The Missionary Review of the World — July 1910
NATIONAL MISSIONARY POLICY *
In view of the Fatherhood of God, the unity of the human race and the sufficiency and finality of the Gospel of Christ; Knowing that the field is the world and that this is the only generation we can reach: This first National Missionary Congress in the United States, representing more than twenty millions of church-members, recognizes the immediate world-wide presentation of the gospel messages to be the central and commanding obligation resting upon all Christian churches, and declares its conviction that the Chnrch of our generation can and should obey literally the great commission of our Lord, to preach the gospel to every creature.
As indicating the measure of effort required among the non-Christian peoples of the earth, we accept as a working policy, the standard that, in addition to the native agencies, there should be provided from the churches of Christian lands an average of at least one missionary to every twenty-five thousand of the people to be evangelized. This would require the quadrupling of our present force of workers, and a corresponding increase in contributions from approximately $11,000,000 last year, to about $45,000,000 annually. This estimate indicates the measure of personal duty at home rather than the method of missionary work abroad, in determining which diversities of conditions in the work, dissimilarities of equipment and power among the workers, the part to be taken by the native churches which are to be raised up to do the great bulk of the work as self-supporting and self-propagating agencies, must all be taken into account.
We declare our conviction that according to their ability and opportunity, the laymen of the churches are equally responsible with the ministers to pray and to plan, to give and to work for the corning of the Kingdom of God upon earth. We believe that the call to share actively in extending the knowledge of Christ presents to every man his supreme opportunity for development, usefulness, and satisfaction, and we appeal to men everywhere to invest their intelligence, their influence, their energy, and their possessions in the united effort of the Church of Christ to evangelize the world.
While seeking the enlistment of all the laymen of the Church in fulfilling the missionary task of our generation, we declare our belief that this work is the work of the organized Church, and that the natural leaders in it are the ministers and the missionary agencies of the various churches; and it is our conviction that alI that is done in the name of the Laymen's Missionary Movement should help to strengthen these leaders and the agencies through which the churches as such must discharge their missionary responsibility.
We urge the adoption by every church of regular and thorough methods of missionary education and ilnance, culminating once each year in an organized personal canvass of each congregation, with the earnest purpose of securing the systematic and proportionate contributions of every member toward the world-wide propagation of the Christian evangel, and we recomme~d for universal adoption the Scriptural plan of a missionary offering every week, in order that this vast world enterprise may be kept constantly in the minds and prayers of all Christians, and that funds for the work may be adequate and steadily available.
We recommend that there be formed in each individual church a strong missionary committee, charged with the responsibility of promoting missionary intelligence, intercession and contributions, and that in each city or county where work is undertaken a cooperating committee of the Laymen's Missionary Movement be formed, composed of laymen, selected so far as possible by the various churches to represent their constituency in the territory covered, and that the Laymen's Missionary Movement, through its executive committee, in cooperation with the established missionary agencies of the several churches, be authorized to provide such measures for the supervision and assistance of these cooperating committees as the providential developments of the work may require.
We earnestly remind all Christians of the duty of habit1;1al prayer for missionaries; for native Christians; and for pastors and churches at home; that laborers may be thrust forth into all harvest fields; that the unity of the Church may be realized and that the glory of God may be universally revealed.
Remembering that the promises of divine blessing are conditioned upon obedience to the will of God, and recognizing the deep spiritual quickening which has already come to the churches in many parts of the United States and Canada, through the awakening of the missionary spirit, we call upon the whole membership of the churches here represented to unite with us in discharging our personal and national missionary obligations.
Assembled in this National Missionary Congress, and deeply persuaded of the power of Christ through His united Church to solve an the problems of human society, we 'desire to unite with the churches of Canada and of our sister nations throughout Christendom, as loyal servants of the King of Kings, in a comprehensive and adequate campaign for the conquest of the world by Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Desire of the Nations, and the Light of the World.
• Adopted by ~e National Missionary Congress, held at Chicago, May 3·6, 1910.
OF AUDITORIUM, CHICAGO, WHERE SESSIONS OF LAYMEN'S MISSIONARY
WERE HELD REAR END OF SAME
of the World Published by Funk a.nd Wagna11s Company (Isaac K. Funk4!:I!!'E.~3rSt~~:l;;)l~ice.Prel!!., Robert J. Cuddihy, Treas., Robert Scott, Sec',), VOL. XXXIII. No.7 JULY, 1910 VOL. XXIII. No.7 Ola Series New Series SIGNS OF THE TIMES THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST OPIUM and walked with God, and to whom it was not strange if He permitted some One sign of the times is a remark- insight into the future. This prophable, simultaneous and wide-spread ecy was published in full in these uprising against the use of this de- pages four years ago (April, 1906, pp. grading drug, manufacture of it, and 241,297), and may be worth while to traffic in it. Japan led the way; reread in the light of hiter events. China followed, and now Persia is Subsequent developments make this joining the ranks, the new Baktiari deliverance intensely interesting. Government apparently being deter- The Russo-Japanese war fulfilled the mined to put down opium-smoking, as first part of this threefold prediction one great stride forward in national in every respect. The great revival in progress and prosperity. Singularly, Wales, and in many other quarters, these heathen peoples are all showing most conspicuously Korea, where the more alertness and activity in sup- work still goes on and is the wonder pressing this vice than more enlight- of the world, fulfilled the second. ened nations like Christian England. There is only one part of the prophesy yet unfulfilled, and there are many A REMARKABLE PREDICTION who believe that the Lord's second ap- pearing is near at hand. Some fifteen years since, in Shanghai, China, the late Rev. J. Hudson RATIONALISM RUN MAD Taylor, then superintendent of the China Inland Mission, uttered a Professor Drews, of the University solemn prediction, which is fully at- of Berlin, recently delivered a lecture tested as genuine by a missionary then in which he declared that there was connected with the C. 1. M., who both no such historical personage as Jesus heard and officially reported and edited of Nazareth. In protest, the Prussian Mr. Taylor's address. Church authorities organized a mass- meeting, attended by 20,000 people, The forecast w.as threefold: First, which announced the unshaken faith of a war in which Russia was to be of the people in the divine Redeemer. prominent, but lack the sympathy of Western nations; second, of a great Such a popular response seems to us and pervasive revival of religion; and, giving too much heed to a man whose third, of the Lord's second appearing, brain is probably unhinged. We can not long after. We are not wont to not treat as a sober and rational proattach much importance to such mod- ceeding any such utter disregard of ern forecasts. But this man was no all the canons of historical criticism fanatic or dreamer, but one who lived and common sense. If the consenting testimony of four gospel narratives, feet. The whole length of this piece not to say the testimony of such of engineering is eleven miles.
heathen historians as Tacitus and In all such media of communication Pliny, do not give credibility to a his- we rejoice, as new highways for the toric personage, where are we to find gospel and means of acquaintance and any historic certainty 1 And what can assimilation to the nations.
be assigned as the origin of nineteen PLANNING TO EVANGELIZE THE centuries of the Christian Church with WORLD all its institutions 1 The Laymen's Missionary Move- Here is a more abhorrent blasphemy ment, as gathered in the late national than ever Voltaire or Ingersoll, Renan congress in Chicago, suggested the or Heine, Bradlangh or Bolingbroke 1110st extraordinary campaign of hisever ventured. To attempt to build up tory-a persistent, systematized effort the whole system of Christianity about to proclaim Christianity to the world a legendary or mythical personality is within this generation – the next more a sign of insanity than anything thirty-five years. Out of the world's else. Historic continuity and develop- 1,500,000,000, only 5°0,000,000 are ment argue a starting-point as a Christians; the plan, therefore, insuspended chain demands a first link volves reaching 1,00:),000,000 within and a staple somewhere. To assert this generation. To do the work, that all Christian history is without within the time specified, would, it is a beginning, is like making a world estimated, cost $2,000,000,000; and to out of nothing. When there are men raise this, it is proposed to ask for a who will proclaim, and people who large increase from every Protestant will listen, to such inanities, no won- church, in annual contributions, until der that asylums for the idiotic and the annual contribution reaches $55,- imbecile are multiplying! 000,000, which, expended for thirty- ANOTHER UNK five years, it is believed, will accom- plish the work of carrying Christianity The opening of the Andes tunnel to every part of the world. signalizes one of the greatest engineering feats of history. This tun- NOTES OF THE TIMES nel, linking Chile and the Argentine Dr. Campbell Morgan says the three Republic, is I2,000 feet above the sea, notes of the times are: First, a very and is the channel of direct communi- marked revolt against the material cation between Valparaiso and Buenos things of life, and a craving for the Ayres, thus making needless a fifteen spiritual; second, a new and restless days' stormy voyage through the Straits passion among men for the practical; of Magellan in the winter. The tracks third, a great sense of some common climb the mountain on the Argentine visitation; of a daybreak in some form.
side by means of zigzags, run through The first finds its setting chiefly in a first tunnel, across a steel viaduct, the remarkable spread of Christian and then through a second tunnel. On Science, which he calls "a travesty on the Chile side, the mountains fall so Christianity and an ignorance of rapidly that a corkscrew tunnel takes science." He says about Christian the train a descent of three thousand Science, "First, it deals with the
SIGNS OF THE
spiritual and affirms it; and, second, it gories of sin. They are by no means deals with sin. The weariness of the all. But as we see their terrific material has made thousands of our hideousness, is it not enough to con- young people crowd into this society. vince us that the want of this wicked If the Church had been true to the world yawns with an unmeasured evangel of Christ, there would have depth? Yes, look at it as you will, been no room for Christian Science." this old world is turned topsy-turvy.
He refers to the growth of the Sacer- Things are on top that ought to be un- dotal party in England as another cler, and things are under that ought evil, largely due to the rationalistic to be on top. And I do declare it my preaching from the pulpit which made solemn conviction that, for its up- its inception possible. "The absence righting, there is nothing this old sin- of the true is the encouragement of the ning, sorrowing, suffering world more false, and yet, notwithstanding these needs than a witnessing Church-a verities, there is the search for the Church that will dare to testify against spiritual. It is significant that recent- its evil deeds, as Nehemiah testified ly Lord Kelvin affirmed the belief that, against the transgressors of divine law behind all material things, there must in his time-a Church so divinely en- be the Creator, the source of all life. lightened that it receives God's truth, Prof. James, of Harvard, in "The lives God's truth and teaches God's Varieties of Religion," suggestively truth as the positive remedy for the sums up the results of his scientific sins and wrongs of the whole world.
findings by saying, "We and God have "Under the white light and spiritual business with each other and linking power of Pentecost these three things our lives with his influence we fulfil -giving, praying, witnessing-were our deepest destiny." in splendid conjunction. And behold, ANOTHER WARNING WORD and see what they did! From farthest Rev. Dr. J. M. Barkley closed his East to farthest West, and from the mountainous solitudes of the North noble sermon before the late General down to the sunny Greek isles of the Assembly in the following words: South, "I dare not be a pessimist. Human pessimism and divine sovereignty are "~Where burning Sappho loved and inconsistent terms. I can not be a sung," pessimist while 'God is in His heaven.'
But, discredit the muckrakers and the they carried the testimony of Jesus.
mock reformers as we will, 'the times With that testimony they faced every are out of joint.' If virtues are virile, condition and class. With it they evils are gigantic. Twin sins that faced the fierce hatred of Judaism, the threaten the very existence of this sorcery and witchcraft of Cyprus and Christian nation are the vulgar race Philippi, the rude savagery of Lyca- for gain and the rotting sin of social onia, the sensuous idolatry of Ephesus, vices. The former of these evils, the the sordid commercialism and the sod- inordinate love of money, is the pa- den immoralities of Corinth. With rental and passionate root of sins that it they scaled the heights of Areo- have vitiated the whole world. pagus and met the philosophy of the "I name only these two great cate- world. With it they went to the
palace of the C::esars. And with it now several of them have been bapthey won, the world over. tized and others inquiring-another evidence that the Holy Spirit Himself "The needs of these times is a whole teaches where no missionaries are. Church testifying for Christ. Eloquent preachers have their place. And THE FIRST NATIONAL EXHIBITION yet the ambition for eloquence may be IN CHINA fatal to a harvest of souls. Many a man has ridden the hobby-horse of The Chinese have at length wakened eloquence hard and got no whither. up to the fact that they ought to follow Edward Everett, the orator of the the example of foreign countries and Academy, was eloquent for three hours hold a national exhibition. It is to be at Gettysburg field-and got into a shortly opened in Nanking, one of the book. Abraham Lincoln, the orator of ancient capitals, and it is believed milthe backwoods, was eloquent for three lions will attend during the eight minutes-and he got into the heart of months it is to be opened; among every schoolboy in America. Why them, many from foreign lands. The the difference? One, with the grace missionaries of Nanking, in view of of art, orated; the other, out of a pas- the greatness of the opportunity afsionate experience, testified. We want forded by this immense and unique great evangelists and learned scholars concourse, are planning what will and skilful teachers and diligent pas- probably be the biggest single missiontors. But back of these, and, just ary effort since the gospel was intronow, more than these, we need a duced into China. Church that will give and pray and witness. And when the Church will As to the exhibition itself, within bring these into her life again, as at the walls are vast spaces unoccupied Pentecost, then shall she be a Pente- by buildings, and upon one of these is costal Church. Then shall she 'arise now built the first "White City" of and shine, her light being come and China-under the supervision of forthe glory of the Lord being risen upon eign architects, a creditable imitation her.' " on a small scale, of the great exhibi- tions of America and Europe. The INCIDENT IN BURMA following is the list of buildings: Ag- riculture, storehouses, foreign exhibits, A very out-of-the-way tribe on the machinery, transportation, industrial borders of Burma-Buddhists-were arts, restaurant, fine arts, executive, suddenly imprest that their religious public hall, telephone, arts and educabeliefs did not satisfy. They decided tion, bazaar, Szechuen exhibit, silk exto meet together and pray that "He hibit, tea exhibit, Chinese exhibits who is the 'very God' would reveal from foreign countries, military ex- Himself to them." They had no hibit, public hygiene, porcelain exbook, no teacher; but after many hibit, provincial exhibit, pisciculture, meetings for prayer, they had a vision Hunan exhibit, Chihli exhibit~ The -One appeared to them saying, "I whole of these are surrounded by am the very God, follow me." They well-laid-out pleasure grounds, inbelieved it was Christ whom the cluding a modern race-course; 1,500,- Christians worshiped. They made a 000 taels have already been spent on difficult journey to find a teacher and buildings and grounds, half given by
Chinese merchants, and the other half holding 1,500 people. The whole by the government. plant is expected to be worthy of the Christian propaganda in China. The The exhibition will include all kinds running expenses will, of course, be of national products and manufac- heavy, and the efforts of the committures, Western goods and machinery, tee may be almost indefinitely extogether with a multiplicity of things tended in various directions, provided connected with education, the liberal they receive sufficient financial suparts, and the philanthropic enterprises port. I bespeak from your readers of missions in China. their earnest prayers for the success of this great effort. The missionaries Shanghai hotels are erecting large are attempting great things for God, buildings nearby to accommodate for- and are expecting great thinE,-s from eign guests. In the large public as- God. So writes Donald McGillieroy, semblv hall, lectures will be given on from Shanghai, April 12th. topics of the time by Chinese scholars and foreigners. PARLIAMENT AND THE KONGO ATROCITIES The greater part of the exhibition will be Chinese, and splendid oppor- Thank God the Kongo question is tunities will thus be given to see gath- not allowed to rest. One hundred .and ered together from all the provinces fifty-eight members of Parliamentthe best things that China can produce. of all political opinions-have addrest Each province will have a special an outspoken appeal to the Prime Minbuilding, and already the exhibits of ister, calling for prompt and definite each province have been on show in action. The memorial affirms a friendlocal provincial exhibits before being ly sentiment toward the Belgians and finally sent up to Nanking. The Chi- their new King, but that there is, on nese gentleman responsible for the the other hand, a deep-seated and buildings is a Christian who visited rapidly-extending resentment of the American exhibitions. attitude displayed by the Belgian Gov- ernment, and a conviction that the The five or six missions in Nanking British Government has been too are united in the Christian enterprise lenient in its treatment of systematic of reaching these millions with the affronts. A time limit for forced labor is gospel. They themselves are raising hinted at-the month of August next. a large sum of money on the spot, but, We hope this weighty memorial-free inasmuch as the work will be na- from all party bias-will have due tional in its scope, they have success- consideration, and that our moral fully appealed to missionaries and partnership in the "Crime of the Chinese Christians in other places. Kongo" may come to an end.-London Money and preachers are being pro- Christian. vided in order to assist the local talent. There will be booths inside the YOUNG PEOPLE FORGING FORWARD grounds for the exhibition of Bibles and tracts, while at a short distance The Young People's Missionary outside the main entrance a large Movement is forging .ahead in its cambuilding is being erected as a "Chris- paign of missionary education for the tian headquarters." Behind this build- purpose of quickening the evangelizaing there will be a tent capable of tion of the world. The first flush of
mIssIOnary study has passed, but the Signorina Pia Cremonina. The yol- board is settling down to a steady nme will also contain the story of the campaign of education. This is pro- notorious tribunal by the translator.
moted by study classes, the distribu- That the book will have a great influ- tion of literature, the issuing of mis- ence in Italy, where during so pro- sionary pictures, and deputation work, longed a period of papal rule it was which by means of illustrated lectures possible to suppress the truth, can not of the highest grade disseminates mis- be doubted; and in many cases it will sionary information. Several good act as a pioneer for the gospel.
missionary books have been issued, Rev. W. L. Watkinson gives a" pain- and are used as text-books in mission ful picture of the illiteracy and back- study classes. The treasurer's report wardness of the great mass of the shows that $126,395 has been received Italian people and says that the Apos- for the prosecution of the work, and tle Paul, would indeed be astonished $125,783 has been expended. The if he could revisit Pozzuoli now: publication fund stands at $25,375, and "He would find his evangelical ooc- it is hoped to raise this fund to $50,- trine overlaid by the commandments 000. Nearly all the foreign missionary and tr.aditions of men. He would dis- boards in the country use the publica- cover that the blood of St. Januarius tions of this movement, and a $50,000 is more in evidence than the atonement fund is unquestionably the greatest which obtained eternal redemption.
need at the present time. It is hoped At every street corner he would be also to put three fielrl secretaries to confronted by an image of the Virgin work this year-one in the South, Mary, whom he never once mentions.
another in Canada, and a third in the He would be surprized by confes- Rocky Mountain district. sional-boxes obscuring free access to SIGNS OF THE TIMES IN ITALY the mercy-seat. He would listen with Italy now presents to the world the indignation to sermons strangely un- unique spectacle of declaring for re- like his own, making the cross of ligious freedom and of foreshadowing Christ of none effect. And he would a complete separation of Church and be incensed to discover that his simple State. At Rome Premier Luzatti ministry of truth and righteousness has laid before the Parliament his pro- had given place to a vast priesthood gram of policies, which he summarized which does nothing for the spirituality by saying that the government will aim and moral education of the people."
at justice, liberty and culture. The There is evidently a great struggle ecclesiastical policy will be to provide going on in this land. Particularly religious freedom, leaving intact the since 1870, that pivotal year of the sovereignty of the State. It is pro- Vatican Council and United Italy, the posed to give the vote to all citizens changes have been rapid and revolu- of age who can read and write. tionary. From the very day when the One of the largest publishing firms in Pope was declared "infallible" his tem- that country is sending out a large edi- poral sovereignty was forfeited, and tion of Dr. Lea's monumental "History from that same day Italy's freedom be- of the Inquisition," which has now gan. It is one of the most remarkable been translated into Italian by coincidences of all modern history.
HARRIS JESSUP AND THE SYRIAN PIONEERS *
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Syria, as a mission field, has been Mr. Fisk reached there the following blest with a galaxy of great men and year, having been joined on the way women. Dr. Jessup's great two-vol- by the afterward famous Jonas King, ume work, with its 800 octavo pages, whose name is linked with mis- is not so much his autobiography as sions in Greece. These two brethren the story of the field, its work and its labored somewhat as itinerants in the workmen; and a fascinating tale it is- land until the spring of 1825, when not a dry patch in all its broad terri- again political disturbances caused tory. their withdrawal; and Mr. King left It is not the first time we have been Syria and Pliny Fisk left all scenes of imprest with the illustrious names that earthly labors for a heavenly rest.
adorn the whole history of the Syrian The station at Jerusalem for nine years mission: It reminds one of a pageant, was in a state of semi-collapse, and in in which move successively, in stately 1844 was abandoned. procession a series of majesti~"'bgures, There were manifest hindrances to without one among them that doe~o riot work in the "Eternal City," and as far seem to come of a race of giants; and back -as 1823 Beirut had been chosen these volumes will help to keep this as a more hopeful center. Messrs.
"apostolic succession" in the mind's William Bird and William Goodell ar- eye. It seems as tho God had kept for rived that year, and like Parsons at Je- the sacred land of His Son's earthly rusalem, began work by disseminating sojourn a specially noble and gifted the Scriptures, which, of course, stirred group of men and women, worthy to up hostility on the part of Papists, be associated with that hallowed terri- lTaronites and Syrian patriarchs.
tory and its traditions. They also busied themselves with pre- The story of Syrian missions falls paring a useful literature and schools naturally into two main divisions-the for the young. Eli Smith joined them first reaching from 1818 to 1870, and in 1827, and again political ferment the second from I870 to the present. drove the missionaries to Mallami in In 1818, Pliny Fisk and Levi Par- 1828, but two years later Mr. and Mrs.
sons were appointed missionaries to Bird returned, and Mr. Smith later.
Palestine-two men who stand high in Another year of suspended animation mission annals, tho their time was followed, 1839-40, and the work has short. Mr. Parsons, who reached the ever since gone on uninterruptedly, sacred city in February, 1821, was the tho with more than the average visita- pioneer Protestant mlsslOnary to tions of plague and pestilence and po- Jerusalem-first ever resident there- litical agitation and commotion.
and he began distributing the Word of Meanwhile, the constellation of God. The revolt in Greece proved stars had added to it new and shining contagious in its disturbing effect in names-William M. Thomson, Corne- Syria, .and prudence compelled Mr. lius V. A. Van Dyck, Simeon Calhoun, Parsons to retire for a season, and he "the Saint of Lebanon"; H. A. De died in Egypt in 1822, almost exactly Forest, W. W. Eddy, Daniel Bliss, one year after he set foot in Jerusalem. Henry H. Jessup, George E. Post, .. "Fifty·three Years in Syria," by Henry Harris Jessup. D.D. F. H. Revell Co.• N. Y.
SYRIAN MISSION IN 1893 WITH DRS. BLISS AND POST Back rOw (from left): Hoskins, W. K. Eddy, Post, Hardin, D. Bliss, Nelson, W. Jessup Front row: H. H. Jessup, Bird, Van Dyck, W. W. Eddy, S. Jessup etc. ; and these men brought with them Syria known! Van Dyck and Eli such women that, as a man one day Smith, preeminent in translation; Bliss said to Mr. Wheeler, of Harpoot, and Post, in teaching; Jessup and Cal- "All the missionaries' wives seemed houn in preaching; while Thomson angels." and Eddy were many-sided, and it is difficult to say in what they most ex- The work in Syria has always been celled, as, in fact, might be said of fourfold, and can be understood only most of this whole group, that "they when this is borne in mind-preaching, left nothing that they did not touch, teaching, translating and publishing- and touched nothing that they did not and the marvel is to see how God has adorn." raised up men and women to do this fourfold work. It may almost be said If we were to select any department that the pioneers in all these depart- of the Syrian work as preeminent it ments have been found in this little would be translation and publication. land, whose total length is about 400 God evidently planned that from this miles and its entire area only about chosen center of the Hebrew race and 60,000 square miles-or a little larger His Son's mortal career should go than the State of Pennsylvania. forth an Arabic Bible to bless all Arabic-speaking peoples. And noth- What masters in these arts has
HENRY HARRIS JESSUP AND THE SYRIAN
ing is more marvelous in the whole stupendous task for eight years, and story ,of Bible translation than the way Dr. Van Dyck for as many more; and this was brought about. on March 10, 1865, a celebration took place at the American Press in honor The Koran, as the sacred book of of the printing of the Old Testament, the Moslem world, is by the prophet's thus completing the new Arabic transrestrictions debarred from translation. lation of the Word of God, and giving Yet every loyal Mohammedan aspires it in purity to the whole Arabic-speakto read it for himself; and hence, ing world. wherever an educated follower of the green flag is found, whatever be his The pains taken to make this Arabic native tongue, he will be found to have Bible as nearly as possible perfect is made himself familiar with the Arabic astonishing. Thirty proofs were struck in order to have access to the "bible of off from each form, and sent to all Mohammed." At the same time, in- missionaries in the Arabic-speaking telligent Arabs are very fastidious field, and to native scholars, and about the Arabic characters, that they Arabic experts in Germany and be perfectly formed, and of classical Austria, for criticism and suggestion; style in accuracy and beauty. Hence, and whatever the extra labor involved, in order to reach all educated Moham- not a sheet was finally printed until medans, whether in Africa, or India, all was set right. The same unsparor Persia, or China, or elsewhere, the ing care was taken in the printing. grand prerequisite is an Arabic trans- Dr. Van Dyck went to New York and lation of the Scriptures in which the in person superintended the making of whole style and typography shall be as the electrotype plates. Not a matrix nearly as possible perfect. ,vas prepared for the characters with- out every detail being watched. And Observe how this was divinely from the completion of this gigantic brought about. Dr. Eli Smith, after work the Author of the Bible set long and frequent consultations with on it His seal. In a short time ten the missionaries and native scholars, editions, containing 40,000 copies, had found that there should be adopted "a been issued, and the accuracy of its simple but pure Arabic, free from for- rendering, its idiomatic excellence, and eign idioms, and that the sense should the superb perfection of the type which never be sacrificed to a grammatical surpassed all that had ever been quirk or rhetorical quibble, or a fanci- achieved in the same line, made these ful tinkling of words." He was aided new Arabic Bibles so popular that by a Mohammedan scholar of very even Moslems bought them and spoke high repute, who was himself a grad- in highest praise of them. No literary uate of the Azhar University of Cairo, work of the nineteenth century has and whose scholarly training and ever outranked this in importance, and faultless Arabic taste preeminently we have given to it this prominence fitted him to judge of all matters of because of its immense bearing on the grammar or rhetoric or voweling, and whole prosecution and prospects of so insured a translation which is as missions to the Moslems. Since that nearly perfect, both in spirit and letter, Bible was issued over thirty-two in essence and in form, as could well editions have been printed, comprizing be secured. Dr. Smith worked on this
nearly a million copies, and what is a gift from America to the Moslem very remarkable, on the title-page of world!
every copy is the imperial permit and The other contributions of these sanction of the government of the grand men to the riches of the world Turkish Sultan! These are being sent must not be forgotten. Dr. Edward hy the tens of thousands to the whole Robinson could never have made his Arabic-speaking world, from Mogador "Researches in Palestine" the standard and Sierre Leone on the Atlantic to authority it is but for the help of Eli Peking, ill China, and India, in the Smith, who became his fellow traveler Orient; to Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and explorer, and put at his disposal Egypt, Sudan, Arabia, Zanzibar, Aden, the treasuries of his Arabic acquisi- Muscat, Bassorah, Bagdad; to Persia, tions. Dr. Wm. M. Thomson has, in Mesopotamia, Asia 11 inor, and to the his "Land and Book," furnished the new Syrian colonies in the United finest commentary of its sort known to States, South America and Au~tralia. the world upon the language and geo- Simeon Calhoun beautifully says, graphical and historical references "Just as Syria, once lighted up with found in the Word of Gael; and all the oil made from her own olives, is subsequent books of its sort have bor- now illuminated by oil transported rowed luster fr0111 its fascinating from America, so the light of revela- pages.
tion that once burned brightly in Syria The educational work of the Syrian lighting up the whole earth with its mission must not be overlooked.
radiance, long suffered to go out in Schools were begun about eighty- darkness, has been rekindled by mis- seven years ago-in 1824. At first sionaries from America in the transla- the missionaries' wives taught a class tion of her own Scriptures into the of six Arab children. Soon after an spoken language of her present in- Arab teacher was found and the pupils habitants." grew fast in number; and in I827 the The Beirut press has not been idle six had multiplied to as many hun- in other directions; it has been a sort dreds, and there were thirteen schools of "tree of life whose leaves are for instead of one. The notable fact was the healing of tlle nations." Asaad that one hundred of these pupils were Shidiak's story of his conversion- girls,' womanhood in Syria was begin- the Syrian martyr – "Dairyman's ning to be upl£fted. At first only read- Daughter," "Alexander's Evidences of ing and writing were taught; there Christianity," and "Edwards' History was neither a call for higher education of Redemption" were among the nor competent teachers. These com- earliest issues of the Syrian press, and mon schools spread from Beirut to gave some forecast of the vast and other centers. They raised up readers varied issues of subsequent years. while the press was giving something Thus the American press at Beirut is worth reading. Pupils became con- doing work for sixty millions to whom verts and converts confessors; girls Arabic is a native tongue, and one grew to womanhood, married Chris- hundred and twenty millions more tf) tian men and founded Christian whom it is a sacred language. What homes. Protestantism began to ad-
HARRIS JESSUP AND THE SYRIAN PIONEERS
vance against Popery, and a new force Meanwhile, in other centers, educawas at work to counteract the faith of tional work had been going on-as at Islam and the inert and supine Sidon for girls, and Abeih for boys- Oriental sects that had a name to live where, in 1869, a theological seminary and were dead. began, with seven students.
As has been remarked, the great The project for a Syrian Protestant fact was woman's new era. Her de- college was sketched in 1861 which basement had been a logical result of was to be strictly evangelical, non-secthe low estimate in which she was held tarian, but thorough-not aiming to that made a daughter's birth an oc- denationalize Syrian students, but qualcasion of mourning, accounted woman ify them for every useful calling. Of as hopelessly inferior, and female edu- this college it has been comprehensivecation a risk to society. But mission- ly said that "missionary instruction aries took Syria's daughters into their created a demand for it; the plans and homes, and founded schools for them. prayers and labors of missionaries es- There was at first apathy, then an- tablished it; the friends of missions tipathy, but they worked on until, in endowed it; its aim, the enlightenment r866, a fine school building was and salvation of the Arabic-speaking erected at Beirut at a cost of $r J ,000. race." Thus woman's education was assured. The college was opened in that GEORGE E. POST SCIENCE HALL, SYRIAN PROTESTAN1' COt.LEGE
memorable year, 1866, with fourteen bers was formed in 1851, which instudents, and a medical department creased shortly to twenty-five. Native was soon added to the academic. churches likewise developed at Sidon, at Tripoli, at Hums, the early history In this first period of about fifty of all these being one of persecution, years (r8I8-1870) the preaching of more or less violent. The faith of the gospel was not forgotten. It has these converts was severely tested, but always been regarded in the Syrian they triumphed. mission as the chief factor in the spread of the kingdom of grace; and, Thus the first fifty years reveals rein fact, the translation and educational sults not to be despised in a great work was all tributary and prepara- Arabic Bible, itself an ample harvest tory. Moslems could not be reached for all this seed-sowing; the foundaby any oral proclamation of the gospel, tions of a Christian literature, Chrisand the nominal Christian sects in tian schools and a grand college, and Syria were often more intolerant than theological seminary; and native others. churches at Beirut, Tripoli, Abeih and Sidon; with many Protestant com- At first much contact was colloquial munities formed and mission stations and informal. Family worship was a multiplying. means of great influence, and a substitute for more formal preaching. By It is both instructive and amusing to 1827 a small company of twenty con- note the inevitable blunders of a novice verts gathered about the Lord's table in the use of a difficult foreign tongue -one of whom, Asaad Shidiak, is like the Arabic. By a mere misproknown as the Maronite martyr. nunciation a Greek bishop prayed the He was imprisoned and enchained in Lord to "create a clean dog in each of the Canobin convent, and after a few His people" (mistaking kelb for kolb). years of cruel persecution, he died- A missionary lady bade her servant, probably in 183G–but the time and "put more donkeys in the bread"; she method of his death are unknown. In meant leaven, but got hameer for 1848, the native Protestants of Beirut khameer. A missionary, calling on a asked for an organization of their local governor, intending to say, "I own, separate from the mission am obliged," said "I am erazy to your church, and the request was granted. excellency" (mejnoon for "mem- In 1849 this native church numbered noon"). Even Dr. Dennis, in a futwenty-seven, and embraced previous neral sermon, confused "trials" with members of five sects. Twenty years "roosters," to the mystification of the later a fine building was completed for mourners, who could not see why their use. their barn-yard fowls needed a minis- try of consolation. In 1844, at Hasbeiya, a considerable body of seceders from the' Greek In a subsequent issue we propose to Church declared themselves Prot- glance at the second period in the hisestants, and after some seven years of tory of Syrian missions-r871-19IO. persecution, a church of sixteen mem-
NATIONAL CONGRESS OF MISSIONS
ILL., MAY 3d-6th BY JOHN TIMOTHY STONE The gTeat Auditorium was filled with ideals of the poets and great men of over four thousand delegates from the Roman Empire were inspired. by every State in the Union (except Ne- Christianity. Dante is diviner than vada and Indian Territory), and from Vergil; St. Augustine penetrated Canada, Europe .and Asia. Back of deeper than Marcus Aurelius; St. the stage a huge curtain bore the Francis of Assisi may be favorably words: "Unto Him Shall the Gather- compared with Epictetus. Among our ing of the Nations Be." To the right, Anglo-Saxon r.aces all that we have "Christ's World Program"; "Ye Shall is due to Christ. What is civilization be My Witnesses, both in Jerusalem but the humanization of men? and Judea and Samaria, and Unto the Christ's principles are based lipan the Uttermost Parts of the Earth." To eternal love of the Eternal Father. the left, "Evangelization of the World He has been lifting men by the thouin this Generation"; "This is the Only sands. Obliterate Christianity from Generation We Can Reach"; "1806- the world and there is no archangel We Can Do It If We Will"; "1900- eloquent enough to depict the catas- We Can Do It and We WilL" trophe which might ensue. The will of Christ for the world can not be dis- The great congregation sang "Oh, cust without considering unity. Unity Zion, Haste," and, at the fourth verse, is not uniformity, but it is oneness in there seemed almost a stampede of the visible body of Christ that makes enthusiasm, men know and believe. The great triumphs of Christianity were achieved "Give of thy sons to bear the message when the Church was one. We are g·loriolls; wasting more money through over- lapping than would evangelize the Give of thy wealth to speed them whole nation in a generation. Is it on their way; wise? Is it Christian? I do not want to belong to a church of minimums, Pour out thy soul for them in prayer but there are some things which we victorious, may give up: pride, ecclesiastical con- ceit, jealousies, inherited prejudices, And all thou spendest Jesus will re- and perhaps we may give up even pay." some of our ignorance. Christlike Christians can not stay apart. All And then rang out the chorus: Christians can come and give their "Publish glad tidings." assent to this convention. There is ten times as much unity in the church Thirty-three denominations and as you dream of. Let us be prophets, communions were uniting as those priests and apostles of unity. May our thousands joined in praise and prayer. Lex Credendi always be our Lex Crandi." At the opening session, Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Alfred E. Marling, of Bishop Warren, of the Methodist New York City, the presiding officer, Episcopal Church, followed upon the first introduced Bishop Anderson, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Chicago. "The Will of Christ for the World" was his theme. "In Greece, Christianity preserved the continuity of the country. The enduring things in Greece were contributed by Christianity. In the Latin countries the
subject, "A World-wide Purpose in of the West. China is realizing that the Life of a Christian." "There are unless she adopts Western civilization two main questions in this world con- she will perish as a nation. After the quest: the kind of agencies e~ployed battle of Mukden, China decided to and the forces by which they are accept it. Second, the conquering backed. Christ Himself has not only power of Christianity : Western civililaid the plan of campaign, but He has zation preached not only by the press illustrated it in His own work. First, and by the cannon, but also by love. He came healing the sicknesses of the YVill you only send them commerce body. Te go forth to the conquest and guns, or the message of love and of the world by the same means. Sec- peace?" ond, we plan schools which shall teach the ideas we have received. And, Dr. J. A. McDonald, editor of the third, we offer to the new spirit realm the communion of God with the human Toronto Globe, followed, speaking soul. The agencies are the same upon "America's World Responsibilwhich have built and controlled the ity." "Responsibility for the world world of matter, mind and spiritual has organized this campaign. This life. So every man girds himself to congress proclaims a crisis in your task with a world-wide vision, as- history. Lowell wrote, 'Once to every sured of world-wide success." man and nation comes the moment to decide.' Then, slavery was the crucial Tuesday evening the tide reached problem. That crisis touched only even a higher level. The four thou- these States. To-day the horizon has sand delegates were registered and broadened, the vision has come of the present. Lord William Cecil, of Eng- unrequited millions of heathendom. land, presented "The Present World From this opportunity your nation Conditions and the Church's Oppor- turns away to its own national loss. tunity." "I shall go back and tell my This republic and the Dominion of own countrymen," he said, "of the Canada share this responsibility. zeal of Americans for my Lord and When they stand facing it they are Savior. The world is becoming a very one; one in their world fears, and one small place. We measure distance by in their world's work. It is true of time. Only a few years ago it took the nation, as of the man, that 'to months to reach China; now in Lon- whom much is given, of them much don you may see signs in the railroad shall be required.' What unique thing stations, 'Fourteen days to China and can America do for the world? Some- Japan.' In the war between Japan and thing more than the exploiting of for- China, some of the Chinese knew eign lands for American commerce. nothing of the fact that war was going The increase of your exports is not the on. There was a report among them measure of your success in foreign that some barbarians were annoying work. Neither can political instituthe Emperor. With this shrinkage of tions be imposed from without or you the world we are coming nearer to a will have David in the mail of Goliath. common civilization. This movement Out of the life of the Orient there may toward the Western civilization has yet arise a civilization that will more two causes: First, the growing power surely procure life, liberty and the pur- suit of happiness to the governed. The
19IO] THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF MISSIONS
responsibility of America to the world this representative national congress. will not be met I)V the reproduction of "No man sees truth wholly unless our social modes in the East. We can not teach the Japanese the love of he sees it whole. The world field is beauty. Again, our systems of theol- God's plan. The only permanent ogy may not be the full expression of forces and values in this world are Christianity. Our ritual and modes spiritual values. The supreme opporof worship may be the best for us, but tunity can not be local, it must be a 011t of the dreamy East may arise a world opportunity. On the Kongo· a greater conception of the Christian man is valued for what he can carry, faith, nearer to the mind of the Naza- but on the River of Life a man is rene than our philosophical beliefs. I valued for what he does. Joseph Cook learned thoroughly the Shorter Cate- well said, 'The nineteenth century has chism when I was a boy, yet I see that made the world a neighborhood, the there may arise a clearer conception of twentieth century will make it a Christianity than even Scotland has brotherhood.' During the recent produced. Next, it is not our respon- famine in India, twenty-four hours sibility to raise new moral standards after a large gift was given in Chifor the East; they need more than a cago, the bread bought by that money knowledge of right and wrong; they was being put into the mouths of need the energizing power of a new starving men in India. All the great dynamic. What is it? The gospel of problems of the world are missionary God's infinite love, the message of problems: the educational, the medical, Christ's eternal salvation, the glad and the spiritual. To-day half the tidings of man's redemption from sin, world does not know Christ. But the glorious hope of life immortal. To great strides are being made. In America has been given this message Korea twenty years ago there were no of divine love, and it is America's Christian converts; now Korea is on world responsibility to send it forth. its knees asking God for a million Why should not America give to the converts this year. This Laymen's nations a new national ideal? If any Missionary Movement is bringing nation would be great among the na- Christians to a greater unity. Well tions of the world, let that nation did Dean Bosworth say that what serve. Men of this republic, will you brings men together is, first, a comdo it? Will you inscribe on the Stars mon hope; second, a common work; and Stripes 'For God and the third, a common deliverance from a World?' " common peril; fourth, loyalty to a common friend. My faith has been Secretary J. Campbell White fol- greatly increased in these last days lowed upon the subject, "The Supreme that the world will be evangelized in Opportunity of Our Generation." No this generation. We can do it, on the man could present such a subject more human side, and God will do His part. forcibly than he, who caught the From Canada we received the slogan: vision from afar, and whose faith and 'This is the only generation we can ability have organize,l 2.nd perfected reach!' I would add, 'Weare the only this great campaign through seventy- ones who can reach this generation!' five American cities, culminating in No man can afford to wait until some
future generation to become acquaint- smoking, champagne-drinking Chrised with his Savior." tian; now I have been out six nights speaking for missions.' Churches have Wednesday morning the great been paying off debts in the atmos- Auditorium was filled as President phere of this movement. A new spirit Gandier, of Knox College, Toronto, of prayer has been developed. Colonel rose to conduct the devotional exer- Halford well said, 'This is not a camcises. Mr. Mornay Williams, prom- paign of r.ations and orations and inent as a member of the bar, as well evaporations; but this great work is a as a philanthropic leader in New York man's job, and can't be done unless we City, was the first speaker, upon the as business men look at it from a busibroad subject, "The Power of the ness standpoint.' This movement is Whole Appeal to the Whole Church." bringing the North and South to- "One is staggered by the topic, 'The gether as nothing has ever done. In Whole Appeal' is Jesus Christ. He is Alabama one of the speakers said, the spoken thought of God. He is the 'Tell Massachusetts that Alabama will ideal of humanity as God sees it. Un- line up with her in this great fight to til the world has learned the love for conquer the world.' The war is not the world she has not learned the love over, 'we have just begun to fight.' " of Christ. It is enough for us to know where there is suffering. Then there D. Clay Lilly, of Richmond, spoke is the power of Christ to hea1." as to what laymen can do for missions. He emphasized the need of educational Dr. Samuel B. Capen, of the Amer- work in the church and Sunday-school. ican Board, followed upon "The Na- "The appeal of facts is the appeal for tion's Response to the National Cam- to-day. People need to learn what is paign." "Not since the Civil War has really being done. The missionary there been such a passion for personal libraries and books of especial interest service as within the past few years. should be distributed with the personal Six million five hundred thousand touch, which will mean their reading." men have actually paid admission fees He concluded by saying, "Nourish to come to missionary meetings. In your life spiritually by your commun- Boise City, Idaho, there were present ion with Him, receive some great comover twenty per cent in addition to the mission from Him. You can do nothmembership of the church. In Charles- ing better than to pray, and pray on ton, for the first time in its history, an imperial plane. With Lord Salisall denominations came together. In bury, study larger maps and let us be New Orleans the largest meeting was satisfied with nothing less than with held in a hall owned by a Hebrew a world-wide enlistment." club. Christian men have received a new spiritual life; they have seen the "Business Methods in Missionary world in the large. This movement Finance" was discust by John R. Pephas also led many a man to a personal per, of Memphis, Tenn. He merely coniessioij. of Jesus Christ. Indiffer- referred to the need of it. He sugence is the great sin of to-day; men gested that "the old call about more indo not love Him; they do not hate formation should now be changed to Him. One New York millionaire said more 'inflammation.' Every method to me, 'Six weeks ago I was a cigaret- must have a goal fixt. System adds
NATIONAL CONGRESS OF MISSIONS
dignity and dollars. The weekly- tion and advertisement, properly plaoffering system has proved itself cing in the hands of newspaper men worthy. We would not be satisfied stories of definite and vital interest. with a prayer-meeting once a year or "Dr. Grenfell's story will interest far once a month; why with a missionary more if printed in a newspaper than collection? Any system that will in a tract." He called attention to the bring success is the system to use, but eagerness with which the papers seek the King's business requires haste and news, especially when related to local system." churches and local communities. He suggested lay helpers in this very line President E. Y. Mullins, of the Bap- in each local church. tist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., spoke upon "The Spiritual Sig- Mr. Louis H. Severance followed nificance of the National Missionary with "The Opportunities for the Busi- Movement." "It has gript Louisville ness Man." "In Rangoon there are spiritually more than any other con- many oil-wells, but the oil is not good vention ever held there. It actually enough. Men in the immediate vicinresulted in a six weeks' campaign of ity of the wells burn Standard oil church-going. It means the spiritual brought from America. People want opportunity recognized and embraced; the best article the market affords. the true meaning of the Biblical teach- Hence we must put out our best Chrising of love to one's neighbor. My tian article." neighbor is the man whom I can help and who needs me, whether he is in Mr. W. J. Schieffelin referred to the China or around the corner. It means five points of an ideal missionary the spiritual vision coupled with the church-prayer, study, method, givtask. A man with a vision only is ing, serving. These must be applied visionary; a man with a task only is a to the business end of missions. drudge. Couple the vision and the task and you have the Laymen's Mis- Mr. E. A. Marling referred to the sionary Movement. The preacher need of an added financial basis beneeds cooperation in preaching the cause of the utter inadequacy of presgospel of stewardship. The gospel ent copditions. "Because of the size must include the carnal side of money. of the problem, its complexity, and its After Jacob's vision he promised God extreme urgency, men must not only a tenth. Lastly it means the coming be sent, but equipped; must become of power." acclimated; must translate the Scrip- tures; must preach the full gospel, ex- W ednesday afternoon eight sec- ercising Christ's function not only of tional conferences were held in various teaching, but healing, and this must parts of the city among the men of be done where there is the greatest different professions and church activ- need. As Dr. Maltbie Babcock said, ities. Over two hundred business men 'My nearest neighbor is my neediest were addrest by five speakers. Mr. P. neighbor.' " Clement Chase, of Omaha, in speaking on "Some Principle of Business to The ministerial conference held in Apply to the Missionary Enterprise," Orchestra Hall was attended by over called attention to the need of promo- a thousand ministers, not only dele- gates, but men from the city and vicin- ity. It was addrest by President
Davis, of the Chicago Theological methods and opportunities at the con- Seminary; Dr. Raymond, of Buffalo; ference held at the First Methodist Rev. Mr. Sherman, a Protestant Epis- Church, Mr. Harry Wade Hicks, of copal miSSIOnary, from Hankow, New Yark, Bishop Bell, of Los China. Bishop Quayle appealed for Angeles, and Judge Cleland, of Chi- the "Church Force in the World cago, taking part.
Field." Dr. Hazzard, of Boston, .and Judge Spencer, of St. Louis; Wil- Dr. Vance, of Newark, followed. Each liam D. Murray, of New York, and T.
speaker brought a clear, strong mes- G. D. Bradley, of Chicago, spoke at sage, which paralleled obligation with the lawyers' conference.
opportunity, and gave very clear evi- The Brotherhood conference was dence that the pastors of the entire add rest by Charles S. Holt, of Chi- Chnrch are appreciative and deeply cago, who said that the great Brother- sympathetic with this great world hood Movement was especially mas- movement of the laymen. culine, and rested on man's responsi- The physicians and surgeons were bility to Christ and the Church. It addrest by physicians of world-wide is not sociological, ethical or doctrinal, repute and the following subjects con- but religious, personal, Christian.
sidered: "The Unnecessary Burden There can be no real brotherhood of Suffering in the Non-Christian which does not reach out. It must be lVorld," "How Non-Christian Ideas a force, active, spontaneous, contin- and Practises Affect Physical Life and uons, flexible and loyal. The Brother- Health," "Tile Debt of Medical hood operates in the Church, not apart Science to Missions," "The Peculiar from it.
Opportunity of Medical Missions," Hon. r. W. Parker, of Chicago, said "The Place of Medical Education in in part: "Away with the suspicion Mission Fields," and "Special Oppor- that the brotherhoods are not inter- tunities of Physicians at Home to Help ested in missions. Give the men of Missions." our Brotherhood a job big enough.
Mr. S. Earl Taylor led in the dis- Big men need something to do in the cl1ssion at the Church Officers' con- Church, or they will be busy in work ference on "Features of a Standard outside of the Church. They need the Missionary Church." Mr. Charles A. inspiration of a wide vision."
Roland, of Georgia, followed on "The Dr. Ira Landrith emphasized that Responsibility of Chnrch Officers in the Brotherhood of America must de- Setting the Missionary Standards for velop along all lines if their task is the Church." to be met. He laid stress on Bible The matter of policies, financial study, personally leading of men to methods and efficient systems were Christ, reviving the family altar, and discl1st. influencing men within the home.
Mr. Lilly, of Richmond, closed with At the Editors' conference, Dr. Her- a testimony as to the effect of an ag- ring, of New York, discust the de- gressive and adequate missionary nominational missionary periodical as policy on the spiritual and financial life the best method of disseminating mis- of the Church itself. sionary news, and Dr. McDonald, of Able leaders discust Sunday-school Toronto, the growing demand for and
19IO] THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF MISSIONS
use of missionary news by the secular unrest of India is most encouraging; press. Dr. C. ]. Musset and Nolan R. the leaven of Christian principles is Best, editor of The Interior, foIIowed. the chief cause; they are awakened in Stephen]. Corey, secretary of the politics, domestic and religious life as Foreign Board of the Disciples of they come to a greater self-realization.
Christ, opened the session Wednesday To-night one-half the world is with- evening with "The Church's Need of out Christ. It is not by chance that a World-wide Field." "The Church that half is poor and sick. We are that does not believe in foreign mis- sending one missionary to them to 699 sions hangs out its shingle as having a we keep at home."
local deity as its God. The Church Thursday morning we surveyed the needs the challenge of a world field world field. Dr. N. W. Rowell, of if it is to reach high endeavor. Let us Kings College, Toronto, chairman of stop teasing boys to go into the minis- the Canadian branch of the Laymen's try and give them the challenge of a Movement, spoke on "A Nation's great mission. Appeal to the heroism Power for Missions." "Throughout in a boy's life. In the satisfying of their churches the deaf were hearing, the world's needs we will save our- the lame walking, and in some selves." churches even the dead were raised The subject of Judge Spencer, of to life. The missionary power does St. Louis, was "Laymen and World not depend upon the number of the Evangelism." ""VVhen I was in col- church-members, but the loyalty of lege the prayer for foreign missions the members to the great mission of used to be, 'Oh, God, open the doors Jesus Christ. We agree in' all the of the non-Christian lands to the gos- deeper things of life. We sing with peL' Twelve years ago, when Mott you the same tune to our national went to China, the Chinese student- anthem. This Laymen's Missionary wall was closed to Christian students. Movement is the great national conser- If there is a young man in this au- vation force in moral resources.
dience hesitating as to the choice of Throughout our country it has ar- his life work, why may he not be- rested attention and changed the at- come God's instrument in the con- titude of thousands of men toward verting of a nation to Christ." missions. It has stimulated the prayer ~ev. George Sherwood Eddy, of services. It has increased the mis- the American Board, spoke on work sionary income. In 1907 we gave in southern Asia. "I sail for India $200,000 to home and foreign mis- next week, and my heart leaps at the SiOllS. Under its stimulus, in 1908 we thought. It was my privilege to be gave $363,000, and this year we are in Japan in the recent evangelistic pledged to more than $4°0,000. The campaign, also in China and Korea. bogie that if one gives more to for- In China I spoke to an audience of eign missions, home missions will be one thousand young men, after which depleted, has vanished. We are all twenty-five rose and confest Christ. with one accord and in one place, If I were choosing a place to put my Anglicans, Methodists and Presby- life I would choose China as the place terians speaking in our own tongue, of largest opportunity. The present 'the Spirit giving us utterance.'''
Latin America was presented by Christ were willing to pour forth its Doctor Homer C. Stuntz, of the life of men and women, to give more Methodist Board. "There are eighty than the crumbs that fall from its millions of people in Latin America table, it would be possible to make speaking many languages other than China one of the greatest Christian na- Spanish. The Mexicans, like the tions of the earth."
Koreans, are praying for one million Former Vice-Minister of Public converts this year. The size of South Affairs Han. T. H. Yun, of Korea, America is unthinkable. There is who has recently accepted the presi- more habitable and tillable land there dency of a Methodist college, read a than in North America, for they have paper upon his own country, marked less frozen lands. There are only for clear thought, pure English and seventeen miltions of people in Brazil, keen humor.
which can carry a hundred and fifty The morning session closed with an millions. Argentine has seven mil- address by Dr. Zwemer, of Arabia, on lions, and can support a hundred mil- "Africa and the Near East." "Asia lions. The old church life there is in- and Africa are linked together by adequate to lead the people out into God's revelation; Moses was born in the new national life. From fifty-five Egypt, Christ fled to Egypt, but Islam to seventy-five per cent of the popu- is now the link which binds the East lation are illiterate. One copper com- and the West. That is the only re- pany of the United States invested ligion which claims to supersede more in one mine before getting a Christianity, which contests with cent O{lt of it than united Christians Christianity the Holy Land, which have ever invested in the redemption combats Christianity and the truths of of the South American continent. As Christianity. It is the greatest defiant to the Philippines, twelve years ago faith. In Africa the great missionary last Sunday, George Dewey sailed into problem is not crumbling paganism; Manila Harbor. We have done more it is Islam. Bishop Anderson said that in nine years to further civilization Jesus Christ has no riv.al. This may there than Spain did in 345 years. be so in our lives, but it is not so in More than three millions have broken Africa in the lives of the Africans.
away from the twelve millions in Islam is advancing over all Africa. It Romanism. I saw 365 converted in is true that it is lifting them out of one servIce. The Presbyterians have their paganism, but no Mohammedan gotten more converts there than In can ever lift the African higher than Siam and Laos in all the history of the source from which he sprang; i.e., those missions." Mohammed and the Koran. Islam is Dr. F. L. H. Pott, of Shanghai, a political religion, and is putting spoke upon "The Far East." "The forth its sway over the whole of the situation is a crisis and an opportu- Orient. The Gordon Memorial Col- nity. The old Poly-demonism and lege, founded by Christian money, Confucianism are being broken down. supposedly with Christian ends in What will take their place? We must view, has been appropriated by Mo- create ideas of sin, God and salvation hammedanism and is now a center of through Christ. If the Church of Mohammedanism in Africa. Its study
NATIONAL CONGRESS OF MISSIONS
haJIs are open on Sunday and closed "Conservation by supervision is our on Friday, and the Koran is taught. slogan"; "Prove your enthusiasm by your statistics"; "Every man is re- "It is true that Islam is raising the sponsible to follow this work up." The moral standard, but it is not very diffi- meeting developed into a long prayer cult to raise the African to the fulness service. of the stature of Mohammed. Some statisticians say that one-third of the The following resolutions were population of Africa are Mohamme- adopted as the national missionary dans, others say one-half. It is diffi- policy (see back of frontispiece). cult to draw the line as to where Mo- hammedanism begins and paganism Bishop Charles E. Woodcock, of ends, so slight is the difference be- Louisville, Ky., opened the evening tween the pagan converted to Mo- session upon "Prayer ap.d the Kinghammed and the fetish-worshiping dom." "Prayer is as necessary as God pagan. The Moslem world is writing IS. Prayer is not easy. Things easy over Africa, 'The Moslemization of are never great. The trouble is, as Africa in this Generation.' We must Christian men, we try to live down to meet this challenge, n()t by resolutions, the plane of the men around us when but by real sacrifice. The best en- we should live up to the plane of God. couragement is in the fact that we can This congress is not only an inspiraappeal to men because of the moral tion, it is a consecration. It will do issues involved. We point to Mo- more for America than for Africa. rocco, morally the darkest spot on Let us pray and work." earth. We need not to believe in the , Chairman Marling repeated his mes- Nicene creed or in the shorter cate- sage on "Money and the Kingdom." chism, but in the depths of the person- "Money is power, but if I put a ality of Christ. We can not win this twenty-dollar gold piece on the table battle except as it has been done. and it is left here it is worthless-it Raymond Lull died for Africa; at is dead metal. But if I take it and go Adana Christians died for Him only a out I could spend it at its full value. year ago. We can not accomplish When linked with my personality it Christ's task without learning some- becomes powerful. When 1 die shall thing of His sacrifice." it be said: 'He was born a man but died a merchant?' God forbid. I Thursday afternoon a meeting was want to translate my physical manheld in the Auditorium for students, hood and my money-making ability over which ex-Vice- President C. W. into the Kingdom of God. The esti- Fairbanks presided. It was addrest mated banking power of the United by Mr. Eddy, Dr. Zwemer and Mr. States is thirty-eight per cent of all Speer. Thousands of students at- the world. There is no scheme that tended. A conference of the congress we could not advance if we are dedelegates was held at the same hour in voted enough. We have the money to Orchestra Hall, considering "How to do anything we want to do. It is a Conserve and Extend the Influence of conservative estimate that twenty-five the National Missionary Campaign." billions of dollars are in the hands of The whole conference was practical. Christian men of the United States. Such sentences as these were heard, If Jesus Christ is worth anything in
acceptance, is He not worth some- evangelized by education; again, that thing for transmission? I don't want six hundred millions are ignorant and to give up my business, I want to con- without Christ. Of these, five hundred tinue in it for my Master." and forty millions belong to the Robert E. Speer followed on "For- United States. I. A modern educa- eign Missions and Christian Unity." tional system for the non-Christian "There is necessity for such unity, if world is inevitable. The East has we are to fulfil the task assumed. It awakened and will be educated, is too big for anyone body of Chris- 1ibether we wish or no. 2. Tbe ex- tians alone. The great evils of the tent of the Christian education in the world call for unity. The character of East. One million two hundred thou- God demands it. Christianity must be sand children are studying in mission naturalized in our country. It is more schools. These students will fill 201 important to have a national Indian Cbicago universities, and many of church than to transplant Presby- them are supported by native money.
terianism and Methodism there. The There is hardly one but is turning Occidental character of our differ- away students every year. Is t,here a ences makes it unnecessary to transmit college here in this country that would them across the seas. First, we preach turn away a youthful student who as Armenians, while we pray as Cal- could pay his way and has mental vmlsts. Second, what should be the ability and character sufficient to gain kind and degree of unity, to avoid all him entrance? But in China a boy friction and waste? All friction is dis- who wants a modern education has loyalty to Christ, all waste treason to only one chance out of two hundred of the world. The call is for spiritual, getting in a Christian school. In the corporate unity. Third, to what ex- whole world a man has but one chance tent have we succeeded in attaining out of one hundred and sixty-six of this unity? In Korea, in the Philip- securing a Christian education.
pines, there is one Christian Church. Dr. M. D. Eub~k, a medical mis- We have agreed not to overlap. We sionary in China, spoke upon "The are engaged in a great warfare and Development of the Medical Profes- there is no time for guerrilla warfare sion in the f'ar East." "I have never among ourselves. Fourth, the lessons seen a native doctor in China who and the appeal to us at home. If the knew anything about anatomy, Northern and Southern Presbyterian physiology ·or bacteriology; or about churcbes are one in Korea, wby, in cleanliness and sanitation, without God's name, is it impossible here in which tbere can be no medical science.
America? The way to adjust our- There are no laws in China for quar- selves to unity is not to scrutinize our antine; lepers go about freely; no own differences, but to look away from sewage system in any city. The con- them to Christ." ditions everywhere are dampness, Friday morning Secretary James L. darkness, dirt and devil-worship. The Barton, of the American Board, spoke whole of China is coming to where upon "An Adequate System of Chris- they want American medicine."
tian Education in Non-Christian Mr. Speer, in closing the morning Lands." "First, the world can not be session, spoke upon the subject, "The
I91O] THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF
Impact of the West Upon the East the foreign nations. We have the Must be Christianized." authority of the late Justice Brewer "I. We imply that this impact has for the statement that this nation is a not been Christianized in the past. Christian nation. Therefore, we must Some of us will not admit this. God deport ourselves as such. By Chris- has been leading on His world. We tianizing onr trade we may Christian- can see all over the heathen world the ize this impact. It is only by this im- ideas which have been placed there by pact that we all, Anglo-Saxon, Japa- God through His missionaries. We nE'SE', Hindus and Africans, may be can sec the slow fashioning of the one, worshiping one God in one world to the ideals of Christ. But in hrotherhood."
our political impact many non-Chris- At the end of the morning session, tian ideas have been imparted. China information was brought that King has failed to see in European nations Edward VII of England was lying at the proper Christian attitude. Our the point of death. The entire trade impact has not been Christian- audience was asked to rise while ized. One needs only to recall the prayer was offered for his restora- slave-trade, which, thank God, is a tion.
thing of the past. Friday afternoon denominational "2. Why must this impact be Chris- conferences were held and church tianized? There are no different policies adopted.
moral standards between nations than Friday evening the congress closed between persons. The Christian na- with an address by Bishop McDowell, tions are coming into contact in many of Chicago, upon "Spiritual Equip- ways with the non-Christian.• All the ment for the World Task." "Other political interests of the world are forces are uniting and organizing; it being closely intertwined. All impact remains for the Kingdom of Christ to which is non-Christian is positively bring a Christless world into contact harmful. For proof we need only to with the gospel. I would not go cite Constantinople. Inevitably that across the street to give India a impact must be religious. The idea theology; she has now more theology of a religious neutrality is chimerical. than she can understand; but I would We are bound to Christianize this im- go around the world to proclaim that- pact because Christianity is the only uniting racial bond. 'The only way in "There is a fountain filled with blood."
which India can be unified,' says Pro- "Christ came first to save men. He fessor Seeley, 'is by the bond of a com- wcpt over the city, but He drew men mon faith and a common hope. That to Himself. The salvation of China is must be Christianity.' of infinite importance to Christ."
"3. How can it be Christianized? The bishop offered an intercessory By our practising it as a nation as we prayer; the Apollo Musical Club, of sho111d practise it as individuals. We Chicago, sang the "Hallelujah must make sure that the men who go out to represent this country in com- Chorus," and Bishop Thoburn, fifty mercial and diplomatic circles should years a missionary in India, pro- go with the Christian attitude toward nounced the benediction,
MISSION WORK IN
BY REV. E. W. THWING, HONOLULU For many years the Hawaiian branch mission Sunday-schools held in Board has carried on mission work connection with this central church. among the Chinese of these islands. They raise considerable money to- It is really foreign mission work be- ward paying for their own expenses cause carried on among people from and also giving to the Christian mis- China, and yet now can be called sion work. During the past year, behome missionary work because among sides paying over $200 for current the people of part of our own great expenses, contributing $100 to the country. Hawaiian Board, $12 to the American Board, $25 to the American Mis- Many of the Chinese of these islands sionary Society, they also contributed are American citizens, and they are largely to Chinese benevolent societies a credit to this citizenship which they in their own country, and also aided so highly prize. The bright intelli- the sick and poor of their own church. gent manhood and womanhood found The Chinese Sunday-school support among the Chinese is largely due to their own native missionary in China. the splendid work of the Hawaiian Quite a number of the members of this Board in evangelical and educational church are developing their Christian effort to bring a Christian education character by active mission work in to these people. other Sundc!J-»chools, in the jail serv- ices, or at well-attended street meet- The chief center of the work is at Lngs. Honolulu, a city of perhaps 44,000 population. Here is found, perhaps, The Chinese city missionary work the largest and best organized church of Honolulu conducts night schools, outside of China. In this church there schools for teaching the Chinese is a membership of about 160 adults language from Christian books, clay and more than 200 children. A Sun- schools for both boys and girls, sewing day-school is conducted with a mem- classes, work among the women, arid bership from 200 to 250 Chinese helps much with the kindergarten children. The church services are work among the children. It is an carried on in the Chinese language, interesting sight to see the little while the Sunday-school is conducted Chinese street clddrcn, who come largely iIi English, 1110st of the children mostly from the non-Christian homes, having received a good English educa- gather in the little mission schools, amI tion in the public schools. Rev. enjoy so heartily the Christian songs Edward W. Thwing is the present and Bible catechisms. pastor of the church, and Mr. Ho Kwai Tak is his native assistant. It Evangelistic Work would be a revelation to many of our American Christians if they could The Chinese work of the Board, as visit the Sunday-school and church well as the rest of the work, gives services held here. There is au" active large emphasis to large evangelistic Young People's Society of Christian effort. The reason of the Board's Endeavor, a Chinese Y. M. C. A., and being is because of tht,: great cornmand to "Go into all the world and ing camps meet together and hear the preach the gospel." There are, at missionary speak, first in one language present, twenty-one different workers and then the other. Oftentimes, too, connected with the Chinese work in the Koreans join in, and altho an adthe islands. There are six organized dress can not be made in Korean, yet churches, and some eleven other sometimes, through the help of some chapels, or mission stations, at each Korean man, who speaks Japanese, a one of these points. The effort is to message is given to them also. It is scatter the true light of the Jesus the aim to promote brotherly feelings Gospel, as the Chinese call it. among these various nationalities, and it is a joy to see the Chinese and Besides the preaching and church Japanese Christians meeting together services held at the different mission in true brotherly love at a common stations, the superintendent of the communion table. Time will not perwork makes frequent trips and aims mit, in this brief survey, to speak in to visit the plantation camps. Here detail of the work carried on at many services are held among the laborers, points in these islands, but those in who gather after the field work is America can feel assured that the over and seem to enjoy a good gospel Hawaiian Board is doing its best to meeting. As the superintendent speaks make Hawaii a strong outpost for both Chinese and Japanese, interesting Christian America. union services are often held, and the Chinese and Japanese from adjoin- THE CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN HO:NOLULU, HAWAll
Educational Work education under most favorable con- ditions. For many years, Christian education has been a strong part of the work Result. of the Work for the Chinese in Hawaii. Mills Institute has done much to make pos- And what has this Chinese work sible the bright Christian young man- really accomplished? No visitor can hood that one often meets here. It is remain in Honolulu for twenty-four a great joy to know that this school hours without noticing some of the for Chinese young men will soon have bright young Chinese who are a credit its new and larger building in connec- to our Island development. These tion with the Mid-Pacific Institute. Chinese came from southern China, This splendid work is a fitting tribute from the same localities, and from the to the noble effort of Mr. Frank W. same farming classes that the Chinese Damon, who has worked for so many in California came from . And yet years with tireless energy to help the every visitor will say that the Hawaiyoung Chinese of Hawaii. He is ian Chinese are different. And why now most active in making possible are they different? It is because they the realization of his hopes for this have been treated kindly, not as aliens, larger educational institution for the but as friends. The native Hawaiians Chinese of these islands. In fact, have always thought well of the many of the young men from China Chinese. They have been welcomed may, in time, find Hawaii to be the in our schools, and have had a part best place to get a modern and liberal in the government, and the Hawaiian Board, with its Chinese churches that A CHINESE CHRISTIAN FAMILY IN HAWAIl
NATIVE HELPERS IN CHINA 50
have been established for between will pay large dividends. Already, we twenty and thirty years, have done a hear from those who have gone to great deal in bringing about these China from Honolulu, and some are happy results. Many of the Chinese taking leading positions, and are maof Hawaii form a most excellent proof king their influence felt for good. that Christian missions do pay. Hawaii is a rich treasure that has been given to be a part of our American The opportunity to-day for con- Commonwealth. Let us in a broad and tinued and valued efforts is still great, willing spirit permit the Chinese to and perhaps greater than ever before: enter freely into the Christian privi- Hawaii is the meeting-place between leges which we all enjoy. We want the East and the West, and the influ- the prayers, the sympathy, and the coence of the islands wilI be felt more operation of all our American friends and more in the present awakening in making this Chinese mission work of the great empire of China. AlI the of the Hawaiian Board stronger and money and the effort that Christian more far-reaching. To use a Bible America puts into the Christianizing phrase, let us "possess Ol1r possessions." and edl1cating of Hawaii's Chinese THE NEED FOR TRAINED NATIVE HELPERS IN CHINA BY JOHN A. ANDERSON, M.D., TAICHOW, CHINA Missionary of the China Inland Mission The importance of the wide use of stones from the quarry of unregen- native helpers in foreign mission work erated humanity. The pastor and is generally recognized, but there are teacher are like stone-masons and many problems which are still un- builders, preparing the stones, and solved. building them into the Church-the Who should provide the funds for Temple of God on earth. The pastor the support of native preachers? completes what the evangelist begins.
Ought they to be supported entirely They are all Christian ministers; yet by funds contributed by the native their work is quite distinct. The evan- churches? Some mIssIons have gelist's field of work is the uncon- adopted a definite policy with this end verted world. The pastor's field of in view. Foreign financial support work is the Christian community. So may be continued in certain cases to also the support of the evangelist and old evangelists, but no new ones are pastor must differ as much as their taken. They are expected to receive fields of work. The New Testament their support from the native churches. indicates that a pastor should receive When the glorified Christ as head "wages" from those to whom he com- of His Church ascended to heaven He municates spiritual things. The Chi- gave evangelists, pastors, and teach- nese pastor, therefore, should be sup- ers. Our Chinese helpers may be di- ported by his flock. This, owing to vided into these three classes, each the nature of things, is impossible for merging into the other, yet each dis- the e'tangelist. The apostolic custom tinct from the other. The evangelist of "taking nothing from the Gen- is like a quarryman hewing living tiles" is opposed to his taking support
from heathen among whom he minis- cases the poorer churches have the ters; that is to say, he must take privilege of giving the men and the nothing from the heathen as a reward richer churches the privilege of giving for preaching the Gospel. For any the money to support them-a divine other kind of honest labor, mental or arrangement by which all become physical, he is certainly free to take helpers together in the great work of "wages," when this is necessary for carrying the Gospel to all mankind. his self-support, as did the Apostle Paul make use of tent-making. There In face of the unprecedented openis at present a great opportunity for ings for the preaching of the Gospel, Christian Chinese who know English who will say that these well-known to teach in the government schools laws along which God is working and colleges in the interior, and to use should be ignored; and that no foreign their spare time in preaching the Gos- l1loney should be used to support the pel. In this and other ways self-sup- native Chinese evangelists? Moreporting workers exercise a great in- over, it is not through the foreign fluence, reaching the literati, and the missionary but through the natives leading men of the towns where they themselves that the great mass of our live. Chinese Christians have been con- verted, proving the well-known axiom If necessary, however, the Chinese that "China must be converted by the evangelist should be supported by for- Chinese." eign money. If an objection is raised -if it be said that the native church The native evangelist knows his should support the native preachers people's feelings and customs and lanwhom it sends forth; as well might it guage better than the foreign missionbe said that foreigners should now ary can ever hope to know them. His leave China and allow a quarter of a support costs less than one-sixth that million of Christian Chinese to evan- of a foreign missionary. He is fitted gelize the rest of China. The native to do the very work for which the church gives men and money for evan- missionary societies exist. He is gelistic work (it might give more) ; Christ's gift to us for the evangelizabut its resources are inadequate to the tion of this land. A policy that reneeds of the field. But the Master's fuses to give him foreign support is command still stands for the whole surely a mistake of the greatest mag- Church: "Preach the Gospel to every nitude. creature." Why should we import the racial spirit into the work of God in The Work of the Evangelist China by refusing to support the Chinese evangelist with foreign money? Here, at the beginning of the Such a rule would not be tolerated for twentieth century, China has a thoua moment in the home lands of Europe sand counties, with walled towns, and and America; where in many instances millions of villages and hamlets awaitmissionaries sent forth by poorer ing the coming of the evangel. Up churches receive their financial sup- till the Boxer trouble most of those port from churches enjoying a larger counties were closed to us. The prayshare of this world's goods. In such ers of the Church for the opening of China have been ascending to God for a hundred years. Three genera- tions of missionaries longed and la-
I9IO] TRAINED NATIVE HELPERS IN
bored, wept and prayed for it; but it ready to enter? Do we understand required the terrible Boxer crisis, with the times? its agony and blood and soul travail, to unify the whole Church, in all the Every missionary community in world, in one great earnest cry for an China has a place in the fight, and the open China. The daily prayer-meet- strength of all will depend upon the ing in Shanghai for six months of preparedness of each. Let us trust I900 was an index of this world-wide in God and go forward, for now is the appeal to God, as it was also an ex- great day of opportunity. pression of the soul tra~ail of the missionary community sheltered there. Native Helpers-Their Traininl( Those were dark days; but with eyes turned to God we waited; and God The importance of this part of Our answered the prayers of His people. subject can scarcely be overestimated. With a swiftness and a completeness Yet the lukewarmness that exists that seem almost miraculous, China toward it in certain missionary circles was thrown open. is alarming. For example; A mis- sionary whose heart was burdened What the Church for one hundred with the weight of the question, arose years has been waiting for God in our at an informal missionary conference day has accomplished. We no longer and urged the importance of the subpray as before for the opening of ject, and asked for more time to be China. Our prayer is turned to praise. given to consider it. His request was China is opened, and awake. The in order and could easily have been greatest opportunity of the ages is granted, but, strange to say, he upon us-a quarter of the world's was promptly stopt, and his request population open to be evangelized. ignored. One mission has in one Are we ready for it? Every mission- province some 5,000 church-members ary body in China should have a band and 50 missionaries, but no trainingof native Chinese evangelists, trained school for native helpers. The misand ready to carry the Gospel, in the sionaries met in conference ten years power of the Holy Spirit, to the thou- ago and asked that one of their numsand counties still without a mission- ber be set apart to open such a school. ary; and a few selected foreign mis- The request was not granted, and it is sionaries to lead them. impossible to tabulate the loss the work has sustained in consequence. 'vVe have gone to the home churches, About the same time elaborate prepaand told them how God has opened the rations were made for the evangelizalong-closed doors; and have asked if tion of an inland province. Failure they were prepared to give the men resulted because there were no trained and the money. In the present case we native helpers available to accompany turn to our own missions and our mis- the foreign missionaries who volunsion committees, and in doing so we teered for the work. In various parts turn to those who know the dark pall of China there have been great inthat hung over mission work here in gatherings of converts, extending over I900, and who have seen how God so months, and in at least one case gradwondrously threw the closed doors ually gaining in force and extent for wide open. Fathers, brethren, are we a number of years, until thousands
have turned from idols to serve the daily in the school of Tyrannus, and true God; but as if smitten with palsy he doubtless selected from among the and with blindness, the mission opened disciples men likely to be teachers and no school to train the necessary na- preachers and gave them special in- tive helpers. There are whole prov- struction. When saying farewell to inces in China without the semblance the local leaders of that church, he of a Bible training-school for native mentions having taught them night helpers; and where the work is con- and day for three years. If we would sequently carried on at a maximum of in the apostolic way commit our con- cost with a minimum of efficiency. verts to God, and to the word of His There are men in the native minis- grace, we must first give them a na- try doing good work altho they re- tive ministry that has been carefully ceived no special school training; just taught, as were the Ephesian elders.
as men like D. L. Moody and C. H. Monthly classes of Bible study are Spurgeon took front rank as evan- of great heIp to our church-members, gelists and pastors altho they were and they form excellent feeding- not specially trained for the work. grounds for training-schools for na- But this is no proof that the majority tive helpers, and where nothing better do not need the schools, and these could be done, native helpers have men themselves are the first to say so. been selected directly from these In support of this it is only necessary classes, but it would be a mistake to to mention Spurgeon's Pastors' Col- continue to do so. Weare laying the lege, and Moody's Bible-training In- foundation of what will be the great- stitute and schools. Very few mis- est national church in the world. Its sionaries have time to train their own leaders should be men who at least helpers satisfactorily; but it can be are carefully taught in the Word of better done in a Bible training-school God. A two years' systematic course or theological institute. of study is the shortest that should be God's work has had its schools of allowed, and in all cases it should be prophets from the days of Samuel, the combined with practical work, hence son of Hannah, until now. They are a populous neighborhood is a valuable a divine institution necessary alike for asset to a training-school. The stu- Israel and for the Church of Christ. dents should not only be taught the John the Baptist had his school of doctrines of the Bible, but be trained uisciples. Christ selected twelve to study and to teach, and to preach, apostles that He might train them, and every help should be given to and then send them forth to preach. strengthen their own spiritual life.
He said: "Follow Me and I will make The needs for a training-school you fishers of men." The Apostle might be summarized thus: The na- Paul trained Timothy and Titus and tive helper needs it for his own sake, left Titus in Crete to train and ap- to clear his mind from the supersti- point native helpers in its churches. tions of his race, and to put him on He instructed Timothy to select and good lines for Bible study, and to teach able, faithful men, who would equip him for the sacred work of the be able to teach others also. At ministry. He needs it for the sake Ephesus the great apostle disputed of the Christians to whom he minis-
I91O] TRAINED NATIVE HELPERS IN CHINA
ters, that he may lead them i~to work the time is nearing when the Church for Christ, give them their portion of in China will be self-governing, it is food in due season, and preach the imperative that we teach the coming Word with power and wisdom, and leaders the Word of God as thoroughwith a sound mind, free both from ly as possible, and that we seek for heresy and from worldly compromises. them the filling of the Holy Spirit with He needs it for the sake of the un- His power for service. converted literati, that he may deal successfully with their difficulties and The missionary has many important lead them to a saving knowledge of questions calling for consideration; the Truth. He needs it for the sake but there is none more important than of the religious devotees, and for the these now before us. Many things we hard-working sons and daughters of may ignore, these we date not. To toil, that he may the better speak the do so would be to hinder the progress word in season to their weary hearts. of the Christian Church in China, and And preeminently he needs it for the to neglect our Master's last command. sake of the whole Church in China, I t would be disloyalty to our glorious that by attaining his own highest Savior. possible excellency of service he may lead her onward and upward to the Before us is an opportunify that is full stature of Christ. If we believe overwhelming in its vastness and grandeur; and opportunity means responsibility.
Apropos of the above article we Chinese preacher or master, some Chinese Bible-woman or teacher." quote the following from two of our "Forty years ago a Chinese boy exchanges: landed in San Francisco and began his new life as a street pedler. He "To what are we to attribute the was like any other heathen Chinaman, present growth of the Christian no better, no worse. After about Church in China-that great society three years he managed to open a of which the Protestant section alone small shop. By and by he began to doubles itself every ten years? Chris- go to mission meetings in Chinatown,. tian education has done much to bring and by the time he had been eleven the young to the Church; medical years in the United States he became work, too, has had its share; but most a Christian and was baptized. After converts in our churches are there as forty years in the United States he is the result of evangelistic work faith- a merchant, a member of a company fully carried on by native workers. I that pays $ro,ooo a year rent for its have long made it a practise to ask place of business; he is an elder in Christians who first taught them the the Presbyterian Chinese Church in gospel, and only in two or three in- San Francisco; his eldest son is a stances has the name of a foreigner g-raduate of the University of Calibeen mentioned. There are a few fornia and a mining engineer of renotable exceptions; but the reply pute, and his second son is at Yale." given is usually the name of some
CRY OF THE CHILDREN OF
BY A CONVEPTED MOSLEM In Kashgar there are multitudes of hardly consent to receive other uri fortunate children whose mental and people's children into his house. The physical growth has been stunted by result is that they are abandoned and misery and neglect. They are called join their fellow sufferers. For five by the Arabic word for orphan, years I have witnesse&the unspeakable "Yetim," which means (according to misery of these children without being some) literally, "lunatic." These able to help them, except in a few children are poor and ignorant, but cases and for a short time. only some of them. are orphans, whose parents have left no fortune, or who These homeless and deserted ones have been deceived by dishonest guar- live in the burial-ground outside the dians. Most of them have parents, town; near the dead they find the but are shamefully neglected. The refuge which the living deny them. cause is chiefly the evil connected with There between the graves they pass Mohammedan marriage customs. the nights in St1111111er, and part of the days among the graves, and generally When a man ma,rries a second time, gain their living by begging in the his new wife shows dislike or indif- streets of the to'n. On market days, ference to the children of his house. when the country-people come to town, How could it be otherwise! Even ill the orphans gather from all around. Christian Europe, where marriages are The funeral repasts of rich people, contracted for life, stepmothers often to which everybody is admitted, are take no interest in their stepchildren, good opportunities for them, which and in Moslem lands interest in their they do not miss. If they can find welfare is next to impossible, because nothing else to eat, they satisfy thel11the wife's relations to her stepchildren selves with plants which grow in the may cease at any instant by the an- place, or they gather some fruit from nulment of her marriage. While living the gardens. Nobody blames them for in one house, the children will, tHere- this, for Orientals are not 5mal1fore, remain uncared for by the step- hearted in such matters. If a stranger mother. The presence of these little enters their gardens and gathers strangers may even become a burden, flowers or fruits, they do not consider in case she has no children of her it a theft. Very often, however, the own. poor outcasts must go to sleep hungry. These feelings of aversion lead to unkind treatment and chastisement. Their dress is as scanty as their The outcome is that the children food. The boys run about almost usually run away, for the stepmother naked in the warm season; dust and tries from the beginning to make dirt are their dress. People sometheir stay in the house insupportable. times give them garments, but these are generally given away thought- Moreover, when a woman is to be lessly. married the second time, she will al- ;110st always indifferently leave her Most of them suffer from some children to their fate, that they may illness or infirmity; even lepers are not be a hindrance to her marriage, found among them, and blind and knowing that her future husband will lame ones are numerous. Most of them die early from disease and want, the angel of death, whose kiss re- as might be expected. leases them from all the misery of earth-life. The others who are still In summer the condition of these able to keep upright rove onward. unfortunate ones is to some degree With pain and anguish, they begin supportable; as long as it is warm, to weep and to lament. Their loud they have only to withstand their prin- lamentations ring through the silent cipal enemy, hunger, and even this is night and join the monotonous sound more easily endured than in cold which the Chinese guards on their weather. In winter, however, their tower produce by knocking with a condition is really terrible. Hunger staff upon a' board, without interrup- then is accompanied by a far grim- tion, till morning. Slowly pass the mer enemy, cold. When the day de- hours till daybreak for the restlessly clines, when light and warmth give wandering children. At last it begins room to darkness and cold, when the to dawn, and they greet the return- cold increases every hour, then the ing light, the reviving warmth which hearts of the poor parentless children brings them some relief from their are seized with anguish and terror. sufferings. However, the short day- The burial-ground offers them no hours pass but too quickly, and then longer a refuge where they may sleep the terror begins anew. Many of without the danger of starving or these unfortunate ones become the freezing, so they hurry to the warm victims of winter. Only the stronger ash-heaps which are heaped up near ones withstand its dangers and live the bathing-houses. He who finds still to see the next summer. a place there, where he can lie till morning, feels happy. When he gets Such is the outward life of these up in the morning, the ashes which poor children. It is evident that they cleave to his naked body have covered have no opportunity to learn a trade him with a gray garment. Many, by which they may gain their living. however, have not succeeded in find- Their behavior, of course, is wild, and ing sllch a resting-place, for the room they are like animals of the forest. in these warm spots is limited. These GeneralIy they are good-natured and unfortunates must rorego sleep and thankful for every kindness they rerun about in the streets and bazaars ceive. They have one good quality in order to get warm. The town is which one would hardly expect of wrapt up in darkness, and all the ter- them: they are honest and do not rors of a wintry night frighten them. steal. My experience with two of Almost naked, covered only with a them leads me to think that one could, few old rags, barefooted and bare- without much difficulty, train them to headed, they are exposed to the cold be useful working people. Almost which makes them freeze to the very all of them have one strange fault, marrow of their bones. Their hun- hard to be overcome. They are deger becomes more and more insup- voted passionately, nay, even frenportable; exhaustion and fatigue over- ziedly, to gambling. If they have not whelm them. Many sit down for a enough, perhaps, to satisfy their hunshort rest; the heavy eyelids shut ger, they at once begin to gamble, themselves, sleep comes, and with it hoping to win more from their com-
rades. Thus, the little money which the slightest hope of improvement, will they possess, is lost. It is the same disturb the tranquillity of soul and at with the garments which they receive last confound the mind. occasionally; they use them as stakes. Since gambling is prohibited, and even Considering these terrors, strangers interdicted, by the law in Moslem will ask again and again, how the· lands, the orphans gamble in secret parents of those unfortunate ones can places, especially in the burial-ground; bear the thought of their own flesh but as soon as anyone approaches and blood leading such a wretched they run away. existence and slowly perishing in such dreadful misery. If there does not What has been said ab011t the Kash- awake in them a wish to hear of their garian orphans is for the most part children and to call them back? If relative to the boys, but in many points they .are really lost to that feeling it is also true of the girls, tho, of which even in animals is inextermicourse, in some way their fate differs nable? from that of their male companions. The number of shelterless, erring, or- Two experiences may give the anphan girls is far smaller than that of swer, which, indeed, is a sad one. the boys, because they are weaker and When in Kashgar, I t()ok care of a less apt to resist hunger and cold, so boy, who, having fled from his parents' that most of them die soon. house in order to escape the malignity of his stepmother, lived in the fashion The stronger and bigger ones find described. He ran about half-naked, now and then an opportunity to es- was wild and shy, but good-natured. cape their misery. If they are bodily In spite of all privations, he possest fit for it, they become servants to great bodily strength; the only disease Chinese, and if they are pretty, they from which he was suffering was even have a chance to become mar- scald. I had him cured, gave him ried. It is true that by doing so food and garments and found some they cease to be Moslems and are not masonry-work for him. The success allowed to be buired in the Moham- was fully satisfying; he had only one medan burial-ground. Their less for- fault, into which he fell again and tunate sisters who suffer from illness again-a passio~ for gambling, by or disease, or have no bodily charms, which he also lost the clothes I had spend their lives in as miserable a given him. His father was still alive, way as the boys. Only they usually was well respected and wealthy, and wear more clothes. Sometimes it hap- fully aware of his son's condition, pens that one of them is married to whose misery he was even occasionally one of her male fellow sufferers, so obliged to witness, tho only from afar, that they bear their sorrowful fate because he avoided meeting him. But together. it did not enter into his mind to take care of his child. From this picture of sorrow and misery, you can no longer be aston- On my way back from Kashgar, I ished that those poor, forsaken, par- had another experience. From Choentless creatures are called "mad," for kand to Samarcand, I traveled with a to lead a life of trouble, privation and Seyyid (one of Mohammed's descendillness without interruption, without ants) from Kashgar, who wets setting
out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. In ever, is the work of a man who, of order to be able to perform it rather pure humanity, takes care of these orcomfortably and without trouble, he phans. It is Igertshi Ishan, a dervish. had dismissed his wife and children, He always walks about barefooted and taking not the slightest care or trouble bareheaded, contrary to the Moslem about their future. Even more, he law, but with the openly exprest inthought himself a merited man, for in tention of being like the poor, parentgoing on a pilgrimage he performed less children. Like most of the derone of the principal duties of a Mos- vishes, he does not fully observe the lem. During the journey, he would rules of Mohammedan religion and is say his prayers in a most showy way, therefore looked upon by the Mullas and perform the rest of his religious as not a Moslem. He travels much duties with a sort of precise severity. in order to spread his ideas, which are I was deeply pleased when I suc- similar to the doctrines of the Sufis ceeded at the end of continued and (Mystics). His followers, among earnest exhortations to dissuade him whom there are wealthy men, give from going on the pilgrimage, so that him money, which he spends excluin Samarcand he determined to re- sively for the support of orphans. turn to Kashgar in order to call back Once a week he gives them food and his wife and children. teaches them afterward the "Dikr," which consists in the loud or low reci- The unnatural hard-heartedness, tation of forms and words to the glory which is proved by these two ex- of God. But Igertshi Ishan is able amples, arises from the Moslem mar- to perform little alone, in spite of riage customs, which is unfavorable to his indefatigable efforts, considering the development of a real family life. the great number of these unfortunate children and the depth of misery to Considering the indifference of par- be relieved. May many follow his exents to the misery of their children, ample! I am glad to be able to say that strangers have been trying to relieve We pray God that the sun of that the hard lot of these orphaned and true civilization which is only offered outcast ones. In Farkend, where the by the religion of love, Christianity, number of parentless children is very may soon rise for the forsaken and great, the Chinese, tho belonging to orphaned children of Islam, and that another religion, have opened a house it may show to homeless ones the way where those who have bodily diseases, to their Father's house! Let us hear cripple, lame and blind, find shelter the cry of the children of Kashgar! and food. Far more benevolent, how-
THE MISSIONARY A MESSAGE?
BY REV. WILBUR W. COCHRANE, HSIPAW, N. SHAN STATES, BURMA Missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union To ask such a question two genera- sentence, "There was the true light, tions ago, or even one, as stands at evea the light which lighteth every the head of this letter, would have man." Many now refuse to believe been regarded by multitudes of sin- that God has spoken as a loving Father cere Christians as an impertinence. to only a few favorite children and When Carey wrought in India, Mor- to all others, has, from the foundarison in China, Judson in Burma, and tion of the world, sat in His heaven Livingstone in Africa, clear-cut lines as a sphinx, silent and solitary. of distinction were drawn between the revealed religion and the ethnic faiths. This may be looked upon as a The nations had no hope and were praiseworthy open-mindedness, a laudwithout God in the world. Their re- able religious generosity. But in these ligio·ns were human or demonic in- days of transition in religious thought, ventions, and their sacred books were charity, in some instances, is without regarded as by no means inspired. restraint. Excessive liberalism loudly Their truth, in so far as they had cries that the distinction once drawn any, had become corrupted through between revealed and natural religion man's depravity, and their light had is a vagary of sectarian fanaticism; become darkened by man's sin. An that all religions are at once divine aged missionary who died a few years and human, differing only here and .ago declared, after many years of there in a posture or in a name; that service, that he regarded Buddhism, climate and not creed has brought with many moral rules and forms of about their non-essential variations; worship resembling in some respects that the worst that a Christian misthe Christian, as "a clever counterfeit sionary can do is to turn Occidental of the devil." oil into Oriental, or other lamps, to make them burn brighter, if, per- With modern facilities for travel, chance, the oil is more thoroughly with a larger knowledge of the world, refined. with greater familiarity with the socalled natural religions, the estimate If such be the case, then certainly of their value is now higher, as a rule, the missionary herald of the cross has and Christian thought has become no message so profoundly distinctive, more charitable. It has moved for- so unutterabiy valuable to all mankind, ward in the main, to the larger ideas as to justify the sacrifice made necesof Paul, that God has not left Him- sary in its world-wide proclamation; self without witness, that He has writ- his mission is a gratuity, if not an inten His law on the hearts of men, sult, and his message is as empty of that all peoples, with the possible ex- imparted grace as it is superfluous. ception of the very lowest, worship, tho in ignorance and in mistaken ways, Fortunately this is an exaggeration the same God whom the missionaries in which few, even nominal Chrishave come to declare, with a more tians,and no missionaries, share. Mishopeful faith, many Christians dare sionaries, however, as a class, are by to stand with John in his profound no means narrow-minded and fanat- ical. They were among the first to recognize the high ideals of many "heathen," and are the most pro- The question of the great Teacher, nounced in their testimony to fine "What doth it profit a man to gain qualities in the character of as many the whole world and forfeit his life?"
more, "men who shame by their vir- bears with it a message that is as ur- tues, multitudes of Christians." Evi- gent as it is distinctive. Christianity, dently, it would be manifestly unfair to a degree not found in any other to compare the best products of any religion, insists upon the value of hu- one religion with the lowest types man life-even of the seemingl, of any other. For a fair comparison worthless and degraded-whether of one must look for conceptions and the individual or of society as a whole.
principles working themselves out in A secretary of a great missionary so- daily life that are fundamental in their ciety, when on a tour of missions nature and widely characteristic. A . around the world, in speaking to a few only of these may be noted here. crowd of "hill-people," ragged, dirty, 1. Take, to begin with, the worth with burs in their hair, said (in sub- of human life. In the Orient the doc- stance), "I value your life, for I see trine of "transmigration," of metem- in you the possibilities of redemption, psychosis, is prevalent-reducing all that Christ will be formed in yon to sentient life to a common level, with transform you into His own likeness."
the result that a common valuation 2. Ideas as to the nature, powers, has come to be placed upon all such and purposes of the Supreme Being, life, whether in man or brute, in all are equally distinctive. In the mystic of its manifestations. There is a cus- Hindu philosophies God is lost or t0'111 among the Chinese and Tai-Shans bound up in cosmic forces; in Bud- of southwestern China and eastern dhism His very existence is ignored Bnrma (where not checked by foreign and the only god recognized and wor- rule) by which the freedol11 of a mur- shiped is the apotheosized peripatetic derer may be purchased for three who walked and talked in far Kapi- hundred rupees (equal to one hundred lavastu, only to pass at death-for he dollars gold), but not unstrangcly, ac- died-into practical, if not absolute cording to this view of life, the same annihilation. Even the Chinaman's fine, to the writer's knowledge, was "God of Heaven" falls far short of imposed upon a butcher who had killed "The infinite and perfect Spirit in his neighbor's hog. This fee is called whom all things have their source, "the price of life," and no distinction support and end," while the chiefest seems to have been made by the judge and best of the spirits of the lower between the value of human life and forms of animism are scarcely more the life of swine. The kindly precept than elongated ghosts sitting idly and of Buddhism, "thou shalt take no life," without concern in their distant heav- has a gentle sound and has been much ens. The conception of one personal praised, but it is so imbedded in this God, supreme, yet immanent, in whom indiscriminating philosophy of the and through whom, and unto whom sameness and intercommunication of are all things, and who is before and all sentient life that cold-blooded mur- above them all, full of all goodness ders, under the most trifling incentives, and truth, is foreign to the Eastern are astonishingly prevalent. mind (Mohammedans who are herein indebted to the Jews alone excepted). his barn-door~one for his dog and Much more is it true that the Father- the other for his cat. hood of God transcends the boldest dreams of the Orient, outside of Chris- The Orient, to say nothing of other tianity, which was Eastern born. The non-Christian parts of the world, is missionary has a message, if this con- conspicuous for almost an entire abception is of value to the world. sence of great cooperative movements for the amelioration of the condition 3. From these two ideas: the worth of society, for freedom, justice, comof human life and the father-love of passion, equality and progress. It is God, there has arisen the magnificent not necessary to say, and indeed it conception of the oneness of humanity, might not be strictly true to say, that "the brotherhood of the race," to use they are absolutely wanting, but they a phrase that is becoming common- certainly have no such place in the place by frequent repetition, and yet plans of rulers and in the fraternal its freqnent lise is significant as show- interests of the people as they have ing how widely and deeply the idea in lands swayed by the sociological has taken root in Christian thought. purposes of Christ. The writer has It lies at the basis of the Kingdom been nearly twenty years in the East of God, the commonwealth of Jesus, and in all that time he has never heard so prominent in his teaching that the a disciple of any ethnic faith even sociologists of our day seem to find suggest the idea of a brotherhood as therein but. little else. However that wiele as humanity and as kinel as the may be, it is certainly largely foreign love of God. The motto "Each for to the Oriental mind. In China and all and all for each" was coined in in India (apart fr0111 British rule) the Christian Vest and bears the imworks of public utility may be seen, press of the Gospel of Jesus. Here, but ordinarily they were made for again, is a message that is fundarevenue to increase the resources of mentally distinctive and, to Christian the chief, or like the great wall of thought, ineffably precious. Where, China, for national defense. The pri- outside of Christianity, is there such vate building of monasteries, bridges, a thing as what Dr. Matheson, in wayside rest-houses, and the like, only his charming book "Studies of the in appearance are exceptions to the Portrait of Christ," calls "The League rule. However beneficial they may be of Pity?" to the public, they are primarily works of merit to life the giver a notch 4. "The League of Pity"~the ven higher in the scale of being. They are words, in connection with these not altruistic, but egoistic, self-cen- thoughts of human worth, of God's tereel, in their aim; in fact, they are fatherhood and its correlative idea of often made where they serve no utili- brotherhood, bring to mind the Oritarian purpose whatsoever. A traveler ent's solution of the problem of sin, in the hill country of eastern Burma with the exception already mentioned, once saw two bridges thus made side the doctrine of a forgiving God is by side, across the same stream; one practically unknown to Oriental faiths. of them was as useless as the extra In Hinduism, as already stated, he is hole a kind-hearted farmer made in too impersonal and too bound up in cosmic forces; in Buddhism man must
19ro] HAS THE MISSIONARY A MESSAGE?
work out his own forgiveness, raise thought the London Missionary Sohimself in the scale of being by tug- ciety, when, at its inception, it declared ging at his own boot-straps. In a that its only strife should be "with conversation with a Buddhist monk united earnestness to make known afar from Ceylon, the latter said, "Your the glory of Christ's person, the perdoctrine of Creation is unthinkable, fection of His work, the wonders of and as to gracious pardon, divine in- His grace, and the overflowing tervention on man's behalf is unneces- blessings of His redemption." So sary." The nearest approach to thought an aged and distinguished forgiveness in Shamanism is a species preacher in America, who said in a of demonic blackmail in which the ill recent address before a group of miswill of the spirits must be appeased by sionaries about to sail, "If I were a gift. No religion, unless it be Par- twenty-five years old, I would ask the seeism, gives an adequate explanation society to send me out." So thought of the origin of sin and consequent even Chang Chi Tung, the author of suffering, and unfortunately this ex- "China's Only Hope," when he issued planation is unsatisfactory as it pre- a decree encouraging the nearly sixty supposes a devil as coexistent, if not millions of Hupah and Hunan, over coequal with Deity. But Christianity, whom he ruled, to study the New even if it does not fully explain the Testament, tho not himself a Christian. way in, at least discloses the happiest way out. In the words of Dr. Mabie, The preaching of the glorious Gos- "It alone cherishes the idea of a re- pel of the blest Son in the Orientdemptive purpose-a cure for sin-at and the world over-is still the most the heart of God . . . and affords the splendid vocation to which any man only practical hope of god-like char- can be called. In short, while m;',· acter and final blessedness like His sionaries may have some "privatiull,;,"' own. " a Message is one of the essential things he is never without. The quc'- These are but a few of the radicaIly tiol1 at the head of this letter W8" distinctivc and unutterably precious never a bigger impertinence thalt it trnths of Christianity. Many other dis- is to-day. tinctive realities equally radical and equaIly precious might be mentioned, Says Bishop Quayle: "You can't bnt these are enough for the present save this world by soap nor by finepurpose. With the most open-minded spun Emersonian sayings. There are charity and the most generous spirit, a lot of people with their little remeit must be con fest that enlightening dies for the sin and sorrow of this the Orient, or any other part of the worlel that try to belittle the Church. non-Christian world, with the knowl- We ought to spunk up and tell them edge of God and of man as it shines that we have the sun ancl they only small candles. The Church is the only in the face of Christ JeSt1S is more institution big enough and divine enough to save the world. The laythan setting up another wax taper men are just now getting waked up." beside so many of their own. So
MISSIONS IN
BY A. NEVE, F.R.C.S.E., DRINAGER, KASHMIR, INDIA Missionary of the Church Missionary Society, London, England The first general meeting of the professional claims at the time of Indian Medical Missionary Associa- a private visit, could not personally tion was held in Bombay last year teach, yet he or she should introduce (February 26th and 27th), when a reader or Bible-woman who could fifty-three medical missionaries do so. In the hospitals it is most gathered from every corner of India, important that by personal example from the snowy Himalayas to the 111 the way of preaching and extreme south of the Peninsula, from talking to patients, the doctors Bengal to Bombay. They were all should stimulate the Indian workers active workers among Punjabis and to the duty of tete-a.-tete theology. Pathans, Kashmiris and Canarese, Mahrattas and Mohlahs, Bengalese It seems open to no doubt that and Bhils, and a score of the other tuberculosis is making ravages races of India. They represented, among some classes of Indian Christoo, nearly all the missionary so- tians; perhaps chiefly among those cieties at work, whether Methodist, who were taken into orphanages at Baptist, Presbyterian, Wesleyan or times of famine, and whose consti- Anglican. tutions seem to have been under- mined. But even in some of the The whole key-note of the Inter- upper-class Christian students the national Medical Missionary Asso- cases are too numerous and demand ciation general meeting was efficient serious attention. It was decided evangelization, but the professional to aim at early segregation of all work is at such a high level as to cases, and to obtain this there must win the confidence of Indians of be skilled medical inspection of all all classes, and so brings the medical children. A paper of instructions missionary into a position of friend- will be printed and put into the ship and intimate professional re- hands of all superintendents of such sponsibility with the highest classes institutions. It was felt that the of India in a way that wins ex- shutting up of children, especially ceptional influence. girls, in confined areas screened by high walJs with insufficient snll and The association is one of the hap- physical work was a common cause piest instances of interdenomination- of breakdown. al working; all the members use the same prayer cycle, very many follow The progress already made in the same syllabus of Scripture teach- the education of this rising generaing, both to their out-patients and in tion of Indian Christians has made the wards; the assistants are drawn it possible to expect a standard of from similar sources and trained in preliminary knowledge which enthe same institutions, with the same ables much higher training to be aims. undertaken. The Ludhiana School for women, animated largely by Dr. There was a strongly manifested Edith Brown, has already done feeling that more personal work much in this connection and has should be done in mission hospitals, excellent classes for both nurses and and that if the doctor, owing to the for those who study medicine and send the students to a Government surgery in all branches, and qualify medical school for their medical by passing Government examina- training; which is yet to instil ideas tions for taking charge of dispen- of money value an'd promoti-on into saries and small hospitals. their heads to the detriment of their missionary spirit. So far the prac- Nursing in the district hospitals tical position is that IncFan doctors of India is yet rather embryonic. if qualified, receive much the same Mission hospitals are much better pay in mission as in state service. nursed than those of the Govern- The fact that the European medical ment, except in the half-dozen chief missionaries are working for less pay towns. Behind the mission hospi- than engine-drivers, a mere fraction tals are the Joving services of fully of what official doctors receive, does trained missionary nurses, willing to not seem to enter the thoughts of do for the lowest caste patients acts Indians, who regard the life of missuch as they would not expect, as sionaries as well paid and luxurious. they themselves sometimes say III It is much to be hoped that the gratitude, even from a father or National Missionary Society of Inmother, and this sets the tone of dia will be able to evoke more selfthe institution. sacrificing service. In the meantime it is desirable that several mission- The training of men assistants has ary societies would combine to staff not yet been satisfactorily solved. a teaching hospital where Indians It has incIeed been excellently done could be adequately trained to take at Neyoor and at Miraj, but the charge of branch dispensaries, and so strain of the teaching has all fallen would greatly promote all the medical on one European doctor, and new missions. classes can only be formed after the conclusion of a four-year course. The alternative is, as at Agra, to A. K. De Blois writes of a missionary am! power of the gospel. They lishe met in China: "I heard him speak tened eagerly; they asker] questions to a great congregation in the heart of and stated objections. Late one afone of the largest cities. He preached ternoon two of us, men from Amerwith such glowing and awakening ica, were sitting in his office. Wheelwords that his auditors were fairly ing suddenly around in his chair, he breathless. The next day I took a said earnestly: 'How I pity you poor trip with him on a river steamer. He fellows ! You don't belong here ! You bought third-class tickets, and we took are obliged to go back to effete, WOrt1our seats on the lower deck in the out America; China is the place to midst of a horde of turbulent Chinese. live! China is the land of the future! Almost at once he entered into conver- Think what it means to have some part sation with them, and in a few mo- in the remolding and Christianizing of ments had reached the theme of all themes, and was describing the beauty the 1110St ancient civilization in the world!' "
MISSIONS AND REFORM MOVEMENTS
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS BY REV. HOMER C. STUNTZ, D.D. Author of "The Philippines and the Far East"
The Protestant missionaries in the other. It showed large purchases of Philippine Islands have already beer by the dozen bottles, and the sales achieved large results in at least three of the same. The missionary took out fields of re·form. Tho only ten years a note-book and began making a copy have elapsed since the feeble begin- of the report. Before completing the nings of missionary work were made, task the officers of the canteen, which the record of work done in the interest was doing business as "B Company of righteousness is one which calls Club," ordered him out of the place for devout gratitude to the head of with many oaths and commented upon the Church. mIssIOnaries "keeping their place." Complaint was immediately made to I. Temperance the proper authorities, and after a vigorous agitation, participated in by In this field of reform effort the at least half the missionaries of the activity of the Protestant missionaries five churches then represented in the has been manifested in a score of islands, peremptory orders went out ways. Three only will be mentioned. to all posts forbidding the sale of liquor "on premises owned or occu- I. The Enforcement of the Anti- pied by the military forces of the canteen Law. United States." That one order af- fected for good the temperance situa- This law was passed in the early tion among at least 40,000 American months of 1901. Its passage was re- soldiers, many of whom were tempted ceived with contempt and hot anger to drink by the presence of the liquor, by the majority of the military forces and the dreadful loneliness of their po- in the Philippines. There was a de- sition among an alien people, and un- termined effort made in many quarters der a tropical sun. to either evade or defy its provisions. By May of that year it was apparent 2. The Passage of the Two-mile- to any student of the situation in the limit Law. Philippines that the dosing of the can- teens (or saloons) in the many mili- Despite the assumption of advocates tary posts of the archipelago was of the army canteen, saloons did a mer.ely nominal. Liquor was freely flourishing business among the sol- sold to the troops, and dealers in the diers when army beer was most easily beer which was rushed to Manila as obtained. The canteen never satisfied soon as our forces were in command the thirst of men for drink. And boasted that their sales were as large these saloons that hung on the flank as ever. In July of 190I, one of the of the army in the canteen days, hung missionaries entered a room in the mil- on determinedly after the anti-canteen itary post of Hagonoy, in the province law went into effect. The soldier had of Bulacan, and found a soldier in uni- but to cross the boundary-line of his form selling beer freely to a couple of post a few paces to find liquor and . score of his fellow soldiers. On the credit (until pay-day) awaiting him. wall hung a monthly report of the pur- The Evangelical Union determined to chases and sales of "B Company Club," signed by a sergeant and one
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN PHILIPPINE
drive these saloons away, and in 1902 counted, several of the missionaries, united in a request for a law that with the active aid of an army chap- would make it illegal to sell liquor lain who had direct access to facts as "within two miles of the outside limits to the financial working of the old of any military post in the Philippine beer canteen, worked out a statement Islands." There were about eighty of what could be done in the way of such posts at that time,scattered widely establishing what I call tempe~ance over the provinces, and from two to canteens, for lack of a better name.
half a dozen saloons owned by Amer- We showed from the account-books of icans and Filipinos and Chinese were the canteen in a particular regiment debauching the young men of the what amounts of beer had actually army. After a brief advocacy of the been sold, and what the profit was measure, the Civil Commission passed which went to "the enrichment of the it into law, and within six months it rations of the men," when it was not had closed up over three hundred sa- used to buy pianos and furniture, or loons, and, within one year, two Amer- for less worthy ends. We took the ican wholesale houses which made experience of two or three army chap- their chief profit from the sale of lains who had been carrying on a tem- liquor were forced into bankruptcy. perance canteen for some months as One of the "signs of the missionary" a basis, and drafted a memorial to in the Philippines-in a very literal Congress asking tflat provision be sense of the word-is the large notice made for opening in every military placed on every road leading to a mili- post a resort-room, with games, and tary post in the Philippines at a dis- with opportunity to buy ice-cream, tance of two miles from its outside cakes, aerated waters, candies and boundary, "LIQUOR LIMIT." This one other things they could procure in law secured by the missionaries is any home city, at reasonable prices.
ample justification for all it has cost By acting concertedly in the matter, the various mission boards to carryon and diligently corresponding with in- their work in the Philippine Islands dividual members of the House and since the American occupation. For, Senate, we secured the desired action, aside from the actual and immediate and provision was made for opening good which such a law accomplishes such rooms in any post desiring them.
is the testimony which it bears to the Where they have been given a fair harmful character of liquor-drinking. trial th@y have proved to be popular, And when one reflects where that tes- and have showed as large, and in one timony is being borne-with not less case a larger cash profit than the old than seven hundred million non-Chris- beer canteen showed. And there is no tian people to the north and east .and aftermath of fights, neglect of duty, west of the Philippines, the leaders of and the long list of offenses against whom are scrutinizing our every act as military regulations which follow the a people, it becomes freighted with a sale of intoxicants when the men buy large significance. pies, soda-ices and lemon drops at the 3. The Establishment of the Tem- canteen! If these temperance can- perance' Canteen. teens with their provision for games Following the victories just re- and good reading for the men are not
actually provided that is due to the sion fees to see the struggle, and betneglect of those having authority. ting eagerly on the result. The better The missionaries have secured the classes of the Filipinos recognize the law, and showed that it is practicable far-reaching harm of this evil, and and, even in a financial way, profitable. have deplored it in a mild way for years. But foreign influence-Span- II. Gambling on the Race-track and in ish, English, German and American- the Cock-pit has capitalized this native vice in the establishment of race-tracks where on Gambling is a characteristic vice in nearly every feast-day of the Catholic the Orient. Among the Filipinos it is Church, and on every Sunday, horses easily the worst vice. It has a firmer are raced and clerks and laborers and grip and works greater individual, so- some from the wealthier classes of cial and economic harm than intem- Filipinos and foreigners gamble away perance. Almost every adult middle immense sums of money. Every week or low-class Filipino has his fighting- in the year this drain upon the morals cock, which is treated as one of the and prosperity of the people went on family. When the owner believes that unchecked. The Roman Church hinhis bird is ready for the fray, he dered it no whit. By her lotteries matches him against a rival, bets all (which were promptly stopt by our he has and often all he can borrow, American Postal Department) and by on the issue, and the two game-birds all sorts of raffling and gambling debattle to the death in the cock-pit, with vices at their church fairs and feasts, crowds of spectators paying admis- CHAPEL BUILT FROM THE PRIVATE MEANS OF A WEALTHY CONVERTED GAMnLER
MISSIONS IN PHILIPPINE
they lent their influence to the main- municipalities. Seizing upon this pro- tenance of the habit among the people vision, the movement under Mr. Miller whom they have had under their con- secured action closing about two hun- trol for centuries. In the winter of dred cock-pits within four months 1905-06, Rev. George A. Miller, pas- from the time the Moral Progress tor of the Methodist Church ( for League was organized. By petition- Americans) in Manila, organized what ing the Civil Commission, the prohe called the Moral Progress League moters of this reform movement sein his church, and had the men who cured definite legislation greatly curserved as officers and leaders of that tailing the number of races which league take charge of one prayer- would be permitted in any month, and meeting each month. They began agi- in other ways striking at the most tation against the social evil, Sabbath pernicious features of race-track desecration and gambling. The race- gambling. This was the first-and tracks were peculiarly active, and thus far the only-concerted attempt suicides of heavy losers were notice- to make conscience on the subject of ably frequent and embezzlements and gambling in the Philippines. It was other dishonest ways to replace lost distinctly missionary in its origin and funds were a public scandal. One direction, and therefore stands to the evening an address was made definite- credit of the missionary body. ly arraigning the twin gambling evils -the race-tracks and the cock-pits. III. The Defeat of the Opium Bill It was a serious and unanswerable indictment. This reform struggle of the mis- sionaries in the Philippines widened The meeting was well reported in out into large issues, and set in mothe Manila Times, and awakened deep tion more far-reaching influences than interest. Ex-Judge W. A. Kincaid, any single reform effort in which the an attorney practising in Manila, came Philippine Evangelical Union has yet. to the aid of Mr. Miller and his Moral engaged. Progress League, and through his wide and favorable acquaintance Early in January of 1903 our attenamong the leaders of Filipinos tion was called to the fact that the throughout the islands, secured their Civil Commission proposed legislation active cooperation in a whirlwind on the opium question. The writer campaign of agitation against gam- had served in India eight years, and bling. Great meetings were held, not was familiar with the highest-bidder only in Manila, but in nearly all the monopoly law in that empire, and larger cities of the island of Luzon, knew .all too well its baleful influence and some interest was awakened in upon the health, morals and economic other islands by correspondence and efficiency. It seemed to all the memby the very effective support given the bers of the union that we should incampaign by one or two Manila daily vestigate the proposed legislation with papers. The Municipal Code, which great care, and, if necessary, oppose was prepared by the Taft Commis- its passage by every means in our sion in 1900, left the establishment or power. What was our surprize and abolition of cock-pits to the several chagrin as American citizens and as missionaries to discover that the pro- posed bill had been copied almost
bodily from the British law in the 2. It would be impossible to enforce Straits Settlements, Burmah and such an enactment. Filipinos and Hongkong. With the exception of Chinese are so mixed by intermarriage the first section, the proposed law was for more than a thousand years that in all essential particulars the identical "no heraldry Harvey" could ascertain one which has stained the record of hethel' a given man were "a Chi- England in India. It proposed to call nese of the full blood." for sealed bids for the monopoly of retailing opium throughout the islands. Filipinos and Chinese do business The monopoly was to be given to the in the same firms and in the same highest and Lest bidder, and he would streets. They pass and repass in the then be in control for three years, on stream of daily activity in nearly every payment of one-twelfth of his annual city and hamlet in the archipelago. contract price into the treasury of the The Chinese is the Yankee of the Philippine government on the first day East, and with a reputation well es- of each month. In the Straits Settle- tablished for "ways that are dark" he ments the "opium farmer," as he is would find it easy to purchase several officially styled, was then paying more ounces more than he needed for his than $125,000 in cash each month for own use, and secretly supply his Fili- this kind of monopoly of the sale of pino neighbor with all he might de- opium, and the demoralization that ac- sire. Opium is not a bulky or heavy companies this method of "control" is article. It is easy to carry a hundred apparent to the most superficial stu- dollars' worth of it concealed about the dent of Malaysian affairs. person. How easy to slip it from hand to hand under cover of night as The first section of the proposed bill business associates pass on the street! probably originated with the members And if police surveillance could detect of the commission who presented it. and frustrate illegal sales, by what In this section a fee[)]e and ineffectual cunning or by what right could these attempt was made to prohibit the sale police ascertain what a Filipino was of opium to Filipinos. Chinese were chewing? How could they assure to be the only lawful purchasers of the themselves of what was being "swaldrug. The section was substantially lowed ?" as follows: We of the missionary body felt, "No person not being a Chinese per- therefore, that however honestly the son and above the age of twenty-one framer of the bill, and other members years shall chew, smoke, swallow, or of the Civil CommiSSIOn, intended to ·otherwise consume opium as a bever- control the opium traffic in the Philage." ippines by this proposed law, the pas- sage of such legislation would fasten Leaving the unusually negative the highest-bidder monopoly evil upon character of this proposed section out the Philippines for all time, and the of account, note the fact of its essen- debau<;hing of Filipinos and Chinese tial weakness: would go on with ever-increasing rapidity. We memorialized the com- r. It strikes at use, rather than at mission, and called personally upon manufacture, transportation or sale. several of the members urging the It is open to question whether such a law is constitutional.
withdrawal of the bill. When we saw International Reform Bureau at that these measures were not likely to defeat the objectionable law, we asked Washington, D. c., and to Dr. David for a public hearing. This was granted, and the date set on July 8, D. Thompson, editor of the N orth- 1903, at 10 A.M. Meantime, it became western Christian Advocate, Chicago. wident that it was the settled deter- These men grasped the significance of mination of those in authority to pass our struggle, and began a campaign the bill. 'vVe then felt it necessary to against the bill which flooded the appeal to the Christian conscience of President and Secretary of War with the home land. But we were in letter~ ~nd telegrams of protest. straits in two particulars: practically After three weeks had passed, one of all the missionaries had left Manila the daily papers of Manila published for the hot weather-some to China, what purported to be a telegram from some to Japan, and others to mountain New York to the effect that the Secredistricts in the Philippines where they tary of War had cabled the Civil Comcould not be reached for days, and we mission to defer the proposed opium had no money with which to pay cable legislation until further investigation charges. It then cost $1.90 per word of the question could be pursued. Ve to send a cablegram to the United had no means of knowing whether States, and it would require several such a message had been received or hundred dollars to adequately sum- not, as no one connected with the govmarize the bill in such a message. ernment seemed disposed to confirm After much thought and prayer, the or deny the statements in the morning two or three of us who were left in paper. the city determined to raise the necessary money and send the message. This was on the 19th of June. On But within a day or two several Chi- the morning of July 8, 1903, the Civil nese merchants belonging to a Cham- Commission gave a public hearing to ber of Commerce in the city came to all who were interested in the opium the house of the writer, together with their American attorney, and, after ex- bill. Governor William H. Taft prepressing their conviction that the passage of the bill would be disastrous to sided. The missionaries appreciated Chinese business interests, as it would the courtesy shown in granting the result in greatly increased consumption hearing, as the commission was under of the drug by their laborers and no obligation to grant it, but did so in clerks, they offered to furnish at least the interest of fairness. Because of one thousand dollars if that were the relation which the writer had needed to defeat the bill. The money borne to the opium discussions in was accepted, and the Chinese were India he was made spokesman for the advised to secure as many signers as Evangelical Union, .and was on his possible to a Chinese remonstrance feet before the commission for three against the passage oj the proposed full hours presenting the case against bill. That night the cablegram was the bill, and running the gantlet of sent to Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts, of the constant "heckling" by such of the commissioners as cared to pick holes in the argument. At the close of the second session the bill was "tabled" by a clear majority, and the missionaries had won in the preliminary struggle.
The argument presented against the Dowager issued th~ famous edict orbill was all in typoscript, and several dering all growth, transportation ancl copies were furnished to the papers, sale of opium to cease within ten ancl were printed in full, as all the years throughout the Chinese Empire. papers, both native ancl foreign, hacl All officials were ordered to stop its stood squarely against the proposed use on pain of peremptory dismissal. legislation from the beginning. After Two years of the ten have passed. On several clays Governor Taft sent to every hand there is abundant proof the papers an eight- or ten-thousand- that China is fully aroused to the word reply to the argument of the deadly character of the drug, and inunion, but it fell rather fiat, for in- tends to cut up the traffic by the roots. terest hacl passed to other matters, and the communication was somewhat Seldom has any reform movement prolix. grown to such vast proportions. A little band of earnest men-never more Within a few days the Governor an- "than seven present at any committee nounced the appointment of an opium meeting during the agitation in the commission, with Bishop C. H. Brent, Philippines-were so guided by Him of the Episcopal Church, as one of its whom they serve as to secure from three members. As a result of their two governments, both on Asiatic soil, investigations in Japan, where impor- the absolute prohibition of the traffic tation and sale of opium is prohibited in opium among more than one-fourth uncler the severest penalties, in For- of the human race! Truly, it is our mosa, China and Malaysia, and after God "who only doeth wondrous prolonged agitation in Washington, things." we have finally secured Congressional prohibition of the importation and sale If all the missionary body in the of opium in the Philippine Islands, Philippine Islands had spent all their and the law has been in force about time and strength during the ten years two years. If the bill as drawn up by of American occupation in achieving the commission had passed into law, this one victory, it alone would have thousands who are now free from been ample justification for every slavery to the awful habit of opium- dollar spent and for every life insmoking would be bound hand and vested. foot, a curse to themselves and to society. A missionary from Africa lately said: The anti-opium forces in China "r don't ask you to p'ty the heathen. learned of our triumph just across the China Sea, and sent for our literature. Such sentimentalism and weakness They took fresh heart, secured a monster petition against the evil, and will soon vanish. r simply ask you sent it to the Emperor. Within a few months the late Emperor and Empress to treat Jesus Christ right. When we have received heaven at the price He paid for it, and we give Him the odds and ends-the pennies spared from our abundance, we can well ask, are we treating Him as we ought ?"
A GARDEN OF THE LORD IN THE
BY NORTHCOTE DECK, M.B., CH.M., SOUTH SEA EVANGELICAL MISSION, TULAGI, BIUTISH SOLOMON ISLANDS Traveling round one mission parish the school a cluster of men, women in the Solomon Islands, on the mission and little children, with simple hearts, schooner Evangel, we visit many but a growing knowledge of the places. We see many happy sights Savior, and in many cases true love and not a few sad ones. for Him. Unaided, except from above, these teachers have built schools and The thing which seems the most spent many hours laboriously instructwonderful is the way God has been ing the people in the "way" until a working through the Kanakas who time comes when light dawns in the were converted on the sugar planta- darkness and one after another finds tions in Queen Island, Australia, and the Savior. In all there are about who were returned to their island forty of these schools, all taught by homes four years ago by the govern- native Christians, none of whom are ment when the labor traffic was stopt. paid, and much of our work on the Evangel consists in going around A large number came from the from station to station helping and ensingle island of Malaita. No trader couraging these pioneers. can live there, life is so unsafe. The coast is fairly quiet for missionaries, Jllst here I want to focus your inbut inland there is a surging, seething mass of murderers and cannibals, and terest on one man, Harry Masti, who no white man has ever. crossed the lives up on the hills from Port Adam, island. South Malaita. And when I think of him my mind travels back to one Here, then, the returning Chris- evening at the Fairymead missiontians from Queensland to the number house in Queensland-to a little group of about 500 fell like a deluge. (In of "boys" praying in the clark-to one all there were 2,484 converts to the voice which poured out a torrent of mission in Queensland.) Many went prayer that God would send the light inland and for the present have been to their dark island-that He would lost sight of, but all around the coast make them light-bearers. Afterward groups collected here and there in vil- I learned that the one who prayed and lages, built churches and began to who seemed to pour out his whole soul teach. in intercession for his people, was Harry Masti. And I remember won- One sails into some wild-looking dering at the time how this fine enharbor, or anchors off the lee of some thusiasm, this missionary zeal, would island, and no sooner is the anchor stand six months of the island climate, down than a canoe reaches the ship the island fever, the island darkness. and a "boy" climbs up the side with a "God bless you"; and we find he has And I thought I saw the earnestness a garden ashore in which are being gone, the fire dying down, and the developed trne lovers of the Lord. man himself settling down to a life of We go off in the dingey with pictures such ease as the island affords, to the and oilskins (for it rains almost every easy life the ordinary Christian lives, day), and find in a clearing in the without care and without work for the giant trees a village grouped around Master.
a neatly-built schoolhouse, and around
Well, that was a year before. The their food, a perfect network of farnext time I saw him was at Port reaching tentacles. In many places Adam, and he came on board with a sharp spikes rose like so many speartattered shirt, an old hat, and a great heads, .a few inches apart, a serried cut in his hand; but with the same old array of budding mangroves, and one brightness in his face. He came to shuddered at the idea of treading baretell us that his people, his flock, the foot upon them. people that God had already given him, were down on the shore among All around one could hear the rusthe mangroves waiting for us. tling, crackling sound of hurrying crabs, as they scuttled from hole to He had come home some months hole, and in the stillness the seep of before, had gone inland to his people, mud and water as it trickled down to and had gathered around him a few poison the stream. Every here and who would listen; these had increased there a branch projected above the in numbers, and then he had induced water showing where a fallen and them to move down within reach of rotting tree had tried to block the the coast. N ow they were settled in stream. Over these the canoe was their new village, which nestled high lifted. up on the mountain about three miles away and in sight of the sea. Each bend in the stream disclosed more human beings, as silently and There was not time that day to go ghost-like they stalked through the to the village, so I arranged to go and mud and gloom looking for food, meet them at a market which was to while here and there in the water we be held among the mangroves with the came across the heads of men, who, salt-water people. up to their necks in water and mud, wallowed about on their hands and We started off in the boat, but soon knees trying to catch soft-fleshed eels had to take to a canoe, the water being in little hand-nets. This was a manso shallow, until we came to a small grove swamp. inlet. Here' I had the first sight of uarry's people, as they waded out like At last the canoe grounded and we so many great storks with very little had to leave it and take to the mud. clothing, and that mostly above the The market was to be held some diswaist to keep dry, while their long, tance away through the trees, and as brown legs were coated with darker slowly and painfully one sank deep at mangrove mud. each step, to find bottom perhaps on some sharp root or shell, one wished After a hand-shake we skimmed on for boots or harder soles. around the bend and began to wind our way up the creek. I can not de- Arrived at length at the market, we scribe the intolerable stench nor the found it merely a more level stretch depressing feeling in the air. of mud with a few logs on which were resting the yams which were brought The tide was running out, carrying for trade. I can see it all now as we to the clear ocean a new burden of stood there, a ring of figures, barefilth and ooze. On either side of the headed and up to the ankles in mud. inky black creek descended long roots In the center Harry Masti and myself ; like so many giant fingers, with which around dense gloom and sadness; the mangrove-trees were clutching at
19101 A GARDEN OF THE LORD IN THE SOLOMONS 53
above, high above, were birds singing There was no shelter, so we stayed and sunshine at the tree-tops. In the where we were in the stream, Harry distance, watching us in surprize and I under my big umbrella, through across some logs, were the salt-water which the rain was streaming, up heathen who had come to trade. against a bank only wetter than our- selves, and up to our knees in water. And then for the first time that sad On the other side an "unfortunate" wilderness rang with the praises of the was trying to shelter himself under a One who came to bring joy and glad- banana-tree, bending the leaves down ness to the whole earth. Simple around him, and even now I can see hymns they were, yet sung from the his face as he peered anxiously out of heart, and I think He heard and was the leaves across the stream to us. pleased. Then came a little Scripture and a short lesson on shining for Then the rain stopt and the sun Jesus; some fervent prayers, and the came out and we had a steam-bath instrangest, the very strangest service I stead of a shower-bath. When at last have ever attended came to an end and we left the stream, the path became we returned to the ship. What a merely a gutter filled with mud and talisman is Christ's love; how it water. At last we reached the village changes things. In spite of the dis- and at once I.sent for the largest fan, comfort, the slime, the gloom, I re- the heat was so intense. I found the member that day was the happiest school had only been finished three since I had left home. days before-a little place with dirt floor and no seats as yet-but over Two days later I paddled up the twenty regular attendants crowded same stream and met Harry at the into it while we held the first thanksmarket-place. I had hoped that dry giving service. Then I examined them land was near, but found that there in their reading of the Commandments was half a mile more of mangrove and Texts and found that they had mud. I can not tell you at length of learned well, and some had canfest that trip, but as a past experience it faith in the Savior. Then came the was a memorable one. At one place first present they had had-a piece of the path was along a slippery log, a calico from Miss Young-to those few inches wide, thrown down over a coming to school, and immediately the slough of despond. Each one took a village assumed a bright and animated long pole as a walking-stick, and as appearance, each one putting on the the poles sank three feet deep into new bright lava lava; and then it was black mud, I wondered whether I "good-by" again, and we started on should be a white man any longer if I the return trip. Often since I have slipped and fell in! But He had toiled up the mountain to visit Harry's said, "I will not suffer thy foot to be people. There has been a good deal moved," so we passed safely over. of killing in the district, which has up- set the village, but Harry goes steadily Then the path changed and led up on. I believe five, at least, have been the bed of a stream, in which progress really born again, and the numbers had to be made by hurried leaps and have so increased that a new church bounds from one boulder to another. is to be built. Then the rain came down and it became so heavy that at last we stopt.
Friends, I must confess that to me Here are the beginnings of great such a work is remarkable-here is things. There is for this man a crown one man who, single handed, but with being prepared, with many jewels in it. divine aid, without monetary or Could all of us show such fruit? With other help, except an occasional visit all our education and advantages I am every few months, has gathered these afraid many of us will be ashamed bepeople together, and is steadily teach- fore Him at His coming, when we see ing them the fear of the Lorcl. Harry such men as these and those they Masti receives no support, not even bring entering the kingdom. What a food-all is voluntary, clone out of de- home-coming it will be for them! votion to the Master, for paid teachers "Therefore let us not sleep, as do are unnecessary IJ1 this land where others, but let us watch, for the night food is so plentiful. cometh, when no man can work."
THE LAYMEN'S MISSIONARY CAMPAIGN Col. Elijah W. Halford, who has force has been displayed, and a Sptnbeen actively engaged in the Laymen's tual power visibly developed in the missionary campaign, writes that the Church that compels universal recogresponse of the motion to this effort to nition and calls for humble and revawaken interest and leacl men to ac- erent praise. Each of the conventions cept their share of responsibility has has had its own special characteristic. been marvelous. At the beginning One has been notable for demonstraonly fifty conventions were contem- tion of enthusiasm, as at Boise, where plated, and even this number seemed business was suspended so that men too great a task. But 75 were ar- could attend the meetings, while the ranged, and .as the campaign progrest Governor and mayor headed the street an increasing number of allied and parade as they marched to the opening auxiliary meetings were demanded. supper. Others have been character- ized by a depth of feeling "too full for But from the beginning God has sound and foam." But all have been guided the campaign, taken care of marvelously marked by the presence the work, and seen to it that, despite and power of the Spirit of God. Many great weaknesses, in the face of obsta- leaders and speakers have had to recles apparently insurmountable, now adjust themselves mentally and spiriand again one or another upon whom tually; they have had to discard in a a measure of reliance was placed be- degree the advance preparation made, ing forced to drop out of the ranks and have found their spirit and their for a time or altogether, not one of the message strangely molded by a Power conventions has recorded a failure. outside themselves, a Power that has From the opening convention at Buf- unifiecl heart, ennobled purpose, enf~lo to the Congress at Chicago the riched deliverance, stimulated faith song of triumph has been heard; the and perfect love. song of victory ever sounded, a moral BY GEORGE SHERWOOD EDDY "I was not disobedient unto the ward, but without a leader. Four Heavenly Vision." In these last hundred million women of Asia, not days, our young men have surely one of whom, apart fro mthe Cross, seen visions and upon our hand- has or can have her God-given rights maidens has the Spirit come. Will as a child of God. I see in India those these visions be realized? Surely little baby wives, 2,000,000 of them each of us has seen at least three under IO years of age; within every VISIons. one of them is a throbbing heart First of all, there has been the that God loves and would help, if vision of a deeper life. a life more He could get lips that would take joyous, more victorious. more fruit- His message. I have a little daughter.
ful than any we have ever known I would die that that white flower before. Some one says, if there is of a blameless life might he kept anything wrong with your life, it pure and blameless for Him; but will lie at one of three points; there would one die for these defenseless must he one of three causes; imper- girls, subjected to worse than death?
fect surrender. inadequate faith, or broken communion. And these are I think when I read that sweet story of surely the three conditions of that old When Jesus was here among men, deeper life; surrender, faith and How He called little children like lambs communion. Oh, the blessing of a to His fold.
glad surrender, which may be yours, How I wish that His hand conld be placed on their heads, if you are not disobedient to the That His arms might be thrown around heavenly VISIon; a faith just to them . And that they might behold His kind looks stand with Paul and say, I believe as He said.
God; a perfect communion, so that "Let the little ones come unto Me."
we can keep in touch with the The third and last vision we have power which is above us this year. seen is the vision of Jesus Hii11self- no man save Jesus only, as on that The second vision we have seen great mOllntain apart they saw Him these days is the vision of a needy transfigured? Dull would He be toworld. Did we not see with the eyes day who could pass by a sight to of Christ the vision of South Amer- tOllching in its majesty as the face Ica. The veil taken aside and look of Jesus. Did you see His face? more deeply than ever before into Vill that vision be realizer!? Ve sepathat great Moslem world? Did we rate from this mountain top of vinot see visions of Africa. dim and sion down to the valley of service by distant? But if we conld see to- two great paths; the path of obedinight, as the great heart of Christ ence that shineth more and more sees, that Dark Continent, could our unto the perfect day, with the vis'ion hearts stand the vision? And then undimmed. The other is along the there is the vision of Asia-I70,00o,- 000 young men, awake. having lost faith in their old religions, moving path of disohedience, in an unsur- forward, but-whither? Going for- rendered life. Which will you take?
A GENERATION OF "WOMAN'S WORK FOR WOMAN"
BY MRS. ETHAN CURTIS, BUFFALO, NEW YORK The position of woman, her power woman learned how to work through to fill any place with credit, has be- organizations. Very soon the negcome the test of national greatness. lected women of the earth claimed In like manner, the condition of her care and a vast array of "Woman's woman, and the way men regard her Missionary Societies" sprang up all in the scale of humanity, may be taken over America in all denominations. as the gage of any religion. Only Par about thirty years these societies the true religion has given woman a nave been working with love and place of consequence. Women stand prayers and purses for the converon the roll of Jewish heroes. The sion of women in the uttermost parts first prophecy of the New Testament of the earth. comes from a woman's lips: Look at some of these efforts. In My soul doth magnify the Lord, and Turkey, with her harem, where my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my woman's worst powers reign supreme, Savior. For He hath regarded the low are hosts of Christian schools for girls estate of His handmaiden; for, behold, and a superb woman's college. The from henceforth, all generations shall best essentials of education characcall me blessed. For He that is mighty terize them all-thoroughness, spirihath done to me great things and holy tuality, a lofty Christian ideal of is His name. character. Many of these teachers are superb scholars, all are earnest Chris- That cry of Mary touched Europe tians, each gives constant care to the with new sentiments, and gave fresh entire life of her pupils. From India, impulse to art and literature. Not an in the long past, has come that horrible age has passed since without its story of child-widows; but since missaintly women, its cultured women, its sions have touched souls there India women as statesmen, like Victoria and has furnished wondrous women to this Elizabeth; but in the non-Christian world. What human being has done world woman has, as a rule, been de- more for the salvation of woman in graded and despised; her home had body, mind and soul than Pundita ever written over its portals, "All Ramabai? Miss Lilivati Singh, prohope abandon ye wh0 enter here." fessor in Lucknow College, can speak The centuries have whirled by since for the higher education of woman Christ came to earth, and still, in non- with an eloquence that thrilled the Christian lands, men give little finest audience ever gathered in thought or care for women's lives, America, that Ecumenical Council of so that both earthly and eternal perdi- 1900. All the splendors of the Taj tion has seemed their fate. Mahal, that superb temple of India dedicated to a heathen· woman, sink The chief reason of this was not into insignificance before such women the heart of woman, but her head. In and their work. In the war betwe~·n these long years she had been working Japan and China many a Christian as an individual; now the individual nurse, once a disciple of Confucius, must be multiplied into an institution led dying soldiers to Christ. Madabefore it can lengthen and strengthen gascar, awful in its ancient heathenits work so as "to reach round the world." As nurse in the hospitals during the Civil War, and later through the Freedmen's Bureau, ism, long since proclaimed itself Chris- ors; Miss Andrews, professor in a tian, with a native Christian Queen. theological seminary in China, saved Woman, from a queen-mother to many the legations of the world, in that a humble worker, has helped to make awful siege of Peking, through those Hawaii fit to become a portion of our native Christians for whom she ob- own beloved country. In "benighted tained admittance in the hour of Africa" woman has been changed frlilm danger. All creeds and countries have a beast of burden to a cross-bearer. their noble lists of martyrs and grand The women's foreign missionary line of heroes; the whole roll of societies have led more women into the women martyrs among our missions positions usually regarded as the pecu- can never be given. Climate, the liar possession of men than has any Turk, the Boxers have all had their other organization. In our country are victims, while many, like Corinna many women physicians, but all might Shattuck, have boldly faced the foe stop their work and the men doctors and conquered. would gladly do it for them. In Business is not usually accounted a Christianizing foreign lands, the woman's profession; tho most Ameri- woman physician is an absolute neces- can women manage money in some sity. No other human being has her way, yet these are without organiza- privileges in the harem, the zenana, tion. The women's boards are every- or the humblest home. They give to where organized as great business this work scientific skill and loving enterprises. They show marked abil- Christian hearts. The number of cases ity in methods of work, in handling they treat would astonish our best vast sums of money with exactness physicians. Native women have and economy, in managing schools and shown great ability in this profession; hospitals, in erecting church buildings while our many medical schools and and parsonages. Their conventions hospitals in these far-off lands are are ably conducted, their addresses are among the best in the world. We often eloquent; always interesting, might count a score or more of women they take rank among the great conpreachers in America. Excellent as ventions of our land. is their work, some man is waiting These records show us something of for it; but in all countries where the how the woman's missionary societies woman's foreign missionary society have helped woman, in all parts of the labors are hosts of women preachers, world, to do, what has hitherto been both American and native born. They considered a man's work, ably, yet in expound the word of Gal on the street, a woman's most womanly way. by the river, on the hillside, in the This work of "woman for woman," church, on the platform, in the quiet one of the mightiest events that origiof the home, just as did Christ, our nated in the nineteenth century, has Lord; just as ctid Paul, the first and been done in about one generation. greatest of foreign missionaries. These The twentieth century has already "Bible-readers" are qUIte as necessary opened as a millennium for woman in to foreign missionary work as the the whole earth, chiefly because of the woman physician. Our theological women's missionary societies in the seminaries do not have women profess- churches of England and America.
AFGHANS
BY C. FIELD, LONDON, ENGLAND :Missionary among the Afghans, 1892~1903 As the train toils slowly along the traces of a Semitic ongtn. It is althousand miles from Bombay to the most incredibly harsh and has been Northwest frontier station of Pesha- compared to the rattling of stones in war and nears its terminus, one be- a kettle. They are so suspicious that comes aware of a type of native enter- Colonel Warburton, who spent sixteen ing the train very different from the years as British resident in the Khyber mild Hindu. Stalwart bearded men, Pass, said it took him all that time to often over six feet high, clothed for gain their confidence. winter in "posteens" (rough sheepskins worn with the hair outward), They are also extremely covetous. stalk up and down the platforms as if "Oh, Padre! give us gold," was the they and not the English were the exclamation of a Pathan to a Peshalords of the land. The country th'ey war missionary who was trying to inhabit and the language they speak preach to them. correspond to their rough exterior. Burglary is one of their favorite Afghanistan, for the most part, con- pastimes, and sleep at Peshawar is sists of a mass of mountains destitute often broken by the sound of sharp of vegetation, as there is no rain often firing at night, which means that a for months together. The villages are brisk encounter is going on between constantly at feud with one another, some Afridi marauders and a sentiand each village contains a tower with nel's outpost. Their intention in these one door high up, to which access can descents is generally to seize rifles, only be had by a ladder which is drawn which are said to be worth their weight up when the inmates .11 e safe within. in silver among the mountains, where every man's hand is against his The Afghans call themselves "Bani brother. Israel"' (the children of Israel), and in their own traditions trace their descent Civilization and Christianity seem to Saul, the first King of Israel. They unable to pass this mountain barrier, are remarkably Jewish in physiognomy where they have been waiting for upand have certain customs, such as the ward of fifty years. The Afghans sending away of a scapegoat or calf object to the railway being introduced into the wilderness after the mullahs into their country, and of course no have laid their hands on its head. missionary is ever allowed across the Death by stoning, dividing the land frontier, tho Europeans have been in by lot and the necessity of the younger charge of the Ameer's workshops at brother marrying the widow of his Kabul, and an English lady doctor also elder brother also prevail among them. attended his wives. Attempts at land- These facts have led many to suppose surveying across the frontier have them to be the lost ten tribes. One often been frustrated by the natives, Christian .Tew, Isidor Lowenthal, from who persisted on looking upon land- America, was induced by this report surveying as a kind of witchcraft, and to go as a missionary to Peshawar made night attacks on the surveyor's so as to reach his brothers. camp.
Their language, Pushtu, betrays no The passionate nature of the Afghans often gives rise to tragedies. Un one occasion a Pathan coming their long-felt need. Savage as they home and finding his wife unable to are, the Pathans have a literature of attend to him, as she was nursing her their own. Their poetry is mostly of child, seized the latter and dashed out a religious or mystic sort, and their its brains against the wall, saying her chief poet, Abdurrahman, is also refirst duty was to attend to him. Dur- garded as a saint. Native minstrels or ing my stay in Peshawar a Pathan, "dums" also wander about from vilbetrothed to a girl whose parents re- lage to village and recite their poems fused to give her up to him as she was to the accompaniment of a rude munot of age, collected a band of des- sical instrument like a guitar. These peradoes, attacked the village by night, poems often deal with the defeats of killing about thirteen people and carry- the English by the Pathans somewhat ing off the girl under the noses of the in the style of Deborah's triumph song native police, who had a "chauki" or over Sisera. Indeed, the Pathans irt guard-house at no great distance. their mountain fastnesses, with their religious fanaticism, venturing only As is common among savage na- occasionally into the plains for a foray, tures, superstition is largely present. have a certain likeness to the Israelites They are all Sunni Mohammedans, in the time of the Judges. From and nearly every village has its saint's time to time "holy men" rise up shrine marked by a few colored rags among them somewhat like the Judges hung upon sticks. It is no uncommon Samson -and J ephthah and equally sight to see a gang of prisoners in mixed in character. One of these was chains being taken by guards from the the Hadda mullah, who inflamed the jail to the court-house stopping before whole mass of the Pathans against us one of these shrines and praying, at the time of the Tirah expedition. guards and prisoners together, with Even in times of peace isolated cases the palms of their hands turned up- of "ghazeeism," or murderous outward in the Eastern attitude of suppli- rages committed on Europeans by cation. Some of these saints' graves Pathans, are often occurring. The perare more than nine yards in length, as petrator is generally some ignorant they are supposed to go on growing Pathan whose zeal has been worked up after death. It is said that one saint to frenzy-point b some Mullah, who at Peshawar threatened to grow across has promised him Pal adise if he kills the public road, till the authorities an infidel. Thus only about two years said he must cease, which he obli- ago a colonel at Peshawar was shot gingly did. while looking on at some sports, and a young officer while putting his horse A quaint story is told of the Zaka into the train, while numerous murders KheIs, a section of the tribe of the of private soldiers have taken place. Afridis. They felt aggrieved that On the Russian side of Afghanistan while every other section of the tribe on such occasions they usually hang had its saint's shrine they had none. the nearest mullah, or priest, but Accordingly, when a mullah of pe- English methods are not so drastic. culiar sanctity visited them and up- Executions at Peshawar are, however, braided them with thdr backwardness in the matter, they killed him, built a of a semi-public character, one-half of shrine over him, and thus supplied
the gallows being visible from the interpreters between the Government road. They generally take place as and their own tribe. soon as possible after the crime, a special law prevailing on the frontier The women, as in all Mohammedan to this effect. countries, have a hard time, doing much of the outdoor work as well as It is an interesting experience to the indoor, since the Pathan in time sit in one of the shops in the main of peace loves nothing so much as bazaar of Peshawar on a Friday, and lounging about the village "hujra" to watch the thousands of Pathans (guest-house), smoking the hooka who swarm in from the villages to say and gossiping. Quarrelsome as they their prayers in the chief mosque of are about "gold, ground and women," the city. When two friends meet as one of their own proverbs says, it they embrace, each with his head look- is a mercy that the tiger in their dising over the other's shoulder. The positions is not further inflamed by usual form of salutation is not "How strong drink. This is one of the good do you do?" but "Don't be tired?" points in Islam, that it exercises a real This may be due to the enormous dis- deterrent influence on its followers tances they have to walk. In the in this direction. Another good Peshawar bazaar may be often seen feature in their character is the stress weird-looking figures from Bokhara. laid upon the duty of hospitality. It These are the Hajis or pilgrims to is often useful when approaching a Mecca, who go rounel the shops so- village and met by glowering looks to liciting alms to fulfil their pious pur- remind them of their Prophet's famous pose. Here you will see a reciter with precept, "Honor the guest, tho he be a crowd round him sounding the an infidel," which goes a long way to praises of Mohammed, there a mullah disarm hostility. inciting his audience to be diligent in the duties of prayer, fasting, alms, ab- The Pathan has a certain rude lutions and pilgrimage, the five pillars chivalry in his nature, and the English of Islam. The Pathans, tho never ladies among the captives at Kabul really contented, are much better off in the Afghan war of r842 were under the English rule than that of treated very differently to those who the Sikh which preceded it. The lat- fell into the hands of the mutineers in ter would not allow the call of prayer India in 1857. to be given from the minarets of the mosques, which the Pathans looked Pathan merchants wander to Ausupon as a dire insult. Members of the tralia, where they are often a great wildest hill tribes enlist in the English nuisance, demanding in the guise of army, and their savagery is represt pedlars money from the wives of setif not eradicated by drill and discipline. tlers in lonely places while their husvVhen they have done their term of bands are away. Altogether the service and return as pensioners to Pathan, tho not exactly a lovable chartheir homes, they are often useful as acter, is interesting and has many lat- ent capacities yet to be evolved by Christianity and 'civilization.
EDITORIALS
THE DEATH ROLL OF THE MONTH cd on them and took thirteen pris- The necrological list is one of the oners. Of twenty converts in training most important we have ever chroni- at the time, only nine escaped. Both cled. We mention only a few con- missionaries were bound with thongs spicuous names, of whom obituary no- and left lying on the beach in the troptices follow, in their usual place. ical sun for several hours, while the savages took the native captives in- April 28, at Beirut, Syna, Rev. land. The cannibals then returned and bore the missionaries on a litter Henry Harris Jessup, D.D., aged 78 to the crater of the extinct volcano years. Van I ue, in the center of the island, where for two days .and nights they May 2, at Philadelphia, John H. held a corroboree, with dancing and Converse, aged 79. revelry.
May 5, at Cohoes, N. Y., Horace While most of the cannibals slept Brinsmade Silliman, aged 84. the captive natives escaped, their going hastened by the sight of two of the May 5, at Edinburgh, Scotland, cannibal chiefs donning the mission- Rev. Alexander MacLaren, D.D., aged aries' clothes, after they had been 83. eaten.
May 6, at Buckingham Palace, Ed- In the Tonga, the Society, the Soloward VII, King of Great Britain. mon and the Cook groups, the natives are holding dances and feasting on May 8, at Islampur, Bombay Presi- human flesh, as they did before the dency, India, Mrs. Eliza Jane Wilder, white men interfered. aged 88. Savage Island, known also as Niue May – , at Harpoot, H. N. Barnum, Island, is the largest of the ungrotlped D.D. islands in the south Pacific. It has 4,400 population, and is forty miles The most conspicuous of the seven in circumference. It was annexed to above-mentioned, in the world's eyes is New Zealand in 1901. Great Britain Edward VII, the English king, in many will probably promptly punish the outrespects a remarkable man and a de- rage, but two more martyrs are added servedly popular monarch. His last to the roll of honor. utterance was, "It is all over, but I think I have done my duty." There seems to be a general consensus of all parties that his short reign was wise and beneficent, and that few, if any, British monarchs have evoked more real affection from their subjects. He COMPULSORY PEACE will be remembered as a pacificator, for Ex-President Roosevelt, who just his study has been to promote the peace now looms up large on the world's of the world, and he has had no little horizon, in his Nobel Peace Prize ad- Sllccess. His son, George V, promises dress at Christiania, not only strongly to be an acceptable ruler, and his wife, pleaded for universal peace, but outwho has been known as Princess May lined a comprehensive plan for arbiof Teck, is one of the best of women, tration, suggesting to the leading interested in every good work. Powers to abolish war. He said: ABHORRENT CANNIBALISM "There is as much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of Rev. Horatio Hopkins and the Rev. the world of capital and the cruel Hector Laurie MacPherson, mission- greed and violence of part of the world aries of the Presbyterian Church on of labor as to check a cruel and un- Savage Island, were eaten by can- healthy militarism in international re- nibals on February 5. lationship. No man is worth calling a They were teaching in the mission man who will not fight rather than building on the beach in the little submit to infamy or see those dear to harbor, when two hundred uncon- him suffer wrong. It would be a mas- verted savages. howling war cries and ter stroke if the great Powers honest- brandishing clubs and spears, descend- ly bent on peace would form a League
of Peace to prevent war, by force, if membership awaiting us. A few Sunnecessary. The ruler or statesman clays ago 1 baptized six persons, the who should bring about such a combi- average age of whom was about nation would earn his place in history seventy years." for all time and his title to the gratitude of all mankind." Protestant missions began work in Korea twenty-five years ago. To-day The Federal Council of the the Presbyterian Mission (North) alone Churches of Christ in America, at its reports 25,057 communicants, or more meeting in Philadelphia, recommend- than 1,000 for each year of work, ed, by unanimous vote of delegates while the total number of adherents is representing a membership of about 96,668. There are 107 missionaries in 17,000,000, "that the various societies the Presbyterian Mission, 57 organized of young people connected with the churches and over 900 places of reguevangelical denominations represented lar meeting. The Theological Semiin the Federal Council, recognize the nary was attended by 138 students last 18th of Mayas Hague day, and have year, and the academies at Pyeng on that day in all their chapters, as Yang, Seoul, Taiku, and Syen Chun far as possible, a consideration of the were well attended. The 589 primary subject of peace." The first great con- schools enrolled 10,916 boys and 2,5 II ference of officially appointed dele- girls, and six hospitals ministered to gates opened its sessions on the 18th of over 50,000 patients. May, 1899. The second Hague conference was in session for four months A school for the blind is held at in 1907, and the third will meet in Pyeng Yang. The new station at 1914. Notwithstanding many difficul- Kang Kai, in the far north, has been ties, steps have been taken that opened and there are already over 900 promise even more definite action in Christians in the city, who are buildthe near future on the part of many ing a large church at their own exof the great nations of the world, pense. At Syen Chun there were but urging that international questions 60 Christians in the whole province. shall be submitted to the Hague Court and but one Christian in the city itself for arbitration. in 1897. Now more than one-half of the people of Syen Chun City are WINNING THE WORLD TO CHRIST Christians, and the city has 5,000 in- habitants, while the county contains Rev. D. A. Bunker writes that, more than 5.000 Christians altogether. "Work in Korea goes forward rapid- The native pastor of the Syen Chun ly, so fast that we can hardly keep City congregation was a poor and within sight of the van. It is a great rag-ged heathen in 18q7, but is now opportunity for winning souls for more influential than the local magis- Christ in this land, and we are all on trate in office. and lives in a parsonage the run to keep pace with the work we built by his own people. which is conhave in hand. The people of the sidered the best native building in the church of which I have charge here in city. Two new stations are to be added the city are carrying on home mission to the eight already in existence." work in over 140 villages outside this city wall. Every Sunday the members SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT and the workers they have enlisted carryon regular preaching in 1I mis- In how manv ways the Word of sion chapels. Last Sunday I was at God calls attention to the supernatural one of these chapels and received 2~ {'lement in all life and work for God. probationers. The native pastor and Take the story in 2 Kings 3: 16-20 myself are out among these chapels as an examvle. The three kings. more than half our Stlndays. At every chapel there are candidates for bap- Tehoshaphat, Tehoram and King of tism, or for probationership, or for full Edam, were confederated against the King of Moab Misha. And there was no water-even the Valley el-Ashy,
54 I
whose supply was perennial, was dry. sponsibility for all the inhabitants to Elisha was called in to give help and assume, yet there was an attempt to counsel. And he bade them make the take care of three or four. Mr. Fiske's valley full of ditches, etc. They were plan is: not to see wind nor rain, yet there was "Let the two or three congregations to be abundance of water and pro- elect, each choosing its own members, vision was to be made for it; and by a a joint executive commission, to which cloudburst it came by way of Edom. should be given the practical conduct This valley drains a large part of of the common interests of all. Let northern Edom and a great rainfali this commission select the building during the night inundated the valley. most convenient for their joint services And Elisha added, this is a light thing of public worship, leaving the other in the sight of the Lord. building or buildings for all sorts of All the tendencies of our day are in social service-a kind of church-house, the direction of materialism and with reading, recreation and resort naturalism. We are getting where we rooms, perhaps also a gymnasium- have no expectation of results without thus serving a grandly popular part, an abunrlance of human machinery, and meeting, on Christian grounds organization, numbers, sensational- like the Young Men's Christian Asso- ism, publicity, large money expendi- ciation and Young Women's Christian ture, extensive advertising, the spec- Association, a universally felt social tacular, etc. need. Neither congregation would There are certain fundamental needs lose its name or denominational rela- of all evangelism; first, a gospel mes- tions. . . . The outcome would be, sage; second, a gospel man behind it, probably, that most newcomers would with a deep experience of what he enter on the last-named plan, and so, preaches; third, the power to touch after a time, as the older denomina- men collectively and individually at tional champions passed away, the de- vital points; and fourth, spiritual touch nominational organizations would go with God-the last most important. into 'innocuous desuetude.' Bv that In Acts Chaps. viii-x, Philip and time the merger wave would -likely the Eunuch, the Spirit, the Angel and have risen so high that it would be the Book-all combine, God working easy for this united local body to fall on a human soul while He wrought on into one or another of the gracious a human believer and teacher, appear- consolidations of denominations. The ing to Cornelius and to Peter and greatest difficulty in effecting this sort bringing the two together. of merger in the average village is the fact that everybody knows all about CHURCHES IN RURAL DISTRICTS everybody else and everybody is not A writer in The Interior, Mr. Asa perfect. Cliques cut up these little com- S. Fiske, revives and advocates a munities in lines very difficult of policy for the consolidation of country crossing."
churches which we have more than A PARSEE MORALIST once advocated in these columns. In a small village in Michigan, with Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, a public- which the editor of this REVIEW was spirited Parsee merchant of Bombay, perfectly familiar, there were not over of fine business ability and great will four hundred residents, and yet there force, died April r4, r859, aged seventy- were four churches trying to exist. six, worth $4,000,000. In r822,at forty, One building was enough to hold all he gave proof of a remarkable munifi- church-goers. Out of the four hun- cence, releasing debtors from jail by dred about half were mothers who assuming their debts, and for thirty- could not leave home on Sunday, or six years his beneficence never slack- children too young to be brought. To ened; he gave away over $1,5°0,000 in support one pastor was enough re- promiscuous charity, utterly indiffer-
ent to class or creed, and, in honor of jects the claims of Christ. The pros- his patriotism and munificence, was pects of salvation of such as Jejeebhoy, knighted by Queen Victoria in r842, trained in paganism and imperfectly and presented with a gold medal bear- acquainted with Christianity, are ing her image set in diamonds in r843. nevertheless to be preferred to those The hospital at Bombay which bears of the most enlightened moralist, who, his name is a monument to his noble in a Christian land, under the noon- charity; the Grant Medical College tide blaze of a Christian civilization, was endowed by him, which furnishes born and bred in such an atmosphere, India with skilled medical practition- lives and dies in neglect of Christ!
ers. He established at Bombay an asylum for the education and support THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S WITNESS of poor Parsee children. No man "The chief of blessings for any nation ever contributed more to the prosper- is that it shall leave its seed to inherit ity of the presidency of Bombay, and the land. It was the crown of bless- Lord Elphinstone, the governor, said ings in Biblical times, and it is the that, beside the great works which en- crown of blessings now. The greatest dear his name to future generations, of all curses is the curse of sterility, his private-almost secret-charities, and the severest of all condemnations divided the weekly bread to thousands should be that visited upon wilful of his fellow creatures. His wealth sterility. The first essential in any was gotten by sagacity, industry and civilization is that the man and the integrity, and given with wisdom, dis- woman shall be father and mother of crimination and sense. And yet Jejee- healthy children, so that the race shall bhoy for three-quarters of a century increase and not decrease. If this is confronted the Christian religion as he not so, if through no fault of society beheld it in the East Indies, and per- there is failure to increase, it is a great sistently and obstinately clung to the misfortune. If the failure is due to superstitions in which he had been deliberate and wilful fault, then it is born and nurtured. not merely a misfortune; it is one of He died, as he had lived, a Parsee- those crimes of ease ane! self-indul- a Persian fire-worshiper, adhering to gence, of shrinking from pain and ef- the Zend-Avesta, and rejecting the fort and risk, which in the long run Bible; and, day after day, like Alexan- nature punishes more heavily than any der the Great before him, went down other. If we of the great republics; to the sea-beach and bowed in worship if we, the free people who claim to before the rising sun. With all his have emancipated ourselves from the patriotic, humane and philanthropic thraldom of wrong and error, bring impulse, he was born and bred an down on our heads the curse that idolater, and his morality throughout comes upon the wilfully barren, then had a pagan type and spirit. His it will be an idle waste of breath to liberality of creed was nothing more prattle of our achievements, to boast than the toleration of indifferentism. of all that we have done. No refine- His charity was the indiscriminate ment of life, no delicacy of taste, no generosity of a lavish disposition; his material progress, no sordid heaping religion was a mechanical and blind lip of riches, no sensuolls development allegiance to the tradition and super- of art and literature, can in any way stition of his race. But, far as his compensate for the loss of the great morality was from even the pretense fundamental virtues; and of these of piety, it was just as good a sub- great fundamental virtues the greatest stitute for Christianity as that of any is the race's power to perpetuate the man who, like him, confronts and re- race."
MISSIONARY
AMERICA "Business System in Missionary Finance"
The Impossible Has Come to Pass Calling upon the Protestant churches of America to make a per- Says the Northwestern Christian sonal canvass of their 20,000,000 mem- Advocate: "If it had been predicted bers in the cause of foreign missions, two years ago that four thousand men John R. Pepper, a banker of Memwould leave their affairs for the better phis, said: "Only one out of every part of a week, furnish their own four women, and only one out of every traveling and entertainment expenses, eight men of the average church have and pay five dollars for a season of given any amount to foreign missions. missionary addresses, the prophet When this fact is known, no argument would have been regarded as a is necessary to show the crying need dreamer who dreamed that he had for business system in missionary been dreaming. And yet, that is what finance. The spasmodic, once-a-week has actually taken place in the very appeal for foreign missions has not undreamlike city of Chicago, in the aroused the interest of the men of the most businesslike and hard-headed Church. Business system is needed. century the world has ever known." Several things are needed to put the foreign missionary offerings on a sys- Chicago Convention Nuggets tematic basis. Every member of the Church should make a weekly offering Judge Selden P. Spencer, of St. for this purpose. A uniform envelop Louis, said: "One minister to every should be used. An every-member forty-six in the United States and one canvass in the cause of all foreign misto every 250,000 in heathendom needs sions should be made by the churches. .;no comment to make it a foreign mis- This campaign is absolutely essential sionary argument." to reach the entire membership. A short, sharp, canvass has been found Mr. White displayed a diagram to yield the best results. In some cases showing the fourfold obligation laid it has been found best to have men by our Lord upon His Church. It is canvass the men and boys, and worepresented by four squares thus: men canvass the women and girls, se- curing definite pledges for the year." Jerusalem Judea Samaria IUttermost parts Polygamy in Mormondom of the earth The Salt Lake Tribune tells an ex- I traordinary story of the prevalence of polygamy still among the Mormons of The population of the United States, Utah. The plural marriages are often about 100,000,000, spent last year in celebrated at the Mormon colony in work at home (which is Jerusalem, Mexico. The names are given of a hundred persons who have plural Judea and Samaria) $300,000,000. In wives, many or most of whom have the fourth square, "the uttermost parts been taken since the Woodruff manof the earth," our nation spent $11,- ifesto with its revelation forbidding 000,000, altho the population of "the polygamy. Yet the Mormons protest uttermost parts of the earth" un evan- that polygamy is dying out fast; that the old polygamists may not have put gelized is 600,000,000. away their wives, but no new ones are George Sherwood Eddy said: allowed to be taken. New polygamous relations are entered into with caution, "Twenty-five years ago there was not but high officers in the church become a Christian in Korea. Twenty years polygamists or assist in plural marago there were only seven, meeting riages. The list given includes many secretly. Now there are over 200,000, bishops and elders. and yet we ask for an argument."
EUROPE-GREAT BRITAIN which [149,47° was made up of dona- The United Kingdom Becoming Sober tions, subscriptions and collections for ge?e~al purposes, [22,141 for special Great Britain is becoming an ex- bUlldlllgS, etc., and £91,398 legacies. tremely sober nation, and that, too, The total amount subscribed to the much like our own inclination in the homes since their foundation by the same direction, without any political late Dr. Barnardo in r866 was £4,227,- agitation. Last year in the United 896. Kingdom the expenditure for spirituous liquors was $25,000,000 less than Missionaries of the S. P. G.
in 1908. This is a tremendous sum to This Gospel reports no less than be saved from waste, for it was un- 1,227 men and women upon its list, doubtedly saved, or, at least, spent for as follows: Of the ordained (inclu- better things than drink. This reform ding 12 bishops), 852; in Asia 314, in is not confined to any class. From the Africa 264, in Australia and the Pa- statistics it is seen that not only was cific 27, in North America 151, in the the wine, whisky, and brandy bill cut, West Indies and Central and South but the beer and ale as well. In clubs America 67, and 29 chaplains in and mansions, in mess halls, tenements, Europe. Of the ordained missionaries and "pubs," there has been a marked 239 are natives: 161 in Asia, 75 in falling off in the drink consumption. Africa, 2 in Guiana, and I East Indian The old "B. and S." and its successor, in Trinidad. Laymen, 122: 61 in Asia, whisky and soda, have .almost entirely 29 in Africa, 2 in Carpentaria (Aus- gone out, and wines, save at banquets, tralia), 29 in North America, and I in are sparingly used, and even at public Antigua. Of these 61 are natives: 38 feasts men in larger numbers are in Asia, 19 in Africa, 2 in Carpentaria, turning down their glasses. and 2 Chinese catechists in New West- Among the poor there is still a deal minster. There are 253 women on the of beer .and ale consumed, but oftener society's list (13 are natives), of whom with meals than as a social beverage 205 are in Asia, in Africa 4I, in Aus- at bars. The police records show a tralia 1, in Nassau (West Indies) 6.
notable falling off of arrests for drunk- Church Mislionary Society's Report enness and a decrease in crimes laid to drink. In the place of strong drink During the last year 179 candidates they now consume tea-which "ine- for the field (87 men and 92 women) briates not, but only cheers." Even in were dealt with by the committees- regimental mess-rooms the steaming fifty being accepted for training and cup of Bohea has supplanted beer and probation (16 men and 34 women).
more ardent tipple.-Chicago Tribune. Acceptances as missionaries numbered Dr. Barnardo's Homes 46 (31 men and 15 women). The stations in the various fields now num- The recent forty-fourth annual re- ber 562. The European laborers in- port showed that, to December 31 last, clude 41 I clergy, 146 laymen, 390 70,436 children have been dealt with. wives, and 441 single ladies-in all In 1909, 2,802 children were admitted 1,388. To these have to be added 405 (2,120 permanently, and 682 tempo- native clergy, and 7,877 lay teachers.
rarily). Two-thirds came from the The number of native Christian ad- provinces, a.nd one-third from London. herents (including catechumens) was Some 8,700 boys and girls of all ages 360,285, and that of communicants were under the care of the association 101,12I. The baptisms during the year at the close of the year; 967 young were 23,772. The 2,674 schools had emigrants were sent out during the 165,135 scholars. The 3,075 beds pro- year, making a grand total of 21,637. vided under the medical department Less than two per cent. are failures. accommodated 29,924 in-patients, The audited accounts showed total in- while 1,197,635 visits were received come for the year to be £263,009, of from out-patients.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
THE CONTINENT Hope for Russia American Mission. in Europe "Inexpe- As a result of the interview which Rev. Dr. Clifford and Rev. ]. H. dient" Shakespeare had some time ago with the Russian ambassador, and of the By direction of the General Assem- address to the Czar which was then bly, the board of foreign missions has accepted, in regard to the Baptists in been considering carefully the ques- Russia, it appears that, "with the pertions involved in the proposal that our mission of the Czar," the two pastors Church shall do foreign mission work in question, with two others, will, in in Europe, and reported to the last as- September next, pay a visit to Russia sembly in words that have perhaps with the object of holding conferences escaped the attention of some who and forming "one Russian Baptist have been interested in the work of Church." Our contemporary, The missions in Roman Catholic countries. }vfethodist Times, anticipates much from this movement, and remarks: The Board reported that it is inexpedient for our church to establish mis- "It is full of promise for the future sions on the Continent of Europe, for of Russia, that this great empire which the reasons that the Church is already has hitherto been dominated by the responsible for more mission work State conception of formal religion, than it is properly doing, that the should have presented to it in a powerprimary responsibility for mission ful and influential form a Protestant work in Europe rests with the English denomination which stands so strongly and Continental churches, .and that for individual faith and profession." those European churches would regard the establishment of American Certainly the possibilities are almost missions as an unwise and harmful boundless, and no doubt the matter policy.-The Presbyterian. will be made the subject of earnest and Financial Help for the Berlin Society continued prayer by evangelical be- lievers in this country.-London Chris- The Berlin Missionary Society has tian. struggled with great deficits for years, until at last the total amounted to Baptist "Troublers" in Moscow $I86,367. Some years ago a conse- Moscow is the holy city to the Greek crated friend willed to the society a Catholic Church, as Rome is to the large legacy, but the other heirs re- Roman Catholic Church. Not more fused to abide by the terms of the will painful to the Vatican is the working and a lawsuit ensued. Now, two- of that Methodist propaganda in Rome thirds of the large legacy has been al- than is the invasion of Baptists to the lotted to the society, while the suit con- Holy Orthodox Church in Moscow. cerning'~the other third goes on. The Pastor Fetler, of the Baptist Church in amount thus given to the Berlin So- St. Petersburg, took advantage of the ciety is $I87,222, so that it is sufficient Czar's proclamation of religious liberty to wipe out the whole threatening de- and began a mission in Moscow last ficit and the society can proceed un- year, but he was accused by the clergy encumbered bv debt. before the Chief]ustice of proselyting But the leaders of the financial af- and the mission was closed. He ap- fairs of this, the greatest German so- pealed to the Prime Minister, M.
ciety, feel somewhat worried in spite Stolypin, and was authorized to con- of the large inheritance. About $75,- tinue the services. On January 25, 000 annually must be added by the four persons were baptized by immer- friends of the work to the income of sion in the Baptist hall in the presence about $160,000, if the society shall of a crowded congregation. This was continue its work without going into the first service of its kind ever held debt again at once. There is danger in Moscow. This invasion of the that such a large legacy will decrease Holy City is frantically resented by contributions. the chief newspapers of the Orthodox
Church. In an abusive article de- near Glatz, in the same province. It nouncing the Baptists as "foreign dirt" has found openings for its workers in and "hooligans," it beseeches the saints Russian Poland, in Vollynia, and in and dead czars to come and deliver Galicia, where they offer the full gosthe faithful from defilement worse pel to members of the Roman Cathothan that which was threatened by the lic and Greek churches, and also to the Tatars. Jews.
Waldensian Activity in Italy ASIA-MOSLEM LANDS Much interest has been aroused in Enlargement at Robert College this country for missionary work in Italy through the visit of Rev. Dr. This institution is soon to come into Arturo Muston, president of the mis- possession of the $1,5°0,000 left by sionary work Of the Waldensian John S. Kennedy, of which a million Church, and Rev. Prof. Giorgio Bar- is to go to endowment and a half-miltoli, the former Jesuit, who has joined lion is to be used in the erection of ten the Vvaldenses. The religious awa- new buildings for the college and for kening in Italy has opened wonderful professors' houses. And besides, with opportunities for Christian work. The money from Mr. C. H. Dodge, a Y. M. Waldenses, who have only 16 churches C. A. hall is to be built. in their native valleys of Piedmont, where they kept the Evangelical truth The American College for Girls will throughout the ages, have now organ- soon be removed from the east side of ized 200 missionary churches and sta- the Bosporus to a site on the west tions through the Italian Peninsula. side, located between Robert College and Constantinople. For buildings They own a beautiful temple of wor- $500,000 are required, of which s~m ship in the Via Nazionale-the heart $375,000 have already been contnbof Rome; and there is a hall near the uted. To this institution Turkish girls railway station in Rome where two are now coming in encouraging numweekly services are held, which is bers. utilized as a Bible depot and readingroom; also a place where letters can "Young Turkey" and Christianity be written and addresses looked up. Much good work is done here. Some We hailed with thankfulness the end of the most interesting meetings of of the old regime in Turkey, for any friends of the gospel are held in the change from the rule of Abdul Hamid brethren's houses in the Trastevere must needs be for the better. But we quarter. There is, too, in Rome, a wondered how it would affect the proshome for converted priests, which was pects of the Christian faith in that established about ten years ago. Four- great Mohammedan stronghold. The teen Roman Catholic priests and Bote aus Zion-published in Jerusalem monks of the highest type joined the -discusses the probable effect of the Waldenses last year; 16 more are un- "Young Turk" revolution upon Chrisder instruction. tian missions in Mohammedan lands. Religious freedom is at present nom- Missionary Society for Southeastern inally allowed in Turkey, but whether the gospel may have free course to Europe make converts is not yet evident. The results in Egypt-where full liberty is Tho founded in 1903, the Mission- allowed-have not been encouragmg. ary Society for Southeastern Europe Individual Christians have not, by has become little known outside the their lives and conduct, exhibited the borders of Germany. It supports a moral superiority of the faith they small training-school for evangelists, profess; and, according to the Evancolporteurs, and religious teachers, Kelisches Missions-Magazin, Eastern which has lately been removed from Mohammedans deny that religion has Kattowitz, in Silesia, to Hausdorf, anything to do with the "superior progressiveness of Christian nations." It 2,000 I11llian Christians were present. is the old, old story that if we want to It is computed that there are 30,000 win the millions of Islam to the faith Christians in Gujarat, belonging to of Christ, it needs that Oriental Chris- scven different societies, all of which tians shall themselves bear "the marks were represented; many of the visitors of the Lord Jesus." came from far distant places, inclu- ding Bheel Christians who had walked INDIA distances of from thirty-six to fifty miles in order to reach a railway sta- Progress Toward Church Federation tion. The theological students from the Methodist Episcopal seminary at The cause of church federation is Baroda walked the forty miles to advancing steadily in India. The reso- Nadiad, occupying three days on the lutions, passed at the Jabalpur meeting journey, and preaching in the villages last April, have been translated into en route. the chief vernaculars, and very widely distributed. They were thoroughly The large morning and evening discust by the various presbyteries united meetings were an inspiring in connection with the Presbyterian sight. To look into those 2,000 Indian Church in India, and at its recent Christian faces as the various speakers general assembly, held in Ludhiana, poured out of full hearts and with deep after a careful report, presented by desire for the spiritual progress of the the committee on church union, the Church of Christ the vital truths of following resolution was unanimously our holy faith, and exhorted to reagreed to, "The assembly having pentance and faith and full consecraheard with gratitude regarding the tion, the solemn hush and rapt attenunanimity of the representatives of the tion of the vast crowd gave one high churches that met at J abalpur in joint hopes for the future of the Christian committee to negotiate a union of Church in Gujarat. churches, expresses its thankfulness to God for the earnest desire on the part The Natal Telugu Mission of many branches of the Christian Church in India for more manifest Dr. Downie gives in The Baptist union, and for the encouraging Missionary Review an interesting progress of the movement toward it glimpse of real missionary effort on indicated in the action of the joint the part of Te1ugus. "The mission in committee; and, having considered the South Africa had its origin in this resolutions proposed by it, the assem- way: Some years ago the Telugu bly would approve generally of the Christians in South India thought that principle of federal union therein it was about time that they began to adopted, the basis proposed, the plan do some mission work on their own of organization, and the methods of account, and so organized what is realizing the objects contemplated III known as the home mission society. the federation." The object was to send native evan- gelists to a number of isolated tribes Christian Mela in Gujarat not reached by the missionaries. After this was done, it occurred to one of From March I7th to 2Ist was held the young men, John Rungiah, headthe first united Christian convention, master of the girls' school, Nellore, or Mela, in Gujarat; periodical gather- that they ought to do something for ings of their own Christians have been the thousands of Te1ugus that had held by missions, but this is the first emigrated to Natal, who were as occasion in which all have united. 'sheep without a shepherd.' For a whole year John was on the lookout The convention was held under the for a man, but as no one was found, auspices of the Gujarat and Kathiawar it was borne in upon him that he Missionary Conference, a sub-commit- might go himself. The Te1ugu mistee of which made all arrangements. About sixty missionaries and some sionary was received most kindly by aimed especially to be a conference to the missionaries of the South African get the people weaned away from their General Mission, and his work has old customs and to instil into them prospered so that Dr. Downie assisted yet more deeply the spirit of Chris- in the dedication of a new and com- tianity. The closing meeting was es- modious chanel on the estate of Sir pecially memorable. The people had Liege Hulett, and he also laid the prest upon them what Christianity foundation-stone of a church in Dur- should mean in the individual life, in ban, which town is expected to become the home, in the community and in the the headquarters of the mission. The land. Then two of our native minis- ,,,·ork is being carried on a self-sup- ters took charge of that last meeting porting basis. Dr. Downie tells us of the conference, and without any that "since his arrival in Natal some suggestion from the missionaries, seven years ago, John has organized without the missionaries even knowing six churches, and besides these, he has what was planned, they began calling nine places where little congregations for volunteers to pledge their tenth to regularly meet for worship and where the Lord. Fifty-one men responded. churches wiII be organized just as These, together with those already soon as they are able to support pas- tithe-givers, made a showing of 100 tors and pastors can be found for tithe-givers in that audience of 200. them." Two Years' Growth in One Mission Attaining to Self-support Concerning its mission in the Pan- Rev. J. A. McConnelae writes 111 jab the United Presbyterian Church reports the following progress du6ng the United Presbyterian: the last two years: "Self-support in the Panjab is no Adult baptisms in 1908 ……….. 1,966 longer a dream and a theory; it has become an accomplished fact. Five rncrease by profession ………… 2,049 years ago there were but six self-supporting congregations in our entire Net increase in membership ……. 3,119 mission. Now there afe five self-sup- In the Christian community …… 6,243 pmting congregations in each of two districts; and in the whole mission, This was the record for 1908, and twenty-five. Out of our forty pastor- this the record for 1909: ates, twenty-five are self-supporting. The native church gave to church Adult baptisms in 1909 ………… 3,677 work in 1908, $3,529; and in 1909 this Increase by profession ………… 3,988 amount was increased to $4,492, an Net increase in membership ……. 4,510 advance of twenty-seven per cent. In the Christian community ……. 9,414 This, too, should be viewed in connection with the fact that it was given on And the following statement is a wage rate of from fourteen to sixteen thoroughly in order: "This record is, cents a day. Not that our people are to say the least, unique. It is doubtful doing all they can and should. Poverty- whether it has been surpassed this last stricken they certainly are, but yet they year by the record of any mission in can do better, and they will, for the India, and likely not by that of any in spirit of giving and self-support is the world." taking fast hold of the people. A Convert from Brahmanism Laymen Tithing Themselves The results of the evangelistic work The same writer reports: "At Sar- last year in the northern and central godha we have just closed what might districts of the Tamil Coolie Mission be termed a Laymen's convention. were encouraging, as 95 adults were Some 200 representative men from all baptized and more than 100 candidates over the district were called together are under instruction. for a three days' conference. It was One of the converts this year was a Brahman who had been for some time interested in the Bible and Christian- ity, but had not become convinced
19IO] GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
sufficiently to become a 01ristian. In is still a virtual slavery to the principal the course of his work, however, he wife.
had occasion to go to the Morawaka Public Morals in China Korale, and there the catechist came in contact with him. He was so struck W. N. Bitten writes in the Christian by the reality of the lives of the Chris- World: tians in the place that he gave his heart to Christ then and there. On his way "Last week I was invited to take to the place, the Hindus meeting him part in a meeting organized by men had come to do him honor and thereby who are not directly connected with gain merit, he being a Brahman; but any Christian Church, but who are on his return he refused them, saying, sincerely desirous of assisting in the "I have become a Christian now, and reformation of their countrymen. am no longer a Brahman." Upon Their purpose was to start an antitheir attempting to argue with him he gambling league, and with this in said he was only a young Christian and mind they called a public meeting, could not as yet reason with them, but which was attended by some hundreds that he had found the Christ and that of Chinese scholars and business men, was sufficient for him. and resolutions were passed in ap- proved public meeting style, approv- ing of a campaign against the gam- CHINA bling vice. Members of the Chinese Two More Steps Forward Young Men's Christian Association were asked to assist in the meeting, Within a few weeks this "stolid" and to demonstrate by means of and "immovable" empire has taken games the possibility of recreation two forward steps of great impQrtance. without vice. Suitable addresses One is the issuance of an imperial were given by prominent Chinese, and edict summoning the national assem- the chief organizer of the movement bly to meet on October 3, and an- is one of the government education nouncing the appointment of 96 members, representing all classes. This is inspectors for the provinces of a long step in the gradual transforma- Kiangsu and Kiangsi. Twenty years, tion of that great empire into a con- even ten years ago, such a meeting stitutional monarchy. The other step would not have been within the realm is even more important in its human- of possibility. To-day we have a class itarian aspects, namely, the formal of public moralists arising who have abolishing of slavery throughout the undoubtedly learned from Christianity in their midst the ideals which they empire, and the prohibition henceforth are desirous of impressing upon their of the purchase and sale of human countrymen, and tho they themselves beings. are not professedly Christian, they Unfortunately, the reform is not al- confidently come to the organizations together complete, slavery being retained in the establishments of the of the Chr·istian Church asking for as- Manchu princes, tho the servants thus sistance· in furthering their task." held in bondage may no longer be The War on Poppy Culture called slaves, but are to be regarded Latest reports show that this year as hired servants whose term of two-thirds of the ground formerly service is unlimited. Also the age- given to the cultivation of the poppy long custom of selling children in will produce none. Writing of the de- times of famine is not wholly abol- struction of the poppy plantations ished, but they may be bound out, tho shortly before his death, Dr. DuBose never beyond the age of twenty-five said, "Could one imagine the wiping vears. The institution of concubinage out of the cotton fields in the South- has been transformed into a formal ern States of America, or the destruc- marriage, giving the concubines the tion of the wheat fields in the N orth- protection of the law, but their status west, then one could estimate in some
measure what it means to destroy (The chief reason for this is the great these poppy fields of China." Great number of educational institutions in Britain is by treaty pledged to re- these cities.) The industrial and agriduce the export of opium as fast as cultural classes untouched, unap- China stops poppy cultivation. The proached ! The dearth of Japanese pasbest observers declare that China is tors and workers-more churches than serious in her purpose to exterminate can be manned, and many unsatisfacthe curse utterly. So that this daring tory men in the service!" The latest and chivalrous soldier of a great ideal figures number 288,000 Buddhist temlived to see the approach of the con- ples and Shinto shrines to 1,675 Chrissummation of the noblest ministry a tian churches, and 216,000 priests to white man ever rendered China.- r,391 Christian workers of both sexes. Philadelphia Bulletin. "While one Christian worker is seek- ing to win one convert, there are I56 The Number of Cbristians in Japan on the other side trying to hold him."
The Bishop of South Tokyo sends Joseph Neesima After Twenty Years home the following statistics, which tend to show the steady progress Rev. J. D: Davis writes to the Miswhich Christianity is making in Japan. as far as figures can be of such use: sionary Herald: It was the writer's privilege, Feb- Members 1907 1909 ruary I, to be present and take part in Anglican and Protestant 74,560 a memorial service in Annaka, the 63,094 ancestral home of the family, where missions ….. , … ,.",. 64,621 30,712 services were held morning, afternoon, 1909 and evening. Representatives gath- Roman Catholic missions. 59,437 8,388 ered there from all over that province, and by a unanimous vote decided to Greek Church missions …. 29,573 5,801 form a provincial N eesima memorial 868 association to hold meetings in all the Baptisms 1907 principal towns to perpetuate his mem- ory. Anglicans and Protestants 7,272 Neesima's life is read by tens of Roman Catholics ,.".,… 2,219 thousands in Japan and America. It is also published in Chinese and read Greek Church ………… 911 by thousands of Chinese young men, and it leads some of them to say, "I It thus appears that the Anglican want to be a Chinese Neesima." It and Protestant missions are making is published in at least one of the lanmuch more rapid progress than the guages of India, and is an inspiration other missions, and that a much higher to young men there. At the time of proportion of those baptized in con- the World's Student Young Men's nection with them are adults. Christian Association Conference in Tokyo, three years ago, delegates W ork Yet Undone came from twenty-five different coun- tries. Many of them came to Kyoto. One of the Japanese religious pa- All had heard of Mr, N eesima and the pers, after reviewing what has been school he had founded; all wanted to done during the last fifty years, says: see the Doshisha, and most of them "This is a large score it is true, but wished to visit his grave. These men still more formidable is the list of were not from America and England what remains to be attempted." In a alone, but from France, Italy, Holland, population of some 50,000,000 there Germany, Scandinavia, Russia, Siam, are but 77,000 Protestant Christians. India, and Africa. Mr. Neesima's Including the Roman and Greek influence has reached around the Catholic membership there are but world, and is affecting directly or inabout r65,000 who may be called directly millions of men. Thousands Christians. The paper just quoted goes on to say, "Probably 40,000,000 absolutely untouched! Out of some 800 missionaries, 656 congested in onr ten cities, where are also five-sevenths of all Japanese workers and churches! One-third of the missionary body bunched in Tokyo and Yokohama!
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE 55
of young men and young women who her mother died, and she was thus led have been trained in the Doshisha are and given time to think about spiritual now at work changing the history of matters, with the result that she gladly Japan and helping to make it a Chris- welcomed Miss Bosanquet and her Japatian nation. nese fellow worker, and having recalled much of the teaching that had lain dor- A Japanese Nobleman on Christianity mant in her heart for years and received new teaching in addition, she soon came A remarkable tribute was paid to into the possession of "joy and peace in the Christian religion by a non-Chris- believing," and asked for baptism. There tian Japanese at the dinner tendered seems little hope that she will recover, the Japanese commercial commissi?n- but the effects of the salvation she has ers not long since, by the Christian obtained are shown in many ways, and business men of New York City. The the doctor has exprest surprize at the principal response on behalf of the improvement that has taken place in her guests was made by the chairman of physical condition. It might be menthe commission, Baron Shibusawa, tioned that about a year ago a prominent who speaks no English and therefore doctor, as yet a non-Christian, prescribed required the service of an interpreter. "religion" to one of his male patients and Whether bv intent or misunderstand- recommended Christianity as the best for ing, the interpreter failed to transfer the purpose. to the Americans present the sense of what was probably the baron's most AFRICA significant and emphatic utterance. But a missionary at the table caught The American Mission in Egypt the sentence, took it down, translated it and verified his translation by sub- This most excellent and most sucmitting the same to a member of the cessful work was begun in 1854 by Dr, Japanese party familiar with English. Paulding, an Associate Reformed The baron's declaration, as thus ren- Presbyterian, but later was turned dered and verified, was as follows: over to the United Presbyterians. "Japan in the future must base her There are now 70 organized churches morality on religion. It must be a re- (one-fourth are self-supporting); 80 ligion that does not rest on an empty colporteurs and harem workers,88 misor superstitious faith like that of some sionaries, 91 native pastors, 453 schoolof the Buddhist sects in our land, but teachers, ro,341 church-members, must be like the one that prevails in 16,440 Sunday-school scholars, 17,900 your own country, which manifests its boarcling- and day-school students, power over men by filling them with 41,395 patients. Native contributions good works." for medical work, $27,920; church work, $48,930; educational work, $87,- A Japanese Doctor's Prescription 079; total, $163,929. Much outside aid has been received. Ismail Pasha Eight persons have recently been gave the mission ground at Cairo, baptized at Hiroshima and 7 at Kure, now valued at $500,000; John D. in the diocese of Osaka. Of this num- Rockefeller gave $100,000 for Asyut ber 3 were men, 6 women and 6 College on the Nile; Prince Singh, son of the famous King of the Panjab, children. The Rev. J. Cooper Robin- gave $roo,ooo (having visited the school at Cairo, and married Bramba, son (of the Canadian C. M. S.) writes: an Abyssinian girl student, and on each anniversary of their marriage The most interesting cases are those sent $5,000). of the women. One of them was .baptized, and afterward conJ1rmed on what Islam Active in the Sudan appears to be her death-bed. She attended a Sunday-school held by our ladies Dr. Karl Kumm, a leader in Chrishere some ten years ago and he.ard the. tian mission work in the Sudan, has Gospel. Subsequently she became a just completed a remarkable journey school-teacher and, having her mind fully across Africa, undertaken with the exoccupied by secular things, gave little at- press purpose of seeing to what extention to spiritual matters for a long tent Islam was making progress time. Illness, however, came upon her, among the pagan tribes of the Sudan,
The country known in general by that meet the calls from the regions bename, lying from ten to thirty degrees yond.-Missionary Record. north of the equator, is fully as large as China proper, tho, of course, not The Basel Society in Kamerun nearly so thickly popUlated. Of its immense population, however, prob- The missionaries of this society have ably fully one-half is still pagan, and just baptized their first converts at the country is, without doubt, the Bali, a pioneer station founded six largest unevangelized district in the years ago on the verge of the great world to-day. Dr. Kumm, who trav- inland plateau of Kamerun, looking eled through much territory never toward the Sudan, just where these touched by a white man before, reports missionaries have encountered the advarying degrees of paganism among vance-posts of Islam. "It is a beauthe different tribes, tho all are in a tiful wild country which often reminds pitiable condition. Everywhere Islam us of Switzerland," writes the misis pressing in, and, tho there is much sionary; "on all sides we see chains of the country she has not yet touched, of mountains separated by deep valis tightening her grip and every day leys, roaring torrents, foaming watermaking the Christian conquest harder. falls, and forests of palm-trees reach- ing to the highest summits. How The Gospel Effective in Old Calabar many times our hearts have leapt for joy at the glory of the scene! And, Ve have received from the Rev. Dr. on the other hand, what a sorrow it Robertson, Itu, a four-page printed is to see humanity fallen so low! The sheet containing the annual accounts inhabitants of this paradise live in a of four native congregations on the real hell, always in unspeakable dread Enion Creek. It contains figures only, of evil spirits and of death. The dying but the figures are eloquent of the often quit this world with cries of progress of the gospel. Five years terror. The different tribes are alago there was not a communicant in ways fighting with one another. Their that district. During the past year we moral condition is incredible. There find that these four congregations have are actually certain localities which paid their own teachers and all their exchange their dead in order to devour own congregational expenses, and them." Yet even among these dehave been gathering goodly sums for graded people a response has been the erection of proper churches. At found to the message of the Redeemer. !tu, where there are 57 communicants, After a very careful preparation, and they have during the past year added an earnest desire on the part of the fr40 to the £189 they had previously missionaries that the bases of the on hand for church-building. At Okpo, Church should be as solid as possible, where there are 131 members, they thirty-two candidates were found who have added £47 to the £35 previously were deemed fit for baptism.-Le on hand. Akani Obio, where there Missionaire. are 85 communicants, they have added £91 to the £176 previously on hand. Dutch Reformed Mission in South And at Asan, where there are 327 members, they have added iIz7 to the Africa fl77 previously on hand. Altogether, for the building funds, there is now Rev. T. C. B. Vlok, of Mkoma, on hand £985. Beyond the Enion Nyasaland, South Africa, sends the Creek and Arochuku there is a great following facts about the Dutch Refield waiting to be opened up, with formed Mission in South Africa: splendid prospects, white to the harvest; but for years our Calabar mis- The work was started on November sion has been undermanned, and an ber 28, 1889. In December, 1909, the increase of the staff is necessary to executive council met .at our head- station, Mvera, and these are the sta- tistics then handed in. They comprize the work of that church of the Cape Colony, as the oldest, with eight sta-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
tions worked by thirty-seven mission- of the most consistent Christians we aries; next that of the Free State, with have, and his face has become a really five stations worked by fifteen mission- pleasing one to look at."-C. M. S.
aries; next, that of the Transvaal, Gazette.
commenced last year, with one station King !Chama's Jubilee and two missionaries (wives of mis- Many of our readers will recaII with sionaries are included). Grand totals: pleasure the visit of King Khama, Christians, 2,101; adults baptized, with two other African chiefs, to this country about fifteen years ago, in be- 1909, 429; catechumens, 4,112; cate- half of certain native rights. His chumens admitted, 1909, 1,220; chil- modest, winsome personality attracted dren baptized, 241; marriages, 156 everybody. On May 6-so we read in .couples; Christians under censure, 31 ; the Chronicle of the London Missionsub-aut-schools and station-schools, ary Society-special services are held to celebrate the jubilee of Khama's 3,007; pupils attending these schools, baptism on his admission into the 35,266 ; evangelists and teachers, Christian Church: "Chief Khama is 1,203; money contributed, i195 13s. calling the tribe together for the pur- Free labor for the erection of out- pose of thanking God for all His schools' buildings is not included in mercies; and the special prayer of all those contributions. This mission Christian people is asked, in thankscosts our Dutch Reformed Church annualIy already about iro,ooo.
Changes Eight Years Have Seen giving to God for sparing the chief and making him all he has been, as A mission was commenced among well as in supplication that the power the Wakikuyu, the people of Kikuyu of Christ to redeem and save may be (much of which is over 6,000 feet further manifested among Khama's above sea-level), in 1900, when Fort people." Smith, close to Nairobi and 340 miles from Mombasa, was occupied by Mr. Khama is beyond doubt one of the A. W. McGregor. In the neighbor- finest "trophies" of the redeeming hood of this station, now called power of the gospel in South Africa. Kabete, there are five villages where The L. M. S. directors sent him a no heathen sacrifice would now be message to express their hearty contolerated nor beer-drinking allowed. gratulations, praying that the evening Of one of the converts recently bap- time of their friend's honored life may tized the Rev. H. Leakey, who has be long and calm; and that he may see been in charge of Kabete since 1902, the abundant rains of the influence of wrote on December 20: "How well God's gracious spirit descend upon his do I remember my first meeting- with people-resulting in a great ingatherthis man in February, 1902! I have ing to the Christian Church.-London still the photograph which I then took Christian. of him. He was in full dance dress. Ten Years of Progre.. in Uganda His head and shoulders were smoth- In the course of a confirmation tour ered in rancid grease mixed with in January, Bishop Tucker confirmed bright-red clay dust. His hair was 465 candidates, and at Namirembe on twisted in a most fantastic way, with February 10 he confirmed 79 candi- a long cigar-shaped lock in front. In dates. While at Mbarara, the capital his hand was a spear only two inches of Ankole, in the western province of short of seven feet, and his face was the protectorate, the bishop dedicated most repugnant. I wonder what my the new church. Dr. A. R. Cook, who feelings would have been if I had been accompanied the bishop on his tour, told then that that man was to be one in a letter dated January 22, shows in of the first of the adults to be brought a striking way what ten years of mis- into the visible Church of Christ by sionary work have done for the coun- baptism ? Yet to-day he is quite one try. He writes:
"It was with the greatest interest learned has risen from r,805 to 2,070.
that I looked round and contrasted in But how can that be? The parents my own mind the state of affairs as are teaching their children at home.
we saw it in December, 1899, on my Our printing-press at Tananarive last visit, and as it appears now. published for them in the autumn of Then we were camped on the hillside, . )909, 10,000 primers. By 1910 the and Kahaya, the king, was a fat, over-'~i';'nllmber will have reached 15,000."
grown boy of sixteen, living in a hor-*' And a writer in the L. M. S.
rible little hut in one of his cow- Chronicle, describing the annual meet- kraals, while Mbaguta, his katikiro, ings of the Malagasy Christians, says: was in much the same condition. "Picture a gathering of 1,600 Mala- Both, of course, were heathen, be- gasy men, everyone of whom is an lieving in charms and witchcraft and office-bearer in the church-pastor, all the other paraphernalia of the evangelist or teacher. You can devil. Ten years have passed away. imagine what a fine sight it is to see The day after our arrival I had the the people all pouring out into the privilege of preaching in a large, sub- streets, mostly carrying Bibles, and all stantially-built brick church, densely with such bright, smiling faces. They packed with people, estimated at 1,200, say it is the sight of all the year which and of afterward joining with nearly the French officials dislike most to see.
200 at the Lord's table. We found The government has published a book the hillsides covered with banana attacking the Bible. It has closed the plantations, two mission houses with mission schools. It may stamp out all the entourage of a strong mission- even the churches, but it can not "tamp ary center-school, bookshop, teachers, out the love of Christ from the hearts etc.-the katikiro in a fine house, and of these people."
the king building a bigger house of burnt brick. Nor is there wanting evi- KOREA dence of a real and true work of the Spirit in the hearts of the people, not Marvelous Doings only in baptisms and confirmations, "The Koreans are fighting their own which are the outward and visible cross in a wonderful way," says Rev. signs, but in Christlike deeds and W. N. Blair. "When I went there words. eight years ago the field was desolate.
The Kingdom Advancing in Madagascar The battIe between Japan and China scattered the missionaries centered at The Norwegian Madagascar mis- Ping Yang far and wide, and each sionary Borchgrevink, reports that in created a mission of culture in the new spite of the persecution of Augagneur, territory. To-day there are 240,000 the work in his part of the island pros- Christians in Korea. More than pers. He says: 800,000 copies of the gospel are in the "In the stations I visited in 1907 land. Ping Yang has a college where there were 9,959 communicants; to- 500 natives are studying for the minis- day, 12,000. Two years ago there try. In my five counties we have 40 were J,857 Christians who could read. churches, 26 day-schools and 4,000 The number has risen to 2,798. Then Christians. The inhabitants gather there were 2,029 Bibles owned by the about the foreigners just as we would community and 1,531 hymn-books. at a circus. Why, the last time I was To-day there are 3,285 Bibles and there 300 women filled the church 2,465 hymn-books. And the schools? while 400 men sat under a canopy out- The day-schools, with their 7,366 side. I stood in a window between pupils, are dosed, but 7,oI5 come to them and preached." This missionary Sunday-schools, and altho the govern- has received 1,000 in the Church. Of ment forbids instruction in reading, the Gospel of Mark, 800,000 copies the number of children who have have been sold.
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Good Advice from an Oriental Prince give the complete list): "Pretension of respect paid to ladies; the fact that T. H. Yan, formerly Vice-minister of Americans wear their heart upon their Foreign Affairs, and at present presi- sleeve, extreme respect for women, dent of the Southern Methodist Col- presumptuous attitude of women over lege at San-do, has recently said: men, mingling of boys among girls in "The East and West are not and school, too much respect for women, should not be contradictory but com- unreasonable egotism on the part of plementary. I come from a race shop-keepers, extreme mammonism, whose watchword has been for the supply of unfiltered water from the last twenty centuries: Backward ho! lakes for drinking purposes in Chi- The watchword of your race has been cago and its neighborhood." The In- Westward ho! The East thinks that terior rightly calls attention to the fact the past was the best; that the present that American respect for women was is bad enough, and that the future will so offensive to these Japanese that it be worse. Your sentiment is well ex- is mentioned three times in the list prest in the words of a Southern of things not liked. That fact clearly Methodist bishop: 'Good days are reveals the barbaric ideas still prevailgone; greater days here, but the great- ing in modern Japan. "Surely," says est days are to come.' In the East it the Instructor, "a nation has not got is a young man's ambition to be old. beyond need of Christian missionary In the West it is an old man's ambi- influences as long as its most influention to be young. We of the East tial commercial leaders are unable to think and act as if we had an eternity see honor for manhood in honoring to contemplate in instead of a genera- womanhood. " tion in which to live. You of the West dress, eat, rush and hustle to catch the MALAYSIA AND PACIFIC ISLANDS last train as it leaves the depot." Methodism in Malaysia JAPAN The Malaysia mission has com- What Japanese Strangers Thought of Us pleted the first quarter-century of work, beginning in 1885, with Rev. W. The Japanese bankers and business F. Oldham as the first worker. men that made a tour of the United States a few months ago, were feted The original commission given by everywhere; and amid the hospitality Bishop Thoburn was to pioneer the so lavishlv bestowed upon them, they whole of Malayasia. Beginning at Sinmade wonderfully complimentary re- gapore, it was only a few years until marks concerning everything which Penang was opened. Then followed they saw. Now they have returned to work at the principal centers in the their own land, and Oriental courtesy Malay Peninsula. In 18g8 the Philipno longer keeps them from speaking pines were opened to the gospel; the about the things which they did not next session of Malaysia conference like, as well as about the things they heard the following appointments: liked. The H ochi, a Japanese news- "Philippine Islands district, presiding paper, furnishes a most interesting elder, to be supplied. Manila, English summary of the impressions of these work, to be supplied. Manila, native travelers. They admired the mar- work, to be supplied." velous development of industry, the immense waterworks in many cities, The founding of a colony of Chithe well-equipped factories throughout nese Methodists at Sibu, Sarawak, the land, the great hotels, the quite Borneo, led to the opening of the work complete public schools, and the im- there. Work has begun in Dutch mense charitable establishments. They West Borneo and on the island of liked American kindness, hospitality, Sumatra, tho the latter is still without quickness, facility, smartness, and a resident missionary. activity. But they did not like (we In Java a large Chinese organiza- tion, having schools all over the
island, is asking us to furnish Amer- pels and Acts in manuscript; Igorrote, ican teachers for the English depart- one gospel complete. ments of some of their larger schools. The Chinese contract to furnish the There is a serious need that the New salary of the teacher and allow him Testament at least be completed in ful1liberty to work as a missionary ex- each of these dialects as soon as possicept in the class-room and during ble, and the Old Testament in at least school hours. From Bali, east of Java, six of them, but this can be accomcomes an invitation to begin work for plished only as men and means are the Buddhists inhabiting that island. available.-Bible in All Lands. From North and from South Sumatra come invitations to work among peo- MISCELLANEOUS ples as yet non-Mohammedan. A Bishop's Plea for Unity A Memory of the Past At one of the sessions of the Chi- Rev. Gavin Smith, who has gone to cago Laymen's Convention Bishop take up the work about to be laid Anderson, of the Protestant Episcopal down by the Rev. F. E. Lawes, writes diocese of Illinois, made a powerful an interesting letter detailing his jour- appeal for unity: "Enough energy ney to his station. We quote an in- and money are wasted by rivalry and teresting paragraph from his letter: overlapping of the different denomina- "After we left Sydney we made for tions in America to preach the gospel the Cook Islands, where we spent to the whole world. We must get tothree weeks. At Mitiaro I was taken gether and stop this waste. Our divisto see a place where 90 years ago 200 ions are unchristianlike and unstatesmen and women were killed and eaten manlike. They are unchristian, for at one time. That was the last great Christlike Christians can not be kept cannibal feast on the island, for soon apart. When we all become Christafter the gospel was taken there. It like Christians we shall find the way is almost impossible to-day to realize to unity. Our divisions are unstatesthat so recently the people were can- manlike, for 'in unity there is nibal. Now they crowd into their strength.' A reunited church possest churches at every service, and altho with faith and zeal would be irresistthey have not yet reached a very high ible. It could evangelize the world in level, yet the Gospel of Christ has done wonders. If some people at home tell a generation. Let us give up our you that the old-fashioned gospel can not save, you can tell them how much pride, our ecclesiastical conceIt, our it has already done." jealousies, our inherited prejudices, and our ignorance." Bibles in Divers Dialects Church Fraternity in Pretoria We now have completed translation and publication as follows: Tagalog On March 20 last anniversary Bible complete; Ilocano Bible com- services were held in St. Andrew's plete; Pangasinan New Testament Presbyterian Church, Pretor~a, and complete, parts of Old Testament in the evening service was conducted by manuscript; Pampangan New Testa- the Rev. H. Bosman, of Pretoria, one ment complete, Pentateuch in manu- of the foremost and most revered script; Bicol New Testament, now in ministers of the Dutch Reformed printing; Visayan-Panayan New Tes- Church. A large congregation of both tament complete, Old Testament in Dutch- and English-speaking sections manuscript; Visayan-Cebuan New of the community took part in this Testament complete, Pentateuch in most memorable service, an earnest of manuscript; Visayan-Samareno Gos- the breaking down of the barriers of pels and Acts complete; Ibanag Gos- racial distrust or reserve, and of the dawn of Christian concord in this land so lately torn with dissension and strife. Not since pre-war days has a minister of the great sister Presby-
terian Church occupied the pulpit of temper cast over all his associates a St. Andrew's. perpetual sunshine.
The Baptists and the United Church Mrs. Eliza Jane Wilder It is reported that the Baptists of Mrs. Wilder, widow of the late Rev. South Africa are ready to go into the Royal G. Wilder, had been for more United Church which is being agitated, than sixty years a missionary in India. with the understanding that they will She came from a family that has furthemselves be allowed to continue the nished many missionaries for India practise of the immersion of believers, and Africa, and some of her children if they wish, but the rest will practise have become well known in the same the sprinkling of infants. In two field. points this procedure is offensive to the Baptists in other land~. Fi,:"st, She was graduated from Mount that anything else but ImmerSIOn Holyoke Seminary in 1844, in the should be practised, and that infant same class with the mother of Presibaptism of any kind should be ob- dent Taft. Her home was in Rutland, served. The Baptist World describes it Vt., and during the summer of her as "a disgraceful surrender," a "retreat," graduation she met the Rev. Royal G. and "scuttling the ship." And it is de- Wilder. They were married, and in clared that no welcome to those Bap- r846 she went with her husband to tists will be extended at the meeting Ahmednagar, in Central India. They of the Baptist World Alliance next were among the first missionaries ever year in Philadelphia. ~ ?omewru:t sent from this country to India. similar union movement 1S In the alr in England, which it is pr?I?hesied Two sons and a daughter survive will come to nought, or else dlv1de the her. The oldest son, Robert P. Wilder, Baptist fold in Great Britain. now in London, founded the Student Volunteer Movement, which has re-. OBITUARY NOTES suIted in recruiting about 4,000 mis- sionaries for the field. Another son, Alexander McLaren, D.O. William R. Wilder, is a lawyer in this city. We should rank, next to the King, Dr. McLaren, easily the prince of Mrs. Wilder's husband w.as the preachers. He had been u;inister of founder of the MISSIONARY REVIEW, Union Chapel,Manchester, smce 1858 ; and until his death in 1887, the editor. and for over fifty years he has been.in- After his death, his widow, tho alcreasingly and confessedly the leadlllg ready 66 years of age and in feeble expository preacher of the world. It health, went back with her daughter, is a great tribute to his work that he Grace, to the beloved field in India, has never said or written what needed where her affections and aspirations to be recalled; and his utterances on centered, and there spent her remainmissions have been always true to the ing years. She was a remarkable wobasic principles of all evangelism. man, in gifts and graces, tho her king- dom came without observation. She Dr. Jessup and Dr. Barnum had rare and heroic qualities.
Here, again, two princes have Rev. John A. Otte, M.D. fallen. Dr. Jessup was one of t~e most versatile of men and of use m Rev. John A. Otte, M.D., so long so many ways in the Syrian field that missionary physician of the Reformed he has stood for over half a century Church in China, died of the plague at as one of the leading missionaries of Amoy on April 13. Born in the the world. Dr. Barnum has been Netherlands, he received his education about equally conspicuous it,1 Turkey- in Hope College and the University a preacher, teacher, orgamzer, and a of Michigan, and went out in 1887. He most genial and lovable man, whose founded the present system of medical work.in the Amoy mission, having or-
ganized the Neerbosch Hospital at or aided in emergencies; and how Sio-Khe and the Hope and Wilhel- many more,of :vhich we know nothing, mina hospitals at Amoy. His influence we can only mfer from an intimate upon the Christian life of the natives acquaintance with his quiet habits. will not be forgotten. Dr. Otte was After laboring hard to accumulate a not yet fifty years old. modest fortune, he studied quite as hard to invest it for God. "I am God's John H. Converse steward," said he, "and must use my money where it will do most good." John H. Converse was a unique He was a man of great good sense. man, who in himself blended some of He frankly told a college president the most uncommon qualities. Intelli- once who urged him to make a handgent and capable, he was no less be- some donation to his institution, that nevolent and lovable, with a modesty he was "trying to bore an inch hole only equalled by his merit. He was with a half-inch auger," and advised a Christian business man, who, in that him to call the college an institute, or calling wherein he was found, therein a high school, and be honest with the abode with God (I Cor. 7: 20-24). pUblic. And again, when an ambitious With capacity and sagacity for his educator had high ideas about making work such as are seldom seen, he his girl graduates "centers of light," united a Christian fidelity, consistency etc., Mr. SiIliman said, "That sounds and consecration still more rare. He well; but the fact is, nine out of ten was active as a director or adviser in of these 'centers of light' will marry many benevolent and philanthropic hard-headed farmers, and many of causes, but a helper in all. He was them settle down in farmhouses as never too busy to listen to an appeal, mothers of six children! Suppose he and never. too selfish to aid what was revises his curriculum and fits these worthy. Those who best knew him girls for their future in the home and pronounced him the noblest type of a family, instead of creating 'centers of Christian man of affairs. So conspic- light' !" uous was he in promoting evangelism and so liberal in supporting evangelis- W. Hind Smith tic effort, that his death seems like a removal of a rock basis for the work. There was no more familiar figure His gifts were unstinted, unceasing, at the Y. M. C. A. headquarters in and unheralded. Few, if any, know London than Mr. Smith, who died at to-day of their extent and variety. the age of eighty-one. Formerly sec- But his character was the richest of all retary of the Manchester Association, his contributions. which became a model of such organ- izations, his success there won the at- Horace B. Silliman telltion of the late Sir George Wil- liams, and he was chosen to follow Mr. Silliman was another Christian the late Mr. Shipton as general secreman of affairs. A graduate of Union tary in London. New developments College, he was successful in business were badly wanted, and Mr. Hind and consecrated his success to God. Smith carried out much useful work He was always a liberal giver, as the in this direction. He was at the helm Memorial Church at Cohoes, the when Exeter Hall was purchased. Science Building at Mt. Hermon, Later he became traveling secretary, Mass., the Christian Association build- a post for which his persuasive speed ings at Union and Hamilton Colleges and his attractive manner-dignified and Auburn Seminary, the Silliman and genial-made him specially suit- Institute in the Philippines, and many able. He did excellent service in stimother concrete forms of his beneficence ulating existing associations and bear witness. We know of at least founding new ones, and in raising thirty or forty institutions which his Jarge sums of money. henefactions had founded or fostered, THE TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE CoNCERNING the more significant as it was after t~is experience that his great devo- THE ASSUMPTIONS OF DESTRUCTIVE CRITI- tlOnal books. were written, the whole tone of which is explained by this CISM. By Dr. S. E. Wishard. Los wonderful contact with God. Angeles, Cal. Johnson & Haney Bi- He. had .been reading a. discussion on ble Institute Press. ' sanctlficatlOn by Rev. Richard Eld- ridge, with personal testimony which Dr. Wishard, in his modest volume, accomI?anie.d it; and, on retiring to presents the subject in a familiar and ~'est, hiS ml.nd was intensely absorbed III the subject of personal holiness untechnical way, suited to the com- ~hich fo~ months had much occupied hun. ThiS led to a new consecration mon mind and especially meant for of himself to God, with a new confi- young readers. These hundred pages dence .of his acceptance; and during the mght the experience followed are divided into two sections-in the which is narrated in this booklet.
former the assumptions of this modern rationalism are considered, and in the latter the Biblical position and teach- ing upon the matters treated. To those who know the author's long fidelity to the Scriptures and valuable missionary work in the West, there will be no doubt as to his conservative THE FUNDAMENTALS.
attitude or evangelical spirit; nor as "This i~ a testimony to the truth," the first Issue of a proposed series to the charity and generosity he brings of papers on great foundation truths in doctrine and experience, which are to his aid in his discussion. to be scattered broadcast and without charge by the Testimony PubliShing My PERSONAL PENTECOST; or THE NIGHT Co., 808 La Salle Avenue, Chicago. OF GREAT GRACE. By Dr. Thomas C. The contents are as follows in seven Upham. 5 cents each; 50 cents per chapters: "The Virgin Birth of dozen. Gospel Publishing House, New York. Christ," by Rev. Prof. James Orr This is only a booklet of fourteen D.D., United Free Church College: pages, but it is a narrative that every one should read. A few sentences Glasgow, Scotland; "The Deity of from the twofold introduction will suffice to show in what the interest of Christ," by Prof. Benjamin B. Warthe brief story of Dr. Upham's experience consists: field, D.D., LL.D., Princeton Theo- "This paper, held so sacred and logical Seminary; "The Purposes of private by the writer for thirty-three years, was given to the public by Mrs. the Incarnation," by Rev. G. Campbell Upham through the earnest solicitations of many friends of her husband, Morgan, D.D., LaonnddoDne, ityEnogflanthd~' who knew him personally, and were "The Personality well acquainted with his philosophical and religious works, and who were Holy Spirit," by Rev. R. A. Torrey, convinced of the great value of his writings, and that, by means of this D.D. ; "The Proof of the Living God," additional 'testimony' much good may be accomplished." by Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D.; "No more remarkable experience of "History of the Higher Criticism," by answered prayer is perhaps on record in modern times. No doubt exists as b; Canon Dyson Hague, M.A., London to either the authenticity of this narrative or its credibility. The experience Ontario; "A Personal Testimony," dates from February 13, 1840, but for Howard A. Kelly, M.D. thirty-three years the record was held back from the public eye as sacredly This book. is to .be. sent to every pasprivate, and was only given to the tor, evangelist, mISSIOnary, theological press after his death in 1872; and is professor, theological student, Sunday- school superintendent, Y. M. C. A. ~nd Y. W: C. A. secretary in the Eng- hsh-speakmg world, so far as their addresses can be obtained. Two lay~ men bear the expense, because they believe that the time has come for a new statement of "the fundamentals."
If we may judge, one paper alone,
the briefest, the personal witness of at once a scholar and a missionary and that foremost surgeon, Dr. Howard A. an expositor. He sees the holy Scrip- Kelly, is enough to justify the issue of ture as only an illumined eye can. He this book. We shall look with much knows the story of his unbelieving interest for the other numbers. race as only an annalist can; and he THE LoRD FROM HEAVEN. By Rev. Robt. knows how to work for the enlighten- Anderson, K.C.B., LL.D. Jas. Nesbit ment and evangelization of the Jew & Co., London. as only a missionary can. His book This book is professedly a series of shows the man in all three aspects and chapters on the Deity of Christ, with those who feel an interest in the past, a preface by the Bishop of Durham. present and future of God's chosen Dr. Anderson has two unusual qual- people will find here a well of infor- ifications for such a work as he has mation and inspiration.
here produced: first, his natural gifts; THE BIBLE AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM. By and, second, his special training. His Ada R. Habershon. Morgan & Scott, mind has that rare combination of the London.
logical faculty and the analytic judg- This gifted and studious woman has ment; and his long familiarity with spent years in studying the collection criminal cases and the consequent of the British museum in its corrob- habit of sifting evidence, has prepared orative and illustrative bearing on the him to find the weak points in an ar- holy Scripture. She has personally con- gument and discriminate the circum- ducted many parties through these stantial from the real and indisputable gTeat galleries of archeological re- in proof processes. Few men have a mains; and this book is her researches genius for investigation whetted and and explanations embodied for wider tempered by experience at Scotland information and study. These fifteen Yard. But this author combines a chapters are a sort of familiar talk by keen mind and a devout love and a guide who is accompanying the loyalty toward the Word of God, with reader through these rooms and gal- a peculiar training as a detective leries, calling attention as visitors pass which reveals itself at every turn. to the principal objects of interest, We know no book that covers ex- and especially such as serve to con- actly this ground; it might be made a firm confidence in the divine word.
text-book for Biblical study and trans- It is both a guide-book to the museum lated into foreign tongues as an aid and a hand-book to the Scripture. To to teachers in mission schools and col- those who waver in faith this will be leges. It exhaustively examines the a means of quickening confidence in testimony of the Word of God as to the Bible; to those who have no doubt, the person of our Lord Jesus Christ it will act as a higher inspiration and and leaves no doubt that to Him is to stimulation in the direction of more be ascribed not only divinity but intelligent understanding of both his- an Deity; and incidentally this book is a tory and the Word.
rebuke to irreverent and careless THE EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE BOARD OF use even of the names and titles of FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN the Godman. CHURCH IN THE U. S. A. 104 pages.
New York, N. Y. 156 Fifth Avenue.
THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL. By David Baron. The Board has done a great service Morgan & Scott, London. to the Presbyterian Church and to the This book is "a solution of the c.au?e of t;Jissionary education by pubenigma of Jewish history." It is both ~Ishmg thiS most interesting and finely an exposition of Scripture and a sum- Illustrated booklet. While Some of the mary of the later annals of the Hebrew missions have failed to respond to the race. Those who are familiar with the Board's requests for information it is writings of this believing Jew need quite complete as a whole and a~ exnot be told that his pen adorns any hibition of this branch of work such theme which it touches. Mr. Baron h as has never before been published.
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1897
PA'I)lTA HA:lIASAl
lIER (O-WORKER.
WORK FOR TIlE WIDOWS OF T:DIA. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOL. xx. No. S.-Old SerieB.-SEPTEMBER-VoL. X. No. S.-N81lJ&rieB.
THE SPIRiTUAL MovEMENTS OF THE CENTURY- WOMAN'S WORK AT HOME AND ABROAD.
BY THE EDITOR-[N-CHIEF.
The" Diamond Jubilee" ofthe accession of Queen Victoria affords a most fitting occasion for the review of the marvellous development of Christian womanhood during the half century which has been so markt by manifold forms and phases of missionary activity. AmOllg all the achievements of the Victorian era, none is perhaps more C011spicuous than what may be truly called The Epiphany of Womanher emergence out of the obscurity of centuries into something like her true position and relation as to the work of God. And how curious is the coincidence that such emergence should so exactly correspond with the period during which a woman has occupied the throne of the most prominent of Protestant kingdoms, and, during sixty yearsthe longest reign of a woman on record-has challenged admiration by her unblemished personal character and Ohristian influence 1 Victoria may well stand as the historic type of the era of woman's development as a. distinct and separate factor in the Kingdom of God.
In the Old Testament there are seven women that stand out with singular and unique distinctness, Eve, the universal mother; Sarah, the mother of the faithful; Miriam, the minstrel prophetess; Deborah, the ruler and judge; Esther, the interceding Persian Queen; the Queen of Sheba, and the Queen of Massa, who seems to have been the mother of Agur and Lemuel whose wise words are attributed to her teaching (Prov. xxx, xxxi). These seven women seem typical of the new era which Ohristianity was to inaugurate, when womanhood was to be associated 'with holy minstrelsy and teaching, with Christian government and counsel, with consecrated courage and intercession in critical emergencies, with adoring gifts to the King of Kings, and with the imperial power of home influence whereby to train a household of princely characters to wield the scepter of social life.
Surely, among the most remarkable movements, guided by God's • Thia periodical adopts the Orthography of the following Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philological Aesoclation and the Philological Society of England :-{)hange d or Old lIDal to , when so pronounced. except wbeb the e aBects a preceding 1IOlIIId.-PuBLIaIIua.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
hand, in our times, has been this singular and steady forward march of Christian womanhood towards the front rank of consecrated service. While God was opening new doors and removing old barriers to heathen peoples, He was preparing new workers and agencies to enter the doors and occupy the accessible fields. The story of the organization of women, in boards of missions, especially in zenana work, and in every other form of Ohristian service, to promote total abstinence, social purity, systematic giving and united prayer, to disseminate intelligence and educate a new generation of givers and workers,- this is one of the greatest of the modern chapters in the new acts of the apostles. The importance and significance of this series of developments, and the obvious leadership of a divine hand in them all, entitle them to a special and permanent memorial among the markt spiritual movements of our time.
We mnst go back to the beginning. It is just about sixty years ago since Mr. Abeel was returning to Ohina, having told the women of Britain about the women of the far East, who, shut up in zenanas, harems, seraglios, were inaccessible to all holy influences, unless their own sex could be induced to undertake work in their behalf. That moving, melting plea was the parent of zenana missions. How strange that this first woman's mission should so marvellously synchronize with the accession of this Christian Queen to the British throne! that God should have chosen, at the very time when He was lifting to the seat of an empire that reaches round the world, a young Ohristian woman, He should be revealing to woman throughout the world the throne of her predestined influence, and put in her hands a hitherto undreamed of scepter for a more than imperial sway! The Victorian era is woman's era. When Victoria was crowned, the diadem was placed upon the head of her sex, and woman's true epoch began to be inaugurated, as we behold it in our day. We can do no more than briefly trace the outlines in this sixty-year history.
The project of carrying the Gospel to women in their oriental seclusion and exclusion, seemed at first the wild visionary scheme of unbalanced enthusiasts; and wise men and even sagacious women shook their heads in doubt, if not derision. How impracticable, nay how impossible! It was like forcing gates of steel in walls of stone, to seek to get access to the harems of Turkey and the zenanas of India. But something mnst be done. The condition of womankind in the East was so destitute and desolate that it had long drawn toward the wives, mothers, daughters of the Orient the attention and sympathy of the whole civilized world. And there seemed to be neither hope nor help for woman, unless it should come through woman herself. No activity or generosity in sending and supporting male missionaries would solve the problem; for no man could without risk to life enter these sealed doors even in the capacity of a physiciano And this fact seemed to compel woman's ministry. God appeared· to be saying to woman as from heaven: "Thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this; " and to those who had ears to hear and heart to heed and respond, there seemed no alternative. The women of England resolved to undertake the work of carrying the Gospel within zenana gates.
How little we, even yet, grasp the facts. In India alone it is estimated that there are one hundred and forty millions of women and girls. These were found sunk in such depths of degraded ignorance, that one-third of them could neither read nor write; one-twelfth of them were widows, and of these widows fourteen thousand were under four years of age, eight thousand were under ten and one hundred and seventy-five thousand under fourteen. Think of such a host of women, twelve million of girls under fourteen, and half of them wives! Absolutely unreacht and unreachable by any existing influence that could elevate, educate, or evangelize them I What words could fitly portray sO Iowan estate for nearly half the popUlation of oriental empires!
The work was undertaken. 'Reason opposed, but faith proposed and disposed. It is an old familiar, pathetic story, how in the days of Rev. Dr. Thomas Smith, then of Rev. John Fordyce and Alexander Duff, the first systematic efforts were made to get access to the zenanas of India.* Then how the deft needle of a missionary's wife, Mrs.
Mullens, was used to unlock the doors. A simple piece of embroidery, wrought by her skillful fingers, attracted the attention of the secluded inmates of one of these household prisons; they argued, that if a woman could do such work as that, other women might learn how to do it, and so with the cordial consent of the lord of the zenana, this Christian woman was welcomed within the veiled chamber, and encouraged to teach his wives the woman's art of embroidery, and as she wrought on a pair of slippers the beautiful pattern, she was quietly working into the very fabric of their hearts and lives the scarlet threads dyed in the blood, and the golden threads shining with the glory of the Lamb.
*This history has been carefully outlined elsewhere (" Crisis of Missions," Chap. XIX, "New Acts of Apostles," PartII.,Chap. 8) but we here rehearse the main facts. Rev. Dr. Thos. Smith March, 1840, urged on the Oalcutta Missiona!71 Observer, the question of zenana teaching. But it was fifteen years later before his sensible plans took such root as to have practical and lasting growth. Rev. Jno. Fordyce and others secured the services of two or three lady vlsi- ~ors, and got access to some native families. Then Mrs. Mullens, Mrs. Eliz. Sale, Miss Briton and others enlarged the work. But in 1851 the work had as yet no Imporlance sufficient to give It any statistics.. In 1871, twenty years after, 1,800 houses were found to be under visitation and there were about 2,000 pupils, and twenty years later, the homes found accessible had multiplied more than three-fold, to over 40,500. In 1896 the following are the figures for the work outside this fleW ofIndia.
Foreign and European female teachers……………………… 711 Native teachers………… •••••••••••••••• …………………… 8,661 Day-schools………………………………………… ….••.• 1,507 Scholars…………………………………………………… 62,414 See MIssIONARY RKVIB'W, April 1897, p. 278-279. We can scarcely credit the fact that, under so gentle a touch as that of a woman's hand, the long-locked gates have flown wid" open, and that the barriers of ages are no more! Christian women go, almost without restraint, sometimes with urgent entreaty, into the homes of women in Turkey, Syria, China, India, and the Orient generally. The girls are gathered by hundreds of thousands into Christian schools; and the increase in the number of female pupils has been so rapid, that it doubled in ten years between 1876 and 1886, and has multiplied much more rapidly in the last decade. As long ago as 1884, one hundred and sixty women missionaries had been enrolled in the work of that one I ..ondon mission; pupils numbered thousands within the zenanas, and tens of thousands in their day-schools. Ten years later, Bible women entered the richest homes freely, and Hindu husbands actually clamored to have their wives and daughters taught. l!'ourteen years ago, the Church of England society alone had under visitation eighteen hundred zenanas with four thousand pupils; and both visitors and schools have steadily grown in numbers and influence.
Thus suddenly the women of Christendom had "discovered a new world" with limitless possibilities of work for the Master. Leupolt, contempJating the fact that, not only to the houses of the lower classes of natives, but to the zenanas in cities like Benares, Lucknow, Agra, Delhi, Amritsi, Lahore, etc., European women with their native assistants were admitted freely, to teach the word of God, exclaims: "If anyone had hinted twenty-five years before that this would be, I would have replied, 'All things are possible to God, but I do not expect such a glorious event in my day.' But what has God wrought! more than we askt or thought, expected or prayed for! His name be praised." And when Leupolt thus wrote, already to more than twelve hundred such seraglios the agents of the Female Normal School and Instruction Society had access; and this was many years ago, when the work was at its inception comparatively, aud this was only as to the success of one organization! and an intelligent Hindu says: "If these women rmch the hearts of the women of our country, they will soon get at the heads of the men."
It was about thirteen years since, when the Indian Education Commission officially reported to the government that the most successful efforts at woman's education, after leaving school, had been conducted by missionaries; that in every province of India, Christian women had devoted themselves to teaching in native homes; and recommended grants for zenana work to be recognized as a proper charge on public funds, etc. .Soon after, a Mohammedan paper of Lahore urged those who would propagate Islam, to see to it that zenana women were taught the Koran, lest by the Christian teaching that was making such inroads the very foundations of Allah's empire should be demolished. Shaftesbury, at the jubilee of the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East, in 1884, said: " The time is at hand when you will see the great dimensions of the work you are now doing, not Qnly in rr.<1ia but throughout the East. Great changes are in the future." His words were prophetic of what is already taking place. Ten years ago this society had missions not only in India and Oeylon, but in Japan, Persia, and Africa, etc. One instance may be cited as a representative example of how in individual cases this zenana movement proves far-reaching and mighty. At the girls' central school in the capital of Madagascar, Miss Bliss taught the young princess who at the crisis came to the throne in that great island.
While God was thus opening the door of approach and access to Gentile women, behold Him moving Christian women to organize for the great Woman's Orusad~ of modern history! And so we come to that new chapter of missions which records the rapid growth of Women's Boards of Missions, which mark the next grand epoch of woman's epiphany and activity.
Much pains have been taken to find the facts, for the early records were destroyed by fire, and hence a general misapprehension as to the origin of the parent society.. Rev. L. A. Gould, in a letter to the writer, says: "The exact facts are as follows: Mrs. Ellen B. Mason, wife of Rev. Francis Mason, D.D., a Baptist missionary from Burmah, stopt in Oalcutta on her way to America, and learned the story of Mrs. :Mullens' zenana slippers. Mrs. Mason, with two ladies, still living, Mrs. J. D. Richardson and Mrs. H. O. Gould, my mother, visited influential families in Boston; and the first society, consisting of nine ladies, whose names I have, was formed in Boston, November, 1860, Miss M. V. Ball, President. Subsequently, in 1861, societies were formed in New York, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia; and the New York society, by reason of its strength, was allowed to become the general society. These facts are not vital, only advantageous for accuracy."
Thus, then, was organized, thirty-seven years ago, in America, the Woman's Union Missionary Society, which, under the leadership of the loved and lamented Mrs. T. O. Doremus, became the pioneer society of America, with The Missionary Link as its organ. This was an undenominational society, and led the way as the parent of the various denominational Women's Boards now found connected with all the great Ohristian bodies. Of all these societies the one originating cause was the inaccessibility of heathen women save to their own sex; and the one aim was to organize women, in cooperation with the existing foreign missionary societies, for sending out and supporting unmarried women as missionaries and teachers to their neglected heathen sisters.
The rallying cry, heard in Britain sixty years ago, and loudly echoed in America about twenty years later, brought Ohristian women boldly to the front in all the leading denominations. Early in 1868, there was formed in Boston the New England Women's Foreign Missionary Society, with Mrs. Albert Bowker for President, and Mrs. Homer Bartlett for Treasurer. The previous year the American Board had sent into the field ten single women, appropriating for this end $25,000. We can readily understand why Ohristian women felt called of God to this special work. We mention the following dominant reasons: 1. Women abroad were inaccessible except to women. 2. Ohristian womanhood would naturally both prompt and help work for woman. 3. Woman owes a special debt to Ohrist for what He has done to uplift her socially and domestically. 4. Woman naturally sympathizes with her own sex, and can appre- ciate woman's degradation and elevation. 5. Woman abroad needs the practical illustration of what the Gos- pel can do, and has done, for women. 6. In all education woman is God's ordained pioneer. As wife, mother, sister, daughter, she is the heart of the home and sways its scepter. 7. This work provides a legitimate sphere in which all that is best in woman can thus be amply exercised and developt.
The results are correspondent with what might be expected. Ohris- tian women became, for the first time in all history, thoroughly united in organized work for souls. Their interest in the spiritual uplifting of their own sex was quickened; larger means for supporting women as missionaries and teachers were forthcoming; intelli- gence was more widely spread, and in cheap mission leaflets and booklets; offerings were systematically gathered iu small sums, like "Oarey's weekly pennies"; direct correspondence with women workers, stated meetings for prayer, and hearing of news from the field- these were the results, which became in turn causes of new and larger results. The collections of the first month enabled this early New England society to assume the support of a missionary to South Africa. At the end of three months, three women became living links with the foreign field, Miss Edwards in Africa and Miss Andrews and Miss Parmelee in Turkey; and ten native Bible women were to be main- tained by the society. By October 8th, 1868, at Norwich, Oonn., this society was already the parent of auxiliaries everywhere forminK. and was now called "The Women's Board of Missions."
The same month, of the same year, a similar society was formed in the great West, " The Women's Board of Missions for the Interior," and the next year this new society assumed the support of Mrs. Tyler of the Madura mission, and Miss Dean of Oroomiah, and issued its quarterly, Life and Light for Heathen Women. During its first year about *4,000 were gathered. So rapidly grew the women's societies, that in 1884 there were twenty-two Women's Boards, representing twelve denominations, and aD. aggregate of about $1,000,000 receiptsl In 1897, the total number of women's societies has reacht upwards of one hundred.
One example of the rapid increase of gifts ought to be added to show the power of many little sums, systematically gathered. One Board, the Presbyterian, that reported in 1871 $7,000, reported $224,- 000 in 1886-thirty-two fold increase in fifteen years 1 And the incre80/3e still goes on.
No wonder Thos. Chalmers should have declared that he had found in benevolent work, that one woman was equal to seven and a half men!
This has not been the only direction in which Christian women have organized for holy activity during this Victorian era. Zenana work was but the first trumpet-blast that rallied this vast reserve force of the Lord's army. Then came the Women's Boards, both of Home aud Foreign Missions. But since then, behold the various forms of holy enterprize upon which the Christian sisterhood have entered. Four or five may be mentioned as conspicuous, tho far from exhausting the long list.
The Women's Temperance Orusade is one of the most memorable for its desperate daring. Maddened by the cruelties inflicted by strong drink, and hopeless of human intervention, Christian women in the United States took the kingdom of Satan by violence, and went into the drink-shops to protest with dram-sellers; they knelt on the floors of bar-rooms, and with prayers and tears besought God to curse the drink traffic and stop its awful ravages. When turned into the street, they knelt on the pavements and interposed their bodies between the door of gin palaces an9- those who would enter. They saw the haunts of the drunkard turned into places of prayer, rumsellers changed to evangelists, and sots into saints. The Women's Christian Temperance Union was baptized in tears and prayers and blood. It has a holy history.
The Woman's League for Social Pnrity attempted to do with the brothel and all its accessories what the Temperance Crusade undertook with the drink-shop. Obscene books, prints, exhibitions, houses of iII-fame, the uses of the post for all immoral purposes, and the perversion of law to impure ends,-these and other helpers and abettors of prostitution and corruption occupied their attention. It was a mighty movement, and has still an increasing momentum, directed toward the purity of our homes, as its sister movement toward their sobriety. And it ought to be said that it required great heroism and courage of conviction, for women to cast off the trammels of a mock modesty and a refined sensibility, and call things by their right names, and in public as well as in private, before men as well as women, and sometimes in courts and legislatures, grapple with an evil that even men had found it difficult to discuss. But they have done it, and challenged universal admiration for their intrepid fidelity.
The Young Women's Ohristian Association has done grand work for young women, as the Y. M. C. A. has for young men. It is making itself felt in all our great cities, in throwing a loving shelter about young girls who come to the great centers of population to find employment, and have no proper home-life. These associations have erected magnificent buildings where young women find board, lodging, companionship, employment, libraries, prayer-meetings, Bible classes, and every aid to temporal and spiritual advancement. If there is any more beneficial institution of its sort in existence, we do not know of such, and can speak with confidence and from personal knowledge of the immense benefit accruing, the writer having a daughter who is the secretary of one of these city organizations. And just now this work is expanding and becoming a power in foreign lands, gathering young women, as in India, into the embrace of a consecrated Christian sisterhood.
The women's medical mission work is one of the latest born ofthe organized movements of women in Christian lands. To have women going forth into all parts of the world, not simply as nurses, but as fully qualified physicians; and to have them commending themselves even to imperial governments as competent to practice medicine and surgery side by'side with the most skillful male practitioners, is certainly a very markt advance. Here is especially a new feature of the zenana movement, which led all the rest in point of time. Women penetrate the seclusion of oriental homes to-day, with the balm of Gilead in one hand and the balm of the apothecary in the other; they go to heal the body and to heal the soul, to preach and to cure; and in true apostolic fashion to commend themselves to the heart, by skill in ministering to the bodily ills and ailments. There is an eminent fitness in woman's medical ministry to woman, and upon it God is setting II. very markt seal and sanction.
No reference has yet been made to the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, nor to the Student Volunteer Missionary Union, iIi both of which women are perhaps as prominent leaders, if not as numerous members as men. But our object has been to call attention mainly to organizations solely composed of and officered by women, and these, selected out of many, may suffice to illustrate how in every direction the female factor in the Churcp. of Christ is making itself felt as never before in the various forms of Christian activity. There is, in fact, not one department of service to Christ and a lost humanity, in which women's gentle hand is not found conspicuous, not in association with m'en, but in independent methods of organized action. What the church and the world has gained thereby, it would be difficult to estimate. One example might be given out of many thousands as a typical instance. Nearly forty years ago, Mrs. Murrilla B. Ingalls, widow of Rev. Lovell Ingalls, a missionary to Arakan, after a visit to America, returned to Burma, and went at once to Thongze, where she remained and had entire control, without help from any male missionary, except a native ordained preacher and a few other native assistants. Often ,alone, she has with markt capacity and sagacity carried on the mission with conspicuous blessing. Without transgressing the limits of propriety, or assuming ecclesiastical functions, she has been a sort of acknowledged bishop of a vast diocese. +n all that has to do with Christian doctrine and church organization and administration she has taught both women and men. She chooses and then trains native evangelists, oversees the schools and discovers the aptitude in pupils for teachers, and then trains them for educational work. She maintains strict discipline, guides the church in appointing pastors, and then humbly trains pastors in Bible truth, homiletic studies, and pastoral theology. She has establisht Zayat preaching, organized a circulating library, and distributed Bibles and tracts over a wide district. Seeing the great destitution about her, she went with her Bible women on tours into the country, and her tent became the resort of multitudes who sought instruction. Being accused of "preaching" by those who were jealous of her influence, and defending her course as justifiable from New Testamen texamples, she was askt, "Were you ever ordained?" " No," she answered, "but I was Joreorda·tned." Mrs. Ingalls is a bright example of what woman has done and is doing in all lands, and those who would pursue the study of the theme have only to read the story of such heroic women .as the three wives of Dr. Judson, the second Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Krapf, Mrs. Judith Grant, Fidelia Fiske, Eliza Agnew, Mrs. McAll, Mrs. Moffat, and Mrs. Livingstone, Mary Whately, Matilda Rankin, Mary Graybell, Clara Cushman, Hannah Mullens, Rebecca Wakefield, Sarah B. Capron, Mary Williams, Dorothy Jones, Anna Hinderer, and a host of others who have adorned the annals of missions. And who needs to be'told that the names of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton are inseparable from the ministry to wounded and sick soldiers and victims of famine and persecution Bnd pestilence the world over?
Surely, when God lifted a Christian woman to the British throne sixty years ago, He was saying to her whole sisterhood in all Christian lands, "Ye are come to the Kingdom for such a time as this." Let woman appreciate her opportunity, for it is the golden age of her reign, and she holds a scepter that ·sways empires. Let her prove herself to be a power ordained of God to fulfil a holy mission!
THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN. [t;eptemoer
THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN.
BY WM. ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D.D., AUTHOR OF "THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE."
Japan is the most interesting country in Asia, perhaps in the whole missionary field. The reason is plain. Despite their boasting and self-conceit, the Japanese are not satisfied with themselves. Despite many foreign flatterers, they know that their civilization is very far ·from being finisht, and that their character lacks much. In this dissatisfaction lies the best hope of their salvation. When a nation ceases its restlessness and becomes self-contented, it is hopelessly senile. The people who say that they are rich and have need of nothing, and that they see clearly, when others know that they are poor and blind, are already in the numbness of paralysis. Japan now sees herself as others see her. By sudden contact with many nations, she is in a panopticon, and is disturbed at the too numerous reflections. Her people are an interesting study to themselves, like a man thoroughly awakened to himself, through some searching sermon or book which has revealed himself to himself.
Modesty is not a shining characteristic of the modern Japanese; but, tho their books and newspapers are painfully, even disgustingly, full of boasting and national vanity, yet in reality there is a deepseated self-disgust, a realization that something is not only wroug, but radically so. The most thoughtful men feel that, despite victorious armies or foreign models, steel and steam navies, and the miscellaneous borrowed furniture of modern civilization, somethiug still is lacking. "More moral oil to run the machinery," is a native editor's cry. To put on sealskins, diamonds, and what anyone can buy in the shops does not make a lady. Even one's private palace car and steam yacht will not produce a gentleman of culture; for "vindictive circumstances" of speech, spelling, and grammar will betray early deficiencies. To-day, probably more than ever before, there are deep searchings of heart in that country, where it is not yet safe to openly challenge the mythology on which the popular and political religion rests. There is much earnest talking and writing about a "moral crisis." There is yearning after a religion that will satisfy the awakened man in the Sunrise Land. The old foundations are slipping away, even while Japan hopes to build a national superstructure that will dazzle the world. The old stone-weighted wooden anchor, with its wisteria-vine rope, will no longer hold the ship of state. Millions of human beings, heretofore political ciphers, each one lost in a mass of similar ciphers, and made into expressional value only by the integer of the throne, are slowly rising into consciousness of rights and. individuality. It may be that each individual may become a giant. Then how hold the strong ones together? Let us inquire and see what the matter with Japan is. Whether we derive religion from the same idea that is in the word ligament~ and regard it a vinculum to bind the individual man and all his powers in unity, and to hold society together; or, whether we derive it from the idea of reading and reflection, making it the choicest product of thought, or of inspiration through revelation, it is what the Japanese want; and it is that which they know they want. At what they have had thus far, let us look, and then apply those words of her Master, which Christianity continually and unsparingly applies to herself,-" By their fruits ye shall know them."
Japan has three definite religious systems, thoroughly acclimated, naturalized, and active for over a thousand years, with only two intervals of labor by Christian missionaries–one of seventy years, from 1540 to 1620, by Portuguese and Spaniards, and the second in our day; which, whether we reckon from 1860 or 1870, we shall call a full generation of sporadic missionary effort by teachers from Roman, Greek,. and Reformed Churches,-those of the English-speaking nations outnumbering all others.
The oldest of all religions in the archipelago is Shinto, or the godway, which, briefly comprehended, has no distinct idea of God or of a Creator. It is a crude form of merely natural evolution, in which matter blossomed into mind and beings arose from mud to man. The men were the conquering few, and they conquered many; for Shinto is, first of all, a political machine, and will die the moment the ligature is cut which biuds it to the throne. Personifying the powers of nature, the islanders made apotheosis of the wise, the heroic, and especially the chief of one clan which, conquering other clans, became paramount in the archipelago. The core of Shinto is Mikadoism, and it has neither ethics nor religion, apart from the imperial decrees. It is bald of either rational morals or dogma, but yet is a joyous and pleas!mt cult, fitted for the infancy of a people liviIig off on an island by themselves. It inculcates personal cleanliness and gentle manners,. and nurses a narrow sort of patriotism. It is also the fountain and supply of a senseless conceit which, pardonable and even pretty in the minds of children and rustics, is simply absurd in a people who wish to be collectively considered as a great world-power, and even a teacher and giver of civilization to mankind.
Shinto goes back of history, and even well-founded tradition, tho its ancestor worship may possibly be borrowed from China. Confucianism, or the Chinese system of ethics and etiquette, has had a foothold in Japan for probably fourteen hundred years. Whatever the primitive faith of the first settlers of the Middle Kingdom may have been, it is certain that when Confucianism came into Japan it was already nearly a thousand years old, having scarcely the rudiments of a religion in it-nothing of prayer, aspiration, idea of personality, or suggestions of exalted soul-consciousness. Ignoring God and the soul, it taught a low routine ofl human duty, gave rules of conduct, and prescribed the ceremonies to be used in propitiating the unknown, and for the most part, politely ignored spirits that vaguely have something to do with the universe and its order. Whereas, in China filial piety was the center of the system, in Japan loyalty was made the basis. For in Mikado-land everything is sub- ordinate to the throne. No freedom of thought or of action was or is allowed in any way likely to disturb this subordination of every- . thing in the whole empire to the emperor and his ancestors.
As in China, so in Japan, but still more so. The agnosticism and etiquette of Confucius lent themselves aumirably to despotism and arbitrary government, whether of the central suzerain or the local lords. Over a thousand years' active use oi the sword, of oppression, of grinding down the masses, have made the Japanese that submissive and demure people, which we find all over the empire, below that sub- I merged tenth that have ruled the country for ages, and who, despite all pretense and profession of modern constitutionalism, rule them yet. Now, thousands of this hereditary ruling class see their mythology melting into empty air. They have discovered that their feudal ethics rest as does a mass of iron rails and wooden tif)s which, after an awful washout, still holds a thin shell of earth. They wonder how the heavy engine of modern life can be run over the foundation- less old tracks. Having bought or made all sorts of new machinery, but with mighty problems unsolved, they ask, Where is the new type of man· to stand on deck and order at once the steersman above and the engineer below?
Buddhism entered Japan fourteen hundred years ago. Then, for the first time, the Japanese were brought in contact with a distinct product of the Aryan mind. The ultimate result was a chapter of decay for Buddhism. In the first centuries the tremendous zeal of the new missionaries, their positive works of benevolence, their intro- duction of a great train of civilizing influences with art, ethical codes, sutras and shastras, a ,great apparatus of devotion, with idealistic philosophy, with a splendid architecture and symbolism which beauti- fied the landscape of Japan, and teachings which made the law of kindness the rule of life, they educated the whole nation. The suc- . cess of Buddhism in winning all, from the nobles at court to the humblest fisherman and farmer, to gentle virtues, appreciation of natural beauty and of art and literature, has been vastly more than that of all other influences put together, including Shinto, Confu- cianism, and whatever has drifted to Japau from the continental nations of Asia. Buddhism has been the mother of Japanese civiliza- tioll. Nevertheless, Japanese Buddhism, when once become domesticated, won its final victories by compromises and transmutations that not only changed its own character, but ministered to the conceit of the Japanese people; for it proclaimed the gods of Shinto as nothing more than previous avatars or manifestations of Buddha. Thus it not only swallowed up the older indigenous cult, making it practically invisible for many centuries, but itself entered upon a wild reversionary and degraded form of pantheism which still further swampt any gleams of the personality of God or of real individuality in man. Thus the Japanese people could not, morally and religiously, be anything else than a nation still bound in the lower forms of invertebrate and nerveless life, remiuding one of a jelly fish rather than of the splendid creatures of nerve and brain, which we find in the higher ranges of life.
So, applying the test that "by their fruits ye shall know them," most linguists, historians, and the students of philosophy and literature, and of religion, agree in their general appraisement of the outcome of the Japanese mind and heart. While gladly and warmly acknowledging much pleasing fruit and many beautiful products, critics can not, if honest and truthful, but point out the defects which, indeed, seem appalling when we consider the ambition of the Japanese to claim an equal place among the nations of the world. For these islanders at this end of the nineteenth century claim to have aci;ually inaugurated a new career of civilization, which neither as to religion, nor ethics, nor philosophy, nor literature, nor politics, nor social life, nor material products and inventions shall pe second to anything which the nations in Christendom have produced or can produce. Yet what is the outcome of the Japanese religions? How stand, not the rare specimen, but the average Japanese man, and the masses to.day?
As one who has for thirty years been before the English-speaking and American public as a writer on Japan, one will not accuse me of lack of appreciation. Yet the truth must be told. Using words in their highest and therefore their true sense, we declare that the average Japanese lacks the fundamental ideas that go to make up a religion. He not only does not know of God but he ignores the very idea. He has scarcely a conception of the sonl as perdnring and individual. His idea of duty, nobly as he fulfils it, is a childish one. Once again, remember, that I nse the ideas of " God," " soul," and "duty" in the highest sense and that I do not refer to the few thousand Christians or a few hundred sincere thinkers who are not agnostics or slaves of Mr. Herbert Spencer,-the philosopher, whose name and work I honor.
Using the word with the same value, weight, and color that we nse it when talking of the Hebrew prophets, the Greek sages, the English poets, Dante, Milton, or Shakespeare, or of the nations which have produced these men, I believe that the Japanese, in spite of all their religions, are not a religious, certainly not a spiritual people. I have tried to make myself reasonably familiar with Japanese history, but I find in it no overmastering spiritual ideals such as have moved and do move the great men of the continents; no consciousness of personal individuality such as filled and exalted the soul of teachers, heroes, and martyrs in lands where Christ reigns; no vision and realization of a presence filling heaven and earth. Tho the term Creator is not unknown in the language of the Japanese, yet they have never reachtany idea of God higher than that of a bundle of abstract principles and forces. Their notion of God is such a sort of entity as may be found inside of a book like Ganot's physics. Their most holy men remind one more of Benjamin Franklin on the one hand or of Saint Simeon Stylites on the other, than of Paul or Augustine, Anselm or Bernard, David Brainerd or Abraham Lincoln. In studying Japanese Buddhist's books, or, the only work which might, by a tremendous stretch of fancy and charity, be called the Japanese Bible,-the Kojijione feels that he is in a fog, or a mist that rolls over and covers everything sharp and definite. Indeed, in that kind of painting which depicts cloud and haze, as well as in philosophy, the Japanese delight; but, whether this misty vagueness be the product of the brush or the brain, such art, philosophy or religion, will never produce men like William the Silent, Raphael or Rembrandt, Kant or Bacon, or Oliver Cromwell, John Huss or Guido de Bres, William Penn or Peter Cooper. Indeed the whole idea of Buddhism is to ignore man's soulconsciousness and that infinite Presence,-that "one simple and spiritual Being which we call God, who is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good." Indeed, what could we expect, with a rudimentary system founded on the idea of the mere evolution of matter and force which, after rising into the personification of the forces of nature, became a political engine for the subjugation of the people, centering everything to the will of the emperor?
After the boldness of Shinto comes the agnosticism of Confucius, t'eaching only etiquette and ceremony, bidding men to "honor the gods but keep them far from you." After this extinguisher of all faith in personality divine or human, Buddhism enters to ignore and ridicule the idea of a Creator, teaching flat atheism and a new cycle of ideas founded on agnosticism, evolution without any previous divine involution, and finding the whole basis of its philosophy in a succession of cause and effect, even while ignoring the First Cause. '
Is it any wonder then, since the Japanese have, roughly speaking, never had anything else but a protean agnosticism, and being throughout their whole history, swampt and mired in the philosophy of ignorance, that they should never know God, or the soul, or duty in any high sense P Is it any wonder that to-day the gospel of Herbed Spencer-a J apanized gospel of Herbert Spencer at that-is the favorite creed of the average educated (heaven save the mark!) Japanese? Without then, the idea of a personal God as a living, self- conscious, free intelligence; without the idea of personality of man, as of a real individual surviving as a spiritual entity the di~solving of his fleshly frame-work; without any moral character apart from per- sonal interest and social necessity, or the will of the emperor; how, in the name of any philosophy known under heaven, are the Japanese to face the perils which now beset them and solve the problems await- ing them? How can Japan, undoubtedly yearning for the fullrecog- nition of all the world, reach that level which the proud nations in Ohristendom require in one who claims to be an equal? The very fact that under the searching word of God, and under that travail and questioning which Ohristian nations feel, because of their God-con- sciousness and soul-consciousness, they ever challenge themselves unto ever nobler ideals, makes them all the more rigid ill demanding of a still pagan nation stern moral tests, and not only a high religion but the frnits of it. It is certain that the nations of Ohristendom will never admit as their equal one in which Buddhism is the popular creed. Oertainly Shinto, the last shadowy relic of an ethnic religion, gives no card of introduction. A mere code of ceremonies like Oon- fucianism begets neither confidence or recognition.
The Japanese boast of their ethics or "spirituality" is a sham.
They may be perfectly certain that a country in which one divorce to every three marriages is the rule, where polygamy and private harems, -with children born in a herd instead of a home, the emperor him- self setting the example, and this being the general custom from the court noble to the betta, is reckoned distinctly inferior and will be.
The hazy view which mercantile and other folk take of the sacredness of a contract, the low value put on the letter of one's bond and of truth generally, the lack of general understanding of the value of a promise, -these things, which better religion will vastly improve, are paving the Japanese future pathway with failures both humiliating and con- tinuous.
He who dwells in the country of the little captain Miles Standish, and familiar with the story of David and Goliath, will not willingly twit the Japanese for their smallness, either in personal stature, the area of their country, the dimiuutiveness of their rice and wheat stalks, compared with those of South Oarolina and Dakota, the little- ness of their rivers, their low percentage of arable area, nor with the grade of their heroes, literature, art, or poetry, all of which seem miniatures rather than mature or imposing products. And this we .'. say, in spite of a whole school of American and European uncritical admirers. But, when we see the Japanese persisting in their love for things petty, and clan-like in regions sublime, cosmical, eternal, demanding" Japanese ethics," a religion of their own making, or "Ohristianity adapted to the needs of Japan," we behol<1 either a merely splenetic reaction against what they deem foreign, or insanity with which God has afflicted them in order to hum.ble them, and we trust afterwards to raise them up.
When the whole truth is told about the Japanese armies in Ohina and Formosa, and the behavior of civilian officers in the newly con- quered island, one is not favorably imprest with the fruits of their ethical training. Tho the nation is to-day ground down under the awful load of taxes that keeps the mass of the people poor and ignorant, tho, no doubt, many are made rich, one in Tokio, Osaka, or Kioto looks almost in vain for great schemes of benevolence, hospitals, asylums for the insane, for the blind, and for diseased and suffering humanity. One does indeed find a few hospitals maintained by the government, but even these are ridiculously few compared with the number in Ohristian countries; while for the special classes, for orphans, the blind, the dumb, the insane, the lying-in-mothers, one is appalled to find that, ~)Utside of those under Ohristian or foreign auspices, and one blind and dumb school of the government, such things hardly exist. The finest buildings in Japan are the government offices, the houses of the high officials, and the military barracks, but a Girard Oollege or Oooper Institute, or those institutions which even in colonial America were hopefully common, are practically unknown in boasting Japan. Large-minded philanthropists are as rare as white crows.
Even the idea of prosperity in religion is apt to mean the approval of eminent statesmen or the applause of the secular newspapers. The Japanese are not yet educated to the idea of ethics, religion, practical benevolence existing apart from politics. It is also true that they are too sadly encouraged by the examples of those despotisms in Europe which they so delightfully follow.
Perhaps it is not possible for a foreigner to divest himself wholly of prejudices, but the writer has not often been accused of prejudices against Japan. 'fhis question of religion must be and can be ponderated apart from subjective prepossessions, when we apply the test ~~~~~~~I~~~~~~~~~ continue in these old paths or to rest in their interpretation of the gospel of Herbert Spencer, will result not only failure to win a place of equality among the nations of Ohristendom, but means utter collapse of the nation. They have planted the acorn in the bottle, but their honest men know the power of growth and the thinness and rigidity of the glass, and therefore dwell in impotent fear. Theyneed ~ become a religious nation and to have that sense and apprehension' .of one living and true God who is "the overflowing fountain of all good." They need to know the reality and therefore the worth of the individual human soul. They need to know of duty done" as in the great Task-Master's eye." They need to get over that frightful conceit which makes them still look on the fundamental principles of Christianity-the world-educating and the world-conquering religion -as inferior to their insular hereditary traditions. Their notions about the desertion of even father and mother for Ohrist's sake as "uprooting Japanese society," seems puerile or dotard-like. It reminds us of Marshal.McMahon who would govern France solely by the advice of his family clergyman. It resembles that of those "mouutain whites" in Kentucky, whose preferenoe for home-distilled corn whiskey leads them to think United States law inferior to local ideals. It is this narrow, childish spirit which has led to Bome of those grotesque reactions and those picturesque anachronisms which have recently illustrated Japanese history during this decade, and which are to be classt with those manias which for twenty-five years have kept them in a succession of wasteful crazes for rabbits, cockfighting, whist, waltzing, big funerals, planchette, wrestling, and the revival of obsolete costumes and sports. Even the Japanese writers now make themselves merry over these revivals of "New Shintoism," "Neo-Buddhism," and over the (now past) spectacle of old-fashioned Oonfucianists, spectacled and top-knotted, lecturing on ethics to classes of bright-faced boys sitting in school-rooms with seats, desks, apparatus and text books of latest pattern; and over that variegated Ohauvinism in politics, literature, dress, and behavior which shows, we trust, the last flickerings of a dying flame. By and by the Japauese will see clearly that God Almighty is greater even than their Mikado. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that, after two thousand years inoculation in the idea that Japan is the center of the universe, the disease is not easily curable.
Will not the Japanese, even those who "swallow Herbert Spencer whole," understand that even the philosopher of the unknowable does not deny the existence and activity of a personal God, that even those destructive critics on the European continent who have deserted the old Calvinism and other traditional forms of Ohristian faith, believe none the less in a great determining Power, personal and intelligent? The Japanese must learn that the very "evolution" in which they so delight is, with thousands of Ohristian thinkers, supremely loyal to Jesus, only another way of describing and of seeing plaiply God's method of continuous creation. Oertain it is that, without the faith of theism, it will be impossible to grasp that which not only binds the nations of the west in unity, but which gives them their law of progress,-that is, the fatherhood of God ani! the brotherhood of man. Nor can any hope for the welfare of the great mass of the Japanese people be based on anything else than on Ohrist's law of love. Following out this law, the leaders of Ohristendom have been able under
ABOUT THE AINU 01f JAPAN
God to lift up the whole body of their fellow men. For the Japanese intellect-after three different systems, all agnostic, pantheistic, and corrosive of the great fundamental truths which have uplifted Europe and America-to adopt a new one-that of Spencer, but with SFencer's ultimate idea left out-seems rather the freak of the insane than the choice of intelligent men. Possibly, however, they are playing a game to deceive the world, and once more practicing their old trick of taking on the material forces and bastard philosophy of Christendom, in order, really, to guard their isolation amI insulate themselves from the shock of vital change.
The editor of this magazine has askt me for an article on "The Religions of Japan," leaving me free to deal with some special phrase of the subject, or with the subject in general. I have chosen to point out the failure of the three religions of Japan (and, like failure in all, because of the same defect in each), to elevate and save the Japanese. I believe they can be elevated and saved, when they come to God, believing that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; when they realize human personality in the highest sense, and when the,r notions of duty become something more than a local, insular, and familyaffa,ir. So I close this article with words written in March, 1875 (after having lived four years among them, and known them for seven years), and now all the more deeply felt after thirty years' acquaintance with them.
"Unless a mightier spiritual force than either Shinto or Buddhism is allowed unimpeded operation, we see little prospect of aught better than the gain of a glittering veneer of material civilization, and the corroding foreign vices under which, in the presence of the superior aggressive races of the west, Japan must fall as the doomed races of America. or Hawaii."
SOMETHING ABOUT THE AINU* OF JAPAN.
BY THE REV. JOHN BATCHELOR, SAPPORO, YEZO, JAPAN.
It will be found that, as a rule, writers of certain classes of nOTels make their stories center round some one or more heroes. It is also a rule,- a very natural, and therefore most important rule it may be added,-that the remarks made concerning these heroes shall be in conformity with the character it has already been determined to portray. Unless this principle is maintained the story will certainly be pronounced bad. Nevertheless, in a large majority of cases it turns out that such conformity is found to be of a highly embellisht nature, * The word Ainu means" man " or " men," This people therefore knows itself as the race of U men." SOMETHING A.BOUT THE AINU OF JAPAN.
and is often so exaggerated as to amount to moral untruth, for the writer dwells almost exclusively on one or two characteristics at the expense of all others.
So does it also appear to be a general rule that any person undertaking to write about the Ainu residing in far off Japan, must, to lend interest to his book, by all means produce this phenomenon. Intending travelers and writers will have already heard beforehand that the Ainu are a very filthy and very hairy race, and so before they appear upon the scene and commence their task, they have already got their own clean cut ideas as to what the people ought to be like. Their phenomena, therefore, invariably figure as particularly filthy, hairy, and for this reason abject specimens, more like brute beasts than human beings. And, the cue being taken from that, the race is described very much according to the writer's notion of what they consider it ought to be, rather than what it is in reality. Moreover, the phenomena are made to serve various purposes. They are either used as subjects upon which to base a few interesting remarks, or from which to give a far-fetcht back-handed hit at the Christian faith iu the creation of man by the Supreme Being, or as texts from which to draw some peculiar, if not impossible conclusions; or else they are made to do duty as pegs, upon which to hang some long cherisht opinion of persons or things in general which the writer wishes to air by some pretense or other. And we find that the interesting remarks made are often so exaggerated and the facts so over-stated as to give the reader quite a wrong impression of the people, while the peculiar conclusions drawn and sentiments exprest are, if not unscientific, at least such as reflect credit neither on the intelligent discrimination, fairness of mind, aud kindness of heart in the writer, nor moral character, intellectual status, and common human nature of the Ainu. Indeed, unless great care is exercised, there is a danger of being led by writers to look upon this people as partaking more of the outward appearance and inward nature of the lower animals than of human beings,-of being led to expect to find them wild savages rather than as the civilized, quiet and good-natured men and women they are. Many a traTeler has said to me: "Why these people are nothing like as hairy and wild as I expected to find them I " And such indeed is the fact; the whole matter has been greatly over-stated.
That most indefatigable and brave lady traveler, who, whenever she puts pen to paper, always writes so honestly and vividly, intereetingly and impartially (I mean Mrs. Isabella Bird-Bishop), found her filthy and hairy specimen at Repungepin Volcano Bay. She writes very graphically of him, and in a pleasant, good-humored way calls him the MISSING LINK. Futhermore, to give greater perspicuity to her description she speaks of him in the neuter gender. In writing about him she says: "I was startled when I first saw it. It was-shall I say-a man, and the mate, I can not write hUsbQ.ud,of the ugly woman. The arms and legs were unnaturally long and thin, and the creature sat with the knees tuckt into the armpits. The limbs and body, with the exception of a patch on each side, were thinly covered with fine black hair, more than an inch long, which was slightly curly on the shoulders. It showed no other signs of intelligence than that evi- denced by boiling water for my tea." * Bnt Miss Bird is very fair to this people (and I wish, indeed, I could say all were like her in this matter), and would not have the careful reader be led astray by this or any other exceptional phenome- non, for, in another place which she likewise intended to be read, she most trnly says: "The Volcano Bay Ainos t are far more hairy than the mountain Ainos, but even among them it is qnite common to see men not more so than vigorous Enropeans, and I think that the hair- iness of the race, as a distinctive feature, has been much exaggerated, partly by the smooth-skinned Japanese."! Thus, then, by comparing these two passages together, we find that Miss Bird gives a very good description of the hairiness of the Ainu, and in it she speaks the trnth. When, therefore, we hear her speaking about the MISSING LINK as existing at Repungep, we must take her words, not as conveying assent to the doctrine 'of human evolution, but rather as an expression of surprise at seeing a man who was, even for an Ainu, beyond donbt exceptionally hairy. And we must ever remember that the Ainu is not altogether made up of hair, and is a biped.
But all writers on the Ainu are by no means as fair as Miss Bird, for, while she describes her phenomenon as above quoted, and, tho not / in an unkind manner, yet perhaps a little thoughtlessly for a serious writer, calls him the MISSING LINK, Mr. Savage Landor gOE)s a long step further, and seems to seriously look upon the Ainu as the genuine article referred to in the above terms, as if, forsooth, the doctrine of the MISSING LINK was a proved and already accepted article of general belief! This gentleman writes at the end of the 27th Ohapter of his book as follows: "Resuming these few remarks 'on the characteristic points of Ainn senses, my readers will probably have noticed certain facts which strongly support Darwin's theory of evolution and the hairy arboreal ancestor with pointed ears, from which the races of men are descended." Mr. Landor has very highly colored his Ainu, and in his" remarks on characteristic points of Ainu senses," has sadly dis- torted the facts of the case. He is uttel'ly unreliable when writing of the Ainu. Indeed, from a perusal of his account and illustration of them, I should hardly have known, unless from some of the names he gives and from his having told us, that he was writing of the race I …. Unbeaten Tracts In Japan." Vol. Ii., page 1"1.
t It should be written Ainu, not .. Alnos. " ; .. Unbeaten Tracts In Japan." Vol. Ii., page 189.
BATCHELOR AND CHRISTIAN AINU
~v. J OH N BATC HELOR AND NO~-C H KL!!i 'l' l AN Al NU MEN.
AMONG THE AINU OF JAPAN.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE .&.IlIIll' OJ!' JUIJr
and my wife have been for so many years most intimately connected with and working among. Whatever Mr. Landor may consider to be his own ancestry, I, for my part, prefer .to accept the account revealed and set forth in Genesis i-iii. Whatever that gentleman's illustra- tions may be, upon these I make no comment here, his writing can, in no sense, be relied on, particularly so when he touches upon matters connected with any department whatever of psychology or theology.
Dr. Howard also found his hairy specimen to write about, but in this case it happened to be a woman. He found her in a Russian hospital on the Island of Sakhalin. Of her he says: "The most astounding feature of all in this remarkable phenomenon, and that which at first caused me to inquire why the doctor allowed it the privileges of the female ward, was that the neck, chest, arms, and, as I afterwards found, the whole body was more hairy than the most hairy man I ever saw.
It Despite the atrocious appearance, this phenomenon was taciturn, shy, and docile, with an evident wish, were it possible, to be even friendly and amiable." '"
The inference, I suppose, the doctor desires the reader to draw is not only that the Ainu, both men and women alike, resemble the lower animals as regards quantity of hair, but also that they are no more capable of intelligent friendship and expression of amiability than those creatures are. But in this he is altogether mistaken, for not only is it possible for the Ainu to be friendly, but they are indeed so. They are just as much human as Doctor Howard himself, and neither more nor less so. According to Dr. Howard and another writer one would be led to conclude that the Ainu have not as much sense and capacity. for affection as a common Scotch collie. Furthermore, the doctor has informed us that the Yezo Ainu are descended from those of Sakhalin; the Ainu themselves, however, know nothing of this, and the Yezo Ainu scornfully repUdiate the idea. It is a purely gratuitous guess on the part of the doctor. Thus we find that almost all statements made by the passing stranger and ordinary traveler on these and kindred matters should be received with caution, and ought to be taken very much cum grano salis.. A few weeks or months is not sufficient time in which to learn all about a race of people and write a good, reliable book on them, especially so when the writers know nothing of the lauguage of the subjects of their remarks.
So much then for Messrs. Landor and Howard. But, it may be askt, does not one of the greatest Japanese scholars and writers on things Japanese speak somewhat in the same strain as these gentlemen? Well, yes I Professor Basil Hall Ohamberlain does appear in one place to be rather hard on the poor Ainn, but his writings may not, for a moment, be compared with those of the writers just men- … Trans·Siberian Savaies," paie 9. tioned. Whatever he says about the Ainu is reliable, and may not be lightly questioned. However, there is just one place in his writing with which I cannot agree. In concluding an essay on the Ainu, he finishes with the following remarks:* "By some European travelers this Japanization of the present generation (of Ainu), and the probable speedy extinction of the race, are mourned over. The present writer can not share these regrets. . • . But so little have they profited by the opportunities offered to them during the past thousand or two thousand years, that there is no longer room for them in the world. It (i. 6., this race) has no future, because it has no root in the past. . . . The existence of this race has been as aimless, as fruitless as the perpetual dashing of the breakers on the shore of Horo- betsu. t It leaves behind it nothing but a few names."
No one would ever suspect me of being one of those who think with the professor on this point. We might inquire as to what the so-called opportunities of the last one or two thousand years he speaks of have been. There is, perhaps, another side to this question upon which a great deal might be said, but a discussion of which would be outside the scope of this article. And as to saying that the race has 'been as aimless, as fruitless, as the perpetual dashing of the breakers on the shores of the sea, can it be demonstrated, indeed, that the dashing of these same breakers is aimless and fruitless? Is the least vibration of the earth or the smallest movement of air aimless and fruitless? Unless a man is infinite in knowledge and perception he surely has no right to say that this is so. Perhaps at the time when all mysteries are laid open before us, we shall see that the existence of the Ainu race has not been in vain. No; surely there can be nothing in the whole universe that is or has been absolutely useless. We believe that" God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation." This being so, the Ainu existence may not lightly be called aimless and fruitless.
And when we remember that Christ, like the merchantman in the parable, sold all that He had, as it were, i. 6., laid aside His great and eternal glory for a time and became man, that He might come to this earth and seek after the goodly pearl of the human soul-when we remember Him as the good Shepherd seeking till he found the sheep that was lost-then, in some. degree, do we learn to look upon these friendless Ainu in the way that the Great Master of all looks upon them; then do we learn to see through the rugged exterior and understand something of what is contained beneath. And looking beyond • "lIIemoirlof the IJterature College, Imperial University of Japan." No.1. Pages 74,15.
t Horobetsu is a mixt village of Japanese and Ainu ou the East coast of Yazo, and Is open to the broad expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Prof. Chamberlain spent a few weeka with the present writer and his wife at this place in 1888 for the study of the Ainu laqtIaie, hence the illustration. this present world to that which is to come, we see, with the eye of faith, men "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and natiou" (and surely this includes the Ainu race), standing round the throne of God and the Lamb. Thus we believe that when the Ainu race has served the purpose for which it was sent into the world, and not before, it shall pass away as other races have done before it and shall do after it. And so we go on working in faith.
That the Ainu is a disappearing race is a fact which can not be denied, for while thirty years ago the population numbered some thirty thousand souls, there are now no more than sixteen thousand of them left. And the fewer they become the faster they will die out. What with the rapid immigration of the Japanese, who come by thousands every year, and not only reside in and about the Ainu villages, but also take up the lands and the fishing grounds along the seacoast and rivers, thus pushing the Ainu out; what with the strong passion for alcoholic drink there is among the men; the poor food they have to subsist on; the inroads of disease and utter ignorance and disregard of the most elementary hygienic rules, together with other causes, it seems to be inevitable that the race should. become qnite extinct within a very few years. One or two Japanese philanthropists, indeed, have spoken about preserving the Ainu by placing them in :reserves, and the matter has been even mentioned in the diet, but so far it has all ended in talk. The doctor who attends to the Ainu who come to our" rest-house" in Sapporo, has examined and prescribed for some four hundred of them, and his opinion is that the race is worn out; its energy and vitality have disappeared. It would appear to be too late now to do anything effectually for the physical salvation of the people by way of placing them in reserves. The Japanese nation has missed a grand opportunity in suffering this poor people to be thus driven to the wall when it was in their power to help them.
Mission work has been carried on ft.mong those Ainu under Russian rule for many years and there are quite a number of Greek Christians, I understand, on the Island of Sakhalin. How many I have no means of finding out. I also hear that laws have been made and are rigidly enforced, by which it is forbidden to sell alcoholic liquors to them. I am sure the people are happier and better for this wise regulation. I wish I could say as much for the Japanese treatment of the Ainu in their dominions. So far from forbidding the sale of Sake* to them, there is now a distillery in full work right among the Ainu of the old capital of Piratori I It was built about twelve months ago, and has already done much harm to the people and the cause of Christ about there. I notice a great di1Jerence between the people to-day and what they were before this distillery was built. It is very distressini to * Sake is whiskey distilled from rice.
September
see ~he downward grade of many a promising youth, and the sad, tearful faces of what were but a short time since bright and happy wives.
So far as I am aware, I happen to be the first missionary of any denomination to preach the Gospel to the Ainu of Yezo in their native tongue. Speaking of the communion to which I belong, the Rev. W. Dening was originally sent in the year 1874 by the C. M. S. to take up work in Yezo with the special object of reaching the Ainu race, but he gave the most af his time to the study of Japanese in Hakodate, and tho he 'made one or two trips to some of the Ainn villages, notably those of Usu and Piratori for the purpose of studying the language, he was not able to spare enough time from the Japanese work to make himself proficient in the Ainu tongue. I was sent to Hakodate in the year 1877, having been obliged to leave Hongkong, to which place I was originally appointed, through malarial fever. For the space of two years I gave almost the whole of my time to studying the Japanese language, occasionally, however, making a short trip to the Ainu near at hand and while among them devoted myself to stUdying their language, religion, and customs, as a kind of rest and recreation from the difficulties of the Japanese tongue. These trips became more frequent till in the year 1882, having by this time gained some little knowledge of the language and people, I was appointed by the C. M. S. Committee to make the matter of evangelizing the Ainu my special work and first care. Hence the Ainu have for many yeam been my chief study while preaohing, the Gospel to them. Mrs. Batchelor has of course assisted me in no small degree in the work, and the Lord has been pleased to bless the labors of our hands abundantly.
But we are nOw no longer alone in this work. All the O. M. S. missionaries on the island have their share of Ainu to evangelize. The majority of the people, however, are still under my charge, for out of the total of 16,000, nearly 10,000 are in my district. A lady also has now been sent to help us in this cause, and there are three Ainu and two Japanese helpers laboring especially among the people. There is also a school for boys at Hakodate, and a "Rest-House" for the sick at Sapporo.
The first Ainu Christian admitted into our section of the Church of Christ was baptized on Christmas day in 1885, and he past away on January the 19th of the present year. In the following year three others were added to the church. In 1887 two more were baptized, and so on till the year 1893 the people came out by ones and twos· But in that year the seed which had been steadily sown during so long' a time'suddenly sprang to life, so that up to the present time more than seven hundred have been admitted into the Ohurch by baptism, while there are many others coming out. There are, in fact, more
TBB nu.a IN UPU
than a hundred catechumens uuder instruction at the present moment. Thus does the Lord add to His churches daily such as are being saved. Moreover, it has been my blessed privilege to give the Ainu the New Tt*itament in their own language. May the Lord continue His good work in the hearts of this poor downtrodden people.
THE YEAR IN JAPAN.
BY REV. GEORGE Wlf. KNOX, D.D• .As we closed our survey of the year in Japan, in July, 1896, came the news of the terrible disaster in the North. It was described in the October number of this REVIEW, by one who visited the scene on an errand of mercy. During the months following, there were terrible floods, and, later, a long continued epidemic of smallpox. But terrible catastrophies occur so often in Japan that they are accepted as natural and to be expected. So has it been from the dawn of history and so is it likely to be for ages to come. The only unusual thing is the bleSBed charity which hastens now to alleviate the suffering, a charity taught by our Lord but learned by multitudes who do not profess his name.
The Death of the Empress Dowager occurred in January, 1897, and her funeral gave opportunity for the Japanese to show that in some things at least they still are lovers of the past. The funeral ceremonies were prolonged, expensive, inexpressibly tedious (to impatient occidentals at least), exaggerated, antiquated. The empire was searched for oxeu of just the right ritual color to draw the cart that bore the coffin, the cart itself was of a peculiar pattern and its wheels emitted a monrnful sound as they revolved. After careful search oue ancient carpenter was found who knew how to construct the vehicle. The interment at last was at night, and an hour was consumed in lowering the coffin into its place. Everything belonged to the old, old Japan of elaborate ceremony, and endless time, and exhaustless patience.
Amnesty to prisoners was proclaimed. Sixty thousand were benefitted by a reduction in their sentences, and 16,000 were released outright. It was in vain that some of the newspapers protested that this ancient custom was more honored in the breach than in the observance. In the ancient times the presumption was all against the prisoner and he was often kept for years, sometimes for life, without his guilt .being establisht, even without formal trial. Many, too, were condemned for ceremonial or unintentional or some relative's transgressions implying no real guilt. For such the death of a ruler offered an opportu-
TlIB Y]U,B IN JAPAlf
nity for redress, and the prison doors were opened that innocent sufferers might go free. But now, it was argued, with the modern system of law men get only what they deserve, and such release of prisoners is at 'the expense of justice. They also prophesied an increase of crime as the result, a prophecy that has seemed to be fulfilled in the months past.
More in accordance with modern notions was the gift of 400,000 en from the Imperial purse to charitable institutions, though it is doubtful if even so royal a gift could make up for the sufferings caused dancing girls, actors, and musicians, who for fifteen days were forbidden to follow their means of livelihood. And after all the Empress Dowager was not the mother of the Emperor. But in family relationships, as in funeral ceremonies, Imperial Japan is still wholly archaic and unreformed.
With Foreign Powers.-Some of the very patriotic folks sharply reproved the government for not insisting on mourning by foreign courts. But European powers have never thus recognized Asiatic courts, and it is not yet clear that Christian usages can be extended to non-Christian states. In any case, some at least of the Japanese felt that a slight was put upon their idolized land.
A more serious matter was the reported Russian military mission to Korea, a mission seemingly in contravention of the treaty recently concluded between the two empires concerning the troublesome little kingdom. But this is now reported as arranged satisfactOl·ily. None the less does Korea remain a thorn in the patriotic flesh of Japan. None can pretend that she achieved peace with honor there.
Nor yet in Formosa. That remains a white elephant. Insurrections, epidemics, dissatisfaction, and worst of all, the conduct of the Japanese themselves appear as causes of the misfortunes and disgrace. The newspapers are keenly alive to the situation and loud in their demands for reforms, and in that is perhaps the brightest gleam of hope.
With Hawaii, too, there hits been trouble; the Japanese being at least technically right. This little cloud shows how all the world is one, since the Japanese protest against the exclusion of its laborers has hastened the action of our own executive in making its new treaty for the incorporation of the Sandwich Islands in our domain. 'rhe Japanese protest again as they already felt themselves aggrieved by our proposed new tariff with its increased duties on silks and matting, and its tax on tea. Perhaps the cutting off the latter tax may appease the cl~mor raised against the new" unfriendly" policy of the United States.
Politics at Home.-There has been the usual strife, but less acute, and the customary change of ministry. No ministry seems able to endure a twelve months. Perhaps the last may have a more kindly fate. Two measures of importance it has already with the willing help of Parliament accomplished. There is now greater freedom of speech and of the press. Indeed, Japan is now far in advance in this of some European powers that count themselves at the very top; Germany for example. Nor has there yet been undue license, though there have been occasions for excited debate. But freedom in Japan we venture to prophesy will prove to be conservative and not revolutionary.
But whether because of greater freedom or because of greater cause there are plain charges of serious corruption in the government. It is openly charged that the change of ministry was rendered possible by the bribery of Parliament. Certain it is that a hostile majority was converted mysteriously into one subservient, and certain also is it that a change is passing rapidly over Japanese society; a change ominous in many ways.
The Money Power.-Japan has still retained socially its feudal ideals and standards. In old Japan luxury, wealth, and display were despised. The poorest samurai counted himself superior to the richest merchant. In the great clans young gentlemen were trained as soldiers, and by precept and example were taught that wealth was not to be sought by gentlemen. Boys grew to manhood with no knowledge of trade and without a dollar they could call their own. In the old representative samurai families a puritan simplicity reigned. And after feudalism past the old standard remained. The smallest official felt himself of the governing caste and superior to common folks. The petty officials were poor but beyond suspicion. One could not fee even a policeman, not even for extraordinary service. The deference accorded them and the powers exercised by them, by men paid the merest pittance, was astonishing. Within a few years to be in the government service was the ambition of the brightest youth.
But with the new civilization comes a. change, most markt since the termination of the war. The old ambition that Japan be the equal" of the great Powers seems attainable ouly through a vast increase of wealth. The nation has never thought itself poor. It has had enough, but now with new ~ays of life come new needs. Civilization of the modern style is endlessly costly. Compared with Europe and America Japan is poor indeed, but it must maintain itself in the new society into which it has been forced. Expenditures increase apace, and taxation is in proportion. A clear example of the new influence is in the substitution of gold as money standard in place of silver. The change was effected in the briefest space of time, with the minimum of discussion and almost no dissent. The nation felt it another change advancing it towards equality with the favored nations of the West. The rapid adoption of the measure markt, possibly, the new influence of the money power. But the
Sept~~
nation agreed. So does it agree to the new social position accorded wealth. It is now said to be the ambition of young men to become rich, and the relative position of poor officials and rich merohants is suddenly reverst. There comes to be a scramble for money. New enterprises are planned, new resources sought, and new characteristics displayed. With all the vast extension of commerce and of manufacturing industry of recent years the nation still feels poor and st.ill craves wealth. One can not look upon this feature in new Japan without grave disquietude. Inevitable it doubtless is, but what shall become of the old charm of the old life, so restful, so full of grace, so far removed from the sordid strife of the modern world? One does not like to think that~' Christian" civilization taught Japan first how in most approved style to kill, and then introduced the scramble for more and more and ever more of this world's goods. It is not pleasant to be told that money makes and unmakes parliamentary majorities, and that a ministry can endure only if in alliance with millionaires. When shall we be able to say that not only Western modes of warfare, and of commerce, and of sordid politics, but that the Christ's teaching of love and truth has won Japan? Not at once we fear.
The Work of the Okurck.-Not yet does there seem to be a turn of the tide that has so checkt the advance. Indee'd, some of the keenest observers think this new strife for wealth the most antagonistic force which has yet appeared. Whatever be the cause the result is manifest.
Again the table of statistics of all mission work shows a net 1088. At the close of the year 1896 there were 349 fewer communicants in Protestant churches than were reported at the close of 1895, and 879 less than those reported at the close of 1894. Let us face the facts at their worst. Not counting the wives of missionaries, many of whom do most valiant and effective service, there are 472 foreign missionaries, with 281 ordained Japanese ministers, and 610 unol'dained preachers and helpers, and 204 Bible women, a total of 1,567 professionallaborers, and the net result for two years of work has been a loss in the number of communicants of 879. In the long list of columns the list of laborers almost alone show increase. More laborers and less results, that seems to be the story for years. And even the number of ordained Japanese shows a large falling off.
It is true that there is a pretty large number of adult baptisms reported (2,513), but this is less than in the year preceding, and that less than in the year before, and that also showed a decrease.
The largest diminution is in the work of the American Board, and the exceptional causes for its decrease are well known. For the first time, we judge, it falls to third place in the number of converts, and its native ministry is less than half, only 25 now against 60 a year before, while its students for the ministry are reported as only six. But tho special causes have affected this work long the most promising of all, still, at best, the other missions have only held their own.
It is much that they have held their own, and much that in that mission that has suffered so grievously so many stand fast and maintain the faith. In total result they are second, and in benevolence still leli.d all the rest.
The Hope jor the Future.-So far 3S we know none is discouraged. In the days of success many, as in the days of the early Church with apostolic leadership, profest the faith who did not know its power. And many flourisht for a time but had no root and by and by withered away. But many endure, and from them shall come the Church that shall endure. The work no longer occupies its old place in the public eye, it no longer comes with observation, but it endure~, and it will still possess the land.
In many places interest is manifested, and faithful work brings forth fruit. Missionaries and converts are in greater harmony than in times past. There is less unrest, less curiosity abont the latest novelty, anef a truer and more sober estimate of the work that must be done.
The experience in Japan is not exceptional. It is from such experiences that the Chnrch learns patience, faith, and its absolute dependence upon God's power. To learn that is to learn all, and at last to win all.
PANDITA RAMABAI AND HER WORK.
BY MISS GRACE E. WILDER, KOLHAPUR, INDIA.
The name of Pandita Ramabai isfamiliarto many. We American women are glad to recall the fact that when this young widow came to our shores, she received the sympathy and aid for which her heart was longing. Ramabai's efforts for the widows of western India, and more especially her present connection with famine widows, has 80 brought her into prominence that some may be glad to have a short review of a life so signally molded and used by God.
In the famine of 1876 Ramabai was a little Hindu girl living in, the jungles of India. Her father being a pundit, he chose So solitary abode-a custom not uncommon among the religious people of India. Both parents were anxions to have Rama become learned; so, from So child, she was taught the Hindu shastras. I have been told that she committed to memory 23,000 verses of the Hindu scriptures.
. Among others, her own people fell victims to the terrible famine. Of this time she says: "Eleven days and nights, in which we sub-
PANDITA. ,RAHABA.I AND DEB WOBlI
sisted on water and leaves, were spent in great mental and bodily pain. At last our dear father could hold out no longer. He determined to drown himself in the sacred tank neal' by. ' Remember, my child,' he said, 'you are my youngest, my most beloved child. I have. given you into the hands of our God; you are His, and to Him alone you must belong and serve all your life.' He could speak no more. My father's prayers for me were no doubt heard by the Almighty, the all merciful heavenly Father, whom the old Hindu did not know. The God of all flesh did not find it impossible to bring me, a great sinner and an unworthy child of His, out of heathen darkness into the saving light of His love and salvation."
Happily the resolve of suicide was not carried out, for later this father was attacked by fever, from which he did not recover. Ramabai touchingly tells of how fellow-villagers, being doubtful as to the caste of the family, offered no assistance, and her brother carried the lifeless form alone over two miles to its last resting-place.
The story of helplessness and starvation continued until mother and sister both died. She and her brother visited the large cities of India. She advocated female education, and after a time this young lecturer and Sanscrit scholar created a sensation by her views and scholarship. The pundits of Calcutta conferred upon her the distinguisht title ()f Sarasvati. Soon after this her brother died. "His great thought during his illness," she writes, " was for me." When he spoke of his anxiety, I answered: "There is no one but God to care for you and me." " Ah," he answered, "then if God cares for UB, I am afraid of nothing! and indeed in my loneliness it seemed as if God was near me, I felt his presence."
After the death of her brother, Ramabai married a Bengali gentleman. After nineteen months of married life she was left a widow with a baby daughter Manorama (Heart's Joy). She resumed her former work as a lecturer, going from city to city to plead for the education of native women and the discouragement of child marriage.
It was not long before her restless desire to go to England was real. ized. She writes: "It seems to me now very strange how I could have started as I did with my friend and little child, throwing ,myself on God's protection. When I reacht England, the sisters in St. Mary's Home at Wantage kindly received me. There I gradually learned to feel the truth of Christianity, and to see that it is a philosophy teaching truths higher than I had ever known in all our systems; to see that it gives not only precepts but a perfect example; that it does not give us precepts and an example only, but assures us a divine grace to follow that example." Here she and her daughter were baptized, and thus before reaching America she had profest an outward adherence to Christianity.
She was received into the home of Dean Bodley, of Philadelphia, and there received the encouragement and counsel and love of a truly great woman. In preparing an introduction to one of Ramaba.i's boo~s, Dean Bodley writes: "I askt her as she arose to depart if she had a last message for the readers of her book. 'Remind them,' she • replied, with animated countenance and rapid speech, as she claspt my hand, 'that it was out of Nazareth that the blessed Redeemer of mankind came; that great reforms have again and again been wrought by instrumentalities that the world despised. Tell them to help me educate the high caste child widows, for I solemnly believe that this hated and despised class of women, educated and enlightened, are by God's grace to redeem India.''' In remarkable ways God is causing Ramabai to realize the gradual fulfillment of this prophetic desire.
Her'home for widows is located at Poona, amid pleasant natural surroundings. The inmates-numbering at the close of last year between fifty and sixty-receive here not alone superior educational advantages, but a home-life which is a constant protest against the awful customs of Hindu widowhood.
During the last two years Ramabai has herself experienced a deeper knowledge of the life of Christ and of the possibilities of that life being manifested in her. Through the blessing of God on the efforts of an English evangelist, she was shown that the Holy Spirit is a living person. Her acceptance of Him and obedience to Him have had a markt influence on the girls in her home. Ramabai has always held the position that every pupil is free to join her at the time of morning and evening prayer. As the spirit of God has been manifested in this home, the attendance at prayers has increast, and last year twelve girls profest faith in Christ by baptism.
Six months ago-as fearful facts of famine su:ffering reachtRama- bai-her heart could not rest without making efforts to save the widows of Central India. "We shall be quite contented," she writes, "to have only one meal of common coarse food daily, if necessary, and so long as we have a little room or a seed of grain left in this' house, we shall try and help our sisters who are starving."
After a rail journey of many miles, Ramabai hired a bullock-cart, and visited some of the villages of the Central Provinces. She found that not only were young widows and deserted wives starving, but their lives were in great moral danger from wicked Mohammedans, who were taking advantage of this time of their dis- tress and helplessness.
Before we left India, Ramabai's jourlley had added 125 to Sarada Sadhan-her home in Poona. I saw many of these young widows, with skeleton forms and gaunt looks, which said more than their words. They were under a temporary inclosure of Bamboo poles, covered with clo.th and matting. When I said, "Ramabai, you now need bui,ldings," she replied, "Yes, and the Father must send the money." News has reacht me that the number of widows or deserted wives taken by Ramabai from famine districts has risen to 149, and preparations are being made to receive more.
We, who live in Western India, recognize God's gracious love and power in this chosen life. . We see that Ramabai is now gathering in the girls who will, with God's blessing, be teachers and missionaries to their own people. Will you help her by prayer, and by undertaking the support of one or more of the members of her increasing family?
We add the following account of the terrible condition of affairs in India, where the distress brought about by plague and famine is unspeakably augmented by the unprincipled use which evil men make to gratify their own lust. Pandita Ramabai is doing her utmost to rescue the young girls and child-widows who would otherwise fall into the hands of these human vultures.
At Sohagpur Ramabai first began the work of rescuing these starving girls. Sbe says: We found that we could not get the orphan children without the permission of the government, so our first business was to see the physician in charge of the hospital, and the tahsildar in charge of the poor-house. Before that hospital were walking three little famished skeleton-like forms, and this first sight of- their distress I shall never forget. The three children were of the Ohamar caste, their father had died some time ago, and the mother died only the day before. The eldest was a girl of about seven, the second a boy of five, and the youngest a baby boy three years of age. The girl was protecting herself from the intense cold with a covering of rags, and the two boys had nothing on their bodies. Their wrinkled faces and the ghastly, death-like expression told the story of the terrible suffering they were in. All of them were crying for food. The youngest had sore eyes, and could scarcely open them. The poor babe was suffering from dysentery, so much so that his intestines were almost falling out. T{) add to hIS misery, he had fallen down and hurt his back. The blood flowed freely from the injured part, which was already so sore and painful, but there was no one to care for him. He was crying, but tears were not to be seen in his eyes. The children were right before the hospital, but no one showed any sign of pity. It took us so long to find the officer in charge of the poor-house that when we returned they had gone, and though I went searching all over the town, I could not find them. Perhaps they died of hunger.
The poor-house was only a grove in the outskirts of the town. Groups of famisht people lying down in heaps, or sittin~ or lying in ashes on the dirty ground. Some had rags to cover theu bodies, and some had none. There were old and young men, and women, and children, most of the ill, too weak to move about, and many suffering from leprosy and other unmentionable diseases. Bad men, immoral wqmen, pure young girls, innocent children and old people, good, bad, and indifferent, were freely mixing and conversing with each other. They slept in the open air, or under the trees at night, and ate the scanty and coarse food provided by the government. The food was nothing but dry flour and some salt. Many of the so-called poor-houses are open grounds with a lIort of fence all round them. Some are nothing but sheds temporarily erected to shelter the people. The miserable men, women, and children, who find shelter in these places, are baked in the sun in the day and freeze in cold at night. In some places there is a thin fencing, where men and women are placed separately. But this arrangelllent is not much of a protection to the women. The devil is at work, even in these poor-houses and relief camps, and they are not fit places for young women and girls to be in. The European and native officers employed to look after the interests of the dying thousands are hard at work, and try to do as much as they can. But it is impossible for them to find out what goes on behind their backs; they are obliged to leave the work in the hands of the Mukadams, who can do whatever they like. They pull and push the working coolies, even women. Young men can be seen everywhere talking to girls and women under the pretense of doing the Mukadam's work. Wicked men and women are everywhere ou the lookout for young women and girls; they entice them by offering sweetmeats and other kind of food, clothing, and fair promises to take them to nice places and make them happy. So hundreds of girls, young widows, and deserted wives are waylaid as they go to the relief camps and poor-houses in search of food and work, and taken away before they place themselves in the custody of the governmeut. The wicked are not afraid of the judgment of God, they are sinning away their lives in the midst of the fearful scene of famine and pestilence. They are carrying on a wholesale trade in young girls who have been obliged to leave their families and wander away from home in quest of food. In many cases parents have fallen a prey to the famine, and left their young girls to the tender mercies of their neighbors, or fellow travelers, or other wayfarers. Such girls easily fall into the hands of wicked people.
Here is an instance: A young girl of fourteen, and a little sister of about eight years of a~e, were left orphans and taken possession of by a wicked man at !tarsI. I happened to see her in the streets and askt her who she was. She told me her whole story and said she would let me have her sister, who was not wanted by her cruel master, and that she could not come away for the fear of that man. I wanted to rescue the poor child but was at that time unable to do so. I prayed to the Lord to show me the way-and in the next week He sent help. A young missionary gentleman came to help me. He went to the police station and took her away from the "man who had kept her in his possession against her will. She was sent to the mission bungalow with a servant, but the former master carried her away by force. A~ain the missionary went to the town and fetcht her, and that very mght 1 took her to Jabalpur, and now she and her sister are placed with some good missionary ladies who will take care of them. The elder girl, poor child, is rumed for life, and.is suffering from horrible disease.
May the merciful Father help these children! Another young girl of about fifteen was some time ago wandering away from home, when a res~ectable looking man told her to go home with him and help his wife m the household work. She consented, and went with him. He gave her nice clothes and food, and for a few days all went on nicely with her, but the devil was at work in his heart. Other demands were made on her, but the girl said she had gone to his house to work and not for any other purpose. He then said that she should nDt get sari and fDDd, unless she cDnsented to fDllo.W his wishes.
" Very well," she said, and put Dn her DId rags, threw away the gDDd sari, and went Dut Dn the street again to beg her fODd. She was pickt up the same day by a kind lady and is safe with me now.
There are not many such girls who. will resist the devil in the face of starvatio.n and death. Go.d be thanked fo.r prDtecting the virtue of these innocents. But it has been my sad lot to see many little girls ruined for life.
My sympathies are excited by the needs of young girl widDws, especially at this time. To let them go. to the relief camps and pDor- hDuses, or allDW them to' wander in the streets and Dn the highways ,means their eternal destructiDn. Ever since I have seen these girls in the famine districts-some fallen into. the hauds o.f wicked people; some ruined fQr life and turned Qut by their cruel masters Qwing to.
bad diseases, to. die a miserable death in a ho.peless, helpless manner, SDme being treated in the hQspitals Qnly to' be taken back into the pits Df sin there to await a cruel death; some bearing the burdens of sin utterly lost to. the sense of shame and humanity-hell has become a horrible reality to me, and my heart is bleeding for those daughters of fond parents who have died leaving them orphans. Who. with a mother's heart and a sister's love can rest without doing everything in her power to save at least a few of the girls who can yet be saved from the hands of the evil ones I So, regardless Df the trying financial state Df my SChODl, I went to work in the Central Provinces to get a few of the helpless young widows.
The Father, who is a very present help in trouble, has enabled me to get SDme sixty widows, forty· seven Df whDm will go to SChDOI to study, and others will work. Over eight hundred and fifty rupees were spent in fetching them here. The Lord has put it into. my mind to save three hundred girls out of the famine districts, and I shall go to work in His name. The fundI! sent to me by my friends in Amer- ica. are barely enough to feed and educate fifty girls, and several peo-'
pIe are asking me how lam going to suppDrt all these girls who may come from Central India. Besides their food and clothing. new dor- mitories and dining-roo.ms must be built. Our present school-house is not large enough to hold more than one hundred girls at the most.
And how are these emergencies to be met?
I do. not know, but the Lord knows what I need. I can say with the Psalmist," I am Po.or and needy, but the Lord thinketh upon me." My girls and I are quite ready to fDregD all Dur cDmfDrts, give up luxuries, and live as plainly as we can. We shall be quite CDn- tented to' have Dnly Dne meal of CDmmDn CDarse fDOd daily, if neces- sary, and so. long as we have a little room or a seed Df grain left in this hDuse, we shall try and help our sisters who. are starving. It seems a sin to live in this go.Dd house and eat plenty of gODd fDod and be warmly clDthed, while thousands of Dur fellow creatures are dying of hunger, and are without shelter. If all of us do our part faithfully, GDd is faithful to. fulfil His prDmises. and will send uil the help we need at this time.
r humbly request you to pray for me and mine that we may be made strong in the Lord, and walk by faith and not by sight. Believe me, yours in the Lord's service, R.uLBAI.
MILITARY RULB IN MADAGASCAR
MILITARY RULE IN MADAGASCAR.
The past eight months have been a time of darkness and horror to many of the natives, upon which they will long 100Js back as upon a terrible nightmare. General Gallieni is a man of immense energy and a prompt striker. "With him," said one of his compatriots, "it is a word and a blow, and usually the blow comes first." He is said to have acquired the name of the "fusilier," and in Madagascar he has fully maintained his reputation. The shooting of rebels and others has been an almost daily occurrence. Many of those shot have, doubtless, been guilty of rebellion, or, as they would themselves perhaps say, of a determination not to be ruled by foreigners; but some of those so hastily shot down have been, in the judgment of many, absolutely guiltless of the charges laid against them. During a state of siege it often happens that young and inexperienced officers have great powers entrusted to them, and evidence is not very carefully sifted. Everything, too, has to be done through interpreters, whose knowledge of French is neither extensive nor accurate, and there is thus but small probability that a trial will be fairly conducted. Some of these officers seem to think it highly to their credit to shoot down natives. One of these said recently to one of his compatriots, " I am just going to shoot a native rebel-my seventy-third. Come and ~ee it done." All this may be a natural consequence of military rule; but it is none the less deplorable, and we long for the time when civil rule will be restored, and every accused person may at least have a fair opportunity of defense.
Madagascar is now a French colony, and the Queen has been banisht to Rennideo. This was a logical result of the steps already taken by the authorities. The hybrid form of government that existed for a few months after General GaIIi€mi's arrival could not last long, and the situation has been simplified by the removal of the Queen: Her power had already been taken from her, and she was of no service to the French rulers. Indeed, without any "fault of her own, she may have been an indirect hindrance to them in their efforts to pacify the country. The general has not charged her with any act of disloyalty, tho, perhaps, she did not show enough gaiety to satisfy Frenchmen. She remained a Protestant to the end, notwithstanding many attempts to induce her to change her religion.
The general results of French rule in Madagascar are becoming more and more apparent. Great labor is being expended on roadmaking, and the general appearance of the capital is rapidly changing. Not many new public buildings are being erected; but great activity is shown in altering and adapting the many native houses that have fallen into the hands of the government. The central parts of the city will soon become entirely French. During this month of May hundreds of workmen are busy in Adohalo, a fine open space in the very heart of the city, and it is said that by the Fete of the Republic, on July 14th, the place will have undergone a complete transformation, and will have become a public garden, with a band- stand in the center.
The French rulers are gradually perfecting their system of com- mercial government and of taxation, and also the regulation of the corvee. It was said at the beginning of the occupation that the covee was dead-an evil system that would never be revived. The natives, however, are finding that such hopes were an illusion. Every able-bodied man is required to spend fifty days a year in roadmaking, or in certain privileged cases he pays five dollars. In addition to this there are military requisitions of different kind and various taxes, and many are beginning to feel the hand of the conquerer press' heavily upon them.
But the bearing of French rule on the cause of Protestant mis- sions is the topic possessing most interest for the readers of~ this RE- VIEW, and to that we address ourselves.
General Gallieni reflects the feelings of thousands of his fellow , countrymen in showing himself strongly opposed to English influ- ence. He was sent, it is said, to fulfill a two-fold mission: to destroy the rule of the Hova and the English supremacy. "English suprem- acy" with him and with many others simply means the influence of the London Missionary Society. It is strange to those actually en- gaged in the work of that society to find their influence regarded as an important factor in the political situation. In carrying ·out this policy, General Galli€mi is simply following out the lines laid down by M. Ie Myre di Vilers, who said the two irreconcilable enemies of France in Madagascar were the Hova Government and the London Missionary Society. The latter, he said, has always cherisht the se- cret design of securing the annexation of Madagascar by England.
A series of events has shown how strong the anti-Protestant (or anti-English) feeliug is among the French officers. From the begin- ning of the occupation Protestant churches have been requisitioned for the use of the soldiers, but, so far as I know, not a single Roman Catholic church has been so taken. This has been a great trial to the . Protestant Ohristians, who have been grieved to see their houses of prayer become scenes of debauchery and immorality. In the com- pound of a mission house in the country, on property belonging to the London Missionary Society, huts have been erected for the native women who follow the soldiers.
The seizure of the large hospital at Goavinandriana, and more recently the purchase of the principal educational establishments of the London Society, have been regarded by the people generally as a blow dealt at the work of that society. That this was the real motive that led General Gallieni to enforce the sa.le of these buildings, is shown by the naive confession of the correspondent of the Temps. This gentleman, evidently well informed, after stating the sum paid for the buildings, says, "This sum, which at first appears very considerable, is relatively slight, considering the injury done to the prestige of the society, for it is thereby deprived of its most powerful means of propaganda."
An illustration that throws much light upon the French policy is found in the action of the administration in regard to the Normal School building. When arrangements were being made last February for the purchase of its buildings named above, it was said by General Galli€mi's intermediary, that they were absolutely required by the exigencies of the public service. Within a few hours, however, of the arrival of the Paris missionaries last month, the Normal School building was offered them on condition that no Englishman should take any part in the work to be carried on in it. The building and the whole work connected with it was accordingly handed over to Mr. Mondain, of the Paris Society, a few days ago; and Mr. Richardson, who has had charge of the school 25 years, is leaving the island.
Another instance illustrating the same point is that of the church at Andohalo. This is a building of burnt brick, built after designs prepared by the late Mr. William Johnson. The people have spent a large sum on the building, but they also gave much labor, especially in digging very deep foundations. The site is one of the best in the town, and we attacht a special value to it, because from its fine central position it would have been so convenient for united meetings of various kinds. The congregation was founded by missionaries of the London Missionary Society more than 30 years ago, and the former building was erected almost entirely at the expense of friends of that society. The building was required by the government, and the people have sold it (according to Mr. Peake's estimate) for about half its value. Their defense is that they had no option in the matter. We are greatly disappointed to lose this building, and the more so, as we had a written promise from the General, that none of our church buildings should be taken by the administration, unless we ourselves agreed to treat in a friendly manner. This we have not done, but have urged strong reasons why the building should not be taken. All the material claims of the London Missionary Society are fairly met by the French government; but this is no compensation for the loss of such a well-situated and well-built church. Rumors are common both among the natives and among Frenchmen that this church is to be turned into a theater. Let us hope this is one of the cases in which rumors may prove false.
In the Betsileo province the French president, Dr. Besson, has shown a bitter animus against the work of tbe London Missionary Society. The people have been terrorized by the agents of the Jesuits in the most shameless fashion. Many of the agents of the London Missionary Society have been banisht from the province on the plea that they were Hovas, whilst other Hovas are not interfered with, and stranger still any of these agents who are willing to become Roman Catholics, are also permitted to remain. The latest news from this district is that twelve leading men from Ambohimandroso have been imprisoned or put in chains, the only charge against them being (so far as our friends can learn) that they have been friendly with the English and have spoken against France. No opportunity has been given them of rebutting these charges.
It should in fairness be stated, however, that this intolerance is by no means universal among the French administrators. There are large sections of the country in which the proclamations guaranteeing religious liberty are faithfully adhered to, and where much kindness has been shown by French officers to the native Protestant Christians. Everything seems to depend upon the character of the officer in charge, and on the greater or smaller influence the Jesuits have over him. The districts in which the Protestants have suffered most are those of Betsileo, already mentioned, and of Ambatomanga. Of the latter district the missionary in charge could tell a sad story. More than twenty Protestants were shot in a small circle of villages a few weeks since" with scarcely the shadow of a trial. It is quite enough if some overzealous native governor calls them fahavalo (or rebels), and in a few hours they may be dead.
Dark as recent experiences have been, however, there seems some reason to hope that the worst is past, and that the fierceness of this intolerance is abating. Since March there has been no more church stealing, and some few of the buildings have been restored. Some of the churches requisitioned by the military authorities (as Imahamasina and Isoavina) have also been recently restored to ns. Mr. Leban, the Colonial Minister, has also promist that compensation shall be paid for the hospital. We trust these indications of fair treatment may soon be followed by the restoration of religious freedom, such as was enjoyed before the war. The French might in regard to this matter well learn a lesson from the despised Hovas. During the war of 1883- 1886, tho all the French were expelled, their native congregations suffered no persecution, nor were their buildings taken from them by the powerful Protestant majority.
Our main ground of hopefulness as to the future lies in the action of the Paris Missionary Society. A year ago it was thought that some slight help may be rendered by that society to the Protestant cause. The severe troubles of the native Protestants and the stirring appeals of Messrs. Kruger and Langa throughout France, have deeply stirred the heart of the Protestant churches there, and already they are enter- ing with much zeal and earnestness into this work. Five new mis- sionaries arrived a month ago, and a few days after their arrival a large meeting attended by 1,200 or 1,400 Protestant Christians of Antananarivo was held in the Amparibe Church to bid them welcome. At the present moment their position is this: They have taken charge 'of all primary schools, nearly 500 in number, with more than 30,000 scholars. They will also train teachers in the Normal School, and take charge of "the Palace School." They will also settle in distrest districts, and undertake general visitations for the encouragement of the native Protestants. Reenforcements are expected, and it seems probable that the bulk of the London Missionary Society's work will gradually pass into their hands. It is possible the Swiss Society will also take some share in the work; as recent events make it abundantly clear that it will be much to the advantage of the native churches to be placed under the superintendence of French-speaking missionaries.
How soon this transfer of work may take place can not, of course, be foreseen; but events have been marching rapidly of late, and the work of the London Missionary Society in this land may come to an end much sooner than some of us anticipated. Still there remains the hope, that if the larger portion of the work is taken over by the French-speaking missionaries, some few of the English workers may remain for a few years, so as to preserve the continuity of the mission, and to give to the Frenchmen the benefit of their knowledge of the language aud of the people. Whatever the final issue of event;s may be, the foundations, laid broad and deep by the English society, will not be destroyed. The written language, the translated Bible, the spread of elementary education, the developmeut of higher education and of medical study, the general principles of church order, and the native missionary society-these are things that will abide; and those who follow us in this land will gladly acknowledge that other men labored, and that they had entered into their labor.- • Since the aboTe was written we haTe had a tragic illustration of how much anti-foreign feeling may still be smoldering under the apparent calm. On Monday, May 17th, the Revs. B. Escande and P. Minault, of the Paris Society, left the capital tor Betsileo. Mr. H. F. Standing, of the Friends' Mi88lon, went with them part of the way, and lett them on Thursday morning. 'On the Friday morning, when nearing a large market, they were suddenlyattackt by a party of SO armed rebels and killed. Details have not yet reacht us. But the bodies, we hear, haTe been recovered by the Rev. E. O. McMahon, of the Angelican Mission, and buried at his station of Ramainandro. A gloom has been cast over the Protestants ot AntananariTo by his sad news. Six victims have now tallen since the outbreak of' the rebellion. Mr. and Hi'll. Willism Johnson and little Blo88om at Arivonlmamo; Father Berties near AmbohlbemaMI&Ildro, and now Messrs. Escande and Mlnault near Ramainandro.
A.LLlA.NCE }fi1!1I10NARY OFFERlNGII
THE CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE MISSIONARY OFFERINGS.* BY REV. H. WILSON, D.D., NEW YORK.
Nearly a quarter of a million dollalrs were subscribed at five meetings during the summer and autumn of 1896, in one day at Old Orchard meeting, August 9, 1896, .101,500 being obtained without special effort, and October 11, at Carnegie Hall, New York City, *122,000 more so freely given, that those on the platform could hardly keep pace with the tide of pledges and money poured in upon them. Beginning at Old Orchard with a one dollar bill, given by a very poor woman, and followed by a nickel brought up by a little boy, the offerings rose steadily to the amount given above. While at Carnegie Hall a washerwo~an handed in $25 as the first contribution, followed by others, thus varying from 10 cents to $10,000, till the total reacht the sum which has startled so many by its size, and the perfect ease with which it was obtained, and this in a year of great financial depression. . Let me try to answer the question so often askt us and from so many quarters: "What is the secret of this spontaneous and magnificent giving at the conventions of the Christian Alliance? How is it. that a body of people so poor, can be led not only to pledge but to pay so much to the cause of Foreign Missions, and in times of such financial pressure? They do it.
I. Because they have caught God's Tlw1tght for the world. By years of truthful teaching they have learned God's idea of missions, viz., the rapid evangelization of the heathen world in preparation for the speedy coming of our Lord to this earth again.
Not the conversion of every soul on the earth, but the preaching of the Gospel for a witness to those who have never heard it, giving at least one chance to know Ohrist and be saved to those millions in heathen lands who have never had one chance in contrast to those in Christendom, who have been preacht to till they are Gospel hardened.
II. The second reason for the extraordinary liberality shown at the close of these conventions is the gradual and solemn preparation for the offering.
These extraordinary gifts for missions are not spasmodic or hypnotic in their character. They are not the result of any labored appeal to the feelings, or of playing upon the emotions of the audience. A stranger dropping in and sitting on the outskirts of the vast multitude at Old Orchard, or any similar meeting, would perhaps be • We have asked Rev. H. Wilson, D.D., who has been familiar with the whole history of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, to give a succinct account of the missionary olferings at Its conventions, which may at once Inform the public and correct erroneous statements. puzzled to account for the result of a simple Gospel sermon of perhaps 45 minutes in length. But if our stranger or critic friend had been present from the beginning of the convention, and observed that for 14 days-beginning each morning at 6 :30, and going on almost c9n- tinuously ti1110 :30 or 11 at night, comprising from 12 to 15 different meetings-the people were under the direct and continuous influence of the Holy Spirit, he might catch the secret of the closing day. For two weeks the great themes of our life in Ohrist and His life in us, for salvation, sanctification. Healing and the second coming of the Lord, and their practical outcome in the salvation of sinners and the evangelization of the heathen are presented and dwelt upon by speakers filled with the Holy Spirit, and listened to by thousands of equally baptized people. Added to this comes the mighty influence of men and women, lately returned from their missionary fields among the heathens, and speaking with the freshness and power of a living experience. With the eloquence of facts backed up by aims of deepest consecration, the Holy Ghost himself speaks through these to the hearts of the people, and keeps speaking until all prejudice is removed, false views dissipated, eyes are opened, vision cleared, minds enlightened, and hearts are melted into one mighty stream of tenderness and love for the 100,000 souls a day that are passing to their doom.
In.fact, the outpouring on the closing Sabbath is but the natural, or rather supernatural result of the inpouring of right, truth, and life throngh the Holy Spirit during the days preceding it.
III. A third reason for this liberal aLd continuous giving on the part of onr people is their confidence in the simplicity and economy of administration of the funds they so freely give.
Without any invidious comparison with the system and methods. of other societies, it is simple justice to state that every dollar subscribed at these great meetings goes directly to the object for which it was given. With the exception of about $2,000 spent on the rent of one or two very plain offices, printing and stationery, the whole of the large sums pledged and paid goes straight to the field for the spread of the Gospel.
Excepting a bookkeeper, who receives a very modest sum, there is not a paid officer in connection with our Board and committees, while the 200 missionaries are sent out and supported on the fields for a year for an average sum of $500. The missionaries abroad and the people at home know these things. Oonfidence is begotten and enthusiasm awakened by the lives of those sent, and the sympathy of those who send them. And when the simplicity of the system is justified by the results attained; when, from one missionary on the field eight years ago, the number 11as grown to over 300 now at work in various parts of Japan, Ohina, Thibet, India, Africa, Palestine, Bulgaria, Hayti, Brazil, Venezuela, aud the income of our society has risen steadily from *5,000 in 1888 to $140,000 last year, the offerings of the past summer are not so hard to understand. The secret is an open one to those who have seen the vision of Jesus, heard His commission, and breathed in His Spirit.
THE MADRAS CHRISTIAN A880CIATiOJl'
THE MADRAS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
BY DAVID MCCONAUGHHY, M. A.
The success of the experiment which the Young Men's Christian Association of America entered upon, when, in 1889, they sent out their first representatives, one to India and the other to Japan, is no longer questioned. There had previously been a few associations in India, but the character of the new organization, which was establisht in Madras early in 1890, was distinctly different from these. In that land where caste is so rife amongst Europeans, as well as Hindus, it resolutely refused to recognize any distinction whatsoever of race, rank, or religion. Any young men of good character were admitted as associate members, while the management was retained in the hands of active members who must be in the communion of some Protestant Christian Church. The Madras Association was also establisht upon a self-supporting basis, refusing to be subsidized from outside, altho its work might easily have been doubled or quadrupled at any time, if this principle had not been adbered to. Tbe board of directors has from the outset insisted that the growth, tho slower, would be surer and more permanent, if not dependent upon outside sources. During the first seven year!! about $10,000 had been contributed by the members and friends of the association in Madras. Every expense except the salary of the General Secretary has thus been provided. The principle of supporting Indian agents solely by funds raised in India has now been adopted for the National Union, as well as for the local associations, and all surplus is now applied toward this end. Amongst the subscribers to theassociation are His Excellency, Sir Arthur E. Havelock, Governor of Madras, and each of the members of his Executive Council, as well as the Lord Bishop of Madras, the Venerable, the Arch-Deacon, the Bishop's Chaplain, and a hundred others prominent in Church and State, in government and commercial circles. Perhaps no better proof than this can be given of the seal of divine approval which has been put upon the work of this association in reward for its adherence to the principle of the real brotherhood of man. Of the more than four hundred members of the Madras Association, nearly one half are non-Christians. Tho without any voice in the management, they enjoy all the varied privileges which the association affords, including that of being brought into living contact with Christ in the persons of the active members in the rooms, socials, lectures, educational classes, and on the athletic field day by day.
As long ago as 1892 the need of a building began to be felt, and the members of Madras have since contributed more than $1,600 toward the building fund. In 1894 Dr. Pentecost proposed at a drawing. room meeting in Kent House, London, that a building be provided on international lines, India to provide the cost of the foundations, Great Britain the site, and America the superstructure. That suggestion was adopted with enthusiasm, and within a few weeks some *6,000 was raised in England. At the end of more than two years of patient negotiations, the site was secured which His Excellency Sir Arthur E. Havelock, Governor of Madras, when laying the corrierstone in January, described as "really magnificent." It faces the Esplanade-the open green of the city-just opposite the handsome buildings of the high court and law college, with the electric tramway passing in front and a great Union railway station about to be built near bv. Within a stone's throw, on the east, is the Madras Christian College, and on the west the principal Hindu college of South India, while just across the China Bazaar road stands the splendid new building of the law college. Facing on three streets, the site has a frontage of 151 feet and a depth of 126, covering an area of 19,000 feet. The story of the purchase of this ground is in itself a fascinat- ing chapter in the growing volume of answers to prayer. It was in I 1893 that an amateur photographer focused his camera upon the block of old tin bazaars which then covered this piece of land. That photograph, though not even shown to the board of directors for . many months, like Hezekiah's letter, was spread before the Lord. In spite of obstacles, which all who were at all acquainted with the cir- cumstances pronounced insurmountable, the conviction had been begotten that that ground had been given of God for the purposes of this association. It was not until November 27, 1896, that the last obstacle to the purchase was removed, and it has been only within the past month that the collector's certificate has been obtained, giving an indisputable title to the entire property. There were more than a sC,.ore of different signatories (all non-Christians) requisit in order to complete the transaction, and the consent of more than twice this nnmber of Hindus was required. In the midst of the eighteen tin bazaars, which formed the front of the lot, were two, the revenue of which went to support an Hindu temple, and these were h~ld by trustees. After all the other owners had come to terms, two, whose holdings measured about six by eight feet each, still held out for an exorbitant price-five times the amount they had paid only a few years ago. Every effort to bring them to terms had been exhausted, and as they believed that their ground was absolutely indispensable to the purpose of the association, they believed they could get what- ever they demanded. On the last morning before the last monsoon ended, the building committee of the Madras Association met for con- ference and prayer over this matter. In the course of the two hours thus spent, the committee pleaded with God to once more cast out the heathen to give place to His people. Within an hour after adjourn- ment these bazaars were a crumbling mass of ruins, a cyclone having swept across the town while the committee was still in session. As the Hindu owners stood wringing their hands in front of the ruins a little later that morning, they were overheard lamenting that this calamity had overtaken them in retribution for their having refused to sell the ground to the association for a reasonable price. Next day the ground was bought for less than half what they had been demanding.
Meanwhile, friends in America have come forward and contributed the full amount required both for the superstructure and for furnish- ing, the Hon. John Wanamaker, of Philadelphia, personally assum- ing the cost of the former, which is estimated at $30,000. The site cost about $12,000, of which two-thirds has now been contributed. The building is now in course of erection, and it is expected that it will be ready for occupancy next year.
INTlIBlU.T10NAL DBPABTK:IIlfT. [Septemb&t
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Anglo-Ohinese College, Foochow, dred .dollars, the Missionary Society Ohina. added twenty-five hundred, and the property mentioned was bought. The REV. GEO. B. SllYTH, D.D., PRESIDENT. school was opened, and has ever since been conducted on the lines then laid The Bok LiDg Anglo·Chinese Col- down. The College therefore had its lege, to give it its full name, was birth in the brain and heart of a gener· founded sixteen years ago, by Diong ous Chinese, not in the treasury of the Hok Ling, a Chinese merchant at FOG- Missionary Society of New York, and chow. Unhappily for himself, as he this fact alone should plead eloquently regarded it, he was a gentleman wholly with those who are interested in educaunlearned in the knowledge of books, tional work in connection with missions for when young he could not afford to in China. go to school, and so grew up without those educational advantages the lack I am well aware that compared with of which he never ceast to mourn. some American gifts toward the found· But he had energy and faithfulness, ing of colleges, the one of which I am and after working for a time for others, writing is small indeed. but it must be he came from Amoy, his native city, thought of in connection with the cirand opened a small shop at Foochow, cumstances. It was given toward the which finally grew into the larger founding of a Christian school by a store so well known to both Chinese Chinese who was not a Christian, and and foreigners at this port. Increasing it is, so far as I know, the largMt gift wealth did not make him less sensible for such a purpose yet made in China. of what he always considered his great Again, the founder was not a rich man misfortune, and he resolved that when in the American sense, indeed. in west· the opportunity offered he would found ern countries he would have been con· a school where young men, who wisht sidered poor. If his business had con. it, might acquire a thorough education. tinued to prosper he would have added Be made careful observations as to the to the first sum, but he met with rebest way in which to realize his gener- verses, and left but little at his death. ous purpose, and give permanence to Christians will be glad to know that the work when it should be once beguu. soon after founding the college, he He finally decided to place his gift at entered the Methodist Church, of the disposal of a Board of Trustees which he remained a faithful member who should control it for the Mission. until his death in 1890. ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This Board was composed of In the following numbered parathe United States and British Consuls, graphs I would invite attention to the agent of the Hong Kong and Shang- some special points in the character and hai Bank,several members of the Meth- position of the college. odist Mission, and, one each, from the American Board and English Missions. 1. The purpose of the college is to The donor then handed over ten thous- prepare young men for the work of life and doUars toward the purchase of a by giving them a sound education, fine building, other Chinese, stimulated both moral and intellectual, in the Chi- ' by his example, subscribed fifteen hun· nese and English languages. The English course is very much like that of the smaller colleges in America.
INTERllfATION.A.L DEPARTMENT
omitting Latin and Greek. The spe- foreign gentleman in the compilation cial study of English is kept up of an Anglo-Chinese dictionary, and through the students' whole course, is now a :aritish government interand there are the usual courses in preter in Singapore. He is a consistent mathematics, chemistry, and physics. Christian, and superintendent of the In addition there Is a systematic pro- Methodist Sunday-school there. gram of Bible study, including Scripture history and the history of the 3. So far as the students are con- Church. cerned, the college Is sclf-supporting, not one of them receiving pecuniary 2. It is a Christian college. Cinis- aid of any sort from the college or the tianity is the basis of its teaching. mission. They pay in full for board, This is announced in our catalogs and in addition, the current expenses, and every father who sends his son such 8S salaries of Chinese teachers, here knows to what he is sending him. Chinese tutors in English, repairs, fur- Nevertheless, no compulsion is ever niture, and other items, amounting last employed, we deal with perfect good year to about $2,500, were met by their faith with the parents of the students, fees. Besides the salaries of the forallowing perfect freedom of conscience, eign teachers, of whom there are three, o1fering no allurements or inducements the Missionary Society makes an annu_ of any sort, yet enjoying the right to al grant of *260, and this sum has-to present the truth in fulness to all. Re- be used entirely in the purchase of ligious services are held every morn- necessary apparatus. ing, and all are required to attend one service at the church on Sunday. The attendance is larger than that of There is a Young Men's Christian As- any other college in China; this year it sociation, the first of its kind in China, is 237. This represents a great advance which conducts a weekly prayer-meet- since 1887, when we had but fifty-four. ing. The president of the Association For some years the higher classes lookt is also president of the local Epworth at the college with suspicion, but their League. Tho the majority of the fears have been removed, and now we students who go out from us do not en- have the large number given above, gage in direct Christian work, some of many of whom arc the sons of men, our graduates are prominently con- who, a few years ago, would not have nected with the Church. One of them allowed them to enter a school conis the principal teacher in the Theolog- nected, however remotely, with a ical Seminary of the Church of Eng- Christian church. The students reland Missionary Society, a second, who present every class eligible for admisis a member of the Foochow Confer- sion to the government literary examience, has recently gone to America to nations. Some are the sons of poor men pursue a. theological course, while who are obliged to work hard to give still another, a graduate of the class of them an education, while others are the 1896, was elected last November by the sons of merchants and officials. Rich National Council of the College Young and poor, Christian and non-Christian, :Men's Christian Associations of China all alike are represented, the only reas the Chinese delcgate to the conven- quirements being that they be of suittion of the WorId's Christian Students' able age, be properly recommended, Federation, at Williamstown, Massa- pass the examinations, study diligently, chusetts. There are others engaged in and conduct themselves as gentlemen. direct Christian service, though not so They are, therefore, with a few excepprominently as thcse. tions such as are met with in every school, a body of self-respecting young One young man deserves special students, who come here to learn, who mention. He workt his way through have something at stake both financollege against great odds, helped a cially and in reputation, and who are intent upon making the most of oppor- spring term in 1896, the numbers who tunities which it costs them something desired to be in residence were so great to get. that I was compelled to borrow one of I'i. The college is situated at one of the mission residences for a temporary the treaty ports, and one of the great- dormitory, tho the one we had would est literary centers in China. As the accommodate 104. I promised, however, chief center of the tea trade of southern to have a new dormitory by the open- China, it has a large number of mer- ing of the present term on the 23rd of ,chants of enterprise and wealth, and February, and resolved to raise the the influence which such men natural- money here. I am happy to say that ly possess. None of these have en- I have been able to keep that promise, tered the Vhurch, or look upon its and when the new students came in purely evangelistic work with any sort last week the building was ready for of sympathy. But the advantages of a their reception. It is three stories high, school like this are so apparent that seventy· five feet long, and has rooms some of them send their sons here to for sixty-six students, a monitor's room, be educated. One result is the estab- servant's room, office, reception-room, lishment of friendly relations with men and two school-roOlps. The cost is whose friendship is valuable, and the nearly three thousand Mexican dollars, gradual revealing to them what Chris- and not a dollar has been askt or re- tianity is. ceived from foreigners. The whole Thus, to that extent at least, is reacht work was done by Chinese subscrip- a class of men who are for the present tions. The money came from different as far beyond the reach of all the other sources. The officials of the city sub- agencies of the Church as if they were scribed $600, a Cantonese merchant, inhabitants of another planet. who gave $200 himself, raised $500 Again, Foochow is the literary center more among his friends; a former stu- of the province, the focus of all its dent here $150 as a thank-offering for most powerful influences, the meeting- what the college had done for him, the place of those whose teaching and ex- Foochow Mint gave $100 and promised ample count for most with their fellow to give regularly $100 a year; various provincials. Surely it is no small thing sums ranging from $5 to a $100 were to have an institution here on which given by others, and so the amount many of this class look with favor and grew. The new dormitory is therefore to which they send their sons. They a striking testimony to the confidence do not hesitate to be known as its in the work of the college, which is felt friends, to visit it, and to recommend its by those who know it best.
work to others. The college thus be- A pleasing evidence of interest of an- comes leaven, which, tho working slow- other kind was shown by His Excel- ly, works surely, toward the establish- lency, Lo Fu Luh, the new minister to ment of a better understanding between England, in sending fans and scrolls these men and the Church; it is a plat- with complimentary sentences in his form on which men of both sides may own handwriting to the heads of our meet and discuss together the great various classes at our last Commence- theme which brought us here, the re- ment. This gentleman will be remem- generation of China through the vital- bered in America as Li Hung Chang's izing power of Christianity. interpreter on his tour around the 6. Last year the Chinese of this city world. His nephew, who has just been gave striking proof of this confidence appointed Chinese Consul-General at in the college, by their ready response Singapore, was present, and made an to my request for subscriptions for a address of much encouragement to new dormitory. At the opening of the the students. A ffigh Oaste Woman's Oonversion. making an offering to the shrine at- tacht to the tree. She was so devoted MRS. J. T. GRACEY, ROCHESTER, :N. Y. that nothing would satisfy her but the building of a temple, and now near the The conversion recently of a high- city of Madras, where the Methodist caste Brahman lady, in the city of Mad- church has lately commenced work, ras, India, and her public baptism in stands a temple, a monument to her the Methodist church, has attracted idolatry and devotion. Every week considerable attention throughout that she visited this place, and often spent country. While the great ingathering many days, feeding and sustaining the in the churches has come from the people connected with the tem~le, and lower classes, there is now a movement decorating the idol with some of her among the higher classes of women, tinest jewels. Her own house was who have been receiving instruction in tilled with idols, in her own room she the 2;enanas. The experience in the had twenty-five pictures of idols and a present case is one of many who have dozen images. As the holy child in grown weary of their false religion, the household she decorated the idols and long for something higher and with flowers, drank the sacred water better. The story as told by the after placing it before the idol, and for one instrumental in her conversion is hours would sit with a wet cloth about of thrilling interest. She was a strict her, counting the beads that were given Brahman, and from the day of her for this office, offering a prayer over birth had all the lites of her sect per- each bead, until a thousand were acformed for her, and in the seclusion of complisht. Every day she lighted beher ancestral home, amid all its wealth fore shrines and idols two or three and luxury, was devoted to her gods. hundred little oil lamps, excluding Her father was a man of great wealth, from her mind everything else, but mediand exerted a powerful influence, and tated upon the Vedas, thus performing was of the strictest Bl'ahmanical sect, the ceremony called, .. the million and many of his friends, who are lights," to insure a pathway of light among the leading citizens, express when she should come to die. astonishment that the daughter of such a cultured man should embrace Chris- This was the woman, with intellect tianity. The daughter was the young- bright, and with a religious devotio~ est child, and was taught early to live scarcely surpast, when the Methodist an idolatrous life. According to Hindu missionary found her about two years custom, she married at the age of ten, ago. It is now no longer necessary to and at her wedding thousands of rupees hide the true object in teaching the were spent. As is the custom with woman in 'the zenanas. They have Hindu wives, she divided her time be- been taught various things in the way tween her mother's and her husband's of fancy work that an opportunity home. She was of a thoughtful and might be afforded for presenting religious turn of mind, and from her Christian truths. Now the study of early years there was no ceremony in the Scriptures is required. This womwhich she did not take part. She an desired to be taught, and accepted went to eight sacred rivers, and bathed the conditions, against all the remonin the sea, visited fifty temples, and strances of her family. She did not the bread she ate was from a certain want the Scliptures, she wanted other temple. At one time she fasted for things, and was willing to take the one forty days to appease the gods, taking for the purpose of securing the other. only a little milk. She performed many Sometimes she would take a lesson, at penances,chlef of which was making the other times she was too much engaged circuit of a certain tree forty-two times with fasting, prayer, and idol-worship Tery early in the morning, each time to pay any attention to her teacher, and without a word would wave her hand ran. I was so frightened, I would not for her to leave, as there were often stop to take my breath, but at every days when she had to keep silence, not step I took I felt as if some one were a word escaping her lips. behind me. The swifter I ran, the But then came a Change. The quiet, swifter seemed the step. If I am persistent presentation of the truth and caught what will become of me, I reading of the Word had its influence, thought, but I ran on and on, and at her zeal for idol-worship began to flag, your gate I stopt. I felt that if I were and she failed to visit her temple. caught, I would scream, and you She had contemplated having a golden would all run out, and help and protect image of herself in the act of prostra- me. When I stopt, I turned around.
tion before the idol, but that was given There was nobody. Then and there I up. She neglected many of her relig- offered a prayer. I told God I might ious duties, and her family became be dragged back on the streets (about greatly concerned. half a mile) on which I ran, I might The mother and ever vigilant priests have to endure persecution, trial, and were on the alert, and she was ordered hardships, but I askt him to keep me to dismiss the teacher, which she did, faithful to him."
tho this caused her great sorrow. Soon Reaching the home of the missionary after she wrote a letter to her teacher, who had been instrumental in her con- in which she opened her heart, and version, who was busily engaged in told how her people hated the Christ- Christmas festivity, she ran almost ian religion, but that she loved it, and breathless up the stairway, and falling askt for the prayers of her teacher, into the arms of the missionary said, that she might be willing to leave all "I am come; I am God's Christmas her former associations. This was fol- gift to you."
lowed by another letter saying she was She wore no jewels nor costly very unhappy, but that in her heart clothes, but was clad in the coarsest she had abandoned idol-worship and cloth. She took from her person a depended on Christ alone for salvation. little metal box, containing the sacred Preparations were made by her family powder that had been given her by the to send her away from the city, but priests as a sign that she had been she set her face against all their ar- sealed by them, and which she had to rangements and determined to cast in wear about her person, and in doing her lot with the Christians. She was this, she renounced caste, heathenism, willing to leave her family, and even idolatry, everything. This was all be- exprest a wish that she might become hind her. Before her she knew not a zenana worker. She offered to do what. In a few days persecutions the work at her own expense. At last commenced. Relatives accompanied the crisis came, she counted the cost, by native policemen visited the house, made her preparations, packt her insinuating that she had been unlaw- boxes, put away her jewels, and when fully detained. They had an inter- the evening came, and all the family view, pleading with her to return to were engaged in their evening worship, her home, her mother and her old asso- she quietly embraced the opportunity ciations; but none of these things to slip out. moved her, Quietly, but flrmly, she She said afterward: H I went out in- said, "I can not go back; I am & to the darkness with only the stars Christian." They used every argu- above me. It was to me like taking a ment, assuring her that if she persisted, long journey, and I did not know as orthodox Brahmans they would be where or how it was going to be. under the necessity of performing the There was nothing before me, but a funeral ceremony over her, and that voice in my heart told me to run, and I she would be dead to them and to the whole Brahman community. She only perience exprest fears in regard to the replied, ., 1 know it-I shall be dead to course to be taken, and advised that all, but tell them 1 yet live, and will the baptism be done in the Home, or tell of Christ's love to my people." the church doors closed. When the hour arrived, the missionary accom- Upon another occasion came the panied by her protege, found the mother and relatives accompanied by church crowded with Europeans, na- an angry mob, with threats and impre- tive Christians, Hindus and Mohamcations which could be heard all over medans. Every window and door was the house. They predicted the down- crowded so they could not be closed, fall of the mission and threatened to and police were on all sides of the spend thousands to take the case into churcb, tho their protection had not the courts, and denounced her in the been askt. The services were convilest language. When they found she ducted in Tamil and English. When could not be infiuenced, the mother the candidate was presented at the altar called on all the gods to curse her to take ber part in the service, there child, and with bitter cries lamented was a murmur of voices 'aU over the she had not dragged her dead from a house, many of bem saying, .. What! a well. It became necessary to call Brahman lady baptized!" At the close the police, and the people unwill- of the service she sang in a clear sweet ingly retreated with cries of venge. voice the hymn she had learnt. ance, shouting that if tbey could tbey would kill ber, and declaring she acted .. Jesus 1 my cross have taken, thus because she was intoxicated. All to leave and follow thee; " etc.
It was suggested that she be taken and then in great simplicity and tenaway from Madras, but it was decided derness gave her testimony before the that it was better to stay and give her crowded audience. The whole exerpeople every opportunity of seeing her. cises made a great impression. Many And so her relatives came and went. Hindus and some of her relatives who Several weeks past and the mattcr of had attended to give trouble went away a public baptism was agitated. This deeply imprest, confessing the woman woman lIad made such a noble confes- was sincere, and they would not intersion, had been so brave in the midst of fere with her. sucb opposition, bad been so clear in her Christian testimony, that it was This baptism made such a stir that thought a public baptism would convince people that the missionaries de- a for several Sabbaths, more than three sired to hide nothing from them, and it would probably be an encouragement thousand Hindus assembled in large to other women to take the same step. hall to discuss the work of the mission- So the decision was made, but not aries in their midst, and to devise without grave apprehension on the part plans to end all missionary work. Then of many Christian friends, both Euro- the Hindu papers took up and discust pean and native. The service was ap- the matter, expressing surprise that a pointed for an evening in the week and woman of such social standing among Christians and missionaries of other the Hindus should embrace Christiandenominations were invited to be pre- ity. One month after the baptism, sent. During the day there was con- funeral ceremonies were held for her siderable excitement and the mission- by relatives, as she was considered ary was told that the event was the talk dead to them. These lasted three days. of the city bazaars, and that evil·dis- and were attended by large numbers of posed persons would make trouble at Brahmans who had been invited. the church in the evening, and even a Special bathing was performed by.her missionary of twenty-four years' ex- husband, money spent liberally to feast Brahmans and costly presents were made to the multitude. .All the crock- ery belonging to the woman in her home was broken and everything de- kind of things he wants aI'e sold. Some stroyed that would remind them of needs will have been already antici- her. Then an effigy was made of her pated, and supplies brought, but these of reeds from the banks of the Ganges, run out, and so many unlookt for re- and the form was thrown into the fire quirements come to light, and keep on and the priests shouted, "Dead! Dead! presenting themselves, so that recourse Burnt out I" has to be had to the friendly missionary brother, at the nearest point where The bond or "Execution Bill" was such supplies may be purchased. While signed by the family priests and four such aid may do in the early stages of Brahman gentlemen, the sacred ashes missionary openings, and the" friendwere gathered and taken at night to the ly brother" be willing to leave hls own burying ground, where other cere- work, and go about his needy brother's monies were performed. business, it will not answer when there are many who have such needs, She is now living with the mission- and the number of workers scattered ary, happy and cheerful. The once about interior parts become numerous. proud, petted, wealthy Brahman wom- Thus, an agency which will undertake an has broken all her alabaster boxes all such matters, and meet the needs as and laid all upon the altar, and is now they arise, becomes a necessity. The teaching a low-caste Sunday-school and qualitieations of such an agent, however, aiding in the Christian Orphanage, and for the work have to be manysided. her one longing is to go to the villages One always to be depended upon and tell the women the story of God's to be there when applied to, to be great love. ready to go about the matter entrusted to him, promptly, attentively, to use Missionary Agencies. skill, taste, judgment, care, and econ- omy in selecting, ordering, purchas- MR. EDWARD EVANS, S3ANGHAI, ing and packing, is a desideratum. Such an agent is called upon to take CHINA.* such a variety of matters in hand. The selecting of stores, food, drugs, The missionary, entering upon life in clothing, books. etc., hardware and a heathen land, aforeigner in the midst other necessities for the house and of a large population of natives, whose other buildings, which often have to be habits of living, clothing, eating, etc., undertaken. Then, packages are being are entirely different to his, is at once sent from home, which must be reconfronted with some very practical ceived, past the customs -and forquestions entirely apart from his spirit- warded on. ual vocation. Himself and family, to be housed, closed, fed, and all their New arriving missionaries require accustomed needs supplied, how is it to outfits for residence in the interior; 80 be done? No shops there, where the furniture adapted to the new condi- tions has to be obtained, experienced • It is now nearly two years since we re- counsel in such respect being all esquested Mr. Edward Evans to collate infor- sential. Dressmakers are not! where mation concerning missionary agencies in clothing is so different, what is to be the far East, and to prepare a paper on the done? The wife and the children as entire topic. Our thought was to provoke well as the poor man himself mURt liave discussion of the subject. We had known of such things done for them; so the agent the efficiency of such agency in Constantino- is called upon to buy, match, alter and ple aL~ elsewhere, and believed that much get made the wardrobe of the family. greater etteciency might be reacht by com- Who can do for others, with all the parison of experiences among missionaries. different ideas and tastes which are The Sanitarium was not in our thought, but Dr. Beebe of the hospital at Nanking and Dr. Main of the Hongchow hospital, both write endorsing Mr. Evan's article in its reference to SanItarium. J. T. G. suggested in such a presentation of Home and Supply Depot JJ for its the case as the foregoing? And with members, that is a model of excellency. it all, there must be economy, or the This mission is noted for its thrifty bills will get beyond the resources. methods in these matters. A depart- And what means for remunerating ment for the storing of all kinds of such agency? Many of these calls are supplies is kept, the articles having for items of trifling value, tho most been purchased at wholesale prices necessary, and therefore anycommi8sion and imported, and then retailed out at to really be commensurate with the bare cost to its members. Distributing service would probably be equal to or branches are establisht through the more than the amount to be expended. land at various points. One such" agency" described in its report this branch of the work as A number of the members of the "the un·remunerative branch." In mission have been delegated to attend his case the Board paid his salary and to this work. Some give their whole all the expenses of the "agency." But time, and others a part. Clerks, acvery few Boards have made this pro- countants, housekeepers, etc., are occuvision, and the larger part of the mis- pied thus, as their share of the work, sionary body in China [for the writer who gave themselves to the missionhas this field in mind] are without any field, expecting to be preaching to the provision thus made for them by their "heathen;" but it has to be "indi- Board, and have consequently to man- rectly .. in their cases, and the blessing age these things themselves. shared as to those who "tarry by the stuff." In connection with such agency there has been made evident that another The writer has been askt by the Edineed has to be met. The arrival and tor of this periodical to give some acdeparture of the missionary family, and count of "Missionary Agencies, his the occasional visit to the ports, have own included," and may therefore be led to the establishing of a " Missionary permitted to add to this sketch the in- Home," where all the conveniences of formation that he, with his wife, some " llome" may be had, rather than the eight years ago, having gone to China, expense and discomforts of a hotel with the intention of laboring among while so sojourning. It would be ren- the heathen, was led quite unexpectdered more trying to the heads of the edly into undertaking the organization family if, as they necessarily have to of a work such as has been herein inmake many excursions around the port dicated. "The Missionary Home and to select and purchase the outfit, and Agency" in Shanghai was in existnece these things are accumulating and being before, but has expanded in its scope prepared for transport to their station, in the last seven years so that now they felt themselves intruding on the it has for its correspondents a very " Hotel" and their children meantime large part of the missionaries in China, having been left in the care of servants, numbering upwards of 2,000, not mothers on returning finding the chil- counting wives and children, and exdren and their nurses alike voted an cluding the C. I. M. already mentioned, intolerable nuisance to the other guests. as well as many in Korea, Formosa, Thus a "Home" where no sense of and Japan. The office·work to attend restraint will be felt, where the circum- to the Agency Department employs stances they are in are understood and several native assistants, bookkeeper, sympathized with, the help rendered in etc., as well as keeping perpetually every needed way, is appreciated. busy the writer and his wife the year round. The China Inland Mission, which has now some 700 workers in the field, The "home" as its name implies, is has provided at Shanghai a "Receiving necessarily a place made as convenient as possible for the circumstances of those who come to it. It is confined to the work. Not seldom wo:uld such exclusively to missionaries. There are expense have been avoided, and the dif- times when it will be crowded to its ftcultymet, if a .. Home," combining utmost capacity, tho the question. the advantages of a .' Sanitarium"
sometimes askt has not yet been an- were available here to be a little swered, "How many can it accommo- while in a restful home, away from date?" It meeting emergencies, so that the sighs and sounds (and smells) of when there is a great congregating, as the native land, and in the midst of at time!! of some mission assembling, or Christian friends of one's own kind, at the season of arrivals from the would often rehabilitate such an one, home-lands, it is in much demand. without the necessity of traveling fur- At other times but a very few may be ther. Owing to recent appreciation in found in it, but it is always ready for the value of property in Shanghai, rent· whatever call may be made on it, how- als have greatly increast, and altho the ever unexpected, as in the times of present Home is an old dilapidated "Riots," when a whole province of place in a poor locality, the rent has workers was emptied into it at once. been so increast that with the advanced It has been appreciated, too, because cost of everything else, rates of accom- of the opportunity given for meeting modation have had to be advanced, in workers from different points with order to meet the expenses, so much, whom comparison is made of methods that only a short stay in Shanghai is of work, etc.; and to the new arrival it practicable owing to the expense. An is an inspiration thus to come at once institution, erected as a permanent in contact with veterans whose names Home ava1lable to all missionaries of are familiar, and find a warm welcome every denomination, or of no connec- to the land. tion with any society, would be a great The Christian atmosphere, too, is blessing. If the only expense that had helpful, where all have a common in- to be covered were the food and ser- terest, so that tired workers are cheered vice, it would bring its advantages by a few days' stay there, and little within the reach of the poorest, and meetings may be held of an im- there are "poor" missionaries, where promptu character, for stimulating the large families and frequent sickness spiritual life, and bearing mutually the has taken all the resources. Tene- burdens of others. Of all .the other ments, of two or more rooms, partially needs that it is sought to meet, this is furnisht, connected with it, would be ever regarded as of the greatest im- desirable, so that a family could use it, portance. and live as economically as they de- And now ere concluding the writer sired.
after relating the actual, would like to In the present state of things, with give his thoughts of the t'deal in some many of the societies in debt, and of these matters. unable to carry on all their present What one individual, on his own re- undertakings, it would be out of the sources, has been able to accomplish in question, if for no other reason, that meeting the needs that have been indi- such an institution should be incepted'
cated, comes very far short of what either by one or a combination of sev- might and should be provided for the eral societies. Their funds-even if Lord's servants, laboring in trying con- they had a surplus-are not available . ditions in this wonderful land. One for such a thing. Our only hope for might go on to speak of times, not in- one, therefore, would be that some of frequent, when one of the heads of a those entrusted of the Lord with a family becoming invalided, the entire stewardship for him, should take it in family has to be transported away to hand. Mention has been made of that the home land, at great cost and loss ·of the China Inland Mission, and it is known that this splendid Home was the work, just as much as preaching the gift of one of its own members, who, gospel to the heathen. At any rate the out of his ample means has mainly writer feels this, and is grateful to God provilied the cost of several such places for putting him in such a place. for the mission at different points, including a SCHOOL now being erected Still beyond there is more Ideal planfor the children of its missionaries. ning. This suggests another Ideal. The need of education for the children of mis- Why should there not be a supply sionaries is a pressing one that has been depot establisht, where staple articles ill met so far. One of the trials and of food, clothing, drugs, etc., could be hardships of a missionary life is this. laid in at first cost, and retailed at low- To see their children growing up est rates to all the missionaries in the around them without school advan- land? Here is a grand opening for a tages, and dependent upon what they firm of consecrated business men. personally can teach them, with the ine"vitable necessity to look forward The writer has, too, some pet ideas to, of having to send them to the about a central bank for missionaries home-land soon, for years of separation, in the East, in charge of a responsible to get them educated, this is indeed a financier, who would consolidate the trial. Recently one has made a start local treasureship of the several socIe. in connection with the " Home" here, ties operating in the East. At present, to undertake the education of such in each station, and in each district, one children, and if such an institute as has of the missionaries of each society is been suggested, should have attacht to given the work of local treasurer, it a children's home and school, where whose duties are, to draw upon the families could send their children to be home Board for needed funds, selling trained for later entering on college life exchange on it for what the banks will in the home lands, it would be a great give him. Much time is necessarily boon to many. Yes a misssionary spent in keeping accounts, by those " Home," including a sanitarium and a who would so gladly be more congeniboarding and day.school for mission- ally occupied, unaccustomed as many aries' children is a need in Shanghai. are to business accounts and bookkeep- It may not be known 1;0 every reader ing. A general treasurer could econom· that Shanghai is practically the port of icallyadminister the funds of a number entrance to China. Almost all have to of societies, experience enabling him to pass through it, going and coming, and obtain the best terms in disposing of it is the metropolis of western civiliza- exchange at the most favorable times tion in this East. The writer would for operating. Instead of each society like to include in his scheme a resident having to hold a margin on deposit at dentist, who could be sent to convenient various points, losing interest on it, such points in the land, as well as several a manager would be able to meet any trained nurses to go to the relief of sick exigency promptly without such being families; one or two teachers; as well required. The clerical work would be as a good dressmaker to take in hand doue by native help in large measure the women's and children's supply de- and methodically, regular reports made partment. But enough has been said to Boards, an experienced audit also to show what a work can be done in certifying to the correctness of all the aid of the missionary worker. To thus details recorded. Business men will help in economic supply of necessities, appreciate these suggestions, and it and provide ameliorating service of would not be difficult to believe that various kinds, is surely a missionary the expense of such a general treas- ury, would be largely, if not wholly covered by the saving effected in ex- change.
FIELD OJ' MONTHLY IURT1I:T. (l?eptember
lII.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Ja.pan,* Korea.,t Medioal Missions.
BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
KOREA FOR CHRIST. become a recognized and indispensable factor in the national life. In former Korea has nearly ninety thousand days the king's birthday was a time of square miles of territory, twelve mil- festivity to the official and noble classes lions of people, and is extraordinarily only, the common people having no rich in natural resources. These natu- part in its observance. Last year when ral resources consist in a soil of great the auspicious day came around the fertility, vast mineral deposits, untold Korean Christians suggested that spewealth in sea products, which Korea's cial prayer and thanksgiving services unusually extensive seaboard brings to be held in the different churches in its doors, and a population capable of behalf of his majesty. On the aftergreat industrial activity. Until 1883 noon of the day a grand Christian mass- Korea had no relations with foreign meeting was held in the open air outcountries, and, therefore, there has side the city wall, and over three thoubeen a total absence of that commercial sand Koreans were present. Addresses exploitation, which would have made were made by high noblemen as well the people rich. As a nation they are as by Christian missionaries, and great poverty·stricken, but a brighter day enthusiasm was manifested. Coming seeIDS to be approaching, for the total spontaneously, it impressed the Korean volume of foreign trade for the ten government in a most pleasant manner, years ending 1894 was about thirty-five and his majesty was especially demillion dollars, aDd this seems to point lighted. to dawning commercial-linterprise. This is but a hint of the power which At present the Protestant missionary the Christian community possesses in force in Korea numbers about ninety modeling the national life. Korea workers, representing six different mise must, and will be. won for the Lord sions. Since the work began in the Jesus Christ.-REV. G. H. JONES. fall of 1884 the Korean Church has had a marvelous growth. The total num- From every hand come cheering tidber of converts to the various missions ings of the progress of the Gospel in is about two thousand, and regular Korea. Bishop Joyce writes that all preaching is maintained at fifty differ- Korea is open to receive the Gospel. ent places throughout the peninsula. Towns and villages are constantly ask- A Holy Ghost native ministry is being ing for missionaries, and the need for raised up, and the outlook is of the reinforcements is rapidly increasing. brightest possible nature. lIrs. Bishop's call has already -been sounded in these pages (May, p. 363). Under God, Christian missions have Rev. Malcolm C. Fenwick. of Wonsan, writes that missionaries are now gladly • See also pp. 47, 48, 55 (Jan); 110 (Feb· received all over the country, and that ruary); 650, 658, 665 (present issue)_ there are multitudes of earnest seekers after the Light. Rev. D. L. Gifford NEW BOOKS: "The Gist of Japan," R. P. tells of churches whose membel'lhip has Peeryj .. Religion in Japan," G. A_ Cobboldj increast three-fold in the past year .. Japan, Its People and Missions," JeS88 &tid of congregations far too large fo; Page; .. Dragons and Cherry Blossoms," Mrs. any of their church buildings. Dr. Morris. Underwood. of Seoul, says that it migh'
t See also pp. 863, 871 (May). NEW BooJtS: "Korea, The Hennit Natlon" (new edition), W. E. GrIftls; .. A For· ward Movement in North Korea," D. L. Gif· ford. almost be said of his report as was said of Christian friends, the prayera and in a certain war record, "There is the exhortations and comforts of Christian usual monotony of success and victory." ministers, and even where the sufferer Churches have been increasing rapidly, may have been impenitent to the last, members have been growing in num- we .have Him who was ever ready to bers and in grace, and almost the only save, standing by the sickbed, ready to drawback has been that due to the the very uttermost to cleanse and rechurches at home. Surely God is mov- ceive the parting soul. ing marvelously in Korea, and is calling us to an "advance upon our knees" to But what does'sickness mean among claim the country for Him. the thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of millions of our un- The Need for Medical Missions. christianized brothers and sisters? We must remember that sickness among BY MRS. BISHOP, F.R.G.S. them is usually, if not always, supposed to be the work of demons, especially It is not as a worker, but as a traveler in Asia and Africa. In many parts of Bolely, that my journeys in .Asia have .Asia a sick person is looked upon as given me some knowledge of the un- being possest of demons, and bechristianized Asiatic world. In those comes an object of loathing and terror. years I have become a convert to the He is put into a large house with food necessity of missions, not by seeing the and water beside him, and is absolutely success of missions, but by seeing the avoided, owing to the terrible fear lest misery of the unchristianized world. the demon in him go into the one attend- From the seaboard of Japan to those ing him. In other cases the medicine shady streams by which the Jewish men, priests, and astrologers aresentfor. exiles wept when they remembered They light huge fires, and bring gongs Zion, and from the icy plateaux of and drums and six feet high horns, and Northern Asia down to the Equator, I dance round the fire, blowing the horns have seen nothing but sorrow, sin, and round the sufferer; and if this does not shame, of which we have not the re- drive out the demon, they lay the motest conception. sufferer before a roaring fire until his skin is blistered allover, and then We all know what sickness means plunge him into cold water. If this among ourselves, and even in such an does not succeed, they lay him on epidemic as influenza. The sufferings his back and beat him with heavy of surgical operations, weary nights, clubs in order to drive out the demon_ fever, pain, and much distress are all If the case is chronic, and he does not connected with illness among ourselves, succumb to these remedies, in some but this illness has its bright side. It countries he is carried to the mountain brings out kindness and temlerness in top, a few barley balls and a little those about us; it brings delicacies and water are put teside him, and he is left flowers into the sick·room. Everything there to die alone. In all these circumthat might bring distress into the sick- stances of misery and solitude, thouroom is kept out of it, and everything sands and hundreds of thousands are that might cheer the sufferer is brought passing away in heathen lands, where in. We have the skill and kindness the Gospel of Christ, the Good Physiand self-sacrifice of men of the very cian, has never produced its healing noblest profession about us, and the infiuence. There is no hope. There is skill of trained nurses; we have magnifi- only the looking forward with terror cent hospitals, where the appliances of to something going to happen of a medical skill and the most skilful nurs- terrible kind, launched at the diseming are at the disposal of the very bodied spirit from some quarter they poorest of the community. We have, know not. besides that, the tender ministrations Medical missions put an end to these views about the heathen world. barbaric systems of native treatment, We imagine that the heathen world which are 'IlJ0'1'8e in the case of women is not so much worse than our own. secluded in their zenanas. In the hour After living amongst the heathen in of women's greatest peril and pain, many mission stations, I would say these barbaritie& are multiplied to such that the awful and fearful wickedness an extent, that in many places women of our own slums, and of our own die in legions, or are rendered invalids lapst masses, can not be named in the for life. We are bound, as humanita- same day with the wickedness which is rians as well as Christians, to make an part of the daily life of these people. end to those systems of treatment that Scenes of vice are witnessed not only exist in Asia and Africa, and to carry inside their temples but outside. in the first place the unspeakable bless- There is no public opinion, prompted ing of European treatment at the hands by Christ, to condemn any single act. of skilful and gentle doctors, combined From the sole of the foot to the crown with the knowledge of the Gospel of of the head there is not one sound part. the Lord Jesus Christ as the Healer of It is one mass of wounds and of putrithe soul as well as of the body. fying sores, and there is nothing left on which to build any superstructure of People go to missionary meetings truth. There is nothing left to tell of and hear much that excites enthusiasm that creation of God in the beginning. about the work done, but we have While the intellect of women of 20 and only touched the outskirts of the work 25 is not on a level with girls here of that is to be done, altho it is nineteen 10, yet the worst passions exist as if centuries since our Lord was on the grown on a hotbed. I have counted earth. We should set ourfaces towards up about 200 times that I have been that wilderness in which two-thirds of askt what drugs would takeaway a the human race are, at this moment, favorite wife, or a favorite wife's son. wandering without hope. We have This is the state of women in the East 1,000,000,000 at this time on the earth -huddled together and exposed in illabsolutely unchristianized, of which ness to the barbarities of native doctors. number, it is said, that 800,000,000 have There are now a few hundred medical never even heard the name of our Lord missionaries, many of whom are womand Savior. We have 3,000 languages en, but we need them in thousands. in which not even a fragment of the Bible has been translated. If the popu- There is spent every year in this lation ofthe world, estimated at 1,500,- country fifteen dollal's a head on alco- 000,000, could pass before us, two out holic drink, and eigUeen cents a head of every three would have no knowl- on converting the heathen. When we edge, even in name, of the Lord Jesus; remember that every minute five souls and this is after the voice of our Lord pass into eternity-1,400 dying every has been ringing through the Church for hour in India aud 1,600 every hour in nearly 1,900 years. It seems to me that China-it seems to me the time has instead of congratulation in speaking come when we should readjust our exof what has been done, and imagining penditures at the foot of Christ's Cross. that the kingdoms of this world are on We must choose whether we will spend t~ verge of becoming kingdoms of our upon ourselves or give to Him. We Lord, we should look these awful facts speak of the claims of the heathen, but in the face, and be covered with shame I should rather speak of the claims of and confusion, when we are content to Christ. Blessed indeed are those who take the blessings that come to us from have heard His voice, and who are the death of Christ, without passing giving their lives to Him, trying to them on to those who know Him not. lighten that great darkness. And we must do the same. How will they We are getting milk and water preach unless they be sent? and as to The Church is on a better basis. The sending them, we. can do it if we will. impression seems to be general that We can do it by expending our means, Japan is about to witness another great and in other ways. Silver and gold spiritual movement, provided, .the we may have none, but we have influ- Church sizes the present opportumty, ence in our own sphere, and we can About thirty years ago the drst two use that influence upon those about us Christians were baptized, now there are in favor of Christian missions. By over forty thousand. God has doubtprayer, by influence, by conversation, less great things in store for Japan. Let us advance to the place of duty and of privilege.
by cheerful giving, we may advance Rev. Dr. J. D. Davis, of Kyoto, authe work of Christ. The self-denial thor of a "Life of Neesima," has reof Christ was not confined to the cently made an extended evangelistic week of His passion, but the whole tour in Japan, and thus sums up his of His life was one long sedes of impressions: incomprehensible self-denials, and He 1. Japan is more ready for the Gospel than ever before. The official classes has left us an example that we should are more favorably disposed, and the follow in His steps. masses are more ready to hear than at any time before or since Japan was The Situation in Japan. opened. 2. The era of doubt and rationalistic Mr John R. Mott who has recently discussion has past its zenith. Many of the pastors and workers, and most of completed his world-tour in the inter- the Christians who have held on to their ests of the student movement, gives us faith, realize their need of a positive faith, and are hungering for spiritual some very lucid and suggestive "Im- food. '
pressions of Japan" in his account of 3. Wherever earnest men are preachhis visits in the various Asiastic coun- inl! a positive gospel, churches are alive tries.* He says in part: and souls are being gathered into the kingdom. 1. The work of the missionary in 4. The great lack of workers. That Japan is not dnisht. What was seen great rich Aidzu valley, with its 800 and heard in Japan created the convic- square miles of villages, has no missiontion that the present missionary force ary and only three Japanese evangelists is not only needed but should be wisely at work. Echigo, over 100 miles long increast. Three-fourths, or 30,000,000, and half as wide, has two missionaries of the Japanese have not yet heard of and only eight to ten Japanese workers, Christ. Missionaries are needed to all told. reach these unevangelized_ They are 5. Now is the time to pray for Janeeded to help solve the problem which pan. Pray that its force of workers confrot the Church in Japan, to pro- may not be further depleted, but rather mote the development of the Japanese restored to its former strength; that the church and to train the native ministry. rising spiritual tide may sweep over the 2. Japan calls for missionaries of land, filling the hearts of all the Chrisunusual strength, mentslly, and sphit- tian workers here, and bringing the uaall.yT. he greatest peril to Japan is the Doshisha University and every band of Christians back to their former earnest secular character of her institutions of faith and active service for Christ and higher learning. 4. Buddhism as a religion is doomed for these millions who wait. in t.he land where it has greatest vigor. It is rent with internal dissensions, and Dr. H. Loomis says: The one thing needed at this time is shows man;r signs of decay. the work of the Holy Spirit. There 5. The SIgnS indicate that the cause are men and means enough now em- ployed to work a great change in the of Christ in Japan is entering upon a country, if only accompanied by power new and remarkable era. The rational- from on high. Meetings have been istic wave is receding. The Japanese held in Tokyo to pray for this. A are more friendly toward Christianity. '. deep interest has been awakened, and services are being held in the churches • Strategic points In the World'S Conquest, to arouse and stimulate the believers, as well as gather in the unconverted. by John R. lIlott. Fleming H. Revell Co.
l&DITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Vic- In gold and silver designs. On the left toria's accession was, of course, a great of the Archbishops were the clergy of occasion. The interest of a great em- the various churches, and other invited pire, in the longest and best reign gues,ts, in all about five hundred. After known in its history, found its highest the Te Deum, and a special prayer preflood mark in the celebration of June pared for the occasion, the Hundredth 22d. By the courtesy of Sir George Psalm was sung, the whole of the vast Williams, we had the opportunity to company that filled and surrounded the witness a pageant unsurpast in its way church-yard taking up the holy strain in modem times, from one of the win- of praise; it was as the sound of many dows overlooking the very steps of St. waters, and the 3upreme moment of the Paul's where the main ceremony was Jubilee celebration. Then, of course, performed. followed " God save the Queen," after which the Queen's carriage resumed its The procession occupied about two onward progress. Millions of people and a half hours in passing, and the lined the route of the procession, and whole Empire was represented, and all the moral order of the whole pageant its colonial dependencies. Five conti- was something to evoke thanksgiving nents, the isles of the sea, and every and was a fine proof of the self-regreat nation from sunrise to sunset, and straint of the British people. from pole to pole, had their representatives. The costumes were brilliant and On the Thursday of the following costly, beyond description, and the eye week, at Albert Hall, we saw a sight seldom looks on any scene so magnifi- even more significant in its way, for it cently grand and imposing as was wit- was an exhibit of the work of woman nest that day in the semicircle that for her own sex, as represented by the fronts the great master-work of Sir Y. W. C. A. Lord Kinnaird presided, Christopher Wren. and Canon Fleming, the Dean of Nor. wich, the Archdeacon of St. Paul's, the When the Queen's carriage entered Bishop of Sierra Leone, Lord Overtoun, the inclosure and halted before the and myself made addresses, or took other steps of St. Paul's, the attendant royal parts of the service. The hall, which is carriages, with the highest dignitaries vast, held probably 10,000. Dr. Barof the various royal families, stood out- nardo, who has a genius for such specside the railing, drawn up in line side tacular displays, organized a procession by side, and the Prince of Wales and in which we should judge a thousand others on horseback, within the railing, young women may have taken part, all facing the Queen's carriage; in front representing by detachments with banof1hem and likewise facing her Majesty ners all the departments of the work were the primates of Canterbury and carried on by the Young Women's York with the Bishop of London, all Christian Association in this and other in the most superb vestments, with their lands, each detachment wearing coscroziers, etc., and the lesser clergy tumes appropriate to, and indicative of about and behind them with the grand their work. The" Flower Girls " orchestra and choir. On their right the lookt like a procession of moving high civil dignitaries of the Empire, flower-beds, and the "Foreign workwith the various Ambassadors from ers" were drest in the costumes of foreign lands, and all in robes of office the various lands among whose women of the most elaborate and gorgeous they are carrying on their work. The material and decoration, including the procession moved up the middie aisle, Hindus in cloth of gold, and the Chi- mounting the stage, and then filing to nese in sumptuous silk heavily wrought right and left, past through the corridors held in July, in San Francisco, and and took their seats in the center of the was attended by immense crowds. The hall. But anyone who witnessed that reports of it would more than engross score of bannered regiments, each repre- all the pages of this REVl1tW, and all senting a different department of we can do is to call attention to some woman's work for woman, must have of the salient points in this history. felt as never before how much the Vic Five thousand new societies within the torian Era had done to develop woman, year, with a world enrollment of 50,- to bringher out of comparative obscurity 747 local societies and 3,000,000 mem- into her true, normal sphere of organ- bers; in sixteen years, a multiplication ized and independent service for her of the original single society into over Master and for human souls. It is 50,000, and the members nearly 60,000 probable that no one occasion has ever fold. hitherto presented so effectively the wide work of Christian women. It was Dr. Clark, in a masterly address, or in the highest sense a great success, and " message," luminously sets forth the left impressions not easily effaced. The following propositions as to this world- Queen, had she been present, must have wide movement: been greatly gratified at the exhibit of the multiplied spheres of usefulness in· 1. It must be true to Its fundamental to which God has ushered her sex since Idea, raising the standard among the she began to reign. young of outspoken devotion and con- secrated service. The first convention of the Federation of Ohristian Students, recently or- 2. It must be a unifying movement. ganized, met at Williamstown, under 3. It must be a pervasive force the shadow of the famous •• Haystack" 4. It must be essentially sacrificial, monument, July 6-9, and was repre- and missionary. sented by twenty-seven nationalities- 5. It must listen to and continually China, Japan, India, Syria, South obey God's voice. Africa, and Scandinavia, Holland and He gives a four· fold motto: Germany, France, etc., as well as the British Isles. This latest development The world for Christ, of the Christian College movement will The nation for Christ, receive ample reference in these pages The family for Christ, hereafter; but we can not but wonder, Myself for Christ. as we watch the Providential interposi- And we can only add, may this holy tions of our day, what is to be the next message prove a message from God, of God's great movements in connection heard and heeded. with organizing the forces of the Christian Church for the last grcat We had the pleasure of meeting Miss onset against the powers of darkness. Annie R. Taylor at Keswick, with But what united prayer should now Puntso, her faithful Tibetan servant, rise from millions of holy hearts, lest and Siggue, his wife, who are now with we be found unready for the combined her in Britain. The sight of a Tibetan advance. man and woman will, as Miss Taylor says, better enable friends to pray for The" World Encircling ~Iovement " the Hermit nation, and claim for Christ of the Y. P. S. C. E. excites more and the followers of the grand Lama. l'Iiss more amazement at the rapidity of its Taylor was expecting to stay in England progress and the almost wild enthusiasm some three months. She hopes to pick it evokes. The sixteenth international up volunteers for the work of occupyconvention of the Y. P. S. C. E. was ing this long shut up land. All eyes are now turned toward Tibet.
Our friend, WellesleyC. Bailey, Esq., of Edinburgh, who is superintendent of the Mission to Lepers in India and the East, sends from Edinburgh a copy of the address from the lepers of the Almora L~per Asylum to Her Majesty and to honor the principle of faith the Queen, Empress of India, on the wherever dominant in His people; occasion of the diamond jubilee, by H. second, to evangelize the Continent of H. Raja Harnan Suiha Ahluwalia, who Africa directly by the missionaries, IWd was also bearer of an address from the indirectly through the training of native native Christian community of India: preachers, who shall be able to live and work in those interior districts where " We, the lepers of the Almora the climate is fatal to the white man.
Asylum, having heard that our fellow- Three qualifications are to be empha- sized as absolutely essential: a passion- Christians are uniting in presenting an ate love for the Lord Jesus Christ; a firm belief in the plenary inspiration, address to her Most Gracious Majesty infallibility, and divine authoritr. of the Holy Scriptures; and a recogmtion of the Queen Empress of India, wish to the supremacy of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual, and in the be allowed to join in expressing our conduct of the assembly. No one will be askt to join the movement, the same gratitude to God for having given us Spirit by whom the plan was originally conceived, being trusted to call out such a beneficent sovereign. Perhaps laborers into His service, whether preachers, teachers, doctors, nurses, or in no time during the history of the humbler tradesmen. Only such simple organization will be formed as seems world has the sad lot of the poor leper really necessary to the effectual and harmonious cooperation of a body of been so sympathetically considered as people spiritually united. Finally, it is assumed that if the movement be during the reign of our beloved Queen born of God, He will supply such funds as are needed for the inauguration of Empress, whose ears have always been the work without His servants solicit- ing or borrowing the money, or incuropen to the cry of the poo.r and t~e ring debt in any way whatever.
afflicted. We thank God WIth all our Jared H. Randall, '97 Brown, ex- pects to leave about the middle of heart that He has so long spared her, September, under the auspices of the Brown Young Men's Christian Associaand we pray Him to continue her reign tion, to begin work in Natal.
and make it still more prosperous. We The Utility of Missionary Effort.
are poor and helpless, and can do The following appeared in the Mie- sionary Herald: nothing to add to her royal mag- Among the recent contributions to the nificence, but we can and do pray London MansionHouseFund ,for famine relief in India, is one of a little over for her. May our humble prayers be $4,000 (.£844) from the Fiji Islands. In connection with this gift, the English accepted. . magazine Work and Workers may well call attention to the fact that when "We beg to subscribe ourselves the Queen Victoria ascended the throne, sixty years ago, the Fiji Islands were grateful tho helpless subjects of our inhabited by pagan cannibals, to whom not one ray of light from the Christian beloved Queen Empress. world had come. These people were peculiarly ferocious. The Wesleyan "The inmates (120) of the Almora Society, which in 1838 had planned to commence work within the group, de- Leper Asylum. N. W. P., India." clared in its report of that year that the missionary must prosecute his work A Twentieth Century Mission. " before the sailor and the merchant will dare to frequent those now inhos- A few young men met in a room in pitable shores." And now we have an Brown University, April 24th, to dis- illustration of what the missionary has cuss a new plan for missionary work in accomplisht. The Fiji Islands are the coming century. Most of them had christianized, for out of a population felt the practical failure of the present of 125,000 about 100,000 arc reported in business methods used in carrying out the Lord's world·wide purpose, and were persuaded that the nations can be successfully evangelized only by a revival of the 8pirit oj faith and prayer. A new movement, if the Lord will, will be inaugurated in the spring of 1900, and with respect to Africa. The key to the Dark Continent is undoubtedly its southern end, and here a missionary colony is to be establisht, interdenominational and self·supporting. South Africa is extremely fertile, and the sheep-raising industry is attended with fair profit. There the colony of missionaries may undertake self-support, and thus be independent of all mission boards and like agencies.
The purpose of the mission is to be twofold: first to exalt the name of God by furnishing a living witness of His power IWd willingness to answer prayer the government statistics as Wesleyans. art. A few specimens might be here The whole face of societr has changed. In place of brutal orgtes there is an exhibited from this Museum of the orderly and thriving community, and now the grandchildren of the cannibals, Inferno. whom it was seriously feared would slay and eat the first missionaries, have A victim's hands and arms were cut sent $4,000 to feed the poor of India. off, and the eyes gouged out; a slash across the breast, and another across A Missionary's Striking Operation. that, making a cross, with the taunt, ,. Where now is your Christ I " One The Rev. R. Swallow, M.D. (China), man at Malatia riddled with bullets in related at the sixth anniversary of the form of a cross, that ., Christ might U. M F. C. Deaconesses' Institute, at find him if He wanted him." Exeter Hall, London, on May 17, some instances of his work in the mission A house took :fire, and when help hospital at Ningpo, China. "On one was needed, instead of a water barrel, occasion a girl was brought to our hos· the hose was maliciously attacht to a pital with her leg doubled up. The petroleum cask that the :fire might be father askt me whether I could do any· more inextinguishable. Wives were thing for her. After carefully examin· compelled to witness the slaughter of ing the limb, I said I thought the husbands and sons, and a deliberate deformity could be cured in about two attempt was made throughout Armenia months. He said I would have to doit to slay every male over ten years, that quicker than that, or not at all. In a the Armenian families might hence· fortnight he came again, and seemed forth be impossible. disappointed. I askt him if he would allow me to take a piece of flesh out of The slau~hters were by wholesale, his arm to put it in his daughter's leg. 100,000 havmg perisht. In one church , Oh, no,' said he, and he went off. I at Ourfa from 2,000 to 3,000 were slain askt the mother the same question, and or burned, 1,500 killed were dra~ged she replied, ' No; I would rather she to a long trench and piled in prOlruscustayed a little longer.' Then I called ously and buried in one grave. In the man, and told him to take my in- Malatia, that natural paradise, between strument and cut a piece of flesh out of 2,000 and 4,000 Christians suffered my arm. He took the scissors lip, but martyrdom. The flesh of the chief stammered, 'I can't do it.' I then men was carried round the market pickt up the instrument, cut out a piece place for sale at less than a farthing a of flesh from my arm, and planted it in pound. There alone are over 1,500 orthe girl's leg. In a few weeks she went phans and 500 widows. home cured." Of course, some outrages were worse The horrors of Armenia have never than death, and to avoid them, a short distance from Harpoot, 32 women, led yet been adequately told, nor so far as by one of peculiar nobility and intelli· gence, drowned themselves in the Eutold, have they reacht the knowledge phrates. 600 ~irls and brides were in one case carrIed off to Kurdish and of even the intelligent and conscientious Turkish homes. Mothers in despera- tion first flung their children and then body of Christians. Professor J. Ren· themselves into the flames which con- sumed their dwellings or churches. del Harris and his wife, Helen B. Har· . After orders had come to stop the massacre one of the noblest men of ris, have pUblisht a volume of letters, Eghin, venturing out of his hiding- place was assailed by stones. He prodescriptive of their experiences, while tested, "You may not kill me now;" but the brutal answer was, "No, not traveling through Armenia and dis· with guns-we are forbidden to shoot; hut stoning is a different thing and so tributing relief. Those letters ought they crusht hi,s head with heavy stones.
to be read and pondered by every dis- Not one village is yet rebuilt out of over 150 pulled down or burned round ciple of Christ, by every lover of hu- Harpoot. 'fhe women's eyes are always full of tears and the men's voices seem manity, as should also Prof. Lepsiua' to have a tearful quality. "We can't sing," they say; .. we have not sung book. since the massacre." At Biredjik not one Christian is left-all dead or turned The enormities they chronicle exceed over to Islam's tender mercies.
for hellish cruelty and refinement of The needs of Armenia are corre- torture anything known to modem history. Outrage, rapine, malice, murder are reduced to a science and an spondingly great. Here are 60,000 ing in the old Gregorian churches and orphans to be fed, and 5 cents a week in the midst of the long and tedious will keep them. Twenty-five dollars a Gregorian Ritual. year will not only provide for any 0-':- phan, but leave a margin for the For every missionary who fell in widow. It is possible to provide for China in the massacre of 1895, God has 400 boys and 300 girls and supply 10 already given at least 1,000 converts, teachers at less than 400 dollars a year and there are many more inquirers. (school year of 10 months). If not So in Armenia. Already the divine provided for these orphan children harvest from the seed sown in this will inevitably get under control either bloody soil begins to appear. Will not of Romanists or Mohammedans. Christians hasten to the help of the 60,000 orphans that need immediate The animU8 of this massacre; is not provision for their food, and shelter, hard to trace. The civilization of Asia and instruction? When was there a ~Iinor is American. The missionaries like opportunity and obligation? have spread over the whole conntry a network of religious and philanthropic TluJ Oentral Sudan Mi88ion, whose institutions and influences. The Armenians have been getting wealthy, headquarters are in London, t calls thrifty, skillful, intelligent, and influential, and this has provokt the hos· attention to the open door into this tility of the Turks. There has been a secret plan, prompted by the Sultan, long closed country. They are much without doubt, for the extermination of this whole people, and it still moves in need of financial aid to take adon towards its accomplishment, with the Turk as the upper and the Kurd as vantage of this opportunity to preach the nether millstone. Christ where He has not been known. There are off-setting and relieving lights even amid this horror of deep Mr. Hermann Harris, the director of darkness. What heroism I Who will ever forget those heroines of the mas- the mission, is at present in Gabes, sacre, Miss Shattuck, of Ourfa, and Dr. Grace Kimball, at Van, not to mention Tunis, Africa, from whence he writes Dr. Barnum and his associates in the American mission at Harpoot? Every as follows: one of this mission band faced death without fear or flinching. Dr. Barnum We have a hall for Gospel meetings, showed Professor Harris the remnants of the shell that burst in his little study. with good shop front on the main road. Professor Harris askt some of them what were their feelings just then. The Overthe entrance we have written in answers sound like primitive martyrs. " All fear was taken away, and death large Arabic characters the words, seemed nothing." Others said-" We had no fear. We expected to be directly "House of the Gospel of Jesus, the with Jesus, tho the flesh trembled a little. " Messiah, the Crucified;" and on the There are other compensations. A side wall in French is written, .. Maison religious awakening at Aintab has been the result. Various bodies of Chris· de l'Evangile." tians have been drawn together as never before. Protestants are preach- In the windows we display Scrip- tures, Tracts, and text·cards in several languages, and many people come in- side to read more, and to hear the Gospel; to some we give Scriptures and Tracts. Many of the natives, however, can not read, and even those who can, do not easily understand the standard version of the Arabic Bible, which is in high.class Syriac Arabic, well suited to the native Christians of Syria and Asia Minor, but not adapted to the Moslems of North Africa. We long to have a revised version of at least one Gospel in simpler language suited to the people of this province.
• Address Miss Mary W. Ranney, lM5 Masonic Temple, Chicago.
tMr. R. Caldwell, r eFe.Rt,.LGo,Sna'JoSn,t.E.MCa. rt i n' . House, 1 Gresham St Our work may be well described and return to their regular ways of life. under two distinct headings: 1st, the The t woman' of the dead man changes French or European work. This con- masters often before the funeral. Every sists of meetings held three times a imaginable vice exists among the white week, conducted chiefly by Mrs. Harris. people who are the exemplars of the na- On Sundays, at 6.30 P. M_, the hall is tives. The immoral lives of the Euroalways well filled by soldiers. Many pean merchants and officials make hard have been brightly converted, and ale work for the missionaries. To say that bravely standing the test of persecution the missionaries are hated by the white in barracks. On Wednesdo.y evenings a people is putting it mildly. To be sure, Converts' meeting is well attended, they turn to us when there is sickness and the men give bright testimonies. among them, or their dead must be On Thursday8, at 3.30, dlere is a Chil- buried, but at other times they hinder dren's Class, when illustrated Bible our work wherever they can. lessons are given on the black-board. t t Protestant missionaries seldom get 2nd, Arabic or native work. This consists of (1) reading, conversation, credit for the work they do. At least, and personal dealing every morning officials and explorers hardly ever give with visitors at our hall, individually them their just dues, altho they often or in groups. (2) Four or five after- praise the Catholic missions_ It is true noons every week are spent in visiting the surrounding villages, and the popu- that the Catholic missions, in most lation scattered in the oasis_ The more places, have nice buildings and a large distant places I reach on my bicycle. school, and these outside appearances Sometimes I have a group of from ten give rise to glowing reports. The exto twenty or more men and lads (Arabs) plorers remain only a few days at a to hear the Gospel. (3) Twice a week station, and have not time to find out a service in Arabic is held in our hall, the inside workings of the different consisting of singing, prayer, reading missions, nor the treatment which the of the Bible, and preaching. These children receive. The whip of hippo meetings are attended by both Jews hide which is the means of persuasion and Arabs; at some the numbers have in the Catholic missions and is frequentbeen very encoural,>ing, and the atten- ly used on the natives disappears when tion and behavior of the audience ex- vi~itors are present. More than half of cellent. the children hardly learn to read, but have to work hard on the farm. The The evident sign of God's presence brighter ones are exhibited in the schooland blessing with us have been accom- room to the passin~ stranger. The panied by strong opposition from the natives are not slow In finding this out, authorities against our work. In November last we were forbidden to and the Catholics can not &,et freeborn sell or to give away any Scriptures or native children in their neIghborhood. Tracts either inside our own hall or So they carryon a slave trade with the elsewhere, and for continuing to do so, interior. The slave children are comwe were summoned and prosecuted pelled to stay in the mISSIOn until of both in January and February, and age, and in most cases even longer. fined sums varying from one to three These things can not be learned during dollars. We have committed the mat- a short visit, and since the hospitality ter to God in prayer, trusting that these of the Catholic missions and the quality things may turn out rather to the fur- of their wines are famous all along the therance of the Gospel. coast, explorers and others sound the praises of these establishments. A lady, recently returned from West- "Explorers carrr black girls with ern Africa, writes concerning the life them into the interIOr and bring them back with them, if convenient. I know of European settlers there: whereof I speak and can confirm it at any time. Civilized nations would "Nearly all the traders, officials, and have stricter laws if they only knew, explorers rule the natives with a rod of but it seems as if they did not want to iron and commit the greatest cruelties, know, about the true state of affairs, especially upon the girls and women. and if the real facts reach the ears of It is no wonder that death often cuts them off in one of their sprees, and European Governments they are quickaltho this happens often, it has no effect ly husht up, and the public at large upon those who remain. They are a knows nothing about them. The only little subdued until the funeral is over, remedy for these outrages seems to be but even when returning from the for white men to take their wives with grave they joke about their dead friend them, and through the influence of educated women a different atmosphere will be found in African society."
GENERA.L MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLI(i:ENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D., OBERLIN, omo.
Extracts and Translations From Foreign apt to be divinatory, not reasoned. Periodicals. 'l'herefore it fiashes out first here, then there. Like themselves, it is genial, BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, but not stable. First they are national- MASS. ists, then idealists, always inclining, JAPAN. however, to materialism, not coarse, but decided. They do not worship Mam- -Pastor Karl Munzinger, has a pro· mon, they rather despise him. Fame, foundly instructive article in the Zeit- lligh position, are their idols. The 8d~riltfilr MissWnskunde (xii. J ahrgang, world of invisible truth and good has Heft 2), on the intellectual and spirit- scarcely any meaning to them; even uallife of the Japanese. It ought to Christianity is viewed by them largely be studied by every Japanese mission- as a mere refined substitute for Con- ary. fucianism, a simple support to social Theauthor remarks that accommoda- and national life. The author says he tion to the inner life of a people is has been repeatedly told by Christians, much more important for missionaries of whose perfect orthodoxy he had than accommodation to their ways of never doubted, that they did not and living. The latter, in Japan, is not could not believe in immortality, and expected. and would not be well re- moreover saw no use for it. They ceived. But it is of the utmost import- could be' good parents and citizens ance that the missionary should learn, without it, and they seemed to have no for it is only by slow experience that further use for it. That they were he can come to know, the inner temper citizens of eternity as well as of Japan of a people, and their fundamental way seemed to them unintelligible and of thinking. Are they idealistic or ineredible.
materialistic, religious or merely ethi- Nor do they regard themselves as cal, patriotic or merely domestic, in- citizens of mankind. Japan is the be- dividualistic or gregarious, patient or ginning and end of things to them. It fiighty and impulsive. A very differ- is what Athens or Sparta was to an ent way of dealing is requisite accord- ancient Athenian or Lacedremonian.
ing as these questions are differently Whatever aggrandizes it is good, from answered. an aggressive war to an assassinated The fundamental intellectual trait of statesman. Macchiavelli's maxims have the Japanese character, says Herr become flesh and blood in Japan. They Munzinger, is impatience of thorough do not even say, like our heathenish research. They want results, they statesmen in the Mexican war. .. Our want to be spared processes. They are country right or wrong." Their coun- extraordinarily quick and keen in the try can not be wrong. Christianity it- apprehension and application of knowl- self gives way too much to this pro- edge, especially technical and physical pensity. Romanism is antinational.
knowledge. They have done wonders Protestantism is national, but Chris- in this. Nowhere are processes and tianity, in no form, has a right to be- methods, from the working of the come absorbed in politics. Its first steam engine to that of the State, more WOl'k is Personal Regeneration; its sec~ skillfully appropriated. But a deep. ond, Universal Brotherhood. So far intellectual assimilation of knowledge, as nationalism will not minister to hu- step by step, genetically, is something manity, the Gospel must be against it. '
they do not l!'ve. Their knowledge is Much of the late brilliant patriotism of
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Japanese Christians has been much generacy by confining marriage within more Japanese than Christian. narrow circles.
Should Christianity, by a sudden 5. It has been a source of conserva- lurch, become the national religion tism in everything.
of Japan, Herr Munzinger thinks it 6. It has supprest the development would fare with it as with Buddhism. of individuality and independence of Japanese Buddhism, he says, is not the character.
true Buddhism at all. Its metaphysics 7. It has helpt in developillg other and mysticism have almost disappeared. injurious customs, such as early mar- Its atheism has become idolatry. Its riage, the charging of heavy matri- nirvana has become a sensuous heaven monial fees, etc.
and hell. A suddenly adopted Japanese 8. It has successfully restrained the Christianity, the author says, would growth and development of national simply be the Gospel dechristianized. worth; whilst allowing opportunity of Happily this danger seems past. A mental and spiritual culture only to a "holy seed," of elect souls, spiritual, limited number of privileged people, it steadfast, patriotic, indeed, but refus- has denied those opportunities to the ing to let the Church, like Shintoism, majo~ity of the lower classes, conse- become the mere handmaid of tile quently it has made the country neg- Mikado. and owning fellowship 'only atively a loser.
with those who are striving after that 9. It has made the country fit for .. true fount of life, our native land on foreign slavery by previously .enslaving high," would slowly but steadily re- the people by the most abject" spiritual generate Japan. All other successes tyranny."-O. M. Intelligencer.
are illusive.
The Japanese are so easily carried -Oscar Flax, in the Allgemeine Mia- about, that they have an instinctive 8wns Zet"tschrij't, gives a pleasing de- craving for organization. Nowhere is scription of the famous Indian lotus, a thoroughly constituted congregation which, from of old, the Hindus have more beneficent, and more indispens- so enthusiastically admired. that they able. The pastor must to them, far esteem it the embodiment of a goddess.
more, than to us, represent Christ. A " On a slender shaft, four or five feet thoroughly constituted national Church, long, sways gently on the surface of not afraid of a strong government, the pond a half-opened bud, whose would be a tower of strength against outer leaves yet cover over mysterious- the winds of misbelief and unbelief. ly the inner cup, whose dark rose color The author thinks, and with good rea- already becomes visible through the son, that the exaggerated American clefts of the leaves. The fully opened notions of democracy need to be very blossoms reveal the complete enchant- essentially tempered in Japan, if they ment of this wonderwork, which stands are not to work anarchically. unique in God's creation. The petals, INDIA. at the tip of a radiant rose color, grad_ ually paling below, and melting by the -" The following are the heads of a most delicate gradations into the purest lecture by Pundit Siva Nath Gastri, white, gird in the unveiled magnificence on ' Caste,' viz :- of the cup, in the midst of which, like 1. It has promoted disunion and an inverted obelisk, rises the velvety discord. flower gently touched with yellow 2. It has made honest manual labor and red, whose upper rounding is contemptible in this country. strewn with violet, rose-colored, white S. It has checked internal and exter- and gilded points as with stars. Around nal commerce. it wave in a circle the barriers of the t It has brought on physical de- stamens, which, white beneath, golden
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
yellow above, balance snow-white pol- -" The Hindu people is a poo~ 'peo- len-cases. Upborne by dark-green ple, and poorer, seemingly, it becomes sepals, and profused with the magic every day," says Herr Jensen. The charm of interblending colors, there it great reason, probably, is the enormous rests, the pearl of Hindustan, the moot and unmanageable increase of the popu- imposing, most delicate, fairy-like im- lation.
age of absolute beauty that our earth -Mr. Jensen says also: "The mis- has to show. What wonder that the sionary, having come to bring India Hindu honors it as a flower of heaven, Jesus and the Dible, is apt to give hirp.- that in his glowing phantasy he makes self very little concern about what he it to have grown out of the bodies of regards as all her trumpery literature. his divinities of love, lind when he Yet he is pl'obablynot without pride in seeks an image of utmost beauty and his acquaintance with the Greek and gloriousness, finds it in the Kamal, the Latin authors. And yet all this is dead Lotus! and gone, and has only historical worth, while our Indian Iliad and Odyssey "The Hindu Temples, there they still live upon the tongue of every rise before our view, the mighty Hindu child and every Hindu woman. colossal fabrics, with their pillared The missionary often fails to underhalls and balconies, pyramid cones with stand that what culture he brings with their decorations of uncanny idols and him from home does not at all pass curcobolds, the little gloomy filthy 'tika- rent here, but should be regarded only nas,' in the midst of the city throngs, as increasing his facility of appropriatthe mysterious shrines in the midst of ing the Indian culture. The ultimate the pathless wilderness, bathed in the truth may well be. that the Hindu depurple of the setting sun, the beautiful spises us, because we both openly and and noble Sikh temples, and the king tacitly have made it so thoroughly eviamong them, the golden temple in dent, that we despise him. What does Armitszar, the sight of which trans- it signify to ft. common man what we ports us into 'The Thousand and may have learnt in Europe? All he One Nights: Yes, interesting and ro- inquires about is, whether we know mantic are they to him who only knows anything about India, whether he can the outside, but devilish and accursed feel, in any measure, that we would to him who has gained a deeper view. gladly adapt ourselves to him, whether Jesus must conquer. In Bombay, be- we are willing to become Hindus to tween two temples you see a handsome save the Hindus, or whether we think house, inscribed 'Wesleyan Chapel. ' it enough for this that we are Euro- It is not yet true that wherever Satan peans and believers." builds a temple, the Christians build a church alongside, but we may say that the Standard of the Cross now rises -The Damk MiBBions Blad, for everywhere, and that Christianity b,- March, 1897, reports some statements of gina to be a power in India." the president of the Indian Natio~al Congress at its last meeting, which sug- -We notice that Herman Jensen, in gest the question whether England is the Danak MiBswns Blad, gives the pro- governing India in the interest of India, portion of the casteless to the Hindus, or in the interest of the younger sons of the various castes, as being, in South of the English gentry. For instance: India about one to six. In North In- .. Poverty ,is increasing, and a third dia, he remarks, the proportion is much part of our husbandmen are in debt; less. So long, therefore, as missions the land is pregnant with wealth, and work chiefly among the casteless, they every seventh' man has to fight with can not be said to be taking hold of the famine.
Indian people. .. The government, in view of the
ENGLISH NOTES
depreciation of silver, advances the pay long been in weak and failing health, of the high-paid English officers, but was called home on December 6. The not of the poorly. paid native non-com- bishop, in a long, touching letter of her missioned officers, although the prices last few days on earth, writes: 'She of provisions are rising daily-this was taken to church the Sunday before makes bad blood. in Mr. Hogan's strong arms, when it was noticed that she lookt much .. The larger the foreign element is, changcd. In the afternoon of that day which, of course, must have larger pay she was taken into the chapel, and she to be able to serve in a foreign land, took hcr women's class as usual. . . . the deeper and wider does this dig the For a long time she has been unable to channel through which wealth and stand alone or walk, but she never re- prosperity flow out of the land. mitted any duty, or missed pnblic wor- ship. Four races at the same moment "I can not refrain from mentioning held her in their hands and mingled the lack of justice which our tribunals their tears as she blest them all. Beoften show, as between Englishmen sides all the mission party kneeling and natives, where Englishmen are de- around, the room, a very large and airy fendants and natives the plaintiffs. one, was covered with silently-praying Such partial judgments awaken discon- crowds of Indians. For the three days tent among the masses, and weaken and nights when she lay a-dying, often confldence in the government. nearly choked, the prayer-meeting in the chapel adjoininu; ~ur house never .. The crushing poverty under which once flagged. It was always full, and our land sighs, and which nothing is the overflow in other rooms. Every done to mitigate, is the mother of many ten minutes messengers past from the public aberrations from morality; for a bedside to the supplicating crowds, repeople which gro~ns under the heavy porting her actual condition. They yoke of want, and for whom existence had changed their pctition when they is a suffering, has no interest in main- saw that it was God's will to take her, taining morality." and prayed that she might have a peaceful, painless end, and that I might MISCELLANEOUS. be upheld by the everlasting arms. Itfany souls found the light during the The O. M. Intelligencer, referring to death-struggle. In her death she, by the cordial letter written by Archbishop her beautiful and tender work, and Wake, Jan. 1, 1719, to the missionaries patient endurance of agony at times of Denmark (themselves Germans), through choking, drew more souls to Ziegenbalg, and Grundler, remarks that Jesus than ever. It was victory on while then the primate, tho most victory, triumph on triumph. Quite cordial in his recognition of these two hundred souls shrored in the blessbrethren's labors, does not seem to ing.'''-Ohild1·en's World. have a thought of any similar responsibility of the Church of England. English Notes. Archbishop Temple and Bishop Browne, in similar letters or speeches, BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M. A. "address themselves to the home clergy, and seek with all earnestness to T1U! Ohurch Mi88ionary Soczety.-The arouse in them a realization of their Rev. C. H. Gill writes with reference own duty in the matter." to the Indian famine: Since my arrival home from Jabalpur, I have Little Denmark has since been over- frequently been askt, "How long will past, perhaps even relatively, by the the famine last?" With regard to those mighty England, yet she remains, districts where it is acute, one may among Protestant nations, one of the pioneers in missions.
"The wife of Bishop Ridley, of the British Columbia Mission, who has
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
!lIl.fely assert that the famine mU8t CQn- Eaatern Equatorial ..Vrica.-The Rev.
tinue till next &ptember 0'1' October, F. Rowling, of Busoga, has just sent because there can not be any harvest home a copy of the Gospel of St.
tm then. The success of the harvest Matthew, printed in the mission in the depends on many conditions, but if language of the people. He is hoping these be fulfilled, and the famine in its soon to start the Gospel of St. Luke, acuteness be ended, it will even then and by degrees the whole of the New take years to wipe out the disastrous Testament will be in the common traces, and set things right again. The tongue of the people of Busoga.
fund raised at the Mansion House is Presbyterian Ohurch of England.- being used to supplement efforts made Conferences for studying the Word and by the government in trying to cope instructing native teachers, are being with the misery caused by lack of food. organized at Siong si, a large fishing A large number of orphans and waifs village at the mouth of the Chinchew are left on the missionaries' hands who River. Mr. Campbell Brown superinwill require continual provision and tends these gatherings, and the occamaintenance until they are grown up, sions are employed both for the systemand it is for this that funds are urgently atic study of Scripture and evangelistic needed. Surely the maintenance of work in the district. famine-orphans, rescued by Christian missionaries from certain starvation, Medical Mi8sions in Formosa and and brought up and trained in the China are prospering. Dr. Maxwell nurture and admonition of the Lord is writes hopefully concerning them, tella most fit and appropriate object for ing of many instances where closed Famine Relief Funds to be expended doors have been opened to the medical on, and one on which our Savior will missionary, which would have resmile. mained closed but for the healing art Hang-OllOw Medical Mi,sion.-The practised. work done during the past year in this He concludes his letter to the Monthquarter has been fully maintained, advance being made as far as circum- ly Messenger by saying, "The pioneerstances would permit in every direction. ing power of the medical mission is The work is now very great and daily unquestionable. Its abiding power for on the increase, the double nature of strengthening, extending and consolithe mission providing for the whole dating a Christian mission is also a being of man. Many times opportunies great fact. The medical missions of the occur for speaking the Word while Presbyterian Church of England have ministering to the physical needs, both done much to bring to the front and to in the dispensary and hospital of this commend to the whole Church of Christ center of work. the manifold value and power of this agency."
The native missionaries in Western -Baptist Missionary &czetll.-The Africa are being much blest in their Rev. T. Richards, of Shanghai, in work. In the station of W orawora, speaking of mission work in China, on the Gold Coast, the king has been states that what is most needed by won to Christianity by native agency, Christian missions in order that they and consults and largely acts on the may prosecute their work most effectu- advice given by the native Christian ally is;- teacher. Several of the distinctly 1. That the Christian Church should heathen observances are no longer re- send out the best men of her colleges as garded in this district, and Christianity missionaries.
,in its ,essence of love is being felt and 2. That the natives may be helpt to realized. provide suitable institutions for training the Chinese themselves to become London, E. C. Two Harley students missionaries. are preparing to proceed to :Madeira, Mr. A. Robson and Mr. C. Pike. Miss He fnrther states, that the cbief dif- Meyer has also been accepted for the ficulty in working In China is the fact same :tield and will accompany the that foreigners have no right to settle mission party. In the int(lrior of the country, and are only legally allowed to travel. No THE KINGDOM. missionary can settle down in a district without :tirst having gained the good -The editor of this department of will of the people 01 that district. the MISSIONARY REvmw will esteem it a special favor if secretaries of mission- Mr. Richards is one of the oldest ary societies, whether in this or other missionaries of the Baptist Society, hav- lands, will send him copies of their aning workt in China during twenty- nual reports, and any items of intelliseven years. He purposes returning gence from the world-field. very shortly to his much-loved sphere of labor in Shanghai. -Not a little embarrassment and perplexity come to the editorial mind -Gospel Mission to Madeira and and heart in connection with obituary Porto Santo.-Among the modern sur- notices. Not a month passes without prises in missions, is the attempt now on intelligence arriving of the departure foot to evangelize the Madeira Islands. from life of a half dozen or half score For almost two years Mr. and Mrs. of Christian toilers in far off lands, Jefferd llave been spreading the glad whose names are precious. It would tidings in those parts, and have found be easy to cover the entire space at the work, notwithstanding the malig- command with the story of their lives, nity of the priests, delightful. Mr. and an estimate of their character. But Jefferd has told his story in vivid such a task can very easily be overdone. words. Speaking of the people he Whoever considers the matter, and resays: "Many of them are tired of Rome calls the fact that there are some 15,000 and her deceptions, and to them the men and women at work abroad, can words of a free salvation that can be easily see that only a very few of the known and enjoyed here on earth, are most eminent names can be mentioned especially welcome. You can tell them when the Master gives them their final a Bible story without t1leir knowing discharge. whence it comes. How astonisht they are to find that it comes from a book – How painful almost to the shocking which is forbidden them; and when is the contrast between the tidings they become further acquainted with which come from the" foreign" dethe Gospel, and know by experience partments of our societies, and those how exactly it suits their needs as sin- from the "home" department. In ners, great Is their indignation as they well·nigh every case, while the former realize they have been robbed of the tells continually of deep interest, very words of life by those who pose as growth through conversions and need of the representatives of God." Mr. Jef- enlargement, in the latter the main ferd has reluctantly left Madeira for a mention relates to lack of funds and season, that he might get the help the like. That is, tho among the needed for the thorough evangelization heathen the outlook is most cheering, of the island. A council has been where Christians abound the prospect formed in London to assist him, and is gloomy. 0 Lord, how long! among others who will gladly receive gifts for the work is W. Roger Jones, -There is no evidence of a crisis in Esq., Secretary of the )fissionary Pence missions. All movements, religious as Association, 186 Aldersgate Street, well as commercial and industrial, have their periods of enthusiastic ad ranee and of conservative delay. The cause Indian printers.- Woman's Work for of missions, not merely foreign but Woman. home, is at present in the latter, but It will not remain there. It is as firmly -The Rev. R. W. Gurd, of Kitkatla, seated as ever in the conscience of the British Columbia, writes to the Church Church, and it has as strong a hold as Missionary Society: "No annual letter ever upon its affection and dcvotion. would be complete without a reference There is need for work, but none for to Chief Sheuksh. The change in him discouragement.-~he Independent. is really remarkable. His very looks and features indicate what he is-a -The trained statistician, F. W. whole-hearted believer in the Lord Hewcs, contributes to the Outlook a Jesus Christ. Those who knew him in valuable article showing what 14 of the days of darkness-Skeuksh the the leading denominations have been autocrat, the severe, the proud, the lion contributing to missionary work by ten- -ean not but extol the power which year periods, beginning as far back as has transformed him into Skeuksh the 1815 The object of his study was to gentle, the true, the lamb. find out whether the present generation is giving as liberally to missions as our -As a beautiful standing illustration fathers did. The conclusion is estab- of Christian unity, Benito Station, lisht by outline maps that the decade Africa, bears off the palm. Three wo- 1885-1894 greatly surpast its predeces- men missionaries and 1 man, a teacher, sors-not only in the absolute amount constitute its membership. Among given, but relatively as compared with them there is 1 American, 1 Germanthe incr.ease both of property and of Swiss, 1 Norwegian, 1 French-Swiss; 1 population. His maps show a steadily is Baptist, 1 Lutheran, 2 are Reformed. increasing growth of contributions, All are one in heart and aim and cheer- ($40,000 in 1820, $860,000 in 1840, $2,- ful adoption of the Presbyterian forms. 481,000 in 1860, $7,780,000 in 1880, to No wonder their school-children from $13,887,000 in 18ll0); with a decline, antagonistic tribes, the KomM, Mabeya. sharp, tho temporary, in 1857, during and Fang, are learning to dwell together the Civil War, the panic 1872-9, and the in unity.- Woman'8 Workfor Woman. current one 1893-7. The per capita contributions have also increast from $0.04 -Thirty-two years from the landing to $0.22 for each man, woman and child. of the first missionaries in the Sandwich .And in like manner, the giving of the Islands 15,000 were found in the schools churches has grown much faster than and 21,000 in the churches, a foreign their wealth. missionary society was contributing more than $6,100 annually, a limited -When Rev. John Newton went to monarchy had been set up, and a legis- India in 1835, he took out an old-fash- lature with two houses. ioned wooden printing-press. It was the foundation of a publishing estab- -The ignorance of missions which lishment which, in the course of fifty prevails in seafaring circles generally is years, issued 267,000,000 pages in 10 amusingly illustrated in the following different languages. The earliest relig- anecdote: The sailing ship, &ottish ious literature in Punjabi was the fruit Dale, was wreckt on the Batoa, or Turof Dr. Newton's labors, and of Rev. L. tle Island. The crew took refuge in Janvier, afterwards associated in the the boats, but saw, to their terror, that same. The works produced included a native boat with a brown matting sail the New Testament, a Punjabi gram- was bearing towards them. They rowed mar, dictionary, and numerous tracts. with all their might to escape these That press at Lodiana. as well as another supposed bloodthirsty savages, and in Allahabad, were long ago rented to thought themselves lucky when they distanced them. After a course of 240 miles they reacht the haven of Suva, -The gifts to foreign missions during where there is a British governor; but the past year in the Presbyterian they were astonisht to find that when Church, North, which .came from the they related their narrow escape from churches, were $270,497. The Women's the cannibal Batoans, it was received Boards and societies contributed $299,· with bursts of laughter! and they were 115. The women have beaten the men told that they would have been safer in by nearly $30.000. Batoa than in any civilized European State. The Batoans are Christians, and -The managers of Woman's Work have saved many shipwreckt crews and for Woman (Presbyterian) have made given them food and lodging free, and that magazine such a splendid success, have preserved stranded goods and re- that out of a surplus in its treasury they stored them faithfully to their owners. have been able recently to contribute to -Allgemeine ~l[i8siom Zeit8chrijt. the Assembly's Board more than $3,000, of which $578 was to pay for the type WOMAN'S WORK. for the Bangkok Press, and $2,500 was to reduce the deficit in the year's re- -The W. C. T. U's. of Cape Colony ceipts. have been very much in evidence lately. Port Elizabeth, as usual, supplied tem· -Mrs. George S. Hays, formerly a perance refreshments at the agricultural missionary in China, says: "The religshow, and 801d thousands of cups of tea ious feelings of Chinese women vary and coffee, taking £l1i8. From all over greatly in different localities. In some the country reports came in of other places they are distinctly religious, visit· Unions in the smaller up-country towns ing temples, worshiping daily at a having taken up the same work, while private shrine in the home, fasting. the number of permanent ,booths on praying. and endeavoring by good sports' grounds is increasing. The works to lay up for themselves a regard Unions of Kimberley arranged and in the future world. In the eastern part carried through an industrial exhibition of Shantung province this is not the on a large scale in April. The exhibi- case. The women, as a rule, never visit tion lasted two days, and was an all· the temples, and worship no private round success. £100 profit was made, gods. They are, of course, filled with part of which was devoted towards many vague and dark superstitions. erecting an Inebriate Home in Cape Hard-workt,improperly nourisht, easily Town. Mrs. Fehr, of Britain, is tour· distracted, and excited by the little de· ing the Colony and holding meetings, tails of daily life, they seem to give little and Miss Moody, the Colonial organizer, if any thought to their future after has given several successful lectures in death." various towns. YOUNG PEOPLE. -Over $8,000 has been sent in to the -Foreign Mail, representing the In- W. C. T. U. national treasurer for the ternational Committee of the Young Armenian relief, and it is still coming Men's Christian Association, for June; in, $26.54 having been received from has most impressive articles upon "An Tasmania. The India relief fund has Appeal for Reinforcements in Japan," also been increast by W. C. T. U. sub- " The Present Situation in China," and scriptions. Through the influence of " The Indian Conferences of 1807." No the national officers the national India phase of missions just now is more relief fund committee has voted and worthy of serious attention than this sent $500 to Pundita Ramabai, to be which relates so largely to students. used at her discretion for the relief of TIM Student Volunteer for the same the women in her school, and those month finishes volume 5 of the maga· under her personal direction. zine, which chronicles the progress of that thrilling movement. ~The great conventions of the cur- UNITED STATES. rent year indicate that the young people are still "marching on " in their united -Alaska cost $7,000,000 when pureffort to do great things for Christ and chased 30 years ago. Its gold mines the Church. First come the Christian are expected to yield $10,000,000 the Endeavorers, 24,000 strong to San Fran- present year, and the values of furs and cisco in July, one-half from outside of of fish are expected to bring up the California, and representing 3,000,000. yield to twice the original cost of that A few days later Toronto was fairly country. A heterogeneous American ftooded by theEpworth Leaguers stand- popUlation are fiocking up to that land ing for half as many more, and the of varied climate and wealth, increas- Baptist Young People's Union gathered ing its importance as a mission field. In Chattanooga. -"You must not be discouraged," -In opening his address at San said a Kiowa, "if we Indians come Francisco, Rev. F. E. Clark said: slow. It is a long road for us to leave "During the past year I have been our old Indian ways, and we have to journeying in many lands, among peo- think a great deal; but I am sure that ple who speak many tongues. One all the Indian people will come into the factor I have found constant in all these Jesus road, for I see that these white limds. I have found Christian En- Jesus people are here to help up, and I deavor principles everywhere the same. thank them for coming. Tell the Chris- The same pledb"ll, the same consecration tian people to pray for us. Weare meeting, the same general lines of ignorant, but we want to be led aright effort for the Master. Societies that are that we may come into the Jesus road." as widely separated in miles and manners as the Bengalis who live in the -It is a tribute well deserved, but swamps of the Ganges, and the Kaffirs one not always rendered, when the of the up-lands of Africa, from the Ohristian Advocate says: "If we were Endeavorers of the Golden Gate, called on to specify the institution now have subscribed to the same cov- at work in the United States that has enant pledge, and better still, are keep- done the most for the promotion of ing it." Christianity in the world, we should without hesitation name the American -A "missionary roll of honor" was Bible Society; and were we personunrolled in one of the meetings. Upon ally reduced by some insurmountable it were the names of 10,468 Christian force to contributing to but two in- Endeavor Societies that have given stitutions designed to benefit mankind nearly $200,000 to missions through and to promote Protestant Christianity. their own denominational missionary the American Bible Society would be boards. And these same societies have one of them." given an equal amount for other benevolences. The largest gift to missions -The Baptists, South, are doing misreported by anyone society is the sion work in Africa, China, Japan, $1437 of the Clarendon Street Society Brazil, Italy and Mexico, have 80 misof Boston. The Calvary Presbyterian sionaries in the field with 110 native Society of Buffalo is second, with assistants, 75 churches with 4,324 mem- $1017; and a Chinese society in San bers, and baptized 660 last year. Francisco, in he Chinese Congregational mission, stands third, having -The American Board has medical given nearly $700 to its own denomi- missionaries in almost all of its 20 mis- 'national missionary board, and is sup- sions, and a total of 39, of whom 11 are porting 6 missionaries in the field. women and 15 are ordained. It also has 10 hospitals and 30 dispensaries.
-The Presbyterians, South, rejoice that 6 individuals and nearly 50 churches are each supporting mission- Scripture were circulated by the society aries of their own, and are able to say: in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Nothing "It means a great deal that one-third could be done in Austria.N ow the of our foreign missionaries are support- society has an agent in each of these ed either as • substitutes for service' or countries, and they reported an aggreas the foreign counterpart to the home gate issue in 1895 of nearly 400,000 pastor." copies, chiefiy through the labors of 102 colporteurs. -F. W. Hewes, mentioned on an earlier page, finds that the rate of giving, -Naturally at the present time in according to the financial ability of Great Britain reference is constantly each, in 14 denominations l'anges from made to Queen Victoria's reign of sixty $6.87 among the Congregationalists years, and the Church Missionary Soto $1.04 among the Disciples (" Camp- ciety recalls the fact that when she bellites"). The 4 which follow the came to the throne there were in conbest are these: United Presbyterians, nection with the society only 3 natives $5.98; Presbyterians, North, $4.84; ordained to the ministry, while during Reformed (Dutch), $3.44; and Presby- these sixty years 540 have been ordained. terians, South, $2.67. Ascending from Ten years ago, at the time of the the lowest we have, Cumberland Pres- Queen's Jubilee, the society had sent byterians, $1.33; Free Baptists, $1.35; Ollt 900 missionaries, while during this Reformed (German), $1.70; aild Epis- last decade nearly 700 have been added copalians, $1.72 to the roll. It was in that year, 1887, that the committee definitely adopted EUROPE. the policy of refusing no candidate on financial grounds. The past year has Great Britain.-The British and witnessed the lurgest number of adult Foreign Bible Society, at its recent an- baptisms on its records, namely, 7,700, nual meeting, reported its receipts as a fact accounted for by the great innearly $11,000 in excess of those of the gathering in Uganda, where 3,751 present year, amounting to $642,000. adults have been admitted to the The total issues of the society since its church. organization in 1804 amount to 151,- 142,802. The committee report that The Continent.-Some weeks since they have "thus far taken up with a party of French Protestants left Marglad alacrity every item of translation seilles for Madagascar, consisting of 3 and revision work that has been brought _pastors, 2 professors, 3 women, and 6 before them with sufficient evidence as children. Four Malagasy students were to its excellence and missionary useful- present, and .. one of them exprest their nes8." gratitude and confidence in a French speech which won the sympathies of -When Queen Victoria began her the whole audience. No one would reign, the British and Foreign Bible have believed that his stay in France Society had only 9 agents working out- had lasted only four months, so easily side England and Wales. Two of does he manage the language." these were located in the West Indies and 1 in Canada. The others were in -The mission schools in the German Frnnce, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, colonies have become a great power. Greece, and China. There are now 20 At the beginning of last year there were foreign agents, besides 6 secretaries of in these colonies 279 schools, all but 53 auxiliaries in India and South Africa, of them sllstained by the gifts of evanwhose salaries are provided by the gelical German Christians. Since 1884 parent society. In the year before the more than $1,125,000 have been spent Queen's accession it was with difficulty upon them. They are of four grades, that probably less than 3,000 copies 0 the lowest, in which reading and writing with religion are taught, elementary -The British Weekly tells of a schools, intermediate schools, in which " quiet but remarkable work in France in addition to what are termed common in the provision of an asylum for train- branches at least one European lan- ing priests who are leaving the Roman guage is taught, and high schools, or Catholic Church." Of 40 who applied the seminary, in which natives are last year, after very careful investiga- trained for the best work of which thcy tion, 12 were accepted. Some are pre- are capable These schools have been paring to be teachers, and a few arc of untold benefit to the colonies. Inas- already at work as Protestant ministers much as the government has as yet and missionaries. In most cases the done nothing for education in them, it change was "attributed simply to the is quite natural that it should now be study of the New Testament." There askt to make Bome provision for their is a clearer, freer religious atmosphere support in the way of grants, as Eng- than 25 years ago.
land Holland, and even Spain have ASIA. done for schools in their colonies. The policy of the German government has Islam.-We have often been forced been to follow the settlers rather than to observe that the whole Mohamme- to lead and to do no morc for them than dan world is connected by' secret is necessary for their protection. But threads, and that a defeat which Islam the managers of missionary work think suffers in any part of the world, or a the time has come when government triumph which she can claim either may reasonably be askt to share in the really or :fictitiously, has its retIex expense of educating children born in action even on the work of our misthe colonies.-Oongregationatist. sionaries in the Mohammedan part of Sumatra. Thus the recent massacres -The McAll Mission was begun a in Armenia have filled the Mohamme quarter of a century ago, and now it dans in this part of Sumatra with pride. can be written: In 25 years the one They say to the Christians, "You see room in a shop at Belleville has been now that the Rajah of Stamboul" multiplied until there are 35 places of (that is, the Sultan of Constantinople) meeting in Paris and its environs, and "is the one whom none can withstand; nearly 50 scattered throughout France and he will soon come and set Sumatra and in Corsica. From the :first tiny free, and then we shall do with the plant have brancht out Sunday and Christians as the Turks did with the Thursday schools, Young People's Armenians." And it is a fact that a Meetings, Christian Endeavor Societies, considerable number of Mohammedans Mission Churches, the Mission Boat, who were receiving instruction as can- Mothers' Meetings, dispensaries, tem- didates for baptism have gone back perance work, reading-rooms, work for since the receipt of this news.-Bericl,t soldiers, house·to-house visiting, a der Rheinischen MisaionsQf!8el18chajt.
monthly paper, that has proved a sec· -Considerable surprise will be felt ond "Bon Messager," with its glad at the news that a steamer has been motto, "The Gospel for All," a hymn- placed on the Jordan, to run between book, from which children learn to the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee.
sing wor9s that, long afterwards, may It is said that the voyage can be ac- cheer their dying hours, a book that has complisht in 5 hours. The current come to Ameriea, and is used by the idea has been that the river is too rapid French from Canada to New Orleans, to allow of such a feat. But if it is and has been welcomed by French true that the two seas arc now con- soldiers in Madagascar. There seems nected in this way, there should be an no end to the possible shoots from the added attraction to traveling in the seed sown a generation ago. Holy Land. Another thing is mentioned in this connection-that 4 Jew- open door and immense need for It ish families have settled in Jericho, greater work.
and have rented for 5 years from the -India.-Sixty years ago the govern- Sultan a large area of fruitful land for ment of India forbade its officials to cultivation, the land to be irrigated employ native Christians in the public from the Jordan.–Jiree OhurchMonthly. service. Brahmins and :M:oslems were preferred. This year a Bengal Chris- -Miss Mattie R. Wylie, of the mis- tian, a pupil of Dr. Duff, was appointed sion of the Reformed Presbyterian chief justice at Raepore, in Central Church, at Latakia, Syria, writes: India. "Perhaps an outsider would say, there is no longer work among the Ansairyeh.
Last spring the Government ordered -The Bombay Guardian says: "We the parents of those who had children could mention several Christian women in the boarding-sehool here to take who are receiving starving widows or them out, and threatened them with orphans by the dozen on their ,own re- imprisonment if they refused. But we sponsibility, without any guaranteed do not know how much seed is being means for their support, but in faith in sown in a quiet way. There is 1 evan- Him whose book says, "Pure religion gelist, and iu villages where there are and undefiled before God and the Protestants they meet on Sabbath for Father is this, To visit the fatherless prayer and praise and the study of the – and widows in tlleir affiietion, and to Word, and the members make an effort keep himself unspotted from the to attend communion scrvices at Latakia. world.' One of these heroines is clear- The schools arc full. There are preach- ing her drawing-room to increase her ing services twice every Sabbath, and a accommodation for those who are Sabbath-school with an cnrollment of 'ready to perish,' and is selling its 380. There is a weekly prayer-meeting furniture to help support them."
and also a mothers' meetiug. A Bible -Rev. J. E. Robinson, of Calcutta, reader visits from house to house. There is well assured that grell,t accessions to are 2 Christian Endeavor societies, 1 the Christian population will be made for the young men of the church and as a result of the famine, basing his extlle other for the schoolgirls. Dr. pectation upon experience. He says: Balph has also commenced hospital Out of the great distress of 1857 in work on a small scale. We also hold Northern India, and in Southern India clinics 3 times a weck, in which there in 1877, a host of valuable mission is an average attendance of over 60. A agents were gathered in process of Bible woman is employed to read and time. One large, well-establisht mission talk to the patients, both in the clinics has drawn the greater portion of its helpand in the hospital, and to visit the ers, teachers and preachers, from the sick in their homes." orphans gathered in during famine. Christian communities are formed -Mr. Robert E. Speer, of the Pres- byterian Board, writing to the Inde- more rapidly during famine times than pendent from Persia, speaks of 5 dis- under ordinary circumstances-in some tinct impressions he has received in instances formed where efforts, under that land: the general decadence of all ordinary circumstances, would prob- things from forces inherent in the ably prove unfruitful through a long Persian character and the religion of term of years. Indeed, there are Islam, the power of the ecclesiastics of strong missions in India to-day whose Islam; the influence and fanaticism of foundations were laid in the troublous the officials, the increase of religious times of famine, consisting largely of feeling against Christians, the power orphans and rescued victims. In this and hold of the missionaries and the connection nothing can be more instmctive than the experience of sundry missionaries, 192 laborers in all, 18,000 missions in South India after the Christians, and 3,400 pupils; the Herfamine of 1876-7. With much hesita- mannsburg mission among the Telugus, tion, and many misgivings, not less, I with 10 missionaries, 1,000 members, think, than 60,000 persons were received and an increasing number of baptisms; by five or six missions as a direct result the Leipsic Society's mission among of the famine-persons who, in all hu- the Tamil people at Old Tranquebar, man probability, would never other- with 27 missionaries, 76 other ministers wise have become Christians. After a and helpers, 353 teachers, 5,400 pupils, few years Bishop Caldwell publicly and 15,000 confirmed native Lutherans, stated that this famine element, which and branch missions to Tamils in Burhad been incorporated into his mission, mah and Ceylon; the Schleswig-Holdeveloped more satisfactorily than the stein or Brecklum Society'S mission, old "hand-picked" section. in northern Teluguland and J eypore, with 10 missionaries and not more than The Rev, J. Parson, of Jabalpore, 500 converts; the Basel Society's misfurnishes an apposite illustration of sions in Malabar and among the Canarthis point. He says: "We havc not ese, Marathis, and Kurgs, with 75 only taken compassion on orphans and missionalies, 152 native pastors and widows, but when strengthless, help- catechists, 265 teachers and 12,500 less men, in a few cases with their 'adherents; the Gossner mission among wives, occasionally with a surviving the Kols, with 23 ordained missionarmotherless child or two, came begging ies, 20 native pastors, and 40,000 conus to take compassion on them, I felt verts; and the Scandinavian Santhal that I could not say no and leave them mission in South Bengal and Assam, to perish. Between 30 and 40 such are with more than 10,000 converts. now with us. They came ignorant of Smaller missions are those of the Danthe way of salvation, but now rejoice ish Society among the Tamils, with 8 in God through Jesus Christ. Where missionaries and 1,000 adherents; the there were only a few preachers and Swedish Fatherland Institution's Misteachers less than ten months ago, we sion among the Ghonds in Central have now a rapidly increasing Christian India, and the Missouri Synod's mission community. They have utterly aban- in the Tamil country. In all there are doned idolatry, and so broken the bonds 170 European and American missionarof caste in pieces, that people from at ies, 50 native pastors, nearly 1,200 naleast 25 castes of Hinduism, from the tive teachers and catechists, and more Brahman and Rajput down to the than 100,000 confirmed church mem- Chamar and Basor, with J'rlohamme- bers and 7,000 children in the mission dans and Gonds and Kols, have all schools. become one in Christ Jesus. Caste questions give us no difficulty what- China.-A Chinese typewrit'er, with ever. And, in almost all cases, they 4,000 characters, has been designed by are living a simple, straightforward, Rev. Mr. Sheffield, a Presbyterian misupright life, growing week by week in sionary at Tung-Chow, and constmcted, the knowledge of Christ." at his order, by an American factory. The characters are cslTied on the edges -The Lutherans have 8 missions in of thirty wheels, each of which is a foot India: that of the General Council in diameter. Two keys must be struck among the Telugns at Rajahmundry, to make un impression, one to turn the with 6 married missionaries, 162 work- wheel, the other to bring down the leters in all, 4,500 Christians, and 1,000 ter or sign required upon the paper. children in the mission schools; that of the General Synod, also among the -Smoking seems almost universal Telugus, at Guntur, with 7 American with the Chinese. They smoke only a very small quantity at the time, but other •foreign devil' will be able to go they indulge so frequently that they by rail from the seashore to the gates of must consume ii considerable amount of the mysterious capital. Thi~ will add their poorly cured wecd. When work- about 90 miles to the 124 miles of the men are hired to build a house it is road from Tientsin to the Kaiping coal customary in fixing the amount of the mines, which now constitutes the railwages to stipulate the number of way system of China. The spell of smokes they are to be allowed per day. prejudice has been broken, and several For unless there is something to regulate other railway enterprises are now on the number of smokes, the work is apt foot. The chief of these, a great trunk to progress very slowly. It is quite liue from Peking southwesterly to Hancommon to see the workmen percht on kow on the coast, a distance of some their heels indulging in a "smoke so- 1,400 miles, has already been started, cial" during working hours.-" Hadji," with a small government subsidy, but in North and West. its rapid construction is not to be ex- pected. A short road from Shanghai -Although in theory the Buddhists, to Woosung is also in progress. If may Confucianists, and Taoists hold differ- be well, however, to anticipate many ent views with regard to the future, yet inquiries by assuring our readers that there is a general impression thnt the there is not at present, noris there likely next world will be very much the same to be for a long time to come, any deas this, that is to say, there will be mand for American railway men in magistrates, law courts, etc., etc. Every China." Chinaman knows that the man who can get to the magistrate first, by a judici- -Rev. James Carson, of Newchwang, ous use of dollars, can generally make reports the remarkable spread of evansure of winning his case. As in this gelical truth in the province in which world, so in the next it is important, he is laboring. Not long since a retherefore, that if a man wishes to injure spectable man from the market town of another he should get to the magistrate Tien-Chwaug-Tai came to Newchwang as soon as possible. Among English to ask that some one might be sent to people angry words lead to blows, and instruct a number of inquirers. The sometimes to murder. In China angry application was backt up, in a most words often lead to one of the men remarkable way, by the proposal to committing suicide, that he may go into pay all the traveling expenses of the the other world and lay a charge against person who should come. This man his enemy there. In the year 1872. was the proprietor of an inn. Later a when Mr. Elwin was staying on the second and special messenger arrived Island of Pootoo with a friend, they to say that a small house had been were called in to save the lives of two prepared and was to be at the disposal Buddhist priests who had taken opium. of the teacher, affording a place in These men had quarrelled, and one of which to meet inquirers. Mr. Carson them took poison in order to go into the says: "Such urgency and such an unother world to lay a charge against his precedented offer it has never been my enemy. When the enemy heard what lot to receive." A similar request came had been done, he took a larger dose in from the city of I:lhuing Yan. These order to get there first.-North Ohina are new cases. Daily News. Korea.-A notable event is the -"The Chinese Government," says arrival in this country of the heir appar- The Railway Age, "is slowly but surely ent of Korea, Prince Eui Wha, who, pushing forward the railway from by the wish of his royal father, comes Tientsin to Peking, and it is expected to remain some years in America and that in the near future the traveler or pursue his education under the special guardianship of Dr. Ellinwood, secre- chumens. In no other mission of that tary of the Presbyterian Board. The Board is the harvest so ripe for the Prince is only twenty years old. reaper_ -During the political excitement in -In Korea butchers have been hith- Korea, a company of Christian students, erto degraded and despised, forbidden chiefly from the country, started out to wear the ordinary costume-virtually one dny to do sight-seeing in the city; serfs; but the Korean Government, a but the appearance of such a body of few months ago, issued a proclamation countrymen moving in company ex- granting them the right to dress like cited suspicion among the military other people, and enjoining that they authorities, and the whole class were be treated everywhere 'Yith respect. An arrested and taken to the barracks_ As interesting evangelistic work is now a confirmation to their claim of being being carried on amongst these men, students, a Sunday-school lesson paper 30,000 in number. A Christian of their was produced by one, and served as the own guild is traveling through the basis of a practical talk about Christ to country accompanied by a colporteur the officer in charge. He soon dis- preaching to them, and distributing missed them all. the Bible and other Christian books. The expenses of the tour are being met -Dr. J. Hunter Wells, PyengYang, by Christian butchers. Korea, in the last year, cut off an arm in the dining-room, performed an AFRICA. operation for cataract of the eye in the bedroom, cut off a leg in the shed. made -From every side the locomotive is use of the kitchen for many minor making slow but sure advances upon operations, and had patients lying all the Dark Continent, and hastening the over the neighborhood in every avail- day of her redemption. England is laying able shed or room. Notwithstanding rails up the Nile, far northward from the lack of accommodations, he treated Cape Town, with two lines westward some 4,000 patients, contributing much from Beira and lIombasa on the East to the advancement of the growing Coast, the latter aiming for Lake Vicwork of that station. Friends Iiving in toria Nyanza; France is pushing Indiana have provided the funds, and a towards the interior from Algeria, Belnew dispensary and hospital on a small gium up past the cataracts of the Kongo, scale have just been completed.- aud Portugal slowly from Benguella in Ol.urch at Home and Abroad. Angola.
-Rev. J. S. Gale, of Gensan, speaks -Including what has heretofore been thus of the difficulty of translating the known as Bishop Taylor's Self-support- Bible into Korean: " 'I am the bread of ing Mission, the American ~Iethodists life,' would seem one of the easiest sen- labpr in 4 districts of Africa: (1) Liberia; tences to translate, but the Korean has (2) The Kongo; (3) Angola; (4) The no bread. ' I am the good shepherd East African Coast Mission. The and know my sheep,' seems simple lan- statistical summary of the work in guage, but there are no sheep in Korea, these districts is as follows: Stations, so it takes much thought. to discover 28; missionaries, 40; native teachers the best way to show the truth to minds and preachers, 2S; membership, 581; whose modes of reasoning and whose children in mission homes, 588; value associations are so entirely unlike our of property, $73,122. own." -Rev. John Howell writes thus of -The Presbyterian churches in traveling in the Kongo country: "So Korea received during the past year away we went, and next day found us some 200 into their membership. and on tramp. I was quite at home at this, have besides enrolled a thousand cate- but my wife, in the hammock, with a black man at either end, found thi'ngs rather strange. Very often she was Christianity is popular. No; but with some distancc in front of me, alone with deep, downright earnestness and child· her new col.ored friends. Once I caught like faith they desire to know and love her up. They were just fording a river the Lord. There is no. excitement. We with her, she being just a few inches are most careful in our examinations above the water; a slip and it would before receiving them into the church, have been a free bath. On the far side sometimes putting them off for months. the bank was at least six feet above the We have 1 station, 3 preaching places, water's edge. The porter at the foot of 9 missionaries on the field, 1 Sabbaththe hammock climbed up; the head- school, 1 church, with 126 communiend remaining down, you can imagine cants, and a day·school with 45 pupils. the position; she was standing on her Mr. Verner left two days ago to open a head, hanging on with all her might to new station at Wissman Falls. My the hammock, or she would have slid- magic lantern has been of great use to den head first into the water. At night me. u our beds were put in a rough shed, with our mosquito net over, to keep off -A remarkable revival of the Amer· ants, spiders, rats, and other abounding ican Board ofMission is now progressing live stock." at all the stations in NataL Such a work of grace as has never been wit- -Not a few will watch the career of nessed in the Colony is now going on, Heli Chatelain and some co·workers, leading to conviction of sin and converwho have just started for Afdca to sion to Christ, with every evidence that inaugurate the work of the Phil-African it is a work of the divine Spirit. The League. The object of this league is year 1897 will hereafter be as memorato bring relief to the large number of ble among the churches of Natal as is slaves in Central Africa and to endeavor the year 1857 among the churches of to break up the slave trade, especially America. among the Moslem tribes, by establishing a series of colonies. The section -It is gratifying to learn that in selected Is the high tableland between Bechuanaland, especially in the terri· BengueIls and Lake Nyassa. '1'he plan tory occupied by Chief Khama, the of work is to acquire fertile lands by distress caused by drought, locusts, and concession from European governments the rinderpest is somewhat relieved. and by purchase from the natives, the Aid has been forwarded from England, adoption and settlement in model Chris· chiefly through the agency of the Lontian villages of freed slaves and natives don Missionary Society. There was an to be educated in farming and handi- absolute dearth of grain, but food was crafts. The station work is to be di· supplied, and especially seed, so that vided into these main departments- now a harvest is being gathered which agricultural, industrial, educational and promises to save the district from further medical or charitable, each in charge of famine. a competent specialist. Mr. Chatelain has had wide experience in Africa, and ISLANDS OF THE SEA. is thoroughly acquainted with the situ· ation. -The French Protestant Church has received a terrible blow in the death of -lIr. Sheppard, a colored mission· two of her devoted and efficient pasary of the Presbyterian Church, South, teurs, M. Escande and 11. lIIinault, writes from Luebo, March 20: .. The cruelly massacred on the road from Gospel Is being wonderfully blest by Antananarivo to Fianarantsoa, the post the Holy Spirit. The people are seek· which the latter was about to occupy ing the Lord, not for what they may as missionary in the disturbed district receive at our hands, and not because of Betsileo. M. Escande had already been establisht in the island as pasteur and missionary for nearly a year. justice note the markt divisions which When, on PlIsteur Laugs's return to prevail among the Chinese. Those France from Madagascar, the French born at the Straits differ from the SocieHi des Missions appealed for some- Chinamen at home quite as much as one to take his place, M. Escande, the Americans do from the English, altho he had but just arrived from Sen- while the various tribes of Chinamen egal with his wife and children in order differ among themselves both in lang- to recruit their health, without hesita- uage and race·feeling quite as much tion offered himself for the difficult and and probably more, than do the differ- responsible po~t.-London Ohristian. ent nationalities of Europe. I was told by one who lookt over the assembly -Police-Inspector Fitzgerald, for- and made a count of the different lang- merly an enemy of missions, reports uages and races represented there, that thus to his superior upon the work of no less than 18 nationalities could be the Herrnhut missionaries at liapoon found in a company of people which on the east coast of the Gulf of Car- perhaps did not much exceed 200 pentaria, Australia. ., As the result of persons.-Bi8hop 2hoburn. personal observation of the manage- ment of the mission station of lIapoon, -The Bremen Mission in New Gui- I can bear witness with great pleasure nea (Kaiser Wilhelm's Land), is still that this mission is in my opinion a sorely tried by the unhealthy climate. perfect success; a proof of what sound To this, according to the latest news, common sense, courage, and goodwill is now added the even worse trial of a can accomplish with savages. It was Romish eruption right into the portion quite a new experience for me when I of the field which the Bremen missioncompared this station with others. . aries have for six years occupied. "The last steamer," write the brethren, . The results obtained here ex- "brought 4 padres and 8 lay brothers ceed all my experience among the to begin operations where our mission aborigines during more than thirty is already at work." Missionary Helyears. I recommend that the Govern- mich writes: "The Romish mission ment should supply the station with a presses itself like a wedge into the good boat and with 400 woollen blank- midst of our field. And, however sure ets yearly. I am glad to have had the we are that no might of this world can privilege of seeing a station which is stop the truth of the Gospel, we can conducted in so excellent a manner." scarcely repress some slight concern for – Allgemeine Mis8ion~zeit8cltrift. our work. Shame on them that they sllOuld plant themselves where our -Malyasia. Missionary work in mission has poured out its blood and Malaysia is interesting for many reasons, its tears, and made many a sore sacriand at Singapore for the special reason lice." that so many nationalities are represented there. Our good friends ten- -The missionary steam yacht, John dered us a reception during our stay, William8, on leaving Sydney, carried and among the many kind people who out 50 tons of building materials for II were present at the Deaconess Home, Jubilee Hall, to be erected at Malua were persons who had come from Su- in Samoa, at a cost of £1,000, all sub: matra, Java, Borneo, Bangkok, Saigon. scribed by the Samoan native Chris- China, and Japan, besides lIalays from tians; 40 cases of Bibles for Savage this region, Singhalese and Tamils from Island, and a large consign:nent of India, and Europeans of various nation- books for New Guinea, in the Motu alities in Europe and America In- language, printed in Sydney under the deed, if I begin to make mention of supervision of Rev. Dr. Laws. In condiffcrent nationalities from Europe, we nection with the Samoan Mission there may with equal and even greater are now 600 members of the Christian Endeavor Societies.
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1891
THE REGIONS BEYOND
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
YOLo XIV. No. 2.-0Id Series. –FEBRUARY.–YOL. IV. No. 2.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
THE REGIONS BEYOND. * [EDITORIAL. ] The old Greeks were a worldly-wise people. In the Olympio games they showed their sagacity. Three pillars stood in the ancient stadium, respectively at the starting point, midway, and at the goal or turning point. On the first was inscribed a Greek word, whose force was, "Show yourself a man !" "Do your best!" On the last was a word which migh~ be rendered, "Stop here !" "Arrest your steps!" But on that midway pillar was the imperative ::i;'7rEVOE, " Speed you !" "Make haste !"
How much philosophy there was in that! No risk was greater than the· risk of overconfidence when success was but half attained. A racer, who at first outran the others, and at the middle of the course found himself ahead, would be tempted to 'relax his efforts; and so some athlete, who had reserved his strength for the supreme effort at the end of the race, would pass him by and get first to the goal.
Paul was a trained athlete in the spiritual sphere; and the law of his life was, "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Spinoza wisely said that there is no more fatal foe to all progress than selfconceit and the laziness which self-conceit begets. To think and feel that we have already attained or are already perfect, is the narcotio that brings on the sleep of the sluggard and the slothful.
The motto of the great apostle of the Gentiles was, THE REGIONS BEYOND. He would be satisfied with no other man's method of measurement, with no narrow circumference of present attainment. He yearned to evangelize-to preach the Gospel in the Regions Beyond, and not to boast in another man's canon or measure as to territory already embraced in the scheme of labor.
That motto of Paul is the trne watchword of the Church in this new age of missions. After all the work of a century, we have only * The substance of an address at anniversary of China Inland Mission, Mildmay Hall, London, England, May 21,1890, and stenographically reported.- A.T.P. just begun. We are not even at the midway pillar; and God says, " Speed ye! Make haste! Forget the things behind and push for the Regions Beyond." And this will we do, by the grace of God!
This grand motto suggests various important applications: 1. The Regions Beyond, in the literal sense,of territory thus/ar unclaimed and unoccupied for Ghrist. If this great work of evangelizing the world is ever to be done, we must penetrate the deceptive halo of mere enthusiasm and come to the bare, hard facts of a world's destitution and degradation. Zeal is good, but zeal according to knowledge is better. To know the facts is to be oppressed with a great burden, for souls. To judge from what is sometimes said or written on missions, one wonld suppose that the work, not only of evangelization but of conversion, is going on so rapidly that we might wake any morning and find the whole world brought to Christ. Let us get past and behind this rose-colored cloud, and look at those great bald facts that, like those stopy shafts of eternity, the crags of the mountains, lift their awful forms before us-I,500,000,000 of human beings-enough, if they were moving, single file, past a given point, one every second, to consume fifty years, day and night, in passing, yet going down to the grave at the rate of more than one every second! Death, three times every century, sweeping the entire population 'of the globe into eternity, like chaff from a threshing-floor, to make room for a new generation! And this process going on for nineteen centuries, uninterruptedly, so that, since Cllt'ist was born, nearly sixty generations have lived and died, most of whom never heard of Him! What if all that host might be supposed to move in procession at the same rate we have already imagined! It would take over a thousand years! And, while we are talking about evangelizing the world, and some enthusiasts are prophesying its speedy conversion, is it not true that there are to.day more unsaved souls in the human family than there were last elmtury, or even last year? With all our missionary effort is not t 11e world';; population advancing faster than the churches of Christ are gathering converts? Surely it is time the church should fully awake to her responsibility. We act as though we had ages before us in which to preach, and the unsaved had ages before them in which to be reached, whereas our term of service and their term of life must very soon expire. The China Inland Mission found the germ of its being in the fact that, in Inland China alone, were eleven great populous provinces where as yet no missionary had gone to reside; and, in ten of the eleven, missionaries are now permanently working. Let the church not shrink from facing the facts: the destitution still unreached is appalling. What are 700 missionaries in China among 350,000,000 of souls? One missionary to half a million! About the same proportion of missionaries amc,ng the 250,000,000 or 300,000,000· of India, one to about 400,000! In Siam, with from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000, about a score of men and women, laboring among the native Siamese and Laos people, every male missionary having an average parish of a million souls, and cities with a population of 200,000 having not even a Bible-reader or native teacher!
Consider Africa's need! How little is it understood. Even a missionary journal gave currency to the misleading statement that the Dark Continent is " tolerably well supplied wi.th missionaries, as thirty-five missionary societies are now at work there." If you go across Siberia and down the eastern slope of the Kong Mountains, through the three Soudans, of the Niger, Lake Tchad and the Nile, 3,000 miles to the Red Sea, and if 400 miles north and south of your line of travel you could survey the land, you would find 90,000,000 of people with scarce one missionary! And farther south, in the Congo Free State, you might travel from Equatorville east to the Great Lake stations, and there is another territory 1,000 miles long by half as many broad, whose 40,000;000 of people when Stanley passed through Uganda had not yet seen a missionary! Doubtless Africa has to-day at least 200,000,000 of people who never saw a Bible or heard the first proclamation of the good news. And yet Africa is " tolerably well supplied with missionaries! "
Am I not justified in saying that we must get beyond and behind all this illusive glamour of ignorance and imagination? Yes, beyond evanescent touches of sympathy and passage of resolutions, and do something for souls that are dying without Christ.
In all the world we have six: thousand 01' seven thousand missionaries, representing 30,000,000 of church members-one for every five thousand! Whereas, if Protestant churches gave out of their membership one in three hundred, it would Imt 100,000 missionaries in the field, exclusive of the native helpers, who have for the last half century outnumbered four or fivefold the missionaries from Christian lands. These are, doubtless, familiar facts; but Sydney Smith said that for purposes of impression repetition is the only figure of speech worth a farthing. These facts must be beaten in by repeated blows. We must not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. Never will the people of God take up the work of missions as they ought until they both understand and feel the emergency and extremity of a dying world and their own opportunity and {)bligation with reference to it.
As to opportunity, there was never any such before. We live in ~ays more augustly awful than any in previous history. I would rather live in this year 1891 than to have lived when Christ walked the earth. Grand as would have been the privilege of seeing the Lord in the flesh and being closely associated with Him then, this day of grace offers us opportunities of service and privileges of fellowship which, in their way, are even more transcendent.
The regions beyond, of the whole world, now lie open before the children of God. Fifty years ago the burden of public and united prayer for missions was that God would open the doors of the nations to the preaching of the Gospel. In those days Japan was like a vessel hermetically sealed; China was the walled kingdom, fifteen hundred miles of solid barrier shutting out "the foreign devils;" India was 'in the selfish clutch of the East India Company; the islands of the sea were held by cannibal savages, and Africa was not even explored. A hun- dred years ago it seemed as though there was no chance of reaching the vast bulk of the race with the Gospel. A great wall of idolatry, superstition, prejudice, surrounded the nations, with here and there a solitary breach; now, that whole wall is down, wit.h here and there a. fragment remaining to oppose our advance. Let those who see no God in history tell us how changes so stupendous have been brought about inside one century. No human being, no combination of human elements could ever have done this. But" one day is with the Lord as a thousand years," and there have been single historic" days" in this period, in which He has wrought the work that ordinarily would have taken a millenium.
That one year 1858 may be selected as the annus mirabilis of modern missions. During that one year doors were opened giving access to one thousand millions of the human race. In that year, 1858, Great Britain, after two hundred years of exclusion, made her treaty with Japan. In that same year China, by the treaty of Tientsin, threw open not only her p.orts, but her interior, and provided that any Chinese subject might embrace the Christian faith without molestation or persecution. In that same year India was transferred from the sordid East India Company to the British crown, and Victoria became Empress of the Indies. In that same year the revolutionary changes in Papal Europe laid the basis of Free Italy. In that same year David Livingstone sailed a second time for South Africa to complete his pioneer path for missionaries. In that same year Benito Juarez, in Mexico, overthrew the monastic system, confiscated the estates and revenues of the Papal Church, and opened the way for Protestant missionaries to enter Central America. And in that same year Elizabeth Sale, of Helensburgh, Scotland, successfully penetrated the zenanas of Hindustarr, and led the way in woman's work for woman!
Was there ever such a year as 1858? Within less than a twelvemonth doors of approach were opened to from thirty to forty millions in Japan, three hundred to four hundred millions in China, two hundred and fifty to three hundred millions more in India, including all her millions of women and girls, two hundred and fifty to three hundred millions more in Africa, besides the hosts in Papal Italy and Mexico! When Paul and Barnabas came back to Antioch from their first mission tour, "they gathered the Church together and rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." But did God ever open doors of access in Apostolic times with such rapidity and on such a scale of grandeur as in your day and mine? Who shall dare say that the days of supernatural working are past, ",hen such miracles qf Providence are performed before our ~ery eyes?
The apathy and lethargy of the Church of Jesus Christ are alarming, for they suggest a deadening of sensibility. We are like those that walk amid a blare and glare and flare, and whose eyes and ears are dazed and dulled by the glory of the scenes in t.he midst of which they are moving.• This year 1858 was not the only wonderful year in modern missionary history. In 1878 there was such a mighty movement of God's grace in India that sixty thousand people turned from idols in Tinnevelly and the Telugu country within six months! And it was in that same year that some twenty persons gave upwards of $4,000,000 to missions, as though God would show what on the one hand His grace could do among the heathen, and, on the other hand, in prompting a higher Christian liberality.
The Regions Beyond, thus marvelously opened to the Church, are a perpetual challenge to us to occupy till He comes. We need to get down on our faces before God for a greater Pentecostal baptism than the Church has ever yet known. All our efforts lack unity and harmony and business methods. On some mission fields a score of different denominations will sometimes be found, working side by side, in a comparatively small district, while in the Regions Beyond millions are without a single missionary. And our home fields are often overstocked in comparison. When in Scotland, on my mission tour, I found in one village, of perhaps 1,200 people, five fine church buildings with as many educated pastors; the entire church-going population could have been accommodated in one of those buildings, and cared for by one of those ministers, while the other four, with the money that their buildings cost, might have been evangelizing the interior of Chin.a, India or Africa, where each man might have a parish of from one million to ten million souls! There is something wrong in the Christian Church when denominational zeal outstrips that nobler zeal for the evangelization of the vast multitudes that are absolutely uncared for. It would seem that something is wrong, even in the basis of our missionary work, when the Church of God can calmly look on eight hundred million of human beings that, eve~ yet, after nineteen centuries, have not so much as heard whether there be a Christ or no ! When Rev: Geo. W. Chamberlain first went to Brazil, he found 10,000,000 of people in a nominally Papal land, who scarcely knew what a Bible was. One old patriarch of four score years, to whom he gave a Portuguese New Testament, and explained salvation by faith, said to him: "Young man, this is what I have long been waiting to hear. But where was your father when my father was alive that he never came to tell my father how to be saved?" Some such question as that we must all answer, if not before we die, at the judgment seat of Christ.
These Regions Beyond-this te;ritory unclaimed and unoccupied for Christ-should at once be possessed. Christ distinctly outlined for His Church her missionary policy: it is not concentration but diffusion. We cannot too often ring out this truth. Some have urged the American Board to concentrate its forces largely upon Turkey, and then, when Turkey is thoroughly evangelizeQ, it will, they say, furnish evangelists for the Regions Beyond. A similar policy has been urged upon the Presbyterian Board in New York as. to Japan, and the Church Missionary Society as to India. The argument is that we should unite our forces upon a limited field till it is thoroughly Christianized, and then make the newly converted people an evangelizing force to push on to the furtJlermost limits of the earth.
This looks well and sounds well at first suggestion; but is it scriptural? Our Master made no such discrimination. " Go ye into all the world," " unto the uttermost parts of the earth," and "'preach the GORpel to every creature." Those are onr marching orders. The policy of concentration more or less limits the area of the work of the Church. To follow such a policy is not to go into the Regions Beyond. We are tempted to choose fields comparatively neal', attractive, promising; fields offering prospect of large and quick harvests; and leave the more distant, destitute, degraded races of mankind to utter neglect. vVhile we are concentrating on Turkey, Japan or India, what is to become of the other millions of mankind that have only one lifetime in which to hear the Gospel?
Again we would peal out in the dull ears of a sluggish Church the signal of opportunity and obligation ! We are to take whatever men and women we can get and whatever money and other means we can gather and do just as OUI' Master bade us-go everywhere and to every creature with the Gospel, and do it at once. And when the Church of God will do her simple duty with faith in her Lord, the miracle of the loaves and fishes will be repeated on a larger scale in human history. 'fhe small provision, which seems nothing amil1 snch a vast multitude of hungry souls, will, when brought to the :Master and used along the lines of His command, again illustrate the miraculous mathematics of God. As we subtract from our supply, He will add to our resources. As we will divide, He will multiply; and He will increase for distribution what we decrease by distribution.
We write it solemnly and with profound conviction and deep emotion: Christ waits to see the travail of faith in the souls of His people before He can see the travail of His own soul in the redemption of the race! Never will that largest and last blessing come to our mission work until we emphasize evangelization. for which we are responsible rather than conversion for which we are not responsible; until we abandon our worldly-wise centralization and concentration and adopt the divine policy of universal extension and diffusion, going with all speed even to the uttermost parts of the earth and bearing among all nations our witness to our I.ord and His cross. From His cradle to His tomb, and from His sermon on the Galilean Mount, to His last commission, perhaps upon the same Mount, we seem to see but one commanding signal: it is a Hand pointing ~ TO THE REGIONS BEYOND. [To be continued. ] EACH religion has an appropriate symbol. The cross has come to represent Evangelical Christianity, as the crucifix does the Papacy, and the Greek cross the Greek Church. The wheel of endless transmigration may well stand for Buddhism, the iron ring of caste for Brahmanism, the crescent for Mohammedanism, the sun-disk for Parseeism, the tablet for Confucianism, the dragon for demon worship, the stone for fetichism, and the axe for a destructive atheism.
" BECAUSE iniquity abounds the love of many shall wax cold." No believer can afford simply to breathe a polluted atmosphere, and if his work for God compels such associations he must frequently go, as Christ did, apart with God, and on the lofty mountain tops breathe a pure air, taking long and deep inspirations of that purifying and strengthening oxygen and ozone. Prof. Bernard used to illustrate our unconscious accommodation to a vicious atmosphere by placing a sparrow under a bell glass receiver, with ail' enough for three hours respiration. Then, at the end of two hours, he put a sccond sparrow under the receivel', and it fell over dead, while the formcr bird was able to sustain the process of respiration for the remainillg hour. So there is a law not only of physical but of spiritual toleration. We learn to live in a polluted atmosphere, to accommodate ourselves to a low level of spiritual life. Could we come suddenly from a pure society into the carnal and worldly and selfish atmosphere often found even in Christian churches, we should be stifled. Let us live much with God, in the closet, and so learn to detect and flee from a contaminated atmosphere. May this law not explain in part the high consecration of true missionaries? They can maintain spiritual life amid snch surronndings only by mueh COil verse with God.
THE MISSION OUTLOOK
THE MISSION OU'l'LOOK.-II.
BY J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A., LL.D., NICE, FRANCE.
We proceed to speak of the foreign field. And first we ask what progress has been made in the evangelizing of the nations generally?
We sometimes hear even the friends of missions assert that the progress is deplorably small. 1Ve ask-small in comparison with what? If the answer be-small in proportion to the effort made, the answer runs clean counter to our deepest convictions. Considering how little man has done or tried to do, the blessing from on high ap- pears to us most graciously, most marvelously large. The seed we sow never perishes; it brings forth fifty, sixty and a hundred fold. Just compare the progress made in modern times with what was witnessed when the Gospel was preached even by apostolic lips. Some thoughtlessly speak as if the miracle of Pentecost had been frequently repeated through the early centuries. It was not so, even during the first. The highest estimate which we can possibly form of the number of professing Christians in the year 100 is not half a million, including childre'n, and some authorities make it considerably less. But, during the last century, more than 3,000,000 have been rescued from heathenism by Protestant missions alone. The Lord is pleaaed to bless our poor, initial efforts far beyond what we had reason to expect-for very feeble and faltering have these efforts been; and His marvelous goodness ought to impel us to run henceforth the way of His commandments.
1Ve are fully aware of the retort which is frequently made: "Yes, you have gained perhaps 3,000,000 from heathenism during the last century; but the heathen population of the world has been increased by a vastly greater number; and there are far more heathen now than there were a hundred years ago." True, but the Christian population of the world has been increasing too. Proportionally it seems to increase twice as fast as the heathen population; and by the end of the present century-that is, ten years hence-the Christian inhabitants will actually increase more rapidly than the heathen inhabitants. Of course, we may be told that merely nominal Christianity is of no value. But that is not true. Just compare the state of Europe with that of the heart of Africa! The last accounts, supplied by Stanley and Mackay, regarding interior Africa, are as horrible as the descriptions which Dante gives of hell. Europe is no paradise; but neither is it a pandemonium.
1Ve are amazed at the erroneous conceptions as to the progress of missions existing in quarters that ought to be well informed. A few years ago a journal of high name asserted that the conversions to Mohammedanism in British India were about a hundred thousand annually. More recently an anonymous writer in one of our most inflnential magazines maintained that the conversions to Islam were every year about 50,000, and that India was steadily becoming Mo- hammedan. It was of no use for missionaries to protest against these assertions; on such subjects they, good men, are supposed to be hopelessly prejudiced, and it is for able editors to put them right. But next comes Sir W. W. Hunter, whose knowledge of Indian sta- tistics is unquestioned, and he informs us that, so far as statistics are available, the general population of India, in nine years, has increased 8 per cent., but the Christian population 30 per cent.; and that, tak- ing Bengal as a sample, while the Mohammedans have increased 11 per cent. the Christians have increased 64 per cent. That particular error, then, is finally disposed of. So much as regards numbers; but what about character? No doubt there are black sheep in the flock. Missionaries are sometimes detleived by inquirers, and the children of {)onverts in heathendom are very like young people in Christendom. Still, there has been generally-we suppose universally-a remark- able elevation of the Christian community in intelligence and cllarac- tel', and, as a consequence, it has risen and is rising in position. In ~ndia, government returns show that crime' exists among native Chris- tians only to one-fifth the degree which obtains among the Hindus. We believe the same thing is tl'Ue of converts in China, Japan and Siam. It is remarkably true throughout the Dutch dominions in the islands of Eastern Asia, as we may have occasion to show a little farther on.
Letus now glance at the chief mission fields separately, beginning at the East: JAPAN.-The progress in this empire during the last twenty years ()r so in which it has been possible to preach the Gospel in public, has " been steady, and, as compared with that in other countries, even Tapid. Recently, among the educated or half e,ducated young men there have been manifestations of a feeling of dislike to foreigners; and probably the cry of " Japan for the Japanese" will wax louder and louder. The strong feeling of nationality will affect the missions and their ecclesiastical arrangements. Quite possibly foreign mis- sionaries will be told, before ten years are come and gone, that their presence is no longer needed; and this not scornfully or bitterly, but from a conviction that Japanese Christians can manage their own affairs and evangelize their countrymen better than foreigners can. For our part, we respect their feeling; and though we desire no abrupt severance of existing ties, we trust to see, ere long, the great spectacle of a national church in Japan-self-supporting, Eelf-gov- erned and self-extending. We say a national chttrch. The mission· aries are laudalby exerting themselves to reduce the number of eccle· siastical divisions among Christians. The Presbyterians have all united; they had almost coalesced with the Congregationalists, when a bar was unhappily interposed-from, America, if we mistake not. The Methodists wish to unite; and so do the Episcopalians and others.
Excellent, so far; but the Japanese Christians long for one grand, national church; and they will have it if foreigners do not interfere.
Em Oriente lux. Very probably the problem of union, at which the chutches of Europe and America are toiling, will receive its solution from the minds and hearts of more far-off Eastern Christians. That ought to humble the haughty West; but all of us, we trust, would heartily rejoice in the result. When we speak thus, we dream that there will be one grand united church holding the principles of the Reformation. The Roman and Greek churches will doubtless remain apart from this, and from each other, in Japan as in other places.
The new constitution of Japan gives full tolerance to Christianity, and the Gospel may now be preached over the length and breadth of the empire. Are the two old religions-Shintoism and Buddhism- likely soon to pass away? Some have answered yes; but we fear not. Shintoism is a vague, colorless creed, and one naturally leaps to the conclusion that it cannot long contend against the Gospel. But it is the old, ancestral faith; nearly all the vaunted glories of Japan are connected with it; and, probably, it will die slowly, as did the religion of Rome, even after Constantine's profession of Christianity.
How difficult to forget the national traditions handed down for more than two thousand years; how difficult to throw off the religious ideas they embody! Buddhism is an alien faith, though in itself more definite than Shintoism; but it may not perhaps survive its rival.
Confucianism has been the creed of many of the higher classes, and its worldly, cold philosophy may content them for a good while longer-all the more readily, because it can easily combine with the ancestral Shinto worship. • KOREA comes next-the'" hermit nation," as it used to be called; "the land of the morning calm," as it calls itself. Korea had very little distinctive religion. Shintoism was little known; Buddhism was proscribed; Confucianism influenced only a few among the higheF classes. Vague, confused superstition was all in all. But Korea happily has an easy alphabet, and multitudes, even of women, are able to read.
The beginnings of Protestant work in Korea are due to the Rcv. John Ros~, missionary of the (Scottish) United Presbyterian Church in Manchuria. He tra~slated various portions of the Scriptures illto Korean, from the year 1873 onwards. These were circulated in Northern Korea, and the result was truly remarkable-indeed, few things in mission history have been more so.* Then came the Ameri- can Mission, in 1884, being begun by Dr. Allen, a medical missionary, • See Report of Foreign Missions of (American) Presbyterian Church for 1890. In a spirit which does them much honor the Americans speak most war..lIy of the labors of the Scottish Mission, which preceded their own. whose professional skill was greatly valued in the highest quarters. An Episcopal Methodist Mission has followed, and recently an Angli- can one. Two laborers from the General Assembly of Victoria, in Australia, co-operate with the Presbyterian Mission. So far a mar- velous blessing has rested on the work. The opening of Korea has . been more sudden, and more complete, even than the opening of Japan.
CHINA.-In connection with China the eye first naturally fixes on the late Missionary Conference held at Shanghai. It was very large, very harmonious, very earnest and very hopeful. Of the arousing call to the Church of Christ to send China a thousand missionaries within the next five years we have already spoken. Especial stress was laid on the work of women. Dr. Williamson, since then, to the great loss of China, deceased, said that the permanent Christianization of China depends on the women, and that the women can be reached only by women. The conference did not take any narrow view of Christian work, and one of its solemn declarations was: "We hear a loud call to the Christian Church to supply Christian educationists for China." Lastly, it came to a most important resolution regarding the translation of the Scriptures into Chinese. Hitherto there have been rival versions, and interminable disputes aA to the rendering of im- pOl·tant words (even the name of God among them), and when the conference met, agreement on long-contested points seemed utterly hopeless. But the" great mountain" became" a plain," and satis- factory means were proposed for the preparation of versions in the high classical language, the colloquial :Mandarin, and an intermediate dialect. In addition to these there is a considerable number of local '. dialects, and arrangements were entered into by which versions into these will be made, or, if already made, harmonized. Had the Shanghai Conference achieved nothing more than this, all the labor and expense connected with long journeyings and a session of more than a fort- night would have been richly repaid.
SIAM.-Buddhism is the established religion in Siam; but here, as elsewhere, the name veils a mass of childish superstitions. The chief mission here has been the American Presbyterian, which began its work in 1840. Its operations are carried on mainly in the northern part-Laos. Some twenty years ago there was a severe persecution of the Christians; but, for some years past, opposition on the part of the government has completely died away. Education and medical work receive decided encouragement from the king and the high officials. All the missionaries seem to be full of hope.
NETHERLANDS, INDIA.-The Dutch possessions in Eastern Asia are so called by the Hollanders, though they have no connection with IIindustan. (They are part of Indict extra Gangem.) Until of late the Dutch authorities discountenanced missions, if they did not actively oppose them. '1'0 this day religion is at a low ebb among the Dutch inhabitants of Eastern Asia, and the clergy are often ,avowedly rationalistic. But the missions have done much faithful work, and the blessing from on high has rested on them. We give some remarkable figures in a note. * We understand that the oppo- sition of the authorities to missions has entirely ceased. They admit that the native Christians are visibly superior to the heathen (incluiing Mohammedans) in industry, cleanliness and morality. The owners of plantations in Java prefer native Christian laborers to all others. Let it be observed that, though the Mohammedans are zealous in proselytizing, yet the conversions from Islam to Christianity have been very numerous, especially of late.
INDIA. t-In this great field the battle between the Gospel and heathenism becomes hotter every day: "All reports of religious affairs are growing in urgency and interest."! 'l'he next Decennial Missionary Conference takes place two years hence, and the proceedings may be expected to be of absorbing interest.
There are vast diversities between different parts of India. Even the languages spoken amount, according to the census report, to 106, and some have reckoned as many as 132. The diversities among the inhabitants are astonishingly great. To use Lord Dufl'erin's words: "At one extremity you have the naked, savage hill-man, with his stone weapons, his head-hunting, his polyandrous habits, and his childish superstitions; and at the other extremity you have the Europeanized native gentleman, with his refinement and polish, his literary culture, his Western philosophy, and his advanced political ideas."
Even a lifetime barely suffices to supply a full, comprehensive idea of India. We are, therefore, continually in danger of drawing too general conclusions from particular facts. And hence come such ,conflicts of opinion as to the state of things in India. Some already tell us they can hear the wailing cry that" great Pan is dead"; § while others declare that, as yet, he has received no serious wound. We, therefore, entreat the friends who pay a cold-weather visit to India, and then rush home to proclaim the conclusions they have reached, to specify the part of the Indian Continent which they have studied and think they understand. On the other hand, we must request the men who knew India ten or fifteen years ago to remem- *Christians in Java (1873)….. …..•….• 5,673 " (1889) …………….. 11,229 in Snmatra (1873). .. .. .. . ….. 2,500 (1889) . .. .. .. .. …. 12,000 in all Dntch India (1873) …… 168,672 (1889) .•.••.250,000 ~ an increase of 66 per cent. nearly.
These figures are given by Inspektor Schreiber, of Barmen.
t Many of the principles we state regarding missions in India will apply to missions ,generally. :j: Last report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 184. § Ibid, p. 185. bel' that change now proceeds rapidly, even in what used to be called the" unchanging East."
The accessions to the Church of Christ in India continue to be chiefly drawn, as heretofore, from the races generally called abori-.
ginal-such as the Kols, Santals, Garos, Khasias, etc. (as in Burma from among the Karens). It was high time that missions should exert . themselves in behalf of these tribes; for, ere long, they would cer- tainly have been merged in the general Hindu population; the ab-.
sorption was steadily going on. We lately noticed an assertion by a high Indian official to the effect that Hinduism is gaining rather than losing ground. Quite true, in a sense. Uncivilized races are influenced by the civilized races near them; their vague demon wor- ship gives way before the more definite Hindu mythology, and their marriage and funeral rites fall gradually under the control of the Brahmans. Races that live apart eSyape this influence in a great degree; but those that have intercourse with the Hindus become more or less Hinduized. True, they are not received into the Hindu com- munity-they are not taken into caste; they are, so to speak, tied on to the great mass, not ingrafted into it. Other races, such as the Dhers, of Gujarat, or the Mhars and Mangs, of Maharashtra, no longer live apart from the Hindus; they are attached to the villages-permitted, not indeed to live in them, but around or near them. Among such races the progress of the Gospel is not much slower than among the more sequestered aborigines.
It is cheering to watch the steady elevation of these hitherto down-trodden races. The Brahmans, of course, sneer. Often have we heard them say, "We are too wary to swallow your bait, and so you go to those wretched outcasts." In truth, the missionary goes to all; but the proud Brahmans, as a rule, despise the message; while, in many cases, the poor and despised do not. And the reception of the truth raises and refines; the very expression of the countenance is changed. Then, when the children of converts are carefully taught and trained-and that this should be done is a most pressing, sacred duty-they compete, on no unequal terms, even with the intellectual Brahmans.
Thus the wrongs of ages are gradually becoming redressed; a social fabric, based on a new foundation, is slowly rising; and, by and by, the Christians will be not only the men of light, but the men of leading, too. .
Among the middle and higher classes the visible progress of the Gospel, as shown in the number of baptisms, is much slower than among the races we have just referred to. Hitherto it has been very difficult to reach these classes except through schools and colleges.
This is still true of India generally; but there are already exceptions to the rule, e~pecially in the largest cities. If evangelistic addresses were attentively listened to only when delivered in English, one might fear that the language, more than the meaning, formed the attraction; but earnest appeals in the vernacular, when the speaker wields it with any power, are also becoming acceptable. The change is immensely important. Educational missionaries ascribe it to the influence of Christian education, and we think they are right in doing so.
Attacks on educational missions continue to be made, as they have been for fifty years; but we see no new argument advanced. ""Ve suppose they will be repeated; but the missionaries will patiently toil on-aye, no kind of mission work is so toilsome as theirs, and assuredly it is not from a love of ease they take to it-and while they heartily rejoice in the extension of all kinds of missionary effort, they cannot, in faithfulness, give up their own. Education, both lower and higher, has become a necessity in India. Who is to give it? Government is disposed to withdraw more and more from its higher institutions, and (in a spirit which does it much honor) is expressing its belief that only those in which religious instruction is given can meet the necessities of India. Are Protestant missionaries to abandon the work?
Hoc Ithac1l8 velit, et magna mercentur AtridaJ. Nothing would delight the natives more; nothing would delight the Romanists more. The moulding of the higher thought of India would then be in the hands of these two classes. We hold that too much has been conceded already to the cry of " preaching, not teaching." The Cathedral Mission College, in Calcutta, in connection with the Church Missionary Society, founded by Bishop Cotton, was given up in 1880, under the impression that there were needlessly many colleges in Calcutta; but the demand for higher education has greatly increased since then, and the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society regret the closing, and for this reason, among others, that they now cannot get into touch with the influential student class as they used to do when their college was in existence.
Some people talk of educational missions as if they were merely educational. Is there one such mission in all India? We believe not. People who criticise what they call" Dr. Duff's system" should try to understand what that system was.
The fullest examination of this question with which we are acquainted is contained in the" Revised Special Report of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Church of Scotland on Educational Missions in India." The document comprises 213 pages, and embodies the opinion of eighty-four persons, connected with various churches, who were deemed well qualified to pronounce an opinIon on the important question proposed; and it shows that, after most patient and prolonged inquiry, the General Assembly of the Church resolved to maintain its educational efforts. The report deserves to be studied as a valuahle rer,ertory, not only of opinions, but of facts. We read that wheu the apostle and his companions were tossed up and down ill Adria, they "cast four anchors out of the stern and wished for the day." When some one rejoicingly pointed to the first streaks of dawn on the Eastern horizon, we wonder whether he re- ceived the chilling rebuke: "The dawn is nothing; we are waiting for the sunrise." But so speak many now. They do not believe in pro- cesses and preparations. They expect the sunrise immediately to follow midnight. Each of the higher religions of India covers as large an area as it did before; and many sorrowfully ask what im- pression, then, the Gospel is making on them. 'Ve reply that the Gospel never comes into real contact with heathenism without affect- ing it, and the influence exerted is in direct proportion to the com- pleteness of the cOlltact. The moral teachings of Christianityap- peal to natural reason and conscience; they carry with them their own bright evidence, and are acce})ted without much delay. The deeper mysteries, such as the divinity and atoning sacrifice of Christ, are, it may be for a long time, vehemently opposed by many; nor need we wonder at this, seeing that ., no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost." But when the Gospel is fully and faithfully proclaimed, it is never long proclaimed in vain. The truth is revealed to some; and these profess their faith, and, if need be, are prepared to suffer for it.
Now, in India, the higher religions are being shot through by the arrows of light; that is to say, the moral teachings-and much of the teaching regarding God contained in the Gospel is st.eadily penetrat- 'ing the mind of heathenism. The professors of heathen religions may deny that they borrow from Christianity; they may not be aware that they do borrow, but that does not alter the fact. One of the most noteworthy proofs of what we now affirm is supplied by a statement lately made by the high priest of the chief division of the Bombay Zorastrians, to the effect that the attributes ascribed in the Avesta to Ahuramazda are the same as the Old Testament ascribes to Jehovah. The statement is far from correct; but the high priest honestly believed what he so strongly affirmed. The wish was father to the thought.
We need hardly dwell longer on this. Every student of church history will see in it only a repetition of what occurred during the first three centuries. Heathenism was then compelled by the presence of the Gospel to remodel itself. "Reformed heathenism adopted features borrowed from Christianity, and even grew to be an imitation of it."* It thought to save itself by so doing. But by and by, as the lamented Liddon expressed it: "Conversions came with a rush."
Our readers must have been surprised to hear of the late sugges- * Uhlhorn "Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism," Bk. II., ch.3. tion, made by at least one man of influence, that the Bible be added to the Hindu sacred books. A very natural proposal, in the mouth of one who recognizes the steady onward march of Christianity, and would fain come to terms with it before it is too late. But the pro- gress of the truth is still more fully proved by the alarm that is so widely professed and the vehement efforts to oppose it-Hindu tracts,.
Hindu preachers-these are now sent forth in great numbers; and the Gospel is mercilessly attacked. The large society called the "Arya Samaj," gives in to Christianity so far that it surrenders po- lytheism, idol-worship, caste, and child-marriage, and permits the re-marriage of widows. It falls back on the Vedas as the sole author- itative scriptures, and, by torturing Sanskrit terms, it finds Christian and modern ideas in them. It is ienscpreecaisailnlgy.a f"rIafi d•woef cCohnrt iins tuiea nt oscshl eoeopls, ". Its propagandism is zealous and it cries, " our temples will soon be Christian churches."
But it is in vain that the Arya Samaj has abandoned three-fourths of Hinduism in order to save the remainder. Christianity is, so to speak, in the air.* It affects all the religious thinking of India; and its influence is seen in the remarkable attempts at reform which are happily becOI~ing so frequent. People may call these only social re- forms; but in India what is social is also religious. The Rajputana chiefs, bolder than the British Government, have limited marriage ex- penses and fixed the minimum marriage age for men at 18, and for women at 14. This is a stupendous change; and it involves stupen- dous consequences. The persistent efforts to encourage the re-mar- riage of widows; the refusal of the barbers of Bombay to shave the heads 'of widows; the formation of a social reform association, which held its third annual meeting in December, 1889, where it was noted with interest that several Hindu ladies were present; these and similar movements are, to anyone that knows the people of India, full of interest and promise; and, we repeat, that they are traceable, directly or indirectly, to the influence of Christianity. We spoke above of ideas changing; but there is also, though to a less extent, a change of institutions.
We have been Ilpeaking of Hindus. But the Mohammedans in India are also moving. Their antipathy to vVestern education is con- siderably mitigated. That enlightened man, Sir Synd Ahmad, tells us that his college at Alighar is flonrishing. If so, Moslem bigotry is proportionally declining.t Meantime, the uneducated Mohammed- ans-note especially what has happened in the north at Peshawur- * Since this was written, we find the same expression quoted in the Church Missionary Society Report. p. 172.
t A high Indian official, Sir Auckland Colvin, has said: "An Alighar col- lege man has become synonymous with a man of liberal ideas, advanced edu- cation and independent character." We have seen this college. We have ob-· served that its alumni are Mohammedan in little more than name. are as greatly terrified at the progress of Christianity as is the Arya Samaj among the Hindus. Zenana mission teachers are objects of especial dread to Mohammedans, as well as to Hindus. Let our sisters thankfully and strenuously persevere; their work is telling greatly.
[To be continued.] THE Church of God cripples all her mission boards and mission work by a selfish withholding of money for the Lord's cause, and then wonders at the slow progress of missions in fields where retrenchment makes all advance impossible. This absurd contradiction reminds us of the wars of Arminius (Hermann), Prince of Cherusci (16 B. C.- '16 A. D.) The Germans bored holes in the tongues of the Roman lawyers and judges, and then said, " Now, rattle away /"
ONE of the McAll workers in Paris was very much affected at finding a poor working woman, already in a dying condition, who bad strayed into one of the salles and there for the first time heard of Christ as the Good Shepherd of souls. She was trying to recall and put together in an intelligible shape the few hints she had picked up at that meeting, mere fragments of gospel truth, and when she found one at her bedside who could give her the whole truth about this great Saviour her joy was so great that she forgot even the agonies of dying! And yet there are literally millions of souls in France hungering for just such a Gospel.
MATERIALISU, like other forms of infidelity, has a basis of insincerity. At a meeting in Liverpool an evangelist publicly said: " I do not believe there is an honest man ill the world who really believes that we are all simply matter and go out of existence at death. If there is a real materialist in this audience I would like to see him." A man rose up and shouted: "Well, here is one." "Come up here," .said the evangelist, " I want all these people to see a man whose mother died like a dog, and that was the end of her." "You are a liar," shouted the man, " she was one of the best women that ever lived, and she's in h.eaven to-day /" The fellow was fairly. caught in his' own trap. He quite forgot for the moment his own creed!
THE efforts of churches which are not evangelical and which lack all true missionary spirit to found mission enterprises, simply to appear aggressive and seem abreast of other professed believers-in other words, to save themselves the humiliatio.n of a significant contrast-have always ended in disastrous failure. Often, instead of Christianizing the helthen, they themselves become heathenized. Those impulsive spurts in the direction of missions remind us of a significant phrase in the psalms, in which, referring to the triumphant passage of Israel over the Red Sea, the sacred writer adds, "which the Egyptians, assaying to do, were drowned /"
MISSION OF THE AMERICAN BOARD IN NORTH CHINA
A CONDENSED SKETCH OF THE MISSION OF THE AMER- ICAN BOARD IN NORTH CnINA.
HEXRY BLODGETT, D.D.
The history of the North China Mission is closely connected with that of the Shanghai Mission, and through that with the history of the Canton Mission, the first of the American Board, and of the American churches in China.
Mr. Bridgman, the first American missionary to China, arrived in Canton in the year 1830, twenty-three years after Dr. Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to this empire. In 1847 Mr. Bridgman , went to Shanghai as a delegate of his missionary brethcrn to assist in the translation of the Bible. This resulted in his permanent residence in that city, where he died in the year 1861. The translation made by Messrs. Bridgman and Culbertson into the written language of China is still in use, while the twenty volumes of the Chinese Re- pository, edited by Dr. Bridgm;tn, remain as an invaluable thesaurus of matters relating to China and the far East. .
In the year 1854 Messrs. Aitchison al,ld Blodget were sent out by the Board to join Dr. Bridgman at Shanghai, thus forming the Shanghai Mission. Mr. Macy joined the mission in 1858, making the fourth ordained missionary.
During the years in which the mission was continued at Shanghai, Dr. Bridgman was engaged in translating, also taking the pastoral care of the church connected with the boarding-school of girls, under the charge of Mrs. Bridgman. The three younger members of the mission were engaged in the usual work of teaching and preaching, as they were able, both in the city and the outlying country. 'rhe rule established soon after the opening of the" Five Ports,"
of twenty-fonr hours absence only, from one of the ports, was soon broken at Shanghai, and before long became a dead letter, Mission- aries made frequent tours into the interior. In the autumn of 1858 MassI'S. Aitchison and Burdon (now Bishop Burdon of Hong-Kong), after many journeys in the country together, took up their residence at Ping Hoo, a city of 100,000 inhabitants, seventy miles southwest of Shanghai. Here Mr. Aitchison remained for the winter, but re- turned at length to Shanghai in hope of commencing a mission in the llorth of China.
Such a movement seemed very desirable both to the Board, and to the memhers of the miRsion. Shanghai being the northernmost of the fi ve ports then opened, various European and American Societies had designated their missionaries to this city, so that, before the open- ing of China in 1860, more than thirty lahorers, representing as many as ten or eleven bodies of Christians in different countries were con- gregated there waiting for restrictions to be removed as a signal for advance to all parts of China. The year 1859 was one of sore trial to the Shanghai Mission. Mr. Macy died in April; Mr. Aitchison accepted in June a place offered him in the American Embassy, then about to proceed to Peking, in the hope that it might result in fixing his residence in the Northern Capital. He had only been eight days in Peking when he was taken ill, and after eleven days of suffering, died August 15th en rm£te to the .seaboard. He was buried in the Gulf of Chihli. In the autumn of the same year Mrs. Blodget was compelled by failure of health to re- turn to the United States.
In the following spring, 1860, Mr. Blodget for a like reason was forced to quit Shanghai. He went first to Japan, and, after two months at Kanagawa, embarked on a British transport, bound, for Taku to join the fleet about to rendezvous at that place. The ship ar- rived at her destination August 19th, just one year from the time, when, near the same spot, Mr. Aitchison was lowered to his watery grave.
A few days after her arrival the Taku Forts were taken, and in a short time all North China was open to the missionary and the mer- <lhant. Tientsin became an entrepot of foreign trade, and Peking the place of residence of the ministers of the various treaty powers of the West.
Early in September, of this year, Mr. Blodget landed in Taku, and on the 8th of November took up his residence in the city of Tientsin, being at that time and during the following winter the only Protestant missionary in this newly opened province.
The city was then garrisoned by the allied English and French forces. A lodgment was readily obtained in the barracks of the British soldiers, ana Christian work was commenced at once, both among the soldiers and the thronging multitudes of Chinese, who received with great friendliness the newly arrived missionary.
In April of the following year, 1861, Mr. Blodget had the happiness of welcoming to this field the Rev. J. Innocent, of the English Methodist Mission, and in May the Rev. J. Edkins (now Dr. Edkins), of the London Mission.
A journey to Peking in the month of May showed how entirely the country was open to travel, and to Christian effort; nor was any objection offered to passing about freely within the walls of the capital, even to those in no way connected with the legations.
During this month a chapel and houses for residence were rented within the city of Tientsin, and the Sabbath services were removed from the temple court, in which they had been held, to this place. Blind Chang, the first convert, was baptized in June, 1861. He was a 'veale man in humble life, but there is hope that he died a Christian.
Several journeys were undertaken, in this and the following year, for the exploration of this new field, as also for direct missionary ef- 'ort. These journeys extended to Teh-chen, in Shantung, on the South; to Pao Ting-fu, the capital of Chihli; to Tai Yuan-fn, Ta T'ung- fu, in Shansi; to Chang Chia K'eu (or Kalgan), on the Northwest;. also to T'ung Cheu and other cities east of Peking.
The Rev. J. Doolittle, of Fuhchau, spent the winter of 1862 and 1863 in Tientsin assisting in the work of the mission. Mr. Blodget spent the greater part of the winter in Peking, but returned to Tient- sin in view of the departure of Mr. Doolittle for Fuhchau. The mission was reinforced in 1863 by the arrival of the Rev. C. A. Stanley in March, and the Rev. L. D. Chapin in May. They took up their residence within the city walls, in houses which had been pur- chased the previous autumn through the aid of the late Dr. S.. W. Williams. Subsequently, on the ground of health, the residence of the missionaries was changed to the settlement, southeast of the city.
The principal labors of the missionaries have been in preaching the Gospel, and in the distribution of Christian books, both in the city and in the country. A day-school of boys has generally been maintained, and at times a few boarders have been taken in and cared for. The project of a higher institution of learning at Tientsin, in which the English language should be taught, has often been before the mis8ion, and has met with much favor.
The work of this station received a great impulse in the years foll0'Ying the famine of 1877. At that time the missionaries, furnished with funds to the amount of $10,000, more or less, by the liberality of Christian nations, threw themselves unreservedly into the work of famine relief, in which they were assisted also by members of the station at 'l"ungcheu. Their principal labors were in the region of P'ang Chuang, the central place of their work in Shantung. ~Iultitudes of the starving people were relieved in their distress. In this and the following years the missionaries found open doors and open hearts to the preaching of the Gospel. Several hundreds turned to the Saviour. The church was greatly enlarged, and a new station at P'ang Chuang was the result. The life of MI'. Smith, at one time greatly endangered by famine fever, was spared, and his labors are continued at this new station.
The importarice of Tientsin as the port of entrance, not only for Northern and Western Shantung, but also for Northern Ho Nan, for Shansi, Chihli, and inner Mongolia cannot be overestimated.
The station at Peking was formed in 1864. Though frequent visits had been made to this city by Mr. Blodget since May, 1861, it was not until February, 1864, that he took np his permanent residence here. Through the timely assistance of Dr. Williams, the present mission premises were purchased in March, and a chapel was opened in one of the rear buildings almost immediately for public preaching. This was a new departure for Peking, and one which attracted crowds of curious listeners. The pr~mises had been purchased from the Chinese for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; but that Society, being cramped by its own laws, was unable to take them over, and allowed this advantageous location to pass into the hands of the American Board.
On July 1st, Mrs. Bridgman arrived in Peking, having left New York when only partially recovered from a dangerous accident, and narrowly escaped the Alabama on the way. Mrs. Bridgman at once set herself to establish a girls' boarding-school, which has been continued ever since that time, and is now known as the" Bridgman School." She also gave to the Board the entire sum which had been expended for houses, lands and school buildings, amounting to not less than $5,000. In 1868 she left Peking, broken down in health, and spent the remainder of her days in Shanghai, where she died, in 1871. While in Shanghai, though in feeble health, she laid the foundations of a boarding-school for girls, and a dispensary, which, by her will, have passed into the hands of the Woman's Union Mission of New York.
The mission force in Peking was increased in November, 1864, by the arrival of the Rev. J. T. Gulick and Mrs. Gulick; and again, in August, 1865, by the arrival of the Rev. C. Goodrich and Mrs. Goodrich. A month before their arrival, in the early part of July, Mr. and Mrs. Gulick left Peking for Kalgan, to open a mission station in that city. The next reinforcement was by the coming of Mr. and Mrs. ·P. R. Hunt and Miss M. H. Porter, in 1868.
Miss Porter very soon took charge of the Bridgman School; Miss Chapin joined her in 1872. Under the efficient management of these ladies, and of Miss Haven, who arrived in 1879, t}Jis school has maintained a high character, and has been of the greatest service in training up young women suitable for wives for the native helpers, able also to take some part in Christian work. This school has formed the nucleus for efforts for women, botb in the city and in the country.
Mr. Hunt after twenty-seven years of service in India, came to Peking with the enthusiasm of youth to establish a mission press, and also to take charge of the financial affairs of the Mission. The press he established in 1869. It was at the time, and still remains, the only press of Protestant missions in North China. The money used for this purpose was supplied by the indemnity fund received from the Chinese Government after the burning of the mission press in Canton in 1858, and was originally given to the Board by the Bleecker Street Church, in New York, for the establishment of that press. Mr. Hunt was a skillful printer. vVork done by him was well done, whether in the establishment of the press, or in printing the books which issued from it.
During the nineteen years in which Mr. Hunt and Mr. Noble, who succeeded him, had charge of the press, there were printed on it, for the American Bible Society, the version of the New Testament, in Mandarin, prepared by the Peking Committee, that of the Old Testa- ment, also in the Mandarin, prepared by Bishop Schereschewsky, the Psalms and various portions of the New Testament; for the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, the four Gospels, with notes on the same; for the Church Mission Society, the book of Common Prayer; a series of Sabbath-school lesson papers and other works, for the North China Tract Society; a treatise on theology by Mr. Sheffield; several editions of a hymn book by Messrs. Blodget and Goodrich; a geography by Rev. L. D. Chapin; a smaller work on geography by Rev. L. W. Pilcher; a treatise on physiology by Dr. Porter; tracts and books by Miss M. H. Porter and l-Iiss M. E. Andrews, and, in addition, a con- siderable list of tracts and books not here enumerated. From the first this press has done a select work for local convenience-rather a large work for distant parts of China.
In commencing chapel preaching in Peking Mr. Blodget was assisted by the late Rev. VV. C. Burns, whose memory is still fragrant in the minds of some who heard the Gospel at that time. Subsequently Messrs. Goodrich, Holcombe and Roberts, each during the time of his connection with this station, labored in evangelist.ic work, both in the city and in the country. These are now succeeded by Messrs. Ament and Aiken. A good degree of success has attended these efforts, and frequent accessions in the city and at the country stations indicate a, constant growth in the membership of the church.
The boys' boarding-school in this station was discontinued in 1869. Two day-schools for boys have usually been maintained in the city, and at present there is one day-school in the country. There is also a day-school f~r girls in the city.
Perhaps there is no large city in Europe, or even in the whole world, more open to every sort. of evangelistic and educational labor, and to all the eleemosynary institutions of the Christian church than is Peking at the present time..
'rhe Kalgan station was opened by Rev. and Mrs. J. T. Gulick in the summer of 1865. Great difficulties were encountered in the early days of this station in renting houses and procuring suitable places for mission work. In the end unwearied patience, combined with great skill and prudence and unbounded charity in caring for the sick and needy, secured the desired result.
This station was reinforced in 1867 by the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Williams, in 1868 of lIr. Thompson, in 1870 of Miss Diament, and subsequently, after Mr. and Mrs. Gulick had left for Japan, by .iYlt-. and Mrs. Sprague, and Mr. and l-Irs. Roberts and Miss Dr. Murdock.
Healing the sick and a boys' day-school were from the first carried on jointly with evangelistic work at this station. After the coming of Dr. Murdock, a hospital and a diRpensary, including an opium refuge, were opened. A girls' boarding-school was established by Mrs. "Villiams, which is now under the charge of Miss Diament. The buildings for the school were erected largely by funds contributed by one of the mission families.
The Yu Cheu Valley, seventy miles southwest of Kalgan, has hitherto been the most fruitful part of this field, and in the city of Yu Cheu it is now proposed to estahlish a new station. Kalgan and Yu Cheu are solely in the charge of missionaries of the American Board. Other societies are not likely to enter this field.
Kalgan is located at a pass in the great wall. It has an outlook upon the rolling pasture lands of Mongolia. The roving Mongols are often seen in the streets of the city, and pass through in numbers on their way to Peking, or in their pilgrimages to Wu'l"ai in Shansi. The missionaries have often proposed labor for these sons of the desert, and something has been done among them. One convert to the Christian faith has been baptized in Kalgan. It has been suggested that one missionary should devote himself to this work.
The station at T'ungcho was opened by the Rev. L. D. Chapin in 1867. No serious difficulty was experienced in securing' residences. The people in 'l"ungcho have from the first been friendly to the missionaries. The station was reinforced in 1868 by the arrival of Miss Andrews, and in 1869 of Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield; Miss Evans reached T'ungcho in 1872; Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich, after their return from the United States in 1872 spent a year at Yu Cheu, and thence removed the following year to 'l"nngcho. Dr. Holhrook arrived in 1881, Mr. 1nd ]frs. Beach in 1883, Dr. and lVirs. Ingram in 1887, and Miss Miner in 1888.
The boarding-school for hoys, early established by Mr. Chapin, has been enlarged, and expanded by the efforts of Mr. Sheffield and others, so that it has now become the Mission High School. To this pupils are sent from all the stations of the mission to go through with a thorough course of study, in the hope that many of them will enter the Christian miuistry, and that all will hecome helpful in one way or another to the cause of Christ.
The course of study embraces a thorough knowledge of the Chinese classics, learning to compose in the written language, a familiar acquaintance with the Bible, including the study of Bible history and geography, and the committing to memory of quite a number of the books of the New Testament, also some of the more impo]·tant branches of gClleral knowledge and Western science, such as geography, mental and written arithmetic, algebra, geometry, chemistry, mechanics, phy~iology, geology and astronomy. It is de8iglled to extend the course and introduce higher branches as fast as the needs of the sehool and the circumstances of the mission make it expedient. The high school is to become the college. Connected with this high school is the theological seminary of the mission, designed for those who are prepal'ing to enter the ministry. Here the various departments of exegesis, systematic theology, church history, sacred rhetoric and the pastoral charge are attended to, so far as the attainments of the students and the circumstances of the case will allow. A great and an increasing amount of medical work has been done at this station from the first.
Through the energetic labors of Dr. Holbrook a hospital and dis- pensary were opened, the work in which is now vigorously carried forward by Dr. Ingram. Dispensaries are also opened at two country stations not remote from T'tmgcho. It is proposed that medical instruction shall be given to some of the students at this station.
General evangelization, both in the city and, to some extent, in the country, has been carried forward at thif station, in connection with the work of teaching, with hopeful results.
T'ungcho is the port of Peking, twelve miles distant from that city, with which it is soon to be connected by rail. Its accessibility by water and its abundant accommodations have made it to be chosen as the place for the annual gatherings of the mission.
The station. at Pao Ting fu was opened by Mr. Pierson in 1873. At no other place has so great difficulty been experienced in obtaining suitable residences for mission familieR. For more than a year Mr. Pierson lived in a Chinese inn, and until the present time he has occupied rented houses in a crowded ,part of the city. It is only within two years that the desired plot of ground has been purchased, in the southern suburb, upon which buildings have been erected to accommodate one or two families. Happily there has been no collision with the authorities or with the people. By uniform kindnessand prudent management all causes of offense have been avoided.
Here, as in Kalgan and T'ungcho, medical aid, though administered by unprofessional hands, has from the fhst been a most potent agency in removing prejudice and opening the hearts of the Chinese. After the arrival of Dr. Peck, in 1880, this branch of the work fell to llis care. Large numbers of patients flocked to his hospital and dispensary from the city and the surrounding region of country. Under the care of Dr. Merritt, who arrived in 1886, this useful work is still continued.
A school for boys, and one al.so for girls, in each of which there have been some boarding pupils, have been maintained at this station. "Vork for women has been carried forward b~r Mrs. Pierson and Miss Pierson. Colporteurs under the direction of 111'. Pierson have labored extensively in all that part of the province.
Pao Ting fu, as being the provincial capital, is a place of much political importance. Its situation at the head of river llavigation renders it a commercial emporium for grain, salt and various kinds of merchandise. All missionaries for Shansi pass through Pao Ting fu. This is the highway for officials passing from the capital to the south- western provinces of the empire. The place is well chosen as an im- portant and convenient centre for missionary labor.
The station at P'ang Chuang was the outgrowth of the work ~t Tientsin. Mr. Hou, a man whose name is held in loving remem- brance by the Christians of that region, heard the Gospel in P'ang Chuang from a native helper, and went himself to Tientsin to learn more of this new way. In the Gospel he found the truth for which he had elsewhere sought in vain, and was baptized in 1872.* "Within a few years he became himself a helper, his house the headquarters of the missionaries at every visit, as well as the centre of the famine re- lief work, and his village was afterwards chosen as the residence of missionaries designated to the Shantung station of the American Board. From the year 1872 the work in this region graduallyex- panded until, at the end of 1877, the annual additions brought the membership up to forty-three, representing twelve different villages." 'rhen followed the long to be remembered famine of 1877, and the famine relief, and the subsequent enlargement of the church, in view {)f which the mission resolved, in 1880, to open a new station at P'ang Chuang.
It has been usual in China, in all the missions, to locate mission- aries in large and important towns and cities. P'ang Chuang is al- m08t, if not quite, the only case of a mission station established in a rural district quite away from any city 01' great mart of trade. Yet the missionaries here have a great work on their hands. They are in the midst of a very populous region of country, so that within a radius of six miles there are approximately 150 villages and hamlets, {lontaining 60,000 inhabitants. In more than sixty of these villages they already have church members, and the lines or" their efforts are constantly reaching out into the outlying villages, towns and cities which are not distant from their central station.
The fact is, moreover, to, be remembered, in considering the location of this station, that in China the reverse is true of that which took place in the Roman Empire. There the villagers, or pagani, were the last to embrace the Christian faith. In China they are the first.
The greatest success of Christian missions in China have been thus far among the country people. Not only are they more simpleminded, but they have also less to fear in becoming Christians from loss of wealth or position, 01' of the means of earning their daily bread. The most independent man in China is the small farmer, who owns a few acres of land, and by daily toil earns his daily bread.
After some delay in the purchase of land and erecting houses, and * "Skellches of a CountryPal'ish," by Rev. A. H. Smith. further delay, occasioned by the opposition of a recusant magistrate, happily overcome by the friendly aid of the United States officials, the missionaries took up their abode in P'ang Chuang, in 1882, with a most cordial reception, and lively demonstrations of affection and gratitude on the part of the people. These kindly feelings have con- tinued, for the most part until the present time.
The labors of this station at the present time are the oversight and instruction of the native helpers, the care of the churches and dayschools, teaching the scriptures to men and women, and the wider range of evangelistic work. There is daily preaching to the dispensary patients, and regular preaching both at the central station and at the six outstations.
The medical work begun by Dr. Porter, and now carried forward by Dr. Peck, has been as in other parts of Ch,ina, of the greatest value to the. Christian name. The hospital, established largely through a gift of the late Dr. Williams, bears the name of this early mis8ionary of the Board, and devoted friend of the Chinese. Its fame has extended to regions far and near, and brings to the village of P'ang Chnang patients from all grades of society, some of whom have come hundreds of miles, and even from other provinces, to be healed of their diseases.
A commodious and tasteful chapel has been erected at this central station wholly by the offerings of members of the church, and of other churches in the mission without any assistance from the funds of the Board. Some of the outstations, stimulated by this example, are now moving in the same direction.
The field of labor set before the missionaries at P'ang Chuang is immense. Fifteen miles north is the city of Teh Cheu, with its surrounding towns and villages. The southern part of the province of Chihli, the northwestern part of Shantung, and the northern part of Ho-nan, all densely populated and covered with walled cities, tOWIl8, villages and hamlets, are easily accessihlo from this central station, and all invite the labors of Christian missions.
One step forward into this unoccupied region was taken in 1886, by the occupation of Lin Ching, a Department city forty miles southwest of P'ang Chuang, by the Rev. F. ~I. Chapin. The following' year premises were purchased for mission residences, and, ill 1888, Messrs. Chapin and Perkins removed their families to this new station. A kindly reception to the missionaries has been given by the people. The medical work of MI', Atwoo(l, who labored at this station for a time, and later by ~lr, and :;HI',", Perkin~, has heen, as ellSewhere, rno~t helpful' to the evangelistic work. Should the day evo!' come when the Chinese are as eager for the Gospel as they now are for the medicines of the foreign physician, the conversion of the Chinese will be at hand. The mission in North China is of recent origin, but it has been abundantly blessed of God. After more than thirty years of labor in Canton the American Board had but one station and several tens of converts. This was in the early stages of the China missions. In North China the Lord has given us in twenty-eight years five stations in the most important cities of Chihli, two stations in the western part of Shantung, and in these seven stations more than 1,000 converts. '1'he work laid upon the mission is great. The encouragements- to its performance are also gl·eat. The outlook for the future is full of promise. If the mission and its supporters go forward in humble trust in the ever present Saviour and in patient endurance of labor and trial, they will have the honor of being used by God, with other branches of His Church, to establish the Kingdom of Christ in these populous and powerful regions of China, into which ill His providence they were the first among Protestant missions to enter.
A PRIEST, finding a young Irish lad in his parish in possession of a Bible, att~mpted to take it from him on the plea that it was the prerogative of the spiritual father to feed his spiritual babes with " the sincere milk of the Word." " Your ri verence," replied the lad~ "I would rather kape the cow mYAelf."
A CLERICAL wag says that where denominational and sectarian feeling gets the upper hand in a community, even the church bells become intolerant and get a sectarian twang in the ears of the people. The Presbyterian bell seems to peal out, " Or-tho-doxy-orthodoxyl" the Episcopalian, "Con-fir-ma-tion-confirmation I" the :Methodist, "Come to the al-tar-come to the altar!" the Congregationalist, "Inde-pend-ence-independence I" and the Bapt5st, " '1Vant to be dipped-want to be dipped 1"
THE Island of Sumbawa (Sunda series) has the Tomhoro volcano on the north side. In 1815 was a terrific convulsion lasting over three months. '1'he sound was heard 1,000 miles off at Snmatra; the sky was dark with ashes at Java, and the sea covered with them to a depth of two feet for many miles. Awful whirlwinds swept over the land and sea, and out of 12,000 persons only 26 survived.
And yet, even such distress and desolation imperfectly represents, as in a figure, the awful destruction carried to body and soul by the prevalence of heathenism and paganism. Vice is deified and cruelty enthroned. Read Alexander Mackay's just-published memoirs, and get a glimpse of the atrocious cruelties of heathenism. It reminds us. of Java's Valley of Death, half a mile in circuit, where the prevalence of carbonic acid gas makes impossihle the survival of either animal or plant life. The JlIuseo Borbonico, at N aples, ~uggests that Pompeii lay in such a valley.
BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY
BUDDHISl{ AND CHRISl'IANIl'Y-A CRUSADE WHICH MUST BE MET.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
On the 9th of November The New York Herald published an article of four columns and a half, over the signature of Baron Har- don Hickey, a professed Buddhist and missionary chosen to promul- gate Buddhist doctrines in the United States. To an interviewer of another paper Baron Hickey has expressed the belief that America is a peculiarly favorable field for the spread of Oriental doctrines.
The design of the article referred to, which was plausible and rather ably written, was to prove that the history and doctrines of the early Christianity were largely borrowed from Buddhist sources. A reply which was sent to '['lte Herald was refused admission to its columns, but inasmuch as this crusade is being waged in all parts of the United States where it ought to be met by the defenders of the Christian faith, that reply is herewith given in the columns of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. "While well-established Christians and friends of miRsions are not to be disturbed by slich assailment~ as those of Baron Hickey, it is to be remembered that there is a vast border- land lying between the Christian church and the infidel associations of the country, and that it embraces millions of people, especially of the young, and' so long as our weapons of defense are so numerous snd so potential, it is not wise to leave this broad, neutral territory to the mercy of the enemy. The fact that many of the most influential and extensively circulated of our secular papers discriminate in favor of skepticism and irreligion, as being more sensational, renders it all the more necessary that the Christian church should be alert, and that through every legitimate avenue, the clear and convincing truth of Christianity should be as widely circulated as are the manifold errors of our time.
The assumption that Christ became a follower of Buddha is not new. There lies before me, a Buddhist Catechism, by Subhadra. which makes the same allegation. It declares that" the fundamental tenets and the personal character of the founder of Christianity are of Buddhist origin"; that "Jesus was an Arahat and attained Nirvana." Hardon Hickey goes farther and calls him the Maitreyeh whom Buddha predicted. There are a few truths mingled with Baron .Hickey's statements which should be distinguished from his erroneous conclusions. It is true that a limited intercourse was established between India and Greece by the conquests of Alexander, 327 B.C. A few references to Indian customs are found in Strabo, Arrian and Pliny, but it is the wildest assumption to claim that an influence which was so faint even in the great commercial marts, reached and moulded the peasant population of a J udean village, or that the influence was distinctively Buddhistic. Again it is true that asceticism prevailed throughout the East; but that th~ fasting of Christ was borrowed from Buddhism is absurd. ·Moses bsted forty days in Sinai centuries before Buddha was born. Besides, Indian asceticism belonged to Brahmanism and not to the Buddha. It was, indeed, practised by the Essenes, as it was also by the ancient Druids, the Peruvians, the },Iexicans, and even the Hottentots. Among the Jews there was an ascetic school of prophets at Gilgal centuries before Buddha's time.
The field of controversy on which Baron Hickey draws his sword has beeu fought over for the last hundred years, and the parallels which he presents have been exploded over and over again. A century ago Lieutenant Wilford espoused the theory that the entire civilization of Egypt, Palestine, Greece and Rome, including Christianity, had come from India. He importuned the pundits to search for manuscripts, and for a consideration they met the demand. He filled the magazines of Europe with his discoveries. But at last he was constrained to confess publicly that he had been the dupe of Brahman fraud.
A Frenchinan by the name of J acolliot has made a similar attempt in our own time, aiming to show that the life of Christ was a plagiarism upon the story of the Hindu Krishna. He, too, collected manuscripts and translated them; but Professor Max Muller has honeycombed his pompous displays of Oriental learning, and remanded him ~o the same category of dupes with Lieutenant Wilford. In volume V. of "Chips from a German Workshop," he says: "Much of the socalled Sanskrit is not Sanskrit at all, and J acolliot's ancient Vedic quotations are not Vedic and not ancient; they simply belong to the last half of the nineteenth century."
Ages ago Porphry adopted the same tactics, alleging that many things in the life of Christ had been anticipated by Pythagoras; and Julia Domna, wife of Severus, prompted Philostratus to work up a life of Apollonius of Tyana, which should match the history of Christ. (Uhlhorn's" Conflict," etc.) The very latest charge of plagiarism against Christianity has recently been made by the Aryas of India, who allege that the Westminster catechism has stolen its doctrinal statements from them.
Baron Hickey leaves us a little in doubt as to whether the copying from 13uddha is charged upon Christ and his immediate disciples or upon the "creed-mongers of Alexandria" at a later day, or whether all were concerned in the fraud. He thinks that there is no doubt that Christ studied Buddhism and became a disciple, and that Buddhist influence widely prevailed in Palestine. This implies that the Gospel history was in the outset strongly colored by the Buddhist narrative, and that Christ Himself adapted the events of His life to the Buddhist story. The emphasis, however, is put upon the plagiarism of the Alexandrine "creed-mongers." In replying as briefly as possible to Baron Hickey, I "hall endeavor to cover all these im- plications : In strong contrast with these cheap assertions of Alexandrine {lorruption and plagia)'ism is the frank admission of such keen critics as Renan, Yeiss, Volkmar, Schenkeland Hitzig, that the Gospel story as we have it was written during a generation in which some of the companions of Jesus still lived. Renan says of Mark's GORpel that "it is full of minute observations, coming, doubtless, from an eye-witness," and he asserts that :Matthew, Mark and I"uke were written "in substantially their present form by the men whose names they bear." These Gospels were the work of men who knew J eSUSj Matthew was one of the twelve; John, in his Epistle, speaks of him- self as an eye-witness. They were written in a historic age and were open to challenge. Thcy were nowhere contradicted in con- temporary history; they tit their environment and their age.
How is it with the authenticity of Buddhist literature? Oldenberg says: "For the when of things men of India have never had a propel' organ;" and Max Muller declares to the same effect that" the idea of a faithful, literal translation seems altogether foreign to Ori- ental minds." He also informs us that there is not a single manuscript relating to Buddhism ~'hich is a thousand years old, and scarcely one that can claim five hundred years. For centuries after Gautama's time nothing was written; all was transmitted by word of mouth. Buddhists themselves say that Pali canonical texts were written about 88 B.C.
Any fair comparison of the two histories should confine itself to the writings which are regarded as canonical and whose dates can be fixed. No more importance should be attached to the later Buddhist legends than to the "Apochryphal Gospels," or to the absurd "Ohristian I"egends," which appeared in the middle ages. The Buddhtst canon was adopted by the council of Patna, 242 B.C. The legends which Baron Hickey compares with the canonical story of Ohrist are not included in that canon, or, at most, very few of them. 'rhoy are drawn from certain poetical books written much later, and holding about the same relation to the Buddhist canon that the" Paradise Lost" and" Paradise Hegained," of Milton, bear to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Who would think of quoting "Paradise Lost" in any sober comparison of Biblical truth with the teachings of other religions?
Even the canonical literature, that which is supposed to contain tlIe true history and teachings of Buddha, is far from authoritative, owing to the acknowledged habit-acknowledged even by the author of the Dhammapada-of adding commentaries, notes, etc., to original teaclIings. Not only was thi8 common among Buddhist writers, but (lven more surprising liberties were taken with the narrative. For example, the legend describing Buddha's leave-taking of his harem is clearly borrowed from an earlier story of Yasa, a wealthy young householder of Benares, who, becoming disgusted with his harem, left his sleeping dancing girls, and fled to the Buddha for instruction. Davids and Oldenberg, in translating this legend from the" 11aha- vagga," say, in a note: "A well-known incident in the life of Buddha has evidently been shaped after the model of this story," and they declare that" nowhere in the Pall Pitakas is this scene of Buddha's leave-taking mentioned."
As another evidence of the way in which fact and fiction have been mixed and manipulated for a purpose, one of the legends, which has of-ten been presented as a parallel to the story of Christ, repre- sents the Buddha as repelling the temptation of :Mara by quoting texts of "scripture," and the scripture referred to was the Dhamma- pada. The blunder here is amusing; first, because the Dhammapada was compiled hundreds of years after Buddha's time, and second, there were no "scriptures" in Buddha's time, for nothing was written till two or three centuries later; and third, Buddha is made to quote his own subsequent teachings, for the Dhammapada clai.ms to consist of the sacred words of the" enlightened one." l10st of the legends of Buddhism were wholly written after the beginning of the Christian era, and it cannot be shown that any were written ill their present form until two or three centuries of that era had elapsed. T. Rhys Davids says of the" Lalita Yistara," which contains a very large proportion ofthem, that" there is no real proof that it existed in its present form before the year 600 A.D." The" Romantic Legend" cannot be traced farther back than the third century A.D. Oldenberg says, "No biography of Buddha has come down to us from ancient times, from the age of the Pali texts, and we can safely say that no such biography was in existence then." Beal declares that the Buddhist legend as found in the various epics of N cpaul, Thibet and China, "is not framed after any Indian model (of any date), but is to be found worked out, so to speak, among Northern peoples, who were ignorant of, or indifferent to, the pedantic stories of the Brahmans. In the Southern and primitive records the terms of the legend are wanting. Buddha is not born of a royal family/ he is not tempted befo1·e his enlightenment/ he works no miracles, and he is not a Universal Saviour."
The chances are decidedly that if any borrowing has been done it was on the side of Buddhism. :Mr. Hickey's assertion that 30,000 Buddhist monks from Alexandria once visited Ceylon (and he giyes this not as a legend but as a historic fact) is absurd on the face of it; hut that a Christian colony settled in 11alabar at a very early day is at tested by the presence of thousands of their followers even to this day. Christianity has always been restrictive and opposed to admixtures with other systems. It repelled the Neo-Platonism of the "creed-mongers" of Alexandria (they borrowed from Plato, not from Buddha), and it fought for two or three centuries against Gnosticism, Manichaeism and similar heresies; and the assumption, in the face of all this, that the Christian Church went out of its way to copy Indian Buddhism, must be due either to gross ignorance or to reckless misrepresentation.
On the other hand, it is in accordance with the very genius of Buddhism to borrow. It has absorbed every indigenous superstition, and entered into partnership with every local religious system from the Devil worship of Burmah and Ceylon to the'raouism of China and the Shintoo of Japan.
In its long-continued contact with Christianity it has changed from the original atheism of Gautama to various forms of theism, and in some of its sects, at least, from a staunch insistence on selfhelp alone to an out-and-out doctrine of salvation by faith. This is true of the Shin and Yodo sects of Japan. :From recognizing no God at all at first, Buddhism had, by the seventh century A.D., a veritable trinity with attributes resembling those of the Triune God of the Christians, and by the tenth century it had five trinities with one Supreme Adi-Buddha over them all. Each reader must judge whether these late interpolations of the system were borrowed from the New Testament Trinity which had been proclaimed through all the East many centuries before.
Buddhism is still absorbing various elements through the aid of its various apologists. Sir Edwin Arnold has greatly added to the force of its legends by the Christian phrases and Christian conceptions which he has read into them. Toward the close of the "I"ight of Asia" he also introduces into the Buddha's sermon at Kapilavostu the teachings of Herbert Spencer and others of our own time.
Even the" analogies" of the Buddhist legends, as a late apologist calls them, are undergoing a rapid development. Professor Seydel was ingenious enough, with the help of fact and fancy, to make out fifty-one" parallels" to the Gospel history; Baron Hickey has up to date" one hundred." Doubtless still more are to follow.
In discussing the specific charge of copying Buddhist legends in ~he Gospel narratives, we are met at the threshold by insurmountable improbabilities. To anyone who nnderstands the spirit of Judaism and its attitude toward heathenism of all kinds, it is simply inconceivable that the Christian disciples, whose aim it was to propagate the faith of their Master in a Jewish community, should have borrowed old Indian legends, which, by the very terms of Baron Hickey's supyosition, must have been widely known as such. And our Buddhist friends must admit that it is a little strange that the Scribes and Pharisees who were intelligent, and 3S alert as they were bitter, should never have exposed this transparent plagiarism. The great concern of the Apostles was to prove to Jews and Gentiles that Jesus was the Christ of Old Testament prophecy. The whole drift of their preaching and their epistles went to show that the Gospel history rested squarely and uncompromisingly on a Jewish basis. Peter and John, Stephen and Paul constantly" reasoned with the Jews out of their own Scriptures." How unspeakably absurd is the notion that they were trying to palm off on those keen Pharisees a Messiah who, though in the outset at Nazareth he publicly traced his commission to Old Testament prophecy, was all the while copying an atheistic philosopher of India.
It is equally inconceivable that the Christian fathers should have copied Buddhism. They resisted Persian mysticism as the work of the devil, and it was in that mysticism, if anywhere, that Buddhist influence existed in the Levant. Whoever has read 'l'ertullian's withering condemnation of Marcion may judge how far the fathers of the Church favored the heresies of the East. Augustine had himself been a Manichean mystic, and when after his conversion he became the great theologian of the Church, he must have known whether the teachings of the Buddha were being palmed off on the Christian world. The great leaders of that age were men of thorough scholarship and of the deepest moral earnestness. Many of them gave up their po!'sessions and devoted their lives to the promotion of the truths which they professed. Scores of them sealed their faith by martyr deaths.
But even if we were to accept the flippant allegation that they were all imposters, yet we should be met by an equally insurmountable difficulty in the utter silence of the able and bitter assailants of Christianity in the first two or three centuries. Celsus prepared himself for his well-known attack on Christianity with the utmost care, searching history, philosophy and every known religion from which he could derive an argument against the Christian faith. Why did he not strike at the very root of the matter by exposing those stupid" creed-mongers" who were attempting to playoff upon the intelligence of the Roman world a clumsy imitation of the far-famed Buddha? It was the very kind of thing that the enemies of Ch:'istianity wanted. vVhy should the adroit Porphyry attempt to wor~.;: up a few mere scraps of resemblance from the life of Pythagoras and why should the wife of a Roman emperor employ a man to trump up precisely such a story as our baronial friend now asks us to believe, when all they had to do was to lay their hands upon familiar legends which afforded an abundance of the very articles in demand?
But altogether the most stupendous improbability lies against the whole assumption that Christ and His followers based their" essential doctrines" on the teachings of the Buddha. The early Buddhism was atheistic. This is the common verdict of Davids, Childers, Sir Monier Williams, Kellogg and many others. The Buddha declared that "without cause and unknown is the life of man in this world," and he recognized no higher being to whom he owed reverence. The "Buddhist Catechism," to which I have already referred, shows that modern Buddhism has no recognition of God.
It says (page 58): "Buddhism teaches the reign of perfect goodness and wisdom without a personal God, continuance of individuality without an immortal soul, eternal happiness without a local heaven, the way of salvation without a vicarious Saviour, redemption worked out by each one himself without any prayers, sacrifices and penances, without the ministry of ordained priests, without the intercession of saints, without divine mercy." And then, by way of authentication, it adds: "These and many othel's which have become the fundamental doctrines of the Buddhist religion were recognized by the Buddha in the night of his enlightenment under the bodhi tree."
And yet we are told that this is the system which Christ and His followers copied! Compare this passage with the Lord's Prayer or with the discourse upon the lilies and its lesson of trusts-I appeal not merely to Christian men, but to any man who has brains and common-sense-was there ever so preposterous an attempt to establish an identity of doctrines? But what is the evidence found in the legends themselves? Several leading Oriental scholars, and men not at all biased in favor of Christianity, have carefully examined the subject, and have decided that there is no connection whatever. Professor Seydel, of Leipsic, who has given the most scientific plea for the so-called coincidences, of which he claims there are fifty-one, has classified them as: (1) Those which have been merely accidental, having arisen from similar causes and not necessarily implying any borrowing on either side. (2) Those which seem to have been borrowed f~om the one narrative or the other, and (3) those which he thinks were clearly copied by the Christian writers. In this last class he names but five out of the fifty-one.
Kuenen, who has little bias in favor of Christianity, and who has made a very thorough examination of Seydel's parallels, has completely refuted these five. (See" National Religion and Universal Religion," page 362.) And, speaking of the whole question, he says: "I think we may safely affirm that we must abstain from assigning to Buddhism the smallest direct influence on the origin of Christianity." He also says of similar theories of De Bunsen, "A single instance is enough to teach ns that inventive fancy plays the chief part in them." (" Hibbert Lectures," 1882.) Rhys Davids, whom Subhadra's "Buddhist Catechism" approves as the chief exponent of Buddhism, says on the same subject: "I {lan find no evidence of any actual or direct communication of those ideas common to Buddhism and Christianity from the East to the West. " Oldenberg denies their early date, and Beal denies them an Indian origin of any date.
Let us now ctmsider Baron Hickey's analogies seriatim: 1. "The genedogies of both Buddha and the Christ are traced from their fathers, not their mothers." This parallel would fit }Iohammed as well as Buddha. The whole argument rests upon the assumption that the mother of Buddha was a virgin, which is con- trary to canonical Buddhist history. The Sacred and Historic Book of Ceylon translated by Edward Upham, tell us that Buddha was born in wedlock. The late King of Siam, in a sketch of the Buddha, says that "he was born of natural generation." Subhadra in his Catechism says that "his parents were King Suddhodana and Queen Maya." Even the wild J ataka legends of Ceylon declare the same. 2. Baron Hickey declares that the conception by the Holy Ghost, announced by Gabriel, corresponds with Maya's dream of the white elephant. But his story of the white dove is manufactured for the purpose; no such myth was ever held by any Christian sect. 3. He compares the coming of the wise men with frankincense with the Brahmans who hastened with congratulations to the palace of Suddhodana. There is no canonical authority for the latter, though it was a common custom, and would have no significance. 4. "As Herod was afraid of the child, so King Bimbasara told his ministers to search the land to find whether any famous child had been born." Herod meant murder; Bimbasara, according to the Jataka legends, merely sent to inquire about the great teacher and his doctrines. 5. "The Simeon of the Bible corresponds with the Brahman Asita, an aged man who came to see the thirty-two marks and the eighty signs of the Buddha." This is a clumsy after-thought. How should anybody be looking for marks of a Buddha on a Hindu baby thirty years before Buddhism had been thought of? 6. "The presentation of Jesus in the temple is similar to a corresponding one in the childhood of the Buddha." This is one of Professor Seydel's" evident cases of borrowing." But such presentations of children were required under both the Jewish and the Hindu systems, and the claim of any particular parallel is weak. 7. "In his twelfth year Jesus was found in the temple, discoursing with the doctors, so, also, the father of Buddha found his son in the wood, surrounded by sages, etc." This does not agree with the Sinhalese legends, which say that the Buddha's youth was given to pleasure, and that his zenana contained 40,000 dancing girls. 8. "The Buddha bathed in the stream N aranjana, and J esu~ was baptized." This bath occurred when Buddha resolved to abandon his Brahmanical asceticism; he no longer regarded dirt as a means of grace. Whoever has seen a Hindu fakir besmeared with wet ashes will realize the significance of Buddha's "j:>ath, and, there- fore, of Baron Hickey's parallel.
9. "The forty days' fast in the wilderness is· common to both teachers." If any borrowing were required it would have been done from the life of Moses, who fasted forty days in Sinai. Buddha. never fasted forty days. The" Mahavagga" tells us that after his "enlightenment" he passed twenty-eight days i'njoyou8 meditation. His "Middle Path" shunned fasting as one extreme. He had begun to eat. He received his enlightenment on a full stomach-the first in six years.
10. There is no real parallel in the temptations of the two, though both are said to have been tempted. Buddha was tempted, according to Southern legends, several times and in respect to differ- ent things, but not at the beginning of his ministry.
11. "The heavens opening and the voice from heaven proclaiming the teacher are to be found in the Buddhist scriptures." Where?'
12. As to Buddha's Sermon on the Mount, high and breezy summits were often resorted to, especially the Vulture's Peak. It· was an incident of a hot climate in both caseS.
13. "The first disciples of Jesus, and even Jesus Himself, were at first followers of John the Baptist. The number of disciples in both accounts was at first five, afterwards sixty. "(?) As a matter of fact, Christ's disciples were not graduates from the school of John, but were called from their fishermen's boats. Instead of being a teacher of Jesus, John felt unworthy to unloose His shoe latchet.
14. "Both performed wonders." Buddha particularly disclaimed miraculous powers: the miracles were subsequent embellishments.
1.5. The incident of Buddha's walking on water needs a more particular statement with time and place and authority.
16. That both he and the Christ had a presentiment of death is very probable.
1 7. It is quite possible, also, that, among the thousands of Buddha's converts, were courtesans; but that the rich and brazen Ambapali who invited the Buddha and his disciples to dine, was the model after whom the Gospel narrative 'formed the picture of the crushed and penitent Magdalene, is far-fetched.
18. As for triumphal entries into cities-if a crowd of followers is meant, both, probably, had many-Christ at Jericho as well as at Jerusalem. Buddha is said to have been followed on one occasion by twelve hundred people, and King Bimbasara is said to have interviewed him with 80,000 of his overseers! 19. (( Both systems were missionary religions from the start." This is true; but how paltry is the notion that a mere motive of imi- tation prompted the wide-spread evangel of Christianity!
20. Weare told that (( Buddha fed the hungry," instead of which he was a mendicant and carried a beggar's bowl, and never performed a miracle.
. 21. As to the question asked of Jesus by the by-standers: (( Did this man sin or Bis parents that he was born blind?" If metempsychosis was in their minds, they could have borrowed it from the Greeks who had held it from the days of Pythagoras.
As to the general question, there seems to be little need of assuming that these shadowy coincidences denote borrowing on either side. Many of them are merely fanciful and are the work of modern apologists. Many others are such natural correspondences as might spring from similar causes. If incidents have in any case been borrowed, the chances are much greater that all-absorbing ever-changing Buddhism has been the copyist.
New York, November 25, 1890.
[The editor is constrained to add that the article which is printed above is, as he thinks, the most painstaking production that Dr. Ellinwood has, perhaps, ever written. It is felt by many who have seen it before it appeared in these pages that it ought to be put in some permanent form. Rev. Dr. Paxton, of Princeton Seminary, has pronounced it "a perfect rejoinder." vVe make a great mistake if we assume that merely ignoring and" pooh-poohing" at the active and aggressive movements of error are going to meet the case. The war is upon us. The old fathers of the early churcn did not confine themselves to pious denunciation. Think of Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Origen, how they fought with the beasts of Ephesus, and how magnificently they conquered the haughty heathenism of Greece and Rome. This paper will undoubtedly be reprinted in tract form.] WE often speak of ourselves as only" instruments in God's hands." It is our privilege to think of ourselves, if we are truly His servants, as agents. An instrument is a dumb, senseless, lifeless thing, which has no active, intelligent power even to co-operate with him who handles and uses it; but an agent (ago) is one who acts)· however, in behalf of, and under control of, another, yet acting intelligently and individually, as Aaron spoke under Moses' dictation. Even the ox and ass yield a voluntary, intelligent obedience, and are far above the plo}V they drag or the goad by which they are urged on. Weare God's agents, and He worketh not only by us, but in us, both to will and to work. (See Greek of Philippians, ii., 13.)
THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF'THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
II. THE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH.* BY PROFESSOR HENRY WOODWARD HULBERT.
It would be difficult to point out a scene of more dramatic historic interest than that laid in the upper room of prayer at Jerusalem in the year 30 A.D., between Thursday, May 18th, and Sunday, May 28th. The Master had gone, never to return to quiet again the doubt of a Thomas with a material argument. He had left them unexpectedly, but His parting words contained a promise and a command. The little, trembling church, ~he muscles of whose lips had hardly ceased articulating the question: "Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" was waiting with breathless expectation to be clothed upon with power. There sat restless Peter, the echoes of whose blasphemies had hardly died away. There were John and J ames and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of J ames. There were the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his. brethren and others, swelling the number of names to one hundred and twenty-one hundred and twenty poor, weak men and women in the midst of a rich and powerful civilization with as many millions. The minute hand in the great clock of destiny was rapidly nearingthe critical point. The child of many promises, the dream of patriarchs and kings and prophets, the only tangible outcome of the life and death of Jesus the Messiah-the fate of all seemed to hang in the balance. The whole future of the world-its wide-spread lands, its. unnumbered billions (present and to come)-lay in the prayers of a few broken-hearted, yet believing souls. 'Vho could have predicted the result?
Let us notice, in a cursory way, the geographical conditions. which surrounded this little church of six score members on May 28th,. 30 A.D. Putting aside very largely the profounder conditions, moral and intellectual, we ask: What were the natural, political, commercial, linguistic and racial features of the known world which were to compose the environment of the primitive church as it commenced its conquest of the globe? An answer to this question will involve a study of (1) the extent of the known world at that era, (2) the character and extent of the Roman civilization, (3) the commercial and' military relations of this civilization to outlying barbarism, (4) the spread of the Latin and especially the Greek languages, and lastly (5) the wide dispersion of the Jewish race throughout the world.
Take an ordinary school globe and cover up on it all that portion unknown to the geographers, 30 A.D., and we are at once impressed with * For article I. of this series see MISSIONAl!.Y REVIEW OF THE WORLD, Jan- uary, 1890, pp. 26-32. the small extent of the known world. It seems like a mere toy as contrasted with the great bustling earth of to-day. As far as civilization was concerned that was nothing more than a Mediterranean world. A stretch of three thousand miles east and west, and of fifteen hundred miles north and south contained it all. Britain was still unconquered. The fierce Parthian, hardly weaned from his pastoral life in Central Asia, was the greatest organized enemy of Rome. He had learned a little bit of the lesson of civilization from the conquered Persian, but he was still essentially barbaric. India was superficially known by navigators, and far-away China was reached by caravan routes. Travelers occasionally brought in reports of strange lands an.d peoples; captives struggled back to the confines of civilization with marvelous tales of Hyperborean paradises, and one-eyed monsters; but all about this confined areaof terra cognita lay the great, impenetrable cloud-land of terra incognita. The Pentecostal church prayerfully faced the Roman civilization, but what of the vast stretches of sea and land still veiled from their eyes, but included in their }faster's last command? In spite of ignorance, which they shared with the wisest of antiquity, the apostolic leaders were able to grasp the thought" every knee shall bow and every' tongue confess to God." Their faith was wider than the known world. They were assured that there could not be " Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman, but Christ is all and in all." Peter's vision on the housetop at Joppa, teaching the impartial love of God to every human soul on earth, was the most comprehensive social lesson the world ever received. The apostles and the earliest evangelists are supposed to have done missionary work far outside the limits of the empire, going as far as India and Sonthern Russia.
But the immediate task before Christianity was the conquest of the centres of civilization-the Roman Empire. Let us notice the geographical characteristics of this Mediterranean world as related to the company of Christian believers in J ernsalem. (1) It was an empire of cities. Rome began with a city, she conquered cities, and from beginning to end her genius was municipal. In the East this was not so strictly true as in the West. The nomad life of the Orient could not be so easily brought and held together; but Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt were honeycombed with thrifty cities. Christianity must needs then handle cities and their thronging population. As the apostles looked out upon the Roman empire they found from four to five thousand cities to be reached. For three or four centuries Christianity was destined to be municipal in its methods, and this gave a determining bent to the whole future of the Church. (2) The tideless }:Iediterranean furnished easy access by water from city to city. It was covered with sails employed ill a thrifty commerce. The Roman fleet swept the pirates from the seas and gave security to the humblest craft. A great number of the cities were situated on or near the sea, and a map of the coast looks like a string of pearls broken only at the Bosphorus and at Gibraltar. (3) Splendid Ro- man roads connected all parts of the empire so that news was carried rapidly and power was quickly concentrated and distributed. From Jerusalem one could walk over these superb roads, a few years later, all the way to Scotland, with only the narrow bodies of water to cross, a distance of 4,080 Roman miles (3,740 English). Along these highways trudged the messenger of the Gospel, from city to city, counting the mile·stones as he went, and wondermg, perhaps, whether the words of the prophet were not fulfilled: "Cast ye up, cast ye up: prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people." (Isaiah Ivii~14.) (4) Over one hundred million people were thus by land and water ways compactly drawn together in a territory containing less than two million square miles. Geographically considered, no portion of the globe furnishe.s so interesting a bat~le·field for religious conquest as the territory of the old Roman empire.
Roman civilization spread itself outside its own regions by two methods-commercial and military-and Christianity must needs follow in the track of merchants and armies. Caravan rontes came streaming in like rivers into the common basin of the Mediterranean, through the trackless Sahara from Central Africa, down the Nile from the Great Lakes, from Yemen along the Red Sea, from the Persian Gulf through the Syrian desert, and from Mesapotamia, where was centred the trade of Central Asia. To this husy mart on the eastern border of the empire, came pouring in the treasures from the Persian Susa, from Hyrcania and from Bactria, which in turn drew npon China through Statio Mercatorum and upon Hindustan and Farther India through Clisobra.
Turning from the land trade to, the sea, the routes are no less numerous or patronized. The whole coast of Southern Asia was familiar to the merchants and regular routes by sea were open, find· ing their natural termini in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Along this extensive seaboard on the Indian Ocean the rude craft crept timi,lly without the compass, but the markets of Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome were well stocked with the dainties of the far East. Another thrifty line of commerce found its way from the great river systems of what is to.day Russia, down through the Bosphorus. Still 3nother line came pouring into the outlet of the Mediterranean from distant Britain, and daring navigators pushed along the coast of the North Sea, and even penetrated the Baltic lands in search of trade. If a little later we find Christianity firmly planted in far-away places let us not be astonished. The door was providentially open and the missionaries of the early church could easily enter. A very large portion of the earliest evangelists were merchants, and the laity from the first have furnished the main agencies for the spread of the Gospel.
Garrisons of Roman soldiers were stationed all along the borders of the empire. These military barracks soon became centres from which Christianity could spread outside the civilized world. The new religion took easily to the Roman camp and these isolated spots along the Rhine, the Danube, the Euxine and the Euphrates became points of light. Tracing the legend of St. George back to the facts of which it is a distortion, we find that he was one of these Roman soldiers. When the armies pushed beyond the boundaries of the empire Christianity was sure to go with them. Christian soldiers captured and enslaved by barbarians were the means of converting whole nations.
Another geographical condition of the greatest importance to Christianity was the wide extent of the territory over which the Greek and the Latin languages were spoken. The administration of civil and military government was through the Latin. The language of business, science and literature was the Greek. At the opening of the Christian era Hellenistic Greek was the lingua Franca of the Roman world. Greek colonies had been established all around the :Mediterranean, and these had determined the language of commerce-there has never been an instance in history where the language of commerce has failed finally to win its way to every station of life. It is a truism that Greek letters and arts conquered Rome more effectually than the legions of the Republic had overcome the Peninsula of Hellas. The New Testament was composed in this universal language, and all through the early centuries Christian churches were Hellenistic. Later on the Latin tongue took the supremacy in the 'Vestern world and still remains the liturgical language of the majority of Christians.
But more important to the Christian Church than any of the conditions mentioned was the geographical distribution of the Hebrew race. Everywhere synagogues were the early preaching-places of the apostles, and the majority of the Christians of the first century were of Jewish extraction. Christianity, as the fulfillment of the Old Testament religion, naturally turned to the be,lievers in that Revelation. Providentially, it seems, these seven millions of people, with their monotheism, their nobler conceptions of God and their purer ethics and life had been scattered broadcast over the Roman world and even beyond its boundaries. The Sibylline oracle says that "every land and every sea" was filled with them. Strabo, writing of the century before Christ, says that the Jewish people had already come into every city and that it was not easy to find a place in the world which had not received this race and was not occupied by them. Josephus, Philo, imperial epistles, as well as the Acts of the Apostles, tell the same story. Forcibly torn from their country, frightened away from Palestine, the battle-ground of the Asiatic world, enticed away by flattering offers from Ptolemy, Seleucidae and Roman governors, lured to the most distant climes by the hope of gain-this race started out on the most singular career history can show us of a nation keeping its nationality without a national terri- tory.
Let" us notice more particularly their whereabouts in the year 30 A.D. There were three centres about which the Jews were gathered in masses-Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia-although some parts of Asia Minor and Cyrene in Africa might almost be ranked with the three·mentioned. At the time of which we are dealing there were, according to the latest and best authorities, four million Jews in Syria from the Taurus range to the Sinaitic peninsula-a population twice as large as that occupying that same region to-day. Jerusalem, Damascus and Antioch were the centres; but we may suppose that every city and village in Syria had representatives, and that houses of prayer were found everywhere.
In Egypt Philo (an Alexandrian Jew born about 20 B. c.) estimated that there were one million Jews out of a total of nine million inhabitants. The city of Alexandria had several quarters occupied exclusively by this race. Prayer-houses were found all over the city. Jews were scattered overthe Delta and up the Nile we know not how far. The Falashas of Abyssinia to-day indicate a powerful Jewish influence on the upper Nile at an early period. The Jewish sect of the Therapeutre had their chief seat on Lake Maroetis. The influence of the Alexandrian Jews was all out of proportion even to their great numbers.
There were one million Jews in Mesopotamia and Babylonia, on the very b,:mier of the empire. These were the descendants of those members of the ten tribas and of the Kingdom oi Judah, who had been carried away in captivity and had not returned. In fact, after the so-called return from captivity these eastern communities seem continually to have grown by accessivns from all parts. J osephud count:'! these colonies of his people not by thousands but by millions. The Talmudic schools of Babylon were equally influential with the western schools. Elsewhere it is estimated that there were scattered one million Jews, making seven millions in all. They seem to be living everywhere in Asia Minor. Strabo divides the inhabitants of Cyrene into four classes-citizens, agriculturists, metoikoi andJewsshowing that this race, so troublesome to the Roman authorities, was numerous there. We find traces of Jews all along the north coast of Africa. In Thrace, Macedonia and Greece we know from the Book of the Acts that they were plentiful. Agrippa's epistle to Caligula. also gives ample evidence. At Rome and Puteoli there were large colonies of Jews-Cicero, Suetonius, Philo and Josephus are our witnesses for Italy. They were found in Spain and Gaul in all the cities. 'Herod Archilaus was banished to Vienne and Herod Antipas to Lugdunum (I,yons) both in the Rhone Valley. Outside the Roman empire we know there were Jews in Ethiopia, Southern Arabia, Ar-' menia, Iberia, Chalchis, Crimea, II.):rcania, and even in distant China.. In fact, it is difficult to mention a district of the known world at the date 30 A.D., which did not have representatives of the Jewish race.
These, then, were the more important geographical conditions that faced the Pentecostal church of six score members. There was the Roman empire with its roads and harbors and languages. All about this lay unknown lands and tribes with theil' unnumbered millions. Scattered all over the known world were the Jewswho furnished just so many open doors to the religion ,of the Messiah. It will be the object of succeeding papers to show how the little church threw 'itself fearlessly into the conflict, and won province after province for the kingdom of its. Master, and to show how we have entered into their labors.
THE RAPID GROWTH OF ASIATIC POPULATIONS.
. This is written you from one of our inland stations, one of ~ group of a dozen villages right round about. The one thing that always strikes me in a Chinese town or village is the number of small children that are running loose all around. One thing is certain, the population of this already overgrown empire is certain to be kept ur.
More than that, it is growing within the past twenty-five years with increased rapidity. One estimate puts it now at a yearly advance of four millions. We dwell on the growth of our own population at home, but China is advancing nearly three times as fast. Forty millions in ten years is enough to start and stock a new nation.
Japan, too, is growing rapidly in numbers. A few years ago the people were estimated at thirty-seven or thirty-eight millions. Now the government puts them at forty millions. India, too, shows remarkable results. The census is taken there with great care by the British government. The last census was taken in 1881. Since the previous one taken along from 1867 to 1872 in the different provinces, the gain had been 15,010,304. In all these cases the population is by natural increa~e, and not, as in the United States, by immigration.
These are solemn and impressive figures taken in their 'bearing 011 Christian r'nissions. It will not do to wait till the Jerusalem folks are all converted. ""V. ASHMORE. Swatow, Ohina.
ARE WE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST?
ARE WE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST?
[FOR THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.] " 'Vhosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."-Luke xiv: 33.
"One thing thou Iackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow me."-Mark x: 21.
" But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet."-Acts v: 1,2.
Examining ourselves, as individuals and as churches, how many disciples of Christ can we find, according to the criterion He has es- tablished in the explicit rule and the explicit injunction above quoted?
No dodging! Let us not get behind the pretense of a heart forsaking, while our hands tenaciously grasp the bulk of our possessions. Let us at least not mock God and" lie unto the Holy Ghost," by saying, "Yes, Lord, I give all to 'fhee," while we actually give nothing, or a dole, or a tithe; lest we join ourselves with Ananias and Sapphira.
in infamy as well as perdition. " Itwere better not to vow."
But all of us members of evangelical churches have thus vowed.
We have all made the profession, or pretense, of Ananias and Sap- phira. 'Ve have consecrated ourselves and all that we have-our persons, our possessions and our children to the Lord. WHERE then are the proceeds? Are they fully laid at His feet, according to the profession? Or is a " part" of them" kept back"? Is it an honest profession, or a lying pretense like that of those two dreadful monu- ments of the Lord's indignation at hypocrisy in the Church? 'Ve do not know how large a part Ananias and Sapphira kept back. Proba- bly it was a small proportion, such as they thought would not be noticed. How many modern Ananiases and Sapphiras are agreeing together to tempt the Spirit of ~he Lord, while joining in the com- muniun of His supreme self-sacrifice, by keeping back, not a minor proportion, but NEARLY ALL, of that which they have solemnly and Imblicly dedicated.
Far be it from us to judge one another. But let us remember that there is a Judge, and that if we would judge ourselves we shoald not be judged. Let us not flatter ourselves, or each other, with vain hopes in Christ that are explicitly excluded by His own reiterated warnings. Can sinners hope for heaven Who love this world so well ?
And are not the ministers of Christ themselves derelict if they €ncourage, even tacitly, the assumption of discipleship on the part of those who give no evidence of a bonafide assignment of so much as thcir pr-operty to the Lord that bought them?
W. C.
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS. 12::>
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK.
-De Macedonier gives the following statistics for Java: 'Vest Java, 11 missionaries, 21 congregations, 20 helpers, 1,963 souls; Bagalen, 4 missic;maries, 60 congregations, 2helpers, 5,937 souls; Salatega Mission, 5 missionaries, 18 congregations, 6 helpers, 534 souls; East Java, 9 missionaries, 27 congregations, 54 helpers, 6,276 souls. Whole number of souls, 14,710. In 1886, 10,979. Increase, 3,731; yearly rate, 11i per cent.
-De Heidenbode, the organ of the Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Zendingsvereeniging (Netherlands Reformed Missionary Association) says very pertinently: "When the sigh ascends from the churches to heaven: 'Lord, the 1,000,000,000 souls of the unchristian world have no bread,' whatis his answer? The same as in the wilderness to his disciples: 'Give ye them to eat.' He was compassionately willing to feed the hungering multitudes, yet he sent down no bread from heaven, and brought up no fish from the sea. The disciples were to give them what they had, and this He blesses, so that there is enough and to spare. Even so, He does not preach the Gospel to the nations through angels, or send down Bibles from heaven in all the varying tongues of earth. We are to give them what we have, and He will add the blessing. "
-The Journal des Missions for September, 1890, gives account of the baptism at Thaba-Bossiou, in Lessuto, of 90 adults.
-The following letter of welcome from King Lewanika, on the Zambesi, to M. Adolph Jalla, is not a bad letter from a heathen king: "To the new missionary, health! Come soon with the peace of thy God. I thank thee for thy letter. I too would fain see thee and salute thee soon, new missionary! I shall soon rejoice to see thee with my eyes. Health, health, it is I who love thee.-LEwANIKA."
-The Journal des Missions, .speaking of the efforts making by some governments to decoy the missionaries into the service of their particular interests, says: "Woe to the herald of the good news of Christ's free salvation who lets himself be enticed by a worldly master, under the cover of promoting civilization, into the service of colonial interests! Here, as elsewhere, everything goes to show that no man can serve two masters, that the church and the world are two distinct domains, that the salvation of souls and the supposed interests of colonists are the most often mutually incompatible."
-The definitive recognition, by England, of Madagascar as under the protectorate (a polite way of saying under the dominion) of France, has led to well-founded apprehensions concerning the London Society's missions there, which have Christianized the ruling tribe of the Hovas. We remember only too well the declaration of the Protestant Guizot: "France abroad means Catholicism." To be sure, the treaty expressly provides that" in the island of Madagascar the missionaries of the two countries shall enjoy a complete protection, religious tolerance, liberty for all forms of worship and for religious instruction are guaranteed." But who believes that if the Jesuits once more came to govern France they would allow it to keep this treaty except evasively? And England is not now the England of Cromwell, or even of Chatham. However, the Protestant steadfastness of Queen Pomare and the Tahitians will doubtless be emulated by Queen Ranavalona and the Hova churches. It is a matter of great thankfulness that the Protestant mission of our French brethren on the Zambesi is likely to be rescued from the ignoble clutch of Portugal and assigned to the benign guardianship of England. The inroads of the children of Mammon, unhappily, cannot be restrained by any power. " Never," says the Journal, "has the world witnessed a partition so gigantic. Whatever may come of it, He that sitteth in the heavens (says yet) I have set my Ki.ng upon my holy hill of Zion."
It is not to be understood, of course, that all the French colonial officers are hostile to Protestant missions. Some are themselves Protestants, and others are friendly to every elevating influence abroad, Protestant or Catholic. M. de Brazza, the great agent of extending the French authority along the right bank {)f the lower Congo, has himself urged the Societe des Missions to establish its mission on the Congo, and promised it his best support. And, although since the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, the French Protestants are only some 600,000 out of 38,000,000, yet their greater mental freedom, more earnest religion, and higher moral standard, make them an antagonizing power manifold greater than their numbers against both atheism and ultramontanism.
-Dr. Warneck, in the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, in answer to a deprecatory remark of Major Wissmann, that Protestant missions ought not to shrink from criticism, observes very pertinently that Protestants criticise their own missions rather too much than too little. Roman Catholics, possessed as they are with the instinct of infallibility, do not criticise theirs at all.
Major Wissmann puts the Roman Catholic missions in Africa above the Protestant, as putting the labora before the ora (which they would hardlyacknowledge), declaring that the Protestants reverse the order. Dr. Warneck replies that they do neither the one nor the other, but, as commanded by Jesus Christ, teach faith in Him, which then becomes the inner principle of both prayer and labor. Dr. Wissmann, like most of such men, seems to regard the Africans only in one light-their relation to the labor market. But, as Dr. Warneck remarks, the Catholic missionaries have bought children (doubtless with the most benevolent intentions) over whom they have power. The Protestants exhort to industry free people, over whom they have only influence. The immediate industrial results, therefore, are more noticeable on the side of the former. The lasting results will turn more largely to the credit of the latter. Even now Major Wissmann acknowledges that, industrially, the Livingstonia Mission equals the best Catholic misl!ions. The trouble with the Catholic missions is, that however benevolently they treat their converts, in so many cases they do not teach them how to go alone.
Dr. Warneck remarks that, although where the Roman Catholics, as in China, have been laboring for three centuries, they have naturally an absolutely greater number of converts, yet they seldom have relatively so large a number if we compare time, outlay, and number of laborers, and that in fields where they and the Protestants have both labored for nearly the same time, the absolutely greater number of converts is almost everywhere on the Protestant side, excluding the European immigrants whom the Catholic reports count in, and whom the Protestant reports count out. Even in East Africa, to which Major 'Wissmann principally refers,the Catholics (not including Uganda.the statistics of which are undetermined) only claim some 2,000 converts, over against some 4,500 of the Protestant missions.
"The present Protestant missions proceed simply in theway of the apostolic missions, when they put their confidence, not in the forms of outward worship, but in the power of evangelical truth. And to-day, also, we do not find that this confidence puts us to shame, as is shown by the results of our missions, e.g., in the South Sea Islands, as well as in West and East Africa, where we have gathered fully a million of free Christians from among the heathen into well organized, and in part already independent, churches. We may well allow that the outward worship of the Roman Church has a certain share in the results of her mission; but much more are these owing to other outward means, e.g., purchase of children, concession of temporal advantages, employment of the civil power, connivance with heathen irregularities, etc."
-In' view of the sharp national animosities, which have attached them- selves to the relations between the Anglo-American Stanley and the German Emin Pasha, the following judgment of Stanley, founded on his latest book, from the great German missionary magazine, is of much value. The Zeit- schrift, has throughout, while genuinely German, held itself clear of all exag- gerated nationalism, in matters which concern universal.humanity and the kingdom of God: "This book leaves no doubt that in Stanley we have to do not only with one of the most heroic, circumspect, enduring of travelers, but also with a warm friend of mankind, a great student of human nature, a wise dealer with men, and a conscientious performer of the commissions assigned to him. He is not lacking in self-consciousness, and the energy with which he is wont to act sometimes verges on recklessness; but without the inflexible firm- ness, which ever and anon degenerates into harshness, he would never have overcome the absolutely gigantic difficulties which lay in his way, and never have attained his end. But Stanley is by no means merely a valiant man of iron will, he has also a warm heart, is full of motherly carefulness, fidelity and devotion to his friends, white and black, nor is he wanting in humility and a sound feeling of piety." He would hardly be a Welshman if his sense of religion were not strong.
-The Societe Centrale Protestante d'Evangelisation, in its forty-third an- nual report, that of 1889, says: "It has a faith, and it confesses it. In this re- gard it has gone beyond the Synod of 1872. It used to be said, as it still is: Why these doctrines? Is not life enough? Bring near the prophets, remove the doctors; inflame the heart and take no care about the head. Inflame the heart with what? The heart, too, has need of reasons, and the reasons of the heart are the very doctrines which you reject. According as these doctrines are pre$ent or absent, religious fervor increases or declines. History teaches us that in all times moral is closely connected with doctrinal relaxation. Why, then, should we separate the prophets and the doctors, as if they did not belong together? They imply each other, they do not exclude each other. Let me only cite three names: St. Paul, St. Augustine, Luther-three glorious prophets and three illustrious doctors. But for the doctrines which it has adopted and propagated, the Central Society would not have done what it has done, for it would neither have felt nor kindled the same confidence."
-" France is divided into two camps, of equal passion, if not of equal strength. The religious society anathematizes the civil society; the civil society anathematizes the religious society, and ever and anon the one point on which they seem to agree is that it is the duty of each to murder the other. Lost in this tumult of battle, what are we doing, we, French Protestants of every denomination? We maintain religious faith and bless social progress. We show France how she may be at one with herself, and be at the same time Christian and liberal. If, weaned of their bitter and resultless struggles, civil and religious society are minded some. day to make peace, they will make it, not under our name, indeed, but on our territory. The triumph of Protestant principles, whether under Protestant forms or not, is the religious future of our country, and of every country." Free religion, not in the infidel but in the Christian sense, as against the compelled religion of the middle ages.
-The Danish churches raised for missionary purposes in 1888, about $24,000. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN EXTRACTS.
-The Church Missionary Gleaner for October reports as ready to go out six university men, six clergymen from the Islington school, nineteen single ladies and four others. Adding the wives-" whom we must never leave out of account "-and there is a total of ninety-one new missionaries. "But the day is rapidly coming when that will seem quite small."
-It seems that, as with the ark of old, each African tribe has been afraid to keep the bones of Bishop Hannington, being persuaded that the wrath of heaven has attended each attempt to detain them, until at last they are given to an Englishman who comes from the coast "by the route which Hannington" in his last moments, declared that he died to secure!"
-Miss Ridley, lately gone to China, says in the Gleaner: "I do not do much else but study. I am standing, as it were, on the brink of a wonderful ocean –this difficult, interesting and fascinating language-just playing with a few of the drops."
-It is known that the aborigines of Japan are the Ainos, or Ainus, now mostly found in the northern island, Yezo. They are very degraded, but are said to be rather of our type of race than of the Mongolian. It has been questioned whether they have retained any religion. But the Church Missionary Society missionary to them, Rev. J. Batchelor, writes in the Gleaner, that " they firmly believe in a God who is the life giver and benevolent sustainer of all, and they thankfully and dutifully acknowledge His gifts and mercies."
-It is known how highly the Church of Scotland, both Established and Free, values education in India. It is now, in the Established branch, engaged in reviewing this whole question, and corresponding widely with authorities in Indian affairs. Some of the answers deserve reporting: Sir Charles U. Aitchison, late lieutenant-governor of the Punjab, is very sure that if the chasm now yearning in Hindu belief is filled up by an unchristian theism, the church will have all the sapping and mining to do over again. He mentions the American College at Lahore, as one of the types of schools that ought to be multiplied through India, giving university training, together with the steady personal application of Christian truth by cultivated men. "God forbid," he says, "that I should undervalue preaching and evangelizing. I believe India is only waiting for some native St. Paul to turn by thousands to the Lord. But the more active you are in your schools the better you will be prepared for that day when it comes." Even now, he says, the most and the best converts are from the schools. f Sir William Wilson Hunter says that a Christian government cannot give anti-christian, and, in India, cannot give Christian teaching. The result is deplored, deservedly, by the natives of India. Missionary schools alone can make good the lack. Such schools the government feels free to aid. " It would not do," he says, "that just as Hinduism and Mohammedanism are entering the field of education more largely, Scotland should withdraw from it. Alexander Duff and John Lawrence," he remarks, " went to India in one fear. One saved India for England; the other rescued Christianity from sinking again into such a degradation as that into which the uneducated' Portuguese Christians' had brought it."
Sir William Muir, Sir Henry Ramsay and Sir Richard Temple give similar testimony.
The Rev. Robert Clark, of the Church Missionary Society, thinks that there are friendly Hindu and Moslem teachers whose influence is positively better than that of some nominally Christian teachers. He calls them "Hiram's Carpenters. " It is an error to suppose that the Scottish Establishment in India spendo chiefly for schools. £2,492 is spent for them; £5,488 on evangelistic work.
The Rev. D. Mackicham, D.D., of the Free Church, remarks that there are fewer conversions now at such schools than at first. This he attributes (1) to the great modifications of Hinduism, giving a temporary resting-place to many; (2) to the religious indifference of the age; (3) to the stronger political life awakening in India, carrying off much moral force–all temporary causes, but operative at present.
The Rev. A. Clifford, of the Church Missionary Society, says that "Dr. Duff's converts are the backbone of the native church in Bengal." Few, but mighty.
Bishop Caldwell and Mr. Sharrock declare that these higher schools are the unly way of reaching the higher castes. The Roman Catholics, moreover, are waking up to the importance of education, and the question is, into which scale enlightened India shall be thrown.
James Wilson, Esq., twenty-five years missionary in India, says that the condition of India, that is, especially of Hinduism, with iis compact society and overmastering religion, is unique. Individual conversions cannot be there, at present, the main end. India is a mighty rock to be tunneled, and educa- tion is the process of tunneling. The rate of conversion among the aborig- ines, who may be called the soft rock, does not at all give the rate among the Hindus, who are emphatically the hard rock. As yet, no method of labor has gained many conversions from Hinduism proper. That mission schools have not, therefore, is not against them, while for ultimate results we may well re- gard them as an indispensable agency.
The Hindus are beginning to be alarmed at the absence of ethicai teaching from the government schools. One Hindu journal, quite independent of direct missionary influence, calls for the introduction of a little book, called" The Precepts of Jesus," compiled by Rajah Ramahun Roy, the original leader, I believe, of the Brahmo Somaj. Says Mr. Wilson: "I have nothing to say against other methods of spreading the truth; but I, for one, have no regrets that so many years of my life were spent in India in diffusing among the young people of that country knowledge of any and every kind, including that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation."
Judge Roberts, of the Punjab, brings like testimony to the grievous decline of morality and integrity which has followed the divorce of religion and education. The Rev. S. S. Allnutt, M.A., late of Cambridge, nowof Delhi, says that this system starves the HiNdu conscience, already weak, and leaves the intellectual to struggle with. the animal nature, aggravated by an English propaganda of atheism, "rampant, vaunting, undisguised." The vile Bradlaugh has recently, we remember, visited India, partly to prosecute this apostolate of hell. Even the Mohammedans, it appears (except the heretical Shiites) disdain to acknowledge sin before God, or profess repentance of it. Mr. Allnutt wholly condemns the too usual practice of allowing heathen teachers to give formal instruction in Christain doctrine. _ The Rev. John Paton, formerly chaFllain in Bombay says: "Convert all the aboriginal types and leave the Brahmanical castes untouched, and you have only touched Hindu religion by the fringe. Neglect neither Aryans nor non- Aryans, nor the methods best suited to the genius of either. A mighty citadel (and no citadel of heathenism compares with Hinduism) must be besieged with infinite patience and manful use of every form of appliance." Principal Miller, of Madras, says that the Jesuits have a broad outlook, and the Protestant missions, as yet, a narrow one. Shall educated India, he asks, be Jesuit or Protestant? He strongly condemns the helter-skelter mutual emu- lation of Protestant schools. One-fourth of their revenues, he says, have been spent in paralyzing another fourth.
Mr. Mozumdar, the Brahmo Somaj leader, says that he knows mission school graduates above others by their superior moral principle and greater firmness of character.
A Hindu jurist, callmg for religious education in government schools, de- clares it better that a few should embrace the faith of Christ than that all should become practical atheists.
The Rev. John Monson, B.D., of Calcutta, says that if Protestants do not want Protestant Christianity in India to be absorbed by Roman Catholicism, they must not relax, but intensify, their efforts for the higher education.
The Rev. Johr. Crawford, B.D., says: "Christ has gained, because natives have seen men of all Christian creeds in Britain establishing Christian colleges."
The Rev. Herbert J. Thomas remarks: "The best that the natives of India can say of the English Government is that it is without religion; and they think no better of the English on that account, as their newspapers abundantly show."
On the other hand, various eminent authorities, among them Sir Monier Williams, speak doubtfully as to the results of these schools.
In 1863 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland decided that its higher schools in India should be deeply modified, in the direction of much fuller instruction in religion. Thus modified, it appears to be the mind of the present Missionary Committee, that they ought decidedly to be maintained, as being a needed counteractive to the irreligion of the government schools, and as peculiarly agreeable to the Scottish genius. The General Assembly is yet to take action on the report of the committee.
The Colonial and Continental Church Society, an Anglican institution, formed "to send clergymen, cathechists and schoolma:sters to the colonies of Great Britain and to British residents in other parts of the world," is important among those many semi-missionary societies called into being by the peculiar nature and relations of that dominion" on which the sun never sets." Its total income for 1889-90 was £35,668, of which £17,600 was raised at home, the remainder in the colonies and on the continent. The society takes a part in the Indian missions of British America. It also aims at commending to the French-Canadians a purer form of the Gospel. It appears to represent principally the evangelical school of the Church of England. We observe that the Marquis of Salisbury is one of its subscribers, and that his eminent competitor is not. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel seems to do the same work for the High Church party, although it is an extensive, and in various places rather an interfering, foreign missionary society.
-The Church Missionary Intelligencer for October, 1890, remarks: "The British Empire at the present time is five times larger than that of ancient Persia under Darius; it is four times larger than that of Rome under Augustus; and it is one-eighth larger than all the Russias put together; it is three times the size of the United States, sixteen times that of France, and forty times that of Germany, if we leave out of account her recently acquired territory in Africa. Now, if we admit that God guides the affairs of men, surely there must be some sufficient reason fot placing such. vast popUlations under our control, and when we remember that all these pos~essions have come to us since. the Reformation, it seems as if we had in this fact a hint as to what the reason is!"
-The same number of the Intelligencer, warning against expectations of what may be called a tumultuary movement of conversion in India, says: "In very truth there is no possibility in India of such a thing as a popular movement. There is no public opinion-how could there be in a body of 250,000,000 of people, of divers races, speaking a great number of different languages, and disintegrated by the cleavage of caste, by no means conformable to the strata of society? The conversion of a whole caste would render that of the next above it none the easier, rather all the more difficult. The ocean of Indian thought has been for ages stagnant; there are in it neither tides nor prevailing currents. But the w~ter of life is pouring into it, and creating, at all events, local eddies, which go swirling onwards steadily, spite of their back-waters, towards the throne of Christ."
-The Intelligencer quotes from two organs of·two branches of the Brahmo Somaj the two following declarations: "Christ Jesus. . is as much necessary in this age and in India as He was 1,800 years ago in Judea. As sinful children of men, we, the people of India, are as much in need of the Living Son of the Living God as the people of Judea were in days gone by." "In Christ, humanity, possessing nothing, not even a stone to lay its head upon, declared nothing good but its Father in heaven, surrendered itself wholly to His will, was tortured and killed, and finally was raised to eternal glory and everlasting blessedness. Humanity was reconciled to divinity, and the earth witnessed the rare spectacle of a divine humanity reigning over her." The editor remarks: ,. There is something of a perverse current there, a tendency to philosophize away the realism of Christ's redemption, which is characteristically Indian. But let the Indian mind take its own course-it will be guided at last to the personal acceptance of Christ."
The Rev. Worthington Jukes, of the Afghan Mission of the C. M. S., speaks of a baptized convert of ten years' standing, Hazrat Ali Shah, as being a lineal descendant of Mohammed. He has given up his government appointment to devote himself to mission work.
-The Intelligencer, complaining of the abundance of orthodoxy and the lack of moral feeling in the negro Christianity of West Africa, remarks: "It is not a Luther that is wanted; it is a John the Baptist." Yet it remarks that there is enough of the right spirit to be making a visible impression on the Mohammedans.
-It is known that there is a difference of opinion among missionaries, here and there, as to the use of the native instead of the European dress. There can be no doubt, however, as to the wisdom of Dr. Harford-Battersby's course on the Upper Niger. He says, in the Intelligencer: "For the first time adopted the native dress. Found it very comfortable, and well adapted to the climate. The turban, I believe, is far the best protection from the sun; the tabe, or gown, which is very loose, admits of free ventilation, and at the same time can be modified to suit almost any change of the weather except rain. Below we have the loose trousers and sandals for the feet-very comfortable. It is delightful altogether to have discarded boots and socks." Elsewhere it is remarked how pleased the people are to have the white men condescend to dress like themselves!
-The Intelligencer for October gives from the Matin the following statistics of Roman Catholic missions, mostly French, in Central Africa. The Catholic Missions of Lyons have in the Kingdom of Benin 6 stations, 1 college, 10 schools, 8 orphanages; on the Gold Coast, 6 stations, 3 schools and orphanages; on the Niger, 2 schools and 2 orphanages; in Dahomey, 8 stations,4 schools and 5 orphanages. The Brethren of the Holy Ghost have in Cimbabasie 4 stations, schools and 1seminary; in Gaboon, 6 stations, 3industrial schools; in Senegambia, 15 stations, 1 seminary, 1 printing office, 16 schools, 1 industrial school, 1 orphanage and 1 asylum; at Sierra Leone, 2 stations and schools; in French Congo, 7 stations, 5 schools; in the Lower Congo, 9 stations,l seminary, 5 schools; in Zanzibar, 11 stations, 6 schools, 2 hospitals, 1 industrial school. The White Fathers (Cardinal Lavigerie's missionaries) have in Nyassaland 2 stations, 3 orphanages, 4 schools; in the Sahara, 7 stations; in Kabylia, 1 station; in Nizab, 12 stations, 8 schools, 2 seminaries, 8 orphanages; Upper Congo. 2 stations, 4 schools; in Unyanyembe, 2 stations; at Zanzibar, 1 station; at Tanganyika, 3 stations, schools and orphanages.
-The Intelligencer remarks: "India is becoming more and more visited in the cold season, not only by politicians, and litterateurs, and students, and sportsmen, but by the messengers of Christ. The' missioner' is becoming as distinct a variety of them as the' missionary.'"
-The Bishop of Lahore, at a recent C. M. S. meeting in India, referred to the noble work opening in Kashmir. He said that many converts had recently been gathered in, and all over the district congregations of seventy or eighty met in the simplest of little churches for worship. These churches had not cost more than a rupee per sitting, if he might use that term, for, with the exception of the Bishop, for whom, in consideration of his infirmities, a chair was provided, sittings there were none [laughter]; the people all sat on the ground. The simple service was conducted and joined in with great fervor, and his heart was much touched by a beautiful cUdtom they had of repeating Jai Prabhu Yesu (Victory to the Lord Jesus) as they rose at the conclusion of their service.
STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.
Mr. Max Wood Moorhead writes that: " A Conference of the Student Volunteer Movement is to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, February 26th to March 1st. "The objects are: (1) To bring volunteers and secretaries of foreign mission societies into personal contact; (2) to acquaint the Church with the character, scope and purpose of 'the movement'; (3) to stimulate and arouse to action student volunteers. Christian citizens offer to entertain a thousand guests, and volunteers in hundreds will probably avail themselves of this hospitality. "Such a convention will give secretaries of various boards in the United States and Canada opportunity to confer with candidates, and define the relation which should exist between them; and societies will communicate their spirit and their methods. "The following societies have been invited to send representatires: Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the American Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance, the Canadian Inter-Collegiate Missionary Alliance, the United Society of Christian Endeavor, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the Epworth League, etc. From many missionary agencies comes the cry of' Debt!' 'Retrench!' The Church seems largely indifferent to the Master's appeal for laborers. We earnestly hope and pray that this gathering may result in a renewed spirit of obedience to the command of Christ, and, consequelitly, the actual sending forth of many laborers. "Foreign missionaries, now at home on furlough, from' every quarter of the globe, will be present. "Will the readers of THE REVIEW pray that all prepartions may be in conformity to God's will, and that all who participate in the coming Conference may be led by the Holy Spirit?"
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND· CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Editorial Items.-[J. T. G.] mission agents, whether English or It will be gratifying to the friends African, that are, in their jUdgment, "vessels meet for the Master's use." of humanity everywhere, to know Earthen vessels they may be; we do that at the last Holland signed the not look for perfection in human in- agreement of the Brussels Confer- struments or instrumentalities; but .ence, authorizing a tariff for revenue ~ve do deeply feel that true missionary work is the Getting forth of the Lord in the Congo Free State, to raise a Jesus Christ both as Saviour and as special fund for the suppression of the King and that this work must be slave trade. If she had held out in done 'by those who, however feeble in themselves, do know Him as their her refusal to concur, the entire Brus- Saviour and obey Him as their King, sels Conference would have been a and who seek, by the power of the failure, as it required unanimous con- Holy Ghost, to be examp~es ': in w<,>r?, in conversation, in chanty, m spInt, sBeenrtlinofTtrheeatysio~f-na1t8o8r5y, powers to the in faith, in purity." to make it ef- -It would be amusing, if it were fective in this modification of the free not so serious, to note the present con- troversyabout mission comity. Here trade clause of the original constitu- are the Baptists criticising the Method- ists for entering Rangoon, and the tion. Lutherans in turn criticising the Bap- tists in. Guntur because they "im- -It is time the good people of this mersed several of their teachers under discipline for irregular conduct." Then country gave a half-hour to the man- we have the Church of England Mis- sionary Society complained of by the ner in which the United States Gov- Presbyterians in Persia, for interfer- ing with their constituency, and so on, ernment is made to play the part of sometimes with cause, and, possibly, sometimes without cause, for we do procuress in the case of Chinese w0n;ten not claim to pass judgment on any of these cases. And all this comes on us at San Francisco. We are not saymg when the brethren are reading essays and making addresses on missionary a word now in favor of letting the comity. We printed in May last an able paper read before the Calcutta Chinese in, nor about our disreputable Missionary Conference on this subject by Bishop Thoburn. That met with a violation of treaty with China; but rejoinder in the same conference by Rev. Mr. Clifford, and now the subabout those who are let in, and the ject is treated in the December num- ber of The Church Mis.'lionary Intellipurposes for which they are admitted.
No Chinese can be landed without a writ of habeas corpus from the district court of the United States. Eleven thousand of these have been issued in order to land Chinese men and women, and ninety-nine out of every hundred of these women are known to be brought hither for the vilest uses of white men as well as Chinese. The President and his Cabinet ought not to allow the majesty of law to screen slavery and lust after this fashion.
-Here is a model utterance by the gencer. The writer concludes by Church of England Missionary Society saying facetiously: "The American in connection with some administra- missionary, though often a magnifitive difficulties in one of their West cent specimen of a Christian gentle- Africa missions, which might well be man is, nevertheless, to the end an adopted as a manifesto by all mis- American, given to going ahead, and -sionary societies: not absolutely beyond the temptation of filibustering. And the English The Committee are solemnly deter- missionary is apt to be ineradicably a mined in humble dgeivpeentdheenSc~eciuetpyo'ns Divine' strength, to support only to mission agenCies and John Bull, accustomed to dwelling on an island, and with no particularpen- next ten years, and hence it is now chant for being interfered with by two-hundred-fold greater than it others." But during the while in was at the beginning of the present which these various brethren discuss century. and re-discuss the modifications nec- essary in the mission co-operative Mr. Gladstone says we have not only policy of the past, a writer in the Har- multiplied wealth in a ratio that is un- vest Fieldsuggests some modus vivendi precedented in the world's history, that the work be not hindered. but we have multiplied the variety of pleasures which wealth commands, What About Our Surplus Wealth 7 also, in a correspondingly unparalleled degree. The New York World recently pub- lished a list of the richest people ia the Archdeacon Farrar is credited with United States, with a rough estimate the statAment that the working-classes of their wealth. We say rough esti- of Great Britain are saving annually mate because when one of these five hundred millions of dollars, and gentlemen, in a legal proceeding, tes- the British nation fifteen hundred miltified, as is asserted, that he could not lions. tell within ten or twelve millions of dollars what his fortune did amount The Japan Mail some while ago to, he only represented the rest of the said there was wealth enough in a very wealthy persons whose fortunes single block of warehouses, between are in part in more or less fluctuating Cornhill and Regent streets, in London securities. It is not assumed there- to buy up the whole of Yeddo, Japan, fore, by us, that the article referred and possibly five times over. It is disto presents precise knowledge, and tinctly the Christian nations that are in some cases may be grossly incor- adding in geometrical ratio to their rect. surplus wealth.
Nevertheless, the outline stands sub- Allowing all this to stand for the stantially representative of the facts moment, take another factor, as well in the case. Here are the names, then, established as careful and consciof seventy-five individuals whose for- entious computation can make so intunes are estimated at more than five definite a propo~ition. It is stated millions of dollars. It includes three after careful examination that the inmen thought to be worth over one crease in the wealth of the Protestant hundred millions of dollars each, and Christians of the United States equals thirty-five individual fortunes which five hundred millions of dollars anexceed ten millions of dollars each. nually. That amounts to the assertion that every three years Protestant The leading statistician of Great Christendom in this country accumu- Britain is made responsible for the lates an aggregated surplus fortune, statement that the increase of the equal to the total estimated fortunes world's wealth between the years 1800 of a hundred and twenty-five of the and 1870 was greater than that of the wealthiest persons in the land, or that eighteen hundred years preceding each year Protestant Christians in this century; and, still further, that the United States lay by a fortune the increase of the wealth in the equal to the sum total accumulated world between the years 1870 and through many years by the Rockefel- 1880 was equal to that accumulated lers, Astors, Goulds and Vanderbi~ts, between 1800 and 1870. In other as estimated by the World's table. words, the world doubled its wealth in the first seventy years of this cen- Now, we have not a word, at this tury, and added an equal sum in the writing, to say about the special dan- gers to any community, in any coun- try or century, of such vast augmenta- tion of wealth. Mr. Gladstone has done well to point out that it is indi- economies; after-we repeat the sumrectly a fertile source of the negative mary-after it has used all it needed, religious tendency of our day. But given all it would, and wasted most we do not propose to moralize about wantonly, it yet has a reserve of unit in one way or another. What we spent fortune reaching the enormous write to accomplish is this: to press sum of $500,000,000 annually! home on every Christian in the land who has any surplus, who one year And this is not supposed to be thE> with another, or after an interval of "saving" of the irreligious or ignorant, ten years, finds he has accumulated but of the very best type of Christian some" savings," the question: What commonwealth. What ought we to are the special obligations growing do with this surplus? What account from savings? will we render of it at last? Not one- sixtieth of so much as these' , savings" If annually the Protestant Christians is given to save the world outside of of this land are accumulating five our country, adding what men give times the wealth of the few men who while living and leave after death. own a hundred millions of property after a lifetime, or as the accretions of We cast no reflections. We read no more than one generation, what is homilies. We prescribe no action.' this same Protestant Christendom pro- We only put an interrogation point posing to do with these five hundred before one part of the Christian millions of annual surplus? It must Church in the richest and most luxube borne in mind just what the charac- riant land on the globe over against ter of this is. It is not what these the increment of its savings. Christians now want. It is what is left. After our Protestant Christen- J. T. G. dom has supplied all its wants, catered as far as it pleases to all its whims, The Press in Heathen Lands. spent on its viands all it cared to indulge in, wornjust" as good or expen- BY J. T. GRACEY. sive raiment as it has pleased to buy, indulged itself in art and literature The area of the reading population and travel, spent on the education of of the worla has been vastly extended chilUren all it could be induced to within the century, and in heathen spend, made merry the Christmas and lands as a direct result, in large part, of other holidays, indulged ~n all lawful, the modernmission. In India the Hindu possibly some questionable amuse- and Mohammedan readers are increasments, hospitably and socially enter- ing at present at the rate of a million tained friends and neighbors; after it and a half a year. Before the translahas, besides all this, generously spent tion of the Bible scarcely one-thirtieth in charity and benevolences, sustained part of the population of Bengal could all the churches, built all the colleges, read, and at the beginning of this cenand subscribed as liberally as it could turythat vast province and its Bengalibe induced to subscribe for missions speaking millions had no prose literain this and other lands; after it has, ture; now it is extensive and rapidly in a word, been as public-spirited as increasing. it pleased to be in forwarding all humanitarianism and religion while What we say of Bengal is but typiliving, and bequeathed all it would to cal of the rest of India and of other be spent or given away after death parts of the Moslem and heathen -spent, donated, squandered, be- world where the mission has entered. queathed; and after it has wasted untold thousands, being reckless of Not to delay with further illustra- tions in heathen lands, though the literary vaulting of young Japan is a tempting theme, let us take a single illustration from Moslem literature. That we will select, not from Delhi or Lucknow, which furnish most start- publishes newspapers in a dozen oJ' ling and arousing facts of recent liter- morelanguages,would ofitselfindicate ary ventures, but from the dead-line the relation of the mission to literary of the Moslem intellect in the coun- activity. Butthe intent of this present tries lying on the eastern borders of paper is to call attention to the use the Mediterranean. We pass by the which is being made by the press of twenty millions of pages of Arabic some heathen lands in antagonism to literature issued in Beirut in 1889 by Christianity. Illustrations are abun-' the Presbyterians, because it is Chris- dant in Japan and in Moslem lands. tian, and even the great dictionaries, We will, however, limit ourselves to grammars and chrestomatics in Ara- selections from India. bic, of the Roman Catholic press at Beirut, for the same reason. All of the six hundred native news- papers of India, except a half-dozen, The Moslem literary stir is indicated may be set down as inimical to Chris- by the officially reported pUblications tianity. In all the larger Indian cities in Constantinople in three months of there'is a fair proportion of youths 1889, of which 143 were Turkish, 3 who have received an English educa- • Arabic, 2 F re~, and the others tion, many of whom are bitterly hos- in Armenian, Neo-Greek, Bulgarian, tile to Christianity. There is an abun- Servian, French and Italian. dant supply of imported European infidel literature sown broadcast Egypt is not a country to which one among these young men. But not is likely to turn to find the freshest only is the newspaper turned against literature. But the presses of Cairo us, but organizations modeled after are turning out works of vast impor- our Christian tract societies have been tance. The Turkish, dictiona~y, established and are in active operation. "Kamus," and the "Tag-al-aurus," The" Free Thought Depot" in Madras the great dictionary of classical Ara- issues a list of 124 separate works, in- bic, seven volumes-of the total ten- cl_ding 34 publications of Bradlaugh, of which have been issued in rapid suc- 19 of Mrs. Besant, 16 of Ingersoll, and cession, and which will cost, perhaps, others of Paine, Voltaire and other forty dollars, mark anything but a well-known infidel publicists. Inger- Dead Sea or a. low Nile of literary soll's lectures have the largest sale. interest. Some of these have deceptive titles. "A Bible Hand-book for Mission The modern newspaper has become School StUdents and Inquiring Chris- a power in these lands. Beirut pub- tians" and " The Bible Dissector for lishes eight political and four literary the Use of Mission School Students" and religious periodicals. Damascus, are illusive titles. The" Elements of Aleppo, Jerusalem and Bagdad have Social Economy" is said to be a most their newspapers. demoralizing advocacy of free lust, in which marriage is denounced. This We have said the missjon was the tract literature is being circulated by source or occasion of much of this benevolent contributions like those literary culture in all the lands where made to our own tract societies. Edu- it has entered. That might go with- cated natives are paying monthly sub- out the saying, but that we wish to scriptions of ten dollars to disseminate fasten responsibility on the mission to these tracts and books. One rajah in foster and direct, if it cannot control, Bengal is known to have subscribed the agency it has created or awakened ten thousand dollars for this object. into energy. That a single American Others are spending great sums for missionary society should have re- the purpose of printing literature in duced, through its agents, perhaps advocacy or defense of their own twenty languages to writing, and have published approaching three thousand writings in fifty or more dialects, and religions. Some of them are appeals of Jesus, and make a great pretence of humility. But inwardly they are to their own people to arouse them- saying: "Alas, has it come to this, selves because of the aggressions of that we should be beaten by these the Christain forces. people !" The famous poet, Shakspeare, Some of these tracts and booklets has' said: "Good wine needs no push." He means that if a thing really posare rejoillders to Christian books. sesses worth it needs not be puffed. Rev. Dunlap Moore's tract entitled For instance, a spicemonger, when "An Examination of Jainism" is an- his goods are worthless, makes a great swered in "A Reply to an Examina- display of them, and ostentatiously in- vites everybody whom he sees, saying: tion of Jainism, " or, in native words, "These are good spices; come and " a slap on the Christian face." Some buy." Not so the man who has really are curiously mixed. Here is one on good ones. People go to him wherever " A Warning to the Cow Protectors and he may be. Now you see missionaries going about. They say that the Bible, an Answer to Christians," one part de- which is impure and has not a grain fending cow killing, the other part of truth in it, is the word of God, and filled with sneers and taunts at the they shout in every street: "Come, missionaries. A Christian tract, " The brethren. This is an excellent religion, Choice of a Guru," claiming that Jesus a good caste." Why do they thus Christ is a world teacher, is answered shout? Because if they do not, not one person will go to them.
in another tract, "An Examination ***** of Jesus." Christians cast suspicion upon the More curious, however, is the cate- story that Hanuman (the monkey- -chism of the Hindu Tract Society, god) leapt over the sea to Ceylon. But an equal objection lies against the with sixteen questions and answers story of Christ walking on the sea. By bodily from the Westminster Cate- holding hi,. breath a person may leap chism, including the definition of God. an immense distance; but no amount of suppression will prevent a man All this is done because it is "good, and from drowning. To say that it will is Christianity borrowed it from Aryan- a lie. From incidents ,like these it is ism, which is chronologically the pre- clear that the Bible is the work of decessor of Christianity." man and not the word of God, and that But others are bitterly and blas- even Jesus Christ was only a man phemously antagonistic to Christianity like the rest of us. itself, and contain most wanton attacks on the Bible. This is illus- ***** llilissionaries say hat idolatry is child's play. But surely the worship trated in a wildly blasphemous Aryan of the cross is a superstition worthy of tract, published by the Hindu Tract scorn. It is only on a level with the Society, entitled "Jesus Christ a play of children who put up broom- Fool." It is said by the editor of the sticks and call them soldiers. These people put one stick across another Harvest Field to be too shocking to and worship it because Christ died on such a cross. They call our worship be translated for English readers. He, idolatry: we may well call theirs stickhowever, presents two ".mild" para- worship.
graphs, as he styles them, to show Now, there is really in all this the animus of the publication. We nothing to discour~ge, however it,may copy these for the same purpose: shock. We have long been familiar There are many sects in this world, with attacks like these from much and usually each sect contents itself with the practice of its own religion. better brains, and have learned how But it is not so with these Christians. futile they are.
They are bound to increase their num- But othertracts show still a different bers, and so they sent out missionaries, while they themselves remain quietly vein. Here is an extract from one published by the Arya Samaj, transat home. Is this just? These missionaries are ignorant and very covet- lated from the Tamil: ous. 'Vhen they are beaten or abused Missionaries come from Britain at or mocked they quote the commands a great cost and tell us that we are in heathen darkness, and that a bundle ing and virtual destruction that are of fables called the Bible is the true imminent. Hence the organization Vendanta (inspired book) which alone of clubs, the publication of tracts, can enlighten us. They have cast pamphlets, and articles in newspapers, their net over our children by teach- the appointment of learned men ing them in their schools, and they among them as preachers and defend- have already made thousands of Chris- ers of the old faith, the relaxation of tians, and are continuing to do so. caste rules and restrictions, and the They have penetrated into the most various other devices that are now be- out-of-the-way villages, and built ing employed to defeat the purpose of churches there. If we continue to the Lord and His people, and prop up sleep as we have done in the past not an effete and decaying system. And one will be found worshiping in our it is no small tribute to the value of temples in a very short time; why the the agency that we employ that our temples themselves will be converted opponents have taken a leaf out of the into Christian churches! Do you not Christian book, and are, in many know that the number of Christians is places, sedulously imitating our exincreasing and the number of Hindu ample. We engage evangelists and religionists decreasing every day? pay them; so do they; and when the How long will water remain in a well available local talent is not sufficient which continually lets out, but re- they look elsewhere, as is evidenced ceives none in? If our religion is by an advertisement for preachers incessantly drained by Christianity that has recently been appearing in without receiving any accessions, how the Bombay daily papers; the publican it last? When our country is cations of the several tract societies turned into the wilderness of Christi- are sought to be refuted by tracts and anity will the herb of Hinduism grow? leaflets, well written both in English We must not fear the missionaries and the vernacular, published and because they have white faces, or be- circulated under the auspices of a cause they belong to the ruling class. Hindu tract society; and Christianity There is no connection between the and its teachings are steadily maligned government and Christianity, for the and misrepresented with an ability Queen Empress proclaimed neutrality and an earnestness worthy of a better in all religious matters in 1858. We cause. must, therefore, oppose the missionaries with all our might. Whenever In 1786 the youthful Spaulding they stand up to preach, let Hindu preachers stand up and start rival wrote to F. H. Jacobi that he had preaching at a distance of forty feet from them, acd they will soon flee heard Biester say: "We must not reaway! Let caste and sectarian differences be forgotten, and let all the lax our efforts, and then in twenty people join as one man to banish Christianity from our land. All possi- years' time the name of Jesus, in a ble efforts should be made to win back those who have embraced Christianity, religious sense,will be no more heard." and all children should be withdrawn from mission schools. That was in Germany, and since then The Missionary Herald, of the Pres- Germany has furnished a large pro- byterian Church in Ireland, review- portion of the most intelligent and ag- ing the report of the Hindu Gujarat gressive missionary force in the world.
Tract and Book Society, says: But the stern fact remains that we The Hindus ha,e at last realized have created an agency for the adthat there is something in Christianity itself, and in well-directed Christian vancement of Christianity, which the effort, that is not to be repelled by any of the rough-and-ready methods heathen are turning against us; and, hitherto tried; Christianity is to-day felt to be an aggressive power, mov- worse, which we are not using ouring with an ever-increasing force, which must in some way be resisted, selves with anything like the I:;kill or and its influence counteracted, if Hindu society is to be saved, and the in the proportions that we should do. antiquated fabric of Hindu religious and social life is to escape the remouId- We have created a vast reading community of Christians also without giving them anything like an ade- quate supply of their literary needs.
We have not utilized the press at all commensurately with its place, power and opportunities. This is a field where the societies might combine for co-operative work much more largely than they do. There should be a great by that time India would adopt her pan-mission council on the subject reform. A few friends and organizaof missionary literature distinctively tions pledged her $10,000 annually. for non-Christian lands and for Roman Of $25,000 required for a permanent Catholic countries. There might be building, $18,000 have been raised. economic distribution of the material which would help to make much Of her work for the school in Bommore of the funds already contributed. bay, Ramabai writes as follows: It is a subject demanding special consideration by specialists.-J. T. G. "Besides visiting families, I have found it necessary to gather women Pundita Ramabai's Work. together and acquaint them with my The cultured little Hindu lady, work. I have, therefore, now and Ramabai, is carrying on a unique then, to invite ladies of the high castes, work against great odds, and we de- get up entertainments for them, leclight to note her success. A conversa- ture on different subjects, and encourtion which a missionary had with her age and implore them in various ways some time since was thus reported in to take an interest in women's educathe Bombay Guardian: The missionary tion and progress. They will not asked and she answered as follows: listen to me if I begin at once to talk " Are you saved?" to them about my school and its ob- " Yes." jects. They have been taught to dis- " Do you believe in Jesus Christ as like widows and look down upon their your Saviour? " education. So we have very carefully "Yes." to approach them, show them the " Many people believe in Christ in beauties of intellectual pursuits, make their heads and not in their hearts. them realize the superiority of en- Do you believe in Ghrist with your lightened life to one of perpetual heart 7" ignorance, talk to them about the "Yes." blessedness of useful life, and thus "Are your sins forgiven through gradually teach them to look upon Him?" themselves and the widows as beings "Yes." who have more value than cats, dogs, " Praise the dear Lord." or mere puppets in the hands of men. It will be remembered that she More opposition to our work is to be opened the school for Hindu widows met from women than from men in at Bombay in March,1889. We so- certain quarters. Many women of licited from Miss A. P. Granger, the Bombay are now beginning to take secretary of the Ramabai Association, a interest in our school, as they have contribution relating to the work that been several times invited and enterhas since been developed, and we now tained here." have the pleasure of making extracts from Miss Granger's reply. Miss Granger favors us with the fol- In March, 1890, one year from its lowing statements: opening, the school numbered twentyseven pupils, twelve of them being " In view of its ultimate dependence high caste child-widows. Five child- upon Hindu support alone it was dewidows have since been added. In- cided to move the school to Poona, on struction is given in Marathi, English the 1st of November, the objections and Sanskrit, and also in sewing, etc. first made by the Advisory Board to Ramabai asked the assistance of this its establishment there, having been country for ten years only, belieying removed. The larger expenses of an English city like Bombay, and the su- perior advantages of Poona as a stronger hold of Brahmanism, are the two most important reasons for this C'11anJ:0. " Ramabai's first idea of the location the Uriion, in this country, whose ad- of the school for Hindu widows was dress he knew. Poona. On many accounts she felt it would be wiser to place the school The library of the International there. She was, however, overruled by others and the school was opened Missionary Union is as yet an experi- in Bombay. The officers of the asso- ciation do not hesitate to state that it ment. This little sheet is sent out, has been fully as successful as they anticipated. It is not on that account after some unavoidable delays, to all that a change is now being made. A suitable building with ample grounds the members whose present address have been secured for the Sharada Sadan, at a moderate rent and wise can be ascertained, chiefly to test the arrangements made for the conduct of the school and boarding depart- question of the call for such a library. ment. On account of her approach- ing marriage, the teacher who went We have pleasure in presenting a list out from this country has resigned her position but an efficient successor of such books as we have thus far se- had been found. It was expected that all the boarders would go with Rama- cured, with an approximate indication bai to Poona. of the postage on each. Whoever " In view of this change we would ask more earnestly than ever before wishes to take out one of these books for the sympathy, support and prayers of the American people, and will close is requested to send this amount of . with Professor Max Muller'stribute to the character of our head: 'I have postage to the librarian, and after never been in India; but I have known many Indians, both men and women, keeping the book one month to return and I do not exaggerate when I tell you that some of them need fear no it by post, prepaying the amount comparison with the best men and women whom it has been my good necessary. A book may be renewed fortune to know in England, France, or Germany. Whether for unselfish- if desired a second month when not ness or devotion to high ideals, truth- fulness, purityand real, livingreligion, asked for elsewhere. I know no better hero than Keshub Chunder Sen, no heroine greater than Any donations of books or pamph- Ramabai; and I am proud to have been allowed to count both among my lets or money for the library will. be best friends.' " thankfully received; also any sugges; International Missionary Union Notes. tions as to how lt can be made more Circulating Library.-The librarian of the incipient circulating library of useful to the members. the International Missionary Union, is the Rev. James Mudge, East Pep- POSTAGE. perill, Mass. He recently sent the fol- lowing circular to all the members of Our Indian Mission, Gordon………….. 2Oc. London Missionary Conference, 2 vols, .. " 15c. Indian Evangelical 'Review, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5, 1874-1878……………. _………. " .. 14c. Romance of Missions, Miss M. A. 'Vest … 14c. Siam and Laos, Dr. House and others……13c. Decennial Conference, Calcutta ………. 120. Missionary year-Book……………. " .. 12c. Among the Turks, Dr. Hamlin………… 120. On Horseback in Cappadocia, Barrows…. lOc. Two thousand Miles in Mexico, McCarthy. lOc. Letters from India, Bruce……… …… 8c. Great Value of Missions, Liggins…. ….. 7c. India, J. T. Gracey …………………… 7c. Woman's Medical Work, Mrs. Gracey….. 7c. Ann H. Judson………………………. 7c. Sarah B. Judson………. ………… 7c. Memorial Papers of the Marathi Mission .. 30. Natural History of the Marathi Bible.. …. 30. Africa in a Nutshell, Thompson …. ,…… 20. China, J. T. Gracey …………………. lc. Open Doors, J. T. Gracey……… …….. 1c. Moravian Mission in Alaska, Hamilton … lc.
Also THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD for 1888, 1889, 1890 in separate numbers, anyone of which can be ordered as above, postage four cent.s, thus enabling any member to refer to any article or articled. Most of the papers read before the Union in these years are to be found herein. The next meeting of the Interna- when the pressing claims of India, tional Missionary Union will be held at Clifton Springs, New York, June 10th China, and especially of Africa, were to 17th. We give the notice thus early that missionaries in this country may the subject of conversation, resolved be the better enabled to make preparations to attend; and that those abroad to memorialize the Society with refermay know when to send their greetings, their suggestions, or their papers. ence to a great forward movement. Essays and letters are solicited from members now on the foreign field as That memorial seems to have prothey constitute the" Outlook Committee." All such papers or correspond- duced a profound impression upon the ence should be sent to Rev. J. T. Gracey, 161 Pearl Street, Rochester, committee of the Church Missionary N. Y., or to Rev. W. H. Belden, Secretary, Bristol, Conn. Society, and they have caused the -The members of the International memorial to be printed and widely Missionary Union, will note with active interest, we trust, the appeal that circulated with the earnest desire that Rev. Arthur H. Smith and Dr. Henry D.Porter, both members of the Union, they may be guided by the Divine make in the December number of the Missionary Herald for aid for the Spirit in their deliberations on· the Chinese suffering from flood and famine, over not less than 4,000 square matter. It is stated that the Church miles of the Chihli Province. Thousands of families are homeless. The Missionary Society is supported, even Famine Relief Committee in Shanghai, after giving $60,000 for relief of nominally, by less than a third part of the sufferers has closed its books, but the distress still continues. No two the Church of England, and it cermen within our knowledge could more judiciously distribute the few tainly is a courageous thought to add thousand dollars they ask for than to its present staff of European misthose two brethren,and we are quite sionaries one thousand within five or sure, the need will continue for some six years. Yet such is the proposal. while yet. Send money to Mr. L. S. The memorial makes certain sugges- Ward, No 1 Somerset Street, Boston, tions as to these reinforcements, es- Mass pecially the following: 1. That evan- gelists should be sent into the mission One Thousand Additional Mission- fields in groups, each group being as- aries !" sociated under a leader. 2. That the services of lay-workers should be used The English Church Missionary So- much more than hitherto. 3. That ci€'ty presents a scheme for the send- mechanics and working men and ing forth, within the next five or women whose hearts God has touched six years, from the Church Mission- should form parts of these groups. ary Society alone, one thousand ad- The suggestion of such an increase in ditional missionaries. At the Kes- the working forces is startling simply wick Convention, in July last, mem- because it is such a sudden increase bersof the Church Missionary Sodety to the present numbers. That portion gathered at the house of a friend, of the Church of Englantl which operates through the Church Mission- ary Society is amply able to provide the money, to provide the workers and the supplies for such an advance, and the need is imperativ€'. And what is true of Christians in England is true of Christians in America. The forces might be and ought to be doubled and trebled. There are abundant means of support in the hands of those who bear Christ's name. Young men and young women are in training, and a large portion of them have already pledged themselves to this work. Shall not the Christian churches of America, and the Consti- tuency of the American Board espe- cially, anew and at once "attempt great things for God, and expect great thingR from Him?" It is time for a grand forward movement. There are men enough and wealth enough in our churches to respond to the present call for an advance, if there is a will to do so.-The Missionary Herald.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
IH.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
-After much painstaking in proof- of population not later than October, reading, the electrotyping process is 1892.
chargeable with a bad blunder in the -At the recent meeting of the January issue of the REVIEW. The American Board, in Minneapolis, the top line of page 5f belongs on page 5f) "Committee of Nine" reported that If readers will make a marginal note contributions to missions have not kept on the page to this effect, it will avoid pace with those to other benevol.
confusion. ent causes. No explanation was at- -The year 1892, which marks the tempted but they implied that the dis- 400th anniversary of the discovery of cussions and division of feeling as to America, also marks the centenary missionary policy, might account for of the formation of the first great this relative decline of receipts for missionary society of England, whose foreign missionary work.
distinctive purpose was the evange- The meeting presented many at- lization of the world. It was on the tractions and not a few wholesome second day of October, 1792, at Ket- lessons. Dr. N. G. Clark's paper on tering, that William Carey and his "Higher Christian Education as Re- brother Baptists formed the now lated to Foreign Mission Work ;" Dr.
famous Baptist Society, and laid thir- G. K. Alden's discussion of " Mission- teen pounds, two shillings and six ary Motives;" Dr. Judson Smith's pence on God's altar, as the beginning paper on the" Missionary Outlook,"
of the great enterprise of organized and Dr. Storr's address as President, foreign missionary work. were among the most notable features It is our deep conviction that it of that great annivprsary. The papers would be a great mistake if this referred to, must be read to be appre- memorable era were allowed to pass by ciated. Dr. Clark pleads for higher without another great 'Vorld's Con- Christian education in order to pre- vention, such as was held in London, serve and turn to account the religious in 1888. If such a gathering could sentiment of the people among whom begin at Kettering, in Andrew Ful- we labor; and for the sake of a native ler's old' chapel, with a consecration ministry adequate in character and in meeting in the house of Widow Beebe numbers to meet the intellectual and Wallis, which is still standing, and spiritual wants of their countrymen where that society was formally or- and to share with missionaries in the ganized, what an inspiration would responsibilities of establishing such such a beginning afford for an un- Christian institutions as shall secure paralleled series of missionary assem- the success of the missionary enter- blings! The end of a century seems prise. He holds that the " men must an appropriate time for the gathering be reared on the ground." Dr. G. K.
up of the results of missions in all Alden sets forth as motive forces: (1) parts of the world, and the projec- "Profound convictions as to this pres- tion of new lines of enterprise and en- ent sinful and perishing world and its deavor for the century to come. Is great need. (2) Profound convictions it too much to hope that this next as to the superabounding riches of century of missions may not have divine grace in Jesus Christ, the great passed Ulatil the whole world shall provision. (3) Profound convictions of have been acquainted with the Gos- the personal command, the personal pel? 'Ve hope that at an early day trust, and the personal responsibility the leaders of missionary enterprises to bear the good tidings at once to all in all parts of the world will co- men." Dr. Judson Smith says Chrisoperate to call such a world's con- tianity is becoming the dominant revention in some of the great centres ligion of the world; communication between all parts of the world is be- -In the August number for 1890, coming easier; the world, with only the statistics are given for Protest- here and there an exception, is ac- ant missions in China, which are re- cessible to the Gospel; and that mod- peated in the December issue, page ern missions are successful. At home 934, as the strength of the United missionary contributions are being en- Presbyterian force. Of course, the lat- larged; the supply of missionaries is ter is an error. It should read: "As increasing, and the church is com- furnished by the Presbyterians." mitted to mission work as never before. -The late Dr. Alexander William- son, of China, was identified for some -In Scotland the question of dis- 30 years with the London Missionary establishment has produced no little Society, then with the National Bible excitement. It seems almost certain Society of Scotland, and the United to come before the next Parliament. Presbyterian Church. As a translator There is certainly a religious interest and distributor of religious literature among the Scottish churches. The in the Chinese tongue, he filled a attendance upon church services is, we unique position, and to these labors -venture to say, better than in any was singularly devoted. His extensive other country in the world. The travels, researches, grasp of missions, number of praying men, and especially passion for a more economic distribupraying young men, struck us with tion of the working force, made him peculiar force in recent visits to Scot- an authority. His" Journeys in land. We cannot conceal our pro- North China," ranks as a standard found solicitude for the progressive work. His late wife, a most gifted theology which is moving many, we woman, wrote "Old Highways in fear, away from the old landmarks of China." Dr. Williamson died of nethe faith. No doubt there are many phritis, possibly due in part to his arwho are interested in these questions duous toil in thfl recent Shanghai intellectually, whose hearts are per- Conference. His prodigious activity fectly loyal to Christ and the truth, is rivaled by few of the most devoted but we fear the flffect of this ad- workers in the Middle Kingdom. vanced theological opinion upon the younger clergy of Scotland. At the -China owes to Christian missionsame time so deep is the interest in aries a great debt for information on a missions in this land of martyrs and vast range of topics. But a little while missionanes, that the practical work ago, the Chinese were wholly depend. of the churches, both at home and ent on the Peking Gazette; now they abroad, is largelyantidoting the influ- have some twenty-eight publications. ence of this skeptical opinion. The missionaries have supplied an enormous number of translations of We can never more speak or write of European booksonscience, geography, Scotland without the feeling which a history, mathematics, philosophy, etc. son would have for his mother. We They have translated the Bible into add the words of Dr. W. M. Taylor: not less than twelve Chinese dialects, "I say without any hesitation that and are now busy at fifteen more. when interesting foreign missions are Dr. Legge's investigations into the maintained in a church to the normal ancient systems of the Chinese phipoint, all other activities and agencies losophers are embodied in Professor at home will go of themselves and as Max Muller's" Sacred Books of the things, of course, while, if there be a East," and American authors have lack of devotion to that noble enter- given the world the "Middle Kingprise, nothing else will be prosecuted dom," and the" Chinese-English Dicwith either enthusiasm or success." tionary." So writes Mr. Johnston, of These are true words. Bolton.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
lJy J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
China. –.:.. China is a vast field. many centuries they have been in full That is a statement that grows by enjoyment of them, and on every side· every line of comparison we can lay. the evidences of long-established Here is a late attempt by Rev. Dr. wealth and commercial enterprise are· B. D. Gray, in the Foreign Mission observable.
Journal of the Southern Baptists (see " From the great wall to the frontier December number; it is published at of Tong-king, and from Thibet to the Richmond, Va.): . China Sea the country is dotted over "A single province of hers con- with rich and populous cities, which verted would be equal to the conver- are connected one with another by sion of whole nations elsewhere. Con- well-trodden roads or water highways.
vert anyone of her eighteen provinces In these busy centres of industry mer- and you would have more than all chants from all parts of the empire Brazil and Mexico. Anyone of a are to be found, who are as ready to dozen of her provinces would be more deal in the fabrics of the native looms, than the conversion of all Italy. As porcelain, tea and other native pro- goes China, so goes Asia. She is to- ducts, as in cottons, metals and day the citadel of paganism. Secure woolens of Europe.
her to Christ, and you secure all her " The rivers and canals are crowded dependencies, as Thibet, Turkistan, the vessels bearing silks and satins Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea. from Cheh-kiang .and Kiang-su, tea Break down her idols and you de- from Gan-hwuy and Ho-nan, and rice throne the greater part of heathenism from the southern provinces to parts at a stroke! " of the empire which give in exchange CHINESE EMIGRATION. for such gifts the corn and other pro- Dr. R. H. Graves says: ducts which they are able to spare."
"There are 50,000 of these in the. In the matter of the language, Dr.
Philippine Islands; 50,000 in the Eng- Douglas says: lish colony at Singapore, where they " By means of their three classes of own four-fifths of all the real estate; characters, the hieroglyphics, ideo- 50,000 more in the Malay Peninsula; grams and phonetics, the Chinese 1,300,000 in Siam; thousands in Cochin have been able to express and pre– China. and thousands more in Borneo, serve the thoughts and sayings of theit Java and Sumatra. The colonies greatest and wisest writers through a founded by the Spaniards, Dutch, series of centuries which dwarfs int« French and English are being rapidly insignificance all Western ideas of filled up by Chinese. In the Sand- antiquity. For thirty centuries China- wich Islands there are more Chinese men have been accumulating stores of men than men of the native race." literary wealth, which are of them- China is a fertile region. Professor selves sufficiently important to attract Douglas, at University College, thus the attention of scholars and to stir described it: the literary ambition of students, and "From one end of the country to which do so in almost every country.
another the land blossoms as the rose, But by the fresh discoveries of Messrs.
and yields to the diligent and carpfu} De Lacouperie and Ball, not only is a tillage of the natives enough and to new interest added to the language, spare of all that is necessary for 'the but it is brought into close and inti- comfort and well-being of man. Nor mate relation with the tongues spoken have these advantages become the by the great civilizing nations of the.
recent possessions of the people. For world." Great changes are taking place in every form and righteousness too.
China. Rev. Young J. Allen, D.D., The doctrine of mediation is recog- LL.D., read an able paper before the' nized.
Shanghai Conference on this topic, in 4. They have some knowledge of a which he classified these changes as: true and living God, a power on whom (1) Compulsory, or those necessitated cOu.;}try, family and individual pros- by force or treaty obligations. The perity depends.
compulsory occupation by the allies, 5. They possess an implied knowl- in 1860, of the imperial capital was edge of immortality. Their emperors followed by a treaty which gave com- never die, they ascend.
merce and missions the right of un- 6. There is a providential prepara- molested access to the entire land. (2) tion. China is open from end to end.
The semi-compulsory changes, or At the Shanghai Conference this was those initiated with a view to adjust- called in question as to Ho-nan, but ments. The Chinese knew that the Hudson Taylor said it was politically treaty must be fulfilled, and that in open, though persecution and oppos- reorganizing their government they ition were great.
could not do better than copy the OBSTAOLES AND DIFFICuLTIES.
strong points of their late adversaries. 1. To the heathen becoming Chris- Hence, the innovations of foreign tians. No one can state the ca.'le of military camps, arsenals, customs, the Chinese better than the Chinese, schools, coast surveys, etc. (3) Spon- and so we "let a native Chinese taneous-voluntary changes. Inter- Christian minister state the point of national relations become cordial. The the difficulties of the native Chinaman press is callEJd into requisition, news- in learning about Christianity.
papers and books are translated. China Rev. Y. K. Yen, speaking at the has become conscious of her wants, a Shanghai Conference, said: mint, banks, post.offices follow. (4) "We must understand the peculiar Imperial, or those which define the character of the Chinese. (1) They position and policy of the country. have hazy ideas about gods. A Chi- ADVANTAGES AND HELPS. nese who went to the United States Rev. Dr. Williamson pointed out was written to by his father that his some while ago, in Evangelical Chris- sixth mother was well. What can a tendom, that there is a providential man who has six mothers know of a preparation in China for the reception mother's love? (2) The Chinese have and spread of the Gospel. hazy ideas about sin, which they con- 1. There is an educational prepa- found with crirpe, treading on one's ration. They say: "The mind is the toes, being late to dinner-the same man." The competitive examinations character for all. (3) They have hazy have quickened theinteUect of China. ideas about a future life. At a This gave rise to schools. Hence the Chinese death-bed there is never a large percentage of readers. Then word about future happiness, but only there is one written language for the about mourning and money. If they whole empire. There is asocial prepa- did Rot think the gods could affect .
ration. Through the observance of men's bodies the temples would be filial obligation has trained the nation deserted and ancestral worship would to subordination to law and order. decline. They are not to blame. It is There is no communism nor nihilism their misfortune and not their fault.
here. Divine authority can be easily The Chinese cannot see Christianity as taught. we see it."
3. There is a moral preparation. This is jUtlt what Rev. Judson Smith, The heart is recognized as the seat of D.D., has said in other language and on morals. Benevolence is urged in an opposite side of the globe: "It is not simply the greatness of anity yet they can be reached. He the population of China that makes her evangelization difficult. It is said his church in Monkdon included rather the institutions of the Chinese; it is the Chinese character; it is the in its members five or six Mandarins, Chinese history inwrought into insti- tutions; instinct in the life of the men with literary degrees; that many people. Making them a nation of themselves, exclusive, caring not, others of the Mandarins are at heart knowing not, heeding not of aught that goes on in the world outside of Christians, and many more very them; not desiring the arts we are so ready to bring them; not wishing the friendly. institutions that we would gladly see thrive among them; scorning the The mission schools are becoming a faith that we deem their life and their salvation." power for good in China. One would 2. To native Ohristians. The same fancy that there would be great preju- Christian native, already quoted (Rev. Y. K. Yen), said again at the great dice against the teaching of Christimissionary conference last year some very sensible things about the difficul- anity in connection with secular eduties to the mission work growing out of the conservatism of the Chinese. cation, but it is amongst the marvelous He said that "the Chinese Christians are not in the same favorable circum- providences of God that in scarcely stances as Christians in other lands. The former have fifty generations of any heathen country does this long heathenism behind them. They have much to contend with. We should prove an obstruction. not expect the same enterprise, activity and piety as from from foreigners. The teaching of Christianity does Missionaries often speak disparagingly of Chinese Christians. This, consider- not inure to the disadvantage of the ing the circumstances, is unreasonable and unjust. Western civilization is mission schools in China. We can furmarked by diversity. Eastern civilization by uniformity. Chinese are nish no better evidence of this than is not active physically, morally and spiritually. If I were active physi- found in the report to Government in cally I should not have this queue today. If any other Chinese would cut Hong Kong, made in 1889: off his hair and shorten his skirts I would do so too. They have a load Referring now to the 7,101 scholars upon them. All Chinese worship is who attended, during the year 1889, for selfishness. They have no knowl- schools under the· supervision of the edge of God; no recognition of being education department, there were as His sons." many as 4,814 attending voluntary schools, where they received a Chris- All classes are reached in China. tian education, whilst 2,293 scholars Rev. John Ross said at the London attended government schools, receiv- Conference that while the literary ing a secular education. The secular class in China are opposed to Christi- government schools are, as a rule, bet- ter provided for than the voluntary religious schools as regards money matters, house accommodation, school materials, staff, organization, and dis- cipline, and when charging fees, keep their fees far below the rate charged in voluntary schools of a correspond- ing class. Nevertheless, the voluntary schools, which freely teach Christian- ity without the restraint of any con- science clauses Whatever, and are in every respect conducted as denomi- national mission schools, receive from the public double the amount of pat- ronage bestowed on government schools. This clearly shows that parents of children, in Hong Kong, as Europe. prefer, on thewhole, religious to secular education, even when the latter is cheaper.
This was made by Dr. Eistel as in- spector of schools. It only confirms the judgment of Dr. F. Stewart, who was inspector of schools, but who died recently, who said: The advance in education is one of the most gratifying features in the progress of the colony. There is yet twenty-eight, is introduced at court much to be done, and female educa- by Lao-tse, is appointed chief magistion is only in its infancy; but the trate of Chung-too, introduces praclines on which the system is moving tically ajury system; for thirteen years seem to be correct, and time alone is becomes a homeless wanderer, and required to reclaim those portions of henceforth abandons himself to letters the field which remain untouched. and religion, and wanders from court to court to obtain converts to his ideal THE RESULTS ARE ENCOURAGING. government. He died, having prac- tically remained unrecognized us a The statistics at the Shanghai Con- successful reformer. After his death ference last May, showed: Of foreign his teachings became powerful. Every missionaries, men, 589; wives, 390; year 66,000 animals are now offered single women, 316. Total, 1,295. Na- in sacrifice to this sage. Here is the tive helpers, ordained, 209; unor- chorus chanted in the great sacrificial dalned, 1,260; female helpers, 180. ceremony to him: Medical work, hospitals, 61; dispensaries, 43; patients in 1889, 348,439. "Confucius, Confucius I How great is Con- Churches, organized, 520; wholly self- fucius! supporting, 94; half self-supporting, 22; one-fourth self-supporting, 27. Before Confucius there never was a. Confu- Bible distribution, Bibles, etc. Total, cius; 665,987. Communicants, 37,287; pupils in schools, 16,816. Contributions by Since Confucius, there never has been a. Connative churches, $36,884. fucius; MEN AND WOMEN ARE WANTED. Confucius, Confucius I How great is Con- fucius! " Ministers and laymen are called for. The Shanghai Conference asks soberly The emperor himself offers this for 1,000 men in five years. Their ap- prayer to Confucius: "I, the emperor, peal was published ,far and wide. offer a sacrifice to the philosopher Then there have been specific appeals. Confucius, the ancient teacher, the The mISSIOnaries of the Baptist perfect sage, and say, 0, teacher, in churches in America, now in China, virtue equal to heaven and earth, have appealed to the Baptists of whose doctrines embrace the past America alone to send 100 men. time and the present. . . • in reverent observance of the old statutes, with Oonfuoia.nism and Oonfuoius. victims, silks, spirits and fruits, 1 carefully offer sacrifice to thee. Mayst "Great men have short biogra- thou enjoy the sacrifice." (See Duphies," says Carlyle. The rule is not Bois's" Dragon, Image and Demon," broken in the case of Confucius. The p.l24.) outline of his biography can be given in a paragraph. He was born in the " If the Chinese," says an author, State of Tsow, B.C. 551, of noble an- "pay divine honors to any being in cestry whose record reached unbroken heaven, or on earth, or under the for over two thousand years backward earth, it is to Confucius." from his cradle. His father was a soldier of great prowess and of daring CONFUCIUS AS A FOUNDER OF A bravery. He was married at nineteen, rose from keeper of the public stores, RELIGION. to the cnarge of public lands. At twenty-two he taught letters, ethics, Fairbairn says, in his "Studies in devotion of soul and truthfulness. He the Philosophy of Religion and Hisearly became cosmopolitan: "I am tory," that" without Confucius China a man who belongs equally to the had been without a native religion." north and the south and the east and the west." He studies music at Dr. Legge, in his "Religions of China," boldly corrects this erroneous statement. Religion in China does not date from Confucius. His grand- son asserted that Confucius only "handed down" and "displayed" the ancient teachings and took them of etiquette, taking the place of ethics: for his model. Confucius himself said a skeptical denial of any relation be- he was a" transmitter, not a maker" tween man and a living God, taking of the doctrines of the ancients. Cer- the place of religion, while there is tainly the "transmitter" gave color encouraged a sort of worship of human to that which he transmitted. China genius, combined with a set of des- does not owe its national religion to potic political theories. But who Confucius. But if he did not originate can honestly call this a religion? " it, neither did he discountenance it or alter it'in any sensible degree. But Over and over we are told that Con- Confucius did emphasize the moral fucianism is not a religion, only a duties as taught or implied in the system of morality. This needs large religion of the ancients as of first im- modification. So far as the element portance and of much easier compre- of worship enters into the element of hension than the speculative side of religion it is distinctly, pervasively, theology or the religious superstition penetratingly, a religion. about the unseen. Dr. Faber pointed this out with One thing has been plainly pointed emphasis at the late General Conferout as to the effect of Confucius' large ence of Missionaries at Shanghai. "Religion," he says, "pervades every emphasis of practical duties. Dr. movement of official life in China. Matheson (St. Giles Lecturer) says: A glance at the Peking Gazette will convince the most skeptical of the "Since the days of Confucius the truth of this statement. We find there speculative element has declined and mentioned not only worship of ances~ the Chinese mind has sought truth tors, of Confucius, of innumerable almost exclusively in the path of deified worthies, but also of the duality morals." of heaven and earth, of sun, moon, stars, wind, clouds, rain, thunder, the Much has been written about Con- ocean, mountains, rivers, the four fucius in relation to the "Golden regions, the four seasons, the years, Rule." He is credited with being the months and days. Astrology, selection originator of this. But Dr. Legge, of lucky and unlucky days, omens, than whom he has no stouter cham- charms, exorcism and other superstipion, says here he tarnished a doc- tiQlls are sanctioned by imperial trine of the ancients rather than pro- authority." (See The Messenger, Shanghai, June, 1890.) claimed it. Confucius is said to have CONFUCIANISM AS A THEOLOGY. advocated the negative side of the Golden Rule: "Do not unto others This same Dr. Faber, at another time, what you would not that they distinctly pointed out some of the should do unto you." But the ancients aspects of absolute negation in Conwe~t further than that. Lao-tze fucianism as a religon. He says: taught: "Return good for eviL" But Confucius said: "What then will you 1. "Confucianism recognizes no return for good? Recompense injury relation to a living God." with justice, and return good for good." How nearly this shades, how- 2. "It makes no distinction between ever, to the Christian teaching! the human soul and body, nor is there any clear definition of man, either IS CONFUCIANISM A RELIGION? from a physical or psychological point of view." The China Review contained years since an article in which the writer 3. "All men are said to possess the said: disposition and strength necessary for "Confucianism pure and simple is, the attainment of moral perfection, in our opinion, no religion at all. The but the contrast with the actual state essence of Confuciani"m is an anti- remains unexplained." quarian adherence to traditional forms 4. There is wanting in Confucian- have no rights in relation to their ism a decided and serious tone in its parents; subjects are like children; of treatment of the doctrine of sin, for, human rights there are none-first with the exception of the moral retri- and last there are only duties. Po- bution in social life, it mentions no lygamy is sanctioned and presup- punishment for sin. It is devoid of a posed, so is polytheism. Filial piety deep insight into sin and evil. extends even to worship. In ordinary life the son must" manifest his rever- 5. It "knows no mediator, none ence, in his nourishing of his parents, that could restore original nature iJi in his endeavor to give them pleasure; accordance with the ideal which man when they are ill he feels the greatest finds in himself." anxiety; in mourning for them, when dead, he exhibits every demonstration 6. "Prayer and its ethical power of grief; in sacrificing to them he dis- finds no place" in his system. plays the utmost solemnity."
7. There is, with the exception of Confucius taught the supreme value ancestral worship, which is devoid of of personal character. The" charac- true ethical value, no clear conception ter of Alexander of Russia was worth of the dogma'of immorality. a constitution," says Colton. Confu- cius would make every character a 8. "All rewards are expected in constitution and by-laws besides. To this world." be and not to appear is the correctest thing. The wise man will assail his Confucius plainly held that these own vices and not another's: "I am are things beyond the grasp of human not concerned that I have no place; I intelligence. You cannot figure to am concerned how I may fit myself yourself the nature of God. You for one." The substance of three cannot certainly know that there is hundred pieces of the "Book of any point of contrast between His Poetry," says a recent author, may be nature and yours; hence prayers and expressed in: "Have no depraved sacrifices are of doubtful utility. All thoughts." this lies in the region of imagination; it may represent truth; it may not. "The man who, in view of gain, Neither can be demonstrated. Yet he thinks of righteousness, in view of did not forbid worship. "Sacrifice as danger, is prepared to give up his life, and who does not forget an agreement if your sacrifice were a reality; wor- however far back it extends-such a man may be reckoned a complete ship Shin as if Shin were really man. . . . "Man is born for uprightpresent." But meanwhile your chief ness. They who know the truth are concern is with the visible and palpa- not equal to those who love it, and ble nniverse and with the homely they who love it are not equal to those tasks of life. The opposition to Chris- who find delight in it." tian points of theology is entire and fundamental. But the rule of right is not indivi· dual conscience, but rather the uni- CONFUCIANISM AS A MORAL FORCE. versal conscience of mankind. Man must do all this without any help, hu- In what way and sense is Confu- man or divine. He fails, and Confucianism a moral force? There must cianism does not attempt to account be something in it by which it has for the failure. It only stands alongheld sway for these centuries. Espec- side of the failure and says man was ially in the face of sundry marked born to be good. It does not even furdefects in its ethical teaching. It con- nish an example. founds ethics with ceremonies and politics, it asserts that certain musical The sceptre of authority, of all pomelodies influence morals; its system of social life is tyrannous: women are slaves, and may be bought and sold ·as sheep in the shambles; children litical power, hence the centre of all guised as a Thibetan, accompanied by political government is morals. a Sikkim Lama, who was a sub-in- spector of schools employed by the "Withal," Mr. Edkins says, "Confu- British government. cianism has not made the Chinese a moral people. They exhibit a lament- Yet, it is not true that we do not able want of moral strength. The know much about the country and standard of principle among them is the people. The" Cyc10predia Britankept low by the habits of the people. nica" has a quite elaborate article, in They do not appear ashamed when which a great deal of information is they are discovered to have told an condensed, and there are many sources untruth." (See Edkin's "Religion in of information about this land. China.") We summarize from sources,learned Archdeacon Hardwick says: "How and popular, too numerous to name, many are the points in which Con- in the following statements: fucian tenets are opposed to Christianity, it were superfluous to enumer- THE COUNTRY. ate. The opposition in respect of doctrines is entire and fundamental. Thibet, or Tibet-for there seems no It is the opposition of nature and of preference in the spelling-or to use grace, of unregenerate and regenerate the native name, Bodyul " The counprinciples, of sight and faith, of earth- try of the god," or Bhotiya, or lyand of heavenly, And how vast Bhoots, is a section of table lands ten will, therefore, beth~ revolution in the to sixteen thonsand feet above the moral nature of the Chinaman if he sea, stretching from the Upper HimashaH ever learn to practice the un- laya Mountains and those of Yunnan, worldly lessons of the Gospel." (See on to the mountains of China in one " Christ and Other Masters," p. 57.) direction, and to those of Turkistan in another. It is difficult of access in all Confucian conservativism is essen- directions and equally difficult to travtial and inherent. It is the greatest erse. The world owes the Jesuits a obstruction to all progress. debt here as in so many other places for the earliest maps, though here as Thibet. elsewhere those made early in the It is quite the fashion to dismiss eighteenth century were crude and Thibet with the statement that very often misleading. There is no exact little is known of this country and its survey had, except in Western Thibet people. That is only true in a very where, as in Kashmir, it is the most qualified sense. The ordinary student complete. may not have a hand-book, as he has of Bavaria or Switzerland, and the The Britannica is full enough on casual reader may not be easily re- climate, products, industries and ferred to anyone or two volumes many other common matters to have from which to find at a glance what it suffice t-o refer our readers to that he wishes to know of what is known, source. and only now and again has any European been permitted to make any THE PEOPLE. personal investigation by actually traversing the country, as did Alexan- The most probably correct estimate der Csoma de Koros, who made his of the population is from a Russian way from Hungary to Thibet on foot; source which puts it at six millions. or as an enterprising Hindu, Sarat Chandra Das, who, it is alleged, re- The people themselves are worth n.. cently made a tour in Thibet dis- fuller note than a mere reference. The Turanian family of races separate into two great divisions-the Northen~ and the Southern. The Northern com- prehends the Tungus, t,he Mongol, the Tartar, and the Finn branches. The Southern includes the Malay, the Bhotiy,a and the Tamil races: The represent the Chinese government in Indo-Bhotiyas are in the northeast Thibet. These direct exclusively the countries of India, on the Himalayas foreign and military administration and in the valleys of the Brahmaputra. of the country. The civil and relig- The stronglanguage of affinitybetween ious government is left in native these tribes in Burmah and in Thibet hands. The number of Chinese troops is manifest if the chain of gradual rarely equals 4,500 men. modifications from tribe to tribe is followed. But the original Bhotiya The Dalai Lama is the supreme race are Thibetans, and they live in authority in civil government. He Thibet, not alone, but with Mongoli- resides in the famous temple palace of ans who are supposed to have been Potala near Lhasa. He is an incarsettled there since the days of Genghis nation of Buddha, and his soul passes Khan. from him into another body when he dies, in order that there may be a per- The HoI' or Horpa occupy the west- petual incarnation of Buddha at the ern part of Northern Thibet, and ex- head of the Thibetan affairs. They tend into Chinese Tartary or Little do not shout, but they might, with pe- Bokhara. They are nomads, not culiar propriety: "The king is-dead; agriculturists, and more Tartar than long live the king!" for the Dalai Thibetan in their habits. They are Lama never dies. He only disappears mostly Buddhists. But some of them in the form of one man to reappear are Moslems even within Thibet: at the same instant in the form of Turks in blood, Bhots in language. some infant born at the moment of In Ladak both the creed and the liter- the apparent death of the king. They ature are Buddhist, but in blood and search the land to find this childlanguage they are Bhot. Ladak's po- Buddha, place him on the throne, and litical relations are with British India run the Government through a vice. and Kashmir. The Bhot element in roy till he comes to maturity. His its distinct type can not be seen but duties are simply to sit cross-legged in in Chinese Thibet. his temple, and from time to time ex- tend his hand in benediction on his In appearance the Thibetans re- worshipers. semble the Chinese and the Mongols, though, according to Hodgson, many This joint headship of state and of the mountaineers differ entirely church has inhered in the Dalai Lama from the Turanian, and approach the since 1640. There are many other Aryan type. No absolutely white grand lamas, but they are subordinate skins are seen, but often a very pale to the Dalai Lama who is at once brown complexion with red hair and emperor and pope. Below these still gray eyes, and a good deal of bloom are monk-lamas, who act as scribes, on the children's faces. In appearance physicians, sorcerers, etc. It is frethey resemble Chinese and Mongols, quently the case that the correspondnot Hindus, and are more athletic ences of Lamaism with the Roman than either. They are of the same Catholic form of Christianity are overfamily as the Burmese, and their emphasized, at least very incorrect languages are like. Yet Thibetans inferences are made from these. The have no tradition or notion of a pro- Lama ceremonies of baptism, confirgenitor of the human race. There is mation. The ecclesiasticism of pope no caste, yet the social habits are and cardinal, archbishops, priors, Hindu in most r~spects. Polyandra monasteries and nunneries, abbots, prevails, and Polygamy obtains. etc., are all here. But these similar- ities are often strained, and the differ- Since 1720 Thibet has been a depend- ences in them are very great. ency of China, under the Viceroy of Sze-Chuen. Two imperial delegates Lamaism is a compound of Shamanism, Sivaism and Buddhism. The But Thibet was not without a re- Thibetan form of Buddhism is, how- ligion till it imported Buddism and ever, wholly unique. Writers are Sivaism from India. It had an earlier constantly saying this is the strong- creed, though but illy formulated till hold of Buddhism without any ap- Buddhism came. It is known as the parent discrimination. Buddhism in Bon Religion. Eighteen principal ,"ods Burmah is one thing; in Ceylon it is are enumerated. Originally it was a another thing; it is still another sort of nature worship, mixed with thing in Thibet. It is not in its ori- a superstitious element; later on, ginal purity in Thibet. It is strongly adopted from Shamans and the Sivamodified by surrounding religious ites of India, and now further mixed notions. It was born in Thibet contem- with Buddhist ideas. poraneously with the Sikh religion in the Punjab and with the Lutheran CHRISTIANITY IN THmET. Reformation in Europe. In its monasteries in Thibet are preserved heaps The Roman Catholics nave tried to upon heaps of Buddhist literature, the introduce Christianity on the Chinese language Thibetan, but the alphabet border. They began this in 1846, and being Indian, and they may date from made some inroads till 1865, when the second century. They differ in their mission property at Bonga was their language much from the spoken destroyed by fire by the Thibetaus. language of Thibet to-day. Again they endeavored to work, but in 1887 were again driven out, only For much of this class of informa- two of their nine centres being untion one must search ethnological and touched. philological works, like Brace's "Races of the Old World," " Latham's On the west the Moravians have Philology," Hodgson's great works, sought to enter the country, but have and other books like Cunningham's had to stay in British Lahore. They Ladak (the title has gone from us just commenced this mission at the sugnow). gestion of Gutzlaff, in 1853, by send- ing Messrs. Pagell and Hyde, two Max Muller, too, will often let in laymen, who endeavored to reach light, as for instance, in his" Chips," Thibet by way of Russia, but were deetc., where he says: feated in the attempt, and then tried the -India route by way of Simla, in "People have complained of the 1854, to Kyelang in Lahore, and eslength of the sacred books of other tablished a mission house 10,000 feet nations, but there are none that ap- above the sea, and at Poo, in Kunaproach in bulk to the sacred canon of war, in 1865. At this latter place they the Thibetans. It consists of two col- number forty converts. They have lections, commonly called the Kanjur done a large amount of translation of and Tanjur." Scriptures, grammars, etc., into Thibetan, and sent these into Thibet, The Kanjur consists in different where it is said all the lamas can editions of 100, 102 or 108 volumes read, and the lamas, remember, folio. It comprises 1,083 distinct number eighty thousand! works. The Tanjur consists of 225 volumes folio, each weighing from -Father Agostino, a preaching four to five pounds in the Peking edi- friar, has been addressing flocks of tion, which edition was sold for $3,000 people in Rome, and among them by the Emperor Khian-Lung. A copy even skeptical scientists. He is an of the Kanjur was bartered for 7,000 impassioned orator, and has been oxen, and a copy of Kanjur and called the "modem Savonarola." Tanjur together was sold for 1,200 Nevertheless, he is an ignorant Romansilver roubles. (See Vol. XX., ist and worships the Virgin. " Asiatic Researches.")
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
-Mr. H. W. Frost writes that the Missionaries employed, 121; days inundation in the region about Tient- labored, 23,182; stations supplied, 710; sin, in province of Chihli, was caused miles traveled, 200,443; sermons by very heavy rain-falls in the moun- preached, 12,029; Exhortations and tains: The waters spread with unex- other religious addresses, 6,587; total ampled suddenness. Mud villages sermons, 18,616; baptized into mission were completely dissolved, and swept churches, 1,893; received by letter away with their inhabitants; some and restoration by mission churches, who escaped with life lost ~he crops 2,267; total received by mission Dn which they depended for the eight churches, 4,160; professed conversions, months to come. Probably 4,000,000 2,619; churches assisted in organizing, Df people will depend on charity, in 103; prayer meetings assisted in orthis province alone, until May next. ganizing, 405; Sunday-schoolsassisted Active relief committees are at work, in organizing, 250; prayer meetings ascertaining the extent of the calam- led, 3,224; elders or bishops assisted ity, and devising means of help. The in ordaining, 43; deacons assisted in government is repairing the embank- ordaining, 98; pages religious literments, and has issued an imperialre- ature distributed, 522,789; reliigious script ordering Tls.60,000, to be dis- visits, 28,611; church houses built in tributed among sufferers. All this, connection with labor, No. 39, cost, however, is inadequate to raise the $29,965.00; books, Bibles, etc., distrirecipients above the bare preservation buted, No. 2,406, cost, $1,061.03; colof life. Rev. G. W. Clarke, of the lected for State missions, $35,357.77. China Inland Mission, writes, that to keep these people from November 15th -The Dutch Reformed Church of to March 15th, at two cents a day for Cape Colony, which has 175,555 bapadults and one cent for children up to tized white members, is coming, says twelve years, would cost $9,000,QOO. the Rev. Charles Starbuck, under Even now famine is upon the people Scottish and English Stimulus, to who can get but one meal, and that show a much more animated missionvery poor food, every twenty-four ary zeal. "Stellenbosch, with its theohours. Here is a chance not only to logical institute, is very especially a help the starving, but to reach them focus of missionary zeal." Among the with the b.read of life. The judicious others, the Wesleyan Missionary Sohelp given in 1871, 1878, 1888, re- ciety is most prominent. It has (in the moved many prejudices against mis- west) 9 stations, 6 missionaries, 96 na. sionaries and resulted in soul-saving:. tive helpers, 1,476 communicants, 1,467 scholars. The South African If any feel moved to contribute, a Wesleyans are quite independent of draft on London, England, sent to the the British conference. In the whole Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Cor- Colony they have 71 stations, 156 poration, Shanghai, China, or a post- churches and chapels, 55 clergymen, office order or New York draft, sent to 1,198 native helpers, 16,840 communi- Mr. H. W. Frost,No. 30 Sheeter Street, cants, 88,000 baptized adherents, 218 Toronto, Canada,will be forwarded to schools, 310 teachers, 13,803 scholars. the relief of the suffering millions. "But no other British society laboring in South Africa compares with the -Mr. J. B. Cranfill, superintendent Scottish societies as respects' capabilof missions, incloses summary of ity, sobriety and diligence, combined Texas (Baptist) mission work, from with true evangelical piety." The Free September 30,1889, to September 30, Church of Scotland has 9 stations, 10 1890: ordained Europeans, 2 ordained na- cational and industrial training. The tives, 23 native helpers, 4214 commu- United Presbyterians have 11 stations, nicants, 12,113 baptized adherents, 12 missionaries, 60 native helpers, 2,307 3,510 scholars. Their institute at Love- communicants, 8,080 baptized adherdale (largely assisted by the colonial ents, 43 schools, 1,735 scholars.-Illu8government) is a great force for edu- trated Weekly.
Foreign Mission Notes, by Rev. James Johnston, Bolton, England.
The Missionary Death Roll. secrated in Edinburgh on All Soul's Bishop Callaway.-At the close of Day, 1874, he settled at Umtata, March last, in his seventy-third year, around which grew up a small town, passed away the Right Reverend a pro-cathedral, a theological training Henry Callaway, D.D., first bishop of college for natives, schools for native St. John's, South Africa. Born in and European boys and girls, a hospi- Crediton, Devonshire, on the 17th of tal, and other institutions. Through- January, 1817; he early attached him- out his wide diocese he toiled with self to the Society of Friends. He inexhaustible zeal. On the failure of pursued the medical profession with health, in 1886, he formally resigned marked distinction, in London, and returned to his native land. True though his interest in religious ques- to the apostolic spirit, he devoted all tions and pre-eminently his strong his property to Spring Vale when he convictions on missions ultimately in- withdrew, and subsequently gave to duced him to join the Established the Established Church a sum of Church. On the formation of the £2,000 on his retirement. Bishop Cal- See of ~atal, he responded to Bishop laway will rank with Africa's most Colenso's call and was ordained laborious and enlightened missionary at Norwich Cathedral, August, 1854. heralds.
After a voyage of fourteen weeks to Mr. A. M. Mackay.-By the death Port Durban, he was appointed in the of this eminent missionary a lament- capacity of priest, in September, 1855, able blank is created in the Uganda to St. Andrews, Pietermaritzburg, the Mission. Most probably this event oc- first church erected in Natal. He ClIrred at Usambiro, on the southwest speedily became a conspicuous worker of Victoria Nyanza, 750 miles inland.
among the heathen and in the study Mr. Mackay was born at the Rhynie of the Kaffir language. Three years Manse, Aberdeenshire, in 1849, where later he obtained a grant of 3,000 acres his father was a noted Presbyterian of land, a day's journey from Rich- minister. Educated partly at home mond, where he founded the famous and at the Northern University, he Spring Vale Station, a prolific centre later went to Berlin in order to follow of Christianizing influence. He as- the profession of engineering. There sisted in reducing the Kaffir language he won no inconsiderable reputation to written form, and chiefly in trans- for ability and accomplislmIents. Mr.
lating nearly the whole of the Scrip- Stanley's historic letter, inviting mis- tures and Prayer Book. In this sionaries, in 1885, to the dominions of tongue, followed by a literal transla- Mtesa, moved the young engineer in tion in English, he wrote a book en- Germany to offer himself for service titled, "Zulu Nursery Tales." On the as an artisan missionary to the Church Scotch Established Church founding Missionary Society. He was readily in 1873, the Bishopric of Independent accepted, and on the 27th of April, Kaffraria, lying between Natal and 1876, sailed with the first party.
Cape Colony, Dr. Callaway was of- His desire to go forward on landing fered and accepted the. charge. Con- was frustrated by a serious illness. During his months of waiting by the classes. A pamphlet named "Times seaboard he made important surveys of Refreshing in Spain," recently pub- and laid out a useful road as far as lished in Glasgow, contains a bright Mpwapwa. When the news of the narrative of his toils for the better tragic deaths of Lieutenant Shergold school accommodation of the families Smith and Mr. O'Neill on Victoria Ny- connected with the Rio Tinto Com- anza came to hand, he resolved at pany, and increased facilities of wor- every hazard to join the lonely re- ship. He was equally esteemed by maining missionary, the Rev. C. T. the officers and seamen at the ship- Wilson. In December, 1878, he ping port for whom he opened a res- reached Mtesa's capital. Through a taurant and readiug-room, and as ~uccession of hardships, perils and ca- steadfastly sought their spiritual wel- lamities, he displayed the highest de- fare.
votion and splendid fortitude. House Rev. T. German Jones.-By the and boat-building, implement-mak- unexpected decease of this notable ing, teaching agriculture, managing mISSIOnary, the Welsh Calvanistic the printing-press, and proclaiming Methodists are bereft of one who held the message of eternal life, occupied a foremost position in the mission his nights and days among the tribes cause in the East. An overworked of Uganda. Under threat or in cap- system compelled him to sail from tivity he tarried within Uganda Ter- Calcutta, with his wife, on the 17th of ritoryuntil he was driven forth by the last March. The relatives and friends Mohammedan revolt in 1888. At his who repaired to Gravesend to await temporary abode, Usambiro, every the incoming steamer were terribly one knows how faithfully he succored shocked to learn on her arrival that the followers of Stanley and Emin on the home-voyaging missionary died on their coastward march. His decease the previous day, April 14th. In many robs the Church Missionary Society of respects his career was a remarkable its most conspicuous foreign agent,and one. A native of Anglesey, he was the whole missionary world of one of employed for some years as a working the most energetic and successful mis- quarrier. On completing his studies sionary pioneers of modern times. in Bala College he was called to the Rev. James Lundie, M.A.-To ministry of the Welsh Calvanistic the deep sorrow of the English and Church. His foreign labors began at Spaniards at Huelva, Spain, this be- the mission station of the Khasia loved missionary died unexpectedly Hills, India. By an unremitting en- on the 21st of March. At Edinburgh thusiasm he was witness to abun- University, where a few years past he dant spiritual harvests. His services received the Master of Arts degree, to the British government at the time two of his brothers on that occasion of the Indian mutiny were the means had the same honor conferred upon of averting a general rising in the them. One of the latter, Mr. Marsh- neighborhood. All through the awful all Lundie accompanied him to Spain cholera plague in India he labored un- and there ultimately succumbed in flaggingly, e5pecially in bearing the the Master's cause. The third of the stricken to the crowded hospitals.
brothers, the Rev. John Lundie, re- For his devotion on successive famine presents the Scotch United Presby- outbreaks he won the public thanks terians in Kaffraria, in which capacity of the Indian authorities and the he is sustained by a genuine mission- grateful affection of the poorest classes.
ary partner. The subject of this me- With fine literary tastes he combined morial notice was on the eve of com- an extensive and profound Oriental pleting special work for the benefit of scholarship. A large concourse of the English residents and the native mourners and spectators attended the funeral at Smithdown. Cemetery, here. My church, after many years Liverpool, on April 18th. of imancy and adolescence under another, and a part of the time under United States. my ministry, is giving signs of growth. New Orleans, June 30, 1890. EDITORS OF THE MISSIONARY RE- My church is a missionary church, VIEW:-As chairman of the Assembly'S and our young members are being dili- Standing Committee of' Foreign Mis- gently trained as soldiers for the war, sions, at Chattanooga, it was my duty and I hesitate not to declare that the to shape and present the favorable re- Church is so essentially missionary in ,sponse to an overture from the pro- her constitution, that to neglect or to fessors of our colored institution at do slackly this work, is to forfeit the Tuskaloosa, to begin a mission in the charter received from the King. Dark Continent. ,Two missionaries, -one white and the other black, are Yours, in our dear Lord, now on their way to Africa, and our R. Q. MALLARD. Assembly, at its late session in Ash- ville, resolved W reinforce them with Lutherans in all Languages. four additional laborers as soon as the means could be realized. In order to The Lutheran is a church of many deepen the interest of our people in languages. The latest statistics show this new mission, and stimulate that of her baptized membership greater generosity and prayerfulness, throughout the world 32,000,000 speak I sent the article enclosed, entitled, German, 5,300,000 Swedish, 2,500,000 "Wheah's Appeal," to our organ, The Norwegian, 2,300,000 Danish, 2,048,- Southwestern Presbyterian. Possibly 000 Finnish, 1,250,000 English, 1,113,- it might he made of larger service in 000 Hungarian, 624,000 Livonian, 480,- awakening interest in the evangeli- 000 Courlanish, 272,000 Esthnian,70,000 zation of a land long neglected, but French, 70,000 Icelandic, 48,000 Bohetoward which the eyes of the whole mian, and that in every other civilized -civilized as well as Christian world are tongue she is well represented, num- bering in the world 28,406 educated now being turned.* ministers, 38,381 church edifices, and 50,061,280 baptized members. This Your REVIEW, which I have only of church, though taking its origin in late been able to take, is invaluable to Germany, seems to know no fatherme in the preparation of missionary land or mother tongue. She is at sermons, and in the monthly concert home everywhere. of prayer, which I have always observed in my ministry. It is of great Wesleyan Missionary Society.- value in keeping my own soul stirred The society is reported struggling -on the matter which engaged the last against financial difficulties, for the thoughts of our dear Master before He relief of which an earnest call is made. mounted the throne. Your REVIEW Notwithstanding a carefully admin- ~nables the soldier of the Cross to istered expenditure, the current inmount occasionally above the dust and come does not keep pace with. it. smoke of the battle to the serene Possibly for the decrease the embitmountain-top, whence he can, at a tered controversy with Dr. Lunn and glance, survey the entire field of con- Mr. Hughes may be partly accountflict, only to descend with heightened able. The majority of the older courage to his place in the host. British missionary organizations re- gard the obstacles in the way of rais- Allow me to thank you warmly for ing their necessary incomes as multithe help you are giving m~ in my work plying rather than diminishing. The birth of numerous modern societies • We regret that space compels us to omit largely explain this dilemma, for they this strong appeal.-ED. draw upon supporters identified with " Word has been received from the long-established agencies. illustrious Department of Instruction The Salvation Army derives a at Constantinople, addressed to the princely income from the Christian government guarding the interests of public, whereas, General Booth does Syria, to the effect that there has been not aid any other organization, even issued an imperial order in favor of those traveling on corresponding lines Mr. Henry Jessup, a subject of the to his own. honored American republic, based Interest was shown at the Man- upon a statement and petition ad- chester Auxiliary of the Wesleyan dressed by him, permitting him to Society, attended by the Rev. W. H. publish the Weekly Neshra, which Findlay, M.A., of Negapatam,and the had been previously suppressed, this Rev. Professor Patterson, of Madras, permission being granted on the con- in the presence of two old-time Wes- dition that the paper shall not treat of leyan advocates of missions. One of· any political matters, nor of any oc- the veterans, who presided, Mr. Oeo. currences whatsoever which may taktf Cussons, was within a few days of place within the empire or outside its completing his eighty-eighth birthday; borders, but shall treat solely of re- the other patriarch, Mr. John Napier, ligious, scientific and moral questions.
has already entered on his ninetieth But this permission is restricted by the year. The occasion was made deeply condition that nothing shall be printed memorable by the masterly defence in it which directly or indirectly of educational work amid the great opposes any of the religious beliefs centres of population in India. Pro- current in the governments ruled and fessor Patterson held that the policy guarded by the Sultan, and also by the which had been maintained for many condition that a copy of the contents years by the Protestant missionaries of the paper be sent before it is in regard to this phase of activity was printed and published to the govern- wise and justified by its results. ment censor that he may sanction its printing and publication after he has -Liberty of the Press in Turkey. ascertained that in no respect, in The Neshra, an Arabic newspaper single words or in sentences, has there published by the American mission in been any infringement of this condi- Beirut, Syria, was suppressed without tion. The exalted local government cause, months ago, by orders from will inform him of the nature of this Constantinople. Efforts have been concession. "
made, by interviews with the local Turkish soldiers, hemmed in by authorities and by petitions to Con- bayonets and cannon, shout at the stantinople, by the intervention orthe close of their daily reviews, "Long United States consul and of the am- live the Sultan!" American Chris- bassador, to secure permission for its tians interested in the redemption of resumption, but all in vain until the Turkey will wait for further proofs of pre~ent time. the fostering care of the Sultan's gov- An Arabic paper from Beirut, re- ernment before heartily echoing this ceived here recently, publishes the fol- prayer.-Church at Home and Abroad.
lowing notice of the Sultan's gracious edict, from which our readers can Jews.-Baron Hirsch gives $10,000 judge of the nature of the " liberty of a month toward the relief of the Jews the press" in Turkey, and of the re- exiled from Russia and seeking homes strictions to which the missionaries in the United States. The American are subject in their work. This is a Hebrew says: literal translation of the Arabic "A census of the district south of copy:' Houston street and east of Broadway shows Russian and Roumanian Jews were clothed with different clothing; far in excess of one hundred thou- and were of different habits and ways sand, and the average increase by im- of life. Yet I never realized the one migration is about twenty thousand ness of the human family more than I per annum. The committee propose did that day. The poet says, "One using the Hirsch fund in educating touch of nature makes the whole world these people so as to become self-sus- kin." But one touch from the hand taining by entering trades or occupa- of Christ can do far more than that. tions which are new to them, and to It can abolish all differences, makes enable them to amalgamate rapidly us feel that we are the children of a with the people among whom they common Father, saved by a common work or dwell. Classes have been Saviour, heirs of a common inheriopened for teaching children sufficient tance, pilgrims to a common home.- English to prepare them to attend the Samoa, Past and Present, by Rev. public schools; for instructing adults Oharles Phillips. in English, in American history, methods and customs; for fitting girls Monthly Bulletin. for other occupations than tailoring, for making men handy with tools, -A Chinese society of Christian whereby they can more rapidly obtain brethren, organized in East 39th renumerative employment. It has Street, New York City, has, on the first been proposed to teach them various floor, a room for religious meetings, trades, and put some at agriculture, and, on the second, apartments for and so scatter them in different voca- the sick and homeless. It began with tions. With the aid of the employment twenty-six members, who paid $70 bureauofthe United HebrewCharities, per month for the house. positions have been found for a large number of men, the Hirsch fund pay- -A school for the Chinese, opened ing the expense of transporting them at Kelley's, North Carolina, called the to the points where they are to work, " Oriental Academy," began with and in some cases tools have been seven pupils direct from Canton, and given them." is on a farm, and the system is indus- trial. It is designed for Chinamen Samoa. – A South Sea Com- wishing to be educated, but prevented munion. At the close of a service by race prejudice or lack of funds several hundreds remained to com- from entering an American school. memorate our Lord's death. For bread The school is non-sectarian, is under the natives have often only the kernel the auspices of leading Chinamen, of the cocoanut, and for wine only the and will offer opportunities for selfmilk of the cocoanut, the natural support. bread and wine of the country. The scene was very striking. Only four- -In the Sabbath-school of the teen years since the mission ship first Clarendon Baptist Church, in Boston, approached the island. Then they whose pastoris Rev. Dr. A. J. Gordon, were only a herd of naked savages. is a class of one hundred of native Now" clothed and in their right Chinese. They support three of their minds," numbers of them gather countrymen as preachers in their own around the table of the Lord. There land. seemed hardly any point of resemblance between preacher and people. -A united prayer-meeting in con- We were of different races; spoke nection with the week of prayer, for different languages; were of different woman's work in the mission-field, coloring; ate different kinds of food; was held in Exeter Hall, Friday, January 9th, at 3 P. M. Representa- tives of various zenana societies were present and took part in the proceed- said that not until the end of the ings. seventeenth century did the popula- tion number more than 60,000,000, If -A converted Chinaman on our so, what remarkable growth has Pacific coast sold himself as a coolie characterized these last two centuries, in New Guinea, for the sake of work- notwithstanding famines, droughts, ing among his own countrymen. pestilences and wars. Within the last Before he died he was the means of two centuries has occurred the two the conversion of two hundred of his notable reigns of Kanghi and Keincompanions. lung, each lasting nearly sixty years, and were characterized by tranquility -The statement is again made that and good laws. The educational Mr. C. F. Studd, one of the China system also stimulates the increase of Inland missionaries, placed his for- population. The cultivation of silk tune of $500,000 in the hands of the engages a large number of persons, trustees, the interest of which is to go from the tending of the mulberry to the mission, while he shares the trees to the last step in the production common lot of missionaries. Whether of the fabric. About one in nine of this statement is true or not we are not the people is a washerman, one in ten able to say. is engaged in the cultivation of the soil, one in 100 is a bricklayer, or a -Laotsze Yaotze Nahtsze, a cele- stonemason, or a carpenter, and one brated philosopher of China, founder in 120 is a tailor, while one in 140 is a of the Tabu Sect, or Sect of Reason, blacksmith. was born 104 years before Christ. His name means" old boy," because -France is now much the largest he is believed to have been eighty land owner in Africa. Her territory years old at birth. will extend from the Mediterranean almost to the Gulf of Guinea. Even -Forty societies are at work in the great Sahara will now be under China, with between eight hundred French control. and nine hundred missionaries and teachers: -From mid-China we have news of a remarkable revival, great numbers -Dr. J. G. Kerr, of the China Mis_ being brought out of the darkness of sion, read a paper at a meeting of the heathenism. The Rev. George Clark Medical Missionary Association, at has preached to audiences numbering Shanghai, on May 20th, last year, his 4,000. Even the intensely cold weather subject being "Medical Missionaries did not prevent the people from in Relation to the Medical Profession." coming night after night. Stanley He lays great stress upon the moral Smith reports two hundred and ten value of the work of those who, to- baptized at one time and as many gether with the healing of the body, more inquirers. offer to the people that religious faith which has produced the best men and -A missionary home and business women, husbands and wives, citizens agency has been established at No. 8 and neighbors, and governments upon Seward Road, Shanghai, of which Mr. the face of the earth. Edward Evans writes: -Canton is a real Chinese city, but "It is designed as a halting-place Hong Kong is simply:a British settle- for all arriving and departing missionment. aries, of which there is now a large travel through Shanghai, which, with -The population of China is be- the exception of Hong Kong, is the port lieved to be, according to the most re- of entry for all China for Europe and liable statistics, 380,000,000. The America. The China Inland Mission people show a marvelous energy in multiplying. They thrive upon what others regard as starvation diet. It is has recently erected a beautiful and you can lift first the children of the commodious place, costing over rising generation. $50,000, for its own missionaries. The American Presbyterian is the only -At a recent session of the SociaL other society, of all who are repre- Scientists in Saratoga, N. Y., Dr. T. sented in China, who have any home W. Couthers advocated a practical for its missionaries in Shanghai. method of treating drunkards. He' All the more need is there for a Chris- would put the inebriate on the plan of tian home to welcome and shelter and the small-pox patient and put him into pass on new arrivals, often suffering quarantine till he recovers. He would after sea-sickness' of a long voyage, take away his personalliberly, declare and bewildered with the new and him both incapable and irresponsible, strange sights and conditions they are and so strike a death blow at' the entering. The missionaries in the saloons with the pauperism and crime interior have need also of some one to that proceed from it. receive and forward supplies sent them from home, and purchase such things -Samoa has recently attracted'. as they require for home use. The much attention. A large proportion agency is designed to meet this need. of the Samoans are Christians, and a The home is not supported by any missionary says that he would be denomination or society, and is a willing to match any twenty men, simple effort of an independent women and children that he might worker. It is to be carried on so as to meet there against any twenty met at just cover its expenses." random in this country as to their knowledge of the Word of God. -Rev. Dennis Osborne (India) baptized over 500 persons last winter, -In Africa the number of missionand hopes for similar success this sea- aries exceeds five hundred and the son. number of converts four hundred thousand, increasing by about twenty- -Count Campello is addressing five thousand a year. During the very large gatherings in Italy, urging past five years Africa has furnished his hearers to renounce Papacy and more than two hundred martyrs. affirm the infallibility of none but Jesus Christ. He presses the Gospel -A Missionary Reading Circle remessage upon the careless and skepti- cently organized at Columbia, Mo. cal, but his preaching is not unmixed It is an endeavor to unite young with politics. people in a systematic course of read- ing upon the subject of missions. The -Rev. John McNeil, who succeeded course will cover about three years, Rev. J. Oswald Dikes at Regent Square and those who engage in it will be Church, London, is to be relieved examined and certified as graduates from his evening service, that he may upon the completion of the course. proclaim the Gospel in destitute The course for the first year covers regions in London and round about. the lives of Judson and Livingstone, Mr. McNeil has very remarkable gifts Dr. Strong's charming book, "The as an evangelist, and it seems as Missionary Review and the Crisis of though he should not be confined Missions." The admission fee is fifty within the limits of anyone church. cents per annum. We would be glad if such reading circles might be estab- -The motto of Dr. Guthrie's whole lished in every part of our country. Ragged School work was " Prevention Information is what is particularly better than Cure." It is impossible to needed to awaken missionary con· raise the lower classes in towns unless science,