The Missionary Review of the World — September 1939
1939
The Japanese Control of Religion By a Recent Resident Christian Opportunities in Japan J. Harper Brady The Churches in the DustBowl Mark A. Dawber By-Products of the Arabian Mission Samuel M. Zwemer Fasl-Begh-Address Unknown "Shaheeda"
Training Indian Women Doctors Dame Edith Brown The Present Situation in Portugal Wm. H. Rainey Preaching Christ in Europe Adolf Keller 25 Cents ~ Copy $2.50 a Year
Items Dates to Remember throughout the Presbyterian
and in other Christian circles because Dr. Clarence G. Salsbury, Superin- August 1-IO-Erieside Conference for of his work for lepers of Allahabad tendent of Ganado Presbyterian Mis- Boys and Young Men. Willowick, and in connection with the Allahabad sion to Navajo Indians in Arizona, Ohio. Agricultural Institute, a missionary and medical director of Sage Memorial enterprise. He attended the Mt. Her- Hospital, has been made President Aug. 5-10-Ninth Quadrennial Con- mon School for Young Men and of the recently organized Arizona vention ·of the Woman's Home and Princeton University where he was a Hospital Association. Arizona is one Foreign Missionary Society of Af- member of the class of 1903, and went of the last states to organize such rican Methodist Episcopal Zion to India the same year. He received an association. Almost all the state's Church, Detroit, Mich. the degree of Doctor of Philanthropy 45 hospitals are embraced in this from Princeton and Bachelor of Scieffort to handle matters arising from August 13-20-Geneva Summer School ence in Agriculture from Ohio State legislative and social security prob- of Missions, Lake Geneva, Wis. For College, Master of Science from Amlems. It will be affiliated with the information write to Mrs. Paul H. herst College and received the Kaisar- American Hospital Association. Wezeman, 1177 S. Humphrey Ave., i-Hind Gold Medal in 1935 and the Oak Park, ill. King George Medal in 1937. *** Mrs. A. E. Harper, of the Presby- August 30-September 2 – National He was born in Manchester, Engterian Punjab Mission, has received Rural Forum. Penn State College, land, on October 24, 1874, and came the Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal for dis- under the auspices of the American to the United States in 1894. tinguished service to India. Dr. and Country Life Assn., Dr. Benson Y. Mrs. Harper, who have been in India Landis, Executive Secretary, 297 Obituary Notes since 1914, are in charge of the Moga Fourth Ave., New York. Training School for Village Teachers, The Rev. Dr. Ross Stevenson, Preswhich is the formal name for what September I-Home Mission Day at ident Emeritus of Princeton Theologi- Indians and missionaries prefer to the World's Fair, New York. cal Seminary, a former pastor of the call "The Village of Service." Mrs. Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church Harper is the author of two books for September 2-4 – Erieside Business and a Moderator of the General Asyoung people on India-"The Golden Women's Conference, Willowick, sembly of the Presbyterian Church in Sparrow" and "Shera of the Punjab." Ohio. the United States of America, died in New York on August 13 at 73 years *** October I-Loyalty Sunday. of age. He is survived by his widow, Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, after ten October 11-I8-Twelfth Quadrennial Florence Day Stevenson and by his years of residence at Princeton, N. J., three sons, Dr. Theodore Dwight Stehas moved to the Hotel Carteret, Sev- Convention of the Woman's Parent venson, a medical missionary in Canenth Avenue and 23rd Street, New Mite Missionary Society of the Af- ton, China, Donald Day Stevenson of York City. rican Methodist Episcopal Church, Pennsylvania State College and Wil- Chicago, ill. liam Edwards Stevenson of the law *** October 24-25-130th Annual Meet- firm of Debevoise, Stevenson, Plimp- ArthtH' L. Carson, Ph.D., director ing of the American Board of Com- ton & Page. of the Rural Institute of Cheeloo Uni- missioners for Foreign Missions versity, Tsinan, China, has been meeting with the Mid~West Region, Dr. Stevenson was much loved as a elected president of Silliman Univer- Pilgrim Church, St. Louis, Mo. pastor, teacher and friend. He was sity, Dumaguete, P. I. Dr. Carson one of the best-known Presbyterian went W China in 1921, and after a Dr. Helen Kim, a pioneer in wom- clergymen in the United States. For short service in Canton, he organized en's education in Korea, has been many years he served .as Chairman of an agricultural department in the elected President of Ewha College in the Presbyterian General Assembly's boys' high school at Weihsien, to meet Seoul, to succeed Miss Alice Appen- Department of Church Cooperation a recognized need. In Cheloo Univer- zeller. Dr. Kim has participated in and Union, and was a leader in the sity he had opportunity to serve the many international conferences both negotiations of his denomination for rural Chinese to better advantage. at home and abroad as a representa- a proposed concordat with the Prot- tive of Korea. She was a delegate to estant Episcopal Church. *** the Jerusalem Conference in 1928. He was born at Ligonier, Pa., on Dr. Edward Warren Capen is re- *** March 1, 1866, the son of the Rev. tiring from the deanship of the Ken- Ross Stevenson, Presbyterian minisnedy School of Missions of the Hart- Rev. J. G. Holdcroft, missionary of ter, and Martha A. Harbison Stevenford Seminary Foundation, after son. He was graduated from Washservice in that office since 1919. The the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. in ington and Jefferson College and then steady development of the school dur- Korea, has returned to Seoul in order from McCormick Theological Semiing toe last twenty-eight years is due to stand by the missionaries there and nary at Chicago. For four years he largely to his personal devotion. Dur- help in the work during this time of occupied a pastorate in Sedalia, Mo., ing this time more than 892 students crisis. Mrs. Holderoft is detained in and then returned to McCormick Semhave enrolled, representing more than America on account of her mother, inary for eight years. In 1902 he besixty mission boards; and these stu- who is 86 years of age. Pray for Dr. came pastor of the Fifth Avenue dents have served in 47 different mis- and Mrs. Holdcroft in this time of Presbyterian Church in New York sion fields throughout the world. testing. and in 1909 accepted the call of the Brown Memorial Church in Balti- *** *** more. He was elected president of Dr. T. K. Van, acting President of Dr. Samuel Higginbottom, Presi- Princeton Theological Seminary in the University of Shanghai since the dent of Ewing Christian College, Alla- 1914, and the next year was elected assassination of President Herman habad, India, has the distinction of be- Moderator of the General Assembly. C. E. Liu in 1938, has been elected ing the only lay missionary who has the President. In view of the tense ever been elected Moderator of the Dr. Stevenson retired from the pressituation following the assassination Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. idency of the Princeton Theological by a Japanese agent, it was not This honor was conferred upon him at Seminary in May, 1936, and subsethought wise to select a president at the General Assembly in Cleveland, quently served as temporary president the time. Ohio on May 25th. of the American section of the World Dr. Van's sterling Christian char- Dr. Higginbottom is not an Ameri- Conference on Faith and Order and acter, his scholarly attainments and can citizen, having been born in Great the Universal Christian Council for his quiet efficiency in a crisis mark Britain, is not an ordained minister, Life and Work. He and Mrs. Steventhe wisdom of his selection. never attended a theological seminary son went on a tour of Presbyterian and was elected an elder of the Pres- missions in the Far East in 1937. byterian Church in Cleveland only about two weeks before he was elected (Concluded on third cover.) Moderator. He has become well known and greatly beloved and honored
THE CALL LEADS . .. THE MISSIONARY To
REVIEW OF THE WORLD "EAST OF SUEZ" ORIENT DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor by VOL. LXII SEPT.,1939 No.9 EMp(l.ESS The Jain Temple, Calcutta Publication and Business Office- fl.PIlESS Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. rOB OVBB 100 YBllBS Only 10 swift days direct to THB WllY HllS .8BN Editorial and Executive Ollice– Yokohama when you sail by 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Empress to the Orient. Only PaO Entered as second-class matter at 3 more days to visit lovely Hawaii en route by Empress of Let the comfort of modern liners and the secur- Post Ollice, Harrisburg, Pa., under Japan, largest and fastest liner ity of British seamanship enhance your voy- Act of March 3, 1879. on the Pacific, or Empress of age. Whenever you are called to the other Canada. From California side of the world, choose this traditional route. 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. ports connect at Honolulu. Cross to England by a modern transatlantic Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. liner and then embark in a great liner of the Published monthly, except August. Frequent sailings from both P & 0 and British India fleets, led by the new All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1939. Vancouver and Victoria to 23,500-ton Strathallan, Strathmore, and Strath- British agents – Marshall, Morgan Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, eden carrying First and Tourist Classes. Air- and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, Shanghai,HongKong,Manila. conditioned dining saloons in First Class, hot London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, Consult YOUR OWN TRAVEL and cold running water throughout, built-in 10 sh!1lings a year. AGENT or Canadian Pacific: out-door swimming pools, children's play- 41 offices in U. S. and Canada. rooms! Regular service to Egypt, Sudan, Iran- MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBian Gulf, India, Burma, Ceylon, Straits Seule- LISHING CO., INC. ments, China, Japan, Australia, East and South Africa, Mauritius. Special reductions BOARD OF DIRECTORS and generous baggage allowance for missionaries. ROBERT E. SPEER, President A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President Convenient throuqh bookinqs can WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary j be arranqed by your travel aqent. PAUL J. BRAISTED Or apply at 25 Broadway, 638 Fit~~ A~•• N. Y•••• ~ =Y ,,"'''' ~ SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT D. J. FANT MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD WM. B. LIPPllARD ERIC M. NORTH SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Editorial Chat The summer is past and the autumn begins. It is a time for new pro- grams and increased activity in the Church and mission work as well as in schools, business and public enter- prises.
We call attention to the material in this number of THE REVIEW–edi- torials, articles, news, methods-all bring useful and interesting informa- tion for Christian workers. THE RE- VIEW brings before each reader im- portant topics for prayer, conference and cooperation. Read prayerfully the articles on "The Dust Bowl Churches," the situation in Japan and in Europe. You will be stirred by the reports from Arabia and India and Dutch New Guinea. You will be deeply interested in the story of a Russian Christian's pilgrimage in Central Asia. Make your interest count for the Cause of Christ.
*** Some recent comments on the value of THE REVIEW show that God is blessing its ministry: "I have had the pleasure of reading your magazine on different occasions. Not being able to subscribe, I am wondering if any reader would be willing to pass on to me their used CUNARD WHlE Sl AR copies. It would be much appreci- ated." HECTOR H. GARDINER.
, p..gents for l Lin Cheng Hsien, GenerCl Hopei, North China. NO ORl£NTA *** P£NlNSUlAR AlNOlA ST£AM SH "I send my subscription for another ANO BRlTl CO MPANl£S year feeling it a very fine investment. NAVlGATlON I enjoy all the articles and comments.
If I go to summer or winter schools I shall certainly commend THE RE- VIEW." MRS. HENRY W. PEABODY.
Beverly, Mass.
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DlSTRlBUTlUN GIVING LITERATURE TO PRISONERS A PORTUGUESE
MONUMENT TO LUIS DE CAMOES WITH BIBLE SOCIETY DEPOT IN THE BACKGROUND AT LISBON (See article on page 409.) REVIB ORLD VOLUME LXII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER, 1939 Topics of the Times MEETING THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH Czechoslovakia and the Polish Ukraine? Perse- Many churches in America, as in other lands, cution cannot destroy them; poverty alone will are facing it crisis. Their income from gifts has decreased, their membership has dwindled, the not kill them. Such experiences did not destroy community in which the work is carried on has radically changed. What is their outlook? What the Apostolic Church; nor have they prevented is the solution of their problem? the growth of the church in mission fields. But There are worse things than for an organization or an individual to die a physical death. It materialism, self-centeredness and failure to culis far worse to die spiritually than to lose the reason for existence. If a man or a church cannot tivate spiritual life will sap vitality in churches longer serve the Cause of Christ in a community "Why cumbereth it the ground"? Physical death and individuals. may open the way to new spiritual life. Today, in the midst of world-wide distress, is One solution for a dying church may be a change it not time for Christians to seek spiritual vitality to meet the needs and conditions of the new environment. The change from a dead conserva- and to express spiritual life in personal service? tism to a living organism may be the way to larger service. A church that has served chiefly There is special need to help fellow Christians in aged saints, may well begin to reach out to meet the growing needs of youth, to train Christian distress wherever they may be, and to promote the workers, to evangelize the unconverted and backsliders of the community, to become truly a living missionary work of Christ with new vigor wherpower and a missionary-minded congregation. Size never determines vitality, power or useful- ever doors are open-at home or abroad. ness. There is clearly work for every Christian and every church in any environment where hu- Dr. Adolf Keller, of Switzerland, Director of man contacts may be made. The first requisite for service is the indwelling and manifestation of the Central Bureau for the Relief of the Evangelithe living Christ in the life and work of the individual or in the church. cal Churches of Europe, calls attention to the fact If churches in America are experiencing a that the need for help for these churches is incrisis-what about the churches in Japan, where militarism prevails; in Germany where totalitar- creasing rather than diminishing. He says: ianism seeks to control church life; in Russia where all faith in God is discredited; in China The rise of totalitarianism and the almost incredible where foreign invasion destroys property and life; fury of the outbreak of anti-Semitism have deeply affected in countries of Europe where unrest, poverty and the economic situation of the evangelical churches their materialism prevail? What shall be done for the liberty of conscience, their spiritual as well as congregaevangelical churches in Spain, in Germany, in tional and organizational life. All over the world the structure of civilization shows deep fissures where we had seen only solid rock.
Certain areas of specific need have within the last year shown increased distress, due in part to adverse eco- nomic conditions, but in far greater measure to the effects of national hysteria, the persecution mania which has broken out in so many places. A few problems are indi- cated here.
M.u~h :tttentio.n has been given to feeding evangelical famIhes In RUSSIa, those whose breadwinner has been sent to Siberia or the Arctic Circle. Relieving the extreme poverty of Reformed and other Protestant ministers in Rumania has been another project.
The encouraging evangelical movement in the Ukraine is being hit both by financial difficulties and by all manner of petty persecution·on the part of local authorities, i. e., every pastor must get a permit for every sermon that he preaches, whether in his own parish or elsewhere.
As the need grows for a strong and enlightened Chris- tian ministry, courageous and independent, the number of young men who can finance their training dwindles in Europe.
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A staggering refugee problem also faces us. These were the problems _before the Madras Czechoslovakia is on the critical list for the losses of Conference, and they were the problems before territory have meant a heavy blow to the Church of the the forty-sixth Foreign Missions Conference, held Czech Brethren (Hussite). They are paying a heavy price in Swarthmore in June. These two working confor peace, and it would be shameful if we let them pay it alone. Recent reports from Italy indicate that unfavorable ferences were built on similar lines-a new plan developments are facing the Waldensian Church. for the American annual meeting. It was not a The Christian Church in Europe is once more time for speeches and reports but an opportunity bringing forth martyrs; humble people jeopard- for prayerful deliberation on specific topics, preize their livelihood and the future of their children pared for by commissions and discussed in variin order to stand by Christian principles which are no longer recognized by their governments; yet ous groups that reported their recommendations churches are packed in many places where empty benches had become the rule. The witness of these to the whole conference. Two hundred and heroes of the faith has awakened echoes around eighty-seven men and women, from over sixty dethe world. nominations met for eight days to consider seven great mission areas and then such topics as-The Christianity may be driven again into the catacombs and caves, but churches in America and Life-Giving Church, The Sustenance of the Life England must rise to meet the challenge of the o~ the Church, Christian Leadership, World Tenhour. SIOns and Cooperation. Dr. John R. Mott, the veteran leader-ever youthful in outlook and vigor PROBLEMS FOR MISSION WORKERS -reminded the conference that the only founda- tion for the Christian Church is the ever Living There has probably never been a time when the whole foreign missionary enterprise has been con- Christ and faith in Him as the Son of God and fronted with greater difficulties, more complicated Saviour of man. problems, more dire need or more challenging opportunities than today. The very size of the The principle of Christian fellowship and coenterprise-with twenty-seven thousand Protes- operation in the name of Christ was dominant at tant missionaries on the field besides a total staff Swarthmore. Representatives from Mexico, Afriof over 200,000 Christian workers of various races and nations cooperating with them-constitutes ca, China, India and other fields, as well as from a problem as to the direction and support of the work. About $30,000,000 is required every year various Evangelical communions, brought varied in voluntary gifts from Protestant Christians to views and stirring challenges to cope with the task maintain this work with any degree of efficiency -so far as money can help to accomplish this. sacrificially and adequately.
Other problems are involved in the complexity The results of this conference, as well as the of the work-which is more than simple evange- outcome of Madras, must be seen in the churches, lism and the training of Christian leaders-in the the Board offices and on the field in the months to growth and self-assertion of the developing come. One thing is certain-nothing adequate churches in mission lands; in the unrest and conflicts in such countries as India, China, Korea and and abiding can be accomplished except through Japan; in the changed attitudes of the governments toward Christian missions in such lands as the power and leadership of the Spirit of Gwhod~ liv- Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Japan and Mexico; in the ing and working in individual disciples are war spirit and economic depression in Europe and America, resulting in a decrease of missionary surrendered to Christ and devoted to His cause. gifts. Add to this the agitation for new align- ments in the various denominations the over- An important move was made toward unifica- whelming number of appeals for philanthropic causes and the temptation to discouragement as tion of Protestant foreign mission management to the outcome of the whole missionary enterprise, and the decline of faith in many professed Chris- in America. The organizations which have handled tians in the compelling force of the missionary command of Christ-all these and other factors various phases of the enterprise on a semi-autonmake it imperative for loyal Christians to reexamine the world situation, to look at the basis omous basis, winocrlku,dpinrgomroegtiioonnaalnddwiroemcetino'n~ rural and objectives of the missionary enterprise and work, medical work, to consider the forces on which we can rely for victory in the Christian campaign. have now been incorporated into the membership of the Conference as representative committees of that single body. The ten committees are on Africa, the Far East, India, the Philippines, Latin America, Promotion in Interest-Publicity, Foreign Students and Radio, Rural Missions, Women's Work and Christian Medical Council for Overseas Work. The chairmen of these committees will be members of the executive department of the Foreign Missions Conference.
Another new and important featUre of the Swarthmore meeting was the united conference of fifty-six newly appointed missionaries of eight mission Boards. These new missionaries are go- ing to fourteen fields. In addition to the lan-
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
guage study, the new missionaries were prepared THE WORLD CONGRESS OF BAPTISTS by a consideration of such topics as The Missionary Home; The Spiritual, Social and Intellectual During July (20th to 27th) the representatives Relationships of the Workers on the Field; The of 12,000,000 Baptists of the world met in Atlanta, Missionaries' Health; The Sharing of Christ with Georgia, for the sixth Baptist World Congress. Others. The fellowship, the prayer life and the Previous sessions have been held in Philadelphia, objectives of the recruits were greatly clarified London, Oslo (Norway), Toronto and Berlin. Dr. and strengthened at Swarthmore. George W. Truett of Texas, presided at the ses- sions. Dr. J. H. Rushbrooke of London, the Gen- The change from January to June for the an- eral Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, the nual Foreign Missions Conference and the invita- newly elected president, made a strong plea to tion to the newly appointed missionaries have rec- Christians to withstand the assaults now beingognized advantages and will probably be con- made in many lands against civil and religious tinued. freedom. Among other things he said: The chairman elected for next year's confer- Among all evil omens of the past five years the most ence was Dr. C. Darby Fulton of Nashville, Sec- menacing is the activity of secular and ecclesiastical powretary of the Executive Committee of Foreign ers in narrowing the bonds of liberty. Freedom, civil Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. and religious, has been extinguished in many parts of the The Vice-chairmen are Miss Sarah Lyon and Rev. earth and in others menaced and diminished, and theories Leonard A. Dixon; secretaries Dr. Leslie Moss and of the State have arisen, against which the instinctive Miss Florence Tyler; treasurer, M. P. Moller. Christian reaction is decisive.
Frequent mention was made at the conference . . . With efforts to bring Soviet Russia into closer of the sufferings of China, the need to help the contact with the Western democracies, the churches in the Chinese in their distress, the deplorable evil of democratic countries should insist upon a pledge of relicontinued sale of war materials to Japan, effects gious freedom in Rlssia as a basis for such cooperation. of militarism, and the destructive trade in nar- If we forget Russia, we are less than Christians. cotics, the demoralizing effects of war all over the world and the need to work for peace based on No feature of our time is as gravely alarming to the righteousness and brotherly love. missionary enterprise as the multiplication of restrictions and demands in the enlarging Japanese-controlled areas One recommendation of the conference, relating of the Far East. . . . to evangelism includes the following call to prayer: Documents emanating from some of these areas indicate grave and,multiplying obstacles to missionary propaganda, The whole question of evangelism with reference to the while the reverence to the Emperor exacted from Chrisunoccupied areas of the world imperatively demands a spe- tian pupils in schools, in forms scarcely if at all distincial session of the Foreign Missions Conference for which guishable from Shinto religious rites, suggests too closely adequate preparation should be made. . . . Realizing the the Roman emperor-worship for refusing which early urgency of the situation in this hour -of crisis throughout Christians endured a martyr-death. . . . the world and confessing the failure of the Church to meet-fully its evangelistic responsibility, acknowledging our The appalling martyrdom of China is the shame of the utter dependence upon God for His Holy Spirit in power Western World. We could have stopped it and we did not. for the consecration of both person and property to the task of world evangelism, and recognizing the divine origin Protestants had been fearful of the future in Spain, and content of the Gospel Message and the divine source knowing the temper of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and of the commission to preach the Gospel to every creature, their unity in support of General Franco. But pledges we would sound forth a Call to Prayer, addressed to the have been received from General Franco, the Duke of whole Church of Christ, but especially to the churches in Alba, and Lord Phillimore, for freedom of religious worthe United States and Canada, calling upon God's people ship. to be instant in intercession: The congress took up the question of evan- 1. That the Lord of the harvest send forth laborers into gelism, the Rev. Dr. Charles W. Keller, president His harvest. of the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Chicago, asserting that it "will cure most of the 2. That the Church, especially at home, be revived, and ills of society." If the souls of Hitler, Mussolini, delivered from compromise with the world, and with sin. Stalin, Chamberlain, Daladier and the Japanese Emperor could be reached to cause them to pray 3. That the unity of the Church may find its expression in unison, there could be no war. in a greater unanimity in understanding and expounding the content of the Gospel message as revealed in God's A statement of the Baptist position on war and Word. peace, condemned profiteering from war and urged general disarmament, strengthening of the League 4. That God may grant to us all who ought to preach of Nations, an international police force and court the Gospel "utterance in opening the mouth to make known of justice, and solution of the problem of unequal with boldness the mystery of the Gospel" (Eph. 6: 19) distribution of natural resources. The statement and "that God may open unto us a door for the Word, and also denounced racial discrimination as "sin," and to speak the mystery of Christ . . . that we may make it condemned totalitarian ideas of the State. For the manifest as we ought to speak." (Col. 4: 3, 4) and first time in this Congress-and in a southern city -all signs were removed that indicated racial dis- 5. That in fulfillment of His promises God may pour out his Spirit in these latter days upon all flesh and turn multitudes to repent of sin and believe in the Saviour.
crimination or division, between white and colored Christians are as cordial as· ever. Permits for evangelistic meetings are not given to missionardelegates. ies or ways are found to keep the people away, as all gatherings, except for regular worship, are Presenting the Baptist position on questions of discouraged.
church unity, commissions of the World Alliance "Due to a combination of circumstances, mid- winter Bible Institutes and conferences have not declared Baptist opposition to organic union with been held as in former years. Missionary activi- ties now are mostly confined to local conferences other churches, but they urged "Christian unity" with Korean leaders, personal work, social con- tacts and ministering to the needy. Surrounded and cooperation with other denominations "at a as we are by so much destitution, physical and spiritual, there are plenty of opportunities for time when Christians are called upon to think and service.
act together." . "Medical mission work is going well, but here also difficulties multiply. All licensed Korean doc- The report of a special commission favored the tors on the hospital staff have been drawn away to outside work; this leaves us greatly handicapparticipation of various Baptist bodies in the ped. War conditions make it extremely difficult to secure experienced physicians. The Japanese are World Council of Churches, so long as the council seeking to control everything – man-power, re- sources, wages, prices, even the thinking and does not constitute itself into an "ecclesiastical speech of the people. The whole country is being geared up to the highest efficiency as a fighting union," or super-church. machine. Naturally mission work suffers because of war conditions. Foreigners are suspect, be- The commission made it clear that Baptists do cause they are foreigners; their movements watched and regulated, their leadership and innot reject "federal" relations to other churches, fluence is frowned upon. Non-cooperation with the Japanese policy on the 'shrine question' is reand feel that "persistent, indifferent division" and garded as reb~llion against the government; though every other form of patriotism is encoursectarianism are "deep disloyalty" to the Christian aged by the Church and the Mission.
faith. . . . "Another friend writes that the local police have insisted that a Korean be appointed on the hospital The report stated the conviction that all Chris- staff to act as a 'go-between' between the police and missionary superintendent who, according to tians should be open to the development of op- Japanese law, has full authority over everything in the hospital. . . . The hospital evangelist was portunity and plans which would encourage our put in jail because he would not go to the shrine. He held his ground and many were praying for participation in the common responsibilities of him; as a result not only was he released but he is back in the hospital preaching the Gospel. Today evangelical Christianity. many of the best Christians cannot be much in evidence in church affairs." On recommendation of the Committee on Evan- Evangelistic work is going on in heathen regelism the congress voted a five-year program of gions and is entirely unmolested where the shrine issue does not come up. It is where the church is evangelism. The plan included the adoption of strong that the issue is pushed. Christians there- fore are going out to the untouched regions and similar programs by the constituent bodies, the are preaching the Gospel there.
setting aside of a special day of prayer and ap- What the future has in store for Christian work in Chosen we do not know, but there is a great and pointment of a committee to direct a world-wide effectual door opened in the hospitals.
campaign. Of late there seems to be some change in the attitude of the Japanese toward the Koreans for DISTURBED CONDITIONS IN CHOSEN in some places they are not pushing the shrine issue as fanatically as they did. Pray for Korea. Recent "uncensored" reports from Chosen show that Japan is not only seeking to force Koreans into the Japanese mold but is apparently endeavoring to get rid of Christian missionary influence as a hindrance to the dictatorial program of the militaristic party. Christians who are loyal lawabiding subjects, but who acknowledge Almighty God as the one supreme Ruler, are suffering persecution from shortsighted human rulers. Missionaries are finding their Christian work hindered if not forbidden. Nevertheless the "Word of God is not bound," says a friend who sends us a report from which we quote the following: "Last autumn the work proceeded along much the usual lines. We missionaries adopted the policy of responding to Korean cans for service, rather than go to outstations upon our own initiative. Under prevailing conditions our visits might prove more embarrassing than helpful to the Korean Christians. In the winter it became very apparent that intimidation wa·s being brought to bear on the churches and that opportunities for missionary cooperation with the outstation churches would be few. For the present the old itinerating days are over though Korean
Japanese Control of
-<!Iii By, Fonn" R",;dent of Jap.. 1111>– T HE long-projected and much discussed Bill The former one did not definitely recognize Chris- for the Control of Religious Bodies was tianity; it required the approval by the authorities passed by the Japane£e Imperial Diet on of the creedal basis as well as of the organization March 23 and will become effective from April 1, of religious bodies; and left much more by way of 1940. Previous bills were formulated by the J ap- supervision to the local police. The former bill anese Cabinets in 1899, 1927, and 1929, but either was to "control religions," this one "to control rewere turned down by the Diet, or were withdrawn ligious bodies." They are under different articles by the government without presentation. The of the constitution.
new law has been in process of preparation since There is need for such a bill as the present one.
1929, during which period it has been subjected As mentioned above, Japan has in recent years ex- to revision of various sorts including one recon- perienced a great growth of what are known as struction from the ground up. "quasi-religions." Some are purely commercial The law provides for a comprehensive control organizations; some are revivals of ancient super- of religious organizations. Approval by the Min- stitions; some indulge in immoral practices; some ister of Education is necessary for the establish- run counter to the national polity. Three years ment of any religious sect or denomination. A ago the famous Way of Man sect was disbanded statement as to the creed, ritual, and organization and its temples razed OIl the ground of lese maof the body must be submitted with the applica- jeste; it claimed a membership of over a million.
tion for recognition, but official "approval" of the Corrupt practices within Buddhist sects have long same is not specifically required. Both sects and been an offense to peace-loving Japanese. The law local congregations must appoint a responsible was needed.
"head" to deal with the government in all matters. This law, like the former bills, has been drawn This step in the direction of a monarchial form up after conference with an investigation commis- of church government is somewhat offset by a pro- sion on which were representatives of all three re- vision which makes congregational permission ligions, the representative of Christianity being necessary for changes in doctrine, clergy, rites, or Rev. Mitsuru Tomita, of the Presbyterian-Re- rules. The establishment of a local congregation formed Church, the chairman of the Board of requires the approval first of the head of the sect Directors of Meiji Gakuin. He wielded such great and then of the Governor of the prefecture. The influence that on several occasions members of the law recognizes Buddhism, sect Shinto, and Chris- Shinto sects protested that too much regard was tianity as religions of the Japanese Empire. Every being paid by the authorities to the desires of the denomination or sect, as well as every local organ- representative of Christianity.
ization, will be required to register as soon as the Gains made possible by the Bill: law becomes effective. Other religions will be (a) The recognition of Christianity as one of dealt with as "reUgious societies" by what will pre- the three religions of the Empire. This of course sumably be a more severe code, since one of the will increase its prestige. Some Christians have avowed purposes of the law is to control the activ- even expressed the hope that Christian stories ities of the freak, and sometimes dangerous, reli- may be inserted into the school text books as gions which have been springing up like Shinto and Buddhist stories now are. But the real mushrooms in Japan in recent years. A well-con- gain will be that the local churches may appeal certed drive of certain Mohammedan leaders to from the tyranny of local police officials to the have Islam included among the "recognized" re- Governor or Minister of Education.
ligions failed in the Diet, in spite of the fact that (b) The permission to organize Christian the Army was reported to be backing the move in bodies as juridical persons, thus offering them an effort to win favor among Mohammedans in legal protection. There are local churches which China and in islands of the South Seas. years ago were organized in this way; but in re- This law IS much milder than the one which in cent years, the practice has not been permitted.
1929 met defeat because of the bitter opposition of Certain denominations are organized as land- the Christian Church and certain Buddhist sects. owning juridical persons; but under the new law [ 391 ]
each denomination and each local congregation nese subjects, of course, are permitted to enjoy may organize as a zaidan hojin and will then have freedom of religious belief, but only "within limthe full legal rights accorded to a "foundation." its of peace and order and not antagonistic to their duties as sUbjects." And it would not re- (c) Many existing local rules will be regular- quire much argument to prove that the duties of ized. This will be a great gain. Up to the pres- Japanese subjects include not only social and poent our churches and preaching places have been litical duties but also what in the West are called regarded merely as "religious societies," and have religious duties. Japan has no state religion, been at the mercy of local petty officials. This has but state Shinto demands of Japanese subjects caused endless annoyance to missionaries and the response in loyalty and worship paid elsechurch officers. where to religion. As a recent writer has stated, "Under such circumstances, no division between The objections commonly made against the Bill 'church' and 'state~ is possible, nor has there ever are not new. At present it is required that every been such a division in Japanese history." local church register a "founder" who is its legal and responsible head and is supposed to speak with The Japanese concept of religion is something authority for the congregation. Schools also must quite different from that held by Westerners. The appoint such a person. The head of the National Japanese word for "religion" was, in fact, coined Christian Council is held responsible for its ac- by a Christian in the nineteenth century. A numtions to the government. This is "an old Japanese ber of significant points in this connection were custom"; and the best way to meet it is to appoint brought out by the debate in the Imperial Diet such an officer and then to regulate his actions. on the Bill under discussion. Home Minister Reports of local congregations must now be made Araki on one occasion stated that the differentia to local police stations in much the same form as of a religion are (1) a founder, (2) a creed, and those prescribed in the new law. (3) organization for self propagation. This definition has cropped up several times before in Under existing laws religious societies can be recent years, and very conveniently leaves state disbanded for the reasons given in the new law. Shinto out of the category of religion altogether. "Russellites" can no lonler prosecute their work Even Daikichiro Tagawa, a member of the Diet in Japan; Mormons withdrew some years ago; and a prominent Christian layman accepts this the "Way of Man" cult was disbanded. distinction in his recent book "Kokka to Shukyo" (State and Church) and appears to believe that There is danger, however, in the possibility that state Shinto lies outside the religious category be- "subversive" elements may be discovered in Chris- cause it contains no superstition! According to tian creeds when such statements are presented him, the holding of superstition concerning founto the officials, even though such presentation is ders of religions and their followers is one of the technically only a matter of form. A number of characteristics of a religion, including Chris- Christian doctrines may be interpreted as run- tianity. ning counter to the Japanese national polity as understood at present; for example, some forms The debates in the Diet lead one to the ineviof millenarianism; some expressions of the rela- table conclusion that Japanese of the official or tion of Church and State; the Quaker and Advent- governing class look upon state Shinto, or the ist attitude toward military service; references Way of the gods, exactly as we of the West look to Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, are upon a religion; in fact, their use of the word all susceptible to such misinterpretation. Here "Way" seems to differ very little from the Chrisagain it is to the advantage of the Church to have tian's use of it when he says that Christ is the the denominational creed registered at headquar- Way; and their use of the word "religion" makes ters where it can be interpreted by intelligent it mean little more than "superstition." Minister men. Araki, moreover, explained in reply to a certain interpellation that the followers of all religions The Effect of the Law in Japan were obliged to give priority to the shrines, asserting that if generally practiced this I have no fear for adverse effect of the law on act will have the effect of reducing religious fricthe Church in Japan proper, but if the law is put tion in the country. into effect in Chosen and in "occupied" China, that, I fear, will be a different story. In such a setting Christianity can hope for little more than toleration and protection from unau- As far as Japan proper is concerned there are thorized persecution; this the new law appears to no dangers in the new law which do not inhere in provide. the general situation, which in itself is fraught with potential danger. The existence of the Christian religion in a land ruled by "the Sovereign who is a manifest God," is anomalous. J apa-
Opportunities in Japan Today*
By REV. J. HARPER BRADY, Kochishi Missionary of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
SOME folks think there are none. Others that around, on the gates and doors of every home, are they are few and getting fewer. But the real silent testimonies to additional burdens and fears missionary still finds that the days in Japan and sorrows, over and above what was there are days of twenty-four hours of opportunity- eighteen months ago. Soldiers leaving – the some of which find him and some of which he, wounded returning-lots of little wooden boxes- Spirit-led, must find. If greater needs mean life for so many with all its poverty and sickness greater opportunities, then there are greater op- and darkness seemed hard enough. Our hearts portunities today than ever before. are bleeding for the millions across that narrow strip of water! They also bleed for those around There is a greater need for light, for there are us in their sorrow and we would do what we can more people in Japan now than when the mission- to heal the broken-hearted. Into such homes and aries first went there with the Light. Only about hearts there is a welcome, far more often than not, one-half of one per cent have received the true for the missionary who comes with a heart of love. Light and are connected with any church, Catholic or Protestant. And this tends to get less as Difficulties are many and great in Japan for the the gain in population far exceeds the proportion- one who comes from a foreign land and seeks to ate gain in church membership. And the Prot- bring men to the one and only Saviour. When estant half of this number is divided into all the Japan and America are not on the best of terms isms of the United States and a few special ones our work as missionaries is made harder. These for good measure. If ever the unreached multi- things change from day to day and are not the tudes presented a challenge and opportunity for real difficulties. Sin and indifference are our missionary service, then that challenge and that strong and abiding adversaries. Sometimes these opportunity are greater today because the multi- are on the outside – and now and then we find tude of shepherdless folk is greater. The Church them on the inside and give them nicer names. in Japan, for which we daily thank God, is still It has never been a "convenient season" for men too weak in numbers, resources and vision for this to humble themselves, forsake sin, deny self, and mighty task. A great nation in need, desperate enthrone the Lord. need, of Christ! Our resources are more and greater than the Then there is the opportunity presented by a difficulties. The first year of this conflict was greater need for guidance. For this is a virile in many ways the best year of the twenty-one we nation, going places and doing things. If they have been there. But we found it more necessary do not go to the right places and do not do the than ever to live daily "looking unto Jesus" and right things, they suffer, maybe millions of other to yield to Him, but not to fear and discouraged folks suffer, we all suffer, and much that we cher- fellow workers. Divine boldness, shot through ish and hold dear is endangered. If a nation is with love, has never been rebuffed but always welweak and asleep and staying at home (as such a comed. Our resources in Christ, as more and nation would), there is no particular need for more we have discovered them and made them guidance. But such is not Japan. How terribly our own, have proven more and greater than our real and urgent is her need for the controlling, difficul ties. guiding hand of God! Never for a moment neglecting the multitudes, yet this ought we not to More men are needed. There are fewer mishave left undone; winning for Christ those sionaries than there were some years ago, owing who mould the opinions of the mind and deter- to retirements, sickness, the "de- and re-pression." mine the paths in which these multitudes must "We need reinforcements to work with these walk for good or ill. A little has been done-more Christians in the God-given, God-planned task of must be and can be done. reconciling men in Japan to Himself through the lives of other men who are vitally in touch with A greater need for comfort exists everywhere, Him. The greatest challenge of the hour is that for in whatever city or town one may live, all the doors are open for evangelistic work in this country. The forces that are with us are greater * Reprinted from The (Jh,ristian Observer. than all the adversaries."
[ 393 ]
Churches in the Dust
By REV. MARK A. DAWBER, D.D., New York Executive Secretary of the Home Missions Council I HAVE been requested to make a statement as missions; they gave to home and foreign missions. to what is now taking place in the drought Then the war ended, the price of wheat finally and dust area and what is happening to the went down below the cost of production, and there Church. This I gladly do, but with the definite followed four years of steady drought. The peo- understanding that what is said may not apply to ple continued during drought to maintain their every situation but represents in a general degree giving.
the developments and attitudes. The churches held on, hoping against hope that In the first place it is necessary to distinguish something would happen. The people kept say- between the drought area in general and the "dust ing, "Well, perhaps next year it will rain." "But bowl" in particular. The drought area includes the heavens were as brass." The preachers shared all the territory where, because of the absence of the lot of the people and, in many cases, because sufficient snow and rain, there have been no crops, they did not complain, suffered out of all propor- and where, because of the continued cultivation tion. Some were able to hold out by getting part- of the soil without a sequence of cover crops to time employment during the week. Splendid col- hold the top soil and because of a high wind ve- lege and seminary men with whom I was person- locity, the top soil is blown away. This region in- ally acquainted were getting oilly $250.00 a year. cludes the Pan Handle of Oklahoma, part of Texas, In some sections a great consolidation of churches western Kansas, and the Dakotas. Here is a stretch took place. One county I visited, that during the of country between the Gulf and Canada that heyday of prosperity maintained ten ministers, seems to be the victim of these recurrent dry years had but one to care for the remaining people. I nev- and also exposed to these high winds. The "dust er saw more vital religion anywhere than I wit- bowl" is a part of this same problem and area; it nessed among some of the ministers in the drought includes the region immediately around eastern area. Here is one-they called him "Rusty." The Colorado and western Kansas. Over this section an name does not do him justice because there was atmospheric condition obtains that attracts the nothing "rusty" about him. No grass grew under dust as it flies from the drought area and is sucked his feet. This was not due to the drought, but be- down in what is called the "dust bowl." In the "dust cause "Rusty" kept his parish so well traveled, bowl" area the soil has not been dried out as in the ei,ther by car or on foot, that he made a pathway drought area, but the constant accumulation of the wherever he was. He had a great philosophy of dust has buried the good soil and the crops so that life. Speaking of his people who were facing a the result is much the same as the drought. fifth year of drought, he said, "You know, it's no Prosperity and Adversity use getting discouraged. That won't get a fellow anywhere, but lead to more discouragement, and This whole country was highly developed during if I allow myself to get discouraged I will have no the days of the World War. The world was cry- message for my people and nothing to help them ing for wheat, wheat, everywhere wheat! Some with when I visit them."
of the best wheat in the country was raised here, To the problem of drought and dust must be and this land also produced the largest number of added the scourge of sickness. The Red Cross bushels to the acre. Wheat was bringing two dol- and health authorities were pressed to the limit lars a bushel. During this period the country to make possible medical aid to the thousands who prospered. The people paid. for their land, built were sufferers from the drought and who lived homes and settled down to the business of agri- where the swirling dust-laden wind brought sick- culture and to face their responsibilities as citi- ness and death in its yellowish clouds. A peculiar zens. They built schools and churches. These kind of dust pneumonia was induced and intensipeople came to settle and not to move. They are fied in the dust and drought area.
a home-loving, church-going folk. They sub- The Government was faced also with a special scribed generously to the Church and its causes. relief problem. In Boca County, Colorado, as These churches were not dependent upon home many as eighty per cent of the people were on the [394 ] relief rolls at one time. The same was true of a The small towns and villages that are in the large number of other counties in other states. drought area are also adjusting themselves in The farms and homes that represented the sav- accordance with the agricultural changes. Fewer ings and hard work of a lifetime were made val- churches will be required. ueless. In debt and with no basis for taxation or collections, such counties and communities con- Migration and Coming Home fronted a problem which one can readily imagine. The map of the drought country is dotted with Examples of Heroism "ghost towns," evacuated under the pressure of these changing economic forces. Relocation of The following items are taken from correspond- population is a necessity. We cannot arrest an ence that I have conducted relative to this sit- economic process that is rooted in nature and uation. One district superintendent writes: mother earth to suit either misguided people who desired to farm, or anxious speculators, or unfor- "Those six years of drought were eventful ones for me. tunate investors. Communities have grown, pros- They taught me many things, but best of all they revealed pered and been blighted before this, and will conthe high Christian spirit of the people." tinue to pass through these cycles in spite of the advice and warning of Government and society. Other statements are: The lesson to be learned, however, is that intelli- gent citizens will realize that only by correcting "The churches discovered that they could stand more the economic abuses and readjusting the dislocabuffeting than they thought they could stand. They had tions which have come because of our failure to gone through a period of prosperity; then followed a pe- provide scientific settlement of people and a techriod of unexpected disaster. This was a real test of Chris- nique of land use such as the Farm Security Adtian faith." ministration is seeking to establish, is there any real hope for a permanent agriculture. The "A number of churches closed, but with the understand- Church will do well to cooperate in such a proing that they would open again; if the rain came, the gram of common-sense community development. people would come back." A goodly number of the former residents of the "In this section some adjustments were made, but no drought area are now "migrants" in California. people were left without the benefit of a minister." There they are called "Dust Bowlers." Ever since the droughts of 1934 and 1936 they have "The churches made no attempt to evade any outside been streaming westward from the Great Plains. responsibility, such as the great missionary program. A count at the California border records the entry They were an inspiration to others in the liberality of their into that state by automobile alone of 221,000 giving." refugees between the middle of 1935 and the end of 1937. More than four-fifths of them came from "Another thing that was revealed in the drought disas- the drought states. "Burned out, blowed out, eat ter was that the best of the young men and women in the out"-what is to be done with them? ministry did not hesitate to go right into the midst of it." They are having a desperate time as migrants "In many instances help came from the outside, for following the crops. Now the rains have come which we were profoundly thankful, but the most inspir- again to the Great Plains, and many of them are ing thing was the willingness of the people to help each turning their faces wistfully toward the East. other. The self-respect and the mind to cope with diffi- They still own a "place" in Kansas, Colorado, or culty have meant something to these people." the Dakotas. Others lost the equity in their farms and became tenants, but the only neighborhood One could continue to cite the many and various and community experience they had was back testimonies of experience. But we are concerned in the drought country. They were members of as to what is now taking place, what is the outlook the church. No wonder they long to get back. for the immediate future, and what kind of program is being devised for the coming years. Many of those who were "dried" or "dusted" out have returned, some for sentimental reasons, First, let it be said that many of the communi- others because they discovered that they were no ties in the drought area will never be rehabilitated better off elsewhere. Those who have been exon the old basis of agriculture. The soil is de- posed for the first time to a migrant life have stroyed-"gone with the wind." The Department reaped a bitter harvest of experience, and are sayof Agriculture is making a desperate effort to ing "Never again." establish the native buffalo grass, but it is a most difficult task. If this can be done, a limited num- I visited in a small farm shack in the dust reber of farmers can be maintained in cattle-raising, gion of eastern Colorado a year ago. It was in a such as prevailed before the land was ploughed up section where nearly everybody had left. This for wheat. In other sections where not all the good land was destroyed, it would be possible to reestablish a smaller number of farmers if there could be some greater diversification of crops, and more of the land were left in grass. This is already taking place and the church life is already being adjusted to the more restricted population.
farmer had been away two years but had returned. of four hundred people with four churches and There had been recent rains that had given en- two others in the sparsely populated territory couragement, but that was not the main reason for around. This town, like many others, was started this man's return. The dust was still piled high during the World War, with the promise of prosaround the house and the yard and fences. Farm perity in two-dollar wheat. The settlers were of machinery left behind was still buried in the dust. the cultured type and remain, hoping against hope We sat in the kitchen and talked, and I finally for better days. They have nothing to sell and no plunged into the question of the reason for his place to go. One church would be ample for this return. I had already noted the absence of his town and the surrounding community. Such wife, and that his two daughters were evidently adjustments could be made in many of the areas keeping house. Looking through the open door, that have been devastated by drought, dust, and he pointed to a little graveyard that the dust had grasshoppers, and the responsible denominational also made well-nigh invisible. He proceeded to leaders owe it to such communities to lead out in tell me the story. "Well-nigh twenty years ago a program of economy, of comity and cooperation. I came to this place with my bride; it is the only real home I have ever had. Together we worked One of the outstanding editors of a series of hard and made money and paid for this place. Kansas weekly papers, which circulate in the Poor and desolate as it seems now, it is my own. drought country, makes some interesting observa- Once it was lovely in the green of crops and pas- tions as to conditions: ture. Over in yon graveyard lies my wife and two children. I cannot leave them. This is my Like all other institutions out here, the Church has sufhome." A lump came in my throat and made fered with the successive years of drought and disaster argument impossible. What was there to say to this section has known, and is bereft of income since the such a plea? whole economic program is built around farm production. There has been some retreat in faith, particularly in the Others are now returning because of the in- last two years; the feeling that seven years of drought creased snow and rainfall of the past year. Sec- and hardship would be succeeded by seven prosperous tions that have been barren and desolate in the years was clearly based on biblical precedent. When 1938 drought and dust for five years are now lovely in failed to bring a crop, certain wavering was evident and the green of the grass and the gold of the wheat the succeeding crop in 1939 likewise added its effect. Of crop. Moreover, we must remember that to most course, the departure of countless thousands of people of these people these places are home. They are from this region resulted in the loss of some of our finest all they possess and, given a year or two of reason- leaders. People are now working on Sunday who preable rainfall, the people can do better here than viously declined so to do. I noted last night some seventy anywhere else for they have no rent to pay. or eighty cars near the picture theatre as compared to four cars in front of the Baptist Church and six cars in Scourge of Grasshoppers front of the Nazarene Church. In this town, a town of some eight hundred people, we still maintain four churches There is another problem that should be con- and three full-time ministers. I have felt however that sidered with the drought and dust. The recurring the town would be better off with only two churches invisitation of grasshoppers is equally as distressing stead of the nine or ten we have tried to support in good to certain farm areas. In certain sections where days. The unification move in these small towns would the crops are reasonably free from drought and strengthen the churches, in my opinion, although denom- dust peril, they are in danger of the plague of inational differences will always prevent that desired end grasshoppers. In Montana there is still much to some extent. suffering because of the results of this plague of 1938. Rehabilitation The Farm Administration is carrying forward If some way could be devised whereby these a vigorous campaign to exterminate the grasshop- people would go into greater diversification of pers this year. An army of men is employed to crops and, in particular, get a goodly portion of mix the poison with sawdust and wheat bran and their land back again into buffalo grass for graz- distribute it. Airplanes are used to scatter the ing cattle, they could solve their problem. In poison over the infested areas. other drought areas where the farmers have con- tinued on this basis, they have survived with little The pastors are facing their tasks with a spirit loss. Sections of Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, of heroism, but it is a terrific battle to be con- and Wyoming that were in the drought region, stantly fighting this triple problem of drought, and where the farmers did not plough up the land dust, and grasshoppers. Whatever the future may to wheat duripg the World War but continued to develop in regard to these three factors, there cer- graze cattle on the native buffalo grass, have re- tainly could be many adjustments made to ease mained with little change during the dry years. the situation from the point of view of the Church in some of these communities. Here is one town As suggested previously, the Church will do well to join its forces with Uncle Sam in a more constructive approach to the settlement of people on the land, to avoid a repetition of the wastage of our rural heritage in riotous farming, to pre-
BY-PRODUCTS OF THE ARABIAN MISSION
vent this soil erosion that has its ultimate and The stewardship of the soil is a religious remore serious disaster in human erosion. Large sponsibility. But the other side of this problem sections of the inland United States will doubtless is that you cannot maintain good churches where go back to desert. It is estimated that in three of the soil has been depleted. In the meantime we the dust storms alone some three hundred million must give financial help and encouragement to the tons of fertile soil has been blown away from the Church in the drought area, in order that it may Mississippi Valley, a quantity equal to 150,000 help the people as they return to get a new start. acres of good land. We must help them to carryon the work.
By,Products of the Arabian Mission By the REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D. II ~.- One of the Pioneers of the Arabian Mission I~==============================~ "I WENT into Arabia . . . ," wrote the Apostle the Moslem situation. Their influence has gone Paul to the Galatians. But no one knows out to every mission Board having work among why he went to Arabia, nor where he went, Moslems. The Cairo Conference was proposed by nor what he did there. There were no direct re- James Cantine at an Indian missionary gathering, sults from this journey as far as we know. The to which he was a delegate from the Persian Gulf.
indirect results were a new man in Christ; a new It resulted in a deeper interest in Moslems in all missionary program; a revolution in missionary missionary circles. Three volumes of its report thinking, and thirteen Epistles that have shaken were printed and its resolutions were translated the Church and the world, after Paul's three years into German, Danish and Dutch. The general of meditation. conference held at Lucknow in 1911 was the pre- The Standard Oil Company and the Dupont cursor of the Cairo Study Center; a series of text- Manui,acturing Company both tell the world that books on Islam was issued and the Missionaries to their by-products are far more important and re- Moslems League for all India was formed. From munerating than their original products. As we this conference also dated the Moslem World quar- look back fifty years, we rejoice at what the terly, published first in London, 1911-1918, and Arabian Mission has done in and for Arabia. The since then in New York City. It was at Lucknow direct results are by no means negligible, but the that plans were made for a Christian literature by-products of the Mission are an even more re- committee for the world of Islam.
markable testimony to God's guidance and good- The Arabian missionaries served the Student ness and overruling Providence. Volunteer Movement in America for a number of First of all, we thank God that the Arabian years. Zwemer, Harrison and Storm visited hun- Mission of the Reformed Church in America be- dreds of universities, colleges and seminaries and came the mother of four other Christian missions. secured scores of misionaries for Moslem lands.
The Danish Church Mission at Aden was the re- This movement also published mission-study text- sult oi an appeal for Hadramaut, written by one books on Islam and on unoccupied fields, which of our missionaries in 1894; the Christian and had a circulation of over twenty thousand, with Missionary Alliance work in Palestine and Iran remarkable results in awakening the students of owe their initiative to influences from Arabia; that generation to the challenge of Islam and the the United Mission in Iraq was founded by Dr. unfinished task of evangelism.
James Cantine and Dr. William I. Chamberlain; The literary output of the Arabian Mission in- Miss Grace Strang was formerly a member of the cludes not only the books mentioned, but also the Arabian Mission and later started the Friends of twenty-eight volumes of The Moslem World, the Arabia Mission at Hillah. six volumes of Cairo and Lucknow Reports, and The Arabian Mission organized and followed up smaller textbooks on "Islam," "Moslem Woman- the first and second missionary conferences on hood" and "Moslem Childhood."· We must add the Mohammedan world, at Cairo in 1906 and at also thirty Arabic tracts and ten books for Mos- Lucknow in 1911. These were the first councils lems, printed by the Nile Mission Press, and trans- ever held by missionaries to survey and to face lated into other languages; two Arabic grammars
by Dr. John Van Ess; Dr. Paul W. Harrison's its organization; the Fellowship of Faith for Mos- "With the Arab at Home"; and twenty books in lems is a prayer league with headquarters in Lon- English on Arabia, Islam or missions by Zwemer, don, which enlists world-wide intercession for of which some have been translated into Chinese, Moslems wherever found; the Friends of Mos- Swedish, Danish, German, French, Dutch, Urdu lems in China, of which the Reverend C. L. Pickand Persian. And last, but not least, Dr. W. ens of Hankow is secretary, is a union of workers, Harold Storm's survey of all Arabia for the World native and foreign, for prayer and effort; the Dominion Movement. Brotherhood of Andrew (Lahore), is an associa- tion of Moslem converts for mutual help, social The medical missionaries to Arabia have made and economic, and to publish tracts, extend a helpan important contribution to medicine and sur- ing hand to converts and restore backsliders. gery in papers sent to medical journals. In the investigation of leprosy, Dr. Storm's report and The Arabian Mission has given two of its misthe work of Dr. Moerdyk are well known. Also sionaries to occupy Chairs of Missions and Isthe special surgical technique of Dr. Harrison lamics, one at Princeton Theological Seminary and Dr. Mylrea and their work in oriental dis- and one at the Hartford School of Missions. eases. The steady, patient, persistent work of the mis- The following organizations, all of which deal sionaries, men and women, in eastern Arabia has with Moslem evangelization, owe their origin di- changed the whole attitude of the government offirectly to the Arabian Mission: The American cials, British and Arab, from indifference or hos- Christian Literature Society for Moslems, incor- tility to warm friendship. It has changed the porated in New York and with field committees spiritual climate of East Arabia. What this in every land where there are missions to Mos- means is clear from the following article in which lems, from China to Egypt, has contributed over Sir Arnold Wilson gives a well deserved tribute to fifty thousand dollars for books and tracts since the work in Arabia.
A Diplomat on Missions in Arabia* -<Ell By SIR ARNOLD WILSON. M. P. III!>– .n.A MERICAN Christian missionary activities in 1891. After a preliminary study of the vast re- Asia are as widespread as those of Britain; gion, they established themselves in Basrah they labor under the same handicaps, suf- (1892), in Bahrein (1893), and in Muscat (1894), fer the same kind of criticism and, among those to and in 1895 in Amarah. That they should have whom they minister, enjoy the same reputation for encountered opposition is not surprising: that altruism. Having had some opportunity, over a they should have accomplished little in the first period of nearly twenty years, of observing at few decades was likewise to be expected. Progress close quarters the work of the Arabian Mission in other than mechanical inventions is to be reckof the Reformed Church in America, I feel moved oned in terms, not of calendar years, but of generto record something of its history, growth and ations. achievement. In 1895 Dr. Worrall went to Basrah as a perma- The first American pioneer in Arabia was James nent medical worker: with him was his wife, also Cantine. Islam was then as intolerant of Chris- a physician. Here they printed the first Arabic tianity as at any time; the Arabs, in whose hands missionary leaflets. In 1902 medical work began lay its principal shrines, stood aloof, isolated and at Bahrein in a permanent building, The Mason suspicious, because they saw Islam everywhere at Memorial Hospital, adjoining existing boys' and issue with Christian powers, and almost every- girls' schools. Death took a heavy toll during where losing ground. these years, but men and women to replace those who had fallen were not lacking, and by 1906, Cantine went first to Beirut to study the lan- when I first went to the Persian Gulf, the Ameriguage. In 1890 he went with Samuel Zwemer to can Mission was already well established. Aden, and there met an English missionary, the aged Bishop Valpy French, who died in Muscat in Lieut.-Colonel Cox (later Sir Percy), British Consul-General in South Persia and Political Resi- • Condensed from The Nineteenth Century and Ajte,r.
A DIPLOMAT ON MISSIONS IN ARABIA
dent in charge of the Arabian coast, knew both and unscholarly speed. It required a supple- James Cantine and Samuel M. Zwemer personally. A good Arabie scholar, he recognized their mentary local vocabulary; that, too, was fortherudition; a man of high principles, he a~mired the tenacity with which they preserved theIr own coming, and it was followed by an advanced Araideals. His subordinates at Muscat and Bahrein and at Kuwait, and his colleagues at Basrah, were bic grammar which is still the standard text-book encouraged to help American missionary activities when they could properly do so, and the Arab in Iraq. chiefs were not encouraged to complain of the subversive activities of men who then, as in Ephe- After the War the Lansing Memorial Hospital sus nearly 1900 years before, seemed bent upon disturbing popular beliefs. was transferred to Amarah, * as the Maude Mem- In 1909 medical work was started in Matrah, orial Hospital (recently erected) met the needs not far from Muscat. In 1916 the great influenza epidemic smote Arabia and Persia. Ibn Saud, of of Basrah but the mission school remained at Arabian monarchs the most enlightened, sent for an American doctor from Bahrein; the call was Basrah an'd prospered. The parents of a child, answered and proved to be the first of many. The inauguration of an air service from Basrah to whether Moslem or Christian, who have passed India via Bahrein made further visits possible to the Pirate Coast, as the long coastline of Muscat through a mission school have no reason to regret and Hasa was long appropriately called. The discovery of petroleum in Bahrein and of artesian their choice, and the Government has learned that water, has brought to the American Mission fresh opportunities and fresh responsibilities. such boys can be trusted when they grow to be In 1910 medical work was started in Kuwait, men. *** thanks to the good offices of Sheikh Mubarak with the Sheikh Khazal of Mohammerah and the Naqib Such, very briefly, is the history of a mission of Basrah, whose son, despaired of in Bombay hospitals, was cured of a tumor on the .neck by which for fifty years has sought to make good Dr. Bennett. They had a long tussle wIth local prejudice, for Kuwait had maintained its inde- Moslems better citizens in the hope that some pendence of Turkey mainly by keeping all foreign- among them and they the best, will make the ers at a distance. A school followed in 1913 and later a permanent hospital. sacrifice, to them second only to that of life itself, When the Great War broke out Ibn Saud was and profess Christ. Its work is not to be measnearby with his army, and sought medical aid from Dr. C. S. G. Mylrea, who is still stationed at ured in terms of converts made, in bodies cured, Kuwait where he occupies a unique position. In the following year Mubarak died, regretted by or children taught, still less in gallant lives spent, every European who knew him, and most of all by a younger man whom he had befriended in and sometimes prematurely ended, in regions adversity, Ibn Saud, today King of Saudi Arabia. War came to the gates of Kuwait and the hospital which to outsiders seem, in Lord Curzon's words was full of wounded; its value and the absolutely disinterested service of the staff was recognized. when he toured the Persian Gulf in 1902, "so in- The young Ahmad, who succeeded to the Sheikhship of Kuwait, was encouraged to learn what he trinsically abominable and vile." There is room could from Dr. and Mrs. Edwin E. Calverley, of the American Mission. in the world, and there is need, both for the priest When the British expeditionary force entered and the missionary, for the acolyte at the altar Basrah in November 1914, they found the American Lansing Memorial Hospital full of Turkish and the surgeon at the mission hospital, for the wounded; Dr. John Van Ess and his wife were in charge of the mission; their wide knowledge preacher in the market-place, and for "the school of local affairs was greatly in request. The army wanted an elementary grammar of Iraqic Arabic; marm" in the classroom. Fifty years of Christian Dr. Van Ess produced one with scholarly precision witness in Arabia, in the Persian Gulf and Persia has profoundly modified the ethical outlook of Moslems.
Exponents of Islam today tend to emphasize its points of approach to Christianity, rather than the differences. Their legislation tends to approx- imate Western patterns in many ways. A coun- try once exposed to Western ideas, can never be the' same as before. The new foundations must embody Western as well as Eastern material if what is built thereon is to endure. Christian mis- sions in general, and the American Mission in Arabia in particular, are doing much, but not a tithe of what should be done, to ensure that Arabs, to whom it falls to choose Western material with which to build, shall be enabled to distinguish between good and bad and between true and false.
On their ability to do so depends their future. As in China and in Persia, in India and elsewhere, Anglo-American cooperation in the missionary field is today cordial and complete. The contri- bution that America is making to the welfare of the world in this sphere is unheralded and little regarded by statesmen or merchants, but I believe it will endure when much else has perished.
• It is now engaged, with considerable success, in the treatment of leprosy.
Fasl–Begh-Address
By "SHAHEEDA"
An E1Jangelical Russian Missionary "A ND so you are about to return to your wan- arkand and the half-wild Emirate of Bokhara, to l".. derings with the Word of God through the frontier of Afghanistan, where the river Turkestan? Well, God speed you! and, by the way, do try to find my friend Fasl-Begh!" Amou-Darya rolled its muddy waters through the "Your friend Fasl-Begh? Who is he and where sandy deserts of Karakum into the Aral Sea. does he live?" I asked from the old gentleman to whom I was bidding farewell. He was of some- All this wide stretch of land was solidly Moslem, what foreign appearance, as he sat there with his red fez on his head-a turkish mullah from with only a sprinkling of Europeans, mostly Rus- Erzeroum in times past, but for many years a zealous Christian missionary to Moslems in one sians. And in this vast "haystack" I had been of the Balkan States. asked to find Fasl-Begh Ssurkh-Khan, a man "That is what I am asking you to find out," said he. "Some 15 years ago he was my helper wholly unknown to me. at Kashgar, where we translated the New Testament into Kashgary. A fine man, of noble birth Two or three months passed in traveling with and noble mind, and not far from the Kingdom of God. . . . If you will make my request a sub- the Word of God through the country by rail, then ject for prayer, the Lord Himself will guide you to where my friend may be found. And you can by steamer or overland on the native high twogive him news about the work which has been committed to me, and my warm brotherly wishes wheeled aroba. I was in touch with hundreds of and blessing!" Ousbeks, Kirghis, Turkmen, Tadjik and Afghans, I smiled, as I shook his hand: "This is like looking for a needle in a haystack-but it appeals yet not once had I been prompted to ask anyone to me as a matter of faith, to look for 'someone, somewhere,' on a stretch of land of 3 to 4,000 "whether he was Fasl-Begh or ever had heard kilometres wide and inhabiteu by about eight millions of people! But I will trust God, who has about him." But I had not forgotten old Mr. promised to 'guide us with His eye.' He certainly knows where our friend Fasl-Begh is. even Awetaranian's request: I had prayerfully comif he be at the end of the earth !" mitted his friend's name to my memory, whence So I set out for Turkestan, for another summer's work as a wandering colporteur with the it had slipped into my subconsciousness, and I Scriptures. I had been called by the Lord four years ago, from a prosperous work in the slums of was sure that in God's own good time it would Moscow, to a "knight-errant's" life in Russian Central Asia. Being neither upheld nor fettered reappear. . by any missionary society, I had set out under the Master's guidance, to make known the name Meanwhile I had been working with all the of the Lord Jesus Christ in this almost wholly Moslem land. love, energy, initiative and "hallowed pluck,"
In my j ourneyings I crossed the several thou- which were at my disposal, amidst most varied sands of miles from Ferghana on the western frontier of China to the Caspian Sea-traveling, circumstances and among "all sorts and conditions by rail, or in the cars used by the Mohammedan population, or I journeyed from the north, the of men"; making known the precious name of my border of Kirghisistan, down south through Sam- Lord-His exalted state, His love unto death- by word of mouth, or by tracts in anyone of twenty-two different languages.
Many heard of Him, some questioned me about Him, from curiosity or because of enmity against His Godhead and His Cross. A few had pondered the message which promised life and light, for- giveness and peace to their earnest but darkened souls.
Late autumn had set in and the time had come to settle in one of the large cities of Turkestan where I could give myself to language-study. I felt the burden of the summer's work; the strain of the many talks and pleadings, battling against the iron wall of Islam; the pain at the rebuff and scorn against the Son of God; the exertion of attempting to read, speak and think in so many different languages; the most needed ones, as Ousbek and Pharsi, were not yet sufficiently mas- tered by me. The body also felt the hardships of traveling in the primitive native way, of the ex- [400 ] cessive heat by day and the cold nights often spent earth and sky and living creatures seemed to join under the starry sky, with unsufficient food and in the song of praise which filled my heart. On lack of sleep. My whole being, spirit soul and the impression of that trip, I decided to go up to body, had been drained, poured out in the passion- Osh and see what the Lord might have prepared ate effort to "call many" and if possible to "save for me there. some." Yet, praise the Lord, with all this human strain and pain, there was joy in my heart for the It was a large, typically Ousbek village or small great privilege of having been sent out as "a voice town, with a Russian military garrison guarding in the wilderness" of a Moslem land and people! the mountain road up to Kashgar, built at the foot of the Mount Suleiman, in memory of a legendary While getting ready to settle at Samarkand for visit to Osh by King Solomon. The view from the winter, the thought suddenly struck me that there was vast and beautiful. To the right, one during this summer's journeyings I had passed by looked into Western China, to the left, in Eastern the small town of Osh, peopled by Ousbeks and sit- Bokhara, towered snowcapped mountain ranges; uated in the mountains, on the way to Kashgar swift, silver-green streams rushed down, through or Chinese Turkestan. I could not close my sum- sandy deserts, to the fertile plains near Andijan mer term, nor rest, till I had gone up to Osh once which nestled in the light-green vineyards and more. dark mulberry trees.
Going Up to Osh I put up at a small caravansary and wandered, with my load of Scriptures in Russian and in the The memory of my last trip up to the Kashgar native language, some days up and down the few road was yet dear to me. It had not been success- streets in the military compound, and through the ful in a purely spiritual sense; but it had been labyrinth of lanes and bazaars in the "old" or large quite a "pioneer's" feat. The large Ousbek vil- Ousbek village. But neither in the shops nor in lage which I went out to visit lay still higher up the tea-houses, did I find interest in my message than Osh at its 5000 feet, and never before had or in my books. This seemed a closed place to me! any messenger of the Cross been there. I remem- This was strange, especially because of the strong bered the slow drive up with the aroba, the road inward urge which had made me return on my having been hewn out into mountains of pink and steps and mount up here! I wondered what had white alabaster. I recalled my arrival at eve- been the purpose of my Master in leading me so ning, before a great fair which would attract hun- definitely to this out-of-the way Osh? dreds of mountain people, all of them Moslems. I passed the night sleepless, in my high two- Evening was falling; shops were being closed wheeled car, in the big courtyard of the caravan- and the men went to the tea-houses or to their sary-rats jumping over me and dogs sniffing at homes. I was about to return to my lodgings, me. I meditated about the responsibility of bring- having just finished talking to an inquisitive old ing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Moslems. Bokharian Jew, when my eyes fell on a man who, Even if not one would allow me to explain the evidently, had been listening to our conversation message to him I knew from experience that many on religious questions. I was struck with his apwould buy the prettily bound and cheap Scrip- pearance. Dressed like an Ousbek, with the Kaftan ture portions in Ousbek, Kirghis and Persian, and Moslem headgear, yet he had not the face and would take them into far-away mountain- of the Turk but of the Aryan race! It was a villages where they would be read. The seed thin long, greybearded face with a most un-monwould thus fall on hearts-stony one or thorny or golian eagle's nose and clever dark grey eyes. -God alone knew!-maybe on a good ground. There was an inward light shining in them, a question-as he looked at me-and we continued I had noticed on my arrival that the next day's for some moments to look spellbound at each round through the fair would be difficult. The other. people seemed rougher than those of the plain, many of them might never before have seen a Then from my subconsciousness a nearly for- European woman, an unveiled one! They looked gotten name rose up; by a sudden inspiration I threateningly and in an unfriendly way at the said slowly and tentatively: "Are you Faslunwelcome guest. What would they say to her Begh?" With a still brighter light in his eyes he message? answered: "Yes, I am Fasl-Begh!"
But with all that, I had deep joy and peace in Joy flooded my soul! In a moment we had my heart. Around me was the moonlit silent gripped each other's hands and immediately a night, the rustling of wind in the high poplar bond of future friendship, yea fellowship, linked trees, the sweet voices of many a nightingale and us one to another. At last I said to Him: "I the twitter of half-asleep birds, the fragrant have been asked by Mr. Awetaranian to find you smell of the resting earth! I felt the presence of 'somewhere' in Central Asia and to give you his Him whom I loved and served, and all around the message of brotherly love. And lo! our Lord,
who knew all these years since you separated ber of years, in order to let them be educated. "Do you wish them to have a Christian educawhere you could be found, hath guided me up here tion?" I asked. to the very farthest spot of Turkestan!" "Yes, I mean it just that way!" was his answer. The little girl still needed a mother's care but Fasl-Begh was delighted to hear once more we agreed that I would make arrangements for from his former friend and co-worker with whom the boy with my missionary friends at Cairo and Beirut, and would come for him, the Lord willing, he had lost contact for many a year. I promised the next spring. I bade my new friends farewell and left for Bokhara. This happened in Septemto come to his house the next day, and so we ber 1913.
separated for the night. Subsequent Events Only those of God's children who have experi- The winter passed quickly for me-partly in medical missionary work at Jiddah among the pilenced His leadings into ways which seem sheer grims passing through this port on their way to Mecca-partly in language-study at Samarkand. "foolishness" to the world-those who have been In May 1914 I was again at Osh, heartily wel- comed by Fasl-Begh and his family. willing, as Abraham was, to leave all and go out I found the man more firm in his stand for "not knowing whither" and why they are led- Christ, more outspoken before his neighbors; we could thank God for scorn and shame borne by only these understand the joy which filled my him for Christ's sake. It was agreed that the grandfather who meant to make this year the pilheart to overflowing. They will feel the tender grimage to Mecca, should take the boy with him and deliver him to me at Jiddah, where I hoped to gratefulness for having been privileged once be again at work during the Hajj. .
more, to "find Him fully true" and trustworthy! When we separated, we could not foresee the destructive warfare that would sweep over the The next morning I went to Fasl-Begh's com- world a few months later, breaking up and shat- tering like a typhoon, kingdoms, nations and indipound and at once felt at home with his children viduals! The Great War was on. The whole of Europe, and especially the Mediterranean states, and his wife, whom he presented as "the best of were .in a turmoil. People who were traveling, had eIther come to a dead-stop, cowering in anxiwomen"-an expression quite unusual with a Mo- ety wherever the thunderbolt of war struck them, or were rushing in a wild panic to return to their hammedan. I shared the family meal and we respective countries.
then went to Fasl-Begh's private den, full of The pilgrimage to Mecca had been forbidden by nearly every government; consequently neibooks-evidently the abode of a student. ther Fasl-Begh's father nor his son were able to reach me at Jiddah, from which I had been ex- "Have you found and accepted the truth as it pelled by the Turkish Government.
is in Jesus, through your work of translation of My hope of going again to see my friends at Osh had also come to nought. My unusual jourthe Gospels into Kashgary?" I asked him. For neyings through Central Asia had always been undesirable to the Russian Government; but after answer he showed me his Bible in Persian, and I the War broke out their mild displeasure changed into frank suspicion towards me. In order not was deeply moved on finding its margins covered to involve my friends in my personal difficulties, I refrained from going to Osh. But seed had with annotations, proving unmistakably that been sown, faith had been strengthened, a bond of fellowship linked me with the solitary far-away here was a seeker and an earnest one, with a real seeker. It lay in the Lord's hands to perfect the work which He had begun in Fasl-Begh's heart. interest in the Word of God. Never again did I meet my friend face to face. Again I asked: "Friend Fasl-Begh, have you From the few letters which we exchanged, whilst I stayed in Samarkand, I gathered with joy, that accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour?" through material trials which the World War He looked at me with thoughtful eyes and said: "I do believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross. . . ." , "But did He die for you, personally?" He kept silence, but his manner, was not that of a Mo- hammedan to whom the cross of Christ was an offence. He was more a seeking "Nicodemus"
who asks in sincerity "How can these things be?
How may I make my own the truth which I be- lieve as a historical fact?" The Holy Spirit, who had revealed God's plan of love for mankind, could also enlighten this sincere lonely seeker in- to an experience of the truth.
We had a friendly talk as in the presence of Him who had been drawing this precious soul to Himself all these years. Fasl-Begh was a sensi- tive and retiring man; it would cost too much, as yet, to step out openly from the Beit-ul-Islam into the family of God in Jesus Christ! He was still bound by the traditions and customs of Islam and he was one of the foremost men of the village; like the "rich young ruler" he did not yet love Jesus enough to "leave all and follow Him."
I was gladdened by his request to take two of his children to Europe or to the Levant for a num-
"UNTIL WE FIND THEM" IN DUTCH NEW GUINEA
brought with it, and quite alone in his Moslem for they had become his open foes. When the surroundings, he was pressing on towards the Mennonite brethren next came to Osh, they did goal-Christ his Saviour. I committed Fasl- not find him. When the days of Russian lawless- Begh and his family to my Mennonite friends in ness had come and anyone could lift up his hand Kirghisistan, but above all into the hands of God. against everybody else with impunity, a mob of villagers approached his house, reviling and Six years later-in 1922-1 returned to Turke- threatening him, and clamoured for his Biblestan and at once made enquiries about Fasl-Begh. the cause of their fierce hatred! The answer was that during my absence my Mennonite brethren had visited all my Moslem No man had stood by him in his hour of friends, and had found Fasl-Begh spiritually alive danger; he was killed by the mob, and entered and, gratefully accepting instruction; they hoped, his Lord's presence, one of the firstfruits from on his witness to the Lord Jesus as his personal Turkestan Moslems. Saviour, to baptize him the next year. Thus my friend Basl-Begh, whom I had set He must have made a frank confession to his out to seek and to find, had been sought and neighbors of his acceptance of the Lord Jesus, found by the Lord Jesus, to be with Him forever.
"Until We Find Them" In Dutch New Guinea* By R. A. JAFFRAY, Makassar, Netherlands East Indies Missionary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance JESUS spake this parable-the three-in-one par- two ago, for the first time, have been sighted and able of The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and photographed from the air. Until thus discovered The Lost Son. Fi:r~st, one in one hundred is they had lived alone, away from the coast, with no lost, then one in ten, and then one of two is lost. road or even footpath leading from the coast to The shepherd goes after the one lost sheep, till their jungle home. Until a year or so ago they He finds it. The woman lights a candle, sweeps had not known that any others share this world the house, and seeks diligently, till she finds it. with them; they had not known that any other The father waits patiently and lovingly until the peoples lived under the sun save themselves. son returns from his sin and wanderings in a far country, until the lost son is found, the dead is 'I'hanks to men seeking oil and gold in New alive again. Guinea, these people have been located. The Dutch Government at once set to the task of making So must we go out after the last tribe of man- trails from the coast towns nearest to them, to the kind, wherever they be, however far away from place where they live on the mountain slope, in Christ and His Gospel. It is not enough to wait the jungles of the well-nigh impenetrable, virgin till they come to us, or cry to us to come to them. forest. Shall not the missionary at once go up We must deliberately, determinedly, go after them, these trails, and seek the lost until he find them? enduring the hardships of the jungle trail, till we find them. Dutch and American companies have united in gigantic effort of seeking oil in this. great island When the last tribe of mankind is at last told of New Guinea. At one place, a town called Babo, the story of God's redeeming love, the Father will over twenty million U. S. A. dollars have already rejoice, and they will then "begin to be merry" been expended, and only this year are they comin Heaven, and the merriment will never end. mencing to drill for the oil. The captain of the steamer on which the writer recently traveled Probably among the last peoples of earth to be from Makassar over to Dutch New Guinea said discovered, are those tribes in the interior of that no lesls than 120 new American scientists are Dutch New Guinea, whose villages, only a year or expected to arrive in Rabo and other places in Dutch New Guinea. this year in the search for oil, • Condensed from the Evangelical Christian, Toronto, Canada.
and he expected that on every trip from now on, positive message of the Gospel is to these people! his steamer would be filled with Americans bound Dutch missionaries on the northern coast, and for the oil fields of New Guinea. British missionaries in British New Guinea, have They mean business. Do we? They are after already seen tens of thousands, of these wild Papthe things that peris:h. Shall we go and seek for uans turn to Christ and be saved. So shall it be souls that never die, till we find them? They are with these who have so recently been discovered willing to pay the price in inconvenience and hard- on the southwestern coast of Dutch New Guinea. ship. Are we willing to suffer and bleed, if need be? Are we willing to pray, and to give, and to During the past few years in Borneo, we have go, in Christ's Name, until we find, perhaps, the seen the mighty Spirit of God at work among the last tribes of earth who are to hear the Gospel ere wild men, the Dyaks, of the Borneo jungle. Over He returns to this world to rule? ten thousand of them have definitely accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, and as many more The Christian and Missionary Alliance has ap- seek to know the Lord Jesus and His gracious plied to the Dutch Colonial Government for per- power to save. What He has, done, and is still mission to open missionary work in three parts doing for the wild man of Borneo, He can, and of Dutch New Guinea, first, on an island off the will do for the still wilder man of the interior northern coast, called Misool (it has been called jungles of New Guinea. We have a deep conthe devil's island); ,second, in the northerly part sciousness that it is the Will of the Lord that the of Dutch New Guinea, called Vogel-kop (Bird's Dyak of Borneo, now saved, thoroughly taught Head), where a lake, known as Lake Amaroe, has in the Word of the Gospel, and filled with the been discovered; third, further down the south- Spirit of Christ, will be the best evangelist to take western coast, where three lakes have been dis- the Gospel to the still wilder man, the Papuan of covered from the air, called the Wissel Lakes, and New Guinea. where dwell tens of thousands of hitherto unknown peoples. Many Dyaks have gone over to New Guinea in connection with the oil and gold companies, and The whole southwestern coast of Dutch New among them, quite a number of Dyak Christians, Guinea is an unoccupied field for Protestant mis- including three or four of the elders of the church. sionary work. Up the many little rivers may be In connection with the Alliance Bible School at found Papuans to whom no one has gone with the Makassar, where more than three hundred stu- Gospel. They are not only head-hunters, but they dents are being trained for the Gospel ministry, are cannibals, living still in the Stone Age; and we have more than fifty Dyak students in preparayet the testimony of all who have had contact at tion for the work. Pray that the right men may all with these people of the interior is that they be called and sent forth in the name of the Lord. have found them friendly. These people eat the A prominent Dutch official expressed himself as flesh of enemies conquered in war, but God seems heartily in favor of the plan. It is significant that to have made them friendly toward the white man. both the local and the highest officials are heartily supporting the suggestion of this new work in the Dr. A. H. Colyn, the son of the Prime Minister interior of New Guinea. of Holland, headed an expedition to these newlydiscovered lakes by plane. Some of the Papuans These recently discovered cannibal tribes, the were so interested in these "men from heaven" Papuans of the interior of New Guinea, have sunk that they determined to follow them and thus to the level of the beast but they were originally learn the way to heaven! They said, "Thes,e men made in the image of their Creator and may yet came from heaven. We saw them come. This is be saved and restored to God's image. what we want to know-the way to heaven." With considerable difficulty six natives found their way Pray that we may reach these wild people of to Babo but they soon found that Babo was not New Guinea. Let us go with Him after the last heaven by any means. The Assistant Resident at lost sheep, "until He find it." Fak-fak felt that it was his duty to fly with these seekers back to their own jungle land! Seed Thoughts from the Moody Bible Institute Speakers The dress of the Papuan is very simple. They go practically naked, with the exception of a loin Fruit is never born by doing; fruit is always cloth and strings of beads. They wear heavy ear- born by dying.-Bishop William Culbertson. rings, a bone piercing the nose, etc., all of which are charms, supposed to ward off the evil in- Don't talk about the tragedy of the cross; fluences of demons. In fact, their whole religion that was God-planned. Talk about the tragedy is a negative one of fear, and is a matter of sacri- of sin that caused the cross.-Dr. H. W. Bieber. fice to demons, so as to avoid the harm which they have the power to inflict. What good tidings the Too many Christians are seeking an easy life. They w~nt the Gospel train to be streamlined and air-conditioned, and furnished with chairs.-Le- land Wang, China.
STUDENTS IN THE LUDHIANA WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE (1937-38
Training Indian Women Doctors By DAME EDITH BROWN, D.B.E., M.A., M.D., M.C.O.G., Ludhiana, Punjab, India A S A YOUNG woman doctor, I went out to The financial resources of this embryo college r-. India forty-seven years ago, and began consisted in a gift of fifty pounds, with a promise of a further fifty pounds per annum for the follow- medical missionary work. My single- ing three years. Had it not been that we were handed effort to alleviate the desperate sufferings confident that this was a call of God and that He of Indian women was seriously handicapped for would provide, it would have been madness to lack of skilled assistance, so that I took counsel launch out on such an enterprise with such meagre with other medical missionaries, and we came to resources. the conclusion that the solution of the problem was to take steps to found a medical school where In- The College started work in an old schoolhouse, dian Christian girls could be trained as doctors with four medical students and two student disand nurses. No effort seemed too great if we pensers. Today, after forty-four years of ceasecould build up a corps of efficient Indian Chris- less, consecutive grind we have three hundred stutian doctors for the Indian women. dents who are adequately housed in college build- ings covering fifteen acres. These premises have It was a pioneer venture but, urged by the cost fifty thousand pounds and we s,tarted with desperate need, the preliminary difficulties were only fifty pounds in hand. To us it is a miracle overcome and in 1894 the first Medical Training indeed. Now the College is affiliated with Punjab School for women in India was established. It University; this status enables our students to take was a glorious venture! The challenge was: the M.B. and B.S. degrees of that University- "India's millions of suffering and uncared-for degrees which are recognized in England. women." Our response was: "By the good hand of our God upon us it shall be done." In addition to a thorough medical education, the [405 ]
students have the inestimable benefit of a moral We have a useful pathological laboratory, with training, which cannot fail to impress them, and a well-equipped department for X-ray and radium to influence all their future life. Each day the treatment. We also have tuberculosis clinics. work hegins with prayer and careful and thorough The maternity· department is one of the busies1t, Bible teaching. By this means the students can and is the means of saving incalculable suffering explore the great Treasure House of the Word of to India's mothers and of saving the lives of hun- God, which is the Easterner's heritage as truly as dreds of India's children. it is the Westerner's. From this College and hospital three hundred In addiition to residential buildings tlere is a and sixty d.octors, and more than two hundred and hospital with two hundred and sixty beds, and an fifty nurses and dispensers, have been sent into outpatient department with average attendance all parts of India. Most of them have gone as daily of two hundred and seventy-five women and Christian missionaries to their own people. children. Some of the hospital wards are so arranged that it is possible f.or purdah women to More than nine hundred of our midwives of observe the rigorous restrictions imposed on them. various grades are now working in the Punjab. Our patients include Moslems, Sikhs, Persian, And even this is not all-for very many of them Afghan, and Nepalese women, to say nothing of begin to train nurses and midwives in the district the many "outcastes" who find here the welcome to which they are sent. Recently we visited one and care which is of the very spirit of Christ. who had prepared sixty village women for the Midwifery Examination. The Civil Surgeon, giv- SOME HOSPITAL BUILDINGS AT LUDHIANA ing a good report, said that there was now not one untrained dai working in her district. Twelve well qualified doctors are on our staff, each being in charge of her own department; two One .of our graduates, Dr. Rose Shadi Khan, more are needed for the additional work required received a special Red Cross medal and a purse to prepare the students for the higher degrees. of Rs. 300 in recognition of her devoted services at the time of the Quetta earthquake. She was The Surgical Department is always busy. To one of two Ludhiana graduates working there, have had an operation here is often considered an and for days we at the Women's Christian Medical honor to be coveted! One young woman had a College were anxious, as we could get no news of large tumor removed. When her friends came to their safety. At last we heard, to our relief, that see her, her sister was envious of all the interest both were alive, though one had been badly hurt. excited as she told them of the preparation, and Dr. Khan, uninjured, was doing all she could to of the Operating Theatre, and of the wonderful help and for. three days and nights she had no chloroform she had smelt, and of the attention time for food or sleep, as she cared for the she received from the doctors and nurses. When wounded and dying. One by one they were dug I asked to see the sister, I found, to her joy, out from the ruins. Many were purdah women that she, too, required an operati.on. After a few known to Dr. Khan, for she had worked for sevdays she was, lying happily in a bed next to her eral years in Quetta, and they clung to her in their sister. Then they sent for their elder sister, hop- terror and pain. She worked day and night for ing that she might share their privilege. When it several weeks, till at last, worn out, she was was found that she did not need surgical care, she ordered to take a rest. She passed through Ludwept tears of disappointment. Why were her hiana, looking thin and tired, but with triumph younger sisters to have all the attention and all in her eyes, and as soon as she was able she rethe fun (?) while she was left out? turned to her work again. At present she is in a lonely station on the Northwest Frontier, where she is loved and trusted by all. The influence of this Indian doctor extends beyond the boundaries of her native land, for she is often called over into Iran, where her skilled help is sought by lonely, sick, and distressed women.
One is sometimes asked: "Are the Indian girls really worth training as doctors; do you find them capable of bearing responsibility?" My reply, emphatically, is that they respond to training, and are wen able to take responsibility. We have proved it on our own staff, and the .opinion is con- firmed on all sides by those who employ our grad- uates. One medical missionary, writing recently about the work done by one of them, concluded her
TRAINING WOMEN DOCTORS
report by saying: "She is an excellent missionary, upon the dispensary door. It was night. Would and quite the best assistant surgeon I have met. anyone hear? Finally a motherly Indian Chris- At present she has charge of an outstation mission tian woman opened the door and took her in. As hospital of thirty beds. I regard her as a friend no one ever claimed her, the missionary sent her and do not see how we could carry on without to school. Later she came to Ludhiana to train her." as a nurse. At the end of her training a call came for a missionary nurse for Arabia, and Sundri Another graduate is senior surgeon in a large volunteered. It was a foreign land to her-dif- hospital, of which she takes charge when the mis- ferent language, different food, and twelve days' sionary is away on district work. Not only do the journey distant. Through the fine work she did so lovingly in the mission hospital she found her A VE'RANDAH WARD IN THE HOSPITAL way into the homes and hearts of these Arab women, rich and poor alike; and so skilfully did various missionary societies appreciate the value she handle many difficult obstetric cases, that her of Ludhiana graduates, but the Government also help often was sought in preference to that of her recognizes their worth. Seven have been awarded European colleague. the Kaiser-i-Hind medal for public services, and the honor of being the first Indian woman in the Then came the World War. The missionaries Madras Presidency to become medical superin- were not allowed to stay in their station, and tendent of a hospital with a European staff, falls Sundri was left alone. Single-handed she kept the to one of the graduates. hospital open for three years, dealing with such cases as she was fitted to manage. She remem- Nurse Sundri is an illustration of how wide- bered, too, that now she was the only one left to spread the influence of these girls may become. preach Good Tidings, and she gave herself the Forty years ago little six-year-old Sundri, child of more earnestly to Sunday services and dispensary high-caste Hindu parents, was about to be "mar- prayers, and to personal talks with her patients. ried to the gods." Her mother had become a widow before any marriage arrangement had been When peace was proclaimed, government pro- made for the child, and now the expense was too ceedings required the presence in England of cer- great. Who would care what befell a despised tain Arabian sheiks, who in turn desired that their widow and her daughter? The temple would re- wives accompany them. An interpreter would be ceive the child. She should be "married to the required, and who was hetter fitted than their gods," and live a life of immorality. Those who nurse-friend Sundri, who knew English so well? 'know anything of the nefarious practices such dedication demands, will realize how terrible was STUDENTS IN THE PATHOLOGICAL LABORATORY the future carved out for the poor child. Little girls have been known to commit suicide rather And to England Sundri went! Later she returned than live in such surroundings. again to Arabia, took up private work in a dis- pensary of her own, and adopted Rosa, a little Sundri was terrified. Then she remembered Arabian orphan girl. Rosa is now at Ludhiana. that once, when she had been ill, her mother had Recently Sundri, ill and dying, committed this taken her to a dispensary in a neighboring village little Arab girl to our care. She is now at school, where a medical missionary had lovingly cared for and our prayer is that later she will become a her and made her well again. doctor or nurse-a missionary to her own people in the far-off land of Arabia. Under cover of darkness the child ran away to this village, and hammered with her little fists
A study of the reports show that the graduates ical College have long realized the des.perate need from this Medical College are now ministering of the villages, and have given anxious thought as each year to about three million women and chil- to how that need may be met. Nine years ago, I dren. Such a record is proof positive that the stated that it was urgent that new centres be women of India themselves highly value the help opened in the towns and villages, north, east, given by their medically trained sisters. The south, and west of Ludhiana. We saw great posgratitude they express is often very touching. sibilities in such village centres, each to be equip- ped with a woman dootor, a nurse, a health visitor, A friend from England once told me that when and a teacher. Last year a special gift enabled us she was traveling in India, though she was unable to open one of these centres, and its value is so to understand her language, an Indian woman was great that I hope we will not be obliged to wait determined to make plain to her the love and grati- another nine long years before we are able to open tude which all the women of the district had to- others. wards the Ludhiana doctor at work there. Taking her three-months-old baby boy, this Indian woman Let me emphasize the urgency of the hour. laid him on the ground at the doctor's feet. Then, Great and rapid changes are occurring in India as bowing in an attitude of utter devotion, she work and power is passing into the hands of her clasped the doctor's right hand, while with an own people. What we are able to do today may be outstretched arm she made a sweeping gesture to impossible tomorrow. This is a strategic time. include all the women in the courtyard.. At Ludhiana we are trying to seize every oppor- tunity to prepare and equip Christian women and Indian Women's Work for Women girls so that they may be ready to meet the great responsibilities which await them in the near The medical care of India's women is of great future.
importance. That it should be done by their own Remember that India's welfare and uplift and evangelization are in a peculiar way our responpeople is the quickest way of accomplishing the sibility as Christian men and women. * task, as it is financially the most economical. It • Information and literature may be had from the General Secreis the right and natural way. The fact speaks for tary, Miss M. E'. Craske, Ludhiana Women's Christian Medical Col- lege, 39, Victoria Street, Westminster, London, S. W. 1, England, or itself that in one missionary's life-time the work from Miss L. Powel, 6938 Cresheim Road, Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Pa.
has moved so quickly that now three million RULES OF OHRISTIAN LIVING women and children are being reached each year The following "Rules of Christian Living" are said to have been prepared for himself by the late by the medical skill of their own people. General Booth of the Salvation Army: At the Ludhiana Medical College, on a scholar- 1. Consider your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and treat it with reverence and care. ship of thirty pounds ($150.00) per annum for 2. Keep your mind active. Stimulate it with five years, an Indian girl can take her medical thoughts of others that lead to doing something.
degree. Think of it! A medical missionary to 3. Take time to be holy, with daily Bible read- ing and prayer. her own people at the total expenditure of one 4. Support the church of your faith. Min~le hundred and fifty pounds ($750). Contrast this with others.
with the expense of training a foreign medical 5. Cultivate the presence of God. He wants to enter your life and will as far as you let Him. missionary, not to speak of the cost of outfit and 6. Take God into the details of your life. You passage. Surely, on the basis of economy alone naturally call upon Him in trouble and for the bigger things.. the plea, "Train India's own women as doctors," 7. Pray for this troubled, war-threatened world is a sound one. • and the leaders who hold the destinies of the var- ious nations. This is unquestionably the right and natural way, for however devoted the Western missionary 8. Have a thankful spirit for the blessings of may be, she still is a foreigner, and one whose God-country, home, friends, and numerous other speech and ways are strange. The gentle, edu- blessings. cated Indian friend speaks the language perfectly, understands local prejudices, and is familiar with 9. Work as if everything depended upon work, Indian customs and habits of life. She is a woman and pray as if everything depended upon prayer. of the country, and wins her way unhampered by the handicaps which face the missionary from 10. Think of death not as something to be another land. Quite naturally she will tell her dreaded, but as a great and new experience where patients the Wonderful Story-old to us but new loved ones are met and ambitions realized. to them. She will use familiar illustrations to press the point, and the listeners will hear how she has found in Jesus her Saviour and her Lord.
"Village Uplift" has recently become the slogan of social service in India. The word is heard on all sides, but we of the Women's Christian Med-
Present Situation in Portugal*
By WM. H. RAINEY .
-.•~ Superintendent of the British and Foreign Society for Western Europe THE political situation in Portugal is compli- interests of the former. This statement aroused cated and uncertain. The power, in practice the Portuguese hatred of Spain, due to the cruel- but not in theory, of this totalitarian State is ties of Philip II. Thus another element of uncerinvested in the Prime Minister, Dr. Oliviero Sala- tainty and even fear was introduced into the na- zar, who is also Minister of Finance and of War. tional life.
Unlike his colleagues in similar states, the Por- England is fully alive to the importance of the tuguese Prime Minister shrinks from publicity Anglo-Portuguese alliance, hence the naval and so that not many have even seen him. military missions and the creation in Lisbon of a Dr. Salazar is pro-German yet he is a member branch of the British Institute. The position of of the "company of Jesus" whose policy is the British and Foreign Bible Society in Portu- strongly anti-Nazi and, therefore, pro-democratic. gal is closely allied with British prestige. The Such a policy may seem strange in an order that freedom allowed to colporteurs is partly due to has always stood for absolutism in Church and the nationality of the Bible Society.
State but the anti-Catholic attitude of the Nazis The religious situation in Portugal has only has thrown the Jesuits into unaccusomed com- changed slightly in the last few years. The pany. Under the late Pope, Pius XII, the Jesuits Roman Catholic Church has continued to increase were all-powerful at the Vatican, and dictated the in power and may now be said to have regained papal foreign policy. Thus one can imagine Sala- the ground lost during the anti-clerical period zar torn between personal preference and reli- following the declaration of the Republic in 1910.
gious obligation. The Prime Minister's love for Such is its influence today that much of the gov- Germany is tempered with fear for the safety of ernment tax on salaries, destined to aid the un- the Colonies, for Portugal is still the third largest employed, is used to build and repair churches colonial powet". Without the alliance with Great and theological seminaries. The great army of Britain this rich almost undeveloped empire over- militia on the Fascist model, which includes prac- seas would long ago have fallen a victim to pred- tically all citizens from the ages of 10 to 60, is well atory powers. Fear of German aggression, even under the control of the Roman Catholic clergy.
in the form of a so-called peaceful penetration of Attendance at mass, although not legally obliga- Angola, swiftly brought wavering Portugal back tory, is pra·ctically so. Only the valiant few have into the English alliance. It is possible, even the courage to spoil their prospects by refusing to probable, that Portugal would try to remain neu- attend. There are also minor cases of persecution.
tral in the event of a European war. Although Two cases are indicative of the trend of things- many of the governing class are pro-Nazi, yet the recently a State employee, a lay-preacher of the business-men are pro-British and the working Portuguese Presbyterian Church, was threatened class in the towns are Communists. with dismissal if he did not stop preaching. A The situation is still further complicated by Baptist Church has been closed on the pretext that the Spanish question. The Nationalist rebellion Communists attended the services.
was organized in Portugal and has received Por- Bible Society colporteurs, however, have no tuguese support, in spite of so-called "observers" cause for complaint. Colporteur Gil reports that on the frontier. Spanish Government refugees, during the 25 years he has served the Society he seeking asylum in Portugal, were handed over to has never known so much interest in the Bible, the Nationalist authorities and even some of the among Catholics as well as Protestants.
flags in use with Franco's forces bear the Portu- The strength of the Bible Society's position in guese arms as well as those of Spain, Italy and Portugal lies in the fact that it publishes a Roman Germany. Yet a Falangist-the Falangists are Catholic, as well an an Evangelical, version of the the Spanish fascists, who are opposed to the Re- Bible. The Roman Catholic, or "Figueiredo" ver- quetes, who are strongly "clerical"-speaking on a sion, is a classic of the Portuguese language and public occasion, referred to the desire of his party is used in many Protestant Churches and schools.
to unite Spain and Portugal, presumably in the If war can be avoided, the prospects of Evangeli- * See Frontispiece. cal work in Portugal should be bright.
[ 409 ]
Christ in Europe
By PROF. ADOLF KELLER, D.D., Geneva, Switzerland W HAT interests us here is not so much the subjective experience, as from a transcendent mes- question what controversial ideology is sage of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. dominating the European Continent although it has a tremendous influence on religious In preparing my sermon for Good Friday 1917, life, nor what theological conflicts are fought it struck me that following the word of Christ: through in the European churches, which were "It is accomplished," I had not to speak of peralways inclined to express their religious life more sonal experiences but of the great fact and meseasily in theological form than it was done in sage which God has placed before us in the life America. We shall simply ask in this survey how and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is preached on the Continent and what a new evangelical life His message is kindling in A wide change in continental preaching is the European churches. partly due to the rebirth of a theology of the Reformation-Karl Barth's study of the Epistle If during the past century Church regiment, to the Romans appeared in 1918-and partly to Church authority and its representatives played a spontaneous rediscovery of the objectivity of an important rOle in European Church life, the God's Revelation in Christ. theologians came to the front these last decades when continental Protestantism re-thought the Since then preaching has again become the Reformation and tried to build up a new Church, announcement of the Gospel of Christ, as against not so much on an ecclesiastical authority but on giving moral or social advice, philosophical delibsound theology. Today we may observe that it erations or sentimental experiences. The first is the tUrn of the simple preacher of the Gospel task of the Church is again the preaching of the who has his word to say and is listened to. Gos- Gospel. This needs no further justification, yet pel preaching as such has become again the great there is no unanimity about what the preaching of essential fact in the life of the Church. the Gospel really means. Is Gospel-preaching con- sistent with the glorification of the nation and the But each century, each denomination, each na- mysticism of a totalitarian State? Yet, the eleven tion has made, in history, its contribution towards German Churches, whose leaders published a few a special type of preaching. The nineteenth cen- months ago a nationalist and totalitarian theory, tury preaching is in many respects quite dif- confound the Gospel with a myth; a divine revelaferent from the preaching which rose during the tion with religious self-consciousness; the Refor- World War, and which is heard today. The mation with the Renaissance. But the Churches last century was widely dominated by the theology in Germany, where this Gospel is preached, are of experience and of subjectivism which was empty. Evangelical people do not confound the started by the first great theologian of the century, "bread" of our Lord with the "stones" of a nat- Schleiermacher, who initiated a new theolo'gical ural philosophy. thinking by taking the feeling of absolute dependence on God as the point of departure for An important feature in the theory and pracsound Christian theology. Wherever such a the- tice of preaching becomes evident in these empty ology of experience and of the subjective Christian German Churches: preaching needs a congregaconsciousness was vigorous, preaching aimed at tion that listens to God's Word. I preached for awakening similar experiences. Schleiermacher six years in John Knox's Chapel in Geneva and himself was perhaps even a greater and more had often Scottish visitors in my audience. One evangelical preacher than theologian and inter- of them was once listening so attentively that it preter of German idealism and romanticism. Un- meant quite an inspiration to me. When he came der this theology it was more or less forgotten that after the sermon to shake hands, I found that he Christianity was born, not so much from a sweet had not understood one word because he did not understand German-but he listened. The re- sponse of many congregations where "German [410 ] Christians" are preaching is silence or absence. we have to fight; Christ is the only One who can Such spiritual indifference kills any sermon which overcome the reign of demons. is not characterized by more than human wisdom. The Church which no longer listens to God's In this respect, of course, preaching is the reflex word is dying. of a more orthodox and Christocentric theology. Yet, in other parts, especially in Eastern Europe, On the other hand, Confessional Churches in it is not so much an echo to theological thinking as Germany are crowded. A man like Niemol1er, a a response to Bible reading. The Bible itself and great preacher, drew larger audiences than the not only theology as a witness to the Holy Scripchurch in Dahlem could hold. There was always tures has been and is the great teacher of how to a pilgrimage from Berlin to Dahlem when the preach. Preaching is therefore no longer the art former captain of the submarine preached. Even of trained. pastors. The man who. reads the Bible, Ministers of State were in the audience. Niem61- preaches. A lay preaching movement may be obler is continuing to preach though silenced. In served all over Eastern Europe. In Austria near America, during the National Preaching Mission, Villach, is a Bible School preparing lay preachthere was not one single town where I was not ers for the Balkan countries. In Poland and Rusasked about Neimoller. He has the ear of the sia there is a large preaching mission carried on world because he preaches the Gospel even at the by laymen, the "Gospel-Christians," who are wancost of great sacrifice. dering from village to village announcing, often secretly, in farms, woods, lonely places the re- The essence of this Gospel-preaching is quite deeming message which they have learned to know simple. It is dominated by the two great leading from the Bible. In Polish Ukraine an evangelical thoughts of the Reformation: Luther's Sola gratia movement sprang up in a village when Krasniuk, ("by grace alone") and Calvin's great message of a Ukrainain prisoner of war, returned from a the sovereignty of God: Soli Deo gloria! Modern German prisoner's camp where he had learned to evangelical preaching in Europe is again focused read the Bible to his family in a Polish village. in these two great lights of the Reformation. It To read the Bible means to meet Christ, and this is Biblical, Paulinian. It is more an interpreta- is the one great stimulus for preaching. The tion of the Biblical text than an explanation of a annual report of the British and Foreign Bible subject for which the text is only a starting point. Society shows indeed that in spite of a growing Karl Barth in Basle does not allow his students poverty, political tension and religious persecuto develop their own brilliant thoughts by using tion the Continent has bought more Bibles than a Bible text. Stick to the text in reverence and during last year. Even in Spain the sale of the obedience, he would say. Under such influences Bible has increased. continental preaching has become more Biblical and more dynamic. It is a witness, not simply a The Hope for Reformation historical exposition or a psychological application of spiritual truth. Historicism and psychologism Where the Bible is re-discovered and read, a have largely diluted, during large parts of nine- reformation is always near. Other general literteenth century preaching, the divine substance of ature is certainly sharing the breakdown of any the preached word. These theological and psycho- really leading power for mankind; the Bible has logical temptations are overcome today. Christ again proved able to give real leadership to perhimself and not science or theology, not personal sonal and public life of mankind. Nowhere this piety or mystic experiences, is again the great sub- is perhaps deeper felt than in Russia where the ject of evangelical preaching~Christ who saves importation or printing of the Bible is still forfrom sin by His grace. The attack directed against bidden. A great thirst for the Word of God is the Saviour by a self-redeeming humanism and found wherever religious interest is not entirely secularism has, by reaction, made continental quenched. This unique Book and parts of it are preaching more Christocentric than ever. Where penetrating into Russia wherever pores of com- Christ is preached there is no place for a shallow munication are still open in the well protected nationalism or a vigorous moralism. All these pachydermic armour of their Russian giant. It isms are effaced by the tremendous realistic pow- penetrates into the interior via the great streams, er of sin and the all victorious Grace. Preaching via China and Turkestan. For many Christians is therefore, under the impression of the War and the possession of the Bible is the greatest treasure, its aftermath, more pessimistic than in the self- as the Word of God has become rare and thoucontent nineteenth century in so far as the possi- sands of Bibles have crumbled to dust because they bilities and confidence in man is concerned and has were read so intensely. It is a; matter of great again discovered the demonic character of the rejoicing that not only the Bible is read again world, the principalities and powers with which among Protestants-but Bible lessons are intro- duced for the first time in evangelical services. A
new Bible movement is spreading also in the Ro- by we felt that our skin must be heathen too. He man Catholic Church, and it happens that Ortho- gave us an inferiority complex. We began to feel dox priests, as in the famous conferences of Nar- that if we dressed in his clothes we should be va, assemble around the Bible and not only kiss less heathen. If we began to speak English well the holy Book as a part of the Orthodox service, we felt sure we were civilized and Christian. but read it with the joy of a great discovery. If we speak the truth (and we must speak the Wherever Christ is preached, the Cross is ines- truth), we must admit that the African says tocapable. The willingness to suffer with Christ is day, We want to feel at home when we worship. one of the essential features of Christian life. We want to feel that God has come to Africa. This willingness not to be afraid even of martyr- South African buildings, are always round dom is perhaps the greatest aspect of present day thatched huts. The first time that I went into a Christian life on the Continent. The world at- church-it was built on the western pattern-I tacks Christ, not so much by force and persecu- said, "I am in a foreign country." A Christian tion as by a new philosophy and new tempting priest put up a hut with a thatched roof and a ideologies. Those who are not adopting this phi- stone altar, such as we Africans use in worship; losophy in Russia or in the totalitarian States then I was at home before God. The stone altar must suffer persecution. The answer of the Rus- on which we used to make our sacrifices to our sian Christians to this persecution is silent suffer- ancestors in an attempt to worship the unknown ing. In Germany loud witness is still heard. In God, was the place where we could come to God the western and central democracies the liberty ourselves because God had made the ultimate to preach the Gospel is in no way restricted. A sacrifice. Outside, under the beautiful roof of the great missionary activity is started by the world that is the sky, what more beautiful church Churches in France, Holland and Switzerland could you find than that? The carpeted earth for which do not confine their missionary zeal to the our floor, under a big tree: there is the very best pagan world overseas but are discovering that church of all and we are at home there. The high they have a mission field at home, that the Church mountain suggests the power of God; the roaring itself is becoming a mission field as for instance ocean is better music than an organ. Our rivers France, which formerly has been called the oldest -we have beautiful rivers-they are not heathen daughter of the Church and counts today at least rivers; they tell us of God. Take our people out thirty millions of people who have no connection there and we can worship."-Miss Minnie Saga. whatever with any Church and have lost even an elementary knowledge of Christ and His Gospel. *** It is very likely that many Protestant Churches Mrs. Short, a British (L. M. S.) missionary in will join the remarkable effort which has been Papua, is training up the young people to a belief made by the American Federal Council of that God wants Papuans to remain Papuans when Churches in its National Preaching Mission to they become Christians. She encourages the weartake a fresh stand for the Church in the centre of ing of the native dress or some simple adaptation all Christian life and activity, in the announcement of it suited to modern conditions, the building of of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The world has churches in the island fashion, and giving a Chrisproved today that it holds no really redeeming tian content to the old customs. Most of the oppomessage and that its recipes are not bringing heal- sition to this comes from the people themselves. ing or salvation but sickness and death. The They say, "Now we are Christians we are en- Church of Christ, confronted with this breakdown lightened people. We must dress as you do. We of culture and inefficiency of human wisdom, must have churches like yours. We must worship knows more than ever that she holds the word of in your way." Sentiment in some places is so salvation and has to bring it to the whole world. strong on the connection between religion and a particular form of dress that women may refus·e FROM MADRAS CONFERENCE to wear waistbelts because the costume into which their grandmothers were put by early mission- A Bantu African woman in a bright blue dress aries was a long shapeless garment without a belt. and head-cloth, spoke with a natural eloquence It was natural to those pioneer missionaries to which moved all hearts in the group on the wor- carry with them the customs, the conventions, the ship of the Church. style of clothes and religious buildings to which they were accustomed in their western lands. But "To us Africans, Christianity is a white man's Christians in Papua and other lands must be religion. The white man regarded as heathen helped to see that God wants Papuan Christians everything that he found in Mrica; not knowing and African Christians from every land, not our language or our culture he judged it as heath- simply Christians who are an imitation of the en. He made us so conscious of this that by and Westerner.
Ways of
'Tested Met1wds for Increasing Interest at Home ,EDITED BY GRACE W. MCGAVRAN, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA College Students Organize scribed by Bethanians and private do- Notice, too, that the project is nations. Each Saturday some of the for Actual Service girls conduct the recreational activi- not forced into just one channel. ties of McKinleyville which supple- Not all girls are interested in Young people of today are ment the newly added Boy Scout weighing babies and in taking ready to give time and energy to Troop under the leadership of William medical histories. There are rendering real service, if there Rutter, also of Bethany College. is some person or organization , In addition to this work, Bethany other avenues of service outto plan the work so it will be students have conducted Sunday school lined. Recreational leadership, effective, and if there is sufficient classes and church services at Mcreal need in the project to make Kinleyville for some time. and leadership for religious eduthem feel it worth giving them- cation is asked-and found. selves to. Front Rank, April 16, 1939. Too often we ask our young The following report of a serv- There are several points people to do some silly little ice project being carried on by worthy of note. The college thing which is no real challenge Bethany College students in Y. W. C. A. sponsored the proj- to their ability or interest. We West Virginia gives a picture of ect. Dr. Hoagland supervised it. assume they are too busy to do a situation which has need, ap- The article does not say who real things. That is, to be sure, peal and organization to make suggested it, but we may rest the excuse which they give to get the response effective. Study it assured that some one presented out of entering into our feeble carefully. the need vividly, or there would attempts to harness their ener- have been no such whole-hearted gies to worthwhile things in un- When the McKinleyville mine shut response. down, the presiding doctor and nurse worthy ways. But give them a could no longer be afforded. The Beth- Notice also that professional any College Y. W. C. A., under the aid was enlisted. There was no worthwhile job with a real chalsupervision of Dr. Florence M. Hoag- attempt made to have a bunch of lenge in it-give them competent land, promptly established the present college girls doing something leadership-give them organizaclinic for pre-school children. Once a that only a doctor and a nurse tion for effective use of their month under the leadership of Dr. could do effectively. But what energy and time-and your col- Booher of Wellsburg and the county college girls could do in connec- lege student displays all the renurse, who also donate their services, tion with the clinic was thrilling source, ingenuity and responsithe girls conduct the clinic in the little enough to them to insure their bility which made our ancestors, town four miles from Bethany College. participation. with no more years to their The girls weigh and measure the credit than these college young babies, take medical and social his- The international touch in the people possess, go forth to contories, and follow the orders and treat- participation of the Chinese stuments prescribed by the doctor. dent has more than a little value. quer a wilderness and to build a new nation. Taking her place in the clinic is Bethany's Chinese co-ed, a member of Race relations become normally the Y. W. C. A., Violette Chun. Attract Larger Audiences inconsequent when people of dif- Each time the Y. W. C. A. girls visit McKinleyville the townspeople fering races are working to- A missionary speaker recently know they are bringing canned food, gether in the spirit of Christ to went to one of the smaller clothing, medicine, milk, and other alleviate human suffering and to churches of his denomination for items that the children need. All Beth- build a happier world. For a Sunday evening address. To any College is now aiding with a "soap" campaign in which each stu- every such experience of joy in his amazement, considering the dent not only must use soap before working together we may well audience in some other engage- coming to fraternities and dormitories give thanks. ments he had filled, the church but must also bring one cake for Mc- Then there is the enlistment which was not a small one in Kinleyville. Already the girls are of the whole college in special size, was packed. Furthermore witnessing the results of their fine parts of the project. Soap and the choir loft was overflowing work. Underfed children are gaining in weight, children with impetigo-a books for the library! Two with eager-eyed boys and girls contagious skin disease – once more items which are easily provided from the eighth grade. The servhave clear complexions, and the by a large group, but which scantily clothed are now warm. The make a big hole in any budget ice started. There was little beco-eds have also established a library yond his speech and a musical with part of the funds and books sub- which must buy them outright. program by those boys and girls.
[413 ]
They were the eighth grade a Many of the mothers and fa- business going by continuing to cappella choir of a neighboring thers, older brothers and sisters spend her money for expensive school. They sang hymns, spir- of the children in that choir do trifles such as perfume bottles, it,uals and other dignified and not ordinarily hear good mis- imported service plates and suitable music. They listened sionary addresses. They came jewelry for herself, than to give with intense enjoyment to his because their children were to the money away. She was using sing. They went away glad that a false philosophy to bolster up address. they had heard a worthwhile ad- her selfishness. When it was all over, the bou- dress as well. The money paid for the quets of gay summer flowers Let us point out that a single jewelry went mostly into the singer, no matter with how pocket of the wealthy owner of with which the church had been lovely a voice, who was a mem- the store she was fondest of. The decorated were carefully wrap- ber of the community and whose same money would have gone ped and given to the missionary singing people had many times almost directly into the smallspeaker to take home with him. heard, could not have had much business world of grocers and One of the members of the attendance pull. So far as the clothing stores and dairy farms church drove him clear across suitability of her singing, so far of the community had she given the large city to the place he was as her adding to the program, it away. On the way it would staying at. the value might have been the have fed and clothed those in same. But probably not one dire need. The bit of beauty the Let us look at this experience single extra person would have money purchased is as dead tofor a moment, from the point of turned out more than would day as on the day it was purview of promoting attendance. have come for the address alone. chased. The gift of money to It was the missionary society relieve suffering would have which sponsored the church To add something in the na- brought life and health to a child service. They wanted not only ture of a variety stunt might who died for lack of proper food pull a crowd there, but to at- and shelter. their own members there, but tempt that is not worth the ruin also the rest of the congregation. it brings to the program. It To buy things for ourselves They felt that the particular mis- cheapens and debases it. Those instead of serving others with sionary they had secured was who are brought by it are quite the money that is ours is not true sure to give an address worthy likely to get up and walk out stewardship. of being heard by others in the during the address, or to form community besides the members the sort of unsympathetic audi- As church members face the of his own denominational ence which every speaker dreads. days of winter ahead, it is well group. for them to have this gently Consider then, what you may stern reminder always before What supplement to his ad- add to a program which will them, that to buy more clothes dress could they provide which build up the right atmosphere, for oneself when one already has would attract the groups they be of value in itself, and have more than one can wear, is the wanted present? They looked the right effect in bringing into tendency which is the most effecaround and decided that the a the meeting a much greater tive preventative of our being cappella choir of the eighth grade number of people than might able to "clothe the naked, and of the neighboring public school have come for an address alone. feed the hungry." would do that. Furthermore they could be counted on to pro- Our Money for Others We cannot squander our revide a musical accompaniment sources on ourselves and still in keeping with the address. The following thought-pro- have them to serve a needy world Parents of the children would voking and lovely poem by Alice with. come whether they were to sing Ferrin Hensey may be used in at school or in church. several ways in your church. A Here is the poem: poster, in the center panel of Please note that there was which it is beautifully lettered I have more food than I can eatnothing in the way of trying to in, and in the two outer panels They faint with hunger in the street. of which are pictures of those attract by false pretenses to whom we may serve, may be ar- I have more clothes than I can wearsomething which people would ranged. Or the poem might be Their head, and hands, and feet are not want to hear. They were given as a reading in the devosure of their missionary's hav- tional part of your service. bare. ing something people would find Where it is possible it should be made available to every member My walls are thick, and warm, and very worth having come to listen of the church, missionary so- dryto. The music was simply a sec- ciety, or other group. ond feature of equal worth in its Their walls are rain, and wind, and own field. During days of bitter need, sky. not so long ago, a woman ap- The problem of attendance at proached by the church for relief My heart knows love of noble soulsmissionary programs and meet- funds refused on the ground that Their hearts are hungry, thirsty ings is often not that of having it was more important to keep a worthwhile program. It is that bowls. of securing a hearing for that program from those who for These things let me remember when various reasons ordinarily fail to give it any attention. Cries of the needy rise again.* • Alice Ferrin Hensey. By permission of the author and of The New York Times.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Why Not Have a Church Library?
By MARY F. FOLGER A few years ago the Literature Committee with the pastor of the First Friends Church in In- dianapolis, Indiana, decided the time had come for the revival and enlargement of the church library. One of the Sunday school classes loaned their own furnished classroom for this pur- pose. Two bookcases were moved in and all the religious education, c h u r c h history, Quaker and missionary books were assembled. The Literature Committee chairman, with his wife, gave some and loaned many new and up-to-date books .
for circulation among our mem- bers. A number of desired books CHILDREN MAKE GOOD USE OF A GOOD LIBRARY were donated by other indi- viduals. for adults' and one for children's a suggested given list. These are From time to time throughout books. The name of borrower under various headings, some of the years the revision of the lit- and the date taken and returned which are: Biblical Literature, erature work of Friends has is noted on the card filed for that Friends History and Principles, been made, to meet and use new particular book. Evangelism, Pas tor a I and opportunities for usefulness. Two instances we want to Church Extension, Christian Thus the work of the church mention, occurring two years Education, Stewardship, Peace, library was begun in recognition apart-unknown to either child. Temperance, etc. of a wider avenue for service. One of our boy's mother was The Literature Committee has, Since the beginning of our reading to him at home, from for many years, been allowed a "revival," more cases and books our "Bible Story Book" and he certain amount in the yearly have been given. And our col- wanted to take it to school. She budget of our meeting. This lection has grown until now we gave permission and his teacher amount has been increased three have books for every department read this book to his class. A times since 1935 and is used exin the church and church school. little girl this year so thoroughly clusively for purchasing books We also have books on family enjoyed one of our "Stories of for the library. We feel the life, fiction with a Christian em- Jesus and the Children" that she greatest mission of the Church phasis, etc. Many books have took it to school and her teacher is to help the home furnish the been given by individuals as a read a chapter each day to her Christian foundation in charmemorial to a member of the pupils until she finished the acter building. And one of the family or meeting. These donors book. best ways to do this is through feel that there is an everlasting A number of children have furnishing and helping to select inspiration and living influence given, in the public schools, re- the best of reading material, and in this kind of memorial. A views of books they have read build through books higher number of the various commit- from our church library. Many ideals of personal conduct. Durtees of the meeting have given others have given book reviews ing the last several years we new and desired books, in this in Sunday school. The books for have placed church papers, peace way, not only cooperating with, children consist of the best and temperance literature, and but proving their consciousnes8 recognized Bible stories, mission- other reading material, in public of the need, and realization of ary and story books with em- places and in homes, where they the Christian influence of the phasis on world friendship, etc. supplied a timely need. Church through its own library. A number of adult books are We strive to be of service to One sectional bookcase is full used for reference and research any and all individuals desiring of children's books and this work. help or information, and in sev- corner, with little tables and For several years our yearly eral instances have been able to chairs, is used for, and by, the meeting – composed of sixteen supply or procure materials children. Two girls, each eleven quarterly meetings, and within needed on a number of subjects years old, assist with the whole these eighty-one local meetings for papers and talks outside of library and have complete charge -gives special recognition to regular church work. Our liof the children's section. members reading a certain num- brary is being used more and There are two card files-one ber of books during the year, in more all the time by all ages.
A Story for the
In the Hall of Fame made the difference, for her fa- "Did the people love her ?" ther had no more money than said little Lois. By VIOLET WOOD, Missionary the other men." Education Movement Mr. Wright smiled. "They "Frances Willard's father certainly did.. Many of them Phyllis Wright was visiting didn't drink, did he?" piped up traveled on foot from outlying Washington with her family. Janet. farms to hear her speak in the But she seemed disappointed as towns she visited. She wrote she studied the faces of the stat- "No," Mr. Wright shook his books and edited magazines ues of America's heroes, war- head, "and that was the diff-er- which thousands of people bought riors and statesmen. ence. Her family also prayed to and read and passed on to God and kept the Sabbath while friends. But that was not all she "Father," she said, "are there many other pioneers did not. did. Phyllis, you will be twentyno girls in the Hall of Fame?" Frances Willard decided to try one years old in nine years. Can to bring a new way of life to you tell me one of the things you Mr. Wright smiled as he re- people whose children were poor will be able to do then that you plied: "Let's get mother and and miserable because of evil can't do now?" Janet and Lois and I'll tell you ways. But first she must get an about the only woman whose education. In those days it was "I'll be able to vote," said statue is found here." an unusual thing for a woman to Phyllis proudly. go to college, but Frances did it. "What state is she from ?" Soon after her graduation a "Exactly," Mr. Wright said. asked Phyllis. "I'll be searching stranger thing happened; she "Frances Willard started the for her." was the first woman in America idea that women should vote, to become a college president." just the same as men. That was "She's from Illinois." a brave stand to take in those Phyllis scampered off, and "That's a very important job," days, for even good Christian when her father, mother and sis- murmured Phyllis. men were against the idea at ters caught up they found her first." gazing intently into the earnest "Yes, indeed," Mr. Wright face of Frances Willard. nodded, "but she gave it up after "I read a story once," said "I found her," she beamed. a while because she felt it did Mrs. Wright. It told how Fran- "Now father is going to tell us not give her time to carry out ces Willard always carried two about the only woman in the Hall her ambition to help the poor favorite books with her wherof Fame in Washington." Then mothers and children. She be- ever she went: the Bible and she read from the tablet" 'Fran- gan to lead bands of women 'Pilgrim's Progress.' " ces Willard was born September through the streets. The y 28th, 1839.' Why that's exactly marched to saloons, where men "I've read 'Pilgrim's Progone hundred years ago!" wasted their time and health and ress'," cried Phyllis. "It's great!" "That's right," said Mr. money, and there she prayed Wright. "Frances came of pio- and sang Christian songs. Hun- "Now, what would you call neering folks and as a little girl dreds were so affected by her Frances Willard?" asked Mr. she traveled in a covered wagon Christ-like spirit that they prom- Wright: "a heroine? a warrior? through the wilderness." ised to give up strong drink and a statesman?" "A wagon like our trailer?" to lead better lives." asked Janet. "I know what I'd call her," "Oh, no, much different," an- "Did they keep their prom- said Phyllis. "Our Sunday swered Mr. Wright. "In those ises?" questioned Janet. school teacher told us that misdays it took months to drive 500 sionaries had to be combinations miles, and we've only taken a "Many of them did," contin- of many things sometimes. I'd few days to do that with our ued Mr. Wright, "and many be- call her a missionary, a real automobile." came good fathers and estab- home missionary." "What did she do to make her lished Christian homes. Women famous ?" Phyllis asked impa- in other states formed similar Making Use of This Story tiently. bands and carried on the work, "Like all people who win so that her organization grew In connection with the celebration fame," Mr. Wright began, "she until it became the Women's of Frances Willard's Centennial read loved other people and wanted to Christian Temperance Union. to or encourage the child to read some be of some good in the world. Frances Willard was its presi- of the following books: She lived in prairie towns in Illi- dent for many years. During nois and as a little girl she saw twelve years she went all over Pionee'r Girl, the Early Life of men spending their money in the United States holding meet- Frances Willard, by Clara Ingram saloons, while their families ings every evening, traveling Judson, Illustrated by Genevieve were hungry and dirty. When 35,000 miles by means of wheezy Foster. New York, Rand McNalshe compared them with her own locomotives and in old stage ly & Company, 1939. 50 cents.
family she tried to find out what coaches." Frances Willard of Evanston, by Lydia Jones Trowbridge. Chica- [ 416 ] go, Willet, Clark and Co., 1938. $2.00.
Point out the fact that the Chris- tian motive was responsible for Fran- ces Willard's contribution to the bet- terment of the American home.
BULLETIN
Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
~,= NEW STEPS TOWARD Church, nearly every group was rep- in making plans beforehand. A CHRISTIAN ONE-NESS Pennsylvania city reports: resented in some way on the program "Twenty-five Catholic women helped . . . wonderful spirit of Christian us plan and ten Jewish women en- joyed our fellowship. The atmosphere "Now I am to be in this world no fellowship." Florida. of the meeting was deeply spiritual. longer, but they are still to be in the The singing of spirituals by two womworld, and I am to come to thee. Holy "We truly feel that there is a bet- en from each of our three Negro Father, keep them by that revelation churches was a high point in the of thy Name which thou hast given ter and closer understanding between service." me, that they may be one as we are . . . But it is not only for them that church women than there was pre- From a town in New York I am interceding, but also for those State comes this: who believe in me through their mes- vious to this meeting." Idaho. sage, that they all may be one-that "The village priest loaned us the as thou, Father, art in union with "Weare looking forward to an or- chairs and tables and wrote me a me and I with thee, so they also may beautiful note afterward praising our be in union with us-and so the world ganized group or federation of church effort and saying that he prays every may believe that thou hast sent me day for church unity." as thy Messenger."-Christ's prayer women growing out of this first May the night of the Last Supper. The effect of such gatherings luncheon." Indiana. may be far-reaching. Many groups made plans to undertake The observance of the Day of The May Luncheon idea origi- cooperatively s 0 me practical Prayer since its inception twenty project for the good of the com- nated with the Council of Wom- munity. Several gatherings. deyears ago, has been a patent in- en for Home Missions, the first cided to organize interdenominafluence in creating a greater one being held May 1, 1933 in tional groups that would funcsense of unity among women of New York City. In 1937 the tion through the year with the the Christian churches. There other national Protestant Wom- World Day of Prayer and the is now another special day which en's groups joined in the New May Luncheon as high spots. gives promise of binding still York luncheon. Nation-wide Perhaps in time many communi- participation in the "May Party" ties will be able to say, as one closer the bonds of Christian idea began in 1938. Over 400 woman did in reporting on the fellowship. communities reported holding May Luncheon in Dawn, Mis- luncheons. souri : Possibly there are those who would raise questioning eye- This year, 1939, there were "We have a Federated Church brows at the claim that May about 650 requests for program here and all the little country material. Reports have come churches and all the little ones Luncheons can help accelerate in town have been torn down the trend towards Christian un- from 33 states and Hawaii. and we all worship in one big ity but in reading reports of the Groups varied in size from one church." gatherings all over the country, of seven to that of 647 in New one finds striking evidence that York, which, however, included "Dawn"-what a significant it is true. Quotations from some name! If more of our comof them will answer. any skep- many from places outside of the munities would follow the examtics: ple set by this town, in spirit if metropolis. Oakland, California, not in deed, would there not be "This was the first meeting of its the second largest group, report- in truth the dawn of a new day?
kind in Preble County, eight churches ed 350. Meetings varied in type EASTERN SETTING-UP CONFERENCE OF taking an active part. Anyone could to suit local needs. Though the majority had luncheons, some COUNCIL WORKERS sense a feeling of fellowship and co- groups had teas, a few had din- What is a Council Setting-up operation. We hope to organize a ners, one a breakfast and others, Conference? It is a gathering of those who are to have charge working group soon." Ohio. just meetings without anything of the activities in the Centers for migratory groups which har- "This is a small town but we have to eat! vest and can the crops. They In many instances, all the nine church denominations and they churches in towns cooperated. all cooperated with the exception of The largest number of denomi- nations reported in one gathertwo. A real Christian non-denomina- ing was nine-there were doubttional spirit prevailed during the less twice as many in the New day." Oklahoma. York gathering, but statistics are not available. A number of "If all the nation-wide luncheons of May 4 proved to be as successful and reports mentioned the cooperaimportant as the one held in Gaines- tion of Catholic and Jewish womville, Fla., a forward stride has been taken toward Christian unity and en. In some places they attended friendly feeling. Jews and Catholics only or brought "greetings" as well as Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and members of the Christian from their groups, but in sev- eral instances they had a share [417 ]
meet for fellowship, for training, lights furnished by two rather members, one from the Southern for a better understanding of the weak flash lights. The migrant group, and one from the New magnitude of the migrant prob- workers at Hamilton are Italian. York group, everyone had a feellem and the part which the In return for the entertainment ing of the power and strength Church is taking in helping to they sang many Italian folk that come through unity, fellowrelieve a desperate situation. songs. It was generally agreed ship and service for Christ. that this was the right ending to Under the able leadership of a very interesting and valuable From many expressions of Miss Marie Gaertner, supervisor day. gratitude and enthusiasm to of Migrant work in the eastern Miss Marie Gaertner, it is very area of the United States, a very On July 5th activities started evident that the conference was profitable conference was held at 5: 30. Breakfast was eaten a big success. The only regret in Hamilton, New York, July 3d in a hurry, and then everyone was the absence of Miss Lowry, through the 6th. This is the lo- was off to the farms to "gather Executive Secretary of the cation of one of the Council Cen- up" the children. Many new Council. ters which served as a practice families had moved in over that school and demonstration. week-end and so several new FIFTEENTH CONFERENCE little faces were seen, including The program was divided so some six months' old babies. The on the that each worker majored in success of this day was in large the type of work that he or she measure owing to the extreme CAUSE AND CURE OF WAR would do on the field. This was efficiency of the Hamilton taff very practical giving a clear pic- who worked nobly in the face of To be held at Hotel Washington ture of the work to be done. surprising and terrific odds. A great sigh of relief greeted Miss Washington, D. C. Recreation Program. – The Stella Jenkins, R.N., Director leader for this was Mr. Stanley of Home Hygiene and Care of JANUARY 22-25, 1940 R. Kendig, of the Connecticut the Sick, Utica Chapter, Ameri- Council. On the field now are can Red Cross, for the situation This fifteenth conference will young people directing recrea- was beginning to tell on six endeavor to face more realisticaltional work, each putting into babies and their new "mothers." ly than ever before the problems practice what they learned from Miss Jenkins very kindly offered of the grim world in which we him. Mr. Francis Nothrop, her time in an exceedingly live. There will be a minimum Chairman of the Fairfield Coun':' crowded schedule to spend the of formal addresses and much ty Youth Committee was very day with the group giving advice active discussion of our own successful in teaching games. on the care and feeding of ba- problems aided by experts. One bies and the proper procedure important session of the Con- Other leaders were Miss Hel- in first aid. This is the first ference will be built around the en White, supervisor of migrant time live babies have been used report of our Commission on a work, Gulf to Great Lakes area, as models for demonstrating Permanent World Society. An- Miss Alicia Fisher who directed child care to Council workers! other session will be devoted to the new Center in Florida last After dinner a very beautiful pending legislation in Congress winter, Mrs. Patricia E. Man- and helpful devotional service in which we are especially interchester, Executive Secretary, by Mr. Winham was held on the ested. Here, of course, we shall Consumer's League of Wilming- hill, back of the dormitories at seek expert guidance to help us ton, Delaware, and the Rev. Al- Colgate University. As we sat determine our own position befred R. Winham, Pastor, First overlooking the surrounding val- fore our annual visit to Capitol Reformed Church of Astoria, ley and mountains beyond, we Hill. Long Island. Each made a val- felt a true fellowship of love and uable and significant contribu- readiness to go out among those A new emphasis will be laid tion to the conference. less fortunate with a clear mes- upon the necessity of social jus- sage of Christ. Even the heav- tice as a basis for peace and upon The Conference convened on ens conspired to make the occa- the steps which must be taken the evening of July third. After sion memorable and sent a small to insure social justice both the group had dinner together view of Aurora Borealis. within our own country and talks were given by Miss White among nations. The theme of and Miss Fisher, then Mr. Win- The most impressive moment the banquet will be "Our Reham spoke on "Renewing Pow- of the conference was on the last sponsibilities in a New World er." evening when communion was Order." served to the group by the Rev. The children who were to be FRANCES A. THOMAS, at the Center were not brought Paul F. Swarthout, Pastor of in from surrounding farms un- Chairman, Program til July fifth. The Fourth was First Baptist Church, Hamilton, Committee spent in group instruction, picnic lunch under the trees, a peri- New York. As the group gath- Those desiring to attend as od for swimming or tennis and delegates of the Protestant a party in an old barn, the illu- ered at the church and stood in Church group should apply mination for which was provided to the National Committee of by two oil lanterns and spot silence before Mr. Swarthout Church Women, Rm. 63, 297 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. who was assisted by two of our Registration Fee: $5.00.
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Our World,wide Outlook A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO CHINA care of livestock and a variety tion. The mission staff on the The Heart of the World of trades. island now numbers twenty-five, -China Information Service. working not only among the Sympathy for China is being Hainanese but among fQur abor- expressed in a growing stream Relief Expenditure iginal tribes.
of gifts from all parts of the GQvernment and p r i vat e Jewish Remnant in Szechwan world. These gifts include a sources in China have already package of clothes frQm North spent over $45,000,000 (Chinese It is said that many centuries Africa; a check from a sanatori- currency) for civilian relief. By ago a group of Jews settled in um in Sweden; other donations the end of 1938, according to western Szechwan bringing with frQm Basutoland, Pennsylvania, the NatiQnal Relief Commis- them their monotheistic faith NQrway, India, the West Indies, sion, 15,000,000 war refugees and Mosaic customs. Today SQuth Africa and other lands, had been assisted by either gov- there are many survivors who have recently reached the head- ernment, public or private .or- publicly worship God on mounquarters of the British Fund for ganizations, and 150,000,000 tain tops. A "lamb without the Relief of Distress in China. people (one-third of the popu- blemish" is slain and its blood Nearly seven tons .of soap, .over lation in China) had been forced sprinkled, with the "paying of sixty gallons of disinfectant- by the war to leave their home- vows." The Chiang-Min is the urgent necessities with over steads. Relief authorities are name given to these Jews, who 100,000 refugees packed into a shifting their activities from for more than 2,000 years have narrow strip .of city one and a supporting refugee camps to ab- met to worship God in West half miles long, as they are in sorbing the inmates into indus- China. Hankow-have been promised. try. The Chinese Government Ten cases of surgical dressings has already allocated $5,000,000 Converts from the Chiangand a large quantity of elastic for the development .of indus- Min meet every winter with bandage cloth have come from trial cooperatives which aimed Rev. T. Torrance, author of the north of England. particularly to benefit war refu- "China's First Missionaries," gees. The needs increase every for Bible stUdy. A favorite Child Welfare Work day, and the peak of suffering course of study is how the Old Coordinated has not been reached. Testament survivals in Chiang worship have become realized To attain greater efficiency in Importance of Hainan in the New Testament. These the care of war-afflicted children, people were at .one time very the National Relief Commission The Presbyterian Bulletin of numerous in Shensi alsQ, but has invited all child welfare Foreign Affairs notes that of all have been absorbed by the Chiassociations and institutions Japan's seizures in China the nese in that prQvince. throughout the country to co- island of Hainan is the one least ordinate their efforts for service likely to be given up, since the -Sunday School Times. to these children, and has form- Japanese Navy has long had its New BuildinR' for St. Elizabeth's Hospital ulated a set of principles. eye .on this. as a stepping stQne A new building for the Epis- There are now 100,000 war in its southward drive. With copal Hospital in Shanghai is orphans being taken care of in Hainan in Japanese hands HQng- made PQssible by a legacy left by 71 government, provincial, local kong is virtually surrounded by a daughter of the first Chinese and private institutions in Chi- a ring of air and sea bases. clergyman of the Episcopal na. Approximately $60, Chinese This little island is thickly set- Church in China. On June 27, currency, is required to support tled by about tWQ million rural 1868, a Chinese baby, Ah Mei one child for one year. It is folk. There are still a good many WQng, was born in the home of generally acknowledged that it aboriginal tribes in the interior. this clergyman and grew up to is nQt enough to supply fQod, Presbyterian mission work was make history. After attending clothing and shelter; there must begun there in 1881, with head- St. Mary's Hall Church School be elementary, health and voca- quarters at Hoihow and in 1884 for girls in Shanghai, she trained tional education, and training in a station was .opened at Nodoa. as a nurse, a piQneer step in citizenship. The waifs must al- Later medical work was started those days, and then decided tQ SQ be taught manual work, such at Hoihow, and in 1900, Kachek enter the Toronto University as sewing, weaving, gardening, was opened as a mission sta- Medical School.
[419 ]
From 1906 until her death in causes 'Of his 'Own success or fail- ated 115 students: 11 have died 1933, she devel'Oped a private ure. or are incapacitated by illness, practice in Shanghai, where she Serious thought about the cor- two have been drafted into the became highly respected. After porate life of each church. army; 79 are serving as pastors bequests to other Christian in- Careful thought as to the fu- or evangelists in Japan, F'Ormosa stituti'Ons, she left the residue of ture development of the work. or Korea; 19 are teaching or in her estate to St. Elizabeth's, for Thought about the future fi- social service and four are study- maternity w'Ork. nancial independence of each ing abroad. At a recent service, The new maternity unit and c'Ongregation. students talked or sang in their nurses' home is designed ulti- The purpose of the conference native tongue; it is interesting mately to combine St. Luke's and was: to note that in addition to J apa- St. Elizabeth's hospitals. To deepen corporate life; to nese, the following languages -The Living Church. evaluate w'Ork for Christ and were heard: Korean, Manchu- His Church; to endeavor to real- rian, Formosan, Chinese, Malay- Open Doors in Tibet ize the unity of all the work; to an, Spanish (Philippine Islands) Numerous lamaseries are make plans for the future devel- and French (French Indofound in Tibet where missi'Onar- opment and expansion of the China) .-Monday Morning. work.-The Living Church. ies may find a night's lodging. "Salvation Army in Chosen Many priests have visited the United Christian Movement Gospel Inn in Sining, 'Or have Korea is one of the 97 coun- Kagawa took the lead in an tries and colonies in which the he"ard about it from friends. At evangelistic campaign, in which Salvation Army is at work. It certain times of the year there the first meeting was attended employs 104 languages in preachare religious festivals in con- by 3,000 people who heard Bish- ing the Gospel at 17,567 outnection with the lamaseries, and op Naide 'Of the Episcopal posts. The Army has. recently those at Kumbum and Komangs- Church plead for a united spir- celebrated its thirtieth anniverzu, bring pilgrims from all parts itual front to meet the present sary in" Korea, when special of northeast Tibet. The crowds crisis in Japan's national and meetings were convened in Seoul come to worship; the Chinese international affairs; Miss Ka- and seven district centers. In come on holidays or on business, wai urged a deeper reliance on connection with the celebration and perchance to worship as God in the trying days ahead, was a campaign for a 30ro inwell, f'Or "better gods too many and Toyohiko Kagawa boldly crease in all branches of the than too few," they argue, even assert that only repentance and work. The Army has always if some of them are Tibetan conversion of Japan's leaders, recognized that a country's own gods. The crowds may be too her masses, her youth and even people should be the ones to dense, or too intent on business her Christians can save the na- spread the message. Accordingor pleasure to listen to preach- ti'On from the moral degradation ly, the work in Korea is conducting, but a printed message in to which she, along with 'Other ed by married couples who have their own language finds ready people in the world, has fallen. passed the courses in the Train- "Military force can never save ing Garrison. acceptance. The Tibetan will a people from moral debauchtuck his copy into his fox skin ery," said Kagawa; "only spirit- -Korea Mission Field. hat for later perusal alld per- ual and moral regeneration will haps to be carried far into the suffice to purge away individual interior.-China's Millions. "Two Hour Folks"
JAPAN -CHOSEN and national sins, and the Gospel When the superintendent of Calling All Workers of Jesus is the only force capa- the Soonchun Leper Colony in ble of transforming personal Korea was asked whether police control of the patients was nec- The Bishop of Tohoku, the Rt. and social life. Rev. Dr. N. S. Binsted, called a Mass meetings are to be held essary, he smiled and replied: meeting 'Of all w'Orkers, both men in various parts of Tokyo and "Where the principal occupation and women, in Sendai June 19 other cities during the next few of people is to get together sevand 20, and asked that prepara- months, and for a period of three eral hours a day and quote the tion for this conference should years all the churches are thus Bible, police are not needed. "By to cooperate in what promises the way," he added, "how would include: Private and public prayers for to be Japan's greatest united you like to hear one of our two the guidance of God's Holy Spir- Christian movement to date. Ka- hour folks?" "Two hour folks? gawa has agreed to give almost What's that?" the visitor init during the conference. Prayers for God's blessing full time to the pr'Osecution of quired. It was explained that upon each pers'On's 'Own work as the campaign throughout the these were patients who could well as upon the work of the dis- land.-Christian Century. quote the Scriptures for two trict and the whole Nippon Sei- Graduate Activities Listed hours at a time without making kokwai. any appreciable mistakes.
An examination by each indi- Since its formal organization At a recent Scripture recita- vidual of his own life and w'Ork, in 1930, the Japan Theological tion contest at Soonchun, hun- with an effort to realize the Seminary in Tokyo has gradu- dreds of contestants appeared,
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
representing all ages. An old ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC army officers dropped from the and sightless man repeated the service for lying. He took adentire book of Matthew without Evangelism among the vantage of this opportunity to stopping. He had committed it Batanese say that with the exception of to memory by hearing it read treason or cowardice there is no aloud. The Batanese Islands are the crime in the military code so most northerly part of the Phil- unpardonable as lying, and that -Evangelical Christian. ippines. Until March, 1937, there the foundation of every army is had been no evangelical work the honor and integrity of its Promoting Stewardship in there, but at that time Dr. and officers. "Lacking these virtues," Korea Mrs. Paul Culley, with two Fili- he said, "no army can succeed in pino preachers established a per- peace or war. An armed force Rev. H. E. Blair, in the United manent work there. There are with untrustworthy officers be- good reports coming from these comes a menace to the state Church Review, tells how the Islands: a total of 215 con- rather than a support . . . If principle of stewardship has versions, with government offi- executive clemency were exerbeen promoted in the Korean cials and school teachers friend- cised in this or any similar case, Church. Individual missionar- ly. A permit reading, "Any it would set a standard of integies had taught stewardship from place, any time" opens the way rity in the Army of the Philipthe beginning; it remained to for preaching at all points. Vio- pines so low that it would disoutline a plan fQr systematic lence and opposition instigated credit not only the Army, but giving. Pamphlets giving prac- by priests there have been, but even the Government itself, and tical methods and stewardship without much result. Two young deliver a death-blow to the develsermon themes were supplied to men from the Batanes are now opment of the high type of offithe churches, then each church stUdying in the Manila Evange- cer personnel which we must was urged to print their own en- lists' Institute preparing for have." velopes and supplies. The most work there later. satisfactory is a 52 page pad Three other officers are menwith a given number, to be hung -So S. Times. tioned in Lanao Progress as exon the wall at home. Each Sun- pressing the same sentimenits, day, a member tears off a page "Keswick" in New Zealand and all three, as well as Presiand folds it around a coin with dent Quezon, practice their own the pad number in view; the The missionary rally was one preaching. They know that little folded parcels to be depos- of the high lights of the annual their country must be made ited, with both hands, in the col- Convention Camp at Ngaruawa- strong, and that it takes upright lection bag. hia, N. Z., this year. On the men to make it so. speakers' platform were 30 mis- Most Korean women have no sionaries, representing Africa, Christianity Applied to money to give and one of the India, China, South America, Business tQuching scenes in many a Ko- Solomon Islands, Central Asia, rean Church is the gathering up New Guinea, Egypt, Russia and The largest shoe factory in the of little rice bags. The rice is the Maori of New Zealand. Each Philippines is owned by a Chrisput into the bags a spoonful at speaker was limited to six min- tian, Mr. T. Teodoro. He ema time as meals are being pre- utes. Those present noted that ploys 500 workers and turns out pared. the interest of the audience did twelve to fifteen hundred pairs of nOit lag for a moment. The chair- shoes a day. He provides for his Year by year some new pam- man announced that the mission- employees low-rent living quarphlet is issued to teach and re- ary fund had realized £3,725 ters, a low-priced restaurant, teach various phases of steward- during the past year, and the complete medical care, physical ship. Special men are sent 'Out goa] for the forth-coming year examination and clinical service, whenever possible to deepen in- was set at £4,000. A pledge and rest and recreation facilities. terest. There are also special cash offering was taken, when His factory is a model for light courses on systematic giving in an amount in advance of that of and air. Not only this, but each the Theological Seminary and last year was promised, and a morning his 21 foremen meet Bible Institutes. As the pas- cash offering of £180 received. with him and start the day by tors go from house to house they repeating together Psalm 19: 14 talk about the family and its -Life of Faith. -"Let the words of my mouth spiritual progress. They talk and the meditations of my heart crops. They talk church bud- Quezon Works for Integrity be acceptable in thy sight, 0 get. After prayer they layout Lord, my strength and my rethe record of the family as to Lanao Progress observes that deemer." Then, after a period of church contribution during the President Quezon and other Phil- silent meditation, they discuss past year and secure a new and, ippine government leaders are the day's work, closing their if possible, better pledge from making a determined effort to meeting with the Lord's Prayer. each member of the family for bring about a moral revitaliza- At one corner of this room is the year to come. Thus the tion among their people. A re- a door which opens on a steep churches have grown in power cent evidence of this was the President's action in ordering and effectiveness.
and narrow winding staircase in the Holy Land. It was kin- Today there are in America over which leads to a prayer room. dled on Easter morning by a 4,300,000 criminals actively at work, It is a long room with a prayer member of the Jewish National plundering and murdering. There is rail, a picture of Christ at Geth- Council, at an elaborate service an aggregate of 1,330,000 serious semane, and Scripture verses in before the historic Wailing Wall, crimes and a national crime bill of Tagalog. No one is invited into attended by representatives of $15,000,000 a year. this room who cannot also be practically all Jewish organizainvited to pray, and shoes are tions in Palestine. Prison-Mission Field left behind at the foot of the stairs. The idea is to have the light Eighty~seven American pris- burn in the Memorial Hall of the ons are now using the "Bible -Philippine Presbyterian. Pavilion not only as a memorial Course for New Christians," and to those who died in the struggle 189 prisoners have received cer- NORTH AMERICA to establish a Jewish national tificates for completing the work. home in Palestine, but also to These students become personal Bible Society Day at the symbolize the undying faith of workers. A man urider sentence World's Fair the Jews in the future of their in the Los Angeles County jail people in the Holy Land. led fifty-one souls to Christ. An- June 25th was American Bi- other teaches a class of thirtyble Society Day at the New York -World Outlook. five fellow prisoners and has World's Fair. Following the won ten. Art Marron, a Filipino dedication of the Society's exhib- Growing Intolerance who spent five years in San it in the Communications Build- Quentin Prison, received his ening, which included a long list To "make America safe for tire religious, education through of book titles chosen from the differences" is becoming an ur- the Bib I e Correspondence Bible, such as "The Promised gent task for all Christian peo- Courses. He is now preaching Land," "Green Pastures," etc., ple in the United States. This day and night in the smaller the group of men, women and was emphasized by the Church towns of the Philippine Islands children went to the Temple of Peace Union at their semi-an- and establishing Bible classes Religion, where Dr. John H. Fin- nual meeting in Atlantic City in wherever he goes. On his last ley and William Lyon Phelps June, when the following resolu- trip to a little town in the mounwere the principal speakers. tion was passed: tains, which he reached by a cart drawn by a water buffalo, 18 Dr. Finley spoke of the devo- We protest against the rise of anti- souls accepted Christ and were tion to the Bible of earlier gen- Semitism in the United States. It baptized. erations. To this, he attributed expresses an attitude and policy which not only their genuine piety but are contrary to our American insti- He has started Bible classes in also the richness of their lan- tutions and particularly to our spirit nearly every little town of eastguage. He declared that no oth- of freedom. ern Pangasinan, and twentyer book in the world could be seven Bible women, or Sunday compared with the Bible. Any Anti-Semitism also threatens the school teachers, have completed other book the human race might basic ideals of all religions. Intoler- the course.-S. S. Times. do without, but not the Bible: ance expressing itself in prejudice that, he said, is a necessity of and hatred for the Jew will not end Students Wanted life. there; in fact, it threatens the very structure of democracy and religious A call issued in June to enroll Dr. Phelps aroused much ex- liberty. in the "Ambassador Training pectation when he said that the Corps" introduced something de- Bible contained the best prayer, We condemn the organized cam- cidedly new in student Christian the best sermon, and the best paigns of hatred, and we particularly work, and is in contrast with all poetry in the whole world. The condemn the reckless and inflamma- previous efforts to meet the re- Sermon on the Mount was, of tory statements that have been made ligious needs of the student course, the best sermon; and before the Congressional committee world. It was a call to students the Lord's Prayer, the best in Washington and that are constant- to enroll in an intensive sumprayer. The best poem was the ly being made over the radio as con- mer training course in prepara- Twenty-third Psalm. trary to the fundamentals of our tion for definite, aggressive, American Government and the spirit evangelistic service on the cam- Symbol of "Eternal Light" of all religions. pus of American colleges during 1939-1940. Emphasis is upon The Ner Ha-Tamid, or "eter- We urge all religious leaders and training individual volunteers nal light," was brought from the people of their respective congre- in personal Bible study, so that Palestine last April to burn in gations to take active steps toward they wiH not be dependent upon the Jewish Pavilion at the New the development of that understand- adult leadership. To attain to York World's Fair. According ing, cooperation and goodwill which the rating of "ambassador," the to the Director of the Pavilion, will unite them more deeply in over- student engages in a thirty-two this light will burn continuously coming this evil with good. weeks' training course in active as a memorial to those who gave Christian living and service. their lives seeking the establish- -Church Peace Union. ment of a Jewish national home -So S. Times. Crime in the U. S. A. The crime situation is not im- proving, if the figures of J. Ed- gar Hoover are to be taken as evidence. Says Mr. Hoover: The records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that crime is increasing; that murders, manslaugh- ters, robberies, sex crimes, automobile thefts are greater than ever before.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Moral Rearmament Conference Moslems who make the pilgrimage considered are health, govern- ment relief, etc. This does not Before a crowd of nearly to Los Angeles should also make that tell the whole story. Special 25,000 in Hollywood Bowl, Cal- services for Indian girls grew ifornia representatives of the to Mecca. BISMILA. into a Sunday school. Ten of "Oxford Groups" from 25 coun- these girls now sing in the tries launched a drive for unity Negro Advance church choir. and Christian harmony in this unsettled world-a unity based The United Presbyterian says -Spirit of Missions.· on the four points of honesty, that the greatest improvements unselfishness, purity and love. in the Negro race have come Stand on the Liquor Problem Three objectives were listed: 1. since the beginning of the World Permanent peace between indi- War, and offers the following Prospective students of Illividuals and nations; 2. The facts as proof. There are now nois State Normal School need world's wealth made available to over 120 Negro institutions of not enroll there in ignorance of all, but for exploitation by none; higher learning with 35,000 stu- that institution's attitude toward 3. Create a new culture and alcohol, for its latest catalogue bring in the advent of "the gold- dents of college grade, 2,457 of contains the following stateen age." collegiate professional grade, ment: and twice the entire number It is said that new hope has studying college subjects. The Since ability to consume intoxicatbeen generated by this plan. Chi- number of Negroes now holding ing beverages, regardless of nature nese and Japanese representa- or quantity, is not a par~ of teachertives shook hands there; labor academic and professional de- training program, and Slllce emplo~ union leaders greeted officials grees is 32,478. About 63.8 per- ers of teachers, regardless of theIr of employers' organizations. cent are men and 36.2 per cent personal a~titude toward the liguor Among the messages read from are women. The largest numer- question, WIll not employ or contll~ue well known leaders was one ical group comes from parents in service teachers who use such lllfrom Henry Ford which ex- neither of whom could read. The toxicants, Illinois State Normal Unipressed a profound truth. Said bulk of these graduates enter the versity very emphatically states that Mr. Ford: "There is enough professional field. Nearly 200 the use of intoxicants on or off the good will in the people to over- have incomes of $5,000 or more; campus will not be permitted, and come all war, all class dissension the median high school salary deviation from this regulation calls and all economic stagnation, for severance of connections with the when that good will shall be of teachers is $1,300. The call school. Because the institution feels hitched to the affairs of men and for Negro college graduates is justified in the interests of its reputanations."-Dayton News. tion and that of its students and grad- more imperative than ever. uates in having such a regulation, it Los Angeles as a "Mecca" There is one white physician to is hoped that persons who cannot live every 728 white people, but only within both the letter and spirit of Strange sects are not confined one Negro physician to every this procedure will not apply for adto Iraq. The Moslem World 3,125 Negroes. There is one mission to the university. quotes the following notice white teacher for every 110 posted in Los Angeles: white children, one Negro teach- -United Presbyterian. er for every 218 of the Negro KALIFAT-NEBI JEFFERSON. group. LATIN AMERICA Yearly pilgrimage of Moslems of Civic Leadership in Oklahoma Christian School in Cuba Kalifat No.5, known as North Ame,rican Kalifat, shall be concluded m St. Philip's Episcopal Church La Progressivu, Presbyterian Civic Center, Los Angeles, during the in Ardmore, Oklahoma, believes school at Cardenas', Cuba, has 30 days of the month of Muaram. that it must take a leading part been signally honored by Cuba's in community life. With this Secretary of Education, who The purpose shall be educat~onal. in view, the rector and others awarded it special recognition This pilgrimage should part~cularly decided upon a number of proj- for its whole curriculum, from remind Moslems of the teachmgs of ects, of which the following are first grade through High School. America's fist Karajite leader, Thom- afew: as Jefferson, loyal successor of George When a new government high Washington, tried-and-true founder of A garden inspection committee school was established in Carthe Republic. which brought about self-help to many denas, La Progressiva empha- Terminating the pilgrimage; Mos- needy families. sized its boarding department, lems should make the circuit of the thus affording greater oppor- Los Angeles Federal Building which A canning plant growing out of the tunity to young people from suis situated in what is henceforth to garden committee. gar plantations and small towns. be known by Moslems as Jefferson Square. They may make the circuit A plan for milk distribution to The Christian influence of as many as seven times, but it is not needy. the school has been of far reachtheir duty to make it even once, since ing value; many of its graduthey should make it only of their A Milk and Ice Fund. ates continue their training in own free will and according to their An amateur boxing tournament to normal schools and later teach ability. support the Milk and Ice Fund. in Presbyterian institutions on Moslems who make the pilgrimage An Open Forum at which com- the Island; others attend the to Mecca should make that to Los munity problems ar~ d~scussed. . theological Seminary in Puerto Angeles also. A community samtatIOn campaIgn. Rico. Six Presbyterian pastors A mobile health clinic. in Cuba are graduates of La Promotion of two summer camps.
The open forum proved to be especially valuable. Subjects
Progressiva and there are two of widely different types, yet Three factors made the occa- sion memorable: this is the candidates for the ministry in common to all is a form of ani- first modern church building in Colombia; there was a new visthe present graduating class. mistic religion. There is now, ion afforded those who came from i sol ate d communities Four pastors' wives also gradu- as a result of this Mission's ac- where life is one long struggle against persecution and immorated from the school. tivities, a vigorous church, made ality; and there were present -Monday Morning. up not merely of passive Chris- representatives of nearly all de- nominations or groups working tians but of those eager to pass in interior Colombia-Presby- terians, Independent National Ice Breaking in Guatemala on the Gospel message. A short Church, the Scandinavian Alli- ance, Worldwide Evangelistic Tourists and modern life have time ago, when a member of one Crusade, Pentecostals, Luther- ans, Cumberland Presbyterians not yet penetrated the western of the most degraded tribes was and some independent mission- aries.-Colombian Clippings. highlands of Guatemala, so con- ordained a minister, the "im- EUROPE siderable persuasion was re- possible" was achieved. The Crisis Grows No Less quired on the part of Rev. H. D. One tribe of 500 Indians of Peck, Presbyterian missionary, North Argentina has 400 pro- Dr. Adolph Keller, Director of the Central Bureau for Relief of to convince the mayor of a very fessed Christians. The past Evangelical Churches, reports on the present outlook. When needy village that he should ad- thirty-five years have seen this Bureau was established in 1922 it was thought that a few mit aclinic unit from the Amer- marked advance in Chile also. years' effort would be sufficient ican Hospital at Guatemala City. Boarding schools and medical for reconstruction after the So far as the mayor was con- work have been of great value. World War. This estimate has been found to be too optimistic. cerned, witch doctors were good -Life of Faith. Totalitarianism and the almost incredible fury of anti-Semitism enough, but finally permission have so deeply affected the eco- nomic situation of the churches, was grudgingly granted. School Uses Radio their liberty of conscience and Although relief from their ail- their spiritualIife that the prob- One of the mission schools lems have multiplied. Here are ments was welcomed, there was which uses the radio to develop a few of them: Feeding the degeneral suspicion on the part of interest in its program is Cole- pendents of evangelicals who those helped: there was endless gio Episcopal de San Pablo, bet- have been sent to Siberia, includbeating of drums, offerings of ter known in the United States ing the few Russian Protestant chickens and flowers by the vil- as St. Paul's School, Camaguey, pastors that are still alive, relagers, who were taking no Cuba. The School has bought lieving Protestant pastors in chances on offending the moun- the time for the broadcast over Rumania, many of whom are tain deities. Station COJK, short wave. The trying to maintain homes on Principal, Rev. Paul Tate, from 12 to 15 dollars a month, -Monday Morning. helping to finance theological students, for the need for an en- Baptist Mission in Vera Cruz writes that the idea is to keep lightened Christian ministry is ahead of other schools in all acute. Rev. Donata Ramirez, a Mexi- sorts of activities that may add to the school's prestige. As the Even the very hopeful evancan of Kansas City who was broadcasts become better known gelical movement in the Ukraine trained for the ministry at Col- ,and accepted, real evangelistic is threatened with financial gate-Rochester Divinity School, . material will be used. straits and all manner of petty is the first resident pastor at persecution; every pastor must Tierra Blanca in the state of -The Living Chu.rch. get a permit for every sermon Vera Cruz. He began work in he preaches, whether in his own parish or elsewhere. Then there June, 1938; without a church New Church in Bogota is the staggering refugee probbuilding, but with a gift of $300 lem; also the heavy blow dealt the Czech Church of the Brethfrom the Rochester student The dedication on March 12th body and $200 from the Baptist of the new Presbyterian Church Home Mission Society, he began in Bogota, Colombia, was an to build and since then small epoch-making event. The site sums have made it possible to go was secured and the building on with the undertaking. The erected with the proceeds from membership of this young church the sale of the former church is 58, the average attendance 70 ; property. Representatives 0 f each week end at least 12 various Presbyterian churches members hold special services in and other missions throughout the surrounding area. The Colombia crowded the auditorichurch has three outstations, all um. Some had journeyed a day of which indicates that a strong or two on horseback, over diffichurch is arising in Tierra cult mountain trails, others Blanca. -Watchman-Examiner. came by auto and one flew over from Medellin. The theme of Primitive Indians in South the dedicatory sermon, deliv- America ered by Rev. A. M. Allan, a for- mer pastor, was "Past, Present The South American Mission- and Future." This was followed ary Society ministers to Indians by a communion service.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ren (Hussite), and the unfavor- ship allowed, and only in private by er subsidize pUblications; these able developments that are special agreement and favor of the must pay for themselves. facing the Waldensians in Italy. state; (4) All Romanist laws and jurisdiction included organically in Germany has also banned ra- Once more the Christian dio broadcasts of religious serv- the state's statutes; (5) The Roman ices. Such orders as the radio ban, and that on the sale of Bi- Church is producing martyrs. Church given the supervision over ed- bles are not published, but ucation, press and printing "in dog- transmitted secretly by the Min- Churches are packed where emp- matic matters"; (6) Church property istry of Propaganda. Church ty benches had become the rule. taken from the Church by the former officials have urged that broad- casts of religious services be re- government to be ceded to the state, sumed for the benefit of invalids, but all such requests have found Friends Oenter in Paris in return for which the state will sup- deaf ears.-New York Times. port the Church; (7) The relations In Hungary and Poland An attempt is being made to to be legaliZed by a Concordat. There is news of a great rebring about contacts between the It is added, however, that fif- vival movement in Hungary, not Society of Friends in France and teen of the world's greatest re- only in Budapest, the capital, but outstanding intellectuals in that ligious leaders have petitioned in other centers. Evangelistic country who are thinking along Franco to investigate the reli- meetings are being held many gious situation and to ensure times a day, and at some of them the same lines as the Friends, freedom of worship, and he has from four to seven thousand peothough not connected with any agreed to look into the matter. ple are present, many of whom religious movement. Two vis- have never heard the Gospel be- -Alliance Weekly. fore. Special editions of the its have been paid to Jacques Gospel of John and the Epistle Maritain, distinguished Catholic to the Romans have been placed in the hands of inquirers; while scholar who is deeply interested Methodists Meet in Denmark Christians are urged to take five in the Friends, both because of copies and, after prayer for guidance, to seek out five relatheir international activity and "The Methodist Church in tives or acquaintances to whom they may give them, at the same their emphasis on religion. Con- Europe" was the theme for the time witnessing to what the Lord has done for them. tact has also been established Conference of Met hod i s t As the eyes of the world are with Prof. Emery of Lyons, out- Churches and Missions in the focussed on Poland's political problem, it should not be overstanding liberal thinker of various countries in Europe, looked that while the State has fenced out Communism it re- France. Jean Giono, well known held in Copenhagen, Denmark, mains for the Christian Church to fence out atheism. Evangel- French writer, has also ex- August 2-6. The purp.ose of the ical Churches are taking the lead in this (the prime minister is a pressed his desire to cooperate gathering was to provide an op- Protestant) , and they are with the Friends in any project portunity for fellowship, inspir- backed up by the World's Evan- gelical Alliance. that will promote peace. ation and education to groups of -Baptist Missionary Review.
At the French Yearly Meet- ministers, laymen, laywomen The Army and Ohristianity in Germany ing in Paris, the largest in his- and youth of the new Methodist A short time ago a German tory, there were delegates from Church in Europe. The former army officer, a devout Christian, published a book called "The Of- S wed en, England, America, Methodist Episcopal Church is ficers' Hour." It was favorably reviewed in The Millitary Week- Switzerland and Germany. It established in Denmark, Sweden ly News and subsequently at- tacked in the same paper. Bewas generally felt that the meet- and Norway; there are over 250 tween the appearance of these contradictory views, the book ing had attained a higher level churches and 30,000 members. was bitterly denounced in the Schwartze Korps. The author's than in previous years not only These Scandinavian Methodists in numbers, but in spiritual are not only self-supporting but ways as well. maintain nineteen foreign mis- -American Friend. sionaries. There are also church- es and missions in Finland, Religion in Spain Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Jugoslavia, Bulgaria and Many are wondering what Hungary. In Germany there are will be the outlook for religion five self-supporting Conferell(~es. in Spain under Franco's regime. Jose Pemartin, spokesman for -Christian Advocate.
the Spanish Nationalists, is Bible Sales Bring Reaction in quoted as saying that Spain is Nazidom now to become the most fascist country in Europe; that a pro- The fact that sales of Bibles gram for the Catholic Church is in Germany have outnumbered to be established which will be- those of ~'Mein Kampf" by "more papist than the pope," 200,000 copies the past year has and will serve the political ends apparently angered Nazi authorof the state. Here is the program ities, for an order has gone out as outlined by Senor Pemartin: that Bible and religious tracts (1) The Roman Catholic religion may be sold only in Confessionis the official religion of the state; al Book stores. In general book (2) The prohibition of all teaching that opposes or denies the Roman stores Bibles may be sold only Catholic faith, either officially or in when specifically ordered. Bible private; (3) No other public wor- and Tract Societies may no long-
"sin" consisted in declaring that riously hesitant. Finally the widespread unemployment. The there can be no true fighting reason came out! They were Society was told it would be im- spirit and no military oath of thinking about the hot summer possible to start a boy's club loyalty without a Christian ba- days to come when they would here, because the people were sis. He therefore reasons that be toiling in the fields all day, fanatically Moslem. However, soldiers should be educated to a and were afraid the heavy per- such a club was opened in 1925, belief in God, and demands from spiration would ruin their Tes- and persistent kindness finally -the officers an acceptance of taments, as, true to their pledge, overcame opposition. The mem- Christianity. they carried them in their pock- bership is now from fifty to ets. At last they decided to risk sixty. Boxing, wrestling, weight The newspaper attack of the it, and 28 of them joined the lifting and other physical exerbook admits that such a book League. cises are practised. Lessons are might have been acceptable forty given in English and Arabic, in years ago, but not today, because AFRICA reading, writing and other ele- the question of a soldier and his mentary subjects. On the spir- religion can now only be dis- Farouk Leads in Friday itual side by friendship, by percussed from a single standpoint Prayers sonal talks, by Bible study -that of national socialism, groups and occasional lantern which unites all the beliefs and This is the heading of an arti- lectures and addresses, the work- philosophies of the German peo- cle that appeared in a Cairo ers strive to demonstrate Chris- ple. Christianity is thus defi- daily recently. tianity in action. In addition nitely placed on the same level there is a Blind School, where with paganism. In its issue of Last Friday was a notable day men are taught reading and March 16th, the Schwartze which revealed a pleasant surprise writing in Arabic Braille. It Korps stated: such as had never occurred to any has a Braille library of over one's mind. Probably it is the first 1,500 books, all Christian, which "It is true there is political strife in surprise of the sort in a thousand are lent up and down the coun- Germany arising out of religious dif- years. His Majesty the King went try to blind Moslem readers. ferences. But it is equally true that to the Quasin Mosque to perform the these differences will not be allowed Friday prayers, to which some illus- Ethiopia Is No More to impair our military strength. The trious guests of Egypt had preceded religious life of the German soldier is him, from among the delegations of The Council of the League of so closely bound up with the concep- sister Arab nations which had come Nations on May 12th tacitly ac- tions of People, Fuehrer, Country as to take part in the Palestine Con- knowledged that Abyssinia (or the revelation of the Divine Will," that ference. Chief among these were two Ethiopia) is now to be called a the tenets of any particular religious princes from Hejaz. No sooner had "Province of Italian East Af- sect will be able to exert no influence the preacher finished the Friday ser- rica." An annex to the Anglo- whatsoever. mon than- King Farouk was seen by Italian agreement, signed in those present for the prayers to leave Rome on April 16th, expressed -Kulturkampf. his place in the front rank and make in somewhat ambiguous terms his way to the Mihrab (prayer niche the !Italian Government's will- Testaments for Italy which indicates the direction of Mec- ingness to consider favorably the ca), where he led the prayers as the work of British missions "in hu- In the P. T. L. Quarterly we imam (leader of public prayers). manitarian and benevolent read that in Italy membership in That was a very great surprise, which spheres." This mayor may not the League has steadily in- caused the thousands gathered in the mean tolerance of Christian creased until the number is now mosque and along the streets lead- evangelism. over 4,000, a remarkable record ing to the mosque to raise shouts of for ten years' effort in a land supplication to God that He would The British and Foreign Bi- where Protestant work is car- preserve the "righteous King" the ble Society has kept open its ried on with 'such difficulty. The "prince of believers" and the "imam depot at Addis Ababa, but the Italian League President, Rev. of the Moslems." future is uncertain. The Her- H. H. Pullen, has many oppor- mannsburg Mission has been altunities in his journeys to Western newspapers co m- lowed to continue its work in promote this work. He has ap- mented that this innovation will Addis Ababa, and partially to pointed a young assistant to hold tend to unite Arab-speaking resume itineration in the inte- meetings for young people in Moslem peoples. It has always rior. The United Presbyterian Liguria, Piedmond and Lom- been customary for a caliph, or mission hospital remains open, bardy. He found that members one aspiring to the caliphate, to and the Sudan Interior Mission in Genoa were joining forces lead these public prayers, and a continued till last August. with the Scripture Union, and number of Moslems are express- When compensation for mission were holding regular meetings ing a desire to make the young property, expropriated by the of their own. In Turin, a new king of Egypt Caliph of the Italian Government was paid group of sixty members was whole Moslem world. and the mission was refused per- formed. In many other towns mission to take up other sites, there was a happy response to -Woman's Missionary the seven remaining missionar- appeals. At an evening meeting Magazine. for adults in an out-of-the-way village, several young men Boy's Club in Cairo wished to join, yet seemed cu- The Church Missionary Soci- ety is doing an eifeotive piece of social work in a slum of Cairo, a filthy, crowded section, with
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ies were forced to return home. of the Africa Inland Mission was Last year was a serious fam- The whole future of Protestant climaxed with the baptism of ine year; food prices soared or work in Italian East Mrica eighty men and women. Except the food was not obtainable; must depend largely upon the for the fact that the Church is people were hungrier than they Waldensians and other Italian very rigid in its examination of had ever been. Money formerly Protestants. It is hoped that candidates for baptism, the num- spent on clothes had to be spent work along the border may ber could easily have been 200. for food. Women with tiny reach some Ethiopians. Even so, this is the largest num- babies on their arms go through ber baptized, so far, at one time. the grass catching tiny grass- -International Review of hoppers in order to have meat to Missions. Later in the day about 600 met eat. around the Lord's Table, which Danish Mission in the Sudan meant that the church building Foreign Magic was almost filled with communi- The eastern part of northern cants alone. If this continues, There are more ways than one Nigeria is alloted to the Danish the building will have to be en- of exploiting the superstitious, branch of the Sudan United Mis- larged. At a recent Sunday half-educated Africans, and here sion, which has worked there for service there were 3,230 in at- is one reported by The Chronia quarter of a century. For a tendance.-Life of Faith. cle, of London. Thousands of adtime growth was so rapid that vertising circulars have poured the home church in Denmark Women Leaders in Kenya into the Congo, introducing forcould not keep up with it; eign "charms," talismen and workers and funds were not A missionary from East Afri- magic. In one packet discovforthcoming. But recently con- ca says that regular evangelistic ered by a missionary and sent ditions in Denmark began to meetings for women have a qual- to the Congo Protestant Counchange; a revival is spreading ity that has been absent hereto- cil, were some pills, a piece of over the country, public opinion fore, because for the past few cheap, red substance with signs towards Christianity and Chris- years the women themselves scratched on it, encased in a red tian work is undergoing a have conducted them. One Afri- silk bag, with leaflets of instrucchange; the means are coming can woman expressed it thus: tion and a "prayer." "Take this forth, the quota allotted has been "Our hearts are warm." These between the thumb and first finraised, and new workers for the meetings are the women's own. ger of your left hand," said one field are volunteering. A doctor They run them, decide where of the leaflets, "look at it kindly, and his wife, a nurse and two they shaH be held, and make all sympathetically, as one regards men, one of them ordained, have the arrangements. To be sure, a person from whom one looks to been accepted for service during there are mistakes made, but receive a favor, and say the folthe past year. some of the gains the missionar- lowing prayer: 'Dear and good ies have been praying for have talisman, in whom I have all con- This change is reflected in the come through the efforts of the fidence, I pray you to aid me by African field. Direct evangelism women themselves. Speakers are all your occult powers to realize is being undertaken by African chosen a week in advance to en- all my projects and desires.' Christians-about 35 at present sure time for prayer and study. (Here you ask for the things -of whom several have wit- you yourself want to obtain.)" nessed so fai.thfully that con- -C. M. S. Outlook. In the effort to stop this traffic gregations of baptized Chris- that trades on the credulity of tians have sprung up in the Sharing Joys at Bibanga the African, the Governor-Genbush. The missionaries depend eral asked the Commission for more and more on their sound Miss Virginia Allen is a the Protection of Natives to conjudgment, learning from them fourth-term missionary at Bi- sider the question of authorizing the best way to present the Gos- banga. She writes in Congo the Postal Service to intercept pel to the African mind. A spe- Mission News of the ever deep- some of this dangerous correscial training course for evange- ening Christian joy of women pondence. But much of it is lists has now been established, and girls, builders of Christian smuggled into the country by which is intended to last three homes. Each Sunday groups of many different routes. years with intervals of one year nine-year-old girls make a point spent in practical work in the of paying her a visit to sing the WESTERN ASIA districts. The Christian Church new songs that Mrs. Kellersbergin this field has about 1,000 bap- er teaches them. Their first vis- Sunday Schools in Bible Lands tized members, with several it surprised her, and in token of hundred more who are being her appreciation she gave each The Sunday school movement prepared for baptism. girl six peanuts and taught them continues to be one of the most Proverbs 3: 5, 6. They came powerful influences in Bible -Life of Faith. every Sunday thereafter, when lands in bringing together in fel- they learnt a few more verses, lowship and cooperation men, Eighty Converts in the Congo ate a few more peanuts, and women and children of different later, the one who knew the most denominations and points of A week's Bible Conference verse~ received a picture. held this year at the Adi Station
view. Last April a rally was type of reading matter in its INDIA AND SIAM held in an ArmeniaI1i Protestant own area. Church in Beirut, Syria, ar- Another Hindu Tribute ranged by the Armenian Sunday Religious Situation in Turkey School Union and to which invi- Several retired judges of tations were sent to children of The death of Ataturk and the Travancore have acknowledged all Arabic-speaking schools and installation of Ismet Inonii have in The Hindu, a daily paper, that of the Anglo-American commun- apparently not altered the reli- Christian missionaries h a v e ity. It took nearly fifteen min- gious situation in Turkey, though played a great part in the progutes for the one thousand chil- it is too soon to know accurately. ress of the Travancore State, dren and their teachers to march There may be a feeling of great- while the Travancore States into the auditorium. The wor- er liberty in the expression of Manual points out that it was ship program consisted of hymns religious sentiments now than English missionaries who initiwith tunes and words familiar during the past few years, and ated English education in that in the three languages, the repe- it is perhaps more common to State, and to them is due the tition of Psalm 23 in the differ- recognize religion as a force; in emancipation of slaves, the up- 'ent languages and prayer offered fact the funeral of the late ruler lift of the depressed classes, the in Arabic~ A tableau presented revealed a passion for dedication opening of hospitals and the by a group of Armenian children to an ideal, and that is essential- spread of education for both represented Christ, the Friend ly religious. men and women. of the children of the world. There has been no change in In the Tranvancore Census -Bible Lands Union. the policies and methods of the Report for 1931, we read: mission institutions, and more What Are Moslems Reading? and more there is a sense among As a result of the philanthropic many leaders that education labor of the missionaries a perceptible Realizing that what Christian does not seem to be enough, and improvement has been effected in the societies publish must be partly that some way of building char- moral and social condition of Dedetermined by what people like acter must be found if the coun- pressed Classes who have come under to read, the Near East Christian try is to continue to go forward. their influence. Their mode of liv- Council asked groups in each ing has changed, their standard of country they serve just what is -Near East Christian living has improved, they are giving being read; just what students CounciL up insanitary habits, are learning were reading aside from text cleanliness and thrift, and are bebooks. The answer was the Iranian Youth ing weaned from the drink evil. same: stories, the great majority being translations. It is be- The annual National Chris- All these opinions are conlieved that Christian publishing tian Youth Conference of Iran firmed by a writer in the Poona houses should take note of this had a spread of almost a thou- Mahratta who said that today and supply good, cheap stories. sand miles, with representatives "25 per cent of the population Next to stories, a lively interest of the Anglican Church, the Ar- are Christians. Out of 11 lakhs in biographies was revealed, menian Protestant Church, and of rupees paid as Government particularly of Moslem heroes the Evangelical (Presbyterian) gran, 9 lakhs are paid to Chrisand Western dictators. Church, meeting together with t ian educational institutions. no thought of denominational The number of churches which As for Christian students, it distinctions. All were Christians, was 300 in 1820 had increased to was found they were devouring although coming from a wide 2700 in 1930." rationalistic works, mostly non- variety of religious b a c k – Christian. The World's Student grounds: Shi'a and Sunni Mos- Preaching to Mohammedans Christian Federation has accord- lem, Jewish, Assyrian, Armeningly formed a committee to ian, Baha'i, Anglican, American, Rev. H. Reynhout, in the Life undertake the publication of lit- Presbyterian, and even Swiss of Faith, describes the method of erature with the Christian view- Evangelical. There were 68 reaching Mohammedans at the point. leaders from seven countries, in- reading room of the Ceylon and cluding two from Shiraz, 534 India General Mission, in My- Inquiries in Cairo revealed miles away, and one from Yezd, sore City, where a weekly lecture that along with the inevitable the first time that this remote is given especially for Mohamnewspaper there is a growing desert city had been represented medans. "An hour before the output of monthly magazines of at the Conference. The program lecture begins the missionaries good standing, with literary in- consisted of addresses and dis- take up their stand on the street terests definitely Arabic and cussions on the theme "The in front of the reading room: it Moslem. There is a large as- Kingdom of God," Bible study is a very busy street, and hunsortment of picture magazines, and recreation. It was inter- dreds of people pass by, of indicating the value of a Chris- esting to hear boys, gesturing whom every fourth or fifth is a vigorously, talk about ways of Mohammedan. tian picture paper. The Council making Christianity effective in intends to ask each Inter-mission various walks of life. "We are well supplied with Council to help in a study of the -Bulletin of Foreign Affairs. Gospels and literature in Urdu, Kanarese and English, and gen- erally offer a tract to our Mo- hammedan friends as they pass.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK 429'
"As the time for the lecture interest to me. His advice, "Render are violent" and that there is approaches, Mohammedans are therefore unto Caesar the things "no need to drink vitamin Band invited to attend. Most of them which are Caesar's, and unto God the beat your wife." pass on with the excuse of busi- things that are God's," is the doctrine ness urgency or a flimsy promise of non-resistance, nonviolence. Gandhi Hindus, Moslems, Christians. to return in five minutes. Usu- is not the originator of non-violence; and the various provincial govally, the lecture begins with only Jesus Christ is. ernments are of one mind in refour or five in attendance, but a gard to exterminating the drink worker remains outside in the What is non-violence? It means evil. However, a Bombay weekhope of attracting others. Some that everything is sacred and all life ly, while heartily commending are busy with tracts, and seeing must be treated with reverence. Let all these efforts to push the camus with literature the crowd no man deal roughly with even the paign against liquor in the same swells, an argument is started weakest and meekest of living crea- issue advertises "high class port, and after considerable urging tures. I look at Jesus not from the brandy and beer." Such adverthe group consents to enter the standpoint of theology but of society. tisements are illegal sin c e reading room. The evangelist If taken seriously, Jesus' unique mes- August 1. has probably finished his lecture, sage could not only save my people but begins a new one for the ben- but it could build the Kingdom of The Church at Chakwal efit of the late-comers. His God on earth. theme is a whole race lost in sin; Chakwal is just a tiny dot on only Jesus Christ, the Son of -Bulletin of Foreign the map of Northern India, but God, can and does save. Mos- Affairs. on the British Empire's map it lems hate the very mention of is a very black dot, having the this; some of the bolder ones Model for U. S. Christians reputation of being the most viojump to their feet and denounce lently criminal spot in Britain's the speaker, others try to silence The Naini Community Church world wide dominions. About him. Finally, the crowd dis- of Allahabad is self-supporting, twenty years ago, the United perses in disorder, some to ar- pays its assessments in advance Presbyterian .Church :proposed gue among themselves outside, and all other obligations prompt- to establish a mission there; some to remain to question the ly. Not only that; it has accu- land was purchased, building missionaries further about the mulated a building fund, with no plans were drawn up. Along Gospel." outside help. It is to some de- came the depression, and the gree self-propagating also, as land remained merely open Ambedkar Interprets Christ baptisms during the past year fields, growing just enough to have included some from non- pay the taxes. The champion of India's de- Christian families. The church pressed classes is not a Chris- supports a worker who sells More than a dozen years later, tian, but he was one of the guest Christian literature. All this is Emma Dean Anderson, after speakers at the annual meeting accomplished by Indian Chris- half a century of mission servof the West India Presbyterian tians, with a very little over- ice in India, chose Chakwal as Mission. Almost apologetically sight on the part of an evange- her retirement home. There, he announced his subject: "The listic missionary. without any European 0 r Bible and the Message of American companion within Christ," adding that his person- -Monday Morning. 60 miles, she settled in, to al interest in the subject led him spend the last three years to speak upon it, and that his No Drinks After Midnight of her seventh decade of life. conclusions were the result of From then on the Church in his own research. Said Dr. One thousand prohibition en- America began to hear about Ambedkar: forcement officers who describe Chakwal, but in her 80th year themselves as "harder than dia- Miss Anderson had to retire The greatness of Jesus can be monds, yet softer than flowers," from her Chakwal retirement proved in two ways: His power to were mobilized July 31 to help and return to America, leaving perform miracles and the uniqueness police shut off Bombay's drink- only a handful of Christians, of His message. Miracles cannot save ing at midnight. In addition to with an Indian pastor conduct- me and my people. But the message this guard an extra 1100 police ing regular services but with no can. Therefore I am not interested in were enrolled, 300 volunteer or- organized congregation. When Jesus' miracles but in His message. ganizations and 200 physical cul- Miss Anderson left she made it Religion to help me must have a social ture institutions offered their her chief responsibility to secure origin and a social purport because services toward making the ex- funds to construct the buildings the burning question before me is, periment a success. planned in the early vision; this "How can I rebuild a doomed society?" promise has been fulfilled, and Is there anything unique in Jesus' The government decree, is- all the buildings planned are message? That is what I want to sued last Feb. 14, advanced a now completed. In addition to know. step further the campaign of church and parsonage there is a Gandhi for national prohibition library and reading room, open The Jews to whom Christ came within three years. to the public. The building op- were an oppressed group. My peo- erations were entirely under ple are an oppressed group; there- There has been an intensive fore Jesus' advice to the multitudes fight over the Bombay edict. The who followed Him becomes of vital wets contended the Indian-fer- mented liquor contains vitamin B and makes for healthier ba- bies. Countering, the prohibi- tionists argued that "drunkards
Christian supervision, and most- them to read, but not giving should know nothing of theologly Christian labor. The man in them anything to read." In ical difIerences. charge of all the work is a re- contrast, he pointed out, "irrece1lt convert from Islam. ligious forces are far ahead of Christians and Refugees the churches on that score, in -United Presbyterian. that they are putting quantities More and more it is being rec- of material in the hands of peo- ognized that the problem of refu- Siam Now Thailand ple they are seeking to convert gees is a Christian, as well as a to their views." Jewish responsibility; and the When we see the names "Thai- -National Lutheran Council. American Committee for Chrisland," and "Thai," in State De- tian German Refugees, 287 partment documents from now Read This Fourth Ave., New York, is findon we are to think of Siam and ing a more generous response to Siamese, for the Department It was brought out at the its appeal. Several churches has decided to adhere to the re- Madras Conference that the in- are assuming direct responsibilcent decision of the Siamese crease in size of the Christian ity in the matter. The Quakers Government to change the name community in the twentieth cen- are opening a haven for refugees of their country. Thailand tury is unparalleled in any sim- -Jewish and Christian – in means land of the Thai (pro- ilar length of time in all Chris- Iowa, and are forming plans to nounced tie); and Thai is the tian history. Not including care for 20,000 refugee children ancient name of the Siamese Roman Catholics, Christian com- if the necessary legislation is people. municants in Negro Africa have enacted by Congress. The Pres- multiplied five-fold; in India byterian Board of National Mis- MISCELLANEOUS three-fold; in parts of Latin sions is appealing to its constit- America seven-fold; in Japan uency for funds and has a rep- Growth Abroad, Decline at five-fold, and doubled in the past resentative rendering personal Home decade; in China five-fold; in service to individual refugees. Chosen seventy-fold; in the The National Council of the It was revealed at the mid- Philippine Islands, where the Protestant Episcopal Church is year meeting of the Foreign Evangelical Church was non- undertaking a similar program. Missions Conference of North existent at the beginning of the America, held in Swarthmore, century, the communicants now Dissent most frequently heard Pa., that Protestant missions number about 200,000, the num- is based on the fear that a have grown rapidly in foreign bers having trebled in the last "horde" of aliens will displace countries, but have fallen off at thirteen years. our own workers, and add to OUr home. According to figures economic ills. It must be requoted, there were, in 1925, However, satisfaction over membered that the refugees 3,565,443 Protestant communi- these figures is tempered by the seeking admission to this country cants in mission lands, and knowledge that population in- are, in the main, people of exslightly more than eight million crease reveals that there are ac- ceptional ability who will build baptized. In 1938, the number tually today far more non- up industries that will furnish of communicants had jumped to Christians in the world than employment to many American six million, and there were thir- there were when the modern workers; and will also increase teen million baptized Protes- missionary enterprise began. the demand for our products of tants. In 1911, there were 351 farm and factory: all this is more ordained missionaries in Medical Council for Missions aside from the Christian considforeign service than there were eration of the emergency. ordained nationals. Last year, After twelve years of effort, there were 10,271 more ordained the Christian Medical Council Testaments for Jews national Christians than mis- for Overseas Work came into besionaries. ing on June 3, 1938. To date, A campaign is under way to about twenty different mission- provide a quarter million New There is one Christian for ary bodies have joined it. The Testaments for Jews in various every 184 people in Asia, one office of this associated mission lands. Efforts are being made for every twenty-eight in Africa, in New York is under the direc- to enlist intercessory prayer on and one for every four in Oce- tion of Dr. J. G. Vaughan, for- the part of 50,000 interested ania. merly a medical missionary to persons. A special Testament is China under the Northern Meth- being prepared in which verses In commenting on the situa- odists, and Dr. E. M. Dodd, once that signify. the fulfilment of tion, Dr. John R. Mott said: a missionary to Persia under Old Testament prophecies ap- the Presbyterian Board. The pear in bold-faced type, making "Less than 30 % of the Protes- Northern Baptist representative plain to the Jews that the New is Dr. P. H. J. Lerrigo, who be- Testament is the completion and tants in the U. S. A. and Canada gan his career as a medical mis- fulfilment of Old Testament revare giving anything at all to for- sionary. He has for many years elation, and that Jesus is the eign missions. There must be been a prime mover in interde- true Messiah and Saviour of an expansion in the financial re- nominational collaboration, be- Jew and Gentile alike. sources." Dr. Mott further de- lieving that medical service clared that "churches are edu- – Watchman-Examiner. cating people in the missionary field but failing to provide them with enough matter to apply this education. They are teaching
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Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information I.L~I~I==~========~==========~ The Faith We Declare. By Edwin deals with pursuits which the suggestive pages. The wide use Lewis. $2.00. 236 pp. Cokesbury Press. Nashville. 1939. author is pleased to term "cre- of classical and historical allu- This is a notable book. The ative guests of the ages," consid- sion will appeal to the scholarly, able professor of theology in Dew Theological Seminary has ered in the light of their influ-. and the rather militant social written others of high value, but ence upon the development. of outlook will interest those whose this one impresses us as the best Christianity. The philosophIcal views follow this modern trend. of all. Its chapters were deliv- €red as a series of lectures on the character of the discussion add- It is in its spiritual implication Fondren Foundation at the ed to a rhetorical style, makes that the book is most disappoint- School of Theology of the South- it difficult at points to follow the ing. Absence of the affirmative €rn Methodist University, Dallas. His central theme is that author's reasoning, but there is note is marked. The informed Christianity is not primarily an €thic or a form of social organ- no mistaking the fact that he evangelical will regard the auization, altho'ugh it involves both of these. It is primarily a reli- finds a consistent forward trend thor's thesis as untenable; those gion not developed by man, but revealed by God. It is therefore in thought and morals from the of a speculative cast of mind not to be viewed as a system of philosophy or something to be Babylonian period to the pres- may find interest, but will scarcelogically proved or mathematically demonstrated, but as di- ent. In tracing this evolutionary ly be inspired. For the casual vinely imparted truth to be received by faith and "declared" movement there is little apparent reader, there will be some beas a message from God incarnated in Christ as Redeemer and distinction between the Baby- wilderment over a sentence like Lord. Dr. Lewis is neither a "Fundamentalist" nor a "Mod- lonian sages, the Hebrew proph- this: "If we seek to give to life ernist," although his book will give more satisfaction to the ets and the Greek and Roman and its enterprises, meanings former than to the latter, for he is soundly and conservatively philosophers: Hammurabi, Ja- worthy for humanity, its endowevangelical. There are a few criticisms of the modern church cob, Moses, Isaiah, Socrates, ments, its advisements, its inherwhich we think are too severe; but the volume as a whole is a Marcus Aurelius, Paul and Au- itances, and its hopes; then stubclarion call to the followers of Christ to emphasize "The Faith gustine each make their contri- born ineluctable as the contem- We Declare" as the only hope of a distracted world. bution. It is not that the prophets poraneous world is, it is not be- ARTHUR J. BROWN. are lightly esteemed or the Baby- yond our power to charge with Christianity and the Creative Quests. lonian inscriptions elevated to noble and fructifying meaning." By Gaius Glenn Atkins. 232 pp. $2.00. Cokesbury Press, Nashville, equality with the Scriptures, but HUGH R. MONRO. Tenn. 1939. the unique and inspired charac- The Missionary Significance of the The author, a well known ter of the Hebrew record is ap- Lord's Prayer. By Dr. Lee S. Huipreacher and professor of theol- parently not taken into account. zenga. 85 pp. 75 cents. Wm. B. ogy, gave these Cole Lectures at Vanderbilt University in 1938. There is insistence upon intel- Eerdmans Co., Grand Rapids. 1939. The title provides an accurate guide to its contents for the book lectual integrity in dealing with Dr. Huizenga has been a med- ical missionary in China during the Scriptures, but an implica- a long life; and he writes from tion that reason shall determine his own experience. This is not how much of the record is wor- an attempt to force a well-worn thy of acceptance. Quite as in- passage of Scripture into a novel conclusive is the extended dis- pattern for novelty's sake; it is cussion of moral and spiritual rather the ripened meditation of authority, where again we are a man who has for years offered left to conclude that the sole the Lord's Prayer from a mis- norm is that of human judgment. sionary's heart. In this prayer The possibility that the Biblical the doctor finds (1) the basis of record may have an inherent au- our missionary expansion; (2) thority, real and demonstrable, is nowhere suggested; it is im- the method of our missionary ex- pansion; (3) the way to keep fit plied that those who adhere to such a view are credulous and for missionary work; and (4) lacking in perspective. By these the ultimate aim of missions. The basis of missions is the fa- standards faith in the authority therhood of God, the family life of the Bible and intellectual in- of all believers. The method is tegrity are apparently consid- found to be adoration, recogni- ered incompatible.
The book, however, has many tion of God and His Kingdom, [431 ]
and obedience to His sovereign trays. The author is peculiarly the world today for the frightwill. Keeping fit is accomplished fitted for his task by intimate ful results of the transgression through God's providing for, knowledge, by deep devotion, by of the law of God. The book is pardoning and keeping us. The patience in research and by lit- worth reading, especially if read ultimate aim is of course the erary skill. He shows the late in the light of the New Testaglory of God. Not only mission- distinguished president of Un- ment Gospel of love, mercy, and aries but others may find in this ion Seminary, Virginia, to have forgiveness. little devotional book much that been eminent as a scholar, inis spiritually illuminating. spiring as a teacher, impressive Lucy W. PEABODY. as a preacher and wise as an KENNETH J. FOREMAN. administrator. Dr. Moore will The Christian Faith in a Day of long be remembered as one of Crisis. By Charles S. Macfarland. The Story of Chung Mei. By Charles the most dignified, beloved and 226 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell R. Shepherd. Illus. 264 pp. $2.00. influential leaders in the Ameri- Co. New York. The Judson Press, Philadelphia. can Presbyterian Church. This 1938. sympathetic, careful and com- If one is unable to read the prehensive biography will aid numerous volumes pouring from Here is a thrilling story of immeasurably in making this the press interpreting the relipersonal heroism, faith overcom- memory as abiding as it is pre- gious situation, this book will ing obstacles, and consecration cious. give a helpful sense of direction of life to the service of needy toward understanding the curboys. It is a graphic .portrayal CHARLES R. ERDMAN. rent trends in religious life and written in the first person, of the theological thinking. The mounhistory of Chung Mei Home in The Meaning of War. By James W. tain peaks on the horizon stand San Francisco, California. Johnson. 60 pp. 75c. Fleming H. out so prominently that one can Revell Co. 1939. discern them readily without In the early days of Charles being lost in the less important Shepherd's service among the This brief statement, in five aspects of the scene. Chinese on the Pacific Coast he chapters, written in part after discovered that one of the un- the World War by a Christian Among the speciaL interests met needs of the people was for business man, will be read with which have enlisted Dr. Macfara boys' home to care for orphans, interest by those who are watch- land's attention are the Barthian half-orphans, foundlings, and ing the threats of war which theology and the reaction to it in boys from broken homes. Lim- now confront the world. "liberal" circles; the movement ited financial resources, racial for Christian unity; the social prejudice, lack of suitable physi- With much of the author's outreach of the Church; the curcal equipment for such an enter- vivid statement, all will agree. rent expressions of mysticism; prise, presented serious obsta- Chapter Two–"The Reason for and the significance and inadecles. Confident in his faith "that War" presents not only the well quacy of humanism. God never calls an individual to known reasons from the human a task which is impossible" the side, but presents them as only S. M. CAVERT. author persisted, overcoming reasons in part. He states his disappointment aft e r disap- own theory that war is the re- The Acts of the Apostles. Outline pointment, until finally his sult of sin and carries on this Studies in Primitive Christianity. dream was realized in the thesis to Chapter Three-"True By W. H. Griffith Thomas. 93 pp. Chung Mei Home. Basis for Enduring Peace." The 30 cents. Moody Bible Institute fourth chapter presents "Wrath Colportage Assn. Chicago. 1939. Under the able leadership of of Man-Love of God" and the Dr. Shepherd, the boys succeed- fifth "The Signs of Promise." An outstanding, conservative ed in raising money to purchase The book closes with an earnest Bible scholar and teacher gave a beautiful building site in EI prayer for the nations. us before his death this compact Cerrito, but the "depression" outline of the Acts in a series of made it impossible for mission- There can be no question as to fifty-eight studies. Richly sugary organizations to appropriate the argument that war is the gestive but not exhaustive, each the money necessary for the result of sin and that the only study includes an analytical outnew building. The story of how basis for enduring peace is the line of the passage, a topical outfaith enabled them to overcome conversion of mankind. But line of the principles involved, their disappointment is thrilling. those who believe that the wages and the practical application of Its reward is seen in Chung of sin is death under the law these principles in the life of to- Mei's new home at EI Cerrito. of God may not accept the au- day. The student is thus guided thor's statement that war is to a knowledge of the divine JOHN N. THOMAS. God's direct infliction of pun- record. In Bible study classes ishment, like a father's chastise- and as the basis of prayer meet- Life and Letters of Walter W. ment of a wayward son. The ing talks, these studies in Apos- Moore. By J. Gray McAllister. fact that those who suffer most tolic church history, historical pp. 576. $2.50. Union Theologi- extension, and spiritual expan- cal Seminary, Richmond, Virginia. in war are innocent would pre- sion should bring new life, spir- 1939. clude this theory, though none itual quickening and a mission- ary zeal to the church of today. It is enough to affirm that this could deny the responsibility of biography is worthy of the pure GORDON A. CURTIS. and princely character it por-
Books Moslem station they were transferred Children Successfally Educated ••• AT
to Urumia, to take eharge of the Believers and Builders in Europe. evangelistic work of all of the Calvert School world..famoul home 8tudy plan rive. Emma Parker Maddry. 167 pp. 50 churches in Urumia and Kurdistan, cents. Broadman Press. Nash- extending west to the Tigris River t .uperior education to thousands of children not near l'ood ville. and including Mosul. They served there for about 18 years then Mr. echoola or unable to attend IChooL Complete COUIles The Coming Great Northern Confed- Coan was placed in charge of the edu- for each era"de. All books. materials and eracy. L. Sale-Harrison. 88 pp. cational work of the Mission, and was teacher euidance included. Enthusiasticallyen- lB. Pickering & Inglis. London. made President of Urumia College. dorsed by educators and parents. Low cost. Write today for free catalor. State c:hild~1!I Il'e" Cycle of Prayer and Praise. 100 pp. Dr. William*H.* Ph*elps, editor of 6d. S. P. G. London. CALVERT SCHOOL. 189 E. T….II1Id., Balmre, Mol. the Michigan Christian Advocate for The Good Seed. Report of the Meth- 19 years, died June 23 in Detroit. He Home Missions Day at the odist Church of Australia. 72 pp. is succeeded by Rev. John E. Marvin, World's Fair, Epworth Printing and Publishing for three years associate editor of the House. Sydney, Australia. Advocate. September 1, 1939 Heralds of Salvation. Frank Gren- The Rev. Ge*org*e P*. Pierson, D.D., To dramatize for the public ville Beardsley. 218 pp. $1.25. the Home Mission work of the American Tract Soc. New York. for forty years a Presbyterian mis- present day, the Council of Wom- sionary to Japan, died in Philadelphia en for Home Missions and Home An Hour with Jonathan' Goforth, on August 1st at the age of seventy- Missions Council will cooperate Adoniram Judson, J. Hudson Tay- eight. Dr. and Mrs. Pierson, who was in presenting three ,programs at lor. 17 pp. 10 cents each. Zon- formerly Miss Ida Goepp, returned the World's Fair on September dervan Pub. House. Grand Rapids. from Japan ten years ago and were first. honorably retired. Mrs. Pierson died Pueblo Indian Religion. Vol. I and in 1937. He was the son of the late The critical national problem II. Elsie Clews Parsons. 1275 Rev. David H. Pierson and Caroline of the Migrant laborerS who pp. $7.00. University of Chicago Peck Pierson of Elizabeth. Dr. Pier- h a r v est the crops will be Press. Chicago. son was a greatly loved and honored stressed i-a prominent pIa c e missionary who was engaged in effec- will also be given to the coopera- The Qur'an. Vol. II. Richard Bell. tive evangelistic work in the Island of tive Christian work for Indian $6.00. 698 pp. Scribner. New Kokkaido, Northern Japan. Americans; the story of the in- York. terdenominational enterprises in Dr. O. C. C*raw*for*d, Presbyterian communities where the great A Quiver of Sunbeams. Alfred H. government dams have been C. Morse. $1.50. 183 pp. Cokes- missionary since 1900 in Soochow, built and the religious needs of bury Press. New York. China, died on July 22nd. He was rural and city underprivileged. born in Brownsville, Pa., fifty-nine The Resurrection of the Old Roman years ago, attended Waynesburg Col- Music, addresses and dramatic Empire. L. Sale-Harrison. 128 lege and the Western Theological sketches will emphasize the pp. lB. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. Seminary. Dr. Crawford translated Christian life-conserving work London. the Gospel of St. Mark into phonetic throughout the United States. Chinese script, and was on the com- Refugee Facts. 24 pp. American mittee which revised the New Tes- The program for the day includes Friends Service Council. Phila. tament into Soochow dialect. the following: Redemptive Purpose. (Report of the The Rev. H*erm* an* Carl Weber, Moving Pictures – General Motors Mission to Lepers, 1938). 32 pp. Auditorium-10: 30 to 12 A.,M. 6d. Mission to Lepers. London. editor of the "Year Book of American Churches," died on July 25th of a 1. The Church Ministers to Indian Die Religiose Lage Japans in Der heart ailment at East Orange, New Americans. (First showing.) Gegenwart. Gerhard Rosenkranz. Jersey. Dr. Weber was born at Mina, 2. Uncle Sam Builds Dama-Inter- 19 pp. Ostasien Mission. Berlin- Chautauqua County, N. Y., on Feb- denominational work in com- Steglitz. ruary 9, 1873, the son of Jacob and munities where government Sarah Phifer Weber. He took his dams have been built. (First Salt Streak. Florance Walton Taylor. A. B. degree from Rutgers College, showing.) : 280 pp. $2.00. Revell. New York. studied at the New Brunswick (N. J.) 3. Gipsies of the Crops-Life of the Theological Seminary. Albany Col- Migrant laborers. ' Through Other People's Eyes- lege, Oregon, made him a Doctor of A Play. Margaret Crowe. 15 pp. Divinity. 4. Even in this Day and. Age- 2d. S. P. G. London. Need for the Church to reach Dr. Weber began his ministry as the unreached millions of a Von Japan Will Ich Euch Erzahlen. pastor of the Reformed Church of great city. (Harmon Founda- Gerhard Rosenkranz. Illus. 28 West Farms, in the Bronx (1898 to tion film.) pp. Ostasien Mission. Berlin-Steg- 1902); for four years was an assist- litz. ant pastor in the Collegiate (Dutch) 2: 00-4: 00 P. M.-Court of Peace. Reformed Church and became pastor Address by Dr. Mark A. Dawber, Wings and Sky. Martha Snell Nich- of the Edgewood Reformed Church, olson. 28 pp. H. W. Nicholson. Brooklyn. From 1912 to 1918 he was "New Tasks for Old." Problems Wilmington, Calif. pastor of the Park Branch of the of rural life and plight of share- First Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn. croppers. Das Wunder der Kirche Under den Mayor La Guardia is expected to Volkern der Erde. (Report of From 1919 to 1925, he was associate speak on, "Religion as a Solution Tambaram Conference). Various director of field work of the New Era for Some of our City Problems." Authors. R. M. 1. Evangelische Movement of the Presbyterian Church Special musical numbers. Missionsverlag. Stuttgart. and later director of the Mobilization Department of the General Council. 7: 00-9: 30 P. M.-Court of Peace. Zonya-Daughter of Abraham. Ag- He was president of the United Stew- Young Indian Americans will fur- nes Scott Kent. 313 pp. $1.50. ardship Council of the United States nish music and Dr. Thomas Jesse Evangelical Publishers. Toronto. and Canada in 1936 and 1937. Jones, of the Phelps-Stokes Fund will speak on, "Sharing American Obituary Notes Dr. Weber was the author of "Pres- Progress with American In- byterian Statistics Through One Hun- dians." (Concluded from second cover.) dred Years," "Evangelism-A Graph- ic Survey" and "The Every Member Mrs. Frederick G. Coan, retired Canvass, Pocket Books' or People." missionary of the Presbyterian Mission in Iran, died in Claremont, Calif., June 24. Following her marriage to Rev. F. G. Coan in 1885, she sailed with him for Persia. After a brief period of service at an Armenian-
the quarter, including July, August, and Sep-
tember, THE UPPER ROOM showed a gain of 75,000 in circulation over the same period last ),ellJ".
+ ldUch to us is conclusive proof that + tbe Room r. Upptr tiltall" -essential 'to 'the aevotional ana spiritualli/e 0/ America Prom the beginning THE UPPER ROOM has im- pressed its users with the fact that it is the best year tlro.,,4 daily devotional guide. Meditations are planned and prepared for special seasons and occasions, but the material for er1ery 4ay i" the year is maintained at th~ highest standard of spiritual value.
The October, November, December issue is oft' the press and ready for shipment. Pastors and other group leaders are urged to place an order at once sufficient for their needs. Single copies are 10 cents, postpaid. rI'en or more copies to one address, postpaid at 5 cents each. Annual subscription, 30 cents, postpaid; foreign, 40 cents. Remember, all unsold and unused copies ma), be returned for credit at our expense.
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The Missionary Review of the World — November 1935
1935
Conquest By Healing in Ethiopia T. A. Lambie Christianity in the New India Richard Burges Crucial Issues in Latin America .
John A. Mackay .
The March of Events in·Mexico Kenneth G. Grubb The Harvest in Hyderabad, Deccan Charles W. Posnett German Neo-Pagan Faith Movement w. O. Lewis Can We Interest Men in Missions?
George A. Brown 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Yeat'
to Remember Christmas Gift
November 3-9-Christian Home Week. C. T. Studd, Cricketer and Pioneer November 17-Men and Missions Sun- The epic story of C. T. Studd, the famous day. Topic: "Jesus Christ and the cricketer, will appeal to all lovers of missionary World Today." For source material biography. "C. T." was one of the best all-round write to the Laymen's Missionary players that the game ever produced, and re- Movement, 19 S. La Salle St., Chi- nounced wealth and position to answer the call cago. of God to foreign service. Courageously he faced a life of hardship and danger with remarkable December 7-,-Universal Bible Sunday. self-denial and endurance, first in China and then in the very heart of Africa, pioneering for God. December 30-31-Conference with Dr. :Kagawa on the Relation of the Illustrated, $1.25. Churches to the Cooperative Move- ment. Indianapolis, Ind. The Triwmph of~__. . . . . John and Betty December 28, 1935-January I, 1936- Stam Student Volunteer Convention. In- dianapolis, Ind.
January IS-17-National Conference on the Rural Church. Washington, D. C.
July 6-12_Twelfth World's Sunday School Convention. Oslo, Norway.
By Mrs. Howard Tavlor Personal Items You have read newspaper accounts of John _ _ MR1 and Betty Stam, who were martyred by Chinese nowARD TAYLOR communists last fall. Now read this permanent The Archbishop of York (Dr. Wil- record of consecrated lives. It is particularly liam Temple), known as a leader both recommended for young people. Cloth, 75 cents. in Christian thought and in Christian work, is to make his first visit to Storiesofthe GreatHymnsof the Church America in December. He will fill several engagements at, universities By Silas H. Paine and cathedrals and will be, one of the leading speakers at the Student Vol- A monumental work in ~—-_ _J hymnology. A beautiful gift unteer Convent.i..on …in ..I.ndianapolis.
Rev. A. M. Chirgwin, General Sec- book, de luxe edition", 'printed on Bible paper, full gold retary of the London Missionary So- edges, flexible red b,inding, with stamping in gold. 795 ciety, is paying a two months' visit to the United States, in connection with pages. $3.00.
the meeting of the International Mis- "Eye" to "Aye" sionary Council. He plans to visit Negro schools and colleges ,of the By Paul H. Graef "EYE" South. … … … ~ An unique presentment in pictorial fashion of God's great plan of salva- TO tion. 132 display pages, five in color. John L. Mott" son of John R. Mott; Two editions: Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents. "AYE" I has been made director of Interna- ~l tional House, New York, to succeed . , ,..WUL 0lWl' Dr. Harry Edmunds. This center I T.. -……………. now serves students from 65 countries. ,"II _ _ …………..dyarrw- … … … .. _ … _ ………….a_ -'-"hItId.-..-.I …. ( ~~=I.. …….__ Christmas Card Box Assortments I Mrs. Adena Miller Rich has been No. 50. A popular priced assort- l!:==::::~~''}v appointed to succ,eed the world;'famous ment with 15 beautiful Scripture cards Jane Addams as head of Hull 'House, Chicago. She was associated with and folders, each with matching envelope. 50 cents per box. Miss Addams for twenty years. No. 100. Our de luxe selection of 21 beautiful Christ- mas deSigns with 8 distinctly Birth-of-Christ pictures. All designs are new, artistic and appropriate, and have short Scripture portions and suitable sentiments. Matching en- velopes. Retails at $1.00.
Scripture Text Calendar For almost a quarter of a century, Messen- ger's Scripture Text Calendars have been spreading Christian light and comfort through- out the nations. They are known everywhere for their beauty, completeness and religiOUS in- spiration. No home is quite complete without the Christian influence of these beautiful pic- tures and carefully selected Scripture verses.
Single copy, 30 cents; 4, $1.00; 12, $3.00, 25, $5.75; 50, $9.00. All prices slightly higher in Canada.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD THIRD AND REILY STREETS HARRISBURG, PA.
MISSIONARY "Since we cannot adequately com-
REVIEW OF THE WORLD pensate our committee members, we cheer them by subscriptions to THE VOL. LVIII Nov., 1935 No. 11 REVIEW."
Publication and Business Office– MISS MARY 1. SCOTT, Chairman, Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. Bethesda School of Missions, 310 Tomlinson St., Editorial and Executive Office– Moundsville, W. Va. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Entered as second-class matter at *** Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under "On our station in the bush we Act of March 3, 1879. greatly appreciate the monthly ap- pearance of THE REVIEW." 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. Foreign Postage, 50 cents a. year. FLORENCE N. GRIBBLE, M.D., Published monthly, except August. French Equatorial Africa. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1935. British agents – Marshall, Morga.n Obituary Notes and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, The Rev. Harvey S. Murdock, D.D., 10 shillings a year. head of the work among mountaineers at Buckhorn, Kentucky, died on Oc- MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- tober 4th of heart disease at the age LISHING CO., INC. of 64. He went out thirty-three years ago as a representative of the Lafay- BOARD OF DIRECTORS ette Avenue Presbyterian Church, of ROBE'RT E. SPEER, President Brooklyn, to establish this Christian W'M. 1. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President mission. He was very successful in WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer developing a community work includ- DELAVAN L,' PIERSON, Secretary ing schools, a church, hospital and general social program. SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT *** MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD The Rev. W. Kendall Gale, mis- WM. B. LIPPHARD sionary of the London Missionary So- ciety at Andriamena, Madagascar, ERIC M. NORTH and one of the recent contributors to the REVIEW, died on June 7th follow- JESSE R. W'ILSPN ing an operation. He had labored most sacrificially and effectively for A. L. W ARNSHUIS the Malagasy. Mrs. Gale is returning SAMUEL M. ZWEMER to England. * * * Editorial Chat The Rev. Dr. Ivan S. Prokhanoff, founder and president of the All-Rus- Our October number on Latin sian Evangelical Christian Union, said SPEEDWAY TO ORIENT America has received very hearty to have several million followers in commendations and many single Russia, died in Berlin on October 6th. YOKOHAMA IN 10 DAYS . .. fastest, copies have been sold. Order your ex- He was sixty-six years old. shortest Pacific crossing … by the tra copies now before the supply is sister.ships Empress of Asia or exhausted. In the present issue we Dr. Prokhanoff was born in Russia, Empress of Russia. Or via Honopublish some additional articles on the and educated as an engineer. Thirty lulu in 3 days more on the Empress same subject and more will follow. years ago he organized the Evan- of Japan (largest liner on the Pa- This is "Latin America Year." gelical movement, with Lord Rad- cific) or the Empress of Canada. stock, of England, Colonel Pashoff * 1* * and Count Korff. In Russia he pub- INEXPENSIVE ROUND-TRIP FARES. lished "The Christian," a periodical, The past summer and autumn have and "The Morning Star," a weekly Go by distinguished First Class or been especially rich in interdenomina- newspaper. He wrote more than 1,000 comfortable Tourist Class. Still tional and international conferences hymns and translated many others, lower Summer round-trip fares to on Christian faith, life and work. and also religious books. the Orient. Low-cost Third Class.
Some of these are reported in this Since 1928, when he left Russia for FREQUENT SAILINGS … from Vanissue; another-the Student Volun- the last time, he has raised money for couver (trains to ship-side) and teer Convention-will be fully report- needy Christians in Russia. In 1927 Victoria. Orient fares include pased, and the leading addresses will be he started in New York "The Gospel sage to and from Seattle. California printed early next year. in Russia," and in 1931, "The Faith sailings connect with "Empresses" of the Gospel," both periodicals. His at Honolulu. Orient ports-of-call: *** autobiography, "In the Cauldron of Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Shang- Russia," was published in 1933. hai, Hong Kong, Manila. One of the recent articles in THE REVIEW so impressed a missionary *** • Also •• • low-cost World Tours. bishop that he ordered copies printed and sent to every missionary of his The Rev. Frederic W. March, for BOOKLETS, information … from over fifty years an active missionary YOUR OWN AGENT, or any Canachurch. in Syria, under the Board of Foreign dian Pacific office: New York, Chi- Missions of the Presbyterian Church cago, San Francisco, and 34 other *** in the U. S. A., died on September 28 cities in the U. S. and Canada. at Suk-ul-Gharb, Syria. Mr. March A pastor in the home church offered was appointed to Syria in 1873 and to reprint another article at his own served actively until his honorable reexpense and have it sent to all the tirement with his wife in 1924. Withmissionaries of his denomination. He in his lifetime he touched the whole learned that THE REVIEW already goes span of mission activity in the Syria to all those missionaries. field which celebrated its 100th year more than a decade ago. During his *** long years of service he was engaged Here are recent comments from our (Concluded on Third Cover.) readers. Will you pass on the good [513 ] word? "Each month I attend the public library for the purpose of glancing through your magazine. I consider it the most interesting periodical of the many on the shelves of that institu- tion." CURTIS TAYLOR, Utica, N. Y.
INTERNATIONAL MISSION4RY LEADERS AT
1st Row (left to right)-Rev. Akira Ebisawa, Miss Florence Tyler, Dr. K. S. Latourette, Miss Lucy Starling, Dr. A. L. Warnshuis, Baroness van Boetzelaer van Dubbeldam, Dr. John R. Mott, Rev. C. Y. Cheng, Rev. Wm. Paton, Dr. J. H. Oldham, Baron van Boetzelaer van Dubbeldam, Dr. Leslie B. Moss.
2d Row-Dr. Martin Schlunk, Dr. W. Wilson Cash, Mr. Kenneth Maclennan, Dr. P. H. J. Lerrigo, Rev. C. E. Wilson, Canon H. E. Hyde, Dr. C. R. Hamilton, Rev. Francisco Galvez, Dr. F. F. Goodsell, Rev. E. C. Lobenstine, Rev. John S. Badeau.
3d Row-Rev. G. W. Carpenter, Prof. J. E. Moreland, M. Ie pasteur Abel de Meuron, Rev. W. E. Shaw, Rev. Ray E. Phillips, M. Ie pasteur Henri Anet, Canon Axel Malmstrom, Hon. Newton W. Rowell, Dr. Julius Richter, Dr. Murray T. Titus, Mr. T. H. Sun, Rev. H. H. Riggs.
4th Row-Dr: K. B. Westman, Pasteur Daniel Couve, Miss Sallie Lou MacKinnon, Miss Margaret Wrong, Dr. J. M. Springer, Mr. G. S. Phelps, Rev. A. S. Kydd, Dr. R. E. Diffendorfer, Rev. A. M. Chirgwin.
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6th Row-Dr. S. G. Inman, Miss Esther Strong, Dr. J. H. Arnup.
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LVIII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER, 1935 Topics of the Times PREPARING FOR A WORLD CONFERENCE tries the younger churches are ready to under- The International Missionary Council (Septem- take more complete independence. A shifting of ber 27th to October 4th) brought together sev- emphasis of the missionary movement from Amerenty-five delegates, from twenty-five national ica and Europe to Asia and Africa is therefore missionary or Christian councils, who assembled welcomed in all quarters. For this reason it was at East Northfield, Massachusetts, to prepare for decided that the next conference should be in the next World Missionary Conference. The hills Asia. After careful deliberations in which parof the Connecticut Valley were glorying in the ticularly the Japanese and Chinese delegates took richness of their autumnal colors and remem- part, it was resolved with enthusiasm to select brances of the great evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, Kowloon, near Hongkong, and to make an atl:!-nd his work formed an inspiring background. tempt to secure double the number of Jerusalem The personnel included outstanding leaders of the delegates, about four. hundred of them, two-thirds Protestant missionary movement, half of them of whom should be representatives of the churches well-known representatives with a rich experi- in mission lands, particularly thos€ of Japan, ence, the other half representing a younger gen- China and India. eration of forthcoming leaders of the older and younger churches. The reports of the chairman, A second group of questions discussed related Dr. John R. Mott, and of the secretarial staff to subjects which demand a new and serious refrom London and New York proved the value of consideration, so imperative that a new world the world-wide service of the Council. It has be- missionary conference is imperative. Three groups of subjects seemed paramount.* come, or is becoming, a central consultation body 1. The missionary enterprise, like the world in which we of the Protestant world missionary movement. live, has definitely come to the dawn of a new age in which fresh forces are beginning to play a momentous part. The crucial question of this year's meeting was: Everywhere titanic forces challenge the very fundamentals where the next world missionary conferenc(=!, due of historic Christianity. On the frontiers of the Chris- about 1938, is to be held. The preceding world tian ~ovement men face the grim realities more closely conferences have been held in London, 1888; New t han In the West. e Communism, i mpe riali symo~nagn d nation al- York, 1900; Edinburgh, 1910; and Jerusalem, i sm are remorsel ssly closing in on the church in 1928. Many more Europeans and Americans would be able to take part if the next gathering China. Imperialism, commercialism, and industrialism are eating into the very fabric of African community life and destroying its immemorial spiritual and moral sanctions.
can be held in Europe or America and the inspira- From Mexico to Brazil, from the Philippines to the Congo, tional value for the sending churches would be enhanced. On the other hand the missionary from Germany to Japan the menace threatens younger force of the older churches has decreased, at least and the older churches alike. We must pool insight, knowl- edge, and resources and get a new sense and experience of world solidarity. .
for the time being. In almost all countries of old 2. A thorough study of evangelism on the mission field Christendom there are currents which slow down is to take a central place in the activity of the Internathe missionary enthusiasm so that in few coun- tional Missionary Council immediately and through the tries do we find the flaming missionary enthusiasm world conference with a view to vigorous, concerted agof a generation ago. At the same time the mis- gressive, continuous evangelism by the churches. This is done in response to calls from all over the world. The sionary movements in Asia and Africa are show- survey is to be centered in the church aiming at enlisting ing promising signs of spiritual strength and of voluntary lay and pastoral forces, with studies of the evangelistic power. In almost all Asiatic coun- • Quoting freely from Prof. Basil Mathews.
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place of literature, the school, college, and hospital in the CHRISTIANS OF ALL LANDS UNITING work as well as the approach called for with relation to There are still many varieties of Christians. They are of divers races, nations, names habits the Jew, the Moslem, the Hindu, and others; as well as and opinions on various subjects, but they'are one in looking to Christ and His program for the soluof the methods used by communism, fascism, theosophy, tion of human problems. On creeds and church polity these Christians cannot unite but those of and other cults. The phenomena of mass movements com- many nations and denominations gladly unite to study common problems and to work together for pared with plucking individuals out of their own culture better understanding and a more perfect fulfil- ment of the Will of God. and its relation to political changes and economic status: Last summer four important international as well as an analysis of the eocfonthoemiCc,hrreislitgiaionufs~itohr. sociai Christian conferences were held in Europe. These motives leading to acceptance The took under consideration the promotion of Chris- tian unity, world peace and friendship, and pracpreparation, holding, and follow-up of the proposed 1938 tical cooperation in life and work.* meeting is to be utilized to promote fuller cooperation in The Committee of the World Conference on the world missionary enterprise. Faith and Order held its sessions at Hindsgaul, Denmark, and plans to hold its next meeting in 3. The fact that over thirty regional and national Chris- 1~37, in Edinburgh. The conference will begin wIth a statement of "The Church's Witness in the tian councils have been set up, the large measure of con- World Today," and will be closed with an "Af- firmation of Union in Allegiance to Our Lord." fidence won, and many pieces of cooperative work carried The Executive Committee of the Universal forward reveals the advance already made. Hitherto co- Christian Council also met last summer in Chamby, Switzerland. The Orthodox Archbishop operation has been confined mainly to institutions; it has Germanos, of Thyateira, President of the Coun- cil, sounded an appeal to the churches of the world not so often been extended to large evangelistic ventures. for effective cooperation against the attacks of secularism in all lands. A World Conference on It has also been mainly an activity of missionary societies Christian Life and Work is to be called to meet at Oxford University, England, July 13-25, 1937. rather than of indigenous churches. The Committee is The great concern of the Council for the setting afoot vigorous studies of all these processes and Church in Germany found expression in the reso- lution which recorded the determination to emof concrete projects of fresh practical cooperation. !)loy every possible Christian means of support- mg those who are threatened by the dominance Among the forces that demand world coopera- of an aggressive paganism. An appeal was retion of the Christian forces are: the ebb-tide of ceived from various bodies on behalf of the Chrisfaith all over the world, the necessity that Chris- tian refugees from Germany, who constitute some tianity should advance, the call to a unified Chris- twenty per cent of the total number of German tian outlook on the pagan masses, a new vision of refugees. the function of the great missionary institutions, the creation of a satisfactory new leadership, the The World Alliance for International Friendreplacing of "foreignism" and race antipathy by ship met at Chamby, with representatives from life in the universal Church, new economic and thirty countries. Lord Dickinson, of Paiswick, intellectual foundations of self-support, the de- who has been president for several years, was struction, on the one hand, of syncretism and on made honorary president; Bishop Ammundsen, the other of separatism which now divides the of Denmark, was chosen president, and Dr. Wil- Protestant churches in areas like South Africa. liam P. Merrill, pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, was elected vice-president. Other topics discussed at this meeting of the Re~. H. L. Henriod is the general secretary. Th!'l 1. M. C. included the crisis in German missions, AllIance recommended the creation of a permanent the need for Christian literature and suitable mo- Minorities Commission, under the League of Nation pictures for the Africans, the Christian re- tions and an appeal was made to the League for sponsibility for the Jew and "the tragic plight of more effective assistance to refugees from Ger- 2,000,000 Christians in Germany in whose veins there is some touch of Jewish blood." • The facts In regard to these conferences are taken from the report of Dr. Henry Smith Leiper. The upbuilding and maintenance of the younger churches as a part of the historic world-wide Christian community is to be the objective of the 1938 conference. This requires a fresh, convincing vision for this age of the verities of the faith by which the Christian lives; the witness by which the Church is to carry the faith to the world in face of potent hostile forces; the reenforcement, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, of the interior life of the Church, in grappling with problems that affect its very being; the relation of the life of the Church to the changing social and economic order-its total impact upon society; amnodvianlgargimerpalancdabmlyoretothwoarroduguhngiotiyngbceotwopeeernatitohn~ churches which, in this emerging crisis, is the very condition of victorious advance.
JULIUS RICHTER.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
many. In preparation for the world conference STUDENT VOLUNTEERS AFTER at Oxford in 1937, it was proposed that in all FIFTY YEARS countries where compulsory military service prevails the churches should request their respective The coming convention of the Student Volungovernments to permit civil service as an alterna- teer Movement, to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana tive in the case of those who cannot conscientiously (December 28 through January 1, 1936), marks serve in a military capacity. A carefully prepared the fiftieth anniversary of the Movement in Amermessage to the churches was issued, which in- ica and is the twelfth quadrennial convention. cluded an affirmation, as against the totalitarian The Movement was the outgrowth of the Student claims of the State, that "right is above the State, Foreign Missionary Society in Princeton College not the State above right." A sensation was and of the Student Conference held at Mount caused when it became known that one distin- Hermon, Massachusetts, in 1886.
guished Italian representative to the conference, The movement has had a remarkable history, Dr. Cesare Gay, had been summoned to Rome, having been founded by students as a result of along with other leaders of the Pro t est ant prayer and the conviction that the Great Commis- churches, by II Duce, who desired to know the sion of Christ to His Church was a command with reason for the refusal of the Protestant churches the promise of His presence in its fulfilment. The in Italy to pass resolutions endorsing his policies watchword' adopted was "The Evangelization of toward Ethiopia. the World in this Generation"-not adopted as a The Central Bureau for Inter-Church Aid called prophecy but as an objective. When the Movetogether representatives of the churches of many ment was formed there were few students volunlands to meet in Vienna August 31-September 3. teering for foreign service and the funds avail- Attention was directed to the current situation able were very inadequate even for the work among the churches in continental countries, par- undertaken. As a result of the student moveticularly those which are suffering from discrim- ment, and other influences at work under the ination, financial collapse or state opposition. The spirit of God, over twelve thousand volunteers disturbed conditions in Austria have created par- have gone to the foreign field in the past fifty ticular difficulty for the non-Roman churches, years and the incomes of the missionary societies which are in the minority, constituting about oIie- were quadrupled.
fifth of the population. Membership in these The past fifteen years have brought about many churches has greatly increased in recent years, to changes in the whole foreign mission enterprise. such an extent that the present staff and equip- The number of volunteers has fallen off, the sup- ment are inadequate. The Central Bureau sent a port of the work has decreased and the Movement deputation to call upon the heads of the Austrian itself has undergone considerable change. The State to acquaint them with the concern of the Student Council has taken control, with less direc- Protestant world over the disabilities of their tion from the "elder statesmen" of the missionary Austrian brethren. The Bureau also studied the enterprise.
status of the churches in Roumania, Poland, Today a crisis is felt in the foreign fields, in the Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, Greece, Spain, and churches and mission boards at home, and in the Russia. student world. Thinking Christians, familiar Since Christians in Russia continue to suffer with the present situation, realize that the need martyrdom, the possibility of sending a deputa- for Christ and His power was never greater than tion to Moscow to intercede for them was dis- at present, and the world is more than ever concussed and final decision was left with the execu- scious of the need for some superhuman power tives. Dr. Alfred Jorgenson, of Copenhagen, Den- to lead them out of the present social and spiritual mark, was reelected chairman of the Bureau and morass. Men are tempted to discouragement and Dr. Adolf Keller was unanimously reelected di- to abandon Christian idealism, seeking in its stead rector. the material things that this world offers. The less interest there is today in foreign missions Organic union is not necessary and may be un- the greater is the need for a spirit-filled Student wise but there is hope that some day Christians Volunteer Movement.
will still more generally unite on the beliefs and The coming convention may well have as obobjectives they have in common so that they may jectives: (1) To interest students more propresent a united front against all evil and may foundly in Christian life and in sacrificial service make their protests effective. Six hundred mil- where Christ is not known; (2) to express the lion professed followers of Christ should be able ideals and motives to which students will respond to do more for moral, social, economic and political when the claims of Christ on their lives are pre- reforms than they are doing today. sented; (3) to inspire Christians at home to sup-
port Evangelical work abroad more adequately; MISSIONARY EXHIBIT "A"
(4) to emphasize the spiritually dynamic forces At a recent meeting in Newark, New Jersey, a in missionary activity-in matters of guidance, of remarkable group of National leaders from many fruitfulness and growth; (5) to show the ability lands presented aspects of the present world sitand readiness of the coming generation to take uation from a Christian point of view. They were the leadership in the work of Christ with courage in themselves a remarkable exhibit and a convincand in His Name and Power. ing proof of the power of Christ and the world- wide influence of His Gospel to win the most out- The clear call today is for missionaries who are standing men and women of all races and nations true evangelists first of all-whatever other quali- to His standard. Dr. John R. Mott presided, himfications they may have. Christians at home who self a remarkable evidence of what Christ can do know Christ as Saviour and Lord will respond to in enlisting all a man's powers in the promotion the call to support qualified missionaries who go of the Kingdom of God throughout the world. out primarily to preach and to live Christ and to Among the Christian leaders from other lands train others for His service.
The Indianapolis Convention is calling together were Dr. S. K. Datta, a dark complexioned Indian over two thousand student delegates from the with a brilliant mind, the president of Forman United States and Canada-a much smaller num- Christian Coll~e, Lahore, and a leader in na- ber than have attended other conventions. A tional and church life in India; Dr. Cheng strong and comprehensive program has been Ching-yi, the General Secretary of the Church of planned with speakers of international reputation. Christ in China, former moderator of that church, These include national Christian leaders who are the vice-chairman of the International Mission- the fruits of mission work-Dr. Toyohiko Kag- ary Council, and a great force for cooperation awa, of Japan; Prof. Gonsalo Baez Camargo, of among all followers· of Christ throughout the Mexico; Dr. T. Z. Koo, of China; Mrs. Induk world; Professor Gonsalo Baez Camargo, Secre- Pak, of Korea, and President S. K. Datta, of tary of the National Council of the Evangelical India. The British and American leaders may be Churches of Mexico, a strong character and a bril- counted on for inspiring messages-Dr. Richard liant speaker; Mr. Etsuzo V. Yoshida, Treasurer Roberts, Moderator of the United Church of Can- of the National Christian Council of Japan and ada, and author of "That Strange Man Upon the one of the founders of the Omi Brotherhood in Cross," is a leading speaker; The Archbishop of Japan. Similar "exhibits" might have been pro- York (Dr. William Temple) will give a series of duced from South America, many parts of Africa, spiritual addresses; early American leaders of from Persia, Turkey, Syria, Burma, Malaya, the Movement-Dr. John R. Mott, Dr. Robert E. Korea and the Islands of the Pacific. The repre- Speer, Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, and possibly Dr. sentation was enlarged by the testimonies of Pro- Robert P. Wilder, one of the founders and former fessor Julius Richter, of Germany; Baroness van general secretary-are to be present and may be Boetzelaer van Dubbledam, of Holland; and counted on to speak with their usual force and Prebendary W. Wilson Cash, Secretary of the fire. Others of more recent fame will lead Church Missionary Society, who called himself a conferences-Dr. John A. Mackay, Prof. Basil "native Christian of the British Isles."
Mathews, Prof. K. S. Latourette, Prof. Henry P. The tenor of the testimonies of these Christian Van Dusen, and Dr. Daniel J. Fleming. witnesses included (1) the great need of their fel- Christians interested in world evangelism and low countrymen for Christ and all that He offers; the progress of the rule of Christ on earth are (2) the evidence of Christ's power in their own earnestly requested to unite in daily prayer for lives and in the lands from which they come; (3) this convention-its leaders, speakers and dele- the need for greater unity and closer cooperation gates-that Christ may be uplifted; that the real among all Christians; (4) the need for clearer conditions of the world and the needs of men may manifestation of the power and spirit of Christ in be vividly presented; that the responsibility of all who bear His name.
the Church and of each Christian may be brought If every church could hear such testimonies, home to all, that church members may realize the and see such convincing exhibits there would be claim of Christ on them and all that they have; no doubt as to the worth-whileness and future of that the power and program of God for the salva- Christian missions. If the program advocated by tion of mankind may be clearly presented so as to these men were truly carried out in all individual stir to adequate unity; that Christ's forces of missionaries and in Christians in the churches in every race, nation and name may fully cooperate all lands, there would dawn a new era of life and in the great work before us, and that the future we believe that a new advance of Christianity of the Student Volunteer Movement may be made would take place that would sweep all before it in clear as it is in the Will of God. the conquest of the world for Christ.
by Healing in
By T. A. LAMBIE, M.D., F.R.G.S.
-&f/, Field Director, Sudan Interior Mission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia T HERE is perhaps no country where a med- He believed them and wrote a letter to the Regent, ical diploma acts more efficiently as a pass- His Majesty Ras Tafari, which preceded us and port than in Ethiopia. It is little wonder helped us to get to the ear of Royalty! His Maj- that foreigners are suspected in that ancient land, esty begged us to build a hospital in Addis Ababa, for many who have come to her from the outside and in answer to much earnest prayer alone, for world with fair promises have remained to cheat no one was asked for a penny, one man gave and plunder. Somehow the Ethiopians classify $70,000 and others gave nearly as much more, missionary doctors differently. and the hospital was built to the glory of God. Thousands have been treated and cured. Thou- The eyes of the world are focussed upon sands have had the Gospel preached to them. The Ethiopia, not knowing what awaits her. Twenty- hospital is modern in every respect. two years ago it would have been considered pre- posterous to imagine that a Serajevo incident Mrs. Lambie and I were asked to go out and could plunge the civilized world into war, but establish work in Ethiopia under the Sudan In- it is a historical fact that the former incident took terior Mission in 1927. Although severing of old place and we know with what results; twenty ties, particularly with this hospital, was not easy, years afterward a comparatively minor incident yet God has wonderfully prospered thisinterna- in an almost unknown land carries a threat of a tional, interdenominational mission. Station after similar major catastrophe. The world is very sick station has been opened in these few years. A and needs a physician. large Leprosarium, under Dr. E. Ralph Hooper, Over sixteen years ago, after having spent of Toronto, has recently been built and is running twelve years in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan at at full capacity. A splendid medical work has Khartoum and at a remote and needy place on also been going on at Soddu, Wollamo, one of the the Sobat River, treating annually tens of thou- populous southern capitals, and Dr. Percy Rob- sands of cases, Mrs. Lambie and I received an erts, of Montreal, is building a hospital there. In invitation to Ethiopia to help in the "flu" epi- the north at Lalibella, the famous place scarcely demic. Ethiopia was then almost closed to mis- seen by a white man, where there are eleven sionary enterprise; in all the land there was only monolithic churches, centuries old and one of the one Protestant worker. Thus, medicine was once marvels of the world, here Dr. Harriet Skemp and again the spear point, or the camel's nose, or Miss L. Blair, R.N., have been developing work whatever you choose to call it. Thousands of and a hospital is being built.
Gallas and Amharas were treated in Western Were there enough doctors Ethiopia might be Ethiopia and had the Gospel preached to them. opened to the Gospel from end to end, for where Most of the population seemed to need syphilitic a doctor goes several other missionaries can go. injections. Pneumonia and typhus were rampant There is a tremendous disparity between the but the "flu" epidemic had passed off before we numbers of young medical students who volunteer arrived. for the mission field and those who actually get A small hospital was opened and a mission sta- there. There is a wastage of medical volunteers tion established. We found that the tree wor- in the lecture rooms and hospitals. Often it is shipping Gallas seemed to have a real hunger for materialism that gets the young medico, often it the Word of God and we decided to take the long is a young lady who doesn't want to go, often it's overland trip to Addis Ababa, the capital. En a spiritual breakdown from too much study and route we stopped at Gore and treated Ras Nado, too little prayer. If something could only be done who came in the middle of the night with an ex- to stop this wastage and to inspire our fellow cruciating earache. From this ear I extracted a doctors toself-sacrificingly give themselves for tiny, black wood-boring beetle, which his soldiers work on the foreign field, how wonderful it would solemnly assured him would, if not removed, have be. Missionaries and home workers need to be bored its way through his head and caused death! tremendously more in earnest than ever before.
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If the number of Christian doctors on the foreign age really started. Many a one whom God wants field could be trebled, and their spirituality was to go to Canaan, or to Africa, on a pilgrimage for in proportion, something tremendous would result. Him, does not get beyond Haran because of some I have acquired Ethiopian nationality in order old Father "Wait:-a-bit," or some Mother "I-need- to further the spread of the Gospel, and my sym- you-at-home." Sodom proved too much of a temp- pathies are with His Majesty Haile Selassie and tation for Lot and he went to the plain. Abraham Ethiopia. There are some wrongs in Ethiopia, as went to the mountain-to Hebron. Oh the heart- there are in every land, but His Majesty, who I ache Lot caused even before he made his selfish feel is a real Christian, is seeking to right them, choice. Be careful pilgrim, of the ones you take and in the four years since his coronation has with you. Watch the separated life. Avoid the done wonders. worldly companions. They make poor travel part- ners; they are not real tent dwellers. They want Lessons from Tent Life in Ethiopia their Sodoms and their Gomorahs, their Zoars My wife and I have a great feeling of kinship and their beastly caves. They y:earn for the with Abraham. We cannot compare with him in world. They mind earthly things. The truly sepactual time spent in tents, but in distances trav- arated Abraham does not yearn for the plain, but eled we probably surpass even Abraham. Many for the Hebron mountaintop, for Hebron means, months and years have we spent living in tentsperhaps more than any other missionaries of mod- will "Communion with God." He found in Mamre a ern times and so we feel qualified to speak something of the lessons learned from tent life and "place of richness." The heavenly pilgrim can speak with some authority of the spiritual ever find it so. Lot's leftover became Hebron; implications of a pilgrim life in tents. richness in communion with God is the place to pitch your tent. 1. One of the chief lessons of the pilgrim life is that the pilgrim must be unencumbered. "Lay- 5. What is indispensable on this our pilgrim ing aside every weight and the sin which doth so way is to have an infallible Guide. The children easily beset us" (Heb. 12: 1). Extra weight keeps of Israel had no need of the eyes of a Hobab or the pilgrim back. Too many needless things are Raguel when they had the fiery pillar to lead them surely a trouble and a care and slow him up. "No on. How often on caravan have we lost our way, soldier encumbereth himself with the affairs of taken the wrong turning and had to retrace weary this life." Pilgrim, beware of encumbrances that steps. We become separated from our guide. slow you up. We thought we knew the way only to find our- 2. Hold your possessions lightly. There are a selves in "bye-path meadow" from which it is hundred travel accidents that may happen to spoil only a short distance to "Doubting Castle." We your belongings or cause the loss of them. No need to stick close to our Guide who has promised travel insurance policy can be written to insure to direct us. against white ants, mildew, and the many other hazards of tent life. One must learn to hold one's 6. Care of the tent. The tent is the pilgrim's possessions lightly, and even "take joyfully the home. It is a poor thing, perhaps; not like a spoiling of one's possessions." Don't grieve over castle, or even as good as a poorhouse, but still it them-your heavenly treasure is infinitely more is all he has to live in and it is much better than desirable. nothing. One must take care of it or it will rap- idly deteriorate and no longer keep out the sun 3. The importance of water. One learns never and the rain, the wind and the dust and when it to get far from water. Water is the life of the caravan, for even the desert camel cannot go very is gone it cannot be restored. So with these far from water. Water means life, not only for man, but also for beast, pasture as well as drink. bodies of ours-we must not neglect them. We "Wherever the river cometh there shall be life may be called to burn out for God in a quick and fierce flame like saintly Henry Martyn, but ordi- narily God wants us to live a long and useful life for Him. We should not wilfully neglect our bodies. .
. . ." (Ezk. 47: 9). In this pilgrim walk stay 7. My wife has suggested – food, and I reply close to the River of Living Water, to the water with a hearty "Yes." The life is hard. It does that Christ alone can give. take strength out of one. Almost frozen at night.
4. Companions. One of the most important in some lofty mountain pass or scorched at noon things is to decide whom to take with you. Abram in some fiery desert, when the very air seems to started out with two weak companions as a handi- reel-aching muscles from descending some mile cap-Terah and Lot. He could get Father Terah high canyon, that would almost puzzle a wild goat, ("wait-a-bit") to Haran, but not beyond. Old one does need good food to keep up, month after Father "Wait-a-bit" had to die before the pilgrim- month, year after year. Pilgrim, be careful of
CONQUEST BY HEALING IN ETHIOPIA
your food. If your only food is the Home Journal ETHIOPIA, THE LAND AND PEOPLE and things of that kind, you will never get very In "The Chronicles of Ethiopia," the descent of far. If you never read a sermon, or the biography the original inhabitants is traced from Noah of some Brainerd, or Carey or Livingstone, or the through Cush, the son of Ham. "Aithiops (son letters of a MacCheyne, or a Rutherford, how can of Cush) begat Aksumawi," who is reputed to you have an appetite for heavenly food. If your have founded the Holy City of Aksum, the former Bible reading is neglected, so that you read the capital which the Italian army has recently capdaily newspaper far more than God's Holy Word, tured. how can you be strengthened in your pilgrim life Modern Ethiopia (formerly known as Abysfor Him. We need to be fed with food "conven- sinia) is called "the Hermit Empire," or the ient for us." Once when we were traveling on a "Switzerland of Africa." It is the last independlong journey in Africa, we got tired of our dry ent empire in the Dark Continent and is mostly a food and when we saw some men carrying beau- high plateau from which rise many mountains. tiful fresh fish, we shouted for joy. We bought Its area is about 350,000 square miles and its popand ate them, to find out later to our sorrow that ulation is estimated at between 10 and 12 million they made us very ill and until we recovered we people–for the most part very primitive. Politwere not able to travel. Much of what we read ically the country is divided into four great provtoday is like poisoned fish; we eat it and our inces-Shoa, Tigre, Amhara and Gojam-with jo.urney is halted, sometimes ended. .other lesser provinces under various chiefs. Heile 8. Endurance. Patient in well-doing. When Selassie (Ras Tafari Makonnen) proclaimed him- we rush about on aeroplanes and racing cars, self Emperor (King of Kings of Ethiopia) on the streamlined trains and ocean greyhounds, there death of Empress Zanditu (Judith) in 1930. He is not so much need of a patient endurance. It is is reported to be an enlightened Christian em- different on a mule or a camel, or on foot. The peror seeking the good of his people.
miles stretch out endlessly and a journey of a few The inhabitants are divided into numerous hundred miles seems endless. In five minutes in tribes, speaking some seventy languages and dia- an aeroplane I traveled recently in Africa as much lects. The state Ethiopian Church is similar to as in one day by muleback. The way seems long the Coptic Church of Egypt. The prevailing but it will not be so in retrospect. Only one life, speech is Amharic, with 251 characters. Their "'twill soon be past, only what's done for God will sacred scriptures are written in Ethiopic or Geez, last." "Be thou faithful unto death and I will a dead language, pronounced by priests but not give thee a crown of Life." understood. Many of the people of Ethiopia are 9. Early rising. Get up and meet with your Moslems and multitudes are pagans-ignorant Lord and then you will have strength to do the and superstitious. day's work, to reach the camping place, to the journey~s end, to the desired haven. Don't put it Among the Evangelical missions in Ethiopia off. Don't be a sluggard and lie abed. are the United Presbyterians who have twenty- three missionaries, located in three stations; 10. Many other lessons have been taught us but the Sudan Interior Mission with twelve stations, and about 75 missionaries; the Seventh Day Ad- I mention one more: to have an objective is the ventists who occupy three stations, the Swedish most important of all lessons. To be going some- Evangelical Mission with 18 missionaries, and where. Our lives are planned, but the sad thing the British and Foreign Bible Society. A Danish is that so many Christians never get into the Di- Mission is ready to send three workers as soon as vine plan. Many never get on the pilgrim way conditions permit. Most of the missionaries have designed for them, that will lead them to the goal elected to remain in Ethiopia to help the people he had designed, on the path that His feet have in this time of trouble. From an Evangelical trodden. Let us remember Him, who in the days Christian standpoint missionary work has touched of His flesh was a pilgrim, who had neither nest, only a small number of the people. The oppornor foxes' hole, nor even a tent, and who occupied tunity is great for the Emperor has given the a borrowed grave in His death. missionaries a hearty welcome and the people are Follow this Guide, this Pilgrim, this Wayfaring ready to listen.
Man, this Saviour. He will lead us on a road un- The Italian subjection of Ethiopia would mean like any other, and one that will be different from that the last independent African State will never that trod by any other pilgrim in its details, but have the opportunity to develop along African one which His feet trod before. Follow even lines. The winning of Ethiopia to Christ, and the though it lead to some dark Gethsemane, without development of the people on enlightened Chris- the gate to some Africa or China, or to some Cal- tian lines, will mean national progress of the best vary Hill. "Follow thou Me," said our Saviour type and will promote peace and goodwill in and Lord. Africa and in the world.
in the New India*
By the REV. RICHARD BURGES, England General Secretary, India Sunday School Union, 1896·1921 "THE most amazing characteristic of man- cent years turmoil and agitation have swept over kind remains today what it always was; the 350 millions of India's people. Has the man's inability to recognize the expected." chariot of God stood still in these years of unrest?
India supplies an illustration of this truth spoken Far from it! The government census for the by Lord Eustace P'ercy. For generations the decade ending 1931 shows that every day, during British encouraged the use of the English lan- those ten years, four hundred were added to the guage, lauded the free institutions of the West, Christian community, even though missionary fostered the growth of democracy and adminis- ranks were sadly depleted. Statistics do not mean tered regular doses of John Stuart Mill. In the everything but they show that the Kingdom of fly-leaf of "Liberty" by Mill the following quota- God is firmly established in India and they indi- tion was printed: "The grand leading principle, cate great possibilities for the future. The spir- towards which every argument unfolded in these itual power of the Christian Church, in the fu- pages directly converges, is the absolute and es- ture, as in the past, lies in the willingness of the sential importance of human development in its Church to cooperate with her Lord in the redemp- richest diversity." Wonder of wonders; the tion of the world and thus establish the lordship Mother of Parliaments suddenly woke up to the of Jesus Christ over every department of human fact that India was adolescent, and desired at life. Mathematics cannot supply a yardstick with least a prospect of wholesome independence. which to measure spiritual influences.
Each milestone on the high road of British In- Many facts could be rehearsed. Let one only dian history tells of advance towards responsible suffice. Away on the northeastern mountains of self-government. Progress has been slow but India are the North Lushai Hills, once inhabited sure. The Simon Commission, the Round Table by head-hunting aboriginals. In the year 1897 Conferences, the cooperation of the Indian the first missionary arrived. The seed grew Princes, and the desire of the British public for a slowly and secretly and at the end of a decade, "fair deal," all reach a climax in the new Govern- there was one church with 32 members. The ment of India Bill. While not underestimating Christian community now embraces nearly 61,000 the importance of other aspects, we will consider members or about two-thirds of the whole pop- the distinctly Christian point of view. Will this, ulation. The Presbyterian Church of Wales, re- the most momentous venture of Parliament, in sponsible for this great work, can verify these our day, help or hinder Christian progress? statements. Incredible, romantic; but true!
The Romans were good colonizers, built roads There is a saying among the Chinese that and endeavored to be tolerant. They tried to though no one knows how the mustard seed was balance the scales of justice, but the Jews never brought to China, yet today the mustard trees had a good word for them. They wailed and wept could not be rooted out of the land. The Seed of for freedom. Britain has given India roads, law the Kingdom of God was carried to India in ob- courts, colleges, schools, hospitals, irrigation proj- scure ways but the tree that has grown therefrom ects, etc., but India wants to be free. The British can never be rooted out. Principalities and pow- have sown the seeds of freedom. What is more ers will never, never be able to prevail against it.
reasonable than that India should desire to man- All that the churches have done through their age her own home? missionaries is but preliminary. Indian Chris- The living seed of the Gospel, planted by Chris- tians cling to them as their best friends, and they.
tian missionaries, has produced a great tree. are trusted by every thoughtful section of society.
About two per cent of the Indian population are One effect of Christianity is to enrich and de- now connected with the Christian Church. In re- velop personality and this new life has made • The writer was present in the House of Commons on July 30th sInenddiat hree·sltrlemsso.st Tcohme pcehtuerncthmesenofanthdewWomesetn must during the last debate on this "Government of India 1935" bill. mistReonyslavl eapssreenptarbatriionngsfotor aanneewffeccotinvsetitcultoisoen nfoear rlIyndeiaig. ht years of in- sl·onaries to the East. The BI·shop of Manchester, [522 ] at the International Missionary Council at J eru- instrument which will, in due time, secure their salem, said: "We do not go to non-Christian na- emancipation. Child marriage, infant and ma- tions because they are the worst or alone in need, ternal mortality, education of girls and respect but because they are part of the world and share for woman's dignity and personality, and kindred with us the same human need." The Indian subjects, will be sure to receive effective attention.
Church needs and desires assistance in producing Christians will continue to lead the van in these Christ-like citizens. This is the hour for con- matters.
solidating our position and for advance, not re- In the years ahead, the centre of Christian work treat. in India will be the indigenous Church and I be- Many Indians, non-Christians as well as Chris- lieve that at no distant date money disbursed by tians, seeking suitable education for sons and missionary societies outside India will be used to daughters, instinctively favor the Christian insti- build up the Indian Church, under Indian admin- tutions because of their high character and help- istration.
ful atmosphere. Whatever changes the Reforms The Rev. J. I. Hasler, B.A., many years in the may impose on education in India I believe that service of the Baptist Missionary Society, says: this disposition will remain. The Christian col- "During recent years the policy of foreign mis- leges, hospitals, schools, farms, workshops, wel- sions has become what is known as 'Church-Cen- fare centres and orphanages, seek to win people tric' and that devolution of responsibility, power to Christ but do not wish to secure converts by and work to the Indian Church, is encouraged."
unfair or "camouflaged" methods. The doctor, Signs are not wanting that a united Church in the nurse, the teacher, all seek to express their India is developing. Christianity need no longer love to their Lord, by using their professional be under suspicion that it is the religion of the services and personal influence to help their fel- "White Man," the "Foreigner," the "Sahib" or low men. Conversion by coercion, from one faith the "Government." No more need the Indian to another, is condemned by Christians and non- Church be confused with the traditions of the Christians alike. Church in the West. She will be the Church of The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, Met- Christ in India. She will be free to adopt Indian ropolitan Bishop of India, writing me as recently architecture, music, ritual. She will be free to as July 23, 1935, said: face and reform her world under the guidance When there was a peace conference in Dehli in 1923 and power of the Holy Spirit. She will be free when the Hindu and Muhammadan conflict was severe, I to make her own spiritual contribution to the was asked to take part in it and was the only Christian Church universal. "The Church," says Henry with some twelve Hindus and Muhammadans in the com- Barclay Swete, D.D., "alone among human somittee of that conference which framed resolutions. One cieties, has a Head in heaveri, and this is linked of those was to the effect that people were at liberty to to the eternal and infinite." By faith we can hear seek by fair persuasion to change the faith of others but not by material inducements. That expresses the general the march of the on-coming millions! feeling among educated people. Gandhi, I believe, has It is hardly possible to exaggerate the imporobjeeted to proselytism but I think that it is the proselytism by material inducements to which he objects. I am sure tance of the village in Indian life. The policeman that he would admit that everyone has the right to his can stop and direct vehicles, but he cannot stop beliefs and to change his mind. and direct ideas. Men and children, in increasing The Release of Power numbers, will see the pictures and hear the wire- less talks after their toil in the fields; women Under the Reforms there will be the release of from secluded places will also hear and see.
an Everest and a Niagara of personality. Slowly Motor transport is linking these villages. The the value of the electoral vote will be understood. cumulative effect on the peasant folk is enormous.
Then the power will be felt of 35 million persons Eighty-nine per cent of India's 350 million peo- at the polls. Fourteen per cent of the British ple live in villages, and four out of every five of Indian population will have the legal right to vote the Indian Christians live in villages. Beyond for their own representatives on the governing question the future of India will largely depend bodies. As a general rule the qualification for on village uplift.
the franchise will be payment of local taxes or Educationally the position of Christians is con- land revenue. The proportion of women to men spicuously high. The Christian community re- voters is 1 to 5. Six seats will be reserved for cently claimed 1570 of the total number of col- women in the Upper Federal Chamber. "A per- lege graduates, while the same community only son shall not be disqualified by sex from being ap- embraced 2% of the population. Numerically pointed to any civil post in India, other than such Christians are included among the so-called mi- posts as may be specified by general or special norities. If the seats for Indian Christians in the order." This puts into the hands of women an Legislatures are not in proportion to their num-
bers, trouble may be expected. The complaint is surprised if in this vital realm there is a tightening of also made that the fundamental rights of citizens official control. Christian institutions that depend in any in the free and full exercise of their religious be- measure on Government grants will doubtless be called liefs, and that the fundamental rights of minori- upon to accept conditions hard to be borne; a reduction ties, have not been defined in the new constitution. in grants is likely and an extended application of the It is alleged that some Indians mean to work the Conscience Clause inevitable. To maintain their freedom constitution, and then use their powers to turn and impart the education they regard as essential, it may the foreigners out, to stop grants to Christian be necessary for Christian institutions to forego Governinstitutions, and to try to smash the new con- ment grants, and even establish their own university. stitution. . . . But even here there is ground for confidence. Un- less we are greatly mistaken, the conv~ctiim is deep rooted The allocation of special seats for Christians in in the Indian mind that Christian colleges and schools the Legislatures may tend to create a new caste. have brought something of incalculable value to the cause Unimpeachable integrity is ft sounder qualifica- of education, and we believe that all who seek the highest tion in a candidate than mere nominal connection good of the nation will not readily let that influence with the Christian community. An experienced weaken. Baptist Missionary, the Rev. F. W. Jarry, M.A., says: Federated India, when it becomes a reality, will consist of H. M. The King, represented by the Some of the leaders of the Christian community have Governor General, and two Chambers styled the intimated that it is not their wish to take advantage of Council of State and the House of Assembly. In the Communal representation offered on the Councils; but the former there will be· about 150 members, have expressed their readiness to stand for election as elected by their constituencies, plus about 100 apcitizens of India, and not as representing the Christian pointed by the Rulers of States; in the House of community; and their statement made quite an impres- Assembly there will be about 250 elected and sion on some of the leading Hindus. about 125 appointed members. In debates and voting the truth will soon emerge that members The Joint Committee Report on Fundamental will not have reached their seats by the same Rights* shows the grave danger of trying to de- routes. Each elected member would have to think fine a thing which almost defies definition. It was of his constituency, while each appointed member found impracticable to draft a statement. The would have to think of his Ruling Chief. Rev. W. Paton, M.A., Secretary of the International Missionary Council, who has given the sub- Visualize the scene! With all the goodwill in ject close study, says: the world, the situation cannot fail to be delicate. What result may be expected? Democracy will The indisposition of Government to make statutory pro- grow like a palm tree. The great Rajahs will lead vision for the rights (}f minorities is simply due to the the way in the establishment of Limited Mondifficulty of putting anything into the form of a statute archies and Parliamentary Institutions. Then which is sufficiently explicit to be useful, and not danger- existing treaties will be absorbed, by agreement, ously static and formal. The Instrument of Instructions in a higher synthesis. All this may materialize given by the Secretary of State to each Viceroy and each sooner than now seems possible. Governor will lay upon them in the most explicit possible way the care of minorities, and personally I am convinced Dr. S. K. Datta, in the Legislature Assembly, that this is adequate. "held up the Indian Christian Church and its in- ternal self-government as the most real piece of I would as soon trust an able and just Governor as I democracy in India." In this spiritual sense the would a High Court interpreting a fixed Statute, or a Christian Church points to the key of progress, special Minorities Committee. and the Church can supply the amalgam with which to fuse the whole of India into a united Will there by any disposition, under the Re- Empire. forms, to take all educational work out of the hands of Christian missionaries, and to remove After many years as a missionary in India, I the subject of religion from the syllabus of all watched the sun setting as I leaned over the bulcolleges and schools? warks of my ship as I took my last look at my beloved India. Mingled memories and hopes held The Rev. J. Z. Hodge, who has recent informa- me captive. In the distance I saw a great cross tion and wide knowledge, says in his article in the on a Church silhouetted against the sky. I was National Christian Council Review (June, 1934, satisfied. The Cross is "lifted up." That is suffipage 281) : cient! I have no fear about the future of India!
That some inhibition on the free play of Christian ac- Grant, 0 Lord, that we who live in such glorious times tivity will be imposed is, we think, certain. Education, may be saved from pettiness and self-seeking, may be for instance . . . is something that bears directly on the filled with a gallant and undaunted spirit, and may be growth and well-being of the State and we need not be diffusers of light, invigorating all we meet, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. • Paragraph 366, page 215
Harvest in Hyderabad, Deccan*
By the REV. CHARLES W. POSNETT, Medak Missionary of the Methodist Church of England GOD has been wonderfully answering our Christ as Master, whatever befalls. So we put prayers in Hyderabad, When I first ar- these people off for six months. rived there forty years ago the ground When they returned home, they had to go seemed hard as iron. For several years we visited through the furnace. Their land was stolen; their the village markets, treating the sick and preach- water supply cut off; they were dragged to the ing the Gospel. Then, one day, an old man called courts on false charges. There was one continued, me to his house, and said, "Padre Sahib, we in ceaseless effort to make them recant and cry out this house want to worship your God. Yours is for peace at any cost. The devil seemed to have the only religion that cares for the untouchables. entered into the hearts of their enemies, who were When your lady doctor was trying to save my determined to stop the rising tide. Yet it was of dying boy, the people looked on and said, 'She no avail.
must be a scavenger in her own country.' She North of the Godavery River, when I first vis- was the first who ever cared for us untouchables, ited these people they boycotted us i~ every vil- and so we want to learn about your J esu Swami." lage. We could see no one, speak to no one, and From that home, the Gospel spread to a thou- we could not even buy food. Wherever we went, sand other homes, and today, in that area alone, the villagers fled, as if we carried the plague. The tens of thousands of untouchables, have been bap- great landowning chief of the district had ordered tized after they have been thoroughly taught to this boycott, for he feared that if Christianity know Christ and His way of life. entered his villages the day of forced labor, by An old missionary of another church said to me, which he had grown rich, would pass away. Yet, "If we had gone on your plan and done the job as within two years, that very man sent runners a thoroughly we too should have a great harvest hundred and fifty miles, begging me to come to him. He had been ill, and when he had been given today." up as dead by the native doctors our young travel- For years we have rejoiced over this harvest. ing doctor had come and saved his life. When I Now, must we weep over it because of lack of reached the great Godavery River, he was waiting workers and support? in the midst of all his people; and there, on the river banks, we knelt in prayer. The boycott was For twenty-five years this harvest was entirely over, and today we have in that area thousands of amongst untouchables; but gradually the young strong Christians of all castes-and, best of all, people who have been through Christian schools the Bible is beginning to be read in the homes of have gone back to their villages, by their lives and our people. character have compelled the respect of those caste people who had always trodden them under- The Rev. E. L. Ananto Rao, a splendid Indian foot as slaves. minister (who came to England as representative for the Methodist Union meeting), is the moving One day a deputation of caste people came to spirit amidst this wonderful harvest. Each week me to ask for a young teacher. They said, "We his letters tell of more villages asking for the know he is an untouchable, but he is pure as gold, light. Are we to close the Bible to them? What and he has become our friend; we want him to answer will we give? come to teach us." Last December I attended his harvest thanks- This was only the beginning. That year, six giving when about two thousand people from all hundred caste Hindus from all over the country over the countryside came, bringing their offercame to Medak, and for three days they listened ings. All along the country roads there were and asked questions. Before they left they asked groups of people, the children and old women in for baptism, but our watchword in Hyderabad has bullock carts, and the village drummers going on always been "Thorough." We will baptize no one before. The young men had gone ahead to prepare unless we are sure he is prepared to stick to • From The Methodist Reco,'der, England, for the night meeting. They had put up a thou- [525 ]
sand lights, made of little burning cotton wicks, is not a penny for new evangelists, and that even lying in earthen saucers full of oil. These were those we have, living on one pound a month, must stuck on sticks, with a lump of clay, and they lit lose nearly two months salary in the year. up the whole place. As it grew dark the villages Is it possible that this great day of opport~nity for miles around could see the great Christian for which we have prayed so long, over which we "jatra." All night people were marching in with have rejoiced so much together, must now be al- their drums and their thank-offerings. The col- lowed to pass away, and that the golden harvest lection lasted about eight hours, for every man must be left to rot upon the ground?
and woman wanted to be prayed for and blessed.
Ananta Rao had told me that there was to be a great Communion service in the early morning; he wanted both caste and outcaste to come togeth- er to the Lord's Table. They have no church, and I feared they might be very tired, dirty and dis- orderly, for most of them had been up almost all night after a long tramp in the dust. Imagine my surprise when I arrived, to find two hundred and fifty men and women, mostly young people, evidently having risen before dawn to bathe and put on the clean clothing which they had brought all the way from their homes. The caste and out- caste were all mixed together, sitting on the ground, in quiet and perfect order. I think it was the most wonderful and inspiring Communion servic~ that I have ever seen.
To crown all, a whole family of high-caste Hin- dus came up for baptism, led by the eldest son, a village chief. Nine years ago he had come to say that he had been reading the Bible with one of our untouchable Christian boys, and he had heard the Master calling him. Even as this boy spoke to me, a great crowd of his relatives came to take him back home by force. For two days they stayed, trying in every way to get hold of him, and pleading with him to come back and give up his madness. At last, his mother and his family banged their heads on the ground in despair and began to chant a funeral song: "My son is dead, my son is dead." Nine years had passed since then; and now, that very family were standing there, all in white and looking so happy, all well prepared for baptism by their own son.
Such is the harvest waiting now for the reap- A PETITION FROM THE VILLkGE OF MAMDE ing. Is it to rot upon the fields? Translation-We poor villagers have heard of Jesu Just before leaving India a few months ago, I Swami the true God and we do not want to worship wood- en and stone idols any more. We have been bringing went to meet three hundred caste people in an- cattle and sheep to the Cholera goddess for hundreds of other village. They were all asking for teachers. years, but she has never done us any good. We have Half the night I sat with them, listening to them, sacrificed to all the gods but they have never helped us. as they tried to tell the story of Jesus and to sing Now our relatives have become men of Jesus and they are a few lyrics in order to show me that they were very happy, and their children are learning to read the really in earnest. One after another they started, Holy Jesus Book, but we have no Book and our eyes are and in a few moments they broke down, and blind because we cannot read. We. want to worship the stretching out their hands, they said pitifully, golden feet of Jesu Swami but there is no one here to "How can we learn, we have no one to teach us teach us. Can we never have the Holy Jesus Book for our children to read to us? Must we always be blind?
the Holy Book?" Please send us a teacher with the Golden Book. What was I to say to them? Shall we sound a Elders of Mamde- Bommerai Abe Bhoy, retreat? Weare told that seven of our mission- aries must come home from Hyderabad, that there Pichirai Poshe.
Crucial Issue in Latin
A Meditation on the Present Missionary Situation By REV. JOHN A. MACKAY, Ph.D.
-4f Secretary Presbyterian Board o~ Foreign Missions, Author of . – "The Other Spanish Christ" and "That Other America"
T HE issue that confronts Christian, mission ural and inevitable expressions of the Spirit of work in Latin America is the same that con- Christ-the ceaseless urge to do good to every- fronts it around the world. To what extent one and to do all things well as Jesus did. But is there emerging in Latin American countries, the missionary's chief concern will be not to do on pampa and sierra, in teeming cities and forest good but to create doers of good, in whom the wilds, a community of men and women, who hav- same Spirit that inspires himself shall be regnant. ing given themselves utterly to Jesus Christ, have For unless these are formed, the outpouring of become members of His Body, organ for His life, the lavish expenditure of gifts, the idealistic ceaseless activity? How far is the Christian orientation of thought, will become one day but Church being born-that special community whos·e a memory. function it is to bear witness to God in the world and fulfil His redemptive purpose for the world? It is the emergence of an indigenous Christian The only absolute criterion of the success of community that is the goal of the missionary's Christian missions is the birth and development aspiring. Such a community, if it is true to the of that kind of living fellowship. idea that lies at the heart of it, will be a witness- ing fellowship as the early Christian community With Latin America specifically in mind, let us was. Not lovers and admirers of Jesus, or even consider three reasons in support of the position isolated believers in the Christ, is the missionthat the crucial question in mission work in that ary's goal. His goal is a community, "a fellowarea, as in other areas, is the question of the ship of the Spirit," a community of people, that Church. is to say, who have been recreated by God's Spirit and welded into a fellowship. It is not the hold- 1. Because the birth and nurture of an indige- ing of services that will bind them together, nor nous church is the supreme objective of Christian loyalty to denominational forms. They will be missions. Missionaries do not go to any country modern sons and daughters of Pentecost, which primarily as the bearers of a Christian civiliza- as one has put it, "created a community of sacred tion, even if there were, which there is not, a kind love which frees humanity from all limitations of of civilization which merited that name. The naturalegotism." The new sense of togetherness function of the Christian Church, here or any- which they have experienced in Christ will make where, is not to create a new civilization but the them natural successors of those early Christians creators of a new civilization. Missionaries leave who went to the utmost limits in the sharing of their own country and civilization, in order to spiritual gifts and material possessions. The reproduce, wherever they go, the community of kind of community which is the goal of missionfaith to which they belong, not in any merely ary effort will live a life in which theory and denominational or sectarian sense, but conform- practice as closely coincide as they do in the most ing the new community, as nearly as possible, to rigorous of communistic thinkers. Alas that God's ideal for the corporate life of new men and such a community is so little in evidence in North women in Christ. America or in Latin America! Yet it, and it alone, must be the goal of missionary efforts both' Needless to say, Christian missionaries will here and there. communicate the best and truest things they know and give of the best things they have to the people This fellowship will bea witnessing fellowship. among whom they labor, as they will also combat, It will bear witness to God. It will do so as one by all legitimate means,every form of evil among has put it, by manifesting a gift of "perpetual them. Schools of different kinds will thus appear parentage." That is to say, the community will and hospitals, and other institutions for the pro- not exist for itself. It will live for truth, beauty motion of public welfare. These are all the nat- [527 ]
and goodness in their manifold forms. But above plying that to become so is the highest of all goals, all things it will bear witness to the Word of they should do so by learning of Christ at the God, to the reality of a Divine aggression in his- pristine source of Christian knowledge in the tory, in the person of Jesus Christ, to the reality Gospels.
of the Word Incarnate, and to the equal reality Another element in the new mood of Latin of Holy Scripture as the medium in which we America that can be regarded as a true prepara- can hear unerringly the voice of God. tion for an appreciation of Christianity, is the It is perfectly obvious that just as a Christian renunciation on the part of many choice spirits, mission, though incidentally a civilizing agency, of that spiritual traditional indifference which cannot undertake the task of civilizing a country, has been so universal, especially among the culso a Christian community in a country cannot tured class throughout the continent. Many assume responsibility for all that country's needs. younger intellectuals in Latin America decry the Its chief function will ever be, as a model human traditional philosophy of life which kept those fellowship, to bear witness to the Gospel that who laid claim to culture everlastingly upon the spectators' balcony. They are now descending there is good news from God to man. from their marble towers of contemplation and A Widespread Yearning for Reality sensuous enjoyment of life to take their place as crusaders upon the road. Inasmuch as it is im- 2. Because the new mood in Latin America possible for anyone to understand Christianity demands what only the Christian Church can sup- who does not put to himself the question, "What ply. There are times in the life of a country, or shall I do?" there stands before the Christian of a group of countries, in which there comes into forces today in Latin America, an unprecedented evidence a deep and widespread yearning for opportunity to unveil the meaning of the great Christian reality. That mood is operative today spiritual crusade which began with God, which in the deepest soul of Latin Americans. There is, is being carried on by God, and to enlistment in to begin with, a growing consciousness in many which God challenges men and women in our outstanding minds that the true future, their own time. Many have become used, for the first time, and their country's, is in some way bound up with to making irrevocable commitment of loyalty to Jesus Christ. Despite the fact that the historic a cause, who formerly regarded with disdain and religion of Latin America has been guilty to a as mere "sectarians" any who linked their lives to large extent of a grave betrayal of Jesus Christ, a single idea or any single loyalty. They are yet that name, through the instrumentality of the ready, therefore, to appreciate the meaning of Roman Catholic Church throughout the continent, . the Christian cause, the Christian crusade. They has been written into the continental conscious- will not be satisfied with anything. that rests in ness. So much so is this true that one ventures mere forms or ideas and that fails to have a to say that there is an increasing longing for a great passion, a great drive, at the heart of ittrue undertanding of Christ throughout the con- such a passion and such a drive as lie at the heart tinent. The same we believe will be true of Latin of true Christianity, as that ought to be expressed America that was true in the case of St. Augus- by a genuine Christian community. tine. Having learned about Christ from his mother, no system of thought, nor way of living, The Breaking Down of Individualism ever satisfied him through all the long years of his spiritual pilgrimage that had not Christ in it. And then there is the new craving for com- These memorable words of his in his Confessions radeship that is breaking down the old individ- may be read as true of some of the most represent- ualism of the Iberian soul. A young Spanish ative men and women in Latin America today, writer has recently taken to task the great think- "For this name, according to Thy mercy, 0 Lord, ers of his country, Miguel Unamuno and Ortega this name of my Saviour, Thy Son, had my tender Gasset, because they have been too individualistic heart, even with my mother's milk, devoutly in their thinking and have not sufficiently stressed drunk in as deeply precious; and whatsoever was the conception of collectivity. The younger gen- without that name, though ever so learned, pol- eration, he said, is interested in corporate living.
ished or true, took not entire hold of me." It is What an oppor-tunity for the Evangelical Church for this reason that the Argentine, Ricardo Rojas, in Latin America to unveil to the eager thought says, in his "Invisible Christ," that he believes of new Iberians and Indo-Americans the concep- that the destiny of his beloved Argentina is bound tion of corporate living that is at the heart of up indissolubly with Jesus Christ; and that the Christianity, to show how the Church, and the ex-President of Mexico, Portes Gil, affirms that Church alone, is in possession of the key to the if Mexican children are to become Christian, im- meaning of life, and alone is able to produce that
THE CRUCIAL ISSUE IN LATIN AMERICA
type of character which makes true social togeth- the undertaking, yet this is hardly so. With a erness possible! more careful study of the mental attitude of the 3. Because only the Christian Church can suc- cultured natives, and a more thorough grasp of cessfully resist the new "demonic" forces that are the significance of the Message and the methods making their appearance in Latin America and employed, the missionary should find ways of elsewhere in our time. The liberal era is rapidly reaching every class and every individual with the coming to an end, that spirit which took up an Gospel. But the preaching of the Gospel has been attitude of appreciation or tolerance towards confused with the formal exercise of Christian potent spiritual realities. But in our day new worship. It has seemed necessary to the missionand terrible forces are making their appearance. ary to have public prayer, hymn singing, and Christianity is no longer being admired or treated Bible reading as essential accompaniments of each with patronizing or disdainful airs. It is being presentation of his Gospel message. Now, to the ruthlessly challenged and combated by forces native, to stand up with the congregation and to which are demonic in their nature, inasmuch as . join in singing a hymn, or to unite in public they are to all intents and purposes new religions prayer, is identified with a strange worship.
that usurp the place of God on the modern stage. The greatest hindrance of all, perhaps, lies in Fascism in its various determinations is the most the method almost invariably adopted in starting potent "religion" in the world arena today. It a mission in new places. The first step is to find assails Christianity and tries to eradicate it, or a hall and furnish it with seats, an organ, and a it endeavors to subordinate it to its own pur- platform. But this hall with its meeting-furni- poses. The State is the new god. Stateolatry ture becomes a real obstacle between the mission- is the great religion of our time. Ours is there- ary and the community. The native who thinks fore a period when one of the chief, if not the he is going to get some material advantage-edu- chief task of Christianity, is to offer a spiritual cational facilities, economic protection, easy em- center of resistance to this new deity. This it ployment, etc., may break through the obstruc- must do uncompromisingly in the lists or in the tion; but the average high-minded native, the catacombs. It is abundantly evident that no dif- man – and still more the woman – who would used Christian influence has the slightest chance make the most desirable convert, will not.
of surviving the terrific onslaught of the crusad- The foreign character of the missionary &nd his ers of this new god. They only have a chance of methods has become so associated with the work surviving who are a "fellowship of the Spirit" of the Gospel that thoughtful Peruvians who are and who, knit together in a common experience thoroughly in sympathy with the spirit and purand pledged to a common loyalty, will not bow poses of the Protestant missionary, feel themthe knee to this new Baal but will bear testimony selves inhibited from any identification with the to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ movement. Any participation in it seems to be and to His purpose for mankind. Think of Ger- treason against the traditions of their race. The many, think of Turkey, think of Mexico. In Peruvian finds it difficult to conceive of an edu- Turkey, alas, there is no Christian Church today cated native choosing to become a Protestant, alas the fruit of Christian missions. The great though it seems natural to think of the educated battleground of Christianity in our time is in the foreigner as being in place in the Evangelical parishes of the Third Reich. Mexico some months Church. If this difficulty is to be overcome, a ago, was in the throes of a campaign to eradicate larger percentage of the foreign missionaries Christianity and all religion from the conscious- must enter much more fully into the intellectual ness of the people. Only a living Church can stand in such a time. life of the native community. They must familiar- ize themselves not only with the language, but For all these reasons there comes a call to mis- also with the history, the problems, the aspirasionary societies at work in Latin America, to. tions, and the fears and prejudices of the people take earnest cognizance of the extent to which, through their efforts, living Christian communi- among whom they labor. And the missionary ties have been formed, which bear witness to God. must be prepared to alter his emphasis in the presentation of the Gospel so that while no less loyal to the teachings of our Lord, he may suc- . cessfully interpret these teachings so that they OVERCOMING HINDRANCES IN PERU shall appeal to the highest aspirations and the One of the greatest hindrances to the progress deepest feelings of the people to whom he has of the Gospel in Peru is the foreign element in the been sent.-From "The West Coast Republics of missionary and in his methods. At first sight South America," edited by Webster E. Browning, this might seem inseparable from the nature of John Ritchie, Kenneth G. Grubb; pages 91-92.
Bagby a Pioneer in
By INABELLE GRAVES COLEMAN, Richmond, Virginia Publici'ly Secretary, FOI'eign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention "THE most marvelous thing I have seen dur- and sugar cane. During the past half-century ing this half century in Brazil was the there has been a five thousand per cent increase bloodless revolution-the fall of a great em- in Southern Baptists' harvest crop for the Mas- ter in Brazil. pire and the setting up of the Republic without bloodshed," said Dr. William B. Bagby, the senior Fifty-five years ago Dr. William B. Bagby and eighty-year-old missionary of the Southern Bap- his bride, Anne Luther Bagby, were appointed as tist Convention. Many radical reforms-such as pioneer missionaries to South America. Sailing from Baltimore, they spent forty-nine seasick days on the small, storm-tossed barque, before they came to anchor in Rio de Janeiro bay.
Unwelcomed and almost unnoticed, they slipped into this vast country, studied the Portuguese lan- guage and proceeded to the strategic city of Ba- hia, formerly the empire's political capital and still the nation's religious capital. The next two years were checkered with danger and persecu- tion, problems and suffering, all heroically borne.
Dr. Bagby bears a scar on his forehead today as a witness to one experience in Bahia. In a small rented hall while he was telling the Gospel story to a few souls who had dared to attend the service, a stone was thrown through the window and struck the young missionary on the fbrehead. He dropped to the floor and blood streamed down his face. Calmly his youthful life-partner minis- tered to him and silently witnessed for Christ in that tragic hour. Even the Catholics were im- pressed by the courageous way in which this brave young couple presented Christ as the living, con- quering Saviour to hungry-hearted people.
Other missionaries came and the first Baptist church was organized in Brazil. Then like Paul, always lengthening the cords, Dr. Bagby turned his face to a new field, the great capital city of Rio de Janiero. In August, 1934, the fiftieth an- DR. WILLIAM B. BAGBY-TODAY niversary of the organization of the First Baptist church in Rio was celebrated. With radiant joy these veteran missionaries reviewed the years during which the nine Baptists for all of South secularizing cemeteries, separation of Church and America had increased to more than 50,000. In State and proclaiming full religious liberty for all, the same period the two small churches had grown and the recognition of marriage vows-came to more than 500 with 1,500 preaching places, with the new day. Evangelical missionaries have with 718 Sunday schools, 226 Young People's had a large part in bringing these changes to pass. Unions, 400 Women's Missionary Societies, 60 Christ made it possible to bring about the revolu- Young Women's Auxiliaries, 200 children's soci- ' tion without war and bloodshed. "God has let eties, besides men's societies, two seminaries, two some of us old fellows help to build new nations," training schools, two junior colleges, four acad- said Dr. Bagby. Brazil is often called the coffee emies, 48 primary schools, a publishing house, a cup of the world but the percentage of increase Brazilian Foreign Mission Board, a Home Mission for Christ is greater than that from coffee trees Board and a National Convention.
[530 ]
Vitality in Missions*
By the REV. WILLIAM P. SCHELL, D.D., New York Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
I N THE life of the Church no cause has been we have basked in their reflected glory. Do not more inspiring, none more uplifting, none as misjudge them, nor slander them. Do not allow unselfish, none more heroic than the preaching yourselves to believe things about them that you of Jesus Christ to the world. It is a solemn thing know are not true. Why do they offer themselves to realize that when the foreign mission service as missionaries? Because of adventure, or for a of a Church prospers, the Church is blessed, and "lark" or to teach mathematics? By no means. that whenever a Church is false to its world mis- Nothing but a conviction that Jesus Christ is the sion or disloyal to its missionaries, the spiritual Son of God, nothing but an abiding faith that He life of the Church declines. We move forward died on the cross to save the world, nothing but into every worth-while service as we move for- an unshaken assurance that He rose from the dead ward with Him into His world. and is alive today can lead a man to leave his coun- try, his home and everything life holds dear here There have been discouragements in the year and to bury himself in the jungles of Africa, or that has just closed, and we would not hide them. in the great cities of the Orient. Love of Jesus Missionaries have lived and preached the Gospel Christ sent them out and consecrated devotion to in a world in upheaval; in the midst of an intense Him and His cross and His Gospel keep them out rising nationalism; in nations in some instances there. They do not ask for pity in their difficulincreasingly pagan and antireligious; in the face ties. But they do ask, and they have every right of growing skepticism, even in the home Church, to ask, and to expect, our understanding symas to the validity of Christianity; in the discour- pathy, our prayers, our gifts and our love. agements arising from the spiritual condition of the Church in the United States. . . . Proclaiming the Gospel There have been discouragements – but it has The past year has been a year of outstanding been a year of encouragement and victory. Those spiritual victory on the mission field. First of all, who are closest to the enterprise and who live in the preaching of the Gospel and in evangelistic with it every day thank God for this victorious results. In the face of paganism and of wide hosyear in the mission field. tility to Christ over 7,000 non-Christians were won to our Lord and were received into the Pres- Let us begin by holding up the spiritual morale byterian churches on confession of their faith of the missionaries.
In their living and in their dying, we behold the in Him. Thousands more were reached and en- best that the Church has to offer. They resent rolled in training conferences and brought under being placed on pedestals, they do not recognize the teaching of the Church. In some countries, themselves as heroic, but in all their work they for example, Mexico, this straight evangelism of- reveal to the home Church the possibilities of a fers us our greatest opportunity. Listen to these victorious life in Christ. One missionary in India words from the Mexico Mission: wrote: "We have had many problems, many diffi- Weare convinced that from now on we must depend culties, always a shortage of funds and an inade- upon personal seeking of souls for Christ, and upon per- quate staff, but in spite of this the work has gone sonal dealing with Christians to strengthen and build them on." This spirit of perseverance and hopefulness up more than upon institutions or special plans of work. is also revealed by them when they come home on Our institutions have a rather uncertain existence at presfurlough. ent, but the opportunity for personal evangelism and per- sonal comradeship is greater than ever. We need to search As one who is not a missionary but who knows for new ways of making contacts and then make these and loves them all, I hold up our missionaries as truly effective in reaching souls for the Saviour.
those who have gone out from our churches and Rev. Norman W. Taylor, while distributing lit- erature to soldiers on patrol, came one day to the • Condensed from an address delivered at the 147th General As- highest point along the road and tried to enter the sembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A .• Cincinnati, Ohio, outpost. The soldiers were hostile and one fanatic tried to force him to leave the enclosure. At that May 29, 1935. The full address may be had in leaflet form from the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York.
[531 ]
moment the Commanding Officer appeared. When the Bible. Rev. William N. Blair, of Korea, tells Mr. Taylor explained his errand, he called his men of the Korean colporteur who, laying down his together and recommended the literature, took life on the banks of the Yalu River a half century him to fifteen camps, and personally superin- ago, threw pages from the Bible into the air, extended the distribution of the Gospel portions and claiming as he did so: "Everywhere the leaves of tracts. In describing the results, Mr. Taylor this book touch the shore, a Christian community writes these thrilling words: will arise."
Since this work opened up six regiments of cavalry and In view of these origins, it is not surprising to three battalions of infantry have been reached. Of these, find church-wide study of the Word of God in two regiments and one battalion have been so thoroughly Korea and a Church whose activities are built evangelized that I believe practically every man has hail upon His word. What a blessing would come to the Gospel presented to him. I believe that I can safely the home Church if we could have Bible confersay, withou£ any fear of exaggeration, that between seven ences such as those in Korea, enrolling from 500 and eight hundred men have expressed the desire to follow to 1,000 women or an equal number of men, many Christ. Among the officers, one major, four captains, and of them trudging many weary miles to study the fifteen lieutenants accepted Christ, and greatly helped us Word! And hear this testimony from North by their interest in seeing that all the men had an oppor- China: "There have been during the year more tunity of hearing the message. requests than ever for Bible classes, more oppor- tunities for preaching, more avenues for personal This story, in one form or another, is paralleled wor~, more students in government schools wantin many countries on the mission field. Henry ing instruction in Christian truths. Along with Martyn in Persia thought he could die content if the inspiration of these open doors goes the dehe could see one Moslem brought to Christ. Hun- pression arising out of inability to supply enough dreds of Moslems have come to Christ during the workers to meet the demands." Over 140,000 past year, many of them undergoing great suffer- children in your mission fields were enrolled in ing because of the step they have taken. The Sunday schools, studying the Bible regularly, and great revival in Africa has continued. Enormous many thousands more were enrolled in Bible incongregations attend all the services. They come stitutes and conferences. in unprecedented numbers to the Lord's Supper. Before one can be received into the church he is The spiritual life of the national churches is required, ordinarily, to wait for two years of test- also manifest in a degree of sacrifice and prayer ing and training. the home Church would do well to emulate. The native Christians, during the year, gave in con- Recent Reports from the Fields tributions or paid in fees a total of $1,639,045. Only when you stop to think of their incomes can In India there has been an increasing develop- you have any appreciation of this sacrifice. In ment in the movement in behalf of the 50,000,000 addition to these gifts of money there have been outcastes who constitute fourteen per cent of the gifts of hundreds of days of labor. One reason population. They have been turning to Chris- why they give such large amounts is because they tianity and Islam until Hindus are concerned over are not over-concerned with budgets, quotas, althe power they may have in Government. locations or apportionments. Many of those churches have budgets, but they always look upon Two missionaries in Siam reported an interest- a budget as a steppingstone to something higher ing visit to a village in which were a number of -never as a goal in itself. The average Christian Lao slaves. Only a handful of these slaves had on the mission field does not compare the giving ever received baptism. The missionaries gathered of his church with its record of the previous year together these slaves and their children and talked nor with the records of other churches. He to them about Christ, distributing literature and simply asks: "Am I giving as much as I should teaching them the Bible. give and can give to the Lord in view of what He has given to me?" When that spirit takes pos- When it came to the last day, to the surprise of session of the home churches, we will no longer everyone seven men, ten women and twelve or report deficits, for our mission budgets will burst fourteen teen-age young people came forward and open with new spiritual vitality and power. expressed their desire to follow Jesus. And they are praying. A missionary in Japan The spiritual vitality of the Church on the mis- writes this description of the Week of Prayer sion field is also seen in the fact that it is grounded which should give us pause: "The Week of Prayer on the Word of God. Proportionately speaking, during the first week in January is widely obthere are more Bible-believing, Bible-loving and served by all branches of the Christian Church in Bible-living Christians on the mission field than Japan. The subjects of the meetings were those in the Church at home. The Bible occupies no such place in the life of the Church in America as it does with mission fields. Indeed, many churches in those lands were literally founded by
SPIRITUAL VITALITY IN MISSIONS
prepared by the Committee in London for use I also am a man. Just as I, a follower of the Great throughout the world, and the Christians felt a Physician, have been able by the skill of surgery thrill at the thought of their praying in unison to enable you to see with your eyes, so also as His with bodies of believers in all lands. I had a bit follower I am not willing to allow you to leave this of a guilty feeling, for I was not at all sure that hospital without appealing to you to accept Him the churches in America were observing the cus- who can make you see for the first time with your tom any more. The evening in which interna- soul." There in that room I saw a governor of a tional questions were part of the program was province rise from his knees and give his heart marked by some fine prayers, breathing a Chris- to Jesus Christ. Our work is conducted in the tian spirit of world-wide brotherhood and inter- conviction that all missionaries should be evannational peace. Remember that they are praying." gelists.
The spirituality of the missionaries and the na- This is glorious work in His name. What are tive Christians is witnessed in their recognition you going to do about it? Today all churches of the fact that there is no phase of life which is stand at the crossroads in their Foreign Mission not touched by Christ. Through our mission programs. On the one hand, we have a world torn schools and colleges, through the miracles of heal- to pieces, groping its way-yet ready for the mesing in hospitals and dispensaries, through count- sage of the Saviour of the world. On the other less movements for social and economic justice, hand, we have the Church hesitant, worldly, its through temperance organizations and antiopium mind on other things. In between, we see a rising programs, through agricultural rehabilitation, and generation of young people, offering their lives in through a definite program to put an end to war places most of us would never be willing to enter. and to promote good will among men, the mis- A few weeks ago there appeared a manifesto, sionary enterprise recognizes the power of the signed by fourteen students of Princeton Theo- Gospel and applies it to human life. logical Seminary, expressing their eagerness to preach the Gospel of Christ in foreign lands and Some years ago, while on a visit to China, I had appealing to the Church, to individuals or local the unusual privilege of seeing a man recover his congregations "to share with us the responsibility sight. He was the governor of a large province resting upon all the followers of Christ, to send who had made a journey of 600 miles to a mission us out as your representatives to proclaim the hospital as that was the nearest hospital he could message of salvation." find. On the day of our visit the surgeon removed the bandages from the governor's eyes, as he lay Lift up your eyes on the army of youth ready in the dark room in our inadequate hospital, and to go to the field. Then lift up your eyes to the he saw for the first time in many years, the blue fields waiting for them and, as you look, recall sky, the green grass and men walking. He arose these words of a great preacher of yesterday: from his cot, fell on his knees, and kissed the sur- "Our missionary problems will be solved when our geon's hand again and again in gratitude. Now, spiritual problems are solved, when we live daily the medical missionary might have said to him: in the sight of God. Our local church budgets are "Your Excellency, don't mention it. It has been bankrupt because there are so many of us whose a great privilege to restore your eyesight. Go spiritual lives are bankrupt. We count our houses, and enjoy your sight." That in itself would have cars, stocks and bonds. We count everything and been a Christian deed. But I have always hon- everybody-except God!" ored him for what he did. He said to the kneeling patient: "My friend, stand on your feet, for Let us count God and His Son Jesus Christ and go forward in His name.
BOLSHEVISM AND CHRISTIANITY Basil Mathews describes bolshevism as having the missionary spirit of a world religion "with a strong fighting faith, and a world program. It cannot be conquered by denunciation or derision. We who hold Communism to be based on the denial of the very root reality of the universe–that the Creator is Spirit and is Father-have a greater and truer faith, that conceives for all the world a full salvation of the whole individual, body, mind, and soul; and of the community which those individuals constitute. But Christianity can confront victoriously the greatest of all contemporary challenges-that of Bolshevism-if its followers, with unity of purpose and sacrificial heroism, live by that faith to build a world community from which the clash of classes, the war of nations, and the antagonism of races are banished under the sovereignty of God who made us all."
Galvao, a Brazilian
N EARLY fifty years ago Egydio Galvao was grew, the women coming from the best classes of converted and accepted the Lord Jesus as society-difficult work demanding a charming his Saviour. He lived in the country some personality. Dulce made, and is making, Jesus so days' travel by horseback from the City of Bahia. beautiful to those women who only knew to serve Immediately after his conversion, friends became images.
his enemies, and the Roman Catholic clergy was One day there came into the classes a young highly indignant. But Senhor Egydio bravely man representing. a well-known company. He went his way preaching the Gospel. He was asked to speak of his products. Thereafter he was seen on my front porch, late every afternoon.
Finally he said to me, "You know, Mrs. White, I am not coming down here every afternoon to rep- resent my company." To which I replied, "I know that, I wasn't born yesterday." He told me that he loved and wanted to marry Dulce. She bought a Bible, marked it and presented it to the young man. I heard her tell him of Jesus and His power. He came to church several times and then he said, "Its no use, Dulce, I can't be a hypocrite.
I can't believe; I'd give anything if I could have your faith, but I can't. However, after we are married, I'll never interefere with your religion."
Time went on, and they planned a happy future.
One day a cloud came over Dulce's face, and the next day she came to me and said, "I cannot do it!" "Can't do what?" I asked and she replied, "Oh, I can't marry that man." Looking up she saw the young man approaching, and she grabbed my hand, exclaiming, "And you've got to tell him."
"But," I protested, "he didn't ask me to marry him." I went with her. He smilingly presented her with a beautiful watch. Looking him in the face she said, "Please put that into your pocket and listen to me. I have done wrong, for I never should have fallen in love with you. I cannot marry you." The young man's face blanched, and DULCE GALVAO, OF BRAZIL he recoiled as if struck. "Why, why Dulce," he begged. With a white face, and a voice filled with beaten and stoned-almost unto death, but he and deep emotion she said, "Because you are not a his cheery wife, Maria, kept on their way with Christian. I know you have said that you would the Lord. Their children were given a Christian not interfere with my religion. But listen-my home at a great cost. One of the daughters, grandfather risked his life for the Gospel. He named Maria, married a Christian and established and grandmother, at a great price, gave my a Christian home into which was born a girl, mother a Christian home. My mother and father Dulce Almeida Galvao. Dulce was taught to love gave me a Christian home. Here I am, a third Jesus and to know the Bible stories, and at the generation Christian, a product of two Christian age of 13, publicly confessed Christ. She finished homes. I know what the Bible teaches. How her education at the Collegio Americano Baptista could I let my- Jesus down that way? I could· in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, and asked the Lord not have a Christian home with you. No, I must to show her a place to work. About that time be true to Jesus." She has recovered from the Mrs. Kate C. White had opened up classes in Do- shock of disappointment and now says, "I shall mestic Science in the City of Bahia, the capital of never marry unless it be to a Christian man."
Dulce's native state. Dulce was invited to teach Her life is counting in a beautiful way for the cooking and live with the Whites. The classes Gospel, among the better classes in Bahia, Brazil.
[534 ]
March of Events in
-eil.!oll==B_Y=KE=N_N_E_T_H=G_._G_R_U_B_B_,_L_O_O_d_oo_,_E_o_g_1a_o_d=~ll~ T HERE are factors in the situation in Mexico convergent process,es at work, even if at any given today which would make it inadvisable to dis- moment they are not clearly distinguishable from cuss certain of the present features and tend- one another.
encies at length. It is useless, however, to deny The chronological sequence of the more importhat during the last eighteen months the general tant of these events was somewhat as follows. On position has gravely deteriorated. More recently December 5, 1933, the reform of Article 3 was (and at the time of writing, July, 1935) there officially brought forward in the convention of the have been signs of some moderation in the anti- National Revolutionary Party held at Queretaro. religious process. As is well known, this reform substitutes "social- ist education" for "lay" education. "Socialist edu- The events of the last two years in Mexico may cation," although it has never been officially deroughly be classified as follows: (1) The Educational Reform, culminating in the re- fined in clearly intelligible terms, is meant to imply form of Article 3, approved by the Senate on October 19, in effect irreligious education. It is unnecessary 1934, and followed in 1935 by new regulating decrees. to say more on this very important step, as the point has more than once been referred to in these (2) The University Conflict, initiated by the protest of pages. the National Autonomous University against the reform of Article 3, on July 30, 1934, and followed by the closing of the Universities of Guadalajara and Monterrey. In January, 1934, the Six-Year Plan was pub- (3) Extreme measures in several states, initiated by lished. This is an attempt to draw out a coor- dinated scheme of government, forwarding tbe General Calles' public commendation of Tabasco on M,arch social objective of the regime through intelligently 29, 1934, followed on May 20th by suspension of religious ministry in Sonora and in October by similar measures in other states. (Last July, President Cardenas decreed directed administrative action; incidentally it enthe downfall of Garrido's power in Tobasco.) dorses "socialist education." A month later the Attorney-general issued a long circular dealing (4) The new open conflict with the Roman Catholic with the subject of nationalization of religious Church precipitated on October 22d by the alleged dis- property. Both the question of a nationalist polcovery of conspiracy on the part of the Apostolic Delegate.
(5) A moderate stage, initiated by explanation on Feb- ruary 16, 1935, that the postal decree was only aimed at icy, as well as that of education, were carried a politico-religious propaganda, and followed up by moder- stage further in March when on the fifteenth a ating statements of the President on April 14th and 15th. recommendation was made that the liberal profes- This stage was further marked by the revocation of the sions be reserved to Mexican citizens; while decree against the circulation of religious literature on June 25th. studies made in unincorporated private schools (6) In June the Cabinet was reorganized. Its two most were declared to be void of public validity.
radical members, Garrido and Calles, were left out, and On March 6th a new tendency became apparent General Cedillo, considered a centrist, was admitted. with the declaration by the actual President, Car- (7) On August 31st, a new decree on nationalization of church property was issued. It is more radical than the denas, commending Tabasco as the model state of one formerly in existence. the Republic. Later in the same month General Calles returned from that state and bestowed (8) As the result of a new radical drive to gain con- lavish praise on its achievements. The next state trol of the National University, the University's authorities decided to close and await for President Cardenas'
decision either granting or refusing further support. The to suspend all religious ministry was Sonora radical wing appointed a new Rector (President) on (May 20th) of which Rodolfo Elias Calles was Governor. A commission of school teachers from September 24th. The situation is uncertain.* These periods are not, in reality, so clearly de- Sonora had previously visited Tabasco. The infined as this classification would tend to show. cident is interesting as it exemplifies the appear- The actual events have overlapped and been inter- ance of the same spirit in geographically remote twined with each other. But in a situation as parts of the Republic.
complicated as the Mexican it is always an as- The educational question came again into the sistance to form some slight idea of the different foreground in July. General Calles made an im- portant speech in Guadalajara when he declared Ba*ezThCeamitaermgos, 6o,f 7Meaxnidco 8Ciatyre.-EkDinITdlOyR.furnished by Prof. Gonzalo that it was the right of the Revolution to educate [ 535] .
its own children.* Three days later, on July 23d, It is necessary to note that quite apart from the project for the reform 6f Article 3 was pre- these official actions of one kind or another, there sented to the Chamber. A week later the Na- has been a certain amount of general antireligious tional Autonomous University protested against activity carried on. To say that this by no means the tendentious nature of this reform. The Uni- has the President's approval, although it carries versity School of Monterrey was closed on Sep- the endorsement of one or two leading men, would tember 28th, and the University of Jalisco on Oc- probably be a correct interpretation of influential tober 22d, but by October 19th the reform had Mexican opinion on this question. In assessing been approved by both deputies and Senate. the significance of such propaganda there are cer- Meanwhile, on September 26th, another extremely tain facts to be taken into consideration. Firstly, important reform was passed, which limits the the enthusiasm behind any movement is always conditions of permanency in the tenure of the greatest at its beginning. Secondly, extreme higher judicial posts. measures advocated by minorities tend to attract On October 22d all the Roman Catholic churches attention and create their own advertisement.
in Queretaro were closed; there are practically Thirdly, the temporary significance of a move- no Evangelical 'churches in the state. Two days ment is often proportional not to its real value, later the religious ministry was suspended in but to the contrast it involves with accepted ideals.
Chihuahua and all Roman Catholic churches closed Ten thousand couples live quietly day by day in in Colima; there is also only a very small evan- any community, but a single case of divorce is gelical work in this state. After a further interval heralded on all the headlines. Nevertheless it of two days all churches were closed in Sinaloa. would be a grave error to underestimate the force The quarrel with the Roman Catholic Church and appeal of antireligious propaganda in the was simultaneously carried into a wider field. On world today.
October 26th the Bishop of Chilapa and the priests Anti-Christian Propaganda in Guerrero were ordered to leave, and the next day it was announced that an alleged conspiracy These considerations justify brief comment.
of the Apostolic Delegate had been discovered. Christians, in all parts of the world and in all Before the month was out this matter had been situations of life, must face the fact that propa- officially handed over by the President to the At- gative enthusiasm has passed from Christian pos- torney-general for investigation, and the Arch- session to that of their opponents. The maturity bishop of Oaxaca had been ordered to leave the of Christianity is being accompanied by a kind of country. Early in November the Attorney-gen- fatty degeneration of the conscience. The cru- eral found that cause existed for proceeding sading and even the prophetic spirit has today against the Bishop of Huejutla, the Archbishop of become incarnate anew, not in the ranks of the Morelia and the Apostolic Delegate, who were not, Christian Church, but in the camps of those to however, in the country. whom religion is a soporific and the Church but General Cardenas assumed the office of Presi- one of many institutions which have burdened dent on December 1st. Early in January decrees humanity with temples and priests. Even in a were issued regulating the subject of education in country like Mexico Evangelical activity is, with private and secondary schools. On January 28th certain exceptions, threatened with the pervasion the President made a public statement denying of a kind of nervous tension which renders a for- the existence of religious persecution. On Feb- ward movement exceedingly difficult. The anti- ruary 12th the use of the post was forbidden for religious spirit, although propagative, is in itself correspondence which "may imply propagation or destructive; it is quite false to suppose that it is diffusion of any religious doctrine." Four days responsible for social construction. It is well later, however, the Secretary of the Interior de- expressed in the words of Mephistopheles: clared that this prohibition concerned religious I am the Spirit publications that contained public comment or That evermore deny-and in denying defamatory attack of the Government or its insti- Evermore am I right-"No!" say I, "No!" tutions. On April 14th the President took occa- To all projected or produced-whate'er sion to state that the regime was in no sense Com- Comes into being merits nothing but munist, and the next day he denied that there was Perdition-better then that nothing were Brought into being; what you men call sin- any intention to attack the "religious conscience" Destruction-in short, evil-is my province, of the people; the Government was seeking only My proper element.
to exterminate "fanaticism." Since this date the A few of the broader aspects of the situation general situation has been somewhat easier. also require study. The Mexican religious ques- tion is a part of a much larger field of thought • I have given the substance of these statements elsewhere. See which must include the relations of Church and World Dominion, July, 1935.
THE MARCH OF EVENTS IN MEXICO
State, the threatened collapse of the world-reli- thought. How do these new circumstances affect gions, and the problem of human liberty in many the relations between Catholics and Evangelicals?
parts of the world. How far shall we meet them by emphasizing our The breakdown of Pan-Islam, the fall of the specific approach, and how far by identifying our Caliphate, and the disestablishment of religion in own problems with that of Christianity in Latin Turkey meant that secularism had successfully in- America, or the world, as a whole? What new vaded one of the world's great religions precisely light do we draw from these events on the work- in the regions where it was considered strongest. ing of evil and the powers of the Satanic? Has With the failure of the Russian Orthodox Church the day of "missions" in some parts of the world the weakness of one of the historic Christian almost ceased, and ought we to envisage the fu- churches also became apparent; a population of ture more in the nature of a world interchange of a hundred million had to be written off the reli- spiritual culture? Is there any reason to suppose gious capital of the race, precisely in a country that, in the face of antireligious fanaticism, the where mystical, and even religious sentiment to Christianity of today has a greater survival value all appearances had made a strong appeal. Chris- than Nestorianism or the North African Church?
tianity was no longer immune against the inroads Are our churches at home, in the countries where of secularism. The secularism of many countries they cannot maintain the personal link through dominated by the Roman Catholic Church has long missionaries and institutions, ready to make the been confessed, but that church had avoided an same spiritual investments as heretofore? Or is "official" collapse in any of its territories. But in our brand of exportable Christianity the type that Mexico it seems that such a collapse is taking can be stopped by frontiers and laws? How are place. Of the historic Christian churches, it re- we to meet the challenge that we have lost the mains to be seen whether Protestantism in Ger- emotional control of masses of mankind? How many will be able to withstand the storm. far is the institutional expression of Christianity an adequate one in Mexico, and how far may the A Test of Mission Work work have to pass through a process of "fraction- It is a situation which will also test the whole alization"? Have we, in our work of diffusion character of the work which has been built up and creation, anticipated or adapted ourselves to through the devoted labors of mission boards, developments of the Mexican's own capacity for their representatives and supporters. The Church expression – in fact, do we pursue a really inin China has had to face these experiences and digenous policy? These are a few, only a few, of the many questions which a situation such as the their effect was temporarily depressing, but pos- Mexican suggests. sibly ultimately beneficial. In Russia the evangelical community is different in origin and or- The present difficulties have not befallen us beganization, and little information is available as cause we are modernists, or fundamentalists, or to its real status today. In Turkey the Christian attend church rather than chapel, or retreat minorities were "liquidated" after the War by rather than camp meeting; but because we are political action, and the problem hardly exists. selfish men; because we have loved ease more But in Mexico the Evangelical Church forms the than sacrifice; because we have preferred ourmost important of the country's minorities. It , selves to our Church, our Church to our Chrisstands in close spiritual relation to the churches tianity; our Christianity to our Lord Himself; of the United States, and its future will be fol- because we have lowered the level of our aim that lowed with prayer and interest, and we should we may the more easily enjoy the complacency of further remember that it is Mexican example our success. These are the things that make us which is liable to be copied in the rest of Latin unfit to minister to the world's need, and from these we need to pray to be cleansed. America.
We should not suppose that the Mexican situa- tion is impervious to influence. If it deteriorates further it may well be because of our own inertia Four needs of the modern world are: (1) A reas Christians, and this should be remediable. But creation of individual Christian life, with an enorwe must identify ourselves with the universal mous increase of conversions in the church and the agony of Christianity, and not attempt to evade sense of the presence and power of God, with self crucified; (2) a new fellowship of Christians, noth- responsibility by special pleading, however valid. ing less than the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; (3) We must once more find the solvent for the world's a recreation of the sense of mission to reconstruct spiritual contempt in the agelong vicariousness of the whole of life, standing for a new life in Christ, suffering. By so doing we shall take the more with no compromise; (4) a better realization that effective, because much the more difficult, course. Christ is in life today and moving IUs Church.- Bishop Logan H. Roots.
There are a few questions which require
We Interest Men in Missions?
-411 By the REV. GEORGE A. BROWN Pastor of the First United Presbyterian Church, Elyria, Ohio THE whole problem of interesting men in mis- women and the children of the Church. More sions is, in its final analysis, a matter of than this, it is primarily the work of Christian interesting men thoroughly, heartily, and en- men to make Jesus Christ known to the world for thusiastically in Jesus Christ Himself. The en- when our Lord began this great enterprise He entire missionary enterprise of His Church centers trusted the task to men. The historian Harnack in Him, its living, glorified, has remarked of the first three ever-present Head and Lord. Here are some interesting centuries of the Christian era, As Bishop T. U. Dudley says, facts about a most important that "we cannot hesitate to be- "The man who does not believe problem in the c h u r c h. lieve that the great mission of in carrying the Gospel of Jesus HS 0 m e bod y said that it Christianity was in reality ac- Christ unto all men every- caoheualddna'tndbediddoint.e" sTo hhee Mweenn'st complished by means of in- Missionary League of the where does not believe in Jesus Elyria Church has been given formal missionaries"; that is, Christ. No interest in missions widespread and favorable no- by what we now call laymen. means no interest for that par- tice. The Board of Administicular thing for which Jesus tration of the United Presby- Why is it then that today the was content to be born and to terian Church has told of the work of Christian missions is live and to die. . . . Yes, no work in a leaflet entitled, HAn largely in the hands of the interest in missions means no Adventure in Masculine Mis- women of the Church, espeinterest in the Lord Himself." sions,tt sent to all pastors in cially in the local congrega- Athnedecrhsuornchsa. ys:AHs ItDhra.s Wce.aseBd. tions? They are doing a mag- The men we have in mind in to be an experiment, and has nificent piece of work and may this discussion are Christian become an accomplishment!' God bless them in it. But as a men, men who know Jesus Several missionary periodicals result many look upon the en- Christ experimentally as their tire missionary movement as a personal Saviour and Lord. women's undertaking, and not Only such men can be expected as something to challenge the to concern themselves about have called attention to the serious and active devotion of Christ's mIssIOnary passion, work, and as a result inquir- strong Christian men. At the and purpose, and program. ies have come from twelve Younger Men's Missionary This question of how to in- states, east to west, and are Congress in Chicago last May, terest men in missions takes at still coming,. The story of a delegate reported at one of least two things for granted: the League has been told with the group conferences, that a first, that Christian men ought encouraging results at Cleve- man, when asked to give to lealsnedw, heCrehiacnadgob,asAbekernonbroaanddto be interested in missions, casted over the radio. AI- missions, replied: "I contribute and second that men can be in- to the pastor's salary and to terested in missions. The only ready similar men's organiza- provide heat and light for the question, therefore, that calls tions are being formed in church; you'll have to see my for an answer is just how this other churches. wife about missions." interest may be generated, de- "Why are the men of the veloped, directed and made Church not as interested in productive of definite, practical results. Consider missions as are the women?" This very question first the imperativeness and possibility of this the Christian Illen of India 'Iare asking. Dr.
matter. That men ought to be interested in mis- Stephen J. Corey, President of the United Chris- sions grows out of the fact that the great mission tian Missionary Society, tells of conducting an of the Church is missions. Since men constitute, open forum in India with some Indian Christian in part, the membership of the Church of the Lord leaders, mostly men, who asked, "Are your women Jesus Christ, missions is most certainly "a man's and children interested in sending the Gospel to job," just as much as it is the business of the India?" When he replied that probably two- [538 ] thirds of the money for foreign work in his com- of prayer. The book of "The Acts" makes this munion came from the women and the Sunday plain as does the history of Christian missions schools, their astonishment was unbounded, and since the first century of the Church's life. There one of them said, "Why, sahib, we in India have was also a very definite purpose; after three un- always felt that Christianity was a man's religion. successful attempts had been made to get the men . . . Why are the Christian men of America'less together and to hold them together, to organize interested in bringing Christ to us than are the them around the missionary objective. Finally women and children?" In answer, Dr. Corey tol.d there was the pursuit of this end in the spirit of them that the women in America were definitely patient persistence which the Lord has so wonder- organized for the study of missions and therefore fully blessed. His hand has been so manifestly knew more about missions and were naturally present and powerful that we ascribe to Him the more interested and were doing more for mis- glory and praise of it all.
sions than the men who were not so organized. Men and Missions Sunday Why Are the Men Not Organized? Lord's Day morning, November 19,1933, marks This suggests the further question: Why are the formal beginning of this movement in Elyria.
the men of our local churches not organized and That was "Men and Missions Sunday" and the doing the same kind of missionary work as the pastor preached especially to his men on the sub- women? Here is the reason: In addition to the ject, "Missions – A Man's Job," based on Acts fact already stated, that this whole undertaking 1: 8. In closing he appealed to them to organize to make Christ known to the world is regarded as a real Men's Missionary Society, calling a meeting being largely a strictly feminine affair, there is for this purpose the next evening. Fifteen men the general and deeply rooted conviction that the met with the pastor in response to the challenge work of organizing the men of our local churches of the previous day. From that night meetings for definite, systematic mission study and specific were held twice a month, for a period of six missionary service, simply cannot be done. Even months, under the pastor's leadership, until the the leaders of the missionary movements of the organization was completed, May 21, 1934, by the men of our Evangelical churches are decidedly adoption of a constitution, the election and instal- skeptical as to the possibility of this thing. When lation of officers, and the appointment of commit- we were thinking of organizing a Men's Mission- tees. Ever since that time meetings have been ary Society in our Elyria Church, a letter was held on the third Monday evening of the month – written to the Secretary of the Laymen's Mis- a time found to be the most suitable time for our sionary Movement asking him for any help that men. The membership at present is 40, being he could give us in launching this new enterprise. about 60% of the men on the church membership Mr. F. J. Michel replied, "We do not recommend roll. The average attendance from the beginning the organization of men's missionary societies, has been 27, for the last year 31, and for the last since they cannot be maintained continuously, as five months 36, including several neighboring pas- is the case with the women." (Mr. Michel, him- tors and some of their men.
self, thinks otherwise now.) Beside the usual officers for such an organiza- The second point in our theme is that men can tion, there are membership, program, project, be interested in missions because they ought to boys' work, welfare, and social committees.
be. The divinely imposed command insures the Monthly missionary meetings include worship, possibility. The very imperativeness of this task business, an educational program and a social assigned to the men of the Church of our Lord is period. During the year there were five meet- the" prophecy of its accomplishment. Christian ings with special speakers, four were conducted men can be brought together and they can be held by members, and three were in charge of the together in a missionary organization with con- pastor. Regular mission study courses have been tinuous monthly programs of spiritual worship followed and our present missionary proj ect is and missionary education and service, with the the support of a native evangelist in the Sangla finest Christian fellowship and increasing devo- Hill District of our mission in the Panjab, India.
.tion to their Lord. It has been done, and thus This evangelist's inspiring name is Gulam Masih, the possibility is fully demonstrated by the Men's which means "Slave of Christ." Later we hope Missionary League of the First United Presby- to have some definite work in a home mission field terian Church of Elyria, Ohio. Weare now ready for we believe that "the field is the world," so to answer the question "How?". that interest in missions anywhere means interest It is not necessary to say that this work is the in missions everywhere.
fruitage of prayer, of much prayer, for every for- One of the most encouraging things in the short ward movement in missions has been the result history of our Men's Mission'ary League is the
marked influence it has had on the life and work that we covet above all things. But the responsiof the Women's Missionary Society. At the end bility for human leadership most undoubtedly of the first year of the League the president and rests on the local pastor more than upon any other treasurer of the Women's Society were asked this living person. This is what our missionary statespointed question: "Has the Men's Missionary men think. Dr. John R. Mott, writing of the work League been a help or a hindrance to the work of of promoting missionary education and activity the Women's Missionary Society?" Their replies throughout the Church, by means of local Men':=; revealed the marked increase in membership, at- Missionary Societies, says: "There are reasons tendance, interest, offerings, cooperation between why the subject of the world's evangelization the men and the women, willingness to help in the should appeal with special force to men, and to work, and the growth of the missionary spirit the strongest men. . . . This greatest work of the generally in the Women's Missionary Society. world languishes in no small measure because of During the first year of the Men's Missionary the lack of their initiative and aggressive support. League the Women's Society gained 500/0 in active It rests with the pastors to call more largely into membership, 3470 in general offerings, while the action this vast latent power."
thank-offering for 1934 was 43 % above that of Dr. Mills J. Taylor, Associate Secretary of the United Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 1933. The total missionary budget offerings of who has contributed so largely to the success of the entire congregation for the church year end- our Men's Missionary League, says, that "Proging March 31, 1935, were 137 % over those of the ress in these matters depends more upon the enprevious year. The Elyria W. M. S. was given thusiasm, and devotion and loving persistence of the highest efficiency rating of all the thirty so- a prayerful pastor than upon any other person." cieties of the Cleveland Presbytery, for the work of the last year. The president of our local so- The great need of this new movement for "Men ciety generously attributed their high standing to and Missions," therefore, is warm-hearted, wholethe influence of the Men's Missionary League. hearted pastoral leadership. Such leadership a goodly proportion of the men of our churches will Encouraging Possibilities follow. The result will be the realization of such triumphs of God's grace and power in the realm This record shows something of the possibili- of missions as will compel us to magnify and bless ties of a real Men's Missionary League, carried His glorious name for what He has done through on continuously, twelve months in the year, in an us. When Deborah and Barak were given the average congregation, and with growing power victory over Jabin, king of Canaan, the captain and popularity. Clearly this form of activity, that of whose host was Sisera, we read (Judges 5: 2, some said could not be done, can be done, for it American Standard Revision): "For that the has been done. We know of other groups of men leaders took the lead in Israel, for that the people who have joined this new movement. In Novem- offered themselves willingly. Bless ye Jehovah." ber, 1934, a similar organization was formed at Let the pastors, the divinely appointed leaders of Ezel, Kentucky, and in May, 1935, a Men's Mis- God's people today, actually lead in this men's sionary League was formed in the Margaret Park missionary movement and their men will willingly Church of Akron, Ohio. We hope and pray for offer themselves, and will bless "the God that the largest realization of the possibilities of this doeth wonders." It may not be amiss to remind work in local congregations throughout the entire ourselves that in this same chapter (5: 23) we Church. The eyes of missionary leaders in other read, "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Jehovah, communions are upon us and they are anxiously curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because waiting to see whether we really make good so they came not to the help of Jehovah, to the h~lp that they may know whether to adopt the plan. of Jehovah against the mighty." Mr. Fred J. Michel, of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, says: "I am so glad that the United Here, then, is our challenge. What are we go- Presbyterian Church has taken the matter up. In ing to do about it? If the men of our churches the measure in which it will succeed, we may hope ought to be aroused to a greater interest in Chrisfor the adoption of the plan by other denomina- tian missions, and if their organization into their tions." own missionary societies is not only possible but practicable, and if the responsibility rests upon If this work is to succeed, who is primarily re- us, the pastors, how can we be true to ourselves, sponsible for it? On the divine side it is the work true to our men, true to the unevangelized multiof the Spirit of God and we need to give to Him, tudes of the world, and above all true to our Lord the great Executive of the Godhead in this age of Himself, unless we do all in our power to realize grace, His rightful place in this whole undertak- this definite, spiritual, missionary objective? And ing. It is His presence, and power, and presi- "We can do it, if we will"; or better, "He can do dency in this promising missionary movement
THE GERMAN NEO-PAGAN FAITH MOVEMENT
it, if we will." Shall we not, then, in the face of and Saviour Jesus Christ. In the words of our the world's need of Christ, and with His command Men's Missionary League Rallying Song: ringing in our ears to "go, and preach the Gospel to every creature," and as the natural expression Came now, ye Christian men, of our own life in Him, with our whole heart, an- Obey your Lord's command; swer this call and challenge by saying, "By thy grace we will." Pray Him to send forth laborers In this and every land. What better time is there to begin this work than on the coming "Men and Missions Sunday," Present your gifts to Him, November 17, 1935? Let each pastor preach that Your silver and your gold; day to men, more earnestly than ever before, to show that "Missions Is a Man's Job." Then call But first of all, yourself He asks, a meeting for the organization of a Men's Mis- That He your life may mold. sionary League; pray, plan, proceed as the Holy Spirit may lead. God will touch men's hearts and Go forth, Ye Christian Men, the fruitage will be great. May God give you such Proclaim His name abroad; an experience, for the sake of His Son, our Lord That sinners far and near, may come To know the Son of God.
He gave His life for you, His precious blood He shed; Serve Him who saves you by His grace, The Church's Living Head.
The German Neo–Pagan Faith Movement By REV. W. O. LEWIS, D.D. I~ European Representative of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society I T HE main facts about the religious controversy Hauer was born in 1881. As a young man he in Germany are well known and many have worked as a stonemason and so came into close heard about the movement in the Evangelical . contact with many irreligious people, but he also Church which calls itself "German Christian." knew certain pious folk who had considerable in- The press has also reported the speeches of Gen- fluence on him. He decided to become a mission- eral Ludendorff in which he prides himself on ary and entered the training school of the Basel the fact that he is in no sense a Christian. Most Missionary Society. Being exceedingly gifted, he of those who direct the affairs of the "Third soon mastered all his teachers had to offer him Reich" have broken more or less with Christian- and went to India as a teacher in a high school.
ity. But relatively little is known of what is prob- He has since stated that when the Missionary So- ably the most serious of the Neo-Pagan organiza- ciety offered to send him to India, he told the tions, The German Faith Movement (Deutsche directors he was not sure that he was a Christian Glaubensbewegung). and some of the older missionaries objected to There were pagan organizations in Germany at sending him out.
the end of the last century and many new ones When he reached India, he began to study In- have sprung up since the War. After Hitler came dian religion and took up the study of Sanscrit.
to power, they were afraid they would not be Later he went to Oxford and when the War broke tolerated, but in October, 1933, they were as- out he was interned by the British Government.
sured that the new Government would not under- His experience during the next four years had a take to suppress them. At Easter, 1934, repre- profound influence on his development. By the sentatives of various pagan organizations united time the Hitler regime was established, he had under the name of German Faith Movement. renounced Christianity openly. His book, Deu- They met at Schwarzfeld in a natural cave known tsche Gottschau (German View of God) may be as the "stone church" which is said to have been taken as the most complete and authoritative ex- used as a place of pagan worship before Chris- position of the Neo-Pagan German Faith Move- tianity was introduced into Germany. Professor ment.
William Hauer, a professor in the University of This movement is already well organized all Tiibingen, was elected head of the organization. over Germany. An effort is made to keep the
membership limited to those who are sure they that Christianity furnishes a sufficient basis for know what they believe or do not believe and morality. According to German press reports, why. It is claimed that there are 20,000 mem- recently in large meetings, Hauer and other rep- bers in these smaller fighting organizations, but resentatives of the movement have openly as- Hauer himself thinks he has evidence that there serted that Christianity has not only lamentably are at least 5,000,000 in Germany today who may failed to furnish the ethical foundations which are be classed as adherents, and the number is said needed today, but has actually brought great to be growing. The movement has its weekly and harm to Europe, having prepared the way for Bol- monthly periodicals, and is already giving a sort shevism. They claim that prostitution and bawdy of training to those who are active in the propaga- houses did not exist in Germany before Chris- tion of paganism. They have adopted a ceremony tianity came. German Faith ethics can be best for the dedication of children to take the place of learned by studying the biography of Frederick infant baptism and also have pagan wedding cere- the Great and other great German heroes. The monies. Besides lectures and various public military virtues are exalted. There is a limit to rallies, they have pagan ceremonies around trees the sacrifices the strong must make for the weak.
on high places. Most of the leaders are educated In some cases they say that it would be better to and are men of clean, moral lives. The movement allow the weak to perish, and in many cases men makes a strong appeal to certain young men who and women should be sterilized so that they can- made the Hitler revolution. Hauer and his friends not reproduce their kind. The individual counts claim that the religion they preach is the true for very little, the State is everything. The Ger- spiritual and philosophical basis of the Nazi revo- man Faith approves of war and the joy of battle lution. This movement is now not only tolerated for the nation's honor. Along with courage there by the Nazis, but is even allowed privileges which goes a certain fatalism. The German Faith man the churches cannot get. They are permitted to does not desire the rewards that Jesus said the use the large Sportpalast in Berlin for their meet- heavenly Father would give to the righteous.
ings which neither the Protestants nor the Ro- The German Faith rejects the idea of human man Catholics can use at present. sin. While admitting that not even the greatest These Neo-Pagans have so far refused to put German heroes attained their highest ideals, there in print anything like the creeds of the Chris- is little place for any real doctrine of sin, of re- tians. But from Hauer's writings and other pub- pentance, or forgiveness. They acknowledge the lications, it is possible to gain some idea of what need of no mediator to bear our sins. Each must they believe. bear his own penalty. Men conquer sin in their Great emphasis is placed on race. It is claimed . own strength since the essence of every man's that there is an inner, spiritual side which cor- soul is divine.
responds to the outer distinctions of the various German Faith people profess to honor Jesus, races. There has been an age-long struggle be- but they state boldly that they do not take Him tween the civilization which Hauer calls West as model and leader. They simply do not see the Asfatic-Semitic and the Nordic Indo-Aryan which need of the Christian religion. Some may think has found its finest flower in the Nazi state. No they need Christianity just as some think they effort is made to revive the paganism of the past cannot do their work without tobacco. But they in its ancient form, but it is claimed that Chris- could do their work better without this artificial tianity is alien to the German race and blood and stimulation. The German Faith does not claim the period of over a thousand years in German to be universal and valid for all mankind, but does history between Charles the Great and Hitler is claim to offer something better to Germans.
an interlude. The ancient paganism must be mod- Hauer asks, "Have those who believe in Christ ernized and brought up-to-date. Eckehart and more power to overcome the difficulties of life?
Nietzsche are often quoted with approval. Have they more courage to face danger, to risk The conception of God seems to be a sort of position, income, life; yea to look death in the mystical naturalistic pantheism. He is the hidden face? Have they more joy than the men of the background of all things who reveals himself in German Faith 'z Is their life more real, more nature and in men. His highest manifestation is genuine, cleaner? Are they willing to serve their in the fighter and in the German culture. The nation with _more self-sacrifice? Do Christians German faith god is hardly a personal god. The have more peace in fellowship with each other?
world which is the manifestation of God is not to Let the Christian prove his faith by his works."
be despised. It is infinite and eternal. Man's Whether they will or not the Christian people spirit is a spark from the eternal. But there is of Germany must accept this challenge. Those no separate conscious immortality. who know Christ have no doubt as to the out- When it comes to the ethical side, it is denied come. There can be no neutrals in this struggle.
Ways of
'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home ~,~================E=D=IT=ED===BY==M==RS=.=E==ST=E=LL==A=S=.==A=IT=C=H=I=SO=N='=G==RA=N=V=I=LL=E='=O==H=IO================~.~~ NEW PLANS FOR PRO- ning lamp; Look and Read-an tian Ideal for America," with open book with a pair of spec- the Spirit of Home Missions, an GRAM BUILDERS tacles on it; Look at Your Indian, a mountaineer, a Span- THE LOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB Church-rays from above fo- iard, a Negro, an Alaskan, a cused upon a church building; Puerto Rican, etc., in vivid pan- Under this title the Forward and Look at Yourself-in the Looking Committee of the Meth- orama, and a ribbon visualiza- odist Episcopal Woman's Home looking glass, of course! tion of ties brought from Europe Mission Society has brought out This last volume is really the to various sections of the New a year's programs of a unique first, being intended for use in World by explorers and pioneers. character, the calendar being co- August, as a personal preface The leader next dials on a radio ordinated with a tiny "library" of 12 pamphlets enclosed in a wherein all officers and chairmen as if in search of station WHMS shall take an early look at them- from which The March of Time neat case, each pamphlet cover- selves in relation to the impend- is broadcast, short musical intering the material for a month's ing task, with the plans, goals, ludes being used between the program. The "club" is launched courses of study, organizational brief talks of people hidden be- "with the high hope that in the specifics, etc., thoroughly out- hind a screen and speaking as abstract study of the develop- lined and explained. Each de- if from a number of fields on ment and progress of home mis- partment of missionary endeav- which the society is working. sions, the understanding and de- or has the mirror held up for its The closing announcement is, votion of our sisterhood may be accurate reflection. As it is im- "The WHMS Marches on!" The deepened and broadened." The possible to follow the details of organization of the society is specific theme is, of course, "Pi- all the months, a general survey next illustrated in a large Temoneering Today in Home Mis- of the September booklet is here- ple Chart placed on an easel and sions," each month's "look" be- with given as a sample of the explained by the leader-founing at some phase of the task. development, the worthful sub- dation of Jesus Christ, organiza- Thus the first month is a "Look ject matter and its practical ap- tions, conferences and boards as Forward" at the magnitude of plication. As with all its succes- the steps, missionary education, the work. The cover design sors, the devotional service is Christian citizenship, departbears a clear cut telescope. The fully outlined even to the text mental bureaus, etc., as the pilensuing months are: "Look and for the leader's talk. Then fol- lars of a Greek temple. The Act," with a spotlight turned on low "The Look of the Month"- central pillar is finance. This Race Hatred, Intemperance and 20 minutes' study of the home feature covers the second divi- Juvenile Delinquency; Look at mission textbook (which is thus sion as outlined in each program the Work, a pair of eyes being completely covered in the course and is followed by the social focused at long range upon the of the year); a period on Wom- hour in which a recreational' map of the United States; Look an's Home Missions, which is a "Before and After" stunt is per- Up-Peace on Earth, with a specific study of some phase of formed. With the women distar; Look Ahead to Youth, the denomination's work–dti- vided into groups of four or five, with a pair of field glasses on zenship, conference institutions, or eight or ten if the audience is whose two lenses appear a boy Christian center activities, coop- large, leaders are chosen by each and a girl respectively; Look at erative projects and the like; group and a certain amount of Your Neighbor-an open win- while the last period is devoted time is given for planning. dow revealing a group of people to a social hour whose details fit When ready, a group depicts a of various nationalities inside; in with the preceding study. locality before and after the mis- Look at New Occasions-a ba- Thus in September the devotion- sionary society began its work, rometer, the sun and a cloud; al service takes a far and wide the audience in each case trying Look Far in Cooperation-a look at the task through God's to guess what institution or misyoung woman looking through a eyes; the textbook study pre- sion has been represented. The surveyor's transit; Look To- views "Toward a Christian best demonstration is then acgether-mother and daughter America" in a dramatic sketch claimed as decided upon either scanning a book under the eve- on "Home Missions the Chris- by judges or popular vote.
[543 ]
Posters suggested as adver- ination may be laid upon this by 11. What can a Christian individual tisement for this meeting fea- officers or chairmen of corre- and member of a group of Christian tured pioneer scenes, the invita- sponding committees who then young people do to improve motion tions being on a sunbonnet give their outlines for the open- pictures in your community? pasted on a postal card, and cov- ing year's work. The president ered wagons made of match cements all together, naming the 12. Can you subscribe to the stateboxes to be used as favors. binding material as "the helpful- ment on p. 162 beginning, "The fre"!- ness of each woman in the tier of the new day is largely social" While the specific details 'of this attrac- church." If the boxes are cov- as expressive of the whole task? tive series are denominational, its funda- ered with gold, silver or other mentals are of so unique a character and fancy paper, the design will be 13. Record somewhere what you so universally applicable that any Intelligent most attractive. This plan lends have definitely determined to do about program builder could adapt them to her itself to an annual meeting in the matters listed in this course. own use. It is issued by the Woman's Home which otherwise dull reports are Missionary Socitey of the Methodist Epis- to be presented. "So Built We From the Editor's Scrapbook copal Church, 420 Plum St., Cincinnati, the Wall" is the title suggested. Ohio. Price 50 cents. Capitalizing a Popular Hobby: Christian Youth in Action Hannah P. Miller, secretary for Another Year Book young women's work in the To an unusual degree this M. E. denomination, writes in a The program theme for the study for young folks may be new leaflet regarding capitalizwoman's society of the Alham- cast into the form of questions, ing the collecting hobby which bra, California, Baptist church discussion topics and the like. A enthralls all normal you t h was "Builders with Him" and few of Mrs. B. P. Heubner's as- sooner or later. Progressing the key verse "Come and let us signments as she taught this from dolls, pictures, books, pilbuild up the wall," Neh. 2: 17. book at the Lake Koronis, Minn., lows, spoons, elephants, etc., she The following is a brief outline assembly last summer were as proposes to call a halt on all of the meetings: follows: other accumulations until June 1935, the climax of the girls: Topic, "L a yin g Foundations 1. List some of the things wrong in Golden Year, meanwhile major- Through Reading." Presentation of America today. ing on "our little yellow envelnew books and the magazine Missions. opes" (containing the special 2. What are the attitudes of youth personal dues or gifts); $50 Stewardship, with the bricks of of your acquaintance toward the in- gifts from individuals or organ- Time, Money and Talent. ability to enter upon their life work? izations; names of new mem- What seems to you to be a Christian bers; subscriptions to Woman's Civic program, "Builders with Him attitude toward the situation? Home Missions, etc. Two prime for Good Citizenship." A temperance values stand out: (1) Friends program was given. 3. In what respects can the Church learning of the girls' new quest be said to have conformed to the will lend a hand to help make of Missionary program, "Building with standards of a pagan world? their favorite a Champion Col- Him Through Schools for Negroes." lector in the local or associa- 4. Arguments pro and con for sub- tional organization, and (2) Evangelism-"Winning New Work- sidizing or endowing churches to leave that whereas other collecting ers for the Wall." them free for their main task. hobbies are only for self-cen-· tered gratification, this one has Missionary program, "Building with 5. What is your community provid- an altruistic object in benefiting Him in Burma," Baptist literature ing for the leisure time of young peo- others. Even "collecting girls" and the Rangoon printing press being ple who cannot be in school? What for the membership may result featured. more might be done? in fine, lasting and serviceful friendships of far-reaching con- "Builders with Him Through White 6. From your own experience or ob- Cross Work," with dramatization servation, cite examples of interracial presented by the corresponding com- friendship. State obstacles and benemittee and a display of the work done. fits.
"Builders with Him in Our Church" 7. Would you patronize a Japanese -a workers' conference. dentist? A Negro physician? Enter- Various other special foreign fields were similarly considered.
"The luncheon feature for the year," says the Year Book, "is known as Birthday Partners. Each woman is given the name of a missionary whose birth date is the same as hers, and at the luncheon table (taking the tain a Mexican student in your home? sequences. Magazine subscripmonths successively) the women cele- Room with a Chinese at a conference? Are your answers free from race prej- tions result in a widening interbratin~ bring some news item or let- est with all its possible sequelre. ter from their birthday partners." udice?
Building the Wall 8. In the light of Chapter 2 analyze "Ships" for Toasts: The Col- your own community, considering its lege Ave. Baptist Church in Tois another widely adaptable needs, what the church or other agen- peka, Kansas, held a "covered theme based on the same Scrip- cies are doing to meet these, over- dish" luncheon using this theme, ture. The corner s ton e, of looked needs or situations, and formu- the table decorations featuring a course, should be Christ (repre- late recommendations for your young centerpiece representing a lake sented by a box of say 12 inches people's group and yourself. (silver paper) with a sparkling square), laid by a charter mem- beach, on which floated three 9. In parallel columns record facts regarding war which cause you to oppose it and why peace enlists your ber if possible. Then smaller active support. kindergarten – style s hip s of boxes labeled Prayer, Reading, 10. Has the attitude of young peo- heavy paper. Two were black Missionary Education, etc., ac- ple toward liquor changed since re- pirate ships with white masts peal? State evidence. Propose a pro- and sails – "Indifference" and cording to the departments of gram of action in dealing with the "Neglect," these being later run. work in the church or its denom- liquor situation.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
down and overturned by the Mounted on heavy material, the ties, and dividing the crowd into third, "Friendship," flying the back of each picture contains es- groups of from three to five each, American flag. Small boats sential information about its give each group one biography. carrying cargoes of nuts and subject. Mounted on heavy ma- The groups then repair to dif- other foods were used over the terial, the pictures are suitable ferent rooms or different corners table. The leader's talk showed for framing and using as visual- of the same room and read tohow neglect and indifference izations in missionary meetings, gether their leaflets, returning must be overcome and replaced study classes or Sunday school after ten minutes and putting on by friendship in dealing with teaching and give personal in- their demonstrations, playing "New Americans." The toasts terest to descriptive or biograph- charade-fashion upon the names .w ere on "Interpretership," ical material. of the missionary subjects. The "Friendship," "F e 110 w s hip," counselor then collects the biog- "Citizenship"and "Partnership." Birthday Partners: A good raphies and asks of each group A selection from "the Ship of luncheon feature for the wom- any ten questions (except exact State" was read. The plan lends an's society is to assign to each dates) answered in its sketch, a itself to the theme for home mis- member the name of a mission- point being scored for each sion study this year-"Toward a ary whose natal day is the same query answered cor r e c t 1y. Christian America." as her own and have these wom- Should the other groups be un- en, month by month during the able to guess the charade in the A Missionary Reading Room: year, give some news item or course of the quiz, the perform- The methods department in Mis- read a letter from their birth- ing group scores ten points so sions tells of a plan used in day partners at the luncheon that its maximum score is twenty White Temple (Baptist), Port- table, thus affording a double points. "You see this makes a land, Oregon, going a step far- "celebration." plain game into a purposeful ther than the common use of a game in which some learning literature table in the church Business Around the Maypole: processes must be going on or vestibule, or some other easily some very low scores will be accessible place. Miss Nettie Johnston writes of a made. The game may be played plan used at the May meeting in through several meetings." "Ours," writes Mrs. J. Fred Bell, the Pittsburgh Branch of the secretary of literature, "is a down Methodist Women's Auxiliary "Missionary Footsteps in Ja- town church, and when the family car for livening up the reception of pan." This apropos program takes the young people to the B. Y. branch reports. It was in the was prepared by Pearle Bourne P. D., fathers and mothers must go setting of a dolls' maypole party, and is described in The Window then and wait an hour for the church the "dolls" being pieces of mail- of Y. W. A., organ of the Wom- service. So we feel that this room ing tubes about five inches long an's Auxiliary of the Southern fills a real need. It is a small S. S. dressed up in ruffles of fluffy Baptist Convention: room, easily heated and comfortably crepe paper and drooping hats furnished. We (the board of missions framing faces cut from maga- Poster suggestion, an outline map of the church) started a library with zines. As each secretary read of Japan with Japanese shoes (clogs) books bought for the school of mis- her report, she rolled it up, marching across it. Dse some such sions. We are subscribing to Missions pressed it into a tube and at- wording as this: "March with Mis- magazine so there will always be the tached the doll to a streamer of sions across Japan at (time and current issue on the table, as well as the pole. This pole was set in place)." Japanese shoes made into 'A Book of Remembrance' and free the midst of a lawn of green folders in which is printed the pro- leaflets. We are asking for donations paper and had a yellow paper gram will be effective. Hymns: of missionary books." "flower of happiness" for China, "Footsteps of Jesus"; "Follow, Fol- a real iris for Japan, a rose for low, We Will Follow Jesus"; "Where Forty Missionary Stories is India and America, etc., at the He Leads Me I Will Follow." Devothe name of a new book by Mar- top. The gay streamers of the tional: "Ye Should Follow His Steps," garet W. Eggleston-"true tales pole and dresses of the dolls re- 1 Peter 2: 21b. Talks on "Getting that have the heart touch and lieved the monotony of the re- Our Footing," "Our Footing in 44 that carry their morals without ports. Years," etc., according to the subject words. They are not of equal matter to be covered in the program. stimulus but they cover a sur- Charades for Fellowship: A Special music, "Beautiful Japan," or prising range and few readers writer in The World Call sug- "Hail to the Brightness." Other fea- will escape their emotional ap- gests after looking over the bi- tures may be: "Footfalls that Pre- peal. The book is particularly ography sets of the United saged Great Events," "Footprints on adapted for use among boys of Christian Missionary Society the Sands of Time," "Turning Shoes the hero-worshiping age. (Har- that charades should be impro- Around" (changing old non-Christian per's; $1.50, or through your vised to familiarize people with ways through missionary influence). own literature department.) the names of missionaries and "Getting Our Footing" may be a True- impart information as to what and-False test, the leader either hand- Portraits of Missionaries: The each one did. Selecting from ing out a written test for each mem- Baptist Department of Mission- the leaflets such names as Trout, ber to mark or reading the items and ary Education has a large collec- Palmer, Hunter, Weaver, etc., letting the organization indicate the tion of 10×12¥2 portraits of its having dramatization possibili- correct reply, as: "The name, Japan, missionaries to which it keeps was given by Perry when the country adding from time to time. was opened to trade. (b) By the Chinese since the sun came from its direction. (c) Because of its beauty," the second being correct.
~~I====~============~========~I~
BULLETIN OF The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK GIVEN TO HOSPITALITY Jesus said, "When thou makest a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; they have not wherewith to recompense thee."
Peter in writing "to the elect" urged them to practice "hospitality one to another without murmuring." Paul, in letters to the Roman Christians and to Timothy, his "true child in the faith," repeats the charming words, "given to hospitality."
The Rune of Hospitality I saw a stranger yestreen: as it unites us to Him and makes congregations who have listed I put food in the eating place, His prayers one with ours, will the members who would be the Drink in the drinking place, lead us to intercessory prayer first to leave and who would Music in the listening place; for all men." doubtless afterwards have "gold And in the sacred name of the Triune, stars" on another flag to be hung He blessed myself and my house, *** in the church. My cattle and my dear ones. And the lark said in her song, Let us thank God for the growing In helping its members "to Often, often, often, and deepening consciousness of the seek peace and pursue it," the Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise, need for peace, and for the personal Broadway Tabernacle Church in Often, often, often, knowledge of Him who brings peace New York City has made use of Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise. on earth.-From the Call of Prayer, the following anti-war declara- announcing the observance of the tion: -Old Gaelic Rune. Recovered by World Day of Prayer, February 28, Kenneth McCleod. 1936. "I have quietly considered what I would do if my nation THANKS BE TO GOD MAKING UP OUR MINDS should again be drawn into war.
Luke tells how Paul on his last Strange how we strong- "I am not taking a pledge bejourney "thanked God and took minded Americans who usually cause I do not know what I courage." know where we want to go, and would do when the heat of war straightway go, are now fum- mood is upon the country. But Paul in writing to his Chris- bling and stumbling along in in a mood of calm consideration tian friends in Philippi and making up our minds how to I do today declare that I cannot Colossre combined the giving of keep our nation out of the hell reconcile the way of Christ with thanks to God and steadfastness of another war. Evidently too the practice of war. in prayer. many of us keep our minds on the possible war rather than on "I do, therefore, set down my Father Fabian says: "Our our probable strength to find the name to be kept in the records own interests drive us obviously Way of Peace. I have heard of of my Church, so that it will be to prayer, but it is love alone which leads to thanksgiving. [546 ] There is little enough of prayer but there is still less of thanksgiving."
"Our knowledge of the Love of God to us calls us to pray for ourselves that we may be worthy of His Love. Our love for Jesus,
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOlv.lE MISSIONS
for me a reminder if war should thority of the Foreign Policy As- sciences have performed a valcome; and will be a solemn dec- uable function in conducting relaration to those who hold to sociation, which has gained wide search which increases our recognition as a source of un- knowledge of human relations, this conviction in time of war biased information on interna- but their findings do not reach that I believe them to be right; the masses, and therefore have and I do desire with my whole tional affairs, but the facts are too little influence on public presented in popular, non-tech- opinion. The Foreign Policy Asmind and heart that I shall be sociation believes that the most among those who keep to this be- nical language. Each book con- useful service which it can perlief. tains about forty pages and is form at this time is to develop a new means of public education "I set down my name to make illustrated with unique pictorial which will secure a wider disconcrete my present thought charts or graphs. tribution and more effective use of the knowledge derived from upon the question of war, and The series is especially suited research. declare my purpose to think and to the needs of discussion groups, The project is being carried talk with others about it, that current events clubs and forums. out by a new Department of my belief in the way of Christ Study outlines and supplemen- Popular Education organized tary material are available to this fall under the direction of shall become operative in this William T. Stone, Vice-President and in other questions which teachers, ministers, and club of the Foreign Policy Associanow confuse our thought and leaders using the books for dis- tion. Mr. Stone is assisted by action." cussion groups. The books are Mr. Omar P. Goslin, as educa- tional secretary, and Mrs. *** published in two editions: a Phyllis A. Goslin as editor. Mr. paper covered pamphlet edition and Mrs. Goslin are authors of Since June, 1934, the General for organizations and study Rich Man, Poor Man, a graphic Council of Congregational and survey of our economic dilemma groups at 25 cents a copy; and which has received enthusiastic Christian Churches has author- praise fro m educators and ized preparation for "a plebis- a book trade edition bound in critics. boards on sale at all bookstores cite of our denomination to de- at 35 cents a copy. Released by Foreign Policy Association, termine the mind of our people" S W, 40th St., New York, New York. on four propositions or others The gravity of the world crisis relating to the question of war is one compelling reason for this and peace. The vote is being new venture. If society is to taken this month. solve the fundamental problems May God be praised that of our times without resort to under his guidance some Chris- violence, it must apply knowltians will be led to make up their edge and understanding more minds concerning the Way of Peace. successfully than it has in the past. In recent years the social NEW VENTURE IN ~.
POPULAR EDUCATION I Headline Books Offer Popular I Material on International Problems I The Foreign Policy Associa- FLANDERS FIELD tion announces an interesting The float, shown above, entitled Flanders Field, was a unit in the Peace Demonstration experiment in popular education, prepared by Mrs. J. H. Callister, and directed at the Northfield Missionary Conference, initiated this month with the Northfield, Mass., in July. For particulars regarding such a demonstration for Peace, publication of Headline Books. The first volume is entitled "War refer to the B1IIletin for November, or address tbe Editor. Tomorrow: Will We Keep Out?" a survey of the proposals for keeping America out of the next war, written against the background of our participation in the World War.
The object of Headline Books is to present the complicated and difficult problems of our times in a form so simple and interesting that they will be understood by the millions of Americans who don't normally read "serious" books. The material which goes into each book carries the au- ! Our World–wide Outlook ~ ~II,~,=====A=M=issi=ona=ry =Ne~ wsp~ape=r o=f C=urr=ent=Ev=ent=s =====~~ NORTH AMERICA Interior, and is expected to take can be a Scout or receive a com- from five to ten years to com- mission unless he believes in Human Relations Institute plete. The work will employ God. In 1917 a special edition of the Bible and of the New The Williamstown Institute of about 4,000 men. Rev. Roy H. Testament, bearing the Scout in- Human Relations meeting at Murray has been appointed by signia and readings on the Scout Williams College in September, the Washington Co un c i I of brought together Jewish, Cath- Churches and Christian Educa- law, were issued.
olic and Protestant representa- tion for this work. The culminating "daily good tives with a frank and deter- turn," which is the capstone of mined purpose to create a better Chicago's Kingdom of God the movement, came in 1934, understanding. The 680 mem- Fellowship when the President of the United bers of this Institute, while not States broadcast a request for a forsaking the cardinal principles Chicago is developing a "King- nation-wide good turn during of their own religion, feel bound dom of God Fellowship," with Anniversary Week. In response together in a common task of aims akin to those in the Fellow- to this call, the boys gathered combating the forces of national- ship sponsored by Kagawa: "(1) 91,863 pieces of household furniism, secularism, intolerance and The deepening of spiritual life. ture, 22,206 pieces of bedding, materialism which are alarm- (2) An educational program to 268,716 pieces of clothing for inform the churches and inter- men, 276,423 pieces of clothing ingly on the increase. The Institute was based upon pret for them the life, the Chris- for women, 266,160 pieces of recognition of the fact that while tian experience and social pro- clothing for children, besides fundamental religious differ- gram of Toyohiko Kagawa, and 79,617 miscellaneous pie c e s. ences must remain, m u t u a I to relate ourselves to the Chris- These supplies were given to ununderstanding and a working tian International Fellowship employed persons. cooperation can be established in that is coming under the impulse Now, after twenty-five years spite of them; and that interest of Kagawa's Christ-like life and of the Scout Movement, almost in mutual problems can sur- teaching. (3) The study of and 800 men are devoting their mount respective differences. the relating of ourselves to the whole time to its leadership. A outstanding social action move- training school is carried on Are Country Churches Dying? ments within our own churches near Mendham, N. J. and the cooperative movement This question is often heard, -The Christian Advocate. as a technique for world brotherand a Louisville Baptist minister hood." Quaker Branches United has worked out an answer in the following figures for Kentucky: A booklet entitled "Kagawa A breach of more than a hun- dred years' duration was healed City Country and the Kingdom of God" has when the two branches of the been prepared and is being dis- Religious Society of Friends, Churches Churches commonly known as Quakers, tributed. Dr. Kagawa expects talked, prayed and were silent in Membership ….. 18,677 18,675 to be in the United States dur- Baptisms ……. 570 1,045 ing the winter.
Pastors' Salaries. $39,573 $33,883 Total Gifts …… $201,606 $69,723 S. S. Enrolment. 14,897 11,692 Scout's Silver Anniversary the same New York meeting house. More than a century ago -Watchman-Examiner.
Another Cooperative Project About half the Boy Scout the followers of Elias Hicks, calling themselves liberals, broke Seven denominations are coop- troops in the United States are erating in the support of an in- connected with churches. Of the off from the orthodox section, terdenominational religious pro- organization's twelve laws, the and each Suriday since then gram at the site of the Grand Coulee Dam in the State of most fundamental is the twelfth, these Quakers went their sep- Washington. This support pro- which reads: "A Scout is reyvides for a religious worker and arate ways. The reunion, which helps toward the erection of a erent toward God. He is faith- took place at Gramercy Park chapel building. The dam is being built by the Reclamation ful in his religious duties, and meeting house, was character- Bureau of the Department of the respects the convictions of others ized by a quiet service. When in matters of custom and reli- the service and announcements gion." This has been embodied were over there was a filing out, in the constitution of the Boy a shaking of hands, a little nod- ding across the meeting house. Scouts of America, and no one [548 ]
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Danish Lutherans Take Washington Chinese Church religious. The "Socialist" teach- ing of Mexico is planned to a Stand The organization of a Chinese remove all religious preconcep- Community Church among the tions from the minds of the peo- The Danish Evangelical Lu- 800 resident Chinese is one of ple. In one of the most populous theran Church in America, with the most interesting recent de- states, all school teachers must a baptized membership of 18,- velopments in Washington, D. C., sign the following document: 000, assembled in convention in and is a brand new enterprise. Danevang, Texas, June 14-18, The recent visit of Dr. P. C. I declare that by all the means in passed the following resolution: Chua, head of a private hospital my power I will fight the Roman Cath- in Canton and an earnest Chris- olic religion and other religions. I Be it hereby tian, has initiated this move- declare that I will not take part in ment. The purpose is to con- private or public in any ceremony of Resolved, That the Danish Evan- duct a communuity church with the Catholic Church or any other regelical Lutheran Church in America educational, social and recrea- ligion. in convention assembled fully en- tional features in connection dorses other church bodies and peace with the religious services. The Many mission schools have organizations in their efforts to se- church will seek affiliation with been closed and it is expected cure full publicity concerning the the Church of Christ in China. that, by the end of the present facts and forces of armaments, and The pastor is Rev. C. C. Hung, school year, the few remaining in their efforts to create an enlight- of Detroit, who has had experi- schools will close. ened public opinion against the out- ence in similar enterprises. rageous increases of current appro- Mr. Grubb found the followpriations for the war and navy de- Quarters will be selected ad- ing is a Socialist Lord's Prayer partments. . . . jacent to the Chinese residential being taught in one school: area. Subscriptions promise We condemn the traffic in arma- adequate finances for the year. Our Socialism which is on the earth, ments, the diversion of money from The few Christian Chinese are Respected be thy name; public funds to channels indirectly en- all behind the enterprise and are Thine influence come, larging the power of the military es- represented on its board of man- Thy will be done as in the cities so tablishments, the subtle basis of the agers. Many other resident militaristic setup and spirit in vari- Chinese have shown their in- in the fields. ous public activities such as R. O. terest. -Christian Advocate. Give us this day our daily bread, T. C. colleges, relief organizations, Do not pardon us if we pardon our and economic agencies of control, and the taking of excessive individual and enemies, corporate profits in the production of And lead us not into the hand of armaments. clergy, But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Anti-Race Discrimination Moravians in Alaska It is useless to contemplate sending more missionaries to Christians who believe with The Moravian Alaska Mission Mexico, but Mr. Grubb calls at~ the Apostle Peter that God is no is celebrating its jubilee this tention to the fact that as the respecter of persons must re- year. The most encouraging prayers of God's children turned joice in the action of Pennsyl- feature of the work has been the the tide in a similar situation in vania in passing its anti-race- eagerness to read, and learn the China so will prevail today discrimination bill. This law Bible on the part of the young prayer, and spiritual life canprovides that there shall be no people, the best proof being the not be destroyed by governments discrimination "because of race, frequent and intelligent ques- today. creed or color," in inns, taverns, tions they ask. Often the midroadhouses, hotels, restaurants, week services are entirely given Mexico's Women for buffets, saloons, barrooms, ice over to Bible readings. Eng- Temperance .cream parlors, confectionaries, lish is being used more and soda fountains, drugstores, dis- more; no new translations of the South of the Rio Grande, as pensaries, c 1i n i c s, hospitals, Bible were made by the Mora- north of it, the saloon or tavern bathhouses, theatres, motion-pic- vian Mission last year. is a focus of crime and delinture houses, airdromes, roof quency. Mexican pulque and gar den s, music halls, race -Bible Society Record. tequila are as cheap as beer and courses, skating rinks, amuse- wine in the United States. It is ment and recreation parks, fairs, LATIN AMERICA with real satisfaction that Presibowling all e y s, gymnasiums, dent Cardenas, of Mexico, welshooting galleries, billiard and Education in Mexic9 comes the women of his nation pool parlors, public libraries, in a fight against alcohol. "It is kindergartens, primary and sec- The new system of education up to them' more than anyone ondary schools, high schools, in Mexico is closely allied to its else to solve the problem," he academies, colleges and universi- religious life. By a recent said recently, "for the sake of ties, garages and all public con- amendment to the Constitution, their children and homes, and to veyances. This seems to cover "Socialist teaching" is obligatory see that their husbands and the ground pretty thoroughly. in all schools, including mission brothers make good use of the schools. Mr. Kenneth Grubb, money they earn. Women will -Presbyterian Tribune. who examined Government text- be gratified to know that they books prepared for primary schools, found them to be anti-
have undertaken a great work. prisoners throughout the world. "Christ-Believing Jews" In the case of extreme necessity," he warned, "I may even For the coming Christmas some For several years there has have to prohibit the manufacture been in Hungary a group of of intoxicating liquor, so that 25,000 English, and over 5,000 Jews who have never severed this work will not be in vain." their connection with their peo- The National Revolutionary foreign letters, each handwritten ple, but who, as Jews, believe Party is conducting a series of that Jesus of Nazareth is the radio programs against the and decorated and containing a Messiah promised in the Old traffic in strong drinks. Testament. The leader of this clear Gospel message, have al- group is Dr. Deszo Foldes, who Ecuador Nationalizes Churches is the president of the Hun- ready been prepared. Two garian Hebrew – Christian Al- A decree was issued on Oc- liance. He has just published a tober 15th· nationalizing Ecua- prisons in the United States each book in which he relates his exdorean churches. It was an- perience on entering the Chrisnounced that another dec r e e are to receive 5,000 letters; the tian life, and his later efforts to would be issued nationalizing the advance Christ's cause among clergy. total number sent to North his own people. Among the rea- sons given for the establishment In 1869 tithes on farm produce America is over 24,000, while of "The Union of Hungarian for the support of the Roman Christ-Believing Jews" are the Catholic Church were abolished, about 600 in Spanish go to following: and a tax was substituted. In 1902, civil marriage was per- South America. Weare Christ-believing Jews bemitted and two years later the cause we believe in Jesus Christ. Church was placed under State Letters in several languages With all the strength of our soul and control. with all conviction of mind, we be- are being prepared for India. lieve and confess that He, Jesus of Plans for Amazon Basin Nazareth, is the one who, in accord- There are also requests for sev- ance with the promises of God through The vastness of the Amazon the great and holy prophets of our basin, and the apparently un- eral hundred Christmas letters Jewish people, was to come, and, by limited possibilities of its future His own sacrifice, to save His own bedevelopment have engaged the for use by prison wardens in loved people as well as all other sinattention of missionary agencies. ful lost souls, from their condemna- . It is said that this basin could India. -The Christian. tion, the death of sin. support 500,000,000 people, so immense are its natural re- Italy Needs Help We call ourselves Christ-believing sources. It seems beyond ques- Jews because we are children of the tion that its development will The Spezia Mission in Italy Jewish people and remain so, for we come within a generation or two. scrupulously keeps outside all are not willed to loosen the ties of With such possibilities in mind, political and military questions. union with our Jewish brothers, but Presbyterian forces of Brazil Its hands are full caring for rather desire to cultivate and foster have been contemplating the in- souls in its many sided work. It these ties. We cannot see a solution auguration of an evangelical is anxious that in the present of the Jewish question except by spirwork along the river, in order to crisis the needs of orphaned chil- itual renaissance through acceptance gain the advantage of being on dren should not be forgotten. of the New Testament without the the scene from the beginning. The Girls' Orphanage has been surrender of Jewish individuality. The plan calls for the coopera- at work for more than half a tion of the Brazilian Presby- century, while an orphanage for -Alliance Weekly. terian Church and the Northern boys is nearing completion. and Southern Presbyterian mis- While Rome, using the political Evangelism in Norway sions joining in itinerary work crisis, is seeking to crush the that would carry the Gospel up Spezia Mission, the workers feel About twenty-five years ago and down the river by boat to that the present situation fur- a revival in Norway laid the the widely scattered communi- nishes a definite opportunity to foundations of the greater evanties. -Christian Observer. proclaim the cause of Christ to gelical and missionary z e a I the Italian people. shown by that country as com- EUROPE pared with the other two Scan- -The Christian. dinavian lands. Today a strong Christmas Letters for evangelical movement is in evi- Prisoners Campaign in Corsica dence, especially among the stu- dents. Two years ago a Swedish Great Britain has groups of The Camps and Tours Union evangelist set up a Gospel tent voluntary helpers engaged in has held a series of ten evan- in Oslo for a series of meetings, preparing Christmas letters to gelistic meetings in isolated and the demand for evangelist'ic mountain villages of the Island services has been so sustained of Corsica. So far as known, that he is still there. The people not one Protestant was present; hunger for the Gospel. the average attendance of 30 was entirely Roman Catholic. Nearly all the population (2,- French Testaments, Gospels and 649,775) belongs to the Lutheran tracts were accepted readily by all those present, most of whom had never seen a Bible. At one meeting the people asked for an explanation of the difference be- tween Catholic and Protestant belief. Personal talks, explana- 1:!ion of texts and prayer had definite results among those of every walk in life.
-Life of Faith.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Church, within which this evan- Rev. G. Guenod, which deserves Missionaries Help Ethiopia wider circulation. We quote: gelical movement finds its home. American missionary doctors The country is strongly Prot- The steamer which is taking and nurses are planning to reestant, having only 3,000 Roman us to the Cameroon made a stop main in Ethiopia, in case of war at Algiers and then at Casa- Catholics. Only 800,000 of the blanca. In the first named place with Italy, in order that they population of Norway live in we passed the Depot of the Brit- may aid the wounded and ill. cities. The country population ish Bible Society. In 1934 there is very scattered, the average were distributed and sold, copies Dr. Robert W. Hockman, a density being only twenty-two of the Bible and New Testaments medical missionary, is reported to the number of 66,614 copies. people to the square mile. recently to have left for the -The Christian. frontier with five tons of Ethio- pian Red Cross supplies, includ- This work employs seven colpor- ing operating tables, stretchers AFRIOA teurs, both among Europeans and tents. He was accompanied and natives. The agency in Al- by Dr. Malaku Bayen, Ethiopian Changes Under Way giers is able to supply the Word husband of the daughter of the Nothing that is happening in of God in nearly 60 different President of Howard Univer- Egypt, and, in fact, in all Mos- languages. sity, Washington, and 100 native lem countries, seems more sig- Casablanca is a prodigious assistants. nificant than men's awakening city which was not in existence Dr. Tom A. Lambie, field dito the desirability of educating before 1907! It contains so rector of the Ethiopian Mission, women for a place in society many things to see, among them a part of the Sudan Interior Missimilar to that in the West. "Bidonville," the "zone," the sion with headquarters in To- Arabic papers frequently pub- name of which indicates its mis- ronto, is organizing the Red lish articles on the subject, some erable appearance. of which have been translated Cross. Dr. Esther Bergman into English. At a Rotary Club "ladies night" recently in Cairo Contrary to appearances about and Dr. Tesla Nicola, both of Los there were several Mohammedan 10,000 Moslems swarm about the Angeles, and other missionary members present, including the place. Our arrival was marked doctors, will convert their hospresident of the club; but not by the Aid-el-Kebir, the great pitals into institutions for war one Mohammedan lady came day of the "mutton feast." wounded. American w 0 men with her husband. The example Every family kills a sheep, and have also volunteered their servset by the Palace, where the everywhere from u n d e r the ices in making bandages and Queen is kept in complete se- doors of the little yards flow splints. clusion so far as mixed com- little streams of blood which feed pany is concerned, tends to keep the ill-smelling mud of the Foreigners in Addis Ababa back the older leaders of the streets. This does not prevent (pronounced A'ddis A'hwahwa) community from following new the crowd from strutting about fear air raids and gas attacks social ways. in magnificent holiday attire. It most; except for a few anti- happens to be at the same time aircraft guns, the capital is un- -Wilbert B. Smith. the Jewish Sabbath. prepared for such attacks. Few are equipped with gas masks The Gospel Welcomed At the "House of the Bible" which an enterprising German we had the good fortune to meet merchant is selling at $40 each. The Church Missionary So- Mr. Dugald Cam p bell, the ciety reports a marked change in The British Legation, which is Omdurman, Egyptian Sudan, in Scotch colporteur of the desert. on a full wartime footing and is the attitude to Christianity. For more than thirty years he equipped with subterranean dug- There is a growing interest and outs; the German Legation has readiness to listen, evidenced by has been traversing the Sudan bomb-proof shelters but the the large attendance at meet- and the Sahara in every direc- United States Legation has no ings where the speakers included tion. He is particularly inter- such protection. an Armenian, an American, an Egyptian, an Englishman and a ested in the Tuaregs and has French Government Donation Sudanese. Simple Christian teaching is welcomed in the hos- written about them and his After the aeroplane accident pitals, although not a few draw trips some gripping stories. in Congo BeIge, which cost the back when they realize what is lives of Governor General and involved in an open acceptance Mr. Campbell was just about Madame Renard, the French of Christ. -Life of Faith. Government acknowledged the to start on a new tour. It takes service rendered by Baptist Mis- him about two years and a half. sionaries at Bolobo and Tshum- He needs to buy eight or nine biri by sending a donation to- camels on which he will load his small parcels and hundreds of kilos of Gospels (which are pub- The Bible in North Africa lished in his own Targui trans- ward the work of these stations. lation). He is always in danger After paying the costs in- The Journal des Missions of a bullet from a fierce, but un- curred, the missionaries plan to Evangeliques publishes a letter seen Chleuh, but the cover of apply the money toward ur- gently needed new buildings-at from one of its missionaries, the God will protect him.
Bolobo, new classrooms for Ayia Sofia, is to be turned into a zation. An Indian lady from teacher training and girls' dor- public library. Lucknow has been elected chairmitory, and at Tshumbiri improvement of missionary dwell- Persia Makes Radical Changes man of the united organization. ings. -Southern Workman. Three Indian delegates were sent In addition to other changes Another Jubilee Offering in Iran has come the introduc- to the World's Student Christian tion of music (forbidden by the Federation, which met in Bul- From the chief and oldest Koran) with military bands and garia last August. While angrandmother to the youngest singing taught in schools. Relichild, everybody helped to make gious leaders have been stripped other contact is with the newly bricks, bringing timber from 30 of old perquisites, such as the organized Student Christian miles and sand from five miles right to witness all deeds for fat away to build an addition to the fees, the control of the huge Movement of Java when four church at Qanqu, South Africa, lands and possessions of the representatives of the Indian and thus worthily celebrate the church, and the right to inter- movement visited Java last Augchurch's fiftieth anniversary. fere in political affairs. Many Seventeen hundred people at- who have protested the change ust. India is also looking fortended the opening service, 700 have been imprisoned or exiled. ward with great interest to the of them communicants. Besides visit of the American Negroes the offering, a special gift was Marriageable age for girls has also been raised from nine to six- who are planning to tour most of teen, and the consent of the first the important student centers in India, Burma and Ceylon in the coming winter.
-The Christian Century.
presented to the Bishop, includ- wife is required before a second Revolt Against Hinduism ing seven oxen and several sheep, can be taken. Modern schools 400 pounds of potatoes, 200 have been established for girls The Associated Press reports pounds of sugar and several as well as boys; moving pictures that on October 15th ten thoupounds of tea. The Bishop gave are used in government schools; sand "untouchables" revolted all this back to the people and and policemen have been ordered against Hinduism by resolution a grand feast followed. The to tear up every old style hat after they had been addressed by building fund was sec u red they see. Recently the leading Dr. Ramji Ambedkar, at a meetchiefly by the Bishop of Aber- mosque in Hamadan was com- ing of the depressed classes at deen, after his visit to South mandeered by the department of Nasik. education, and the dome was Dr. Ambedkar urged them to Africa a few years ago. used for the suspension of a abandon Hinduism and adopt WESTERN ASIA Foucalt's pendulum, showing the "any other religion which gives Changes in Turkey revolution of the earth on its you equality of status and treat- axis, thus proving that the world ment." He continued: "I had the misfortune to be born with The Moslem W 0 r l d (New does move-in more ways than the stigma of the untouchable, York) reports that further rad- one. -The Presbyterian. ical changes are taking place in but it is not my fault. I will not Turkey. Bahaism Under Fire die a Hindu."
The new Parliament proposes to Iran is using governmental His audience heard the adtransfer the weekly day of rest from authority to suppress Bahaism, dress with marked enthusiasm.
Friday to Sunday. Primarily this is one of the greatest of peace or- Practical Christianity a change due to commercial, and not ganizations. This sect, perseto religious reasons. Money and time cuted in Turkey, found freedom Ten boys from a mission are lost on the Continental Bourse by in Iran, the land of their birth, school in North India put their Constantinople being closed on ,Fri- but an official proclamation has Christianity into effect during days. At the same time the change is now closed their schools. The the hot season by providing railworking to the advantage of the reason for this persecution is way passengers with drinks of Christian, and is another blow to the that their spiritual leader peti- cold water. They also helped old Moslem. However hard it may be for tioned the League of Nations to men and women, some of whom Christians in Turkey today, their secure for them the right to elect had never traveled before and position is in no way so difficult or a representative at the Persian were glad to have cheery lads distressing as that of Islam. Out- Parliament. help them with their bundles. wardly at least, Islam is crumbling. -United Presbyterian. These same boys, during an The Muezzins are forbidden to call to prayer from the minarets in Arabic; epidemic of malarial fever, went into the villages and distributed it must be in Turkish. But the call quinine, encouraged people to brings no general response; the old keep their bodies clean and to take other health precautions. In imam's voice, breaking on a top note, INDIA AND SIAM only calls forth mocking laughter. Student Christian Movement Ayia Sofia (formerly a Christian Church and then a mosque) has been The Student Christian Movereopened as a museum. The great ment of India is entering upon a discs bearing the names of the first four Khalifs and other like decora- new phase of its history, as it some places they showed lantern tions of a Moslem character have been removed and the old atmosphere has has been found possible to unify slides which suggested ways of gone. It is rumored that the mosque the men students' and the wom- maintaining good health.
of the Sultan Achmed, the one nearest en movements into one organi- -The Christian.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Toward Christian Unity Learning to Live In and Around Malacca Dr. E. Stanley Jones is setting Rural reconstruction is mak- The missionary history of up in Lucknow a new ashram, ing headway in Burma. The for the special study of service Malacca (Malaysia) contains the and evangelism. He is an ear- Methodist Anglo – Vernacular names of three famous men. nest advocate of Christian unity, School has a rural bias in its cur- St. Francis Zavier worked there riculum. Boarding pupils pay and would combine all Christians 20 baskets of rice annually for for some time, and stories of his in one "Church of Christ in miraculous power are still cur- India," with many "branches"- their board, and do outside man- rent among his followers. Milne Syrian, Lutheran, Methodist, ual work certain hours. Weav- ing, carpentry and the like are started the Anglo-Chinese Col- Friends, etc., each branch keep- lege in Malacca toward the end ing for the present its old or- additional. Girls are instructed ganization. Over all would be in poultry raising. In the dor- of the 18th century. It was later an All-India General Assembly mitories, the students practice moved to China. Robert Moror Synod, meeting at long inter- housekeeping in groups, buying rison set up his first printing vals, the National Christian and preparing the meals on one press in Malacca, and there his Council acting as an executive rupee a week. first translations of the Bible committee. At Chaungwa is an S. P. G. into Chinese were printed. Shel- -Christian Advocate. rural center which is similar in labear Hall commemorates the aim and method. Literary work Methodist pioneers in this field, Dr. and Mrs. Shellabear. Mrs.
Telugu Convention is done at both schools and the Shellabear founded the Suydam manual training appears to In Bezwada, India, was held make the pupils more alert. Girls' School, and the boarding recently the great Telugu Con- school which accommodates 100 vention, which was attended by -Burma News. girls. more than twenty thousand native Christians, saved from A Problem in Siam Malacca has a Tamil congreheathenism. A huge structure was built for the occasion. The Dr. Barnhouse, writing in gation and one for the Hokien delegates slept on the ground. Revelation, after a recent visit, Chinese. Daily Vacation Bible Their wants were few-a little tells us that the Siamese have a rice and curry. REVIEW readers tendency to accept Christianity Schools are conducted in eight are familiar with the beginnings by households. Families are so outlying districts, as well as in of this work among the Telugus bound together that if any indi- -how for years no opening was vidual considers becoming a Malacca. One new outstation Christian, it is a matter for the has been opened recently, also a new Sunday School in Malacca.
-Woman's Missionary Friend.
gained, until some Boards were household to settle. He goes to CHINA on the point of recalling their his parents, his brothers and workers. At last the break Missions and Philanthropy came, and 2,222 were baptized sisters, and even households of Cooperate in a single day. Since then the cousins are consulted, so that work has steadily developed. The Spirit of Missions gives a when a man becomes a Chris- striking example of cooperation -Alliance Weekly. tian, frequently his whole house- between a mission hospital and hold is brought in, and some- a benevolent society. This was In the Assam Hills in Anking, where not long ago a times two or three collateral crowd of forlorn women and Rev. W. G. Supplee, Baptist households. This explains one children, driven in by famine worker in Assam, reports that from outlying farms and vilchurch membership is growing of the great difficulties that has lages, invaded the city, grabbed faster than it can be cared for. been prevalent in the work of the wheels of jinrikishas and At the present time the Christian membership of the churches the schools. A student from a non-Christian home who comes under the influence of Christian- ity, and who perhaps really has among the Serna Nagas is well become a Christian at heart, will pulled at coat sleeves, begging over 5,000; the past year 800 were added. The Association of consult his parents before con- food. the Christians of one section of sidering baptism. More often Anking has a group of Chinese than not, permission will be rethe field was held at Alaphumi, business men who call thema village 100 miles from Kohima. fused, and the student will obey selves a "Fellow Benevolence the parents. There have been Society." They are not all There were 4,400 people there. many cases where, years after Christians. When this invasion The Gospel of Mark is the only graduation, students have writ- took place, a committee of the part of the Scriptures available ten to their former teachers say- society went through the streets ing that parents having died, or after midnight and picked up all in the Serna Naga.
The missionary motorcycle other obstacles having been re- the children between six and traveled over 1,000 miles on the moved, they have decided pub- twelve years who were sleeping paths of the Naga Hills, Assam, licly to become a Christian. on doorsteps in the rain-139 of during the past year. Through the years they have them.
-Watchman-Examiner. continued their Bible reading. The men's society then ap-
pealed to St. James' Hospital in ference held recently at Kuling, hundred centers the Chinese Anking. The staff got into ac- Central China. Nanking Theo- Government is offering treattion and vaccinated for small- logical Seminary expects to re- ment for addicts of the drug and pox; scrubbed, dosed, treated, ceive about $3,000,000 from the before the end of 1935 all are redressed wounds, shaved heads Wendel estate, all of which will quired to report for treatment. and deinfested. The mission's be reinvested and the income Those who are discovered using religious education workers took used in augmenting the equip- drugs after they have been turns going over to teach tooth- ment and personnel of theolog- treated will be subject to five brushing, handscrubbing, and ical schools the country over. years' imprisonment; those who other pleasant "games"; also are compelled by force to submit put up posters from the Chinese As a first step toward reduc- to treatment and then relapse National Health Administration. ing the number of theological will be put to death. Beginning Pupil nurses took up a collection schools in the Gountry in the in- next year all persons found using to buy 139 toothbrushes and terests of greater efficiency of narcotics will be given five years' drinking cups. operation, nine institutions-in- imprisonment, and after that cluding four union theological year the penalty will- be death. More Trouble in China colleges, three union theological training schools and two post- -Christian Advocate. Dr. Susan Waddell, an Amer- graduate schools of theologyican Presbyterian Medical Mis- have been singled out to receive JAPAN-CHOSEN sionary who went out to China direct financial assistance from in 1921 and later married a Chi- the Wendel bequest. Hokkaido Calls nese Christian, Hsu Shih-chu, was murdered (probably by rob- -Dayton News. There has been both material bers) in Hanking on October and spiritual progress in Hok- 14th. Bandit Invasion kaido since the first C. M. S. missionary settled there in 1874, Dr. Waddell was born in Iowa The Missionstidning for Fin- the diamond jubilee having been and served as missionary doctor land publishes the following celebrated last year. In the at Cheeloo University, Tsinan, telegram from ones of its mis- early days the Japanese re- Shantung. sionaries: garded Hokkaido almost as J. foreign country-the land of the Another despatch from China Aug. 29 the Mission Society Ainu. Today, Hakodate is the on October 8th says: received a telegram from Pastor ninth city in the empire, the Meeder in China containing the agricultural college at Sapporo Twenty-eight missionaries, in- distressing news that the entire has become an imperial univercluding fourteen Americans, be- mission field was occupied by sity, and nearly every part of gan a hazardous 600-mile Yellow communistic bandit troops. All the island is accessible by rail. River flight from Chinese Com- the missionaries are safe. The munists, as they began to move government troops were re- By degrees, the Christian nearer to Lanchow, in Kansu ported in command of the situa- Church has spread over the Province, from Szechwan. tion over the whole field early in island. Well educated Japanese July. The society had learned clergy now have full charge of The Christians were heading that Yungshuen, the most west- their districts. But missionaries for Paotow and thence for ern of its mission stations, had have been reduced in number so Peiping. , fallen into the hands of bandits. that there has been no marked This deprives the mission for increase in the number of Chris- Wendel Bequest at Work the present of the opportunity tians, although the population to continue its work in China. has trebled. There are the large Missionary leaders in Shang- It is all the more discouraging, centers, cities of over 150,000, hai say that the Wendel bequest since after great trials endured inadequately occupied; and vast of millions to the missionary during recent years, the Society untouched areas in outlying cause in China is bringing coop- was beginning to see the dawn areas. Of the 15,000 Ainu proberation among the Christian of better days. The Finnish Mis- ably five or six hundred are agencies at work. Gradually, sion Society deserves the prayer- Christians.-C. M. S. Outlook. they predict, foreign mission- ful sympathy of all Christians in aries in China will be supplanted this new affliction. "Retreat" at Chungju by Chinese pastors whose education will have been made pos- End of Drug Traffic by 1937 Some lights and shadows in sible by the Wendel millions. Korea are given in a letter from Dr. John R. Mott declares that Rev. Harry J. Hill, Presbyterian A far-reaching program for for the first time he feels that missionary in Pyengyang. "A the coordination of all Protestant the drug evil in China is under fifteen-year-old g i r 1, meeting theological schools in China control. General Chiang Kai- with the session in preparation under the leadership of the Nan- shek is determined to "stamp it for communion, was asked by a king Theological Seminary, ac- out" as is shown in a report of Korean elder: 'What is your tual beneficiary of the Wendel the National Opium Suppression moneys, was tentatively ap- Commission. At more than six proved by the heads of the various schools concerned at a con-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
greatest sorrow?' I~ tears she Solomon Island Christians go from. jungle villages, where replied: 'The unbelIef of my life is primitive and religion father.' This father had once The Evangelical Christian crudely animistic, to jungle vilbeen a church officer, but had lage schools and churches – so lapsed, while his family re- says of the Solomon Islands: simple and crude as scarcely to mained faithful. "The outstanding characteristic of the native Church in the Sol- seem such at all-thence to town "Another little Korean girl omons is their acceptance of the churches of beauty where real whose father, though professing Bible as the inspired Word of fellowship in worship may be ex- Christianity had sold her to be- perienced, and finally to the come a da'ughter-in-Iaw in a God, and their application of it heathen home, led her h~sband to their own lives. The Bible center at Medan where excellent ana mother-in-law to ChrIst. becomes their rule of life, and is schools for boys and for girls are conducted and where, in a b~a':l "Over 130 Koreans and 18 always the final court of appeal." tiful church building, worshIp IS missionaries recently held. a One of the native teachers had conducted in four different lan- Bible study retreat at ChungJu. guages for that polyglot city. For some years there has been two children, who died within friction between nor t hand Here one sees the entire range south but in this Retreat, a one week. Much to the amazespirit' of love and reconciliation ment of the heathen, who could of missionary activity from the were clearly manifest. There not understand that a Christian early approach to the jungle was earnest Bible study and a wonderful spirit of prayer sorrows not as those without dwellers on up to the self-reamong the Koreans." hope, this teacher went on w~th specting and largely self-sup- his daily work. They asked hIm ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC porting church and school work why he and his wife were not wailing as the heathen do. He in the city centers, as a pano- told them of the Father's house rama of what the Gospel can do.
with many mansions, and of the -FRANK T. CARTWRIGHT sure and certain hope he had of in Christian Advocate. , seeing his children again.
World's Smallest Kingdom To the missionary he said with Evangelism in the Philippines a smile: "You know that verse, Tonga is one of the smalle~t 'And God shall wipe away all E. K. Higdon, Executive Seckingdoms in the world and .IS tears from their eyes'? God has retary of the Philip~ine. Nathe only independent country III done that for me already." tional Christian CouncIl,. IS ac- the Pacific. It is located 400 M. 1. M. in Australia customed to write a ~etalled r~ miles southeast of Fiji, and 36 port of each field trIp. In hIS of its many islands are inhabited, The Methodist Inland Mission latest report he says: the total population being about is doing for the settlers of West 29,000. The people are Poly- I am increasingly convinced of. the nesians, closely akin to ~al!103;ns and North Australia what "cir- value of educational eva~gehsm. and Hawaiians. ChrIstIamty cuit riders" in America did for Anyone with a degree of skIll as a was introduced by British Meth- the frontiersmen a century ago. public speaker and with a knowledg.e odists in 1826. of mob psychology can secu~e .decI- In two immense areas, which sions in mass meetings. But It IS an The Tonga Church has sent have a sparse population of entirely different story to meet young pioneer workers to Fiji and people one by one, or in sma!l gr~>u~s Samoa, to New Bri!ain and the miners, cattlemen and sheep- with the purpose of an~werlll:g mdl- Solomon Islands. SIxty per cent herders the mission has ten or- vidual questions and dealmg WIth p.erof the Tongans belong to the sonal problems. The plan of sp~ndm.g "Free We s ley a n Church," dained workers. With the help three or four hours each day m prd: of automobiles they cover large vate or small group <:onferen!!es an formed by the union of two one hour in the pubhc meetmg h!l-s fields otherwise cut off from civ- proved fairly satisfact.ory. We dldsbranches of Methodism effected ilizing influences. Roads are cuss any vital questIOn presente , mere tracks; trains on the few such as: railways run on weekly or biin 1924, and affiliated with the weekly schedules. Schools and How may I continue my e.ducatio?? Methodist Church of Australasia. hospitals are rare. Heat and What openings are there m ManIla The church is self-supporting, drought make living conditions although its income has been re- hard. Airplanes carry the mails; for a work student? Is there any future for a young man in the fishing industry?
duced by more than 50 per cent camels are used for transport. Would you advise me. to., stud?, in the past few years. The The Mission's monthly bulletin, nursing? Home economICS. Agn- Tongans are noted for their The Methodist Inland Link, gives eagerness for an education and one a new sense of the vastness culture? Tubou College trains young peo- of Australia. ple to serve Church and State. How should I make love? Religious and academic training -The Christian Advocate. is supplemented by work on What are the bases for a happy plantations. The Gospel Panorama married life? -Missionary Review In Sumatra one may see al- (kustralia) . most the entire story of Chris- Give us some methods of birth con- tian missionary effort. One may trol. ., How may I keep my mind clean.
How may I overcome temptation?
It is natural for young people to have sexual desires. What is wrong about satisfying them promiscuously?
Is the Roman Catholic Church the sinia, liquor and drugs, gam- faith movements and condemning in- original church? bling, the economic situation, the fluences stifling individual religious churches and the totalitarian liberties; Was Luther justified in starting the state, the freedom of conscience, Protestant Church? evangelism, education and Chris- 2. To demand justice in human re- tian unity. The convention de- lations by presenting facts free from Is there a judgment? plored "the revival of anti- prejudice; semitism, the denial of funda- Mr. Higdon reports that there mental human rights to men and 3. To interpret public affairs has been a marked change dur- women because of race and through an editorial policy of coning the last four or five years in color." Apprehension was ex- structiveness; the type of question asked by pressed at "the growing menace students regarding life work. of the liquor and drugs traffic." 4. To suppress crime by punishing Now, they are more interested criminals and supporting mental hyin earning a living than in be- The next Disciples' World gienic education that will avert crimcoming lawyers or professors. Convention will be held in Tor- inal-producing, nervous complexes onto, in 1940. among children; MISOELLANEOUS -The Christian Century. 5. To sponsor open forum columns Armenian Bible 1,500 Years where readers may present diverse Old The Jew and Ohrist views on controversial subjects; Catholicos Papken, of Antel- Claude Montefiore, England's 6. To give greater space to reliias, Syria, writes: outstanding Reformed Jew, de- gious features that emphasize inter- clares that the Christ of Scrip- faith cooperation; According to the tradition of the ture has a greater appeal for the ancient Armenian Church, Christian- modern Jew than a Unitarian 7. To encourage civic conditions ity was introduced into Armenia be- Christ. "The Jew," he says, conducive to improving public phystween 60 and 66 A. D. by the Apostles "cannot find God in a man. ical and mental health; Thaddeus and Bartholomew. It was God's righteousness, God's goodproclaimed the State religion in 301- ness, God's love are to him in- 8. To sponsor charity for all who 302. Armenia was divided into two comparable with man's, because, need it, but to insist that charity be sections in the 5th century and since even if he cannot understand distinct from political patronage; and Syriac (the Persian language) dom- how, the Jew always conceives inated one section, and Greek the them as so infinitely deeper, 9. To support vigorously those other, the unity of the Church was wider, wiser and more pure than highly important principles of harendangered. As a result it was de- man's righteousness, goodness monious international relations seekcided fifteen hundred years ago (436- and love. That is why, I sup- ing to supplant war with permanent 37) to translate the Bible into Arme- pose, he is unable to call any peace and amity. nian, the common laJ!g'uage of the man his Master. That is also people. As this had not been reduced perhaps why the Jew, if and Religion as it applies to human reto writing, the preparation of an when he does in honesty aban- lations involves these nine points: Armenian alphabet was necessary. don Judaism, can more easily freedom of worship, justice, construc- The period that immediately followed become an orthodox Christian tiveness, crime control, open discusis called "The Golden Age of Ar- than a Unitarian." sion, interfaith concord, hygiene, charmenia." Seven hundred years later, ity and amity. in one province (Sunik), there were -The Hibbert Journal. 10,000 manuscript copies of the Bible -The Churchman. and in all Armenia there were 150,000 The Press and Religion Biblical manuscripts-all translations Sunday School Teachers' Debt from the Septuagint. Horace D. Crawford, editor of the Indianapolis New s, and An instructor in Boston Uni- The American Bible Society is teacher of journalism in Frank- versity School of Religious Eduplanning to commemorate the lin College, believes that news- cation asserts that every Sunday 1500th anniversary of the first papers may serve religion in school teacher should pay $1,000 translation of the Armenian other ways than by printing toward Christian work for the Bible, and Catholicos Khoren I, church notices. Said he: "Edi- privilege of teaching the Bible in of Armenia, has issued a call to tors, like many others, fre- any well organized Sun day all Armenians to celebrate this quently believe religion is more school. Here is his logic: It is important event. deeply concerned with the way worth $250 to acquire a pure people live than with their par- English vocabulary, such as any Disciples Take a Stand ticular beliefs. I believe that habitual Bible student will ac- newspapers serve the cause of quire. The habit of careful, Last August more than 800 religion when they strive for the systematic study is worth $250 Disciples, from all quarters of following objectives: more; and still another $250 the earth, joined with more than represents the value of prac- 1,200 members of the Churches 1. To fight for the maintenance of ticing the precepts of the Bible of Christ in Great Britain and constitutional rights of free worship which lengthens one's life. Fi- Ireland, to hold the second world and expression by commending inter- nally, $250 is owed by the convention of the Disciples of teacher who develops h i g h Christ in Leicester, England. moral ideals, consistent with ac- Resolutions adopted included ceptance of Bible teachings. declarations on race relations, peace and war, Italy and Abys- -United Church Record.
God, give us sense,-God-sense of life's new needs, A nd souls aflame with new-born chivalries- To cope with those black growths that foul the ways,- To cleanse our poisoned founts with God-born energies.
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I Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information The Foreign Mission Enterprise and quate message. (2) There are of nearly 100 years to work in Its Sincere Critics. By Cleland B. objections to the present mis- Asia and who delight to travel McAfee. 8 vo. 190 pp. $1.50. sionary enterprise and its rela- in unfrequented and dangerous Revell. New York. 1935. tion to governments and non- ways, among brigands, in peril, Christian cultures and religions, toil and pain, not merely for the The work of foreign missions the treatment of native converts thrill of new experiences but to and the churches on the field. pioneer for Christ. They are has been under fire from critics (3) Other criticisms relate to British members of the China ever since Jonah went to Nine- methods and results on the field, Inland Mission and two of them the use of non-Christian teach- have spent over a quarter of a veh. There are critics and ers, dependence on subsidies, re- century in northwest China and critics-those who object to the liance on governmental protec- the deserts of M 0 n g 0 I i a. tion, lack of unity and the few- "Through Jade Gate" has been claims of Christ and the Chris- ness and weakness of converts. likened to Homer's Odyssey. It tian message; those who claim (4) He considers other criti- is as fascinating as the voyage cisms relating to home boards, of Captain Cook. that non-Christian religions are overhead expense and complex good enough and that heathen machinery. Even well-informed, Anyone who enjoys adventurdo not want anything different; idealistic students of missions ous travels will have a thrill in may not always agree with Dr. reading these journals (1928 to those who criticize the mission- McAfee in his diagnosis and 1932). Those who are interary personnel, the expense, the remedies but every fair-minded, ested in carrying the Gospel of intelligent reader will be im- Christ to the uttermost parts of methods and the administration; pressed with the author's hon- the earth will find here stimulus others object to the unsatisfac- esty and Christian views in har- for faith and courage and loyalty mony with New Testament to Jesus Christ. tory results abroad or to the neg- ideals. Many of the points lect of "heathen" at home. There raised might be dealt with much Living Triumphantly. By Kirby are critics who see only faults more fully-such as the place of Page. 304 pages. $2.00. Farrar and are deaf and blind to all evi- evangelism, the dan g e r s of & Rinehart. New York. 1934. dence in favor of missions and "modernism," the objections to others who are friendly critics expensive institutionalism and This is the author's companion seeking only to improve per- the problems of union work- volume to "Living Creatively" but every candid critic who is a which the Hazen Foundation sonnel and methods and to bring believer in Christ and is in sym- ranked first among 436 books the work into closer harmony pathy with His mission in the considered as being the most with New Testament ideals. world will be greatly helped and helpful to college students on the encouraged by this statement of subject of religion. Dr. McAfee has studied mis- the unshakable foundations on sions at home and on the field which Christian missions rests The author's pur p 0 s e is for fifty years, as teacher, pas- as a victorious and divine enter- stated: "To be teamed-Up with tor, lecturer, traveler and execu- prise. God in seeking to banish pain tive secretary of the Presby- and strife and misery is the terian Board of Foreign Mis- A Desert Journal. By Evangeline highest privilege that can come sions. He does not claim that French, Mildred Cable and Fran- to any man." From an extensive the work is above criticism but cesca French. Illus. 12 mo. $2.00. tabulation of scientists he shows China Inland Mission. Philadelphia clearly that science has not as gives clear, frank and convinc- and Toronto. 1935. yet overthrown the spiritual ining answers to some of the criti- terpretation of the universe. cisms he has heard from men Adventure and physical en- durance are usually linked with With the thesis of his book and women who believe in Christ youth. Here are three elderly thoroughly established, the auand His Gospel but who object women who have given a total thor then proceeds to the followto the way the work is conducted. ing eight definite methods for The list of over fifty definite the transformation of personal- ity and society: criticisms is an evidence of the author's vital contacts wit h many conscientious objectors.
Among the criticisms are those that have to do with (1) the missionaries – their arrogance, their aims, their lack of understanding, defects of habits and character and their inade- Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[557 ]
1. Intensify the Vividness of the Ideal. sis of these great themes. He undertakes to point out some of 2. Probe to the Roots of the Present Economic Order. tells what are God's methods of its glories by comparing it to the producing in us purity of hearts, Grand Canyon. 3. Struggle to Supplant Capitalism. shows the difference between Such Grand Canyons he finds 4. Strive to Abolish War. 5. Refuse to Sanction or to Partici- "peace with God," and "the in different stages of history, as, pate in Any War Among Nations peace of God," and at the end, for example, in the life of our or Between Classes. he shows a sympathetic and ef- own nation, "which, in 1789, 6. Seek to Uproot Racial Enmity and kicked off England's heavy and fective understanding with sin- Exploitation. cere souls seeking more power. suffocating taxation covers and 7. Take Time for Worship.
8. Live with Joyous and Triumphant These blessed gifts of grace and cooed in a cradle oft rocked by Abandon. experiences of the truly saved, stormy winds."
The sections on "War" and are what are greatly needed in In twelve chapters rich in "Worship" are perhaps the best. pulpit and pew today. Grand Canyon phraseology, Dr.
Mr. Page points out that war is The language is beautifully Lee takes up the several verses not caused primarily by the clear, the paragraphs stand out of the chapter under considera- "fighting instinct" or by the so- like the lobes of an orange, and tion. One marvels at his rhecalled "mad-dog nation." Most the book is well printed with torical versatility and at the of his readers, however, will not large type. FRANK LUKENS. same time admires his loyalty to agree wi,th him that the first the Scriptures and the deep step toward peace is to "abolish A Grand Canyon of Resurrection evangelical fervor which perthe system of private property Realities. By Robert G. Lee, D.D., vades page after page of this exas the chief means of produc- LL.D. $1.00. 172 pp. Wm. B. traordinary book. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand J. R. S.
tion and distribution." A defi- Rapids, Mich. 1935. South China Folk. By Mary Brewster nite attack on capitalism is a distinct strain throughout the book. This book embodies the studies Hollister $1.25. 141 pp. Revell. The unique and most helpful of the twentieth chapter of New York. 1935. part of the volume is the an- John's Gospel by the eloquent Another book by Mrs. Hollisthology of one hundred daily pastor of the Bellevue Baptist ter! One hundred forty pages readings on the main thoughts Church, Memphis, Tenn. in good-sized type, full of the set forth in the early part of the Dr. Lee recognizes the human spirit as well as fact of the counbook. On the who I e, this limitation of thought and speech try always so warmly interthought – provoking discussion in any attempt to adequately preted by this author. Adults leaves one convinced that to live describe one of the great chap- will enjoy reading it with chiltriumphantly one must follow ters of the Word of God. BatHed dren and even young people will the brave and unselfish way of as he believes himself to be, he find excellent material here. HOWARD A. ADAIR. inquires, "Who, by word and by There is the frequent sparkle of Christ. pen, by sermon and by song, by Chinese humor, the steadiness The Sufficiency of the Cross. By W. painting and by philosophy, can of patience, the pathos of aspira- W. Marlin. 12 mo. 1s. net. Pick- explore all the corners of this ering & Inglis, London. 1935. vast continent of Scripture? One tion, and a delightful sketching of personalities. One regrets These are Keswick addresses, had as well hope to haul to the that the first two chapters are therefore they are sure to be threshing machines in a wheel- quite unconnected with the rest biblical, searching and convert- barrow in one day all the wheat of the book though there is, in ing. Let every reader give trib- grown on a Kansas prairie as to Chapter 2, definite background ute to the mighty effort of Kes- expect to place within the limits for the ensuing story. The book wick, like the springs in the hills, of one book all the marvelous is neither profound nor great; upon the finest Christian life of truths of this chapter. One had there are rather too many Chi- England, A mer i c a, and the as wisely expect to put in a one- nese expressions and also too world – for over fifty years. acre garden all the flowers that much repetition of religious These addresses embody truths bloom in America as to expect phrases, but the interest is lively, which have become increasingly to write with pen and print on the pictures vivid and the imreal to the author and have paper an adequate description of pression fully worth the couple brought peace and power to all the glorious truths in this of hours spent in reading. The many. chapter. One had as well hope coming of light into a far-off vil- The four chapters concern to put all the diamonds and lage simply through a little girl four truths that are like stars of rubies in the world in the and the innkeeper's wife, with the first magnitude. "Pardon thimble of a seamstress as to ex- the help of a mission school in a through the Blood of the Cross," pect to give in anyone book an neighboring city, and some and then "Purity," "Peace," and adequate appraisal of all the friendly cooperation, convince "Power," also through the blood. Scriptural wealth of this chap- the innkeeper that he was right This is not present-day specula- ter." However, though confess- when he said, "We obey the tion, but exposition. The author ing that his "mental tent can Heaven-Father, and then He marched calmly and confidently cover only a small corner of this will bless us." through his illuminating analy- vast scriptural continent," he MARY W. HUMPHREY HADLEY.
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
The Use of Material from China's lowship in the consciousness of the ineffective humanism of Spiritual Inheritance in the Chris- pardoned sin, imparted life and their long history. tian Education of Chinese Youth. perfect provision. By Warren Horton Stuart, Ph.D., Limits of space do not permit Kwang Hsueh Publishing House, That more use than in the of detailed specifications. Shanghai. 1932. $2.50. past should be made of China's great ethical inheritance – per- C. H. FENN. The book is a dissertation presented at Yale University for haps the greatest in the world Hot Hearted. By F. I. Codrington. the degree of Doctor of Philos- apart from Christianity-and of Illus. 12 mo. 111 pp. 2 8. Church ophy, the theme having been what she possesses of the spir- of England Z. M.. S. London. 1935. itual in her early, unique, simple chosen with a definite purpose worship of a personal Heaven, Christ offers to women the' to provide "a guide and source greatest hope for liberty and ad.. book for Christian teachers in and in her emphasis on a benev- vancement. Moslem, H i n d u , China." As a "source book," olence among men which some- Buddhist and pagan women have times approaches the Christian little to hope for in this world or Dr. R. S. Smith, of Yale, says idea of Love, is certainly true, the next. Here we have eight truly, in his Introduction, "Dr. stories that show what Christ and Dr. Stuart's dissertation has done for Chinese women and Stuart has brought to his task a should serve a very useful pur- how Christian faith and life are brilliant and ingenious mind and pose in that regard, both in the helping to bring about new and the competence of a well-trained better social conditions. Mrs. hands of the Christian teacher, Ahok, a little Chinese lady of scholar and workman." Born Chinese or foreign, and in those rank, a Christian with "lily feet," and bred in China and for years of the intelligent seeker after came to England in 1890 to plead a missionary, he possesses spe- Truth. The Chi n e s e unac- for her sisters in China who were cial equipment for the task, evi- quainted with English, however, still "under the power of the idols," Mrs. Chitnio Ling was a dently a labor of love. As a will be in less danger than the Chinese girl, born in a heathen "guide," however, one's com- English reader of the book, of family, who attended the Chinese mendation of Dr. Stuart's work drawing the conclusion that, in Girls' School in Singapore and then went to China as a Christian must reluctantly be tempered her "Three Religions," China al- missionary. They are all inspirwith the caution that a sym- ready possesses so nearly all ing sketches that reveal the purpathetic translator from a for- that Christianity offers, that he pose and power of the Gospel of eign tongue, with a theory to Christ. may content himself with what demonstrate, rarely avoids an his own inheritance affords and Ethical Issues Confronting World unconscious reading into his leave to the West its own spir- Christians. By Daniel Johnson texts of more than they were Fleming. 273 pages and an Index. itual inheritance. As a matter Price, $2.00. The International ever intended to express. "With of fact, there never was a time Missionary Council, 156 Fifth Avebut little persuasion," Dr. Stuart when thinking Chinese were less nue, New York, N. Y. "would fain make Christians" satisfied than today with their own "spiritual inheritance." This is a carefully written and out of Confucius, Lao c ius fairly exhaustive treatment of (Laotze), Mencius, and espe- Some of the most intelligent some great problems. Certainly Christian leaders are urging the Christian of today, in the cially Micius (Motze). He has new missionaries not to give light not only of the melting of gathered together a remarkable geographical barriers because of much time to the study of modern communications but also collection of quotations from all because of the Great Commisthe Chinese sages and philos- China's old man-developed reli- sion, must have a world outlook. ophers, ancient, medireval and gions and philosophies, when And the issues discussed by Dr. modern, to exhibit the "Chris- China's need for the presenta- Fleming are timely. Christians, especially those in administratian values in Native Experi- tion of a God-revealed secret of tive positions in the church, are ences," and "Units of Indigenous a new life is so pressing, and the now unavoidably confronted Moral and Religious Literature," with the ethics of soliciting need for its general understand- funds, of the acceptance of as a wonderful "Spiritual In- ing and acceptance is so widely armed protection by missionheritance" which China herself felt. Dr. Stuart's purpose to aries, the population problem, has contributed as a foundation "indigenize the religion of Christ the meaning of true religious lib- erty, and similar questions. to the Christian education of in China" is manifestly sincere her own youth. To much of it and truly laudable, and his com- Dr. Fleming faces these issues we may, with the author, attrib- squarely, making a genuine efute a "high ethical and spiritual pendium of quotations forms a fort to grapple with difficult quality," the ethical, however, most valuable book of reference; problems, and at the same time one's only fear being that its standing far higher than the spiritual, because even the prim- use as a textbook in Christian Schools in China may lead some itive monotheism of Chi n a to accept the shadow for the subposited no infinite Creator, no stance, to look upon Christ as absolutely holy and righteous merely a wiser sage, a mor~ per- Ruler, no perfectly loving Fa- fect pattern, acceptance of whom as such constitutes the whole of ther, no sacrificial Redeemer, Christianity, thus condemning with whom the common man and woman, as well as the sage and themselves to little more than emperor, may enjoy eternal fel-
endeavoring to preserve a fair noncoercion on the left . . . ,vio- Evangelical Christian missions impartiality of s tat em e n t. lence has long been the weapon will first cho.ose the "vague" Moreover, there are some things of conservatism." project of preaching the Gospel, in the book that will search the This is only one example of the not forgetting the field mice as a heart of any thoughtful reader, extreme difficulty of maintaining subsidiary activity. whether he is conservative or detachment when writing upon There is, finally, one great inliberal in religious outlook. Par- the ethics of great economic, po- adequacy in this volume and the ticularly strong in this respect litical, and religious issues. In- school of thought it represents. is the section (beginning on deed inconsistency is inevitable The whole discussion proceeds page 117) regarding individual as in the case of Dr. Fleming's on an extrascriptural basis. Ocresponsibility for the use of references to "tainted money" casionally there is a fair statemoney. "We vote," writes Dr. and his citation of cases where ment of the Evangelical point of Fleming, "with our doll a r s. certain gifts were refused be- view, as on pages 80 to 82, but Every expenditure is voting for cause of scruples regarding their the whole book is almost devoid the character and quantity of source. Yet he frequently and of references to the Bible. Much goods that are to be produced; with seeming approval relies is made of missionary planning and the proportion saved by the upon the Layman's Foreign Mis- and statesmanship, we miss the purchase of simple goods in or- sions Report and the Rockefeller references to the essentiality of der to help various measures of Foundation for impressive ref- prayer in finding a solution to uplift is a measure of the inten- erences. One is tempted to ask, great ethical issues. Does the sity of one's vote for human re- "Were the Standard Oil millions Word of God have nothing to lief and reconciliation. . . . Love amassed in accordance wit h say about the problems which which expresses itself in philan- Christian ethics? To what de- Dr. Fleming treats? If the book thropy without revealing itself gree do such funds represent a leaves the reader with an imin sacrifice finds difficulty in be- 'tainted' background?" ing either creative or redemp- pression of inconclusiveness, it tive." From another point of view, is because it represents a purely In his treatment of Economic one notes that Dr. Fleming's human endeavor to face issues Reconstruction, Dr. Fleming oc- most effective cases of nobility on which God has something au- of conscience regarding the casionally lapses into what would indemnity question are drawn thoritative to say in the Person appear to be an uncritical admiration for communism. To from the experience of the of Christ and in the Book from one who recalls that, according China Inland Mission, a funda- mentalist mission of reactionary which all Christian ethics are to reliable figures, the Red attitude measured by standards regime in Russia has been in- of the Layman's Report, yet in drawn. FRANK E. GAEBELEIN. 'these instances acting in accord strumental in the slaughter of with the most advanced social Lowell and Abigail. A Realistic Idyll. about 11,000,000 human beings, By Mary Dillingham Frear. Illus. the unspeakable persecution of S vo. 325 pp. Privately printed. New Haven. 1934.
Hawaii (The Sandwich Is- countless others (cf. Tcherna- conscience. lands) , the land of beauty and of vin's "I Speak for the Silent"), Other examples chosen by the romance, furnishes the scene of the erection of a system of mili- author are less con v inc i n g. this life story of Rev. Lowell taristic tyranny, and in addition, Those who believe that the Gos- Smith and his wife, Abigail, a recognized sub rosa propa- pel is still "the power of God early missionaries of the Ameriganda for the overthrow of for- unto salvation" and that the can Board. The period covered eign governments, these sen- world needs to be converted, is 1809 to 1891 and the material tences cause some won d e r : will, if they are not too deeply is gathered from journals and "There are bounds beyond which distressed, have to suppress a letters, with additional not e s a foreigner may not go in advo- smile on reading page 40, where from their daughter, Mrs. B. F. cating changes in another cul- Dr. Fleming frankly says that Dillingham. It is first hand doc- ture or in an alien system. Some "the conversion of the world," umentary evidence of the spirit, might be willing to risk death in "preaching the Gospel to the purpose and power of the pioneer the same way as have the com- most degraded, neglected and missionaries – b e aut i full y munists whose martyrs number despised people," "the establish- printed, well illustrated and with into the thousands. It is moving ment and development of an in- a full index. Much is of personal to read the simple unadorned digenous church," these aims family interest rather than of sentences with which a commu- "are too comprehensive or vague general importance but the story nist manual for 'Calls' in China to be called projects" for the use has a fascination, human inter- lays down the duty of a party of foreign money in missions: est and a message for every member to give up his own life As an example of a missionary friend of missions and every when called upon to do so. Out- project he proposes the distribu- lover of God and man. Many fa- doing the communists may in- tion of poisoned grain in twelve mous people and events, as well volve just such a risk…. From villages to combat a scourge of as information about Hawaii and one standpoint the use of vio- field mice. Preaching the Gos- its people, find a place in the rec- lence belongs on the right and pel vs. exterminating field mice! ords.
Books T B FOR SECOND
HEOLOGICAL The Origin of Religion. Samuel M. OOKS Zwemer. 256 pp.. $2.00. Cokes- bury Press. Nashville, Tenn. Largest Stock in America. Over half a million theological Books Our Response to God. William E. -Classified by subject. Catalogues free. Correspondence and Wilson. 85 pp. 2s. 6d. Allen & Unwin. London. "Want Lists" invited. Please mention The Missiona" ReWw of the World The Four Hundred Million: A Short SCHULTE'S BOOK STORE History of the Chinese. Mary A. Nourse. Illustrated. 375 pp. $3.50. 80 and 82 Fourth Avenu. =: N•• York, N.Y Bobbs Merrill. New York.
Indian Nationalism and the Christian Colleges. Paul J. Braisted. 171 Blood-Drenched A I tar s: Mexican Obitulry Notes pp. $2.00. Association Press. New Study and Comment. F. C. Kelley. York. . 521 pp. $3.00. Bruce Pub. Co. (Concluded from page 618.) An American Translation. J. M. Milwaukee, Wise. in field itineration, in teaching, and Powis Smith and Edgar J. Good- White and Black in Australia. J. S. in literary work. spMd. 1128 pp. $2.00. University .of Chicago Press. Chicago. Needham. 174 pp. 2s. 6d. S. P. ·Elizabeth Ma*ry *Ca*dbury, who died C. K. London. ' in August at the age of 77, was among Truth and Tradition in Chinese Bud- the foremost religious and social lead- Coupectus of Cooperative Mission- dhisin: A Study of Chinese 14a-' ers in England, and had served as ary Enterprises. Chas. H. Fahs. hayana Buddhism. Karl Ludwig president of the National Council of $1.25. I. M. C. New York. Reichelt 415 pp. $4.50. Commer- Evangelical Free Churches. She was Cooperation and the World Mission. cial Press. Shanghai. the widow of George Cadbury, who Jphn R. Mott. $1.00. I. M. C. New York. The Idea of Salvation in the World's died in 1922, and a sister-in-law of Religions. J. W. Parker. 259 pp. Mrs. Helen Cadbury Alexander-Dixon, The Furtherance of the Gospel. Wil- Macmillan. New York and London. founder of the Pocket Testament liam Owne Carver. 145 pp. 60 *** League.
cents paper; 40 cents cloth. Bap- Directory of Protestant Missions- Mrs. Margaret Weaver Beahm tiBtSunday School Board. Nash- 1935. $1.50. Kwang Hsueh Pub. Denning, wife of the Rev. J. O. Denville, Tenn. House. Shanghai. ning, retired Methodist missionary to India, died at her home at Pacific D. . Over Samarkand: The Rebirth Education in Fiji. Cecil W. Mann. Palisades, California, on August 16. . of Central Asia. Joshua Kunitz. 138 pp. 6s. Oxford University The Dennings served in India from 848 pp. $8.00. Covici, Friede. ,Press, London; University Press, 1890 to 1926, being stationed for va- New York. . Melbourne, Australia. rious periods at Poona, Muzzafarpur, :traq: From Mandate to Independ- India's Womanhood: Forty Years' Gondha, Allahabad, and Ootacamund. ence. E. Main. 267 pp. 16s. Work at Ludhiana. Christine I. Mrs. Denning led in evangelistic and Tinling. 119 pp. Is. 6d. and 2s. 6d. educational work for women, and as- . ,;,',,.Ulen" Unwin. London. R. T. S. London. sisted her husband in organizing the The Land and Life of Africa. Mar- first Epworth League in India. She God and the African in Kenya. H. was national secretary, and for ten p!'¢. Wrong. Illustrated. 144 pp. R. A. Philp. Illustrated. 189 pp. years national president of the India 28. Edinburgh House Press. Lon- 2s. 6d. Marshall, Morgan ~ Scott. W. C. T. U., and for three years was ton; London. international superintendent of the Department of Prison Visiting and From Fetish to Faith: The Growth The Meaning of Shinto. J. W. T. Reformation. She wrote "Mosaics Mason. 252 pp. $2.50. Dutton. from India," "The House Beautiful," :of til" Church in West Africa; W. "Short Poems," and "Dainty Cookery J; Platt. 159 pp. 2s. Edinburgh for the Home." Mrs. Denning Souse Preu. London. New York.
was born in Harrisburg, Pa., TWO SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE SPECIALS October 17, 1856, and attended Illinois Wesleyan University. Robert R*. S*erv*ice, regional secretary of the Young Men's Indil Piper Edition, Lelther Cover Christian Association for Shan- 33X. This superb Scofield Bible, leather bound, on genuine Oxford India tung Province, China, and a sec- paper, at the lowest price ever offered. All who have seen this book have retary of the International Com- been delighted, and have asked, "How can you sell so fine a volume at such a mittee of the Y. M. C. A. for low price 1" Contains all the wonderful helps for which the Scofield Reference twenty-nine years, died sud- Bible is famous. Pocket size 6~ inches by denly in Shanghai on Septem- 4U inches, 1116 inch thick, weighing only ber 29. Mr. Service went to . Specimen of 7Ype 14 And-tbe–~ord was-made 16 ounces. Only $5.00. China for the Y. M. C. A. in fbleesbhd.danhdisdl1woerlyt;a.&meon1g10u1sY. a(sanodf twhee W·Ith I.mproved 1. 0dex, 50c extra. 1906 and did pioneer work in Name stamped in gold, 50c extra. Chengtu for fifteen years. Later he went to Shanghai to join the national staff and served as re- Popullr $1.25 Edition gional secretary for Western 30. This is the lowest priced Scofield edition ever made, but contains the China. For the last year Mr. earne complete unabridged helps as the most expensive. Clearly printed on Service had been assigned to the excellent paper, and strongly bound. An excellent volume for pew use, Bible Chinese International Famine classes, and for the study table. Relief Commission, located in Shanghai. He retained, how- Cloth board binding, size 7×4~ inches. Only $1.25. ever, his post as secretary of the Shangtung region. REVIEW OF THE WORLD, Third and Reily Sts., Haul.burs, Pa.
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The Missionary Review of the World — February 1934
1934
The Red Man Speaks Coe Hayne The South American Crisis John A. Mackay Egypt—What Price Progress Charles R. Watson Preaching and Practicing in Africa Mrs. John M. Springer Buddhist Priest to Christian Witness Albertus A. Pieters An Experiment in Christian Friendliness Mrs. Edwin H. Kinney
to Remember Ceylon, died December 18, at his home If you
in West Medway, Mass., in his 80th January Z3-February 17-Annual Cor- year. PRINTING nell School for Missionaries, Cor- nell University, Ithaca, N. Y. Professor Hitchcock first went to YOU will profit from an ac- Ceylon in 1880 as a tutor at J affna quaintanceship with us. We February 4-8-Founder's Week Con- College, Vaddukoddai, was later given do the job complete in our own ference, Moody Bible Institute, Chi- life appointment under the Board, plant, whether it be large or cago, Ill. and placed on the retired Roll of Hon- small. or in 1925. He is survived by his wife February 7-17-International Council and three sons. While our specialty is Books, of Religious Education. Chicago, Maga:dnes and Pamphlets, yet Ill. * … .. we have a variety of modern equipment to meet all the re- February 8, 3 p. m.-Annual meeting Mrs. Adaline S. Ashe, a Presbyte- quirements of your particular of the MISSlONARY REVIEW OF THE rian missionary in Chosen since 1922, job. You will find our service WORLD, 156 Fifth Ave., New York. died in Butler, Pa., Dec. 13. She had prompt, careful and courteous. returned to this country last May on February 16-World Day of Prayer. health furlough. In 1922 Mrs. Ashe Will you allow us to estimate became matron in the school for for- on your next printing ? We be- February ZO-ZI-Committee of Refer- eign children at Pyengyang. She al- lieve you will be delighted with ence and Counsel, Foreign Missions so taught music to Korean women in our product, price and service. Conference. New York. a large class and in the mission's Bi- ble Institute at Pyengyang. The EVANGELICAL PRESS March 8-IO-Medical Missions Con- ference under the auspices of the * … … Printer. of Medical Committee of the Commit- The Mi..ionary Review of the W ….ld tee of Reference and Counsel. New The Rt. Rev. Joseph Lofthouse, a York. pioneer missionary of Northern Can- PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE ada and former Bishop of Keewatin, Third end Reily Str.ets Harrisburg, P•• April 3-5 – Federal C 0 u n c i I of died December 15th at his home in Churches, Department of Evan- South Devon on his 78th birthday. Campbell of Germantown, and they gelism. Columbus, Ohio. sailed for India that same year. In 1900 Bishop Lofthouse traveled April Z6-May 7-General Conference, 7,000 miles, including 5,000 by canoe Dr. Orbison's first station was at Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and snowshoes, when he went on the Lahore, where he became a professor Jackson, Miss. expedition sent by the Canadian Gov- in Forman Christian College, of which ernment to survey the country be- later he became vice-principal. For FLORIDA CHAIN OF MISSIONARY tween the Great Slave Lake and Bak- several years he was president of the AsSEMBLIES er Lake. Born in Yorkshire, he went Lahore Y. M. C. A. to Canada in 1882 and was sent to January Z8-31-Palm Beaches. Moosonee, the following year. He re- … * … February l-Z-Bradenton. tired in 1920 and returned to Eng- February l-Z-Ft. Myers. land. Bishop Lofthouse wrote "A Dr. T. L. Scott, for sixty years a February 3-9-St. Petersburg. Thousand Miles from a Postoffice." missionary of the United Presbyte- February 4-6-Clearwater. rian Church in India, died in Gujran- February 7-11-Tampa. … … … wala on January 4 at the age of February 11-13-Gainsville. eighty-seven. He was a versatile mis- February 13-15-Jacksonville. The Rev. Dr. Leander Whitcomb sionary, having served as a senior Munhall, noted Methodist evangelist, professor in the Theological Seminary, Obituary Notes died in Philadelphia on January 7 superintendent of buildings, publish- at the age of ninety-one. He was ing a Commentary in Urdu on the The Rev. Franklin F. Fry, D.O•• born in Zanesville, Ohio, served Old Testament, and at the age of throughout the Civil War with the eighty-seven being in charge of a Executive Secretary of the Board of Federal Army, and began evangelistic school for boys. American Missions of the United work in the Methodist Episcopal Lutheran Church, died suddenly of Church in 1874. For half a century Ten Ways to Fill Mission Boxes heart attack in New York City on De- he preached in all parts of North cember 13th. Dr. Fry was born in America and was intimately asso- 1. Self-denial-offering part of in- Carlisle, Pa., on. November 1, 1864, ciated with the late Dwight L. Moody come or earnings; price of enand was graduated from Muhlenberg and other evangelists. tertainment or other luxury; College and the Lutheran Seminary, saving carfare or auto ride. Philadelphia. After occupying pas- … … … 2. Selling missionary books or magatorates in Bethlehem and Rochester, Samuel R. Boggs, former President zines. he became Secretary of the Mission of the Gideons of North America, a Board in 1927. He was a delegate to member of the Boards of the Africa 3. Selling household necessities-can the Lutheran World Congress in Ger- Inland Mission, the New Guinea Evan- openers, waxed paper, vanilla, many in 1923 and was an effective gelization Society and of the Eastern brushes, kitchen utensils. worker in home mission circles-in- State Penitentiary Board of Trustees, cluding the Executive Committee of died suddenly of heart failure at his 4. Baked goods sales. the Home Missions Council. home in Melrose Park, Pa., on Jan- 5. Getting orders for Easter plants uary 4. Mr. Boggs was born in Phil- … * … adelphia in 1872 and was president of or flowers. (Many florists pay the Model Mills (Carpet) Co., but de- commissions. ) BiShop Apolo Kivebulaya, mission- voted much of his time to Christian 6. Cutting lawns, gardening. work with prisoners, young people 7. Cleaning brass and silver. ary to the pigmy race of Africa's 8. Caring for children while parents and business me…n. … … are busy. forests, a successor of Bishop Crow- 9. Errand service, marketing. ther, died on May 30. The courage of The Rev. John Harris Orbison, 10. Free-will offerings. M.D., for nearly half a century a misthe early martyrs in the days of sionary under the Presbyterian Board Alexander Mackay led him to become of Foreign Missions, died suddenly on Jan. 4 at Hoshiarpur, India. He was a Christian, and he became known born seventy-four years ago of misthroughout Uganda as a saintly sionary parents at Rawalpindi, India, attended schools in the United States, leader. … * … was graduated from Princeton in 1879, and from the Medical College William E. Hitchcock, for 40 years of the University of Pennsylvania in under the American Board of Com- 1886. He married Miss Lillie E. missioners for Foreign Missions in
MISSIONARY "Concerning the January issue of If the
REVIEW OF THE WORLD the REVIEW. The articles are so help- calls you East DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor of Suez … sail ful and interesting that I think I shall VOL. LVII FEB., 1934 No.2 subscribe for a copy to be sent to my Publication and Business Office home regularly as well as the one we Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. receive here at the office. The article Editorial and Executive Office by Miss Picken is stirring and very 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City gratifying." REV. A. C. SNEAD, Entered as second-class matter at Foreign Secretary, Christian and Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act Missionary Alliance, New York. of March 3, 1879. "I will not renew my subscription. 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. …… I am tired of the way you put in modernists…… I do not care to Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. read anything by……or…… Clear out of Sodom and Gomorrah!" Published monthly, except August. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1934. C. C. S.
MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- North Carolina. LISHING CO., INC. "I allowed my subscription to ex- BOARD OF DIRECTORS pire but, having been a subscriber for 41 years, I am lost without it. I en- ROBERT E. SPEER, President close check for subscription and would WM. 1. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President like to have it retroactive to the time WALTER MCDOUGALL, Treasurer my subscription expired." DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT REV. A. C. DOUGLAS, MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD WM. B. LIPPHARD United Presbyterian Church, ERIC M. NORTH San Francisco, Calif. MILTON T. STAUFFER A. L. W ARNSHUIS "For some time I have been wish- THE ROUTE PREFERRED SAMUEL M. ZWEMER ing to drop you a line in regard to SINCE 18401 Editorial Chat what I consider the greatest mission- Cross Cunard to England. The missionary outlook is, we be- and embark at London in a great lieve, more encouraging than the ary magazine published – THE MIS- ship of this Line that traditionfinancial. The Foreign Missions Con- ally and for nearly a century has ference, the Home Missions Council SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD ….. . carried the vanguard of the and the Mission Boards are being Church eastward to all the lands stirred up anew to more prayer, to Single articles in the December and beyond Suez. P & 0 Liners, of greater sacrifice, to increased em- January numbers are well worth the transatlantic size and comfort, phasis on evangelism and to the need stand for the Progress ofthe West for educating the Church and the subscription price for the year. Had in scores of tropic ports and teemyouth on Christian faith and life. ing harhours of the Indian Ocean Read the "Topics of the Times" on I the money I would put the magazine and the Pacific. Natives measure the recent forward looking confer- time by their swift and sure ences. in the hands of every pastor in our arrival. Low rates and new, fast, church and every missionary on the luxurious ships make the voya ge *** an exceptional value. field." FREDERICK G. COAN, The Florida Chain of Missionary Assemblies has begun with greater Formerly of Persia. prospects of success in arousing new interest in the work of God through- Personal Items Regular sailings from London, out the world. A new series of United Gibraltar and Marseilles to India, Foreign Missionary meetings is to be Dr. E. S·tanley Jones, who has been Ceylon, Burma, Straits Settlestarted this spring with a strong in America since last February, ments, China, Japan, Australia, group of speakers. Home mission speaking and holding Round Table New Zealand, Egypt, Sudan, groups are considering a similar move. United Missionary Conferences in Persian Gulf, East and South Plans are under way to conduct a many cities from the Atlantic to the Africa, etc. more systematic campaign for the Pacific, is returning to India on education of the Church and the ris- March 1, by way of England, Hol- Complete information from ing generation. land, Scandinavia, Russia and Tur- You, Local Agent or key. *** ~UNARD~LINE *** All this points to the need for a GENERAL AGENTSNew York wider circulation for THE REVIEW. Dr. Adolph Keller of Geneva, 25 Broadway It is evangelical, and evangelistic in Switzerland, Director of the Central its emphasis and convictions; it is Bureau for the Relief of Evangelical world-wide in its outlook, interdenom- Churches of Europe, has recently deinational in spirit but stands true to livered the Stone Lectures at Princefaith in Christ as the only Saviour ton Theological Seminary, and has and the Bible as God's revealed and conferred with many leaders to ininfallible word. terpret developments in European Protestantism. Will you help spread the knowledge of human need for the Divine Saviour *** and the news of God's work in the world today? Here are quotations Ethan T. Colton, formerly Foreign from letters to show what some of Department Secretary of the Internaour readers think. Not all are of one tional Committee of the Y. M. C. A., mind. has made a personal study of condi- tions in Europe. He is now giving lectures in various cities on outstand- ing world problems, with such topics a~"Where Is Germany Going-and Why?" "Is the Soviet Union Heading for War or Peace?" "Why There Is No God in the Communist's World."
(Concluded on Third Cover.) [65 ]
A MOSLEM PILGRIM'S RECORD OF HIS MERIT-MAKING TRIP TO
H!s wall is decorated with drawings of his home town mosque, Mecca Mosque, quotations from the Koran; boats, dogs, geese, camel and other objects met on the pilgrimage.
EGYPTIAN STUDENTS AT THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY AT CAIRO Here the students learn other ways of making merit and of using science to make their lives count for service.
MOSLEM RELIGION AND MODERN SCIENCE IN EGYPT (See page 71)
NARY
REVIB 'ORLD VOLUME LVII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER Two FEBRUARY, 1934 Topics of the Times A FORWARD LOOKING CONFERENCE Communism, Fascism and the ethnic faiths in the In spite of reduced incomes, increasing deficits light of Christianity. It is of great importance to and large cuts in budgets, the annual Foreign Christian missions that correct jUdgments shall Missions Conference at Garden City (January be formed. The Laymen's Commission Report 3-5) was forward looking, upward looking and has divided the Church. The need today is for a full of encouragement. It was marked by the forward movement based on living faith in Christ union of the Federation of Woman's Boards of and on sacrificial service. People today are deeply Foreign Missions with the Foreign Missions Con- interested in the putting of Christ's teaching into ference to form one body, after over thirty years practice by the realization of Christian ideals of of separate activity. The conference was pre- peace, right race relationships, social justice and sided over by Dr. Wm. 1. Chamberlain, Secretary economic improvement.
of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed The conference-which represents the leading Church in America. The president elected for the foreign mission agencies of the United States and coming year is Mrs. Thomas Nicholson, President Canada-revealed its sympathy with efforts to of the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions of the reduce overlapping to a minimum on the mission Methodist Episcopal Church. fields; to unite the institutions serving the same Some of the important topics that received the territory in the same field; to allow missionaries chief attention at the conference were: to concentrate on the tasks for which they are best fitted; to send out the best equipped mis- (1) How to promote more effective cooperation sionaries possible; and to cut down to the miniat home and abroad; (2) how to bring expendi- mum overhead expense at home. The need of the tures within a constantly decreasing income; hour is to bend all our united energies to making (3) and how to plan the work for the next five effective the redemptive work of Christ. Men years so as to make it more effective on a cur- everywhere are looking to see if there is power in tailed budget.
Dr. E. Stanley Jones gave the opening address Christianity to save individuals and to save soon January 3 (his 50th birthday), speaking on ciety. Jesus Christ has the power to solve our "The Present Attitude in America Toward For- problems, to purify society and to establish peace eign Missions." As a result of his recent mis- and justice on earth.
sionary tour in forty cities and his round table The outstanding paper of the conference was conferences with church leaders he reported that by Dr. Charles R. Watson, President of the Amerwhile he had come back to America expecting to ican University in Cairo, on "New World Condi- face discouragement, he returns to India greatly tions, a Challenge to Changes in Missionary Poliencouraged at the evidence of vitality in the cies." A digest of this paper will appear in a Church and the deep interest in the foreign mis- later- issue. Dr. Watson pointed out the necessity sionary movement. Five years ago the principal for recasting the missionary program for the next topic of discussion in religious circles was "Fun- five years in view of the present diminished indamentalism vs. Modernism." Now the battle comes. He advised that boards, missions and seems to have moved on from a theological or national Christians cooperate in finding a soludoctrinal basis to consider the nature and value of tion by united study and united action. Increas- [ 67]
ing nationalism has brought many difficulties and (4) To assist in providing institutions and service for curtailment of religious liberty. Our missionary the handicapped and under-privileged. . . . methods must be made more spiritual and added responsibility must be put on the younger (5) To bring the Christian impulse to bear upon the churches. The youth of today call for practical social and civic questions of the ·day. evidence of truth. They must be invited to share in shaping future policies and in the responsibili- The first period of home mission achievement, ties of leadership. Jesus Christ must have first as described by Dr. A. W. Beaven, was chiefly place in our life at home and on the mission field. concerned with pioneer work, giving the Gospel Not only is the future of foreign missions at stake of Christ to new settlements and unevangelized but the future of our whole Christian program. areas. The second period was largely devoted to The price of progress is faith in the work and the building and strengthening of churches, power of Jesus Christ, shown by sacrificial serv~ schools and other Christian institutions. The ice in following Him to the uttermost. period now before us should emphasize the mak- ing of Christian life more effective in personal, The conference favored the suggestion that economic and civic affairs and to bring about united conferences of board, mission and church larger cooperation in our common tasks as disrepresentatives be called on various fields-such ciples of Christ. as the Congo, Japan, the Philippines and various districts of China and India-to settle missionary "Home Missions Today and Tomorrow" repays policies for those fields. The first step was taken study and reveals the diversified character, the in planning for such a conference in the Belgian magnitude and the importance of home missions. Congo in June with Dr. John R. Mott and such The progress made is encouraging; while the ter- Board representatives as can be present. ritory yet to be possessed is not so large as for- merly, the problems to be solved are immense and The present difficult situation may lead to bless~ challenging. Thousands of American Indians ing if we learn to go· forward under the leader- are still unevangelized, many mountainous, rural ship of Christ, using our resources of men and and urban districts are still under-privileged, and money, of mind and heart and spirit, to bring the many phases of American life show little eviliving Christ and His Gospel to all men. dence of the impress of Christian principles and the power of the living, reigning Christ. One of the most fruitful features of the con~ ference was the daily devotional period by Dr. The work of home missions is far from com- Richard Roberts of Toronto. "We do not need a pleted. As was remarked by one speaker, "The new philosophy of foreign missions," he declared, problems are difficult but allY difficult situation "but we need a new obedience to the old impera~ may be used as an excuse for quitting or may be tive of Jesus Christ. . . . The Church must be looked upon asa challenge to undertake it couthe continued incarnation of Christ." rageously and to go forward to victory in the name and power of the living Christ." THE NEXT STEPS IN HOME MISSIONS The Committee on Review and Forecast pre- The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Home sented the following suggestions for an advance in Missions Council and the Council of Women for program: Home Missions was chiefly occupied with the report of the Committee on Review and Forecast 1. To make a determined effort to complete the occuthat presented its findings in a volume entitled pancy of the home missiQn field. "Home Missions Today and Tomorrow." This report, unlike the Laymen's Inquiry, does not seek 2. To face conscientiously the problem of eliminating to recast the theological basis or to revise the chief duplication and competition in Christian work. aim of the home mission task but studies the achievements of the past hundred years and sug~ 3. To take steps to increase interdenominational coopgests the next steps to be taken. eration so as to complete the home mission task more speedily and effectively. The main objectives on home missions is stated to be: 4. To make new surveys of the field and to follow up those already made so as to bring the facts to light, to (1) To win men and women to Christ, tQ unite them meet the needs of each field, and to recognize the changed with other disciples in the fellowship of the Christian conditions that require new methods. Church and to educate them for worship and for service at home and abroad. . . . 5. To make the home mission administration more effec- tive, the quality of the personnel more adequate for new (2) To make the Church and its ministry available tQ tasks, and the spiritual standards of work higher. those sections of America which lack its ministry. 6. To bring the church of today and the youth, who will (3) TQ supply adequate Church leadership. . . . be the leaders of tomorrow, to recognize the challenge of the task and to enlist in the work more enthusiastically and sacrificially.
Joint committees of the two Councils will take up the responsibility of a further study of these projects so as to carry them forward to comple- tion.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF CHURCH Twenty-five years ago the Protestant churches could not COOPERATION have used unitedly a great new force like radio. Today, a nation-wide network of stations broadcasts every week, The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in from coast to coast, eleven programs sponsored by the Fed- America celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary eral Council. in Washington, D. C., on December 6th and 7th when President Roosevelt delivered an address Twenty-five years ago there was no way of expressing on the social idealism of early Christianity, which the collective Christian conscience on social problems. challenged the pagan ethics of Greece and Rome. Today the statement of "Social Ideals," as revised and He declared that the time has come to "challenge expanded last year, constitutes the most widely recognized the pagan ethics that are represented in many platform of Christian social effort, and the Council is recphases of our boasted modern civilization." He ognized as one of the forces working for social justice and pointed out the dominance of "greed" in our eco- international peace. nomic life and the resurgence of lynch law and other evils. He declared that "the churches are Before the formation of the Federal Council there was the greatest influence in this world to overcome no general organization for rallying church influence the present tendency toward greed." against racial prejudice or in behalf of mutual under- standing., Today the Federal Council is engaged in a The Rev. Albert W. Beaven, D.D., President of campaign against lynching, a campaign which recent the Federal Council, gave his views as to the sig- events show to be necessary; unjust racial discrimination nificance of the Council for the religious life of in our economic and civic life. America and the world, showing how through the Federal Council great values of unity are being It is impossible even to list all the other achievements increasingly secured without the sacrifice of right- brought about by church cooperation through the Federal ful freedom. The moral and spiritual needs which Council, but they have been important and far-reaching. the Church must meet today include the menace It offers an agency through which we can achieve things of competitive armaments and the exploitation of which no one communion would attempt alone, and it great numbers of the people for private gain. Dr. makes for a clear and unified message. Beaven declared that the nation needs "a free and courageous pulpit and an unfettered Church, that At this anniversary the discussions of contem- porary problems were built around the following it may have the advantage of such insights as may seven questions, which are related to both the be given to those who ask counsel of Almighty spiritual and the economic or social problems: God and seek to bring into human relations those enduring principles which are revealed in Jesus 1. What is required for a spiritual advance in the Christ." Moral and spiritual values are the foun- relation of the churches to world peace? dation of society. All too easily men have fallen down to worship the gods of gold, to admit that 2. What can we learn from the struggle for spiritonly in profit can we find such forces as will enable ual freedom in German Protestantism? us to make our machinery operate. Now in a dazed fashion we have awaked to find that the 3. What is required for a spiritual advance in the very temples of our selfishness come crashing relation of the churches to the liquor probabout our heads. We are discovering that it is lem? morally and economically true that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin is a reproach to any 4. What is required for a spiritual advance in the people. As Dr. Beaven pointed out- relation of the churches to the economic crisis?
During the past twenty-five years tremendous strides 5. What is required for a spiritual advance in the have been made in eliminating weaknesses, in achieving in- relation of the churches to the race problem? fluence, and in directing the combined force of Protestantism toward wholesome ends. Twenty-five years ago denom- 6. What is required for a spiritual advance in the inations rarely conferred with each other; the Federal relation of the churches to labor? Council includes twenty-five denominations of North America and there are federations of churches in nearly 7. Why is fuller cooperation essential to spiritual fifty major cities, and councils of churches in seventeen advance? states. The Hon. Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agri- Twenty-five years ago there was no world-wide organi- culture, gave a most impressive address on zation of Protestantism binding the churches of different "Statesmanship and Religion," pleading for nations together; today, as a result of the work of the "changed hearts" as the only ultimate cure of our Federal Council and the World Alliance for International economic situation. Ministers and teachers must Friendship, cooperating with the Christian forces of eagerly seek to make unselfish hearts eager and Europe. The new spirit of international cooperation willing to serve the common good, while others in among the churches culminated in the formation of the public life develop the changed social machinery Universal Christian Council, a world federation of the to match the changed hearts. Protestant churches. The Federal Council of Churches represents the cooperative efforts of twenty-two of the great Christian Communions in North America, with a membership of twenty-two million people. Its purpose is "to express the fellowship and unity of the Christian Church and to unite Christians for the service of Christ and the world." With so many different elements and varied leaders, it is natural that many of the activities and utterances
of the Federal Council are criticized, some justly, pIe, who have always been taught that the Bible but in the past twenty-five years it has accom- was a closed book to all but the priesthood of the plished much in bringing Christian forces to- Roman Church. The plain Cross sets forth the gether to solve some of the problems of the day in Christ of the Cross; the word "Gospel" is not a America. Faith in Christ as the only Lord and current word of the Roman Church and "Believe" Saviour, and loyalty to the Bible as the message is a strong contrast to the doctrine of salvation of God to men should unite and not divide the by "works" as taught by the Church of Rome. Christian Church for fellowship and for service. An official message has also gone out to the EVANGELICAL PROGRESS IN ITALY Regi Proveditori agli Studi, the highest govern- Two strong forces, yes three or more, strive to mental educational authorities of every province, mold the future of the Italian nation. The present which is in strong contrast to the attitude of the Pope is an aggressive, missionary-minded leader Turks and the Russians on religious education. who seeks not only to strengthen the papacy in This message quoted in Beyond Alpine Snows Italy but to extend its control abroad. He has al- reads, in part: ready laid plans for the domination of the Belgian Congo and other districts in Africa. Nonreligious "All teachers and schoolmasters should read the New materialism is also spreading in Italy as in other Testament and should explain this divine Book to the chilparts of Europe. A third force to be reckoned dren and see that they learn its beautiful passages by with is the small but influential Evangelical heart. The Book must not be missing from any school Church. Mussolini and the Fascist Government library for it is ever new through all the centuries. It is are working to build up a strong political State the greatest of all books, the most necessary book because and the Government has recently taken some ex- it is divine. traordinary steps that should advance Evangelical Christianity. "The National Government desires to reconduct the chil- To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Fas- dren, and, by means of the children, the soul of the Italian cist Government, Signor Mussolini has issued a people, by this Book, to the finding of the safe way which series of new postage stamps. Among them, the will lead the fatherland to the most sublime and the truest thirty centesimi stamp is of very special interest, greatness."
and has caused much comment and strong opposi- That is magnificent. . . . When we know the powerful tion from the Vatican, expressed in most violent forces which are at work in Italy, under the stern, insistterms in the L'Osservatore Romano. ent, and precise orders of Rome, for the suppression of the Word of God, such a circular as that is a proclamation This stamp sets forth the open Bible standing which shows fine courage and splendid resolution on the on a lectern with the wings of an eagle, the sym- part of Signor Mussolini. bol of inspiration. On the open page of the Book is inscribed the word "Evangelium," which means "These are days of wonderful opportunity," "Gospel." Below is the word, "Credere"-Be- says the editor of the Spezia Mission paper. "We lieve-and behind the open Bible is the Cross, not are working in the midst of the Fascist Revoluthe crucifix. tion it is true, but on every side doors are open wide before us. The people are realizing more Before the Bible and the Cross, the flags of than ever the full meaning of the law of religious Italy, and the emblem of the Fascist regime, are liberty. There is a greater eagerness to read the reverently lowered in salute. The circulation of Word of God, in spite of the efforts of the Church this stamp will preach a great sermon to the peo- of Rome to prevent it. Young men and women seeking help and satisfaction are crowding our halls in such a way as to tax our accommodation to the utmost."
Prof. Doride Bosio of Rome also writes in Life and Work that the Italian Parliament has passed a law regarding "religious communities per- mitted in the State" which allows freedom in the discussion of religious matters, grants autonomy to "all religions which are not contrary to good order and morals," sanctions the opening of all places of worship and recognizes clergy of all permitted faiths as legally entitled to celebrate religious marriages which are recognized and reg- istered by the State.
Prof. Bosio concludes: "Italy's Protestants are a powerful advance guard of Protestantism which has been posted in one of the most difficult positions. They rely on the sympathy and love of all the Protestants in the world."
Egypt-What Price Progress?
By the REV. CHARLES R. WATSON, D.D.
President of the American University at Cairo, Egypt T HE shortest way to reach Egypt from Amer- high standards of morality and even vital concep- ica is to take the steamer which holds the tions of religion. It is the feeling that if only the record for trans-Atlantic speed, and in seven human race could hold its gains, would not slip days you will be in Naples. In three days more back, how much further we might have advanced.
you reach Alexandria and then two and a half But we cannot dwell upon the richness of our hours later you are at Cairo, the capital of Egypt, archeological treasures, for I am carrying you to a city of a million and a quarter. Egypt, neither for the sake of its climate nor for In normal years some fifteen thousand Amer- the sake of its historical significance, but because ican tourists visit that part of the world. Some it is a strategic centre of a great world. I mean come to enjoy our wonderful the Moslem world. Here in climate. In February and Egypt we are at the intellectual March when North American Egypt is still experiencing centre of that great civilization weather is drizzly and snowy the birth-throes of intellec- which we call Mohammedan.
and cold, Egypt is being flooded tual and spiritual rebirth. Do you realize how vast an with sunshine. However, this Old and obsolete conditions empire this Moslem world is?
delightful climate is not alto- and ideas are hindering the If you go around the world, it gether an asset. It is debili- advancement of new life and will greet you at Gibraltar. On tating for those who live there liberty. But Egypt is ad- the right hand, as you travel year in and year out. UYhen I vancing – at what cost Dr. the whole length of the Medi- Watson, a son of Egypt, . clearly shows. Are we ready terranean, you have the forty first went to Egypt, I was told as Christians to make the million Moslems in North there were three rules of life. sacrifices necessary to make Africa. At the East end of the First, "Never do anything to- this progress possible? Chris- Mediterranean, you are face to day that you can possibly put tians in Egypt are helping to face with the Near East of off till tomorrow"; second, pay the price. Are we at Asia with forty million more: "Never do anything yourself that you can get anyone else to home ready to stand by them? in Palestine and Syria, in Tur- do"; third, "Never do much of key, Mesopotamia, Arabia and anything anyho~ Persia. If you could run up to Of course many visitors come for more serious Russia you would find some ten million more, or purposes. They wish to see the archeological visit China and find another ten million. On your treasures of a past civilization. What a thrill it way around the world you go through the Red is to live in that past; to reconstruct in your Sea, across the Indian Ocean, and come to India.
imagination the millenniums of ancient Egypt. Here is the largest single block of Moslems in any The pyramids and obelisks and temples and one country-sixty million. Go on and come to sphinxes carry one back some six thousand years, Malaysia where you find forty million more. You not to the beginnings of history but to a period do not leave this far-flung Moslem empire behind which was even then the golden age of Egyptian until you have passed the Philippine Islands civilization. It deepens in one the consciousness where the Moro Moslems are under the American of the great price that has been paid for human flag.
achievements-the millenniums and centuries of The significance of Egypt in this great empire discipline and labor that have given us our present lies in the fact that it is the intellectual centre of attainments. This is particularly good for an Mohammedanism. Here is its great Mohammedan American who lives dynamically in the present, university, the Azhar. Here are printing presses and imagines that civilization began with him and that carry the thought life of Egypt to every part will be crowned by him. A deep feeling comes of the Moslem world. Here, too, is the cradle of over one who finds in these early millenniums the Arabic journalism. "As goes Egypt, so will go the knowledge of astronomy, engineering, agriculture, Mohammedan world."
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What Price Progress in Health? women out of the life of the nation. If she is on the street she is veiled. In the home she is in the First as to Health: Clearly there can be no harem. To be sure, thousands are now breaking progress without higher standards of physical away from these strict social rules, but it is only health. The first thing that impresses the casual where West meets East. The law of the harem is tourist is the extent of eye trouble. Egypt has still the law of the land and of its social order. the unenviable distinction of having a greater We follow woman into her seclusion and ask: IS percentage of its population blind or afflicted with she educated? Egypt affords us government staeye trouble than any other nation in the world. tistics which tell us that in the country at large A leading authority placed the number of those twenty per cent of the population can read and suffering from trachoma at ninety-five per cent. write. But do the women get their share? No, This disease of the eye keeps a man out of Amer- only four out of a hundred Egyptian women can ica. It does not always spell blindness but it does read and write. Clearly, the price of progress is represent impairment of eyesight. Why should the elevation of woman. ninety-five per cent of the people have this affliction? Our four children lived for years in Egypt. Then we observe the precarious position of None of them had trachoma. It is not necessary woman in the home and in society, for the Moto have it. It is entirely preventable, but super- hammedan law allows a man to have four legal stition tells the mother that it is unlucky to wash wives. There is always at the heart of every wife her baby until it is forty days old. In America, a the dread of the possibility of a second wife, and baby's eyes are washed at birth. After forty days a third and even a fourth. Meanwhile, the law of the damage is done, for the disease has set in. divorce attacks woman's position and prestige Clearly one price of progress is the elimination of perhaps more than anything that has been menphysical diseases. tioned, for all that a man needs to do to divorce his wife is to say, "Woman, thou art divorced." Nor is eyesight the only point attacked. There is bilharzia and hookworm. These three, with As we face this social order and observe its other diseases in their train, stalk up and down working, we do not need to be missionaries nor the country causing infinite suffering to women, even to be Christian to see that it must change if dreadful mortality among children, and weaken- Egypt is to make progress. Nor is it the Westing the efficiency and shortening the lives of men. erner alone who is saying this. The Egyptian young man is also saying it, and is insisting that Sir Wilfred Grenfell, of Labrador, came to see the next generation of women shall be better eduus one day in Egypt. He said he had been visiting cated and shall have greater freedom. the hospitals and I asked him what he thought of them. "They are doing magnificent work," he Moral and Spiritual Conditions:' Even more said "but it is hopeless. The flood of disease is fundamental than physical health and social concoming down at such a rate that no hospitals can ditions, are those conditions that have to do with overtake the damage done. What is needed is for the moral and spiritual life of a nation. How some one to go upstream and check the disease at shall we appraise these conditions? Our attitude its source." He strongly endorsed the work which to non-Christian religions in our day is marked by we are doing in the American University at Cairo, a new sympathy and appreciation. For this I am where we are endeavoring to change public mis- thankful. My own appreciation of non-Christian conceptions on these very points We believe that religions grew out of my jealousy for God and if we can arouse the people to the great national His character as a God of love. It seemed to me evils, they themselves will effect the cure. To be unthinkable that the God of love, revealed to us conscious of a limitation or of an evil is to be well by Jesus Christ, would not have been deeply conon the way toward its removal. So we have lec- cerned for His children in other lands across the tures on health which go from our platform to the long millenniums of their history. Surely someprinted pages of the journals of Cairo. We have where one would find the token of His interest in also prepared the first educational film on the care their spiritual and moral development. As a child of the eyes, with an Oriental setting. Last year of God it behooved me to look for His hand of it was used by the Palestinian Government in the love in the lives of these non-Christian people. cinemas of Palestine. Yes, one price of progress Looking thus with sympathy and appreciation inin Egypt, and in the Moslem world, is health-the to the Moslem religion, I found much for which recovery of physical health. one is glad.
The Social Order: The casual observation of First of all there is the spiritual conception of the tourist who visits Egypt is "Where are the God iri Islam. We must remember that Mohamwomen ?" Of course, many know the Moham- medanism came up from a background of idolatry. medan law of seclusion which practically lifts Upon that background we see it as a religion with a spiritual conception of God. This came home to
EGYPT-WHAT PRICE PROGRESS?
me one day in Benares, India. We had been going two things I want from my religion. One of these from Hindu temple to Hindu temple and my soul is fellowship with God. I am conscious that I am felt fairly defiled by the coarse representations of here on earth-helpless, weak, sinful, and God is the creative principle on every hand. Then we in His glory and power and perfect holiness. Who swung around into a Moslem mosqu.e. It seemed will bridge this great gulf and bring me to Him?
like breathing fresh air. There was not an idol I know that Jesus Christ can do it. Moham- in sight. Only upon the walls was the name of medanism seems to lay such stress upon one single Allah. I thanked God that day for this feature of attribute of God, namely, His sovereignty, that He Mohammedanism. seems to be pushed farther away, up, up, ever higher, until He is yonder behind His cold grey clouds and your heart cannot touch Him. He is too great. I have been told that Moslem theolo- gians declare that it is blasphemy to say that God is love, for how can perfect self-sufficiency and sovereignty be touched with the feeling of mortal infirmity.
The second thing that I want from my religion is moral undergirding. I have temptations and I have tasks. I am unequal to both. I want moral reinforcement and undergirding. I need ideals that will break out ever with fresh significance.
WHERE NEW IDEAS OF PROGRESS ARE PUT I find that undergirding and those ideals in Christ. INTO PRACTICE Does the Moslem find them in Mohammed? As I read what Lord Cromer says about the modern A village where students go to teach lessons in social progress.
Again I am deeply impressed with the note of Moslem and his moral shipwreck, I sense that submissiveness in Mohammedanism. That is there is a need to be supplied, there is a Christ what Islam means-submission. "Moslem" means that needs to be shared. So, as I look at the moral "the man who is surrendered." Christians believe and spiritual situation and ask myself, What in the surrendered life. Of course, it makes a Price Progress, I see that there must be a new. world of difference what one surrenders to, but .moral and spiritual dynamic.
the act of surrender is there and the spirit of sub~ Who Is to Pay the Price? missiveness is there in any case. I have often marvelled at the resignation and quiet submission We now come to the most important question: to the will of God manifest in Mohammedan lives Who shall pay the price of progress? There are in the presence of great loss and awful tragedy. three parties that must pay the price. of this prog- Sometimes I dream of Egypt becoming Chris~ tian. I do not think of the mosques being de~ stroyed with the loss of the Moorish architecture.
I love it, although I love the Gothic, too. I do not think of the minarets being destroyed and church steeples being built with their crashing bells call- ing to prayer instead of the call of the human voice from the minaret. There are many things that I believe Jesus Christ, with His loving appre- ciation of all that is good and all that has been de- veloped in the good providence of God in every race, will preserve. I believe that He will gather up these values, developed in other races and na- WHERE THE PRICE IS BEING PAID FOR PROGRESS tions, and will build them imperishably into His The American University at Cairo eternal Kingdom.
What Religion Should Supply ress. There is some part of this price which only' Egypt herself may pay to achieve her own prog- But this appreciation of the good in Islam must ress. There is another part which I would say, in not impair our judgment. There are deep and all reverence, only God may pay. Finally there is fundamental inadequacies in this religion which a part of the price of progress which it falls to only Jesus Christ and His spirit and teaching and us to pay.
work can supply. Let me ask here, What is it that What is the price that Egypt must pay? I you want out of a religion? Personally, there are cannot touch on all that is included under this an-
swer, but certainly one part of that price is the laborious planfulness. Some of these are high in pain of readjustment. Let me illustrate. Some the Government; many are in humbler walks of years ago when I was living in a Moslem neigh- life. They see the new day. They are seeking to borhood, I heard the sound of weeping in a large usher it in. Some are trying to reform the law establishment back of our house. 1 knew what of the country. Some are improving the educa- had happened: there was a death. According to tional life. Some are reforming the social order.
custom the family would erect a large pavilion of Some are instituting health campaigns. To every beautiful tent work and during three days friends one of these forward-looking Egyptians and Mos- would come to express their sympathy. Should I lems, we should extend our sympathy and a help- go? I did not know the family. They were my ing hand. • neighbors but the house fronted on another street. But there is a part of the price of progress that The family was of pasha rank. The head of the only God can pay. The uplift of a nation, the house was a Nationalist. The difficulties seemed progress of humanity, whether in the East or in to increase as I investigated. But 1 finally decided – the West, whether among Arabs or Americans, to go, scarcely hoping to be able to talk anything cannot even be hoped for without reliance upon but Arabic, or at most, French. What was my God. I am not thinking only of that price which surprise when I was greeted at the entrance by a was paid by Him centuries ago on the Mount of young man, speaking perfect English. He said, Calvary or on the Pentecostal morn when spir- "It is my brother who has died. He died in Cam- itual forces were released that have no end in the bridge, England. I was studying in Oxford, Eng- history of the world. I think, also, of more recent land, and I brought the body home." He then took providences that are clearly from the hand of God.
me to a seat of honor alongside of himself. He Within the last twenty years we have seen the seemed to hold on to me. I sat there quietly, hav- entire Moslem world lifted out of its isolation and ing expressed my sympathy, for one does not talk swept into the current of world thought and much. I listened to the Sheikh chanting passages brought into touch with world movements, as not from the Koran that were beautiful, and in all in centuries before. In the Great War, we re- sincerity, 1 said to him: member that of all non-Christian areas it was the "That is beautiful chanting." Moslem world that was affected chiefly by this "I hate it," he said. great war. What was the campaign at Gallipoli "What is the trouble?" I asked. and the Dardanelles but in Moslem territory!
"1 was living in the quiet and the peace of Ox- That in Mesopotamia, on Moslem territory! That ford," he explained, "and then I came here at this of Egypt, Moslem territory! The recruiting of tragic moment; in my home the women were the labor battalions from NoI:th Africa, Moslem screaming and tearing their clothes and pulling territory! The awakening of the whole Moslem their hair. I stood it one night; then I got out world that began so significantly with the Great and went to the hotel." War has gone on steadily in more recent years so I was sorry for the young man. I was sorry that today the old complacency and self-sufficiency for his father and mother who would not under- has passed away. All of this has been wrought by stand. I was witnessing the contact of two dif- none other than the hand of God.
ferent cultures, two different religions, two dif- Another mighty force that I believe has been ferent immortal hopes. I was witnessing a veri- directed by God to influence mightily the Moham- table collision of ideals and where these contacts medan world is Nationalism. This is of greater and collisions take place, there is pain-the pain significance in a Moslem land because of a pre- of adjustment. Would God that there were al- vious conception which had to be overcome. The ways mediators at those points, sympathetic per- old Mohammedan conception was not that of Na- sons who might explain, who might take up the tionalism at all. It was that of Pan-Islamism, in shock of the collision. But even so, there is always which all Moslems would be united in a religious pain, the pain of readjustment to new ideas and empire. There would be no Moor, or Algerians, new truths, and Egypt will have to pay that price, or Tunisians, or Egyptians, or Palestinians, or and in many instances she is doing it with courage Arabs; they would all be members of one reli- and with calmness. But at times there are the gious faith, happening to live here or there. Now fanatical outbreaks, the indignant rejection of Pan-Islamism has exploded into bits and every new ideas and new thought. bit is a national bit. There is today a Turkish Another price that Egypt herself must pay for nationalism and a Syrian nationalism, and an progress is that of initiativeness in reform. I Iraqian nationalism, and an Egyptian National- wish I could describe the forward-looking Egyp- ism. These countries would not dream of uniting tians, increasing in number every year; men of together and losing their nationalities in order to wisdom, men of courage, men of persevering and form a Pan-Islamic empire once again.
EGYPT-WHAT PRICE PROGRESS?
But what is nationalism worth? Many condemn price of grass in a country so hot and dryas it as an accursed movement throughout the world, Egypt? Is it a little sprinkling of water now and making for hatred and hostility. This was the again? Not at all, that would never do. The en- opinion of the Indian poet, Tagore. But we do tire field is banked up all around; then the field not find it so in Egypt. It is a new force indeed is flooded, almost a foot deep, and the water is in the life of the people and while it may have its allowed to stand there all night until the ground evil manifestations, it is also in many cases a is thoroughly· soaked. That is the price of grass force for good, for progress, for eagerness for in a hot and dry climate. It is a parable of what knowledge and education. It puts a nation on its we Christians must do in the Moslem world. We tip-toes of expectancy. It awakens the mind to have tried the sprinkling processes. Here and inquiry. It softens the will and enables the there there has been a little manifestation of love people to a c c e p t and sympathy. But changes that make it is not en 0 ugh.
for improvement. There must be the As we see this force drenching 0 f the working in the life Moslem world with of Egypt and ad- Christian love and Jommg countries, sympathy. Only so we feel that, under can we achieve the the hand of God, it results we desire may prove to be a and the progress we mighty power for want.
progress. And then there Lastly, . there is m u s t be service.
that portion of the Whatever it is that price w h i c h we Christ has given us Christians, friends we can give to them.
of Egypt and of the Spiritual service, Moslem world, must moral service, social pay if progress is to service, intellectual be achieved. The A NEW MOSLE'M WOMAN ADDRESSING A CAIRO CROWD s er vic e, physical first price we must service – imparting pay is that of sympathy. There has been too much not merely the fruits of Christianity'but the roots ill-will across the centuries between the Christian also. We must share all the living springs which camp and the Moslem camp. There has been we have found in Christ. That is what we are suspicion and hatred. This cannot be the last trying to do at the American University at Cairo.
word. The last word must be love. You ask, how It is only one of many forms of service, but it is much love? Let me answer with a parable. Just indeed one of the most practically useful, one of on the edge of Cairo is a country club, on a beau- the most spiritually penetrating, one of the most tiful island on the Nile. One can there watch the morally undergirding, and one of the most life- polo games played on beautiful turf. What is the transforming methods for promoting progress.
Christianity has to do, not with man's quest for God but with God's gift to man…… It is not a question of ou!: sharing with others the deeper spiritual values of our lives,which for the most of us are not very much to share, but of bearing witness to a grace and truth outside of ourselves…… The Christian mission ….. stands or falls with the question whether it is the bearer of a word from God.
-J. H. OLDHAM.
Evangelism-what is it? Are we afraid of it? Do we think it cannot be effective in our day with its emphasis on the social gospel? Society can be changed by changing the individuals that compose it. Dr. Mott's words find an echo in our hearts: "Evangelism consists in making Christ known, loved, trusted and obeyed in all ranges of life, by individuals and by society; and an intense passion to have Christ's kingdom widened, to ca:11 out the best in personality, to share with others, to be unselfish and to give to others those things of Christianity that have helped us. This larger evangelism is the work most needed now in the world, yet most neglected. We are in a time when we need great affirmationsaffirmations that nothing has changed our belief in Christ or in his power in the world."
Mrs. Thomas Nicholson.
WHY I BELIEVE IN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS* By DR. DONALD W. RICHARDSON, Richmond, Virginia 1. I am a Christian. To be a Christian is to be a missionary; I can't be a Christian and be indifferent to the needs of others.
2. I have seen some of the need of the non-Christian world. Back .of its physical, intellectual, economic, political and social ills, I have seen 'the need for a knowledge of Jesus Christ and the God whom He reveals.
3. I know from experience and observation that among the many panaceas and saviours which are being .offered to the world today Jesus Christ alone is actually saving men and women.
4. When I entered the Christian Church I thereby became a life-member of a divinely estab- lished missionary society. If I did not believe in missions I would be false to my membership in this missionary organization.
5. I believe that the words of Christ when He told His disciples to "go into all the world to teach and heal and p'reach the Gospel" are to be taken literally. We who are within the Church manifest our love and our loyalty to the Lord by the measure in which we carry out His command. In neglect- ing the hungry and thirsty, and naked and sick and imprisoned of the world I am neglecting Christ.
6. In Christ and His message I have a vision of the possibilities of people. I see them not only as they are, but also as they may be. I see not only their achievements, but also their capacities for achievement.
7. While recognizing the many elements of value to be found in other religious faiths, I have ,seen that these other systems at their highest and best do not supply the value which is found in the Christian faith and Way of Life. Their essential inadequacy lies in their ignorance of Christ, the Revealer of God and Redeemer of man.
8. I believe that in Christ alone is found the solution for the needs of the individual, of society, of civilization and that around Him alone center the noblest, the most unselfish, and the most endur- ing activities of man. '
9. I believe in the possibility of a world in which people of every race and nation may live as the children of God-in a social order characterized by righteousness, peace, and gladness. I believe that this better world must be built of men and women who have been redeemed in every land and brought into the Kingdom of Heaven by the grace of God in Christ.
10. I have seen some of the results of Christian missions-glorious transformations in character, marvelous restorations of lost mental and moral and social and spiritual order. I have seen pagan minds enlightened, bodies healed, souls saved, societies regenerated; and an atmosphere of gloom changed into one of gladness.
11. I believe that the Church and the Christian need mission work as an avenue of expression for the Christ-life within, as a field of service and sacrifice. By engaging in this work they them- selves become enriched and fruitful.
12. I believe that Christ's purpose and program call for cooperation on the part of His followers. He has placed His own cause upon the hearts and in the hands of His disciples. The completion of His will for the world, His method, His Church, His ideal for man, is by the way of foreign missions.
13. With such a God as Christ reveals, with such purposes of grace and love as the Christian Scriptures proclaim, the foreign missionary enterprise is a moral necessity. I should be ashamed to be so spiritually obtuse as not to see the logical issue .of my fellowship with Christ.
14. The best which 1 have I desire to share with humanity; selfishly to keep it for myself and my own community would be un-Christian. That best is not some theory of government, not some system of culture, not some program of social uplift, not science, not the veneer of Western civiliza- tion, but the knowledge of a loving and saving God. Not to share this knowledge would indicate a pathetic lack of faith in my own religion.
15. I know missionaries whom the Churches have sent out-most of them humble, courageous men and women, whose names may never be written in human history; but who are the agents of God for the establishment of His Kingdom. They are in the line of God's great succession .of Kingdom build- ers. I would share with them, to the limit of my opportunity, in the divinest, the most daring, and the most gloriously fruitful enterprise of all the ages.
16. Finally, I believe in Christian missions, because "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The greater part of the world today does not yet know, and can come to know God only through messengers whom the Chri,stians may send out to tell the Good News.
• From the Ohristian Observer.
South American
By JOHN A. MACKAY, New York -··~Z1 Author of "The Other Spanish Christ"; Secretary of the Board f.lc-..- of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
A S I LOOK back on my recent wanderings in this at a time when millions from the Magellan ..l'.. South America, I find that three main im- Straits to the Hudson Bay are suffering hunger, pressions have crystallized in my mind. I it is clear that what is in crisis is man. Can we have become conscious, if not for the first time, at not pardon the modern pessimist, who in the least to a much greater degree than before, of light of facts like the above, raises a question three major realities in the contemporary life of whether after all man is anything more than an that continent. The first of these is the reality of unsuccessful experiment of nature!
crisis, the second the reality of religious oppor- This is one side of the economic crisis. For- tunity, the third the reality of the evangelical tunately, there is another. Who can doubt that community. the fact of being united in one great fellowship of In the present article, I am going to deal with pain predisposes the nations forming the Pan- my impressions of the reality of crisis, leaving the American Union to regard one another in a much other two realities for treatment in subsequent friendlier way than they hdve done for decades articles. past. Nations which suffer fogether find it much Happily, it is not now so common as it was easier to think and plan together, and common some years ago, to regard all crisis as a simple pain has undoubtedly been one of the factors mak- projection of a state of mind, a state of mind that ing possible the great and unusual comity that has thrusts its own disorder and dread into the world reigned in the recent Pan-American Conference around it. It has become evident that changes of at Montevideo.
a major order are taking place in the life and Political Upheaval thinking of men, and that major decisions must be made. Thus the perception grows that crisis Everywhere I was conscious of the reality of is the only word at all adequate to describe condi- social and political crisis. Early in 1928 it had tions such as exist in many parts of the world. been my privilege at a Latin-American banquet The old is going. Something new, whether better in New York to share the program of after-dinner or worse than the old, is in the throes of birth. speeches with a distinguished diplomat, Dr. Carlos Davila, then Chilean Ambassador to the United Coffee Bonfires States. Both of us lived on the peaks that eve- .
It is not surprising that I found South America ning as we discoursed on things South American.
in the grip of an economic crisis. Let me give but Last May, I was in Santiago, the Chilean capital.
one representative illustration. I had arrived in There I was told how the erstwhile ambassador the Brazilian port of Santos, and was speeding in had headed a revolution, occupying the presiden- a friend's car across the great plateau. As we tial chair for several weeks, after which he was approached the city of San Paulo, I said to my ousted from power by another. One evening, companion, "What is that haze on the horizon?" after an address in the "Instituto Ingles," a Pres- At first it seemed to me to be a Scotch mist. But byterian mission school in Santiago, a man in his no, it was evidently smoke. "Some great building early fifties came up to speak to me.' There was in the city must be ablaze," I said. "No," was his a look of great kindliness in his face, and a strange reply, "they are burning coffee." mystic flash in his eye. "I am Colonel Grove," he said, as he shook my hand warmly. "Colonel During my three months in Brazil, I discovered Grove!" I involuntarily replied. This was the that in the last two or three years, 16,000,000 best-known communist leader in Latin America! sacks of Brazilian coffee have been burned. He was the man who had ousted Davila from Crisis! And not a purely economic one, either. power, occupying, in his turn, the presidential When one reads of the destruction of sheep in chair for several weeks. Then he, too, passed southern Chile, of the slaughter of pigs in Kansas, from the helm of State. In the recent political of the burning of wheat in Wisconsin and Min- elections in Chile, at which the new President nesota, and of the coffee bonfires in Brazil, and all [77 ]
Alessandri was elected, thirty-three political bridged in the interests of creative action and parties went to the polls. Among these were creative personalities. Appreciation of the existtwenty shades of socialism. Crisis! The new ele- ence of this chasm is part of the present crisis. ment in the situation was that social and political Will the abyss be widened or will it be bridged? ideas had become real and people were following That is the really critical question, as we look ideas and not, as formerly, ambitious personali- down the coming years. ties. The transition from interest in personalities to interest in ideas is an element in the social and Idealism and the Chaco political crisis of South America. In the international realm, crisis was equally I crossed the Andes in a raging blizzard on the apparent. The press in all the capital cities I last train to cross for some weeks, and sped over passed through was full of news about the undethe marvelous Argentine pampas. I came finally clared war between Paraguay and Bolivia. At to a much loved city by the sea, Montevideo, the Buenos Aires in June I found that, according to capital of vigorous and progressive little Uruguay. estimates, at least 40,000 men lay. dead in the Crisis met me there – in a city where legislators malarial marshes of the Chaco. Some have put had given themselves to the task of banishing the estimate of the victims to date at anything crisis and revolution forever, and sincerely from 50,000 to 100,000 Bolivians and Parathought they had succeeded. A dictator was in guayans. That awful holocaust to the god of war, power in the most democratic of South American that bloodiest and most sinister of episodes in countries, a country which had earned for itself modern Latin American history, is red with crisis. the name of the New Zealand of South America. And perhaps the most crimson part of that crisis is not that so many thousands of men have died, Some few decades ago, Uruguay set itself to but that South American idealism lies in those solving the problem of recurring revolutions, by swamps. How often had it been said, since the creating a new collegiate form of government, in World War, by leading South American statesmen which both of the traditional political parties and writers, that theirs was the only part of the should be represented in the executive council of world where war would be forever impossible bethe nation. One of the men largely responsible tween sister nations, because all South American for the new system was ex-President Brum. Fif- countries had loyally pledged themselves to solve teen years before, I had listened to him speak in their conflicts by arbitration! South America was Lima, when as a young man of thirty-five, re- committed to the principle of arbitration for the cently elected to the presidency of his country, he settlement of all international disputes. Then was touring the other American states. Brum came the undeclared war in the Chaco, which all was a natural enemy of the new dictatorial gov- the diplomacy of the Pan-American Union and of ernment. He found, however, that the majority the League of Nations could not prevent. Not of the people were in favor of it. They did not only that, but a similar situation had almost been rally to him or to his ideas, as he had hoped. One created in the Putumayo, on the boundary between day he received word that the government was Peru and Colombia. Had it not been for the asgoing to arrest him. He prepared himself for the sassination of a Peruvian president in the month event in a very dramatic way. Throwing open, of April, those two countries would have repeated early one morning, the wide doors of his residence, on the Putumayo what Bolivia and Paraguay have he seated himself on a chair facing the entrance, waged in the Chaco. South American statesmen a revolver in either hand. He expected that one and idealists are in a chastened mood. They of two things would happen-that the government recognize that all nations have sinned, that "there would arrest him, or that the people would rally is none righteous, no, not one." Some recognize around him. The hours passed. Neither of the that mere idealism and sentimentality are insuffitwo possibilities was fulfilled. In utter loneliness, cient when confronted with primitive human nadenied even the opportunity for a dramatic ges- ture and the new doctrine of the State. ture, he shot himself. He had been a brilliant political leader. He had sincerely and consistently Spiritual Crisis opposed religion of all kinds, but in his utter loneliness and isolation, at a moment when true re- But the reality of crisis is still deeper. There is ligion nerves a man to stand alone with God a spiritual crisis in South America. It is true, of against the world, he could not endure blank soli- course, that every crisis in human affairs has a tude and preferred to put an end to his despair. spiritual aspect. This we have seen to be true in In a crisis such as he had never anticipated, his the various phases of crisis already considered. heart became a sepulchre of dead illusions. He proved incidentally, by his suicide, that the tradi- A crisis takes place in the inner life of a countional gulf between religion and politics must be try when it is willing to remake its whole life and tradition in the light of the conclusion it reaches
THE SOUTH AMERICAN CRISIS
after loyal self-examination. Then anything may reached the places we aspire to, become our old happen. Self-criticism is of the very essence of true selves again, rejecting all opportunism and crisis. It is not too much to say that South Amer- untruth." When a well-intentioned and altruistic ican countries have entered this stage. Spain young man asks himself seriously whether it is entered it after the Spanish-American War, and worth while or possible to be good under all cir- the way was prepared for a really creative revo- cumstances then we have crisis of a serious order.
lution by the wholeheartedness with which thou- We are not surprised to learn that the new sands of men and women in the country gave mood gives greater reality to religious ideas. This themselves to the task of knowing themselves and brings into crisis the old South American radical- of discovering wherein their great faults and ism. "It would appear," said a Peruvian radical failings lay. It is interesting to observe that at and freethinker, "that God had handed over poli- the very time when new appreciation for Latin tics to men and kept religion for himself." But America is being expressed in North America, now a new phenomenon meets us throughout those there begins to appear in South America a tend- lands. It is not rare to find earnest young men ency to rigorous self-examination. of the new generation ready to take to themselves A second aspect of South America's spiritual the words of that young Spanish writer who said, crisis has already been hinted at. It consists in "I have Karl Marx in my head and Jesus Christ the change of interest from persons to ideas. in my heart." I am not interested in discussing, South America passed through a stage in which at the moment, whether this is or is not a possible ideas regarding life and God were given only an combination. What interests me is to point out academic or resthetic value. It was considered that for many young South Americans it is per- that to identify oneself passionately and absolutely fectly valid, however illogical their position may with anyone idea was to become sectarian, and seem to us. They have awakened to the discovery cultured South Americans have dreaded nothing that Jesus Christ is not the "poor Christ" whom so much as to be called "sectarios." Now, how- they have thought of, but a being whom every ever, that is changing. The new tendency or man must face if he would fairly and squarely mood began to appear with the revolt of university face himself and life. Their social imagination youth in 1918. It received its finest expression in is being captivated by the "Christ of the Whip."
Peru, among the members of the Apra party. I Among a people for whom a "poor beggar" or a have just read a remarkable pamphlet entitled "poor devil" has been practically synonomous "Aprism and Religion," in which the writer, a with a "poor Christ," illimitable vistas of oppor- young man who, in my time in Peru, was regarded tunity open up for the reinterpretation of Jesus as a consummate bookworm and cynic, confessed Christ.
that he had been saved from sterile intellectualism We need not be surprised to find that the sense by identifying himself with the great ideas em- of crisis prevails in the traditional church of those bodied in the program of his party.* When countries. The Roman Catholic Church is fully teachers, and intellectuals in general, are expected alive to the seriousness. of the present situation, to be crusaders, a complete break has taken place and so we discover here and there things which with the traditional attitude of detachment which are quite foreign to the tradition of that church, characterized South American culture. Accord- as known hitherto in those lands. We find ser- ing to the old view there could be no such thing as mons being preached in theatres and in churches, a crisis for an educated man, who viewed the without any ritual accompaniment. We find lay- world from his detached balcony. men who give lectures on the Bible and Catholi- There is still another element of crisis in this cism. We find more attention being given to the current drift from personalism. One discovers reading of the Scriptures in public, and in certain among the younger generation a great loss of faith areas to the distribution of the Gospels. If this in men. What a Mexican student once said to me process goes on long enough and thoroughly would be typical of many others in South Amer- enough, anything may happen in the' old church, ica. "We have become totally disillusioned," he and we might even witness another reformation.
said, "in the men to whom we looked as leaders. Meantime, the spiritual issue becomes sharp- We now ask ourselves if, continuing to live in ac- ened. Spiritualism, theosophy, occultism, not to cordance with our ideals, we shall ever reach speak of many other cults, have begun to dom- places of power where we can do the work we inate the minds of thousands throughout the con·· think should be done. So we wonder if for the tinent. Some years ago, an Indian philosopher, a present we ought not to take up a Machiavellian high priest of theosophy, and a Doctor of Phi- attitude towards life, and then, after we have losophy of the University of Cambridge, made what was practically a triumphant tour around • The Apra Party. See article, "A Voice from a Peruvian Prison," the whole continent. In South America, the East in the December REVIEW.
and the West, which it was thought would never opportunity to present the heart of the Gospel. meet, are coming strangely together. Nobody, I Interpreting Nietzsche's famous parable of the believe, would make such a profound impression camel that became a lion and the lion that became on the spiritual life of South America as an Indian a child, I followed modern man along the road of Christian, for South America looks wistfully to- his measureless passion for knowledge, and his wards the East and feels her need of a faith. iconoclastic drive towards freedom, into a fresh new childhood with wonder in its eyes and a life- An illustration of the reality of spiritual crisis affirming accent on his lips. The following mornis a question which was put to me by a student ing an engineering student came to see me. "I of the University of Santiago during my recent have passed through the stages you described last visit to Chile. One evening in the National Uni- night," he said in an agonized tone, "I have been versity I gave a lecture on "Nietzsche-the Crea- a sceptic. But I cannot live on scepticism and pertor of Superman,"-the idol of more than one gen- petual rebellion. I need a faith. Do you think I eration of South American youth. From him they can ever get a faith ?" had derived their conception of life and Christianity. A discussion of his personality and This was crisis in its most creative stage, in thought offered me the best possible point of con- that phase in which anguish becomes vocal and tact with my audience. Never did I have such an craves a religious answer. (To Be Continued.) The Red Man Speaks* By COE HAYNE, New York Author of "The Red Man on the Big Horn," etc.
A l"'.M. OcaNmGp, the boys o f Black Bear's hunting supernatural powers that were supposed to con- Red 'Neck, a member of the Crow trol the destinies of fighting men. The boy's votive offering was placed with similar ones in a tribe by adoption, was superior in feats of shallow hole in the earth that nourishes and pro- tects. Then Chief Blackfoot of the Crows prayed: skill and endurance, including horseback riding, "Dear sun, we give you this as a sacrifice from our bodies that those who are away in wars may long-distance running and shooting with bow and be victorious and return safely." A little later Red Neck was again honored by being adopted by arrow. From both his father and mother he had Chief Blackfoot as his own son.
inherited great physical powers. A far more terrible as well as determining ex- perience awaited Red Neck in his training as a Red Neck's father, murdered by the Sioux when member of his tribe. The time had come for Strong Face to dedicate him to a life of bloodshed the boy was but six months old, had been a sur- and plant in his soul forever the spirit of revenge in memory of the murder of his father by the geon in the Union army and, like many other rest- Sioux.
less young white men after the Civil War, had On a hill overlooking the Crow camp Strong Face stood with her son. They were alone. Just gone to the Western Frontier to take up land and as the sun tinged the eastern horizon with the golden light of a new day, the Indian woman begin life anew. Among the Blackfoot Indians lifted her arms in a gesture of adoration of the blazing manifestation of a power her tribal trahe had chosen Strong Face as his bride. ditions had taught her to fear rather than to love. As she chanted a song of mourning, tears flowed The youthful Red Neck with his mother wor- down her face unchecked. In utter abandonment the Indian widow surrendered to her grief. Alshiped the force that resided in the sun, the light- ternately weeping and praying, she gave expres- sion not only to grief but to her hatred of those ning, the 'rivers, and the rocks. He was initiated into all the ways of the Indian and learned the Crow and Blackfoot legends. He learned to shoot expertly with rifle as well as with bow and arrow, and to track deer and bear that were plentiful in the Bighorn Mountains.
One day while some of his mother's family were absent as scouts for the United States troops dur- ing the Nez Perces and Bannock uprisings, Red Neck was taken by Strong Face to a hill for fast- ing and prayer and was asked to contribute a small piece of flesh from his arm to appease the • From "The Mocassin Trail," by courtesy of The Judson Press,
THE RED MAN SPEAKS
who had killed her husband. Her mourning was ponent, whom he felled repeatedly by short-armed a part of a religious ceremony as are many jabs to the chin. To pay his vow and still the common activities in the life of an Indian. Her wails of his mother now aroused him to white devotions on this occasion were to be marked by heat. Memory spurred arms and hands for dread- a supreme sacrifice-the consecration to hatred of ful action. A voice called him back to the present a child of tender years. She prayed that he might and prevented a catastrophe.
become a warrior of courage and sure marksman- "Come to my office, John," ordered Captain ship, that he might kill his enemies. Pratt.
Above the boy towered Strong Face that morn- John Frost, known among the Crows as· "Red Neck," believed that he was about to be expelled ing, neglecting no sign or word that might burn from school. He was asked kindly how the fuss began. He told how it started in 1871 when the into his heart the spirit of hatred. Sioux under Sitting Bull raided his homeland; he spoke of the vow made to avenge the murder of "Promise me," she urged, "that some day you his father.
will kill a Sioux that the death of your father may "Your father was a good man, John," said Cap- tain Pratt. "I knew him when he served as a surbe avenged." geon in the Union army. We'll not discipline you for this." With his arms extended toward the sun, the boy made the vow and Strong Face invoked upon him the blessing of the orb of fire that climbed the eastern sky. .
During the following decade Indian influence in the boy's life continued to make deep and abid- ing impressions upon him. When rather late in life he began his elementary education in the gov- ernment school at Crow Agency, his Indian heart almost rebelled. Vivid memories of the unham- pered life in the Indian country made him long to return to it. Stealing away from the school one evening, he saddled his favorite pony and rode to the top of the divide between the Little Big Horn and the Big Horn rivers, where he could view the distant Pryor Mountains, the hunting grounds of his people. He was Indian; in Crow lodges he was at home; on the hunting trails of his people he knew the way; why try to penetrate the mysteries of the white man's world? He had WESTERN INDIAN ROUND HOUSE ridden forth with the thought that he would allow For Hold time" Indian ceremonies.
Buck, the pony, to take him back beyond the John continued at Carlisle and became captain Pryors to the place where the smoke columns from many Indian camp fires joined above the pines of Company A by acclamation. He played on Car- lisle's first football team before Bemus Pierce and that shaded the Stillwater. But the impulse to Mt. Pleasant, two of his teammates, became naleave the school at c'row Agency passed, and with tionally known for their brilliance on the gridiron. its passing he wept. He knew that he was saying By consecrated women teachers he was given good-bye to the hunting grounds of the Crows and Bible lessons, and was taught the simple courtesies that are considered important in well-directed to Buck. homes and public places. His record at the insti- A few months later Red Neck was transferred tution won for him a job on the Crow reservation, to the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania, where he first as disciplinarian in one of the dormitories in the government school at Crow Agency and then developed rapidly under Captain Pratt and a staff as scout and interpreter at Fort Custer on the of teachers who had faith in the inherent good- high mesa above the juncture of the Big Horn ness of live Indians. and Little Big Horn rivers.
Red Neck was at Carlisle when he learned of the shoting of Sitting Bull during the so-called uprising under the leader of the Ghost Dances in South Dakota that culminated in the "Battle" at Out of the entire group of twenty Crow men Wounded Knee. The Crow yelled in savage glee who returned to the reservation, John was the and volunteered the opinion that the old Sioux only one who did not again take up with the old warrior got what he deserved. Big Horse, a Indian ways. Yet this youth, fighting to keep nephew of Sitting Bull, sprang at him. Both lads himself clean, came in time to see failure ahead were good in a rough-and-tumble fight, but Red for him unless he broke away from the reserva- Neck was more skilful as a boxer than his op- tion. The colonel gave the Indian permission to
return to duty after a ninety-day furlough. But would cut their legs and arms, stab their head~, John Frost did not return until years afterward. When the ex-scout came back to his tribe with and chop off the ends of their fingers, wailing and wife and children he found that Baptist churches, crying, "I shall never see you again; no never! under the leadership of men and women sent to Oh! What shall 1 do?" them by the Home Mission Societies, had been organized among the Crows. At first he kept away Thank God, these terrible things are not seen from the Gospel services but gradually the brave any more. Great changes have taken place and and sincere Christian living and achievement on many of the Crows are rejoicing in a Saviour's the part of the missionaries and their converts love, and climbing the trail to that happy land turned the heart of this Indian toward Christ. In above. There have been nearly five hundred bap- 1927 he was ordained to the Christian ministry tisms; we now have five Indian churches and our and is now pastor of the Indian church at Pryor, own Indian Association. There is so much to be Montana. Strong Face, his mother, is numbered thankful for. among the Christians of the tribe. Not many months ago, at the dedication of the new Chivers Shot-in-the-H~nd, one of the oldest members of Memorial Chapel for Indians at Lodge Grass, th~ tribe, just before he passed away prayed: "0 John had occasion to refer to the terrible vow of God, forgive me for cutting and scarring this his boyhood, body you gave me. Grant, 0 Lord, that not one of my children will do as I did in worshiping the The Testimony of John Frost wrong gods. I did not know any better."
Delegates to the Northern Baptist Convention Bear Claw, another old Indian who walked held in Chicago in 1927 will remember the testi- faithfully in the Jesus Road, said to me just bemony of John Frost that follows: ~ore he died, his face beaming with light and joy, The Indian is naturally religious; when he be- Brother, please do not pray for my recovery, for lieves he believes with all his might. If you had I am anxious to go to this place the missionaries come among us when Drs. Petzoldt and Kinney have told about, where there is no sorrow, and no did you would have found us worshiping idols. tears, and no good-bye, and I want to see the won- We believed in a Great Spirit, and we believed derful Jesus." that the mountain lions, the bears, the wolves, coyotes, and in fact all animals, birds, streams, These are some of the many things your misand springs were messengers of the Great Spirit. sionaries have brought to my people. Oh! If I When we used to roam the prairies and had to were a master of all the languages I could not find cross a creek or river, we gave some offering; if words to express my gratitude today for what the a river, a choice piece of meat or pemmican; if a Gospel has done for my people and for me. I can creek, beads. only say, God bless you, God bless the work and the workers among the Crows. In order to gain favor from these many message-carriers of the Great Spirit, worshipers Indian Reverence would go to the mountains and choose some high point, then fast for days, neither eating nor drink- With the life sketch of John Frost and his striking. In some cases they would chop off the index ing testimony in mind as recorded above, one may finger at the first joint as a sacrifice, or tear the more readily understand a statement by Henry strips of skin from the body as an offering. Again, Roe Cloud concerning the Red Man's spiritual histhey would set a post in the ground on some high tory and present attitudes. point, and on top of this post, which was nearly ten feet high, fasten a buffalo's or bear's head. Henry Roe Cloud, full-blooded Winnebago In- Two rawhide ropes which hung to the ground dian, newly appointed field representative of the were fastened to the post just below the head. Then the man who was to make the sacrifice had ~ureau of Indian Affairs, * is regarded as parhis breast bared and two strips cut in the flesh on each side. A stick was put under the flesh on each tIcularly fitted to act as an interpreter of the Inside of his breast, across, and fastened to the two dian to the Government and the Government to ropes from the post. He went around and around the Indian. He was born on the Winnebago Indian this post, pulling backward and blowing a whistle Reservation in Nebraska, attended the reservamade from the wing bone of an eagle. He went tion boarding school, and later went to a nonuntil he broke himself loose. After all day, if the reservation boarding school in Nebraska, to which skin refused to break, he was pulled loose by a come pupils from tribes such as the Omahas friend. When a dear one died, the relatives Winnebagos, Sioux, Cheyennes, and Assiniboins: By his own effort he secured a Master's Degree from Yale in anthropology, was graduated from Auburn Seminary, and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian church. Each summer while attending school he returned for contact with his • Now Superintendent of Haskell Institute.
people, and after completing his education he entertain a living Person in ourselves. With that stayed for several years on the reservation, work- sort of a conception we attain what we call our ing with the Indian simply as one interested in spiritual development. We discover our incentive their welfare. The past seventeen years he has for life and we are forever hungry and reaching spent at the American Indian Institute which he after a certain nobility of soul. This all comes established at Wichita, Kansas. This is an ac- from that wonderful· fact that we have a living credited high school specializing in agriculture Being in us. God is so near to the consciousness and higher training for Indians. Said Mr. Cloud of the Indian that when he prays most of the time at the North American Home Missions Congress he says "My Father." He is so near, so present. in Washington, D. C.: I think the Indian has a distinct contribution to It is not hard for an Indian to grasp the teach- make to the Christian Church. It grows out of his ing that God is a Spirit and is living today as a centuries of experience in worshiping the Great personality in the hearts and lives and souls of Spirit. We have no absentee God; he is present men. Even I as a small child was taught to wor- always with us. That's the teaching of our peoship according to the teachings of Animism. The ple. The Indian through experience knows that conceptions of Animism, in brief, are these: Yon he is present, and out of that intimate contact personalize the forces of nature, give them a spir- with the unseen Father which is the great reality, itual personality, and then turn around and wor- he has developed this spirit of reverence which ship these forces of nature. You've got a God we all know that he has. Another thing that he right near you. You worship the thunder, the can contribute to the Christian Church according lightning, the water, the fire,· etc. You have a to my idea, is that when he confesses his sins, he spirit at your hand whichever way you turn. Take confesses his sins. He doesn't say as the white a race of people who believe in that, and it is not man does, "Oh, Lord, forgive my sins." The Indifficult for them to pass from that conception to dian goes right straight to his sins and tells the the other conception that God himself, through whole world what they are. There's a species of the teachings of God and the Bible, is living today sincerity and forcefulness in his confession to the with us, in us. We do not entertain high thoughts Great Spirit which might be of value to the Chrisand cultural ideas, and that sort of thing, but we tian Church.
CHIEF PLENTY COUPS CONFERS NAME "PLENTY CR,OWS" ON REV. JOHN FROST AT THE HOMESTEAD WILLED BY PLENTY COUPS AS A PUBLIC PARK FOR INDIAN'S AND WHITES
CHURCH AND SCHOOL AT
All the teachers are now natives but Mr. Morrison is the man in command and very efficiently so. He is In the front rank to the left.
Preaching and Practicing in Central Africa By MRS. JOHN M. SPRINGER, JadotviIle, Belgian Congo Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church I T WAS high noon and intolerably hot when we Not knowing which road to take on the other arrived at the Lubilash pontoon just as it side, we pulled up to a lad who wore an infini- loosed from the shore and slowly made its way tesimal piece of calico as his sole wardrobe and to the other side. The boat was loaded to the was lunching on a huge piece of sugar cane.
water's edge with natives and their loads of cotton "Where is Bibanga?" we asked. Without a word to be sold at t-qe Cotonco warehouse some miles and without stopping his mastication, he pointed further on. For two days the road had been full to a distant hill on which could be seen a light of cotton growers taking their loads to markets spot. It was the roof of the new Bibanga church.
from which the cotton would be shipped to Bel- Twelve kilometers of winding, narrow road lay gium. An hour later, the pontoon was back and ahead of us and as we rounded the hairpin turns our car rolled down the perilously steep bank and and looked down the precipitous sides into the onto the battered craft which was evidently valley hundreds of feet below, we wondered what stronger than it looked. would happen if we should meet another car. As [84 ]
PREACHING AND PRACTICING IN CENTRAL AFRICA
we rounded another sharp bend the new church when brought to the hospital; 110,000 intervenus was seen in its simple beauty and soon we were injections, and only 407 deaths, it is nothing short honking outside the McKees' door. of a miracle. Only a few years ago sleeping sick- In this Southern Presbyterian station at Bi- ness carried 98 % of its victims to the grave. bango there is a fine large school under Mrs. Mc- Kee's direction while Miss Allen was on furlough. During the past ten years there have been a total The new church will hold a thousand people and of 53,000 patients in the hospital. Of this num- ber, 11,000 suffered from hookworm. Most of us humans are as lazy as circumstances will allow, but the laziness of the African has been prover- bial. The truth is that much of his disinclination to do hard work was due to this insidious little worm which is in process of being vanquished, as well as the tsetse fly which causes sleeping sickness. What astonished me most was the amount of surgery done in the poorly equipped operating THE BEAUTIFUL NEW CHURCH AT BIBANGA CAN SEAT 1,000 PERSONS AND IS WELL FILLED EVERY SUNDAY is well filled every Sunday. But on our first visit to this station four years ago, the nurse, Miss Rogers, was bravely carrying on in the absence of Dr. Kellersberger. Now the doctor had returned and our main interest was in the medical side of the work.
Heathenism Is positive and not neutral as some suppose. For centuries babies whose mothers died at birth were buried alive with the mother. But for the arrival of the missionary. that would have been the fate of little Marco.
Photo by Mrs. J. M. Springer. theatre. A new government doctor remarked with scorn that he certainly would not try to operate Mary Is a beautiful Christian character and teacher. She has with such out-of-date instruments as those used worked hard and kept up with her husband through four years at Bible School and was the first woman to graduate from that in the hospital. school. Do missions pay? I'll say they do. Look at Mary. "Well," replied the doctor, "these are all I have Throughout Central Africa, Bibanga has be- and I've performed 35,000 operations with lumbar come almost synonomous with sleeping sickness. injections in the last ten years and have never had Dr. Piper, the Methodist medical missionary; con- a death; so matters might be worse." siders Dr. Kellersberger the greatest authority on sleeping sickness in the Congo, or at least in the We were taken into the "surgical ward," which Katanga. When one thinks of 9,735 patients of the doctor said that he was ashamed for us to see; this dread disease, many of them already insane and yet, it was the only place he had for these cases.
It was a small room not over 15×15 and so crowded that it was difficult to get through the door. Most of the beds were side by side and the patient whose bed prevented the full openirig" of the door had been brought in that morning with
a foot badly clawed by a lion. The man had this colony but the victims cannot be taken in climbed the nearest tree but it was not quite high faster than provisions can be made for them. enough for him to get entirely out of the maddened beast's way. Nearly a day had elapsed be- Many have been led to Christ and thirty-five fore the patient was brought to the hospital and have been admitted to baptism after giving proof the odor was .decidedly unpleasant. of their genuine conversion. This means a gen- uine turning to Christ from a life of sin. In every In the far corner lay another man who had also part of the manifold work the evangelistic spirit been in the hunt and the lion had badly chewed has been kept foremost. These people were his arm, but in both cases the doctor pulled them formerly wild and bloodthirsty tribes, many of through. Another patient had had a huge goiter them cannibals. The missionaries knew that removed and was doing well. It would be a bless- there was but one hope for them – that which ing if someone would give the brave doctor a new would come through the preaching and teaching surgical ward! of the Word of God and through belief in the sav- ing power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this that Another new feature is the leper colony only has transformed the whole section. three years old. Here 350 lepers and their families are in camp and live a normal life, seeking to Two weeks later we passed the old Luluaberg win their way back to health, so far as possible. Post where lies the body of the first missionary in This colony is in temporary huts but it has its this region, Wm. Summers M.D., a Methodist who own self-governing tribunal, fields at the foot of came out with Bishop Wm. Taylor's band in 1885 the ridge for raising grain. We marveled how to Loanda. The storms had erased his name on the cripples could get up and down the hill. The the tiny cross which the Government had placed colony also has its own church and school, with over Dr. Summer's grave, but neither time nor trained teachers and pastors, who have become eternity will wipe out the work done by those who keen voluntary workers as soon as they have be- not only preached Christ but lived Christ and died come lepers. There is a long waiting list to enter for Him in these villages of Central Africa.
Photo by Mrs. J. M. Springer. DR. KELLERSBERGER AND SOME OF HIS LEPER COLONISTS He thinks he, has every phase of leprosy and every specia ever discovered in this Colony.
Buddhist Priest to Christian
A Story of the Old Fukunaga-and the New By the REV. ALBERTUS PIETERS, D.D. The Reformed Church in America; Formerly a Missionary j§.- to Japan MANY years ago, in a hotel in the town of rank.as a samurai. This lasted, however, only a Usuki, on the east coast of Kiushiu, a short time, for presently, by order of the new group of Christian workers were chatting government, the clan forces were disbanded, and together when the conversation turned to the we, the two-sworded gentry, were disarmed. As black art. compensation I received a sum of money not real- ly very large, but a much greater sum than I had "Mr. Fukunaga," said I to a representative of ever had before. It was a great misfortune to the Bible Society, "Is it true that the Japanese me, for I had not the least idea how to use money people think we Christians deal in magic?" properly. I went at once to the brothels, and spent it all in riotous living. After that, I sank "Indeed it is," he replied, "and what is more, lower and lower, until I became a runner for a that idea led me first to listen to the preaching house of prostitution and a servant to a band of of the Gospel." 'geisha' (dancing girls). In this occupation I made it my business to tempt young men to their That evening Mr. Fukunaga told the story of ruin, and received a commission on the amount his early life before an audience that listened of money they spent in the brothels. Lust and. spellbound. In the main the tale was as follows. strong drink were my delight, so much so that if He said: I had no money to buy drink I would go about the banqueting hall when the guests had left, and "I had the misfortune to lose my mother when guzzle the few remaining drops left in the bot- I was very small, and was given over to a very toms of the cups. As I think of it now, I was cruel stepmother. One day, when I was five or just like one of those maggots that breed in rotsix years old, angered by something I had done, ten flesh; I lived in the midst of unspeakable she stripped me naked, bound my hands and feet, filth, and I thought it fine." and laid me among the bamboos where the mosquitoes were thickest. I would have died that Fukunaga's simile of the maggots,-which I have night, if the neighbors had not rescued me. never met elsewhere, seems most terrible and yet most appropriate description of a life of lust "Growing up under such care, I became a very and drunkenness, without reproaches of conbad boy. In my early teens my father decided that science, and before satiety has set in. "A maggot nothing good could be expected of me, so that I in a piece of putrid flesh!" What a picture of filth would better become a Buddhist priest. He ap- and enjoyment combined! I wonder whether it is prenticed me to a temple, where I remained for possible for a man brought up in a Christian several years. Under the tutelage of the priests community, however abandoned he may become, I learned to intone the prayers from memory, but to enjoy vice as heartily as a heathen does. I also learned from them many vices. Not one good thing did they teach me. To frighten me Fukunaga's redemption was drawing nigh. they told me that the idols would see and punish While living this kind of life, one day he called me if I disobeyed them. One day, in their absence, on a friend, who was a lantern maker. One form I scratched the back of one of the idols with a of advertising in Japan, much used also in evanknife, to see what it was made of. I found noth- gelistic work, is to hang out large lanterns, with ing but wood under the paint, so I replaced it on an inscription, advertising the wares in which the the shelf, and was afraid no more. merchant deals, or giving an invitation to a meet- ing. Fukunaga's friend was finishing one of these "When I became a young man, I ran away from large lanterns, and was writing certain large charthe temple and joined a band of men who lived acters on it. Fukunaga could not read, and asked by gambling and robbery. This kind of life was favored by the disturbed state of the country, it being about the time of the great revolution. When the authorities became too watchful to make that sort of life safe, I enlisted as a soldier. him what they were. The lantern maker read it I was very proud of my two swords and my new to him: [87 ]
"Makoto no Kami no Hanashi, 0 hairi nasai"- his pocket, no trade, and no place to sleep. He "A Talk about the True God, Come in." "Very had no idea how great a thing he had done, but he strange," said Fukunaga, "I've heard of all kinds had made the grand venture; he had taken his of gods, but I never heard of this one before. 'The place with the heroes of faith. "He went out, not True God,' what kind of a god is that?" knowing whither he went." He had chosen "rather "I do not really know," replied his friend, "a to suffer affliction with the people of God than to man came in and ordered it made this way. That's enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." As he all I have to do with it. I think it is to be hung walked along, he remembered that the temple out in front of a place where they are going to priests had taught him a simple form of massage, teach Christian magic. You know the Jesus doc- practiced in Japan by men called "amma," usually trine, what a vile thing it is, and how long it has blind men; who announce their coming by blow- been forbidden; but now everything is going to ing on a whistle, that customers may call them in.
the dogs, and they are letting it come in again. I He bought a whistle, and that night he had five or say, Fukunaga, you'd better go in for it. There's six clients. At dawn he sought a lodging, jingling no telling how much money you may make if the coppers he had earned. "That jingle," he said, you're good at magic, and I guess it won't trouble "was the sweetest music I ever heard, for that was you any, no matter how bad it is." the first honest money I had earned in all my life."
Fukunaga thought that this was a good idea, The real business of his life became the telling so he went to his first Christian service. "There of the story of Jesus and His Salvation to all who were not many people present," he said; "just a few of us sitting on the floor around the sides of would listen. For several years he pursued the the room. Presently a young man came in, with calling of an "amma," in order that, like William a foreign shirt and drawers showing under his Carey with his cobbling he might "cover exkimono. Aha! I thought, here is the man wear- penses." So persistent and earnest was he that ing the magic garment! He distributed little the people of his community thought that he must hymn-books, which I took to be full of magical be a paid agent of the missionaries, and that he formulas. Then he stood behind a table, bowed pretended to be an "amma" in order to gain adhis head, shut his eyes, folded his hands, and be- mittance to their homes! He took a special intergan to talk in a low voice. I held my breath, for est in the "Eta," who are the outcastes, or pariahs, I thought he was repeating some incantation that of Japan. These poor people are not distinguishwould tUrn us all into cats and dogs, or that would able in appearance from the rest of the Japanese. produce some other wonderful result. But noth- Their legal disabilities have been removed by the ing happened, and I went away much disap- Government, but there is little relaxation of the contempt with which they are regarded by their pointed." countrymen. Since they are constantly increasing Later Fukunaga got acquainted with the in numbers, wealth, and "class conscious" resent- preacher, who was a theological student from the ment at the social ostracism to which they are Doshisha, in Kyoto, the famous school founded by subjected, they are a growing danger to the peace Joseph Neeshima: Mr. Fukunaga did not remem- and national unity of Japan. It is said that they ber a single thing he taught, but he made a won- are more ready than any other class to lend a lis- derful impression for all that. "He was the first tening ear to socialism and bolshevism.
young man I had ever met who lived a clean life!" In spite of all the earnest and persistent evan- It was my business to tempt young men to vice, gelistic work which Mr. Fukunaga did for several and I did my best on him, but he stood firm. This years in the province of Oita, there was little perwas a miracle to me. I had no idea that there ceptible result. In Korea a Christian worker of were such men." this kind leaves a trail of converted villages be- Little by little, Fukunaga felt himself drawn to hind him wherever he goes. In Japan the diffi- the Gospel, although at first he only dimly under- culty of Christian work is very much greater, stood. It was as if God had stretched out His compared with Korea. The mass of Japanese still hand, and was firmly, gently, irresistibly lifting feel profound fear and hatred towards the Gospel him up out of the slime in which he lived. The of Christ. entire Bible was not yet translated into Japanese, but he secured one of the Gospels, and was fired Mr. Fukunaga later became a Bible colporteur, with the ambition to learn to read it. All the time and rendered excellent service. Later still he rehe was continuing to lead his sinful life. ceived some training and became an evangelist. At the time of the great eruption of Sakurajima, Finally, one day, the inward struggle grew too near Kagoshima, some years ago, large numbers much for him. He yielded himself to God, and of peasants were rendered homeless because the walked out of the brothel, never to return. There lava overflowed their fields. To these unfortunate he was on the street, with only a few pennies in people the Government assigned waste lands in the
AN EXPERIMENT IN. CHRISTIAN FRIENDLINESS
province of Osumi. As they were entirely with- giving them the .excellent advice with which his out religion, no Buddhist priest even caring to wide experience of the world and his native isolate himself among them, Mr. Fukunaga under- shrewdness supplied him, and making friends with took the task of carrying them the Gospel, and the children. He has thus succeeded in gaining a there he lives today. At first he was not a wel- foothold for the Gospel where probably no other come addition to the community. He had expected man could have done it. He has won the cona certain amount of opposition, but noticing how fidence of the people, and converts have rewarded terrified the people appeared to be for the first self-sacrificing labor. day or two of his stay among them, he inquired about the cause, and found that the immediate Cheery, patient, hopeful, brave, pure in life and trouble was due to a small quantity of brown conversation, having a heart full of love to God onions which he had brought for seed. The com- and man, the new Fukunaga stands in the sharpmon people of Japan are firmly convinced that it est contrast to the old. It is not without reason is a regular Christian practice to steal or buy hu- that he is a firm believer in the Christian docman livers and use them for medicine. These trines, especially in the new birth. The first time little onions looked to them like dried livers! I saw him I asked how old he was and soberly he answered: "Ten years old last spring." With such a situation the first thing to do was to win the friendship and confidence of the people "What do you mean by that?" said 1. "You seem by Christian living. It was no time for preach- to be at least fifty." ing, but for practice. He went about, talking with them in a friendly way, relieving their bodily ills "Oh, to be sure," he replied, "if you ask about with his simple massage and homemade remedies, the first time I was born, that took place more than fifty years ago; but that first time doesn't count. I reckon my life from the time I was born again."
An Experiment in Christian Friendliness , By MRS. EDWIN H. KINNEY, Chicago Secretary of the Christian Americanization Department, Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society T WELVE churches within one Baptist Asso- In so large a territory numerous tasks call for ciation in Michigan have carried through a a variety of talent. The use of a typewriter, abil- novel experiment in friendliness. The pas- ity in decorating, poster making, and managing tors and church members undertook together to games were a few of the ways through which the find out what Christ means for them in the com- cause of friendliness was served. One lady, not mandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- able to be as active but eager to work in a personal self." They recognized that he referred to no way, gave the daily use of her automobile for simple haphazard achievement. others to go calling, to attend meetings, and to transport foreign guests. The Secretary of the The territory of the Association covers eighty Michigan Baptist Convention drove one hundred miles in length. One evening each week for a and forty miles to take a party of Mexicans to a month, young and old, deacons, pastors, high nationality tea in one church, and to a prayer school stUdents, women's leaders, teachers and meeting in another. He does not speak Spanish pupils worshiped, talked, planned and played to- and not one of the people in his car could speak gether. They learned that friendliness can push English. But they worked out ways to cross the through age barriers, can cross the dividing so- language barrier. After that ride no doubt recial, educational and occupational lines. In ad- mained in the minds of the Mexican group redition to this All-Association evening each week, garding the approachableness of the Secretary they carefully planned activities in each local and his genuine appreciation of them. church-nationality teas; special Sunday morning services, sometimes with a speaker from out- Attendance increased at the weekly evening of side; midweek prayer meetings conducted by study and fellowship. The courteous attention Polish or Mexican or Russian Baptist guests. which marked the opening night deepened to an Frequently an interpreter was needed to translate earnestness, a longing to learn from the experithe words but there was never any need to inter- ence of others, a feeling of Christian fellowship pret their radiant faces. in the face of a common task. The evening meet-
ings opened with a brief wor:ship service and tries was a special feaure. The program opened closed with an hour of social games. For both of with everyone singing together What a Friend We these periods everyone stayed in one group. Then Have in Jesus, each person using the language the Secretary of the Christian Americanization most familiar. With the same variety in language Department of the Woman's American Baptist the song was followed by the Lord's prayer- Home Mission Society met with the pastors, while taught so long ago to non-English speaking disthe Missionary of the Department led the discus- ciples. This proved to be a happy reminder of the sion in the other section. Ignorance, the willing- fact that there is no difficulty over languages when ness to accept a passive well wishing as a substi- we come to the Father. tute for active good will, and everyday selfishness were discussed along with specific remedies pos- Then followed contributions from the various sible of immediate application. groups – music, vocal and instrumental, and a short play. A children's chorus, representing five The pastors' group took up the question as to nationalities, sang This Is My Father's World how the church can profit by increased friendli- and one of the pastors offered a prayer dedicating ness. After full discussion the idea of profit to the young life of the Association to a life of good the church was given up as a motive. Christian will. The national anthem of the Kingdom of courtesy was described as primarily concerned God, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, closed with the lives of people regardless of whether they the program. ever can or will do anything for the church. How the church can keep its true position in the loyalty There are three important results of the project. of its members without endangering loyalty to First, lessening of the feeling of separation, which God our Father, and His son Jesus Christ was one each of the churches had struggled under. These of the questions. churches are a cross-section of the Baptist con- stituency, English and foreign language churches, Much time was devoted to a consideration of large and small, city, village and rural. Informal ways in wliich active friendliness can be promoted acquaintance among the members has deepened among people of different national and religious the realization of how many Christians love the backgrounds. The more urgent need seemed to be same Lord and are eager to serve Him effectively. the choice of ideas and words with which to discuss religion or comfort in grief, meeting temp- Second, there is a better mutual understanding tation, or living without fear. Actual experiences between English and non-English speaking with those of Jewish and Roman Catholic back- churches. Several weeks after the conclusion of ground were described. There was no opportu- the month of Christian friendliness emphasis, the nity to establish confidence in a church and help pastor of the Russian Baptist Church came to the had to be immediate, specific, Christian and pastor of the nearest English-speaking church to warmly personal. discuss the problem of his Russian young people. He realized the inadequacy of his own church pro- At the end of the four weeks it seemed natural gram and he wished to see if the program of the to have a social gathering at which each person English-speaking church was adapted to his was tagged to indicate what language or lan- young people. Together they sought a solution guages he spoke. Eleven nationalities were rep- for the problem. resented. Of the five hundred present over one hundred could qualify for more than one tag even Third, there is an increased willingness to use though English was not always included. An ex- Christian friendliness as a way of finding life hibit of articles from thirty-three different coun- through losing it in the service of others in the name and spirit of Christ.
EXAMPLES IN MISSIONARY GIVING 1. A lady sent a conditional gift for $10,000 in the name of her sister who had loved the work of missions throughout her life. This investment will yield good returns.
2. A friend turned his life insurance and accident policies into an annuity gift at his death, to furnish a safe and high-yield income to his widow through her life.
3. Every family in a native Christian community in West Africa, is giving one month's aver- age income to support their church budget, the hospital service, their schools, and one full quarter to their missionary work for others in greater need.
4. One church, finding it necessary to decrease the missionary gifts in its budget, at once voted two special occasions in the year for extra offerings for missions.
"Reichskirche" in the New
r- By the REV. JULIUS RICHTER, D.D., Berlin, Germany Author of "Missions in India," etc., etc.
WE ARE living in Germany through a spiritual movement, has been appraised quite gen- quiet and bloodless yet thorough-going erally, particularly because the promise was defi- revolution with kaleidoscopic changes in nitely pledged that this unification does not change the situation almost from day to day. As a whole the denominational status.
the American public is better informed on the The gigantic task before this "Reichskirche" is daily events than the average German, as free to win back the estranged masses to the church. publicity is not allowed under the present condi- In the United States, according to a generous tions. I can only attempt to give a bird's-eye view statement, only about fifty per cent of the popof the main spiritual forces remolding the church ulation have any connection with the church. In life in Germany today. Germany-except the few millions of dissenters- The National Socialist revolution faces great all belonged nominally to the church, were bap- possibilities and gigantic difficulties. Adolf Hitler tized as babies, were given a thorough religious is attempting a reconstruction or regeneration of instruction and have been confirmed at fourteen.
the nation on the basis of Volksgemeinschaft, Many of them have maintained a very loose conthat is an altrustic fellowship of all nationals in a nection with the Church during the rest of their common social, national, economic and racial re- life. Yet about four-fifths of the population have construction under the overruling principle of become spiritually estranged from the Church, leadership. Hitler's aim is to fit together all na- and materialistic philosophy has planted into the tional resources in this gigantic attempt to rebuild hearts of the millions of laborers an antipathy, if the broken down states on a basis quite different not hatred, to the Church which has been accen- from the liberal democracy of the Anglo-Saxon tuated lately by godless communistic influences. nations. His aim is to establish a totalitarian A thorough-going success in reclaiming these state, one in which aIr efforts in the diverse fields masses to the Church would be acclaimed with of religion, education, economics, politics and so- gratification. Three main difficulties stand in the cial life will be coordinated under one unifying way. There is a strong group of devoted, con- will with one preconceived goal. The Christian servative pastors who have cultivated the church Church is looked upon as the soul of this totali- life for generations on the basis of the Bible as tarian state, to supply it with the indispensable interpreted by the Lutheran and Reformed con- religious and moral stamina. This definitely is fessions. Six thousand pastors have united as part of Adolf Hitler's program. an emergency federation of church leadership, The first step for its realization was the unifica- and offer formidable opposition to the "German Christians." It is said, perhaps not without reation of the twenty-eight territorial churches into son, that this group of the Church Christians or one united "Reichskirche" which is supposed to be "Young Reformers" have inherited achievements an independent church with scarcely more legal connection with the State than the free churches with little likelihood that they will succeed in of America. In Germany there is little of the reaching the estranged masses. Some of them widespread denominationalism so well known in may be regarded as reactionaries and opponents the United States. Thirty million Protestants are of the Hitler state-a very awkward position al- enrolled in the so-called "United Churches" (that most regarded as high treason. is churches in which Lutheran and Calvinistic The ruling group, or "Faith Movement of Gercongregations were united in one administrative body more than one hundred years ago). There man Christians," is hardly more than two years are also eight million orthodox Lutherans, two old, yet it has developed an unusual organizing power and has usurped a seventy-five per cent million Calvinists and other groups of Episcopal majority in all synods, church courts and other Methodists, Baptists, United Brethren, Christian official positions. They form an easy majority in Science, Mormons and others. This unification in the church, and their idealism and a strong power one "Reichskirche," though not the result of a leads them to make the best of their commanding [91 ]
position. Their program is good and the buoyant mind and soul of the ancient past is becoming vital nationalistic enthusiasm sweeping through all dis- again. Philosophers of the nationalistic move- tricts and classes calls for a similar movement in- ment will argue that after all the racial character side the Church. It is working according to the of the nation is finding its genuine expression in principle of communicating test tubes-when the definite types of ethical ideals and of national cus- water is rising in one tube it will rise correspond- toms and later superimposed religions, such Chris- ingly in the connecting tube also. tianity in the Teutonic tribes, have either subli- The great danger is that this spiritual revival mated that indestructible national ethic or have under nationalistic influence may mean a "nazi- seriously impaired and crippled it. Nobody will sation" of the Church, a leavening of the church be surprised that in Germany flaming nationalism life with the ideas and ideals of the Nazi state. has shown a racial trend so that groups have Take for example the application of the Aryan emerged who longingly look back across and be- paragraph to the pastors and other officers of the yond the Christian era to the almost forgotten church; or the attempts to dissolve Christian vague past. The heroic genius of the Nordic race youth organizations into the political "Hitler has a curious attraction for many young Nazis.
youth" ; or the attempts to eliminate the Old There are plenty of types and groups of attempted Testament from the Bible or even the crucifix reconstructions of the ancient German past. The from the altar. These are extremist demands of aim of some of these leaders is to constitute this the radical wing of the German Christians and German neopaganism in one or other form as they have already resulted in splits of the move- "the third confession" with equal right and possi- ment. Evidently the way of the German Chris- bilities side by side with Roman Catholicism and tians is not clear. Protestantism. It is not easy to say what is the These various groups are maintaining their relation of Christianity to this modern national church connection and are basing their program socialistic view.
on Christian foundations. Yet in a nationalistic These are some of the perplexities of the situa- revolution of such thorough-going character as the tion of the "Reichskirche" in the modern national National Socialist movement, it is easy to see that socialistic State. We are living in a period of more radical revolutions may develop. There are thorough-going revolution. Changes are as rapid enough parallels in other countries. In Persia as surprising, and everything seems to be in a the nationalism has attempted to revivify ancient state of flux. Yet after all the religious tradition Parsiism; in Turkey the legendary "grey wolf" of two thousand years of church history and the is getting new sympathies. Usually the religious memory of the Reformation is strongly in favor conceptions are lost sight of in the ethical move- of the decidedly Christian and Evangelical char- ment. The subconscious ethical structure of the acter of the German church of the future.
HOW A GREAT WORK BEGAN The Rev. Charles H. Posnett, the Medak missionary who has had such a remarkable work among the caste people of India, tells the following story: Miss Harris, on a jungle expedition to villages in Hyderabad State, encountered a very old man begging her to do something for a sick man on a litter. No response had come from years of work in that district by Dr. Posnett, his sister and Miss Harris. Here was a man dying of cholera. She reasoned: "If I do any- thing for him and he dies people will say that I have poisoned him."
Nevertheless she did not resist the call of human need. She tended him, knowing he was dying, doing all the disagreeable things a nurse has to do for a cholera patient there in the jungle. The villagers came around and, pointing at her scornfully, said: "She must have been a scavenger" (the lowest occupation known in India).
The man died, and Miss Harris received no thanks from anybody. She was avoided and criticized and thought, "I have done more harm than good." But six months later the old man came to see Dr. Posnett and called to his memory that night: "I heard the scornful remarks about her being a scavenger. It was wonderful that she should go through all that to help my son who was dying. I have now brought all my family. We want to have the religion that could make her do that."
That was the beginning of the great mass movement in which these Indian outcastes have become so sure of Christ that they are making a tremendous impression on caste people so that they too are coming to Christ. They see that the outcastes who become Christians have the same principle of life and service as Miss Harris revealed.
Dnyanodaya.
Indian Ashramas*
-o!fl By N. }OARDAR, M.A., Lucknow Coll.g. II~ A SHRAMAS are growing in number in India. Our society is full of ills out of gear. Its prob- In 1930 I heard of seven of them; last April, lems are many and complicated. Their solution I came to know of nineteen, of which eight presupposes close observation, collection of facts, are only a year old. What makes them grow so analysis, formulation of a hypothetical solution fast? What function do they discharge? and then bold experimentation. It needs above all In ancient India, the ashrama denoted the four- clear, sincere thinkers who have a message to give.
ford division of ljfe-studentship, householder's But a man who has a message to impart has to life, retirement, and life of sharing and teaching. accept the twofold challenge of the day; firstly, After initiation, at the age of eight or ten, boys he has to demonstrate that it is practicable; sec- repaired to the house of a teacher and lived the ondly, he has to prove that he is sincere. The life of discipline, controlling their tongues, stom- former implies that he should show the usefulness achs, and arms. Spending at least twelve years in of his message by trying it, with a group of peo- the guru's home and vigorously studying the dif- ple under more or less normal social conditions, ferent branches of knowledge, the youthful stu- while the latter involves that the preacher him- dent left the gurukul to marry and start life on his self must practice what he is willing to preach.
own account, while the more studious ones kept on If the first condition is not satisfied, the message following their lone quest. is ruled out by the sceptically minded as fantastic The Aryan householder, in the second stage of and when the second is not fulfilled, the charge of life was enjoined to live not for himself but for insincerity is brought to the door of the preacher.
God and His creation. When his children grew The institution of the ashrama lends itself to the up and were able to take care of themselves, he re- effective preaching of a message today. The entired with his wife from the active management of thusiastic earnestness of the people who gather in his home to the outskirts of the forest to watch the an ashrama together with that of the people who actions of his offspring and pray for himself and come to share, insures the condition of sincerity, the world. while the scrutiny of a strong group, along with This life of watching and praying in the third the practical success achieved in the working of stage was succeeded soon by the fourth when the the program in an ashrama, satisfies the ques- Aryan retired with his wife to the heart of the tion of practicability. Thus people who have a forest to live in leafy huts, meditating and impart- message to give start with an ashrama today. ing truth to the friends and students who gathered round him. Tagore has one at Shantiniketan, Gandhi at Sa- barmati, Aurobindo Ghose at Pondicherry; Va- This was the conception of the ashrama in the swani at Rajpur; Jack Winslow at Poona; Stanley heroic age of India. It expressed a view of life J ones at Sat-Tal.
which was ultimately based on spiritual values. An ashrama is not a medireval monastery. Its Life spent in the forest was the climax for which usefulness in the modern world increases with the every other stage existed. Naturally, within a emphasis it lays on practice along with the inshort time, the word ashrama came to indicate the tellectual comprehension and mental vision of the fourth stage in life, given to quiet meditation and solution of a problem. An ashrama should deal realization of God. In course of time, the mean- with real problems, with the whole of life. The ing took a material form and came to denote a danger is, the ashrama has a tendency to assimilsylvan retreat, a place of meditation. ate to the old monkish ideal of asceticism and monasticism which has to be closely guarded When I think of an ashrama, I look for a place against. Withdrawn from the work-a-day probof quietness and natural beauty for they induce lems of life, absorbed in the contemplation of abcontemplation and thought of God. But more than struse things, the pull towards medirevalism is that I think of an eager band of people who are great. The ashrama should face the real probgiven to that form of life. It is the human interest lems of life as the corrective to this gravitating that dominates my conception of an ashrama.
• From The Indian Witness, August 3, 1933. force .
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No ideal "is greater than the ideal of building itual values. It is above all a place of ceaseless the Kingdom of God in the world. It challenges prayer and infinite strivings. our artistic, scientific and commercial activities, both social and personal. It calls forth all our How is an ashrama to be financed? An ashfaculties to examine the different values of life. rama ought to be self-supporting and self-propa- It deals with real problems. It gives scope to the gating. But in the beginning it has to be endowed. dreams of a visionary and the practical idealism A few acres of land should be an adjunct to an of a far-sighted statesman. Above all, it is the ashrama. The inmates should work. " Some will center and core of the teachings of Christ. farm, some will teach the children, the rest will do some other useful work in the colony. The The building of the Kingdom of God is to me ideal ashrama is a self-contained unit. It should the ideal that should be kept before every ashrama. be able to supply the simple needs of the colonists A group living together, accepting Christ as the as far as possible. It may even supply the wider center and measure of things, and trying to solve needs of other people. No work is unwholesome the problems of life as they present themselves, to an ashrama. Every work is God's work if based honestly and courageously, in the light of the on spiritual values. The ashrama should preach teachings of the Master-this is the vision I have the dignity of labor and spiritualize it. of a Christian ashrama. Now comes the information that Mahatma The ashrama not only deepens one's Christian Gandhi's Ashram at Sabarmati has been disconviction in life, but it also effectively spreads it. banded, without any previous warning. No ade- It is an instrument of evangelism. It has been quate reason has been given and it may be taken pointed out already that the acharyya (instructor) for granted that Gandhiji has reached the conreflects the glory of the master. People, corning clusion that at present this Ashram served no very in touch with Christ and in contact with one an- well defined purpose. Gandhiji has been able to other, kindle the flame of their lives and grow in spend very little time at his Ashram for a number spirit. Thus the ashrama colony soon becomes of years 'and it is impossible for anyone to cona tingle with a new light, a new vision. Life be- duct an Ashram effectively except the one who gets life. It never remains confined within nar- has been led to found it. Many are willing to imrow limits. The spirit of the ashrama spreads. mitate Gandhiji in his every attitude and action New conversions are made; fresh groups are but imitation does not produce life. formed. Thus the ideal of building a newer and braver world progresses. Thus an ashrama effec- This act will be a severe blow to the Ashram tively evangelizes. method of social and religious work. Mr. Gandhi himself has said that he expects each inmate of The evangelistic method of an ashrama is con- his Ashram to become "a walking Ashram." centric. The message goes from the leader to the These 'walking Ashrams' are to be responsible for group; the group spreads it to newer and wider "realizing the Ashram ideal" wherever they may circles. The message thus spreads in ever-widen- be. He also is reported to have said that breaking ing circles. This is the special method of India up the Ashram and scattering the members abroad and probably has a justification in the considera- "would be greater incentive to greater effort, tion of methods of evangelism in this country. greater dedication and greater sacrifice." Does Hinduism is deeply entrenched. Thousands of this mean that his Ashram has been a school for years have encrusted its shell. Whirling cam- training and that now those who are trained need paigns produce a ripple on the surface in India; no further guidance but are to be sent forth to and soul remains undisturbed. Qualitative work exert their influence upon others by "realizing the is needed to effectively preach the message, spe- Ashram ideal"? If, as we have been told, the cially, to the educated upper classes. An ashrama Ashram method is a complete answer to all our problems in social and religious work, then w~ is a helpful instrument in this respect. may well ask why the premier Ashram should be disbandoned. An ashrama is thus a colony of men and women, living in a quiet place and solving the problems Service is not primarily a matter of technique of life as they arise in their lives. It is a place but of self-sacrificing devotion. Plenty of folks in where frankness, sincerity and humility are the the world are willing to run around seeking new essential conditions. It is a powerhouse of intel- and miracle-working methods. The sacrificial delectual and spiritual strength that flows into hu- votion which has produced results in the face of man lives when they are surrendered to God. It unlimited difficulties is what the world needs tois an abode of peace where nature brings quiet- day as it has always needed. The 'Ashram ideal,' ness and beauty to enrich human conceptions of the 'Ashram method,' are nothing in themselves life and death. It is a place where the daily prob- when separated from self-sacrificing devotion that lems of our world are lifted to the plane of spir- is not concerned with imitation or with popularity.
Ways of
rr'ested Metlwds for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~,–=–==–===—=================~,,~ A SUMMONS TO THE The Atmosphere ment or a side room of the PRAYER LIFE Ruth Esther Wheaton, writ- church, offers a resisting barrier The approach of the World ing in The New York Christian to the sense of worship. When Day of Prayer (February 16th) Advocate under the caption of that is true, bring in rugs, floor brings us anew not only to the "Think on These Things," says: matter of adequate preparation lamps and flowers to make the for that service and for mission- "In planning the devotional ary devotionals in general but to service, the leader should re- place more attractive. Then the paramount necessity for member that women' coming undergirding all our endeavor from various types of homes have lighted candles on the table with prayer. The dynamic of bring diversified experiences to or a picture of the Christ or the meeting. Their minds are some symbol to focus the atten- tion and lend help in guiding the thoughts.
the Master's life, the practice full of their own affairs. Some The Music through which He invariably come flurried and out of breath tapped the reservoir of power trying to keep up with an over- "Music is a rich medium for for service or redemptive suffer- crowded program. Others are helping to create atmosphere.
ing, must not be allowed to de- filled to the brim with thoughts Quiet music may be employed generate into an accepted form of their aches and pains, real with telling results as an apfor opening a religious meeting and imaginary. A few may or shunted into second place carry in their hearts ill will and proach to the devotional lesson whenever life crowds heavily resentment more fatal than the to further the mood and the deupon us. Our present spiritual ill health. . . . . . . If the spiritual sire for prayer. A wise choice depression has a complexity of needs of this group are to be must be made of the hymns to sources, but the tap root of them met, the women must grow calm be sung. Every devotional servall is the neglect of the practice and relaxed. Rushing into the ice should be built around a of the presence of God. The devotional hour with no prep- theme, with all factors in accord combined creative activity of all aration of the heart and mind so that there is some relationthe political economists in ship between the different parts Christendom cannot bring real will leave them mere listeners or of the devotions. Hymns should prosperity amidst this tangle of onlookers. The task is to unify be selected that will aid in the problems old and new until we the thinking of this group and to carrying on of the thought. open the clogged channels of di- bring a sense of the presence of vine wisdom and power to blaze God, which after all is the real · ….. Last – minute hun tin g a trail to a more Christlike social purpose of a worship service. through a hymn book for a song will seldom result in a happy "A reverent atmosphere is es- order. Why talk of restoration sential. But this atmosphere is contribution to the program.
or return of prosperity? We an elusive thing. It is sensitive. · ….. Very often our singing is never have been a "Christian It is subject to change. It is meaningless because we have nation" or had a social order re- perishable. . ….. If it is pro- dropped the stanzas containing motely approaching the ideals of tected and not shattered by ir- the heart of the thought ….. .
the master Economist of them relevant matter it will adhere Sometimes a careless announce- all. This "new deal" will have and continue its inspiration in ment that we will sing the first to be prayed as well as planned memory. . ….. It is well to and last stanzas of a hymn may and worked through. So be it make a ruling that no one is to mean a repetition of the same clearly understood that none of be admitted into the room dur- words. . ….. We defeat one of the following suggestions for de- ing the devotions. If the meet- the purposes of singing if we do votionals will be more than me- ing is in a home where doors not use familiar tunes ….. .
chanical devices unless they are cannot be closed, let someone be 'Study the hymn book' is sound energized by spiritual power and stationed at the outer door to advice to the devotional leader.
met half way with the recep- warn late-comers to be silent. · ….. Prayer hymns make an tivity of recognized need for "Sometimes the meeting place, effective beginning for the Divine Wisdom. if it happens to be in the base- prayer season."
[95 ]
Planning the Meeting dramatized, if reverentially han- 3. Why? The Wise Men, to wor- dled. A correspondent writes: ship; the frightened disciples, for A service leaflet by the Wom- safety; the lepers, for healing; the Wanting to feature the book "Prayer sisters, for comfort; the thief, for an's Board of The United and Missions," by Helen Barrett Mont- salvation; Simon and his companions, gomery, we selected five women to rep- for others. They had already found Lutheran Church says in sub- resent, respectively, the Spirit of Mis- Him for salvation, for healing, for sions, the Spirit of Service, the Spirit safety and companionship. Now their stance: of Love and the Spirit of Prayer. To quest is for another purpose-for make attractive tableaux, they were others. Their first word on finding "Choose carefully those who simply draped in white, light blue, Him is, "Master, all men seek Thee." take part in the program. corn color, rose and lilac or grey re- spectively. The Spirit of Missions Having found Him daily for our Prayer week is not a place for summoned the others to give a record own comfort, companionship and heal- of the women of the churches during ing, we need most of all to find Him practice. The feeling of un· the past year in their endeavor for for others; for consciously or uncon- missions. The Spirit of Giving told of sciously they do want Him or what He broken "together-communion" is the League of Tithers, of sacrificial only can give. We are in danger of giving, drives and other ways of rais- neglecting this as we rush from one helped by omission of names of ing missionary funds. The Spirit of meeting, conference, committee to anindividuals giving word and song Service described White Cross work, other, forgetting in our multiplicity missionary boxes and barrels filled, lo- of occupations that we must follow messages. Have printed slips cal needs supplied, etc. The Spirit of closely ourselves if we would proffer announcing meetings or an- Love told of friendly contact with Him to others. That is what our mis- New Americans. The Spirit of Prayer sionary work means-Christ for nouncements after close of meet- very mee~ly said she could tell noth- others, in our home, our community, ing. Leaders making their own ing that she had done but wished to our country, our whole wide world. meditations and providing their tell what the Lord had done in answer This ideal gives a glow and a value to own material for prayer will to prayer, her part being gleaned from all tasks-raising money, reaching recognize the value of using the Chapter 3 of the book. Then she sum- strangers, teaching, awakening the in- Scripture given; of simple, di- moned missionaries, Orientals, etc., different-all efforts at extending His rect messages; of positive, con- who gave instances of wonderful an- Kingdom. structive material; of making swers to prayer taken from Chapters music and all parts of the serv- 4 and 5. At the close the spirits Making Money Talk ice into a unity; of reverent agreed that the Spirit of Prayer had rendition. Short periods of accomplished more than all of them Next to the matter of spiritual silence properly placed deepen combined could have done without her. enlargement, the greatest quesdevotional feeling. . ….. Pre- tion confronting our missionary vious to meetings, mail or deliver A Good Devotional Service organizations today is that of topic announcement slips to all finances. It cries out like a shut-ins. Urge them and all "Finding the Mas t e r" is hungry wolf at the door of every who cannot attend in person to abridged from a service of that board room and every treasread Scripture and pray daily title in a set of six devotional urer's office. Many who formerly during the week." outlines published by the Baptist stood like Gibraltar for spiritual- Board of Missionary Coopera- ized benevolences versus com- Miss Grace Jessop, of Petos- tion. It may be expanded into mercialized plans have apparkey, Michigan, sends this ap- an effective keynote talk or as- ently been driven into retreat by preciation of THE REVIEW: signed in its subdivisions to sev- economic necessity. It is not for "During the services on the eral speakers who furnish the· us to dictate the details; but we World Day of Prayer, to fill in entire program. can at least insist on giving a the empty spaces, we used ar- spiritual atmosphere and content ticles on the different countries Scripture: Mark 1: 21-38. for every device used in church from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW 1. Where? The Wise Men found finances. The following excerpts magazines of last year, taken Him in a manger; His parents in the from. many sources may prove from the public library. As Temple; the lepers, on the common suggestive in accomplishing this. there were to be prayers for cer- highway; the disciples, on the stormtain countries, we would have a tossed sea; Mary and Martha, in their Programs on money in "The five-minute article on each of home of sorrow; the thief, on the Window of Y. W. A." (Young these precede the prayer. Many cross; two of His disciples, at a Women's Auxiliary) of the remarked that they enjoyed the humble supper table; Simon and his Women's Board in the Southern program." This is as it should companions, in the early morn a great Baptist Convention, mention the be – informed instead of rote while before day, in a solitary place, use of: prayers to conform with a pro- praying. Is there anything we need gram. Certain women's circles more in all our work than to find the Posters: "Money – a Force" follow the custom of giving out Master? -sketch of large pile of money a topic at each monthly meeting 2. How? The Wise Men found Him or cut-out pictures of same to be investigated or studied so by a long journey; the disciples by pasted on cardboard, with the that all may come to the ensuing fear of shipwreck; the lepers, wearily question, "What Can It Do?" meeting prepared to pray intel- waiting by a dusty roadside; the followed by time and place ligently about the person, field thief, in bodily pain and anguish; where one may find out. Or or movement to be considered. Simon and his companions, by follow- fasten a coin to a poster and ing after Him. Is there any way by print, "Is It Yours? Enter Devotional services other than which we as missionary workers can claim at (time and place)." those on the World Day of find Him save by following after Him? Prayer may occasionally be And is it not true that the closer we follow the more quickly and surely we find Him?
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Programs: Three members Money" (Mary with her ala- ture, "The Hope of the World," give talks on "Money-a Force," baster box, the rich young ruler, this being also the subject of the a fourth impersonating money and the widow with her mite) ; sketch. Summoning boys and and being claimed in turn by the injunctions to giving, etc. Bible girls of Britain and a variety of three for evil, for good and for teachings about money might foreign lands, he appeals to them the Kingdom. Or a trial of center around the three ques- to spread the message of the picmoney may be arranged with ac- tions: ture in order to rally new workcusation that "money is evil" ers for the Lord Jesus Christ. and witnesses called for prose- "Why isn't this money in my While its music, I written in the cution and defense. Or have a hand mine?" English Sol – F a symbolism, debate on the proposition that a would be unfamiliar to us in Christian's use of money is a "May I not keep it stored America, its message is univerfair test of his religious profes- away for awhile?" sal and awakens hearty resp~nse. sion. Topics for elaboration The sketch is suitable for mismay be: "How must I give?" sion bands and Sunday school "Thought Questions" are con- (1) "How Money Talks," one sidered thus: gatherings.* A free program impersonator saying, "Hold me and I will, etc."; another, Turn out all lights except a on "The Band of Hope and the "Spend me for self-indulgence strong flashlight or spotlight World Outlook" gives excellent and I will make you, etc."; a trained on a blackboard or temperance programs for six third saying, "Give me away for poster on which the following months. the benefit of others and I will appear in turn, one minute bereturn in streams of spiritual ing permitted for consideration Capitalizing February: The revenue to your soul," etc. of each topic: month lends itself to services featuring patriotism, birthdays, (2) "Examining a S i I v e r If you ever have wealth what an adaptation of valentines, etc. Dollar" – explaining how the will you do with it? How do One missionary organization date on a dollar held up to the you know that you will ? writes that it held its February audience shows how many years meeting in connection with a have passed since Jesus came to Salvation is God's gift to you chureh dinner, with puzzles the world and gave the Great but its increasing value to you written in white ink on red, Commission; the word "liberty" will be largely determined by the heart-shaped cards and laid at suggests texts expressing Jesus' price you pay to demonstrate its the plates as ice-breakers and proclamation of liberty to those power in world salvation. relishes during the meal. The bound in sin; the laurel wreath puzzles were all based on the calls to mind the crown that Will you rearrange your life names of well-known missionshall not fade away; the words, activities, your expenditures, in aries of the denomination, little "In God We Trust" make us the light of the Great Com- clews or additional facts about think of "Lo, I am with you al- mission? the names played upon being way"; the eagle suggests those added. Here are some samples: For Christ's sake help thy fellow men, (1) One who makes bread. who shall have their strength re- And make thy gold thy vassal, not thy What is his field? (Baker, in newed day by day; "E pluribus India.) (2) Perhaps -long in unum" (from man y- 0 n e) king. Africa. (Dr. Katherine Mabie.) stands for the unity of all na- (3) A builder in stone. (W. G. tions in Christ; the bunch of Timely Tidbits Mason.) arrows in one foot of the eagle makes us think of the speed with The Christian Mission in The ensuing missionary toasts which the Gospel message should America, by Hugh T. Kerr were in valentine terminology. be broadcast; and the olive (cloth, $1.00; paper, 60 cents), The parallel between Washingbranch in the other foot typifies is characterized as "a great book ton and Lincoln, as American the way in which every Chris- for preachers written by a great patriots, and such world statestian should be a messenger of preacher." In addition to its men among missionaries as Livpeace. use in study classes and discus- ingstone, Paton, Judson, etc., is sion groups, it may well become easily worked out if the patriotic (3) "World Traveling Dol- the basis for sermons which aim keynote is to be taken. lars" would be a good topic for to present the great issues facan address on the fields to which ing the Church today, showing Growing Old our missionary money goes, or how the Gospel has transformed the manner in which it is sub- individuals and renewed society Let us grow lovely growing old; divided for the support of a co- wherever it has been presented So many fine things to do. operative plan. and "challenging the Church to undertake with deeper devotion Laces and ivory and gold and silks A good devotional service may and united strength the Chris- Need not be new. include Bible readings on the use tian mission in America." or abuse of money: "Three New And there is healing in old trees, Testament Characters and Their Rev. Watcyn M. Price, Or- Old streets a glamour hold; ganizing and Traveling Secre- tary for Foreign Missions in the Why may not I, as well as these, Presbyterian Church of Wales, Grow lovely growing old? has published a dramatic mis- sionary sketch for children cen- • c. M. Book Agency, Caernarvon, Wales. tering upon the celebrated pic- Price, three pence.
~' ~
i BULLETIN OF I I The Council of Women for Home Missions : I ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK !
~"=============I~ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. tenance. In the times of eco- By Courtesy of Religio'lS nomic depression, prayer for Are we praying for peace? these special groups of children J[o.t-ion Pictu'J-c Foundation. When? How? and young people has increased. The offerings have decreased YAKIMA RESERVATION, VASHINGTON Are we acting for peace? somewhat. It has been reported When? How? before in these columns how in captive orphan children of the some lands fruits and vegetables Apaches with whom they fought The Trail Is Beautiful. Be and the like ( … such as I have, and won. Papago mothers re- Still. I give you) have been dedicated ceiving the children and caring and then sold in order to realize for them made a song which The old man, with his face still the money gift. was: serene after years of hardship, smiled at his little Chipmunk. The four missionary enter- Men shouting "brother," "Repeat the words I have taught prises, thus maintained, are Men shouting "brother," you, shi yazhi. Repeat them Christian Literature for Chil- Among the mountains they have every morning when you greet dren of Other Lands, Christian the sun. Repeat them now." Service Among Children of Mi- taken little Apache children grant Laboring Families, Union where the sun went down in Na Nai said in a low voiee: Christian Colleges of the Orient, sorrow, and Religious Work in United All women, what shall we do to Put your feet down in peace. States Indian Schools. realize this? Put your hands down in peace. Put your head down in peace. THE INDIAN AMERICAN -Source Unknown. Then your feet are peaceful. TODAY Then your hands are peaceful. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE Your body is peaceful. We of the Church who work Your mind is peaceful. with the Indian Americans are How happy are the little chil- Your voice is peaceful. learning that ours must be a dren in our land for whom there For, my children, remember this, ministry to the whole person- are story books, picture books, The trail is beautiful. Be still. ality-the religious education of children's magazines and li- an individual is a process of braries; but in many lands there "Yes, the trail is beautiful," growth within. Our pattern for is no such provision for the hapsaid uncle, "even though there this is "the beauty and grace of piness of little children. So we are rocks which crush the seeker the Lord Jesus Christ." Weare who have known the joys of of light, reeds that cut him to working with the Indian as a libraries and books are providpieces, cactus that grows thick unified self, knowing that his re- ing for the publication of thirlike forests, to tear with its ligious education may not be teen magazines in eleven differthorns, and terrible boiling separated from his family life, sands that engulf. Even though his tribe, health conditions, opthere be dangers like these, still portunities for recreation as well the trail is beautiful." (p. 193.) as education, economic and mental well-being. As Protes- Quoted by permission of Longmans, Green tant groups we endeavor to make & Co., from "Dark Circle of Branches," b,' a united approach to Indian Laura Adams Armer. youth in the government day and boarding schools in a religious In the observance of the education program suited to World Day of Prayer, there is their various needs, and desires place for free-will offerings and dreams. which by agreement of church women promoting the observ- Sorrows of Mothers ance of the Day are designated for missionary enterprises, two Long time ago Papago Indian in the homeland and two in other warriors returned with little lands. This has been done for enough years to make each of [98 ] the enterprises dependent in part on these gifts for main-
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
GIRLS REPRESENTING NATIONS, DAY OF PRAYER, 1933 UNNECESSARY Taken in Front of the Church SUFFERING Dr THE PANJAB MISSION "The case that caused greatest concern was a little child of five Key to snapshot, reading from left to right: years of age. She had a badly contracted knee which was prob- Standing: England, China, Africa, South America, Japan, Europe, North American In- ably of tubercular origin. The dian, Islam (in burqa), Spain, India, knee had been bad for some two years, had only been to a doctor Seatecl: Maori, Eskimo. MRS. J. H. ORRISON. once when it started and he 'put medicine on it,' evidently to keep ent languages and many books been built; the colleges have in- it draining. The child could that the children in mission creased in enrollment and have scarcely touch her toes to the lands may have wholesome and broadened in scope. They have ground and walked with the aid helpful reading. Bible stories been strengthened by the leader- of a crutch that was about five are in demand. The children of ship they have produced. inches too short for her. An orthe Philippines want a maga- thopedic surgeon in San Franzine. The mothers of Persia are SCHOOL GIRLS IN INDIA cisco became interested when he asking for a manual on child heard of the case and arranged care. There are priceless oppor- Twelve girls represented the hospitalization for her. He tunities for the expansion of this nations. Each held in her hand agreed to do the necessary surwork. A book or magazine can a small candle. A large clock gery without cost to the parents. carry the Christian message face made of cardboard was set Everything possible was done to where a missionary cannot go. in front of the pulpit. On a save the foot and leg, but in table were set a small globe, an January her leg was amputated UNION CHRISTIAN COL- open Bible and a tall lighted above the knee. LEGES OF THE ORIENT candle. A bell was used to strike the hours. The minute hand re- "She came through the second The story of the Seven Union mained at twelve. At the stroke operation very well, but contin- Christian Colleges of the Orient of one on the bell the hour hand ued to run a temperature. An is well known to the women of was set forward to one o'clock examination revealed an abscess America, who have followed and the globe turned so that the in the other hip. The attitude with interest the organization of light of the candle shone on that of the family had been very fine the colleges, five of them during part of the world where the day war years and two as they have begins, the islands of the South CHILD OF A MIGRANT FAMTLY developed from high schools over Sea. A girl representing the San Joaquin Valley, 1933 a period of twenty-five years. primitive people of those islands They are graduating more than (Maori) with tousled out hair throughout. Since they have 200 young women each year, and and grass skirt, came forward left the camp, they have correthe influence they exert is felt and lighting her small candle at sponded with me and expect to throughout the Orient. the large one on the table, she go to 'peas' in the section where turned to the congregation and I shall be. What suffering could The story of the campaign said, "Jesus says, Follow Me." have been avoided if there had when the women ~ of America She then went and stood in front been a nurse to follow up the raised two million dollars and on one side, holding her lighted case two years ago!" claimed a third million from the candle. La u r a Spellman Rockefeller H. EVA BARNES, R. N. Fund to secure buildings and A few words, or some special equipment for these colleges is fact was mentioned about each equally familiar. The years country in turn, and short have passed; the buildings have prayers were offered.
young women were graduated letters have come expressing deep con-
from the Karen Woman's Bible cern for the cause and enclosing from Missions on the Air School more than 500 have fol- one to five dollars. lowed in their steps. During the A world-wide radio hook-up, last twenty-five years the num- 3. There were some large gifts. One destined to reach Eskimo land ber of b apt i zed Christians of $25,000 was made directly to the as well as the African jungle, among the Garos of Assam has board-$20,000 for the support of mishas been arranged in the inter- grown from 4,000 to 15,000. sionaries and $5,000 for an institution. ests of Christian missions in the There are now 325 churches Another friend gave $7,000; another Eastern and Western hemi- among these people. The Wom- $2,650. One person, not a Methodist, spheres. Four Protestant de- an's Hospital, Suifu, We s t sent $5,000. nominations – Baptist, Method- China, is 1,800 miles from the ist, Presbyterian and United coast and was established fifteen 4. Drastic reductions in expendi- Presbyterian–cooperate in Sun- years ago. It is estimated that tures during the year helped balance day night broadcasts on the 173,315 Chinese have come in the budget. Every missionary and fourth Sunday of each month, contact with this Christian in- every officer and worker at headquar- November 26 to May 27, from stitution. ters, in addition to drastic salary cuts, Station KDKA, Pittsburgh, (11: relinquished one month's salary. 30 to 12: 30 E. S. T.) Informa- Y. P. S. C. E. tion regarding missions is given 5. The closing of work, especially in to home constituencies and per- "There are over 80,000 Chris- Europe, has made it possible to sell sonal messages from friends and tian Endeavor societies in the property and apply the proceeds to relatives in this country are. in- world today," says Carlton M. previous debts. cluded to the m iss ion a r i e s Sherwood, general secretary, abroad. Each program is ap- "In the last two years 2,300 have On the mission field there has been proximately one hour long and been organized. China has 1,200. curtailment of personnel and of work includes a brief worship service, The number in New Zealand has to the point of slowing down the whole an address and messages to mis- increased ten f 0 I d in eight missionary program. At home an outsionaries. years." From the International pouring of generous gifts by churches Society's headquarters, there are and individuals, plus drastic cuts in Forty-nine Facts now being issued "Youth Train- expenditures, and considerable pay- ing Courses," covering not only ments of debts through property sales, The Northern Baptist Foreign the societies' technical methods are helping to win through with a bal- Mission Society has issued a but also "Recruiting youth for anced budget. folder containing 49 brief mis- Christ," "Recreational Leadersionary facts about their work ship," and "Social Issues"-love -The Christian Advocate. in distant fields. They report and· marriage, alcohol, race prej- 681 missionaries and 10,514 na- udice, the economic system, and NORTH AMERICA tive workers. Their churches in peace or war. non-Christian lands number 3,- The Menace of Communism 112 of which sixty-six per cent How to Balance a Budget are self-supporting. The total Communism's rapid developmembership is 328,126. There Dr. Ralph E. Diffendorfer, ment in the United States is not are still 610,000 villages in India corresponding secretary of the generally realized. So serious without a resident Christian. Methodist Episcopal Board of have been its political activities The American Baptist Telugu Foreign Missions, was asked that the House of Representa- Mission was established in 1835, what brought this Board within tives created a special commisand plans are being made for the reach of a balanced budget. He sion to investigate its character celebrating of the centennial. replied: and propaganda, and special There are 55,822 pupils under hearings were held in all parts Christian instruction in Baptist 1. Increased number of World Serv- of the United States. The Comschools in the Belgian Congo. ice offerings in the closing month of mission reported that "the sur- Last year 18,000 patients were the fiscal year. The October, 1933, in- est and most effective way of treated in Shaohing Hospital in come was only 6% % below that of combating communism is to give China. Since the first nine October, 1932. the fullest publicity to the fun- damental principles and aims of 2. A large number of people have the communists, which are the made small but sacrificial gifts. Many same throughout the world." These principles are: [100 ] 1. Hatred of God and all forms of religion.
2. Abolition of private prop- erty and inheritance.
3. Absolute social and racial equality; promotion of hatred of capitalistic classes.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
4. Revolutionary propaganda, initiating positive action in the great Plans for Methodist Union stirring up communist activities work of proclaiming the Gospel of in foreign countries in order to Christ, and surrounding it with every Plans for the consolidation of cause strikes, riots, sabotage, circumstance of compelling, constrain- the three great divisions of the and civil war. ing, convicting and converting power. Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States are to be dis- 5. Destruction of democratic The primary furpose of this pro- cussed at the sesquicentennial at or representative governments, gram is spiritua enrichment through Baltimore next October. The including civil liberties, such as a unified effort without any i~crease Board of Bishops has announced freedom of speech, of the press, of machinery, personnel or budget. It plans for consideration of the of assembly and trial by jury. is an effort to use all the machinery proposal to merge the Methodist and all the forces we now have in our Episcopal Church in America, great denomination. the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Prot- 6. The final objective is by Back-to-Church Movement estant Church. Leaders of these means of world revolution to es- three branches and representatablish the dictatorship of the Under this name an organiza- tives of thirteen other Methodist so-called proletariat into one· tion has been effected with na- groups will attend the celebraworld union of soviet socialist tion-wide membership. Its head- tion, which commemorates the republics with the capital at quarters are in New York. It is founding of the denomination in a united movement of Roman this country by Bishop Francis Moscow. Asbury and Bishop Coke in 1784. In a word, its objectives are Catholics, Protestants and Jews, the abolition of other govern- and it has among supporters a Bible Society Anniversary ments, private ownership of large number of eminent minproperty, inheritance, religion isters and laymen in all these The American Bible Society communions, including s tat e recently celebrated its one hunand family relations. governors, congressmen and dredth anniversary of beginning -D. J. Fant. Bible work in China. During the other civil officials as well as last 100 years the Society has spent $2,897,383 in printing and Call to Spiritual Awakening leading ecclesiastics. The move- distributing 70,000,000 volumes ment is being publicized as "one of the Christian Scriptures in the Chinese language. A great spiritual awakening of the greatest efforts ever put throughout the Presbyterian forth by laymen in this country Dr. John R. Mott, vice-presi- Church, U. S. A. is the hope of in the interest of the Church." dent of the society; Dr. Eric M. the Presbyterian General Coun- The program of publicity in- North, one of the general secre- cil from a promotional endeav- cludes the use of the radio, daily taries, and Dr. T. Z. Koo, of the or, launched by the Moderator, press, magazines, church peri- national committee of the Y. M. Dr. John McDowell, in a mes- odicals, street car signs, bill- C. A. in China, spoke at the an- sage sent to 10,000 ministers. boards and a national mailing niversary dinner. in New York. The message reads: seal symbolizing the Church aft- Dr. Koo, a Chinese Christian, er the manner of the Blue Eagle; said that Christianity had The General Council's suggested the seal will be distributed brought to the people of China program for the quickening and en- throughout the country for past- a vital and personal religion richment of the spiritual life of the ing on the back of envelopes. which made it easy to describe churches is the response to certain Mass meetings will be held in the attributes of the spirit or of challenging facts in the present situa- many of the large cities. God. tion which are of vital importance to ministers of Christ, to the Church we -Presbyterian Banner. Indian Century of Progress love, and to the Kingdom we serve. A Presbyterian Merger Prompted by the Century of First, the supreme need of the hour Progress in its portrayal of the is spiritual power. Other needs, great The plan for the merger of past hundred years' achieve- as they are, sink into insignificance the Presbyterian Church in the ments, Miss Lucille Dewey, Bap- beside this challenging and imperative U. S. A. and the United Presby- tist missionary at Carson Indian need. It is true that our age has more terian Church of North America School in Stewart, Nevada, has comforts, but it lacks satisfaction; it is making definite progress. This been trying to discover the prog- has more ease, but it lacks peace; it plan will involve a combined ress of the Indian 'people in Ne- has more science, but it secretly hun- membership of 2,200,000. Rep- vada and the neighboring terri- gers for God in Christ. resentatives of the two denomi- tory during the last century. nations will suggest amend- They have changed from wan- Second, the time has come when as ments to the plan before it is dering tribes, living wherever a Church we must heal our divisions, voted upon at general assemblies food, water, shelter and friendly combine our resources, and unite our of each church in 1935. The relationships with neighboring forces in a unified, cooperative effort merged church is to be named to meet the spiritual needs of our day. the Presbyterian Church of North America. No changes Third, the present situation consti- are to be made in the form of tutes a great trumpet-call that is bid- government, in the spiritual • ding all who care about the present ideals or in doctrine, discipline world-wide crisis to rally to Christ, or worship. bidding them renew their hope, en- thusiasm and power at the one great Source, and then throw themselves heart and soul into a deeper and larg- er spiritual ministry for the regenera- tion of the individual, the nation and the world.
This is preeminently a time for tak- i)1g bol<1, strong, vigorous steps; ;for
peoples made it expedient, to a first or second grade. This esti- responsible for fine weather; people established in fairly per- mate was made two years ago and an evil one, who brings manent homes. Once the Indian by an American expert at the about bad weather and epidem- worshiped God as a Great Spirit request of the government, and ics. The Goajiras do not believe revealed through everything in since then the situation has be- that these spirits have any influ- life, and surrounded by many come even more serious. ence on their personal lives. As superstitions. Now the majority The Presbyterian Board of they never pray to them or try in this state have received the National Missions operates nine to propitiate them these spirits fuller revelation of God in the schools in Cuba, all being day can hardly be classed as gods. Bible and in Christ. Many have schools, with the exception of La They believe in a life after death, accepted Jesus as their Saviour Progresiva at Cardenas, which but not in another world. The and have left their old supersti- has a boarding department dead, they believe, continue to tions. The progress at the Car- drawing from the whole island. wander about the country they son School is shown by seventy- A reduced budget necessitates have lived in during life, but in six girls and boys who accepted curtailment, and the little school an invisible form. Christ as their personal Saviour at Sagua la Grande, with an enand were baptized. Formerly rolment of 70, has been closed. -New York Times.
only a few of the older children -Presbyterian Advance. Varginha Field, Brazil went to town to take commun- Varginha is the commercial ion, but last year nearly every Believers in Honduras and geographic center of a vast Protestant child abo v e the fourth grade took communion. On October 1, 1933, the small area in the southern part of the Some are inquiring what they .group of believers at Brus, Hon- great State of Minas Geraes, may do to help their own race. duras, were constituted a Chris- East Brazil, and has a popula- There has also developed a high- tian congregation. Two adults tion of approximately 250,000 and seven children were bap- people. A Presbyterian missioner standard of morality. -Watchman Examiner. tized, and two more adults ad- ary, A. L. Davis, writes of the mitted by confirmation. Of these progress and the needs of this The Negroes Progress four adult communicants two field. "Until 1921 there was no resi- For the past ten years the can read the Scriptures in Mis- dent missionary in this l;Lrea; kito. As yet there is no church general mission boards of all de- building, but a "doorkeeper" has some of the principal towns renominations have been gradual- definite responsibilities, seeing ly withdrawing white superin- that the place of meeting is ceived an occasional visit from clean; that there are enough missionaries and native pastors. tendency from missionary work seats; that Christians come to Twelve years ago there was only done among Negroes, as it was service clean in body, with hair one organized congregation and combed and, as far as possible in one Sunday school, belonging to felt that the best way to develop present circumstances, in suitleadership among the Negroes able clothing; that behaviour the "Christian" Church. Our during services is reverent. Still (Presbyterian) Mission was was to place on their shoulders later, the eight, communicants, the burden of responsibility. The with two from San Carlos on the asked to take charge of this Wangks River, one from Kruta, latest federal.census figures de- and one from Kaurkira, met for work and now we have three clare that the professional group the first celebration of the Lord's church buildings with organized Supper at Brus. congregations, eight Sunday among Negroes now numbers 104,711. This group is made up -Moravian Missionary. schools and abo u t twenty preaching points. Ten years ago of 54,439 school teachers, 25,034 Indians with No Religion ministers, 10,583 musicians and there was not more than six be- It has often been said that teachers of music, 5,728 trained even the most primitive and sav- lievers in the town of Lambary; nurses, 3,805 physicians and today we have a church with a surgeons, 2,146 college presi- lot on which to build a manse. dents and professors, 1,746 den- The adult membership of the tists, and 1,230 lawyers, judges church is 101, and 77 children and justices. were baptized in infancy. Two – Watchman-Examiner. years ago the Gospel had never LATIN AMERICA age of tribes have their religion, been preached in Dores da Boa but the Weston-Carr expedition, Esperanca. Now there are now exploring the Goajira Pen- twelve baptized converts, a large Cuba's Need for Schools insula in Colombia, has reported number of catechumens and Cuba, in the midst of political that the Goajira Indians have no scores of persons are regular in strife and economic depression, evidence of religion. They not their attendance at church and is not advancing rapidly with only have no priests, temples nor Sunday school services. Almost her educational problem. Only idols, but they reveal nothing as many towns and villages are 500,000 of her 'million children akin to these religious essentials. without the Gospel as those that of school age are enrolled in any They do believe in the existence hear it occasionally." -The Presbyterian. school; 250,000 of those are in of two spirits; one good, who is
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
EUROPE while another is stationed at Too Late Coming Bourgas on the Black Sea. Oth- Anti-Religious Congress ers work chiefly from village to Writing from Lusambo, Bel- village, on foot, with a donkey gian Congo, Rev. J. J. Davis, During the past summer there to carry the books. missionary of a g r 0 u p of was held in Paris, France, an churches in Kentucky and North Anti-Religious World Congress, -Bible Society RecoTd. Carolina, sends home this chalattended by 2,700 delegates from lenge: France, Spain, Holland, Bel- Russia and the Bible gium, England, Russia, the We must, as good soldiers of Christ, United States, and several South In the 1933 Report of the Brit- follow up the brave efforts of pioneers American republics. It was re- ish and Foreign Bible Society, who have gone before, and open the ported that there are now 1,800 under the title "Russia and Si- way for the evangelization of this peoanti-religious newspapers pub- beria," is the statement: "Once ple. Lift up your eyes and look upon lished in the world, 21 of which again we must report the impos- a hundred thousand souls with eager are issued in France; also that sibility of any circulation of the faces begging for the saving Gospel in the last few years the mem- Scriptures in Russia. As stated of Christ, thousands of children, who bership of these various anti- last year, it is illegal either to have no day school, to say nothing of religious organizations repre- print or circulate the Bible, or a Sunday school, thousands who have sented in this congress had in- indeed any religious book, in the been caught in the grip of unknown creased from five and a half Soviet Union. Though unable to diseases. millions to thirteen millions. work in Russia, the Bible So- ciety widely circulates the Scrip- Sometime ago a big, fine-looking Revival Gains Momentum tures among Russians in the young man sat on my veranda and Baltic States, in Poland, in startled me as he put the question In the Drone Valley of France, France and wherever Russian "Why did you people of God not come where the population is predom- refugees are to be found." to us sooner?" And before I could aninantly Protestant, is a some- swer he said, "My father used to say what loosely organized group of Its former reports show that that he believed there must be a great Protestant pastors and congre- in European Russia, for 1913. Creator back of all the wonderful gations. ·The chief town is Dieu- over 521,000 copies were circu- things we find in this beautiful world, lefit ("God Made It"), founded lated; in 1912, over 510,000; but my father died in the dark and by Huguenots. About ten years and over 482,000 copies in 1911. went out into the unknown world withago a new interest in religion out ever hearing of Christ the Saviour began to spread, originating in -The Presbyterian. of all mankind." regular monthly meetings of the pastors, most of them young AFRICA -Congregationalist. men in whose hearts was a deep longing for the power of God. A Challenge to Witch Doctors Endure Hunger for Christ The revival began in one village and spread rapidly to others. The Christian Council of the Sixty teachers who came into An annual convention has been Missions of West Africa are of- Mondombe, Central Africa, for established and a Bible school fering a reward of fifty dollars the "ekitelo" brought with them founded. Much attention is giv- to any witch who can eat a pa- 252 enquirers, many of them en to the distribution of evan- paw at a distance, remove an ob- young boys, some older men with gelical literature, and districts j ect from a locked box, or their wives, and one grandfafar removed from the Drone change anybody into a fish, bird ther. All have lived with, or Valley have been greatly influ- or beast. They hope to demon- near, teachers of their villages. enced by the movement.-Life strate that these witches are ut- and all the younger ones have of Faith. terly powerless to do what they been in school. Each afternoon claim. -Indian Witness. they were given special training Bibles for Bulgaria and later were examined by na- In God's Debt tive elders to be sure that they The eight colporteurs of the understood what they had been American Bible Society who When the church records in taught. One hundred and ninework full time in Bulgaria con- Tondo District, Belgian Congo, ty-five passed this examination tend with a great variety of ob- were read, Martha Nzali Nkoi and were baptized. The others stacles and persecution. In spite was mentioned with the nota- were advised to return with of modern railways they must tion: "In debt to God for twen- their teachers. use other means of travel in or- ty-seven months." During all der to reach all parts of their that time she had contributed Many enquirers came long disfield. One works exclusively in nothing to the work of the tances and could bring little food Sofia, another chiefly on trains Church, and it was considered with them, so at the end of the and at railway stations, thus time to count her out of active first week they began to commeeting people of all classes; fellowship. She was accordingly plain of being hungry. Local suspended until she squares her gardens could not supply food account. for all this crowd, so the elders were asked if it might not be a – Watchman-Examiner. good thing to advance the date set for baptisms, and allow them to go home at the end of the first week rather than the second. They replied that they would
think it over and announce their bearing the provisional name of tine. A million dollar Y. M. C. A. decision at the evening service. Universite. The old teaching in Jerusalem was dedicated It was decided that the baptisms body was discharged on July 31, during the Easter season. Jeruwould take place on the day scarcely a third being retained. salem now has paved streets, originally planned; they said, "If Thirty-eight foreign professors postal delivery, British police, there is anyone here who cannot were added, mostly of wide rep- traffic officers and a few buildendure hunger for two weeks for utation. At the beginning of ings with central heat. The Iraq the sake of the Saviour he is not every year each professor is Petroleum Company is rapidly worthy of baptism at;ld his faith bound to deliver a lecture sum- laying its pipes from ancient would not last if he were bap- ming up all the progress made Nineveh across the desert to tized." Not one left. in his particular field throughout modern Haifa on the Mediter- the world during the preceding ranean. Ten thousand men are -World Call. year, and to add his personal at work and are receiving large criticism. The new university is wages. A splendid harbor at Day of Prayer, South Africa composed of faculties of letters, Haifa is nearly completed. law, medicine and science, of the The following call to prayer schools of dentistry, pharmacol- A recent census of Palestine from the Prime Minister of the ogy and foreign languages and reveals that whereas Canada, Union of South Africa, was pub- of the institutes of Islamic re- during the years 1906-1911, lished among official "govern- s ear c h, Turcology, national added to her population at the ment notices" emanating from economy and socialogy, geog- rate of 298 per 10,000 every the department of the Prime raphy, morphology, chemis"try, year, Palestine surpassed it with Minister dated September 8, electro-mechanics and the Turk- an annual increase of 354 per 1933. ish Revolution. 10,000. The recent census re- corded a population of 1,035,821. Whereas most serious conditions -The Near East and India. Of these, 759,712 are Moslems, prevail in various parts of the Union 174,610 Jews, and 91,398 Chrisin consequence of the continued St. Sophia's Ohristian Art tians. The ancient sect of the drought and depression; Samaritans now numbers 182, Revealed an increase of 30 since 1922. And whereas an earnest desire Since 1922 the urban population widely exists that under the circum- The w 0 r k of uncovering of Jerusalem has increased by stances the people shall appeal to the Christian mosaics has been go- 44 per cent, Jaffa by 59 per cent, Almighty; ing on in the mosque of St. So- Haifa by 104 per cent, Tel Aviv phia, Istanbul. In two years the by 202 per cent. And whereas the Government, after whitewash and painted decora- -Dr. Zwemer, in The Presbyconsultation with the chief represen- tions which pious Moslems tatives of the principal churches, have spread over the Christian sym- terian. decided to call the people to humble bolism after taking possession prayer; of the former Christian edifice, School Proves Its Worth had been cleaned away from a Therefore I appoint Wednesday, large section of the walls by Although character building 20th September, 1933, (and for American director of the Byzan- is the chief aim at the Presbytechurches or congregations unable to tine Institute of America. Much rian Mission School in Hama, participate on that day, Saturday, more surface remains to be un- Syria, it was the only school in 23d September, for Hebrews, and Sun- covered, but the area now re- the city where every student who day, 24th, for Christian congrega- vealed presents a wide expanse took the recent government extions) to be observed as a day of hu- of extraordinary beauty and his- amination passed. One of the miliation and prayer; and I invite the toric significance. boys was given the highest ratpeople on that day to beseech Al- ing over students of other mighty God with the greatest possible In bringing to light these mo- schools. One of the girls in the unanimity to give relief from distress, saics, Mr. Whittemore is seeking highest grade conducted a vacaand further to evince towards Him to preserve what is left. He has tion Bible school in her home vilthat sincerity and humility, and to- had the constant support of the lage. Her father told a missionwards their neighbors that spirit of savants and rulers of the new ary that while his daughter had justice and love which He requires of Turkey. Ghazi Mustapha Kem- been the least promising of the us, and which alone can exalt our aI, President of Turkey, is fol- family who had gone to school, nation. lowing the work with keen inter- she had returned much more de- est. veloped than any of the others. -Presbyterian Advance. The formal unveiling of those -Presbyterian Advance. WESTERN ASIA already uncovered took place on November 5. INDIA Turkey's New Universite Palestine Today Unrest and Disconte~t The reorganization of Istanbul University is the most recent It is often stated that the de- One of the ablest of Indian of Turkish reforms. A Swiss pression has not reached Pales- women in active political life educator, M. Albert Malche, was called to Turkey as advisor, and acting upon his recommendations the National Assembly passed a bill abolishing the existing Is tan b u I University (called Darulfunun) and replacing it with a new institution
1.'9'34] OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
·during the past few years has Definite Advance a fool to speak His name ir- been Mrs. Kamaladevi Chatto- A study of the latest census reverently. – padhyaya, who presided at the report for all India gives cause third Conference of the Youths for encouragement. The figures -Christian Intelligencer. ·:of Berar on Oct. 7. In her ad- for one decade are: dress she said: "Today, politi- Month of Special Evangelism 'cal unrest in India is greater, Hindus ……. 239,195,000 ++106..42 and economic distress keener. Jains ……… 1,252,000 The Met hod i s t Episcopal The bitterness and discontent Buddhists ….. 12,787,000 +10.5 Church has had encouraging rehave sunk deeper, but due to va- Sikhs ……… 4,336,000 sults in a month of special evanrious circumstances the fire ++33.9 gelism throughout India. For burns silently within, waiting to Parsis …….. 110,000 7.8 example, in round figures, 800,- burst forth into gigantic flames Moslems …… 77,678,000 +13.0 000 people have listened to the shaking the country with a vol- Christians …. 6,297,000 Christian message; 13,000 are ~anic fierceness." Jews ……… 24,000 +32.5 under instruction; there were Tribal …….. 8,280,000 +10.9 1,900 baptisms; there were 3,900 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has -15.3 professed conversions; 1,200 written three articles, published were received into full church inmost of India's leading pa- Encouragement is confirmed membership; and 42,000 Gospel pers, in which he advocates by such facts as (1) a growing portions were sold.
movement of cast-people towards Jesus Christ, a movement in- itiated not only by Indian work- throwing over the present social, ers but also by the compelling A Bible Woman's Examination economic and political system. influence of the transformed "Class warfare outside, with characters and lives of out-caste Who can measure the influence hunger and want as its driving Christians; (2) the increasingly of an unlettered Bible woman as force, and furious discord with- pervading influence of the prin-· she goes about telling the life of in;..is the prospect he opens up. ciples of Jesus upon many pub- Jesus and His atonement? A But he does not take into account lic movements in India; (3) the missionary was examining a that if the religious, social, eco- ever-growing number of those group of these women, among nomic and political systems are who make Jesus Christ their them one with very little educaall overthrown simultaneously, moral example, though remain- tion. She could write very little, the people of India would re- ing outside the Church. so was given an oral examinalapse, at least for the time be- tion, for she was earnest and ing, into the nomad stage from -The Presbyterian. very anxious to pass. She was which it has taken long centuries asked to relate the story of the for mankind to emerge as or- Non-Christians Revere Christ trials and crucifixion of Jesus. ganized societies. She told the story in the simple, Dr. Robert E. Speer tells of :l vivid manner of the Indian peo- -Dnyanodaya. Bar Association banquet at ple, but when she came to the Delhi attended by all the lawyers 'Moral Evils in India of that city, all Hindus"":"not a climax and was describing the Christian in the group. Christ on the Cross, she broke The Bombay representative down and sobbed. When she Christian Council passed a num- They had engaged a j ester to could speak again she said, "I ber of resolutions at its meeting entertain them and he was doing don't care if I never pass the last October. Three of these so by making jokes about the examination. I cannot tell more. protest against present-day de- escapades of the .traditional gods He died for me!" moralizing tendencies. (1) In- of the Indian people, at which dian motion pictures should be sallies the lawyers roared with -Woman's Missionary Friend. laughter. Soon the actor made censored by the government to a joke about Jesus Christ, but Possibilities of the Radio prohibit films that exhibit or nobody laughed. At the second 'Suggest obscenity, murder, rob- such remark, there were mur- Mr. J. H. Whitley, at one time bery and other degrading fea- murs of dissent. Finally, the Speaker of the House of Com- tures of modern life. (2) A man ventured a third "wise- mons and more recently Chair- protest is made against immoral crack" involving the name of man of the Royal Commission and obscene literature and pic- Jesus, whereupon the diners on Labor in India, declares, that tures exhibited for sale in shops arose from their seats, seized if some friend of India would and bookstalls. Christian lead·· him by the collar, ushered him vouch for broadcasting, covering ers are asked to take steps to to the door, and kicked him down 500 villages a year, he would do instruct their Christian commu- the stairs. more for India than by found- nities in social hygiene and in There was not a Christian in ing half a dozen universities.
the basis of moral health for the the crowd, but the character, Authoritative figures are given individual, the family and for personality and teachings of the showing that the whole equip- the community. (3) A resolu- Master had created in the hearts ment to cover 1,100 Indian vil- tion was passed against gam- of these Hindu lawyers such re- lages would cost only £43,000.
bling and in favor of adequate spect and reverence for Jesus If each village could have a very education as to its evil influences. Christ that not one would allow simple receiving set the ad-
vantages from the viewpoint of "There are in India about 300 been some marvelous delivereducation, entertainment and medical missionaries, almost all ances and many instances of government publicity, would be of them with the highest med- great bravery and loyalty. incalculable in their effect on ical qualifications. They staff When life runs smoothly a man India's 353 millions of people. 250 mission hospitals, and about does not realize what Christ 300 dispensaries. About 180,- stands ready to do for Him. It -Dnyanodaya. 000 in-patients are treated every is when we are baffled that year, and about 2,560,000 out- Christ shows His possibilities, if Caste System patients. In the fight against we will only give Him a chance." leprosy and tuberculosis mis- A thesis presented to Cornell sions are especially prominent. -Christian Advocate. University's Graduate School They maintain 11 tuberculosis lists the following objections to sanatoria, containing a total of Trouble in Fukien 'the caste system as found in 580 beds, while in the whole of North India: India, there are only 1,220 other The Nationalist Government beds for such cases." Dr. at Nanking early in January re- (1) Its segmental division of so- Moller emphasized the fact that quested foreign powers to withciety is fixed by birth, and does not attendance at all religious meet- draw their nationals from dantake account of individuals of differ- ings and devotions is entirely gerous zones in Fukien Province ent ablities born into the different optional. – The Presbyterian. to places of safety. castes. (2) Its hierarchy fixes the Brahman at the apex and the un- CHINA AND TIBET Most of the 144 Americans touchable at the base, irrespective of living in and near Foochow, the individual 1. Q.'s. (3) Its food tabus Hope Amid Difficulties capital of Fukien Province and and pollution by touch prevent inter- center of a revolutionary movedining and a free intercourse of hu- Addressing missionaries and ment against the Nanking Govman beings who may be intellectual members of the Methodist Epis- ernment have moved to Nantai equals, as in the case of a low caste copal Church in China, Bishops Island in the South Min River, man with a Brahman intelligence. Herbert Welch, John Gowdy and but many of the missionaries are (4) Its civil and religious disabilities C. P. Wang sent the following remaining at their posts in prevent men of all castes from mixing letter on September 14: Futsing, Han Kong, Haitan, freely in the use of public services. Pinghwa, and Sienyu. They do (5) Its lack of choice of occupation "During the past year our not ask for Government protectakes no cognizance of potential skills Church in China has faced diffi- tion. of various kinds of a given caste, but culties almost too great for huarbitrarily fixes the occupational man endurance. Through the Newspaper Evangelism status of each by birth. (6) Its mar- Japanese advance into North riage restrictions prevent intermar- China, thousands of people, in- A China Inland missionary riage on the basis of intellectual cluding many of our own mem- reports in The Presbyterian: equality. (7) Its religious sanctions bers, have been rendered homeoffer nothing for those born in the less. There has been great dev- The work of newspaper evangelism lower castes in this life. astation and suffering in the in Central China has continued and wide territory flooded by the God has used this means for spread- – Congre gationalist. Yellow River.. In Southern ing the Gospel and the salvation of Kiangsi our people have lived in souls. There have been over a hun- Evangelism in Telugu Area constant fear of communist in- dred responses to the daily tract vasion. In Szechuen the civil placed in the paper, and several de- Dr. Azariah, Bishop of Dorna- war has continued, and to main- cisions for Christ. Some have gone kal, reports a week of united tain the warring parties the peo- away but three have enrolled as enevangelistic effort in the Telugu ple have been taxed almost out quirers and are preparing for baparea last May, in which the of existence. Within the past tism. Two of these, one a teacher of Anglican, the Methodist and month practically all the terri- English in a law school, the other a S. 1. U. C. Telugu Council tory of our Yenping Conference Middle School graduate, were conunited: "Altogether 2,480 vil- in Fukien has been seized by templating suicide when they read the lages were visited during that Reds. Pastors and church mem- tract. Both are, we believe, genuinely week by 23,567 Christian volun- bers have been driven from their converted. The latter, a young man teers. Of this number 20,932 homes and left utterly destitute. of twenty, has broken with his past were lay members. This figure There have been many deaths sinful life, and has been enrolled in represents about one-sixth of and at this present writing the Bible School. His change of life the total baptized community. many families seem to be hope- and disposition, keen delight in God's The total number of people who lessly separated, perhaps lost. Word, readiness to testify, all point heard the Gospel during that Once again the missionaries have to a definite experience of salvation. week was reckoned in hundreds had to flee from Yenping. He has yielded his life for God's servof thousands. Nearly 60,000 ice. The tract that arrested the handbills were distributed, 8,560 "In the midst of all these un- teacher's attention is on the Lord's Scripture portions and religious speakable difficulties, there have Second Coming. This doctrine has books sold, and 341 new villages become the most precious truth in asked for Christian instruction." this man's life. The contract with the same newspaper has been renewed for -Dnyanodaya. another year.
Medical Missions The Way Out Dr. C. Frimold-Moller, speak- Dr. T. T. Lew, of the faculty ing at a Calcutta Rotary Club on of Yenching University, Peip- Medical Work in India said: ing, recently said:
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
China is in a panic. There have to see Christian institutions," is a church of 265 Russian mem- been great failures in education and and during a two-year period 236 bers in Harbin. They have en- democracy. Militarism has eaten into tourists took the mission tour dured serious privation, and the life of the nation. Young people in Peiping, as well as ten United their condition has been aggra- are cornered in their thinking. Some- States Army officers and their vated by the flood of a few how we are all wrong. We cannot families, and six others. The months ago and by the preva- save ourselves. vVe are helpless. The itinerary includes hospitals and lence of war. The world-wide first requirement of religious educa- churches, schools and kinder- economic depression has also af- tion is the willingness to learn. The gartens, industrial work, a bean- fected Manchuria. In Sinkiang Chinese people are now in that mood. mil k station for mothers and there is a Russian Baptist com- babies, and at certain times emer- munity of over 600 refugees. The experiences of recent years gency institutions for wounded They were, according to the last should lead us to confession and re- soldiers through a visit to the report, settling down and en- pentance of many ways in which we Y. M. C. A. recreational hut and deavoring to find a living in the have walked. a Red Cross hospital. The Chi- country. The Baptist World Al- nese feast arranged at the con- liance is in contact with both When some mission leaders are will- clusion of a tour, usually by the groups, and has been able to ing to be taught of God and not of Y. M. C. A. or Y. W. C. A., pro- transmit a certain amount of big business magnates and unevan- vides an opportunity to meet and money from contributions given gelical specialists, confidence will be talk with some of the finest Chi- specifically for their assistance. restored and progress made. nese Christians. Mr. Pyle says, "My faith has been strengthened -Baptist Missionary Review. Whether Chinese or American, if in the interest of American laywe will humble ourselves truly in the men in missions." A layman Forty Years in Northeast Tibet sight of the Lord, he will lift us up. from Wellesley Hills said, 'When I left home I was skeptical of In the nineties the Christian -Presbyterian Advance. foreign missions. India partially and Missionary Alliance occu- converted me. Now I am com- pied a section of northeast Tibet, Retrieved from Communism pletely sold.''' but such intense hostility was encountered that the only con- Dr. Hugh L. Robinson, of -Foreign Missions Bulletin. tact maintained was at Tao- Tunghsien, North China, tells in chow; and until about 1920 only the Congregationalist of a plan Self-Support in Annam slight impressions were made that is full of possibilities. He upon nomadic Tibetans who says: Self-supporting churches are came to Taochow to trade. A increasing in Ann a m, Indo- second period, extending to Last week I went to Peiping to at- China. During 1932 seven mis- 1927, was marked by the arrival tend a meeting of Christian leaders. sion churches graduated in t 0 of a number of reinforcements A dozen counties in central China this class; 17 outstations be- designated specifically for Tibethave been recently retrieved by the came independent churches, and an work, and the three lamasery central government from communist seven new outstations have been centers of Labrang, Hehtso and control. Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek, a ope ned by the independent Rongwu were opened as regular Wellesley graduate of a third-genera- churches themselves. On Janu- stations; while what may be tion Christian family, has suggested ary 1, 1933, 55, or more than called the third period of work that the National Christian Council half the churches in the entire on this border had its beginnings organize and execute a rural recon- field, were under native church when the Chinese churches in struction plan for the area-a study government. In these years of southwestern Kansu were orof land tenure, agricultural improve- unemployment and deficits fif- ganized on a self-supporting ment, organization of cooperative teen new church buildings have basis, thereby releasing workers credit societies, dyke repair, adult been put up by Annamese Chris- and funds for Tibetan work. At literacy campaigns, better communi- tians.. The Annamese National present, the Alliance Mission occations, village industries, epidemic Church Conference, which met cupies three additional points, control, recreation. She has held a at Faifoo, in May, pledged it- which are suitable centers for series of conferences with Christian self to raise funds and sen d work among the nomads. Itinleaders; the University of Nanking Annamese missionaries to the eration is carried on from all will be asked to help with the pre- tribes people, and the Cochin- these points, all of which is a liminary survey; and a local commit- China District Conference took seemingly fruitless undertaking, tee is already outlining plans. The its first ann u a I missionary since in all the territory newly Christian churches of China will be pledge for the same work of opened and worked in the last asked to spare some of their most evangelism. -So S. Times. ten years there is not a single experienced personnel if this work is open believer among the Tibetundertaken. This great opportunity Russian Baptist Refugees ans. Beyond doubt there are has been presented to the Church be- some secret believers and many cause in no other organization can be Groups of Russian Baptists interested ones. The odds are found the experience in doing these are located in Manchuria and in against those who openly confess things, the personnel who know how, the province of Sinkiang. There Christ .. and the devotion to the task.
Mission Tours in Peiping Rev. Stephen D. Pyle, pastor of Union Church in Peiping, reports on mission tours for tourists in that city, arranged for round-the-world travelers who wish to see something of missions in action. A printed sheet announces, "Peiping American missionary groups offer opportunity to S. S. Lurine tourists
JAPAN Nations, he maintained, and is As in an age of railroads, automobiles and flyi~g machines, we have scrapped Kagawa and Kingdom of God not to be isolated from other na- palanqUInS and horse carriages, not Movement because they are bad, but because tions. Here he emphasized the be~ter conveyances have come into eXIstence; so ethical and religious need at this critical time for systems implying special and heredi- tsaerrfydomprivainldegems,assc-iagsnteo,ranacbesoaluretismn~ Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa has not leadership of the right kind. longe~ suitable in an age of liberty, equalIty and fraternity. Our motto abandoned the Kingdom of God "Unless," he told Doshisha stu- m1:1st always be: "Behold, I make all Movement. While he is disap- dents, "the leadership comes thmgs new,t (Rev. 21: 5).
pointed that the churches have from students such as you who not accepted a "broader eco- ~re .for~unately studying in an mstI~ut.IOn where there is an apnomic outlook" and social vision preCIatIve understanding 0 f as. a part of the program, this wester n ideas and c uerlteur~eayespbe~e faIlure has challenged him to cially American, th Clubs for Korean Children make further experiments in dan~er of our nation returning Children's Bible Clubs have Christian cooperative and re- agam to the age of feudalism."
formative enterprises. He has -Overseas News. flourished until there are now 13 been encouraged by American such schools in Pyengyang and friends and supporters whose How Is Christianity in Your a half dozen more similar schools contributions have enabled him Country? in other places with an enrol· to undertake these projects and So asked a young Japanese ment of over 2,000 poor children. woman of an American college at the same time to give :Uuch sister. "Is it," she further mOf1.. thi sI. work F rancis Ki ynaslnegr,' queried, "treading an ascending ss o,r; a r in Pye ng time to the interdenominational or descending curve, measured ~ in the degree of faith and enevangelistic campaign of which thusiasm of your people com- wrItes: SerVIce for others is pared with, say, fifteen or ten he was the founder though never years ago 1" The world's worst emphasized, and this year there enemy in the opinion of this the official leader. Japanese girl student is "a mer- developed a work of charity for cenary spirit sweeping all over In recent months funds from the world." She declares that the poorest class of people in the "men and nations are forgetabroad have so fallen off as to ting God and trying to wor- city. The coldest day last ship Mammon." And she comes make necessary some drastic ac- firmly to her conclusion that winter it was suggested that our ti~m on Kagawa's part to save "unless we repent our sin now and humbly return to our God Club rooms be used to shelter hIS own institution. He has the world will be wrecked and our civilization totally wiped beggar boys over night. So our therefore been obliged to decline out." This from Christian Nippon. -Overseas News. leaders and children scoured the to travel and speak widely for streets and by evening had seven the Kingdom of God Mhiomvseemlfentt~ and instead is giving such boys, an old drunk – who writing, public lectures and would have frozen to death if other emergency measures to left alone-and an aged grand- support these projects of social mother without food.
and economic reform so vitally "In one place we found a a part of Mr. Kagawa's Chris- young man forced to beg for tian faith. He is still interested some time past who lived in a in the Kingdom of God cam- one-room hut with three beggar paign, though much less active boys he had already accumu- than formerly. lated, and he had a Bible and a hymn-book for his furniture.
Japan a Mediator? We proceeded to put our seven Japan as mediator between Mixturing Religions beggar boys with his and they East and West was a dream of the late Dr. Inazo Nitobe. Ad- Says a missionary of the Re- passed the winter in our beggar dressing Doshisha University formed Church in the U. S.: stud~nts he declared: "Weare home in charge of the Christian a mI~ed rac~. . . . .. Being thus a n~tIOn whIch represents in its beggar. Government officials racIal blood practically all of the ra.ce~ of the world, the great . As tar as our knowledge of condi- have commended us for the good mISSIOn of Japan should be world-wide in significance. Ge- tIons In Japan goes, native Christians work we are doing." ographically we are of the Orient; but psychologically we do not concern themselves particularly -Presbyterian Advance. are nearer the Occident. The mission of the Japanese race is about salvaging the useful elements to act as the mediator between the Orient and Occident." Ja- in the religions they have atbhaenidronneed~ ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC p~n, thou~h o1:1t of the League, finding all needed good in Nguna Church stIll remams III the family of faith. The fact is that seemingly i~entical ideas in the minds of Chris- tIan~ and, no~-Christians upon care- The mission cishuthrcehcaetntTeralfooa~ f1:11 mvestIgatIOn prove to be radically New Hebrides, dIfferent, because of the implications.
After all, pagan pantheism and Chris- the Nguna mission work of the tian :rheis~, though caP!lble of being Presbyterian Church of New combmed m a mechamcal mixture, Zealand. It was erected by the cannot coalesce after the manner of a chemical compound. The man-cen- late Rev. Peter Milne in 1897 tered, prudential, hedonistic morality with accommodations' for 600 of paganism will not fit into the same worshipers. The people not only s~he!lle ~it~ the God-centered, altruis- tIC, IdealIstIc morality of Christianity. helped in the building, but made
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
7,000 pounds of arrowroot to black art. In that village also right type of literature to this pay the costs. two women and a girl, sitting in intelligent and eager people.
Rev. Frank Paton gave the the same house, suffering from They have sent a call to Amerifollowing description when he sore eyes and unable to attend ca to aid them by sending them visited Nguna in 1913: "In the the meetings, sent for the old books to be read and enafternoon we had a service in teacher and requested him to joyed-good story books, discusthe b e aut i f u I cathedral-like write down their confession of sions of present day problems, church at the Nguna home sta- sin, to be read before the con- religious books, classics or books tiim. There was a large congre- gregation. At the close a chief on handicrafts and popular scigation, and the singing was led assembled all the people in the ence. Magazines are also of by a woman who is paid the church grounds and earnestly value if they are of high type. magnificent salary of five shil- exhorted them to heed what the The enthusiasm with which lings a year for this service. The preachers had said. . these books will be received can Nguna people are a fine race, and -Missionary Review (Aus- readily be appreciated from the the Gospel has done much in tralia) . report of the secretary of Chris- elevating them intellectually and tian Literature Committee of the spiritually. They have also a At a Fair in the Celebes National Christian Council of very fine record for native the Philippines: teachers, and many of them have A Missionary Alliance worker laid down their lives on foreign in Makassar, Celebes, describes "We have received no books soil for Christ's sake and the a "Pasar Malam," or Night from the States for more than a Gospel's. Fair, held in Makassar, each year. We have had many re- afternoon and evening for two quests for books which could not -On Continent and Island. weeks. be filled. When I was on the truck going to Malay-balay, I fell into New Guinea's Needs We rented a lot, erected and dec- conversation with a young man, orated a small booth, and got ready and happened to say something In New Guinea there are at for business. Our students went all which gave him my name. Imleast 300,000 souls who have not around the grounds spreading tracts mediately he began to thank me yet heard the message of the and books written in eight different for the books which I had sent love of God in Jesus Christ; languages, English, Dutch, Malay, to him, saying that they were probably it will be found that practically the only books in his there are half a million, as there Makassar, Boegis, Arabic, Javanese part of the country, and that is a very large area not yet and Chinese. All the missionaries everyone had read them, and he visited by white men, and there took their turn selling literature; but had read some of them several is no means of knowing what most of the work was done by stu- times."
the population is. In large areas, dents from the Bible School, hence it widow strangling is still prac- was a real indigenous work. ticed, and it is even dangerous During the fourteen days thousands for white visitors to venture. attended the fair, coming from miles Churches are urged to set As late as 1926, four innocent around. Approximately fifteen thou- aside one Sunday when they will white men were slain by primi- sand guilders (about $9,000) was taken in for entrance fees alone. We receive books and forward them tive Nakanai natives.-The Missionary Review (Australia). sold over a thousand Bibles, Gospels post-paid, to the nearest mission and religious books and distributing board depot: nearly ten thousand tracts. Manyop- The Philippine Book Depot, The portunities were offered for personal American Board of Commissioners of witness. Foreign Missions, 14 Beacon Street, Team Work in New Britain Books for the Philippines Boston, Mass. The Philippine Book Depot, The A series of evangelistic serv- In the Philippine Islands a ices were held last year through- great amount of money and ef- Methodist Episcopal Board of Foreign fort has been expended on edu- Missions, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
The Philippine Book Depot, The out the Kabakada Section of cation. Thousands of people are United Christian Missionary Society, New Britain, with some success Missions Building, Indianapolis, Inin soul winning. Later it was being taught to read annually, diana. but the tragedy of the situation resolved to make use of outstanding cases among those re- is that they have little or noth- Christian Literature for Dyaks ing to read. Many are too poor cently led to decision, by letting to buy books, others live in iso- The sea Dyaks of North Borthem accompany the preachers lated sections where books are neo have practically no Christo give their testimonies. Up-to- hard to get. As a result there tian literature in their own landate, about a dozen of these team is a tendency for the people to guage. Until recent years they missions have been conducted, slip back into illiteracy. And the had not even the Gospels and two villages usually coming to- missionary movement is missing Prayer Book. These they now gether for the purpose. the opportunity of bringing good have, and to them is being added At one place, notorious sor- influences to bear upon these a Dyak version of Pilgrim's cerers and others, to show the people through books. Progress, illustrated by draw- genuineness of their repentance, The National Christian Coun- ings from photographs taken in made away with all the para- cil of the Philippines sees a Sarawak posed by the Dyak peophernalia connected with their great opportunity to furnish the ple. -Lutheran News.
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Our Missionary Bookshelf Recent Books Reviewed for the Readers' Information @~(iAi ~I'~===============================I~ 1 China Year Book, 1933. Edited by H. church members and 60 per cent go in 1889 and went to Africa in G. W. Woodhead 8 Vo. 786 pp. $12.50. U. S. Agents. University of the teachers are Christians. 1892. Preaching, teaching and of Chicago Press. 1933. It is surprising that there is healing lead to conversions and congregations and schools were China not only offers the di- no mention made of Cheloo Uni- established. This is a stirring versity of a continent in climate, versity, only two lines of ref- narrative of miracles of grace. resources, customs and condi- erence to Peking Union Medical There are also stories of hunttions, but also contemporane- ing and travel adventure. The ously presents the stages of College and no reference to Mo- account of "Bwanika, ten times progress as seen in ancient, hammedan uprisings in Kansu a slave," is worth repeating. medireval and modern civilizations. This wide variety, the since 1906. There is much land in Africa rapid changes and the great im- The Year Book is carefully yet to be occupied for Christ and portance of Chinese affairs few missionaries cannot reach makes an authoritative year compiled and especially useful millions of the unevangelized. book essential to all who wish to and rich in information on mat- When Mr. Campbell proposed to keep informed. In this fifteenth the people, among whom he had issue of the Year Book, many ters of politics, trade and finance. worked for seven years without Chinese have collaborated – in- The personal notes on "Who's a convert, that he would leave cluding Dr. M. T. Z. Tyan, Dr. Who in China" cover sixty and establish a station in an- S. G. Cheng, Mr. C. C. Hsiang pages and include over 600 other place, the chiefs had a and others. The topics treated pow-wow and then one of them in the twenty-seven chapters and names of Chinese leaders, "cour- arose and said: tesy names" and English render- ings but it would be useful also to state their religious beliefs or affiliations and to include more of the Chinese women leaders.
six appendices number over 400. Blazing Trails in Bantuland. By Du- "White man, all you say is They range from general statis- gald Campbell. F.R.G.S. Map true …… but you do not know tical information as to the coun- and Illus. 8 Vo. 228 pp. 3s. 6d. everything. Listen. Since you try and people, to products and Pickerin~ & Inglis. Glasgow. 1933. came among us, and as a result trade statistics, public health, The Bantu-speaking people live of your teaching, the secret sopolitics, the Japanese invasion, in South-Central Africa, a land ciety camp has been broken up. finance, education, international for the blazing of trails. Dugald Children are no longer taught relations, justice and religions. Campbell is a pioneer, a Scotch- those evil things as before. No, Two pages are devoted to Con- man, one of the Brethren who teacher do not leave us; we do fucianism, Taoism and Bud- went 'out to Africa nearly forty not yet understand the meaning dhism, forty pages to Roman years ago with Fred Arnot and of your message. When we do Catholicism (with a large sta- Dan Crawford. The other two we will believe. You have been tistical chart) and five pages to well-known pioneers have been among us only seven years. I Protestant Missions including called Home but Mr. Campbell have finished." Mr. Campbell one and a half on the Laymen's still carries on his pioneering. did not leave and from that time Report. The Protestant statis- He is now connected with the saw a great change take place tics are not up-to-date, as the National Bible Society of Scot- and soon there were conversions. figures go to 1925. Conditions land and has recently completed Pioneering is difficult but it conhave greatly changed since then. a trip across the Sahara Desert. tinues to bring worthwhile re- Aspects of growth noted include His story of pioneering, told sults.
the work of the China Christian in the present volume, relates in Home Missions Today and Tomor- Council, the "Five-Year Move- the main to his early experiences row. A Review and For.ecast. Edited ment," Dr. Stanley Jones Evan- by Herman N. Morse. 8 vo. 419 gelistic Campaign and extracts in Africa. They are well told and well illustrated with photo- pp. $2. Home Missions Council from. the Laymen's Commission graphs. He describes the days New York. 1934.
Report. Of the 4,516 students of deep ignorance, slavery and This volume is the result of a in mission colleges, and tech- cannibalism, the witch doctor, united study of the progress, nical schools, a little over one- sorcery and crude customs. the present situation and the third are reported as Christian Mr. Campbell heard the call to next steps to be taken in home Any of the books noted in thesll columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[110 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
mISSIOns. It is the most valu- offer a detailed program for the The Finality of Jesus for Faith. By able general study of the subject solution of the modern problems Alexander Martin, D.D., LL.D. Pp. in recent years. First the re- of slavery, prostitution, bootleg- 217. $2.00. T. & T. Clark, Edinport sets forth the true aim of ging, intemperance, g r aft, burgh. Charles Scribner's Sons, home missions as "the effort, in racketeering, capital and labor New York. 1933. the Spirit of Christ and in ful- problems and international filment of His Great Commis- strife. Jesus Christ presented Principal Martin of New Colsion, to win to Christian disciple- the truth and the Way of Life lege, Edinburgh, entitles these ship of the people of North which, if accepted and lived will lectures "An Apologetic Essay." America and to christianize the transform our relationships to They deal with the problem of life of our nation." Over four God and to our fellow men. The the "Christian Faith and Hishundred pages follow to set Kingdom – or God-ruled life- torical Relativity," with five forth the scope, the agencies and which He presented, He also striking chapters on Jesus, the the special fields of the enter- made possible by a divine dy- Rabbi, the Messiah-Son, the Sinprise; the program and policy namic. Purity, self-control, less one, the Saviour and the of the work, the outlook and pro- truth, wisdom, love, sacrifice for Judge. Their method is described posed program of home mission the benefit of others, are the in Dr. Martin's words: work. foundation principles of His Kingdom. No attempt has been made here to As Livingstone said of the re- define the person of Jesus. The maxlation of the geographical feat Prof. Taylor presents the im adopted has been the sound metato the missionary enterprise, so principles clearly in their rela- physical one that a thing is what it the end of the review and fore- tion to industry and he gives an does, and the functions which He fulcast is the beginning of the new abundance of facts which should fills have been taken as a sufficient missionary forward movement. be taken into consideration in clue to His significance. So construed Here are the facts in regard to the adjustment of labor difficul- He is found, unless the whole histor- ,agencies, finances and plans, the ties. Wage conditions are per- ical records are not merely worthless general surveys of the various plexing and agreement between but intelligible, to assume supremacy fields and projects – Alaska, capital and labor and consumer in the spiritual order of life. West Indies, Indians, Mexicans, is difficult but adjustments must Orientals, Mormons, Jews, Ne- be made with a view to justice Dr. Martin handles the recgroes, New Americans, Moun- and the promotion of human wel- ords with great critical freedom. taineers, cities and rural areas. fare. The greatest difficulties Indeed one wonders what is left The problems relate to intellec- are due to selfishness on the one of any doctrine of inspiration. tual, social, economic and reli- hand and to shiftlessness and But his conclusions are the congious progress, to unoccupied waste on the other. clusions of the historic faith in fields, elimination of overlap- Jesus Christ as the unique Son ping and cooperation. The place of women and chil- of God and only Saviour of man- kind. The argument is reassur- The size of the problem is seen dren in industry shows great ing to faith. It is intended to be from the fact that there are in persuasive also to unbelief, the United States 13,366,401 for- need for improvement-with 55,- though it declares that "the afeign born Europeans, 1,422,533 firmations of spiritual experi- Spanish-speaking people, 250,- 000 in textile industries-mostly ence never are logically demon- 000 Orientals, 12,000,000 Ne- strable….. The evidence of spirgroes, 6,750,000 Mountaineers, in the southern states at wages itual experience is itself and in 750,000 Mormons and 350,000 its outcome and asks no other Indians. Alaska and the West from $5.00 to $10.00 a week. It attestation. Faith has always Indies are special fields. had its reasons which the reason is not a modern problem for 100 did not understand; and in these Christianity and Industry in Amer- it rests and is content." ica. By Alva W. Taylor. 12 mo. years ago cotton mills in Eng- 212 pp. Reading list and Index. R. E. S. $1 and 60 cents. Friendship Press. land employed 84,000 children New York. 1933. under 18 years of age. This em- William Carey of India. By Percy ployment of women and children H. Jones. 223 pp. 2s. net. Picker- Here is a mission study book is one of the causes of unem- ing & Inglis, London. by the professor of social ethics ployment of men – the natural in Vanderbilt University, Nash- wage earners for families. Many In this thrilling biography of ville, Tenn. He is well known executives are largely overpaid the founder of missions in India and highly respected as a stu- while manual workers are we have a most delightful tonic dent of ethical and industrial underpaid. for lagging missionary zeal. The problems, is a clear thinker and book is admirably suited to adowriter. He recognizes the dif- For the solution of the prob·· lescent boys and girls. Carey's ference between the simple in- lems Dr. Taylor recommends an continuous adventures will dustrial life of the first century awakening of the public con- quickly capture the youthful and the complex problems of our science, a recognition of the mind and hold it to the last. machine age. Jesus did not right of both labor and capital, closer cooperation in place of The author lays the foundation conflict, arbitration in place of for the rest of the book by in- retaliation and the promotion of sight into the beginning of a well informed and true Chris- Carey's life. His famous slogan, tian spirit of honest justice and "Expect great things from God, brotherhood.
Attempt great things for God," family an entire month's in- huge rock, the "Enchanted is the heart of each chapter. come." Funerals for husbands, Mesa," three hundred feet in the The difficulties in getting started to India the never-to-be- wives, mothers cost their fam- air, dwell the Acomas-in comforgotten five-months' trip on the "Kron Princessa Maria," the ilies from $96.50 to $279. The plete isolation "unimpressed by story of the first converts, Carey's prodigious labors as a most expensive funeral recorded either missionaries or Henry translator of the Bible into thirty-four different languages, required an expenditure equiva- Ford." Here in the oldest conafford thrilling reading. His great work in Bengali is con- lent to forty-five months' income! tinuously inhabited city in the sidered by many even now unsurpassed. For the invested In the final chapter we have a United States, are houses of rock $2,400 in Carey, he gave back not only the founding of missions summary of the findings in aver- that were standing four centuin India, but over a quarter of a million in money. age expenditure for food, cloth- ries ago and are still in use.
What a life! Will twentieth ing, rent, etc. The author has In one of them was born James century Christianity dare treat such a glorious heritage lightly? furnished thirty-one excellent Paytiamo, the author. He invites HOWARD A. ADAIR. illustrations, twenty – one dia- us to listen while he revives How Chinese Famiilies Live in Pei- grams, a glossary of Chinese memories of a boyhood spent in ping. By Sidney D. Gambel. pp. 348; $3.00. Funk & Wagnalls, New terms, and a bibliography of this "Sky City" and in the sur- York. 1933. similar studies carried on in rounding deserts and mountain There is a proverb current among the poor in China which other fields. Altogether this is forests. He tells us how his peosums up the background of this most interesting economic sur- a noteworthy contribution to a ple prepare food and describes in vey: "Seven things to worry about when you throw open your better understanding of Chinese detail the ceremonies carried on door each morning-fuel, rice, oil, salt, soy, vinegar, tea." All daily life in a great city. during the hunting seasons. The students of social and home economics will welcome this study Dr. Arthur W. Hummel, head severe tests that Indian boys of household expenses in Chinese families at Peiping. Mr. Gamble, of the Chinese Department of must endure before they are alwho is Research Secretary of the National Council of the Young the Library of Congress says: lowed to participate in the cere- Men's Christian Associations, is well known as the author of "A " ….. Behind these figures, so monial dances are portrayed in- Social Survey of Peking" prepared some years ago. conscientiously and intelligently timately. These tests are more The book shows how the fam- gathered, lie concealed tales of taxing than the exercises inciilies with the lowest income, of eight silver dollars per month, amazing endurance, of individual dent to the "initiation of the spend an average of less than eight cents silver each person and family cooperation that braves," doubtless because the per day for food. The budget for clothing, heat, light, etc., is also would do justice to any novel. Apaches, the ancient enemies of given in detail, based on a survey of 283 families with incomes He has given to historians a re- the Pueblos, are no longer roamnot over 550 Chinese silver dollars per month. The expendi- liable yardstick by which to ing the plains at will. Eight tures for weddings and funerals are extraordinarily large and a measure the economic changes colored drawings by the author heavy drain on family resources. Many households go into debt to that life in Peiping, along with are representations of various secure funds for the display on these occasions. "The feast to the rest of the world, is under- costumes worn by ceremonial celebrate the engagement of a son, together with the gifts to going." S. M. ZWEMER. dancers. Many of the superstithe prospective bride cost one tions that still enslave the Acoma Flaming Arrow's People. By James Indians are mentioned. While the Paytiamo (An Acoma Indian). Illustrated with 8 colored drawings author has no harsh word for by the author. 178 pp. $2.50. Duffield and Green. New York. the medicine men other than the 1933. declaration that they are a hated A full-blooded Acoma (Pueb- 10) Indian, grown to manhood clan, he describes some of the and appreciative of the educa- tion he received at Haskell Insti- traps young Acoma men must tute, has written sympathetically concerning the daily life and shun. COE HAYNE.
tribal customs of his people that Follow the Leader. By Winifred have remained unchanged since Hulbert, 12 mo. 125 pp. 50 and the time of Columbus and long 75 cents. Central Committee in the before. Along an obscure road United Study of Foreign Missions. branching off of the Santa Fe Cambridge, Mass. 1933. Trail, sixty-five miles west of Albuquerque, the reader may These attractive stories for travel in imagination with this Juniors tell of life in North and Indian author as guide, through Central Africa, in India, in the forests of juniper and pinon and Philippines and Japan and on across alkaline flats to the "big the Mexican border. They de- valley" where the Acomas in scribe, incidentally, various prehistoric times cultivated their phases of missionary work but corn and beans and squash-just emphasize the promotion of as they do today-and finally to friendship and understanding the Acoma Mesa. On top of this between humans of different races rather than the turning of men to God through a new understanding and relationship to Jesus Christ. Both are needed.
I Items New Books Sunday
(CO'nCluded from page 65.) Objectives, Principles and Program Supplies of Y. M. C. A.'s m Orthodox Coun- Dr. C. L. Hsia, First Secretary of tries. 20 pp. World's Committee, S~oQu~ndo. isP!llnJmeu/ the Chinese Legation, has recently re- Y. M. C. A. Geneva. turned to China. Mr. W. S. Lao, /lilernultiJnu/Il'SSIJIIS formerly chief of Telegraph Section of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nan- The S'hi'ite Religion. Dwight M. king, succeeded Dr. Hsia; he arrived Donaldson. 393 pp. 15s. Luzac. ·/orullIkntHlllimlillls in Washington early in December. London. Dr. Hsia was very active during his Charlotte R. Willard of Merzifon. tile for student days as the secretary for the Edited by Ernest pye. 210 pp. $2. Chinese Students' Christian Union in Revell. New York. and Waiting Upon God. Harvey Farmer. Great Britain. • • * 31 pp. 25 cents. B. I. C. Assn. Chicago. The Rev. Lindsay S. B. 'Hadley, formerly a missionary in China, and for seven years Candidate Secretary Japan Christian Year Book-1933. for the Presbyterian Board of For- 428 pp. Kyo Bun Kwan. Tokyo. eign Missions, resigned on January 1, Light from Darkness. Takeo Iwa- John McNeill. Alexander Gammie. to accept a unanimous call to the pas- 276 pp. 58. Pickering & Inglis. torate of First Presbyterian Church hashi. 103 pp. $1. Winston. PhiIa. London.
of Cortland, N. Y. Rose From Brier. Amy Carmichael. Day's Worship. Chas. B. Foelsch. 205 pp. 38.6d. S. P. C. K. London. 385 pp. 75 cents. United Lutheran •** Bishop John McKim, presiding Pub. House. Phila. bishop of the Japanese Episcopal Almanacs and Calendars. Published Epistle Messages-Sermons on the Church for 37 years, has resigned be- by Pickering & Inglis. London: cause of failing health. His successor Epistles. Edited by Herman E. is Rt. Rev. Samuel Heaslett of Yoko- Daily Meditation Calendar, lB. 6d. Miller. 252 pp. $1.50. United hama. Golden Grain Calendar, 18. 3d. Lutheran Pub. House. Phila. *•• Golden Text Calendar, lB. 3d. From Sabbath to Sunday. Paul Cot- Grace and Truth Calendar, 18. ton. 184 pp. Times Pub. Co. Beth- Mr. Robert L. Latimer, Treasurer Daily Manna Calendar, 18. lehem, Pa. of the Board of Foreign Missions of Young Folks Calendar, 18. 1000 Wonderful Things About the the United Presbyterian Church, com- Bible Almanac, 2d. Bible. Hy Pickering. 228 pp. 28. pleted 40 years of service in this very Daily Light Almanac, lB. 5d. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. London. responsible position September 29, Our Home Almanac, 1d. Them Also. Mary Warburton Booth. 1933. When Mr. Latimer began the 253 pp. 38. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. treasurership there were 18 stations God and the World Through Chris- London. abroad, now there are 34; the num- tian Eyes. Various Authors. 48. To What Purpose? Marshall Bromber of the missionaries of the Foreign Student Christian Movement Press. hall. 88 pp. 18. C. I. M. London. Board, not including wives, was 31, London. Victorious Lives of Early Christians now 87. The annual budget of the Board was $106,800; now it is $303,- John R. Mott, World Citizen. Basil 444. But during those 40 years the Mathews. 78. 6d. Student Chris- tian Movement Press. London.
amount annually raised on the fields The Story of the Student Christian in Korea. M. W. Noble. 174 pp. has increased from $11,418 to $517,- Movement. Tissington Tatlow. M. Noble. Seoul, Korea. 863, and the number of communicant 128.6d. S. C. M. P. London Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze. members in the churches abroad has Elizabeth Foreman Lewis. 265 pp. grown from 10,641 to 65,712. Mr. Christian Mass Movements in India $2.50. Winston. Phila. Latimer declares that it has been a -A Study with Recommendations Let the People Praise Thee. R. L. privilege and an inspiration to have J. Waskom Pickett. 382 pp. $2. Abingdon Press. New York. shared in such work. Whytehead. 100 pp. 18. paper; 28. 6d. cloth. S. P. G. House. Lon- *** Mahatma Gandhi-His Life, Work don. Mrs. Thomas Nicholson, of Mount and Influence. J ashwant R. Chit- Vernon, Iowa, was elected chairman ambar. $2. 264 pp. Winston. A Chaplain in India-His Life and of the Foreign Missions Conference Phila. Labours. G. M. Davies. 320 pp. of North America at the recent Garden City Conference. Canon S. Ann H. Judson-Missionary Heroine 58. Marshall, Morgan & Scott. Gould, of Toronto, was elected first of Burma. E. R. Pitkin. Pickering London. vice-chairman; Bishop A. R. Clip- & Inglis. London. pinger, of Dayton, Ohio, second vice- The Livingstone of South Americachairman; Leslie B. Moss, of New Jothy. Charlotte Chandler Wyckoff. The Life and Aventures of W. Bar- York, and Miss Florence Tyler, of 302 pp. $2. Longmans Green. New brooke Grubb Among the Wild Aurora, N. Y., secretaries. York. Tribes of the Gran Chaco, Para- guay, Bolivia, Argentina, the Falk- • *• Japanese Festival and Calendar Lore. land Islands and Tierra del Fuego. William Hugh Erskine. 209 pp. R. J. Hunt. 247 pp. 78. 6d. Seeley, The Rev. Percy Stevens, late of $1.25. Kyo Bun Kwan. Bethany Service. London. London but with twelve years' experi- College Book Store, Bethany, W. ence as a missionary in the Chinese Va. Elizabeth Mary Newman, 1855-1932 diocese of Kwangsi-Hunan, is to be -The Florence Nightingale of Bishop of that diocese for the Church Light Out of Darkness. Eleanor In- Kashmir. Illus. 18 pp. 6d. _Seeley, in China. His predecessor, Bishop gle Pilson. 88 pp. Revell. New Service. London. Holden, becomes Bishop of the western York. World Tides in the Far East. Basil diocese of Szechuan, whose late Robert E. Lee the Christian. Wil- Matthews. 160 pp. 28. Edinburgh Bishop, Dr. Mowll, has become Bishop liam J. Johnstone. 300 pp. $2. House Press. London. of Sydney and Archbishop of the Abingdon. New York. Province of New South Wales. China. U. K. Shebbeare. (S. P. G. Kwangsi-Hunan is a southern diocese, The Mystery of Jordan Green. Mar- Handbooks. New Series.) Illus. Bishop Logan Roots' neighbor on the garet R. Seebach. 222 pp. $1. Map. 105 pp. 18. S. P. G. London. southern border of the diocese of United Lutheran Pub. House. Phila. Borneo. L. E. Currey. (S. P. G. Hankow. These foreign bishops have My Year in Rhodesia. Fr. Andrew. Handbooks. New Series.) Illus. been developing Chinese leadership. 64 pp. 18. S. P. G. London. Map. 96 pp. lB. S. P. G. London.
IN INCOME, SPENDING AND GIVING fROM 1925 TO
or PEP.CfNTAGE:S 7o——–+———-r——~_r——–~,~,———r———+——–~·70 ,,-' ". INCRf:ASE: ~.——–+———4——-~–O-~r–,-,–,,,,L, '-'–+–".'"~.~—-~——–~——–~~~ 1r5O0 ——–+———~a~.~.t.C~a,V..~-t-.'~-''~—'-y~~———-~—–,-""~&———4———~'n 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 While the decline in church giving between 1929 and 1933 ",as 42%. the drop in national income during the same period u:as 56%-greater by 14%. Figl/res/rom Marls & Lundy, Inc., reprinted/rom December, 1933, "EveryoM".
Help Win the MOSLEM MILLIONS BY USE OF THE GOSPEL IN PRINT The Good News of Christ, interpreted to Moslems through the Christidn life dnd literdture, is winning a hearing for the Gospel in many lands.
Will you help to supply this needed Christian literature for millions who have never heard the Gospel in ESypt Syrle Irak China Morocco Penia Pelestine India Java Aisiers Turkey Malaysle Sumatra Tunis Arabia South Afria.
Send your help to the missionaries in these countries through The American Christian Literature Society For Moslems Cooperating with Interdenominational Committees on the field.
BOARD OF MANAGERS William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., President c» Dr. Robert E. Speer, Delavan L. Pierson, of New York, Vice-Presidents Mrs. William Bancroft Hill, Honorary Vice-President Dr. James untine, Corresponding Secretary Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D.O., General Secretary Rev. Thomas S. Donohugh Dr. John H. Raven Rev. Robert W. Searle, D.O. Mrs. Finley J. Shepard Mrs. J. M. Montgomery Wilbert B. Smith Rev. A. C. Snead Rev. Mills J. Taylor, D.O.
John W. Wood, D.C.l.
Gilts may be sent to Mrs. E. E. Olcott, Treasurer, at 116 East 68th St., New York City Apply for information to THE SECRETARY, 25 East 22nd Street, New YorkCity
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1933
1933
THE . II African Appraisals of Missions SQtne African Christians Can Business Men Accept the Appraisall George Innes When the Government Forced the Issue Commodore B. Fisher The Heart of Home Missions John McDowell What Can the Church Do?
Ivan Lee Holt Pioneering in Mexico F. L. Meadows
Chat THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE
The July-August REVIEW is out of DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor stock-second printing-and orders VOL. LVI MARCH,1933 No.3 are still being received. This special number on the American Indian is PAGE very much in demand and those aWll:k- FRONTISPIECE-EVIDENCES OF RELIGION IN WEST ing to its value too late are much dIS- AFRICA appointed. ' TOPICS OF THE TIMES ……………………………. 125 Do you need ft moral to adorn this Christ's Imperturbability COllnterfpit Religion in Russia tale? *' * :i: First Century Christianity To-day !'ew Opportunities in Mexico The January REVIEW is also out of AFRICAN APPRAISALS OF MISSIONS ………………… 129 stock though we printed an especially Some West African Christians tell their American brothers of the wonders accomplished since missionaries first came to the Cameroun country large' edition. Orders are coming in forty years ago almost daily and cannot be filled. A JEW APPRAISES MISSIONS IN CHINA …………….. 133 That number contains the excellent By George E. Sokolsky, press correspondent in the Far East; author of criticisms of the "Laymen's Appraisal "The Tinder-Box of Asia"
Commission Report" by Robert E. CAN BUSINESS MEN ACCEPT THE APPRAISAL? , …….. 135 Speer, Mrs. H. W. Peabody, Dr. Henry By George Innes; an Iowa layman tells why supporters at home cannot accept the basis and recommendations of the Laymen's Commission. W. Frost and others. Why not order your REVIEWS in ad- WHEN THE GOVERNMENT FORCED THE ISSUE …….. 138 vance and avoid disappointment? By Commodore B. Fisher, a missionary at Hamadan, graphically describes the struggle for Christian schools In Persia *** THE HEART OF HOME MISSIONS ……………•…….. 141 Some of the best articles are yet to By Dr. John McDowell, recently president of the Home Missions Council; come. In our April number we expect an address delivered at the oonference In New York, considering the to print Dr. Speer's very careful con- real basis and aims of the work sideration of the question, "What Is the True Attitude of Christians'to the WHAT CAN THE CHURCH DO? ……………………… 145 Non-Christian ReLigions?" 'This is one of his Princeton le'ctures on "The By the Rev. Ivan Lee Holt, D,D., pastor of the St. John's Methodist Episco- pal Church, St Louis;, ,an address delivered at the Chicago Conference Finality of Jesus Christ." on "The City and the Church In the PreSel1t Crisis" You can't afford to miss this. PIONEERING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MEXICO, ……… 149 By F. L. Meadows, of Puebla; the story of dlIHcultles overcome In giving Mexicans the' Gospel *** CHRIST, CHRISTIANS AND THE JEWS ………………. 151 A discussion of other topics vitally By the Rev. Henry Einspruch; a Lutheran missionary to the Jews. Ex- perience and ideals in a diIHcult task related to the Laymen's Appraisal Re- THE MENNONITES AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS … 152 port will be considered constructively, By the Rev. G. A. Linscheid and in view of facts, in coming num- EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WOR~ING …..• .' …. , ….. : …… 153 Edited by Mrs. Estella S. Aitchison ',: bers of the REVIEW.: AIlong these are: WOMEN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN ……. _……….. 156 What Are Pioneer Mission Fields Today? What Objective Do Christian Edite!l by Miss Anne Seesholtz Missionaries Keep in View Today? OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK ……………………… 158 How Can We Appraise the Value of OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF …………………….. 167 Missionary Work? Do Missions Cost too Much in Money and Life? Publication and Business Office Editorial anrl Executive Office Are Christians at home to be igno- Third and Reily Sts., HarrisbUrg, Pa. 156 Fifth Aveuue, New York City * rant 07' well informed?' , Entered as second-class matter at Post Office, Harrisburg. Pil.•i under Act of March. 3, ~879. ' , ,,' ',ii' it< 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. Foreign Postage.' 50 cents a year. Another series of very well worthwhile papers to be printed in the RE- Published. monthly-All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1933 by the VIEW includes some of the addresses MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., INC. delivered so acceptably at "The Florida Chain of Missionary Assemblies" BOARD OF DIRECTORS this winter. These include papers by Dr. Janet Miller, author of "Jungles ROBERT E. SPEER, President SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT MILTON T. STAUFFER Preferred"; C. B. Rape on ,"The New WM. 1. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD A. L. WARNSUUIR China"; Mrs. Minnie Karnell on WM. B. LIPPHARD SAMUEL M. ZWEMER "American Immigrants and Their WALTER MCDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary ERIC M. NORTH Needs." You will wish you had been there. ~ THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS The next bes*t th*ing* to visiting the DEPARTMENT OF ANNUITIES mission fields and attending the missionary conferences is to have the YOUR GIFT NOW fields and the speakers brought to you WILL BRING TO YOU THE BLESSING through the pages of the REVIEW. OF GIVING WHILE LIVING AND THE GUARANTEE OF THE BOARD OF FOREIGN Here are a few comments by some of MISSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE AN our subscribers: INCOME FOR LIFE "I want to congratulate you on the REVIEW, its new form and contents.
They are magnificent. Keep up the good work." DR. J. P. MCCALLIE, The McCallie School, Chattanooga, Tenn. * "The Topics *of t*he Times are espe- cially good. In these days of conflict ERNEST F. HALL, Secretary 156 FIFTH AVENUE. NEW YORK with opposing forces and depression, we need the note of valiancy and hope. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A.
(Concluded on page 121.)
CHAT A
(Concluded from 2d Cover.) FINANCIAL You have given a trumpet call to ad- PLAN vance. DR. R. AMES MONTGOMERY, …is what hundreds of satisfied Presbyterian Theological Seminary, persons consider the annuity Chicago, Ill. agreements of the American Bible Society. Here is what *** Mrs. S. S. of California writes: "I think that the January number "The check I receive from you is of the REVIEW is about the best you much appreciated these days. Money have ever printed." is a scarce article with me but I can WM. ALBERT HARBISON, always depend on New York. my check from the American *** Bible Society."
"I hardly see how you could im- Read the enthu~ prove on the present make-up and siastic testimony of contents of the magazine–especially Mr. G.W. of North Carolina: on so restric4led an income." "1 am grateful that our American Bible Society annu- ESTF..LLA S. AITCHESON, ities afford us some security in these trying times." Granville, Ohio. Advancing years need not be feared *** when you know that this Society, "I want to express my appreciation indispensable to the missionary en~ for your magazine. Its great help of terprise, and of unquestioned fi~ condensed news for my condensed nancial stability, is behind this time is invaluable." annuity MRS. A. L. BURMAN, That Gives Editor, Women's Missionary Out- You look, American Lutheran Church.
*** Don't try to get along without the REVIEW. Recommend or send it to your friends. They need it.
*** The Foreign Missions Conference, in the Annual Meeting at Briarcliff Manor, appointed the following Missionary' Executives to cooperate with the REVIEW Editor on the Editorial Council-Dr. Wm. P. Schell, Dr. Mills J. Taylor, Miss Florence Tyler, Dr. Wm. Bancroft Hill, Dr. John H. Langdale, and Rev. Wm. B. Lipphard.
*** The Home Missions Conference, at its annual meeting, also strongly commended the REVIEW for its valuable help in presenting Home Mission interests to the church. The following members of the Conference are cooperating on the Editorial Council-Dr. Wm. R. King, Miss Anne Seesholtz, Dr. John McDowell, Dr. Chas. E. Schaeffer, Rev. J. S. Stowell and Mrs. Orrin R. Judd.
The Review keeps you informed.
*** Our Annual Meeting The Annual Meeting of the Mission- ~~.% '"l!v1 01> the assurance of a dependable income ary Review Publishing Co. was held AND as long as you live. An easy-to~read booklet in the Foreign Missions Assembly AS HIGH AS tells you all about it-the rates you receive- 9%~6~ how you help in making the Scriptures widely Room, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, ACCO~~ ",6 available around the earth-how a friend orrelative on February 9th at 3 p. m. Dr. Robert may be included – how this annuity agreement E. Speer presided. The reports of gives you a the Treasurer (Mr. Walter McDou- gall) and of the Secretary showed a Double Satisfaction greatly-improved situation compared with last year, both in finances and in i–:';R::~B~S:I~——–l the SUbscription list. There is great t -.. Ih(I reason for encuoragement. The Publication and Subscription office is re- pcPJClP !::'=-~—~?~~-~-~-m _ I fORTH,. moved to Harrisburg, Pa., in care of Bible House, Astor Place, New York City • the Evangelical Press. The Editorial ."tT~I I .. Please send me. without obligation. your booklet No. M. R. 3. entitled and Executive office remains in New York. The Board of Directors was fI A Gift That Lives." reelected for the coming year. The president spoke of some outstanding facts in mission work today; the service rendered by the REVIEW was commended and the present need and opportunities were voiced by Dr. Paul DeSchweinitz, Miss Anne Seesholtz, Mr. Dwight H. Day, Mr. Wm. Albert Harbison, Dr. Cleland B. McAfee and Dr. John A. Mackay.
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You 'Pray Our Good Night Book. Lettice
for the Lepers? 1 223 pp. 28. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. London. YOU BELIEVE IN PRAYER. Will you ask God to aid the multitudes of sufferers Only a Missionary. T. B. Ray. 224 from this dread disease? pp. Southern Baptist Convention. Richmond, Va. "CLEANSE THE LEPERS" was a definite command of our Master. With Divine The Pas1!>ionate Pilgrim. John Mc- guidance, medical missionaries, doctors, Neill. 197 pp. 28. 6d. Pickering and students of scientific research are & Inglis. London. carrying out His injunction and as are· suit lepers are actually being cleansed to· Dates to Remember day. The leper is no longer necessarily a doomed creature, as science has discovered March 3-'World Day of Prayer. means to eradicate this scourge. April 18-19-Editorial Council of the DO YOU EVER WISH that you had the opportunity to personally carry out Religious Press. Washington, D. C. Christ's command? While you cannot be with these pathetic sufferers, your prayers and gifts can work for you, as your representative. April 19-21-Federal Council Confer- ence on Evangelism, Pittsburgh, YOU CAN HELP the Mission to Lepers provide medical treatment, kindly Pa. care, Christian teaching, and useful occupation for lepers in 40 countries at 150 hospitals. Thousands of lepers today are devoted witnessing Christians, May 9-General Conference of the and are finding new life and hope by being brought to Christ. United Brethren in Christ. Akron, Ohio. As we approach the Easter season, with thoughts of gratitude to God for mak· ing clear to us the Living Way into the life beyond, shall we not include a May 17-General Council of the Rethank.offering for the lepers-the most needy and helpless of God's children? formed Episcopal Church, Triennial Meeting. Germantown, Philadel- See What, Under God's Blessing, a Few Dollars Will Do! phia, Pa.
$2-a blanket for a weak, sick body on a cold night. May 23-29 – Northern Baptist Con- $10-curative treatment for 2 years, enough time to cure many early cases. vention, Annual Meeting. Wash- $30-care of a child for one year. ington, D. C. $40-complete care of an adult leper for a year. May 24-31-General Council of the Congregational and C h r i s t ian Churches. Cleveland, Ohio.
May 25-General Assembly· of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Fort Worth, Texas.
July 8-13 – International Christian Endeavor Convention. Milwaukee, Wis.
AMERICAN MISSION TO LEPERS, INC. Personal Items Room 1118·B, 156 Fifth Ave., New York I send ft.. …………………………………. ….., with my prayers, for the lepers. Dr. E. Stanley Jones, who has re- cently completed a very fruitful series Name ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. of meetings in China, has been invited Address to give half his time of each year to such work in China as he has been When You New Books doing in India. Buy Books… William Carey of India. Percy H. *** Noted in "Our Missionary Jones. 223 pp. 28. Pickering & Book Shelf," remember that Inglis. London. Rev. George Fraser, son of Dr. these can be obtained quickly Donald Fraser, formerly of N yasa- and conveniently through our Dan Crawford of Luanza. John Haw- land, and now a missionary secretary thorne. 96 pp. 1s. Pickering & in Edinburgh, has taken up mission- Book Sfore Inglis. London. ary work in Africa, the scene of his parents' long and notable service. At Third ODd Reily Streets The Church Sur:prising. Penrose Fry. Horrlsburg. Po. 96 pp. $1.25. Harpers. New York. *** Send for any book you wish. The King's Pen Knife. C. F. Higgin- Rev. Juan de Silva, oldest Baptist If you do not know the pub- son. 128 pp. 28. 6d. Pickering & minister in Ceylon, has passed his lisher or price, we will look Inglis. London. one hundredth birthday, full of vigor the matter up and report and enthuiasm. As a lad he was promptly. The Man from Tarsus,. Lawrence O. converted from Buddhism by a blind Lineberger. 240 pp. $2. Revell. catechist of the Church Missionary New York. Society.
T1he Negro's Church. Benjamin Eli- *** jah Mays and Joseph William Nicholson. 321 1111.. $2. Institute Rev. John S. Chandler, veteran of Social and Religious Research. missionary of the American Board, New York. has sailed once more for India, to spend his last davs with his daughter. Native Disabilities in South Africa. a missionary. He has been retired D. J. T. Jabavu. 25 pp. Student from active service, being now in his Volunteer Movement. New York. 83d year.
[ 122 ] *** Mrs. Daniel A. Poling was elected the new President of the Council of Women for Home Missions at the An- nual Conference in January. She suc- ceeds Mrs. Orrin R. Judd, who has served effectively and devotedly in this office for two years.
Sunday
When You Require It Supplies Sound, spln-Iuo!
~slhons or/lie .nftn.If·~In'/·e·rhnvool/#flDntowl/~e/shsrwJmmm We wish to extend to you an invitation to become acquainted with THE EVANGELICAL PRESS of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Thousands of institutions and individuals have accepted a similar invitation, and have enjoyed a profitable printing association for years.
Our specialty is Books, Magazines and Dr. Mary W. Niles, noted medical Record speed directtoYokohama Booklets. We have modern equipment in 10 days, Shanghai in 14, hy Empress to meet all the requirements of your missionary, died January 14 at Monte ofAsia and Empress ofRussia. ViaHonparticular job. Our service is quick, Vista Grove, California, at the age of olulu, Empress of Japan (largest,fastest careful and courteou,s. Pacific liner) and Empress of Canada. 78. Dr. Niles was a medical mis- Why not allow us to estimate on your sionary in China for 46 years and Low rates ••• First Class is truly luxnext printing? You will be delighted rendered notable service in Southern urious; Tourist offers generous space, with our product, price, and service. splendid cuisine, smooth service. Both China, particularly for blind chil- are surprisingly low in cost. REDUCED The Evangelical Press dren at the school in Canton, which ROUND-TRIP FARES ••• hoth classes.
she conducted from 1889 until 1928. Fortnightly sailings from Vancouver This school taught blind boys and (trains to ship.side) and Victoria. Fares girls to become self-supporting. include passage from Seattle. Fast, convenient trainA to Vancouver. Infor- Printers of Dr. Mary Gre*gg,*ph*ysician and mis- The Missionary Review of the World sionary, died December 25 at the Presbyterian Hospital, ChicagQ, as a PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE: result of a fall. In 1906 Dr. Gregg Third and Reily Streets Harrisburg, P •• went to Guatemala under the Pres- byterian Board of Foreign Missions.
Dr. and Mr,s. R. Gordon Agnew, During her 10 years there she estab- lished a hospital and nurses' training missionaries stationed in the West school. Owing to many attacks of China Union University at Chentu, tropical fever, she returned to Chihave announced a discovery by which cago in 1916, where she began work with the Mexicans of Chicago. decay of teeth can be warded off by Vitamin D and phosphorus in the diet. Dr. Horace N*ew*ton*Allen, diplomat This discovery is a result of ten years' and missionary, died at his home in research in 3,000 diets and experi- Toledo, Ohio, December 11, aged 74. He had been a missionary of the Presments on 350 children. Vitamin D byterian Board of Foreign Missions comes from cod liver oil or substitutes in China and KQrea, and for many and phosphorus frQm egg yokes, milk, years was American minister to Korea, to whose government he had meats, seeds, grains, tubers and leafy been commended by his medical serv- ice as a missionary, including his savvegetables. The feeding of Vitamin ing the lives of several members of D to children and enriched saliva the Korean court. He was the author by phosphorus prevented and even of several books on Korean history and life. stopped decay. Sweets only indirectly cause tooth decay. General health is a most important factor in the preventiQn of tooth decay.
Obituary Notes *** The Rev. Dr. Charles Alvord Nichols, who during 52 years as head Dr. W. H. Main, Executive Secre- of the Sgaw-Karen Mission, of the tary of the American Baptist Publi- American Baptist Foreign Missionary cation Society, died in Philadelphia SQciety, at Bassein, Burma, built up on January 4. In 1929 he was one of one of the largest self-supporting the deputation which visited the Near missions in the world, died on De- East to make contacts with Armenian cember 9 at his home in Danbury, and Greek churches. Connecticut. He was 79 years of age.
Dr. J. * ** for almost 30 In an area in Burma, containing Howard Boyd, more than 50,000 persons, Dr. Nichols increased the size of his missiQn until years a missionary of the United it had 16,000 communicants and 150 Presbyterian Board in Egypt, died churches. Buildings costing $240,000 were built and paid for by the peQple suddenly at his home in Tanta on No- of the mission, no support being vember 12, where for the past 20 sought from America. King George years his work centered in the Evan- of England presented a gold medal tQ Dr. Nichols in recognition of his serv. gelical Church. ices to the British government. *** Dr. Nichols was born at Greenfield Winfield S. Dudgeon, Ph.D., Pres- Hill, Connecticut, was graduated from byterian missionary and Vice-Princi- Colgate University, married Miss pal of Ewing Christian College, at Jennie Root, a cousin of Elihu Root.
Allahabad, India, died December 26, at Ames, Iowa.
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EVIDENCE OF GROWTH IN A WEST AFRICA!N MISSION
Coming from a Church Service in the American Presbyterian Mission at Nkol Mvolan, Cameroun ONE DEPARTMENT OF EVANGELICAL MISSION WORK IN WEST AFRICA Learning to work in metal at the Blacksmith Shop; Frank James Industrial School, Elat, Cameroun REVIB_ ORLD —— — AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER THREE VOLUME LVI MARCH, 1933 Topics of the Times CHINA'S IMPERTURBABILITY nation somewhat better than the condition into Some Americans may find it hard to believe which they were born. Yet enough of the old that one of the most marked characteristics of racial characteristic remains, to combine with a the common people of China is their imperturb- more and more widely pervasive sense of defeat ability. Sudden alarms may drive those locally and despair, in the production of a degree of affected into incontinent flight, with or without openness to spiritual suggestion which would their limited possessions. These fugitives may hardly have been expected among a war-torn and carry the panic to the next village, but the re- bandit-infested people. Thus we find, on the one mainder of the county may not hear of the matter hand, a perilous leaning of the national leaders at all, or if it does, is likely to regard it as solely toward the conviction that the only way to make the business of the village or clan immediately and keep a place for China among the nations is affected, and go on with the humdrum of life as to learn Japan's lesson of military superiority; if nothing had happened. This is not due merely on the other hand there is a "divine discontent," to limited means of communication, but also to among the people and some of their leaders, with the age-long narrowing of interests to family and anything material or temporal as an ultimate clan, and to the inborn and inbred relegation of goal or an immediate quest.
remote interests to the few educated leaders, who The Spiritual Situation were also the "powers that be" under the im- With these things in mind, one is better able perial regime.
This accounts, in large measure, for the fact to comprehend China's present situation in reIa- that, while the outside world has thought that all tion to the Kingdom of God, and to forecast her China must surely be in turmoil and so complete- future. Her time of grievous affliction and des- ly absorbed with the pressing emergencies of her perate weakness in things material and political famines and floods, her civil wars, her bandit is also becoming her time of radiant joy and over- anti communist raids, and the military and po- coming strength in things spiritual and moral.
litical aggressions of her neighbor, as a matter And while other nations seem selfishly reluctant of fact, aside from those immediately affected, to help her national leaders in the former things, the large majority of the people have plodded so great help has already been given by Chris- along their usual course, eating any available tian missionaries in the latter things that many food, sowing and if possible reaping, buying and nationals have now advanced to a spiritual lead- selling whatever grew or could be made, and ac- ership which is bearing such fruits of repentance, cepting almost stoically the common fate. It is restitution, faith, joy and witnessing power as true that popular education, the improvement of the Church in China has probably never seen be- communications, and the multiplication of news- fore. This movement is spreading from place to papers have affected this inheritance of imper- place, from province to province, and should turbability. The students have lost it long ago constitute one of the greatest possible encour- and have gone to the other extreme under the. agements to the missionary spirit in American influence of modern social and political propa- churches. At the same time it presents to them ganda. The merchants have grown less pro- one of the most inescapable challenges to renewed vincial in contact with the world. Even some of sacrificial giving, even in these difficult times, in the farmers are awake to opportunities to im- its assurance that, whatever mayor may not be prove their lot and to make the future of the done for China by the League of Nations, there [ 125]
will be such a League of the Churches in prayer plot and vegetables and flowers from that cared and effort as to save China from the worst of all for by the child the contrast is used to impress her foes, and to make her a mighty power for the idea that God is a myth and that we must the salvation of Asia and of the world. depend on our own efforts. Apparently the It is no mere coincidence, no superficial ob- thought never occurs to Soviet atheists that man servation, which has led several prominent visi- is dependent on God's sunshine and rain, the air tors to mission lands to agree in pronouncing and the earth, without which human effort would China, even in her present plight, the greatest be in vain. Some day they may see the truth and most promising evangelistic opportunity in that God's plan is cooperation,-that fruitfulness all the wor1d. It is no time for us timidly to comes from human labor and obedience to divine "await the day of peace" before taking the Gos- laws. Without God man can accomplish nothing pel of the Prince of Peace to that great and needy that will abide.
and prepared land! COURTENAY H. FENN. Educationally and economically Russia has made great strides in the past decade but in try- COUNTERFEIT RELIGION IN RUSSIA ing to establish a godless state, Russia is a men- ace. Human energy and some heroic sacrifices As Russia starts on her second five year plan, are harnessed to achieve their ideals. These inthe Soviet leaders have declared that religion will clude an effort to end hunger; social justice and be obliterated by 1937. The worship of God there equality of opportunity; the duty of all to work will be banned; He will only be an empty name; and the right of all to enjoy the fruit of one's churches will be destroyed or turned to other labor; the distribution of property and produce, uses; children will be ignorant of the meaning with the abolition of the contrast between wealth of the name of Jesus; the Bible will be wholly and poverty. In these earnest endeavors they neglected and discredited. The statement reads, awaken our deep interest and sympathy. But as reported in the press correspondence, when Russia seeks to plant suspicion and discord On May 1, 1937, there must not remain on the ter- in the earth; when she neglects the weak and the ritory of the U.S.S.R. a single house of prayer to God, and the very conception God will be banished from the aged and destroys family ties; when she treats Boundaries of the Soviet Union, as a survival of the Middle with tyrannical cruelty those who oppose or fail Ages which has served as an instrument for the oppression to cooperate in her regime; when she deliberately of the working masses. In the first year it is proposed to suppress all religious schools. . . . In the capitals all seeks to blot out belief in God; then Russia loses churches and prayer-houses are to be closed by May 1, respect and confidence. As Dr. Ernest F. Tittle 1934. . . . The printing of religious books will be strictly prohibited. Special attention will be devoted to the incul- says: cation of the principles of "reasonable unbelief" among the In the social struggle, as in international strife, it masses, and one of the main instruments for achieving is a vain hope by war to end war….. You cannot this purpose will be the production of atheistic films. maintain a great and glowing vision by an appeal Men have made threats like this before but less to hate….. You cannot secure social justice by prac- drastic, less imminent and less official. Russia ticing injustice-you cannot reap peace by sowing has always had more religion than Christianity. strife.
That has been the tr.ouble. Under the Czars, Nor can you cultivate truth by a system of religion was a mixture of formalism and rever- spies, suspicion and falsehood; you cannot de- ence, of faith and superstition, of honesty and velop respect for law by teaching children to hypocrisy. The lack of unselfish, intelligent Chris- ignore or despise the divine Law Giver. There- is tianity on the part of the leaders of Church and no liberty in Russia today-less than in the days State led the revolutionists to discard all religion of the Czar. Dr. Will Durant, the author, says: as synonymous with ignorance and hypocrisy, "You have no conception of what the suppression with capitalism and imperialism, with slavery and of civil liberty and free speech means. Great empty form. The Russian leaders have not dis- masses of the people are ragged, miserable, dis- carded Christianity for they do not know Christ, eased, starving and cowed by fear."
His work or His teachings. They have condemned But the fight against God is the most serious and banned a counterfeit. feature of the Russian program. A Lutheran Soviet foolish tactics to discredit belief in pastor, who recently escaped from the country, God are illustrated by their anti-religious propa- describes Russia as "an inferno of blood and piti- . ganda in kindergartens and primary schools. less persecution against Christians"-worse than Children are given two plots of ground. One is in the days of Nero-since the torture of the soul called the child's plot; the other is God's plot. is added to that of the body. Christians are Both are planted with the same seed but while bravely enduring this persecution and rather than the child's plot is weeded, watered and nourished, renounce their faith undergo banishment, separa- the other is left alone to see what God will pro- tion from wives and children, and forced to labor duce. When weeds and briars come from God's in the arctic regions.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
What can American Christians do to stem the Asia and the Islands of the Pacific. Today it has tide of godlessness? With regard to Russia we been reporting success in New York, Washing- seem limited to three things: (1) maintaining a ton, Louisville, Detroit, Chicago, Montreal, Ot- vital personal spiritual life; (2) manifesting to tawa and Toronto and is now attacking the Pa- others the power of Christ to give vlctory; and cific Coast cities. What is this Fellowship? Should (3) praying individually and unitedly for the we ignore, condemn, criticize or cooperate?
Christians of Russia and that God may manifest The Fellowship-or Movement, for it moves- Himself there. presents no new sect, no new Gospel, no new theology, no new Saviour, no new remedy, no FIRST CEN.TURY CHRISTIANITY TODAY new methods. The leaders frankly state their conviction that Christ offers the only basic rem- The time is ripe for a new spiritual movement edy for personal and public ills. They advocate to bring men face to face with God. Present full surrender to His claims, complete abandonunsatisfactory conditions show that we need to ment of known sin, confession and restitution consider seriously our responsibility to live out where due, testimony to others as to what God the teachings of Christ. A sense of failure brings has done for you, regular daily Bible study and a desire for power to live, power of the Holy prayer for guidance and power, and obedience Spirit. The increase of suicides and murders, of to the revealed will of God without regard to the banditry and racketeering, of intemperance, dis- personal cost. They have adopted some new honesty and greed, of immorality and irreligion terminology to attract the attention of youth but -especially in our cities-show that the whole what they advocate is not new. The impressive world is sick. There is need for a true physician. fact is that hundreds and even thousands testify The technocrats acknowledge it; the prophets of that the remedy has actually worked wonders in the depression declare it; statesmen, peace ad- their own lives. What is more many of their vocates, social reformers, temperance workers friends and neighbors testify to the reality and and others are all looking for some remedy for value of the transformation. Their experiences, our international, interracial, national, business, as related, sound like the record of how God domestic and personal ills and worries. There worked in and through those who cooperated has recently come into prominence a group that with Him in the days of the early Church. claims to have discovered and to have success- What are some of the fruits of the movement fully applied the sovereign remedy. The prescription is nothing new, in fact the remedy is by which it may be known? While there may nineteen hundred years old. It is the remedy be weaknesses, due to the human elements, there introduced by Jesus Chri1lt and put into practice are clear characteristics of Christ-reverence by His apostles in the first century. The claims without formality, sympathy without sentimen- tality, sincerity without stern severity, obedience of this group are interesting and, if true, the without legalism, and evidences of personal peace, remedy should be immediately and universally faith, joy and unselfish service. Christ is exalted applied. Why not? . as Lord and there is experienced the love and The First Century Christian Fellowship is a power of God in human life.
movement only ten or twelve years old, though Many who have been in close touch with this its roots go further back. It is also called the Fellowship see in it signs of spiritual life and Oxford Group Movement from the fact that a power, even where they disagree with some of number of the leaders are from Oxford Uni- its principles and methods. The criticisms are versity, but must not be confused with the Ox- based chiefly on some tactics of certain human ford Movement, led by John Keble and John leaders; the apparent lack of emphasis on the Henry Newman, inaugurated one hundred years Atonement of Christ on the Cross; over emphasis ago. The members of the First Century Chris- of the need for public confession of personal sins; tian Fellowship are tired of hypocrisy and form the claims of special guidance in minute personal -as are many of us; they seek reality in reli- matters; the fashionable, "worldly," atmosphere gious experience. They have been largely re- of some of their meetings; the failure to express cruited from the youth who are weary of sham disapproval of certain habits and popular amuse- and have found no real satisfaction in self-indul- ments; a lack of emphasis on systematic Bible gence. But today the Movement includes men study; a tendency to organize separate cliques and women of all ages, classes, conditions, com- in churches or communities; and the reproach of munions, races and nationalities. It has enlisted backsliders. Many of these criticisms might be not only students but bishops and theologians, made of other .religious movements. They show professors in universities, business men, states- some of the dangers to be avoided or corrected men and bums. It has spread from America to and do not inhere in the principles and activities the British Isles, the Continent, South Africa, of the Fellowship itself.
All Christians and Christian organizations may Mexico has undergone many changes since 1928. well covet the signs of life and power seen in this At that time everything pointed to an advance move- First Century Christian Fellowship. Emphasis ment in religious affairs. Now everything points to is rightly put on the relation of the individual the destruction of religion 'or of the worship of God. to God; but it does not stop there. The second The day of missionary supervision in Mexico is praccommandment is also stressed in the need for tically gone. The Church is asking missionaries to right human relationships. What would be the enter new fields-such as Bible institutes, lecturing, effect if the new Testament ideals were realized club work among the boys and girls, correspondence in all our churches, in Y. M. C. A.'s, Y. W. C. A.'s classes, teaching and training native workers, which and other organizations? What would be the is the greatest need of the hour. effect if true Christianity swept over Europe, over Russia and Turkey, over India and China The great Guadalupe celebration ip the city of and Japan, over South America and North Amer- Mexico two years ago, at which several hundred thouica? Is there any other adequate remedy for sand people gathered to celebrate the four hundredth war, for interracial antagonism, for dishonesty, anniversary of the "appearing" of the patron saint, immorality, domestic unhappiness and personal Guadalupe, stirred the Government as nothing else failure? Are there not in this movement forces could have done. Immediately they began to enact that should be conserved and utilized? Theologi- some of the most drastic anti-religious laws ever writcal distinctions are not stressed but Christian ten on the statute books of any nation. The federal truth is accepted and the New Testament is district, which includes Mexico City and has a popuadopted as the textbook of faith and practice. lation of more than a million and a half, passed a law Laws to govern amusements are not laid down allowing only one priest or minister to 50,000 people. but all are urged to give up any practice that hin- That gave the Roman Catholic Church twenty-five ders fellowship with Christ and effective service. priests and twenty-five churches.
As the inff uence of this or any other strong It is estimated that there are at least 275 Catholic movement is felt, many will be caught up and churches in the federal district. About 250 of these borne along, like pieces of paper drawn upward have no services. While this has worked hardship on and onward by the passing of a railway train, the Catholics, it has opened the greatest opportunity but those truly attached to Christ will be carried for the advancement .of Evangelical Christianity. On on to the end. Any movement that exalts Christ the books of the government each Protestant denomias the Son of God, looking to Him for forgive- nation is put on the same level with the Roman Cathness and life, and that obediently seeks the guid- olic Church as a whole. In the federal district each ance and power of the Holy Spirit, has in it the Protestant denomination is allowed twenty-five mindivine dynamic that is needed to regenerate in- isters and twenty-five churches. There are at least dividuals, to revive churches, to transform so- ten Protestant denominations working in Mexico City. ciety, and to save the world. That gives us the privilege of having 250 ministers and 250 open churches, against the Catholics' twenty- NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN MEXICO five priests and twenty-five open churches.
Crime, war, pestilence, famine or earthquake The greatest obstacle is the article which prohibits seem to be required to direct especial attention a minister from officiating in any other church than to any particular land and people. When life the one to which he is assigned. A splendid work is runs smoothly it is not interesting to outsiders. being done by the laymen. They can speak in any But most countries have had their share of atten- church. The .seminary and training school students tion for each, in turn, has been overtaken by some are doing a very valuable work for they go out every calamity. week-end to near-by villages and touch thousands· of people with a Gospel message. Mexico was much in the public eye a few years ago. Recently she has sunk into the background, In fighting the Catholics the Government has drifted except for an occasional dispatch relating to the to another extreme. They have gone wild on educagovernment's decrees limiting the number of tion, but much of it is without civilization, taking out priests or the Papal reaction to such laws. Never- of the lives of the young a worship of God and the theless Mexico is going forward-economically highest ideals of life, giving them nothing but a heroand intellectually, if not spiritually. worship instead. They are teaching communism and anti-religion and atheism to the young, who will be "The relations between the United States and the old of tomorrow. Mexico are growing closer every day," writes J. M. Allardyce a layman of the Presbyterian The Protestant Christians include many outstand- Church (South), in The Christian Observer. He ing men for whom the Government has the highest has recently visited Mexico for the third time and regard. says: But Mexico has still a long way to go before true liberty-civil and religious-is experienced there. She has many problems to settle in the treatment of peons; in social justice; in eccle- siastical affairs; in the management of church property. Education and Christian evangelism must go hand in hand for the promotion of right- eousness, purity, peace and progress.
Appraisals of Missions*
West African Christians tell their American brothers of some of the wonders accomplished since the missionaries of the Presbyterian Church first came to Cameroun country forty years ago TET me tell you what we were like in the old sawed those logs we wouldn't make more than L days before the missionaries came to us. We about one hundred planks a month. dressed only in the leaves and the bark of Then another teacher (H. W. Grieg) arrived.
trees. We could go seven days without bathing Mr. Hope brought a machine (steam engine) to in water. I tell you we were dirty with every saw logs. When the steamer arrived with that kind of dirt, inside and ouside. Our hearts were machine, we went down to the beach to push it brimful of filth and the dirt up to Elat. That day not a of our bodies resembled a man nor a woman went to disease. The Frank Jam e s Industrial work but all came to see this Then all of a sudden we School of the Presbyterian Mis- new thing. Some looked and began to hear about Jesus. sion, Elat, Cameroun, is one of then ran with fear to hide. Our brothers from America the largest institutions of its kind came here about forty years in West Africa. It maintains When it started to work ago. The first thing we shops in which are taught car- many people ran to the bush heard was their voice call- pentry, building and cabinet mak- with fear and when the ing us to go to school. But ing; rattan furniture making; whistle "spoke" at noon the when we saw their white tailoring; blacksmithing and ma- people fled, some running skins we said, "Surely these chine shop practice; motor driv- two kilometers and some ing; shoe making and repairing; one and a half kilometers are the ghosts of those of brick making and bricklaying;. It into the forest. operates a saw mill, various kinds us who have died." We of wood working machinery, and Our teachers continued to feared exceedingly but they a machine shop where almost any teach us many things about were persistent in calling work can be handled. There were Jesus and about the trades. us and teaching us. Final- enrolled in the school last year We were very happy. We ly, we decided that they 111 apprentices, and 41 instruc- give thanks to those who were not ghosts and we tors (old graduates). In addition started the school. We give went to school until we be- there were 81 graduate men still thanks without measure,- gan to learn and really to employed in order to meet the de- and there is one man whose know Jesus. Some of us mand for buildings and furniture heart would give 2,657,899 began to try to convince our which the apprentices could not thank-yous to friends in fathers. supply alone. There were also America. 680 unskilled laborers employed They taught us the saw- during the past year. The ap- They got some wagons on ing of plank. We marveled prentices are divided among the which we pushed in the logs at that, but when we saw paid workmen in the shops. The -three or four in a day. them build a plank house up average apprenticeship is three Where we used to cut a hunon posts we said, "These years. Church membership is an dred planks in a month by people must be from God's hand, now we sawed four entrance requirement.
town to do such wonderful hundred in a day.
things." Another wonderful thing Years went by and a man arrived at Elat our school has done was when they called us to (Fred H. Hope) who said he was going to start dig a great pit about fifty feet deep. They told a new kind of school,-one where trades would us we should find water down there. We said, be taught. We didn't know what he was talking "Even if you should find water down there, how about. The few who consented to go to this would you ever dip it out of such a deep hole?"
school were teased by all the others. We played But all of a sudden they produced some pipe and more than we worked in those days. We car- some wheels and a belt, and then they put in ried the logs in on our shoulders but we wouldn't something they call "lightning" (electricity) .
bring in more than one a day. When we Then something started to shake and move some- * Quoted from The Drum Call, a paper printed in the Halsey Me- thing inside and turn it around, and all of a sud- morial Press at Elat, West Africa. den water began to flow outside. We surpassed [ 129 ]
marveling and were speechless with amazement. us many kinds of work, but teaches us cleanli- We said, "What kind of a miracle is this?" ness, and righteousness, and beauty-as witness the big church we are building now. Whatever Time passed and the missionaries said, "Come, should we have been without this teaching! we're going to build a real medicine house (hos- pital)." A crowd went up there and built a We have named our brothers of America "A whole town. The whole of Cameroun has help Spring of Blessing" because the blessings which today because of that hospital. Everyone who have come to us through them cannot be counted. goes there is cured,-except those whom the Lord takes. He takes them because He is the ruler of Not only our children, nor yet our grandchil- all, not because there is no help to be had. dren, but may be our great-grandchildren, shall have the privilege of this school! I pray that THE OLD STYLE AFRICAN HUT. WEST AFRICA you and your descendants may continue this school for I fear we shall not soon be able to care When they saw how many babies died because for ourselves. their mothers had died and there was no way to feed them, they had us build an ophan house. I Where we were like animals, now we live like tell you, my brothers, there are many babies people; where we were blind, now we commence alive today because they work day and night car- to see because of your help. 0, my brothers, ing for those orphans. what shall we say? When we think of what you have done we read Psalm 91 and Psalm 104. If Then, one day, these brothers of ours had us I tell the good you have done us, how could I bund houses in which we ourselves were to live. count? What thing can we give you? Not a Beautiful brick houses they are. We have also thing but our continual thanks without limit.
beautiful tables, beds, and chairs. * 0, but we're May God's blessing rest upon you always. I greet you with my right hand and I sign myself happy to live in these houses! All of a sudden they began to put ropes in our houses and hung The least of your friends, small bottles on these ropes. They told us there Simon Nna Nsim. was fire in those bottles. I tell you we doubted that! They said, "Well, just wait until tonight." *** When it began to grow dark and we heard that engine begin to tremble and talk, we left our Brothers across the sea, I give great thanks houses and sat in the street to watch what would because you remembered to send us missionaries happen. Suddenly, all those bottles shone all at to teach us the Words of God. one time and there wa::; much light. We wailed and marveled and sent word to all our relatives We were so ignorant! We believed that when to come and see this miracle. Many nights have a person died he turned into a chimpanzee, a passed and now we are acquainted with these lamps and we are very happy because of their THE NEW STYLE AFRICAN HOUSE-A TEACHER'S HOME help. termites' nest, an elephant, or an antelope. Now Without this industrial school we should still we know that when one dies who believes in be like the animals of the forest making no effort Jesus he goes to live a new life with God. When to become clever. This school not only teaches one does not repent and believe the Lord Jesus, he goes to Satan. • The beds are made of un planed boards. the tables and benches are of the simplest possihle construction of planed boards.-Eclitor's I thank the teachers who came to us to teach note. us the Words of God and the trades. In the old days, we did not know there was any value in a tree. We used trees only to cook our food, or to bathe in the warmth of their fire. Now, we make doors of plank, chairs of wood, tables, and beds.
I thank you for sending an engine to cut plank
AFRICAN APPRAISALS OF MISSIONS
OLD STYLE-A NATIVE WEST AFRI'CAN DANCER at first because we were told that God loved everyone. We asked, "Does He love us?" And (sawmill). The missionaries tell us the Words of we were answered, "Truly, He does." They also God and at the same time teach us such clever- told us that we were all brothers; and we said, ness as this. This has caused many people to re- "Is that really a true word that a white man can pent and to believe God. The industrial school really be a brother to a black man ?" We thought is doing a great work for God in this land of that these white men had come to us like the Africa. white traders-to get ivory and rubber.
I am glad, also, because they teach our wives. We respect these white men who come to us They teach them the Words of God and how to and ask of us not a single thing but only tell us care for their bodies. They help us to care for the Good News! our children and to keep them well. This industrial school has revolutionized our One thing I want to say to you across the tribe and made us a new kind of tribe in this land sea: Do send us more missionaries for there is of Africa. a great work here. When we saw the things which came from Greetings, across the sea, we couldn't believe that people Hermann Okoto Okano. had made such things with their hands. But now if you could see the things my brothers make *** with their hands you would say that it is mar- velous. I am surpassing glad to tell you about my life. I was like a corpse-so little did I know of the The missionary women have endured the troureal things of life. Now I am like a person who ble of teaching our wives. They have taught really lives because the Good News of our Lord them to respect their marriage, to care for our Jesus Christ has come to us from across the sea children, and to do the work of women. You through the American Presbyterian Mission. couldn't possibly know how stupid and dirty and This knowledge brings us great joy. bad and ignorant we and our wives were in car- ing for our children. Now women even know When the news of God came to us we doubted something of sewing and of the wearing of clothes, and of reading and writing. They try to keep their bodies and houses clean, and above all the women are beginning to respect marriage and to be obedient wives.
Our children were terribly dirty and full of itch. Today they are progressing in cleanliness. Itch is decreasing. Children grow and become fat.
If you could have seen us in the days when we rubbed our bodies with red powder and poured our hair full of oil you would have pitied us. I CHRISTIAN WIVES OF VOLUNTEER MISSIONARIES IN WEST AFRIOA These women and their husbands responded to the call for helpers to go to new tribes and tongues. One has gone to Bafia, three to Abong Mbong
speak truly! Thanks, great thanks for the peo- real people in this world, and we shall go also to ple you have sent us. Rewards certainly await meet our Lord Jesus with joy. you in God's town in heaven. I greet you as a friend, If this teaching can continue we shall become Solomon Enyumu Avebe.
HEALING AND TRAINING AERIOAN'.:> TO HEAL IN THE M'ISS.J()!N HOSPITAL TEACHING AFRIOANS TO TEACH IN THE MISSION NORMAL SCHOOL AT FOULASSI. CAMEROUN
A Jew Appraises Missions in China*
By GEORGE E. SOKOLSKY I~. Press Correspondent in the Far East; Author of "The I Tinder-box of Asia," etc.
I AM a Jew and should therefore abhor Chris- I plodded through this verdant field of specula- tian missions, but I ha~e lived in China. dur- tion and came upon this paragraph: ing most of my adult hfe. To the foreIgner in China, the Christian mission cannot be a mere "N0 one can study the religious life of the coun- tries of the Orient without being impressed with the question of religious affiliation, for the Christian fact that Christianity in these lands is something very mission is one of the most vital revolutionary much larger than the roll of church membership would forces in that country. indicate. Christianity has plainly outstripped the It was the impact of Christianity upon China Church. It is notable how many persons there are who have felt the attraction of the ideals and personwhich, letting loose the Taiping rebellion, opened ality and teachings of Christ and who are not enrolled the carefully erected dykes of seclusion to the full as actual members of the Church. They have never stream of 1;Vestern ideas and practices. Thus, been counted nor can they ever be counted, but no one China finds herself today attacked by six power- can fully estimate the effect of the missionary impact ful revolutionary forces, namely, the renaissance, until he takes into account the fact that there are Christianity, the social revolution, nationalism, great numbers of persons who have felt the unimagi- the industrial revolution and communism. It is nable touch and drawing power of the life of Christ the interplay of these forces upon the Chinese and who are quietly living on a higher level because people that creates that order of life there which of it."
Westerners call chaos but which in reality is only To me for more than a decade that has been the slow and constructive alteration of a huge the whole story of the Christian mission in China.
mass of mankind from a primitive (in some All else has been commentary and detail. Ques- places) and medieval (in others) civilization to tions of internal organization, of the relationship a twentieth century political, social, economic and to home boards, of the registration of schools, intellectual life. For better or for worse, unal- of the waste of money on bricks and roofs and terably Christianity serves China chiefly as one the shortage of money for brains and experts- of two or three bridges between China and the these always struck me as details in organization West. and program, to be adjusted from time to time, Whether one is a Christian or a Jew, whether to be worked out as plans are worked out among one believes in evangelical activities or not- sincere but differing human beings. It had never Christianity as represented by the Protestant occurred to me that it required so much energy missions in China must be understood and ac- and expense to appraise these things; I rather curately appraised if there is to be a sound com- thought that the Commission would worry less prehension of current China. about them and more about the usefulness of the The report of the Commission of Appraisal of Christian missionary in the remaking and re- the Laymen's Foreign Missions Inquiry left me building of China, in the revival of a vital per- at times breathless, for whereas I sought an sonality among the leadership of a people who understanding of the value of the individual mis- had grown stiff and sluggish and forceless sionary and his work to China, I found that that through ages of crude materialism unrelieved by was overlaid by an astonishingly exhaustive ap- social responsibility.
praisal of Christianity as a current world force. It is the role that Christianity has played in the It took me pages to discover that the answers creation of a distinctive personality that has were not to the question as to whether the Prot- made the missions so attractive to me. What estant missionary was of value to China, but matters it whether there is a large or a small rather to the tremendously more significant prob- number of churches? China will not be saved lem of the value of evangelical Christianity and as a nation by multitudes or by buildings. She its relationship to other world social and intel- requires leadership, and the Christian mission lectual forces. has done more than its share in the reorientation * Abbreviated fronl 'The Uhl'isf ian Century. of the Chinese mind from Confucian selfishness, [133 ]
as evidenced by the family system, to a social strangers, unselfishly asking nothing in return consciousness as evidenced by the effort of an in~ (not even fees for his church), providing aspirin creasingly large number of Chinese men and or castor oil, binding a wound, teaching the chilwomen to serve China in a modern manner. dren, quarreling with the local magistrate in the interest of his parishioners, braving bandits to Dr. Sun Yat~sen was a direct product of mis~ rescue the kidnaped, living in moral and physical sionary effort. The Soong family represents the cleanliness-how this contrasts with the opulent peak of the missionary influence upon personal- Chinese official or the local gentry! ity, for the father of this household, Charles Jones Soong, was himself a teacher of the Chris- It was Wen Shih-tsen, "a practical Christian" tian religion and English. Gen. Chiang Kai-shek he called himself, a physically weak man with a may have become a Methodist to please his twisted spine, who climbed Paotzeku with a mismother-in-law, but his outlook altered construc- sionary's son, Roy Anderson, to negotiate with tively after he came into direct contact with the Lincheng bandits for the release of the Chi- Christian influences and his Officers' Moral En- nese and foreign captives held there. I could cite deavor has engendered an altogether new spirit examples all over the country of the value of and attitude toward the Chinese masses in the mere contact with the simple Christian life-not armies under his control. the sophisticated Christianity of the New York theologian who thinks in terms of social doctrine, It would not be difficult to trace the effective- but the simple Christianity of missionaries whose ness of missionary influence on personality in personality enriches those whom it influences. political leadership, in education, in science with particular emphasis on medicine, and in business. If the task of the mission is to create a new Personal critical observation has forced me to personality in China as a result of contact bethe conclusion that the Christian missionary's tween Chinese and Christian types, then it is of principal task is character building and the re- advantage to China that the Christian missionary sults of his work can be measured only in an should continue to come to that country and in analysis of the type of individual produced under increasing numbers. It is true that there are Christian influences. All other measures of ef- Chinese Christians who are ready to take over fectiveness are unrealistic and meaningless. the administration of churches and schools. Such men as Dr. C. Y. Cheng, Henry Fowler, L. T. If this is the measure, then it is impossible to Chen, David Yui, T. Z. Koo, Chang Po-ling, T. say that the missionary has failed. Furthermore, T. Lew and many more are quite capable of doit is not necessary to make the fine distinction ing any job that any foreigner can do. It is not, between the prophetic genius who moves masses however, for that that the missionary should by his intense oratory, and the simple person come to China. He should come just to be there. who settles in a village to work among the people. He should come as a living example of the self- Many of those homely persons, so severely criti- less life. He should come as an interpreter of cized by the Laymen's Inquiry, serve effectively the Western assumption of social responsibility in character building by their direct contact and to a people who still live, on the whole, in stark example. The presence of a missionary in a Chi- individualism. nese city, far from his own people, serving RESULTS OF THE GOSPEL IN INDIA During century after century, many gods, many castes, illiteracy, and disunion made India a weak and helpless country. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is removing these hindrances and obstacles, and is preparing India to take her rightful place among the na~ tions of the world. The love of Jesus Christ-even though it is not always acknowledged -is binding the people in a new fellowship and is setting India in the way of becoming a strong nation.
Christianity is discrediting the caste system. Christianity is uplifting the depressed classes. Christ is removing illiteracy. Christ is creating a new spirit of brotherhood. The Church in India is bringing into Christ's fold the outcaste and depressed classes, as well as to the higher castes. From Brahmans to Shudras they come to worship one God, in one faith, and in one hope. Here is India's greatest hope for national unity.
-GULZARI LALL LORENZO in The Christian Advocate.
Business Men Accept the Appraisal?
Views of a Business Man who has visited the Mission Fields and has helped finance many Mission Enterprises _.•..at By GEORGE INNES, Bettendorf, Iowa A FRIEND sent me a book, the title of which but there never was an instance of such solicita- was "Re-Thinking Missions-A Layman's tion and response where the religious aspect was Inquiry." Being a business man and in- absent from the conversations. In every instance, terested in missions those two titles appealed to so far as I can recall, the money was given because me. Just inside the cover was a list of seven of a genuinely evangelical and deeply religious groups of Directors of the Inquiry, representing motive. In these years during which the foreign seven denominations, five names in each group. missionary enterprise has grown from small pro- Among those thirty-five men there are seven with portions to its present scope and power, I have whom I am acquainted-six business men and one known many business men who, as well as giving a lawyer. It was plain that none of these friends money, gave their sons and daughters. I have met had taken part in the inquiry or iR writing the these men in their offices and homes, at their fambook, but their association with it caused me to ily and church altars, and none were out of symread the book with greater interest. pathy with the New Testament message. None would have wished their money or their sons or The charm of the literary style of the Report daughters committed to a different message. both pleased and puzzled me. The reasoning was clear and skilful. It was evidently not written The first time I met the late William E. Conroy by business men. My business friends who are of Pittsburgh, was nineteen years ago. We had interested in missions not only could not have a brief visit in his office. The missionary cause written a book with such excellence of literary was presented and very explicit assurances were style, but their philosophy would have been dif- required and given that earnest and unremitting ferent, their logic would have been less subtle, emphasis would always be placed upon the Chris- and their style would have been more simple and tian character of the message. While it was an direct. educational institution we were discussing, it was Furthermore, they could not have written the understood that the sole motive of the founders book: First, because its theological views are not was that it would be outstandingly evangelistic.
those held by any group of business men I know, I assured him that great care had been and would who are sufficiently interested in missions to ex- be taken to guarantee that its Christian character press themselves upon the subject. Second, they would be soundly evangelical. Mr. Conroy gave would not have ventured to set up a theological $500 that day and each year for many years sent and doctrinal hypothesis so greatly at variance a like amount. I was in Mr. Conroy's home a with the historical Christian missionary message. short time before he died and he told me that he I wonder why the authors of this book did it! I had planned for that cause in his will. When his could name five hundred business men, with whom property was distributed that particular educa- I have acquaintance in sixteen states from Kansas tional institution received $100,000. In the winter eastward, who are interested in and support mis- of 1916 I went to the office of a manufacturer in sions. I am convinced that four hundred and Cleveland. I had never met him before. The con- ninety of them would not subscribe to the doc- versation did not dwell upon the subject of mis- trinal position of the book. I feel free therefore sions, although he understood that it was that to say that business men could not and would not cause that brought me there, but we talked of our have written this book. mutual appreciation of the uniqueness of Jesus as I have asked in the past twenty years many our Saviour and Lord. He gave me a very gen- business men to help missionary enterprises, in- erous sum of money to be used in foreign missions, cluding educational, medical, evangelistic and in- and the key to the gift was the uniqueness of dustrial effort. Many tens of thousands of dollars Jesus.
were given for missions, because I asked for it, At a hotel in the pine woods in New Jersey [135]
twenty-two years ago I first met W. S. George, a heal people from a religious motive? Is it con- manufacturer from East Palestine, Ohio. We sistent in missionary practice, in view of Scrip- were there several days together and talked a ture teachings, to recommend the separation of great deal about foreign missions. I found him healing the sick and saving the sinner? Can the very companionable; a very keen and capable Church carry to the mission field the science of business man with a brilliant mind, and a very healing and offer it as a thing apart from the great heart. I never knew a man who had a Christian Gospel? Can man "live by bread alone?"
firmer conviction, that Jesus, when He saved him, There are sicknesses that are clearly the result of had worked a miracle. In later years he made sin. Is it honest to heal that sickness and not deal many gifts for hospitals, colleges and evangelistic with the cause? Has not the patient a right to work in foreign fields-$20,000 here, $30,000 know how he can remove the cause? The physical there, $10,000 to another place-and I think he healing alone will not remove it. How is the phy- never made a gift without praying with the one sician going to show the patient what Power can through whom the gift was made, that the result overcome the temptation to sin, which caused the would be that souls would be saved. sickness? Can he avoid feeling responsibility, I could tell of many others who were influenced prescribing the remedy that will remove the guilt by the same motive-Percy L. Craig of New that is on the spirit, as well as the responsibility Castle, David C. Wills of Cleveland, James L. Wil- for removing the deadly virus that was in the son and Fred and George Shane of Philadelphia, flesh? What Christian physician would be content E. E. Olcott of New York. These business men to spend his life in India only to heal a few sick all have passed beyond but their works are fol- bodies when he might do much more? Are any lowing them from abroad. A long list could be of the missionaries whom the Appraisal says are made of such men, all of whom carried and carry weak, as weaJ<: as that? If we could add together their missionary interest and passion because they the years that Christian doctors have spent in believe that the name of Christ is above every their work of healing, because of the constraint other name and that He is the only Way to God. of their Christian consciences, these years would Let us ask again, for it is not an easy thing to run to milleniums. This wonderful science has comprehend, Why did these laymen who wrote been developed through their devotion not only to "Re-Thinking Missions" imply that there is any the cause of science but to God. What do these other way? names mean over the doors of hospitals in Amer- Evangelism and Healing ica: St. Lukes, Good Samaritan, St. Barnabas, This is not intended to be a critique on the book. Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, The writer simply intends to set down a few ob- Lutheran? They mean that healing and religion servations. We have raised the question: why it are interdependent. They are not things apart. seemed necessary to the success of foreign mis- But if those who give the money to build and supsions to have other than the New Testament mes- port the hospitals in India, China and Japan do sage as its message. Next we would state our not wish these hospitals to be evangelistic, then belief that hospitals should evangelize, and by they need not be. But those who want to change very positive and direct methods. "Which is the purpose and plan of hospitals that have been easier, to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins built as Christian missionary enterprises should are forgiven, or to say, Arise and take up thy bed, in common honesty be willing to reimburse donors and walk?" Not until the spirit of the Great who have established them with that end in view.
Physician had so permeated the minds and hearts What About Mission Colleges? of men, were they able to develop the science of healing to its present glory. Not until His spirit Does anyone know a mission college or school came into control were men willing to make the or university that was not originally established sacrifices necessary so that yellow fever, typhoid, with an evangelistic purpose? All the colleges smallpox, sleeping sickness and other plagues and universities with which we are acquainted which took a toll of millions of lives could be al- were built with that purpose prominently in mind.
most abolished. Men willingly and consciously I solicited a large part of the funds that financed courted death in order that pestilence would be the opening of one university on the foreign field.
banished not only from Christian lands, but from When it was being organized I went to the field all other lands as well. and in a national gathering of the missionaries, While our Lord made it plain that not all sick- gave them definite assurances that we would make ness was punitory, yet He clearly taught that sin every effort to insure that the university would and sickness have a very definite connection. be and remain both evangelical and evangelistic.
What other religion really deals with the sin ques- Everyone who was active in securing support for tion? What other religion leads its followers to its establishment intended that it should be defi-
CAN BUSINESS MEN ACCEPT THE APPRAISAL?
nitely and aggressively Christian and that it Japan who was angry at the one who led them to should continue so. The money was given because Christ? Most of us could name the person who such assurances were made. In these assurances proselyted to our eternal good when they led us to our minds met in a common understanding that accept Christ and join His Church. No doubt we "In none other is there salvation; for neither is resisted at the time, and may even have thought there any other Name under heaven, that is given they were meddlesome but we do not think so now. among men, wherein we must be saved." If there- Few of us would have found and followed the way fore, in this or any other similarily conceived edu- of faith without the aid of some minister or Suncational institutions, there is to be a change away day school teacher or parent or friend. Will these from the evangelical Christian character and people over in Asia ever find the way alone? evangelistic purpose, then those who gave their Business men see no way for advancement if we money to establish it, should at least have their are not permitted to urge people to a decision. money refunded. We see the whole program of progress wrapped up in the principle of making a new and better Should We Proselytize? article and then urging its acceptance as force- fully and by as many means as we truthfully and Jesus proselyted-if we mean by that an effort honestly can. All advancement in life is ordered to lead a man to change his views. He told Nico- that way-commercial, political and social. We demus plainly that he must undergo a change and urge and persuade men to believe in and accept be born again. He made a skilful but very direct the thing we think to be the best. We proselyte approach to the woman at the well to lead her to in the best sense. a change of belief and of life. He was very thorough with the rich young ruler and he pointed him I doubt if the business men who have, or will to a new and very rugged path. support the missionary program would long be interested in any program that is not partisan for It is hard for business men to believe that mis- Christ. As a matter of fact we have no such opsionaries or the laymen who wrote the book have tion. It was never delegated to any man or men found a better way than the one pointed out by to choose the missionary message or missionary Jesus Christ. Naturally non-Christians in China objeetive. The enterprise received its charter and or India or Japan will criticize anyone who tries its content from that never repealed mandate of to influence men to leave an old way for a new. the Son of God Himself: "Go ye into all the world They do that in America. Did the laymen find and preach the gospel to every creature." any warm-hearted Christian in China or India or "THE BANKS ARE ALL DOWN ON EARTH"
By S. D. GORDON, Author of "Quiet Talks on Service"
Here is a man who gets through his life down on the earth and goes out into the other life….. Here he comes up to the gateway of the upper world. He is lugging along a farm or two, some town lots and houses, and a lot of beautifully engraved paper-bank stocks and railroad bonds and other bonds.
As he gets up to the gateway the gateman will say: "What's all that stuff?" "Stuff?" he will say, astonished. "This is the most precious wealth of earth, sir! I have spent my whole life, the cream of my strength, in accumulating this." "0, well," the reply will be, "I have no doubt that is so….. But that sort of thing does not pass current up in this land. That has to be exchanged at the bankers' offices for the sort of coinage we use here." The man looks a little relieved at this last remark. The other talk has sounded strange and given him a queer misgiving in his heart as he listened. But "banker" and "exchange" -that sounds familiar. The ground feels a bit steadier. He picks up new spirit. "Where are the bankers' offices, please?" he asks eagerly. "They are all down on the earth," comes the quiet answer. "You must do your exchanging before you get as far up as this. That stuff is all dead loss now. You can't take it back to the bankers now, and it is of no value here. Just leave it over on that dump heap there outside the gate and come in yourself." And the man comes in with a strangely stripped and bare feeling. What we get and keep for the sake of having, we los~, for we leave it behind. What we give away freely, for Jesus' sake, for men's sake, we will find by and by we have kept, for we have sent it on ahead.
the Government Forced the
Facing the Problem of National Control of Mission Schools in Ramadan. Persia By COMMODORE B. FISHER, Hamadan, Persia ~._ –. -.. . . . . – – . . " . Missionary of the. Presbyterian _Church, U. S. A. _._.~.. .~~ ~…. -~,=.
(In Persia more than a dozen mission schools have been tians and non-Christians sent protest after proclosed by the Government orders which prohibit all. fore~gn test to the Ministry of Education in Teheran and elementary and primary schools of whatever natwnahty. they discussed with one another how best they So far, only the Ramadan Church Committee has m~d~ a could guarantee the continuation of such schools successful attempt to continue the work of the Chrtsttan as the mission had established.
mission schools.) T HE Persian Ministry of Education took Finally in the following April, official permis- special steps in 1927 to create a uniform sion was received from Teheran to reopen the educational system throughout the whole schools on condition that they obey Government country. All schools were required to secure regulations, which were finally modified to omit the Koran and Moslem law and to permit the special Government permits and to conform to a teaching of ethics to all students. Moslem stu- uniform curriculum, hours of instruction and dents were required to take the official examina- official examinations. All Moslem students were tions on the Koran but the mission schools were to be taught the Koran and no other religious not required to teach it.
teaching was permitted. The mission schools in When the schools were reopened most of the Hamadan received an order demanding complete subjects were taught in Persian instead of Eng- conformity to the Government regulations other- lish, and from necessity the curriculum became wise they would be closed. This meant that in- more like that of Government schools. In the stead of the Bible, the Koran must be taught to absence of a creditable Government program of all Moslem students. The mission replied that education, the school constituency had grown up since the schools had been originally founded for to believe that an imported American program children of Christian parents, the Moslem stu- with English was better than the Government's dents (more than half of the enrollment), would imported French program with emphasis upon be excused from attending the schools. Persian. Now it was discovered that ability to The excused students besieged the offices of the pass the Government examinations was essential.
Department of Education, which at once sent.a Only here and there were complaints made that special messenger to Teheran. As a result of hIS the standard of English had been lowered.
representations of "this insult to the dignity of The alumni of the mission school were encoureducation," the local Department of Edu~at~on aged to elect an advisory committee which ren- received a telegram ordering that the mISSIOn dered valuable service. This experiment in ad- schools in Hamadan be closed. Accordingly, on justing the program of the mission schools to December 18, 1927, the schools were officially the Persian way of doing things convinced the closed and continued so for more than three missionaries that it was wise to set up a Persian months. Christian Committee, rather than to form one This "calamity" forced the missionaries to do under pressure when face to face with the issue a lot of thinking; better still, it forced the Chris- of national control. In August, 1931, the consent tian and non-Christian friends of the schools to of the Persia Mission of the American Presby- think and act. As long as things had run smooth- terian Church was secured to the following recly and their children had been acceptably edu- ommendation: cated there was little incentive for these friends Believing that the time has come to turn over a to exert themselves. But the closing of the mis- larger degree of responsibility for our educational sion schools revealed the weakness of the for- work to the Church, we recommend that the annual eigner's plea to be permitted to "serve" on his meeting authorize Ramadan station to turn over for a own terms. Numerous meetings were held with period of two years to a joint committee of the local Persian nationals, students and teachers. Chris- churches, the management of the Boys' School, to- [138 ] gether with the school's annual appropriation from the mittee: "Since he knows how everything should Board and such missionary service as the station shall be done and is here to do it." assign to the school. The committee shall conduct necessary negotiations The committee rendered valuable assistance, giving unstintedly of their time, choosing the with the Department of Education, choose the prin- commencement speakers, and setting the date and cipal and treasurer of the school, employ the teachers, hour for the exercises. They chose the teachers fix tuition rates and have general oversight of the for the coming year, fixed their salaries, apschool. The committee shall consist of eight nationals proved the budget and assessed the tuition rates and two Americans. It shall begin to function as soon of all the students so as to CQver it. as constituted and shall assume full responsibility at During the summer of 1932 there were rumors the close of the school year 1932.
In transferring the direction of the school, it is of an impending Government order closing all understood that the school shall be open to pupils of foreign primary schools. Though the missionall nationalities without distinction and that the Christian purpose for which the school has hitherto stood aries in Hamadan had been far-sighted in their of training Christian children and evangelizing non- efforts to develop a national school committee, Christians shall be maintained and that it shall be the they were hardly prepared for the following aim of the school to carry out this program to the order which was delivered to every foreign school fullest extent possible within Government restrictions. in Persia: The Board of Foreign Missions also gave ap- In view of the fact that the Government has decided proval to this recommendation. The next step that the elementary teaching for the Persian stUdents for Hamadan station was to select the national in all the country should be limited to the Persian schools, therefore it is necessarily announced that committee. As a result of conversations with starting with the coming year, September 7, 1932, the leading church members, two Armenians and acceptance of a student who is a Persian subject in all two Assyrian Christians, two Jewish converts the elementary classes of your school is entirely forand two Persian Christians, together with the bidden. Also, all the students who are Persian sub- jects and who have been studying in your elementary two missionaries in charge of the Boys' School, school classes in the previous years should not be were asked to serve as a school committee. One accepted in your school as from September 7, 1932. by one they sent in their written acceptances, It is obvi{)us that the elementary classes connected eloquent testimony to their willing spirit. In with the Middle School classes are affected by this January, 1932, the first meeting of the school law. (Translation of the American Legation.) committee was held. Unwittingly the church in Hamadan had been Since no organization was back of this in- in a measure prepared to make the most of just digenous committee, the members were chiefly such an order. Immediately the school commitconcerned as to the nature of their responsibili- tee was notified that, officially, the mission could ties, especially financial. They were eager to dis- have no further responsibility for primary cover the motive that lay behind this new policy education. of the mission and expressed the fear that this might be an entering wedge to separate them The national committee reorganized, this time from the benefits of mission teachers and foreign one hundred per cent Persian, and sent a repreappropriations. It had been evidenced that the sentative to Teheran to secure permission to conschool would have to raise its standard from ten duct two primary schools. Meanwhile the other to twelve grades to meet requirements for stand- members and numerous friends who realized how ard high schools; otherwise it must be reduced much had been done for the community by the to a primary school. The national committee schools during the past fifty years, worked nobly realized their financial inability to raise the to create a demand for their continuation.
standard of the school; but they did not relish In three weeks the committee secured tempobearing the onus of reducing it to primary grade. rary permits and with inadequate equipment the Perhaps this was the chief reason why, at this primary schools for boys and for girls were first meeting of the committee, the nationals re- opened on September 15. One of the members of fused to organize, though they professed a will- the committee was made principal and after nu- merous conferences the city Health Officer was ingness to act in an advisory capacity. A few weeks later the church proposed an ex- persuaded to fill out the official applications for change of sites with the school. It was pointed permits for the two schools. The local Departout that the mission would more favorably con- ment of Education approved these applications, sider this request if the church school committee forwarded them to Teheran and promised to acwould organize and recommend the transfer. cept the students for the official examinations.
This led the nationals to meet and organize as a One hundred and eighty boys have been en- school committee. Their first act was to elect rolled in the boys' school, as many as were for- the missionary principal as chairman of the com- merly in the mission school, and the girls number
170, which is more than in previous years. Tui- such varying opinions and temperaments that it tion receipts cover current salaries except that is a continual wonder how they can work together of the superintendent. The church session voted at all. When they were unwilling to undertake a subsidy to cover the cost of fuel, repairs and the larger things they were encouraged to direct summer salaries. the smaller things, and were permitted to really The boys' middle school also enjoys an in- direct them. Until the committee is willing to creased enrollment of almost 40%. This may be accept responsibility, it is mutually beneficial to partly attributed to the backing that has come have them act in an advisory capacity. Most from a strong national committee and partly to committees are as reluctant to assume responsi- the promised addition of two more classes which bility as are the missionaries to give it. Natural will enable the school to meet the requirements modesty, a feeling of incompetence, respect for for a standard high school. The establishment of the missionary and his accomplishments, and per- strong church primary schools will ensure a haps primarily the fear of offending and so losing steady stream of students to continue on through the benefits of the missionary enterprise, account the middle schools under Christian influences. for this reluctance. Under the best of circum- Throughout Persia, in addition to many Rus- stances it is a delicate matter to shift responsi- sian and French schools, more than a dozen bility. It is easy to offend and cause ill-feeling flourishing mission primary schools have been that will not be conducive to a real spirit of co- completely wiped out by a Government order. operation. It may be too soon to say that the With the exception of Hamadan, the Christian closing of the mission schools is a blessing to the communities have not been able to take care of . church in Hamadan, but certainly it cannot be their own children who are now scattered among said that it is an unmixed evil. Perhaps it is a other schools, Moslem, Jewish, Armenian, Cath- fortunate event when the Government forces the olic and Bahai. issue and makes the church take the final step!
What Do We Learn? Third: We have become convinced that an in- stitution must not become an end in itself. There First: The experience in Hamadan seems to is no direct ratio between the size and the per- show that it takes more than the work of an in- manent contribution to the community. The stitution to challenge the vital interest of na- school work in Hamadan has been kept simple tionals. When the educational welfare of the and comparatively small. The school program community is properly linked up with its religious was thoroughly Persianized so that the nationals interest there develops an element of perma- could comprehend it. This created a favorable nence. Transient interest wanes as soon as a spirit on the part of the local Department of Edu- committee member's children are educated. The cation and other officials which has been of value church gives the sense of security and backing to the school committee. There must be a con- that any committee has a right to expect, and tinual effort to instil into the people the fact that without which it is impossible to secure perma- the work is theirs and that the missionaries are nent results. No mission institution can guar- only temporary helpers in this common task. If antee its own perpetuation nor make a lasting the work has been carried on somewhat as the contribution to a community unless a church is nationals themselves would carryon, it can be developed which will assume the responsibility transferred quietly and easily without upsetting for carrying on such an institution when the for- the regular work.
eign element is removed. In conclusion, any task which challenges the Second: It is evident that committees must be best that is in a church will become a great bless- developed, not simply chosen. Regardless of ing to that church. Confusion and death await hesitancy and possible incompetence, a church any institution whose end is its own development.
committee must be cultivated rather than mis- If the Hamadan Church succeeds in saving its trusted. The men who compose the Hamadan schools, this very responsibility will assure its committee are not extraordinary. They are of continued life and growth.
A MAN WITH A PASSION It is reported that Dwight L. Moody traveled a million miles in the course of his ministry; that was in days when speed was not as now. He addressed over one hundred million people; personally prayed and pleaded with hundreds of thousands of inquirers; spoke and worked with an enthusiasm that set 'On tire his coworkers as few have done since. He had a passion for saving souls. He took Jesus Christ so seriously that He was in fact the major passion of his life. Mr. Moody was a tireless, impassioned, personal worker for his Lord and Saviour, who scarcely let a day pass without speaking to some one concerning the great theme of salvation.
Heart of Home Missions*
By the REV. JOHN McDOWELL, D.D., New York ..- ~ Recently President of the Home Missions Council,. Secretary of the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian I Church, U. S. A.
W HATEVER the present conditions in the What, then, is the essential character of Chris- United States and Canada may mean to tianity according to the New Testament? By other organizations today, there can be "essential" we mean that without which Chrisno doubt about what they mean to the missionary tianity is not Christian. Fortunately the New agencies in these countries. They mean at least Testament is not silent nor indefinite on this vital three things: question. It is clear and positive and consistent.
1. A challenging opportunity to affirm their be- The writers insist that Christianity is not mere lief in home missions in terms discovery of a few devout seek- of the Christianity of the New ers after truth, or a brilliant Testament. Is our Christian work in invention of a gifted young 2. An imperative demand to America and elsewhere based Jew of Nazareth, who in a mo- on solid, enduring founda- ment of spiritual exaltation put first things first in the tions? Is the Church alive dared to think of God as His home missions enterprise. or dead? The pioneering Father and man as His brother days in Home Missions have and who died a martyr's death 3. An inescapable responsi- passed and with them have in loyalty to these convictions. bility for the projection of a united, cooperative program which will eliminate the waste gone much of the sacrifice Nor is the Christianity of of spiritual energy and of con- and passion. What will the New Testament an induc- secrated money. bring success to the cause of tion reached by the study of We are under peculiar ob- Christ in America, and in the reverend and profound minds, ligations to give serious at- world? What are the proofs gathering a truth here and tention to each of these vital that Christianity will be there from the religious ideas subjects. We cannot blind of Egypt, India, Greece and victorious?
our eyes to the present situa- Rome. The New Testament tion and to the demands which asserts that Christianity in its are growing out of it. The hope for the nations essential character is a distinct and definite reve- and for the world is to get Christianity under- lation-a message from God Himself-making stood, accepted and embodied. known to men that which they can absolutely de- The Challenging Opportunity pend upon and which they could not find out by their own natural and unaided faculties.
Let us first of all frankly and fearlessly face Of course, every religion purports to be more the challenging opportunity before us today. The or less of a revelation. Both the Old and the New future of the missionary enterprise, in the last Testament remind us that "God has not left him- analysis, will be determined by the type of Chris- self without a witness." Our claim for the Chris- tianity upon which it is based. Hence it is im- tian message is not, therefore, unreasonable in portant for us to settle at once this question itself or peculiar. But the New Testament goes which in recent days has again been opened. The further and insists that Christianity in its essen- missionary enterprise from the beginning has tial character is a distinct revelation of God in been based on the Christianity of the New Testa- and through a Person, and that Person is Jesus ment. Again and again when the right and place Christ, the Son of God, the Son of man, the Sav- of the enterprise has been questioned, we have iour of the world. Apart from Christ, New had to turn to the New Testament for its final Testament Christianity has no distinct message, justification, as the only authentic record of the no saving power, no inspiring ideal, no assured facts and truths upon which Christianity is hope, no abiding joy. Eliminate Christ from New based. Testament Christianity and its essential char- • An address delivered at the Home Missions Conference In New acter disappears, its words are empty, and its York, January, 1933. vitality and reality vanish. Bereft of the irre- [141 ]
sistible spell of its Founder, Christianity would in the Christianity of the New Testament is not pass into an intellectual and ethical theory. It Jesus' teachings, however superior, but the Spirit would cease to be a religion and become just an- of His life; not interest in an ethical code, but other of the many philosophies of the ages. Take loving and obedient discipleship. Christ out of history, and the Face of God, the Father, suffers an eclipse. We agree with Dr. Henry Van Dyke when he says, in his "Gospel for an Age of Doubt": In these days, however, there is a serious and sustained attempt to discount the place of Christ It is certain that this age of ours, with its ruthless, in Christianity. We are told that "God's relation critical spirit, with its keen historic sense, will never to man would be simple enough if Jesus Christ respect the intelligence, though it may acknowledge had kept out." We need to turn again to the old the goodness, of a man who professes to speak in the record of the Christianity of Christ and there name of Christianity, without proclaiming as the core learn that Christianity when true to its essential of his message the Divine Christ. To imagine that character, as revealed in the New Testament, is we can adapt our preaching to this age of doubt by not a discovery or an invention, nor yet an in- weakening, concealing or abandoning the truth of the duction, but is a clear and definite self-revelation deity of Christ is to mistake the great need of our of God in and through Jesus Christ. times. It is to seek to commend our gospel by taking away from it the chief thing that men want, an as- This makes Christianity more than a system surance of sympathy and kinship with God. of ethics, though it has revolutionized ethics; more than a method of worship, though it has Let Us Put First Things First given a new character to worship; more than a philosophy of life, though it has given philosophy, In the second place, let us face with equal itself, a new interpretation and application. In frankness the imperative demand growing out of its final terms, the Christianity of the New Testa- the present conditions, which is that we put first ment is a revelation of a new life, founded on the things first in the missionary enterprise. Never following historic facts: "that Christ died for was there an age that asked more earnestly than our sins, according to the Scriptures; that he our own that we Christians proclaim our meswas buried and that he arose again the third day, sage, or confess that we have no message to proaccording to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15: 3-4). claim. The men of our day want to hear the man Take these facts away and you rob Christianity who has a message and who is ready to proclaim of its essential character. You make it merely a it fearlessly and honestly at all times and in all message of "good advice" rather than a message places. We make a mistake when we conclude of "good news" to a sinful, sorrowing, suffering that the people do not want a definite and posiworld. tive Christian message. That is just what they do want and are willing to hear. The people are In the light of this teaching and in the light saying to their spiritual leaders and teachers toof the facts of today, Christianity assumes a mo- day, just as they said to Moses: "Go thou and mentous significance for all missionary enter- hear all the Lord, our God, shall speak unto thee, prises. If missions are to retain their place and and we will hear it and do it." power in the life of the world, they must hold fast to the great historic facts and truths con- What men want now is the essential message cerning Christ essentially as they are narrated in of Christianity translated into the thought forms the New Testament, and also to the great spir- of present-day life. They want this message deitual fact that in the God whom Christ has re- livered with moral and spiritual authority so that vealed to us there is abundant forgiveness for all it will grip and command the mind, the conthe past, motive power for all the needs of the science, the will, and the heart. The people are present, and assurance of abundant life for the hungry for the great spiritual verities of religion. future. Anything less than this is not true to They are tired of doubts and speculations, and the essential character of Christianity as given abstract theories. What they are asking for toin the New Testament, nor will it satisfy the ele- day is not more sermons, but more soul messages; mental spiritual needs of the individual or of not more services, but more spiritual life; not human society. more ceremonies, but more Christlikeness of character. Men want a message today that will What makes Christianity a triumphant religion catch the ear and change the heart of the sinner, is not its law of love, but its love of Jesus. The win the mind of the scholar, and satisfy the soul heart of Christianity-that which gives it cre- of the saint. Only one message will do that-the ative power, which sends out missionaries, which Gospel of Christ, which is the essential message saves sinners, which builds churches, which pro- of Christianity, the proclamation of which is the duces character and enriches civilization-is not primary function of missions when they are true a precept but a personality. The supreme thing to New Testament Christianity.
In these days when home missions are called
THE HEART OF HOME MISSIONS
upon to do so many things, and to be so many Scripture, history, and experience unite in saying things to the community, all of which are impor- that home missions exist primarily to lead men tant in their place, we do well to go back to these to repentance, to give them faith in God, teach early records and remind ourselves that accord- them high ideals, to equip them with motive ing to this Commission the primary task of all power: in a word, to make men open and loyal Christian missionary agencies is not vague and disciples of Jesus Christ.
indefinite, but real and definite, that it is nothing While home missions will not adopt any of the less than to be a living witness to Christ and for socialistic programs, they must be the exponent Christ in every community. and agent of the social impulse for human better- While home missions have other functions ment. We must hold fast to all that is good in which are of great value to the community, even the past, appreciate all that is better in the pres- these, apart from the primary function of home ent in order to establish the rule of God. In other missions, will sooner or later disappoint the com- words, home missions must embody the backward munity and be discounted by the people. The look, the receptive mind and the forward push.
ideal for every home missionary agency ought to To accomplish this high purpose home missions be a saved soul in a saved body, living in a saved must excel all other forces on the field by the ef- community. Home missions will succeed in pro- fectiveness of its methods, and in the wisdom, portion as they win the affection, confidence, sup- power, and spirit of its representatives. The port and loyalty of the people by doing their primary need is not more ecclesiastical authority, work, by witnessing to and for Jesus Christ. more equipment, more money, or more men, but Apparent success on any other basis, political, more of the Spirit of Christ actually lived by His financial, agricultural, educational, social or sen- disciples and effectively applied to all the serious sational-means for home missions a living death. problems of human society.
If we minister to life, personal and social, in this Our Present Responsibility ministry we will respond to the three deepest and most universal desires of mankind, namely, the In the third place let us with courage face the desire for peace and the desire for power and the inescapable responsibility which is growing out desire for service. of the present conditions. It is obvious to all To be effective home missions in our day must thoughtful men that we must unite our own claim for Christ the absolute dominion over all forces before we can effectively urge other forces the life of men and of nations. When based on to unite. We must federate our own groups be- New Testament Christianity home missions must fore we can demand the federation of other aim at more than the salvation of the individual: groups. One of the most heartening features of they must aim at a society on earth known as the present religious situation is the widespread, "the Kingdom of God." Present world-wide con- though often inarticulated, demand for an effec- ditions make it clear that there can be no social tive cooperation not only in terms of spirit but advance apart from social justice, and no social in terms of actual service.
justice apart from the Kingdom of God, and no Overlooking and overlapping are as great im- hope for the Kingdom of God apart from indi- pediments to the coming of the Kingdom of God viduals who are filled with the Spirit of God and as are inertia and indifference. Home mission- dominated by the ideals of that Kingdom. It is ary agencies, like the individual, may have a one- still true that inward regeneration precedes out- track mind. The harder they work, the deeper ward; that "out of the heart are the issues of is the rut into which they fall, but fortunately life." Home missions that witness to Jesus Christ our denominations are stirred today as never be- will soon reveal the fact that the secret of social fore by a longing to rise out of the grooves of well-being is the individual life and the secret of custom, an inherited method and conventional all individual life is acquaintance with God and piety, and federate our efforts to advance those the supreme source of acquaintance with God is primal Christian truths which underlie all diver- Jesus Christ. gencies of creed or race. Emancipated minds in If we are to be true to their primary task, all denominations are rising above the separating home missions must be unflinchingly loyal to the barriers, are looking over the man-made fences divine commission and close to the needs that and learning that the garden of the Lord is larger call them into existence. We must attend strictly than their own little door-yard.
to our specific job and not attempt to duplicate If we cannot settle ancient disputes, we can, at the work of other institutions. There must be least, ignore them in the name of the Lord. If a deepening of the conviction that home missions we cannot remove these mountains and cast them exist because man has a soul that needs to be into the sea, we can bore through them or carry saved and needs nurture,-worship, sympathy, the King's highway around them. This denomi- love, hope and the cultivation of the spiritual life. nations are now honestly striving to do. We
shall not meet the inescapable responsibility for reality, One who is the desire of all nations.
better cooperation by lamenting the failures of What has been discredited in the missionary en- the past, but in constructive planning for the fu- terprise today is not the Christianity of the New ture. There never was a day when the need of Testament but a reduced, compromised, conven- collective leadership and collective service in the tional, souvenir Christianity. So long as home missionary cause was more imperative than in missions are based on the Christianity of the our day. The whole future of the work will be New Testament and so long as we proclaim the determined by the response that we make to this Gospel of Christ as our primary function, and so imperative demand. long as we seek to operate through a united, co- The General Education Board, when entering ordinated, cooperative program, so long will the the foreign mission field through cooperation outlook be bright and the results permanent.
with the churches in medical work in China, When home missions refuse to meet the call of frankly declared: "We do not now propose any human need from any field they will cease to great thing in missions unless we can do it to- share in Christ's passionate love for men, women gether." Christian givers are saying today that and little children. We must never forget that "anything not done together is not a great thing, the power of Christianity as a home missions'
or an abiding thing." This attitude in time will, force is the measure of the Spirit of Christ, not no doubt, affect the whole nature of the mission- the size of the budget, or the excellency of the ary enterprise. The call of the day is this: "Sim- equipment, or the number of supporters. In this plify your message, heal your divisions, combine tragic hour we need to remember that the Chris- your resources, and unite your forces." Stronger tianity of the New Testament is self-sacrifice and churches federated in every noble cause will mean burden-bearing, not self-pleasing and self-indul- abler ministers; superior young men will be at- gence. What the followers of Christ need today tracted to the pulpit because it will seem more is to have awakened in them a sense of personal worth while to be there, when freedom shall be obligation which will make clear that the home granted for prophecy and also from financial missionary enterprise is not the Church's after- stress. Stronger men of God in the pulpit will thought, it is Christ's forethought; it is not sec- mean more respect for religion in the community; ondary and optional, it is primary and vital.
more ethical authority operating among young Christ put it into the heart of His Gospel. We people; more attention to the church among busi- cannot really see Him or know Him or love Him ness and professional men. unless we know and love His ideal for us, and We must have more power in the pulpit and that ideal is embodied in the missionary enter- more piety in the pews before we can have better prise.
government, fewer speakeasies, fewer divorces, A traveler was watching three stone-cutters more righteous business and industrial methods. years ago building the House of Parliament in We must have better churches with wiser leader- Ottawa-that building has since been desolated ship and closer cooperation before we can have a by fire-and he said to one of them jocosely: higher civilization; and we must appeal more "What are you working for here?" Answering effectively to all people before we can have these in the same vein the man said, "For two dollars wiser ministers and stronger churches. To make and a half a day, if you want to know." Then home missions victorious we need not only re- he said to the second man, "What are you trying generation but reorganization, not only spiritual to do here?" Pointing to the blueprint he said: dynamics but more effective and economic me- "I am trying' to cut this stone so it will look like chanics. We need today intensive, rather than that part of the blueprint." There was a man that extensive policies, not simply more wheels in the had gotten a sense of the relation of his work to machinery but a religious output of greater per- that of the workmen all about him. The traveler sonal, civic and ethical value. said to the third man: "What are you doing It is evident that what is needed today in the here?" Pointing to the rising walls and battle- home missionary enterprise is not so much an ments and pinnacles of the home of legislation intellectual demonstration of Christianity as a for a great part of the British Empire, the stone- practical embodiment of Christ in personal, eco- cutter said: "I am trying to do my part in build- nomic, political and social life. Everything is ing that House of Parliament." There was a ripe for this kind of missionary service. Faith man whose drudgery was redeemed by his vision, in the God revealed in Jesus Christ has not col- who saw his daily task as a part of the building lapsed. Home missions in terms of New Testa- of an empire. May these days give us that great ment Christianity has nothing to fear from any vision, and so make home missions mean the modernism or modern rival. Christianity holds building up of a finer and nobler North America, the clew to all other religions because it sets which will be at once the leader and the servant forth, not as symbol but as its ultimate personal of a nobler world!
Can the Church Do?*
By the REV. IVAN LEE HOLT, Ph.D. St. Louis, Missouri Pastor of tbe St. John's Metbodist Episcopal Church, South nA..JUGGLER in an English music hall, thrilled These problems now confront the Church: with stories of diamond discoveries in 1. Debts ~n buildings and decreased incomes South Africa, decided to go and try his are producing a sense of defeat. In Indiana luck with other adventurers. Within a short there is a church which has had three buildings time after his arrival he had obtained a handful on the same lot in one hundred years. The lot of diamonds, and before him rose visions of lux- cost $50 in 1837; the present building cost urious living at home, his neighbors envious of $150,000. That church, which is without a debt, his great wealth. In order to make a greater im- is a fine example of the progress of Protestant pression he decided to trade the handful of dia- Christianity. Another Indiana church built a monds for a very large diamond and then sailed fine building when money was readily available for home. through an investment bank. The bonded debt is On the long journey back to England the pas- now $125,000 and the church is unable to meet sengers became weary, and the ship's officers the interest. Hundreds of churches in this pre- asked the passengers to contribute to a program dicament have either closed or given up their of entertainment. The juggler exhibited his programs of service.
skill, and to create greater excitement, he began Another financial difficulty confronts the Church one day to juggle the diamond. The interest of because for a generation it has preached chiefly the passengers led him to attempt a more daring a social gospel. Financial drives have gathered thing. Standing with one foot on the ship's rail, money for general enterprises until the church he dexterously juggled the diamond. Suddenly benevolent boards are almost bankrupt.
the boat gave a lurch, he missed the diamond, 2. Two great efforts for the establishment of and it went to the bottom of the sea. the Kingdom of God seem to have failed. With Today, many an American has suddenly lost the enactment of prohibition and the signing of his wealth. It is difficult for him to believe now the Kellogg-Briand Pact for the Outlawry of that it is gone. Many hope that conditions will War many thought the Kingdom had come. Now soon change and prosperity return. This is evi- a modification of the Volstead Law and a repeal denced by the willingness of the unemployed to of the Eighteenth Amendment seem certain and accept the situation without a riot. Men hope we are likely to face a drunken debauch. The that debts will soon be paid or adjusted. Local failure of the Disarmament Conference at Geneva banks are urged to extend credit. People still in- indicates that nations are not ready to outlaw dulge in gay parties and seek pleasure in sensual war. Today we are under the necessity of begin- satisfactions. Men and women seek to forget ning anew the fight for temperance, and we must their troubles for a few hours in order that they initiate a more effective program of education may be ready for a new effort to regain their for peace.
prosperity. The diamond will be ours again! 3. In its missionary enterprise the Church is In commenting on this attitude, a business man facing a problem. Weare told by the authors of said: "In a period of rising prices, men desire "Rethinking Missions" that evangelism must no to be salesmen. Even in the church men have longer be thought of as the winning of men and talked of 'selling the Gospel'! What we need to- women to Christ but as ministering to the needs day is people who can read a balance sheet." of man in the spirit of Jesus. With this shift in Some Modern Church Problems missionary thinking, there has come a decrease in missionary giving. The leaders of the Church The Church has been almost as ineffective in are trying to save the institution and its program.
these days of depression as many of our churches So much of the effort of pastors must be given to were in the World War. cooperation with denominational executives that an~ ~~e ag~~~~~h di~i~~l~edp::~se~~e ~.lI~f:~o h~fdnf~~~e;~b~~~ ;,~h:o ~~~ there is little chance to think through the Chris- tian message for individuals who are confronting cemher 2. under the auspices of the Hom,- Missions Council and the problems in their personal lives. [,'ederal Council of Churches.
[145 ]
The Present-Day Message and Strategy greatly concerned with her neglect of the church The church which I serve has been a force in and asked what the minister could do to help. our city, and the leadership responsibility is Mrs. D- was brought up in a church atmosheavy. In the midst of many other demands connected wHh efforts to save our Christian institu- phere. As a girl she became deeply interested in tions and the denominational work, I have tried society but remained active in church work until to bring a helpful message to individuals. In she married and moved to a different city. There company with my fellow ministers I have been she found it much easier to move in social circles saying: than to take up the work of the church again. She belonged to a modern smart set that thought 1. Material things have counted too much with lightly of affairs between unmarried couples. us. We have thought more of dollars than of This girl's affair with a young widower was .well men. Now the time has come to emphasize hu- known, and her mother, anxious to bring her back man values and to put our faith in things that do to the church, came to ask what I could do to help. not pass away. Miss J- had always known a religious en- 2. It is the function of the Christian religion vironment until she went to college. There her to give us courage to go on. It may not answer religious views came into conflict with the new all our questions, but it can give us strength to philosophy she was taught. She had planned to face the future unafraid. This is the only re- major in philosophy of religion, but she soon ligion which gives hope of ultimate triumph. learned that she could not accept her earlier con- cepts of religion. Now she is contemptuous of 3. If we catch step with Christ, then God will the beliefs of religious people and yet she exlead us to greater things. His Kingdom will come presses an earnest desire for a faith that she has and it will be a mightier kingdom than we had not. How can I help her? anticipated.
A new strategy might be suggested for the Mr. M-, a member of a large banking firm, Church: concerned himself with many activities. His 1. Perhaps it is true that the only way to capi- work with the church and with social agencies talize depression and rescue the debt burdened had won for him high esteem. Then he lost in- Protestant Church from a sense of defeat is terest in all these things that had made his life through a closer union of Protestant denomina- and became restless and unhappy. Finally, he tions. committed suicide, and a life insurance agent re- 2. The Church must begin again to fight for vealed the story of his relationship with another temperance. In pleading for sober living and woman. When the woman threatened to expose self-control, the Church will be occupying ground him to his wife and children and friends, he knew where no one can dispute its right to stand. The but one way out. Had the minister known in Church will also find it necessary to begin a long time, what could he have done to save the man?
program of education for peace. There may be Another very different experience comes to more progress by that method than through mind, a story told me by a minister in another hastily passed resolutions. city. When a large industrial corporation dis- 3. Statistical evidence of the growing member- charged three thousand men, a minister preached ship of the Church may be found less conclusive a sermon on "Men or Bread." In his congrega- than evidence of the permeation of non-Chris- tion was the treasurer of the corporation and at tians with the spirit of Christ. Perhaps, the the close of the service this man came forward Kingdom of God cannot be dramatized as we have to ask, "Have you seen the last statement of our been doing! company? If not, I would like to bring it to you Ministry to Individuals in Need this afternoon." The minister examined the statement and asked some direct questions. He Weare concerned here with the ministry of learned that the dividends had averaged 27% the Church to individuals, and must turn from over a period of ten years, though they had fallen a consideration of the organic task of the Church to 60/0 the preceding year. Only the seven di- as an institution. I will try to introduce you to rectors of the company knew these figures. "If some individuals whom I have met in recent you use them," the layman said, "and give the days: ' source of your information, I will lose my job.
Mrs. T- is a daughter of a loyal Methodist However, you may do it because I believe you layman. Inasmuch as her family had money and were right in that sermon. I want you to have influence, she became a member of the Junior in your possession facts sufficient to defend your- League. She found a great deal of inspiration self against attack." What a wonderful thing in attending lectures and gave much of her time for a minister to have a layman like that in his to the social service program. Her father was congregation.
WHAT CAN THE CHURCH DO?
Many of our laymen are being drawn out of We have been planning retreats, but we do not the Church into community service. At a recent understand the technique as it is understood in luncheon a minister was urging a group of lay- the Roman Catholic Church. We must have at men to support the church program. One of once a plan for retreats which will take a group them said to him: "For fifteen years you have of men or a group of women out to a quiet place been preaching a social gospel and urging us to for meditation and prayer and worship. It must serve our world. Now do you want to take me be far more devotional and inspirational than the out of that work?" How is a minister to answer gatherings which ordinarily go by the name of such a question? retreat among Protestant churches.
The Unimportant and the Essential Things 3. A group fellowship. People need to live closer together. The director of charity relief in Endless problems have arisen due to the pres- my city has been pleading with the churches to ent economic situation. I am convinced that some send out visitors to the homes of distressed people things which we have regarded as necessary are and to provide some kind of group life. People unnecessary and other things which we have been in distress need more than bread, and the city inclined to overlook are absolutely essential. church has a wonderful opportunity of supplying Among the things which seem of least conse- the need. We can do something to put courage quence just now are these: in to the hearts of the distressed hundreds in our cities, both in our churches and outside of them. 1. The building of additional units for the church structure. A minister's success has too How to Use the Hour of Worship often been measured by his ability to raise money for buildings. Today we need a new standard The hour of worship finds the largest group as- of success. sembled, and here the minister's supreme task 2. Cleverness in maintaining prominence in a confronts him. He has worshippers of different community by the use of clever advertising and temperaments, and he must be as much concerned in other ways. Today demands that consecration about their worship as his own. The service be substituted for cleverness. ought to make God real and promote integration 3. The entering into the social life of the world. of personality. Some ritualistic services are I have joined many clubs in recent years in order meaningless and some informal services are in- to make contacts and extend my influence. As a effective. In a great cathedral in England I have result, I fear that I have yielded too much to the found only six worshippers present. I remember opinions and standards of the world about me. finding the very aisles packed in one city church There must be more of the influence of the that boasted a jazz band and a sensational speak- Church in the world and less of the influence of er. The tendency in worship today is to formal- the world in the Church. ity and ::Esthetic appeal. But a beautiful service Some things which seem to me essential today may be a hollow mockery! In a service of wor- are these: ship we must keep the end in view, What am I 1. The confession of sin. A minister cannot for- seeking to do for my people? Am I seeking to give sin, but the minister of Christ can understand bring them into more vital relation with God, a his people and help them to find peace. Never realization of the wholeness of life and its unity, have human hearts been more heavily burdened a new vision, or a passion for a better world?
nor human minds more worried. With smaller The goal must determine the type of service! Too staffs of workers our city ministers face more many times we imitate or have the service which different kinds of responsibility than for the past suits our particular taste.
ten years. Time must be found for personal in- In the Protestant Church service the sermon is terviews. People are vexed in spirit, and take still central. The message is important. In a their own lives. A way must be found to allow time of economic distress and social change a time for personal visits and an opportunity for Psalmist of Israel prayed to God: individual confession of sin and failure. Many there are who say, who will show us any 2. The class meeting. I am not particular good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy counte- about the name, but it is necessary to have some nance upon us. Thou has put gladness in my heart place for the interchange of experiences. It may more than they have when their grain and their new be a forum where young people discuss vital ques- wine are increased.
tions, not one where very liberal or radical speak- We must teach this Gospel. Faith in God offers ers give startling conclusions with little chance compensations for the loss of material things.
for discussion, and sane conclusions. It is too When we are confronted with the question, "Who early to evaluate the Oxford Group Movement, will show us any good?" our answer must be that but the idea of sharing religious experiences is of the Psalmist. From the richness of our Chris- fine. tian experiences should we not be able to answer
men's perplexing problems through pointing out were almost openly admitted to be nonsense. Rethings which turn to good? The day is past when ligious emotion was stigmatized as enthusiasm. we compare ourselves with others. Our measur- Theology was satisfied if it demonstrated the posing standards are changed. After ali the accumu- sibility of a deity. Morality was low. The age lations which count are in our hearts-beauties, showed no deep or strong feeling except that and memories, and loves. which came from the underprivileged from whom there came a real cry of hunger. Into that empti- The Church and Society ness came John Wesley and through him the grace of God! In the beginning of Methodism John Wesley had a clinic, a charity society, and an old folks' In America desire has been king, and a man home. He saved his preachers from an emo- claims that he must have his satisfactions. Zarational fanaticism by having them arise at four thustra says, "Egoism is the essence of all noble in the morning to study their Bibles. But in the souls. . .. All old-morality monsters, and especoming of the industrial revolution, the Church cially Christianity, have waged war against the was helpless in its effort to direct a social move- passions of humanity with a view to exterminatment. We must seek to change tendencies and ing them. The praxis of the church is inimical only Perfect Love can do that-"as in heaven so to life." With such a philosophy, no wonder we on earth." have social irresponsibility and sexual promiscu- ity! Were the Tractarians right in feeling that There are hundreds of ministers heralding the the Church should stand aloof from men, that economic and social revolution, but in this discus- the Church is strongest when it is in protest sion the question arises, "Are we ready for it?" against the spirit of the time? Are there enough transformed men, Christians with Perfect Love, to make a respectably large The question .today is not: "Is Christianity citizenship were the Kingdom of Heaven at hand? true?" but "Is it possible?" It will not work for I have a friend who is a radical socialist and who worldly men. John Hutton says, "The Church preaches in a wealthy church in a residence sub- needs today an aim short of the ultimate aim of urb. "How can he do it?" The people like him. the Kingdom of God. The religious life of I am inclined at times to boast of my freedom as Scotland has always had, I think, a very near an advocate of social righteousness. Yet I won- horizon." der whether those who have listened to me are better Christians. This is a kind of heart-search- As Faust lay dying he saw a vision of a naring which alone qualifies a man to preach. Economic readjustments do not come by resolutions row peninsula of land extending out into the or peace by pacts-nor will the Kingdom come by great ocean. He recognized the ocean as the sea bold social declarations. We must have a return of knowledge. As he gazed he saw a great wave of faith to the individual. Science and criticism of human knowledge let loose from the hard-won will not withstand a genuine return of spring and maxims of the human race, and with exultation summer to the soul of man. Such a faith, in spite he watched that wave as it crept up over the sand of its new interpretation, will have the same back- of the peninsula on which were two structures, ground. It will bring with it a newly recovered the Christian Church and the Christian home. confidence in life. Sooner or later the sea would overflow and de- stroy those two institutions. Then his attention Perhaps never, during the course of almost two was diverted from the oncoming tide by the smoke thousand years, did Christianity so widely lose of a fire which was consuming them. Though the character of a spiritual religion as during the he had desired their destruction, he now called last half of the eighteenth century. In all Prot- out in agony of soul to God that he might be estant countries the general aim of its accredited spared to replace those haunts of the spirit. Such teachers seems to have been to explain away its will be the attitude of many a destructionist. mysteries and to extenuate its supernatural character; to reduce it to a system of ethics; in short May God enable us to lead men into the higher to enthrone the human mind. Religious dogmas fellowship with one another and with ·Him. "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us."
Sad will be the day for any man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life he is living, with the thoughts he is thinking, and the deeds he is doing; when there is not for- ever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do, because he is a child of God.-Phillips Brooks.
in the Mountains of
I By F. 1. MEADOWS, Baptist Hospital, Puebla, Mexico -efi I THE Mixe Indian is very superstitious. swer: "Manana" (tomorrow). The next after- Though every village has its Roman Cath- noon when we are ready to travel, I give him an olic Church, the popular beliefs and prac- injection and leave capsules which the "profestices are those passed on from the remote past. sor" (local school-teacher) promises to see that The lightning is the god that he fears most, and he takes. The Mixe is not at all pleased because with apparent reason, for we are forcing a foreign med- have not many churches been icine upon him.
destroyed by this "storm One man suffering from a king"? On many occasions contagious eye trouble used the Mixe makes offerings to the teacher's eye drops until appease the wrath of this god his eyes were nearly well; so that his animals may not then, to hasten the treatment, be struck by lightning as they he called in his witch. This g r a zein the mountains. fellow drew, with his mouth, Mount Zempoaltepetl (mean- apparently from the patient's ing twenty mountains be- temple, the wings of a grass- cause it rears its head so hopper, and its legs from the high that this number of back of the sick man's neck.
ranges can be counted by one These, he said, had entered standing on its crest) is the through the inflamed eye.
center of his sacred places. The curander (witch) de- Fresh turkey blood is sup- elared that a man suffering posed to satisfy the lightning from pneumonia was lacking god, which is thirsting for his spirit, which he had lost the blood of the peon's flocks. a few days before when he With much ceremony, chant- was deprived of his carga ing and prayers, the blood of (merchandise) just as he had the fowl is spilled upon the finished crossing a river that lofty crags and the tender carried one of his burros flesh is left hanging for wild down to its death. Fright animals to devour. The Mixe and anger caused him to does not eat many eggs, nor "lose his spirit" in that river will he sell them, for they are A ~OUNTAIN TEACHER AND HIS FAMILY and his life depended upon considered food for his dead I" MEiXICO their being able to recover relatives. He buries them this spirit from another little therefore near the grave of his loved ones, though stream near by. Thus they deceive the people.
he knows that dogs dig them up and eat them in If a patient has affairs to arrange, the witch less than twenty-four hours. throws a rooster into the air, to see if he will live The humble home of the Mixe is sometimes or die. If the fowl squawks or makes a noise made of sticks, through which not only wind but before he touches the ground the patient will re- the chickens can pass. The straw roof is re- cover; if he alights without making a noise the paired often enough to protect him from the man will die. Some of these people go to bed downpour that lasts for eight months of the year. without real cause and hide within their thatch We enter and may find him shaking with a ter- and mud walls where the beneficial rays of the rible malaria chill. We offer to trade quinine sun cannot help them.
capsules for a bit of corn for our horses. He does The Mixe has few wants-tortillas and black not refuse but he is enough Mexicanized to an- coffee, sweetened with his homemade brown [ 149 ]
A MISSION SCHOOL IN THE MOU NTAI SS OF MEXICO "Th e t eacher understands n o Mlxe, a nd his pupils do n ot unders t a nd Spanish,–therefol'e h e has a diffi cult task,"
sugar, sustain his life. Peppers for which he The emissary of the Federal Government is famous, give the taste that satisfies him. In makes a social center of his school to get rid of every yard there are a few tobacco plants, and strife among the citizens over political questions. he considered himself happy, until the Federal He must try to persuade them to till the soil so Government got interested in him three years that the corn supply will not be exhausted before ago and began to send new chiefs to every vil- another harvest. In some places two crops can lage of five hundred heads or more. These new be grown each year, but it is hard for the new chiefs are in the form of school-teachers. Some leader to induce the Indians to plant early enough had to be sustained for their first few months by for two harvests. He tells them that the Governsoldiers. Even now, when oranges are falling to ment has ordered that they plant one-third of the ground, the people will give them to any who their crop by a certain date and thus puts it over. will come for them, except the "professor," whom they charge one-third of a centavo each. The Each male citizen over twenty-one years of age professor is trying to convince them that certain (if married from his eighteenth year) must pay herbs (vegetables) can be eaten, and that they into the village treasury twenty-four centavos should be planted, tilled and watered so as to add each month. As no salaries are paid to village food for their rickety bodies. The teacher has a officials, this tax is supposed to be used for the rabbitry, a modern hen house, some pigeons and school and it is hard to collect. The mayor and a carpenter shop. These people of the moun- town clerk receive the money that comes in as tains work so little and so rarely that in one vil- payment of fines. In many villages for years the lage a commission of citizens came to inform town clerk has received a salary because he was their teacher that they were not sending children the only man in town who could read. to school to work but only to learn to read and write. In another village, the officials fined a It requires much patience to be a mountain man severel pesos because he showed the profes- teacher. To enter a town and gather the children sor a hidden spring some distance from the vil- together, when not one of them understands a lage but sufficiently above its level for the water word of Spanish, is a task that is often perplexto be brought into town by ditches for irrigation ing. Sometimes the "professor" begins by countpurposes. The new "chief" was making them ing his fingers that he holds up before them; work on this project. then by making signs he persuades the children to repeat after him the numerals; and later he names the objects in the roo;m and asks them to
CHRIST, CHRISTIANS AND THE JEWS
repeat the names. Too much praise can hardly living Christ to the Indians of the great state of be given the noble work of these school-teachers. Oaxaca. Now with a dozen colporteurs, we could They leave home and family, where are always within a few years give every soul the opportusome conveniences, to live where they are not nity of learning God's pla'n of salvation. Now wanted and where they labor to uplift a people thousands of Indian children are reading their who do not know how to appreciate their self- school books at home to their parents. We should denial and endless efforts. put the Word of God into their hands before trashy and harmful literature is carried to them General Plutarco Elias Calles started to create by the ever extending mail routes. These people a new Mexico when he founded the Federal rural have lived for countless generations in darkness. school system. Already there are more than ten It would mean much to them and to the Kingdom thousand such schools scattered over the republic. Right here is the challenge to us. Formerly to have God's Book the first one made available it would have been very expensive to offer the to them.
Christ, Christians and the Jews By REV. HENRY EINSPRUCH, Baltimore, Maryland Lutheran Missionary to Jews ALL too long have Christians acted the prover- group of people? The deliberate exclusion of the ..t". bial ostrich, while the Jewish population in Jew from the missionary program of the Church is in direct conflict with the command of Him America has grown by leaps and bounds Who said, "Go ye therefore, and disciple all nafrom three thousand in the year 1818 to the present figure of almost four and a half million. tions." But more than this; the exclusion of the Jew is The reason for deliberately leaving out the Jew from the missionary program of many denomi- the most flagrant violation of the love of Christ, nations has probably been because of the diffi- whose great heart embraced not only the despised culty of winning the Jew to Christ and because of Samaritan, but people of the farthermost reaches an inherent antipathy toward Jews as such. Many of the earth and, let it not be forgotten-Jesus justify their negative attitude also on the ground that the Jew believes in God. No such argument was a Jew. is advanced in connection with missions to Mo- Sometimes we hear it said that Judaism is an hammedans. adequate religion. If it is, then why not scrap Advocates for missions to Jews have too often Christianity; why not become Jews, and thereby been content to employ the traditional argument bring to an end the age-old struggle between (good though it be) that the Gospel should be Church and Synagogue? given to the Jew from a sense of gratitude, because from them came Christ, the Scriptures, the But is Judaism an adequate religion? Was apostles and the missionary zeal of the early Jesus merely indulging in Oriental exaggeration Church. But most people do not like to be re- when He charged pharisaism, a form of Judaism minded of their debts, particularly when they are far superior to that of the present day, with being great. inadequate? "Unless your righteousness," said He, "shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes A new approach is needed to awaken a sense of and pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the responsibility for Jewish evangelization. Chris- Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5: 20). tians should be challenged to show just cause why sixteen or seventeen million people in the world- The issue is clear cut. Christians who obey in this instance Jews-should not have the Gospel their Master have no option and no alternative preached to them. Is the missionary enterprise but to offer the Gospel to the Jew. If it ought not of the Church in this twentieth century to be be offered to the Jewish people there is no reason characterized by a policy of exclusivism? What to offer it to anyone. moral right has any true follower of Christ to draw a line of demarcation against any race or This additional factor should be taken into con- sideration. The Jewish people, with the excep- tion of a few leaders, are absolutely ignorant of the New Testament message. They know of a
Christianity of fire and sword, but not the Christ be done at all, must be done by the organized of the Gospels. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the fore- Church itself. No church with Jews in its midst most Jewish leader in the country today says: should withhold its ministrations from them un- "For 1,800 years, certainly for most of that time, less it is willing to be condemned for acting the Jews have not been given an opportunity to know part of the priest and the Levite when they passed what Christianity is, least of all, to understand by the wounded Samaritan. who Jesus was and what the Christ means. The very ignorance of the Jew, touching Jesus . . . One method which has been found very helpful, condemns not the Jew, but Christendom." (From is to reach Jewish masses by means of open-air his sermon Shall Jews and Christians Worship preaching. This involves tact, intelligence and Together? ) some degree of courage. An effective medium for the Gospel is that of the printed page, not the Jews are admittedly no tame or torpid folk. In promiscuous tract, but books and treatises dealing the realm of economics, science, philosophy and with Christianity in a positive, wise manner and art they are no mere flotsam. An Einstein, a showing sympathy with the Jewish people. News- Bergson, a Freud, and the brooding spirit of a paper evangelism, in the form of a news sheet, Karl Marx, are not only coloring but shaping and could be utilized with very good results. Colportvitally affecting the Christian scene. What is age work, well organized, has proved of value. happening in Russia, in China and in other parts of the world clearly shows that the Jew cannot But the most potent and effective means of be ignored by those to whom the evangelization winning the Jew to Christ is through consistent of the world is more than a pious wish. Christian living on the part of those who are called by the name of Christ. This is not just How shall the Gospel of Christ be preached to pious talk. In a study of several hundred cases the Jew? Here in America at least, we cannot of Christian Jews, between sixty-five and seventy employ agencies similiar to those in foreign fields. per cent stated that they owed their first Christ- It would be absurd to build large educational in- ward impulse to some act of disinterested kindstitutions or medical centers, both of which would ness on the part of a Christian. Herein lies the be not only expensive but unnecessary. And it is answer which supersedes all other-and it is one idle to expect that specific Jewish mission centers which is within the power of every Christian to can ever overtake the task. The work, if it is to render.
The Mennonites Among the Indians THE Mennonjte Church began missionary The Rev. and Mrs. G. A. Linscheid, who had work among the Arapaho Indians in 1880 been active in the Oklahoma field for a number at Darlington in what was then Indian Ter- of years and had acquired a fair command of the ritory, now Oklahoma. Cheyenne language, were sent to open up the work among the Northern Cheyennes in 1904. During the first years the missionary activity They located at Busby, Montana, where a Govcentered largely in the work with· the children ernment boarding school was opened for operabut was gradually extended into the camps. As tion that same fall. The work spread rapidly till the Government established m 0 r e boarding practically the whole field was covered by three schools to care for the children, the mission main stations and a number of outstations. schools were discontinued after two decades and direct evangelistic and pastoral work both in the In the year 1893 the Rev. and Mrs. H. R. Voth camps and in the Government boarding schools were sent to open another field among the Hopi became the dominant method of activity. Indians in Oraibi, Arizona. The desert-like coun- try and the distance from railway facilities neces- The work among the Cheyennes at Cantonment sitated some real pioneering in this field and became the main station. The Rev. R. Petter the Hopi language had to be reduced to writing. was stationed as missionary to the Cheyennes at Parts of the Old Testament and almost all of the this place in 1891. He reduced the Cheyenne New Testament have been translated. language to writing and published a complete English-Cheyenne dictionary; he. translated and The Mennonite Brethren took up work among published Bunyan's "Pilgrim Progress"; several the Comanche Indians in 1895 at Post Oak Miseditions of a collection of Cheyenne songs; large sion, Indiahoma, Oklahoma. portions of the Old Testament paraphrased, and the New Testament is to be completed in a literal The total number of active communicants in translation into the Cheyenne language. the various fields of Mennonite missionary activ- ity among the American Indians is about 600. Effective Ways of Working I 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home i EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~"==~=========~~-=-=====–===I~ GEARING THE CHURCH FOR MISSIONARY EDUCATION In the apparent failure of for- ary giving; selecting a Steward- exercises being included: an ilmer methods and motivations ship Chairman from the official lustrated folder was mailed to nowadays to impel to mission- board of the church, and the in- all the church families in the ary endeavor, we are turning to clusion of missionary programs fifth week, urging liberal supa technique of thoroughgoing in the Church Night Calendar. port for the new plan; and on A comparative record of mis- the Sunday just before the coleducation, hoping that larger knowledge may blaze the path sionary offerings served to lection a card of instruction for a new regime. This is well: arouse the groups to increased with an offering envelope was but let us not forget that it must liberality. All this paved the given to each member of the be a spiritualized, God-directed way to an important step-the Church School, asking that the campaign which does more than support of our own church mis- money be handed in the ensuing appeal to the intellect and sionary. Sunday.
reason. The dynamic must be The next step taken by the Auxiliary methods for creatspiritual or the results will fall pastor was to secure the coop- ing atmosphere were: (1) The short of Christ's ideal. The eration of the several leaders of plans herewith presented give groups. Appearing before the use of a movable poster board on promise of filling these specifi- women's group, the stewards which were displayed pictures and the Sunday School Council, and missionary news items; (2) cations. a mission study class, organized Cultivating a Missionary Atti- he proposed for church support to meet weekly; (3) well-in- tude of Mind in a Church a missionary on the field, al- formed speakers appearing ready esteemed by many in the from time to time before every Miss Margaret Todd, church congregation, a freewill offer- department of church activity; secretary of the Highland Park (4) a large map of the chosen Methodist church in Dallas, ing to be taken to start the ball Texas, tells forcefully how the rolling. After the leaders voted mission field made and illumimissionary attitude can be de- their support, a committee was nated, a new message or picture veloped by a program of educa- chosen and definite plans for the being placed in its center week tion in the local church. "We campaign were made. by week; (5) a stereopticon had become so completely ab- lecture given weekly before one sorbed in meeting the local Then the great art of adver- or another group of the Church needs of a growing constituency tising was utilized. Printed ma- School; (6) an afternoon tea that we had almost forgotten terial was distributed regularly and missionary exhibit held in our responsibility for the larger -a letter sounding a new spir- the church parlors on the Sunfield," she says. "There were itual appeal and enclosing a day before the offering date, scattered groups interested in service pledge listing ways in interesting articles being dismissions, but our church as a which the recipient might ren- played by foreign students in whole felt no challenge and had der personal service was sent their native attire; (7) an ataccepted no missionary project. out by the pastor and the chair- tractive missionary play given Therefore we set about an in- man of the board. Some two on the last Church Night of the tensive 'missionary cultivation' hundred people signed the campaign. What wonder that program." pledge. In about a week, heads on the offering Sunday the fund of families received missionary amounted to more than $1,500? folders including a statement of The first move was to recon- the new plan for supporting a A vital part of this intensive struct the missionary agencies missionary through freewill of- plan was that of the follow-up already in the church, tying the ferings, the date for this offer- work. Nothing was left undone keen interest of the Woman's ing being announced. to "keep the home fires burn- Missionary Society to a wider Two weeks later every teach- ing"-excerpts from the mis- church interest; appointing a er in the Church School received sionary's letters were printed, Supervisor of Missions to ar- a letter appealing for support his name used in the church range special programs, prepare of the plan as therein outlined, publications, his work honored exhibits and stimulate mission- a prayer for use in the general on missionary anniversaries, in- [153 ] formation and news from him into at least three or four are always members ex officio.) were brought before the mem- groups-little folks, 'teen age This steering committee should bership. In spite of the finan- and two adult units. Both home have for its task the general cial depression, the next year and foreign missions are pre- charge of the cultivation of the saw the offering increased by sented and the selection of class missionary life of the Sunday five hundred dollars, while the is purely voluntary. Dismissal school, each member being as- regular missionary offerings is at 8: 30. The average attend- signed some different depart- were accentuated 50 per cent! ance for three years has been ment and made responsible for This is a rare project demon- from 20 per cent to 25 per cent one or more points in the policy.
stration of what "prayer, pains of the church membership. MISSIONARY INSTRUCTION and publicity" will do under ad- SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICES 1. In the Class verse circumstances.* During the study period, it is By a missionary study of the A Coordinated Plan for the aim to have speakers repre- Bible, teachers being urged to Mission Study senting both home and foreign give special attention to the phases of the work, with an oc- teaching of missionary princi- Rev. Ralph A. Waggoner, D.D., casional presentation of Chris- ples of such lessons as are clearpastor of the Broadway Pres- tian Education. A young peo- ly missionary in content, and byterian church of Sedalia, ple's evening pageant is also also to collect and use mission- Mo., writes of the program used planned. The missionary society ary incidents for the illustration in his church, beginning in divides into groups who accept of Scriptural truths. early autumn. In cooperation responsibility for every phase of with the president of the mis- the program. Such an endeavor By the organization of sepa- sionary society, leaders are as this makes a good start for rate mission study classes or chosen and material placed in the winter's work. clubs. The sessions may be held their hands during the summer during the week in the homes, months, the goal being to have Bringing the Bible School or in connection with the at least 90 per cent of the mem- Into Line church's ann u a 1 School of bership hear some missionary World Friendship, the class presentation one or more times In the detail of "rethinking teacher or some other qualified during the special campaign. missions today," a prominent person directing the study. Rally plans are made well in ad- place is being given to missionvance of the study period. The ary education in the local By the use of regular graded presentation is eventually made church; hence the attention of missionary lessons. These rein three phases as follows: pastors and Sunday-school su- quire only a few minutes one perintendents may well be called Sunday of each month, or on 10 IN THE BIBLE SCHOOL to the policy and plan prepared or 12 consecutive Sundays, be- by the Young People's Mis- ing supplemental to the Bible Beginning the second Sunday sionary Movement and recom- lesson for the day. They may of October, 20 minutes are used mended by the Missionary De- be used in either graded or unfor five or six consecutive partment of the International graded school, though fitting weeks, in the worship service Sunday School Association after more easily into the former. of maj or departments of the approval by leading workers school, the ablest story-tellers 2. From the Desk or Platform available presenting reviews of throughout the United States (a) A well-prepared missionthe 'teen age missionary books and Canada. In all schools not ary program or exercise in the on a background of Scripture, already well organized for defi- opening or closing exercises of singing and prayer. After this nite missionary education and the school. (b) A story or quesdifferent classes give more de- endeavor, it is urged that the tions from the desk by superintailed study to their group books superintendent assemble his tendent or other qualified perand themes. During the rest of workers at an early date to con- son. (c) An address to the the year missions is presented sider this model policy-which whole school by a missionary once a month. doubtless presents some valu- or some other well-informed WEDNESDAY EVENINGS able points for schools already speaker. (d) Reference to maps, in gear. charts and pictures hung on The church meets for a cov- walls. (e) Use of curios, stereered dish supper at 6: 30. This A MISSIONARY COMMITTEE opticon and specially prepared is without cost to those coming, slides. (f) Reference to bulleeach bringing only a covered A strong committee of from tin board containing fresh misdish of food. Entire families three to five members, headed sionary items and pictures. are urged to attend and the by a missionary superintendent services are among the most or chairman, should be selected 3. In Christian Worship as representative of the differpopular social gatherings. The ent grades of the school, one of Missionary petitions in the 7: 15 worship is conducted by its members to be on the mis- public prayer; missionary pas- the pastor. Then people divide sionary committee of the church sages of Scripture; similar • Copyright, The Duplex Envelope Co., where such exists. (Pastor and psalms and hymns; by superin- Richmond, Va. Abridged. Sunday-school superintendent tendent urging teachers to em-
HiS3] EFFECTIVE WAYS OF' WORKING
phasize Scriptural habits of paramount ideal is: "Every This plan has proved very efgiving to missionary objects; member of the Church of Christ fective in spreading missionary cultivation of definite prayer for a student of the progress of information and in arousing inmissionary objects through use Christ's Kingdom throughout terest. of prayer cards, calendars and the world." lists. Indian Program Briefs Teaching Missions in the 4. The Missionary Library and Sunday School Mrs. Claire Goodsill Chand- Literature ler, of Galesburg, Ill., sends the The following article by Shir- following cullings from her Securing and circulating the ley Swetnam Still, of Atlanta, plans for this year's work best missionary books available, Ga., gives another practical plan among young women: also solicitation of subscriptions that has been tried and not to missionary periodicals, in- found wanting. There are two The most important event of cluding THE REVIEW. The Ju- groups of women in the church the Guild year was the house venile Missionary Library, pre- who study missions, but many party held late in August when pared by the Young People's who are in the Sunday school the girls went into "retreat" in Missionary Movement, may be are not a part of either group. an attractive location for the had for $5.00. Graded lists of We believed that if these other better part of two days to presuitable books may also be ob- women could learn about mis- pare plans for the forthcoming tained from your own denomi- sions they would pray and give study. Programs were connational headquarters, including toward the cause; also they sidered, committee chairmen those of the United Study would be likely to come into one presented their new goals, new Course for the current year. or another of the missionary or- members were inducted, the ganizations as they became in- Reading Contest chairman ad- 5. The Missionary Offering terested. These women will vertised her new books, etc. A probably never become inter- tiny folded paper tepee con- Prayerful planning should be ested unless it can be accom- tained the outline of activities done to develop the spirit of be- plished in the Sunday school. and the agenda (entertainment nevolence in the school through and business being artfully comindividual systematic and pro- There is a missionary com- bined), all phraseology being in portionate giving on the part of mittee in the women's class, and terms of quotations from Hiaeach member of the school, in- this committee decided to select watha, as, for the White Cross cluding giving to all objects in some field to be studied each work-"Took again their mats which each group should be in- quarter. At the beginning of unfinished" ; scenes from the terested, on the basis of a defi- the lesson period, the teacher year's study book-"All the nite pledge paid weekly, where gives two minutes only for the marvelous dreams and visions"; possible, in addition to the of- presentation of a missionary games in the roof gardenferings on special days such as fact. Then the missionary bank "Skilled was she in sports and Easter or Christmas. The plan is passed through the class to pastimes," etc. The closing would naturally have to be va- receive the offering. If India is "feast" was termed "Hiawatha ried according to the basic con- the subject for the quarter, then Banquet," with program inside dition as to whether the school the committee brings facts on the folded garment of a beautiis supported by the church or India or India's missionaries fully made Indian maiden, the carries its own expenses. every Sunday. In this way by toastmistress being Nokomis, twenty-six minutes' brief and successive toasts on topics in 6. Recruits for the Mission intensive presentation of facts Hiawatha language being given Fields on India, the women are much on "Hiawatha's B rot her s," better informed. The chief "Hiawatha's Chickens," "And Systematic efforts should be danger is lest the committee beyond them stood the forest," made to bring the subject of overstep its two minutes. This and "Stood the grove of singing missions as a life work to the at- must not be done or it will make pine trees." The plan proved a tention of members of the the class resentful at the loss of great success. school, a Missionary Day hav- time from the Bible lesson. ing proved helpful to give defi- I saw three ships come sailing in, niteness to the appeals for In next to the last Sunday of So fair at close of day; money and service. the quarter, the committee gives out a list of ten questions and StewaTdship and Fellowship It is suggested that an outline answers on the country studied And W oTship led the way. of the plan adopted be sent to and on the following Sunday your denominational boards to these questions are taken up and And what rare gifts were in them, ensure suggestions as to the best answered in the class. On this Beneath the sunlight sifting, teamwork. Further informa- Sunday also the mIsSIOnary tion may be obtained by writing bank is opened and the money The sacrificial gifts and prayers to the Missionary Department, sent to some missionary in the F'or living, loving, lifting. International Sunday School As- country studied. Then a new sociation, 805 Hartford Build- field is chosen for the next quar- Dear God, the F'ather of us all, ing, Chicago. Missionary mind- ter and a new fund is started. Increase our gifts, we pray, edness is an absolute essential in following Jesus Christ. The Till every nation in the world Shall bow beneath Christ's sway.
-The PTesbyteTian Magazine.
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BULLETIN OF I The Council of Women for Home Missions I ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~~~——~~'~–~–~~~~~–~~~I~'
FOLLOW THOU ME into the Church together will come. They are (1) tribalism the beauty of the Lord our God which militated against united Theme Hymn be fulfilled in the Christian action, cooperation and effec- Church. tive organization; (2) isolation Through good report and evil, Lord -the Indian constantly has felt Still guided by Thy faithful Word,- Miss Nona M. Diehl led the the brunt of a cruel and relent- Our staff, our buckler, and our sword, meditation periods during the less frontier; (3) segregation annual meeting on the following which stands for exclusiveness, We follow Thee. topics: Precedents to Follow- -another way of expressing ing; Requisities to Following; race prejudice. Segregation may With enemies on ev'ry side, Rewards of Following. be a temporary expedient as far We lean on Thee, the Crucified; as schools, hospitals, churches Forsaking all on earth beside OUR INDIAN LUNCHEON and missions are concerned but The Joint Indian Committee segregation m u s t ultimately We follow Thee. of the Home Missions Council and the Council of Women gave cease. ° Master, point Thou out the way, a luncheon on January 10 at The goal of assimilation and which Dr. Frank A. Smith, Nor suffer Thou our steps to stray; chairman of the Committee, merging of whites and Indians Then in that path that leads to day presided. The Rev. G. E. E. should be gradual. The Govern- Lindquist, Missionary-at-Large ment owes the Indian more be- We follow Thee. for the Society of the Propaga- cause he is a human being than tion of the Gospel Among the because he is an Indian. A new Thou hast passed on before our face; Indians, and also a member of charity and a new spirit tow.ard Thy footsteps on the way we trace; the United States Board of In- the present relation of whites 0, keep us, aid us by Thy grace: dian Commissioners, presented and Indians are needed. There "Some Present-Day Emphases are four chief requisites, name- We follow Thee. in Indian Work." After citing ly-education conceived in its clear evidences of progress on broader sense; sympathetic un- Whom have we in the heaven above, the part of Indians who "like to derstanding-a matter of the Whom on this earth, save Thee, to be going somewhere," he named heart rather than the head; pa- three great barriers in the path- tience,-"he who deals only love? way of Indian progress toward with the head is foredoomed to Still in Thy light we onward move; a worthy goal. These barriers failure" in his service to the are slowly but surely being over- people; fellowship in which We follow Thee. "friendship speaks a language [156 ] all tribes can understand." -Horatius Bonar. In the light of the above, the Tune-Hanford 8, 8, 8, 4. province of the Christian mis- sionary is the task of interpre- Collect tation and guidance-the sine qua non of missionary endeavor. o Almighty God, whom to This may mean (1) decentral- ization in organization; (2) know is everlasting life: Grant us perfectly to know Thy Son making use of resident forces; Jesus Christ to be the Way, the (3) demonstration; and (4) Truth, and the Life; that, fol- cooperation which is a practical lowing His steps we may stead- demonstration of unity. fastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
The theme of the annual meetings of the Council of Women for Home Missions was "Follow Thou Me." Miss Lindley of the National Council, Protestant Episcopal Church, led the meditation hour on Sunday, applying "Follow Thou Me" to the Church as a fellowship, through which the Kingdom of God is to be presented so beautifully that the world will pattern life on it. Not until all the communions are brought
BULLETIN OF THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
Rev. David Owl spoke at the tee of the Council of Women, people of the Church, and that these same luncheon on "What the presided. The following ques- denominations are not promoting dis- Indian Wants." "To say what tions and topics were presented tinctly missionary groups. the Indian wants," he said, "was for discussion: The relationdifficult, for different Indians ship of organized young wom- 3. We recognize the difficulty of and different types of Indians en's groups to organized young promoting a youth-centered program want different things.'" people's groups in a I 0 c a I in some young women's organizations church; the relationship of the which have in their membership those Mr. Owl has worked for young women's group in a local who should be enrolled in an organizaeight years among the Seneca church to the older women's tion of older women, and we realize Indians on the Cattaraugus Res- group; the relation of organ- that young women will usually profit ervation in New York. This most in an organization which is reservation is twelve miles long ized Sunday-school classes to the wholly their own responsibility. Howby six miles wide and under missionary program of the local ever, we do realize that after high state jurisdiction. The Indians church and denomination; how school age, grouping might be accordthere are really wards of the does the missionary education ing to interest rather than age. Government but the State of program for student groups New York has voluntarily taken gear into the whole missionary 4. We deplore the fact that our conover jurisdiction. He has been education program of the de- tact as a Council Committee with trying to develop good fellow- nomination? does the informa- student groups is ineffective for the ship and a spirit of cooperation tion disseminated through de- promotion of missionary interest; and with his comrades, his minis- nominational literature p r e- we desire to do more along this line terial associations and with fel- pared for young people's groups through a closer cooperation with low missionaries. Indians want give the full scope of the mis- student secretaries, student pastors, harmony among those who are sionary task-(a) denomina- and others who have contacts with working with them so that they tionally, and (b) interdenomimay see a straight road ahead nationally; an appraisal of students. and may go ahead confidently, Home Missions in the light of vigorously. That has been one the findings of the Home Mis- We recognize the fact that students of the main tasks of the mis- may not always be interested in the sionaries. sions Congress. current theme for mission study and that our missionary literature should "LET NO ONE DESPISE The findings are as follows: be related to their interests. YOUR YOUTH" 1. We recognize the value of having 5. We recommend heartily the in- missionary education a part of the in- -Paul to Timothy. tegrated program of the church, but clusion of information on the inter- There was held on Sunday until this is possible, we recommend denominational missionary projects afternoon, January 8, 1933, in that all the agencies in the church administered by the Home Mission the Madison Avenue Baptist correlate their programs. Councils in the denominational literachurch, New York City, in con- ture which reaches young people. nection with the Twenty-fifth The integrated program offers a Annual Meeting of the Council place for special interest groups, such Since the Council of Women for of Women for Home Missions, as young women's mission study Home Missions is still an organization a conference of young people's classes, service groups, etc. which is pioneering in the realm of secretaries of the various de- program and relationships, just as it nominations represented in the 2. We recognize the trend in some was twenty-five years ago when or- Council. This conference was denominations to build a total pro- ganized, Miss Seesholtz expressed the called in accordance with the gram of which missions is an integral belief that its program would appeal following recommendation made part, that will reach all the young to young people and hoped that they at the 1932 Annual Meeting of might have a share in building the the Home Missions Council and program of the Council. Council of Women for Home Missions: It was decided that this be discussed more fully at a future meeting of the It is evident that the future of the committee on young people's work of Christian Church not only in the pul- the Council, together with methods by pit but in the pew rests in the hands which the findings of the North Amerof the youth of today. We therefore ican Home Missions Congress might be urge upon the Councils that our pro- revived and brought to the attention grams shall give full recognition to of the young people of our churches. the importance and the problems of the religious life and training of our youth. We therefore suggest to the Executive Committee of the Councils that a session be set aside at the next Annual Meeting for the consideration of our young people in relation to the Church and its missionary work.
Miss Sue Weddell, Chairman of the Young People's Commit-
~~' OUf W orld~wide Outlook '11
~['-'—~~~~–A–M~is=si~on~a"ry"N"e"w"sp"ap"e,r ,o,f C,u,rr,e,nt,E,v,en,ts,,,,,~-~~-,~ LATIN AMERICA African slaves, pro b a b I y be "the religion of the state, to The General Unrest Hausas, were compulsory Cath- the exclusion of all others." olics, but on the liberation of the Argentine Colonists Kaleidoscopic changes of gov- slaves forty years ago, tried to ernment in the smaller republics resume Mohammedan tradi- Argentina receives the largest of Central America and the Car- tions. number of immigrants of all ribean have long been common- South America and offers a place, but at present, partly due A few years ago some Brazil- large opportunity for evangelto the world situation, even the ian communities sent a delegate ical Christian work. Over 300,- stronger republics are in tur- to a Mohammedan Conference 000 arrived in 1931. The Rev. in the Near East, and since then Paul Penzotti, American Bible moil and confusion. In Chile there have been some signs of Society Secretary of the La and Peru the government is a renewed interest. Plata Agency, writes in the Somilitary dictatorship; diplo- ciety's Record: matic relations between Argen- In Argentina the only Mohamtina and Uruguay are strained medans are Syrian Arab immi- The province of Santa Fe was set- grants and in Buenos Aires tled in 1870 by people belonging to for the most trivial reasons; three races: British, American and Argentina, the strongest Latin there is a Pan-Islamic Associa- tion. Waldensian. Today they constitute American nation, is considering The number of Mohammedans a colony of over three hundred famia new issue of paper money and in South America has been esti- lies. They have a fine self-supporta moratorium; Paraguay and mated at 180,000 but Mr. Ken- neth Grubb thinks 160,000 or ing congregation, with a school. Bolivia are at war over the In the province of Entre Rios are Chaco district and many have 170,000 would be more accurate. several important colonies of Gerbeen reported killed; there is an There is no special evangelical mans, Russians and Waldensians. economic crisis in Colombia and Christian work among these Mo- One colony has a population of 2,000, which has six evangelical churches, conflict with Peru over Liticia; hammedans; but Bible societies, one of them with over one thousand members. The Waldensians are nu- Ecuador is in the throes of a in centers where immigration is civil war in an attempt to oust merous in Rosario Tala and in the its recently elected president; constant, dis t rib ute Arabic southern part of the province of Scriptures. In Buenos Aires Buenos Aires where they number in Venezuela, the military dicta- there are missions to immi- 3,000, with large properties and sev- eral good churches. In the south of tor has ruled the country for 20 grants, and every man who apyears; civil war is still threat- plies for help receives some part Argentina the most important colony is in the territory of Chubut and beening Brazil since the State of of the Scriptures in his own lan- longs to the Welsh. Their churches Sao Paulo, the strongest of the guage.-JENNIE B. LOGAN. union, desires to control the send yearly contributions to the Bible Society.
country through its wealth. Church and State in Peru EUROPE This great country is in danger of shattering what was left of A powerful liberal party in Open-Air Meeting Commended Peru, desiring the complete sepits economic edifices by a frat- aration of Church and state, has Ralph C. Norton of the Belricidal war. made a strong but unsuccessful gian Gospel Mission quotes an Islam in South America fight to secure this declaration article by a "columnist" in an in the new constitution. A dec- influential Brussels daily, giving In Brazil there are said to be laration was approved which an impression of an open air some 30,000 Mohammedans. reads: "The government pro- meeting of the mission. When Islam was introduced by African tects and sustains the Catholic he saw the compact mass of hu- slaves, and more recently by im- religion, although others shall manity grouped around several migrants from Syria. They are enjoy complete liberty." One bareheaded men, he thought it principally in Bahia (Central regulation is that "the religious might be a political meeting.
Brazil) and in the Amazon patronage shall be established "I saw in the center of the basin. In Manaos, a river port in accord with the existing prac- circle a group of men of differ- 1,000 miles inland, there is quite tice and legislation." The women ent ages, some giving away a circulation for literature in of the country, who are gener- tracts and song sheets, one play- Arabic. Few Mohammedans ob- ally active Catholics, turned the ing a harmonium. What sur- serve the holy seasons and rites tide. The original constitution prised me most was that when of their religion. Some of the declared Roman Catholicism to the speakers addressed the au- [158 ] dience, it was not as 'Comrades,' for the year 1931 were 6,806,- the right to withdraw from this les- 'Citizens,' or 'Ladies and Gentle- 466 marks (about $1,700,000). men,' but as 'Dear Friends,' as The increases are as follows: son, and the subject does not enter they went on to speak of the love missionaries, 185; native work- into their examinations. He repeated of God for them. I was much ers, about 800; Christians, about the assertion that the New Testament struck by the serious attention 100,000; schools, 10, and schol- was the best book in the world. Colof the crowd of 200 of all classes ars, 14,000. The income is more porteurs had the right to sell Biblical and ranks of society. During than 600,000 marks less than the discourse no one murmured, for the year before. The con- lite,rature everywhere in Italy. no one laughed or joked. These tribution for foreign missions Fascism, he said, is not a religion open-air meetings are a novelty from Germany for the period to Belgians, but are to be com- 1927 to 1930 constitutes 3~'107o in the traditional sense. It is only mended for their dignity and of the entire missionary income simplicity." of the world and with this money that we believe in it with all the fer- 570 of the missionaries of the vor of our being, and give ourselves The Gospel Mission is the first world and 10% of the Christians fully to its discipline. The Fascist to be accorded permission to among the heathen are taken symbol is placed below the Cross. hold such meetings in Brussels. care of. Religions in Hungary Christian Youth Movement Religious Trends in Spain in Norway According to the latest census The Spanish Revolution is not report of Hungary, the religious A great religious awakening anti-religious. The Minister of affiliation of its population is as among the youth of Norway is Foreign Affairs, Luis de Zulu- follows: taking place, according to the eta, has written a book entitled Luthersk Ugeblad. It affects "The Prayer of an Unbeliever," Roman Catholic … 5,634,103 people in every walk of life as written, however, in a religious is shown in greater attendances vein and full of Bible quotations. Greek Catholic …. 201,093 at church services, prayer meet- A Spanish Bible lies on his work ings and Communion; in more table. The President of the Reformed ……… 1,813,162 diligent searching of the Bible Council, Sr. Azana, has transand in Christian life, according lated and published George Bor- Evangelical (Luto Bishop James Maroni. It is row's "The Bible in Spain." The the hope of Pastor John M. Dis- Spanish philosopher, Ortega y theran) …….. . 534,065 loff that the awakening means Gasset, insists on a basis of the beginning of a new Pente- Christian ethics for the building Greek Oriental … . 39,839 costal day. of the new nation. In the prov- inces of Badajoz and de Caceres Unitarian ……. . 6,266 "Red Christians" in Germany public halls and trade union halls have been opened to Jews ………… . 444,567 The German religious press preaching without charge. A states that a new sect has arisen secretary of the American Bible Baptist ………. . 9,399 in Saxony known as "Red Chris- Society in Latin America, while tians" which has as its special visiting his native Spain, was Nazarenes ……. . 2,487 objective the mocking of earnest elected a member of the Parlia- Bible searchers. The society is ment from the province of Se- Anglicans ……. . 242 under the direction of a "kultur" ville. missionary. The "Red Chris- Mohammedans … . 291 tians" say that as Christ came -The Sunday School Times. to kindle a fire on earth" they Methodist ……. . 67 will light this fire-red as blood. II Duce on Religion in Italy The first meeting was held in Adventists ……. . 409 Dresden. Premier Mussolini in an inter- view with Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Sabbatarians …. . 61 German Foreign Missions C. Norton of Belgium, gave his Increase views regarding religious condi- Unaffiliated …… . 1,859 tions in Italy. He said, among The Year Book of the United other things reported in The Unknown …….. . 309 German Mission Conferences Sunday School Times: shows the following foreign mis- 8,688,319 sion work done by German so- There is real religious liberty in cieties: 567 chief stations; 1,- Italy, the same freedom for Jew, The Balkans 620 German missionaries; 10,- Protestant, or Catholic. 600 paid native workers; 1,143,- A new missionary situation 000 Christians gathered among As to the place of the Bible in the has arisen in the Balkans. Three the heathen; in 3,944 public and national life Signor Mussolini said million Mohammedans in Al- 72 higher schools 240,000 schol- that the priests and nuns have the bania, Yugoslavia, Rumania, ars were taught. The receipts right to give one hour's religious in- Greece and Bulgaria have be- struction each week in the primary come more accessible to Chris- and secondary schools, but not in the tian influence than ever before, university; that the Protestants have especially in Albania. When the Turks began to revive the mem- ories of their pre-Islamic Ta- taris and Turanian civilization, the peoples of the Balkans re- called their Christian civiliza- tion which Islam overpowered in the fifteenth century. At present Christian missionaries find a desire for Christianity, which heretofore has been un- known there. Albania desires to see its children educated and its women emancipated. They are most highly respected and in their mountains the company of a woman is more protection to a traveller than a troupe of sol- diers.
Atheism's Five-Year Plan "God must be out of Russia inside of five years" says Stalin, according to the London M orn-
ing Post. We are told that on tians, but in the face of this and are eager for Christian May 1, 1937, there must not re- many others asked for baptism. teaching and love to hear of the main on the territory of the U. What is the result today? A resurrection of our Lord and S. S. R. a single house of prayer recent letter from the wife of the life to come. A feature of to God, and the very conception Mukasa, a prominent chief in the mass movement in this dis- "God" will be banished . . . as Uganda says: "On the part of trict is that the women learners a revival of the Middle Ages our church the Christians total outnumber the men; this is a which has served as an instru- 162,000 and more; the churches hopeful sign, since the women ment for the oppression of the number 1,840. We have in usually lag far behind. -C. M. S. Gleaner. working masses. In the capi- Uganda 2,630 Christian teach- tals of Russia all churches and ers. In the population of four Ujiji Today prayer houses must be closed by million the Christians number May 1, 1934. The great cathe- 559,000. Although Ujiji, where Stanley dral of St. Isaac in Leningrad A Missionary in Libya and Livingstone met, is in the has been converted into an athe- very heart of Africa, it is not in- ist theatre. "Reasonable unbe- That apostle of the Sahara, accessible today. Livingstone lief" will be inculcated among Dugald Campbell, has been tra- took more than two months to the masses. versing the famous Red Desert go from the coast to the lake; On the other hand, the com- of Libya, a vast world of sand (now it can be done in two mander-in-chief of the Red dunes with scattered oases. "I days). Livingstone had an ar- Army, Woroschilov, says: "Re- ran into a Taureg caravan," he duous and dangerous trek; one ligion has in these years writes, "carrying dates to Gha- may now travel in a comfortable strengthened immensely. One dames and had a very interest- compartment of the Tanganyika finds in the army, more com- ing talk with the men. They Railway, and on reaching Ki- monly than elsewhere, Commu- were able to read my Tamachek goma, the railhead on the lake- nists who do not conceal their translation of Luke." Of the side, the remaining five miles to sympathy with religion, who Senussi Arabs he writes: "They Ujiji are covered by taxi.
have no intention of parting are the hardest of all African Ujiji has 15,000 people. Other from it. While army secretaries people, proud beyond words. African villages have no kind of report atheism to be one hun- Islam has hardened into hate the plan, the huts being dotted about dred per cent in the army, in once fine races of ancient Bar- as though they came down in a reality religion has advanced. bary. Yet Islam is crumbling shower from the sky; Ujiji has The whole army is infected with and Mohammedan's-name counts as clear a plan as New York, it. In Moscow forty per cent little today. and its long, straight streets are religiously-minded Commu- "This land of Libya has been cross each other at right angles nists." cursed by the fury of the Senussi with all the precision of a grid- Dein Reich Komme quotes an hordes, torn by war ever since iron. unnamed Russian paper as say- the Prince of Peace was cast out Old men show the spot where ing that everywhere religious by the wild armies of the False Livingstone stood when he organizations are forming…. Prophet. My soul aches for grasped Stanley's outstretched The return to religion is found Libya, my heart goes out to its hand. Today he would see there not only among the older peo- deceived races, and my prayers a motor road, a mission school ple, who are disillusioned by the are for its ultimate and effective and a football match going on. present form of government, but conversion to the Christ whose -The Living Church.
even more among the young." cross Simon of Cyrene (a Lib- A Live African Parish -The Sunday School Times. yan) carried to Calvary in the long ago." Rev.H. A. Neipp, missionary AFRICA -The Sunday School Times. of the American Board, declares Remarkable Changes A Kpata Mass Movement that he never knew the heavy burden of responsibility being In 1875 Henry M. Stanley ap- The old religion of the Kpata carried by the elderly, loyal na- pealed to the Christian churches tribe seems to have died out. A tive pastor in Bailundo, West of Great Britain to send a sacred cave which has been a Africa, until he substituted for mission to the unexplored and center of heathen worship for him and officiated at some 30 wholly pagan region north of hundreds of years is now utterly marriages in one week, beside Lake Victoria. The first part of neglected, and the path to it is funerals and other church cere- eight missionaries, under the overgrown. The descendant of monies. For example at one Church Missionary Society, left the priest, who would normally church so many people attended England in the following year. have carried on the worship, is that more than a third of the In March, 1882, five Uganda . now a Church Missionary Soci- congregation was on the outside boys were baptized as the first ety teacher. The old women, of the building when 39 babies, converts. A year later King who are generally the last 49 grown-ups and 50 children Mtesa died, and his son Mwanga stronghold of heathenism, have took their first step toward full began a persecution of the Chris- given up their former worship Christian discipleship.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
"The native church is estab- liefs. Turkey is trampling on theran Orient Mission, reports lished to grow in spite of depres- traditions, an indication of new evidence of a gradual change sion and retrenchment," says and higher ideals. among the Kurds which he as- Mr. Neipp. "With rapid growth, Compulsory primary education cribes to the influences of the however, there is the inevitable is her ambitious program. Un- Gospel.
ten den c y for irregularities, til recently 96% of the men, and One evidence of this is that where groups are not super- 99 % of the women, were illiter- the leading liberal mullah held vised. To check this the central ate. By every device possible public evangelistic meetings in church is limiting the number of Turkey is striving tow a r d the open air in Urumia. The out-stations which may be higher educational standards. meetings were announced by no- opened, and is sending out 15 re- She is concerned not only with tices printed and posted every- liable men to organize each out- social and civil liberty, but with where, inviting people of all re- station into a self-governing religious questions. In a book ligious faiths, Christians, Jews congregation." entitled "The Book of the Citi- and Moslems, both men and zen" published recently, the women. They were conducted A Century in Tembuland chapter on Religious Liberty at 7: 30 every morning for the Clarkebury, one of the oldest surprises one by stating, "Reli- first twelve days of the month. gious Liberty does not mean Audiences ranged from 2,000 to missions in the heart of Tembu- merely the right of every per- 5,000. land, was founded in 1830 and son to be free in his own belief, named in honor of the celebrated but it means that every church Almost every day the speaker Bible commentator, Dr. Adam should be free to be established gave ten minutes to condemning Clarke. At that time the coun- and to propagate its ideals by institutions such as hospitals, the use of the sword in the servtry was in a turbulent condition schools and universities; to wor- ice of religion. "What right and only the tact of the mission- ship God as he wishes and to aries and the providence of God believe as he thinks should be have you to want to kill Chrisprevented the mission's destruc- the right of every person. Blood tians? Moses did not. Jesus tion. When the work had been shed in the name of religion has, did not; neither did Mohammed, in existence nine months 20 in the past, been greater than for he pronounced them 'People boys, 30 girls and 15 adults were that shed in political warfare. . . . Liberty is the fruit of the of the Book' and ordered cooperin school. In 1875 a boarding Gospels. Needless to say, this ation with them." Likewise the school was opened by Rev. Peter bold prophet, Husein Jahid Bey, mullah stormed against fanati- Hargreaves. Today this has ac- has met with much opposition by cism, saying: "Mistreatment of commodations for 250. About the Mohammedan press. women and children is squarely 3,000 have passed through Clarkebury since its inception. INDIA against the law and spirit of Islam." The most striking posi- Forty-five of these b e cam e A Modern Miracle tion was his clear declaration Christian ministers. for· religious freedom. "Reli- A short time before his death, gion is free. Let every man em- On the staff are seven Euro- brace the religion that he thinks pean and eleven native instruc- right." tors and several fine buildings -Lutheran News Bulletin.
have been erected during the the President of the Bombay The Fight Against Unlast decade. A beautiful Meth- Legislative C 0 u n c iI, leading touchability odist Episcopal church, cen- Hindu in Western India, said to trally located, seats 700 people. a group of British missionaries: Dr. J. J. Banninga of Pasu- -South African Outlook. I consider it the greatest miracle malai, South India, thinks that of the present day that to this great Gandhi's untouchability cam- WESTERN ASIA country, with its 300 millions of peo- Modern Turkey ple, there should come from a little paign in behalf of 65,000,000 George F. Tibbetts, known for island, unknown by name even to our outcastes is of even greater sig- forefathers, many thousand miles dis- nificance than the emancipation of slaves in America. The re- tant from our shores, and with a years as director of Christian population of but fifty or sixty mil- moval of untouchability from camps for young people in lions, a message so full of spirit and India will accomplish a greater America, has recently passed through Turkey. He speaks of life as the Gospel of Christ. . . . The transformation in this country process of conversion of India to than any other. Dr. Banninga the difficulty of our understand- says: "The outcaste is marked ing what missionaries, Y. M. Christ may not be going on as rapid- by a difference in dress, in hair- ly as you hope, or in exactly the same C. A. secretaries and Christian manner as you hope, but nevertheless cut, in customs; he is shut out friends have to face. Today the India is being converted; the ideas Mohammedans in all lands num- that lie at the heart of the Gospel ber nearly 250 millions. It is claimed that in the Near East are slowly but surely permeating from schools, temples and wells there is an inner decay and at- every part of Hindu society, and -unable even to carryon nor- modifying every phase of Hindu mal business relationships. The thought. untouchable has kept his dis- Changes Among the Kurds tance, from 16 to 64 feet, from tempts are being made to re- Rev. Alfred K. Boerger, ex- the high caste man or woman. store old customs, and revive be- ecutive secretary of the Lu- I have seen a low caste passen-
ger on the train lay his ticket One Hospital's Record gion or doctrine he pleases and upon the ground from where the to adopt any form of worship in Brahman station master pre- Dr. Ernest Neve, who has accordance with his own belief, ferred to take it up rather than been forty-six years in Kashmir, provided that it is not contrary run the risk of having the low says that in the Srinagar Hos- to the duties of a national or to caste man hand him the ticket pital the number of new out- public order or public morals." and perhaps inadvertently touch patients during last year was him." 20,472, and 2,000 were admitted King Prajadhipok no longer to the wards. More than 7,000 has absolute power but in the Islam Aroused operations, including about a new constitution the power and thousand m a j 0 r operations, dignity of the king are con- A European convert to Islam, were performed. The daily stantly emphasized. He appoints H. Marcus, of Berlin, has writ- services in the out-patient hall the members of the executive ten a booklet which Moslems led to the sale of over 2,400 Gos- committee, a group responsible propose to scatter among all pels.-C. M. S. Gleaner. to the legislature and has the English reading people in In- power to declare war, -to make dia and the West. It is a dia- Lepers in Burma peace, and to sign treaties. He logue between a westernized may issue emergency decrees Moslem and an European Chris- Rev. Richard S. Buker, M.D., and he has the power to dissolve tian, and is an attempt to dis- the American Baptist Superin- the legislature. During a trancredit Christianity and uphold tendent in Kengtung, writes that sitional period of ten years the Islam as the final religion for when lepers kept coming to him king will appoint half of the the world. Most Moslem leaders he had to shake his head and members of the legislature, the realize that "orthodox" Islam is say: "I have no place to put you other half to be elected under doomed, and frantic efforts are and no money to spend on you." provisions not yet made public. being made to readapt its mes- They could not understand how The new governm~nt has made sage to suit the spirit of the age. the representative of Christ strenuous efforts to balance the Systematic attempts are being could turn them away. He says: budget. Under the constitution made to weaken Christianity at "I wanted someone to give me princes may hold any appointive its base, as well as on the mis- $10,000 to start a leper colony position, but may not run for an sion fields of Africa, India and but finally I decided that I would elective office. China. not wait to get the colony; I would just begin treating them. CHINA -Darkness and Light. "One day a leper with three A Changing Spirit Self-support-A Goal children came after me. A six- days' journey had literally worn General Chiung of Peking is The North India FieldFi- holes in his feet. There was reported to have said that only nance Committee of the Method- nothing for me to do but take spiritual regeneration can save ist Episcopal Church took the care of them somehow. I said China. following action in September, to God, 'I will do for this leper 1932: the best I can and if another D. S. Tappan, in the Record comes, I will do for him, and for of Christian Work, writes that r. Resolved, That we make self-sup- yet another, and then if it is Thy today there appears to be "no will that I establish a leper col- anti-foreign propaganda. Tl).e port in the Church the chief objective ony, I will do my best with the Chinese are more ready to acof the North India Conference, be- funds that may come.' knowledge their own sins and lieving that only as the Church be- failures; they know their worst comes self-supporting, can it enter "I know now that it was best enemies are those within. Four into that fullness of life, and true the work should grow gradually. leaders have decided to enter spiritual experience and power which From that beginning, with the the ministry, and desire to go to is the heritage of all Christians; and help of the American Mission to theological seminary this fall." only so can it ever become a vital, Lepers we are now caring for evangelizing agency to win others to ninety lepers." Kengtung has Student Christian Service Christ. about 2,000 lepers in a popula- tion of 225,000.-Leper News. Wuhu Academy, south of II. Resolved: 1. That only those Nanking, is training young men churches which are dependent finan- The New Siam Constitution not only to become good Chinese cially on money received from na- citizens, able to earn a living, tionals and non-nationals, who are Siam is a Buddhist state, but but active agents in a program domiciled among us, be regarded as it has always been friendly to of Christian service and brotherself-supporting. missionaries. The new consti- hood. tution provides that the king 2. That the Church be regarded as shall "profess the Buddhist reli- Yuen Peh Tsiao, principal of our unit of work, and in the matter gion," but it includes a section the Academy, firmly believes of appointment and transfer of pas- establishing religious liberty for that China can be transformed tors, the wishes of the respective con- citizens. "Every person is en- only by the activities of stugregations be seriously taken into ac- tirely free to embrace any reli- dents, leading to a new sysfem count. of government based upon demo- 3. That the time allotted for arriving at the goal of self-support from among the selected Christian groups in the Mass-Movement districts, and all other places where possible, be a maximum of five years from January, 1933.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
cratic ideas. He has gathered quirers together, and with the taking the B.D. course. An- about him a devoted body of help of catechists and Bible other helpful move is that of teachers who not only teach women taught them for two sending preachers back to the classes but share their lives with weeks from early in the morn- seminary for a year's study, af- the students in a spirit of com- ing until evening in order to get ter seven years. For them the radeship not often witnessed in in as much as possible. seminary has organized a "Re- Chinese schools. They stress How the Chinese Give fresher Course."- World Call. the life of the Spirit with the result that nearly 100 per cent at- A year ago at Christmas time Religion of the Tibetans tend chapel (voluntary due to regulations of the new govern- the Chinese Christians in one The religion of Northeast ment) and a majority of stu- mission devised a unique plan dents have elected Bible study. for their missionary offering. A Tibet is a combination of two re- Groups of students were organ- large missionary map of the is- ligions. Before Buddhism beized to preach in near-by vil- lands of Malaya and Australasia came the acknowledged religion lages; a school for poor children was portrayed in black and of the land a dark system of is conducted on A cad e m y witchcraft and demons, spirits grounds with student teachers, white. Borneo was cut out and of springs, caverns and moun- filled in with black paper. At tain tops, held sway. Buddhism and other service activities form a practical program of Chris- the appropriate surprise mo- assimilated all this, but also tianity.-World Call. ment, to the strains of hymn af- gave the Tibetan a formal creed ter hymn, the black paper was with incarnations, sin atone- ments and a dogma. This dual removed and nearly the entire.
The Bethel Evangelists 700 present marched up to drop system now dominates every as- their offerings into the basket pect of existence for the Tibetan. Dr. Mary Stone, the Chinese behind Borneo itself. This Innumerable p ray e r s, cere- Christian doctor who is one of brought the contributions for monies, pilgrimages, offerings, the founders of the Bethel Gos- that field up to $546.29 in twelve penances and observances conpel Mission of Shanghai reports months. Chinese offerings from firm his belief that sin, salvation that at Foochow, a hot-bed for one congregation and Sunday and the destined rebirths of his Communists and anti-Christian school have reached $3,600 for future are settled if he will walk student movements, an evangel- the year, or $300 per month. in the way of his fathers. No istic band held a crowd of 1,000 Not only have local expenses camp is made without prayers people twice a day for 27 days. been wholly met, but above $1,- and offerings, and even a hunt- Rain or shine, the people flocked 400 has been sent away in gifts ing trip is safeguarded with sacto hear the Gospel so that schools to flood refugees, to Jews, to rificial fires around which the could not hold classes. People Borneo, to Bible and Home Mis- hunters march with incantations confessed their sins and cried sionary Societies; and about and shoutings. From the bowl for mercy. After that 132 of $400 more flowed out for inten- of sour milk the religious Tibethese came to Shanghai to at- sive evangelism. tan flicks an offering to the hovtend the Bible conference when 500 delegates came from 15 Streams from Nanking ering spirits of the air, for reliprovinces, from as far north as Seminary gion is all and in all. Because of their nomadic life the Russian border of Man- Nanking Theological Semi- the missionary must travel great churia, and from the extreme nary in twenty years has gradu- distances through a land where south of Kwangsi. At the close ated four hundred men who are there is neither accommodation of the meetings over 300 stood now serving the Church in six- nor official protection, and when up to volunteer for Christian teen provinces of the Chinese he reaches the great circle of evangelistic service. Republic, and in three different black tents that is a nomad en- Going Steadily On foreign countries. They are campment, the proper contacts serving twenty-five denomina- must be made before he can meet Amid the unrest and turmoil tional organizations. In addi- the people or witness for his in China, Church Missionary So- tion to the graduates more than Lord.-Evangelical Christian.
ciety workers are able to report one hundred others have taken some centers where there are part of the course, and later JAPAN-CHOSEN "no disturbances of any kind, found their way into Christian A Christian Conference and the work has gone on stead- work. Another three hundred ily and happily." Such is the laymen have taken the corre- An All-Japan Christian Con- case in the Taichow district, Che- spondence course, and through ference under the auspices of kiang, where there have been a it have become more efficient. the National Christian Council number of baptisms. Chinese servants of Christ. Of those and the Kingdom of God Move- pastors have organized Bible who haye taken s e min a r y ment was held last November in schools at a time of year when courses more than 90 per cent' Tokyo. Delegates were divided country people are able to spare are now actively engaged in into three groups to consider time from their work. They Christian service. Christian thought, the Church, gathered Christians and in- Young women also are now and evangelism. The following
are some of the significant res~ Looking for Light the Language School, the Korea Mission Field, and a Rescue olutions adopted: New Life Hall in Tokyo, head~ Home for Women in Seoul. For the past few years the Council (1) Hearty endorsement of the sec- quarters of the newspaper work has held a conference to find ond period of the Kingdom of God of the Church Missionary So~ more effective means of bring~ Movement (1933-34), the major em- ing Christianity into the hearts phasis to be on rural evangelism. ciety in Japan, received 10,400 of all Koreans.
(2) To ask the new Executive to applications during 1931 as a The plans for a forward movement were discussed at the prepare and issue statements in sup- result of newspaper advertise~ I a s t conference, emphasizing port of the proposed five-year plan what students may do as lead~ ments and articles. The appli~ ers ; the evangelistic side of for prohibition; the abolition of pros- cations came from every pre~ medical work; the careful study titution; and an appeal for the elimi- of forward movements in Scrip~ nation of Sunday activities in the fecture in Japan. All this work ture and history; the impor~ is done in closest cooperation tance of right living within the schools. Church and the value of per- sonal work-Korean Echoes. (3) Recommendation that denomi- with the Japanese Church. A national heads confer before opening recent analysis of a single ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC week's inquiries showed 43 from any new work, and that investigation Tokyo and suburbs, 59 from A Mission Ship Wrecked be made of the duplication of mis- From Suva, Fiji Islands, word sionary effort in small towns. has come that the Southern Cross VI, mission ship of the places where there were Chris~ Church of England Melanesian What Has Elevated~apan!… tian churches, and 79 from diocese, had been wrecked on an island November 2, on her first The Japan Times, a Tokyo places where there was no voyage. Two clergymen and paper edited by Japanese and church. For the latter a cor~ the ship's crew had departed in published in English, contains a small launch for the island of the following evidence of the respondence course has been Vila.-Living Church. growth of Christian ideas in worked out. Lutheran Changes in Papua -Record of Christian Work. The Ohio Synod (Lutheran) Japan: Korea's Campaign has arranged with the Rhenish Mission Society to return to the No amount of sophistry will 'hide In 1931, special emphasis was fields situated in the former the fact that it is the Christian work- Kaiser Wilhelm Land (German ers and Christian civilization that laid upon Scripture reading and New Guinea). When German have lifted Japan above the darkness missionaries were not admitted 50,000 families reread the New there during the war, these staof old ideals and backward customs Testament. Last year a booklet tions were provided for by the and put her on the path of progress of six lessons on "Soul Win~ Ohio Synod and Australian and higher culture. . . . Let us ask Lutherans. The Madang field, ning was sent to each of the in which the Rhenish Mission who it was that taught us in this worked for three decades with great sacrifices and where it struggle for uplifting ourselves. The 4,000 churches of Korea, while gathered about 10,000 Chrisanswer is perfectly simple. The a million copies of a small "Life tians, is ceded to the Ohio Synod. of Christ" was put at the dis- The latter in turn gives up the Christians and Christian ideas of posal of church members for Neuendettelsau field, which re~ love, humanity, justice and propriety, turns to its former society. By therefore Christianity. . . . In fact, this arrangement three mission~ ary societies have reached an it may be said without exaggeration distribution among neighbors. agreement upon a very perplex~ that if Christianity as a religion be From January to March, 1933, ing situation. at least a week's revival service making but slow progress in Japan, was planned for every separate A Chinese Merchant in Java the Christian ideas may be said to The director of a large firm have already conquered the country. of manufacturers in Batavia called on Mr. Chew Hock Hin in Help for Geisha Girls church, to be followed by sys- Singapore and talked with him tematic visiting.
Miss Tamiko Yamamuro, the To make the whole Korean Evangeline Booth of Japan and nation "Bible conscious" a num~ daughter of Commander Yama- ber of posters concerning the muro of the Salvation Army, Bible and its practical value says that in her judgment there were placed in store windows, on Christians' front doors, on is no great difference between bulletin boards, and wherever the geisha system and that of people gather or pass. Space licensed prostitution. Of 329 was bought in secular papers to young women received in Salvation Army rescue homes in one advertise the Bible, and back of year, 87 were seeking freedom the whole program there has from the licensed quarters, and 42 from the geisha business. gone up a volume of prayer. -The Sunday School Times.
About the only difference is that Federal Council of Missions a geisha may become a licensed entertainer at the earlier age of Each fall there is held in 12, and many of them become Seoul the Federal Council of regular prostitutes at the legal •Protestant Missions, a delegated age of 18. The Salvation Army . body of the six missions, the is seeking to help the increasing Bible Society, Christian Litera~ host of cafe girls in Japanese ture Society and the Y. M. C. A.
cities who are but a short step The activities of this Council are removed from the life of vice. limited to oversight of work -Christian Century. among the Chinese in Korea,
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
about Christ. As a result Mr. venient center, and work through the The average membership in 71 Chew surrendered to Jesus and villages scattered round about. From on his return to Batavia the re- hills and bush and coast line children of these churches was 100 in markable transformation of his have swarmed into Wagawaga, where 1900; it is 96 now. Financialcharacter, life and purposes was they have been willingly received by ly, small churches are expensuch that the proprietor of the Christian people who keep them all sive and their main energies are firm cabled him to visit, at his the week. Many have been converted spent in keeping alive, rather expense, the Chinese church in and sorcery has been wrenched out Batavia. Mr. Chew Hock Hin by its roots, and lives have been won- than in mini,stering to the comaccepted the invitation and derfully transformed; sins are conspent six days in Batavia. The fessed and restitution made. The munity. church was crowded, and he had new Christians have come to Kwato The following table compares the privilege of speaking in 16 for training and go back home to meetings and in five confer- witness to their neighbors. the cost of the smaller churches ences. The Dutch missionary attended all the services. Since NORTH AMERICA with the larger: then the proprietor of the firm has said that he wishes to be- The Responsibility of the 111ernbership come a Christian. The manag- Church 0-100 200 plus ing director testifies that the power of Christ has not only The Rev. James E. Freeman, Number of Churches 34 6 changed his life, but changed his Episcopal Bishop of Washinghouse into a home. His wife ton, has announced the conclu- Total Members ….. 1,592 1,517 gives her testimony to the real- sions of a conference on the soity of his conversion. cial message of the Church, held Current Expenses .. $30,548 $22,439 in the Washington Cathedral -Malaysia Message. during the last days of Decem- Benevolences ……. 5,592 8,869 ber. This conference considered A Cannibal King's Vow the reply to many searching Total Expense ….. $36,140 $31,308 questions, including the query As one King to another, a re- as to whether church people Average Per Member: formed cannibal chief has sent have the wisdom and the courpresents and a vow to King age to prevent recurrence of Current Expenses. $19.19 $14.79 George. He is Ringapat, King present conditions. The sub- Benevolences …. . 3.51 5.85 of the Big Nambas, a tribe in stance of the conclusions was: the New Hebrides, and his vow, Total Costs ….. . 22.70 20.64 sent in care of Miss Evelyn Whatever may be the causes of Cheesman, w 0 man explorer, this depression, it is world-wide. No Per Cent of Total for reads: one nation can save itself apart from the others. The world must learn Benevolence ….. 15.5% 28.3% Ringapat, King of the Big Nambas, that all men are members one of anwishes King George to know that he other. The American people may find It is clear that the increased will never eat man's flesh, white man it difficult to learn this lesson. But or black boy; that he will never kill they must learn it, for we live in a cost is not spent in service to man, white man or black boy, and world which requires world-wide co- others but in self…,preservation. that he will be good to all white men operation. We must learn that inso long as they are good to his boys tergovernmental debts incurred for More Cuts in Home Missions and do not steal them. destructive rather than productive purposes are harmful to debtor and The American Missionary As- The gifts included beads of creditor alike. They must learn that sociation (Congregational) speshells and other ornaments. armaments, being by nature offensive cializes in far-sighted planning and not defensive, are always com- for the conduct of schools and -New York Times. petitive, and that our nation should churches for Negroes, Indians, join with other nations in a perma- Puerto Ricans and Southern Papuans Turn to Christ nent effort to bring them to the low- Highlanders. It was therefore est practicable level. able to weather two years of de- The work at Kwato, founded pression without greatly modiby the late Charles W. Abel, is The World Court is established but fying its plans. But last spring moving forward. One of the we are not yet a part of it. The reign Rio Grande Institute was closed, workers, Miss Scrymgeour, tells of law must be substituted for the over sixty positions were disof a genuine work of the Spirit reign of force. God has made of one continued, and all salaries for of God in New Guinea (Aus- blood all nations of men to dwell to- the present year were cut. In tralian Papua). She writes: gether. The Church of the Prince of December the treasurer re- Peace must stir the conscience of its ported an anticipated shrinkage Our evangelistic campaign resulted own people concerning these things. of $152,000 in receipts below the in a gracious revival which spread to Only as we Christians are ourselves estimated budget. To partially the far corners of our territory. New guided aright can we bring our fel- meet this situation the Adminisfields have been opened up, including low countrymen to the light. trative Committee reluctantly Some distant valleys and hill districts. voted a further reduction in all Cost of Small Churches salaries and in all pensions of The evangelization of these parts more than $300. has been done entirely by our own A study of rural churches in Papuan young men and women. A one of New York's southeastern Religious Motive of the "Y" party of about half a dozen set off counties (completed last year) together, pitch camp at some con- reveals the fact that most of the An effort is being made by 102 churches in this county are Y. M. C. A. leaders to restore small, and growing smaller. the religious influence and the distinctly religious motive which characterized the beginning of the movement. The National Council of the Young Men's Christian Association has issued a call, prepared by the Special Commission on Message and Purpose, which summons secre- taries of local branches to a new
religious emphasis. It suggests Christian "Social Ideals" cooperatives and other organizations that this begin with the gather- The Fed era I Council of among farmers and other groups. ing of little circles of like- Churches of Christ in America "9. Abolition of child labor; ademinded members for prayer, has adopted a new statement of discussion and religious fellow- the social ideals of organized quate provision for the protection, ship, and that tliese groups find Christianity to take the place of education, spiritual nurture and some expression for their reli- the so-called "Social Creed" gious devotion. The Council which was adopted 25 years ago. wholesome recreation of every child. hopes that from these groups The new statement is divided in- "10. Protection of the family by the will spread anew more of that to four sections: (1) An hisspirit of Christian consecration. torical statement, covering the single standard of purity; education- period of the last twenty-four al preparation for marriage, home- -The Churchman. years; (2) an analysis of "The making and parenthood. Pioneering in Minnesota Social Order and the Good Life," "11. Economic justice for the farm- er in legislation, financing, trans- portation, and the price of farm products as compared with the cost of machinery and other commodities which he must buy. "12. Extension of the primary cul- tural opportunities and social services Minnesota has still mission- which is a discussion of Chris- now enjoyed by urban populations to ary territory. The parish of tian principles as applied to eco- Rev. Bert Stanway in the north- nomic relations, industrial rela- the farm family. east includes 7,500 square miles, tions, gambling and speculation, "13. Protection of the individual with famous iron ore mines and the rural problem, marriage and a vast section of cut over timber the home, race relations, inter- and society from the social, economic, land. Except about Duluth the national relations and the methcountry is sparsely settled. Over od by which the Christian ideal and moral waste of any traffic in inthis great territory, Stanway may be realized; (3) a summary toxicants and habit-forming drugs. itinerates, touching 41 commu- of the revised "Social Ideals"; nities and supervising Sunday (4) an appeal for "A New Age "14. Application of the Christian schools in 18 of them. His work of Faith." principle of redemption to the treatis in rural sections where there ment of offenders; reform of penal is no organized church. During The seventeen articles sum- and correctional methods and instituthe past year he made 1,780 marizing the general positions calls on his widely scattered taken are as follows: tions, and of criminal court pro- "The Christian Churches Should cedure. Stand For "15. Justice, opportunity and equal rights for all; mutual goodwill and cooperation among racial, economic, and religious groups.
"16. Repudiation of war, drastic re- duction of armaments, participation in international agencies for the peaceable settlement of all contro- versies; the building of a cooperative parishioners, necessitating his world order.
traveling 20,039 miles. Last sum- "1. Practical application of the "17. Recognition and maintenance Christian principle of social well- of the rights and responsibilities of mer 18 vacation Bible schools being to the acquisition and use of had an enrollment of 801 and a free speech, free assembly, and a free camp at Lake Esquagama with wealth, subordination of speculation press; the encouragement of free 197 boys and girls attending; and the profit motive to the creative and cooperative spirit. communication of mind with mind as essential to the discovery of truth."
this work being under the gen- "2. Social planning and control of The statement closes with an the credit and monetary systems and appeal for "A New Age of eral supervision of Stanway the economic processes for the com- Faith," in part as follows: with a large number of volun- mon good. teer assistants. Constantly he "We may legitimately expect that is finding people destitute of "3. The right of all to the oppor- the collective mind of the nation will food and clothing, and always tunity for self-maintenance; a wider be equal to the intellectual and adhelps them. and fairer distribution of wealth; a ministrative tasks involved, especially living wage, as a minimum, and above under the stress of critical social con- -The Christian Century. this a just share for the worker in ditions, if the moral qualities required the product of industry and agricul- are present in sufficient power. What Navajo Indian Religion ture. our people lack is neither material re- sources nor technical skill-these we At the Government school at "4. Safeguarding of all workers, have in superabundance-but a dedi- Leupp, Arizona, where there are urban and rural, against harmful cation to the common good, a courage between 400 and 500 Indians, conditions of labor and occupational and an unselfishness greater than are mostly Navajo youths, from the injury and disease. now manifest in American life. The first to the sixth grades, Mr. and tasks are beyond us and their accom- "5. Social insurance against sick- plishment will be indefinitely delayed ness, accident, want in old age and or frustrated, unless there can be unemployment.
"6. Reduction of hours of labor as Mrs. A. K. Locker, missionaries the general productivity of industry a nation-wide spiritual awakening increases; release from employment which has social goals. Our supreme and directors of Religious Edu- at least one day in seven, with a social need is spiritual awakening. cation, have to hold forty-odd shorter working week in prospect. services a week in order to take "In our extremity, arising out of "7. Such special regulation of the harrowing social conditions through- care of the groups in religious conditions of work of women as shall out the world, we therefore turn anew . safeguard their welfare and that of to Christ; for the faith of great eneducation; and several sessions deavor, for an overwhelming discloof Sunday school on Sunday on the family and the community. sure of God in the life of humanity, "8. The right of employees and em- for the dedication of innumerable inaccount of the smallness of their ployers alike to organize for collective auditorium. Attendance at the bargaining and social action; protec- dividuals to the creation of a more tion of both in the exercise of this Christian social order, and for the as- 40 services aggregates 4,360. right; the obligation of both to work surance that what needs to be done, -Presbyterian Advance. for the public good; encouragement of with God's help can be done."
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I Our Missionary Bookshelf Recent Books Reviewed for the Readers' Information I i ~,~~=—-,=============-"====—–=",-=,,,—,~'
Tr:easure-House of the Living Reli- 'The Supreme' has been substi- ings and fails to reveal the true gions: Selections from Their Sa- tuted in place of the special essence and power of Chris- cred Scriptures. Compiled and terms used in Arabic, Chinese, tianity. After reading the jewel- edited by Robert Ernest Hume. Hebrew, Sanskrit and the other thoughts of other faiths found 493 pp. $3.00. Scribner's Sons, languages quoted." here, we recall the lines of John New York. 1932. Greenleaf Whittier: This is an astonishing admis- These selections of the best sion. The speaker in the Koran, We search the earth for truth, we portions of the non-Christian the Tri-Pitaka, the Bhagavad cull sacred books and some of the Gita and the Avesta are all nnest passages from the Bible quoted as if "thus saith the The good, the pure, the beautiful. gives evidence of scholarship Lord" were in the text and re- From graven stone and written scroll, and diligence in research. "The ferred to Deity. The loved name From the flower fields of the soul; 134 documents -from which all of Jesus does not appear in the And, weary seekers for the best, passages have been selected text or the topical index. His We come back laden from our quest, were written originally in six- incarnation, His miracles, His To find that all the sages said teen Oriental languages. . . . death on the Cross and His res- Is in the Book our mothers read. Of all the sacred Scriptures re- urrection have no place in this viewed in this volume the mini- "Treasure-house." "The ar- S. M. ZWEMER. mum number of pages in the rangement selected as best shortest English translations is suited to the plan of this book Religion in Various Cultures. By about 37,835." presents these eleven surviving Horace L. Frie,ss and Herbert W. historic religions not according Schneider. Illus. 8 vo. 586 pp. The subjects under which se- to age, birth-place, size, or any $5.00. Holt. New York. 1932. lections are classified fall into preferential estimate, but acfour main parts: Faith in the cording to the alphabetical or- Religion is a subject of pe- Perfect God, Man and his Per- der of their names in the Eng- rennial interest in spite of all fecting, Man and his Social Re- lish language-from Buddhism attempts to discredit belief in lations, and a Program of joint to Zoroastrianism." God and the supernatural. A worship. Theism, in the broad- man's view of religion is largely est sense, and ethics are there- In seeking the least common determined by his early educafore the foci of the ellipse that denominator of all "the eleven tion, by his philosophy and his are made to embrace Hinduism, living religions," Christianity is experience. If he has ground Confucianism, J ainism, Taoism, presented as a sort of Christless for faith in Jesus Christ as the Shinto, Islam and Christianity. religion. The chapter dealing divine revelation of God and the There are references to the with "Salvation" as found in living, personal Lord and Savoriginal text and excellent bibli- Buddhism, Christianity, Hindu- iour, then other religions are ography and indices. The author ism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, naturally regarded as based on is himself conscious, however, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroas- false and superstitious beliefs. that the sum total is a case of trianism, gives selections that This interesting presentation of special pleading-an exhibit of present salvation only by human various religions as related to pearls and jewels from the effort and character building. various cultures attempts a sciethnic religions without the One selection from the New entific study of the subject. Hor- Pearl of Greatest Price, Jesus Testament reads, "I am not ace L. Friess is Assistant Pro- Christ our Lord. In an explana- ashamed of the Gospel for it is fessor of Philosophy at Columtory note we read: the power of God unto Salva- bia University; Henry W. tion," and yet the Christian doc- Schneider is Professor of Reli- "In order that everything in trine of salvation is wholly gion in the Department of Phithe body of the book may be omitted. losophy at the same university. readily intelligible and univer- They do not approach their subsally acceptable, there has been The collection is interesting ject as Christians for they do omitted every proper noun, to students of non-Christian re- not accept the Bible as giving whether personal or geographi- ligions but it shows all their the true historical basis of calor theological. But the ge- beauties without their shortcom- Judaism and of Christianity. neric term 'God' or 'Deity' or The deity of Jesus is denied and the supernatural is discredited.
This attitude affects also their study of other religions-Ani- Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[ 167 ]
mism, Shintoism, Hinduism, michael who has been the leader French Equatorial Africa and Buddhism, Greek religion and for thirty years and has given one on the Mohammedan peril Christianity. For some reason her heart and soul to it in loving in Africa. Here is a smaH but Islam is omitted – almost ig- devotion to Christ and the chil- fruitful storehouse of informanored. The view of the origin of dren, knows well how to tell the tion for those who will read and religion is naturalistic, based on story of this work and of the digest. fear and superstition. Much in- transfigured lives. Those who read it will be enthralled and Community Organization in Reliteresting and valuable informa- perchance may be themselves gious Education. By Hugh Hartstion is given as to the various spiritually rejuvenated. The sects, beliefs, ceremonies and so- horne, Ph.D., and J. Quinter Mil- ler, Ph.D. 250 pp. Yale University cial customs, but for any real story is bea!l.tifully illustrated Press. New Haven. 1932. and is full of human interest and knowledge of these various faiths through it all runs the golden This study, made under the cord of God's redemptive love. auspices of the Institute of Soand their influence on life we must look elsewhere. There cial and Religious Research con- seems to be here a humanistic Copies of the book may be had from Miss tains, first of all, a description of and naturalistic philosophy be- thirteen Protestant community fore which all religions pass in O. Gibson, 4 Alan Road, Wimhledom, Lon- organizations in various parts of don. S~ W., or from Dohnavur, Tinnevelly District, So. India.
review as interesting exhibits of Undaunted Hope-Life of James the country for religious educathe conceptions of man, as to his Gribble. By Florence N. Gribble, relation to possibly superhuman M.D. Illus. 8 vo. 438 pp. $1.65. tion. Its second part is a deforces in the universe. The cul- Brethren Pub. Co. Ashland, Ohio. tailed picture of the situation in 1932. one community, New Haven, tural and practical influence of Missionary pioneering days Conn., and is made up of acreligion in human life is very in- have not passed. Africa still of- counts of the social situation, the adequately presented – as, for fers unoccupied fields with hard- work of the local churches and example, in primitive nature ships, superstition, opposition social agencies, the existing worship and Hinduism on the and opportunity for building on status of church cooperation, one side and in Christian reli- no other man's foundation. and the success achieved in a gion on the other. The numerous James Gribble went out first to community program in religious illustrations in the volume are Central Africa under the Africa education. The entire study is interesting and often illuminat- Inland Mission and spent six distinctly impartial in character ing-but their study throws no years in fruitful service in East and maintains high scholarly light on God and how man can Central Africa. After a fur- standards. come into harmony with the be- lough in America, he and his K. S. LATOURETTE.
nevolent Will that rules the uni- wife returned for five years' fur- O'er Land and Sea with the Apostle verse. Paul. By A. A. Acton, B.A., B.D. ther service in French Equato- 222 pp. $1.75. Fleming H. Revell Gold Corcl-A Story of a FellOWShip. Co. New York. 1932. By Amy Carmichael. Illus. 8 vo. rial Africa under the Brethren 375 pp. 78. 6d. Society for Pro- It may seem audacious and moting Christian Knowledge. Lon- Church. unnecessary to bring out another don. 1932. Mrs. Gribble has given us a book on Paul, but the author, aware of this fact, has attempted Those who have read Miss sympathetic picture of her hus- to popularize the life story of Carmichael's earlier volumes- band as an earnest, noble, de- the great Apostle and, with the "Things As They Are in South voted Christian worker, who background of scholarship, to India," "Lotus Buds," "Raj, the cheerfully faced many difficul- limit himself largely to Paul the Brigand Chief" and others-will missionary. He has succeeded need no second invitation to read ties and hardships. His diary remarkably so that the book this fascinating and inspiring records the prayer: "Oh God, should appeal to the busy pastor, story of the work of the Dohna- purge me, and send me, and put lacking time for extensive revur Fellowship. me into the very thickest of the search. In dealing with Paul fight." The book is full of valu- and the Supernatural, the author Almost at the southernmost able information about Central is not satisfied with naturalistic point of India lies Dohnavur, the Africa and the Africans-the explanations, for the apostle little Christian oasis in India's performed miracles in the true arid and unwholesome spiritual animal life, cannibals, medicine sense of the word and the greatwilderness. Here are brought men, superstitions, manners and est miracle was when he saw the little girls rescued from vile customs, Mohammedanism, mis- risen Christ. The appendix temple service, and small boys sionary life and work and some gives a comparative chronology dedicated to immoral religious of the converts. on the events of Paul's life, but drama. They are purified, beau- alas, there is no map. The style tified in character, mind and The story is clearly told and of the book is as lively as the body and become wholesome, stimulating to faith and service. following paragraph: happy Christians. The work has its pathos, its difficulties, its ad- Its chief faults are a lack of dis- Paul was the type of man who hews ventures, its tragedies, its joys crimination in the relative val- to the line; there was nothing of and its rich rewards. Miss Car- softness or of moral flabbiness in his ues and interest in facts nar- rated and the failure to select and arrange the material with literary skill. In the appendices are five biographical sketches of other missionaries, a chapter on
make-up. As one has finely said, If to pronunciation of Chi n e s e fectively that the clay repre-
you can find a man's quitting point words, Chi n e s e characters, sents the Jews who have mixed you can measure him; bu~ if he has games and recipes. It is com- with other nations. The stone no quitting point, if. he wIll not. take his eyes from the lIght, there IS no plete, practical and interesting. cut out of the mountain smites limit to his accomplishments. Paul There are some hints as to Chi- and breaks the feet of the image was a man of the latter type. ~~en nese religion and temple wor- -this the author concludes rehe was a persecutor he was WIllmg ship. A few references to the lates to the approaching return to go the whole way;. ~hen he was a Christian religion point to of Christ to Palestine when the Christian he was wlllIng ~o ~o the Christ as the greatest of all reli- Jews are again established same thing; and no combmatIOn of there, mixed with other nationmen and of circumstances could ~ake gious teachers. alities. Then the hard clay will him turn his face from the lIght become soft and pliable in the which he had seen on the DamascuS Chinese Children of Woodcutter's hands of the divine Potter. road. He drew a straight line in all Lane. By Priscilla Holton. IIlus. his thinking. 'fhere was never any 12 mo. 68 pp. 85 cents. Friendmiddle position with Paul. ship Press. New York. 1932. S. M. Z. This children's story of small On Saying Good Night. By Lettice Children of the Great Spirit. By ChI'ldren wh0 went t sc h 1 h as Frances S. Riggs. Stories by Flor- PBieclkl.eriInIlgus&. I8ngvlois. . 224 pp. 28. 6d. ence E. Means. 12 mo. 153 pp. 0 00 London. 1932. $1.00. Friendship Press. New too little Chinese atmosphere to York. represent real life in China. The I want you to sit at my bedside, This excellent course of study little ones of five and seven seem And before you put out the light on the American Indians is pre- beyond their age. The story is pared for primary children. short and simply told and gives Tell me a story to think of Mrs. Riggs shows the value of an attractive, though idealistic, After we have said "Good Night." her experience in teaching children and Miss Means is a skil- Here is a hint as to the purful story teller. Leaders are in- picture of Chinese child life. .. pose and .character of these good troduced to the Indians; prac- night stories for children. They tical suggestions are made for Clever Country. By Caroline Gard-. are Bible stories with imaginary making the subject interesting nero IIlus. 12 mo. 159 pp: $1.50. scenes added and a setting for and adapted to children; vari- children. In the introductions ous games and ingenious activi- Revell. New York. 1932. ties are proposed; arts and cra.fts and music are presented, The executive seqretary of the are incidents from the lives of and valuable information is given on the Hopi, Navajo, FusrotnhtiiserveNryurastintrg~cStievrevicsetorgyiveosf modern men, women and chiI- Sioux, Mono, Tlingit, Seminole dren and at the dose of each and Iroquois Indians – each tribe being represe.nted by ,a life and work in the Kentucky story is a good night text and a short, well-told story. God is recognized only as the Creator, mountains. Mrs. Gardner knows thought. Mothers and other lovthe Great Spirit and giver of good things; there is practically the mountaineers and herepic-: . ers of' children will find here no recognition of the need of all children for Jesus Christ as tures the dawn of a new era in vivid, well-told stories of Zac- Friend and Saviour. the history of their. virile but cheus, Elijah, The Good Samar- Off to China. By Mabel G. Wagner. Stories by Helen F. Sweet. 12 mo. underprivileged people.. Under- itan,. Jeremiah, Josiah, Samuel, 146 pp. $1.00 cloth; 75 cents paper. Friendship Press. New York. 1932. standing and sympathy are Jesus and others not so familiar. awakened by this well-told story Ten stories of China for primary children comprise the first ·characterizedby human in:ter- The Answering Glqry. By R. C. third of this book. Then follows est, local color, romance,. hero- Hutchinson. 303' pp. $2.00. Fara course of study, suggestions for teachers-class meetings, ism, humor and sacrificial serv- rar & Rinehart, New York. worship and service activities. Material for the study includes ice. There is nothing in the After ,many novels, plays and scenes from Chinese home life, story to reveal the religious life street scenes and the production and thought of the moimtaineers moving pictures which misrepof rice and silk. The last third or to show any purpose in the resent and ridicule foreign misof the volume contains hymns visiting nurses beyond kindly sionaries, it is a relief to read and songs, Scriptures, Chinese this novel in which the principal proverbs, verses, riddles, sug- and helpful service. It shows gestions for costumes, a key the physical and social needs of character is a foreign mission- these interesting people but ary whose life and work are lacks recognition of their spirit..: sympathetically treated. The ual needs and a desire to bring missionary is a woman who la- bored for forty years alone on an them into vital relationship to island off the coast of Africa. It is a moving story of patient, self- Christ.
The Jew in Daniel's Image. By Mrs. sacrificing, heroic, and conse- G. Wingate. 12 mo. 152 pp. 3s. 6d. Marshall, Morgan & Scott. crated effort for the evangeliza- London. 1932. tion of the savages. The New York Times reviewer character- This prophetic interpretation izes it as "the story of hidden of Kin g Nebuchadnezzar's strength and piety which make dream, discards the idea that the it possible for one human being clay in the feet of the image rep- to take the torch from the hand resents Democracy and gives of his predecessor and carry it seven reasons. On the other along-indomitable courage and hand, Mrs. Wingate argues ef- determination." A. J. BROWN.
WhatAreYouThinkingAboutMissions?
DO YOU KNOW THE BASIC IDEAS AND PURPOSE?
DO YOU KNOW THE FACTS—OR ONLY RUMORS?
The World Is in a Tinw of Crisis THE PRESENT OFFERS A CHALLENGING OPPORTUNITY Those Who Know Write in niB MISSIONARY ~VJRID SOME COMING ARTICLES-no NOT MISS THEM Our Attitude Toward Non-Christian Religions By ROBERT E. SPEER (April) A German View of the Appraisal Report By DR. JULIUS RICHTER, of Berlin John R. Mott – A World-Wide Missionary By PRoF. KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE, of Yale A Banker Looks at the Laymen's Report By HUGH R. MONRO, of Montclair Are the Days of Pioneering Past?
By DR. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, of Princeton What Is the Foreign Mission Enterprise?
By CLELAND B. McAFEE, D.D., Author of "Changing Foreign Missions"
Latin America Revisited By DR. JOHN A. MACKAY, Author of "The Other Spanish Christ"
Christ and the World Today Articles on the Home and Foreign Mission Study Topics Among the Eskimo of Alaska-Today By THE REV. S. H. GAPP, D.D., of the Moravian Church Some Present Problems in the Philippines By DR. S. H. WRIGHT, of Manila On the Edge of the Great Closed Land By BISHOP WARD – A Story of the Siege of Tibet The Present Situation in Latin America By DR. S. G. INMAN, Author of "Following the Conquistadores"
DO NOT MISS THESE COMING NUMBERS Send Your Subscription Today. Ask Your Friends to Read the REVIEw-and Know the Facts THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD DR. ROBERT E. SPEER, President; DR. WM. I. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President; DELAVAN L. PIERSON, EditOl' Subscription and Publication Office: Third and Reily Streets, Harrisburg, Pa. Editorial Office: 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City Subscriptions, $2.50 a Year; Single Copies, 25 Cents Each Ask for the REVIEW at Your Booksellers, at the Library, and at the Summer Conferences
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1926
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Department No. 20 609 FIFTH AVENUE, AT 49TH STREET, NEW YORK HARTFORD Theological Seminary School of Religious Education SEMINARY FOUNDATION Kennedy School of Missions W. DOUGLAS MACKENZIE, President A UNIVERSITY of religion. Three and cultural life of New England, half way between Boston and New York. separate schools of Christian training A series of handsome and well-apgrouped on one campus. The The- pointed buildings makes its campus one of the most beautiful in its section of ological Seminary trains for the minis- the country. The 'Case Memorial Li- brary containing 125,000 volumes is try; the School of Missions for the for the use of the three schools. This is one of the richest theological libraforeign field; the School of Religious ries in the country. The faculty is com- posed of 27 scholarly men and women Education for the lay worker and with vitalized personalities who have attained distinction in their respective teacher and for social service. Courses fields.
in any of the three schools are open to all students. Thus opportunity is offered for full-rounded religious edu- cation. .
Hartford Seminary Foundation is located in the center of the intellectual HARTFORD SEMINARY FOUNDATION, Hartford, Conn.
Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON. E.tiltor CONTENTS FOR MARCH, 1926 Page }'RONTISPIECE ……………. M,SS,ONARY WORK BY THE WAYSIDE IN MEXICO EDI'L'ORIALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1'65 THE GROWING FOREIGN PROBLEM IN CLOSF.R COOPERATION IN FOREIGN AMERICA MISSIONS HOME MISSION FORCES MEET IN ST. FACTS ABOUT THE PUILIPPINES LOUIS THE UNIT'ED STEWARDSHIP C'OUNClL THE NEW CRUSADE OF YOUTH STATISTICS THE EVANSTON STUDENT CONFERENCE ……………. MRS. E. C. CRONK 173 A graphic picture of what happened at the new "religious declaration of independence" of the Christian students in American unit'Braities.
ARE FOREIGN MISSIONS AT A STANDSTILL' ………. HARRY A. RHODES 179 A missionary to Korea calls attention to some of the present-day criticisms of foreign missions and di.'C'U8SCS the question of advance or retreat.
ANSWERED PRAYER IN BELGIUM ……………… Mlts. RALPH C. NORTON 181 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR IN MISSION LANDS ………… FRANCIS E. CLARK 182 The honorary president and founder of the United SOoWty of Christian Endeatlor gives evidence from his 10tlII experience and world-wide travel to show the value of Christian Endeavor work in building up mi.•sian churches.
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERIOA ………….. FLORENCE E. SMITH 183 A missionary to Chile describes the great progress made in the last twenty years in combating social evils in South American countrie.•.
'l'HE CHALLENGE OF MEXICAN IMMIGRATION ……… EDWIN R. BROWN 192 A stirring appeal to the Protestant Church of America to give M'exican immi· grants the Gospel of Chr-illt at a timo when they are mo.•t susceptible to its injiuence.
BUILDING A CHURCH OF GOD IN MEXICO …. _………… N. W. TAYLOR 197 The story of how a Mexican who had heard and accepted the Gospel used his injiuence to build up a church in a community of poor Christian Indian .•.
TODAY IN MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G. B: WINTON 199 A brief word picture of the present sitWltion in 'Mexico as shown by the po- litical. fducational and religious condition•.
WHAT THE .CHINESE THINK OF CHR.ISTIANITY ……….. ARTHUR RUGH 201 Very interesting expressions by Ch~ne8e stUdents and others show'ing Iheir re- action toward Christianity, with their view of it.• failures and pos.•ibiliNes.
'l'HE ANTI-CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN CHlNA …………….. . 0. Y. CHENG 204 One of the Chinese secretaries of the Christian Council of China writes a very illuminating article on the extent and influence of tile movement against Christianity, fostered by Chinese students.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS AS SEEN BY A TURK…………………… _.
. …. _…………………… , ……….. QUOTED FROM A TURKISH PAPEIt 207 BEST METHODS SEEN AT EVANSTON …. _…………. MRS. E. C. OR.OOK 209 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BUL,LE,TIN …… EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN 215 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLET'lN …. EDITED BY ELLA D. MACLAURIN 218 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ………………………………………… 221 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY ………………………………………. 237 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published mr.nthly. Copyrighted, 19216, by MISSJONA&Y REVIEW PUBLISHING CoMPANY, INC. All rights reserved, THill MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
Robert E. Speer, PresIdent WillIam I. Chamberl..ln, Vlce-Prelld…t Dela,..,n L. Pierson. Secretary Walter McDouga.lI, Treasurer Pllblle&t1oD om…, 3d A Reily SU., HarrIsburg, PI.. 250. a copy $2.60 a year Edltorl..1 and BUBlne•• Omce. 156 FUtll A…..U., Ne.. York City ••ter04 .. locond-cl… mILtter at tho Post Omce, HarrIsburg, PI." UDder Act of M..rch 3, 187& PERSONALS JUST PUBLISHED E. GRAHAM WILSON, since 1917 executive THE COST OF secretary of the West Side Y. M. C. A., New York City, has been appointed treasurer of A NEW WORLD · . . the Board of National Missions of the Pres- By KENNETH MACLENNAN byterian Church in the U. S. A. Secretary of the Conference of Missionary So- cieties in Great Britain and Ireland; General DR. AND MRS. J. K. GIFFEN, of the United Secretary of the United Couneil for Missionary Presbyterian Church, have completed a quar- Education, London. ter-century of service in the Sudan Mission. A SURVEY OF CURRENT WORLD • ** LIN TIEN Ho has been chosen by Dr. Car- MOVEMENTS AND THE RELEleton Lacy of the American Bible Society as his associate secretary in Shanghai. His VANCY OF JESUS CHRIST TO grandfather, a pirate, was one of the first converts of the Methodist Episcopal ll is- THEM. . sian in Foochow over fifty years ago. "One of the notable books of the season." *** -Public Opiniotl.
DR. JoH'N CoBB WORLEY, organizer of the "At once timely, instructive, and thought- World Friendship Travel Service of the Mis- compelling_" -Church Missionary Review. sionary Education Movement, sailed on December 28th from San Francisco with a "We should like to put his book into the group of travelers interested in seeing Chris- hands of every man and woman in this countian missions at work. Later Dr. Worley try who subscribes to foreign missions." will organize tours for Alaska, Latin America and Asia. -The British Weekly.
•** Price One Dollar DR. SAlI[ HiGIHNBOTTOM, the principal of Published by the Allahahad Agricultural Institute, is now in America to raise money for the Institute. MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT Ove~ $5,o,,oO'O.0(l is definitely pledged or paid, leavmg about $252,00,0.00 to be secured. 150 Fifth Avenue New York City In Cincinnati the Allahabad Higginbottom Association has been formed. Each member of the Association fixes his or her own dues at $1.0Cl, $2.00, $5.,00, $10.00 or $100.,0,0 a year.
The six Missionary Fellowships awarded Life Annuities by Union Theological Seminary, New York, for 1926-27, have been assigned to: Work the Impossible Rev. Paul G. Hayes, S.T.B., Wuhu, China, They provide comfort and evangelistic missionary of the Methodist peace for your old age Episcopal Church; R~v. M. Hunter Harri- They provide security for son, S.T.B., Professor, Jaffna College of the your dear ones American Board, Ceylon; Rev. Emory W. They are safe-sure-de- Lnccock, B.D., Institutional ,Church, Shang- pendable hai, Chilla, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.; Rev. A. W. Wasson, S.T.M., President of the AT THE SAME TIME Vnion Methodist (South) Theological College, Seoul, Korea; Rev. T. Hiraoka, pastor, ~atsuyama City, Japan; Rev. William Sage "'oolworth, Jr., B.D., American Mission, Caesarea, Turkey.
* OBITUARY REV. G. H. BoNDFIELD, D.D., who retired They are your opportunity in 1923, after forty years of missiouary life to do your part for the in China, twenty-eight of which were spent Kingdom now-TODAY! on the staff of the British and Foreign Bible Society, died on November 9th. He is For lull details addres. said to have heen the directing force of the great Union versions of the Bible in Wenli M. W. Ehne., Treasurer, Board 01 Foreign and Mandarin, as well as of many translations and revisions in colloqnial Chinese. Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 150 Filth Avenue, New York, N. Y., or * W. J. Elliott, Treasurer, Board 01 Home Mis. REV. S. J. WmTMEE, who first landed in sions and Church Extension 01 the Methodist Episco. Samoa as a representative of the London pal Church. 1701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Missionary Society sixty-two years ago, and who gave lessons in Samoan to Robert Louis Stevenson, has recently died in England.
Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW 07 'l'XII WORLD in writing to advertisers. (See article on page 197)
MARCH,1926
XLIX THREE THE GROWING FOREIGN PROBLEM IN AMERICA FORTY-TWO nationalities in a district with a population of . forty thousand were recently discovered by aNew York Oity pastor in a canvass of his parish. A study of the children in the public schools of a Rocky Mountain city disclosed thirty-two nationalities in a population of six thousand. A company of Koreans living in the mountains sent a representative to a pastor in that same community, asking for someone to preach the Gospel to them.
Not only in cities and smaller towns are the foreign-speaking peoples settling in large numbers and showing little evidence of becoming Americanized, but foreign-speaking peoples are settling also in rural communities. Easy transportation permits tradesmen and artisans to live from five to fifteen miles awav from their work so that those who lived in the open country in their native lands, after an experience of congested city life in ….merica, are turning back to the soil in great numbers. To evangelize these scattered groups filtering into rural communities, already occupied by tenant farmers, lays a burden upon our national home missionary societies which, in the next decade, will become exceedingly difficult.
In no section is this tendency more marked than in New England. With the Protestant youth leaving the farms to attend the higher institutions of learning and then going out to seek their fortunes in the cities of the land, and with the well-defined tendency of foreign-speaking groups to settle on these farms, Protestant Ohristianity, in rural New England, faces a new problem. The spiritual conquest of these peoples will tax the resourcefulness and leadership of New England home mission agencies to the utmost during the next one hundred years. Protestant Ohristianity must contend for its verv life in the face of these difficulties and tendencies.
What is true in New England is true in varying degrees in every state. Is it any wonder that a British minister, invited to a Boston pulpit, is said to have declined the call with the facetious remark, 165
that he could not think of accepting a pastorate in such a city because he could not preach the Gospel in six languages. Many firmly believe that the assembling of the nations in America, with the inevitable assimilation of these people in the years that may follow, is the .Divine attempt to create a people in America that may transmit the spiritual gifts of Heaven to the nations of the earth. c. L. W.
HOME MISSION FOROES MEET AT ST. LOUIS F OR the first time the Annual Meeting of the Home Missions Council andCouri.cil of Women for Home Missions met in an , inland city, at St. Louis, Missouri (January 21st to 25th). Most of the joint sessions were open to the public and were well attended by St. Louis church workers-a real evidence of cooperation. One of the interesting features of the conference was the presentation by Dr. H. Paul Douglass of a re-study of certain areas of St. Louis made since his original survey of St. Louis churches. He urged the churches of St. Louis to "make a stand" by "digging in" at their present locations although faced with startling changes in neighborhood conditions. A local committee composed of workers representing the Protestant religious communions in St. Louis invited Dr. Douglass to return to St. Lous four weeks later to present the results of his studies before members of the various boards of citv mission societies. Dr. William P. Shriver recommended a chur~h extension plan that should reflect an intelligent cooperative effort to meet the needs of the people rather than a slavish adherence to sectarian development.
The most important business of the Oonferellce was probably the report of a joint commission of the two Councils and the adoption of a set of principles, subject to the approval of the various constituent Ohurch boards and the Federal Council of Churches as to the future relationships of the Home Missions Council, the Council of Women for Home Missions and the Federal Council of Ohurches. These principles have in view the closer cooperation of the Councils so as to avoid overlapping, promote economy and increase efficiency. The Program Committee of the Conference for the 1927 meeting was ah:;o asked to give major emphasis to the question, "The Future Program and Policy of Home Mission Agencies."
"The Greatness of the Home Missions Task," by Dr. Charles L. 'White of New York, president of the Home Missions Oouncil, "The Need for Greater Oooperation, " by Mrs. John Ferguson of New York, president of the Council of Vomen for Home Missions and" The Essential Factors in the Building of a National Christian Conscience," by Dr. E. Y. Mullins of Louisville, Ky., were the subjects of stirring addresses at the opening session. Evangelism was named as the major imperative of the hour because it ministers to the dynamics
EDITORIAL (JOMMENTS
rather than to the mechanics of government. "The evangelistic preacher," said Dr. Mullins, "will be needed as long as there is a need of the civic and social reformer, the legislator, the judge or the statesman. He releases the slumbering moral and spiritual forces which are expressed in laws and institutions and other practical ways and means for realizing the ends of democracy. Christianity aims to deal with the sources of political action in men's hearts. It leaves men to frame any form of government they choose. Almost any form of government will succeed if men are first made right in heart and conscience. "
Dr. Clayton S. Rice pleaded for a thorough-going Christian program for Utah and the pick of America's trained workers to carry out the program. "Send your best young men to Utah for at least four years," he advised. The world-wide missionary enterprise of the Mormon Church, he said, was an object lesson of personal sacrince for the Christian Church.
Protests against sectarian Indian contract schools, anti-Semitic movements, mistreatment of Orientals and Negroes in America, and recommendations for increased comity among Protestant churches, greater missionary labors among migrant and immigrant peoples, and increased efforts to Christianize Mormonism, were among the resolutions adopted by the Councils in executive sessions.* COE HAYNE.
THE NEW CRUSADE OF YOUTH " AS the Student Interdenominational Conference at Evans- W ton a "flash in the pan," the sputtering of a fuse leading to a powder magazine, or a fire kindled in the hearts of Christian youth that will yet set the Church aflame with new zeal for a more practical and self-sacriiicing Christianity? We hope that it will prove to be the clarion call of the Christian youth of America to a New Crusade to put the program of Christ into practice in the Church and in the world.
The Evanston Convention, which is more fully considered elsewhere in this number, was intended to be a protest against the failure of the Church to unite so as to meet successfully the problems that are preventing a realization of the Kingdom of God on earth. r1'he seven hundred and fifty student delegates, including young men and young women of different races and denominations, did not represent a cross-section of the student body but rather a cross-section of the youth of the Protestant churches of America.
Though these students are still lacking in information and ex- * Officers of the Home Missions .councU for the comIng year are: Dr. Charles L. White. pres- ident; Dr. Charles E. VermUya, executive secretary; Miss Augusta N. Behrens, treasurer; Dr. John McDowell and Dr. George L. Cady. vice-presidents. and Ralph S. Adams, recording secretary.
The CounciJ of Women for Home Missions elected omeera as follows: Mrs. John Ferguson, president; Mrs. Edwin W. Lentz, recording secretary; Mrs. Orrin R. Judd, treasurer; Miss Florence E. Quinlan. executive secretary; Miss G. Evelyn MOorse. assistant treasurer; Miss Laura H. Parker. executive supervisor farm and cannery migrants; associate supervisor Miss Louise F. Shields.
perience and are impatient at restraint and failure, they are on fire with a desire to do something to correct the failures and abuses that they see in the Church and in society. "They have strong convictions on some moral questions and express themselves with unbounded self-assurance, but they manifest a sportsmanlike courage and readiness to take as well as give hard knocks. Above all, they manifest a sincere devotion to Jesus Christ and a desire to put into practice His principles of life as they understand them.
The general argument on which the Evanston Convention seemed to be based was: Conditions in the world are bad-politically, racially, industrially, socially and religiously. The Church of Christ is failing to stand out fearlessly and to unite effectively to remedy the existing evils. There has been too much theological discussion and too little practice of Christ's way of life. The youth have in the past been leaders in revolt against evils that have become entrenched by custom and tradition. The youth of the Church today must lead in a new crusade to outlaw war, racial discrimination, industrial oppression and religious bigotry. Now is the time for youth to unite and to make themselves heard and their influence felt.
These sincere and energetic young people should be sympathetically heard and their cooperation should be welcomed in church and in missionary councils and activities. They seriously approach the study of the problems that have to do with the Church, business and social life and international relations. While they accuse the Church of formalism, selfishness and capitalism, they recognize that the Church of Christ is the body that best represents Him and that should be counted upon to lead in reforms.
What is it that these Christian students ask1 First, that rivalry and division in the Church be abolished and that Christians be united in name, in program and in effort. Second, that theological disputes be discontinued and that emphasis be placed on the practice of the principles of Jesus and the carrying out of His program. They also ask indirectly to be given a place in the church councils and on church boards.
These young people have an ideal but they seem to lack a definite program. At Evanston, they adopted certain findings to express their convictions and appointed a Continuation Committee of twentyfive to plan the next steps. This committee includes some men and women of experience as well as students; ten are students, four represent church boards and six were chosen at large. Among the mem- bers are Mr. R. A. Doan of the Disciples, Mr. Stanley High of the Methodist Episcopal Board, Mr. H. T. Stock of the American Board, Miss Frances Greenough of the Baptist Foreign Mission Society, Rev. Walter W. Van Kirk of the Federal Council of Churches and Miss Florence Tyler of the Women's Colleges of the Orient. There
EnrtoRIAL COMMENTS
is also one Korean student, Mr. George Paik now in the Yale Divinity School.
These students need to become better acquainted with factsnot isolated incidents-but typical facts covering a broad range. 'l'hey need to know more of history and more of the real aims and problems of the Church agencies. They need to profit by the experience of others rather than to wait until they can test their theories only by personal experience. They need, not less enthusiasm, idealism and spirit of adventure, but more discretion, patience and tact in dealing with difficult problems.
The church officials should meet these youthful crusaders in a friendly spirit of sympathy and cooperation. Much may be gained through frank and friendly conference and their best-equipped leaders may well be invited to take positions of responsibility. Criticisms of the Church and its methods should be examined for facts rather than for flaws. If youthful idealism and daring energy are linked to the knowledge, experience and calmer judgment of maturity, the combination may be used greatly to advance the cause of Christ in the world. But the main emphasis must be on loyalty to Jesus Christ and the great dependence must be on the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
A generation or two ago, young men, stirred by the Spirit of God, came forward to arouse the Church into new activity; as a re- !mIt the Young Men's Christian Association, the Christian Endeavor Movement, and the Student Volunteer Movement were born. These young men sought their commissions from God, not from the Church. They saw a need, studied God's Word, asked guidance of His Spirit and undertook to meet the need without considering any selfish interests. They demonstrated the practical value of their idealism before they asked recognition from the Church. The leaders of the passing generation are always looking for those in the coming generation who have potential qualities of leadership. But these qualifications are not chiefly shown in self-confidence, courage and idealism but rather in the spirit of self-abnegation and a sacrificial devotion to the one great Leader and for the Cause to which He gave His life. "Follow Me," said Jesus; "Learn of Me"; "Be My wit·· nesses"; "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. " When Sadhu Sundar Singh was asked if he had won any followers to his conception of the Christian way of life and service in India, he replied: "No; I have no followers. I myself am a follower."
We have not to ask whether the task is compassable, but only whether it is commanded. If the Master's call be clear, we shall find that, either on the sea like Peter, or through the sea like Israel, we are somehow able to go forward. WESLEY'S WORLD PARISH.
CLOSER COOPERATION IN FOREIGN MISSIONS ASTEP forward in the interests of closer cooperation in the great task of giving the Gospel of Christ to mankind was taken in the recent Foreign Missions Conference of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, held in Philadelphia (February 9tlt to 11th). The delegates were officially appointed from the five denominations: Presbyterian Church in the U. S., Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. (commonly called Southern and Northern Churches), the Reformed Church in America, the Reformed Church in the United States and the United Presbyterian Chureh. These church bodies have a united membership of nearly three million, the largest being the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. with 1,873,859 members and the smallest the Reformed Church in America with 145,373 members.
The foreign mission boards of these churches conduct work in eighteen different countries and three of the boards work jointly in Mesopotamia. They have resident missionaries in 285 stations, conduct 4,505 schools and colleges and 127 hospitals. Their total church membership in these fields is 3340,623 and they contribute to union work $578,878. They have, on the field, 2,943 missionaries-over half of whom are under the Presbyterian Church, North,-and gave $8,566,886 to foreign missions last year.
The conference stimulated the spirit of fellowship among the leading members of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches and. strengthened the sense of solidarity so as to pave the way for still more active cooperation and possibly for union.
Dr. Robert E. Speer, chairman of the program committee, called attention to the fact that these five branches of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches are already united in spirit of fellowship and cooperation in all of the mission fields where they are working together. There is no disharmony or lack of agreement as to allotments of territory or work and there is close cooperation in union seminaries, hospitals and other institutions. The mission churches founded by these five boards have adopted a common name in each field. The Council of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in 1918 approved of the plan to carryon their foreign missionary work unitedly. A charter was adopted for union work under one foreign missionary board and was approved by the secretaries and by the constituent bodies. Two of the denominational bodies have not yet finally voted to adopt the plan, on the ground that there is no one authoritative supervising body over all the work and all the workers.
The conference was addressed by leading pastors, secretaries and laymen of the various Ohurches represented; reports were given as to the progress of the work at home and in the various fields and all were in agreement that the problem that confronts the foreign missionary work is the evangelization of the world through the presen-
1926J EDITORIAL COMMENTS
tation of Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour essential to the world.
FACTS ABou'r THE PHILIPPINE'S MUCH partisan propaganda has appeared (in books and peri- odicals) in reference to the Philippines and the readiness of the Filipinos for self-government. Some Americanofficials look upon the people of the Islands as a race of weaklings, incapable of standing alone, incapable morally and mentally of withstanding the temptations and trials of independence. They believe that, without American protection, the Islands would soon become the prey of a stronger and covetous nation. On the other hand, Filipino patriots and their sympathizers believe the Islanders to be as capable of handling their own affairs as are the Siamese and more so than are the people of many Latin American republics.
Without doubt, the Filipinos have made great strides, intellectually, morally, industrially and politically during the past twenty-five years. This has been due to the training given by Christian missionaries and under American educational and political representatives. An interesting letter from a prominent and respected Protestant missionary in Manila gives a clear view of the attitude of many of his colleagues. Rev. F. C. Laubach, the author of "The People of the Philippines" says: "You in America get very few unbiased opinions about the Philippine Islands. There are two large and well-financed sources of propaganda: the Philippine Independence Commission putting as much material into the newspapers as it can to prove that the Philippine Islands are ready for independence, and the Chamber of Commerce which is exploiting the Philippines, endeavoring to prove that the Philippines are not ready for independence, and hoping that they may be able to bring about permanent retention, or at least retention until they have made their money and gone home. Since the American capitalists have a stronger hold on American newspapers they succeed in getting more propaganda iuto the newspapers than the Filipinos get, with the result that the Americau public is more influenced by the propaganda of the American investors than by that of the Philippine Independence Commission."
THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL'S MISSIONARY COMMISSION WHY TO Go-Mat. 28: 12. "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations."
WHERE TO Go–Mark 16: 16. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation."
How TO Go–Luke 24: 47. "Thus it is written that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all the nations, beginning at .Jerusalem. "
IN WHAT SPIRIT TO Go–John 20: 21. "Peace be unto you; as the Father hath sent me even so send I you."
S. M. ZWEMER.
UNITED STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL S'fATISTIOS, 1925 This statement contains the answers to questions submitted to the officials of the Communions below. The amount received for benevolences Is "the amount received from living givers for current official budgets of the permanent Boards and Agencies recog· nized by the NatIonal Body." Column "Total Gifts for All Purposes," includes not only contributions for local church expenses and from living gIvers for budget benevolences but it also includes contrilmtions from all other sources. Therefore, it may not be a total of the other columns.
I I 1 0…. >6 i …. ;, I End of Year .s~~ Communion 00'"" 'H " I I tt.1Q311..1 :..!.:'~ I ~ b£ § , ….. Q.) 0- ~.,., I ~ ~ >< ~ 'b",,,0"0 ! ~,,1'iI ~''"";'':0:Q; "~' " 1 "'0_ bO~ Eo< 1 United Presbyterian ………………….. $14.95 $22.141$38.32 $2,521,389.00 $3.733,641.00 $6,461,004.001 168,6381MarCh 31, 1925 2 Presbyterian U. S. (S.) ………………… 8.58 20.55 32.61 3,917 ,661.00 9.393,340.00 14,935,170.00 457,093 March 31, 192.~ 3 Moravian ……………………………. 8.05 14.70122.15 141,923.00 259,831.00 401,754.001 17,632 Dec. 31,1924 4 Reformed in America ………………….. 1 7.37 24.77 36.52 1,071,494.00 3.600.558.00 5,309,673.00 145,373 April 30, 1925 5 Presbyterian U. S. A. (N.) ………….. …. 5.15 22.76 3l.30 9,722,529.00 41,633,438.00 57,241,511.00 1,842185,.901564IMAparriclh 31, 1925 6 Methodist in Canada …………………. 5.00 17.14 22.52 2,092,066.00 7.173,310.00 9,423.702.00 30. 1925 7 Protestant Episcopal……………… …. 4.81 28.79·34.27 5,490,538.00 32.803,278.00 39,047.394.00 1.139.192 Dec. 31, 1924 8 Methodist Episcopal So. ………………. 4.21 7.30, 16.67i 10,406,728.00 18,057,697.00 41,182,778.00 2,470,407 Dec. 31, 19·M 9 United Lutheran …………… ………… 4.10 17.36 21.46' 3,512,337.00 14,859,760.00 18,372,097.00 856,180 1924 10 Lutheran, Except 9, 12 ……………….. 4.01 13.291' 17.51 4,408,822.00 12.960,434.00 16,942,269.00 967,317 1924 11 Evangelical Church …………………… 3.99 8.22' 20.54 836,339.00 1,720,473.00 4,297,792.00 209,238 Aug. 31, 1925 12 Lutheran Synodical Conference………… 3.91 13.43: 16.56: 4,615,949.00 11,160,012.00 15,775,961.00 799,057 19~4 13 Me~hodist Episcopal (N:) ……………… 3.81 19.01124.011' 14,882,746.00 74,342,674.00 93,903,021.00 3,911,046 Oct. 31, 1924 14 Umted Brethren In Chnst ………….. … 3.72 13.52, 17.241 1,437,479.00 6,221,902.00 659,381.00 86,185Isept. 30, 1925 15 Church of Brethren …….. … ……. …… 3.64 11.54' 15.37, 441,348.00 1,398,650.00 1,862,975.00 121, 184 Feb. 28, 1925 16 Cong;eg~tional ……………………… 3.61 22.191' 30.19, 3,169,603.00 19,507,607.00 26,537,007.00 878,995 Dec. 31, 19"24 17 BaptIst III Canada……………………. 3,58 17.45 21.03: 510,305.0() 2,490,694.00 3,000,999.00 142,725 Dec. 31, 1924 18 Baptist, North………………………. 3.56 16.72 23.25: 5,034,601.00 25,627,771.00 32,857,211.00 1,413,0391April 30, 1925 4,730,753.00 19 Refo;rmed. Unite.d States……………… 33..5306.1103..5710l11148..92711 1,218,982.00 15.526,769.00 6,601,231.00 348,0021May 31, 1925 20 DiSCIples of Chnst ……………………. 4,886,075.00 20,619,987.00 1,450,681 June 30, 1925 21 Evangelical Synod……………………. 3.20 20.2.5 25.02 763,127.00 4,882.498.00 5,931,056.00 237,000 Jan. 31, 1925 22 Baptist. South •……………………… 2.75 7.6n 10.44 9,863,153.00 27,496,460.00 37,359,614.00 3,574,5:n April 30, 1925 23 Christian •………….••…•.•…•.•…•.• 2.52 9.71 13.49 245,770.00 957,132.00 1.329.654.00 98,531ISept. 30, 1925 24 FrIends Five Year Meeting………… .. … 2,48 6.10 10.44 210,946.00 527,126.00 888.394.00 85,101MarCh 31. 1925 25 Methodist Protestant…………………. 2.30 13.01 15.33 443,365.00 2.486.688.00 2,930.053.00 188,683 Dec. 31, 1924 – – – – – – – – – . – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -~–I,—–I— $4.17$15.56$21.71$91,845,275.00 $342-'-.5_5_2_.4_9_6._00….!….$'-4_63-'._S_71-'-._67_8_.00~2_2__,00_9 ,_8_0"_,_ _ _ __ Compiled for the United Stewardship Council, HARRY S. MYERS. Secretary, 276 FIfth Avenue, New York City
Evanston Student
BY MRS. E. C. ORONK, PHILADELPHIA, P A.
H ISTORY in the making is difficult of appraisal. There are certain shrinkages and expansions in the measurements of conferences which make a vast deal of difference between the headlines in the daily papers and the permanent records of history.
Even now we are too close to the Interdenominational Student Oonference held in Evanston, Illinois (December 29 to January 1), tv estimate finally its dimen~ions, but there is reason to believe that it will have a place in church histories yet to be written.
The eager reporters whose pencils. were sharpened to the anticipatory point of hope that something would happen, as well as the cautious gallery guests whose defenses were carefully guarded lest something might happen, are alike agreed that something did happen. There were scare headlines in the daily press, but those who watched eagerly for the dawning felt the stirring of new hope as they saw and heard 857 student delegates* earnestly facing the problems and the possibilities of the Church which they unhesitatingly declared to be the best channel for the expression of their ideals, heard them call for "unselfish, intelligent service, steeped in the 'purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ and dedicated to sacrifice." Then weary overburdened leaders dared to hope, and to believe that youth had come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
In tradition and temper the delegates ranged from the most conservative student of the conservative theological seminary to the most radical communist of the state university.
From the gallery, official representatives of denominations and interdenominational agencies watched and listened, in unaccustomed silence. Many among them singlehanded, had set up and conducted conferences, and scarcely one was accustomed to attend any convention which he did not address, yet there was general appreciation of the spirit in which silence was imposed upon the galleries in order that student thinking might become articulate.
If the conference had adjourned at the close of the second day, it would have furnished some startling headlines for the daily press, but no paragraphs for church historians. Such an unusual group, gathered in an unusual way, could not be expected to arrive with findings neatly typed awaiting the signature of the committee. The first task was to "find itself." "Confused and can· servative" were two of the varied assortment of kindly critical .. Registrations represented 192 colleges and other educationa.l institutions. Visitors in the gallery Included 42 college professors; 77 church board secretaries; 70 student pastors; 24 editors of church papers; 50 representatives of interdenominational organizations and movements.
173
adjectives with which Dr. Albert Parker Fitch, (chosen by the students as discussion leader) urged them on to clearer thinking. "Intensely earnest but possessing insufficient information to be effective," was the admission of a student who urged further study of the subjects under discussion. Later sessions showed evidences of clearer and more unified thinking and determination to discover more adequate information.
The findings of the conference deal with the reports of committees on Appreciation of the Church, The Case Against the Church, Christianizing America, (including Christianity and Race, and The Church and Industry), The Church and Foreign Missions, The Church and War, and The Church and Education. Of especial interest to REVIEW readers are the findings on Christianity and Race, and on The Church and Foreign Missions.
FINDINGS ON CHRISTIANITY AND RACE We believe that present relationships between races are inconsistent with the mind and .teachings of Jesus concerning brotherhood; and we, as students, now face a real problem on our own campuses in the relations of the students of the various races and creeds; hence.
We suggest: that we give ourselves to an unbiased study of the races in an effort to find a solid basis for relationships of equality and mutuality and to gain an appreciation of the distinctive contribution and capacity of each race; that Cosmopolitan Clubs and other associations of similar purpose and scope be given all possible moral and material encouragement by the churches the young peoples' societies, and the homes in the communities concerued.
We especially commend the work of The Inter-Racial Council at the Ohio State University and recommend that such agencies be established on every campus, and in every community where there is a mixed population, with the end in view of discovering the causes of racial discrimination and obtaining an attitude of mind which will promote better cooperation and understanding between the races.
We endorse the Dyer anti-lynching bill.
THE CHURCH AND FOREIGN MISSIONS Months in advance of the conference a commission of twenty-five students studied the work of foreign missions, visiting the headquarters of a number of boards and interdenominational agencies. This commission submitted a report which presented the following causes for valid criticism of the missionary enterprise as now conducted: The exploitation by Christian nations of the lands to which they send missionaries.
The lack of appreciation of the culture of other peoples. The feeling of racial superiority. The lack of feeling of real friendship. The attempt to Americanize nationals of other lands, resulting in their deculturization, and failure to develop leadership. The forcing of meaningless Western denominationalism and division on the East.
THE EVANSTON STUDENT CONFERENCE
The reliance on Western government protection and the claiming, for missionaries, rights and privileges not possessed by nationals.
The exaction of indemnities fo.r mission losses.
The creatiDn of false impressio.ns (at home) resulting in pity and condescension, rather than appreciatiDn and true understanding, for the sake of raising money (to. support missiDns).
The unwillingness of American churches to. aid Christian work in the East except as it retains control Df prDperty and activities.
MISSIONARY PROGRAM AND THE STUDENTS The report of the Oommission on Foreign Missions reaffirmed that Ohristianity is unique among religions in the person of Jesus Ohrist and the expression of the character of God in Ohrist; that Ohristianity should make available for all men the power which comes through knowing Him; and that the foreign missionary program is an integral and essential part of the whole Ohristian enterprise. The commission recommended as the objectives of this program: The preaching of the Gospel of Ohrist at home and abroad; willingness' to modify and reinterpret the missionary program in view of changing world conditions; recognition of responsibility to· ward political and economic life, of the place and worth of nationals, and of a unity of purpose behind differing theological opinions.
The place and responsibility of the individual student in this missionary program was recommended as beginning with the develop. ment 'of friendly contacts with foreign students. The report then went on to present the missionary obligation of the student, as a: mem- ber of society, to oppose anti-Ohristian legislation, to combat economic imperialism and exploitation, and to recognize that loyalty to humanity and Ohristian idealism should take precedence in conflict with lesser loyalties. Emphasis was laid on the obligation of students to take their share in the missionary progra.m of their local churches and in the active support of progressive missionary policies through their Boards.
To this report of the Oommittee the conference added the following" findings" : 1. Denominationalism shDuld be absolutely cut Dut of the spirit and method o.f the Christian enterprise abrDad.
2. We must strive for mDre mutuality o.f giving and receiving not Dnly in missio.n wo.rk but also. by means o.f exchange students, prDfessors and Christian WDrkers.
3. Jesus' way of life must replace creedal and legalistic teachings.
4. We must separate Christian missions frDm political influence and Western materialism and we must stand unqualifiedly oPPDsed to commercial exploitations.
5. The missiDnary must WDrk in such a way as to. eliminate the need for his leadership as quickly as possible.
6. We must seek friendship with students frDm other lands.
AN ADDITIONAL STATEMENT Further, the Conference makes the following additions to this statement of principles in the report; 1. The missionary enterprise should become more, responsive to the courage and moral vision of youth and not be bound by the lack of vision in the churches.
2. The mission boards should be more honest with the constituency who are supporting them by explaining the policies fully though they forfeit some financial support.
3. We must seek to avoid fostering by our missions a narrow nationalism. 4. The mission boards should seek to find a way to appoint candidates to country and profession early in their educational career. 5. We must recognize a new frontier, other than geographical, which the evils of new social and economical exploitation have created.
STUDENT CONTINUATION PLANS The adjournment of the conference is not expected to end the matter. The appointment of a continuation committee is one but not the sole continuation guarantee. While no labelled consecration service was held, those who are not deceived by the presence or absence of labels know that during those days scores of students dedicated their lives to finding the truth and proclaiming it.
Are there dangers ahead ~ Wherever there is life there is danger. There is danger of action based on insufficient information; danger of prayerless impatience which refuses to "wait on the Lord"; danger of going far afield in the search for truth and justice; danger of discarding the real values, in the passionate desire to be rid of false trappings. But in none of these paths does the greatest danger lie. The greatest danger of all is that the Church in its boards and committees will fail to see its opportunity in the present student awakening. Evanston invited to its galleries representatives of church boards and committees. They were on the inside when the doors were closed. Will these church boards and inter-church conventions see the opportunity of inviting the students to their" gal- leries"~ Will we see the advantages of bringing youth more intimately into the councils of the Church 1 Will there be a reduction in the average age of boards and committees? The introduction of youth does not necessitate the discard of age, but only the lowering of the average in age and the increasing of the total in efficiency. Age may profit by the eager enthusiasm and adventurous idealism of youth, even as youth may benefit by the experiences, knowledge and calmer judgment of maturity.
"Recall the twenty-one years; give me back all its experiences, its shipwrecks its standings in the face of death surrounded by savages, with spears flying ~bout me, with the club knocking me to the g,round; give it me back, and I will still be a missionary."–JAMES CHALMERS, martyr among the can- nibals of New Guinea.
THE EVANSTON STUDENT OONFERENCE
FROM EVANSTON SPEECHES AND DISCUSSIONS T ODAY Martin Luther is one of the world's immortals. In 1521 he was a "damnable heretic and a dangerous radicaL" .. * * After a great cause has become triumphant crowds can applaud it and always do.
Jesus did not leave a model creed for all of us to sign but He did leave a model prayer for all of us to pray.
When white students make friends with colored students then they will be able to discuss the race problem.
The only value that property has is in its relation to human personality.
The furnace in which" flaming youth" can do its utmost is organized religion-the institution that we Protestants call the Church. No one can deny that the ashes need cleaning out; no one can deny that clinkers sometimes need breaking up by a modern Amos who wields a heavy bar, but just the same the possibilities for fiaming youth that wants to heat .. things up effectively are there. .. ..
Jesus was fundamentally a rebel-a rebel against the false piety which was smooth and unctuous.
A perilous group in the Church is the group that fear.s new ideas.
.. * * The spirit of Christ is the spirit of liberty-the spirit of creation.
If men are free they will make mistakes. True, but if men are slaves they w41 make nothing.
What shall it profit the Church if it gain the whole world and lose its own voice? If it spend its strength in building Gothic arches and have a beautiful place in which w say something, but nothing to say 1 The perpetuity of the Church is not to be made an end in itself.
* '" ..
.. .. If nations are to stop warring let the churches stop competing.
'"
Methods have been changed many times in the history of the Church. Our present methods are no more sacred than those that preceded them.
,. . Christian unity is not an impossibility. Jesus does not ask of us impossibilities. Jesus prayed for unity,..
The Church is the biggest organization in the world today to preserve that for which Christ gave His life.
2
Student
SUGGESTIONS CRITICISMS The Church has had the persistent 'i'he Church has been too satisfied capacity to rediscover Christ. with the "status quo."
*' *' *' * '*' «0 Jesus is the contemporary of each The Church has kept a historical generation. museum rather than a living zoo. «0 '*' *' *' *' *' The personal and the social gospel Our denominationalism is immoral are identicaL ancestor worship of church fathers.
'*' … '" To Jesus the Kingdom of God We generally choose corruption meant everything. rather than crucifixion. * ~ *' * * $ If you have the Word of God, get It is not easier for the average sec- up and give it. retary or bishop to be a Christian *** than for a camel to go through the Be willing to go to smash for the eye of a needle!
program of Jesus. '" «- '"
* * '" "You can not grow in here" has The Church, having cut out mam- been the attitude of the Church to- monism, will find fellowship with ward growing minds.
laborers, outcasts, and youth. * '*' '*'
*** I believe in missionary enterprise "Our Father" should grow to in- not so much to Christianize heathen volve a consciousness of aU mankind. but Christianize Christianity.
*** '" '*' «- Truth must be incarnated. Seek conscious and intelligent re- * * '" bellion against things as they are.
We can not be a Christian Church * • *'
and a pagan government. Christianity is a religion of the *** minority which they have tried to Our goal is a better world here and force upon the majority and thereby now-the Kingdom of God on earth. cor,rupted.
*** We have molded our Christianity The Church of Christ has always been a youth movement. to sanction everything we do. * to * *** We seek not only freedom from Our religion is not teaching repent- creed but freedom to build. ance for the significant sins of West- *** ern life.
We must make it better for people *** not to be born than born feeble- It is the responsibility of youth to minded. give to the Church what no one else *** can give-fearless, honest criticism.
Have a project Christianity. * *' * '" «- «- Some constructive criticism can be An open mind is a wonderful thing done best with an ax.
to let lciooe in the world. Our present method in the Church «- «- «- Can we use the Church Y Can we is no more sacred than each method lL~e Niagara Falls Y which has preceded.
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Foreign Nlissions at a Standstill?
BY REV. HARRY A. RHODES, D.D., SEOUL, KOREA Professor in Ohosen Christian College T HIS question is written large over the present world situation regarding the progress of missions in foreign lands. Reluc- tantly we must consider the question and hesitate to presume too much, even on our faith. As we glance back over the centuries the progress of the Christian movement looks to have been steady. As a matter of fact, that progress often has been interrupted. Whether or not it will be interrupted during the present decade will be answered differently by different missionary and church leaders. In connection with the question there are certain conditions that ought to be considered.
Economically, at least, and probably for other reasons, the Christian peoples. of Europe are not as able to carryon the missionary propaganda as aggressively as they were before the war. In North America, on the contrary, many are more able but seem to be less willing. Mission boards are carrying on their work under the burden of huge deficits. 'While there is more money and people have employment and more luxuries than ever before, yet the mission work of the Church lags. The missionary zeal seems to be cooling at a time when missionary education has been carried to a high degree of efficiency. More missionaries than ever speak before their home constituencies. The number enrolled in mission study classes grows larger and the output of mission literature is greater. Yet the Church is marking time in the greatest of all causes which can claim its attention.
This seems to show that missionary information and favorable economic conditions are in themselves not sufficient to keep the mission fires burning. We must realize anew the hopeless condition of the world without Christ. If the so-called Christian nations can scarcely be saved, what will become of the others 7 In so far as Christian people share the feeling that the non-Christian religions are good enough for their adherents, we cannot expect the Church to be very zealous in proclaiming Christ and His Gospel as the only Way.
Another condition that militates against progress in missions is that hopes for union and cooperation are not being realized either on the mission field or in the home land. Even in mission lands we must admit that the Church is becoming more and more denominationalized. Union, movements in institutional work are not as popular as they used to be. Controversies in the Church are dividing Christian people into different camps. The result is a decreased emphasis on evangelism. The increases in membership in the home church are not so great; the attention of the Church is centered 179
upon itself, upon things disruptive, and the zeal to bring others into the Kingdom cools. The failure of the Interchurch W orId Movement has left us wondering whether or not the Protestant forces of the Church ever will be able to unite effectively in accomplishing its great task.
This lack of unity and cooperation is further seen in the fact that, after a hundred years of activity in missions, there seems to be less agreement than ever on mission fields as to the basic principles and methods of a missionary science. The general assent to the proposition that the business of the Church is "to preach the Gospel, " "to make Christ known," is rendered meaningless because there is such a divergence of opinion as to just what kinds of missionary work fulfil the conditions of preaching the Gospel.
Such problems as the use of foreign mission funds to support the Church on the mission field, missionary education, the place of social service and industrial training produce many opinions and the result is confusion among the secretaries, among missionaries and among native leaders. These and other forms of missionary work may be made effective if we stress sufficiently the main objective as saving the world through Christ by means of a spiritual dynamic and the revealed Word of God. But too often this objective is lost sight of in the mission machinery that has been set going.
Is missionary work less effective today because it is less direct in its real objective? If so, larger appropriations, more workers, and more varied forms of work will not bring the desired results. A greater unanimity as to basic things among missions working in the same country would be in the interest of progress and would be less confusing to native church leaders.
Again, the situation between nations, between races, and especially between the so-called Christian and the non-Christian nations is such that we cannot be surprised if the Christian movement is checked temporarily. In all the activities of life we are brought into closest contact with each other. Christian peoples are finding it difficult to live at close range, the Christianity they have been preaching at long range. The success of a group of missionaries depends not only upon how well they can practice what they preach but also upon how well it is being practiced by their own nationals in political, commercial, industrial, social, and racial relationships. The argument that "the missionaries are needed at home" has more the appearance of being valid today than ever before. In former years the doors in mission lands were closed because of prejudice based on ignorance; now they are being closed because of prejudice based on knowledge. Christianity is judged by the lives of those who live it and non-Christian peoples are inclined to judge it by the failures of those who profess it and do not live it, and by the actions of llon- Christians who come from the so-called Chr~stian lands.
AN8WERE,D PRAYER IN BELGIUM
Two things should be said in conclusion. One is that the progress of the world-wide Christian movement cannot be stopped. Humanly speaking it might die out as other religions have doue. But Christianity is of divine origin and if our present-day type has become too much adulterated, it will be purified, and the program of Christ in its world-wide implications will then be carried out. If we of this generation should fail it would be the worse for us, but Christ will not be defeated in His purpose of love for the world.
But a temporary halt in the progress of world-wide evangelization need not to be interpreted necessarily as failure. We may have been too insistent on quick results because of the effect it would have on the home church in getting more funds and more workers. With unlimited spiritual forces on our side we can well afford to be patient and stand still for a time if need be, without relaxing one whit in our zeal and determination to press on as soon as possible.
Answered Prayer in Belgium Mrs. Ralph Norton of the Belgian Gospel Mission records, with gratitude, the following explicit answers to prayer in the year 1925: PRAYERS ANSWERS 1. In March-for an evangelist to Providential appearance of Mr. take charge of an important post that Jung, a Swiss pastor. had been made vacant. Mistakes aVQided. Voluntary su- 2. In March-for guidance in re- pervision by a convert, a builder by modelling headquarters building. profession.
3. In March-for superintendent Miss May B. White sent Qut. for girls' dormitory. Recovery of Mr. Norton, Miss 4. In March-restoration of health White, Mrs. Teenwissin, Pierre Van of workers. Steenbergh and others.
5. In March-for a house in St. Suitable building dedicated Decem- Nicholas. ber 6th.
6. In June-for a strong, spiritual Installation of Pastor Mayer of pastor for Antwerp. Holland on November 1st. .
7. In August-For blessing on Gospel motor car loaned and large summer work. results came from the tour in new dis- tricts. 8. For money to purchase two itinerating gospel cars. In NQvember, the two cars under construction. 9. For new car for headquarters to replace the old Hudson. Provided for by spontaneous gift Qf friend in America. 10. For more new workers. Nine have joined the staff and nine 11. For $5,500 a month for mainte- others have begun to prepare in the nance. Training SchoQL 12. For conversions and for streng- Gifts sufficient for every need. thening converts. Hundreds Qf conversiQns and new PQwer evidenced in the Christians.
Endeavor in Mission
BY REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.D., LL.D., BOSTON, MASS.
VERY early in the history of Ohristian Endeavor it came to be a recognized missionary agency in many lands, and its peculiar adaptability to the needs of those just emerging from heathenism was admitted. The societies rapidly grew in numbers and individual strength in all these countries, until now there are over 1,200 societies in Ohina, more than 2,000 in India, some 250 in Japan, some hundreds in the South Sea Islands, and smaller contingents in all the lands to which American or British missionaries have gone.
Some of the most notable conventions in the history of the movement have been held in non-Ohristian lands. But the chief educational and training value of the societies is not found in the conventions, important as they are, but in the quiet, obscure, every-day work of the individual societies, large and small. In these they learn to confess their Master, to pray in public, and to perform any tasks that the Ohurch needs to have done, as do the young people in the home lands. They have also, peculiar opportunities for service which the Endeavorers at home seldom enjoy. In 1896 I happened to be in India when the terrible bubonic plague raged. Bombay was half deserted, and it was said that 400,000 people had fled the city. The surroundings of the railway station were thronged with poor coolies who sometimes waited for days to get a chance to board the fourth-class cars. Noone knew how the plague was carried, until at length it was discovered that fleas carried by rats bore the plague from house to house, and a premium was put upon killing the rats. Whereupon the Endeavorers formed themselves into "Rat Tail Oommittees," for the destruction of the rodents. In order to prove their faithfulness to their duties they had to carry the tails of all the rats they killed, to the government authorities.
Experience has proved that when no church can be formed, or even a Sunday-school, in tiny village communities, little societies of Ohristian Endeavor can be formed. In these, without the aid of a 'missionary or native Ohristian worker, the converts, just out of heathendom, can meet together, talk about Ohristian themes, read the Bible if any of them can read, and pray together. These little group societies serve at least the purpose of a little candle shining in the darkness of non-Ohristian faiths.
The Ohristian fellowship developed by the unions large and small is greatly prized, and is itself a training school in cooperative, unified Ohristianity, while it tends to diminish the sectarian reproach so often thrown at Protestantism, for in these unions all Ameriean and British mission boards are represented save one or two.
182
Movements in South
MISS FLOREl'NOE E. SMITH, SANTIAGO, CHILE Missionary of the Presbyterian Church with U. S. A.
T HE need for a forward social movement has existed for cen- turies in South America, but for centuries the continent it- self did not realize it. When the first Congress on Christian Work in Latin America was held in Panama in 1916, national social forward movements could scarcely have been said to exist. The succeeding decade, however, has seen a widespread awakening of national social conscience. The consideration of these movements had a large place in the Montevideo Congress' last April.
One of the most prolific causes of poverty, illiteracy, illegitmacy, inebriety and all the other offspring of social evil is found in the unequal distribution of land in these great countries of the south. One class has all the land, all the wealth, and all the prestige, while another class has been held since colonial times in a bondage which amounts to slavery. The great haciendas or farms in Chile and Argentine cover thousands of acres and are owned by a comparatively few rich men who live luxuriously in the capital, spending the wealth which flows into their coffers from the labor of the inq'uilinos or peons, who are practically slaves. As Professor Ross says: "From the Rio Grande, all along the West Coast to Cape Horn, free agricultural labor, as we know it, does not exist."
The peon is given a hovel and a small piece of ground to cultivate, but for this privilege he must pay the owner in work. He is paid an infinitesimal sum with which he must buy supplies for his daily needs from his landlord at disproportionate prices. He must also sell his products to the same landlord under similar conditions. As a logical sequence debt follows, with practical slavery. In some countries these debts are transferrable in case of sale, so tha,t the poor peon is tied to the lapd with small hope of escape. In one country the extent of a farm is measured not in acres but in "hands." The owner, however, may dismiss these workmen at his pleasure.
Such a system can exist only where there is widespread ignorance, and it is not to be wondered at that land-owners with no social consciousness should try to maintain the status quo. Schools, newspapers, contacts with the city, lectures or missions-in fact any agency which tends to educate and extend the horizons of this submerged class-do not enter into his program. In Chile there is a law obliging any landowner on whose estate there are twenty children of school age to establish and maintain a school but, like so many other good laws on our statute books, it is a dead letter.
Indications of the dawning of a better day, however, are not 183
lacking. Agitators for equal rights have penetrated even the moun- tain fastnesses of the cordillera, and strikes among the inquilinos in the south of Chile are serving notice to social exploiters that not forever may any portion of mankind be fettered.
The sons and daughters of these laborers do not remain on the farm. They drift to the towns and cities, and as they have had no education and know no trade, they form that shifting population which is always a menace. Even the homes which they establish are transient relationships with first one woman and then another. After a few months or years she is left with her offspring to get a living as best she may, or to form another temporary relationship as convenience dictates. What wonder that beggars abound in our streets, that venereal diseases are gaining a frightful ascendancy and that the infant mortality in these countries is the highest in the worldT Immigration also presents its problems in Latin America. As the older civilizations are closing their doors to the stranger, these countries, rich and broad, afford an attractive future. The United States and Canada are beginning to discriminate, Australia already says "No admittance." Where then shall the excess popUlations of Europe and the Orient go ~ There is only South Africa and South America. In Brazil, Uruguay and Argentine the problem of caring for immigrants is already becoming acute. Brazil has some 50,000 Japanese on her coffee plantations, and more continue to arrive. Peru has thousands of Japanese in her rice and cotton fields, and the mixture of Oriental and Peruvian blood is forming a new race on the ·West Coast. Argentine alone has seen more than 200,000 immigrants arrive in one year. During 1901-1919, she received 1,764,103, the major part coming from Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Between 1906 and 1919, Brazil received 1,915,813 immigrants, principally Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, although there was also a substantial quota of Russians, Germans, Japanese, Turks and Austrians. Today Buenos Aires is a larger Italian city than Rome. Brazil has more than 2,000,000 people of Italian descent, and more than 300,000 of German blood, the latter having congregated mostly in the State of Rio Grande do SuI.'"
As education has gradually permeated all classes of society and a middle class has slowly emerged, bound neither to the soil nor to the reigning oligarchy, many existing conditions have been found intolerable, and almost imperceptibly at first, but none the less surely, these social forward movements have taken shape and gathered momentum until today they are forces to be reckoned with by presidents, parliaments and populace. Let us glance at four which are outstanding.
• "Social Movement. in South America" (page 12).
So.CIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA
THE TEMPERANOE MOVEMENT Chile's great central valley may be said to be one continuous vineyard, and this fertile source of income has made her not only one of the chief wine-producing countries of the world, but has given her the sad preeminence of being one of the most drunken.
. Many of the largest vineyards and wine bodegas are said to be owned by the Church. Patriotic citizens have not been slow to perceive where this commerce is leading the nations, and the Tem- perance Movement has therefore been one of the first concerted social efforts, particularly in Chile and Uruguay. In Chile there are four well-established and active organizations, of national initia- tive and membership, which are combating the drink evil with con- siderable success. A" dry zone" has been established in Punta Arenas, Chile's most southerly port, and within the past few weeks another one has been proclaimed in Valparaiso's most notorious red-light district. The Federation of Labor prohibits absolutely the sale of liquors in a.ny of .its centres, and on various occasions men belonging to this body have refused to unload boats bringing in large quantities of liquor. Instruction as to the noxious effects of alcohol is being given in the public schools, and public lectures in theatres and halls.
Experiments are being made to discover other profitable uses to which the land now used for vineyards may be dedicated. In all these efforts, President Alessandri has afforded active cooperation.
In Argentine, the temperance movement began in 1903 with the establishment of the Anti-Alcoholic Argentine League by Dr. Do- mingo Cabred, and in 1916 the People's Anti-Alcoholic League was started by the People's Atheneum. The Government has confined its intervention to a high tariff.
There is reason to hope that Uruguay may be the first South American country to pass an effective dry law. Some of the leaders in this movement are persons of outstanding social prestige, and a Young People's League, composed of both young men and women, is doing active propaganda, not only in the large cities, but all through the republic.
In Peru, a National Temperance Society was formed in 1912, and thanks to its efforts a law was recently passed which prohibits the sale of intoxicants from Saturday to Monday. This Society is responsible for the statement that in Lima there is a saloon for every nineteen families, but a public school for every 1,025! .
In Brazil, in spite of efforts made by prominent Brazilians and others, the temperance movement as yet has not taken root.
The Pan-American Union, at its meeting in Santiago in 1923, made the following recommendations: 1. A system of progressive imposts on the tariff and sale of alcoholic liquors; of hygienic and sanitary measures, fines and penalties tending to restrain fraud in their fabrication and sale.
2. Measures which shall consider the establishment in public school and high schools of obligatory courses in hygiene, physiology and temperance, so illustrated that they shall show graphically the consequences of using alcoholic beverages.
3. A study of the influence of alcohol on nutrition. 4. A restriction in the use of alcoholic liquors through the closing of saloons on feast days, and the prohibition of their sale in the vicinity of' schools, shops and military and naval establishments.
THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT In 1916 there could scarcely be said to exist in South America any feminist movement. The first activities of women were limited to works of benevolence in connection with the Church, which has carried on a large charitable work through its orphanages and asylums. During the war Red Cross activities claimed their attention and developed their initiative; and soon the great infant mortality in all these countries brought forth an effort to counteract it through milk stations, creches, baby campaigns, et.c., which have reached a surprising development in most of the large cities. rrhey do much in the way of alleviation and something in the way of education, but so long as hygienic conditions remain as they are, their work will not diminish in the near future.
One of the first struggles to establish the position of woman outside of the home in South America was in Argentine in 1904, when the authorities refused to admit women to the Medical School of the University. In that year a Feminist Centre was organized by Dr. Elvira Rawson de Dellepiane, where lectures were given on child hygiene to working-women. In 1911 another physician, Dr. •Julieta Lanteri Renshaw, founded a League of Rights for Women and Children, from which organization came the initiative which resulted in the American Child Congress in Buenos Aires in 1913, with later meetings in Montevideo (1919), Rio de Janeiro (1922) and Santiago (1924).
Today all the women's organizations in Argentine, whetber of beneficent, religious or social character, are affiliated in the National Council of Women, which is doing a fine work in the development of the women all over the country. There is also a Mothers' Club which tries to better conditions and educate the mothers in the care of their children. For several years there has been held annually in Buenos Aires a Baby Week under the efficient care of Mrs. Ernest Nelson.
In Chile, women's activities have developed around a cultural basis in four different strata of society: The National Council of Women, which unfortunately in Chile is not a federation but a single organization among professional women; the Club de Senoras (Women's Club) an aristocratic and more or less conservative group under the particular patronage of the Archbishop; the Feminine
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA
Civic Party, representing middle-class women; and the Federation of Working-Women, which has its organization devoted to social betterment. It is curious that the conservative group are most vociferous in claiming "votes for Women," but the others see in this a menace of clerical control and are slow to join forces.
The Pan-American Congress, held in Santiago in 1923, presented the following resolutions: Resolved, to Recommend to the Governments of this Continent the revision of their civil legislation with the object of modifying such provisions as do not correspond to the actual cultural conditions of the American woman, and which subject them to unjust inequalities before the law because • of their sex. (Minutes of P. A. Congress, p. 289, Art. 3, Resolutions.) As in Argentine, the struggle for equal rights for women began in Uruguay with the claiming of a doctor's degree by a woman. In 1908 Srta. Paulina Luisi received the first degree given to a woman in her country. She founded, in 1916, a National Council of Women, a federation of all the women's organizations in Uruguay, which is in turn affiliated with the International Council of Women, with headquarters in Holland. Uruguay is the first (and only) South American country to grant divorce, and these laws favor the woman in every instance.
In Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, feminist movements of various sorts have been inaugurated, but are still in their infancy.
According to Encina, a Chilean author, his countrywomen-and the same would hold true of the women in other parts of the continent -are superior to the men of their class because they have not dissipated their strength in riotous living. The male adolescent begins "seeing life" at fourteen, and by the time he reaches real manhood he is too often diseased and exhausted. The women are naturally intelligent, and when given educational advantages they are often brilliant. Only of recent years is the idea permeating society that woman can do anything but bear children and serve her lord and master in a man-made world. But as will be seen by the foregoing, the bonds are snapping, and South American men will have to look well to their laurels as women invade the professions and begin to interest themselves in politics.
THE ORGANIZED LABOR MOVEMENT Spain stamped upon her colonies in the new world the old belief that three fourths of the world was born to serve the other fourth. The conquistadores called the Indians whom they impressed into their service "pieces" and in the concept of the aristocratic governing classes, "pieces" are still those who toil and serve. Nevertheless it is impossible to sit on the lid of a volcano indefinitely, and in Chile and Uruguay, at least, warning is being served that it is time to get off and hie to a safer place.
Uruguay undoubtedly leads among South American nations in the number of her legislators and public men who study industrial conditions and seek their amelioration. She was among the first to ratify the International Conventions of Labor approved in the Conventions at Washington, Genoa and Geneva respectively. Her first Labor Law (against Accidents) was passed in 1914, and in 1920 an Indemnization Law, applicable to laborers of whatever class, was passed, whose provisions are far more generous than that of any other S. A. country. Uruguay was four years ahead of the United States in adopting the eight-hour working-day, and this law applies not only to industrial workers, but also to employees in trains, street cars, banks, hotels, etc. In 1918 a law was passed mak~g chairs for employees obligatory in shops, offices and factories. In the same year they passed a law controlling night work in bakeries and macaroni and candy factories. In 1919 they passed a Pension Law for the Aged which stands beside the English Law as one of the leading provisions of this sort in the world. In 1920 a law was passed granting a weekly rest-day even to domestics.
In Chile the working-man's pot is boiling furiously and quite frequently it boils over, as is wi.tnessed by the two days' general strike in Santiago the first of November, when for a time it was doubtful whether it would stop at a strike or develop into a real revolution. Communist doctrines have permeated the people to such an extent that a Communist candidate ran for President in the last elections, and the big strike was called because he was defeated. The Federation of Labor was organized in 1909, and represents some 250 trades unions and 300,000 members, comprising 90% of the workers in the eoal mines, 70% of those in the nitrate districts, and 10% of the farm-hands on the big estates in the south. This Federation has a printing-press, a daily paper and one hundred day and night schools.
The situation in Brazil is particularly complicated, owing to the diversity among the working elements and the large percentage of foreigners. In Sao Paulo a third of the population is Italian, and there are some twelve other groups, including Russians, Irish and Japanese. Brazil keeps an open door for the immigrant and tries to provide him work without oppression or hostility. There can scarcely be said to exist as yet in Brazil an organized labor movement.
In Peru there have been many local attempts at organization, but most of them have been tempestuous and short-lived. Factories, railway and maritime men have separate organizations, and latterly a Regional Federation of Indians has been formed, which claims to represent 4,000,000, but not being as yet well-organized, it does little more than complain against abuses, of which in truth there are a plenty.
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA
STUDENT MOVEMENTS One of the most interesting social movements in South America, and to a North American mind one of the queerest, is the Student Movement. The first one originated in the University of Oordova, Argentine, and concerned certain university reforms. In these southern universities there is no university life as we understand it, centering about the campus, sports and social gatherings. Teachers are not resident professors, but men who come and go to their classes, and who have almost no real contact with their students. There are no student dormitories nor inter-university matches. The students live where they can and go and come as they like, attending classes when they see fit, and cramming during the last two months of the year to make up for negligence at other times. So instead of having these interests to bind them together, they coneern themselves with the management of their university and political questions of the day. When anything occurs which they do not like, such ati? the removal of a favorite teacher, or the installing of an unpopular one, they make what is known as a "manifestation" of discontent. They refuse to attend classes, and instead march through the streets with banners and mottoes setting forth their complaints and ideas. In Argentine, Peru and Ohile they have acquired such strength that they must be reckoned with. A few years ago, when the Papal Nuncio came to Ohile to collect certain proceeds from the sale of Ohilean properties it was the students who obliged. him to leave without his spoils; and quite recently, in Peru, when' the Peruvian Government wished to dedicate the nation solemnly to the patronage of the Sacred Heart, it was the students, making common cause with the working classes, who obliged it to desist. There is great sympathy between these two somewhat incongruous classes, the students and the laborers. In many places, it is the students who are carrying on night-schools for working-men, doing both the teaching and the bearing of expenses of rents, etc. They sometimes combine forces in strikes and other manifestations to help each attain its ends. For the most part they are irreligious if not actively antireligious. Having seen so many abuses committed in the name of religion, they heartily despise everything which is tinged with ecclesiasticism. But they are the hope of these young nations, and are quick to respond to reality in whatever form.
"VHAT PARTICIPATION IN OR INFLUENCE OVER THESE MOVEMENTS HAS THE EVANGELICAL OHURCH IN SOUTH AMERICA~ This question may be answered by two monosyllables ap-parently contradictory-none and great. Of definite organized participation in these social forward movements, there has been practically none. Every. Evangelical Ohurch is a temperance organization in itself, and all its members (at least in Chile) are total abstainers; but they have
taken no part in the National Temperance Movement. Evangelical laborers belong to their trades-unions, but usually take no active part. Few women in our churches even know of the existence of feminist organizations. The reasons are not far to seek: 1. The Evangelical Church has been born and nourished in en- forced obscurity, owing to the persecution of which she has been the object since her conception-a persecution insidious and tenacious, and none the less real for being oblique.
2. "Not many great, not many noble" are among her members; they are learners rather than leaders.
3. Political conditions are so corrupt and the average new be- liever is still so weak on his legs that he does not covet a struggle. Drinking, vote-selling and other vices abound, and he prefers to keep away from them.
4. Church members have been inclined to consider themselves a privileged group rather than one with social responsibilities.
The Evangelical Church in Brazil is an exception to these con- ditions.. Having long since outgrown the period of persecution, which perhaps was never so fanatical there as in other parts of South America, she has grown constantly in strength and influence, and many of her leaders are men of education, social prestige and in- fluence.
But, contradictory as it may seem, the Evangelical Church in South America, even where it is weakest, has had great influence- ~ none the less great for having been indirect. No group of people in any land can consistently practice and teach sobriety, industry, purity, equality among the sexes and veracity, without exerting an enormous influence.
1. The Evangelical Church in S. A. has stimulated and purified the State Church. Wherever an evangelical chapel or school has been opened in a neglected district, immediately the Catholic Church has hastened toi tend the needs of that district. It has been literallv compelled to put the Bible into the hands of its people, in order t~ compete with what they are pleased to call the "fraudulent Bibles" of the Evangelicals. The Pope has now ordained that the gospels shall be read. It is an open secret that the recent youth movements in the Catholic Church in these countries are copies of the activities of the Young Men and Young Women's Christian Associations, and designed to counteract them. At a notable meeting during the Eucharistic Conference held in Santiago some three years ago, Bishop Edwards, one of Chile's most progressive and honored ecclesiastics, publicly stated that the pure lives of evangelical ministers were a re- proach to Catholic priests.
2. It has permeated all classes of societies through its schools. The graduates of Mackenzie College, Ward Institute, Santiago Col- lege, the Instituto Ingles and many other similar institutions for
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS iN SOUTH AMERICA
young men and women of upper and middle-class families, are known everywhere as "different." When social movements are set on foot, they are ready to lead. It is impossible to estimate the social possi- bilities in the future of the thousands of boys and girls who pass through mission schools of primary and secondary grade all over this continent.
3. It is establishing new forms of conduct. Evangelical work- men and employees are desired and sought out. They do not lose two days to recover from a drunken bout on Sunday. 'J'hey can be trusted. They respect womanhood and follow the single standard of pure living. .
But this is not saying that the Evangelical Church in South America has not a still greater work to do. There is no doubt that it has tended to be too timid and self-centered in the past. It is only now beginning to acquire a national social consciousness. There is a great future before it. South America needs leadership. It is stretching out eager hands toward great human causes. Look at these thousands of students, young, virile, strong to make or mar themselves and the future. Look at her leading intellectuals who have drifted far from any form of religious faith because the old moorings have proved unstable. Look at her hundreds of thousands of working-men and women, clamant for life, for rights, for priv- ileges which are their due, but of which they have been despoiled so long. The State Church, in all these countries, has, to a great extent lost her grip on these elements. They can no longer be coerced-they must be won. They carmot be longer frightened by threats of eternal perdition. They have lived in hell too long to fear anything which they believe to be unreal.
It is a great task: who is sufficient for it 7 Only the Spirit of God and those whom He shall empower.
REV. ALVARO REIS OF BRAZIL BRAZILIAN Protestantism recently suffered a great loss in the death of the Rev. Alvaro Reis who was for twenty-eight years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro. He was a man of intense evangelistic fervor, a pulpit orator of the first rank, a religious journalist, and a prolific author. The esteem in which he was held by the public was shown by the secular press for the Rio dailies published long articles, accompanied by his portrait, praising his character in the highest terms.
The fruit of Mr. Reis' labors is shown in the thousands of Brazilians who were won to Christ through his ministry. He also founded a score or more of churches and chapels in Rio and its suburbs. He was a moving spirit in many enterprises, and he was one of the outstanding evangelical Christian leaders in South America.
Challenge of Mexican
BY REV. EDWIN R. BROWN, LOS ANGELES, CALIF()R,NIA The American Baptist Home Mrission Society STRAIGHT into the faces of American Christians is fiung a chal- lenge that cannot be ignored. It is the challenge of Mexican im- migration to the Christian churches in the United States. While American Protestant churches have been very active in sending out missionaries these same churches have viewed with seeming indifference the arrival of immense multitudes of Mexicans who have come within their very doors.
During the past fifteen years of revolution, no less than ji,ve million Mexicans have come into the United States, and of these, some two million have returned to Mexico. Each year now, from fifty to ninety thousand come north across the border so that today there are over three million Mexicans in the United States, scattered from the border northeast to Chicago and beyond. The labor vacuum in the industrial centers of the northeast, caused by the restrictive immigration laws, has sucked the Mexican from the border as it has the Negro from the South. The tip of the wave of Mexican immigration reaches as far north as Detroit and as far east as Pittsburgh. Naturally the points of greatest density are nearest the border where Texas, New Mexico, Ari'zona, and California have immense quotas. Los Angeles, for instance, has 125,000 Mexicans, with 20,000 Mexican children enrolled in the city's public schools.
Here is the amazing spectacle of vast multitudes of unevangelized people living in the very shadows of the most missionary churches of the world. The barriers of language, color, and customs keep them from entering the church doors of their adopted land, but they are basically a religious people, reverent, warm-hearted, eagersouled, and willing to learn. In their own country they have never had the opportunity to advance. The Bible has been denied them and they have been fed instead on fables and superstitions, idle tales and immoral examples.
Now they find themselves in the land of the free, with old inhibitions and limitations suddenly removed, and their minds and hearts and souls open to the impact of the new, the strange, and the different. They present one of the richest missionary opportunities the Christian churches of the United States have ever known. Wonderful harvests can be reaped from the sowing of gospel seed among them. One denomination, for instance, which has merely been playing at evangelizing these Mexicans, with a budget of a paltry $30,000 a year for work among three million people, nevertheless reports a 192
1926J THE CILU,LENGE OF MBxlOAN IMMIGRAT!ON
A MEXICAN PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE MAKING tenfold increase in membership in seven years, and an increase in – the number of preaching stations from nine to over sixty.
Less helpful propagandists have been more quick to recognize the opportunity. Socialism, the I. W. W. and Communism find a ready soil for their seed among the Mexicans in our country, while atheism and irreligion find eager listeners in these new comers. It is a common thing to hear a soap-box orator speaking in Spanish to the Mexicans on our streets, call the Bible" the most brutalizing, the most degrading, and the most immoral of books," and counselling the Mexican laborers, whose" hands produce all this wealth, to rise up, kill off the rich and take possession of the wealth you have created." Meanwhile the churches of America, if perchance, they have seen these Mexicans at all, have looked upon them with indifference, if not with disdain.
Not only do the rich results of gospel preaching among the Mexicans in our country, and the remarkable opportunity they present, challenge us American Christians, but we must evangelize them if we are to prevent American institutions from falling under the power of an alien hierarchy. In the state of New Mexico, seventy-five percent of the inhabitants are of Mexican blood, and the legislature carries- on its proceedings in both Spanish and English. Money from the state treasury is used to support Catholic schools and other institutions, and Roman nuns in conventional garb teach in the public 3
schools. Throughout the Southwest there are many areas where it cannot be said that the Mexican is a stranger, but rather that the Anglo-Saxon American is the stranger in his own country.
The existence of a very decided "los von Rom" moveI;llent among the Mexicans also presents a thrilling challenge to evangelical churches. For three hundred years the development of the Mexican people was throttled by the hand of Rome. Then came a hundred years of revolution during which the Spanish yoke was first thrown off, and then the power of Rome was broken.
Out of all the disorder there has arisen a new national conscious- ness which within the past few months is seeking to express itself in the organization of an independent religious movement to correct the evils of Romanism, while retaining the papal form of worship and doctrine. A Mexican has been chosen as the patriarchal head of the new church, which calls itself The Mexican Catholic Apostolic Church with the Bible as its rule of faith and practice, and proposes to spend in Mexico for religious education the eighty million pesos a year or,dinarily sent to Rome. The movement has obtained many supporters and is favored by the present government officials. Its leaders are looking for help, and evangelical denominations in the U. S. should send some of their strongest Mexican preachers to guide their countrymen into the full gospel light.
The same causes have made the Mexican immigrants in the United States open to the Gospel as never before. D'eeply and instinctively religious, yet keen in their rebellious criticism of the religion of their fathers, they are first amazed at the outward evidence or the strength of Protestantism in this new land, and then are genuinely eager' to learn the truth of the teaching against which they had been so often warned in their own country by their religious leaders. So as the Bible is placed in their hands, or they are touched by the more or less feeble contacts the evangelical churches have thus far been able to make, they become eager to hear more, and from every city and town in the Southwest come Macedonian cries for help. Every Mexican colony is an open door for the Gospel and a challenge to the evangelical churches. Already, as a result of past seed-sowing, the harvest is ripening faster than we are prepared to care for it, and everywhere there are groups of believers awaiting the coming of a missionary to more fully instruct them in the Gospel of Christ.
But these Mexican immigrants are also a challenge of danger. They are furnishing a very large proportion of the criminals of the Southwest. In a new and strange atmosphere, and confounding liberty with license, and without any restraint from their former religious experiences, it is but a natural consequence that lawbreaking is excessively frequent among them. In' our border states from fifty to ninety per cent of criminals in the jails and penitentiaries are Mexicans. This is a tremendous challenge to American Christianity,
THE CHALLENGE OF MEXICAN IMMIGRATION
for the evangelization of the Mexican is the only way to prevent their committing crimes. Without the moral restraints of evangelical Christianity the Mexican. in our midst is a menace and a liability. But the Mexican converted and living the Christian life is an asset socially, politically, and economically. Even from the standpoint of patriotism we can do no greater service for our country than to evangelize the Mexican immigrants.
The challenge to evangelize these Mexican immigrants is also the challenge of our duty to future generations. The Mexicans are a prolific race, and in the United States under more hygienic conditions and with ready aid from free clinics, infant mortality is gr~atly TYPICAL MEXICAN EVANGELICAL MINISTERS IN THE SOUTHWEST reduced. So while the average American family has about one and a half children, the Mexican family will have anywhere from five to fifteen children. By evangelizing the Mexicans in the States we make possible the training of the rising generation under Christian influences that will help to perpetuate Ohristian institutions and national ideals.
By evangelizing these Mexican immigrants' we also contribute directly to the evangelization of Mexico itself, for many of them return to their own country for visits or permanently. Does the returning Mexican take back to his own country the influences of the highest Protestant culture, or does he return saturated with the immoral ideals of low movies 1 The question challenges the evangelical churches of America.
Christians north of the border need the same missionary zeal
that inspired one Mexican Christian I know. With his daughter, he drove in a Ford one Sunday to a neighboring construction camp on the railroad where there were a number of Mexicans. There he asked the use of a little church not far from the camp, that he might hold a Mexican service. His request was refused by those who had control of the church because there was a rule that no other denomination could use the building except for funerals. The .Mexican brother was not of that communion and returned to the railroad camp thinking that that church was dead enough to hold its own funeral. Undiscouraged, he enlisted the help of some of the men who cleaned out a freight car, arranged boxes for seats and gathered twenty-five Mexican laborers in to hear the Gospel. When the invitation was given, eleven of the Mexicans made public profession of faith in Christ. When the railroad work was finished and the camp broke up, many of these men went back to Mexico, and during the year that followed, six of the eleven wrote to say that they were attending evangelical churches in Mexico.
The Mexican who has returned from the States is a hero in his village. He has been everywhere and seen everything. He no longer believes the tales he has been told about the Protestants, and even becomes a greater authority than the village priest. One young man told me that he had come to the United States seeking gold, but now that he had found Christ he was going back to give to his people that which was better than money. Most of the Mexicans who accept the Gospel are filled with an apostolic missionary zeal, and send letters, tracts and gospels back to Mexico to win friends to Christ.
There is also a challenge to our evangelical churches to use their influence for the betterment of international relations. Those who have seen Americans and,Mexicans united at the feet of the Saviour of the world, fully understand that the most effective way to improve interracial feelings is through the preaching of the Gospel.
How long will American Christians remain indifferent to this striking challenge of the three million Mexicans in our land ~ rrhey present a harvest field white and ready for the reaping-and a few scattered workers with poor equipment like a tiny hand sickle making pretense of gathering in the sheaves r Wtl should get out the checkbook of missionary zeal, and drawing upon the illimitable funds of faith, purchase great harvesters, man them with adequate forces, and send them forth to reap where seed already sown is bringing forth among the Mexicans, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. Suitable tracts in Spanish should be prepared and every worker willing to serve as an unpaid colporteur, in connection with other duties, should be provided with unlimited supplies of tracts, gospels, New Testaments, and Bibles in Spanish. Every Mexican in our land who can read should have an opportunity to study for himself the gospel story of the Christ who died to save the lost.
a Church of God in
BY N. W. TAYLOR, OAXACA, MEXICO T HE morning was bright, the sun shining down from almost a cloudless sky, as we made an early start from home in order to reach our destination before the heat of the day began.
Leaving the train at 'l'lalpan we passed through the village, pick- ing our way through the busy market, for even at this early hour the merchants had their wares spread about the square. In Mexico the law calls for all but provision stores to be closed on Sunday and so the merchants betake them- selves to the streets where they can trade undisturbed. The law is in- tended to protect the employee, not to preserve the Sabbath.
Shortly after leaving the town we entered the lava area. On all sides we could see outcI'oppings of the lava and some distance to one side is an old pyramid about which the molten lava had flowed, rising upwards as though to overwhelm it, but having spent itself, flowed on, leaving a ring around it as an evidellce of its power and volume.
About nine thirty we neared the village of San Andres, with its new church which our congrega- tion is building. There it stood with its white-roofed tower reflect- ing the morning sun, clearly visible gN~1~i>r. ~ ~~6'ERE~1l'~SHAO: DJ~~ for miles around, a silent testi- ~~uR~lkC~Al~!~:Iii'b :JiJ~Dki~ B~0 mony to God. For many years the FOR PICTURE people of this church were, like many other congregations, content t.o go on without making headway. '1'hen came an overwhelming catastrophe which, under the hand of God, "worked together for good." In the revolution the church was destroyed and the people were driven out of the village and scattered far and wide. Returning a few months later they found most of their houses in ruins and the church burned to the ground. Like Nehemiah of old they wept as they looked upon the ruins and were in despair. Then they decided that something must be done and as they planned apparently their vieio!). grew. They were few in number but decided to bllild a church ll7
that would bring glory to God. It must be large enough to accom- modate the increase which they were sure God was going to give. It must be substantially built and fireproof so that . no recurring revolution could destroy it. What an undertaking for a band of twenty to twenty-five Christian Indians! It would cost thousands of pesos and the daily income of most of them is figured in centavos.
They had no outside backing, for not even the mission was asked to help. But God was with them.
The day we visited the church the Sunday-school lesson was on the rebuilding of the temple, and we were told that when they laid the corner stone of their new church, scenes similar to those of Ezra's day accompanied the ceremony.
The young people rejoiced, whilst the· older ones wept. Today the church stands out upon the hillside as a monument to God. Finished ¥ No! But in six years no less than eight thousand pesos ($4,000) have been put into the building materials by these people who have them- selves done the work. When they first discovered how much they must pay for labor, they hired a bricklayer for four days and all the men of the congregation stood around and watched him work. At the end of four days they felt com- petent to continue the work them- selves and so dismissed the man.
A CHURCH OF WHICH ANY COMMUNITY Into the building have gone twenty- five tons of lime and sixteen thou- MIGHT BE PROUD sand brick, all of which had to be carried up the mountain side on mule back. The whole building is constructed of brick and stone and when completed the only wood in it will be for platform, shutters and furniture. With its white-roofed tower this is a building of which any congregation might feel proud. Near the top of the tower have been left some small windows from which at night will shine a white light, to speak to the country-side of "Christ the Light of the world."
At the conclusion of the morning service we went to visit one of the elders who was ill. We had to stoop to enter the door of the adobe hut into which the only light that entered came from holes left under the eaves. 'Vhen our eyes became more accustomed to the darkness we noticed that the walls were unplastered and un- adorned save for several crude plows, which were hung there for safety. On a wooden pallet, wrapped up in several serapes, lay the old
TODAY IN MEXICO
man. His wife sat at his head fanning him to keep away the flies. Very feebly he took our hands and bade us welcome. As we talked about the new church his face lighted up, and although weak in body, yet he showed his strong faith that God will accomplish His purposes through it. He has been the most active worker and the most liberal giver. He might have had as good a house as any in the district but he chose rather to build God's house. As I compared the two the thought came to me, "Without realizing it, he is building a house 'not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' "
At a recent service nine hundred pesos were pledged by the members, towards the completion of the church. This means real sacrifice on the part of these people.
Pray for the work in Mexico. It is a land of darkness and superstition which can be dispelled only by the Gospel of Christ. As its neighbor, the Christian people of America have a special responsibility towar~s Mexico.
Today in Mexico* BY RE,V. G. B. WINTON, D.l).
Author of "Mexico Today"
M EXICO is one country in which today changes into tomorrow with terrifying swiftness. The constitution of 1917 has orig- . inated more than the usual measure of storm and stress. The effort to codify and enforce that constitution has gone on now during three administrations-those of Carranza, Obregon, and Calles-along with the universal popular upheaval of which it was the symbol and expression. This has profoundly altered the political and economic status of our sister republic and its influence is now reaching out also into the realm of religion.
Touching first the political side-which is of international as well as national significance-.all doubt as to the triumph of those forces which expressed themselves ten years ago, first in armed conflict and later in a new constitution, may as well be finally laid aside. A powerful group in Mexico, few in numbers but wealthy and intelligent, cooperated with equally potent influences in the United States to throw doubt upon the stability of the new order of things-"the revolution" as the Mexicans call it, always in the singular. And it was just that, the rising up of the mass of the Mexican people to assert their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Many of the leaders were inefficient, many unworthy. The people themselves were and are far from ready for the responsibilities entailed by self-government. It was essentially a revolt of the weak against t.he st.rong. Yet despite all theSe handicaps it has proved to be a • Condensed from The Missicnary Voice.
rising tide which nothing could stop. Calles is loyal to the underlying principles of the revolution and is an able administrator.
As to the economic status-some provisions of the new constitution bear hard on vested capital. rrhey have aroused especially the hostility of the oil men and the large landholders. The Mexican Government has proceeded slowly and cautiously. When a statute covering the difficult demands of the organic law is put into force, through court proceedings with due penalties of law, we may expect other loud complainings from those whose interests are involved.
As concerns the religious question, the constitution of 1917 merely retained and clarified the principles embodied in that of 1857. It demands complete separation of Church and state, including the undivided control by the state of public education. It denies to churches the right to hold property in real estate. It prohibits religious ceremonials on the streets, the wearing of distinctive dress, the existence of religious orders, the ministrations of foreign priests. This last,' and some details as to primary education, are added in the new constitution.
If some of these provisions are drastic it must be recalled that the national disease for which they were meant to be,an antidote was a mortal sickness. Nothing short of heroic measures of just this type could have won the continued existence of anything approaching free institutions in the stern days of Gomez Farias and Benito Juarez. These laws are retained by the patriotic leaders of Mexico for reasons that seem to them absolutely final.
Hitherto missionary work has not been hampered by any of these reform laws. The Mexican governments that have upheld them have taken pains to make it known that they were not hostile to the Christian religion. As a matter of fact, Protestant teachings are so harmonious with liberty and Protestants have been so uniformly patriotic that the recent governments have secretly looked upon them as allies in their battle against reaction and privilege.
Ifow that fifty years of labor have resulted in a vigorous native Church, feeling its way toward a state of autonomy, the bearing of the provisions of the constitution in regard to the work of foreign missionaries and the control of church property is up for discussion and adjustment. Mexican churches and their leaders, both lay and clerical, are not exempt from the prevailing spirit of nationalism. They look forward eagerly to the day when they shall be completely independent. With their worthy desire, their cherished ambition, we can all sympathize. The intelligent missionary, in any country, is ever intent on making himself unnecessary.
The transition period is one which calls for mnch wisdom, and even more for a spirit of entire abnegation. Native churches that would be self-directing must also learn to be self-supporting. No church Call be at QUce ip.dependent ap.d dependent.
the Chinese Think of
Exhibits in the Case for and against China's .Attit1~de BY ARTHUR RUGH, SHANGHAI, CHINA International Y. M. C. A.
I s CHINA becoming anti-Christian~ I think not-but she needs to be shown the value of Christianity and is not very greatly im- pressed with present evidence of the power of the Christian religion to change the life of its professed followers.
If a man opens a new store these days in China he calls it "The New Love-Your-Country store." If religion or anything else is to appeal to China now it must show how it will help to make a nation strong. We may be able to prove that the Bible is inspired and the Christian religion is of superhuman origin .but the Chinese patriot does not see what that has to do with tariff autonomy and the rule of the war lords. Consequently he is not interested. China is not just now interested in the philosophy of religion and its literature.
China longs for national power" as blind men long for light." The Chinese are interested in religion only if it shows effectiveness in producing the conditions of national power. As· the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians: "I will come and find out not what your talk proves but what your power amounts to, for God's sign does not show itself in talk but in power." China is much inclined to follow this Pauline test of religion.
In the case for or against China as becoming anti-Christian, may I submit some evidence: EXHIBIT A From resolutions adopted by the Seventh Annual Convention of the National Student Union, July, 1925.
Since the unequal treaties were signed, Christianity has absorbed millions of Chinese and Missions Schools are established everywhere. In Mission Schools they compel students to accept Christianity and join the church. 'rheir students are not allowed to participate in patriotic movements. They make the students read the hypocritical creeds of "universal love and social service of Jesus" so as to chloroform their thoughts. The Y. M. C. A. and the church with materialistic welfare induce people to accept Christianity. They smuggle ammunition and help stir up internal trouble in the country. The Y. M. C. A. constantly uses athletics and popular education to do evangelistic work so as to smother the political thoughts of the youth.
Student unions everywhere should continuously inform the public of the evils of the Christian Church and of Christian education. We should also explain to the public the insidious plan for cultural invasion employed by the Imperialists.
201
EXHIBIT B Vote taken by a class in a school in Peking, by J. L. Childs: Yes No 1. Religion has outlived its usefulness and should be given up as harmful to society. …………………… 12 23 2. Communism. will solve the economic problems of the world. ………………………………….. 30 11 3. China will be better off if she cultivates the friendship of Russia rather than of other eastern powers. ….. 14 27 4. Interracial ma.rriages are bad and should be avoided. .. 17 24 5. The people of the white race have the greatest capacity for government of any people in the world. ……. 25 17 6. The Chinese people are more intelligent than the people of other nations. ………………. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 10 EXHIBIT C From 170 replies to the qu.estion of a Peking magazine on how to improv.e the Church.
1. Shatter denominationalism. 2. Put the authority on Chinese shoulders. 3. Let the Church promote industry and found savings institutioDl!. 4. Get rid of capitalism. and class distinctions. 5. Use scientific methods in preaching. 6. In evangelism! teach truth bearing on society and the nation. 7. Cooperate with other agencies in social work. 8. Respect foreign missionaries who come to serve; send the arrogant ones home. 9. Make all religious education and service in mission schools elective and voluntary. 10. The church should oppose unequal treaties.
EXHIBIT D Discussion of the Church in China by a group of Chinese students representing six colleges mostly Christian. Date: July 2, 1925, soon after the Shanghai incident of May 30th.
Question: If you were starting a new church in your community, what would it be like 1 Answer: It would be of Chinese architecture, use Chinese music, have a Chinese orchestra, have a regular church service with a short sermon and more time for meditation. Would have day and night schools and lectures on social and political problems.
Question: If a foreign missionary were available to help you in the church, of what help could he be?
Answer: Alter considerable effort-He could give advice and teach English in the night school. He should not hold any office in the church or try to influence its policy.
Question: If the missionary Board offered $2,000 to the church, how could you use it?
Answer: We could not employ the pastor or any teach"r or worker with it without hurting their influence. We should not build the church with it. We could use it for a school building.
WHAT THE CHINESE THINK OF CHRISTIANITY
EXHIBIT E Questions handed in by a medical student at the close of a meet- ing of students in Mukden.
1. Can a scientific man believe in miracles? 2. Is prayer superstitious Y 3. Are the parts of the Bible outside of Jesus' teachings any different from other good literatUJI'e Y 4. What was your motive in coming to China' 5. Should a Christian student lend his bicycle to a friend who can't ride and would break it Y When these questions were answered he said, "I am satisfied with your answers, but the preacher in our town just says: 'If you believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven and if you don't, you will go to hell,' and I didn't see why my intellectual conclusions should settle my eternal future even if they are wrong."
EXHIBIT F From the record of a Bible class in a government college.
1. Three sessions spent on the Sermon on the Mount ending with the question of turning the other cheek.
2. Class broken up by members who forbid any further teaching in their school of the doctrine of love and forgiveness saying that it is a trick of the missionary who is sent out by his government to teach China to be easy and soft so she can be further exploited. What China needs is the will to fight like Turkey.
3. Class resumes work to study the solution of China's problem by force. After three months' study the conclusion is reached that moral character is at the root of every problem. What will remake characterY Education.-A week spent on that solution and given up as inadequate.
4. Class goes back to the Sermon on the Mount and is on the road to :fj.nding a solution when the event of May 30th breaks up the class and closes the school.
EXHIBIT G Interview with a Shantung missionary just in from a two weeks' itinerating trip.
Question: Did you find much anti-foreign feeling' Answer: None whatever. The greatest friendliness every- ,,·here. The only trouble was too many feasts. Question: Were you welcomed as a foreign preacher ¥ Answer: Everywhere. The mayor of one town stopped us as we passed through his town and asked why we went to other towns and never came to preach to them. Question: Did the people seem excited about unequal treaties and extra-territoriality? Answer: They never mentioned the subjects. As far as I could see their chief interests were the price of rice, the danger of war and whether we would open a school or church in their town.
THE VERDICT The Jury decides that it can not reach a final decision because China has not yet decided whether or no she is anti-Christian.
China wants more evidence on the following points: 1. What is a Christian nation? Is it a nation that talks love and the square deal and then grabs as much as its military force makes it possible to graM 2. What is a Christian Chu,rch? Is it an organization of folks to propagate Occidental beliefs and organizations over the world by the aid of the capitalist and the militaristic governments ~ 3. What is a Christian? Is he a man who believes something which he can't understand and is anxious to get you to do the same, or is he a man who is being changed into a character of loving sacri- ficial service by his experience of Christ and who would gladly share this experience with you ~ China wants evidence on these· three points and then she will de- cide. Not one man in fifty in China knows the answer to these three questions, and we in America do not help them much. We have been having such a hard time financially! There are several families in nearly every state in the Union that do not have a car and there are many families that have only one, so that we have had to withdraw much support for the missionaries and the church in China. So China waits for evidence and is perplexed. You can not blame a lay- man for not knowing whether he' is for or against the Einstein theory if he does not know what it is or where it came from. There is no sense in America being greatly wrought up over China's anti-Chris- tian attitude while the average American Christian spends more in a week for gasoline than he spends in a year to help win China for Christ. Whether China goes anti-Christian or 110t is going to be settled not in China but in the wills and purses of the Christians of America. • The Anti-Christian Movement in China ..
BY DR. C. Y. CHENG, SHANGHAI, CHINA Secretary of the China Home Missionary Society F OR nearly two thousand years the birth of Jesus Christ has been a cause for world-wide rejoicing. Both high and low have welcomed His coming. There is, however, an eternal conflict between right and wrong, light and darkness, good and evil. The advent of Jesus was no exception. His coming was welcomed by many but at the same time He was also hated by the ruling class.
China today has a share in celebrating this universal event. NOT is the commemoration of December 25th each Year confinE;ld ;merely • Outline of article appearing in s!",oial Chlna-for-Chrlst Bu.lletin,
'rHE AN'rl-CHRISTIAN MOV8MENT IN CHINA
to Christian Ileople; many non-Christians are aware of the reason for this celebration.
This year those who oppose Christianity are seeking to deliver a special attack on Christians at the Christmas season. The National Student Union has passed resolutions looking to a special Christmas drive against the Christian religion. In one sense this is unfortu- nate, yet it is quite in keeping with the events of the first Christmas time, when Jesus and His parents were obliged to flee for their lives.
The eternal COllflict is still going on and with ever-increasing intensity.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO AND Now Twenty-five years ago the Ohristian Ohurch in Ohina was faced by a severe Anti-Ohristian Movement. Many Christians lost their lives for their faith. Those who thus suffered included both Ohinese and foreigners. Our hearts are saddened as we recall the dark days of 1900 and the after effect upon the nation.
At the present time the Anti-Ohristian Movement is spreading all over the country. Ohristianity is charged with all sorts of crimes. l:"-nything it does is regarded as harmful to Ohina's best interests. Many are beginning to hate and to despise us and are determined to put an end to Ohristianity.
There is, however, a great difference between these two attacks. 'fhel former was due largely to ignorance of Ohristianity; the latter is based on some knowledge of it. The Boxer outbreak was led by the conservative and ignorant; the present attack by the educated and intelligent classes.
Opposition to Jesus Ohrist is not new. He was opposed by men of his own time. His own life was taken.
Persecution of Ohristians is not new. The history of the Ohristian Ohurch is full of evidences of such conflict.
Oharges brought forward against the Ohristian religion are not new. Many of the charges today are old and in importation from the West.
Ohristians need not be alarmed or dismayed. Many criticize the moon for its defects but the moon shines still.
While some have had their faith weakened and lost their love as a result of the present anti-Christian propaganda yet in the main this propaganda is a blessing in disguise.
It is delivering many of us from self-complaceny in imagining that we have all that is surest and best while others are heading toward destruction and darkness.
It is purifying much of our thinking. There can be no organiza- Eon in the world, not even organized Ohristianity, that is entirely perfect. Hence the Ohristian Ohurch needed a Luther or a Wesley to effect a reformation. The present Anti-Ohristian Movement may be an instrument in the hand of God for the correction of His children.
It is helping us seek the true picture of Jesus Christ in place of one which may have been distorted and defaced by traditions, rituals, dogmatic statements, etc.
CONCENTRATED ATTAOK AND How TO MEET IT The Anti-Christian Movement is not an organization but a movement. It has no one at its head and no organization to direct its work. Its attack on Christianity, therefore, is varied and some- what confusing. Of late it is becoming more definite, concrete and concentrated. Christian education seems to be the central point of attack and Christmas the appointed time.
The attack so far is of an intellectual character, but when the ignorant masses join hands with the educated there is no telling what may happen. Christians are called forth to watch and pray for spir- itual preparedness so as to enable us to stand firm no matter what eventuality overtakes us.
There are at least three classes of people in the Anti-Christian Movement. They need to be met in three different ways. There are those who are prejudiced, who oppose anything Christians do, whether it is good, bad or indifferent. Such persons should simply be ignored. Argument with them can serve no good purpose.
There are those who are misinformed. Many oppose Chris- tianity because of misunderstanding, such as Christianity's seeming connection with foreign political aggression. To such people an ex- planation of the true facts should be patiently given.
There are those who are seeking after truth. Such persons have often laid their finger on the weak spots of the Christian religion. To these friends we should be grateful for helping the Church to turn over a new leaf.
It is not enough to know how to meet the opposition. We must be true to our religious convictions. To a Christian his religion is a matter of life and death importance.
Have faith in God. Christianity is founded on a rock. No 'antireligious storm, however strong, can shake it.
Be true to Christ. Do not desert Him as did His disciples of old at a time when they were needed.
Show forth the spirit of Christ in meeting the opposing foe. Let us strengthen our spiritual life and let the world know how courageous we Christians are. The anti-Christians are active for a destructive purpose; Christians likewise should be active but for a constructive program.
Polycarp, the second-century saint and martyr, before he laid down his life for the sake of his belief, said, "I have served Jesus all these years and He has done me no wrong. I cannot desert Him now."
A distinction should be made between Christianity and Christ i
PROTE8TANT MISSIONS AS SEEN BY A TURK
between the teachings of Jesus and the theology of the Church; between the Head of the religion and its members. It is hardly possible for Christianity to free itself entirely from organization and tradition, but if the spiritual nature of Christianity is always kept as the matter of first importance, its future is exceedingly hopeful.
Christianity is congenial to the people of the Orient; even more so than to the people of the West. Surely it should no longer be regarded as foreign. Jesus has done us no wrong. We must stand by Him to the very last.
SUCCESS IN FAILURE The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in summing up the daring deeds of God's faithful ones in history, pictured the success of their faith in two ways, namely, success in victory and success in defeat. (Success in victory, Hebrews 11: 33-35, Success in defeat, Hebrews 11: 35-38). Yet he regarded both as success. It is the success of the spirit. What is needed today is also this spiritual success.
Jesus said that if He were lifted up he would draw aU men unto Himself. Nearly two thousand years have passed and we have not yet seen the fulfihnent of these words. Why is this 1 Either He is unable to draw or He has not been lifted up. The Church has been busy most of the time. It is very much to be feared that many other things have been lifted up rather than Jesus.
, Jesus is still challenging His people today. China at the present time resembles a house that is tumbling down. It requires that all its citizens should come and lend a helping hand to save the nation from destruction. All are to help, We Christians offer Jesus Christ as our best contribution to the nation's salvation. We must stand firm in the most important and glorious task and see to its successful issue.
Protestant Missions as Seen by a Turk· The following is a translation of portions of an unsigned article of striking interest that recently appeared in the Turkish daily, "DjumhOttriet," of Constantinople.
W E HAVE from the first been suspicious of this benevolent, religious, charitable, rich Christian Society that with such boldness stretches out its hands to the Turks. We are much afraid that while they may give us. one, they will take five from us. rt is more than sixty years since this Society has been establishing, in Constantinople, in Roumeli Hissar and Arnaoutkeuy, and in some of the Anatolian vilayets, branches, each under the name of a school. But since the time and circumstances were not very favorable to a • From The MM8wna.r:JI Hera.l4, Boston (December),
propaganda, their energies, especially among Moslem Turks, were very limited. But now, taking advantage of the opportunity given by the freedom resulting from the separation of religion and govern- ment, these zealous Protestants, like marauders, who make away with goods under cover of a tumult, have got the better of us, and are clinging on like crabs.
First they get people to love them, and then they make them novices in their order. Their schools are each a tekyej there the great needs of Jesus (Hazret-i-Isa) are sung. The persuasive abilities of the members of this Society, both men and women, are so great that, like ants caught in a spider's web, people cannot again be rescued from their hands. The greatest secret of their success is love.
The Protestant Young Christians begin with example and lead up to rule; they go from the concrete to the abstract; and this sort of propaganda is much more fatal. They do not proclaim the principles of Protestantism-nay, they do not even talk about religion; but by their attitude, their actions, their manners, by the compassion they show to animals, by the help they give to the poor, by loving what is good, by mercy to the unfortunate, they try to show the loftiness of their religion. The number of innocent Turkish children eaptured by these charms is constantly increasing, and these children are becoming each an American Protestant-nay more, not only a Protestant, but a missionary.
A religious festival, when it assumes the character of a soiree, pleases everybody. Every year they celebrate the Christmas festival in their schools in such an attractive way, that we have witnessed in Shishli, in some well-known families with which we are well acquainted, a celebration of Christmas in the same way and with the same religious rites as it is celebrated by Christians. Nor is it only in Constantinople. We have heard one of the teachers tell about the Christmas festival as observed in the Brousa American School which has been quietly operating there for thirty or forty years past; and our heart was cut to pieces (parcha parcha oldou). 'rhe celebration described took place two years ago; and doubtless it has been going· on thus year by year from the beginlling.
In the Brousa American School, which has not a single foreign student in it, the Christmas celebration is carried on for the Turkish children. Yet nothing is said about religion-oh, no!
We must awake from our sleep, and we must tell these self-invited guests of ours to desist from this ill-considered ambition of theirs. We are much impressed by the news that they are going to open libraries in ,Anatolia, and start clubs; and it is reported that they are going to send to their own institutions in America ten young Turks. We are afraid they are thus going to hit us with our own weapons. A little sagacity! A little caution!
@ @ ~."w…B.,"E_.S<TNtiM~E'"T"Hb"O..,D-"S,,"'* '
EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Shall the Church take intD aCCDunt the EvanstDn Student CDnference in planning its methDds 'Of wDrk Y In 'Our satisfactiDn with an unchanging message, shall we 'Overlook the necessity fDr frequent changes in. methDd?
The interpretatiDns 'Of the Evanston CDnference, as Vlewed frDm the flDDr, the gallery and the platform, are filled with suggestiDns as t'O methDds 'Of WDrk, the value 'Of which will be apparent tD thDse WhD read wisely.
A secDnd reading 'Of the practical methDds in the February REVIEW will be suggestive tD leaders. They were written befDre the EvanstDn c'Onference and withDut any reference tD it but in the light 'Of its discussiDns and findings they have new meaning.
SOME STUDENT REAOTIONS the place in sDciety which it is de- manding. AGNES SAILER, The knDwledge 'Of what my 'Own student generatiDn is thinking and (Vassar College, 1926).
feeling was the greatest thing I * ' ' ' "
brDught hDme frDm EvanstDn. I was The value 'Of the Evanston con- profDundly impressed with the energy ference t'O the Church and the world of my fellDw-students in their demand will manifest itself, not tDday nor fDr pDwer and expressiDn. I was alsD tDmorrDW in whirlwind enthusiasm impressed with their lack 'Of kn'Owl- fr'Om the students, but will be seen edge as tD the meaning 'Of religiDn thrDugh a periDd 'Of many years. At and the Church, their lack 'Of CDn- the cDnference the students saw the victiDn 'On religiDus questiDns and pDssibility 'Of having a mDre effective their lack 'Of infDrmatiDn 'On SDcial KingdDm-building Church. They saw issues. The gathering presented, tD 'OPpDrtunities 'Of service within the my mind, a tremendDus challenge tD Church and shDwed little of the spirit the Church to interpret and demDn- 'Of remDving themselves from it.
strate Christianity in terms that shall Out 'Of that cDnference, which rep- appeal tD students. It challenged the resented the spirit 'Of the church-gDing Church tD set abDut rectifying its YDuth of the CDuntry, there came the glaring defects, mDst 'Of all th'Ose aris- dynamic urge fDr unity upDn which ing frDm the disunity 'Of denDmi- a real interdenDminatiDnalism can be natiDnalism, if it would h'Old the built. There came, alsD, a feeling 'Of SuppDrt 'Of its yDunger members. It high regard fDr the Orientals in their certainly challenged the students tD native lands. YDuth, bDth fDreign and unceasing effDrt in self-educatiDn and American, sees the danger 'Of taking scientific study as a necessary pre- the trappings 'Of Western civilizatiDn requisite to their determining the as a part 'Of the missionary enterprise.
value and pDssibilities 'Of the Church, TD the individual student it meant and the relatiDn it shDuld have tD the turning pDint tDward different sDcial mDvements. It 'Opened up fields lines 'Of thDUght, a new emphasis in fDr endless research and it shDwed the reading material, and an interest in fearful danger in mere "yDung the Church as it deals with the perti- blDDd" which has not fitted itself fDr nent prDblems befDre it. The student 209 4
became more than ever convinced that societies in one organization; (3) the Church cannot longer be com- students would like to see missionary placent in a world which is struggling activities dissociated from Western to solve the vital social questions civilization and used as an inter- which confront it. change of Christian ideas between the CECIL HEADRICK, home and foreign "fields. .
(Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas). The significance for the world lies.
'" " " in the fact that the students accepted The hopeful side of the conference the Church as the social conscience consisted in this, that students not and a crusader who should right all limited by strong denominationalism, social wrongs. DOROTHY DYAR, and believing in an open and frank (Union Theological Seminary, New evolution of the Church, are seeking York).
to aid the Church to find the Christ- I< " …
way solution to the complex problems The mere fact that such an interof today. The dangerous side of the denominational conference could occonference consisted in the fact that cur must win for it a significant place students, with a woeful lack of factual in the history of a social program of knowledge of the history, the pu.rpose, . church cooperation. and the problems of the Church, de- A second genuine contribution was sire to create church unity in outward the reemphasis on the effectiveness of organization before the Church is the educational approach to the great unified in spirit and fellowship and to problems which vex our society today. bring about reforms by resolutions The high point of this conference was and legislation before the individuals found, not in its inspirational in that group are converted disciples speeches nor its beautiful resolutions, but in the determination of those who of Jesus Christ. attended to investigate conscientious- ARTHUR JOHNSON, (President of the Lutheran Stndents As· ly the facts of the questions which sociation of America). perplex us and to bring their findings to the attention of their campuses. '* II< '* The significant things for the stu- Those who attended came to realize dent appeared in the facts that (1) that a :few hundred students meeting they found themselves conservative in over a brief period could, after all, comparison to many of their elders; focus only a comparatively small force (2) they failed to face up to the func- on our social ills. Their agreement tion of the Church, insisting only as to a cooperative, systematic, educaupon action in the fields of war, race tional program through the young and industry; and (3) they found people's division of our churches, their most pressing needs to be tapped a great new reservoir of power knowledge of the facts and experi- in affecting public opinion. On immentation in Christian living. portant subjects it may soon be pos- The significant things for the sible to present a uniform program Church lay in the following: (1) It simultaneously before all the student has not successfully brought its at- groups in America! It is to the task tempts, hopes and activities to the of making such cooperative work attention 01 the students; (2) students possible that the Continuation Comare impatient with denominationalism mittee of the conference is dedicated. and a creedal basis of church member- This group deserves the earnest ship but they insist upon the unique prayers of every thoughtful Chrispersonality of Christ as the center of tian. Protestant union and as the leader- RALPH F. BARTON, (University of Missouri).
ship for solution of individual and '" * * social problems. They are willing to The Interdenominational Student forward church 'Unity by attempting Conference has passed but those who to unite all Christian young people's actively participated in its creative
J926] BEST METHODS
thinking or were in sympathy with criticisms of organized Christianity its spirit feel that something unique in the West and of its missionary came into being and that a spirit was activities throughout the non-christian there which will not die until it has world. Some of these indictments are reached the farthest corners of the vague and unfair, but others hit at earth. the very heart of real weakness and For the first time in the history of bring into question the validity of America Christian students, under Christianity's missionary objective.
their own leaders, came together as The rising generation of church mem~ a group to discuss problems peculiar bers is now demanding that we con- to itself. To students the conference fess and correct every wrong aim, was of value, because it gave that practice, and attitude in our mis- group a consciousness of reaching out sionary programs. Otherwise they into untried fields, of pioneering along cannot, and will not, commit them- rugged ways, and of plunging into selves with enthusiasm to the mis- new depths. sionary cause.
Who can estimate all that the in- How fatal it if. then to try to fluence of this conference will mean educate college students on missions to the Church and to the world? An before we allow ourselves to be earnest group of young men and educated by them on what foreign women have 'been challenged to see students-frequently non-christian the Church anew-in the light of a foreign students-are saying, and on youth movement which is trying to what our own students are thinking bring in a new social order. and saying in reply. They may not There is always the danger that know or appreciate the facts of mis- these students will lose their spirit sions or the tremendous contributions of youth and become bound down by and many commendable features of abstract theories, words, and resolu- present-day missions. Some of their tions. Progress will be made, how- demands for reform may be impracti- ever, as long as students are cable or may be nothing more than experimenting with Jesus' way of life what missionary and native church !ind thus strive to bring in the King- leaders have been struggling to realize dom of God. A. ANN SILVER, for some time. Nevertheless, they .. .. .. (Willamctte University, Salem, Oregon). represent the ideas of the coming generation of Christian church mem- WHAT NON-STUDENT DELEGATES bers and unless we present missions SAW AT EVANSTON so as to enlist their intelligent under- standing and cooperation now, the Those who are planning to present Christian enterprise, both at home and missions to college students from now 'abroad, will soon be paying the cost.
on would better read the Commission The Evanston delegates were not Report and Findings on this subject iconoclasts. While they revealed a emanating from the Evanston Con- restless passion for a fellowship with- ference. You will not find there many in the Church of believers more truly facts for the substance of your mes- committed to Jesus' way of life, as a sage, but you will get a very true matter of fact, they were not as understanding of what Christian stu- sweeping in their criticisms of the dents within the Church are thinking generally accepted interpretations of with reference to the methods and missions as I had expected or hoped.
objectives of Christian missions. How- While the missionary addresses were ever you may account for it, the on- disappointing, the Commission Report coming generation sincerely questions on missions was appreciative, forward the validity and future continuance of looking and in my judgment the finest foreign missions as now conducted. product of the conference. It con- They have been hearing all sorts of tained nothing, however, which better
educated volunteers have not known against the Church and missions, but and said ever since the Indianapolis whenever it seemed that steam was Convention. Fortunately, the new up in the boiler and something couraeducational processes within the Vol- geous was about to be done, some one unteer Movement and the recent arose and either suggested another political developments in China, ac- subject for discussion, so averting a companied by radical changes in mis- blow-up, or opened the safety exhaust sionary policies, have increased the by a perfectly harmless appeal for number of students who will be satis- continued loyalty to the Church as is. fied with nothing less than the most modern interpretations of missions, To the degree that the conference and by this I mean such interpreta- lacked positive spiritual conviction it tions as the indigenous Christian also lacked spiritual unity. On only leaders of so-called mission lands and one or two occasions did it manifest the more sympathetic and prophetic the power of united and sustained missionaries there heartily endorse. thinking. The passion of Paul to share Christ in an individual and At no point in the conference were mystic way found expression in more the majority of student delegates impersonal objective and humanienthusiastic about missions. The tarian concerns. In only one address reason may be traced, I believe, to was it suggested that the solution of their general ignorance of what mis- great economic and social problems sions have accomplished and more might call for courageous facing of especially to the absence of intel- individual problems first and for inlectual conviction of what Christ can dividual economic and social sacrifice mean, both to the individual and to to the point of the Cross. This tendthe world. The Jesus of William ency to look out, never in, to objectify Carey is not the Jesus of this student all their problems, and to limit thinkgeneration. As Dr. Albert Parker ing and proposed action to such Fitch pointed out in his summaries manners as can reasonably be atof the discussions again and again, tempted through the Church, con- "you do not know what you believe," stituted the chief weakness of the The essentials of the Christian faith, conference. the central and unique elements of MILTON STAUFFER, the Christian Gospel, the form and substance of religious experience, in- (Educational Secretary of the Student dividual and social, were either so Volunteer Movement for Foreign Mis· vague as to have little meaning for sions) . these students or so detached from personal experience as to possess little In my opinion the Evanston Conif any motivating power. It was the ference was very significant to the Church, not themselves, and not the students who were there, to the spiritual needs of the world that these Church, if it will answer their chalstudents met to consider. As a result lenge, and to the mission boards if the conference registered an intel- they will examine the report prepared lectual commitment to missions but by these students. not an enthusiastic personal commitment. That one thousand of our college youth gave up a half of their Christ- I must not be misunderstood at this mas vacation in order to evaluate the Church as the agency for bringing in point. The conference delegates never a new world order, was in itself a considered for a moment scrapping demonstration of no small significance. the missionary program of the Church Great earnestness and fearlessness any more than they were willing to characterized their wrestIings with scrap the Church itself. There were these problems. Discussions followed criticisms galore and innumberable platform presentations and occupied flashes of just and unjust indictments half the time. These were always
BEST METHODS
'lpirited and eager. Often a dozen or bent on knowing the truth about the twenty students were on their feet at Church and their duty. one time clamoring for the privileges of the fioor. Every point of view was C. G. HOUNSHELL, represented. (Secretary Board of Mlissions, Methodist The opening session was full of Episcopal Church, South). radical and challenging opinions, but the second and third days brought • *' *' out conservative and loyal expression from the body of this large group. Fi.rst and last and throughout the There was no doubt that the Church sessions, a sincere gratitude for such was the chosen agency in the minds a group. Fearless, honest, seeking of these students to do the work for but one goal, the Jesus Way of Life, bringing in the Kingdom of God. But they revealed a deep reverence and only a united Church could do it! earnestness of search in their devo- tional expression which have some- Their vision for the goal was clean times been dishearteningly absent in and logical, but they realized that the assemblies of their elders. they had little experience or reputation to effect a change from denomina- Secondly, an amazement at their tionalism to. organize unity. How- conservatism. One expected an iconoever, they felt they could make a start clastic outburst. One witnessed a fairwith the young people's organizations minded appraisal of what has been of and so voted that they immediately value in the development of the unite and promote a program which Church, and a determination to build would give them facts and experience on that foundation. The conviction both of which they recognized as be- grew. Not only is the future of the ing inadequate. Church safe in their hands but the past is also secure in their keeping. The Church is very blind if sbe does not follow this conference by a well Thirdly, a wistful seeking for an planned effort to see that the students institution through which to work out get hold of the facts and surveys .Jesus' teachings-individually, sowhich they desire and also the op- cially, nationally and internationally. portunity to "learn by doing, " which These students see the forces of evil might involve having a place in the united. They are convinced that a councils of the Church. Youth at divided Church cannot cope with this Evanston asks, " Is there any real united impact. Denominationalism reason why the Church should be a which is cooperative, which seeks only middle-aged institution run by the to bring its peculiar gifts to the en- richment of the whole, may hold the middle aged for the middle aged?" loyalty of this group for a period of How will the Church answer youth? transition to unity. But divisive, It would be disastrous to foster competitive denominationalism is prejudice, segregation and distrust be- anathema to them. Nothing but a tween youth and age within the united Church can channel their Church when the Church is the one sincere, burning passion to apply organization which can unite all of Christ to the needs of the world. life within its fold. "Mistakes ~ " Yes, there were mis- MRS. D. J. FLEMING, takes. But when was youth-or maturity either for that matter- (Representative of the Federation of ever wholly wise? They acknowl- Women's Boards of Foreign Missions edged and one clearly recognized the of North America). superficiality of much of their think- ing, due to their scattered and often *** misguided minds. They themselves emphasized their need of disciplined The most interesting student con- intelligence. One's optimism is based ference that I have ever seen. It was on the confidence that they will deall life. It was composed of a very velop an intellectual conscience equal fine body of students who seem to be
to their undeniable moral conscience. world when we have a divided Without their idealism and strong Church' How can we perpetuate young life the Church is doomed to provincial church groupings and ex- failure. They offer fresh eyes; an pect to achieve the brotherhood of open mind; and a passionate desire men? With the clarity of vision of to follow Jesus regardless of the those unafraid to assume that Christ cost. meant what He said, and to stake For want of these characteristics, their lives upon it, they call for a certain sections of the Church are united Church in deed and in action.
today perishing. For this young Christ could not tolerate war or any- generation, under God's guidance, thing that might lead to it. They one has no fears. For those in the have courage enough to decla,re their Church, so blind as to shut them out, agreement. Industrial relationships one's heart is sick with apprehension. continually flaunt themselves before MRS. CHARLES K. ROYS, an ineffective Church. These students (Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of are prepared to help the churches to Foreign Missions). bring the spiritual power of God into new helpfulness. *** It would be too tragic if the high Who shall know with wllat high vision of Evanston should be allowed hearts came youth to Evanston in the to die in student hearts. May there closing days. of the old year? No one be a greater readiness on the part of in the gallery who ever stands with age to give youth its share in the great ,reverent soul in the presence of God '8 adventure. Why force them to go it manifestations, could fail to bow as alone-or to travel in just the way be heard the voice of another genera- officials do , Would that the doors tion trying to utter its faith in su- of our churches, and our offices, and preme idealism. most of all our hearts, might be swung wide to allow this band with its new These students do not use the awareness of its ideals to inject fresh phrase that dominated the thinking life in worn channels. Take them inof the older groups in other days. to the reverend councils. Give them Not once did one hear of "the evan- tasks that will demand their utmost. gelization of the world in this genera- Satisfy their longing not only for tion. " But they are all on fire to more knowledge but for a real share make Jesus' way of life completely in the task. They would like to paint effective in modern society. There is for you the picture of the Christ they no less of real religious purpose, see and the God they love but it may whether mystical or practical or a be in colors that shock middle-aged combination of the two. They are sensibilities. not so much talking about saving souls as they are struggling to ex- If the sacred places of the Church press the conviction that those who are covered with the dust of long bear the name should really live the decayed ideas, let these eager students life. This is not quite the emphasis bring the wind of their high ideals of the social gospel, ably interpreted and see whether the appearance of by Dr. Rauschenbusch, but more the sanctity may be improved. Let us living contact of Jesus in the lives not force a man-made mold on youth. and affairs of men. This involves less Catch the contagion of its enthusiasm dogma in the Church and more loyalty for Christ '8 ideals and let them use to Jesus. new tools if they will in building the Church and in making the world the To the students, secta.rian dif- Kingdom of God. ferences, denominational lines, petty jealousies and rivalries between LESLIE B. Moss, church bodies, distrust and sllspicion, are all unworthy the spirit of the (Associate Secretary Foreign ]I.{issions Conference of North America). Christ. How can we hope for a united
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUtNLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MILLSTONES posture is retained quite steadily from (Continued from February issue) twelve to fifteen hours a day, six or seven days a week, for three to six Fann Work weeks, depending on the acreage worked." A survey of the sugar beet fields of Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, No part of the United States seems Kansas and Wisconsin showed hun- to be without child workers. In three dreds of children at work for long valleys of Washington and Oregon, hours, at thinning, topping, hoeing fruit and hops claim 1803 children and weeding. In one valley there under sixteen. The work is not very were 955 working children under six- hard, but the hours are long-ten teen, 303 of them from five to nine ho111's or more a day for many of years of age. (These were some of them. In one valley the children, who the children under ten, not counted in live there the year around, did not the census.) In another state there lose much school, for school ter:r:ls were 1,358 chIldren from five to SIX- were adjusted to the harvest. ChIlteen at this work. dren in the other two valleys, how- ever suffered a serious loss because Imagine any six-year-old whom you of the change in school terms and know working twelve hours a day. because of their migrations. That is what happens in the beet waCnadleifroinrgnia~hitoldor, enhas(vathrioouussalnydsestoi-f fields. The survey showed that some mated from 5,000 to 20,000), many go· of them averaged even thirteen or ing from crop to crop for nine months fourteen hours while one such baby of the year.. One eleven-year-old boy worked a fifteen-hour day for twenty- said that he had picked "grapefruit, four days. Some children even grapes, oranges, lemons, figs and younger and hundreds just a little olives" and was then "in cotton." older were doing the same kind of work. Besides these crops, work is done in prunes, hops, rice, apricots, almonds, It is done out-of-doors, but never- peaches, beans, rhubarb, potatoes, .theless many of the conditions of cherries, peas, asparagus, tomatoes, work have ~ bad effect on tbe chil- pears, apples, citrus, walnuts and dren. These a.re particularly pressure of work, hours, postures, physical beets. hazards and weather conditions. One "What is the matter?" inquired a little boy described the position for thinning and weeding as "jes' like visitor who saw a sleeping lad moving a dog." An official report says: "All his hands ceaselessly across the sheet, the weight .of the fore part of the body picking at it. The boy's mother anrests on the wrists and palms of the swered, "He does that sometimes hands. We saw wrists that were swol- when he's asleep. He thinks he is len and lame, hands that were sore, picking prunes. " cracked and full of dirt, and knees that were sore, cracked and calloused. Too Much "Vacation"
The face is necessarily very close to Families move from crop to crop the ground, and in many instances by every sort of conveyance. They becomes badlv burned about the fore- may camp in a wagon, in a tent, in head and eyes from the heat and light one of the numerous auto camps, or reflected from the ground. . " One in a truck-their only home, perhaps, thing must not be lost sight or-this for nine months of the year. How can 2Hi
these children ever get to school? The Des Moines, a survey showed that State of California is trying to help 837'0 of the boys had two living parthe situation by a new school law, but ents, and in some cases the parents did it is difficult. Schools have "crop Dot even know the boy was selling. vacation. " The school year may b~ Reports from surveys of street trades gin on August first and five weeks in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, later be closed for prune picking. In Mobile, Toledo, St. Louis, Chicago, grape districts the closing will come Des Moines and Dallas reveal cona few weeks later. Consequently, as ditions of bad health, gambling, lack families move from crop to crop, the of schooling, thievery, juvenile dechildren go from vacation to vacation. linquency, crooked spines from heavy Sometimes when there is a school in loads, chronic over-fatigue from long session the children are not very wel- hours. A study of one city showed come. Imagine twenty to seventy that these boys, with their late and children of all ages, most of them re- long hours, had three times as much tarded in their studies, suddenly heart trouble as other boys, twice as dumped into a smoothly running much throat trouble, more than twice school, to stay a few weeks and then as much flat foot, and more of other move on. physical defects.
In Virginia we find children work- Not only physically, but morally ing on truck farms. They are em- street trades seem to be dangerous. ployed chiefly in harvesting but som~ In one city there were twenty-three help in preparation of the soil, plant- men employing boys in street trades. ing and cultivating. A twelve-year- Thirteen of these men had extensive old whose day was typical for thesr. criminal records. Statistics show that children plowed ten hours-from a large per cent of children in reform seven to noon, from one to six. One schools come from street trades. For quarter OIf the children who were instance, in forty-six reformatories of harvesting strawberries, beans and New York and Pennsylvania this peas were under ten years of age. amounted to anywhere from 63~1r, to Four fiftbs of them were under four- 777'0 of the inmates. teen. A quarter of the children missed over half of the school term. What 01' It?
Truck farms and small fruit keep These are a few of the facts of the children busy in Maryland, Pennsyl- way American children are working, vania, Delaware and New Jersey, too. not in one state or one section, but Most of them work ten hours or more throughout the United States. Over a day. The United States Children's a million children from ten to fifteen Bureau has studied similar work in years old are engaged in gainful oc- North Dakota, Michigan and else- cupations, plus many under ten, and where-finding much the same con- others who were not counted in the dition everywhere. census. Why do we allow this to go on7 Street Trades Children's Code CommissioIL~, No one knows how many children school laws, mothers' pensions, regaare working at street trades in the lation of work in local communities, United States-not the boys who own state child labor laws, a national child their own paper routes, but the wan- labor law-all have been suggested dering youngsters you can see on as helps in freeing the children from many city streets until late in the today's bondage of toil. Do you know night-bootblacks, newsboys, messen- the laws of your own State relatin6' ger boys, beggars, sellers of chewing to child labor' The Children's B11reau gum, pencils and so on. A newsboy is of the United States Department of proverbially supporting a widowed Labor, Washington, D. C. will send mother, but investigations reveal that this information on request. this is not true in many cases. In
WOMAN '8 HOME MISSION BULLETIN
We can find the facts, study pro- mean working for better child labor posed remedies, and help to put prae- or school attendance laws and adetical measures in operation. Facts quate provision for their enforcement. may be secured from loeal officials, It may involve the establishment of a and from state departments of labor, education and health, as well as from system of State aid for dependent the Children's Bureau at Washing- children to make it possible for them ton. to stay in school. It is likely to re- "There are no labor problems quire careful scrutiny of various canhere," said a group of women in a didates for election. And whatever small town. Whereupon one woman else we do, we can let other people proceeded to find out how true that know the facts and we can help creat.e statement was–and from week to the public opinion that will aboli<ili week surprising facts which she dis- child labor from the United States. covered appeared in church calendars and other places. Would people be Occupations of Children, 1920 CeJUlUIJ surprised to know that in your community there are-boys and girls em- Children Children ployed ~ Are they in occupations 10-15 10-13 which offer advancement or in "blind ye3.rs of age, years of age. alley" jobs f At what age do the chil- inclusive inclusive dren leave school? At what school grade T Must they have certificates to Agriculture, forestry, go to work? Do they have health ex- and animal hus· aminations Y What kind of citizens are you send- bandry ……… . 647,30'9 328,958 ing to other states? What kind are Extraction of minerthey sending to you 1 A set of stand- als . _.. _…… __ . 7,191 ards carefully worked out by people 647 who have been stUdying the needs of children has been published by the Manufacturing an d United States Children '8 Bureau. mechanical indus- Some of these are: tries ………. . 185,337 9,473 At least nine months of school attendance annually for children from seven to six· Transportation …. _ 18,912 1,899 teen. Trade ………… . 63,368 17,213 Age minimum of sixteen except for certain occupations in vacation periods. Public Service (not Prohibition of employment of minors in elsewhere classi- dangerous, unhelllthful or hazardous oc· cupations, or at work which will retard fied) ……….. . 1,130 153 their proper physical and moral develop· ment. Professional service. 3,465 621 Physical examination showing a child to be Domestic and per- of normal development and physically fit for the work at which he is to be em- sonal service ….. 54,00'6 12,172 ployed. Clerical occupations. 80',140' 6,927 Minors not to be employed over eight honrs a day or forty-four hours a week. Total ……… 1,0'60,858 378,0'63 No night work for minors. Prevalence of Child Labor, 1920 Census Cblldren 10 to 15 years of age in- clusive. engae::ed in Divisions of United States gainful occuoa.tions New England ……….. 59,239 Middle Atlantic ……… 131,541 East North Central ….. l()D,8D1 West North Central …. _ 57,90'6 South Atlantic ………. 273,981 East South Centl·al ….•. 221,342 West South Central …… 184,267 Mountain . _…… ___ . _. . 15,612 Pacific … _. __ . . . . . . . . . . 16,169 .A'sk the Children's Bureau to send United States …… _. . . . 1,0'60',858 you the whole set of Minimum Stand- Wh..t Will You Do About It?
ards for Children Entering Employ- "The children pass through the period of childhood but once, and ment and compare conditions in your their needs cannot be met with ten years hence. Next year it will be anlocality with these standards. . other group of children. There is an immediacy about a child welfare pro- It will not make much difference gram that exists with reference to no to the children that we know facts: otber. "-Grace Abbott.
unless we do something. This may EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY A TRADITION TO BE ESTAB- profit of about $4 a month in respect LISHED of each child. These children are fre- Compiled from Many Sources by quently most miserably housed and fed. They receive no money and JEAN GRIGSBY PAXTON When the history of the Christian their conditions of life are practically Church in China is written one of the those of slavery." most significant and dramatic chapters will undoubtedly be that which , 'Cotton Mills. Young children, describes the industrial situation and who are supposed to be working, but the way in which the Church, in the who have been overcome by fatigue beginning of its history as a national or who have taken advantage of the body, set itself to change these con- absence of adequate supervision, lie ditions. In sober earnest this young asleep in every corner, some in the Church faced the facts, disheartening open, others hidden in baskets under as they wer,e, recognized its responsi- a covering of raw cotton. The disbility for changing conditions and set cipline appears to be lax, and those in to work steadily and patiently but charge seem to wink at much that with high courage upon the task. goes on in this respect. The Commis- sion noticed that on its advent a And this task was no small one. warning whistle was given and many An adequate description of the in- of the children were awakened by dustrial world of China in the year their immediate neighbours and hur- 1922, or 1926 for that matter, can not ried back to the machines. The conbe given here. The one really official tract system of employment above dedocument on the subject ever pub- scribed is common.
lished, dealing however with only one "Silk Filatures. Nearly all the em- phase, that of child labor in the Inter- ployees in the silk filatures are women national Settlement of Shanghai, has and young girls. Generally speaking, been called hy a seasoned observer of one child is employed for every two labor conditions, the most melancholy adults. The children brush the cosocial document of history. The fol- coons and prepare them for the lowing brief ",,-uotations will serve to reelers by removing the waste and' so show why this ,report makes melan- exposing the silk thread. This opercholy reading: ation is performed over basins con- taining nearly boiling water with "The average earnings of a young which the fingers of the children frechild are unusually not more than quently and necessarily come in contwenty silver cents a day. The con- tact, thereby becoming roughened and tract system of employment is com- unsightly. mon. Under this system the native contractor supplies the requisite "Match Factories. Certain operalabour and is paid on production.
This system is obviously open to tions, such as boxing the matches and grave abuse. The Commission heard making up parcels of boxes, can be evidence to the effect that in some in- and are performed by quite young stances contractors obtain young chil- children. As little as nine copper dren from the country districts, pay- cents is sometimes paid to a child for ing the parents $2 a month for the a day's work. Members of the Com- services of each child. By employing mission visited one factory of consid- such children in the mills and fac- crable size. Young children, 8er- tories the contractor is aole to make a tainly not more than five years of 218 age, were to be seen working with al- parts of China, and of the slow formost incredible rapidity." mation of the public opinion which will have to be created before these Set side by side with the above par- can be changed. The Chinese people like concrete and practical things. agraphs one from another report, this On the other hand, their social unit for thousands of years has been the time a published trade report: family, not the community, and this has formed a deep racial instinct not , 'The profits of the fac- to 'interfere' in matters of public concern. The awakening of the social tory again surpassed $1,000,000. For conscience in this country will thus have both its helps and its handicaps. the past two years it has been running night and day, with scarcely any "In spite of a century or so of sointermission. The working hours are cial reform in the West, we who are from 5: 30 a. m., to 5: 30 p. m. and foreign also bring certain handicaps to this situation in China. It is not from 5: 30 p. m. to 5: 30 a. m. re- always clear how far the Church pectively. No meals are supplied by should consider its responsibility in the factory. It will be seen that the economic or political issues to extend. company is in an exceptionally favor- There is also no established tradition on the part of the mission boards for able position. With the raw product sending experienced social workers to at their doors, an abundant and ab- the Orient on the same scale as those surdly cheap labor supply to draw on, sent for education, medicine and evanand no vexatious factory laws to ob- gelism. To help to change this tradiserve, it is not surprising that their tion is one of the most fascinating problems of the Industrial Commitannual profits. should have exceeded tee of the National Christian Council their total capital on at least three for China. occasions. " "While this educational process To change such conditions was the goes on in many cities and schools throughout China, one special issue job the Church set for itself. What has been lifted to prominence, for has been done~ A little leaflet called friends in many countries to watch. "Threads," the story of the indus- , No child labor' was taken as the most trial work which the Young Women's appealing and definite of the stand- Christian Association of China has ards adopted by the National Chris- tian Conference, to be put into effect. done or has participated in, gives a The International Settlement of part at least of the answer to that Shanghai itself was chosen as the best question: laboratory for this experiment, since the condition of China's own govern- "Most of the Christian agencies in ment made it impossible to try to en- force Peking's p,rovisional labor China are united in a National Chris- standards in Chinese territory. tian Council which in a good many "The Shanghai Municipal Council realms is able to act for the Protes- was found to be willing to form a tant Church as a whole. commission to consider how child labor could gradually be reduced in "At the great National Christian the Settlement. Dame Adelaide An- derson, for many years Chief Lady Conference first called in Shanghai, Factory Inspector for the British May, 1922, the Church went on rec- Government, came to China for ten montbs to contribut~ of her technical ord as opposed to child labor, and believing in the necessity of one day's rest in seven and of provision for the health and safety of industrial workers. Considering that this con- ference in a sense marked the begin- ning of the Chinese Christian Church, this was rather an astonishing sevenleague step to take at the beginning.
"Ever since these great new subjects were hrought before the Church at the Conference of 192121, this Industrial Committee has been at work along the lines of research and study of industrial conditions in many
skill and ripe human wisdom to this JAPAN commission. A carefully chosen group of Chinese and foreign men Miss Y. Yumada, secretary of the Society and women worked hard for a year for the Harmonization of Labor and Capand then brought in a report (the re- ital. port refer,red to above) which if accepted would gradually raise the Women's Federation, the Peace Society, working age to twelve years, achieve the W. C. T. U., and the Shanghailanders' a gradual reduction of the shockingly Association of Tokyo. long working hours, and provide for inspection. The recommendations Mr. Bunji SUBuki, president of the Genwere mild in themselves, but so much eral Federation of Labor in Japan. better than existing conditions that they were all that could be asked for President and Mrs. Y. Sakamoto, Japa- nese people of Tung Wen College, Shanghai. at first." No small result of this work was INDIA the way in which for the first time the Mr. N. M. Joshi of the Servants of India eyes of the world were turned upon Society. labor conditions in China. To quote again from "Threads": '''l'he civi- Tata Sons of Bombay, the largest emlized world: will no longer endure that ployer of labor in India. our comfort and possessions should be built upon the bodies of little chil- FRANCE dren. The word that poured in to Shanghai during the spring campaign The French National Council of Women, of 1925 from backers all around the French Women's Alliance, and French world was nothing short of amazing. Young Women's Christian Assoelation. It :forms so large a part of the weaving which is irresistibly bringing the The French Women's Union for the count,ries together in a common con- League of Nations. cern for those who work by hand. that a roll-call of these names should be M. Justin Godert, and M. George Scelles, Minister and Secretary of the Department given: of Labor.
GREAT BRITAIN M. P. Appell, of the University. of Paris. Dr. P. Armand-DelilIe, of the Interna- The Manchester (England) Chamber of tional Association for Child Welfare. Commerce. M. Wilfred Monod for the Faculty of Protestant Theology. The British Section of the Women's In- M. Paul Fuzier for the Protestant Comternational Lea!!ue. mittee on Friendly Relations with Strangers. M. Emile Borel, ex-minister of finance. The Continuation Committee of the great M. Max Lazard, of the Labor Party. En",lish Christian ()mference, "Copec." M. Fontaine, president of the Administra- tive Council of the International Labor The National Y. W. C. A. of Great Brit- Bureau in Geneva. ain, and the World's Committee of the same organization. Early in the summer it was stated in Parliament that the British Gov- AUSTRALIA ernment had been keenly interested in the attempt to regulate industrial Mr. W. M. Hughes, ex-Prime Minister of conditions in Shanghai: and officials Au<tralia. of the Government of the United States turned to the report of this The Chamber of Commeree of Wellington, Child Labor Commission :fQr authen- New Zealand. tic information regarding the indus- trial conditions that are a part of the THE UNITED STATES international situation that came to a crisis during the past summer. The National Y. W. C. A. Miss Marv Anilerson, director of the The major question for the churches W'omen 's Bu~eau of the government Del'Mt- of the United States which are coment of 'Ulbor. operating in the great Christian Miss Graee Abbott, heai! of the Children's movement of China is whether they Bureau of the Department of Labor. are facing all of the implications of such a relationship and are prepared CZEOHO-SI,OV iK1A to accept their share in the respon- ~ibility for conditions in China and "fiss Alice Masaryk, daugltter of the pres· the United States that are binding i~ont of Czecho-fllovAkia. men, women and littlp children upon the wheel of the machine. The National Y. W. C. A. in Prague.
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NORTH AMERICA nett, chairman, Mrs. Katherine Silver- The Knighthood of Youth thorn and Mrs. John Ferguson, vice- chairmen, will report at the opening THIS has been organized by the Na- session Sunday afternoon. Christian tional Child Welfare Association women must face the present situato help meet the increase of lawless- tion with a sense of g,rave responsiness among school children of school bility. It is not a question of law age in this country. It is to be under based on the 18th Amendment alone the direction of Charles M. De Forest, but a question of reverence for all and its aims are thus described: law without which this Democracy is not safe and is without power to aid Our public school authorities are frankly the world. Further information may admitting that their curriculum does not ,be obtained from the chairman of the make provision for direct training of char- Washington Committee, Mrs. Wm. L. acter, and it is' plain that parents need help Darby, Washington Hotel, Washingin this direction. The Knighthood of Youth ton, D. C. supplements the efforts of parents and teachers in the home and the school. It New York City operates entirely through existing agencies, furnishing them with methods and materials which have been tried and proven to be successful. The cardinal principle of the Knighthood of Y,outh is the development of NEW YORK is America's largest, individual character through the practice of wealthiest, busiest and most fordaily exercises which form habits of honesty, eign city and its greatest foreign misc~urage, purity, thrift, loyalty, helpfulness sion field. The average population is and other virtues. It is intended primarily 17,841 a square mile, that of London for children between seven and eleven whose is 10,789 a square mile. Out of a work is checked by parent or teacher, a daily total population of 5,500,000 in greatrecord being kept of success or failure, the er New York nearly 2,000,000 are reward of degrees of Knighthood being foreign born, 2,250,000 have one or given for standards attained. This move- both parents foreign born, only 1,- ment is being extended to the remotest, 000,000 are of native born parents. In humblest home in the mountain or on the other words about 76.4 per cent of farm as well as in the city-all it requires the popUlation is foreign or of foreign is a child, and a parent or teacher to help direct the young knight in his quest for character.
born parentage. There nre 136,000 Women'. Law Enforeement Conven- English in the city; 584,000 Germans, tion more than the popUlation of Dresden; THE Woman's National Commit- more Austrians than in any city of tee for Law Enforcement has Austria, save Vienna; more Hungaricalled a Convention in Washington, ans than in any Hungarian city ex- D. C., April 11th-13th in the Hall of cept Budapest; more Norwegians than Nations, Washington Hotel. Nine in Stavanger, the fourth largest city commissions of women representing of Norway, and more Swedes than in various organizations and sections of Nor,rkoping, the fourth largest city of the country will present reports and Sweden; 56,000 Roumanians; 23,000 resolutions on the Legal, Political, Greeks; more Italians than in any Educational, Social, Patriotic and city of Italy, including Rome; 14,000 Religious aspects of Law Observance Spanish; 48,000 French; 200 unclas- and Enforcement. The Commis..<;ion . sified nationalities-Danes, Holland- of Church women, Mrs. Fred S. Ben- ers, Belgians, and others. It has twice 221
as many Irish as in Dublin; 250,000 part of this distribution was free and more Russians than in Leningrad; the remaining copies sold at cost or and there are more Jews than there less. Over 58,000 volumes were diswere in Palestine in the reign of King tributed to immigrants arriving at Solomon. Ellis Island and 120,000 to sailors and seamen from all parts of the world. Moody Bible Institute The missionaries of the Society visited the hospitals, the prisons and the in- THIS school in Chicago, which not stitutions for the poor and helpless. only carries on the work but also There were foreign-speaking workers perpetuates the name of its honored who carried the Scriptures to the founder, Dwight L. Moody, has sent Italians, Greeks, Germans, Russians, more than 1,300 students as mission- Scandinavians, and those of many aries into foreign fields alone, since it other nationalities. During the year was organized. Last year it sent out the Society published or obtained sixty. Under fifty-seven societies and from printing presses in Europe gosboards 959 graduates of the Institute pel portions in large type in two lanare now at work in thirty-seven mis- guages, printed in parallel columns. sion fields. At present the student The Society now has sixteen foreign body includes representatives of every languages thus published parallel state in the Union and twenty-six for- with the English. Recently the Goseign countries. There have been as pel of John in Esthonian-English was many as twenty-two denominations published, being the first time in hisrepresented in a single year. The In- tory that any part of the· Bible has stitute has three distinct branches, been printed in Esthonian and Engwith a dean at the head of each-the lish in parallel columns. day school, with an enrolment last year of oyer 1,000; the evening school, Demand for BraUle Bibles with 700 students, and a correspondence school with an enrolment of 7,200. THE American Bible Society re- ports an incident which illustrates To Train City Miosionaries the importance of the special work which it is doing in supplying Bibles GARRETT Biblical Institute, Chi- for blind readers. A blind man in cago, will inaugurate a new de- Kansas had a New Testament in partment next year by setting up a American Braille to give away, and training department for men who will through the Ziegler Magazine for the devote their lives to city missionary blind, recently, he offered it to any work. Rev. F. O. Beck and Rev. Erik blind person who would pay for the L. Sonderby will d1rect this depart- transportation. Responses came from ment. Mr. Beck was the promoter of thirty-four individuals from thirteen the recent religious and social survey states eagerly offering to do this. A of St. I~ouis. The funds for the new family of three blind sisters received department will be provided by the the books. The thirty-three other aphome missions society of the denomi- plicants were sorely disappointed. nation, the Chicago home missionary To supply these thirty-four New Tessociety and the institute. taments would cost $1,190. The New Testament in American Braille takes The New York Bible Society five volumes averaging $7 each. Many requests come for the Serip- THE report of the General Secre- tures in American Braille, though tary Rev. George William Carter, for the past five years this system has D.D., at the annual meeting showed not been taught in the schools; Rethe largest distribution of the Scrip- vis'ed Braille supplanting it. And tures ever made by the New York Bi- yet, here were thirty-four adults, sixble Society. During the year 1925, teen men, and eighteen women, un- 958,461 copies of the Scriptures in 67 languages were circulated. A large
1!t26J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
supplied with the New Testament, of Harlem's biggest needs was a sort and all eagerly appealing for it. of thought stabilizer-a place where its different groups could come, ex- Y. M. C. A. and the Churches change ideas, and give vent to their suppressed feelings and desires-and A MOVEMENT to promote cooper- the North Harlem Community Forum ation between the Young Men's was formed, which 'has been held C h r is t ian Association and the weekly in the auditorium of the Pubchurches is being fostered through lic Library. It is a member of the the Counselling Commission of the Open Forum National Council and Protestant Churches of the United has been represented at its annual States of America. This Commission meeting at Chautauqua, New York. is composed of representatives of The National Council, with headquareighteen Protestant communions, who .ters in Boston, Mass., has, on the are to confer at least once a year with strength of the accomplishments of Association leaders on problems of re- the Harlem Forum, openly endorsed lationship which are national in scope the Forum movement among. colored and which pertain to all denomina- people and urges that in every Negro tions. The National Council of the community open forums be estab- Y. M. C. A. has established a Depll!rt- lished as a means of furthering better ment of Relations with Church and understanding between the races. Interchurch' Bodies, of which Dr. David G. Latshaw is the secretary. No Race Problem Here Dr. John R. Mott said at the recent meeting of the Commission: ' , The SCHOOLS of the Hampton-Tuskebetter blending of the forces of our gee type, after half a century, are great communions with those of this showing marvelous results. Brunschild of the Churches, the Y. M. C. wick County, Virginia, once one of A., is of very great importance, so the most backward and unprogressive that, as a result of our united impact sections of the "black belt" of that upon the great areas of need and op- state, in which the Negroes were in portunity among the young men and large majority, is an example. Two boys of our nation and of the coun- white newspapers of that section, both tries with which we are cooperating, with strong Southern sympathies, rewe may achieve a larger result for cently discussed the result of these Christ and the Church and for their educational' institutions. The Petersprog,ress in the world." burg Index-Appeal says: "The Ne- groes of 'New Brunswick, in matters The Negro Forum Movement of thrift, low criminal record, owner- ship of land and ability to command H ARLEM, a district of New York respect and good will of their neigh- which covers an area of less than bors, stand second to none. The low one square mile, represents the largest clriminal expense, despite the fact that aggregation of Negroes in America- the county had the greatest prepona city within a city, as cosmopolitan derance of Negro over white populaand varied in its composition as the tion of any in the state and the furgreat city itself. Persons of color ther fact that the county jail has stood from France, Germany, India, Africa, empty for six months at a time, are Australia, and all other pa,rts of the cumulative evidence of the wonderworld, even Black Jews direct from ful material and social progress in Palestine, contribute to this city of this county." The Brunswick Ga- 150,000 souls. There are as many dif- zette says: "There is no race problem ferent schools of thought, and every in our county. The colored people shade of opinion is represented. and white people of this county live on terms of mutual respect and co- Five years ago Miss Julia Lathers, operation. The report of the auditor an enthusiast of the Ford Hall Forum in Boston, conceived the idea that one
of public accounts shows the splendid an experiment, the simplest meal in material progress made. This is a the middle of the morning, oatmeal wonderful record for a people who a and milk, or bread and cocoa. They few years back were mostly renters were going' to try it for three months and tenants. "-United Presbyterian. and judge the effect, but at the end of a month the children were found to LATIN AMERICA have gained in weight fmm that simple fare, and the teacher reported Guatemala Girls' School an incredible impmvement in their work. One small boy begged to come THE Guatemala Mission of the to school on Saturday. "Do you like Presbyterian Church conducts in school so much 1" "No" he said Quezaltenango a school for girls which honestly, "but I want my 'breakfast.'; is greatly in need of funds for a new The missionary found that in this building. ., The school is a potent child's home there were nine chilmeans of evangelization. Not a year dren, and all the food they had in a passes that important results are not day was coffee and a banana or a obtained through the conversion of sweet potato. pupils who came prejudiced against us. Our schools are first and fore- Bolivia'. Real Need most evangelistic. But the fine results are not limited year by year to REV. and Mrs. H. S. Hillyer, Cadevotional life and Biblical knowl- nadian Baptist missionaries in edge, but are so patent in the best Bolivia, write as follows of their probcultural work as well, that the school lems: "The Bolivian is thoroughly has accredited itself immensely in accustomed to hypocrisy in religion. public opinion. This is why the quar- It is as natural to him as the air he ters hitherto used are becoming breathes. When a baptized believer crowded to suffocation, and why so slips back into his' old life, he and all many of the best families, including his neighbors think that nothing una Minister of Education, send their usual has. happened. The problem we children to our school by preference. face is-how to make the church mem- The school is a demonstrated success, bers realize and feel deeply that the not an untried hypothesis. It has reputation and future of evangelical proved what a good evangelical school work in Bolivia lies largely with them. can do. The Mission sees it. The In Bolivia I feel that I must see a Government sees it. The public sees man practically every day for a year it, and we all are waiting for it to before I begin to think about baptizhave a better chance to do its best." ing him. At home we ask ourselves the question: 'Does the candidate un- Porto Rican Children derstand what baptism means Y' In Bolivia we ask: 'Does the candidate A FTER four hundred years of the fully understand that it means to live Spanish regime in Porto Rico, daily for years the Christian life?' ninety-seven per cent of the people of Our progress in Bolivia does not dethat island were illiterate. Twenty- pend upon baptisms but upon real one years of the American regime re- conversions. " duced this to sixty-five per cent. The Government, the missions, and Ma- East Indians in Guiana sonic orders are realizing the need and increasing the schools. The pov- REV. J. B. Cropper, D.D., now reperty of the people is a drawback. For resenting the new United Church example, one of the teachers found of Canada, began work in 1896 among that the children could work only an the 25,000 East Indians in British hour or two in the morning before Guiana, which he speaks of as the they became listless. Members of the only representative of the British American Protestant Episcopal con- Empire on the South American congregation in San Juan provided, as
NEWS FROM: MANY LANDS
tinent. He writes: "The progress to accommodate a children's congre- of the work, considering the many gation of approximately 500. With set-backs it has had, has under God's the exception of the minister, Rev. C.
blessing been satisfactory. There are G. Hutchison, the organization of the over sixty points at which groups of church will be composed entirely of Christians have been organized and boys and girls. The roof has been regular Sabbath services are con- painted to represent an eastern night ducted. Upwards of thirty elemen- sky, with twinkling golden stars, and tary schools have been established, of famous artists have contributed pic- which twenty-five are recognized by tures which will be hung on the walls.
the Government and receive mainte- The children will elect their own nance grants. A high school for boys church officers. As most of them will another for girls and a training home come from homes of the poor, a spe- for girls have also been established. cial envelope has been devised, in The two former are, like the majority which those who feel that they are un- of the elementary schools, recognized able to give money are asked to en- and aided by the Government." close a note of thanks for some bene- fit or joy received during the week.
CarajBII Indians in Brazil A day nursery will be conducted and STARTING out from the mission it is hoped to add a playground and station of the Evangelical Union welfare center. About £60,000 haa of South America at Goyaz, Brazil, been expended on the enterprise.
Rev. Mr. Wilding recently visited a tribe of Indians called Carajas, whom Jews and Christians Confer O he describes as naked and painted VER a thousand people applied'. for tickets for a conference of: savages. He says: "The Indians gave us a great welcome, the chief Jews and Christians held recently at bringing all his family to spend a day the Wesleyan Church, ¥anchester with us. Our gramophone was a Square, London, to discuss the sub- great surprise and pleasure to them jects "The Contribution of Religion all, only I did wish they could have to the Improvement of Race Rela- understood the hymns which were be- tions," "Native Races, a Sacred ing played. We long for the day Trust," and "Anti-Semitism." The when they shall know Him, whom to afternoon conference, referring to re- know is life eternal. As the time ligion and race problems in China, went on the Indians came from day Africa and India, was full of interest, to day to help us with the work of and provoked a considerable number making a clearing and soon many of short speeches by members of the trees were felled and building was be- audience. An underlying thought gun. A Roman Catholic priest vis- seemed to be present in the minds of ited us shortly after our a,rrival and everyone, namely the belief in man '8 endeavored to turn the Indians reasonableness and desire for right- against us. His attempt was not suc- eousness, no matter to what religion, cessful, however, as the Indians main- race or color he may belong. The eve- tained that we were their friends." ning session on Anti-Semitism was opened by a challenging address by EUROPE Dr. Montefiore, followed by a state- AChildren's Cllurch in London ment of the Christian point of view.
There was no lack of frankness on CHURCH planned exclusively either side, and in the speeches that for children is being completed followed every shade of opinion was in London by the West Ham Central expressed, including that of a Russian Mission, one of the most successful Jewish convert in the Anglican priest- Baptist enterprises in that city. An hood, a Zionist, and a Hungarian old tabernacle is being transformed Jew.
S
English Youth and Temperance ant, pure, attractive portrait of the synoptic gospels is unknown; very THERE has been organized in Eng- few French people have ever contem- plated it. In some quarters the his- . . land a "Young Methodist Temper- torical existence of Jesus is doubted :ance Campaign," in which the Meth- -more often it is practically igodist youth are asked to accept re- nored." sponsibility for the fight against the drink evil as a definite part of their Jewish Converts in Poland Christian service. Meetings are be- MAX SPALENICE writes to the ing organized throughout the United J ewish Missionary Herald from Kingdom. Young men and women Cracow that another Hebrew Chriswill preside; one speaker will show tian in Poland has been led to offer the evil of drink and another will ap- himself for preparation for Christian peal to the young folks between fif- work in the future. "The life," he teen and thirty to arm for the de- says, "of a truly converted young cisive fight "in this generation. " Jew here is by no means an easy one. The proposition is clinched by the Day after day he has to meet relatives signing of the following "obliga- and friends who think it their duty to tion" : draw him back to Judaism. Offers of help and alternate threats of perse- . By the help of God, I enter now into the cution are continually held out to make him renounce his Christian twofofd Obligation of Abstinence and Serv- faith. They consider it a meritorious ice. . deed to 'reclaim' such a convert to his former Jewish persuasion. 'I I will abstain from the use of alcoholic would give the world,' one Jew said, 'if I could win him back to our (Jewbeverages, that body, mind and soul may ish) religion.' 'This man is a per- fect mystery' another Jew said, 'to serve Christ's Kingdom at their highest. go about telling his people about Christ without fearing the conse- I will serve as I have opportunity, study- quences to himself and to his nearest relations.' " ing to make my service effective, and I will Bibles Again for Russia set Temperance Reform in the forefront of I T HAS been extremely difficult, if .my claim and duty as a citizen. Amen. not impossible, for the last four or five years to get Bibles into Russia. "Why should not the' Youth Move- A few shipments for which permis- sion was secured by Russians from ment of America,' if it is looking their Government have been admitfor a task, try its hand at this re- ted. All others have been stopped, form Y How could they help their whether sent by way of the Black Sea, country as well Y" comments The the Caucasus, China or the Pacific Christian Advocate. ports. Permission, however, now has been granted to print considerable Religious Needs of France editions at the government printing offices in Moscow and Leningrad. WRITING on the problem of evan- 'rhere are no plates at hand from gelization in France, Pastor Con- which to print these Scriptures and nier says: "The French nation does the changes in spelling required by not know the Bible. By law all re- the action of the Government would ligious instruction has been banished make old plates valueless, if availfrom the state schools. The Catholic able. The American Bible Society Church has thus in her hands almost the entire charge of the religious education oil the children of the country. They learn a catechism, but nothing from the Bible or the gospels. The New Testament is almost unknown in France. The French people do not know the Person of Jesus. Since they do not read the gospels, they only know the remote picture, often conventional and far too dogmatically expressed, which is given in the catechism, or by the preaching and art of the Catholic Church. But the radi-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
has offered to pay the cost of making education for girls as well as boys, a new set of plates, amounting to and the abolition of polygamy. In $10,000 or $15,000. The version is to 1922 the members of this Committee be the same and the general appear- succeeded in obtaining a law raising ance of the book will be the same as the marriageable age for girls to sixthe earlier editions. teen. They are advocating greater freedom of association for young men AFRICA and women before marriage.
Moslem Heresy Trial The College at Achimota THE controversy st,irred up in REFERENCE has been made in Cairo by the trial for heresy of a the REVIEW to the new Prince of professor in Al Azhar, the great Mo- Wales College at Achimota, on the hammedan university, was reported Gold Coast, and to Dr. J. K. Aggrey, in the November REVIEW. It will be the distinguished African member of remembered that Sheikh Ali Abdel the Phelps-Stokes Commission, who had written a book entitled "Islam is to be a member of its faculty. In and the Basis of Government," in a recent address in London, Dr. Agwhich he argued for the use of pro- grey outlined as follows some of the gressive Islamic principles as against plans for the institution: a literal appl~cation of the temporal ideas of Mahomet's day, including a With some fifty teachers selected from the divorce of civil and religious author- five continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, ity. This brought consternation to America, and Australia, and with accommothe legalists, with the resultant de- dation for about eight hundred students, it mand for his dismissaL The Minister will be the aim of Achimota to correct the of Justice, however, refused to re- mistakes which have been made in the edumove him from AI Azhar, and his cational systems of Africa. It will take the own resignation was thereupon de- African boy and girl at the age of six and manded. Now word comes that two carry them through the kindergarten to the progressive members of the Egyptian university courses. It will give to the Africabinet have resigned as a protest can, not only professional training, but also against the enforced resignation of technical courses that will teach both boys the Minister of Justice. Thus inde- and girls the dignity of labor. The imporpendence of thought is increasing tance of the Gold Coast Government's exeven in the strongholds of Islam. periment at Achimota is that it will retain and improve the best things in Airica and Women's Movement in Egypt couple them with the best things Western. The pupils in this government COllege will A GREAT change is taking place be trained to be Christian citizens. in woman's position in the public life of Egypt. She is now taking An "Ekitelo" in the Congo part, in every phase of Egyptian life, and it is no unusual occurrence for THIS is the name given by the peoleading Egyptian newspapers to de- ple, says a missionary of the Disvote space to the feminine question. ciples Church in the Congo, to a gath- It is not uncommon to see unveiled ering of evangelists and teachers from Egyptian women with male members thirty-nine outstations and the candiof their families in the hotels of Eng- dates for baptism. She describes the land and Europe. The Church Mis- latest of these occasions as follows: sionary Review, London, tells of a "The Ekitelo opened with a song and women's committee that has been prayer-service and then the handformed in Egypt by prominent Egyp- shaking began. Many of those prestian ladies who take a leading part in ent had never before shaken the hand both political and social movements. of a white person and naturally they Their program includes equality be- desired that privilege. Then followed tween men and women, compulsory a week of school, the evangelists and teachers receiving special training for their work, and those to be baptized meeting daily for Christian teaching.
There was also a school for women life, for real good literature. Your and .girls each afternoon. Imagine Society has already given two magthe joy of the Sunday communion nificent things to the Uganda Mission. service where 227 were partaking for We have received, first of all, "The the :first time and dedicating their Pilgrim's Progress." All through lives to Christian living; here where Uganda you will find that" The Pil- Christian living means a complete grim's Progress" is one of the most change in all the old ways of living treasured possessions of that country. and thinking." The other book that the Religious Tract Society has given to Uganda is Moslem Lea.rners in Nigeria the hymn book. It did touch my heart when I heard these black sub- MR. AND Mrs. Merryweather of jects singing: the Sudan Interior Mission send an appeal for prayer for the Moslems Jesus loves me, this I know of Northern Nigeria, a mission field made especially difficult by the cli- For the Bible tells me so. mate, as well as by Moslem hostility. They write: "Splendid missionaries You get to know the languages of of the C. M. S. and other societies the peoples of Central Africa, but you have labored here and gone. Good serve a long time before you meet the work has been done, the major por- word which means 'Love.' The only tion of the Scriptures translated and way in which we can interpret love other books to hand; and yet there to them is by actions. ' , prevails almost complete indifference to all. The most ho·peful feature lies Mo:ffat's House Preserved in there being a desire on the part of many to hear the Word of God. We I T IS proposed to put the historic have had an average attendance of buildings at Kuruman, which eighteen Moslems every Sunday for served for fifty years as the home of years, who apparently love it. The Robert Moffat during his period of Spirit of God has blessed it to their devoted service to Africa, in such orconviction, and shown them their need der and repair as will enable African of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet the missionaries to go there for short pefear of man holds them from surren- ;riods of rest. It was here that Livingder, and a public confession. Our stone met and fell in love with Mary head rnallam (Moslem priest) once Moffat. It is felt that Moffat's memsaid to us: 'In my heart I know in ory will be fittingly perpetuated if it whom I believe, but the moment I is made possible for the Kuruman confess I know they will get me out house to be utilized in future as the of the way by poisoning.' This ex- Moffat Rest House. plains why there are so few converts. " THE NEAR EAST Books for Central Africa. A New Calendar for Turkey VEN. Archdeacon Lloyd, speaking EACH month seems to bring a re- at the annual meeting of the Re- port of some new step in the modligious Tract Society, told of meeting ernization of Turkey. The latest is in a railway train a young Baganda, the passage by the Angora Governwho spent the day reading a book by ment of a law requiring the use of the Charles Garvice, which he said was "International Calendair" for all about "how English people make civic purposes (though the religious love. " The Archdeacon continued: calendar remains unchanged.) This adds 582 years to the old-style date "A tremendous demand is :coming and makes the current year 1926, in- stead of 1344. The Turkish year, as from Central Africa, where I have is generally known, is dated from the ~e!lll,stationed for thirty years of my Hegira, the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
"It will be interesting," comments versity training which will enable The ChristiJan Advocate, "to see them to serve theM- country more effiwhether official Turkish documents ciently. Now he wishes to send ten will be dated Anno Domini, in the students to the American University year of Our Lord. But whether they of Beirut on condition that they resay so or not, they will be dated from ceive scholarships while there. In his the Christian era. Such a change of letter Efraim Twoldo Medhen appeals mental attitude as this reform indi- to President Dodge as follows: "Will cates is almost incomprehensible, in you not allow Abyssinia to partake view of the history that lies back of together with other Eastern countries the two calendars." of the enlightenment which the Uni- versity is giving? Let me hope that Work for Turkish Women you will consider this appeal and will help me in my efforts. " MOUTIE SABRI, a former student at the Constantinople Woman's The Bible in the Holy Land College who has been directress of the Girls' Normal School in Stamboul for I T IS now.sixty-six years since a the past two years, has been sent to Bible depot was opened by the England by the Turkish Government British and Foreign Bible Society in to study kindergarten methods. On a small room in Jerusalem. Rarely her return she is to organize and can the shop be entered today withsuperintend kindergartens throughout out finding some would-be purchasers Turkey. The demand for college examining the books. F'requently the, graduates as teachers is so great in place is a perfect Babel of tongues, for' 'l'urkey at present that many grad- its thirty thousand volumes are uates of the Constantinople Woman's printed in nearly if not quite forty College who are married are teaching different languages. The shop is no part time in the schools, as they feel longer a small room, and at present that they should do their part in fur- a fine building on an excellent and thering the movement for education eligible site is in process of erection. which is sweeping the country. Bed- '1'he circulation of the Scriptures last rie Veyssi Chukri of the class of 1917, year amounted to 18,085 copies. The who has since studied medicine in colporteur is a Christian Arab, Habib Germany, has just been called back Khouri, who has many interesting exfrom Paris by the Government and periences. In Bethlehem he went to given the position of examining phy- the shop of a carpenter, who, when he' sician at one of the largest Turkish stated that he had the Holy Book that orphanages. told the story of "the maiden's son of Bethlehem," made a purchase, and Abyssinian Appeal to Beirut at once began to read. Among others who came in at the time was a little PRESIDENT Bayard Dodge of the boy, who said to the colporteur, "You' American University of Beirut has please come to my house with me, for received a request from Efraim Twol- my mother has much money, and she do Medhen, an alumnus of the Uni- will surely buy a book." On ar,rival versity, who is now Vice-Administra- at the house, the woman welcomed the tor of the Teferi Makonnen School, colporteur and purchased copies for Addis ~baba, .A!byssinia, requesting herself and several others. scholarships for ten young men from that country. His Imperial Highness Persian Bible Conference Ras Teferi, heir apparent to the throne of Abyssinia, built and main- AN all-Persian interchurch' Bible' tains this school. Prince Ras Teferi conference, held in Haniadan, thE) has been sending young men to the first of its kind, is described by Miss United States, to different countries Florence E. Murray as having been." in Europe and to Egypt to secure uni- remarkable in many ways. First, the
personnel: in addition to the voting the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. delegates there were many others who A. One of the party writes of these attended the meetings, contributing villages: "They lie many miles from from their rich experience to the clis- the beaten path. They are almost incussion of the many problems. Some accessible. In some of the villagel'l. had come out of Islam over forty white faces had never been seen, and years ago and some were new to the the first night drove many of the peofaith. Tabriz was represented by a ple into hiding. Usually we could perchurch member just returned from a suade them that we were harmlesl'l. year at Princeton, and Urumia by a and could get an audience for the gos- Syrian now living in Hamadan. pel message. But often the women There were converts from Islam and would remain where they could see Judaism, together. with Armenians, and not be seen. In one village an Syrians and Americans. Another old woman asked what we put on our notable feature was that most of the faces to make them white. Sixty of work was done by the Christian na- these villages ,reached with the Word tionals; only three missionaries sat of Life–only sixty-and almost two among the twenty-four voting dele- hundred in which the Gospel has gates. Unity was the keynote in dis- never been preached are still waiting cussion and prayer-the unity found -waiting for us!" only in Christ. Christ in a Hindu Temple Moslem Converts in Persia A STEREOPTICON lecture on the THE Bishop in Persia (Dr. Linton) life of Chril'l.t was delivered re- writes to the Church Missionary cently under unusual conditions in Society reporting the baptism of Madras City. The missionary entered seventeen adult converts from Islam, a community in the city where the sixteen of them on one day. This con- lecture was expected, but no hall was stitutes a fresh record in the Mission. available and the only open space The Bishop says that the answers of suitable was in front of a small Hindu the candidates to his questions were temple. He asked permission of the most cheering. For instance, one temple attendant who gladly gave it, woman 'whose husband is a very and when the screen was set up in the bigoted Moslem was asked whether entrance of the temple it was found she realized that she would have to that the small light burning before confess Christ before her husband. the idol made just enough of a glow She said: "I have not waited for on the screen behind which it was, to baptism to do that!" One man who render the pictures indistinct. Again was asked what bad things he saw in he referred to the attendant, who very Islam to make him want to leave it, kindly extinguished the flickering replied: "It was not because of any light before his god so that people badness or goodness in Islam. I saw might see more clearly the life and the Lord. He pulled me out of the character of Jesus Christ. The picfire, .and sent me to Isfahan to learn tures were very successful and the of Him." Asked how he knew it was audience was much impressed by the the Lord, he said: "If you had seen gospel story. Him as I saw Him, you would have no doubt that it was He." Bible Class of Hindu Men INDIA AND CEYLON THIS past year Bible classes in the Ewing Christian College in Alla- Unreached Villages in India habad, India, have been grouped so that Christians, Moslems and Hindus A PARTY of three missionaries and should be segregated. Furthermore, five Indian associates visited Hindus who come from other than about sixty remote villages in a sec- mission schools are to be taught seption of the Western India Mission of
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
arately. "Such a class" writes one slave-owners to set free their slaves, a of the missionary staff, "have I- response which indeed is so satisfacsixty-three men. Row after row, ex- tory that it is hoped that at an early tending to the walls of a large room, date slavery in Nepal will be comgreets me daily. They all have Eng- pletely abolished. The work involved lish testaments, and I have given in compensating the owners is provthem Luke's Gospel (which we ing heavier than had been anticipated. study), in the vernacular. I suppose In his great speech announcing his there are still those who feel that edu- determination to secure the total abolcational work is not evangelistic. ition of slavery, which the Mahara,ja They might discover that they are in made in November of last year, he error, could they but present the stated: "I have .already dedicated a Evangel to that class." sum of fourteen lakhs of rupees for the work, and I shall do my best to Outcastes in Dornakal secure as much more as will be neces- sary." THIS diocese in southern India, fa- mous in missionary annals because The sum already spent in compenof its Indian bishop, Azariah, is doing sation is fifty lakhs of rupees, or about a great work among Indian "un- $1,650,000, the major part of which touchables, " described as follows by was a personal gift of His Highness, Bishop Whitehead, formerly of Madras: ' 'We see a strong Christian Church and School in Ceylon Church of 120,000 members drawn almost exclusively from the dutcastes, ONE factor in the life of the Ceylon increasing at the rate of 12,000 a Mission of the American Board, year, with over 1,000 primary schools, which is of especial importance, is the thirteen boarding-schools, two high increasing number of Tamil Chrisschools, and one college, educating in tians, fruit of the mission work, conall over 24,000 outcaste Christian pu- nected with the churches, who are pils and staffed by over 1,000 teachers, showing loyal interest in the Chrisc all raised up from the outcastes. And tian movement, taking active part this large progressive church is min- therein themselves and giving promistered to and governed by about ise of increasing leadership, as the eighty ordained priests and deacons, years go by. The fruit of the hundrawn from the outcastes, parochial, dred years of mission work in .Jaffua district, and diocesan councils, main- is plentiful and rewarding. Jaffna ly composed of Indian members College was never in more vigorous or drawn from the same community, the fruitful life than today, with its large whole presided over by an Indian student body of six hundred, with Bishop." many new buildings or refitted build- ings which Principal Bicknell has se- Abolition of Slavery in Nepal cured, and with its direct relation to the eight high schools scattered over THE remarkable action taken by Jafl'na which are tributaries to the the Maharaja of Nepal, a native college. The monthly magazine pubstate on the Indian frontier, in pro- lished by the college shows the loyal claiming freedom for the more than regard had for it by the students and 50,000 slaves in his kingdom was re- the "old boys "-a spirit such as is ported in the July, 1925, REVIEW, felt in college circles in America. and has been widelv commented on The girls' school at Uduvil is doing as elsewhere. The grea:t task of putting fine a work in its way for the young this proclamation into effect is well women, and also has a body of gradon its way to completion. The Ma- uates who, as wives and mothers in a haraja announces that he is receiving multitude of homes and as teachers in an encouraging response to the ap- village schools throughout Jaffna, peal which he made to the 15,000 help to spread its fame.
CHINA Christian, Dr. Paul Fugh, of Oregon The Church and Its Money University, Yale and Cornell.
T HE views of a Chinese Christian worker in Shensi Province, a grad- Chinese Bible Encyclopaedia uate of St. John's College, Shanghai, THE publication of "The Bible Enon the present anti-Christian move- cyclopaedia for the Chinese ment in China are quoted in The Mis- Church, " which has been prepared sion Fiel(!/" a Church of England pa- under the direction of Rev. Henry M. per. The Chinese are against the Woods, D.D., is announced in The Christian Chinese Church, he de- Christian Observer. Most of the maclares, because, instead of being inde- terial for it was translated by perpendent, it accepts .money from for- mission of the respective publisher~ eigners. He pleads, therefore, that of conservative Bible dictionaries and self-support should be thorough, and encyclopaedias in the English lanthat a new system should be adopted guage; some notable articles were which should abandon the Western prepared by scholars in China, Amerplan of building useless "cathedrals ica and other countries; and to these and costly churches," saying: latter, credit has been given in the in- dex section of the work. A large part We sbould do far better to spend our of the material was translated from money on rebuilding our factories on hy- the International Standard Bible Engienic principles, building good houses to be cyclopaedia, published some years ago let at a low rental to the laboring classes, by the Howard-Scverance Company. teaching them habits of cleanliness, etc. We read in the anti·Christian diatribes against An Ex_Convict Preacher Christianity that it is the forerunner of im· perialism, the herald of capitalism, and the I MPRISONED in Peking on charge despoiler of the nation's spirit. Now if the of embezzling his employers' Church in China would follow out the plan funds, Paul Wang first heard of I have suggested, and take nothing from Christ when he received a testament foreign funds for salaries, make no appeal from George T. B. Davis of the Pocket for SUbscriptions, and abstain from erecting great buildings and buying land, rumors would cease, doubts and suspicions would be set at rest.
Rural Paper for Chinese Testament League, who was distribu- ting them in all the prisons in the AN additional result of the mass city. Wang soon was converted and education movement in China is baptized, and upon his release he ad- the output of helpful literature based opted the garment of a priest to indi- on the one thousand characters. As cate that he had abandoned secular soon as the one·time illiterate finishes interests. He secured a wheelbarrow his four-months' course he can read and a stock of books and took to the books on health, agriculture, history, .road, preaching as he went. He had t.ravel, t;ivics, Christianity and other reached Paotingfu when the fighting lines. "One hour a day for four then going on made further travel in- months has opened to him the door to advisable, so he set to work to support East and West, earth and heaven, and himself with his hands. Six days he has given him means of endless self- labors at making tin water kettles and improvement." Rev. Hugh Hubbard, on Sunday he shuts up shop and goes missionary of the American Board at out pre.aching. Recently he went to Paotingfu, has started a rural paper Peking at his own expense to solicit called The Farmer, which aims at his funds from wealthy relatives for uplift. Afforestation, seed-selection, building an addition to the village pest-eradication, hygiene, citizenship, chapel property. But his eyes are news, songs,. games are the part of turned toward the far places and as the new life it brings every ten days, soon as conditions permit he wants to at a cost of eight cents per year. It work his way west, where preachers is edited by a fine young Chinese are few.-The Continent.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Chinese Boy Teaehers come with contrition and tears that THE Methodist Episcopal Church they could not spe~k. Miss Wang was has twenty-six missionaries at very quiet and beautiful as she diwork in the city of Chungking, in the rected the meeting. Then came our far-away, picturesque province of preaching service. After the sermon Szechwan. There is a thriving insti- I asked Miss Wang to speak a few tutional church, where preaching minutes to the girls and ask them to services or lectures draw crowds for stand for Christ and to join the five evenings of every week. A night Church."
school, instruction in health and sanitation, mothers' classes, and other Japanese Christians in Dairen U forms of education are going on. In NDER the direction of Dr. Frank Herron Smith, in charge of the and around the city this little band of missionaries operate eighteen lower work of the Methodist Episcopal primary schools, with one thousand Church among the Japanese in Korea pupils. The Chungking higher pri- and in Manchuria, a new church mary school gives instruction to more building is to be erected in Dairen, than one hundred bright little Chi- Manchuria, as soon as funds are avail- nese. The Chungking mission high able. There are, 70,000 Japanese school holds one hundred and sixty laboring in this new port city of the more young' people of Szechwan. Orient. There is a nucleus of 125 And a group of thirty boys, them- Japanese members of this church and selves in the high school, moved by they are giving largely of their means the missionary spirit that pervades towards its erection. According to the place, have organized classes for Dr. Smith, these Japanese Christians, children of the very poor. Almost with ,their comparatively meager ninety per cent of the graduates of wages, give more for the support and the Chungking mission high school spread of Christian teaching than do have taken up some form of Chris- church members of the United States.
tian service .under the direction of the Last year the thirty members of the missionaries. Chemulpo Church gave an average of $88.50 each, while the giving of the Chinese Woman Evangelist full and preparatory members of the MISS Wang" a Chinese Christian church averaged $51 each. The young woman, recently con- church members in a still poorer comducted meetings among the girls of munity gave $33 each. The Japanese the McTyeire School in Shanghai. pastor at Chemulpo receives only $35 Rev. J. H. Berckman, of the M. E. per month.
Church South, writes: "Everyone is thrilled with the meeting which Miss Colportage in Manchuria T Wang conducted. She has had a won- HE National Bible Society of Scotland reports the successful derful experience herself, tilled with difficulties and persecution, and com- tour of a Japanese colporteur na,med ing from a wealthy family was able Maruyama among his countrymen in to understand the many experiences Manchuria, of whom there are said to of the students of McTyeire. She be 150,000. He made his headquar- spoke in Mandarin and so I did not ters at the Y. M. C. A. building, in understand her, but some of the Dairen, and inserted in two Man- teachers told me that she convinced churian daily newspapers a notice to the girls of their sins. On Easter the effect that he had been sent by the morning, during the Sunday-school Bible House in Kobe, for the purpose hour Miss Wang held a testimony of selling copies of the Holy Scrip- meeting and I arrived in time to see tures, which he was able to supply in different girls stand up to testify and Japanese, English, German, French, confess their sins who were so over- Russian, Korean, Chinese, Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, and Esperanto. The this latest meeting of the Synod to South Manchurian Railway granted have all such doubt absolutely re- Mr. Maruyama a second-class pass, moved. We foreign missionaries have with free transportation of all the a place as I special members,' as they books he had with him. He was well are called here, something like 'correceived wherever he went, visiting responding members' in our home churches, custom houses, banks, in- Synod. The way is open, however, surance offices, foundries, oil and for a missionary to become a full sugar factories, mines, temples, and member of the Japan Synod by transshrines, hospitals and schools. ferring his membership as a minister from the Church in the United States JAPAN-KOREA to the Church in Japan. In the mat- ter of self-support the Church of Militarism in Japanese Schools Christ in Japan has progressed not as far as in that of self-government, but REV. Otis Cary, D.D., whose opin- still in the former also she is making ion on anything in Japan carries steady progress. All the so-called weight, reports that there as in Amer- 'organized churches' are entirely selfica students are objecting to required supporting, and beyond that they conmilitary training. "The Educational tribute more or less to the spread of Department has lately ordered that the Gospel in Japan proper and in army ex-officers shall be assigned to her dependencies. " the schools. Students of Waseda University were refused permission to AProhibition in Japan hold a meeting for protest against the MONTHLY magazine published system; but a few days later they by the W. C. T. U. of Japan, were allowed to have one for lectures called Fujin Shimpo (Woman's Progon I Criticism of Imperialism.' The ress), draws attention to the growing officials of the Tokyo Imperial Uni- force of prohibition sen tim e n t versity are reported to be greatly ex- throughout the country. University cited over what may be the effect of students have organized themselves a meeting that the students of the So- into Anti-liquor Federations and emciological Department h a v e an- ba.rked on campaigns for a dry Japan. nounced for I Criticism of Military At the inauguration of one such cam- Education. ' In certain Christian paign, Mr. Kazutaka Ito, director of schools students are expressing oppo- the Tokyo Y. M. C. A., discussed the sition to the system. The newspapers new demands for sobriety which had are discussing the matter, most 'of resulted from the growing emphasis them being against requiring stu- upon amateur and professional athdents to drill, but some say that such letics. "Alcohol and physical efficirequirements in American schools ency," he said, "do not go together. show that progressive nations find The two prohibition countries, Finthem necessary. Thus in this as in land and the United States, led in the other things our example is used to recent Olympic games, and if Japan justify militarism." wants to hold her own among the na- tions, she must give up sake." Mr. A Self-Governing Church Inouye, a prominent social welfare worker, is quoted as saying, "Na- A MEETING in Tokyo of the tional realization that prohibition is "Church of Christ in Japan"- needed is behind the enthusiasm with the organization in connection with which all shades and varieties of prowhich all the Presbyterian and Re- hibition movements are supported by formed Missions in Japan are work- the Government and virtually all soing-is described by Rev. A. Oltmans, cial welfare organizations in this D.D., who says: "If anyone were in country. The prohibition movement doubt as to whether the Church of Christ in Japan is really self-governing or not, he needed but to attend
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
is no longer the monopoly of religious country, it is becoming fashionable to workers, because intelligent people wear a cross. The wearers are almost everywhere have begun to manifest all young. Men will :fix the symbol to particular interest in the advance of their watch-chain or sometimes hide the movement." it in their pockets attached to a cord. Women wear it iii many ways. The Social Evil in Japan Student Marriage Problems COMMENTING on the campaign for social purity now in progress F E. C. WILLIAMS writes in The in Japan, the Indwn Witness, pub- • Korea Mission Field of a student lished in Lucknow, goes on to say: conference at which the subject of di- ,'Of all the great nations none has vorce was discussed from a Christian hitherto been so indifferent to the so- standpoint, and goes on to give the cial evil as the Japanese. Prostitu- following facts about the 144 boys in tion has been recognized as an avenue his own school. Eighty of them were of employment open to girls of poor married, and their average age at but respectable families through marriage was fifteen years. Their which they can not only earn a living eighty wives were classified according for themselves but provide for their to their education: None at all thirtyparents or solve a financial difficulty two (cannot even read Korean script), for the family. It has been a business knowledge of Korean script thirtytransaction and Japanese mothers two, Chinese letters ten, attending or have sold their daughters into houses graduated from primary school eight, of ill fame with no sense of shame. and none who were attending or are Girls who have willingly complied graduates of high school. The last with their parents' desires in this boy married was the only one who matter have been applauded. Con- had married a graduate of a pritact with the rest of the world has, mary school. He concludes: however, effected a change. New ideals have been absorbed and adhe- Surely one way to make for fewer dision to the League of Nations has re- vorces and happier marriages is to close the sulted in the official raising of the intellectual chasm betweeu the young men question of abolishing the system and their wives. This cau be done in several which has hitherto been protected by ways: later marriages where the young man the law." and young woman will have more to say re- garding the engagement, better facilities Japanese Wearing Crones for the instructiou of those who are now married, aud a different attitude on the part A LADY who has worked for of the parents. Pray aud work for better twenty years under the Church educated wives in Korea. Missionary Society in Japan, referring to the increasing influence of Student Service in Korea Christianity in that country, writes that after the earthquake of Septem- LAST year, at a student conference ber, 1923, it was not only easy to in Seoul, a young man volunbuild churches, it was also easy to teered to go back to his home and sell Bibles. Even second-hand New start a vacation Bible school. He had Testaments sent up from the country no money, but the pastor of the districts sold like hot cakes at night church in his home town, anxious to after meetings in the church in the encourage his spirit, gave him per- Fukugawa slums. She goes on to say mission to state his plans at the that the sale of Bibles and New Tes- church service. He was so much in taments inecreases yearly. That the earnest that the members that very New Testament is the best selling morning raised about $8.00 and gave book in Japan may seem strange; him the use of the church building for but, stranger still for a non-Christian the school. Here are the results: sixty children were kept busy at use- ful work and interesting games for six weeks. Fifty children learned to
read and write; they had never had elder pastors and deacons. You are such an opportunity before, for they never wise until you are old in Sawere too poor even to buy a pencil. moa." Many children learned to know Jesus as a friend, and have since that time Audralian Ohurch Union Plans become regular Sunday-school members. This is only an example of what FOLLOWING the example of their many students are doing in Korea for fellow-Christians in Canada, Presthe furtherance of God's Kingdom. byterians, Methodists and Congrega- tionalists in Australia have been ISLANDS OF THE SEA considering a plan of union on a de- fined basis of doctrine and polity. Filipino Lepers' Prayer List Though this plan has recently been defeated, the Australian Christian MRS. Frederick Jansen, American World states that the discussions have Presbyterian missionary in the been carried on in "an admirable Philippines, told at the annual meet- spirit of brotherliness" and aning of the American Mission to nounces that a standing committee Lepers of a prayer list made out by has been appointed for the purpose the Christians in the leper colony at of investigating "the origin and his- Culion. One would expect this list to tory of the doctrines, practices and consist of those among their own num- institutions of the Christian comber who especially need the prayers munions represented at the conferof Christians in this country, but in– ence. " Among other matters dealt stead it contains the names of those with by the Melbourne Conference in other lands for whom they are were the question of Sunday observpraying, and they ask Mrs. Jansen to ance, also the Church's attitude tosend the names of people she meets ward the marriage laws. here who especially need prayers. Some of the names listed are Marshal GENERAL Feng of China, Dr. McKean, the missionary from Siam who has visited ADlerican Mission to Lepers them, and the Shanghai Christians. AT THE annual meeting of this or- SaDloan Church Organization ganization, whose work is known all over the world, it was stated that THE London Missionary Society the economical management of funds has been at work for a century in makes it possible for the Mission to Samoa. Alexander Hough, in a ,recent own and manage, in conjunction with address before the Congregational the British Society, seventy hospitals Union in England, said of the present and asylums, besides aiding in special status of the Church there: "Samoa ways many others. The receipts for is nominally Christian. Every vil- the year 1925 were $169,729, a gain lage has its pastor, and every church of $23,000 over those of 1924. Dr. H. is self-supporting. Sometimes the A. Lichtwardt, of the American Pressupport seems very small: but each byterian Hospital in Meshed, Persia, village provides a house, food, and a told about a group of 120 lepers who plantation of coconuts. At the end live in extreme poverty and neglect of the year the village gives the pas- about two miles from his hospital, tor a gift in money. The Samoan whom he wishes to help with weekly group of ten islands is divided into medical treatments. These lepers seven districts, each of which is com- lack the initiative to come two miles plete in itself and is divided into to the hospital for treatment, so he smaller sub-districts. One of the fea- proposes, with financial help from the tures of the Samoan Church is the Mission to Lepers, to go to them, with Native Advisory Council composed of both medicine and the comfort of Christian teaching.
Unfinished Task of Foreign Missions. One lecture is devoted to the pres-
Robert E. Speer. 8vo. 351 pp. $2.75. ent economic and religious conditions New York. 1926. in India-their changes, difficulties, These lectures, deliveJ'ed in Janu- problems and outlook. What will be ary in Richmond, Virginia, and pub- the result of the Gandhi movement Y lished the same month in New York, What is the future before the outgive a very clear, up-to-date view of castes~ What influence is the Chris- the Christian missionary task in Asia tian Church in India exerting on· the and South America from an intelli- national li:feY What is to be the fu- gent, evangelical viewpoint. The ture of Hinduism and other religions world has been changing in the past of India ~ century and Dr. Speer shows that Buddhism is considered especially P,rotestant missionary methods have as found in Siam and the influence of also changed, though the motive and Christ is shown in personal testi- purpose remain true to those enun- monies of former Buddhists who have ciated by Christ and His apostles. come to know Him as their divine The non-Christian world has been Lord and ever present and powerful permeated with Christian influence Saviour.
and in many lands national churches Islam, the most determined oppo- have grown strong, but Dr. Speer nent of Christianity, is pictured as shows why the foreign missionary seen in Persia where there is an open task is still far from completed. The door to the Gospel and where Christ first lecture deals with the missionary has won many true followers. It is enterprise as an obligation resting on stimulating and encouraging to read all Christians and one in which we the testimonies of a number of con- have the assurance of victory. In verts from Islam who tell of their ex- spite of the prevailing unrest, con- periences in their old faith and in the Hicts, selfishness and sin, there is new. An evangelist who was edu- abundant reason for faith in the final cated in Urumia and has been preach- successful outcome. This lecture ing in Persia for a quarter of a cen- alone makes the book worthy of a tury, describes the remarkable change thoughtful reading and re-reading. that is taking place in Persian Mo- It contains not the author's opinion hammedans-even among the ecclesi- only but also the views of Asiatics astics.
who express the convictiop that the South America is given a full chap- Gospel of Christ is worthy of suprem- ter of fifty pages, filled with facts and acy and that Christ is conquering. testimonies gathered by the author in Dr. Speer draws largely from his his recent visit when attending the own observations and contacts made Montevideo Congress. The educa- during his recent tour through Asi- tional, social and religious progress atic countries and he describes some are clearly set forth. The evidence of the changes that have taken place produced on the attitude of the peo- since he made a similar tour twenty- pIe toward religion is especially five years ago. The material ~nd eco- worthy of notice, as is the report on nomic improvements, the progress in "The Evangelical Movement in South political self-government and the in- America. "
creased advantages are especially no- The "Unfinished Task" and "The ticeable. Here, too, some remarkable World's Need," in the two final chap- testimonies are quoted from Asiatics. ters; reveal the reason for continued 237
and increased effort on the part of quate religious experience and clear Christians at home to establish a convictions for a teacher of religion.
strong, Christian Church with edu- The chapters on the pupil point out cated evangelical leaders in all non- the great opportunity for molding the Christian lands. The most intelligent future generation; discuss the laws Christian leaders themselves in these of development, the characteristics of lands appeal for an increase rather various ages (very briefly), the gen- than for a diminution of missionary eral laws of instruction, mental tests, effort. The unfinished task is evan- the awakening of interest and the gelistic and educational, and is seen guidance of the imagination, emo- in the unoccupied territory in many tions and will or power of choice.
lands, as well as in the unreached The aim of teaching is shown to be classes, and in the need for Christ to the proper development of this power permeate all departments of life and of choice in following the true Way thought. of Life.
These lectures broaden one's hori- Parents and teachers at home and zon, add to knowledge, deepen sym- abroad will find it worth while to pathy, strengthen faith, and intensify study with Miss Slattery.
missionary zeal. What to Teach and How to Reaoh the You Can Learn to Teach. Margaret Slat- Young. George Goodman. 12mo. 246 tery. 12md. 223 pp. $1.35. Boston. pp. 3s net. 1925.
1925. Workers among young people will If you are a young teacher, inexpe- find here much of value on the prep- rienced 01' planning to teach, you will aration of addresses, the art of public- like this book. Miss Slattery is an ex- speaking, story telling, the use of perienced teacher of teachers and illustrations, and subjects for re- knows how to express technical prin- ligious addresses.
ciples in. language that novices will Directory of Protestant Missions in China. understand. She is intensely practi- Edited for the National Christian Coun· cal and draws on her wide experience eil. 451 pp. $3.00. Kwang Hsueh Pub. for a wealth of illustrative material. .co. Shanghai. 1925.
In this volume, which displaces her Like former editions, this Directory earlier "Talks with Teacher Training contains a list of the missions and mis- Classes, ' , she first discusses the sionaries of all Protestant societies working in China. They are classiteacher and then the pupil, unfolding fied under societies, by provinces and the pdnciples and aims especially of stations and alphabetically by name. religious teaching. There is compar- This compilation has involved an imatively little on method, oL.tside of mense amount of labor and its inforsome suggestions as to the project mation is of great value for reference. method of learning by doing. Questions for study and discussion follow Christian Work in South America. The Official Report of the Montevideo Coneach chapter and there is a rather in- gress. Editorial Committee, Robert E. adequate list of books for additional Speer, S. G. Inman anil Frank K. Sanders. study. 2 volumes. 12mo. 494 and 473 pp.
In the chapters on the teacher, Miss Slattery encourages every normal per- $4.00 net. New York. 1925.
son with the thought that he or she For those interested in the progress can learn to teach. The characteris- and problems of missionary work in tics of a teacher, the will to teach, the the southern continent, these volumes use of emotions, the development of furnish a mine of information and powers of observation, of memory and much of inspiration. They contain a reason, of imagination and religious full report of the Montevideo Con- experience are all dealt with help- gress, which was significant for the fully. Even more might be said large place given to the views of in regard to the necessity for ade- South Americans themselves in the reports of Commissions and in the dis- ing that of the Christian Jew, Catholic cussions. Sacramentarian, East and West, and The reports prepared in advance, the Protestant views, from the Refor- by special experts, and the discussions mation to the present day. His thesis based on them deal with the unoccu- is that salvation is the progressive ful- pied fields, the Indian population, fillment of personality. In developing education, evangelism, social move- it b.e considers its bearing on sin, for- ments and health. There are also (in giveness, the atonement, the world to Volume II) special reports on the come, and the significance of Jesus'
evangelical movement, the situation personality. The fact that the book in different countries and the attitude is a recasting of one's thinking puts of the people toward the evangelical a burden on the writer to generate a Church. The problems, policies and new and enthusia8tic spirit for the future program for Christian work carrying out of his evangelistic pur- deal with the Church and the com- pose-in which respect he fails.
munity, religious education, litera- J. F. R.
ture, the relation between native and A Daughter of the Samurai. Etsu Inagaki. Sugimoto. 8vo. 314 pp. $3.00. New foreign workers, cooperation and York. 1925. unity.
These two volumes are a vast store- This fascinating biogmphy is at house of facts that will repay careful the same time a most interesting book study. on Japan. .After a careful reading we Holy Places and Precious Promises. L. R. do not see where criticism could be Scarborough. 179 pp. $1.60. New York. fairly offered. The life story of this 1924. daughter of the Samurai begins with The president and professor of her childhood home and experiences, goes on through her young womanevangelism in the Southwestern Bap- hood, her conversion to Christianity, tist Theological Seminary gives here her coming to America, her marriage a record of sacred associations formed to a Japanese who was already in this country, the birth of two children, on a trip through Palestine in 1923. the death of her husband, and her The combination of impressions and varied experiences and observations in America, where she is now Instruccomments on scripture passages does tor in Japanese Language and His- tory in Columbia University, New not give much that is new, yet the York. This delightful book takes us book is of earnest devotional char- straight to the heart of the Japanese and makes vivid their lives, their moacter. The writer says: "My purpose tives, their manners and customs, their patriotism and their religion. is to lead you from the places dear to Of course all Japanese homes and all Christian hearts to the dearer and women are not like those described in this book, but neither are all Amermore precious doctrines gathering about these places." He takes the reader from Bethlehem to Nazareth, the Horns of Hattin, Capernaum, Gethsemane, Calvary, Joseph's Tomb, and Olivet. J. F. R.
Christian Salvation. George Cross. $2.50. ican homes and worn e n ideal.
254 pages. ,Chicago. 1925. Madame Sugimoto is a high type of This work opens' a1 an unusually the intelligent and cultured women of able and stimulating study of salva- Japan. In this time of prevalent in- tion. It offers a fresh treatment of ternational prejudices and suspicions, old theological ideas, putting its it is good to read a book like this with formulre in new terms in a way that its gracious account of the develop- quickens the reader's mind and often ment of a character which would challenges to deeper thinking. Dr_ justly be considered beautiful and Cross examines critically the various winning in any land. The English Christian theories of salvation, includ- style is so fine that the reader marvels that it could have been acquired by imals, utensils, implements and other one who had to learn our language objects associated with Bible times. after arriving at young womanhood. .Any discriminating student will find As a gift book f(} a young lady, this here a wealth of information but· volume could not easily be surpassed. many Bible scholars will dissent from some of the positions taken. A. J. B.
The New Standard Dible Diotionary. The Aim of Jesus Christ. A Critical In- quiry for the General Reader. William Edited by Melanchthon W. JaeobuB, D.D., Prof. Edward E. Nourse and Dr. Andrew }'orbes Cooley. 211 pp. $2.00. New C. Zenos. Maps and Illustrations. Quar- York. 1925, to. 989 pp. $7.50 cloth; $8.50 buckram; Professor Cooley, instructor in $12.5(}, three quarters morocco. Thumb Philosophy in Columbia, seeks to show index 75 cents extra. New York and the purpose of Jesus in His life and London. 1926. work for the benefit of the non-tech- nical reader. The book is written en- .A scholarly, informing and evan- tirely from the modernist point of view. Scientific positivism the author ~ooaelluicealtoBaibnlye Dictionary is of immense calls it. The ethical aim is to recon- Bible student, lea,rned or struct Jesus' objective and so throw light on present-day problems, espeunlearned. The editors of this new cially those relating to the issues of civilization, the Church, its mission volume are well known for their in- and duty. While well written it is doubtful if the interpretation of telligent scholarship and Christian scripture passages will be accepted by any but pronounced modernists. faith. Their work includes brief, but J. F. R. helpful, information on points of his- tory, geography, biography, arche- ology and social life in Bible lands as well as facts relating to books of the Bible. doctrines, s~cts and religious problems. The volume is not ultra- conservative, or ultra-liberal, but seeks to present the views of reverent Psychology and The Church. By Various students who accept many of the con- Writers. 203 pp. $1.50. New York.
clusions of the so-called "higher crit- 1925.
ics," especially on Old Testament Pastors of churches and Bible questions. The story of Creation, for teachers will find it helpful to read instance, is considered as containing two different accounts by separate and re-read this book. Each of the authors and as not in harmony with five chapters is an essay on some well modern science. The idea of the nat- defined phase of the general theme; "The Psychological Standpoint and ural evolution of religious ideas pre- its Limitations;" "The Progress and vails throughout the treatment of Old Testament subjects. The Book of Present Position of the Study of Psy- Deuteronomy is taken to be of late chology; " "T h e Psychology of authorship and found in the temple Prayer and Religious Experience;" in the reign of Josiah. The Book of "The Psychology of Moral Develop- Daniel is placed in the Maccabean pe- ment ;" "The Psychology of Spir- riod and is not considered historical; itual Healing." Jonah is taken as a parable. The This science is producing much that is helpful in the way of new methods, Gospel of John is accepted as authen- and is putting new instruments into tic and the work of the Apostle. The the hands of men by which they may vu-gin birth of Jesus and His deity influence their fellow beings. The and resurrection are alS(} strongly up- essay on prayer, and the chapter on held. spiritual healing are particularly This dictionary is a handy one-vol- well written. The balanced judg- ume work of reference and contains a ment of the writers is to be com- number of good maps and many illus- mended. J. F. R.
trations of monuments, buildings, an- (Continued on 3d cover.)
MISSIONARY LIBRARY Chinese Heroes in Legend and
William Munn. 94 pp. Is, 6d. Chnrch (Continued) Missionary Soeiety. London. 1926.
Christian World :Builders. Erwin Shaver. New Standard Bible Dictionary. Illus· 58 pp. Chicago. 1925. trated. 989 pp. $7.50. Funk & Wagnalls Co. N ew York. 1926,. Christian Young People and World Friend- ship. Erwin Shaver. 58 pp. Chicago. Bethesda. Anonymous. 299 pp. $2.00. 1925. Stratford Co. ·Boston. 1926.
These pamphlets suggest an excel- Christianity and Divorce. Frank H. Nor· lent plan for the project method in cross. 42 pp. 50 cents. Stratford Co. young people's groups. There is a Boston. 1926. lack of specific data and some instances of how such methods have The Bible as Missionary HandbOOk. Henry worked out in actual practice would strengthen the impact of this little A. Laphnm. 129 pp. 48 Ga. Heffer. manual. Source material is given, and some references are furnished. Cambridge, England. 1925.
J. F. R. What is Faith1 J. Gresham Machen. 251 pp. $1.75. Macmillan Co. New York. Reality in Worship. Willard L. Sperry. 1925. 346 pp. ~i2,.50. Ne'" York. 1925. The Task in Japan. August Kttrl Reis· Services of public worship may be chauer. 231' pp. $1.50. Fleming H. greatly improyed by the suggestions Revell 00. New York. 1926. in this book. Such chapters as "Reality in Worship" and "Worship as The Quest for God in China. F. W; S. Art and Science" will be very re- O'Neill. 264 pp. $2.50. George H. warding to the thoughtful pastor, Doran Co. New York. 1926. though one may not agree with all Dr. Sperry's judgments. He notes The Spirit-Ridden Konde. A R~cord of with concern the constant emphasis Twenty·four Years' Residence among on the scientific approach to Chris- These Shy Inhabitants of the Lake Nyasa tianity and feels that the preacher Region. D. R. Mackenzie. Illustrated. needs more of the artist's view of Map. 318 Pl'. 218. Seeley, Service Co. life. He makes a plea for the objec- London. ID25. tive rather than the purely subjective view, and suggests forms and liturgies South Africa: People, Places and Problems. to help the worshipper. J. F. R. W. H. Dawson. illustrated. 460 pp. 168. Longmans. London. 1925. NEW BOOKS Oriental Missions in British Columbia. N. The Unfinished Task of Foreign Missions. Lascelles Ward and H. A. Hellaby. Illus· R<lbert E. Speer. 348 pp. $2.75. Flem· trated. 128 Pl'. 38. Society for the ing H. Revell Co. New York. 1926. Propagation of the Gospel. London. 1925.
The Cost of a New World. Kenneth The Jew and Jesus. W. J. Conper. 24 pp. Maclennan. 185 pp. $1.00. Missionary 6d. United Free Church of Scotland. Education Movement. New York. 1926. Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1925.
How Shall Country Youth :Be Served r H. The Encyclopredia of Islam. Edited by M. Th. Houtsma, A. J. Wensinck, T'. W. Paul Douglass. 259 pp. $2.5.0. George Arnold, H. Basset and A. Shaade. 769· H. Doran Co. New York. 1926. 832 pp. 58. Bri!1 in Leyden and Luzac in London. 1925. Life Story of Alice Culler Cobb. Mary CuI· ler White. 240 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. A Concise Dictionary of Eastern Religion: Revell Co. New York. 1925. Being the Index Volume to The Sacred Books of the Ea8t. Edited by M. Winter- Diagnosing the Rural Church. C. Luther lIit.. 21s. Milfol·d. London. 1925. Fry. 234 pp. $1.50. George H. Doran Co. New York. 1924. The Quest for God in China. F. W. S.
A Survey of the Missionary Occupation of O'Neill. 272 pr. 7s 6d. Allen& Unwin. Egypt. With a special section on Cairo, by S. M. Zwemer. H. E. Philips. Charts. LOll<lon. 1925. Diagrams. Map. 20 pp. Nile Mission Press. Cairo, Egypt. 1924. Chinese Ancestor Worship: A Study of its Meaning ani! its Relations with Chris- tianity. James Thayer Addison. Intra· duction by Dr. Hawks Pott. 85 pp. 30 ~ents. Chung Hna Sheng Kung Hui. Tokyo, Japan. 1925.
Ventures in Inter-American Friendship. Samuel Guy Inman. 143 Pl'. 50 cents. Missionary Education Movement. New York. 1925.
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