by their absence.
Songs and addresses finally succeeded in winning their confidence. Then we were told that the day before some men had come in a motor (we were in the missionary motor lorry) and entering a near-by village had kidnapped a child. The report has spread that nine children in all had been captured and carried way. I recalled that a new bridge was being built over the Ganges river and that word had been circulated by the worshipers of Mother Ganges that to placate her for this indigllity sixty children must be sacrificed. These superstitious villagers had taken us for kidnappers.
"Had we been Moslems and not Hindus," they frankly affirmed, "we would first have beaten you and then made inqUiries. In fact had not the Sahib (meaning me) been with you, we would have cudgeled you any way. We were sure that having come in a motor you could have only one purpose. "Vhen we saw you were carrying a box (harmonium) our suspicions were confirmed, for we felt sure you brought it along to stow a child away."
This ·week's evangelistic effort has convinced me that there is a most amazing and gratifying change in the attitude of the Moslems. As a rule they combine the disposition of the wolf and the lion and are never so happy as when attacking or devouring you. Controversial, intolerant, bigoted, they are hard to reach. But though we visited not less than ten villages where only Moslems live and though two of OUr men were tactless and controversial, the Moslems showed a most beautiful spirit of tolerance and receptiveness. The deity of Jesus and other questions came Up for discussion which in the past would have been tantamount to waving a red flag before a bull, but they were discussed in a truly Christian spirit. One young man followed after the rest had gone and told us that for years he had been a reader of the New Testament and asked us to teach him more about Jesus. We hope that he may become a true Christian.
764 ijjJ]M CUdDlf!$" {5 WWsn"'wvU'u",;UW""
By MRS. DAN B. BRUMMITT, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS DR. CAVERT'S BOOK-A PAGEANT (b) Nationalism.
As a textbook for the women of (c) Internationalism. Protestantism we believe that "The Adventure of the Church," by Sam- 4. What should be the goal of the Church' (a) World fellowship. (b) Missions.
uel McCrea Cavert, has no superior. (c) Kingdom of God.
Any woman who has forgotten churc.h 5. Define missions. history will in the study of thIS What do home and foreign fields have volume make a voyage of rediscovery in eommon~ which brings widened horizons and (a) Race questions. reveals new worlds of thought. * (b) World peace. (c) Industrial problems.
In introducing the author, do not CHAPTER II was a lovely, colorful neglect the peautiful paragraph in biblical pageant. Scripture characthe Preface beginning with the words, ters marched in stately procession "Most of all to Miss Twila Lytton." through the early history of Chris- Tell your class that "the discussion, tianity. Costumes were made of chapter by chapter," the" discerning cheap but bright-hued material, coninsight," and the" comradeship" cul- sisting of the long kimono-like underminated not only in a fine book, but garment, the flowing c 0 at s . 0 f also in the lovely wedding of this in- contrasting color, and a long straIght terested twain, on June 28, 1927. piece for the headdress, bound to the head by a cord around the brow and Make a careful outline of CHAPTER low on the back of the head. I in your own notebook; then go before your class with crayon and a Love was the only character who good blackboard. By skillful ques- was not in color. She was clad in tions, lead the students to develop the spotless white. outline. Mine was as follows: The leader was the interlocutor.
1. Do yon believe our Gospel? With a few words, she bound the (a) Do your religious convictions make characters into a harmonious. whole. a difference in your living1 The characters came on the platform (b) Do you believe in the God whom with open Bibles in hand. The order Christ revealed 1 (3,) Does your belief show itself in of the chapter was changed somewhat, service' All classes-all colors-all nations-all cultures ~ but all the material was used.
2. Define fellowship in the Gospel. First came "The Chosen People" (p. (a) Fellowship with God is not apart 48), showing the background of Judaism. from man. She read Psalm 2: 8, 9 and Exodus 23: 22. Cb) Fellowship with man is not apart from God. Second: The Jews become complacent (c) Fellowship knows sin t? b~ :obb.ing (p. 50). Amos 5: 22·24. Amos 3: 2. economically, color dIscnmlnatlOn, Amos 9: 7.
caste, etc. Third: Enlarging views (p. 52). Isaiah 60: 1 to 14.
Fourth: A protest against the narrow- 3. How shall we develop fellowship' ness of the day. Jonah 1: 1 to 5, 14 to 16.
Ca) Brotherhood between capital and Jonah 3: 1 to 4. Jonah 4: 1 to 4.
labor. Fifth . Jesus' idea of man is universal.
(p. 61): "Humanity." .Luke 15: 1 to 15.
* Copies of our outline, printed for use in the Sixth: A protest agamst exelusweness.
various classes, are now !=m. sale for ten cents each (p.68). "Race." John 4: 7 to 15. Luke at the various home mISSIon offices where there 10: 25, 37. arei Methodist headquarters.
765
/Seventh: The motive for Kingdom bUild- of terrol.' in the last of the persecuing (p. 65). "Love." Matt. 22: 35, 40. tions, from 303 to 313 A.. D., when the Scdptures were burned and Matt. 5: 43, 44. Matt. 18: 21, 22. Eighth: God is Universal (p. 59).
"Evangelist." John 4: 20 to 26. Matt. chmches were destroyed. The map 5: 43 to 48. showed no progress of Christianity in this period. Ninth: The result is (p. 71 and 72) " The Missionary.' , Luke 9: 52 to 55.
Luke 9: 57 to 59. Woman No.4 portrayed "The Im- After all characters had tal,en perial Church," with Constantine their places in a semi-circle on the raising a banner on which was a stage, a chord was struck on the piano cross and the words In Hoc Signo and one verse was sung of "0 Zion Vinces ("by this sign conquer") and Haste, Thy Mission High Fulfilling," followed by one verse of "Where told of the founding of Constanti- Cross the Crowded Ways of Life." nople. There was no missionary de- velopment of Christianity on the Many of the women decided that world map.
they would ask their pastors to allow Woman No. 5 interested us with them to use this little pageant in the the story of the old, yet ever new, devotional service which precedes his controversy over the doctrine of the missionary sermon. Trinity and she told of the formation The greatest and most difficult task of the Nicene Creed. She read the of this study was the presentation of earlier form of the Christian creed, the whole history of Christianity. It now known as the Apostles' Creed.
was for this task that the printed out- Woman No.5 pointed out quickly line was prepared for class use. the growth of the monastic spirit, the I suggest that Chapters III and V invasion of Rome by the Goths, Van- be used together. You will need an dals., Saxons and Angles. She closed outline map of the world for this with NOl.'th Africa claimed for Chris- study, and some sheets of colored tianity by Augustine, Bishop of bristol board. I used Hurlbut's Hippo. The leader placed a segment "Short Story 0 f the Christian of color on North Africa and claimed Church" and its divisions into pe- it for Christ..
riods as a basis for my little sketchy Woman No.6 had a tragic assign- history of Christianity in the printed ment. She pictured the rise and outline, placed in the hands of my spread of Mohammedanism. The class. leader placed a large irregular piece Woman No.1 took as her assign- of cardboard on the world map which ment "The Apostolic Church" and brought a gasp of dismay from the told briefly of the birth, life, cruci- class, for lo! most of the early con· fixion, and ascension of Jesus Christ, quests of Christianity were obliterated c los i n g with "The Pentecostal by the growth of Islam.
Church." The leader placed a tiny Woman No. 7 told briefly of the bit of living green over the place Crusades, showing how natural, yet where Palestine showed in the outline how harmful, was the desire to rescue map of the world. the Holy Sepulchre from the hands Woman No_ 2 took "The Expand- of the infidel.
ing Church," and told of the jour- Woman No.8 started the story of neys of Paul, Philip, and Peter, of "The Reformed Church." To her Paul's journeys with Silas and Timo- came the joy of telling about Peter thy. When she had finished, the Waldo, John Wyclif, John Hus, and leader placed in the Mediterranean Savonarola. There was no develop.
area another color, which covered all ment on the world map in this period.
the territory touched by these jour- Woman No. 9 took the period neys. known as "The Reformation" and Woman No. 3 took "The Perse- told of the dpirsecsosv,earyndofthge umnaproiwnedre'r~ cuted Church," telling of the reign the printing
BEST METHODS
compass. Hcr joyous task was to de- camc a mute appeal for an enlarged scribe the courage of Martin Luther, world-wide program.
Zwingli, John Calvin, and John CHAPTER IV. "'rhe Adventure in Knox. No development on the world America" was taught by the use of map. ten questions.
Woman No. 10 briefly suggested 1. In what sense can David Crockett and points in "The Counter Reformation. " She told of the Inquisition in Daniel Boone be considered as missionaries 1 Spain and France, and the founding 2. Trace the influence of the Haystack of the Order of the Jesuits which did meeting in Home and Foreign Missions.
3. What is the idea of Home Mission development in America ¥ missionary work in Mexico, South 4. Has any change taken place in the America, and the Orient. The leader Home Mission task in fifty years ~ placed color over these portions of the map, amid the protestings of the 5. What do you consider the three great class. tasks of Christian America today' Woman No. 11 developed rapidly 6. Is your Board of Missions equal to the "Growth of Puritanism" and the this task f 7. Are the Social Ideals of the Churches practica ble?
8. Is America a Christian Nation'
rise of the historic churches known Why' today as Presbyterian, Congregation- 9. Name a new task you are going to al, and Baptist. She showed the decline of interest, in the beginning of assume. 10. What new word are you going to put in your year's program'
the eighteenth century, which made CHAPTER VI. "The Adventurous the Wesleyan revival necessary. The Task for Our Generation" falls natleader placed a thin line of color urally into subjects for discussion along the Eastern coast of North groups. America, to indicate the location of the thirteen original colonies. An in- 1. New Frontiers for Missionary Pioterested group of women cheered gleefully. neers. 2. Western Civilization VB. Christianity. Woman No. 12 had been asked to 3. My Church in its Practice of Brother- hood.
take from Chapter V, (p. 150) the 4. Prove the Theory of One God. story of William Carey, and the 5. Define the Term "Heathen." leader placed India on the world map. 6. Latest News from China and Mexico.
Woman No. 13 related the story of We believe that every woman went Robert Morrison, (page 154) and the out from the study realizing that leader placed China on the map. "the final and perennial need is for Woman No. 14 briefly told the won- a deeper experience of God, revealed derful stories of Robert Moffat and through Christ, on the part of the David Livingstone, and the continent individual.' , of Africa anneared on the world map. MISS BURTON'S BOOK Woman No. 15 read up on the story of John Williams, (p. 15:7), and The following methods have been the leader placed over the islands of used with success in presenting Miss the South Pacific a large splash of Burton's "New Paths for Old Pur- color. poses," in five summer schools. The Woman No. 16 related the story methods may not be very wonderful, of Guido Verbeck and the going of but they show that if one will give seven mISSIOnaries from America to girls a chance they will make good Japan, and that country was placed use of almost any method. Let the on the world's map. imagination loose and let the young The call of Tibet, Afghanistan, folks get joy out of the book.
Mongolia, Chinese Turkestan, and Your first lesson will be "Tea for Baluchistan was voiced, as were the Five," not Chapter I-though that needs of Arabia, Persia and the Ma- is exactly what it is. Have real tea lay Archipelago. The world map be- and wafers and lemon and "things."
Let the "leading woman" be the hos- Chapter II is "Making a Scrap- tess, entertaining four guests: Eng- book." The scene opens with a group lish women No.1 and 2, and American of girls sitting on the floor and going women No.1 and 2. Let the party through a lot of newspapers and start with pouring tea, which is too magazines. Scissors are used freely strong for the American women, but by the girls and their leader, who just right for the English women. sits at a table before a huge loose- The hostess leads by saying that she leaf scrapbook. A tube of paste and just must talk about the latest meet- a box of candy complete the list of ing of the mission board of which stage accessories.
she is a member and at which every- Let the leader begin with the para- one expressed the opinion that "mis- graph in the lower edge of page 25, sions" are changing. Then follows a It has been said that the recent indusbit of dialogue. trialization of the East constitutes a fresh English woman No.1. "It seems challenge to Christianity the world over.
'extraordinary' (say it as they do, "Now, I am so glad," says the eliding the 'a') that I do not see cow- leader, "to have you girls help me boys and Indians here in your won- find news of this industrial situation derful America. I have not even the world over. Suppose you let me seen anyone who looked like a have what you find about China first, pioneer 1" then Japan, and, lastly, India." America.n woman No.1. "No, you A girl calls out, "Here is somewon't see many cowboys and Indians, thing on silk filatures, that means facexcept in certain sections out West, tories where silk is wound from the but my own parents were what might cocoons, doesn't it? Let me read it." be called pioneers. I was a baby The girl then reads from her newswhen we went to Oklahoma to live." paper a careful digest of the para- (See p 1, speak especially of reciting graph on page 27 which she has pages of Dickens.) prepared and pasted in the newspa- EngUsh woman No.2. "How in- per.
teresting! I'd love to take her to a The leader says that it is just what certain street in my London and she wants, so the article is clipped show her' The Old Curiosity Shop' in and handed to the leader who pastes the traditional spot where Dickens it in her scrapbook.
knew it." Draw upon other material in the English woman No.1. "But do chapter, being careful to make the you really have what you call a home articles short and crisp. Use about mission problem in America?" seven girls, asking each to prepare one "clipping" on some country. Hostess gives the answer, as she Keep the candy box going, use scisdoes in all the items of information sors and paste freely, chat, and have to be brought out, such as: a good time.
1. New occasions teach new duties. Let Chapter III be a meeting of 2. New circumstances of which Christian "The Cosmopolitan Club." In my missions must take notice, such as inter- dependence, the world a whispering gallery, class at Northfield we had a "really truly" Japanese, an Armenian, an the effect of movies, world travel. Italian, a Negro, and a German, with 3. Missionary message of today is our three or four Americans.
entire national life (p. 11). 4. Read from "The Christ of the Indian Road" extracts from Chapter III, "The The contents of this chapter on Great Hindrance." "Christian Missions and Modern In- dustry," were assigned to girls who 5. Today's challenge, the hunger for God, had made careful preparation of the need for education and evangelism to be restated, the doing away with geographi- cal barriers (p. 211), and last, but most "speeches" for the meeting. The important, the appeal of today to the spirit meeting was formally called to order, of sacrifice and heroism. If you will chat, the subject for discussion was stated, and sip tea and be natural, this goes well.
and there followed such excellent For the fine, world-wide, last chapspeeches that not only the Club but ter, let the meeting take the form of the audience cheered each speech. a Resolutions Committee. Let the leader read the preamble and the The leader must say little, of girls the" whereases," which must be course, but she must tie the speeches carefully prepared in advance or together. At Northfield, she was they will be too long. needed to provide a handkerchief for the darling Armenian girl to whom For subject matter, let me suggest: the session became so real that her emotion caused her to extemporise on (a) Appreciation of abilities and talents her real Christian experience, to the of other races. delight of those who heard her. (b) Recognition of the desire for God Chapters IV and V were used as in every human heart. a kind of "free for all" discussion group, on such questions as, "What (c) Forms of worship more important is your motive in doing missionary than church buildings. work among colored races,1" "Name (d) The supreme significance of Jesus Christianity's greatest foe, and don't Christ and the insignificance of denomina· say Mohammedanism." "If you tionalism. were a missionary to China, what would you ask of this group f" (e) Christ greater than Christianity.
(f) Recognition of the natural growing spirit of nationalism.
(g) The change in Christian Missions from leaders and followers to a fellowship in a world-wide task.
PRINOIPLES OF OHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP 1. The following principles should be recognized by the Christian who would relate himself intelligently to property, income, wages and wealth: (1) God is the Owner of all things. (2) God invites men to subdue the earth and possess it. (3) Under grace, man is a steward to hold and administer his possessions as a sacred trust. (4) God's ownership ought to be acknowledged. (5) Biblical history records and extraordinary history recognize the setting apart of the tenth of the income as that acknowledgment; there is indicated a divine sanction for the practice and the amount. (6) God's ownership and man's stewardship are best evidenced by the s,ystematic application of this portion of income to the advancement of the Kingdom and by the faithful use of the balance of income not set aside. 2. The following methods should be pursued by the Christian who would administer wisely his stewardship of material possessions: (1) Actual or constructive separation of the proportion of income which complies with the foregoing principles. (2) A written pledge in advance for the regular work of the church (local budget and benevolence budget). (3) A weekly payment of the amounts prescribed; offered as an act of worship at a public service, if this is possible; otherwise held until offering may be made. (4) Payments from time to time, out of the portion set aside but not previously pledged, to special causes. (5) Careful, intelligent, personal and prayerful consideration of the uses to be made of the whole of income and wealth; this will require study of the local, national and world-wide program of the Church and of the full stewardship of life itself. (6) Freewill offerings, thank-offerings and gifts.
4
History Test On Moslem
PREPARED BY BELLE M. BRAIN, SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK WHAT IS YOUR S(JORE1 T HE following twenty questions may be used to test your knowledge of missions in Moslem Lands. Grade yourself and your friends by the percentage of correct replies. Twenty correct answers score 100 per cent, ten correct answers 50 per cent, and so on. The answers will be found on page 792, but do not consult them until you have tried to answer the questions. You will be interested to discover your score.
1. Approximately what is the Mohammedan population of the world 1 2. In what two countries of Asia is the population wholly Mohammedan?
3. What countries in Asia have no ,Moslem problem f 4. Which country has the largest Moslem population of any in the world T 5. Where are there nearly 200,000 Moslems for whom no Christian missionary is at work ~ 6. Where is Mohammedanism making its largest advance at the present time? 7. What famous battle checked Moslem advance in Western Europe 1 8. What is the watchword of Islam 1 9. How many times a day and at what hours must a Mohammedan pray 1 10. What is the sacred book of Islam and how does it compare in length with the New Testament? 11. What are the two most sacred centers of the Mohammedan world 1 12. Who was the first Christian missionary to the Moslems? 13. Who was the first, modern missionary to the Moslems? 14. What two great missionaries translated the Bible into Arabic, the sacred language of Islam V 15. What champion bicycle rider of Great Britain and contributor to the Encyclopedia Brittanica founded a mission for Moslems in Arabia? 16. What missionaries, still living, founded the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in America? 17. What famous English missionary bishop, after 40 years' work in India, went to Muscat to work for the Moslems of Arabia? 18. What young millionaire alumnus of Yale enlisted for work among the Moslems of China and died at Cairo en route to his. field? 19. Who is said to have been the most distinguished of all Moslem converts in India during the 19th century7 20. What young Syrian, said to have been the first Moslem convert to preach Christ in Arabia, died after 16 months' work under suspicious circumstances that pointed to poisoning1 770
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 105 E. 22ND STREET, NEW YORK RELIGIOUS WORK AMONG Mexico from the east. In 1804, how- SPANISH-SPEAKING ever, an American peddler entered PEOPLE • the country and the following year SPANISH CONQUESTS IN NEW a hunter, trapper, and trader wan- MEXICO dered by chance into New lIIexico after having become lost in the Rocky When the first Spanish explorers ~[ountains. In 1812 the Santa Fe came to what is now our Southwest, trail was blazed from St. Louis, and they found an Indian civilization al- ten years later it was permanently ready several centuries old. The opened. Over this trail large cara- first Spanish settlement in New Mex- vans passed.
ico was made September 5, ] 598, at Until 1821 New Mexico was under Chamita. Seven years later, in 1605, Spanish control and much of the it was. removed to Santa Fe. There land was held under land grants is- the Spaniards conquered and en- sued by the King of Spain. In 1821 slaved the Pueblo Indians. They de- New Mexico became a province of veloped nunmg, agriculture, and :',lexico and remained such until 1846, grazing, and for three quarters of a when General Kearney marched west, century they prospered. In 1680 the raised the American flag over the Indians revolted, burning ranch Santa Fe plaza, and declared New houses, destroying property, and fi- Mexico a part of the United States.
nally seil':ing the governor's palace at Santa ]'e. The governor and his MEXICANS IN THE UNITED STATES party were forced to leave the coun- There has been much crossing and try in haste. For the next twelve recrossing of the border line through years, or until 1692, the Pueblos were the years, but the last two decades again in control of the land which have been characterized by very they had occupied for centuries and marked increases in Mexicans coming they did their best to wipe out every into the United States ….. vestige of Spanish occupation. They destroyed mines, burned records, pro- No longer can we think of the Mexhibited the use of the Spanish lan- ican and Spanish-speaking people as guage and even destroyed the seeds living only in the Southwest. Whereintroduced by the Spaniards. It was ever sugar beets are raised, as in then that de Vargas returned with Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, an army of 300 Spaniards and 100 North Dakota, Michigan, and Ohio, Indians and once more conquered the .Mexican labor is used. In great incountry ….. dustrial centers such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Gary, Chicago, The Spaniards brought with them Aurora, Joliet, Detroit, Milwaukee, the traditions and organization of the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Wichita, Roman Catholic Church and at once Mexicans are found in varying numimposed their religion upon the In- bers. The lines of immigration have dians or won them to its standards. reached even the fl.sheries of Alaska. Some are deflected south and east Before the nineteenth century where in cotton-raiRing sections Ne- Americans had not approached New (Ja• yFrso. mS Report of Commission on Religion gro labor has heretofore had no com- towell, Secretary) El Paso Conference petition. In Tampa, Florida, the Mexican and Porto Rican popUlation of religious, social, educational and welfare IS estimated to be fully 30,000. On representatives held December. 1926. to con- ~ider the interests of Mexicans and SDanishsp·eaklng people in the United States.
771
the eastern coast Mexicans form a ter nearly three quarters of a century minor part of an increasing Spanish- of effort we have a Protestant church speaking population principally from membership of 2,790 as compared the West Indies. In New York this with an estimated Spanish population lS especially true. of 225,000. In the past we have been inclined to be very critical of the Some effort is being made to pro- Roman Catholic Church and there are vide religious leadership and help. many things in its history in New There are at least four or five Span- Mexico of which it would be difficult ish-speaking churches in New York, to be proud. However, there is in- 'ohree or four in Chicago and in De- creasing evidence that the ministry of troit. At Gary work is also being the Catholic Church is an important done. It is safe to say, however, that factor in the moral and religious welin most cases there is a woeful lack fare of the state. Standards of work of equipment and leaders ….. The have been improving and workers in magnitude of these countrywide op- charge seem to be more carefully seportunities presents a new challenge lected than they have been at certain to the religious forces of America …. times in the past.
WORK IN NEW MEXICO In the rural places the service of the Catholic Church is limited but the The first Protestant missionary people are loyal. In northeastern came tD New Mexico in 1850 under New Mexico the situation is complithe Methodist Episcopal Church, but cated by the Penitente organizations work was not opened in the Spanish whieh flourish there whose moru,dos language until 1853 …… Very little and crosses dot the country-side. definite progress was made in Methodist work before 1870. Other de- Protestantism has not succeeded in nominations may have entered the building strong Protestant churches field shortly after 1850, but the rec- in New Mexico, but that it has made ord of such entry is not available at an important contribution to the this writing. The Presbyterian building of a state, no one can deny. Church, U. S. A. in 1866 definitely In numerous communities the outestablished work there. The North- standing leaders are products of its ern Baptists commenced work among schools and in our churches. Spanish-speaking people of New Mexico about the same time; this was The language problem has probably later turned over to the Southern complicated work in New Mexico a Baptists. The Congregational Church little more than elsewhere. Spanish entered the field in 1879, the United is the native tongue although it should Brethren in 1912, arid the Methodist be noted that owing to isolation the Episcopal Church, South, in 1917. language is not the Spanish of Mex- ico ….. It was not until 1891 that a An interdenominational study of public school system was established the Spanish work in New Mexico re- in the territory ….. Within recent ports 47 churches: Presbyterian, U. years the New Mexico public school S. A., 21; Methodist Episcopal, 12; system has made rapid advances …. Congregational, 5; Methodist Epis- In the larger places pupils in the copal, South, 8; United Brethren, 4. public schools almost automatically acquire English through mingling The Roman Catholic Ohurch is with individuals who speak English dominant and there is evidence that and through their work in the classthe qnality of its ministry is steadily room ….. Now that boys and girls of improving, particularly in its chief both groups mingle together freely in center, Santa Fe ….. Possibly in no public schools and are mastering part of the United States is the in- English, so that language is no longer fluence of that church relatively a barrier, the question is raised as to greater than among the Spanish- whether we should continue separa· speaking people of New Mexico. Af-
1:927J WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN
tion of the two groups in our churches, taken into consideration in the study whether we can afford to maintain a of the whole question of self-support. division which the public school does The general average would indicate not, and which is not observed in the that 50% are in comfortable circum- Catholic Church, in politics or in stances, 25% poor, 25% destitute. business. This. brings us to the ever important question as to the correct "In spite of large efforts made by attitude of Anglo-American churches county, city, and state health boards, toward specialized groups m their in spite of efficient work of clinics communities. which are often features of our com- munity and church work, in spite of Spanish-Americans have the same instructions in sanitation and hylegal standing as Anglo-Americans. giene, health conditions among Mexi- .Many highest state offices have been cans in Southern California are deheld and are held by Spanish-speak- plorable ….. In some localities the ing Americans. It seems to be pos- rate of infant mortality among Mexisible to have representatives of the cans is as high as 25%. The poor two groups in the same legislative health conditions are due to malnutribody, same office or store, same ath- tion, because of insufficient wages to letic teams, same rooms in grammar support large families, ignorance, and high schools and in universities. crowding, and immorality. The dis- With the language difficulty disap- eases to which Mexicans seem to be pearing for the younger generation, particularly susceptible are tubercuwith tbe example of other groups to losis, trachoma, and venereal diseases. encourage us, we are more and more Of course, during the winter when perplexed to discover why our Anglo- the usual run is on of whooping American churches, so-called, should cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria, not assume .larger responsibility for mumps, measles and smallpox, Mexi- Spanish-Americans in their respec- cans are very much larger sufferers tive communities. In some cases it than are Americans …… " will doubtless be desirable to employ special workers who have at least a It seems to be the consensus of conversational knowledge of Spanish, opinion that it is wiser to have two but we are facing the question as to enterprises: the settlement house and whether some adjustment of program the church, under separate managein certain communities along a ment but working cooperatively. broader, more comprehensive, and more unified basis should not take Poor physical equipment seems to place. be the biggest handicap of most of the fields ….. Roman Catholics are IN CALIFORNIA accustomed to worship in cathedrals, while Protestant worship invites them The largest l'IIexican center in the to huts ….. . state is Los Angeles with a Mexican population which is estimated from Mexicans are great personal 75,000 to 125,{)00 ….. . workers, and very probably the re- sponse which a pastor receives to his "Mexicans served by our Protes- public appeal has been fostered by tant evangelical churches in Southern personal work on the part of mem- California are engaged for the most bers of his church. Practically all of part in work on fruit and nut the churches indicate that there has ranches, construction work upon rail- been a decided advance during the roads, street car lines, sewers, and as past five years. laborers in railroad shops and factories. From 30 to 40% seems to be I love to think that God appoints migratory. Destitution among fam- My portion, day by day; ilies served by our churches ranges from 20 to 40% . This very large Events of life are in His hand, figure is an important index to be And I would only say: "Appoint them in Thine own good time, And in Thine Own best way!" A. L. WARING. EDITED BY MISS A:MY G. LEWIS, NJ<.'W YORK THE NEXT ANNUAL MEETINGS extent of the indirect influence of Christianity among the people of this The next Annual Meeting of the country. . . . .. The Christians are Federation of Woman's Boards of numerically a small body but for Foreign Missions will be held January every family that numbers professed 6' to 10, 1928. The theme selected Christians, among its members, there by the Program Committee is, "In- are manv who have come in contact _creasing Power for Increasing Obli- with C};ristian work and teaching, gations. " Present-day situations in and, though not adherents of any lands where missions are at work will Christian body, are averse to any be presented by nationals. A frank step that would hamper the liberty facing of the real situation is sought. that Christians value ….. , The epi- sode effectively illustrates the general The Foreign Missions Conference sympathy of the people of Japan, and will be held from January 10 to 13, their legislature, with the Christian 1928. 'l'here will be joint meetings movement …… and the power of a of the Foreign Missions Conference vigorous and educated minority to inand the Federation Tuesday afternoon fluence the course of government." and evening to consider these subjects : The Jerusalem Conference, OPEN-MINDED Union Colleges, Christian Literature and The Home Base. A joint Young One of the prayers being offered by People '8 Session will be held on Sun- those preparing for the Jerusalem day afternoon. Conference is: JAPANESE PEERS AND "That members of the Couuci!, all who take part in the work of preparation, the CHRISTIANITY Mission Boards and the Churches overseas may be given an open and childlike mind, Missionaries in Japan are taking readiness to receive new ideas and willingnew courage for their tasks from the ness to venture forth on untried ways." shelving of the law proposed by the Minister of Education to control all To some it may seem a dangerous relip'ious teaching. The bill was de- prayer likely to lead into unknown cisively beaten in the House of PeerR. and unwise ways. It is interesting to see how open-mindedness and honesty "Christianity found friends in may have other results. Stanley many unexpeeted quarten; when this High, author of "The Revolt of bill came before the Diet," writes one Youth" and well-known for his symmissionary. "Many objectionable pathy with national aspirations. withfeatures were stricken out or modi- in and without the Church, writes in fied. In the Diet there was revealed The Christian Advocate of August 4th in a singular way the intellectual of his experience in India on his rechange that has taken place in Japan. eent :iourney around the world: The debates wrre keen, intelligent, fair, and revealed a knowledge of "There is more than one India …. Christianity and a wish to promote I landed in Bombav with an itinerary its growth that should hearten any rather well mapped out. An India~ doubting Thomas. The bill was finally student helped me to map it ……. . shelved in the House of Peers. " " 'If you want to know India,' he One of the leading Japanese papers said,' divide your time-exclusive of said (in connection with the defeat of the necessary side trips-between the bill) "Among. the factors which Gandhi's Ashram at Ahmedabad and impressed them (the Peers) was the Tagore's school at Shantanekatan.' "
774 After interviews in Bombay with India of the drawing rooms and distinguished members of Municipal student hostels of Bombay_ and Provincial Councils, Indian edi- "I went to the home of Brindaban's tors, bankers" merchants, Mr. High leading Hindu. His house was a sanc- met an Indian of whom he writes: tuary. Above the delicate carving of "This man-an Oxford B.A.-has the stone door there were inscriptions not done much in politics. But wHh from the Vedas. He came out onto a an increasing minority of Indians who little portico above a quiet courtyard have given themselves to social service, he is known and loved for his –an old man, kindly, considerate, good works wherever, in the cities of godlike. For a long time we talked to- India, men, women and little children [!,'ether. He told me of the hours, each are ground out on the wheels of mod- day, which he spent in prayer and of ern industry. the knowledge of God which those hour;; brought him. " 'What and whom have you been seeing?' he asked me when I ap- "Then I recalled the widows in peared at his office for an interview. the temple compound and the temple "I told him in some detail and with children up at the hospital, and it ocmuch satisfaction. He laughed. curred to me that Jesus-who also knew God-had insisted that that "'When will you start in on knowledge would find its final meas- India l' he asked. urement 'inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these.' So " 'What do you mean l' I told my Hindu friend of the things " 'Simply this: that you won't find I had seen and of the stories I had India in Bombay or Calcutta or heard about religion at Brindaban.
Madras, or even at Ahmedabad and " 'That is all true,' he said, 'and Shantanekatan. India doesn't speak much more that you do not know. English or wear shoes, and isn't met But what does that have to do with up with over the tea at four. India religion 1 There is immorality and of the future-the distant future- morality in Hinduism; oppression may be there. But if you are inter- and freedom. But we Hindus are con- cerned with none of these things. Reested in the India of the present, with ligion to us is communion of the soul whom you and I in our lifetime will with God; that and nothing more.' be concerned, get off the asphalt and on to the country roads,. The real "I came to India fed up with the India-and a vastly different place it intolerance of Christianity. I did not is-is in the villages where a mere believe in the sentiments of many of ninety-one of every hundred Indians our missionary messages and in the dwell. ' expressions of many of our mission "In the end I took his, advice and hymns. But away from the wide remade my schedule. Gandhi's Ash- porticoes and quiet classrooms of ram and Tagore's school remained on India's nine per cent I have seen anit, but they were included as side other India-not talked of over the trips. The regular route lay through tea. It is in this India that the misthe small communities, the smaller sionary serves. His message-since it the better. I have visited Mr. Gandhi and have continued to meet the lead- involves unpleasant facts and more en; of political India. But under the unpleasant responsibilities – may guidance of Indians and with their sound intolerant to the New Intelinterpretations I have seen and li~e~tsia. But it is a message of kindly learned many things about the other mllllstry and hope to the ninety-one ninety-one per cent. And most of all, ner cent in India's. population who I have learned how wide and deep live beyond the asphalt where, heavy with ancient fears, is the gulf that extends between them " 'The heathen in his blindness and their life, their India and the Bows down to wood and stone.' 'I
fROM.l1fANY
THE NEAR EAST ary Council to be held in Jerusalem Christ Lifted Up in Turkey next spring. The new secretary has MISSES ETHEL W. PUTNEY written of his work: "The Council and Edith H. Wiley, mission- wish my main work to be that of evanaries of the American Board in Tur- gelism, recruiting and deepening the key, wrote in a recent letter: "Those spiritual life of the indigenous and outside of Turkey who hear of the foreign Christians. The thought of prohibition of religious teaching in getting back again into the foreign our schools, have little idea of the mission field thrills me."
amount of spiritual yearning found, especially among the younger genera- New Church Me_bers in Syria R tion most affected by the social revolu-EV. W. S. NELSON writes of a trip to Birsheen, a mountain tion. They, like the same types of people all over the world, respond in village in Syria which for a year and admiration and reverence to any real a half had not been visited by a misportrayal of the personality and sionary: "That Sunday was one to teaching of Christ. Sometimes even be remembered. Two well-attended their hearts so respond to His teach- services were held, and we had conings, wherever they may have heard tinuous conferences and religious disthem, that they themselves urge the cussion. There were neople present acceptance of the principles which we from five other villages, in all of have been accustomed to consider dis- which there are interested groups of tinctly Christian. For all this, we are inquirers. Four bright young men very grateful and are more than ever came into church membership, and it eager to lift up Christ in word and was a pleasure to hear their eager and life. " intelligent answers to our questions.
Two of these are sons of one of the A Bible Lands Chrbtian Council most important men of the village, I T WAS announced in the Septem- who is unwilling to compromise his ber REVIEW that Robert P. Wilder, worldly leadership by uniting with founder of the Student Volunteer the little Protestant group, though Movement for Foreign Missions, ex- he always attends our services and pects to serve for three years as execu- was present when his sons joined the tive secretary of "the newly formed church. In conversation about the Christian Council of Western Asia building of a church which is much and Northern Africa." The field of this council includes about 85,000,000 needed, I said to him, 'We shall expeople, of whom 6·6,000,000 are Mos- pect you to head the subscription list lems, in Turkey, Syria, Palestine, with a good sum.' He replied with eagerness, 'Believe me, I will.' "
Iraq, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, the Su- 0 dan, Abyssinia, Algiers, Tunis and The Earthquake in Palestine the Balkans. There are Protestant LD Testament allusions to earth- missionary societies at work in this quakes and records of many such area with about 1,600 missionaries. events in more recent days show that Special responsibilities will be given "the little country which is the land to this body in view of the proposed of heart's desire for three religions.
meeting of the International Mission- Christianity, Judaism, and Moham- 776
J927J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
medanism," has suffered frequently to talk and wave his arms about. We in this manner. The earthquake all sat still, and finally the preacher shocks which were felt on July 11th asked him if he was through; and were responsible for casualities num- looking earnestly at bim said, 'Well, bered at 6iOO dead and 3,000 injured. then, what are you going to do with The Christian Century thus sum- Jesus?' The man was so chagrined marizes the damage wrought in the and taken aback, that he sat down Holy Land: without a word. The courtesy and love with which these men were In Jerusalem portions of the Church of treated in our own church, when they the Holy Sepulchre, precious.to Christians were trying to cause trouble, made of all groups, have suffered severely. The other Moslems more in sympathy with Mohammedan Dome of the Rock, the so- us than ever." called Mosque of Omar, will require much repairing. The Zionist academy or univer- Persia Needs Christian Books sity has suffered the loss of one of its principal bnildings and much of its equipment. REV. DWIGHT M. DONALDSON, Other effects of the shock have been felt in of the American Presbyterian various parts of the city and vicinity, es- Mission in lHeshed, Persia, writes of peciaJly at A5n Karim, the traditional home the need ·of Christian literature for of John the Baptist, and at Abu Dis, a town both inquirers and converts: "After back of Bethany, notorious for its bandits thirty or forty thousand copies of in the days of Turkish rule. At Bethlehem Scripture have been discriminatingly the Church of the Nativity has also suffered sold, with the vast amount of short and will need .extensive repairs. In Jericho, sermon preaching that goes with this one of the hotels was completely destroyed. work, it is only logical to expect that And in Nablus, the ancient Shechern, con- there will be men anxious to have persiderable portions of the town have been sonal conferences with some one about wrecked, including, as reports indicate, that what they have read and found interarea in which the Samaritans, the only sur· esting. And those who have newly vivors of that ancient group, had their believed on Jesus Christ, and who are synagogue and their homes. growing in Christian character, often come with special problems and ques- Education for Syrian Girls tions……. The missionary has very few books to choose from. We may FROM the nucleus of a few girl pu- have to wait for the second-generation pils in the early days of the Ameri- Christians to write the best books, but can Presbyterian Mission in Beirut, those eventual best books will be all boarding schools for girls, then day the better if the first-generation parschools, a nurses' training school, and ents have wholesome and stimulating a .iunior college for girls have had reading matter in their homes now." their slow but sure development, until even the doors of the American Uni- Moslem Teacher Accepts Christ versity have been forced to open wide enough to admit the eager women ARECENT conversion reported students. "It is a far cry from those early days," says Miss Ottora Horne, . from Persia is that of a teacher "when education for girls was con- in a Moslem school for boys whose sidered a preposterous scheme by the principal was a blind mullah. He had people of the land, to the present an infection and was brought to the when the university men are forced American hospital. After several to work their hardest to equal the few visits, he became interested in the women in their classes." Saviour and, with the doctor, studied the Gospel. Soon he learned that this Courtesy Disarms a Mullah Saviour was his Saviour too, and ac- cepted Him for himself. He then THE subject discussed at a prayer began to talk to others about his newly meeting- in Tabriz, Persia, was, found Master and to carry gospel por- "What will you do with Christ?" "Just after the preacher finished," writes a missionary, "a mullah rose, and began in a most excited fashion
tions and tract~ to !ti~ fellow teachers would return after having been con- and students. Some became interested verted to other faiths. The matter of and wanted to know more about the the uplift of the' untouchables' is now Gospel, but some went to the blind a prominent question among Hindus mullah and told him that this man of all classes. The lower classes them- was trying to make Christians out of lielves are holding conferences and Moslems. 'l'he blind mullah said, making demands and seeking outlets "You must not go to the American into higher and better things. The hospital any more.' , Nevertheless, newer Hinduism, as represented by the man did not stop going, nor did the Arya Samaj, has adopted several he stop teaching his associates, but Christian methods in its work ….. .
he did lose his position as teacher. Mohammedanism has no paid min- istry, for every man is supposed to be Open Honse in Baghdad a missionary. Lectures are being de- WHEN someone in Baghdad said livered, literature distributed, and in- to Dr. and Mrs. Calvin Staudt, creased activity is very manifest in "Your house is like a khan, people the community."
pass in and out its doors continual- ly, " they felt that they were reaching Some Social Evils of Hinduism A their ideal for their home. Mrs. N ILLUSTRATION of the lengths to which the laws of Hindu social Staudt men~ions among those who, she says, "come in through the wide- orthodoxy. will go is seen in the case open door," members of the Syrian of an aged woman patient in the Visand Jewish communities, the Iraqi nddhananda Marwari Hospital in Calofficials, missionaries from India, cutta, suffering from dropsy, who was Burma, Persia, and Arabia, and trav- expelled from the hospital because her elers from many lands, "But," she son had married a Marwari widow. says, "there is, first of all the large I t is charged that her expulsion from and varied acquaintance through our the hospital in a critical condition reboys. No school in Iraq has such a sulted in her death. variety of races and religions under The Indian Witness, a Christian one roof. Parents, from the janitor paper published in Lucknow, makes of a business house to the sheikh of this incident the occasion for the folone of the big tribes, come here with lowing statements: equal assurance. This relationship is Occasionally we are told that Hinduism but in its infancy. We plan for has produced a mild and gentle people, something much more intimate in the more Christ-like in character than those who profess to be disciples of Jesus. Those who future. " make such statements seem to be acutely INDIA AND SIAM and painfully aware of the social and mo:ral evils existent among Christians, but uncon- Foes of Christianity in India scions of the evils that afflict Hindu society.
OPPOSITION to Christianity on ……,The social reform movement in India has been distinctly slowed-up by numerous the part of Mohammedans and lllldeserved panegyrics on Hinduism and the Hindus was never better organized or time has come for plain speaking about the evils of the Hindu social system (unexmore aggressive than now, according reeded for cruelty in any civilized commuto reports received at the office of nity) such as child marriage, mistreatment the Foreign Missions Conference of widows, untouchability, and denial of from missionaries in the central elementary human rights to outeastes.
provinces of India. "Hinduism has undergone a change, one of the most India Reading the Bible A remarkable in the history of any T THE annual meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Sorf'lil!ion." writes one ~issionarY. "From heinl! simuly a conservative ciety various statements were made force, non-resistant, it has surldenly concerning the increasing interest in become a missionary relig-ion. It now the Bible shown by educated Indians.
opens the doors of caste to those who In the 'l'elugu country there is a
1927J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
zcmindar-, a petty rajah, who has been indeed, and you take it to the poor spending the last two or three years and to the outcaste, but we zemindars in putting the whole of the New . , …. it has not been brought to 'l'estament into Telugu verse. At his us.' "
daughter's wedding he renrinted the Sermon on the Mount on good paper, South Indian Villages Changed and in good print, and presented a T HE Church Missionary Society copy of it to each of his thousands of has recently published a survey of guests. The lectures on the New the mass movements toward Chris- Testament given by Gandhi, at the tianity in those parts of India where it is at work. Bishop Azariah of request of the students, at the Na- Dornakal is quoted as saying that the tional College at Ahmedabad have movement in his South Indian diocreated an unprecedented demand for cese is growing in volume and Testaments in the Gujerati language, strength. The numbers of converts and several pastors in South India have greatly increased: 40,000 people report that young men and old men who have never been near a mission are being prepared for baptism now school have asked them for copies of in an area where five years ago the "the book which contains the Sermon number was 20,000. Whole villages on the Mount," for, they said, "Mr. are being changed because of the transforming power of Christ at work Gandhi has been writing so often in the lives of hundreds and thouabout the Sermon on the Mount, and sands of individuals, And the moveabout the Cross of .Jesus Christ, that ment, which for a long time was we want to have the book which tells confined to the outcastes, is now us these stories.'"
The Mohammedan's Appeal reaching their caste neighbors. Bishop Azariah tells of the baptism in one REY, A. G. COWIE, of the S. P. village of 117 candidates, 100 of G. Mission at Rawalpindi, in the ',,;hom were caste people, and this is Punjab. relates this incident of an sImply an illustration of what is pvangelistic tour: "One dav when happening in many districts. we had halted for our midday meal, a Mohammedanzemindar (land- AGod at Work in the Punjab owner) ;ioined us and asked me the LoTfHtOh eU GUHn i t eMdisPs r eHsabzyetle rBi aenn nMiest t~ usual 'Who? What? Whence? Whither?' I told him that we had come from Rawalpindi to tell the sian in the northern part of India Good News that was written in our recognizes the difficulties of winning Sacred Book. 'Oh ! well,. tell me Moslems to Christ, she is full of hope some,' he said. 'Onr great Good News as she writes: "Tn the past few is that we have a Jl.laster who is alive.' months we have witnessed whole vil- 'Yes. he is alive; I admit that. But, lages wondering at the wonderful love Sahib, Goa is One, is he not? or is which prompted God to give His Son. he more than One? You say that We have seen a Mohammedan boy of there are three Goas. Father, Mother good family confess Jesus Christ and a.na Son. can that be?' 'Khan Sahib,' then go back home and witness for T replied. 'You asked me to tell you Him. We have heard his lovely onr Good News. You never men- mother tell with nride of the wav her tioned anything about having an ar- son preached Christ in his own village p:nment. Our Good News is thi~. that and we have heard her ask us, oh so earnestly. to teach her to uray. Does while Mohammea Sahib is dead. our anyone doubt the miracles of our Lord ,Tesus Christ is alive. and can Lo'rd in His own time on earth or in p:ive strength and life.' These last words were met with a pathetic an- our own? Let such an one come to a peal, that was also an unwittin!!" re- Punjab village and see God work in proof: 'Ah 1 this is Good News these days. We would not have you
think that the barriers are all down ners, pennants, and pictures o~ Dr. or that Mohammedan India is ready and Mrs. Clark. There were about to turn to Christ, or that even great forty speakers on the program. The numbers are ready to accept our Lord roll of the provinces was called, and and Saviour, but we would have you only· three or four out of the total know that we are living in a time number failed to respond. This was when God is working wonders in the because the China Inland Mission and hearts of men and in a time when other agencies were holding meetings, many in these villages are strangely and missionaries from some provinces tenderhearted and hungry." were attending these meetings. Re- ports from the provinces stated the India's OuteDates Transformed number of societies in each and de- scribed the conditions. Among the THAT "many of the caste people resolutions adopted is one that reads: in South India have recently become Christians through the influence The Christian Endeavor organization has of their Christian outcaste servants" proved itself acceptable, adaptable, ani! is stated by those familiar with the indispensable to misslon work in China. At situation. 'In a letter to the Press, this time, when most of the missionaries Bishop Whitehead, formerly of Mad- have been driven from their stations, the ras, draws the attention of British Christians keep up their Bible study with people to what the Christian churches the Christian Endeavor topic.books as have achieved in' India, during the guides. last half-century, among the "depressed" millions. He points out that New Chinese Clergymen whatever effective measures may have been undertaken by the Government MIDSUMMER cablegrams from in behalf of nati';e agricultural la- Bishop Logan H. Roots asked for borers and others, still more has been the return to Hankow of certain misachieved by those whose service is, sionaries now in the United States. first and foremost, designed to spread How the Chinese Church is growing, the Gospel of Christ. He says: in spite of the political situation, is shown in a letter from Bishop Roots, It needs to be borne in mini! that a thou· describing the ordination on Whitsand years of opllression and contemT't has sunday of a group of Chinese, in so degraded the lives of these peonle th"t it which he says: "I have naturally had needs some powerful moral and spiritnal a great deal of hesitation about going force to raise them out of their hopeless ahead with ordinations at this present despair and set them on the path of prog· time. But this class seems to be, all ress. Thev have found this so far in Chris- of them, such good material, and to tianity and in Christianity alone. Thousands be meeting the difficult situations in of them dmin! the last fifty years have such fine spirit, and furthermore the Iouni! a new life in the Gospel of Christ. Standing Committee of this diocese At the present day they are bein! admitted and all my counselors here seem to be into the Chnrch at the date of about three so unanimous in approving this step, thousand a week. that I could not doubt the wisdom of going ahead. I was especially satis- CHINA AND TIBET fied with the statement of Newton Liu, when we were in the midst of a Shangha.i Has a C. E. Convention crisis a few weeks before. He said he hoped he could be ordained even if T HE presence in Shanghai of many in the near future the mission had to missionaries who h a v e been be broken up and the foreigners go forced to leave thf'ir Rtations in the home, for in that case he would reinterior of China has been made the turn to his country home. till his occasion by Rev. Edgar E. Rtrother, fields, and preach the Gospel and adveneral secretary for Christian En- minister the sacraments while making nAavor in China, for a convention. his own living, after the example of The meeting was held in Union the Apostle PauL" Church. Shanghai. which was decorated with Christian Endeavor ban-
NEWS FROM MANY LckNDS
Vows Renewed After Many Years University and is 'now professor of philosophy in Yenching University, ONE of the Chinese pastors in the constitute the committee in charge. Presbyterian Mission in Shan- They are translating articles from tung Province reports that when he Chinese magazines in order to help was preaching in a certain village, the American public realize the "an old man seemed unusuallv thoughtful moderate Chinese point of friendly. He followed me about ail view and the reasons why people in day and in the afternoon insisted that China of patriotic character are in- I go with him to his home and have terested in the overthrow of conservtea. He seemed to have something in atism and selfish militarism and in his heart which he wanted to tell me, the progress of moderate constructive so I went along to his home. We develoDments in their own country. talked a long time, and finally he Cooperating with them are a number said: 'Pastor, you must not think of of former missionaries in China who me as just an ordinary non-Christian are now in the United States. country man. I am a church member.' 'How is that?' I said. 'I have Friends of Chinese Moslems been about here all these years and have never heard of a Christian in T HE Moslem Committee of the Nathis village.' Then he told me his tional Christian Council of China story. He,had been a Christian be- was dissolved last year. Those who fore the Boxer uprising, and during were interested in the evangelization the persecution he was not able to of the Moslems greatly desired to stand, so burned his Bible and pub- carryon the good work of the former licly renounced his religion, and had committee, and therefore formed the never shown any public interest since. "Society of the Friends of the Mos- He had learned the worthlessness of lems in China," of which Rev. C. L. heathen rites, and could not make Pickens is secretary. This society himself return to them, so for these held an important meeting in Shangtwenty-three years had made no pro- hai on May 10th, at which the subfession of religion of any sort. That jects most emphasized were the need day in the market the promises of his of adequate Christian literature for old faith were laid before him again, Mohammedans and the importance of and his heart was touched. He truly arousing interest among Chinese repented and is now 'hot-heartedly' Christians in the evangelization of preaching in his village." their Moslem neighbors. H. D. J. Harding, who has worked in Kansu A Christian Publicity Service Province, in which there are estimated to be 3,000,000 Moslems, and later in T HE North China Council of the Honan, particularly stressed the lack Kung Li Hui (the Congregational of knowledge of Moslem beliefs or Church) has established a translation practices on the part of the Chinese and publicity service which, it is evangelists. "The average Chinese hoped, will be of assistance in ex- preacher, " he said, "is more ignorant changing between American and Chi- and therefore more afraid of the Monese newspapers and magazines the hammedans than the average foreign attitudes of moderation and mutual missionary. " sympathy that are being expressed in both China and America. Wynne A Hunanese Pastor Murdered Fairfield, one of the few white graduates of a colored university (Howard, THE Board of Foreign Missions of in Washington), Miss Rosium, a Chi- the Reformed Church in the nese secretary, and Dr. Lucius Porter, United States has received word of who during his recent furlough in the murder of one of its leading Chi- America was acting head of the De- nese workers, Pastor Chen Djoupartment of Chinese in Columbia Tsing. While he was putting up a
poster calling for respect of mission poverty of the Korean will be appre- property, members of the Farmers' ciated when the cost of a new song Union (communistic and anti-Chris- book is considered. This is seventeen tian) fell upon him and stoned him sen, or eight and a half cents. It was to death. for lack of this sum, combined with a Pastor Chen was a graduate of the passion to sing the praises of God Hunan Theological School and had a with his fellows, that he spent over record for" great improvement" dur- two hundred hours copying the ing the seminary course. He was pos- !'longs. "
sessed of a stentorian voice, rugged eloquence, and an energetic person- Fruit After Many Yea.rs ality. His station was situated at the A LETTER recently received by a foot of "Big Cloud Mountain," and missionary in Japan has been was originally intended to reach the Rummarized as follows in 'l'he Presbymultitudes of pilgrims who annually teria.n Magazine: "When you begin visit the shrines on this sacred moun- to read this letter, please think back tain. He mingled freely with the twenty years ago, when you held mountain people as well as with these weekly meetings for railroad men at pilgrims, and a Christian community Imajo, near Fukui, and try to rememhad been organized under his leader- ber a boy of thirteen among the men. ship. In those meetings the seed of Christ's JAPAN-KOREA teaching fell into my heart, but it was like a fruit of the palm carried to the A Hand-Written Hynmal sea and long buft'eted about till it A BfTLLETIN published by South- reached land and sprouted and grew ern Presbyterian missionaries in into a tree. For twelve years my Korea contains tIle following story: faith put out shoots, till about seven "He was the father of a family of years ago-and I was not baptized three, and himself past his prime till last November. I am a member when he first heard the gospel story. of a little group of about forty, who There was no doubting the sinceiity now have a little church building and of his interest. An educated man, in February became self-supporting. but dissipated, he was without funds A few nights ago I was in one of the or property, and unable to earn meetings in this little Kobe church, more than a bare living for himself and as the hymn 'Sunshine in My and family by teaching a small Ko- Soul' was announced, my thought flew rean school. One of the essentials of back twenty years to the days when I a Korean service is singing. Every- first heard it and you taught it to one must sing-the song book takes the railroad hands at Imajo. I its place alongside the Bible, in fact learned of your present whereabouts, in many instances they are bound to- hence this letter."
gether when printed. This man had no song book, but his determination Apples Increase the Oftering D to sing the songs with the others when EXTER N. LUTZ, Presbyterian missionary in charge of the agrihe attended services, and in his family worship, led him to borrow a book cultural department of Union Chris- from the missionary, which was re- tian College, Pyengyang, Korea, is turned in thirty days. He then ex- doing work that is bearing fruit in hibited his own book, made entirely more senses than one. There has been by his hand, using a brush and a soft a big apple crop, and dozens of prom- blank paper. Fbr thirty days he had inent men are now making consider- labored through nearly the whole of ably more than formerly, thanks to every night, as he painstakingly wrote several hundred apple trees planted out each word of the more than 250 on the hill sides.
songs in the hymn book. The relative Rev. W. N. Blair, D.D., writes of
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
having been present at one station library, as well as the first kinuer- when the annual offering was made to garten in Korea. He was secretary cover the budget. "The first man to the Agricultural Department in the who made a pledge came forward and late Korean Government and, in 1895, said, 'The Lord has prospered me this helped found the Independence Club year by giving me a big apple crop -a Korean political institution. In and as I have promised to give one this year he also became the editor of tenth to Him, I will have to increase the Korea Christian Advocate and my regular Sabbath offering from was co-editor of a secular daily paper.
thirty sen to fifty sen per Sunday.' ]<'rom 1902 to 1914 he was pastor of "The next man said 'I gave fifty the Chong-dong church, and in later sen a Sunday last year and this year years held various positions under the I will be able to give one yen per mission of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday.' And so it went, through Church. During his ministry he bapone of the happiest meetings of this tized nearly four thousand persons kind I have ever witnessed. This, too, and sent out ten young men into the in a year when most of the churches ministry to follow in his footsteps and are so weak financially that helpers carryon .his work.
and pastors are not being paid, and ISLANDS OF THE SEA the people generally are more dis- Schools in the Philippines couraged than I have ever seen them. " RI<JV. E. K. HIGDON, of the Dis- ciples' Mission, acting President of the Manila Union Theological "A Good Man Neyer Dies"
LION K. JUNG, Korean chief of Seminary, states that there are in the the X-Ray department of Sever- Philippine Islands 110 Protestant ance Union Medical College in Seoul, schools with an enrollment of 5,396, pays his own tribute to the late classified as follows: 26 kinder- Charles Morris whom, says The Chris- gartens with 6·00 pupils, 32 primary tian Advocate, many knew as "the ideal missionary, " and then eon- schools with 1,632 pupils, 22 intertinues: mediate schools with 1,065 pupils, 14 secondary schools with 1,722 students, A few days later an old man walked into 3 colleges with 241 students, 2 theomy office and inqnired for Morris Seunkyosa logical schools with 25 students, 5 (missionary). W'hen I told him of Mr. nurses' trainin~ schools with 180 stu- Morris's death, he said surprisedly, "Why dent nurses, and 6 Bible training -how can he dieV" And when I asked schools with 180 students. In addiwhat he meant, he replied, "Morris Seunk- tion to these schools, most of which are in session during the regular yosa told me a good man never dies." Then he related that once he was an inn-keeper by a roadside in the far north. And he school year, there are daily vacation confessed that he was a bad man, sold bad Bible schools for the summer months. Last year there were 146 of them liquor to travelers and stole money from with an enrollment of 6,131. During those who were staying at his inn. But once Morris Seunykosa came to his inn to stop over night and told the inn-keeper the the school year, week-day religious. inwonderful story of the Bible. The old man struction is carried on in many of changed his life and, ever since then, has the provincial capitals and hundreds been a good Christian. Then the old man of high school students take advanconcluded with tears in his eyes, "At least Morris Seunkyosa will never die in my tage of the opportunities offered. heart.' , The total enrollment in the regular A Korean Christian Veteran schools, vacation schools and week- day religious instruction classes is al- PSTOR CHOI PYENG HUN, most 15,000 persons. This does not whom Gerald Bonwick, writing in take into account 1,057 church schools the Korea Mission Field, calls "one which meet on Sundays only, and of the great men of his generation," have an enrollment of 80.156 children opened in 1894 the first free reference and adults. '
Work for Australian Aborigines "raw red savagery, cannibalism and skulls" change to " peace, liberty, T HE Aborigines' Friends Associa- safety, friendliness," writes of his tion has been at work in Australia field today: for over sixty years. Among the methods of work described in its We need more grace, more gifts, more latest annual report are homes and love, more heroism. The earlier missionshelters, ration depots., medical stores, aries dealt with primitive conditions and Christmas cheer, assistance in famine simpler problems; they got into closer periods, and the issuing of portions of touch with the people; their love, and zeal, the Scriptures in the native tongue. and sincerity were in those closer grips The Gospel of Luke in the Aranda more easily recognized. The man who in dialect has been a source of satisfac- the old days traveled· weary miles in a canoe tion to the Association and to the proved, by that act, his devotion in a way natives, but, says Ausiralia,n Chris- he could not do today, hurrying over the tian World, "it is in the educative same space in the comfort of a swift, features of the whole work that re- cabined launch. Similarly with the pioneer ligion is being made real. The loving who, on his knees, washed and dressed the devotion of the nurses at Point Pearce terrible ulcers-the love and spirit of servand Point McLeay, the ministrations ice were patent to all; today he has others of Mr. and Mrs. Kramer and their trained to do those services, he is multiplied native assistants ~ver vast areas of ten times, it may be a hundred times, and Central Australia, the affectionate may .spend his very life-blood in adminiscare and kindness to the native chil- trative detail; but he is removed from close dren here recorded indicate the direc- personal contact with the people, and it tion in which religion is made a takes a greater surge of love to stir the present persuasive power in the lives native heart as the pioneer did. So I say of the native peoples." that we want bigger men and better men to do the work today. News from the Solomon Islands NORTH AMERICA DR. NORTHCOTE DECK, F. R. G. S., who represents, the South Y. M. O. A. Industrial Conference Sea Evangelical Mission, an Australian undenominational society, says THE tenth annual session of the that, in looking back over nineteen Silver Bay Conference on human years of service in the Solomon Is- relations in industry was held from lands, the words that rise to his lips September 1st to 4th, under the ausare. "They shall abundantly utter pices of the Industrial Department of the memory of Thy great goodness." the Y. M. C. A. Among the speakers He continues: and leaders of discussion groups, were representatives from numer(')us com- But it is very difficult to give a fair esti- panies typical of the industry of the mate of the present state of the work in country. Subjects discussed included the Solomons, with its more than 200 en- " American Industry and the World, " tirely Christian villages, its hundreds of "The Scientific Approach to Induskeen, devoted, unpaid native teachers, and trial Relations," "Ideals for Medical its 8,000 converts…. The years of intense Service in Industry," "Improving labor at the Onepusu Bible School are now Industrial Relationships on the Railbearing abundant fruit, and in most of the roads," "Labor's View on Cooperaestablished villages there are reasonably tion, " "From Ellis Island to good teachers, able and keen to give spirit- American Citizenship," "New Reual teaching up to a growing standard_ And sponsibilities of Modern Business," the result seems always to be an increasing "Progress in Eliminating Human appetite for the things of God_ Wastes in Industry," "The Spiritual Dynamic." The Workers Papua Needs Today New England Pastors Confer REV. M_ K. GnJ~WUR, who in his twenty-five years of service in T HE tenth annual pastors' confer- Papua under the Methodist Mission- ence for clergymen of all denomiary Society of Australasia has seen nations in the Connecticut Valley, including western Massachusetts, was held under the auspices of the Pas-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
toral Union of Connecticut and the Recently someone there conceived the Hartford Seminary 'Foundation, Sep- idea that it might be a good thing tember 12th and 13th in Hartranft for these diverse groups to get ac~ Hall, the new recitation building of quainted with each other, and the the Hartford Theological Seminary. result was five "nationality nights." The leader was Rufus M. Jones, Pro- Two pageants were prepared and prefessor of Philosophy at Haverford sented, and Mexicans, Negroes, Fili- College, and well-known author, pinos, Japanese and Blue Triangle whose general theme was" The Deeper girls representing American-born Nature of Man and Man's Experience whites presented vocal and instruof God. " The conference was largely mental music, readings, pageants, and attended, and both the leader's contri- displays of handicrafts. The Japanbution and the discussion periods ese exhibit was especially artistic. On were interesting and challenging as a the Mexican night the principal adpreliminary to the fall work of the dress was given by Carlos V. Ariza; ministry. Mexican consul at Calexico. The musical and dramatic numbers of the New Negro Y. M. O. A. Buildings Negro program, with a local Negro school principal as chairman, were WITH four modern buildings in very effective. The" nationality course of erection, two building nights" were given in the Methodist, campaigns nearing completion, and Baptist and Christian churches and four more in· prospect, the service of a public school building. Although this department of the Y. M. C. A. sponsored by the Federated Mi£- is being greatly expanded. Corner- sionary Council, the large audiences stones for a $225,000 building at included many men and women out- Buffalo, N. Y., and a $175,000 build- side the Federation membership. ing at Atlantic City, N. J., were laid Groups of each race witnessed the; in .June. A building at Dayton, Ohio, programs given by others. to cost $195,000, and one at Montclair, N. J., to cost $150,000 are in Plans for Negro Ohurch Union. ', process of erection. All are expected to be ready in the fall or early winter. T W~ large Negro ~lfethodist church White citizens of Winston-Salem, N. bodIes are plannmg for organic C., have agreed to raise from $150,000 to $200,000 for the erection of a build- union. The African M. E. Church, ing on property purchased by the colored group, who raised $38,000 founded in 1794 in Philadelphia, and instead of the $25,000 which they had pledged. In the recent New York the A. M. E. Zion Church, established City building campaign the Negro citizens raised $86,000 of a $100,000 in 1796 in New York, propose to unite quota, which they expect to complete in due course. It is planned ulti- under the title of the "United Methmately to expend $750,000 in the expansion of property, equipment and odist Episcopal Church," which, it service for colored men and boys in New York City. will be noted, gives no indication of'
"Nationality Nights" a Success race. Meantime, The Christian Re- THE Imperial Valley of California corder, organ of the first of these two is unique in many respects. It is bodies, has proposed a federation ot one of the hottest places in the United States, it is below sea level, its soil all Negro churches, giving a plan in is amazingly productive, and it is inhabited by people of many races. considerable detail. W. L. Hutcherson, 5 of the Y. M. C. A. in Wichita, Kansas thinks that much finer race relation; would be secured if the Negto churches would enter heartily into the"
program of the Federal Council of"
Churches, which has provided them' with a secretary, Dr. George K Haynes. He writes: "
. I w.ould rath.er see. the Negro. Congrega- tlOnahsts exerCIse theIr prerogatives in too' Federal Council, by virtue of being' a eon~
stituent part of the great National Council they did not want to see us or have of Congregationalists, than by virtue of us read the Bible and pray. Some membership in some great super-organiza- time ago Mum-su-kanwuh, an old tion of Negro churches_ The same is true leader of the peyote religion, said, 'I of the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, the don't want to hear from your Book Methodists, etc. This is interraeial coop- or become a Christian because I might eration. get mean like the white people.' An- other one said to me, ' You're just a Negroes at a Chicago Mosque little boy yet, when you get old and wise I '11 listen to you.' Then there ' EV, JOHN VAN ESS, D_D_, of are some who say, 'I don't want to be R the Arabian ~Iission of the Re- a Christian, because all my loved ones are lost and I'd rather go to hell with formed Church in America, recently them tlian be in heaven alone!' On visited a mosque of the Ahmadiya sect the other hand are those that are in- of Islam in Chicago. He reports that terested, who appreciate our coming, it is housed in an ordinary two-story and send us on with words of enflat building, with nothing in outward couragement.' , appearance except that at the front edge of the room is a small green- J apane.se-American Christians painted dome, flanked by two slender and not very tall spires which typify REV. JOHN :111. YAMAZAKI minarets but could not function as writes from Los Angeles that the such. Twenty-nine people were pres- Japanese Christians in California, in- ent that S.unday morning, all of them stead of resenting the passage of the Negroes except two Indians. Dr. Van anti-Japanese laws, rather are in- Ess says that the speeches "were in clined to accept them as a challenge, fact quite crude and entirely lacked are sincerely trying to have their secthe subtleties which characterize con- ond generation become good Ameritroversy: of even an average mullah can citizens, and to prove by them in Arabia." When testimonies were that the Japanese are not such undeinvited, three Chicago Negroes em- sirable and unassimilable people. This phasized the racial grievance and Christian-Americanization work is beclaimed that Christianity is only a ing done very earnestly by various white man's religion. Dr. Van Ess denominations on the Pacific Coast. .continues: In Los Angeles alone there are eleven different churches at work in evangel- At the elose of the testimonies the collee- ization of the Japanese. The Presby- 'tion ,vas taken and the leader announced terian and Congregational Churches 'that prayers would be said, to be followed by have united in building a $100,000 'lee cream (shades of the prophet!). The church for the Japanese; the Meth- ('ompany adjonrned to the npstairs prayer· odists have a $45,000 building, the room whither I followed. The Indian leader Baptists a $40,000 building, the Chris- wearing a turban led the prayers, all facing tians one costing $70,000, the Re- east. Twelve Negro Int'n in two rows with formed Church a $30,000 building. uncovered heads, together with two small The Episcopal Church, while its e- boys, went through the genuflections, re- quipment is small, has the largest 'peating, after the leader, in Arabic the first Sunday-school. word appropriate to each genuflection. The women stood or sat in the back but took no Chinese Girls in California ~urtlter part. HELPING these girls to find suit- Excnses Given by So:me Indians able employment is one of the tasks of their Christian friends. Few ,VARIED experiences fall to the lot opportunities open to the Chinese girl of Robert P. Chaat, as he covers who has had no specialized training. More dangers and temptations beset the large field of the Comanche Mis- :sion in Oklahoma, of the Reformed Church in America. He writes: "Usually the people are willing to stop and listen, but sometimes find excuses for not hearing the Word of life. '~ome have even told us frankly that
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
her way than that of her Occidental porters at home. Workers have been sister. Notwithstanding these handi- thrown into jail, their literature caps, the average girl who steps from burned, and their lives saved only by the sheltering mission home into the miracle. W. C. Townsend writes: outside world of industry succeeds in "Now where mobs formerly gathered making for herself a place and in to kill, sympathetic crowds listen hunkeeping untarnished her good name. grily to the Word of Life. Threaten- The American-born Chinese girl of ing frowns have turned to friendly normal family and surroundings, smiles. The workers are sought out given the same amount of education for explanations from the 'Wonderful and technical training, will easily Book.' When two students from the compete with her Western sister. In Bible Institute returned recently San Francisco a fine high school, pri- from a week-end visit to Nahaula, vately endowed for the training of their eyes beamed with joy, although girls in domestic arts, objected to ad- their faces at once wore a rather puzmitting Chinese girls because their zled expression. They had gone to highly developed technical skill would this town expecting the usual persebring them into too marked competi- cution, but instead had been received tion with the American girl. in a kindly fashion by almost every- one. Then we remembered that LATIN AMERICA 'prayer changes things.' This is the A Ni"81'agua~ Convert's Conrage beginning of great things. All Guate- mala will notice when the Gospel re- DON JUAN FLETES, of Granada, ceives a large entrance into Nahuala Nicaragua, professed his faith in and Ixtahuacan." Christ in February, 1926. A missionary writes of him: "He has been EfFective Work in Porto Rico most liberal in his offerings. Nor has he failed in his testimony as a con- T HE evangelical work in Porto verted man. A short while ago the Rico is carried on by some 300 pasmanager of the freight office here got tors, missionaries and workers, who into a discussion with don Juan, try- represent seven denominations, 200 ing to offend or insult him. He was organized churches, 332 other preachfinally led to confess that don Juan, ing places, 383 Bible schools, and though having been so short a while 138 young people's societies. These in the despised 'religion,' knew a churches have over 13,000 members great deal about it. The man was in good standing. The Bible schools hound to test the believer and finally have over 26,000 members. The told him that his religion demanded church properties, including hos- Qf him to bear all things, 'But,' he pitals, orphanages, schools and day said, 'you know that you would not schools, are valued at $1,834,535. The give me your whip and allow me to fine spirit of cooperation among these thrash you.' The answer of don Juan workers, expressed in the Evangelical was to hand the man the whip and Union, the Union Theological Semiturn his back, ready to receive the nary, and a united board of publicawhipping. But as he did so he was tion, has been emphasized in the REled to say, 'In the name of Jesus VIEW. Mrs. E. M. Irvine-Riviera Christ I receive this punishment,' writes of specific denominations that and the man did not have the courage the Baptists have taken the lead in to use the whip." having self-supporting churches, that the Presbyterian Church has distin- Prayer Answered in Guatemala guished itself in educational and health work, and the per capita giving NAHUALA and Ixtahaucan are of its adherents, and that the Congre- two very primitive Indian towns gationalists "are doing a big work for which workers in the Central from both the health and the educa- American Mission have often asked tional standpoint." for special prayer from their sup-
Church Self-Support in ,Colombia "Wild" and "Tame" Indians T HE Colombia Mission of the Pres- AT THE annual meeting in London byterian Church in the U. S. A. f t of the Heart of Amazonia Misreports that in the schools there has been a general increase in enrollment sion (World Evangelization Crusade), and self-support. There was raised Rev. Gilbert Barclay pointed out that on the field for all purposes during up to the present their workers had the past year about $80,000 (American been engaged in seeking to evangelize gold), which sum is over $23,000 more either the "tame" Indians, or secthan the amount appropriated by the tions of "wild" tribes that had been Board to the Colombia Mission for "pacified." They knew a little of the all purposes, including missionaries' dangers and trials and sufferings that salaries. A missionary writes as fol- had been gone through in relation to lows of one of the methods by which this devoted service, but there yet rethese results have been obtained: mains the larger and more insistent and tremendous problem of getting at A number of church members in Medellin the "ferocious" Indians-those who are tithers. The pastor (a Colombian) be· shoot the white man at sight. No man came enthusiastic, informed himself thor. dare approach these "wild" Indians oughly and then gave a series of sermons except the agents of the Indian Proon the subject. A tithers' league was tection Service, organized under the formed in the church, and this organization auspices and the authority of the undertook to continue the work. This Brazilian Government-men whose campaign has· had to contend against a very courage and resourcefulness are deep·seated misconception and hatred for the marvellous. This is a problem similar system which has been caused by the to that faced by John Williams, practice of the Roman Catholic Church here, Bishop Patteson and Barbrooke in the past, of collecting the tithe from the Grubb. people almost by force. EUROPE An Ex-Monk Accepts Christ Church of England Prayer Book REV. c. A. PATTON, who repre- sents the Evangelical Union of T HE recent statement by a news- South America in Cuzco, Peru, had paper that the Revised Prayer an unexpected visitor one morning in Book has been "the summer's best a Roman Catholic priest, who intro- seller" is one way of expressing theduced himself by saying: "I want to great interest that has been taken in become a Protestant, and would like this subject by Englishmen both withto come and live with you." This in and without the Church of Engman, who since his baptism has been land. The Church Assembly has known as Senor Montano, is a Bo- voted to accept the book, and Parlialivian with some Italian ancestry. In ment is expected to vote on it at its 1920 he entered the Dominican mon- autumn session. Evangelical Chrisastery in Lima, Peru, being then tendom states: seventeen years of age, and spent six years there. His refusal to accept all The emphasis of the controversial partEr the interpretations of his professors of the book is placed on a sacramental view and his occasional discussions of dif- of the Lord's Supper which was rejected by ferent points called forth the warning the Reformers and was never held by any that he must not continue in such but a very few members of the Church of ideas for they would certainly lead England,UJitil the rise -of the Tractarianhim into heresy. He secretly obtained movement. The Anglo·Catholic leaders who and read some evangelical literature support the book declare that it gives them and finally escaped from the monas- all that they have been fighting for during tery. His family has cast him off, the last forty years. I1-nd Mr. Patton has great hopes of his future usefulness as an evangel- Bishop Knox, an Evangelical, wrote ical worker. to the London Times: If the Deposited· Book is accepted by Parliament we shall have to ask ourselves
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whether we, holding this view, can continue available for those who do not· know membership or ministry in the Church of IJondon, and the promoters are people England. As citizens we shall have to con- who can secure for the guests privi- leges not ordinarily available to sider whether a Church that rests on a tourists. The house is intended for foundation of error should be the National short-period guests in the summer, but will offer accommodation at other Church. seasons to residents from other coun- tries. Detailed information may be On the othe r hand, LquoordtedWboylmThe~r obtained by addressing International supporting the book, is Guest House Secretary, 19 Sydenham Hill, London, S.E. 26". Living Ch1tTCh as saying that, since Churches in Czecho-Slovakia the book has been approved by both T HE. Evangelical Church of Bothe Church Assembly and diocesan hemIan (Czech) Brethren is a union of the Reformed and Lutheran conferences, its rejection by Parlia- Churches which took place after the war. It numbers more than 250,000 ment would lead to the disestablish- adherents and is the remnant of the old Hussite Churches. The congregament of the Church of England. tions, with the exception of one, are found in Bohemia, Moravia and Sil- Two English Churches Unite esia. Besides the Czech Brethren there are in Czecho-Slovakia other ON JUNE 15th a union was con- Protestant denominations: the Con- summated between the Reformed gregationalists, (called now the Unity Episcopal Church and the Free of Czech Brethren), the Biblists, the Church of England. In this union Moravians, and the Methodists, all of the prayers and hopes of many years them founded by special missions were realized. The Free Church of from abroad. They number alto- England was organized in 1845 to gether about 25,000 adherents. All meet the needs of Protestant Evan- these churches are of the Czech nagelical Churchmen. The Reformed tionality. Then there is a German Episcopal Church was established in Lutheran Church (in Silesia) num- England in 1846 as a result of and bering 40,000 adherents. In Slovakia in opposition to the Tractarian Move- and Ruthenia there are the Lutheran ment. The Churches had the same Church, with 370,000 adherents, Tlreform of worship, the same purpose, vailing of Czech-Slovak nationality, and held the same doctrines. An ef- and the R,eformed Church, with 210,- fort was made in 1876 to unite them, 000 adherents, prevailing of Magyar but it was so decisively defeated that nationality. the matter was dropped for many years. The union just brought about Christian Endeavor in Spain was by the unanimous vote of every congregation in both bodies. The title ALTHOUGH the population of of the new Church will be The Free Spain is overwhelmingly Roman Church of England, otherwise called Catholic, and Protestant work is car- The Reformed Episcopal Church in ried on under severe restrictions, the the United Kingdom of Great Britain Christian Endeavor movement is and Ireland. making progress. Mr. Jose Capo, secretary of the Spanish Christian An English International House Endeavor Union, writes that there are about forty societies in the country, AGROUP of leaders representing with a membership of 1,500. He says: various organizations interested "As you probably know, the evanin international fellowship have established, in a pleasant suburb of London within twenty minutes of Westminster, an International Guest House where visitors from all lands will find a welcome. The house stands in several acres of woodlands on high land near the Crystal Palace, making an agreeable retreat after days of sight-seeing in town. Advice will be
gelical Christians here are going These schools have rendered great through trying times. The difficulties services to our country. From them to be overcome by those who wish to came our first statesmen and public testify to the Gospel of Christ have servants. Many mothers in Bulgaria increased owing to restrictions put on have come from them. Throughout religious liberty; but we do not de- their existence they have exercised a spair, for God has not forsaken us. strong moral influence on our national The young people have been En- life. In the development of tolerance, deavorers up to now, but I can confi- honesty, industry, steadfastness, and dently state that they are something of learning we owe much to these more: they understand their respec- schools, which have cultivated the tive churches. Not one group has said Anglo-Saxon virtues in our Bulhauled down the flag; on the con- garian soul." trary, it is worthy of note that from time to time we receive letters asking Soviet Union Census us to form new societies." The Christian Endeavor Union publishes a A CABLE from Moscow, August paper entitled La Hoja del Esforza- . 10th, gives the total population dor. It is at present a quarterly, but of the Soviet Union in round numbers it has proved so helpful that the as 146,200,000, according to a re- Union may publish it monthly in en- port submitted the Council of Peolarged form. pIe's Commissaries by the Central Statistical Department. Russia proper Gel'Dlan Celibate Women Clergy (the R. S. F. S. R.) contains 100,- 500,000 people, Ukraine 28,900,000, AWIR,ELESS message from Ber- White Russia 4,900,000, Caucasus 5,- lin, May 9th, to the New York 800,000, Uzbekistan 5,100,000 and Times reported the decision of the Turkestan 1,000,000. General Synod, according to which women may now enter the clergy in Russian Atheist Admits Defeat the Evangelical Church as long as they remain celibates. The training T HE fact that there has been for the clergy is the same for both enough religious activity in Russia sexes: The women will be assigned as recently to cause anxiety among the teachers to girls' homes and hospitals, members of "the Anti-God Society" homes for the aged and at prisons, was reported in the August REVIEW. and will conduct religious services for Light is thrown on the situation from children and instruct girls' Bible a different angle in a lecture delivered classes. Women clergy will not be by "the Commissioner for Atheism," allowed to perform marriage cere- Jaroslawsky·Gubelman, from which monies, conduct funeral services, bap- the following is quoted: tize, preach or administer sacrament. Their salary will amount to about The fight against religion is becoming three fourths that of male preachers. endless, obstinate, and very ungrateful. According to the statutes of the Communis- American Schools in Bulgaria tic Party, every member has to carryon atheistic propaganda. But no one does it. T HE following tribute has recently Many are eager atheists only in words; been paid to American mission but in their homes one can see a lot of schools by the Church Newspaper, an icons. Women are espeeially very obstinate official organ of the Holy Synod of in their resistance to a healthy atheism. Bulgaria: "These institutions, which have existed for more than half a cen- The churches are renewed, and the clergy tury, came with the American evan- is busy getting means for gilding the domes. gelical missions, and were founded in We cannot ignore the elevation and growing the name of pure Christian morality. strength of our enemy ……. The greatest danger lies in the propagation of the sects. This renewed ' , purified" religion is the most dangerous one. But we have found it impossible to fight the sectarians.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
AFRICA took his stand in front of the AzhaJ! University (the intellectual center of Hospital Overcomes Hostilit.,- Islam) and handed the bills to the sheikhs as they went in and came out.' THE hospital conducted by the At the first meeting, out of an audi- Egypt General Mission at Shebin- ence of ninety persons, sixty were el-Kanater is a center of Christian in- sheikhs. fluence in many near-by villages. H. Frank Rose, M.D., writes of one such African Funeral Transformed village, where three of the Mission's Egyptian evangelists were bitterly A GONTRIBlTTION from an unopposed, on their first visit, by a usual source carne recently to group of Moslem sheikhs. He says: Rev. G. C. Beanland, of Yaounde, "We have visited that village fonr West Africa. One of the evangelists. times, and each time have been greatly encouraged by the responsive hearings a. of the mission is in a town where "the' granted. Further, it is my custom, when interviewing patients who are mother of the headman has been discharged, to mark an asterisk in my member of the Christian Church. She visiting book opDosite the names of died and when they went to bury her'; those who have shown special intelli- according to Bulu custom they mled gence and interest in the message. the grave with cloths, head dresses; These names are arranged according and other articles that the spirit to town or village. My records show might have use for in the spirit world: that the three patients in the hospital The evangelist, a man of strong conc most promising, from the evangelistic victions, went to the headman arid point of view, in the last few weeks told him it was not the custom that came from the very village where we Christians should follow, and that if met such opposition only a few he had gifts to give to the dead, h6 months ago." should give them in money that could be used for carrying on God '8 work; Christian Lectures for Moslems and not be buried with the body_ The headman so respected his dead I N JANUARY, 1925, missionaries of mother, as well as the Christian evan-' the Church Missionary Society in gelist, that he took all the things out Cairo began discussion meetings with of the grave, gave his mother a Chris- Moslem students. The missionaries' tian burial, had hy:rims sung and home where the meetings were held prayers offered, and then gave thebecame known as "The House of Free evangelist seventy francs that he- Speech. " Two meetings each week might send to the white missionary to< have been held since then to consider be nsed in carrying on God's work.' > not only religious and devotional themes, but questions of moral and Plans for Liberia's Progress social conduct. Encouraged by what had already been accomplished, the A~ EDUCATIONAL conference on missionaries resolved in October last ft Liberia was held this spring at to launch out upon a more venture- Hampton Institute, Virginia, under some scheme. Twelve special speakers the direction of James L. Sibley, who were invited to deliver a lecture in a is described as "educational adviser" ser'es of twelve fortnightly meetings, to American boards which have misdealing with the fundamentals of the sions in Africa." Missionaries at Christian faith. The faculty of the horne on furlough from the Lutheran, American University in Cairo placed Methodist and Episcopal Churches their Assembly Hall at the disposal were in attendance. In addition 'to of the missionaries, and for each meet- the Liberian workers there were ing 2,000 handbills were printed and others from Angola and the Cam~ distributed in the main student cen- eroun. One who was present thus ters. One Egyptian co-worker boldly summarizes some of the results achieved: "First, a curriculum was
worked out for the schools-four new minerals, the population both of years primary, four years interme- Europeans and' of natives, concendiate, and four secondary. It was trated in the towns and mining camps mutually agreed that all this work of this mineral field, is steadily inshould be as simple as possible, creasing. . . . Sixteen leaders hold adapted to the native child's environ- their classes on Tuesday night in vament, and using native arts and ma- rious places in the native town, in the terials wherever possible. Handiwork various industrial concerns, and in was stressed as important. The sec- other outlying localities. In addition, ond result was a series of readers for there are other active workers among the primary grades and the third a the laity, both men and women, who definite program of work with women are constantly bringing in new people and girls of the native village, which to be enrolled as 'hearers '. The ofaims at personal evangelization plus ficiary of the church is well organized. better home and health conditions." Twelve stewards, as a group, take the responsibility, under the leadership O·New Burial Place for Mackay of the missionary, in passing on the NE of the great names on the roll individual merits of candidates for of missionaries to Africa is that advancement from 'hearers' to 'cat- 'Of Alexander Mackay, Scottish engi- echumens', and then from that class neer. It was on June 30, 1877 that to be baptized and received into full Shergold Smith and C. T. Wilson, membership. " :after a perilous journey from the coast, reached the court of King GENERAL Mtesa, of Uganda, whence two years previously Sir H. M. Stanley had Three C. E. World Commissions sent his urgent letter to London asking that missionaries should be sent AT THE recent International Chrisout. Mackay had tried to get into the tian Endeavor Convention in country by the southern route, and Cleveland, Ohio, three commissions he did not join C. T. Wilson, whom with a world outlook were appointed. Smith's death had left utterly alone The first, consisting of members apin the country, until November, 18;78. pointed by all National and Inter- The bones of Mackay now rest in the national Christian Endeavor Unions cemetery under the shadow of the together with other youth movements, great cathedral which has been erected will meet at the call of the World's on one of the hills of Kampala, the Christian Endeavor Union to concapital of Uganda, their removal from sider ways and means for making Usambiro, at the south end of Vic- effective a world-wide youth crutoria Nyanza, being one of the most sade for peace. The General Secrestirring incidents in the week of jub- tary of the International Society of ilee celebrations. Forced to leave Christian Endeavor is executive sec- Uganda, the gallant missionary took retary of this commission. The secrefuge at Usambiro, and with his ond. consisting of members appointed faithful "boys" .around him estab- by the International Society of Chrislished there a new center of Christian tian Endeavor, the young people's delife and light. partments of all the churches, the World's Sunday School Association, African Chureh Officers the International Council of Religious Education, the Young Men's and the REV. .T. M. SPRINGER writes of Young Women's Christian Associa- the Methodist Mission in the tions, will meet to consider youth Belgian Congo: "The importance of evangelism. The Secretary of Chrisour Katanga field increases yearly. tian Vocations of the International With the enlargement of the indus- Society of Christian Endeavor is ext1)ial activities and the discovery .of ecutive secretary. The third commis. sion, consisting of representatives of
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all young people's groups, will meet state, national and international-was to further the cause of prohibition considered, and the social, economic, and law observance, and has as its political, moral and religious phases executive secretary the Extension Sec- of the question were discussed in a retary of the International Society of, series of group conferences. The ne- Christian Endeavor. cessity of scientific temperance educa- tion was stressed. A Young People's World League Against Alcoholism Rally was held under the auspices of the Intercollegiate Prohibition Asso- AN INTERNATIONAL meeting of ciation. There were also special meet- this organization was held at ings for Sunday-school workers and Winona Lake, Ind., from August 17th teachers. Among the delegates were to 23d-the first such gathering since representatives from practically all its convention in Toronto, in 1922. the organized temperance forces of The World League which was organized in 1919, by the representatives of the United States and Canada, and fourteen national temperance bodies, from most of the other countries of from eleven different countries, now comprises fifty-six national temper- the world. One delegate, whose arance organizations, from thirty-three rival in New York received considerdifferent countries. Every aspect of able attention from the newspapers, the beverage liquor problem-local, was Mme. Safie Hussein Bey, a Turk- ish feminist, who represented The Green Crescent Temperance Society.
Answers to Questions On Moslem Lands (SEE PAGE 770) 1. About 240,000,000. 2. Arabia and Afghanistan. 3. Japan, Korea and Tibet. 4. India, with over 70,000,000 Moslems. 5. South America. 6. Africa. 7. The battle of Tours, 732 A. D. 8. "There is no God but God; and Mohammed is the prophet of God." 9. 'Five times a day; at dawn, high noon, two hours before sunset, at sunset, two hours after sunset. 10. The Koran; it is not quite as long as the New Testament. 11. Mecca in Arabia where Mohammed was born, and Medina where he is buried. 12. Raymund Lull. 13. Henry Martyn. 14. The translation was begun by Doctor Eli Smith; after his death it was completed by Doctor Cornelius Van Dyck. 15. Ion Keith Falconer, the" Martyr of Aden." 16. Samuel M. Zwemer and James Cantine. First station opened in 1891. ]7. The Rt. Rev. Thomas Valpy French, Bishop of Lahore.
18. William Whiting Borden. 19. The Rev. Moulvi Imad-ud-din, D.D., a remarkable preacher and an eminent writer of Christian truth., 2.0. Kamil El Aietany who took the name Kami! Abdul Messiah (Kamil, Servant of Christ) at his baptism.
MISSJ[ONAmr LmRARY4 ~
' 0 . 0 ii'Uli ·bUG ~ ii'UU' LAAi "biKi· GVO Any books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.- THE REVIEW.
Mother India. Katherine Mayo. xiv. dominant religious sanctions. The 440 pp. $3.75. New York. °1927. result of these observations, carried on This book goes far to justify the through a brief period over a wide claim made by its publishers, that it area and among all classes of people, is unlike any other book on India that is an appalling book which reaches has been presented to the American the conviction that the whole pyramid reader, certainly in recent years. It of the Indian's woes, material and is a book that needed to be written and spiritual, rests upon a physical base.
is therefore timely, not only as it con- In the course of her investigation Miss tributes much to a balanced judgment Mayo studied conditions in rich homes in regard to an important and historic and in poor; in cities, villages, hos- people, but is a distinct corrective to pitals and temples. She held personal statements made with much positive- interviews with government officials, ness and exaggeration in recent years high and low, Indian and British; and to opinions formed upon the basis with doctors, educators, priests, of a desire to exercise a broad toler- Swarajists. She quotes copiously from ance toward a great people. Miss publications, both official and unof- Mayo went to India in 1£Q5, "unsub- ticial. She makes no unsupported sidized, uncommitted and unat- statement, neither does she handle her tached, " for the express purpose of investigations gently. Her treatment observing the common things in daily of the Indian '8 attitude toward WOffi- human life in India. While she at- en; toward the untouchables; to- tempted to leave untouched the realms ward elementary principles of of religion, of politics and of the arts, sanitation, brings out startlingly the and to contine her enquiry to public wide gulf existing between the In- health and its contributing factors, it dian's intellectual acceptance of is impossible to avoid drawing infer- Western ideals and his translation ences in regard to religious. and po- of them into action. The author goes.
litical conditions in India since the even further in her concentration on social customs of the people are so the sanitary problem as it actually closely related more especially to their exists, and she drives home with in- religious life. The introductory chap- escapable force the fact and the reality ter of the book is a very effective that the Indian is not only his own missionary document, although it is worst enemy, but that the temper and not intended to be such. Miss Mayo calibre of his mind and his outlook on deals primarily and faithfully with life are making him increasingly an social factors of the inner life of the international concern, both social and 300,000,000 who make up the con- physical. The most impressive chap- glomerate of races and creeds which ters in the book deal with Spiritual we call India. If the reader Is Mentality, The Wages of Sin, Why Is startled, the fact that the book is Light Denied? The Quality of Mercy, thoroughly authentic, and that its dis- The Home of Stark Want, The Holy closures are substantiated by author- City. There are also very illuminat- ities, will go far toward giving him ing chapters upon Gandhi, The Re- a new and a correct attitude in regard forms and Psychological Glimpses to prevailing conditions of life and of through the Economic Lens.
794 The author has greatly strengthened ization of the characters and examples her book by numerous illustrations, in brief sentences; then follows a not selected from available supplies in translation, and illuminating notes India, but taken everyone by members explanatory of words and sometimes of her party and directly illustrative of, characters. In another section are of her text; also by appendices of valuable grammatical notes explain- real value and an index which makes ing the use of particles in Wen Li immediately available desirable refer- style, the bane of the Classical Lan- ences. guage to most students. In the tales With other reviewers, we await the and folklore selections one discovers reaction of sound Indian opinion with the Chinese way of thinking. Other great interest. Indeed, this reaction sections contain documentary papers, is already being expressed in an ef- examples of newspaper articles, and fort on the part of ill-advised Indians fourteen samples of family letters to preveut the entry aud distribution which serve as illustrations of episto- of this book in India. This ought lary writing. The indexes of Chinese not to be, and probably will not be, particles and of characters which con- the more reasoned attitude of Indians clude the volume are defective in that who are sincerely interested in the the full index refers only to lessons vital welfare and progress of their and subsections, instead of to the Mother-land. w. 1. C. pages, causing a great loss of time.
Despite this defect, the book is so Introduction to Literary Chinese. J. much more intelligible than most sim- Brandt. 503 pp. Peking: North China ilar studies that missionaries will find Union Language School. (For sale also at the Y. M. C. A., 20 Museum Road, it of great value. H. P. B.
ShanghaL). 1927. Certain Samaritans. Esther Poh} Lovejoy.
This authoritative volume is of m. Maps. 302 pp. $3.50. New York.
little value for the average reader, as 1927.
half of its space is occupied by Chinese "It couldn't be done-so they did characters. A review of it appears it !" Over and over again the Amer- here because there are now in America ican 'Women's Hospitals proved equal hundreds of Chinese missionaries, and more than equal to the emer- driven out temporarily from China. gencies.
Most of these missionaries expect to The thrilling achievements of this return to their work as soon as con- organization in Europe and the Near ditions in China make it possible. East provides the material for a book These exiles may use the period of of tremendous interest. During these their absence from the field by study- years it worked in various areas in co- ing the Classical language in this l:iperation with the American Board volume. The author has been for (Congregational), the American twenty-three years advisor to the Wai Friends Service Commission, the Chiao Pu and head of the school which American Red Cross, and the Near that Board conducted for training East Relief.
students for consular and commercial The ministry of the A. W. H. was work. For the last two years Pro- to all-men, women and children of fessor Brandt has also been teaching any nationality. The situations which in the Missionary Language School, these women met were beyond imagi- which accounts for this highly credit- nation. They fought epidemics of able volume, one of the by-products typhus, of malaria, of influenza, of of this most advanced language school small-pox, often without adequate in the Republic. supplies and a lack of trained helpers, The first ten of the forty lessons amid conditions of famine, dirt, lack give the Wen Li text of the study, of shelter, terrible crowding, and the with a Mandarin translation; then a added psychological difficulties caused full vocabulary with Wade's roman- by the ignorance, rear, bereavement and sh()ck of those they aided. We author of a number of volumes, tire- follow Dr. Lovejoy through war- less student of European religious stricken France, Crete, Greece, conditions on many trips abroad, is Turkey, Macedonia and even into notably qualified to interpret to the Russia with the greatest interest. American mind a type of Protestant With horror we see the suffering of life as yet too little understood or the deported population from the appreciated in this country.
Black Sea ports, people without a The volume by these coauthors, country, on boats with no place to without being ponderous, is encyclo- land, finally dumped on a barren predic in its scope, subjects of the island, to die-save for the A. W. H. chapters ranging from the historic We rejoice when funds become avail- roots of continental Protestantism to able and enjoy the humor of the the changing theological front or the doctor's frantic and unavailing effort latest tendencies in the youth move- to reach the Ma,uretania. with "five ments. The different bodies making hundred unprotected millionaires" up the composite of European Protes- on board. tantism are' treated with a nne ap- We feel, as we read this book, a preciation of their qualities; and great joy and pride in the executive their tasks and problems are sympa- ability, the medical and surgical skill thetically discussed.
and the utterly self-effacing spirit Under the tremendous trial which of service of these women physicians came to almost all the European of the American Women's Hospitals. churches with the economic distress M. A. L. following the war, most· Roman Protestant Europe: Its Crisis and Outlook. Catholic institutions, owing to the Adolf Keller and George Stewart. 385 pp. $3.50. New York. 1927. organization and unity of conscious- ness of that branch of the Church, This is a book for the new age. The were finely sustained in their work, Protestantism it presents is profoundly modified by the forces operating while too many Protestant institutions throughout Europe in the post-war declined and collapsed because no one period. The readers to whom it will seemed to know or care. The defect especially appeal are the great com- of our dissociated and individualistic pany whose vision has been widened, whose sympathies have been broadened Protestantism there revealed will be by the events since 1914. While deal- remedied in a measure by the fuller ing admirably with the historical knowledge and understanding and apbases of the different Protestant preciation which such books as. this are groups of Europe, the regard of the book is forward. bound to foster. One is impressed by the witness to the unquenchable energy of spiritual forces. From the midst of our materially-secure Christian institu- Of the competence of our guides in tions we look across the ocean to see this study of an unfamiliar field we our kindred in the faith, not in the may be well assured: Dr. Keller, a past only, but in the present as well, native of Switzerland, a scholar victorious over tribulation and hard- honored by degrees from universities ship of which we know nothing. Once of Europe and America, pastor for a more the ancient symbol of the Prot- time of one of the outstanding Swiss estant faith is justified-the planting churches, an adminis.trator brought of the Lord that burns but is not con- into friendly contact with every sumed.
Protestant group in Eur()pe, is proba- One is aware further in reading bly without equal in his knowledge of this volume of an expansion of European Protestantism as it is. Dr. sympathy. Beyond parochial and Stewart, a graduate of Yale, one of national church interest we are the pastors of the Madison Avenue brought into touch with sister com- Presbyterian Church of New York, munions, representing a diverse religious .culture of great value and After 48 years of service he resigned in 1920 and returned to Scotland influence, and avenues of understand- where he died in 1£126. He left be- hind him as his monument, not only ing and cooperation are opened which the buildings of the mission and the converts, but the wonderful goodwill constitute an opportunity and a chal- of the people and the seed sown for miles around. That could only be lenge. o. w. G. the result of an utter giving of self in life-long sacrifice. A life like this Shepherd of Udaipur and the Land He is a grain of wheat sunk into the Loved. Geo'rge Carstairs. 306 pp. 16 ground and its fruitage is a hundred- very clear and satisfactory illustrations fold. nom photos. $2.25. New York. 1926. The only defect of the book is that This is a readable and inspiring the mind of the reader is not ready sketch of the life and labors of Rev. for chapter two when it is inserted .James Shepherd, M.D. and D.D. and with its intricate description of the K.I.H.M., who gave his life to the traditions and people of Udaipur. city and surrounding country of The insertion at this point blocks the Udaipur, in Rajputana, India. It is reader's way towards his developing not a great book, partly because the interest in Dr. Shepherd.-F. L. author had but· meagre materials at his disposal (little else than the 1,000 City Churches. H. Paul Douglass. matter-of-fact diary of Dr. Shepherd) 380 pages. 71 tables. 59 charts and but a great life is pictured for us in graphs. 58 appendix tables. $4.00. New a way that leads the reader to admire York. 1926. and love the hero. One is stirred deeply by that life, moulded by This seems to us to be one of the blessed influences of the Spirit in most valuable religious publication of Aberdeen, Scotland, and then trans- the year although not likely to get the planted into the midst of Hinduism public eye. It is the product of a to spread the power of Christian truth scientific study by the case method and love. One's heart is moved by of 1,004 carefully selected city his unselfish devoti{)n to the people churches to discover types, tendencies, year after year and by his heroism underlying principles, cost and efin heat and in epidemics of cholera. fectiveness of types, It throws a flood No wonder he was awarded the of light on the actual operation of Kaiser-i-Hind medal of the first class. Protestant churches in cities–some- thing badly needed for years. The Dr. Shepherd was a rare combina- case studies are so numerous and intion of ordained pastor and medical tensive that there can be no question missionary. After :five years of in- but that the actual story is told. troductory work in other places in Protestant churches have developed Rajputana he took up his residence hitherto on no clearly thought out in Udaipur and extended his in- principles, and therefore with enorfluence, built and maintained his mous wastage. It is possible now to hospital, which the Maharaja named measure a church effectively and to "The Shepherd Mission HospitaL" guide its program more intelligently. We marvel at the amount of work this missionary accomplished–dis- The initial surveys made by the pensary and surgical, preaching and Interchurch World Movement have teaching, and traveling on evan- been partly salvaged and of the ],004 gelistic tours far and wide. He took churches studied, 327 were taken from a special interest in the Bhils, the the Interchurch files. savages of the neighboring mountains, and started a church among T1].is volume should be of great them which developed in a wonderful value to ministers, professors and way after his death. Dr. George students in theological seminaries, de- Adam Smith said that he was the nominational administrators, and in ll].ost remarkable man and the most devoted worker he had seen India. thoughtful laymen who want to see of neighborhood service and enlarged the money well spent which they are putting into local churches. The book budgets. These are the growing, is a great condensation of factual material, and therefore requires close winning churches. Interestingly their study, but when its technique and the structure of its charts have been per capita benevolences increase with mastered in the first seventy-five pages, it is delightful reading. the broadening of the program. Just The various types of city churches where the denominations stand in rewere determined by a comprehensive listing of activities or forms of service, gard to these types is interesting and which were found to total thirty-three, and a grouping of these 1,004 sobering reading. Those which have churches, according to number of activities, and range of activities. been adventurous and least shackled 'l'his method revealed five types: The Slightly Adapted, Unadapted, In- by custom have been most successful. ternally Adapted, Socially Adapted and Widely Variant. The well developed churches hold The dominating hypothesis that the the young people, and their Sunday eity church' is an evolved rural church is abundantly proved. The study then Schools are strong with young people takes up the response and adjustment of a church, which has its historic and adults. The Socially Adapted roots in the country, to the overwhelming forces and needs of urban Church is successful in all kinds of life. neighborhoods. This is the church Striking facts emerge. The largest which is alive to the community, group of city churches, (numbering 253 out of 1,004) is the little one which has a wide program, and a pastor church with from one to two hundred members, an average of four salaried staff. activities and a budget around $3,- 000.00. Next there is a larger number, "What is most successful is a warm- (360) of "slightly adapted" churches, having two or three more activities hearted, self-confident, opportunistic but still essentially a rural church. A majority of all city churches are as church." w. M. T. yet practically unadjusted to city life. They are as a whole relatively inef- The Christian Mission in Africa. Edwin W. ficient and costly. The rate of Smith. 192 pp. $1.25. New York. 1926. benevolent gifts for the Unadapted is $7.79 per member as compared with Africa whole, in place of Africa $12.55 per member for the Socially piece-meal, was the subject of the con- ference held at Le Zoute, Belgium, Adapted. September 14 to 21, 1926. Dr. Edwin W. Smith, of the British and Foreign The churches which have met the Bible Society, tells the story of it in challenge of the city-the Internally a volume which every student of mis- Adapted, Socially Adapted and Wide- sions should read. Fifty years before ly Variant, which include the adven- (in September, 1876) King Leopold turous residential, the downtown and had gathered a conference in Brussels the new Christian centers-are all to discuss the exploration and civilizatending in the same direction to large tion of Africa. Congo was then wellunits, well equipped buildings, nigh unknown. It is now Belgium'« salaried workers, enlarged programs one great colony, eighty times as large as the mother country. Leopold's con- ference brought together representa- tives of seven European nations. Its Christian success united scores of Christian organizations, European and American, in consideration of the needs of the great continent.
The new Africa which is leaping again into the world's consciousness is in need of everything-physical healing, political organization, eco- nomic development and spiritual re- demption. A new world awakening to Africa's possibilities has suddenly taken place and there is a trek Afri- ca-wards. The Conference brought together mISSIOnary leaders, govern- tian work for the people of Kashmir. Dr. Arthur Neve was born in Brighment officials, ethnologists, scientists ton in 1858 and went to India, under the Church Mis s ion a r y Society, and world travelers and the wholeness twenty-three years later. His life was full of self-sacrificing, fruitful service of Africa was preserved in the in Srinagar and vicinity, the story of which is full of inspiration. There thought of the Conference not only were exciting times in the days of the earthquake, plague and cholera. geographically but in respect to every Many an operation on Kashmiris was an adventure. Dr. Neve died of infield of endeavor. Government of- fluenza in 1919 and left an honored name and a monument in the hearts ficials as well as others united in of many who have turned to God.
acknowledging the central importance The Leaven of the Sadduoees, or Old and New Apostasies. Ernest Gordon. 12 DlO. of the missionary's task in the future 263 pp. $1.00, paper. $1.50, cloth. Chi· cago. 1926. development of Africa. The discus- Few Biblical students doubt that sions centered about how best to meet these are days of apostasy. So have been all the days since God first rethe need in the building ·up of the vealed Himself to man. They are also the days of faith. What is needed in Church, the education of the masses, every age is discernment and will to distinguish the true from the false the development of a health program, and to follow the Truth. Mr. Gor- don's volume on "Old and New and the solution of the land and labor Apostasies" seem to prove that today false teachers in churches and schools problems. dominate the situation. He quotes facts to show the tendency toward Dr. Smith's book gathers up all that Unitarianism in schools, colleges, seminaries and Christian institutions, is newest in relation to Africa as de- and calls attention to the growing agnosticism, skeptism and materialveloped at the Conference and pre- ism of the day. His statements, based on careful research, call for more clear sents it in such form as to enable the and courageous expressions of faith. It cannot be denied that many minreader to comprehend the startling isters of churches and many teachers in Christian schools and colleges have developments, economic, commercial, given up their faith in Christ and the Bible and are undermining the founand political which are taking place. dations of the faith in our youth. Weare thankful that there are others It cannot fail to stimulate a desire to who are building up stronger faith and purer life on the truth as God has keep the Christian movement where revealed it. We need to teach youth discernment, to bring them into vital it has long been and ought to con- connection with Jesus Christ and to prove by the facts of life that the life tinue, ill the forefront of Africa's de- of faith and obedience to God's Word and God's Son is the only life that velopment. P. H. J. L. can win.
The Search After Reality. Sadhu Sundar Singh. 12 mo. 104 pp. $1.25. 1926.
The Sadhu, an Oriental Christian, gives his view of Oriental religions- Hinduism, Buddhism and Mohammedanism-in contrast to the religion of Jesus Christ. He has lived in close contact with these cults, has studied their sacred books and has watched the lives of their followers. He sees in them truth, but not The Truth; a seeking after GOd, but a failure to find Him. His book contains thoughtful, devout observations and, while without much new light on the subject, gives interesting, if meager light from the inside, by one who has come to see the inadequacy of these religions.
Arthur Neve of Kashmir. A. P. Shepherd. Illnstrated. 12 mo. 134 pp. 28 6<'1. London. 1926.
Dr. Arthur Neve and his brother Ernest were British medical missionaries who devoted their lives to Chris- Hand Book of the Churches. A Survey outbursts of religious fanaticism, it of the Churches in Action. Edited by is quite impossible to account for Benjamin S. Winchester. 8vo. 426 pp. many outstanding characteristics of $2.00. Baltimore and New York. 1927. the Mormon system. Notwithstand- ing the opposition of the moral and! This year book contains, as usual, Christian forces, Mormonism has the up-to-date information in regard grown in a century until it has at- to American church organizations, tained greater strength than in any inter-church work and religious other period of its existence. statistics in America. There is also a survey of recent religious move- Some adjustments in Mormonism ments, such as local church federa- have been made in conformity with tions, community churches, church the civil law and custom of the land, board consolidations, inter-church co- but no one should deceive himself by operation, religious and missionary thinking that the fundamental teach- education, student Christian associa- ings have been changed. .As the au tions, theological controversies, con- thor of this book remarks about po- ventions and conferences, prohibition, lygamy : ' 'This doctrine still stands. the youth and the church, race rela- written in the official creed of the tionships, international and industrial church. Not one line of it has ever relationships and relief work. Four been erased or modified. " Like stored pages are also devoted to Roman dynamite it awaits the hour when it CatholicisIp, two pages to Judaism, is considered safe to bring it forward nine pages to religion in Europe and again. Mormon literature that teaches two pages to Eastern Orthodox this doctrine is constantly carried churches. The statistics for 1924 and through the mails throughout the 1925 report the following interesting world. figures: Members of all churches, 46,- 883,756-of whom 16,~45,000 are Dr. Snowden has only a faint hope Roman and Eastern Catholics and that Mormons can be induced to sur- 357,135 are Jewish heads of families; render their allegiance to their cult. there are 15,280,196 on roll in Sunday- He does believe that, "The growing schools and over 336,000 pupils are light of knowledge, science and edu- enrolled in 4,304 vacation church cation, Christian truth and grace, will schools; the Foreign Mission income slowly pervade and modify it." He for 1924 was $43,325,506 for United says, "Modern knowledge …. is put- States and Canada, and over $20,000,- ting dynamite under the foundation 000 (incomplete returns) for Home of Mormonism." Mission enterprises, not counting local church support. This may well be the attitude adopted by all Christians. As this This is a valuable reference book author says: Mormons "also are the for editors, pastors and others, in- children of our common heavenly terested in religious conditions in Father, and we should so regard them America. and welcome them back to their an- cestral faith and fellowship." The Truth About Mormonism. James H. Snowden. 369 pp. $2.5,0. Philadelphia. w. E. LA R. 1926. Penlune. S. E. Burrow. 8 vo. 134 pp. This very readable book contains 18 6d. Glasgow, Scotland. much valuable information about Mormonism. The author has aimed at This simple but charming story, fairness and accuracy without pas- the scene of which is laid in the quaint sionate denunciations and extrava- English town of Penlune, shows the gant statements. He points out that power of old-fashioned religion. Mormonism is a mysterious religious Excellent use is made of the Scrip- . movement that arose out on the tures to point out the successive steps American frontier. As with other in conviction, conversion and peace.
-E. A.A.
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1927
· A Sample of the Missionary Educational Investment in China- Some of the
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Me Cutcheon's ['l'f) FIFTH AVENUE FORTY-NINTH ST.
Dept. No. 20 ",,,_w New York ~- AN INSIDE GUMPSE l W E WOULD like to spread before you all of the soul-stirring experiences which come to us weekly in the practical work reports from our students. But since this is impossible we are quoting from a few that you may share the joy with us.
j A man converted jn jail through the instrumentality of a group of students wrote to one as foIIows: "r have joined a Sunday-school class, the Christian Compapionship Club and the choir, so you see I am very busy ip the Lord's work. I sing at tqe missions in j Chicago and give my testimony of how Jesus saved me a wretched sinneri in the Cook ' County jail. .
"I have already been the means of bringing two or three souls to the Lord each week, ) but I give Him all the praise. When a man is a Christian he always likes to tell the other fellow about the Saviour."
Our Practical Work Director says: "The work in the railway shops is typical of most of the work carried on by our groups. The men have but thirty minutes for eating and when our group arrives they are seated around in a circle leaving room for the group in the center. The group is composed of a number of musicians, two or three good speakers and personal workers who know how to speak to men. It is not an uncommon occurrence to have five or six men at one meeting come out of their own accord and take a stand for Christ in the sight of their fellow workmen," .
A Mission Superintendent testifies: "Your students have been a wonderful help to the attend- ance of the Mission. Souls have been saved, Christians built up in their faith, and Biblical interpretation made profitable. Your students have a warm place in the hearts of our people.
They are always made welcome because of their Christian fortitude,"
If you would like to have a share in carrying on the work of the Moody Bible Institute your gift will be very thankfully received. If you have funds for an investment which would help this work and also bring you returns for life we will be glad to tell you about our Annuity Plan, THE MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE 1153 Institute Place BoxY5 Chicago, Illinois Pleas. mention THE MISSIONARY REvIEW OF THE WOHL" In writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review 0 f the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON. EJIIOT CONTENTS FOR MAY, 1927 Page FRONTISPIECE •……..•….••. .SOME OF THE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN CHINA EDITORIALS ………………………………………•……………..• 325 RUSSIA AND THE PRINTED PAGE A RECl!lNT LETTEII FROM CHINA SHALL WE HAVE A MISSlONAlLY JOHN E. WILLIAMS OF NANKING CHAUTAUqUA 1 A CHINESE VIEW OF THE SITUATION IN CHINA ……..PAUL CHIH MENO 331 A view of the present (Jonitition and outlook in China by the Chinese Chlristwn seuretary of the Chinese Christwn Student Association in New York.
MISSIONS IN OHINA-TO-DAY AND TO-1rlDRROW …….. EDWARD H. HUME 337 The President of Yale in China, the American College at Chang8ha, reviews the events of the past few months a.nd interp·,.ets them in ..elation to mMsiona.-y progress and opportunity.
TURKEY, THE TREAT1ES AND THE MISS10NARIES ….. CHARLES T. RIGGS 343 A Ufe-lqng ..esident of Turkey interp.-ets the recent treaties and agreements with ..eference to the missionary situation and outlook.
OONDITIONS AT HOME THAT HINDER WORK ABROAD …………… . •..••.. .. ..••…. .. ..••••. . . ..••…. . , . . . • . • . . . . . . " .. MRs. F. F. LINDSAY 349 A frank stuily of the Church and of American Christianity and its influence on Christwn misswnary activities.
A CREED FOR MISSIONARY SOCIETIES ……………… · .. MARY A. VAIL 352 THE COUNTRY COMMUNITY AND THE COUNTRY CHURCH ……….. . …… ………….. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MALCOLM DANA 353 A stuily of rural or rurban Ufe in America and the responsibUity of the Christian Chu.-ch.
IF BY ANY MEANS WE MAY SAVE SOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LUC'lE G. OWEN 363 A story of effective evangelistic work in the Philippine Islands by means of postal contact.
AN INDIAN CHRISTIAN LIGHTBEARER-PART II . . . . . . . . . . . H. A. POPLEY 366 Conc!usWn of the life story of Dewan Bahailur A. S. Appaswamy, a remarkable Christwn of InilW.
WHAT OHRISTIANITY MEANS TO ME . . . . . . . . . A YOUNG CONVER.T F1tOM ISLAM 370 A WE.LL CONDUCT~D LEPER ASYLUM ………………….. P. A. BENNElt 371 The story of a mode! work for lepers in Ind·ia.
THE CONVERSION OF A WIFE-BEATER ……………… . A. B. PATTER.SON 374 A story of the power of the Gospel in a West African village.
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN …. EDITED BY ELLA D. MAcLAURJN 375 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN . . . . . . . EDITED BY FLORE'lCF. E. QUINLAN 318 NEWIS FROM MANY LANDS ……………………………………….• 380 FOREIGN MISSIONS LIBRARY …………………………………….. 397 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1927, by MISS!()NARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBlJSHING COMPANY. Inc.
Robert E. Speer, President Wm. 1. Chamberlain. Vice-President Delavan L. Pierson, Secretary Walter McDougall, Treasurer Publlcation Oillce. 3d & Reily Sts.• Harrisburg, Editorial and Business Oillce. 156 Fifth Avenue. Pa. 25c a copy. $2.50 a year. New York City Entered as second-elass matter at the Post Olllee, Harrisburg. P …. under Act of March 3. 1879. PERSONALS I HARTFORD REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., the well· SEMINARY FOUNDATION known authority on missions to Moslems, and editor of The Moslem World, left Theological Seminary America for England on March 26th to attend the conferences of missionary workers School of Religious Education among Jews to be held in Warsaw and Buda.pest. From there he goes to south- Kennedy School of Missions eastern &urope to investigate the situation in rega;'d to Mohammedans and, in the autumn, with Mrs. Zwemer, will begin a series of conferences in India.
** w. DOUGLAS MACKENZIIl, President R.Ev. RoBERi' H. MliLLIGAN, D.D., for- A UNIVERSITY of religion. Three separate merly a missionary in West Africa, and re- schools of Christian training grouped on one- Ilently pa.stor of the Presbyterian Church in campus. The Theological Seminary trains tor Mt. Kisco, N. Y., has been appointed Secre- the ministry; the School of Missions for the tary of tbe Upper Andes Agency of the foreign field; the Schnol of Religious Education American Bible Society, to succeed the late tor the lay worker and teacher and for social Rev. W. F. Jordan. service. Courses in any of the three schools are open to all students. Thus opportunity is * it o1Tered for full-rounded religious education.
LoRIN A. SHEPARD, M.D., son of the well- Hartford Seminary Foundation is located in known American Board missionary, the late the center or the intellectual and· cultural life II Shepard of Aintab," has just been of New England, half way between Boston and granted a permit to practice medicine in New York. Turkey and has sailed for Constantinople. A series of handsome and well…appointed * buildings makes its campus one of the most beautUu1 in its section of the country. The Case MISS RUTH RULE, who for the last five I ~~~g~i~s~i~[~~ ~~~~~1~~~~o1;.510~~isv~~u:ne: !~ years has been head of the Y. W. C. A. in the richest theological libraries in the country. the Balkan States, has been appointed sec- I The facu1ty is composed of twenty-eight scholarly retary of the W'oman's Board of Domestic I men and women who have attained distinction in their respective fields.
·I HARTFORD SEMINARY FOUNDATION Missions of the Reformed Church in Amer- I Hartford, Connedicut iea. .. * ..
REV. ERW M. NORTH, PH.D., son of Rev. Unlimited Good Frank Mason North, D.D., of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal "The interesting information re- Chnrch, has been elected Associate Secretary ceived yesterday enclosed with the of the American Bible 80eiety. Annuity check. makes me more anxious than ever to inVest some- *** thing more in your greo.t work EJ}WARD H. HUME, M.D., who has been connected with" Yale-in-China" since 1905, and president of the college since 1923, has resigned from the -presidency. The disturbed conditions in HnnRll Province have made it . necessary to close the college for the present.
CANON SELL, author of "The Faith of because of the unlimited good it Islam," and for thirty-eight years Secretary does. I want to be sure that moot of the Church Missionary Society in Madras, of what I have been able to save India, wher~ he still resides, recently eele- will not be wasted after I am brated his eighty-eighth birthday by the gone." publication of his twentieth volume of commentaries on the OId Testament and allied The above is an abstract from a letter literature.
OBITUARY of an Annuitant who remitted $10,000 for the seventh Annuity Agreement, REV. JAMES STALKER, D.D., anthor of totaling $48,500.
, I Imago Christi" and many other widely- For further information write : Morria W. Ehnea, Treasurer, Board of Forei~ read religious books, died February 6th in Missions 01 the Methodist Episcopal Church, 150 O~ieff, Scotland, where he was born seventy- Fifth Avenue, New Yorl., N. Y., or nme years ago. . W. J. Elliott, Treasurer, Board of Home Mis- sion. and Church Extension of the Methodist Episco- REV. CHARLES SCANLON, D.D., Director of pal Church, 1701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, P•. the Department of Moral Welfare of the Board of Christian Education of the Pres- bJ:'terian Church in the U. S. A., died in ~lttsburgh, Pa.., March 21st, in his fiftyeIghth year.
Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW 0" THE WORLn In wrIting to advertIsers. huildings of Napking University; a Union Christian Institution, of which Dr. .Tohn E. Williams was the Vice-President.
A Sample of the Extensive Foreign Business Investments in China-The large new Hongkong-Shanghai Bank on the Bund (Water Front) of the International Settlement in ShanghaL SOME OF THE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN CHINA
MAY, 1927
L FIVE RUSSIA AND 'l'HE PRINTED PAGE T HE power of the printed page to influence thought and action has 'been recognized ever since the invention of the printing press. This medium of thoughts has grown in influence as literacy has increased so that the power of the press-for good or evil-is proverbial. It is evident in political campaigns, in advertising and in educational and religious work.
Russia has recognized the efficacy of the printed pages in her political and social propaganda. Reports from China state that millions of dollars have been spent to present communistic ideas to the Chinese. Leaflets, hand bills and posters are scattered broadcast to sow political and industrial revolt, together with atheism, in the minds of Chinese students and other literate classes. The propaganda has been effective, in spite of the specious reasoning with which its' arguments are often presented.
Not only do Russian "Bolshevists" make wide use of the printed propaganda to spread false doctrines in China, but they also use the same method widely among the people of Russia and other European countries, and in America and other lands. Some of the papers printed are marked by blasphemy and teachings out of harmony with Christian morality. Papers are printed in Moscow bearing the imprint of the Russian Communist Party of the Bolsheviki largely devoted to ridiculing the idea of God and ,religion and that are particularly bitter against J eaus Christ. The Atheist Society publishes two papersr-" The Atheist" (for the peasants) and "The Atheist at His Bench" (for industrial workers). The Bezbogenik (The Atheist) has many cartoons, including a recent picture showing Jesus Christ as an emaciated mortal at whose sacl'ificiallife and teachings is pointed the finger of scorn. Capitalists and materialists are represented as those who, in His name, bleed, drive, rob, and persecute the working men. Many comments in these'
325
papers are too disgusting to bear printing in English. This propa- ganda is broadcast over Russia and naturally has a great influence on the youth and on others who are uninformed. Copies are also sent over to America for distribution that they may continue to dis- pense falsehood and poison. The accompanying illustration shows the cover of a recent issue of the" The Atheist at His Bench," which pictures how the Russian communistic propaganda is extending over the world. The "Russian Reds" are seen marching in the Soviet Republic and extending their activities to France, England and across the sea to America. It is not a question of whether the people of other nations desire these doctrines; they are thrust upon all nations through inter- national propaganda.
A daily paper of similar char- acter is published in New York and is called Russky Golos (The Russian Voice). It seeks to fo- ment discontent, suspicion and strife, especially between rich and poor, and between Christian and infidel. A recent issue says that all wealth, now in the hands of the privileged class, belong to the la- borers and therefore may legiti- mately be confiscated. Religion is described as the "opiate of the people" and God is misrepre- sented A COVER OF THE RUSSIAN COMMUNIST as a hardhearted and graspin!r PAPER, Bezbogen1k ("The Atheist"), showing the ex- L.J capitalist seeking to te,:;~~n toofp:~j~:r J;~d~~g~:~a N;,r~myO~~s- grind down the poor.
The October number of Cur- '·ent History calls attention to the fact that atheism is making strides in Russia and says that Emilian Jaroslavsky, president of the "Union of Atheists," has his office in the headquarters of the Communist Party Control Committee, of which he is secretary, being picked by Lenin for this position. "He is passionately interested in the anti-religious campaign, and is giving his whole life to the task of winning the Russian people away from their old beliefs and con- verting them to the new faith of Marxism and Leninism."
Jaroslavsky in 1925 also published what is sometimes called "The Soviet Bible," printed in modern type and making mockery of the Old Testament book by book. The title of the first volume is "The Bible for Believers and Unbelievers: 1st Part, Creation of .the W orId," and it is put out-under Governmental Editorship,
EDITORIAL COMMENTS 3~7
Moscow, Leningrad, 1925. Already over ninety thousand copies have been printed. In this volume the Bible is mocked and the idea of God is ridiculed j His priests are represented as mercenary, and engaged in defrauding the people by playing on their superstition.
Similar propaganda is carried on in America by Russians through anti-religious Communistic papers which are not quite so crude and coarse as those printed in Russia. One paper called The New Wodd is published in the Russian language, with the avowed purpose of rousing the hatred of the working classes against capi- talists. But the most extreme propaganda is that which advocates free sex relations and de- nounces God, Christ and the Church.
How can this destructive propaganda be overcome? The way to combat suspicion is with open dealings; the way to dis- credit lies it with truth; the way to overcome hatred is with love; the way to put down atheistic and blasphemous utterances is by wit- nessing to the true God by lips and life and by educating the youth to know and follow Jesus Christ as divine Lord and Sav- iour. Russian Communists recog- rOC:Y'AtpcmH£HHOf H1AAmtUCmll. ni'ze the power of the press. The Government has refused many ap- MOCtUlA t9t.'f AIEHMHI' A plications for the publication of THE COVER OF "THE SOVIET BIBLE" -TO CREATE UNBELIEF Bibles and Scripture portions in Russia. The excuse given is "lack of paper," but such lack is not observed in their Communistic prop- aganda. Fortunately some Bibles and 'l'tistaments are published in Russia, and Communists in America may now be reached with the good news of God's love and life through Christ and of the Christian way of life in righteousness and truth, in peace, good-will and brotherly kindness. Some excellent little leaflets have been printed in modern Russian by the American Tract Society. These leaflets include the Ten Commandments, the eighth, twenty-third and twenty- seventh Psalms, prophecies concerning Christ, verses on sin and salvation and the Beatitudes. The planting of this "good seed"
will counteract much sowing of tares. God will give the increase.
SHALL WE HAVE A MISSIONARY CHAUTAUQUA1 USUALLY those who wish to receive an education are asked to come to school and college and be taught. Some teachers have, however, conceived the idea of taking educational opportunities to people who are in isolated communities. The Chautauqua plan has been widely developed by which the school goes to the students. While, in some places, it has produced a strange mixture, in general it has been a boon to small towns. Similar methods have been used in the Southern Mountains, where Berea College has taken education to remote people in a series of classes and lecture courses. The result has been, not only to instruct them but to give them an appetite for more knowledge.
Recently, a "Swarthmore Chautauqua" has been founded, on a national community foundation, with a notable list of trustees who are seeking a $5,000,000 endowment. The purpose is to promote popular education and cultural advancement by bringing the best teachers to small communities for a limited period. Following a "vitalizing personal contact;" made during a week of Chautauqua lectures, courses of university extension will be carried on to follow up the preliminary work.
It would be a truly worth-while achievement if some Christian philanthropists would conceive and bring to fruition the idea of an endowed Christian and missionary Chautauqua to carry into remote and neglected regions the best type of instruction in Ohristian truth and in the progress of God's Kingdom among men. Lectureship foundations in these subjects have been established at colleges and seminaries, where the students have already a wealth of instruction, and educational institutions have been richly endowed in great centers but the remote regions are stilI neglected or are dependent almost wholly on very inadequate instruction. A foundation with a $5,000,000 endowment, and a commanding Ohristian personnel on its Board of Directors, could carry out a program of inspiring religious instruction that might exert a wide and abiding influence in rural communities where educational opportunities are extremely limited. What a boon it would be to hard-working people in such a community if inspiring messages and a week of teaching could be made available by the best Christian preachers and teachers. Oircuits might be planned so that talent from neighboring cities would serve these neglected communities and the work might be followed up by correspondence courses supervised by the best local talent. What a blessing might come, for example, if a team consisting of a leading preacher, an experienced Sunday-school worker, an enthusiastic missionary and a song leader could visit for a week a village community in Maine, a parish in rural New York State or a district in the mountains of Tennessee or West Virginia.
God may lay it on the hearts of some of His stewards to under-
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
take a work for evangelical and missionary enlightenment such as is being carried on to promote a higher type of training in literature, in hygiene, in child-training, in better amusements and in general secular branches of knowledge.
A RECENT LETTER FROM CHINA CHINA as a whole is not antagonistic to Christianity. In fact, the great masses of Chinese know little of it. There is, never- theless, a strong anti-Christian propaganda as well as an anti-foreign agitation carried on by students. A missionary wrote, on January 10th: The Nationalistic party took possession of the British Concession and Customs (in Hankow), running up their flag on the British buildings. British women and children took refuge on the gunboats-also some Americans, In Nanling (Anhwei Province), on Christmas night, numbers of defeated soldiers began to pour in, and, as is their custom, demanded money. The three thousand soldiers demanded $60,000 and they received most of it, so have behaved fairly well. If the money had not been forthcoming, they would have looted, killing those who resisted and probably burning down their homes. The women of the city fled into the country. We kept our gates (of the compound) barred, fearing they might come in to loot, but the Lord kept us in safety.
In W'uchang, the Nationalist party put on a play before thousands of people. They had a mock chapel and preacher, also a mob which destroyed the chapel, killed the preacher, and burned the image of Jesus. This, of course, was meant to incite the people to do likewise. They also had larger posters of pigs crucified on crosses. A Lutheran church was utterly demolished and an outstation chapel of Wuchang was destroyed.
This year (in Nanling Hsien), we have been entirely free from the antiforeign or anti-Christian spirit but the province of Anhwei has not yet gone over to the Cantonese. Not all the Southern element are anti-Christian. Marshal Feng is intensely anti-British although Dr. Goforth spent months in Marshal Feng's camp, at his invitation, teaching and baptizing many of his soldiers. Since Dr. Goforth returned from furlough, Marshal Feng will hardly notice him-all because he is a Britisher.
It is hard to understand Marshal Feng. He has a large army and his soldiers are well disciplined. They are welcomed by the people wherever they go, never looting or misbehaving. Nurses in hospitals have told me that Marshal Feng's soldiers are so different from other soldiers that it was a joy to care for them.
One wing of the Nationalistic party do not believe in any religion and want to wipe out every form of religion in China, "But God-." They seem to make all their reckonings without God.
We sympathize with them in their desire to be free from foreign domination, but they are unfair and unjust, to treat their best friends-the missionaries-in such an unrighteous manner.
Dr. John E. Williams, of Nanking O NE of the most saddening events in connection with the recent attack on foreigners in Nanking, was the murder, by a Cantonese soldier, of Dr. John E. Williams, the beloved and honored vice- president of Nanking University and devoted friend to the Chinese people. Dr. Williams was ruthlessly shot by a soldier who was robbing him, although he was not resist- ing. This death is an unspeak- able loss to China as well as to the Christian Church and to Mrs.
Williams and their four children and to many friends.
John E. 'Villiams was born on June 11, 1871, in Shawnee, Ohio, and was graduated from I Marietta College in 1894, and from Auburn Theological Semi- nary, Auburn, New York, in 1899. In August, he was mar- ried to Lillian Caldwell and was appointed a missionary to China in 1899 by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterial!
Church.
He became an outstanding scholar in the Chinese language.
Nanking University, which has now been closed, had approxi- mately 1,000 stUdents, and in- cluded a department of agricul- ture and forestry, a big hospital and nurses' training school, a JOHN E. WILLIAMS language school, and a middle An American Presbyterian missionary and school, and the College of Arts Vice-Pres'ident of Nanking UniversitY. when he was kIlled by Chinese soldiers while on his way and Sciences, of which Dr. Wil- to chapel in Nanking, at 8 p. m .. , March 24, liams was dean. 1927. In a letter written from Nan- king last January, Dr. Williams said: "We seem to be at the most crucial stage in the development of the Christian movement in China.
. . . We hope that this time will be passed with steadiness and quietness on the part of the representatives of the Powers and that they will come to a fair understanding. In the last three or four years, we have not had a semester in which there was a finer spirit of understanding and sympathy on the part of all our Chinese faculty and the students than this past semester. Students and faculty are coming to realize more deeply that the drive against Christianity means a great responsi- bility on their part for the Christian teaching and for the Christian cause. "
Dr. Williams and his family had many friends in America and in China to whom this tragedy comes as a stunning blow, but he has not labored in vain and his death will not destroy the fruits of his labors in behalf of Christ and his Chinese brethren.
A Chinese View of the Situation in
BY PAUL CHIH MENG, NEW YORK General Secretary of the Chinese Students' Christian Association T o THE Ohinese people and Americans who have observed recent developments in Ohina, the present situation in Ohina gives very good reasons for optimism. At last the people as a whole have regained confidence in their potentiality and have caught a vision of a free and independent country, unhampered by foreign intervention and unequal treaties.
The present situation in Ohina is not to be compared with the Boxers' Uprising in 1900. The Boxers' trouble was more or less mob violence, while the present uprising is by the people and with a definite program. Furthermore, the present uprising is distinctly a people's revolution, the object of which is to recover the sovereign j'ights of theil" nation and to make their country a commonwealth for all classes 'of people. The three people's principles of Sun Yat-Sen correspond more or less to "A government of the people, for the people, and by the people." Only Dr. Sun's principles are more explicit and based more on modern social and political ideas.
The nationalistic spirit in Ohina should not be confused with Bolshevism. It is, on the contrary, synonymous with patriotism in the best sense. For almost a century, Ohina has suffered economically and politically under the unequal treaties forced upon her by seventeen imperialistic nations, and the oppression of military dictators. She now becomes conscious of her strength and is determined to shake off any chains and to remove any obstacles that prevent her from becoming a free and independent nation.
Ever since the founding of the Republic of Ohina in 1911, Ohina has politely asked the Powers to take steps to abolish the unequal treaties. These appeals have been either ignored or evaded. Promises were made to Ohina by the Powers at the Washington Oonference in 1922, but the Powers did not make sincere efforts to fulfill their promise!'!. Oonsequently some of the Nationalists in Ohina are led to believe that if Ohina wants to recover her sovereign rights, it must be done bv force.
How'did Russia win the good will of the Ohinese nation? Russia in 1924 voluntarily relinquished her special privileges under the unequal treaties in Ohina and openly avowed that she would treat Ohina as a friendly nation on an equal basis. The Ohinese people as a whole do not know what Bolshevism is nor what has happened in Russia since the Russian Revolution, but they do know this-that Russia, of her own accord, willingly gave up the unequal treaties and became Ohina's friend, while the other nations did not even attempt to make known their intention to give up the unequp1 treaties.
331
The "Cantonese" or the "Southern" Government is composed of the so-called Central Committee. On this Committee there are Nationalists and Communists. The Nationalists aspire to make China a free and independent democracy, while the Communists advocate the workers' revolution or "Bolshevism." Russia has direct influence over the Left Wing or the Communists of this Committee. But the Central Committee is not controlled by the Communiststhe majority of the members of the Central Committee being Nationalists. To those who have studied the social structure and temperament of the Chinese people, Communism will never find fruitful soil in China.
The "Cantonese" Government has a definite program and definite ideals. It is erroneous to call it the" Southern" Government. Though it has had its center of activity in the southern part of China, yet the Kuomin Tang, the party in control of the" Southern" Government, has its supporters all over China and among the Chinese overseas. It is misleading to call it either the" Cantonese" Government or the <iSouthern" Government. It is not a "Cantonese" Government, simply because it is not in Canton nor is it controlled entirely by the Cantonese. 'l'he administrative offices of the Government have been moved to Wuchang and Hankow. Some of the most prominent leaders in the Government are not Cantonese. It is most appropriate to call this organization the Nationalist Government. The Nationalist Government is well organized. It has definite proposals regarding public finance, education and foreign policy. The most impressive thing about the Nationalist Government is that it is not militaristic, nor is it controlled by one dictator. The army is under the control of the civil authorities, which ,is in turn governed by the Central Committee. Furthermore, it has for its ideals the three people's principles of Sun Yat-Sen and the realization of a nation that is free from foreign bondage. "The Cantonese Government is probably the best government Canton has had since the Revolution," says Dr. James M. Henry, ex-President of Lingnan University of Canton, China. "The Southern Government is the only government in China that has a real program and that has actually introduced and performed social reform. "
The press in America has made much of Russia's influence in the present turmoil in China. It has repeatedly pointed out that ammunition and expert advice are being given to the" Southern" Government by Russia, but it has failed to point out, either consciously or tmconsciously, that British support is with the "North." According to recent reports from China, the most up-to-date equipment of Chang Tso-lin's army is partly from England. There is also evidence that the British are supplying, at the same time, a large amount of ammunition to General Sun Chuan-fang.
Chang Tso-lin was a bandit leader in Manchuria. He was hired
A OHINEBE VIEW OF THE SITUATION IN CHINA
by Japan to fight in the Russo-Japanese War. Later he was made an officer in the Chinese Army in Manchuria at the request of Japan. During recent years he succeeded in controlling Manchuria. Chang Tso-lin has aspired to become the dictator of China by force and is at present controlling Manchuria and the greater part of North China. In contrast with the Nationalist Government, the so-called "Northern" Government is dominated at the present time by one man, namely, Chang Tso-lin.
"South" is the name popularly given to the Nationalist Government, while the" North" is at present represented by Chang Tso-lin. In the eyes of the Chinese people, it is a fight between a party with a definite program and ideals against a party that has no program or ideals but is under the dictatorship of one man. Sun Chuan-fang is an ally of Chang Tso-lin. He is attempting to stop the Nationalist Army in the province of Chekiang. Wu Pei Fu is another ally of the so-called" North. " General Feng Yu Hsiang, the Christian General, is an ally of the Nationalist Party. The people of China have no respect for' Chang Tso-lin, nor any sympathy with the Communists. They submit to his rule in Manchuria and part of North China simply because he has a very strong and well-equipped army. The moral support of the Chinese people is with the Nationalist Party.
At the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the Chinese Students' Alliance in America it was resolved that the three people's principles of Sun Yat-Sen be adopted as China's ideals and program. At the same conference it was also resolved that the Chinese students should recognize the Nationalist Government as the government of China and that the same government should be recognized by the nations of the world.
The unconditional support of the Nationalist Government by the Chinese students indicated at the same time their sentiments toward the unequal treaties. Their, three resolutions sent to the State Department at Washington represent the sentiment of the Chinese people. They are: First, we resent the landing of American Marin'es and the increase in American naval units in China. Second, we request the American Government to refrain from participating with the other foreign governments in interfering with our internal affairs. 'rhird, we request the American Government to take independent, immediate and concrete steps toward abolishing the unequal treaties, including extra-territoriality, which is at the root of all anti-foreign agitation.
Since the Washington Conference in 1922, some of the Chinese people have been led to believe that the United States has deviated from her traditional policy of friendship and independent action in her dealings with China. Mr. Charles R. Crane, ex-American Minister to China, believed that the United States should have long ago led in initiating the negotiating of new treaties with China, in place
of the conventional tariff and extra-territoriality. He said at the Johns Hopkins Conference on American Relations with Uhina (September, 1925), "We have wasted three or four years, and many of the things that we propose today ought to have been done at the time of the Peace Conference." . . .
The Chinese, who have come into contact with the liberal thinking people in America, have found that the American people as a whole mean well to China and want to do the fair and just thing in the present crisis. However, this friendly sentiment in America, though widely spread, has not been crystallized into action. Consequently nothing has been done to enable the Chinese people to see concretely and to feel actually that there is such a sentiment. On the other hand, some Chinese observers have been led to believe th-at the United States has been influenced by the tradition of concerted action of the Powers in China and that for the sake of aeting with the other Powers in China the United States has sacrificed opportunities by which she should have shown to China her sincerity in pursuing a disinterested and just policy. If the United States had voluntarily renounced her special privileges under the unequal treaties as Russia did, the United States would have undoubtedly become China's greatest friend and the strongest moral influence in the Far East. Authorities on American trade with China, such as Mr. Eldridge, chief of the Far Eiastern Division of the United States Department of Commerce, and Mr. Julean Arnold, Commercial Attache to the American Legation in Peking, have both asserted that the modification or abolition of the conventional tariff and extra-territorial rights would increase instead of hamper American trade in China.
To those Chinese people who are in China and have never come in contact with the liberal thinking Americans, there is a growing feeling that America has become one, of the imperialistic Powers which regard China as a market place and are willing to hold on to their special economic and political advantages at the cost of China's sovereignty and independence. They have some good reasons for believing so. The United States participated in addressing the Ultimatum to China on March 16, 1926. During the strike in China in ,June of the same year, American Marines were landed in Shanghai to assist the British. The still recent reports of the dispatching of large naval forces from the United States to China have strengthened the belief of the Chinese people that the United States has changed her traditional course of non-intervention in the internal affairs of China. . . .
Perhaps the most innocent sufferer from press sensationalism in the present situation is the missionary enterprise in China. The press has declared that Christian missions there have collapsed and that investments of over $100,000,000 by Christian organizations in America were to be confiscated. According to cable messages from
A CHINESE VIEW OF THE SITUATION IN CHINA
the missions to the International Missionary Council, the most re- liable and recent report is that out of approximately eight thousand American missionaries in China about one-half have left their posts in the interior at the request of American consuls.
The prominent note in the declarations of the American and British Governments has been that their respective governments would use all necessary force to protect the lives and interests of their nationals in China. That the British and Americans and any other foreign 11ationals are entitled to safety in China is not questioned even by the extremists in China. However, it must be remembered that civil war is going on between two parties in China. Civil war always creates unrest, lawlessness and mob violence which are uncontrollable. The Chinese people themselves, according to Americans who have recently returned from China, suffer from the civil war many times more than the foreign interests. A large number of foreigners are scattered throughout China. The question is, is it possible for China. to stop the civil war without fighting the real issue, or is it more feasible that these foreigners should withdraw from the dangerous regions where the unrest is worst 1 The Chinese people welcome intercourse with foreign nations in trade, travel, and culture exchange, but they would resent any intervention or secret diplomacy which would support a certain faction in China to the detriment of China's fight for democracy and independence.
There has been considerable concern over the future of the Christian religion in China on the part of a large number of Christian people in America. There is protracted civil war and unrest ill China aUJl anti-Christian propaganda has been fermented by Communists.
This anti-foreign and anti-Christian feeling may impede the progress of Christian work in China but believers in Christ should not be discouraged and give up their work in China. In the words of Dr. David Z. T. Yui, Chairman of the National Christian Council of China, "Is Christianity a luxury to be enjoyed in peaceful times only to be discarded in hours of difficulty, or has the Christian re·· ligion, as well as the Christian people, something to contribute to a people in their struggle for democracy and independence ~ "
We, the Chinese Christians, believe that the anti-Christian sentiment has been generated partly on account of the propaganda and chiefly on account of the un-Christian dealings of the so-called Christian nations with China. We also believe that the civil strife and unrest in China are only temporary. Furthermore, we believe that the Christian religion has taken root in the national life of China because it has much to contribute to the religious and to the spiritual life of the Chinese people. When the gloom of internal struggle and external threat is dispelled and the Chinese nation is once more on the normal road of progress the inherent value in Christianity will be demonstrated in individual lives and institutions. An ideal or
commodity that has intrinsic value as well as the capability of serving mankind will eventually prove itself. The future of Ohristianity, as well as that of science and democracy in Ohina, need not cause worry. The point is whether we have faith enough to brave difficulties. Will the Ohristian people in America look beneath the surfaee 7 A OHINESE OHRISTIAN STUDENT DECLARATION'"
In regard to the present situation in Ohina, we, the Ohinese Students' Ohristian Association in North America, believe that the nationalistic spirit is underlying the efforts of Ohina to become a democracy, unhampered by the bondage of the unequal treaties. We believe that this nationalistic spirit has been generated spontaneously in the Ohinese people and that the number of people there who are influenced by Oonnnunistic propaganda is negligible. We further believe that the Ohinese people as a whole are united in supporting the political party which has a definite and constructive program, internally and externally, for the abrogation of all unilateral and unequal treaties that infringe upon Ohina's sovereignty. . . .
We find that the anti-foreign sentiment is caused by the long delay on the part of the Powers to take steps to restore to Ohina her sovereign rights and that the anti-foreign and anti-Ohristian demonstrations were staged by extremists, and that the Ohinese people as a whole welcome intercourse with the nations of the world on a friendly and equal basis.
The Ohinese people have not forgotten the traditional policy of the United States of justice and friendship toward Ohina. There has been a growing sense of comprehension on the part of the Ohinese people to witness that the United States appears to have deviated from her traditional policy and has adopted the policy of concerted action with other Powers at the expense of justice and friendly relations.
We believe that the use of force on the part of the Powers in Ohina will further aggravate and intensify the graveness of the situation, and that the Chinese people will be reasonable in response to sincere efforts on the part of the Powers to deal with the present situation on the basis of equity and justice.
We sincerely hope that the United States will pursue an independent course in opening negotiations with China for new treaties based on justice and reciprocity, and that the United States will readily recognize the party that has won the support of the Chinese people as the de jure government of the Republic of Ohina.
(Signed) THE OENTRAL EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE OHINESE STUDENTS'
C H R 1ST I A N A'lSOCIATION IN NORTH AMERICA.
* From The Chinese Christian Student.
NANKING
_CU~TURALtO~$~UTH EASTER AMEllltA" Clll$U~ NIVERSTTV ~ HN'INCO EGE DRUM .TOW~R JAP.NE5£COIISUlAlE • NANKING UNIVERSITY· Scale 1: +6,000 ,.. …. 0 Va Missions in China-To-day and To-morrow BY EDWARD H. :mUME, M.D. President of Yale·in·China, Changsha, Hunan 1. Political Events: March 24th was a serious day for missionary developments in Ohina as unexpected attacks on missionaries and the property of missions in Nanking on that day, together with attacks on business men and consuls in the section of the city quite close to the Yangtze river, led to vigorous action on the part of 337 2
American and British naval authorities who fired on groups of Chinese attacking an American colony, causing some loss of life. Of American casualties, three have been reported. Rev. John E. Williams, D.D., vice-president of the University of Nanking and a member of the Presbyterian Mission, was shot and killed by an insolent Chinese soldier-entirely without excuse or provocation. Miss Anna Moffett, also of the Presbyterian board, a teacher, was wounded twice, but not seriously. Mr. Earl Hobart, Standard Oil manager, injured his foot because the rope broke by which he was being let down over the city wall. It is reported that three British and three French citizens were also killed. On the Chinese side, cablegrams from Shanghai indicate that the Nationalist commander-in-chief puts the losses at six killed and sixteen wounded. The seriousness of the situation does not lie, however, in the number of casualties, regret- table as these are, but rather in the fact that the attacks made by soldiers appear to have come from men wearing the uniform of the Nationalist army. The evidence indicates that the communist wing of the party had carried on a good deal of propaganda and had incited some of the soldiers to make the attacks. Another serious aspect of the situation is, of course, that the American ships were compelled to fire in order to protect the lives of American citizens. Many of the foreigners who were evacuated from Nanking that day testify that only the barrage from the American war vessels prevented a greater loss of American life. Others express the belief that the presence, both in Shanghai and at Nanking, of foreign military and naval force, irritated the radicals of the Nationalist army and led them to an attitude of defiance. Meanwhile General Chiang Kai-shek, the Nationalist commander-in-chief, has expressed deep regret for the incidents and has promised to start searching inquiries, agreeing also to punish those fOll,nd guilty and to indemnify the families of the foreigners who were killed or wounded. Similar utterances have been made by Mr. Eugene Chen, the Nationalist Minister of Foreign Affairs at Hankow. Naturally, however, the foreign military and naval authorities discount these assurances, since in the dissension between the right and the left wing of the Nationalist party, on several occasions the will of the moderate element has been disregarded by the extremists.
A noteworthy element in the situation is the restrained attitude of Japan. Baron Shidehara has been making every possible effort to avoid a show of force, and has approved the conduct of the Japa- nese officers at Nanking who went ashore unarmed, so as to avoid all cause for provocation. He has urged the Japanese to conduct themselves with restraint, realizing the value of good will between Japan and China. It is announced that Japan does not propose to ally herself with any concert of powers to issue ultimatums to China and to present demands for indemnity in connection with the Nanking
1~271 MISSIONS IN CHINA-TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW
losses. The attitude of the State Department at Washington has been similarly moderate.
From the missionary viewpoint, a very serious result of the Nanking episodes is that the American Minister in Peking, together with the consuls in many cities, has concluded that every precaution must be taken to avoid another similar clash with the Chinese and that, therefore, missionaries should be evacuated from large areas of China before there is further trouble. Cables received during the SHANGHAI PRE5SYTfRIAN ,._._…….,.. ….._.
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week of April 3 to 10 indicate that the senior missionary officers or councils have accepted these urgent recommendations of the consuls and that, as a result, the mission stations in Shantung, Chihli, and other northern provinces are being evacuated as a precautionary measure. The stations in the Yangtze valley, in Hunan and most of those in Fukien province had already been evacuated. A few missionaries have refused to leave their posts.
2. The Friendship of the Chinese: Amid all the welter of disturbance and the widespread outcry against foreign imperialism,
nothing is more reassuring than the continued friendship of the common people all over China. Instances of friendliness, even at the risk of life, are reported from many provinces. In Changsha when a missionary doctor was about to leave, a silk merchant called 011 him and begged him to remember that even if it were deemed expedient to withdraw to Shanghai for a time, he must come back soon, "for we are all your friends, and this trouble will not last long." From Szechuan in the west and from Foochow in the east, where feeling has run high, reports come that the people are genuinely friendly. In Chengtu, Szechuan, when a boycott of the West China University was attempted, friendly students and teachers brought food and supplies to the campus by night and made it wholly clear that the regard of the Chinese for the missionaries was as genuine as ever. The testimony of notable Chinese as to the work and significance of the missionary is overwhelming.
It becomes evident that in a few places the attacks on institutions have been the result of long-standing grudges, either against individuals 0'1' against some attitude in the institution that has rankled. Recent visitors to China express their belief that the missionary movement has meant more than words can tell. President Wilbur of Leland-Stanford University, who was in China during the winter reports: "A prominent Chinese when asked by me the source of the new social activities evident in Chinese life, told me that he could think of no single recent social advance in China which had not had its inception either from a mission or missionary or from some Chinese who had come in contact with Christian influence. "
Nothing is more stirring than the account of the loyalty of the girls at Ginling College during the disturbances at Nanking. One of them had a relative in the Nationalist army. 'When he learned of the attacks being started in the college area in Nanking, he immediately sent an armed detachment to surround the institution and to make possible the safe evacuation of the teachers and students. No widespread anti-missionary movement has occurred among the Chinese. '1'he withdrawal of large numbers of missionaries from their stations has been insisted upon only to avoid further armed clashes.
3. The Days .Ahead: Three things seem to stand out as essential in considering the future of missions in China-hope, adaptation, cooperation. Confidence in the Chinese people must be maintained. The Christian movement in history has thriven on opposition from its enemies. The Church has been purified, its members have been driven to greater reliance on our Master, its spirit has been purged, and its message has been clarified, by difficulty and by persecution. Many thoughtful Christian leaders in China today state that their contacts with leaders of the anti-Christian movement have shown how far the latter are from any spirit of deep-rooted animosity.
MISSIONS IN CHINA-TODAY AND TOMORROW
Many of them seem, rather, to be seeking to discover whether the message of Christianity is to be found in the spirit and life of Christ, in a body of dogma or in the external philanthropies and activities connected with the Christian movement. For the most part there is no opposition to Christ. There should be, therefore no loss of hope for the future of missions.
But the function of the foreign missionary in the future will be different. This has been admirably stated by Bishop Roots of Hankow, in China Christian Year Book for 1926 in an article entitled "The Changing Function of the Missionary.'" In the past the missionary has been director, leader, the maker of decisions, the planner and thinker for every type of Christian activity. That day has passed. The missionary will be wanted in the future, if he is humble, cooperative, ready to work under Chinese leadership, and more ready to surrender office than his Chinese colleagues are to have him do so. The great call is for the missionary to be a friend, a companion, an adviser, an interpreter of .Tesus. Whatever may have been·the contribution of the missionary in the past through his works, in the days to come his greater service will be to bring to the Chinese a spiritual message. If Jesus Christ is seen in his life, he will be wanted permanently. His work may be modified in many ways. The Chinese declare that mission schools must become a part of the national system, with a greater degree of Chinese leadership in administration and teaching. Foreign church workers must take their place with their Chinese colleagues, following the instructions of the councils of the Chinese Church.
In other words, it is anticipated by many students of the situation that the missionary movement in China must become even more than it has already become, a cooperative quest for spiritual reality, in which the Chinese Christian and the missionary from abroad will work side by side. More and more, the Oriental interpretations of Christ may enrich the knowledge of Him by Western Christians. '1'he Christ of the Chinese Road, like the Christ of the Indian Road, will deepen our understanding of the Universal Christ.
The Religious Situation in Mexico T HE basic factors in the religious situation in Mexico have not been altered since last September. The Naticmai Government in Mexico has maintained its decision to enforce the constitutional provisions concerning religious organizations anq their activities; the Roman Catholic Church has refused to obey the laws, particularly in regard to the registration of its priests, and has made demonstrations against the laws by the withdrawal of its priests from the churches, by an economic boycott, and by appeals to the R{)mRn Catholic Church in the United States for sympathy and support. The Protestant Mission Boards, without exception, have instructed their missionaries to obey the law and are carrying forward their work within constitutional limitations. The present laws affecting religious activities are extreme, but there is the hope that they may be modified later in a constitutional manner. President Coolidge has stated that the religious dispute in Mexico is a domestic issue and has refused to advise governmental action as urged by a certain portion of the Roman Catholic Church;
HALL, THE RELIGIOUS CENTER 1:1 THE IS,LAND OF G UA~I
all In this buildln~ a native school is cond ucted during the d !:'~ y, movies are t:;hown at night arul cllUl"I:h s~rvif'es al'e held on Sunday. Chaplain Hall is interested In of these.
A Home Missionary on the Foreign Field BY REV. COE IIAYNE. NEW YORK W HEN is a home missionary a foreign missionary1 Answer: when he is a chaplain to Americans in a foreign land. This is the experience of a home missionary, W. R. Hall, chaplain in the United States Navy, stationed at Guam, Marianas Islands, in the Pacinc Ocean. Guam, the largest of this group of islands, is approximately nve thousand miles west of San Francisco and fifteen hundred miles east of Manila. It was formerly a mission station of the American Board, but, at present, tbe Capuchin Fathers and this one missionary worker a I'e the only missionaries doing religious work among the natives., 'rh e Am erican Baptist Home Mission Society has granted Mr. Ha 11 assistance in the purchase of needed equipment.
Chaplain Hall, a regular Xavy chaplain, is head of the Department of Education in the Island government which is administered by the Navy, the captain being governor. There are three regular preaching services on Sunday, and personal work among the one thousand service men and their families. They are scattered in nine units, some of them more than twelve miles apart.
The Department of Education has oversight of twenty-four schools in which there are more than three thousand children. '1'here are one hundred and eighteen instructors and workers, and an expenditure of more than $50,000 every year.
342
the Treaties and the
BY REV. CHARLES T. RIGGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE T HE American Senate failed to ratify the proposed treaty with Turkey, althou.gh Americans in C~nstanti:t;J-ople, r~pres.en~ing all groups of mterests there–busmess, dIplomatIc, mISSlOnary, Christian Association, educational, and others-strongly urged ratification.. All classes of Americans resident in Turkey were prac- tically unanimous in this attitude. But why? Our missionaries in that land do not depend in the least, for their safety, or ability to carryon, or personal freedom, on the existence of such a treaty.
They have never asked or wished special favors. Nor do our mis- sionaries crave any extra-territorial rights, such as used to be guar- anteed by the treaties with China and Turkey and some other coun- tries. Neither is it true that a treaty with America is any protection to converts to Christianity from among the nationals of such coun- tries. The American Government has not assumed any protectorate over any such persons.
But the absence of a treaty puts all American residents in a posi- tion of being merely tolerated by the Turkish Government, without the same rights as those enjoyed by persons of French, British, Italian or other nationality. To be without any legal standing at all is not a fair position in which to leave American citizens, whatever their calling. The ordinary rights of humanity, the status of those of other foreign nationalities, is all that Americans in Turkey have been trying to secure.
Rear-Admiral Bristol has for more than eight years been acting as High Commissioner of the United States, but without America having ever recognized the Turkish Republic, or appointed him or anyone as its representative to the Turkish Government. Officially, he is a private citrzen in a country with which his own Government has no relations. Despite this handicap, he has succeeded to a re- markable degree in winning the confidence and trust of the Turkish officials; and now comes the word that he has made arrangements with the Turkish Foreign Minister, Tewfik Rushdi Bey, temporarily assuring America the most favored nation treatment, and paving the way for an, exchange of ambassadors at an early date. Thus the damage to the prestige of America caused by the failure of the Treaty to secure the two-thirds majority has been largely remedied, owing to the dignified and magnanimous attitude of the Turkish Govern- . . i '" I i":lWr ment.
It is noteworthy that the Turkish daily press with remarkable unanimity took the view that a permanent settlement had simply been unfortunately postponed, by the action of our Seullte, but that 3§'3
there was no reason for retaliatory measures, and that the friendship of the two countries rested assured. The newspapers recognized the fact that the Americans resident in Turkey had done all they could to secure the passage of the treaty, and were to be counted as friends, despite the failure. The'Turkish Government has consented to a prolongation for a year of the temporary commercial agreement, by which America is exempt from the law levying much higher customs duties on nations with whom Turkey has no treaty. The agreements now made through Admiral Bristol have also guaranteed the reestablishment of diplomatic and consular relations on a reciprocal basis.
What will be the effect of all this on missionary work7 In one sense, we may say, none whatever. But in fact, this work has now the assurance of being able to go on with a more friendly feeling on the part of the Angora authorities than would have been possible if no working agreement had been arrived at between the Governments. It has not seemed probable at any time within the past three years that missionary work would be seriously interfered with, or the missionaries told to leave, even though the treaty had failed entirely. For the past ten years, our missionary representatives there have been living and working without any treaty between their country and the Turks; and there has been steady progress in the work and the opportunities during the past three or four years. Treaty or no treaty, there is plenty to be done in the living of the example of Christ, and in the quiet personal contacts which explain the power of our Saviour through love and sympathy. But besides. all this, much has been and is being done through the very practical help of' the hospitals, three of which are functioning in Asia Minor, exhibiting the spirit of the Great Physician to thousands of the sick and alllicted. And now right on the heels of the happy issue of this negotiation by the genial Admiral, comes this telegram from the missionaries in Constantinople: "Embassy holds assurance medical permits Shepard, Dodd, Dewey, Nute. Admiral Bristol urges importance immediate utilization rights granted."
Here is an immediate and gratifying step forward. For four or five years, the Turkish Government has taken the attitude that, owing to the absence of any treaty relations with this country, no American could be allowed to take the examination for a license to practice medicine in Turkey; only those who held such licenses before the war could be permitted to practice, So that while British, French and Italian doctors, at least twenty of them, were granted permits, no Americans could apply. The four young physicians mentioned, all well qualified and all having learned Turkish, have been patiently waiting for several years for this opportunity which the Turk has now granted. This will mean new vigor for our undermanned hos-
TURKEY, THE TREATIES AND THE MISSIONARIES
pita]s, and possibly the reopening of one or two more which have been closed for lack of personnel.
The educational situation is encouraging, despite the steps toward the secularization of all schools which have been taken by the Government. It is the policy of the Turkish Government to make no distinctions between government-supported schools and those wholly supported by private enterprise; so that the rules for American schools, as for British or French, of which there are many in the country, are the same as for the schools set up and supported by the Government itself. And it is the settled policy of the present regime to make its schools as efficient as possible; and the leaders are convinced that one factor in keeping Turkish schools retrograde for so long was the domination of the clerical element, and the methods of Koranic teaching. It would be difficult to hold that they are wrong in this view; and they have therefore suppressed the teaching of the Koran in the Moslem schools; this must henceforth be done in the mosques instead, if at all. As a logical accompaniment of this step, the teaching of religion in all schools, Jewish and Christian as well as Moslem, has been forbidden; and the young Government points to the state school systems of France and the United States, as examples of the necessity and advantage of complete secularization of the educational branch. This step has necessitated a re-evaluation of the entire question of missionary education. "Vas it worth while to keep open schools in which the Bible could no longer be the backbone of the curriculum, as it originally was ~ Our missionary educators, after careful and prayerful consideration of the matter, came to the decision that rather than close all schools and secure no educational influence in the Republic, they would comply with the regulations of the Government and keep the schools going. The results are abundantly justifying the decision. Missionary schools are of course recognized as Christian schools; the influences there exerted are definitely Christian, in spite of the removal of religious teaching from the schedule.
With returning confidence on the part of the Government, there are fewer and fewer restrictions placed on our schools; while the Government itself, in place of discouraging parents from sending their children to us, has this year sent a large number of government pupils to our institutions. The more conservative newspapers have been carrying on a propaganda against the American schools, because of their influence over the students; and their testimonies have been interestingly frank and complimentary, and the attacks have served as good advertising. The increase in attendance is shown by a table that appeared in the Missionary Herald for April, which shows that while in 1923 there were 736 pupils in the mission schools, of whom 236 were Moslem, during the current year there are 1,257 pupils, of whom 919 are Moslem-or an increase of Moslem pupils from 32% to 73ro of the total attendance. Character-training is a matter of
personal contact more than it is of formal teaching; and the students in our schools today are getting what they could not possibly get anywhere else-the direct radiance of Christian lives through their teachers. And the increasing degree of freedom being granted in moral teaching, together with the official proclamation of total impartiality on the part of the Government in matters of religion, give reason for hope that present restrictions will not be permanent, but that little by little there may be a larger freedom, when it shall be proven that a Christian Turk can be as good a patriot as a Moslem Turk.
Regarding the general attitude of the people, a quotation from a recent letter is illuminating: "The new code provides for absolute freedom of conscience in the matter of religion. 'Propaganda' is prohibited, children are not to be proselytized, but persons over 18 years of age are perfectly free to adopt any religious beliefs they desire. And events seem to indicate that this freedom is an actual fact, and that the country is prepared to stand by it. Along with these developments we find a deep and sincere interest in things religious among many people. There are many who feel a need of religion in their personal life and in the life of the nation. They have not found that need satisfied in the more formal worship of older days. Nor are they seeking for another religion, another system, such as Christianity. Perhaps most of the younger generation have come to regard all religion as rather futile, not really worth bothering about. But yet there is idealism among them, eager desire to serve the nation, and in many a real longing for deeper communion with God, and spiritual power for their own lives. And when a talented young girl asks us how to keep the morning Quiet Hour, what are we to answer unless we are keeping it faithfully ourselves! What can we do to help them in the strengthening of their personal lives, and the building up of their nation into strong, useful, friendly participation in the family of nations? If they can see that Jesus Christ makes a real difl'erence now today in our lives, we feel sure that they will want His help in their own lives."
Another sidelight shows the attitude of the government officials toward Americans. Mr. Luther Fowle, Treasurer of the American Mission, returned to Constantinople March 5th from a visit to Angora. During his stay at the capital, he happily had. the opportunity to speak with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Health, the leading editorial writer, and half a dozen deputies. He reports that all these officials frankly indicated their good will toward the Americans in Turkey and commented on the correct and friendly efforts of these Americans in making known to the people at home the facts concerning the new political and social currents that are now governing this land. A step of great significance is the discontinuance of the special Court of Independence (a sort of civil court-martial) and a return to the normal procedures of civil law. The Treasurer was so fortunate as to be present in the Grand National Assembly when Ismet Pasha addressed that body on this question and won their vote of approval.
19271 TURKEY, THE TREATIES AND THE MISSIONARIES
Perhaps even more than the missionary institutions, the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. have had rough sledding in Constantinoplethe only point where they are trying to operate in Turkey today. Accused of disloyalty and of secret contravention of the laws, and forbidden to carryon their usual religious programs, because they did not even claim to be churches, they have more than once been threatened with being closed entirely. Yet today Turks frequent these Association halls more than ever before, and the accusations against the "Y" are heard less often and are less threatening. They have seen the usefulness of going right ahead showing the Christlike friendliness for the youth of the land which those youth get nowhere else. These institutions are both American also, and the present renewal of cordial relations between the Governments will be of help to them as to the missionaries.
Turkey needs the advice of experts in improving her agricultural and domestic life; and along these lines too the missionary has an approach to the Turk. There is not as yet anything so extensive to show as the work of Sam Higginbottom in India; but a beginning has been made in agricultural training at the International College at Syrma; and in several places individual missionaries have given their neighbors valuable assistance by example and by securing for them supplies for their farms. Every missionary home also is a social centre that helps, to varying degrees, in influencing the home life of those who call and watch. And many a missionary lady goes into the homes of her Turkish neighbors and helps them with suggestions about child training and hygiene. Such visits frequently lead to opportunities to speak a direct word for Jesus, which finds lodgment, God only knows how deep, and will bear its fruit, though without observation.
One of the most direct and noticeable opportunities for service today among the Turks is in the line of a Christian literature. Not the class of literature known a generation ago as Sunday-school books-most certainly-but of two kinds. In the first place, the 'l'urkish translation of the Bible is being revised, and better suited to the language of today than that made by Dr. Goodell and his colleagues. The Bible finds a steady sale among Turks, even as it is; hut this improved version will no doubt he more popular, and help them to understand.better the Book they have never understood, although they admit its divine origin. The other sort of literature stressed now is healthy, helpful books of various sorts with a distinctly high moral tone, though not labeled religious. The best seller among these is Dr. L. A. Shepard's "Health Talks," the first edition of which has been entirely exhausted and another is called for and will soon be ready. Tw; of the readers recently issued from our Publication Department have been adopted by a Turkish school as textbooks for their pupils; and several other recent pUblications are
meeting with a gratifying sale. The Turk is reading as never before; and he wants to have something better than the French novel or its translation.
In this connection, interesting and hopeful word comes regarding a reading-room opened about five years ago as an experiment by the missionaries, on the great central avenue of the old quarter of Stamboul, for Turks. The place was at first under a sort of suspicion, many thinking it a propagandist centre and deserving suppression. It has, however, steadily grown in the appreciation of the public, and has now over five hundred regular patrons, beside many others as casuals. Nine Turkish dailies, nine American periodicals, and twentyfive or more Turkish weekly and monthly magazines are on file; and aside from consultation books, there are also nearly three hundred used as a circulating library, representing law, literature, philosophy, sociology, history, religion, science, ethics, and other lines. The regular attendants include lawyers, doctors, engineers, retired government officials, judges, and professors and students in the University and in a lycee or high school near by. An urgent request has come from women that they be given similar privileges; but for the present it seems best, especially owing to the large number of young men who frequent the room, to limit its use to men. Could a similar work be undertaken for women and girls, the attendance would no doubt be still larger from the very start. This reading room is being used as a centre for conversations with the missionaries, who come there to meet those who wish to have personal talks on vital subjects.
This is a critical time for the Turks; for they have thrown away so much that they used to consider essential in their religious life, and something must take its place. The Moslem theological seminaries have all been closed up; the Dervish orders have been forbidden to conduct their religious exercises; the sacred graves of saints have been padlocked; the Koran has been shut out of the schools; polygamy, though allowed by the Koran, is forbidden; and the age-long seclusion of women is being made impossible, by the forcible removal of the veils and the partitions. Faith in the whole system has been shaken, and the Turks are inquiring what next. Many are studying into vital Christianity-not the churches, but the life and words of Jesus, the Messiah. "And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this 1" These words may prove as prophetic today as they did in the days of Esther; and it is with this hope that the missionaries take new courage from the increasing opportunities given them through the growingly friendly attitude of the Turkish Government.
at Home, That Hinder
Abroad * BY MRS. F. F. LINDSAY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
Vice-President of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church T HE conditions in the Church at home, which hinder the cause of foreign missions may be fairly characterized as ignorance, indifference, critical disapproval, unwillingness to assume responsibility, and a distinct hesitancy in responding to financial appeals.
Since the missionary motive is implicit in: the Church, one concludes that serious fault must lie in the working plans and methods of the Church, or at least, that these do not lend themselves, either adequately or successfully, to promotional activities along missionary lines.
This statement is not intended as a criticism of either pastors or church members. It is simply a citation of facts with which any student of present-day conditions must concern himself. Weare passing through some strange and startling experiences. As a nation we entered the world war to help "make the world safe for democracy." Now we are confronted with a larger, more difficult task, that of making democracy democratic.
As a Christian Church we have been engaged for a century or more in sending Christianity to the pagan nations of the world. Now a rude awakening comes to us, as these self-same folk show us conclusively that the real task of the Church is to make Christianity Christian.
Have we, in these two experiences, a criterion that enables us to understand conditions in the Church which hinder or thwart missionary procedure? Does the Church need to be democratized1 Does the Church need to be Christianized?
For generations the Church has maintained that its principal function is prophetic utterance! The prophet's influence and authority have rested upon the assumption that his message was of divine inspiration. And now the people have grown accustomed to the message!
They see only small results accruing, and with new demands upon their time, due to countless intriguing innovations, they go unmoved upon their individual ways. The pastor's time is filled to overflowing with the preparation and delivery of his message and with the harrassing demands of modern life. He looks on with perplexed and • An addre•• delivered at the Atlantic City Foreign Missions Conference, January 17, 1927.
349
troubled mien at Sunday services that are no longer commandbg in influence, and at a Lord's Day that is losing its sanctity.
But in spite of all, the Church continues to expend ninety pel' cent of its effort, its time and money on the tradition-honored method of pulpit presentation, entirely regardless of the fact that the great problem of the Church at present is not how to create emotion and inspiration, important and necessary as those are, but how effectively to translate those moral and spiritual assets into action.
The message may be very vital, wonderfully scholarly, and Spirit-filled, but if there is no corresponding Spirit-imbued plan for putting into immediate practice the truths presented from the pulpit, then the whole Christian system breaks down. A congregation or church membership whose only concerted action relates itself to a financial campaign, which has no recognition of the duty of corporate Christian service, is unworthy the name of a church. It is just here, where the prophetic leaves off and the application of the message is supposed to begin, that we are without adequate leadership and organized expression.
It is in dealing with childhood and youth, in the homes, the public school, the community, in all this great and significant realm of religious, civic and industrial beginnings, that the Church, while claiming to occupy the field, finds its working plans entirely inadequate.
The missionary undertaking, like the moral and spiritual training of youth, lies in this "No-Man's Land" of the Church! The investment of initiative and responsibility in one man, which has been of natural and logical growth in the past, manifests itself in connection with the missionary enterprise in a very definite way. The promotional and educational lines extend from the Boards, down through secretaries and pastors, to the local church. In the very nature of the case the duties and responsibilities of the pastor preclude the possibility of his becoming a promoter, in any large way, for the various benevolent activities of his denomination. The local need demands most of his time and his best efforts. As the church is at present constituted, the demand upon the pastor that he shall be agent, representative and chief executive for the benevolent boards of his communion forms one of the greatest hindrances to the adequate promotion of missionary interest.
This brings me to the main point of my presentation. The Church needs to be democratized. In far too much of our current vocabulary the" Church" connotes the clergy! It must, in a Wholly new sense, come to mean the laity as well. In a little booklet on "Democratic Christianity" by one of our most trusted leaders, I read these words: "The church does not belong to men until they feel that its program is their program, and that they can-have some part in shaping the program. It
CONDI'l'IONS AT HOME THAT HINDER WORK ABROAD 3
will not suffice to approach a class of men with the sweeping statement that the church belongs to all men. The church must be more concrete, more specific. "
A way should be found t9 bring the laity into a definite and sustained participation in church work.
There is need of distinct separation between the promotional and administrative supervision of applied Christianity, of which missionary endeavor is a part, and the basic work of prophecy or preaching. An adequate organi'zation should be effected, the sole purpose of which should be the training and use of the laity, not only in local and community activities but also in the direction of the world-wide activities of the Church.
This lay organization should be connected through official lay channels with the great Boards of the Church and receive plans from them and report progress to them. It should be both promotional and administrative in its scope.
A "spoon-fed" laity will not meet the requirements in this day of world needs. Challenging tasks must be assigned to them, responsibilities great enough to command their respect and attention must be given them and they must be made to understand that the task assigned is theirs alone, and that none other will assume it.
All this presupposes on the part of the church leaders a clear perception that "prophetic utterances" are valueless unless immediately and visibly expressed in terms of action; that appeals calculated to stir the emotions are demoralizing unless such emotions find a channel at hand for logical and natural expression. It presupposes finally a recognition of the fact that responsibilities placed upon the laity will result eventually in opening reservoirs of power, ability and finances hitherto unreached.
Representing as I do a lay missionary organization which has been in successful operation for fifty-seven years, during which time it has made a consistent advance, I speak with confidence when I say that if the Church is to meet the exacting conditions of the present, the laity of the Church must be definitely organized and given a place in its councils. When a lay organization is effected, that shall have promotional and administrative functions, I believe that we may confidently expect certain outstanding results to accrue.
1. A new day of spiritual power will dawn in the Church. Confronted by a world task of immeasurable consequence, laymen will be forced to their knees for wisdom and guidance. Learning to pray they will learn to serve, and sacrifice.
2, A wide dissemination of missionary facts and knowledge will almost certainly follow.
3. There will be a growing intimacy between the missionaries on the field and their supporters at home. Similarly, increased interest in the foreign projects of the Church will be noted.
4. Finally, a large increase in volunteer workers may be expected.
The Church must be Christianrzed, if Christianity is to be Christianized. Since the Oriental world is beginning to look to Jesus as the only hope of the nations, while it is refusing the Christ of our creeds and churches and turning the search-light on to the so-called Christian nations, we have no choice but to look the whole situation fairly in the face. If we are really to Christianize all our contacts, we must begin at the beginning-at the local church in the community. A conquering church means a clergy revitalized and filled with the sacrificial spirit. It means a laity trained, enthused, willing to assume responsibility, willing to serve in any capacity and willing to give sacrificially.
A CREED FOR MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 1. We believe that we are coworkers together with God. 2. We believe that there should be a missionary society in every church organization. S. We believe the church is a missionary organization, therefore every member should be a member of the missionary society also. 4. We believe that our Lord expects both men and women to do their part in the spreading of the Gospel, as His instruction was to " go, " "tell. " 5. We believe this responsibility should rest equally upon aU Chris- tians, not upon a small portion. 6. We believe that eaeh member should have a moral responsibility regarding financial matters, in the prompt payment of dues, pledges and free-will offerings. 7. We believe that in order to give loyal adherenee to the plans of work provided by those in authority, we must be informed in regard to the needs of the fields and the results already accom- plished. 8. We believe that there is no better way to obtain this information than to subscribe for missionary magazines and read them; also other literature on missions. 9. We believe that our workers and their work should be faithfully remembered in our prayers, and that prayer calendars are an efficient aid to that end. 10. We believe that through earnest prayer and thorough knowledge of conditions, the gifts to the treasury will be largely increased.
-By MARY A. VALE, in The Home Mission Month1;y.
Country Community and the
Church* BY MALCOLM DANA, D.D., NEW YORK CITY Director of the Town and ,country Department of the Congregational Ohurch Extension Boards T HE FIELD. The word "community" now-a-days implies a certain rurbant relationship, spoken of by such men as Paul Douglas, Luther Frye and Dr. Galpin. The village or town, for example, may constitute a legal community. But it is not the actual community. Small centers, and larger ones as well, are merely service stations for open country areas which can be more or less clearly defined. The small town business man, perhaps unconscious- ly, thinks of his community in terms of the "trade-zone" and is always trying to enlarge that area of patronage. As a member of the local Board of Trade he also tries to show the villagers and country folk that their interests are in common and that neither could exist for any length of time without the other. He finds it quite a task to develop a mutual consciousness of this rurban relationship and to produce a corresponding sense of loyalty. It is done only as the man from the country is made to feel a real ownership in the institutions at the center by being given a representation and participation in their management. Only thus does he come to think and say" my high school, my library, my store and my church. " The retired farmer is often termed "a tight-wad" because he does not show any apparent interest in community affairs. The fact is he never WaS taught the community game .while he yet lived .on the farm. Nor has the townsman always had at heart the real interests of the country people whom he lures to the center for social, ec&homic and other priv-ileges. :,', It is absolutely'essenthiLto the efficiency of th€ rural church that it recognize its rurbant relationship since "only that village or town church will live that buttresses itself up by a strong country work. " The country minister should never think of himself as called to minister to a parish limited by the confines of a village or town.
Both he, and his church with him, are bound to serve over an area, with special obligations toward all peoples of the countryside. There are those who claim that the consolidated school spells the ultimate fate of the open country church. If that be so, then the church at the center must all the more meet its rurban obligations,. For it is • A keynote address delivered at the joint session of the Home Missions Council and the Councll or Women for Home Missions, in Philadelphia, January. 1927. t A term Signifying a. rural town, an area containing a rural town, or a village and its adjacent countrysIde, 353 3
the folks of the open country who will be compelled to come in long distances to the consolidated church, and they are likely to prove faithful in the proportion that attention is shown them where they live. As far out as the enterprising village tradesman goes to solicit business, so far out the church must go with pastoral oversiglit and religious privilege, for it still bides true that" a house-going minister makes a church-going people. " And therein lies a tragedy! Farmstead visitation and open country serving are the most neglected forms of ministerial and church work.
The Force-The rural church is not only a field, it is a force. A modern practical age is more wont to think of it as a force than a field. Ecclesiasticism, on the other hand, is credited with caring for the church primarily as an institution. The times are exceedingly utilitarian, and they are quite apt to measure the worth of the church by the same methods which are used in valuing other community institutions. Harlow S. Mills seems to estimate the church that way in his delightful little book "The Making of a Country Parish." He 'appears to think of the church as a means rather than an end and as only one among many other community institutions. As such it must be willing to abide any tests of usefulness. The church: is not to ask favors because it is rated as holy. Indeed, one of its greatest missions is to demonstrate that holiness by virtue of a real impact made upon every last man, woman and child in the community whether they are in the church or not, for or against, and whatever be their race, color or religion. The church must be a genuine service institution, serving all of the people, all of their interests, and all of the time. It must do this over the entire rurban community. By doing so it will prove that it really is the best institution in the community, and it will be the last one any person will wish to see move out. For it will have become" a felt necessity. "
Few country churches have become such a force in so wide a field. I am convinced, however, that thousands of rural ministers and churches wish to be. But a situation in which both find themselves forbids it.
An Indictment-What impact has the country church as a whole made upon the countryside 1 Facts and figures will not be to our liking. The country over, the ·rural church has not measured up to its opportunity or the tragic need. It is not doing so today. This fact concerns Home Mission Boards for the failure is most largely that of Protestantism. Father Edwin V. O'Hara cites the Roman Church as probably seventy-five per cent urban and the Protestant Church as .seventy-five per cent rural. Incidentally, the Catholic Extension Society is assisting in the consolidation of parishes which, with other experimentation, marks a new departure in its rural church administration. The move to consolidate parishes into larger units is in harmony with the trend of rural organization.
THE OOUNTRY COMMUNITY AND THE COUNTRY CHURCH
The tragedy of quoting statistics is that we have become so hardened to them that they make no apparent impression. Allowing for a wide margin of fallibility, they present a terrific indictment. The Institute of Social and Religious Research is sponsor for certain figures which appear in "Empty Churches" written by Dr. C. J. Galpin of the United States Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Dr. Galpin suggests there that it is generally supposed that country people are intensely religious and inveterate church-goers. Yet the figures reveal the fact that after one hundred and twenty-five years of preaching and evangelizing only one-fifth of them go to church. rrhere are, roughly speaking, seventy-two thousand communities in the town and country areas of the United States. Thirty-three thousand of them, or forty-two per cent, have churches but no resi- (.lent pastors. Seven out of ten have only a fraction of a minister apiece, and it would require thirty-four thousand additional ministers, each giving full time to his work, to provide a minister for every pastorless community. And the wrong is largely against the open country! Seventy-eight out of every hundred town churches have resident pastors whereas only seventeen out of every hundred country churches have them. Two-fifths of the one hundred thousand town and country churches are standing still or losing ground and only one half of them are making a ten per cent gain yearly.
This is not all or the worst of it! The country is. the place of children. There are two and a half million more children in the country than in the cities. Or, to quote Dr. Galpin, there are four million more children in the thirty-two million of folks living on the farms than in any like bloc of city people anywhere. Yet one-fourth <Jf the rural churches have no Sunday-schools. One million six hundred thousand children live in communities without them and two million seven hundred and fifty thousand more children do not go to Sunday-school for other reasons. Twenty-seven million of all the children in the land are not in Sunday-school and seven out of ten of them get no religious instruction at all. The average Protestant child receives probably less than twenty-four hours of such schooling from one end of the year to the other. This means that four million farm children are virtually pagan and without knowledge of God and that youth is going to the cities pagan from homes which were once pious and godly. Dr. Galpin is certainly right in his conclusion that Bible illiteracy ranks as a problem with book illiteracy and that as great unanimity must be shown in rooting it out as is shown in the efforts to eradicate book illiteracy.
A. Primary Cause-It is not pleasant to quote such figures I And yet, in my judgment, they ought to be quoted and requoted until they register in our minds, hearts and wills and we proceed to grapple seriously with a situation which can be remedied.
Why does this situation exist over the American countryside?
The answer is not hard to find. Such a deplorable state of affairs is due to the two great sins of Protestantism-over-churching and u?1der-churching, the latter being most often a consequent of the first. I remember that it was admitted by the participants in six interdenominational Every Community Service Visitations, made under the tuition of the Home Missions Council, that the situation is most largely due to a home missionary policy which has persisted throughout the years whereby the various denominations have been wont to rush in pell-mell, all together, to occupy" strategic centers" to the general neglect of open country areas where there was little prospect of early "self-support" or where the work might be a missionary charge to the end of the chapter. Religious competition is always self-ce1ltered and churches engaged in a competitive struggle for existence seldom put Kingdom interests first. Surveys made pretty much all over the country show that where there is congestion of religious privilege there is nearly always a corresponding lack of any concern for the open country.
The cure for this situation is perfectly evident. During the above mentioned Home Mission Council surveys it was frankly said Ly most, if not all of the denominational representatives, that "we have not men or money enough to finish work already begun." Then the hope of evangelizing the neglected areas of rural America lies in freeing both money and men fr{)m over-churched centers to serve where there is no religious privilege at all. A policy of fewer and better churches might well be the practice of the denominations represented in the Home Missions Council and the Council of ,Vomen for Home Missions.
The General Situation–Let us now come to grips with a general situation quite characteristic of the common countryside. And I shall not lessen the force of major ominous conditions by citing more pleasant ones.
A recent book, "American Villages," written by Luther Frye, reveals the fact that during the past twenty-eight years or more the towns have gained almost as rapidly as have the cities and if immigration be discounted they have been im increasing factor in the sum total of rural populations. It is all the more important, therefore, that ways and means be devised whereby these rural centers can come into their own. Villages and towns are, however, with numerous exceptions, unattractive, and have been steadily losing out in business competition with the cities. A profitless agriculture makes the future look darker and more unpromising. Such places can hardly be expected to be proud of themselves or the country to glory in its own rural institutions. There may be a dawning copsciousness that old days are gone forever and that any comeback must be along new lines. But it is not easy, as Lloyd George suggested at the close' of the war, to "cease harking back to good
THE COUNTRY COMMUNITY AND THE OOUNTRY CHURCH
old times and get (J, new day." The small town is overdone economi- cally and an outworn theory that "competition is the life of trade" has resulted in a duplication of like kinds of businesses. This false economy has also gone over into religion. The latter is highly com- petitive and methods are used there which high grade doctors, lawyers, bankers and business men no longer tolerate in their pro- fessional relations with each other. Robbing a bank is a crime. Stealing church members and even churches is often taken for re- ligious enterprise. Amidst a drab environment the church buildings are often drabber still and not structures of which the community has most right to be proud. It often appears little short of an insult to me that the Almighty is asked to meet His people in such churches. Few churches have real programs which, together with their build- ings and equipments, are directly related to community needs and opportunities revealed by a careful and painstaking survey of both.
This is the consummate tragedy! The struggle to perpetuate themselves on the part of competing churches is at the expense of the community and not for its bettermeDt and religion itself is a divisive rather than a unifying influence. Churches envy each other's successes rather than rejoicing over them. Nor is this the most pathetic circumstance! The support of too many churches is not merely unbusiness-like and a wrong use of sacred funds. It taxes those who are least able to give of their resources of time, labor and money, making religion a burden rather than a joy. Business men are embittered and alienated. Wanting trade from all the churches, they cannot go down on the subscription list of the church of their own preference. They must give to everyone of them. Again, a competitive struggle for existence cripples both ability and willing- ness to give to benevolences. Many an apparently over-churched community might not be that if the churches would systematically care for the open country. But competition tends to destroy any felt obligation to do this. Statistics show that the tenant farmer is unreached in almost the exact proportion of his numbers and that the farm-owner is equally neglected. A noted specialist declares that Protestantism has no program for the new-American but "detours round him." Finally, too many churches perpetuate groups which are too small to function effectively. There is not genius or leadership enough in anyone of these churches to maintain an ideal worship, to conduct an efficient religious education program, or to lead out in a satisfactory social service. Such churches do not attract or hold modern youth or the masculine. They are not "going concerns." It is true that figures Miss Hooker, author of "United Churches," gave me quite recently seem to indicate that several churches in a community will often enroll a larger total membership in churches and Sunday-schools than will one or two. But when
it comes to community service she naively remarked-" they are fighting units."
Such conditions are all the more disastrous because of the great agrarian problem confronting America. The latter has largely to do with the preservation of a sufficient population upon the soil. Machine farming and scienti:fic agriculture are demanding fewer and fewer people on the land so that the task becomes one of quality rather than mere quantity. And the chief function of the country church has always been that of producing a high quality in rural peoples. Even so, there never was a time, in my judgment, when the rural church had such an opportunity to become again "center" and "central" as right now. To this end, therefore, ruinous competition must be done away with so that the church of the countryside may command a ministry which will rank with the educated farmer, so that it can afford equipment which will compare with modern machinery upon the land, and so that it can practice a technic which will, be abreast of that used in scientific agriculture. Union efforts make this possible. Recent surveys show that two hundred and twenty-seven federated churches in one hundred and seventynine villages have resident pastors as over against thirty-five in non-union efforts, and that ministerial salaries double where there are two as over against four churches. Forty-three thousand dollars was gained for benevolences by sixteen federations.
But after all, this is the fact that should burn itself into our minds, hearts and consciousness: Over-churching is not merely wrong. It perpetuates an impossible situation, absolutely preventing anyone of too many churches from doing a creditable piece of work for the Kingdom.
These conditions have also vitally to do with the "youth question." Young people are deserting the country partly because of a lack which stronger, better and more interesting churches might supply. Youth is leaving the churches, or is not found in them, because it increasingly hates all sham and detests sectarian rivalries. It might be well for us to consider a warning recently uttered by a religious education specialist, himself a middle-aged man, who affirmed that the church is essentially an adult institution seeking to impose its own grown-up ideas and ways upon a youth of clearer vision, more catholicity, and equal convictions with itself. The conditions have also to do with recruiting for the Gospel Ininistry. The latter is made difficult because the young man and young woman know their home town through and through. These young people are as ready to respond to the heroic as ever. But what of the heroic is there in the religious atmosphere of the town or village to challenge them Y If the young man gets as far as the seminary or the religious training school is it any wonder that he prefers to volunteer for foreign missionary service rather than to remain in the homeland
THE COUNTRY OOMMUNITY AND THE COUNTRY CHURCH
with its competitive religion1 Hosts of young folks are going to the agricultural colleges and are the very ones who should return to the country. They are fitting themselves, apparently, for every other kind of leadership except the religious. And why1 Many frankly say that they do not consider the rural ministry a man-sized job and that the work of the county agent, the farm bureau representative, and the home economic specialist, has more of religious opportunity in it than the Christian ministry under small town conditions. These young folks are not hesitating to adopt the country as a field for their life work. They propose going there as apostles of cooperation and not as agents of non-economic competition and un-Christian sectarianism.
Frustrated Desires-It will doubtless surprise the readers of Miss Hooker's book "United Churches" to find only nine hundred and seventy-seven such churches listed in the town and country areas of the northern and western states. Those who are unfavorable to the att.empts of churches to come together into larger units will probably cite this as a proof of exaggeration on the part of friends of the movement. The conclusion is not warranted! Miss Hooker enumerates, in four classes, only those churches which are united in fact rather than in name. For example, she finds the hard-worked expression "community church" employed in at least six senses. She also excludes from her study areas which contain forty or fortyfive per cent of the town and country churches of America. And, after all, nine hundred and seventy-seven united churches, or almost one per cent of the town and country churches as a whole, is not a bad showing when it is considered that most of those unions have been started within the last dozen years. Nor does the enumeration take cognizance of the numberless places where a union of church forces is right now being agitated and which is certain to result in a rapid increase in the above numbers.
If anything is to be made of the seemingly small number of united churches it constitutes a story of frustrated desires. I cannot recall ever having been in an over-churched community where there had not been one or more efforts to remedy the situation. But desires had been set at naught and bitter feelings had resulted. The fault was often with the churches themselves. The people of the countryside can stop over-churching whenever they will by absolutely refusing to pay for it. But there are folks who care more to "run the church" than they do for Kingdom interests. It is surpassing s,trange, too! For they know perfectly well that feeble, struggling, poorly equipped and indifferently led churches can never hope to do anything but a mediocre work. Again, the fact that properties which were bought and paid for by the people themselves were vested in outside ecclesiastical organizations gave every advantage to opposition. Difficulties, manufactured or realt endless inaction and
ceaseless red-tape, produced a weariness and discouragement which finally gave up in despair. But more often outside and partisan ecclesiastical interference defeated efforts looking toward closer cooperation or federation. Kingdom interests were again sacrificed. Heavy burdens and grievous to be borne were fastened upon faithful folks who really deplored and even hated religious competition. Each church was obliged to continue to limit the efficiency of every other rendering it impossible for anyone of them to do a work worthy of the name of the Lord. Here again, how different is the story of united churches I With them numbers grow, and enthusiasm is bred by numbers, adequate equipment and able leadership. There is a felt ownership of the church enterprise and a sense of personal responsibility for it. People come to think in terms of the community and not those of organization.
The Overhead-The overhead expense is often much criticized. Is the criticism just? "llat really is the attitude of those who have officially to {io with the churches, especially of those next to them1 Personal fellowship between officials in closest touch with the churches is always enjoyable. But I wonder if a "thus far and no farther" atmosphere does not often prevail in such gatherings preventing a fearless consideration of sectarian sins affecting the real welfare of the Kingdom. There is not always entire frankness and sincere trust, nor are all the cards laid upon the table. Certain ones are fearful lest someone "put something over" to their denominational disadvantage. Others feel that this or that official is playing the game because he has to, and that "he will stand watching." Accusations are made, openly or in private, and frequently backed by cases, to the effect that some denominational representative went into a team-play with selfish motives, took an unfair advantage, or did not live up to his agreements. Such feelings and recriminations are unworthy of co-workers under God!
The "old guard" made up of those who cannot see virtue in any communion save their own is steadily diminishing. An increasing number of officials frankly admit the utter futility and sinful waste of religious competition. Inter-denominational efforts are being made, particularly in New England, to mitigate such evils. Ecclesiastical pronouncements in this direction are increasing. Nevertheless, these facts remain j Those who deal directly with the churches have not yet gotten rid of a subtle fear that if they report a loss of churches to their superiors they will somehow be demoted. Despite official declaration of the top over-bead, and the comity pronounc.ements of these two Councils, they are still afraid to believe that the test of good superintendency and ideal presiding eldership consists in a militant passion for giving up churches wherever such action is for the glory of God and the advancement of his Kingdom. Nor has the pressure from the top yet convinced them that they should
THE COUNTRY COMMUNITY AND THE OOUNTRY CHURCH
be equally active in helping to eliminate self-supporting churches in highly competitive fields.
The Way O~d-This seems perfectly plain. It lies in the direction of an inter-denominational team-play ready and willing to sacrifice and put Kingdom interests first. The sin of Protestantism is not one of ignorance but of wilful persistence in the face of known or easily ascertainable facts. For example, it is perfectly well known how large an area and how many folks can reasonably be expected to support one church and pastor. These two Councils two years ago put the number of people at one thousand! If the denominational leaders were willing, and refractory churches would let them, it would be entirely possible to sit down tomorrow and work things out. Just as was done around the table at Versailles, only for purposes of giving and not getting maps, figures and facts could be assembled and statesmanlike allocations, reciprocal exchanges, and denominational and ,inter-denominational y'okings devised, which would cort;lpletely do away with over-churching. In so doing, no denomination would suffer any lack of opportunity, prestige or financial loss. On the contrary, better pieces of work would be done and monies would be freed for a larger benevolence. And more to the point, vast areas and classes of folks yet unreached in so-called Christian America would no longer be neglected through the lack of money and men. Every last man, woman and child in the land might thus be given religious privilege.
Are we willing to do iU The desire of country folk for larger and more efficient churches is growing and achievements in this direction are inevitable. And it wiII be worse than a tragedy if such church federations shall be effected in spite of officialdom and not because of it, or in a bitter spirit of revolt against "ecclesiastical domination. " Churches should be able to look upon their denominationalleaders as friends to whom they can come for impartial advice 'lnd counsel. They should find these leaders willing to help and not hinder the majority mind of the community in getting the kind of religious privilege it really wants and can consistently pay for. Friendly guidance is necessary, for there are good ways and bad ways of coming together. There are superior and inferior forms of cooperation and federation. And all union efforts should be consummated decently and in order. To such ends, therefore, the officials next to the churches must know that sacrifice of churches is to be more and more expected at their hands and that its reward will never be aught but "well done."
Proposals-It is altogether probable that denominations will continue to exist for a long time to come. There is a consequent necessity for a perfected team-play between them. During the war every company in the A. E. F. strove to make itself the crack company and to surpass every other in efficiency and in military dis-
cipline. But this was not really the ultimate aim! It was to be done so that the United States might have the finest army the world had ever seen and so win the war. And when the battle was joined the army knew no division. Even so, Dr. Galpin declared not long ago that 011e stage in the modern religious movement was passed and that anothRr was at hand. The first was signalized by the amassing of data by the Institute of Social and Religious Research and kindred organizations sufficient to lead the Ohurch of Jesus Ohrist out of its dilemma.. The demand now is for folks aflame with the passion of a Paul who will use both this technic and the accumulated findings. Dr. Galpin said further that "when the Allies in the late war came to their senses and found that their struggle was not a rope pull, nor a barbecue, but a life and death struggle, they elected Foch to give universality of will to the cause."
A similar universality of will must be given to the religious enterprise if the rural church is to evangelize the countryside. Last October the New Yark Times headlined what it termed was a most notable gathering of some hundred ministers and laymen who assembled at the Roosevelt Hotel to consider no less a subject than "A Union of Churches by the Abolition of All Doctrinal Differences." That theme is to be further discussed .at a meeting of the World Conference on Faith and Order at Lausanne, Switzerland, next August. In my judgment, such an attainment is ideal, but it lies in the remote future. I would suggest the following as being more immediate in its possibilities as well as having the absolute right on its side: (1) That the Oomity Oommittee of the Home Missions Oouncil and Oouncil of Women for Home Missions, together with the two Executive Secretaries of these Oouncils, be empowered to bring together a meeting of the highest officials of the denominations represented in these two Oouncils, to consider thoroughly the over-churched and under-churched conditions throughout the land, whether of home missionary or self-supporting churches, for the purpose of devising some immediate and comprehensive plans for freeing men and money from congested areas to be used in the yet unserved American countryside: (2) That this committee be requested to call into cooperation the personnel, method and data of the Institute of Social and Religious Research, the Research Bureau of the Federal Council of Ohurches of Ohrist in America, and kindred agencies, to assist in planning this enterprise: (3) That the committee secure agreement of the above mentioned high officials to put into effect an immediate and concerted instruction to those in closest touch with the churches, and through whom adjustments must be made, whereby they shall be urged to lend every encouragement and assistance to all movements having
THE COUNTRY COMMUNITY AND THE COUNTRY CHUR.CH
in mind a wise cooperation or federation of churches and peoples into larger units and shall know that such doing will receive high merit at the hands of their superiors: (4) That the committee be instructed to take immediate steps to inaugurate a militant campaign of education for the instruction of peoples and churches in the needs and advantages of Christian people coming together into larger church units, and to help them in adopting the best forms of union and the wisest methods of securing the same: (5) That the committee consider the possibilities of securing an inter-denominational endowment or subsidy fund to be used in carrying the Gospel to people and churches in neglected and unserved areas and for purposes of supporting such a work which may always oe a missionary charge and therefore too heavy a burden for anyone denomination to bear alone..
(6) That the Comity Committee be authorized, either collectively or individually, to attend the next annual meetings of the various denominations represented in these Councils for the purpose of presenting and securing approval of the above suggestions: (7) That the following goal be set and the slogan adopted by these two Councils-stronger and better town and country churches and religious privilege for every unreached person in the American countryside within the next five years.
Conclusion-Here is a magnificent challenge and a program of endeavor which will certainly meet the needs of the country com· munity and permit the country church to reach its ideal objectives.
If By Any Means We May Save Some BY LUCIE G. OWIEN, LONDON, ENGLAND EVERY nation, every society and every individual, before start- ing any fresh work, naturally spends time weighing the best means of approach. To the Christian, this is peculiarly true for, although knowledge of former success in Christian work greatly helps, yet how often local conditions call forth entirely new and untried methods.
Workers of the American Bible Society in Manila in the Philippine Islands find themselves peculiarly situated.
On every hand are crowds of young life anxious to learn and crowding into universities, hospitals and similar institutions.
In Manila, the Bible Society has established a work, offering the one thing needful, the Word of God, so essential to young life, but neglected and forbidden to these ardent Roman Catholics.
At length, a plan was decided on by the Bible Society which, under God, has been much blessed.
1. A one-eighth page advertisement was inserted in one weekly English magazine for eight months.
2. This advertisement brought forth four thousand replies. To each one who answered was sent a small Gospel of John. In this little volume was inserted the following "Foreword" on a separate slip: This little book, taken from the Bible, is published separately in the hope that the reading of even this small portion of God's Word may strengthen the reader in his or her life's purpose.
The entire Bible, or its parts, such as the Old Testament and the New Testament, is published by us in all languages and main Philippine dialects. Catalog on request.
AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY 636 Isaac PeraI, Manila 3. A month later everyone of these four thousand received a letter and also" Suggestions to Bible Readers" and" Great Men on the Greatest Book. "
The letter, printed on Bible Society stationery was (in part) as follows: To Gospel of John readers; The Gospel of John is a great book, is it not f Here are a few facts which may interest you: This Gospel was written by the Apostle John, "the disciple whom Jesus loved," about ninety years after the birth of Jesus and sixty years after His death and resurrection. John knew Jesus while Jesus was on earth and was a very old man when he wrote this Book. It is a part of the Holy Bible, which is God's message to men through His Spirit. The rest of the New Testament and the Old Testament contains beautiful messages from God and Jesus just as this one book does. As you continue reading the Book, you will surely see as many others have seen, that the Gospel of John is more than human-that it is indeed divine (holy).
We hope you will continue to read this little book and try to follow its teachings, learning more and more of Jesus and His Word. If you have in your mind any questions concerning the teaching of the Gospel of John, or of any part of the Bible, we shall be pleased to answer them for you to the best of our ability.
Some of the "Suggestions" enclosed with this letter are as follows: FOOD FOR MIND AND HEART Read these Famous Chapters: The greatest Sermon: Matthew 5-7. A Midnight Talk: John 3. He Took our Place Isaiah 53. Eyes Opened: John 9. Ten Commandments: Ex. 20; Matt. 22: 36. The Way of Death: Provo 7; Rom. 1. Full ConfeRsion; Psalm 51. Free Mercy to All; Isaiah 55. The Larger Life: I Corinthiar:s J5. Heaven and Hell; Revelation 19-22. Bless the Lord: Psalm 103.
IF BY ANY MEANS WE MAY SAVE SOME
MEDICINE FOR SPECIFIC COMPLAINTS: If lonesome or blue and friends untrue: Psalms 23, 27; Luke 15. If trade is poor: Psalms 37, 73 ; John 15. If discouraged or in trouble: Psalm 126; John 14. If you are out of sorts: Hebrews 12. If you are losing confidence in men: I Cor. 13. If skeptical: John 6: 40, 7: 17 j Phil. 2; 5-11. If you cannot have your own way; James 3. If tired of sin ; Luke 18: 9-14 j Luke 7; 36-50 j Psalm 32. If very prosperous: Psalm 24 j Job 1, 2; Luke 19; 1-10. Happy conclusion: Psalm 131; Matthew 6; 33 j Romans 12.
The words of "Great Men on the Greatest Book" included testimonies to the Bible from the President of the National University in Manila, from Abraham llincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Huxley, Daniel Webster, Lord Roberts and others.
A month later, a second letter was sent. More than half the recipients replied, asking for a catalog and giving their home addresses. The following is the form of the second letter: My dear Friend: Pardon me for writing you further concerning the Gospel of John, but I am very much interested in having you read this little book and others like it, Buch as the Gospel of Matthew, Mark and especially the Gospel of Luke.
You may not know this, but we do have these little books (as well as complete Bibles) in your own Fmpino languages and you would be delighted, I know, to be able to read these wonderful messages in your own tongue. You may send us a stamp for the Gospel you desire, naming your dialect, or we will send you a catalog giving the prices of the Bibles, both in English and Filipino languages.
A month later a third letter was sent, asking whether, in reading about Ohrist, they had felt a longing to know Ohrist as a personal Saviour_ Towards the end of the letter an invitation was given, asking for the readers to state any difficulties they had and any suggestions they could make whereby they could receive help on this all-important question.
Within the first fortnight, thirty-seven had replied and, in most cases, the writer showed he was seeking to find a personal Saviour.
The Secretary then sought his committee and, through them, the ministers of all denominations helped to conduct a correspondence Bible class.
Mohammedans today seem hungry for knowledge and almo3t all of the Moslem world is open to missionary effort and to approach through Ohristian literature. Is not this method worth considering1 How many secret believers and enquirers would welcome such an ,opportunity of securing friendship and help unknown to those round about them!
Indian Christian Light-Bearer-II
The Story of Dewan Bahadur A.. S. AppasU'amy, Pillai of Palamcottah BY REV. H. A. POPLEY, MADURA, INDIA District Secretary of South India National Council Y. M. C. A.
YOUNG Appaswamy showed the same independence of thought as a Christian convert as he had formerly done in his Hindu surroundings. He refused to change his habits or cut off his K udumi, the tuft of hair which was regarded in those days by missionaries as a sign of heathenism. He continued to be a vegetarian, and always maintained that, though he had entered into a religion of freedom, this did not include freedom to wound unnecessarily his friends and relatives. His conversion had been hard enough for them to bear. He did not want to add to their difficulties by changing his mode of life. So he was able to retain many of his Hindu friends and to influence them for good.
Neither did he think that baptism meant the end of his search. He remained an enquirer and a seeker to the very end of his days. He continued to be interested in the Brahmo Samaj, and attended their prayer-meetings and the lectures given by Keshab Chunder Sen, which had a great influence upon his spiritual development. Later on when Theosophy was introduced to Madras he did not join in the hue and cry against it but studied it sympathetically and carefully.
He also continued his study of Hindu scriptures, learning a little Sanskrit and keeping up his Tamil studies in Saivite literature. He always declared that he owed a great deal to these scriptures. He was ever ready to welcome truth wherever he found it.
In addition to the band of Tinnevelly converts who had come out before him and were living in Madras he enjoyed the friendship of Rev. A. R. Symonda, Principal of the school at Sullivan's Gardens, to which he went for a short time. Appaswamy remained in Madras until he had passed the matriculation, supporting himself by doing munshi work.
Every young convert has to face a period of reaction and in Appaswamy's case this occurred during his sojourn at Sawyerpuram, to which place he went from Madras as munshi to Mr. Billing of the S. P. G. Mission. He fell ill twice and had no friends to look after him. His family at that time would have nothing to do with him. So he felt his loneliness and isolation very much. He was only a few months at Sawyerpuram and then took up work as a clerk on the Ettiyapuram Estate. He tells us that this period of his life was the time when he formed the habits of study and devotion which 366 meant so much to him in later years. The Manager of the Estate was Mr. W. E. Ganapathy Pillai, one of the converts of Mr. Cruickshank's school and a thorough Christian gentleman. The influence of his life and example was an inspiration to the young man and one of the most important factors in his development. It was here that he learnt that thoroughness and patience, carefulness and method count for much in life. He impressed others by his faithfulness and integrity which were often tested at Ettiyapuram in the work that was given to him. At Ettiyapuram he was married to the daughter of Mr. Ganapathi Pillai, his friend and helper. It was at Ettiyapuram too that the reconciliation with his family was effected, both his father and mother coming to stay with him there. His father took a leading part in arranging his marriage. While at Ettiyapuram he decided to take up the legal profession and started practice as a Vakil. His love of truthfulness comes out in the care with which he thought out this whole matter before deciding to become a lawyer, particularly in reference to the question of maintaining a practice of honesty in the profession.
From there he moved to Tuticorin, the southern port of the Presidency, and gradually began to obtain a large and lucrative practice. In his autobiography he tells us that he allowed the pursuit of money to become too dominant an influence in his life at that period. It is clear however that he always refused to compromise his religious principles, and often came into conflict with judges because of his frank Chrif'ltian testimony. On one occasion his love of truthfulness led him to give evidence against his own father in a Civil Suit for which the defense had cited him, knowing that he would speak the truth without fear or favour. Bishop Caldwell, who used to visit Tuticorin, helping him greatly in his spiritual life, particularly in leading him to place emphasis upon Christian character and influence rather than upon money-making. He was also greatly helped by an English business man of Tuticorin who consistently applied his Christian principles to business life.
In 1878 he moved to Palamcottah and began to practice in the District court. Bishop Sargeant and Rev. T. Walker were then in Palamcottah, helping by their Christian character and remarkable ability to build up the young church. The young vakil threw himself into Christian work with all his soul and became one of the pillars of the church in Palamcottah. His unsullied character and Christian tstimony, his sound judgment and practical ability made him a wise counsellor and a valuable worker.
In his profession'he rapidly rose to the front rank in Palamcottah. He was permanently retained by the Zemindar of Ettiyapuram as his Estate Vakil, and this alone brought him a large practice and a considerable income. He was one of the few Christians who moved freely with all classes of people and who had won the esteem and
respect of Hindus. The missionaries of those days did not encourage a too friendly relationship with the Hindus and so the Christian community kept largely to itself. Within the Christian community there were also very bitter caste differences between the Vellala and the Nadar converts which caused a great deal of trouble. Those were the days of the Sivakasi riots when the Maravars, who reckoned themselves as one of the higher castes, organi'zed a deliberate attack on the Nadars who were seeking to improve their position. The bitterness at that time between these communities was almost as great as is the Hindu-Muslim bitterness today in North India. In all these controversies Mr. A. S. Appaswamy was a force for peace, moving freely with all, both Europeans and Indians, with high and low caste, Christian and Hindu.
In his own record he states that between 1875 and 1890 he was drifting into a secular view of things, mainly concerned with building up a fortune and occuping a prominent public position. This judgment is no doubt largely a result of his own humility, as he devoted a large part of his time to Christian work and was ever zealous to lead his friends and relatives into his own experience of Christ. As a recognition of his public work he received the title of Rao Sahib from Government and later on that of Dewan Bahadur.
In 1890 a great change came over him, largely due to the death of his patron the Zemindar of Ettiyapuram, and to a serious illness which he had immediately afterwards. So in 1901 he determined to retire from his profession and to devote his life entirely to the service of God. He first threw himself wholeheartedly into evangelistic work, touring the district with Rev. T. Walker and Rev. T. A. Douglas, evangelistic missionaries, or with some other like-minded friends and spending all his time in the service of the Gospel. In this work he was as thorough as in his professional work, making it a point to call on the leading Hindus of every village and to have long talks with them in addition to public preaching.
He helped in the formation of the Indian Missionary Society of Tinnevelly and in the organization of the National Missionary Society of India. It was at this period that Mr. Sherwood Eddy came into close touch with him and each of them gained a great deal by this intimacy.
In his own family his Christian life and testimony had an increasing influence. His sister and her children were converted through his efforts and his parents were greatly changed in their religious ideals. His father developed a peculiar kind of Saiva mysticism, one feature of which was the frequent repetition of the sacred formula" Saravana Bhava," which has special reference to the second son of Siva-the god Subramanya. Mr. Appaswamy says that his father on his death-bed confessed his belief in Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour of mankind.
1927J AN INDIAN OHRli"TIAN LIGHT BEARER-II
During these latter years Mr. Appaswamy made a further study of Hinduism with a view to finding its points of contact with Christianity and to utilrzing ideas and methods which could be applied to Christian life and practice.
He felt that the religious experiences of Hindu saints and mystics should be studied in the same way as we regard those of Christians. These experiences were of very great value to Mr. Appaswamy himself in his later years and sometimes he found his own thought and experience more akin to those of Hindu contemplatives than to those of Christians.
In the later years of his life he had much help and inspiration from a Hindu relative who was well versed in the practice of Siddhanta Yoga. To Mr. Appaswamy he became a guru leading him to find in some of the yoga practices means whereby his own soul could achieve a more perfect communion with God. He published a book on this subject a few months before he passed away entitled "The Use of Yoga in Prayer." (C. L. S. Madras.) Mystic visions became a part of his daily experience and were a real encouragement and inspiration to him. He often used to tell me of these visions and it was clear that they meant a great deal to him. Some of them reminded me of the visions of an eclectic saint at Lahore, whose religious outlook was a mingling of the thoughts of the Gita and St. John's Gospel. The essential part of these visions of Mr. Appaswamy was that God was seen as Light in many forms. He says, "I practice advaitic Yoga and I behold God as pure Light. He has no form. He appears to me in his primeval and original condition as Light. When I practice another type of Yoga, I see the Christ appear before me in his Sukhsma Saria, (i. e. mystical body) of dazzling glory."
There is no doubt that his practice of Yoga Sadhana helped him to concentrate his mind on Christ more firmly and clearly, and at a time when the minds of most men begin to lose their power he was gifted with a habit of concentration and with a clarity of thought which were remarkable. It is interesting to trace the progress of his Christian thought in his later years. The method of Yoga Sadhana was for him a pathway to the feet of the Lord. While remaining absolutely loyal to Christ and His teaching and continually renewing his experience of Christ's saving power, he more and more expressed himself in the language of Hindu bhakti and Sadhana. When the writer was staying with him about two years before his death, Mr. Appaswamy used to put on the gramophone records of some of the finest songs of Saivite bhakti and also the Christian songs of his first Christian guru, Pandit H. A. Krishna Pillai. The essential content of his religious life was Christian but the expression of it took on more and more of a Hindu coloring. Meditation and contemplation filled a great part of his life but he never lost 4
his passion to help men to see the glory of Christ. He passed away at the age of seventy-eight on April 14, 1926, from a peaceful sleep into the land beyond, leaving all his affairs in perfect order and explicit directions in regard to his estates.
By his life and high moral rectitude, by his love and service, by his sympathy with all in need and his appreciation of all that was good, by his passionate evangelism and by his vital and genuine religious experience, Mr. Appaswamy continually commended the personality and teaching of Christ to all his Hindu friends and acquaintances and led many of them to see in Him the Light that lighteth every man and the Saviour of the world.
WHAT CHRIST MEANS TO ME* Testimony of a Young Man Converted from I.lam I HAD gone through the Koran once under able leadership and at- tended ,many services of worship in the large and small mosques. I had lived among good Mohammedans for many years, but had subsequently the privilege of mingling with the finest type of Christian people.
One of the primary faotors, therefore, in my conversion was the example set by Christians: their every-day life, their general behavior, their willingness to serve their fellowmen regardless of race, nationality or color. Another factor was the systematic, habitual and careful reading of the Bible. More than twenty years ago the wife of a great missionary had a little school of a dozen boys and girls from good non- Christian families. During one hour a week she read with them the Bible first from the Old Testament and then from the New. The children learned some of the Psalms by heart and some of the sayings of Christ in the Gospels. I bear witness here that this planting brought forth abundant fruit. I find great joy, peace and inspiration in the Bible. I find rest and encouragement. I have never known the time when I have read the Bible without finding something new in it. I have yet to g() to my Bible in hours of defeat and despair and discouragement and not find help in it. The more I read my Bible the easier it is for me to believe that Christ cares for me, and the more do I enjoy the assurance of everlasting and abundant life in Him.
I have believed His promises and I have realized them. The more I have trusted in Him in everything, the more He has been able to do for me. I did not embrace Christianity without long meditation. And I can say without reserve that all I have and all I am, all that I do and all I can do is Christ's. He is all in all to me. He has helped me as a teacher in engineering, asa Sunday-school teacher, and as a man. I doubt not that He will help me to cast off everything that still keeps His spirit from me:
A Well Conducted Leper
BY REV. P. A. BENNER, CHAMPA, C. P., INDIA T HE word" leper" strikes terror to the human heart. The dis- ease is dreaded not merely because of its loathsomeness, but primarily because until a short time ago leprosy was believed to be incurable. India, according to the census of 1911, has 150,000 lepers, the majority of whom wander about without home and hope.
In 1896, a missionary, Rev. WeHesley C. Bailey, visited Ambala and preached to a small colony of lepers. He was so impressed with the misery of these unfortunates that he went home to Ireland and pre- sented the need of lepers to the churches. The happy result was that the Mission to Lepers in India and the 'East was organ- ized. This international and in- terdenominational society has brought hope, cheer and joy to thousands of afflicted people the world over.
Th{' Leper Home at Champa.
Central Provinces, India, is owned by the Mission to Lepers and superintended by workers of the General Conference Mennonite Mission. It was opened in 1902 with two lepers who came to the mission compound to beg. The A SUFFERING LEPER number of inmates today is 403, exclusive of 30 untainted children of lepers. Segregation is one of the best means of stamping out the disease and hence this institu- tion insists on strict segregation.
The success of an institution is proportionate to the continued interest and sympathy of the superintendent. Next a general plan must be adopted which does not merely consist in wards for male and female lepers, but a church or common house, a dispensary and per- haps a hospital, an office, an observation ward, a ward each for tainted boys and girls, a store room, etc., etc. If these things are planned from the beginning, it will make superintending easier, the institution more attractive and affective.
The staff of the Champa institution consists of the superintendent who receives no financial remuneration from the Mission to Lepers for this work. A caretaker has the direct oversight of the inmates 371
and sees to it that all healthy lepers work from two to four hours per day, except Sundays. He buys and portions out the weekly allow- ance of rice, wood, etc., makes out and presents for signature aII reports to Government and Feudatory States, etc., etc.
Some superintendents strongly favor the employment of a cook and give the lepers a common mess, whereas the majority allow the lepers to cook their own food. The latter plan has the advantage of providing such food for the patient as he likes besides giving him pleasant employment. This Asylum gives to each leper, rice, fire- wood and Us. 1.6.0 per month in cash and allows each one to cook his own food. The cash is used for the purchase from the Asylum shop of sueh articles as salt, pep- pers, oil, etc. 'rhe money is disin- fected.
The medical work is in charge of an Indian doctor. ·Wounds are dressed every morning, while minor ailments, such as fevers, colds, coughs, etc., receive atten- tion in the afternoons. Experi- ments with the injection of ethyl esters have been begun but the re- sult cannot yet be told. In other asylums marked improvement has been noticed after an extended period of treatment. The care- taker, doctor and compounder are Christians. ,Vater carriers and AN UNTAINTED LEPER LAD a few other servants complete the staff of this home.
Although the attendance at religious services is not compulsory, all lepers gladly attend divine services and Sunday school. Love and sympathy in the institution are the drawing cards. The non- Christians say: "Get away, don't came around my house, don't bathe in this tank, etc." The Leper Home says: "Come on, wel- come-just make yourself at home." It is a joy to see timid lepers become bright cheery Christians. About one-third of the inmates are Christians. Their prayers and singing will encourage anyone interested in this work.
The tragic part connected with leper work is the "tainted"
children. These ought to be segregated from the older lepers. Med- ical authorities agree that leprosy is not hereditary, hence the segre- gation, care and instruction of "untainted" children form a very important branch of the work. It is difficult at times to persuade
A WELL CONDUCTED LEPER ASYLUM
parents, especially mothers, to give up their children. Where they are not separated the possibility of infection is continually present, especially during the first three years of the child. We therefore try to segregate children immediately after they have been weaned.
Their cottages contain not only sleeping and living rooms, but a place for games and library, good baths, eto. All of our tainted children attend school, which is at present taught by a leprous teacher. We teach" the three R 's" only. In this way lepers may learn to read hymn book, Bible and other books. All untainted children attend the mission school but not the school for tainted children. When they have reached a proper age they are trained for some vocation.
The religious services, including prayer-meetings and singing classes in the Leper Home, are conducted by the superintendent, assisted by other Indian mission helpers.. It is not always easy to administer proper discipline and it is wise to leave as much as possible of this in the hands of the leper inmates themselves. In both sections, male and female, we have what is called a Panchayat made up of five iepers who settle all minor difficulties and quarrels. It is a joy to notice how these Panchayats take a genuine interest in the welfare of "their home." ·When the superintendent would have pardoned a returned runaway, the Panchayat said: "No sir, he must be punished for having run away, else many others will run away for a season and then return as though nothing has happened." The punishment is generally a reduction in the monthly allowance.
The Champa institution is only in its beginning. Just as soon as funds Will permit, we hope to put in a good water system, build two cottages for tainted boys and girls, two cottages to serve as observation wards and a number of cottages for men and women.
SOME OF THE BUILDINGS AT THE LEPER ASYLUM. CHAMPA. CENTRAL PROVINCES
Conversion of a Wife Beater·
BY REV. A. B. PATTERSON, EBOLOWA, CAMEROON, AFRICA Evangelist, West Africa Mission, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
T HIS story has been broadcast from village to village in the Camerouns, West Africa, till it is known everywhere through the mission churches. A wife of a polygamist wanted to become a Christian, but her husband plainly told her that he hated such an idea. She persisted, however, and became a Christian, although she knew well that trouble was in store for her. When she used to go to services her husband threatened all kinds of punishments. He used to go into her house during her absence and take whatever food he found there and give it to some of his other wives, thinking in this way that he would be able to make his Christian wife jealous. He used also to beat her regularly on her return from service.
The remarkable thing in the eyes of the villagers was that the woman never complained to her neighbors about his abuse as is usually customary. One day while the woman was at the river fishing, the husband planned what he would do with all the fish over the amouut which would be prepared for him. The following day, before going to service, the woman arranged her surplus fish on a rack over a smoky fire in order to dry it. During her absence her husband went· into her hut and took all the fish.
Having tried all manner of devices to make his wife give up her Christianity, but without avail, the husband calmly announced on a Saturday that she was not to attempt to go to church on the morrow without first calling him. On the Sabbath he calmly accompanied her to church and at the close of the service, this man rose unexpectedly and announced that he wanted to commence following Jesus Christ. Vilhen he was asked the reason, he replied that it was due to his wife's conduct. When he was told that a Christian man must have only one wife, he replied that he had decided to release all the other wives, and to live only with this wife who had shown him by example what a true Christian can be.
rt eventually transpired that the woman had not only been outwardly enduring hardness as a good soldier of Christ but that she had been praying for her husband.
• From the Presbyterian Maaazine~ MarCh, 1927.
374
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. McLAURIN, 419 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK THE FEDERATION OF WOMAN'S would help; the necessity of trans- BOARDS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS lating spiritual power into service. OF NORTH AMERICA It is suggested that such retreats Findings and Recommendatio…. of the be made increasingly a part of mis- Annual Meeting sionary gatherings.
Atlantic City, January 8-11 The World T&IIkz The program of the annual meet- International, Inter-racial, Indus- ing of the Federation of Woman's trial. Boards of Foreign Missions of North Facing the world task, the Oriental America centered around the theme, speaker emphasiZed the need today of "The Family of Nations in the King- making known the love of God re- dom of God." Sessions were given vealcd in Jesus to satisfy heart hun- to the analysis of the world task fac- ger; the Occidental stressed the need ing Christian people and organiza- of presenting the Christian message tions, presented from the point of in every land because such evils as view both of the Far East and of the disease, ignorance, potential causes of West. Since the world is so swiftly friction and materialism in the pres- becoming a neighborhood, the ques- ent world neighborhood can be re- tions of international, inter-racial moved only by the application of and industrial relations were imme- Christian ethics and the spirit of Je- diately before us and were seen to sus to world relations.
be vitally connected with the expres- The following recommendations sion of our Christian faith and the were adopted: working out of the Christian program. 1. That we reaffirm the recommen- To permeate this changing order with dations of last year in connection the spirit of Christ is our inescapable with international, inter-racial and responsibility. Sessions were given industrial relationships.
also to the contribution which the 2. That we urge and practice in- Federation could make through its ternational friendship through indi- various activities and departments. vidual and community as well as An inspiring session was that con- wider contacts.
ducted by young people presenting 3. That we fa.miliarize ourselves the challenge of world situations to with conditions and movements in youth and youth's contribution to foreign countries and the relation of their betterment. our own countries thereto not relying The retreat on Sunday morning, alone on the public press, but using with the theme brought from the Com- every known means to ascertain the mittee of the International Missionary facts.
Council at Rlittvik, "Only as new 4. That we strive to create a right tides of spiritual life begin to flow public opinion based on this under- within the Church can the waiting standing.
tasks be fulfilled," prepared the dele- 5. That we write to our represent- gates for the consideration of these atives in the legislative bodies of our o v e r w h elm i n g responsibilities. respective countries concerning bills Thought and prayer centered on the dealing with international relations, tasks to be faced; sources of spiritual urging passage of those which repre- power; the Church of Christ; the sent justice and tend to create good- essential qualities for individuals who will among the nations, and disap- 375
proving those which foster suspicion, make the largest appeal to them- J. jealousy or race hatred. reverence for truth, the challenge of Christian social service, the pioneer 6. That we endorse the House Con- spirit, sympathy with student intercurrent Resolution No. 45 now in ests everywhere, a vision of what peo- Congress on just treaty relations with ple may become, the call of a great China·*t spiritual adventure. Possessing a genuine spiritual 7. That we cooperate 'with the other organizations that have a com- yearning and a desire for self-expr~s mon concern with us in the better- sion, the young people of AmerIca ment of industrial conditions among women and children. find themselves responding naturally and with deep sympathy to the tides The Oontribution of Youth of national aspirations arising in other countries. The "message of hope" in the Findings of a year ago found expres- The statements of ,young people sion in the Christian Conference of themselves, the recent Milwaukee Stu- American and Oriental Students at dent Conference, and the work of the Princeton, held under the auspices of Federation Student Committee all in- dicate that the young people of today the Evanston Continuation Commit- make two fundamental requirements tee. After a sincere self-searching of Christianity, namely, reality and through directed Bible study, the the application of Christ's teachings to every department of life. students, remarkably free from a na- Those who are to help in these tional or provincial point of view, ad- world situations must have the finest dressed themselves to the solution of academic training, familiarity with world problems. They expressed their the religious, cultural and political conviction that the responsibility for background of other peoples, convicextending Christ's Kingdom through- tion that existing industrial condiout the world is a task for East and tions must be remedied, a proved West together rather than the task ability in their chosen work, a spirit of the West alone. of sharing aId of identifying them- If young people are to make their selves with the, peoples among whom full contribution, emphasis must be they work, even perhaps to the extent of freeing themselves of the protecput on some of the elements which tion of their own' government. Above all they must in themselves exemplify ~ this recommendation referred to the the spirit of Jesus. Government of the United States the Canadian delegates refrained from yoting. Those who are responsible for ditThe following bill, known as the "Concur- recting the first service of young misrent Resolution" No. 45 was introduced into the sionaries should exercise the greatest care to make effective their early sig- House on January 4', 1927, and referred to the nificant days. Residents in the home Committee on Foreign Affairs: of older missionaries and an immedi- "Whereas it is felt that the situation which ate assignment to work without pre- liminary language study may. now exists in and with regard to China is Ofl:e which, if not promptly dealt with upon a basIs through the desire of the experienced missionary to influence and guide, reof justice and equity will endanger the peace of the world; Therefore be it resolved, sult in modifying their individual contribution. That the president of the United States be. and he hereby is, respectfully requested forth .. The following recommendations were adopted: with to enter into negotiations with the duly accredited agents ot the Government of China, 1. That the importance of our work authorized to speak for the entire people of in connection with foreign students China, with a view to the negotiation and the be recognized and much more largely extended. drafting of a torre aty or of treaties between the United States America and ethoer Republic of plac the treaties China which shall take the now in force between the two countries. whicb provide for the exercise in China of A.m~rican extraterritorial jurisdictional rights or lImit her full autonomy with reference to the levying of customs dues or other taxes, or of such other treaty provioiollS as may be found to be unequal or- nonreciprocal in ('tararter. to the end that henceforth the treaty relations between the two countries. shall be upon a wholly eQual and reciprocal basis and win be such as will in no way offend the sovereign dignity of either of the parties or place obstacles in the way of realization by either of them ot their several national aspirations or the maintenance by them of their several legitimate domestic poliCies."
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
.. .2. That we continue to study the meetings, women's clubs and civic present youth situation and promote groups, (c) information bureau for knowledge of and participation in travelers that they may be put in con- Foreign Missions on the part of young tact with the mission work of their people in every way possible, not sep- own denominations and with interarating them from the rest of the group, but integrating the thought denominational institutions. and activity of both older and young- 3. That we endorse the plans of the er, experienced and less experienced. Committee on Summer Conferences 3. That the present effort to place representing a more intensive study young people on our missionary Boards be continued. of the needs of the constituency and new methods of educational approach: 4. That we study the best method (a) preliminary conference of leadof introducing new missionaries to ers, (b) democratic control and prothe field in order to conserve their gram making. individual contribution. 4. That we commend the work and 5. That we work through and with report of the interdenominational inall student agencies for a unified ap- dustrial committee appointed a year proach to these young people in our colleges. ago, and endorse its recommendation that each Board appoint a special 6. That we cooperate with the Stu- committee to investigate its industrial dent Volunteer Movement, especially mission work along lines to be sugthis year, in any way that will gested by the Industrial Committee strengthen their convention. which may serve as a basis for future developments. Contribution of the Federation 5. Deeply moved by the significance To continue and make more effec- of the beginning of an international tive the cooperation on which the Fed- observance of the Day of Prayer in eration is based, it is essential that which we can pray with, instead of the work of every committee be car- for, the women of the world, we recried forward during the coming year. ommend that this observance be ex- In some instances it will be necessary tended to include larger numbers of to extend committee programs to meet women in all countries, looking forexisting needs. ward to the time when Christian wom- The following recommendations en can be united in a World were adopted: Federation.
1. That we give increased support That we endeavor to make this cirto the expanding programs of the cle of fellowship as wide as possible Woman '8 Christian Colleges, other in our own communities, including union institutions and the Committee women of all races and nationalities. on Christian Literature for Women and Children in other lands. That we pray for the Convention on Faith and Order to be held in 2. That we endorse the plans of the Lausanne in the summer of 1927. Committee on Home Base Cultivation looking to an understanding of the 6'. That we render all possible aspresent task of Foreign Missions in sistance to the groups preparing, its relation to world problems and through researeb and observation, for to increase participation in our co- the program of ilie Jerusalem meetoperative work: (a) week-end con- ing of the International Missionary ferences, (b) speakers' bureau for Council in 1928, and that we make the aid of local federations, student a renewed effort to increase the" tides of spiritual power" which alone can ensure its success and vitalize the life of the Christian Church. EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK A NEW DAY FOR CONFERENCES eight to ten thousand women and girls By EULLA ROSSMAN attend these conferences every sum- mer there is still a shortage of trained In electrical terminology we find leaders for mission study classes and the expression "stepping up" to de- in other tasks of missionary organnote the process of giving the current izations, showing that there is a loss greater carrying capacity to enable it in "carryover" value. to go fUrther, to accomplish more. With this "stepping up" process, At the meeting of the Executive power can be transmitted hundreds of Committee of the Council of Women miles and on being "stepped down" for Home Missions held in October, at its destination is ready to perform it was agreed that the Council urge all the tasks required of it. upon leaders of conferences and schools of missions the necessity of In this new day for conferences definitely bringing home to the women we want to consider a "stepping up" in attendance their responsibility for process for conferences, institutes and translating into actual service the schools of missions. And let me ex- training they have received at the conplain right here that the terms are ference. This action was particularly synonymous. Some organizations have significant since none of the women always lliIed the word "conference," of the Eltecutive Committee had been others have been forced to change attending the Conferences on Conferfrom" school of missions" to " confer- ences and shows the feeling that conence" to secure reduced rates granted ferences need "stepping up." religious gatherings by railroads. Let lliI consider briefly ways in During the past two years confer- which these conferences can be more ence leaders have been studying the helpful, and have a greater carry-over situation in a series of conferences on value. Conferences, striving to find out how efficient the conferences are, and A preliminary conference which whether it is possible to give them brings together the members of the greater carrying capacity-to "step committee, the faculty, the speakers them up." These leaders represented and some leading delegates will help a varied constituency, denominational to unify the program, will give better and interdenominational, adult and team work and give the conference a junior, distinctively missionary, stn- tremendous send off. I remember one dent, business and industrial groups. sad case .in which the climax of the The conferences have, in themselves, conference became almost an anti· been a valuable demonstration of the climax because the speaker of the eve- new conference procedure. No set ning did not arrive till the evening program was prepared. No one came train and while he was a nationally with a speech or address but each one known speaker his message was for- came because of definite responsibility eign to the whole atmosphere of the for a conference of some kind, each conference.
one had problems, each one presented One" stepping up" process for our the problems the first evening and the conferences has to do with self-determ- discussions of the following days cen- ination, giving to the delegates a con- tered upon the solution of the prob- centrated experience of right living; lems. Here, as a starting point, were giving a share of the control of the the complicated life situations. conference may be an educative part But in spite of the fact that from of the program. The program may 378 not pass off as smoothly as under auto- value. The new data and new outlook cratic control, but the experience must be connected up or they mean gained by doing things will offset the nothing. We have not learned any- lack of smoothness; the guiding prin- thing that we do not practice. Get- ciple is to increase responsibility with ting at the needs of the delegates is the capacity to take on responsibility. most difficult. It involves getting in- Complete democratic control cannot dividuals and local groups to analyze be thrust upon a conference for it their own needs. It involves ques- would result in chaos. tionnaires, tests, surveys. Local dis- In the last annual report blank sent cussion groups can send their findings by the Council and Federation to to the program committee. schools of missions was the question. In this new day for conferences, I "What share do the delegates have in would place the greatest emphasis on planning the program for next year 1" the development of youth. The Among answers to this question were, younger women must have a larger "May give suggestions to the com- part. It seems a bit difficult for us more experienced women to give the mittee. " "A discussion at tile closing less experienced their chance to get session." One conference puts some what we have. In our" stepping up" delegates on the program committee, process we are going to give the younger women a part in the conferbut 50% of the answers were, ences. They can be trained for leader- "None. " Thus, in half the confer- ship in discussion groups on vital ences, those in attendance have no topics and in demonstration projects. chance even to express opinions to the committee in charge. It is necessary Social and personal adjustments to find out where in the scale of readi- can be worked out with strong leaders ness between no participation and full in character growth. With genuine participation a conference is and then complicated situations as a starting take the steps which will carry it still point, groups of young women may further. For instance, the whole think through to the solution. They group can decide the type of program can plan and conduct the twilight it wants, leaving it to the committee hour or similar service, tryout experto develop the program according to iments in self-government in camps the needs of the situation. It is necessary for the leaders to find some way and young women's departments.
of getting at the needs of the delegates This may sound like rather a revolu- in their home churches and organiza- tionary program with many innova- tions. Perhaps the lack of carryover tions, but it is not expected that any from conferences is due to the fact one conference will make radical that the delegate has not found herself changes in one year. E'ach committee tied to the home situation while at the will study its own conference and de- conference but has considered it a cide upon one or more experiments to plea~ing in1lerlude or vacation. A be tried out-experiments which will person carries back only what she can best fit into the program usually car- nse in her own life. She may get an ried out, and an attempt will be made "emotional kick" out of the confer- to evaluate results.
ence, for people who attend confer- The whole purpose of education is ences and other meetings, too, can to make life more worth while, and build a habit of being stirred to high a conference which does not produce feeling without responding to the real results is a failure and not worth the situation or feeling any individual re- time and expense put into it. A really sponsibility. One may be stirred by a Rnccessful conference is the one in wonderful address on race relations, which every person in attendance but if it is not translated into a finds herself farther along the interest changed attitude toward other races scale at the close than when she came, it fails to have any "carry over" finds her life enriched and unified.
·",-.___NEWS FROM ,.MANY
CHINA from fifty-two commercial and indus- trial bodies in Shanghai voicing regret A Chinese Christian Business Man for the Nanking assault .on foreigners and the destruction of their property. A FINE type of Chinese Christian They urge patience and continued is described in the latest issue of confidence in the Chinese people. Mr the magazine published by the Chi- Chu replied to the Shanghai organizanese Students Christian Association tions asking them to urge the Nationof America. Liu Tze Ru, agent of an alist authorities to protect the foreign- American sewing-machine company ers and prevent a recurrence of the for the province of Szechwan, recently Nanking affair in other cities. He transferred his property worth $133,- hoped they would insist by peaceful 000 to a board representing the local means upon a reorganization of the independent church, the Chungking Shanghai municipality under Chinese orphanage and the Y. M. C. A. This control. property and the business will be handled by this Board and the yearly He also has issued an appeal to the income will be divided among the world in behalf of China, asserting three organizations. "For thirty-two that in time she would work out her years," says The Chinese Christian own salvation and do utmost justice Student, "Mr. Liu has stuck by his to foreigners. "Peace and tranquillity decision to be a Christian, made at the can only be assured," he says, "when age of twenty-four. He is a leader in international good understanding and the local independent church which, mutual confidence prevail." refusing foreign funds, owns its land and buildings. After a world tour in The Future of Yale-in-China 1924, Mr. Liu resolved to give all his property to the organization in DR. ANSON PHELPS STOKES Chungking which he felt could carry says that while Yale-in-China is on a larger service to society. Mr. Liu closed, there is expectation that it will was one of the leading men in the open when the presaut trouble has organization of the Y. M. C. A. three passed over. He refers to "touchyears ago and has since been its presi- ing evidences of appreciation from dent. He is a leader in the business the Chinese gentry and other friendr; circles of Chungking, where his ex- and of regret that our work must be ample will be an inspiration to other temporarily discontinued." He quoteR wealthy business men to endow such the following resolutions passed by work as these organizations are do- the trustees of the Society of Yale-ining." China at their recent meeting in New Haven: Chinese Express Regrets 1. That the institution developed during I NTELLIGENT Chi n e sea r e the past twenty years in Changsha with ae- strongly opposed to anti-foreign tive Chinese cooperation must be continued and anti-Christian agitation in China and made as permanently useful as possible.
and many Christian Chinese stand 2. That, because of the changes taking ready to sacrifice their lives for their faith and for the Christian mission- place in Central China, the sitnation be rearI.eS. Recently als0 Chu Chao-hs'm, Chinese delegate to the League of Na- studied so that withont departing from its tions, announced receipt of a telegram standards Hnd ideals the scope and methods of work at Yali may be modified to meet more adequately the needs of a new China. 3. That an effort be made to maintain a Chinese staff of at least three members in 380 addition to the American staff now on the meetings at the church. After-meetfield, in order to render any possible service ings have brought groups from ten to by private teaching, medical work and per· twenty-five when we have real heart- to-heart talks about the way of salvasonal contact. 4. That the trustees authorize the memo bers of the staff in Changsha to make such tion. The motto of our church for arrangements as they think desirable with September was, 'Work with God for the purpose of using the hospital and other the Salvation of the World.' This buildings for the public good. month we have for a motto, I Possess Yenching University'. Equipment the Riches of God!' The wayside pul- pits have been hung out daily in six- T HIS Christian institution, with an teen places throughout the district, enrolment of 500 men and 150 emphasizing this month the need of women, has been well equipped by its new huildings for the work which it good home life. Throughout the preis undertaking to do. Located about fecture we are shedding a light with five miles from Peking, the university owns over one hundred acres which these. Would that all the good seeds might bear fruit!"
include, beside academic buildings, of Chinese Tribute to Y. M. c. A. little hmocks, many trees, two small lakes, and the gardens of the Agricul- FONG F. SEC, who for several tural Department. The academic years was chairman of the Nationbuildings are of adapted Chinese ar- al Committee of the Y. M. C. A. in chitecture, very graceful and decora- China, and of whom it is said, "His tive with their curving roofs and influence in educational and welfare eaves painted in many colors. The in- organizations and as editor of the teriors of the buildings have cement English publications of the Commerfloors, running water, steam heat, and cial Press in Shanghai is equalled by electricity. The Women's College has that of few men in China," recently its own administration building, a res- made this statement: idence for the Dean, two other resi- The present appears to be a dark hour dences for faculty members, a recita- for the Christian movement in China. Yet tion building, dormitories, and a sci- I believe this is only a passing phase. I ence building. Beside the Colleges of think our people, on the whole, are too level- headed to remain long under the radieal in- Arts and Sciences for men and women Buences from the outside and may be trusted there is a School of Religion, and t? regain our balance in time. During this special departments in Agriculture, time of great upheaval and sweeping changes, when the minds of our young men Business, Education, Home Econom- are swayed by the tides of nationalism, wa ics, Journalism and Leather Tanning. need the stabilizing power of Christianity as never before to guide our thinking and Church Mottoes in West China give fiber to our moral and spiritual life.
~~E VERYTHING looks very dis- The Young Men's Christian Association has been of untold blessing to hundreds of couraging this fall, but what thousands of us in our fight for character. appears as man's disappointment may In this trying hour we need the material prove to be His appointment," writes and moral support of Christians of Western Rev. Chester F. Wood to Missions lands. This is not the time for them to withdraw their support. For them to do so, from Yachowfu, West China. "The it seems to me, is to desert the cause of ways of God are mysterious and mar- Christ at a very critical moment.
velous. From the promise of a prosperous indigenous church we are with- Importance of One Christian R held f()r a while, and the organization EV. JOSHUA VALE, of Shang- hai, writes in China's Millions: and planned big gatherings are suffering, so we have had to give our- "Only one convert! Yes, but if that selves more to personal work this fall. one convert should prove to be a man Weare having good meetings in the of outstanding ability and leadership, street chapel and have also had some what then? More than sixty years goo d Sunday evening evangelistic ago a young missionary came to China
and was appointed to the Province of churia was spared the letting loose of Chekiang, the first field worked by the hell," commented the North China China Inland Mission. After some Herald. "The courage, perseverance eight years, owing to ill health, he was and wisdom of our two Mukden com- obliged to go home and never returned rades, the humanity of their cause, to Ohina. During this short period their intrepid bearing and entire de- in China he baptized only one convert tachment from political and personal and therefore in after years was matters carried their point."
tempted to look upon his work as in vain. If this good brother could have Miao Cannibals Now Christians visited with us the district now under REV. HUGH BOUSMAN, of the the control of this one convert, his Presbyterian Mission at Kachek, heart would have been greatly cheered on the island of Hainan, has had some and he would surely have realized interesting experiences among the that his work was not in vain in the Miao people, who live in the interior Lord." Pastor Ren, who was bap- of the island~ He tells of having tized when sixteen years of age, has heard one of them say, only a few been at work in this one district for months ago: "One time robbers atfifty years. tacked our village. We killed one of An Ameri"a~ Peacemaker them. According to our custom we took some of his bones and made soup THE story has come by way of and each of us ate a little of it. " This London of how an American man is the headman of a little Miao Quaker, Mr. J. E. Platt, of the Y. M. village of ten or fifteen families. C. A. Mukden, and a Scottish medi- Many of these people are now Chriscal missionary, Dr. W. A. Young, tians. "On a recent trip to visit them," says Mr. Bousman, "we sat on senior doctor of the Mukden Medical the side of a high mountain. Before College, were instrumental in arrang- us, in the little pocket-like valley on ing an armistice which led to peace in the mountain side were the mud- daubed and leaf-thatched houses of the civil war in North China. Several the villagers. Beside us was the vilmonths ago the armies of Wu-Pei-Fu lage chapel we had come to visit. and Chang-Tso-Lin were facing one These Miao Ohristians are more another with every prospect of the nearly self-supporting than many of long continuance of the strife. General the Chinese village Christians. They Chang '8 son when on a visit to Muk- build chapels for traveling Ohristian den keenly feeling how injurious for preachers to use. They themselves the best interests for China was a come morning and evening· to have further continuance of the civil war prayers and to sing before they go to begged his old friend Mr. Platt to try to open negotiations at the front. Dr. their work or to bed." Young was brought into consultation, and the American and the Britisher finally acceded to Ohang-Han-Ohing's JAPAN.KOREA urgent request. They had no light No Religious Regulation Bill W task in front of them. No Ohinese OW has come from Tokoyo that the bill which the Japanese Govwould accept the risks. Foreign ministers had forbidden their consuls to ernment had introduced for the regu- intervene, and foreign business men lation of religions has been shelved af- felt they must hold aloof. On the ter a month'~ debate by the Peers understanding that their task was Oommittee and will not reappear this that of bringing the peace delegates session. The bill was aimed primarily together, Mr. Pratt and Dr. Young to correct abuses which have grown up unprotected and without any docu- in connection with the Buddhist and ments made three strenuous journeys Shinto temples. It was proposed to from Mukden to the front. "Man- grant Christianity an official status,
1927J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
but, as the gift was coupled with reg- girls from the Buddhist Girls' Colulations and wntrol in many matters lege. One of them has received bapin which Christians in general claim freedom, the native churches started a tism and led the other four ro the vigorous agitation against the bill which eventually was successful. The class. Another member of this class bill would have created public trusts is a wealthy woman who came saying for church and temple property, an she needed Christianity to fit her for innovation which Christians consid- the task of training her four children, ered inequitable, as their church who are in the Sunday schooL She property has all been bought and paid has now asked for baptism. . _ . The for, while temple lands were granted Christian women of Japan are makby the State. ing a special effort for prohibition just now, and they need the sympathy A. a Japanese Sees ADlerieans and prayers of the Christians in America." ADACHI KINNOSUKE tells in a 11 current magazine how his desire A Soldier Loyal to Christ to learn English took him years ago to Dr. Walter A. Lambuth, later a EVERY Japanese man who is ablebishop in the Methodist Episcopal bodied has at least twelve months Church South, by whom he was led to of military service. A certain gradu- Christ. Now in the United States, ate of the Meiji Gakuin in Tokoyo, Mr. Kinnosuke who says, "The light who is now performing this service, is of all religions burns purer in the the only Christian in his company and mission fields than at their home he has met a certain form of persebases, " comments as follows on his ex- cution in ridicule and misunderstandperiences: ing. One of the officers has nick- named him "Yaso," a rather disre- Here I have seen literally millions of spectful form of the name " Jesus," Christians in perfectly good standing in the and this officer calls out "Yaso, come Church take something of a pleasure in here," or "Ask Yaso to do that," speaking nnkindly of their richer neighbors. which is a bit trying. But yet after I have seen more millions of them entirely all he considers it a great honor to be happy in revising the Sermon on the Mount called " Jesus" when he thinks of the to read: "Lots of men can serve two meaning of the name, so he bears it masters. Ye can serve God and Mammon." patiently. And gradually the other I have seen still more millions of equally soldiers are wming to understand and excellent Christians take the name of God appreciate him and some of them in vain-and in the jolliest manner imagin· listen to him with deep interest when able. . . . I have seen that old-fashioned he explains the meaning of his Christhing-which we Japanese stilI think a good tian faith to them. He is quite feardeal of–caIIed parental control become a less in bearing testimony to Christ at lost art among the Christian people in this all times and tries to interest even his country. These and a few other things have officers in the Christian religion. had their effect upon me, of course. I am wondering if Christianity in Christendom is Japanese Christia.n Lepers dry rotting. They have bewildered me not a little and made me a triBe weary in my I N THE government leper colony ;joints as I tried to make my painful way at Oshima, Japan, the Buddhist along the straight and narrow path. influence was at one time so strong that the missionaries who came to Christian Women in Kyoto visit were stoned away and eventual- ly gave up any attempt to work there MISS FRANCINA E. PORTER, until some years later, when a leper of the American Presbyterian named Miyake San came to the hos- Mission in Kyoto, Japan, writes of pital and inquired about Christianity, two of her many interests in the field saying he wished to know more of it. where she has been at work since Through him a group of the patients 1882: "In the class for women and girls that meets on Sunday morning in the church near by, there are five
became sufficiently interested to send gelical Missions in Korea, in making an invitation to the missionary teach- its February issue what is called "an ers to return. He was the first to All-Korea Number." Its eight prinbe baptized. He is now quite an old cipal articles were all contributed by man, but still takes a leading place Korean Christians, and the table of in the leper church. There are thirty- contents gives some idea of what the five baptized Christians, and many Korean Church is thinking about, as others are interested. Nagata San well as of the ability of its leaders to leads in the intellectual life of the give expression to these thoughts. It colony as well as in the spiritual. He reads as follows: plans the Christmas programs, edits the little magazine published by the "The Church and the Young People"- patients, and teaches sometimes four Rev. S. O. Pyun. Bible classes a day; but chief of his talents is that for Japanese verse. He "Educated Mothers Korea's Supreme is blind and partly paralyzed, but it Need"-Miss Frances Li. is he who leads his fellows to search for loveliness in the things about "Does Korea Need a Women's Medical them. This, band of leper Christians SchooU"-Miss Y. C. You, M.D. is noted for its intercessory prayer. "The Primary Quality that Determines a Personal Co'ntaets in Japan Missionary"-Mr. Hugh Heung-wu Cynn.
MR. AND MRS. F. S. CURTIS "The New Role of the Missionary"- went out to Japan under the Prof. P. O. Chough, Ph.D. Presbyterian Board (U. S. A.) in ]888. Out of her long experience , 'Should the Mission Hospitals he Turned Mrs. Curtis writes: "When we came Over to the Koreans f "-Oh Keung San, to Japan, and for many years, our M.D. idea was that the first duty of an evangelist was preaching. Now, as "Christiauity Versus Old Native Things" far as the missionary is concerned, in -Mr. Pyun Yung Tai. this country his, principal and most telling work is with individuals, by "The Necessity of Women's Hospitals' " conversation and letter. To reach out -Miss D. S. Hyun, M.D. to your neighbors on boats, trains and in the shops and offices, and to give Healing Lepers at Talku ample time to even 'unlikely' callers and to workmen, and then to follow THIS is the title of a booklet deup. tlLose who respond-to spend full scribing the new plans for the detin. 'in prayer for them individually, velopment of the leper work at Taiku, these are now the main avenues of Korea, issued by the American Misservice for the ordinary missionary sion to Lepers. Dr. Fletcher is asking evangelist in Japan. There is often for the means to provide a chapel and a wonderful response to letters. a central dining hall and service Several young men have gone from buildings for the 500 patients he will our English classes to university or soon be caring for in the dormitories other schools, in other cities and they on the compound, to install city water seem overjoyed to hear from us, as and to build a home for untainted do the young women I have taught." children. The cost of these items ranges from $300 to $3,000. In ad- An "All-Korea" Paper dition to making the hospital proper more adequate for the needs of the in- ~ N INTERESTING departure from creased number of patients, Dr_ Fletcher has worked out a plan to A its usual procedure was made by serve the lepers of the entire province, numbering about 2,000, by a series of the Korea, Mission Field, which is is- out-station clinics, or treatment stasued by the Federal Council of Evan- tions. Each of these is to be in charge of a qualified nurse, preferably a leper who has been trained in the Taiku hospital in giving the treatment which has resulted in his own parole as practically cured. A Korean doc- tor will visit each station once every week or ten days, treating those in the early stages of the disease, and refer-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ring the advanced cases to the Taiku straight back from the lobby, and the hospital. By this means treatment arrangement of the building, says will be provided for those most amen- Rev. George W. Wright, is greatly ad- able to its benefits, those in whom the mired. The present enrollment is disease has not advanced far, who seventy-nine, this number including probably would not take the drastic those enrolled in the three years of step of entering the hospital, and who pretheological or college work as well in this way can remain in their own as those in three years of the semi- homes between treatments. nary, the full course being now six ISLANDS OF THE SEA years. Besides the fifty-four minis· The Maoris in New Zealand terial students there are fifteen ex- pecting to be teachers, two social T HE Anglican Archbishop of New workers, one an engineer, one a jour- Zealand writes: "There are about nalist, one a lawyer. One girl is train- 26,000 Maoris in the diocese of Auck- ing for dormitory management, one as land, and eighteen Maori clergy who a deaconess teacher, one young man is work under a European superintend- in training for Sunday-school field ent, The majority of the Maoris be- work, one is a married woman taking long to the Church of England, but Spanish and one gives no idea as to they are very susceptible to the in- his future.
fluence of false teachers and prophets No Racc Problem in Hawaii of their own race and even of the Mormons, There are many Maoris T HIS is the testimonv of ex- Governor Allen of Ka'IlSas, who who have lapsed from the faith in writes after his recent visit: "No one consequence of the evil results of the in Hawaii discusses race problems. Maori wars and the subsequent con- They studiously avoid them, With a fiscation of Maori lands. The disas- dozen races living in harmony under trous policy of the British Govern- one flag, the problem is to keep your ment in attempting to subdue th@ mind on the job of living together, Maoris by force of arms, especial1y in not upon the subjects that emphasize face of the :fact that the Maoris were the obvious difficulties. Therefore, far less to blame than a sec60n of the everyone in the Islands from the Pakelas who endeavored to cheat the Governor down says in answer to the Maoris out of their lands, has left inevitable question: 'There is no such much bitterness behind and much suspicion of the Government, with problem. ' They all thus declare itwhich the Church in the mind of the Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiians, Sia- Maoris is associated. The Church has mese and Americanese. No one deexcellent boarding schools for Maori clares jt with greater vigor ann …erboys and girls in Auckland, and the sistency than the American…_,In provincial college of St. John the every schoolhouse in the Islands, Evangelist situated near to Auckland under practical and sensible teachers, trains the Maori ordination candi- they are inculcating the same doc- dates in conjunction with the Euro- trine, " pean students."
NORTH AMERICA Training F'ilipino Pastors "A Student in Industry Group"
T HE Uuion Theological Seminary THIS is the title given to a project in Manila opened the 1926-27 sponsored by certain members of school year in its fine new building. the Society of Friends in Philadel- This is a beautiful structure three phia. The American Friend says of stories high, with a roof garden above, it: "Plans are now shaping up satis- factorily for the Student in Industry and provides adequately for class group to be sponsored by the Home rooms, laboratory, library and offices Service Section in Philadelphia this of administration. The chapel is 5
coming summer. " The purpose is When I came here eighteen months primarily to afford an opportunity ago, there were no officials, no prayerfor those interested in human rela- meetings, no woman's organizations, tions to find out by actual experience and all of the churches were in poor some of the many difficulties arising repair. The Mission Board was payout of the adjustments of the workers ing $100 toward the pastor's salary. to their industrial environment. Mem- The circuit had 545 members scattered bers of the group will meet in Phila- over five churches, all farmers who delphia for a week-c~d conference would go to church once a month, if from June 25-27. Following that they it was not too cold or too hot and will find their own jobs in Philadel- dusty. The first thing was to organize phia industr:es, and make arrange- prayermeetings at the churches. One ments for their own living accom- very doubtful old farmer said: 'You modations. They will live on the can't run no prayer-meetin' here; wages they earn, and for a ten weeks' they ain't never had none no time.' period attempt to study through their That particular prayer-meeting has own experience some of the industrial grown from nothing to seventy-five problems facing employer and em- and eighty. The people want the ployee. The membership is to be Bible and will come miles to get it made up of men and women from the even after a hard day in the field. eastern colleges, who are warned that What of the circuit today? There is "these projects are not adventures. one new church which has been picked They will involve for many students for a rural church demonstration difficult adjustments to new ,vays of point in North Carolina. All of the living, and will tax the grit and re- churches have improved in apsourcefulness of each member. pearance. Four prayer-meetings and four woman's missionary societies Church Members Become Mormons have been organized. The parsonage has been improved to the extent of TllE Utah Gospel Mission is au- $6'00, the pastor's salary has been thority for the statement that raised and the Mission Board has been li,rormoni~m "of both kinds" is mak- notified that its gift is no longer ing about 10,000 converts a year, and needed. Last year for all purposes we that "nearly everyone was once a raised $10,124, over three times the nominal member of some Christian amount ever raised in any previous church, " Of course the bulk of the year. " converts are of the humbler classes, often really wishing to do the right Interracial Relations in Chicago thing, and even real though greatly misinformed ,Christians. Meanwhile, I f' CON~ECTIOX with the oband largely by just such means, M or- servance in Chicago of Race Relamonism is doubling every twenty-five tions Sunday, Dean Shai18r Mathews yea.rs, instead of being about" dead" of the Divinitv School of the Pniveras people often think. It has kept sity of Chicago said: "There are in about 2,200 emissaries at work for the Great IJake states of Mich;gan, many years, and they get three or Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin four converts each per year. besides more than 500,000 Negroes, most of doing greater evil in sowing false doc- whom have come from the South in trines and distrust of the Bible, the recent years. Chicago '8 Negro populaministry and the Church. tion approaches the 200,000 mark. They are here in the North to stay and Rural Work in North Oaroliua we welcome them. Their motives in migrating have been entirely worthy. ROBERT E. BROWN, a graduate They have sought economic improve- of the Biblical Seminary in New ment and educational advancement. York City, writes: "A preaching We should value them highly as citidrcuit with five points is a handful.
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zens becaUlle they merit it. The In- cording to many old customs but who terracial Commission of the Church have adopted some of the modern Federation feels that its most effec- ways-frequently the poorest-and tive work can be done in getting the are emerging into something better races acquainted and in informing or worse, according to their surround- each group of the advancement of the ings; (3) the young people who, in- other. " fluenced by education and changing environment, are entering the cities, Trained Christian India.D.!l towns and rural districts to which T HE Tucson Indian Training their work calls them and are becom- School at Escuela, Arizona, con- ing on the whole a quiet, unassuming, ducted by the Presbyterian Board of worthy people, an asset to their com- National Missions is now in its thirty- munities and to the nation."
ninth year, and about forty per cent of the present enrollment consists of Mexican Problems in Texas G children of former pupils. Over 1,- EORGE L. CADY, discussing in The American Missionary some 600 boys and girls have attended the school since the founding of it and of these problems, says: "Discrimina- now many of these are recognized tions are reported in theatres and leaders in their horne communities. hotels and even a consul of the Some are evangelists, others are Sun- Mexican Government was refused day-school teachers; some are elders service in Texas. Mexican children and deacons and many more are doing are often excluded from playgrounds.
their share in improving conditions In most places separate school build- on the various reservations. The ings are! operated for Mexican chil- largest Indian church in the United dren. This was advocated by many of States is among the Pimas. Fifty the best educators for pedagogical years ago they were pagan; now there reasons as the education of the Mexi- are over 2,000 communicants. All can children has been desultory on their native churches are manned by account of their migratory habits and Indians and they are sending their their presence would retard the prog- evangelists to other tribes. The ress of the classes where the American Apaches, their historic enemies, have children attended. It was not stated become entirely. friendly, largely that the Mexican children are inferior through the splendid work of one of when given equal opportunities ….. .
the school's boys, Wilson Walker. One foreman of a cotton mill said: 'The Jl,Iexican is the most servile of all Types of American Indians the kinds of labor we employ.' And the AFTER calling attention to the mill was practically operated by Mexi- wide distribution of the Indian cans only. Of course it is well known communities, and the variety in their that the greatest opposition to the new languages, a missionary comments: "A few years ago we classified the Negro is that he is ceasing to be servile Indians according to their localities and the Japanese has always refused or indigenous occupations; for example, the plains tribes, the nomadic to be. What will happen when the shepherds of the Southwest; the vil- Mexican has begun to rise and assert lage tribes, the fishermen of the North- himself and when he ceases to be a west and the civilized tribes of the day laborer and comes to demand the right to own his own horne and till his own land'"
Southeast. Today there seems to be a tendency, much less scientific, to LATIN AMERICA classify Indians about as follows: First.Rand Study of Mexico U (1) The picturesque type, often fea- NDER the leadership of Hubert tured in magazines; (2) those who C. Herring, the Social Relations still live in Indian communities ac- Department of the Congregational
Education Society has for two years of the Catholic Church from a protected or· sponsored a so-called "Seminar on Relations with Mexico." The July, ganization into an independent entity…. 1926, REVIEW reported the success of the experiment last year. The party The ecclesiastics are empowered to continue of thirty-eight this year included Protestant clergymen, Jewish rabbis, their religions teachings in the public lawyers, editors, writers, lecturers, representatives of women's organiza- schools, not as a part of the official currie· tions and business men. The program ulum nor as salaried officials of the Gov· of these seminars covers a ten-days' stay in Mexico City. These days are ernment, but as private citizens and in percrowded with interviews with the leaders of the Mexican Government fect equality with the ministers of other de- Mexican and foreign business in: terests, Protestant and Catholic reli- nominations. . gious leaders, educators and other significant spokesmen for the cultural, Church Unity in Venezuela educational, political, economic and religious life of the country. REV. C. A. PHILLIPS, of the American Presbyterian Mission Mr. Herring says: in Caracas, Venezuela, writes of a visit to the Scandinavian Alliance We went because we believed in friendly Mission in Maracaibo: "They were relations between the United States and dedicating a new church building and Mexico and because we wanted to know the had invited representatives of each Mexicans better. We did not go with any mission to attend. The group of misidea of becoming experts upon oil laws or sionaries and national workers in atreligious controversies, but because we hoped tendance had an inf.ormal conference we would be better able to interpret Mexico regarding the work in Venezuela, the to the United States after we bad learned discussion centering around the adto know some Mexicans and had heard from visability of establishing a national their own lips the story of the struggles church in Venezuela. A series of through which they are paBsing in their propositions to serve as the basis for effort .to establish a strong and just govern· the government of said church were ment m that desperately unfortunate land. drawn up and approved by thQse present and it was decided to present Status of Priests in Chile these to the different missions. The interior of the republic is full of souls THE formal separation of Church who are hungering for the food which and State in Chile which was an- satisfies, and longing for a better way nounced in the June, 1926, REVIEW, is then they have known hitherto. The beginning to bear fruit. In reply to members of the Church have been newspaper reports that the Chilean quite enthusiastic over the possibility Government had decided to eliminate of a national Evangelical church and the Catholic priesthood from public are preaching the doctrine ot unity offices paid out of the national as much as they can. It is quite postreasury, the Chilean Embassy in sible that this church will become a Washington issued about April 1st reality during the next year." the following statement: Brazilian S. S. Progress The constitutional reform of 1925 brought REV. H. S. HARRIS, World's Sunabout the friendly separation of Church and day School Association Secretary for Brazil, was recently requested to State. The order referred to would apply visit the city of Sao Sebastiao de Paraiso, about fourteen hours distant only to those ecclesiastics who were serving from Sao Paulo, and hold a Sunday- school Institute for the workers in as chaplains with the armed forces or as this field, in which nine years ago there were only two Christian beteachers in the public schools since those in lievers. A Sunday-school, however, was organized about that time and charge of worship have been given in a ever since it has been the chief means of evangelizing the city and surroundtransitory provision of the Constitution of ing towns. At the Institute just held, 1925, a subsidy of 2,500,000 pesos aynenaurasllty~ to be paid during a period of nve his Grace the Archbishop of Santiago as the h~,,:d o~ the Catholic ~~r"lI in Chile, a pro- VlSlon mtended to faclhtate the transition
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workers were present from the eentral brought out the fact that Peru was Sunday-school and from four others backward in its development. I asked in near-by places, all under the general what they thought was the reason for direction of the pastor at Sao it, and' what they thought could be Sebastiao. These five schools reported done. They all gave splendid answers.
an average total attendance each Sun- Olga Bianizza waved her hand franti- day of 465 and the work is growing cally and when she was given permis- rapidly from month to month. The sion to speak, this in substance is what two watchwords of the Sunday-school she said: 'Peru is backward because movement in Brazil are "Efficiency" the people are not educated. If they and "Extension," and the devotion are not educated, they cannot think to these ideals accounts largely for the and they don't know how to do things.
fact that the Sunday-school enrollment There are no big industries developed in Brazil has trebled during the past by Peruvians because the people are ten years, growing from thirty to 90,- selfish and will not cooperate. What 000. Institute work and teacher-train- I think Peru needs, most of all, is ing classes are stressed as means of good schools. If I was jete (superin- promoting efficiency and of preparing tendent) of the schools, I would have workers. all fiscal (public) schools have media (high schools). Then if I was big, I Mennonites GQ to Paraguay would go into the interior and educate FOR two centuries the Mennonites the Indians.' I must confess that I have passed from one Christian was completely taken off my feet to country to another, seeking a resting- get an answer like that from a twelveplace and have not found it. The year-old. "
founder was a Swiss radical in reli- gion. Their tenets are similar to those Pan-American Children's Gifts of the Friends. The members refrain THE sending by American children from taking the oath, and from mili- of thousands of dolls for the antary service, and usually from the nual "dolls' festival" in Japan has official life of citizenship. They been one striking illustration of the settled in western Canada in large principle that friendship among the numbers, but came into violent conflict with the Government during the children of different countries is a war. They have now secured large firm foundation on which to build concessions of land in Paraguay, 2,000 world peace. Another working out of miles up the river Uruguay. An ad- the same principle is found in the vance guard of 309 recently shipped recent arrival in New York City of a for that point, and it was estimated huge box addressed" To Indian Chilthat at least 2,000 would have reached dren of North America" and sent by that fertile country by the end of the Avmara Indian children of Bolivia April. The Government has given through the La Paz mission. Dolls in picturesque native costumes, reed them 3,000 acres of rich land and a whistles, baskets and pottery in brilcharter promising them freedom from liant colors are laborious and painsmilitary work or service for all time. taking examples of the children's -United Presbyterian. self-denial and labor as well as friend- A School Girl's Program for Peru ship and good will. The gifts will be distributed by Miss Edith M. Dabb T HE Women's Foreign Missionary of the Y. W. C. A. to Indian children Society of the Methodist Episcopal on the reservations. "These children Church conducts a successful school are descendants of the ancient Inca for girls in Lima, Peru. One of the civilization in La Paz. The people teachers recently wrote: "One day are famous as makers of the most per- in geography class the discussion was fect thread in the world and for their led so that the children themselves weaving. The weaving even from
these young children is exquisitely a striking effect. The order and done." The poverty of the Aymara decorum were unexceptional, but Indian makes this Pan-American gen- there seemed no sense of restraint. erosity the more remarkable..- This, indeed, was one of the character- istics of the services. Nothing was EUROPE more notable than the eager-hearted manner in which the prisoners ap- London Student Campaign peared to enter into the spirit of each night '8 proceedings. " All the preach- UNDER the leadership of the ers paid the men the compliment of British Student Movement, a appearing in ecclesiastical garb. united six-day campaign in the colleges and hospitals of London took Religion Today in Rnssia place late in February. For this campaign forty-four colleges had been GEORGE LANSBURY, a wellpreparing for nearly two years, and known British Socialist, describthey had the help of thirty-eight missioners, including seven bishops and a ing changes he found in revisiting long list of clergy and laymen. London is one of the largest student Russia recently, makes a number of fields in the world. The Student Movement is at work among over 27,- statements which, says The Americam 000 students in London, while there are in addition a large number of law Friend, "seem to rest upon careful students and students in polytechnics doing a full-time course, who are as observation." He believes that a new yet untouched by the Movement. The program of the mission issued by the expression of religion is developing in London Council tells us that "yast numbers of these students are out of Russia, and describes a visit to a touch with all organized Christianity, and just drift along without ever monastery where, although the abbot getting or making an opportunity to discover what Christianity stands had at one time been arrested for for." This mission was therefore intended primarily to present the Chris- counter-revolutionary propaganda, tian challenge to a larger number of students than are normally drawn in- the orthodox churches are full, and to Christian Union activities. there are many other groups carrying Evangeli$m in Scottish Prisons on their own types of religious serv- AN INTERESTI~G experiment in preaching the Gospel to those in ices. Church property has been prison is reported by the Record of the United Free Church of Scotland. confiscated, but all types of churches A fortnight's special religious services were recently held in Barlinnie are open and freely attended by those Prison, for which every facility was granted. All the churches partici- who desire. He says: "The fact that pated, and the Salvation Army also had its turn. Attendance was the mass of people are openly and optional, but at every service there were about four hundred prisoners. avowedly not Communists makes non- No officials were present. "The absence of every semblance of official sense of the statement that the Russian surveillance, " it is said, "had at once nation is forced to renounce religion and accept atheism as a creed. The peasants who make up the mass of the people are still loyal to the forms of religion." .
"Zoi" Brotherhood in Greece SPECIAL atfention is being given to Sunday-school work in Greece by the "Zoi" Brotherhood of the Orthodox Greek Church. This work has the hearty support of the Arch- bishop and of the clergy generally and there are some among their clergymen who are rendering exceptional co- operation. The" Zoi" Life Brother- hood is a very active and devout group of people who have banded themselves together to spread sound Christian literature throughout
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Greece. They maintain a publishing found his way to the American society and a tract agency. They issue Board's school at Beira, where he bereligious books and tracts and their came a Christian. A few years later family newspaper has a circulation of he went to America, took the normal 40,000, the largest circulation of any course at Hampton Institute, and paper in Greece. Their work is afterward was graduated with honor strongly evangelical and deeply re- from Columbia University. Last fall ligious. The Brotherhood is composed he returned to his old home, greeted of lay and clerical members about his mother and proceeded to Mount seventy-five in number. The lay mem- Silinda to engage in missionary work. bers work in banks, offices and busi- So impressed was the British Comness houses but pay all their earnings missioner with Simango's ability and into a common fund which is used for bearing that he invited him to his own the circularization of the Bible and home and then summoned the natives their special publications. They live to meet him. Two thonsand gathered very cheaply in order to save their at }Iount Silinda, where the Commis· earnings. for the prosecution of their sioner, introducing Simango as an work. example of what education and Chris- tianity can do for an African lad, AFRICA urged them to send their children to school. Then he took him to Chikore Missionary ~rders by Radio and Tanganda and repeated the speech before other throngs. It is said VISIONS of foreign missionaries that Simango has shown a fine spirit ordering supplies and communi- at all times and has accredited himself cating with their Board and friends on everv side and will undoubtedly be from fields all over the world bv a great' power among his people. means of radio messages have resulted from the receipt of a radiogram from Canadians Take Angola Work Mr. Edwin Cozzens, Presbyterian missionary in the Cameroun, 'Vest ONE result on the mission field of Africa. The radio message from Mr. the organization of the United Cozzens was received by V. S. Volz, Church of Canada has been the recent J amesville, Minn. It was addressed turning over to its Board of Foregin to Clarence A. Steele, Assistant ;Iissions a section of the territory in Treasurer of the Presbyterian Board, Angola, West Africa, occupied by and was as follows: "Please duplicate Canadian Congregationalists in coorder of June 16, 1926 to Henry A. operation with the American Board. Kienzle, New York, one dynamotor The J[issionary Herald comments as equipped as previously." In sending follows on the arrangement: "Perfect the message to the Presbyterian For- cooperation in .service and harmony eign Board, Mr. Volz stated that he of purpose will be maintained, though received the message at 12: 05 a. m. Chisamba, Kamundongo, and Dondi and that, due to daylight coming on can no longer be claimed as stations in Africa, the signals faded out so of the American Board. Each year, that he was not able to get the ship- traveling by 'kaffirmobile' or Ford or ping instructions. By means of this hammock, the missionaries will gather radio message, Mr. Cozzens's order for a joint annual meeting, and each was filled immediately and the long year the native members of the one delay that would have ensued had the Church of Christ will seek the order been sent by mail was obviated. precious guias or permits from the authorities which will safeguard them An African's Notable Record as they tramp two or three days' journey, with their food supply on K AMBA SIMANGO, born in a their heads, to join in the yearly grass hut in the lowlands or series of revival meetings known as Portuguese East Africa, with nothing behind him but a pagan ancestry,
the conference." Currie Institute for to us, made a complete confession, and boys, Means School for girls, and the asked us what to do about it. He Sarah H. Bates Memorial Press will knew that acknowledgment to the be continued as union enterprises. Government of his theft and deceit might send him behind the prison Zambesi Industrial Mission bars, but he was ready for anything RECENT news of this enterprise is that he might get the peace of God in thus given by the London Chris- his heart. So he went straight to the tian: "Things have changed since the government officials, confessed his Mission was established in 1893. War misdeeds, and paid back all he had has ceased, slavery has disappeared, stolen. If we should ask him today life is guarded as in civilized lands, if that experience was worth all it cost the poison ordeal has disappeared, and to him, his face would immediately other evils have hid their heads. light up and he would answer with a Schools, which are centers of evan- glad ' Yes.' "
gelistic efforts, are dotted over the land. On the stations, where the central A Moslem Builds a Cburch A churches are, each of the monthly MEMBERJ of the Egyptian Mis- sion of the United Presbyterian communion services is attended by a thousand or so native Christians, who Church tells this unusual story: "One gather from all the outlying villages to Sabbath morning not long ago I be present-some of them traveling a preached at the first meeting held in day's journey on foot. Most of these a new church building in one of our possess the New Testament in their Egyptian towns. A number of Chrisown language (one consignment of tians from neighboring towns were Testaments from the Bible Society present to share in the praise and worweighed about ten tons, and did ship. It is interesting to note that this not cost the Society a penny, as meeting-place was built by a promiall were bought and paid for by the nent Moslem, who owns a large tract natives) . The book is no ornamental of land around the town. He had p<lsse!;sion. The people have been built a mosque for the M{)slems. Then taught to read, and love it. They de- the Christians requested him to put up light to spread abroad the Good Tid- for them a building for a school and ings, for every native convert becomes church. Although there was some opa propagandist, anxious and eager to position, yet he had the building bring others. Much has been ac- erected. Of course, it is a very uncomplished, but yet much remains to usual thing for Moslems to build a church for Christians. It makes a be done." fine meeting-place for that small town, Confession Brings Peace and is a wonderful improvement over C F. CONOVER, a missionary of the poor building in which they met • the American Friends Board of formerly. That Sabbath mbrning was Missions in Kenya Colony writes: one of joy and thanksgiving."
"At our last monthly meeting a native man gave his testimony. For THE NEAR EAST years back his face has been so cloudy Women's Social Work in Turkey A and surly and without a spark of joy SUCCESSFUL attempt has been made to interest the students at in it. He had been carrying a burden of deceit and theft against the Constantinople Woman's College in Government ever since the war. A variolls kinds of social service and to few months back the Spirit of the secure the cooperation of the women Lord gripped his heart and each new of the city in caring f{)r the needy circumstance in his life caused the about them. Through the social serv- burden to grow heavier until one day ice center maintained by the college, h ecould stand it no longer. He came young women stuQents have an op-
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portunity, even while pursuing their hotel, and in stone graven over the studies, to have some practical experi- doorway is a text or Scripture, 'When ence in playground work, community the Lord helpeth, we are helped in- clubs, educational programs, and case deed.' It was necessary for the rabbi work. Some of the outstanding activi- and an interpreter, a Jew, to be pres- ties of the social service committee are ent representing his former faith; a "Children's Hour" conducted for and Mr. Payne was there as represent- boys and girls of the neighborhood, ing the Mission and the Christian classes in games and gymnastics held community. He had to make a decla- regularly in a Turkish orphanage, and ration after ten minutes' private in- a sewing club which makes and re- terview with the rabbi, in the presence models clothes for distribution among of the Governor. The rabbi knew him the poor. as having been a believer already, and Near East College Association the interview, when he declared that he firmly believed in Jesus as his T HIS organization has been in- Messiah and Saviour, was cut short. corporated by the six American He had to lay his hand upon a Hebrew Colleges in the Near East-Robert copy of the Old and New Testaments College, Constantinople Woman's Col- in the presence of the Governor when lege, the American University of Beirut, International College of he took this step."
Smyrna, Sofia American Schools, and Christ in Armenian Hearts Athens College, Greece-which have been affiliated informally for the pur- By WAY of a paper published in pose of economy and efficient manage- Lucknow, The Indian Witness, ment and for raising the $15,000,000 comes this story from a missionary in endowment fund needed to put them the Near East: "I remember an afteron a permanent financial basis. The noon spent with a little group of purpose of the Near East College As- church leaders and workers. Almost sociation, according to an announce- every person in the room had seen his ment by the executive committee, is to dearest butchered or driven to death give to internationally-minded people by the Turks. As they sat there they "who believe in this movement of one by one gave their testimony to practical idealism an opportunity to their acceptance of what we called enlist in a movement that offers a 'the Christian way of revenge.' One practical program for producing of these leaders writes, 'I am ready to leadership, creating understanding preach to Turks as soon as the op" and inspiring cooperation among the portunity comes. I believe the blood peoples of the Near East." The aim of my nation will not have been shed is to have 100,000 members by Janu- in vain. I am always ready to pray ary 1, 1928. Headquarters are at 18 that the remnant of my people may Bast 41st Street, New York City. be the means of bringing the Turk to Christ.' Another in the same group A Jewish Con-vert's Examination says, 'I say that this is just the time T HE British Society for the Propa- to begin gospel preaching among the gation of the Gospel among the Moslems. The general attitude of Jews reports the baptism of a man in the Christian churches in the Near whom its workers in Palestine had East should be the attitude of Christ, long been interested, and continues: that was f()rgiveness, sympathy, love, " According to the government rule in prayer and brotherhood. Every Chris- Palestine, it is necessary where there tian church that is conscious of her is a change of faith, for the convert call cannot stand aloof. but will be to go before the representative of the ready to cooperate and work with Government, and this he did in De- prayer and Christlike life that will cember. The building in which the contain cr{)ss and martyrdom and not interview took place is an old German only a high and comfortable life.' "
A Loyal Witness in Arabia beautiful passages, sought to show him the great love that God through AFTER describing some of the al- Christ had for mankind and urged most overwhelming obstacles him to read it with an open prayful which those in Arabia who want to mind." follow Christ must overcome, Rev. DIrk Dykstra of Amara writes: INDIA, BURMA and SIAM "There is one man in our station who has held to his lone course for the Hindu Students Exalt Service last five years and is bravely living the life of allegiance to Christ, and A ~ I:ITERESTING illustration of testifying every day by his words and the way in which the spirit of his works to the love of God as it is Christianity influences those who are in Christ Jesus. It is marvellous to in contact with it, even though they see how the grace of God can take a still hold to their own religions, is man whose early years were steeped furnished by a report from the colin the teachings and the superstitions lege in Madura, South India, which and the bigotry of Islam, and, simply has been conducted by the American by filling him with the sense of the Board for many years. The Hindu love of Christ, transform that man students have formed a "Brotherinto a preacher and an exponent of hood of Service" which works for the Gospel.. His main religious diver- quality and not quantity. "Weare sion used to be to chant the Moharram not interested in having large numservices, some of the most tragic and bers join this Brotherhood," said a at the same time the most fanatic member, "but only those students who Moslem.literature. But now his chief are interested in service." They buy delight is the reading of the Sermon cotton and spin it into thread which on the Mount and the Twelfth of they giye away to the poor to be woven Romans to any who come within the into cloth. Their purpose is stated as range of his voice." an Association to "render service to- wards the upliftment of our nation in An Arab's Interest in the Bible the following ways: 1. Village or- ganization; 2. Prohibition of drink; DR. IDUIS P. DAME, of the Ara- 3. Remoyal of untouchability; 4. Edu- bian Mission of the Reformed cation of untouchables as well as of Church in America, who contributed the poor; 5. Spread of home inan article on his medical mil;sionary dustries, especially khaddar (weavwork to the February REVIEW, relates ing). the following incident in Shugra in Nejd, a very fanatical city in the heart Fame of Moga School of Wahabiland: ' .We were entertained there by one of the town T HE unique work which is being leaders. This man is one of the few done at the training school for vil- Arabs who actually reads, reads not lage teachers at Moga, in the Punjab, only relig:ous books, but especially is becoming more and more widely historical and books of general inter- known. Recently a request was reest. Almost at once he picked out one ceived by the school for four Mogabook and said: 'I have a book here trained men to go to Abyssinia to that I do not understand very well. teach in a state school, which is under I want to ask you a great many ques- the patronage of the Crown Prince. tions about it. One of mv friends was "This," says the annual report, "is one day in Damascus a~d he bought an illustration of the Rervice Moga is this book in a book-store.' It was an called upon to render to the cause of Arabic Bible. Unfortunately he had Christian education, not only in our been reading it with a prejudiced own Mission, but in the Punjab and mind: to find fault was his chief aim. throughout India, Ceylon and Burma. I invited his attention to some of the This is the first time a call has come from a 'foreign' land……. It is
1927J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
especially encouraging that our a very good memory. Not only did visitors during the year have been not she repeat for us the Commandments, only missionaries, but Indians, Chris- the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, but tian and non-Christians, who hold quoted some verses from the Bible and positions of educational leadership. applied them to real life. And so Another way in which Moga is 'a should each lambardarni prepare service station' influencing educa- herself. Why? Because there is no tional thought in India is through the other woman to teach the Christian Village Teachers' Journal which is women of the village the truths of being increasingly used by educators Christianity; there is no other woman to report and discuss experiments in to call the women of the village toelementary education." gether on Sabbath morning for wor- ship; there is no other woman to be a Bible Study Popula.r good Christian example to the village women." MR. S. K. CHATTERJI, Head- master of the Boys' High School Chinese C,hristians in BUrDla in Calcutta, writes: "A change has come over the student population. TWENTY-FIVE years ago a few There was a time in my student days Chinese Christians from Fukien when I happened to be the only Chris- Province went to Rangoon, Burma, tian student in the class. I used to seeking relief from both religious perfind the floor covered with torn pages secution and ecoll{lmic hardships. of the Scriptures, and the boys trod Soon they were joined by others; and them underfoot. In my school I teach some Christians also came from the topmost class of boys in Scripture. Canton to join the growing colony. Two years ago I was taking them in Twenty years ago the Chinese Meth- St. John's Gospel. It was nearing odist congregation, speaking the dia- Easter time. I said I would skip lect of Hokkien, gathered around a certain chapters and come to the Pas- simple table to carryon their worship sion of our Lord, because I wanted together. Today the Hokkien-speakthem to realize the full meaning of ing Methodist Episcopal Church is Easter. Wednesday came, and I had self-supporting j with its energetic not come to the end. Next day, Thurs- Chinese pastor it expects to have a day, I had a class in English composi- membership of 500 within a few years. tion, but when I entered the class the There is also a young Cantonese pasboys as a whole stood up and said, tor in charge of a growing congrega- 'Sir, we would rather that you took us tion of people who look back to Canton in Scripture.' English composition is as their home. The Methodist boys' a subject which Indian boys are very school has 130 Chinese pupils. keen on, and for them to say they preferred Scripture came as a very Young Siamese Missionaries great surprise to me. This is what Christian education has done and is REV. LOREN S. HANNA, of still doing." Lakawn, Siam, writes of a party of Siamese Christians who started out A Christia.n Headman's Wife recently for French Indo-China, to work among the Kamoo people there. MRS. V. E. COAPMAN, of the He says: "Young Elder Jewell and American Presbyterian Mission his wife and two small children in Lahore, India, writes: "The Chris… started out on the long journey, travtian lambardars of thirteen surround- eling by auto, boat. ox cart, and afoot. ing villages were called together at Where foot travel is necessary we arour camp"for a jalsa (meeting). We ranged to have the mother and chilasked them all to bring their wives as dren carried. 'rhe baby was only the Memsahiba wished to tell them all about a month old at the time they something. Karm Bibi of Dhamke has left. In the party are also Deacon
Sook, a newly ordained deacon of the formerly President of Princeton, who Kamoo community in Muang Sai; and took an active part fifty years ago in Hru (Teacher) Chai Ha, who went founding the Alliance, has agreed, up there twenty-five years ago from notwithstanding his advanced years, Lampang, but who was forbidden by to cross the Atlantic in order w the French Government to preach. preach the sermon at this service, and He has ministered faithfully to the other leading ministers from Europe few who remained loyal Christians and America are expected to take during the years of persecution." part. The Third General Continental Conference of the Alliance is to take GENERAL place at Budapest early in September.
World Religions and Peace The Hungarian Reformed Church is T HAT a preliminary conference on making elaborate preparations for plans and arrangements for a this event and has undertaken to re- Universal Religious Peace Conference, gard as its guests all visitors from the to be held in 1930, will be held during time of their arrival at Vienna till the the summer of 1928, has been an- end of the conference.
nounced by the Church Peace Union. The union was founded in 1914 by Y. M. C. A. Emphasis on 1927-9 Y Andrew Carnegie, with the view of OUNG Men's Christian Associa- tions throughout the world will bringing the c'ombined religious life of America to bear upon the problem of observe the years 1927, 1929 and 1929 obtaining permanent peace among na- as the nineteen-hundredth anniversary tions. The preliminary conference of the three years' public ministry of will be attended by fifty individuals Jesus. According to the general eon- representing eleven religions; the of- sensus of Christian chronologists, the ficers of the Church Peace Union, and anniversary falls within those years.
ten additional representative men and The call for this observance has been women chosen at large throughout the issued by Dr. John R. Mott, chairman world, making a total of seventy-five of the World's Committee of the Y.
delegates, representing twenty-nine M. C. A. to the forty national councils different countries and forty-five na- and alliances represented on that com- tionalities. Dr. Henry Atkinson, mittee. The plan was approved at the General Secretary of the Church world meeting of the Y. 1L C. A.
Peace Union, in making the announce- which was held in Finland last Au- ment of the conference, said; gust. The idea is largely credited to There will be no attempt to compare re- R. F. McWilliams, of Winnipeg, ligions or to judge or read.just according to Canada, chairman of the Canadian any schedule the religious faith of any in- National Council. The commemoradividual or people. The sole purpose of the tion, in its general aspects, will be conference will be to consider how the forces carried forward, Dr. Mott states, by of religion in all ""tions can be mobilized in a concerted action against war and that "furthering an intensive study of the spirit and those things that make for war. personality, work and message of our Presbyterians to Meet in Europe Lord Jesus Christ concerning the whole range of the life and relation- THE Alliance of Ref 0 r m e d ships of men." The bulletin of the Churches Throughout the World Home Division of the National Coun- Holding the Presbyterian System is cil points out that" to recall the days arranging for two important gather- of His ministry is to be driven back ings this year. The Jubilee of the past Christianity to Jesus Christ First General Council, which was held Himself, " and that "in the story of in Edinburgh in 1877, is to be cele- those brief years of service which brated by a special service in St. overturned the world there must lie Giles' Cathedral in that city Wednes- the secret of creative power. All sorts day, July 6. Dr. Francis L. Patton, of men are asking for the answer. " iRAP " Vuu' 'VV'U'
Any books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.- rHE REVIEW.
American Agricultural Villages. Edmund construction in villages of as many de~. Brunner, Gwendolyn S. Hughes and churches as a city would need. There Marjorie Patten. 330 pp. $3.50. New York. 1927. are ~ore churches in villages in pro- For some reason the village has kept portIOn to the population than in any out of sight of our popular philoso- other type of community, and even phers, especially church strategists, more than the surplus of churches is and we did not know we had such a the superabundance of ministers. In phenomenon_ Now Dr. Brunner and addition to the village thinking of it- his associates of the Institute of Social self as a city, the National Boards of and Religious Research have drawn Missions think of the village as "a back the curtain. And behold the strategic center"; and many an ad- village! So impressed are the writers ditional church has justified its ex- with the peculiarities of the village istence by its promise of ministering that they propose a third census divi- to farmers round about.
sion, besides "Rural" and "Urban" Unfortunately the relations of the namely" Villager." A village is n'ot village to the people on the farms are a city; it is a thing by itself; a new not cordial; that is, in the greater experience which people have not ad- number of cases they are indifferent mitted they were enjoying. So that or antagonistic. The farmer feels this Dr. Brunner and his fellow workers deeply, and he expresses his alienation are holding the mirror up to the man by refusing to go to the village church.
living in a place of not less than 250, Dr. Brunner brings out the increase not more than 2500 population, and in the number of villages that are are permitting him and his neighbors establishing cordial relations with the to see themselves as villagers. country about, and he is impressed This book goes beyond its predeces- with the great increase, in recent sors and tells what is the structure, years, of attendance at the village the anatomy, the inevitable table of chur~he.s by country people. In spite contents of a village. Of course, we of thIS lllcrease the proportion of the all knew before, but what we vulgarly people in the country who attend the know we do not deliberately say. Who village church is very small. The expects anything as he motors into a farmer in the Middle West is more small town, into a country village, but alien to the village than the farmer two stores, two railroad depots, two in the far West, perhaps because the banks, and a warehouse or more at village process has been going on least three lodges and three to frve longer there. Those of us who have churches? You could count them if labored for the evangelization of it were dark-and you can depend country people know all too well that upon this analysis, which could be !he village churches neglect the people made farther-if you had not facts III the country and that the resources to go on. Just as a man has two eyes of the Home Mission Boards have been and two ears, so a village has this concentrated where competition is structur~. The refusal to recognize greatest, namely, the villages. A that a VIllage is a village caused the change for the better in an increasing 397 attendance upon village churches by The Church and Missions. Robert E. Speer. 12, mo. 222 pp. $1.75. New York. 1926. farmers is caused by the drift of farmers into the village on their own There was never more need than toinitiative. The probability is that the day for a clear and convincing note as to the essential character and the more prosperous come to town to real program of Christianity. Dr. church and the poor people either stay Speer shows that there is no need for at home or attend the weakened and a new Gospel and that there is no other Gospel than that set forth in irregular services in the country. The the New Testament. There is, how- Institute has been studying the rural ever, need for clearer conception of it population for eight years past and and for living more in harmony with the expressions of disquiet at the the teachings of Christ. Dr. Speer growth of ecstatic and irresponsible calls attention to the expression of Christianity through the missionary sects, usually on the margin of a work of evangelical churches and shows how the Church grew in harvillage or town, are very emphatic in mony with the world-wide program of Christ. The present-day aim of tlie this volume. Church is expressed in missionary en- terprises at home and abroad. The But the great question in this book new demands are created by new conis-what is the village to one who ditions–intellectual, social, industrial studies the American scene? The and religious. " The Rich Fruitage of Foreign Missions" is described in the pages which answer this question are concluding chapter.
a delight because they give sure in- The book is a stimulating and valuformation. A village is a compact of able contribution to C h r i s t ian thought; it is rich in facts and illus- "services." . This name is given by trative material gathered from wide Professor J. H. Kolb of the University reading and vital contacts with East of Wisconsin. The farmer would say and West. these service agencies are "ex- China, Yesterday and Today. E. T. Wilploiters" and in the northwest" para- liams. Revised Edition. Large Map. Ilsites. " They are the banks, the stores, lustrations. 8 vo. 664 pp. $4.50. New York. 1927. the lodges, the processing factories, China is much in the public eye and the warehouses. tl.e newspapers. in the daily press dispatches. Many Above all, the village is made by the fundamental questions are asked that are here answered intelligently and railroad. Lodges are a factor in a correctly. The book was published in 1923, but has been revised and village and one wonders anew at the brought up-to-date by rewriting the American habit of joining. However, sections on present conditions in the chapters on "Spheres of Interest" no one cares for the young people, and "The Struggle for Democracy." It is an interesting and informing especially are boys neglected, so far story and an excellent book for study as social provision is concerned. or reference.
One is moved, in reading this fine China Today Through Chinese Eyes. Eleevolume to congratulate Dr. Brunner ond Series. By Seven Chinese Leaders. on the great feat he has accomplished 12 mo. 115, pp. $1.25. New York. 1926.
as a survey worker. All of his studies The names of David Z. T. Yui, M. are precious in putting the subjects T. Tschou, P. C. Hsu, T. C. Chao, T.
of vague discussion into the field of assured knowledge. What we used to guess about and differ upon, without an umpire to decide for us, we now can agree in, and. because of this satisfactory collection of facts, we can go on to the more important issues.
Here is sensational material. The Protestant churches administer one of the greatest businesses in America; it will not be long until they realize that knowledge has come and they must use it. w. H. W. T. Lew, F. C. M. Wei and T. Z. Koo thor is a professor in Duke Univerare sufficient to make one wish to read sity, North Carolina, and the son of this book. We are not disappointed, Bishop James Cannon, Jr. for it presents a view of China from Putting on Immortality. Clarence Edward the standpoint of native-born Chinese, Macartney. 12 mo. 189 pp. $1.50. Re· educated in America and Europe, veIl. New York. 1926. loyal Christians and earnest patriots. They write on the present situation in The seyeral chapters of this book politics, industry, education, religious were probably originally composed thought, and the needs of the Christian movement in China. We cannot as sermons. The style is sermonicagree with every position they take, but it is exceedingly helpful to have inevitably so, for the author has the their view of conditions, the outlook and the remedy, homiletic habit of thought. The titles of the various chapters indicate the trend of the author's thought: "What All Men Feel," "Pagan Ideas, " "Old Testament Ideas,"
Christianity in the Modern World. Ernest "Can We Talk with the Dead?" DeWitt Burton. 12 mo. 195 pp. $2.00. Chicago. 1927. "The Resurrection of the Body,"
"The Last Judgment," "'Future Ret- These papers and addresses, pub- ribution, " etc. There is much of lished after the death of Dr. Burton, comfort on almost every page. Lit- form a collection of fugitive utter- erary allusions are frequent and his- ances on religious themes. They are toric references are numerous: Of course th~re is no sustained argudivided into two series, the first deal- ing with" The Religion of Jesus and ment. Immortality is one of the un- of Paul," and the second with" Chris- proyables-but none the less tenable tianity in the Life of Today." on that account. "The heart has rea- They represent the more "liberal" sons which Reason never knew." The school of modern theological thought philosophical student has access to and show the personal religious con- more rewarding books on immortal- victions of one who has been known ity, but this volume may well be put best as a technical New Testament into the hands of those who have been scholar and as an educational execu- bereaved, who believe in Christ, yet tive. The last three of the sixteen ad- who lack assurance. It is a docu- dresses touch upon some phases of the ment which on the whole tends to con- missionary enterprise, more particu- firm our intuitions of imm(>rtality larly from the viewpoint of an edu- and rekindle our courage in the face cator. Two addresses refer briefly to of death. c. c. A.
the present currents of life, and to the problems of religious education in From Japan to Jernsalem: Personal Im- pressions of Journeying in the Orient. China. c. R. E. Christine I. Tinling. 144 pp. $1.25. Xew York. ]926. A History of Southern Methodist Missions. James Cannon, III. 12 mo. 35( pp. Traveling as a representative of the $1.50. Nashville, Tenn. 1926. 'World's Woman's Christian Temper- ance Union, Miss Tinling was chiefly The Methodist Church, South, has interested in a study of the use of had a remarkable history for worthy alcohol and narcotics in the countries achievement. Their missions began which she visited. In Japan and nearly one hundred years ago and now Korea, in the Philippines, Manchuria, extend to China, Japan, Korea, Man- India, Burma, Egypt, and Palestine, churia, South America, Mexico, West she addressed large audiences, chiefly Indies and Africa. This volume is of students, and everywhere she had full of facts and was prepared for a the cooperation of missionaries and textbook. It consists largely of was well received by the people. In names and dates and is too dry to describing her visit to Manchuria, she attract the general reader. The au-
says that a temperance worker "is alone; but with a conviction as to often welcomed where the direct what he regards as a Christianity of preaching of the Gospel would not be more worth than that commonly tolerated. " Japanese officials in practiced today. The last chapter Korea are supporting the work of the voices the need for a new reformation W. C. T. U. by introducing scientific to complete that of Luther's day. In temperance education in the schools setting forth present conditions Dr.
and colleges. As a book of travel in Eddy makes a strong plea for con- the Orient, this book claims no special fronting the situation with positive distinction, but is a good presentation Christian action in keeping with the of the work of the W. C. T. U. and of results of modern education.
the progress made by the nationals J. F. R. of various countries in organizing against the evils of drink and opium. Japan Reute. Berlin. 1926. Ostasien Mis- sion. By Missions direktor D. Dr. Witte. F. A. G.
New Challenges to Faith: What Shall I The prolific director of the Ostasien Believe in the Light of Psychology and Mission, presents in compact form in the New Scienc~1 Sherwood Eddy. 256 30 pages, full information about Ja- pp. $].50. New York. 1926. pan, its geography, its people, the To write a book with such a title is changes that have come in the life of to lay heavy demands upon one's self. Japan, the life in the old religions, Whatever we may think of the au- proofs of the success of Christian thor '8 point of view, or his conclu- missions, the work of his own society sions, he is never dull, and is often and a final short appeal. . For succhallenging to the reader's thought. cinct information for use in study Much study evidently lies behind this classes this little book is unrivalled.
book. The volume is the result of a Justo Rufino Barrios. A Biography by Paul sabbatical year spent in Columbia, Burgess. 286 pp. $3. Philadelphia. 1926. Teachers College and Union Theological Seminary during 192fi-26, to study Because of its author, its authenfresh currents of thought, and the ticity and its subject, this book delatest conclusions of science and phil- serves a permanent place in the bioosophy. graphical literature of Latin America.
We may question Dr. Eddy's judg- The author is a Christian scholar, ments and conclusions in many re- a missionary of the Presbyterian spects but he grips the reader. His Church, who is devoting his life to chapters are: The New Science; The pioneer service among the Indians of New Psychology; A New Discovery Guatemala. In the preparation of of God; The New View of the Bible; this biography, Dr. Burgess has gone What Is Christianity? The New Ref- directly to the original sources in ormation. In these he covers the Spanish, both oral and written, and views of Evolution and Relativity; his book is authentic and reliable.
Behaviorism, Psychoanalysis, the Ges- Justo Rufino Barrios was President talt School; the new view of God in of Guatemala from 1873 to 1885. He Nature. In his chapter on the Bible fought tyranny in every form, ecohe presents the principle of gradual, nomic, political and ecclesiastical; today he stands "in the place of popprogressive revelation, stating that ular esteem in Guatemala which "a frank facing of all the facts does Lincoln occupies in the United States." The description of Presiconstitute a challenge to faith. " dent Barrios' battles with the Roman "What is Christianity" is answered Catholic Church, the expUlsion of the by saying "It is following Jesus' way Jesuits and the limiting of the temof life, in love of God and Man." poral and political power of the "This is not static, but progressive, Roman Church, the framing of a nathe germ out of which life develops. "
The author speaks for himself
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1926
BOOKS
MBs. HENRY W. PEABOl>Y, chairman of ~orbon ((ollege the Women's National Conference on Law of UCbeo(ogp anb Enforcement, represented that organization in Washington in April in the congressional Jlll)l)lonl) hearings on the prohibition question.
•** REV. JOHN W. WOOl>, D.O.L., Secretary of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was recently elected president of the Foreign Missions Conf*ere~ce •of North America.
REV. KENNETH D. MILLER. is now secre· A GRADUATE School and College of tary of the Federal Council's Commission on Theology of higb scholastic stand- Relations with Religious Bodies in Europe, ards, intense evangelical loyalty, and and will also act as American representa- unusual curriculum. Eminent professors, tive of the Central Bureau for Relief of the devoted students, and influential alumni Evangelical Churches of Europe. make it a center of power. Its Massa- chusetts degrees, Boston culture, and *** cosmopolitan spirit draw students from all parts of the country. Special oppor- DR. RUFUS M. JONES, of Haverford Col- tunities given to graduate students. An lege, has been invited by Christian organiza- open door to notable service in the pultions in China to give a series of lectures in pit, the mission field, and other Christian commemoration of the fortieth anniversary leadership.
of the establishment of Y. M. C. A. work in NATHAN R. WOOD, tha.t country. President, Gordon College, REV. HENRY SLOANE CoFFIN, D.D., for BO'ston, Massachusetts the past twenty years minister of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New HARTFORD York City, has accepted the presidency of Union Theological Seminary, in which he SEMINARY FOUNDATION has taught for the• pa•st •twenty·two years. Theological Seminary BISHOP GENNADIOS, metropolitan of Sa· School of ReligiouB Education loniki, recently headed a commission from Kennedy School of Missions Greeee to the United States to present the thanks of the Greek Government and W. DOUGLAS MACKENZIE, President Church for aid, and to interest Greeks in America in the support of the Y. M. C. A. A UNIVERSITY of religion. Three sep1'lrate j;cho()ls of Christian tn.ining -grouped on one *•* tampus. The Theological Seminary trains for the ministry; the S('hool of Missions for the SENORA NATALIA CALLES, wife of the foretgn fip.ld j the School of Religious Education President of Mexico, has aceepted the hon- for the lay worker and tea·:!h~r and for social orary presideney of the Women '8 Christian" service. Courses in any of the three schools Temperance Union in that country. a.re open to all students. Thus opportunity is oft"ered fOT full~rounded religiow:l education. *** Hartford Seminary Found.l,tion is located in REV. ARTHUR. B. Moss has retired from the center of the intellectual and cultural life the associate secretaryship of the Methodist of New England, half way between Boston and Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions to be- New York. come pastor in JaU?aica, N. Y. A series of handsome and well~appointed *** buildings makes its campus one of the moat beautiful in its section of the country. The MRS. ANNA M. 1IA.&KN1i:SS bequeathed in Catle Memorinl Library containing 125,000 her will $2,500,01)0 each to the Presbyterian volumes is for the use of the three schools. Boards of Foreign and of National Mis- This is one of the richest theological libraries ~ions, $1,000,000 to til" Church Extension in the country. The faculty is composed of 27 Committee of New York Presbytery, and scholarly men and women with vitalized person- $250,000 to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian alities who have :.1ttained aistlnctlon in their Church, New York City. respective fields.
*** Hartford Seminary Foundation DR. MARY &rONE, well-known Chinese Hartford, Conn. physician and Cln-istian worker, and her friend, Miss Jennie Hughes, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, are now in the United States.
** DR. AND MRS. F. HOWA&D TAYLOR, of the China Inland Mission, are now visiting Australia.
*** REV. E. STANLEY JONES, D.D., author of " The Cln-ist of the Indian Road" has established a new monthly paper of which he is the editor, called The Fellowship of the Frienas of J es'U8.
Please mention THB MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L PIERSON. &lltor CONTENTS FOR JUNE, 1926 Page FRONTISPIECE . . . "G()LD IN THE ORE"-UNCIVIr.IZED ZULUS READY FOR REFINING EDITORIALS •…………….•…….•……………..•……••……..•. 405 ORGANIZED ATHEISM IN AMERICA lJHRISTIAN COOPERATION IN MOSLEM FINDINGS 0:1' THE MOTT ,CONFERENCE IN LA2IDS CHINA RY,LIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BRAZIL PROGRESS IN LATIN AMERICA AMERIC.-AN iNTERNATlONAL Ex· CHANGE A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN AFRICA …….. SAMUET.. M. ZWEMER 413 Interesting observatwnB made on a reoent trip to the Egyptian Sudan.
OBSTAOLES TO CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAMES L. STEWART 422 The vice-p;'csident of West China Union Unit'er9ity and author of "The Laugh- ing Buddha" desC'l'ibes the present·day difficulties that face Christian missions in Ohina and that hinder progress.
FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN, OF SOUTH AFRICA .•.. CHARLES NEWTON RANSOM 429 Facts about the life, ohtJ,racter and work of one of the great missionaries of the AmeriCan Board among the Zulus–one who gave his life for the advancement of the Africans.
THE NEGRO CmJRCH IN THE CITY ……………….. GEORGE E. STEVIi'NS 435 A masterly paper by a Christian Negro of St. Louis dealing with problems that face the urban Negro and showing the contributw1. that Negro Ohristian churches 1rUIke to the welfare of the city.
SOME HANDICAPS OF THE NEGRO ………………. 000Rr.ES S. JOHNSON 440 A NEGRO VIEW OF THE COLOR PROBLEM ..•.• , ……….. JY.sSIE FAUSEI' 442 DR. JOHN C. YOUNG OF ADEN, ARABIA …..'! …… CAMPBELL M. MACLEROY 444 A bwgraphioal sketoh of a il'Uccessor of Honorable Ion Keith·Falooner who has held the lonely outpost for many years i1~ the southrwestern corner of Arabia.
THE PLIGHT OF THE ASSYRIAN CHRISTIANS ………. E. W. McDowEIL 447 An appeal for the sufferers who have been driven from their homes and have been aeprived of theiff mea1.S of livelihood by the persecutw1.s of the Moslems and the unrest connected with the World War and its aftermath.
BEST METHODS ………………………….. EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK 449 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN ……………….. . .. .. .. . . .. .. .. . 456 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN ………………………….. 459 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ……………………………………….. 461 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARy………………………………………. 477 TMRM.S: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in dubs of iive.) Foreign postage, 5{) cents. Bingle copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1926, by MISSIONARY REvIE.W PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
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"GOLD IN TIlE ORE" – UNCIVILIZED ZULUS, READY FOR
(See pago 429)
JUNE, 1926
XLIX SIX ORGANIZED ATHEISM IN AMERICA NEWSPAPERS have been giving much pUblicity recently to those who seek notoriety by attempting to found clubs of atheists, agnostics and so-called "free-thinkers" in American colleges and universities. One such society of twenty-five members has been formed in Yale and another in Rochester University where they have blatantly assumed the title of "Damned Souls." The President of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism announces that they are raising $100,000 to promote atheism in the colleges, and will make an effort to discontinue the office of chaplains in Congress, to remove chaplains from the army and navy and will fight against the week-day religious instruction plans for school children.
Such agitation and propaganda are not new. Atheism was popular following the French Revolution and spread in American colleges that had been founded to train Christian ministers. Atheism feeds on materialism and all forms of selfishness and sin. "The fool hath said in his heart' There is no God,' " but that does not disprove God nor prevent Him from carrying on His work of love in the world. Many writers in the secular press today merely laugh at the young atheists and prophesy their early decease. Christians have no fears for their faith or for the Church. There have been many kinds of unbelievers since the world began. The only cause for disturbance is that some foolish and ignorant ones may be misled, may deny God, may fail to receive His gift of Life through Christ and so may bring ruin on themselves and those who follow them. Such propaganda has little effect on intelligent, earnest men and women.
One chief cause for the spread of irreligion is ignorance. Parents and teachers, who do not know God, cannot be expected to train the coming generation to believe in Him. Senator George Wharton Pep,per, in a recent address made some allusions to well-known Biblical incidents which it was found that less than half of his student 405
audience understood. Professor Watts, of Temple University, con- cludes: .
"It is extraordinary, with Bible societies reporting millions, if not billions, of Bibles sold, that the knowledge of its contents seems to be reaching a vanishing point. Entirely aside from its religious value, there is every reason why the Bible, with Shakespeare, the Greek and Roman classics, and a few other books, should have a vital meaning for the students who intend to go in for public life or literature."
Much less do the youth of America know the Bible as a revela- tion of God and of the Christian way of life.
Another cause of atheism is the desire to be free from the restraints of godliness. The antagonism of Bolshevism and of many communists to Christianity is due to the fact that Christ upholds the principles of government, of law and order, of monogamous marri- age, of unselfish consideration for the weak and teaches the observ- ance of all obligations to God and man. Christianity is opposed to so-called tI free-love," disapproves of the tyranny of capital or of labor, and is against the selfish disregard of the property, the lives or the liberty of others.
A third cause of the spread of atheism is the" false conception of religion such as is promoted by some advocates of eclectic religion.
Such men and women look upon religion as a product of human phil- osophy, the outgrowth of fear, mystery, superstition and a sense of inferiority. Congresses of religions are based on the idea that no religion is revealed or is absolute and trustworthy but that all are the result of human strivings after God and all contribute to the knowledge of a Higher Power and of life. No real benefit has ever come from these congresses of religion (such as is proposed for the Philadelphia Sesqui-centennial). On the contrary, they have only added uncertainty and confusion to the minds of those who are without solid basis in their belief as to God. The calm assurance that comes through intelligent faith in Jesus Christ as the revelation "of God and His way of life gives a very different conception of religion and is the only satisfying basis for religious tho"u.ght and practice.
It is difficult to unde.rstand the motive that atheists have in their efforts to spread such disbelief in God. It may arise from a desire for publicity, may show an inclination to "radicalism," may be due to a wish to secure a following, or may be based on a misconception of the meaning of liberty. How different is the motive that actuates the Christian in his missionary work. His desire is to spread the Good News of God's love, of the free gift of life through Christ, as he has experienced it. He knows the comfort, the power and the joyful satisfaction that come from faith in the loving Heavenly Father and all-wise Ruler of the universe. He knows the effect when lives and thoughts are brought into sympathetic harmony with Him.
926] EDITORIAL
The atheistic propaganda, so far as it succeeds, can only spread selfish individualism, chaos and despair. The Christian propaganda that produces an intelligent following of the teachings and spirit of Jesus Christ will bring harmony, human brotherliness, unselfish service and calm confidence to face the realities of life or of death.
" The Word was God . . . the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory . . . full of grace and truth . . . He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."
FINDINGS OF THE MOTT CONFERENCE IN CHINA T HE conference called to meet with Dr. John R. Mott, in Shanghai, January 5th to 7th, was called to study the situa- tion ill the Christian churches in China. It was arranged by the executive committee of the National Christian Council and was presided over by Dr. D. Z. T. Yui. The executive committee received the findings with appreciation and recommended that they be referred to Christians in China and abroad" as valuable source material for the study of the Christian movement in China today. "
Some of the questions which were discussed and 'the findings are as follows: The first series of questions relates to the spiritual condition of the Church in China and the causes of the anti-religious movements. The findings report that temporal prosperity and undue emphasis on material things have imperilled spiritual life. The increased influence of church members may have been secured at times at the expense of spiritual power. Unbelievers have received a wrong conception of the nature of the Church. Complexity of machinery has, in many cases, decreased spiritual power. The remedy for this is greater dependence on the Living Christ, with unhurried Bible study, prayer and meditation, fellowship in spiritual things, emphasis on the spiritual motive and power in preaching, teaching and all activities, and more mutual love, confidence, and cooperation among Christians.
The second series of questions relates to making Christianity most effective in China, with autonomy and thorough adaptation to the Chinese nation. There is need for a truly Chinese expression of Christianity, dropping its Western trappings and foreign control. The purpose is not to make Christianity and the Church Chinese, but to permit the spirit and teachings of Christ to find free and natural expression through Chinese hearts, minds and activities~ The third series of questions relates to Christian literature-its nature, aim, production and influence. The findings recognize the great and growing demand and need for snch literature. A constructive literary program is of major importance at present-a program by which all available resources will be utilized effectively. A survey of available literature should be made and capable Chinese
Christians should be employed to produce satisfactory Christian books and pamphlets.
A fourth series of questions has to do with the future policy of Christian missions-the functions of foreign missionaries, their technical training, missionaries to Moslems and other special classes, their relation to the Chinese Church, and the control and ownership of mission property. The findings recognize the aim of missionary work to be the establishment of a self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating Christian Church with spiritual education, power and freedom. The highest quality of trained, humble, spirituallyminded and loving missionaries is needed in administrative capacities. China still needs many foreign workers but staffs should be adjusted and budgets should be revised to make a larger proportion of the funds available for Chinese work. Religious education and other special forms of work need more adequate support. The Chinese must learn to administer mission property and work. For this purpose, a new survey of this property is recommended and every new' project should be considered with a view to its future maintenance by the Chinese Church. Visits from mission board administrators and an exchange of spiritual leaders between China and other nations is also urged.
Chinese treaties with foreign nations is the subject of the next questionnaire and the resultant findings. Extraterritoriality and toleration clauses are unanimously declared to be now prejudicial to the progress of the Christian movement in China.
Christian education is the subject of the sixth series of questions and the findings express the conviction that such education must continue an organic part of the activity of the Chinese Church, with local boards of management, thoroughly Christian in character, maintaining their institutions as private schools, with full religious freedom, elective courses in the Christian religion, and winning Christian personalities as teachers. An international conference in Jerusalem is proposed for the further study of mission problems.
These topics all deal with questions very vital to the future of the Christian Church in China and may well be the subjects for earnest prayer for guidance by Christians in every land.
CHRISTIAN COOPERATION IN MOSLEM LANDS n .AS ONE result of the conferences held in 1924 in North Africa and Western Asia by Dr. John R. Matt, Dr. Samuel Y. Zwemer and others, the evangelical Christian workers among Moslems in those lands have taken the preliminary step to organize an Inter-Mission Council for Northern Africa and Western Asia. The secretary is Mr. W. B. Smith (Central Y. M. C. A., 6 Sharia Nubar Pasha, Cairo, Egypt). The present plan calls for an executive committee and a council of missionaries. The aim will be to promote
EDITORLAL CO~NTS
a spirit of fellowship, to meet annually in conference, and to unite in the production and distribution of literature.
One of the results of such an organized council of missionaries should be to prevent, as far as possible, the duplication and overlapping of mission work and should advance the more adequate occu· pation of the field. Already something has been accomplished in these respects by the United Missionary Conferences of Syria and Palestine, held annually since 1919. These conferences have recently taken up such topics as the best methods of dealing with converts from Islam; the growing menace of alcoholic drink; the development of the native churches; and the most effective way of presenting the Gospel of Christ to Moslems.
Since the close of the war a great change has taken place, in Syria and Palestine at least, in the matter of religious liberty. While there is not yet entire freedom to preach the Gospel or to accept Ohrist on the part of Moslems, yet, for the first time, open public baptisms of Moslems have taken place in such cities as Beirut, Damascus and J erusalem. These converts have been able to continue in their ordinary businesses without molestation-something unheard of under Moslem rulers. One large mission has adopted the policy of opening missions in hitherto unreached Moslem areas. Evangelical Christian workers are more definitely organizing their schools, hospitals and other forms of work around the one purpose of effectively witnessing to Christ among the Moslems. The need for good Christian literature adapted to Moslems is increasingly felt and the mission presses and societies are working more energetically to supply this need.
PROGRESS IN LATIN AMERICA RELIGIOUS liberty made a notable gain in South America last year by the separation of Church and State in Chile when the new constitution was adopted in August. With Uruguay having taken the same action recently, and with Argentina having broken relations with the Vatican, the union of Church and State in South America remains only in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela. In Brazil, an effort to change the constitution so as to form an indirect link between the Roman Catholic Church and the Government was defeated. In Mexico, government officials, in referring to the laws against foreign ministers and the nationali'zation of ohurch property, have insisted that this is only to curb political activities of the Roman clergy and is not in opposition to religion or to the legitimate activities of foreign missionary societies.
One of the important findings of the Montevideo Congress calls for the uniting of the churches and boards, in certain strategic centers, to support workers among student classes. A significant event last year was the appointment, by the Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation, of Dr. John A. Mackay, of Lima, to work with the student classes in the different countries of South America. The Association has already been sending Sr. Julio Navarro Monz6 to lecture to the student and other intellectual groups, and with marked success. The carrying out of the one hundred and six findings of the Montevideo Congress, as far as possible, with the raising of more than two million dollars for South America and the proper organization of the various conferences for the Caribbean region in order to deal fearlessly with the important questions facing the Christian forces of those countries, challenge us to renewed faith and consecration.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BRAZIL NOT union, but division follows the preaching of Christ. Some believe and follow, while others reject and oppose.· It is one of the results of human free will and of religious liberty. 'rhe Bible and Christ form the greatest dividing line in the worldf(lr or again.~t! It is for man to choose. But, even where there is 1lominal oneness of allegiance, there is great division as to definition, method and the implications of discipleship. In Brazil, for example, where the Roman Catholic Church was long in nndisputed ('ontrol, and where the priests still exert great power, two amend- ments to the Constitution have recently been proposed-one seeks to declare Roman Catholicism as the religion of the country and the other provides for religious instruction in public schools.
The Rev. Hugh C. Tucker, D.D., Secretary of the Brazil Agency of the American Bible Society, writes: "As soon as the congressional committee began work on the amendments, public interest was aroused and discussion opened up through the press. Advocates of the two measures were active and voluminous by letter and wire in their pleas in favor; opponents 'Vere not less so in their protests and arguments against. f!'he representations and telegrams from Protestant groups and individuals made a profound impression on the members of Congress and those actively at work to secure the passage of the two amendments. One result was a revelation of the strength of Protestantism in Brazil.
Liberal elements-positivists, spiritualists, theosophists and others -swelled the ranks of protest, and the first of the two amendments was lost. .
"While Protestants recognized that religious instruction should not be divorced from public education, they felt persuaded that the two amenaments constituted a move to include the Roman Catholic teaching of religion in public schools. While foreign missionaries refrained from taking part in the discussion, the Protestant nationals took the risk of being charged with unchristian beliefs and principles. The situation in Brazil presents a striking contrast to
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
what is taking place in the United States, where an increasing num- ber of Protestant Christians are pleading for the privilege of read- ing and teaching the Bible in the public schools, and the Roman Catholics tenaciously oppose the movement.
"The wide publicity given to the subject in Brazil awakened interest in religion and led to a large number of inquiries for Bibles.
Pastors and other Christian workers called for supplies to have on hand at their churches to meet the demands, and a Y. M. C. A.
secretary asked for a supply of Scriptures to meet the requests that were coming in as a result of the religious discussion.
"The extension of evangelic-aI Christian activity in Brazil, through preaching by foreign missionaries and national!;!, the wide circulation of the Bible in the language of the people, schools, litera- ture, and certain forms of social service, is becoming more and more a recognized factor in the very noticeable intellectual, social, and spiritual awakening of today. Federal, state, and municipal gov- ernments, and private initiative of religious organizations, social groups and others are actively at work to combat illiteracy, multiply centers and means of instruction, and popularize education.
"The evidences of aWllkened interest in religion are apparent.
Pastors and evangelists report good attendance at the regular and special services; the Sunday-schools are prosperous; many invita- tions come to preach the Gospel in communities where there is no established Protestant work. Colporteurs and Christian workers are selling more copies of the Scriptures than ever before. When the presidential candidate for the next term read his campaign plat- form, he announced that he approves of the complete separation of Church and State, for two reasons: first, the church has prospered under this new regime as never before; and, second, he believes that equality, liberty of thought, and freedom of action for other forces c.:mtribute to the development and progress of the country." .
THE CHINESE HONOR DR. CHRISTIE J AST October there was unveiled, in Mukden, a bronze bust of L Dr. Dugald Christie C.M.G., who retired in 1922 from active service as a missionary of the United Free Church of Scotland. All kinds of people in Manchuria-officials, merchants, laborers and country men-contributed to the fund of $6,000. The unst stands on a granite shaft in front of the Medical College, of which Dr. Christie was the fOlmder, and looking towards the hospital which he established more than forty years ago.
The following translation of the inscription on the pedestal of the bust appeared in the Record of the United Free Church of Scotland: Dugald Christie, a native of Scotland, came across the sea to Manchuria in the eigthth year of Kwang Su of the Manchu Dynasty, and established
the Mukden Hospital. In the first year of the Republic he organized the Medical College, by which the treatment of disease was for the first time placed on a scientific hasis. He won universal approbation for his unwearied labors as a pioneer in charitable work.
In the eleventh year of the RepUblic he resigned and returned to his native land. He had been in Mukden for about forty years, during which he showed a spirit of self-sacrifice and sincerity. Although he repeatedly met with obstacles and difficulties, yet he never failed in his purpose to go forward. Year by year the sick were raised to life, their number amounting to tens of thousands. All classes, high and low, recognizing his services to society, willingly contributed in aid of the work, which has now g1reatly expanded.
His virtue and merit are imperishable. Accordingly a sum of money has been raised for the erection of this bust in bronze, to preserve his memory, and this brief account of his life has been carved in stone, as a stimulus to all who shall read it.
In the tenth moon of the fourteenth year of the Republic, erected by the public of the Manchurian Provinces.
AMERICA – AN INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE I NTO America, very many of the blessings of democracy and Christianity have come. In this new world, many dreams of freedom have been realized. It may yet be the arena of the greatest spiritual conflict between Christianity and paganism which the world has ever seen. America is the smelting caldron into which the silver and gold of many nationalities is being melted, to run into the molds of God's purposes. The most important international exchange is the exchange of foreigners fresh from the old world for earlier men and women who came to America to have their characters and their lives smelted, purified and saved. In America, the great plans of God for the people of the earth seem to be ripening.
The Japan Current striking the western shores of North America suggests the spiritual influence which Asia, when Christianrzed, may exert upon the new world. The Gulf Stream is an illustration of a hundred currents that flow from America to temper the climate in northwestern Europe. If the Gulf Stream should cease to flow eastward, what would happen? If spiritual influences from America should no longer pour toward Europe, Asia, and Africa, especially in these days of conflicts and national testings, there would be a great loss to the Christian ideals of the world, and many spiritual harvests would never ripen. To make Christian the peoples of America would be to make the country the lighthouse for many peoples of the world who are still in darkness.
IS THE OUTLOOK? – A GROlJP OF SUDANESE
A New Nation in the Making-in Africa Impressions of the .Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Revisited BY REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., F.R.G.B., CAIRO, EGYPT '/<;ditor of The Moslem World; Author of "The Law of Apostasy ill Islam," etc.
I N THE vast Sudan today.the:e is being. enacte~ before all eyes the spectacle of a new natlOn m the makmg. Hitherto the many tribes and peoples of the territory south of Wady HaIfa, and north of the Uganda frontier have neither politically or ethnologically had much in common. But for the past two decades all this new territory has been increasingly welded into the British commonwealth of nations. The picked body of men devoting time and energy to the material and moral development of the Sudan c;leserve all honor. Their task is not easy, for the Sudan is a place where three religions, Islam, Ohristianity and Paganism meet; and three races, the Egypto- Arabian, the Sudanese and the British must be taught to live in harmony.
At a meeting of Arab notables in Omdurman, at a tea-party in the American Mission garden, recently, I quoted Al Mutannabi's wellknown lines: I am known to the night and the wind and the steed, To the sword and the guest, to the paper and reed.
413
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NVans NVI.LdA.9…3….-O'I9NV These lines summarize the recent history of the Sudan. The night of Pagan ignorance, the coming of the swift cavalry of the Arabian conquerors, the fire and sword of the Mahdi and his Khalifa, and finally, the British "guests" with their new administration, with Gordon College, the missionaries and their schools.
For .Allah [as Kipling says] created the English mad~the maddest of all mankind.
They do not consider' the meaning of Things, they consult not creed nor claD. Behold they clap the slave on"the back and behold he ariseth a man! They terribly carpet the earth with dead, aDd before their cannon cool They walk unarmed by two's and three's to call the living to school.
A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN AFRICA
In the Sudan we see British rule at its best. The relationship between white and black is in many respects ideal. Something of the manly, independent quality of the Sudanese draws out the best an Englishman has to give. Not only the general administration, but the excellent railways, Gordon College, the Welcome Research Laboratories, the building of the Makwar Dam and many other things indicate a sense of international stewardship.
The recent development or Port Sudan and the Cape to Cairp railway scheme with its connections show that the Sudan now lies at the crossroads of all East Airica.
Today even West Africa is becoming closely linked up. Many thousands of Nigerians and Gold Coast Moslem natives trek across the great desert areas of the Sahara to the Eastern French and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. At the great dam being constructed at Makwar, south of Khartum in the Gezireh cotton fields of the Sudan Plantations Company-in which South African capital has taken a predominant part-Nigerian workers are seen in hundreds. Why do ~he Moslem tribesmen of Nigeria and the West come to the Upper Nile Valley! Because they are on their pilgrimage to Mecca-from Khartum they go via Port Sudan, to Jeddah, the port of Mecca in twenty-four hours.
I. AREA AND POPULATION The following table and the accompanying map give the latest available information of this great South Land with over a million square miles area and over six million people. The Sudan is divided into fifteen provinces as follows: Province Chief Town Area Population Bahr-el Ghazal Wau 119,800 sq. mi. 2,500,OO{) Berber EI Darner Blue Nile Wad Medani 40,800 "" 111,412 Darfur Al Fnsher 13,900 259,154 Dongola Merowe 142,500 " II 400,000 Fang Binga 120,100 151,849 Haifa 31,800 " " Il H 114,000 Kassala Haifa 113,600 40,708 Khartum Kassala 59,500 "" 140,000 Kordofan Khartum 5,200 186,400 Mongalla EI Obeid 117,400 " 4( 486,622 Nuba Mountains Mongalla 60,700 300,000 Red Sea Talodi 34,600 ,4 " 317,81'1 Upper Nile Port Sudan 34,900 113,415 White Nile Malakal 60,000 (( Il 700,000 EI Dueim 16,500 290,000 ""
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The center of urban popUlation for the whole Sudan is still Khartum, the capital, with a population of 30,797, North Khartum, linked by a steel bridge with 14,319, and Omdurman, a great straggling African city of 78,624 people. At present ferry service binds the latter to Khartum but a bridge is being built across the White Nile and there is no doubt that in the near future the twin cities will count two hundred thousand inhabitants. What Gordon in a moment of pessimism described as a "useless possession" has become one of
the great future assets of the British Empire in Mrica. In 1925 the imports of the Sudan were over five million pounds sterling and the exports over four million pounds; the laUer have doubled in five years. Peace and prosperity have gone hand in hand. The popula- tion is rapidly increasing. One may travel almost anywhere in the vast area with safety and facility where only a few years ago certain tribes were a terror to each other and such a menace to private prop- erty that trade was well nigh impossible. The Sudan Government railways and steamers are the admiration of all travellers. One may travel from Wady HaIfa in the north to Obeid the capital of Kordo- fan in the south and to Port Sudan and Suakin eastward in railway carriages more comfortable than Pullman cars.
The population of the Sudan consists of three classes: the pure Arab, the Negroid and the Black race. The Arabs entered as conquerors and destroyed the old Christian Kingdoms of Nubia and Dongola, as well as those centered at Sobat on the Blue Nile. Only a short distance from Khartum ruins of Christian churches can be seen-granite pillars with crosses-mute witnesses to Christian life centuries before Islam. The Negroids-of mixed blood with their dark brown skins, black crisp hair, long heads, flat noses and thick lips are considered the best workers of the Sudan. The Blacks represent many tribes and races, and until recently they were the slaves both of the Arabs and the Negroids. Today they are overcoming their natural indolence and are engaged in collecting gum, rubber, senna, ivory, in cultivating the land and navigating the rivers. It is estimated that there are over two hundred tribes in the Sudan, some of which, as the Nubas, use a score of dialects. Arabic is becoming dominant in the north. In the south the multiplicity of language presents extraordinary difficulty for the Government and for missions.
Barbarous customs of bodily mutilation, teeth-filing, lip~perfora. tion, face-markings, and puberty ordeals still prevail even among some Moslem tribes. Illiteracy is well nigh universal and, except in urban centers, superstition rules everywhere. At Omdurman an entire bazaar is devoted to the sale of amulets and charms. Less than one half of the total population of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is even nominally Moslem. But Islam is slowly extending its influence everywhere. No definite line marks the border between Moslem and pagan tribes on the map or in the mind of the people. Where Islam penetrates it forms an amalgam, a paganized Islam. The Koran has become a fetish instead of the old village idol. Stone and tree worship still exist side by side with the mud-built mosque. Yet in the government scheme of education, which began at Khartum, Islam received the place of honor. The Koran is the primary textbook aJ].d for all practical purposes Islam is made the state religion. Friday is the legal holiday and already over six hundred mosques are found
1926J A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN AFRIOA
in Khartum and the provinces, some of them handsome buildings built in part by Government grants! Every year thousands of Su- danese go to Mecca and return with fanatic zeal for their religion.
Everywhere one finds the Religious Brotherhoods of Islam in evidence. The Qadariya (here called the Jilaniya) the Mirganiya, Ahmadiya (or Idrisiya) and the Rashidiya orders have their zawias or religious houses! We visited one at Um Dabban near Khartum.
It was a beehive of many activities-school and mosque, sacred tree and enclosure, a place for sacrifice and holy graves, a guest-house nicely furnished where they offered us tinned provisions and coffee.
In such centers out in the open desert they teach young lad~ the mystic-way and from here the wali or saint goes on his pilgrimage.
Finally the saint, male or female, dies and their tombs become cen- ters of Iniracle and pilgrimage.
At Khartum North we visited two of such saints' tombs. That of Nafassa is scarcely thirty years old but she has a constant stream of worshippers and the grave is covered with more "holy llnr- tains" of many hues than the Tabernacle in the wilderness. In the Northern Sudan on every bar- ren hill and under every green tree we may see saints in the mak- ing. Worship consists of muttered prayers, touching the grave or ty- ing bits of cloth to the bier and A TYPICAL SUDANESE WOMAN rubbing its dust on the forehead.
'l'hank-offerings for recovery consist of white and red flags fluttering on tall poles and so attracting new devotees.
Among the pagan tribes animism with its doctrine of an ever- present supernatural world-seen in the whirling of desert winds, the mirage, the uncanny gnarled tree, the hovering spirits of bird and beast and man-holds myriads of hearts in bondage through fear of death and the beyond.
By the establishment of impartial justice between man and man; by maintaining domestic tranquility and peace; by economic de- velopment through irrigation works and the introduction of new agricultural products and methods; by education especially at Gordon College and in the newly opened Kitchener Memorial Medical School; by the wide-spread influence of the Welcome Research Laboratoris in studying and checking disease; by the opening of government dispensaries and hospitals, Great Britain has proved worthy of her 1 Ct. P. E. Martln-"The Sudan In Evolutlon," p. 246-247 (London, 1921) . • CarmIne WIll18-"Rellglous Contraternltles of the Sudan" (Khartum, 1921), 2
trust. The completion of the great Dam at Sennar, already flooding 300,000 fertile acres in the Gezira plain, marked another step in the evolution of the Sudan. Most appropriately the inauguration of the Dam was not only a civic triumph but a religious ceremony and prayers were offered by the Mohammedan Mufti and by the Anglican Bishop of the Sudan, the Right Reverend Dr. Gwynne.
But the Sudan can not live by bread alone. If any land has a claim and a challenge for missionary enterprise it is this border land.
II. MISSIONARY OCCUPATION Many centuries before General Charles George Gordon laid down his life at Khartum, other Christian martyrs witnessed for their faith. If the meager records of church historians were altogether silent the very stones would cry out that the Sudan belongs to Christ.
In June, 1698, the Jesuit missionary Father, Charles Xavier de Brevedent, entered the Sudan, then known as the Empire of Ethiopia. The first Catholic Mission however was not established in the Sudan until 1846. It continued to work until the time of the Mahdi rebellion. Father Ohrwalder and others were taken prisoner and with horrible cruelty the mission was destroyed." When peace was restored in the Sudan in 1898 this work was again taken up. At present there are four missionary bodies at. work: The Roman Catholic (Austrian), the Church Missionary Society (Anglican), the United Presbyterian Mission (American), and the Sudan Unit.ed Mission (Int.ernational).
As early as 1878 Gordon advocated the evangelization of the Sudan. In 1905 the C. M. S. sent out its first workers. At present they occupy the following stations: Khartum, Omdurman, Wad Medani and Atbara. In the southern portion of the Sudan the Society's work dates from 1906, when, on the invitation of Lord Cromer, Malek, 1,000 miles higher up the Nile than Khartum, was occupied with a view to reaching the Dinkas (Jiengs), a pagan tribe. Other stations for work among them are Juba, with a boarding school for the sons of chiefs, Yei and Lau. Yambio is the center of work among the Azandi, and at Yilu a medical mission has been established among the Horus. The girls' schools at Omdurman and Khartum are drawing an ever larger circle of friendship among the people and the wellequipped hospital at Omdurman under Dr. Lloyd is like a beacon light for the whole community. The whole Moslem staff of the hospital has caught the spirit of service and are following Christ's example before they have gained sufficient courage to confess Him openly. The work in the Bahr al Ghazal province among the pagan tribes has closer affinities with Uganda than with the north.
Bishop Gwynne writes: "It is a matter of great satisfaction to 8 Of. "Ten Years' Captivity In the Mahdl's Camp," by Father Ohrwalder.
A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN A:FRICA
report that what has been talked about so long will, please God, be accomplished this year: that is the separation of the southern prov- inces of the Sudan to form a new diocese, with part of Uganda. The Venerable Archdeacon Kitchen, who has been for more than 25 years a missionary in Uganda is to be the first Bishop of the con- templated diocese. With definite objects and magnificent opportuni- ties, that which had already been won through the strenuous efforts of the missionaries will be consolidated and new schemes for advance planned, and thus another section of the line will be completed in that sphere occupied by our Church."
The American United Presbyterian Mission entered in 1900 under the leadership of the Rev. John Kelly Giffen, D.D., and Rev. George A. Sowash, D.D. With similar enterprise and methods as in the Nile Valley their work has expanded until it reaches from Wady HaIfa across the borders and into Abyssinia. They have work at HaIfa, Khartum, Omdurman, Khartum North, Geraife, Atbara, Sin- kat, Wad Medani, Dongola and Port Sudan; in the south at Doleib Hill and Nasser.
Although this wide field is very much under-manned and has suffered irreparable losses by death, recent years have witnessed a distinct advance on every line of endeavor. The schools are crowded with pupils, the hospitals with patients and homes with visitors and inquirers. The largest Bible class of Moslems in all North Africa, as far as I know, meets every Sabbath in the American Mission School at Omdurman; one hundred and twenty are taught the story of Christ and of Paul by a converted Moslem I Every form' of missionary effort indeed finds fruitful results in the Sudan today. Agricultural and industrial schools although only recently opened have proved their value. The education of the African can best follow the lines of such institutions as Tuskegee and Hampton. Primary and secondary education for boys and girls is a missionary necessity since the only government education so far provided is Islamic in its textbooks and tendency. One has only to look into the eager faces of the pupils in any of the mission schools to realize that such thirst for knowledge and such hunger for friendship and guidance are a call of God to teach all these tribes. In Arabic and English and in some of the many dialects the people already read for themselves the Greatest Story in the world. The need for hospitals and dispensaries is self-evident. Where the natives have the choice between a government and a mission hospital they choose the place where "mercy and truth are met together."
During my all too brief visit at Khartum and Omdurman in February-March last the changes I noticed since my former visit ten years ago were, from a missionary standpoint, full of promise. A new day has dawned. Doors once closed are wide open and the people responsive as never before. At Doleib Hill where they toiled
. for two decades scattering the good seed in hard and barren soil there now is the joy of the harvest. Nineteen hundred are attend ing Sunday-schools and some hundred have been baptized. In Om- durman within a stone's throw'of the ruined tomb of the Mahdi three to four hundred Moslem men gathered night after night for an open- air evangelistic meeting in the American Mission compound. I spoke on such subjects as, "What is Christianity1" "Who is Jesus Christ7" ""Vas Christ Crucified?" "Is There .Toy in the Christian Life1" and the audience was as attentive as in a church service at home. Over a hundred of the leading men accepted a special gift of Mat- thew's Gospel after an address on the "Principles of True Civiliza- tion. " Ten pounds' worth of religions books and Scriptures were sold at these meetings. In the Coptic Cathedral at Khartum two THE PROTESTANT CATHEDRAL AT KHARTOUM. EGYPTIAN SUDAN mass meetings were held on week days and at least fifteen hundred were present on both occasions.
Among the young men and boys there is such a demand for literature of the right type that the Church Missionary Society is planning to open a book shop at Khartum. The American Mission Agricultural School at Geraif is conducted on the lines of similar work in the Southern States and promises much for the future. There is sympathy and cooperation with the missions on the part of many of the leading government officials and an increasing conviction that Islam is not the best religion for the Sudan. The many Christian activities centering at the Clergy House and the Cathedral for the British of all classes are also a powerful witness for Christ. The growing native church is becoming conscious of its mission and eager to enter regions beyond. At a general meeting of all the missionaries and native pastors and teachers, men and women, the conviction was
1926J A NEW NATION IN 'l'HE MAKING-IN AFRIOA
expressed that only by doubling the forces now on the field could the present opportunity be adequately met. Every station and every institution I visited is under-staffed. The places on the map where "the true Light now shineth" are after all like little candles burning in the night of paganism and Islam. Vast areas and millions of people are untouched by all the societies now on the field.. The provinces of Kassala, Dongola (for the greatest part) Kordofan, Darfur, the northern half of Bahrel-Ghazal, the Nuba Mountains, Fung and the White Nile district are practically unoccupied. Who holds the mandate for the spiritual and moral uplift of these multitudes?
Remembering the utter destitution and the long neglect of these vast areas and large populations, the Hnes written on seeing Gordon's statue as it stands racing the great desert and the Sudan at Khartum, have a living message: The strings of camels come ill single file, Bearing their burdens 0 'er the desert sand; Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile, The needs of men are met on every hand.
But stilI I wait For the messenger of God who cometh late.
The great Makwar Dam at SennaI' is a rebuke and a challenge to the faint-hearted and lukewarm THE REV. MALEK FANOAS in the Ohristian churches. Here Pastor or t be Church In Khartoum is material investment of eight million pounds (sterling) in concrete and steel, in brain and brawn, with absolute faith that the im'es tment will bring adequate return. Faith in what? in the fertile soil and in the fellahin Sudanese.
We have the reservoir of God's unfailing grace and power j we have the soil of the human heart, fashioned everywhere alike and thirsting for the Living God j we have the Seed of the Divine Word which if it fall into the ground and dies never fails to produce a har- vest. 'Wno dares to begrudge the investment of a few hundred thou- sand pounds and the hundred additional missionaries needed to make Christ known in every province of the vast Sudan'
to Christianity in China
BY REV. .JAMES L. STEWART, D.D., CHENGTU, WEST CHINA Vice·President of West China Union University; Author of II The Laughing Buddha"
PERSISTENT hindrances to the progress of the Gospel among the Chinese are not new today and may therefore be considered briefly. They contain such difficulties as: I. Indifference. One meets occasionally with a "God of Wealth" (the colloquial for our "millionaire") in China, but they are proportionately about as rare as her fabled phrenix. In no nation are the multi-millions nearer the bread-line. To live "hand-tomouth" seems no great hardship to multitudes. It is rather that willing hands and therefore mouths must too often go wholly or partially empty. Each day is a constant struggle for existence. What has Christianity to offer for such immediate need' These throngs are out for food, clothing, shelter, an opportunity to work. The Christian message seems ofttimes utterly remote to such men. The preacher talks of faith and hope and love and peace and truth. Much of it is lost upon ears tuned only to the stern realities of daily need. The seed in such cases falls upon stony ground. They go their way indifferent. II. Already supplied is the attitude of another vast section.
China seems to be full of gods of all grades. The merchant has the god of wealth; the mechanic has Lu-ban, the great artificer; the farmer a tutelary god for each group of fields and special gods for each type of cattle, while the scholar has his great Sage and Heaven. In addition there is Animism with its natural objects containing spirits, Taoism with its deification of higher natural forces, thunder, lightning, fire, flood, Buddhism with its personification of psychic fac- t<irs, mercy, wisdom, pity, and Mohammedanism with its appeal to one invisible. absolute Being. If more are needed bas not each man nearer still his own ancestors with their peremptory demands and promises 7 Somewhere from among this galaxy of gods one or several have long since been selected and seemingly found sufficient. Can the Christian God give more than these according to their promises? Why add another, or discard all old for one new?
m. Social customs and sqnctions are disturbed by the aavent of Christianity and so protest. The authority and very existence of all the gods suggested above are challenged, and evidence adduced to show they are fictions. It naturally seems to many that the basis of society is being destroyed. Moreover old street customs concern- ~e February number of the REVIEW contained a.n article outlining certain "Hindrances to Christianity in China," It was an attempted ana1ysis ().f such hlndran"'es from a croRI:I-sec1'i nnal aspect of Chinese SOCiety. It n0ed~ supplementing by lIlore speetfic statement, especially in view of more recent events. A prartical survey can be made from sunh sf"andDoi'lts as Persistent Hindrances, Present-Day Hindrances. and thuesuaPlr(J)lfmoulntsdeorr Hindranoos of the Messenger. This article presents such an attempt within the BPace.-J. 1.. S.
422 ing idol processions, theatricals to the gods, etc., are affected when Christians refuse to assist. More intimate still the old social relations of husband and wife, elder and younger brother, parent and child, sons and daughters are all viewed from a new angle and a new freedom acclaimed. So, to some, it seems that the very family is in danger of dissolution. Even old marriage customs based on the "eight characters," burial customs based on "fung shui" and the sacred philosophy of the past as contained in the Book of Change are all being undermined and unheeded. To the conservative the very basis of society and the nation seem threatened. Who but should decry such disaster!
IV. Sin and evil in all their forms are inevitable opposing forces. In times of unrest such as that through which great China is now passing it is but natural that evil in many forms goes almost unrestrained. Foot-binding fortunately seems steadily to decrease, but gambling and lotteries are in places legalized for revenue. Opium which was so gallantly suppressed about a decade ago is now in sections even forced upon the farmers for the sake of funds. Drunkenness and the social evil abound about many military camps. Blackmail, duress, robbery, arson, rape, murder, militarism fill reports from day to day in the papers of big centers and go all unrecorded out in the defenseless countryside. Let no one malign the great Ohinese people. They too loathe such iniquities, but they are powerless at present. Ohristianity alone, in many places, dares raise a voice against these social· sins and their roots in the lusts of the human heart, and in consequence she is in turn slanderously accused and attacked. Sin and evil in their most hideous forms are steadfast hindrances to the Gospel.
HINDRANCES PECULIAR TO THE PRESENT Present-day hindrances form a second kind of barrier to be overcome. These are regularly mentioned in our newspaper and other reports. They may be grouped under familiar captions: I. Anti-Foreign Feeling. Ohristianity has not always suffered from this in its contact with Ohina. Some opposition, 'it is true, has been to Christianity as a creed and system of conduct. ThuB Oonfucianism has doubtless ridiculed it and even raised riots to oust it from communities and from the country. Yet it will be also recalled that Nestorianism was quite evidently welcomed to the old court at Ohang An by the great Tai Tsung, first of the native Tang dynasty, and that in more recent times under the Mongol, the Min and eyen early Manchu dynasties, Ohristians were protected and praised, even Jesuit missionaries holding public office as Schall in his post as Imperial astronomer. Indeed it appears to have been a question of allegiance to foreign Pope or native Emperor that caused the rift in cordial relations, and such fear of foreign aggression has continued to impede the progress of Ohristianity unto today.
That converts were by becoming Christian also becoming the subjects of France, or Britain or America was quite the common consensus of opinion a quarter of a century ago, following the breaking down of the Boxer Rebellion. The new Republic has done much by its religious freedom and other measures to dispel such difficulties, but now it bursts forth in another form.
II. Anti-Imperialism. Fear of foreign aggression has again attained a great emphasis. The Renaissance of the past few years has brought many surprises. Among others returned students from many lands as well as those educated in their own institutions of learning have been reviewing their contacts with Western nations. The investigation shows a record of constant aggression. Burma, Indo-China, Macao, Hongkong, Weihaiwei, Port Arthur, all show lost territory, parts of which were at least claimed by China. Now Manchuria, Mongolia and even 'ribet appear to them also threatened. Foreign concessions too seem to have taken on an arbitrary attitude through the years. Customs autonomy has been denied and extraterritoriality still demanded. Such seems to be the history of the last century of contact, and China emerges bound on all sides by treaties won from the Manchus then her rulers. In the enthusiasm of the new Nationalism, all this foreign aggression seems arbitrary "Imperialism." This in turn is turned against Christianity for do not the missionaries come from just these countries1 True in their messages, they preach a religion of love, and claim they have no relationship with their governments, but who does not understand the simile of "the dragon head and the snake's tail." And then, are missions not present and protected by treaty forced by these very powers? Many in China today understand the true meaning of the missionary movement, but on the contrary there are others who fail to understand, and oppose Christianity on a basis which they believe is real patriotism. Christianity is "Imperialism" and the missionary its political agent. That should be sufficient.
III. Anti-Capitalistic Sentiment. Much of the'conflict with the foreign nations in the past has arisen over questions of trade. As commerce requires capital, it is easy to conclude that all is capitalistic. Westernism spells Imperialism and back of Imperialism is capitalism-that is the thesis. All this has been aggravated of late by the growth of industrialism. Child and woman labor, long hours, unsanitary conditions, small pay, strikes are not new things in China.
But all these have been emphasized by the mills and factories now springing up in so many port cities. With them have come new forms of labor organi'zations well known in the west with resultant conflicts, lock-outs, strikes and riots. Such conflicts are all the easier to create and embitter when the mill owners happen to be foreigners. Then the issue seems quite clear. It is Western capitalism crushing and exploiting China's helpless citizens. Who would not heed their cry of distress' And the missionaries and therefore their converts,
0138TAOLES TO OfffiISTIANITY IN CffINA
what is their relation? They are the "running dogs" for the cap- italists. They penetrate into the country. Some trouble arises in 30nsequence, new demands are made of the nation, some new port is opened or seized, and the ultimate fruits of victory go to the capitalist. This reasoning again results in one of Christianity's hindrances.
IV. Scientific Matet·ialism. One of the things welcomed enthusiastically from the West, despite opposition to other elements, has been modern science. That has been a great source of enlightenment. Unfortunately the theory of science that has been most readily accepted has been materialism. That perhaps was to be expected. It is naturally the simplest suggestion that all things are but congeries of atoms somehow shaking about and forming a universe.
A CHRIST1AN "CELL" -,HIGHER NORMAL STUDENTS. ONE OF OUR BEST ANSWERS TO COMMUNISM IN CHINA Moreover,much of China's own former philosophy tended toward materialism and'naturalism. Science, therefore,spelled Materialism, that seemed ~elf-evident to many of the scholar class. Then all talk of God or gods, souls and immortality, ,such as religion taught, was utter fable. All religion wassaid to be but an "opiate" destroying progress and self-reliance. It must be onsted if the nation would be free. Science, with possibly aesthetics added, should suffice. To this challenge the older religions had nO reply. Christianity readily answered that hermstitutions stood wholeheartedly for seience. What she did oppose was au inadequate interpretation of scienti:fie fact. She stood for Idealism in some form which in turn demanded the beliefs in God, Freedom and Immortality which Materialism denied and discarded. But such a clearing of the issue' as we well know in the West, will take time. Meantime Christianity is widely attacked today as Superstition, the arch-enemy of Science.
V. Communism comes next. This is not so much the underlying cause of much of the present anti-Christian movement, as its stimulus and somewhat of its strength. Bolshevic propaganda could scarce have come to China at a more prepared period, and it has not been slow to make clever capital of the conflict. We need only mention here Russia's gesture of friendship in waiving old indemnities, foreign concessions, extraterritoriality, most of which 'tis true she had already virtually lost, and her raising of her legation to that of an embassy. All this was apparently to aid China in her struggle against foreign imperialism and capitalism. Naturally the anti· Christian agitation was also quite in keeping with her aims. Communism is avowedly materialistic and atheistic. The Third Inter· national has then quite readily supplied money and men to the propaganda. Attacks in the approved "direct action" way have been made not alone upon mills, but churches, hospitals and schools. As education was admittedly the open door to capture China's leadership, the main effort has been directed against Christian higher grade institutions and colleges. Thus the effort is to turn the great scholar class, especially those of the Renaissance against Christianity-and the end is not yet!
POOFOUNDER HINDRANCES WITHIN THE CHURCH Some of these more subtle and internal hindrances to the progress of the Gospel are: I. Devolution. That foreign control in the growing Chinese Church should decrease and native Christian control increase, is a fundamental principle joyfully accepted by practieally every mission and missionary in China. The difficulty is not in the postulate but in the personalities who have to perform the task. There are therefore many hindrances. The missionary is abundantly willing, but hesitant. He finds it hard to believe that the young boys who have grown up about him are now capable men. He fears that the work helms lavished his love and labor upon will sag or dissipate. The young Chinese in turn may be over confident. What youth yet did not feel that he could soon reform the world were the power but placed in his hands' Then· too, missions as a whole- have trouble in making the transition. Some, indeed many of the young leaders are capable and thoroughly reliable. Yet there are sure to be others who need more experience. It is difficult to make rules that will apply to a few and not to all. They smack of favoritism, with the foreigners setting themselves up as judges. The task is not an easy one. It is being solved but naturally not always according to the reason or at the rate some on either side could wish. Hence there is friction. For this cause occasional members leave our ranks and readily suggest that the cause is too much foreign domination within the Church and that were it but wholly under Chinese Christian control all would be well. Fortunately such are few!
19211] OBSTACLES TO CHRISTIANITY IN
II. Sectarianism. Most of the sects now dividing the Church in China come from abroad. At the recent Shanghai General Christian Conference it was found that there were approximately one hundred and thirty different bodies at work in China, each claiming to have some special, superior angle on the truth. Next there are national divisions. It may be the same denomination, but it has been adjusted to its own national temperament and government, or the same thing is seen from sections of the same nation dragging to the far-off field, old prejudices. Indeed at times the division is between high and low, regular and reformed, close and open, etc., of the same fold. More recently the discussion over fundamentalist ,and modern- CHRISTIAN STUDENTS AT COMMENCEMENT IN WEST CHINA UNION UNIVERSITY ist has been thrust upon the field, and now the debated question of extraterritoriality is upon us. Such divisions dissipate purpose and power and at times even seem to destroy those great fundamentals of love, brotherhood and good will. Needless to add, that this does not originate with the missionary. It lies at the door of Christians in the homelands.
III. A Misinterpreted Message. All Protestantism belongs to the Fuh-yin, the" Glad Tidings" group, and despite their differences and divisions men and women all over vast China are being led to the one Christ. In the past the varying denominational emphasis .did not so much disturb the believer. But today the doctrines of the schools are being attacked by angry and adverse criticism. Naturally misinterpretations, extreme views which the great majority of
the Christian communion have long since discarded but which still find their way to the field, suit such criticism best, and lead to ridicule of the whole message. Some of the more serious in the anti-Christian movement urge that China needs Christ, her sons should "cultivate the passion and personality of Jesus." They hold that the Church is His false interpreter, and say: "We do not need the Church with its creeds and its contradictions, we can go ourselves to the source." In the light of all this, it is little wonder that our own membership are inquiring, "What really is Christianity"? The confusion and contention may be full of hope for some future time but they are hindrances today. Yet who knows, perhaps the purer Christianity in both precept and practice will come clarified by the Chinese Church. In the meantime, too often, the Christ is being again crucified by the misconceptions of His friends.
IV. Spiritual Sag. That perhaps is the most serious hindrance. The earlier missionaries, and consequently their converts, may not have had flll the advantages of present-day culture, though not a few of them are still our masters in investigation into and understanding of things Chinese. But one thing the majority assuredly possessed, it is that which we speak of as "spirituality," by which we doubtless mean the Christ spirit, especially as shown in His humility, His hunger and thirst after righteousness, His whole-hearted love of humanity, his heroic self-sacrifice. It would be false to say there aTe no such missionaries today, but there are doubtless many splendid groups in which these qualities do not dominate. We have superior surgeons, expert educationalists, clear exponents of the evangel, all of which is excellent for the expansion of Ohristian civilization, those fine fruits of our culture, but many seem somehow to lack in measure that one thing needful which the pioneers possessed and propagated, the very roots of the Christian religion in spiritual regeneration. But here again let us not blame the brave and ofttimes brilliant force of missionaries upon the field. Tl:te source of the sag is at home. Water will not rise beyond its level. If hearts in the homeland are not strangely warmed how can we expect them to glow with an all-constraining light and heat among these many hindrances in mighty China!
And yet, despite all these adversaries, He who is for us is greater than all those who are against us. God is working, and there are being added to the Church in Ohina daily such as are being saved! It is well that we recognize our hindrances but it is better that we know Him from Whom our Help cometh!
B. Bridgman, of South
BY REV. CHARLES NEWTON RANSOM, SOUTH A}'RICA MISSION, ZULU BRANon I N THE death of Dr. Bridgman (August, 1925), the world has lost a missionary and a statesman; a "missionary statesman"- but we must not miss the emphasis on missionary.
Dr. Bridgman radiated an influence all over South Urica and indeed to the ends of the earth. Some men are great as seen from afar, some, like Dr. Bridgman, are great and good to those nearest also. One's heart is greatly moved in reading the tributes written to Mrs. Bridgman from South AJ- rica. The pastor of our native church in Johannesburg, Rev. G.
Sivetye, wrote: "We are as the dead. In many gatherings I have attended in the Transvaal, both Black and ·White have witnessed of him.
–Would that our people in Natal might have heard these testimonies. I know of no man so mourned by his friends as this missionary of ours. Indeed the Lord has called him to some greater work above. . .. What our Father and Umfundisi (missionary) accom- plished in so short a time compels me to think that he was conscious that he would be called for higher service soon. It is indeed a higher FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN service for which he has boen called or else God could not have taken him from the work in which he was most needed. 'Ve all feel helpless. There was so much that was dependent upon his wisdom and clear judgment and so much that cannot be done without Ilis aid."
This pastor is the noble son of Pastor Sivetye who was brought out of heathenism through the influence of Dr. Bridgman's father and mother.
Pastor Sivetye encloses a resolution (in English), passed by the Transvaal Interdenominational Native Ministers' Association: "That this meeting of Native Ministers tender the Associati~n 's sincere condolence in the sad loss which they, the natives of South Africa generally, have sustained in the early demise of Dr. F. B.
429
Bridgman. They feel that his memory will be treasured as that of the most valued and beloved of South Mrican missionaries and champions of the native cause."
A native of Natal writes: "It is quite obvious today that we are in lost of (have lost), our nobleman of Jerusalem on account of death of our Rev. Bridgman." Another writes: "God has indeed taken away our Moses-what shall We do I . . . Be comforted by a verse in Job which says, 'Though He slay me yet will I trust in Him.' I am too small to say that to you, but I am compelled to say it." The church of Paulpietersburg, Transvaal, wrote: … "Irreparable loss . . . The people of Paulpietersburg say they have lost their bosom father whom they will never forget . . . they thought he would come back to see the fruits of his toil and prayers. But they know that he has gained the crown of his work at Heavenly Mansion."
A whit.e missionary of another Mission in Natal expresses, I think, the general feeling: "I am sure that not only myself but all the other members of our Mission feel that in the loss of Dr. Bridgman the cause of Christian missions all over South Africa has suffered. A brave and mighty soldier has left our ranks, and we bow our heads in sorrow and submission."
DR. BRIDGMAN'S LIFE Dr. Bridgman traveled twice around the globe and so was known personally to many in different countries. He was born at Imfume Mission Station, Natal, South Africa, May 18,1869, and was the son of Puritan missionaries who labored long among the Zulus. He had many handicaps as a boy, but an indomitable spirit. While still a lad he came to the United States, and after preliminary studies went to Oberlin College and the Chicago Theological Seminary. He married a fellow student of Oberlin, the brave daughter of one of the bravest and most consecrated missionaries-Dr. Davis, of Japan. In his student days, young Bridgman made an heroic rescue of some of his fellows who were drowning in the sea off the Block Island lighthouse. This was a forecast of rescue work on a national scale. After the seminary days he and his wife became intensely interested in a church in Wisconsin, but the appeal from the foreign field was irresistible, though his deep humility led him to distrust his fitness.
He and his wife were heartily welcomed to the Zulu Mission in 1897 and began work at Imfume, his birthplace. Long had Imfume been neglected because of the always inadequate staff of the Mission. His course in waking the old mission house, victim of dry rot, white ants and neglect, was far surpassed by his courage in awakening the church. His stern measures were at the risk of popularity, yet he won the undying affection of the people. But the cities of South
FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN, OF SOUTH AFRICA
DR. BRIDGMAN OFFERING THE CLOSING PRAYER AT A SERVICE IN THlil COMPOUND Africa were forging to the front, and the work there would be pivotal Dr. Bridgman was put in charge of the Durban work where he captained the enterprise for twelve years. Such was his success that when he left he was accorded an extraordinary farewell by natives, by those of other denominations, by the Ministers' Association, and lastly by the business community and town officials in a great meeting with the Mayor presiding. I think the honor was unprecedented. Then came twelve years of even greater service in Johannesburg. He wrought constrnctively and powerfully in both cities in the face of difficulties sufficient to appal a giant.
What a tempestuous period was covered in those twenty-four years! Recall the Boer War in 1899-1902; the Zulu Rebellion- 1906-7; the complicated war tragedies in Johannesburg-1914-1918; the fearful strikes in Natal and the Transvaal; the boiling race issues, British, Boer, Zulu, Indian; the rapid commercial developments with attending perils; the political upheavals; the amalgamation of four divergent colonies into one South Africa Union. These excitements 'and changes directly affected the whole missionary cause. Dr. Bridgman, realizing this, studied and mastered public questions with the enthusiasm of a statesman, while patiently pursuing the undramatic . duties of missionary routine.
"Seest thou a man diligent in his business1 he shall stand before kings." The great qualities in Dr. Bridgman brought him into prominence everywhere, adding to his toils as well as to his honors. Who
could keep tally on the hours which he spent with Governors, Prime Ministers, Secretaries of Native Affairs, Virith influential Commissions, Mayors, Counsellors and other public servants? While on furlough he was "inspanned" to aid the great missionary campaigns. He was chosen as one of the representatives of the Board to attend the Edinburgh Conference of 1910, over 6,000 miles from his base. In 1911, he was a Board representative to visit the West African Mission, 2,200 miles away. He represented the Mission at the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Berlin Mission, South Africa, and bore the brunt of the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of our Mission in 1911. The difficult undertaking was so successful as to affect visibly the attitude of whites towards blacks in all the years which followed.
He suffered from physical handicaps, troublesome eyes, terrible headaches, severe sicknesses. He had his share to bear in the national afflictions of locusts, rinderpest, cattle-fever, horse-sickness, great storms, epidemics, bubonic plague and other ills. His personal perils would need a separate chapter-poisonous snakes, leopards, lions, mosquitoes, which he reckoned worse than lions, wilderness walks, run-away horses, adventures by night, perils of mist and storm and the dangers of the deep. In the civil war in Johannesburg, pitched battles were fought within a mile of his home: shells, bombs and aeroplanes kept the household in danger night and day, and the path of duty was in the valley of death.
To follow even the outline of his detailed work makes one's head swim. How did he keep his so steady? As mission officer, he contended for seven years with Government to secure certain native rights-five years for certain other rights. As chairman, he presided over deliberations on perhaps a hundred topics, and was compelled to consider not only all the details of the work but the detailed interests of each individual missionary. He was called to regular and special meetings of the natives, to long and exhausting councils, to building churches, five in Durban and ten in the Johannesburg field. The central churches in Durban and Johannesburg cost respectively $6,000 and $10,000.
He must raise the money, inspire the natives to give enough at least to kindle spiritual fire, superintend the work. He must start and keep up schools, find and pay teachers, that the head might keep pace with the heart. He must train lay preachers, instruct sixty or more a week, know them personally, listen to their grievances and needs, and help in many ways unnecessary in the homeland. Mine compounds must be visited, sites secured, managers conferred with, conditions studied. Visitors from home and abroad must be entertained. Surely he forgot to preach, and trampled on the Great Commission. Never! He preached as if preaching was his only business. His sermons whether in English or in Zulu showed the keenness of a
J926] FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN, OF SOUTH AFRICA
scholar, and the "far ben" depth of one who comes from God, and speaks to the "heart of the people." Some of these were master- pieces, as that on "The Worth of the Individual Soul." The most despised coolie seemed transformed into a diamond.
SOME OF DR. BRIDGMAN'S SAYINGS How character revealing are some of the off-hand sentences found in his letters: "Who needs patience more than a missionary'" "Of course we are right, so we shall win." "May the day be hastened when the interests of the Kingdom shall be more precious to them (the natives) than those much coveted rights and privileges and honors of recognition." The celebration of the 75th Anniversary of our Mission was put on the broader basis of "The Coming of the Gospel to Natal," so that other societies might share. He wrote: "We desire. to make the event the fulcrum, and the celebration the lever, to' lift work and workers in this field into the higher plane of effective cooperation and ultimate union which are so greatly needed." "It is only by constantly reminding ourselves of the ultimate spiritual issues of this controversy that we get grace sufficient to keep pegging away." "We certainly feel the need of revival of spiritual motives and powers both in our own lives and in our churches and pastors and preachers and lay workers. "
SOCIAL SERVICE AND REGIONS BEYOND In reference to the social service work in .Johannesburg he wrote: "I unswervingly hold to the importance of regenerated character, through personal loyalty to the personal Christ.' 'This quotation is most important as showing that in opening the great chapter' of social service in Johannesburg, he was not substituting this service for evangelistic work but subordinating it. Before he came to Johannesburg, he began on his own initiative, a study of the social conditions in twelve leading cities of South Africa. He found them, as a South African paper put it, "Augean Stables."
He visualized results in an illustrated lecture. Great assemblies were moved. One response was the formation of Native Reform Associations of influential white citizens. In Johannesburg he saw recreations and amusements open to natives "were almost entirely servants of evil," that sports, music, moving pictures "must be guided by a Christian hand in order to uplift the race." His dream was realized when after years of agitation and hard work, Rev. and Mrs. Ray Phillips, with positive genius for this kind of work, came to make it a reality. The directors of mines each year of late placed 3
$30,000.00 in his hands to further social schemes. The Bantu Social Center was built at a cost of $40,000 and the developments will doubtless outrun even his most ardent dreams.
Perhaps the climax of his missionary service was in his struggles to help the "regions beyond." He toiled for Bushbuck Ridge, about 400 miles from Johannesburg, in the Transvaal. Thirty-five thousand natives were living in darkest heathenism. A native leader, converted in an evening school in Johannesburg, was, almost singlehanded, carrying the torch of truth with magnificent courage among those people and crying for help.
Thousands of natives working in Johannesburg came from the region of Inhambane, 600 miles away. Hundreds of these were converted, and came under Dr. Bridgman's pastoral care. Some of them, with the zeal and courage of apostles, returned to their home, established seventy centers of work, building churches and schools in the face of heathen apathy, governmental opposition, famine and fever. Dr. Bridgman was melted with compassion for these people. Again and again he left city and home and plunged into that wilderness with all its dangers and difficulties and in behalf of the people appealed to the homeland for just one man at least to help in this desperate situation. The sorrows and agonies over this matter helped break the "silver cord." Anyone to whom Dr. Bridgman's life appealed could not do better perhaps than help establish that work at Inhambane, which was on his heart day and night.
A MAN AND A MESSENGER Oh! Bridgman, you were a man and a messengerI Your love of humor, love of play, cheerful smile, helped you win when argument alone would not appeal. You wrought for the rights of the native peoples. You sought to reconcile black and white, and make them see their need of each other. You demonstrated the blessing of the Peacemaker. You believed in intensive development, but you would not forget extension and the Macedonian cry. Even your' 'failings lean to virtue's side." You preached Jesus Christ. You lived Jesus Christ. How was it when you came to die? Just listen in! "This is my message." "I rest on the three great' knows' of the Apostle Paul. 'I know whom I have believed' " (the verse was finished for him). "'l'hat," he said, "takes care of all the daily toil and work." "We know that all things work together for good" … "That takes care of all the hardships, the difficulties, and the emergencies of life. All will come out right." And then, " 'For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' That takes care of all the rest."
O! Youth in lands of the light, hear in Dr. Bridgman's life, the Master's call, and spring to help finish the unfinished task.
MORNING AT A CAR-STOP NEAR A NEGRO CHURCH IN
The Negro Church in the City BY THE REV. GEO. E. STEVENS, D.D., ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI T HE Negro church like other churches is established to preach and practice the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There can never be any substitute for this gospel message.. Having been a pastor in St. Louis for over twenty-two years, I can say confidently that our preachers are sound on the basic teachings of salvation from sin through the atoning work of the crucified and risen Christ. The older I grow the more I realize the absolute truth and vital bearing of two sayings of our Lord: "Without Me ye Gan do nothing"; and "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you."
THE NEGRO CHURCH AND NEGRO MIGRATION Within the last ten years quite forty thousand Negroes have settled in St. Louis. This general movement, which is just starting, marks a new chapter in the life of the nation and constitutes a big challenge to the Church. 'rhis movement is the result of the awakening spirit of a whole people bent on improving their condition, seeking better wages, better schools and more security in freer sections. The beginnings of this migration were coincident with the great industrial awakening in the North a decade or so ago, but it was accelerated when the North began to call for laborers.
435
TllE M!SSIONAItY RllVrEW Oli' 'l'nEl WO!lLlJ t.tune
The World War took from the North the bulk of its foreign labor, which fact, coupled with federal restriction on foreign immigration since, has brought Negro labor greatly in demand iJ;l the big industrial centers at the North. Two thirds of the twenty-three thousand colored men employed in the thirty-five or forty big industries here in St. Louis have come within the last decade. Two thirds of the sixteen thousand colored women employed in various ways-as maids, cooks, laundresses, day workers, in elevators and stock rooms of the big department stores and certain factories-two thirds of these sixteen thousand women have settled among us during this decade. These figures do not include the many professional folk, the teachers, doctors and lawyers, preachers, business men and women and mechanics carrying on their own businesses; many of these also have come to us within this period and chiefly from the South. While the South has sent us many serious problems in this migration the general life of the city on the whole is richer for their coming.
Many of the churches help by conducting a sort of labor bureau; many of the 8,000 maids and cooks in the leading white homes of the city were secured through some pastor. We are always recommending these for some position. The message also, from the Negro pulpit has changed somewhat in these years, not indeed the message as to "the faith once delivered"; but the time formerly spent on rousements and the crafty exploitation of emotions, is spent on a message which out of the Scriptures has to do with dependability and integrity of character, efficiency and trustworthiness in service, mastering the job and staying on it when mastered. The characteristic question which pastors put to their men is: "Are you making good Y" Many of the newcomers are from the rural districts of the South and the pastors and other Christian workers have had to teach them the ABC's of proper living in their new environment. It is difficult for one on the outside to realize the fear, the solicitude and sense of responsibility which the Negro Church has felt in respect to getting many of these migrants adjusted to the exacting life of the big city. The wastage in soul values has been great. They are exposed at many points to all sorts of sharks. The Negro churches in the city have been working along these lines too far apart, and to this extent have failed to do all they might have done. As a result of a recent conference of our city pastors of the different denominations, an effective organization is in sight to meet these conditions .better.
THE NEGRO CHURCH AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS The Negro Church in St. Louis has rendered a much-needed service by keeping in touch with the School Board of the city. We have kept its members reminded of the big increase of the Negro school population. Nearly one half of the seventeen thousand Negro school children here came to us in this last decade or were born of parents
THE NEGRO CHURCH IN THE CITY
who came during that period. Unless the school authorities are kept posted so as to make provision for this increase, multitudes of our young become street gamins and court dockets are filled with cases of juvenile delinquency and crime.
In St. Louis we are fortunate in our superintendent and Board of Education. They seem to be alert and responsive and seem to be trying to give to all the city's children adequate school opportunities. But even so it has been found necessary and is still necessary for both the colored and white citizens, working together with a fine spirit, to keep before the Board the tremendous change that has taken place in the Negro population and the imperative need of an adequate and forward program for the colored schools of St. Louis.
In one section of the city, school facilities were so poor, that is, so far removed from where these children lived, that they cOIlId not attend; their parents out at work, they were neglected, they lived in the streets getting into all sorts of trouble. The Roman Catholic Church turned one of its abandoned churches in that district into a school. They have under their care daily something like four hundred children. It is a parochial school. These are children of socalled Protestants. What a challenge to the non-Catholic Church and community this is! It shows why we have had to keep close to the Board. I understand that millions of the Drexel family of Philadelphia, given to propagate Roman Catholicism among Indians and Negroes in this country, are being used here liberally. Rome now as ever is on her job. She turned this lack of school opportunity to her own account in some measure an advantage to our young. If there be censure, it is against Protestants. Judging from the progress the Roman Catholic Church has made among us in the last twenty years, St. Louis is destined to become a leading Negro Roman Catholic center.
The more than three thousand cases of delinquency among our young which have passed through the juvenile courts in the last eight or ten years, resulting from bad housing conditions and overcrowded schools and from no schools at all, have stirred our pastors and churches. We have within the last five years made appeal after appeal to the school authorities and the reaction to these overtures on the part of the Board, the press and leading white- citizens at last has been gratifying. Some relief is in sight.
Naturally, when hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved in providing new schools it is important to know that this migratory movement into our cities is not a spasm, not an unrest of a few months which will die down and be followed by a tremendous recession, entailing great loss of money and energy. Weare convinced here in St. Louis that the spreading of Negro Americans over the nation, in the light of the genesis of this great trek and its inspiring causes, is to be followed by no such recession – it is a permanent
change of habit. If these migrants are here in the Norih meeting an industrial necessity as they are doing in St. Louis, their chila:ren ought to be properly trained and fitted for life and not allowed to perish in ignorance, disease and crime.
THE NEGRO CHURCH AND THE RESIDENCE QUESTION The Negro Church can do and is doing much to allay friction in the big cities growing out of the purchasing and occupying of homes in the neighborhoods that have been occupied hitherto by white residents. I refer to neighborhoods lying immediately adjacent to colored sections, and in the path of the natural expansion of these sections of colored homes. The Negro pulpit by its counsel and influence is determined to do what it can to reduce irritation and produce interracial neighborliness. We never have had a race riot here in St. Louis, and the Lord helping us, we do not mean to have one. Through the efforts of a splendid group of white men and women in the Interracial Department of the Community Council, in addition to what the Negro church is doing, such an atmosphere of understanding is being generated that when the new rush for homes by Negroes is on, friction may be somewhat allayed, and at least. a group will be ready at hand to pour oil on the troubled waters.
It is the spirit and aim of this interracial group in St. Louis to produce such a healthy public sentiment that residential ownership by colored people may not be abridged or continue a cause of friction in those districts, particularly, lying directly in the path of the normal expansion of Negro neighborhoods, that it may be established that residential blocks and sections should not in a great metropolitan center, be regarded as a limited social circle; neither should there be allowed offensive unneighborly, untidy, noisy conduct without be~ ing corrected; that there shall be carried on an earnest, steady, though tactful process of education to effect these ends without doing violence to the Christian spirit, or to a broad civic democracy or to the rights of individuals of either group to purchase and sell at will, and that the races may see each other clearly as neighbors without misapprehension and fear, with all problems of housing settled on individual, rather than upon race, lines.
THE NEGRO CHURCH A CO-WORKER IN CHRISTIAN WORK We are sometimes tempted to satisfy our consciences by preaching the Gospel to those who may happen to come to our church, contending for denominational standards and looking after our local church and parish needs. But if our sympathies and activities are thus limited in a great city filled with its appealing victims, then such local self-centeredness is a tragedy. The Christ we follow looked after all the people in all their life. He lived and taught and died for all times and races, places and conditions. He was ever making
over anew all unfortunates and handicapped ones, making them units of value in the communities where they had been failures.
To do this Christ bridged all chasms, ignored all traditions, provincialisms and conventions. At Jacob's well He shocked the disciples when He scorned an ancient prejudice against a mongrel race to save a sinful woman and community of that race. What is now greatly needed in these big centers like St. Louis, is the spirit of Jesus in our hearts, and to give and live forth His teachings without reading anything into them-for His words still are spirit and life. Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh, but he wakes in vain. If we save the city we save the nation, for the nation is fast becoming a collection of big cities. We must all work together, otherwise this work cannot be done.
A crying need in large centers is inter-church, and interdenominational cooperation,both racial and interracial, to save all these submerged multitudes. If we do not reach them with Christ they will reach us in the general wreck and ruin they will cause.
I believe that there is a great Christian movement on in America which will eventually solve what we call the race problem. I refer to the interracial movement which had its origin in the State of Georgia. I believe that, through this movement, God is taking out of every creed, race and section, a people for His name who are going actually to stand for the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man through Jesus Christ the Saviour of us all. God works that way. In the very palace of the king who knew not Joseph, God had in training His prophet who should deliver the seed of Joseph. The frontal attack is apt to fail; you cannot go up to a man and club him out of his prejudices, we must by indirection emancipate him and ..win him. God said to Moses: "What is that in thine hand 7" A rod. "Cast it on the ground." He did so and it became a deadly serpent. Moses fled from it, but God called to him and said, "Take it by the tail"-not by the head. The frontal approach will not do; the fangs and poison are there; but catching it by the tail the serpent became the mighty rod, the rod of God.
This is a situation in America as relates to the races which must be approached with wisdom, prudence and tact, albeit with honesty and courage, for after all the serpent must be taken. This interracial movement is such a method of approach j the chief thing is to help to realize the great purpose of God. The bitter experiences of Egypt were but a brief schooling in the onward sweep of that purpose. Those slaves in Goshen-ignorant, crushed, besotted and disspirited-must be released and trained though many perish in the process, that in turn they may give their quota of kings, prophets, priests and their high service to mankind, yea, and the Redeemer to the world.
Handicaps of the Negro *
BY CHARLES S. JOHNSON T HE Negro question is a state of mind. Lying back of what presents itself as the problem are established beliefs concern- ing Negroes, embedded in the mores, and handed down by tradition from generation to generation. That these beliefs are out of date, incongruous, inconsistent and discredited by science makes not a whit of difference. The institution of slavery was condoned in the minds of the more conscientious by explaining that Negroes liked it; their weaker minds demanded it. Scientists rationalized these very desirable sentiments and settled the matter by "proving" that they were in their rightful station. Dr. Jefferies Wyman, of Harvard, declared that Negroes" afforded the point wher~ man and brute most nearly approached each other." A. H. Keene, anthropologist, gave scientific'explanation of the belief that Negroes and Caucasians belonged to different species. Anxious students deduced arguments from the Bible: Man is made in the image of God, but God not being a Negro as everyone knows, it follows that the Negro is not a man. Thomas Jefferson was satisfied that not a single Negro could be found who was "capable of comprehending the investigations of Euclid."
When Negroes emerged from slavery 98 per cent illiterate, unsettled, unused to freedom, they could easily have given warrant for that belief. But despite the fact that illiteracy has decreased from 98 per cent to 23 per cent, that Keene, Wyman, Tyler and the rest of the old school have been discredited by the more recent students, and that almost any Negro who has been permitted to go to school can "comprehend the investigations of Euclid" the original judgment stands. G. Stanley Hall is saying in 1900 that his development comes to a partial standstill at puberty, Tyler that it halts at twelve, and President Harding in 1921, that racial differences are "fundamental, eternal and inescapable."
Similarly and for the same alleged reason Negroes are believed to be immoral as proved by the mulattoes and unmoral as proved by their assumed inability to comprehend Anglo-Saxon standards of ethics. A learned professor in an Eastern institution settled the matter by declaring that less than two per cent of Negro women were virtuous. Predilection for sex crimes is "proved" by the fact that out of an average of 8,000,000 Negroes, over a period of thirty years, 480 have been lynched for rape! 'rhis thirty-years' record for Negroes about equals the two-year record for white persons indicted for rape in New York City alone.
• From "The WorM Toml)rrow,"
440 Theories of keeping the Negro "in his place" have given occasion for an endless string of other beliefs about him, modified by locality and probably to some extent by degrees of contact, variously expressed but ever present. He is lazy, shiftless and happy-go-lucky, loves watermelon, carries a razor, emits a peculiar odor, "shoots craps," grins instead of smiles, sells his vote for a dollar, shields from the law guilty members of his race, is noisily religious, loves red, dresses flashily, loves gin, and can sing. In the press, the subject Negro is most commonly news when it is sensational-a crime, race riot or "insurrection." On the stage he is presented lying easily, using long words he does not understand, drinking gin, stealing chickens and otherwise living up to the joke book tradition. The popular literature about him appearing in magazines with the largest circulation of any in this country paints the same unvaried pictures. The average white person knows no other Negro.
These are serious handicaps, but they cannot be so easily measured·as certain others growing out of them. The belief in the uneducability of Negroes, or fear of them educated, might be said to register in part in the following facts: Fifty-one per cent of the Negro children between the ages of six and nine, and thirty-two pel' cent of those between ten and fourteen are out of school. For those in school (where separate schools are provided) desiring to complete the standard 8th Grade, on the present arrangement of short terms, short hours and limited curriculum it would take 22 years in Louisiana, 26 years in Alabama and 33 years in South Carolina. For each dollar spent for the education of white children twenty cents is spent for Negroes. Compulsory education was opposed in Mississippi because it meant that Negroes would have to go to school.
In gaining an economic footing there are further handicaps. It is not right for Negroes to hold positions of authority over white men. For that reason 70 per cent of them fill unskilled jobs. They must not expect ever to be foremen, superintendents or owners, but they must be as ambitious, energetic, loyal, efficient and full of initiative as men who have this hope dangling before them.
They are expected to prove their worth by producing great statesmen when they are not allowed to vote or hold responsible office; by developing captains of industry when they are held in menial jobs; by developing great surgeons and scientists when they are kept out of hospitals and laboratories; by producing Napoleons before they can be officers and distinguished soldiers when their regiments are converted into labor battalions.
Children of this generation begin by reading in their fairy stories that black is associated with evil, in their geographies that there are five races of man of whom the Caucasian is superior, in their histories that Negroes were slaves and left no other mentionable contribution to the history of the world; in their science text-
books that the Negro is "prognathous, has a smaller cranial capacity and emits an odor like a goat," all to make up the content of a prejudice in later life for which they can assign no other cause save that of instinct and natural aversion.
Nor can Negroes themselves resist the overwhelming influence of this suggestion of inferiority and incapacity conveyed by every institution and custom of the civilization in which they live. They have in large measure come to look upon themselves in a vague, abstract sort of way as a block to the fulfillment of Anglo-Saxon ideals and civilization. When Negroes themselves refer to the "Negro Problem" they evidence this feeling. Under the pressure of daily slights and rude reminders of their station they have become super-sensitive and suspicious. Natural impulses are balked. Their philosophy is defensive rather than positive. Generation may succeed generation in the Negro world but they must remain the same, living, thinking and acting in the same way, if they are to get along without friction. Molded in the same American institutions with the rest they are expected to have a Negro psychology, to think and react differently to the same stimuli.
After all the burden of the black man is not so much the actual handicaps of which his life is made as the fact that the white world around him thinks itself right in imposing these handicaps. Honest prejudice is difficult to remove, especially when a system of laws and conduct has been worked out on the basis of it.
A Negro View of the Color Problem* BY JESSIE FAUSET BEING "colored," in America at any rate, means: Facing the ordinary difficulties of life, getting education, work, in fine getting a living plus fighting every day against some inhibition of natural liberties.
I am a colored woman, neither white nor black, neither pretty nor ugly, neither specially graceful nor at all deformed. I am fairly well educated, of fair manners and deportment. In brief, the average American done over in brown. In the morning I go to work by means of the subway, which is crowded. Presently somebody gets up. The man standing in front of the vacant place looks around meaning to point it out to a woman. I am the nearest one, "But oh, " says his glance, "you're colored. I'm not expected to give it to you. " And down he plumps.
At noon I go for lunch. But I always go to the same place because I am not sure of my reception in other places. If I go to • From "The World Tomorrow."
A N,EGRO VIEW OF THE COLOR PROBLEM
another place I must fight it through. But usually I am hungry. I want food, not a law-suit.
All of us are passionately interested in the education of our children, our younger brothers and sisters. And just as deliberately, as earnestly as white people discuss tuition, relative ability of professors, expenses, etc., so we in addition discuss the question of prejudice. "Of course he'll meet some. But will they let it interfere with his deserts 1"
I think the thing that irks us most is the teasing uncertainty of it all. Did the man at the box-office give us the seat behind the post on purpose? Is the shop-girl impudent or merely nervous1 Had the position really been filled before we applied for iU What actuates the teacher who tells Alice that the college preparatory course is really very difficult 1 So much is this difference impressed on us, "this for you but that quite Qther thing for me," that finally we come to take all expressions of a white man's justice with a cynical disbelief, our standard of measure being a provident "How does he stand on the color question 7"
We grow up thinking that there are no colored heroes. The foreign student hears of Garibaldi, of Cromwell, of Napoleon, of Marco Bozzaris. But neither he nor we hear of Crispus Attucks. There are no pictures of colored fairies in the story-books or even of colored boys and girls. "Sweetness and light" are of the white world.
Native Africans are" savages" owing their little knowledge of civilization to the kindly European traveler who is represented as half philanthropist, half savant. How much do we learn of indigenous African art, culture, morals? Weare given the impression that we are the last in the scale of all races, that even other dark peoples will have none of us.
More serious still, we are constantly being confronted with a choice between expediency and an intellectual dishonesty. If persisted in it is bound to touch the very core of our racial naturalness. And that is the tendency of the white world to judge us always at our worst and our own realization of that fact.
I have had to leave Philadelphia-the city of my birth and preference, because I was educated to do high school work and it was impossible for a colored woman to get that kind of work in that town.
And so the puzzling, tangling, nerve-wracking consciousness of color envelops and swathes us. Some of us it smothers.
John C. Young of Aden
A. Roman.ce of Medical Missionary Service BY REV. CAMPBELL M. MACLEROY, B.D.
W HEN Ion Keith-Falconer, Professor of Arabic at Cam- bridge University, died of fever, in May, 1887, at Sheikh- Othman, Arabia, at the age of thirty, Professor Thomas M. Lindsay, D.D., the Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Free Chnrch of Scotland, made this powerful appeal: "Shall this Free Chut"ch, to 1vhose service he gave himself, abandon the work he began? God forbid that it should. Who, then, shall follow 'where he led the way, and bear aloft the banner' of Christ which the yotmg leader of the forlorn hope still grasps in his dead hand?"
In response to this challenge, a little company of men and women in succession have kept the flag fiying in that difficult outpost, within sight of the "barren rocks of Aden." To one man of the little band, blessed with a marvellous physique and a spirit that would never yield, it was given, throughout thirty-three years of service, to bnild on the foundation laid by Keith-Falconer. Now he, too, has ceased from labor, and the unfinished task makes its appeal for some one to take up the banner.
John Cameron Young was born in 1859 in England, where his father, a sergeant in the Royal Field Artillery, was stationed at the time. His boyhood and youth were spent near Steps Road, out from Glasgow. On his mother's side, he was a Cameron, and the Celtic strain showed itself in a warmth of feeling and a dauntless courage, which made him a greatheart among men. His contact with military ideals and discipline, through his father's training, left an indelible mark upon his character. He learned very early, also, invaluable lessons in the school of toil. At ten years of age he began to work, and, in due course, became an apprentice joiner in Glasgow. The great decision was made at a meeting in the Royal Arcade Hall, Oowoaddens, and his dedication to the service of Christ brought to a focus all his gifts and energies.
Having mastered his trade, he went to London to get better work, and there, after a meeting in connection with the London Missionary Society, he offered himself as a missionary. He was told that, without education and training, he could not be accepted, and to obtain these no help could be offered. His native grit and firm Christian purpose asserted themselves, and, with a grim determi- IJation, he set himself, like I~ivingstone, to climb the steep heights of learning. He soon entered Glasgow University, walking each morning from his home-a distance of six miles-for the eight 444 o'clock classes. In the long summer vacations, he worked at his trade. Next, he began medical studies, and eked out his living by teaching and by some work in connection with the Inland Reve1Jue Office. Having taken his medical degree, he attended divinity classes at the Glasgow Free Church College, studying under Bruce and Lindsay and Henry Drummond, and proving his power to win the hearts of men and women for Christ.
The man who, in spite of every hindrance, could thus, for al- most ten years, plod his way steadily towards his goal, was plainly being prepared for some big task. When, in 1892, he was ready, it was seen that the task had been prepared for him. He accepted the call to the hardest mission field in the world, the virtually closed land of Arabia, and on Sunday, November 6th, in his home church at Chryston, was ordained.
In his first seven years of work in South Arabia-a long spell in such a climate-he served his missionary apprenticeship. The diffieult language had to be learned; medical and surgical work had to be done in unsuitable premises and sometimes single-handed, ex- eept for the aid of native helpers, one of whom, Salem the dispenser, was with his chief to the last. On Sundays, the Medical Missionary of Sheikh-Othman became the Presbyterian Minister of Aden-the two places are ten miles apart-and this arrangement, which seemed . to add to the burden of the work, proved to be its inspiration. The little Keith-Falconer Memorial Church at Steamer Point became a real spiritual home for not a few of the exiles, and, in its vestry, which was open during the week also, many a young soldier found what he needed most of all-the strength of friendship, human and divine. Dr. Young was proud of his office as Acting Chaplain to the Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and Nonconformist soldiers of the gar- rison, and when a Scottish battalion, with its own chaplain, was in the camp, he would still come to early Parade Service, as if drawn by an irresistible attraction. Among the civil popUlation of Aden, in which Asiatic, European, and African rub shoulders with each other, he won his way increasingly by his manliness, tempered by a tact and courtesy which broke down many a prejudice and won for the missionary doctor the esteem and friendship of all sorts of men. POl' his outstanding services to the populace, especially in seasons of plague and famine, he received two Kaiser-i-Hind medals. He was never too busy-and no one in the whole settlement was busier than he-to show kindness to travelers of whose passing he had heard from home, and for everyone of them the name of Aden will always recall his hearty handshake and generous hospitality.
In South Arabia as a mission field, Young found a barren soil -as far as statistics could show. Open conversions were very few, and there is little wonder if we remember that it means certain per- secution or death to forsake Islam and remain in that land. Sheikh
Salem, the most noted convert, had to suffer great trials, and once Dr. Young had to make a fiying visit to Paris to secure his liberation from unjust imprisonment. But statistics are not the measure of success in God's work, and the healing ministry of those years softened many hearts among Arab tribesmen, and turned foes into friends.
To this beneficent ministry, Dr. Young devoted himself, body and soul, for a whole generation, and when at last his heart's desire and prayer is fulfilled, and" Arabia's desert ranger to Him shall bow the knee," all that the toil and endurance of those years have done in preparation for Ohrist's day will be made plain. To himself this work was as dear as life. After thirty-two years of it, he wrote: "I revel in the work, if I can use such a word to carry my meaning of real elljoyment in helping the suffering humanity that puts itself under our care."
Twice he visited America, wrote his delightful little book, Children of Arabia, besides taking his full share in the visitation of congregations, and speaking at all sorts of meetings which gave an opportunity to advance the cause of Ohrist. In those visits, he strengthened greatly the ties that bound him to his friends, and everywhere he made new friends.
The War wrought many changes in Aden and the interior, of which the most serious for the Mission was the occupation of Sheikh-' Othman, by the Turks, in July, 1915. It was retaken by British troops after eleven days, but, from that time till March, 1921, the hospital was closed, and the poor, suffering people were deprived of their greatest blessing. At the request of the Indian Government, Dr. Young took up the duties of the Port Health Officer for Aden, thus relieving an Indian Medical Service Officer for active service. These duties he discharged till the end of the War, and for some time after. It was characteristic of him that he laid by most of the official salary of those war years, and relieved the Ohurch of any further expense on his account.
Before the veteran left Scotland for the last time, towards the pnd of 1924, it was evident that even his iron strength was beginning to give way under a strain never endured so long by any European. Last January there was an epidemic of influenza and Dr. Young had a severe attack. To recuperate, he decided to visit Adis Abeba, in Abyssinia, about five hundred miles distaut across the Gulf of Aden, and hoped there to see in full operation the hospital, the site of which he had helped the American missionaries to choose. There, out of sight of those grim rocks laved by the Arabian Sea, which had become dear to him, out of sight, too, of the Yemen hills, beckoning ever to the fair regions beyond, on rruesday, }i'ebruary 2d, he fell asleep, and by friendly hands his body was laid to rest in African soil.
Plight of the Assyrian
A Letter from the Rev. E. W. McDowell, D.D., Mosul, Mesopotamia T AST year I made a trip to London and Geneva in behalf of our L Assyrian people. As you know, they were driven out of their homes by the 'rurks and since 1915 have been living in exile. F'or the last three years they have been camping out beside the road only a day or two's march from their beloved hills, in earnest expectation that the Ohristian Powers would be able to secure permission for them to reoccupy their own lands. But the question of the boundary between Irak and Turkey proved to be too difficult to be settled directly and was submitted to the League of Nations for a decision. The Assyrian country lies just along the border in dispute, and it was hoped that it might be possible, when the matter came up before the League, to have it included in Irak. It was the purpose of my visit, to London and Geneva to speak a word in behalf of our people before those in authority. I was received with the utmost courtesy by the Government in London and by prominent members of the League in Geneya. They were sympathetic and assured me of their purpose to do all that lay in their power to secure the return of their lands to the Assyrians.
As you know, the decision has been rendered and Mosul has been confirmed to Irak. But to our great disappointment the boundary has been so run as just to exclude the Assyrian territory, i. e., throwing it on the Turkish side of the border. This means their permanent eviction; the final loss of all their lands and homes. It has been a grievous blow to them. And what cuts them most deeply, even more than the loss of their lands, is the loss of their church buildings. These churches are very old, some of them dating back to the early centuries of the Ohurch. For more than a thousand years there had been continuous Ohristian worship at their altars. Now they must crumble into heaps of ruins and some of them be converted into mosques for Mohammedan worship.
The people themselves are in extreme destitution. Many are living in caves; others are housed among the ruins of deserted villages. They are without land and without homes. Some have located temporarily in Kurdish villages where the rents exacted are exorbitant. This last year was "locust year" and that region was devastated, scarcely anything being harvested. Is it strange that they are saying that both man anQ God have deserted them ~ Old Eshoo, a friend of mine these thirty-five years, called on me the other day. Like a thousand others he has been living on acorns and roots and is half starved. He is a silent old chap and he did not beg; he did not offer one word of complaint concerning hunger and cold.
447
He sat before me, with tears streaming down his wrinkled face, as he said over and over again, "We have sinned; we have sinned." It was his solution of the why and the wherefore of their cumulative troubles.
The friends of these people in England, under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, are endeavoring to raise a fund of one hundred thousand pounds sterling for their relief, and an English officer of high standing has been sent out to administer the fund. A. very small proportion of it is being used (about ten cents a person per day), to keep them alive until spring, and the bulk of the fund is to be devoted to the permanent settlement of the refugees on the land in Irak. The people themselves beg to be taken out of the country but they have been told that this is impracticable; it must be in Irak. But the British officials here and also the Irak Government have pledged their assistance. Land is to be donated to them "in freehold" and taxes are to be remitted for several years. Steps are being taken to find locations free as possible from malaria; having fertile soil; water for irrigation; pasturage for sheep; and as little exposed as possible to hostile tribesmen. They will have to build their own houses which they will be able to do out of sun-dried brick. The fund will be used to supply farming utensils, oxen, sheep and seed. It is estimated that this can be accomplished on the basis of about 25 pounds sterling to each family. There are in the neighborhood of 5,000 families.
If the people are left as they are, most of them must slowly perish. This will mean that there will be continuous appeals for funds to keep them from starving. It will be an annual problem. If this settlement project can be carried through successfully the people will be able to put in a small crop this spring and by summer time will be eating their own bread. How much more sensible and satisfactory all around! They will be permanently self-supporting and as Christian communities they will be an asset and not a liability.
The effort in England is not as successful as we had hoped and it has become evident that the fund will fall short of com~tion. If America takes hold of it the project will succeed.
The cause of these people appeals to me as being distinctly Christian in the widest sense. It is the cry which the pitifully small remnant of the Church of the East raises to its strong sister Church of the West to preserve it from extinction. It is felt generally that Christianity and Christian civilization have reached a great crisis. Importunate prayer is being urged on all sides that our God will stretch forth His hand to save. It may be tnat God will condition His answer to our prayers on the degree of mercy we exercise toward a sister church now hungry and naked and in prison; strangers in a strange land; and stretching forth their hands in supplication to us.
METHODS
EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDG., PHn.AD~pmA, Pol.
INTERCESSORY MISSIONARIES prayer together during the two or A Project for Adult Missio-n Study three weeks of preparation for the Classes· special program.
REPOR.TED BY NELLIE EAB.LES QUIMBY PROGRAM FOR A MEETING TO ENLIST INTERCESSORY MISSIONARIES PURPOSE-To recruit members of the home church as intercessory for. HYMN-"Prayer Is the Soul's Sineign missionaries. cere Desire."
"An intercessory foreign mission· RESPONSIVE READING – Scripture at·y is a laborer who cannot go in per- verses on prayer.
son to the foreign field, but who has The verses may be selected by the leadE'T and typewritten, or mimeographed copies set himself apart to pray for definite distributed. The leaflet, "God's Answers details of the foreign missionary to Our Questions on Prayer," t may be diswork."-Rev. .Alfred E. Street, tributed aud used as a responsive reading. Haman, South China. PRAYER-Thanksgiving and praise METHOD-Explain to the study should form the major part of the class the purpose and plans for en- prayer. Pray also that some of those listing members of the home church present may pledge themselves to beas intercessory foreign missionaries. come intercessory foreign mission- Let the class decide to what group or aries. groups the appeal for intercessory missionaries shall be made-mission- LEADER-Prayer is a fOrele as real ary society, prayer meeting group, as electricity. The practice of prayer adult classes in church school, home is the outstanding challenge to the department, etc. Plan a special pro- Christian Church. Dr. J. Campbell gram which will present the need and White says, "Prayer is the first and opportunity for missionary interces- chief method of solving the missionsors. ary problem. Among all the meth- ods that have been devised, none is Precede the program with two or more practical, more fruitful than three weeks of personal work. Di- this, If we could get a definite group of people at home into the .h~bit of vide the members of your mission supporting by prayer each IUlsslOnar.y study class so that they may work in the thick of the fight, by thlS simple method alone the efficiency of together by twos, and assign them the present missionary force could their quota of individuals of the probably be doubled, without adding group for whom the special program a single new missionary to the force." is to be prepared. They should interest those eonstituting their quota STORY ILLUSTRATION-(All story ilin the proposed program and in the lustrations are to be given by somepossibility of becoming intercessory one other than the leader.) Miss missionaries. Phoebe Emery, an evangelistic mis- sionary in Moradabad, India, writes: Each of the teams of two should pray together daily, and once a week all the workers should meet for ~ project Is based on "Prayer and MIs- t Literature Headquarters, 723 Muhlenberg Building Philadelphia.. Price 1c, 5c a dozen. sions," by Helen Barrett Montg<>mery, and the Another' leaflet which furnishes verses for. a stories and Quotations are taken from this book. re,.,ponsive reading and also blanks tor special PubliShed by the Centra.l Committee for the objects for intercession is "What God. Has. Said United Study of Foreign Mission.. About Prayer," Price 2c, 15c dozen.
4 449
M1sSIO~AltY RllVIE'W O:F TItE 'WOttLD
"We had had a day of remarkable LEADER-" And it shall come to pass sU,ccess in the village work. Every- that, before they call, I will answer; where we went doors flew open and and while they are yet speaking, I people were touched by the Message. will hear."
Several times I said to the native STORY ILLUSTRATION-A Scotch mis- preacher and to the Bible reader, sionary tells of meeting a young girl 'Someone is praying for us today!' in a train as she was returning from They, too, agreed that such remark- a Keswick Conference. She learned able spiritual manifestations could that the girl had been reading abcut be accounted for in no other way. the conference and longed to become "Out of this thought came a poem a missionary intercessor and it was which I scribbled down as we jogged agreed that she should take this mis- along in the ox cart. Weeks later I sionary as her prayer partner. "In had a letter from a lady in America ten minutes we had to part," she whom I had never seen, saying, 'God writes, "but I went back to India has led me to select your name for feeling that I had a missionary col- special prayer, and today my five- league here at home. That was six hour prayer period was given to you.' years ago, and I have never seen that The date, allowing for difference in girl since. But we have been in close time, exactly coincided with the one touch by letter all the time. To be on which 'J wrote the poem. I sent my effectual intercessor, she has read her a copy and she has been my and studied and asked questions till staunch prayer comrade ever since." she knows and understands, to an al- HYMN-" 'Tis Prayer Supports most incredible extent, about my the Soul That's Weak." work and surroundings, my helpers, STORY ILLUSTRATION-After one of and the people I am working among.
the world trips made to study the And I cannot tell you what unspeak- different mission fields and their able help her prayers have brought needs, some one asked Dr, John R. me hundreds of times, how real a Mott, "What is the greatest need of fellow-worker I have felt her to be all our missions today ~ ,, along. I should never think now of He replied: "The greatest need is counting up our staff in that district not more men, not more money. It is without counting her as one. Only more prayer." last week I had a letter from her, in This need is illustrated by the ex- which she tells· me how her life has perience of a missionary in South been quite changed by this mission- Africa. The cast-off wife of a cruel ary service. Her lonely, quiet viI;.
chief came to the compound pleading lage life has been filled and made rich to be taken in. There was no money and large by the spiritual partner- to feed even one more mouth. The ship which is as real to her as it is to missionary and his wife prayed and me. And she tells me, too, that, rose from their knees in peace and through becoming missionary inter- full assurance that the needed funds cessor for me, the missionary cause would be supplied. That very night everywhere has become real and dear at evening prayers a Christian man to her as it never was before."
in Syracuse, New York, was asking H YMN-" Blest Be the Tie That God to direct him in the spending of Binds," the first three stanzas.
thirty dollars that had unexpectedly PRESENTATION OF THE PRAYER PRO- come into his hands. Instantly there JEoT-The leader must put time and came into his heart the conviction prayer upon the preparation of this that he ought to send it to this mis- part of the service. Study thor- sionary in South Africa, who months oughly Chapter VI in "Prayer and before had been a guest in his house. Missions," by Helen Barrett Mont- At the very hour they were praying gomery. Emphasize especially the in Africa, the answer was preparing cultivation of the prayer life (pages in America. 188-195), and definiteness in prayer
BEST
(the first paragraph of page 199), when many missionaries are on fur- and from the last paragraph on page lough every year, it is not unusual for 203 through the first one third of them to go two and two, as did the page 207. :first disciples under the direction of Have simple purpose cards pre.- Jesus, to visit every town in certain pared. While soft music is played localities. Not only in churches but pass these cards with pencils to every also in schools, and before men's and one, urging all to sign who will. women's organizations of various CLOSING PRAYER SERVlCE – An- kinds these team mates speak so that nounce a period of directed silent practically every one may have op- prayer, followed by all singing portunities to hear of their experi- softly as a prayer a suitable hymn. ences, their reports of what has been Have all locate the hymn before the done, and their plans for future prayer so there may be no confusion work.
at the end. Handel's Largo, or other Recently a team composed of not quiet music may be played very softly two but twelve missionaries, repre- during the prayer period. Ask your senting the four foreign fields occu- audience to bow their heads in silent pied by the United Presbyterian communion with God. A minute Church of North America, made a later suggest. a prayer of thanksgiv- tour of two synods including many ing. Don't hurry. Take time to offer cities and towns in Ohio, and some an earnest, sincere prayer yourself, places in the bordering states of In- then you can be certain you are not diana, Michigan, West Virginia, and hurrying your audience. A minute Pennsylvania. 'On Sabbatli days, the later ask for prayers of consecration individuals in the team spoke in dif- to the work of intercessory foreign ferent churches so that every congre- missionaries. gation of this denomination in these Then have some one at your signal synods had the privilege of hearing sing as a solo: a missionary. Special conferences "We love thy name we heed thy rod, were held with pastors and' mission- Thy word our law; 0 graeious Godl ary workers of the churches on week We wait thy will; on thee we call; days. Our light, our life, our love, Our all." Two unusual features presented by H YMN-" Spirit of God! Descend this team, marking an advance in mis- Upon My Heart." sionary methods, are worthy the con- sideration of those who welcome suc- LEADER-Dismiss the meeting with cessful ways of impressing missionthe earnest words: "The harvest in- ary facts. Three of these special prodeed is plenteous, but the laborers are grams were given weekly, on aIterfew: pray ye therefore the Lord of nate evenings, in centrally located the harvest, that he send forth labor- churches with members of several ers into his harvest."
A TOUR OF TWELVE congregations in attendance. The first of the special features was REPORTED BY MRs. JAMES C. LEWIS a presentation of the United Presby- When I was a little girl I heard terian ";Missionary Movie ' '-ten reels that a girlhood friend of my mother's of excellent motion pictures taken in had come home for furlough after Egypt under the personal supervision serving as a missionary in Africa. I of a missionary who was formerly a longed to go to the city, sixteen miles newspaper man. In this particular distant, to see a real, live missionary tour, the "movie" was in charge of and to hear of her wonderful experi- an industrial worker in Nasser, the ences, but I did not get to go. Thirty Sudan.
years ago the visit of one missionary The experiences of missionaries to a town was an event of great im- from the time they sail from the portance. In these modern days homeland are most interestingly de-
picted, especially their, ways of liv- is presented as only those who have ing and working, and their contacts witnessed such experiences, or lived with Eastern peoples. The glamour them with their converts in nonof the Orient holds the observer ob- Christian lands, can portray them livious of time as he views on the most vividly. silver screen the Egyptian and other Eastern people in their costumes, It is not often that a pageant is picturesque or sordid, and notes their presented by those who have first interesting customs, crowded streets, lived their parts. This cast included the Associate Secretary o:f the Board wonderful mosques, primitive meth- of Foreign Missions, the President of ods in rural districts. The beautiful Gordon College at Rawalpindi, India, historical scenes of this romantic who has been in missionary service Land of the Nile have a splendid edu- :for thirty-four years. cational value. In no other way could the people at home obtain a bet- The part of the hero was taken by ter grasp of the work of their church a missionary of Pathankot, a perabroad than by seeing these actual sonal :friend of Khan Chand, who has pictures of missionary buildings and lived among the foothills o:f the Himequipment, students at work, hos- alayas and been in close contact with pitals in operation, and other activi- the Pathans who come down frcm the ties made very real by the familiar mountains into the plains. Another faces of missionaries on the field missionary played -the part of Khan whom they know personally. Chand's mother and directed the en- tire presentation. These motion pictures are, so far as we know, the most extensive under- A representative of the work at taking of this kind released by any Sangla Hill, India, and four missionmission board. Two complete out- aries from Egypt added greatly to the fits are now in operation and it is realism o:f the play. These included planned to continue their presenta- an evangelist from Beni Sue:f, a tions until all the members of this teacher from the boys' scheol at Church in the States have had oppor- Zigazig, a kindergarten teacher from tunity to see them. Alexandria, and a member of the faculty of the Girls' College at Cairo. The second special feature was a pageant. In several respects this From the Sudan, too, came a mispageant is "different." ~he story is sionary engaged in educational work not merely realistic-it is real. It at Doleib Hill, and from Assiut Hoswas lived first. So :force:fully did it pital in Egypt, a dector and his impress the missionary who had part wife. in the experiences, and so graphically did he tell it to others, that a pageant A missionary nurse from Sayo, was chosen as the best form in which Abyssinia with the unusual experito present it to audiences. Real names ence :for a woman o:f trekking across o:f real people are retained in the pa- that country had a background for thetic story of Khan Chand, a wealthy making her message real. young Indian who, as a result of a visit in Rawalpindi City, later became Seldom, if ever, has such a group a Christian and was driven from his of players presented in pageant form home. Members o:f his :father's fam- as gripping a message as the one ily, heartbroken over his disloyalty to given in connection with this tour of their gods, could not forgive him. twelve. When a reconciliation with his wi:fe The entire tour accomplished much. seemed possible, his tragic death in a By visits to the churches, valuable wreck occurred. The closing scene is personal contacts aroused greater misan appeal to carry the Gospel to Khan sionary interest. In the conferences, Chand's people. This affecting story special problems have been heard and helpful solutions offered. The pic- tures gave valuable information in an attractive and impressive way, while
1926J BEST METHODS
the pageant opened the eyes of thou- trepret our religious beliefs to nonsands of people to a new understand- Christian Orientals in terms which ing of what it means to "leave all to they can understand and which will follow Christ." win their sympathetic consideration ¥ Teo many volunteers do not know FOR THE WEEKLY GROUP their English Bibles. They merely hope to some day. They are not yet MEETING able to introduce Jesus intelligently to others and to interpret Christian By MILTON STAUFFER belief_ It is a painful confession and alarming. Why not regard the other Student volunteers and other members of your group as nongroups will welcome these sugges- Christians once each month and "tell tions from the Educational Secretary the story"? 'Vhy not discuss within of the Student Volunteer Movement. the group at least three or four of the most recent books on Christian faith The following suggestions may be and doctrine each year 1 of help to group leaders who find the weekly volunteer group meeting' set- 3. A limited number of well chosen tling into a rut and not creative of books and pamphlets, dealing with mllch inspirational and educational the preparation of volunteers, would benefit. The character of our weekly constitute admirable material for ocmeetings may be an index of hew casional group meetings at a time much real life there is in our indi- when so much emphasis is placed on vidual membership. Beware of stag- quality. As future missionary candination! Someone must think and work and pray for these meetings if dates we can well afford to give the their largest values are to be realized. subject of preparation a large place Have you a purpose for your group T in our weekly meetings. "The For- Does your plan for its meetings ex- eign Missionary," by A. J. Brown, tend over a whole semester T These "An Introduction to Missionary Servweekly meetings offer volunteers the ice, " by G. A. Gollock, the special litlargest single opportunity for mutual erature issued by the Committee on helpfulness.· They should not be Missi('nary Preparation, such pam- " prayer meetings' , or ' ,missionary meetings" as these are generally un- phlets as "The Aim and Motive of derstood, but group meetings in the J,fissionary Service," by Stanley sense. that they are planned with the Jones; "Why Leave non-Christian special needs of local volunteers in America for the Orient" 1 by Dr. mind. Some of the fdlowing sugges- Walter Judd; "The Measure of a tion!:! call for an uninterrupted series Modern Missionary," by W. N. of weekly meetings, some for one Wysham; "Not Leaders but Saints meeting monthly, while others are re- and Servants," byJ. C. Winslow; sponsible of realization within the "Preparation for Missionary Servlimits of a single hour. ice, " by Paul W. Harrison, and" The 1. One meeting each month might Christian Enterprise Abroad" sugbe given over to an informal discus- gest the wealth of material at the dis~ sion of the devotional side of our posal of your group. Why not order religious life. some of these books and pamphlets immediately from headquarters 7 2. Many groups may feel the need of greater emphasis on "the things 4. A short but uninterrupted ser~ most surely believed among us. ' , One ies of meetings each semester in which meeting each month is not too much the group engages in an intensive for volunteers to devote to matters of study of some great mission field or Christian faith and doctrine. Have some special type of missionary servwe sufficient reason, not to mention ice, may also be features in any proexperience, behind our religious con- gram extending over a semester. Of victions T Are we preparing to in- the material orie might use for such a
sCehriiens~"' 'Looking Toward a Christian tion, should be urged to do so, in or- and "Missions and World der to familiarize the volunteers with Problems" are discussion courses spe- the changing aspects of missionary cially prepared this year for student service in many sections of the still groups. ' 'The Christ of the Indian relatively non-Christian world.
MRoosald~"m by Stanley Jones; "The 7. Each semester's program might World in Revolution," by well include occasional meetings in which volunteers will be reminded of W. Wilson Cash; "The Task in Ja- their individual responsibilities as ex- pressed in the fourfold purpose of the pan, " by Reischauer; "New Day.s in Movement. These meetings will also furnish an opportunity to consider to- Latin America, " by W. E. Browmng; gether the history, principles and activities of the Movement, as well as "The Future of Africa," by Donald Fraser and b"yThHeenWryayHoofdgthkeinG, o~orde Physician,"
books which offer interesting readmg and which would furnish admirable matters of more personal interest to subjects for weekly discussions. "The individual volunteers. Gospel and the Plow," br Sam Higginbottom, is an interestmg accou-r:t 8. At regular intervals the weekly of the Allababad Agricultural InstI- meeting might be given over to intute which undertakes to bring the tensive Bible study. As volunteers we Gospel to needy millions of Indi~ by could concentrate with great profit teaching them how to draw a httle on the missionary purpose of God as farther away from the starvation revealed in the Bible. The most reline. cent help for such a study will be found in Hugh Martin's" The King- 5. It would be fine if each semester dom Without Frontiers," Lapham's the group could give several meetings "The Bible as Missions Handbook," to a review of more technical books and Dr. Gilkey's "Jesus and Our on missions such as the "Report of the Educational Commission to East Generation. " You may not agree Africa" the report of the Confer- with the author at every point, neverences held by Dr. Mott in India and theless in his general presentation he the Near East, now published under is accurate and inspiring. the title, "The Moslem World To- 9. Some groups might welcome a. day," or the" The Report of the Conference on Christian Work in Latin series of meetings on "Non-Christian America," now published in two ':'01- practices and relationships in Amerumes and quite readable, or the Chma ica" or "areas of life and thought in Mission Year Book for 1925, published in Shanghai, or the Year Book this country which are still nODon Christian Missions in Japan. If Christian." We need frank consideraJlY large number ill the group hap- ation of these subjects because these pen to be interested in one country are the things which militate against above another why not subscribe to the effective witness of American misthe chief missionary pUblication from sionaries abroad. What is Jesus' way t:Q.at country? of life for Americans and how can we make the total impact of our life 6. The occasional use of foreign and thought upon the rest of the sintugdencats~piufsense,cesissaryhefraormtilyneirgebcboomr– world consistently and effectively mended. These students should be encouraged to speak f~~nkly on the Christian' peculiar needs of theIr homelands, 10. 'Occasionally one may secure and iif qualified to interpret the char- variety in the program by devoting a meeting or two to current events acter and longings of the indigenous which have a direct bearing on mis- sionary activities, especially such churches abroad especially with ref- events abroad as present dimlcuIties and challenges to indigenous Chris- erence to future missionary coopera- tianity.
BEST
11. The presentation of recent facts of the Movement, the relation of the regarding the progress of Christian- Christian life to the missionary ity in other lands in the form of a spirit, the Union Conference, summer world survey stressing the growing possibilities for home missionary extriumphs and magnitude of Christ's perience, the realization of our four- Kingdom, always results in new in- fold purpose through our identifying terest and enthusiasm among volun- ourselves with the religious organizateers. It gives them material for their tions of our campus. deputation work, and enables them to interpret intelligently and sympathet- 16. "And when the Day of Penteically the Christian missionary enter- cost was fully come they were all with prise as it is today. Without this one accord in one place." Every livprogressive interpretation, the edu- ing volunteer group will insist on setcational work of missions in Ameri- ting apart at least one weekly meetcan churches is bound to suffer and ing each month primarily and solely the policy of the American Church for united prayer. To the extent that sure to lag behind the accepted pro- group intercession for foreign misgram of indigenous churches abroad. sions receives secondary emphasis, missionary enthusiasm and spiritual 12. No semester's program of meet- victories "take the air." ings will meet the need without a generous place for biographies. "One A RADIO PROGRAM: burning heart sets another on fire." If our volunteers are not burning it REPORTED BY MARrON KING ~OMPSON, is because of the company they keep. Why not let such biographies as IJynchburg, Va. "Henry Martyn: Confessor of the Faith " and "Robert Moffat, One of Several months ago we wrote to the God's' Gardeners, " rekindle the fiame? three missionaries supported by our Loyola's charge to his companions congregation, telling them we were was "Go and set the world on fire." planning a radio program and asking Someone has suggested that each local them to write what they would like to group provide itself with a circulat- say to our Sunday-school if they were ing library of great missionary biog- broadcasting.
raphies. After the several months required for the passage of letters, we received 13. If the group is large enough or their messages and arranged our if enough interested students can be radio program for the Sunday-school. added for the purpose, why not tackle A radio was placed in front for the occasion. a missionary play? A woman and two men stood be- 14. For two or three meetings in hind· a curtain with a megaphone each semester the volunteers of any through which they gave the message. group might be ~sked to represent .the Of course we had some static and different countrIes of South AmerIca, other realistic necessities. In the Africa, the Orient or the Moslem front of OUr room there is a large map world. The leaders would then sug- of the world with electric light bulbs gest two or three problems related.to placed to represent the location of our missions and common to all countrIes missionaries. While the letters were represented. In the discussion that being read the lights shone' at the follows each volunteer would be ex- place at which the missionaries were pected to express the views of the working. country he represents. The fourth member of this school 15. Occasional meetings might be to go as a missionary will likely sail devoted to such general subjects of during the year. She also will be supprimary interest to volunteers as ported by the school. "The Evangelization of the World in this Generation," the declaration card
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE', NEW YORK A NEW VENTURE devotional part of each Institute, By GERTRUDE CoDY WHEATON prayers and Bible readings suggested The tollowlng article on the way the Women's in the book. This was followed by a short talk on the value and need of p"i,P:.rtOh~~~ o~J~cret(>[~:~ ~~r.,~~~ot o~le~h; such a book. Two other women pre- sented the book, "On Earth Peace," study books, SePtenlb~r 21-30, 1925 will prove to which was added the outline study, =:::: t'!:ae:J!i.,;,t!':nd J:i.~'!::~!~~!y t~r o~;~. "The Search for Peace," these books .. ~~~:r ~ lg~ ~~dr~~~:d (~r~"ll I:l:~=:~:'~ Building, Clev.,Iand, Ohio.
The church women of Cleveland supplementing each other and to- feel the need, yearly, for some sort of gether making an excellent study interdenominational presentation of course, Two women, one who had the current study books, for an en- traveled in South America and one thusiastic conference on "How to who was born there of missionary Use, What to Use and When to Use" parents, presented the three books, these splendid books. The chairman "Looking Ahead with Latin Amer- of our women's department, Mrs. Dan ica" "New Days in Latin America "
Bradley, asked Mrs. Gertrude Oody and "Makers of South America:"
Wheaton to be program chairman and More than one woman had to be to arrange for their presentation at prepared on each book as the Insti- the usual Fall Institute of Missions. tutes were on consecutive days and A new plan presented itself to the one woman could not give eight sue.
committee, namely, to have the books cessive days. Two women who knew taught entirely by lay-women of our the problems of our young people own city, none of whom were to re- talked about ways of getting the ceive any remuneraticm. We were at- "'teen age" interested in missions.
tempting to disprove that a prophet The home mission study book had is without honor in his own city. That the distinction of having the one man IS very difficult because there is a speaker of the entire program, Mr.
charm and advertising power about Prucha of The Federated Churches the expert from another city. staff, who knows our immigrant prob- There were eight one-day regional lem of Cleveland and the Slavic prob- meetings of the Institute held in eight lem in general, spoke at several meet- widely separated churches, taking in ings. At others, we had "Peasant each of the main districts. The results Pioneers" presented by book reviews.
were satisfactory enough to make us Added to these deeper presentations feel that many cities could' do the we had "Slovak Susan" in costume same thing. Forty women were. lined borrowed from one of our own. Slovak .up for the program: some presided, women, speaking for the needs of the some reviewed the various books, some Slavic women right. here in our own .gave dramatic presentations, some city. The monologue by Mrs. Kretsch- gave demonstrations of how to inter- mann, in Best Methods, August,1925, est children or young people in mis- MISSIONARY REVIEW, was used as a sions. Two had charge of exhibits. basis for Slovak Susan 'spIca for co- One woman spoke on each of the fol- operation on the part of missionary- lowing subjects: "Prayer and Mis- spirited women in her behalf.
sions," "South America, " "The The best part of the program to Slav," "Peace." Four women were many was the demonstration, "How .prepared on Mrs. Montgomery's book, to Teach Missions to Primary and "Prayer and Missions," using for the Junior Children in the Church School 4!i6 or Mission Band." DGlls and pic- equipped with a dining room to aetures, maps and articles of various comodate at least one hundred women kinds were used with the stories in for the noon luncheon. A committee simple and appealing ways so as to on places and hospitality was necesteach through the eyes as well as sary. The twenty or more churches in through the ears. Many people are the various districts were invited by ,realizing that an effective way to in- the president of the entertaining terest the world in missions is to be- church and the whole missionary sogin with the child. 'l'he women were ciety acted as hostesses. To one Innot ashamed to confess that they en- stitute a large delegation of colored joyed the children's program for women came from several churches. themselves apart from their interest The prominent missionary women who in learning how to teach chilcken. were hostesses deliberatelv sat with some of this group at IUli.ch so that The study books for Juniors were exhibited and a graphic explanation was they would be sure to feel entirely made as to why they are of value and welcome. for what special groups they are One woman remarked, ' , You are adapted. Another part of our programs was wasting your energy in putting on called "Missionary Hymns: New these very difficult programs. Our Uses for Added Inspiration." Here Boards write us letters telling us what were suggested and outlined the books to use and how to use them. stories of hymns and their authors, Why should you women think you followed by the singing of these must go to all this hard work T" The hymns and the suggested use of slides program chairman replied, "Do you with other hymns. An inspiring pro- think that letters can do what pergram of worship and praise was in sonalities standing right up in front of women can do Y A letter can't have this way demonstrated for a pleasant missionary night or entertainment. a bright, interested face, a pleasing voice full of enthusiasm, eyes which At each church, the Central Pub- say, 'I love this great cause of mislishing Co. of Cleveland put up a sions, come let's work a little harder table of study books, old and new, for together for Christ's Kingdom.' " sale, and other helpful missionary literature, plays, leaflets, magazines. The results were that most of these women who taught the books were Ji'or, as the leader said, "How can we lined up on our Cleveland Lay-Womenthuse others unless. we know, and en's Christian Service Speakers B.urhow can we kng·w unless we study for eau, and in five weeks fifty calls have ourselves T No missionaries or speakers can pour into our minds enough c,ome to the Bureau and many calls knowledge to make the kind of en-' have gone directly to the speakers thusiasm which stirs others." . Be- themselves, so that there need be no sides the books, there were charming speakerless meeting in our city posters by Miss Maude Bradley of through lack of capable lay_women Providence, Rhode Island, and Mrs. Mary Telford of Dayton, Ohio. No speakers. Institute of Missions is complete with- Another result has been that one .
out some illustrations to show the group of women in a very prominent church folks how to advertise. church decided that they, too, would study missions. There had never been In a city of over a miIliGn people a group studying by themselves in that church. As they purchased their it is hard to determine where to take eight One – Day – Demonstrating – Mis- books they said, "This is the result of seeing these other women so intersions-Institutes. Since this was all ested. It comes out of your Instiunder The Federated Churches we tute.' , We know there are great orehad to be SThre to use churches of a variety of denominations. Next, the suIts we cannot measure but we feel sure that we are working hand-in churches must be easily accessible, and hand with Ghrist. "My Father works
and I work" is a good motto for these 5. Missions presented from the pulpit and lay-women who are trying to spur on in Sunday school.
our Cleveland women to greater study Total points, 5. Highest possible score 50 and better programs. Local church points……. Score •. .'.•. : Ministry PAR STANDARD 1. Resident pastor in the community or For a Rural Church area, giving full time to one church or two or more yoked churches. '
Physical Equipment 2. ~he c~urch, or churches, helping finan- 1. Comfortable II!'d attractive parsonage, CIally ill matter of pastor's membership mod~rn .eonvelllences, rent free. in 80me form of Annuity Fund.
2. AudItonum adequate to Beat maximum Total points, 2. Highest possible score, 20. Local church points……. Score ….• ,.. a. attendance at regular service. Organ and piano. Program 4. ~od l:>mps, acetylene, electric lighting, if possIble. 1. Systematic attempts to serve over as 5. Parking space or horse-sheds. ~rge an a:eR of the countryside as pos- 6. Properties kept in good repair and in slble, meetmg every need, condition and good order, inside and out. opportunity revealed by a careful study Total points, 6. Highest possible score, 60. of the same. Local church points……. Score …… . 2. Definite plan and program setting goals for year's work adopted annually by Finance church offi.cers and caotntgernetgioantiondf and held steadily before the 1. Church budget, including both local ex- penses a:ad be~evolences, adopted annually church. by congregatIon. a. Assumption of responsibility for some 2. ~ery Member Canvass for weekly offer- part of the church program (i. e., regu- mg, made annually on basis of budget; all church members, attendants and un- lar stated service) by at least twenty- attached persons solicited; envelope sys- tem used. five per cent of church members.
a. Bu~get of bene~olences meeting denomi- 4. Regular system of farm-stead visitation nll,tlqllal apportIonment or a -minimum SUm equll,! to one third o'f expense budget. participated iii by both pastor and peo- 4. All current hills paid monthly, and an ple. ~rr~gement a~ the bank whereby min- Ister s salary 18 placed to his credit on 5. Systematic evangelism of the educa- the first day of every month. 5. Systematic plan of payments, on prin- tional sort reaching entire area served cipal and interest of any church indebt- edlllllls, with additional provision for any and every resident therein. yearly refunds due Church Building So- ciety. 6. Definite effort to interest various age 6. Properties adequately Insured. and sex groups in religious, social and Total points, 6. Highest possible seore, 60. LoeaJ church points……. Soore ….•.. recreational activities. 7. Established goal for yearly Increase ia membership.
S. Service rendered to all oceupational classes and all racial elements not other- wise provided for.
9. Community service a definite part of church work. _ 10. Yearly systematic survey and mapping of area served, with view to a constant MeeUngs adaptation of the church program to 1. At least one service of worship and Sun- changing lleeds and opportunities as day school each Sabbath. they may arise; 2. Some form of occasional or week-night Total points, If). Highest possible seare, 100. service. Local church points……. Score..•….
Total points, 2. Hignest possible score, 20. Cooperation :ye>eaJ church points ……………. _ LoeaJ church score •••….•.••…..•• Cooperation with: 1. Local or near-by churches. Religious and Missionary Education 11. State and county interdenominational re- 1.. An every-Sunday Church School with an ligious agencies.
average attendance of two thirds of its 3. Local community organizations. 4. ~unty, state and _national welfare agen- membership. ClBS. 2. Efficient Rome Department and Cradle 5. Local and county agricultural agencies. a. Roll. made for enlistment and train- 6. Denominational boards. Provision Total points, 6. Highest possible score, 60. Ing of leaders for church and Sunday Local church points……. Score .•..•..
school work. 8U11T1mary 4. Definite and regular attempts to bring Total points, 37. Highest possible score, 370. Local church points……. Score••..••• p.uPils Into church membership with spe- cific prepara.tory instruetion.
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY AN INTRODUCTION TO MRS. CHIU, tional and welfare work among the OF SHANGHAI workers in different places; the Y. W. C. A. has been doing work It is with special pleasure that we along the line of creating public opin- ion and studying the conditions of laintroduce to our readers Mrs. W. T. bol'; and the Church definitely adopted a labor standard in May, Zung Chiu, of Shanghai, China. She 1922, at the National Christian Con- ferenc-e. is a graduate of a mission school and Then what are the actual condiof Smith College (1919) in America. tions in both the old and modern in- dustrial places 7 It will take pages to She also studied in England, was a delegate to the international labor conference at Geneva and is now an officer on the staff of the National Committee and the National Chris- tian Council of China. This splendid article from the pen of this brilliant young woman will be read with keen interest. E. D. MACL.
THE INDUSTRIAL SITUATION IN CHINA By W. T. ZUNG Omu, Shanghai, China Not until very recent years have people taken any interest in the wel- fare of the workers. The products of Chinese handicraft have been ad- mired and treasured far and wide, for centuries. But how many people have ever troubled themselves with the conditions under which those beautiful silks, tapestries, carvings, linens, potteries and so forth are made Y Likewise for more than thirty years since the ihtrQd.uction of rna· chinery into China noboay seemed to be concerned with the multitude of MRS. W. T. ZUNO eHIU (ZUNO WEll 'rSUNO) evils in connection with modern industry such as child and woman lao write about the apprenticeship system bor, long hours, unhealthy conditions alone. Suffice it to say that save for or low wages. We might sa.Y that very exceptional instances in all the some people, either Cb,ristians or non. work-places, new or old, these condi- Christians did appear to take interest tions are nearly identical, namely, in the poor people by doing excellent long working hours, no rest day, low wages, child labor, unhealthful condicharity work but few have ever tried tions, and no chance of development. to seek the roots of poverty, misery, Perhaps one can understand better if and wretchedness. Among these few some of the tenp.s are accompanied with a few words of explanation. are the Y. M. C. A.., Y. W. C. A. and They are as follows: the Christian Chureh whieh find their expression in various ways. The Y. M. C. A. through its social and L Lottg working hours.
industrial workers is doing educa- Fourloon or sixteen hours in old work 459
shops per day with few holidays during the Nations so she is not excluded from Chinese New Year and one or two big fes- partaking in the International Labor tivals. Organization activities. In March, 1923, the Chinese Government issued Twelve hours in mills where two shifts a set of factory regulations but up to are worked with two days' rest per month. this time they are not yet enforced. Fourteen or sixteen hours in silk filatures China is also not uninfluenced by the wh~re there is one shift. ideas of human value and equality of Fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen hours in opportunity for every human being, mines with or without weekly rest day. so we find the rapid growth of a labor 2,. Low wages. movement-a consciousness among labor. In spite of the fact that there Dollars and cents will not mean much to is no sanction for labor to associate, those who do not know the money value and unions of all kinds are found in this the prices of food in China. A silk woman country, headed by people who are worker testified before the Child Labor Com· mission in Shanghai in 1923 that thirty·six usually known either as "rotten years ago when she was seven years old she politicians" or "radically-minded began to work ill a silk filature as stirrer of cocoons in the boiling basin. She got youths. " 15 cents a day then. The little workers doing As the Church has just begun to the same process now get 18 or 20 cents a day. The reelers at that time received as a take interest in the labor conditions daily wage, 30 cents and the reelers today there is plenty of reason to say that get 37 or 38 cents a day. A picul of rice the Church as a whole has not yet thirty-six years ago cost $2.50 and today awakened to the vitalness of the ques- $13.00 (dollllrs and cents here are in Mex., tion. There is plenty of reason too ahout half the gold value). Prices of other for anti-Christians to say that the kinds of food have gone up at the same Christian Church is allied with caprate as rice; 80 has rent. italism and imperialism. There are already instances where labor groups 3. Chad labor. refuse to cooperate with the Christian social workers. They seem to have It is a very common sight to see young very little faith in the Christian tots of five, even four, or six work in both Church. We have to recognize this the cotton and silk factories. When parents' wages are low, habies have to earn fact–that there are very few Chris" money to buy· rice. tian leaders in China, missionaries or non-missionaries, who can pretend to 1I, Unhealthful conditions. understand what the labor movement In old work-shops it is fairly customary means. for employees to sleep in the places where they-work in the day time. In modern fac· The Church has done her part in tories practically no attention is given to medicine; education, and bringing th~ comfort of the workers. Many eat their meals while they work. Ventilation, tern· the Christian message to the thouperature, first aid are in most eases unheard sands of Chinese people in the past. of luxuries. The cotton mills in the North China is progressing despite the fact have adopted the dormitory system. The little workers share beds with eacK other- that she is handicapped b:f all kinds that is to say, when the night shift works, of internal and external disturbanCleS. the day shift crawls into the beds just left If we wish to see the Church in China by the former. The housing conditions in as the leading spirit in all phases of the mill districts· in Shanghai are just ap- life, the Church should cultivate herpalling. Dozens of people are often found self in knowing and understanding to be curling up in one room. These people more fully the needs of the people. are exposed to all kinds of diseases all the The Church should consider it h1lr year round. duty to find means to help remove the causes of social unrest. Until then With conditions .as aforesaid, who the Church will be looked upon as can wonder that so-called agitators something that helps to maintain the could find reasons for agitation Y On present social order which is beneficial the top of all that there is the foreign capital which creates misunderstand- to the favored few. ing by adopting the contract system. Through the barriers of language, lack of sympathy, and racial prejudices, the rank and file are suffering greatly.
Cb.j.~1!- is II. member of the League of
fROM
AFRICA which meant some hours of weary I'urity Work in Cairo trudging. On this occasion we did so much appreciate the calm fortitude ARTHUR T. UPSON writes in that Pastor Sadek showed when so Blessed be Egypt of the purity many insulting remarks were poured movement which was started during upon him. the World War and which "has never stopped, although it has now taken "Another God-given opportunity the form of distribution among Egyp- has been that in the Moslem private tian students and others rather than school. Here between forty and fifty among B<ritish soldiers, the latter hav- Moslem boys have had a Scripture ing had to be dropped from sheer lack lesson each morning in Arabic before of time. Any Thursday the faithful their English lesson. Sometimes there four may btl seen distributing in the has been opposition from the bigger bad quarter of Cairo, and the usual boys, specially when emphasis hasnumber of tracts distributed any eve- been laid on the Lordship of Christ. ning is about one thousand. We have At times one has been asked, 'What very often patrolled the distribution about our prophet Y' or one has heard. in the neighborhood and watched the during the lesson a whisper, 'Empty men coming away after receiving the words. ' Some of the bigger boys leaflets, but we have never seen as have called to see me, and we have many as one per cent torn up. As one thus got into more personal touch small illustration of observable result with them."
-a government official wrote to us from the Delta sending a Christmas Sudanese Sunday-Schools poem for insertion in Al-Bareed. THE successful work which is be- When we inquired how he came to do ing done by the United Presbytethis, the answer was given by Sheikh rian missionaries among the people of Iskandar, 'Oh, this is one of our the Shilluk tribe at Doleib Hill in the friends that we fished out from the Sudan is described as follows by Rev. bad houses through the tracts that we Stephen Trowbridge, secretary for were distributing; he is now a re- Egypt of the World's Sunday-School formed man and regularly reading Association: "Mrs. Oyler concen- Al-Bareed.' " trated especially upon developing a training class for Sabbath school Sowing Seed in Suez teachers. This was started in March, REV. H. E. Jones, of the Egypt 1925. She proposed to the class to General Mission, writes from make the effort to secure an attend- Suez: "On one occasion Pastor ance of 100 in Sabbath school. That Sadek and I got into the hands of seemed then the most that could be some fanatical men, who seized all our hoped for. But the members of this literature and took us by force to the training class have gone out into the Omdeh (the headman of the district). villages, and with earnest, quiet en- He threatened to bring us before the thusiasm have taught the life of authorities in Suez unless we signed Christ and the dramatic stories from an agreement not to distribute litera- the book of Acts. The training class ture in h.is district. We refused to do has now grown to 60, the station Sab- so, and he, reconsidering his threat, bath school to 167, and the number eventually allowed us to return home, attending the village Sabbath schools 461
to 1,350. A year ago there were no village idol j but they listened to the village classes. Tbe use of large col- Gospel, and asked the Christians to ored pictures in teaching has raised stay witb them a few days, and then an interesting problem. The Shilluks to return to teach them on Sundays.
very naturally suppose that Joseph, After a few weeks practically the Moses, Jesus, and Paul were black. whole village decided to become The Shilluks, with native dignity, re- Christian, and they had a public gard the black race as superior. Is it burning of idols. Just after this a best to dispense with the pictures and tree fell across the pathway leading let these tribesmen form their own to the place where the village idol had impressions" , stood, and this was taken by the peo- ple as a sign of approval from God Yoruba Chriatiana Loyal that the idol had been destroyed.
THE persecution of Christians is They are now building a churcn and by no means a thing of the past in teacher's house, and twenty-five chilthe Yoruba country of West Africa. dren are attending school.
For instance, twelve men living at an outstation of the Church Missionary Courtho118e Dedicated with Prayer T Society in the Benin district were HE chief, who is president of the native court of Owo, in the Yoruba fined £5 eacb in the native court for disobeying Ii summons to beathen sac- Country of West Africa, is a Chris- rifice. In that district it is the cus- tian. At the opening of the new tom when the priest requires a sacri- courthouse recently by the Resident fice, to put a staff or other emblem in of the Ondo Province, the chief said or near a house. The owner of the that the building would not be used house must go at once to those in until the African pastor and the mis- cbarge of the idol worsbip, taking an sionary of the Church Missionary So- offering of a goat or some other ani- ciety had had a special service of maL In this case the staff was put in prayer in it. A. day was appointed the church; and because the Chris- for this service, which was attended, tians removed it and brought no of- at the president's invitation, by all the fering to the priest, they were fined chiefs and court memoors, many of by the heathen chiefs. In another whom are Moslems or pagans.
part of the district some converts were fined for planting yams, etc., on Union in Central Africa tbeir farms before the day arranged THE Presbyterian Church of Cenfor holding the festival of the Orisa- tral Africa, recently formed by oko, a pagan rite.-The Christian the union of the Church of Scotland, (London). United Free Church, and Dutch Re- Whole Heathen Village Won formed Church in that region, is to be further strengthened by the inclu- THE Rev. W. J. Payne, working sion of the two German Missions-the for the Church Missionary Society Moravian, and the Berlin Missionary in Benin City, in the Benin Province Society-that have now returned to of Nigeria, writes that the 'work at their former fields of labor. "This,"
Ewonika, a new outstation sixteen says The Indw,n Standard, "is good miles away, is remarkable for its news on two grounds. It shows that rapid growth. Only last April there the process of reconciliation has not was not a single Christian in the vil- been confined to the efforts of states- lage. A special evangelistic effort men at Geneva or Locarno but has throughout the district was made dur- found practical illustration in the ing Passion Week, and some Chris- mission fields of Christendom. It is tians from Benin City went to also another proof that the distinc- Ewonika. The people had just been tions of Lutheran and Calvinists are celebrating the annual festival of the breaking down in the common effort
kEWS FROM MANY
to build up the Kingdom of Jesus 'heathen' in Turkey. They do not Christ both abroad and at home." force proselyting on those who are unwilling. They do not proselyte THE NEAR EAST among the Muslims at all, and where Protesting the LaU8aJ1l1e Treaty they do they are tactful. They are APROTEST, signed by 110 bishops even broad-minded about the right to of the Protestant Episcopal proselyte. They do not force their Church, against the ratification of the way into hl{uses of worship to preach their own doctrines without regard to pending Lausanne treaty with Turkey the religious sensibilities of others.
was sent to the U. S. Senate early in They do not ride rough-shod over the April. At about the same time 109 feelings of those countries in which American residents of Constantinople petitioned the same body asking favor- they are guests. Where they are able action. The signers in Constanti- bigoted they have learned not to nople include the president, vice- voice their bigotry, and many have been broadened out of their bigotry. president and eighteen teachers of the In Turkey you will not hear mission- Constantinople College for Women, representatives of the mission boards, aries gloat over their exploits, as I Near East Relief, the Y. M. C. A., and have heard missionaries in China the principal American business boast of their invasion of the native firms there. These petitioners say village of Confucius over the objecthat the terms of this treaty are in tions and pleas of his descendants."
some respects more favorable than those included in the treaties already Present Activity in Turkey· T concluded between Turkey and sev- HE American Board has now over a hundred missionaries at work in eral of the European powers. The Living Church, supporting the action its Turkey Mission and while there of the bishops, contends that the for- are serious restrictions, especially in mer treaty with Turkey, which pro- educational work, much is being done tected American interests better than both educationally and medically, and does the Lausanne one, has not been through personal friendship with the abrogated by war as was the case people in the mission stations. There with the treaties between the Euro- is a growing demand for the Chris- pean Powers and Turkey, and de- tian Scriptures in Turkish.
clares that "those senators who are The present period is characterized leading the fight against ratification by great literary activity. The daily have the moral sentiment of the as well as the periodical press dis- American people behind them. " The opponents of the treaty also charge cusses religious questions with great that 100,000 Christian women and freedom. Mohammedan literature girls are today kept in worse than outside Turkey is engaged in defend- ing Mohammedanism or attacking slavery in the Moslem harems and Christianity, whereas in Turkey there that the Kemal Pasha regime is re- is a large amount of criticism of Issponsible. lam itself by Turkish writers who de- Moslem Praises Ml..ionaries sire to see their religion brought into closer contact with the actual life of THE methods of Christian mission- the present day. Books are being aries in Turkey have evidently translated which deal in a friendly commended themselves to a writer in way with some aspects of Christianity.
a Mohammedan newspaper published Along with the incoming of general in English in South Africa, The Mos- disbelief in any religion there is a lem Outlook, who says: "Why are desire on the part of the more seri- the missionaries so rimch more liberal ously minded to find a way to make and tolerant in Turkey than in China, religion a moral and social force in for example f They do not cry the daily life of the Turkish people.
At present direct religious teach- cieties-in the south, the Arabian Mission; in the north, the United ing in the schools and colleges is for- Mission. At the south, the trend seems to be to strengthen the medical bidden, but the prohibition does not department; at the north the educa- tional, though this latter is shadowed apply to ethical and social teaching at present by the unwillingness of the local authorities to allow "Bible nor to the actual practice of religion study" to be made compulsory in th~ mission schools. But everywhere the in the lives of the missionary and opportunity and the promise makes an insistent call for devouter, fully other teachers. The desire of the equipped "evangelists" to minister to and foster the awakening con- Turks to achieve a real independence sciousness in Islam of an unsatisfied spiritual craving for better things. in all departments of life is one with New Plans in Bahrein which we should sympathize and ARECENT letter from Paul Harshould be willing to help in every way rison, M.D., says: "We are plan- ning a little advance work here at we can. L. G. M. Bahrein for this year, an effort to harness the reputation of the hospital Leader. Needed in Pel'llia to the evangelistic enterprise. Weare hoping to hold an afternoon clinic in JOHN R. VORIS wcrites in The Con- one or two of the outlying villages, tinent of the Presbytecrian Mis- stay on for an evening mejUs (recepsion in Persia: "One could wish tion) of guests, and finish up with a that the Mission might be able to or- Christian service. The new Women's ganize and finance industrial and ag- Hospital is taking shape rapidly as a ricultural work. The mission schools substantial and beautiful thing, an are training intellectual leaders, but objectification of a dream of years." not industrial, commercial or farm leaders. This must come eventually. School for Boy. in Aden In a small way the Near East Relief orphanage schools are giving indus- REV. CARL J. RASMUSSEN, of trial training, but there is here no ag- the Danish Church Mission, ricultural training, as in the Cauca- which works in Aden in close cooperasus. Industrial and £arm projects, tion with the mission of the Fcree however, require leaders trained along Church. of Scotland, writes: "In our these lines. As Persia begins to mission school all seats are engaged emerge from the realm of individual- and we could without doubt get many istic into organized industry, and more students if we had more ample from the stage of peasant farming to accommodation and a better equipped that of modern agriculture (a long teaching staff. Our work is carried and slow process) thecre will be on in a rented building where we can needed youth who can lead in these have about ninety students. It is conoccupations. And as the country be- ducted on the same principles as the gins to have some gleam of commu- Government '8 educational work. Relinity service, with nurses and social gion as a subject is not included in the workers, there must be some training curriculum, hut we have Bible reading along social lines." and prayers every day. It has been most inspiring to watch its effect upon In Irak and Arabia the students' minds. Those who in the beginning looked angry when we AMISSIONARY at Baghdad re- began the Bible lesson and often put ports that never in his long experience has he known so many Moslems coming for conversation on religious topics, with a sincere desire to know more about the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. On the other hand there is a rapidly rising tide of materialism that is causing devout Moslems much disquiet. This field from Mosul on down to Muscat is fairly well organized by the two so-
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
their fingers in their ears to prevent campaign story, hymn and Golden any new idea interfering with their Text. Then of the Christians who train of thought are now unwilling to actually gave up a day or days'
leave the schools without prayers. chances of coolie work and went to The ones who at first would not touch other villages along with the workers the Bible will now read it and openly to help in the preaching, there were ask questions regarding it." over 250. The importance of this type of willing Christian service can- INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA not be over-emphasized, for it is in Remarriage of Hindu Widows . this wise that India must be evangel- T HIS question is being approached ized. It is the witness of the Chris- from various angles beside the tian laymen and women which induces Christian one. The January REVIEW so many of their heathen brethren and called attention to the activities of a sisters to give up their names as desociety which concerns itself with siring to know more of this matter; hence a record of 2,500 inquirers. widows of high caste only. Recent Probably the most interesting feature pronouncements by Gandhi on the subject are being widely quoted. He in the reports of these 490 meetings holds that no girl should be married held during the two weeks was the inbefore she !las completed her fifteenth creasing demands made by caste peoyear (it will 'be remembered that a ple for more preaching among them.
bill raising the age of consent to fif- Ever so many definite invitations to teen was defeated in the Legislative come and present their message were Assembly last year); that all widows made by these classes to our poor outless than fifteen years of age should caste pastors and workers."
remarry; that girls married at fifteen and widowed within a year the,reafter The Gospel for All Groups •. !
A should be encouraged to marry again, METHODIST worker in the Pun- jab writes in The Indian Witand that the relatives of widows should treat them with the utmost ness: ' 'Practically all our Christians kindness and make arrangements for are from the outeastes; but there is a their education. "The spirit of these readiness on the part of all castes and rules is to be followed, not the letter," he says. "Hindu society will not classes to hear the Good News, in spite easily accept these changes. But of the fact that we are preaching just that whieh will erase all caste distincthese parents who feel the necessity tion. In one village we held a servof acting according to these rules, ice for a community of Chuhras (outmust try to introduce these reforms, castes) who were inquirers. Afterand should not be afraid of being put wards, a g:roup of Moslems came over out of caste." and said it was not right that we Witness of Indian Laymen should preach just to the outcastes, but that we should preach to them ASPECIAL evangelistic campaign too. After this service, some high- conducted by Canadian Baptists caste Sikhs came along and requested at Vuyyuru, Madras Presidency, is a service in their quarter. In another described as follows by Rev. A. Gor- village we came upon a group of don: "The two-weeks' effort was con- wealthy Jats (farmers). We asked ducted at the end of November when if we might preach to them. Forth- the weather was settled, the moon with they took us over to their gurd.
shining and the people free from labor wllJI"a (a building much like a church prior to the commencement of harvest. and used as their place of worship), The period of p;reparation had been brought out a rope bed for us to sit carried out most heartily at most of on, and a big carpet for themselves.
the villages, as is evidenced by the About forty of them sat down and fact that 2,171 Christians learned the listened while the 'Old Story' was 5
told, then asked some questions and nath Chattopadhya, a versatile listened some more until an hour and scholar, she had a rich ~aining. Afa half had passed. Yes, indeed, In- ter spending some time in Girton dia is wide open to the Gospel, and College, Cambridge, England, she remany of us feel that a movement on turned to India and plunged ardently the part of the upper classes has be- into zenana reforms, and the Moslem gun. We must not slacken, but re- Nizam supported her efforts. .After double our efforts to be found faith- marriage she withdrew from these acful in this time of opportunity." tivities for a time to educate her sons and write poetry, but presently re- Versatile Indian Preaehers sumed her pioneer work with re- doubled zeal. When Gandhi rose to THE Indian clergyman at Narowal, leadership in the years before the in the Punjab, the Rev. Barakat war Mrs. Naidu eagerly acknowledged Ullah, sends to the Church Mission- him. It is certain that in Mrs. Naidu ary Society some interesting details the Swarajists have chosen a dyof his work among the depressed namic ngure that will appeal to the classes in the district. Over 200 vil- imagination of India '8 masses. lage congregations round about Narowal are distributed among fifteen Pioneering in Assam preachers, whose work is to conduct services, teach people, examine them A MERICAN Baptist missionaries in the elements of the Christian faith, 1".. are at work in little-known Asbuild up their church life, superin- sam, and one of them w,rites as foltend the work, act as judges to settle lows of a tribe called the Rengmas: their disputes, and help them when "No missionary had ever given any of maltreated by their non-Christian his time to them, nor any European masters. In one village Mr. Ullah learned their difficult language but found that the Christians had chal- the spirit of God came upon a young lenged the local mottlvi (Mohamme- man named Viliezhn. While in Kodan teacher) to hold discussions with hiII!a as a civil policeman he was led their padre sahib (Christian minis- to accept Christ by another policeman ter) . The challenge had been ac- who was an earnest Christian. He cepted, the moulvi .appeared on the obtained leave twice to go to his own scene, but at the last moment had de- tribe, to whom he now felt impelled cided not to hold any discussion. In to carry the story of salvation. Great another village Moslems and Chris- crowds came to hear his strange mestians decided to discover the true re- sage. Soon he came back to report· ligion by throwing the Koran and the that sixty had become candidates for New Testament into the watel' and baptism. After three years there are then following the book which did not now 200 baptized Christians, and a sink! nominal Christian community of 500. Three more of this tribe have caught Mrs. Naidn, S….arajist the fire and are teaching and preach- ing. Their children are bright-eyed T HE election of Mrs. Sarojini and eager to learn, and Viliezhn has Naidu, a Hindu poetess, to suc- worked hard with the missionary to ceed Gandhi as President of the In- get out a little hymn book with Scripdian National Congress was an- ture readings. It is the first book nounced in the April REVIEW, as an ever published in that dialect." event of great signincance for India. The following facts in her life story Britons and Bur:mese Slave. are, therefore, of interest: Born in 1870 at Hyderabad, the capital of the T HE proposed expedition to the powerful M;ohammedan Ni$m, she wilds of Burma, to be conducted came. of· a distinguished Brahmin by government officials with the pur- ~!I-mily. From her father, Dr. Agor- pose of stamping out both slavery and
NEWS FROM MANY L,ANDS
huma.n sacrifice, was announced in made by motor. There are there the February REVIEW. A wireless fourteen families, all of whom are formessage to the New York Times April mer inmates of the asylum~ It is 29th told of the return of the expedi- worthy of mention that these lepers tion, headed by Deputy Commissioner have maintained their Christian serv- J. T. O. Barnard, of the Burma ices, have sent in theiiI' contributions Frontier Service. It had been stated and have added to their numbers.
that the slaves would be bought for The Chiengmai lepers have just sent about $30 apiece, but the report says down an elder to give them encourage- that 3,445 had been set free for 19,- ment and instruction.
000 rupees, which would make the price about $1.80. Commissioner CHINA Barnard reports that there was no To Limit Missionaries limit to the gratitude and joy of the I N a recent discussion of the number Kachins who were emancipated of missionaries needed in China through the act of the" Great White the Chinese Recorder (interdenomi- Chief," Sir Harcourt Butler, Gov- national journal published at ShangernOr of Burma. Thirty-four villages hai) as quoted in The Christian Cenagreed to give up human sacrifices. tury, holds that the national Church Others suggested that if the Govern- should have the final word as to the ment would .provide the victims for holding a final sacrifice the practice number of missionaries to be emwould be stopped. ployed in each field. Says the Re- corder: "The missionary body is still Siam.ese Christian. Lepers growing numerically. The original sending impulse is still operating.
THE deeply religious atmosphere And yet during the last five or more of the leper asylum conducted by years we have heard £requent refer- American Presbyterian missionaries ence to the wisdom of reducing the in Chiengmai, Siam, is one of the number of missionaries and have characteristics of the institution sometimes been asked how we think which has often been noted. 'The this could be done. We have no anlatest report from Chiengmai throws swer. This conference, however, sugfurther light on this subject. Prac- gested to the National Christian tically every leper in the asylum is a Council to take steps to study the need Christian and it is only a ma.tter of for missionaries in: China. This is time before they express their desire important. For a I steadily-rising to join the church. This is brought number of missionaries tends to conabout by constant teaching on the part tinue the emphasis upon the foreignof the leper elders who make it their ization of Christian work in China. business to teach all newcomers. Thaw With the best of motives it takes con- Chapel, which was dedicated January siderable time for foreign mission- 11, 1925, is the gift of Mrs. Mary C. aries to become 'indigenous.' Many Thaw, of Pittsburgh. It forms the never do. The decision as to the numcentral edifice of the asylum, and is ber of missionaries, who 'still have a the center of the Christian life of the large place in China,' is left to the people. It represents an answer to Chinese Church. The central task and tbe prayers of the leper people of ten aim of Christian work in China is years ago and only a small number of now to support the progil"am of the the original group remain to enjoy Chinese Church."
worshiping in their new chapel. This year sixty-three lepers were received Anti-Christian. Agitation T into full communion. This number HE Rhenish Mission reports that in spite of Bolshevism and antiincludes five lepers il"eceived from Ta Pee village some forty kilos south of Christian movements the Gospel is the city. The trip to Ta Pee was finding an open door in China. So
far there have been more baptisms of formed the band. Each morning we converts than for many years. The gathered in the church for a prayer meeting, and then went forth in pro. Rhenish missionaries have decided to cession through the streets-working continue their schools under the con- to plan, so as to cover as much ground ditions laid down by the Chinese as possible during the week. Our pro. Ministerium. Although these condi- cession was headed by two church tions make the study of religion op- members carrying the Bible poster tional, they can continue religious in- pasted on cloth in banner form. Then struction in Bible classes, Sunday- came five Christian 'sandwich board I schools and in various forms of reli- men carrying blackboards on which gious meetings. something new was written every day: e. g. one day we had (1) 'What- The following details in the Damsk ever is this T' (2)' What concern is Missio11hlad relate to the attacks on this of mine?' (3)' You cannot do Christianity in the press. Out of without it.' (4)' It is the great sal. ninety-five anti-Christian articles in vation.' (5)' How will you escape Chinese papers if you neglect so great salvation T' Then came the boys carrying the flags 36 attacked mission schools, of the evangelistic band. I took my place in the center of the procession 34 Christianity in general, with an accordion and as we went along the streets singing hymns and 11 Christians, choruses the people flocked to the doors just in time to be tackled by 5 ', the Christian Church, the tract distributers and colporteurs who were bringing up the rear of the 5 preachers, procession. The houses of Christians and inquirers and any favorable open 2 G'hristian literature, spaces were made use of for preaching stands and in this way thousands 1 the Bible, heard the Gospel daily."
1 " .Tesns Christ. Real Religion in Saigon New Na.me for Canton College AREPRESENTATIVE of the Christian and Missionary Alli. ASSEMBLYMAN F. TRUBEE ance in French Indo-China tells of an Annamese young man, assistant sta· .t. DAVISON, a trustee of Canton tion master in the Saigon rai1road de- pot, who was converted and who, after Christian College, incorporated un- living a consistent Christian life and der the laws of the State of New York, bearing faithful witness for several announced April 15th that the Board months, was taken ill and died. On of Regents had granted his petition his deathbed the young man called toto change the name of the college to gether the members of his family and Linghan University. The purpose is testified to the power of Christ to save to give the institution its Chinese from the sting of death. As a result equivalent and to denote the expan- practically his whole household acsion fifom college to university. In cepted Christ and the village was twenty years Linghan University has opened to the gospel message. Some time later a man was inquiring for grown to have 1,200 students, with a the home of this young man and College of Arts and Sciences, a Col- asked, ' 'Where is the house of the lege of Agriculture, a Department of young man who used to be the assist- Sericulture, a Department of Busi- ant station master at Saigon but who ness Administration and a Department of Education. The campus covers 350 acres and has fifty-two buildings. Three fourths of the annual budget comes fifom Chinese sources.
Street E:"a.ngelism in Szechwan DURING the Chinese New Year holiday 'Rev. T. Darlington, of the China Inland Mission, Wanshien, Szechwan Province, conducted a week of open-air evangelism. He says: "Thirty-six men and ten schoolbQYs
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
died last December ~ " The people America is not the only country in did not know, but after explanation which military training in schools and col· said, "Oh, you mean the young man leges is becoming a vital issue; the youth who had religion T He lived over the world over are revolting against it. there. " His neighbors had forgotten 'l'he Japanese youth are no exception to this that he had been assistant station world current, as they are also human and master, although he had held this po· object to wasting time in training for war. sition with a good salary for sev&al While their freedom of expression is very years, but they remembered him as well ban'daged with laws and customs, they the young man who "had religion," do not hesitate in demanding their right to though he had been a Christian only do their own reading and to think their own a few months. thoughts. . . . It is becoming clear that Chinese Christian Giving such requirements as these can not remam indefinitely in force without strong student T HE Chinese Church is giving of protest. The news from Japan, even during her new riches, says Rev. Wilmot the past several months alone, continuously D. Boone, of Tsinanfu, Shantung province, in a measure that American and increasingly told of student agitations Christians have not yet equaled: against tllCse measures. "The total budget of the Presbyterian China Missions is over $1,250,000. Influence of Modern Buddhism If salaries of foreign workers acre excluded, the Chinese are now paying THE thought life of Japan today is approximately sixty per cent of the compared by Rev. Robert S. Spenc08t-a different story from the day ccaetr~, writin g in The Christian Advowhen the only gifts were curses and to a sea lashed by winds. He orphans the only students. Our largest and smallest native contributions says: "To the careful student, not came to me upon the same day. The non-Christian but philanthropic wife the least significant thing about this of our tuchun or military governor sent a real windfall amounting to state of flux is the way in which any $49. In the local currency this is equivalent to 19,300 coppers. The commanding voice, no matter how companion gift was just two of the same copper coins-' two mites,' 'all empty Or strange its message, receives her living'-for this came from a blind Chinese woman who heard an attention and following, and modern appeal to a wealthi& neighbor and borrowed this little sum (half an Buddhism," Mr. Spencer says, "is American cent) from another of the four familieS in the little three- m'aking a strong effort to capture the roomed court where she lived, so that she too might give." enlighteued thinking of the country.
JAPAN.KOREA Christian missions in Japan face to- Students Against Militarl.Snt day, not a Buddhism which sends out T HE statement that Japanese stu- its priests to stone the missionary on dents are protesting against military training in schools and colleges evangelistic service, as my childhood was made in the March REVIEW. An article in the bulletin published by memory records, but a Buddhism the Japanese Student Christian As- which has laid hold of 'the edged sociation in America gives expression to this protest. It says: . tools of civilization,' as the Japanese phrase has it, and is eagerly inviting the missionary to meet it on intellect- ual grounds. Absolute idealism, the latent pantheism of the Western philosophical world, has been taken into the Buddhist grasp, its terms translated into Japanese thought, and thus Buddhism in Japan is bringing to its own support the thought of Western lands. And on the basis of such i.ntellectual appeal, Budclhism is car,rying the battle into Christian trenches. "
Superstition and Suicide I N THE old Japanese calendar, says a writer in the Missirmary Herald, 'the years are' named in ac- cordance· with' a scheme goverhed by
two systems. Certain combinations in this way T Have you ever read the in the names of years that are thus Christian Bible Y If you would read brought about are considered un- just one page of that Book you would lucky, and girls born at a certain one no longer go around saying such of these have the reputation of foolish and untrue things." The eloslaughtering three husbands before quent bystander was overcome with settling down to a peaceful life with amazement and the crowd was ima fourth. The year 1906 was of this pressed by the earnestness of the unlucky character, and girls born young student.-The Continent. then are now of an age when they would naturally think of marriage. Veteran Korean Christians Young men hesitate about becoming their victims, and their old-fashioned SAW SANG YUN, the first Korean parents are still more solicitous lest converted to Protestant Christheir sons should be -entrapped into tianity, is still living an honored marriage with girls now twenty Christian life in a small village thirty years old. Care must be taken against miles from Haiju. As picturesque deception on the part of the go- and as honored a Christian as Saw betweens, who arrange the marriages. Sang Yun is his younger brother, Grief over' the breaking off of en- Saw Kyeng Cho, now pastor emeritus gagements when the truth has been of the first Protestant Christian discovered, or the feeling of disgrace church ever built in Korea. TheSe at being unable to get a husband, has men have together served Christ for been the cause, it is said, of many more than a century in Korea as repsuicides. resentatives of the P,resbyterian Church. But they are honored by An Unexpected Defender Christians of every denomination. Fifty-two years ago, when Saw Sang ASTUDENT in Meiji Gakuin, Yun was traveling as a merchant in Tokyo, Japan, had been im- China, he was treated in a mission pressed unconsciously by the Chris- hospital and there became a Christian influence under which he had tian. When he came home with a been living at the school, but he had supply of Christian books, the police not professed Christianity and did caught him and all but beat him to not realize his loyalty to it until he death. A friend on the police force heard it attacked. He was walking secured his trelease on conditIon that through the city park one day when he get rid of his books. This he did he heard a man by the roadside by hiding them for future r.eference. preaching Christianity. He stopped Although it was nine years after this to listen to the sermon. Suddenly before the treaty between the United one of the bystanders took exception States and Korea permitte<;l missionto the statements of the preacher and aries to come. it was only three years began to harangue the crowd, say- after its signing that the church was ing that they should not believe what built in the native village of Mr. Saw. they had just heard about Christian- Meanwhile his brother had embraced ity, that it was not a good religion for the new faith. Japanese people and was merely the religious ideas of foreigners. The Koreans Sacrifice for Schools student, who had not been long acquainted with Christianity himself, T HIRTY day schools in the Pyengrecognized this as foolish talk and was yang District, Korea, have been indignant as he saw the influence cut off the Methodist mission budget which this bystander was having with by reason of the "cut in appropriathe crowd_ He stepped forward and tions" two years in succession. So to said, "What do you know about this keep the school open and alive pupils Christianity which you are attacking and parents in Nonghung formed a "Chicken-Growing Association."
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Each member makes an offering of a denominations has helped to quicken chicken a year for school support. the interest in the problem of reli- Chickens cost in Korea sixty cents gious education. The last Sundayeach, or twice the day wage of an school census revealed that fifty-eight ordinary workman. The non-Chris- per cent of the boys and girls of the tians of Kowanne omitted their an- Dominion attended Sunday-schools. nual sacrifice, sold the animals and Owing to the sparsely settled condifood, and gave to the Methodist mis- tion of many parts of New Zealand, sion to prevent closing the day school there are hundre~s of very small in that community. In a third com- schools and consequently difficulty is munity a "prayer and fasting band" experienced in adequately supervishas been organized. Each Satu.rday ing them. In many cases there is only evening the members pray for the one teacher and the children gather mission school and omit supper. from several miles around to one There are forty-five members each homestead to learn together the contributingt ten cents (the value of stories of the Bible and to be taught the meal) for the continuance of the in the way of righteousness. RecogschooL nizing that the training of the Sun- day-school teacher is a matter of su- Outcast Brings Ba.ck Blcssing preme importance, much attention has been given to this aspect of the work T HREE years ago the people in a during recent years. – American certain Korean village told the Friend. parents of a fifteen-year-old boy who had developed leprosy that he must Filipino Youth Movement leave the village. He refused at first to go, and they tried to drown him T HE fact that a real, vital, growing and threatened him with a knife. He Student Youth Movement is presfound his way to the leper hospital in ent in the Islands cannot be doubted, Taiku, seventy-five miles away, and according to a writer in the News after treatment for nearly three years Sheet of the World's Student Chriswas discharged as cured. A.. G. tian Federation, who says: "There Fletcher, M.D., Presbyterian mission- is a general striving after certain ary in charge, writes: ideals. There is a certain spirit of dissatisfaction with the bases, con- La.st month the hospital evangelist cepts, and methods of all phases of preached in this boy's heathen village and, human activity-of education, reliwith the lad's cooperation. won many con- gion, society, etc., and a united effort verts. A new church was started consisting for better conditions. There is an of eighteen men, mostly young, modernly obvious, concentrated 'movement' on educated and very enthusiastic. Three years the part of students for better. and ago these villagers, thinking to protect their more satis:factmy things everywhere. own lives, urged the parents to cast out These things which have been gradutheir leper son. Little did they dream that ally developing in the past few years the outcast would some day return, and still have recently found certain forms of less could they have known he would come expression and organization. As a with a cleansed body, no longer a menace to whole, the ideals of the Philippine their lives but a witness for Him who came Youth Movement are one with those "that they might have life and might have of other lands as expressed in the Fedit more abundantly!" eration: (1) the abolition of war; (2) the abolition of race hatreds and ISLANDS OF THE SEA prejudices; (3) Ohristian interna- tionalism; (4) Christian basis of in- NcW' Zealand's Sunda.y-Schools dustry; (5) Christian unity. With such worthy and noble ideals ;Lnd ob- S UNDA.Y-SCHOOL work in New jectives, students of the Islands in . Zealand has made distinct and gratifying progress during the last few years. The extension of the work done by the existing Sunday-school unions and the establishing of young people's depa.rtments by the various
different schools, colleges,~and univer- (2) its Prudential Committee to be sities feel united in one movement so increased from twelve to thirty-six, that it may be truly said that ther~ is not less than one third of whom a real movement of, by, and for, the should be women; and elected sev- Christian youth of the land for the enty-five women as members of the triumph of Christian principles in the Board and twelve women as well as Islands." twelve men to the Prudential Com- mittee. Sub-committees were ap- New Hebrides "Talking" pointed, and steps taken generally to- A MISSIONARY in the New ward completing as soon as possible Hebrides, quoted in the Moody Institute Monthly, tells how the na- the unification, administratively, of tive Christians carry their testimony the American Board and the three aggressively into the enemy's camp. Woman's Boards. In due time Natives love a big "talk." Often women officers will be elected to the after a big church meeting the men executive staff of the Board, and all gather outside and exhort and ha- the foreign missionary work of the . rangue by the hour. Such meetings Congregational churches will f1l:nction have been held at various centers on as one. the fringes of heathen districts and have afforded an opportunity for both Na.tional Y. W. c. A. Convention Christians and heathens to show reason for their adherence to their re- T HIS gathering, held in Milwaukee, spective beliefs. That the heathen Wis., April 21st to 27th, was not consented to appear at all was in it- only thoroughly repJ'esentative of the self a concession, and almost invari- Association movement, but was also ably the bulk of the "talking" came attended by official delegates from from the Christian party. At one numerous other organizations. The meeting a mim who had been a leader convention passed with only one disamong the heathen, and whose name senting vote a resolution opposing any was one to conjure with, challenged action to weaken the Eighteenth anyone to say when and where he Amendment, and pledging hearty cohad said certain things abusive of operation, not only for the enforce- "the worship." This indicated the ment of law, but for the building of beginning of a change. Gradually he an intelligent public sentiment for became more friendly to the Chris- law observance. The action most tian party, and finally he took a defi- hotly debated by the convention, but nite stand, publicly acknowledging which was passed by a vote of 1,174 his change of mind and telling the to 199, was the optional membership heathen present that if they would plan, which permits others than only give proper heed to the Word members of evangelical Christian they too would change their minds. churches to become full voting mem- bers of the Association. NORTH AMERICA Presbyterian-Reformed Merger A. B. C. F. M. Reorganization By FORMAL action at Atlantic F OLLOWING the recommendations City March 3rd the General of the meeting of the National Council of the Presbyterian and Re- Congregational Council held in Wash- formed Churches in America was ington recently, the American Board united with the American Section of of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- the Alliance of Reformed Churches sions at its meeting March 16th, Throughout the World Holding the amended its by-laws so as to allow Presbyterian System. While these (1) its membership-at-large to be in- two bodies differed somewhat in concreased from 150 to 225, not less than stituency and in scope, their purone third of whom should be women; poses were in many particulars simi- lar. The Canadian Church was not
connected with the Council, as it is gelical Denominations voted in 1922 with the Alliance, but the two organi- to disband and to merge their com- zations otherwise represented practi- bined forces into the International cally the same group of denomina- Council of Religious Education, of tions, and many of the delegates which new organization this was the served in both. It was proposed at first convention. Richmond in 1925, when the two organizations met at the same time, that School Bag Gospel League there should be a merger, and the plan prepared by a committee then T HIS organization, established in authorized was adopted at Atlantic 192~, whose activities have been City. Besides its maintenance of referred to in the REVIEW in the past, standing committees on foreign and now reports work in 181 centers in home missions, work on the continent thirty-four states. The card signed of Europe, Christian education and by the children who join the League literature, ministerial pensions and reads as follows: church history, which bring these I hereby apply for membership in The subjects before the Alliance for dis- School Bag Gospel League. I promise to cussion, the organization will have carry in my school bag and read through the power, "in connection with home Gospel according to John. When finished, I missions, evangelism, work among agree to pass on the Gospel of s,t. John to colored people, church erection, Sab- some boy or girl, thereby securing a new bath schools, publications, education, member; I further agree to notify the ministerial relief and comity," to es- League, which promises to send me a seetablish and appoint administrative ond Gospel~ when that is finished, I am to agencies to "maintain and conduct get the third Gospd, then the fourth. When the work representative of anyone or I finish the last Gospel, the L€ague will give more of the causes mentioned, as con- me a New Testament as a prize for my sented to by the several supreme ju- reading through the four Gospels. dicatories concerned." Striking spiritual results in the lives of many child;ren and in their homes have been reported as resulting from this plan.
"Building Christian Citizenship" Keswick Colony T HIS was the announced theme of SUCH sacred associations gather the convention of the Interna- around the name of Keswick, tional Council of Religious Education, England, that it may surprise some attended by about five thousand peo- to learn that the United States has a ple in Birmingham, Ala., April 12th Keswick, too-a colony near Laketo 19th. Addresses were delivered wood, N. J., and founded twenty-four by outstanding leaders, including years ago by Wm. Raws of Philadel- President Coolidge, and conferences phia. Himself a reformed drunkard, were held on such subjects as chil- Mr. Raws had established a large resdren's work, church and Sunday- cue home and two missions in the school pUblicity, leadership training city, but felt the need of a place where and fine arts in religion. There was his converts could be out of reach of also a conference of denominational their old temptations. With no editors. At other sessions the execu- funds, but with great faith in God, tive committee submitted its ,report, he got hold of a 500-acre plot of land, the program of the International on which he built up Keswick Colony, Council of Religious Education was which during its quarter century of presented by the general secretary service has cared for more than 5,000 and staff, and reports were submitted men, including many doctors, lawyers, by the lesson committee and the com- ministers, priests, professors and memittee on education. The Interna- chanics of all kinds, and has pointed tional Sunday-School Association and them to the One who alone could meet the Sunday-School Council of Evan- their need. Many of these men have
found the Colony a refuge, and a "Mexicans used to be thought ot as gateway to a new life. All over this confined to the Southwest, but today country men are thanking God for they are going into Michigan beet Keswick and the freedom they found areas by companies as large as 6,000 there. The place stands for regenera- -such as invaded the Saginaw distion, not reformation. Since the trict over a year ago. There are death of Mr. Raws, friends have re- more than 13,000 in the steel district modeled one of the buildings so as to around Pittsburgh. They are tound make it a rest home for missionaries by thousands in Gary, Indiana; Joland other Christian workers, and ar- iet, Illinois;, 10,000 are in Chicago, rangements have been made with the and in proportionate numbers in "Council of the Victorious Life Tes- other communities of the Central timony" which point to a develop- West. Coming as they do from the ment Ot at least a portion of the prop- lowest class in Mexico, they bring erty as a summer conterence center. with them a heritage of more than 400 years of peonage, with its igno- Progress in Interracial Work rance, superstition, illiteracy and sus- picion. Equipped only to adopt the Ar THE seventh annual meeting Ot questionable social and recreational the Oommission on Interracial phases Ot the average community, Oooperation, held at Tuskegee Insti- they present a real problem as neightute April 8th-10th, sixty members ot bors and potential citizens. The the Oommission and staff were pres- Presbyterian Board of National Misent trom all parts of the South, be- sions is meeting their needs with a side more than a hundred visitors. program of evangelism, education and Among the number were many well- social service which, in its wisdom and known ministers, educators, business scope, appeals to industrial leaders in and protessionaI men, Y. M. O. A. almost every instance where work is secretaries and leaders Ot women "s established. religious and civic organizations. The reports trom the field dealt with the Japanese In LOR Angeles ''Y'' tollowing lines of successtul interracial effort: Assistance rendered in T HE directors of the Los Angeles hundreds ot colored school projects; Y. M. C. A. have contributed to health campaigns conducted; clinics better race relations by providing for and hospitals established; sewer, a Japanese department in one of the street paving, water, lights and other city branches. This is the result of public improvements secured for Ne- an experiment which has been congro sections in a number of cities; ducted quietly for the past year, durlibrary tacilities, rest rooms, parks, ing which trom fifty to seventy-five playgrounds and pools provided; ap- Japanese have been members ot the pointment of Negro probation officers, branch and have participated in its the furnishing ot legal aid, and the activities. There are three other inclusion ot colored welfare agencies coast cities which conduct special in community chests. The Commis- Japanese Y. M. C. A. branches, to sion was especiallly gratified with the which no white members are adwide-spread anti-lynching compaign. mitted. But the Los Angeles action for the first time admits Japanese to Our MeJdean Im,Dligrants membership in an established branch under the control ot a special Japa- AGREAT tide ot Mexican immigra- nese committee. "The Japanese of tion is spreading all over this Los Angeles," says The Christian country into the industrial regions of Century, "have responded to this acthe interior. Paul H. Buchholz tion both financially and emotionally writes ot it in Women and Missions: to an astonishing degree. "
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
LATIN AMERICA Union. Aside from the capital city, The Y. M. C. A. in Mexico San Juan, and the second largest city, DR. ANDRES OSUNA, Commis- Ponce, which are common territory, sioner of Education for sixteen the island has been allocated in ex- clusive areas to the different denomiyears in the State of Coahuila, and nations and there is no overlapping vice-president of the National Coun- or competition. A union evangelical cil of the Y. M. C. A. in Mexico, theological seminary and a union .stated during a recent visit to the evangelical board of publication are United States that the general Asso- maintained. ciation program is teaching coopera- tion. The Y. M. C. A., in training the people socially, recreationally and Church and State in Chile A hygienically, is of material help alsoN ARTICLE in El Heraldo (Jris- tiano, published in Santiago, along general educational lines. It has the good will of the Government and says: "The Roman Catholic Church government officials. That the people, in ChlIe is now separated from the too, are impressed by its program is State. The wound which this has demonstrated by the fact that it is caused is enormous, notwithstanding governed and financed almost en- the palliatives administered in the th:ely by Mexicans. In a campaign shape of some millions of dollars held last October in Mexico City to which the Church will receive from raise 500,000 pesos ($250,000) for the the State through the coming five Y. M. C. A., the Government gave years. The heads of the Church pre- 100,000 pesos. About ninety-live per tend to be satisfied with the new cent of the members there are Catho- state of things, from fear of g,reater lics, and although the Archbishop losses, and also because they expect called upon an Catholics to leave it, to reap benefits that do not appear on only nine or ten obeyed him. the surface. The separation of church and state in Chile is a triumph Church Union in Porto Rico for the Protestant cause. It is the THE foundations for an indigenoue fruit of the seed that has been sown church in Porto Rico are being in past years. The idea of religious laid these days. Congregational and liberty was made the battle cry of United Brethren forces are leading political parties opposed to the R.. and the early cooperation of the C. Church, but although they fought Christian Church is expected. The on purely political grounds they name proposed is the United Evan- were made the instruments in God's gelical Church of Porto Rico. These hands to prepare a way for the Gosthree bodies, with their thirty-live pel. " The writer goes on to show churches, lifty-one additional preach- that the Church of Rome, which for ing places, and 3,093 communicant motives of self-interest, apparently members, represent one fifth of the bows her head to the storm, at the Protestant life on the island. The in- same time in ways far more difficult vitation is extended to the other de- to combat, is reaching out after her nominations ;represented on the island old temporal power.
to join in the United Church, and the affiliation of some or most of these Forest Indians of the Amazon T eventually is anticipated. Seven de- HE Christian and Missionary Al- liance reports the establishment of nominations, Northern Baptists, Dis- ciples, Methodist Episcopalians and a. pioneer station among one of the Northern Presbyterians, Congrega- largest of these tribes, the Campa, tionalists, United Brethren, and who dwell in northern Peru on a Christian, have from the beginning great plateau of fine pasture land at conducted their work under a comity an elevation of about 4,000 feet. Thus ag,reement called the Evangelical far they have been able to resist all
the efforts of the white man to pene- formers and opposed to the Word of God." trate their country. They are fine Gospel OlUllpaigns in GIa_ow specimens of physical fitness, unusu- I N THE account given in the Deally intelligent, and, while savagely cember REVIEW of the meeting at- tended by three thousand people jealous of liberty, are kindly disposed which was held in Glasgow to com- memorate the fiftieth anniversary of to those who show themselves the visit of Dwight L. Moody to that city, it was stated that many fruits friendly. The party of four young of Mr. Moody's work are still evident. Charles Inglis, writing in the London men now studying Spanish in Peru, Christia,n, of meetings which he has been conducting ;recently, says: is preparing for the establishing of a Glasgow is, perhaps, one of the greatest station on the borders of this Campa and most fruitfu} centers for aggressive gospel work in the whole of Great Britain, territory. A site has been secured and this may be attributed largely to the enduring infiuence of the campaigns confrom the Government where formerly ducted there by Mr. Moody. In the Tent Ralls belollging to the Glasgow United a Roman Catholic station was built, Evangelistic Association, some fifteen thou- sand men, women and children are brought which was burned to the ground in under the sound of the Gospel each week; and scarcely a meeting passes without souls 1912 because around it gathered the being turned to the Lord and born again of the Spirit. A remarkable feature was witbrutal rubber hunters who oppressed nessed in the processions of believers, hun· dreds strong, that sang through the streets,. the Indians. This station at Cahua- thus bringing the meetings to the notice of many by whom they would otherwise have panas on the Pichis River is in the been neglected.
heart of the jungle, and the mission- No Religious Liberty in Spain aries will need to clear the ltahnedi~ erect A TRIBUTE to the high character their house" and provide own of Spanish Protestants was paid in the May RE~IEW. The fonowing living after the manner of tIle early quotation from Evangetical Christen- dom indicates some of the difficulties American pioneers. under which they are laboring: EUROPE It is generally believed by those who are not in contact with facts that Spain today British Evangelicals Aroused enjoys religious liberty. Since the begin· ning of the Dictatorship, obstacles have been AMOVEMENT has been on foot to placed in the path of the reformers. It is secure cooperation between the unwise to publish details other than those Evangelicals in the Church of Eng- which have been noted in the Spanish press. land and Free Churchmen respecting The constitutional guarantees have been the position of Protestantism, espe- suspended, and the articles which bear on cially in regard to P,rayer-Book Re- the liberty of meetings, the freedom of the vision. Under the auspices of the press and of public speech, and others which World's Evangelical Alliance, a affect Ervangelicals, are not in operation. The meeting along the lines of the one last Governor of the province of Soria imposed year is to be held June 1st in Albert a heavy fine on two Evangelicals for sing· Hall. London. The Free Church of ing hymns and the Evangelical press was Scotland states the purpose of this forbidden by the Censor to draw attention meeting to be "That London and the to the fact and discuss its importance. The country may witness the resolute de- two men condemned sung the hymns within termination of the churches of the their own home. In Alicante the usua} pro· Reformation by all means in their cession of children with their banner and a power to oppose the insidious as well band was prohibited, and in Soller a burnas open assaults on gospel truth and ing of Protestant books publicly took place. liberty established at the Reformation. " Its announcement continues: "It is necessary to be prepared to contest in Parliament any measure of the National Church Assembly which, under cover of Prayer-Book revision, may seek to introduce into our national worship a counter-Reformation, or the sanction of mediaoval doctrines and practices repUdiated by the Re-
books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-
THE REVIEW.
Modern Missions in Chile and Brazil. Chile and the g,reat Protestant states- W. Reginald' Wheeler, Robert Gardner man of Brazil, Erasmo Braga. McGregor, Maria McIlvaine Gillmore, Glimpses of the Montevideo Confer- Ann Townsend Reid and Robert E. Speer. ence are given, with its epoch- lUus. and maps. xviii, 434 pp. $2.50. making meetings. Even those not in- Philadelphia. 1926.
Secretary Wheeler's collaborateurs terested in evangelistic and educain this portly volume are members of a commission appointed by the Board tional work will be impressed by the of Foreign Missions of the Presby- business-like presentation of facts and terian Church in the U. S. A. to visit the countries described. The tour was the prophetic view of missionaries as accomplished in 1924-25 and hence they make their sane appeal for enthis is an up-to-date report of what keen observers and devoted friends largement. The volume is a conglomof missions found in these two great erate, full of fun and the delights of Latin-American Republics. Like its predecessors, the volume travel, inspiring to the Christian who contains vivid accounts of the coun- is moved by progress in the Latintries traversed and of the stations visited. There is the added inspira- American branch of the Kingdom of tion resulting from the special meetings held and the introduction to God, sobering because of the plain leading workers as they meet in conference and are seen at work. No facts which face the Church and efforts carried on by the Northern Piresbyterian Church in those coun- threaten serious loss unless early retries escapes the searching eye of the enforcements and increasing funds Commission, so that we outsiders also see their visions. Clear maps and are placed in the fields. The main rewell-chosen pictures show us the route of the Commission and the mis- sults of the books are summarized in sion sites and scenes visited. The most remote station at which the trav- the chapter upon "Impressions of South America and the Mission Work There." Its personal effect should be what one sentence in that chapter states: "We are going home to be a company of advocates of South Amer- ica. . . . Let us go home to summon our Churches to respond to the call we have heard set forth with such urgency and friendship and good will." A book that accomplishes this is well worth reading. H. P. B.
elers called was Cuyaba, in far West- The Moslem World of Today. Edited with a foreword and closing chapter by John R. ern Brazil near the Bolivian border. Mott. 42() pp. $2.60. New York. 1925. Going up interior rivers, accompanied by countless mosquitos and other un- mentionable "small cattle," with This is a readable presentation of only one sheet on your bed and no the important papers (twenty-two in chair for anyone, are details which number), that leading workers among suggest hundreds of other accidentals Moslems read at " Conferences of mentioned. In a word, the reading Christian 1Workers Among Moslems,"
public is the victim of a plot to make in 1924, held at Jerusalem, Constan- it impossible to be ignorant of South tine, Helwan, Brnmana and Baghdad.
American travel and society, not for- Some of the papers are products of getting such fine specimens as the old- wide studies and experiences of spe- est living convert to Protestantism in cialists. Previous conferences do not 477
compare with these either in com- turesque and convincing way base prehensiveness, in the value of the ad- upon it arguments for a a new for- dresses, or in the grasp of actual ward movement, to win the Moslem present-day situations with their op- world to .Jesus Christ.' H. P. B.
portunity and obligations. No paper The Bible: Its Christ and Modernism. in this entire volume is prosy or lack- T. J. Me Crossan. 208 pp. $1.50. New ing in interest. Brilliant and forceful York. 1925.
writers, like Basil Mathews, Canon This volume presents the extreme Gairdner, and our Lady of the Algerian slums, Lilias Trotter; Islamic conservative position with numeNUS specialists, like Professors Margoliouth, and Snouck Hurgronje; and references to the Scriptures and the the J."ising luminary of Cairo, Profes- proof text method. sor Jeffrey, speak from accurate studies; platform advocates of the The five divisions are: "Why We missionary cause, like Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, "the rhetorical apostle of Know the Bible Is Inspired"; "Why Moslem Missions," as the late Profes- Christ Ought to Be Our Highest and sor Dr. Warneck once characterized him, speak from intimate contact Final Authority on Every Subject with sympathizing fellow workers; three other Moslem women workers, Upon Which He Declared Himself"; "Six Great Teachings Which Modern- ists Deny"; "Five Reasons Mod- ernists Dare to Criticize the Bible"; "How the Bible Estimates Modern- ists. " J. F. R.
all of them most helpfully contribute The Xey To Faith. Michael O. Gershenson. to a wonderful program. Translated by Herman Frank. 156 pp.
Even the well-informed readers who $1.50. New York. 1925.
may know much concerning Moslem The subject is alluring, but the work, will be surprised at many of treatment is disappointing. The the facts given, especially those relating to Moslem modernity and the re- author is a Russian scholar, versed in cent forward movements in Islam, educational, social and even religious literary criticism and modern philos- -facts that are most interesting and prophetic. Surely these conferences ophy, who, in the closing years of his came "to the Kingdom for such a life has attempted to give a J."ealistic time as this," and all who desire ammunition for agitation and the en- study of Old Testament religion. He largement or promotion of work among Moslems will find here the am- offers no proofs for his views, and munition and the inspiring generals seems to know nothing of exegesis. of the coming campaign. There are here many topics dealt Instead of using the Bible as the with that give information not com- basis for his conceptions, he reverses monly known. But perhaps the two chapters more convincing and path- the process. The author pictures God pointing than any others are the two closing ones, Dr. Robert E. Speer's as passionate and impetuous, yet in "The Issue Between Islam and sore need of man whom He fears because of man's freedom of will.
The struggle between humanity and deity is bitter and jealous on both sides and morality is created when myths give way to codes of religion.
Only pronounced "modernists" will commend such a book. J. F. R.
Christianity," and Dr. .John R. Mott's Quiet Talks on the Crisis and After. S. D. Gordon. 224 pp. $1'.25. New York. "The Outlook in the Moslem World." 1926. The latter gives a nine-fold program, "with reasons annexed." It is greatly This latest volume in the series of to be desired that every pastor who , 'quiet talks" is in a new vein and would be intelligent on a missionary deals with prophecy, particularly as religion which numbers nearly a to a present and future crisis in the quarter of a billion should read this world. The somewhat picturesque vovolume carefully, and then in a pic- cabulary which has been a marked characteristic of Mr. Gordon's writ- that our Lord's birth took place in August B. C. 5 and His crucifurion on ings is much less evident and this is Friday, April 17, 2.9 A. D. He takes the temptation as a spiritual experian advantage in the present case. ence, accepts the superhuman expla- nation o.f the miracles, believes in The first half of the volume is a the physical resurrectio.n and in the reality o.f the ascension. In some of review of the great crises narrated in his interpretations and conclusions, we cannot follow the author, but his Scripture, the Eden crisis, the Flood views are clear and deserve a careful study. crisis, etc. These are treated in a Soonderbal Powar. K. Storrie. 12mo. single chapter under many sub-head- l11} pp. 3s. Glasgow. 1925.
ings in a way to suggest Papini's ar- The father o.f Soonderbai Powar was of the Mahratta caste and became rangement of New Testament ma- a Christian through attending a Bible class conducted by Dr. Murray terial. The remaining half of the Mitchell at Wilson College, Bombay. His daughter was born in 1856 and book is made up of a striking analysis died in 1921 after being in Christian work for forty-five years. She of present-day cond-itions, religious, taiIght her sisters in the zenanas, was a friend of Pandita Ramabai and essocial, moral, educational, commer- tablished a combined Christian train- ing home, Bible college and orphancial, etc., all foreshado.wing a great age that was greatly blessed. Three times she visited England and was reconsummation in the coming King- ceived with honor. The sto.ry of her life is full of evidence o.f the power of dom. The array of facts presented is God and the need fo.r Christ in India, but it is not told with any literary startling and o.f compelling interest. skill.
While some will feel that the picture Jesus and Our Generation. ,Charles Whitney Gilkey. With author's prefaee is o.verdrawn in certain particulars, and account of Barrows Lectureship Fou.ndation. Svo. ISO pp. $2.00. Chiit will be difficult, nevertheless, to. es- cago. 1925.
cape the author's general conclusion. The Barrows Lectures in India, in- terrupted by the World War, were The book will be read with profit, for resumed November, 1924, to Febru- ary, 1925, in a course given by Dr. it strikes a clear and positive note on Gilkey in Bombay, Lucknow, Lahore, Calcutta, Rangoon, Madras, and the subject of the great essential doc- Ceylon. 'l'he audiences were chiefly university students, a majority of trines of Scripture, a fact which will them non-Christians. Strikingly dif- ferent in matter and manner are reassure those who have been dis- these lectures from the ea.rlier courses of Dr. Barrows, Dr. Fairbairn, and turbed by certain ambiguous state- Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall. They are perhaps better adapted to the modern ments in one or two of Mr. Gordon's student temper. In the Western world, and probably also in the East, earlier volumes. H. R. M. students are not ready to give a pa- Our Lord's Earthly Life. David Smith. Svo. 494 pp. $3.00. New York. 1926.
Lives of Christ are so numerous and written from so many angles that the publication of a new biography is justified only by some new light or peculiar excellence. The justification of this· life, by the professor of New Testament Criticism in the Presbyterian College of Belfast, keland, seems to be in the combination of devout faith, Biblical knowledge, scholarly viewpoint and good sense. Dr. Smith believes in the Bible as, on the whole, a reliable record of facts; he is loyal to. Jesus as So.n of Man, Son of God and Saviour; his purpose is to present a simple, full and reliable life of. Christ during His earthly years. There are other "lives" as good, but none of the noncritical and non-technical are more comprehensive in use of Biblical material. The arrangement is simple and chronological. Dr. Smith holds tient hearing for any message not ex- the establishment of' schools, hospitals pressed in simple terms. '£he East and dormitories. Silliman is unique has never lost its taste for metaphys- in its approach and is known through- ics and its capacity for meditation, out the length and breadth of the but the younger generation every- Islands. The Silliman spirit and where is practical. Dr. Gilkey is Silliman boys are known everywhere aware of this, and shapes his mes- and many former students have come sage accordingly. Eminently practi- to the United States for advanced cal, yet not devoid of elements of study. The best work is in the kindly mysticism, are the author's discus- Christian service rendered wherever sion of "Jesus and Our Generation," they go and in whatever profession " Jesus' Way of Life," "Jesus' Life or occupation they take up.
with God," "Jesus and the Mysteries "Making a Nation," gives a brief of Life and Death," "The Lordship and fascinating picture of present of Jesus," and "Jesus and the Fu- conditions. In the wonderful changes ture. " The author believes and de- which have taken place during the clares the substance and summary of past quarter century, much credit his lectures may be stated in the con- must be given to the American ofcluding words of Albert Schweitzer's ficials, but "unless there had been "The Quest of the Historical Jesus" : real ability, desire for enlightenment , 'He comes to us as one unknown, without and push in the people themselves, a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He there would have been no progress." speaks to us the same words: 'Follow thou Dr. Hibbard feels there is, unfortume! ' and sets us to the tasks which He has nately, a growing distrust between to fulfil for our time. He commauds. And the two nations. It is due to the to those who obey Him, whether they be Filipinos, to the American business wise or simple, He will reveal Him.self in men in the Island, and to the misthe toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which sions that some definite goal be fixed they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall toward which all could work harlearn in their own experience who He is." moniously together. C. C. A. It is clearly shown that the mission Making a Nation. D. S. Hibbard. 127 work has not been proselyting from pp. 50 cents. New York. 1926. the old Catholic Church. An atfempt Few men ·in the Philippines are has been made to educate and train bette,r fitted to speak of the Filipino for life, and to offer a remedy for people, their customs, their accom- sin, superstition and unbelief. The plishments and their aspirations, than message has gone deep and many is Dr. Hibbard, President of Silli- Christian heroes and martyrs bear man Institute, of Dumaguete, and witness to the Power of the Word of one of the first missionaries to go out God. Some thrilling stories are told to the Philippines. He early turned of faithfulness in times of' great his attention to Christian education stress. Christian statesmen are found and his institution, which began as a in all branches of the Government grammar school, is now of full Col- helping to bring the New Day.
lege Grade and duly authorized by Such an one is Senator Camilo Osias, the Government to grant the same de- formerly President of the National gree as that offered by the College of University. His ClaIiber may be seen Liberal Arts of the University of the in this quotation from one of' his ad- Philippines. dresses: "Perchance the great and The book shows what has been ac- distinct contribution of weaker na- complished by Presbyterian mission- tions may lie just in this, that in the aries to bring the influence of the definition of international philosophy Christian Gospel to the aid of Fili. they, more than the others, the smaller pinos. They have done this by nations more than the bigger ones, preaching, teaching and healing; by may be the instruments of Divine
for the teaching of the Demon Possession and Allied
John L. NeYius. 8 YO. 518 pp. $2.50. wisdom of peace and the criminality New York. 1925.
of war, peace as an attribute both Demon possession, or spiritism, is by no means an out-of-date subject. human and divine, and war as a In Asia and Africa evil spirits are still worshipped; in America and grievous wrong alld an enormous Europe, the spirits of the departed are still invoked. There is always an crime." H. F. interest in the occult and the spirit world. Dr. Nevius was a student of Life and Letters of St. Paul. Dada James religion, a student of science and a Burrell. 12mo. .)2 i pp. 1925. student of men. Therefore, he was interested in men's belief in spirits, St. Paul is a fruitful topic for good or evil. He made a thorough study, and the aged but virile author studY of the subject, conducted a of these popular studies knows how very' wide correspondence and wrote to draw many practical lessons from down the results of his studies. He the apostle's life. Young teachers and does not give his definite conclusion, preachers will find these studies ex- but he relates his own experienees in ceedingly fruitful. China as well as those of other mis- sionaries in India, .Japan and else- A Parent's Guide to Children's Reading. where. Then he studies the various Mary Graham Bonner. J2mo. 161 pp. theories and explanations~patho $1.75 net. ~ew York. 1926. logical, psychological, superstitious and biblical-·but fails to reach any The proper guidance of children's very clear cut conclusions. The reading is one of the most important author rather presents facts and testiresponsibilities of a parent or teacher, monies and allows readers to reach ibsnt~xicneetdhiensgelydadyisffoicfutlrt.ashTyhfeictEiodni,toirt their own conclusions. It is still one of the Childl-en's Book Department of the b~st books on the subject of of the Literary Digest, who is also the spiritism. author of a number of volumes of "Bedtime Stories" has here rendered Missionary Art Blotters. Five Series. 25 a real service to parents of children cents a set. $2.00 ten sets. For sale by up to sixteen years of age. Her suggestions comprise not merely a list of Mrs. T. J. Howells, 324 Spencer Avenue. recommended books, new and old, but include brief descriptions of the books Carrick, Pittsburgh, Pa. mentioned. They are classified under imaginative tales, history and his- "l.'hese attraetive missionary blotters torical romances, nature books, are edueational, artistic and useful. poetry, religion and general fiction. Tlte sets dffive, each in an envelope, The list of Bible and religious books contain pictures and quotations se· is weakest, though it contains a few lected to impress missionary ideas on Bible story books. Some volumes the minds of children and adults. recommended, like those of Van Loon, One series is on "The World's Chilare neither reliable nor truly educative. With such a wealth of religious 8d.1r0enns.,"" another on "Prayer and Misliterature for children, there is need for a guide and a great opportunity ExpOSition .01 the Epistles to Timothy. for real service. Miss Mary Stewart's W. E. Vine. 114 pages. 2. net. Glas· Bible stories, Foster's, Hurlburt's, gow. 1925. Dean Hodge's and others should have a place. There are also religious These notes-the basis of a series books of fiction, biography and mis- of lectures given at St. Andrews Consions that will delight and help to vention.in July, 1923, are suggestive educate any child or youth. rather than exhaustive. They would form an excellent guide for a series of There is an index to about 400 prayer meeting studies, or Bible class authors and over 700 books-also discussions, on the character, testiblank pages for additions. mony, and care of the local church. There is a; full outline of each epistle.
I DO NOT MISS THESE
I On the Mission Study Topics For 1926-1927 in Coming Issues of THE MISSIONARY l@V~ THE CHURCH AND RURAL COMMUNITIES Changes in the Last Twenty-Five Years 'arren H. Vilson Director of Tml" and C01/lit,,)' Department, Presby/oria" Church, U. S. A.
The Soil and Spirituality John Scott King Presbytcriall Church, Little Britain, New York The Country Church, and Cooperating Agencies Marjorie Patten Illstitute of Social alld Religious Research Agricultural Missions and the Rural Church Artley B. Parson National COllncil, ProtNtallt Episcopal Church The Real Job'of the Rural Church John McDowell Secretor)" Board of Natiollal Missiolls, Presb)'terian Church, U. S. A, Need for Pioneering in Rural Districts Ralph S. Adams Rural Field Worker, Refo1'111 ed Church ill the Ullited States Best Type of Pastor for Country Churches C. N. McConnell Board of Home 111iss;0}ls, ,lIethndiSI Episcopal Chllrelt Union or Denominational Churches-Which? Elizabeth Hooker Illstitute of Social aad Religious Research Some Successful Rural Churches Malcolm Dana Director of Rural U7nrk. COllpregational HOllie .~Jissioll Societ)'
Religious Education in Country Communities W. A, Squires Board of Christiall Educotiall, Presbyterian Church, U. S, A.
Best Books on Rural Church Problems Edmund deS. Brunner Town and Coulltry Surveys. Illstitllte of Social aud Religious Research CHRIST AND THE MOSLEM WORLD A View of the Moslem World Today Samuel M. Zwemer Editor of the MOSLEM WORLD alld gCllcral1l1issiollory to Alos/ems Changes in Moslem Life and Faith James L. Barton Allthor of "A Christian Approach to Islam"; Secretar}' of tlte Americ01I Board Some Present-Day Problems and Hindrances G. H. Naish COUllcil of Christiall Missiolls ill the Near East A Descendant of Mohammed Converted to Christ A Persian Missionary A l'cmarkable accollllt of the recellt com'ersioll of a ,Hoslem mullah Some Results of Union Mission'·Work in Mesopotamia James Cantine Missionar), of tire Reformed Chllrch ill America to Bagdad The Influence of the West on Moslem Life and Thought Basil Mathews World's Alfiallcc of the Youllg Men's Cl,,-istiOlI Association, GClleva Results of Apostasy in Islam E. ~lorris Wherry Formerl), ll1issionary to India Send in Your Subscription NOW TO THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City 25 cents a copy $20.00 a hundred copies $Z.50 a Year
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1925
W. MYLES PHILLIPS, formerly a
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"Department "!o{o. 20 Fifth Avenue, 33rd and 34th Sts., New York ..The Man with the Gentle Heart" Dear Mr. Husband: Samuel Reynolds House Is your wife experienced in busi. ness matters? If not, who will OF SIAM advise her in case of your death? In case of emergency conditions Pioneer Medical Missionary, 1847·1876 your business experience i. taxed to the utmost. Your death will be By GEORGE HAWS FELTUS an emergency of the fil'lt magni• tude. Will she be able to adjust . r The most complete and authentic accou:Jt herself to the new conditions? She will face many problems and be '1. of the foundation work in Siam. Drawn importuned to make unsafe invest. ments. Why not remove all the.e from letters and journal of Dr. House, now problems and enable your wife to for the first time made available. enjoy a fixed, guaranteed income.
"I find this story most interesting .•• , will be The ANNUITY PLAN .hows eagerly sought and gladly purchased by English-speak- the way. ing Siamese." -Mis! Edna S. Cole, late from Siam. We will gladly give you information. "I have been fascinated by it." -Re'V. C. B. Slnv W. J. Elliott, Treasurer, B08[d 01 Home Mis. art, Editor Auburn Seminary Record. .ions and Church Extension 01 the Methodist Episcopal "It ought to go into every missionary library, H_ ChlHch. 1701 Arch St., Philadelphia. Re'V. E. W. Miller, D.D., formerlY Educational Secretary Reformed Board. Morris W. Ehnes, T[e8SlHer. B08[d 01 Foreign Missions 01 the Methodist Episcopal Chll[Ch, 150 "A remarkably fine piece of work. "-Re'V. W. P. Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. Schell, D.D., Sec'y PreJbyterian Board For. MiuionJ.
PRICE, $2.00 At All Booksellers or of the Publishers FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York. 158 Fifth Ave. Chicago, 17 N. Wabash Av•• Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. 4 REASONS WHY THERE WAS Presbyterian pastor in Scranton, Pa., has A WAITING LIST FOR gone to Carville, Louisiana, to bec()me chap- Imperial Chinese Jasmine Tea lain of the Leper Colony (U. S. Marine Hospital 66). He is sUPllorted by the Woman's Home Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, through the HI am enelosing a money order for 100 boxes of tea. • • • American Mission to Lepers. We are entirely sold out on our former orders."' REV. PERCIVAL STACY WADDY has been MISS M. 0., Columbus- Ohio.
uWe are selling the tea to meet our year'A missionary elected Secretary of the S()ciety f()r the budget. and have beett 80 successful that we want another Propagation of the Gospel (London). order right away.'" MISS J. A.. Pittsburgh. Pa.
"The girls in my missionary class are deUKhted with *** their success in seI1irur 80 much of your tea." GENERAL FENG YU·SHIANG, whom the MRS. C. S•• Monmouth. III. daily press recently reported as taking a "We would like more boxes of tea. Our first lot went month's "sick leave" from Peking, is inlike hot cakes." MRS. P. F. S.• Rome. N. Y. tending, according t() the Christian Advo- Try it yourself. Send for one of these Chinese cate, to visit Europe and America in the packages: near future. ••• Jasmine Tea in hand decorated box, – $ .60 MISS ELEANOR GIBBONS, an educational $1.25 (Enough far 75 cupfuls.) missionary of the Presbyterian Board at $. 75 Jasmine Tea in Chinese hemp basket, $1.00 Kolhapur, India, was married in December to Mason Olcott, a son of Mr. and Mrs. E. (Enough for 300 cuptuls.) E. Olcott of New York and a member of One-half pound Chinese Crystallized Ginger in hand decorated box, – – the Arcot Mission of the Reformed Church Three-fourths pound Chinese Preserved in Ameriea. • Ginger, with syrup, in earthenware jar, For illustrations and special terms to church societies, HON. W. W. YEN, Prime Minister of the address Chinese Cabinet which resigned late in Oc· MRS. ELSIE CLARK KRUG tober, is of the second generation of Chinese Christians, and an active member of the (Formerly at Hwa Nan Collt:ge. Foochow, China) • Protestant Episcopal Church.
2227 St. Paul St. Baltimore, Md. •• REV. T,HOMAS C. HORTON, out of whose Bible class and missionary work grew the PERSONALS great Los Angeles Bible Institute, has reo MISS KATE LAMSON, who has been con· signed as superintendent of the Institute. nected with the Woman '8 Board of the Congregational Church since 1889, and has been Dr. A. C. Dixon, Baltimore, has been invited its Foreign S~cretary since 1903, has resigned. She is to continue as a director of to become Dean of the Institute to take the the Board. place of Dr. R. A. Torrey, resigned. *** SIGNOR GUIDO CoMBA, pastor of the Wal· MISS ALIOE KYLE, wh() was elected As· densian Church at Pomaretto in the Walden· sistant Secretary of the same Board in 1893, sian Valleys, i6 now in the United States but whose work since 1910 has been chiefly and expects to be one of the delegates of editorial, flrst in charge of Life ana Light the American Waldensian Aid Society to the and then as one ()f the editors of the Mis- Washington Foreign Missionary Convention. sionary HeraLd, has also laid dowu her active duties, but has also been elected a *** direct()r. OBITUARY ** * RIGHT REV. FRANK WESTON, Bishop of REV. JOHN E. MERB.ILL, D.D., President Zanzibar since 1908, died at Tanga, East of the Central Turkey College, Aintab, from Africa, November 2, 1924. 1905 until World WaT days, has returned to Turkey with his family, and will nOW be in * * .. charge of the Aleppo lligh School, whMe 156 students are nearly all exiles from the RElV. JOHN Fox, D.D., formerly secretary interior of Turkey. of the American Bible Society, died at his home in Easton, Pa., December 23d. •• • * .. Dr. W. G. SHELLABEAR, formerly a Methodist missionary in Malaysia, has re- RBv. LEE Tow, one of the most devoted cently removed from Modeston, N. J., to Chinese Christian workers in New York Hartford, Connecticut, having accepted a City, died early in December. professorship in the Kennedy School of Missions. THE REV. JOHN G. MEEM, arehdeaeon in N ()rthern Brazil, and veteran missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, died in Rio de Janiero in November. He was one of the first four men to go to that field under the Board of Missions of his Church and served there for thirty·three years. '
Please mention THE K;:SSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD What Scroggie DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor Contents for February, 1925 Does for You page EVERY week, W. Graham Scroggie, Brit- FRONTISPIECE … A YAO TRIBE IN CHINA ain's foremost Bible teacher" offers you a help that you can get nowhere else on EDITORIALS ……………………. 85 the International Unifoffil Sunday School Lessons. He gives: TWENTy-FIVE YEARS OF UNITED MIS- SION STUDY. Hut.,rical Saltina. showing the settinlr of the book in the Bib1e, the setting of the chapter in MISSIONARY GIVING VB. MISSIONARY that book. the setting of the lesson in that DEFICITS. chapter.
MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN LATIN Venc by Vene Expository Mean7nlr g-ives the AMERICA. meaning of the text. and interprets its laneua2"e and teaching. A PLATFORM FOR CHRISTIAN SOCIAL SERVICE. The Homiletical Form gives the lesson's mes· sage for use by teachers; it is a lessou analy~is THE NEED OF PARAGUAY. greatly in demand.
THE POWER THAT TRANSFORMS The Topical Value suggests vital themes in CIDNESE …..•. FRANK A. KELLER 93 the lesson.
SO'TTl;.e of the results of Bible distribu- The Practical Aim shows the devotional mes- sage fot' both pupil and teacher. tion, evangelistic work and Bible train.. ing in China. This is but one of sixteen different CHINESE CHRISTIANS AT WPRK FOR features on the Uniform and Wbole Bible Course appearing every week ex- CHINA . . • . MARY NINDE GAMEWELL 98 clusively in C!1tinese home mission effort to wi-n Published Every Week CMna for ChTist. CITY CHURCHES ON WHEELS ……. . Yet a reader writes, "I get the value of my investment in your paper many times …………… H. PAUL DOUGLASS 105 over before I reach the Sunday-school The findings of the St. Louis Religious lesson. " Survey shO'l.Oing results of the m1,gra- ticm. of populaticntS anil churches and One of the most widely circulated the need for roadjustme"t. woman's ulagaziuts in America recently THE COMMUNITY CHURCH IN CHINA wrote to an inquirer who asked help on a personal problem: …………..•….. A. R. KEPLER 111 Efforts to serve Chinese cities and viZ- "vVe would suggest that you write lages by work jor aU classes seven daYB Mother Ruth, care of The Sunday School in the week. Times, stating your problem to her. She is a wonderful woman, who gives advice THE DEVELOPMENT OF IN D I A N to all young women who wish her to LEADERSHIP …. WILLIAM PATON 117 advise them, and we are sure that you The Secretary of tne Nationa.l C'hrls- will get just the right kind of an answer. " tian aounciZ deScribes the methods by which. trained Ohr·i.stian ~eaders are A Times reader writes: "Having re- producea in. India. ceived your valuable paper for ten weeks CLASS-ROOM EXPERIENCES IN CAIRO on the "Get-Acqnainted" plan, and hav- ••••..•••••••••. WENDELL CLELAND 120 ing found'it all I had hoped and more, I desire A 'JffojessO'r in the American. University descr·ibes the ambition 01 Egyptian st1t- now to renew for a year. I value it so ~ dents and tke 11wtives that actuate fI>~ them. highly I expect to take it the balance of my life." A CHRISTIAN STATESMAN OF CHILE It is $200 a year, or $1.50 in ".1J ………………. HARRY FARMER 125 clubs of five or more copies, A sketch of M Dises Torregro8a~ cme 01 either to separate ad- III the evangeUca! Chr!8ti&tt8 of Chi!e, dress~s or one ad- THE shawing the type of men on wham the dress. Or try the SUNDAY SCHOOL church must depe..a 10'/' leadership. "Get-Acquaint- !rIllES COllPANlr BEST METHODS …..•……….••.•.• ed" c;Ufer. •.••.. EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK 127 WOMAN'S HOME AND FOREIGN BULLE- Box 1550, Philadelphia, Pa.
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MEW, VOL. FEBRUARY, 1925 NUMBER XLVlll TWO TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF UNITED MISSION STUDY O NE of the most useful outcomes of the great Ecumenical For- eign Missionary Conference, held in New York in 1900, was the.formation of the Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, the :first organized interdenominational committee of women for mission study. The plans for the committee had been made several months before under the wise, far-seeing leadership of Miss Abbie B. Child, for many years secretary of the Congregational Woman's Board of Missions. The :first committee consisted of representatives appointed by :five of the leading Women's Boards of Missions: Congregational, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Presbyterian and Protestant Episcopal. Among the names we note Miss Child, Mrs. John Talbot Grocey, Miss Ellen C. Parsons, Mrs. A. T. Twing and Mrs. Norman Mather Waterbury (now Mrs. Henry W. Peabody). The :first secretary was Miss Clementina Butler.
The committee, without financial backing, began by issuing a series of lessons on missions in leaflet form. Five Boards pledged as an initial sum $10, giving a working capital of $50 to the committee in 1900. Since that time the Central Committee has not only financed its own publications but, by a generous discount on its books, has enabled the Boards to make a considerable amount of money each year based on the number of books sold.
Being urged by Professor Harlan P. Beach to go on with its plan to issue study books, Miss Louise Manning Hodgkins, then professor at Wellesley College, was asked to prepare an historical mission study from the time of the Apostles to the Nineteenth Century, under the name of "Via Christi." Boards had almost unanimously refused to adopt a program for seven years which Miss Child and her committee had asked. They were willing to try the plan for one or two years, but not on any account would they take the responsibility of covering seven years with united study courses. We note in the early records that after these discouraging replies from the 85
Boards, in spite of the unwillingness of Mission Boards to announce a seven-year course, the United Oommittee quietly planned such a course and the Boards gradually became converted to the plan. The result has been, not seven, but of twenty-five years of united study in which almost every Board has heartily cooperated.'" While the publishers planned to issue only 5,000 copies the first year 20,000 were required. Throug'h ten years the committee endeavored to hold the Macmillan Oompany to the rising tide of demand for their books, but without success, and in 1910 they took the pUblication into their own hands. During the past quarter of a century the committee has published over three millions of Senior study books, besides nearly half a million Junior study books. This is one million more volumes than the Oongressional Library in Washington has on its shelves and would require seventy-five miles of shelving.
The Oommittee has paid its bills, and has been able to assist with considerable amounts other organizations which grew out of the Oentral Committee. This present year, in addition to furnishing $3,000 toward the maintenance of the Federation of Women's Foreign Mission Boards, the committee has paid $1,000 to the Oommittee on Oriental Literature and has met the entire deficit on the magazine Everyland, which came to the committee after the cessation of the Interchurch World Movement. Ohristian women have ever been most devoted supporters of Ohristian Missions ami this Oentral Committee has been very conscious of Divine leading through the years.
An important outgrowth of the Central Committee's work was the demand for a Summer School of Missions, the first of which was opened in Northfield in 1904, and was followed the next year by one in Chautauqua and one at Winona. These schools have multiplied and have proved a valuable aid to foreign and home mission study, for many have included both departments. The Central Committee was the first attempt of church organizations to come together in an organized group to present a definite plan for missionary education. The Council of Women for Home Missions, the Missionary Education Movement and others entered the field later.
One by-product of United Study is the contribution which this *During the first Seven years the authors followed Miss Hodgkins' example, each taking Latin titles, and after "Via Christl," came "Lux Christi," a study of India, by Caroline Atwater MaE:!on; "Rex Christus," China, by Dr. Arthur H. Smith; "Dux Christus," Japan, by Rev. Wm. E. Griffis; "Christus Liberator," Africa. by Miss Ellen C. Parsons; "ChriBtus Redemptor," the Island WnrU1. by Helen Earrett Montgomery; and "Gloria Cbristt," MiSSions and world Progress. by Anna Robertson Brown Lindsay. Other books followed: "Nearer and Farther East," by Samuel Zwemer and Arthur I. Brown: "Gospel in Latin Lands," by Dr. Francis E. Clark; "The Light of the World:· by Robert E. Speer; "Western Women in Eastern Lands:' by Helen I1arrett Montgomery; IIChina's New Day," by Isaac Taylor Headland; "The King's Business," by Maud Raymond; "The Child in the Midst," by Mary Labaree (Platt); "The King's Highway," by Helen Barrett Montgomery; "Education of Oriental Worn,en," by Margaret Burton; HThe Crusade of Compas~ sion/' by Dr. Belle Allen; "The African Trail," by Jean Kenyon Mackenzie; "World Missions and World Peace," by Caroline Atwater Mason; "The Kingdom and the Nations," by Eric North; "The Bible and Missions," by Helen Barrett Montgomery: "Building with India," by Daniel Johnson Fleming; "Creative Forces in Japan," by- Galen Fisher; liMing-Kwong, the City of the Morning Light:' by Mary Ninde Gamewell; and this year, "Prayer and Missions, II by Helen Barrett Montgomery. and "Moslem Women." by Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Zwemer.
EDITORIAL OOMMENTS
vast volume of illuminating international Christian literature, studied by millions of women and children, has brought to the better understanding and friendship of the nations. The Kingdom of God, His League of Nations, is first spiritual and comes not through politics nor diplomacy nor state craft. He alone can give to men that spirit of good-will which will solve the problems of this divided world. It is not by chance that at this crisis, when the nations look for some deliverance, the women of this nation will study humbly the record of God's power bestowed on men and women who ventured all on His promises.
MISSIONARY GIVING vs. MISSIONARY DEFICITS M ULTI-MILLIONAIRES give of their accumulated wealth to establish universities, museums and libraries and to provide funds for exploration and research. Meanwhile most of the churches and other organizations working for the spiritual as well as the material welfare of humanity at home and abroad are greatly hindered by lack of funds. It is fortunate that the efficacy of God's work is not' to be measured by expenditures in dollars and cents. Money is needed in the work but the greatest need today is not money; it is spirit-filled, fully-surrendered men and women acting under the guidance of God. And yet even these men and women are greatly hampered and handicapped by lack of adequate support from those who "hold the ropes" at the home base.
Almost all of the denominational mission boards, home and foreign, are struggling with deficits. For example, the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) diminished the gifts to foreign missions forty-one per cent last year ($2,197,510) as reported at the annual meeting of the Board held in Pittsburgh last November. As a result, the Board has a debt of $3,100,000 (on which the interest alone cost $140,965 last year), and has been obliged to reduce its appropriations from twenty-five to fifty per cent. If seventy-five per cent of the Centenary pledges had been paid, the Board would be free from debt and would have been able to increase equipment and carryon an enlarged program.
The Methodist Episcopal Churnh, South, also fanes a serious debt of $1,216,159 in their foreign mission work, due to an uncollected balance of $15,000,000 on Centenary pledges. Instead of an increased income for an enlarged program there has been a decrease of receipts amounting to about $250,000 a year.
This decrease in giving reported from many sources is in spite of the fact that in the meantime savings banks deposits in the United States have increased by over one billion dollars and the invested wealth of Qur country has increased by twelve billion dollars. Evidently, increased prosperity has not been accompanied by greater liberality in the support of God's work.
What is the trouble? Surely we are not undertaking too large a task. Are Christians losing their sense of obligation and devotion to God! Are we overlooking or becoming callous to Christ's sacrifice for us? Do we forget that all that makes the present life worth living and a future life worth contemplating-all come through Him1 Some of the devices used to stimulate g>iving are entirely inadequate and unworthy, however praiseworthy their motive. Rev. Kingsley Birge, the well-known Congregational missionary formerly in Smyrna, reports that some churches, in their eHorts to raise money for missions, resort to dinners and to such appeals as "Good Ulorning, :Inr. Church·Church Member, With your check book just as small as mine, Good morning, 111'. Church-Church ]'[ember. You've got to get in line; You simply must or the Church will go bust, etc."
Mr. Birge asks if we shall substitute such songs and sentiments for the Christian appeal contained in the lines: "When I survey the wondrous Cross On which the Prince of Glory died; My richest gain I count but loss And pour contempt on all my pride. "
This faIling off in missionary gifts surely is not due to increased cost of living, though it may be due in part to the desire for more luxuries. Those whose eyes are anointed to see the world as Christ sees it, whose hearts burn with love and loyalty to Him, who realize their debt to Him for His gift of Himself, who believe that He is the only sufficient saviour of men here and hereafter, and who have faith that His cause will triumph over all obstacles-these Christians will not need any worldly slogans and appeals to stimulate their giving. Christian missions are not a" side-show" but are the chief business of the Church. They take precedence of automobiles for selfish purposes, of expensive amusements and uilnecessary accessories that do not really help to bring men into harmony with God.
When our faith in God's -Word is unshaken, when we "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" and when "the love of Christ constrains" us, then joyful giving will fill the coffers of mission boards and will replenish the ranks of Christian ambassadors, and God will give the victory.
MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA r1..ALTHOUGH extensive educational work has been carried on for a number of years by the missionary societies represented in . Latin America, little or no attempt has been made until recently_ to coordinate the existing institutions or to plan for future cooperative effort. Each MiSSion, on the contrary, has been very largely opportunist in the establishing of its educational efforts, and
192111 EDITORIAL COMMENTS
has maintained its schools with little or no regard to a strategic occupation of the territory. Since the Panama Congress, however, a number of movements have been instigated looking toward cooperative educational endeavor.
In Peru, the missionaries have decided to recommend union theological work, and steps have been taken toward the organization of a Union Theological Seminary. This move is of special importance, in view of the vast unoccupied interior where there are millions of Indians who are still absolutely untouched by Christian missions. In this cooperative effort in Peru, it is hoped that the missions of Bolivia may participate.
The missionaries in Chile have made unusual advance in proposed cooperative educational work, including equipment of the Union Seminary, a special Training School for Christian Workers, enlarging the "Instituto Ingles" and the "Santiago College," and a Normal School for Women, to prepare teachers for the extensive system of primary schools which have had such a notable success in Valparaiso.
On the other side of the high Andes, in the three republics that border on the great water courses of that region, extensive plans are under consideration for the cooperative occupation of the territory by the principal missionary organizations now in the field. As a consequence of these plans, the neglected Republic of Paraguay is occupied by the Disciples of Christ, and this church, in union with the Methodist Episcopal (N orth) , cooperates in the educational work of Buenos Aires.
The energies of these two missions .are centered, for the present, on the boys' school known as "The ""Tard Institute." This is the only missionary institution of its class in all the Argentine Republic, with seven million inhabitants, and under the impulse of this co·· operative effort should now become a great power in the education of the young men of the country. Steps are being taken toward the incorporation of this school with the official programmes of the Government, in order that its students may receive their degrees from the University of Buenos Aires. 'l'his measure becomes more and more necessary in all Latin America, since the influential families Jay great stress on providing for their sons a course of study which will lead to the Bachelor's degree, thus making it possible for them to enter the learned professions.
In Montevideo, the capital of the Republic of Uruguay, the most important of all union educational institutions of South America has been established, the "Union Theological Seminary and School of Social Sciences." This is designed to serve all South America in the preparation of ministers /'ind other Christian workers. With the establishment of this seminary in Montevideo, the various missions are able to take advantage of its strong faculty and complete
equipment for the thorough preparation of their most promising students for the ministry.
If Latin America is ever to be taken for vital Christianity, it must be done by the Latin Americans. To this end, no expense and no sacrifice are too great, if made in the interests of the thorough preparation of the young men on whose hearts· has been laid the responsibility of the evangelization of their own people.
The RepUblic of Brazil presents a set of problems all its own. Its language is distinct from that of its Spanish neighbors and its people, of Portuguese descent, have characteristics that distinguish them from the citizens of the surrounding countries. Brazil is a country of vast extent. Its territory is about equal to that of the United States of America and occupies the half of the continent of South America. This enormous stretch of territory is an element of weakness, as well as of strength. This is especially true in the organization or coordination of movements which extend through a large part of the country, as in the case of the Evangelical missions.
In spite of the distances to be traversed, and other obstacles, Evangelical work has advanced in the Republic or Brazil as in no other country of Latin America. There is a strong and influential national Church which is progressing toward a satisfactory solution of its problems. A movement has been started, by those who are . engaged in educational work, for the coordination of all schools of certain grades, looking to the formation of a National Evangelical University. In view of the enthusiasm and experience of those who are responsible for this movement, there can be no doubt of its final success and Evangelical education in all Brazil will be immensely benefited thereby.
In Panama, where all nations of the earth meet, it is planned to establish a high class academy, or high school, which shall meet the educational necessities of the countries immediately contiguous to the Caribbean Sea. To this end, it is hoped that a generous grant of land will be given by the Government of the United States, in the Canal Zone, or by the Panamanian Government in the vicinity of the city of Panama.
In Mexico, in spite of internal wars and dissensions, a Union Theological Seminary has been established and is now in operation; while in Porto Rico there has been a union effort carried on for some years past, in the training of native ministers, and several other plans are under consideration in Cuba and in Porto Rico for the cooperation of the various missions in educational work.
In view of these movements, it would seem that the day of sporadic, opportunist educational endeavor in J-latin America is past. Strategic points are now to be occupied in conformity with plans that have been well thought out by the interested missions. The time is ripe for a cooperative movement all along the line.
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
A PLATFORM FOR CHRISTIAN SOCIAL SERVICE T HE NATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICE COMMISSION of the Congregational Church suggests a social creed for churches that shall be up-to-date. As an example of present-day think- ing in America, this document is of interest. It says: A Christian social standard necessitates taking Jesus Christ in earnest, making individual and community life develop along the lines of His social and spiritual ideals. It insists on a strengthening and deepening of the inner personal relationship of the individual with God, and a recognition of his obligation and duty to society.
This is crystallized in the two commandments of Jesus: "Love God and love thy neighbor." It involves the recognition of the sacred- ness of life, the supreme worth of each personality, and the brother- hood of all. In short, it means creative activity in cooperation with . our fellow human beings, and with God, in the everyday life of society and in the development of a better social order. Translating this ideal into eaucation includes: (1) The building of a social order in which every child has the best opportunity for development.
(2) A thorough program of religious education designed to help Christianize everyday life and conduct. .
(3) Conservation of health includin,g careful instruction in sex hygiene, abundant and wholesome recreation facilities, and education for leisure.
(4) Constructive education and Christian care of dependents, defectives, and delinquents, in order to restore them to normal life whenever possible but with kindly segregation for those who are hopelessly feeble-minded.
Translating the ideal into industry and economic relationships includes: (1) Group interest whether of labor or capital always subordi- nated to the welfare of the nation.
(2) A frank abandonment of all efforts to secure unearned in- come, that is reward which does not come from a real service.
(3) Abolishing child labor and raising the legal age limits to insure maximum physical, educational, and moral development.
(4) Freedom from employment one day in seven.
(5) The eight-hour day as the present maximum for all industrial workers, and a reduction to the lowest point that is scientifically necessary to produce all the goods we need. .
(6) Providing safe and sanitary industrial conditions, especially protecting women.
(7) Adequate accident, sickness, and unemployment insurance, together with suitable provision for old age. '
(8) A minimum comfort wage, which will enable all the children of the workers to become the most effective Christian citizens.
(9) Adequate means of impartial investigation, and publicity, conciliation, and arbitration, in industrial disputes.
(10) Encouragement of the organization of consumers' coopera- tives for the more equitable distribution of the essentials of life.
Applied to agricultural standards it means: (1) That the farmer shall have access to the land he works on such terms as will insure his personal freedom and economic encouragement, while society is amply protected by efficient production and conservation of fertilitv. (2) That the cost' of market distribution from farmer to consumer shall be cut to the lowest possible terms, both farmers and consumers sharing in these economies. (3) That an efficient system of both vocational and general education of youths and adults living on farms shall be available. (4) That special efforts shall be made to ensure the farmer adequate social institutions, including the church, the school, the library, means of recreation, good local government, and particularly the best possible farm home. . The great lack of such a platform is its failure to recognize any standard of authority other than the general acceptance of the spirit of Jesus. There is no emphasis on the necessity for the acceptance of the claims of Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the world. There is no suggestion as to the obligation to obey the command of Christ to all men as to His Gospel. In other words, it either omits the foundations for Christian character and society or it takes the foundations for granted-a thing that cannot be done today even in churches. The teaching of Jesus Christ clearly demonstrates that the individual must first come into right relationship with God through Christ and then must get right with his fellowmen.
THE NEED IN PARAGUAY PERU, Bolivia, Paraguay, these three are the most needy of all needy South America. But the greatest of these is Paraguay! As large as New England, in the very heart of this great continent, touching four other republics, and destined to be the great crossroads for friendly exchange in the years when South America's population will number hundreds of millions! The climate is perfect and the soil rich but the people and government are poor, the state Church impotent, leadership scarce, moral conditions low, with a large per cent of the children born out of wedlock, and a system of concubinage which is universal. The people are warm-hearted, however, unmoral more than immoral, for they have no spiritual leadership. The people show great hospitality and greatly desire more intimate relationships with the intellectual life of North America.
This territory has been assigned to the United Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples. The Inland South America Mission is also at work there.
BIOLA EVANGELICAL BAND, (NUMBER TEN), AND THEIR GOSPEL
The Power That Transforms Chinese BY REV. FRANK A. KELLER, M,D., CHANGSHA, HUNAN, CHINA Superintendent of the Hunan Bible Institute, ChangsJla C HINA has again been plunged into great dish.'ess by extensive and destructive floods. The great suffering and the threaten- ing disaster caused a recrudescence of idolatry that was appaUing. Day and night there was a continuous beating of gongs, firing of crackers and shouting of men, women and children.
A deified mummy was brought into Changsha from a temple ten miles away, enormous dragons made of bamboo frames covered with cloth were carried about by stalwart men, while aged men with whitened beards and little children who could hardly toddle along followed the processions about the city. Even the Governor made a pilgrimage to a celebrated shrine over a hundred miles away to make offerings to appease the angry gods who were causing the flood. It was the most extensive and universal exhibition o~ idolatry seen during twenty-seven years in China, and it demonstrated with terrific realism the awful bondage in which idolatry and superstition hold the millions of this land.
But we turn from this scene and behold every province of China now open to the Gospel, nearly 400,000 Chinese Christians worshipping in about 5,000 organized churches and over 28,000 of these Christians devoting their lives to the work of spreading the Gospel.
93
Some mighty power must have opened these doors of steel, and snatched these hundreds of thousands from the darkness and bondage in which they had been born, and brought them out into the glorions light and liberty of the sons of God.
The power that has opened all these doors and that has com- pletely transformed all these lives is the POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD.
In China there are five so- called "Sacred Mountains" to which at certain seasons hundreds of thousands of pilgrims resort to worship at the shrines in fulfilment of vows they have made, or to seek special favors from the gods. At the foot of one of these sacred mountains, Nanyoh, a Bible con- ference is held every year at the height of the pilgrim season. Those attending the conference spend part of each day in united Bible stUdy under the guidance of prominent teachers, and the re- mainder of the days is given to personal work among the pilgrims as they start homeward.
Three years ago a fine-appear- ing young man came to the COIl- ference and during one of the meet- ings asked to say a few words. He said: "My name is Deng Gwoh Ren, and my home is in – -.
MR. CHOW HAING CHIAO Eight years ago I came to Nanyoh An opium smcker and desp'3rate character, as a lJilgrim to worship at these saved by the power of Ghrist heathen shrines, and one of the delegates to this conference talked with me and gave me a little book, 'Selected Portions of Holy Scripture.' I took the book home with me, studied it, and being convinced that what it said was true, I renounced my heathen practices and gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This year I have come to Nanyoh to do three things: To look over the old shrines where once I ignorantly worshipped; to try to find the man who gave me that book and thank him for the joy and peace and hope that fill my soul, and finally to bring to this conference the Chris- tian greetings of the church of which I am now a deacon." Mr. Deng was himself saved and used to bring the other members of his family and many of his fellow villagers to a living faith in Christ-
THE POWER THAT TRANSFORMS CHINESE
all by the POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD. He is now an honored evangelist in one of the leading missions in China and has yielded his life to Christ for service.
"The seed is the Word of God" (Mk. 4: 26-29; Lk. 8: 11). This seed is bringing forth rich harvests every day in China. Christ's promise that His disciples should do greater works than those over which they marveled, is being fulfilled in the miracles that are being wrought continually in the lives of the Chinese.
Twelve Biola Evangelistic Bands spend the early hours of each day in united, earnest Bible study and prayer and then go out A HUNAN CHRISTIAN CHURCH CONFERENCE, JUNE 28 TO JULY 2, 1924 two-by-two into the homes of the people in faith to "Preach the Word. " They fully expect results, and get them. A few extracts from recent letters will prove the wondrous P.OWER OF THE 'VORD OF GOD.
The leader of one Band writes that in the last center where they worked this summer twenty-seven heathen turned to the living and true God. Then they raised money to furnish a chapel and one of t.he converts gave up a large room to be used by this newly formed church for its religious meetings. This merchant's wife had been an idolater for twenty-one years, but she was brought to repentance, and became a true follower of the Lord J eSllS Christ. In that same community a man who had been a slave to opium for
A CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR SOCIETY ORGANIZED AMONG YAO CHRISTIANS These were alm.ost naked heathen when llrst fo-uud by the missionary and the evangelistic band twenty-seven years was given strength to cast off the shackles, and is now rejoicing in victory and health through Christ his Saviour.
In the last center where another Biola Evangelistic Band worked before breaking up for a brief summer vacation, sixty-seven persons gave up their idols and turned to God. One lady fifty-seven years of age gave up heathen practices that had bound her for forty years. A man who . at one time was a highly respected and influential scholar, but had been a slave to opium for over twenty years so that he had neither food, clothing nor home' and even his wife deserted him, heard the Word preached, and was saved and cleansed and restored to a position of confidence and honor.
A recent letter from a missionary contains this stirring clause: "I wish you could have seen one of the men of a Biola Evangelistic Band starting off with a donkey load of board's on his shoulder, in the broiling sun, with forty-:ijve Ii to traverse (45 Ii eQual 15 miles). He is spending his· summer va~ation helping to erect a building for a little self-supporting church at his home; into this building he is putting lot only his last dollar, but no end of good, hard, honest toil to get it ready for the dedication service before he leaves for Nanyoh. What do you think of that' These are the kind of workers to duplicate. God be praised for theIll!"
Only a few years ago this man was one of the millions of idol
1925J THE POWER THAT 'TRANSFORMS .CHINESE
worshippers in Ohina but he heard the blessed message of the Oross, and the wondrous POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD laid hold on him, made a new man of him and filled him with an intense enthusiasm to tell the "Good News" to others.
Thirty years ago Hunan was still called" The Olosed Province, " for the people said that they would never let the missionaries in. A few weeks ago there was held in the auditorium of the Hunan Bible Institute a conference of the Hunan Ohristian Ohurch. Over two hundred Ohinese pastors, evangelists and church officers, representing some 240 churches and over 12,000 Ohristians, gathered in conference for five days. A leading Ohinese Ohristian was elected chairman. What has brought about this great change in Hunan ~ It is the power of the Word of God. About 450 delegates registered this autumn at the Bible Oonference at Nanyoh. Missionaries write, "We have seen the effects of the conference in the lives and service of our evangelists throughout the entire year." The secret is "the power of the Word of God."
How be,autifully the Apostle Paul put it in his farewell interview with his beloved Ephesians: "And now I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you ;up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified." Acts 20: 32.
A CHRISTIAN SERVICE IN M'lLTON STEWART HALL. HUNAN BIBLE INSTITUTE Some graduates of the 1924. class are seated In the first tour rows 2
Christians at Work for
A Glimpse of Some Chinese Home Mission Activities BY MRS. MARY NINDE GAMEWELL Author of "Ming Kwong," "New Life Currents in China," Etc.
"CHRIST has come for China, let us take China for Christ!" exclaimed earnest Mrs. Luke Chang, president of the Women's Missionary Service League of the Anglican Mis- sion. Then she added, "When children are small and weak, mothers expect to do everything for them, but when they grow up they ought to look out for themselves. Missionaries have long been working to evangelize China, but the Christian Church here is now old enough and strong enough to begin to carry this responsibility itself."
Mrs. Chang was voicing the conviction of a rapidly increasing number of thoughtful Chinese. It is a strong proof of the Church's genuine vitality and healthful development.
The' first organized home missionary work of which we have a record-that sponsored by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South -began about forty years ago. Still earlier, scattered groups of Christians voluntarily banded together from time to time to raise sacrificial offerings in "cash" and coppers for the support of their own missionary evangelist in unoccupied fields. A few years ago when that remarkable volume, "The Christian Occupation of China," was in process of preparation, an effort was made, under the heading, "Missionary Activities of the Chinese Church," to tabulate the various home missionary movements of the Chinese carried on by them either alone or in cooperation with foreigners. The compiler was greatly surprised to discover that there were twenty-five or more distinct organizations besides a still larger number of unorganized activities. Indeed, it was found impossible to list all of the latter. One of the most significant features of this work is the wide area over which it is distributed, from Tibet to Shanghai, and from Manchuria to Hainan, an island off the southern coast.
If, from an airplane, we could drop down on one after another of China's home missionary fields, we should find a study of them intensely interesting and profitable. History is ever repeating itself, and the problems, handicaps and difficulties which tax the patience and test the faith of Chinese missionaries are much the same as those that are faced by workers from the Occident.
Let us glance a moment at several of the more prominent movements in China. In Manchuria, home missionary work dates from 1907, when two volunteers, one an ex-Taoist priest, went from Kirin to the northern province of Heilungkiang. (Some of the most zeal- 98 ous, consecrated propagators of the Christian faith were once Taoist priests). The journey did not take long-two or three days, perhaps –by ox-cart or on foot, but to the stay-at-home Chinese it was a momentous undertaking. People of the south, those from Canton and thereabouts, are the travelers. Other Chinese often know little or nothing of the world outside their own village, and it is not uncommon for women of the better class to pass unbroken decades with no wider horizon than the bounds of the courtyards in which they were reared. After a time, a Chinese Woman's Missionary Auxiliary sent the wives of the men missionaries as workers to Heilungkiang. These two women became efficient, sympathetic colaborers with their husbands. There are, today, six missionaries in the Manchurian field and as many flourishing centers of work, besides outstations. If this seems a small showing for seventeen years of toil, we must not forget that this work, which is very largely in the hands of the Chinese, has been new to them and that beginnings are difficult. Like ourselves, these people learn by doing. The next ten or fifteen years doubtless will see the work growing much more rapidly.
A most hopeful feature is the effort put forth by the Chinese themselves to secure local self-support so that, with the money raised at the home base, new cities may be entered. One of the first purchases of the ex-Taoist priest on beginning his work was two pieces of land, one for a church and another for a cemetery, that, as he said, "The brethren in the Lord may have a place to rest both in life and in death."
The Anglican Mission-a union of the Church of England, the Canadian Church and American Episcopal Missions-made definite plans at the first meeting of its General Synod in 1912 for the conduct of home missionary work. This was to be in addition to the much older home missionary activities of each separate diocese. In 1915 an organization, the "Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui," was effected through the combined efforts of Chinese and foreigners, and a year later, three eager missionaries went to the chosen field of labor, Sianfu, capital of the province of Shensi. A peculiar interest attaches to this quaint old city, once the proud capital of the empire, and the spot where the Nestorians, first Christian missionaries to China, settled in the seventh century, and left as the sole surviving record of themselves a far-famed stone tablet inscribed with the Maltese Cross. It is fitting that the Chinese missionaries should have placed a replica of this emblem on the gateway leading to tlieir mission property. Recently Sianfu was for a short but memorable period the headquarters of General Feng Yu-hsiang, who left an impress on the city likely to be even more lasting than the historic stone tablet.
Expanding evangelistic, educational, and social welfare work-
such as a free reading room, games, a charity school for famine children, and classes in phonetic script-keep the days crowded for the missionaries and their staff, (the entire Chinese staff now numbers eighteen) and ever calls loudly for new recruits. 'I.'he devoted Bible woman on the field h&s from the first been supported by the students of St. Mary's mission school in Shanghai, and this responsibility, voluntarily assumed, has kept the girls' interest in the work at high-water mark. In a most encouraging way, the Mission has won the good-will of the influential gentry of the city, many of whom are glad to send their sons to its high-grade middle school and to contribute toward its support. The number of converts grows steadily and among them are some promising candidates for the ministry. The missionaries are wont to reiterate, "All our work centers in one thing, the purpose to save men and women." Showers of blessing are certainly descending on historic Sianfu, notwithstanding wars and rumors of wars, bandits and the soaring price of commodities. It is the expectation that this work will soon pass from the hands of Bishop Norris to the care of a Chinese bishop. Last March, at the triennial meeting of the General Synod, a woman's auxiliary was formed, called "The Women's Missionary Service League." Much is expected from this new and enthusiastic organization.
The Chinese Home Missionary Society is unique in that it is indigenous, national and non-denominational. It had its birth at a conference of Christian Chinese gathered at Kuling, among the mountains of Central China, in the summer of 1918, though the formal organization did not take place until two years later. After much prayer, it was decided to open work in Yunnan, that wildly picturesque province in the southwest which borders on Burma and Tibet. A scouting party was to be sent out first to study conditions and to report at the end of a year. The necessary funds were to be raised from Chinese sources by voluntary subscriptions. A watchword was chosen that ran about as follows: "It rema·ins to be seen what God can do in and through and for and by a group of individuals wholly committed to Him."
The news of the undertaking spread rapidly and met with an immediate response. In fact, so strong was the appeal it made, that Dr. C. Y. Cheng, one of the principal organizers of the movement and an outstanding leader among his people, declared solemnly, ;, This work is of the Lord and so cannot fail! But if failure were possible, it would put the Church back a hundred years."
Six volunteers, three of them women, set out for Yunnan in the spring of 1919. The preceding Sunday, an impressive commission service was held in Shanghai which closed with the singing in Mandarin of the well-known hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains." An American who was present said that although he had been famil-
CHINESE CHIUSTIANS A'£ WORK ]<'OR CHINA
jar with that hymn from childhood it took on an entirely new meaning as he listened to those hundreds of Chinese voices pealing forth the words: "Shall we whose souls are lighted With wisdom from on high, Shall we to men benighted, 'L'he Lamp of Life deny?"
A book could be filled with the varied and thrilling experiences of the six first missionaries to Yunnan. From their headquarters in the capital, Yunnanfu, 6,400 feet above the sea, the men set out to familiarize themselves with conditions in the interior, one going north as far as the Yangtze River and crossing it into Szechuan. Another journeyed south to Kochiu, the seat of the great tin mines, and barely escaped capture by bandits. Ding Li Mei, the widely known evangelist, penetrated nearly to the borders of Tibet, travers- ing almost impassable trails, scaling difficult mountains and crossing torrential rivers. Once his pony stumbled and threw him ove'r the side of a steep precipice and had not his clothing caught in a tangle of underbrush, fifteen feet below, he would have lost his life. Again and again he fell into miry paddy fields to come up covered with slime but invariably smiling and good-natured. One evening, hag- gard and worn, he reached an inn in a certain frontier town about nine 0 'clock. All day he had traveled on foot in a drenching rain and was wet to the skin. A China Inland missionary, also stopping at the inn, saw his condition and begged him at once to dry his . clothes, eat and sleep off his fatigue. Pastor Ding looked into the faces of the curious crowd surrounding him and shook his head. "No," he replied, "I must not eat or rest until I have preached .J esus Christ to these people!"
When the great National Christian Conference opened in May of 1922, nine Chinese missionaries, four men and five women (not counting wives and children), had been stationed in Yunnan at three strategic centers. The work is evangelistic, educational and medi- cal, and, with the exception of help from the Milton Stuart Evan- gelistic Fund in covering expenses of delegates to and from the Ilnnual meetings, and occasional small voluntary gifts, it is entirely financed by the Chinese.
In 1921, the work in Manchuria was affiliated with the national organization and became known as the Heilungkiang Mission of the Chinese Home Missionary Society, the original offshoot being the Yunnan Mission. Within the last year or two, a third branch has been added, the Mongolian Mission, for more and more the eyes of Church leaders are turning wistfully to the darkened "regions beyond," veritable foreign lands to them. Up to this time nothing has been done for Mongolia further than issuing a monthly bulletin to disseminate news concerning' it. But at the Society's recent
annual meeting it was decided definitely to enter this Macedonian field at an early day, and to begin work by sending out a doctor and several evangelists.
A few general statements may be made in closing. As in the West, so in Ohina, the interest of people in missions depends very largely on a wise use of educational and publicity methods. Ohinese missionaries home on furlough are kept busy with deputation work and some are able to make eloquent pleas that stir their hearers to a high pitch of interest and voluntary giving. Increasingly it is coming to be the custom for pastors to preach annual missionary sermons. Mission study classes in mission schools are rapidly multiplying and growing in popularity with the young people. The Anglican Mission has found its high-grade field secretary an inestimable blessing. Believing" responsibility for missionary work rests upon every member of the Ohurch," the Anglicans have a rule that each new communicant shall automatically become a member of the missionary society with his or her quota to pay into the treasury. This plan has proved very successful despite a certain unavoidable shrinkage.
Though the Manchurian constituency is for the most part poor in this world's goods, it is not lacking in generous subscribers. This generosity is the result of no hit or miss policy. For instance, in one town at the close of the Sunday morning service all the women are gathered in mission study classes under carefully selected leaders. In another place Bible women periodically visit the people in their homes, explaining the meaning and needs of the work. A fortnight before the annual missionary collection is taken, in which each church, no matter how small and weak and whether self-supporting or not, is expected to have a share, circulars from headquarters are sent to all the pastors and, a week in advance, a subscription card is carried to the house of each member. In a third center, forty thousand" cash" (twenty cash equal one cent, American money) were given for missions in a single day, the people, povertystricken though they were, being swept along as on a tide by the stirring appeal of one of their Ohinese deacons.
The Ohinese Home Missionary Society publishes an official organ called The Gospel Bell. Eighteen thousand copies are now issued each month and scattered free of charge. The interest its news awakens may be judged by the number of small subscribers to the work, gifts once amonnting to four thousand dollars calling for more than eight hundred receipts. The salary of two Yunnan missionaries is paid by the students and alumni of the schools from which they graduated and for a while an independent church in Shanghai maintained its own missionary doctor. Many are hoping the support will be resumed and other churches led to follow this good example.
1925J CHINESE "CHRISTIANS AT WORK FOR CHINA
Obedience to the missionary call involves sacrifice in China as well as elsewhere. The superintendent of the mission in Shensi writes in one of his reports, "Mr. Yang is the only son of his widowed mother and his coming here is a great sacrifice to them both." And again: "All our workers have kindred very dear to them who shed many tears when they see them start for our far-off and little known province."
A young doctor left a lucrative practice in Central China to go to distant Kansu. He and his tJrave little wife pushed far inland where never a Christian had gone before, and for long months cheerfully endured persecution, loneliness, and often actual want while gradually building up a fine, self-supporting work.
A blind girl from Dr. Mary Niles' school for the blind in Canton responded to a call from the Chinese Home Missionary Society for some one to teach the blind in Yunnanfu. A touching farewell service was held, and the young missionary fared forth,. literally "in the dark." But God's love and light filled her heart and she soon won her way to the homes of the most exclusive families in the capital, opened a school and is doing a much-needed work.
Some wealthy Chinese contribute of their abundance to missions, but the offerings of multitudes are accompanied with genuine self-denial. Eating the poorest quality of rice in place of a better kind, going without meals, walking on tender, once-bound feet instead of riding in rickshas or wheelbarrows, making and selling bits of fancy work, how impossible it is to name all of the many ways found for raising money! One poor soul in Hongkong gave the carefully hoarded coins with which she meant to buy her coffin, an act of Fmpreme sacrifice that no one, unfamiliar with the customs of the Far East, can appreciate. Little wonder is it, that as the missionary spirit grows, prayer circles are forming in the interest of the work, missionary volunteers are rising up faster than they can be accepted, and young people are meeting together to renew their consecration and to pledge themselves to a life of Christian service in whatever calling they may be engaged.
The Chinese are a reasonable people; what the Christians need is to understand the work and have its aims and purposes made clear to them. Once a task is undertaken nobly they can stand by it. Gifted.Paul Pu, of the Anglican Mission, was urged to resign his work in Sianfu and accept the pastorate of a large metropolitan church at a tempting salary. But he promptly declined saying that he was called to be a missionary.
A Chinese scholar, teaching in a tribal village far removed from the outside world, receiving a salary of nine Mexican dollars a month, bade goodbye to a little band of his visiting countrymen with the unwonted tears coursing down his cheeks, but with never a thought of abandoning his post.
Yu-ling is a college graduate, a young woman of rare culture and refinement. After two years of missionary work in Yunnan, letters began pouring in upon her offering every inducement to return to North China. Shutting herself into her bare upper chamber, she wrestled for hours in prayer to come forth at last with shining countenance and the quiet declaration, "Nothing is too good for God and Yunnan. This shall be my work for life."
One hundred and seventeen years have rolled by since Morrison first set foot on Chinese soil, yet missionary maps of China still show vast reaches of unoccupied territory. As we look around on these fields, white for the harvest, the work of evangelization seems scarcely more than begun. But the Chinese Christian Church has heard God's clarion call, "Go ye!" its hosts are arising to obey the command and the future is bright with the promise of a glorious ingathering.
A CHINESE EDUCATOR'S TEST OF VITAL CHRISTIANITY D R. CHANG PO LING, who was, a few years ago, studying at Columbia University, New York, is one of North China's fore- most educators and a member of the board of directors of the Tientsin Young Men's Christian Association. He was invited by Pastor Wang to speak in the Chinese Christian Church in Tientsin and addressed himself mainly to the large number of young men who had recently signified their intention to follow Christ. He said: "The final test of the value of our religion is whether or not it drives us to service for others. The Bible is filled with statements which show this to be the case. Christ says, 'Ye are the salt of the earth.'
What value is salt if it remains to itself f A hungry man does not ask for pure salt alone. Salt becomes of value only as it mingles with food and seasons it. So Christians living to themselves are of little value, but mingling with men and influencing them, Christians become of as great value to the world as salt is to food.
"Christ says, 'Ye are the light of the world.' But of what value is light if it is shut up to itself T It becomes of value only atl it lights the objects around it. Christ relates, too, the parable of the talents, and tells how the talent is taken away from the inactive man and given to the one who has gained ten talents by use.
"In the face of these facts are you young men going to accept Christ and become members of the Church, and then fold your hands and do nothing more? If you do you will miss the main teaching of the Christian religion as I have found it in the Bible." .
PATHS OF" MIGRATlctl a' 69
1870 – 1921 City Churches on Wheels Some Facts Discovered by the" St. Louis Church Survey"
BY REV. H. PAUL DOUGL,ASS, NEW YORK Projeet Director of Institute of Social and Religious Research; Author of "The St. Louis Church Survey"
T HE "St. Louis Church Survey"* constitutes the most thor- ough-going of recent attempts to appraise the organized re- ligious forces of a great American city from the Protestant standpoint. One of the most amazing aspects of its results was to show how transient and unsubstantial a thing the urban church is under present conditions.
While Protestant church membership and Sunday-school enrolment have both increased faster than population over the two decades investigated, the fortunes of the local church may be judged by the following summary: Between 1899 and 1919, the twelve largest denominations of St. Louis organized sixty-seven new churches, dropped fifty-seven old ones and moved thirty-eight. This totals one hundred and sixty-two cases vitally affected by population movements within little more than two decades. The average number of churches for this period was about two hundred. Three fourths of the total numoer, therefore, faced at some time the ultimate institutional crises of birth, death or removal of location.
'rhe story of these removals is the theme of the present article. Protestantism has sprinkled its churches over the city of St. Louis, with its three quarters of a million people, until all parts of the city are provided with them. The pre.'>ent suburbs illustrate the usual method by which the city church, whether in St. Louis or • Survey made under the joint auspices of the St. Louis Church Federation and the Institute of Social and Religious Research; published by George H. Doran Company, New York. 1924.
105
elsewhere, occupies territory. As new population comes in at the edges of the city, some denomination starts a Sunday-school which develops into a regular place of religious services and finally into a formal church organization. .
Most of the Protestant churches of St. Louis have been located where they now are in acCordance with this process, but a significant number, including SOllie of the oldest and most illfl.uential, have reached their present sites as the result of a series of removals fol- lowing peculiar movements of population. They have been migra- tory churches. One is almost justified in calling them "churches on wheels," "parking" in one location for awhile and then mov- ing on.
The experiences of these migrating churches profoundly reveal many of the most perplexing phases of urban society and explain some crucial issues of Protestant policy. The representative Prot- estant church has moved whenever the character of its immediately surrounding population has radically changed in character.
In the growth, of St. Louis, newcoming population has not in the main occupied the circumference of urban development. It did not begin to build houses where the older population left off. Rather it tended to occupy the center, thus pushing out the older inhabitants toward the edges of the city. The chief reason is that the main body of city populations is always poor, and the expansions of cities are first of all industrial expansions. These new, poor, industrial popu- lations filter into habitations abandoned by their predecessors and left stranded in the grasp of industry. They fill the nooks and cran- nies among its factories, railways and wholesale establishments.
Such tenement districts are continuously renewed in population by the latest comers to the city, whether of foreign birth or of American rural stock.
The more desirable residential districts, on the contrary, progressively detach themselves from the expanding industrial and business areas. Whenever the growth of the city requires more room for factories and stores, the people who are able to do so put distance between their homes and these undesirable encroachments, leaving their old habitations to be filled in by the enlarging army of poor workers whom the growing industries demand. There is thus a cir- culation of population in connection with the growth of cities-new populations evict old ones with their institutions and turn the ex- panding movement of the city into a retreat of the "nice people"
toward the suburbs.
Such a process in St. Louis has been sweeping one Protestant church after another from location to relocation for more than half a century.
The First Presbyterian Church erected its first building in 1827 at the foot of Market Street, close to the river and the levees. In
CITY CHURCHES ON WJlEELS
the decade ending with 1850, soon after St. Louis's boom period, it moved four blocks uptown. As the city grew, the descendants of the early American settlers moved westward, separating themselves from incoming foreign groups. The church again responded to the westward urge and moved, in 1890, to Locust and Fourteenth Streets. By 1912, this block was submerged in the l?usiness district. The building was abandoned and became the Gaiety Burlesque Theater, while the church erected its fourth building at Sarah and Washington Streets, where already its permanence is menaced anew by Negro migration into the district. The length of each of these three migrations reflects the accelerating expansion of the city. In 1850 the rhurch moved four blocks, in 1890 twelve blocks and in 1912 nearly two and one half miles. Its next move is likely to take it beyond the city limits.
Sixty-nine migrations similar to that of the First Presbyterian Church have been studied by the St. Louis Survey for the period of 1871-1921. All of them were carried along on a general tide that bore westward the kind of population to which the older Protestant churches were accustomed so that the period from 1870 to 1890 witnessed the virtual abandonment of the "downtown" section by the English-speaking churches. Decade by decade the "nice people" living in the American sector between the parallel western movements of Negroes and Jews felt the jaws of a trap closing in upon them. DistFict by district these supposed "undesirables," the one moving up the Mill Creek Valley, the other along the axis of Cass and Easton Avenues, overflowed toward each other until they met farther and farther from the center. The older populations fought a continually losing battle against the invasion and often moved their institutions barely in time to escape the encircling movement.
All denominations shared in this retreat from the older sections. By reason of their parish traditions, the Protestant Episcopal churches and those of German origin remained a little longer than the others.
To an amazing degree, the removals of Protestant churches followed a beaten path, in the direction of prestige and supposed advantage to themselves. They trod upon each other's heels until they had rutted out a well-known trail toward the prosperous West End. New church organizations sprang up to evangelize other sections of the city, but they lacked the momentum and influence of this main historic movement, and made a permanent qualitative difference in the churching of the city.
As a net result of these migrations within the American sector, thirty-one churches moved out of the original central district below Grand Avenue and nineteen churches moved into the three contiguous districts immediately west of it.
How lacking these migrations have been in any well~defined or
previsioned plan becomes apparent when one analyzes what happened in a single district just west of Grand Avenue. As a net result of the sixteen migrations into and out of its boundaries this district actually lost but two churches. In other words, at the end of the process there were almost as many centers of organized Christianity (white) as there ever were–though very few of the original ones were left. Institutionaily speaking, the migrations were mainly lost motion. The real explanation is the non-interchangeability of Protestant institutions. Old churches do not do for new people, when the new people are of a little different tradition, experience or economic status, even though they be of the same faith and even of the same sect.
SECOND-HAND CHURCHES FOR SALJ<~ A rather searching inquiry by precise schedules as to what measures a retiring church originally took to insure the deserted community against spiritual loss suggested some inclination to dodge .MISSION GREEK HEBREW NEGRO WHITE HALLS ORTHODOX PROTESTANT PROTESTANT SYNAGO~UE5 CHURCHES Q CHURC~ES CHURCHES (I t i ~ t ,i , i j ii -' i -' -' i1 ii ii -' ii i DJT OF 36 CHURCH IlUILDIM;S THAT IIU<[ SOlD. 22 WERE SOLD TO OTHrR RELIGICl6 BOOIES. TlUS GRAPH SHOW" '.liAT KIN)S OF REllGlCUS erolES THEY WERE SOlD TO.
that issue. Each church doubtless satisfied itself on general grounds that its move was on the whole well advised. This point of view is perhaps practically justifiable but is not fully scientific and does not show a sense of institutional responsibility on the part of the Prot- estant body as a whole, either for the localities or for the people involved. The issues were really too serious to have been settled . with as little information, sense of responsibility and evidence of common counsel, as the churches showed in meeting them.
The disposal of old property furnishes, however, evidence that there was generally a succession of religious forces. When a given church or group of churches left a neighborhood other churches came in to occupy the property. Twenty-two of the thirty-six church prop- erties reported sold in connection with the migrations under consid- eration were sold to other denominations, including four sold to
CITY CHURCHES ON WHEELS
Jewish congregations, six to Negro churches, one to a Greek Orthodox denomination and one to an unclassified religious mission. Of properties reported as not sold to other denominations, one was acquired by the Board of Education and one turned into a residence.
Viewing the whole specta.cle of the shiftings of population ana the migration of Protestant churches since the growth characteristic of cities began in St. Louis, one is led to the conclusion that on the whole these changes of locality have probably brought under the influence of the churches the maximum of Protestant material of the kind to which the particular churches are accustomed to appeal. What the churches as a gTOUp have been after is Protestant people of their own sort. These have been sought both as converts and as supporters. The churches have been habitually seeking the easier THE CHECKERBOARD 0 0 0• •••• 0 •••• 0 0 0 1870-1680 1860-1890 1690-1900 1900-1910 1910-1920 o Churches that moved in .
• Churches tho1- movea oway.
7 CHURCHES MOVED INTO NlJ 9 CHURCHES MOVED CXJT or DISTRICT XIV. 1870 – 1921 way-albeit the only practical way so long as single parishes were left to work out their own social and financial fortunes unaided and without direction. So long as there was no city-wide plan of Protestant strategy and religious occupancy, the expedient of following the crowd has brought frequent success to the Church's enterprise, but also it has brought failure and loss often concealed and never fairly confessed.
Besides the tragical permanent losses of members from the Church and the frequently fatal weakening and final death of individual churches, there are losses of strength to the city at large even where removal appears to be successful. The present general location of the regularly organized Protestant churches and constituency is largely in the more prosperous and wealthy districts.
Of the Protestant churches having fewer than 100 members each, 62 per cent are below Grand Avenue and 38 per cent are above. Of the churches (If the 19 Protestant denominations cooperating in the
Church Federation, only 37 per cent are below Grand Avenue, but 58 per cent of the" other" less conventional and well established denominations and sects are below Grand Avenue, as well as 69 per cent of the Negro churches.
This showing means that the older, better organized and more conventional Protestant organizations have disproportionately taken themselves to the less congested and more desirable parts of the city, leaving the heavy end of the work below Grand Avenue to that irregular type of church which a witty New Yorker has called the "bootleg religions," or else to the Negroes. This in itself subtracts from the moral and social ascendancy of Protestantism and from its place in popular respect. It constitutes a cause for heart-searching on the part of the churches themselves.
Protestantism, then, has habitually sought institutional advantage by change. Historically speaking the chief clue to its story is that it has followed the more desirable population from place to place.' On that basis it has largely succeeded. But is this success 1 Was it the thing to do 1 Catholicism, on the other hand, with its fundamental idea of the geographical parish, attempts-not always successfully- to stay by the people who have to stay and provides definitely for whatever new people enter a given area.
The working out of these strikingly contrasting policies has had no little share in fixing the zones and levels of social advantage and disadvantage which hold the fortunes of different elements of St. Louis's people in such graring contrasts.
Protestantism up to date has no method of effective planning for, nor of adequately financing churches through periods of strain and transition by reason of shifts in population, nor of supporting them for permanent service in regions of permanent disadvantage. Some of the denominations do better than others, but all together do not do nearly well enough in these respects. Neither single churches nor denomInations alone can meet the challenging changes of the city. Local churches without adequate guidance and backing will continue to follow the lines of least resistance, finding their clues in individual advantage and systematically running away from the major problems of the city. Yet the obvious test of the success of the church as a social factor in a city is its ability to meet this essential urban fact of change and to equalize religious opportunity for the entire people. Economic handicaps should be no barrier to the most adequate religious ministries to all the people, while effective religious organization permanently related to localities and neighborhoods should have definite and even controlling influence upon many of their environmental fortunes.
A COMMUNITY CHURCH CO NDUCTED BY THE AM~]RICAN METHOD I STS IN CHE
W E ST CH I NA The Community Church In China BY REV. A. R. K EPL ER, SHAN GHAI, ClHINA Missionary of the Presbyterian Church , U. S. A., 1901-; National Secret ary of the Community .workers Association of China T HE Co=unity Church in China is the expression within the several denominations of the effort to Christianize the indi- vidual and his community. This type of church, sometimes known as an institutional church, is in China a product of the last decade. Of the eighty or more such churches, less than ten have been organized for more than seven years. They are now found in thirteen of the eighteen provinces and represent eleven denominational groups.
Those who are promoting the community program in the churches, do so primarily because of the conviction that this is in line with Christ's program for the realization of His kingdom. The Community Church also multiplies' the points of contact between the Christian forces and the non-Christian constituency by reducing the attitude of mistrust misconception of the missionary and the missionary's message and motive.
The attitude of the Oriental non-Christian to Christianity, is similar to what would be our r eaction to a Buddhist propaganda in our own home town. The non-Christian may have ditIiculty in understanding the Christian vocabulary, and teaching; but he can understand a program of Christian social service and responds readily to its appeal for cooperation. Merehants, gentry and students will readily support this phase of the community church work and are thus prepared for the full message of Christ.
111
Ten years ago a community church was organized in one q:e~. the larger interior cities of China. There had been years of faithful effort in line with the program and objective of the old tYF'e:church. Its membership had been recruited almost wholly from ~l.0ngthe coolies and small shopkeepers, with a few students in the mission boarding schools. There seemed to be an almost impassable gulf between the church and the ni~re influential classes of the community.
The church leaders decided to change their mode of approach and proceeded to build up a varied comprehensive program, adapted to the needs of the community. Local conditions arising out of po~ litical unrest, afforded an opportunity to lay this program before the gentry, merchants and guild leaders and to solicit their coopera- tion. Now after seven years this church is a real civic force for righteousness and Ohristian living and is recognized by the city functionaries and gentry as the one dependable organization around which to rally in times of famine, flood and war relief. It is the acknowledged leader in all sorts of projects for the prom:otion of happier homes, healthier bodies, popular enlightenment, cleaner liv- ' ing, wholesome recreation, better industr.ial relationships, good gov-' ernment and genuine patriotism. It is a living demonstration that all these objectives, so commendable, to the community, are a re-, ligious product; they find their dynamic in God, and gain theip working principles from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
This community church has made such a place for itself in the· city that, when a retiring or newly appointed official makes his formal calls upon the Chamber of Commerce and guild leaders, he includes a call on this community church. A stafr of more than fifteen paid workers is employed, exclusive of the foreign missionaries, and the annual budget calls for approximately $10,000 Mex., nearly all of which is provided by fees and local contributions. Some of the foremost citizens assist in soliciting these contributions from their friends and acquaintances.
Last year, at the time of the annual nation-wide week of special – evangelism, the best homes in the city were opened to the pastor and his associates for daily evangelistic services.
In assisting in the preparation of the report of the commission on "The Future Task of the Church" for the National Christian Conference, the writer made inquiry in all parts of China concerning the number of communicants who lapsed from their Christianity in the course of ten years after baptism. It was found that approximately thirty-three per cent of our communicant membership thus reverted, if not to a condition of absolute disbelief in Christianity, at least to an attitude of withdrawal, from Christian fellowship. While at first these figures may seem staggering, it must be recognized that in a non-Christian land, the currents of sin and selfishness and material persuits are so strong that only ceaseless vigil and
19,,5J THE COMMUNiTY CHURCH IN CHINA
unwearied effort will prevent one from becoming a victim of the tide. The Laodicean Christian knows his fate much sooner on the mission field than in America. It is difficult to maintain one's Christian experience and convictions amidst non-Christian relationships. In China, a decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour involves a re-orientation of the convert to all of his old relationships, nearly all of which are opposed to his new-found faith. Apart from the agencies which drew him to Christ, all associations, home, business, friends, and the existing social and industrial order, combine to make the stoutest heart falter and the firmest faith to waver. It A STORY-TELLING HOUR FOR NEIGHBORHOOD CHlLDRiEN IN CHINA is hoped through the community church service many of those who might otherwise lapse from their faith may be conserved to Christ.
China's population increases at the rate of more than 2,000,000 a year. Before the church can overtake this rate of increase, we must produce a Christian environment in home, school, business and society which will produce and develop Christian ideals in place of the Confucian and Buddhist ideals which now find natural expression in a Chinese soul.
The activities of community churches reveal the comprehensiveness of the program, and the many ways in which the Christian impact may be directed upon the individual lives and the social order. There are projects to combat disease and promote community health. Filth; dark, damp, overcrowded homes; undernourishment; ignorance of germs, multiply the victims. Hence wherever 3
PRIZE BABY CONTESTANTS AT BABY WELFARE EXHIBTT possible the church conducts a community clinic. A neighborhood nurse may be employed to visit the homes of the vicinity, advising the mothers concerning their own and their children's ills and aches, prescribing for the more common ailments, preaching the gospel of cleanliness, and offering Christian sympathy of their woes and trials. Small-pox is constantly an endemic so that annual vaccination campaigns are conducted. One church this last year vaceinated over 6,000 people, enlisting the volunteer services of fifty or more doctors, nurses, educators and students.
Extensive plans are made to educate the people 011 public health by charts, stereopticon, moving pictures, pamphlets, posters, lectures, and health exhibits. The people are thus taught the necessity of swatting the fiy, screening the food, eliminating the muck heap, and 'protecting the water supply from contamination. Students and teachers of government schools and others social1y minded in the community are recruited to assist in these campaigns, and thus become accessible to friendly Christian cultivation.
It has been estimated that seventy per cent of the infants born die before the age of adolescence. This situation justifies the churches in including "Baby Welfare Week" in their program. Mothers are taught proper bathing, feeding, and nourishing of children j infants are weighed, measured and charted, and prizes are offered to the one who has made the greatest progress since the
THE COMMUNI'fY CHURCH IN CHINA
previous contest. In China, as everywhere, the shortest road to a woman's heart is by way of her child.
Since the childhood years are the formative period of a person's life, the church is trying to make the most of its opportunity through kindergartens, supervised play, club work for boys, sewing classes and organized activities for girls, story telling hours, games and athletic contests, musiic, dramatics, entertainments, the Vacation Bible school, etc. All these activities are utilized and directed so as to enrich the life of· the child, physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually, while assisting them to grow in wisdom and statqre and in favor with God and man.
Never have the Chinese people felt so keenly the need for popu-· lar education as at present. Schools and vocational courses therefore find a large place in every community church program. These include not only the kinderg'arten and grammar school grades witb religious instruction, but classes in English, typewriting', bookkeeping, cooking, music and sometimes tailoring.
In all these churches there are those who offer their services to promote free schools for poor boys and girls and evening classes for apprentices. The "Bopular Education Movement " is a growing, nation-wide effort, by means of specially prepared textbooks, to teach the illiterate the use of 1,000 of the most frequently used Chi- A COMMUNITY SEWING CLASS FOR NEIGHBORHOOD CHILDREN
THE MISstONARY REVlEW OF THE WORLD [:E'ebruarV
nese characters. The community churches help to promote this movement and many conduct classes in the new phonetic script.
Every community has its poor, and since the days of the Apostles, the church has recognized its obligation to minister to such. Flood, famine, and war leave misery in their wake, presenting an unescapable challenge to the church for organized relief. Special programs for national festivals, occasional entertainments, socials, and fellowship gatherings must needs be included among the projects of all community churches. An indispensable part of the equipment is also the reading room and social hall.
Each community church must adapt its projects to its community needs. Moreover, these programs must be so organized, executed and followed up as to realize the objective of making Jesus Christ STAFF OF EMPLOYED WORKERS-NANTAe 'CHRIS'nAN INSTITUTE. PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNITY CHURCH, SHANGHAI the acknowledged Lord in the lives of all in the community, and His principles dominant in all their relationships. 'rhe need for individual salvation from sin is not being overlooked and reliance on human plans must not be substituted for divine power. Social reform can never take the place of spiritual regeneration. This is expressed in a resolution unanimously adopted at the close of the conference of the National Association of Community Church Workers which met in Shanghai in May, 1923: "If in these recommendations, methods and social service have been stressed, it is well to remind ourselves that, in its finality, it is not by might nor by power nor by methods but by the Spirit of God that the church can accomplish her task; that the only' effective way to regenerate society is by individual regeneration; that the individual's social relationships can be perfected only by :first establishing right relationships with God; that these programs must be begotten and maintained in the spirit of prayer and still more prayer, by the individual and the group. "
Development of Indian
BY WILLIAM PATON, CALCUTTA, INDIA Secreta.ry of National Christian Council T HERE is almost no subject of greater importance to right understanding of the work of Christ in India, than th!;l ques- tion of native Christian leadership. In the last few years a considerable advance has been made in the success with which this problem has been tackled in India. Indian Christians recognize a new relation between the missionary and the Indian Christian, due in large measure, to the fact that a number of missions have placed more responsibility on their Indian Christians.
The Indian Mission Board of the American Marathi Mission, the American Presbyterian Mission and the United Free Church of Scotland in Western India, and the Church Missionary Society are seeking to transfer authority from a distinctively mission body to bodies representative of the native churches. There are still, however, many missionaries, who do not appear to accord full support to this policy.
The fundamental principle is that the leadership of the work of. Ghrist in India must be Indian or fail. Some argue that men should be chosen solely on the ground of fitness without regard to race. But in a Church of Christ in India, the expression of God's Spirit in Indian terms must be predominantly Indian in thought and vision.
It would be very hard for Americans to receive the Gospel if it came through an organization both controlled by Eskimos or Africans and in all its ways reflecting the foreign mentality. The Church in India is to be the instrument and organ of Christ's Spirit in reaching the hearts and minds of Indians.
This Indian interpretation of Christianity requires Indian leaders in positions where they can express themselves effectively. It is perhaps one of the anomalies of the present situation that a missionary who tries to introduce Indian forms in worship and buildings will often find himself most resisted by the elder Indians. The ways of missionaries have been all too faithfully copied.
There is only one thing that will permanently render the Church in India an Indian church, and that is the control of it by Indians. In the long run the way to rid the Church in India of the many slavish imitations of the ways of Western Christians-elements which contribute to the estrangement of the mind of India from the Church-is to make the Indians effective in the organization and life of the Church.
For missions and missionaries this principle should be applied to money, to the choice of workers, and to the outlook of the Church 117
in the West. It is around the question of tnoney that pmctical difficulties center. The argument is frequently heard that as the money by which Christian work in India is supported is still predominantly derived from foreign sources, it is right that it should be administered by people of the same race as those who gave it. But the money which missions dispense is given to them by God's people for the furtherance of His work. It is only necessary that it should be used in the best way, not only the most efficient way, but the way in which the ultimate goal-the building up of the Church-will most surely be realized. On this ground much can be said for missions making to Indian church boards grants of money for the aid of the work, and for handing to them work which has previously been in the charge of missionaries and the money for its support-provided that it is reasonably certain that the work will be done.
Indians understand as well as anyone, that gifts for Christian work are given by those who believe in it, and that the gifts cease with the weakening or disappearance of confidence. When a mission entrusts to a responsible Indian Christian body the care of work and funds,. such action both develops initiative and confers experience, while it draws out the generosity of the Indian Church.
There is no foundation for the view that what Indians want is to have the money from the missionary societies and to do without the missionaries! Here and there some may be found who say this, but it represents no widespread opinion among responsible men. One of the most prominent and advanced of Indian Christians, a man widely known for the vigor and boldness of his Nationalism, says that in the partnership which he desires to see, between the Indian Church and the missions, "the missionary factor is absolutely valueless except in the personal equation of the missionaries, men and women. Not the colleges and schools, not the philanthropic foundations, not the ecclesiastical organizations, but it is the personalities that matter." The Indians want the missionaries, but they want us not as masters but as helpers.
Some types of work can in many cases be made over to Indian control; others are more difficult or even impossible to transfer, owing to the lack of sufficient experience and knowledge in the Indian Church. But in any enterprise under foreign control, there should be effective Indian representation.
As to workers there are many qualities needed in a missionary nowadays, but none is so essential as u;illingness to serve. It should be made abundantly plain to those who are sent out that this is a dominating principle in our work; and those who do not show every sign of desiring humbly to cooperate with Indian leaders should not be sent.
An American leader suggests that it has been a fault in missionary addresses that the work of missions have been presented as an
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN LEADERSHIP
extension of American Protestantism.. It is perhaps true that a large number of supporters of missions think of the work in this way. They know little about the lands to which their representatives are sent; they sincerely believe that they are in an extremely rotten condition and they associate the Gospel with a certain type of social structure to which they have themselves grown accustomed; and conceive of missions as conferring the benefits of American foreign ideals and modes of life upon a needy people.
In India at least the tide is now.the other way, for they do not wish 'Vestern civilization. There is something, much more beautiful than the Ohristianity of my own tradition, waiting to be born. We that have learned of Ohrist have not learned all of Him. There are notes of praise that India and Ohina and Africa can sound, not contained in our harmonies. We take to India what we have, the good news of Christ, and in the providence of God that message strikes chords in the Indian heart.
H is a part of the glory of mis- sionary work that one is able to see the new and wonderful expres- sions of that universal Christian faith, and to contemplate in rever- ence the many ways in which He is fulfilled, who filleth all things.
ARCHDEACON IBSAN ULLAH vVe should admit the right of One of the leading Christians of North India Indian Christians to make their own experiments along the many lines which have been traversed by our Western feet. They will not ignore our experience, but they will not be tied by it. It will always be a matter of difference among Christians as to what is essential and what secondary in their faith and practice. But if we believe that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, then we should be ready to find Indians expressing in their own way what "the Spirit says to the Churches."
We missionaries must learn instinctively to think of the Indian Church and not only of "our Mission"; to watch for what it will do, not only to initiate action ourselves; and to think of Christianity not as a religion whose springs lie in America or Europe, but one whose life-centers are in the East as well as in the West. It is our privilege to share with the Christians of India the blessings and the responsibilities of the Gospel in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Experiences in Cairo U niversity*
Views of Seniors Repo1·ted by Prof. Wendell Cleland SIR, tell us of our future." Someone had written this on the blackboard so that it would catch Mr. Conscientious Teacher's attention as he entered the room.
"What can I tell you of your futures f 'l'his is an English class." "Sir, we like to know what you think we can do," interposed Omar. "Yes, sir. Yes, sir," came a general chorus. Seizing the opportunity to have a lesson in conversation on a subject which would hold their attention, Teacher put aside his program and turned the class into a fOTIlm on "Openings for the Egyptian student." "Well, what do you want to bel" The vote showed the doctors to be overwhelmingly in the majority. "Abdullah, why do you want to be a doctor 1" Abdullah adjusted his tarboush and rose eagerly. "Because, sir, doctors make much money ['Umhmm,' thought Mr. Teacher] and if a doctor is very wise and clever, many people will come to him and he will become verv rich. ' , "But, if so many" want to become doctors, there will not be enough rich sick to go around, and then some of you will starve to death, or else go out into the villages and treat the fellaheen, who cannot pay very much," Teacher objected. "No, sir. The fellaheen are very rich now. They used to be poor, but since the war prices of cotton and grains have advanced' from three to ten times and they have made lots of money. Their land has become very valuable, too. It is worth, on an average, $1,000 an acre, and many of them own the land they work. The number of fellaheen who own land is increasing at the rate of two and one~half per cent each year. Now 450,000 more farmers own land than ten years ago, and that means that eventually the majority of the peasants are going to own their own farms, and so no longer be the slaves of the big landlords." "Where did you learn aU tha11" interjected the astonished Teacher. "Are you sure of your facts 1" "Yes, sir. They are in the last Government Year Book," exclaimed Said, grabbing the top of his tarboush and rising hastily to interject his opinion. "There are 4,000,000 peasants in Egypt, and • From Ble.sed Be Egypt.
120 nearly 2,000,000 Egyptians own farm land, So that means that almost every family owns a little bit, at least one or two acres. The average amount owned by Egyptians has decreased from three and one-half to two and three-fourths acres, or nearly 25 per cent in the last ten years, which means that the people who were once poor and almost like slaves are getting the land from the rich pashas who used to own it all. So if a man owns even one acre only he is worth about $1,000, and can afford to pay us well for our work."
"But," continued Teacher, "how do you know that these people are going to get sick~ This is said to be a very healthy country. It never gets very cold, the sun disinfects the place, and diseases do not get much of a hold. What makes you think there is going to be any work for the doctors 7"
Naseef's hand shot up, and Teacher knew his answer, for he had seen him intensely interested in an illustrated lecture given to the students by Dr. Abd ul Malik on the subject" Bilharzia."
"Sir," he said, thrusting forth his hands in an argumentative way, "eighty per cent of these fellaheen have bilharzia, and when they discover it they will all want treatment. And then they all have trachoma, and many have hookworm and other diseases. Of course there win be lots of work."
"Sir, sir!" Hands were going up all round, so one more representative of the doctor group wa(3 called upon. Ibrahim rose with an interested, eager look on his face, and making the habitual adjustment of his tarboush, spoke up.
"Sir, my friends have said that the future of our country holds great wealth for the doctor because of his ability to cure diseases and get paid for it. But, sir, I think there is a better reason for becoming a doctor. I don't care whether I get rich or not, and I would treat all the fellaheen and poor people alike, whether they could pay me or not. But as a doctor I would rather study how to get rid of these diseases by purifying the water, killing the mosquitoes and fleas, and teaching the people, and especially the children, how to avoid these bad diseases. Then, sir, the death rate among children under one year of age would not be twenty-three per cent every year. For this reason, I would rather do most of my work at 'preventive' medicine, and so free Egypt of these bad diseases. ['Long live free Egypt!' Ahmed, the patriot, could not restrain himself.] Then, sir, there is no reason why Egypt should not be the healthiest, wealthiest and most famous country in all the world."
"When that great day comes and Egypt has no more diseases what will happen to all the doctors who think they are going to get so rich ~" is the question which Mr. Teacher naturally asks.
"Then, sir, it will serve them right for wanting to take advantage of people's misery to make themselves rich. They can find something else to do. Perhaps by that time they will have learned
that a man's duty to his country is not finished when he gets rid of its evils. He must assist the process of evolution as well as obstruct devolution. He should help to develop good things, and if he becomes rich incidentally, that is his reward and is no crime."
Teacher recalled that Ibrahim was the leading student of the class, and had delivered several fine orations along this line in the literary society to which he belonged.
"But, sir," he continued, almost pleadingly, "where can we get this kind of medical education f The one government medical school already has too many students, and nearly a hundred are turned . away every year. .And it is very expensive for us to go to Europe or .America to study. Why does this University not have a medical department, so we can continue our preparation right here7 It would be very much better for us to go on with you and be able to stay here in our own beloved country."
Prof. Teacher had no answer to that question. Personally, he was willing enough to have a medical school as part of the University, where boys wanting to work under the stimulus of such high ideals would find themselves encouraged, but, as the Arabic puts it, "not with us money." So Teacher dodged the answer and started on a different track.
" Yacoub, you are planning to be a teacher. Why f " Now, some students are inclined to think that a man becomes a teacher only after he has failed to get into the medical or engineer- ing or law schools, so Yacoub got to his feet with something of defiance in his eye.
"Sir, I am planning to be a teacher because I think my country needs education more than anything else just now. I know that all of our people are very intelligent and have good minds. [Yacoub is a proud defender of the NationaIist cause also. J If you talk to the average fellah, you will not find him stupid, for he does his work very well and knows many things. He may not know how to read, but that does not mean that he does not have a good mind. Mo- hamed .Aly Pasha (the founder of modern Egypt) could not read nor write, and now Fulan Pasha, of the Constitutional Commission, though he cannot read nor write, yet is recognized as having a very fine mind. However, in spite of this fact, I know, sir, that ability to read will help very much to open the poor man's mind and let him see the bigness of the world and the Truth of God, and release him from being the tool of wicked men who tell him lies to excite him for their own bad purposes. So I wish to be an educator and spread education in every village and city among the 93 per cent of our people who cannot read and write now. .And especially would I like to assist in the education of the women and girls, for only 1.2 per cent of the women over five years of age can read; and the others cannot be even as well educated as the illiterate men, for our customs
CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES IN CAIRO UNIVERSITY
prevent women from travelling very much from place to place and learning new things. I had hoped, sir, when I entered this college three years ago, that I would be able to learn the teaching profession in this University, so as to become a teacher and trainer of teachers myself, but you do not have that department yet, sir."
These veiled reproaches were getting a bit under the skin of Mr. O. Teacher, so he shifted the subject again, and called upon Mohamed, who had lustily voted to make himself a journalist.
"Arabic journalism, sir, is going to furnish one of the most useful occupations for young Egyptians. There are now seventy-seven Arabic newspapers and magazines printed in Egypt, though only 800,000 people out of Egypt's 13,000,000 read Arabic. As Yacoub gets the other 93 per cent educated, there will be a big demand for newspapers in every city and village, just as there is in yuur country. Then, too, sir, you know that the Cairo papers are read not only in all parts of Egypt but also in every Arabic-speaking country, all the way from Morocco to Persia, and these countries are affected by what takes place in Egypt. I thiIL.~ you know that one of our new students this year, who came from Mecca, learned about this University by reading an article about it in the Mokattam [a Cairo Arabic daily]. But, sir, I want to reach many people with my paper, not only to make a living for myself, but because I believe the security of our country's independence rests upon all the people knowing the truth about events. Some newspapers print only lies, so as to prejudice their readers. I want to print the truth, so that those who read can form unbiased judgments. I saw, sir, in your printed program that you were going to have a School of Journalism, but-"
Teacher could not bear it any longer, so he tried to divert the train of thought back to the English lesson, but one other profession insisted on being heard from. Abd ur Rahman, who had his heart set on commerce and his hand set on his tarboush preparatory to launching forth, was given tbe floor. He talked staccato, for he was not the most fluent in English.
"Sir, Egypt is a land of agriculture. One fourth and more of the Egyptians live and work on farms. All of our commerce depends on our soil, which Father Nile brings us as a new coat every year. The water of the river is full of fresh soil. Irrigation by means of 11,000 miles of canals deposits this continuously, so that there is always a new surface. This enables the farmer to get three crops a year easily. Never does our river fail us entirely, and we never have cold to kill our plants. So we are very fortunate in agriculture. We are sometimes called the granary of Europe. During the war we sent much food to the Allies-sugar, wheat, rice, barley, dairy products, etc. In 1919, 90 per cent of our exports were cotton and cotton goods alone; and also the total goods exported were almost double the importations. Therefore we should become increasingly
wealthy. And since we are on the great trade route between Europe and the Far East, our opportunities for trade with all the world are tremendous. We are the front door to Central Africa, too. I wish, sir, the Americans would start a school to teach the young man of Egypt all about economics and the great science of commerce, so we could be experts, like the men in New York and London and Paris, and manage all our own affairs to the gain and honor of our country. You will have many students, sir, and some who now go to England and America to learn this at great expense will remain here."
That was the last straw, and Mr. Conscientious Teacher, who had spent three years encouraging these boys to see big visions with increasingly lofty ideals, felt that he was about to turn them loose into a cold world where high purposes so carefully cultivated might be nipped ip the bud, and so bear no fruit. But he was in for another jolt, albeit somewhat of a comfort, too. This time it was Suren, an Armenian boy and a leading student, who hopes some day to be a structural engineer.
"Sir, we are all here in this college, Armenians, Egyptians, Syrians, .Jews and Arabs-different races and religions; but you have taught us to be brothers, io love each other and our Father, God. We will never forget our beloved college. Weare sorry to leave her, and we would stay longer if you would keep us. ,Ve hope, in the future, our successors will be more fortunate than we, and be able to finish their educations for their professions right here in the American University. We are glad that we came here."
Mr. Conscientious Teacher wandered back to his study, fervently thanking the Master for what he had seeu, but also realizing how much more certain would be the results if he could see in the near future a completed University.
SIX REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN 1. Because The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2: 20.
2. Because As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name. John 2: 12.
3. Because Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5: l.
4. Because If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the RighteoU's. 1 John 2: l.
5. Because I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. 2 Tim. 1: J2.
6. Because Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time with- out sin unto salvation. Hebrews 9: 28.
A Christian Statesman of
I T is not easy to preach the Gospel in Chile today, as Church and State are nominally one, if not practically so. Wherever the Roman Catholic Church controls the officials, they may bring to bear the inquisitorial power of the Middle Ages. The difficulties today, however, are as nothing compared to those of the time of Bishop William Taylor and Samuel Torregrosa, for those pioneers persisted and wrought mightily, and the present generation of preachers and Christian workers are reaping the benefits of their labors.
The Rev. Moises Torregrosa is a second generation Christian.
His father, Samuel Torregrosa, was a native of Spain and upon his conversion felt a call to go out to Chile, where he began his work of evangelization in an indepen- dent way without any society sup- porting him. As a tribute to the work of his father, Moises wrote a biography a short time ago en- titled "Forty Years of Battle,"
which in a picturesque way rep- resents the early labors and con- quests of a patriarch of Christian missions in Chile.
Fortunately for Moises, the early missionaries established REV. MOISES TORREGROSA schools for boys as well as for girls, One of the Evangelical Pastors of Santiago.
and he was enabled to secure an Chile intellectual foundation which has stood him well in hand in the time of his increasing responsibility. Young Torregrosa began preaching at an early age and the success attending his efforts might well have spoiled one of less sincerity and consecration.
When the Union Theological Seminary was opened in Santiago, Moises was one of the first students and studied hard, learning not merely from books, but from devout and earnest Christian mission- aries of the Presbyterian and Methodist Missions. He was a young man of fine talents and manifested unusual brilliancy in everything he undertook. So well did he perform pastoral duties that some of the largest churches invited him to become pastor at greatly in- creased salary. He had sufficient grace, however, to carryon in the appointments given him, and in time has entered into the largest 125
places of influence and power within the gift of his own church in Chile. "To whom much is given, much is demanded," and this has been especially true in the case of Moises Torregrosa. He is large in build, handsome and dignified in appearance, and he has both the physique and the voice of an orator. These natural abilities, coupled with his unusual passionate devotion to the gospel message, have made him a flame of fire wherever he has gone.
At present Mr. Torregrosa is serving as Superintendent of the Central District, the large!';t and most important district in the Methodist Episcopal Church. At the same time he is editor of the union wflekly paper, President of the Good Samaritan Dispensary, and professor in the Union Theological School, besides having a part on TREATING PATIENTS AT METHODIST DISP ENSARY AND CLI N IC, SANTIAGO, CHiLE the most important committees of the Mission and the Church in Chile. He was elected a delegate by his fellow preachers and missionaries to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church which met at Springfield, Mass., in May, 1924, arid as such was an outstanding figure, able to interpret the SQuth American Church so as to give a better understanding of it to the North American leaders.
Chile in transition needs many Moises Torregrosas, men who have consecrated all of their powers to Almighty God and who are fearless and courageous in setting forth the teaching and will of the Master in such a way that lives will be transformed, manhood remade, and the teachings of .Jesus adopted as the principles and laws of conduct and of life.
BY MRs. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHIJENBERG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, P A
IN THREE YEARS tensive preparation for the six weeks'
The three-year record of the School school. of Missions of Temple Church, Los How IT WAS ORGANI2IED.-The Gen- Angeles, California (Dr. J. Whitcomb Brougher, Pastor), should be eral Committee consisted of the Direcstudied by everyone who is inter- tor of Religious Education, all chairested in Schools of Missions. men of subcommittees, the Directoll of Dramatics, secretary, treasurer and In actnal figures in black and white librarian. There were committees on this record shows: music, decorations, electric lighting, advertising and special features. The Year Attendance Average faculty and assistants numbered 1921 2,404 401 twenty-five and there were numerous 1922 2,714 452 1923 4,391 732 other helpers. How 1'1' WAS ANNOUNCED.-A circu- Of course if vour church is a small lar was prepared for general distribu- one you may say, "It's easy to put on tion giving names of courses, teachers, big things in a big church with three age, classifications and the list of dra- thousand members!" but it is just as matizations to be given each night.
easy to put on big things on a small These were distributed by the Sun- scale in small churches. day School pupils in their own homes How IT BEGAN.-The School of Mis- and' immediate neighborhoods. At sions grew out of a summer confer- the women's social circles, for weeks ence of the Missionary Education prior to the school, thousands of Movement, as so many other splendid yellow paper chrysanthemums were things have grown. A group of dele- made. These, with enrollment cards, gates, including the Director of Re- were given to every member of the ligious Education, was sent to Asilo- congregation on the Sunday morning mar to the Conference. They studied preceding the opening of the school, missionary methods, programs and by young Japanese men and women, objectives, and came back home with after a missionary sermon by the new information and inspiration. pastor.
How IT GREw.-For t4e six weeks' Burdette Hall, where prayer meet- period of 1921, the attendance was ings and social functions are held, 2,404, averaging 401 a night. The was decorated as a Japanese garden.
second year the attendance was 2,714, Paper lanterns (lighted by electric- averaging 452 each evening. The ity) were hung. Popcorn, colored third year the school was held in pink, fastened to boughs, made a per- .January and .February, so as not to fect mass of "cherry blossoms" as a interfere with the School of Religious stage background. The great Buddha Education, and also to lay a founda- was drawn on the blackboard, and tion for a great effort to complete the Mt. Fujiyama, and pagodas, etc. All New World Movement. The attend- this was done a week before, for ad- ance totaled 4,391, more than 1,000 vertising pUl'poses.
different people being enrolled. The A special enrollment card was pre- last night the actual attendance was pared. Perforated in the center, one- 916. There were two months of in- half gave name, address and, tele- 127
phone, and on the reverse side, a quiring 1wenty minutes. Then all place to check the courses selected. were dismissed, and went to reserved The other half listed the dramatiza- seats for the evening service. tions, textbooks and school directory. A button was also prepared, weeks THE Cr,AsSEs.-Little folks from six before, bearing this inscription: to nine were told a missionary story. " Temple Baptist School of Missions, " Ages ten to twelve were taught "The in red lettering on a white ground. Honorable Japanese Fan." The In- termediates, thirteen to fifteen, were How TIME WAS FOUND.-Sunday given "Young Japan." The high night at 5 : 30, covering the time when school group, sixteen to eighteen, took seven Christian Endeavor Societies "Japan on the Upward Trail." Ages met, all of which were temporarily nineteen to twenty-two, under anabsorbed in the School of Missions, other teacher, took the same course, was chosen as the time. This is a as did also the next older group, better time than prayer meeting twenty-three to twenty-eight. Young night, if it is worth while to reach women over twenty-eight studied others than the prayer meeting crowd. "The Child and America's Future." The Christian Endeavor Societies M:rs. Lena Leonard Fisher, a returned formed a nucleus. The School of Mis- missionary and Professor of Missions sions at that hour related itself to in the University of Southern Calithe church services. It tempted out- fornia, interpreted "Creative Forces siders to come early. It discovered a in Japan" to the adult women, while large number, young and old, for an the adult men studied "The Debt evangelistic field. It widened the Eternal." Mrs. Fisher was the only reach of missionary instruction. It paid instructor. made it possible for the whole family -even when there were small chil- THE FINANCES.-There were no coldren-to attend. lections taken. There were no charges made. Before the closing night there How THE PRAYER MEET'ING WAS was the suggestion that there be an RELATED.-Simultaneously, however, offering, purely voluntary, of a dollar on Weduesday nights, the Associate or more, made at the last session. No Pastor gave a conrse of addresses on one was urged. It was to be merely "'I'he Authority for Missionary En· an expression of appreciation. The terprise. " These were given an hour offering was foUl' hundred dollars. before prayer meeting, and were attended by hundreds. The subjects THE DRAMATIZATIONS. – The six were: "The Authority of the Scrip- pageants used for the closing twenty tures," "'fhe Authority of a Chris- minutes were full of color, and entian Conscience," "The Authority of listed many people, young and old. Human Need," "The Authority of .Each represented some missionary appeal. An electric spotlight and Success, " etc. colored footlights aided in giving THE PROGRAM.–At 5: 30 sharp the beauty and attractiveness.
School of Missions was called to "at- On the Friday night after the clostention." Necessary anncuncements ing Sunday night, a great concluding were made. Next, some feature of pageant was given, representing peointerest WIl,S put on, surh as a group ple of many nations: Italian, Mexof singing Japanese children; a J apa- ican, Japanese, Russian, Indian, nese choir in costume; a tea cere- Negro, etc., and the church as the mony, etc. At 5: 45 all were dismissed agency in Christian Americanization. for separate classes, these being ar- These different groups sang their naranged for men and women, and for tional anthems and folk songs. young people and children, according to age. Classes lasted for fifty min- THE RESULTs.—,The results of the utes, when they were promptly re- School were far reaching. The whole called to witness a dramatization re- church was awakened, as never be- fore, to think "Missions." The
BEST MET1IODS
Christian Endeavor was given a good laugh at the discrepancies, I ex- vision. The importance of pageantry hibit a wall map and we compare.
was clearly shown. The School was a This produces ten times more interest feeder to the ,church. The who.le than if the map had been shown at family had something in common for the start of the class.
home conversation, and a common in- Sometimes I vary the process. Last terest in the Christian world program. year I asked my class in Japan on the Temple Church believ~ in a Sun- Upward Trail this question, "If you day night School of Missions once a should start in an airplane from year, conducted with all the pep and Tokyo, Japan, and fly due west color and character that its versatile around the world would you strike people can put into it. the United States~ If so, whereY"
STARTING A :MISSION STUDY This was great fun. Some were sure CLASS you would pass completely to the south of the United States. Others By GILBF~T Q. LESoURD were equally sure you would go to About twenty years ago I learned the north. Many said frankly that a little scheme that seldom fails to they had no idea. But all were interwork when you are looking for a good ested. Then we made the comparison way to launch the initial meeting of showing that the plane would land on your mission study class. A pastor's the coast of North Carolina. wife taught it to me and many others have used it, so it claims no copyright, To do this effectively you need a but even if old it remains just about world map. The Missionary Educathe best opener I know. It is sim- tion Movement has recently issued a plicity itself. Pass out blank sheets new missionary map of the world of paper and ask your class to draw which is admirably adapted to this a rough outline of the country to be use. It is 41×98 inches in size. Printstudied, locating one or more impor- ed on paper it can be' purchased for tant points. I always reassure the the low price of $2.00 postpaid, but it timid ones by telling them they need will be economy to pay $3.75 for the not hand in their maps and do not map printed on cloth, as that will even need to show them unless they wear much longer. Practically all want to. I draw one myself and usu- denominational boards now are selling this new map of the world.
ally exhibit mine first. Since I can't LOOKING THE WORLD IN THE draw even a crooked line and make it FACE look natural, the sight of my map usually creates so much excitement The new missionary map of the that others venture to show theirs and world of which Dr. LeSourd writes so the ice is broken. Before the maps should be hailed with joy by all mis- are exhibited I ask the class to locate sionary leaders. It is likely that later certain important features. If we a booklet of suggestions on how to are studying Africa I never fail to use the map may be issued. In the ask them to put in the equator. This meantime put a committee in your is located all the way from the ex- own church or Sunday School to treme north to near the middle, but work on plans.
usually much farther north than it When that great missionary pastor, belongs. One or two well-known cities Dr. D. M. Stearns of Germantown, are asked for and never fail to prove was asked, "Wbat methods do you too much for the limited knowledge of use for visualizing missions to your the class. But just to realize how people'" he responded, "I always little they do know serves to kindle a keep the world before their eyes."
lively interest in the country. After A five or ten minute map talk or several maps have been voluntarily exercise will help an entire school or exhibited and the class has enjoyed a congregation to look the world in the 4
face. A few advance suggestions for map talk with a pointer. The thirty using the map in Sunday Schools, minutes may be changed to five or ten Missionary Societies, Brotherhoods or for a Sunday School and still make other group meetings are: possible a dear presentation of the 1. Pray for various mission fields, location of mission stations.
with the map before you. Take 5. A series of five minute map talks China, for instance. Have a leader on our various mission fields may be point out the capital, then pause for given on several successive Sundays.
prayer for that great nation and all 6. Much interest may be aroused its officials. Pass on to various mis- and much -information given by as- sion fields or institutions, calling at- signing to various classes responsi- tention to the accomplishments for bility for presenting in five or ten which thanks should be given, and to minutes mission work in certain coun- the needs for which intercession tries by means of the map. – should be made. Pause at each station or institution for prayer. -The WHAT TO DO WITH MISSION STUDY BOOKS leader may voice all the petitions, or different leaders may be assigned in A request has been received for advance, or some or all of the prayer suggestions in regard to what may be may be silent thanksgiving and in- done with Mission Study books. Their tercession. actual use in regular Mission Study 2. Last year Court Street Meth- classes is only a part of their pos- odist Episcopal Church, Lynchburg, sibility.
Va., had a lighthouse seven feet tall "The New Mission Study Book in in its Sunday-school auditorium. On Every Home" is a good slogan. Cre- the Sunday on which the financial ate a sentiment for adding to the goal for missions was reached the family library a new book each win- lights were turned on and for a ter and another each fall. This will month the lighthouse report was be- add two new valuable missionary fore the school. books a year for a permanent library.
This year the lighthouse has been READING CIRCLES.-If a number of replaced by a map of the world, with people will buy books, name a week an electric lighting device. Vhen the as Reading Circle Week during which financial goal is reached, eleven lights each member is asked to read the are to shine forth showing the loca- book, and a report of readers is made.
tion of the eleven mission fields of If people will not buy a book, try the church. the plan of a reading circle which 3. The map may be used in con- passes several books around, allowing nection with a flag exercise. In a each member to keep a book for a map study of a certain continent or week.
section have boys or girls carry flags SECOND-HAND POSSIBILITIES. – In of countries to be presented and each many of the churches in which there give a fact or several facts about the is little interest in Mission Study one country as they point out its boun- of the difficulties is to get the books daries on the map. with which to begin a class. Indi- A single country may be taken vidual members will not buy books each Sunday and a number of boys unless they are interested. In a num- and girls may carry flags of that ber of districts a lfission Study leader country and each give a striking fact has met this difficulty by asking that about it, or about one of its cities used books be sent to her. She keeps or sections. a large assortment on hand and an- 4. "Around the World in Thirty nounces that books will be loaned to Minutes" may be given by some one start classes that are not able, or not who knows the mission fields of the yet sufficiently interested, to buy th.eir church, and knows how to make a own books. She reports that books on
BEST METHODS
various countries are in constant de- For City Libraries mand, and many classes are doing See that missionarv books are successful work because the books added to your city or ~ommunity liwere made available for their use. brary. Recently a missionary leader LEND A BOOK.-One of the best visited the library of one of the things to do with Mission Study books largest cities in the United States, a is to lend them. city famed for its denominational "By the way, Bill," said a business and interdenominational Mission man to one of his office employees, Study classes. She asked for Mission "I read a tremendously interesting Study books, and was shown the cards paragraph about conditions in China of the missionary section. There was' in a book called' China.'s Rea~ Revo- not one book in it that had been publ1ttion. ' You ought to be up-to-the- lished in recent years and only about minute on that. I brought my copy a half dozen of all the Mission Study to the office todav. Take it home books of the past twenty-five years. with you alid let ~e have it back by Whose fault is it 1 Not the librarian's, Friday. Tremendously interesting it or the library's. Librarians give out is. " Bill is entirely unconscious of the books that are called for. Lithe faet that he is reading a Mission braries have on their shelves the books Study book, but he does want to be that are 'in demand. an "up-to-the-minute," well-informed If the missionary leaders of a comman, and he is learning some things munity will furnish to the libraries, about China that are not published in annually or quarterly, a list of the the daily papers, and is surprising the books to be studied by all the men with whom he lunches down churches, together with the best refertown by his knowledge of China and ence books, these books will likely be things Chinese. placed on the shelves.. If the people "A£ soon as I saw Land of the of all the churches know that the Saddlebags I thought of you," said a latest and best missionary books are friend to a home-coming tourist. to be found in the library there will " You've been down in the Blue Ridge be enough demand for them to make mountains, haven't you? I know their value apparent. you'll be interested in this latest book TAG DAY that I've added to my library, Land of the Saddlebags, so I brought it The world groans under the multi- over to you. Too bad you've sprained plicity of tag days. Of them there is your ankle, but you know I almost no end. Miss Carrie I..ee Campbell envy you the opportunity of being in her small and suggestive book, propped up here with nothing to do Mission Methods, tells of something but to read." new in tag days.
"Do you recall our discussion in Any SLlllday-school or missionary our Twentieth Century Club the other society may follow out the suggestion, day about the women of China V" and add to it. Name a certain day said a woman to a prominent club as Tag Day. Announce "No financial leader. "Wben I went home I found >;olicitation. Memory, not money, in- a book, Ming ](wong, that answered volved. "
nearly everyone of the questions Prepare tags on which are plainly raised. I ran in to bring it to you. written or typewritten short striking You'11 find it most interesting. The facts about mission lands and mission author has spent many years in China work.
and is a recognized authority." So Have two, four, or six members at it was that the book was passed from the doors to pjn a tag on each person one member of the club to another who attends.
until half a dozen or more members Allow several moments for "tag had read it. study," during which each one is ex
pected to memorize the fact on his The whole program, built around the tag. Then have tag holders rise and beautiful flag, wa~ noble and impressive. The church hopes to adapt for permanent recite their facts in any order planned. use a valuable symbol of service that has been all but lost since the war. Different colored tags may be used for the work of the various Church MONEY TALKS Boards. After all is said, that may be said A SERVICE FLAG OF PEACE about money, it has a few things to How shall ideals of peace be substituted for ideals of war T say itself.
How shall records of peace be en- Money is not the main objective in nobled above records of war 1 missionary work, but. money often How shall heroes of peace be ranked above heroes of war ~ tells whether or not missions are the The following clipping from a city main objective of the life of an indidaily is suggestive: vidual or an organization. SERVICE FLAG DEDICATED AT FIRST CHURCH Where our money goes is at least Sunday noon a most impressive ceremony took place in the First Parish church school a clue to the deepest interests of our when a new Service Flag of Peace was dedicated. This beautiful flag is the gift of heart. the Junior D~partment led by Mrs. Charles Goss. Miss Margaret Varney, who eared Howard Park Sunday School, Tofor the war serviee flag, will be the ,guardian of this one. ronto, Canada, gave $471.30 for mis- The Rev. Lewis E. Purdum took charge, sions in 1915-1916. using as a framework for his talk, a worship service written by Ruth Davis, D. H. S. In 1921-1922 its gifts had almost 1926, with the service director. He called attention to the ehurch service flag of 1916- quadruploo, being $1,800.00. The 1918, draped on the wall, in order to bring back to the boys and girls what this record following record tells of increasing had meant to the church in the years when the young men enlisted in the service of interest for six years: their conntry and went away, two of them never to retnrn. 1915-1916 $4171.30 1916-1917 ………… 800.00 "Boys and girls of today can enlist for 1917 -1918 ………… 975.00 service in other ways," explained the pas- 1918-1919 ………… 1,200.00 tor, "in the work of their church, their … . ……. 1,500.00 community, their world. When you enlist 1920-19~1 ………… 1,800.00 under your government, there are certain conditions that you must fulfil. So it is 1921-1922 with our new service flag. You must fulfil certain conditions when you enlist here, and Mr. M. A. Love, the Missionary when you have done so, your star will go Superintendent of the Sunday schooL On the flag. has given the following synopsis of the Howard Park l'iystem of miission- "The five stars already there represent ary education and plan of work: the five of you who have already met those conditions. It is not possible to measure I. ORGANIZA'.rION (after eight or nme the spirit of service, but certam results of years' growth). it can be seen and measured. TIlere are certain definite thmgs you can form the (a) Missionary Superintendent: habit of doing for your "hurch and <;om- Appointed at annual Giection of S. S. munity. If you do, your star will be added officers and holding position on the to show your enlistment. This is a thing Board, with all other Assistant of beauty that we are making together." Superintendents.
In the army. enlistment is only the begin- (b) Two or more representatives from ning. So in the First Parish program, there Sellior, Junior and Primary School, will be special recognition for conspicuous and one member from Brotherhood all-round, habitual service. Small red crosses and Ladies' Bible Class and Secsimilar to that on the Christian flag be- retaric"' office-on the Missionary longing to the church, will be substituted Committee. for the stars of those who make distingnished and persistent records. (c) Missionary Librarian and Assistant. (d) Missional')' Publleity Agent. (e) Each organized class has a Mission- ary l3ecretary. Missionary representative assigned for ns to suPPOtt in Chma-Rev. Gerald Bell.
II. OBJECTIVES.
(a) Missionary education of all the pupils and teachers of the School.
(b) The creation of missionary enthusi- asm by variety of methods in work.
(c) The gaUlCrhlg in of as large a sum encourage the children to earn of missionary money as is possible their own morrey for missions. (h) We send three representatives to for our School. Whitby Missionary Summer School and hear their reports at our An- III. M]~THODS. nual Teachers" Banquet in the autumn. (a) A five-minute missionary program is (i) Last year two out "f three of our put on each alternate Sunday in Whitby delegates offered them- each eection of the School. When- selves for the foreign work. One ever possible, we use S0me member of these sailed for China in Sep- of our own School for these pro- tember of this ye'lr. grams. The program is planned (j) Some of our organized classes aim at by tlw ]fiesionary Committee ~nd a cent a day (at least) for mis- carried out bv the representatlves sions. By this mean'S one class of on the Board from each section. boys, from twelve to fourteen years We use great variety in these pro- of age, gave last year $200. grams-slides, rea:iings, retur,:,ed (k) Some of cur older classes have work- missionaries, missionary storIes, ers at Fred Victor, Euclid Ave., Duffcrin St., and various city mis- travel talks, etc. sions and settlements. (b) Missionary Library. We hail a oook (1) We have made the Missionary Pro- gram the vital part of our school shower to start this and each class by considering it a big job and donated at least one missionary picking key men and women to plan book. Tp encourage their use, we and carry out a continuous, strong, have short stories told from some interesting program and campaign. of them, and then ,how names of (m) Our pUblicity man keeps our church public well informed on all mat- booko on slides or blackboard. We ters of missionary interest. add new books and keep the library up to date. We encourage the HOW MONEY TALKS teacber<l t.o use the missionary books with their classes. It may say: (c) We have our missionaries' pictures "Hold me and I will dry up the foun- in large size in our schoolroom and teach children who they are and tains of sympathy and benevolence in your what work they are doing. We are soul, and leave you barren and destitute. also adding pictures of young peo- ple who have gone out from our , 'Grasp me tightly, and I will change your eyes that they will care to look upon own chureh. nothing that does not contain my image, (d) We have given several parties, motor and so transform your ears that my soft metallic riug will sound louder to them than rides, etc" to missionaries home on the cries of widows and orphans, and the furlough. 'This l1as been a great iVail of perishing multitudes. help to our people and given the missionaries a pleasant outing at "Keep me, dutch me, and I will destroy the saTIle time. After meeting your sympathy for the race, your respect for these people they ",em real to us, the right, and your love and reverence for instead of shadows, and we follow God. them with great interest on their Or it may say: return to the field. Particulars of our plans for these fe~tivities will "Spend me for self-indulgence and I will be gladly furnished, if desired. make your soul fat and indifferent to all ( e) Letters go regularly from our classes except your own pleasure. I will become to our !'.fr. and Mrs. Bell, and when your master and you will think that I only the answers come back they are of am of importance and powerful." Or, it may say: great interest to all. (f) A missionary Christmas box was sent "Give me away for the benefit of others, and I will return in streams of spiritual out to Mr. and Mrs. Bell-each revenue to your soul. I will bless the one class adding a gift with a letter. that receives, and the one that gives me. This was a great joy to our chil- "I will supply food for the hungry, rai- dren and young people. ment for the naked, medicine for the sick, (g) We receive missionary contributions and Bend the Gospel to the benighted,- on the first Sunday each month. "At the same time, I will secure joy and Each class is set an objective to peace for the soul that uses me for these." work for by the Committee. We Job's Testirrwny- create interest in the growth of the funds by showing on a great ther- "If I have made gold my hope, and have mometer, large clock, or on slides, said to the fine gold, thou are my confi- percentage raised by each class. dence; if I have rejoiced because my wealth Our money growth has been from was great, and because my hand had gotten $200 to $1,800 in about eight years. much …. this also were an iniquity. Job We do not make money first in our 31: 24, 25, 28." eampaign, and, so this growth rep- resents real missionary zeal. We
Woman's Home and Foreign
COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOMJ<J MIRSIONS AND FEDERATION OF WOMAN'S BOARDS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS AMERI(lA AND CATHAY study books have laid particular By EVA CLARK WAID stress on the great 'underlying traits of life that link all men. The tales of A poet of an earlier generation pre- Chinese stability of character, their sented his ultimate contrast of civili- respect for traditions and their confizations in the oft-quoted line, "Better dence in national destiny-:-how fafifty years of Europe than a cycle of miliar they sound to an American Cathay." But we today, in our fresh ~rom 'rhanksgiving sermon or round of mission study for this cur- Fourth of July oration! rent year, link both of these civilizations under one general thought: The love of home, the building of Finding the Way of Christ in Race the child into the family fabric, the Relatl:(lns. And, what is more, the grief of separation from old associalonger we study Europe, America or tions, the shrine for future meetings Cathay, the more we realize the like- of ~pirits- -all of these, depicted in nesses ratlier than the differences in Chinese life, are matched in the varied the essential human traits found in races which make up our polyglot their inhabitants. Therefore we feel America. more sure that the Way of Christ in Race Relations is not so deeply con- The stirring restlessness of China's cerned with eolor, caste and climate student generations, the high resolves, as it is with character, conditions and the unguided or misguided demoncircumstances, not so troubled about stration of exaggerated ideas, the imthe varietie:; of citizenship on earth as patience with old trammels or traabout the universal citizenship in ditions-are they not repeated in heaven. every college of America 1 Is there not a human solidarity of anxiety Dr. Speer's book, Of One Blood, about the youth of today in the hearts and Miss Giles' book, Adventures in of parents, of all races?
Brotherhood, enunciate for Christians China's cities begin to hum with in America exactly those basic prin- the machines of modern industry and, ciples which must llnderly the study reproduced in Oriental guise, every of the books on China, Ming Kwong, peril and injustice of America's in- China's Real Revolution, and China's dustrial system appears to ravage tbe Challenge to Christianity. ~trength of the workers and diminish What are some of these principles the usefulness of China's next gen- that link this year's study books on eration. Do not public, minded citi- home and, foreign missions1 zens find ample cause for dismay and 1. Hurnan solidarity is greater than need for constant vigilance both in racial diversity. Such a principle China and America 1 should not need long argument and Shelter and sustenance, joy and proof to a Christian conversant with sorrow, hope and fear, aspiration and the story of the Scriptures and the failure-are they not elemental in all growth of God's plan for His King- races, whether in America or Cathay1 dom. But in this day of destructive Is not this a basic principle for all literature, of wholesale preaching of of us as Christians to believe and act conflict and division and distrust be- upon-" and hath made of one blood tween races, it Seems very fitting that all nations of men" 1 all' of the authors of our missionary 2~ Diversity of race; with, this un- . 134 derlying soUdarity, provides a great firmities of the weak" T Do we be- instrument for giving a larger, fuller lieve that the glory and honor of all interpretcdion of the Gospel of Christ. the nations shall be there? Most of America is blest in having a great all, do we believe Christ when He interracial heritage in religion, en- said, "I am come that they might riched from great s~JUrces and given have life and might have it more great freedom of expansion in a new abundantly" T free country. The study of our reli- If so, the test of our Christianity, gious obligations to devoted groups of here in America as well as in China, Christians from far-scattered coun- is our ability to reduce our beliefs to tries of the world brings instinctively such practical every-day Christian to one's lips the old acknowledgment terms that there can be no misunder- uttered by Paul, "Brethren, we are standing of our attitude toward race debtors. " questions. Justice, trusteeship, unity, But great as is our religious herit- ~ervice, love-all these are the clear age and precious as is the manifesta- ideals of the Gospel. .
tion of the Gospel here in America, If this year's study can bring to Chinl1 itself is one of the greatest the mind of the Church a clearer real- proofs of the possibility of the Gos- ization of what these ideals involve.
pel's enlargement. The growth of in practical acts and public opinions, leadership, the assumption of respon- we shall come a long distance on sibility, the formation of home mis- The Way of Christ in Race Rela- sion enterprises within the Chinese tions.
domain, the pronouncements of the FEDERATED STUDENT Shanghai Conference-all of these COMMITTEE point to a new development in God'8 kingdom, a different racial expression By MURTEL DAY, Secretary of the great universal gospel truths. The Federated Student Committee Perhaps we have been slow in learnc is continuing its cooperative efforts ing this lesson, undoubtedly suggested in thinking and planning in student in the wondrous Day of Pentecost. work. This Committee is composed As one has said, "God did not seem of representatives of the Federation to be afraid to entrust this new gos- of Woman's Boards of Foreign Mis- pel to varied races and tongues for sions, Council of Women for Home their individual interpretation. " How Missions, Young Women's Christian great those individual interpretations Association, Student Volunteer Move- are is evidenced from the matching of ment, Student Fellowship for Chris- great Christian experiences all 'round tian Life-Service and Council of the globe. Are we great enough Church Boards or Education. Mrs.
Christians to believe in a gospel larger D. J. Fleming, the chairman and ever than our own interpretation of it? the guiding spirit of the Committee, 3. Our attit1tde toward race ques- was welcomed at the September meet- tions is one of the great tesis of 01tr ing after an absence of over a year.
real faith and ottr full acceptance of The Committee has again made the Gospel af Christ. Do we believe plans to have a group of secre.taries that the Chinese has the same in- representing different denominations alienable right to the fulness of the visit certain colleges. Six colleges in Gospel f Do we believe. that color is the Northwest were in the first itiner- not regarded in the clear white light ary; Whitman College, Washington of God's truth 1 Do we believe that State College, University of Idaho, the "lowest may reach toward the Uni~"ersity of Washington, Oregon highest" 1 Do we believe in a "who- AgrIcultural College, University of soever gospel," in practice as well as Oregon. In January, a group of men in theoryf Do we believe that "we and women visited Ohio State Uni- that are strong ought bear the iri- versity when Mr. Allyn K. Foster
gave a series of addresses. It was activities for the truest Christian also planned that a team should visit education of students. To this end, the following colleges in the South: it was planned that at the January Winthrop College, Trinity College, meeting of the Committee, major North Carolina College for Women, emphasis be placed on the discussion Virginia State Normal. of this question. Students represent- The purpose of such a visit as out- ing the National Student Council of lined by the Committee last year is: the Y. W. C. A. and the various de- a. To present to the students on the campus nominations were invited to be pres- the work of the Church at home and ent and share their convictions.
abroad. The Committee continues to further b. To provide for each church secretary an the interests of the following two co- opportunity to do her own particular operative enterprises in mission fields; work through the local church.
c. To unite the students, faculty, student the Union Christian Colleges in the pastors, and Assoeiation in a study of campus problems in the light of the Orient and Work among Farm and experience which those who have come Cannery Migrants.
in touch with otber campuses can give.
d. To stimulate the girl who is not a part STUDENTS ~ND FOREIGN MIS- of any denominational program to an SIONS interest in tbe Church '8 task.
The Student Conferences of the By TWII.A LYTTON Association have also given large opportunity for cooperative efforts be- One of the easiest and most pleastween the Association and the urable things in the world is to genchurches. The range of thought on eralize on the subject of students and the part of students may be seen in their thoughts. It is easy because the following topics used as discus- one can always rest assured that whatsion themes in t.hese conferences: ever his thesis or coneh1sion may be Christian internationalism as related there will always be some among the to "Peace on the Pacific"; the Japa- vast crowd who will be thinking in nese question; war and peace; rural terms of his pet theory of the student community citizenship; the place of mind. It is pleasurable because stuthe Church in the life of students; dents are the hope of any group of racial relationships; industry; poli- people who are laboring in a cause tics and religion; men and women. whose end is not yet and who JIeed in- telligent and trained young people to The relat.ionship of Church repre- carryon. Consequently one enjoys sentatives to these conferences is be· ascribing to the younger generation ing considered especially by the those thoughts which to the older Executive Committee of the National ones in the midst of their labors would Student Council of the Association. seem to guarantee the active partici- It was expressed by the representa- pation of the young in that particular tives at the Estes Park Student Con- cause a little later on. But in this ference as: case as in many others, that which is easy and pleasurable is not neces- 1. To discover latent leadership in the sarily intelligent or constructive. Church. Consequently, in this brief discussion of "students and foreign missions" 2. To use this opportunity to interpret the Church to students.
3. T'o use this opportunity to interpret the attempt will be made not to as- student thinking to the Church. cribe to students those interests and While the Committee has been motives which one would like them to working along these practical lines, have, but simply to give a few of the it has also been giving large consider- major emphases which in their oWlJ ation to the question of the relation- searching for their proper relation- ship of the various religious agencies ship to the foreign mission enterprise on the campus and the correlation of they themselves are making. It may
WOMAN '8 HOME AND FOREIGN BULLETINS
be added that every -point of view and collateral material was employed presented in this article is .one which in carrying on these gronp consideramight be given in quotatIOn marks tions. indicating a student's expression. For the sake of brevity, the writer is con- Encouraging as this array of interdensing some considerations concern- ests is there are at least two other ing the foreign mission enterprise important factors in the missionary which have been expressed to her by leading Christian students through- education of students which ought to out the country. be emphasized: the one, the great Indianapolis Volunteer Convention; In the first place, it needs to be said that in these days of "Youth the other, a more constant factor in Movements, ' , so-called, and at least the life of present-day students-an of increasing self-determination on increasing number of students from the part of students, there is very other countries. The former has much less of the handing down of any probably been sufficiently discussed program. for instance of "missionary to have everyone conscious of its education, " from a headquarters somewhere than there was, say, ten major emphases. years ago. It is an increasingly difficult thing to assemble statistics of In the case of the students from those "engaged in mission study as abroad in our American colleges, it such" on any campus. On the other .hand, there are a great many groups is impossible to overestimate the sigof students who are assembled in discussion and study groups considering nificance of this-one of the great, international, inter-racial, economic and social problems and seeking solu- historic migrations of those who tions for them according to the Chris- travel up and down that know~edge tian " Way of Life." I,ast year, for may increase. The new .Intern~tIO~al example, students reported the fol- House in New York CIty, WIth Its lowing as some of their methods of focussing attention upon subjects re- family group of 635 from 67 nations, lating to foreign missions—discussion groups in 126 colleges, study groups epitomizes the possibilities of the in 102 colleges, curriculum mission classes in 58 colleges, forum meetings mingling of the streams of student in 24 colleges, stereopticon lectures in 115 colleges, plays and pageants in life from all nations. There are more 95 colleges. The following were some of the general subjects under consid- than a hundred American students eration in their groups: "Women's Work in the Foreign Field," "Social living in this House whose legend Problems Abroad," "Social Problems at Home," "Comparative Religions, " (>arved above the main entrance is " World Problems and Christianity," "Missionary Biography," "Racial "That Brotherhood May Prevail." and Inter-racial Problems," studies of China, India, Japan, Korea, Near AunmtoeneOr~" them are many Student Vol- East and Latin America, from vari- who are experiencing the most ous standpoints, "Medical Missions," "Missionary Principles and Prob- excellent kind of miSSIOnary educalems," "Immigration" and" Denom- tion and preparation. There is no inational Missions. " Of course a very doubt but that many of the charactergreat variety of mlission study books istic major emphases in minds of stu- dents throughout the United States in reference to foreign missions are the result of their contacts with these friends from abroad. One Student Volunteer living at International House looks forward, as do many others, to a missionary career d~voted to the adventure of fello,wshlp, to outliving any tendency to patronize those among whom he will live and to concentrating not so much on giving the message of Christianity as on shar1'ng it-toward the end of devel- oping mutual respect.
What are some of the other grow- ing ideas which will be the tools of
the oncoming generation of mission- missionary, the latter's aim cannot be aries? fulfilled. Conseqnently, the student In the first place, there is certainly interested in foreign missions seeks a growing tendency not to think of for a greater burden of responsibility the Kingdom of God in terms of the to be laid upon all Christian students geography "at home and abroad," intelligently to promote and support or, to state it positively, as one stu- the missionary c'LLerprise and to con- dent said: "To recognize that Amer- sider their vocation in or out of the ica is a part of the non-Christian organization of the Church as a world." Evidently with some back- means of furthering Christian world ground of experience, a student brotherhood.
prophesi ed that" our Oriental friends It is also interesting to note that will help us Ree more clearly the beam the Student Council of the StUdent in our own eye and help us solve Volunteer Movement is now requiring some of our own problems." Such of all students desirous of enrolling attitudes are hope-creating, far-reach- with the Movement a preliminary ing, and involve spiritual adventure medical examination, whose purpose in fulfilling them. They promise well is to show the student what will need for the future missionary's approach to be done to overcome a physical de- to the aspirations and difficulties of fect and in case of a weakness in- the indigenous church and for his capable of being overcome, to guard exertion ~s a Christian ambassador the student from the disappointment in behalf of an America which shall of finally being rejected by a board see a way better than that of proud after years of preparation. Such a isolation and exclu::;ion. step is indicative of what seems to be Not all, but a good many students an increasingly thoughtful consider- interested in the Kingdom: of God are ation on the part of students who are burdened with a new sense of respon- contemplating service abroad.
sibility in facing the facts of the de- And finally. what of those spiritual pleted incomes of some of the mission values which are the rais'on d'etre of boards and the lack of financial and foreign missions Y Are students con- spiritual responsibility on the part of serving the gifts of the past, are they the Church as a whole for the foreign seeking new values, and are they mission enterprise. learning how it is that in their weak- Many students feel that the spirit ness lies their strength Y Let me of devotion which has characterized quote from one student who speaks the foreign mission enterprise should for a great body of students in a be emphasized by the Church in rela- middle western state. "We felt that tion to all vocations. In this connec- last year at Indianapolis we heard tion Student Volunteers say that they enough of prohlems of the world and do not wish to be put on a pedestal of what we ought to do. As we saw because of their decision for service these needs before us and talked of abroad. They ask that the Church them-all at once we seemed to se", should emphasize the relations of the how utterly helpless we were, how missionary and his task to the busi- really much in need we were of God ness man, the diplomat and the news- and Christ in our lives." I wish I paper correspondent in foreign lands might tell you of the experiences of a who are building' either for or against little group of twenty students, many the Kingdom of God. The student of them, Student Volunteers who contention is that until these m,en and spent two beautiful weeks together in women who represent business and the .country up in New York State.
diplomatic interests abroad, and until Reekmg t? know of Jesus, and His Christian men and women at home, Way of LIfe for them. Some of them go forth and serve in the same spirit whon; I h~ve met. have the peace of and with the same devotion as the God m theIr eyes and show His spirit
WOMAN'S HOME AND FOREIGN BULLETINS
in their daily contacts in difficult service rendered, including the daily situations. It is significant to know program. Nine illustrations; 5 cents. that throughout the country many similar Retreats are being planned. Little Gypsies of the Fruit. Re- print of article by .Arthur Gleason .And so it would seem that the from Hearst's International, Februleaven is working as of old. One ary, 1924. Migrant conditions in candidate secretary said the other California most interestingly depictday, "I have twenty girls finely pre- ed. Information added in regard to pared, ready to go to far countries- the interdenominational committee and no money to send even one of and service. Map and five illustrathem. " It is surely not within the tions; 5 cents. purpose of God that students who have rarelv, if ever, before considered Sadly Handicapped. Reprint of with greater earnestness their possi- ~hree articles from Review j (1) outbilities as interpreters of Jesus line of various types of migrant workthroughout the world should be kept ers, (2) history of service to Farm from fulfilling their hopes. There- and Cannery Migrants, and (3) genfore, encouraged by their acts of faith eral information. Eleven illustraand devotion, it is perhaps the su- tions; 10 cents. preme task of us all so to awaken the Christian Church that, as one leader A College Girl's Summer Diaryj said, it may fully use the "army of Number Three. Extracts from actual young' people who, each year, are diaries of college undergraduates who ~limbing 'Mount Inspiration' and served at the stations. Entertaining coming down into the valley eager to as well as descriptive. Fifteen illusbuild the Kingdom." trations; 10 cents.
AIDS TO OBSERVANCE "Share" leaflet. Two-page flier. Synopsis of project. One illustration; Day of Prayer for Missions free in small quantities.
The objects suggested for freewill —w:ille to Counci1 of Women for Home Misofferings at observances of the Day of sions, 156 Fifth Ave., New York, for all of Prayer for Missions are Work among above. Farm and Cannery Migrants, Christian Literature for Women and Chil- Christian Literature dren in Mission Fields and Women's Union Christian Colleges of the Objeatives of the Committee. De- Orient. scribes (1) Foh Yu Pao-Happy Childhood, magazine for children in These lines of service and the work China, (2) Women's Messenger, magof the committees have been described azine for women in China, (3) Ai No in more than one previous issue o.f Hikari, little newspaper sheet for the the Bulletin and we trust are well coolie and fisherwomen of Japan, (4) known to all our readers. In order The Treasure Chest, magazine for that those preparing for the Day of boys and girls of high school age in Prayer for Missions may know what In4ia, and the vernacular. editions ~n leaflets have been recently published Urdu, Tamil and Marathl. Free III or will be most helpful, the following small quantities. lists are given: Women's Union Christian Colleges of Farm and Cannery Migrants the Orient America in the Making. Reprint from The Playground, December, Latest information about each of 1923, of article by a student at Mt. the seven colleges. Free in small Holyoke College W}lO served at one. of quantities. the stations. Brightly presented Information as to conditions, needs and. New.~ Bulletins. Four previous is- sues, all of which give information in regard to each of the colleges. Illus- trated; free in small quantities.
Write to Federation of Woman's Boards of Foreign MiSSions, 25 Madison Ave., New York, . for above.
FROM MANY
NORTH AMERICA "That Brothel'hood May Prevail"
Daily Vacation Bible Schools THESE words, carved above the door, express the spirit of "Inter- AT the annual meeting of the In- national House," the fine new build- ternational Association of Daily ing on Riverside Drive, New York Vacation Bible Schools held in New City, which a $2,500,000 gift from York, it was reported that the prin- John D. Rockefeller, Jr., has provided cipal new work initiated by the asso- as the headquarters of the Intercolciation last vear was among the 600,- legiate Cosmopolitan Club. This or- 000 Mexican"s in Texas. The European ganization is an outgrowth of the field was entered with the establish- work begun some fifteen years ago by ment of a school in Bulgaria. Impor- Harry E. Edmunds, then a student tant centers of the work in the United secretary of the Y. M. C. A. It in- States are in thc coal-mining camps cludes more than 800 students from of West Virginia and Colorado, and 70 foreign countries attending 52 colthe frontier schools of Arkansas, leges and professional schools in which now' number about a hundred. Greater New York. By continents, Asia leads the number with Chinese Although the final figures are not predominating in the group. There available it is estimated that the past are 280 students from iulia, 2·51 from season has seen 10,000 schools in oper- Nortll Amcrica, 233 from Europe, 32 ation all over the world, with a mil- from South America, 14 from the lion children enrolled. The Associa- South Pacific, and 11 from Africa. tion has established relationships with Women constitute more than 40 per the International Council of Religious cent of the total club membership Education in North America, and and come from Japan, China, Russia, with the World's Sunday School iul- Finland, Norway, and France, as well sociation in other countries, thereby as from this country. The admixture enlarging its scope of action. Its of 25 per cent of Americans is made policy of working through local agen- up of the finest types to be found in cies, such as the church federations in order that by contact and example large cities, whenever possible, has proven highly ~mccessful.
American youth may serve and be Lutheran Missionary Expansion served in the common meeting-place THE United Lutheran Church, in of students of all races. its recent convention, voted to pur- chase from the Berlin Missionary So- Law Enforcement Conference ciety its entire work in the province of Shantung, China. The purchase T HE New York Women's Commitprice is said to be $185,000, to be paid tee for Law Enforcement will hold in ten annual instalments. This is a large conference in Albany at the one of the many readjustments made Ten Eyck Hotel on the 16th and 17th necessary on mission fields by the of February, to focus the attention war. The Lutherans also voted to upon law enforcement and a law enbuild a college in Delegu, India, to forcement code for New York State. cost $300,000. There are 106,000 On Monday, there will be round table Lutherans in India at the present discussions led by the heads of the time. cooperating organizations-Mother&, 140 Congress and Parent-Teacher Associa- relations with Japan and all Asiatics. tion, State League of Women Voters, Reference was made to the work which Daughters of Rebecca, Eastern Star, had been done during the past quad- Worn an's Christian Temperance rennium in inculcating respect for Union, State Federation of Women's law, particularly the Eighteenth Clubs, ~~erican Legion Auxiliary, Amendment, and in creating public Lend a Hand Society, You n g opinion against the twelve-hour day Women's Christian Association, Fed- in industry. 'fhe subsequent action eration of Woman's Boards of For- taken by the U. S. Steel Corporation eign Missions, Council of Women for was cited as a proof of the effective- Home Missions, Jewish Council of ness of this work. Women, Kings Daughters, and State Federation of Colored Women. The Econonlic Side of Crime The officers of the Committee are: I T seems incredible that the actual Mrs. Samuel J. Bens, Chairman; cost of crime in the United States Mrs. Roswell Miller, Honorary Chair- is from twelve to fifteen per cent of man; Mrs. Cleveland H. Dodge, Mrs. the total income of the country. Our John Grier Hibben, Mrs. John D. army of criminals costs us many times Rockefeller, Jr., Honorary Vice- more than our military budget. The Chairmen j Mrs. Gordon Norrie, 1st Literary Digest puts in this way the Vice-Chairman j Mrs. John Henry gravity of the burden imposed by the Hammond, 2d Vice-Chairman j Miss criminal class: "Crime piles up such Mary Garrett Hay, 3d Vice-Chair- a staggering loss to the country every man; Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, 4th year that it costs more than our Army Vice-Chairman j Mrs. James M. and Navy, more than our police sys- Pratt, Recording Secretary, and Miss tems, more, in fact, than any other Louise Edgar, Treasurer. Further in- item in our national ledger. Most formation may be had by addressing people think of crime cost as a slight the New York Women's' Committee burden on the state and national revfor Law Enforcement, 129 East 52d enues. But it is a drain on every St., New York City. man's purse, as certain as the income tax. The total annual levy which Federal Council Meeting crime places on the country is prob- ably not less than $10,000,000,000, AT the filth quadrennial meeting writes Edward H. Smith in Business, of the Federal Council of the a magazine published in Detroit. ,This Churches of Christ in America, held sum is about three times the amount in Atlanta, Ga., the first week in De- of the national budget for 1923, two cember, an impressive program call- and one half times the total ordinary ing for a war-free world was adopted. receipts of the nation for the same This included American membership period, and twelve times the annual in the Permanent Court of Interna- cost of the Army and Navy. A sixth tional Justice j Congressional action or seventh of our total earnings is demanding the complete outlawry of wasted on crime." war j effective cooperation by the United States Government in uni- Fifty Year. of the W. C. T. u. versal and drastic reduction of all armaments and preparation for war j MEMBERS of the Woman's Chrismutual agreement by the United tian Temperance Union from all States with all nations to abjure re- over the United States celebrated in sort to force and to utilize instead Chicago November 14th to 19th the only the methods of peace in the set- fiitieth birthday of the organization. tlement of every threatening interna- With a membership of 500,000-an tional dispute j the discovery and increase of 200,000 in the last five prompt adoption of the necessary years–and the completion of a jubisteps for the re-establishment of right lee fund of $1,000,000, the members
of the W. U. T. U., while rejoicing in Ministerial Relief ……….. . 1,231,200 the progress of the past half-century Am. Bible SO<Jiety ……….. . 92,340 naturally felt that even a greater fu- Fedeml Council ………. . ture awaits their body. The emphasis 24,624 of the golden jubilee was therefore. placed, not so much upon the victories $12,312,000 of the past, as the tasks of the future. W.oman;s Nati~mal ……….. 1,344,000 While keeping at the head of the list Woman 8 Foreign ………… 1,344,000 the winning of a "dry" world, the W. C. T. U. plans also to bear a large Total ………. : ………. $15,000,000 part in the work of the Church again&t war, to support the Child Adventists' Missionary Jubilee Labor Amendment, to teach Christian citizenship and to engage in various SEVENTH- DAY ADVENTISTS social reforms. The national board of the United States are celebratof the Union voted, following the ad- ing the fiftieth anniversary of the journment of the convention, to de- founding of the missionary work of vote funds· next year to help the their denomination. In the last temperance movement in Mexico, twenty-three years they have sent out Lithuania and Esthonia, as well as in 2,29'2 missionaries, of whom 1 335 China, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, sailed for foreign fields during' the where help has been given in the past. last decade. Work is now being done To encourage the teaching of temper- in 194 languages. ance in Germany, Austria and India, provision was also made for the sub- Rural Religions Cont'erence sidy of teachers in those countries. AT the seventh annual conference Presbyterian National Action of the American Country Life Association, held in Columbus, Ohio, THE National Conference of the November 7th to 11th, the discussion Presby'.el'ian Church (North) held centered around the theme of Reliin Chicago the second week in Decem- gion in Country Life. The attendance ber brought together eleven hundred at many sessions was over three hunmen and women, who not only dred. While rural pastors, rural learned much about the fields, meth- church secretaries and professors in ods and needs of the various church theological seminaries were probably boards, but also felt the inspiration the three largest groups, there were a of being a part of the great organiza- score of deans, profe&~ors and extention of Presbyterianism and commit- sion workcrs from agricultural colted to service through it to the world- leges, an equal number of social wide cause of Christianity. While workers, and even more Y. M. C. A. this conference was going on, the or Y. W. C. A. secretaries. General Council also held a two-day session, during which a number of Running through the whole conferimportant conclusions were reached. ence, coming up from every group, A "sacrificial loyalty week" in behalf was the demand upon the denominaof the budget and benevolences was tions that they cease competition. fixed for l!~eb. Lj-22, 1925. March Pastors declared that overchurching 15th was designated as every member was the death of religion. Laymen canvass Sunday. The budget of the pointed out how it made a modern boards was continued exactly as last church program impossible in hunyear, both in amounts and per- dreds of communities. A dozen or centages: more church administrators, who were present, opened a strong series National Missions ………… $5,171,040 of resolutions by declaring coopera- Foreign Missions …………. 3,939,840 tion t~ be the only way out. Repre- Christian Education ………. 1,842,956 sentatIves from all parts of the coun- t~y, from all types of rural occupa- tIons and from all denominations, joined in similar expressions.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Y. M. C. A. Reorganization buildings at various centers; a spe- THE National Council of the Young cial building at Disciples Community Men's Christian Associations of house, New York City, and Yakima North America was formally organ- Indian mission, White Swan, Wash.; ized December 3-6, 1924, at Buffalo, six benevolent homes for children and New York, in accordance with provi- the aged; and in addition, $402,200 sions of the constitution formulated was appropriated for building enterat Cleveland in October, 1923. This prises in Africa, China, India, J acouncil, which will solidify and unite maica, Japan, Mexico, Philippine the work of the Y. M. C. A., and Islands, Porto Rico, South America, bring local associations into direet and 'l'ibet.
and official relationships to state and Pima Indians and Progress national association work, is com,- posed of elected members from dis- AMASS meeting of the Indians of triets representing 4,000 active mem- the Pima Indian Reservation in bers, each district choosing three Arizona adopted resolutions repudimembers of the council for a three- ating the tribal custOlll;'l in favor of year term. At least two of the council modern progre~'S. They also endorsed members must be laymen. As organ- the act giving citizenship to Amerized, it has 34fl members. All asso- ican Indians and the law authorizing ciation legislative functions of the the construction of the San Carlos former International Convention, ex- Dam, both of which passed the last cept a few matters that have to do session of Congress. The following with relationships between Canada telegram regarding the meeting was and the United States, are taken over addressed to President Coolidge, Secby the Council. The International retary of the Interior Work, and Conventiou will continue to meet, but Commissioner Burke of the Bureau of . largely for information and inspira- Indian Affairs: tion. Also, all work, both home and "Whereas, the United States Government foreign, formerly directed by the International Committee and Conven- has restored our water rights by the passage tion are taken over by the Council. A general board of thirty-seven mem- of Senate bill 966, and whereas every Indian, bers of the council will form an ad interim body and will meet quarterly, born within the United Stateo has been its actR being reviewed by the general council at its annual meetings. The made a citizen, general board represents geographically the Y. :tVI. C. A. constituency. "Therefore be it resolved otfhaoturwet~iPbeimtoa John R. Mott, for many years general Indians, urge every member secretary of the Intern,ational Committee, was elected general secretary clear and fence his allotment as soorr as of the Council. F. W. Ramsay, Cleveland, was elected president.-The possible 80 that Our land may be ready for Continent. the watel' whpn it comes and further urge Disciples' Jubilee Funds that our homes be made models for cleanli· ness and morality. We believe that our tribe shonld set an example for the whole state in obeying the laws of God and man.
And be it resolved that we believe it to be the best for the welfare &nd progress of 'our tribe that all heathen dancing and lhiuking be abolished from our reservation.
And be it resolved that we urge our medical authorities to wage a relentless war on trachoma and other eye diseases which have caused untolil suffering among OUr people."
THE United Christian Missionary LATIN AMERICA Society of the Disciples of Christ Missionaries and Mexican Law T has already allocated $800,000 of the HE question has been raised whether, since the Mexican constimillion dollar golden jubilee fund recently completed. Building enter- tution of 1917 limited ministerial prises in the United States will be functions to Mexicans, American mis- carried out with $397,800 to include sionaries at work in that country four school buildings; five church might not be considered lawbreakers.
Rev. George B. Winton, of the M.. E. Rector of 'fhe Seminary, and the Church, South, explains the situation Rev. Dr. Waddell of Mackenzie Colclearly. He says: lege took part.
"It is difficult to get Me"icans of It is a matter for thanksgiving to character and social standing to enter God that, after five years of labor, the the priesthond of the Roman Catholic United Seminary has .produced ten Church. In recent decades, France well-equipped men for the ministry, and Italy, and perhaps other Euro- men who are smmd in the faith, true pean governments, have taken rather to the fundamentals, and full of evandrastic action against the monastic gelical fervor. The United Seminary orders, resulting in the exile of a great has passed the experimental stage and many monks. These European friars has gained the confidenL~ of the had been coming in great numbers to churches. MeDco, and getting into many lucrative positions as chaplains, curates, The fruit of the Seminary is a etc. A priest's income is from fees, splendid answer to the charge that the Evangelical churches are not united. for masses, funerals, marriages, christenings, etc. 'fo perform the functions EUROPE that bring in these fees is to ejercer el ministerio the duties which the con- C. M. S. Finance. stitution says only Me"icans may perform. In the Protestant missions it ASTATEln~NT issued by the is rare that a missionary is a pastor. Church Missionary Society, an- He is supervisor, manager, teacher, nounces that it seems highly probable treasurer, presiding elder, etc. Even that its estimated expenditure of £500,000 for the year ending March as pastor, his income would not be de- 31st next will be exceeded by £20,000, rived from fixed charges for the largely as a result of adverse Indian different acts of his ministry. Simply and Chinese exchange. The income to preach, without exacting a fee for of the Society for the present year is the sermou, would hardly be thought rather below that received during the of as a part of 'the ministry,' taking corresponding period of 1923-24. The the word in the accepted Spanish Committee have resolved to sanction sense. Our position, therefore, is that an estimate at the rate of £500,000 per so long as the pastoral functions are annum for only the first three months of the next year, believing that God left to our MeDcan colaborers, the will guide them for the remainder of missionaries taking a merely general that year by the response which His relationship to the indigenous church, people make during the ensuing weeks we are not violating the law." of this year.
The United Seminary in Brazil Jews and Christians Confer SUr-,lDAY, the 30th November, was AREMARKABIJE and significant a great day in the annals of the proposal was made recently by Evangelical Churches in Brazil. The the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in Lonauditorium of the First Presbyterian don. It was nothing less than that a Church of Rio de Janeiro was full to conference of Christians and Jews be overflowing with an enthusiastic con- held in the Synagogue. An approach gregation of over 1,600 people who was made to various Christian organihad met to show their appreciation o:li zations, with the result that the conthe work of the United Seminary and ference was fixed to take place on of the ten men who have just been November 27th to discuss such subgraduated. Of the twenty ministers jects as "'fhe Education of the on the platform three were ex-priests, Young," "Belief in God," "The Retwo of whom are on the teaching staff. sponsibility of Organized Religion," The Rev. ~Ilvaro Reis, President of etc. '1'he fact that members of the the Faculty, the Rev. Paulo Buyers, Synagogue are conscious that the
1925J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Jewish community finds itself in a creedal and administrative principles certain isolation was the immediate of the Eastern Church, while the motive for the corrIerence; they de- other party inclined to modern Protsire to be in closer touch with Chris- estant views of creeds and clergy. tian people. Such names as Dr. Last July the issue was brought to a Herbert Gray of Crouch Hill, Mr. G. vote, and of about a hundred congre- K. Hibbert of the Society of Friends, gations, ninety voted for the modern Mr. C. C. Montenore and the Hon. wing, seven for the Orthodox, and the Lily Montagu of the Liberal Jewish rest did not vote. As a result, the ma- Synagogue, Principal Workman of jority has been cut oil' by the Serbian the Wesleyan College, Westminster, Orthodox Church, and the minority figure among the speakers, with Rabbi has formed a Czecho-Slovak Orthodox Mattuck, minister of the Synagogue, church under Serbian jurisdiction.
as chairman. rfhc oceasion is believed Russian Village Teaching to be unique, but that Jews should at RECEN'f reports in the Russian all desire to discuss with Christians daily press indicate that the work the subject of responsibility from a of carrying anti-religious teaching religious point of view is indicative of down to the villages has been given a the upbreak of the age-long isolation new impUlse. In one rural district in of Jewry.-Reconl of the U. F. C. the Ukraine. a school was conducted of s. for fifteen days with four sessions, French C1,ergy and Militarism each an honr long every day. The MONSIGNORJOSEPH F. SMITH, school was divided into two main de- Vicar-General of the Catholic partments. In the department of diocese oj' Cleveland, Ohio, who is de- natural sciences instruction was given scribed as "one of the best beloved in six subjccts: the universe, the earth and honored priests in this great and its life, the biology of plants, the diocese," has recently returned from biology of animals, man, nature and a ten-weeks' trip to Europe. He is! society. In the department dealing quoted as saying in reply to a ques- with questions of religion there were tion regarding the neglect of religion nine sub.iects: the origins of belief in in France: "The reason, so far as I God; the religions of the ancient east, can see it, is that the Catholic Church with their ideas of suffering, dying, in France is identified with the polit- and resuscitating gods; the Bible and ical movement for the monarchy the gospel; Judaism and Christian- which is supported by the royalists ity; the origin of religious holidays; who still have the wealth. The real religion and science; sectarianism; militarists are the clergy of France religion, morality and communism; looking for restoration of the mon- methods of anti-religious propaganda.
archy through war and hoping for the renewal of France's ancient Greeks and the Bible glory. " THE Greek Government has re- moved its ban on the importation Rift in Czecho-Slovak Church and sale of the Modern Greek version THE Neo – Catholic Church in of the Bible. Formerly it was illegal Czecho-Slovakia, independent of to circulate the Word in Greece in the Rome, whose fine purposes were de- present-day language of the people, scribed in the REVIEW in November; and the mea.<;ures fol' the prohibition 1923, has been. having internal trou- were sternly carried out. Although bles of its own to settle. Two parties Greeks retnrning from the United appeared. One sought the moral and States or Great Britain were accus- ecclesiastical support of the Serbian tomed to bring in copies, when they branch of the Orthodox Church, were detected they were arrested and which meant subs.cription to the fined, and the books were seized. The 5
change in the law was due to the Unohepherded Sheep presentation of a Bible to Papanastesious, the Prime Minister, by a THE mission of the Church Missionzealous man who had been in Eng- ary Society in the Ijo district or land and who expressed the hope that Southern Nigeria contains thirty; the Word might play such a part in churches in the care of but two trained Greece as it had had in English his- and seven untrained teachers. When tory. Many cases of Bibles and New the superintending missionary of the Testaments in modern Greek had long district paid his annual visit to some been detained in the customs house at of the Christians they met him with Athens, having been shipped there by a banner bearing the words, "Forget the American Bible Society in the Us Not." Many of the Christians are hope that some day they could be deeply in earnest, and they meet day used. As soon as the ban was re- by day, week after week, often withmoved, there was a tumultuous de- out a teacher, to help each other in mand by crowds of people for the the Christian life. 'fhey have only books. St. Mark's Gospel and a very small portion of the Prayer Book in their AFRICA own language, and few of them, per- haps one or two in a congregation, Egypt's Moslem University can read. A catechist visits them three times a year. and the missionary MANY w):w have heard the name of once a year if he can manage it. EI Azhar University in Cairo may not be familiar with some fea- Many Congo Baptism. tures of its life which are here described: AMERICAN Baptist missionaries in the Congo region have been "It dates from the tenth century, conducting a long-continued evanis strictly Mohammedan and only gelistic campaign. In Sona Bata dur- Arabic is spoken. There are between ing this fourth year of the revival, 7,000 and 7,500 students taught by 1.192 have been baptized, according about 250 professors. 'rhe life is in to Rev. Thomas Moody, who recently many respects simple and inexpensive. returned to the field. Mr. Moody The students sit on matting on the says: "About 1,000 sat around the floor while the teacher sits cross-leg- Lord's table for communion where ged on a wide wooden chair facing thirty-four years ago there was not a his class. The teacher declaims at single professing Christian. What great length, asks no questions and hath God wrought! We have here a uses no blackboard or diagrams of any big field for service – 10,000 square kind. 'l'he study of religion and the miles, 80,000 people, twenty-seven Koran forms a very large part of the churches, 9,000 church members, 200 course. The student brings with him schools and 7,000 boys and girls to his padded quilt, in which he wraps look after." In 1921, the first year himself up at night and lies on the of the revival in this section of the floor. During the day it is rolled up Congo. more than 1,500 were bap- :and laid on a shelf. El Azhar has tized, in 1922 more than 3,000, and in :always been more of a monastery or 1923 more than 1,800. seminary than a university, and the institution still retains that character- African Christian Homes istic, notwithstanding the introduction of such subjects as algebra, MRS. A. H. HOYT writes from astronomy, drawing, natural history East Africa to The A.merican and hygiene. The syllabus, however, Friend: is still deficient in subjects comprising modern science, literature, history, ,'Another of our girls was married philo&ophy or foreign languages." last week, this making the third one within a few· months. She went to Malava Station to live as her hus-
1925J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
band works there. It is so interesting mission totlieir neighboring black to see the Christian families moving brothers. 'l'hey recognize that the out to districts to start Christian vil- blacks have not only souls to save, but lages. Usually it. is the teacher of a homes to keep and a society to be school who has in the past been living made self-supporting. on a higher there and going out to his school and plane. So they supply agricultural back each day. But when the wife instruction and community leadership becomes a thorough Christian, they along wHh evangelism. Hand in- usually move out to the school to live dustries are taught, schools are main- and we will never know the good they tained, better homes are builded and do. Month by month we hear of ad- the leaven of civilization is replacing ditions to the saved ones because of their old customs. The problems of their faithfulness. Sometimes there the color line in the new Africa are is a failure and a new one must be not much different iil the essentials sent out. Last week a woman came from those in the United States.
walking back home, carrying her little sick six-months'-old baby, and her Native Christians Carry Work husband following behind carrying THE loyalty of certain African their blankets – a distance of ten Christian~, converts of German miles. I could see the anxiety on her missions before the vVorld War, has been commented on by F. W. H. Miface. They had moved out to their geod, a traveler quoted in The Chrisschool two w~eks 'before. They first tian Century. "In German days," wanted medicine as the baby had been sick five days. The mother said that he says, "it was the practice for the eaeh day her husband was away his Roman Ulttholics and the Basel Mismother would eome and fuss at her sion to divide out tribal areas. Hence to sacrifice for the child so that it would get well. When her husband in one tribe may be seen only Basel Mission buildings, and in the next was in the house the old mother would only Roman Catholic establishments. not say much because she knew that An exception was made in the large he would absolutely refuse, but she towns, where both worked. With the thought perhaps she could frighten war the German missionaries· disapthe timid wife into submission. So Shidogo said, 'I wanted to come back peared. The Roman Catholic mission, here and stay until the baby gets well that of the Sacred Heart, has somebecause I was afraid of those old peo- time since resumed operations, but ple and their customs.' " the Protestants are still left to them- selves. Nevertheless in many villages services are kept going by a catechist Boers Now Help Natives or teacher, who receives no salary or THE Phelps-Stokes Commission to assistance and who has no one to East Africa, which has often been whom he can appeal for help or guidreferred to in the REVIEW since it was ance in any way. It seemed to me sent out, has recently been quoted as most creditable the way in which having noted in South' Africa a re- teaehing was still carried on ; and the markable change in the attitude of .end of their struggle IS not in sight the Boers toward the natives. In the for no British Protestant mission has old days a church is reported to have yet seen its way to take, over the put a notice on the door with the work. "
legend "Dogs and Hottentots not admitted." Natives were not allowed THE NEAR EAST to walk on the sidewalks and the Dr. Barton'. Belief in ·Turkey R theory that they did not possess soulsEV. JA.l..fES L. BARTON, D.D., secretary of the American Board wa.., held by many. Today the sons of these old "vortreckers" are fur- of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- nishing 'the most modern type of sions, iielieves that the .Turks are
sincerely trying to. maintain an inde- haps the decisive part so far as the pendent gDvernment, with freedDm higher life Df this chaDtie area of the fDr religiDn and for the press. " The wDrld is concerned. To train 50,000 officials of Turkey," he said at the children under the influence of deannual meeting of the Board in voted Christian workers and then to Providence, R. 1., October 22d, "with- send these young people back into. out a period Df preparation, find the towns and cities with that spirit themselves cDnfronted with the intri- of service to. the Near East that was cate problems of gDvernment over a responsible for their salvation, is to people who have never knDwn national do. the greatest thing imaginable in freedom and independence. It will the building of a new Near East. The require time and experience to con- wDrk Df the Near East Relief is, in vince the ruling forces in Turkey the widest sense of the word, a great that there can be in no. cDuntry absD- missionary enterprise, a mighty reenlute natiDnal independence frDm fDr- fDrcement of the noble task begun eign commerce, trade, and enterprise. decades ago by the mission boards and Naturally, the Turks are friendly tD- by agencies like Robert CDllege, the ward the United States. They know University at Beirut and the Conthat we have no. territDrial ambitions stantinople CDllege for Women." for any part of their country, nor are we seeking for spheres of influence. INMission in Datr.alllcus There is an open and friendly ap- the city of Damascus which now proach to the Turkish officials, many has a population of 300,000, esti- {)f whDm show increasing eagerness mated at 25,000 Christians, 15,000 to. maintain cDrdial relations with Jews, and the rest fanatical Moslems, missiDnarieR, teachers and Americans the Christian Reformed Church has a of all classes. Wherever there are fine church building, where every American SChDOls children of these Sabbath services are held in Armeofficials are under American instruc- nian, Arabic and English. One of tion. In SDme features there is un- their workers writes: usual encouragement fDr missionary work in the country. The press is "We havo three schools-one for Jewish remarkably free. The state is not boys, another for Jewish girls and a mixed dDminated by a religious hierarchy. school-·where a fair education is given The leaders widely proclaim religious ;lratis, including Hebrew, Arabic and liberty. The American schoDls are French, and, of course, daily Christian incrowded with pupils. One Df the "truction in the ITo)y Scriptures. We have most potent agencies operating tDday also a reading-room in the Jewish quarter, fDr the regeneration of the cDuntry which is fairly well att"'nded. During Passis the Near East Relief." over and Easter I paid a visit to Palestine lasting seven teen da.ys. While the work in Building a New Near East Damascus is very difficult, the work among the Jews in Palestine is comparatively easy. THE testimony paid to. the WDrk of 1 had wonderful opportunities in present· the Near East Relief by the Rev. ing the Gospel to the Jews in TiiKlrias and Samuel McCrea Cavert Df the Federal had quite an open-air meeting among the Council of Churches after his recent strict Chassidim in Safed. In the Jewish tDur Df inspectiDn has been widely colonies we found the Zionists without prejquoted. He said in part: "Wrapped udice and open to hear our Christian mesup in this wDrk Df relief is sDmething sage." that may well prove to be of greater significance even than the saving Df INDIA physical life. FDr the boys and girls who. . are today our wards in these Outeaste Mass Meeting orphanages are a part of the Near East of thp cDming generation, per- F ROM the lslampur district, India, CDmes an account of a mass meet- ing held in Peth village by the Ma- hars, Mangs and other outcaste com- munities, from villages far and Wide. The local cDmmittees had built a large
1925J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
tabernacle of corrugated iron walls The lowest figures are Kashmir, and and burlap roof, decorated with flags Haidarabad, only three women per and evergreen. In this, seated on the 1,000 being literate in the latter.
ground, were gathered some 400 or 500 outcaste~. On the platform were Diamonds Past and Present a number of educated men who were THE American Baptist Missionary leaders in the meetings. The chair- Society has been carrying on work man was a Mahar, a member of the since 1884 in the important native Bombay Provincial IJegislative Coun- state of Hyderabad, Deccan, in India. cil. A few Brahmans and a large Their largest church now is in the number of Marathas of the middle city of Bezwada, and it has been selfclass were sitting with the Mahars. supporting since 1913, when the pres- It certainly was an omen of the early ent church building was put up. One doing away of the untouchability of of the missionaries writes: "One inthe present depressed classes. Reso- teresting thing about this church is lutions were passed forbidding the that it was erected by the Salvation eating of carrion, asking for compul- Army who have a Criminal Settlesory education for their own commu- ment just across the river. Many of nities, and for privileges such as the criminals were employed in work admission to public wells, courts, rest on the building. The famous Golhouses, etc. '1'he last resolution was conda diamond mines are on our fieill. an appreciation of the work of the The diamonds were mined here and missionaries in education and other then taken to the old capital, Golconuplift work, and a request for them da, near Hyderabad and polished and to continue the same kind of work in sent from there to the North India the future. kings. The Koh-i-Noor in King Census Returns George's crown was found here as well as the Pitt or Regent diamond THE Church Missionary Review for now in the fJouvre at Paris. Many December contains an interesting other famous diamonds were found article on the Indian census returns here. Occasionally diamonds are still for 1921. Instances are given show- found. "]{hat is more valuable is ing the spread of Christianity during that we have a church here, and many the last decade. In one country dis- diamonds in the rough are being trict of 7,000 square miles, containing polished. " 100,000 people, there are now 27,000 Chl'istians where ten years ago there were only 2,000. In this district it is Indian Christian Council T quite the fashion to be a Christian, HE biennial meeting of the Na- tional Christian Council of India, and even the chiefs are joining the movement. 'i'he accuracy of the cen- held in November, marked, according sus returns was doubted, and it was to a writer in 'l'he Indian Witness, suggested that zealous Christian enu- "a definite and real step. ip advance merators might have made entries ac- in the matter of corporate, Christian cording to their own wishes rather thinking i~ the Indian Empire. Here than the faet". It was found, how- were sixty-eight aceredited delegates ever, that the case was rather the and visitors from the different parts reverse. The returns also show that of India, Burma and Ceylon who for in India eighty-two persons per 1,000 five days under the experienced lead"
are literate, that is able to write a ers-hip of the chairman, the Right Rev.
letter and to read one. The most F. Westcott, the; Bishop of Calcutta, literate area is Burma, where monastic devoted tll"lllSel";es to prayer, discus· education of an elementary character sion, and the ll1Q,~t careful considera- is traditional, and where 510 men and tion of problems pertaining to the 112 women per 1,000 are literate. Kingdom of GoeL "There were more
Indian delegates present than for- this talk increased the size of the au- merly, for under the new constitution dience which the next night heard half of the delegates at least must be him lecture on ' .Jesus Christ and Indian nationals……. Neyer before India's Problem of Unity.' "-Chris- has the Council devoted so much tian Work.
time, prayer and earnest considera- tion to th.. spiritual side of the work Eager Telugu Village… of the Church, and it was surely an A indication that there is a keener re- N Australian missionary among the Telugu people, South India, alization than eyer before of the need for a united emphasis on the truly writes of appeals :from various vil- spiritual message and life for the sal- lages to come and preach to them, and vation of India." continues: "After a terrible shaking Among the resolutions passed was for twelve miles in an Indian cart one calling on missions to provide over a bad road, I was resting for a specially trained workers to establish while, when two boys arrived with a "the closest and most fruitful con- note from a village seven miles away tacts" with the almost 69,000,000 which read, 'Please come to our vil- Moslems in India, Burma and Ceylon. lage.' For several days we had great gatherings right in the village temple.
South India.Unity Conference I do not remember seeing people more eagcr or more attentive. .After one ACONFERENCE representing the of the meetings the following petition various religious communities in was handed to me: South India was held in Madura in , Sir : Our village has about foUT hun· the late autumn along lines siniilar to dred families and we number about two those which made the gathering in thousand. Until now we never heard this Delhi described in the December gospel story. Noone ever came before to REYIEW so remarkable. Principal our village to preach this word. You are Lorbeer of the American Board Train- t he first to bring the message to us. We ing School in Pasumalai writes of it: believe that J csus Swami is our Saviour and " A friendly spirit pervaded the we beE~eth you to receive us and our chi!. whole mceting. People of many eastes (lren, teach us and baptize us, make no and creeds exchanged many forms of delay.
(signed) 15 names.'
greetings, but whether it was the Bible in Calcutta University hand-shake of Western practice, the T salaam of Islam, or the Brahman na- HE Bible is now a compUlsory subject for all candidates in the maskaram (bowing with two hands united as in the act of prayer) the preliminary and final B..A. examina- greeting was always cordial. A West- tions of Calcutta University. The fol- ern audience would have been sur- lowing questions set at a recent prised by the casual way in which examination prove that no merely su- folding chairs were set up, candles perficial knowledge will suffice; "Give were brought in, and the organizers in your own words an account of the were arranging the program, long betrayal, trial, and crucifixion of after the hour set for the meeting to Christ." "Give a general idea of the begin. The hall was packed to the teachings inculcated by St. PauL"
doors, but the two or three thousand One candidate came to one of the people were unusually quiet….. One C. M. S. women missionaries in Cal- of the Christian speakers was the cutta to borrow a Bengali Testament.
Y. M. C. A. sccretary, Mr. Popley. On returning the book he said that he He spoke in a dignified Tamil, quot- had read the whole of it and had ing pleasing proverbs which won for come to the conclusion that Jesus was him an eager' liearing. No speaker more than man; he asked for fur- was more applauded and I'm sure ther teaching.
1925J NEWS :E'ROM MANY LANDS
CHINA ed later. Early in December the cap- ture of a group of Catholic priests; The Nation's Chief Problems and nuns was reported, but the Asso- ciated Press later announced their- ARTHUR RUGH, Y. M. C. A. stu- safe arrival in Hankow. A cablegram dent secretary in China, writes received December 10th by the trusin interesting fashion in The Chris- tees in New York City of the Canton tian Century of "the varied reports Christian College read: that three representative groups made on China's condition. Seventy Chi- Saturday evening robbers captured the nese college students representing Canton Christian College launch, on board eight government and Christian col- which were thirty·six Chinese staff students leges of East China were one group. and visitors. The launch was returned duro Fifty-two missionaries in the Kuling ing the night. To date twenty·eight stu· summer school of religious education dents have heen restored. It is reported representing fifty-seven varieties of Ilere, and generally believed, all the others theology were another. Sixteen Chi- are in the hands of the military force pur· nese Christian leaders were a third. BUing the bandits. We are (Ioing our utmost The college students, after much dis- and will cable later. Foreigners are not cussion, named as China's three great- implicated. est pl'oblems, militarism, illiteracy and militaristic industrialism. The Kansu Workers Confer group composed of sixteen Chinese Christian leaders give one new hope I N Kansu Province, on the northfor China. They know their country west frontier of China, with its and its needs. They are real Chris- line of widely scattered mission statians and they are free in mind and tions, it was not easy in the earlier heart. After studying the hindrances -years for the missionaries to come to a rapid Christianizing of China together in conference. Six years ago they finally put at the head of their representatives of the China Inland list these three: (1) The unchristian Mission, the Christian and Missionary exploitation of China by Christian Alliance, and the Scandinavian Misnations; (2) The foreign mold of sionary Alliance, met together. At Christianity as it is presented in the 1924 conference, held at Titao, China; (3) The hard doctrines which fifty-three missionaries representing nlen are asked to accept before they seventeen stations were present. The can become Christians….. So the stu- native church was represented by dent says, militarism, illiteracy and forty ddegates. Kansu has missionmaterialism are the problems. The ary problems not found in other Chinese Christian says. 'Your religion provinces. Not only is the spiritual will need to be Chinafied before it will need of the Chinese to be met, but solve our problems.' The modern also that of Tibetans, Mongolians, missionary says, 'Go to it, Chinafy it aborigines, and to a far greater exuntil it works and we'll help you, and tent that of the 2,000,000 Moslems. t he best is yet to be.' " "Kansu has been a hard field to work," writes Rev. H. French Ridley, Chinese Bandit Activities "not owing to hostility, but to the sheer indifference of the people. At NEWSPAPER reports from China last the barren ground is beginning to nowadays deal largely with the bear fruit, and we trust the days of exploits of bandits. Late in Novem- an abundant harvest are near at hand. ber it was stated that two Scandina- -Record of Ckr-istian Work. vian-American women missionaries of the Augustana Synod in Juchow, Keeping Faith with Robbers Honan Province, who had remained at their posts when other foreigners ALEX BAXTER, of Canton Chrishad escaped, had been carried off by tian College, tells in the L. M. S. bandits, but their release was report- Chronicle this significant incident connected with the capture by bandits
of certain students in the college, and to have Soviet influence and is part the negotiations for thei1:" release: "It of a nation-wide movement attributed was arranged that the robber chief to the Bolshevist envoy at Peking." should visit the College to get our The authorities at Yale, however, had reply. The evening before his arrival received no report of any such diswas expected, a group of our Chinese turbance. teachers, headed by the man who was carrying on the negotiations, came to German Missions in China see me and advocated the plan that on the arrival of the robber leader we THE Liebenzeller Mission, Associ· should capture him and hold him as a ate Branch of the China Inland hostage for the release of our men. Mission reports that last year four Finding that our representative had more outstations were opened and promised this robber a safe return that the number of congregations from our campus, I naturally object- rose from 62 to 67 while 330 received ed to this proposaL I mention this baptism, and the number of Chrisbecause of the sequeL Some months tians rose from 2,522 to 2,734. The later I had an interview with the number of Chinese evangelists inman. He wished to become a Chris- creased from 43 to 54, and the Bible tian and join the Church. He told women from 22 to 24. 'rhe total me that the idea· that Christian mor- number is now greater than in 1920 ality meant. that we must keep our when churches first were obliged to word even when dealing with a rob- become self-supporting because of ber had not occurred to him before, lack of mission funds to help them. but he realized its truth and had gone Only three Chinese helpers out of home that night deeply impressed. the 78 are paid by the Mission, the Sueh a little incident, therefore, had rest elltirely or in part by the Chiled this man tocwards Christianity nese, the missionaries helping from and the Church." their poverty in a true spirit of sac- rifice which in one case meant only Reported Strike at Ya-Ii two meals a day.
AT Christmas time many news- There are in the stations 9 day papers printed two items, for which the Chieago Tribune was re- a schools and hoarding schools, besponsible, stating, first, that Yale College in China (generally known sides a Blind School, a Medical School as Ya-li) had "been closed by a strike and two Orphanages, altogether 16 of students against the American self-supporting schools with 690 pu- Faeulty. 1'he walkout was due to the pils. 'rhere are also 8 Sunday-schools, insistence by the teachers on Bible with 4,18 children, and 4 Young Peostudy being included in the scheduled pie's Societies with 204 members. hours, which the students regard as Medical help was given in two hosan Rrbitrp,),y imposition of Western pitals, 13 dispensaries and four opium beliefs upon the Chinese. The strike refuges, all self-supporting, and in began in the high school department, 49,300 single treatments. The Chiextending to the college." The later nese contributed for the Lord's work report was that the striking students $5,180.00 silver as against $4,940.00 "had appealed to the Provincial As- in 1922. sembly and the Hunan Educational Board for transfer to Southeastern About 50 adult evangelical German University at Nanking. The students missionaries in Central China, with have the backing of the Anti-Imperi- their 35 children are members of the alist Association and are forming all JJiebenzell Mission, an Associate Misorganization for recovering eduea- sion of the China Inland Mission. tionill rights in China. . T.his is said Theil' dir~ need is due to the fact that the German" mark" has entire- ly rallied in value. The German China Alliance, in Kiang-si Province, con- sists of 25 adults and 15 children who.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
are in a similar plight. They ask for chased some type and a small foot the prayers of American Christians. printing press and started a card They are greatly needed in dark Hu- printing shop. There was plenty of nan and Kiang-si Provinces for they work for them owing to lack of printare two faithful, godly bands.-Allen ing facilities following the disaster, Noah Cameron, Changsha, China. and they worked day and night until they had saved enough money to rent JAPAN-KOREA a lot for a church. Estimates made by a carpenter for the construction New Y. W. C. A. Building in Tokyo of a church according to their plan called for yen 3,000, while their fund A NEW Y. W. C. A. building on the barely reached yen 1,500. ruins of the 1923 earthquake has been completed at Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Tanaka, a young carpenter in Americans contributed $250,000 to- Honjo, who is an admirer of Kagawa, ward the restoration of Y. W. C. A. well-known Christian social worker, property in Tokyo and Yokohama heard of the difficulty of the printers following the earthquake. Of this and volunteered to build the church amount $7.500 was used for this new for them for yen 1,500. The first building, which cost in all yen 30,000 floor of the building will be used for or $15,000. Yen 10,000 was contrib- an office, printing shop, dining room uted by the Tokyo Chamber of Com- and typesetting room, while the secmerce. Since the earthquake, Y. W. ond floor will be used for bedrooms C. A. work has been carried on from and studies. On Sundays, the second temporary headquarters in a hut. floor is to be converted into a hall for The new building is only semi-per- Christian services. manent, built in barrack fashion. The first floor, divided into a living room WOlnen's College for Korea and dining room, serves also as an assembly hall. The second floor is THE dedication on September 20th devoted to classrooms. No gymna- of forty-five acres of land near the sium is provided but a vacant lot on Chosen Christian College in Seoul, which the former Y. W. C. A. build- intended as the site of a college for ing stood is utilized for games, with women, was a great event in the hisan army tent serving as dressing tory of Christian education in Korea. quarters. Plans are being made for A committe" of both Korean and fora permanent building in the distant eign Christian leaders tried for about future. The Imperial Government of five years to secure the funds neces- Japan has already' donated $5,000. sary to purchase this land, which was on the market, but met with no suc- Printers Build Church cess. On Noyember 1, 1923, at a great missionary meeting in America, Miss A REMARKABLE story comes Helen Kim, an Ewha College gradu- through the J apam Advertiser of ate, pleaded for a gift for this purseven Japanese young men, who be- pose. None of her hearers responded fore September, 1923, were employed to the appeal, but on that very day in a pearl factory. They are Chris- some tourists visited Ewha Haktang tians and a warm friendship grew and, hearing of the need, proIDJised up among them. vVhen they were dis- more than enough to buy it. The charged with Reventy-six fellow work- money came promptly. Then folers following the earthquake, they lowed tiresome negotiations until agreed to work out their destiny to- July, when the purchase was comgether according to the Christian pleted. The Korean preachers and faith. They decided to give up a busi- missionaries, and students from ness that caters to extravagance and Ewha, gathered on that September agreed _to be printers. With their afternoon with hearts full of praise savings. aM dismissal allowances for a simple service of thanksgiving given them by the company thc,y .pur-
and consecration. This property is the first time one Buddhist Sundaybeing held in readiness for the time, school association in Takata sent two it is hoped not long distant, when the delegates to this training school. The Christian forces in Korea will unite daily program included a twentyto give to the women of this land a minute devotional period and an worthy opportunity for higher edu- hour's lecture on the apostolic age. cation. .After these Buddhists returned home, they sent a hearty letter of apprecia- Aims of Korean Girls tion for what they had heard and for the friendly treatment they had re- THE Woman's Foreign Missionary ceived. In the closing session one of Society of the Methodist Church them made a short speech of thanks couducts a girls' school at Pyeng- and said that although he had attendyang, Kurea, of which the principal, ed a summer school given by his own Miss Grace L. Dillingham, writes: sect every year, he wanted to come "If you had asked me four years ago again to this Christian training what our special purpose was in main- school. taining a girls' high school, I think I should probably have answered, 'To Korean Revival Methods prepare Christian girls .better as wives and mothers, and send out a REV. FLOYD E. H.AMILTON, few primary teachers.' If you ask Presbyterian m iss ion a l' y at the same qu€stion now, I shall scarce- Pyengyang, Korea, writes of some ly know what to say, so diverse are unusual features in a revival which the ambitions of the girls who come recently occurred in a poor commuto us, and especially of those who nity on the outskirts of the city: leave after four years' awakening. "There is a unique Christian organi- One thing I know. Our purpose is zation in PyeJlgyang. The Christian more than ever to develop Christian laboring men of the city have formed leaders, but the field of work for an evangelistic preaching band. The women is fast broadening in the men themselves do the preaching, and Orient. Twenty-four girls were the funds for their expenses are prograduated last year. Seven of these vided by cuntributions given by the are teaching in primary schools, two members of the band. This preachhave entered the Kindergarten Nor- ing band decided that there ought to mal School; two are taking nurses' be a church among: these poor people training in our Union Hospital Train- along the bank of the Po Tong River, ing SchooL" so they set about establishing it. Several of their number began to do Buddhists Like Christian School personal work among the people and before long a little group was started. THE Eighth .Annual Summer Later, during a week of special meet- Training School for Sunday-school ings, 150 promised to believe, and on workers in Karuizawa, is reported to the Sunday following the revival, inhave been very successful, in spite of cluding the children, there were 350 the absence at the World's Convention people at Sunday-schooL Probably in Glasgow of the two principal Japa- one explanation of the fact that so nese secretaries and H. E. Coleman, many new believers have remained Educational Secretary of the World's faithful iR that we made the persons Sunday School .Association, who who brought them to the first serviee started the school. For the :first time responsible for getting them out to a Japanese :woman lectured in one of church afterward, and in addition dithe full ten-hour courses. The theme vided the whole district into six secof Miss Nada, Ph.D., of Columbia tions with a man and woman in was "Child Psychology" and she was charge of each section, to keep bringsaid to be "wonderfully good." For ing the new believers out." uSW east cue ~"U4Ai"""UiAi""'iiii>iftl"
NOTE.-A ny books mentioned in English Baptist Mission at Sianfu.
these pages will be sent from the office Of the notable men at one time on its of the REVIEW on receipt of listed staff of physicians, Dr. Young was price, postage prepaid. the strongest on the evangelistic side and also in his determination to Andrew Young of Shensi: Adventure in do his full duty to patients dis- Medical Missions. J. C. Keyte. IIlus. tant as well as near. Here floods, 313 pp. 68. London. 1924. bandits, disease, including typhus of The author of "The Passing of the which he and the two other medicals Dragon" and "In China Now" has finally died, were frequent experi- already won friends and was for ences. His calmness in all times of many years a China colleague and in- peril and danger and his zeal for timate friend of Dr. Young. China administering "the double cure,"
and medical missionary work Mr. especially the cure of souls, are ex- Keyte knows equally well; and hence plainable only because of the life hid this volume gives us a view of that with Christ in God which was an outcountry in it~ birth throes as a Re- standing characteristic of the man.
public, and also an exposition of Med- Dr. Kenneth Mackenzie and Harold ical Missions. The secondary title of Scofield were parallels in these re- the book is due to the many adven- spects. Amid all the trials and dep- tures involved in the revolutionary rivations of his interrupted family overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty life, neither husband or wife lost their and the later outcome of that event, cheer and. sunny confidence in the the greatest thrills being found in ever-present Saviour.
Chapter X, the section entitled. A feature of this volume which de- "Hunted on the Hills." This equals serves especial commendation is the post-Boxer miracles of escape. author's eminently true and tactful Dr. Young was a Scot, with a con- way of dealing with Chinese weak- science· and will which were indom- nesses-always as natural and jus- itably set on fulfilling duty at all tifiable as in Occidentals-and espe- costs. His life was always guided by cially in his beautiful delineations of the Bible, which he studied as his their points of strength. Thus the spiritual leaders, Drs. Campbell Mor- character of Mr. Ts'aoand of the gan and Arthur T. Pierson and to scarcely· less admirable Mr. Shih as some extent Dwight L. Moody, in- they scorned peril and possible de- p.lined him to do; and that was the motion that they might give them- theology which he used so effectively selves to their helpless hunted friends and eagerly in his teaching of Congo on the Shensi hills and in the uncom- natives and Chinese scholars alike. fortable pit where they were so long The African section of the volume concealed. The other interpretations depicts the usual "bricks without of Chinese faithfulness, even when the straw" procedure of many missions, subject was seemingly hopeless as a which made Young a clever worker in man who "squeezed" beyond meas- various lines, with so few to help that ure, often reach the point of richly he was a. prey to repeated attacks of deserved eulogy of a race which has blackwater fever. These at last drove been constantly depicted on its seamy him back to Scotland. On recovering side, with no attempt to picture the he carried out his plan of becoming a saintliness lying back of rough experi- qualified medical missionary and went ences and outwardly unpromising to China to take up work under the conditions. H. P. B.
155 Blue Tiger. Harry R. Caldwell. 12roo. from the earliest settlements. The 261pp. New York. 1924. religious life of a country such as ours How could a Tennessee rifle prove a means of advancing the knowledge is like a great river which has received of the Christian God in the heart of Asia? The story is well told by a innumerable tributaries. Few of us missionary who has lived and worked in China for twenty-four years. In- know what manifold and divers terest in flowers and living things helped. A knowledge of God and a streams have contributed to the love for men helped most of all-but these are taken for granted. Mr. volume of the spiritual currents which Caldwell describes many incidents in his life where his powerful 22 calibre flow about us. In addition to the conrifle, a cocoon or some animal or plant were used as a point of contact in tributions made by the Puritans in preaching Christ. There are also interesting experiences with Roy Chap- New England and by the Quakers in man Andrews, the naturalist; stories of "mystery cats," and temple bats, Pennsylvania, the Dutch in New of Chinese puzzles, of wild goats, of a wild boar-anp. bandits. All are York and the Roman Catholics in interesting imd have a missionary significance. The chapters are good for Maryland. There have been innumerreading aloud in missionary meetings or in the family circle. able other elements. We cannot un- Missionary Lore for Children. derstand the progress of religion in Livi'ngstone of Africa. C. T. Bedford. America until we know the religious John Wil/)imM of the SiYUth Sea Islands. experiments, movements and adven- Norman .T. Davidson. Bishop Bompa,. of the Fro",en North. tures which have taken place here and Nigel B. M, Grahame. there as the stream of religious influ- 12mo. 60 pages each. 65 cents each. ence has widened and deepened with New York. 1924. the years. This book is really a re- Heroic missionaries make a strong appeal to children. 'fhe lives of ad- markably clear and comprehensive venture here described are full of thrills for juniors, but these biogra- study in origins. The chapters on phies are not particularly well adapted for that age. Of the three "Adventures in Altruism" and "Sohere chronicled Bishop Bompas is least known in the United States. He cializing Religion" are particularly went from England to Northwest Canada. The little volumes are bet- valuable, though that on "Spiritualizter suited to furnish material for teachers than for children's reading. ing Religion" strikes the highest note.
The History of Religion in the United The possibilities of the future appear States. Henry KaJloch Rowe. 8yo. 201 pp. and index. $1.75. New York. 1924. all the greater when viewed in the The Professor of Social Science and light of the past. c. c. A. History in the Newton Theological Institution has not given us an ecclesi- The Students' Historical Geography of the astical history, written from a cler- Holy Land. William Walter Smith. 12 ical point of view, but treats the mo. $2.00 net. New York. 1924. religiOl:lSphases 0:1' American history Forty-one excellent maps, one hun- dred small hali-tone pictures from photographs, sixty pages of good de- scriptive matter, a key to the events in Christ's earthly life, a list of avail- able books, maps, pictures and ma- terials for hand work, and a series of questions and suggestions for hand work in connection with each chapter, make this a very useful volume for teachers and students. Dr. Smith is the secretary of the New York Sunday School Commission of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Hawaii, the :Rainbow Land. Katherine Pope. 8 vo. 364 PI'. $3.00, Thomas Y. Crowell Co. New York. 1924.
The "Paradise of the Pacific" is described here by one who knows and loves the islands and their people. Miss Pope lived there for'ten years,
MISSIONARY LIBRARY
taught history to Hawaiian girls, and terial form from its inward spiritual gathered interesting information on principle in every activity of life." the history, legends, customs and The effect of this divorce manifests superstitions. The result is a popular itself most strongly in industry, in and 'Sympathetic account of the education and in the general'inter- Hawaiians past and present, with pretation of life. The remedy for this songs translated, conversations tran- gituation is to be found only in t~e scribed, incidents graphically told Christian doctrine of God as revealed and characters portrayed. The work in Jesus Christ. The writers do not of Christian missionaries is very tell us at what period of time Chris- briefly but sympathetically described. tendom will attain the ideal, but they The photographic illustrations are look forward to the establishment of good, but there is no index. the ideal Kingdom described in the New Testament.
The Return of Christendom. Various The value of the volume would have Writers. 252 pp. $1.75. New York. been increased by the use of the lan- 1922. guage of the New Testament rather These thought-provoking essays are than the language of the· Creeds. by a group of English churchmen who While one will not find himself in are decidedly in sympathy with the full agreement with all of the conprotests of the increasing number of tentions of these essays, nevertheless men and women against the selfish in- he will be thankful for most of the dividualism and materialism of our main contentions. day. The writers seek to discover the J. Me D.
cause of the present distressing world Erromanga, the Martyr Isle.
conditions and also to suggest a The cannibal archipelagos in the remedy. South Pacific have furnished fascina- Like all such efforts these essays are ting, challenging tales of adventure stronger and more definite in their and achievement. Among the Greatdiagnosis than in their prescription. While they show much sympathy with hearts of modern missions who have the protest of modern radicalism, they been the pioneers to those remote spots entirely repudiate Marxian socialism are the. missionaries to "Erromanga as an effective solution. From the be- the Martyr Isle." There is real roginning to the end this volume is a mance in the experiences of the clear-cut challenge to all the prevail- sandal-wood traders, the death of the "Apostle of Polynesia," John Wiling theories as to the cause and the liams, and his companion, James cure of modern social ills. Harris, by the clubs of the savages, Bishop Gore, in his introduction, and in every other chapter. Rev. and gives a clear, definite and fair ap- Mrs. John Geddie went to the New praisal of the contents of the volume, Hebrides in 1846, sent out by the which treats in succession of Christen- Presbyterians of Nova Scotia. In dom in relation to modern society, the ] 861, Rev. George N. Gordon and return of dogma, the return of "The Mrs. Gordon were killed by the axes Kingdom of God," the obstacle of in- of Uhuvili and Voeu, and later James dustrialism, the moralization of prop- Gordon, who went out to take his erty, the failure of Marxisll, and .the brother's place, met the same fate.
Kingdom of God and the Church to- The author, Rev. H, A. Robertson, day. went from Nova Scotia in 1864 and The primary cause of the present for twoscore years labored victoriously world conditions is found "in the at- among the eannibals of those islands.
tempt to organize the life of man He tells the story of the island with apart from God." The writers show all its romance and adventure of mis- that this effort has manifested itself sionary life among cannibals. The "in the divorce of the outward ma- mysterious power of the Gospel to
tame and transform cruel, blood- conservative point of view which maintains that God revealed His law thirsty, naked savages into kindly, and His great purposes to men who recorded these revelations in their own decent Christians, clothed and in their words for the benefit of their con- temporaries and for the generation to right minds, is demonstrated all follow.
through this thrilling narrative. It Fully Furnished. F. E. Marsh. 8vo. 390 pp. 48, 6d. Glasgow. 1924. is a mighty apologetic-a tremendous argument for the missionary enter- prise. The" Martyr Isle" has been won for Christ. A. C. A.
Down Through the Ages. Frank E. These thirty-four practical scrip- Gaebelein. 12 mo. 106 pp. 1924. tural studies for Christian workers The Principal of Stony Brook take up such subjects as the worker's School for Boys has written an ex- assurance, authority, consecration, ceedingly readable and helpful story theme, enemy, reward, etc. They are of the English Bible. It is an account essentially Bible readings with many of how the Bible came into existence, practical illustrations and offer many by whom it was written, the original helpful hints to ministers and mistext, translations, and various vicis- sion workers.
situdes through which it passed up to Some Modern Problems in the Light of the time of the King James version. :Bible Prophecy. Christabel Pankhurst. The last two chapters show the Bible 12mo, 192 pp. $1.50. New York. 1924. to be at the "pinnacle of literature" and full of divine power. Those who From a militant suffragette in accept this vJew of the Scriptures have British national affairs, Miss Pankno difficulty over Higher Criticism or hurst has become an earnest student modern disputed theological dogmas. of the signs of the times as related to The Bible is. their final authority on biblical prophecy and the Kingdom all such matters. of God. She presents many stirring facts and shows a devout Christian Religious Educa~ion Survey Schedules. faith. Hcr studies relating to war, Prepared by Walter S. Athearn. 271 pp. labor, women, Zionism, Romanism and $5.00. 1924. the Second Coming are interesting This is the third technical volume and illuminating whether or not one of schedules, tables and questions pre- agrees with her at all points. pared by Professor Athearn and is the result of a survey of Indiana churches, I scout organizations, homes, community enterprises, etc. It will be very Christ Pre-eminent. W. H. Griffith-Thomas. valuable to other states undertaking 125 pp. $1.00. Chicago. 1923. a similar survey. Such a survey calls for more thorough work than most These twenty-three studies in the communities will be willing to under- Epistle to the Colossians emphasize take, especially since the facts so soon the title of the book taken from Col. become out of date. There is, how- 1: 18. It is an excellent outline ever, need of thorough work in re- study with very brief treatment of each chapter so that the volume can be considered as hardly more than an introduction to the epistle. H. A. A.
ligious education. Charles Lemuel Thompson. An Autobiog- raphy edited by Elizabeth Osborn Thomp- The Divine Inspiration of the :Bible. W. son. Portrait. 8vo. 289 pp. $2.50. E. Vine. 12 mo. 28, 6'a. 1924. New York. 1924.
No extreme "dictation" theory of The work of Home Missions in the inspiration is here presented, but a United States owes much to Dr.
study of the teachings of the Bible on Thompson, who worked for Christ the subject. Objections are carefully and America for three quarters of 'a considered and answered from the century as a pastor, secretary of the
1925J MISSIONARY LIBRARY
Presbyterian Board and President of characters (twelve speaking parts), the Home Missions Council. He was also an orator, a poet and an author with vocal and instrumental music. of real ability. He has here told his The time required is from one hour oWn life-story with modesty but with to one hour and a half. It will make purpose and power. His contacts a good Christmas program. with many other noble Christian men and women add much interest to the The Amateur Poster-maker. Jeanette E. record of his own experiences and Perkins. 64 pages. Flexible paper bindobservations. ing. The Pilgrim Press. Boston. 1924.
Theological Education in America. Robert Training in the Auburn School of L. Kelly. Illustrations and Maps. 8vo. Religious Education and studies in 456 pp. $5.00 net. 1924. the United States and abroad have made Miss Perkins an expert in poster The graduates of our theological making, lettering, designing and illuinstitutions are the religious trainers minating. Her practical experience of the coming generations. It is of in Church School and community great importance, therefore, to know pl~yground.work enables her, through how they are being prepared for their thiS book With more than 50 practical work. Dr. Kelly, executive secretary illustrations, to give first aid to amaof the Council of Church Boards of teur poster makers who are not na- Education, ha~ investigated one hun- turally qnalified to do artistic and dred and sixty-one theological schools effective work in this line. K. s. C. in North America, including evangelical Protestant, Unitarian, Greek A Mosaic of Missionary Methods. Fitted Catholic and undenominational, with together by Stanl~y Sowt~n. 156 pages. from two students (Seventh-Day Baptist) to 7fiS students (Southern Bap- Wesleyan MethoflIst Mlsslonary Society. tist). The survey includes equip- 24 Bishopgate, London. E. C. 2. ment, finances, requirements, curriculum, libraries, methods and general These are especially methods for information, but docs not disclose the practical outworking of the various British Wesleyans In the Circuit, In ideals and methods. The study reveals a general lack of attention to the Local Church, in the Sunday practical subjects as distinct from theoretical. More seminaries are School, In the Villages, In the Anninow, however, introducing courses in rural problems, sociology, economics, versary, In Summer Time In Educaeducation, missions and evangelism. tion, In Intercession, in· Finance The Way of Peace, a Pageant. Laura Scherer Copenhaver, Katharine Scherer among Laymen, Among Auxiliary Cr()nk and Ruth M()ngry Worrell. Pam· phlet. 25 cents. Lutheran Headquarters. Forces, In the District At the Mis- 721 Muhlenberg Building, Philadelphia. 1924. sion House, etc. ' K . S. C.
Anything from these authors is sure Protestantism-Its Principles and Reasons to be well done, from a literary and R. Ditterich. Pamphlet. 64 pp. 30 eent~ a spiritual point of view, and at the net. 1924. same time effective. This little pageant presents the Christian solution of The president of the Australian the war problem as opposed to the Protestant Federation here gives a militaristic, the industrial, the scien- clear statement of the differences betific and the educational. The pageant tween Roman Catholic and Protestant calls for from fifty to twO· hundred claims, beliefs and practice, and tests them by Bible teachings and by his- tory and experience.
The High Way. Caroline Atwater Mason. 382 pp. $2.00. Fleming H. Revell Co. New York. 1923.
This is not only a good story, well to~d, but it has a timely message for thiS day of chaotic religious ideas. The author champions the basic teach- ings of the New Testament in. a way
that will strengthen faith and should Torchbearers in China. Basil Mathews, help to bring about a return to "the and Arthur E. Southon. 12 mo. 186 pp. old paths wherein is the good way." 50 cents and 75 cents. 1924. The novel is a classic in the field of apologetics, and may be heartily This is the popular young people's textbook on China, prepared for recommended to young people who British study classes and published are passing through a period of doubt also in America. It is a well-written, and are tempted to unbelief. interesting story of the efforts to plant Christianity in China-among the H. H.F. aborigines, in Tibet and Manchuria, The Divinity of Our Lord. Cauon H. P. in the villages and the cities. The Liddon. 12 mo. 216 pp. 28, Od. 1924. biographical and human interest ele- ment is strong but the divine power In these days of wavering faith and and guidance are very evident. It is theological controversy, it is ex- a book to stimulate faith and win cotremely helpful to have Canon Lid- operation in the evangelization of don's well-known Bampton Lectures China. on thc Divinity (or Deity) of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Though these eight lectures were By a Way They Knew Not. Mary Bennett given at Oxford sixty years ago they Harrison. 12mo. 91 pp. New York. are true and convincing today as they 1924. were when delivered-at least to those who accept the truth of the Bible This story 0:1' Barnabas and the record. Canon Liddon takes up in a days of Christ on earth would be betscholarly way the evidences for Jesus' ter if it adhered to facts. The author deity as found in the Old Testament, even makes the wise men appear in in the Gospels and the writings of the Bethlehem on the night of the na· early Apostles. Then he describes the tivity and causes a lame boy to be consequences of the acceptance or de- healed by seeing the Babe in the manger.
nial 0:1' this doctrine. Ministers and The. Kingdom Without Frontiers. Hugh other students will find the volume of Martin. 91 pp. Ilnd indices. $1.00. New particular value. York. 1924. .
The sub-title, "The Witness of the Making a Missionary Church. Stacy R. Bible to the Missionary Purpose of Warburton. 12 mo. $1.75 net. 1924. God, " is a clear indication of its pur- Every truly live Christian church pose. It was doubtless designed to be is a missionary church. To serve is used as a textbook in mission study the essential principle of Christianity. classes in churches and among college A church that does not witness to students and others who are moving Christ and serve mankind may have a towards the world-outlook of Christ.
name to live, but it is dead. Wide- Questions for discussion on each chap- awake church leaders who are looking ter are designed to bring out the sa- for suggestions as to how to enlist lient points in the argUment that others in missionary work will find Christianity was meant to be and is a here valuable suggestions as to a prac- universal religion, "worthy of all ac- tical program for a whole church and ceptation"; that is to say, has the other plans for training church universal elements worthy of accepta- officers, parents, the Sunday-school tion by all men of all countries in all and young people. Some very useful ages. Mr. Martin's book, whether hints are given on education, dramas, read consecutively or studied and dis- socials, sermons, giving, prayers and cussed chapter by chapter, is a help recruiting for the field. Erroneous to that world view which we all must ideas and false methods are pointed acquire before we can have fellowship out and are corrected by the pointing with the Master whose mental horizon out of true principles and right meth- transcended all racial, social and geo- ods. It is a valuable book. graphical boundary lines. c. c. A.
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1919
A RELIC OF THE BARBAROUS ·IN
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write for information which they Then by "Just turning need in their work. The number of the knob· tl.& {>G~t inquiries increases constantly and we are always pleased to have our read- tv'l>e· 8 l'e ..Q.~ ~Ol' ,,~ ers feel that we take a very real interest in them and the work they are J~l'~ ..e 00l'1'88~o~Q.e~o8. doing. The pages of THE REVIEW Ny Sund~, Sch~oL notic.s are all designed to be helpful to you -an encouragement to greater effort 4tMany Typewriters In One" and the source of wider knowledge in missionary matters. We appre- Would I/O.. like to know why the ciate that there must be many problems which confront you and ~~tiP!~!:.am:o~~o~ie~O lW~ul~!n wl!t~ upon which you need guidance-perhaps it may be how many mISSIOn- you in Jour words: aries are in a certain place or what is the location of a certain mISSIOn- Because of its veraatiUtyJ ary society. Feel at liberty to write us concerning anything that will help The .Multiplex Hammond does everyyou and be sure that we will be in- thing any othor typewriter will do. terested. The closer our relations and bU1du, il you ·"Just turn the with you become, the more satisfac- knob" you can change (rom one style tory will be our work. of type, or from one languagt-, to an- other. Note the above specimen Our business department is at your r~~~Ym:c~:~~d) all wriil." on the service as truly as our editorial and circulation departments. We will No Other Typewriter Can Do Thi. gladly answer inquiries concerning books, mission study courses, mis- No matter who sionary training institutions, church you q,re, what you furnishings, household articles, equip- are. or u'here you ment for best methods, personal re- are. tha Multlplax quirements, etc., such as those inter- Hammond is the ested in missions may need. Perhaps writiD'" ma.chine we can aid you in finding some ar- ror YOU. 1Jall ticle for which you are looking. The the C"oupon for advertisements in the REVIEW may Craa lolder. contain just what you wish and by patronizing our advertisers you will Also a PORTABLE Model help yourself and will enable us to better the REVIEW. Great care is Full capacity. Weight about 11 pounds. taken to accept only trustworthy ad- Ask lor spc'CiBI loldar. 11 ailed Iree. vertising and to study the special needs and interests of our readers. inquire about apecial term. to profea.lonals ____________.Free Folder ____________.
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MISSIONARY
EVIEW~ VOL JULY, 1919 NUMBER s"VEN XLII ANTI-AMERICAN RIOTS IN JAPAN I T is difficult for Americans to understand the Japanese view- point in politics, ethics or religion. Their history, their insti- tutions and their beliefs are radically different from those of western nations. They practically deify the Emperor, they justify prostitution and they glorify suicide. The Japanese are a proud and a.mbitious people, and naturally see no reason for accepting inequality with Europeans and Americans. They do not acknowledge that they are any more selfish or any less able to govern than are the Christian nations. Consequently the attitude of the allies at the Peace Conference toward Japanese ambitions in China, and the criticism of their rule in Korea has aroused Japanese ire. Riots have occurred in Japan which might have caused serious international complications.
A recent letter from an American resident in one of the Japanese ports, written on April 24, describes one of these riots as follows: "Yesterday about. 6 p. m. one of the foreign teachers oame over and said that word had come that there was a lecture advertised in flaming handbills and posters with part of the subject destruction of this .A.meriom School and of Ithe .A.mericansbecause America was acting as an enemy to Japan at the Peace Conference and in Chosen, in influencing the Koreans.
"Some young Japanese in the church offered to be present at the lecture and 'phone up to let us know how· things were going. We ladies put together a few little things that we could take with us if it seemed necessary to leave the house. The two maids came in and sat in the room with me and I told them Bible stories while we waited for news. The policeman who was sent up came on the rnn and seemed so troubled and the Japanese teachers and Christians seemed so much so that I thought there must be some danger.
"Last night there was another meeting and lecture in a Bud- 481 dhist temple on the same topic and some rough young fellows during- the evening came up and attempted to pass through the grounds, but the students called to them that it was not allowed and they could not come through. The fellows shouted "Why not T Maybe your school will burn." In the lecture the previous evening the lecturer had said "If the law did not interfere it would be a good thing to burn down the school, but as that is not permitted it would be the thing to boycott it and thus destroy it."
"There is a great deal of feeling, even among Christians, over the race equality question and jealousy of America because of the belief that she is trying to preempt the commercial advantages in China. The newspaper men stir up the people, though the government publishes corrections of mistaken ideas, both here and in Chosen where most absurd things are charged against the missionaries as a body."
Japan is in a transition stage and, like a young man who is just beginning to take his place in the world, is extremely sensitive. The country is crowded and feels the need for expansion, there is much social unrest and a growing party is opposed to militarism and imperialism. -The government is trying to suppress socialistic speeches and publications. Some of Japan's leaders, like Baron G~to, are acknowledging that in Christ and His principles alone is there hope for Japan. Non-Christian Japanese can never win Koreans or adopt an unselfish and righteous policy of government.
THE CRISIS IN PERSIA T HOSE who have read the uncensored letters of missionaries in Persia realize something of the unspeakable sufferings through which they and the Christians of various sects in that country have passed. Northwestern Persia has been the battle ground for wild and untamed Kurds, bloodthirsty Turks and r~lUgh Russian troops. At one time missionaries were called to protect Armenian and Assyrian Christians, and at another time the Moslems. Noone who has not been through it can picture the ferocity of the Kurds and the beastliness of Turks, driven by lust and the thirst for blood. The Christian villages have been ravaged, so that in many of them the people have been driven out or murdered, the houses are entirely destroyed, or have been left without doors or windows. The killing of hundreds of members of Protestant churches, including Christian pastors, have left the churohes practically without leadership. Four years and a half of warfare, pillage and rapine, have exhausted the strength of the missionaries, so that most of them have been obliged to return to the United States in order to regain their health. Those who remain are overburdened, and there is an appealing call for workers and
SIGNS OF THE
for money to reestablish the work, and to save the lives of the remaining Christians.
Conditions west of Lake Urumia are still very unsatisfactory. Three thousand Christians in one district were massacred and two thousand homes were destroyed. Five hundred were forced to become Moslems, at least outwardly, by threats of death. The Persian government is so weak and powerless to establish order that the Urumia missionaries have been obligfd to go to. Tabriz, and their work has been discontinued with the exception of three schools for refugees, carried on by the native workers. The buildings are damaged, some of them almost beyond repair. Presses are broken, type scattered and missionaries' homes looted, so that it will take hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair the damage. Many of the Americans in Persia believe that the only hope for the establishment of peace and security is intervention by the Allied forces. This will be welcomed by intelligent Persians, but with the establishment of peace there must be a strengthening of the forces that make for righteousness. Persians, Moslems and Christians alike recognize the missionaries as such a force. If the present appeal is not responded to promptly, it will mean that Christianity in Persia will be retarded at least twenty-five years.
PEACE AND UNITY IN INDIA A CHRISTIAN Memorial has been proposed for India which will represent the great sacrifice which the Christians of India have made on behalf of their God and country in the great war. At the same time it will embody another great ideal which has been brought prominently to the front during these years of suffering. Never before has Christian unity been so much to the front as during the war. Each month for the past two years large meetings have been held under the Bombay representative Council of Missions, at which thousands of Christians have gathered to pray for God's help. The meetings have been held in various churches and have been conducted by the ministers of several denominations. To give but one example-when the meeting was held in the Bombay Cathedral, it was conducted by a Church of England Bishop, a Methodist elder and a Presbyterian clergyman, a thing which would never have occurred five or six years ago.
This co-operation has been shown also amongst the chaplains of the different denominations. The Government recognizes only four bodies with chaplains, namely: Church of England, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and the United Board, this last comprising Methodist, Congregational and Baptist. This distinction has been with the Government only, for both on and off the field these men have worked together with the utmost brotherliness, and many a
wounded man testifies to the help he has received at the han4s of chaplains other than those of his own Churoh.
In view of all this what more fitting way of celebrating peace than for this spirit of unity to be put into some tangible and permanent form 1 The Lord Bishop of Bombay proposes that this be done by building a church in which all the denominations can come together and worship. He says, "Let us build the four arms of a great church in t.he shape of a cross, assigning one to each of the great religious divisions known to the army.. In the terminal wall of each church toward the center let there be an arch, designed so as to ultimately support a great dome over the central space. At present the four arches in the end walls of the four buildings would be built up, but they would remain ashng, as it were, to be opened up, and asking for the dome to be built which would complete the structure and make it one. Christians of any race starting from India and meeting their death in the war would be commemorated in these buildings, which would symbolize the united efforts of Christians in the war, and at the same time the unity of Christendom which has been advanced. Meanwhile each body of Christians would decorate its own building internally according to its customs, and keep it in order in its own way.
We do not wish a lifeless memorial of the immortal dead, but a peace that should act as an incentive to Christians not to rest till the unity of Christians is again visible.
To non-Christians nothing is more perplexing than the different denominations, and to the missionary it is very difficult to explain. Will India lead in this great movement for Christian unity? If she does, the missionaries will rejoice in this sign of the approach of the day when "all shall be one."
H. INGRAM, Bombay.
UNITING TO CARE FOR NEGLECTED INDIANS O UT of the 336,000 Indians in the United States (exclusive of Alaska) the Home Missions Council Committee on Indian Missions estimates that 47,569 are entirely neglected and unprovided with facilities for Christian education or an opportunity to hear the Gospel. Of these, 4,500 are in Arizona; 6,250 in California; 526 in Colorado; 500 in Idaho; 1,138 in Kansas; 2,000 in Michigan; 2,500 in Montana; 2,600 in Nevada; 4,500 in New Mexico; 300 in North Carolina; 800 in North Dakota; 1,000 in South Dakota; 6,800 in Oklahoma; 800 in Oregon; 700 in Texas; 1,600 in Utah; 2,200 in Washington and 2,800 in Wisconsin. In addition to these there are 100,000 Indians unclaimed as adherents to any Christian Church or mission.
The Home Missions Council has assigned responsibility for
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
these neglected Indians to various ev:angelical mlSSIon Boards. The immediate evangelization of these neglected Indians is an obligation resting upon the Ohristian Ohurch. There is comparatively little overlapping and the few instances reported are being investigated. It will be a testimony to the unity of Protestant Christians if the forces at work can be so divided as to care for all the unreached Indian tribes.
Of the 29,173 Indian children in schools only 8,560 are provided with any religious instruction. Over 16,000 Indian children of school age are entirely unprovided with school facilities.
Among other interesting and noteworthy facts reported is the fact that there are 225 Indian ordained Protestant ministers and 222 salaried Indian helpers. There are 460 organized Protestant churohes with a membership of 32,000; and 18,000 children in the Sunday-schools.
The Indian Oommittee of the Home Missions Council proposes a vigorous program of action to care for the neglected tribes and communities. This program includes (1) the starting of evangelical work among unreached Indians, (2) the appointment of ministers to give religious instrucHon in government schools and (3) the establishment of day schools for Indian children in neglected communities.
Here is a great opportunity for an example in Ohristian unity and cooperation, and the evangelical agencies are planning to remove any causes of friction and waste due to overlapping in the Indian mission fields. If they can also provide sufficient forces and funds to occupy the neglected fields, it will be a sign that Christians of varying names and creeds can work together harmoniously to wipe out the record of "a century of dishonor" due to the exploitation of these "wards of the nation."
OOOPERATION IN JEWISH MISSIONS A N Inter-Society Conference was held in Edinburgh, Scotland, April 22d to 24th to consider the present crisis among Jews and the need for closer cooperation among Ohristians in giving them the Gospel of Christ. The Oonference was held under the auspices of the Continuation Oommittee of the World Missionary Conference and twelve British societies having work among a Jews were each represented by delegates. The only representa- tive from North America was the Rev. S. B. Rohold, member of the Editorial Staff of the REVIEW.
Plans were discussed and adopted to promote comity and cooperation among workers for Jews, and should help materially to E!trengthen the work. These plans include arbitration in matters of dispute between missions; conferences on methods of work and
points of disagreement; arbitration where agreement cannot be reached otherwise; territorial division to avoid overlapping or disregard for the best interests of the work as a whole; cooperation in institutional work; agreement as to the employment and salaries of mission agents and the reception of church members and mission converts. There was also an urgent appeal for more missionaries to the Jews and for special schools to train them for the work.
The timeliness of these conferences is especially marked at the present day, when the're are unusual stirrings among the 12,000,000 Jews of the world. There is a crisis in Jewish affairs, due to the war, the renewed oppression and murder of Hebrews in Europe and the liberation of Palestine from Turkish rule. The vast bulk of Jews in Europe are sunk in deepest poverty and have known nothing from their neighbors but hatred and abuse. Many of them have nevertheless risen to positions of wealth and influence. Their spiritual state is worse than their physical and social condition. While many Jews are of noble character they are still blind to the Light of the World and attribute their unfortunate condition to Christian hatred rather than to their own unbelief. They do not know their own Old Testament,and their religion is largely legalistic formalism and traditional superstitition. Many of them have become atheists, and religion, even with the orthodox Jews, has generally become divorced from morality. Most of them have ceased to look for a Messiah and consequently have no hope beyond this life.
Nevertheless the .Jews are still God's people and heirs to His promises. Their hope is not in Zionism but in Jesus Christ. Many Jews have come to see this and have become true Christians in faith and practice. The late Professor Nicol estimated that during the nineteenth century between 250,000 and 300,000 Jews united with Christian churches. This is a larger proportion than the converts from any other non-Christian faith. It requires every method of opposition and intimidation on the part of Jews-family, influence, persecution, boyootting, etc.-to prevent young Hebrews from turning to Christ.
Surely it behooves Christians to pray and work more earnestly for the conversion of God's Chosen People through whom we received the Old and New Testaments and Christ Himself. Christian agencies should work unitedly to give the Gospel to the Jews, and a demand should be made that civil and political disabilities be removed from Hebrews in. Europe.
® ~ E?auDrI:T:..ORaIcAL…C.OMUwMuwE:iN.T~.·U
CHURCH UNION, REAL AND ARTIFICIAL U NIONS and reunions are the order of the day. Not only are there Interchurch Movements in the United 'States and Canada, but there are movements to unite Christians on a basis of faith regardless of denominations, and there are larger plans for the ultimate union of all Christendom. Bishop Charles P. Anderson, Bishop Brent and Bishop R. H. Weller of the Protestant Episcopal Church went to Europe about March first to make plans for a conference in which the Greek, Roman and Protestant churches of the world would discuss matters on which they agree and disagree. They went to Italy to call on the Pope-the first time since the reign of Henry VIII when Protestant bishops have officially called upon the Pope.
The conference in Italy was the outcome of a General Church Conference in Cincinnati in 1910, where plans were laid for a conference of all Christian Churches. But "Can two walk together except they agree?" Dr. James M. Gray, of Chicago, warns us that Biblical Prophecies predict a league of nations whose head is a secular despot, but side by side wi~h him is an ecclesiastical head who exercises his authority.
There is always danger in wide spread movements for union among Christians who differ, that. conviction will be replaced by compromifre, and thus character will be weakened and standards. as to truth and righteousness will be lowered. Union must not be at the expense of spiritual truth and power.
No Christian believes in bigotry which is born of ignorance and narrowness, nor do those who have the Spirit of Christ sanction sectarian divisions and bitterness. The essential foundation of Christianity is loyalty to Jesus Christ and His standards as revealed in the Word of God. Any other basis for unity is quicksand. There is, however, room on the One Foundation for differing types of structure and differing methods of work. There may be differences of interpretation, but the same spirit, and differences of administration under the leadership of the same Lord. One group may prefer government by bishops and another by representative assembly or a democratic "town-meeting;" some may interpret baptism to mean immersion, while others are convinced that it is a rite which requires less water. The essential element .of faith is 487
the conviction that Christ is the only Way of life and His Word is the infallible guide. Each one of the great denominations has contributed something to the 'understanding of Christian truth, and God has honored each one of the great evangelical bodies with the evidence of His presence and' power. If God has accepted the Baptists, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Congregationalists, the Disciples, the Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the Moravians, the United Brethren and others as part of His Great Body, why should one part claim to enjoy His especial and exclusive sanction 1 Many sects were born in revivals and came into being because some branch of Christians had lost sight of important truth or had become a dead member of the body of Christ. The call today is not for organic church union, especially with non-evangelical bodies, or even for a united interpretation of Christian truth; but the great need is for closer, more vital union with Christ, the Lord, and a greater separation between the Christian and the world. Even the desire for larger results in church membership is not the most commendable ambition. The eternal need is for eternal life,-the life in a grain of mustard seed is more powerful and transforming than the mass of weight in a dead tree or a lifeless machine. One Spirit-filled man will do more to turn the world upside down than a regiment of nominal Christians.
The dangers to be avoided in church union and cooperative movements are the dangers that come from power without divine control, the danger of the energy of the flesh without energy of the Spirit, the danger of emulation of the world in attempting a great program because it is great in size, and the danger of mistaking applause of the world for approval of God. Nor must we mistake the by-products of Christianity for Christianity itself; the regeneration of society cannot be secured without the regeneration of the individual. Reform movements are good, but they may hinder the work of Christ if they cover up the putrefaction caused by sin. The gifts of large sums of money to the work of the Church may be a curse instead of a blessing if these engender self-complacency and lead men to depend on gold rather than on God. Sin-disease is not a skin-disease, and apart from God men are lost. The only remedy is new life imparted by Christ Jes!Us, the Great Physician of souls.
True Christian union must be vitalized by the Holy Spirit. Christians cannot afford to ignore each other or to antagonize one another. They must maintain the spirit of love in the bond of peace, so that they may unite effectively in their opposition to the enemies of God.
Harmony and cooperation among Christians'does not depend on agreement in non-essentials, but upon recognition of the great essentials that "one is our Master, even Christ," and that "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us' from all sin."
MOSL:mMS AND RELIGIOUS SUSCEPTIBILITIES
T HE Governor of Bengal has recently declared "forfeited to his Majesty all copies, wherever found, of a book entitled 'Islam, a Challenge to the Faith,' by Samuel M. Zwemer and all copies of all other documents containing the matter of the said book, on the ground that the said book contains matter which is calculated to wound the religious susceptibilities of Moslems."
No charge whatever is made to indicate any untruthfulness in the volume referred to, and there is no accusation of a lack of charitableness or fairmindedness. The only ground for putting Dr. Zwemer's excellent work on the "indexexpurgitorius" is that the Moslems do not like it. On the same ground they might object to criticisms of their slavery, polygamy and their "Holy wars" and to British laws and regulations in Egypt and India. Moslems are very sensitive to some things.
The British Government does not, however, have any solicitude for the relLgious susceptibilities of Christians. "The Islamic Review," published in Woking. England, recently printed a blasphemous article relating to the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, but since no political disturbanoe is likely to result no official objection is made. A venomous tract was recently issued by Bengal Moslems entitled "Is Jesus Sinless", but the Governor representing a Christian Government makes no objection to these false and misleading representations of Christianity and its Founder. On the other hand, the publication of the truth about the false claims of Mohammed and the errors of Islam is forbidden.
All this is additional evidence of the fact that huinangovernments as such are not Christian, though they may be Moslem or Buddhist or Hindu. They are concerned, not so much about truth or falsehood, as about the effects of an act or statement on the people they govern. A Christian and truthful "Life of Mohammed" may be put under the ban because ignorant Moslems object to the statements, while a Moslem and distorted "Life of Christ" may be published freely in the same land because Christians are intelligent enough to know that it is false, and are selfrestrained enough not to cause a political disturbance.
Might not both Christians and Moslems be more solicitous for the truth and more anxious to avoid "wounding the susceptibilties" of God who is grieved at unrighteousness and unloveliness in character, word and deed T May not even the most upright governments overstep their authority and be over solicitous about the feelings of men who suppress truth and foster error, while the gov~rnments seek to please men with more eagerness than they seek to please God. Suppose that Jesus Christ Himself had governed His utterances according to the religious susceptibilities of 489
the Jews. Fortunately the Roman Government was not as fearful as the British Government. It put down disorder while it permitted testimony to the truth.
QUESTIONABLE CHURCH FINANCING SHALL money be extracted from people's pockets for God's work by means of tempting bait or threats of disaster' Shall those who profess to be followers of Him who gave His life for them, be coaxed and tempted by fairs, suppers, dances and minstrels to support His Church and the work of His Kingdom 1 Yet here is the financial report of a church for 1918.
RECEIPTS Pew rents and monthly collections ………………………………. $ 2,777.20 Special offerings and collections.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,038.67 Sales at the church fairs etc……………… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,673.48 Card parties, minstrels etc………………………………………. 1,422.64 Total for local church expenses…………………………………. $17,911.99 Gifts for charity and missions…………………………………… 266.55 EXPENDITURES For charity and missions……………………………………….. 266.55 For new church……………………………………………….. 36,718.61 F or clergy and other expenses……. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,639.75 Is it any wonder that the church was obliged to borrow $20,- 000 to provide for the deficit 1 God's people should not be coerced or coaxed into giving, but should be trained to understand and experience the joys and responsibilities of stewardship. We must begin with the children at a very early age. Most of them are trained-if at all-to take, not their own, but their parents' money. They learn to spend ten cents for candy or fifteen cents for a moving picture show, or a dollar for toys, which in the same week they ask for an extra "penny" for church or Sunday-school. They never learn proportionate giving or the meaning of sacrifice. There can be no joy in doling out money to God, in treating Him as a beggar or His house as a bazaar, but there is joy in helping His needy children and in the sense of partnership in His work, even giving to the point of sacrifice. A young boy of six said to his father one night: "Father, this is the happiest day of my life." ·When pressed for the reason he told of a poor boy whom he had made happy by the gift of a bright new ten cent piece which he had received that day. Since that experience the lad has grown to manhood and has continued to experience the joy of "hilarious giving. " New joy and stimulus will come to the followers of the Master, who obey His instructions to give as freely as they have received.
'rIlE O L D AND 'l'1-IE NEW IN
Ancient and Modern styles in transportati on- th e birch bark canoe and the motor boat. The owner of the houseboat brought hi s chil dren from th e l nnoko region, about 200 m ile s, to be baptised Signs of Progress in Alaska The Indians of Alaska, 'l'wenty-five Years Ago and Now BY REV_ JOHN w. CHAPMAN, ANVIK, ALASKA Missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church T HE aboriginal population of Alaska has been roughly de- nominated by the census of 1910 as Indian and Eskimo, the Aleuts being regarded as an offshoot of the Eskimo. If we were to start at the northeastern corner of Alaska, and, traveling westw-ard, keep to the shore line of the entire norther~ and western coast, past the mouths of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, and round the Alaskan Peninsula, turning eastward towards Kodiak Island, we would everywhere encounter the Eskimo element nntil we reached the neighborhood of Mt. St. Elias. From there southward until we reach British territory, we would be among the coast Indians; Haidas, Tlingits, Tsimpshians and other tribes.
These Indians of South Eastern Alaska are widely known on 491
account of their carvings, totem poles, war canoes and other strik- ing products of native ingenuity. They form a different group, by language and culture, from the Indians of the vast interior of Alaska, who alone are considered in the present article.
The tribes of the interior are known variously as the Tinneh, Dene or Ten 'a. They have no totem poles, almost no carvings, in language and culture are very different from the Eskimos, and in art expression are distinctly their inferiors. Thcir language stock known as the Athapascan is more widely diffused than any other native language stock in North America. It is in use over the greater part of the interior of Alaska and Oanada, and appears as far south as the Mexican border, among the Apache and other tribes, as well as in Oalifornia.The Tinneh thinly scattered over a vast area, live entirely along the great water courses. In 1910 according to the census report, they numbered 3,916.
Dr. Dall has given us an account of the Tinneh of the Lower Yukon, as he knew them soon after the purchase of the Territory by the United States. At that time caribou and moose were abun- dant, even to the regions where the Indians of the Yukon impinge upon the Eskimos of the coast. Piamute, some three hundred miles from the coast, is the Eskimo village farthest inland on the Yukon river. Some thirty miles farther up, one comes upon the first of the Indian villages, formerly called Koserefsky, but now known as Holy Oross. Dall tells of the caches .near Koserefsky, groaning with caribou and moose meat, as well as with dried salmon. He may have added that the country abounds in ducks, geese, cranes, swans, grouse and rabbits, and that cranberries, raspberries and red and black currants are everywhere in profusion; also, that a summer hardly ever passes without a few bears being killed.
At the period of the Klondike excitement, speaking generally, conditions had not greatly changed. The Indians of the Upper River lived in tents in the winter, following the moose and caribou and coming down to the rivers in summer, to fish. Those of the lower river lived in a less sanitary way, in dugouts, indescribably filthy and covered with ve~n, and chewed dry fish until their teeth were ground down to an even line at the gums. Both sexes were much out of doors in the winter, the men hunting and the women snaring rabbits and grouse; otherwise it is hard to see . how they could have survived.
Tuberculosis was prevalent among them thirty years ago, if the ordinary indications of that affiiction are to be taken as evi- dence. It is prevalent now; but the conditions conducive to its propagation and diffusion, though bad enough, are better than they were. There is less overcrowding; and the old-time under- ground shacks have been replaced by log cabins. In nearly every instance the cabins are provided with a ventilator, and while there
SIGNS OF PROGRESS IN ALASKA
is often much that is offensive, conditions in the worst of them are better than in the best of twenty years ago, and some are irreproachably neat.
RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE INDIANS Most of the Indians of the interior of Alaska are now nomi- nally Christians, but to say that they have made a radical depar- ture from their old beliefs and practices would perhaps be stretching the truth. In their native state, their religion was the same system of animism that is all but universal among aboriginal tribes. It is the root from which spring such observances as ancestor worship, cannibalism, head hunting, libations and sacrifices to the dead, the immolation of slaves and horses at the burial of warriors, suttee, and everywhere the glorification of the medicine man under one name or another."
The culture of the natives in contact with the Eskimo is more affected by the observances of the latter than that of the groups farther north, at Nulato, Tanana, Fort Yukon and elsewhere; but all observe the feasts for the dead, when presents of food and clothing are made to living representatives of the deceased, with the idea that the latter receiv:e a corresponding benefit. All, too, have their potlatches, where expensive presents are made to invited guests. Whole compmnities are included in the invitation, with the expectation of a return invitation to even the score. There is much formality about these affairs. It is a style of entertainment that combines the advantages of social intercourse–a welcome variation to the monotony of a long winter-with the excitement of a gambling game, and too often with the disappointment of one. Whoever else loses, the medicine men aTe winners.
With the lower river people there is a feast in mid-winter for propitiating the spirits of animals, and even of inanimate things, that success may attend the hunting and the other business of the coming season; and there is· a "feast of masks" in early spring, which may have the character of a thanksgiving. It may on the other hand, be hardly more than a joyous festival, affording an opportunity for the exercise of much ingenuity and for the expression of the artistic faculty that resides, in some form, in every people. This feast likewise enhances the prestige of the medicine men.
All these feasts have been observed with greater or less regularity up to the present time; but there are indications that they are losing their hold. . Most of them were the expression of an unaffected belief in things that the people can no longer continue to hold; and there are signs of revolt on the part of the *A succinct account of this is given in Dr. Tylor's 'Trimitive Culture," and it may be traced through a dozen volumes of Dr. Frazer's ''"The Golden Bough.1I
THE OLD STYI,E HOUSE IN ALASKA . An old fashioned Kashime. or Council H ouse, at Shazelnk. These buildings served for all gath~ enngs-aJso as work shops, guest hou ses ( fo r men) and sweat houses. T h ey -ace falling lnto d isuse; or undergoing s uch modifications resulting from the use of stoves. as makes ODe like this somethin& of a rarity.
younger generation who, as wage earners, feel the burden of their maintenance. No system organized and maintained under the direction of the medicine men could be anything else than oppressive. The system was based upon fear of occult powers, and it was hedged about with a multiplici.ty of taboos. There was constant appeal to "the traditions of the elders." For many years there was an undercurrent of resistance to the influence of the missions and the schools, from an instinctive feeling that it was hostile to the old institutions. This has broken down to a great extent. One reason for this relates tp the treatment of disease. The missionary or the school teacher has, usually, a more or less intelligent apprehension of the principles of medical practice : less, that is, than the regular physician, but far more than the native medicine man. This is quickly apprehended and the prestige of the latter is undermined. When the medicine men themselves come for treatment they can hardly hope to maintain' their influence unimpaired.
Again, the taboos break down. For example: There is an annual run of lampreys, late in the fall.' The catch, however, is uncertain; and doubtless for this reason there were a great many restrictions regarding the methods of taking them. No one whQ
19191 SIGNS OF PROGRESS IN ALASKA
A NEW STYLE HOUSE IN ALASKA bu1id:~~e~r~a~:;o~~~ f~~ P!Of:~~:~~: :~d f:e~i~ _~~ :l;:y~i:~oa~, P:::::s~hea!u!~~~' fis~l~gthhe:d been dODe before the 5now came. . The man wO,rked single handed. These removals are very frequent.
had lost a relative during the previous year was allowed to go upon the ice. Iron was not to be used upon any of the implements employed in the fishing. Young women were not allowed upon the ice. It was not permitted to make shavings on the ice, in . the probable direction of the approaching run. All these restrictions are now disregarded. There is an ·occasional murmur from some. exponent of the old school; but it produces no effect, and the younger men open the fishing holes with the miner's pick with a total indifference to the supposed disastrous results that may ensue.
There is a notion that the Indian is naturally reverent. It would be quite as true to say that he is naturally superstitious or to say that he is naturillly deceitful or ' lascivious. He is naturally very much like the white man under similar circumstances. The problems of the missionary in Alaska are not essen-. tiaIly very different from those of the pastor in the home church.
The chief difficulty of the missionary who does not expect to compromise his religion, is to get into, sympathetic cooperation with the people for the welfare of the whole. This is no more difficult, however, in Alaska than in New York.
~ RECORD OF THIRTY YEARS PROGRESS The first permanent mis- sion founded among the Indians of the Yukon val- ley by representatives of any society in the UnUed States was opened at An- vik, on the lower Yukon, in 1887, by missionaries of the Protestant Epis- copal Church. A recon- naisance had· been made the previous year by rep"
resentatives of the Ro- man Catholic Church, and the same site had been selected for begin- ning operations. In the following year, 1888, they established a permanent mission at Koserefsky, forty miles below Anvik.
This mission has grown into a flourishing estab- AN OLD TIME INDIAN OF ANVIK lishm~nt, with ru farm, cattle and horses, a staff of about a dozen missionaries and a boarding school reporting one hundred and four pupils in 1916.
The missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church have been extended to the Tanana and Koyukuk rivers. Doubtles,s the ma- jority of the Tinneh in the valley of the Yukon and its tributaries acknowledge this Church and look to it for its ministrations. It maintains a boarding school at Anvik and one at Nenana, on the Tanana river, with a total of fifty pupils. It has, also, a large hospital at Fort Yukon and another at Tanana. It maintains day schools at Anvik, at three points on the Tanana and at the mission on the Koyukuk.
The Russian Church established a mission at a point some eighty miles below the first of the Illdian villages met as one as- c('..nds the Yukon. Some of their missionaries became familiar with the Eskimo language, but their work among the Indians was done by means of interpreters. The Russian missionaries were held in reverence by the Tinneh, who accepted their baptism; and had their initial advantage been followed by a vigorous effort to enlighten and educate their converts, the history of Christianity
1919J SIGNS OF PROGRESS IN ALASKA
in the Yukon vahey might have been different. But their influ- ence has declined, and there is no indication that they expect to undertake serious work among the Yukon Tinneh. English has entirely supplanted the Russian language as a medium of communication.
In 1887, the missionaries of the Church of England had already made a deep impression upon the Tinneh of the Upper Yukon. They had taught the na- tives on the Porcupine and at Fort Yukon, and had established a station as far down the river at Tanana. This was taken over by the representatives of the Episcopal Church in the United A YOUNG INDIAN GIRL, WITH NUBILE ORNAMENTS-ANVIK States, sQon after their entrance into the field.
The Tinneh of the Yukon are Christians in name, at least.
They desire baptism for their children and have definite views as to their religious affiliations.
There are encouraging instances of devotion on the part of in- dividuals. There are discouraging instances of unfaithfulness. But .evidences of widespread and pro- found influence of the Spirit are sadly wanting. One hears of whole communities having been debauched, and o~ the efforts of those who would have befriended them having been rendered futile.
On the other hand, other commun- ities during the trying period of adjustment, have maintained their "AN OLD INDIAN WOMAN self-respect and their community A remarkable Christian Indian. At her death life has been characterized by in 1918, she was "the oldest inhabitant, having sobriety and industry. reached the age of 78·79 years. She was Qur first communicant at Anvik
REASONS FOR ENCOURAGEMENT Looking to the future, there are some grounds for a hODe that it will be brighter that the past. That a new country like Alaska should have passed a stringent liquor law, reveals a state of public sentiment that is a cause for thanksgiving. Again, the administration of justice through the medium of the courts, and ~he interests of the judiciary in the progress of the native races gives the native a new incentive to pursue higher standards. Signs are not wanting that this kindly interest is appreciated. All over Alaska the formation of local native councils has begun and is making progress. These councils may be able to act only in an advisory capacity; but they exercise a great deal of influence, nevertheless. – They give tone to local sentiment and furnish an education in the art of self-government. Instances are not lacking where members of a local council have called their own relatives to account for practices that were harmful to the community. The friendly cooperation between the natives and the white population, that has been brought about through these councils, promises to become one of the most beneficial and far reaching means of helpfulness that has been brought to light. It involves self-help, effort and sacrifice; and where these are present success is by no means a vain expectation.
A word in conclusion, as to the relation of the American Government to the Indians of Alaska.
Interference with the old manner of life of the Indian is inevitable, but two or three things are a source of confusion to the Indian mind. He is required, by the existing law, to procure a marriage license before he is permitted to marry. As things are with us, this involves a winter journey of two hundred miles for both parties and no favors from the weather, as one of the amenities of the courtship. Are we trying to put a premium on immorality'
Game laws in some fonn are necessary; but is a blanket law for the whole of Alaska necessary, and might not the Indian himself properly be consulted as an authority as to its necessity in his own 10caiityT He knows as much about local conditions as anyone else, and more than the men who make the laws. The native councils might very well be permitted to have something to say about such a matter. Again, lax or partial administration of the game laws must have the effect of making the Indian contemptuous and tricky.
SOMJ;; OF THE; CHILDRJ,;N OF ALL NATIONS-A CLAIM ON CHRISTIAN AMJ;;lUCA
A Church of All Nations THE STORY OF THE MORGAN MEMORIAL IN BOSTON BY REV. E. J. HELMS, BOSTON, MASS.
T HE Rev. Henry Morgan, an inde.pendent Methodist preacher, founded the Morgan Chapel some sixty years ago. While Mr. Morgan was converted at a Methodist altar and for the most part believed in Methodist theology and discipline, in two particulars he differed so radically that he could not be received into the New :BJngland Oonference of the Methodist Episcopal Ohurch. First, Mr. Morgan insisted on immersing all his converts, and second, he insisted on staying in one charge as long as he pleased. He was therefore ordained an independent Methodist preacher. .He felt called to the poor and sinful of the city. When the Church of Disciples, of which Dr. James Freeman Clarke was pastor, was leaving the south end of Boston because of the incoming of a lower type of citizens, Mr. Morgan, with the help of Governor Clafiin, purchased the old place of worship on Indiana Place and sought to stem the tides of sin. Other churches and helpful institutions moved away, and the coinmunity became the notorious red light district of the south end.
Mr. Morgan died, but his church could not be moved, for in his will he had left it to a Unitarian Board of trustees on condition that they should maintain the work in charge of a Methodist preacher of the New England Conference. In case Unitarians· or 499
Methodists should fail, the property was to revert to the Boston Y. M. C. A. For more than a quarter of a century religious services of the conventional order were carried on iu the building, but without any visible results.
More than twenty years ago a new pastor was put in charge of the work and came with a burning desire to save the community. For ten years his chief contest was with organized vice. In time, righteousness won and into the houses where licentiousness and gambling had reigned there came multitudes of poor foreigners.
To deal with the abounding childhood a children's settlement was organized, with day nursery, kindergarten, industrial schools, music s(lhool, gymnasium and many social and educational clubs and classes. Work for children could be carried on in English, but to reach the adult community other languages must be used. A survey of the community showed that over 93% were foreigners. Twenty-eight nationalities were registered in the children's settlemerit. The leading people were Russians, Italians, Syrians, Greeks, Negroes and Irish.
Sixteen years ago the old chapel had become unsafe and the Unitarian trustees erected a new building, which was soon overfull with many activities. The expense of the work was greater and the character of the industrial mission was not such as the Unitarian trustees cared to continue, so that they allowed the property to be sold under the mortgage and the trust was brought to an end.
A new Board of trustees was formed under the Methodist Episcopal Church, the property was taken over and soon freed from debt. The progress during the past ten years has been remarkable. The children's settlement has been greatly enlarged and now ministers to more than 1200 children weekly. The industrial work occupies two large buildings containing seven floors with 8000 square feet on a floor in addition to several smaller buildings. About 4000 destitute persons are given work every year and those capable are taught trades. They also make over discarded shoes, furniture, clothing, etc., contributed by the public. Last year these poor folks were paid over $75,000. in wages. AU come asking for work. This department has been adopted by the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Other great cities of the world are to have Goodwill Industries on this order established in their midst. Missionaries in Chiria, Korea, India and South America are also asking for similar enterprises.
Three years ago the pastor was allowed to carry out a long cherished plan for rescue work. The plan grew out of years of experience with the outcasts of society. As a .memorial to the late Sheriff Seavey, his sister, Mrs. David Floyd, has made it
THE PEOPLE OF ALL NATIONS LIVE IN BO
KEEPING THE CHILREN OFF THE STRE:ET AND 'rRAINING THEM FOR LIFE SOl A COMMUNITY MJ<;J<;TING OF ALl:, NATIONS-OUTSIDE THE CHURCH S02 TEACHING THE BOYS OF ALL NATIONS '1'0 BE USEFUL CI'l'IZENS S03
possible to erect a seven story building known as the Fred H. Seavey Seminary Settlement. On the two upper floors married students of the Boston University School of Theology live with their families. Three floors below are used to lodge rescued men in different grades of development. A library and social room occupies the second floor, and a dining room is on the first floor. In the Mission Hall in the basement Gospel meetings are held every night.
In charge of this work there is a carefully selected staff. A ·social secretary gives an understanding welcome to the "downand-outer. " He was a bartender in Boston four years ago. He is assisted by an industrial director who finds work for unfortunates and places them at the right jobs. The resident physician examines and prescribes for every man; a dentist looks after the teeth .and a psychologist gives to each one before promotion a careful test, such as the government has been giving to its officers during the war. A minister from the Church of All Nations also is on the staff at Seavey Settlement, and no man can be there long without coming into helpful contact with every one of the staff. The resuits are phenomenal.
Last s.ummer the new $200,000" Church of All Nations" was completed and dedicated. It is a beautiful Gothic structure on Shawmut Avenue. The exterior front contains the identical stones used in the Second Unitarian Church of Boston when Ralph Waldo Emerson was its pastor. When that structure was being demolished on Copley Square an admirer of the English Gothic front purchased it, had every stone marked and stored until the Church -of All Nations was built.
The interior is even more beautiful than the exterior. Every part of the auditorium speaks of worship, and appeals to the religious instincts of the people who live in the neighborhood. Pastors who use the various. tongues are being installed to work among their people. In the chapels, classes are held during the week for groups who are taught English and are trained for American citizenship. All join the one democratic Christian "Church of ~tll Nations." Two services are held in English for ,all who can understand. Holy Communion is observed every Sunday morning.
The results are most encouraging and the. work is filling a manifest need. Its ministry is constantly sought by the community for spiritual as well as for material and social needs. It seeks to make American democracy Christian.
Tithing Worth While?
BY HARVEY REEVES CALKINS, NEW YORK CITY Editorial Director of the Stewardship Movement in the Methodist Episcopal Church I s worship worth while' Does loyalty pay? And fellowship, and character, and honor, have they abiding value 7 Slowly, very slowly, the principle of the tithe is emerging out of the mental mist that has obscured it. Without question this anciently designated portion is being reinstated in the working program of the Kingdom, from which it was severed in past centuries by a legalistic interpretation. But, before the tithe can come back in its primal simplicity azid strength, it must be freed from a modern incubus that has been laid upon it-that it is "God's financial plan for maintaining His Kingdom."
Granite is an enduring foundation, but it makes an indifferent grindstone. When the foundation principle of the tithe is pressed into a financial campaign, in order to turn money into depleted church treasuries, or provide for a missionary budget, it is an act of violence against the whole structure of Christian doctrine. Nevertheless, in spite of petty notions concerning it, the tithe still abides. When a minister preaches the tithe for the sake of the budget he has cheapened a. great message. It is for this reason that many ministers will not preach the tithe at all, and many laymen will not accept it. Even truth, when proclaimed for revenue, awakens suspidon.
First of all, our view-point must be Christian. Jesus Christ did not teach merely the words of a Book; He taught the heart and spirit of things hidden in the depths of the Book. Hate in the heart is murder; a lewd look is adultery; love is the fulfilling of the law. Such teaching gets into the marrow of things. Christian doctrine is not confined to the letter, it is the Spirit that gives life. Therefore when an intelligent Christian speaks of "the law of the Lord," he means that hidden but vital element of truth which proceeds from the nature of God Himself. The form of it may be ex- pressed in words, but not the living heart of it. For this there is no speech nor language; its voice cannot be heard.
Whatever may have been the Old Testament requirements concerning the tithe of Jehovah, and whatever may be the New Testament suggestions concerning this same separated portion, we are to seek with knowledge to discern the wide meaning of it all. If the tithe is to have any place in Christian propaganda there must be found for it spiritual depth and permanency.
To set apart and administer a tenth of one's income, as an acknowledgment of God's ownership, is fitting. It is God's "way"
505
and to the intelligent Christian this is final. The legalist looks for a statute, the verbalist runs his references, but the Christian, with whom is the mind of the Master, seeks a principle of life.
The principle of the tithe springs from two root theses in re- ligion and ethics and from a single corollary in historic criticism.
1. The Fact of Divine Personality. Divine ownership, in which the whole program of Christian stewardship has its rise, in meaningless apart from divine Personality. Pagan and semi- pagan theories, in place of God, crowd impudentlY-"universal reason," "natural law," "cosmic force," "divine principle," and . the rest. But Christian thinking is not to be caught in a Stoic or pagan interpretation of God-"the Supreme Pers~:m in a world of persons."
2. The Nature of Property. Property is value related to per- sonality; that is what makes it "property." Human dominion, which may be called derived ownership, postulates human personal- ity. In a high and exalted sense, as between God and man, the nature of property remains unchanged because the basis of it reo mains unchanged. It inheres in the fact of divine personality. In the Stoic, or Greek conception, which disastrously has influenced Christian ethics, property is a human institution, because in the Stoic conception Deity is conceived in terms of impersonality, and "ownership" is an impossible postulate. Christian stew- ardship insists that the Christian basiE of property, divine owner- ship, shall be made the practical basis of a Christian program. Only thus shall be erected social justice and human brotherhood.
3. The Corollary of the Separated Portion. God's ownership must be acknowledged. How~ In any way that the sovereign Owner shall determine. The simplest way and easiest for the "other person" to understand-the way God ordained ages ago- is for the Owner to designate a certain portion of the possession and say, "Do not touch this, it is intended for a special purpose." The reason is perfectly apparent. Unless the dominion of the Owner constantly is kept in mind, the "other person" will confuse possession with dominion. The doorway of the mind constantly must be guarded.
The corollary of the separated portion is illustrated perfectly in the old Eden story. The separated portion, the portion named by God, is the Father's memory token to safeguard the man whom He has made. . To confuse possession with dominion is to obscure the fact of divine ownership, and thus to become unaware of the divine Personality. The fogs and mists of paganism-thinking of Deity in terms of impersonality, with idolatry as its inevitable accompaniment-will close round the spirit created for comrade- ship with God. But the Father safeguards his child. It is not the value held, it is the value withheld, that challenges attention
19191 IS TITHING WORTH WHILE?
and proclaims ownership. Every day, conscious of the portion that he may not· touch, the man remembers God the Owner of all– until, one day, he abused his trust and separated himself from the heavenly communion. The old Eden story is majestic and changeless in ethical and religious teaching!
The corollary of the separated portion is illustrated further by the fact that the tenth of income, as a uniform portion to be set apart for religious use, was recognized by several of the ancient nations and suggests a common tradition. The tithe of Jehovah definitely was commanded at the beginning of the Jewish nation and was observed throughout the history of the chosen people.
Now, in naming the tenth, there is no suggestion of legalism, that "eternal triangle" (the law, the curse, the blessing), which always is the same hard and pagan thing no matter whether it is found in a Hindu temple, or a Mohammedan mosque, or a Christian church. "With freedom did Christ set us free." No compulsion, as of the law, shall entangle us again in a yoke of bondage. Nevertheless, while a Christian must be free, he is not at liberty to look away from reasonable evidence.
The case is this: A Christian man holds in possession certain values which he recognizes to be the Lord's. To him Deity is not a philosophic conception but is the personal and living God. He desires to acknowledge God's ownership and is fmniliar with the principle of the separated portion. As to the amount which he shall separate he asks with open mind, "What amount would be fitting 1" The history of Israel enables him to set down certain facts that bear upon his inquiry; Because Christian intelligence seeks to discern the loving desire of our Father, and Christian loyalty leaps to perform it, the tithe emerges as the basis of his acknowledgment and the beginning of his stewardship. This is the realm of high spirtual ethics.
Two conclusions seem unavoidable. First, if a man omits acknowledgment of the divine mvnership, except in such amount as may sult his present convenience, he has committed the sin of presumption and is entitled to the stinging rebuke of the prophet, "Will a man rob God1"
Second, if, in the face of God's revealed will and of voluminous human testimony, a man insists that he has received special illumination to set apart some other portion, rather than a tenth, he is fairly entitled to ask himself if he be not self-deceived.
In the case of those kingly s'Ouls who say, "I should give a fifth of my income, or a half; a tenth does not represent my ability to give"-they simply have confused acknowledgment with steward~ ship. The former is an obligation of honor, the latter is a program of partnership. If a man is poor in substance, though rich in faithfulness, the living Lord will make up to him whatsoever he
shall lack. Let him therefore pay his tenth ungrudgingly and thus humbly challenge the faithfulness of God. If a man's material wealth increases, a tenth still is his acknowledgment; after this is rep.dered, let his gifts be according to his partnership. But let poor and rich together acknowledge the sovel'eignty of their cammon Lord.
In the furtherance of the Christian Stewardship Movement, it is possible that enthusiastic tithers may have pressed Old and New Testament teachings farther than the Scriptures warrant. Surely such enthusiasm may be treated with indulgence, especially when we remember the abysmal indifference against which stewardship principles must make heudway. No demand is made concerning the separated portion, except this: That the Christian shall, after study and prayer, have reasonable assurance in his own mind that the portion set apart as acknowledgment is one that is pleasing unto God.
It is here that the tithe "bites," as Robert Speer trenchantly remarks, and the preaching of it compels attention and sometimes disquiet. The. non-tither is required to state clearly to his own mind his reason for withholding the portion definitely recognized to have been the will of God in other centuries and suggestive of our Father's desire for His children. It will not do to beg the question and say, "Some men can give much more," and "Some ought not to give so much," for this is not a question of "free will offering" or beneficence but of acknowledgment.
At bottom the difficulty is this: most of us, though we talk largely of "democracy," have not yet learned the democratic principle of team-work under majority rules. We carry our protestant insistence on private judgment to an autocratic and destructive conclusion. We insist on private signals though we spoil the game J But to men who are accustomed to take counsel, and who study God's dealings with other men "by way of example," it comes as a compulsion of Christian loyalty to set apart the portion which they are sure God did name until they are very sure that God has named for them another.
The Church has no call to separate a man from his money. To attempt it under whatsoever name of human betterment, or in furtherance ·of any so-called "financial plan," is to commit violence against a righteous human instinct, the instinct of possession. But the Church has a call to set forth the profound and intimate relation which exists between a man and his money. That relation constitutes a trust. The terms of the trust already are established and the trust itself is defined and developed in the Christian law of stewardship. The rendering of the tithe is the acknowledgment of the trust and the beginning of its administration.
Is tithing worth while? If the foregoing paragraphs are cor-
IS TITHING WORTH WHILE?
rect in 'principle and clear in statement, then it is superfluous to revert to the question which stands as a caption at the head of this article. The tithe will take care of the Kingdom-that is plain, although church support is not the basis on which the tithe is builded. The tithe is one hundred per cent efficiency-that has been demonstrated, times over, although efficiency is not the keyword of this life-giving program of the Lord. Tithing is "worth while "-not the results of it, but tithing itself-as worship and honor, and loyalty are worth while.
Christian testimony has established two facts of general experience-tithing, as' a financial plan, brings personal prosperity and church efficiency. But these facts of experience should not be over-stressed. Habits of thrift, care and accuracy, encouraged by tithing, would tend to produce these results, in any case, without claiming for the tithe a special or divine sanction. It does not require mathematical genius to "cipher" the sum total that would be brought into the Kingdom if OhriJstian people would set apart a tenth for this purpose-the average of income in America is known, and church members have their equitable share.
It is quite possible to produce an argument that tithing is worth while purely as a financial expedient. Unhappily such arguments frequently present the tithe as a painted jack-in-the-box, quoting Scripture, in order to cajole unintelligent and unwilling church members into supporting the Kingdom, and yet with scant reference to spiritual and Christian ideals. For the sake of reverence let such arguments be built up-for they can be-without ex parte quotations from the Word of God. With the principle of the tithe recognized in Christian ethics, its efficiency and expediency readily will appear. From any large Christian viewpoint the tithe is "worth while," as in ancient days, because it is the acknowledgment of God's ownership, of' His sovereignty-lest a man fall into the easy mistake of thinking that he "owns" what he is given only to "possess," and sin lift its head of pride in God's own presence. . But the tithe is worth while for a different reason, a more human reason, than any we have named. It is the "heaven side" of a majestic sphere. The tithe reveals the goodness of God. The purpose of it is to enlarge the man himself. The blessing of obedience enriches the Kingdom only because it enriches the man.' The tithe is God's memory token. It is the Father's sweet care for· a man when most the man needs caring for-when he is maki ng and spending money.,
ARMENIAN REFUGEES COMING DOWN FROM Ml'. ZION, JERSUSALElI1
(Note old woman carrying her grown daughter)
of Liberated
BY MAJOR STEPHEN TROWBRIDGE, ALEPPO, SYRIA Member of the American Red Cross Commission to Palestine A BIG British transport steamed slowly through the Surz Canal, approaching Port Said. The decks were covered with men in khaki returning from Mesopotamia and along the rails of the lower decks were crowded 586 Armenian refugees from Bagh- dad. Scarcely a man was to be se£'n among them and very few middle aged or old women. The majority were young women and children. Here was one of the waves of the war, started upon its course by the tempest of cruelty which raged in Asia Minor, Ar- menia, Kurdistan and Northern Mesopotamia. The Turkish Gov- ernment, with calculating malice and brutal effectiveness, had driven southward and eastward into exile hundreds of thousands of the Armenian race. The British forces entering Baghdad and Rama- dieh found many fragments of these Armenian people shut up in Arab huts and tents and city houses. Orders were issued to lib- erate every refugee and gather all in Baghdad. The widows and orphans were placed under the care of Dr. Lavy, American Consul and representative of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. In seven or eight months thousands of the de- portees were set free from their humiliating bondage in the plains of Nineveh and Babylon and many found employment in the mar- ket of Baghdad or in the camps about the city. But the girls and young women had been ~hrough such an odyssey of suffering, and so many of the little children were orphans, without even a relative to volunteer to care for them, that the British authorities decided to send these 586 down the Tigris and around Arabia to the refugee camp on the sands at Port Said-a name meaning "the Blessed Haven." Scarcely any of these Armenians wish to emi- grate to North or South America. From every corner of the prov- inces of Turkey have these people come and they are intent upon returning to their home towns. This is the desire, although they know that their houses have been looted and occupied by the Turks or have been burned to ashes. They look to the British to protect them and have strangely bright and persistent hopes that they will find at least some of their men folk still in the land of the living. .
The tragic narratives of these people show what a shame it would be if America and the Allies should compromise with the Turkish Government or deal leniently in the final terms. It is not a question of restricting the Turks. They should not be allowed to maintain any fraction of power, for they do not govern and do not know what government is. The Turks, the Circassians and the Sl1
DISTRIBUTING BIBLES TO THF; RF;FUGF;ES The Gregorian priest is distributing Bibles of the British and Foreign Bible Society to the school , children at Port Said Kurds wreck and ruin everything they touch. They are never con~ structive, but only destructive and their alliance with Germanyhas made them worse than before. The Arabs, too, have used the dreadful opportunity to violate and steal. Let the Armenian women and girls give their own statements. And I who have seen their scars and have watched their faces and their eyes as they speak, can vouch for the veracity of the witness they bear.
. Aghavrii came from Solos in the province of Brousa. Aghavni means "Dove" in Armenian. Solos was an entirely Armenian village of more than eight hundred families.
"All of us were driven out in the deportations of the summer of 1915. My husband was drafted and sent to the Dardanelles. Whether he was killed or not I do not know. I have lost him completely. Chazar was his name and he was a stonemason by trade. I was still counted a bride though we had been married three years. My little boy .could . not stand the marching in the summer heat and he died on the road from sunstroke. My father, mother and sister were ordered to stay for a time in Konia. I was told to move on. Later I heard that my father had died at Masken near Aleppo. My older brother, twenty-two years of age, died of hunger, and my little brother, a lad of ten, perished from the cold in December in the foothills of the Taurus. My third brother, age eighteen, was seized by the Circassians at Dier Zoar on the Euphrates and cut to pieces. I was made a servant iI an Arab hut. From that house I was roughly turned out and taken by another Arab to Ramadieh, far to the southeast. When the British advanced from the direction of Baghdad the Arab locked me up, but I knocked and called and at last they heard me."
STORIES OF LIBERATED ARMENIANS
"What is your idea of the British" I asked.
"God bless them one and all. They saved our lives, and had they come · sooner they would have saved thousands more. I can never express to you how very kind they were. They took us to a large comfortable house in Baghdad where each of us was given a bed. The American Consul, Dr.
Lavy, took care of us."
"What are the scars on your forehead, your cheeks and your chin?"
"The Arabs had tatooed me with indigo, after the manner of Moham- medan women and when I was set free I felt the .shame of these marks so keenly that I persuaded a British doctor to cauterize each spot. I ·would rather be disfigured than branded as I was before." .
The story of Kronik, the wife of Toros Karasarkisian of Bilejik near Brousa is as follows: "My husband was a carpenter and was sent by the army to work at Kerkuk, near Baghdad. Then our family made the long journey and joined him. My brother-in-law, who was a sergeant in the Kerkuk garrison, was taken to Bitlis. One night he was strangled, then slashed to death, as I know from eye-witnesses who escaped. A telegram was sent to his wife to say that he died in hospit.al." (Note the craft of sending this telegram to avoid any punishment after the war, if the British should make an enquiry.) "My little girl Anna was scarcely two when the Turkish mounted police came and tied my husband hand and foot and dragged him AMBIAN WOMF;N RF;FUGF;F;S FLF;F;ING ACROSS THF; DESF;RT
off to Mosul. They charged him with being a spy. This was utterly false. He always stuck to his trade and never mixed in political affairs. I have never since heard a word from him.
"Beautiful young girls., even some five and six years old, were violated by the Turks, especially the Army officers, and were then passed on to the Arabs, Circassians and Kurds. They dragged the girls by the hair and arms. Everyone over eight was violated and they were then thrown out, in a terrible condition, crying bitterly and were left to wend their way into the towns to beg for bread. Ve were tatooed by force, our arms and feet being firmly bound beforehand.
"The English sought out every house in Baghdad and freed the women and children. They opened an orphanage and Consul Lavy, who was put in charge, cared for us with gifts from America."
Santoukht of Sivas is a most attractive girl, fourteen years of age, with an inexpressible sadness in her face. Her father died of typhus before the deportation. Her brother, twenty-five years of age, was drafted into the Turkish army and has not been seen since.
Santoukht and her mother were ordered to take the road to Aleppo. They were driven purposely by waterless routes from Aleppo to Deir Zoar and the mounted police kept them away from the wells so that they were obliged to drink foul water. Her mother became exhausted and was just able to drag herself along. After two days without water they came to a filthy greenish pool, into which a corpse and a camel had been thrown the day before. The mother was so weak and so parched that she bowed herself down and drank of this awful water and soon afterward died in great pain.
Santoukht had a sister with two babies, and on the way to Aleppo the soldiers separated the sisters saying, "Let whoever will have these two." At Kerkuk (near Bagdad) a Turk sent his wife to the bath one day and dragged Santoukht into his house. For nearly a year he kept her secretly as a slave. When the English entered the town she escaped, pregnant, and appealed to an English officer who rescued her and took care of her like a father.
Angele of Akshehir, province: of Kania, fourteen years old, is a large plump rosy girl with blue. eyes and soft brown hair, a good evidence of Dr. Lavy's generous care during the months of convalescence. She told me this pitiful story: "My father by paying a £45. tax according to Turkish law had been let off from military service, so VI hen the deportation orders came my mother and father, my sister eighteen years old, my two brothers and myself all went off together. Most of the Armenians leaving Akshehir had to walk or hire wagons, but by paying one pound each through a brakeman on the railway we managed to board a cattle car as far as Bozanti in Konia province in the Taurus Mountains. 'I'hence we marched to Osmanieh and Maskanieh. By paying two pounds each we secured a raft and floated down the Euphrates, for our orders were to proceed to Deir Zoar.
"From there we went on foot to Miadin where the Arabs tortured my father until he died of fever and fear. The Turkish guards now drove us off into the Eastern desert, a fearfully hot waste, with no trees or grass, or inhabitants. The guards picked out all the boys above ten and shot them.
e..n
en MAJOR STEPHEN TROWBRIDGE TELLING BIBLE STORIES TO RESCUED CHILDREN IN JERUSALEM
My big brother was also dragged off in this way and put to death. We were withdrawn by the Circassians one hour from the village, to a certain hiIl, twelve or fourteen were taken at a time, heads cut off and the bodies thrown into a large hewn tank which had served as a reservoir or well.
"When my group was taken the well was full. The Circassians had become tired of the horrid work and they threw me unwounded into the' reservoir where I fell in the midst of the bleeding corpses. By and by some Arabs of the worst sort came and dragged out the bodies to steal the clothing, They stripped off my dress and threw me back again. I was too nauseated and too terrified to speak or to resist. The cries of the living were awful. Some were suffocated by bodies thrown in by the Circassians. When I cried for mercy an Arab came and slashed my arm, and as he' climbed past me he struck me on the head. Then a Circassian noticed that I was slowly crawling out and he fired, wounding me in the foot.
"For six days I was in that terrible place, without food or drink. My lips became cracked and parched from thirst so that I rubbed blood on them to moisten them. I longed to die and prayed to God mercifully to shorten my agony. After the first day there was an awful stench. The Circassians, looting and reviling, ordered the Arabs to gather brushwood and burn the bodies in the tank. 'Ve who still survived dragged ourselves to the farthest corner. Brush was thrown in and then splashed with petroleum and set on fire. There were piteous cries as the smoke and flames spread in our direction.
Here the girl broke down and it was some time before she could continue her narrative.
"Finally an Arab came and found me and declared that he would take me to be his wife. An Arab woman standing at the mouth of the tank said, 'Leave her alone. She is smeared with blood and she is. deformed bv her. wounds. She will die anyway.' But the Arab replied, 'If she lives she is ours. If she dies what do we care? I am going to take her.' He carried me to a stream, utterly exhausted and nauseated. Here he brought me some water to wash, and some coarse bread. But I could not eat it that day. For six months I lay sick and wounded, outside the Arab's goats' hair tents. My wounds festered at first but slowly began to heal. An aged Arab took pity and bound them up and changed the rags once in a while. At last I recovered.
"These Arabs migrated and sold me for three lean sheep to people of the town of Ramadieh. A small Armenian boy went and told the British soldiers that a Christian girl named Angele was held as a servant in a certain Arab house in Ramadieh. The British came into the house and gave. me medical treatment and set me free. They put me in a lorry and sent me to Baghdad. And now God has given me strength to recover and to make the journey to Port Said."
Seranoush Ghazarian of Tokat is a beautiful girl of thirteen, with clear skin and dark eyes and curly brown hair. She bears conspicuous tatoo marks upon her forehead, nose, cheeks, chin and wrists. B~ nature she is a graceful, gentle girl, and through her. experiences an infinite sadness has come into her face. It was with. an effort that she controlled her sobs and told of her experience in the deserts. She was nine years old when set out on the march with her mother, aunt and cousins. Her father was bound and carried
~TOl{!ES" OF LIBERATED ARMENIANS
off to Sivas where he was killed. Her aunt died of thirst in the mountains.
At last they came to a stream and drank and drank. The Turks commanded them all to become Moslems but they refused to deny Christ.
The Turks took the young cousin by force, after beating the mother for objecting. One of the Aflab women seized Seranoush by the arm and threw her into the stream, but afterwards dragged her out and made her a slave.
She WIllS so ill from exhaustion that she could not eat and was so wasted and thin that the Arabs counted her as good for nothing and abandoned her. Then an Arab from a different tribe found her and an Arab woman took care of the child after a fashion. Later she was given in marriage to a cer- tain Arob who sometimes petted her "and again he beat her. He was forty years of age and kept the ten-year-old wife for about fourteen months.
An Armenian steward from Dr.
Lavy's orphanage came to buy dates and discovered Seranoush and several other girls. An Ar- menian young man was sent from Bagdad on horseback to rescue her, but as she was dressed in ragged Arab clothes and her skin was tanned and tatooed, he did not know that she was an Armenian girl when he passed her in the mar- ket-place. As she walked by him SAVE;D AT LAST I a second time she quickly made the sign of the Cross and in a moment On;re~fo~~~ ~~~di~3 – ~r~e:r~sio~rl:ch~~r i~ad he had her with him in the saddle her old mountain home and galloped away. This young man rescued perhaps forty young girls. The older girls had Amb babies and for utter shame they dare not go to the home provided by the American Consul. So they remained in Felluja for some time and refused to disclose their identity.
Among the 586 survivors who have reached the shelter of the
refugee camp at Port Said there are 200 women, five infants, six- men, 186 girls and 189 boys. The American Red Cross Commission to Palestine and the Near East maintains a diet kitchen where 1,235 convalescents and young children are provided for daily. A group of industrial shops have been started where embroidery, refugee garments, army shirts, wooden combs, blue cotton cloth, woolen rugs and many other useful things are made. The Red Cross has also provided baths and school tents, and has built a children's ward as part of the camp hospital. In a large tent near the Suez Oanal eighty lively children have the happiest kind of a time in their day nursery. The camp is administered by British officers serving under General Allenby, but much of the actual relief distribu.tion and the employment of more than one thousand of the refugees is entrusted to the American Red Cross. Oaptain J. A. Brown, formerly of the faculty of the Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, Syria, i.s the Red Oross officer commanding. He is ably assisted by Lieutenants Loehr and MacQuiston and by Miss Kinney, Miss Putney, Miss Blake and Miss Oampion. There is a good team spirit, and America has, through these representatives, won the esteem and affection and fervent gratitude of these eight thousand homeless Armenians.
A Christian Service Program for Europe BISHOP THEODORE S. HENDERSON, DETROIT, MICHIGAN Executive Secretary of the War Emergency and Reconstruction Department of the Methodist Episcopal Church .
M ILLIONS of people in every country of Europe have no connection with any church. ,These people should be in- cluded in the reconstruction program of the American churches. The idea of social service also has been omitted from European religious systems, and this should be interpreted to them from a definitely Ohristian angle and put into practice with com- mon sense. .An investigating committee of the Methodist Episcopal Ohurch went to Europe recently and were received by both the president of France and the king of Italy, as well as by many local officials. Marshal Joffre, himself a Protestant, expressed his personal joy that the Anlerican Ohurch was going to aid' in reconstruction. In speaking of the needs of the French people, he said: "They will need not merely material assistance. Moral help will be required also, for there is bound to be a tendency to let down morally in the face of such great losses and destruction."
Both the French and Italian g'overnments furnished official
A CHRISTIAN SERVICE PROCRAM FOR
RF;SULTS OF THF; WAR AT NOYON, NORTHERN FRANCE-THE BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN CALVIN cars and guides so that the deputation might go through the devastated areas and form some idea of the physical needs .of the people. What we saw, we can never make the people at home realize.
In restoring the villages and relieving the population, we must in many cases help existing agencies rather than establish
additional work. For instance we are helping the Committee of llilhabilitation of the French Protestant Church, and are contrib- uting to Signor Bergamini's hospital for the care of Italian tuber- oular children.
As the result of the recent studies in Europe, the Methodist Episoopal Church has decided to engage in three main lines of service; namely, work among the orphans, in large cities, and- rehabilitation of devastated areas.
Care for the orphans was naturally one of the earliest forms of relief work. As the children came across the Swiss border or d9Wll from northern France, Dr. Bysshe, of the Frenoh Methodist mission, made a home for them in an old chateau at Grenoble.
•. One typical case is that of an eleven-year-old Alsatian girl ntwied Katherine, the eldest of five ohildren. At the beginning of the war a bomb struck their home and killed her father. Later, the mother aided a French soldier by giving him some of her hus- b~nd's clothes and for this the Germans shot her as a spy. As the head of the family, Katherine gathered her brothers around her, took the baby in her arms, and joined the throng of refugees who were hurrying toward Nancy. Just before they reached the oity, one of the little boys died of fatigue. The others reached Nancy and a French Protestant chaplain sent them to the Grenoble home.
At the close of the war there were four of these orphan homes in France and one in Italy. What shall be done with· regard to tl).ese institutions? The problem of the children is, fortunately, only temporary. After a few years, they will be able to care for themselves, but foundations for other work have been laid and must be conserved. At Charneu, near Lyons, orphan boys are cared for on a 250 acre farm, where they are trained and where the practical application of religion to agriculture is demonstrated. The old French methods of agriculture will have to be modified as a result of the war, and at this farm the people will learn to use machinery in place of the destroyed man-power. One orphan- age is to be established on the Marne battle field to commemorate the victory won with the aid of. American forces.
We expect also to establish a general trade school and a de- partment to train some of the boys for leadership in rural churches. Another agricultural experiment and demonstration station is to be founded in Sicily, one in the Jugo-Slav state, and one in Bul- . garia.
Naples is a type of the city work of the Methodist Church in Italy. The mission has been there for a number of years and has a four~story central building, two floors of which are being used for orphans. Signor Riccardo Santi a year ago took two children into his home and he now has eighty. The boys and girls should
A CHRISTIAN SERVICE PROGRAM FOR EUROPE
be moved to the suburbs and the space used for other work more needed in the city. One immediate necessity is for a day nursery. A clinic will naturally follow the establishment of the nursery.
Since Naples is a great port, there should be work for sailors and emigrants and we are going to establish a sailors' home with gymnasium, shower baths, and a canteen. For the thousands of Italians who come to the United States we hope to open a bureau which will teach the beginnings of Amerioanization. We 'are going to have classes for teaching simple English so that when the Italians reach the United States they can be understood.
Much of the work of rehabilitation will be in the devastated regions of Italia Irredenta. The Methodist Episcopal Church hrus been established in Italy for forty years, and we can rely upop native leadership to carry on much of the work of reconstruction. A FRENCH GIRt~~~NING AGAIN TO These Italians are intense patriots and are eager to take up the· work of rebuilding their country. More than a year ago during the darkest days of the war, when the Austrian army was oooupying northern Italy, they expressed their faith in ultimate victory by voting to hold their 1919 Conference in Trieste. Another reason for working in Haly is that fewer relief agencies are operating in that territory although the need is equally great. Where the Austrians invaded Italy there are places where not one house is standing and others where there was not left a window, not a piece of furniture. The farms have been stripped of everything-live stock, implements, everything. How can a man rehabilitate his home when he has nothing to start with, no implements, stock furniture, or windowsT Naturally in regions like these the religious appeal must come first through milk and blankets rather that through sermons and tracts. Throughout the devastated country relief stations have been opened under the charge of an Italian pastor and, if possible, a district nurse. Later we may begin the organization of churches, but first we must relieve physical distress.
Interview With Dr. Ebina of
BY THE REV. WM. J. HUTCHINS OF OBERLIN Mr. Hutchins is on a tour of the Asiatic mission fields with Dr. Sherwood Eddy and sends this illleresting item from Tokyo, describing his conversation with one of the leading Japanese Christian preachers.
The day after Christmas Mr. Davis escorted us to the home of the able and eloquent pastor of the most important Congregu.tional (Kumai) church in Tokyo. Dr. Ebina is a pupil of the elder Dr. Davis of the Doshisha. At the door of his dainty home, we took off our clumsy western shoes, and were welcomed to a room, in which were European chairs and table, a reed organ, and a revolving book-case filled with theological and philosophical books. The pastor met us with beautiful grace and talked in better English than we could command.
We asked him of church federation in Japan. He said, "We are getting along very well together. TJJ.ere are some laymen who would like to have one united Church of Christ in Japan, but I do not think that this will come." "Would you say that more missionaries were now needed in Japan1" "Yes; now more than ever. The old Japan died in 1868. Then came the new Japan of Father Davis's time, the Japan wllich welcomed the new material civilization of the West. Our statesmen went first to America, but found her t60 democratic. They then studied England, a monarchy, but soon discovered that she was a democracy. Then Marquis Ito went to Germany, and found what he wanted, and framed a constitution with Germany in view. Soon our. educational and military systems were fashioned on the lines drawn by Germany. In reading German books, I have seen that our teachers have used German philosophy to support their ideas of government. Until last July, most of our leaders believed that Germany would win the war. They thought that Wilson. and the English leaders were hypocrites. And now that Germany is defeated, they do not know what to do. The Japan of Father Davis's time is now dead, and there is a new Japan, with new ideals and new hopes. America began the work of enlightenment in Japan i but she has not kept it up. She has simply made good the losses by death and retirement. She must now complete the work which she began. If she does . not, I dread to think of the developments of the next ten or fifteen years."
This prophet of the new social order has in his church a resident membership of 600, and ministers to many teachers and students of the capital.
522
Aspects of Modern
BY A RESIDENT OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH T HE Mormon leaders having full authority in the church are able to launch surprises or to do unexpected things. In view of the whispering among certain members of the Mormon church that new plural marriages are being winked at by the authorities, and in view of rather outspoken surmises by freethinking outsiders in the East that the war will open the way for a re-valuation and perhaps for the sanction of plural marriages in some quarters, the action of the leaders of the Mormon church at the last October Conference was rather sensational. At this Conference Apostle Penrose, speaking for the First Presidency of the church said: "Any man who claims to hold the priesthood and who goes about whispering that it is all right to engage in plural marriage is a rebel against the church and the law of the state. He is an outlaw. Such marriages are not marriages at all. Advisors are equally culpable with actual offenders. Both are displeasing to the Lord, to the authorities of the church and are offensive to citizens by whom they are surrounded."
President Joseph F. Smith and others approved Apostle Penrose's denunciation.
There is here no repudiation of the principle ·of plural marriage "and no renunciation of belief in its holiness in these outbreaks of counsel. The teaching and practice of the principle is discontinued, though not without hope that in good times to come, the eyes of the nations may be opened. Brigham H. Roberts unveils the attitude of the Mormon church clearly when he writes: "If the labors and sufferings of the church for this principle have done nothing more, this much at least has been accomplished-the saints have borne testimony to the truth-and it is for God to vindicate His own law and open the way for its establishment on the earth which doubtless He will do when His kingdom shall come in power and when His will shall be done in earth as it is in heaven.'"
Roberts, who as a polygamist was refused a seat in the Congress of the United States, was appointed to serve as a chaplain in a United States regiment somewhere in France, t.hough he has never severed his relation with his plural wives. Apostles Penrose and Grant have been polygamists, though now through death bereft by Providence of superfluous wives. Joseph F. Smith, the President of the church, lived until his death with three or four wives. It is evident that the leaders of the church are embarrassed by the disposition of some of their people not only to stand by them in theory but to follow their example. It is also probable that they S23
are beginning to realize that the polygamous repute of the Mor- mon church troubles the 12,000 Mormons boys in the army, as well as the Mormon missionaries who are sent forth to win proselytes. One Mormon zealot in the army complained that he had been called down when he wished to testify to the divine authority of Joseph Smith in a Y. M. C. A. meeting at one of the training camps. Com- plaint was made in a public meeting in Salt Lake Oity that several Mormon elders had been rejected as chaplains or Y. M. O. A. secretaries on the ground that the Mormons were not Christians.
n is more to the point to say that they consider themselves as the only Ohristians and speak of non-Mormons as "so-called Christians. " The American Government has been more than fair, it has been gracious to the Mormons. There are at least three chaplains of the ~formon faith in the U. S. Army,-Brigham H. ·Roberts, Calvin S. Smith. son of the late President Smith, and Herbert B. Maw. These Mormon chaplains are supposed to be assigned to Utah regiments.
One of the most aggressive sectarian movements of the Mormon church has been through lectures and reading advertisement articles in Eastern cities and Eastern papers. Apostle Talmage, a professor in the State University in Utah, has been set apart for such work. During August Apostle Talmage lectured on "Mor- 'monism and the War" in Ohicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Minneapolis and other cities of the Middle West. For some months he has been writing a column each week for a string of prominent newspapers. This they print, the Mormon church paying the usual advertising rates.
Despite the fact that the Mormons unchurch all outside of their own ranks, they are eager to be recognized as Christian by the various families of the Christian Church. A young Mormon, when he finds himself in a non-Mormon company is apt to say when asked his religious affiliations, "I am a Protestant." This is in spite of the fact that only Mormons believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; that the Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, including the chapter on plural marriage, were given by inspiration of God; that there are many gods and one may become a god, and that the president of the Mormon church is "the mouthpiece of God, Christ's vice-regent on earth, II and His will as sent down through the Mormon priesthood is final in all matters of faith and practice.
There are in the world perhaps 500,000 Mormons. This includes Mormon children, the Reformed Church of J osephites, and all nominal Mormons. Of this number not more than 250,000 have close connection with Mormonism as a religion. At least fourfifths of this Mormon population is resident on a line extending from Alberta, Canada, to Colonia Juarez, Mexico. More than
SOME ASPECTS OF MODERN MORMONISM
three7fifths of the Mormon people are settled in Utah. In southern Idaho, where the Mormons are strongest outside of Utah, non- Mormon immigration is coming in like a flood, and even in Utah the two cities, Salt Lake and Ogden, which with their environs contain one-third of the population of the State, are more than half non-Mormon.
Oonditions in Utah are changing, rather slowly perhaps, but changing in the right direction. The Amelia Palace of Salt Lake, built by Brigham Young for his favorite wife, is now owned by a Gentile, and is the headquarters of the Red Cross Ohapter of Salt Lake Oounty. In it Mormons and non-Mormons work together under non-Mormon leadership. Naogly Oastle, in southern Utah, which was planned for a connubial corporation consisting of one man and some five or six women, when polygamy was disturbed, was used chiefly as a wine cellar, and now that "Dixie wine" is outlawed, it has been traNsformed into a cannery. There is an article pDOhibiting polygamy in the Utah state constitution· and there probably will be an article in it before long prohibiting the sale and manufacture of intoxicants.
Dnly within the last few years has the Fourth of .July, out national holiday, come to its own in competition with the 24th of July, the great Mormon holiday. A similar change is taking place in the celebration of Ohristmas. A generation ago more was made of the 24th of December as the birthday of Joseph, the Prophet, than was made of any celebration of the birth of Ohrist. Not only Ohristmas but Easter songs have now. their place in the Mormon tabernacles and Sunday-schools. Until a few years ago " America" was sung to a hymn in praise of the Mormon priesthood and prophet, and" My Oountry, 'tis of Thee" was not found in the Mormon hymnbook. After the Smoot trial, this and other national hymns were added and now are sung with loyal zest. Within the last two years one might hear "Praise to the Man who Oommuned with Jehovah" a hymn in praise of Joseph Smith sung at the Mormon sacramental service. Now the leaders of the church are making some effort to make this ser:vice more reverent, and are giving more emphasis to the significance accorded to the Lord's Supper in their prayer of consecration which they have so long used merely as a form.
The Mormon is somewhat of a Moslem and a pagan and much at ease in Zion over his sins, but many of the people are better than their creed or get some moral and religious sustenance out of the Ohristian elements they find in that creed. They have inherited or have absorbed much of Ohristian truth through contact with Ohristian teachers and ancestors, to which many have been driven by the exigencies of bitter experience or ·attracted by the love of God's Spirit.
Leading Questions
A. MISSIONARY BIBLE STUDY BY REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D. D.
Acts 1:6 to 8 T HE apostles were slow of understanding, dull of hearing and narrow in vision until after Pentecost. And blindness has in part fallen upon some of their successors to-day. In the upper room in Jerusalem they crowded into one short sentence their threefold misconception of the Kingdom and its character, based upon false premises, and then capped it with impatient interrogation marks. WhoT When? Whatf Lord wilt thou not do it1 Has the time not come now? Is the restored Kingdom not to be Israel's possession and prerogative and glory~ To each one of these questions Jesus Christ gives a corrective, contradictory answer and one that is prophetic as well as didactic. It is a rebuke and a challenge for us as well as for them, I. WHO? Apart from Christ we can do nothing, but without us He can not carry out His program for the .world. Not the Incarnate Son of God alone, but the sons of God energized by His Spirit are to carry the tidings of the Kingdom and bring it in.
(a) Ye shall receive power for the super-human task. (b) Ye shall be my witnesses-in My bodily absence-for My Holy Spirit will come upon you. Men have often tried to escape their own responsibility by casting it on God. Mr. Ryland at Northampton in 1191 said to William Carey "Young man sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen He will do it without your help or mine!" Theoretically we have passed beyond this attitude, but our personal response to His command and our per capita gifts are still an apology for our apathy rather than an index of our enthusiasm. II. WHAT? Not a Temporal Kingdom for Israel alone but God's Kingdom for the whole world; the Gospel for all humanity. "These words" says De Wette, "contain the whole plan of the Acts. " They go beyond it and include in their scope all the centuries and all the unoccupied mission-fields today. The task in Jerusalem itself is not yet completed. Allenby's army ushered in a new era. We must still bear witness on the Gold Coast of Africa and also on "the Gold Coast" cf Chicago, New York and other cities, to the remotest parts of the earth and to those who are furthest from the Good Tidings. The words of Christ may well be interpreted to include: (a) City Missions-" JerusalE'm. " (b) District Missions~' , Judea. " (c) Missions to Aliens-" Samaria. "
526
19191 PATIENCE IN MOSLEM EVANGELIZATION
(d) Foreign Missions-"unto the uttermost part of the Elarth."
III. WHEN? "It is not for you" He replied, "to know the times and seasons is a warning that God holds these in His own authority. " Like impatient children we dig up the seed sown overnight to see whether the blade has appeared. Christ tells us here and in the parable (Mark 4:26-29) "The earth beareth fruit of herself." The processes of nature and of the Kingdom are secret and gradual. Not peering or prophesying but patience wins result. The church has often spent more energy in calculat- ing the times and seasons of the harvest than in ploughing and sowing the fallow ground. God has arranged the time-table of coming events Himself. Those who thought. they knew have again and again proved the futility of human arithmetic when it con- cerns the epochs of the Eternal. The only time that concerns us is NOW. "This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world first; then shall the end come. But as to that day and the exact time no one knows-not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." .
The apostles were to be less prophets of the future than wit- nesses of the past. The very obscurity of prophecy as to exact times and seasons is a warning that God holds these in His own power. These words of Christ therefore put all the emphasis on personal responsibility, YE; and on the urgency of the task be- cause of its colossal dimensions; and our insufficiency in ourselves.
HE CAN DO IT IF liE WILL; not" we can do it if we will. " We must not only watchfully wait till He comes but we must mercilessly work that He may come.
Patiencejn Moslem Evangelization* BY GEORGE SWAN, CAIRO, EGYPT Secretary of the Egypt General Mission T HE Biblical conception of patience differs considerably from our modern use of the word. Influenced, perhaps, by centuries of monasticism, we are inclined to connect the thought of patience with that of a quiet passivism, slowness to anger, a patient forbearance. Patience in the New Testament is a word full of virility. It is the patient endurance of the soldier that givoo him the fruits of victory, just as it seems almost beyond his grasp, by what has been so aptly called" stick-at-it-ness."
There can be no doubt that thbs virtue is the great need not only of missionaries to Mohammedans and their Home Boa'rds, but of those that support them in prayer and with their substance. Compared with other mission fields, there is little encouragement from • Condensed from the Mill/em WwId.
the visible results of the work. It is essentially a work of faith, though we must not forget that faith reacts on sight, opening the eyes to see and understand God's wonderful workings amongst Mohammedans, and His preparation of them for the reception of our glQrious message. . For all who seek the evangelization of the Moslem world, there comes the message "Ye have need of patience"-patient, virile, courageous endurance, coupled with diligent faith and free from sluggishness, faint-hearted flinching and drawing.back. A most valuable study with this end in view can be made of the Epistle to the Hebrews, takng Patience as the keyword.
First, look at some .of the marks of those who had drawn back, of those who had gone faT and then fell away, and who were to be a warning to those who were in danger of doing so.
(1). They had been so long under instruction that they ought to have been teachers, yet they had become children in intelligence.
(2). They had been slothful, sluggish, slack about inheriting the promises, not steadfastly believing them and making them theirs.
(3). They had been neglecting true Christian fellowship and so failed to provoke one another to love and good works.
(4). They had neglected the Word of God, "spoken to us in a Son," and had been consequently carried away with divers and strange doctrines.
(5). They had cast away their joyful confidence with its great· recompense of reward.
Now apply some of these warnings. It is not an easy matterr to become an intelligent teacher of' Mohammedans, understanding their mentality and applying the great truths of the Gospel to them in an effective way. Time should be ever bridging the mental gulf between the Mohammedan and the would-be Christian teacher. Are. there not many who, having started with confident assurance that they were called of God to this work, have grown more effective in their power of presenting the Gospel to Mohammedans 1 They seem to have become satisfied with the routine work of a missionary's life, becoming less and less effective as the years have gone by. This is not only a loss to the Mohammedans to whom God intended them to be the messengers, hut is fraught with spiritual danger to the missiona.ry.
The Word of God is full of promises for the worker among Mohammedans, and has some especially bright promises for particular fields. Arre missionaries laying hold uf these promises, making them theirs, and receiving from them a full assurance of hope 1 Or are they allowing so called modern scholarship to present them with a Bible that is emasculated of the revealed truth of God that is intended to be "a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawns1" Then there aTe other promises, of spiritual endowment,
19191 PATIENCE IN M(OSLEM EVANGELIZATION
without which all the mental bridging of the gulf between Mohammedan and teacher will be of no avail. Are we being diligent in laying hold of these f And again there is the spirit of wisdom and revelation that enables us to look right past the present and to get a vision of the hope of our calling, to get a vista of the wonderful purposes of God in gathering; to Himself a people of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.
Do we realize the importance of Christian fellowship, a real Christian fellow,ship, not a mere perfunctory coming together· of Christians, but a meeting together with purpose of heart to meet together with God? "I thank Thee, 0 Lord, that Thou hast placed so many lights in the upper chamber-so many and so varied. I thank Thee that I do not need to take my rule from one, that each can see his own star in Thy Sky. And yet I thank Thee still mo….e that I do not need to l1est in my own star. Thou hast ordained many lights, not only to prepare a place for me, but to prepare for me many places. Thou wouldest have me, not merely to keep my own glow, but to get f1rom others the color which in me is dim. Thou hast put Peter beside John that the impulsiveness of Peter may be moderated; Thou hast put John beside Peter that the slowness of John may be quickened. llluminate me by my brother's light. Give to my love the quality in which it is not strong. Let me catch the impress of the opposite star. Let me press toward the gate by which I have not found Thee, but by which my brother has found Thee. Help me to sympathize with those who have entered by another door of Thy temple. Reveal to me that my ,song of praise is not complete till it blends with a counterpart in the great symphony. I shall know the meaning of the many voices when I learn the need of Thy manifold grace." So prayed Dr. George Matheson.
Surely it is unnecessary to emphasize the supreme importance of a continuous devotional reading of God's Word that we may learn to know Him who is the Living Word o£ God, the Son in whom He has spoken to llB. If through the pressure of work we neglect this, how soon will we lose the buoyant confidence of a sure and stedfast hope. Surely we have need of steady patience, so that after doing the will of God we may get what we have been promised.
From one cause and another during the years of war, reinforce· ments have not been coming to the field. Some who were ready to come have drawn back on account of the long wait caused by reo strictions on travel. Every missionary society working amongst Mohammedans is on this 3iccount faced with a grave crisis. Ranks need tilling up. Front line troops need relief. Reinforcements need rapid and specialized training. These are matters that call for urgent p'I'ayer and faith. The present is no time for drawing back, no time even for letting organizatioll8 that have been started in the past to "carry on:" with what is left them their initial momentum.
Danger of Strong Drink in
BY AMOS P. WILDER, NEW HAVEN. CONNECTICUT Former Consul General to Hongkong and Shanghai. Secretary of "Yale in China"
T HE four hundred millions of China naturally present an allur- ing field to American alcohol producers. They propose to bring their great facilities-their manufacturing, advertising, selling organization-to bear on the big task of making China drunken.
It is an era of great projects. In the last fifty yearis, Americans have been schooJed to conceive and execute plans on a continental scale that affect millions and the destiny of races. It is not surprising therefore that . China should look attractive to the distilling and brewing magnates. The millions of people have money with which to buy; it remains but to build up an appetite for alcohol in the Chinese people. The cigarette precedent encourages them.
The proposal of the liquor trade to go into China in this large way fills friends of the Chinese with terror. It is one of those "Works of the devil" that refutes those who insist that all's well with the world. It is a reminder of how unsleeping are forces of evil. Nothing less is proposed than the debauching of a nation. Thus far alcohol has played little part in Chinese life. When it is said that men; "must have a stimulant, " I think of the Chinese. A chair bearer will make thirty miles a day and at night ask· only two or three bowls of rice and plenty of weak tea, when he goes to wholesome slumber.
About 1908, Honolulu interests at large expense put up a brewery in Hongkong. They made a modern product, but the natives. did not take to it as was expected and the business was not successful. Doubtless the cost of. a bottle of beer was a factor. Recently the persistent efforts of European makers and sellers of drink have been rewarded among the Chinese. Even casual observation of the native streets of the coast ports shows an increasing number of liquor stores, the wind()ws crowded with bottles of fancy shapes most gaudily be-labelled,and containing the cheapest and most poisonous concoctions, on which the profit is enormous. The work of introducing alcoholic drink into the life of the Chinese is already underway and much progreJss has been made. Unfortunately the foreigners in the ports are themselves hard drinkers and the higher class Chinese, being imitative, conceive that an infinite supply of varied drinks is necessary to public functions.
S30
i'T +t. MA. I,. .#',.t Ill! ;v-
"$ 1~ >t l~ ~. jn. :~ fJ!i 1-)- rot L 'jj.
A CHINESE II.LUS'l'RATION OF THE ROAD 'l'O RUIN THROUGH STRONG DRINK The careless and prosperous young profligate (on the left) becomes the degraded beggar (on the right).
The war has reminded us that the men, the money, the brains and organization for big projects lie at hand for those who can rouse them into action. The American people can be challenged to save China from drink as they have been organized to battle for the French nation in peril of destruction, and to aid their brothers in England with backs against the wall. Let the splendid energy and aspiration of America be directed to this new war to save Chi.na from alcoholism. Let committees be formed headed bv men of affairs to whom the world war has provided spiritual ar~nas commensurate with their abilities. Jesus attracted able men to his standards. Mediocrity is not a Christian virtue. The assets of influence and effectiveness should be organized to ,save China from a new peril.
One concrete thing can be done: our American consular service can be detached from the business of forcing drink on China. The resources of this highly organized service are used to promote American trade in alcoholic drinks. The mails are forever busy carrying information as to what beverages will sell; what districts offer the best opening; how the American brewer and distiller can . get "into the market." This has been going on for years. It is not the wish of the American people that governmental machinery should be thls active in debauching the Chinese.
531
"MBTHODS
EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA Chairman of the Committee on Methods of Work of the Federation of Women's Foreign Mission Boards .
MISSIONARY METHODS FOR PASTORS "What are your best methods?"
This question went to a number of pastors and Mission Board Secretaries who have had success in developing missionary congregations. Here are some of the answers: ASK GOD AND TELL PEOPLE Bolshevism, I. W. W.ism and So- cialism?" "Never ask people, but ask God and tell people." Below there stood out suggestively, This is the message that comes "The Mission Study Program from Pastor D. M. Stearns of March 9-April II, 1919 Germantown, whose small congrega- tion of about two hundred and fifty Christianity and the World's Workers." people, together with his Bible Classes, gave $83,722.00 for missions The inside pages of the folder an- in 1918. "We make no appeals, and nounced: do not solicit funds, but at church and classes we state the" needs, pre- Dates and Topics sent the opportunities, and leave it to Him whose we are and whom we Sunday, March 9 serve to accomplish His pleasure. Morning Sermon, "Missions and Bol- . Like Manoah and his wife, we look on while He doeth wondrously shevism." (Judges 13 :19) for He is surely the Evening-Illustrated Lecture, By Hammer Doer of it all. The results of this method have been gifts of $1,045,- and Hand 598.65 for missionary work in thirty years." Sunday Evening, March 16 Illustrated Lecture, "Our South Amer- RELATING A WHOLE CHURCH TO THE MISSION STUDY ican Neighbors." PROGRAM March 17-22 A very practical plan for telling the people. Week-Day Study Groups Dr. Guy L. Morrill, pastor of "South America"-"Japan"-"China" Carmel Presbyterian Church, Edge You are invited to join one of these Hill, Pa., arranged and carried out groups in the study of World Industrial a three weeks' program for Mission Life. These groups are organized in Study for his entire congregation. various sections of the community for your convenience. See the Schedule of On the first page of his striking Groups and Group Leaders and choose announcement, sent to all members, your group. two questions appeared: Sunday Evening, March 23 "What do you know about the so- Illustrated Lecture, "Our Philippine cial and industrial conditions in the· Orient?" Wards." March 24-29 "What has missions to do with Week-Day Study Groups "Philippines"-"India"-"Africa" Every group has special plans. Join the group whose program will afford you the most pleasure and help. See the Schedule of Groups and Group Leaders and plan for your study.
Sunday Evening, March 30 Illustrated Lecture, "Reconstruction Work in India." March 31-April 5 have found for interesting young Week'Day Study Groups people in the mission field has been "Missions and Social Regeneration" -through personal conversation.
The groups have been so organized as When we have found a boy or girl, young man or young woman, beginto include all of Carmel Church in this ning to think along serious lines for Mission· Study Program. Enroll with the church, we have made it a point to talk with such an one individually your Group at once. See Schedule of Groups and Group Leaders. as to the great world opening in far Groups and Group Leaders * Group 1. Glenside Reading Group.
Group 2. Glenside Study Group. reaching fields, suggesting some in- Group 3. Young Women's Group. teresting book or biography which Group 4. Edge Hill Group.. would help. We have then kept in Group S. North Glenside Group. touch with them, taking for granted Group 6. Men's Group. their growing interest in the world Group 7, 8, 9. Carmel Teacher Train- field and giving them certain mission- ing Study Classes, ary tasks to perform, such as read- Group 10. Christi.;n Endeavor Group, ing or reviewing a new book, or using text book Burton's "Comrades going to hear some missionary in Service." Meets for four Sunday speaker, always emphasizing it by a evenings, beginning March 9th, at 6:45. personal note, sometimes taking them to such a lecture. Group 11. Roslyn Group. There is no method like the in- • Titles of text books and names of leaders are dividual method. Jesus Christ said omitted here. 1!:DIt'Olt.
Group 12. Roslyn Christian Endeavor Group, using as text book Burton's "Com·rades in Service." Meets for four to His apostles, "Follow Me." He Sunday evenings, beginning March 9th did not say "Follow the plan" or Notes "Follow missionary activity," but THESE THREE WEEKS OF MISSION STUDY "Follow Me." If others become inshould attract the attention of everyone. terested in our individual and per- They afford a splendid opportunity to be- sonal relationship to them, in any come acquainted with the underlying con- ditions which are giving rise to the world great cause, they are far more likely wide· social unrest. Will Bolshevism cap- to come to us for counsel or advice, ture the world? These studies will help and we lead them naturally. There you answer that question. is no method like the personal method. The pastor who sees the The fourth page of the announce- future in the individual boy and girl ment. gave some facts. about the in his church is bound to have young Benevolent Budget for the Church, people going all over the world for suggestions for securing an attend- Jesus Christ." ance for the classes and services, an announcement of a poster and an essay contest, _a pageant, and sug- A THREEFOLD PLAN gestions fo~ week-day Mission Study Work in Sunday School Classes. Dr. Newell Woolsey Wells of A plan similar to this. one has been Brooklyn suggests the following: .
used in Carmel. church three times "It has long been a conviction with with success, Dr. Morrill says: "It me that a church that is not a mis- is entirely practical and with yearly sionary church cannot long survive.
modification could be made a per- A condition of 'vigorous health is manent scheme of organization of exercise,and the kind of exercise the Church School of .Missions." which a church requires is that to INDIVIDUAL WORK FOR which Paul encouraged Timothy: INDIVIDUALS 'E:xercise thyself unto Godliness.' Godliness is God-likeness, likeness to This. is .one pf the methods of Dr. God; and our God is a missionary John Timothy Stone, of Chicago, God. So only that church is God- who says: like that possesses the missionary "One of the best methods we spirit. That, I think, is good logic.
As to methods, I fear I am old Our Missionary Boards are splenfashioned, even in this dawn of a didly organized and their work is new era. The time may have come carried on with a rare degree of when I should be substituting aero- efficiency. But when we reach the planes for carriages, but somehow I local church we seem to come to have felt that slow with safety is the end of missionary organization. better than fast with accidents. And Churches systematic and progressive so the "methods" pursued by me in every other department of church hitherto have been these: activity often are found limping here. Somehow we have overlooked 1. To saturate myself with mis- the fact that, humanly speaking, the sionary literature. No church will advancement of the missionary enbe a missionary church whose pas- terprise depends upon the intelligent tor does not keep in touch with, interest of the Church in action. and feel the inspiration of, the vic- Someone has said that the missiontorious advance of Christ and His ary spirit is an essential factor in cause in the world. that well-rounded Christian charac- ter which is the aim of religious 2. To endeavor to communicate education. The spirit can best be the inspiration by conveying the in- developed by contact with the misformation to my people, in sermons sionary enterprise, hence the sugand in monthly concerts of prayer gested program that follows. Definfor missions. itely set apart the second week of each month and call it, "Missionary 3. To encourage the formation of missionary organizations among my Week." Following is an outline of people, and help to the extent of my activity and instruction as indicated power, in their development. We which I have found very valuable: have such organizations Sunday morning a sermon hav- ing missionary foundation'. If the (a) Among our women who are pastor delivers a sermonette to the pursuing a regular course of mission little folks, a missionary story is acstudies. ceptable to them and suggestive to (b) Among our young people who the older folks attending the service. are doing the same. At this service have your ushers ready to distribute the latest leaflets (c) In our Sunday-school as a obtainable from your denominational whole. We are helping through it roqms, giving up-to-the-minute snap to support one of our missionaries shots of "Field of Activity." At in Korea, while giving a part of our the Bible School hour arrange with time regularly to the study of mis- the Superintendent for a period in sionarydevelopments througholt the which a class or individual presents world. I cannot say that I favor some missionary incident. (The little the limitation of one's missionary tots no doubt have their missionary interest to a particular field, which story at the same time.) The Young is apt to be the result of confining People's Society meeting before the one's gift to the support, exclusively, evening service, hold their regular of one or more workers in that monthly missionary meeting in charge field." of the Missionary Committee, using topic assigned by State Committee. THE MISSIONARY WEEK At the evening preaching service nothing of special missionary charac- Another plan is suggested by Dr. ter, except on rare occasions when a Frank Montague Swaffield of Pitts- returned missionary is asked to tell field, Mass: his or her story. "Organization is one of the watchwords of the modern church, and is Monday evening the Young depended upon in almost every department of its activity. The exception, if there be any, is usually in the missionary emerprises of the church.
BEST METHODS
Women meet for mission study and inward impulsion. "The love of Christ contraineth us!" sewing. Wednesday afternoon the Wom- MONTHLY CONCERTS OF PRAYER en's Missionary Society meets for the study of lesson book suggested Dr. A. W. Halsey of the Board by denominational Board. of Foreign Missions of the Pres- byterian Church in the U. S. A., Wednesday evening the Church says: prayer meeting-Special intercession for the work of the Kingdom. At "I have been wandering up and conclusion of the service the pas- down the Church. I have spoken in tor's mission study class, open for literally thousands of churches. I have talked with leaders everywhere. all. I think I have read most of the books on missionary methods, cer- Thursday evening is reserved for tainly those that have been published missionary programs, dramas, stere- in the English language, and I do optican lectures, visits by denom- not believe that any method has yet inational secretaries, exhibits and been devised that is better than a manifold other activities that come well ,conducted Monthly Concert of into a year's program. ' Prayer for Missions. Within a few days it has been my privilege to speak Friday afternoon the young folks in a church of another denomination. meet for their monthly study of the I was asked to speak by a parishchildren of other lands. ioner of mine who was a faithful and loyal attendant for seventeen Friday evening is set aside as an years in the old Spring Street open night for any special feature Church, and was rarely absent from that may be presented by an or- the missionary meetings. This good ganization. This. is also the night woman desired me to speak in the in which the missionary committee church of her denomination, stating of the Church meets to discuss the that it was ill the missionary meetprogram for the next month's Mis- ings held once a month that she obsionary Week. This committee is a tained the knowledge, the inspiration, very important one and should have the outlook for foreign missions in hand matters of the denominational which had been a constant source of movements and be ready at all times blessing to her during all these to assist any organization in secur- years. She intimated that in the ing material and preparing programs various churches she had been in, for this ,week of activity. many of them having modern plans of missionary endeavor, nothing had It is needless to say that the great ever been given to her that prebenefit derived from such concen- sented in a systematic, consistent trated effort is that for that period and persistent way the great work the entire Church is thinking "Mis- which the entire Church was doing sionary." Personally I have dis- for the extension of the Kingdom covered that such an effort greatly in the regions beyond. If this were increases the missionary gifts of the a single isolated case if would Church. I feel that should this pro- amount to nothing, but now, after gram be given a thorough trial the twenty years, once and again I am Church of the future will be an in- asked by former parishioners to telligent Church, ig-norance, preju- come to their churches, often large dice, opposition, indifference, prayer- churches, and present the cause of lessness, selfishness, love of ease, missions, since the methods in use and many other hindrances will be failed to supply what these good eradicated. The Church of the fu- people obtained in the Prayer Meetture will be truly benevolent in spirit and will be highly responsive when it is necessary to call upon it to make a sacrifice, Obligation is thrice potent when it is reinforced by an
ing in the Old Spring Street Church. good lawyer to present certain legal By a well conducted Monthly Con- aspects of the immigration question. cert of Prayer for Missions I mean first, a meeting once a month with Get a member of Congress or of the a definite subject, well advertised, definite objects of prayer clearly Assembly to present a phase of the stated, and a variety of presentation that takes in the whole work of the Philippine question. A great meetwhole Church for the whole world in the course of the year or of the ing could be held. years. If I were asked at the pres- August. Hot month. I would disent time what I would present for the remaining months of this year cuss the League of Nations and the and the method I would pursue, I should state,- relation of China. The whole ques- For the month of July I would tion of Japan's seizure of German take up the subject of the Interchurch World Movement and kin- territory and what is to be done with dred movements. I would go into it. Here a fine meeting could be had details as to the origin, development and present status of united discussing the League of Nations missionary effort at home and abroad. I would prepare personally from the point of view of a huge an address giving the origin of this movement and of kindred movements republic like China that needs guidlike the ter-centenary of the Congregational Church, the New Era ance. . of the Presbyterian Church, the Centenary of the Methodist Church and In September or one of the previothers. I would ask some prominent women in my church to give a ous months the pastor may be away. five minute talk on the relation of woman's work to the Interchurch Let the -meeting be conducted by the Movement. I would ask a Sunday School Superintendent to give a five leaders of the various missionary sominute statement from the point of view of the Sunday School Super.: cieties; men's organization, women's, intendent. I would have singing and specific prayer and a meeting Sunday School, Young People's. Let full of life and vigor. the church itself present the work Or another appropriate topic for the month of July would be the that the societies are doing at home question of Uncle Sam and his dependencies, giving special stress,- and abroad.
(a) To the Philippines. Group October. Make it a book meeting. of them in the United States asking Take such a book as that written for independent government. Magnificent opportunity to show what by the Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D. D., the United States has done and what the missionary has done. "The Mastery of the Far East."
(b) Cuba. Get three or four people to review (c) Porto Rico (d) The whole question of the certain chapters of that book, the one Chinese and Japanese in the United States. A splendid subject. Get a on Korea and Japan. Not at all necessary to agree with Dr. Brown's conclusions. It opens a whole series of questions which are just as live as any questions now before the world. A missionary meeting should be a live meeting, for it deals with live things, not dead.
November. Discuss what is to be done with Africa. A whole million square miles taken from Germany.
By November some definite decision will have been reached. Discuss it from the missionary point of view.
Run over the big mission activities in the Congo, in Kamerun, in Rhod- esia, in Uganda. Speak of the Af- rican uprising. Discuss the whole question of the guardianship of Af- rica by European powers and the development of the African. A large question.
December. The rehabilitation of mission lands devastated by war and
BEST METHODS
famine; India, Persia, Syria. Get was not easy for them to arrange the story of 'Syrian and Armenian to attend all the meetings. Among relief up to date. Study what has the men were laborers, carpenters, been done for the rehabilitation of store managers, salesmen, plumbers Persia and of Syria. Tell of what and business men. Some of them India has suffered through plague made maps and prepared papers, and famine in 1919 and point to the and all entered very interestingly inmanger cradle at Bethlehem. to the discussions. The results were , Material for eve,yone of these very apparent in the missionary and subjects is abundant. He is a dull general work of the Church, and in pastor who would not be llble, if he th~ determination of these officers is willing to expend the gray matter, that this mission congregation should to make such meetings as above in- be a missionary organization. dicated, fresh, invigorating, inspiring and a spiritual blessing to the Church THE PASTORAL PROTECTORATE and to the world." A Home Mission pastor whose IT COULDN'T BE DONE, BUT MR. congregations, wherever he has gone, FEGLEY DID IT have soon developed an active mis- sionary interest sends this word: A group of men walked out from the great auditorium of a Summer I would that we could abolish the Conference. Said one to the others: Pastoral Protectorate with which some of our pastors feel called upon "Sounds well from the platform, to encircle their folds at the apbut it can't be done. I'd like to see proach of Mission Board secretaries some of these professional lecturers or missionaries who may be abroad and church reformers tackle the in the land, even though they are the real proposition of real mission study authorized representatives of the auin a real congregation. It's easy thorized causes of the Church. to theorize, but I'd just like to see one of them get my Church Council This desire to shield their people in the Mission Study Class." from challenging facts regarding world conditions, lest they exhaust "Well, I'm going to do it," quietly themselves in missionary offerings remarked one of the group, and he and so leave the coal bins of their did. own churches unfilled and the sal- aries of their own pastors unpaid is He was the Reverend Charles K. really one of the productive causes Fegley, Pastor of St. James Lu- of "starvation salari.es." My experitheran Church, a mission congrega- ence has been without exception that tion in Allentown, Pa., and the a widening of horizon always means thing he did was to' get everyone of a better support of the work at his church officers in a Mission home. Study Class. I know of one small congregation He went home after the Con- in a cotton mill suburb of a southern ference, called his Church Coun- city. The members had been given cil together and put the matter little missionary information. The squarely before them as necessary pastor's salary was far below "the to solid foundations in the mission's living wage," and it was necessary organization and development. Every for him to supplement it in many man on the Council responded and ways. It seemed very evident to the signed up for the Class. They felt non-missionary contingent that charvery deeply their responsibility it'! ity should begin at home. However, getting hold' of the missionary pro- home charity persistently delayed its gram, which they as officers were to beginning until a missionary cammake effective in the work of the paign was begun in the church, durcongregation. The Class met on ing which literature was distributed, Sunday afternoon fOl ten weeks.. It
addresses w('!re made, and an Every THE ACCURATE STATEMENT OF FACTS Member Canvass was conducted. It is not quite so easy to make mis· The missionary offerings were in- sionary addresses and write missionary books as it used to be in the days when creased from $39.66 to $183, and no man from the land about which we have been wont to learnedly discourse with the broader outlook the congre- was at hand to contradict, and no Chairs of Missions in great Universities had yet gation saw their pastor's work in a been established, to meet our impressive eloquence with disconcerting facts. new light and increased his salary Welcome the day when accuracy is 66%. demanded! Prof. John Clark Ar~hu of the Yale School of Religion, Chair of I have a friend who is a Mission Missions, in answer to a request for Board secretaD" While visiting one "best methods" sounds a note that is congregation ~ ta'yman gave him the going to become more and mOfc innames of fourteen wealthy men and sistent in the coming days: women in his church. When the secretary went to the pastor for his One of the 'best methods' for advice about the best means to em- furthering the cause of missions is ploy in approaching these people the the' use of reliable materials of mis- Pastoral Protectorate immediately sionary instruction. Mission lands appeared in the caution: "Don't ap- were once very far away and their proach them at all. They are not in- peoples moved as vague, indistinct terested in missions and would not shapes in the dim distance. Then give you one cent should you call we could say almost anything we upon them. It would be an utter chose about lands and people, could waste of time to interview them. indulge in .generalizations and even Leave them alone." inaccuracies without fear of confu- sion. Now those lands are near and Somewhat discouraged he took their peoples walk in our midst, senheart at a message that came from sitive to our attitudes and critical of one of the men that he should not our interpretations. These may be fail to see everyone of these people minor, but none the less real conand present to them the facts about siderations; they serve to throw into the work. He went to see all of bold relief our constant duty to take the fourteen and received contribu- great care with regard to the descriptions from twelve. tions which we apply to mission lands and peoples to be sure we are From the standpoint of a pastor rightly representing their practices I want to urge the abolition of the and mental attitudes. Pastoral Protectorate, when the authorized causes of the church are to No missionary address should be be presented. . given on any aspect of a mission field without allowing for the pres- Mission Board secretaries and ence in the audience of at least imagmissionaries are in no wise to be re- inary natives of that field. No ingarded as prowling wolves going struction in missionary subjects about seeking whom they may de- should be ventured upon without vour, but should be welcomed as close scrutiny of the materials of inheralds of opportunity, and bearers struction. A most attractive proof blessings. gram or a most interesting course of study may be productive of wrong I have found that the ~ore my impressions by reason of questionpeople hear of the need of the world, able statements. The literature of and the more they give to meet it, missionary education might well be the broader outlook they get and censored. Let a few citations illusthe better support they give to the trate the situation. home church. Aside from the direct results in missionary gifts, I welcome "T.he first is made from a recently the visits of missionaries and Mission Board secretaries for their byproducts in my own work."
BEST METHODS
published book of stories for 'the sung and the text, 'The time of the presentation of missionary funda- singing of birds is come' be recited. mentals to children.' Some of the As far as India is concerned the imthings Achmed read in the Koran pression thus made is the opposite of would seem very absurd to us, al- reality, for that season! though he believed every word of them. Here are two of them: 'If a "There is likely no need of fly falls into a dish of food, plunge further illustrations; the point must it in completely, then take it out and be clear. We have been somewhat throw it away, for in one of its careless at times in our earnest efwings is a cause of sickness, and in forts. Materials which cannot be the other a cause of health; and in questioned will s.erve all our purposes falling it falls on the sick wing; but and impart the knowledge needful for if the fly is entirely covered by food, the prosecution of the missionary enthen the healthy wing will do away terprise. We mustl~ake thelmatter of with the bad effect of the sick wing' missionary education seriously, use reliable materials, and. do intensive * * * This man who wrote the work! The necessary instruction aK obraadn dar elsaom tof rldo mw hh autr t itno g dyoout o *k*e.ep* cannot be imparted in short courses. Our very brevity makes us at times 'To spit three times over the left inaccurate. There is one Sunday shoulder.' These things are not School course which presents all the found in the Koran at all! And religions of the world, including even the statement that Mohammed those of primitive peoples, in thirty- 'wrote' the Koran is likely to create five pages! Let us adopt large proa false impression. Further on in grams for this tremendous field of the same story appears the statement study, the study of the non-christian that Mohammed said that anyone 'faiths. And for the still larger fields who did not believe in his new reli- of mission s.tudy that program alone gion should be killed at once. This, will do which represents patience, of course, is not true of Mohammed. abundance and precision." The whole story is very inaccurate and misrepresentative, and it is not FIFTEEN THINGS FIFTEEN PASthe only one in the same volume TORS HAVE DONE which might be thus criticised. Those who are intent upon mISSIOn- 1. Preached few labelled missionary education cannot countenance ary sermons, but gave the missionary such materials. interpretation in all of his sermons, with frequent missionary application "In a more pretentious book, one and illustration. intended for senior students, appears the statement that Mohammedanism 2. Made it a policy to read a de- 'arose as a heretical Christian sect,' nominational and inter-denominaand the discussion is almost as faulty tional magazine regularly. Also at as this error. The same book makes least one new missionary book a an indiscriminate mention of 'soul' in month. connection Withl Buddhism. The word is used ill-advisedly if original 3. Conducted a Mission Study Buddhism be meant. Class which. actually enrolled every church officer in the congregation. "A third citation is taken from a This was an annual class which met missionary magazine, from a special weekly for about eight weeks. One program on India for March. This of the new text books was studied. illustration is not at all offensive as the above illustrations were, but there 4. Led a Bible Class which met on is something innocently incongruous week days to study the Bible as a in the treatment. It is suggested that missionary book. the hymn 'We plow the fields' be 5. Bought up-to-date missionary books and loaned them systematic- ally to members of the congregation,
caning attention to paragraphs which ordinate the plans for mIssIOnary would challenge the attention of cer- education in the entire church.
tain individuals. 15. Conducted a survey to discover 6. Enclosed a missionary leaflet. needs in the community and outlined with each letter mailed. with his officers a program for com- 7. Enclosed a missionary leaflet munity service, including the estab- with each copy of his parish paper. lishment of a mission Sunday-school, 8. Went to a Summer Missionary arrangements for religious services Conference and took with him some at some overlooked institutions, visiof his most promising leaders for tation and relief work, and a Day Nursery for the children of working training. 9. Mapped out each year with his mothers.
Missionary Committee a program for HERE AND THERE METHODS Mission Study and Missionary Ser- vice for the entire congregation and Red Letter Days helped to make it effective.
10. Opened the door to every au- A good program calendar suggesthorized missionary representative of tion comes from Mrs. C. A. Evans the church. Found that the presen- of Utica, N. Y. Her society issued tation of the various needs of the this year a small calendar. On the fields by people who knew them re- front and back of the brown card to sulted in greatly increased contribu- which calendar pad is fastened, are tions; and that instead of making it given names of officers and items of harder to secure local support, the information about the society. On more his congregation gave to mis- the calendar leaf for each month, sionary objects the more willing they the day on which the meeting is to were to give to the church at home. be held is printed in red ink. The hour of meeting is given, also the 11. Arranged for visits of mission- topic and the leaders. One woman aries on furlough -to speak in the is appointed to be responsible for the church and Sunday-school and in . program for each meeting and is various societies. Had them enter- given the privilege of choosing two tained in homes where they might other members for her. program influence young people to make gifts committee. More time is secured of life, or older people to make gifts for the program by having a monthly of money or of service: meetiI1g of the Executive Committee, . 12. Conducted a Reading Contest. together with the committee chair- Boys and girls secured over 1000 men, just preceding the meeting of readers for a missionary pamphlet the society. At this business meetby taking it to members and secur- ing many items can be disposed of ing autograph of each one who and others shaped up so that they read it. may be presented to the society ex- 13. Presented to congregation the peditiously. Time is· given at· this opportunity· of providing the support meeting of officers for prayer for the for native workers in the foreign meeting of· the society which is to field. One hundred native workers follow. The work of the varim:s were thus provided for by individu- missionary societies in the· church is als in addition to the other work al- co-ordinated by having an annual ready being done. "federation" meeting at which all the 14. Organized a Missionary Cabi- societies are represented. Annual re- net in his congregation which con-· ports are given for the missionary sisted of one representative from development of the whole church and each society or organization in the are discussed. The Girls Guild congregation. This cabinet' held serves a buffet supper at these an- quarterly meetings to outline and co- nual federation meetingS..
Woman's Home Mission
Edited by MRS. O. R. JUDD, Brooklyn, N. Y. Representative of the Council of Women for Home Missions COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME Home Mission Survey MISSIONS Another iuteresting feature of the April Executive meeting was the By IDA W. HARRISON presence of Mr. R. E. Diffendorfer, Director of the Home Mission Sur- Executive Secretary vey of the Interchurch World Move- ment of North America, who spoke The work of the Council of Wo- on the relation of Woman's Boards men for Home Missions has grown of Home Missions to his department. so greatly, both in the publication of He stated that the general object study books and other departments, of the Survey was to make such that it now involves too large a con- a study of religious needs and contribution of time to ask of volun- ditions in our country, as would teers; it has, therefore, been found be the basis for a great, united, connecessary to engage an Executive structive program. He expects to as- Secretary, who could give her whole certain from this study what the time to the task. problems of the home fields are, and what the work needs to bring it up The Council has been fortunate to an effciency basis. As he underin securing the services of Miss stood that no official survey had Florence E. Quinlan to fill this im- ever been made of all the Women's portant position, and she was un- Home Missionary enterprises in the animously elected at the April meet- country, he asked the Council of ing of the Executive Committee. Women for Home Missions to under- take this work with its affiliated so- Miss Quinlan had hoped to serve cieties. on the Foreign Field, and went to In response to this request, the Japan in 1910, under commission of Executive Committee of the Council the Presbyterian Board of Foreign of Women for Home Missions Missions, but was forced to return to agreed to direct a survey of the the United States for personal rea· work of the Women's Home Missons. Since then, she has been ac- sionary Boards affiliated with it. tively engaged in missionary work in New York. For four years she Interchurch World Movement was Secretary of Missionary Education for the New York Synodical At the Interboard Conference, held Society; for seven years, she was a by the Interchurch W orId Movemember of the Presbyterian Wo- ment at Cleveland, Ohio, April thirman's Board of Home Missions, and tieth and May first, the Council of of late she has been doing literary Women, and Women's Home Misand editoral work for the same sionary Societies showed their inter- Board. Her fine catholicity of spirit est in cooperative work by a large embraces all forms of missionary attendance. Nine members of the and educational work, and a whole- Executive Committee of the Council hearted belief in Christian coopera- were present, though some .of them tive work of all kinds; to this she were delegated from their denomiadds a "passion for perfection" in national Boards; more than one-half all matters of detail, which is the of the large number of women encrowning test of conscientious efficiency. Her address is' 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
541
rolled represented Home missionary SAVE THEM FOR THE NATION interests. The President of the Council of Women, Mrs. F. S. Ben- Christian, dost thou see them, nett, is a member of the Executive Coming to our shores; Committee of the Interchurch World Men from every nation. Movement, and was present at all Knocking at our doors? the sessions of the Conference. She Christian, up and meet them, presided brilliantly at the Woman's Meet them ere they're lost; Luncheon, at which seventy-seven Save them for the Nation, women delegates were present. The Save them by the Cross. delightful fellowship of the hour was enriched by brief addresses Christian, dost thou know them; from Miss Elizabeth Goucher, Pro- Brothers, by His Grace; fessor of Sociology at Ginling Col- Clothed in dark-skinned bodies; lege, China; Miss Mary Ashby Cheek, Of another race? Student Secretary of Women's Home Christian, up and save them; and Foreign Boards of the Presby- Save them, ere they're lost, terian Church; Miss Margaret Hodge, Save them for the Nation; Executive Secretary of the Presby- Save them by the Cross. terian Women's Boards of Foreign Christian, dost thou hear them; Missions; Mrs. John S. Allen, Chair- Children in the night; man of the Home Mission Study Crying for their birthright; Course of the Council of Women; Toiling, day and night? Mrs. William H. Farmer, brilliant Christian, up and save them; speaker, writer and mission worker; At whatever cost, Save them for the Nation; Mrs. E. C. Cronk of the Interchurch Save them by the Cross. World Movement; Miss Anna A. Gordon, President of the National Christian, dost thou feel them; Woman's Christian Temperance Souls weighed down by sin; Union; and Miss Mabel Cratty, Living in the darkness; General Secretary of the National Where no light comes in? Board of the Young Women's Chris- Christian, up and save them; tian Associations. These fine speakers Save them ere they're lost; represented many phases of organ- Save them for the Nation; ized work among women, and other Save them by the Cross. lines could have been presented, if the time had permitted. But the -J. R. PADDOCK. most significant thing was, that great departments of home and >I< • >I< . foreign missions, education, literary Americanization is two-fold, and is in- work, and social service in many terwoven and inseparable. It is the ways., for many classes, all were gathered together for united effort Americanization of the alien in a new at this unrivalled hour of responsi- country and the bility and opportunity. While all these agencies have done splendid A mericanization of A mericans in their work in the past, it is but an earnest own country. of the greater things they can ac- complish in the days to come; for This war has pitilessly revealed the the secret of putting people at their fact that we need both. best is giving them a great construc- tive program-and such a program From Americanization Wat' SeN/icc. pamphlet is. presented to them by the Inter- published by National Americanization Com- church World Movement of North mittee.
America. >I< '" >I< If we as religious societies do not see that the immigrant and the children of the immigrant are raised up, most assur- edly the result will be that our children and children's children are pulled down. Either they will rise or we shall sink.
-Theodore Roosevelt.
WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN
In the HighJands cies and philanthropic Boards also are represented officially in its or- By ONe OF 'tHe ORGANlzltRS OF 'tHe ganization. In addition to the Church Boards already named, CONFI!R£NCe which are represented upon the ~x ecutive Committee, the Executive The Southern Mountain Workers' Committee includes also the United Conference, which last conv~ned in States Commissioner of Education, Knoxville, Tennessee, April 1-3, and representatives of the Nursing 1919, for the Seventh Annual ~eet Service of the American Red Cross, ing, is a gathering of unusual mter- the Associate Presbyterian Board of est. It is the outgrowth of a need Home and Foreign Missions, the felt for better acquaintance among Woman's Missionary Council of the those engaged in work in the South- Methodist Episcopal Church, South, ern Highlands. the Missionary Board of the Breth- ren Church, the Domestic and For- The first Conference met in At- eign Missionary Society of the Protlanta, Georgia, April 24, 1918, in re- estant Episcopal Church, the Board sponse to a call issued by the Chair- of Home Missions of the United man of the Department of Mission Presbyterian Church, and the Metho- Work of the. Southern Baptist Home dist Episcopal Church. Independent Mission Board, officials of the Ex- mountain institutions represented ecutive Committee of Home Mis- are Berea College, Berea, Kentucky; sions of the Southern Presbyterian Lincoln Memorial University, Har- Church and of the Northern Pres- rogate, Tennessee; Pine Mountain byterian Board of Home Missions, Settlement School, Pine Mountain, and the Secretary of the Southern Kentucky; H i n d man Settlement Highland Division of the Russell School, Hindman, Kentucky; and Sage Foundation. Others concur- Nashville Agricultural and Normal ring heartily in the call we:e the Institute, Madison, Tennessee. Bishop of the Protestant EpIscopal Missionary District of Asheville, Conference is the keynote of each North Carolina, the American Mis- session. The scope of discussion is sionary Association, New York City, indicated by the following topics, and representatives of the Southern selected from this year's program: Methodist Church and Christian Present trend of mountain work. Is Church. the work adapted to the life of the mountain people? What are church Since the second Conference in schools doing to promote public Knoxville, April, 1914, John C. schools? Discussion of bill for six Campbell, Secretary of the Southern months' schooling for all mountain Highland Division of the Sage counties, by so adjusting taxation Foundation, has acted as Chairman that strong counties help weak. A and Rev. Isaac Messler, formerly practical mountain health program. principal of the Academy of the Re- Makin~ a living in the mountains. formed Church at McKee, Kentucky, 'Possib!lities of economic cooperatIOn. as Recording Secretary. Right of mountain communities to self-determination in matters of re- Early in the life of the Confer- ligion. What should the work of a ence, national, state and philanthrop- denomination be in a community (a) ic agencies were invited to partici- without a church, (b) with several pate; and as a result, since the first churches? Provision for rural meeting, the mountain states and recreation. Practical effects of prothe Federal Government have been hibition in mountain communitiesgenerally represented through Departments of Education, Health, and more or less illicit distilling? Agriculture, as have some of the mountain counties. National agen-
In New Mexico BROTHERHOOD By HARPItR C. DONAI.DSON Make then this message understood- One universal brotherhood Superintendent, Menaul School, Albu·- Through Jesus Christ, to East and West; querque, N. M. One sure relief for men oppressed, One cleansing blood, one source of grace, For the last eight years there has One vision of the Father's face. been an interdenominational confer- ence of the workers in New Mexico. -Lavinia E. Chester. Each year we try to have one main speaker from the outside, mainly for WHAT WOMEN CAN DO FOR inspirational talks, and some special AMERIeANIZATION talks from educators in the state. The rest of the program is discussion 1. Be neighborly with immigrant fami. of mutual problems by the workers lies. Take at least one immigrant family in the different fields. This is usu- and be a friend and neighbor and an in- ally very helpful, giving new ideas terpreter of America to it. as to how to .meet the. many ques- tions that arise. 2. Make every national holiday Ameri- canization Day by asking immigrants to Last fall the Conference met at your homes. Menaul, with an attendance of sixty. Some excellent papers and talks were 3. Give up a part of each day to getting given and quite a little time was acquainted with your immigrant neigh- allotted to the discussion of new bors. methods in teaching and the neces- sity of keeping the curriculum of 4. Teach the language to a class of mission schools up to the standard. alien women, getting your introduction from the schools, settlements or Ameri- The Conference next fall will canization workers. meet at the American Missionary Association school, Rio Grande In- 5. Discourage in your children the use dustrial School, at Albuquerque. We of immigrant nicknames. are hoping to have a good session, and in order to do so need closer 6. See that the sanitary conditions of cooperation on the part of the the stores, houses, streets and vacant lots Boards. We asked last year that in the immigrant sections receive equal each Board send us a speaker each attention from the authorities. year, so that our Conference could last a little longer. The usual time 7. Get together. America is a weak na- consumed now is three or four days. ion so long as class and racial lines pre- I sincerely hope that the Presbyter- vail. ians will give us a speaker next fall, as we have had no one from that 8. Help alien women in industry to Board for three years. make right adjustments and see that they receive such protection as they need. The different denominations in the district work very harmoniously. 9. Encourage aliens to become citizens. There is a verbal agreement among and help introduce them to our political the principals of the schools in and life, if you live in a state where women near Albuquerque that they will not vote. enroll a student from one of the other schools without the consent of 10. Provide special protection, care and his former principal. In accepting guidance for the immigrant mother, as new students we try ·to adhere to our regards unlicensed midwives and objec- own territory as much as possible, tionable lodgers. Help her to keep pace though there is no agreement on with her American-born children. . this point. By "our own territory" I mean the districts where we have C From N'eighoorho(>fJ Ame,.icanization, pam hlet plaza schools. ~i~!~~ed by National Americanization om- Earth's races look to thee: The peoples of the world Thy risen splendors see And thy wide flag unfurled, Float high and be the sign Of love and brotherhood: The pledge, by right divine Of power, to do good.
-Venable.
FROM MANY
EUROPE and even secular papers to publish With ti.e 'Army of Occupation weekly vernacular translations. This DR·. MAITLAND ALEXANDER, will undoubtedly lead many to read pastor of the First Presbyterian the Scriptures for themselves, and we Church of Pittsburgh, is now serving n:joice at every development that as Religious Work Director for the opens the way to the study of the American Army of Occupation. He Word of God, which we believe will .sends a glimpse of his activities, of be the means of leading many to a which the following are extracts: living faith in their Saviour.
"Weare putting on in the Army of Evangelical Christendom.
Occupation about one hundred and fifty religious addresses every week. Portugal and her Students T This is quite a job, as we have to HE Student· Christian Movement in Portugal has scarcely yet provide the speakers, the music, the special music, the advertising and all emerged from the experimental stage. the things which make them a S'lC- It has been misunderstood and even cess. These are all announced as re- opposed by some elements in the ligious meetings, and are not part re- community, but appreciation of its ligion and part movies, or religion service is growing. Some of the and a sparring match, so that the professors have argued that their inthirty thousand or more men who at- terest in the student should not extend go because they want to go. ceed the bounds of the class room, "We have over four hundred men and that a university is not responand women working in this army. sible for the physical and moral wel- We have fifteen amusement units fare of its students. But there is that give shows. We have about six evidence that the leaders of the fumovie outfits in each division. I ture in Portugal will not be satisfied have religious speakers making about with purely intellectual attainment. four addresses every day, and have Many of the students frankly condistributed a hundred thousand hym- fess the need of a dynamic which nals, ten thousand Testaments, five ~hall give them the solution of moral thousand single gospels and tens of Issues. thousands of pieces of miscellaneous There are three centers of learnreligious literature. ing in Portugal, Coimbra, Lisbon A Vatican Decree and Porto. The first named city is the seat of the National University, I T is a noteworthy announcement founded in 1290. The first Students' that the Pope has permitted the Christian Association to be organized Gospels and Epistles at Mass in Italy in Portugal was founded at this Uni- to be read in the vernacular. This versity in 1915, after some prelimi- means that for the first time large nary work by Dr. John R. Mott and numbers of Italians will hear the Robert P. Wilder. A new and mod- Christian Scriptures read in their ern building was dedicated in June own language. It is well known that last year, and has every equipment to in the Latin ·nations only Latin is fill the needs of Coimbra's students.
used in the Mass, and this means that Before the construction of this the Bible is practically an unknown building there was no provision for book to those who hear Mass. A de- physical education or recreation.
sire to know what the Gospels and Students spent· their leisure hours Epistles teach has led . some priests in gambling resorts.
545
EvaiIgeUcal InfluenCes at Work in Ital), ing with great success. Miss Jean- nette McCrory, of the United Presby- EVANGELICAL Christianity in terian Mission, goes every Sunday Italy has greater opportunity in afternoon with her Egyptian teachers larger access to the people than be- to the slum section of the city, gath- fore the war, says Signor Ernesto ers the children about her and teaches Giampiccoi, Moderator of the Wal- them Bible stories and texts. She derrsian Church, who is now in the gives them picture cards, supplied United States. For the first time in through the World Sunday School history, Protestant preachers have Association, Surplus Material Debeen placed on a par with Catholic partment, and prays with the little priests as chaplains. After a Wal- waifs.. Some are boot-blacks, some densian preacher had addressed a are beggars, and most are Moslems. regiment at the front, the colonel N ow they go down the streets singhastened to say: "That's fine. If ing, "Create in me a Clean Heart," only our priests could talk like that. instead of quarreling and swearing. But they can only say Mass." Then More of such street schools are soon as if debating with himself he added: to be opened in other centers. "See here! Why can't you 'talk to all the boys that way after the Father The S)'l'ian Protestant College has said Mass?" So it was arranged, the relation continuing most cor- I T would be difficult to exaggerate dially. the critical situation that faced the Syrian Protestant College during The Waldensian Church has 25,- the war, but its unswerving policy 000 members in its 200 organizations of uprightness made even Turkish in Italy. Throughout the war, all government officials eventually its their missions were kept up, in spite supporters. The faculty believes that of inroads upon the working staff. this fiery furnace ~f trial has proved Places of rest and refuge were main- the right of the College to continue tained, with distinctly religious ac- as a means of advancing the Kingdom tivities. of righteousness in the Near East. The severance of connection between MOSLEM LANDS the College and the Johanniter Hos- pital (German) in July, 1917, has The War and Islam put an additional burden upon the management. To balance the loss will QUESTIONNAIRES sen t to 40 require new surgical and medical . missionary workers in Egypt facilities and a new laboratory. A have led Dr. Zwemer to the conclu- policy of expansion is vigorously adsion that the war has convinced the vocated by the Faculty, as its present Mohammedans that politically they scope of operations is not commenare losing out. It has brought the surate with the need of the great reclaims of Christianity to their atten- construction period. Schools of tion more positively than ever before. Agriculture, Law, Theology, Archae- Where formerly the Koran was re- ology and Biblical Philology should ferred to as authority as against the be established and research work un- Scriptures, Mohammedans now seek dertaken, if the great spiritual purto use the Scriptures as against pose of the College is to be realized. Christianity and read Mohammedan teachings into them. There is less Turks Throw Women out to Starve hostility than formerly and greater appreciation of the missionaries and A TRAGIC situation has developed their work. from the survey of the Ameri- can Committee of Relief for the United Presbyterian. Near East. The Turks, alarmed by the thoroughness· of the Committee's Teruching Street Waifs in Cairo SUNDAY-SCHOOLS for children of the streets in Cairo are meet-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
methods, have thrown out of their A few weeks ago at a mass meetharems the Armenian women they ing in a South Indian jungle, an had enslaved, together with the chil- educated Indian arose and asked, dren they had planned to bring up as "Can the speaker tell us of any ac- Moslems. tual case of definite conversion to Christ with the Mesopotamian Expe- Thirteen hundred of these children ditionary Force?" After the meeting were set adrift in Constantinople Rev. Arthur Foster, an English misfrom Moslem orphanages within a sionary, expressed his pleasure at very few days. There will be not this straightforward question, and his less than half a million destitute chil- further pleasure that the speaker was dren thrown on the Committee for able without hesitation to answer it support. In some places typhus is with stories of individual conversion, raging among the women thrown out as well as a short synopsis of an of Turkish harems. Homes have evangelistic attempt in which three been started in fifteen cities of Asia hundred and eighty soldiers pledged Minor, and preparations made for their allegiance to Jesus Christ as industrial training. their personal Saviour. These were partly new conversions, the re- Trouble Brewing in Afgbanistan mainder cases of reconsecration.
THE situation in Afghanistan has Young Men of India. caused much anxiety in British circles, owing to agitation by Mo- INDIA hammedan agents. It is reported that negotiations have been going on The Bible in Indian Villages between the new ameer of Afghanistan and the ameer of Bokhara for NINETY per cent of India· is the establishment of a central Asian made up of villages, and mis- Mohammedan confederacy, intended sionaries tell how they unexpectedly to include India. Such a union find the Scriptures in these out of would be a great detriment to the the way places. Colporteurs go from growth of Christianity. The former village to village, and usually find the ameer, Habibullah Khan, who was people willing to listen for hours to assassinated last February, was a explanations of the Bible. In one firm friend of the British, but there village, at the close of a meeting, the is more uncertainty about his suc- people stood round, evidently touched cessor, Aman Ullah Khan. The by what they had heard, and an old British are dealing with the situation man, speaking for the others said, with a firm hand and have already "These are good words, but they are defeated the ameer's forces in several new to us. You live so far away. engagements. It will be a long time before we see you again, and when you have gone Among Mesopotamian Forces we forget."
A RELIGIOUS worker among the In another village where there British ,forces in Mesopotamia were no Christians, a man brought says that he can never forget the out a very old worn Urdu Bible, tied eager faces of the men in religious with a string to prevent its falling to discussion groups, seated around a pieces. He told the following story: lantern out on the open desert at Years before he had been a Chrisnight. The men have proved that tian, and had studied his Bible for a they will turn out for Bible study, year and a half before being baptized. even during sleep hours and with the The opposition aroused by his contemperature at 1200 ; and the fact version was very bitter. He was that they were facing homeward gave badly beaten, his wife taken from unprecedented opportunity for evan- him, and being unable to withstand gelistic victories. the pressure he fell back. However, in his heart he still had faith in
Christ, and continued to read the turning by river, canal or path to Scriptures. Now he declares that he their distant villages. If once this wants to .preach the Gospel. He ancient, formal, Oriental church be- asked the missionary to take his comes alive to its responsibility for Bible and have it rebound. India's evangelization, a mighty ad- vance will be made.
,),he N estorian Christians of India A rian Christians held recently in CONVENTION of 30,000 Sy- Savara Mission Field B Travancore, South India, is described ETWEEN the Aryan language zone of North India and the by Dr. G. Sherwood Eddy, who is Dravidian of South India is a non- now holding meetings there. A tra- descript area, covering a little less dition, firmly held by these Nestorian than fifty square miles. Three dis- Christians, is that the Christian tinct races dwell there: the Savaras, churches were founded in South In- numbering about 200,000; the Paidis, dia by the Apostle Thomas. They an outcaste tribe, 50,000 and the were at first strongly missionary, but Paiks, a caste people, 50,000, The after a time wearied of their purpose Savaras are the serfs, the Paidis are and for hundreds of years "fell traders while the Paiks are the land asleep." barons. The Canadian Baptist Mis- About. a hundred years ago, the sionary Society has long been inter- Church Missionary Society of Eng- ested in this field and in 1902 a full land sent out missionaries to 'revital- time missionary was sent, Recently ize this ancient body of Christians, a medical missionary has gone to and twenty-five years ago the Syrian share in the work of freeing these Christians held their first convention. people from fear of .demons, and During the week of the recent show them what Christianity can do convention, Dr. Eddy addressed for them.
meetings day and night and the peo- The past eleven years has seen the ple were called upon to repent and establishment of three Christian . put away their sins. Classes and churches among the hills of that re- conferences had occupied the morn- gion. The first Paidi was baptized in ings; and morning, afternoon and 1907 and more than 450 have fol- evening the main topics discussed lowed his example. Several of the were sin, conversion, the first prin- earliest converts are now preachers, ciples of Christian life, and prepara- and eight or nine are teachers in the tion for evangelism. In the huge schools established, Several boys palm leaf pavilion where the meet- are studying in the Rajah's College ings were held the convention motto and two have entered theological hung- high above the heads of the classes at Cuttack.
seething masses below: "Personal Evangelism. The Greatest Work in SIAM AND TIlE LAOS the World; Winning Men One by Wild Folk of Siam One." I N the mountain recesses not far The final meeting was a dramatic from Tap Teang, Siam, there live a folk of negroid type, who wear no culmination, "As the people united clothing, subsist on roots, tender in intercession a wave of prayer leaves and nuts, and never have a swept the audience like the murmur roof over their heads. They have of the sea." After the address fifty great skill in the use of poisoned N estorian priests scattered among arrows, blown through long reed the people, while hundreds of others pipes, and when they set out on spoke to their neighbors or prayed hunting expeditions they dig a hole for themselves. Ten or twelve Hin- in the ground, leave their small childus also arose and accepted Christ, dren in it and cover the hole with Then the great crowd dispersed, re-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
branches, knowing that wild crea- sion of an adjoining property costtures will give this apparent trap a ing 41,000 ticals, purchased by t~e local Chinese. There are two resIwide berth. A few of these strange folk ap- dences on this ground. An addipeared at the Presbyterian mission in tional building with dormitory and Tap Teang one day at the close of .a class rooms will soon be erected, prayer meeting. When asked their costing approximately 50,000 ticals names they answered in Siamese. also covered by the Chinese sub- One woman they called Narok scription. Bangkok has an esti- (Hades) explaining that she was a mated Chinese population of 300,- terror when her temper was aroused. 000. The White Elephant. To the question, "What re~ig!on have you?" they answered, pomtmg CHINA to the sky, "We worship the G.reat Christl,mization of Chinese Idfe Person up there." They were given shoes and clothing. but were thor- THE Chinese Recorder for April, oughly confused as to the usual 1919. contains a symposium on .the type of work that should be conventions of dress, for the men arrayed themselves in dresses and the undertaken by the Christian Church women struggled into the coats and in China. One writer sees a danger trousers. There were only half that Chinese Christians may become enough shoes to go around. so they s"eflovreesi gonfifz efd~"omt hnuas t usr ha lu t tfienlglowtshheimpswent away happily, "one shoe off in Chinese society and consequently and one shoe on," render little help in improving the social order. It is pointed out that From the White Elephant.
Chinese at Bangkok College the Christian Church must openly and avowedly interest itself in all ONE of . the strongest Chinese problems of social justice and in cur- schools m Bangkok had an en- rent movements to offset this ten- dency' and that more guidance on rollment of nearly 200. In the fore- the p;rt of the Church in remoldit?g Chinese society would result m ground of the premises an idol tem- hearty support of the program of ple served notice ?~ the scho~l's .ad- Christianity from large numbers now prejudiced against it. It is takherence to superstition. The mstLtu- ing too much for granted to sup- pose that if a convert continues to tion apparently prospered, but other study the Bible and attend church he will find out for himself what forces were at work, some of them are the standards of a Christian business man, and how a Christian a1g0~00h0almf iltehse distant, and not long home is different from the non·· students and all the Christian.
teaching staff of this school entered The sphere of the institutional church· is forcibly outlined in the Bangkok Christian College. None senes of articles. Each church are as yet Christians, but ~ll are r~ should study its own community and work acordingly, not according ceiving daily Bible instructIOn. ThiS to Western models only, but with a view to adapting Christian prinhopeful course of events may un- ciples to existing customs.
doubtedly be traced to the influence of an American College in Bethle- bheecma'mePa~' where a Chinese student Christian. wrote letters to his parents in Bangkok, earnestly commending them to the same decision; and they, proud of ~heir son:s attainment, developed an ~nterest m Christianity. withdrew their support from the pagan school and transferred it to the Christian College. Revised Mandarin Bible A The outcome is that the Bangkok LTHOUGH the resolution was passed in 1890 to secure an im- Christian College is now in posses-'
prov~d ver,sion of the Bible in Man- actual experiment. The students and darin, it was not until 1906 that the teachers have an Agricultural Society revision of the New Testament was and are issuing a year-book in Chi- completed; and the translation of the nese to make available to the Chinese Old Testament required twelve people whatever valuahle information years more, the tentative version they secure. The purpose of this de- being completed in 1918. The com- partment is to help Chinese Chris- mittee of translators was both rep- tians to develop strong character, resentative and cosmopolitan. It self-support and a strong Chinese was also international and inter- church and home life.
denominational, and all were earnest in the desire to leave nothing undone Union Language School in Peking M to produce a version which should be UCH attention is now being given to language study in worthy of its mission to some 300,- 000,000 of the human family. Every China and the North China Union part of the work received individual Language School registers an attendand collective scrutiny. Like the ance of 164, of whom 116 are mis- Corinthians of old, each translator sionary students, and the remainder had an interpretation from his own from business houses and foreign leviewpoint, but no rendering was gations. Everyone of the staff has adopted without agreement of th,e been put through a thorough series Chinese in regard to it. Thus many of psychological tests, and only those ,stumbling-blocks that would tum who are adapted to teaching are seaway educated Chinese from reading lected. The present staff of Chinese it were removed. Correspondents teachers numbers 45, and.a group of as far apart as Yunnan and Kansu, foreign teachers supplement the Kiangsu and Szechwan, write most work of native instructors. In adcordially of the reception given the dition to class work each student is new version. visited at his home or office by a Missionary Agriculture in China teacher, selected by the Director of the School, for an hour or two hours WHEN a Missionary society be· a day. This teacher has been pres- gins to teach agriculture one ent at the classes which the student might wonder where the modern ap- himself has attended, so that he plication of Christianity is likely to knows exactly what has been done lead. Canton Christian College agri- and the whole work is thoroughly cultural department is apparently of coordinated.
great potential value. The thorough- Outside the actual teaching of ness of this "educational agriculture" Chinese, the school is performing a does not stop with reading books very serviceable mission in the life about farming in the college library; of the community, and incidentally the pupils grow crops and cattle on it has played no sm,all part in bring- an ordinary Chinese hillside while the ing the British and American com- farmers look on in wonder because munities in Peking closer together.
their own efforts are not so success- ful. The Chinese farmer has his rule JAPAN—CHOSEN of thumb and afarmer's instinct, but Chair of ChrIstianity Proposed T simple and scientific principles as to HE Japanese Government's spe- cial commissions on Education has he has not learned many of the most how to prevent disease and how to recommended the establishment of select seed, or how to use machinery courses of study in Shinto in con- for irrigation. nection with the Tokyo Imperial The College has just issued the Universities and other schonls. This first scientific agricultural treatise adds interest to a recent gift of yen published in China. It is based upon 50,000, made by Mr. K. Watanabe
19191 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
to the Tokyo Imperial University It is not clear whether anything . for the study of Christian philoso- will come of it, but in all such move- phy. The university has not yet ac- ments among the Buddhists of Japan cepted the gift, though it is not clear one can see what a tremendous in- on what grounds it can be declined, fluence Christianity is having in this since the institution has for many land, for in practically every case years given courses in Buddhist and these activities are directly traceable other philosophies. In the depart- to the Christian impact. ment of philosophy at the Imperial University there are already two Japan Evangelist. Christians on the Faculty, who prob- ably contrive to say a good deal Korea Beady to Become Christian about Christian ethics in their lec- tures to classes. DR. SYNGMAN RHEE, Secre- tary of State of the Korean Henry C. Mable Memorial In Japan Provisional Government, recently stated that Korea was tired of idols YOKOHAMA is one of the six and would become Christian if she cities in Japan cited by the Na- were freed from Japan. This would tional Christian Educational Associa- make Korea the first independent tion of Japan as imperatively need- country in Asia to become Christian, ing a Christian School for boys. It but there is little prospect of political has a population of 500,000 and is release from Japanese control. The growing very rapidly. There is no Koreans have been trained under Christian Boys' school in the entire American missionaries and have improvince, and the two non-Christian bibed from them democratic ideas. schools are entirely inadequate. The Seven of the eight members of the Christian governor of the province Provisional Government Cabinet are has taken a keen interest in the mat- Christians. Hatred of idol worship ter, and urges not only a middle increases the detestation with which school, but also a commercial col- the Koreans meet the Japanese relege, and insists upon an out and out quirement that they bow to the Mi- Christian institution. The governor kado's image. Hundreds of the Kohas induced the Provincial Council reans have been persecuted and seto sell to the American Baptist For- verely punished for failure to comeign Mission Society a desirable site ply with this order. for a school which will be a memorial to the late Henry C. Mabie, a NORTH AMERICA former secretary of the Society. Church Membership in 1918 Buddhist Universities LAST year's gain in church mem- SEMI-AUTHENTIC reports credit bership aggregated only about the Buddhist forces of Japan with 284,599 for all denominations, aca plan to unite in one strong, central cording to Dr. H. K. Carroll's stauniversity. There is also a report tistics. There are several causes from the strong Honwanji of Kyoto which may explain this unusual that the leaders of that influential situation, the most influential of division of Buddhism are planning to which was undoubtedly the taking establish a Woman's University in of so many young ministers from the near future. A few years ago their pulpits to serve as chaplains in when the Woman's Christian College the Army and Navy, and for welwas beginning to take definite shape, fare work under the Red Cross, the there was soine talk of a Buddhist Y. M. C. A. and other organizations Woman's College and one report had in the camps and cantonments in this it that already yen 80,000 had been country. The closing of so many pledged. churches during the epidemic of last fall may also have affected the num- ber of accessions. The totalnum- ber of church, members now reaches
41,565,908, distributed as follows: Side who cannot speak English, and Roman Catholic, 14,927,466; Metho- since the need is felt of one language dist, 7,579,311; Baptist, 7,213,922; for one great American people a Lutheran, 2,443,812; Presbyterian, campaign has been started to make 2,259,358; Disciples of Christ, 1,511,- English the universal language in 160; Protestant Episcopal, 1,072,321; that district. Placards have been Congregational, 815,396; Reformed, placed in libraries, schools and other 519,962; United Brethren, 367,996 institutions, telling about the classes Evangelical, 209,697; Evangelical which have been started to teach the Synod, 260,045; Eastern Orthodox foreign-speaking people the English Churches, 472,794. language. The New York Board of Congregationalist and Advance. Education is behind the movement and is furnishing the teachers and Aliens in aNew Jersey Town classrooms. A display of posters, ONE must hark back as far as printed in various languages, pass on the Tower of Babel to duplicate to the Greek, the Russian and the the confusion of tongues that exists Pole information to this effect: in I;'erth Amboy, New Jersey. Wit~ "Learn English. Join the English ness the following statistics of nac classes nearest your home." tionalities: Hungarians, 1,074; Aus- The Congregationalist and Advance.
trians, 908; Russians, 839; Slavs, A 727; Danes, 651; Poles, 627; Ger- Pole Bnys up Bibles mans, 247; Italians, 365; Jews, 98; POLE recently called at the Greeks, 73; Norwegians, 57; Cana- headquarters of the Bible So- dians, 54. Individuals in smaller ciety in New York City and asked groups are divided by nationalities as for Bibles in his native tongue. He follows: 6 English, 39 Scotch, 18 was told at first that there were none French, 10 Portuguese, 2 Cuban, 26 available, but it chanced that at that Roumanian, 8 Spanish, 4 West In- very moment there were being deliv- dian, 15 Welsh, 1 Turk, 2 Mexican, ered. in the office a consignment of 11 Swiss, 5 Bohemian, 4 Serbian, 2 125 copies. The Polish customer in- Icelander, 3 African, 5 Lithuanian, 1 stantly said he would take them all, Finn and 1 Filipino. Nor is this the and paid for them in cash then· and whole story. The aliens classified as there. He was asked to what Church Jews and Slavs include nationalities he belonged, but answered that he from Southeastern Europe not yet was not a church member at all, ap- parently implying that he did not familiar to us by name. English-speaking Pro t est ant profess even to be a Christian. But churches are doing little for these he said he had found that the Bible foreigners with the exception that was a good book to read, and it did the First Presbyterian Church main- folks a lot of good to read it, and tains a Sunday-school, with occas- therefore he was going out to sell it ional preaching services. All the among his people.
aliens are clannish, having their own The Continent.
churches, their own amusements, their own newspapers, and they re- Union 01 Neighborhood Houses T tain, so far as possible, the cus- HIRTY-SEVEN Neighborhood Houses of New York City have toms of the countries from which they came. Need one go farther to formed a union to increase their infind a fertile field for missionary ef- fluence. The plan of the new orfort? ganization means Americanization in A Plan of AmericanJzation the broader sense, in bringing to- gether for mutual understanding the I T is said that there are about 150,- various forces that make up our city; 000 persons in New York's East Americanization for those who
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
through their. point of vantage have ated in 1871. Ogden Hall, a memor- forgotten or failed to comprehend ial to Robert C. Ogden, Hampton's what America really means, and senior trustee, a statesman who de- Americanization for those who have voted his energies to bringing about sought this country in the expecta- a sympathetic understanding of the tion of having an opportunity to put Negroes' problem was formally pre- in living form the hop.e that lies sented to the Board of Trustees, and within them. addresses were made by Hon. Wil- liam Howard Taft, Major R. R. Federation of Missions to Immigrants :Moton; and greetings were brought from the American Missionary As- AMONG the steps taken toward sociation, which in 1867 bought the more complete cooperation among tract of 157 acres on which Hamp- Home Mission Agencies during the ton Institute has been built. Gifts past year was the Federation of all amounting to almost $50,000 were missionary and immigrant aid agen- announced. cies working at Ellis Island. The name adopted is the "General Com- Our Duty to Mexican Immigrants mittee of Missionary and Immigrant Aid Work at Ellis Island." Their WHEN the absorbing problems of purpose is to promote the spirit of the war demand less attention cooperation, to keep on record plans the Mexican situation will come of work, to study the social needs again to the fore. Since 1910 Mexof the immigrants, to make the serv- ico has been in a state of volcanic ice more effective. eruption, hurling out thousands of refugees into the cities and towns of Twenty-four organizations are al- our southwest country; and there has ready members of the Federation been a "don't care" attitude toward and have appointed representatives. them which has allowed anarchistic These include Protestants and Ro- tendencies to thrive. The great mass man Catholics. Hebrews have been of Mexicans in this country are invited but have thus far not be- peons whose lot before coming here come affiliated. The chairman of was intolerable; long hours of toil the Central Committee is the Rev. were never rewarded with a wage Chas. P. Tinker, D. D.; and the Sec- which sufficed to pay their debt to retary is the Rev. William S. Beard. employers, but in the copper mines Meetings are held each month. of Arizona the humblest laborer re- ceives at least five dollars a day. The work of these organizations But money will not always transform consists in giving material aid to a hovel into a home, and right here those in need, in developing a spirit lies the secret of the problem. The of friendship, holding joint celebra- social and spiritual metamorphosis of tions, as at Christmas, a discussion of Mexican immigrants has not kept problems at the monthly meetings pace with their material betterment. and rendering various kinds of serv- They have not responded to Americe to the immigrants. ica's best ideals because they have not come in contact with the best Hampton's Fiftieth Anniversary type of Americans. The Church must show these people what Amer- THE Semi-centennial exercises of ica has to offer in opportunities for Hampton Institute, Virginia, right living. May 1-3, brought together a large company of representative white and The Shantymen's Christian Association colored citizens, many of whom had won distinction in the political, pro- THE missionaries of the Shantyfessional, business and religious life men's Chri5tian Association of of America. More than ZOO Hamp- Canada agree that the past year was ton Alumni returned, including all five of the first class that was gradu-
the best in their experience. One A Union Gradnte School in Urngnay missionary was told by the foreman of the camp in which he had spoken A GRADUATE School of Theol- ogy and Social Science is to be the night previous that he would located at Montevideo, capital of rather have that message than a the Republic of Uruguay, one of the most progressive of the South Amerpresent of a thousand dollars. The ican cities. This school will be conoldest missionary, Mr. P. A. Grand- ducted under the auspices of the jean, had the privilege of preaching Protestant Missions cooperating in to many hundreds of French Cath- Latin America. The faculty are to olics in their own language. In one be selected as men especially caor two camps individuals showed pable to present practical Christian their antagonism, but hundreds asked truth and lives of service to the peohim for Testaments, and when the ple of Latin America, especially the supply he had was exhausted gave young men of the colleges and unihim their addresses to have them versities. mailed to them. The eleventh annual meeting of this Association Social Center in Buenos Aires was held in Toronto, April 16. A SOCIAL service project recently Evangelical Christian. inaugurated in the Second Metho- dist Episcopal Church of Buenos LATIN AMERICA Aires is making an impression on the The Call of the Carajas city. Adjoining the church is a THE customs of the Carajas are vacant lot owned by the city, and as rudimentary as those of any the municipal authorities have granted people on earth. They live about a the privilege of using it, under rethousand miles from the coast of vocable license, for outdoor recrea- Brazil, a journey of four days by rail tion. Tennis courts and other recrefrom Rio de Janeiro, followed by three weeks on horseback and sev- ational facilities have been installed, eral weeks down stream in a canoe; through country without the slight- and under the guidance and instrucest trace of civilization, inhabited by people who acknowledge no other tion of the young people of the law than their own traditions. Unlike most Brazilians, they are not church, scores of children enjoy the idol-worshippers, and are largely free benefits of this playground; while from gross immorality and cruelty. the efforts made to bring them un- der Sunday-school influence and Interest in these savages took prac- teaching are meeting with success. tical shape in the minds of a little group of New Zealand women, and The church also has a dispensary; last October their first missionary started for that lonely region, but and medical, surgical and dental unhappily he never reached Brazil. He died of influenza on the voyage. treatment, all free of cost, thus Mr. Frederick C. Glass, a missionary at Maceio, Brazil, is now on his way touching needy humanity on another to visit the Carajas to study the situation, for to his mind the evan- surface. ' gelization of this tribe is not only important in itself, but is a step to- A Missionary Ranch in Chile ward reaching the four hundred other Amazon tribes., among whom ANOTHER unique enterprise has there is not yet one Gospel mission- recently been launched in South ary. ' America by the Methodist Episcopal Church. As an instruction center of agriculture and industry for the many thousands of Chilean peons, scarcely above the status of serfs,.a 3,700 acre estate at Angol, Southern Chile, has been purchased. This ranch was formerly owned by Man- uel Bunster, an English land baron, and is ideal for this contemplated,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
experiment in applied Christianity, work has recently been inaugurated with its extensive fruit orchards, well in Inhambane which aims to guide stocked barns and an abundance of this awakening independence into the modern agricultural appliances. proper channels. The Hartzell School opened in April, 1918, with ten pu- AFRICA pils, but enrolled thirty-three before the end of the month, and the aver- Unoccupied Fields in AfrIca age attendance is now about forty. The subjects taught are sewing, I N many parts of Africa there are housework, arithmetic, reading and large areas with no Christian mis- Bible. A special training class is. sionary whatever. In the French held for candidates for church mem- Congo there are eight million al- bership. most untouched; three million in the Kamerun; a quarter in Portuguese War Sets a New Standard for Wives Guinea and again in French Guinea a million and a half unreached by PRACTICALLY every able-bodied any missionary agency. In the Bel- man in the French colonies of gian Congo there are some mission North Africa saw service in the war. stations, but immense areas abso- The sojourn of so large a proportion lutely unclaimed, and something like of these Moslems in Europe, in close fifteen million people not touched by contact not only with European any program of any church what- troops but with the American "dough ever. There are vast areas in South boys" is a fundamental factor in the Africa, desert lands for the most breaking up of prejudice against part and with fairly slender popula- Christianity. A changed attitude tion, that have yet to be claimed; toward women is noticeable in the while in East Africa there are some- fighting men from North Africa as. thing like six and a half millions of another result of the war's influence. people still unreached by any evan- A number of Moroccans and other gelizing agency. Summing up all tribesmen married French girls of these areas, with those of the Sudan, the lower classes while in France. Nigeria, Egypt, Tripoli, Somaliland Although the lot of these 'girls is inand the others, the aggregate num- deed a hard one, because of the· ber of people not yet claimed for primitive condi:tions under which Christ is more than seventy million. they must live in their adopted coun- try, they have opened the eyes of Raising the Status of Women the men to the fact that a woman. can be something more than a chat- ABOUT the only commodities that tel. have not advanced in price are girls in Inhambane, East Africa. Schools for girls in both Algiers. One hundred and fifty dollars, or the and Constantine are beset at times. equivalent in cattle, was formerly by Moslem men seeking wives with the amount required to buy a girl, more learning than those of former but recently the price has been half days. that or less. Strange as it may seem, this buying and selling is in favor Bible Study in South Africa with the girls themselves, and the sum asked isa matter of no little T HE numerical strength of the· pride to the girl. Christian missions, Student Movement in South however, have reacted on this atti- Africa can be gauged by the fact tude. There is a manifest tendency that 9,000 copies of its Bible Study on the part of many women, both. in course are circulated annually. Of the. missions and out of them, to as- these nearly' 3000 go to members,- sert their womanhood, and there is every indication that the status of the rest to outsiders. About lo. women is graduany being raised. A per cent of the members are univer~. sity students. the others normal stu–
dents, and boys and· girls in the Sarawak, Borneo. What was for- principal schools of the Cape Free merly a wild jungle has been trans- State and the Transvaal. formed into a prosperous farm col- ony by the help of the English Rajah Record of Christian Work. of Sarawak, and Mr. Davis, an American Methodist missionary. Liberia the Gateway to Africa One of the colonies consists of DR. N. H. B. CASSELL, Presi- about one hundred settlers, who dent of the College of Liberia, came from Hinghwa, China, estab- recently addressed the students of lished themselves on the bank of the Hampton Institute and made a Egan River, and later moved up to strong appeal to Afro-Americans. the neighboring hillsides. After cut- ting down the trees and clearing the "He who follows history at present, bush they began to plant their rice he who reads the signs of the times, and to raise vegetables and other must realize that Africa, in the re- crops. Foreign agricultural machinadjustment which is now taking place ery was introduced, but there were at the world's great conference, is no horses to draw the plows, mowgoing to be assigned its proper place, ers and reapers. When they tried that its people are no longer to be the water buffaloes, the frightened exploited; that international justice animals ran away. After harnessing and international good will will be men to the machines and finding this realized and exercised upon the same method impracticable they finally principle as personal justice. adopted the use of the steam tractor, and so solved the problem. "Think of Liberia as being pos- -sibly the great pivot wheel around Churches and schools have been which is to be evolved that great re- established, and the colony presents public in Africa; that Liberia, having a very prosperollS appearance. It is been established on the West Coast thus helping to solve the complex of Africa through American philan- problems of how to reclaim jungles, thropy, is going to be the gateway how to establish colonies of settlers through which is to be established in from over-populated China and how Africa a great democracy. Liberia to develop self-supporting Christian has stood for seventy years contend- communities in Malaysia. ing with tremendous odds while all of Africa except it has been divided Former German New Guinea among European peoples. Liberia stands for quite a different thing GERMAN New Guinea will long than the methods of the peoples who carry the marks of German adhave been colonizing Africa. It ministration. Now that the colony stands for republican ideas in Africa. is under the control of the Austral- It stands for the establishment of the ians, it is curious and interesting to religion of Jesus Christ in Africa. note some of the effects of the It stands for the adoption of a na- change. Mr. Thomas J. McMahon tional ideal." reports in Chamber's Journal, that the native, having long been treated Dr. Cassell urged upon young with harshness, is inclined to regard Afro-Americans their responsibility his new freedom as absolving him of going into Africa to carry the from all obligations, and reacts to Christian ideals which will build a make him idle and useless. "Me no strong nation. frighten of government" is his in- dependent attitude; while his power Record of Christian Work. of cunning is manifesting a new de- velopment. ISLANDS OF THE SEA New Guinea has great possibilities. An Industrial Experiment in Borneo Nat one of the tribes, Mr. McMahon AN interesting and successful ex- periment in establishing a colony of Chinese laborers is reported from
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
tells us, is low in standards of intelligence. At the missions one can find Dr. George Heber Jones of New York T natives capable of doing every sort HE REV. GEORGE HEBER JONES, one of the pioneer misof mechanical work; some even have literary potentialities, sufficient to sionaries to Korea, died on May 11 make good teachers. At the missions, in Florida after a protracted illness.
correct English is insisted upon, and He was born at Mohawk, N~ Y., Au- the former outlaridish dialect is not gust 14, 1867, and was converted in allowed. In that tongue one asks a revival in his home church, litica, for a cross-cut saw with the for- N. Y., in 1883. He went as a mis- mula: "Pull him, he come; push him, sionary of the Methodist Episcopal he go; all time eat tree." Or if one Church to Korea in 1887.
asks for a bottle of beer he says: His first five years in Korea were "fight em bottle," a metaphor the spent largely in the educational work "Drys" would approve. in Seoul as professor and president Sumatra, Is1and or Superstition of the Paichai High school and Col- lege. In 1892, Dr. Jones went to E R. HIBBARD enjoys the dis- Chemulpo, to open up Methodist • tinction of being the first white work on the West Coast of Korea, missionary sent to southern Sumatra. where he made his headquarters for He has recently come from this is- the next ten years. When he went land of superstition and relates some to Chemulpo, there were no Chris- interesting facts about its people. tians in all that region. Ten years Roughly speaking, the island is as later there was a presiding elder of long as from New York to Chicago the District, every church of which and about 400 miles wide. It has he had himself organized; every a population of 5,000,000, but could preacher and class leader was a son easily support all the people in the in the Gospel to him; and he had United States, so great are its possi- personally baptized every church bilities in trade and agriculture. It member in the District.
has a polyglot mixture of races. At Dr. Jones was a member, 1902 to a single service in Mr. Hibbard's 1905, of the Board of Translators of church, held in the Malay tongue, the Bible into Korean. He was Vice- may be seen Ambonese, Menadenese, President of the Korea Branch of Japanese, Malays, British, Indians, the Royal Asiatic Society from its Chinese and Javanese, besides Dutch founding until his permanent re- and English, not forgetting that the moval from Korea. Dr. Jones' lit- preacher is an American. Idolatry, erary works include the following witchcraft and animism, mixed with in Korean: "Studies in the Old Mohammedanism, is their religion. Testament"; "The Korean Methodist Slavery is not yet stamped out, and Hymn Book"; "Korean-English Dic- polygamy is universal. The wealthy tionary of Scientific and Technical classes are Arabs and Chinese. Every- Terms." He was Korea Correspond- thing American is much sought ent of the London Times from 1893 after-one young Arab desired the to 1894, and editor of the Korean missionary to bring him back an Repository from 1895 to 1898. He American wife-and there is the wrote in English: "Korea-The most intense longing to learn Eng- . Country and People," one of a series lish. Palembang supports a school of little books on Methodist Missions.
of 160 pupils and four teachers, In 1916 Dr:. Jones was elected Sec- where all primary and some high retary of the Foreign Missions Con- school subjects are taught. This city ference of North America, and for a of 60,000 people has but one white number of years was editor of the doctor. All the other practice is in Annual Report of the Methodist the hands of witches. Board of Foreign Missions.
MISSIONARY LIBRARY'
The Mastery of the Far East. By importance; the power of Protestant Arthur Judson Brown. Illustra- missions is described as the chief fac- ted. 8vo, 671 pp. $6.00 net. tor in Korea's awakening. The "po- Charles Scribner's Sons, New litico-missionary" complication which York, 1919. has arisen from the annexation by Korea, the thumb and Japan the Japan is disturbing to all Christians and distressing to Koreans. The fingers, extending from the eastern problem is greater than appears on "Coast of the eastern hemisphere, are the surface and while many wil1 be the subject of this important and less patient with Japan than is Dr. fascinating volume. Dr. Brown has Brown, it is worth while to gain his made special study of his subject for balanced viewpoint. Nowhere else "Some fifteen or twenty years, has vis- can we find such an array of valited the lands of which he writes uable information concerning Korea and Japan and their relations to the and by close contact with Japanese present crisis. Many may disagree :and Korean leaders, and with Amer- with Dr. Brown as he endeavors to ican missionaries has gained an in- steer a course between the pro-Japtimate knowledge and viewpoint that anese attitude of Prof. George Trumwould be impossible for many. bull Ladd and the anti-Japanese view- point by Prof. Jeremiah Jenks. The The first two divisions of this vol- subject is a difficult one to treat, but Ume describe Korea and its strategic this volume seeks to present the facts importance, its history, people, cus- clearly and with justice. There is toms and religion. The Japanese much here that prepares one to underannexation of Korea was in part the stand the Japanese and their system natural outcome of the war with Rus- of government and the underlying sia, but both the war and the annexa- causes of the present disturbances in tion were due to Japan's desire to Korea. gain a foothold on the continent of Asia. Dr. Brown views sympathet- Adventures in Alaska. By S. Hall ically the Japanese national ambition Young. Illustrated. 12mo. 181 pp. and points out the material advan- $1.25 net. Fleming H. Revel1 Co., tages to Korea in Japanese rule. The 1919. new regime has, however,' crowded Pioneering is always full of advenout, the old without much reference ture and Dr. Young's experiences in to justice or mercy. Alaska-among the Indians and the The third section of the book re- miners and Eskimos-are full of ex- citing and dramatic episodes. Through lates to Japan as a growing imperial them all Dr. Young proved himself a power and is fil1ed with valuable in- man and a Christian missionary. This formation. The chapter on Japan volume describing his adventures and America will be read with par- will be of especial interest to young ticular interest. Dr. Brown advises people. The narratives have' to dl) against arousing the antagonism of with the stampedes for gold, with hunting bears and walrus and with the Japanese, but thinks that with the people of the Great Northwest. fair and courteous treatment the Every young boy and many old two countries should continue in boys will find these stories of real life most fascinating and stimulating. friendly relationship. The last one hundred pages relate to Christian missions in the Far East and are especially important in the present crisis. The influence of Christian missions is shown in all its 558 A Pilgrim in Palestine. By John Asiatic ambitions. He shows the in- H. Finley.. Illustrated. 8vo, 251 fluence of the war on national spirit, pp. :1"2.00 net. Scribners, 1919. education and caste; the economic Thif, is a most interesting account improvement and its results; the many changes and reforms in cusof Dr. (Col.) Finley's journeys on toms and beliefs, the religious movefoot in Palestine just after General ments and results of education and Allenby's recovery of the Holy Land the agitation for Home Rule. Transfrom the Turk. Dr. Finley is not formations, however, are slow of only an educationalist and an author, operation and must be awaited with but is a poet, a famous pedestrian, and patience. a Red Cross Relief Colonel. Several of his excellent poems appear inter- The chapters are informing and ~persed with his descriptions of Gen- fined with striking facts. Dr. Fisher eral Allenby, and his observations and sees the difficulties, but is confident experiences in his journey from Beer- as to the outcome. While not prisheba to Dan. The book is well writ- marily religious in its purpose and ten from a literary point of view and contents, the book is Christian in interesting reading, but does not add viewpoint and contains exceedingly materially to our knowledge of the valuable information for those who country and people, to our under- are interested in the Christianizing of standing of the present problems or India. to our information on Red Cross relief work in the tragic days of the A Crusade of Compassion. By Dr. Deliverance. Belle J. Allen and Caroline At- water Mason. 12mo, 240 pp. India's Silent Revolution. By Fred 50 cents boards; postage 7 cents. B. Fisher. Illustrated. 12mo. Central Committee on the United 192 pp. $1.50. The Macmillan Study of Foreign Missions. West Co., New York, 1919. Medford, Mass., 1919. .India is in the throes of a revo- Mrs. Mason, the capable writer of lution. Only faint echoes and pulsa- many volumes. has here turned her tions reach America to indicate the attention to editing the valuable disturbance. Some signs are Cllt out material gathered by Dr. Belle J. by the censors and others are weak- Allen of India. Medical mission work ened or disappear in traversing the is conceived as a crusade in which twelve thousand miles. N everthcless the forces of mercy and technical India is being revolutionized eco- skill are marshaled and arrayed to nomically, socially, politically and overcome physical ignorance, negreligiously. The story is fascinating, lect, and disease. The medical misthough in some respect disturbing, sionaries are described as a "Batand Dr. Fisher has written his own talion of Life." Practically all nonpersonal observations in a thought Christian peoples are in the batcompeIling fashion. As a missionary, talions of physical as well as of a traveler and a mission Board of- moral and spiritual death; 10,000,000 ficial at home he has viewed the situ- are ignorant, indifferent or neglecation, the forces and the changes at ted and only about 1,000 medical close range and at a distance as to missionaries are seeking to serve both time and space. This is a dis- them. As a result, the diseases of tinct advantage for perspective and heathen lands spread to America for vivid impressions. and England.
Dr. Fisher first describes the im- After a general description of the portant position of India and the pos- problems and work of medical missible influence that her three hundred sions, the book takes up specifically millions may exert either on the side the conditions in India, China, Korea, of Anglo-Saxon culture or of lower the Philippines, Siam, Moslem lands and Africa. The detailed facts and other water courses. It is a story interesting. incidents add life and worth reading. color to the story and its appeal. One lady, uninterested in foreign "The Great Plan:" How to Pay for missions, was given the hook to read. She assented rather unwil- the War. A. E. Stilwell. 160 lingly but when she returned the volume, she remarked, "Thank you pages. $1.00. Published by Hod- for loaning that book; I have read der & Stoughton, London, New it twice and want to get every other York, Toronto. 1918. woman in our church to read it." The author promises that if his Mexico–Today and Tomorrow. By great "Plan" is worked out after the E. D. Trowbridge. 8vo. 282 pp. war is over no country need fear $2.00. The Macmillan Co. conscription of wealth, too heavy Mr. Trowbridge gives a concise taxation, or bankruptcy. His fun- damental thought is; "If the world history of Mexico down to the pres- unites to secure peace and to limit ent day with detailed accounts of armies and navies, this tremendous the recent presidents, the revolu- saving could be capitalized. It is tionary parties, the new constitution perfectly feasible to use this world and the present material needs. Lit- saving as a SiI1king Fund, and if tle is said of the religious situation this be done, there is available at . or of the outlook for evangelical once as much wealth as all the Christanity. The author is an ad- gold and silver mines in the world mirer of Carranza and hopes for a could produce in 250 years, and ~radnal restitution of order in Mex- those on earth to-day would derive the benefit as prosperity would at ICO. once ensue."
Captain Bickel of the Inland Sea. Mr. Stilwell, who was formerly By Charles K. Harrington. Illus- President of the Kansas City and trated. 8vo. 301 pp. $1.75. Re- Mexico Orient Railroad, considers vell,1919. that the Sinking Fund will be, the Captain Luke W. Bickel was a most satisfactory and stable that has ever existed, as the whole world unique character who did a unique will stand behind it. This cash con- piece of work. As a missionary of sideration, he believes, will also the American Baptist Foreign Mis- assure one hundred years of peace. sion Society he traveled for twenty years up and down the Inland Sea The Religious Digest. An Illus- of Japan, helping the people and trated monthly. $2.00 a year. 156 preaching the Gospel. He came es- Fifth Ave., New York. pecially into contact with Japanese who lived on small islands and re- This new religious "Journal of mote from routes of travel. These Service" has recently been launched islanders were ignorant and immoral to do in the religious world what the –even to the extent of promiscuous Literary Digest does so successfully sexual relationships. They greatly in the secular sphere. It is published needed the message and the influ- by Mr. Theodore Waters, formerly ence brought by Captain Bickel on of the Christian Herald. The first the little "Fukuin Maru." The work few numbers' are attractive and exwas fruitful, as many incidents in the hibit editorial ability. The departlife story reveal. . ments include Religion in Industry, Social Interests, The League and the Captain Bickel's many adventures Church, Religious Education, Commake his biography of great in- munity Centers, Views of the Denomterest. The work is of a type that inations, The Church Abroad, News might well be undertaken on many and Religion in Books. New Missionary Books You Need On the Themes of Mission Study for 1919-20: Christian Americanization: Christianity and Human Conservation THE LATEST PUBLIOATIONS OF THE MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT NEW LIFE OURRENTS IN OHINA…… . … .. …………… '" Mary Ninde Gamewell New lIre currents are vitalizing and rcgeneratmg Old OhIna. A "movjng picture" of the wonderful work be~ng done by Chr..stian MISS ons Physic-ally and spiritually they a.re he!pmg to develop a mighty DatIOn. Illustrated.
Price, cloth, 75 cents; paper, 50 cents; postpaid.
FOREIGN MAGIC……………………………. . .. .Jean Carter Cochran The "magic" is wrought by Christian physic:ans in Ohinf'. Here is a book that will appeal to a wide circle of readers. A serious subject touched with a gentle humor.
Illustrated. Price, $1.50, postpaid.
CHRISTIAN AMERICANIZATION.. . . …………. " . Dr. Charles A. Brooks Here is a valuable book for those who are striving to accomplish 1Jhe "after-the-war" tasks. It outlines the part the church must take in solving new problems. Illustrated.
Price, cloth, 75 cents; paper, 40 cents; po~tpaid.
MINISTERS OF MERCy………………………… . ……… . Dr. James H. Franklin The stories of ten famous medical miss~ona.rjes are told in the ten chapters of this book. Wonderful glirnpsfls oi Christian missions in the F'ar East. Illustrated.
Price, cloth, 75 cents; paper, 50 cents; pOBtpaid.
THE HONORABLE CRIMSON TREE ……………………………….. .. Anila B. Ferris The boys and girls of China, with their childish hopes and trials and ambitions are singularly like the boys and girls here at home, EIght bright and wholesome stories.
Illustrated. Price, cloth, 60 cents; paper, 40 cents; postpaid.
ORDER FROM YOUR DENOMINATIONAL MISSION BOARD OR FROM THE MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT, 160 Fifth Ave., New York The Missionary Training Institute NYACK-ON-HUDSON How beautifUl upon the mountains are the teet of him that bringeth GOOD TIDINGS ~ -~=-.
Our Motto CHRIST 'iltbe eur~abiour mbole 1Sible ~andifier to :rt;ealer tbe aub UlboleUlorIb UComingiting ~ I ~ THE INSTITUTE ON THE HILLSIDE DC, rOU KNOW THE GOOD TIDINGS? Is a Great Training Camp for Defender'< of Is the Bible an open book to you? Is the tile Faith, Heralds of the Cross, Ambassadors of wealth or itR m<l'!.age of Light and Lite' and God. Hope rea]?
00 YOU POSSESS A BURNING LOVE FOR SOULS?
Is the greatest desire of your life the salvation a.nd sanctifica.tion of men? Are you awake to #-1., … trllf1 condition of helplessness and misery, now and eternally, of every soul without Christ?
.. ""ally havo tile call of God and want to learn how to corry the GOOD TIDINGS to .2r at- home or abroad, come to THE MISSIONARY TRAINING CAMP ON THE HILLSIDE WRITE FOR CATALOG NYACK, N. Y. OPENS SEPTEMBER 9th. 1919 I Please mention THE MISSIONARY RE;VIE;W OF 't1I~ WORLD in writing to advertisers ~ ·PAC…-T..S…..W…OR~T.H-".Q""U,,O"T,,JN….G….~ Alaska has passed a stringent anti-liquor law. This reveals a high standard of public opinion. All over Alaska native councils have been formed which give tone to local sentiment and promote friendly cooperation between the native and white population. (See page 498.) … … … 01< … …
A $200,000 "Church of All Nations" was completed and dedicated in Boston last year. Its industrial department for the destitute paid over $75,000 in wages in one year, and the Children's Settlement ministers to about 12,000 children each week. Other great cities are seeking to establish work of this kind, and missionaries in China, Korea, Japan, India and South America are asking for similar· enterprises. (See page 500.) * '" '" '" >I< '"
Scarcely any of the rescued Armenian refugees wish to emigrate to North or South America. All are intent upon returning to their home towns, though they know their houses have been destroyed. (See page 511.) * .. * * .. '"
There are about 500,000 Mormons in the world, more than three-fifths of them being in Utah. Of this number not more than half are closely affiliated with . Mormonism as a religion. Many of them are better than their creed, having ab- sorbed much of Christian truth through contact with Christian education. (See page 525.) '" * * * '" * Of the 336,000 Indians in the United States, 47,569 are without Christian educa- tion or an opportunity to hear the Gospel. Of the 29,173 Indian children, only 8,560 have religious instruction in school. The Home Missions Council proposes a vigor- ous policy of evangelization and education for these neglected wards of the nation. (See page 545.) '" '" '" * '" '"
An Intersociety Conference held in Edinburgh last April to promote greater cooperation among workers for Jews was especially timely in view of the present unrest among the 12,000,000 Jews in the world. The plans discussed include arbitration on points of disagreement, territorial division and cooperation in institutional work. (See page 485.) '" '" '" * '" * The Pope has permitted the Gospels and Epistles at Mass in Italy to be read in the vernacular. This will lead many to read the Scriptures for themselves. (See page 545.) '" '" * '" .. '" A Chinese student from Siam became a Christian while attending an American college, wrote letters to his parents commending them to the same decision, thereby developing their interest in Bangkok Christian College, with the result that this insti- tution is now in possession of an additional property worth 41,000 ticals. (See page 549.) … … '" … … …
Seven of the eight members of the newly proclaimed Korean Provisional Govern- ment Cabinet are Christians, and the Secretary of State recently stated that Korea would become Christian if freed from the rule of Japan. This would be the first independent country of Asia to become a Christian nation. (See page 550.) '" '" '" * '" '"
A graduate School of Theology and Social Science is to be located at Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, under the auspices of Protestant Missions cooperati in Latin America. The faculty will be selected as qualified to present tian truth. (See page 554.) .. '" '" .. * *
BOOKS ON MISSIONS
Albania, Past and Present. By Con- Does God Have stantine A. Chekrezi. 12mo. 255 pp. a Plan for $2.25. The MacMillan Company, New Your Life? York, 1919. You will find a vital answer in Christina Forsyth of Fingoland. By W. McConkey's booklet, "The God- P. Livingstone. 12mo. 248 pp. $1.50. Planned Life." A personal mes- George H. Doran Company, New sage to every Christian. Valuable York, 1919. also for leaders of missionary, devotional, and mid-week prayer The War Romance of the Salvation services. Sent absolutely free. Army. By Evangeline Booth and Do not fail to drop a postal to Grace Livingston Hill. 12mo. 256 pp. the publishers for it. Address $1.50. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pa., 1919. SILVER PUBLISHING COMPANY A Plea for Greater Unity. By Seth W. Gilkey, D. D. 12mo. 378 pp. $1.50. Dept. T The Gorham Press, Boston, Mass., Bessemer Building, PITTSBURGH, PA. 1919. American Motherhood Japan and World Peace. By K. K. Kawakami. 12mo. 196 pp. $1.50. For Every Home in the Land The MacMillan Company, New York, 1919. Fifty Years in China. By Samuel Isett Woodbridge. 12mo. 231 pp. The Presbyterian Committee of Publica- tion, Richmond, Va., 1919. Hadassah, (The Star of the Persian Court). By Florette Truesdell Miller. 12mo. 83 pp. $1.25. The Stratford Company, Boston, Mass., 1919. Fighting for a New World. By Charles W. Dabney. 12mo. 108 pp. 75c. The Abingdon Press, New York, 1919. Madam France. By R. Louise Fitch. 12mo. 189 pp. $1.50. The Womans Press, New York, 1919. Unfolding in Romans: A Simple Expo- sition of Chaps. I to VIII. By Robert Thomson. 12mo. 136 pp. 3/ net. Morgan & Scott, Lt., London, 1919. Christ as a Teacher. By John W. Way- land. 16mo. 70 pp. $1.00. The Stratford Company, Boston, Mass., 1919.
I'AMPHLETS The War and the Religious Outlook. Recognized Authority on By Robert E. Speer. 2.9 pp. The The MOTHER Association Press, New York, 1919. The CHILD and Christian Principles Essential to a New The HOME World Order. By W. H. P. Faunce. $1.25 per Year 16 pp. The Association Press, New With Mi••ionary Review, $3.15 York, 1919. The Church's Message to the Nation.
By Harry Emerson Fosdick. 23 pp.
The Association Press, New York, 1919. Indian Missions, Obligations and Oppor- tunities. By Home Missions Council. 9 pp. New York; 1919.
Christian America, Bulletin No.2, by Home Missions Council. 27 pp. New Yor~, 1919. "·-<ion. Report of the .. Jrk. By Home pp. New York, THE ARTHUR H. CRIST CO.
lYl'J. Cooper.town, N. Y.
The Christian Opportunity in 'Soldier Settlements. By Lemuel Call Barnes, D. D. 9 pp. The Home Missions Council, New York, 1919.
Pleat aention THJt ::MISSIONAlty R~Vl~W •• '1'•• WOR.LD in writinc te ad.vertisers
VilI
~orbon 1iible MISSIONARY PERSONALS (!College Continued from page I SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY PROF. SAM HIGGINBOTTOM, of the Amer- SCHOOL OF MISSIONS ican Presbyterian Mission in India, has been temporarily transferred from Allaha- THEOLOGICAL, Missionary, bad Agricultural Institute to Gwalior as Religious-Educational College Director of Agriculture.
course of 4 years. Graduate School * *. * of Theology, 3-year course. Col- DR. CORNELIUS H. PATTEN, Secretary of legiate and advanced degreo. Two the American Board, has sailed for Korea, year collegiate training course. In- China, Japan and possibly India to gather terdenominational. A power-house material for surveys of the Interchurch of evangelistic spirit, a School of World Movement. Dr. Patton hopes to Prayer, with university standards see a lining up of all the missionary of scholarship. Notable faculty and forces representing the United States and student body. New and beautiful Canada in the great cities of Eastern fireproof buildings, with dormi- Asia.
tories. Organized religious work. *** Self-support. For catalog and cor- DR. HENRY CHURCHILL KING, President respondence, address of Oberlin College, has been appointed one of two American members of the NATHAN R. WOOD, President International Peace Commission to take a plebiscite in Syria, and to submit recom- Cordon BibJe College Boston, Mass. mendations as to its disposition.
… >I< …
REV. R. A. TORREY, D. D., Dean of the Los Angeles Bible Institute, has accepted an invitation of missionaries in China to spend several months in the Orient. He plans to sail this summer.
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HARTFORD DR. CHARLES W. DREES of the Metho- dist Mission at Montevideo, Uruguay, has W. Douglas Mackenzie recently been in Madrid, representing his PresIdent denomination at the Jubilee Meeting of Spanish Protestant missions. Theological Seminary * * ,.. Dean, M. W. Jacobus MR. GEoRGE GoRDON KING, treasurer of School of Religious Pedagogy the Protestant Episcopal Board of Mis- sions, presented his resignation in May, Dean, E. H. Knigh t to take effect October I, 1919. Mr. King has' given ten years of painstaking service Kenned·y School of Missions to this honorary post.
Secretary, E_. W. Capen *** Through these associated schools Hartford REV. ARTHUR W. PAYNE, an English offers full training for: worker among the Jews, has gone to Palestine to take charge of the Christian 1. The Christian ministry. and Missionary Alliance Church in Jeru- 2. The whole field of religions education. salem, an American Mission. 3. The foreign field. *** DR. H. W A'l'SON SMITH, physician in charge of the Lebanon Hospital for the Insane in Beirut, is in the United States to present the needs of that Institution, which was stripped of everything portable during the war, although the buildings' were undamaged, and patients were cared for throughout the entire peri,,'] Each school has its independent faculty ".(,'
and its own institutional life, and together MR. 1. they form one interdenominational institution elect in NanndLo who has been studying in AmertLd, H~' with the unity of common aim and spirit. been appointed to a professorship in Union Seminary for the current year.
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Please mention 'rJI]~ MISSIONARY REVIEW 01" 'rIll!: WORl.D in writing to advertisers
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1918
Million Dollars for Relief Glimpses of
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(Selected from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD for July.) i — =— !i 1. Over ten million dollars has been received and forwarded by the Armenian-Syri~n = :: Relief Committee to relieve the distressing need. Between six and ten thousand :: orphan children are being cared for in homes. The older ones are being taught :: –:: useful trades and plans are being made for the reconstruction period. (See –:: page 491.) = = – ==:E: 2. A soldier in a Southern camp summed up the work of the Y. M. C. A. by saying =:: UIt takes the sick out of homesick." (See page 507.) :: =§ 3. The spirit of many who have suffert:d most is shown in a twelve-year-old Armenian 5 ~~ln~~ ~~d ~~:l~de~a~~thh~O~o;J~~'''T~~ ~1~~~:;:tG~Je~i:::s~~sa:~rcot~~cl~:~ .§ —:: –:: and innumerable." (See page 497.) =:: :: 4. Idolatry is not dead in China Even students from a government normal school were –:: –:: among the crowds of peasants who gathered at a Taoist temple and went through -=i:: many idolatrous practices. (See page 500.) == _~=_ :: 5. The seriousness and extent of Mormon propaganda in these war days is seen in the =i:: fact that two prominent Mormons, one at least a known polygamist, have secured ._== =~_ appointments as United States army chaplains. (See page 541.) 6. Th'e president of the Philippine Senate recently said publicly to Protestant mis- sionaries that, though a .nominal Catholic, he was in favor of their work because of the results which the Protestant Church secured in transforming character.
~=:~- (See page 542.) =- ~= 7. The decision of Columbia University to make knowledge of the Bible one of its requirements for admission is one of many indications of the prominence that is being given to the Bible by a world at war. (See page 543.) 8. There are said to be 30,000 young men in the city of Valparaiso, Chile, who have -:: not had a school education. The evening classes conducted by the Y. M. C. A. are -:: helping many of them to get a better start in life. (See page 547.) ==== 9. A prominent British statesman of Asia Minor, declares that American mIsSionaries _=i must be foremost among those to whom is to be entrusted the task of regenerating -~ –§ Turkey after the war. (See page 549.) -== 10. In a form characteristically Indian, the gospel story is being put into popular song :: -:: and is playing a remarkable part in the present stage of the mass movement. :: (See page 550.) :: -:: =:E: 11. As the result of a remarkable movement, which is still going on under native leader- ship, some 10,000 of the Moslem population in Abyssinia have been baptized into == :: the Christian Church. (See page 557.) :: = :=: . . :==: ;tlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillIII11111111111111 1111111111III? Work in Turkey ~!
Thermometer Soars Social Reform in Porto Rico AMAP OF THE. CO}lTl!J(]S "
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HOW THE WORLD HAS UNITED LIEF $10,500, TO HELP 3,000,000 DESTITUTE l:LF ……—+-……..—+- FRO FOREIGN LA D PEOPLE IN BIBLE LANDS THROUGH THE AND WHITHER IT HAS GO E AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR —-~) TO DISTRIBUTING CE TERS ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF OCTOBER 1, 1915 TO JUNE 1, 1918 DRAWN FOR THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD HOW ALL THE MONEY CONTRIBUTED WAS DISTRIBUTED THROUGH VARIOUS CENTERS AND THE PRINCIPAL FORMS OF RELIEF WORK.
Russian Caucasus (for 25 Stations via Asia Minor (For SO Stations via Con- Syria-via Beirut, Sidon, Aleppo. Persia-via Tabriz and Teheran. Armenians in Switzerland. $10,000 for THlis). $2,752,923 for about 250,000 stantinople), $3,573,179 for Armenians $1,317,560. Food, clothing industries. $2,321,570. Food, seed, cattle, etc. Relief. Armenians. Orphanage, clothing and in Asia Minor. food relief. Spinning, weaving, carpen- Palestine-via Jerusalem. $420,000. Mesopotamia-via Baghdad. $50,000. Greece-via Athens, Salonica, Samos, try, shoemaking. Egypt-via Cairo and Port Said. Hospital, food, industries. Rescue homes, industries, supplies. $2,500 for relief. $35,674 sent. Industries established.
MISSIONARY
EVIEW~ VOL. July, 1918 NUMBER SEVEN XLI.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES NEW SIGNS OF LIFE IN OHINA T HE Chinese Republic has not yet settled down to a united pro- gram of improvement and progress in politics, education and . religion. It is a large country with four times the population of the United States and only a small proportion are educated. There are, however, new evidences of spiritual progress in the response to the recent campaign conducted by Dr. Sherwood Eddy. Though China is rent by revolution and internal warfare, some seventy leading Con- fucian editors, governmental officials, business men and educators met Dr. Eddy at dinner in Canton to discuss the future of China. Among'
these men was the leader of the southern factions, the former head of China's navy. He attended the first two evangelistic meetings and showed deep interest in the message concerning Christ as the only Saviour. Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the first provisional president of the Re- public, was also present. Sun Yat Sen invited Dr. Eddy to address one hundred of his officers and officials upon the subject of Christianity, and the Christians who were present started personal work among the non-Christian officials. Several, including a member of Parliament, gave themselves to Christ.
The unique feature of Dr. Eddy's campaign this year is that it centers in the Chinese church. The aim is not so much to hold large meetings as to vitalize and organize the Christians to go out and win their non-Christian friends. On the previous campaign hU'ge numbers of enquirers and converts from the non-Christian community were turned over to the churches that were often unprepared to receive them.
This year a new standard and system was adopted that promises much more far-reaching and permanent results.
On the last night in Canton the Chinese pastors of the twenty- eight local churches were ,seated on the platform. As the name of each church was called, the pastor' rose, then his workers in the audience,
then the new converts who had been won by them or who had made the . decision for Christ during the week. What an inspiring sight it was to see each pastor lead out his little ftock of twenty, thirty, forty or fifty to begin their weekly Bible class and to extend the work of winning the millions of China one by one.
Excellent preliminary work was done by Mr. Buchman, and others, who went in advance to prepare the way. Chinese pastors, workers and Christians have been quickened as a result and it seems that a new era of personal evangelism has begun in China. Twelve hundred Chinese Christians in Canton held a daily meeting to train in personal work. The century of seed sowing is bearing fruit. The fields were ripe for harvest. Specialists were kept busy night and day in interviews, organ- izing Bible classes, dealing with enquirers and hearing confessions of sin. This was the program in each of the cities visited. What does it mean for China when four hundred Chinese Christian workers meet to train for personal evangelism and each bring two non-Christian friends?
Dr. Eddy writes in a personal letter: "It is my belief that a new application of the method of personal work has been discovered and applied in the preparation for these meetings which will extend throughout the whole of Asia, with incalculable blessing. Weare filled with thanksgiving because of what has already been accomplished. Let us not despise the day of small things. Robert Morrison landed in South China a century ago and preached the gospel in danger of his life, beaten by his own servants, publicly insulted, laboring for seven- teen years to translate the Scriptures. After seven years, iIi secret and in danger, he baptized his first convert. The Chinese in those days stretched across the river a chain cable, forbidding access to all for- eigners, like the great wall of exclusion which shut out the hated "for- eign devil" and his new ideas and religion. Here in the city where Morrison seemed to labor so long in vain, we have seen gathered what was said to be the most inftuential audience of non-Christians ever as· sembled in an evangelistic meeting in the city. Here with open minrl and earnest purpose they listened to a presentation of the gospel, and here several hundred non-Christian men have publicly taken their stano and entered the Christian life. A new day is dawning, a new Orient is being born, and the call comes to the West for us to enter our great heritage of opportunity for service and the regeneration of the Orient."
PROGRESS TOWARD ONION IN INDIA I N INDIA, as in America, the branches of the Christian Church most nearly allied are taking steps looking toward organic union. Last January the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in India passed, with great enthllsiasm, a resolution to the followinO'
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effect: "That in view of the universal readiness on the part of the Presbyterian
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Church in India for organic union with other Christian bodies and in view of the present opportunities in different parts of India for re-opening this question, the Committee on Union be instructed in connection with the synod of Bombay to open negotiations with the Churches of the American Matathi Mission, also with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Presbytery of Assam, and, as opportunity offers, with other churches, and that the Committee be further instructed to approach the South India United Church as to the possibility of forming a United Church for all India."
The General Assembly of the Congregational Churches of Western India responded with a resolution as follows: "Resolved that the General Aikya (or Ecclesiastical Union) of the Congregational Churches of Western India joyfully responds to the action of the Presbyterian Church, and directs its committee on Church Union to communicate with the Committee of the Presbyterian Church in order to consider possible organic union with that Church and other Churches in a United Church for all India."
The Welsh Calvanistic Methodist Assembly appointed a special committee and adopted the following resolutions at the meeting in Sylhet: "Believing that it is the will of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ we resolve to unite; believing also that such a union will meet the approval of the General Assembly in Wales, we seek its sanction and ask for its blessing on our decision."
These are logical steps following the organization of the United Ohurch of South India. The Protestant Christians on the various mission fields are growing more and more dissatisfied with any attempt to perpetuate denominational differences and divisions of Europe and America. They wish to emphasize allegiance to Jesus Christ and united effort to promote His ideals and His Kingdom.
THE POLITIOAL FUTURE OF INDIA —- T IS difficult to define the political situation in India or to exag- I gerate its critical character. The British Government has declared that the policy to be pursued is to prepare India to govern itself and an installment of self-government is to be expected at the close of the war. The Secretary of State for India has recently visited that country with a view to learning the wishes of different sections of th~ people and his report will have a far reaching effect on the future of that land. The National Missionary Council has decided to issue an open letter to missionaries, calling upon them to consider afresh the great ideals for which, in the providence of God, governments exist; and to let those principles dominate and control their own thinking in these times of controversy and, when occasion requires, to make these principles clear to others. The Oouncil declares that it is as much an ideal of good government to provide for everyone of its subjects the oppor· tunity for the development of his personality as it is to provide for the whole body politic the blessings of order, peace and justice. The missionary body is called upon to commit the issues of the present time to
God in the full confidence of faith and hope, knowing that He who called them to be fellow workers with Him is working in them and in others toward the fulfilling of His eternal purposes of good.
The present situation is made more difficult by the fact that not less than one hundred of the missionaries in India have left their fltations to engage in active war service, some as combatants, some as chaplains, and others as doctors and nurses. A number of medical men and nurses have also offered themselves to the Government for local service, thus setting free others to go to the front. The missionaries realize the significance of the war and are loyally helping the government and have rejoiced to take their humble part in advancing the cause of human freedom.
The future of German Missions in India is a most difficult and delic~te matter. When present arrangements were made, it was hopeu that the war would have been at a.n end before this, but conditions have so greatly altered that many have grave doubt whether Germans will for many years be permitted to work in India. The great work that German missionaries have accomplished must be conserved and extended. It is, therefore, necessary that steps be agreed upon as to the course to be adopted as soon as the terms of peace are made known. The. National Missionary Council is unanimously of opinion that those in temporary charge of German missions should discuss the question with Indian pastors and see if some working agreement can be reached.
FOREIGN MISSIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN I N GERMANY, foreign missions have died from lack of nutrition during the war. Some believe that after the war Germany herself must be evangelized. French Protestant missions have become weak and almost lifeless because of the draftiQg of men and money for the great European struggle. In America, while some societies have suffered, there has been a general increase in giving; the Baptists have launched a million dollar campaign and the Methodists have adopted an $80,000,000 centenary program.
Great Britain, with its great missionary enterprises, has been called upon to make immense sacrifices. Men and money have been poured out like water to redeem Belgium and establish a worthy peace. The missionary societies have naturally faced many difficulties and some have large deficits. Nevertheless the outlook is wonderfully hopeful. There is no drawing back but rather a forward program. Many of the German stations are now cared for by British missionaries and some new fields are to be occupied as soon as possible. Of the twentyone Protestant societies having their headquarters in London about onethird report a decrease in incomes-the C. M. S. $100,000, the Baptists $35,000 and the Friends $6,000. Others, however, show an increase in receipts. The Wesleyans report an advance of 5 per cent.; the Bible
Society has had the largest income in its history; the Tract Society, Presbyterians, and Mission to Lepers have-received substantial increases and the China Inland Mission, with $35,000 more than last year, has had one of the best financial years in its history.
The reports from many British mission fields are also encouraging. Jn spite of.unrest in China, the Ohina Inland Mission alone reports 4,629 baptisms during the year-the second largest in its history; the London Missionary Society reports increased self-support among its churches in the South Seas; the South American Missionary Society has found many new open doors in Latin-America; the C. M. S. reports Christward movements among Moslems in India and many societies are planning for new advances after the war.
The British Mission Secretaries report that they have every reason to thank God and take courage. With the nation putting every available man in the battle line, spending thirty million dollars a day for the war, and facing large advances in the cost of food and clothing; Christian people are still maintaining the work of God for the unreached millions abroad.
SOOIAL REFORM IN PORTO RIOO T HE Committee on Social Reform of the Evangelical Union of Porto Rico has issued a most interesting report. The triumph of prohibition in Porto Rico, which took place a year ago, was celebrated this year on March 2nd by means of parades, meetings and addresses in evangelical churches and Sunday schools.
The "traffic of women" is recognized as an outstanding evil in Porto Rico, and innumerable unhappy girls, almost children, daily fall victims to this evil. Misery, lack of education, bad treatm~nt in the home and above all the wickedness of men, cause the alarming increase rather than the decrease of this evil.
Municipal authorities are asked to pass laws to prohibit the establishment of houses of ill fame and the exhibition of unfortunate women in parks and plazas and other public centers. The Legislative Assembly is asked to pass a law like the one now in force in Oalifornia, punishing the owners of houses of ill fame. Ohristian pastors are also urged to instruct their young people concerning the dangers and awful consequences of immorality.
Gambling is another evil dealt with in the report. The plan to combat it is through the Sunday schools, through literature and personal work among young people. An educational campaign for social reform is also to be conducted by means of lanterns and moving pictures. Slides of educational value are to be provided by the churches and young people's societies.
The committee further recommends that churches give particular attention to Porto Rican soldiers going into the war, enrolling them
in an honor roll conspicuously placed in the church and helping to look after their moral and social life in the camps.
The Evangelical Union also proposes to establish a new union theological seminary for Porto Rico, in which it is expected that eight churches will co-operate. These are some of the effects of the transfer of Porto Rico from Spanish to American control and from Roman Catholic to Protestant influence and ideals.
A PRESBYTERIAN PROGRAM OF PROGRESS A "NE1;Y Era Expansion Program" was launched by the Northern Presbyterian General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, in Uay. The details were not decided upon but a large representative committee was appointed and expect. to formulate a comprehensive plan to include emphasis on evangelism, religion in the family, Christian education, missions, social service and stewardship. Among the features suggested for this program are a million new members in five years, a seventy-five million budget for advance work, the enlistment of returning soldiers and Y. M. C. A. workers in Christian service and the adoption of a higher ideal of stewardship.
The Presbyterian Assemblies, north and south, and the United Presbyterians also took further steps toward union, though no definite decision was reached. In the northern assembly the committee on "Church Co-operation and Union" was continued and resolved to overture other evangelical churches of America to join in a conference looking toward the organic union of Protestant forces. The Assembly furthermore declared their "profound conviction that the time has come for organic church union of the Evangelical churches of America.".
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the U. S. (South) meeting at Durant, Oklahoma, voted to continue the Committee on Union and Federation. While the Assembly was opposed to organic union at this time they approved the idea of };~ederal union of all Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of the United States.
The UIiited Presbyterian Church, at their General Assembly in Pittsburgh, was sympathetic toward church union and will no doubt join in the conference which is to be held sometime this year. Unity is more important than union and co-operation than combination, but it is time for Christians to get together.
THE WAR BRING CHURCH UNION?
O NE obvious lesson that the war is teaching us is the necessity of co-operation and the value of a union of forces in the great campaign to win the world for Jesus Christ. The various branches of the church differ as to many non-essentials – in matters of church government, forms of worship, rites and sacrament and some matters of doctrine and practise. The great essential on which all Christians and all churches must be united is union with and submission to Jesus Christ as the divine Lord and Saviour of man. All who belong to Him should have no difficulty in uniting for the common task though they need not lose all individuality.
The soldiers at the front are also growing impatient at minor distinctions and divisions in Christendom. They are holding union services at the front. The Y. M. C. A. workers come from all denominations and have no distinctive labels. They are known by their fruits-by Christlike character, and by self-sacrificing service. On General Pershing's staff of Chaplain Generals are three men-Bishop Charles H. Brent, an Episcopalian, Rev. Paul D. Moody, a Congregationalist, and a Roman Catholic priest. Bishop Brent wrote as follows on Easter Sunday to a personal friend: "Just as now is the time to strike for the unity of nations so is it the time to strike for the unity of the churches. I wonder how many people at home realize that our chief difficulty in connection with the morals of the army is due to the divided church. Many feel it so keenly that they can see no enduring or substantial good coming out of our purely physical or human effort without some movement pari passu earnestly aiming for a Kingdom of God among men not divided against itself.
"Last Sunday I was with our fellows just before they went into 1Ihe great battle, some of them to die before the week closed. In one place the chaplain asked for the use of the French church. It was refused. The school house was refused. The little town was so crowded with soldiers that the only place we could find for service where we were welcome was a barnyard. There under the wide spreading eaves of a great barn we set up an improvised altar. The French peasants and the cattle that stood by were hospitable to us. The weather was bleak and dull. It was Bethlehem over again as the massed khaki knelt in the litter of straw before the Christ of Bethlehem. There was no room for Him in the inn. All that exclusiveness can do is to shut out men from itself and drive them nearer to God. Sometimes ecclesiasticism is so cold and cruel with its anathemas and lack of vision that one wonders how God can continue to use it for His Kingdom-if He does.
"It seems to me the time has come for us to do something daring and loving for the Kingdom's sake. It is antediluvian to continue thinking in mere terms of continuity or of yesterday. We must both think and act in terms of the new order, in terms of the Kingdom cif God. Individual effort of course must be continued and has its effect. But the churches should act. The constitutional assembly of everyone should meet for the definite purpose of moving for a Conference on the peace of the churches, with no other aim to
distract. Then the churches willing to share in such a Conference should do so, regardless of those which might choose to sit apart. The world is faIling to pieces, the churches are tagging on behind the armies, and nothing is being done that is worthy the name of witness bearing for unity as Christ begs o( us to interpret it. Happy the church that takes the lead in such an adventure of faith!
There is room for difference of opinion and for individualism in the church; there is even room for differences in types of organization, in kinds of work done, in forms of worship and even in emphasis on various doctrines and practices ; but there is no room for antagonism, for unfriendly riv~lry or disputes; there is no excuse for lack of co- operation or refusal to recognize other followers of Christ as brethren. Those who recognize and respond to the HeadShip of Christ are members of His Body; those whom our Lord welcomes to His table are members of His Family, those arrayed against His enemies are enlisted on His side; and those whom He uses to advance His cause are comrades in service. It is time to emphasize the great and crying need of all mankind for the life that Christ gives and not to dispute about sec- tarian clothing. Let us prove by word and deed that Jesus Christ does save, satisfy and empower His followers and make them different from others. Union with Jesus Christ brings true union among His followers.
AN APPEAL FOR CO-OPERATION T HE Home Mission Council, representing all Protestant denomin- ational home mission and church extension boards and societies in the United States has sent out an appeal in the present worldcrisis for loyal support and co-operation in the great spiritual work in which Christians are engaged. .'
"We must economize in money and in men for the sake of that spiritual integrity without which the nation must stand impotent before its great task. Nothing must be permitted to reduce the spiritual ef- ficiency of the national life. The task committed. to the churches must be prosecuted with a vigor and intelligence not hitherto known. Their work must become more extensive and intensive everywhere. For this reason the reproach of overlapping and duplication of money and lead- ership must be removed. Our efforts of recent years to achieve this must be redoubled and all remaining instances of waste resolutely elimina ted.
"We therefore urgently appeal to the people in all home mission charges to practice those economies in their religious organization which are required of our society in every other department, to merge their groups in worship and community work, to save fuel when it may be possible by uniting congregations, to release for other forms of national and community service one or more of the ministers in over- lapping parishes, to utilize emergency inter-church committees for the regular ministry of the churches and to project new plans of inter-
EDITORIAL COMMENT
church community service, to release unused church property by sale or for temporary employment as may be required, to utilize all church buildings so far as practicable for continuous week-through service in temporary or permanent community enterprises, and in every other manner to conserve church resources and strengthen by co-operation the churches' programs."
The Council appeals to all local, district, State and regional denominational committees, societies and boards responsible for the dispensing of home mission funds to reach agreements with agencies of other denominations operating in the same territory by which all duplications of money aid in the same community shall be rigidly eliminated and workers shall be utilized for unhampered community work, no energies and resources being wasted by sectarian competition or duplication. They appeal to all churches located in rural communities, and to agencies aiding by money grants or other assistance in such communities, to institute and zealously to prosecute plans for the conservation of food and the quickening of production, inspiring our rural populations "ith the sense of the holy task into which the national mission in the world has called them.
All churches and missions ministering to communities or individuals employing alien speech and otherwise detached from our common American life and its purposes, and all agencies aiding such churches and missions by money or leadership, should redouble their efforts in a new and holier sympathy by way of extending the common use of our common language and an appreciation of those historic and forwardlooking purposes which have made this nation what it is.
National boards and societies administering home mission funds should scrutinize their fiscal budgets with-new zeal, to institute closer conference between one another in the organization of schedules of money grants and by every means practicable to see that their funds are not duplicated in aided communities or otherwise unwisely employed in aid of mission work. Let them organize all available forces under co-operative programs to help the nation meet the present emergency and to seek through the fiery trial of this world crisis those providential lessons designed to inspire a new ministry of reconciliation, a new and wider co-operative program among religious forces, and a new conception and realization of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN NEGROES T HANKS to such institutions as Hampton and Tuskegee Insti- tutes, Fiske University and other educational work for Negroes, . conducted by northern and southern churches, the ten million American negroes have advanced wonderfully in physical, intellectual and spiritual lines. In the half century since the Civil War, the Negroes have more than doubled in population. There are now over 100,000 colored students in the 400 Normal Schools and 50 coUeges
of the south, 26 theological schools, 3 school of law, 4 of pharmacy, 5 of medicine and 17 agricultural colleges-all for Negroes. The cost of this higher education in one year is over $4,000,000, but it is training leadership for the millions of southern Negroes.
The most gratifying fact is that intelligent Christian leaders have been developed and are taking more and more responsibility for the training of their race. The Negro school teachers, physicians and lawyers are steadily increasing in number and influence. Their sanity is helping to solve the Negro problem in America. This is still largely one of education. Over 40 per cent. of the Negro children of school age are out of school and therefore growing up in idleness and ignorance. The criminal element is almost wholly in the ignorant class. There is a tremendous need for more adequate schooling facilities in the South and for an energetic grappling with the problem of the Negroes who have migrated ilOrthward from the south land, in order that they might better their condition.
WILL THE WAR DEMOLISH BARRIERS?
I N the midst of the horrors of war, we catch at a grain of comfort. While some races seem to.be driven apart by the conflict, others are drawn closer together. While former friends were alienated, those who were beforetime enemies become acquainted. Not only are useless denominational barriers broken down, but the people of India and Africa, who have come to France, are learning to know the Euro· pean and are having many prejudices and superstitions removed.
Indian Christian workers, who have gone to France with their countrymen enlisted in the Allied cause, are having some remarkable experiences. One of them tells of sitting down to eat with a group of Mohammedans. His statement that he was a Christian was at first received with horror, for their conception of a Christian was a blasphemer who ate pork, and to eat with whom would be pollution. But one of them exclaimed, "CInistian or no Christian, you are our friend, and all of us are grateful for all that you people are doing for us. I, for one, am going to eat with you and deem it a great honor."
This Christian worker continues: "My best friends were a clique of orthodox Hindus~ full of great resolves, but loath to give up the caste system. They had invited me to many dainty dinners, but never shared the food with me. They always waited on me, pretending that it was purely out of respect. I did not probe further into their motives. The day came when they were to leave for the front. The train was about to start, when one of them handed me a cup of water. I had taken a sip when he took it back and drank of it himself. Then he passed the cup to others and every man drank a little out of it. 'This is t1}.e seal of friendship,' he said, 'and we hereby break caste forever.' "
Are these Indian soldiers learning the true meaning of "Brotherhood"? If so, they may be more ready to listen to Ohristian teachers.
WOMEN REFUGEES CARDING WOOL FOR
Ten Million Dollars For Relief A BRIEl!' ACCOUNT' OF 'l'HE WORK OF THE AMERICAN COllIU'r'l'EE FOR ARMENIAN AND SYRIAN RELIEF BY REV. JAMES L. BARTON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS. Chairman of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief.
A LTHOUGH the Armenian atrocities began in Asia Minor in the spring of 1915, the fact did not begin to reach the outside world until past midsummer. Representatives of American mis· sionary and educational in.terests in Turkey met in the office of Cleve· land H. Dodge, in New York, that September, and sent two men to Washington who learned through the State Department that the condi· tions among the Armenians were even more horrible than had been imago ined. The facts were given to the press, and a general relief committee was formed with Charles R. Crane as treasurer and Samuel T. Dutton secretary.* Charles V. Vickrey was assigned to the work by the Lay· men's Missionary Movement and has served untiringly as directing secretary.
The need and opportunity to reach the destitute has increased and has extended over wide areas within the Turkish Empire. The original field, which at first comprised only the eastern section of Asiatic Turkey, soon came to cover the entire Turkish Empire, the Transcaucasus in * The Committee was originally formed with Armenian relief alone in view, as they alone were then attacked. The then existing Armenian committees combined with this American committee, and later, ·as the atrocities extended, the name was enlarged to Include relief among the ~yrillns, and still later among the Greeks also.
Russia, large areas in Persia, as well as refugees in Egypt; and since the Allies have made their advance in Syria, the committee has entered upon an effective work of relief in Palestine.
On account of the appalling conditions and the fact that no representatives of the Red Cross could get into many sections of the field~ the war council of the Red Cross made a contribution of over $2,000,000 to the work of the committee, which had the cooperation of all of the missionaries of the American Board already on the ground and scattered from Constantinople clear across Asia Minor to Persia. ·There were missionaries of the Presbyterian Board in Persia,· Syria and Palestine; as well as of several smaller missionary societies; also the American faculties in the SyrianProtestant College at Beirut, in Robert College at Constantinople, and in other American colleges at Smyrna, Marsovan, Harpoot, Aintab, etc.
Ambassadors Morgenthau and Elkus, and the American Consuls in Turkey and Persia, rendered conspicuous service in ascertaining the needs and in inaugurating and promoting effective relief measures.
It is a noteworthy fact that in the work of relief distribution every cent of the money went to the field, as the expense of organization and collecting were privately met. Neither were the funds used in paying the salaries of the distributors, as the missionary societies and the colleges and the diplomatic and consular offices were supported from other sources.
The present treasurer of the committee; Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, has not only furnished the funds to meet all the expenses connected with the giving out of knowledge and the cultivation of the constituency and the raising of funds, but he has contributed liberally to the general fund and has given himself unstintedly as a working member of the executive committee. During the first three months after this committee was organized in the autumn of 1915, only $177,000 were received and appropriated. During the year 1916 the amount collected and forwarded to the field (in round numbers) was $2,100,000; in 1917 the amount received and appropriated was $4,498,000, making the total receipts of the committee, for the first 27 months, $6,775,000-including the $1,900,000 appropriated by the Red Cross. . For the first three months of the present year the receipts of the committee have averaged nearly $800,000 a month.
The relief funds have been distributed as follows: To Constantinople, for uses within the Asiatic sec- tion of the Turkish Empire, nearly. . . . . . . . . . . . .. $3,573,000 To Tiflis, in the Transcaucasus . . . . . . ' ….. , . . . . … 2,754,000 To Persia ………………………………. 2,321,000 Directly to Beirut, for northern Syria. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1,315,000 To Cairo, Bagdad, Jerusalem, etc. . .. .. . . . . . . . . .. . 506,000 Total to May 31st. …………………. $10,469,000 This moner has been sent by cable in the form of credits to the
TEN MILLION DOLLARS FOR RELIEF
committee's representatives in relief centers, and those credits have been converted into cash by the local sale of drafts on the committee's banl{ in New York. This method has put into the hands of the local com- mittee without delay funds to use for the purchase of food and neces- sary supplies. Many drafts have not yet been presented for payment in New York and as the bank holds a sufficient balance to cover these drafts when presented, the com- mittee in the meantime is receiving interest. This makes it possible for the committee to say that its ex- penditures for relief in the field are in actual excess of the amount re- ceived from contributors!
The entire destitute and needy populations in Turkey are now esti- mated at not less than 2,500,000.
When the war is over and these people are able to return to their desolated homel;l, the larger question of reconstruction and rehabilita- tion will have to be faced. Many refugees are more than a thousand miles away from their homes, with no means whatever at their disposal. AN ARMENIAN llEFUGEE In a large number of instances their homes have been desolated and everything of which they were possessed taken from them. Large sums will be required to return these people to their homes and establish them upon a self-supporting basis.
The non-Moslem peoples of Turkey are probably more capable of recuperation after a disaster of this character than any other people on the face of the earth. They are not naturally helpless nor inclined to rely upon charity. Nevertheless they will need much help from outside to procure shelter for those whose homes have been ruined, tools and animals with which to till the soil, as well as seed for sowing. The committee is already giving attention to this great question of recon- struction. When the way opens, many experienced missionaries now in America, will be ready to go back and lend a hand in this reconstruction.
The work of relief will not be completed when the war is over.
The large number of orphans and widows must be provided for for many years, until they can become self-supporting, and at the same time there must be developed in the country educational, industrial and sanitary institutions that will meet in an adequate way the requirements of a country that has remained so backward during the centuries and whoee
desperate need has been revealed during the last few years. For this future we bespeak the cooperation of the people of America in the interests of a country which has suffered from misgovernment more than any other like area in Asia.
HOW THE MONEY HAs BEEN USED The Relief Committee was organized into departments: The Orphanage Department to look after the children, the Clothing Department, the Industrial Department, etc. One of the missionaries, Dr. Geo. C. Raynolds, was put at the head of the Orphanage Department, whose business it was to get Ul.e orphans together into homes, to see that the homes were organized with a house mother and to provide food and instruction for the children_ The last reports indicated that from six to ten thousand children had. been gathered into centers and kept alive and given some instruction. Dr. Raynolds has selected the most competent, mature and capable boys for instruction in iron work, carpentry, shoemaking, tailoring and other occupations. Wh~n they are repatriated to different parts of Turkey they will be ready intelligently to begin the work of reconstruction.
The great majority of the refugees that escaped into the Transcaucasus were women, so that industrial work was early organized among them. All of the refugees were destitute of adequate clothing. Wool and cotton were bought in the rough and in large quantities_ The wool was washed and the cotton was prepared by the men and the women able to work, and who have been given a small wage for their services, enough . to support them. The cotton and wool were spun and woven and made into garments which not only supplied the refugees with clothing but also the Russian military which paid a good price for them. Many thousands are engaged in this work and when communication was· broken off everything was working successfully. The looms on which they did their weaving were made portable so that when the time should come for these refugees to return to their homes the looms will be a part of their household furniture.
In Persia much has been done in returning the peasants to their homes from which they have been scattered. Relief money has here been used for seed and tools and cattle.
In Turkey, relief is now being distributed in the following centers: Constantinople, Brousa, Bardizag, Smyrna, Marsovan, Konia, Cesarea, Sivas, Adana, Hadjin, Marash, Tarsus, Aintab, Aleppo, Harpoot, Erzroom, Trebizond, Van, Beirut, Erivan, Etchmiadzin, Tiflis, Urumia and Alexandropol. In each of these places the committee has a foreign representative, most of them Americans. In other places in the neighborhood of the large distributing centers the relief work has been handled through trustworthy agents, generally former teachers in the American schools or pastors and leaders in the churches.
In Persia the relief work is carried on at Teheran, Urumia and Tabriz. Presbyterian missionaries in that field are working in the
outlying districts through the cooperation and aid of their various mission agents_ Work has recently been begun in Palestine and Syria_ A relief commission has also recently gone to Persia, with twelve members under the Jeadership of President Judson of Chicago University.
REFUGEES WEAVING THE CLOTH USED Fon THEIR CLOTHING For two years and a half the committee has endeavored to supply the needs in this respect of from one to two millions of people and to keep them from death. Very little that is permanent has been accomplished. The real permanent work must come when repatriation can begin.
AN INVESTIGATOR'S REPORT OF RELIEF WORK IN ARMENIA AND PERSIA Charles E. Beury, Esq., who went last year, with Dr. William T. Ellis, and made an investigation of the conditions and needs in the Caucasus, Persia and Eastern Turkey, has sent us the following statement of their findings: "The Armenian relief work observed by us is administered from the city of Erivan and a half dozen other centers in Southern Russia. It is under the supervision of some fifteen faithful and efficient foreign workers, mostly missionaries of the American Board. Under them are hundreds of tried and trusted native workers carrying out the systema: tized plan of administering help of one kind or another. It is questionable whether anybody except the missionaries could have undertaken
effectively this tremendous task. That the work has been carried on so successfully and without any graft is due to the providential circum- stance that the missionaries and their native workers, who know the people and the country, have been in charge.
Although the need among the refugees was overwhelming, the relief force from the very beginning undertook the work of saving in a syste- matic way. While it was necessary to care for the orphans and to feed the old and helpless, most of the relief effort endeavored to give the refugees some work to do. Through the American Committee weaving mills have been constructed by the workers so that today one sees cotton and wool taken in its raw state, washed and bleached and combed and spun and woven on looms made by the refugees themselves into durable cloth which is tailored into garments and used for clothing the needy. Many of these mills are very pretentious, containing scores of looms. They not only give the people employment but prevent them from being pauperized.
The whole relief plan with its index system and its checks on graft has been so efficient and successful that one cannot but heap praises upon it. It would satisfy the investigations of a Rockefeller Founda· tion. In addition to the money allowance to orphans and the establish· ment of orphanages, milk is furnished the children, and doctors with hospital facilities are ministering to the sick. The honesty which characterizes the administration and distribution of relief has also been a great lesson and example of how a big humanitarian undertaking can be conducted with fidelity even in an Oriental country that for genera· tions has winked at graft.
The Armenian refugees in the Caucasus are in a much improved condition as the result of the constant administration of relief but the problem of saving these people has become increasingly acute. A stipend of six rubles per month, allowed by the Russian government to each person, has now ceased because of the collapse of Russian finances. Con· sequently the one hundred and eighty thousand dependent people in the Caucasus who were receiving aid from this source are now in dire distress. They must be cared for by America, who alone has the wealth and resources sufficient to assume this added burden.
It is only necessary for one to travel-or struggle, for it is hardly traveling-down through the devastated zones of Armenia to appreciate fully the sacrifices which the missionaries are making and the perils which they are constantly confronting. They come in daily contact with deadly disease and live among the people who have lost most of their families and friends. Moreover, conditions are unstable and the menace of massacre and a 'holy war' constantly o'ershadows their lives. But despite these facts and the additional circumstances that nearly all these workers have struggled through the years of trial, they are with rare heroism and fortitude protecting and saving the lives of the refu- geed Christian host."
of Relief Work in
BY MARY W. RIGGS, HARPOOT, TURKEY IN ASIA Missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions FIRST .
N l1T1V}I) HELPER.-Here is an Armenian exile who has been driven all the way from the Black Sea coast and is now allowed to stay here in Harpoot. Have you a place where she can live? Lady Missionary.-What would you think of our putting her in the room over our bakery? She will be warmer there than in any other place. (To exile) Sister, if you take this bread ticket to the baker every day he will give you bread which will keep you alive. I will give you a mattress and quilt. ,The room wpere you are to stay is close to our gate and God will take care of you there. Do not be afraid. Where are your children?
Armenian Emile.-The little three·year-old boy is down in the street. Little Rosa was very sick in the camp where we were staying last. One of the guards who was a little kind was persuaded to take me on his horse to the American Hospital where we found a kind American doctor. I told him many women and children were sick and dying at the camp and how nothing was being done to relieve them. He ordered a wagon and went himself to the camp, having procured from the governor a written permission to bring the sick to his hospital. He has Rosa under his care now.
Lady Missionary-You must make this one bed do for all three of you.
_4rmenian Emile.-I kiss your feet. God bless you for your love.
SECOND Armenian Emile.-I come from a village far away. I was rich before I left home but now I shall have to eat the bread of others. God grant it may be for only a short time. My son went to America several years ago and if he can get word of my being here he will send me enough money to make me comfortable. Then I shall repay you for all your kindness. I am ignorant and cannot even sign my name. His father always wrote, but alas, they killed him.
Lady Missionary.-Come inside the Girls' School door where a teacher is sitting all day writing letters for just such as you. Let us pray that God will give your letter wings to reach your son quickly.
Armenian Emile.-Ah, let me love your hands. God reward you.
THIRD Native Helper.-This morning the sick refugee woman just outside our upper gate died, but no one has done anything. I am going to wash her body and I hope you will arrange for bqrying her.. She was just
a young bride when they took her husband away to kill him and drove her away with all her neighbors. She is nothing now but skin and bones.
Lady Missionary.-I know it will be hard to enter that room where she died all alone, but you go for love of Christ and He will help you. Send the gatekeeper to me. (Enter gatekeeper) Ohan, you must help me to know how we can bury the poor woman who died.
Gateke.eper.-She must be buried immediately or we cannot live there today. But who will dig the grave? Manoog and I would gladly dig it but you know we do not dare step out of the Mission compound. Weare almost the only Armenian men left alive and we are here only because we are your servants.
Lady Missionary.-There is no one else to dig the grave. I will go with you and if the police come I will tell them that you are mine. I will dig with you and we can do it qujckly.
Gatekeeper.-I will trust Christ and go with you.
FOURTH Lady Missionary.-What baby is that who is crying so weakly and so steadily?
Native H elper.-The poor little thing was born on the road just after her mother was driven from home. She has survived a long and terrible journey, but she will not live much longer. The baby is starving because the mother has nothing to eat but dry bread. The Little Mother (the missionary's wife) has ordered a bowl of milk or soup to be given from her own kitchen every day in the hope of saving the little one's life. The poor mother has only this one left of her five children.
FIFTH I"ady Missionary.-Look at that poor child standing in the snow in this bitter wind with nothing on but a ragged cotton shirt. Bring her in and see what we can find for her. I am afraid there is nothing left, unless I take that old faded curtain that I used last summer and make something for her.
Armenian School Girl.-While you are making her dress we will take her to the wash room and give her a bath. She needs one desperately.
SIX'fH Armenian Emile.-This is my child. Her name is Dziadzan (Rainbow) and she was in an American school in S – – before we were sent away from there. God protected her until now but she is not safe with me. A Turk is asking for her to make her his wife, but I cannot allow her to become a Mohammedan. When he comes again I will tell him she is dead.
IJady Mi88ionary.-But that will not be true. Armenian Emile.-Who cares for truth? But it will be true be-
GLIMPSES OF RELIEF WORK IN TURKEY
cause I am giving her to you and she will no longer be mine, she will be dead as far as I am concerned. By taking her you will save a soul.
SEVENTH Lady Missionary.-Zabel, please take this note down to the Little Father and bring me an answer.
Armenian School Girl.-He is not there now. We were in the yard . when a little boy came running and crying bitterly. We heard him tell the Little Father that the polic'e had just carried off his mother, that they would not look at the paper she had always in her bosom-the permission granted her by the governor to stay here after weeks of wandering over mountains and through deserts. She is a Syrian and they were not to be deported like the Armenians. The Little Father put on hjs hat, closed up his office, putting out a dozen or more people who were waiting to see him, and started off to the government build- ing. These cases always take hours. How tired he will be when he gets home! And how that Syrian woman and her little son will bless him if he succeeds in saving them!
An Armenian Refugee's Thanksgiving T HOUGHT out and written down by Surpouhi, a girl twelve years old in the Sunday-school of the Armenian Refugee Camp, Port Said, and translated word for word into English by Miss Mary E. Kinney: (1) "In the first place I am grateful to God for giving me a mind, because without that I could not think, or learn anything, neither could I tell Him of my gratitude for all the many blessings He has given me.
(2) I am thankful because He has given me parents. When I am in trouble they help me.
(3) I am thankful to Him because He helped us flee to the mountains and helped us out of all our troubles.
(4) I am thankful because' when the Turks attacked us our Father saved us from their hands.
(5) I am thankful because God sent some ships and rescued us from danger.
(6) I am thankful because after God brought us here He moved the hearts of many races, Americans, English, Europeans and other nations, to serve us in many ways. They opened schools, and gave us clothing and many other things.
(7) I am thankful because when the German aeroplanes came God saved us from harm.
(8) I am thankful because when the Tempter COmes to tempt us .God saves us from him.
(9) I am thankful because God never forgets us and we believe He will help us resist temptation.
(10) I am thankful because God always gives us food. We ought to thank Him each time before eating."
COMING FROM THE ALTAR OF THE MAIN TEMPLE OF WAN SHEO
LEAVING TREIROFFERINGS AT THE INCENSE BURNJilR
Idolatry Dead in China?
BY REV. CARL F. KUPFER, KIUKIANG, CHlNA . President of William Nast College I T is quite possible today for tourists to land at Shanghai and travel six hundred miles up the Yangtze river, calling en route at Chin- kiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Tatung, Nganking, Kiukiang and Hankow, and from there take the train to Peking, and then down to Tientsin and back to Shanghai, and not have seen even a vestige of idolatry, nor carry . away with them any true impression of the real life of the Chinese peo- ple. And it is also quite possible that foreign evangelists may spend some months in China, have large meetings, and receive th(' names of multitudes who pledge to study the Bible, and yet have no conception of the rankest idolatry within five minutes' walk of the tabernacle where the meetings were held.
Missionaries who are in the midst of the struggle against false gods have no such visionary impressions.
Soon after the easy victory of the rebellion over the Manchu GO''- ernment in 1911, in some places temples and idols were wantonly de· strayed. This, however, was not done by those who had been in closest touch with Christians and who wished to see idolatry supplanted by Christianity, but by those who care little for idols and less for the true God. This zeal against idolatry has completely disappeared, and in its place a revival of idolatrous worship is developing. In some plaCeS even missionary methods are being adopted to promote idolatry.
Some years ago I visited most of the great Buddhist and Taoist pilgrim centers in Mid-China, but to convince myself of the present tendency, I recently visited a Taoist center in the Western hills, twenty miles northwest of Nanchang, the provincial capital of Kiangsi.
. Pilgrimages to these shrines usually begin as soon as the rice harv- est is ended, and last about six weeks. The place described here is famil- iarly known by all Chinese as Hsi San Wan Sheo Kung-Western Hill Temple of Ten Thousand Ages. The name of the man so devoutly wor- shipped here is Shu Sun, meaning "Promise Obedience." He was born in Nanchang 338 A.D.. Mythical and whimsical indeed are the stories on record about him-all ardently believed. .
Before Shu Sun reached the age of manhood he delighted to prac- tise religious ceremonies, often wandering aimlessly about seeking for good spirits and a pleasant state of mental abstraction. During his wanderings he came to a place named Hsiao Yao, a low hill gently slop- ing to the south where he abode for a time as an ascetic. At the age of forty he accepted an official position as magistrate in Chin yang H sien, Szechuan, where he soon gained the love and respect of the people. When the Wu Dynasty had fallen and the Western Dynasty had be-
come degenerate and evil, he retired from official life and returned to his home at H 8iao Yao. The people of Szechuan erected a temple and placed in it an image of him as a god. The legend says that at the age of 105 he and his family of 42 persons ascended to heaven with all of his domestic animals.
From that time, a temple in the Western Hills was developed, until the Emperor Ta Ohung of the Sung Dynasty in 1008 made an imperial grant and the "Jade Surpassing Temple of Ten Thousand Ages" was erected, and the people took great interest in worshipping there.
In the year 1368, during the Ming Dynasty, this temple was re- built, and again, after 400 years, Emperor Chien Lung rebuilt it, making it more beautiful ,than at first. In 1862 Emperor Tung Ohih again renovated and beautified it. The present temple was last repaired in 1905, and may be considered one of the fine temples of the Taoist religion.
On the east is the temple of the three gods-heaven, earth and water-where the idols sit enshrined, but receiving scant attention compared with the main temple. The second temple, though covered with white and green porcelain tiles, is only of medium importance. The chief god here is K wan til the god of war, a most ferocious-looking image. The three "Pure Ones," who have a place here, stand for the principles: "We must have pure men and then only can we have pure knowledge."
In the main temple called: "The Eminent Illustrious Hall," sits enshrined Shu Sun} also called the "True Filial Sacred One." He is clothed with a yellow satin 'robe, and in his folded hands he holds a tablet before his breast as if at audience with the emperor. Upon his head he wears a gold-embroidered crown. Over the entrance to his shrine there is an inscription: "They who pray to him in truth and sincerity will receive an answer." In front are two large incense burners in which the offerings of the worshippers are consumed by fire.
In front of this altar, in full view of Shu Sun}s image the pilgrims present their petitions and receive their answer. They come by the thousands from far and near during the months of September and October. They always travel together in clans or societies, with the name of their organization embroidered on silk banners and sashes of different colors, chiefly yellow, the leaders carrying a dragon grotesquely carved from a bamboo growth, with a burning incense stick in its mouth. The dragon is always held horizontally while in the procession. This fictitious animal is usually considered an emblem of power, for even his breath has geomantic influences. The banner bearer follows the dragon. Then come the musicians who make the air scintillate with their cymbals, fifes, bugles and drums. Wherever they come from, they all keep the same time and make the same nerve-racking noise.
At the rear of the main building is a plain, humble, much neglected temple where the wife of Shu Sun officiates. The image is of human
IS IDOLATRY DEAD IN CHINA?
WHERE THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHINESE REPUBLIC GOES TO WORSHIP The wonderful temple of Heaven at Peking. The work is done in marble, most in- tricately carved. The woodwork is marvelously executed. The roofs are of brilliantly colored tiles of purple blue.
size seemingly made of white porcelain. To her right and left stand two female servants. At her altar only women quietly gather without fifes or drums.
One Sunday in October I sat the whole day at a side nook in plain view of the great temple-altar, watching the continuous procession of societies coming in rapid succession through the main entrance increasing their speed and the volume of their music as they approached the altar of Shu Sun, crowding up as closely as space permitted. Arrived there they dropped upon their knees and began with their Kotow, bumping their headl'l three times upon the stone floor, while the musicians were keeping up the noise. Upon the floor were bamboo stickl'l each with a different number, and the Ohiao Kua for the free use of the suppliants. Now these Ohiao K ua are two small pieces of wood or bamboo shaped like kidneys with one side convex and the other concave. The suppliant
chooses Ii pair of these, and trys his luck. If both convex sides turn up, the answer to his petition is ((ymtg yang," indifferently good; if both concave sides turn up, it is ({yin yin," negative and bad; but if one con- vex, and one concave side turn up, then the answer is ((shen kua," abso- lutelyaffirmative. There is always a "Kotow" after the pitching of the Chiao, whether it fell favorably or unfavorably. If the answer is affirma- tive, then one of the bamboo sticks is chosen and the suppliant goes to the rear of the temple where, in a long porch separated by a railing, there are a number of Taoist priests, who ham} to the worshipper a slip of paper bearing the corresponding number of the bamboo stick. Upon these slips are written a few characters which very few of the worship- pers can decipher. They return cheerful and satisfied, feeling well rewarded for the sacrifice it cost to obtain them. Whether successful or not, they leave an offering to the god.
A few steps below the altar are two huge incense burners in which are consumed the sacrifices, consisting chiefly of mock-money, incense, sandal wood, rockets and fire crackers. This done, the worshippers make one more gentle bow to the idol, and leave the temple grounds.
Scarcely have they disappeared, when young men and middle-aged men pounce upon the sacrifices and rake them out of the burning embers, to resell them to other pilgrims. .
The unfavored petitioners disclosed something of the inner life of the idol worshippers. Among these I noticed a man and his wife, neither of them over 30 years of age, who had doubtless come to the altar of Shu Sun with a very definite object. They knelt at one side of the altar by themselves to try their luck with the Chiao Kua, but the god seemed to be against them_ They threw the Ohiao again and again, but it al- ways answered indifferently or negatively. After a stoical look into each other's face, as if to give the idol time to think, the man cast once more. A painful look crept over their faces when they saw the result, and glancing up into the large placid face of the idol, they quietly walked away. From all that can be learned, the object of the pilgrims'
visits to the shrine is always some temporal blessing-either wealth, position or heirs to perpetuate the family name. Some petition the idol to choose a blessing for them, and so reveal a belief in a guiding spirit. They show their sense of need for something they cannot obtain for themselves, and thus are more hopeful from a missionary point of view. The most successful can hope to carry away nothing more than a slip of paper with a few enigmatical words written upon it.
Here is a free translation of a few slips chosen at random: NUMBER TWENTY PROTECTS FROM MISFORTUNE.
"The firefly coveting light throws itself into the fire. Unexpected death comes to it because of its foolishness and lack of knowledge. Being ignorant, it delights to be where there is pleasure not knowing its danger; nor does it know of life and death. If its life is to be saved, it should not forget kindness, nor should it again go into danger. Only then it can have peace."
· 1918] IS IDOLATRY DEAD IN CHINA?
NUMBER FORTY-SEVEN I~ A SECOND-CLASS FORTUNE SLIP.
"To select a good place for a home, it is well first to choose good neighbors; for frequent moving is wasted energy. When the plant by the side of the porch gives the appearance of spring, then the yellow birds in the bushes will sing to us of the good news of joyful days."
NUMBER FORTY-FIVE IS A FIRST-CLASS FORTUNE SLIP.
"The green meadow outsid~ of the porch is thick, and the green leaves on the willow branches are large. There is nothing to separatt' us from the clouds or mountains, and we can easily see the new moon from the west window of our home."
An interpretation of this is: "Blessings will be bestowed from heaven when the opportune time comes. In its own good time prosperity will come like the grass in the meadow and leaves on the willow in summer season and the shining moon."
Such are the answers from the god in whom they believe, yet during each season, between 700,000 and 800,000 worshippers come to this shrine. Let no one in the home lands think that this belief is waning among the people at large.
Less than a year ago, we thought that Oonfucianism, as a religion, had received its death blow; for parliament declared itself against it as the State Religion, the argument rightly being that it could only be considered as State Ethics. But the tendency of the present government is seen in the fact that on September 22d, a little after 6 o'clock in the morning, the President of the Republic and all the officials assembled at the temple of Oonfucius in the north-east part of Peking and paid obeisance to the spirit of Oonfucius. It was a dress-parade. Military and naval attire and decoration almost equalled the Manchu days of mandarin robes, yellow jackets and peacock feathers. The route for the President was lined with soldiers and police. He rode with speed in an iron-clad automobile. At the ceremony, Confucius was duly honored by Peking officialdom under the Republic.
In localities ,,~here there are military operations the Buddhists, Oonfucianists and Taoists are laboring under great difficulties. The soldiers occupy the temples, desecrating and mutilating idols and shrines, and the priests have no redress or appeal. Yet Buddhists and Taoists still have a firm grip on the common people, while Taoism is unquestionably putting forth strong efforts to bring about a revival of its religion_ In the southern parts of this province, the priests are beginning to imitate the methods of Ohristian missionaries. They distribute tracts on the Tao ("the Word"); they organize societies and have preaching halls for members in crowded centers.
While many individuals and families have been won to Ohristianity, and have become happy, cheerful followers of Christ, the people in general have no conception of spiritual things. There is no contrition for sin; nor is any petition for pardon ever brought before the gods.. Spiritually, they are as dead as the bones which the prophet "liiaw in
the open valley." Heathenism dies hard. Double and fourfold should the efforts of the Christian Church be in this political transition period. The danger is that, after these upheavals of revolutions, the temporal conditions will improve, and the people will become so engrossed in their efforts to gain material blessings, that even their religious acts will be more and more centered in that one supreme thought of rank, wealth and progeny.
Have the Chinese lost faith in their gods? Not yet. In Nanchang there was a large beautiful temple to this same god Shii Siin, bearing the same name: "Temple of Ten Thousand Ages." It cost them $120,- 000. Last year, this temple was destroyed by fire. Now it is to be rebuilt, far more beautiful and substantial than the first one. It is to cost $230,- 000. The directors are asking the people to contribute $100,000, and $130,000 are to be taken from the temple endowment fund. The subscriptions have already reached $140,600. Such is the zeal for the maintenance of their places of worship.
"Idolatry is not dying out even in centers where strenuous missionary efforts have been pursued and the power of the Gospel has mightily worked. Here within sight of Kiukiang, where mission work has been going on uninterruptedly over fifty years, and where there are more than 1,000 children in our schools, three churches, a Christian hospital and daily distribution of Gospels and tracts, the rankest heathenism has been developing.
Last summer, when there was a lack of rain in certain places in North China, the men of thirteen villages near Peitaho marched through the full length of this fashionable summer resort, carrying with them their domestic gods, and displaying :flags and banners, beating drums and blowing trumpets, in the belief. that this would cause the clouds to send the needed rain.
The most painful sight at the Western Hills was not the crowds of ignorant peasants that thronged around the shrine of Shu Sun, but the 101 intelligent young men who had come up from the provincial capital Normal Academy, worshiping in the same way at the same shrine with the most illiterate and ignorant peasants. The normal schools in China are new, but the professors and teachers are chiefly either heathen or atheists. Idolatry will not be abolished byedids and revolutions wantonly destroying idols and temples. So long as only seven in a thousand can read and write, and even these few are taught by heathen teachers, there is no hope. As well may we attempt to irrigate the Sahara Desert with a sprinkling can, as to look for spiritual results through political changes and secular education. The only hope for China is in the Christian education of the children.
We have long heard of China as topsy-turvy land, where everything is done by contraries, but we were hardly prepared for this item regarding tIle attendance at church services of a Chinese congregation: "There were present two hundred and thirty-five men and twenty-seven women."
BODY OF AN AME'UICAN ARMY
The 112th Engineers, Col. ]. R. McQuigg, commanding, on parade at Camp Sheridan.
The Body and the Soul of An Army Camp IMPRESSIONS OF THE CONDITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN AN AMERICAN CAMP BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM J. HUTCHINS, OBERLIN, OHIO.
A WRITER in the Atlantic tells of an English lad, who on his retur'n from the trenches listened for an evening to the family talk about the war. At the close of the evening he said to a friend, "I wish they would all shut up." vVe have shared at times the boy's desire. And yet our hearts are in the camps of America or France, and any words may be of service which will help us to enter sympathetically into the lives of our soldiers. I speak of impressions gained from four months of work in one of our Southern camps and from some weeks of work among nine other camps of the Southeastern Department, in which are gathered approximately one-third of the American army.
THE BODY OF A CAMP The camps of regulars at Oglethorpe and of marines at Paris Island are equipped with mess shacks and one story barracks or sleeping sheds. The camps of the National or Draft army are housed in large barracks. On the. first floor of a given barracks is the mess room, accommodating perhaps 150 men. On the same floor are sleeping quarters for fifty men. On the second floor is a large room, sometimes divided into two rooms, in which may be sheltered seventy-five or a hundred men.
To speak more particularly of a typical National Guard camp: I think of it as resembling a great American flag covering 2,200 acres of land. Marking the bottom of the flag is the long street of the regiments of artillery and engineers, and the ammunition and supply trains. Along the stripes run the regimental streets of some of the infantry and machine gun battalions, and of the signal corps and medical units. At the~top of the flag is the brigade street of other infantry. An Association hut serves each unit of 5,000 men_ In the center of the camp is a great auditorium, the largest to be found in any camp in America.
This Red Triangle Coliseum is open to speakers like President Taft, and to entertainments in which the whole division may be interested.
A mile from camp lies the great base hospital, accommodating twe-Ive hundred men. Five miles away are the emplacements of batteries for the three artillery regiments: Over yonder are trenches, miles of them. In these trenches, the boys of the infantry propose to spend certain nights, while from their emplacements the batteries shoot actual shells over the trenches to the "German" positions beyond.
.Nine miles from camp, in the wilderness, are the sleeping and mess shacks of the rifle range. Here too are trenches, in which for three or five days a battalion of men will take turns firing at targets at different distances. Some of these targets are great squares, others of them arc the dark field-gray silhouettes of "German" soldiers, just visible above the ground.
Here too is an Association shack, with its writing tables, its victrola, its·piano, its evening entertainments.
On one side of each regimental street are the officers' mess shacks, the headquarters and infirmary buildings, and the officers' little huts or half tents. On the other side of the street are the mess shacks of the men. Each mess shack is a shed about 125 feet long. The floor within is of earth. Two tables stretch the length Of the shack, with plank seats such as you have used at picnic parks. Each boy has his own mess kit. At the bugle call, he takes his place in line and passes before the cook's counter. Here one man supplies him with meat and gravy, another man with potatoes and perhaps tomatoes, another man supplies him with coffee. To a refined taste the coffee is rank. In general the food is abundant and good. A piece of verse libre appeared in one of the camp papers to this effect: "The next time Our mess sergeant Cuts Up a horse For steak, I hope he Won't forget to Take off the harness."
But the food is far better than that to which fifty per cent of the boys have been accustomed. It is of course monotonous. The next time you are tempted to write a letter to a friendless and homeless boy in camp, don't do it; but send him rather cookies or candies or chocolate, and he will be far more grateful than he would be if you wrote him a ten-page letter. The following note may be helpful to those who have friends in France. It is a clipping from the Ohio Rainbow Reveille, official organ of the 166th Infantry:
1918J THE BODY .AND THE SOUL OF AN ARMY CAMP
WHERE THE BODIES OF SOLDIERS ARE MENDED-AND SOME'rIME,S THEIR SOULS Hospital scene at Camp Travis, San Antonio, Texas. Y. M. C. A. secretary visiting and bringing books for the convalescent patients.
"Will trade: One pair of heliotrope hose-supporters in a hollycovered box, two pairs of gold cuff links engraved, 'To our soldier,' a dead wrist watch, seven neckties, color schemes ranging from cognac crystal to plain black, together with six classy Christmas greeting cards and some sob stuff about the brave lads in khaki, three old copies of the Reveille. Will trade the whole batch for a can of perfectly reliable insect powder."
Behind the shack is the double row of tents, opening upon the company street. The street may be running mud, but usually it is immaculately clean. Each tent is boarded up at the sides and is floored. Sometimes beneath the floor the boys have dug a little wood cellar. In the tent are from eight to twelve cots-twelve are too many. Through the winter there has been a little Sibley stuve in the middle of the tent, a stove which heats the tent thoroughly when it is well fed. At ten o'clock at night the fire must be put out, the tent flap opened.
Speaking still of the body of the camp, I may say that I hold no brief for any man or any group of men; but I think that with reference to camp conditions several things should be said.
1. At any rate in the Southeast, the War Department has performed
a miracle in the establishment and maintenance of the camps, and in the feeding, clothing and housing of our boys. Consider the complete breakdown of the transportation of the country. Consider the difficulty of getting lumber. Consider the difficulty of getting labor, in view of the enormous exodus of Negroes to the North. Consider the difficulty of getting clothing. One is amazed not that so little has been done, but that so much has been done.
2. Some of the undoubted defects in the conditions of our army camps are a reflection not upon one man or group of men. They are a reflection upon the great American people. At seven-fifteen one Sunday morning I proposed to lead a brief devotional service in the base hospital for some 150 convalescents. It was a cold morning. The stove was there, the fuel was there, but there was no fire in the stove. I did not feel like blaming the War Department. When an orderly fails to build a fire or "'hen an orderly treats with sacrilege the body of a dead soldier, I regard it as a reflection upon the city schools and the American civilization of which the orderly is the product. vVhen five hundred southern boys get pneumonia, it is a reflection largely upon the unsanitary conditions in the midst of which in their southern mountains and southern towns they have grown up, conditions which have now rendered them powerless to resist the physical evils of a camp environment, in which other men have thrived, gained weight and strength.
As Americans we have been living easy-going, happy-go-lucky, selfish lives, we have served spasmodically and got our pictures into the Sunday papers; we have only begun to learn steady, steadfast, sacrificial, universal, coordinated service,-the service which does not advertise, which does not demand stripes on the sleeve, bars upon the shoulders, medals upon the breast.
THE SOUL OF A CAMP This is not so easily discussed or described. Each camp has a soul of its own. A rather sharp distinction has been drawn between the camps of the Regular Army, those of the National Guard, and those of the National Army. A certain amount of mutual jealousy has been felt, but this is not very virulent. .
There is a radical distinction between the soul of a camp of southern boys and one of the northern boys. Among the men of the southern Na- tional Guard, there is scarcely a foreigner, or a man of foreign parent- age. It is said of Camp Sevier that it is the most American of all the American camps. Here we need no educational classes to teach the men English. In Camp Gordon we need to have the Testament in nineteen different languages if it is to be reasonably intelligible to all the soldiers there.
Among the southern soldiers, educational classes are conducted for illiterates. In one regiment there were reported three hundred men
THE: BODY AND THE: SOUl OF AN ARMy CAMp
-.
WHERE THE "Y" MEN GET INTO TOGeH WITH THE SOLDIERS A scene at the desk in a Y. M. C. A. "hut" at Camp MacArthur, Waco, Texas.
who could neither read nor write. One man was induced to enter an educational class in order that he might read and reply to the letters which he received from his little seven year old daughter_ The Southern boys have a very strong religious interest. One Sunday morning in one camp of Southerners, I walked through streets whose mud in places was actually up to the hubs of an army truck. A dense mist covered the entire camp. As I approached one of our Association buildings, I heard singing. And there at nine o'clock I saw the largest Protestant gathering I had ever seen at that time on a Sabbath morning. A Southerner was leading the singing. The boys all knew the old hymns, and they sang and sang with the utmost fervor. The great majority of the southern soldiers count themselves Methodists or Baptists. Their' religion does not invariably tie itself up to morals or to the Ohurch. But among these simple-hearted southern boys we have an opportunity absolutely unique.
'Yithin the ordinary camp life, each organization, each company indeed, has its own soul, its own habits of thought, its ovn outlook upon life. Speaking with the inaccuracy of all general statements, I would say that these great splendid-looking fellows are children. I have seen a soldier on Hallowe'en carrying from town to camp an immense teddy
bear. I have seen three soldiers on a train playing by the half hour with a toy. climbing monkey. Like children and collegians they grow home· sick.
Like children, too, they are at once most responsive and most irre· .sponsible. I was asked to teach a company Bible Class in a mess shack. I arrived on time. Noone else was there. Finally the captain came in and remarked, "This is a .heck of a place for a Bible Olass. Let's go up to the Association building." And he marched most of his men by twos to the hut. At the Bible Olass, there were present two majors, a captain and perhaps 125 or 150 men. At the close of the class, the Building Re· ligious Work Secretary said, "How many have enjoyed "the class?;' "It so as to raise the roof. "How many will come next Sunday if Mr. H.– will teach the class again?" "I." The next Sunday the teacher was there, and not another living soul. In about fifteen minutes perhaps fifo teen or seventeen strolled in, but by that time we must prepare fora chaplain service, and nothing happened.
But while the soldiers are in many ways as children, they impress one as on the way to manhood. Among them, there is a growing earnest· ness, soberness, I had almost said somberness. There is little of spread· eagle optimism, such as is revealed by the supposedly comic pictures representing the soldier prodding the kaiser with his bayonet. A colonel won applause by a remark like this: "Down in the artillery we have all kinds of mascots-monkeys, dogs, and a bear. But when we go across, we can't take any mascot, but we are going to bring back one, the kaiser's goat!" But usually the speaker who proposes to "can the kaiser" wins feeble response. On the other hand there is a dogged determination to see the thing through. They are not coming back "till it's over, over there." I was interested in a drafted man, who was explaining his own attitude, and that of his tent mates. He said, "We have talked it all over, and have realized that we are in it, and the only way to get out of it is to go through with it, and we are going to go through with it as fast as possible." But perhaps the manhood of the men revealed itself to me com- pletely in what I may call the triumph of the human spirit. One who has not been in camp can scarcely realize the monotony of the soldier's life; but seldom did I hear any real complaint. Like lHcawber the boys are always waiting for something to turn up. A southern officer re- marked to me, "A soldier learns neither to wonder nor to worry." As few things ever do turn up, the monotony palls and keeps on palling; but it cannot conquer the truly indomitable spirit of the boys.
Oonquering monotony, the spirit of the men conquers the emergency. We had a perfectly frightful tornado at the very beginning of the camp. Tents went down, floods of water drowned kits and equipment. Through much of the night the boys worked, some of them stark naked, and then went to sleep on the tables of the mess shacks. While
THE BODY AND THE SOUL OF AN ARMY CAMP
there was a vast deal of swearing, there was far more humor and laughter, and the next morning the boys were charmed at the thought that they had an adventure to write home about.
The sins of the soldier are coarse, obvious, man sins. Profanity is profuse and promiscuous. I remarked to a group of tent-mates, "You fellows will forget how to talk to ladies after a while." One boy said, "That's true enough.. I was down at the Baptist social the other night, and found myself swearing at the girl I was talking with." A good many boys are entirely free from profanity. The officer who doesn't swear is profoundly respected. One sergeant has a swear-box. Any man who enters the tent and swears has to put a nickel into the box before he leaves the tent. I am persuaded that profanity, while highly undesirable, is a skin disease, and not a cancer eating at the heart.
Gambling has been and is in parts of the camp still very common. But it is not a mania, it is rather a means of varying the monotony. Some of the officers and all of the secretaries are quietly at work trying to stop the gambling, for it does injure the morale of the men. One of our secretaries said he had always envied the priest his confessional; but no longer. He has a little hole in the wall, where he sells money orders. A boy will come up and wish to send sixty dollars home. The secretary of course knows that he never got that sum of money lawfully, and sooner or later he gets the chance to say the word which will stop the gambling.
Drunkenness can scarcely now be called a sin of the American soldier. I have been almost continuously with the enlisted men for five months. I have seen them at all times of the day and night, in the camp a'nd down town and on the train. I have seen typical representatives of camps containing four hundred thousand men. In that period I have seen only one drunken soldier. I believe that there has been no previous epoch of the world's history when a reasonably intelligent observer could have made such a statement. The statement is a tribute not alto- gether to the virtue of the soldier. It is a tribute to the efficiency of our military police, a tribute to. the wisdom of our War Department, in bringing so many of our camps into dry territory. After a long hike, a major spoke proudly of his battalion. He said, "There is an argument for dry legislation. It is just after pay day. The soldiers have marched ten miles. Not a man has fallen out. See how fine they look. That could never have happened down OIl the Border." The last enemy of the soldier, tne last Hun of the spirit, is licentious- ness. I wish to say one word for the comfort of Ohristian parents. The boys who have grown up clean in clean homes, and wholesome church life, are almost invariably clean. Indeed the camp life seems to strengthen and purify. And there are thousands of men now fighting a victorious fight against impurity, who in civil life knew .defeat.
At first I was profoundly depressed by the soldiers' sins, but more
recently I have been profoundly stirred by their virtues. They have been taken from their homes, from their loves, from their life plans. They are held under irksome discipline, which to their restless hearts seems needlessly long and tedious. When we do a hard piece of work, we look forward to a change, a vacation. The only change our boys exped is the journey overseas. Theil' only vacation is in the hell of France.
Freqnently yon will be asked about revivals of religion among the soldiers. I discount such reports. The boys are anxious to be courteous, eager to please the speaker, and to do their part in a ladylike fashion. One speaker from the Nortll said to a crowd of men, "How many of you will permit me to go back to New York to tell the people of the North that you will come home clean?" Practically every man in the room raised his hand, not because he had thought through what it meant to go to Prance and to serve in .B'rance and to come back clean, but because he was anxious to do his part to make the evening pleasant all around.
But while I cannot tell of revivals of religion in the army, I can tell you of officers who respect their men, and whom their men respect, officers who are Ohristian gentlemen. I can tell you of chaplains, men who love Ohrist and love their men, who become the fathers confessor of their regiments. I can take you into one of six large buildings, in our camp, each painted green, an oasis in the barren brown of the camp. Each building will accommodate or rather hold eight hundred boys when packed tight. In their leisure times the men wiII line the desks around the room, writing letters on the paper furnished by the Y. 1£. O. A. The average man IS always behind in his correspondence, but he writes vo- luminously. Said an officer to me, "If I were an Association secretary, I should never preach to the boys, I should simply say, '·Write home.' "
In a Y. M. O. A. building, two nights a week, there will be movies; one night a week, friends will furnish entertainment. One night a week is devoted to stunts or performances by soldier talent. Sunday night and one week night are called "religious" nights. Let me tell you of one of these nights. Upon the screen there will be thrown the stirring words of some camp or trench song, "There's a long, long trail a-wind- ing," "Over There," "Indiana"; then the words and music of some famil· iar hymns. Then a man will speak for fifteen minutes, holding the sol· diers spell bound as he tells them about the allies of the soldier of .Jesus Christ, or about Jesus who will save his people from their sins. At the . close perhaps he will say, "Boys, I have here a war roll. It is being signed by thousands and thousands of soldiers in this country, in Eng· land, in France. Listen to it. 'I hereby pledge my allegiance to Jesus Ohrist as Saviour and Lord, and promise to fight His battles for the vic· tory of His kingdom!" Isn't that great? Now I am not going to arouse your emotions and get you to come up here en masse to sign this card, but down there are some secretaries, friends of yours, who will be glad
THE BODY AND THE SOUL OF AN ARMY CAMP
A RELIGIOUS SERVICE WIlEN NO "HU'l'" COULD HOLD THE SOLDIERS "Billy" Sunday preaching to the soldiers at a Camp in California.
to talk with you after the prayer, and I want to shake hands with as many of you as I can. And I want you to stay."
After the me.eting, possibly fifteen or sixteen soldiers will talk with their friends about the most precious things in life. There may be gathered up fifteen or more war rolls on such a night. Each war roll is sent to New York. From New York a letter is written to the boy who has declared his allegiance to Jesus Christ, congratulating bim upon his new or renewed purpose. Another letter is sent to the pastor of his home church, and the original card is sent to the parents of the boy, that in the days when he is over in France, or perchance lies buried beneath the flowers of Flanders, they may have the card which speaks of their boy's purpose when he was down in a southern camp. Now this sort of work is being done in every camp of our country.
The one special contribution' of our camp Association to the solution of the religious problem has been made by the adoption of Augustus Nash's plan of the squad interview. 'Vith the cooperation of some of the ablest men of the neighboring cities, we were able to have interviews with the representatives of eighteen thousand out of twentyfive thousand men at our camp.
Ten or fifteen fine laymen might go down a company street. The
boys who knew they were coming would for the most part be in their tents to welcome the friendly invaders. If you were one of these, you :would stop at one of the tents and would soon get into conversation with :t.he boys, and. would lead up to some s1J~h idea fS this: . "Boys, I have wanted very much to go along with you but Uncle .Sam won't let me, he tells me I'm too old; but I want you to know that I am with you down to the ground. I have had an idea that the only .man who can beat the Germans is the man who has conquered himself first. Now I heard a corporal say that you can pull off this Christian stuff in civilian life but you can;t pull it off in the army. Do you believe that?" .
And a little Greek will say, "I am a Christian. I was baptised. I am a church member."
An American boy will say, "Oh, it's one thing to be a church member and quite another thing to be a Christian."
"Is that so? What's the difference? Did you ever see a Christian?"
"Not around these parts."
"Are you sure? Did you ever meet Doc?" (One of the Secretaries.) "Yes, by George, I believe he is a Christian."
"Did you ever see General So and So?"
They all know him.
"Well, do you know what that man said in public a while ago? He said, 'I read my Bible every day and pray to God that I may be a better man.' Now I suppose if one of you fellows happened to read your Bible, the rest of you would throw your boots at him, wouldn't you?" , "Well, we might make it rather unpleasant."
A Catholic will say, "I have a Bible here," and he pulls out from under his pillow a Douay Bible, and you turn to the chapter about the Good Samaritan.
"There was a certain man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers, which stripped him of his clothing and left him half naked, and there was a certain priest came down that way, and what do you suppose he did?"
"I don't know. I guess he helped him."
"No, he passed by on the other side; and then there was a Levite, a kind of janitor around the temple, and what did he do? He passed by on the other side; and then there came by one of those poor devils of a Samaritan, and what did he do?"
"I don't know."
"Well, he got off his beast, poured oil and wine into his wounds, took him to a hotel, paid the landlord two dollars, and told him that when he came back again, if there was any extra expense, he would pay it."
By this time, the boys would be looking at you as if they were
THE BODY AND THE SOUL OF AN ARMY CAMP
listening to a novel, one boy lying on a cot, another lying under the upturned knees of his comrade, gazing at you like one of Raphael's cherubs.
"See here, fellows, have you thought what would happen if one tent cleaned up? You know what happens when measles or meningitis or mumps gets into a tent; how it sweeps down right through the company street. Now, I think that there is a contagion of health that works in just the same way. If one tent cleans up, the next tent on each side will clean up, and then another tent, until the whole company street will be well and clean and strong."
"Oh, that's not so. Men ain't molecules." "True enough, but it's worth trying, don't you think so, Corporal?" "Well, I think I should like to try it for a while." "Will you promise me?" "No, I won't promise nothing." "All right, old man, but you have told me you would like to try." The work ;did not end with a single visit. Those business men fol- lowed up the boys whom they had visited, with letters; invitations to their homes. Not a complete success, but the plan was amply justified by its results. A friend asked one of the boys what he thought about the Y. M. C. A.. He said, "Ittakes the sick out of homesick," and a little foreigner replied to a similar question, "She our mother." Now by helping a nian who has got in wrong, now by helping a spendthrift save his money, now by distributing the gracious gifts of the women of the NQrth, now by friendly counsel to a boy who has not written home for months, now by kindling again the fires of purity in the heart of a tempted man, the Association tries to mother our boys. The most impressive hour of our camp day is at evening either just . before or just after mess, when the bugles call, and every soldier in the entire c.amp stands at attention, still as a statue, the busy hum of the camp is quieted, the "Star Spangled Banner" is played, the flags are lowered. No man can participate in this act of reverence night after night and remain unstirred. Chaplains and Association secretaries have tried to bring to the hearts M our boys the great stillness in which they shall turn to their God, who has made oar flag worth saluting, worth fighting for, worth dying for. I close with two considerations. First: There is not a boy down at camp whose attitude toward the war and toward life is not being influenced by some friend at home. Slilcond: President Wilson's program can be put through only with the eager concurrence of the public opinion which you have so large an opportunity to form. This program means such suffering to us as a social ol'ganism, such anguish as we have never dreamed. And those
at home will do much to determine whether the "rivers of pain" shall flow fruitless through the plains of Europe and over the prairies of America.
Every gun was once a thought, every submarine was once a thought, the ruin of Belgium, and of Poland and of Servia, the assassination of Armenia, the war itself, was once a thought. The Red Cross movement, the Association movement, the philanthropies which dry the tears of thousands, all these were once thoughts. One suggests that "an internationalized world must first exist in the minds, hearts and consciences of the trained men and women of the civilized world." So our thoughtR turn from our boys in the camp to the thought of America's program as it relates itself to the internationalized world, as it relates itself to the Kingdom of God, that we and the boys we love may go with unbandaged eyes to the supreme sacrifices of this supreme crisis of the world's history, that we and they may n'ot have suffered in vain.
Religion at the Front A Letter from a Y. M. C. A. Secretary Somewhere in France.
If you hear that the Y. 11. C. A. is neglecting the religious work in Prance, just tell people this from me:' 'Ve have two religious services at the principal points every Sunday; at all points a mid-week devotional hour; Bible classes in several places and soon will have them in all. ",Ve give out many 'l'estaments. That means we have the military address, the home address and church relation, and it very often means a definite decision for Christ. 'Ve are also arranging for Bible classes on all the boats. We have services in the Hospital and occasionally administerer communion there. 'Ve keep a record of all personal work and there is much done. What is more important, our chief is a strong, Christian man, and the work, as a whole, is viewed from the religious point. He g~thers all the secretaries once a week for conference and prayer. The longer I am here the more I feel the possibilities of the work. Back in California I preach to a nice, comfortable Christian congregation, but here I have the direction of the religious work that is undertaken for all the men in a division and which touches, by reason of the fact that this is a port city, a great number-a number that I cannot mention.
I like the spirit of the men here and I like the religion that convinces them-it is the simple truth of God-Christ-righteousnessdecency–Iove. It must" be free from cant, it must be dead earnest, it must be cleansed of all sectarianism, insincerity and machinery. The men are religious, however rough they may be, and if the Lord Jesus Christ is not given to them, its our fault, and if we fail to present the religious message we are losing the big chance of the war. Its a war for the Big Things of our faith and we must know that faith that we may prove it right; that we may gain Christ for the world.
Touch of
BY S. D. GORDON. Author of "Quiet Talks on Prayer," etc.
O NE touch of Jesus makes the whole world akin. Or, rather, it would be better put in this way-one touch of Jesus reveals the fact that all the world is akin.
vVhen I went to the Orient I was bothered quite a bit, sometimes, in thinking that perhaps I would not fit into the Oriental way of looking at things. Could I really get into human touch with them? Would my American way of putting things fit in? The American has such a distinctive way, all his own, of putting things.
And would my interpreter "get" my American English? For American English is so distinct from English English. And most of the English-speaking people of Europe and Asia have been trained in the literature and verbiage of Great Britain.
Then I had read a few of the books that insist that the Orient and Occident have no point of contact. Kipling's insistence on this is fa· miliar, that East is East, and vVest is West, and the two never get together. .
I recalled how·the American puts his coat on over his vest, and the Chinese his vest on over his coat. vVe read a book from left to right, and our olive-skinned brother of the Orient from right to left. And when one tries to get hold of a Chinese sentence through some expert linguist you feel that if you could stand on your head for a fresh point of view it might help things out a bit, linguistically.
But to my delight I found that my misgivings were all awry. Once again my -fears did not have good footing. I made a great discovery that still makes my heart burn-all the world's akin! And a touch of Jesus, the world's divine Kinsman, reveals the fact.
The East balks at our rule of the clock. Our Western way of organizing is a puzzle to them. The highly inflectional languages of Europe are in strange contrast to the agglutinate languages of China and Japan.
And our highly polished, abstractly phrased book sentences are in as sharp contrast with their pictorial languages. And our theology! Our intricate, nicely mortised together systems of theological philosophiz- ings are bewildering to them.
But, but-one touch of Jesus, one warm living touch of the divine Man who belongs to all the race, Son of God, Son of Man, Brother of Man, this draws together all the world, East and West, North and South, Arctic and Equatorial, yellow skins and brown, blue eyes and black, round heads and long.
Then the differences become incidental. By themselves they seem as big and hard as the book makers say. They tower to Alpine heights that bar people from each other. But as one gets into this Jesus-touch of heart it is quickly seen that the world's more alike than it is different.
It is striking that as men come to know, in a simple warm human way, about Jesus Christ, they are drawn to Him. They never think of Him as a foreigner. He is one of themselves, they instinctively think. 'Wherever I went I felt that I was a foreigner, but Jesus was never a foreigner.
In the south of Japan I went into the churches founded generations ago through the Portuguese priests. I listened as the people were praying. But they were not praying in Portuguese. They had no idea that Jesus was a Portuguese, though the Portuguese had taught them of Him. They were praying in Japanese. To them the Man Christ Jesus is a Japanese. He talks Japanese. He is one of themselves. The same is as true in the churches founded by the Americans during the past sixty years.
And so it is everywhere. The Chinese think of Jesus as having a round head like their own, and slanting eyes, and olive skin. The flaxenhaired Hollandish maid praying by the side of her single cot pours out her petitions in Dutch. And that, not the Dutch of the books and the scholars; no, the Dutch of the cr.adle and the fireside, of the street corner and the market place, the Dutch of love-making, the real language of any people. And if you could listen you would feel that she knows down in her heart that J esU8 talks Dutch.
I recall an old Lappish woman far up in northern Sweden, where the nomad Lapps still thrive, and reckon their wealth not in gold but in reindeer. Despite her seventy years she had come three days' journey, alone, over the snow on her long wooden snow shoes or skees, to be at the week's meetings. She used to sit about midway down the hall, with the drapery of white hair over her black eyes that glowed and deepened and flamed as she listened.
Of course I talked through interpretation, as I did almost wholly for about three years. Sentence by sentence, short, terse, simple, the message went in a steady stream, from my lips through those of thl~ man by my side, to the people.
One night these simple-hearted, earnest Laplanders asked to have an open prayer meeting following the speaking. And so it was quickly arranged. And they spent two or three hours in prayer, one after another pouring out the heart, with intervals of silence. I stayed and listened and joined them in spirit. It's- surprising how much you can know of things going on by the feel of the 8pirit.
By and by, I thought it was myoId black-eyed, white-haired woman friend praying. We had come to know each other just through the intercourse of our spirits, during the speaking. I glanced up to see.
ONE TOUCH OF JESUS
Yes, she was praying in a low hushed vibrant voice. But she had no need of an interpreter. She was face-to-face with a Friend, a Kinsman. You could tell by the feel of her voice in the still air that she knew that J e8U8 talked Lappish. They were alone together in closest kinship of spirit.
I recall a Swedish friend telling me of an experience he had up in the Baltic provinces of Russia. He was speaking in German, the common speech of most of the crowd of those parts. And in that my friend was quite fluent. But it was the high German he spoke, the language that Luther of the highland country of Saxony had made the standard language of all Germany by his Bible translation.
One day, at the close of the meeting, a woman came to ask my friend a question. She was one of the common, unlettered people, and spoke the low German still used by great numbers of her class. But my friend couldn't understand her. At length, after many attempts to make herself understood, the woman Simply said, "Ugh, well, I'll just ask Jesus. He'll understand. He talks low German."
She felt iu her heart that she would get what would satisfy her quest. So often the common, unlettered people have in freer degree, the spirit discernment which our Quaker friends call "the inner light." Unhampered by the elements in lparning which sometimes hinder, though they need not, they seem more open ofttimes to Spirit influences.
Now Jesus has a universal human heart. Men of all the race come to feel that Jesus understands them. As they kneel in African kraal, or Ohinese village, in Indian tepee, or amid Western civilization, they look up, and they know that there is on the throne yonder One who i~ bone of our bone, whose experience is our experience. He bends over listening with a man's sympathy, with human understanding.
There is more of God since Jesus came down here, and lived our human life, and went back again. He has taken human experience up into the heart of God_ And all the world comes to understand it so, when once they get into simple warm human touch with Jesus, without being hampered by some of our over-conventionalized and abstract Christian philosophies.
It's striking, too, to notice everywhere what it is in Jesus that draws men. They admire His teaching, its freshness and originality and comprehensiveness, and its high ideals. They Rtand in awe of the character of Jesus, its purity and strength. But these are not the things in Him that take hold of their hearts most, and compel the devotion of their lives.
It is this: that He loves, really loves them; that He pledges His love in the one unmistakable way, by giving His life, and giving it clear out.
Here is the clue to fine missionary strategy. This attitude of men everywhere, east and· west, north and south, toward Jesus when they get the warm human touch with Him, this gives the strategic clue. Take
to them the story of the Man who died for them, when He was not obliged to do it. The only necessity was the driving power of His great human divine love. This is the finest, the shrewdest strategy in all missionary propaganda.
Of course other things go with this, hospitals and medical colleges, with the best equipment and the latest of western science. Of cours£> we will take these. Educational activities, and industrial, and humanitarian, grow naturally out of the Gospel spirit. We will teach them all about better selection of seed, and how to get larger, finer cabbages, and the like.
. And we will seek to coordinate all missionary effort, so that the field may be studied and planned for in a thoughtful statesmanlike way. We will naturally insist that men of nations classed as Christian shall at least not be untrue to the more dominant truths of the Christian faith in their contacts, commercial and otherwise, with the non-Christian people.
Yet, of course, all this is part and parcel of the brotherly spirit, the Jesus spirit. It is possible to do all of these good things, and utterly miss the mark in the chiefest thing of giving them warm close human contact with the Man who died. It is the tremendous subtle influence flowing out of, not Jesus' life merely, but His death, His peculiar distinctive death, that makes the western civilization so different from the characteristic Oriental civilization.
It is not possible to give them Jesus, in the warm living human way suggested, without giving them these other things, too. That is, it is not possible where His spirit in its breadth, its humanness, its practicality, has sway.
These other things in themselves are secondary. They are of incalculable value in themselves. They are well worth doing in themselves from the humanitarian, the brotherly, standpoint. They fully justify all the millions involved. But from the point of view of the Book, of our Lord's great commission to His Church, from the real Christian point of view, to give these, with the other as incidental, is wholly missing the mark of missionary propaganda.
And it still remains true that the one chief thing that fits a man for any part in missionary service is that he has been caught by the .Jesus' passion, which comes only as his life and powers and training are flamed and swept by the Holy Spirit. He may have the best that academic course, and specialized technical training, can give. And the more the better. But if he have not the other simple fundamental essentialwell, the least that can be said is to question the value of his going as a Christian missionary, however useful he may be in other ways.
This attitude of men, toward Jesus when they really get in touch with Him, gives the unfailing clue to missionary qualification, and to missionary strategy,
l'mMITIVl~ METHODS OJ!' LIFE AND TRAVEl, IN THE
A roadside scene-a native shack, carabos and two-wheeled cart.
Leaves From a Physician's Note Book PEN PICTURES OF MEDICAL WORK IN THE PHILIPPINES AND DEVELOPMENTS IN THIRTEEN YEARS BY R. C. THOMAS, M.D., ILOILO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS Missionary of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society CAPIZ, P. 1., 1904.-The dispensary was crowded today. It is not much to boast of; just a corrugated iron partition screening off a corner of the basement of one of the upper·class houses typical of the Philippines. These houses are two stories in height, with corrugated iron roof, wooden superstructure and coral stone basement. We share our quarters with the native "quilez," or two-wheeled carriage; and we are already accustomed to the neigh of the pony stabled just behind us. It is primitive indeed, this dispensary, but no more so than the assistant, Sr. X–, who assists me in the clinic. This morning he gave me another sample of his perspicacity. A native woman of the "tao" or peasant class came in with a child on her hip-the national method of carrying infants. After a painstaking ten minutes spent in recording her age, pedigree audpast history, and a few more minutes consumed bya physical examination, I inquired of Sr. X–, who acted a~ interpreter, the nature of her present illness. "She is not ill," he replied. "Not ill," I queried in amazement. "Then why is she here?" ({She is not ill," repeated Sr. X – – with dignity. "Her child is ill."
This was charact€ristic of Sr. X–. He would not presume to offer the suggestion that I was examining the wrong patient.
The group of "infirmos" or "masakit" (as they call the sick in the Vizayan dialect), at the clinic this morning was fairly large, which is somewhat to be wondered at., as rumors persistently circulate that the Americans poison the wellS, when cholera breaks out. Indeed, a fellow missionary in Iloilo heard that the people were so suspicious of his methods, that they waylaid one of his patients and forced him to take all his medicine in one gulp. Fortunately it was not a fatal dose. Some native remedies are quite harmless and equally valueless. One of the men had a white cross on his neck traced in lime; another had a plaster disc pasted on his temple–"Ohinese medicine; warranted to cure malaria."
VICTIMS OF AN EXPLOSION 'foday a casualty occurred. A "tao" laborer was fatally injured by a blast. I met the priest coming out as I arrived, for the priest is of more importance than the doctor on such an occasion. Olimbing the bamboo ladder, I stooped into the little nipa shack. The customary crowd of natives filled the room. A single glance revealed the poverty of the owner. The furniture consisted of a chair or two, a bamboo table, and in the adjoining kitchen the hollowed Jog for pounding out the rice, and the primitive stove, consisting of a wooden tahle with two large stones on it to prop the rice kettle.
The man lay on the floor unconscious. My assistant who had formerly been a choir leader in the great Roman Oatholic church nearby, was on his knees in an instant beside the dying man, hoping to reach him with the Gospel message. It was too late, but by his side was his little daughter, who had also been injured in the accident, and to her we both could minister.
During the night I watched over the child, and this vi-gil became a weird initiation for me into the ways of these people-ways that have continued ever since the coming of the Spaniard. Tl':e dead man was lying in the adjoining room, and near him was a large picture painted in oil-a crude attempt to represent the "Way of Life." In the foreground was a roadway, a typical road of the Philippines, with its rich foliage and palm trees on either hand; but in the bacl{ground this pathway ended in a blaze of light to represent heaven. On either side of the picture tallow candles spluttered all night long, and before it, on their knees, little groups of mourners dressed in black, droned over their beads, saying prayers for a dead man's soul. How sad it all was!
A few days later the mother of the little girl whose life had been saved paid me a visit, and showed great emotion. A votive offering of dozens of eggs, ducks and a goat testified to the genuineness of her feeling.
A NOVEL EXPERIENCE Tonight a fellow missionary helped me with an operation in a shack. It proved to be a race with the dark, as the small tin lamp with
LEAVES FROM A PHYSICIAN'S NOTE BOOK
wick immersed in cocoanut oil is not to be tolerated near ether vapor. Night falls rapidly whl')n once the sun sets, and we had little time, but working in the dark is to be preferred to the flickering flame and acrid smoke of these little tin lamps. Such primitive attempts to do clean surgery in an unpromising environment remind me that the other day I helped a fellow practitioner to amputate an arm with an unusual instrument-a buck saw. The operation was successful. It was no worse than my attempt to pull a tooth with a bicycle wrench.
A TRIP INTO THE COUNTRY At dawn the carriers shoulder their bamboo "teter poles" with the the packs swinging at either end; the ponies are saddled, and an extra dnch is taken in the girths, for these native ponies frequently are frisky. The road leads across a dilapidated wooden bridge, and then straight away for miles into the open country. On either side tower palm trees, and clustered at their bases, bananas and tropical plants add grace and color. Frequently herds of carabao or water oxen ate seen grazing, with flocks of the pure white carabao birds hovering over them or perched on their shaggy backs. The native nipa shacks, singly and in groups or barrios, are scattered along the route in large number. They are artistic in the distance and not so filthy as one might expect, when one considers that the occupants are of a race who had no word for soap until the Spaniards came. Inside these. shacks there is little in the way of conveniences; and practically nothing whatever in the way of reading matter.
This is the open door for the itinerant "medico," and we use it. Here and there brief stops are made at the barrios, and, after short clinics, Bibles are sold and the Gospel is preached. At nightfall we put up at a native house. These people are the soul of hospitality, willing to sleep on the floor, and give their beds to the unexpected guest.. Rice and "doubtful" eggs and water boiled in a rice kettle, smoky but germless are served; and then we retire beneath the protection of the friendly mosquito net.
At break of day we are off again, and by noon are winding over the trails in the hills, with the feathery tassels of the "tigbaw" grass waving over our heads. Here the verdure is different, and so are the people. These mountaineers are free limbed, strong-bodied and largesouled. They give us a hearty greeting and guide us to their little bamboo chapel on the hill top, after a rough scramble through the stiff kogon grass. The chapel is ready for the clinic, and the sign of the Good Samaritan is floating over the doorway-the American flag. These hill folk are wise enough to recognize that the best of Americanism is her Protestant Christianity, and they hang the flag at the door of the church building. The clinic over, the candidates for baptism are examined. One old man in the group is wizened and attenuated, and gives his age as ninety_ All these long years he has been waiting like Simeon for
the child Jesus. His'testimony is complete, and his face is his credential of a changed heart. Early the next morning, the church members and their friends gather by the little rock bound basin cut from the cliff side by the hand of God. Here, with the vistas of rice field and rolling hill ribboned with silver-where the mountain torrents slip away to the sea, the old man is baptized. His years of service will be few, hut we thank God that the good news did not come too late.
A BROKEN ARM 'l:'oday we have had a hard hike through the muddy Negros roads. vVe have waded through rivers and crossed uncertain bridges, but at length have arrived at a little coast town. The sea is calm. The beach, of hard white sand, is fringed with cocoanut palms, and the rustic fishers' huts are welcome after a hard hot journey. The clinic we have held has been well attended. One case was of special interest. A fisherman had just broken the bone of his upper arm in a wrestling match on the beach. After a half hour's work we had splinted it and sent him away for a month's retirement. In an hour he had returned with all dressings removed and the cheerful information that his "arm was much better." So it goes-in the Philippines.
A TOUR IN NEGROS-1917 The roads are excellent for most of the way, being macadamized and in good repair. Concrete bridges have now replaced the old fashioned wooden ones. How great a contrast there is in our touring now and ten years ago. Then we went on ponies or bicycles or walked; now we go in Panay Island on the railroads, or automobile, and today in Negros automobiles are everywhere. We have just traveled in a car eighty miles along the coast road, and visited a number of towns. It is a maritime plain and rich agricultural country. Here and there sugar mills are'passed, with their fringe of bullock carts about the yard.
Away in the distance the Volcano KanLaon (Old Man of the Mountain) reminds us of Papa Isio, the bandit, who for years lived in the mountain and terrorized the community. We saw him last in a cell in Bacolod. Poor misguided wretch! He has yielded like the cholera and smallpox to the wholesome influences of modern American civilization. On the other side glimpses of the sea are caught between copses of bamboo that intervene. On all sides natives enliven the scene, waist deep in the rice field; trudging along the road with baskets of produce on their heads; or noisily engaged in bartering in the market place, 'where many hundreds congregate. vVe turn from the scenery and address our attention to them. "Polong" means "word" and "bolong" means medicine. As one medical missionary has reminded us, we must "polong" as well as "bolong" them. 'We try not to forget it; and they welcome both the "doctrine," and the "medicine"; the "polong" and the "bolong."
THE UNION MISSION HOSPITAL As I sit ill the office of the Union Mission Hospital, Iloilo, tOl1ay and hark back to the morning in 1904 when I landed here for the first time and met Dr. Hall, the pioneer medical missionary-it seems impossible that in a little over a decade such changes could take place. He was then practicing in a shack. Now we are associated in this well built hospital of oVer sixty beds and thirty in a native nurses' training' school (the first to be estabHshed in the Islands). The new Nurses' Home, just completed of concrete, is a model of its kind.
At my elbow today are recorded some of the funny mistakes ill diction in the case histories made by the helpers. One recorded, in a ' vain attempt to find a word for "faint," that "the patien t was dizzy till it make him nonsense. " Another frequent symptom has been "pale eyes." Another patient was put down as suffering fl'om "headache and hypogastric aches." Another had "fallen from a house : often breathing cough sometimes." One put down as injured by a "capsule," was found to be the victim of a "cap pistol." StilI another unfortunate suffered from "meat growing on the left neck."
'We are proud of our nurses and beHeve the Filipino nurse is destined to become indispensable to the Filipinos. The nurse and the student class as a whole, will need American supervision for years to come. 'Ve rejoice in the great progress made in all departments of education during the years of American occupation, but we are convinced that the United States government and the Protestant Church of America have only begun their work of the Good Samaritan here. Persistence will insure victory, but withdrawal may court defeat.. America must persist until her t.ask is done.
ONE OF THE MODElIN IM PROVEMENTS IN TIm PHILIPPINES The Nurses' Home in Iloilo; connected with the Union Mission Hospital, built in 1917,
A Missionary Confession of
BY REV. HARMON H. McQUILKIN, D.O., ORANGE, NEW JERSEY Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church.
I BELIEVE in taking the Gospel 16:15 ), and "unto the uttermost part of the Crucified One to the whole of the earth" (Acts 1 :8). "Christian"
wide world. Every new and deeper, and "Missionary" are forever joined insight into the character and pur- in the vocabulary of heaven.
poses of Jesus, every fresh report Third-I believe in taking the Gos- from the mission fields, confirms and pel to the whole world because the strengthens my belief in this program Apostles and their successors believed of evangeli+ation for every race and in it. . Peter, coming down .from the nation. housetop, fresh from his vision of the First-I believe in this because God sheet let down from Heaven, was con- the Father believes in it. He created verted to Foreign Missions (Acts 10: man in His own image (James 3:9). 34, 35). Paul would build on no That means resemblance to Himself other man's foundation. John, in be- and solidarity among themselves atific vision, beheld a great throng (Acts 17:26). In the restoration of around the throne, made up of "every God's image in men's spiritual natures kindred and nation and tongue and (Ephesians 4:24), there is an absolute people" (Rev. 5 :9).
community of need and right. Other- Fourth-I believe in taking the Gos- wise God's work of creatIOn will be pIe to the whole world because of the frustrated in its deepest intention. new life which it has created in the Gods love for men is bounded for non-Christian lands. As the morning us by the Son, and mcludes the world sun dissolves the mists and shadows of (John 3 :16). How dare I change the night and strikes to death the forces of boundary lines or alter the measure- decay, so the Gospel of the Cross dis- ments of His affection? pels ignorance, superstition, despair, In the Psalms we read this stupen- and destroys the destructive forces in dous promise of the Father to His the physical and moral life of men and Son: "I will give thee the nations for women in the lands where before they thine inheritance" (Psalms 2:8). The held high carnival.
divine transfer of the gift can never Fifth-I believe in taking the Gos- be made fully until those nations pel to the whole world because of the come to know Him through the reflex influence of missionary activity preaching of the Evangel. So I must in the lives of those who engage in it.
do my share towards bringing His The happiest Christians and most pros- world-inheritance to Jesus Christ my perous churches are those that are Lord. I must go with God to "every , heart and soul in line with the pro- creature" in my sympathy, my pray- gram of Jesus Christ to give the Gos- ers, my gifts, or He will go and leave pel to the whole world. They "keep me behind. His Commandments" and so He Second-I believe in taking the Gos- "makes His abode with them" (Jahn pel to the whole world because the 14 :23). It is a simple proposition of Lord Jesus Christ believes in it. He cause and effect.
was the first foreign missionary. His .only those who do the Lord's bid- Cross would, He declared, "draw all ding and "go into all the world" to men" unto Him (John 12 :32). He "make disciples of every creature" can looked far beyond the Jewish fold to claim His promise to "be with them see His "other sheep" (John 10:16). always, even unto the end of the age."
His parting command sent His disci- (Matthew 28 :20). , pIes after "every creature" (Mark THIS IS MY MISSIONARY CREED.
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BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA Chairman of the Committee on Methods of Work of the Federation of Woman's Foreign Mission Boar'ds MISSIONS WHEN THE THERMOMETER SOARS. A S .the th~rmometer ascends, mis- Mission Study Under Old Virginia's sIOnary mterest usually descends. Trees The hotter the days, the more cooling , August days are not usually conthe effect on missionary enthusiasm. Sidered the best offering the calendar Some leaders simply despair. When has to make to the mission study cause. they pack away their winter furs in In fact, there are people who say it June they take out a "Closed Until cannot be done. There are others who Fall" sign to post on the doors of do it. In the hottest of hot August everything appertaining to missionary days a charming Virginia woman, enterprise. The resourceful leader whose home was attractively set in a does not despair. Higher than the large lawn with the most alluring thermometer soars her determination. s~ade, inyi~ed ab~ut a dozen teen age Summer days spell opportunity if we glfls to Jom a mIssion study class to meet one afternoon each week on her but learn our spelling lesson aright. lawn. There under the shade of those To be Continued-See July Meeting grand old trees they met. There they Instead of announcing the first of June that the regular meetings of the met also those "servants of the King" missionary society will be discontinued during the summer, many leaders are of other days and other 'lands. The appending a "To Be Continued" announcement to their June meeting in fascinati?n of David Livingstone's this year in which an unusually large number of people are planning to unswerVl11g purpose to go "anywhere spend the summer days at home. We are learning in these days that real provided it be forward" took hold of warfare is not an enterprise for pleasant days only, but that soldiers, who their hearts. Ion Keith Falconer's expect to win a war, fight on when they are both tired and hot. When ringing call challenged their lives. we fight to win a world, back of all the missionary methods that can be Eleanor Chestnut's girlish longings, devised must be hard, self-sacrificing work, done by people who are often her college achievements, her unselfish tired and worn. Some of the best and most lasting work ever done was ac- living and dying summoned them to complished, not in moments of exuberant joy and of irrepressible energy, but follow in her train. Three of that in moments of weariness and discouragement. group of girls who met under the "Tired! Well, what of that? trees, during the days when some mis- Did'st fancy life was spent on beds of sionary leaders insisted that every- ease, thing should be closed hfoarvethceosmuemsminecr~ have, in the years that then, offered their lives to serve the King -in the field which needs them most.
A July Picnic Meeting No special virtue, however, attaches to unnecessary discomfort. It is not required of those who do without a vacation at shore or mountain resort that they al.so do penance by shutting themselves III a room and locking the Fluttering the rose leaves scattered to door. A missionary meeting on a hot the breeze? Come! rouse thee! Work while it is ~ay mar be just as fine and as helpful In God s out-doors as in-doors. A called to-day, Coward, arise-go forth upon thy way." July missionary picnic meeting is
worth while. For invitations cut out- er fashion, as the paper is slipped inline picnic baskets from white or col- side. Pass the crackers and have facts ored paper, cutting the handle on a read. fold of paper so the basket may be opened and invitation written inside. In serving dates pass a plate con- Ask each member to bring a guest so taining some important missionary that unenlisted women may be inter- date, and the event which made the ested. An orchestra of young people, date notable written on cards. Ask with wind or stringed instruments, each member to compose a rhyme that may be secured, or a cornetist alone will fix the date and the event as firmly may lead the music. If no instruments in mind as is are available, sing the hymns unaccompanied. An appropriate Bible lesson "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two is the story of that picnic meeting Columbus crossed the ocean blue." nearly two thousand years ago in Galilee, when one boy in the five thou- Provide poetic counselors to circulate sand had a lunch and passed it over hither and thither with stimulating to feed the crowd. Make a chaIleng- suggestions. ing appeal that we who have the Bread of Life divide with those who have not. Under "Nuts to Crack" serve ques- Follow this with a reading by a child tions about present-day missions to be or young girl of the poem, "Give Them answered and discussed. to Eat."* Discuss the program topic for the month. Before the picnic lunch Since the days of "groaning tables" is served pass around this menu, which are no more, do not expect each memdisplays some ancient features, but ber to bring a basket heavily laden which will provide a lively and stimu- with every variety of dainties. Instead lating half hour. of asking each member to prepare her own lunch have a committee prepare A CONSERVATION r,tENU a menu and assign to each member just one thing to prepare in whatever Food for Thought quantity it may be needed.
Missionary Ices Missions on a Roof Garden Crackers Dates "It's simply too hot for a missionary meeting," said the members. Assorted Nuts to Crack The president of the missionary so- Announce "Missionary Ices" and ciety bowed her head, silently acquieshave the story told of Hans Egede's cent. Then she looked around for the journey on his ship "The Hope," solution of the difficulty_ Calling on a among the icebergs that threatened his friend, she found it. The friend was life, or the story of work done by your delighted to furnish the solution, own missionaries in lands of ice and which was her lovely roof-garden. Insnow. Appropriate for a July menu stead of being urged to come to the are large fire-crackers made from red church to the August meeting of the paper or cardboard. W rite on a slip missionary society in the broiling sun of paper a striking missionary fact. of 3 :30 p. m., the members were in- Roll the paper and fasten it to a string vited to a roof-garden missionary which hangs out at the end, fire-crack- meeting in the cooling shadows of 7 p. m. That roof-garden was a dream. • May be secured from the Editor by The waving of the delicately fronded sending addressed stamped envelope. plants cooled one with the assurance that a breeze really was stirring. Green vines, climbing up white pillars, rested the eye. The occasional tinkle of ice somewhe,re in the background behind the ferns sounded an assuring fore- cast. The program was given as com- pletely and much more effectively than It would have been in the church, and,
BEST METHODS
instead of feeling tired when the meet- the things about which we had been ing was over, the members felt that studying that day. At the dose of the they had had a taste of vacation joys. sixth chapter course we had a joint The serving of cooling refreshments meeting at the parsonage. Memory gave opportunity for the social con- verses were reviewed, two excellent tacts which mean so much in any papers were read, and each woman society. gave some of the impressions she had received during the course. It was Rural Mission Study Groups by far the best meeting we have had at any time. In many rural communities summer days are the best days for mission "Of course we had discouragements study. Many of the winter plans of -the book chosen was rather toodifcity classes are easily adapted to sum- ficult; bad weather meant postponed mer plans for the rural churches, bet- meetings or poor attendance, and there ter roads and better weather contribu- was some criticism. But in the main ting to their successful operation. Last the results were encouraging. Instead of only the five or six women who had year, Mrs. W. J. Adair, the busy been attending the missionary meet- ings, we had twenty-five women) sevwife of a pastor in Coal Valley eral outside of the congregation tak- Illinois, successfully enlisted the wom- ing an active part in the studies and en of her congregation in mission showing an added interest in the cause study by the following plan, which of world missions. Two of the groups offers practical and successfully tried made definite arrangements for similar suggestions to workers in rural meetings the coming year. churches: "It was hard work, but we believe "Wishing to reach all the women, it was a beginning of better things I divided the community into four sec- along missionary lines among the tions-natural neighborhood groups as women of the community." far as possible. From each of these I chose an assistant and explained to Another Vacation Suggestion her my plan. She had the first meeting in her home and invited all the One of the outstandingly fine pieces women of her neighborhood. At this of SUmmer mission study work has meeting I distributed some of the been that accomplished by Dr. W. D. books I had on hand, gave a brief out- Weatherford, who each summer leads line of the book, and showed some of the dining-room and dormitory force the maps and charts to be used. Then at Blue Ridge, N. C, composed of colthose who wished to try the study de- lege boys and girls, in courses of miscided how often they would meet, at sion study. Beyond all human power whose home, etc. The meetings were to estimate has been his influence and usually held every two weeks. I did the influence of his classes on these this in each of the four groups, making young people, many of whom have sure that the different meetings should gone into definite missionary service. not 'conflict, for it seemed necessary that I should be the teacher in them all. Vacation Opportunities for Service "The meetings were in general con- In Camp.-A jolly group of young ducted by the question and answer people were camping in the Virginia method, although to make the study mountains in the exhilaration of sevmore interesting and worth while, we eral thousand feet above sea level. No one entered more heartily into the resorted to the maps and charts. The sports and fun than did their whitefirst fifteen minutes were given to haired "sky pilot," who was' the mer- riest of the merry. Toward the end Bible study. I had the women select of the week, to the surprise of the Bible verses that were appropriate to rest of the party, he posted his "Church Notices" and made his announcements. the text, and some of. these we memor- ized. At the dose of each day's study we had a season of definite prayer for
On a post by the roadside he an- since that day met the opportunity nounced "Preaching Here on Sunday that came.
at 3 o'clock." Not only were the On an Uncrowded Platform members of the camp family invited, Why do lecturers crowd each other but they were urged to invite their on overcrowded platforms? Why do they seek only those centers in which neighbors. Now, the campers had lec~ure-wearied audiences fastidiously welgh them on the balances of their neyer so much as asked, "Who is my predecessors? When the thermometer nelghbor ?" They began to look was soaring one summer, a Mission Board Secretary likewise soared into around. Not a human habitation was the Alleghanies. With him went his s~ereopticon. His host ~as the aggresin sight. A wagon drawn by oxen sive County Supermtendent of Schools. The magazines had been ca.J?e down the mountain road. The featuring his work in providing tent schools with night sessions for the dnver was held up, told about the men and women of the mountains who could neither read nor write and who service and invited to come and to had never had a chance to learn. ~here was no doubt about his aggresbring all his family and friends. As Slveness. He proposed to the Secre- ta~y that they should ascend the a woman wearing a calico dress and helghts of the Alleghanies and give a stereopticon lecture on the top of the a sunbonnet climbed the mountain mountain. Here was a lecture plat- form from which no man had ever path a member of the party greeted spoken before. Here was an audience her courteously and invited her to that had never heard a missionary ad- dress nor seen. a ~issionary picture. come to the service at the camp on Up the mountam Slde they drove in a h~ck mile aft~r mile. Higher and Sunday. T~e young folks began to be higher they chmbed until they came to an open amphitheatre on the mounvery much lllterested in their neigh- tain side. The screen was fastened to two trees. There was no limit to bor.s and waited with eagerness the the seating capacity. The floor was inclined sufficiently that no "Please rearnval of the congregation. On Sun- move hats" was necessary. The stage scenery was of a perfection that would day every available camp chair and h~ve made a New York manager wild Wlth envy, and the audience-! Oh board was called into requisition for the unwearied, glowing eagerness of that audience! No comparisons with pew service in the temple of the moun- former lectures here, no surreptitious tain side, but the campers were en- glances at watches. For the first time in their lives most of those who were tirely unprepared for the host which present saw beyond the mountains greeted them. The mountains opened which had hemmed them in: saw the up their fastnesses and mHyen~nws owmeerne and child:en poured out.
sung, scnpture was read, prayer was offered and then the minister told the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
The young folks had felt that their congregation was almost a joke when they first began to search for it but as they sat with these simple highiand- ers and saw them listening to a mes- sag~ from their common Father they reahzed that here, only a few miles from their college town, boasted cen- ter of learning and culture were brothers of theirs-heirs of the same inheritance, children of the same Fa- ther–:whonever heard the message of salvatIon, and a solemn stillness filled their hearts. Children were there who had never been in a religious service of any kind before. In that camping party were young people who had far distant lands and heard the call of thought that an ocean voyage must the world. preface ~issionary service, who saw There yet remain many platforms opportumty that day come close to to be discovered by hot weather ex- their own back door, and who have plorers.
Missionary Vespers at a Summer Resort room and the dormitories while they A delegate went from one of the were off duty.
summer conferences to a popular sum- The Community Missionary Sing mer resort. When twiligh~ came she Place. The shaded piazza and steps sat longing for the accustomed vesper of some building or a pavilion. service which had meant so much to Time. Sunday afternoon, or just her. Here about her were tourists and before sunset on week days. vacationists from many places. Every Leaders. The best missionary leadone seemed on rest or pleasure bent er to be had in charge of the program; and no one seemed to care about the the leader of the community singing great things which had'held first place in charge of the music; missionaries at the conference. Oh that they might and other speakers who can be secured attend such vesper services as she had to tell stories and incidents of misbeen attending for the past ten days! sionary work. She looked at the broad piazza with Modus Operandi. Notices in papers its fine outlook to the mountains and. and church bulletins. Posters in pubthe sky above. Then she went to the lic places. No one urged to attend, hostess and proposed that they hold a Free and informal, and planned vesper service right there. To her especiaJly for the people who want great. joy she f?und that so~e ?f the somewhere to go, out in the open, and guests were mterested mlsslOnary not for tired leaders who dread the workers, That gave her a nucleus. announcement of another meeting. Other guests became interested. As Hearty singing of inspiring missionary they gathered on the piazza and be&,an hymns, accompanied by orchestra if to sing the old hymns as day was dymg possible. Interesting stories told by in the west, others joined them, one by missionaries and workers. Presentaone. ANew York business man who tion of missionary exercises, pageants had not heard those hymns for years and plays. added strong bass notes to the melody. A bride and groom joined the party. A MISSION KNITTING BEE AND A number of young folks came in, and, HOW IT BUZZED by the time the song service was ended, the peace of that evening hour had By Miss Carrie Lee Campbell, Richmond, Va.
filled the hearts of those who looked How It Started. Women of like out on the majestic mountains facing mind agreed as touching this one thing and prayed; and then gave $10.00 for them. Then the delegate told simply the purchase of books, scrap-book, and and interestingly some of the stories of pictures of missionaries. missionary heroism and achievement she had learned at the conference. In the church calendar this novel Mission Study Class was announced- Everyone was interested and the dele- the subject, Africa; and the minister gate went on her way with her eyes emphasized it; they wrote sixty it.Iv.itaopened to a new hot weather method tions, and later 'phoned each reCIpIent for missions. to bring a friend of another denomina- Foreign Missions at Home tion, as the class would be "worth while." None of the other folks at the conference had thought much about them The home of an elect lady was of- -the negro servants on the summer fered for the meetings, the course was conference grounds-but a little mis- promised "short and alive,"-only four sionary from Africa did. While we meetings,-and the admission of knitwere singing lustily of ~'Afric's sunny ting gave the timid woman a sense of protection and at-horne-ness; and a fountains" she slipped off to conduct promise of "no questions" cast out a missionary service for the negro fear.
servants from the kitchen, the dining- And so they came.
H ow Carried On. Four meetings; can progress read by the thirty mem- varied programs, open and closed with bers of the class.
prayer and by the clock; note books for The minister by request preached on striking facts; maps and charts, and missions; and on leaving the church the scrap-book, were the things that everyone was given the folder, "A helped. Soldier's View of Foreign Missions."
A map-talk located outstanding feat- Envelopes for a special offering were ures of Africa; the nations in control, sent out in a larger envelope bearing (placing the flags); the different re- this message, printed on the outside: ligions, with special reference to the "That little missionary army needs present Mohammedan "Drive." Our your help; if you can't go across, come own missions were placed, and an across."
imaginary trip taken into the interior And there is no surprise in the news by train, boat, hammock and foot. that the offering met nearly the whole African curios vitalized one meeting, support of a missionary.
especially costumes, from the chief's Getting Ready for the Fall Campaign voluminous skirt to the child's one string of beads; and an African vil- Not always will the thermometer lage, made by directions from the Mis- soar. Fall days are coming and wise sionary Education Movement, helped leaders are laying in their stock of the understanding. Letters fresh from methods for the fall campaign. The our missionaries in Africa were re- following splendid suggestion of an ceived and answered. Acquaintanceship Drive, sent by Miss Elizabeth Northrup, who has actually Probably the livest feature was the tested it, is good stock for fall use: "floating scrap-book," separate blank leaves of which were distributed at the An Acquaintanceship Drive first meeting. When these dry bones came together they were breathing the How can new members be secured in life of colored post cards, pictures of missionaries, maps, charts, poems, a church in which only a small proprayers and pronouncements of great minds who thought and prayed for portion of the women belong to the Africa; the first page appropriately missionary society? This was the given to the founder of our mission. problem faced by a certain board of And such books! "an embarrass- managers. . ment of riches" ; several copies each of "We cannot expect them to come Mary Slessor, "White Queen of Oko- to us when they are not interested. We yong," Jean Mackenzie's entrancing must go after them," said Miss Busitriplets, "Black Sheep," "An African ness-Woman.
"But how can we make an interest- ing appeal when everybody is killed with money appeals now?" questioned Mrs; Doubting-Thomas.
Trail," "African Adventurers"; Dr. "We might have some sort of a Patton's scholarly "Lure of Africa"; 'drive' and do it all up in a week; two denominational books by our mis- that seems to be the up-to-date meth- od," suggested a Red Cross collector. sionaries; statistical slip, and storied Thus it was that the Acquaintanceleaflet; missionary magazines; a live library circulating briskly, and often ship Drive was launched. A young doubly or trebly read in one week. art student contributed a poster which, with consummate guile, omitted any And on the last day there were some mention of missions, since some bequestions, a sort of mild examination, lated women still cherish back-number typewritten, with spaces for answers, prejudices on this point.. The poster that there might be written down the daring deeds of devoted doers. represented a lady receiving with out- How It Ended. The record showed stretched hand a caller at her door, while a kitten, peeping around her 18,000 good missionary pages of Afri- skirts, gave the final touch of welcome. Above were the words, "Acquaintance- week for a basket supper, bringing ship Drive" and the dates, and beneath, with them their reports.
"Keep your latch-string out." The Did it work? Indeed it worked, as church calendar printed an announce- any well-planned and well-prayed-for ment that during the coming week . and well-executed scheme will work.
every woman in the church would be The assets were varied and interesting.
called upon by certain ladies for the For one thing there was good team friendly purpose of making her ac- work and the joy of results. In some quaintance and also of acquainting her instances the callers merely listened with certain aspects of church activity. sympathetically to a recital of troubles.
A list was secured from the pastor In others there was vigorous discus- and the names were divided territori- sion of the merits of the question. In ally and assigned to the members. It some places gifts of money were re- was interesting to see how the idea ceived, in others magazine subscrip- expanded into simple Christian fellow- tions, and many mite boxes were ship, as indicated by such remarks as, placed and listed. A fair number "That woman will not join, but she joined as active members, several hon- ought to be called on just to show that orary members were secured, and we are interested in her." Vhen the there was a long list of extension names were assigned each member was members. This last item made it nec- essary to appoint an extension secregiven for her own heartening that tary to take care of members who wonderfully persuasive consecration could not attend meetings, and the leaflet used by so many boards, "The story of her methods of cultivation de- Woman Who Gave Herself." She was serves 500 words all to itself. also armed with mite boxes, pledge cards, sample copies of the missionary The formula is: A perfectly simple magazine, and two leaflets-one an plan given a novel setting and backed appeal and the other setting forth up by determination, skilIful planning, earnest prayer and unselfish devotion facts. Then they started, two by two, to a great cause. It is warranted to agreeing to meet at the end of the bring results.
"He Is Counting on Yo~"
"He is counting on you," "He is counting on you," On your silver and gold, On life, money and prayer: On that treasure you hold; And "the day shall declare" On that treasure still kept, If you let Him have all Though the doubt o'er you swept. In response to His call; "Is this gold not all mine? Or if He in that day (Lord, I knew it was thine)" To your sorrow must say He is counting on you, "I have counted .on you, If you fail Him-What then? Bqt you failed me,"-What then?
"He is counting on you," "He is counting on you," On a love that will share Oh! the wonder and grace, In His burden of prayer, To look Christ in the face For the soul He has bought And not be ashamed. With His life-blood: and sought For you gave what He claimed, Through His sorrow and pain And you laid down your all To win "Home" once agaip. For His sake,-At His call, He is counting on you, He had counted on you If you fail Him-What then? And you failed not. What then?
-Selected.
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY MRS. O. R. JUDD, BROOKLYN, N. Y.
WAR WORK OF PROTESTANT Christmas time, books, magazines, and WOMEN always the cheering letter so welcome THE question, "What are we do- to the exile. Often the family of the ing for our boys?" has been "adopted" soldier received special at- tention in tokens of friendliness asked so often that it is timely through a call or a card to "set the to attempt' a somewhat adequate heart at ease" and brighten cheerless answer. To be sure, it will be days-a beautiful missionary service. impossible to sum up all the re- In the training camp and cantonment sponses that have met the country's the other group found its opportunity call, for their expression is as varied to greet the homesick lads. Sometimes as the myriad blossoms of spring, and the siFlgle local church, sometimes the each a joy to the eye, a benediction churches of a community through fedto the heart. But the answers as found erated activity, provided a working by the leaders of the Christian women committee of women who planned the of every denomination disclose a entertainment for the leisure hour, arthrilling panorama of enterprise, a ranged church suppers and picnics, living proof that the spirit of Him mending bees to care for the soldiers' "who went about doing good" is to- clothes (the first weeks of training day regnant in His handmaidens, that prove strenuous to the placcid muscles, the inspiration that results from a and a woman's helping hand is welcomprehensive survey of what is being come), visits to the sick and flowers, if perchance one must be sent to the hosdone must not be withheld from our pital, then the letter also for the hands American Christian women.
"What Are We Doing?" that cannot write to the loved ones at First of all, the troops mobilizing home. . Did the boys attend church out from home circles all unprepared service, none was suffered to leave for wars and rumors of wars stirred without an invitation to dinner in mightily two great groups of women- some of the homes. Such reports as the one left behind with all the poig- this come from churches of every denancy of heart hunger, the other await- nomination, and' may be multiplied ining their arrival at training camp and definitely. cantonment. Immediately two groups of ideas became active, expressive on In addition each denomination has the one hand of love and yearning and assumed a task uniting all of its women on the other of sympathy and a desire in a concrete effort to hearten the men to compensate in a measure for the representing it at the front by the conloss of home and loved ones. What sciousness of loyal support and faithmore natural than that the mother ful affection of the. church at home. writing to her son should see with new In general, the war work in each deeyes the boy who had few, perhaps no nomination is planned by a National Service Commission so as to secure in- friends to write to him. The "Big telligent cooperation. Part of the funds Sister" group began in many a church, of the commission are placed at the each "sister" pledging herself to write disposal of the Women's Board or frequent letters to a soldier boy as- Boards, as the exigency requires.
sig-ned to her in addition to her own. Disciples of Christ This easily expanded into occasional supplements containing home-made The Christian Church has just con- jellies, candies, cakes, etc., a box at summated the union of its Home and Foreign Mission Boards including its Lutherans Women's Board of Missions. A fund The Lutheran Church takes front of a million dollars has been raised to rank in caring for the comfort of her provide camp pastors and to men. The war fund of $1,500,000 is strengthen the churches outside the fully drawn on by the Women's Comcantonments. mittee to purchase yarn for the knit- ting of soldiers' comfort outfits. The Congregationalists yarn is supplied free of charge to the The National Council of the Congre- , women of the churches, that each sol- dier as he goes to camp may have a gational Churches voted $100,000 for complete set of knitted comforts. the work of the Nationar Service Com- mission. This unites both the general Baptists , and women's boards in a heroic effort Both the women's Baptist mission to minister to the one hundred thous- societies are doing splendid work.
and Negro soldiers in the cantonments The Home Mission Society recently of the South and to reenforce the appointed a woman to make a survey churches adjacent to training camps. of middle-western camps, at Leaven- worth, Manhattan and Junction City, Reformed Church in America Kansas, and at Rockford, Ill., to study The Reformed .Church has found the social conditions surrounding the most of its men in Camps Upton. camps, 'as they affected girls and N. y';'Dix, Merritt and Raritan, New women and to report upon the advis- Jersey, and in the camps near Chicago. ability of the Board's sending a The work is therefore concentrated in woman worker to each place to do those strategic points, the churches in protective work. At present two are the East providing the funds for the under appointment to "help the church nearby camps, with Chicago defraying carry out its social program, do per- sonal work among girls who need a the expense. in the West. "In the big sister, and find a service for Bap- churches near the camps women aid in tist women who are coming into these the establishment of recreation social towns to be with their men as long centers, and provide the atmosphere of as possible,"
a Christian home with the attendant Methodists ministries of those who stand in the One of the most outstanding proplace of mother." grams of war service of the Women's Friends mission boards is that of the Women's War. Council of the Methodist Epis- The beautiful task of clothing the copal Church, composed of three refugees of France and Belgium has members from the Woman's Home been committed to the Society of Missionary Society, three from the Friends by special arrangement with Woman's Foreign Missionary Society the Red Cross. The garments are and, three from the church at large. fashioned under the direction of the Patterns and directions for making Central Committee at Philadelphia, garments were sent to the young pe'o'- and distributed in France by the men pIe's societies last December, and by sent to erect new homes for those who April 1st a quantity of garments val- lost their all in the devastation of the ued at $1,325 had been collected. The valleys of the Marne and the Somme. Council has appropriated $10,000 for It was in these houses supplied by the work in the camps, the sum to be ad- Friends that the Smith College unit ministered through the Woman's cooperated toward restoring home ties Home Missionary Society. At Camp and pleasures for the woe-stricken Custer, the Council is maintaining a French women and girls. Travelers' Aid deaconess ready
to assist the young wife, sister or terian women from any part of the friend of the soldier to find comfort- country who may come to New York able lodging for herself and a favor- and who may wish to be met and put able opportunity for meeting her in touch with the boys of their family soldier, in short, to be the friend in either in camps adjacent to New York need to the strange women in strange or in hospitals." surroundings. Episcopalian An important phase of the Council's work is caring for war orphans, the Episcopal women also are lavishing work being carried out through the every possible care upon the soldiers Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. refreshed and encouraged in the For this purpose $45,000 has been ap- houses provided by the $500,000 fund propriated, of which $30,000 will be of the church. used for building an orphanage in France and $5,000 each for the care The South of the orphans of France, Italy and North Africa. Two women have been Possibly the first to be organized for sent to France to assist in this work. Christian war service were the The Council is also. promoting patri- churches of the South. Located near otic mass meetings in the churches, numerous great cantonments, they furnishing suggestions for a program were quick to respond with a flood of and a synopsis of a patriotic pageant. sympathy and helpful cheer, the first to send the call for the new service. Presbyterian No summons could be more eloquent than the "Call to Southern Presbyte- The Presbyterian boards are also rian Women" by Mrs. W. C. Winsbordoing excellent work. The Home ough, no message more reassuring to Board is urging food conservation and the mother of North and East and issues a leaflet showing how food con- West than its detailed record of what servation is practised in their schools. even before the end of last year was being done by all the churches of the The Woman's Foreign Missionary Southland to "cultivate the grace of Society of the Presbyterian Church hospitality" in gracious ministry to the has released its Field Secretary to strangers thrust upon them in such take the place on the Assembly Board overwhelming numbers. To all the of a man who has gone to Palestine Christian denominations in the South with the Red Cross, and for reasons the mothers of our country are everof patriotic economy gave up their lastingly indebted!. Biennial Assembly. They are cooperating with the National Service Last year the deaconesses and home Commision in printing and promoting missionaries of the Woman's Departthe use of the Intercessory Prayer ment of the Board of Missions of the Card, and have raised a War Emer- Methodist Episcopal Church South gency Fund of $37,545 to cover the offered their services to the governdepreciation of money values in for- ment for assignment to works of eign lands. mercy and social service. Their offer was accepted and several have been With keen .insight and characteris- appointed to protect girls in the vicintic care, Presbyterian women are urged ity of the camps and cantonments. to safeguard the Sabbath day, to redouble efforts on behalf of conditions Several large social settlements promoting child welfare, and to pro- conducted by the Home Department mote so far as possible attendance at of the Board of Missions have found Bible school and church services. They their place on the war program of too bear upon their hearts the appeal the nation and are being used not only of the timid traveler to army camps. for Red Cross work and other forms A camp visitors' committee has been of relief, but also as community trainformed to arrange "to meet Presby- ing centers for war work.
WOMEN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN
A National Women's Prayer Battalion Mormon Church. The Bible was bound in soft leather and printed on The supreme ministry is crystal- India .paper. The .title page of the lized in a union of prayer. copy 111 my possession bears the im- "The shortest way to France," said print of the Cambridge University a o-reat Christian leader from that couOntry, "is by way of the throne of Press and of James Pott & Company God." American mothers have foun.d that way; and from the need of their ?f .New York. There is nothing to anguished hearts was born under the leadership of Rev. Eva Ryerson Lud- 111dlcah~ that it ?~:ffers in any way from gate the National Women's Prayer the ~rdl11ary edItIOn of the King James Battalion. Its members are classed as active if they have near relati.ves verslOn.* The Ready References conin the service. Others are assOciate S!st largely of Scripture, but the quotamembers. A simple covenant pledges hons. are used to support Mormon daily prayers for "Our country, and teachll1gs and are supplemented by for the sailors, soldiers, doctors and Mormon interpretations. One who nurses who are fighting for us at did not understand the significance of home and abroad," and every poss~ble endeavor to ,promote their physical the term "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and who was and spiritual well-being. ignorant of Mormonism could easily Much more might be said of the be led astray and be caught in the net thus skilfully laid for him. powerful uplift given by ~uch ge,ne.ral The use by the Mormon Church of agencies as the Women s Chnstlan Temperance Union, th~. Young' t~e daily press for setting forth its Women's Christian AssoclatlOn and the Salvation Army lassies whose history and teaching is attracting wide heroic service in the hutment" takes them into the front line wateteenktiionn~. Space daisilyboinuO~'ahtnyonocfethae trenches. Such work, however, is fa- .leading miliar to all readers of the secular as well as the religious press. Enough largest CItIes of the country, extending has been gathered to show that Protestant women have recognized the from Boston to San Francisco. The magnitude of the new task and are ar-tides are written by James E. Talbringing to its accomplishment all the powers at their command. madge, well known as a doctrinal RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN writer of the Mormon Church and a MORMONISM. member of the Council of the Twelve.
By Mrs. George W. Coleman. In them the doctrines of Mormonism THREE recent developments 111 are shown to be in accord with the .Mormonism challenge especial at- wo;ld happe~ings of to-day and each artIcle supplJes addresses from which tentton. further information in regard to the. For many years the Cambridge Uni- teachings and literature of the Church versity Press and for five years the Oxford University Press published an of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints edition of the Bible which contains be- may be obtained. Here ag-ain is found tween the Old and New Testaments an insidious danger cleve~ly concealed. one hundred and twelve pages of "Ready References" provided by the The Mormon Church has never de- nied its belief in the divine origin of polygamy and has never hesitated to affirm that the day would yet come when its divine nature would be rec- ognized by the world and when its practice would be sanctioned. That day it believes has now come, and, as proving its position, it points to the need of polygamy as a means of mak- ing good the losses incurred by the na- tions involved in the great war.
*The printing has now been discontinued by the Oxford and Cambridge Presses.
News Of War
DR.A NEW Y. M. C. A. DRIVE have been called for, most of them JOHN R. MOTT, who return- actually purchased by soldiers. No ed in May from his visit to the studies are so attractive to the men battle fronts in France and Italy, has of the new army as those which relate announced a drive for 4,000 new Y. to the life and teachings of our Lord.
M. C. A. workers to meet the increas- GOSPELS IN CAMPS AND ing need in Europe due to the arrival of large American forces there. Eight THE HOSPITALS hundred of these workers must be American Branch of the women and they are all needed before Scripture Gift Mission has com- October 18. Plans are also being care- pleted a year of work along the lines fully made for a Y. M. C. A. drive in made familiar by the Society in Eng- the Fall for $100,000,000 to meet the land. Over 70,000 copies of Testa- tremendous needs of the work in ments, gospels and Scripture portions Europe and in industrial centers in have been distributed, 36,000 of these America. being Testaments containing Presi- THESOLDIERS AND THE BIBLE dent Wilson's message on reading the Bible. A distributor in the :Ear West following "Six-Point Pro- writes: gram of Bible Study" is being HI have placed over 3,000 copies of carried out with marked success in Scripture in the hands of am men; most . of the great training camps and have their promise to read it under the auspices of the Religious daily. Sometimes I am allowed to Work Bureau of the National War conduct regimental services, some- Work Council of the Young Men's times I have services in the company Christian Association: mess halls, sometimes in the Y. M. C.
1. An organized Bible class in A. b'uildings, ocasionally a meeting every company, battery or squadron, in the guard house, and quite often in with a leader chosen from the ranks. the barracks and open air. God has 2. Small groups for the study of signally blessed this work. I never the soldiers' personal, moral and give a copy of the Testament without spiritual problems. telling a man its message of comfort, 3. Leaders for Bible classes dis- love and salvation; and getting his covered, enlisted, trained and di- promise to read it. The results have rected. been phenomenal. We have spent an 4. The development of a camp at- average of three days a week at this 'mosphere by addresses, personal in- service for about six months and have terviews, and discussions, which will had over 700 men accept Christ, a make the daily use of the Bible and personal Saviour from personal sin."
the organization of Bible classes a WORK OF CAMP PASTORS normal part of the training.
S. A Testament or prayer book UNDER the auspices of the Gener- carried and used by every soldier and al War Time Committee of the .
sailor. Churches, more than. fifty men spent 6. The wise and intelligent use of two days in Chicago in April consid- carefully selected religious literature, ering plans for greater efficiency in suited to the varied needs of soldiers the work of the churches near can- and sailors. tonments.
The Bureau reports that 400,000 Included in the meeting- were army copies of the four specially prepared chaplains, Young Men's Christian As- courses of Bible study in book form sociation secretaries, representatives Df variDus commissions, as well as the the War Work Council of the Y Dung camp pastors from camps in the Mid- Women's Christian AssDciation, is dle West. Three fields were indicated open at Camp Upton. This hDuse is in which the camp pastor is indispens- to' serve a dDuble purpose as training able: first strengthening the churches center for workers in the other in training-camp communities so that houses. they may the more effectively serve . Other houses fDr cDlored troDps are the enlisted men when off duty; sec- Dnd, following up the War Roll cards being built at Camp Dix, N. J.; Camp signed at the Y. M. C. A. meetings Jackson, S. c.; Camp Dodge, Ia.; and relating the signers to the churches; third, ministering to. the Camp Lee, Va.; Camp GordDn, Ga.; sick in the Army and Navy ho.spitals, Camp Sherman, Ohio, and Camp Funwhere the work is always too great to ston, Kansas. At Camp Funston army be dDne by Dne man. barracks are in temporary use until the house is opened. MORMON CHAPLAINS ASOLDIERS WHO ARE NEGLECTED BOTH Eastern and Vestern Mor- COMMITTEE on War-Time mons are urging their sDldier- Work of the Home Missions Council calls the attention of churches bDYS in the army to miss no chance to and of helpful people everywhere to spread Mormonism among their com- the needs of the smaller groups Df rades. Polygamist B. H. Roberts and men in many parts of the country. These needs are summarized as fola son of JDS. F. Smith, the head Utah lows: "The big cantonments are be- ing IDoked after, but the lesser camps, MormDns, have secured appointments such as small aviation camps and as "chaplains" and will do. their ut- groups of soldiers guarding bridges most to. help this Dn. Mormonism and property, are being neglected. made a leap ahead in the Civil War These little camps are often near because of the diverted attention; it cDuntry churches which could render is doing the same now. great service to' the lonely men. These men are not prDtected from tempta- TELEPHONE GIRLS IN FRANCE tions as are the men in big camps, and life for them is monotonous." WHEN the first grDup of Amer- ican women telephone opera- CLEANING UP NEWPORT tDrs arrived in Paris in March they THE effort to. "clean up" the city found awaiting them comfortable liv- of Newport, and to make it "safe ing quarters which had been made ready by the Young Women's Chris- for the boys" in the Navy Training tian Association. Miss Mary George Station, dates back to 1915, when a White, writing from Paris of this mass meeting of citizens was addresswork, says: "The Association accept- ed by naval officers and others. But ed gladly the responsibility offered it the active work has been carried on by the Army. Before the girls arriv- since December last, with ministers ed, the Signal Corps officer in charge in clDse co-operation with naval ofof the first group came with a request ficials. for help. It was easy for the telephone operators assigned to Paris to live at In May, 1917, the Ministers' Union the Hotel Petrograd, our Hostess had wired Washington asking for House there. ThDse assigned to the war time prohibition and intimating interior were cared for by secretaries that Newport, with its large number in certain other places. of enlisted men, needed such a meas- ure. Later the Union sent its own HOSTESSES FOR COLORED representative to. the capital to. ask Secretary Daniels to make the city TROOPS dry.
T HE first of the eight Hostess Houses fDr friends Df colored tro~ps, which have been authorized by
OF THE SEA But I have implicit confidence in
ultimate success of the Young Men's THawaii Now "Bone Dry" Christian Association in supplying im- HE United States Congress has portant elements fO!' meeting that passed the bill so long pending, need. Indeed, it will go far to aid for the prohibition of the liquor traffic the Filipino people in the upbuilding in Hawaii. The law is a bone-dry of their own country and in the gainmeasure, and will be enforced by the ing of a national status among other federal authorities. The forces in op- nations. position were strongly entrenched, and many obstacles blocked the path- "The enthusiasm and solemnity disway. This greatly needed legislation played by the entire community of will prove a boon to the "Paradise of Manila on the inauguration in 1915 of the Pacific." There is a much better the two Association buildings are outlook for religious life and mission- proof of the people's appreciation and ary work since this new provision for belief that the Association will render Hawaii. them great service. The large, con- tinuous increase in membership is also TProtestants Welcome in Philippines evidence of the firmly growing in- HE president of the Philippine terest of the Filipino young men in Senate, speaking to Protestant the Association. Within a year's time missionaries, said: "I suppose that I after the opening, the two structures am a Roman Catholic; my mother had proved inadequate to meet the needs me baptised one and because she was and it was found necessary to cona good woman I have never left the struct an additional building." Church, but I am prejudiced in your favor, because it is true that Protes- Filipino Christians Suffer tant Churches make better men and women than does the Roman Church." T HE fact that the Philippine Is- lands are under the United States The Y. M. C. A. in the Philippines Government does not prevent the Protestant converts in some places H ON. THEODORE YANGCO, from having to suffer for their faith. Resident Commissioner of the An American missionary says: Philippines at Washington, pays the following striking tribute in F oreic!!;n "Persecutions there always are in Mail to' the work of the Y. M. C. A.: BohoI. There have been illegal im- prisDnment of Protestants and a rath- "America's material contribution to er futile attempt to boycott the disthe Filipino people is unparalleled in pensary. In one town the Christians the history of countries controlled by have had their carabaos killed; the outside agencies. The high-grade roof of their storehouse set on fire; rDads nDW crossing the length and the house of their elder burned to hreadth of the archipelago, the bridges the ground, with the loss of all his spanning brooks and rivers, the re- goods; a cockpit built near their markable advance made in education, chapel; and lawsuits brought against the equally successful work in sanita- members to take away their land. It tion and public health stand as tangi- was near here that they forced a Protble poofs of America's achievements estant to eat shoe polish on Good Friin her administration of the Philip- day, to prove that he was not carrying pines. However, of her spiritual con- poison for wells. tribution-important as that has been, and is-so much cannot yet be said. "In another town, Ragay, opposition and persecution which were very bit- ter at first have gradually lessened,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
and there is a group of believers which "Youngstown, Ohio, has organized has grown up around one Christian a federation and will have an execufamily settled there. tive secretary, June 1st. Akron, Ohio, is completing the mobilization of the NORTH AMERICA churches. The new St. Paul Federa- tion conduded its financial campaign, Bible a Required Subject April 22 to 29. Johnstown, Pa., re- vived its federation and has had a T HE decision of Columbia U niver- secretary for six months. Omaha, sity to make knowledge of the Nebraska, has completed plans for se- curing funds to carryon the work un- Bible a requirement for admission is a der executive leadership. There are significant sign of the times. The ac- now about thirty federations having tion was taken upon recommendation salaried secretaries. made by a committee representing Biblical instructors in American col- "The most serious problem of the leges and secondary schools. The Commission on Inter-Church Federacourse will include Old and New Tes- tions of the Federal Council is the tament history and the life of Christ. obtaining of these secretaries. Judg- The wonderful revival in Bible study ing from the reports received from that has come out of the war is turn- chaplains and ministers in Y. M. C. A. ing the attention of educational insti- work there will be many earnest, captutions to the Bible in a remarkable able men who at the close of the war way. But more than this, the world will give their lives to this program of is coming to see that the awful catas- practical and immediately possible trophe which is devastating the world Christian unity." is the outcome of the materialism that has pushed the Bible aside and tried The Work of a Great Church to furnish a civilization without its guidance. THE Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the Tracts in Many Tongues U. S. A. reports an increase of income THE American Tract Society h~s over last year. The receipts from all published the gospel message 111 sources for the year ending April 1, 1918 were $2,779,519, of which 178 languages and dialects, and the amount $850,163 was contributed on grand total of all its publications is- the field from native sources for sued from the home office has reached church, evangelistic, educational and 800,711,975 copies, of which 35,566,- medical expenses. The work of the 965 are volumes, 301,479,168 periodi- Board includes 166 stations and 3,598 cals and 463,665,842 tracts. out-stations with 1,366 American mis- sionaries and 6,870 native helpers. The missionary colporters of the There are 172,335 communicants and Tract Society have made a total of 499,735 catechumens and adherents in 18,958,862 family visits, have distri- 4.267 churches and groups, many of buted 17,487,750 volumes and held them in charge of native pastors. 602,803 religious meetings. Other activities are: The care of Church Federation Increasing 704,714 patients in 175 hospitals and dispensaries, 116 American mission- REV. ROY B. GUILD, of the Fed- ary physicians and 34 trained nurses eral Council of Churches, feels in charge, and a number of native phy- sicians and nurses trained in the medthat the War is markedly promoting ical colleges and training schools oper- Christian unity. He says: ated in whole or in part by the Board; the teaching of 77,668 pupils in 2,062 "The determination of the churches secular schools of all grades from the in large cities to deal effectively and kindergarten to the university; Bible unitedly with community problems which have been made more serious by the war has resulted in the rapid advance in the church federation movement.
instruction in Sunday-schools to 252,- New Brunswick," now engaged in 468 pupils, and eleven printing making a complete census. Its slogan presses which last year turned out 95,- is that of "Americanization of the 740,420 pages. Foreigners" through night-schools for the teaching of English, illustrated A Good Year for Southern Baptists lectures, concerts, social centres, etc. The census when completed will THE Foreign Mission Board of the prove of value to the religious forces. Southern Baptist Convention has The Y. M. C. A. dedicated its new just closed the greatest year in its building on April 4th, and the Secrehistory. For the first time in seventy- tary is planning a conference of minthree years the people have contribu- isters, leading laymen and represented over $1,000,000 to the work. tative laborers from the various plants who will attempt to formulate The receipts of the Board are for a workable program. Current Support and the Judson Centennial, the latter being a special fund TA Protestant Movement Among Poles of a million and a quarter dollars for HERE is a vigorous movement in equipment on the mission fields. More America among the Polish people than $900,000 of the latter has already to break away from the Church of been paid in cash. Receipts for this Rome. It began about thirty years ago fund last year amounted to $153,265.- in Detroit, Michigan, when the mem- 69. The receipts for the current sup- bers of various parishes in and about port amounted to $852,923.73. This Detroit began to feel that the property was a gain over the previous year for of the church ought to belong to the current support of $294,362.26. people instead of to the bishops.
About eighteen new missionaries A little later the movement assumed were appointed at the annual meeting more of a doctrinal aspect in Scranof the Mission Board. ton, when a Bishop Hodur, awoke to the realization that the people of his The convention set the figures for parish ought to read the Bible. He becurrent support at one million and a gan by reading several chapters at a half dollars for the present year. time in the Sunday church services, and said to his people: "This is the Foreign Problem in New Brunswick Word of God; and the teaching of our Church you know. Read the Bi- NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, ble for yourselves and think." Seven with a normal popUlation of months afterwards 3,000 men and women were ready to say good-bye to about 25,000, has increased approxi- the Papacy, and they did. The Word mately 40 per cent. within the past of God brought illumination and contwo years, and of its total population viction and the desire for freedom. something like 50 per cent., or 17,000, This national movement is especially it is estimated, are foreigners. This strong in Chicopee, Massachusetts, rapid growth is due to the establish- and the adjoining towns, where there ment of plants engaged in the produc- are over 10,000 Poles. Protestants of tion of war material-munitions, air- the town are carrying on evangelistic planes, auto trucks, surgical dressings, work among them. etc. Some seventy-five industrial plants are listed, employing anywhere A U~ique Gospel Team from a dozen to upwards of 3,000 workers. Two plants engaged almost FAIRFIELD, Iowa, has a Gospel exclusively in government war work Team composed entirely of layhave about 5,000 on their pay rolls. At Milltown, adjoining, a tire com- men—'-twenty-four in all-merchants, pany has over 1,000 men in its plant. blacksmith, traveling men, editor, contractor, member of legislature, etc., Housing conditions are very bad, and the moral situation is threatening. Among the reform forces already at work is the "Patriotic Force of
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
who go to the smaller cities of Iowa the army chaplains to enter missionand neighboring states on evangelistic ary work at the close of the war. campaigns. These campaigns last as The reasons for this decision are said long as three weeks at a time, and ac- to include the following: . The chapcomplish a great deal in rural evan- lains have been selected with great gelization. care and are high-grade men. There is, also, much similarity between the AResult of Dry Mondays in Boston chaplain's work and the mission work STRIKING argument for pro- on most fields, and it is probable that hibition is found in the effect of a successful chaplain would fit well one saloonless day a week caused by as a missionary. Another large adthe fuel famine in licensed Boston: vantage is that these men will be rec- ognized as men who have left all and The arrests for drunkenness on J anu- followed their Master into danger of ary 14th, the last Monday with open disease and death, that they might bars and saloons, was 129. On Janu- help Him to save His world. This will ary 28th, a saloonless Monday, the give them an influence on the field number of arrests for drunkenness that a civilian minister would need to dropped to 19, on February 4th to 7, gain in some other way. Then, too, on February 11th to one lone drunken these men will have been abroad and man in the dock, and on February will be more willing to leave their 18th there was not a single arrest, a homeland, relatives and friends, esrecord unprecedented in the history of pecially as they gave up their pastorthe courts. The effect of liquor as a ate when they entered the army. Such cause of other crimes is also striking- a wise move may be followed by ly shown by the fact that, while on other boards. January 14th, the last wet Monday, the total number of arrests for all MNew Attack on Polygamy crimes was 211, the fourth dry Mon- ANY reports are coming in of day showed only 60 arrests, a de- the great increase of Mormon crease of more than seventy per cent. propaganda in these war days. Most people are too busy thinking of other IShortage of Ministers things to realize the great peril in- T is said that the enrolment of stu- volved, but Senator Myers has rendents in theological seminaries in dered a public service in introducing into the Senate on April 5th a resolu- America for the present academic tion providing for an anti-polygamy amendment to the Constitution of the year has been cut forty to fifty per United States. When Utah was ad- mitted into the Union in 1896 by the cent., on account of the Var. In- proclamation of President Grover Cleveland it was on the condition that stead of the 4,500 young men who polygamy and all polygamous prac- tices would cease. Utah gave her solusually enter Protestant seminaries emn word and covenant that this would be done. But Utah has failed each year, this year's number will to keep her promise. She never in- tended to, for she was and is still not exceed 2,500, and may not even dominated by the Mormon Church. The one outstanding fundamental in reach that figure. UnepewdeadrdbsyofPr4~t0e0s0 the belief of that church is polygamy. new ministers are Mormonism is indeed a system of tant churches annually, to repair the slavery for woman. Her married life is full of jealousy, bitterness, disaplosses caused by death and to provide pointment and hardship. She is the for legitimate growth. So many pas- tors and ministerial students have gone to the War, that hundreds of churches are pastorless, with little chance of being supplied, and the shortage bids fair to increase.
TMissionary Ex-Chaplains HE foreign missionary board of one of the large denominations is definitely planning to ask many of
slave of her husband and an object great reverence, although at first they of jealousy by her fellow wives. mocked. We have sent to the Chw-ch For Mexicans in California at Panama accounts of a revival here in order that it may send a permanent METHODISTS in Southern Cali- preacher….. Salute the churches in fornia are planning an exten- the name of the Evangelical League of the Canal Zone and may the grace sive piece of social and evangelistic of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you service for the Mexicans of that sec- all to the end."-Record of Christian tion. The community center, which Work. is planned for the old Plaza of Los Angeles, already has a Sunday school T of one hundred, a well-attended Brave Women Pioneers preaching service, and an open-air HE fact that the train is likely to service on Sunday afternoon. A be attacked by bandits does not Goodwill Store, opened in the commu- deter the American missionaries in nity center on March 9, was soon Mexico from making a journey refilled with eager Mexican women. On quired by their work. Miss Mary the property owned by the mission Turner and Miss Spencer, missiononce stood the finest adobe mansion in aries of the Presbyterian Church in Southern California, the residence of the U. S. A., in Mexico, have re- General Fremont. Later it descended cently left their former station at to the uses of saloon and gambling Aguascalientes and moved to Vera hell. This has given place to a frame Cruz where they are to open a school. chapel and a . bungalow store, the .This is part of the reconstruction plan chapel being dedicated last Decem- called for by the Cincinnati Conferber in the presence of 700 Mexicans, ence of July, 1914 in which the work twice as many as the temporary of Mexico was divided among the church could comfortably hold. This several denominations at work so Los Angeles effort has won the ap- that there should be no overlapping. proval of Methodist leaders locally and at the Board of Home Missions. Miss Turner writes: "Du·ring my -Christian Advocate. twenty years in Aguascalientes, I saw a wonderful change in the people.
LATIN A.MERICA We made our places as missionary workers, which I regretted to give TChristian Porto Rican Soldiers up, yet our opportunities here in Vera HE evangelical churches in Porto Cruz are ten times better. I judge Rico have interested themselves that the trains which run between Ag- particularly in the troops from their uascalientes and Mexico City are at- island now on duty at Panama, and tacked upon an average of once every $185.05 has recently been raised to week or few days. The road between provide these troops with copies of Mexico City and Vera Cruz is even the New Testament. The Puerto Rico more dangerous, but the missionaries Evangelico prints a letter from two make the trip with perfect safety."
Christian soldiers, Miguel Matta and Juan B. Quinones, who have estab- Changed Attitude in Mexico lished a Society of Christian Endeav- REV. JOHN T. MOLLOY, of Yu- or among the soldiery who guard the catan, after a visit to Mexico German Detention Camp at the Canal City, in the course of which he dis- Zone, on the island of Taboga. They tributed many tracts and gospels, have opened preaching centers at va- writes: rious points, speak to the German "Mexico City seems more ope·n to prisoners and conduct open-air meet- the Gospel than ever before. Not one ings. They write: copy of the tracts and gospels has "Roman Catholicism is very strong been torn up or thrown into the here, yet now they listen to us with streets, nor has one contemptuous cry,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
so oommon in the past, been heard. ences on a two months' tour which he The work has been treated with re- took through a region that had been spect, the literature graciously re- visited only once before by a Pres- ceived. One quaint old man asked me byterian missionary. He says: what my business was, and when I "It is necessary to stop not only for told him I was a teacher of the Bible, the night's rest, but also for a noonhe said, 'I have a Bible, but it is in day meal and rest, especially for the Spanish, and I want one in English.' sake of the pack-mules, which travel Then he proceeded to 'talk in English, albout twenty-eight miles in a day. The. and showed himself a strong ally of noon-rest hour and the stop-over night the United States. He said 'Your at the home of some wayside dweller country is not ruled by your people, afford us an excellent opportunity but by God, and is chosen of God to for presenting the truth to the little be the favorite nation of the world.' group that gathers around as we sing His name means 'John a Hundred some gospel hymns; and also gives a Fires.' " chance for giving medical advice and Educating Young Chileans remedies to hookworm and other suf- ferers. The triumphs of the Gospel "UNIVERSIDAD NOCTURNA" in Brazil have not always been wit- is the equivalent of "night nessed in the cities, but very frequent- ly in some of the most distant and school" in the Y. M. C. A. in Val- out-of-the-way places, where in unparaiso, Chile. This year the pros- expected ways the Holy Spirit has pectus announces classes in Begin- manifested His power." ners', Intermediate and Advanced English, French, Spanish, Shorthand, At the small city of Pocone, the Bookkeeping, Commercial Law, Political Economy, Typewriting and party was welcomed by a young lieu- Commercial Arithmetic. The field is tenant of the State Police, who has a large one, for it is said that there been interested in the Gospel ever are 30,000 young men in the city who since the time he left his native state have not had a school education, and of Sao Paulo on account of family who can get a start through these troubles and came to Matto Grosso. classes. Through God's good providence he The Association is also seeking to "was sent on before to prepare the meet the needs of women, and opened way for OUr coming to Pocone. Our in March an extension section for abiding place while we were there was working women who cannot read and in the police barracks. Two meetings write. The committee plans for "Con- were held in the theatre and all who ferencias"-practical talks on subjects could read received leaflets." which have the needs of the people in mind, and which aim at the formation EUROPE of Christian character. There is such London Jews Society Anniversary an increasing demand for young THE IIOth anniversary of the Lonwomen stenographers and office help don Society for Promoting Christhat business men and parents alike are suggesting that the Association tianity among the Jews was held on supply training for such positions. May 2nd, in London. S. H. Glad- H ookwonn and Missions in Brazil stone presided, and the speakers in- cluded Dr. J. H. Ritson, the Lord Bishop of Stepney, and Rev. Malcolm G IVING people advice and reme- L. Maxwell, head of the Cairo Mis- dies to combat hookworm and sion, who has lately returned from other diseases, gives missionaries an Jerusalem. An afternoon meeting of opportunity in South America. A the Ladies' Union Workers' Associa- Presbyterian missionary in Cuyaba, tion and Girls' Jewish Guild was con- Brazil, had some interesting experi- ducted by Mrs. Albert Head.
British Missionary Finances to the Indian ward on Thursday. As the new patients came in I was at FOUR of the great missionary so- once attracted to Jawala, who gave me cieties in Great Britain, the a salute. His great big head dress he removed and put on a little gay polo Church Missionary Society, the Bap- cap. After tea, and the ward had settist Missionary Society, the China In- tled down, Jawala produced a Bible land Mission and the London Mis- in his own .language, and reverently sionary Society (Congregational), re- removing his ~p, he began to 'export at the close of their financial pound the Scriptures.' He read a lityear that in each case the total in- tle and then in his native tongue come has been larger than at any would explain it all to the patients. previous time, and in each case there After all was over he offered prayer. is a small balance in hand. This, in It is over two years since I came to the fourth year of War, is remark- France, and never have I seen anyable. thing quite so touching. I had a long conversation with him, and learned he A Witness to Israel is a Christian convert. He is good to all the patients, quietly attending to REV. DAVID BARON was one them and doing many little things in of the founders, twenty-five the ward. I wish that the missiona- ries who taught might see him here. years ago, of the organization known His devotion to his Master, his kindas the Hebrew Christian Testimony ness to all the patients and his unto Israel. "What we continually press failing courtesy to all made me think upon the Jews," says Mr. Baron, "is of the verse, 'The fruit of the Spirit is that we believe in Christ as the Son of love, joy, peace,' etc., for his charac- Man and Son of God, not in spite ter seemed to embody all these rare of, but because we are Jews." gifts."
In addition to its headquarters in Anglican-Greek Cooperation East London, the mission for a number of years has occupied three im- THE Anglican and Eastern Church portant "watch-towers" for Christ in Association, of which the Bishop Genpany, Hungary and Russia. Be- fore 'the war, Mr. Baron and his co- of London is president, exists for proworkers reached many thousands of moting inter-communion between the .Jews of all classes, in almost all the Anglican and Eastern-Orthodox countries in Europe, and in North Churches. It seeks to remove all ob- Africa, Egypt, Palestine and Asia stacles to the cause of reunion, and Minor. to bring the members of the Anglican and Eastern-Orthodox Churches into The other chief factor in the wide- mutual sympathy and understanding. spread influence of the "Testimony" The Association forms a channel of is the literature which it has produced communication between members of for Jews. It has printed and published these Churches in all parts of the about thirty-eight excellent, and some world. Lectures and sermons are givof them unique, books and pamphlets, en on the history, life and worship of in Hebrew, Yiddish, German, English, the Eastern churches, and lecturers Russian, Hungarian, French and on the English church are sent out to Italian. These have been very widely the East. There is a branch of the circulated among Jews in nearly all Association in the United States. The the lands of their dispersion. Association has a membership of over 2,850, including thirty-five Anglican AAn Indian Christian in France and nine Orthodox Bishops, the Rus- CANADIAN nurse overseas sian Archbishop of Yaroslav being gives a glimpse of war work as one of the presidents. A sister society it is seen among different nationalities, and as she passes through the wards, she comes upon the fruits of foreign missions. She writes "I came
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
has been founded in Russia with the nated at once, but many missionaries same objects, under the sanction of whom I have known are well fitted to the Holy Synod, and includes as mem- be guides; as in their life they are bers many of the most influential of examples of economic management the Bishops, among whom is the new and moral vigor, and of living on a Patriarch of Moscow. high standard."-The Missionary Herald. MOSLEM LANDS ATo Train Women in Turkey A Crisis in the Caucasus MONG the practical departures which Constantinople College is REV. ERNEST A. YARROW, contemplating in its broad plans for the futUre are a training school for who has been in charge of the re- teachers and a medical school, where lief work among the 300,000 Arme- both women doctors and nurses may nian refugees in the Caucasus, ca- be trained. There is no medical bled from TifUs some weeks ago: school for women in the whole of the Ottoman Empire. Even nurses must "There is an extremely critical p()– in most cases obtain their training litical situation in the Caucasus. The abroad. Is it to be wondered at that Turkish advance terrifies the Arme- Constantinople College longs to fill· nians; and the Caucasian Tartars who this .very pressing need. are unfriendly to the Armenians surround them. There is danger that the Normal schools for teachers are whole Armenian race will be extermi- very few indeed throughout the emnated should the combination of these pire. Turkey needs hundreds and forces be successful. Should the Ar- thousands of teachers. Yet in the menians be rightly directed and great city of Constantinople of a milfinanced there is among them great lion and a half inhabitants there is no potential military force and this would place where teachers can be trained. furnish a reasonable hope that the The colIege has given courses in pedarace might be preserved by its own gogy-has in fact made a brave beginefforts." ning, but there is much more to be done. Who Is to Make Over Turkey? AJewish University in Jerusalem U NPREJUDICED observers like T the recent conference of the our own American ambassadors English Zionist Federation, the have spoken in the highest terms of public announcement was made of the the service rendered by the missiona- purchase of a site for the future Jewries in Turkey. A further endorse- ish University of Jerusalem. The ment of them is found in an article need and possibility of such an instiby Sir William Ramsay, an eminent tution was called to the attention of student of Asia Minor and of mod- Sir John Gray Hill in July, 1913. On ern Turkey, which appeared in the what proved to be his last visit to Quarterly Review. He says: Jerusalem he came in touch with lead- ers of the Jewish National Movement "My conclusion is that Turkey must in Palestine, and the basis of the nebe taken in tutelage by the Western gotiations was then laid which ulti- Powers, and that everything will de- mately led to a successful conclusion. pend upon the personal character and Immediately after the deliverance of the knowledge of the men into whose Jerusalem, the negotiations were rehands the task of regenerating Tur- sumed. key will be put. Foremost among those who are fit to be intrusted with this Among the many purposes which duty are certain American missiona- the university is intended to serve, are: ries in the country-not, by any means, First, the restoration of the country to all of them, for I have known one who said to me with fervor that he had never been inside a .Turkish mosque. Such as he may be elimi-
its normq,l life. To this end Palestine by remaining unmarried and becoming will need doctors, engineers, archi- a teacher in the school.
tects, biologists, chemists, botanists and geologists. Second, the work to INDIA be achieved by the university for the IThe Gospel and Indian Song NDIA puts its distinctive mark on inhabitants of the Jewish national everything that it touches. Though the religious value of music is recoghome has to be considered. Its part nized the world over, the musical side of the mass movement toward Chriswill be all-important. It will be both tianity in India is characteristically Indian. Reports from missionaries tell the reflective and the directive force the story. in the Jewish national life-b~idg~ng "In Meerut there have sprung up, the various elements and co-ordmatmg along with the mass movement, real poet singers who have told the story the various kindred institutions. of Jesus in song and ballad, just as the aTnhdird~xttehnesiounnivseyrssteitmy , with its press "radiating its light and attracting its force from a Jewish environment," can revitalize Jewry the world over.
DR. Desperate Need in Teheran lives of India's great ones have been S. M. JORDAN has sent the told through the centuries." . following cablegram from Te- "The bagavather, or lyrical preacher, ihseraacn~epPteerdsiwa:ith"Tthhaenkssu.m of $75,000 begins by singing in some Indian There is a chant a song in praise of God. The subject is usually a Bible story told by great epidemic of typhoid and typhus, means of songs describing various actions of the story. Interwoven are and famine conditions are unexpect- other songs and stanzas drawn from both Hindu and Christian literature, edly growing worse. Other Persian illustrating the main points of the story. Occasionally the address breaks cities are similarly affected. The prices off into a disquisition on some moral point which crops up. All is in song of foodstuffs are enormous, and they except the explanations, which are half chanted with musical accompaniare almost unobtainable. Dogs, dead animals, grass and even human beings are being eaten. An addi1:ional $100,- 000 shoufd be sent if possible. More could be used."
Busrah Is On the Map ment. The address is full of vivid illustration drawn from the life of the M RS. JOHN VAN ESS, of the people. The preacher is ordinarily mission of the Reformed Church the composer of the songs used, and in Busrah, Arabia, says that only a he generally adopts the nodding of the short time ago people asked her: head and other gesticulations practised "Where in the world is Busrah?" but by the Indian singer." now, when told that Mrs. Van Ess has been living in Busrah say. quickly: "There has been a wonderful re- "You are in the midst of things, to be vival in singing in the Meerut District living in Busrah these days." during the last year or two. Some of our own people have written new Since the occupation of Busrah by bhajans, or hymns, setting them to the English, there has been perfect popular well-known village tunes and freedom in all forms of mission work. they have gone like wildfire over the Evangelistic work has never been entire district. Every place I go the more encouraging, and the people people are singing in a wonderful new have never been more accessible. The. way. I have been astonished to hear girls' school, with such a small begin- boys about twelve years singing eight ning, is now one of the important in- or ten of these bhajans perfectly to stitutions of Busrah. The present crowds of non-Christians. This will primary teacher, one of the first pupils capture the hearts of the people of of the school, has defied public opinion India as nothing else can."
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Indian Girls Work for Pilgrims cers think it best not to attend the church parade service, but to leave it E VERY year there is a great mela, entirely to their Indian confreres to or festival, held about fifteen see that everything is done on correct miles from Cawnpore and many come lines. to the city for the double purpose of attending the fair and bathing in the "Together with two other Chrisholy Ganges river. Thus they combine tians, the son of one of our native religion and enjoyment. clergymen has been promoted to the rank of superior non-commissioned "This year," writes one of the mis- officer. Visiting him in his quarters, sionaries of the Woman's Union Mis- I saw the secret of his influence in the sionary Society, "in order to give our text which was hanging in his room: older girls a chance to do real evan- 'For me to live is Christ.' He told gelistic work, I decided to take a num- me that that had been his motto from ber of them to .the mela with Scrip- the day when he entered the regiment. ture portions and hymn-books to sell. May God raise up among the Indian These girls who have grown up in the officers others of his stamp !"-C. M. close shelter of the Merriman School, S. Gleaner. are among the very few of India's children to whom the Christian en- A Remarkable Leper Asylum vironment is natural. To see heathen conditions as they really exist every- A FTER completing fourteen years where, even so close to their own of work in connection with the doors, is quite an experience for these Leper Asylum in Allahabad, India, fortunate girls. We divided our girls Mr. Sam Higginbottom writes: who were to go with us into two groups, one party going to the river "I rejoice at what God hath wrought and the other to a large heathen tem- at this time. Then, less than fifty ple. We could not but be impressed forlorn, hopeless, uncared for folk, by the ignorance, superstition and ab- housed in tumbledown mud huts, all ject hopelessness written so plainly on around a desert of ten acres; now, the overwhelming number of faces in four hundred and fifty lepers, housed that great shifting sea. Many of these in good substantial quarters, sixty people had walked weary miles to the acres of well tilled land, a good hosriver, hoping to bathe away their sins pital, church and storerooms. Homes in its muddy waters. Others had come for untainted boys and girls, who are in on the crowded trains, and in these going to school and being properly days railroad fares are no small item trained, are here also. Thete are an to them, for rates have been increased observation ward, beautiful gardens and all concessions to such pilgrims productive of many vegetables, fruit have been done away." and flowers, a place for the leper to get both pleasure and profit, a small The Punjab Christian Regiment herd of dairy cattle to provide fresh, milk for the sick. Some of the richest THE presence of native troops frcm experiences of my life, some of the India among the regular British choicest Christians I know, have been revealed to me in this Leper Asylum, forces, especially in Mesopotamia, as and I rejoice greatly that this work well as in labor corps in France, has was forced upon me years ago." been one of the memorable features of the War. These men represent all the Christians Exempt from Plague faiths in India, but there is in North India a regiment recruited entirely INoCULATION against bubonic from Christians. A missionary writes plague is so carefully attended to of his visit to them in Ferozepore: by Christian workers in India that the "The men were entirely under their Christian population is practically im- Indian officers, who evidently had mune. The missionaries are now sucthem well in hand. The British offi- ceeding in persuading some of the
Hindus and' Mohammedans to accept SIAM AND MALAYSIA' this treatment. So reports Rev. A. A. McBride, of Sirur, in the Marathi Demon Possession in Siam Mission. "A LL of the Christians believe in "Plague is with us again. It is the fact of demons and their taking its toll of the village people, power over human beings; but they but not in as large numbers as last believe also that by the power of Jesus year. The people learned the lesson Christ they can be cast out," says Rev. of inoculation and evacuation from the C. R. Callender, a Presbyterian mis- Christians. We were all inoculated, sionary in Siam. He describes one ex- and all evacuated their houses in the perience as follows: infected districts of the village, and not one case· was registered among our "On going up the steps into the people. This year, many more of the house we heard the woman say (sup- . village Hindus aryd Mohammedans posed to be the demon talking), 'There were inoculated, and they came out of come two men who belong to Jesus. infected villages earlier. It looks now One is a missionary, the other a na- like the 'deserted village of the plain,' tive of this country.' We found the and we can sometimes not get what young woman lying on her back on we want because all the shops are the floor, with a string tied around her cl6sed.'; wrists, a cloth tied around her head, and a rope about both feet, tied to- German Missions in India gether. I was surprised to see one of the Christian elders, who was helping I T IS evident from the report on me on this tour, sitting at the head German Missions in India, which of this woman, trying to exorcise the demon. His hands tightly clasped; the Bishop of Chota Nag-pur has sub- the long hair of the woman. I learned later that she was the elder's niece. mitted to the National Missionarv The idea of tying feet, hands and Council, that he no longer expects t~ head, and the tight grasp of the hair, was to keep the demon from making see the German missionaries returning its escape until its identity could be ascertained and an agreement come to to their former posts in India. Two with regard to behavior in the future."
and a half years ago, he says, he was After extended conversation this was supposed to be done, the bands not without hope that at the conclusion were untied, and the woman became normal again. of the war such conditions might ob- Singapore a Strategic Center tain as would not entirely preclude the "SINGAPORE is undoubtedly the return of the German missionaries. He most cosmopolitan city in Ma- now believes that to be wholly impos- laysia," writes a missionary in the M aslern World. It also seems to be will sible. The loss to mission work, how- the center of the Mohammedan literary ever, not be so great as might propaganda for the East Indies. It is doubtful whether there is any other have been anticipated, because in place in Malaysia where so many Malay books, pamphlets and newsmany parts of the district there has papers in the Arabic character are being published. Most of them are been considerable overlapping, three read by the Chinese.
missions working side by side in the One can hardly avoid the conclusion that it is in Singapore that the great same village. In some cases. a reduc- conflict between Christianity and Mo- hammedanism will center. No doubt tion in the number of agencies may be a positive advantage. The financial problem of maintaining the Lutheran work as a separate organization has become much more acute, as funds 'that have been supplied hitherto from America are no longer available.- Statesman.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
more converts from Islam may be won the heads of their neighbors and prein either Java or Sumatra. This has serving the dried skulls as ornaments been abundantly proved by the suc- for their homes. When the first miscess of the Dutch and German mis- sionaries went to Borneo, they were sionaries who have really seriously fortunate to keep their heads on their grappled with this great task, which shoulders. To-day, the Dyaks have now confronts the Christian Church, ceased head hunting, have given themfor they can count their converts by selves to farming and have taken on the thousand, whereas the Malays clothes and other evidences of civilizaboast that none of their race have ever tion. Instead of news coming once a become Christians. This is not true, month, as it did when missionaries for a few individuals here and there first went to Borneo, it is now received have been baptized. We believe it is by wireless. The missionary has helpthe duty of the Church to provide at ed to transform the people. such a strategic center as Singapore an adequate equipment for the conflict An Appeal from Annam which must decide the superior claims of Christianity. I N THE past the French Govern- . ment looked on the Protestant mis~ Schools Develop Trade in Malaysia sion as the forerunner of British co- lonial penetration and therefore has " F IVE years ago," says Rev. ]. R. been wary of admitting. evangelical Denyes, an American Methodist missionaries into French areas. This missionary in the Straits Settlements, is one reason why the large French "Americans heard much from the colony of Annam has received less Dutch and English because America evangelical help than almost any other was sending a thousand Yankee school region in Asia. One of the results of teachers to the Philippines. Today the the war will be to change entirely this Dutch Government is opening schools attitude of the French authorities and in Java at a rate they never dreamed of to throw Annam open to the Gospel before. The practical value of Ameri- as never before. can mission schools is increasingly recognized. Industrial training makes How ripe a field Protestant misscholars valuable citizens. Dutch and sionaries will find when they do go English colonists see what the Ameri- there is indicated by a letter recently can business man is just beginning to written by a Protestant named Duong find out. that trade follows the mis- to the Director of the Paris Evangelisionary." cal Missionary Society, asking that missionaries be sent to his country. The increased earning capacity of the 8,000 boys in the mission schools CHINA in Java, from the time they enter until they have finished the course, av- Lawlessness in China erages $50 apiece a month, or $4,- 800,000 a year in the aggregate. In MISSIONARIES of the China Inthe mission schools boys take on Eu- land Mission, stationed at points ropean dress, and learn to use knives and forks and many other implements in the interior, often send information of civilization. To meet all these new which is not available from other tastes in a generation of 8,000 boys, sources. Recent reports from this would, it is estimated, bring an in- source illustrate the sad state of lawcreased trade of $10,000.000. lessness which exists in many parts of China today. Politically the situation Dyaks Give Up Head Hunting is more or less chaotic. The absence of effectual control by the Central Gov~ D YAK is a word which conveys to ernment is increasingly manifest in many the idea of a people whose tribal pastime consists in cutting off In several provinces, especially in Szech- wan, Hunan, Hupeh, and Shansi. the west a sort of triangular conflict has been in progress for many months
in which Yunnah, Kweichow, and tours among the people. A member ~zechwan troops have been engaged. of the China Inland Mission, writing Since the burning of Chengtu, 5'izech- from Hweichow, in Anwei province, wan has been without a provincial says: head, and there has been much local "Since my return from Anking independence and great disorder. Bible School I have visited Tunki "Terrible accounts," writes Bishop (seventeen miles south-west) and Cassels concerning the east of the prov- Miaoshow (forty-three miles north).
ince; "reach me of looting, slaying and Last Sunday at the latter place I was other atrocities." From other sources discouraged. There was a theatrical it is reported that British, American show on, especially heathen and and Japanese steamers and even river idolatrous. It portrayed the ascension gunboats have been fired on on the to heaven of one who kept his vege- Yangtze above Hankow, the captain tarian vows and the falling to hell of of one vessel· being killed on the the wife of the same man, the mother bridge. American engineers also have of a priest who after many years broke been robbed and captured by bandits her vows on the death of the husband.
in Honan. And now comes the sad One or two of our folk barely took news that one of the woman workers time to attend service, and profited by connected with the Scandinavian Al- the show in selling sweet wine, etc.
liance Mission, associated with the C. Another poor fellow wants to give his 1. M., has been murd~red by robbers wife away. It seems hard to oppose, at Sanshuihsien, an out-station of Pin- because she is a plague to him. We chow in Shansi. get some difficult problems at times.
An ex-evangelist has been sowing dis- Preaching in Temples cord among his former flock there, and REV. CHARLES E. SCOTT, who in general showing such an unre- has traveled widely among the pentant manner that I have suspended him from communiot1."-China's Mil- "walled cities of China," writes: "One lions. of the best things of last year was the getting many times into the 'kia miao' (family temples) in the villages to A Chinese Police Reformer preach. These 'kia miao' are veritable THE practical effects of a Christian sancta sanctorum. These were, to faith are to be seen in Nantung- my amazement, offered me by heath- chow, near Shang-hai, China, where a en clans with whom I got in closest Christian chief of police is really try- friendly touch. Bear in mind that the ing to introduce changes for the bet- heathen only, in this class of temples, ter in police methods. Instead of the worship the ghosts of their ancestors. old-time custom of leaving prisoners This year I have had the privilege re- in dungeons he has organized chain peatedly of inviting the village head- gangs, where his prisoners work in men, heathen all, to meet me in a the open air with their punishment re- body, and as a friend, to listen to me duced for good conduct. A short time preach Jesus Christ. This has led to back a number of story-tellers came calling me in to settle disputes in a to the place. (A Chinese story-teller friendly manner, and by mutual con- is something after the order of a me- cession and outside of the yamen-an diceval bard.) These men were telling unmistakable boon. In no previous filthy stories. The chief of police years have I gotten so dose to the drove them out of town. Later a num- heathen." ber of priests started the rumor that a Problems for the Missionary spirit which had the power to heal diseases had entered a tree near the MISSIONARIES often have dif- North Gate. They had set up an altar ficult social problems to deal and were doing a thriving business.
with, espedaUy when they go out on Hundreds were going daily for help.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
The chief sent over, arrested all the terian missionary in Changteh, Hunan priests, told them they could not de- Province, China, "and we have never ceive the people thus and only let before seen such -crowds of eager them go when they had sent out a listeners to the Gospel in Changteh as denial of the virtue of the tree and it has been our privilege to witness had taken away the altar.-Record of during the past week. Both at the Christian Work. afternoon meetings for women, and at the general meetings in the evenings, DR. The Black Death in China it has been good to see the large num- PERCY WATSON, medical bers attending. We have had to fill missionary of the American the aisle of the church with extra seats Board at Fenchow, identifies the these nights, and every available one pneumonic plague, which now threat- has been occupied. Ten days of nightens the whole of North China, with ly meetings for prayer with our helpthe Black Death which ravaged ers and Christians were the prelude Europe in iS46, sweeping away ap- to this campaign. These. meetings proximately 25,000,000 people. China were exceptionally good. The spirit and the world owe it to him that the of prayer was poured out upon us, and first news of the outbreak in Mongolia we believe the good results all point was reported in Peking and that back to these times of waiting on God measures were taken to prevent travel for His working in the hearts of th~ through the gates in the Great Wall, people." and to enforce quarantine and inoculation. Dr. Watson accompanied Gen. JAPAN-CHOSEN Chao and a military staff in a tour of inspection along the inner side of the A Japanese Christian Official wall in Shansi. Through the negligence of officials a number of infected H ON. SOROKU EBARA, who persons had slipped through and some was elected a representative in 200 deaths occurred. He thinks fur- the first Parliament in Japan, rether ravages in that quarter can be elected several times,. and a few years stayed. Other North China medical ago made a member of the House of missionaries have joined in this effort Peers, has also had a striking career and their services are mightily appre- as an educator. He organized the ciated by the Chinese government. first school for modern military· in- Dr. Charles W. Young of Peking, who struction. He visited America, studied successfully fought the plague in our institutions and returned to Japan 1911, has gone to Shansi to instruct to engage in regular educational work, the officials. He shows lantern slides feeling thq,t modern education would of the last plague, including views of be fundamental to making Japan a the uncared for dead, bodies torn by strong state. He invited a missionary dogs, a pile of l,400 coffins ready for to become a teacher in his school. burning, etc. He also shows them under the microscope the plague ba- A few years later a Canadian miscilli from a case two weeks dead. By sionary school was about to be given such means Dr. Young thinks he up because of the government regulaought to be able to persuade into ac- tion with reference to the teaching of tivity even the most inert of magis- religion. There were 400 boys in the trates. school and he did not like to see them "WE Results Follow Prayer turned out into the street. A few Japa- HAVE just completed a week's special evangelistic nese friends joined with him to take campaign in the city," writes Rev. W. over the school and Senator Ebara be- C. Chapman, an American Presby- came the principal. Since then all the debts have been paid and the number of students has grown to 800. Mean- while the new principal became a Christian and joined. the Meth09ist Church. Each morning he reads the
Bible and talks to the boys in chapel. Katsuda's history and advised him to Many of the distinguished men of enter Aoyama Gakuin. This he did, Japan have passed through his school. and was graduated from the Academy AA Leader of Japanese Women in 1892. He was converted and was baptized, but after leaving the acad- N INTERESTING visitor in the emy was lost to view until he loomed United States during the past up as a very rich man and the school's few months has been Miss Tsune benefactor.
Watanaba, of Japan, President of the Congregational Women's Missionary ,' W A Korean's Opinion of Missions Society in her native land. Miss HEREAS the distinguishing Watanaba has had a teaching experi- mark of Oriental ethics is to ence of some twenty years, several of which were spent in connection with honor man and despise wnoomtiaon~ the Women's Missionary Society. The Christianity has brought the W. C. T. U. also claims a large share of her interest and she is the president that men and women are sons and of the Kobe Branch. One object of her visit is to study the methods and daughters of God on equal terms." interests of missionary women in America, that she may utilize them as This, in the judgment of a native far as possible among her own people. contributor to The Korea Mission Field, is one of the great contribu- tions which Christian missions have made to Korean civilization. Previous to the entrance of Christianity, the A Japanese Business Man's Generosity writer states, politics were corrupt, in- dustry and finance were diso'rganized GINJIRE KATSUDA is renowned tehxrtorauvgahgaanwceh,irldwisihnodneosftyg.rafItn, tboritbheersy~ in the business world of Japan conditions the missionary brought a high ideal of life and the dignity of because he has become a multi-million- virtue. Where premature marriages aire through shipping since the begin- flourished and re-marriage was ning of the war. In 1915 he heard of frowned upon, the Church has conone dire need of a mission school, tributed a legal age for marriage and Aoyama Gakuin, of which he is an given to Korean women a "precious alumnus. The roof of Goucher Hall freedom."
needed repairing, and immediately Mr. Another point 'made by the Korean Katsuda contributed five thousand dol- is that common schools of both lower lars for this purpose. In January of the following year, says Mrs. Jennie Vail Bishop, plans for the expansion of the school were made public, and and higher grade have followed the Mr. Katsuda pledged ten thousand establishment of Christian schools, dollars toward this project. In June which were making the only attempt he learned that the equipment was far at educating the people up to seven from adequate for the greatly in- or eight years ago. Even now a creased number of students, and he ,church with two or three hundred promised an amount sufficient to erect members has a primary school, as a a suitable building and five thousand rule. Thus the Christian Church is credited with having laid the foundadollars for the President's home. tion of Korea's new system of educa- Nearly thirty years ago (in 1888 tion. or 1889), young Ginjire Katsuda joined an expedition to the Kurile A Islands, but was obliged to turn back The Deacon's Restitution for lack of funds. He pawned his MISSIONARY in Korea was ex- watch to pay his fare back to Kyushu amining a candidate for baptism.
and on the train met President Honda "What did you do about your sins (Bishop Honda) and Rev. J. O. when you believed in Jesus?" HI was Spencer. They learned something of sorry for them and mended them."
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
"How did you mend them?" "By not tion over a great area. The Umvoti committing them again." "If I break River, in Zululand, without warning this pencil and resolve not to break it of rainstorm or other sufficient ex- again will that mend it?" "No." planation, but possibly, it is thought, "What must I do to mend it?" "Make because of a cloudburst near its source, it as much as you can like it was." came down in a wall of water seventy "Have you done that with your quar- feet high, drowning many Europeans, rels, debts and so forth?" Indians and natives. At the same As deacon Kim sat and listened, an time occurred a storm at Beira, the arrow of conviction pierced his heart. American Board's station in Mozam- He went home, took some money from bique territory, which actually carried the box, went to the drugstore and said the mission house out to sea. Fortu- to the proprietor: "Here is money nately it was not occupied at the time, for that medicine I bought a month Mrs. Maxwell and her boys being ago and promised to pay for in a few temporarily in Natal, where she was days. I beg pardon for not keeping making plans for going home, because my word." The druggist replied: "I of Mr. Maxwell's recent death. '
have been watching you Christians to see if Christianity is any different The NyasaIand Mission from these other religions we have.
Now I believe it is better, it giVes THE Nyasaland Mission which was power to its follower to do what it founded in 1890 by the late Rev.
teaches, and gives humility too." Andrew Murray, D.D., is laboring in Nyasaland, North Eastern Rhodesia AFRICA and Portuguese East Africa. Its an- New Movement in Abyssinia nual report, recently published, shows that, in spite of the many hindrances THROUGH the Swedish Evangel- due to the present world war and the ical Mission a remarkable re- Chilembwe Rebellion near Blantyre, ligious movement is reported from the 2,874 members were received into the interior of Abyssinia. This has taken Church during the past year by bap- hold of the Moslem population so that tism, and 1,370 adults broke with in the last six years some 10,000 have heathenism and were admitted into been baptized into the Christian the baptism classes. The Gospel has Church. The apostle of this movement been preached every week to 42,000 is an ex-Sheik, Zaccaria, who has adults and children. The work of changed his name to Noaye Kristos, a translating the entire Bible into the person of great influence in Sokoto, in native language, the Chinyanga, has the Amhara country where he lives. just been completed by Rev. W. H.
The movement has sprung from Murray, assisted by Rev. Mr. Napier, Scriptures distributed by the British of the Presbyterian Church. This task Bible Society in Abyssinia. and is which has required ten years of active evangelical in character. Indeed these labor on the part of Mr. Murray, gives new Christians are so dissatisfied with a million people the entire Bible in the dead forms of the Coptic Church their own language.
that they are organizing' classes for Through the sacrificing efforts of Scripture study and have mobilized the Church in South Africa, the missome 500 men, who are serving as sionaries on the field and the native teachers. Christians, a deficit of about $5,000 Serious Floods in Africa was wiped out and a goodly balance left in the mission treasury. The WORD has come that Zululand has North American Council transmitted been cut off from Natal by seri- about $5,000 during the past year ous floods, which have washed away from the supporters of the work in the bridges and spread death and destruc- United States and Canada.
Pilgrims of Hawaii. Their own ciaIly. Yet enough is recorded to sup-
story of their pilgrimage from New England and life work in the Sand- ply a clear outline, while the essential history is very fully given in the main wich Islands, now known as Hawaii. section. It is a unique combination By Rev. and Mrs. Oramel Hinckley of documents and commentary and Gulick. Illustrated, map. 351 pages.
N ew York: Fleming H. Revell Com- has in it what will interest the friends pany. $1.50 net. 1918. of missions and at the same time will Two years hence the centennial cele- supply the student of missionary bration of the landing o"f the first mis- methods a very satisfying collection of sionaries to the Hawaiian Islands will data bearing upon them.
be celebrated. Yet fifty years ago the Our Hawaii. By Charmian Kittredge London. $2.25. Illustrated. Bvo. 345 Islands were so fully Christianized pp. Macmillan, New York, 1917. that the American Board of Foreign Missions had finished its main task "They don't know what they've and could relinquish its work to the got," said Jack London of the Ameri- Hawaiian churches, whose Evangel- can public when, ten years ago, he ical Association has been the bulwark first recognized the beauty and wonder of Christianity there ever since. One of Hawaii. Because the common hundred and fifty-three persons, from knowledge Americans possess con- 1820 to 1894, were sent to the Islands cerning Hawaii is so scant, Mrs. Lonto accomplish the transformation of don undertakes to give in journal form Hawaii. How they accomplished this miracle, with God working through a resume of her experiences during a them, is here told by survivors of the early missionaries' children who have brief residence there ten years ago, seen with their own eyes much of what during a more recent visit to that they here record. Paradise of the Pacific. The book is full of entertainment and information, The volume is of varying character much of the latter not easily accessible.
and hence is divided into three parts. James Monroe Buckley. By George The first gives an outline history of Preston Mains. 305 pp. Price net, the coming of the missionaries, with $1.50. The Methodist Book Concern: the beginnings of their work and a New York, 1917.
too. brief description of the Islands. If Dr. Buckley was an attractive Part II is the most valuable section, man, one would not guess it from this which (in 225 pages) gives selections biography. The chapters deal with him from contemporary correspondence as "The Preacher," "The Traveler,"
covering the years 1820 to 1859, when "The Editor," and from other aspects.
the work was fully established. Part The reader is mildly interested in the III contains an unduly condensed tab- account of his activities and achieve- ulation of results of the Mission, in- ments, but the author fails to make cluding religious work, education, lin- one love or admire this hero whom he guistic achievements, agricultural re- himself looks upon with "wondering sults of the coming of missionaries, admiration."
the commercial development of the A great biography, like a great por- Islands and the outlook to-day. Per- trait, is the fruit of "terrible toil." This haps the very fact that the authors one seems to have been written too were. familiar with the enterprise from easily. Press notices, long quotations, ~ childhood has kept them from realiz- eulogies, moralizings, meet one in al- ing how much is left out in the some- most every chapter. The book intro- what analistic style of the volume, a duces us to Dr. Buckley. We mt1st weakness of Parts I and III espe- go elsewhere to know him.
THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
Sons of Italy. By Antonio Mangano. is an observer whose purpose is to repro-. Illustrated. 12mo. 234 pp. 60 cents. Missionary Education Movement, New duce impressions of the first three or York. 1917. four months of China travel, as "the T HE Italians are a picturesque race, but they are also hard workers and fascinating noveJty of the Orient might loyal friends. In one year before begin to fade after a six months' tour." the war 283,000 came to America. This delightful freshness shows itself The number dropped last year to also in his sage declarations about things 33,665. Prof. Mangano, of Colgate and men Chinese which "old China Theological Seminary, gives some valuable and interesting information in this hands" would be cautious about speak-. "social and religious study of Italians in America." After an introductory story ing of in so ex cathedra a manner. Afof one immigrant, he describes the sunny :and from which these multitudes came fecting the tone of a Far Eastern and their habits and training in Italy. Then he gives the facts about conditions authority he says that Lao-tze, founder that the immigrant faces in America and how these Sons of Italy have succeeded ofTaO"Ism, was "born at Honan,"·JUst in overcoming the difficulties that face them. as he probably speaks of Lincoln's being:…
Few who have not been in close con- "born at Kentucky." His lulowledge of tact with laboring conditions, realize- the life in a, "section gang." The low missions makes him say on page-I72 that wages ($7 to $10 a week), poor accommodations and ill-treatment naturally it is claimed that Hangchow was the make Socialists and sometimes lead to violence as a protest. The Italians in first city to· receive Christian mission- America are not only barbers and shoeblacks but work in shoe factories, glue aries and on page 278 that it was introand ;aint works, chocolate factories, duced as early as 625 and that the f~ silk mills, glass works, coal a!1d ir~>n mines bricklaying, stone quarnes, dIg- mous N estorian monument was set up In ging ;ubways and constructing railroads. Many of them have risen high in pro- Hsia-an Fu in 782. President Li Yuan· fessional and business life, but most of them have lost their religion. Prof. hung, he says, is believed to be a "C?h~is Mangano shows how sadly they need religious instruction. tian convert. Now, when a Chnstlan – This study forms an excellent textbook for classes and is very readable. It practically occupies the Dragon Throne is valuable for reference. of Cathay, it is time that the world The Spell of China. By Archie Bell. Illustrated. xvi, 404 pp. $2.50 net. took notice." So easy is it to pass from The Page Co" Boston. 1917. the belief to the certainty-even when A BOOK of the "Spell Series" al- ways has something to commend it. President Li is reputed to be an ortho- The spell in this case is mainly confined to the fine half-tones, six less effective dox Confucianist! Other errors appear pictures in "full color," and a facile pen that rambles through the book from not to have "crept in," but in the words Hongkong to "China's little sister," Korea but never far from the beaten of Dr. Arthur Smith, in another contracks' of travel. The author obviously nection, they have stalked in boldly with hat on and umbrella spread and have taken a front seat. .
Nevertheless Mr. Bell has written most interestingly about the great sea- board and Yang-tzu cities and his ac- count of Peking and Seoul are well worth reading. His point of view is that of the traveler of the globe-trotc .
ting variety, rather than that of the thoughtful traveler like Prof. Ross, for sinecstraentsce~f anxious to tell his readers the China's unbroken past and its, promising future.
His Dominiol'11. By Rev. W. T. GUnn. Illustrated, 12mo, 209 pp. 60 cents. The Canadian Council of th.e Mission- ary Education Movement, Toronto.
1917.
"HIS Dominion" is Canada – viewed as God's country. The book contains a delightful descriptiotl of the great North land-nearly equal in size to Europe; and very interest- Maintenance ~f Health in the Tropics. ing bits of Canadian history. The By W. J. Simpson, M. D. J2mo. 174 story of the development of Christian- pp. 3s 6d. John Bale Sons & Danielity is told briefly and leads on to an son, London, 1916. account of Home Missions to-day. Dr. Simpson's book has already Dr. Gunn has given us a valuable and proved its value to those in the tropics. well written text-book on a country al- It is published under the auspices of together too little known. the "London School. of Tropical Medicine" and gives a sane advice The Book of Personal Work. 8y John concerning the precautions, habits and H. Faris. 8vo. 315 pp. $100 net. remedies that are best calculated to George H. Doran Co., New York, 1917. preserve life and health in tropical Soul winning is a gift, but it re- countries.
quires passion and skill. The gift is Good Health for All. By A. T. Scofield. from God; (the passion is born of M. D. 12mo. 104 pp. Is 6d. Picker- ing & Inglis, Glasgow, 1916. spiritual experience and insight; skill comes with study and practice. Dr. Dr. Scofield gives a great deal of Faris supplies many valuable hints for good general infonpation about health soul winners and many examples of for all ages from ailing infants to tired souls that have been won. They stir . grandparents. the heart and stimulate to similar endeavor while at the same time they The Coming of the Dawn. By Jane A. suggest ways of winning others. This Pierson. Illustrated. Bvo. 299 pp. is a good volume for classes in per- $1.50. The Standard Press, Concinsonal work. Tnati, 0., 1917. Jesus Is Coming. By Wm. E. Black- HE problem of Jew and Gentile is stone. 12mo. 252 pp. SO cents. Moody dealt with in this novel from a Bible Institute, Chicago, 1916. Christian point of view. It is more than Interest has been revived in this a good love story for it takes up very subject by the World War. Mr. Black- vividly the social disabilities of the Jews stone's study is one of the clearest in America, the cruel persecution of and most scriptural and sane that has Jews in Russia, and the horrors o'f appeared. It was first issued nearly Siberian exile under the Imperial Govforty years ago, has been trans- ernment of Russia. It is a book that lated into 25 languages and has been a will interest workers among Jews and blessing to multitudes. It deserves one that may advantageously be given to careful reading and prayerful study. intelligent Jews to read.
Methods in Prayer. W. Graham Scrog- Wandering Stars. By Rev. Andrew Hangie. 12mo. 172 pp. $1.00 net. Geo. sen. 12mo. 163 pp. $1.00. George H. H. Doran Co., New York, 1917. Doran, 1916.
True prayer means much more than Dr. Hansen knows how to find in the the offering of petitions. It includes every day happenings of ordinary life the also the offering of worship, the offer- lessons most easily understood by a child, ing of confession, of thanksgiving, of and in these ten-minute sermons for the the Petitioner himself and all that he juniors shows an intimate understanding is and has. Mr. Scroggie brings out of a child's heart. With quaint titles, this and much more in his helpful appealing phrase and familiar subject study of prayer-a neglected and mis- he makes vivid the simple lessons of understood power with many Chris- courtesy, sympathy, love, courage and tians today. This volume reveals the gentleness. Here are a few of the sug- true character and meth!>d of prayer, gestive titles: Bountiful Eyes; The but it would be more stimulating if Puckery Pear Trees; Don't Block the it gave more illustrations of the re- Gangway j Slightly Soiled-Greatly Re- sults of prayer from modern biogra- duced in Price; The Bible's Untamable phy and history. Animal.