The Missionary Review of the World — January 1892
NARAYAN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No.l.-0ld Series.–JANUARY..–VOL.V. No.1.-New 8erie3.
THE MIRACLES OF MISSlONS.-NO. XXI.
[EDITORIAL, A. T. P.] THE BEGINNING OF MODERN WONDERS.
The Society Islands were so called by Cook in honor of the" Royal Society j" and the largest, having a circuit of one hundred and forty miles and containing about six hundred square miles, is known as Tahiti. It consists of two rounded peninsulas joined by a narrow isthmus, and is crowned with a majestic peak called The Diadem. The name was a prophecy, for this island furnished the first conspicuous diadem of modern missionary labors.
It was first seen by an English Captain-Wallis-in 1767. The inhabitants were tall, stout, brown skinned, with dark eyes, and seemed unusually good.natured and playful j but they were thieves, liars, and murderers.
When the knowledge of the Tahitians reached England, the directors of the London Missionary Sooiety determined to send the Gospel to this island, and at last found thirty men who were willing to go, four of whom were ministers, the rest tradesmen ; and six of them were married. A ship called the Duff was bought, and pious Captain Wilson took charge of it.
This memorable missionary band left the Thame.s on August 10th, 1796. A purple flag waved in the wind, with three' doves bearing olivQ branches as its device; and as they set sail they sang the hymn, " Jesus, at Thy command we launch into the deep."
A seven months' voyage brought them to the shores of Tahiti. and they were welcomed by about seventy-five canoes, whose natives clambered over the ship's side, and in various ways expressed their joy, hoping for knives and axes and other useful implements. They had brought with them hogs and fruit for the purpose of barter; but as it was the Sabbath day the missionaries tried to make them understlOlnd that they neither sold nor bought upon the Day of Rest. Most of the natives returned in their canoes, but about forty stayed on deck, and the missionaries had a service. While they prayed and sang the natives looked on in silence.
Two white men were already at Tahiti, one of whom had been shipwrecked, and the other left on shore a few years previous. Their names were Peter and Andrew, and they were. clad like savages. Being able to speak some Tahitian, they served at first as interpreters between the mis-
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS
sionaries and the natives, but they turned out to be very wicked men, though born in a Christian land.
An old man, Mane-mane, was high-priest to the idol gods, and was held to be some great one. A chief showed the missionaries an empty house about one hundred feet long, but unfurnished, which he said should be given to them. 'Upon thsir arrival on the beach they were met at once by strange customs. They found the king, Otu, and his queen both riding on men's shoulders. Wben those that carried them changed the burden to other shoulders, the royal feet were not permitted to touch the ground, because whatever land they touched would become their own, so they jumped over the head of one man upon the shoulders of another. For the same reason, when the king and queen visitcd the ship, they refused to go on deck, because if they touched the ship it would be theirs, and none but their own servants might dwell there or eat there henceforward. Afterward, when Mr. Lewis unfolded his umbrella, they warned him not to hold it over their heads, as it would thenceforth become sacred to their exclusive ust'.
Thc missionaries found dancers on these i~lands called Areois, who were a most wicked set of people. Their bodies were blackened with charcoal and their faces dyed red. They committed murders, killing their little children as soon as they were born. They had no occupation but dancing, boxing, wrestling, and sporting.
The first night, in presence of the natives, the missionaries sang and prayed and thanked God for inclining these strangers to receive them so kindly; and the first Sabbath they turned their dwelling into a chapel and Mr. Jefferson preached, being interpreted by Andrew, the Swede; and so through the vehicle of an ungodly man the first impressions of the Gospel were made upon these natives.
The father of Otu was called Pomare. He was a very wise man; had formerly been not only a chief, but the supreme king of the chiefs of the island. He had, however, many fauIts. He was a liar, a glutton, covetous, and pre-eminently selfish. On the second Sabbath, however, he attended the service of worship, when Mr. Cover preached from that text which has been probably the subject of more sermons than any other in the Bible-John 3 : 16-and after the service Pomare pronounced what he had understood very good.
The favorite g')d, Oro, was simply a log of wood about the size of a man, kept in a shed among trees surrounded by a stone wall. . In this place were altars on which lay pigs that had been dead for months, and it was called a Marro, and was a habitation of cruelty. Men were sacrificed and their flesh hung in large baskets on the trees around till it decayed. No woman was counted worthy of the honor either of approaching the Marre or being sacrificed in it. The priests used to roll themselves up in a great bundle of cloth, and in a squeaking voice pretend to represent the gods; and though tlw people knew that it was the priest that was speaking, they dared not disobey. They kept in their houses some of their gods, and fancied them to be in disposition like unto themselves. Hiro was the pro- tector of thieves, and when they went out to steal, they promised Hiro a part of the booty if he would not expose them ; and the missionaries found that the natives were very much like the god th'ey worshipped. Nothing was safe within their reach. Murder was quite as common as stealing; and one Sunday Mr. Lewis preached upon the commandment, " Thou shalt not kill." Mane-mane advised the people to leave off their wicked ways, yet he had not left off his own; and when he wanted to kill a man, drank wine to keep up his courage for his horrible work. His own wife killed her offspring, and when remonstrated with, said she would keep the customs of the country and defy the missionaries' displeasure.
Some of the idols were made of stone, but most of them of wood, or of a kind of string made from the outside of the cocoanut. Sharks and birds were worshipped, and there were more than one hundred gods. When 9 sacrifice was demanded for Oro, it might be the guest who was eatir.g beneath the roof of a chief. If one man of a family were offered, the people of the same household were usually chosen until the whole was destroyed. When the beating of the sacred drum gave the signal that II human sacrifice was required, the natives would flee to the mountain dens and caves for refuge. The Tahitians believed that at death their spirits went to cruel gods, who first devoured them three times over, after which they passed into the body of a beast, bird, or man, and lived again on earth.
If thus cruel to their friends, their cruelty to enemies may be inferred; their bodies were left unburied to be devoured by beasts and birds. Sometimes a hole was made through an enemy's body, and he was worn as a Tiputa by the man who slew him. The conquerors destroyed all the women and children of their foes, and taught their own little children to kill those of whom they would naturally have made playmates; and sometimes these little children of conquered foes were strung on a spear like beads.
Among such a people these missionaries began their apparently hopeless labors. Three weeks had not passed before they were robbed, and, because they did not punish the offenders when detected, they were regarded as cowards; but they sought to win by kindness, and determined they would not seek to defend themselves, but confide themselves entirely to the keeping of Jehovah. They placed near their house a hospital, and offered to nurse all who would come. Though many natives were suffering from terrible diseases, they would not accept the proposition. Satisfied with food and raiment, the missionaries gave up their blacksmith shop and store room to Pomare, and even offered to surrender to him all their own private property, but he would not accept it. During the first year there was a quarrel between Pomare and Otu, and, as Mane-mane had stirred up the rebellion, Pomare order~d him to be killed. Thus perished the wicked old priest, the great man of the Tahitians. The more the missionaries saw of Otu the more wicked he was found to be ; and the continued unbelief of the peo~le was a source of much heavi- ness to these servants of God. Nothing offended the natives more than to rebuke their wicked customs. rdia, the queen, bad destroyed three chil- dren of her own within three years after the missionaries had arrived.
On March 5th, 1800, three years to a day from that when the mis- sionaries first saw the island, the first wooden posts or pillars of a Christian chapel were reared; and they besought God that these, like the pillar that Jacob set up at Bethel, might be a memor.ial of the presence of God.
The next June, in the Royal .Admiral, eight new missionaries arrived, and were welcomed by Pomare. It was agreed by the brethren that Mr. Nott should go around Tahiti to preach to all the inhabitants. He was accompanied by Mr. Elder. Sometimes Mr. Nott preached three or four times a day. They lodged in the houses of the natives, and took with them on the journey some of the Tahitians themselves, who thus had the advantage of hearing him preach during a five weeks' tour, and UpOll his return he found that they were able to give a clear account of the Gospel truths they had heard. Constant prayer went up to God that He would pour down His Rpirit from on high. The missionaries endured great suffering for the natives' sake, especially in consequence of desolating wars. When the natives were entreated to believe in Jesus Christ, like ancient unbelievers, they asked, " Has Pornare or any of the chiefs believed 1" They were, in fact, the greatest enemies of Christ, and discouraged the natives from attending to the Gospel. The tenacity of idolatry seemed to make preaching a hopeless task.
The natives had great confidence in the power of red feathers, attributing large success in fishing to their presence on the canoes, but had little conception of the soul or of duty, and while faithless toward God they were credulous toward the most absurd imposture, placing their trust in fortune. tellers, dreams, and signs of good or ill luck.
While Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Scott were travelling in Tahiti and lay down to rest, a chief invited a guest to go with him to the beach, killed him with stones, put his body in a basket of cocoanut leaves, and sent him to Pomare as calm and unconcerned as if he had only killed a hog.
In 1803 Pomare himself suddenly died, and the wicked Otu had more power than during his father's lifetime. He styled himself Pomare II. It was he who was destined to be the first convert of the Gospel work at Tahiti. He had taken pains to learn to read and write. He was greatly feared, and it was believed that he could kill a man by his prayers and imprecations. In the spring his queen had a child, and he himself was privy to its death. The queen died in 1806.
In May of this year a day of fasting and prayer was appointed by the missionaries, and particular pains were now taken to teach the children. They learned to repeat a short catechism by heart, and in November Mr. Davies opened a school in the new houee, and invited the boys who lived near by to attend it on three afternoons in the week. A month afterward they asked to be taught oftener, and were instructed daily. They learned to read and write, being first taught to make letters on the sand. Spelling- books !lnd Bible histories were made for them and sent to England to be printed. A!I the missionaries began to be 'familiar with the language, they discovered that it was unfitted for the expression of Christian ideas. There was, for instance, no word for "thanks," and no proper expression for " God."
A vessel arrived from the directors of the London Missionary Society, bearing a letter in English for Pomare. He was pleased with it, answered it courteously, and consented to the request of the directors, and promised to banish Oro from the island. He acknowledged that his land was a bad land, a foolish land, and one that knew not the true God ; asked for a large number of men, women, and children from England, and said he would adopt English customs. This letter appears to have been insincere, for shortly afterward he desired thai a man might be killed at Atehuru as a sacrifice, and taken in a canoe to another place ; and he sought to conceal it from the missionaries. He seems to have made his fair promises only as a "loak for his covetousness.
In 1807 another war broke out at Tahiti, which lasted about three years. The missionaries were obliged to leave the island, Mr. Nott and Mr. Hayward going to Huahine near by, and all the rest to Port Jackson in New South Wales.
The king, who had. gone to Eimeo, invited the missionaries to come to that island. There were now seven missionaries in Eimeo-Nott, Hayward, Bicknell, Scott, Wilson, Davies, Henry. They had settled at Papetoai, and built a small chapel and opened a school. Events occurred which inclined them to stay in Eimeo, and they observed that the king appeared £0 regard idols less than he had done in times past. For instance, in 1812, when a sacred turtle was caught, instead of Rending it to the idol's temple, he had it dressed in an oven in his own kitchen, and served for his dinner, which was an ast.ounding blow at idol customs; and as no harm befell him, he was confirmed in his contempt of idols, and the power of the popular superstitions was greatly weakened. Pahi, the brother of the King of Raiatea. made a still bolder experiment-destroying in an oven a sacred log which had been worshipped, and then ate bread fruit that had been baked in its ashes.
Pomare declared that he would now have henceforth but one wife. He married Teara, daughter of the Raiatean king, and on the birth of her little daughter the customs of the ages were disregarded, which permitted no fires to be lighted for many days, nobody to leave the shore, and no persons to approach the child except sacred persons in sacred garments.
On July 18th, 1812, Pomare asked to be baptized, and declared his fixed purpose to cleave to Jehovah and His people. He said, " I wish you to pray for me," and proposed to build a larger chapel. He declared that he had tried to persuade the kings of other islands to do as he intended to do, and when they answered that they would cleave to Oro, he told them that was cleaving to Satan. The missionaries, full of joy, waited anxiously to see whether Pomare was really a converted man. Subsequently his grief for his sins, his observance of the Sabbath, and his efforts to persuade his friends to turn to God, convinced them that he had been changed by the .grace of God.
When the missionaries found the people in Eimeo ready to attend their instructions they heard that the people in Tahiti were likewise inquiring after Jehovah, and Mr. Scott and Mr. Hayward were sent to see whether the joyful report was true.
Missionary labor at Tahiti was apparently in vain for from fourteen to sixteen years, and, notwithstanding untiring, earnest, and faithful effort, but one solitary instance of conversion had taken place. The wars of desolation continued, and abominable idolatries and iniquities reigned. " The heavens seemed as brass and the earth as iron i" and when God's time to favor the work in Polynesia came, the beginning was such as to turn all attention to Himself. For at the time the war had driven the missionaries from the island and cut off all communication. Two native servants, formerly employed in the missionaries' families, had, unknown to them, received favorable impressions, and had united together for prayer. They had been joined by others, and at the return of the missionaries to Tahiti, at the termination of the war, they found a number of praying people, and had little to do but to aid in a work which God had thus singularly begun.
These years of fruitless and apparently hopeless toil had almost determined the directors of the London Missionary Society to abandon altogether the work at Tahiti. Dr. Haweis, chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, one of the founders of the society, and the father and liberal supporter of the South Sea Mission, earnestly opposed such abandonment of the field, and backed his arguments by a further donation of a thousand dollars. The Rev. Matthew Wilb, the pastor of Mr. Williams, declared with great emphasis that he would sell the clothes from his back rather than give up the mission, and proposed, instead of abandonment, that a season of special prayer should be observed for the divine blessing. Such a season was observed i letters of encouragement were written to the missionaries, andmark it I-while the vessel w~s on her way to carry these letters to Tahiti, another ship passed her in mid-ocean, which conveyed to Great Britain, October, 1813, the news that idolatry was entirely overthrown in the island, and bore back to London the rejected idols of the people; and so was fulfilled literally the Divine promise, " Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear."
We have already mentioned the fact that, while the missionaries were driven away from Tahiti, two natives had begun to call upon the Lord Jesus in prayer. One of these lads was named Tuahine. Another native, impressed by some remarks from Pomare, had gone to make some inquiries of Tuahine, who had lived for some time in the missionaries' families. Finding his mind was in a similar state they resolved to retire to some secret place to talk and pray, and after a little while several young persons united with them ; and this little band, without the guidance of any missionary, determined to abandon idols and the wicked practices of their countrymen, keep the Sabbath, and worship Jehovah alone. As Christianity spread, Tuahine helped the missionaries by directing inquirers, teaching in the schools, and translating the Scriptures. Sometimes he spent from eight to ten hours a day in this last work, and rendered invaluable counsel and aid to the missionaries. He proved himself to be a Barnabas and an Apollos both in one, and had a surprising gift in prayer. He discharged the office of a deacon with great faithfulness, and died about forty-five years old, a model of a converted native.
The chapel that Pomare had desired to be built at Eimeo was opened for worship July 25th, 1813, and the next evening thirty-one natives cast away idols, and their names were written among the disciples of Jehovah. Shortly after, the number had risen to above three hundred. embracing, among others, a priest called Patii, who led the way in the burning of idols. He brought out the gods one at a time, tore off the sacred garments and ornaments, threw them one by one into the flames, pronouncing their names, repeating their foolish histories, and challenging the people to observe what helpless logs they were. The joy of the missionaries may be imagined. The queen's sister about the same time publicly showed her contempt for the idol gods; and Pomare himself, though gnilty of many things inconsistent with the character of a Christian, made a tour of Eimeo, seeking to persuade the heathen to turn from idols.
Meanwhile at Tahiti persecution arose against the native Christians. They took refuge in the woods and lonely vaUeys at midnight for prayer. One young man suffered martyrdom, and another bore a lifelong sear received at their hands. The year 1815 was the most remarkable that had ever been known at Tahiti. A plan was laid to destroy the Christian natives entirely, and the night of July 7th was fixed upon, when the Christians were to be assembled for prayer. Having been adTised, however, of this conspiracy, they sailed for Eimeo, and their departure was the cause of a quarrel among their enemies themselves, in which they largely destroyed each other.
The missionaries at Eimeo received the Tahitians with great affection, but feared that the heathen might rise up in both islands and destroy all the worshippers of Jehovah. July 14th was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer. Soon afterward two chiefs from Tahiti came to Eimeo, inviting the Christian chiefs who had fled to return. The invitation was, however, a mere cover for a plan to destroy the king and his friends. A battle ensued in November, 1815, in which Pomare and his little army were victors. Instead of killing his enemies the king determined to destroy their idols. The multitude stood astonished, both at the helplessness of their gods and the audacity of their destroyers j and when the great god Oro was carried to Pomare's feet, he set it up as a post in his kitchen, fixing pegs upon it on which to hang baskets for food, and subsequently burned it as fuel. Such was the end of the great war god.
Mr. Nott and Mr. Hayward soon went to Tahiti, and made a tour of the island. They found the people busy in destroying Marres and build- ing little chapels. Pomare himself had written a prayer, which he often read in these places of worship-a prayer worthy of any Christian author.
The missionaries found the people very anxious to learn to read, and the king had not only destroyed his public idols, but now wished to part with the family gods, always kept in his house. He sent about twelve of these frightful little images to the missionaries in Eimeo, with a letter ask- ing that they might be sent to the Missionary Society in England, that they might know the likeness of the gods that had been worshipped in the island. The idols were accordingly nailed up in a wooden case and sent to the directors of the London Missionary Society. Family prayer became common, and the people retired to the bushes for private supplication.
The missionaries could scarcely get any rest, so continually were they besieged with inquiry. In every place they found chapels-sixty-six in all -in which the people assembled four times a week.
About this time a printing-press was brought to Eimeo, and from a neighboring Marre, polished stones-pieces of pavement upon which worshippers had knelt before the altars-were dug up and placed where God's Word was to be printed. Satan was robbed that God might be honored. The first book printed was the Baba, or spelling-book, and Pomare was permitted to aid in setting up the first page, and to strike off the first impression. The Tahitians were very anxious to have these printed.
books, and sent to the missionaries plantain leaves rolled up, with the request for spelling-books written on the leaves. This was the beginning of the spreading of the knowledge of God from isle to isle by the power of a sanctified literature. Catechisms followed, and little books containing col- lections of texts j schools were multiplied, converts increased, and there was a general spirit of inquiry. .
For years Mr. Nott had been translating the Gospel of Luke into Tahitian, assisted by Pomare, and while the book was in press the natives often constrained Mr. Ellis to stop printing to explain to them what they read. The missionaries wished to bind the books before they were dis- tributed, but the impatience of the people compelled them to give up wait- ing for proper binding materials. The natives, however, did not suffer these precious books to remain without proper protection j dogs and cats and goats were killed that their skins might be prepared for covers, and the greatest anxiety was manifested to obtain these new copies of the Gospel. Five men from Tahiti landed at Afareaita, and did not go into any house to lodge lest some one might anticipate them in the morning and buy up all the books, so that they should be compelled to return without any. Mr. Ellis gladly gave them copies of the precious Gospel, which they wrapped in bark, put in their bosoms, and set sail for Tahiti without having taken food or drink during their stay at Eimeo.
And now the brethren determined to form a missionary society in Eimeo, and on May 13th a great meeting was held, and numbers of natives came from Tahiti. The prayers began at sunrise, and long before the chapel service at three 0' clock they were obliged to leave the chapel for the grove outside to accommodate the crowds. The king was seated with the queen, her ladies, and many chiefs, and Mr. Nott preached from the words, "Understandest thou what thou readest~" (Acts 8 : 30,31.) 'An address from Pornare hims.elf followed, advocating the formation of the. Missionary Society, and hundreds of 4ark arms were lifted toward heaven in assent.
The" Royal Mission Chapel" at Tahiti, so called, was finished in the spring of 1819. It contained 133 windows, 29 doors, and was 712 feet long and 54 feet wide-212 feet longer than St. Paul's in London. As no preacher could speak loud enough to be heard to the end of the chapel during a whole sermon, three pulpits were placed in it, with a minister in each. Six thousand people joined in singing God's praise in this new place of worship, and three sermons were preached simultaneously.
The next day after the dedication service in May, 1819, laws were publicly given to the people, condemning murder, rebellion, theft, Sabbath breaking, these prohibitions being followed with becoming sanctions. After the law was read the king asked the chiefs, " Do you agree to this law~" and Tati, a ringleader among the rebels, held up both hands, and called upon the people to do the same. At the close of the Sabbath service, Pomare solemnly pronounced his faith in a crucified Redeemer. Let any reader consider how different were these assemblies from the feasts at which Pomare and his father had distributed the bleeding limbs of human victims as offerings to the gods.
The rest of the year was full of rejoicing; new customs obtained, and the preaching of the Word was greatly blessed. Pornare was shut up whole days with Mr. Nott, helping him to correct the translations of the Gospel of John and the Acts.
We can give no further space to this wonderful story. The king himself was a leader in all good works, and on December 7th, 1821, died in the faith of Christ at the age of forty-seven years. Though naturally proud, covetous, deceitful, intemperate, and treacherous, he not only believed the Word of God himself, but persuaded many others, while he forced none to turn from their idols, and we cannot but believe that, not- ,withstanding his many faults, he sincerely belonged to Christ.
A fitting conclusion to this narrative may be found in the coronation of the young king, four years old, on April 21st, 1824. He was dressed in his coronatiou robes in Mr. Nott's house, and borne to the church on the highest platform. A hymn was sung, a prayer was offered. and Mr. Nott
lIONQR OF' A MISSIONARY
made an effective address. The laws of the country were placed upon the table, and the young king was asked whether he would promise to govern the people in justice, and mercy, and obedience to these laws and to the Word of God; and he replied, "I do, God being my helper." Oil was then poured upon his head, and a blessing pronounced upon him by Mr. Davies. The crown was placed upon his brow while Mr. Nott spoke words of benediction, and the Bible was presented to him as the most priceless treasure in the world. From the platform of coronation, the procession went to the " Royal Mission Chapel," and the young king sat in the royal pew.
Contrast this scene with the coronation of Pomare II., who had been declared king according to the heathen fashion, robed in a girdle covered with red feathers, the ceremony attended by the slaughter of men and followed by the worship of the god Oro. Now a little prince began his reign with the sweet sacrifice of prayer and praise to the living God.
In the end of the summer of 1835 many people in various parts of the island were converted, especially by the preaching of Mr. Nott, at Papao, and in July, 1836, the queen found that only two openly ungodly persons were to be found in the whole district of Pare; and Mr. Davies was almost as much blessed at Papare as Mr. Nott was at Papao. The translation of the whole Bible into Tahitian was completed in 1836, the greatest part of the work having been done by Mr. Nott; and in February of this year Mr. Nott set sail for England. He presented the translation to the directors of the London Missionary Society, and remained in England for two years. He appeared at Exeter Hall at the great anniversary in 1838, and after showing the Ailsembly a copy of the Tahitian Bible, bade them a last though not an everlasting farewell, and returned to Tahiti, rejoicing in the privilege of spending the remainder of his days in the service of Christ in the South Seas.
HONOR OF A MISSIONARY.
I should not like you, if meant by the gifts of God for a great missionary, to die a millionnaire. I should not like it, were you fitted to be a miRsionary, that you should drivel down into a king. What are all your kings, all your nobles, all your stars, all your diadems and your tiaras, when you put them altogether, compared with the dignity of winning souls for Christ, with the special honor of building for Christ, not on another man's foundation, but preaching Christ's gospel in regions far beyond ~ I reckon him to be a man honored of men who can do a foreign work for Christ; but he who shall go farthest in self-annihilation and in the furtherance of the glory of Christ shall be a king among men, though he wear a crown no carnal eyes can see.-Spurgeon.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND THE HIGHEST USE OF WEALTH
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND THE HIGHEST USE OF WEALTH.
B. C. AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE A. F. M. AT PITTSFIKLD, MASS., OCTOBER 14TH, 1891.
BY PRESIDENT MERRILL EDWARDS GATES, LL.D., OF AMHERST.
The incarnation of the living God as the Redeemer of man has made it forever necessary that the man who would know God must see something of God in his fellow-men. In all ages the men whose hearts God has touched, whose eyes God has opened that they may see Him and make others see Him, have been men mightily moved in soul and heart toward their fellow-men. The nearer we come to God's view of human life, the purer and deeper and mightier will be our love of human souls and our pity for wasted. sinful. and benighted human lives.
LOVE OF GOD AND WORK FOR MEN.
There is a Divine revelation of the very heart of God Himself in the description Christ gives us of the scenes of division at the judgment. Our Master takes as His own not those who selfishly cry, "Lord, Lord!" and boast familiarity with God's power and achievements of their own in cast- ing out devils; but the men who have shown" the mind which was in Christ Jesus, " and under the constraining power of Christ's love have served Him by serving" in His name" their fellow-men for whom He died. It is by the faith that is in Christ Jesus that we stand; but the absolutely vital, the indissoluble connection of faith with love and with works of love and help- fulness and mercy, is made startlingly clear in this revelation by Christ of the things whi.ch shall be made manifest at that day. It is only by living out a vital principle of life to its issues that we can come to know it thoroughly. True Christians are men and women who are bent upon reducing right theories of life to right living. Life-power and moral truth are the mightiest forces in the universe. In Christian character these two forces are combined. God is life and truth ; godlikeness worked out in life is character; into sound character has entered the " omnipotence of a • principle," and the almightiness of God Himself is pledged to make char- acter, which is vitalized truth, the mightiest power within the control of man. And since God is Jove, and God in Christ is the supreme revelation of that holy and infinitely attractive love which spared not His own Son that He might be just and yet might Jove us out of our sins into lives of holiness, Christians can never Jearn large lessons of God's love in Christ without sharing in Christ's love for their fellow-men THE TEST-OUR FEELING TOWARD MULTITUDES OF UNSHEPHERDED MEN.
Always, then, for the individual Christian, and for any body of Christians who are acting together, there is a supreme test in the question, How deep a concern do you feel for the welfare of the great body of your fellowmen ~ What are your feelings, what are your purposes, what is your attitude of soul t.oward the benighted ones, 'our brothers and sisters, who are ignorant, debased, sin-burdened, and hopeless in the world ~ Sharp and clear is the contrast between the spirit of the Pharisees and the spirit of Christ in this matter of caring for crowds of the commou people. When their returning officers said, " Never man spake as this man speaks," and when "the common people heard Him gladly," the Pharisees waved aside the divine meaning of the message with that contemptuous phrase, the essence of selfish vanity and arrogant pride, " This people that knoweth not the law is accursed." But" the mind that was in Christ Jesus," the mind that dwells in every true child of God in richer fulness as the Holy Spirit shows him the things of Christ, is revealed in the words, " But when He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion upon them, because they fainted aud were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. " In those words speaks from the heart of God the loving voice of the Good Shepherd j and "His sheep know His voice and follow Him."
This mind that was in Christ, this deep yearning love for lost men, has always marked the true Church. It began its growth among men with the growth of the early Church at Jerusalem, and it had to break its way through that intense spirit of exclusiveness which, with the Jewish Church, had been a cult for centuries. For generations God had walled in His chosen people, had separated them from the rest of the world, that their knowledge of Him and their realization of His presence might be intensified by exclusion. In the fulness of time, when the Word was made flesh, when the love of God was poured into the life of men through the life and the words of Christ, this spirit of love for all mankind burst the cerements of the old dispensation, and the Christian Church began its wondrous growth on earth. It came into life, it grew and prospered under the teaching and guidance of the Third Person of the Trinity, the ever-living Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take of the things of Christ and show them to His followers, who is with us here to-day guiding His Church. Peter first felt the power of this mission-spirit of love for all mankind. Then the heavenly vision came to Paul, and flaming with the spirit of Christ's love he went through all the provinces, fiery-hearted with the spirit of missions. With the growth of the Church this spirit has increasingly prevailed; the walls of separation between nationil have been broken down by it. It is to the growing spirit of Christ, not to the evolution of a perception of a subtly selfish interest for the individual to be attained by the promotion of the we)£are of the whole-it is to the spirit of Christ and not to "enlightened self-interest," that we owe the deepening sense of the solidarity of the race which binds men together the world around.
In the history of the Church it is the men whose hearts have'received this spirit in the largest measure whose names illumine the annals of the Church and the pages of universal history. In their hearts was condensed so much of the thrilling force of Christ's love that heat passed into fiery rays of light, and they became beacons to men for all time. From Paul, longing to visit Spain, yearning over the Romans, melted with love for the Galatians, holding all Greece and all Asia in his heart, down through the glorious roll of saints and martyrs and missionary heroes till we reach the names of the missionaries whom we have seen in the flesh, and whom we love, hearts and lives on fire with the love of lost and benighted men have been the evidence of the spirit of life in the Church of Christ.
IN A LIVING CHURCH, ALWAYS A LOVE OF MISSIONS.
There can be no living Church without a glowing love for mlSSlOns. Christ has made this very clesr to us. In the glimpse He gives us of the judgment. in His parting words as He ascended, "Go ye and make disciples of all nations," and, ,. Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the world," we find the very essence of His teaching, the flowering of His spirit of service. To seek and to save that which was lost, was the mission that brought our Divine Redeemer from heaven to earth j and to seek and to save the lost is the Divine commission, from the glorified Christ in heaven to each believer who looks up to a Divine Redeemer for direction in a life of grateful service.
What has this to do with the question of money and its use ~ Let us ask ourselves this question thoughtfully.
MEN AND MEANS.
As members of the Church of Christ set to do Christ's work in the world, assembled here in the interest of one of the most important agencies in that work of evangelizing the world, which is pre-eminently the one work given by Christ to His people to do in His name, we are brought face to face with the question of the means to carry out this important work. Here, as in every other important undertaking which is to influence many lives, men and means are the essential requirements. Men never were offered to a praying Church in such numbers as stand confronting us today, saying, ' • We are ready, send us." Under the influence of the spirit of God, the immeasurable importance of bearing the glad tidings to the dark places of the earth has dawned upon young men and women in our· land with a vividness and a power never before seen or known in the history of the Church. Do you who are past middle age remember the " missionary concerts" of your youth, when prayers were regularly offered that God would" break down the walls" that shut Christians out of China and Japtm V That prayer has been answered. This year the Emperor of China issues a royal edict calling upon the governors of his provinces to protect the missionaries against misrepresentation and violence, and declaring that the object of Christian teaching is to make men better. We have been witnesses of this marvellous change. We have seen Japan rise suddenly to highest standards in civilization 'and ih government-a nation born in a day. Japanese Christians are setting the Christian world an exam- ple of unity and loving fellowship in work. The testimony of all observers is that never was a great nation in a more receptive mood for Christian truth than is Japan to-day. In India there is a special call for laborers.
Another generati0n of educated men, broken loose from the old faith, will soon be anarchic in morals unless Christianity shall supply the basis of morality in life. Ve need not raise any questions of a future hell; there will be hell let loose upon the earth unless Christian truth gets hold upon India, unless the love of Christ cherished in the heart shall more than make good the loss of restraints of the old order. In unharvested fields the grain, ripe and ready, falls to the earth in rich, decaying masses, un- garnered. Unless these years that are now upon us be used, the oppor- tunity is forever lost. It i~ now or never, for India! .
"TIME-VALUE" AND" PLACE-VALUE."
Political economists talk of a " time-value," which belongs to a commodity that is ready precisely when it is wanted, like seed corn in spring, and of a " place-value," which is the result of the presence of an instrument or a commodity at the precise place where it is needed, and at precisely the time when it is needed. The time-utility of missionary effort just now is immense. Who can estimate the place-utility of Christian effort DOW in Japan and in India ~ Of Africa I hardly dare to speak. Africa, no longer the totally" Dark Continent," first pierced through by the rays of love and light where Livingstone carried his well-read Bible that rayed out life for him and made his path a trail of love and light until that night when he knelt alone beside his cot under the great tree in the wilderness and, kneeling, met his God; Mrica, now slowly rising to a place in the world's history, but still as booty to be struggled for in a contest of diplomacy, if not of arms-to save and uplift Africa, what need of Christian giving, what a call for help from Christian America, who owes the heaviest debt to that continent which is mother of the race, long fettered and beaten with many stripes, whose unrequited toil made" cotton king" !
We see these open doors. We hear these calls from perishing men. We see the" time-value" and the " place-value" of efforts now put forth for Christ. Loyal subjects of Christ our King, we see clearly the importance of these strategic points to be seized now for the advancement of His kingdom among men. The old walls about the isolated nations, which our fathers and mothers prayed to have thrown down, lie flat before us. The opportunity 'is ample. The need is pressing. The demand from the field is imperative. The loss of life, the loss of souls, is deadly. WHAT HINDERS THE WORK ~ In those monthly concerts, when the walls about China and.Tapan had fallen, the petitions began to take on this stereotyped form : "Lord, raise up men and women who shall be uJilling to go into these opening fields.," The sacrifice involved in foreign mission work has always been immense, but the fruit of it has been abundant and rich. Partings with kindred and friends, departures into strange lands-these have always been essential to the propagation of the. truth since the time when God said to Abraham, the father of the faithful, " Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show you." By such self-sacrificing obedience to God's commands have new nations learned of that brotherhood of man which has no meaning, no power, save as all nations learn that they have a commGn 'Father, even God. Much of what is called the " spirit of the nineteenth century," this awakening of the world to the conviction that all men are of one blood, and that property in man is impossible, is the manifest result of mission work done by strangers who, for Christ's sake and at God's call, have sojourned in strange lands among despised peoples preaching peace and brotherhood through Christ. But the cost of leaving home and friends and native land, the sacrifice involved in expatriating one's self and one's children, has always been so serious 8 matter to contemplate that those who love their own ease have always wondered when the call of God has been potent enough to carry His consecrated servants as missionaries to foreign fields. The supply of men and women willing to go has never been equal to the need of the field, seldom to tbe means at the disposal of the missionary boards. It has been taken for granted by the Church for the last two generations, first, that the walls that shut in mighty nations could not be broken down short of centuries to come; and then, that laborers willing to go could not be found in sufficient numbers.
FACE TO FACE WITH ANSWERED PRAYERS.
But what is time to our God, when He wills to send His kingdom forward by a mighty unfolding into the growing season, into the flowering time! A thousand years are as a day with Him. He laid the walls level. He opened the way. His will and wisdom' brought in the age of steam. Railroads and steamship lines girdle His globe to make ready a highway for his messengers, " speaking peace to the nations." He sets a Stepherason and a Fulton, a Morse and a Bell and an Edison at His tasks when they know it not. Corporations of selfish men do His work, as heedless of the plan of God as are the stones which are framed into the mighty arch of the cathedral, or the liquid elements that are seized upon by the growing plant and drawn up into a place in the beauty of its unfolded blossom by a power utterly beyond their ken! Mission fields are open. The world is the field. AU fences are down. A Christian Church, the Church of America, stands to-day face to face with its answered prayers. It is as if a throng of men and women had been standing in the ante-room of the King's chamber, half drearily telling eachother in monotonous voices what they wished to ask for if the King would only give them audience. Suddenly the King steps in among them and declares, " I know your wishes j you have them now!" And with stammering voices and uncertain gestures the would-be petitioners stand abashed in the presence of a royal Giver, whose readiness to give exceeds their readiness to receive!
THE STUDENT VOLUNTEERS FOR MISSIONS.
For a generation the Church has been praying for men and women who were ready to go. The Holy Spirit hae tried the hearts and searched the spirits of young men and women at our higher institutions of learning. No one who bas been among them, as I have been, and has seen this searching work of the Lord, can fail to recognize it as God's doing, and as altogether wonderful and like His mighty power and the gracious constraining force of His own love, that to-day over six thousand young Christians of America are volunteers for Christian mission-work.
The years when young students look out upon life from the· mountain heights of youth are favorable to a clear vision of comparative values. While the wish is eager to make one's life count for the utmost possible in the service of God by serving one's feHow-men, those whose eyes God touches that they may truly see discern the truth that no other work compares in potent possibility for good with this light-bearing in dark places. Our" young men see visions;" and this is the fulfilment of God's glorious promise of rich blessing fO,r any nation. They see that the Holy Spirit describes the highest object of a liberal education, when He speaks of one who" has tbe tongue of the'learned to speak a word in season to him that is weary." And the spirit of God has so moved upon the young people in the Church of God in this land, that as a class of Christians they say today to the Church of God, " Weare ready to go. Weare eager to try within this next generation to fulfil the glorious command of Christ and , make disciples of all nations.' "
THE ALMIGHTY BANKER CALLS IN HIS LOANS.
Since the work is Christ's work intrusted to us, since the would.be workers are ready and call upon our mission boards to send them, since the great, the rapidly growing wealth of this Christian nation is in the hands of Christian men and women of mature years, my brothers, what answer can we give for ourselves before the jndgment throne of God, if this glorious work of preaching the Gospel of light to dying men is checked and dwarfed, and fails of its glorious pORsibility, because we who are God's stewards hold fast to God's money for our own selfish uses 1 There is a time when the Almighty Banker of the Universe calls in His lo~n81 There is a time when the Master, about to return from far countries, Himself makes rigid yet loving inquiry of every steward concerning the talents, be they one or ten, intrusted to his use. Are we so using the money God has given us as to give to Him" His own with interest" 1 But, some one will say, this is an unnatural view which you present. Christians are to use their money as do other men, subject to the laws of. political economy and in accordance with the general spirit of the time in which they dwell and with the standards that prevail in the grades of society where their lot is cast. Let us look at the question for a moment.
HIS PROPERTY IS.A MAN'S" OBJECTIFIED WILL."
A man's property has been said to be his" objectified will." Mere things, which apart from man are impersonal and utterly outside of moral and jural considerations, enter into the domain of rights, of justice, of morality, through their relation to the will of their owner. The object into which you have introduced your will, which you have willed and worked to make your own. has become in a sense a part of you. There is a true sense in which the man who touches your property toltches you. Property that is truly owned and used becomes in a sense a part of the owner and user. His intelligence permeates it, his will directs its use. Since wealth is often labor stored up in portable form, it has in it a man's life. It partakes of his personality. A man's wealth, through his acting in it. becomes a personal force in social life which may be used for the noblest ends or prostituted to the bagest uses.
No man can escape the fullest responsibility for the use he makes of his wealth, which is potential power of service. Every man holds all his powers in trust j for the use he makes or fails to make of each power, he must auswer at the judgment-seat of God. Our divine Teacher has warned us that in wealth there is a subtle and dangerous tendency which leads it to seek to escape this law of service. Wealth, whkh should be a useful servant, seeks to become a tyrannical master. Christ in His warnings to His followers personifies but one power in the universe as likely to become a dangerous rival for that throne in man's heart and life which belongs to God Himself. The subtle power against which He thus warns us is Mammon, the love of money. Between the mad pursuit of gain and the service of the living God, He warns us that every man must choose. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. " The property that you have must be as fully and entirely subject to the Jaw of the service of God in serving your fellow-men, as must your powers of heart and will and hand and head.
THE CONVERTED HEART INVOLVES THE CONVERTED POCKET-BoOK.
Talk of men as converted, as Christian men, who con~ciously and deliberately allow their property to be used for debasing and ruining their fellow-men! Imagine that a man'M heart and will can be converted to the service of God, and his property remain in the service 0" the devIl! 'Tis an utter imposRibility !
The cOllversion that does not reach a mall's use of his property is no true conversion. There is no truly Christian man who keeps an unconverted pocket-book or bank account. God'~ universal law of unselfish service is as supreme in the domain of material possessions-in the realm of that wealth which extends a man's power" to bring things to pass"-as it is in any other department of man's possible efforts. The unvarying law of God, which uttachcs an obligation to every opportunity and places a duty over against every right, makes no exception of wealth with its vast powers of service. God has so ordered the tiocial life of our race that no man can make the most of his powers of mind and heart and will until he employs those powers in the service of his fellow-men. This is an accepted law in the realm of mind and spirit. It is no less binding upon the power which material wealth places at a man's disposal. No man has the slightest light to say of his wealth, " It is mine; I may nse it selfi&hly if I will." No man has arrived at a true conception of the responsibility that attaches to the possession of property, until his relations through it to his fellowmen fill a larger place in his views of life than does his ability by his wealth to serve his own selfish ends. No man is free to make an option as to whether he or his property shall come under God's law of service. He and his property are under that law, of necessity, as he is of necessity a member of society and of the State, without his leave having been asked. In the use of his property, as of all his other powers, he olVes steady allegiance to that law of 5ervice, by virtue of the solidarity of God's universe of law; and though in managing his property he may disregard this obligation, he can never escape it.
Now, wealth must be used for service according to its own laws. Wealth is productive only as it is used. as capital-that is, as wealth employed in the production of new wealth, of new values. Since wealth is " the usufruct of skill, intelligence, and morality," it places its owner under obligation steadily so to use it as to reproduce morality, intelligence, and skill.
RESTRIOTED SERVICE, TO GAIN WEALTH.
My brothers, Christian men who have put much of your life into money-winning, as you remember how much of time and effort have been withheld by you from more definite Christian work that you might concentrate yourself upon money-winning, is there not an especial call upon you that you redeem (" buy back") the time that was withheld from God's work by you while you were making money ~ Take the case of a man who has won his wealth by years of concentrated effort. Often it is true that he has gained it by a constant withdrawal of his time and his strength from other occupations in which a generous, public-spirited man wuuld like to engage. "Follow this line of study with me," said a friend, in his early mallhood. " No; business demands all my time," was the answer. "Take hold and help us in thi.; effort at political reform in our city," said his public-spirIted neighbor. " I haven't the time, business claims me." "Will you undertake part of the work of special visitiqg to be done by our church people this winter ~" " Really, you must find some one else, my dear pastor, I am so pressed by business." It was by such restrictions of effort, by such exclusions of everything that did not tend directly to the winning of money, that he made his way to wealth.
But clearly, God meant that man to cultivate his mind, to be a useful citizen and a Christian worker. In some way, then, the time and strength withdrawn from other duties and from public service should be given back to serving the public, to the enriching of the life of others.
LET THE LIFE INVOLVED IN WEALTH-WINNING BE EVOLVED IN THE RIGHT USE OF WEALTH.
The time owed to distinctively Christian effort, to work for the good of his fellow-men, may be in part made good, if the wealth into which his efforts and time were coined is used nobly and wisely. And while no giving for Christian work can take the place of personal interest in Christian activity, yet many men could do infinitely more by free and consecrated gifts of large sums of money than they now do by formal expressions of their sense of unworthiness and lack of effort in the past, unaccompanied even now by any large use of their wealth for Christ's cause.
"Redeem the time" that was withheld from God's service by you while you were making money. Redeem it, buy it back, by using your money conscientiously and generously for God's work.
If you have inherited wealth, let the time and labor that were involved ill the rolling up and the transmission of a fortune, be evolved again in days and years of active philanthropic and Christian work, done by the Christian workers whom your money supports in mission fields.
" PECUNIA ALTER SANGUIS."
For everyone of us, a part of his life-effort is stored up in money-in his possessions. It is the clear perception of this fact that gives significance to the old phrase, " pecunia alter sanguis. " In the money your life acquires is stored up the life-blood of your effort; not because gold is as precious as one's life, but because the power acquired by past effort, stored up in money, enables you to set the efforts of others in motion to carry out your purpose and your will. How shall this life-blood of your past effort be kept pure and noble? How will you use it?
Wealth is concentrated power of service. Whether our wealth be great or small, it is still concentrated power of service. Is the wealth that is in the hunds of Christians also 0/ co.ns~cmted power service? Upon thi.~ blood of your past life, which has in it a life-giving power if used for noble ends, has there fallen the touch of consecration ~ Is it not an awful danger of our times, the greatest peril that threatens professedly Christian people, that though we are Christians, we 80 persistently ignore all true ends in the use of our money 1 Is it not too much our habit of thought to regard only those as people of wealth who have much more money than have we ~ When we read upon page after page of the New Testament the most searching warnings as to the use of wealth, is it not our habit to pass them on to the very wealthy, whose fortunes far exceed the means at our disposal ~ MAMMON MAY BE WORSHIPPED BY THE POOR AS TRULY AS BY THE RICH.
Yet the essential nature of wealth does not lie in its quantity, in the amount of money at a man's disposal. The god Mammon may be worshipped with a man's whole heart, though his business transactions be petty and his savings small. Some rich men give to good causes small contributions, with a hypocritical allusion to "the widow's mite i" but our Lord bestowed His regal blessing upon the widow's mite not because it was small, but because she gave her whole living to the Lord. And in the countless warnings addressed by Him who is the Truth to Hill followers, cautioning them as to the deceitfulness of riches, as to tho difficulties that those who trust in riches will find in entering the Kingdom of Heaven, the word used is one that does not lay stress upon great wealthis one that may be used of very small possessions. The essential meaning of the word is usable values embodied in material things. The warning is against trusting in material things for our happiness, our security, our power. Rather are we to trust in the living God, to use for the glory of God all the powers we have of body, soul and mind, every means by which we may bring things to pass in our life here. The warning is against the comfortable sense of safety that comes from" having means behind you." large or small. Whatever possession is capable of standing between a man's soul, and a vital living dependence upon God day by day, is to be suspected, dreaded, and used with fear and trembling as in the sight of a jealous God, who has personified this love of possessions as His great rival in the hearts of men.
" DECEITFULNESS."
The peculiarity of riches, great or small, ·lies in their deceitfulness. They that trust in possessions cannot enter into the kingdom, even in their conception of what that kingdom is, and of what are its powers. And the awful danger in dealing with riches is, that the material advantages they secure are so obvious. so universally recognized, that most men never get beyond these advantages in thought, desire, or fear. How lightly and apologetically we Christians are accustomed to deal with the awfu! emphasis which our Master has laid upon the perpetual, essential danger that lies in the use of wealth! Our Lord has spoken of this danger again and again, in words that stand out luminous with such lurid light as burns in His warnings against the unpardonable sin. Yet too often we hear these warnings tossed aside with a half smile, even by preachers of the Gospel who are accustomed to preach to the rich, as though they would say, " Of course, Christ said this j but what He meant was so essentially different from this that it need not for a momeut make you gentlemen with large bank accounts uncomfortable, especially if you respond kindly to the special appeal I make this morning, and drop into the box a contribution a little larger than usual." Let us, who believe in the living Word of the living God, take time to read together a few of the many utterances in God's Word which bear directly upon this point. Who c~n doubt that the iteration and reiteration of these warnings is, for us and for all Christians, profoundly significant ~ THE TESTIMONY OF THE WORD OF GOD.
" The rich man is wise in his own conceit" (Prov. 28 : 11). " Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12 : 20). "The deceitfulness of riches chokes the word" (Matt. 13 : 22). "But they that will to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition" (1 Tim. 6: 9), "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after, have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Tim. 6: 10). " Let not the rich man glory in his riches." " Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly" (the Greek is [duskolos] dVC1,,6A.wS, meaning literally that his diet and his digestion are such as to put his life entirely out of harmony with the heavenly life j it " goes against his stomach j" before he can enter in, he must be fed upon other food !)-" shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19 : 23). " How hardly shall they that have riches" (the Greek is [chremata] xpf]/LaTrJ." not necessarily great riches, but possessions enough to trust in) "enter into the kingdom of God" (Luke 18 : 24). "Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God j that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate-that they may lay hold on eternal life" (1 Tim. 6: 17, 18). "Go to, now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted; your gold and your silver are rusted, and their rust shall be for a testimony against you" (James 5 : 1-3). It is the rust, not the gold, that is the witness against them. Their means are not used for Christ, and the selfish rust on them" shall eat your flesh as it were fire." "There is a grievous evil which I ha,"e seen under the sun-namely, riches kept by the owner there9f to his hurt j and those riches perish by evil adventure" (Eccl. 5 : 13).
Can there be any question that these clear declarations of God cut sharply across the tacit assumptions of many of the Christian congregations of our times 1 CHRIST TEACHES CHRISTIANS TO USE ~~EALTJI, BUT NOT TO "TRUST" IT.
Yet this awfully dangerous power of wealth is entrusted to Christians. The parables and teachings of our Lord, time after time. hold up the property relation as the basis of a lesson in Christian living. The great majority of His parables deal with this relation in one form or another. Nothing can be clearer than that He holds every Christian responsible for the right use of all his possessions, however small, however large, they may be. For the right use of the ten talents and tho two talents, there is tht' same commendation, the same relative reward j while 1he awful stress of contrast is laid upon him who had but one talent heeause ho declined to use that one for his master. There is no one of us here present, then, who can feel that the warnings and the responsibilities that attend the possession of wealth for a Christian do not concern himself. For the right use of all his powers of service, God holds each one of us responsible; and certainly the income that each one of us receives, the property that each one of us possesses, has in it latent power of service for the promotion of the Master's kingdom.
Now the divine law of political economy applies to this whole matter. Dangerous as is the use of wealth, God calls upon Christians to URe all they have of it, be it little or much, in His service and for His glory. We sing in moments of devotion, " All that I havo I 0'11'0 to Thee, I hold it for the Giver."
The proportion which each man of us is free to spend upon his own personal gratification, upon the personal pleasures of his family, upon the embellishments of his home, we cannot determine for each other j but everyone of us is bound conscientiously to determine it before God, and under the searching vision of the Spirit of all Truth, whom no detail and no selfish motive can escape. The Holy Spirit in the heart of Christians can and does make " sumptuary laws" for us.
To HELP MEN TO HELP THEMSELVES.
When we become convinced that there is in our hands as stewards money to be used for our absent Lord-for om Lord in bodily presence withdrawn, in spirit dwelling in us-then how gloriously does the scope of this mission work open out before us ns wo look at the money in our hands! Wealth must be used for unselfish ends, or it cannot be used as the Lord wills. To help others, we must help them to help themselvcs. The greatest work which Christian wealth can do in the world is to bring men one by one under the sway of that one Supreme Personality, the Lord .Tesus Christ !
HELP THEM TO CHRIST.
The only hope for men is in a close personal relation with a personal Saviour. Not in masses will men be Iiftf~d out of vice and sin. Society will be purified, institutions will be made better and kept better, only as men are drawn one by one to IIim "Who has been lifted up." The grellt social discontent of our time, whose hoarse warning voice comes to our ear from every continent on the globe, finds its canse in thp. Jack of a true centre for each man's life in Christ. The pitiable, blind yearnings of socialism must touch the hearts of true Christians, because they are the gropings of men after that true brotherhood which men find only when they see the Fatherhood of God. Christ is the" Desire of the Nations," though they know Him not. The truest, wisest use of wealth is in promoting efforts to bring the Gospel of Christ home to the hearts of the people, and to bring the people home to Christ. "They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ranEOm for him." But the power of the Holy Spirit can transmute these money gift!;, wllich we here and now before God pledge ourselves to make for the promotion of His kingdom, into Christian influences which will win souls for Christ. Oh, what a glorious thought, that dead and wasted years, which have been coined into money, if that money be laid at the feet of Christ, may be made to live over again, His Spirit touching the dead past and quickening it into living service, as this money shall send to the dark places of the earth souls fired with the wish to preach Christ!
" Defer not charities till death," says Bacon, " for certainly if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth 80 is rather liberal of another man's than of his own." Be your wealth great or small, use it for Christ while you can yourself direct its use, while you ~an yourself see and enjoy the mighty moral and spiritnal values which are produced from the right use of wealth. Where is the man or the woman of large wealth who will set tlle world a Christian example of that free, cheerful, joyous giving which God loves (" God loveth a cheerfnl giver") by taking a whole mission station to snpport from his abundant means, as a rich man keeps a yacht" for his own pleasure" 1 vVho will thus prayerfully "rcde~m" large sections of his great wealth, of his coined time, by prayerfully using it for these noble ends 1 Vie look for the speedy appearing of such great benefactions, as the re-
THE GOSPEL AFLOAT
sponsibility of wealth comes to be more clearly felt. Meanwhile, let us see to it that by loving and free giving until we feel it in the sweet deprivations that we are willing to meet for Christ's sake, we each one of us show to the world something of that spirit that brings a blessing from the Lord, Who still" sits over against the treasury. "
THE GOSPEL AFLOAT. (With .Map.) BY REV. ROBERT W. :/d,ALL, D.D., PARIS, FRANCE.
[NOTE.-At the Editor's request Dr. McAll has sent to the REVIEW an account of the new enterprise for French waters, and a plate of the proposed boat.- EDITOR.] Not long since there WaS issued the following appeal for a McAll mission boat for river and canal-work throughout France.
Each summer, for many years past. the boats lent to the mission by Mr. Henry Cook (Seamen's Friend), of Portsmouth and Gosport, have visited various French seaports, and a remarkable blessing has resulted.
Last summer immense interest was awakened during the sojourn of the boat in Paris, moored for two months in the Seine, beside the celebrated Pont de la Concorde.
Henco has arisen our intense desire to have our own boat adapted to the system of rivers and canals which is spread like a network all over France, and which consequently could be used at all seasons of the year. By this means hundreds of hitherto umisited places can be reached with the Gospel message. The estimated cost of such a vessel, containing a saloon for meetings and seating 120 to 140 persons, with lodging for those in' charge, is estimated at £1000. Captain and Mrs. Pim, of Valence, members of the Society of Friends, generously offer to give their services during seven months of each year to carry out this enterprise. The annual outlay for dues, watermen, lighting, warming, etc., and the expense of an evangelist sent to aid in the services, will amount to about £200.
We plead earnestly for special donations toward building the boat, and annual subscriptions toward working it. Without these, this most desirable undertaking cannot be accomplished, the ordinary income being already taxed to the utmost.
While we were using Mr. Cook's boat, Le Bon .Messager, one writer, in a popular French daily newspaper, professing to be very friendly, asked, " What is to be done when, in a few days, this little ship.has to quit the Seine and put to sea again ~ A happy thought occurs to us, which we submit to the promoters of this effort. "Ve recommend them to engage a
I,S,SIonRB.Y
anal~ tn 'l1RllCeI J • f–'—I IIan -:i- + -+– 'ecHon + PARIS – FEBRY 1891 H. R~&. It€'Y.
H(!c;~itecf D. by I~( ;;tale
THE GOSPEL AFLOAT
balloon and hold meetings in the air, high above the Tour Eiffel. The audience being thus already part way to heaven, it will be easier to guide them upward for the remainder of the journey."
This and similar pleasantries clearly attracted thousands to the boat, and numbers who came expecting to be amused remained as earnest listeners. It would be difficult to compute in how far we are indebted even for the new, permanen.t boat to the popular interest thus awakened, evidencing how especially this novel mode of evangelization is adapted to reach the French people.
When the ship was about to leave Paris, a pleasing little incident occurred. Mr. Henry Cook, of the Portsmouth Seamen's Society (who lent us the vessel), and our missionary, the Rev. S. R. Brown, had to go from one marine office to another to carry out some formalities. The distances were considerable, so they hired a small carriage, and were directed from bureau to bureau, a wearisome round. When it was finished Mr. Brown asked the driver what extra sum (beyond the small legal fare for a single drive) was due, on account of the many calls and long waiting. " Gentlemen," he said, his countenance brightening, " I will not receive one sou extra. It has been a pleasure and privilege to conduct you. I and my son have attended the boat meetings whenever we could, and have found great benefit there. I am only too happy to offer this small mark of my gratitude."
The new boat is now in process of building; the special donations have warranted ordering it, but there will be the annual cost of working it, river and canal dues, mariners' support and cost of sending evangeliststhough the good captain and his wife will receive nothing, not even their own support. We tried to believe the annual cost would not surpass £200, but to work well we must rather reckon on £300. It certainly promises to be the means of sending far and wide the Gospel message in France to numbers of places in which it is as yet never heard. We hope to launch it about the end of October.
From the Nineteenth Annual Report of the McAIl Mission we append a few statements which will interest all who are watching the new developments of this work. The missionary boat on the Seine has found the door open wider than ever in France. This was a new experiment in the heart of the vast city. Moored at the well-known Pont de la Concorde, it was wonde~ful to descend into the cabin on a summer afternoon, and find everything orderly as in a regular place of worship, and hear the hearty singing, and mark the reverent attention pervading the crowded assembly, composed chiefly of men; then, so soon as one meeting was ended, to see a new audience eagerly rushing in and filling the cabin a second, third, and even fourth time. What a resistless evidence of a widespread desire to listen to the Gospel message! The gross attendance, during the seven weeks, was 23,500, comprising all classes of society, and many, evidently, hearing the Gospel for the first time in their lives. By a vessel permanently connected with our work the G08pel could be conveyed not only to the cities and towns, but to ~ multitude of remote places where, as yet, its glad sound is never heard.
Every ycar brings new proofs that, so long aR the workers, whether for young or old, keep strictly to the faithful declaration of the Gospel, and the direct effort to win souls to Christ, the people will ncver grow weary of listening to them. Our special work during the" Exposition Universelle" evidenced this anew j each of our two temporary halls at the gate!! has ceased to be temporary. In each a little permanent cl)ngregation of residents in Par'is remained after the Exposition had closed. Were-entered the large salle of Avenue Rapp with the New Year, the influx of these new-comers having rendered the neighboring one of Avenue Bosquet too small, while the little room at the Trocadero has bcen retained. In both "We have the joy of recognizing a certain number of true converts.
Another striking indication that the present i~ a peculiarly favorable time for Gospel work here is found in the fact that in two of our central llalls in Paris-those of Rue Royale and Boulevard Bonue Nouvelle-the gross attendance during 1890 (omitting all extra mcetings) exceeded that of 1889 by 24,300, and this without any novelty of procedure or 8pecial attempt at publicity.
Mr. M. L. Dodds has written: "Never before did this 'Salvation Navy,' as the new~papers call it, attempt to take Paris hy storm, nor dare to cast anchor and hoist flag just below the Pont de la Concorde. Soon, however, the curious crowd gathered, and were welcomed to the nicely fitted-up saloon. The hours of meeting were at first from three to four and from eis-ht to nine. They were gradually extended, till three meetings occupied the afternoon, the saloon emptying and refilling each hourhardly emptying, for often there were a dozen or more people who did not stir, and whom the longest discourse did not frighten away; people who seemed rooted to the spot-both sexes. The greater number are men -men of all classes. One quite young fellow sat in his place from halfpast two till six, and again from eight to nine, magnetized, as it were, by what he was hearing. He was a Catholic, from the North) and had never been to meetings of this sort before. Many took the thing less seriously; they like to whet their intellects on the discourse. 'These are good things,' said a young man to his companion, as they went out, ' but one takes and leaves.'
" Anything like steadiness of attention did not, of course, come all lit once. At the first there was a grcat dcal of coming and going, ~ometimes II little staring and laughing; some were amused at the faint sickly swing of the boat IU! other vessels passed it. Some found the steep companionladder ridiculous-' fit for English people,' they said-these Parisians do not see these ladders as often as they do in England. Some tried to join in the hymns, and sang out of tune, amusing the others. Some came only frOID curiosity, which being satisfied, they retired, never to return. h short, the meetings on the boat began exactly as those first meetings in 1872 began. If anyone wanted to stand again, in imagination, at the cradle of the miRsion, he could have seen the same curiosity, the same criticism, the same bewildered qnestions, the same falling off of wayside hearers, the same process of selection by whieh others stayed, and returned, and listened, and wondered, and often received life for their souls. .
" The French daily papers, describing the work, gave us lengthy advertisements for nothing! Think of it! Advertisements are expensive in France. 'With what gold should we have bought a column and a half of the Figaro .2 " All the French papers were talking about our Bon Messa,qer. Under some such title as 'Le bon Dieu .~ur l' eau ' – ' La religion Ii voiles'- , Une cJwpeUe flottante,' they gave a piece of clever and not ill-natured banter, and llometimes of not too inaccurate description, which helped to send hundrcd~ on board. Le Monde Illustre had some capital comic ,;l:etehes. The crowd pressing down 'en queue '-the saloon filled with peopll1-the lady open-mouthed at the harmonium-the orator keeping time with his llymn-book-were all represented. Even the texts eould be deciphered in full in the pictures. Le Monde made a mistake, however, in giving us too many old ladies in the front seats j but that may be passed over.
" The Rappel said : •• • A yacht is moored below the Pont de la Concorde. To its masts is attached a large ensign, white, on a blue gronnd, " Evangelical meetings every day, free entry." A fixed gangway gives access to the yacht j by a steep staircase we reach the cabin, transformed into a meeting hall. " , A dignified English lady, a little leather bag hangin"g on her arm, gives you a red book. The title is" Popular Hymns." You are warned, by a notice on the cover, that the book is not for you. Comfort yourself -you will get other presents! There are tracts for all tastes.' Butenough. The speakers and players are in turn described or caricatured. Thc singing and reading is carefully described, then the address by M. Mabboux. Then it is naIvely remarked, 'The meeting is closed with a prayer, which must be said with the eyes shut j , for to elose the eyes during prayer strikes these people as a new and peculiar action. "The Figaro also describes the steep ladder, and the hall, 'which might contain about two hundred persons. It is a meeting hall, with a reading. desk at one end j wooden benches arranged in order, and all round the walls are little sentences setting forth the adyantages of having to do with God (commerce avec Dieu), such as "God is your refuge." Jesus Christ said, " Venez d moi vous tous qui etes travailtes et charges, et je vous s01dagerai. " " The Lord is my Shepherd," etc. These' go all along the cabin, in French and English.' "One tract was given down-stairs, and one Gospel on deck. The tract was usually offered by a lady to each one going out, and within its cover was placed a complete list of the mission halls in town, so that any one could choose the hall nearest to his place of residence if he wished to attend. On deck a young man offered a copy of a gospel. Some!imes curious but too rapid conversations took place with those going out.
" A lady, being offered the Gospel of John, said she wi&hed that of Matthew too. ' It is not here to-day, madam, but would you not like to buy a New Testament g, '" A New Testament g What is it g, " , It contains all the four Gospels, and other matter. ' " Ah ! then I should like that j is it expensive ~ , " , Four sous.' " And it was bought. "Miss B– gave a tract to a lady, who stopped, and said abruptly; " , Then, what must one do to get to heaven g, " , Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. His death saves you.' " , Yes-but what must I do g, " , Just what I have told you-believe.' " , And then ~ , " , Then you must read His Word and do His will.' " , Do you believe in hell and in purgatory? ' " , In hell I do, not purgatory.' " , According to that, we are all condemned.' " , We are. Only Christ saves us.' " , Are you saved g , "But a rush of people through the narrow doorway, up the ladder, separated the two. Others had to be attended to. Will she come back again and inq~ire further ~ Who knows !
" They get good speaking on the bateau, and they get plain speaking, too. These Frenchmen make a noble use of a noble language. Some came from the country to help, as Messrs. Mabboux, Vernier, and Sainton. When possible, four or five took turns in the course of the afternoon. And they rose to the occasion. The best gave their best here. I suppose the sight of those wistful faces appealed to them, and they , stirred up their gift.' What the people got was the simple Gospel, suited to their needs. Christ was exalted as Saviour and as King of kings."
M. J. Sainton, who labored very earnestly in the meetings, adds: "The audiences were very mixed, from the consequential lady and gentleman to the street urchin j but, with few exceptions, after the first moments of surprise, our listeners were respectful, attentive, and even sympathetic. By these meetings on the boat we have reached a new contingent of sinners in the midst of our Parisian society, till then strangers to the Gospel. lIad this been the only result, thc work carried on had been a real success, for we should have been carrying out the commandment of our Master, , Preach the Gospel to every creature.'
" But, besides this, we can say that from this time the work of God has begun in very many hearts, a work which the Holy Spirit will deepen unto salvation, "One day a young man, with a fine open face and well dressed, said to me, 'For several days I have been without work, my savings permitting me to wait and look out for a good place. Meanwhile, I am profiting by your good conferences, where I am glad to hear, in regard to religion, things quite new to me, and which I desire to know more about.' Since then I have seen this young man several times at our evening meetings. He has become one of onr regular attendants.
" Another young man, whom I had noticed at different times, and who always appeared most serious, said to me in reply to a question, • Yes, sir, I begin to understand that what you say is the truth.' Later on, I spoke to him again, and he said, 'Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ. I want to live according to the Gospel, and not only that,' added he, with as much seriousness as naIve simplicity, " but I should wish to become a preacher like you. '
" Another day a young man came, accompanied by some companions, and with a mocking smile on his lips. By degrees his expression changed. After two or three meetings his companions dropped off, but he returned alone. He always sat in the same place, and sang and listened quite earnestly. I asked him one day about his spiritual state. He could not answer, bllt I felt that a good work was going on in his heart. He told me that since coming to our meetings he has ventured into II Protestant church, and that the simplicity and beauty of our religion had greatly impressed him. I gave him the address of the hall near which he lived, and he said to me that he would certainly attend the meetings there.
" Another time a gentleman, a merchant from the Provinces, waited for me at the door. That day we had to some extent touched on controversy on the subject of 'confession of sins.' • It is the first time,' said this gentleman, ' that I have been present at your meetings, and I wish to tell you with how much interest I have listened to you and your colleagues; but,' added he, • I should have liked to see our Catholic priests defend their points, and to know what you would have replied to them. ' , If the priests,' said I to him, • do not accept the Word of God as the common ground of discussion, we would not argue with them, for God has not given any other foundation for our faith in the doctrines of the truth. If, on the contrary, they accept it, all discussion is quickly settled, for not only can they not base the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on the Word 'of God, but they have against them numerous and striking texts.' Then followed a most interesting conversation, which ended in the gentleman declaring: 'I also have had religious convictions from my childhood. In youth I rejected certain ordinances of my Church without abandoning the faith, and I see to-day that I am much more Protestant at heart than Catholic.'
SOME HINDRANCES '1'0 THE WORK 01' FOREIGN MISSIONS
"Unfortunately I did not think of taking his address, and he has probably returned to the provinces, for I have not seen him again."
Pastor Aubanel, of PariiO, says of the missionary ship at Fecamp : " The meetings held at Fecamp during August, 1890, on board The Herald of Mercy, were specially noteworthy because of the number of hearers, and the earne:;t attention with which they listened to the fundamental truth of the Gospel. For some days they were led by Pastor Cresseil, of Paris, but he had to leave, to conduct the evangelistic work at Trouville during the bathing season. The committee sent me to replace him. Every day, aided by the captain and Mlle. M–, I held a meeting and proclaimed a free salvation through repentance and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to a number of sailors and their families.
•, Perfect order reigned on board during the whole time. The missionroom was constantly full of attentive and interested hearers-often too slIlall to hold all who wished to come, so that the deck also was crowded with persons eager to hear the glad tidings-which they could do, as the skylights were open; many also stood on the edge of the quay. On those days it is estimated that as many as 250 were present. The average was 180.
" A plentiful distribution of tracts and Scripture portions was made at the end of each meeting. New Te:;taments were on sale at the low price of one penny for the small edition. The people were so eager to buy that the stock on board was soon exhaustcd.
" When I took leave of the audience after the last meeting, very many of them, with a warm shake of the hand, said how sorry they were that the meet.ing" were over, and how much they hoped that they would be begun agaiu in a ncar future. "
SOME IIINDRANCES TO THE WORK OF FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY REV. GEORGE W. NORTHRUP, D.D., LL.D.
[We venture to reprint from the Baptist Missionary Magazine the masterly address of President Northrup before the Se;"entv-seventh Anniversary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, held in Cincinnati, May 25th, 1891, hoping thus to bring it to the attention of some who may not have !lad an opportunity of reading it. -ED.] I purpose to speak of some of the hindrances at home to the work of foreign missions, or some of the causes of the comparative failure of the Church to evangelize the pagan nations. Before expres5ing my thoughts on this subject, I beg leave to uttcr a word of a personal nature. It is possible that my remarks may not Eecure the approval of all ; may, in fact, give offence to some who hear me. If such shall be the case, let me assure you that I am not mored by a pcssimi6tic spirit, nor by a disposition to disparage the missionary history of our people. I am not willing to admit that I am inferior to any of my brethren in loyalty to the denomination with which I have Leen identified for fifty years, and which I have served, in a public way, for more than a third of a century. The feeling which I am most distinctly conscious of, as I stand before you to· day, is that of heartache in view of the apathy of Christian people, and especially the apathy of our denomination, in regard to the temporal and eternal salvation of the vast population of the pagan nations. I have put the question to myself once and again, within a few weeks past: " What can be done to change this state of things-to awaken the feelinl! of love and compassion which ought to exist for the hundreds of millions of our felloW'.men involved in the darkness, degradation and misery of heathenism g I speak in behalf of a billion human beings, for everyone of whom Christ died, every ODO of whom has a place in the heart of God, everyone of whom is of as much worth in His sight as any citizen of the great republic. It is certain that God has done all that He could wisely do in bestowing grace UpOll His people. It is also certain that, if they would use the grace bestowed with greater fidelity, He would give more and still more-, " opening the windows of heaven and pouring out a blessing, that there would not be 100m enough to receive it." The speedy eVaI;gelization of the pagan world, and shall we not also Bay, their salvation, is, in a real and profound sense, in the hands of the Church.
1. Among the causes referred to, we notice, first, the departure from the method of Christ, in laying chief stress, not on salvation here and now, the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth, but upon salvation in a narrower seuse of the term, as escape from the retrihutions of hell. To use the words of another: "It has been too much the habit of Christian people, in looking abroad upon the heathen world, to regard it, Dot as a kingdom to be congucred for Jesus Christ, but rather as a seething sea of drowning men, a few of whom might bo saved from the general wreck by those whom the Church sent out on her gallant life-boat service." But certainly this is not the conception which Christ empllasizes when He sets before men the object of their immediate aud supreme devotion. He hegan His ministry by preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye, and bclieve tho Gospel." He frequently called the kingdom which He came to establish the" kingdom of heaven." not because it is in heaven, but because of its heavenly origin and nature. The prayer given by our Lord indicates plainly the location ned nature of tho kingdom for tho establishment of which He enjoined His disciples to labor ~and pray: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done"-where g in heaven? " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The objects presented in these two clauses are identical; the petition, "Thy kingdom come," means" Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The end here presented-universal obedience among men to the will of God-is the burden of the Gospel which Christ preached, and which He commanded His disciples to preach to " all nations," "to every creature;" an end which includes the whole duty of man, and in the accomplishment of which the earth will reflect, in II degree beyond buman conception, the love, purity and blessedness of the heavenly world. True, in a few instances, Christ spoke of the infinitely diverse destinies of men in the future world; "but for once that He spoke about tho ';;iVing of the soul, lIe spoke fifty times about the kingdom." Since Christ's method is the wisest and best, in the measure that the Church has departed from this method, it must have lost in reli~ious power, llow much power, in the way of missionary appeal,' has the doctrine of the eternal perdition of the great majority of the pagan world 1 I received, a few months ago, a letter from a missionary in India, accompanied by a printed appeal to all evangelical churches, in which he states that, while last year (1890) fifty thousand heathen had been rescued, twenty millions had died, few of whom had heard of the love of God in Christ. And he exclaims- " Twenty millions of immortal souls swept into hell in a single year I"
It is probably an approximately correct estimate that, during the missionary year just closed, twenty millions of pagans, who had reached the age of moral accountability, have passed away, the great majority of whom never heard of the Gospel of the grace of God. Is there not, in this fact, considered in the light of the commonly received view of the Bible relation to the final doom of the heathen world, a power of appeal to the people of God sufficient to impel them to all possible labors and sufferings necessary to make known the way of eternal life to every pagan on the face of the globe 1 Rave they been greatly moved by this fact of overwhelming importance 1 Row much have the Baptists of the Northern States, numbering eight hnndred thousand, contributed to aid in sending the Gospel to the vast multitude who have passed to the awards of the eternal world since the Union met in Chicago, one year ago 1 If we allow to these twenty millions their due share of our contributions according to their number, it will appear that the members of our churches have given, on an average, not to exceed two cents for rescuing from hell a number of our race equal to one third of the population of the United States. Is not this an amazing fact 1 Does it not ~eem incredible 1 Does it not furnish a moral demonstration that the idea of the exposure to everlasting puni8hment of the pagan world has but an almost inappreciable influence upon the great body of Christian people 1 Brethren, I would submit the matter to you j I would ask you, each one, to state, clearly and fully, to his own mind, the considerations which render it credible that the Baptists, represented by the Union, believe what they profess to believe in regard to the final doom of the heathen world, and yet give, on an average, not to exceed one cent a week, to send the knowledge of the way of eternal life to a billion heathen, and not to exceed two cents to rescue from perdition the twenty millions whose day of probation has closed since the last anniversary of the Union. Would it not seem difficult to find eight hundred thousand non-Christian men, of average natural benevolence, who would not give as much, if necessary, to prevent the everlasting misery of an equal number of irrational creatures ~ 18 it a matter of wonder that the world does not believe in hell, or that it does not believe that the orthodox churches believe that the heathen" shall go away into eternal punishment'" Do you say that for the world to deny that Christians believe what they profess to believe on this point is to charge them with the most culpable insincerity-a charge which involveR, logically, universal historical scepticism, rendering it irrational to believe in the existence of faith and goodness among men 1 True, but we would inquire if the charge involved in the other alternative is less damaging-the charge, well grounded, of continued practical indifference, on the part of the great majority of the members of all evangelical churches, to the eternal welfare of a thousand million of their fellow-men, whom they profess to love, and whom they are bound, by the most saered obligations, to love as they do themselves.
We would not have you misunderstand us at this point-to regard us as doubting the reality or under-valuing the importance of salvation as escape from the retributions of the future world. We believe that everlasting punishment will last forever; and we believe this awful truth because it iii taught in the Bible; and we believe it is taught in the Bible because it is a fact in the universe; and we believe it is a fact in the universe because the infinite God, in the plenitude of His resources, conld not prevent its existence, acting, as it behooves Him to act, in accordance with the immutable principle of His holy nature; and we believe that this truth ought to have the same place of relative importance in the instruc- tions of the pulpit which it has in the Bible. And yet we affirm that Christ did not dwell chiefly upon salvation as pertaining to the future world, but as a good to be realized here, through the reign of love in the souls of men, constraining them to grateful and self-sacrificing labors that the will of God might be done everywhere on earth as in heaven. Salva- tion is deliverance from sin, and sin is of all evils the essence and the sum. "It brings present disgrace and ruin to body and soul, to home and country ; it breeds distrust; it enervates manhood and womanhood; it incitp.s to murderous revenge; it arrays class against class; it kindles the fires of volcanic social hate; it is a menace to peace, to social order, and to international amity; and from all this there is salvation only by that personal integrity and "ocial righteousness which are the gifts of God to man through Jesus Christ." Salvation in this world involves salvation in the world to come ; the kingdom of God on earth is the foundation of the everlasting kingdom of God in the heavens; and in the measure that salvation is wrought out here, and the kingdom of God extends among men, will the end be accomplished which Christ set before His disciples as the object of constant and paramount devotion. The whole ministry of Christ was a ministry of love to all the sinful, sorrowful, lost sons of men. He was moved with compassion for the multitude because He saw them "in distress," "scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd," living mean, ignoble, wicked lives, ignorant of God and of the place which they occupy in His infinite heart, with latent spiritnal powers capable of development, with solemn re!!>ponsibilities of moral agents, with features of the divine image not yet wholly effaced and that might he restored. How strongly did He nrge, by word and deed, in life and death, the duty of self-sacrificing love for men, not merely for the souls of men, but for men, women and children, in all the relations of life; and how impressively did He emphasize, in the sublime programme of the judgment day, the decisive importance of deeds of love and mercy. "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, y0 did' it unto Me." " Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto Me." "Come, ye blessed of My Father." "Depart, ye cursed." Who are the brethren of Christ in this judgment programme? His disciples ~ Yes, but not these alone. For the event which He describes is that of the general judgment, when all nations, all the generations which shall have thronged the globe, will stand before His judgment seat, among whom there will be countless millions who never saw one of His disciples. The brethren of the Son of Man are "the poor, suffering, sorrow-laden sons of men, and the principle on which the judgment proceeds is that as men treat those, they would have treated the Judge had they had the opportunity. "
Are not the heathen among those who are in greatest need of the offices of love? Are they not hungry, famishing for lack of the Bread of Life q Are they not sick, consumed by the fever and leprosy of sin! Are they not poor, bankrupt in estate and character? Are they not in prison, compassed about by walls which they can neither scale, nor dig beneath, nor break through? If this great passage does not teach that men are saved by works of love, it certainly does teach that a faith, which does not produce these works, is vain and dead, and that those and those only who possess the spirit aud do the works described by Christ, are justified in regarding themselves, or in believing that He regards them, as His true disciples. The question for us to answer, as Mr. Spurgeon is reported to have suggested, is not, May the heathen be saved without the Gospel, but, Will we be saved if we do not carry the Gospel to the heathen ~ And it may be confidently affirmed that those who cannot be moved with compassion, in view of the wrath of God which has come upon the heathen, will not be moved with compassion in view of that which is to come upon them; that those who will not make sacrifices to rescue the heathen from the hells in which they are in this world, will not make sacrifices to rescue them from the hell of the future world, which seems far off, vague, unreal.
What, 'then, is the greatest need of the Church to-day ~ We answer, A divine enthusiasm; a mighty passion for the kingdom of God on earth, embracing all the populations of the globe":"'all China, all India, all Africa, all Enrope, all America, and all the islands of all the oceans; a kingdom as wide-reaching as the manifold life of man, involving obedience to the will of God in all positions and relations-in the sphere of the family, of social life, of business life, of political life; a kingdom whose progress shall be marked by the growing consecration of the people of God, the preaching of the Gospel to the poor, the overthrow of oppression, the extermination of drunkenness and the passions of lust and the greed of gain, the destruc,tion. of superstition, idolatry and all forms of infidelity, the sway of truth, and love, and righteousness over all the earth, a divine enthusiasm-a mighty passion of love and loyalty, impelling the soldiers of Jesus Christ to conquer for Him all the kingdoms of the globe on which His cross of shame and agony was set up, and from which He uttered the cry of expiring and redeeming love.
II. We mention, as a second cause, the failure of the evangelical churches to apply at home the principle of comity which they recognize in their foreign mission work. .
It is estimated that there is, on an average, one ordained minister to every three hundred thousand of the pagan population of the world.
There is good authority for the statement that in China, and t.he popula- tion accessible to the American Board, there is only one missionary for every six hundred thousand people. Moreover, there are whole nations, numbering scores of millions, in which no disciples have been made. We are confident that all who have any adequate conception of the interests involved will admit that the two following statements are thoroughly reasonable : 1. "That the Christian churches of the world should be satisfied with nothing less than sending out one ordained missionary for every fifty thonsand of the accessible pagan population of the world."
2. "That no church ought to call itself thoroughly aggressive and evangelical that does not expend, for the support of missions at large, at least one dollar for every five it expends for itself. "
What would compliance with these propositions require of the evan- gelical churches of the world ~ Twenty thousand ordained missionaries instead of four thousand, as at present; an immediate reinforcement of sixteen thousand, of which the quota of our denomination at the North should be not less than twtlve lmndred, making our foreign force of ordained ministers at least fifteen hundred. This would require our churches to give annually five times as much as the committee planned for expending during the current year, as authorized at the last annual meeting of the Union, or $2,500,000, a sum which, large as it may seem, is $400,000 less thau would come, annually, into the treasury of the Union if. the members of our churches should give, on an average, one cent a day for the cause of foreign missions.
We ask you to consider most seriously the vast relative waste, in men and money, involved in the condition of things existing in all the Northern States-the part of the country represented by the Union.
To illustrate the matter which we have in mind, let us take an example of numberless cases, with many of which everyone is familiar. Here are five fields, each having a population of fifteen hundred, and five evangelical ministers-one Baptist, one Presbyterian, one Congregationalist, one Episcopalian, and one Methodist-twenty-five ordained ministers preaching the Gospel to seven thousand five hundred people. while on the other side of the globe there are twenty-five fields, each having a population of three hundred thousand, and but one ordained minister; twenty-five men preaching the Word to seven million five hundred thousand people-one thousand times as many as are under the care of the same number of religious teachers at home. We ask now, in all earnestness, Would it not be infinitely more reasonable and Christian, if these several denominations would apply at home the principle of comity which they recognize abroad, keeping five of these ministers here and sending twenty to aid their brethren, each of whom is confronted by nearly a third of a million pagans? If it would be wrong in the sight of God to put five ministers of different evangelical denominations in a village of fifteen hundred people in China, or Africa, or Burmah, restricting their labors to that locality, is it not wrong and equally wrong, yea, wrong in a greater degree, to do the same thing here, while hundreds of millions o£ our fellow-men are living and dying in the darkness and misery of heathenism ~ The field is the world. The whole world is missionary ground. Every city, every village, every neighborhood, in which there is one man, or woman, or child who is not a citizen of the kingdom of God, is a missionary field. We challenge any man to adduce reasons which will approach to a justification of the course of the Christian churches in distributing their forcet! over this common missionary ground-the whole world-in such an extraordinarily uneven way, putting one minister in charge of three hundred people, many of whom are Christians, and another, of no greater ability, in charge of three hundred thousand, of whom all, or nearly all, are pagans. If the great evangelical denominations would act on the principle of comity here suggested, it would be an easy matter for them to send an immediate reinforcement of sixteen thousand men, so that there might be one minister to every fifty thousand pagans; and it would be an undertaking of no difficulty for us to send our quota of twelve hundred, and to furnish them with adequate support.
Is it a violation of truth or charity to say that the existing state of things is a great religious scandal, an offence against God, and a crime against our brethren of the heathen world, sit.ting in the region and shadow of death, perishing for the lack of the Light of Life?
What are the lessons taught by these facts? What are the duties which they should impress upon us? One duty, and that of paramount importance, as clear to our mind as if it were written on the heavens in words of fire, is this: That the evangelical churches ought to emphasize strongly all points of doctrinal agreement and all methods of Christian work in which they can unite, coming as closely together as possible, and presenting a united front to the enemies of God. Consider, we beseech you, the most obvious facts of our condition. Here are the evangelical churches, in all but a few millions, confronted at home by three hundred million members of two powerful and thoroughly corrupt organizationsthe Roman and Greek hierarchies-and by vast masses of men connected with no churches, dominated by sensuality, greed of gain, lust of powcr, and social distrust and hate, tremendous principles of evil which have brought to untimely destruction cities and nations, many and great, all down the ages; and abroad, confronted by a billion heathen, all involved in deepest moral ignorance and most debasing superstition, and half of them held in the thraldom of false philosophical systems of extraordinary power; and joined with these forces, both at home and abroad, the spiritual hosts of wickedness, nnder the leadership of the god of this world. In such a war as this, fighting the organized evil forces of earth and hell, the combined powers of "the world, the flesh, and the devil, ,. united in the strongest compacts, shall we not, all soldiers of Jesus Christ, stand together in the closest relations possible, help each other heartily on the march and in the deadly assanlt, cheer each other amid the fire and storm of battle, knowing that the Leader is one, the army one, the foe one, the final triumph one, the eternal glory one-the glory due unto Him who is " worthy to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and blessing" ~ But we hear objections, many and plausible, urged against what some may be pleased to call an impracticable and fanatical appeal.
1. It is said that we, as a denomination, hold the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; that it is of supreme importance that we secure the widest possible acceptance of onr views at home; that we dare not compromise with error by consenting to give up any community, however smail, to the care of Predobaptist churches, etc.
The question, then, for us to consider is reduced to this: Shall we give over more of the population of our country to the Predobaptists, or more of the heathen world to the devil ~ Are we to regard the errors of all Christian churches, other than our own, as more destructive than the errors of heathenism ~ And, then, if we have the truth, in its purity and fulness, are we not, of all Christian bodies in the world, under the greatest obligation to go to the regions beyond ~ Surely, the very fact of the purity of our creed immensely engances the claims of duty resting upon us to secure its worldwide acceptance. What an inspiring and uplifting event it would be to the whole Christian world, if we should send out, at once, the number of missionaries suggested-twelve hundred-moved by the spirit of apostolic self-sacrifice and heroism, whose labors might be the means, under the blessing of God, of winning to our pure faith tens and hundreds of thousands in heathen lands, creating at many points, as among the Telugus, Baptist communities numbering fifty thousand! Furthermore, is it not evident that the fundamental principle of our people ought to constrain them to go, in large and increasing numbers, to the nations of the pagan world ~ For the fundamental principle of our churches, that of which. we boast and in which we glory, is loyalty to Jesus Christ, implicit obedience to His commands. We discard and repudiate all assumed authority of a human source, whether of popes, or councils, or traditions, or creeds. But loyalty to Christ, in order to be such in truth and not in name only, must include obedience to all His commands, especially to those which are of supreme importance, among which stands the Great Commission. Does our action, as a denomination, justify or contradict our profession of loyalty ~ What is the command of Jesus Christ, as distinct and imperative as if we heard His words ringing out from the height of heaven ~ Is it not, "Go ye, Baptists, preach the Gospel to every creature, make disciples of all nations~" Is it not the belief of our churches, that the Great Commission was given originally, not to Presbyterians, or Congre- gationalists, or Episcopalians, or Methodists, but exclusively to Baptists- the very people of whom we claim to be the only living representatives ~ The first body of Baptists were right loyal to their Lord; they went every- where preaching the Word; they carried the good news to aU quarters of the known worM. How is it with the people known as Baptists in the last quarter of the nineteenth century ~ Is their obedience such as to justify their claim to be the true successors of those early disciples of Christ ~ Have they discharged, are they now discharging, in any true and worthy sense, the high and imperative duty imposed by the risen and glorified Redeemer, loyalty to whom they claim as their distinction and horlor ~ Is it obedience to the command, "Go, make disciples of all nations," for a people, numbering eight hundred thousand, to contribute $400,000 a year-on an average, one cent a week-to give to a billion pagans a knowledge of the incarnate Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them, and through whom alone they can attain eternal life ~ Brethren, mere profession will not justify our claim of special loyalty to Christ, nor ~ill obedience to His requirements in the matters of baptism, communion and church government justify it while the great majority of the members of our churches are in a state of mutiny against the Great Commission, saying, if not in words, yet practically, We will not ourselves preach the Gospel to the pagan nations, nor will we make sacrifices to aid others in the work of preaching to them. .
How is it that the belief has come to prevail so widely, among all Christian people, that there is au enormous difference, in culpability and danger, between disobedience to Christ in rejecting what He requires them to believe, and disobedience to Christ in disregarding what He commands them to do ~ Why is it that the heresy of unbelief is regarded with such apprehension or alarm, while the heresy of inaction is viewed with comparative indiffer- ence ~ Is faith without works any better than works without faith ~ Are they not alike dead and displeasing to God-equally vain and perilous 1 To the heresy of inaction, far more than to the heresy of unbelief, is due the deplorable fact that the midnight darkness of heathenism still envelops nearly two thirds of the population of the globe. What, then, shall we do 1 The alternatives are: Either cease to claim to be the true successors of the earliest Baptist churches, or obey, with the devotion which char- acterized them, the Lord's command, "Go, preach the Gospel to the whole creation."
2. But we hear another objection urged with great frequency and confidence. It is said that the United States is destined to be the leading I nation of the future, that it occupies a position of immeasurable importance in the world's history; so that whatever we do, or fail to do, in relation to the evangelization of the pagan nations, we must seck, by all means in our power, to make our nation thoroughly Christian. What shall we say of this utterance, heard everywhere, especially on anniversary occasions, in the pulpit and on the platform ~ Is it not largely an utterance of national conceit, inspired by national pride and selfishness, and utterly opposed to thll example and teaching of Christ and His apostles 1 1. The ruling motive force of Christianity is love j and it is the nature, the irrepressible instinct, of Christian love to help the most helpless, the deformed in body, the feeble-minded, the moral refuse of. society for whom none care.
2. Jesus gathered around Him the weakest, the lowest, the" publicans and harlots," the social outcasts-the nobodies of ilis time, according to the prevailing standards of the world.
3. Does the Great Commission read, Go ye, therefore, make disciples of the leading nations, preach the Gospel to those who hold positions of great stategic importance? . This would seem to be the form of the Lord's final command as given in the English version most widely current in our churches. But the oldest manuscripts, beyond question substan- tially identical with the "Original Autographs" of Matthew and Mark, read very differently, as follows: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations;" "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. "
4. The history of the Church justifies the method of Christ. Chris- tianity has won its most notable victories among peopla of little account in the judgment of the civilized nations, as among the Karens, the Telugus, the Sandwich Islanders, the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles, who, though they were regarded by the Romans as too stupid and brutish to serve as slaves, have built up the most magnificent empire known to his- tory-an empire upon which the sun never sets, which has endured for a thousand years, and is influencing now, as never before, the thought, and life, and movements of the world. .
5. The only principle of missionary strategy recognized by Paul, the foremost missionary of all the ages-as appears from the inspired record of his life-was to preach the Gospel where men were thickest. And for the adoption of this principle he had divine warraut j for when he was at Corinth, the Lord said unto him in the night by a vision: . " Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace j for I alll with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee; for" -what did the Lord say? Corinth is a city of culture, the eye of Greece, occupying a position of great strategic importance? No, no ; but, " no man shall set on thee to harm thee, for I have much people in this city."
o brethren, can we not hear our Lord calling us one uy one, by name, and saying, " I have much people in China, much people in Africa, much people on all the continents and islands of the globe?" Let us take deeply into our minds and hearts Christ's idea of the people! the people! the people! He accounted man transcendently great, not because of the external distinctions which gain for him recognition and honor in the world, but because of what he is as man, the divine image in him, his inherent powers of intellect, heart and will, which have revealed but an insignificant fraction of their latent energy, even in the case of those who stand forth in history as the greatest of the sons of men, and to whose expansion and growth there is no goal this side of the infinitude of God.
In Christ's esteem, all men, of whatever race, or rank, or condition, ar~ of equal worth in virtue of their divine endowments and immortal destination.
The people have been of but little account in the past. It has been the great ones of the earth-emperors, kings and nobles, the rich and the powerful j for these it has seemed that all things were made; for these the people have labored, and suffered, and died like the beasts of the field; but thanks be unto God for the signs, multiplying on every side, betokening the growing power of Christ's idea of the greatness of man as man, the worth and dignity of the people. It cannot be doubted that one of the chief causes of the agitations and revolutions which are taking place in all Christian nations, working the di&integration and overthrow of institutions of social and political wrong which have survived the destruction of dynasties not a few, is the growing conscionsness, on the part of the people, of their divine rights and powers of manhood; their dignity as moral agents-deep calling unto deep-the strivings and aspirations of the human soul, like the ceaseless ground-swell of the ocean, in response to the presence and quickening touch of the Spirit of God. And as the Christian idea, which is Christ's idea of the people, shall grow in power and splendor, it will mould more and more profoundly all social and political institutions, and will constrain all the true disciples of Christ to labor with equal love, devotion and joy for the temporal and eternal wellbeing of all men, irrespective of race, or nationality, or color, or sex, or social condition.
But who knows that the United States is destined to be the leading nation of the future, that the Anglo-Saxon race will rule the coming ages ~ To whom has the assurance been given that God will not build up in China a kingdom far surpassing, in intellectual and moral power, the British Empire or the great republic 'I Where is the prophet who can foretell the destiny of the " Dark Continent," having at the present time a population of two hundred and fifty millions-four times that of the United States ~ Who can forecast the turnings and overturnings which shall precede the coming of Him whose right it is to reign, and who shall reign over all the nations of the earth ~ Is it nrged that certain of the pagan nations and races have no future, that they are worn out, their powers of expansion and growth exhausted? We reply that the judgment of those who thus speak is certainly shallow, and probably false, because they fail to estimate adequately the restorative and re-creative power of Christianity. The error is like that involved in the conception of "a mechanical world and an outside God." The idea has widely prevailed that the material universe is a " closed system"-a system of finite forces, acting and reacting upon each other, excluding all divine causality-its goal quiescence and death. The conception is fundamentally false, because it does not include, as it should include, God as the universal and abiding ground of all being and all life, as immanent and active in all chemical forces, in all vital forces, in all souls-to His almighty will energizing throughout creation from the atom to the archangel." This view compels us to reject, as irrational and incredible, the notion that the goal of the material universe is quiescence and death, and to affirm that, through the immanent and energizing power of God, it will abide, and pass on from lower to higher stages, " from the nebulous matter to the glory of the new heavens and the new earth."
But God is in history in a sense infinitely more real and profound than He is in the realm of physical nature; and hence we believe that there are no effete and worn-out peoples, no races whose powers of expansion and growth are permanently exhausted. For though the words of the apostle that" all live and move, and have their being in God" declare a universal fact of history, yet, in these last times, God has entered, in Jesns Christ, into new and more vital relations with mankind, and is creating them anew by His spirit. awakening and invigorating their dormant and paralyzed powers, thus enabling nations and races, as well as individuals, to enter upon a new career, far higher and grander than would have been possible to them before the Advent.
In concluding these remarks, we desire to say, that we have spoken as truly and earnestly in beha!f of the work of missions at home as of the work of missions abroad. The cause of home missions and the cause of
MISSIONS AND THEm RESULTS
foreign missions are one in principle and one in interest. And, therefore, along with the motto, " America for Christ," but high above it, we should place the motto, "The World for Christ:" And the speediest and the only infallible way to gain America for Christ is to give to the world's evangelization the place of supremacy, in labors and gifts, which it holds of right. This our churches, this the churches of other denominations, have lamentably failed to do. The most general and conspicuous act of disobedience to Christ, on the part of the Christian people of the United States, is their deliherate and persistent refusal to discharge the high and imperative duty to evangelize the pagan nations-a work for the accomplishment of which, within the period of the past twenty-five years, their resources, in men and money, have been ample. It is, in our judgment, no exaggeration to say, that the Baptist churches of the Northern States could have done and ought to have done, during the past year, as much for the cause of foreign missions as has been done by all the evangelical churches embraced in the same portion of our country.
Brethren, I would that one half of the Baptist ministers at the North would give themselves to the work of evangelizing the heathen. Disastrous to our denomination at home, do you say ~ Impossible. It would bring to our churches an unparalleled degree of prosperity; the places left vacant would be filled by men called of God from the ranks of the laity; ministers of other denominations would be won to us, convinced that we were holding the truth in its purity, and living it with apostolic fidelity ; Christians of other names, moved by the power of our example, would obey in a worthy manner the Lord's final command; and this powerful missionary "movement" .would confound infidelity at home, would convince the world that Christianity is, indeed, what it claims to be, and would mightily advance the Kingdom of God in all parts of our country.
May the Divine Spirit enable us to penetrate to the heart of these great paradoxes in the kingdom of Grace-that we saVtl our life, not by seeking, but by losing it; that we become rich, not by keeping, but by giving; that we become great in moral power among men, not by self-assertion, but by self-abnegation, by self. sacrifice from love to others; that it is through our poverty that we are to enrich the world, according to the way of Him who, " though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich."
APOSTOLIC MISSIONS AND THEIR RESULTS.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFORD, ROTHE SAY, SCOTLAND.
" Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Such was the word of the Holy Ghost which came to the church in Antioch as they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
This was the actual beginning of Chris.tian missions; those two men were the pioneers of all in every age who have gone forth to carry the Word of Christ " far hence unto the Gentiles."
It was a vast work that lay before them. As Paul afterward wrote, " Who is sufficient for these things~" so would he feel now. Alone and single handed they were to attack the ignorance and superstition and vice of the world. Their difficulties could hardly be overestimated. What amount of credence were they likely to meet with from hostile Jews, from subtle Greeks, or from tl1e military Romans ? Was it probable that the minds of the heathen could be easily turned from the saturnalia and idol festivals to which for generations they had been addicted? Systems of priestcraft, of degrading mythologies, of widespread epicureanis~, of an utterly debased home life, of slavery and of revolting games and pleasures kept the world crushed beneath corruption and sensuality. And who, then, were Barnabas and Paul, to attempt to overthrow institutions venerable with the traditions of centuries? who were they to try to change the religions and social face of the world? "Two Jews of obscure name, of no position, without rank, without wealth, without influence, without either literary, political, or military genius, without any culture but such as a Roman noble would have despised as useless and grotesque." Yes, and even after years of working at this their chosen work, they did not find it either popular or remunerative, for it fell to their lot to approve themselves the ministers of God in affiictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in prisons, in deaths, being beaten, being stoned, being shipwrecked, Iiving in weariness and painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness.
Were they sufficient for these things? sufficient to cope with false philosophy, with heathenism, with abounding moral pollution, with a world which knew not God? They realized that their sufficiency was of God j they had been called by the Holy Ghost.
And so Barnabas and Saul went forth from Antioch, taking with them as an attendant and companion John Mark. Barnabas was one of the noblest, most manly, gentlest, and most effective of all the apostolic band. A Christian of the highest type, he had already been of the greatest service to Paul on more than one memorable occasion, a man of large heart, of wide sympathy, of great generosity and liberality j devoted and earnest and Joving, a " son of consolation," a good man, who rejoiced iu all good by whomsoever wrought, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.
And Paul, still known by his early name of Saul, was a man whose character towers far above that of ordinary men j a gentleman in the true sense of the word j a Christian, devoted, body, soul, and spirit, to Christ; courteous and orave, tender-hearted and true, full of enthusiasm and of sobriety of mind j a man of the deepest power of thought, eloquent, persuasive, able to organize and to manage, able to bear with weaknesses and prejudices, a man whose life was yielded without reserve to the glory of Jesus Christ and the welfare of men.
These, then, were the first Christian missionaries. After a farewell meeting with the church in Antioch they made their way to the port of Seleucia, where there stretched at their feet the waters of the great welltern sea. Here they found a splendidly built harbor in which the ships were lying protected from the swell of the waves outside. The ruins of this harbor remain in great perfection to our own day, only silted up with mud. From just such a harbor and such piers as we are acquainted with in any of our great shipping centres, the first New Testament missionaries set sail. It was the noblest use to which the masonry of the port of Seleucia had been ever put, when it sheltered the ship into which Paul and Barnabas stepped as they went at the divine bidding to evangelize the nations. Their vessel sailed out into the west-westward was the call of God to the Christian Church for many a century, until Europe and America should have received the Gospel-and soon arrived at Cyprus. Arrived at length in this, the first country to which God had led them, what would the results be? What would be the results of discussions with unbelieving Jews and with opposing philosophers? of weary journeys on foot-journeys continued for weeks together, while the preachers endured hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and had no certain dwelling-place? what would be the result of their residence in foreign cities among neVI' faces, all of whom were alike ignorant of" this Jesus whom Paul preached"? 'Would the results be commensurate with the time and labor expended V Modern critics would say, No ; for upon their principles Paul would have done better if he had not interfered with other people's religion, if he had let the world alone, for the religion of Greeks and Romans, of Celts and Britons was no doubt good enough for them, and they would somehow or another all turn out right enough in the next world. It was not after this fashion that Paul reasoned or acted. No ; he had a gospel to make known'-" woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." To make all men know the mystery of Christ he was willing to be buffeted and reviled, willing to undergo abuse and bodily injury, willing to be scourged, to be stoned and left for dead, as he was at Lystra. What, it is asked, are men to undergo treatment like ihis for the sake of propagating the Christian religion? Here is his reply : "I count not my life dear unto me, that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I received of the Lord Jesus."
But what were the results? A handful of converts in each of half a dozen or a dozen towns, and those converts by no means the mature, well-informed, experienced Christians who are to be seen in modern congregations. It is difficult to realize how inexperienced those converts were, how crude their ideas, how imperfect their morality ; they required mIlch patient teaching and exhortation; and even the best of them, who were appoicted deacons and deaconesses and elders, knew very little, for they had but recently turned from idols to serve the living and true God. All their previous life had the dead weight of heathen custom, heathen ideas, heathen morality, heathen vice; and it took long years of patient labor on the part of the apostles to raise their converts to anything like a proper appreciation of the behavior that is beeoming a Christian. Were ,OJ these results, then, worth the labor ~ WaR it worth while to have gained these new churches in heathen countries, when the gain had been achieved at the expense of such bodily injury to an apostle as had made him prematurely old and taken many years from his lif,e 1 Similar objections are constantly made against modern mission work-Is the conversion of a handful of Jews or of a few thousands of negroes or Hindoos or South Sea Islanders worth the life and the moncy that are spent in the process ~ and the verdict of many is in the negative.
But surely the actions of a divinely inspired apostle are a safer guide than any negative or hostile theories. Look again at Paul as he is returning from the second of his great missionary journeys. He has been away, from Antioch and his friends there for perhaps three years, and years and,hard work are telling upon him; he is not the same strong man he once was; no, he bears in his body the branding marks of the Lord Jesus. Since he and Silas set out-for Silas is now his companion-they have undergone the" shameful handling" which fell to their lot at Philippi; and violence of that kind no man can ever fully recover from. But Paul has a brave heart j none was ever braver than he. The devotion of his whole being to the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him, this personal affection to the Lord Jesus ever urges him on to spend and be spent for the glory of Christ and the salvation of man. He feels himself debtor to all–to slave and freeman, to Jew and Greek; and therefore as Jesus Christ's minister he is abundant in labors; life is too short and too precious to waste; eternity will give him rest. Therefore. does his heart bound onward to the work, although even in this second journey he has been in stripes above measure, in prison, in deaths oft, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness.
Yes, this was the kind of life Paul chose for Christ's sake. There was then no other educated man of his position who was acting in this fashion. They looked on him as a fool, and regarded those journeyings of his as fanaticism. He knew that this was the estimate formed of him by his former associates, " Weare fools for Christ's sake j" but he had counted the cost, and Christendom of to-day thanks God for the sufferings, the journeyings, the fearless enterprise, the manly Christian resolution of St. Paul-a resolution to live not for applause either in the Church or outside of it; but to live for Jesus Christ alone and for mankind of every nation, for slaves and outcasts, for little children and for women, for those whom the world despised. One thing this Paul ever does, one thing engages his thoughts by day and his dreams by night, that Christ be glorified in his body whether by life or by death.
Was it worth while ~ Would Paul and Barnabas and Silas not have done better to have stayed at home and taught the home church ~ Suppose they had, where, then, would our European and American churches have been to-day ~ Simply nowhere. Had there been no apostolic missions, Anglo-Saxon Christianity would have been non-existent.
Are missions worth the money ~ Do they pay? Alas! that such a question should even be asked by a worldly church. Ask Christ, and listen to His answer, " Make disciples of all nations." Ask Paul, " I am debtor to all men." Ask the martyrs, they counted not their lives dear to them for the name of Jesus. Go with me to Central Africa, to Lake Victoria Nyassa, and see what divine grace can do for the most benighted races. One of the missionaries, Rev. Mr. Ashe, writes as follows: "Picture the tyrant playing the first act in the tragedy. One of the elder storekeepers, a Christian page, is brought into the royal presence. 'Can YOIl read 1 ' asks his majesty. 'Yes,' boldly answers the page. 'I'll teach you to read!' cries the king, catching up a spear and laying it about the lad's shoulders till it broke in two ; then, taking up the blade, he gashed the head of his faithful servant and kicked him, till in a state of exhaustion he handed the weapon to one of his chiefs nearly as cruel as himself, to continue the lesson. He then sent and had fifty of his pages arrested and cast into prison. After being imprisoned for a week thirty-two of them were burned in one huge funeral pile. "
The spirit which animated these martyrs was the same which inspired the early Christians, who endured a similar death, as Tacitus narrates, in the time of Nero. Wrapped up in sacking which had been previously smeared with pitch, they were hung upon trees in the royal gardens and then set fire to, there to burn to death, blazing as lamps in the darkness of evening; or again, encased in the skins of wild beasts, they were thrown to dogs and worried till they died. The early martyrs and the martyrs of the nineteenth century in Madagascar and China and Africa were faithful to Christ, faithful unto death. Most assuredly work which God blesses with results such as these is worth the while.
The work is Christ's. The command to carry the Gospel to every creature is Christ's command. It is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Jesus, who still breathes into His people something of the compassion of Christ for those who are even to-day sitting in the shadow of death; and the results of Christian ,missions are Christ's. The handful of converts in Cyprus, in Pisidia, in Derbe, and Lystra, and Iconium, a]ld Athens, and Corinth, and Rome, and Spain, and Egypt, and Gaul, and Britain continues to increase throughout the centuries, until in this year of grace, 1891, we have Christian churches everywhere, the prelude to the timc when the earth itself shall be full of the knowledge of God, when sin shall be made to cease out of God's world, when in the fulness of the joy of the wholo human race ccnsciously redeemed, the shout shall. rend the skies, " The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever."
NARAYAN BHESHADRI, D.D
NARAYAN SHESHADRI, D.D., THE BRAHMAN APOSTLE OF THE OUT-CASTE MANGS.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., EDINBURGH, SNTLAND.
[We venture to reproduce from the Free Church of Scotland Monthly a superb paper which many readers have not seen.-ED.] The same Scottish newspaper announced the death of two remarkable Asiatic converts of Dr.. John Wilson of Bombay-the Parsi, Rev. Hor- mazdji Pestonji, and the Brahman, Rev. Narayan Sheshadri, Doctor of Divinity of the University of Montreal. There still survives the oldest of all, the Rev. Dhanjibhai Naoroji, at the head of the native Christian community of Western India.
Vilhen, in 1839, Dhanjibhai and Hormazdji left the fire-worship of Zoroaster for the only Name given under heaven whereby men may be saved, Parsi and Hindu society was moved to its centre. In vain was the civil court appealed to. But the Institution was almost emptied. .tmong the few sons of caste and superstition who clung to it through ill.report were two Brahman brothers-Narayan and Shripat. What Dr. John 'Wilson and Mr. Nesbit began, Dr. Murray Mitchell continued, and the good work resulted in their determination to put on Christ by baptism. Narayan, who was confessedly of age and could not be hindered, became the first convert of the Church of Scotland, Free, in the year 1843, when Dr. Wilson and Dhanjibhai were in Scotland founding the home organization of the missions anew. Shripat was not sixteen years of age, and Sir Erskine Perry handed him over to the Brahman priests, with a sneer at the plea of the age of discretion. He was torn from Mr. Nesbit's arms, as he sobbed forth the question, "Am I to be compelled to worship idols ~"
While the younger brother was thus driven back by a Christian judge into Brahmanism, and submitted to the humiliation of swallowing the five products of the cow, that he might be restored to caste, the elder began that apostolic career which, for this life, ended in the committing of his body to the Atlantic on the 21st July last, in the hope of a glorious resurrection in Christ Jesus, at the very hour when the Foreign Missions Committee in Edinburgh, all unknowing of the fact, were discussing the arrangements by which Dr. Mowat was to share his toils next October.
After spending some years as a missionary teacher in the Institution and preacher to his countrymen, Narayan Sheshadri was ordained by the Presbytery of Bombay, and the highly educated Brahman became for the rest of his life the apostle of the Mangs, the out-caste poor of the Deccan centre of India. Leaving ordinary British territory, he resolved to annex the great native state of Haidarabad to the kingdom of Christ.
The year was 1863. As his base, he worked from Jalna, a military cantonment, in which mission buildings were easily acquired. Three miles south he gradually obtained three hundred acres of land, which forms the centre of the mission to the Mangs. As the Spirit of God blessed his incessant evangelizing, he made that spot the centre of what grew to be his extensive mission to the out-caste. He formed a Christian church and a Christian community, calling both" the House of God," but using the Hebrew" Bethel" rather than one of his own beautiful Marathi words. After ten years of blessed toil he visited Scotland and America, to tell the churches of his work and to raise funds for the necessary buildings. His winning face and irresistible personality, his native eloquence alike in English and the vernaculars, and his contagious earnestness, captivated not only Christians in all the lands he visited, but the Parsi official of the district, and even the proud Arab prime-minister of the Nawab, Sir Salar Jung. For the mission he received three hundred acres of gautan, or chnrch land, free of tax, and never to be cultivated save as a grass common; for the Christian peasants he was installed as patel, or headman, over six hundred acres, in which office his son Yeshwant-rao, lately agricultural professor in Nagpore College, has succeeded him.
Year by year the work went on increasing, when he paid a second visit to America and Scotland. The writer was with him a deputy to the Presbyterian Alliance at Philadelphia in 1880, and went up and down Scotland with him, pleading alternately for the Livingstonia and for the Bethel Mission. After his first visit some of our generous Glasgow elders, led by Mr. William Mitchell, formed a committee to' help his village mission. Congregations specially charged themselves with the support of his catechists. The children of the Free Church, above all, built him his church, and year by year supported some of his schools. By 1886-87 the work had so far extended that we published this appeal for him : " Before we pass away from these earthly scenes, we should like to see the thirty villages, wherein our Christians reside, supplied with pastors duly qualified, called, ordained, and settled over their respective congregations.. How is this to be accomplished 1 However, we have most encouraging promises in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. , I shall take out of them (namely, Gentile nations) for priests and Levites, saith the Lord.' Has He not given a full realization of this promise in the experience of once heathen European nations; and what He has done with respect to European and American nations, lIe is able and willing to do with reference to the Gentile nations of India, China, Burma, Japan, and all Eastern nations. We mean to submit to the Free Presbytery of Bombay a scheme of studies to train up village pastors in connection with our Bethel Mission. Last year we had the pleasure to dedicate a new church at Rewagao, two miles to the south of Bethel, to the worship of the only living and true God."
In 1888-89 our deputies visited the Deccan Village Mission, and Rev. Dr. Lindsay made this report to the children of the church: " First, there was a most interesting series of baptisms, with an address to the baptized; then the nsual service, when I preached and Dr. Sheshadri interpreted; and lastly, the communion service, at which I had the privilege of presiding. No pews exist in the Bethel churcb. The congregation sit on the floor in row after row, devout and attentive; and th,e babies, most of them without a stitch of clothing on, crawl about everywhere. An bour or so after service the catechists and Bible-women met in the church, and we had an interesting interview with them. A great number were present besides Bible-women and catechists, and I could only get at which was which by act.ually taking hold of each and finding out by question whether the person I had hold of was a catechist or a Bible-woman, and separating them from the rest.
" One or two of the Bible-women made a very great impression on us. Their story of work was simple, clear, and interesting. 'Have you made many converts ~' one of our number asked. 'There is one,' she replied, pointing to one of the men among the catechists. Mrs. Mackichan and Mrs. Daly examined these Bible-women, and their questions drew out very interesting answers. Mrs. Daly gave them some very sound practical advice, which produced more immediate results than longer sermons usually do. All the small children came to the Monday village family worship clothed, although most of them spent the hour of service in getting rid of their inconvenient garment. One small urchin, having divested himself, to his own evident satisfa~tion, of every vestige of garment, toddled to the church door, carefully put on the largest pair of shoes he could find, and then tumbled down the steps in them. When he reached the bottom he picked himself up, got into the shoes again, and shuffied off out of sight-a happy child 1 "Dr. Sheshadri sends his men out in small bands to preach in the villages round about Bethel, and in this way has formed small Christian communities in most of them. One sees at Bethel genuine native Christians, who preserve all their primitive habits, and who are not Anglicized by their Christianity. The evangelists all collect at Bethel on the first Monday of every month, and are regularly instructed by Dr. Sheshadri, who is a born teacher (to hear him give a Bible lesson to school children, and to see the small eyes twinkle with eagerness, is a sight not to be soon forgotten), in the interpretation of Scripture, and in the best ways of meeting the various objections commonly brought by Hindus and Moslems against Christianity.
" In the afternoon we started for the neighboring village of Rewagao. It possesses the first of those village churches which Dr. Sheshadri proposes to build in the principal hamlets in his district. A congregation of about ninety people gathered, and three baptisms took place at the close of the service.
"Dr. Mackichan and Mr. Daly returned in the evening from their visit, and reported a cheerful little Christian community in the far-off village they had gone to see. These Christians lived in a distinct quarter of the village,- and though greatly outnumbered by the heathen, were full of hope and courage.
" I hope that Dr. Sheshadri's plan of building ten or twelve village churches will .be carried out, and that each church will have attached a prophet's chamber, in which the missionary may reside when on his rounds. The great defects of our mission in the Bethel district appeared to be the want of adequate provision for the training of the children, and the wide extent of country which Dr. Sheshadri has to superintend."
Of converts still living in 1890, Dr. Sheshadri reported 1062 as the number, besides 649 adherents. Mr. A. G•.Mowat, M. B., C.M., was sent ont from Glasgow last year to work the northern division of the mission from Jalna, after learning Marathi with Mr. Small at Poona. He has just been instructed to repor~ on the whole mission, after a year's survey.
Accompanied by his son, Dr. Sheshadri left Bombay for Japan last February on sick leave, proceeded thence to America, preached almost daily, and addressed the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. He sailed for Glasgow in the (Jircassia very well,* even at his age; but as the result of a storm on leaving. New York, he succumbed to bowel disease, and was buried in mid-Atlantic.
It is a strange story from man's point of view. The Brahman lad, fruit of our educational Institution, who confessed Christ before thc Supreme Court of Bombay, was enabled by the Spirit of God to bring, from first to last, some two thousand of his countrymen to Christ, notwithstanding defects of a purely secular kind, which he was ready to acknowledge and bewail. He has left a goodly heritage to the Church of India.
Do we ask what is missionary work g Rather ask what is not missionary work g for wherever there are Bouls to be saved, ignorance to be enlightened, human wrong to be righted, vice to be uprooted, and woes to heal; wherever the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, is obscured by reason of darkness, there is missionary work; and wherever in the homes of Christendom there are hearts unrenewed, lives wasted in folly and trifling, God-given powers dying for want of holy exercise, money, time, influence and example diverted to unworthy objects, there is missionary work.
* This was his last letter to Dr. Graham, of Edinburgh, now ninety years of age : – " WALNUT STREET, PHILADE~pmA, July 14, '91.
"My DEAR FATHER GRAHAM: I see that in all probability you'll have me once more in my temporary home, Ashfield Villa, Greenhill Gardens, 1 Chamberlain Road.
"You and your dear minister, Dr. Wilson, and all inquiring friends in your beautiful city, will be gratified to hear that I have been restored to health and strength. I have been travelling from San Francisco to New York, and thence to Chicago, Washington, and Bostoll, very often preaching twice on the Lord's-day, and once or twice on week-days.
"We leave New York on the 18th instant by the Circassia, on or about the 29th in Glasgow. I shall let you know when we-that is, my son Yeshwant-rao and myself-will be at Edinburgh.
Morningside. With warmest love to you, Miss Graham, and Miss Martha, and all Inquiring friends, ever afi'ectionately yours, NARAYAN SHESH~DRI."
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The census just taken shows India to have a population of 285,- 000,000.
-The Report of the Free Church of Scotland remarks: "A work on which Dr. Duff laid great stress in connection with all educational operations in the country, from the lowest indigenous vernacular primary school up to the highest college class, was the compiling or selecting of good, pure text-books, thus superseding the impure, immoral rubbish which at one time prevailed to so large an extent in all schools in India. Of course a good deal of this work has been accomplished, but a good deal remains to be done. The Government of India has put itself in communication with all the local governments on this subject of pure text-books, passed resolutions and laid down principles for the guidance of the various educational departments throughout the country. One of these principles is to the effect that at least one half of every school-book used as a reader in English or in vernacular teaching should consist of lessons having a direct bearing on conduct, either by way of precept or of example. The fact is becoming more patent to missionaries every year that the progress of Christianity rests on a sensitiveness of conscience as to conduct. Wherever there is an indifference as to conduct, there can be no conviction of sin. Wherever I God or the Supreme Authority is regarded as indifferent as to whether actions are good or bad, and also wherever men are regarded as under the compulsion of fate, so that they can do nothing of themselves and are therefore blameless as to bad conduct, there can be no conviction of sin. Now these are two of the fuudamental principles of Hinduism, and taught in most of their school.books. Hindus are trained from their infancy on these Ii nes.' '
-Mr. F. N. Farquhar, B.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, has lately gone out to take up work in the London Missionary Society College at Bhowanipur, Bengal. He writes: "Nothing impresses me so deeply as the extreme difficulty of the work of leading the class of men we have to deal with-educated Bengalis-to become Christians. They are not only proud of their own hoary cult, and filled full of arguments drawn from the purer and nobler parts of its teaching, but their want of physical vigor and moral greatness makes them far more difficult to rouse than stndents at home; and the fear which is now felt by Hindus concerning the advance of Christianity has led them to form almost a sacred dread of allowing any shred of Christian teaching to find a place in their heart.
"Yet though this seems to be true of a very large number of these young Babus, there are many whose hearts have been touched, and who are anxious to learn more about Christ.
" My little experience and few scraps of observation since I came here confirm my belief that the educational work done here is of extreme value and importance. That these young Christians should be taught by earnest Christians rather than by careless Christians or by Hindus is of immense importance, o,'en if we do not consider the actual Scripture work and direct Gospel teaching. And the magnificent set of educated native Christians dependent upon our mission here is a proof of the power of Christian educational work. The native pastors and other educated natives have impressed me deeply; they are kings among the ordinary Bengalis here, and their Christian character seems far advanced, and is most beautiful, most helpful, and most encouraging."
-The English Baptists, in their Annnal Report, announce as their policy" Aggressive Concentration." "Ooncentration and consolidation of missionary effort, rather than unwise diffusion, are the methods most ownea and blessed by God in Indian mission enterprise." The report of their deputation says: "vVe have in India to-day just one thin long line of stations, in most instances with extensive distances between. We have located our brethren in great cities far distant from each other, and by so doing removed from them the strength and inspiration that come from working in touch and contact in mutual sympathy and brotherly counsel. We ha'e set one or two brethren down in a vast and densely peopled city, and written' Occupied' over the entire district stretching far away, until we have treated a similar centre hundreds of miles distant in precisely the same manner. • . , 'Spread the Light!' 'Spread the Light !' is a cry in which we would all thankfully join j but it is surely well to remember that the light of missionary zeal and usefulness resembles that of live coals, which if kept together may long continue to burn brightly and diffuse a genial warmth, but which if unwisely scattered will soon become dim and cold."
Says the deputation: "Even putting all distinctive missionary effort out of the question, the mere contact of Western thought, culture, and education is inevitably breaking up the older forms of Hindu thought. But it lies with us to say whether that contact shall be charged with infinite blessing, leading them on to a higher, deeper, truer faith, and a new national life j or whether, cutting them adrift from their old moorings, we leave them without Christ, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, to be ravaged by intoxicating drinks and made imbecile by opium."
-The Rev. L. P. Weinberg, of Jaffa, quoted in the Jewish Intelligencer for February, writes: "The general topic of conversation among Jews at the present time is Palest.ine, and almost every Jewish newspaper speaks of this country as ' the only place of refuge' for them." , Arias, missionary of the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews, reports a significant remark of some Italian Jews: "Till the Chris- tians treat the Jews well, we shall never beliE)ve that Jesus is our Messiah."
Most of the Italian Jews that he has met with seem to be in the dregs of Judaism, with few signs of longing for anything better.
-Professor A. R. Simpson, President of the Edinburgh Mediclll Missionary Society, says, most aptly, that in the Old Testament the" place of God's feet" is the Temple, but that the feet of the God-man are found most often "where the sick lay and the bereaved were weeping." ,. These were the places of His feet, who Himself bore our sicknesses and carried our infirmities; and these are· what He would seek our wealth to make glorious." Brave encouragement, Professor Simpson well says, to the medical missionary, to show him that he is in the track of the Saviour of the world.
-The West Himalaya Mission of the Unitas Fratrum was begun in 1853. Not until 1890 has a meeting of all the missionaries of the three stations been found practicable. Compared with the giant heights among which theY' live, saY's the Missions-Blatf, the Alps seem mere ranges of hills. And hardly had they broken up from their first meeting, when a veritable deluge converted the whole valley of Leh into a sea, swept away every bridge over the Upper Indus except one, and swept many persons out of the world. The Brethren do not seem to remit their ancient passion, " To plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose On icy rocks, and 'mid eternal snows."
– " See," said a sick child in India, "the goddess Kali's bloody tongue, wicked face, cruel hands. necklace of skulls; our gods are terrible; I cannot help screaming when I see them."-Canadian Church Magazine.
-Whether the late English reviewer, who is greatly displeased that Christians should endeavor to disturb the sweet calm of Buddhism, would be equally displeased that they endeavor to discredit the worship of the venerable goddess Kali, is not certain. Perhaps he would grudgingly allow this one exception.
-The Missions-Berichte gives a stinging remark of a South African Caffre, that among the whites they became acquainted with two thingsthe Bible, to save their souls, and brandy, to destroy their bodies. Butt he added, he was content with the former.
-In China, it appears, at least in some hospitals, wherever a patient. on returning home, expresses interest in spiritual things, an evangelist is sent after him, and thus, says Dr. ~iain, of Hangchow, much fruit has been gathered unto life eternal. E,'ery year there pass through that one medical mission 10,000 patients.
-The China Central Mission of the Presbyterian Church makes a very strong appeal for reinforcement. The field immediately accessible to them includes the whole great valley of the Yang-tse-Kiang, the" Son of Ocean." The four provinces of Kiangsu, Kiangsi, Nganhui, and Chehkiang have 121,000,000 inhabitants within an area of 204,287 square miles.
There are signs of a sudden breaking-up of the fallow ground of general indifference. They want to be ready to answer spontaneous calls from all parts. The accession of a new emperor, and an uneasy expectancy of political change, join with an extraordinary frequency of natural calamities, of flood or drought, famine or pestilence, at once to unsettle and humble men's minds.
The province of Szechuen, on the Upper Yangtse, with some 45,000,000 of people. ought to be occupied in force. Untouched by the 'l'ai-ping insurrection, it retains all the glory and prosperity of ante-rebellion times.
The people are a hardy, straightforward, enterprising race, as is shown by their various and productive industries. For centuries they have been boring salt and gas wells from three to five thousand feet deep, and using natural gas for evaporating the brine pumped from the bowels of the earth.
Their bronze, silk, and white wax industries are noted over the empire.
Their language is Mandarin, in which a Christian literature is already prepared.
The Central China Mission statistics for last year show an increase of a little over eight per cent. Five of their fifteen churches pay their own pastors. Everything is encouraging. "Come .over and help us," they say. The great Church to which they speak wlll /.Issuredly not be heed- !es~! .
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Week of Prayer. begun; all the Protestant churches can scarcely muster 7000 men and women as [EDITORIAL.-J. T. G.] ,. witnesses to the uttermost parts of the It was at the request of a smr.ll band earth;" the members of the Church of of missionaries in the Panjab that the England in its richer portion alone have Evangelical Alliance originally appoint- an income of $1,750,000,000 annually, ed a Week of Prayer for supplication for but last year, 'gave only $1,450,000 to for.
the conversion of the world. Since eign mlSSlOns. What is true of them is then there have been many other weeks relatively true of the rest of the churches.
and special days set apart for the same The circular appeals for a fuller recog- purpose. The Church of England Mis- nition of the principle of the missionary sionary Society, for instance, has a entel'prise: ,. Missionary work is not a Day of Special Prayer, or, as they phrase voluntary, supererogatory work of a few it, of "Intercession for Foreign Mis- more devoted souls. It is a charge sions," and many other churches have which is given to all as Christians."
adopted more or less regularly, the cus- It also mentions as a matter of special om of a set time for united prayer for thanksgiving the altered tone of the pub- the same object. We note with pleas- lic press toward missions. It reads: ure several statements in the introduc- ., Since the death of Bishop Hanning- tion to the week's programme of the ton, slowly but surely much of the Eng- Evangelical Alliance this year, such lish press has changed its tone with re- as these: ,. The privilege of prayer rises spect to the missionary enterprise. How to the topmost height attainable on often now have we thankfully to ac- earth, when, in common with believers knowledge that current literature brings of every name the wide world over, the missionary subject before house- we agree to hold a concert of prayer, holds who otherwise would remain ab- so that the globe may be girdled with solutely ignorant of the work! How assemblies of believers of one heart often of late has the public press done and of one mind, interceding with signal service in defence of missionary God for each other, for the Church agency – notably regarding work in of Christ, and for the spread of the China, India, and Uganda! In this, Gospel. • .• Looking abroad on the with profound gratitude, let us distinct- world in the light of the Word, we see ly acknowledge God's gracious hand."
the predictions in the Holy Book being All this can be readily transferred to fulfilled all around us. Be it ours to the Universal Week of Prayer, and a wait on God and to v.ait for Him in holy study should be made of the topics concord of faith and prayer, 'looking named in the programme of the Evangel- for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus ical Alliance, and'illustrations searched Christ.' . •. Wherefore,' holy breth- for of the special topics mentioned in it.
ren, partakers of the heavenly calling,' To these suggestions we venture to as in the opening year we gird ourselves add that the Church of God on earth has anew for fresh service and faithful testi- good realmn to render praise for the mony, let us invite each ot'her again to workmen God has raised up. We ought gather unitedly before the Eternal to pause to shed a tear at the grave of the Throne in praise and prayer." missionary dead of 1891. The list is but The Church of England circular names an appendix to the eleventh chapter of groundlifor humiliation, as found in the Hebrews. Bishop French ascended from fact that nearly nineteen hundred years Arabia; Bishop Boone, ha.,-ing only for have rolled by since the Head of the a short time been enrobed in the mantle Church gave the great missionary com- of his father, the renowned missionary, mis!lion, and yet the work ill !lcarcely died in China; Newton, "the beloved,"
of the Panjab-" a man sent from God, Harmony and Proportion in Missions.* whose name was John"-was followed to beUer than India's palaces by Winter, REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, D.D., LEXINGTON, of the Delhi Mission, who loved his special work more than he did a bishopric. MASS. Amid the lamentations of thousands, that" good servant of the Lord," Bishop The foreign missions of the Church Caldwell, was laid to rest after fifty-four of Christ are becoming numerous and years of labor in India for India; Dr. complicated. Many missionary socie- Luther H. Gulick. the founder of a large ties are in the field, separated from each missionary family, went up to the other by differences of nationality, lan- "bosom" of the" Father of the faith- guage, and church organization. ful ;" and dear and great John Inglis dropped his finished transhtion of the When these different organizations ocvisions of him of Patmos to open cupy the same field there is, there must his eyes on the beatific vision of the be, more or less of denominational fric- Ancient of days; Red slob, the Mora- tion, sometimes of antagonism even, vian sentinel of the outer patrol limit of and generally there will be a want of Chri~tendom on the edge of Thibet, that co-operation that always constitutes awoke to know the richer meaning of strength and progress. In that wonder- Nam Thang Song, and to find it "all ful prayer in ?hich the Son of God bright again" forever; Mrs. Bennett, poured out His soul as His hour drew more than sixty years in Burmah, went near, He prayed most earnestly that the to join again the Judsons and the Father would keep His disciples" that Boardmans; Sheshadri, the first Asi- they may be one, as we are." .. Neither atic whom America ever honored with pray I for these alone, but for them also a doctorate of divinity, found a fit- which shall believe on Me through their ting sepulchre in the sea for his body, word, that they all may be one, as Thou, while his soul went to the .. sea of Father, art in Me, and I in Thee; that glass;" and Goloknath of Jalander was they may be one, that the world may becarried to his burial by .. devout men," lieve that Thou hast sent Me." and honored by the presence at his funeral of European officials and a thou- The missionary work has given birth sand Hindus and Mohammedans. Time to a great measure of the true spi~it of would fail us to tell of others who have unity for which the Saviour prayed-a I gone from remotest mountains and val- unity which exists between true discileys, from the habitations of cruelty and ples, notwithstanding all this diversit;,r. spiritual solitude, to the .. general as- The existence of this International Missembly" and the" Church of the First- sionary"Cnio-n is an answer to the Reborn" on high. But surely in the crowd deemer"s prayer, and must be an object of our on-rushing thoughts at a season of His approving regard. like this, we can pause long enough to thank God for such examples of the In order to remove so far as pOBsible highest missionary spirit and loftiest the occasions of conflicting views and spiritual achievement, and to ask that measures which perplex and scandalize their tribe may increase, and the Church the heathen, it has been generally agreed universal catch the radiance of their that one society shall not interfere with lives and be inspired to emulate their another society's legitimate sphere of devotion and their deeds. labor, marked out by actual occupation. And as surely, turning from this missionary nave in the great Westminster Where the different societies are alof the Church, we cannot fail of interest ready intermingled on the same terriin prayer for the great host of stillliv- tory, there is danger of injury to the spiring missionaries, both men and women. itual element. One will say, ., I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos." It requires of the missionaries thus divided, great wisdom, prudence, and brotherly love. There is evidently a growing *ltead before the International Missionary Union at Clifton Springs, N. Y., Jnne, 1891.
ht-rERN.A.-rtONAL DEPARTMlllNT
spirit of unity on mission fields, and fields that some of them are a law unto those who intrude upon fields already themselves. 'rheyhavenotroubleabout occupied are guilty of a great sin. They proportion in their work. We have: become the authors of a great wrong and 1. The sslf-supporting missionary, injury to the Master's cause. The grow- who has property that makes him inde- ing spirit of harmony will make such in- pendent of missionary bodies and Bocie- trusions more and more difficult. De- ties. He may be a very happy, useful nominational friction will be avoided, man. If his means enable him to call and denominational comity as to enter- to his aid native helpers, he is equal to ing each other's field is becoming, or a whole station. In prosecuting his rather, I would say. has become a recog- work he is sole judge of the depart- nized international and interdenomina- ments of his work, and in what relation tionallaw of missionary strategy. to each other he will develop them. It Japan is now a field of special tempta- is impossible to work only in one.
tion, so many societies are earnestly 2. There are self-supporting missiona· engaged in the work. The Holy Spirit, ries, who depend upon their own indus- the Guide unto all truth, the Paraclete, try or upon some secular employment He alone can deliver the work from this for support. Their object is to exhibit danger of divided counsels and of weak- the example of an honest, industrious ened efficiency. Christian life, and lead the heathen both The law of proportion in the mission- by precept and example into the same ary work must be regarded as well as life. They would show them and help the law of harmony. them also to experience that disciple- There are many departments of this ship to Christ has the promise both of work, as preaching, education, the press, the present life and of that which is to the formation of churches, the erection come. Thls scheme of missionary work of buildings, the care for the poor and can be fruitful of much good only by suffering, anyone of which may be put combination. The Inland Mission in forward out of proportion and to the in- China is partly of this nature, but it re- jury of the rest. It requires great wis- quires the oversight and management of dom and judgment to develop all the in- gifted men, like Hudson Taylor and his terests of a mission so that no one shall compeers, to gu~e its affairs, direct its be neglected and no one shall overtop labors, and provide for expenses that the others. The missionaty needs to every progressive work will demand.
have" an unction from the Holy One, Bishop Taylor's mission in Africa is and to know all things." He must neg- of this partially self-supporting kind.
lect nothing, he must push nothing be- He gathers from Christian friends at yond its value. I think to a very re- ·home what is needed for the complete- markable degree this wisdom has been ness and efficiency of the work beyond given. the productive results of the laborers.
Where there is Episcbpal government I would bid God-speed to all such efforts, a great responsibility falls upon the and yet they must be exposed to certain 'bishop. He can more readily remedy infelicities. Untrained men and women mistakes and harmonize the depart- will be found in them who, when they ments, or, if he should lack wisdom, he encounter the grave difficulties of a for- may get them into a muddle. eign language and find the native proud But many missions are more demo- and contemptuous, will Boon be dis· cratic in their organization. They are couraged, and retire in black despair.
largely self-governed, although the home Such cases have too frequently occurred.
societies fix upon the general principles In future they may be avoided.
upon which they must proceed. 3. By far the greater number of mis· Let us not forget, however, that there sionaries on the field are supported by are so many kinds of agents in different _.. mi s -s-i-o–n-'a. ry s o c i e t ie s , The operatiDZ and ~ ";"' :' largely apportioliating power is in those established, and for a time, it may-be, societies. But the officers, being far chiefly officered by the best-educated from the fields of labor, must depend missionaries. But from the very begin- upon the missionaries for the facts, and ning the object to be aimed at is the upon their judgment as to the meaning raising of native laborers for every de- of the facts. WhilE! here is an oppor- partment of the work_ tunity for difference of opinion between ]'or a time the native agency, in press- the officers and the missionaries, which ing forward into new fields, must be perhaps sometimes occurs, yet there has supported in whole or in part by the been remarkable harmony on the whole. mission, otherwise it cannot exist at all.
When earnest discussion has arisen it A mission is prosperous only so far as it has been conducted in a Christian raises up an efficient, well-trained na- spirit, and has resulted in the advance- tive agency. One missionary with four ment of the work and in the settlement well-qualified native preachers will reach of important principles. Sometimes the people more widely and efficiently education has been too much pushed, by far, than five missionaries with no and sometimes preaching. In Buresal, nath's assistant, and the expense will India, preaching was almost the only not be half so great. The work will be- work attempted. Education was left come in this way self-developing and entirely to the native Christians. In self- perpetuating.
consequence the children were growing It follows then by necessity that when up in such deplorable ignorance that a the funds of a mission do not keep prog- general meeting of missionaries took up ress with the missionary work, the for- the subject and demanded that Chris- eign missionary should be withdrawn, tian education should accompany the that the native work m~y go on. If dur- Christian native Church. ing the past year the societies that have But the subject which is most exposed been compelled to cut down their ap- to disproportion has regard to the work propriations had, instead of doing so, of the native Church, with its pastors, refused to send out a single missionary, teachers, and helpers. Generally in all they would have saved their work from departments of the missionary work in a calamitous set-back. Some missiona- the ministry, in education, in editing ries have seriously contemplated resign_ and translating, the native factors must ing and leaviDg the field in order to be our chief reliance for ultimate suc- avoid this great evil.
cess. Fifty years ago the prevailing An early movement in the missionary idea was that the world is to be convert- work of sending ou~ laymen to teach the ed by the preaching of missionaries. various arts of ci vilized life proved a That idea is no longer held by anybody. failure; but the time has now come The nati ve Ohurch is to be the true mis- when there is a call for such co-opera- sionary Ohurch. Native preachers and bon. The converts from heathendom helpers are to go everywhere preaching must live by their own labor. The the Word. They are to do the chief sooner they are emancipated from many work of evangelization. The great work of the filthy modes in which all heathen. – of the missionaries is to bring forward, dam, including even the Chinese, live to educate, to train the native laborers the better for a pure and honest Chris- and native churches unto this work, and tian life. The glorious example and life give the whole over to them as soon as of Mackay of Uganda have taught us possible. This is the only way in which what a lay missionary-a mechanic, a the great work of the world's redemp- civiI-engineer-can achieve for Christ tion from sin and darkness can be ac- under the darkest prospects. The Lord complished. It is the most effective will have many Mackays ready when the and the most economical way. Ohurch shall really call for them. Mis- Schools, colleges, seminaries must be sionary societies must learn that CODverts must have daily bread not by hundred dollars a year for the support charit.y, but by their own labor. And of each one, three millions of dollars 8 all missionaries, men and women, year will be needed for their bare sup· should have that practical knowledge port, and certainly not less than nine of the common arts and activities of life millions more for the prOilecution of the which will enable them to gnide the work through native agency. Then the porsecuted and boycotted into inde. six thousand would soon be one hun. pendent self-support. dred thousand, and that number a mill- ion of native preachers.. By that time, There is great danger at the present moreover, the million would be mainly time of looking more to the number supported by native churches, and the than the quality of the laborers. Men promise of the Almighty Father to the of mere sentiment are sure to fail. Son, "Ask of Me and I will give Thee They find themselves confronted with the heathen for thine inheritance, and the difficulties. of an unknown, strange, the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy barbarous language, and by a proud, in. posse~sions," would approach its glori. solent, contemptuous people. After a ous fulfilment. year or two of heartless effort they reo treat in black despair or sink into a list. Ohinese "Blue-Books." [J. T. G.] less :Mfe. None but men who are strong in the Lord and in the power of His Whoever has carefully studied the might are needed in this work. splendid volume containing the Records of the Missionary Conference which met It follows, from all we have read, that at Shanghai in 1890 will have noticed in this great and marvellous movement the essay of Rev. Timothy Richards on among the youth of our colleges is " The Relation of Christian Missions to in danger of involving the Christian the Chinese Government," his reference Church in an unexpected embarrass- (pp. 407-10) to what he .is pleased to ment. To send out all who are willing style" Blue Books." It is a collection to go and are fitted for great usefulness of public documents on all State queswould necessitate the entire abandon. tions published in 1826, in one hundred ment of the element of native co-opera. and twenty books. It was republished tive help, of pastors, teachers, trans. by the Shaghai publishers in 1889; a lators, common schools, and, to some supplement to the same, also in one extent, of colleges and seminaries. A hundred and twenty books, bringing the greater catastrophe could not befall the subject down to date, was published in work. 1888. These books, he says, are in the catalogue of the books for sale in the What, then, is the meaning of this Government book.shop at Tientsin, and wonderful movement? probably in all the provinces. Two books of the supplement are devoted to It brings before the Church the tre. Christian missions. mendous reality of the missionary work. It cries aloud to all Christians, Aban. Mr. Richards proceeds to give some don your luxurious living, your piling idea of their "scandalous" contents. up of millions. Pour your millions into First, a history of the way in which the missionary work, und see if the Lord Christianity has gradually corrupted will not pour you out a blessing that China. This is followed by an attempt there shall not be room to receive it. to stamp out Christianity in the provo inces of Hlman, the source of the pres. But these six thousand crusaders must ent Ohinese riots, and Kiang Suo Sun. not be encouraged to go forth while the dry other documents follow. Mr. Rich. Church stands back and refuses to de- ards proceeds to recite that the books velop the work already in progress, having the evident blessing of God and the co-operating work of the Holy Spirit. Their going forth must be to aid, not retard the work. At an average of five affirm that six hundred years after Bud- able books translated; of the tens of dha all India followed the Christian thousands of youllg and old taught; ot'
religion. Among the statements are the hundreds of thousands saved from found assertions that the founder of death during famines, and of'the tomb- Christianity was a criminal, and Joseph stones of those who have given their was not his father. lives for the good of China, this collec- The great rebellions in the Ming tion of obscenities and lies is their dynasty and of the various secret lOects version of what we have done for in the present dynasty, with all their them."
, horrors, are attributed to these Western The relation of the State to these so- religions. It is an insult, the author called" Blue-Books," and of their rela- says, to suggest that all these vile here- tion to the present disturbed state of the tics could have 'had the same origin as country, as it originates in hatred of the Chinese. The writer says that four foreigners, has become the subject of taels were given to each convert, and considerable discussion in China. It is that the books of the Roman Catholics well known that the riots have been in- were full of obscenity, and that the Gov- cited by the literati and gentry of ernor Man of Chi Kiang memorialized China ; and it is this class that read the throne regarding their evil deeds, such statements as are contained in requesting to have their churches turned these books, Which, be it borne in into charity schools for a hundred years, mind, are for sale at the Government to cleanse away their moral filth. book-stores. It would seem, therefore, "After this," says Mr. Richards, of little avail that the imperial authority "follow scandalous quotations from Wei at the Peking Yemen should by royal Yuen, who says that men and women edict declare that Christianity was a re- sleep promiscuously together in the ligion of good moral influence, so long churches; that one hundred and thirty as it permits these documents to be taels of silver are given in three instal- placed on sale under its auspices. To be ments to the converts to help them to sure. it might be claimed that the edict do business; that the Christians' eyes counteracts their influence, and even are scooped out by the priest after that it was so intended. It is much death; that when these eyes are melted more probable that the Government up with lead, eight per cent of the lead chooses to blow hot and cold at the same is turned to silver; that a pill is given, time, for whatever else the West mlly which makes the convert pledge him- teach China, it is not likely to set it any self for life, and so bewitched is he that lesson in the duplicity of diplomacy.
the first thing he does is to destroy the In the North China Herald the vener.
ancestral tablets; that several other able and highly esteemed missionary, things are practised by Christians which Rev. Griffith John, calls upon the for- I consider too vile to print… Mr. Rich- eign powers to demand the suppression ards closes his remarks on the" Blue- of these books. He says that it is to be Books" with the following grave reflec- hoped that some one will take these tion: Ie Thus end the 'Blue·Books' books in hand and bring their vileness without the slightest acknowledgment of and falsehood to the light. He has any benefit derived from modern mis- afresh examined them, and declares that sionaries. They wish to convince their " anything more false, disgraceful, and people that Christian missionaries only inflammatory it would be difficult to come here for mischief, and that the find, even among the vile placards of converts are the scum of society! In Hunan." He deems it of the utmost im· face of about a million taels spent an- portance that their publication, as they nually for the good of China; in face of now stand, should be suppressed. He tens of thousands of patients gratuitous- concludes by saying that the Hunan ly healed annually; of the many valu- placards are intended for the multitude;
JartUBl'j'
these books are intellded for the officials out-patients belong to the Syongtn, or and literary classes. 'rhey are to be low-class people, many of whose wom- round in every yamen, and in thousands en, except the newly married or those of private libraries. The foreign powers of marriageable age, go out upon the have decided that the Hunan publica- street in the daytime. I would like to tions shall cease, because they poison open an evening olinic for those Korean the minds of the people. For a still women who must not be seen upon the stronger reason they ought to decide street in the daytime, and I want to that these" blue books" shall cease in open a dispensary in another part of their present form, because they poison the city, and perhaps one outside.
the minds of the officials and scholars. Quite often at my morning clinic I have Just how far the foreign powers had women from the higher class who should go in aUempting an " Index" of have come in closed chairs. They al- literature that must be expurgated in ways inform me that it is a great ell.cep- China, or whether they should attempt tion for them to go out, but their dis- at all to coerce the Government to cause ease was difficult, and they had heard certain parts of current literature to be that I was a very wise doctor, and there- suppressed, may be grave questions. fore came.
But that they might demand that their .. My out-calls have, many of them, sale should be prohibited in Govern- been to people of quite high rank-from ment book stalls would not appear alto- the daughter of a ' Chusa' to the moth- gether unreasonable as a political meas- er of the late Prime-Minister-but others ure or as a war measure, if you please. have been to those most miserably low We have not called attention to the mat· and poor. I, have visited a niece of the ter with a view to second the call to the late queen-dowager, living in a large foreign powers to demand their suppres- stone house built within two or three sion, but rather to show some of the court-yards, with foreign lamp-posts sources by which the prejudices of the here and there ; nice-sized rooms, easily literati and gentry are stirred against made larger by pushing back the Korean Christian missionaries. Perhaps we shove-doors and throwing two rooms may even come into greater charity into one ; large Korean screens here and toward some of those whose minds have there ; a fine mirror and Korean dress- been thus poisoned ; and perhaps we ing-case ; the patient and her attendants may come to better apprehension of clothed in spotless white, in mourning why the literati and gentry, rather than for tho Queen; the under-garments of the common people and the coolies, dis- the patient made of soft white Korean like foreigners and missionaries. At silk. She was covered with light downy any rate, if we are to proceed with judg- comfortables of colored silk, and lay ment, it is manifest we must become upon a soft mattress with a beautifully more closely acquainted with the in- embroidered Korean pillow on the warm· digenous influences affecting the people est part of a highly polished 'Rang'
of Ohina. floor.
" In the same afternoon I have visit- ed a poor sick woman of the Coolie class Medical Work for Women in Korea, in her little tive-by-eight room, with ceiling so low I could not stand up- We know so little of the" Land of right, one small window covered with the Morning Calm" that it is with inter- oiled paper, the patient lying on a small est we quote from a long oommunication mat and covered with a coarse cotton from Miss Rosetta Sherwood, M.D., of comfortable. The history of many of the MethodistEpiscopal MissilJll in that the wretched cases one meets with in a country, the following paragraphs: practice like this are appalling and "The majority of the hospital and heart.sickening. "
" Why is the Ohina Inland Mission Suo- mission in China, suggests that a longer period of time is required before we cessful?" can predicate success or failure of the mission in its evangelical enterprise. The editor of the lIarvest Field, the Wesleyan magazine published in India, " That it has heen a wonderful suc. some while since addressed the above cess at home everybody must admit. question to the Rev. David Hill, the The rapid pouring into one field of so Britisb President of the Shanghai Con. large a number of missionaries is un. ference of Missionaries laboring in exampled in modern times as far liS I India. We have so long heard and know, and demands close study. Two read conflicting statements of the effi. or three reasons for this success have ciencyand value of Mr. Hudson Tay. occurred to me : lor's methods, and those of his associ. ates, that it was with rather more than "1. The mission is steeped in prayer, usual interest we read Mr. Hill's reply, and its founders and followers have Ilnd we are so confident of a wide inter. boldly made the grand experiment of est in the subject that we quote the testing and trusting the promi~es of article bodily. Mr. Hill says: God.
"You inquire as to the reasons of the " 2. Appeals for men have been made success of the China Inland Mission. at meetings for entire consecration to The assumption implied in such in. God. This consecration has been quiry some would question, if it refer urged home first of all-then the de. to the work of the mission in China, mand to show cause why this consecra. and the number of members gathered tion should not flow in China cbannels into the Church. This is not large as has been made. Full surrender has compared with that of several other opened the ear to China's claims. missions having a much smaller staff of missionaries, and does not demon. "3. Speedy entrance on the work. strate Ilny very marked success. No protracted waiting for examination after examination, or for a long college "On the other hand, 2000 and odd course. This attracts men. Christians gathered into the Church in twenty-five years does tell of success, "4. Then the offer of a life of sacri. and that Mr. Hudson Taylor should fice rather than one of ease has a great have been used of God to this end is deal to do with winning the right sort matter for profound thankfulness. of men. Faith, too, fascinates. That it is not large may be accounted for by the perpetual pioneering of "5. Besides Mr. Taylor's magnetio many missionaries. In opening the influence, Mr. Broomhall's untiring way to regions beyond they have been energy and the broadcast sowing of llbundantly successful, hut this per. China's millions have marvellously aided petual" motion has not favored large the progress of the mission. harvests of converts. Where steady, persevering work has been the order of "These have appeared to me the the day, conversions have been most chief causes of success, and I as II numerous. Methodist feel I may learn a good deal from them." " Then the genius of the mission is so largely that of witnessing rather -Mrs. Maria T. True, of Tokyo, tem· than winning, of sowing rather than of porarily in tbis country, in writing to reaping, that that doubtless has had us says: "Some Japanese ladies have something to do with the comparatively purchased an acre of ground and built small ingathering. And the very large a small house for an industrial school proportion of new men occupying new for young women. About forty pupils places, as compared with any other are enrolled, and during tbe little more than one year since the school was opened they have by their own labor
liTElRNATlONAL :l)Et'Alt'I'MEN'l'
earned their board, and in some cases ful, as it is certainly entertaining, other expenses. The main industry is called" In Brightest Asia," which Mr. silk embroidery, but they also have in- Corthell, of Tremont Temple, publishes. troduced various other kinds of work, Its 127 illustrations are a panorama of and have still more comprehensive the trip and much besides. plans, to be carried out when the fund for another building have been secured. -Rev. Henry N. Cobb, D.D., Corre· This is a Ohristian school, and is blessing sponding Secretary of the Board of those who have established it and are Foreign Missions of the Reformed carrying it on as well as those who are Church in America, has started to make taught in it. a visit to their missions in India, China, and Japan. Rev. J. N. Conklin, "One of the native pastorR has also of the Arcot Mission, temporarily in been the means of opening an indus- this country, has assumed Dr. Cobb's trial home for young men. I know both official duties in his absence. We of these enterprises well, Bnd am sure learn from him that the native Christhey are worthy of our warm sympathy tians of this Arcot Mission are suffering terribly from food scarcity, and cholera " A letter just received from a Japan. is likely to follow. The report about esc minister contains the following: the cholera at Amoy, Mr. Conklin says, • This is my strong conviction: we can· has been greatly exaggerated. not evangelize Japan with a method like child's play; if we evangelize such a -Our Baptist friends are getting heathen country as Japan we must take ready for the observance of the great a gigantic method. The Bible and the Carey Centennial this year. A good Holy Spirit are the only weapons needed deal of literature will doubtless be forth. in our battle.field.' coming, which will be helpful to them, and to all of us. The American Baptist , • Then he goes on to outline a meth- Publication Society, Philadephia, has od by which he thinks work could be just issued ., A Century of Baptist For. carried on in every town and village in eign Missions," by Mrs. Titterington. Japan. He asks advice concerning It is an outline of annals, briefly stated, leaving one of the best churches in and with a list of questions at the close Tokyo in order to give his time to this of each chapter, suggestive of its being country work. used as a text·book. It is confined to American Baptist missions in Asia, .. It is ~ard to realize how heavily Africa, Europe, and South America. burdened the few earnest workers in Japan are, unless one has seen the con- -The Congregational missions in ditions there." South Africa have been the subject of many an inquiry with other than mis. -The Rev. Dr. Mabie, Home Corre- sionary intent. Ethn ologists, :philol. sponding Secretary of the American ogists, and others have found the mis. Baptist Missionary Union, presently sionary's arcana of knowledge the after getting well seated in his position, most valuable and resourceful that started on a trip round the world, chiefly could be investigated. There have to visit the Baptist missions in Asia. been heroes and statesmen among the About two hundred Baptist mission· missionaries of that country. Rev. aries were visited. They must have Josiah Tyler furnishes a fresh fund of enjoyed his calls, for there was nothing knowledge for mllny classes in " Forty of the bugbear of a .. deputation" in Years Among the ZulUB" in autobjothem. He did not go to make official examinations into their larders or their learning, nor with any authority to upset their plans. Dr. Mabie tells his side of the cheery journey in a sketchy way in a book that must be very help. graphical form of narrative. (Congrega- ent at the celebration of the sacrament tional House, Boston.) in a church other than their own; to have inter-mission discipline, by which -In April, 1890. Rev. Mr. Large, of an agent of one mission should not be the Canada Methodist Mission, in Japan, engaged by another until after mutual was murdered. The murderer has been, consultation, and strangers coming from as is supposed. found out, and on Au- another station should be provided with gust 25th was arrested. He is described letters, of commendation from the as a youth about twenty years of age. church which they had left; to foster At first it was supposed he was insane, social advancement by means of obtainbut fuller investigation does not sup- ing grants of land from the Government, port the theory. He is a native of the the endeavor to have Christian regiprovince of Kazuza. ments formed, the adoption of technieal pursuits, the encouragement of capital- -Rev. Dr. T. J. Scott, President of ists among Christians, the institution of panchayats among them, and the pur- chase of land in the villages as sites for schools and churches which should be the property of the missions."
the Methodist Theological Seminary at Bareilly, India, writes us: "God is -We have received the following com- wonderfully blessing the work in this munication from a representative of the part of India. Just think of a thousand Protestant native congregation at Bag- baptisms a month! At least ten thou- dad: sand will be added to the Christian •• I beg to inform you that there are community during the' year. What a work in supplying pastors and evange- about twenty houses of Evangelical Protlists! In places of course the devil estants here in Bagdad, reaching from rages. In AImorah, while a young man sixty to seventy persons, male and was being baptized in the London Mis- female. You will be very glad, of course, sionary Society's church, a mob smashed to know that there is such a light and salt the windows and doorl!. Dr. Butcher in such a. big city of Turkish-Arabia, had his "coat tOfn off, and would have where thousands of people are living in been brained by the mob had not Dr. darkness and the shadow of death. How Parker seized the ringleader and got Dr. many difficulties are on the way of the Butcher into the church. The colonel Lord's laborers in such places! But commanding the station got word, and faith, patience, and perseverance over- • doubled quicked' the Sepoys down; come everything that hinders the extenthe magistrate arrived, and the mob sion of the kingdom of our Heavenly quailed. The young man stands firm. Father. We hope we shall never fail in We may expect more mobs and more fulfilling our sacred duties toward our victory. Pray for us." God, ourseIve~, and our neighbors. For the establishment of this, our Protestant -Apropos of Dr. Hamlin's admirable native congregation in Bagdad, we need article, which we present this month, on to have soon registration, cemetery, "Mission Comity," we take the follow- school and church, without which we ing from the Report of the Church of cannot enjoy success and progress in Scotland Mission, setting forth an agree- such lands. To get what is mentioned ment to which the missionaries of the we must apply to the Sublime Porte in various societies in the Panjab came Constantinople and the Turkish auin a Conference of their members, held thorities here to get the necessary orders, last April : that we may possess all our national " At this Conference it was resolved rights. I am very glad to say that we to adopt a common course of instruction have already got orders for registration for inquirers before baptism; to admit and cemetery, so there is firm hope that and welcome to the communion mem- we shall get an order for school and bers of the various churches when pres- church too. Our registration was partly made by the local Government here; but I am sorry to say that burial-ground has not yet been given to us for ceme- tery, as we have not enough money to buy a piece of ground, to pay official fees, and all expenses concerning such serious matters, for our Protestants here are unable to provide the necessary SUUlS."
·EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Editor's Salutation. himself one of the tery foremost mis- sionary biographers of the age, the au- METBOPOLITAW TABEBWACLE, thor of the 'standard classic on Carey's life, will contribute a series of papers NEWINGTON, S. E., on the great cobbler of Hackleton, and LONDON, ENGLAND.
The editor salutes all readers of the other writers of scarcely inferior merit REVIEW and friends of missions with will take a part in this symphony of the most cordial good wishes for the testimony to the work of a world's new year! May it be indeed a Happy evangelization, and the duty and priv- New Year to us all individually and to ilege of the Church to push her COD- the whole Church of God! flicts and conquests to the extremities The year 1892 ought to be a year of of the globe.
grand advance all along the line. It is Once more we emphatically call our the centennial year of modern missions, readers and all who are linked with the • for it marks the hundredth anniversary work of missions to a new consecration of William Carey's great movement, the to prayer. Here lies the hope of the organization of the first distinctively Church and the world, in a new spirit foreign missionary society of Britain, of gracious supplication. God will be at Kettering, May 31st, 1792, and will be inquired of when He is to do great observed all over Britain, if not all over things. Our hope must be in no com the wider realm of Christendom, as the pleteness of organization, no abundance ~ completion of the grand century of of gifts, no sufficiency of laborers, no modem missions. multitude of agencies, but first of all But it ought also to mark the begin- in God, in the Providence that opens ning of a new century of far more in- doors and keeps them open, that pro tense Christian zeal and far more self- tects workers, that rrues even rulers and denying missionary effort. The open controls all things; and in the grace doors now before the Church, the sin- that works even mightier marvels in gularly complete equipment providen- anointing the messengers of Christ and tially given for world-wide work, the inclining lost sinners to hear and heed amazing successes of the century past. the message. Let us remember those the strange withholding of laborers and two wonderful words of promise: Matt.
gifts from the service of the Lord-how 17 : 20 and 18: 19, 20. One of them ought such considerations as these to reminds us that in faith there is the stimulate the whole Church of God to seed of God, the secret of divine life undertake new enterprises for Him, to and power to upheave even mountain lengthen her cords and strengthen her obstacles; the other teaches us the 8takes until the canopy of her mission- power of a symphony of prayer, when ary effort shall stretch over the Whole believers who live in the secret of God area of the unevangelized world.! are like keys of a musical instrument The pages of this REvrnw will be that the hand of God touches, and largely given up during the year to the which give forth a sweet chord in har- rehearsal of William Carey's life and mony with His will. To abide in God, work, and to the exhibition of its mag- and so have power in united prayer, is nificent results; While it will be our the first and last secret of missionary aim to suggest and inspire far larger success. This is one of the essential hopes, stronger faith, and wider en- truths to be impressed by perpetual deavor, in behalf of the coming of the repetition.
kingdom of our God! May the prayers Here in the great Tabernacle we have of every devout reader be with us! had an exhibition and illustration of ~eor~e Smith, LL.D., of Edinbur?h, the power of importunate and believing prayer. In May last pastor Charles H. 8th, to propose another union of prayer Spurgeon was attacked with a violent in tbat place. for the greatest outpour. and virulent influenza. After partial ing of the Holy Spirit ever yet known, recovery, in June he was the victim of upon all flesh. If this spectacle has a relapse that brought him to the very been sublime to angels and men, who jaws of death. His recovery was pro. can describe the sublimity of a holy nounced impossible by human means, agreement of all disciples in supplica. and this great congregation of six thou. tion for a worldwide effusion of the sand souls united in daily prayer to Spirit of all grace! God for him. For twenty.one weeks This Metropolitan Tabernacle is a daily meetings for prayer assembled in house of prayer most emphatically. the Tabernacle, early in the morning, Here are numerous rooms, under and at 7 o'clock, and again at the same hour around the great audience.room, where, in the evening. They were thronged, for almost forty years, this one servant and not only by Mr. Spurgeon's own of God has held forth the Word of Life; people, but by Christians of every name. and in these rooms prayer is almost No sublimer spectacle has appeared to ceaselessly gomg up. When one meeting human eyes since apostolic days than is not in progress another is. This is a this union of discipIes, in believing hive of bees, where there are campara. prayer. As for Peter when in prison tively few drones. There are prayer· awaiting Herod's axe prayer was made meetings before preaching and others without ceasing of the Church unto God after preaching; evangelistic associa· for him. Baptists of every "grade;" tions, zenana societies-all sorts of work Methodists, Primitive, Wesleyan, and for God find here a centre and all can· Episcopal; Congregationalists and Inde. secrated by prayer. Before I go upon pendents ; Presbyterians and Plymouth the platform to address these thousands, Brethren; even the members and clergy the officers of this great church meet of the Anglican communion were pres· me and each other for prayer as to the ent and participated. Meanwhile Mr. service; and one feels upborns on these Spurgeon was overwhelmed with per· strong arms of prayer while preaching. sonal and official attentions from all No marvel that Mr. Spurgeon's ministry classes and conditions of men. Up to has been so blessed. He himself at· the time of his departure for Mentone, tributes it mainly to the prevailing on October 26th, he told me that over prayers of his people. Why may not seven thousand messages of condolence the whole Church of God learn some· and sympathy, resolutions of various thing from the Metropolitan Tabernacle religious bodies, etc., and other docu. of London as to the power of simple ments, from the lowest and highest in Gospel preaching backed by believing society, had reached him. Fifty tele. supplication! grams of inquiry a day came to Beulah Referring to this great church, one Hill, until clerks were unequal to the cannot forget also its divine mission as reading of and the replying to these a standing protest against the secular. messages and inquiries. Even bishops izing of the house of God by the attrac· and archbish~ps called to offer not only tions of worldly art and restheticism. sympathy, but service, if such were Here is nothing to divert the mind from possible; and Jewish rabbis called to the simplicity of worship and the Gas· assure the sick man that all Israel was pel. No attempt at elaborate architec. praying to Jehovah for his restorl't· ture, furniture, garniture. A precentor tion! What wonder he was raised as leads con"gregational song without even from the dead-taken out of the jaws the help of a cornet; prayer and praise of the lion! In view of all this, I ven· and the reading of the Word of God, tured, in presence of a great congrega· with plain putting of Gospel trnthtion i:Q. t4e Tabernacle, on November these 4nve been Mr. StJur~eon's lifelon~ " means of grace" and weapons of war. a year of praise also, a new year of mis- And yet this remains to.day the largest sions, introducing a new century of mis- congregation in the world, even when a sion triumph and glory to God!
stranger attempts to fill the place left vacant by the pastor's withdrawal to a -The editors of American newspapers place of rest and recuperation. are, as a rule, a sagaeious folk. They This lesson has, in my opinion, a beating on all work for Christ, at home cannot be hoaxed. But not all of those and abroad. Our reliance is too much on the charms of this world, in drawing who have the l'equisite " nose for news" souls to the Gospel and to the Saviour. The Holy Spirit will not tolerate our are favored with the reciprocity of the idols. If we will have artistic and secular type of music, substituting unsancti- senses by which they" know news when :lied art for simple praise; if we will have elaborate ritual in place of simple, they see it." An instance is at han~. believing prayer; if we will have eloquent lectures in place of simple, ear- In, the summary of Dr. Pierson's open. nest Gospel preaching, we must not wonder if no shekinah fires burn in our ing sermon at the Tabernacle, made by sanctuaries. If Ahaz is allowed to dis· place God's plain altar by the carved, the Christian, we :find the following: idolatrous altar fro!ll Damascus, we need not be surprised if God withdraws " The Holy Ghost never tolerates idols His power. Perhaps the reason why the work of God abroad shows more in his courts. The success of this great signs of His presence and power than our sanctuary services at home is in Tabernacle is owing to nothing more part this, that our foreign mission work has never been embarrassed as yet by than to this-that the paster has preachthose elaborate attempts at resthetic attraction which turn many of our home ed the Gospel, and has never preached churches into concert halls and lecture saloons and costly club-houses. May anything else, for well.nigh forty years, God grant us to learn once for all, that nothing in our mission work can make He prayed God that some calamity might up for Holy Spirit power, and that Holy Spirit power itself makes up for the happen to the building itself before it lack of all else. If the angel troubles the pool, there is healing in the waters ; was ever prostituted by unsanctified and but if God's angel comes not down 'all the doctors in Jerusalem, with all'the secularizing methods of attracting the drugs in creation, cannot impart healing virtue. people. We want to keep out of our v.orship everything that turns away at- tention from God, or hinders the power of the Holy Ghost."
An irate reporter, by whom the" in_ terim" pastor declined to be interviewed rushed off and cabled to this countr; that Dr. Pierson had most wantonly and uncharitably attacked Mr. Spurgeon in his absence, and had ~harged his con- gregation with doing the very things which he had commended them for not doing. We extend our sympathy to so much of the secular press as became tho victim of this hoax and falsehood. Yet on its face they should have been able to recognize its improbability_ Even a caricature must be a likeness. But to present one who is '
LET us PRU! Oh, for a new spirit of " the president Of nobleness and chevalree" prayer to God! Oh, for a whole Church on its face before the throne, with in snch a roll was too much out of align- mighty pleading for a blessing as wide- ment to afford amusement or to do spread as the race of man, and as deep- harm. The editor.in· chief of this RE- reaching as man's depravity and degra- VIEW answers too closely to the en- dation, guilt and need! Let the year comium on Sir Philip Sydney, in hav- now opening be-whatever else it may ing ., mildness which is associated with not be-a year of prayer; so shall it be courage, erudition modified by refinement, and courtliness dignified by There is one preacher to eight hun. truth "to render it necessary to correct dred inhabitants in the home land; so m:mifestly gross a canard. It may one preacher to four hundred thousand be that he will not so much as thank us in non-Christian countries. for an allusion to it. [J. T. G.]. Estimated wealth of Evangelical Christians in United States•… $13,000,000,000 Increase of wealth last :year (sur- plus after paying all expenses Facts and Figures. of living and contributions for benevofent purposes)….••…. 450,000,000 REV. c. R. BELL, D.D. Contributions for Foreign Mis- sions during the year……… . Population of the world ……….. 1,500,000,000 Total foreign missionary contri- 5,000,000 Living in Asia •••.••.. 800,000,000 Living in Africa •.. •. 210,000,000 butions during the century …. 90,000,000 Living in Europe……. 350,000,000 Annual expenditure for home Living in America, churches….. .. •.. .. … …. .. .. 80,000,000 North and South ….. 110,000,000 Average per member. . •. . . . . • .• •• $6.00 Living in Island World 30,000,000 Annual expenditure for Foreign M.issions, per member (average) .37 – – – 1,500,000,090 Evangelical Christian Commnni- The annual increase of wealth was' ninety times more than the foreign cants………… …………… 35,000,000 missionary offerings during the year. Adherents.. … .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. . 105,000,000 The estimated increase of wealth of Total Communicants and Adher- 140,000,000 the evangelical Christian population of ents………………………. . 90.000.000 the United States last year was more 205,000,000 than four times greater than all the Greek Church……………. . .. .. 8,000,000 foreign contributions by all American Romanists…………………… . 175,000,000 Christians d~ring the entire century. Jews……………………… .. 882,000,000 Startling statements I M.ohammedans ……………….. . Pagan and Heathen………….. ..
Converts to Christianity in heathen 1,500,000,000 lands one hundred years ago did not exceed…… …. … …. .. .. .. 300 Communicants now………….. . 800,000 Adherents ………………….. .. 2,200,000 Total Communicants and Adhe- Signs of the Times. rents…….. ………… …….. 3,000,000 There are signs of a general upheaval Then there were very few Christian all through the pagan, papal, and Mosworkers abroad. and they were chiefly lem world. Japan has suffered from a peasants and artisans who accompanied recent earthquake, in which thousands enterprising merchants. Then the are said to have perished. China was Church for the first time began the visited by most destructive floods, and great enterprise of organized foreign now is the scene of widespread riot and missionary work. not a little bloodshed. South America -Brazil, Chili, and the Argentine Re. Now there are 170 missionary boards public-has been and is undergoing and societies directed by men, and 110 civil and political disturbances, which by women-all actively in service as in some cases amount to a convulsion. agents for their respective Christian Russia is expelling the Jews and preconstituencies. Now at work in non· paring for war, and all Europe is either Christian lands 7700 missionaries, male in a state of ferment or of uncertainty and female, consisting of and apprehension. No one on the con. tinent feels sure of the peace of Europe Ordained…………………… .. 3,482 for thirty days ahead, and a European La,Ylllen …………………….. . 829 war means a world's upheaval. Africa WlVes of missionaries…………. . has been the scene of almost continual Umnarried women…………… .. 2.005 conflict since the Zulu and Soudan 1,384 wars. Turkey is on the verge of per. petual disturbance. The isles of the Native workers ………………. . 7,700 sea are the scenes of repeated and some· Of whom 4,250 are ordained 36,000 times widespread antagonisms, either preachers within their own coasts or with foreign 43,700 foes. No one can predict how long Total force …………………. .. 13,500,000 UNITED STATES ALONE. 80,000 Evangelical church-members..•… Ordained preachers …………… .
Ordained preachers abroad……. . 1,000 Unordained missionaries, male and 1,750 female, abroad…………….. ..
2,750 Mexico and Central America, Burmah Pierson has met with the warm welcome /lJld India, Thibet and Korea will keep and hearty support of the officiary and their uncertain quiet. There are some congregation of Mr. Spurgeon's Taber- sagacious students of affairs who boldly nacle. Our English exchanges make say that never within this century has kindly mention of his entrance upon his there been such a general murmur of new responsibilities. The Ohristian says approaching conflict; and that only the of the opening service: "The great destructiveness of modern engines of building was thronged with worshippers war prevents its outbreak. In the re- in every part. At the opening of the cent naval exhibition, we saw a fac- service the crush was not BO great as we simile of a trial target upon which one have generally seen it, when Mr. Spur- of the largest of modern English ord- geon was the preacher; but before the nance, a HO-ton Armstrong gun, had commencement of the sermon there expended its explosive force, aud the were very few vacant seats." After giv.
ball-a conical one-had been driven ing a column to a synopsis of the in- through six feet of steel and iron, tell terim pastor's sermon from the admir- feet of oak timbers, five feet of solid ably chosen text Acts 10 : 29: .' There- granite, fifteen£eetof concrete, and six of fore came I unto you without gainsay- brick masonry, in all penetrating forty- ing as soon as I was sent for; I ask, two feet before its progress was arrested! therefore, for what intent ye have sent Meanwhile, let it be recorded with for me?" the editor says: "His brief thanksgiving that never has such a ministry at the Tabernacle has open.
spirit of benevolence been exhibited as ed auspiciously." He further quotes now among God's true children. For from a Tabernacle correspondent, who example, Mr. Thomas M. Russell, a writes: Scotchman, has just willed £60,000 ster- " • With the hour the man' is a prov- ling to Rev. John Wilkinson for his erb which hail received a very happy work among the Jews ; £8000 were con· illustration in the presence and minis- tributed by a. single donor in Australia try of Dr. Pierson as Mr. Spurgeon's to modern missions, and we hear almost locum tenens at the Metrollolitan Taber- every week of large gifts to home and nacle. The arrangement is according to foreign evangelizatIOn. A prominent Mr. Spurgeon's mind and heart; and, lady, a well-known countess, has sold judging from the welcome which has all her jewelry and ornaments except been accorded to our American brother, heir-looms, that she may send her valu- the indorsement of the church and con- ables to minister to God's kingdom ; gregation has been assured. Possessed and amid all modern apostasies in doc- of the rare qualifications necessary, there trine and inconsistencies in practice, is every reason to believe that Dr. Pier- there is a practioal protest of conse. son will fully justify Mr. Spurgeon's crated souls in the more complete self. choice, and his own acceptance of the surrender that includes property. Oh, appointment, and that the happiest re- for the new spirit of war for the Lord! sults may be expected from his three When will the world be convulsed not months' ministry. An enthusiast for by the preparations for gigantic de- missions, the aggressive work at the structive conflicts of arms, but by the Tabernacle is not likely to flag; an ear· universal uprising of the Church of nest and an able exponent of the Gospel, God in behalf of the world's conquest the living ministry which has been car· for Christ! ried on so long by Mr. Spurgeon is sure to be maintained."
On Sunday evening, November 1st, The Editor-in-Ohief Abroad. the audience numbered some 6000 per- Our readers will not bE' surprised, bu!; sons, 2500 of whom remained to the the,}' will be gratified to know that Dr. after-meeting. [J. T. G.)
18112.] THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY J. R. MILLER, D.D.
The World-Field-Hints for Prayer and Our very life must be in it, in the tem. Work. per of the divine self-sacrifice. But what a privilege and joy thus to work -An artist was asked, "What is your in it, with God Himself and all the best .picture?" He replied, "My saintliest spirits of the earth, now and next. " That was a good answer for an aforetime! Is it not the grandest testi. artist to make. When a man looks mony to the magnificence of human na. back for his life's best work in any ture that God made us co-workers, not line, his feeling should be that of the in the primary work of creation, but in other artist, who wept when he saw his the far grander work of redeeming the completed masterpiece, because his sat- world? In this work we can make isfaction with it marked the climax of our lives luminous in this world, and his lifework. It should be the same bright forever with a celestial glory in with 1>ur years; we should always look the next." to the next as our best. This is a good thought, too, for every Christian and -For a good while the burden of the every church with regard to the work prayers at monthly concerts was for the of missions-our next year should be opening of doors, the breaking down of our best. We should surpass our best barriers. Now from all the fields comes past in praying, doing, and giving. We the cry that the dOOTS are open everyshould make our monthly concerts for where, and that the want is for men to 1892 the best we have ever had. We go in and occupy them. Later the should become more familiar with the prayers were for men and women who needs of the mission·fields, and with would go to the opening fields. These the nature and extent of the work that prayers have been answered, too, in the Church is doing. We should seek most wonderful manner, and to.day to kindle missionary interest among there are 6000 young Christians in our our friends as in no former year. We country alone who have volunteered should pray as never before for the for mission work, and are ready to go cause of missions. We should give wherever they are sent; and now the more than in any former year. cry from all societies is for money. Thus the responsibility for the work is -One of the address!ls of President thrown back upon Christian people Storrs at the recent meeting of the themselves. God has done His part in American Board closed with these opening doors and inclining men and strong words: "It is a vastly critical women to be willing to go as mission.
time in the progress of Christ's king- aries; He has answered our prayers.
dom, with all the world uprising before Are we going to fail him now? Said us, with wealth enough and men President Gates, in an address at the enough to meet the need, with only last meeting of the American Board: the spirit to use them wanting. Let us .. Oh, my brothers, what answer can settle it in our minds that the world is we give for ourselves before the judg.
not to be converted to God by good ment-throne of God, if this glorious people sitting in pews and listening to work of preaching the Gospel of light sermons, even the best, or sitting in to dying men is checked and dwarfed, rocking-chairs and reading good books. and fails of its glorious possibility, be.
The work is vast, difficult, possible-a cause we who are God's stewards hold work that calls for the labor of enthu- fast to God's money for our own selfish siasm, for prayer and tears, for sweat· uses? There is a time when the AI.
drops, and, perhaps, for blood-drops. mighty Banker of the universe calls in Contributions of money are not enough. His loans. " 68 THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS. [January -There are indications that the time mooring from all its past, and is emis at hand for a great blessing in India. barking upon a movement that must This " slow old land" is beginning to lead on to the greatest of revolutions in arouse from her sleep of centuries and its internal life and external relations." respond to the tender touch of a faith He adds: "The time is most opporthat regenerates. Dr. Phillips writes tune for the pressing of missionary almost enthusiastically of the outlook. work at every point, in every. form, There are open doors on every side. with all our power. The present dis- Prayers are being answered and long, turbances, while not without elements patient labor is having its reward. All of anxiety, are rather symptoms of the India is ready for a forward movement. general ferment that is spreading than In Life and Light we are told of a wide- of a reaction, and will doubtless in the spread restlessness and a spirit of in- end lead to a far more open door for all quiry in India. In a Madras paper eTangelistic work. " these lines are given as the cry of a multitude to-day: -The condition of things in Japan is such as calls for much earnest prayer "We are weary of empty creeds, at the opening of a new year. The Of guides who show no man the way, country is undergoing a wonderful Of worship linked with lust and shame; transformation. Great progress is Life is an iiI, the sea of births is wide, being made in all departments of na- And we are weary-who shall be our guide 1" tional life. The influences of Chris- tianity and of civilization have swept Thank God for those consciously weary through the country in the last few and heavy laden, to whom the mission- years with marvellous rapidity, The aries may carry the pitying, "Come new empire with its constitutional govunto Me, and ye shall find rest for your ernment takes its place almost alongsouls." side the most enlightened European governments in its freedom and liber- -It is to be hoped that the troubles ality. In the Parliament of 300 memin China are not altogether discourag- bers, 13 are professedly Christian men. ing. May there not be an indication The work of Christian missions in that in them of the beginning of a change land has been prospered beyo'nd the in that wonderful country which shall most sanguine hopes of the Church. leave it a new China? Western thought is breaking in among the peo- But in the midRt of all this progress ple. Modern science is forcing itself and success there are dangers besetting through the old walls, and the country the interests of Christianity and of the is feeling its power. Telegraph wires empire, through which only the hand are stretching everywhere. Western in- of God can guide the country. Says ventions are revolutionizing everything. Dr. Ellinwood: "At the present time China is about breaking its old bonds. the forces which array themselves This is the fruit of Christian missions. against the missionary work in Japan The Bible is doing it. There is unrest are entering into a strong alliance, with for the time; there are persecutions a determination to resist the aggressive of missionaries; but while these things influence of Christianity. Very natuare disheartening in a sense, yet there rally the advocates of the old systems is in them an element of victorious- of Japan, as well as the converts to ness. The leaven of Christianity is various types of western infidelity, are working. Says one of the mission sec- alarmed at the influence which Chris· retaries: "Internal changes of striking tianity is gaining in Japan. . • . Books character assure us that this nation of also have recently been published by venerable antiquity and proverbial con- native authors, which earnestly advo· servatism, almost without its knowledge oate a union of all Buddhist sects and and against its will, is in reality unan alliance with the philosophies (in- worship and schools in their own fidel) of the West, in resistance to the dwellings, this order, whioh has not yet missionary efforts of the Christian been executed, but which at any time Church. Evidently Japan is now the might be, is one which may cause serio theatre of one of the most active con- ous trouble. These outcroppings of a flicts of religious and philosophical persecuting and intolerant spirit show thought that the world has known, and a disposition at least to trouble and in. the Christian Church needs to regard terfere with the work of missions in it the more seriously, from the fact that that old country_ Christian truth has no such advantage there as in countries where the momen- -Africa is wide open now to the tum of many generations of Christian Gospel. The explorations of the last influence constitutes an immense con- thirty years have revealed a heretofore servative force. All questions in Japan, terra incognita, and where the old maps to a generation which has had only the had" Great Afrioan Desert," the newer' antecedents of error, are open ques- maps have rivers, lakes, and mountains tions ; and Christianity must take its and great peoples. Rnilroads are being even chances with every other form of built to supplement the splendid water belief or unbelief, save as the omnip- highways whioh nature has provided. otent Spirit of God shall prompt and The doorl;! of language are also being direct the work in answer to the pray- opened ahd mainly by missionaries ers and efforts of His people. " themselves. Four hundred and thirty. eight languages and 143 dialects have There should. therefore, be earnest been oatalogued. Thus a new world is and importunate prayer for Japan, that open to the Gospel. In the Congo Val. wisdom may be given to the men called ley alone is a population equal to that to direct in missionary work; that the of the United States. Stanley travelled Christian Churoh there may be kept in 999 days 7000 miles and never saw from yielding to worldly influences or the face of a Christian, nor of a man counsels, and from all divisions and who had had the opportunity to become dissensions; that the cause of Christ one. Yet he moved among a populamay be advanced until the empire shall tion of fifty millions. What will the be indeed Christian. Church do to send the Gospel through these wide open doors into Afrioa in -There is trouble also in Turkey, 1892? appealing to the prayers of Christian people everywhere. The government -It used to be said that in India the seems desirous to check moral and intel- birds never sing, the flowers have. no lectual progress, and therefore is assum- fragrance, and the women never smile. ing an unfriendly attitude toward mis- No wonder the women of heathen lands sions. Several acts have been com- never smile. Their lot is sad beyond mitted whioh show this hostility. Mis. description, but a better day has come sionaries have been arrested without for them. The Christian women of cause and kept in close confinement, Christian lands are hastening to give as it they were guilty of some grave their sad sisters the blessed story of offenoe. The government also con· the Gospel. There are in the United fisoated a large number of hymn-books States 34 women's foreign missionary and Bible diotionaries belonging to the societies, 10 in Canada, 24 in Great Amerioan mission. In October last the Britain, 1 on the continent of Europe, Sublime Porte issued an order prohibit. and 1 in South Africa. The work that ing the holding of public worship or has been done by these societies, espe. conduoting of sohools in dwellinghouses. As many missionaries conduot cially for the women of heathen lands, only a desire to please white people in is one whose value and influence can- the awkward appointments of their not be estimated. It would be easy to home, they would be of little account; gather up and present here a table of but in many cases it is the outward sign atatistics (see page 954, December num- of a prooess of change which will eventber of REVIEW), but large as ,the figures ualIy rectify even their distorted family would be, they would give no adequate relationships-a heritage from their view of the resulta of the work which heathen ancestry. The desire for a woman, with her loving hear' and her better home life has somehow been imgentle touch, is doing for her sister planted in the young wife's heart during woman in darkened countries. One her school.life. looked at an opal as it lay on a jeweller's case, and it seemed cold and lustre- -Faraday showed that a drop of dew less. Then the jeweller held the stone oontains electrioity enough to rend a in his hand for a few moments, and rook. The Gospel of Christ has in it now it shone with all the colors of the all the power of God and can work marrainbow. It needed the touch of a hu- vels, as it has already wrought marvels man hand to bring out the iridescence. in saving men. Like that stone in its case are the millions of women in heathendom. Their -If we can do nothing else, or whatlives are dull and sad and without ever else we may do, we oan all pray beauty, but they require only the for the blessing of God upon the work warmth of the hands of Christian women of Christian missions, and prayer has to draw out all the beauty that.slumbers mighty power. The worship of Durga, in their nature. "Godly women have the blood.goddess of the Hindus, is atproved themselves the link, so long tended by the most terrible excesses of missing, to bring their sisters in East- sin. Some native converts have agreed ern lands to the feet of Jesus." that every evening this worship goes on they also will meet to pray to God to -The establishment of Christian put an end to the wicked practices. homes is one of the finest results of " Let us go on praying night after night missionary work in heathen lands, and year after year," they say, .. tm we hence the beauty of a picture which a have prayed down the Dllrga Puja. missionary draws of what is being done Let us pray it down. ' , Christians for Zulu girls in the Inanda Seminary: everywhere should join in all such The humble little home shows that the prayers. wife and mother has tried with the little means at her disposal to give a home- -Some idea of the difficulties of city like look to the place. There will be a evangelization may be gotten from a curtain at the window, a cushion on the statement, by the President of the wooden settee, and a bit of frilled cre- Methodist Church .Extension Society, tonne about the shelf which holds her that within one square mile of New lamp and a few books. If it be objected York City there are 20,000 people, nineby the wise in such matters that the teen twentieths of whom are foreign Turkey red and white of the window born and speak 30 different languages. decorations are not artistic, nor the Yet no work is more important just now friII of cheap cretonne, nor the patch- than that which needs to be done in work quilt whioh covers the bed, we our great cities if they are to be saved say, perhaps not, but the mark of the for Chrh!t. The real heathenism that woman's hand and care to our 'mind is found in many of them is appalling. make the dark little room much less One of the most hopeful of recent cheerless. If these things indicate movements is that which looks toward poses purely religious. Within the cen.
the regeneration of the slums. In Lon. tury now drawing to a close 150,000,000 don and now in New York there has copies of the Bible have been printed been an arousing of the people which in 226 different languages. Fifty years promises much. The work should go ago there were 502 mission stations in forward till all the cities have been foreign parts; there are now 5765.
cleansed. One of the saddest things Fifty years ago there were 653 ordained about the slums is that they are fed missionaries; to.day there are 6696 from the churches and Sunday-schools such servants of the Lord. Then there and from Christian homes. The peo. were but 1266 other laborers and help.
pIe there have fallen out and have ers abroad; now there are 50,552.
drifted downward to where they now are. Many of them have memories of -There is a view of the benefits of better days, even of holy things. In foreign missions which should appeal our prayers at the Monthly Concert, the even to worldly men. General Arm· efforts to evangelize our cities should strong says: "America, through the have a place. American Board, expended in fifty years a million and a quarter dollars to -As nearly as can be computed from evangelize Hawaii, and during that the reports of various societies, the fol. time has received about $4,000,000 a lowing summary of Protestant foreign year in trade. England's missions are missions is correct. From churches in said to bring back £10 in trade for United States, Canada, Great Britain, every pound given to convert the and Continental Europe there are in heathen. Christianity means a demand foreign lands 8048 stations and out- for clothing and utensils. The first stations, with 5594 missionaries, 35,343 sign of grace in a penitent savage is a native helpers, and 681,503 communi· request for a .shirt.- cants. The amount of money given last year was $11,429,588. Of COUlse -A writer in the Children's World this summary is incomplete, as there says: "Of every six infants in the are unreported missions and mission. world, one is born in India; of every aries. six orphan girls, one is wandering in India; of every six widows, one is -The reports of the Americsn Board mourning in India; of every six men give the following facts: The Board that die, one is passing into eternity in has under its care 21 central missions India. Think of it, and give India a with 97 stations, 1136 out·stations and part of your prayers•• , 1287 preaching places. A total of 538 missionaries are employed, with 2648 -After two missionary sermons in native laborers. There are 410 churches Melbourne recently a hard.working man with 38,226 church.members. During sent in thetitle·deeds of 93t acres offarmthe year the additions were 3554. In land, worth about $2500, to be divided schools of all kinds 46,403 pupils are between India and New Guinea. Being reported. Medical relief was given duro asked afterward about his gift, he said: ing the year to 100,000 patients. ." This is how I look at it. Supposing I were a boy and my father gave me $5, -The following figures are full of but afterward wanted part of the money interest. Seventy.five million dollars back again to help him in some work are contributed yearly in the United he was doing, and he came to me to States to the sustenance of the Church, help him, and I gave him a five·cent $31,000,000 more being given for pur. piece, what sort of a Bon should I be ?"
'12 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Orga.nized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O. .
-Hermann Wagner and Alexander upon them as touching the redemption Supan have recently published a vol· of the world. All the more since they ume of statistics relating to the popula- are such inveterate and indomitable tion of the globe. Of course the figures travellers, traders, colonizers, and buildthey give for countries not a few are ers of States. Most of all is the call of but estimates, and sometimes are but Providence to British Christians to beguesses; but taken all in all are no stir themselves for the Master, since the doubt the best to be had. They fix the sway of their government is so supreme number of the human family at 1,480,- over so large a fraction of the human 000,000, Of these there are in Europe, race. 326,000,000; in Asia, 826,000,000; in Africa, 164,000,000; in America, 122,_ -India is ten times larger than Ja- 000,000 ; in Australia, 3,000,000; and pan, China nearly three times as large in the Oceanio Islands, 7,500,000. as India, and Africa twice as large as China has 350,000,000 and India 324,- India and China combined. The 000,000, of whom 286,000,000 belong to "Dark" Continent is of vast propor- British India_ Russia has 93,000,000 ; tions as well, and contains a vast multithe German Empire, 49,000,000; Aus- tude which is well-nigh altogether either tria-Hungary, 41,000,000 ; Franoe, and pagan or else Mohammedan. Call the Great Britain and Ireland, 38,000,000 population 164,000,000, acoording to eaoh; Italy, 30,000,000, and Spain, 17,- the latest estimate, that of Wagner and 000,000. But another authority, Pro- Supan, and what impression has been fessor Von Juraschek, gives 1,544,000,- made upon it by the Gospel? Accord- 000 as the population of the world, of ing to a Danish authority, the Rev. whioh Europe has 358,000,000 and the Dean Vahl, in 1890 there were laboring Americas 124,000,000. in Africa, and representing all Christen- dom, 1004 missionaries and 206 women, -" When Shakespeare lived and and 878 native missionaries with 8389 sang, 300 years ago, on the whole globe other native helpers, or a total force of there were less than a million more 10,477, and the fruit of their toil is English-speaking people than now in- found in 214,561 oonverts or communihabit London alone. There were be- cants; but the" Encyclopredia of Mistween 5,000,000 and 6,000,000. So re- sions" gives a list of 43 missionary socently as a century ago, even after this cieties at work between the Mediterrarepublic was founded, there were only nean and the Cape, with 611 ordained 15,000,000 English-speaking persons on men, 170 unordained, 387 women, 209 the globe. At the same date 30,000,000 ordained natives, 4891 native helpers, spoke French and 40,000,000 German. or a total of 6268 persons engaged in Now we find that While the French and bearing the glad tidings to the perish- German tongues are spoken by a rea- ing. Into 565 churches 101,212 souls sonably increased number of individ- have been gathered, 9439 were admitted uals in the world to-day, in Australasia, last year, and 53,235 pupils are receivthe British isles, and in America 115,- ing instruction in 861 schools. These 000,000 olaim English as their mother figures stand for what Protestant Christongue. This is 40 pel' oent of the in- tians are doing-that is, they have sent habitants of the oivilized world." If 1168 men and women to Africa, or such is the fact, it follows that Anglo- about one to every 150,000. Saxon, English-speaking Christians have a tremendous responsibility laid -Next see-one item from many- what the devil and his angels are doing to maintain his widespread and fear- single Christian of every denomination, fully well-established sovereignty over at least 2 Buddhist priests (not head- Africa. The following tabulated state- priests). So there is a population of ment, printed in the {!hristian Union and over 39,000,000 of Japanese without a obtained from the Boston Custom single Christian among them. Once House, shows the exportation of rum to more, if all the Christians in Japan were Africa from the Port of Boston during congregated· in the city of Osaka (500,- the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1891 : 000), there would be in that one city 4 times as many heathen as Christians, …. …. and not a single Christian in any other ;:~ :~ :: :: :: :. part of the country. No, Japan is not r … :: ::: yet a Christian country; and there is room and need for hundreds if not I thousands of missionaries and native evangelists, if this people is to be saved il ere the Lord come." Then ponder this concerning India: "Since 1881 the For two or three years this traffic, which population has increased by 29,000,000 partakes so largely of the inhuman and -that is to say, almost as many souls the hellish, was reported as steadily have been added to the people of India falling off, but now it has again reached in ten years as are comprised in the high-water mark. whole population of England and Wales. The total is now 286,000,000. India -More than one fourth of the earth's contains more people than all Africa inhabitants are crowded into China and and South America combined; more Japan, and more than one fifth into than all Europe, excluding Russia; India; but after all the phenomenal nearly ten times the popUlation of Engsuccess which the Gospel has had in land. Or take the provinces, Bengal Japan, but a trifling beginning has been alone has more souls than the United made. An English missionary states States and Canada combined; the Punthe following facts: "To-day there are jab more than Spain and Portugal ; the 40,000,000 in Japan, and not 40,000, Madras Presidency, equal to Italy and Protestant Christians-that is, one in Belgium together. Each missionary, 1000. For every 2 Christians there are on an average, has 250,000 Bouls to 5 Buddhist temples, not to mention reach." And then, as for China, "not Shinto temples. There are 10,000 more one in 10,000 has as yet ever even heard head-priests of Buddhism than there are of Jesus Christ." Among China's 350,- Protestant Christians, and for every 000,000, 30 ProtAstant societies sustain in all less than 1300 men and women (at the rate of one to 270,000 heathen), something more than 40,000 have been gathered into churches, and about 15,- 000 are receiving instruction in Chris- tian schools. Evidently the call for 1000 more missionaries to labor in China alone is a most modest and reasonable one.
-Or, glance at South America with 7,500,000 square miles and a popula- tion of about 35,500,000. Over almost the entire continent the papacy bears undisputed sway, and heathenism holds the rest. Including the American Bible committed to our trust-as contrasted Society, 8 societies are endeavoring to with the superabounding opportunities diffuse a pure Gospel-the Methodist of this Christian land, where one per- Episcopal Church, North and South, son in every 600 of its 63,000,000 is an the Presbyterian, North and South, the evangelical minister, and one in every Southern Baptist, -the Moravian, and 5 is a professed disciple of the Lord the South American Missionary Society Jesus Christ? Is $6 out of $100, $94 of England. The number of men and being retained for work at home, is $20 women at work is but about 325, and out of $100, $80 being retained for be- the number of communicants is less nevolent work at home, a fair propor- than 15,000. There remaineth yet very tion ?"
much land to be possessed. -0£ the 15,730,000 people of Hun- gary, 3,200,000 are Protestants. Of -Of course there should be some fair these again 2,030,000 are Reformed -that is, some truly Christian-propor- and 1,120,000 Lutherans. The latter tion established and maintained in our have 1195 pastors and 1433 congrega- churches between home expenses, home tions; the former 4241 congregations missions, and foreign missions; and served by 2283 pastors. The Unitarians hence these words of Secretary Alden, number about 1i0,000, organized into of the American Board, are well worthy 187 congregations with 107 pastors. of careful consideration. His figures The Protestants are very active in edu- relate to the Congregationalists. He cational and literary work. The num- says : " There are 4817 chnrches with ber of their schools is 3826, besides 14 a membership of 506,832, a Sunday- preparatory schools for teachers, 52 school membership of 613,810. The high schools, and 13 theological schools. reported contributions for 1890 for , home expenditures' in round numbers -Says Bishop Walden: "Italy has were $6,100,000, and for the several de- above 30,000,000 of people, of whom bepartments of home benevolence $1,900,- tween 25,000 and 30,000 are connected 000, a total of $8,000,000. The reported with some Protestant organization-not contributions for foreign missions were more than one in every thousand of the $350,000. Suppose we add the gener- population. In 1890, 6 Protestant bodies ous sum of $150,000, t6 represent possi- reported 23,452 members, but besides ble unreported contributions, and thus these there is the mission of the Plycall the contibutions to foreign missions mouth Brethren, a few small indepen- $500,000; we have then a total from dent missions, and the several Anglican benevolent contributions, excluding and other foreign churches. The entire legacies, of $2,400,000-that is, $80 out Protestant force, however, must fall beof every $100 is for work at home, $20 low 30,000. The Methodist contingent for work abroad. Bringing in, how- is about 2500, a little more than 1500 ever, the entire home expenditures, are found in the Wesleyan, and a little which is a proper thing to do, we have less than 1000 in the Methodist Episcoan aggregate of $8,500,000. On this pal Mission. The Waldensian Church basis, $94 out of every $100 is devoted began the work of evangelization in to the support of Christian institutions 1848, and reports 18,000; the Free and Christian bene,olence at home, and Church of Italy, united in one body in $6 for the corresponding work abroad. 1865, reports 1800; the Baptist less We ask, Is this a fair proportion? We than 900, and the 'Italian Catholic repeat the question, Is this a fair pro- Church' about 100. Such is the nuportion, particularly when we remem- merical strength of Protestantism in ber the perishing need of the unevan· Italy."
gelized nations-not less than 120,000,- -Belgium received its Roman Catho- 000 of their popUlation being specially lic impress under the iron rule of Philip of Spain, and is to-day, along with Agency, South Dakota, says: "We Spain, the country most devoted to the have just closed the convocation of our papacy, and is in the eyes of the Ro- Indian deanery, which, despite the late man Catholic Church, a true, ideal disturbances, was the largest in num- state. Among its 6,000,000 inhabitants bers and offerings we have ever had. not more than 20,000 are Protestant. Over 1500 people camped around an In 1837 a number of Protestants, among open circle. The women, representing • whom was the well-known Merle d' Au- 36 local branches of the Woman's Aux_ bigne and the church elder Mertens, of iliary, presented in cash $800, and the Breslau, founded the" Evangelical So· young men $170 for all sorts of chari- ciety of Belgium." In 1848 a church, ties, among them being work in Japan consisting of 49 converted Catholics, and China, missions in South Dakota, was organized upon a Presbyterian ba- the Episcopate fund, the native clergy sis, under the name of the" Christian fund, and other objects." Mission Church of Belgium." Accord ing to the statistics of 1889 it consisted -The secretaries of the Missionary of 2; churches, 22 ministers, 81 elders, Society of the Methodist Episcopal 104 deacons, 4 evangelists, 8 Bible Church have issued a circular letter readers, 5 colporteurs, and 4 students showing how the collections for mis- of theology, all under the direction of sions have been steadily advancing, bnt 3 local synods and one general Synod. calling attention to the fact that the In 1888 the number of communicants demand is advancing at a greater rate was 4396 ; Sabbath-schools, 59; schol- than the supply. The table appended ars, 2631. Besides this free church, gives a snmmary of the collections for there is also the Belgian National (Prot- the past seven years for the general estant) Church, whose ministers are work of the Society, both at home and paid by the State. abroad: -What a spectacle was beheld at the 3 … ""~~~o;~~&? :.''","e; Yankton Agency, S. D., a few weeks since, when 1000 Sioux, representing 0 8i~~~f8~~ 0~0 16 tribes-the Omahas, Santees, Yanktons, Yanktonnais, Brules, Ogalalas, E-< :l:g-o"o&'<5~ g,..f…,.t…§….,.,…g……,.,l……i…<is Minnecaujus, Two-kettles, Blackfeet, Hauhapapi, Sissetons, Wahpetons, As- … .,; &3~~8~~~ ~ siniboins, Rees, Mandans, and Gros … ~~E~~~~ <Xi Ventres-came together to hold an an- ~ ~'" nual meeting to tell and to hear the '" ~~~~"t:!~fi 0> story of the victories of the cross. And 0 Ui>""''''''''''' ,…. it was only a year before that the" Mes- c0>r siah crRZe" and the war were on. These were all Christian brethren and Presby- ~ terians and Congregationalists. Among the subjects in which the Indians took -"'" g;:ll~c;;188;g1~ an active and eloquent part were these: " How to Prevent the People from Being … .,S,-. ~_~_~_~_~_~.~_c:!~: Led Away by False Religions," " Should "'"::: 0 Mourners Refrain from Attending Pub- … ~ ":'g~<"o'&~5g"s'"'''','..'..'~'..S.'..;~lIo~ ~> lic Worship 1" "How to Make Prepara- 0 tion for the Sabbath," "The Proper 0 Uses which the Dakotas Should Make of Money Annuities." And further, Ii Bishop Hare, writing from the Rosebud ~ ~ E-< illi§JOCi§OJl&:51-2-O&O5~0g0 I ,…. ""'''''''''''''''''''"'''i?""t -The Presbyterian Church, North, is doing earnest work with excellent results in Western Persia, Rev. J, H. Shedd states: "Four of the churches, with professing Christians of the country.
an aggregate of 879 members, support The system of church polity, which has themselves, and 2 of them contribute slowly developed itself, is rather a com- largely for helping others; 5 other bination of Independency, Presbyteri- churches, with less than 100 members anism, and Episcopacy. An Anglican each, pay half or more of their ex- mission works chiefly on the East Coast, penses, and 28 others pay a less sum to with a bishop and cathedral at Antan- self-support. The tacit understanding anarivo. A Roman Catholic bishop is is that a church of 100 members ought also stationed at the capital. There to be self-supporting. There are some are about 28 missionaries of the London 20 other mission stations-for the nomi- Missionary Society in Madagascar, 10 nal Christians-home missions. One of the Friends' Mission, 10 of the Angli- fourth of this advance work is from the can Mission, 26 of the Norwegian Lu- native missionary fund, and three therans, and about 40 priests and fourths from our mission. The whole brothers of the Roman Catholic Mission.
of this agency cost the New York Board as well as sevflral Sisters of Mercy.
last year $3741, an average of $62 a The London Missionary Society has congregation, to help the development about 950 native pastors and about 100 of the native church and home mis- evangelists or native missionaries sta- sions. Last winter nearly 100 schools tioned in various parts of the country, and over 2000 pupils were cared for at many of them in quite heathen dis- an expense to the Board of $1582.50, an tricts. There are about 350,000 Protes- average of $16 to a school, about 75 tants and about 35,000 Roman Catho- cents to a pupil. To this should be lics. Five sixths of the Malagasy are added the sums given in self-support. still pagans. Schools have been estab- A few schools are entirely self-support- lished, and education is compulsory ing, and all pay some part of the ex- wherever the influence of the central pense, except in a few very peculiar government is effective. All the mis.
cases. In a few places Moslem pupils sionary societies at work in Madagascar attend. The higher education of the col- have colleges and high schools, the lat- lege or female seminary costs the Board ter both for boys and girls, in all of a larger sum. The number of pupils which education is given ~reely, with in the united schools, male and female, but nominal charges for books, etc. Al- was 337 the year past. Of these 202 most every congregation, except the were boarding pupils. The income smallest and the weakest, has its school.
from these is almost enough to pay for The London Missionary Society has their board. The charge to the Board also an industrial school for teaching aside from missionary salaries was handicrafts. Hospitals and medical $2200, which covers expenses of teach- schools are also connected with this So- ers, buildings, rooms, and some inci- ciety, as well as with the Friends, Lu.
dentals. It is about $11 a pupil for the theran and Anglican Missions, and boarding departments." there are now a number of trained doc- tors and surgeons. It is estimated there -A large portion of the Hova and of are about 1800 schools and about 170,- the other tribes in the central districts 000 children under instruction, but it is of Madagascar have been christianized, difficult to get the statistics of the Ro- and Christianity is acknowledged and man Catholic Mission.
protected by the government. There is no state church, although the queen -The Moravian (Bethlehem, Pa.) very and principal officers of the government properly, and in excellent spirit, calls are Qonnected with the churches formed attention to certain misstatements con- by the London Missionary Society, tained in the" October" number of THE which comprises the vast majority of MIsSIONARY REVIEW, "usually so accurate," relating both to the total expen- misstatement referred to is found not diture for missions made by that body in October, but in November instead.
of Christians aD.d the amount contrib- uted by friends from outside. Now, he who would knowingly offend in that way, and thus" belittle the liberality" Monthly Bulletin. of a church which just there comes nearest to the Gospel ideal, would by -News of the death of Miss Jennie the act prove himself the chief of sin- B. Small, a missionary of the Presbyteners. The mistake is deeply regretted, rian Board of Foreign Missions, at and originated wholly from partial and Petchaburee, Siam, on June 2, has been so defective information. However, received. Miss Small taught school for Borrow is not altogether unmingled several years in Mansfield, Allegheny with joy, since the opportunity is thus County, Pa.
afforded to present the facts, which for -The Zambesi Chief Lewanika has substance, The Moravian being author- sent his eldest son Litia to Morija, in ity, are as follows; "The total cost of Basutoland, to receive Christian inour missions in 1890 was $350,475. struction. The chief has many excel- The largest proportion of this-more lent parts, and for some time has been than two thirds-was raised in the mis- on terms of friendship with M. Coilsion fields themselves, through the con- lard, of the Paris Society of Missions, tributions of the converts and also from and Litia himself is a promising young the proceeds of trades carried on in man of Christian character. certain mission-provinces for the benefit of the missions. The sum of $24,060 -The London Christian says; "The is to be credited, as THE MISSIONARY Chinese Government is now taking very REVIEW puts it, to the ' Brethren's con- vigorous steps to suppress and to pregregations,' but this is not all. The vent attacks on missionaries. We may Labrador and the Alaska accounts do therefore reasonably trust that those not pass through our General Board. who are carrying the Word of God into Labrador entailed an outlay of $9800, that distant land will be in less danger Alaska of $8400. The gifts from friends than has recently been the case. This in Britain, including therefore those of is something to thank God for not only the London Association referred to were for the sake of the missionaries, but of $26,686 ; on the Continent of Europe, the future weal of China itself."
$22,656 ; in America, $285. [Total gifts -The work among the blind in Syria from friends, $49,627.] Mite societies is full of interest. The number of blind in the various Moravian congregations seen in the East is very distressing. contributed $3430. Legacies were receiv- There are blind schools at Beirut, Daed to the amount of $23,670, and the in- mascus and Tyre. Blind Scripture come from funded legacies was $37,264. readers have the entree of Moslem homes, How much of the last two items should a privilege which blindness confers. be credited to members, and how much One of the earliest pupils in the Beirut to friends of the Moravian Church, we Blind School, after completing his are not able to say. It may be added studies in Edinburgh University, has that the entire cost of administration been ordained pastor of the Presbytewas but $16,570, and that the total of rian church of Knox, in Brussels, Onadherents is now 90,020, while the tario. home churches number less than 35,- 000." It will be noticed that a portion -The first section of the little rail- of the $350,475 is derived from the road which is to connect Jaffa with Jern- " proceeds of trades." salem has been completed, and tourists Surely, humanum est errare, and the are now able to travel by rail from Jaffa to Ramleh, about one third the dis- Glasgow, said, at the annual meeting of tance. It will not be long before pil- the London Missionary Society, that grims to the Holy Land will be whisked missionaries did not sufficiently raise in an hour from the sea to Jerusalem, the veil and tell what Hinduism is.
to the ~reat disgust of camel owners One could not speak about it and and stage proprietors_ scarcely write about it. Almost every -Some of the Indian women on the temple in India had from 30 to 200 Yakama and Puyallup reservations have priestesses engaged in vice. That was asked that women evangelists be sent how Hinduism dealt with woman. to them, and in response Mrs. E. C. Miller has been sent to Yakama, and -The Bev. Allen Hazen, formerly a Mrs. Bell to Puyallup. The doing of missionary in India, and more recently Gospel work among Indian women will a pastor in New Zealand, has returned, result in great good. If they can be at the age of sixty-eight, accompanied taught the blessedness of peace, and be by his daughter, born in India, to re_ made to know the Prince of Peace, sume, at his own charges, his old work in the Marathi Mission.
Indian wars will soon come to an end. –In an interesting paper in a recent -At the "Keswick Convention," in number of The Church of Scotland Home England, there was a missionary meet- and Foreign XtSsian Record, Rev. Dr. ing, at which many addresses were Mackinnon, of Heidelberg, calls attenmade by missionaries from many lands tion to the thoroughness with which -among others, by Mrs. Grattan Guin- German missionaries are trained for ness, representing, as she said, mission- their work. Their systematic method aries on the Congo River, Mrica, and is said to be remarkable indeed in comby Mr. Robert Wilder, who described parison with the lax preparatory trainthe great volunteer missionary move- ing in some other countries largely enment in the United States_ A very gaged in missionary effort. After satispractical issue of the Convention was factory proof of their fitness for the the fact that a multitude of gifts, vary- life, the candidates in Germany are ading in amount from a few shillings to mitted to attend the Mission House one hundreds of pounds, and reaching the evening in the week for a year. They grand total of £1814, were sent in to be are then entered upon the books of the devoted to the cause of God at home preparatory school for two years for inand abroad. struction in Latin, etc. After this they have a course of instruction of a theo- -A Japanese converted to Christ logical nature, including the study of seems at once to betake himself to the the Bible in the original tongue, and a labor of teaching the truth to his friends few sessions of medical training in the at home and at a distance, and thus is hospital. The years thus spent are use- the way prepared for the minister of ful in developing in the future mission- Christ. No wonder that, with such ary many qualities which are of the ut- preparatory service, the truth is run- most value in the mission field. The ning in that land, and being glorified. rllsult is that men are sent out who are -Mrs. L. J. Newton, in a recent ad- in every way worthy of their work, and dress to the Missionary Conference held who undertake it thoroughly equipped at Chautauqua, speaking of progress in for the master's service. the Punjab, India, said: "We have $7000 invested in our church and hos- -The American Baptist Missionary pital at Ferozepore, every cent of which Union is supporting eighteen preachers was given by native converts." in Russia. One has been exiled to Si- beria for preaching the Gospel, and an- other sent out of the country with only -The Rev. Professor Lindsay, ..··of three hours' notice. -A Misil Agnew, of New York, it is cheerfully, 'and he lived there in the said, when only eight years old gave most frugal and primitive fashion. He her heart to· mission work. She went had no notion of being too valuable in to Ceylon, and spent forty-three un- Europe to be hidden away in the almost broken years. A thousand girls passed inaccessible uplands of Asia. He was through her school. She taught the a true Moravian.
children and the grandchildren of the first generation. The natives called -King Mwanga of Uganda has proher the mother of a thousand daughters. hibited slavery in his dominions.
IShe led six hundred girls to Christ. -The Queen of Madagascar, with They became the wives of the chief 200,000 of· her subjects, is ranged on men, and were shining lights. There the side of Christianity.
are also forty Bible women in India -At Oyamada, Japan, the church of who were trained in her school. 100 members has built a church costing -A few weeks ago a leading Brahman $1300, of which they paid $900 them· in Bombay, an official in the education selves.
department, married the widowed -England proudly boasts that the daughter of another Brahman prominent sun never sets on her dominions. The in the literary world. The ceremony United States may say as much, for was attended by many Hindoos of note. when the sun sets in Alaska it is an The other Sunday a Bombay pleader hour high in Maine. convened a meeting to get sentence of expulsion pronounced upon all the -A medical missionary in China reo Shenvi Brahmans who were present at cently treated fourteen men in one day the marriage. The temple was crowded, who represented eleven of the eighteen but it is a remarkable evidence of prog- provinces of the Empire.
ress that only nine persons voted with -The four gospels have been transthe convener of the gathering. The lated into Uzbek, the language of 2,250" Shenvi is one of the most powerful 000 people in Central Asia, and pub- Brahman castes in Western India. lished by the British and Foreign Bible -The Moravians are alive to their in- Society.
dividual responsibility concerning the -Tunis is under the protection of unevangelized nations of the world, and France. It has a population of 2,000,.
they hold themse~ves in readiness to go 000, mostly Mohammedans, among out as missionaries when called upon whom drunkenness is prevalent.
to do so. This is true of the most -The work of telegraph building in scholarly and distinguished among them South Africa is pushed far ahead of rail· as well as of others. Henry Augustus road enterprise. Savage Africa will Jaeschke, late Moravian missionary in thus be joined with civilization by elec. Northern India and Thibet, besides Ger- tric wire. man was master of Polish, Danish and Swedish, and was acquainted with Eng- -The first section of the Congo raillish, Hungarian, Bohemian, Latin and way has been completed, from Matadi Greek, and, after going to the East, al. to Leopold Ravine, and construction ready knowing Sanskrit, Persian and trains are running.
Arabic, and, no doubt, Hebrew, he -The Chinese Government has fully learned Hindustani and Urdu, and compensated the missionaries in Honan lastly Thibetan. He was likewise for the injury to their property by a versed in mathematics and natural sci. mob only three months ago. ence, especially botany. He obeyed the call of his Church to go to the -The Comber family will be noted Himalayan regions unquestioningly and ,. in the martyr list of Congo Missions, having given five lives already to that -The Rev. Mr. LeWis, of England, work: Dr. Sidney Comber, Thomas J. died recently. In 1842 he went to Comber, Mrs.' Hay, Mrs. Thomas J. India, and having reduced the language Comber, and Mrs. Percy Comber. of the Khassees to writing, he devoted himself to translations, and was able Ohina.-The 32,000 native Chinese without any help but that given by his Moravian Christians gave year before wife, to translate the whole of the New last $38,000 for missionary work. Testament into Khassei. From the work which he started have developed -It is reported that, as a result of 60 churches with a membership of 7000. the great assistance given to the faminestricken people of Shantung, in 1889, -The Rev. W. F. Bainbridge tells the when over $200,000 were distributed following touching story of a Brahmin and over 100,000 lives saved, a great convert hemet in India: .. Ashe talked many have been drawn to pay special of his work and urged me to labor hard attention to Christianity as the religion in the interests of heathen evangelizawhich influences people for such deeds tion, I felt that it was not he, but Christ of kindness and mercy; and during speaking through him. Last mgnth a 1890 it is said that over a thousand per- Conconada brother wrote me of his sons were baptized whose attention was death. He had just officiated at a weddrawn' to the religion of Christ by the ding. A sudden sickness came on befact that the missionaries were so promi- fore he had signed the marriage certifinent in securing this aid and distribut- cate. 'Just your name, brother,' they ing it. Not by any means were all these said, as they put the paper unner his recipients of aid, but they saw what was hand, and the pen between his fingers_ being done for their fellow.men, and , Name? • said the dying Brahmin, compared the fruits of Christianity with , name? There is none other name the fmits ,of heathenism. given under heaven among men where- by we must be saved.' • Yes; but we -It is stated by Dr. Joseph Simms, want your own name. Quick I Write it.' who has lately returned from China, , My name? I have none other name that at least 200,000 girl babies are than the lamb's name written in my brutally killed in various ways every forehead.' And the pen moved and the year in that empire, to get them out of hand dropped, and the spirit was gone; the way. In every large city there are and they looked, and he had written asylums for tl:ie care of orphans, sup- 'Jesus.' .. ported and conducted by foreigners, who save yearly from slaughter tens of thousands of female infants.
India_-Sir Charles A. Elliott, the new -The Methodist Episcopal Church Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, speak- has three conferences in India, North ing at Simla, has added his testimony India, South India, alild Bengal. The to the value of missions as judged from statistics have recently been published the standpoint of high Indian officials. of the three combined, together with cor- .. I make bold to say," were his words, responding figures for 1870, and the " that if missions did not exist it would growth of 20 years thus shown is most be our duty to invent them." This is cheering. The figures for two decades what was said by the famous men who ago are put in parenthesis: Missionbuilt up the administration of the Pun- aries, 72 (19) ; wives, 62 (17); Hindustani jab, and who, when it was !1nnexed in missionaries, 54 (5); Zenana mission- 1849, among their first requirements, aries, 33 (2); baptisms in 1890, 7661 along with courts, and codes, and roads, (471); native communicants, 11,991 and police, wrote home to the Church (600) ; day schools, 853 (117) ; scholars, Missionary Society for a supply of mis- 25,540 (4309) ; money collected in India sionaries. in 1890,217,287 rupees (24,478).
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1891
J. M
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No. t.-Old Series.–J ANUARY.–VoL. IV. No. t.-New Series.
L–LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
FALLEN ASLEEP-REV. JAMES M. SHERWOOD, D.D. Like it winter avalanche in the Engadine-sudden, swift and inevitable-Deathcame to our beloved, associate editor, on October 22d. He had been, as usual, at the weekly prayer service, at Trinity Presbyterian Church, the week previous, and had spoken-all unct'>nsciously-his last public words. At the close of a brief, but earnest and impressive address, he faltered a little, said, "Let us pray," and sank back into his seat, speechless. He was tenderly borne to his home, and, after a few days of flickering flame, life's lamp went out so quietly that the exact moment was scarcely perceptible-let us not say "went out," but was transferred to another sphere to burn and shine forever. This departure withdraws from earthly scenes a man who had a large circle of friends. He had been preacher, pastor, author, editor, and in every sphere of activity he touched nothing which he did not adorn. He was not cut off prematurely, for he was in his seventyeighth year; and his years were packed with various and versatile endeavor. Born in Fishkill, N. Y., in 1813, he had only a common-school education, and entered, as clerk, his father's store in Johnsville; until, feeling in him the resistless impulse, toward the ministry of the Gospel, he, with his father's consent, turned his steps toward the pulpit, was taken under care of presbytery and studied theology with the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Fishkill, Rev. Robert G. Armstrong. At, the age of twenty-two, he was licensed to preach, and subsequently served churches in Mendon, N.Y., New Windsor, N.Y., and Bloomfield, N. J. In each of these churches he left his mark both as a preacher and a pastor.' He also acted as evangelist for a term in Milford, Conn. After his health seemed to demand a change of occupation he found a fitting sphere for his busy brain and ready pen in the gi'eat republic of letters. His work as editor of the National Preacher, Biblical Repository, New York Evangelist, Eclectic Magazine, Princeton Review, Hours at Home, Homiletic Repiew, and MISSION-
FALLEN ASLEEP-REV. JAMES M .. SHERWOOD, D. D
ARY REVIEW, has entered, into the unchangable record of history. He was the founder of Hours at Home, which was, in a sense, the parent of Scribner's Magazine; and the richness, variety, and marvel- lous success of the Homiletic Review, none know so well as the twenty thousand readers who study its pages.
Beside all his occasional papers, published in the leading maga- zines and periodicals, he wrote the "History of the Cross," and edited a new edition of the "Life of David Brainerd." He had also written a voluminous work on "Books and Authors," which has not yet ap- peared in print.
Such are the brief outlines of an intellectual life that extended over half a century. He was thrice married; his first wife was Miss Amanda Carpenter; his second, Mills Jane E. Lamberson; the third, Miss Annie Clarke, who survives him, as do also his five children.
We have never known a man of larger capacity for work. No one who knew him would have suspected that he was far on the way toward four-score years. And there was not the slightest sign of intellectual decadence. Up to the last his mind worked with all its pristine vigor and versatility. To the very day when paralysis struck him, he seemed as fresh and young, mentally, as in the years of early manhood, and he actually worked from fifteen to eighteen hours out of every twenty-four.
He was an embodieo, conscience. Duty was his polar star. Indeed, he had but little patienc~ with anything wrong, ignoble, di3honest. In his vocabulary the word" expediency" was not found. Right was his only might, and principle his only policy. There were those who possibly construed as severity what was only an uncompromising adherence to right and righteousness. I,ow moral standards and equivocal moral practices could find with him no toleration, and but little forbearance.
Religiously he was a thoroughly evangelical disciple. He knew no theology but the old theology of Paul. That was good enough for him. He regarded the new notions creeping into the doctrinal beliefs of our day as signs of degeneration and disintegration. He believed implicitly the Word of God and the whole of it, and bowed in humility before tIle mysteries he could not explain. To no work of his life did he give himself with such absolute heartiness as to the editing of a REVIEW whose grand object was to promote a world's evangeli-' zation. ,He was especially desil'Ous' to live till he might see this, the last and most precious work of his life, established on a basis of permanency and having a world-wide circulation.'
As a man, especially in his own household and within th~ circle of intimate friends, we cannot in these pages undertake to photograph his character. There are some secrets that cannot be unveiled to the common eye-they refuse to emerge from their privacy; they lose their beauty by disclosure. It is enough to say that 'he was most bel6lved by those who best kRew him.
Our readers will no longer read his words or feel the pOWEl'!' of his guiding hand in shaping the content·s of this REVIEW. His work here was invaluable. Although his duties, as simply editor, gave him little leisure as a 'Writer, and it was only in an occasional paragraph or a more infrequent article that his hand was seen, even while hidden, it still moved beneath the whole structure of this REVIEW. He was constantly seeking to engage the most competent pens to contribute to its columns, and was always on the alert to improve its quality and increase its circulation and enlarge its influence.
He rests from his labors; we devoutly believe that his works will follow him.
"MORS JANUA VIT.LE."
It may be well for the editor to add that, being left now in sole <lharge of this REVIEW, he proposes some minor alterations, which will be noticeable in the present issue. The number of departments will be less, and the fine print, so trying to many eyes, will be abandoned. Instead of letters from abroad, we shall venture often to give only their substance, and notices of books will appear on,Iy as editorial notes. The Monthly Bulletin will be simply an appendix to General Intelligence, in the briefest and most compendious form, presenting the latest news from various fields, etc. And, in view of the unselfishness of our work, which is undertaken solely for the promotion of the Kingdom of God, we again ask the prayerful, sympathetic co-operation of all who daily pray " Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done In earth as it is in heaven."
SYSTBMATIC GIVING.-To raise large sums for missions we have no need to depend on a few large givers, but only to "organize the littles." Dr. Guthrie eloquently urged hundreds of the poorer folk to take subscription cards and fill them up with such sums as they were able, from a sixpence to five shillings; and explained to them how the drops unite in showers, the showers produce rills, the rills, rivers, and the rivers make the sea! Not six hours after his speech a poor woman in Currie's Close had collected from scavengers and night police and basket-wives and match-sellers-and beings who live no mortal can tell how, over half a sovereign! And a little woman, who sat in all weathers on the street selling eggs from her ba8ket, brought in five shillings, the earnings of many a day's labor.
LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY
LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. [EDITORIAL. ] On the map of Africa, which history is making, these two names will be engraven in letters so large that they will be read at the distance of ages. It may, therefore, be well to put on permanent record some characteristic facts which link with Equatoria and with each other-David Livingstone and Henry M. Stanley.
DAVID LIVINGSTONE, born March 19, 1813, died April 30, 1873~ having just passed his sixtieth year. Converted at twenty, he was. for forty years, in heart and aim, a mIsSIOnary. Thus have we roughly outlined a life that, within those two-score years, poured forth as much of the costly ointment of a consecrated service as, perhaps, anyone life since the age of the Apostles.
He was a man of singular force. As Sir Bartle Frere said, "Any five years of his life might have established for him, in any other occupation, such a character, and raised for him such a fortune, as none but the most energetic can realize." His last public utterance in his native Scotland seems to have been in Oswell's school, where his closing sentence was: "Fear God and work hard," and these words disclose the double secret of his life. By simple, God-fearing, hardworking perseverance he traveled 29,000 miles in Africa, .and added to the known regions of our globe a million square miles; he discovered Lakes 'Ngami, Shirwa, Nyassa, Moero, Bangweolo, the Upper Zambesi and other rivers; he unveiled the Victoria Falls that surpass Niagara; revealed the high ridges that flank the basin of the central plateau; first, as a European, compassed Tanganyika and gave it its true orientation; explored the geology, and hydrographyfauna and flora of the continent; nd so grappled with the two great enemies of man and beast, in Africa–j'ever and tsetse-that he himself said those two words would, at his death, be found engraven on his heart.
To energy he joined industry. What Livingstone was, as a scientist and explorer, the world does not yet fully know. His powers of mind were but medium, and his early opportunities were but meagre. But, like William Carey, he could" plod;" and rigid economy of time, yoked with patient resoluteness, gave a momentum to his life which native genius and great advantages often fail to secure. In the factory at Blantyre, where attention to his cotton-spinning was necessarily incessant, it was only fragments of time-often less than a minute-that could be spared from his work; but those fragments he gathered up, and it was upon solid and substantial diet that he fed his growing mind. In the books he read as a lad we can see the germs of his scientific career as a man. He was also careful in details. That famous" lined journal' of his was a quarto volume of over 800 pages, where the plain, neat writing is a model and a marvel -of pains and patience. The mind that, even in African wilds, found Telaxation in "Smith's Dictionary of the Bible," will not be charged with lightness or waste of time!
He was certainly ve1'satile~' and what great questions he studied! the dessication of Africa, the possible utilization of her great rivers, .as water highways; the physical structure, geology, climatology, botany, of the tracts traversed! Then, again, we find him translating hymns into the Sechuana language, and adding to all else the toil of book-making, in which, perhaps least of ali, he was a success. This was the only task he did not approach with that enthusiasm, without which he himself said that nothing either good or great is done. Book-making was to him a mere task, to which even crossing Africa was far to be preferred. But it is no marvel if a man, shut in with pagans and for years without contact or converse with a white man, not to sayan Englishman, should feel that he had none of the facile <Jommand over his own tongue, and none of that leisure to digest and .assimilate his own material, which are needful if a book is to be any- thing more than a printed jou1'llal.
Livingstone's services to science were too great for hasty recognition. The accuracy with which he traced his course and marked his geographical points, leaves almost all other explorers behind him. His astronomical observations, his dilicovery of the fact that the In- terior is a plateau intersected by various streams and lakes, whose waters reach the ocean through great fissures in the flanking hills; and his manifold contributions to every department of natural science, compelled even sages to say that such various and versatile suc- .(lesses were without precedent.
Traveler, explorer, geographer, astronomer, zoologist, botanist, physician, missionary-what a many-sided man! What accurate observation of details! What husbanding of results! He brought home twenty-five different sorts of fruits; told of oils, dyes, fibres, varieties -of sheep and vegetable-products of which even the Chamber of Commerce knew hitherto nothing. In May, 1855, the Geographical Sodety decorated him with their highest honor, the gold medal; London, Glasgow and Edinburgh conferred on him the freedom of their dties, while he who loved to minister but not to be ministered unto, shrank from publicity and courted retiracy.
Humor is a conspicuous element in all great natures. A hearty laugh, genuine and generous, somehow inspires confidence. Livingstone's habit of seeing the funny side of things saved many a tragic ending and tU1'lled many a tragedy into a comedy. He writes to his daughter Agnes, about his almost toothless jaws, that if she" takes .any more kisses from him it must be through a speaking trumpet." He declared the sight of a soko (gOt'ilIa) nauseating, and that he is so bideously ugly that he could conceive no other use for him than" to sit for a portrait of Satan." When showing his lantern-slides-the only service for whose repetition the natives clamored-it greatly amused him that those who stood on the side where the slides were withdrawn shrank back in mortal terror lest the mysterious figures that so magically appeared and disappeared should prove wandering spirits and enter into their bodies!
.Duty was his watchword. He was an incarnated conscience. In the scales of a candid mind he weighed eve)·y question, and, aftercarefully considering a course, judged for himself; and then dared to act independently, even though against the remonstrance of his best friends. To keep his word and to do his work was the double motto of his life.
Such elements of character always crystallize about a strong will. His favorite maxim was" Try again!" His persistence and perseverance were heroic and herculean. "If I live I must succeed in what I have undertaken; death alone will put a stop to my efforts,'" were his words in 1866, and they proved prophetic. Half-starved on tough and tasteless African maize, even his goats lost, and milk denied him; his medicine-chest stolen; in the heart of Africa without resource or defence against a thousand ailments, like a warrior without weapons at the mercy of his foes; afterward, narrowly escaping' death thre!l times in one day, and then almost dead of debility and disease;-not one man in a million would have gone forward. Especially when, in 1872, Stanley himself begged him to return with him to England, he never flinched from his resolve to remain in Africa. Nay, when a strange presentiment burdened him that he was on his last journey and would never reach its goal, he pressed on, praying' that before he fell he might work out his purpose!
Self-denial was, from the first, a habit. Privations and sorrows he accepted and expected, as Moses did when he calmly exchanged the treasures and pleaBures of Egypt for a share in the afflictions of the people of God. Rather than sacrifice Africa's good he would spend his last penny, surrender his dearest gains, and give up his last drop of blood.
Such was THE ~IAN who, beyond all others, henceforth stands in history as the heroic friend of Africa. Mr. E. D. Young, who knew him so long and so well, pronounced him" the best man he ever knew.'" Such filial trust in God, such a childlike, Christlike spirit, such loyalty to duty, purity of motive, simplicity of aim, energy of purpose and unselfish love, united to make his life one grand sermon. The iron pen of action, held in the hand of resolve, wrote out its sentences in living deeds on history's imperishable scroll, for all future ages to read in letters of light!
Iile was a man of great faith. His strong but simple confid~nce· in God's providence was the north star of his life. He saw how every' crisis of his life turned upon some seemingly trifling event, as a door swings on a hinge-but the hinge argues a workman who knows how much to hang upon it. He remembered how the chance reading of Dick's" Philosophy of the Future State" led him both toward faith in the unseen and toward a reverent philosophy of science; how Gutz- laff's appeal led him to be a missionary and a medical missionary, too; how while the opium war closed China against him, Moffat's visit wedded him to Africa and to his beloved" Mary" ; how the friendly word of a director procured for him another" trial," while his dangerous illness in London strangely shaped his unconscious future.
He learned also that the leadings of Providence, like the subtle sense of the Inspired Word, are to be read not by the natural but by the spiritual eye; and he sought, by specific prayer for guidance, to cultivate the" single eye," that there might be no dim or confused vision; and carefully watched every motion of God's beckoning hand, pointing finger, or guiding eye. One text gave telescopic range and microscopic delicacy to his vision: "In all thy ways acknowledge Htm, and He shall direct thy paths." This trust in God's providence discerned good and cause for gratitude even in trials and troubles.
Apparent calamity became a storm signal of the will of God; and when, in the death of his wife, that nameless sorrow which finds no earthly balm smote him, his only answer was that great petition of his life: "Fiat, .Domine, voluntas tual"
He believed in special providence. Even among men it is the great minds that give heed to minutire: the astronomer grasps an infinity of small things; the general-in-chief commands the least details in his wide survey of camp and campaign; and so God is not so high above us as not to "number the hairs of our head."
Such a man, of course, loved his Bible, wrote on his heart its pre- cious promises, and became so absorbed in them that he was indiffer- ent, if not insensible, to praise or blame; and, that he might neither be misled nor inflated by human approbation, he made it a rlile never to read or preserve any words ofpraise-which resolve, of itself, marks him as a most uncommon man. While in Manyuema, he four times read his Bible through; and when in Ulva Cottage, in Hamilton, I took that very book in my hands, I saw dimly through my tears the evidences upon its worn pages of the singular devotion of its la- mented owner.
Whatever Livingstons may be in history, in his own eyes he was, first and last, simply a missionary. Charles Gutzlaff's "Appeal for China" first set his heart aflame; but, when his early longing toward China was transferred to Africa, the fire of his enthusiasm lost noth- ing by the transfer of those live coals to a new altar of service and sacrifice. ' When he began his work his conception of himself was that of a mere missionary laborer, but better acquaintance with Africa's wants and woes gave breadth to his aim. He said there was need of one whose plans would embrace a whole continent and its whole. future. The entire land must be surveyed and mapped out; the accursed traf- fic in the bodies and souls of men abolished; the resources of the country developed, and new facilities devised for travel and traffic. Before the missionary could go, his path must be explored. Some John the Baptist must go before Jesus to make a level highway for our God. And this humble missionary-worker unconsciously devel- oped into the MISSIO~ARY GENERAL AND STATESMAN. Restraining the natural impatience of visible progress, he was willing to wait a century for the fruits of his works to be seen; as he grandly declared, the "END OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL FEAT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE EN- TERPRISE."
And so this humble man had a passion to act as a PIONEER, and open a path for others to follow; if he could not himself sow the seed, he could break up fallow ground, where as yet neither sower nor reaper had ever trodden.
Livingstone's ideas of mission work were evangelical and catholic. He offered himself to the London Missionary Society, because its sole aim was to send the Gospel to the heathen; setting up no par- ticular form of church order, but accepting laborers from different denominations, it concerned itself mainly with rearing churches of Christ on Pagan soil. Paul's motto was also Livingstone's: "THE REGIONS BEYOND." He took no "other man's line of things made ready to hand," but yearned to preach Christ where He had not hith- erto been named. As he told the directors of the London Missionary Society, he was at their disposal to "flO anywhere provided only it be FORWARD." The views of Blantyre's great hero, as to missions, are such as we wish might prevail everywhere. "Vith him the foremost law of mis- sions was NOT CONCENTRATION BUT DIFFUSION! However important to secure conversion of individual!'! or of communities, the field is the Vorld, and seed, scattered broadcast over the whole area, is far bet- ter than seed sown however thickly over a limited area. Ve are to seek to sow the whole field, rather than seek harvests however abun- dant in any part of it. He favored colonization, transplanting a body of Christian workmen into the midst of the dark places of the earth and the habitations of cmelty, to show how men and women in every calling, may "abide therein with God;" and he yearned to see twenty . 01' thirty families going together, at one time, to build up a Christian community in the heart of paganism. He gauged missionary success not by the shallow showing of so many converts for so many pounds, shillings and pence; but by the diffusion of better principles which no statistical columns can exhibit, any more than Babbage's calcula- ting machine could suffice for a barometer 01' a thermometer.
He was, in every best sense, a missionary martyr, both in witnessing and suffering. "Sacrifices" he would not call them; but they were many and great. Often soaked with drenching rains; his bed, the coarse, damp grass; his food, bird-seed, roots, African maize; forty timE)s scorched in the furnace of fever; what words can tell the agony, when, April 27, 1860, he left his dear "Mary" in the grave at Shupanga, and turned from her dust to find the only balm for his broken heart in seeking Africa's redemption! Three years later he must have touched the bottom depths of trial. His wife dead, his <lhildren orphans, his expedition recalled, his very efforts to serve God and man apparently turned by Satanic ingenuity into instruments of {lviI, isolated from all true human companionship, with the prostra- tion of disease added to all the vexation of delay and disappointment, how many men have ever faced such environments without suicidal ~e~pair? Seven years later, long without tidings from home,or contact with any European, lingering on a sick bed, without wife, child, mother, brothel' 01' friend to cheer him, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!
Among the great charms of this great man his genuine interest in individuals, however humble, was at once one of the highest, both as an ornament of his character and a secret of his influence. His deep piety transfigured this noble trait into a passion for souls which begot unsparing self-scrutiny. His lament over "poor Sehamy," and his misgivings and self-accusations, lest he had not done all he might to save his soul, reveal profound depths of habitual watchfulness over the lost. He bent every energy to the good of men. When he could not preach, his lantern-slides were made to tell to the eye great facts of Bible history; he subordinated everything to service.
His abhorrence of the slave trade was literally detestation-i. e., it compelled a testimony, which marked his whole course and even his dying utterances. To abate 01' abolish this evil was, perhaps, his master passion. What a debt Christian nations owe to Africa! The destruction of life in the" middle passage" forms but a fraction of the total waste. For every slave transported, a score have fallen by war or violence, disease 01' fatigue. Such atrocities have been linked to this nefarious traffic that the victims sacrificed by it, if laid side by side, would reach round the world, paving with skeletons a pathway over land and sea-bed. Everywhere he saw signs of this continued and continuing desolation-bones bleaching in the sun, fresh corpses floating on the rivers; often heaps of bodies where slave caravans had abandoned their sick, helpless 01' dead. Inhuman drivers shot, stabbed or left to die tho1<e who could not keep up with the rest, and often these were found not yet dead. On his way to Lake Bangweolo he heard six men, wearing the slave yoke, singing in the joy of the vengeance they anticipated in coming back after death to haunt their captors. Exaggeration as to the horrors of this trade is impossible; as the sailor said: "If the devil don't catch these fellows, as well have no devil at all! " The massacres he witnessed gave him the impression of being in hell, and to disclose the horrors of this business so as to lead to its suppression, inflamed his holy ambition more than to reveal the fountains of the Nile. And so, wherever he went, he aimed to teach the first truths of the Gospel and to rouse the dormant Christian con- cience to the measureless atrocity of this traffic. Just one year before his death he uttered those memorable words which still speak from -that memorial slab in Westminster's aisle: "ALL I CAN ADD IN MY LONELINESS IS, MAY HEAYEN'S RICH BLESSING COME DOWN ON EYERY ONE, AMERICAN, ENGLISHMAN OR TURK, WHO WILL HELP TO HEAL THE OPEN SORE OF THE WORLD!"
Livingstone's devotion to Africa was n.ot more remarkable than his power over her sable sons" even his first year there showed that in his hand was the sceptre that could rule Africans. His power was an open' secret. His simple frankness, kindly bearing, honest courage, transparent unselfishness, trust even in strangers, disarmed both sus- picion and antagonism. While with prayer and faith he sowed the seed of the Word, he sowed himself as the seed of the kingdom; and by forgiving injuries and trusting even the unworthy, by absolute fidelity even to trivial promises, and by a Christlike life that taught more than any words, he moulded even savages into noblemen. What his character wrought in this direction may be seen in Susi and Chuma, his faithful body servants, who amid such hardships bore his body from Ilala to England.
Dr. Blaikie, in his charming" Personal Life of Livingstone," sug- gests that the old Roman fashion would have written his name Livingstone" Africanus." When first overwhelmed with the vastness , of Africa, he asked: "Who will penetrate through the Dark Conti- nent ?" And that was the question of his life. From the day in December, 1840, when he first set forth for those shores, this double work, the emancipation and evangelization of Africa, was his passion. When, in 1863, he expected the recall of his expedition, he could only say: "If I am to go ' on the shelf' let that shelf be Africa." And history presents no fact more pathetic, poetic, prophetic in its sym- bolism, than this-that when, on April 80, 1878, he was found on his knees, at Ilala, dead, his heart should be buried there beneath a moula tree, while his body was borne to England to be laid in the great sepul- chre of her greater dead! Emphatically Livingstone's heart was from the beginning buried in Africa; but buried as the seed of a future harvest. It shall not abide alone, but dying, and springing up, bear much fruit-fruit too vast in measure for our arithmetic to estimate! 1Ve yearn to see that life and death bearing fruit in many holy lives. How slow are disciples to learn the ministry of money. Moffat nsed to say that the coming day will :find rich and great disciples regarding it an honor to spend their money not on hounds and horses, but in the support of whole stations of missionaries. Many who read these lines are providentially kept from giving their lives in personal labor for the degraded and destitute. But how many of Ull, had we but the spirit of David Livingstone, would be found living in the persons of other consecrated men and women, and, by the agency of these workmen, preaching the Gospel where Christ had never yet been named. Oh, that those who read the story of such a life, and walk over that memorial stone at the Abbey, would take up the work he laid down, and by their money, their prayers, their tears, their influence, if not their personal efforts, help to heal this open sore of the world, and light the flame of the Gospel and of the new life wherever darkness reigns and habitations of cruelty are found!
Yes, David Livingstone-thy candle, found burning in the grass hnt at IIala, still burns and shines, and never will it go out, until, from Zanzibar to Banana, from Nile to Niger, and from the Cape of Good Hope to the Pillars of Hercules, shall shine the Light of the World!
HENRY MORTLAKE STANLEY is by birth a Welshman, and his. original name was John Rowlands. The same year, 1841, that David Livingstone first reached Africa, was the year that ushered into life the boy who was to be his distinguished successor in the exploration of the Dark Continent. This is one of the striking coincidences of history: while the cotton-spinner of Blantyre was on his way to the Cape, an infant boy at Denbigh, in Wales, was :first starting on his voyage upon the unknown sea of life. A certain Mr. H. M. Stanley,. in New Orleans, adopted this Welsh boy, transmitting to him his own name, little knowing what high honor that boy was to reflect upon it. We follow this waif of humanity, as he enlists in the armies of the Confederacy, and subsequently drifts into the Federal ranks; until 1865, when, acting as secrctary for an admiral, he was promoted fOl' heroism, having manifested his courage by swimming, under :fire, to fasten a hawser to a Confederate vessel.
The next great step toward his after career was his becoming a· representative of the press'-;"a newspaper correspondent. He served in a Guerilla warfare against the North American Indians, then wrote letters to the New York Herald, accompanied the British expedition into Abyssinia, etc. Thus a mixed experience on land and sea, in army and navy, :fitted him for camp or campaign, tent or vessel; picking up scraps of information and gathering treasures of varied experience, he grew to be peculiarly adapted for the unique life he was to lead, but which only God's Providence had foreseen.
In 1869 he was commissioned by James Gordon Bennet, of the New York Herald, to find the lost Livingstone. His expedition was to be kept secret. He went by a round-about course, arrived at Zan- .zibar January 6, 1871, and started for the interior, feeling his way toward Livingstone by such indications as only the most sagacious instinct could recognize. He had used the time at sea, en route to the African Coast, to learn how to take astronomical observations and lJrepare himself as a surveyor. November 10, 1871, found him at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and there he grasped the hand of the .scotch herb, of whom for three years no certain word had reached the ears of an anxious outside world. Twenty-three times Stanley }lad been prostrated with fever, but he felt repaid when, on December 27th, the travelers set out together for Unyanyembe; and more espe- {)ially when, on March 14, 1872, they parted, having been four months .and four days together.
In 1873, Mr. Stanley again accompanied the British expedition to Coomassie. That same year, May 4, 1873, Livingstone was found by Susi, at four o'clock in the morning, in the little grass hut, not in bed but at the bed-side, his head buried in his hands, and both buried in the pillow; the candle still burned, but the candle of life that bad shed its rays so far over benighted Africa, had gone out. In 1874, April 18th, the sacred dust of the great traveler reached their final resting-place in the Abbey; and MI': Stanley led the body of pallbearers, as they deposited, in the tomb in the nave, the body of the man to whom he owed more than to any other human being.
And now begins a new chapter, the .fourth in the weird experi- ence of that Welsh-American. He who, at U nyamyembe, had sorrowfully parted with Livingstone, by that open grave in Westminster, resolved to take up and finish the work he had left undone. And so a new chapter also opened in' Stanley's African experiences. On August 5, he left England, and on November 12-three years almost to a day from the time he first grasped Livingstone's hand-he left Zanzibar again for the unknown interior. At Uganda he met Mtesa, whose warriors he estimated at a quarter of a million. "While at his {)ourt he translated the Gospel according to Luke, and actually wrote a brief analysis of Bible history in Kiswaheli for the monarch's use. Mte,sa professed adherence to the Bible instead of the Koran, and invited to his capital Christian teachers. Stanley then wrote a letter, which was published in the Daily Telegraph, urging that missionaries should be sent. And so Stanley began, in more senses than one, to follow in the steps of the grand Scotchman. The Church Missionary Society sent men to Uganda, who, in 1877 began to labor. That letter of Stanley's had a stl'ange histOl"Y. It was given to I~inant de Belfonds, one of the officers of Gordon Pasha. When he was killed by the Baris the letter was found in his boot and forwarded by Gor- .don Pasha. After a journey of 7,000 miles, consuming 999 days, Stanley reached Banana point, August 9th, 1877. In January, 1879, he was again en route to the Dark Continent, at the head of the expedition, organized by Leopold 11., of Belgium, who, in place of his dead son, adopted Africa as his child and ward. Stanley reached the Congo's Estuary on August 14, 1879; Leopoldville station was built in April, 1882. Compelled by illness to return for a time to Europe, he came back to the Congo toward the end of the same year; and in August, 1884, reported to the King of Belgium that his mission was ac.complished. He had performed the stupendous feat of opening up the Congo basin, with its 5,249 miles of navigable waters, its 43,000,00() of people, its area of nearly 11,000,000 square miles drained by various streams. In February, 1885, the Congo Free State was erected and recognized as such, with Leopold II. as its sovereign.
January 20, 1887, Stanley begins a new chapter, and again Africa is the theatre of his action. He departs from London for the relief of Emin Pasha. February 25th, he once more left Zanzibar, and, going by the Congo's mouth, reached Leopo}dville, April 21st. A year later, April 29th, just fifteen years from the last day of Livingstone's travels, he met Emin Pasha at Kavalli, and December 6, 1889, emerged from darkest Africa once more at Zanzibar.
From that day honors were showered thick as autumn leaves on Stanley's head. The reception given him, May 5, 1890, at Albert Hall, in London, when 7,000 people were present, was one of the most brilliant assemblages of all modern history. Then, on July 12th, in the great Abbey, he led to the marriage altar his accomplished bride, Miss Tennant; and sInce, in her jubilee year, the Queen was there, Westminster has had no such gathering. Had it been a ,royal ceremony, the interest could not have been more intense or the throng more dense. 'l'he long, crimson carpet broke its lines only over the slab which in the isle bore the name of LIVINGSTONE. Two magnificent floral wreaths, one from the officers of the relief expedition, and another from Mr. Stanley himself, were laid on the sides of the prostrate tablet, and when the bride moved up the aisle she gracefully laid still another tribute upon the marble memorial, bearing, in flowers, the words, "In memoriam, DAVID LIVINGSTONE-H. M. STANLEY."
Thus, at no little length, we have chosen to place before our readers in outline, for permanent record, the twin stories of these two strangely-linked lives. We do no injustice to Mr. Stanley when we say, what he himself is reported to have said, that, to the four months and four days that he spent with Livingstone in Africa, he owes the greatest impulses of his later life, and especially his attitude toward Christianity. Livingstone found himself suddenly thrown into the society of a stranger who was far from being a Christian disciple. There is no. evidence that during all those months he ever directly <lonversed with Stanley as to his spiritual interests. But sure we are that by his manifest character he commended the religion of his }Iaster. His uncompromising loyalty to Christ, his unobtrusive conscientiousness, his unselfishness, considerateness, readiness to obligeall this impressed Stanley as no words had ever moved him; and, when he parted from his new friend, he was constrained to' say, what Pilate said of a far greater, " I find·no fault in this man!"
From that day Mr. Stanley has led a life that runs strangely in sympathy with that which had its spring in Blantyre. When Sir William Mackinnon asked the pleasure of presenting· him with some token of friendship to carry with him to Africa, Stanley replied, "Give me a Bible," and he took it and read it thrice through. Afterward, in darkest Africa, constrained at the darkest hour humbly to confess that, without God's help, he was hopeless, he says: "I vowed a vow in the forest solitudes that I would confess His aid before men. Silence, as of death, was round about me. It was midnight; I was weakened by illness, had been prostrated by fatigue, and wan with anxiety for m'y white and black companions, whose fate was a mystery. In this physical and mental distress, I besought God to give me back my people. Nine hours later we were exulting with a rapturous joy. In full view of all was the crimson flag with the crescent, and beneath its folds was the long-lost rear column."
And now he whose previous reserve upon such matters had seemed to bear a special seal of silence, has made this, his latest confession: "Many forms of belief and curious ideas respecting the great mystery of our being and creation have been suggested to me during my life and its wanderings; but after weighing each and attempting to understand what must be unsearchable, my greatest comfort has been in peacefully resting firm in the faith of my sires. For all the human glory that surrounds the memory of Darwin and his wise compeers throughout advanced Europe, I would not abate a jot or tittle of my belief in the Supreme God and that divine :Man called His Son."
Space alone compels our pen to halt as we pursue this fasciitating story of these twin lives. We have had space not even for a paragraph about that last book, with its thousand pages, of forty lines each, all the work of fifty days, and itself a greater feat than his march in Equatoria; and the production of which as a printed volume is said to have employed an army of nearly 15,000 men and women. We have had no space to repeat Mr. Stanley's noble tributes to the heroism and success of Christian missions which present such a marked contrast to some modern critics who ought to have been in better business. We have sought merely to put side by side two lives whose unique parallelism demands a permanent memorial and suggests lessons of lasting value. We must not fail to note one marked contrast. As Livingstone's great successor followed the mIssionary explorer, he iltrewed his path with the blood of the slain. Livingstone had trodden those same paths without even a pocket pistol for personal protection from wild beasts; his great weapon of defence was a magnanimous Love that forgave even the injuries it could not prevent. And, when we read of the demijohns of strong drink which Stanley, in his former passage across the Dark Continent, distributed to those sable sons of her soil whom he employed in building his stations, we cannot but deplore any such ministry to the destructive appetite for intoxicants. We recall that letter, the first written in English by a Congo native, and addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury: " Great and Good Chief of the Tribe of Christ, Greeting: " The humblest of your servants kisses the hem of your garment, and begs you to send to his fellow servants more Gospel and less rum. " In the bonds of Christ, " U GALLA."
And now, 3S we turn from these two lives, may we not invoke the prayers of all Christians that the latter, the unfinished one, may complete its noble and heroic course by a service to God and a ministry to man that shall surpass anything yet accomplished by Stanley, or even by Livingstone? Our living hero is decked with many medals and crowned with many laurels. We crave for him one ,still higher and brighter-a crown wrought by no human handswhose lustrous gems burn with immortal fires and outshine in splendor ~Ven the glory of the stars!
A PERTINENT REPLY.-We understand that our friend, Chaplain :McCabe, has sent the following message to Colonel Ingersoll: "DEAR COLoNEL:-Ten years ago you made the following prediction: 'Ten years from this time two theatres will be built for one church.' The time is up. The Methodists are now building four churches every day-one every six hours. Please venture upon another prediction for the year."
Evidently the Colonel is as far out of the way as Voltaire was when he set up a printing press at Fernay to demolish Christianity. That press is now used at Geneva to print Bibles !!
MONEy.-Early in our own generation there were but five men in this country who were millionaires: John J. Astor and Stephen Whitney, New York; Nicholas Longworth, Cincinnati; William Gray, Boston, and Stephen Girard, Philadelphia. To-day in New York alone there are 500 millionaires, some of them worth from 100 to 300 millions, and in the coffers of American Protestant Christians there are not less than ten thousand millions oj dollars. One man in 1869 spent as much for a corner lot on which to build a private residence as the Presbyterian denomination spent for its entire foreign mission work!
NEW EFFORTS IN BELGIUM
NEW EFFORTS IN BELGIUM.
BY REV. HENRY E. DOSKER, A.M., HOLLAND, MICH.
Of all the countries of the continent Belgium is one of the most peculiar. With an area of 11,373 square miles and a population of nearly 6,000,000, it is the most densely populated strip of land on earth. This may seem strange, and yet it is true. While the Nether- lands come next in order, with a population of 312.86 to the square mile, Belgium crowds together, in the same space, not less than 481. 71 of its inhabitants. British India has only 311.57 and China but 83.86. These figures are respectively taken from the census-reports of 1885~ 1881, and 1887.
The physical aspect of Belgium, generally speaking, is flat, like that of Holland; a great part of the country actually lying below the level of the sea. In t.he south-eastern districts, alone, a considerable highland is formed, of some 2,000 feet high, by a spur of the Ardennes. This mountainous region, rich in different minerals and coal, together with a proverbially rich alluvial soil in the lower parts of the coun- try, enables Belgium to maintain its enormously dense population.
Its inhabitants are of a mixed Teutonic and Celtic stQck. The two main branches are the Flemings of German and the Walloons of Celtic, origin; the fonner out-number the latter, in the proportion of 4 to 3, throughout the country.
The French language is spoken at court and among the higher classes. In the rural districts and provincial towns a curious patois prevails, in various dialects of either Flemish or Walloon. This lack of a national language and literature has greatly retarded the intel- lectual progress of the nation, which is in no wise proportionate to its physical advantages. The educational system of Belgium was, till recently, quite deficient, and the sharp antagonism between the cleri- cal and liberal parties has made adequate provision in its behalf well- nigh impossible.
As might be expected from its history, the religion of the country is prevalently Roman Catholic. Of the nearly 6,000,000 of inhabit- ants, from 13,000 to 18,000 are Protestant, with some 35,000 Jews; the remainder nominally belong to Rome. Nominally, I say, for the close contact with France, the permeating influence of its periodic re- , volutionary attacks, and the prevalence of socialistic and rationalistic tendencies among the masses of the people, have so materially changed the religious 'complexion of the country, that a large pro- portion, possibly a majority, of its inhabitants may be put down as irreligious, if not atheistic.
The Gospel of Christ in Belgium meets with much the same dif- ficulties as it does in France. Efforts to bring the Word of God to the masses of the people have been made for years, and the so-called "Belgian Mission Church," and similar organizations, have not been unblessed in their endeavor to reach the Belgians by the channels of the two great languages of the country. But the trouble was that heretofore the labor performed has been too staid and conservative; the methods adopted were antiquated and ill-adapted to the peculiar character of the people and of the work in hand, and the little focus points of life, which resulted from such efforts, have had a tendency to develop too quickly into establishments for the edification of the few rather than for the salvation of the many.
A new attempt has been made of late at Brussels, which, if it should prove to be tenacious of life may become for Belgium and its capital what the McAll Missions are for France and Paris.
Allow me to outline the new movement. The name of its leader is Rev. N. De Jonge, who, some sixteen years ago, came to Brussels as a young preacher in the Dutch Evangelical Church. Through his personal influence, his church soon developed a rare missionary'activity. He made his people understand their divine call to labor among the bigoted 01' irreligious masses who surrounded them in the capital.
The year 1880 was one of special activity in this line. A revival visited the church, and especially those who were engaged in this department of her labors.
A city evangelization society was organized, of which pastor De Jonge became the director. The double task soon grew too heavy and he was placed before the inevitable choice between his charge and his mission. He was not long in deciding, and yet the decision. was one, in which he staked all on his faith in God; for he lost his salary and had no visible means of support. His resignation took effect on the first of Jannary, 1887, and another pastor soon took his place, whilst~ he began to devote himself, with all the energy of his young and vigorous manhood, to the work of evangelizing the masses of the Belgian capital, trusting, for the support of himself and large family, in the promise of God. And not in vain!
The work now rapidly extended and assumed encouraging proportions. It affords, to-day, the following aspect: a hall, named "Silo," with a seating capacity of 300, in the suburb I..acken; another, "Bethel," with l'oom for 80, about a mile distant, in the same neighborhood. In the suburb Anderlecht, a hall, named "Pniel," with seats for 200; neal' by, at the hamlet of Veeweyde, the hall "Bethlehem," with a seating capacity of 100. And still another and larger hall in the village of Ruysbrock, neal' by, as yet unnamed, but offering room for more than 300 hearers. As with the McAll rooms, the stations are simply but neatly furnished. Every night of the week, meetings are held in at least foul' of these mission halls, and the attend:l.llce is steadily increasing.
Besides all this the Mission has a printing-office in connection with the Silo station, where hundreds of pamphlets. and. tracts are pub- Hshed, to be spread broadcast over the entire kingdom. Two week- lies are issued fram this press: "Het Ohristelijke Volksblad" (The Christian National Paper), and "])e Blijde Boodschap voor Vlaamsch Belgie" (The Glad Tidings for Flemish Belgium.) The circulation of the latter, the smallest paper, has reached the number of 1,500. Moreover, a mission hospital has been opened, and h~ndreds of Catholic patients have been treated and evangelized at this "Beth- esda," as it has been appropriately named.
By catechetical instruction and Sabbath-school work the Mission endeavors to reach Roman Catholic children; hundreds of whom at- tend, notwithstanding the open opposition and secret scheming of the priests. All this missionary work is clinched by systematic house- visitation, which is richly blessed. Besides Rev. De J onge, the director of the Mission, two evangelists, two colporteurs, two regular trained hospital nurses, and some forty assistants are employed. It seems to me that this movement is worthy of close observation and encouragement.
The Catholic masses of Belgium are harder to be reached than those of France. The antagonism against Protestantism here is a.
growth of centuries; its earliest roots lie hidden in the memorable struggle of the eighty years' war. The southern part of the country never fully shared in the struggle for liberty. At Brussels the Spanish court was established; there the two most noted political victims of Alva's wrath were beheaded; there the "bloody assizes" held their councils. At Antwerp the two earliest religious m;utyrs of the Nether- lands fell. When the cause of freedom finally triumphed, and the North became independent, the South was still held in the Spanish vise, and the reformation within her borders had literally been drowned in a sea. of blood. From this time on, the unfortunate country was tossed to-and-fro between the great powers. To-day Austria, to-morrow Spain, then again France ruled it, as a whole or in part. In 1748 it finally came back to Austria, in whose g-rasp it remained, with varying fortune~, till the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, united it with Holland. But the two countries were only united never unijied.
In the revolution of 1830, the Belgians revolted and established their own independence and the severance became a fait accompli, by the treaty of London, May 21, 1833. Hence the antagonism against Protestantism has a political background. To the Belgian mind it is a thoroughly "Dutch" affair. And the overcoming of this prejudice is no small factor in the difficulties of Protestant missions in the country.
May the movement of De Jonge prove for the Belgians what the McAll Mistlion is to France, for the spiritual rescue of hundreds of thousands. Foreign Protestant missions, generally considered, in heathen lands, are far easier and far more hopeful than those COllducted by the handful of trusty laborers, who have given their lives to the evangelization of countries, thoroughly and for centuries nnder the influence of the papacy.
HELPERS AND HINDERERS OF MISSIONS IN JAPAN
[The following charming letter is from the beloved son of Rev. A. J. ·Gordon, of Boston, one of our editorial contributors.] HELPERS AND HINDERERS OF MISSIONS IN JAPAN.
BY ERNEST B. GORDON.
While enjoying the cordial hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Brand, the excellent missionaries of the Baptist Union, I have had considerable opportunity to observe the progress of the work as well as some {)f its drawbacks.
I went over to the Shogum's tombs, in Shita, the other day, and while straying in and about the temple of Zojigi, stumbled across a little fellow, a Buddhist novice, who spoke a little English. He had Dr. Hepburn's Dictionary, and was reading Peter Parley's Universal History. I struck up an acquaintance with him, and learned that he was a protege of Oolonel Olcott, who was to take him to India to study Sanscrit and the sacred books, but was prevented by the boy's poor health. Olcott, as is known, is the American Buddhist who goes about wearing a jewel said to be a crystalized tear of Mme. Blavatsky. He has published a Buddhist catechism in Singhalese, which has received the imprimatur of the Southern Ohurch in Oeylon, and is considered by Oeylonese Buddhists as almost canoni- ~al. It has gone through seventeen Singhalese editions, and was recently published in English by Estes & Lauriat, of Boston. I invited the boy around to Mr. Brand's to dinner and gave him a copy of the New Testament, which he promised to read. Last night he came again and talked a long time with Mrs. Brand about Shaka or Buddha and Jesus. He seemed much interested, especially when she told him of what Jesus left when He came to earth. He was surprised to find that Ohristians were not hateful and bitter.
The story of Roman Oatholic misl"ions in Japan is well known. Shinabara and the Oliff of Pappenberg will ever bear witness to the constancy and heroic endurance of the Roman Oatholic converts. Nevertheless, Oatholicism left a bad impression. I met the other day an old Japanese who remembers distinctly the annual ceremony of trampling upon the cross. A brass cross was brought around to every house in his village by the authorities, and everybody was required to trample upon it as a sign of his repudiation and contempt ()f Ohristianity. Much of this misapprehension and. bitterness still lingers among the Buddhist priests. The little novice, therefore, was pleased at our attention. He promised to come again and hear more about Ohrist.
Oolonel Olcott has done much harm here in Japan. An American is a person of influenee on account of his birthplace. To find an American teaching Buddhism was an experience, therefore, which startled young Japanese and which encouraged the Buddhist priests to attempt the galyanization of their putrescent superstition. Arthur May Knapp, too, the Boston representative of "Reciprocity in Religion," to use his own phrase, is encouraging the Buddhists in every possible way. He has abandoned his title of "missionary," and has assumed that of "ambassador"; the idea being, (,7idently, that he and the Buddhists are to exchange ideas and to treat with each other on an equal footing. This reassures the Buddhists and amazes the advanced men in Japan, who look upon Buddhism with the hatred and contempt which the liberals in Italy feel for the obscurantists of Rome.
Have you seen what Mr. Takahashi Goro, a prominent newspaper man, said at the banquet last May about the Unitarian movement in Japan? Its significance will fully appear when one takes into account the extreme politeness of the Japanese people. He said that he had not yet succeeded in fully mastering the doctrine of Unitarianism. He had perused the books kindly placed at his disposal by Mr. Knapp, but he still remained more or less in the dark. One thing, however, he had ascertained beyond question, viz., that Unitarianism is the child of orthodox Christianity. There was no manner of doubt about its parentage. Why, then, he wanted to know, should the attitude of Unitarianism to orthodox Chistianity be one of antagonism. He had read a book by Mr. Savage, entitled the "Religion of Evolution," and he had learned from it that Unitarianism regards orthodox Christianity with strong feelings of dislike, and would spare no pains to sweep it away from the face of the earth. Was that the proper attitude of a child toward its parent? Certainly not according to Japanese ideas of filial duty. Such an unnatural antipathy could only shock and deter Japanese observers. Besides, the Unitarians should remember that the law of heredity applies to bad qualities as well as to good. ""Vhen a man denounces his parents and declares them unworthy of respect he denounces himself by implication, for as the father is so, to a great extent, must the son be also. U nitarians coming to Japan, and arraying their forces against orthodox Christianity, would immediately find allies in the Buddhists and Confucianists. What would be the sequel of such an alliance? If the three united succeeded in driving out orthodox Christianity, the Unitarians might be quite sure that from that moment these sincere allies, the Buddhists and Confucianists, would turn on them and leave no stone untu'l'ned to drive them out also I In a. recent number of the Japan Mail, Mr. Takahashi Goro invites the attention of the Rev. Mr. Knapp to the short-sightedness of his alleged wish to ally himself with the Buddhists. Mr. 'rakahashi premises that he entertains no ill-feeling toward Unitarianism itself, but being convinced of the folly of the views of its representative in Japan as to Buddhism, he cannot but give utterance once more to the opinions he expressed at the Unitarian banquet some time .ago. Since then, he obse~ves, the Buddhistic press throughout the country had more and more distinctly shown a tendency to utilize Unitarianism as an instrument for attacking Christianity. Mr. Takahashi, however, believed Mr. Knapp to be too sagacious to become a tool of Buddhists. What, then, was his surprise to learn that the Unitarian missionary is still bent on cultivating the friendship of the Buddhists, as is shown by his article on the" Similarities and Dissimilarities of Unitarianism and Buddhism." Mr. Takahashi even goes so far as to say that Mr. Knapp'S attitude toward Buddhism is that of one who flatters, prays and solicits its favor.
"Does Mr. Knapp know," he asks, ,,, what Buddhism is really like? Buddhism is essentially an atheistic religion. This proposition can be proved by quotations from the Buddhist sacred writings." He then proceeds to consider another statement of Mr. Knapp, that, on the fundamental idea of creation, Unitarianism and Buddhism are directly opposed to orthodox Christianity. Mr. Knapp is represented to have stated that creation is not an event, but a perpetual progress which has neither commencement nor end.
"Now, in the first place, it is an abuse of a philosophical term to speak of 'creation' in connection with Buddhism, for how can there be any creation in a religion which does not recognize God? Nor is it correct to say that creation is a perpetual progress without either commencement or end, because man, as maintained by no less an evolutionist than Virchow, does not seem to have made any progress -during the first five or six thousand years. Further, there is no place for the idea of progress in the conception of atheistic creation."
If J-"1r. Knapp means to adopt the theory of atheistic evolution, Mr. Takahashi thinks he would better leave the Unitarian camp and join the atheistic Buddhists. Our author, however, believes that these apparently atheistic opinions have been expressed by Mr. Knapp for the purpose of obtaining the good will of Buddhists, for, from ·other utterances of his, it is evident that he recognizes the existence of God.
Mr. Knapp is said to have observed further, that Buddhism is, next to orthodox Christianity, a representative of the pessimistic religions; but that Unitarianism represents the optimistic religions. Mr. Takahashi does not attach much importance to the fact that Christianity is included among the pessimistic religions of the world, for he thinks this is merely a device of Mr. Knapp's to please his Buddhistic friends. He refers Mr. Knapp to Schopenhauer and Hartmann for an account of the crushing pessimism of Buddhism. He warns Unitarians against being utilized by Buddhists, and quotes from a Buddhist tract, by JUl'. Maesa Unkei, as follows: " Unitarianism will not be productive of any positive bendits / Jmt, as it will be negatively useful in neutralizing the evil effects of Christianity, we approve its spread for the sake of the country / nay" for the sake of our Shin-shu (Buddhistic) views."
It is interesting to note that the so-called " short cut" movement has extended to Japan. Last year the Japanese Presbyterians of Tokyo came to the conclusion that the work in Japan requires not only all the men who could be put through their theological school, but also those whose age or means would not allow them to take the full five years' course. Accordingly, of their own free will, they opened a school for evangelists. This year there are between thirty and forty men studying the Bible and receiving enough instruction to fit them for the work of preaching to the common people. The school is designed of course to supplement, not to antagonize, the Presbyterian Seminary. The Japanese Christians initiated the move.- ment, recognizing as they did the intense need of evang~lizing preachers, skilled in the Word, as well as of pastors versed in hermeneutics and apologetics. Many of the missionaries consider the success of the school as one of the most hopeful signs in late years.
It shows the determination of the Christians here to spread abroad the story of the Cross, and their good, common sense in choosing practical means for the furtherance of the work.
Christian work in Japan is complicated greatly by the present political excitement. The nnwillingness of foreign powers to repeal the unjust and unrighteous treaties forced upon Japan a generation ago has resulted in an increased hostility to foreigners and to foreign things. Christianity, of course, is classed in the latter category. Of our present United States representative, Mr. ,Swift, we will not speaK, except to say that the removal of his predecessor, the Texan Baptist minister Hubbard, appointed by President Cleveland, is greatly regretted. A Christian man, he did all in his power to assist Christian workers. No American since Perry, Minister Bingham possibly excepted, has been so popular in Japan. As to diplomatic. results, the Hubbard treaty negotiated with Count Okuma, although finally breaking down, was the first attempt to settle the vexed question of Treaty Revision in an honorable and statesmanlike way. If Mr;, Hubbard had been retained in Japan, it is likely that the revised treaty would be an accomplished fact, and the Christian missionaries would not be hampered now by the irritated condition of public opinion which prevails throughout the empire.
TOKYO, Oct. 12, 1890.
A JAPANESE CONVERT, who united with Bethany Church, Philadelphia, in 1886, said that "so great were the changes in his native country during the ten years previous, that nothing was left, as it. had been, but the naturalsceneryl"
EXAMPLES FROM MODERN MISSIONARY HISTORY
[Although the number of competitive essays sent in, in response to the editorial note in August number, 1890 (p. 631)-631), is not sufficient to justify the award, the edltor will avail himself of one or more of the best, as was then intimated, as articles in these pages.] EXAMPLES FROM MODERN MISSIONARY HISTORY OF THE UNMISTAKABLE INTERPOSITION OF GOD IN ANSWER TO PRAYER AND IN BEHALF OF HIS SERVANTS AND THEIR WORK.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFORD, M.A., B.D., ROTHESAY, SCOTLAND.
Pentecost was preceded by prayer. The coming of the Holy Ghost and the conversion of 3,000 souls in a single day were the result of ten days' continuous prayer.
Events like the siege and relief of Leyden, in 1574, when the Spanish armies were compelled to retreat, not before the brave Hollanders, but before the force of nature itself, visibly used by God in defence or the oppressed, witness to the fact that the hand of Almighty God is still interposed in behalf of those who trust Him. "As well," shouted the Spaniards derisively to the citizens, "as well can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls of Leyden for your relief." But what was the issue? "A' violent equinoctial gale, on the night of the 1st ana 2d of October, came storming from the northwest, and then blowing still more violently f!'Om the southwest. The waters of the North Sea were piled in vast masses on the coast, and then dashed furiously landward, the ocean rising over the earth and sweeping, with unrestrained power, across the ruined dykes." The relieving fleet sailed up almost to the walls of the city. As the historian records, it was the hand of God that sent the ocean and the tempest to the deliverance of Leyden, and that struck her enemies wi th terror likewise. We cannot doubt that the preservation of Holland and Britain from the Spanish fury were in answer to many prayers offered up by those who fled to God as their refuge. (Motley, Dutch Republic, II., p. 558).
And much more does the history of the church assure us that God answers prayer. If we review the qistory of missions in any part of the wo,dd, we see that those who do the Lord's work live near to Him, and that He guards them in danger, and watches over that work which is not so much ours as His.
1. In the "Life of John G. Paton" (I., p. 118), the events are narrated which led to his leaving Tanna. He says, "On reaching Nowar's village we found the people terror-stricken, crying, rushing about in dispair at such a host of armed savages approaching. The whole village collapsed in a condition of indescribable terror. The approaching multitude had gone to the mission house and broken in the door, and, finding that we had escaped, they rushed on to Nowar's village. W e ~rayed as one only can pray when in the fear of death and on the brink of eternity. We felt that God was near and omnipotent to do what seemed best in' His sight. When the savages were about 300 yards off, N owar touched my knee, saying, 'MisRi, Jehovah is hearing! They are all standing still.' On gazing shc-rewards, we saw a dense host of warriors, but all were standing still. To our amazement the host began to turn and entered the remote bush at the head of the harbor. We were on that day His trusting and defenceless children; would you not, had you been one of our circle, have joined with us in praising the Lord God for deliverance from the jaws of death? I know not why they turned back, but I have no doubt it was the doing of God to save our lives."
2. Again Mr. Paton writes (p. 345,) "About ten o'clock the savages surrounded the mission house. My faithful dog, Clutha, pulled at my clothes and awoke me. I silently awoke Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, who had also fallen asleep. We committed ourselves, in hushed prayer, to God, and watched them. Immediately a glare of light fell into the room. They set fire to the church all round, and the'l a reed fence connecting the church and the dwelling-house. In a ""lW minutes the house, too, would be in flames, and armed savages waiting to kill us on attempting an escape." Mr. Paton then ran out and cut the burning fence and tore it up, thus preventing the fire from reaching the house. He stood surrounded by seven or eight savages who had raised their clubs in the air, yelling in rage that none of them ventured the first blow, though they shouted "Kill him! kill him!" "At this dread moment occurred an incident which my readers may explain as they like, but which I trace directly to the interposition of my God. A rushing and roaring sound came from the south, like the noise of a mighty engine or of muttering thunder. Every head was instinctively turned in that direction, and they knew from previous hard experience that it was one of their awful tornadoes. Now mark, the wind bore the flames away from our house, and had it come in the opposite direction no power on earth could have saved us from being all consumed. It made the work of destroying the church only that of a few minutes; but it brought with it a heavy and murky cloud which poured out a perfect torrent of tropical rain. Now mark again: the flames of the burning church were thereby cutoff from extending to and seizing upon the reeds and the bush, and besides, it had become almost impossible now to set fire to our house." A panic siezed the savages, and, throwing down their torches, they fled.
Returning to the house Mr. Paton was met by Mr. Mathieson, who exclaimed, "If ever, in time of need, God sent help and protection to His servants, in answer to prayer, He has done so to-night. Blessed be His Holy name."
3. In "Darkest Africa" Henry Stanley writes, "Constrained at the darkest hour to humbly confess that without God's help I was helpless, I vowed a vow in the forest solitudes that I would confess His aid before men. A silence, as of death, was round about me; it was midnight. I was weakened by illness, prostrated by fatigue, and worn with anxiety for my white and black companions whose fate was a mystery. In this physical and mental distress I besought God to give me back my people." And' what was the result of Stanley's vow and prayer? "Nine hours later we were exulting with a raptur- ous joy. In full view of all was the crimson flag with the crescent, and beneath its waving folds was the long-lost real' column."
4. Shortly before the disruption of 1843 the Church of Scotland sent Dr. Keith, Dr. Black, Rev. R. McCheyne and Dr. A. Bonar, the last of whom still survives, on "a mission of enquiry to the Jews ;" they went to Palestine, and on their return journey visited Buda Pesth. There Dr. Keith took suddenly unwell, and all hope of his l'ecovery was abandoned.
In Buda Pesth there lived the Archduchess Marie Dorothea. Liv- ing, as she did, among a morally, degraded people, she longed that they might be made acquainted with the Gospel; for seven years she had prayed that God would send them a missionary. And God answered her prayers in a way she thought not of. She heard that an English clergyman lay dying in the hotel; she sent word that nothing should be left undone to save his life. The physicians had given up the case, but to please the Duchess they redoubled their efforts, applying friction and using other means, until, as they held a lighted taper neal' his mouth, the flames wavered: he lived.
The Archduchess visited him, and begged that the proposed mission should be located ill Buda Pesth. This was agreed to, and as long as she lived she gave it her protection and support. Thus the Gospel came into Buda Pesth. Fifty years Gospel work among a people held down by popery and ignorance and sin; such is God's answer to a woman's prayer (see Bonar's "Mission of Enquiry to the Jews").
5. Rev. E. Pearse in "China's Millions," September, 1882, vouches the truth of the following incident (see "Progress in China," by Rev. Arnold Foster, p. 52). "A man was converted, who had been for many years a vegetarian to gain merit and be saved. He came to our chapel, heard and believed the Gospel, and for years has lived a consistent Christian life. Some time ago the people collected a large sum of money to be expended in idolatrous work, in order that their houses might be saved from fire, and asked this man to contribute to that fund. He declined, on the ground that he trusted in the living God, and that the idols were not able to save them from fire. No sooner was the idolatrous ceremony over than an extensive nre broke out in the very street in which this man's house was situated; 120 houses were burnt down, and when the flames were coming nearer and nearer to his house, the people said, 'Now you see what you have got.' And they wanted to persuade him to take out all his furniture into the street that he might save something. He knew that if he brought the things out into the street, even though they would be safe from fire, they would probably be stolen. But he believed that God was going to preserve him from suffering loss, and he told the people so. While they were hurrying to-and-fro in all their excite- ment, he, in the presence of them all, prayed God that He would show that He was the living and true God. And then he watched the fire as it came nearer and nearer, until there was only one house standing between his own and the flames. But just then there was a sudden change in the wind: God had said, 'Thus far shalt thou come and no further,' and his house was saved. If I had time, I could tell you of a great many more instances."
6. David Livingstone, returning from Central Africa, tells of a great inland sea-Lake Nyassa. The Scottish churches and the Uni- versities' Mission take possession of the land for Christ-money and life are freely spent to evangelize N yassaland. After a dozen years the envy of Portugal is aroused; she sends Major Serpa Pinto to sieze the country, and Cardinal Lavigerie is ready with his priests to sta- tion them in all the places where the missionaries have labored, where the graves of English men and English women are "the title deeds to Nyassaland." Alas! is all this work for Christ to be overthrown? No, indeed; a spirit of prayer comes over the British churches, and the Portuguese encroachments are defeated not so much by the s~ates manship of Lord Salisbury as by the prayers of those who sent out the missionaries, and who, day by day, cease not to pray on their behalf. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."
7. On August 19, 1856, Rev. William Burns arrived at the city of Chao-chow-fu, south China; he had gone there in order to preach the Gospel and do colportage work. vVhen suddenly he was arrested and the same night examined before the district magistrate (Life of William Burns, p. 290). The magistrates decided to send him to Canton., It was the time of the Taiping rebellion, and, in addition to this, his arrest took place immediately on the eve of the war which that same year broke out between Britain and China. Had he arrived at Canton just a very little later, while the events begun by Commissioner Yeh were in progress, death would have been the probable result to the missionary. N ow compare an entry made by Mrs. Stewart Sandeman, at Perth, Scotland, in her diary, of date 28th December, of the same year: "Mr. Burns was safely kept through his arrest and imprisonment in China. Comparing the dates I find that we were met in prayer for him during his dangerous jOttrney under guard of the Ohinese ofJicials." (lVlemoir of Mrs. Stewart Sandeman, p. 177).
[ NOTE: The 8th and 9th instances are omitted, having been already published in the REVIEW, 1889, pp. 29, 348-ED.] 10. The repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts in Britain was a.
work as arduous as any in Asia or Africa. Those vile acts roused t(} a white heat the zeal of a noble band like Mrs. Josephine Butler and Miss Elice Hopkins who were aRsisted by men like Mr. Stead, Mr.
Stanfield, ~1.P., and Professor Stuart, M.P. Almost the whole strength of the House of Commons and of the House of Lords were against them. The army and the navy were against them. Two or three women and as many men against a nation! but they determined to struggle and suffer in order to save our poor, lost sisters from the brutality of demon-like men. They could endure to he hooted, to be insulted, to be written against in the daily press, as "the howling sisterhood," and they could enlist the arm of God against the power of British immorality. Christians gave themselves to prayer through- out the whole kingdom, and the power of prayer conquered, the Gov- ernment yielded, and by the unanimous vote of Parliament the Con- tageous Diseases Acts were abolished. '
Verily, there is a God that judgeth in the earth, whose ear is not shut to the cry of those who wrestle in prayer as they do His work.
11. And pr~er which God thus answers for the preservation of His servants and their work, also brings spiritual blessing. We have testimony to this on all hands. For example: Rev. Griffith John, of Hankow, says (Records of the Shanghai Conference of 1877, p. 26)), "Feeling my own lack of spiritual power, I spent the whole of a Satur- . day in earnest prayer for a baptism of the Holy Ghost. On the fol- lowing morning I preached on the subject. At the close of t·he ser- vice I proposed that we should meet for an hour on every day of the ensuing week to pray for a baptism of the Holy Ghost. From fifty to seventy of the converts met day by day, and confessing their sins with tears, pleaded for an outpouring of the Spirit of God. The na- tive church at Hankow received an impulse then, the force of which continues to this day. The Holy Ghost became a mighty reality t(} many. vVhere once other things are preached, Christ and His power to save is now the theme."
12. What a successful mission is that carried on in China by the English Presbyterian Church. Begun in 1847, by that apostolic man> William Burns, it has increased until now it has five separate centres, Amoy, Swatow, Formosa, the Hakka country, and Singapore. With its thousands of converts, its native preachers, its ordained native pastors, its schools and Sabbath-schools, its medical missions, its lady missionaries, it has received from God much spiritual blessing-bless- ing which has enabled the converts to stand true even when persecu- tion brought the loss of worldly goods and when heathen fury against the native Christians resulted in murder: this occurred at Poih-buan, in 1878. And they willingly acknowledge that much of the divine blessing, so abundantly given, is to be traced to a monthly prayermeeting for China, held in a room in Edinburgh.
Whether we are opposed by immoral legislation or the opium trade {)r the cruelties of slavery or of the African trade in alcohol, or by the vast forces of heathenism, let our resources be the power of God made available for all the needs of His church. Yes, in all Christian work God supplies all our need according to His riches in gl'ory in Christ Jesus.
GREED IN THE WAY OF MISSIONARY ZEAL.-We fear that there is no form of selfishness more fatal to missionary consecration than the worship of the dollar. Avarice prevents abundant giving, and it hoards fol' the sake of gain what could be used with the most ~bundant profit in the wide harvest field. Not only so, but the Scripture phrase is sagaciously accurate, gold "blinds the eyes." Men do not see the facts or feel the force of the appeal of God and {)f souls because the love of money intervenes as an obscuring medium. There are many professed disciples who hold a dollar so Dear the eye that they can see scarcely anything else in the world.
Robert Hall, arguing with a clergyman suspected of having -changed his opinions from mercenary motives, proposed to him several reforms of great importance, but was invariably met with the reply: "I don't see it; I can't see it at all."
At length, penciling in small letters the word "God" upon an .envelope which lay on the table, Mr. Hall showed it, and asked: " Can you see that?" "Yes. " Then, covering it with a half sovereign, he asked again: " Can you see it now? " " No." Whereupon, without another word, he went away. The argument was sufficiently conclusive without any drawing of a "moral" after it!
THE " New Theology," according to Dr. O. W. Holmes, in teaching probation beyond this life, has as effectually deadened all sensibility to the fear of eternal punishment, as cocaine, the new local anresthetic, deadens the sensibility of the part to which it is applied. We may be permitted to raise the honest inquiry whether any doctrine which practically destroys the power of the retributions of a future state can have any other effect than to paralyze missionary activity. And, if the tree is known by its fruit, can that be a safe doctrine to hold which either deadens sensibility to the plain warnings of the Scripture or to the degradation and destitution of the heathen world?
DO HEATHEN MULTIPLY FASTER THAN CONVERTS?
DO HEATHEN MULTIPLY FASTER THAN CONVERTS?
BY THOMAS LAURIE, D.D., PROVIDENCE, R. I.
The thought of the conversion of the world prompts the question, " How large is it?" There have been v~rious estimates of its popu- lation. In 1753, Voltaire said 1,600,000,000. Fifty years later Volney put it at 437,000,000. Matte Brun, in 1810, made it 640,000,- 000; Balbi, in 1816, estimated it at 704,000,000, and in 1843, at 739,000,000; Behm and Wagner, in 1880, fixed it at 1,456,000,000, and in 1882, with probably greater accuracy, at 1,434,000,000, though it was less than their previous estimate by 22,000,000. This popUlation they distributed as follows: Europe …….. 327,743,400 Asia…………… 795,591,000 Africa………. 205,823,200 America …………100,415,400 Polynesia…… 4,232,000 Polar Land……… 82,500 Total population of the globe………………… 1,433,887,500 These statistics do not introduce a dissertation on population, but only a brief consideration of a recent objection to the missionary work. It is estimated that modern missions have won about 4,000,- 000 converts from idolatry; but we are told that running parallel with these conversions is an increase of the number to be converted from 600,000,000 to 800,000,000, and if 200,000,000 heathen are added to the number, while only 4,000,000 become Christians, at that rate when will the world be converted to God? At first sight the case seems hopeless, and that on these conditions we can only make progress backward; but is the prospect as dark as it seems? Let us look at it carefully and dispassionately. One thing is plain: while the 200,000,000 are the natural increase of the previously existing 600,000,000, the 4,000,000 are an absolute creation. Four millions from nothing is a vastly greater proportion than the other, though the Bums are larger.
But let us examine the subject yet more carefully. Modern evangelical missions have now been in operation about a century. The first missionary society (the Church Missionary Society) dates from 1792. Now, if conversions began immediately, then the 4,000,000 converts are rightly set over against the 200,000,000 increase of heathen; but if they did not begin for a number of years, then the heathen increase of the years during which there were no converts must be subtracted from the 200,000,000, and so we have already reduced the seemingly hopeless contrast.
But that is not all. '1'he first converts were not only the fruits of many years of labor, but they were very few in number. For many years Leang Afa was almost the only convert among the many millions of China, and this introduces a riew element into the discussion, for while the natural increase goes on from year to year, and from age to age, with slight variation, missionary converts in~ease in the ratio of a geometrical progression. At first there were no conversions at all; only a work of preparation. The military stores are gathered together and the forces massed for the coming conflict, and, when that begins, each prisoner taken is not immured in a dungeon, but becomes at once an active soldier, able to avail himself of his famil- iarity with the condition and position of thc enemy for their over- throw. And it is worthy of notice, that the Lord of Hosts does not isolate the converts, but scatters them purposely among those to be acted on by their example and their labors. Already in some.of the latter decades of the century the increase of the converts has been at the rate of eighty-one per cent., and the natural increase of the heathen during the same period only six and one-half per cent. Now, if that proportion were to continue it would only require a sum in arithmetic to find out how soon the eighty-one per cent. would overtake and go beyond the six and one-half per cent. But we have seen that the ratio is one of geometrical progression-" the constant quantity by which each term is multiplied to produce the succeeding one "-and so we see the way clear to transfer very rapidly the hundreds of millions from the heathen side to the Christian side of future increase.
It may be said this is a very beautiful theory, but-. Then take an actual case. Robert Morrison entered China through much tribulation in 1807. When Dr. Happel' went there in 1844 he found only six Protestant missionaries and two native assistants in all that empire. While at the Shanghai Conference, in May, 1890, 1,285 missionaries and 1,469 native assistants were reported as then in that field, and with slich an increase in the past, what may not be hoped for in the future? Other examples might be given equally encouraging. When a fire is kindled in the forest its progress depends on the denseness of the mass of trees to be set on fire, and when everyone of the millions of China is a tor~h waiting to be lighted, it needs no prophet to foretell the effect of casting in these torches already lighted.
Take another view. A century ago there were in all the earth 174,000,000 nominal Christians, 44,000,000 of them Protestants. Now there are 165,000,000 Protestants, almost as many as the whole number at that time, among 450,000,000 nominal Christians. Add to that that the energy and efficiency of the race is concentrated in those Protestants, and the prospect for the future is radiant. Furmerly the Latin race was the conqueror and colonizer of the world, but since it fell under the paralysis of Popery it has lost its power. Now the race which lives by truth is marching at the head of the race, carrying the source of its own energy to all the nations.
It is significant in this connection that, while one hundred years
THE PRAYER LEAGUE
ago only 22,000,000 of the race spoke E'llglish, 115,000,000 now use that language, an increase of more than 500 per cent., and while at that time the 22,000,000 had neither missions nor missionaries, the 115,000,000 now sustain 120 missionary societies, of which our American Board is only one, and these societies raise annually $11,250,000 for the conversion of the world to God.
Then we need only to call to mind the immense store of Christian literature in that language to thank God that it is having such free course in all the earth.
Indeed, we thank the objectors for calling attention to a line of truth where there is nothing to discourage but everything to fill us with the assurance of a glorious success.
THE PRAYER LEAGUE.
We note with sincere gratitude the movement toward covenant prayer in various parts of the Church, and we regard it as the most promising sign of the times. When God's people begin to pray in faith and with true agreement marvels begin in the earth. And not a crisis of missionary history, from the beginning until to-day, has been turned except by prayer.
The Reformed Church has recently formed a Foreign Missionary Prayer League, whose purpose it is "to unite God's people in abundant and prevailing prayer; to intensify, accumulate and direct the power of prayer so that multitudes of heathen may be turned to the Lord in our missions."
In the very impressive appeal which has been issued prayer is recognized as the mightiest power in missionary work, whether to open the doors, thrust forth the laborers, secure the needful means, or to call down abundant blessing. Those who cannot go to the foreign field can, at least, sustain the work by prayers for it, "striving together" with the workmen by their own supplication. United prayer carries resistless power, as is shown throughout all history, and is especially acceptable to God. The method encouraged is special seasons, daily set apart, and particular prayer for individual persons and places: abundant prayer, prayer with fasting, arid with intercommunication among those who join the league.
Mrs. Joseph Scudder, 57 Cannon street, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., acts as secretary of the league. We exhort all who belong to that communion especially to join this league, and make its objects and aims heartily their own. We believe that if the whole Church would get into a new attitude of fervent, believing prayer there would be such a new Pentecost as the history of man has never yet recorded.
COl>'VENTION OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS AT BANGALORE, INDIA
CONVENTION OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS AT BANGA- LORE, INDIA.
BY REV. JACOB CHAMBERLAIN, M.D., D.D., MADANAPALLE, INDIA.
Bangalore, the chief city of the kingdom of ]fysore, has just witnessed a singular sight for the capital city of a non-Christian kingdom.
Pursuant to an invitation from the missionaries of all societies working in Bangalore and other earnest Christians residing there, a convention gathered at that place on the 23d of September, of missionaries and other ChriAtian workers from all parts of the Madras Presidency with some also from Bombay.
'l'he convention was not for the discussion of abstruse problems of missionary policy, but for the promotion of spiritual life and growth and earnestness in work for the Master.
Trains arriving on the afternoon of September 23d, from four different directions, centering at that place, brought those invited, and others who could attend, from many different provinces, districts, cities and villages. .iUJ. parts of the Tamil country, from near Cape 00morin to Madras and the N eilgherry Mountains,sent representatives. All parts of the kingdom of Mysore, the Kanarese kingdom, were represented. Two delegates from the Marathi country and one from the Gujarathi; myself and another from the Telugu country; missionary workers among the Mohammedans in Hindustani; workers in English among the Eurasians and in the English army, and native preachers in Tamil, Kanarese and Telugu were there. Seven languages were required to do the daily work at their stations of the workers there assembled.
Not missionaries alone: many laymen were there. Coffee planters from the Shevaroy and the Neilgherry mountains. An executive engineer from one of the new state railways on the East Coast; a general and several other officers from the Madras army; soldiers in uniform from the garrison; artisans and tradesmen and their families; natives, male and female, in their striking costumes. All mingled, as children of the King, in this conference. It would be hard to match it in any city of the Western world.
Twelve different branches of the Church of Christ were represented-the Church of England,English Baptists, American Baptists, English Independents, American Congregationalists, English Wesleyans, American Methodists, AustralasianWesleyans, German Lutherans, American Reformed, English Plymouth Brethren and Salvation Army officers-all joined heartily in counsel and prayer for higher spiritual life, for more absolute consecration, for more efficient. service.
Tuesday evening was devoted to an informal reception, a social gathering, the Rev. and Mrs. W. H. I. Picken, Wesleyan missiona- ries of Bangalore, behlg host and hostess.
It gave us all an opportunity of becoming acquainted. English, Germans, Hindus, Americans, Australians, and an exceedingly pleas- ant gathering it was, closing with half an b1u ~Cff more formal words of welcome, praise and prayer.
The next three days, with three sessiOn!, each day, were given to the consideration of "What Christ does for His people," "What Christ does in His people," and "What Christ does through His people," one day being given to each theme.
The vVednesday morning meeting was a Bible reading on the first theme, conducted by Rev. E. Chester, M.D., thirty-one years a missionaryof tbe American Board in the Madura Mission. The afternoon meeting was devotional, led by Rev. I. G. Hawker, twenty-five years a missionary of the London Missionary Society at Belgaum. It was a helpful, uplifting meeting. The evening's session was a more public meeting for addresses on the day's theme, presided over by the representative of the Arcot Mission of the Reformed Church in America, thirty years a missionary among the Telugus, at which every seat in the large audience-room was filled and some stood. Addresses were given by the chairman, on what Christ does (a) by His atonement; by Rev. G. W. Lawday, of Tumkur, Wesleyan, (b) By His example; and by Rev. W. Ioso, London Mission, Madras, (c) By His intercession. The exercises were interspersed with warm prayers and spir:ted singing by a volunteer choir who had previously practiced for the purpose.
Thursday's was the second theme, "What Christ does in His people." The morning's Bible reading on it was led by Handley Bird, Esq., Plymouth Brother, from Coimbatoor, and was exhaustive and stimulating. The afternoon meeting was for ladies only, and was said to have been of exceptional interest. The evening meeting, for public address, was led by Dr. Chester, of Dindigul, and addresses were given by the chairman, by Mr.E.Lynn, Plymouth Brother, Malvalli, and by Rev. John S. Chandler, of the American Madura Mis- SIOn.
Friday was the crowning day. The theme, "What Christ does through His people." The morning Bible reading, led by H. Clift, Esq., railway executive engineer, mapped out the subject well. The afternoon meeting was a conversational session on "Methods of Evangelization," or "How shall God work through us for His higher glory?" 'rhe writer was asked to open and guide the conversation. This was declared to be a "Council of War" for the conquest of India. And it proved one of the most stimulating of the meetings, full of val'lety and suggestiveness.
The methods referred to were: Oral proclamation of the Gospel in the streets, villages, markets, fairs, with such accessories as large colored Scripture pictures or magic-lantern Bible scenes, by night;with cornet and bicycle to tow in the crowd and "baby organ" to hold them for the preaching: Medical missionary work, with preaching to all patients, and terse Gospel tickets for the patients to take home; and Zenana medical work by lady doctors; Reading rooms and preaching halls in crowded thoroughfares; Sunday-school work among Chris- tian and heathen children; Young Men's Christian Association work in large cities, and Young People's Societies of Christian Endeavor in smaller places. The Press and Tract Gospel and Christian book distribution all through the country. Christian school work to reach non-Christian pupils, and to train workers, and Zenana work and Bible women, and lIindu girl's schools to reach non-Christian women.
This meeting being a "family gathering," all mingled freely in the discussion-ladies and gentlemen, lay and clerical, English, Germans, Australians, Americans, Hindus, Episcopalians, Methodists, Salvation Army, Presbyterians, Plymouth Brothers, "Faith Mission" Workers, Baptists, strict and open, Congregationalists and Wesleyans, with prayers of unction, and hymns of victory thrown in all the way. The only difficulty was in bringing the meeting to a close.
Friday evening'S meeting, the closing one of the series, was the most crowded one of all. General MacAusland, of the Madras army, presided and made the opening address, on "What Christ does through His people." (a) by the example and influence of their live!', and was followed by Rev. L. S. Gates, of the American Board's Mission, Sholapore, Bombay, on (b) by their testimony to truth and experience, and by Rev. I. G. Hawker, of Belgaum, on (0) by their works of faith and love.
After the Benediction there was a general handshaking of those who had come, many of them one and two days' journey to attend, and so this memorable "Mildmay Conference," held in India, of Christian Workers, was brought to a close amid a universal desire for a similar meeting to be held next year, at which very many more workers, lay and clel'ica~, will be sure to be present. The Kingdom is coming. We can see its onward progress. God bring it in speedily!
SAID a heathen to a mlsslOnary: "There must be something in your religion which makes you come all the way out here to tell us of it. I am sure I would not go so far to tell you of mine." Nothing is perhaps more likely to impress the minds of pagan people than the evidence that missionaries afford, that the good news is worth telling! And the more sacrifice our evangelism costs us the more eloquent is t.he testimony that missions give to the value of the great salvation and our own passion fOI" souls.
THE MISSIONARY OUTLOOK
THE MISSIONARY OUTLOOK.-I.
BY J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A., LL.D., NICE, FRANCE.
We intend to take a view, if possible, of that field which is the world. It follows, of course, that in so general a survey, many particulars that are by no means unimportant, must pass unnoticed, and that only the most outstanding objects can receive more than a passing glance.
It is often said that we have entered, or are entering, on a new era in missionary history. Various things seem, on the whole, to justify this language. Of these we shall specify only three-the student movement in America, the request of the Missionary Conference at Shanghai that a thousand missionaries be sent to China within the next five years, and a prayer from members of the Church Missionary Society that its missions speedily receive the same accession. Ten or five years ago such things could not have been. The double, indeed ,triple demand (Mr. Hudson Taylor had already asked for a thousand new laborers for the China Inland Mission) for a thousand missionaries, if made, would have been scouted as ridiculous. Reserving to the end of this paper Bome questions as to the practical carrying out of the proposal, we can express nothing but admiration in view of the enlargement of heart which the demand implies.
We divide this paper into three parts. We first advert to the missionary spirit as it exists at home. 'Ve then speak of the position of things in the foreign field. We shall conclude with a few suggestions grounded on the sur~ey we shall thus have taken.
I.
First, then, let us attend to the missionary spirit as it exists in Christendom: Undoubtedly there has been, for a good many years past, a steady growth of missionary zeal. The movements we have already mentioned are the natural result of what preceded. Hardly any portion of the Church of Christ now fails to take a share in foreign evangelistic work; or, if it fails, it is quite aware of having to explain its position and apologize. Otherwise, it knows it will stand condemned at the bar of Christendom. There is not merely a growing interest in non-Christian peoples, arising out of a growing knowledge of their condition; there is a deepening sense of duty towards our fellow-men -an increasingly clear perception of the social character of Christianity. Time was when even good men thought not too much, but too exclusively, of their own salvation. We see better than we did that we must "add to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity"-to love of God and love of Christians-a love that embraces the entire human race and that does not evaporate in talk.
Such is increasingly the feeling of the church, and the general public shares it to a considerable extent. We are old enough to remember the time when any new missionary effort that might be pro- posed was sure to be sneered at-classed under the head of "missions to the moon and elsewhere." But no man will scoff at missions now who does not scoff at the Bible itself, and he who speaks of the useless- ness of missions is prepared to assert in the same breath the useless- ness of Christianity.
This growing appreciation of missions on the part of the general public is due to the strong testimony in regard to their practical ef- ficacy, which has been so often rendered by men fully qualified to form a judgment-many of whom were prepared to look on missions with an eye severely critical. Among .such witnesses Charles Darwin has been one of the most tnfIuential. He certainly had no predispo- sition to think well of missionary work; but, as an entirely honest man, he told what his own eyes had seen. One of his expressions has become proverbial: "The lesson of the missionary is an enchanter's wand." Speaking of some who had ridiculed the work in the South Seas, which he himself had carefully examined, he used the scathing language: "Disappointed in not finding the field for licentiousness quite so open as formerly, they will not give credit to a morality which they do not wish to practise." Testimonies in favor of missions are multiplying. Stanley has spoken, with characteristic warmth, in praise of Mackay and others, and, as we write, an eye lights on the high eulogium which Mr. Johnston, in the New Review, pronounces on the doings of Dr. Laws, of Nyassaland. Mr. Johnston says Dr. Laws "learned to make bricks in order that he might teach others. He has become a practical engineer, carpenter, joiner, printer, photographer, farrier, boat-builder and druggist, so that he might instruct his once savage people in these arts and trades."
Mackay, the "engineer missionary," labored with much zeal in teaching the arts of civilized life at Uganda. He spoke very warmly of the missions at Lovedale and Blythswood, in South Africa, as exemplifying what he regarded as the right kind of missions for Africa. They combine intellectual and religious teaching with industrial training.
Men who are believers in Christianity may be expected to write in terms such as we have been referring to. And when those that are not believers use such language as we have quoted from Darwin, we need not be surprised. For now-a-days many who never think of the service of God, plead earnestly for "the service of man." They have drawn the lesson, directly or indirectly, from the Bible, which makes the service of man an essential part of the service of God; and this they ought, in fairness, to acknowledge. But, although they believe in no Divine command to evangelize the nations; they can hardly deny the elevation of the aim. They may blame the missionaries for proclaiming dogmas which to them seem unintelligible, but the philsnthropic character of missions they do not seek to deny; and, when testimonies multiply as to their practical efficacy in raising degraded races, they cannot but express approval. 1'his is true, at least of the higher class of unbelievers-of men like Cotter Morison, one of the ablest of the Agnostics. He speaks of the "unequaled potency" of Christianity in moulding character, and of the "true Christian saint" as "one of the most wonderful phenomena of the moral wOl·ld-so lofty, so p~re, so attractive." We do not wish to make too much of such testimonies; neither do we despise them; but, at all events, language like this rises infinitely above the polished sarcasm of Gibbon no less than the vulgar ribaldry of Paine.
While we speak thus, we are not ~rgetting that, if missions are better appreciated than they were, yet the missionaries themselves have lately been subjected to severe criticism. It is not long since an Anglican canon was writing foolishly about Mohammedanism, and bitterly about the missionaries of his own church. And, certainly, we cannot overlook the excitement aroused among the 'Vesleyans by charges made by one who had seen very little of India-charges which were repeated in one or two influential quarters at home. Such attacks do temporary harm, both at home and among the heathen; but, as the truth becomes known, there is a great reaction in favor of the men assailed. Canon Isaac Taylor will hardly return to the bat-' tIe, seeing he was not only refuted by missionaries, but charged by literary men like Mr. Bosworth Smith with "invincible ignorance" and" headlong heedlessness." The Canon has done good service in linguistics and archreology, and to these he should confine llimself. And as for theWesleyans, it is, we trust, a joy even in the quarters at home in which the accusations were rashly credited, that, instead of their being" proved to the hilt," the sharp weapon, though powerfully wielded, has not pierced-has barely grazed-the skin. For the mis- .sionaries were, after the fullest inquiry, completely exonerated from all charges made, or implied. And so let us pass from the whole thing as from a painful dream.
Of course, criticism is not over. It is inevitable, if real interest be taken in the work. There will be unjust and ignorant criticism; for some men have a perfect genius for finding fault, and there will be room for legitimate and enlightened criticism, for missionaries are not infallible. Inquiry into evangelistic methods there ought to be. Every true-hearted missionary will be most grateful for any new light that can be thrown upon his work, and all friendly criticism he will meet in a friendly spirit. He will indeed be disposed to smile at not a few of the changes that are suggested as improvements on pres- ·ent methods, for probably either he himself, or others, have already tried the thing proposed and found it wanting; but he will fully appreciate the spirit oy which the criticism is prompted. No doubt, as he watches the slow, steady advance of the truth wherever the Gosper is faithfully made known, he will be pained to note the impatience of some who think that the high places in heathenism ought to be cap- tured by a rush; and he will be disposed to ask why things move so slowly at home-why the Pope and the College of Cardinals are not r converted-why unbelief and worldliness are still so fearfully strong A craving for the salvation of souls is beautiful, but a craving for results, mainly in order that we may get our money's worth, is pitiable; and the Church of Christ needs to examine her own heart and see which feeling chiefly sways her. The Apostle speaks of the need of the sower having" long patience," "till he receh-e the early and the lat- ter rain." N ow, in this ale of unsettlement and restlessness, "long patience" is, to the best of us, difficult of attainment; and many crave- for perpetual excitement and perpetual change. Let the Church be " instant in season and out of season," but let her also seek to enter into fuller sympathy with Him who sees the end from the beginning, and who is seated at the right-hand of God" from henceforth expect- ing till His enemies be made His footstool. "
We hail a growing desire on the part of the Church at home to draw tighter the bonds between the foreign laborers and herself. .One mark of this is the sending of deputies to the missions. When these are wise and sympathetic men, only good should result from this. Would that all home ministers could visit heathendom! It would enable them on their return to plead the cause of missions far more zealously and effectively. "Mine eye affecteth mine heart," and a sight of real heathenism would be a lesson and an impulse for life. Indifference to missions is often traceable to ignorance rather than unfaithfulness. Certainly, in this case, zeal will be in proportion to· knowledge.
All that we have said implies that the interest of the Church, and even of the general public, in regard to mission work has been, and still is, deepening. The world begins to see that the work is good, and the Church that it is glorious. Now, do we sufficiently realize the magnitude and importance of the change? Doubtless everyone has heard of the rebuke administered by Dr. Ryland to young Carey for his excess of zeal, and most of us -can repeat the story of the Scottish Assembly, and good Dr. Erskine's "Rax me that Bible.'" But at a later date such representative men as Bishop Horsley, in England, and Dr. Timothy Dwight, in America, were opposed to the' movement on behalf of missions. Or, going farther back, it is deplor– able that from the Reformation till about the end of the sixteenth century the only great man who is known to have seen the import– ance of missions was Hugo Grotius. When from about the year 1664 the Austrian nobleman Van Welz was striving to arouse the churches: of Germany to a sense of their obligations, he encountered the sternest opposition from men of position and unquestioned orthodoxy, such as Ursinus, the superintendent of Regensburg. "The heathen," said this high ecclesiastic, "have already had sufficient means of learning the truth. The Greenlanders could have learnt it from their neighbors, the Danes and Swedes; and the Turks and Tartars from the Greeks. God is not bound to help these'heathen more than He has done." "As for those who have been persecutors of the faith, why should heaven's pearls be thrown to dogs or swine like them?"* Can such things have been said by the leaders of the Christian Church? Unhappily, yes; and they were, by the people under them, all too readily acquiesced in.
Let us thank God that such words cannot be used again. They would arouse one general feeling of horror throughout the churches.
One proof of the deepening interest in missions is the increasing number of university men that are offering themselves for service. It was long before any such, in the Church of England at least, were willing to work among the heathen; but, during the last four years, seventy-nine English university men have become missionaries. In former days of coldness special colleges for training missionaries were wholly indispensable; but the belief is growing that ordained men in the foreign field require at least as good an education as ordained men at home. In the Presbyterian churches the same training has long been given to both classes; there is no abbreviated curriculum for missionaries. The flower of university youth everywhere is pressing more and more -into the foreign field.
The steady increase of female missionaries is equally remarkable III all missionary churches and societies. If we mention the C. M. S. as an example it is not because it stands specially prominent in this respect, but because the requisite information regarding it happens to be at hand. Three years ago it had twenty-two female missionaries. (excluding the wives of missionaries); now it has sixty. Equal or nearly equal progress has been made by the distinctively female missionary societies connected with all the churches. For example, the Zenana, Bible and Medical Mission has, during the last eight years, sent out 138 additional workers, and is making an effort to send twenty more.
The claims of the heathen world are overwhelming, and the conviction grows that the class of ordained missionaries must be supplemented by the unordained men, with or without academical training. This is as it should be. In certain fields, and for certain kinds of work, the higher education is indispensable; a thorough acquaintance with Hebrew and Greek, for example, is necessary for those who are to translate, or revise, the Holy Scriptures in foreign tongues. Devout laymen do admirable service at home, and why may they not abroad?
* See The Nordisk Missions-tids sleri/t. vol. 1, pages 62, 68. This excellent missionary maga- zine has just been started under the able editorship of Provst (Dean) Vah!. As for women, of course, the question arises: "Is the Church to Rend forth only those who are in the position of ladies?" Certainly; native ladies in India and elsewhere can quickly take the measure of their foreign visitors, and a woman of little education or refinement will hardly be welcome in the homes of the higher and middle classes. But are the lower classes to be' overlooked? No woman whose heart is burning with the love of Christ need despair of doing good to her heathen sisters. And, then, the Spirit of God will seldom work powerfully in the heart without imparting a large measure of sweetness and refinement to the bearing-whereas, polish of manner without the grace of God is nothing worth-for Smooth, good breeding, supplemental grace, 'Vith lean performance apes the work of love.
The importance of medical missions is now pretty fully recognized in Britain and America. lVIedical missionaries having British degrees are about 141 in number; while from America and the Continent there are 150. China has the largest proportion. The number of female practitioners seems to grow rather more rapidly than that of medical men.
So hI' we have spoken of Britain chiefly, though we trust our remarks apply also to America. We proceed to refer briefly to the Continent of Europe.
In Germany there is decided progress in missionary zeal. 'rhe vast territories which Germany now possesses or " influences" in East Africa have naturally led Christians to feel that new obligations rest upon them; and new societies ha~e been formed to meet these claims. For example, one at Neukirchen, another in Bavaria, and another at Berlin (where a third society has thus been set up). In medical missions Germany does comparatively little, though the late Professor Christlieb earnestly pleaded for them. Still, the lVIoravians and the Basle and Bremen societies now recognize their exceeding value.
There is a clear advance in Denmark. The imperative obligation of evangelizing heathen nations has been of late earnestly pressed on believing men and women, and a great many missionary uriions (450, at least, we understand) have been formed. The first university men that have become foreign missionaries did so in 1888 and 1889-one in each of these years; but several students of theology have resolved to give themselves to the foreign work on the completion of their course. ,"Vomen also begin to come forward. A deaconess was sent to India, in 1888; two young ladies are under training for foreign work, and several others are likely to follow their example. No medical missionaries have as yet proceeded from Denmark; but two young men are receiving medical tralning with a view to go out in 189l. The mission to the Red Karens has been given up; but one is to be begun among the Burmese. All this, it may be said, does not amount to much. Still, it distinctly implies progress; and some Danish Christians are very much in earnest with regard to missionary work.
Three missionary societies have for a good many years existed in Norway, and a fourth was formed a short time ago, called the" Free lEssion," which sends out men and women to Natal. Quite recently a small society has been set up which will send missionaries to China.
In regard to medical missions Norway is in advance of Denmark.
Au ordained medical missionary was sent to Madagascar in 1869; a second in 1876, and in the same year a third, who had taken his degree in Edinburgh, was sent to Zululand.
In Sweden there are three larger societies-that of the state (lhurch, the evangelical union, and the missionary union. '1'he Swedes work earnestly in various places abroad, especially in Africa, in the Congo Free States and among the Gallas. They have not been able to enter Abyssinia itself, but among Abyssinians on the borders they have done a good deal. These bodies send out among their agents both m<edical men and ladies. There are several other small SOCletles. There is evidently au increasing zeal for missions in Sweden, and it is interesting to note that the state church, as a (lhurch, is hearty in the cause.
The French Societe des Missions Evangeliques has of late made ~al'llest efforts to increase the zeal of French Protestants. The synods of the National, Free and Lutheran churches some time ago recommended that there should be annually a mission Sunday-a day on which the duty of evangelizing the heathen should be pressed on the attention (If worshippers. Mission festivals (fetes) have been established in "Various places~* though by no means as yet in every parish, as was the hope of the synods; publications giving missionary information are largely circulated, and subscriptions to missions have considerably increased. '1'he missions have struggled with great difficulties (in Senegambia particularly); and now, when France has obtained such vast possessions in northern and western Africa, the question is, (lan the French Protestants rise to the requirements of the high occasion? '1'hey deserve sympathy; they require help in their foreign, as in their home work.
In Holland missionary zeal is increasing, though not rapidly. Switz('rland has the Basil Missionary Society-a most valuable and progressive institution, and the small Canton de Vaud has, sinee 1872, had foreign missions connected with the Free Church. In 1883 the free churches of Geneva an<d Neuchatal joined in the work. The united society is called La Mission des Eglises Libres de la Suisse Romande. The venerable Waldensian Church, while it feels itself especially .. See last annual report, p. 3.
NUNNERY LIFE IN NAPLES
called tp evangelize Italy, has taken some part in foreign missions since 1881. It works in South Africa in connection with the Paris society.
The Finnish Christians are not neglectful of missions to th~ heathen. We wish we could say the same thing of the Hungarians (who are also of the Turanian stock). Still, let us not forget that the "T Hungarian Church works both in Herzegovina and Roumania. e have been speaking of interest in the evangelizing of the heathen nations as it is manifested in Christendom. Happily, the bounds of Christendom are enlarging. Ve may now include Australia and New Zealand under that designation. In point of missionary zeal the churches in these regions are hardly behind those of Europe and America. The Dutch Church in South Africa" is also earnest in missionary work.
[To be continued.] NUNNERY LIFE IN NAPLES.
The recent disclosures in this Italian city have produced a pro- found sensation throughout the whole bounds of the thinking world. A convent in Naples, which for four centuries has been shut to all, and has been appropriately known as the nunnery of the "Buried Alive," has been opened by the police and the secrets unearthed. A young girl had been hurriedly" buried" there to cure her of an un- fortunate passion; but when her family afterwards wiRhed to com- municate with her it was found impossible. An appeal to the Italian Minister of Justice procured an order for entrance, and, against vio- lent opposition, the police forced their way. They found twenty-six nuns, ragged, wretched, and some of them half-insane. Eight of them had been immured in this death trap by order of their parents, against their own will. The horrible spectacle thus brought to 'light has caused the Governor of Naples to order a further and complete investigation, and all the closed nunneries of Southern Italy are to be visited officially. "Free Italy" is proving both her right and her power to be free! These women were walled in, 'Yith only a small opening to " pass in food, and were like bony skeletons, The government pro- poses to turn the large convent into a school for girls. Of course the priests cry, "Sacrilegio I Sacrilegio!"
One of the Erskines said: "I can call God to witness that I have done my best to bring on a definite issue between Christ and the adversaries of the truth." .Let us not be afraid of conflict. Christ came not to send peace, but a sword. Loyalty to the truth will inevitably arouse to violent opposition the minions and myrmidons of' error.
"HOW MUCH BETTER THEN IS A MAN THAN A SHEEP?"
"HOW :MUCH BETTER THEN IS A MAN THAN A SB,EEP?" MATT. xn:12.
BY A. J. GORDON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS• • An absurd question! you may exclaim at first. But it was a very pertinent question when Jesus asked it. And it is just as truly so to- day. For do you not know that our American congress has given vastly more attention to the protection of sheep's wooi than it has given to the protection of the home and family? And this is a typi- cal fact which illustrates the conduct of worldly rulers and secular shepherds in all time. Therefore, it is necessary for us to answer anew the question: "How much better is a man than a sheep ?"
Answer first: "The gooa shephera giveth his life for the sheep,'" (Johnx:ll), which, being interpreted, means: "The Son of God gave himself for the sons of men." Our first computation of the worth of man, then, is not in an earthly currency but in a heavenly; not in the denomination of "corruptible things as silver and gold" but of "the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Think of that, ye monopolists and Christian millionaires~ who have ground humanity between the upper and nether millstones of combination and capital in order to make gain and grist for yourselves, till the Lord has cried out repeatedly: "Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge who eat up My people as they eat bread ?" Here is the difference between man's estimate of man and God's estimate: The one will grind the masses into food for his own stomach, if he can do so; the other-the Son of God-will give his own body to be ground into food for man, saying, as he offers us his own wounded and bleeding members: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." The philosopher, Compte, is said to have instituted and kept what he' called "Man's Supper," in which he partook of a crust of bread and a cup of water, saying, as he did so: "This I do in remembrance of the great multitude who have only a crust to feed upon.'" But such a sacrament is not needed: for the Lord's Supper, instituted centuries ago, declares all this and vastly more. By it our Lord says to our hungry, oppressed and suffering humanity, " I give myself to you, My.body to be your loaf, lIy blood to be your life, take, eat ye all of it." When was ever such valuation set on man as this? "Every man has his price," says the proverb. And the politician is in the market bidding for him; and the capitalist is in the Exchange bidding for him; and the man-slayer stands in the door of his saloon bidding for him. All these are bidding him down, vieing with each other in deadly competition to see which will get him for the smallest. and most paltry price. But Jesus Christ steps into the circle and sternly asks of the bidders: "How much better is a man than a sheep? Look on him, made in the image of God, and, though bruised and broken by the fall, capable of being restored to that image, and re- dothed with glory and honor and immortalityl And is this all that he is fit for, to be sheared of his daily income by the saloon; to ~ Tobbed of his fleece by the usurer, and to be sold in the shambles by the monopolist? I will not bid him down, I will bid him up. 'As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my lifefor the sheep,''' (John x:15). Here is the Divine valuation of man; Christ's invoice of humanity. Look at the price-the Lord Himself – and then estimate the purchase. N ever was such fine gold of purity and perfection coined into a single life; never was such weight of priceless suffering crowded into a single death. And all this the purchase money of our redemption. "Or what Hhall a man give in exchange for his soul?" asks Jesus. And He answers His -questions by giving Himself. We want no more powerful argument for missions than this: "Who loved me and gave Himself for me"- Himself, so infinitely much, for me, so insignificantly little. Then woe to the Christian who can hoard his gold, when the dying millions are crying out for more missionaries to be sent to them; and our bur- dened and anxious Boards are crying out for more money with which to send them.
"How much better is a man than a sheep?" Answer second: "I willmake a man more precious than fine gold/ even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir" (Is. xiii. 12). The seer looked on, through the long perspective of prophecy, to .the day when the heavens shall be shaken; when the sun shall be darkened .and the moon shall withdraw her light. In this time, when God shall }mnish the world for its eyil he "will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible"- then" a man shall be more precious than fine gold." Here is something new in the history of the race. For ages the gold brokers of this world have counted humanity as oBly so much crude ore to be reduced and coined into cash for their vaults. But now the golden age has come when a man stamped with the image and superscription .of God will pass for what he is worth-the highest currency on earth. Hear this, ye missionaries of the Cross! You have forsaken all to go down into William Carey's "Gold Mine," while many of your brethren at home are filling their safes with thousands and ten thousands of superfluous wealth, leaving you short-handed and discouraged for want of helpers which they might send you if they would only give as the Lord has prospered them. And in hours of heart-sinking and faintness you sometimes wonder what you will get for all your thankless sacrifices. Be of good cheer. You are mining men, and that for the most part out of the lowest strata of humanity; and though your products have little value in this world's market, wait a little. There is a financial panic approaching in which yellow gold will go down, while there will be an astonishing rise in your securities. Listen to the report of the coming crash, as it appears on the bulletin-board of James, v: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 'Your riches are co~ rupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat yourflesh as it wereflre. Ye have heaped together treasure for the last days." Did you ever hear of such a gold panic as that? Boom the market; form syndicates; pass silver bills; enlist the banks! It is of no use. The day of judgment has come. "Your gold and silver is cankered." :Millionaires become insolvent, banks suspend, and the only people who have anything to depend on are those who laid up somewhat in the savings bank of heaven.
But what news for the missionary on St. James' bulletin-board? Listen: "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman 1vaiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient/ stablish your hearts/for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." "The coming of the Lord." And what of that? Ah, that is going to revolutionize society. Read the :Messianic Psalm 72d and learn for yourself the change that will be ushered in by the millennium. :Money will go down, man will come up. Immanuel will now control the market in the interest of his clients. "And to Him shall be given the gold of Sheba," and" He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also and him that hath no helper."
And most wonderful of all: "A man shall be more precious than gold." Hear that, 0 long-suffering and patient missionary; your stock will be at par now-as it never has been before. The poor souls which you dug from' the dark caverns of heathenism, and which you coined in the mint of redemption, will be worth millions of such "corruptible things as silver and gold." Did the mother of the Gracchi present her own children to those who inquired concerning her treasures, saying: "These are my jewels?" How much more will the missionary exult in his spiritual children in that. day when the ]~ord shall" make up his jewels," presenting them before the Redeemer, and before the angels, saying: "These are my riches!" :Moffat, who is that black man who stands by your side, and what do you count him worth? And the aged apostle of Africa replies: That is Africaner, the once bloodthirsty and raging man-slayer, now become as gentle and tender as a Iamb since Jesus laid him on His shoulders rejoicing. Do you ask me wha':. he is worth? He is "more precious than fine gold. Yea, than the golden wedge of Ophir." 'Who is that, 0 William Carey, whom you are introducing with such joy to your Lord? That is Khrishna Pal, my first convert from among the heathen of India. Listen, and you shall hear him sing, " 0 thou my soul forget no more The friend who all thy sorrows bore."
And who is this, 0 Boardman beloved, whom you are leading up to the throne with such thanksgiving? This is San Quala, whom God gave me from the dark-faced Karens, and who himself in turn led thousands to Jesus Christ.
" Where can I invest most safely and profitably?" is the question constantly asked on 'Change. Invest in souls; seriously, deliberately and solemnly we urge you to inv~st in souls. There is no insurance on gold and silver that will protect tllem against the fires of the last day. But saved and glorified souls-these are" the gold tried in the fire," out of which your crown of rejoicing shall be wrought. Get money, you mayor may not, 0 Christian. But as you care aught for the rewards of heaven, fail not of getting souls. Get them at your own door; get them from the ends of the earth; but fail not to get them.
" I FEEL age creeping on me. I know that I must soon die. I hope it is not wrong to say it, but I cannot bear to leave this world with all the suffering in it /"-Earl of Shaj~esburJ/.
SCHLEGEL, and Madame de Stael after him, called" architecture, frozen music." From some of the music we have heard in so-called sanctuaries during the past five years we have concluded that the praise was frozen in the icy surroundings of an !esthetic performance, in which all the warmth of devotional fervor had somehow been utterly lost. Is it not possible for even our missionary spirit so to be chilled by the icy rigidity of a heartless formalism, that even while we are boasting of our efficient organizations, God sees that they are like frozen corpses, from which all life is gone?
ARE OUR PASTORS FAITHFUL?
The large number of our non-contributing churches, after making a liberal allowance for unintentional omission, and churches having only a nominal existence, also the trifling amount given to the Foreign Mission Work by congregation" whose wealth runs up into the millions, shows the necessity of some new movement. I have been attending a prominent evangelical church in a great city for the last three years and more, ministered to by one of the most mature preachers in our church, and during the whole tiJlle he has made no reference to the foreign work from the pulpit. The attention of the officers of the church has been called to the strange omission but no explanation has been given. If men who have the ear of the church are silent, God will raise up others. " The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber and help destroy it." This is beyond endurance.-A Parishioner.
1891.J Tl4-NSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK.
-The Missions-Blatt der BrUdergemeine, for June, 1890, gives the follow- -ing account of the peculiar relations of the mission-stations in South Africa to the civil authorities: " The practical English government has long since come to see that mission_ stations are the very best representatives of good morals, good order and civilization, the most trustworthy guarantees of public quiet, above all in the domain <>f the hot-blooded, turbulent Caffres, who have already cost the English colony streams of blood and untold sums of money. No wonder, then, that the higher -officials, in the well-understood interest of the common weal, encourage missions~ It is natural, therefore, when a mission-station is laid out, that they should gratuitously grant the ground required for church, school and missionhouse, if it is in the hands of the government. Indeed, they used also to give, without compensation, even the land for fields and gardens likely to blil required by a future community. This was known as the station-land. The rules and ordinances necessary for such a station then receive government sanction, and the presiding missionary receives civil jurisdiction to expel, from the station and its domain, those that offend against these ordinances by gross offences. Less important violations of station rules are visited with a fine paid into the public purse of the congregation. Thus the presiding missionary of the station is armed, not only with ecclesiastical, but also with civil and judicial prerogatives. On the other hand, the State naturally reserves to its representatives the right to ascertain whethcr the grant in land is actually applied to the designated purpose, whether discipline and good order prev:;til at the station, whether the school is efficiently carried on, and so on. Moreover, those that are condemned to leave the station lands have the right, in case they esteem the penalty unjust, to appeal to a government officer, who takes cognizance of their complaint."
This banishment from the station, however, especially as concerns submission to the heathenish and degrading rites connected with circumcision, is now in disuse, milder, but practically less dangerous and more effective measures of discipline taking its place. This universal Caffre usage, in itself indifferent, is so inextricably interwoven with all manner of vile concomitants, that it seems to be Satan's chief instrument for holding the Caffres under his dominion. Yet a Caffre yputh who does not submit to it becomes virtually a pariah among his tribesmen, and can scarcely obtain, even from Christian parents, the hand of one of their daughters. Its final overthrow will storm the citadel of darkness.
-The Rev. Mr. Stahle, of Australia, a Moravian, though at present connected with another society, communicates the decision of the" Aboriginal Board," appointed to look after the interests of the rapidly-vanishing native race, that they shall all be removed to certain stations, where they shall be kindly cared for, and not allowed intercourse with the whites, or even with the half-whites, until the race disappears, as within a calculable time it appears that it must.
Mr. Stahle says that for several months an awakening, accompanied with rich blessing, had been in progress among the Tapuas of his station. "Much sickness, however, had prevailed, and from January till October there had been eleven deaths. But all who fell asleep bore witness on their deathbed of their faith in Him who justifies the ungodly, and of their fervent desire that they might be permitted to enter into the joy of their Lord."
A visitor to the station, who attended a meeting, says: " But, ah, the hacking cough, which is heard on every side from among them! It sounds like the deathknell over the remnant of the once so numerous native tribes of Australia. Sitting thus in the midst of them, we cannot fail to remark how weakly they are, and how evidently the sentence of death against them is already proclaimed by their debilitated constitution. How emphatic is the appeal to our affectionate Christian sympathy, which resounds in our ears as we listen to this cough!"
-This work of bringing the regenerating influences o(the Gospel to the last survivors of a dying race, casts, of course, a shade of sadness over the minds of the missionaries, such as appears in these words of Missionary Kramer, of the Brethren's Mission, at Ebenezer: "Our beloved Ebenezer will, doubtless, be permitted to enter, as a mission station, upon the new decade. But how will it be at the end? The Lord alone knows. If it is to be dissolved I hope that ourlittle church will remain 'God's house,' and not be turned to the uses of a barn or a· stable. Many blessings, by God's grace, have descended upon us therein, and a certain sadness comes over me when I fear that in the place where we have assembled so often, in the name of the Lord, seeking to be built up out of His Word, or to present before Him our supplications and thanksgivings, or to raise to Him <;lUr songs of praise, the voice of riotous blasphemy may be heard. May the Lord forbid that it should be so !"
The following description of Cashmere, from the Missions-Blatt, reminds one of Moore's "Who has not heard of the vale of Cashmere, With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave, " etc.
"It is a region so richly and bounteously endowed by the goodness of God. that some naturalists have ventured the conjecture that it must have been the cradle of mankind-the origin at Paradise. That wonderful union of the sharpest antitheses in the life of nature, which characterizes the mighty Indian empire, the heat and luxuriant vegetation of the tropics, combined with the refreshing alpine ail' of snowy summits, glaciers and blue-green mountain lakes-so strengthening to the nerves-this fullness of God's glorious creation bursts upon the traveler in Cashmere in its purest, noblest forms. We cannot wonder, therefore, that the children of men to be met with there are also a. wonderful combination of the most startling contrasts. These are the proper inhabitants of the land, genuine Asiatics, arrested in their development for centuries back, and still bound in the chains of a relaxing heathenism. On the. other hand, you meet here with all the facilities of modern intercourse, and the country swarms with Europeans, some seeking recovery from the ill effects of a long sojourn in the heated plains, some finding delight in climbing the glaciers and snowy mountain-tops, like the tourists of Switzerland and the Tyrol."
-It is known that the Moravian Mission among the Himalayas is at oncein Thibet and in India. In other words, the people are Thibetan Buddhists, but are on the Indian slope of the main ridge, and are subject to British authority. They say: "As a missionary, Brother Redslob, so long as he and his wife, though seeking relaxation, are still within the range of Thibetan speech, he feels it incumbent on him, wherever he makes a stay of any length, to bear his witness to the crucified and risen one."
-The Roman Catholic government of Nicaragua, after many refusals, has finally granted permission to the Moravian brethren to establish mission stations in Nicaraguan Territory, for the pastoral care of the converted Indians, who have emigrated thither from the Mosquito State, or have received the Gospel from there.
-The Missions-Blatt' expresses surprise that John Morongo, a leading Indian of their Ramona Mission in California, had previously been a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, but until lately was unbaptized! Of course he was only an adherent, not a member, of the Episcopal Church-a distinction with which our German brethren seem to find it a little difficult to become familiar, as almost everybody in Germany is baptized, and, therefore, accounted a member of some church, though not necessarily a communicant member.
-The Missions-Blatt likewise makes a slight slip, very natural in a German magazine, in speaking of the government of California, instead of that of the United States, as controlling the Indian reservation. The distinction, of course,. is of no consequence to German readers.
-Our German brethren greatly admire the American and English institution of medical missions, to which, for want of suitable candidates, they themselves have not as yet been able to give any wide extension. The Unitas Fratrum, however, has its first, and, at present, its only trained medical missionary, in Carl Marx, who is established in Leh, in connection with its Thibetan Mission. The different German societies are making special effort to come up in time with the Anglo-Saxons in what may be called this left-hand of Christ's work, which now, as with the Lord Himself, has always so mightily supported the work of His right hand.
-The annual report of the Societe EvangeZique of Geneva, for 1890, has-the following remarks: "It is, in fact, beloved hearers, a word of hope, of confidence, indeed of certainty, with which we would fain conclude this reporta word of faith, for that is it of which we have need, in present conjunctures, to sustain us in our work. The times are most serious, and, in face of the growing troubles of the present hour, one might easily be tempted to dl~wur agement. Owing, to our limited view-owing, above all, to the deafening cries of our adversaries, who, in the name of science, of progress, of liberty, of equality, of democracy, proclaim that the era of Christianity is past; that the hour of the definitive enfranchisement of human thought is about to strike on the clock of time–one might believe that it is over with the reign of Christ; that the last times are here, and that the world, given over to itself, is about to undergo the final convulsions. In face of the storm, some are ready to lay down their arms. Why strive, when defeat is certain, why suffer when there is no longer a morrow? Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. Others, more spiritual in appearance, hold another language: "Let us separate ourselves," say they, "from this perverse world, destined to a final destruction. Little Hock of the Good Shepherd, as we are, let us withdraw into His fold; the hour of deliverance is at hand. Let us go out of Sodom and Gomorrah, and, in prayer, await our Deliverer. Let us, too, eat and drink; let us feed on the heavenly bread, let us refresh ourselves with the spiritual drink, and let us abandon to their fate the masses destined to destruction.' Gentlemen, let us listen to neither of these voices, the voice of discouragement and of pessimism or the voice of spiritual egoism; the voice of insane enjoyment or the yet more culpable voice of abdication in the name of sanctity! No, no! neither: .. 'Labor, labor, for the thankful 1 let the thankless hold their hands, Happy the servants whom the Master, when He comes, shall find watching I'
"Is it true, in fact, that the final hour of defeat is arrived, and that everything is discouraging in the Church? Must the rapidly approaching twentieth century necessarily witness a new inroad of barbarians, the more terrible that it will be the inroad of science turned infidel? I do not believe it. It is true that humanity, that unceasing traveler, marches uninterruptedly through valleys and mountain ranges, now ·on the summit, in full sunshine, to-morrow in the depths, in darkness and peril. Possibly we have reached one of those dolorous hours when it descends towards the precipice; but let us not forget it stops an instant; where it takes breath and rests, in order there to address itself to the climbing of new heights. And, gentlemen, let me be taxed with optimism, but I must still say, in spite of all I hear, in spite of all Isee, in de- spite of the sombre prophecies of the guardians of Israel, and of the cries of distretls from the leaders of the flocks, I believe that the present hour is not an hour for despair; I believe that at this end of a century Christianity is not like a wild creature brought to bay; I believe, and I may even say I affirm, that never has the Church been more active, more audacious, more victorious; that never, at any epoch of its history, has Christianity exercised upon the world a power more energetic and more glorious.
"To open, Christians, the way to you, the princes of industrial civilization are transformed, without willing it or knowing it, into pioneers of Providence. These bridges which they hang in air, these mountains which they transpierce, those roads on which fire is their ,bearer and which they desire to serve their ambition, are only channels through which the Spirit is to flow. Thus did three centuries before Jesus Christ, the conquering Alexander, when he sub- dued Asia and transplanted the Hellenic civilization into the distant Orient; thus did the Romans, his successors, when marching in their turn to the con- quest of the world, they brought peoples together by their arms, and furrowed the three continents with their military roads. They believed that by these their legions would eternally pass and repass to impose their commands on the world. They knew not, what we know to-day, that they were preparing tri- umphal ways for the Saviour and his Apostles. 0, you, then,masters of science and of wealth, engineers, colonizers, conquerors, whatever may be your names and your designs, continue the work of your predecessors, abridge space, les- sen the breadth of the sea by your steamers, and suppress distance by your telegraphs, draw from nature her final secrets, so that one day the Truth may no longer be checked by rivers and by mountains, but may advance rapidly to break the last-remaining bonds of slavery and to stifle the ultimate lurking places of barbarism and superstition !"
-The report for 1889 of the Societe des ll:fissWn8 Evangeliques gives for Tahiti: 23 parishes; 4 European missionaries; 20 native pastors; 2,044 church mem- bers; 44 catechumens; 8,949 francs for home work, 594 francs for foreign missions.
-The Paris society, speaking of Tahiti, remarks: "The religious life of the Tahitians is still in a state sufficiently rudimentary. It has its bright sides: profound attachment to the Word of God, very general observance of the Sunday; regular attendance on worship; practice of Christian liberality. Butit has its deep shadows likewise: for one thing, the considerable number of the unconverted, who form the majority of the population; then, even among believers, are insufficient apprehension of the -exigences of the Law of God; the almost complete absence of true Christian faInily life; in brief, to speak with our brethren, 'a piety which still localizes itself too much within the walls of the churches, and which does not spread abroad sufficiently in good works and in regenerating influences.'"
-In speaking of the great work of the Paris society, that in Basutoland, or, as the French call it, Lessuto, the report remarks: " We bless God that He has given to the churches of France a work proportioned to their strength, adapted to their genius, and the success of which has stimulated a zeal which efforts too long without fruit might have discouraged. And, to-day, that which strikes the eye in the Lessuto mission, by the side of that in still advancing, it from time to time regains some large plateau where weaknesses and defects inseparable from every human work, is its sound and vigorous growth."
This mission last year experienced a remarkable revival, bringing in many pagans. This has not continued, but it has left open many new doors of access. Paganism, on the other hand, having recovered from the early impressions of awe before the missionaries, has become at once more malicious and more aggressive. It is assisted, as in Paul's day, by two rival missions, the Roman Catholic and the Propagation Society. The latter, however, excites the contempt of the Basutos, who regard it as coming to the ground between two -stools. "The danger is in the scandal of these three rival Christian confessions, these three Gods, as the natives still phrase it."
The awakening among the heathen Basutos resulted in the addition of 514 new members, making the present number 6,543. The present number of catechumens is 3,332. Out-stations, 110; for 1888, 94; native helpers, 194; for 1888, 176. Primary scholars for 1889, 5,347; for 1888, 4,566.
-11. Coillard, of the incipient, but noble mission of the Zambesi-anoffshoot (){ the Lessuto mission-speaking of the imperative need of extension, or rather 1)f filling up intermediate space, remarks: "We are no longer in the earlier time when missions of magnificent distances had leisure to develop themselves as they might without the risk of taking any harm. To-day the centre of Africa is the object ofa general assault, which contests every point of attack. God grant that we may be resolved and faithful."
-It is known how discreditably,indeed, ridiculously, jealous, both the French and the German governments are, of having missionaries of any other nation in their colonies. Germany, however, being Protestant, does not dislike them as Protestants, and, by its late agreement with England, expressly allows them in Africa. France, however, whose occupancy of the Gaboon, in West Africa, is much more recent than the American missionary occupancy of it, distrusts .our Presbyterian brethren there as foreigners and dislikes them as Protestants. Even French atheists are" Catholic atheists." They have forbidden our missionaries to use English in their schools, to which acceding, the Americans have obtained from the Paris brethren several teachers of French. The Journal says: "The authorities, having obtained satisfaction on the point as to which energy"-French-" colonial administration is inflexible, the teaching of the language of the mother country in the schools, have come to regard the American missionaries with a more favorable eye. If, as we hope, these friendly dispositions become fixed, every one will at last comprehend that which has always appeared evident to us, namely, that an intelligent administration, eager to extend civilization, ought not to refuse any assistance, even though offered by foreigners; especially when these foreigners are the repre sentatives of a friendly nation, and only ask leave to preach the Gospel without any intermixture of political aims."
Should the French Republic, as Father Hyacinthe forebodes, swing over from atheism to Jesuitism, it would fare ill with Protestant efforts, French or foreign, in her colonies. But, as Sainte Beuve remarks, whenever Jesuitism stretches out its hand to some great work of mischief, the eternal wound dealt by Pascal reopens, and it gives up the ghost afresh.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND OONDUOTED BY HEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Past Ten Years in Persia. rians, and Catholics; and the Jews, who are quite numerous. BY REV. W. L. WIDPPLE, D.D. The field of the Bible work is divid- In looking backward ten years we ed with the British and Foreign Bible find very little change in the status of Society. Dr. Bruce, its representa- Persia. The same king, ~asr-ed-deen tive, looks after the southern, while I Shah, who has reigned, according to superintend the northern portion or the Persian reckoning, nearly fifty the kingdom for the American Bible years-the longest of any Persian Society. monarch-is still on the throne, a wiser and better sovereign than he There has been decided progress wastenyearsago. The journey which made in the missionary work, reprehe made to Europe, for the third time, sented, on the one hand, by the Amerilast year, seems to have had a bene- can Presbyterian Board, in the North, ficial effect upon him. He visited and on the other hand, by the Church most of the principal capitals and Missionary Society of England, who manufacturing centres, and appeared have their centre at Isfahan. to be in earnest in obtaining information and an insight into the various. In taking a retrospect of the Bible improvements and progress of the 19th work in Persia during the decade just century. Since his return he has be- drawing to a close, I am glad to say gun to introduce changes and reforms that it comes up, in the main, to my of a practical nature. This is no easy reasonable expectation, though not so task, for the same forces are still at extensive as I should wish to see. In work, opposing in every possible way forming plans for the work, when I the introduction of Western ideas, as first entered upon my duties, July 1, on his return from his previous Euro- 1880, I thought that if I succeeded pean tour. He has, however, gained in placing in the hands of the people in solid stamina, and we trust that he of Persia, in ten years, 40,000 copies will not be held in such subjection by of God's Word, I should be thank- "the power behind. the the throne" as ful. I was not over-sanguine that in former years. I should be able to attain that cir- culation. I find that the total cir- The kingdom has been quite free culation, including grants, has fully from internal troubles, with the ex- reached that amount. The sales exception of the Koordish Rebellion, ceed the grants in the proportion of which occurred about nine years ago, fourteen to one. The larger portion and was soon suppressed. are in the Persian, Turkish, and Ara- bic languages, representing the Mos- There has been no foreign war. The lem population. The Syriac comes. territory remains the same, contain- next. Then follows the Hebrew, ining nearly one-fifth of the area of the dicating the interest manifested by United States, or about as much as God's ancient people in His Word. Germany, France, Austria, and Hun- The Armenian does not enter so gary combined. Roughly estimated, largely in our sales as we expect it to it is 1,500 miles long, by 850 miles do in the future. There is too much wide, in its greatest extent. light creeping in on all sides of that ancient and dark Christian Church to Our work is among the following debar God's Word from its communion nationalities: The Moslems-the pre- much longer. dominent class-including the Sheah and Sunee sects (the Koords, as a In 1885 I made an address at the rule, are all Sunees); the nominal jubilee celebration in Oroomiah, com- Christian nations-Armenians, Nestomemorating a half century of mis- mission to the present time, it is be- sionary labot among the Nestorians, <>n the subject, "What part has the lieved that 70,000 copies of God's Word Bible had in the work of the last fifty years in Persia?" There were have been distributed, in different present about 2,000 persons, nearly Qne-half of whom were women and languages and among varions nation- girls. It was stated then, that fifty years before there were only two alities in Persia, apart from what has women in the entire Nestorian nation who could read, and the request was been done by the British and Foreign made that all the women present who (lould read the New Testament would Bible Society, through the agency of rise to their feet. Imagine our grati- fication when 800 arose. It was a Dr. Bruce. This may not seem very sight never to be forgotten by those present, who saw those daughters of wonderful to one unfamiliar with the the East, with intelligent and beaming faces, rise up, en masse, and remain bigotry and self-satisfaction of the standing until they were counted. And these were only representatives Persian Moslem, especially when he from many villages and towns upon the plains of Oroomiah, Sooldooz, and reads the circulation reported each Balmez, with a few from the moun- tains of Koordistan. The incident is year in some larger and older estab- a very impressive and encouraging object-lesson of what missionary ef- lished agencies. But let us not despise forts have accomplished in one di- rection merely-a rather liberal per the day of small things, nor forget >cent. of return in fifty years. Itspeaks even more teIlingly, when it is borne that these millions in Persia are a part in mind that at the commencement of the work among the Nestorians by of the world into which the triumph- Dr. Perkins and Dr. Grant these poor peeple did not have the Scriptures in ant Master commanded to preach the their own language (the Syriac). There were a few manuscript copies on Gospel. ' parchment of the ancient Syriac, so revered and precious that they were The fact that the representatives -only used on special and very holy oc- Clasions, and upon which oaths were from this Oriental land were the first administered to Moslems. as well as Christians, as they were counted very ambassadors to pay homage to the in- sacred by all classes. fant Saviour, and to lay at his feet It was the privilege of the American Bible Society to furnish the means to their royal gifts, is a very significant -carry through to completion the publication of the entire Syriac Bible, in one. And cannot we bring this up both the ancient, or sacred, and the modern languages. It is now revising before the adorable Master as "a methe modern version, and preparing to :,print a new edition with references. morial" in her behalf? We all in Per- From the commencement of the sia believe that there are brighter days in store and greater ,blessings held in reserve. The people are beginning to be aroused to a sense of their duty.
There is no more potent energy at work to bring about this greatly de- sired end than the printed Word. It enters silently where no preacher is allowed to stay, and quietly'and daily preaches to some one or more in that village or city where it finds lodgment and then suddenly the place is thrown into commotion by the rumor that one of their number has left the faith and become an "infidel Armanee"
(Christian). Then persecution begins; loss of relatives and friends and prop- erty follow, and revilings, beatings, and imprisonments hasten on apace; then threatenings, and, at last, it cul- minates in casting out and banish- ment from home and country. It may terminate in death itself.
But, meantime, this faithful one has taught a few of his firm friends, or read to them night after night from this new and interesting Book, .And this was the fact, as I can testify until they, too, have been won over to from what I have seen as I walked believe in the Injeel, and to accept through the bazaars. Christ as their Redeemer. And when a colporteur or evangelist visits the .After various methods were tried, place again, he is surprised to find a without avail, it was decided to pronumber who are not only favorably hibit all sales of Scriptures by colinclined, but who actually accept porteurs, whether in cities or towns Christianity, and petition the mis- or villages. So they could not make sionaries to send them a teacher or tours. This was made a jetwa, or ofpreacher. This has been the case in ficial action by the chief mujhtaheeds, a number of instances. It is inter- or highest ecclesiastical authority; esting, indeed, to see how the leaven 'and when the notice was communiworks, "until the whole lump is leav- cated to the governor-general hedared ened." not disregard it. He therefore in- formed our representative of this or- But in Persia, as elsewhere, "the der, and requested him to notify the kingdom of Heaven cometh not with agent of the American Bible Society observation." Very little attention at to respect it. After careful deliberafirst was paid to the circulation of the tion and counsel, we all deemed it Scriptures. When I began the work, expedient to observe the rule until reten years ago, they were admitted free dress could be obtained. of duty; but as the demand increased, and the cases of books-fifty and This proved to be by far the heaviest eighty at a time-began to arrive, the blow our work ever received. It was custom-house officials deemed it worth over one year before we could get the their attention, and soon we had to order rescinded, and receive permispay customs. A moderate rate wa..'1 sion to resume our work. This profixed, to be paid in kind. But it was hibition was in force only in .Azerbinot long before the officials com- jan, the other provinces being still plained that this was burdensome to opened to the colporteur. The printhem. They did not have room, they cipal part of our work, however, was said, to store away their share of in that province, where such cities Scriptures received for duties; so it and districts as Tabreez, Oroomiah, was decided, after due consideration, Salmas, Maragha, Sooldooz, etc., are that mone,y would be paid instead of situated. It affected, in conse- Scriptures. Soon after these points quence, our sales very materially. were settled, then the mullahs and high ecclesiastics of the Moslems ap_ I have told this story of the conflict, peared on the scene. They seemed to between truth and error, which has have been taken by surprise, and were been in progress for some years, so not aware how many Scriptures were quietly that few have been aware of going into circulation. They began to it, to show what advances the former investigate, and the more they in- is making over the latter, and, how quired the greater were they dis- stubbornly each stronghold has been turbed and alarmed. They held coun- held until captured by force. Progcils in various places, and discussed ress has been slow all along the line;' meaures for putting a stop to this but the fact that nearly 100,000 " torwork. Some were heard to say: pedoes" have been" placed," and are' " These men are filling the bazaars only abiding their time set for them with the Injeel, and wherever we go to accomplish the work intended for' we find one. Even merchants and them to do, is full of encouragement tradesmen are seen neglecting their to those who "wait patiently on the work, and poring over this book." Lord."
The colporteurand evangelist going' out together to the districts and, cities in the distant portions of Persia Testament. There are a number of have had a marked influence for good. converts to Christianity from the Indeed, they have been the advance Jews, and all have been faithful readguards, and have prepared the way for the establishing of every station in ers of the Tourat, or Old Testament. Persia except Oroomiah. All the others, viz.: Teheran, Isfahan, Ta- But as they compared Scripture with breez, Ramadan, Salmaz, and the Scripture, they were at last convinced new one recently established in the that the Messiah had surely come, and mountains of Western Koordistan, they hastened to acknowledge, and do were visited and canvassed first by him honor. There are many intellicolporteurs and evangelists, sent out gent Jews in Persia to-day, intellectuyearly by the missionaries in OroD- ally converted to Christianity, who do miah. They would spend, every not confess Jesus publicly" for fear visit, one week or more in each city in of the Jews," lest they be cast out of preaching and selling Scriptures. In the synagogue. That means to-day this way much precious seed was what it did 2,000 years ago. But the sown, which, after many days, has truth is working in many hearts, and sprung up and brought forth fruit–a will eventually prevail. The missionrich spiritual harvest–already; and aries' schools are composed entirely of the work is only fairly begun., Jewish boys and girls, who daily study the New Testament, and even the OBSTACLES IN THE WAY. catechism.
During these ten years a civil war, Another encouraging fact is the following closely upon the heels of large sale of Scriptures to Moslemsfamine and pestilence, has interfered perhaps the largest part of the gross with and curtailed materially the sales. These are in the Persian and sales of the Scriptures. Likewise, as Arabic, the Azerbijan and the Osalready mentioned, for over one year manli – Turkish languages. Weare no colporteur' was allowed to sell able, by these languages, to reach all Scriptures in the large and influential classes of the Mohammedans of Persia province of Azerbijan, where the larg- and Koordistan. Not only that, but est share of sales was usually made. they are purchased and carried home These circumstances, combined with to dwellers in Mghanistan, Beloochisthe constant animosity and vigilant tan, Turkestan, and even India. opposition to our colporteurs and the scarcity of ready money, have ham- It is a grand accomplishment and a pered the sales. Should the Armenian powerful agency in the evangelization bishops and priests withdraw their ob- of Mohammedans that the entire jections to the people purchasing the Scriptures have been translated, pub- Scriptures, and permit them to be lished, and circulated for years in the used in their schools, our sales would Arabic tongue, the sacred language of be greatly augmented; for they are all Moslems. abundantly able to purchase, and they are well supplied with schools. We The Arabic Bible and New Testahave been working to bring this about, ment are popular with the Moslem and some recent indications lead us to high ecclesiastics and clergy; for, behope that it will not be long before our ing in the sacred language, they al'e en<! will be accomplished. not suspected of reading the holy books of the Christians. If questioned ENCOURAGING FEATURES IN OUR WORK. what they are reading, they can re- ply, "the blessed Arabic tongue," and Among others might be mentioned then they read aloud a few verses in the number of Scriptures that are sNd confirmation of their statement. Our yearly to the Jews. It is true that colporteurs have sold Bibles in this most of these are copies of the Old language to some of the highest rank of Moslems, both clergy and nobility. I could mention some very interesting In concluding this paper, I append cases of this character, which it is not the resume of sales and grants for ten prudent to publish. years. The figures for 1889 are only All the converts 'from Islam to Christianity, whom I have met, at- approximately correct: tribute their conversion directly to the reading of the New Testament in The average number of men employed Persian, and not any human agency. annually ………. ~ •….. . . .. …. …… 25 Number of years spent by them…….. 170 " U miles (on horseback) tray· eled by your agent …….. 10,000 " " months spent on those jour· neys….. …. …. ……… 22 RESUME OF SALES AND GRANTS FOR TEN YEARS. GRANTS. SALES.
Bibles. Tests. Parts. TotaL Value. Bibles. Tests. Parts. TotaL Value.
From July 1880 to 2,114 1,921 4,488 $1,24800 50 285 402 737 151.00 end of 1881. .. .. . 453 2,129 1,755 4,308 1,069 12 47 265 394 706 149.40 2,178 2,363 5,026 1,295 48 58 185 240 483 127.85 F,?r 1882.. …….. 424 1,973 1,977 4,426 1,050 03 …2.9… ..1..7.3.. 236 ….4…3..8….. .1.0.6…2.5.. 1883………. 485 1,105 1,310 2,754 94090 1,549 2,974 4,852 …….. ……. . …… " 1884………. 476 1,023 1,625 2,844 1,311 98 . …… " 1885…… …. 339 2,464 2,129 5,004 384 36 1,500 1,870 3,625 87588 48 " 1886 ……… 329 1,225 15 ……… …9.0… ..1.7.1… ..3.0.9… ..6.4…0.0. , 1887. ……… 196 " 1888………. 411 " 1889………. 225 Total Sales in 10 years. .. ……… 3,368 16,035 17,924 37,327 $9,401 50 232 Total Grants in 10 998 1,448 2,637 $598.50 years… … ….. 232 998 1,443 2,637 59850 Total circulation, 10 years….. '" 3,600 17,033 19.367 40,000 $10,000 00 [NOTE: The above paper was read before International Missionary Union, 1890.-J. T. G.] Missions to the Native Mexican Races. and saving power of the Lord Jesus than their ancestors knew in the old REV.WH. P.F. FERGUSON, BANGAL, N.Y. days when the Aztec altars were piled with human hearts. I showed, in my former paper (see What prospects are there for their MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, Christianization under present meth- ods? March, '90, p. 218) that there are today in Mexico, out of a total popula- The Roman Church has given them tion of less than 12,000,000, nearly all that it ever can.. They have the 4,000,000 who speak some one of the rosary, the crucifix, holy watermany ancient languages. In other pretty idols, compared with the fiendwords, to-day, after 370 years of the ascendency of Spanish blood, one- ish representations of the old Aztec third of the nation still use the lan- divinities; but only idols, and Rome's guages of their fathers, hands hold no better gifts.
In regard to these peoples I shall The Protestant missions' now at raise a series of questions and suggest work in the country have not, as yet, such answers as are in accord with attempted any very considerable work my conception of the facts: among the indigenes, not can they in the near future. Given the money Have these people been Christian- and the men, and to·day, in parts of ized? the Republic already under the eye of the missionary, 100 workers could be I might give a very extended an- placed in Spanish-speaking towns and swer. I might array facts and pile cities of from 1,000 to 10,000 inhabitup quotations to show you their con- ants where there is now no teacher of the Gospel and where good and sucdition. i refrain, and, with full real- cessful work could be entered upon at izationof the sad import of the words, sum up the condition of the native Mexicans to-day, in the one statement, that they know no more of the love <lnce. It is to be expected, and is To say nothing as to the ability of right, that these missions should ex- native workers to create a Christian pend their slowly increasing force literature of which I shall speak, none upon this work, lying right before of the missions at work in Mexico them and for which they are prepared. have as yet succeeded in training any It will be many years, in the probable considerable number of native minis- -course of events, before any of our mis- ters who would be considered by those sions can offer the Gospel to even the who best know them, as competent to greater part of these ancient peoples. manage the affairs of a mission with- out the constant supervision of the It seems to me, then, not in the least foreign missionary, and, besides, they unreasonable to urge the establish- are, with a few possible exceptions, as ment of special missions among the ignorant of the native languages as native Mexican races. At this day are foreigners. Some boys and girls missions are being founded among in our mission schools, and a few wasted tribes that contain only a few young men employed in the "supply" thousand, or even only a few hun- work would be available as interpre- -<Ired souls, and shall we neglect these ters, but I need not draw upon my peoples who, remnants though they own slender experience to show to .are, still are counted by hundreds of anyone who has ever been obliged to thousands and even by millions? Their work by such agencies that such work romantic history, the remains of their is often worse than unsatisfactory. .ancient greatness, their manifest and And I believe that the best results can' admirable qualities of mind and heart, never be attained by it. The bearer and, above all, the love of our common of the Glad Tidings must come into Saviour impel us to the work of their personal contact with those to whom salvation. he is sent.
This leads me. to question: Can mis- Is there any reason why the Amerisions to the native races employ the can missionary should not go to these Spanish language as the means of peoples, leaming their languages and -communication? entering into their life as he does among other nations? I speak with the fact fully in mind that there are others whose observa- Some have expressed the belief that tion uponthis point has been far more the Mexican government would asextensive than my own, and thus sume an attitude toward any such more valuable; but, in my judg_ movement not unlike that of our govment, the answer to this question is, ernment toward the use of the native No. As well as I am able to judge, languages in the Indian schools. much less than half of the 4,000,000 of whom I speak, have any knowledge of This seems to me in the highest dethe Spanish, and the greater part of gree improbable. I would expect that these but very little. I have seen the government would rather look people living within six miles of one with favor upon anything that would <If the largest cities and gaining their tend to arouse a pride of race among living by selling garden produce in the indigenes, It must be remembered its streets, who could' scarcely under- that Mexicans to-day are fond of 13tand or 'use the Spanish language thinking of the Republic as the lineal enough to transact their business. To successor of the Aztec Empire. Many confine us to the Greek language for scholars would, too, I think, give a <lur religious instruction would be welcome to a missionary who should about a parallel. undertake the study of the ancient languages. It may next be inquired: What are the available resources among our va- Some, again, look upon such labor tive Protestants? as unnecessary, believing that the use of the native tongues is soon to cease. Scriptures and religious books, my I consider this also improbable. For 370 views would be as follows: The be- years the Spanish has had every advan- ginning already made by the publica- tage in Mexico, but has failed to dis- tion of the Aztec Luke, I look upon as place the native languages. To-day it is valuable, more because of the interest· itself growing weak. The day comes, I that it has attracted than for its prac- venture to predict,when, in the greater tical use, which must be slight because- part of Mexico it will be of no greater of its antiquated form. But if mission importance than isthe French language work is ever conducted among these to-day in some of our Southern States. people to any extent, a translation of It cannot be expected to do, in its de- the Scriptures into the languages used cadence, what it has failed to do in will be a necessity. Independent. its strength. So that I do not expect translation by each worker could not to see the native languages spoken by be thought of. If schools should be any very greatly less numbers until a established and the people taught to stronger than the Spanish race rules read their own language, which they in Mexico. cannot now do, the Bible would, of course, be put into their hands and Again, it is asked, if these lan- other Christian literature would be guages are capable of expressing the called into use. The teaching of the truths of the Gospel, and if they are native languages, would, however, de- not of so barbarous a character as to pend upon conditions not as yet fully be almost impossible of acquirement. understood.
Man speaks no language in which The facts which I have briefly he may not be told that "Jesus Christ stated warrant, it seems to me, the came into the world to save sinners." appeal and give promise of success. There is no linguistic impossibility to It may be, that some of the missions the successors of those upon whom now established can be so enlarged fell the baptism of tongues. And, and adapted as to include the most from what little study I have given urgent part of the needed work; but I the subject, I am of the opinion that a should expect better results from new man who has the courage and ability missions established either by the soto begin his study at the very basis cieties now engaged in Mexico, or by anew can master even the most diffi- others. If each would confine itself cult of these in about the average to one nation, or, at least, if the work time required to master other foreign could be so adjusted as toavoid waste, languages. and conflict of forces, much could be accomplished in a short time, while The existence of numerous dialects the less numerous tribes would furnish is also urged as an insurmountable fields of labor for societies of limited obstacle. We are told that even a resources. slight change of location among people of the same race would render Conceeding the possibility that some useless the study of years. I question of my condusions may not be well if this obstacle is not very much over- founded, and doubting at the same rated. I believe that missionary his- time if data are yet at hand for a pertory will show many instances of fect judgment of the case; I would greater difficulties of this character urge that the first step should be an overcome elsewhere. And, it is to be exploration with a view to discoverremembered that the introduction of ing accurately such points as, to what missionary work in the languages will extent these peoples are dependent strongly tend to remove the differences upon the native languages, to just – of dialects. what extent the more important of them are divided by dialects, and If we shall raise here the question of the necessity of translating the what is the present prospect for their interest to remember that the mission- survival. Attention should also be ary living among these peoples, mak- given to the disposition of the people ingan intelligent studyof theirlife and toward the Roman Church, their wil- language, would doubtless encounter lingness, or otherwise, to receive in- many facts, and would give light upon struction and other things that would that most perplexing problem, the aid in the selection of fields of labor history and origin of American races. among-them. If those who were ex- pected to become the missionaries This work is a duty to someone; is should make this exploration (and this it not to us? How can the Protestant would be desirable), a good beginning Christianity of the United States be should be made toward a mastering blameless if it fail to preach the true of the native languages. Gospel to these dying millions, who, right at our doors, have been for cen- The outfit for such an expedition turies cursed with a false faith ? When need not be very expensive and. the we stand before the judgment throne total cost of a year's work could be will not we hear the question, "Where more than met by the literary pro- is thy Mexican brother?" Shall we ceeds. This part of the work might be answer, "Lord,we left him in his filth entered upon at once and would do and ignorance and vice." Or shall we much to arouse an interest in the sub- answer, "Lord, we told him of the ject and make further advance pos- blood that cleanseth, we brought to sible. In fact, I believe that it must be his dark mind the knowledge of Thy done and that, too, by private effort, be dying love, we showed to him 'the fore any organization will move to the Lamb of God that taketh ..way the work of planting a miSflion. sins of the world,' and here, Lord, he is, washed and redeemed, a jewel for Once in possession of the facts that Thy diadem." could thus be brought to light, some society, or it might be, some man of llnent the ~ec~ means whose heart God should touch, would, I trust, furnish the necessary BY REV. LEVI B. SALMANS. financial support for the opening of the work. The field chosen would Anglo-Saxons, as we are, and misprobably be remote from civilization sionaries, too, suddenly set down in and full of dangers. A small, care- the midst of a Latin people, we could fully selected and well-furnished force not fail to admire the Astec populashonld be sent to make a beginning and tion of the fastnesses of the Sierras. advance should be upon the lines de- They have never been conquered by veloped. It might prove that,under the force of arms, though the Latinized touch of Christianity, elements of the government, which has come to preold civlization would spring to life and vail throughout Mexico in a certain thus new peoples be brought into the way, has come into the power of ruler- "federation of the world." Or, it ship. Yet the Ancient Cacique is the might prove that all traces of the old organized ,power behind the throne. were but forms of dust to vanish at Nothing of importance can be done by that same potent touch. Then it the Mexican government in these would be the work of the missionary mountains except it be agreeable to to guide these peoples clear of the the leaders among the Indians, as we dangers of the present Spanish-Ameri- would call them, though they are as can civilization, and introduce them different from our Indians as the Japinto the better and purer form of life anese are from Chinamen, or French into which we are already trying to from English. I do not know whether lead their Spanish-speaking neighbors. these comparisons are just right or not, but the Astcc was a semi-civil- It cannot fail to add a thought of ized race, living in cities built of stoneand morta'!', and had laws and govern- than the inhabitants of the Sierra of ment, with arts and industries, and Pueblo, risen into prominence or fur- were by no means the wild savage nished political leaders in the national nomad, known as the Indian in the affairs of the past generation. United States. Bishop Hurst says: .. while the Spaniard conquered and On Board the "Taichiow," Two Days ruled for three hundred years in Mex- From Bangkok Siam. ico, and grafted upon the people his religion, laws and customs, the Mexi- August 30, 1890. can or Indian has at last conquered DEAR DR.GRACEy:-Am on my way the Spaniard, and taken possession of to my field of missionary labor, in the realm. More than this is true of Laos, and, in reading the July num- the Sierra of Pueblo. They were ber of THE REVIEW, 1 have been much never conquered at home, while they interested in an article headed "Meaided nobly in conquering and ex- chanic Missionaries," by Secretary pelling the Spaniard, and afterward Brown, of the International Commit- the Roman hielarchy. They formed tee of Y. M. C. A. the troops who saved the day on the The Church is waking up to the great fifth of May, 1862, at Pueblo, grand importance of utilizing its lay and on many another fiercely fought element, though slowly. Themechanic battlefield. They hold their land in missionary comes in contact with a severalty, and live largely on their class of people, the very bone and land, rather than in villages. The sinew of a country, unreachable by personal independence of the Anglo- either the ordained or the medical Saxon largely. characterizes them. missionary. The rank and ,file of an They are fierce in war, while at the army could not be made up of colonels Bame time they are very mild-man- and generals. Private soldiers do the nered in peaceful intercourse. Ro- fighting directed by their officers. manism destroys the individual and Why should not the Church carry on builds up the institution. When Pro- her work both at home and abroad on testant evangelism seeks in the midst the same plan? -of a Roman civilization for individuals Secretary Brown speaks of an extento convert, who, after being converted, sive movement to establish one or more will have independence and individu- Christian undenominational schools ality enough to become useful evan- of technology, to fit men to become gelists and leaders among their people teachers of the trades and first-class against the odds of sin, conservatism, mechanics, and at the same time to and feudal inequality, it rejoices the enlist and prepare them for personal heart to find such a people as these in work in winning souls. This is a the Sierra. It is true they are not laudable undertaking, and ought to .nearly so highly civilized as the people have the hearty support of the entire in the cities of Mexico, but they are in Church. But it will, necessarily, be sympathy with the country and the some time before these institutions country is in sympathy with them, can be in readiness for students, and and they belong to the race that is on then some time before these students the top at this time; and when we get will be ready to be sent to work. Let them converted we will have a most us call attention to the fact that you valuable evangelizingagency. Nearly have just such a school in your midst. -one-half of the whole population of Park College, Parkville, Mo., has for Mexico still speak their original fifteen years been sending its trained tongues, and maintain, to a greater or men, and women, too, into all parts less degree, their original customs. of the home field (1 am writing as an Among these none have, more notably American), and into many foreign countries. There is this difference be- hundreds of her sons pleading to be tween this college and those proposed fitted to carry the Gospel to all lands?
by Mr. Brown: its distinctive work is ROBERT IRWIN.
the training of Christian workers for M. Henri Lutteroth, who died personal Christian work. The study February 12, 1889, was the last surof the Bible and the inculcation of viving founder of that lamp shining, personal piety are first; then the col- we will not say amid darkness, but lege work proper leading up to the de- certainly among vapors, the Societe gree of A. B., and lastly, the manual des Missions Evangeliques de Paris. training, embracing nearly all the Speaking of him, the Journal says: trades. " Our work has never had greater This would seem to be the natural need than at the present hour of colorder, and an argument in its favor laborators of this stamp, knowing how is the great success Park College has to place at its service the intensity of had. Everyone of our hundred and piety and of zeal together with all the twenty-five graduates is actively en- distinctions of culture and of knowlgaged in Christian work, besides a edge. Never, in fact, has the amount. great many who were unable to of labor imposed on the committee graduate. There is a practical advan- been more considerable than during tage in their mechanical department. this year." Nothing is done simply to show how it is done, but because it is necessary. The Moravian Church, which first The institution depends largely on the sent a missionary to the south of work ,of its students. They quarry Africa, in 1737, and which has a flourthe stone, mould the brick, burn the ishing work in Cape Colony and the lime, cut the logs, saw the lumber, neighboring lands, now proposes t() and build their houses; they cultivate join the ranks of those who are seekand tend large gardens and a farm of ing the evangelization of the equaseveral hundreds of acres; raise cattle, torial regions. A mission has been sheep and hogs; make wagons, repair projected, under the protection of the implements, shoe horses, and do the German government, for that part of one-thousand-and-one other things the German zone of eastern Africa necessary on a large industrial estab- adjoining the northern and northlishment. There are now over three eastern shores of Lake Nyassa. The hundred students in attendance, and two pioneers of this newest Moravian' hundreds are refused admittance mission, Theodore Meyer and Theaevery year just because there is no phile Richard, will shortly set out for room. If now there are those who the sphere of their future labors. want the mechanic missionary training, proposed by.Secretary Brown, J. TAYLOR HAMILTON, they need not wait until several other Secretary of the Societyfor the Propainstitutions are equipped. Let twenty gation of the Gospel, Bethlehem, Pa.
such be built at once, they will not be A Waldensian church-edifice, hold- too many; but let the Church use, to ing four hundred, has been opened its utmost capacity, that one now in by Cav. Dr. Prochet in Vittoria, a existence. The foreign field is calling Sicilian town with a population of for men. It is the loud cry from the 25,000. The church was so full that north and the south and the west and Dr. Prochet could scarcely reach the the east and from all over the home pulpit. After sermon seven catechu- field. Shall the Church hear the cry mens were admitted, and the crowd, and withhold what is in her power to inside and out, was so much interested give-viz: facilities for training Chris- and excited that the municipal guards tion workers, and oppo~nities to the had to disperse it.
ii2 EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
1II.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Editorial Prospectus for 1891. eluding notes by the editor on various The editor cordially salutes his read- topics and books of a mISSIOnary ers with the best wishes of the New character, and editorial correspon- Year. Notwithstanding the decease dence. of the associate editor, no material change will be needful either in the IV. The Department of Intelligence, character or contents of THE MISSION- including the Monthly Concert, Gen- ARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. The eral Items of Information, Statistics editor-in-chief will be aided by the and Monthly Bulletin. prolific and graceful pen of the Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., president of the The editor will spare no pains, and International Missionary Union, under the publishers no expense, in securing whose sagacious control it is hoped from the ablest sources whatever will that the International Department enrich the columns of this magazine. IDay supply to our readers even richer We hope to make it indispensable to stores of missionary information and every minister and missionary, theoinspiration. The Rev. A. J. Gordon, logical student or friend of human D.D., of Boston, whose praise is in all weal. We have planted our standard the churches, will act as a regular on a level higher than any denomina. editorial contributor, and we can tional platform, and shall seek to think of no man in this country whose unite all true disciples of Christ in a words will be read with more interest new crusade against all the powers of and profit. darkness, and in favor of a speedy Beside this editorial staff we shall and universal proclamation of the be aided by a large and able body of Gospel. Once more we ask the prayer. editorial correspondents and contribu- ful and sympathetic co-operation of tors, and no pains will be spared to every Christian, and invoke, upon this secure the best talent and the most sincere and unselfish endeavor, the consecrated piety in the service of this blessing of the Master of us all! REVIEW. These pages will be devoted to the discussion of all the great ques- The editor would add a special word tions connectedwith the spread of the to contrlbutors of articles intended Gospel both at home and abroad, and for publication. So great is the influx will be open to the advocacy of every of unsolicited manuscripts already cause or IDeasure which is linked becoming that even the reading of with human well-being, and to the them has been almost impossible. Of impartial and critical investigation of course, preference will be given to papers which have been solicited; but those who desire to send manuscripts all forms of philanthropic and Chris- would ordinarily do wisely, before tian endeavor. sending, to inform the editor of such intention, state the topic, and inquire It will be observed that, in the whether they are likely to be used. interests of greater unity and sim- The editor begs to say, also, that the plicity of arrangement, we have but qualities of brevity, directness, and, four main departments: especially, freshness of matter and pertinency to the great qUj*ltions of I. The Literature of Missions, in- missions, will give particular value to cluding papers pertaining to general contributed matter. We cannot undertopics, translations from foreign peri- take to return rejected manuscripts odicals, etc. unless stamps for that purpose are enclosed with them when forwarded II. The International Department, to us. Any recent and well accredited under the efficient conduct of Dr. Gracey.
III. The Editorial Department, inintelligence from any part of the field tional interest, and at Cleveland, Ohio, will be especially valued, and all the evening meeting held in Music accepted articles will be paid for so far Hall numbered, probably, 4,000 peras the limited resources of the REVIEW sons. Some very beautiful examples allow. Manuscripts, written in a clear of the power of consecrated mission_ and legible hand, and not obscured by ary-spirited pastors to mould their corrections, interlineations and other congregations into missionary helper, blemishes, are also more likely both to and to stimulate systematic and cheerbereadandaccepted. Wehaveattimes ful giving, have been found. As in been compelled to cast aside a manu- Great Britain, there have been many :script because it was neither possible gifts of jewelry, etc., showing how for the editor to read it, nor the printer God is leading His people to sacrifice <correctly to put it in type. Special superfluities for Him. A gold pen pains should be taken by writers to with pearl handle, a seal ring, two make proper names correct and plain, solid gold chains, a society badge, a and statistics accurate and unmis- pair of gold-mounted eye-glasses, etc., takable. No second article should be have been sent to me for missions. sent, ordinarily, until it is known that Large collections of money have, in the first is accepted. If the corres- several cases been made for the Board pondents will observe these sugges- of Missions. And the farther the tour tions and exercise due patience, the has reached the more abundant the editor will endeavor to see that there calls for service became. It was a is no just cause of complaint as to his curious coincidence that the very day part of the work. The burden of on which the last week-day appointeditorial duties and responsibilities is ment was fulfilled, was the day on excessively onerous, but the constant which the co-editor, Dr. Sherwood, endeavor will be to deal courteously, departed for the Better Country! In promptly and impartially by all con- any case that death would have made tributors and correspondents. further engagements, to any consider- able extent impracticable, as it im- Since arriving in this country, in posed double duty on the survivor. June last, the Editor has been making But no impression is stronger as left a brief tour of the churches in the by these four months of contact with great centres, mostly east of Chicago, the churches, than this, that the best in the interests of missions, and with agent a mission board can have, is results most gratifying and encourag- simply an unselfish missionary-spiriting. Boston, Northfield, and Green- ed, well-informed pastor, who keeps field, Mass.; Willimantic, Conn.; Ger- the vital interests of the world-field mantown, and Pittsburgh, Penn.; Al- constantly before his people. We bany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, never once struck an apathetic church Buffalo, Lockport, Binghamton, and where there was a man in the pulpit Elmira, N. Y.; Montclair, Newark who was full of passion for souls. and Camden, N. J.; Baltimore, Md.; Youngstown and Cleveland, 0.; Lan- Are Mission Oonverts a Failure? sing and Detroit, Mich.; Indianapolis, In The Ohurch of Scotland Mission Ind.; and Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, Record of May and October, 1890, Dr. and Chicago, Ills., have been among the places comprehended in this hur- Archibald Turnbull, B.D., of the Darried tour. Almost without exception jeeling Mission, writes on the above the audiences have been large and the topic. The author is abundantly able interest manifested unusually intense. to discuss the subject. He is one of the At Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, El- ablest and most accomplished missionmira, the gatherings were of excep- aries in the field and his labors have been remarkably successflK. The A. Beautiful Epitaph.
work begun by Rev. McFarlane, in The most interesting specimen of an 1870, yielded to his prayers and labors, epitaph is one to be seen in a pretty but little apparent fruit, for some church, in Aneityum, one of the Loy- years. When Mr. Turnbull first joined alty Islands, or New Hebrides. It is the Mission, in 1880, there were some a tablet erected by the grateful natives hundreds of converts; and Mr. McFar- to their missionary, John Geddie. On lane, having been called to his rest, this tablet is inscribed, in their lan- Mr. Turnbull is now at the head of guage, the following: the mission, which has branched out When he landed, into three divisions, each headed by in 1848, able and devoted missionaries. Considerably over a thousand baptized there were no Christians here, and when he left, in 1872, Christians are now in communion with there were no heathen. it. Professor Lindsay, convener of On almost any island within 2,00<1' the Free Church Foreign Mission, who miles of the shores of Tahiti, in any recently visited India, has described direction, a similar tablet might be this Darjeering Mission, as the "best erected, as an expression of the results mission he had seen in India." When of the twenty-two years' work, besuch a man as Mr. Turnbull, with tween 1817 and 1839-the epoch of such a large experience, tells what he John Williams-and yet, "missions has seen of converts, his opinion can- are a failure! "
not but be of great value, and by per- A Practical Cure for Scepticism. mission of our beloved friend, Rev.
Thos. Nicol, B.D., the editor of The In the life of Dr. Fleming Stevenson Ohurch of Scotland Record, we pro- we find an interesting commentary on pose to give our readers hereafter, at the words, "He that doeth my will least, some portions of Mr. Turnbull's shall know of the doctrine." At one valuable testimony. He proves, to a time his mind was in a somewhat certainty, that the Gospel is the unsettled state regarding some ele- power of God unto salvation, even in ments of the creed in which he had India. been brought up, to which he clung with loyal reverence. Itwas by plung- Rabinowitch, the Hungarian Jew- ing into practical mission work that ish Rabbi, who, a few years since pub- light was to come to him upon these licly conf03ssed Jesus as the Messiah, thorny points of theology.
and led out a new body of Jewish be- This reminds us of what Shaftesbury lievers, adheres to his faith and used to say to young men: preaches to great crowds. A new, ,,Nothing is more likely to keep you large hall, called after the great evan- from mischief of all kinds-from mis- gelist of the Free Church of Scotland, chief of action, of speculation-from the Somerville Memorial Hall, is to every mischief that you can devise, be opened soon. We look with the than to be everlastingly engaged in intensest interest upon the new some great practical work of good.
movement, known as the "Israelites Christianity is not a state of opinion of the New Covenant," and bless God and speCUlation. Christianity is essen- for the Hebrew New Testament trans- tially practical, and I will maintain lated by Dr. Delitzsch, and for the this, that practical Christianity is the sermons and addresses of such men greatest curer of corrupt speculative as Rabinowitz, David Baron, Wilkin- Christianity. No man, depend upon son of Mildmay and a host of others it, can persist from the beginning of Who are taking the warmest interest his life to the end of it in a course of in the conversion of the Jews. self-denial, in a course of generosity.. in a course of virtue, in a course of ing service, go first to gather in and piety, and in a course of prayer, un- teach the poor neglected children in less he draw~ from his wellspring, un- the afternoon, then hold a yoke-felless he is drawing from the fountain lows' prayer-meeting and take supper of our Lord Himself. Therefore, I together at their humble place of meetsay to you again, and again, let your ing; and who then go out for an hour, walk the streets, and personally invite Ohristianity be practical." * to service those whom they find. And then, at eight o'clock, they go to their To all of which the writer adds his meeting-hall, or tent, and, in their confirmatory witness that never, since simple way, preach, simply as laymen, the taking up in dead earnest the work and hold after-meetings for inquiry. of a world's evangelization, have speculative doubts harrassed the mind.
As to churches and missions, I think The Ritualism, which is more and their true relations to each other are more obtruding itself upon observation very simply defined. The church is in the Anglican Church, and in some both a rallying and a radiating point. of the High-Church services of this We are to come there to be fed and go country, is compelling some who have from there to feed others. GenerallyI been zealous champions of the Episcomake my morning service especially a pal Church, to look with alarm on the encroachments of a latent Romanism feeding time for Christian swubosrtkaenrcs~ .that is rapidly becoming patent. If when I try to bring out the of the Word-the promises, the ways these things go on, they will compel a of serving, the motives of true work withdrawal of those who cannot felfor God, the preparations of prayer, lowship these semi-Papal practices. etc.-whatever helps to qualify any Take these two examples: Canon Scott mHogllhaI.nSds,eirnmSont., Preafuelr'srinCgatthoetdhreald' edautrh- . disciple for holy living and unselfish serving. Then I am glad to have my Christian workers go out after that of the late Canon Liddon, thus solicitmorning service to preach and teach ed prayers on his behalf: "Pray for that sermon and that Gogpel else- him-for his refreshment, for his ilwhere, and am quite willing to have lumination, for his eternal repose." their places empty at the second service Praying for the dead finds no warrant that they may go and hold little evan- in Scripture; it is a Romish practice gelistic meetings, cottage meetings, that ought to receive no countenance prayer services, etc., where they may from Protestants. A service, which was, to say the get at the non-church gael's. I do not least, novel, was held lately in that believe in Christians feeding without same Cathedral. It was styled a "Serworking. "If any man will not work vice of Reconciliation." In Septemneither shall he eat." Activity for ber last, during public worship, one souls prevents spiritual dyspepsia. It Sabbath morning, a stranger suddenly is the exercise needful to carry off the drew a pistol a.nd shot himself, and food into normal channels and assimi- I?hortly died within the sacred struclate it to our constitutional wants. I ture. Having no precedents to folcannot understand how any man can low, after much consultation, the dean be jealous of his workers going out to ' and chaplain formally requested the carry the Gospel and leaving an empty Bishop of London, in the exercise of place half a day for some one else to his Episcopal authority, "to declare fill who needs the Gospel far more. I the said Oathedral church exempt and have had a band of such young men, reconciled from all canonical impediespecially, for years, who, after morn- ment, and from everyprofanation con- * Hodder's Life of Shaftesbury, 1: 328. tracted and incurred by or through the aforesaid acts of suicideand blood-let- all thatoffends refined taste, the Salva- ting, forever." Hence this "Service tion Army compels recognition by of Reconciliation" on the 14th of Oc- downright earnestness and heroic self- tober. The London Times, with a denial. One of the most conservative tone bordering on contempt, asks why, ministers of the Presbyterian body, in if the great temple was "polluted" by a recent visit to London, went re- the crime, services were not entirely peatedly to the army meetings, and, suspended-why the altar was not after careful investigation, declares dismantled, and the edifice closed un- himself wonderfully impressed with til the profanation could be removed· the evidences of God's presence and by a "reconciling service?" Others power.
ask, why the freak of a sensational Shortly before his death Canon suicide, should be considered as "pol- Liddon went to one of the Salvation luting" a sacred edifice. Army meetings in London. As' he was returning with a friend, he said: General Booth gives to the world "It fills one with shame! I feel his new contribution to the great guilty when I think of myself! To problem of how to take care of the think of these poor people, with their unhoused, unfed poor of London, imperfect grasp of the truth! And yet almost at the same time that his wife's what a contrast between what they do body is borne to burial. and what we are doing! When I Her funeral was one of the most compare all the advantages we enjoy, impressive events of modern social we who possess the whole body of history. Whatever we may think of truth, and see how little use we make the Salvation Army, it is one of the of it, how little effect we produce com- most remarkable developments of our pared with that which was palpable time. Its genesis is recent-it began at that meeting, I take shame to my- in the year 1865, and kept its" Silver self. I did not like the women speak- Jubilee" in 1890. A quarter of a cen- ing, however. You know I have the tury ago William Booth resigned his misfortune to agree with the Apostle post as a'Methodist minister, New Con- Paul on that question. "
nection, and began his "Christian And now, Mrs. Booth, after long ~fission," thirteen years later called and acute suffering, has died, and the the" Salvation Army." day of her funeral, though raw, foggy, After this quarter century, this dismal, the procession numbered Salvation Army, at whose members probably 50,000 people, and the streets and methods the world and the were densely thronged with spectators.
Church sneered, now has its banners At the head of the marching columns flying in thirty-four countries or colo- were the 5,000 officers of the army, nies, boasts 10,000 men and women men and women, marshaled in fifteen wholly given up to its work, holds battalions. Each battalion carried a 50,000 religious meetings weekly, flag, some of them a number,of flags, which are attended .by millions of generally of white, with inscriptions hitherto neglected and outcast people. in colored letters, such as "Love one It has, moreover, twenty-seven weekly Another," " Save your Soul," " Believe newspapers, of which about 31,000,000 in God," and one especially striking copies are sold in the streets, saloons, flag bearing the words, "Mother of etc. It has accumulated nearly $4,000,- the Salvation Army." The coffin was 000 worth of property, and its rentals carried on an open hearse, and bore for meeting-places reaches $1,000,000 no emblems beyond Mrs. Booth's a year, while it has a total income of bonnet and cloak, and the flag of the between three and four millions. army, according to her earnest desire Despite all ita sensational methods, for simplicity in funeral reform. Even the London Times lends two or the individual statements and >()olumns to a detailed description of propositions of this book, in common the event, and the Methodist Times with thousands of the best men and describes Mrs. Booth as " the greatest women on both sides of the sea, we Methodist woman of her generation." heartily wish General Booth success. No one who has read the little volume of her addresses, known as " Aggres- Canon Farrar, on November 9, sive Christianity," will doubt her preached a sermon on this philan- })ower. thropic scheme, and even the great Abbey would not hold the crowds that And now, almost simultaneous with thronged to hear it. He had, the her death, General Booth issues his week before, made a tour of the army book, inscribed to her memory: "In centres, and was so impressed that he Darkest England, and the Way Out." made a fervent and impassioned We have read it with profound in- appeal in behalf of the proposed plan, terest, and we find ourselves very far while he disclaimed any authority to from being disposed to ridicule or dis- represent anyone but himself. regard its practical suggestions. From a somewhat extended study of the Those who wish to get the substance practical methods of the Salvation of General Booth's scheme may find a Army, especially in Great Britain, we l·ecapitulation of it in Chapter VII, were compelled to admit that, more Section 5. Some of the most pious than all the churches put together, this and philanthropic of British Chrisunique organization is bringing relief tians are coming forward with liberal to the unfed, unhoused and uncared contributions toward the $5,000,000 for masses of the great cities of for which General Booth appeals, as Britain. the financial' basis of his plan. So awful and so widespread is the degra- General Booth's book is a bold dation and destitution of this "sub- ~ttempt to solve the most perplexing merged tenth" of Britain's population, <>f social problems. His plan is a that we rejoice at any honest attempt mere expansion of that which on no to relieve and remove another of the small scale is in actual operation in open sores of the world. Let the new the Salvation Army ~ntres in London. project have at least a fair trial. He proposes a scheme of three colonies -a town, a country, and an over-the- The following is from the son of the sea colony. Cheap food depots, advice editor, studying this winter in Edinbureau, labor shops, a household sal- burgh, Scotland: vage brigade; the gathering of what would be wasted otherwise, and its " After tea we went to the univerutilization as food for human beings sity to hear Professor Drummond on and for animals, or for various pur- , Christian Evolution.' He dwelt par- })oses of manufacture. He proposes ticularly on the progress of missions to exact a reasonable amount of work and their condition and work, as he from colonists and to pay reasonable had noticed it in his recent trip around wages, so that there may be no en- the world. The lecture was a fine one couragement of paupers; to help out- in every particular, and he seemed to cast and criminal classes to a better be thoroughly in sympathy with the life; to help those who are disposed missionary movement; to have obto help themselves; to maintain whole- served keenly on the subject in his some discipline, and afford religious tour; and he urged all to consider care- {lulture without compulsion. Those fully if their lives could not be best who would know details must read his used for Christ in the foreign field. book. Without giving endorsement He lamented the fact that there seemed to the peculiar methods of the army, to be so much misdirected effort by well-meaning Christian missionaries, because the problem of missions, in Here is another, enclosing a gold. connection with the special countries pen with a pearl handle: in which they worked, was not more thoroughly studied and understood. Sabbath Morning, Oct. 5,1890. He contrasted Australia and the South Sea Islands, Japan and China, espec- DEAR DR. PIERSON: ially, as presenting entirely different kinds of fields, which were to be sown This gold pen was a Christmas gift. with the same seed but in different It has a sad story. It has nev!'r been ways, according to the nature of the used-it has lain idle ten years. May ground, and growth already planted the dear Lord now use it in some way there. One thing he said about Japan so as best to tell of the "Peace on was pretty well put-Japan is ready earth and good will from heaven for anything new and European; she toward men." has taken from France a system of law; from Germany an organization ONE OF YOUR HEARERS. for an army; from England a navy; from America a public school system; The American Missionary Associafrom' the civilized world in general a tion has 500 missionaries. Among fine system of railways and electric the Indian children they have entelegraph, etc. At present she is in couraged unselfish efforts to help in the unique position of prospecting for carrying the Gospel to the destitute a religion. There are, too, on the and unevangelized. But the children islands many missionaries prospecting had no money. Some of them had for converts: they include Episcopal- never seen a copper coin. The governians of every degree of height, Presby- meNt had offered premiums for the terians of every degree of breadth, and killing of gophers, and so the boys Methodists of every degree of warmth. would hunt the gophers and bring Roman Catholics are practically out of their tails in as proof of the work the race. done. Among other contributions was an enclosure, wrapping a gopher's tail " It was a thoroughly good lecture, within, and bearing this memoranand I would like to have it in print. dum: "Richard Fox, one gopher's tail: four cents." "DELAVAN L. PIERSON." One old colored saint in the far South Latterly, the editor has been making used to pray with great fervor for the a short tour of the great cities in the missionaries, and this was one prayer interest of missions. Among numer- heard from his lips: "Oh, Lord, let ous letters received by him, the follow- de missionary down deep into de treasing will suggest their own lesson: ures of de Word, and hide him behind de Cross of Jesus." For whom might DR. PIERSON: not that prayer well be offered?
Dear Sir-Enclosed please find four While Christianity makes us more dollars and ten cents, a small sum that and more tenderly considerate even of I had intended to use toward a society the welfare of the most distant and pin, but if the Master can use it for destitute of the race, sin makes IlUtelling the good story in the lands of man beings more callous eve:n to the darkness I dare not keep it for my own most appalling misery close at hand. pleasure. We have all heard of that notorious gambling resort on the Gulf of Genoa, I would that it were more than Monte Carlo, and of the wretched and it is. summary life-ending of many who have thrown away their means in its May God, our Master, bless you in elegantly-furnished halls. Very lately the work you are doing for Him, is it was reported that during ten weeks the prayer of a college girl. of this year as many as forty-nine E – College, Oct. 6, 1890. suicides had occurred there. "Every before the introduction of Christianity. night," says The Christian, of Boston, All interested in South Sea missions "'the grounds are carefully searched should procure it. It especially com- by the police after the casino is closed. mends itself for brevity. Other vol- Dne man drags a covered spring-cart, umes in this series, lives of Carey, the wheels of which have India-rubber Chalmers, Comber, Crowther, Morri- tires. When a body is found, for son, Patteson, Griffith John, etc., are which a reward is given, it is immedi- as readable as romances. Such vol- ately stripped of clothes and valu- umes can scarcely be multiplied in too ables, tftrust into the cart, and silently great abundance. hurried away and buried. Next morn- jng the sun shines again, the band The Success of Christian Missions, plays, saloons and tables are thronged, by Robert Young, F. R. S., G. S. In and people gamble as usual." this volume, Mr. Young has made a careful compilation of testimonies in New Books. favor of foreign missions in most heathen lands, similar to that of Mr. F. H. Revell has issued two more vol- Liggins. Personal, official and .pub- umes of the short biographies of mis- lic testimony to the value and influ- 'sionaries: Henry Martyn and Robert ence of the missionary operations of Moffat. If there are any better brief many societies is here gathered and biographical sketches for general nse preserved. For permanent reference, .as educators of the young, and as a and as an answer to the slurs and at- means of general stimulation to the tacks of adversaries, the book will be missionary spirit, we have not met always useful and should be at hand them anywhere. 'Within the compass in every well-stocked missionary ,of 160 pages, there is comprised a library as, in its way, an encyclopedia mass of information that is often di- of testimony. London: Hodder & .luted through three times the space. Stoughton. Cheap, thrilling, fascinating, these stories of missionary life combine the While we write, there just comes facts of heroism with the fancies of by mail from a dear personal friend, romance. They are very near to Dr. George Smith of Edinburgh, the ideals realized. We believe that few last book so far produced by his schol- will read one chapter without wanting arly and prolific pen. It is entitled A to read the whole, or read one of the Modern Apostle, and is the life of series, now embracing twelve, without Rev. Alex. N. Somerville, D.D., "the wanting to possess the entire series, world's evangelist." He was an ex- ,and give them away to others. We traordinary man, and we propose here- would like to give the series to every after to present an article upon young man and woman in every him to our readers. Suffice it to say Protestant congregation where Eng- that he thirteen times made a "world lish is spoken. The whole twelve may tour of missions;" viz.: to Canada, be had for $6, exclusive of postage I Syria, Spain, India, Australasia, France and Italy, Germany and Rus- The editor also cordially commends sia, Central Europe, Greece, Asia and to all readers the following books on Africa; and beside this was the able missions: James Calvert; or from and faithful pastor of one of the most Dark to Dawn in Fiji, by R. Vernon. prominent churches of Scotland. Here F. H. Revell, Bible House, New York. is a story of more than seventy-five 'This account of mission work, in what years, full of service and every form was once the cannibal group of Fijian of inspiration to heroic endeavor. – Islands, is rendered specially valuable Those who have read the lives of Carey, by its graphic account of native man- John Wilson of Bombay, Alexander .ners and customs as they were found Duff, Stephen Hislop, and that Short History of Christian missions which terestmg and valuable. One sees as. we have never seen equaled in its in a birdseye-view the steady and sure way, all of them by the same gifted advance of the Master's Kingdom, and author, will not need to be told that we rejoice. this latest volume from his pen, recently issued by John Murray of Lon- In the work of a missionary there don, is a book without which no min- is often much to disappoint. One has isters library is complete. It is one to sow in faith and labor in patience, of the grandest books that modern seeing no sign of a reaping-time. But biographers have offered to the public. when one reads of others who are al- ready rejoicing in the ingathering of Livingstonia Mission. an abundant harvest, he for a mo- ment forgets the plowing and sowing, [The following letter relol,ched Dr. the watering and waiting, and cannot Sherwood's home November 3d, too help sharing in their joy and the Maslate for his eyes to read it. Notwith- ter's. standing the personal references, the Another end gained by your REVIEW Editor feels that it belongs to the is that our hearts are enlarged and we begin to have a fore-taste of that readers of THE REVIEW.] glorious time for which our Saviour LAKE NYASSA. prayed: "That they may be one even as we are one. . . . that they may Mvera Station, May 11, 1890. be perfected in one, that the world DEAR BROTHER:-Were there the may know that Thou didst send Me." least doubt about the excellence and usefulness of your REVIEW, I With reference to the contents of should gladly give my testimony in THE REVIEW I have no suggestions to its favor. Let me merely mention make. What we in the field need is that, along with many thousands of an occasional inspiring article, one to, your readers, I most heartily enjoy rouse and encourage. To my mind and profit by it. Especially on a Sab- there is no pen so gifted, in this rebath afternoon or evening, after sev- spect, as that of Dr. A. T. Pierson. eral services and two Bible-classes, Let us be urged to prayer, patience, feeling somewhat tired, it is with personal devotion to Christ, to faith great pleasure that I take up THE and faithfulness. "Ve know these MISSIONARY REVIEW and read it things but do not realize them. through, I may literally say, from beginning to end. Even though the As many of us are unable to have "news" is from four to five months large libraries, a summary of the biold when it reaches us, we, neverthe- ography of some missionary hero (as less, eagerly look forward to each fol- has appeared of Carey, Egede, etc.), is, lowing number. always most acceptable, or even an I have, of late especially, enjoyed episode from such a man's life, or his an article in the number for Septem- views on any important missionary ber, 1890, on "Prayer-Basis of Mission subject. And why not pubhsh a whole Work," by Dr. Pierson. I have read biography, continued in several numand re-read it, and read it to my com- bers ?" panions, and each time I feel more than ever that "the whole basis of suc- As regards my own work Ishall not cessful missionary work is to befound say much. At this present station we in believing and importunate prayer." have been at work for only about six These words should be written in let- months. The work is much the same ters of gold on the tablets of our- here as on other stations round the memory. lake. Weare 3,400 feet above the sea The items of news you give from in a healthy and fertile country. A various fields of labor are most in- great door has been opened to us. The work is becoming more and more, interesting. Some 500 to 600 people simply as a way of introducing the hear the Word preached every Sabbath letter. Mr. Baldwin will be remem- day. In the school, however, we bered as the writer of the papers in have as yet only some twelve boys- The Christian (London), on "The boarders. People are afraid to send Question of the Hour," advocating the their children lest, having secured a conduct of missions on the lines laid good number, we should run off and down in Matthew x.
sell them as slaves! This fear, will, of Without giving our endorsement to course, pass away in course of time. every sentiment of Mr. Baldwin in Should you care to publish any part those letters, we confess to a large of this letter and any discouraged measure of sympathy with his general worker happens to read it, let me position. And we cannot but feel that stretch out to such an one a brotherly when any missionary in these days hand, and say, "Courage, friend! the attempts a work for God in the spirit Master is looking on and is intensely of faith and prayer, it is not for other interested in our work; let us press on, Christianworkers toridiculeor criticise if not so ably as others, then at least or oppose. There are many ways of as faithfully. Let us often prostrate doing the Lord's work. Why not let ourselves before the 'WondroUB Cross,' them all have a fair, faithful trial?
and in deep self-abasement and lowly Experiment will show whether God reverence, there learn to be' nothing, is with such methods; but the ex- nothing,' that the world might our periment must not be embarrassed Saviour see. When weary let us rest with the secret or open hostility of at His feet; when sad, lean on His even nominal disciples. Mr. Baldwin's breast. Let us drown our cares and personal consecration not even his worries in the ocean of His love, and critics can question. He is about to we shall not sow in vain, but receive start on a prolonged journey, with a the sower's reward." single companion, probably among the Bedouin. May God be with him!
Itis because I so often feel the need of encouragement myself that I am seek- Rev. Dr. Wayland Hoyt, his brother, Colgate Hoyt, and Charles L. Colby, ing to encourage others to-llfght, for Esq., have been preparing a" chapel the Master bas been very near to-day car," for use in Minnesota and on the and wonderfully kind. My subject of Wisconsin Central and Northern to-day, "My son, give me thy heart," Pacific railroads. ' , Uncle Boston" is has touched my own heart. to use this chapel-on-wheels for his I cannot ask your readers to pray Sunday-school mission work, and it is for us and our work specially; there finely adapted to his purposes. Atone are others who have probably a end are arrangements for living, and greater right to their prayers and the rest of the car is a chapel fitted thought; but let me urge all who pray for about 100 persons. During summer for missions to more "believing and months a tent will be carried, which importunate prayer," and we also can be set up for temporary use where shall receive our share of the blessing. crowds are too great for the chapel. Bishop Walker, of the Episcopal ANDREW C. MURRAY. Church, has done a like thing for the territory under his jurisdiction, in The Rev. E. F. Baldwin, now in North Dakota. Each of these moving Beyrout, Syria, desires it stated that chapels is about 60 feet by 10. The latter has gothic projections to give it the letterin the October number, 1890, a church-like appearance, and is finpages 776,777, was not a specific letter ished in oak, in gothic style,. with for THE REVIEW, although Dr. Sher- . chancel, altar, lectern, cabinet organ, wood so understood it at the time, but and even baptismal font and bishop's a circular sent to THE REVIEW. The chair. Weare surely making pro- adch'ess, "Dear Editors" was affixed grE'ss!
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
[EDITORIAL. ] Faots and Figures about the World-wide Field.
-.Alaska's coast is the sepulchre 40,000,000 were called Protestant; now, of ships. Dr. Sheldon Jackson says the population is more than double, that almost a hundred vessels have and the nominal Protestants more found a watery gra,e there within than quadrupled!
twenty years! In one storm, and atone -The first convertamongthe natives place, thirty-three ships were ground of India was Krishna Chundra Pal between ice-fields, and 1,200 sailors in 1800. Renry Martyn said it was a cast, wrecked, on a barren shore. miracle as great as the raising of the -According to the census of 1890, dead. Now, every ten years the con- the population of the Unite9. States is verts increase over eighty per cent.
62,480,540. It seems to us that this is The first convert in western Poly- an underestimate; we have supposed nesia was King Pomare II.; now there 66,000,000 nearer the actual truth. are 850,000, and all western Poly- -A Messianic pretender appears in nesia is evangelized.
an Indian tribe. He claims that the -Up to 1853, the Edict Board of Indian power and prestige is to revive Japan made it capital offence for a and the lost ground be recovered. If Christian to set foot on the island this notion gets hold of the mercurial empire. Now, there are 30,000 pro- red men no one can tell what may fessed converts and 17,000 children in come of it: they may attempt to ex- Sunday-schools. One in twenty-eight terminate the whites. .Already, for of the elect members of the new par- three months, the whole northwestern liament is a Christian church member.
part of our country has been in a state As the Christians of Japan number of disturbance and serious alarm. but 1 to 1,200 of the population, it will -Principal Magee,ofDublin,says the be seen that the proportion of Chris- dogma of the infallibility of the Pope tian members of parliament is forty- has repelled the bulk of Irishmen, and three U'Yhes as great. This impresses led to intellectualindependencewhich us as one of the most remarkable is reducing the ranks of Romanism signs of the power of Protestant mis- and filling up those of Protestantism. sions in Japan. The contributions of He thinks vaulting ambition has native converts were about $50,000 again" overleaped itself" and "fallen last year, nearly $2 a head!
on-tother side." -At Oroomiah, Persia, last year, -These are old figures, but their fifty-one out of sixty-seven pupils in lesson is always new: the seminary were Christians and In 1800, not over 50,000 converts in members of the church.
all heathendom; now, over 1,500,000, –The McAll mission schools had and five times as many adherents. last year 235,000 children under in- In 1800, not over 70 mission schools; struction.
now, about 14,000, with 600,000 -The Established Church of Scot- scholars. land reports 2,034 converts and 2,465 In 1800, 50 translations of the Bible; pupils in the schools in the Punjab now, between 300 and 400, of the whole Mission, India, with 723 converts bap- or parts, like the Gospel of Mark. tized in 1890.
In 1800, not over 5,000,000 copies of -Dr. Robert N. Cust reckons 223 the Bible; now, more than that issue missionary societies in the world: 113 from the press every year. in Britain and colonies; 56 in the In 1800; the population of the globe United States; 20 in Germany; 14 in about 700,000,000, of whom some Netherlands, and 20 in other lands. Many of these are doubtless small. sustained by the facts. Mr. Henry Fifty have incomes of $10,000 and up- A. Hinshaw, in the August Science ward, and twenty report over $100,- Monthly, says: "At the end of the 000. At least ten of these have got mission rule the Indian was really three-fourths of their funds from less capable of taking care of himself 1tative converts! than at the beginning. He was found Roman Oatholicism, if we may trust a free man, he was left a dependent.
the "Catholic Dh;.ectory," for last year, Driven to church by the whip, forced has, in the United States, 13 arcb- to kneel by being punched by goads, bishops, 73 bishops, 8,332 priests, 2,132 with no free or rational cultivation of ecclesiastical students, 7,523 churches, mind or conscience, the religious in- 3,302 chapels and stations, 35 theo- struction made up of scarcely any- logical seminaries, 102 colleges, 635 thing else but ritual and superstition, academies, 3,194 parochial schools and the idea of obedience to the priest, with 633,238 pupils in them, 553 chari- the result was what might have been table institutions, and about 8,000,000 expected." Why should the Govern- members. ment continue to appropriate money The approximate distribution of to such schools?
missionaries is said to be as follows: -M. Monod says he adopts very No. of Mis- .much the words of one of his best col- Populatlou. sionaries. Proportion porteurs: "It seems to me supersti- .syria …….. 3.000,000 100 lto 80,000 tion is not so general as it was, and Turkey …… 21,000,000 450 lto 45,000 that what people call the' Protestant Madagascar. 5,000,000 50 1 to 100,000 Burma …… 8,000,000 40 1to 200,000 faith' is honored by many Roman Japan……. 38,000,000 200 1to 200,000 Catholics, who ten years ago felt noth- Jndia …….. 250,000,000 900 1 to 275,000 Persia……. 7,500,000 80 1to 300,000 ing but a bitter hatred against the ·.Africa.•… _..250,000,000 600 1 to 400,000 Gospel and the Scriptures which we s. America'.. 80,000,000 75 1to 400,000 colporteurs circulate. Blessed be the Korea…….. 9.000,000 25 1to 400,000 Lord for that! Those times are gone, .Siam …….. 8,000,000 18 1to 000,000 and the light of the Gospel seems to Chiua …….. 380,000.000 600 J.toQ..A5O,OOO spread. The Lord gives me new Arabia……. 6,000,000 4 1 to 1,500,000 'Tbibet.. ….. 15,000.000 7 1 to 2,000,000 openings, and I must hasten to meet In Sahara district with 3,000,000; . theln." ~ Afghanistan, etc., with 3,500,000; An- -The women's societies in America nam, etc., with 12,000,000; Russia, are doing untold good by preparing 16,000,000; Algeria, etc., 12,000,000; and scattering broadcast missionary Soudan, 75,000,000, there is an ENTIRE literature in condensed and cheap DESTITUTION. forms. Some of us, in·this fast age, [Weare aware that the above must skim the great pan and serve figures are not exact, but they are the up the cream in little pitchers, rich best we have been able to'Obtain from and sweet. Our" little pitchers" are a variety of sources. We shall be multiplying. Brief, compact and in- grateful to anyone who will furnish teresting leaflets, containing the great us correct and reliable statistics.-ED- facts of missions, or short biographical lTOR.] sketches, or quaint stories of a half- -Senator Dawes, opposing an in- humorous sort to illustrate giving and crease to the appropriations to Roman praying, and helping in the work, are Catholic schools among the Indians, freely circulated. Those who can declared the 120 years of Jesuit mis- condense the facts into a small space sionary work among the Indians of and yet preserve all their vitalizing California had left them less capable force are benefactors indeed, and this of self-support than it had found the women of our day are doing with them. The accusation seems to be well grand success. -The Church of Scotland Mission -On the plains and in the selva.s of Record nobly says: Brazil there are a million of wild " But no one can pretend that our Indians, ignored by the Christian missionary collections are such as world.
ought to satisfy us. Let us remember – During the past ten years over how large is our number of communi- 11,000 converts have been gathered in cants-about 588,000. Our missionary the missionary fields of the Moravian contributions show but a very small Church.
sum as given per communicant. For -Sabbath observance is making the foreign mission, or mission to the great progress in Paris. A determined heathen abroad, there was contributed effort is made to close all places of last year by the church at home, business on Sunday.
through the assembly scheme, the -Ninety thousand copies of the ladies' association, legacies and special illustrated Bible, issued in weekly subscriptions, a total of £28,331-not , parts, have been sold among the quite one shilling from every com- Roman Catholics in Italy.
municant. And when we exclude the -The last five years have seen ladies' association, legacies and special greater developments in the opening subscriptions, it appears that the sum and Christianizing of Africa than the raised for tilis object by church col- ninety-five years preceding.
lections in Scotland was £13,172-giv- -The Gospel of Matthew has been ing an average of only 5 1-4d from translated into the Laos language by each communicant. We grant that Mrs. McGilvary of the Presbyterian many of our communicants are poor Board. The Acts of the Apostles is persons, but it will not be denied that also nearly ready.
the great majority are in circum- -The American Baptist Telugu stances to afford some help to any Mission calls for a re-inforcement of good cause which thoroughly interests twenty-five men in the next two sears.
them. If they give nothing, or very Dr. J. E. Clough, of Ongole, has under little, we must conclude either that his care more than 17,000 Christians.
they do not know that there is an -:Et!!',">Dr. Boggs, of Ramapatam, object deserving and needing their aid, says all India is in a state of ferment.
or that they feel no interest, or little The Hindus and Mohammedans interest, in it." actively oppose the advance of Chris- -Arch-deacon Farrar, of London, tianity, and at the same time mis- says: "It comes with shocking ill sionary work is pushed more vigor- grace, and sounds like shameful ously than ever.
hypocrisy, when those who give -The appropriations of the Ameri- nothing and do nothing for mis- can Baptist Missionary Union for the sions, make the 'home heathen' year ending March 31, 1891, are $503,- a false excuse for doing nothing. 159.53. The society calls for an im- They talk as if it were weakening the mediate special contribution of $50,000 resources of England and surely that to meet the deficiency caused by the is stupendous nonsense when we are passage of the silver bill.
not even spending as much on mis- -Four railroads are projected, or sions as on tobacco and Christmas in process of construction, from the cards." east coast of Africa toward the in- -Canon Christopher, one of the terior ; one in the territory of British notable men of Cambridge, England, East Africa Company, one in German proclaims his interest in missions territory, one in the Portuguese pos- by annually entertaining a great sesions, and one passing through Port- company of representative men to uguese territory to the domain of the breakfast. British South African Company.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Foreign Mission Notes, by Rev. James Johnston, Bolton, England.
African Mlssions.-There are re- cessible. remarkably intelligent, and ported to be over 500 missionary considered by the missionaries to be stations in the Dark Continent, with more Christian, on the whole, than the which 400,000 converts are associated, ordinary run of Christians in England.
whose numberis increasing at a yearly By the Rev. W. E. Taylor, (C. M. S., average of 25,000 souls. Frere Town,) it was observed that the Slavery.-A meeting held at the present is the time to win the popula- Stanley and African Exhibition in tion to Christianity, otherwise they London was addressed by several re- would be made converts to Moham- turned missionaries, of different so- medanism. The Rev. R. P. Ashe cieties. Their reports were very en- (late missionary of the C. M. S. at couraging, especially as to the Congo Uganda) said that the friends of mis- region. Lord Knutsford urged more sions do not realize that the mission- exertion for the suppression of the aries in Central Africa have, with less horrible slave traffic. Although the assistance, d1fficulties to face, corresc British are less directly active in com- ponding to those which Mr. Stanley batting it they seem determined to narrated in "Darkest Africa." A col- banish the great curse of Africa. So lection was taken for the purchase far as Pro1!estant societies are con- of a steamer to be launched on the eerned they are free from the disgrace waters of Victoria Nyanza for the use of buying boys and girls to train them of the Church Missionary Society's as Christians, whereas, French Catho- agents. The total outlay will be £5,000, lie societies openly countenance this of which £2,300 has been secured. In unwisfj .pgliey. A representative of aid of this desirable object Mr. Stanley the -~Anti-Slavery Society entreated made an eloquent appeal in the eol- English people to eschew the use of umns of The London Times, to British ivory, every scrap of which, accord- Christians. ing to Mr. Stanley, issteep~la:lnblood. Bishop Smythies.-The brave lead- The venerable Archdeacon Maple, of er of the Universities' Mission, de- the Universities' Mission, described parting once more to his field, his work on Lake Nyassa. He paid a preached a farewell sermon to a eon- warm tribute to the African Lakes gregation of supporters in St. John's, Company for resistance to the intro- Red Lion Square, Holborn, from the duction of liquor and to similar evils. mlsslOnary passage in Col. il-:3, The work of Dr. Laws, of the Free "Withal, praying also for us, that Church and of the Scotch Established God would open unto us a door of Church, on the Shire Highlands, was utterance, to speak the mystery of equally eulogized. The Archdeacon Christ, for which I am also in bonds."
said, in face of the partitioning of He returns, accompanied by three Africa by European powers, their clergymen and two lady nurses, mak- duty as pioneers was to maintain their ing a complete mission staff of seventy ground unless superior force com- persons. During his sojourn in pelled them to retire. Dr. Guinness Europe the Bishop visited Berlin, and referred to the scope of the Congo was cordially welcomed by the young Mission, founded in 1878, by Mr. Emperor of Germany, who spoke with Henry Craven and others, which had marked sympathy and appreciation of at the present time three missions the Universities' Mission.
and seventy-five missionaries. No- Cardinal Lavigerie. – After dis- where in the world is mission work cussing in Rome further plans bearing more hopeful. The people were ac- on the anti-slavery question, the • Cardinal passed through Marseilles, on 1890, they had received only £13,000; his way to ~'.lgiers. From there, to meanwhile they had to borrow money Biskra, whence he will make various at a high rate of interest to meet their ,excursions in southern Algeria. . liabilities.
Holland and the S,ave Trade.- Japan. – To secure more help for The principal members of the Belgian the English Church mission in Japan government are impressing upon the an important meeting has been held Dutch cabinet the absolute necessity in the library of the Lambeth Palace, 'of giving its signatures to ,the general London. Bishop Barry said, not- act of the Brussels Conference; if not, withstanding the lateness of the Eng- a stigma will rest on the country in lish Church in the field, it would ulti- preventing the execution of effective mately take the leading place in measures for the suppression of the influence and responsibility among slave trade and its horrors. The ex- Christian communities there. A re- port trade'of the Congo State for the markable feature of the Japanese is second quarter of the year 1890 was their capacity to adapt themselves to double that of the corresponding what they had adopted. The church period of 1889, and five times larger mission had certainly no desire to than it was in 1887. These figures hinder the growth of native institushow the necessity of giving the Congo tions, or .to press upon the Japanese State the means to pursue its honor- any western customs which could not ,able and humane mission. be appreciated or assimilated.
Wesleyan Missionary Society- Madagascar. – Excitement reigns Tonga. – The good news is con- in the island consequent upon the fumed respecting the improved condi- terms of the Anglo-French agreement tion of affairs among the native Wes- becoming known. The various misleyans, chiefly due to the wise inter- sionary societies view with lIlisgivings vention of the High Commissioner, the ultimate action of the queen and Sir J. B. Thurston. The majority of her advisers. As to the immediate the exiled Wesleyans have returned prospects, religiously and politically, from Fiji. With the re-affirmation of the sta£ements of authorities are conreligious liberty, the hitherto sup- flicting. According to agents of the pressed feeling of fear and restraint is London Missionary Society recently beginning to disappear, and large arrived in England, no alarm is ennumbers are again attending the Wes- tertained in relation to Madagascar's 1eyan Church. agreeableness to the French Protecto- rate. An experienced missionary, the Secunderabad.-That ardent Wes- Rev. J. Sibree, believes that there isa leyan missionary, the Rev. William tendency to exaggerate the differ- Burgess, reports that he has baptized ences and apprehend risks only in 200 natives this year (1890), and ex- days to come. The English Governpects shortly to announce double that ment have been gradually compelled number. to subscribe to what the Malagasies must have foreseen many years since. Italy. – In, connection with the A younger missionary, the Rev. James vigorous campaign of English Wes- Taylor, declares the influence exerleyans in the Italian peninsula, the cised by the London Missionary Socidoubted secession of a whole Roman etyon the natives is unequaled by any {)atholic village in Italy to Method- kind of organization in the island, and ism is now ascertained to be beyond that from the Society it would be difdispute. ficult to wean the people.
English Wesleyan Missionary So- On the other hand these assurances ciety Finances. – With regret the are vigorously controverted by the secretaries state that out of a procSpective home income of £100,000 for latest mail communications from the car has remained quiet because she island. Great unrest prevails touch- believed that she was outgrowing the ing the Anglo-French agreement; the time for foreign aggression. She now Hovas pronouncing vehemently finds that she has been sleeping in fan- against a French Protectorate sway. cie<i'security, and to-day she is awake For two powers to deprive a country in a rage. The country is aroused. sUbstantially of her rights and privi- There is a dangerous spirit thrilling leges without consulting her is con- throughout the country. The late po- sidered cruelly unfair. In retaining litical calm has disappeared. To an her freedom to conduct her civil and individual the Hovas are patriotic, commercial intercourse, "Madagas- and, if France insists upon putting car," says the principal local journal, a wrong construction upon the Treaty "will fight to the last if France de- of 1885-6, the Malagasy will heroic- mands the control of the foreign of- ally repel her aggression. Watchful fice, or assumes a protectorate over sympathy is desired for the religious the Government of Her Majesty Ran- and national welfare of a people who avalomanjaka III." This language is are beginning to enter on a civilized unmistakably decisive. Until very career. By the missionaries in particu- recently the government in Madagas- lar, abounding grace and wisdom are car had no idea of the island's liberty needed to guide their converts in the being endangered. A claim of France right paths. some time ago to represent Madagas- London Missionary Society. – car in her foreign relations was re- The London Missionary Society will fused, consistent with articles 1-2 of send delegates to the International the 1885-6 Franco-Malagasy Treaty. Council of Congregationalists, to be It was consequently surmised that held in London in 1891. This step is as France did not urge it ,that she regarded as a sign that the society is inte~ the clauses to refer to moving from a broad evangelical basis the pledge of Madagascar not to to one of a more denominational enter into compact defensively or character. offensively elsewhere unless–tt";"'con- Church Missionary Society.- sent of France was previously ob- The benefactions to the Church Mistained. The Malagasy Government sionary Society for the current year is content to allow France to intervene are about twice as much as those of on her behalf in exterior political mat- the average of the last five years, and ters, quite otherwise respecting inter- the ordinary income steadily increases. nal affairs. Madagascar cherishes her Six London societies send out unindependence and sets great store on ordained missionaries, not demanding everything which develops her re- college education. Thus not only sources, and naturally wishes to retain are wider doors opening before the ' a free hand for her administration and, church in foreign lands, but the gate an openseaboard to transacttrade with ,of entrance for workers is becoming other lands. The organ of the Eng- much broader. lish, The Madagascar Times, asserts Two more young ladies went out that the agreement is a monstrous last month to the Zenana work in contravention of past treaties, and Rajahmundry, India, sent out by the warns France of the dangers which Lutheran Mission Committee. The await her should she persist in taking two workers, Miss Sadtler of Baltinominal possession. "Europe," this more and Miss Schade of New Brighpaper states, "is mistaken in her be- ton, Pa., were given a farewell meetlief that Madagascar has been unde- ing in St. John's Lutheran Church, monstrative because the French con- Philadelphia. A chest of medicines trol affairs. This is not so. Madagas- was presented to the missionaries. Monthly Bulletin. -Miss Anna E. Johnson has left Bryn Mawr, Pa., for the McAll work -Mr. David Sinclair, M.A., princi- in Paris. pal of the Missionary College at Mad- ras, and who, after twenty years of -Two Bengalese ladies, after a five service, retired at the beginning of the years' course, received at Calcutta last year, is dead. University the degree of Bachelor of Medicine. They are both disciples of -Professor Riggenbach, of Basel, Christ. for twelve years president of the great Basel Missionary Society, died also -The British and Foreign Bible So- September 5. He had a fascinating ciety issued last year 3,790,000 copies history. of the Bible, either wholly or in part; -Some 200 Hebrew students in the and the London ReligiouB Tract So- University of Odessa petitioned the ciety 77,000,000 publications, every Russian government to be allowed to one of which, in some form, ango forward with their studies as nounces the glad tidings of salvation Hebrews, and met a refusal. It re- in Christ.
sulted in their conversion to Ohris- -The French Protestant Mission tianity! among the Basutos has over 6,000com- -Bishop Hannington was cruelly municants.
murdered by Mwanga, of Uganda, -Rev. R. Glover, D.D., of Bristol, whose Christian subjects have now re- and Rev. T. M. Morris of Ipswich, instated him on his throne. Two years two of the foremost men of the Bapago Bishop Parker, who followed tist deilOmination in England, are in him, perished on the shores of Victoria China as a deputation from the mis- Nyanza. And now, a third bishop, sionary society to visit the stations Mr. Tucker, has started for equatorial Africa. Thus far these bishops have and report on needs and claims of the ~-…. work.
held office less than two years each; -Arthur Brooks, whom the natives but lor the work in which they per- killeq a year ago in Africa, was the ished .more than twenty have been elev~lM:llartyr the London Mission- found ready to take the place of each ary Society has given to the East one who has died. African Mission. Since then Mr.
-It is proposed to build a sort of Slade's death left but three men to "People's Temple" in London, with carry on this work.
sufficient space for 100,000 persons, so -Rev. Dr. Sheldon Jackson has been that when great public interests are at establishing three new missions-Con- stake room may be found for popular gregational, Episcopal and Presby- meetings and discussions. terian respectively, in Alaska. This -A "Hindoo tract society" in is a practical illustration of inter- Madras is trying to neutralize the denominational comity.
missionaries' work by leaflets in de- -In three colleges of North Caro- fence of Hinduism, as they have lina 15 students have volunteered for already imitated Christian "cate- mISSIons. At Oberlin 32, and $400 chisms " for teaching and indoctrina- have been raised for their outfit.
ting the young. -On Lake Nyassa the Scottish Free -A chair for study of the English Church has, at Bandawe, 1,180 pupils Bible was last year established at and 38 native teachers in its schools.
Princeton College. At Yale over 150 -Moravians distance us all in mis- students of the higher classes elect a sionary heroism. One of their Alaska course of Bible studies, with two lec- missions is 3,000 miles from its base tures a week. of supplies, and sometimes the cold is so intense that even the smoke is a pronouncedly good influence upan turned to frost in chimneys. him and his people. He has abolished drinking in his land, and is always -Mr. Penazottj, the agent of the intent on some reform. His word is American Bible Society, in Peru, is always trusted, not only by the mis- in prison solely for the crime of circu- sionaries, but also by traders and lating the Word of God in the Spanish hunters, wl'lO are mistrustful of every- tongue. His instructing of the people thing accomplished by missions. He has been construed as violating a is sincere, courageous and manly, and semi-obsolete decree of the Peruvian if all Caffre chieftains were like him, {lonstitution. We watch the result of Caffreland would have a very different this trial of Protestantiam in South look from its present one. America with interest. -Basel Missionary Society recently -Rev. John Newton, seventy-eight observed its seventy-fifth anniversary. years old, and oldest of missionaries It has missions in India, China, and in India, landed in Calcutta in 1835, on the African Gold Coast and the and is still a hale and happy worker. Camaroons, and not until recently He is a Presbyterian, and believes in have unmarried lady missionaries goue the" Perseverance of the Saints!" to the frontier to engage in educa- tional and other work among their -According to Dr. Pentecost, dark and darkened sisters. Bishop Taylor is the only evangelist who has left behind him in India a Alaska.-Important are the openpermanent work. We may be per- ings for the spread of the Gospel in mitted to say that our friend Pente- this largest possession of the United cost sometimes allows himself to make States. Its area is 531,409 square statements which are too sweeping, if miles: Arctic division, 125,245; Younot careless. Bishop Taylor not only kon, 70,884; Southeastern, 28,980. Its worked as an evangelist, but he extreme length north and south is founded churches, and large churches, 1,100 miles; its extreme breadth is too, which few evangelists do. Hence, 800 miles. Total population about his eminently scriptural and apostolic 30,426; white, 430; Creole, 1,756; Inwork abides, which cannot be said of nuit, 17,617; Aleut, 2,145; Tenneh, some who only do the work of an 3,927; Thlinket, 6,763; Hyda,788. It evangelist. . occupies the extreme northwest of the continent. This important coun- -Think of America sending a few try was purchased from Russia by the missionaries to Africa and finding it United States government in 1867, difficult to raise enough money to and is now under its control. support them, while Boston alone, from 1882 to 1887, sent to the Dark Turkey.-Great Revival in Aintab. Continent 3,500,000 gallons of strong In the annual report of the American drink! Rev. David A. Day, at Monro- Board the siguificant event in Asiatic via, saw landed at one port on one Turkey was the revival, whereby 538 Sunday 50,000 casks of gin! were added to the church in Aintab, and by its influence no less than 1,000 Africa.-Mr. J. Nixon declares of hopeful conversions occurred within Magata, a chief near Pretoria, where the limits of that one field. The three the Hermannsburg missionaries are centers of collegiate and theological working, that not even in England training were specially blessed. Only has he met with a more perfect gen- a small number of college graduates, tleman. Chief Kchama, he declares, however, enter the theological school, is also a chief whose word can be de- and there is an increasing tendency to pended upon, a noble example of suc- come to America to complete their cessful missionary work. His Chris- studies and to better their fortunes. tianity is nothing nominal, but exerts Cost of War.-According to rep- Canon Liddon on Missions.- resentations given recently in the Across the triumphs and the failures German Reichstag, France has'a war of well-nigh nineteen centuries, the footing of 3,300,000 men; Russia, spiritual ear still catches the accents 2,570,000; Germany, 2,900,000; Austro- of the charge on the mountain in Gali- Hungary, 1,150,000; Italy, 1,090,000; 100; and, as we listen, we note that or these five powers can summon into neither length of time nor change of the field, should the necessity require circumstance has impaired their it, 11,019,000. Who can foretell the solemn and enduring force. It is a awful consequences should any power precept which, if it ever had binding be so rash as to let loose the war virtue, must have it at this moment dragon? And to prevent such a catas- over all who believe in the Divine trophy, it is deemed necessary to keep Speaker's power to impose it-it must up a peace footing for Russia of 314,- bind us as distinctly as it was binding 000; France, 511,334; Germany, 486,- on the first disciples. Weare ambas- 983; Austro-Hungary, 325,693; Italy, sadors of a charity which knows no 255,418; or in all, 2,393,423. distinctions between the claimants on Worth Noting.-The secular press. its bounty, and no frontier save those announces that Abbe Mesmer has of the races of man. A good Chrisstarted from Rome to assume his posi- tian can not be other than eager for tion at the head of the Roman Catho- the extension of our Lord's Kingdom lic University in Washington. In among men, not only from his sense of this case at least, we regret that the what is due to the Lord who bought law which prohibits the importation him, but also from his natural sense of of contract labor will not be enforced. justice, his persuasion that he has no We trust, however, that the American right to withhold from others those public will not lose sight of the fact privileges and prospects which are the that this new university is to be placed joy of his own inmost life. When he under the direction of tt foreigner, and finds comfort in the power of prayer, of one who comes witk the blessing of when he looks forward in humble a Pope who, from his hatred of free confidence to death, when he enjoys institutions, continu~s to keep up the the blessed gift of inward' peacefarce of his being a prisoner in the peace between the soul and its God, Vatican, and is arrayed in open an- peace between the soul's various powtagonism to the civil law of Italy. If ers and faculties-he cannot but ask the man is like the· master, we may the question: "Do I not owe it to the reasonably expect that the consistent millions who have no part in these policy which has been so long main- priceless blessings that I should do tained in Italy will not be forgotten what I can myself, or through others in America. to extend to them a share in this smile of the Universal Father which is the Mr. W. F. Wilkinson.-Another joy and consolation of my life? Can worker fallen on the Congo. The I possibly neglect the command to Baptist Missionary Society have re- make disciples of all nations?"-Spirit ceived this.sad intelligence of one who of Missions.
less than ·six months ago was set Rev. Dr. A. P. Happer, President apart at the Society's Birmingham of the Christian College, Canton, meetings for the noblest of callings. China, .is ordered by his physician to Of heroic ardor, the death of so give up work and return home. He young a man cannot be other than a has disease of the heart. As soon as source of grief to all wilo follow with the trustees appoint his successor he interested eye the course of the con- will hand over the College, which he flict. is now arranging to do.
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1889
Rt. Hon. The Earl of
.MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XII. No.t.-Old Series._ _JANUARY, _ _VOL. U. No. t.-New Serle•• I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD. [EDITORIAL. ] "OUR work is practically that small portion of God's eternal work and will which is allotted to us in our little corner of space and our short minute of time."
So spake Pasteur Monod, truly and tersely, at the late Mildmay Confer- ence. It is an august conception of service, that, in God's gTand sphere, there is a little segment, bearing our name and the date of this present YE(ar. The youthful Victoria, when the Archbishop of Canterbury came to announce her father's death and her own accession as Queen of Britain, begged him first of all to pray with her that she might take the throne and weal' the crown only as the servant of a Higher Sovereign. But when we rightly. conceive of our work, however humble, it becomes invested with a divine dignity. The rudest implement 01' instrument becomes a scepter. the bench of the workman or of the magistrate alike a throne, and the blouse and ermine alike a royal robe.
A tw~lvemonth since, this REVIEW, in its present enlarged and modified form, was, with many prayers and not without some fears, launched like a bark upon strange waters. The beginning of the new year naturally sug- gests a retrospect and a prospect.
Looking back, we thank God and take courage. At every step of the way we trace providential and gracious guidance and help. We undertook the work because we heard a loud call of God amt saw a great need of man. A Jericho lay before us to be taken for Christ's crown and covenant; but, between us and success rolled a stream neither narrow nor shallow. Believ- ing that the invisible and invincible Captain of the Lord's host was leading on, we set our foot in this Jordan and have gone over on dry ground. Every difficulty, when approached, has disappeared or been surmounted. Our sub- scription list has passed our most sanguine expectations. The public press has so cordially commended our work that scarce a word has found its way into print that has been controversial or even critical. Encomiums, that seemed almost extravagant, have come from the secretaries of great Mis- sion:;try Boards and the editors of other missionary magazines. Letters by the hundred have reached the editors and publishers, referring to our endeav- ors III the kindliest and most fraternal spirit; and contributions to our pages, often gratuitous, have been sent by men and. women who stand in the front rank. of the Church of Christ.
If we rightly read the signs of the times, it has been clearly demonstrated that just such a Review of universal missions is an imperative need of our day; and that in seeking to supply this need we were simply falling into our
LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD
place in a divine plan. With the enlarged circulation and the increased excellence for which we both hope and strive, a career of increased and increasing usefulness opens before this messenger of the churches. We therefore, without hesitation, appeal to all lovers of Christ and His cause, to give us sympathetic and prayerful aid in our endeavor to furnish and diffuse missionary intelligence and in.spiration throughout the wide circle of the common Christian brotherhood.
What was said at the outset, one year ago, we now emphatically repeat, that this is with us no mere money-making scheme. Neitller of us would have considered that we had any time to give to a mere business venture however promising. One of us, besides filling the onerous position of literary editor of a large publishing house, was editing The Homiletic Review, whose ninety-six pages a month made additional editorial work by no means a sinecure. The other was pastor of a congregation where thousands of people look to him for work in pulpit and pastorate. With such tax already upon tongue and pen, such engrossing and absorbing work as this REVIEW demands would not even have been weighed in the mere balances of worldly gain. We had neither time nor money to invest in a literary enterprise, though it might promise pecuniary rewards. But we weighed the matter in God's scales, over against higher motives and compensations. The leading of God seemed singularly obvious. A network of providences entangled us as in a golden snare. A higher destiny-a divinity~shaped our ends, and we yielded to the pressure of duty, which is always also privilege. We believed strength would be given us, and it has been given.
The impression and conviction with which this enterprise was begun have only become deeper and stronger by the year's eXperience, viz.: that, in respect of missions, no greater need exists than that of the universal diffU8ion of information as to the facts of past and present missionary history. To know those facts, to be informed and keep informed and fully informed, as to the march of God and His hosts in all the earth, is, in effect, to quicken the pulse of the whole Church of Christ. In missions. Love is the skillful alchemist that turns knowledge into zeal and out of intelligence distils inspiration. If we would have more prayer we must know what to pray about and pray for; if we want more money we must know what open doors God is placing before us for the investment of consecrated capital, and what wondrous results He has wrought and is working with the merchant's millions, and even the widow's mites; if we waRt more men and women as workers, the mind and heart and conscience of disciples must be awakened from sleep and aroused from sluggishness, by the electric touch of thrilling facts. If we want more zeal, all true zeal is "according to knowledge" and consequent upon it. If we want the spirit of holy enterprise, doing and daring for God, missions must be exhibited as the enterprise of the Church, and it must be shown that no equal or proportionate investment of men, means and money ever brought returns so ample-all of which the logic of events stands ready to prove by the most overwhelming of arguments.
In a word, we believe that, if every true disciple could be continually confronted by a fresh bulletin of news from the world-wide field and kept familiar with the movements of every assaulting column now moving against Satan's citadels, all the workmen and all the money-both the per80nnel and materiel of war-would De voluntarily furnished for prosecuting this colossal campaign I To do our part of this work well-this is the absorbing question. To mix. UP the secular spirit with the Lord's work is fatal to a true and large success; and, above all other work, missions mean and demand self-sacrifice. We could no~ ask a large blessing upon any plans that had in view such gross pay as silver and gold. A Review, such as we conduct, i(not likely to be a money-making investment; if the necessary price of its production is met we are content, and any surplus would go to enrich its contents and cheapen its cost, and so enlarge its circulation and influence.
The time has come, moreover, for a Review of Missions that may take its place side by side with the ablest periodicals in the secular sphere. The gospel has found its way into Cresar's household, as well as into the jailer's family and Bethany's humble home. God is now calling the wise, the mighty, the noble, to the kingdom. Merchant princes, public leaders, statesmen, journalists, philosophers, generals, judges, sages, bow at the cradle of Christ as did the Eastern seers. Kings' daughters are among the honorable women who follow the Saviour and minister to Him of their substance, and at His right hand stands more than one queen in gold of ophir. Piety is not linked with stupidity and superstition, ignorance and imbecility. Even the infidel no longer sneers at the gospel as "fit only for women, children, and small men." The thoughtful, cultured classes of society are compelled to ask whence came that wonderful religion that illustrates the survival of the fittest because fittest to survive; that amazes the evolutionist by not being evolved at aU, but springing at once into maturity without development, and yet defies for eighteen centuries all improvement, either by addition or subtraction I And we are profoundly persuaded that a Review of Missions, properly conducted, will not only inform the ignorant and enlighten and educate the uncultivated, but may also command and compel the attention of the most intellectual and intelligent readers, and bring them into closer and more practical fellowship with mission work.
Such aims and objects necessitate no little outlay of brains and money and hard work. 'I'o these pages we invite first-class contributions, and we therefore offer propel' compensation. Culture is a costly product in the intellectual market. The pen that is dipped in liquid gold commands gold as the wages of its work and the means of refilling its magic inkstand. Literary work brings a high price because it is bought with a large sum. We cannot ask able writers to furnish us papers gratuitously, though some of them do so, unsolicited. We began this REVIEW determined that, whether it broug"ht us any compensation or not as editors, our contributors should be paid; and we have observed this rule, not only to the utmost limit of our resources, but beyond it.
There are some directions in which we need prompt and vigorous co-operation from the Christian public, and we ask every reader to give us aid.
1. First of all, we wish for our REVIEW a greatly enlarged circulation. The same cost of time and strength by which we now reach 10,000 subscribers, may as well avail for 100,000; and the larger the list of subscribers the smaller the relative cost of production, and therefore the less the price of the REVIEW. Every pastor ought to have a copy, and to secure its wide circulation in a congregation would double and treble the annual gifts to lllissions. Is there not in every church some godly man or woman who will try at least to collect enough money to supply the pastor with THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD? And with l:;Iow little labor might copy after copy find its way into the homes of leading families? The pastors are leaders, and missionary interest in any congregation seldom rises above their level. "But we greatly desire that in every family the news from the mission field may find eager readers, if not always paying subscribers. Let every subscriber, therefore, take pains to see that his copy is read outside the limits of his own home. After it has done service in his own household, let it be sent on its rounds, visiting homes where otherwise it would not find its way, to spread information and inspire interest.
If a pastor would take the trouble to suggest to his people the raising of a club and request a suitable person to take it in charge, our circulation would be trebled among them and they would get the REVIEW at a less price. Ten subscriptions for $15; or for 20 at $2 each, a large missionary map of the world, which is sold for $20 by its publishers, is given. And the map and the circulation of 20 copies of THE REVIEW for a year among his people would largely increase the interest in and the gifts to the missionary cause.
We crave help to enlarge our free list. We renew our appealfor a Review Mission Fund, by which we may furnish copies gratuitously, orat less than cost, to young men and women who are studying and preparing for work in the mission field. Whenever $1 is sent us, we add what is necessary to pay for a free copy, and place it where it will do the most good. In this way we last year put it into the hands of several hundred volunteers.
2. Secondly, we ask aid, from any quarter, in providing matter for the pages of THE REVIEW i and particularly information from all parts of the field. Accurate and prompt reports of the Lord's work in any land we cordially welcome, and if necessary will pay for. What we specially desire is, early and authentic reports from all the missionary societies of the world. If the Secretaries of these many societies will see to it that we are furnished with advance sheets of their annual reports, or a copy of the report itself when issued, we will invariably publish a careful abstract of it in the REVIEW. Many have done so, and we have, including the Woman's Boards, given the past year the latest authentic statistics of some 125 societies. We have not yet attained to the scientific form of the late Mr. Wilder's reports, but we hope in time greatly to exceed them in fullness and practical worth, if not in the element of scientific arrangement. But very much depends on the co-operation of the friends of missions, in the foreign fields and in the Boards and Societies at home. Let every reader remember that, in effect, he is one of the editors and publishers of this REVIEW; these pages are at his command to improve almost without limit. Give us a larger constituency and so a wider circulation; give us contributions from the whole field, reports of all existing societies, helpful suggestions, and in general a helping hand; and, to the last limit of our ability and resourCQS, we will make this MISSION- ARyREVIEW OF THE WORLD worthy of its name, and of the cordial place already accorded to it in the hearts of thousands of readers.
Never was the whole field of missions so inviting or the harvest so prom- ising. Never was the Church of Christ furnished with facilities so ample and abundant for the speedy and successful accomplishment of her work. Human thought and social changes move with a rapidity unknown in the lethargic ages of the past. There is a stirring of all the elements both of individual and national life; new conditions exist; new aspirations are awakened, and new developments are possible. The next decade of years will witness not only evolutions but revolutions that even now seem incredi- ble within so short a time. The Church of Christ must push all her forces' to the front, and lay a moulding hand on the plastic material of social life. The anointed tongue and the consecrated pen, the printed page and the living ep~tle, the Church and the school, the Christian family and the Chris- , tian home, must unite their witness to the power of the gospel in the eyes and ears of every creature.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AS THE ENTERPRISE OF THE CHURCH
I A word by way of apology. It has caused us no little painand.mortification that, in spite of our best endeavors, a few typographical errors have marred the pages of the REvmw hitherto. This has been owing to the fact that the printing-office which does our work has undergone, as all business establishments are liable to, frequent and radical changes during the year, resulting in more or less chaos and haste, over which we had no control. We are determined, however, that this state of things shall no longer exist.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AS THE ENTERP;EUSE OF THE CHURCH.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] To proclaim the gospel in aU the world and to every creature is, in the most emphatic sense, the one divine vocation of disciples. It is the King's business; not only as committed to us by the King Himself, and bearing the signature and seal of royal authority, but as the business which the King, first of all, Himself undertook. In all missions, the pio- , neer and exemplar, the inspiring leader and peerless worker, was and is our imperial Divine Captain. He compressed into one sentence His whole subjective biography: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." Luke likewise compressed into one sentence His whole objective history: H He went about doing good." All intelli- gent zeal in missions kindles its enthusiasm from the live coal brought from that celestial altar whereon the Lamb of God was offered in self- consuming devotion. The highest heroism is but a borrowed beauty; it only reflects luster from that face that shone with the supreme supernal glory of perfect unselfishness. The vindication and the inspiration of all missionary work are alike found in this: that He, the King of kings, emptied Himself of His divine attributes and divested' Himself of His divine glory and consented to the limitations of a human nature and an earthly life, that He might take the form of a servant and become obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
However loosely we may use that phrase, H cross-bearing," it has one, and only one, scriptural application: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Christ took up the cross. That, to Him, meant self-sacrifice jor others' salvationj and it means that, and only that, to every follower or disciple. Life's petty annoyances and vexations, the daily trials of patience and tests of temper, may be spoken of as "our crosses," and everything that " crosses" us may be construed as a cross. But the Word of God authorizes no such breadth of application or interpretation; it knows noplurality oj crosses j the plural form of that word is never once :found in Scripture~ Moreover, it is not our cross, but His cross; or ours only as it is first His. To" bear the cross" after Him is to give up our- selves to a life, or if need be a death, as He did, for the sake of saving souls. Moses anticipated such oblivious self-offering when he plead: "And now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin-;' and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." The true interpre- tation of that sublime intercession of the great Jewish 'lawgiver is not found in a desperate determinatioll to be identified with Israel even in their rejection; but, as we conceive, Moses was offering himself as a sacrifice for the sinning people with whom God was so justly incensed: "rather than not forgive them, blot me out of thy book!" Paul, long after and with far more light upon the glory of such divine altruism, said: "I could wish that myself were accursed from Ohrist for my brethren." That was bearing the cross; that was being crucified with Ohrist; that entitled the great apostle of the Gentiles to say: "From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks (u'!"IrtLa'!"a) of the Lord Jesus."
This, then, is the business to which the King gave Himself, even unto death, and which He has entrusted to all disciples. First of all, we are to get salvation, and then to give it; and to get it that we may give it. Every disciple is called to be a co-worker with God the Father) a co-sufferer with God the Son, a co-witness with God the Holy Ghost,* in the saving of souls. Whatever other pursuit may claim our attention and endeavor, this is the one business of every disciple's life. This is his vocation; all other things are but avocations. This is the one and only legitimate calling deserving to "occupy" us "till He come." Until this truth and fact be acknowledged and felt-until this obligation and privilege become real and vivid, vital and vitalizing-there can be no adequate prosecution of the work of missions. Until then the impulse and impetus are lacking: there is no adequate motiv'e to become a motor to our personal and ecclesiastical machinery. Weare building without a base, and the whole structure is unstable.
But, on the other hand, let this conception of life, duty and responsibility take tenacious hold of every believer: I am called of God to bear the cross after Ohrist, to follow the same business which He followedseeking and saving the lost. Then let a holy affection-a passion for souls-set this conception on fire with the flame of love! And, before such a conviction, transfigured into such overpowering enthusiasm, the work of missions would advance as forest fires move, with the strides of a giant and the speed of the whirlwind, sweeping or melting all obstacles in its path, rapid and resistless as the march of God! Such will be the energy of our work for God, when we rightly conceive it, and receive into our hearts the omnipotence of its appeal, and of its impulsive and propulsive and expulsive passion for souls.
But another kindred result will follow: We shall take up missions with a new spirit of enterprise. That word, enterprise, has come to have a fixed and definite meaning. It suggests an undertaking of importa~ce, an arduous endeavor, with the acceptance of hazard or * See 1 Cor. iii: 9; Col. i: 24; John xv: 26,27. risk. It admits difficulty as a factor in the problem and hardihood as the price of success.
Christian missions represent the most colossal undertaking ever presented to the mind of man. Here is a world lying in the lap of the evil one, and entangled in his seductive snares as Samson was ill the net of Delilah's wantonness. Here are fifteen hundred millions of perishing people to be overtaken with· the gospel message, if at all; within the life-time of a generation. Yet Christ says to a comparatively few disciples: "Give ye them to eat," and yet what we have seems hopelessly inadequate provision for such a vast multitude. But there is the authority of the King; He certainly will not command what is impossible or even impracticable. With proper organization and distribution of this multitude into companies; with our few barley loaves brought to Him to be blessed, broken and mnltiplied as broken; with simple faith in His power and presence, and with implicit obedience to His Word, we may not only feed all these millions, but find fragments left in abundance; for the gospel provision strangely multiplies as it is divided.
All true enterprises are earnestly prosecuted. David said to * Abimelech: "The king's business requireth haste." And prompt- ness, celerity of movement, needs to be introduced into our way of doing the King's business, as a part of our loyal obedience to His command. In the book of Esther we are furnished with an example of the haste with which a royal decree may be carried out. t First the fatal word went forth at the prompting of wicked Haman-a decree of death-unto the King's lieutenants, the provincial governors and rulers, to every -people after their language; a copy of the, writing was published unto all people, aIld the posts went out, hastened by the King's commandment. Afterwards when that counter-decree of life was issued, written in the king's name and sealed with his signet, letters were dispatched by posts on horseback and riders on mules, camels and young dromedaries. There were 127 provinces to be reached ;- the empire of Ahasuerus stretched from the Danube and the Nile on the west to the Indus and the Ganges on the east, and from the Black Sea and the Caspian on the north to the P61:sian .Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the south – its length nearly two thousand and its breadth nearly one thousand miles. It was on the three and twentieth day of the month Sivan that the king's scribes were called to put that decree in writing; it had to be translated into every language represented in those provinces from Ethiopia to India; it had to be promulg-ctted with haste, and yet without one of those modern facilities which we possess. There were no printing-presses,. postal unions or telegraphs; no railro&ds or steamships. Every copy must be transcribed by hand, and borne by mes- * 1 Sam. xxi: 8. t Estheriii.-viii. sengers who could move no faster than horses and mules, camels and dromedaries could carry them. And yet, through all those 127 provinces that decree was actually published upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month Adar! Throughout that wide domain, to every Persian subject, that message of the king was thus born13 in less tha,n nine months I More than eighteen hundred and fifty years ago the King of kings issued a decree of salvation and bade His disciples bear the Word of life to every creature in all this world's vast empire. And now, after waiting with divine patience for nearly nineteen centuries, He sees threefourths ojthe htlman race yet without the knowledge of the good news of grace! It is plain without argument that the Ohurch of Ohrist has never yet, in any proper sense, attempted to solve this practical problem. When Dr. Duff declared that as yet we have been only" playing at missions," he meant that this world-wide work has never been seriously conducted as the enterprise of the Ohurch. We have not yet felt that the King's command is urgent and the King's business requireth haste. Were true, sound, sensible, practical business principles applied to this 'problem, no hindrance would be huge enough even to delay the prose- cution of the work solemnly committed to the Ohurch of Ohrist. And once more we record our solemn conviction that, with thorough organi- zation, sanctified resolve and practical co-operation throughout the Ohurch, the gospel may be preached as a witness, not only among all nations, but to every living creature, within the lifet'ime oj the present generation, or even before the present century closes.
In affirming this conviction we do not forget the wide extent of ter- ritory yet to be covered with gospel effort. There are unoccupied provinces, absolutely without a single missionary or mission station. Kurdistan with 3,000,000; Afghanistan with 8,000,000; Anam with 30,000,000; Africa, north of the Equator and west of the Nile basin, with 50,000,000 more; Thibet and Mongolia, virtually left to the dominion of the grand Lama; Arabia, over whose whole ex- tent floats the green flag of the False Prophet ;-these are some of the territories yet to be taken possession of in the name of Ohrist. A few years since Mr. Stevenson, of the Ohina Inland Mission, went from Bhamo, in Upper Burmah, to Ohungking in Ohuen, Ohina, a distance of over 1,000 miles, ,and for 500 miles north and south of his line of travel, only one station, K wei-Yang, then existed! Stanley in Africa, journeying from the Great Lakes in the east to the rapids of the Oongo, found not one native Ohristian in 7,000 miles of travel.
Even countries nominally fields of mission labor are not occupied. Siam, with eight or ten millions of impressible people, whose King, Ohulalangkorn, is the most intelligent and progressive ruler in Asia, and the active, generous friend and patron of the missionaries, has a few Baptists working among resident Ohinese in Bangkok, and less than a score of Presbyterians, constituting the sole working force to bring those millions to the knowledge of God; and yet Siam has single cities with 200,000 inhabitants where there is not one mission station or even evangelist; and such things as this are true after more than eighteen centuries of Christian history! – The wide area of unoccupied territory needs not dismay us. Africa and Asia together embrace less than 26,000,000 square miles, only about twelve or thirteen times as much as the Persian Empire in the days of Ahasuerus. If in those days the royal proclamation could be carried through the imperial dominions in nine months, what is to hin- der our bearing the gospel message through these two continents in nine years? With all our modern facilities and instrumentalities we could certainly cover a territory twelve times as large in a period twelve times as long!
This thought of a possible proclamation of the Word of life to every living creature before this century closes, we have sought to trumpet forth by tongue and pen for twenty years; and it has never yet been shown to be either impossible or impracticable. It can be done; it OUGHT to be done; it MUST be done. We must cross this Jordan of Selfishness and roll away this reproach of neglect at the Gilgal of a new consecration. We must resolutely marcq around Jericho and blow the gospel trumpet. Let men deride the fewness of our missionary band, and the foolishness of preaching. Let pagan priests and heathen phil- osophers ridicule the credulous faith that expects to see ancient systems fall before the peal of a Jubilee trump. God's word is pledged. "Lo, r am with you alway." The Church of Christ has but to undertake this work, in the energy of the Spirit and with the enterprise of a true consecration, and wonders will follow to which even Pentecost was but a prelude and precursor. Yes, thig- King's business requires haste. Be- hind that command, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," there stands the majesty of imperial mtthority.
Such authority is itself urgency. He obeys not the King who does not move promptly, immediately. Celerity of movement is a necessary part of loyalty and fidelity. To move tardily at the King's command is next to open treason.
The opportunUy calls for haste. God sets before the Church an open door, great and effectual. While the command rings in our ears, "Go ye"! 10, silently but suddenly the iron gates of intolerance and igno- rance, bigotry and superstition, swing open as of their own accord. Ob- stacles that for a thousand years have stood like walls of adamant quickly disappear. But what is thus our opportune; hour is also Sa· tan's, and he appreciates and improves it, if we do not. Forward into these new openings he pushes his obedient servants, with all theirvari- ous agencies and instruments of destruction. He sends his emissaries to preach his anti-gospel and carryon his crusade of infidelity and immorality and set up his printing-presses to scatter the literature of death. Satan never lacks earnestness or enterprise in his work.
Meanwhile, what are we doing? Trifling with the whole matter of a world's evangelization; trifling on a magnificent scale! Since our Lord on Calvary breathed His dying prayer, fifty successive generations of human beings have passed away. In this awful aggregate twenty-five times the present population of the globe have perished without the gospel; and as yet the entire Christian Church sends less than 6,000 laborers into the foreign field and spends less than $12,000,000 a year on the world-wide work!
Never yet have we been in haste to enter even the most conspicuously open door. That word" opportunity" is full of ethical suggestiveness: ob, over against; portus, the harbor. The gospel ship lies at the very entrance of the harbor whose wide-stretching arms and open gates invite entrance, and where millions of people wait to welcome the gospel. While God's breezes blow toward the port and we have only to spread sail and speed on ward, we lie at anchor as if becalmed, or move so slowly and sluggishly that the barges of the vain pleasureseeker and the swift gall~ys of a piratical foe sweep past us and preoccupy the openings. Where is the enthusiasm of the Christian Ohurch ! Where our zeal for God, our sympathy for a lost race, our loyalty to our Lord, our sense of duty and responsibility!
Moreover, behold the King's couriers and posts, furnished by His providence, ready to do our bidding in hastening the King's business! First, the printing-press, what a magnificent help to evangelization, ready to multiply copies of the Word in any tongue, at a trifling cost and with incredible speed! . From a single steam-press thousands of copies may be produced every month, and tracts and religious books by the million pages. Here is a doubly useful messenger in the work of evangelization. It moves like a magic shuttle, to and fro. While it multiplies and scatters afar the message of the gospel, it spreads at home information of the workabroad. This courier of the King he never sent forth until the Dark Ages were giving place to the new dawn of the Reformation, and the Church was prepared to attend to the King's business. This courier we must use, as never hitherto, to scatter information of the King's work among disciples, as well as to scatter the leaves of the tree of life among the heathen. Information is the handmaid of evangelization. Thousands of intelligent disciples are ignorant of missions. One of the foremost philanthropists of England, to whom a copy of "The Crisis of Missions" was sent, wrote to the author: "I am sorry to confess that of the bulk of the facts which you present I have hitherto been entirely ignorant." No wonder the flame of zeal burns low when no fuel feeds its fires, and no oil fills its l~mps.
Money is another of the King's couriers. Consecrated capital is not only potent, it is well-nigh omnipotent. No marvel that Mammon is treated III the Bible as a rival god to Jehovah. Wealth suggests divine attributes-omnipotence, omnipresence, immortality, transforming en- I ergy. To have and to use money well is to multiply personal power a thousand fold, nay, to multiply one's self a thousand fold. The giver is potentially wherever his gift is. Sarah Hosmer's frugal savings educated six young men to preach the gospel in Oriental lands, and where they were she had her representatives and preached through them. A man recently died in New York City whose noble benefactious had spread so far that in not less than two hundred and fifty different places he was represented by a mission Sunday-school, a church, an asylum, a hospital, a college or seminary, or some other form of beneficence: his money made him virtually omnipresent as a benefactor. Money makes the giver also immortal. It represents not what is transient, but what is permanent. The good that men do with money lives after them; it is not interred with their bones. They who use it aright hold the lever of God, and lift a whole people to a loftier planemultiplying themselves indefinitely and rendering themselves practically present wherever their donations are doing work in their behalf ; and so even when dead their works do follow them, and they survive themselves!
If the King's business requires haste, there are ready facilities to meet the requirement. Sanctijied scholarsh-ip is another royal courier, pre- ' pared to mount the swift steeds of modern civilization and bear the divine tidings to every nation in its own native tongue. When Ohrist gave His command, he addressed humble, unlettered men. Since then the gospel has found its way into Cresar's household. Here are the princes of this world, the seers and.sages, bowing at the cross. The Bible has been translated into over three hundred languages and dialects. A Ohristian literature has been created and may be reproduced in any known language 6f earth. Steam has been harnessed to the gospel chariot-nay, even lightning waits to do the Ohurch's bidding. What are we waiting for? Twenty thousand millions of dollars lie. in the coffers of the Protestant church members of Great Britain and America; 3,000 young men and women are knocking at the doors of the church asking to be sent abroad; the whole world permits and invites missionary approach; there is every preparation for such universal movement and such rapid progress as no other century ever even forecast. WHAT IS THE OHURCH OF OHRIST WAITING FOR?
The necessity and feasibility of a grand campaign for Ohrist, with reference to the immediate occupation of all unoccupied fields, and the immediate proclamation of the gospel to every living soul, are beyond dispute. After a wide discussion by the ablest writers upon the subject of missions, the conviction is only established that the present crisis imperatively demands that the entire forces of the Christian Church should be enlisted and engaged in this glorious work. A spirit.
of consecrated enterprise must apply to this giant problem the best and soundest business principles; a system must be devised which shall prevent waste of time, money, and men, and economize and administer all the available forces of the Church. The imperial clarion of our tord, as with the peal of the last trnmp, summons all His hosts for the great crusade. , Nehemiah was a model organizer. He built up the broken walls of the Holy City, and with a small, poor remnant of the people finished the work in fifty-two days. The perfection of his organization was the secret of his success, and it embraced three grand principles: first, division of labor-every man at work over against his own door; sec- ondly, co-operation-all engaged in one work and operating upon one plan; thirdly, concentration-all at the sound of the trumpet rallying to defend any weak and assaulted point. Put those three principles into practice in the work of foreign missions, and we may build the wall of gospel witness around the world in a few years; we may push the advance of our missionary hosts so rapidly and systematically, that on every hill, in every valley, from equator to pules and from sea to sea, the gospel's silver trumpet shall sound.
Fifty years ago seven humble men in a shoemaker's shop in Hamburg undertook the work of evangelization on the principle of individual responsibility. In twenty years they had organized 50 churches, gathered 10,000 converts, distributed 400,000 Bibles and 8,000,000 pages of tracts, and preached the gospel to 50,000,000 of people. As they went from place to place the work grew, and new converts in- spired with similar zeal became helpers, so that a population as great as that of the United States, or of the Congo Free State, heard the gospel within those twenty years. If any are distrustful of mere arithmetic as applied to the problem of missions, here is a practi~al proof that it is perfectly feasible so to organize the work as to reach 100,000,000 of people every year, and that, too, with only an insignificant Gideon's band. An English preacher asked some British soldiers, "If Queen Vic- toria were to issue a proclamation, and, placing it in the hands of her army and navy, were to say, 'Go ye into all the world and proclaim it to every creature,' how long do you think it would take to do it?"
One of these brave fellows, accustomed to obey orders without hesita- tion or delay and at peril of life, promptly answered, " Well, I tkink we could manage it in about eighteen months."
There are, perhaps, in round numbers, thirty millions of Protestant church me:gJ.bers in the world. Could each of that number somehow reach thirty-three of the unsaved, the whole thousand million would be eva~gelized; and could each be brought to give one cent a day, our missionary treasuries would overflow with over one hundred millions of dollars every year. Of course we cannot depend upon enlisting in this " work all church members. Nominal Protestants include millions of mere professors, members of state churches, formalists and ritU(tlists, and millions more who, while they profess to be disciples, are actually immoral and infidel. But let us suppose that there are ten 'millions of true disciples who can be brought into line, and who by systematic effort can be made to furnish men and money for this work, even 1vith this tenth part oj Ohristendom the world may be evangelized bifore the twentieth century dawns.
Weare not responsible for conversion, but we are responsible for con- tact. We cannot compel any man to decide for Christ, but we may compel every man to decide one way or the other; that is, we may so bring to eyery human being the gospel message, that the responsibility is transferred from us to him, and that we are delivered from blood- guiltiness. God will take care of the results, if we do our duty. We are to preach this gospel everywhere" for a witness "-not coldly, officially, formally, but earnestly, prayerfully, lovingly. Christian churches, schools, institutions, homes, reared in the midst of pagan communities, constitute part of this" witness" to the power of the gospel; then, whether the gospel prove a savor of life or of death, our fidelity will not fail of its reward.
We repeat, that it is our solemn and mature conviction that before the close of this century the gospel might be brought into contact with every living soul; for if we could so organize and utilize ten millions of disciples as that everyone should be the means of reaching with the good tidings one hundred other souls, during the lifetime of this gen- eration all the present population of the globe would be evangelized; or, if the sublime purpose should inspire the whole Church to do this work before this century ends, each of this ten million believer::; has only to reach between eight and nine souls every year for the twelve years that remain. .
When Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" was first published there were some who construed the fiction as fact; and they said, "But there is among these Utopians no mansion of gospel truth: let us go and tell them the good news!" Is it not high time that we re~lized that the destitute and desperate condition of a lost race is fact and not fiction; and that, having the Bread of Life, we carry to the starving millions of earth's popUlation the gospel of salvation, with the promptness and holy haste which are the only fit way to attend to the King's business?
At the beginning of this new year, let us write on the very door- posts of our churches and houses, and on our gates, this grand motto: THE WHOLE WORLD TO BE EVANGELIZED IN THE PRESENT GENERATION.
" Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." The Earl of Shaftes~ury said: "During the latter part of
HENRY MARTYN
these centuries it has been in the power of those who hold the truth, having means enough, having knowledge enough, and having opportunity enough, to evangelize the globe fifty times over." Recent testimony is given by 120 nTtssionaries in China, representatives of twenty-one Protestant societies. They say: aWe want China emancipated from the thraldom of sin £n this generation. It is possible." Our Lord has said, "According to your faith be it unto you." The Ohurch of God can do it, if she be only faithful to her great commission. This statement comes from those who are intimately acquainted with the discouragements-who know the difficulties. And now" for the sake of the Name," that name which is above every name, "the love of Ohrist constraining us," let us go forth. Let the sublime faith and hope of such a grand result, under divine leadership, inspire our effort. Pastors, awake! Be yourselves flaming missionaries! From the lofty altitude of your own high devotion let the stream descend that shall raise every devout hearer to a higher level. Fan the slumbering embers of a smouldering missionary zeal-heap the facts like fuel on the fires. Make the coldest congregation hot with your own burning enthusiasm. Parents, bring up your children to see the dark places of the earth and the habitations of cruelty before their eyes, as Oarey's rude map confronted him on that sheet of leather in his cobbler's shop! Merchants, open your treasuries and pour out your money. Never was an altar that so consecrated the gift. Meanwhile, let the voice of prayer, as with tho mingling sound of multitudinous waves, surge against the throne of God!
HENRY MARTYN.
BY JAMES M. LUDLOW, D.D., EAST ORANGE, N. J.
IN the year 1812 a lone traveler, passing through Eastern Asia Minor, died at Tokat. His dragoman even did not know his full name, but scratched something like it upon a rude slab and went his way. The grave was soon covered by the sand from a mountain stream. They who buried him thought of him only as one of the millions who every year fan into forgotten graves. But this man was missed. Though but thirty-one years of age, he had struck the chord of heroic appreciation in England and America as almost no other man had. A statesman said: "His name is the one heroic name which adorns the annals of the English Ohurch from the days of Elizabeth to our own." His grave was sought; his body removed to a more public spot; a handsome monument reared, and inscribed with his praise in four languages. Lord Macaulay, with fine appreciation of the truly great in character coming from familiarity with the heroes of all ages, who thrills us with his lines on Horatius and Harry of Navarre, was affected to reverence by the story of this young man's life and wrote this epitaph: , " Here Martyn lies! In manhood's early bloom The Christian hero found a pagan tomb; Religion, sorrowing o'er her favorite son, Points to the glorious trophies which he won.
Eternal trophies, not with slaughter red, Not stained with tears by hopeless captives shed, But trophies of the cross. For that dear naJ1le Through every form of danger, death and shame, Onward he journeyed to a happier shore, Where danger, death and shame are known no more."
Henry Martyn was born in Oornwall, England, in 1781. At sixteen he entered Oambridge University. He was intensely ambitious, and was nettled because at the early examinations he took only the second position. But at twenty he graduated as Senior Wrangler, with the first honor.
He could, however, apply his mind better than control his passionate nature. Angered one day he threw a large knife at a comrade, who dodged it, and let it stick quivering in the wall, instead of in the intended victim's heart. He was self-willed even to obstinacy and surliness to his father. No natural saint was he.
His after saintliness was not due to development, but total change, point-blank conversion. Its occasio,n was the death of his father, and the thought that it was now too late to ask from those cold lips forgiveness for his undutiful conduct. He could only go to God for it. But, having once come before that throne, and felt upon his soul the shadow of God's condemnation for sin, all his pride was crushed; having felt the light of God's countenance reconciled, his soul was ever after filled with gratitude and love. From this time Martyn was another man. 'rhat strong willfulness became strong willingness, as he gave his whole being up to his Redeemer. He was ambitious still, but he had now an Over-lord, even Ohrist. His favorite text was" Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not, saith the Lord." So thoroughly did he belong to Ohrist that selfish honors no longer pleased him. When he graduated first in his class, he wrote: "I obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find I had grasped a shadow." His energy was not lessened, rather intensified, by having higher appeals, those of conscience and service, added to natural desire; and his faculties were new-fired by his communion with the Holy Spirit. Yet he was not without tremendous temptations from his old ambition. For a while he proposed to study law, "chiefly," he says, "because I could not consent to be poor for Ohrist's sake." But he did not know his newer self when he thought that way, and when the moment of decision came he turned his back upon all prospect of secular gain, and sought the ministry. He could not restrain his impulse for Ohristian service; it came out in daily incidents of conduct. He once rebuked a fellow student for sinful trifling. Speaking on the im1ulse, he thought he had overstepped propriety; but the honesty of his manner gave such weight to his rebuke that it led to his friend's conversion, and in after years they labored together in the foreign mission field.
But that was not the day of missionary interest such as now fills the Church. Carey had gone to India, the first English missionary there; and David Brainerd had laid down his life for Christ among the A.merican Indians. Vanderkemp was in South Africa. 'l'hese and a few others were then the far-scattered stars in what has now become resplendent galaxies of missionary heroes and martyrs in many lands.
To conceive the idea of being a missionary showed independence, enter- prise, courage, and far-sighted pioneer faith not required of those who now go out to help bring in the spoil of almost a century's campaign in pagan lands.
Martyn was in spirit alone in the world when he formed the missionary purpose, almost as much as when he lay down to die at Tokat. He loved his home; hearts close to his seemed necessary to the existence of his warm, affectionate nature. Could he break these ties? He was a man of most exquisite intellectual refinement, by genius a student, with a brilliant career awaiting him in a university chair, or as leader of a refined congregation. Could he give his life to the dull monotony of teaching the most degraded people the rudiments of decency and truth'? There was no glamour about the work. It was not a roseate outlook, but one of dirt and dreariness to anyone; and especially to a man physically weak, knowing that he inherited 'a tendency to disease that needed to be counteracted by tender living. He wrote, "This is what flesh cannot endure." There was one other obstacle, such as has determined the career of many a man. He was deeply attached to a lady of rarest worth in all that a noble man would seek ina wife.
His affection was returned. But she could not accompany him to the mission field. Thus to go was to isolate himself from everything which made life worth living, looked at from the standpoint of self.
Yet he said, "I will go," though he, quite naturally under the cir- cumstances, made that great offering of himself in the very words of Christ when expiring on Calvary, and of Stephen bowing his head to martyrdom, "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Why not? The man then died to the world as truly as if he had mounted a funeral pyre. ,I In 1805 Henry Martyn sailed for India. Nine months were con- sumed in the journey, which took him across to South America and then back around Cape Good Hope. Much of the time was spent in hard study, mastering the Hindustani language, varied by burning fever as the fiery conflict of his thought consumed his very flesh. He tells us that the most helpful uninspired sentence he ever heard was one that he found at this time in Milner's" History of the Church" ; "To believe, to su:ffel', and to love was the primitive state," i.e., of the early Ohristians. This he made the purpose of his life. At the Oape of Good Hope he went ashore. A furious war was raging between the English and Dutch for the possession of that point. Amid the horrors of the battle-field, bending over the fallen forms of English, Dutch, or Hottentot braves, he had his baptismal experience of a kind of duty such as the elegant and thronged churches of England never gave him.
Arriving iu Oalcutta he"was felled by fever, and his weakened body became a source of discouragement overcome only by his deathless devotion. The horrid rites of widow burning and devil worship were then practiced. He said he "shivered as standing in the neighborhood of hell." English friends urged his remaining at Oalcntta, where he would meet with countrymen and could preach as much as he wished without danger, receiving a salary as army chaplain. But :Martyn determined to go to the heathen beyond, to whom others would not go.
For weeks he pushed his way in a little boat up the Ganges, during the day translating Scripture into Bengalee by the aid of his boatmen, at night talking of Ohrist to the natives on the shore. Passing into new provinces he found new dialects to be mastered. His rare scholarly habit and genius came to his help. At Dinapore we find this in his diary of a day: ":Morning in Sanscrit; afternoon, Bahar dialect; continued late at night writing on Parables in Bengalee. The wickedness and'cruelty of wa,sting a moment when so many nations are waiting till I do my work." He finds that he has use for Arabic, too, in dealing with :Mohammedans, and thflrefore masters that tongue. Then the Persian language is studied. The mau seems to have been a mingling of :Max :Muller and Livingstone.
Through the glaring sun he traversed the sandy plains of the Ganges hundreds of miles to Oawnpore, fainting, fevered, with a terrible disease developing in his chest. He preached statedly to the soldiers in the barracks, and at times the poor natives would gather by the thousand in front of his door to receive his alms and hear his addresses. A strange fascination went out from his person to all who came in contact with him. A fellow English Ohristian, speaking of :Martyn's ill health. said: "If I could make you live longer, I would give up any child I have, and myself into the bargain."
Physical nature could not endure the strain of that intense spirit, and :Martyn's condition necessitated his return to England. But ha was not quite satisfied with the correctness of his Persian translation of the New Testament, and therefore proposed to put in an intermediate journey to Persia to perfect it. Pale, emaciated, too weak to speak except in a low voice, he seemed to live only by force of soul. They beheld him" standing on the verge of another world, and ready to take his flight," rather than about to endure another earthly journey. His thirtieth birthday found him en 1'01100 for Persia. In his journal he says: "I am now at the age when the Saviour of men began His ministry-when John the Baptist called a nation to repentance. Let me now think for myself and act with energy. Hitherto I have made my youth and insignificance an excuse for sloth and imbecility; now let me have a character and act for God."
After several months he reached Persia. He was prostrated by sunstroke. Recovering sufficient strength, he penetrated the country. The thermometer in June ranged from 120 degrees to 126 degrees. He existed only by wrapping hip1self in heavy blankets to exclude the heat, or wet blankets to temper ~t. So he traversed the plains. Then over the mountains where the cold at night was piercing, but with a fire in his head, his skin dryas a cinder, his pulse almost convulsive.
Reaching Shiraz, the Persian seat of learning, he began a new translation of the Testament with the help of some intelligent Persian gentlemen. While doing this work he debated publicly with their great men, and wrote articles in reply to their chief books. Sharp arguments were sometimes inspersed with brick-bats hurled at his head. Withinthe year his translation was completed. He would lay it before the Persian king. To accomplish this another long journey was undertaken. To its natural hardship was added the danger to his life from the bigotry of the people, as they knew his mission to introduce a foreign religion. He one day attended a reception given by the Vizier, bringing his Bible. Vizier challenged him with "You had better say, 'God is God, and Mahomet is the prophet of God.'" Martyn replied, at the risk of losing his head, "God is God, and Jesus is the Son of God." The by-standel'S cried out, "What will you say when your tongue is burnt out for such blasphemy?" They would have trampled the Bible with their feet had not Martyn rescued the manuscript from the floor.
But'what was the use of antagonizing the prejudices of the people? Had we simply the· diary of Martyn we might only be able to say that his burning zeal would not permit him to be silent. Everywhere he went he must be talking about Christ. But there was a providence in his tongue that he knew not of. Years afterward Sir Robert Ker Porter, in journeying through Persia, was met by people who asked if he knew "the man of God," some one who had made an impression upon the people like that of a brief sojourn of an angel among them. They said ~'He came here in the midst of us, sat down encircled by our wise men, and made such remarks upon our Koran as cannot be answered. We want to know more about his religion and the book he left among us." At Shlraz, long after Martyn's death, there lived an accomplished Persian, Mohamed Ratem, who confessed that for years he had been secretly a Ohristian. He had been convinced, he said, by "a beardlesl!. youth; enfe~bled by disease; who ~ave him a book," which had sinc~ been his constant companion. It was a Persian New Testament, and on a blank leaf the name Henry Martyn.
Martyn probably knew nothing of his personal influence upon these people; as little as we know the result of our lives.
But to return to our narrative. He was out of money, and would have starved but for help from a poor muleteer. Burning with fever, aching with weariness, breathing with difficulty from the progress of his disease, he reached Tabriz, where the English ambassador received him. For two months Sir Gore Ousley and his lady watched by his bedside, until temporary return of strength allowed his departure. In the meantime the ambassador himself presented the New Testament in Persian to the king, by whom it was graciously received and publicly commended; since which it has shone as a day star of hope to Ohristian missions in that part of the world. England has spent millions of money and many lives of soldiers in Persia. but the work of Henry Martyn, though his face was hardly known to its people, has accomplished a thousand fold more.
His work done, the frail man started for home. Thirteen hundred miles overland must be traversed before he could reach even Oonstantinople. With a heartless dragoman and servant he started across burning plains, dangerous rivers, under the mighty peak of Mount Ararat, through dense forests, drenching rains and thieving villages, he rushed onward, though fainting, and always with the dread fever or chill. After a month or more of this sort of life, we find the last note in his journal, Oct. 6, 1812: "No horses to be had, I had unexpected repose. I sat in an orchard and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God-in solitude my company, my friend and comforter. Oh! when shall time give place to eternity?" Ten days later he was dead. How he died no one knows, except that it was alone. There was no loving kiss of wife or sister or friend upon the chilling brow, but as they would say in the East, "God kissed him and drew out his soul."
Friends·in distant India waited for the coming of one who would never come. But the story of his work floated over the lands, and with it the story of his heroism. A thrill of missionary interest went through the Ohurch. The cause of evangelization received an impulse second to none since the early days of the English Reformation.
The story of Henry Martyn almost oppresses an ordJnary Ohristian. His spirituality was so refined that it is difficult to even appreciate it. It was like the rare atmosphere of mountain heights, hard for some to even breathe. His courage and concentration of purpose make our lives seem so weak and disconnected–like water spilled on the ground, compared with the torrent that turns a hundred factories. He was dead at thirty-two, having awakened a nation, and some of us are twice that age and have hardly begun to do anything for the great crying
IN THE LEVANT
world and Him who redeemed it. We cannot fol~ow Martyn; we are not brave enough, nor fine enough in moral fiber to take his luster. Let us, then, more deeply appreciate the lesson now carved in four languages upon his tomb in Tokat: "May travelers of all nations, as they step aside and look at this monument, be led to honor, love and serve the God and Saviour of this devoted missionary."
MISSIONS IN THE LEVANT: THEIR PROBLEMS, METHODS AND RESULTS.
BY REV. EDWIN M. BLISS. [OUR printer marred the first article by some serious errors. On page 889, 6th line from top, for" American historian," read Armenian Nestorian. Again, 8th line from the bottom of same page, for" American be an American," read, an Armenian be an Armenian. And again, page 890, near middle of page, for" Misairyeh," read Nusairyeh.-EDs.] II. THEIR METHODS.
THERE has never been a time when the methods of Christian work in every department, and especially in the foreign field, have been so sharply criticised as at the present. Not a few, looking over the vast fields covered by foreign missions, have received a sudden and startling revelation as to the amount still to be done, and have leaped to the conclusion that the reason why more has not been accomplished is that wrong methods have been used. Christianity, they say, is bound to conquer. Its equipment is of the best. The trouble is that its arms are not handled wisely. The tactics are faulty. Intelligent, help- ful criticism is welcomed by no class of men more than by foreign mis- sionaries; but criticism based upon an examination of one phase of a . many-sided problem, or gained in a hasty glance over the surface, is apt to be neither just nor helpful. 'fhe charges against foreign mis- sions that have recently broken out show such phenomenal ignorance of the methods in actual use, at least in the Levant, as to make them of little or no value. Th!3y are best refuted by a simple statement of facts.
The one principle underlying mission work as carried on in the Levant is that the kingdom of Christ is built up on individual life and character. Its aim is not the destruction of one system in order to establish another. It is not that Islamism is to be overthrown, but Moslems are to be converted. Not that corrupt, degenerate churches are to be brought back to pristine, or even better than pristine, purity, but individual Bulgarians, Armenians, Copts, Maronites, Nestorians are to be helped to lead Christian lives. False systems will doubtless fall, corrupt churches give place to purer ones; but that is a re.~ult, not an end in itself. The end is the development of individual Christian character. To this end are mission methods directed; by this principle are they to be judged.
The question then comes: Is the development which is sought a natural, normal one, or is it abnormal, stunted, twisted out of all recognition, So that the convertlld MOf;llem, the evangelical Greek or Jacobite becomes, not a Ohristian Oriental, but a something half way between Asiatic and European-a sort of religious hybrid, utterly incapable of reproduction; so that the moment the supporting influence of the foreign funds is withdrawn the genus disappear?
The answer to this again will come best from the consideration of the methods in use. These are: Bible Distribution, Evangelistic Preaching, Ohurch Organization, Education, Ohristian Literature.
BIBLE DISTRIBUTION.
Taking the position that the highest development of character ill built up on a personal knowledge of the Bible, it is held to be a prime essential that the Scriptures should be in the hands of every man, woman and child; should be not merely listened to from the pulpit, but read and studied in the home.
In the countries occupied by American missions in the Levant this fundamental work is done by the American Bible Society, and has three departments: Translation, Publication and Distribution,' To the former the best of scholarship is summoned, resulting in versions unexcelled for critical accuracy and fluency of idiom. There are: the Arabic, prepared at Beyroot, but reaching to the farthest bounds of Africa and Asia; the Turkish, Armenian and Bulgarian, at Oonstantinople ; the Syriac, at Oroomiah ; the Aherzijan Turkish and Ararat dialect of the Armenian, chiefly at Tiflis; the Persian, originally the work of Henry Martyn, now revised and much ~mproved; the Koordish Testament, prepared by a Koordish Armenian pastor in the valley of the Euphrates. In this work America and England have joined hands, now aividing, now sharing; each desirous of the one end-to reach every man in his own tongue with the story of the cross and the resurrection. Then comes publication. The needs of every class are carefully studied. The peasant of the Nile Valley has his Testament in type especially suited to the eyes blurred and almost blinded with opthalmia. The inquiring Bulgarian, rendered half skeptical by the statement of his priest, that the Protestants have wandered far from the venerated Slavic, has a Testament with both ancient and modern versions in parallel columns, that he may see for himself. On the shelves at the Bible House in Oonstantinople are the Scriptures in more than thirty languages and four hundred styles of printing and binding, that no one, whether he be officer of the Sultan's household, or villager on the mountains of Kurdistan, may say, "There is no Bible for me." Thus far the preparation. Then comes the direct work of distribution. Over one hundred colporteurs are employed by the American Bible Society, but every t6acher, pastor, missionary, is an assistant. These men aim to reach every reader in every city, town, village and hamlet, with the offer of the Bible. The distribution is not, however, gratuitous. A price is set upon every book, often far below its real cost, so as to bring it within rQach of the poorest, and that price is.demandod and received • from all. Except in special and rare cases, not a Bible or Testament, not even a Gospel, is given away. This is not because American Christians are unwilling to give, but because, in the experience of all, free distribution of the sacred books cuts at the very root!! of that selfrespect and sense of the Bible's worth, without which there can be no strong Christian character developed. It is also never forced upon the attention of any. Cordially, earnestly, kindly, is it offered;' but he who takes it must do so of his own free will, under no external pressure. Undoubtedly such pressure might be used as to greatly increase the sales. Sometimes it has been used, but always with loss rather than gain.
A half century of experience has shown that, as a rule, in the Levant, the best results. are reached from planting the Bible in individual hearts, rather than by sowing it broadcast.
EVANGELISTIC PREACHING.
Sometimes preceding the colporteur, sometimes accompanying, sometimes following him, always in heartiest sympathy with him, is the preacher. Now Methodist, now Presbyterian, again Congregationalist, or sturdy descendant of the Scotch Covenanter, with various names, but one heart; differing uniforms, but 'one flag. His one purpose to show the Bible as a rule of faith, but still more a guide in life. Hence, he seeks to understand and sympathize with the life about him. This was the hardest task of the missionary when he himself was the only preacher in the early days of the work. It is no easy thing to enter into the life of a strange people, get accustomed to new habits of thought and language, learn to put old truths in new lights, and none realize it so keenly as those who have tried it. One principle has been constantly made clearer. A man, to have genuine, lasting power with men, must be himself. Just so far as an American, in dealing with Turk or Arab, Greek or Jacobite, ceases to be an American, and becomes an Orient~l, just so far he loses his power to convince, persuade, help. This is not matter of theory only, but of experience. Over and over again has the effort been made to accord the daily life of the missionary to that of the people among whom he labors, and it has ever been demonstrated to be not only impracticable, but unwise. The missionary must remain a missionary. However deep and strong his sympathy with the people, he not only cannot, but he ought not to become one of them. His best power for good depends upon his preserving his own individuality, and that must be national as well as personal. With the growth of the work the physical impossibility of the missionary's reaching all who sought to learn became increasingly apparent. Thus has arisen a great body of native preachers-men drawn from every class and walk in life-who, gathering from personal contact with tlie missionary the influence of his life and thought, assimilating it to their own national character, go forth . to the thousands of their fellow-countrymen, and with them are devel-
oping a Christianity which is far more natural, and will prove far more permanent, than could be the case were the missionary the sole bearer of the gospel message. Of not less importance is the method adopted by these preachers. Its principle is entirely in accord with that underlying the work of Bible Distribution. It is not polemical. There are times when denunciation is needed, and then they do not fear to expose fearlessly the deceit and fraud by which ecclesiastical powers would blind the eyes of an ignorant people, and hold them in subservience to their own ends. This, however, is the exception, not the rule. The Moslem, drawn by curiosity or interest to attend an evangelical service, will not turn away repelled by what are to him harsh attacks upon the faith in which he has been nurtured.. The Armenian or Copt will hear no harangue against those who have hidden from him the Word of Life and held him fast in bonds woven in the cells of monk and anchorite. It is the want and duty of every day life, the consciousness of sin, the need of forgiveness and help, alone possible through a Redeemer; the hope of a blessed immortality. These are the topics of the preacher, by the earnest personal presentation of which he seeks to emphasize men's personal relations to God, develop the sense of personal responsibility, and secure the growth of personal character.
CHURCH ORGANIZATION.
The adoption of this as a distinct method of missionary work in the Levant, except in regard to the Moslem converts, was not a part of the original plan of missions, and is not now pressed to the forefront. The aim has been, so far as members of the Oriental churches were concerned, to help them to a Christian life, whatever their church connection might be. As a matter of fact, those who were thus influenced were unwilling to remain in the old comlllunions, and the priesthood were unwilling that they should, using the sharpest means of excommunication to drive them out. The formation of evangelical churches became thus a necessity, and has proved a most valuable method, not only of stimulating individual Christian hfe among their members, but of illustrating the broader relations that the Christian must sustain to the community and nation.
Under Moslem rule, church and civil life are identical. He who leaves his church leaves his nation, and heresy is treason. How to overcome this, and show that national life is properly independent of religious rites and ceremonies, has been a great problem, and the evangelical church organizations, by keeping distinctly aloof from political entanglements, have sought to show the true position of the Christian as a citizen. The formation of evangelical churches has served also as a method for developing that self-reliance which is essential to the permanence of the work commenced by the missionary and carried on by the native preacher. It has been the constant e:lfort of
MISSIONS IN THE LEVANT
the missionaries to throw upon these churches, as rapidly as possible, the whole responsibility of self-management and growth. Recognizing that mistakes are less dangerous than stagnation, they have left to them large liberty of organization, of creed and of worship, seeking not to bind, but to develop by influence rather than authority. Realizing, too, that self-support is an indispensable element of growth, they have aimed at such gradual withdrawal of foreign aid as would strengthen, without bringing too heavy a burden upon communities already overtaxed.
EDUCATION.
Over this method of missionary work there nas been very earnest discussion in every land. With little or no difference of opinion as to the necessity of some instruction, there has been a wide divergence of views in regard to the degree or amount of education that legitimately comes within the scope of a missionary society. The missionaries to the Levant found absolutely no system of education, even the most rudimentary. What instruction there was was in the hantls of the priesthood, and so warped by priestly craft as to be almost useless for the development of Ohristian character. The Ohristian teacher became thus the indispensable coadjutor of the preacher and colporteur. At first his work was simple. But with community growth developed community needs. The teacher himself had to be taught. An effort was made to confine this broader instruction to those who were themselves to go forth as instructors and leaders. The advantage, the necessity even, of the same opportunities for the people were realized to the full. It was a question not of what was wanted, but of what was possible. Mission funds and mission strength, being limited, must be concentrated upon the special objects to which they were devotedthe development of Ohristian life. The necessity of community se1£- support in order to self-development also entered mto the cousideration of the question. The result has been that the missions provide free schools only for the most pnmary education aud the training of preachers and teachers, and these are free only when absolutely necessary. Just as fast as possible the whole care and support of the lower grades of general schools are placed upon the community. Grants in aid of money, assistance in superintendence and counsel, are given cautiously, though not grudgingly. With regard to the higher education, the position that has been taken in general is that the running expenses must be met by the pupils. The missions may assist by giving the tme and labor of missionaries to the schools, but there must be such charges for tuition as may be reasonably expected to meet the actual expense of each scholar, apart from the salaries of the teachers. FOT collegiate education the Mission Boards assume no responsibIlity, except that in certain cases the American professors are enrolled among their missionaries, and occasional grants are made in consideration of ot the relief that these colleges give to the Boards in the trainmg a native ministry. The general support comes from tuition and endowments secured abroad.
There are thus four classes of what may fairly be called mission schools. 1. Those supported chiefly or entirely by the Mission Boards, for the specific purpose of religious training. 2. Those supported and controlled entirely by the native communities, for the general purposes of Christian education among the common people. 3. Schools of a higher grade, under the care of the Mission Boards, with such charges for tuition as are calculated to meet the general expenses. 4. Oolleges, independent of the Boards, yet in heartiest sympathy with them, working together to the one great end of building up Ohristian nations.
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.
There are four lines in which foreign missions seek to meet the constantly growing needs of minds stimulated to activity by the opening up of new truths through the methods already spoken of. These are the preparation of text-books for use in schools, of books for distinctive religious instruction, general information and periodical literature. The text-books are based upon the latest advances in the science of ' education, and are a means not only of instruction to those pupils in the regular schools, but a revelation to the old communities of the wide sweep of a tnllyOhristian science. In the commentaries and books of devotion are met the questions that for centuries have stirred the intense thought and speculation of the East, mellowed and attuned to the duty of everyday life by the practical common sense of the West. The department of general l1terature has not been developed as all would desire, sImply because it is Impossible to do everything that it would be well to do. The lack here IS met in a degree by the periodical literature, cluefly in the form of weekly newspapers, that bring the newly formed growing churches and communities into contact with the activity and life of America and Europe. Steadily avoiding complications with political or religious strifes, aiming to bring forward that which is noblest and bes,t in life everywhere, these form a most vl}luable means of reaching multitudes who would stand aloof from colporteur, preacher or teacher, and serve as a bulwark against the rush of infidel publications that are to many the sole representations of the advanced intellectual life of the day.
This is but a brIef sketch of the Methods by which missionaries seek to lay the sure foundations of Ohristian life in the Levant. As a sketch it is by no means complete. There are many lines of action unmentioned. Each mission has to a degreee its own methods, adapted to Its own special needs, in accordance with its own habit of thought and life. In these general lines of action, however, all agree. Upon this principle all stand, that a permanent Ohristian church is built up on individual ChrIstian lives, that such lives .are developed only by 26 ENGLAND AND FORErGN MISSIONS. [JAN., individual personal influence. This work is slow work, but all foundation building is slow. It may be that some changes of method would be wise. If so, none will welcome advice and help more gladly than those who represent the churches of America on the foreign field. The tree is known by its frUlts; methods by their results. The results achieved through these methods by Foreign Missions in the Levant will form the subject of another paper.
ENGLAND AND FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY THE REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F. S. S., ENGLAND.
THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK ON FOREIGN MISSIONS.
AT the annual meeting of the York Auxiliary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel on October 29th, the Archbishop delivered a rousing speech. He remarked that there must be something significant in the great gathering of bishops at the Lambeth Conference, and in the fact that, whereas in 1878 they mustered 100, in 1888 they mustered 145. The only wonder to him was that having in their midst such an undeniable evidence of the progress of missions they should have heard such a quantity of stuff talked about them-and, for his own part, he was quite sick of it. He could not follow the parts of the discussion into a debtor and creditor account of the amount of converts they had bought with their money, and he thought they had better forget it as soon as possible. They were in a sense obliged to those who had put them on their defense; but they could not avoid a certain measure of contempt for the turn the. discussion had taken. What did the increase in the bishops from 100 to 145 mean? It was not a mere numerical augmentation. A diocese meant ~not only a bIShop but an organization-a complete body of clergy requiring church government; and a diocese was never made before it was wanted, as far as he was aware. He thought it was quite absurd to talk about the failure of missions and the mismanagement of missions. Failures there would be. Mismanagement! There was mismanagement sometimes at home, and he did not see why the colonies and foreign parts were to be exempted from it. But, allowing for all that, there was a great and mighty progress for which they had done very lIttle; and if they had been punished for their neglect a century ago they would hardly have had much cause to complain of the chastening hand that sent that punishment. Why, since the Reformation down to the latter half of the last century, they might say that nothing at all was done for missions. A nation that for a couple of centuries neglected its duty had no rIght to complain, because when it did only a very little certain fruits were bestowed upon it, and those fruits not little, like the gifts, but great, like the love of God which sent them. They might all of them take courage. The subject of those objections had now been thoroughly consIdered, and it had done /
ENGLAND AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
no harm; quite the contrary, in his opinion. For good, or for less good, they could not possibly neglect missions. They confessed themselves infidel when they did so. As long as they believed the truth of the love of God they must tell other people of it-that from the nature of the case, unless they hated their brother. Therefore it was useless for them at that time of day to be haggling about the exact products of missions. Whether they had gained an abundance of fruit or not, they ought to be up and doing. It was an undeniable fact that the fruits during the past twenty years had been far beyond those given them before that time.
THE BAPTIST UNION MISSIONS IN INDIA.
At the autumnal meetings held in Huddersfield early in October, Mr. John Barron, M. P., presided. After speaking of the necessity of increased missionary effort, he said that India was the first field of Baptist missionary enterprise, and they never could forget that God had honored them in that country beyond the most sanguine expectation of those who first entered on the work. Carey, in his labor of evangelization, met with discouragements not less trying than those. which were met with by their missionaries in the present day who were laboring in new countries. He fought against great difficulties and amidst great trials, but God blessed his e:tIorts and enabled him and those who labored with him to do a work in India, in connection not only with religious teaching but of educational work, the influence and· power of which were felt far and wide throughout that great country of India. In India the,English people had great responsibilities, and he was sorry to say that as far as Parliament was concerned that responsibility was neither fully recognized nor wholly met. If it were not for the permeating influence of Christian life in India-if India were left alone to the Government of this country-he feared that our position in India would not be nearly so secure as it was at the present day. India was at the present time open to influences of good and evil, and upon what the churches in this country did in promoting missionary work in India depended the future of India and the relation of that empire to this country.
The Rev. A. McKenna, dealing with the work that had been done in India, acknowledged the great assistance which had been rendered to missionaries in India by the civil and military authorities, who were the finest body of men in the world. There was not a single. man who was not in favor of progress.
The Rev. Bower Jones, of Bengal, said he had been appalled at the darkness in which India had for ages been plunged. During eighteen centuries but little had been done. There was a popUlation of two hundred and fifty millions in that empire, but no more than half a million have embraced the cause of Christ. The gospel had, however, fairly commenced its work of emancipation, an¢!. had lIghted up
THE MmAOLES OF MisSIONS. [JAN
the harems and zenanas. The condition of women in India was being improved, and there was less opposition to the propagation of the gospel.
COMMANDER CAMERON" ON THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC IN AFRICA.
At the Oanterbury Diocesan Oonference, held on October lOth, the gallant traveler gave a stirring history of the ruinous _effects of the drink traffic upon the native races in Africa. The four great evils of that county were, he said, slavery, gin, gunpowder and land-grabbing. The Africans, as a rule, were strongly addicted to a liking for strong drink, but he had never seen any illneys or delirium tremens arising from excessive drinking in the interior. A large proportion of the cargoes of ships trading on the west coast consisted of large red boxes from Hamburg full of liquor known as gin, but containing some vile chemical material. In the English colonies or Protectorates on the west coast the revenue chiefly consisted of excise and licensing duties. and it appeared to him that anyone who could pay for it could obtain a license. Thebeens abounded in the gold-digging districts, and in some of the smaller districts they actually f(jorced native teachers, sent out with the good intention of teaching people, to give way to the ruling vice, and not only to drink the gin themselves, but to trade in it. At the Oape itself "Oape smoke and the contents of the Hamburg steamers'~ were taking the heart out of the best native races, and on the east coast a large portion of the trade was in drink. Slavery, during the last few years, had been worse than ever before-whole districts being devastated-while at one camp of lJ'ippoo Tib, no fewer than fifty right arms had been seen nailed up, and his men were amusing themselves by shooting the slaves, who were afterwards cut up to feed the cannibals in the train of slave dealers. The loss of life in this trade was calculated at two millions a year. When traveling in Africa he himself opened up many routes which slave dealers had taken advantage of. He hoped to be able to do something to reparir the mischief, and if he could not get his idea carried out he might adopt the suggestion of Gordon, and form a colony at r~ake Nyanza to fight against slavery.
THE MIRAOLES OF MISSIONS.-NO. IX.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] SIGNS of THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE GENERAL WORK.
THE Resurrection of our Lord was established" by many infallible proofs." Not less unmistakable and unanswerable are the evidences of the coming of the Holy Ghost and of the presence of a supernatural providence in human history. Most of all may we see God's hand in mISSIOns.
Thus far we have sought to illustrate and exemplify this great truth in specific cases and on special fields. It may bel well, however, to take
1889;1 c THE MIRACLES OF
a wider glance and get a glimpse of His presence and presidence in the whole field and work of missions; and more especially as during this month our eyes are turned, not to anyone land or form of false faith, but sweep round the entire circle of the continents.
When science, as nature's interpreter, would show us her greatest wonders, she points to the crystal and the cell; one the mystery of inorganic symmetry, the other the miracle of organic life. When God would reveal to us the signs of His own handiwork, and prove to ns that through all the ages His unceasing purpose r1ns, He points us to the mystery of a symmetrical and crystalline historic unity and harmony which no human foresight could have planned and no human skill have wrought out; and then He points ns to holy lives which combine the beauty of the crystal with the living energy of the cell; which shine not with a cold, imprisoned luster, but with the radiance· of a living light.
Dionysius of H(l,licarnassus said: "History is phil9sophy teaching by examples." The Ohristian believer mounts higher and declares that history is God, teaching by His providence and grace. Nature does not bear marks of a designing mind and hand as clearly as human history, and pre-eminently the history of missionary enterprise reveals the plan and presence of an infinite God. No man with eyes open, and mind open to conviction, can long resist this evidence. The history of missions not only reveals miracles, it is itself a miracle. It is a demonstration and an illustration at the same time that, high above and far behind all human actors on the stage, is a divine director and controller. He shifts the changing scenery to suit every new act inc the drama of the ages; and he shifts the positions, yea, and the persons of the actors, too. When He wills, when His work demands it, and His time has fully come, they enter and take up their part; and, as surely, when He wills it and His time has fully come, they leave the stage and give place to others. "God buries His workmen but He carries on His work," is one of the sayings of John Wesley, carved on his monument in England's great Abbey. But it is not less true that He raises up a Pharaoh and Oyrus and girds those who have not known Him, to show forth His power in them, and in spite of them carryon His eternal covenant purpose.
Those who have read that fascinating story of "Life Among the Turks," by Dr. Oyrus Hamlin, will remember one of the myriad in- stances of the providential limitation of human power and tyranny. At a critimil point in the history of Turkish missions, the Sultan Mahmud suddenly startled the whole empire by an order for the expul- sion of the missionaries. The news fell like a thunderbolt unheralded by the lightning flash~ The order was so imperious and arbitrary, and Mahmud was so unreasonable and implacable, that even Mr. Brown, the Secretary of the American Legation, and Oommodore Porter gave over the cas~ as hopeless. Commodore Porter prepared a. dispatch to the Sublime Porte, acquiescing on behalf of the missionaries, for whom he could not venture to interpose. Just then, on the first of July, 1839, the Sultan himself died, at the very hour when the missionaries were waiting in suspense for the execution of the order! And at the same time his entire fleet was betrayed into the hands of the Pasha of Egypt, and the Ottoman army of 80,000 men was almost annihilated. Well may Dr. Hamlin exclaim: "A startling series of events that struck every heart with dismay"! Man proposes, but God disposes. A higher plan swallows up the lower, as Aaron's rod swallowed all the rest. Dr. Goodell had, in the very midnight of that trial hour, and before there was the first hint of a dawn, said in his own peculiar way:" The great Sultan of the universe can change aU this," and lo! it was done. H God blew, and they were scattered." The work of the missions was resumed with new courage; the exiles came back, and the execution of Mahmud's order of expulsion was never again referred to. The silence of the grave fell on the Sultan and his tyrannical decree alike. A h~gher hand was holding the invisible scepter.
And this is what we mean by the supernatural factor in missionary history. It may not manifest itself in any two cases in precisely the same way. Evil may at times be prevented, and at other times permitted and overruled. But the overrule is there.
" Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record One death grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the world. Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne; Yet that scaffold sways the future; and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God, amid the shadow, keeping watch above His own."
It would be impracticable within the necessary limits of this article to illustrate fully this general supervision of missions by an -Almighty Wisdom and Power; but it is to the mind of the writer a fact so vivid as to be well-nigh visible; and a few examples of this divine interposition will suffice for the present purpose of this paper.
1. The removal of obstacles and the opening doors of access to the nations.
2. The sudden and unaccountable subsidence of barriers at critical periods and. points.
3. The raising up of men and women previously prepared for work, as obviously prepared for them.
4. The theology of inventions-a divine plan in the development of the race and of human discovery.
5. The direct transformation of individual character and of entire communities.
6. The indirect results in the modifications of existing evils and the elevation of the entire social level.
7. The obvious overruling of human mistakes and failures, and even of bitter hostility and persecution, 8. The supernatural ordering of human lives, and the limitations of them when God's purpose is accomplished.
9. The evidences of a divine strategy extending through the ages and embracing the whole world.
10.. The turning of the crises of the kingdom in answer to prayer, and in a marked order of development.
11. The development of new agencies, organizations and instrumentalities at the precise hour of need.
12. The prophetic element in all these divine plans, making these developments not an evolution but a revolution.
Such are afew of these signs of the supernatural mind and hand in the history of missions. Let us b~iefly advert to some of them.
1. The progress of missions would have been impossible without the intervention of a higher power. When, a century ago, the Ohurch as a body took up the work of evangelizing the world, ten great obstacles stood in her way, to human view insurmountable. They may be classed under four heads: obstacles to approach, obstacles to intercourse, obstacles to impression, obstacles to action.
The world seemed locked against the Ohurch, and the Ohurch seemed indifferent to the condition of the world. Oonverts were punished with death; missionaries were martyrs; woman was shut up in harems; some races seemed too high, others too low, to be reached by the gospel. Now all these obstacles are down. Who has done it?
2. Barriers have sometimes gone down as though a continent had sunk to let the sea overflood the land. Hawaii had burned her idols while the Thaddeus was crossing the deep with the first band of missionaries. Japan was undergoing a civil revolution while Oommodore Perry was casting anchor in the harbor of Yeddo. Over and over again the missionaries have gone expecting to find gigantic barriers confronting them and have found only prostrate walls. Who has done it?
3. Men and women have been prepared for the work and the work for them when no human foresight could have shaped either for the other. Who fitted William Goodell to begin in 1831 that wonderful work in Oonstantinople which at that very time needed just such a pioneer! Who but God knew that in 1877 a famine would overspread Southern India, and that a civil engineer would be needed to complete that canal, and so give the starving thousands work; and that the engineer must be a Ohristian missionary who would teach the workmen of Jesus? and who was it raised up Mr. Clough to go there long before he knew why he was a civil engi~eer and felt so strangely drawn to that very station at Ongole? Who was it fitted the peg to the hole when he set Eli Smith in Syria, Robert Morrison in Ohina, Fidelia Fisk in Oroomiah, Lindley among the Zulhs, Moffat among the Boers, Duncan among the Indians of British Oolumbia, and Hunter Corbett amon~ the simple converts of C~efoo? (Jan all history show a more marked adaptation of the man and the place and the hour, than Robert W. McAll and Belleville and 1872, when the French nation was reacting from clericalism and imperialism and formalism, and yearning for a simple, positive, primitive gospel? Who did all this?
4. Look at the theology of inventions. How came the mariners compass, steam as a motor, the printing-press, and all subsequent sim-' ilar inventions and discoveries, to be withheld from the race until the- ology, anthropology and soteriology had fought their battles, and sociology was coming to the front; and until the Church of the I4Jfor- mation was preparing to give the Bible to every people and the press was indispensable; and to carry the gospel to earth's limits, and the compass and steam were needful? Nay, who withheld this continent from unveiling until the pilgrims were ready to settle New England!
5. Passing by for the present many other points already briefly stated, and emphasized in previous articles, behold the crises of the kingdom turned in answer to prayer. Time was when the Church itself was asleep. And such men as Gutzlaff and Carey and Jonathan Edwards laid siege to the throne of grace and the Church woke, and missions began on a world-wide scale. Then doors seemed shut and a few con- secrated men and women prayed, and within ten years the openings defied occupation-they were so many. Then there was need of men and money. Prayer again turned the crisis. Gifts that· for amount were never before equalled began to be consecrated, and an unparal- leled number of young men and young women began to offer them- selves. The women began to organize till their Boards cover the Chris- .. tian Church with their network; and the Y. M. O. A. ~nd its kindred organizations multiplied from one in 1844 to 3,800 in 1888. And now signs appeal' above the horizon of a period of general missionary intelli- gence and activity more marked than any during the last eighteen cen- turies. These are but a minute fraction-a fragment from the vast aggregate of testimony that the work of missions is the work of God, and the march of missions the march of God.
It will-be yet three years before we reach the year which marks the complet~ century since the Warwick Association made the first Monday of each month a "Monthly Concert" of prayer for the world's evan- gelization, and that first :,Foreign Missionary Society sent out William Carey to India. The Church might have compassed the world already had the faith of disciples been equal to the grandeur of God's promises. But, nevertheless, God has led, ruled, moved, swayed all through this century. He has shown His Word to be all-powerful, and His Spirit all-subduing, and His Providence all-controlling. The whole history has been His story; full of mystery because full of a mysterious God; full of power because full of an omnipotent God. 1.'his needs no argu- ment; it needs only an open eye and an obedient heart. To our own conception it is the supreme charm of missions and the supreme argu- ment for missions. It invest's the work with an awful dignity!
lIIISSION OAMPAIGN IN AMElUOA
MESSRS. TAYLOR AND RADCLIFFE'S MISSION CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA.
BY REGINALD RADCLIFFE, ESQ., ENGLAND. DEAR EDITORS: Many of your readers doubtless know something of the Chiba Inland Mission that has its headquarters in London. It was founded about twenty years ago by the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, and he is now its Director, with a Council in London, and a Council of experienced missionaries in qhina. Mr. Taylor had previously been engaged as a missionary in China; sickness required him to return to England, and for a few years he was engaged inLondon by the British and Foreign Bible Society in translating, in conjunction with an Episcopal clergyman. While so occupied, a map of China was on view, and so he got a more comprehensive view of the vast needs of the interior of that mighty country than when engaged in China doing his own little personal work. This was so burdened upon his heart that he went round to the different missionary boards in Lonuon, endeavoring to get some one of them to take up the vast interior of China; but he did not succeed. Thus was he constrained, in fact, after much trembling and much prayer, almost forced to originate the China Inland Mission. From the first he determined, in order not to interfere and not to have the appearance of interfering with the other missionary boards, 1. That this new society should have no collections made for money at any of its meetings. 2. No collection books. 3. No one to be applied to for money for the Mission. 4. That the agents should be taken from different denominations, so that the mission should be unsectarian. God has prospered the little mission greatly; no difficulties from different denominations working happily in one great mission field have ever arisen. About three years since, the remarkable band of seven young men of the Cambridge University going out stirred the hearts of our young people, especially, as one of the band, Mr. Charles Studd, was a famous criclreter, and another, Mr. Stanley Smith, was the stroke oar of the Cambridge Eight, to row against Oxford, whilst another was a young cavalry officer, who, in answer to the question, "Why are you going out?" replied, "I read' If ye love me, keep my commandments; , I love Christ and so I am going." Some time after this Mr. Taylor was with a gathering of his missionary friends in China-they were giving a day to fasting and prayer, the next day to deliberation and examination of the wants of their enormous field, the thira day to fasting and prayer, then the next day to deliberation and examination, and so on for several days. They were also agreed that they would not override a minority by a majority; but though it might take much more time, prefer waiting till they were all of one accord. Well, one thing they were of one accord upon was that they could make accommodation to receive, in addition to their then number of about 190, 100 extra missionaries, and that there were ample openings for them. So they asked the Lord of the harvest for these 100, and that they should be dIspatched within a year, and that money to dispatch them should be sent in; for the mission as usual had none. There and then the assurance of faith was given that these requests were answered. Accordingly, within the year about 600 volunteers applied, and out of these 102 were selected and dispatched, and all the money needed was sent in without solicitation, except soliciting their Heavenly Father. It will be seen what a needful part was the money when it is stated that this mission will not go into debt to the extent of a single dollar.
Now, some little time after this a young American layman, Mr. H. W.
Frost, came over to ·London and took up his lodging close to the headquarters of the mission that he might learn its workings minutely. He tried to per- suade Mr. Hudson Taylor to visit America. But Mr. Taylor, full of his heavy work at headquarters and traveling over Britain and over China, hesitated to consent. But this young American could not be shaken off, and he and Mr. Taylor got on their knees for guidance, and thereafter Mr. Moody invited Mr. Taylor to his Conference at Northfield. Mr. Taylor then yielded to the solicitations of this young friend.
Having myself worked much together with Mr. Taylor in Britain he asked me to accompany him, and it was resolved that my wife and I should go, as well as Mr. Taylor's secretary, and his son, Mr. Howard Taylor, as also Mr.
George Studd, brother of the Mr. Charles Studd already mentioned, and also brothel' of Mr. K. Studd of London, who, about a year previously, went through a number of the American universities. At this same time Mr.
Wishard of the Y. M. C. A. came over to England and induced several Cambridge undet'graduates to cross the Atlantic to attend Mr. 1foody's Conference.
It would be hard for me just at this point to withhold recording with a grateful heart the very refreshing hospitality my wife and I have received from so many kind hosts and hostesses, both in the States and in Canada.
If my friend, Mr. Hudson Taylor, were beside me instead of being in another steamer on another ocean, I am sure most warmly would he join me. Indeed, it was his own suggestion, days before we had to part, that we should both have put our signatures to a joint letter, but the rush was so great the last few days that it was not practicable, yet the work seemed only commenced. But if we should never see your land again, we have formed friendships that are not likely ever to be forgotten.
The welcome afforded to Mr. Hudson Taylor, both in the United States and in Canada, by ministers, Young Men's Christian Associations, and private Christians, and the reception given to his novel and startling, but simple, childlike statements, have, indeed, been so gratifying as to make himself and his praying friends devoutly thankful-you way be sure that his praying friends are very many, scattered over the world. In fact, it is a great feature that at the London headquarters a crowded prayer-meeting is held from four to six every Saturday afternoon, where, by a large map and long pointer, each mission is pointed out and every missionary prayed for by name.
After leaving Mr. Moody's Convention at Northfield, from which two or three volunteered and were accepted for China by Mr. Taylor, an early place visited was a Bible Reading Convention at Niagara. Here there was a glorious response-ample scope was given for Mr. Taylor and another to plead for the heathen, and after he had left, Mr. R. P. Wilder arrived and spoke on the same subject. In conclusion, Mr. H. W. Frost had to write, telling Mr. Taylor that sufficient money had been given to support six missionaries to his China Inland Mission. The money having thus been pro- vided unasked, volunteers wet'e prayed for to consume it. It was soon found that the same Father could supply laborers as easily as he had supplied the money. I Laborers sprang up like willows by the water-courses-both men and women-especially in Canada, and not vel'Y distant from the region in which the Niagara Convention had been held. After careful consideration twenty were accepted by Mr. Taylor as associates of the China Inland Mission. Thirteen of these were ready to depart from Toronto. Mr. Taylor met with them and gave minute instructions, having arranged with Rev. Dr. Parsons of the Presbyterian Church of John Knox, in Toronto, for themselves and their frIends partaking of the Lord's Supper at nine in the evening, before their train left at eleven for Vancouver and China. Mr. Taylor could not be present with us, as he had still to give one day to Montreal, overtaking this band on the track for Vancouver. A sister from Mr. Moody's school had also to overtake the train, making the volunteers to sail across the Pacific with Mr. Taylor fourteen. After receidng the Lord's Supper there was an impressive scene at the depot, a great crowd singing hymns outside the cars and inside the cars, tender:partings; whilst outside simultaneous prayer for the departing ones and for those to follow the crowd-chiefly young men-repeating the petitions together, sentence by sentence. 'rhus at 11 P.M. the train slowly swept away for the China steamer to be met at Vancouver.
Besides these fourteen gone, and the six more accepted, one of whom is a Y. M. C. A. secretary, I have since received distinct intimation of 46 more that I believe are wishing to follow. There is little money to tempt anyone, viz., only about $250 a year for a sister, and about $50 more for a brother on account of his having to travel and live in inns more than a sister. The dressing, too, in Chinese costume cannot be a great inducement. This is not much to tempt an American or a Canadian. Yet I shall not be surprised if el'e long fully 100, including the twenty already fixed, soon follow those gone before.
Are not such men and women the best, the greatest friends, of the home churches? Can they go to real war without rousing their friends left at home to fight at home as they have never done before? Can they go without stirring up a far deeper interest in the American and Canadian Missionary Boards, not only for China, but also for India, for Africa, for the continent of America, etc.? Let them ever remember what noble missionaries these Boards have sent out, from Judson downwards, and what noble ones- perhaps not much heard of-they have now in the field. I have myself enjoyed their co-operation in Europe.
If we older men will not lead, 0, for the sake of Christ's dying wish, let these young ones lead us! 01' else, are not we older one!;! in flagrant disobedienc~? and I for one do not see how our churches in Britain may not sink lower and lower. Do speak out and show them that Christ has laid the responsibility on every converted soul to give the gospel to the heathen, and that we laymen cannot shift the responsibility 6if our shoulders upon the shoulders of ministers, or upon the shoulders of university men. Let us gladly accept settled ministers, who will lay down their charges. A vicar at Leeds, just before we left for America, laid down his charge in order to go out with the China Inland Mission. But for every such cultured man, and for every finished and cultured undergraduate, do we not need at least twenty men, who, like Spurgeon, Moody, or Carey, have never seen the inside of a col- lege, provided only they have the needed gifts, ;:tre already experienced in winning souls, are wholly surrendered to Christ as their king, and are full of the Holy Ghost?
THE Gustavus Adolphus Society of Germany, which aims specially to es- tablish Protestant churches in Roman Catholic countries, during the last fiftY-SIX years, has erected 1,398 churches and 691 school buildings. It re- ports immediate need of 314 more church buildings.
OPIUM IN CHINA
BRITISH OPIUM IN CHINA.
BY G. L. MASON, AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION, HUCHOW, CHINA.
BRITISH Christians lead the world in beneficence. Their home charities are multiform, their foreign missions are everywhere. But the British Government, for the sake of revenue in India, persists in a course against a weaker nation which Canon Wilberforce pronounces "simply dastardly from beginning to end." John Bright and many other distinguished men express the same view. Christian opinion in China is fairly represented by a conservative Englishman, Archdeacon Monle of Shanghai, who says: "British authorities in India, fully knowing the attitude of the Chinese Government, deliberately engaged in the preparation of opium for China. with only two years intermission, continuously for sixty years." Americans, too, blush at sight of the Chinese caricature of an Englishman with a whiskey bottle in one hand and an opium ball in the other. In many ways so closely linked to Great Britain, and especially so in evangelization, it behooves American Christians also to know the facts and to labor and pray for the removal of this tremendous hindrance to missions and to honorable commerce and international good-will-a professed Christian government engaging in a trade which is a blighting curse to millions.
Since many may not have access to information, the following outline of events has been compiled, from personal study of the Chinese maritime customs' reports, from files of the Ohinese Repository, and from other trustworthy sources. As partisan statements have been made in books and newspapers, "that opium-smoking isas harmless as twiddling one's fingers," and that" Great Britain has not coerced China on account of opium," it may be well to remark that the writer is prepared to cite authority for every statement in this sketch.* Some hold that opium was first brought to China by the Arabs toward the close of the thirteenth century. But it was in small quantities, and" commonly used as a medicine before the trade with India commenced" in the eighteenth century. Previous to 1767 the trade was in the hands of Portuguese, but with an import of only about 200 chests a year, a chest being about 140 pounds. The habit of smoking was scarcely known. Even as late as 1830 large inland cities like Hangchow had no opium smOking-shops. Now that city has, approximately, 2,000. The very rapid growth of the habit and of the trade began when the East India Company regularly engaged in the business in 1773. In 1790 the importation reached 4,054 chests, twenty times the amount imported yearly previous to 1767. In 1799 it was 5,000 chests; in 1826, 9,969; about 1830, a yearly average of 16,800. In less than ten years just preceding the first Opium War the trade more than doubled, reaching 34,000 chests in 1836. In 1834 the East India Company closed its career, but other British officials continued the traffic, which has grown to 52,925 piculs in 1850 and 75,308 in 1880, a picul being 133~ pounds.
Smuggling is the proper term for this trade previous to 1860. In 1780 the British establised a depot near Macao on two vessels, a plan continued in later years, when armed vessels lay outside the ports, and delivered the opium to Chinese smugglers who had previously negotiated with American or British merchants living at the ports under consular protection. The East India Company entered upon the trade knowing it to be contraband.
* Besides the authorities named, any one desiring further information should see the Friend of China, London: Morgan & Scott; a small monthly. Also Th6 Truth .4lKrut Opium, London: Hodder", Stonghton.
BRITiSH OPIUM IN
For the Abbe Raynal (tr. i. 424) writes, as early as 1770: "The Chinese Emperors have suppressed it in their dominions, by condemning to the flames every vessel that imports this species of poison." The Emperor Kiahmg in 1796 issued an edict against it, and the prohibition was often renewed by imperial decree or high provincial authority (1799, 1809, 1820, 1836 and 1837) and the prohibition always based on moral grounds. "Severe prohibit<;>ry laws (1828) destroyed the trade temporarily and exasperated the British, who made some military demonstrations by sending armed vessels to Canton in 1831 and 1834. Meanwhile the contraband opium trade was fostered and the smugglers provided with armed ships."-American Cyclopcedia. See also British Encyclopcedia. In the penal code of 1830, strangling is the punishment for keeping an opium shop. In 1832 at Macao foreigners witnessed a case of its execution, the culprit being tied to a cross and strangled. ,_That the prohibition of 'the importation of opium or planting of the poppy was only partly successful among a heathen people is not strange. But is the fact that Chinese minor officials often connive with native and foreign smugglers any excuse whatever forthe relentless aim of the Bitish Government to thwart the often expressed and humane wish of the heathen government?
A crisis came in 1839. The Chinelie Imperial Commissioner Lin, at Canton, addressed a long letter to Queen Victoria, requesting her to interdictthe traffic. He also demanded as contraband, 20,283 chests of British opium, and by command of the emperor utterly destroyed it. This annihilation by money-loving Orientals, for the sake of a moral idea, of ten million dollars worth of salable property will shine in history as a deed of sublime heroism.
The British Encyclopedia calls it" a sufficient proof that the Mandarins were in earnest in their endeavor to suppress the trade. The few foreigners who were present were deeply impressed to witness this deliberate and solemn work of destruction, which occupied twenty days and took place in the presence of a great multitude of Chinese officials and people. Soon after this the British renewed the attempts to smuggle cargoes ashore. The merchants complained that the wholesale confiscation of the opium was sudden and unfair! a vain plea, for the storm had been gathering for years and was foreseen by all whose eyes were not blinded by gold. The seizure was the chief point of the casus belli.
In 1840 England declared war. At its close China had to cede the oppressor the island of Hongkong and pay twenty-one million dollars. Twelve millions of this were for England's war expenses, three millions for debts owed by Chinese to British merchants, and six millions partial payment for the opium destroyed. This outrageous robbery was perpetrated in the Treaty of Nankin (1842) and ratified the year following.
That the enforced opening of the five" treaty ports" to trade gave a great impulse to commerce and missions no one denies, but these benefits blind Western eyes to the cruel injustice of the war. At that time Sir H. Pottinger, British Minister, 'strove to get China to legalize the opium trade j and the Emperor Two-Kwang made answer in these pathetic and now historic words: "It is true that I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison, but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people."
During the next fourteen years the unwelcome trade flourished, until in 1857, the Arrow, a smuggling vessel bearing the British flag, was fired upon. This furnished the pretext for the British bombardment of Canton. As if this were not enough, the English and French combined the next year and made an expedition up the river Pei-ho to Tientsin: Thus the capital
OPIUM IN CHINA
was in danger and the terror-stricken government felt obliged to yield to the persuasion of Lord Elgin and legalize the importation of British opium. The import duty was fixed at the low rate of thirty taels a chest, or about thirty cents a pound, the British agreeing not to carry the opium 'inland. This political villainy was ratified in the Convention of Peace at Pekin, October, 1860. Thus oppression scored a great triumph in Asia to offset the grand advance of liberty then about to take place in America. China again paid Eng-land an indemnity of $10,800,000 in gold, one-quarter of which was paid to the foreign merchants of Canton; also $6,000,000 to France. Is it strange that patriotic but uninformed Chinese would fain have excluded all foreigners, missionaries included, regarding the opium trade as a direct plot against the life of the.nation? 'fhis treaty secured the opening of five additional ports, through which missionaries might enter with the gospel and merchants with shiploads of opium.
The second opium war only riveted faster the chains of the demoralizing habit and trade. The government, discouraged, made few serious efforts after 1860 to repress native cultivation of the poppy. According to Consul Spence, in Sichuan province, government interference with the planting ceased about 1865. Bu:t in July, 1869, the Chinese Government made a pathetic appeal to the British Government. And in October, a "Supplementary Convention" was signed at Pekin by which, in consideration of China's reducing her duty on coal exported and for other commercial advantages, England should allow China to advance the import duty on opium from thirty to fifty taels. As though China had not the right to charge what duty she chose without asking leave! But this arrangement the British Government steadily refused to ratify, lest a higher duty might check the trade and thus lessen the revenue at Calcutta.
In 1876 occurs the Chefu Convention. China by this allows four more ports to be opened to trade, in return for which the British ambassador agrees that opium shall stand on a different footing from other goods as regards transit duties,inland, so as to enable China to check the internal traffic. The clauses of this convention in favor of foreigners were soon ratified. The one clause'in China's benefit was not. At length after seven years of evasion by England, the irritation felt in China and the anti-opium agitation in England caused an opening of official correspondence on the subject (January, 1883), Earl Granville writing to Marquis Tseng, the Chinese ambassador in London. China proposes in addition to thirty taels import duty, a uniform rate of eighty taels for internal transit dues. The noble earl objects, proposes seventy taels (April, 1883), and insists that China 'must guarantee not to hinder the trade by imposing further taxes inland. 0 shameful sight! a mighty Christian nation haggling with a weaker heathen government for easier terms on which to debauch its people! Tseng Claims (September, 1884) that China may raise the tax on opium to any figure she may think proper as soon as the drug shall have passed into Chinese hands. And why not? Not until July, 1885, was the agreement finally signed, to be in force four years. It came into effect February 1, 1887, more than ten years after the Chefu Convention. The import duty remains the same, thirty taels. But the fluctuating taxes formerly levied inland (the Lekin) a!'e now fixed at a uniform rate of eighty taels, and these dues also England allows China to collect at the ports; but China stipulates that British opium may pass inbud, unlike other goods, exempt from taxes, and that local licenses to sell sllall be at the same rate as for native opium.
This new arrangement has been hastily called a "settlement" of the vexed
BRITISH OPIUM IN
question. A total revenue of about $1.10 per pound, all due at the ports,' brings a little more mon~y than formerly into the treasury at Pekin. Butit also hastens the physical and moral ruin of multitudes. Nine and three quarter million pounds were imported in 1887,- an increase of nine pel' cent. on the average yearly amount from 1882 to 1886 under the former arrangement. The trade has now clearer official sanction. The authorities provide safe and cheap storage at ports, and untaxed transit inland. And the cancer is to strike its roots deeper into the nation's heart. In proof of this, read the Customs reports for 1887, how at various ports the new rule "benefits the trade"; how the trade "acquires stability" and "increased facility" and "great benefit"; while at Pakhoi the opium partly "takes the place of silver as a circulating medium." The Shanghai commissioner reports: " Transit passes are respected and the native dealers are sending the opium to more distant markets than ever."
That missionaries do not magnify the evils of opium to excuse the slow progress of missions let Sir Thomas Wade, ex-ambassador, testify: "The habit is many times more pernicious, nationally speaking, than the gin and whiskey drinking which we deplore at home"-a strong-er statement than missionaries make; still it is hard to decide which of the two habits produces the more misery. Forty-five million dollars spent in one year (1887) for foreign opium, and half of it spent by people unable to buy both opium and good food, means a wide extent of woe. Mr. Eason, of the China Inland Mission, says that in Yunnan Province half of the women and fourfifths of the men are smokers. When Baron Rich'toven is quoted that in Si-chuan Province as much opium is used as anywhere, and that nowhere are the effects so little seen, it is not explained that the climate of the mountains is salubrious and that the people of the river valleys are wealthy. It is among the poor, who cannot buy both food and opium, that the misery is most seen. Here is the exact parallel to the drink curse,-work neglected, debts unpaid, clothes and bed ill pawn, children and aged parents half starved. There are frequent instances of wives sold tp provide opium. In some parts of HucllOW, Chikiang, opium-ruined vagabonds have been a terror to the farmers. In that part of the city of Shanghai under the municipal contl'Olof Europeans more than 1,200 opium saloons were licensed in 1887. No wonder that the number of prisoners in jail was twenty-five per cent. greater than in 1886. The opium habit often co-exists with alcoholism in the same individuals. All vices thrive within the opium dens. Especially does the opium mania burn out of the man all capacity for truth. A professional burglar would be received to church membership in China as soon as would an opium user.
Foreigners, shielded by British civil or military officials, smuggled opium into China for seventy years. After two wars and the payment of vast indemnities the traffic was legalized, as the Grand Secretary, Li Hung-chang, said in 1881, "not from choice, but because China submitted to the adverse decision of arms." Yet apologists say that China's concessions have been voluntary. As well call the delivery of one's put'seto a highwayman voluntary, That the Chinese submitted at all graciously only illustrates their pt'overb "The legless man who meets a tiger might as well make a present of himself." After 1860, for twenty-five years, British influence prevented China from raising the duty even to a .partiallY prohibitory rate. Finally in 1885-7 a new arrangement was made which friends of China hoped might be somewhat of a check to the trade, but which ill the working seems to be rather a strengthening of eVIl. But it is an arrangement for four years only
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
and the question will be re-opened. Meanwhile let the Christian world con-' tinue in prayer that God may touch the conscience of all concerned. Parties to the gt'eat sin are not only opium merchants, but the Indian officials who, in Bengal, by subsidies, assist planters of the poppy, and who buy the whole opium crop and prepare it in government workshops expressly for the Chinese market. In this sin Christian England also shares; for" under the specious name of the home charges of the Indian Government, England is annually exacting a tribute of fourteen. millions sterling from India" (Friend of Ohina. April, 1888). And England's sin and England's punishment, unless she repents, more or less involve all Christendom. Our sharing of responsibility and the Chinese feeling were vividly impressed on the writer once when preaching on the street in Shashing. Hell was mentioned and a fine looking elderly man exclaimed with equal courJl.ge and severity: "Yes, there is such a place. Since you foreigners came, Ohina has become a hell!"
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CHAS. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
THE Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missions-Blatt says: "Can one live to be old in India f Whoever brings with him a good constitntion, and lives regnlarlyand temperately, can, by God's good providence, even in India. reach an advanced age. The old Dano-Halle Missionary Kohlhoff labored in India 53 years, his son 57. his son 60, C. F. Schwarz 47. Similar examples of long life in India and Burmah are to be found in more recent times also, though not so frequently as in the last century; our Senior Schwarz lived in India 44, Kremmer 47 years. There lately died in Kottajam in Travancore, Mrs. Baker, granddaughter of the elder Koh- 10ff, who in 1819 established a girls' school in Kottajam, and conducted it for 69 years I Mr. Rice. of the L. M. S., lived to celebrate the semi-centennial jubilee of his missionary service, and this year, on the 9th of February, the same honor arrived to the missionary bishop, Caldwell, of the S. P. E.,who may well be regarded as one of the most valuable missionaries in South India, an experienced administrator and an eminent lingnist. He has lately pnblished his remembrances in the Madras MaU, from which we extract the following: • As a youth of lour-and-twenty he landed on the 8th of January, 1838, in Madras, where he remained three and one-half years. His first business there was, of course, to study the language. He ,rapidly made himself master of the two dialects of Tamil, the classical, and the vernacular dialect, and laid an especial stress upon right pronunciation. which to an English tongue offers double difficulties. • • • His first practical work was among the native domestics of the English. Noteworthy is the missionary method which he then recognized as the true one, and which he has maintained through life: 'My plan was to make the congregation the middle point of my whole missionary activity. With the assistance of my native helpers I made it my endeavor to exhort and induce individuals to unite themselves with our congregation. As soon as we had won, instructed and baptized a proselyte. I urged him to bring to us all his relatives and friends. We hoped that in this way eacb new proselyte would become a shining light, around which others would gather. The plan succeeded beyond expectation, and soon the congregation was too nnmerous for the building.' He makes little account of stl'eet-preachings in great cities. •They do not reach the higher castes, and the direct fruit is in no proportion to tbe labor given. I never heard of a case in which any abiding blessing has resulted from this sort of effort.' In 1841 he removed to Tinnevelly. He made the journey on foot, passing throngh Tranqucbar. In his account of this journey there occurs a most unwarranted attack upon onr mission, which he accuses of proselyting efforts among the adherents of the Propagation Society. He shows, thereby. that he, too, has allowed himselfto be carried away by the intolerant spirit of this SOCiety, which is . well inclined to claim aU India as its domain. and while its missions are always ready to encroach upon other fields of labor (as, for instance, in the Kohl Mission) would not even concede' to the Tamils of Lutheran views the liberty of returning to their mother church. • . . Yet Dr. Caldwell, long ago, was one of the few English missionaries who maintained the sonndness of the principles of our mission in regard to the question of caste; a view which, in later times, has gained more and more snpport among them.
"In Tinne.elly he made Idyengudy (Shepherdhome). near Cape Comorin. the center of his resuUful activity. He gathered a great number of Christians out of the surrounding heathen. The congregations nnder his presidency have multiplied tenfold, increasing from 14 to 129, and the number of souls eightfold, from 1,201 to 8,167. The whole number of Tinnevelly Christians connected with the Propagation SOCiety had risen from 4,352. in 1841, to 39,577. To this increase the famine year, 1877-8, bas contributed not a little, for during this the number of souls of this mission, as well as of that of the C. M. S., was nearly doubled. His like-minded wife, a missionary's daughter, contributed not a little to this great success. She helped especially in the education of the girls and elevation of the female sex. She introduced into her girls' school the weaving of lace, in which her scholars attained very considerable skill. Dr. Caldwell's example shows what, in India, the right man in the right place can accomplish, when he is able to remain for a good long while, and so take root. In 1877 he, with his fellow· missionary, Sargent (of Talamcottah) was con- secrated in Calcutta as missionary bishop-hoth being suffragan~ to the Bishop of Madras. He has since then ordained 51 native pastors, and removed his residence to Tutticorin.
" He says that he was never thoronghly well. And yet he has held ont so long in one of the hottest districts of India. For it may be said of Tinnevelly that it has in the year •three months hot weather and nine months hotter.' Yet, strangely enough, he once, during a· furlough in England, had a sunstroke while driving in an open carriage. Sunstrokes are more common where the heat.
is variable. . He has had his share of trouble to bear. Especially since his appointment to the episcopate he has had so much hostility and opprobrium to undergo at the hands of the Christ- ians of his own charge, who felt themselves wounded in their caste pride by his reports, that it is no wonder if he compares himself with the tree of Jotham's parable, who was asked to reign over the other trees. But he concludes his reminiscences with the sentence: •Every year spent in God's service should be regarded as a jubilee year.' "
M. Weitzecker, describing the dedication of a Bassuto Church, writes • •• A numerous company of horsemen approaches, who, on drawing near the village, bring their horses to a walk, close up ~heir ranks, and advance singing. They are our Christians, of whom several took part five years ago in burning and plundering the neighboring village, the capital of this chief. But now no one flees at their approach, and behind this loophole wall, raised to guard against them, no one makes ready to fire upon them or to bar their entrance. On their side they carry neither guns nor assegais nor hatchets nor clubs, and they intone, not a song of war, but a hymn of peace. . . . Soon the women and young girls approach on foot, they also singing. They can, I cannot, for emotion chokes my voice when I remember how often I have seen these very ones fly trembling before the very chief whose domain they now enter with songs."
M. Coillard, of the Zambesi Mission, relates a fact respecting Lewanika, the Zambesi king, powerfully illustrating the tender mercies of the wicked. He lately sent a message to the missionary, assuring him that he had taken to heart his rebuke of him for killing people secretly, and that accordingly, finding hidden in the woods seven children of rebels, he had simply administered to them beer which had been poisoned before their eyes, and had then ordered them to be transported to an islet of the river, and left to die at their leisure! Well may M. Coillard say: "You see in what an atmosphere we live; our heaven would be of lead without the light of the countenance of God; our isolation would be insupportable without the communion ot the Saviour, and, let us add, without the communion of the saints."
The Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift says: "It is now often the fashion to speak disparagingly of the old pietists. This is, in the first place, very unthankful, for in missions, above all things, we are standing on their shoulders. The fathers of the present German missions were pietists. It is, moreover, immodest; for, looking at many of these pietistic fathers, we must say: We are not worthy to unloose their shoe-latchets. Grant that they were one-sided; but this one-sidedness consisted in an exclusive emphasis laid on" the one thing which is needfu1." We have become more broad-minded; but does there go out more virtue from us! We broad-minded people have always something to be' learning afresh from these one-sided pietists, namely, more selflimitation to the one necessary thing, more burning love of Jesus, more edifying application of the Word of God to ourselves, more zeal in prayer, a fuller victory over the world, and al80 more renunciation of the world. without, indeed, being altogether obliged to follow them in their avoidance of the world. These pietistic fathers sat at Jesus' feet, and did at the·same time zealous Martha service; they withdrew themselves from the world, and were yet a >alt of the earth and a light of the world. Therefore it is that, despite all the disparagement With which they treated the world, and despite all the one-sidedness with which they avoided the world, they have so much abiding fruit to witness to them."
The Zeitschrijt also says: "It is, indeed, a matter of great joy, and is worthy of all acknowledgment, that we are so inventive in trying ever more, ever newer, a.nd ever more expeditious ways of drawin~ larger and larger circles iuto an interest for missions; hut independently of the fact that many of these ways already draw very ·near to the bounds of a dubious secularizliotioll. tley are also only too apt to induce neglect in gathering and caring for the "little flock," to which it is the pleasure of our He",venly Father to give the kingdom, and which, there_ fore, at all times and in all places, remains the corpa d'elite, with which the missionary cause wins its victories. To gather and maintain this corps d'elite is above all things the heart of the work."
Again.: .. It is also quite to be approved, when we make it a point, not only to refute tha many ignorant prejudices against missions, and the many malicious misrepresentations which are always springing up afresh with regard to them, but when we also set before those who a.s yet do not appreciate the religious value of missions, the manifold incidental benefits which have redounded by their means to science, commerce, colonization and civilization generally. Doubtless in this way many a one can ana will be introduced more deeply into the cause and converted into a warm and vigorous friend of missions. Yet, if such efforts are prosecuted withont reference, or with only a timid reference to the religious motives and aims of missions, we forget that the deep r08ts of our strength are found only in the living obedience of faith, whose meat it is to do the will of God. If we forget this, all our tricks of persuasion are mefe cobwebs. It is the labor of Sisypus to be always pushing the hands of the clock from without."
"The lack which is made plain by the common complaint that nothing but the driver's stick will bring in collections, will not be made good by always contriving new ways: It rather sets home tous: You must make it more and more exclusively your aim to dig living weU.! And these are living wells: men who have the driver within themselves, of whom it is true that· the love of Christ constraineth' them; men of faith, whose faith brings them to obedience."
"Missionary narrative and history is excellent. It is the three measures of meal. But the leaven of this must be found in "the Word." This must be the chief thing. The sainted Lewis Harris has given the cause of missions in Hermannsburg an abiding root, because he was earnestly and powerfully bent on doing the central work in his parish, the work which was committed to the Apostle Paul among the heathen: 'To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.'"
A Lutheran missionary in South India, writing in the Leipzig Evangelisch- Lutherisches Missions-Blatt, considering the q1lf~stion how far foreign missionaries in India ought to assimilate themselves to the native ways, says: "The missionaries in Santalistan "-a district of Bengal, inhabited by an aboriginal tribe-" have accommodated themselves to the natives perhaps more perfectly than any others in India. They have, so to speak, put themselves on a footing of equality with them. This wise policy, so worthy of imitation, is, next to God's grace and blessing, a chief cause of their success. Yet we must remark, that what they could do there, among the un-Hindnized, uncivilized Santal people, they could not have done here among the Tamils with their many castes, classes, and peculiar institu· tions. Even the Tamil missionary finds no great difficulty in becoming a pariah to the pariahs, but in just the degree that he does this, he ceases to be a miSSionary to the Tamils; that is, he closes the door against himself, and robs himself of the opportnnity of drawing near to the hiaher castes, the Tamils proper, and gaining influence over them. It is, undoubtedly, very qnestionable how fa~ it is practical and judicious for us Europeans here in India;o live so entirely in the European style as is commonly the case. It may be questioned whether it would not be better to assume, at least in part, a more Indian manner of life. But even if this were done we should yet be far from becom· ing Hindus. At best we should only be Eurastans. There would therefore still be a wall of parti.
tion between the inhabitants of the land and the missionary. On this account these East Indians can never be fully served withont the ministrations of native helpers, who, belonging to the people by birth and nationality, feel, think and speak like them, and share their weal and woe, and so find the way to their heart as strangers never can."
M. P. Berthoud, writing in the Bulletin Missionaire, the missionary organ for French Switzerland, from the Portuguese town of Lourenzo-Marques, where there are also a good many Hindus, says: .. The passion for alcoholic drinks is what first strikes an observer on his arrival; and the more intimate his knowledge of the mhabitants becomes, the more thoroughly is he
ORGANi~ED; MISSIONARY WORK
obliged to admit that great as the eyil is on the surface, it is much greater still at the bottom. It is a terrible scourge and plague. .' : .. After this discovery, one makes another still more sad, that of the indescribable 'immo- rality which reigns without restraint. Not a soul cares to raise the least dike agailst its invading floods. The Hindus and the natives themselves follow the Europeans and better the example• .. Lourenzo-Marques possesses a Catholic church, served by a priest of mixed race: Except a few such mulattoes, few people, I am assured, attend the religious services.
However, the inhabitants, white or colored, are not anti-religious; they are satisfied with that which they possess, to wit, a priest, a church, the resources necessary to accomplish certain religio)ls forms of which Qne does not love to be deprived, that is to say, above all the funeral rites. They would, on the contrary, feel themselves annoyed, and perhaps harassed, if religion was more living, if it recalled with too sharp a distinctness the image of a holy God who will judge sinners."
"What a consolation," writes M. Berthoud," in the midst of this Sodom of Lourenzo- Marques, to see approaching to meet us a little serried column of native Christians chant- ing our hymn.! It was the 9th of July-twelve years, to the very day, since the founda- tion of our mission at Vald/izia-that, seated on the front ofour wagon, we saw them coming afar and followed their march with a moved and joyous heart. There were morc< than a hundred of them, al~clad becomingly and simply. The countenances of some beamed with delight, those of others were tremulous with emotion, with all the strength of feeling found vent in an explosion of song.
.. It is touching to see the cordiality which unites them, and which they reanimate in- cessantly by calling each other 'children of the Lord," children of the Father," beloved of the Lord,' etc. Their joyous piety has a certain self-communicating power which may well be one of the causes of the rapid propagation of the gospel. We cannot but perceive a great difference between eur Gwamba of the Spelonken and those of this region, who are in general much more vivacious. This difference may have its bad as well as its good side.
We will not judge, but note.
H I come now to another trait of the life of this church, to wit, the exaltation of the religious sentiment. It appears, first, in the ordinary language, which takes a piou" form apro_ pos of everything, even the most simple material things. Thus people cannot salute each other without making long phrases concerning the will of God and its manifestations; they no longer say of anyone that he has been sick, but that' he has been smitten of God.'
'You ask one who is taking leave when he expects to return. • It is God who knows,' is his reply, given in a peculiar unctuous tone, though' all the while he has his well-defined plans of return. Whatever work has been dose, whatever word has been pronounced, 'it is the Spirit who has shown it, has dictated it.' A person who is going to his work, will say that he IS going' to labor for the flesh,' without giving any heed to the nonsense of the expres.
sion. 'The Spirit, the flesh,' these terms occur in conversation apropos of everything. 1 can in a measure understand how a language constantly made up of pious expressions might be employed by a community of Christians who had all attained perfection. But in a church of which each member still has to strive with the old sinful nature, it be<lomes affected, and we shall soon see one of two results: either the religious sentiment will be- come exalted, or quite as probably it will become enfeebled, and pious phrases will no longer be anythmg more than pharisaical forms; or, quite as often, the former alternative will give birth to the second."
Since M. Besthoud's arrival at Lourenzo-Marques there had been more than thirty conversions, n.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
Woman's Missionary Societies. of • amongst the Indians of Manitoba and the Oanada.* Northwest. I. Woma~'s Foreign Missionary So- ciety of the Presbyterian Church in SUMMARY. Canada-Western Division. Organ- ized 1876. Home Work.
Mrs. Hugh Campbell, Secretary, 194 Rich- Number of Mission Bands ….. : ……. 124 mond street, West Toronto, Ontario. Members in Mission Bands .• a,829 Auxiliary Societies … , ….. . 351 They sustain work in India, Formosa, New Members in Auxiliary Socie- Hebrides, Trinidad, and Honau, China, and ties ………………….. . 9,025 Life Members … , ……….. . 251 .. We are indebted to Mrs. Dr. J. T.Gracey Members of both Local and for this additional account of Woman's General Society……… , • 2,336 Missionary Societies in ClLnada and Great Presbyterian Societies .. , .. . 21 BritILin.-EDs. Total Membership ……………….. . 12,854 Increase in Membership …………. .. 4,291 New Presbyterian Societies………. . 3 New Auxiliaries ………………….. . 98 New Mission Bands ………………. . 49 New Life Members………………. .. 00 Finances. retary, Mrs. E. S. Strachan, 113 Hughson Contri~1;lted by Miss~C!n Bands. . . .. $5,273 25 street, North Hamilton, Canada.
Auxlhartes .. .. …. 19,856 19 The work of this Society in Canada is di- from other sources 528 00 divided into Branches, as follows: Western Branch Central, Eastern, Nova Scotia, New Total amount contributed …..$25,65754 Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island. To these Branches there are certain Districts II. Woman's Foreign Missionary So- auxiliary as follows: St. Johns East, St. ciety of the Presbyterian Church of Johns West, Winnipeg and Qu'Appelle. Canada-Eastern Division. Organ- ized 1877. The tabulated statistics are as follows: Auxiliary societies, 138; members, 4,086; Miss Edith Burns, Secretary, 18 Kent life members, 237; mission bands, 49, with street, Halifax. I,711 me~bers. For the year 1887 the amount of money raised was $14,197.51. The amount The grand total of the receipts of the So- since organization in 1881 is $46,909.46 ciety for the year ending Oct. 17, 1887, which Twelve missionaries have been sent to the is the latest report available, amounts to various fields. $5,091.77. This Society has no missionary period ical III. The Women's Baptist Foreign of their own, but edit a department in the Missionary Societies of Ontario and Outlook, a periodical of their Board. Quebec, Canada. The foreign work of the Society is III President, Mrs. J. H. Castle, Toronto, Japan, the home workthroughont the Prov- Canada. Corresponding Secretary, Miss inces. The" Crosby Home" a't Port Simp- Buchan, Toronto, Canada. son, B. C., is in a flourishing condition. Th4ilre are now 20 girls in attendance. The The work of this Soeiety is represented by McDougall Orphanage and Training Institwo sections, Eastern Ontario and Quebec tute among North American IndianS' has and the Society of Ontario. It has been in 10 boys and 8 girls. A mission school for operation over eleven years. girls (French) has been established at Actonvale with 25 pupils 14 of whom have The section of Eastern Ontario and Que- been converted during the year. bec is represented by 47 mission circles, and raised the past year the amount of $1,555.80 The girls' school in Tokyo. Japan, has while the Society of Ontario is represented been crowded to its utmost capacity, 127 by 150 circles, and money raised $4,626.74 ; or, boarders and 100 day pupils. Fifty of these the two sections, exclusive of balance of have been converted and baptized. Th.ere previous Veal'S, $6,182.54. are now 65 native Christians in the school, Much attention has been' given to evan- W9rk is carried on in India, at Akidu, Co- gelistic work, and the training of native canada, Samulcotta and Tuni, all in the .Christian women for work among their own Telugu country. people. A special donation of $1,000 was given the past year to open work in another '!'hree Eurasian women are employed, and station in Japan, and Shidzuoka was se- report more work than they can do. A ected, and a building free of rent secured &::lCces.ful girls' school is reported at Co- fo), two years. and Miss Ounningham has reo canada. Miss Alexander, of Toronto, sailed cently reached Japan to take charge of this during the veal' to recruit. the mission. A work. Arrangements were also made for Zenana House has been built at Cocanada. aiding the Chinese girls in Victoria, B. O.
IV. Woman's Baptist Missionary Women's Missionary Societies of Great Union of the Maritime Provinces,. Britain and Ireland. Organized 1870. I. Society for Promoting Female Educa- Mrs. John March, St. Johns, N. B., Cor- responding Secretary. tion in the East. Established 1834.
Its home territory includes Nova Scotia, Secretary, Miss Webb, London, England. New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island. This SOCiety is the oldest organized Society for carrying on work amcng the women of the The Society supports its own missionaries East. It commenced with schools in India and in India and contributes to the support of China, but the work was snbsequently extended fonr of the men employed by the parent to other countries, and now Includes Ceylon, Board. With much misgiving they appro- Japan, the Straits, South and West Africa, the priated at the beginning of the year $3,500 Levant, Egypt and the Holy Land, Turkey in but rejoice at its close over an income of Europe alid Persia. As early as 1835 one of the $1,735 in excess of that, and $258.30 given to Society's missionaries gained access to a house the Home Mission Board. Total income in Calcutta. $4,493.30. The object of the Society has been and ill V. Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Canada.
President, Mrs. James Gooderham, 166 Carlton street, Toronto; Corresponding Secstrictlyevangelistie. Recently they have estab- supports 29 schools, with about 8,000 pupils. lished medical missions in North India and the There are day and night schools, and for Holy Land. Forty European missionaries are boys and girls and women. All. are inemployed, who have charge of abont 275 structed in the Scriptures. The annual schools, attended by 19,624 scholars. Some 380 income is about $25,000. zenanas are visited, with about 3,000 pupils_ The annnal income about $35,000. V. Ladies' Association for the Support of Bible Women and Zenana Work The Society publishes The FemaU MiBBion- in Connection with the Baptist Misary Inteliigencer, a monthly magazine of some sixteen pages. sionary Society of England. Es- II. Indian Female Normal School and tablished 1868.
Instruction Society; or Zenana Bi- This Society has work in India, North- west Provinces, Bengal, Madras and the ble and Medical Mission. Estab- Punjab, which consists of schools, zenana, medical and dispensary work. lished 1852. The annual income is about $30,000. This Society was organized in Calcutta, Forty-four European female agents are emand the first work was the establishment of ployed, and 105 native workers, with the a Normal School in that city for Eurasian support of 50 schools, with over 1,600 pupils, teachers. The Society extended its opera- and over 20,000 dispensary patients. tions into three Presidencies, and added to the training of teachers, zenana visiting, VI. The Female Association for Proestablishment of female schools, employment of Bible women and medical missions. moting Christianity among the Wo- The constitution of the Society had been undenominational until 1880, when a division men of the East_ Irish Presbyterian occurred, some adhering to the old constitu- Church. Established 1873. tion, others forming a new society in connection with the Church of England. Since This organization was established through the the division the work has greatly extended, inlluence of Dr. Murray Mitchell and Rev. Nathe societies working in different parts of rayan Sheshadri. Their first missionary sailed India. Annnal income about $50,000. About for India in 1874. Now there are eight lady 27 stations are occupied, with 52 female missionaries, two of whom are medical. Three and 150 native workers. About 55 schools stations are occupied, Surat, Ahmedabad and are supported, with over 3,000 pupils. The Borsad, while girls' schools are supported in Society publishes a quarterly magazine, three other places. There are 14 schools with The Indian Female Evangeli8t. 800 pupils; Bome 30 houses visited. There are two dispensaries, one at Surat, the other at III. Ladies' Auxiliary of the Wesleyan Ahmedabad. The SOCiety employs 12 female native workers. This organization has some Missionary Society. Established 160 auxiliaries, an annual income of about $10,- 000. 1859. Woman'8 Work Is a small magazine published The prejudices against female education" by this Society, quarterly, at Belfast, Ireland. Were giving away somewhat when this Society began its work. It has work in Cey- VII. Woman's Missionary Association lon, India, China, South and West Africa. This Society is auxiliary Ito the General of the Presbyterian Church of Eng- Wesleyan Missionary Society. Their most successful work has been in Ceylon. Their land. Established 1878. annual income is about $35,000. Their work is in 48 stations, with 80 missionaries, 35 The work done by this Association is in native workers, 202 schools, with nearly five stations in China and Singapore, and 10,OOD pupils. Much of their work is super- one station in India-Rampor Bauleah. intended by the wives of missionaries. Miss Ricketts was their first missionary to China, and went out in 1878. IV. British Syrian Schools and Bible The annual income of the Society is about Mission. Founded 1860. $10,000. Thirteen female (European) and 8 native workers are employed, and 5 schools, This Society was organized soon after the with 155 scholars, supported. A quarterly fearful massacres of 1860 in and about magazine, caUed Our Sister8 in Other Lands, Damascus. The Druses put to death about is issued by this Society, published in Lon- 11,000 Christians, and their widows and don. children were turned adrift and fled to the seaport towns. Mrs. Bowen Thompson, who VIII. Church oflEngland Zenana Mishad spent much of her life in Syria, went to Beyrout and at once organized schools, and sionary Society. Established 1880. then established others in various centers. The Society has now about 28 alrents. with This Society was formed by a separation ~ male native workers and 94 female, and from the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society. It works in connection with Church of England Missionary Society. At its formation it had 31 Enropean mission-
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
aries in 17 .stations, and at the close of the XI. Ladies' Society for Female Eduseventh year it had 88 missionaries, 49 na- cation in India and South Africa, tive assistants, and 396 Bible women and of the Free Church of Scotland. native teachers in 42 mission stations. Its present fields are India, China and Japan. This SOCil"ty has done very suceessful work Income for 1887-8 about $115,000. in Southern India and Africa, and has re- centlv added medical work to its various The Society supports 181 schools with 6,928 agencies. It has a staff of 20 European and scholars.* India's Women, the organ of Eurasian helpers in India, and 120 native' this Society, is published every alternate Christian agents, with some 5,000 pupils unmonth, a magazine of 56 pages. der instruction. In Africa 12 European and 57 native Christian agents, with 1,675 pupils. IX. Zenana Medical College. Estab- A very successful boarding-school is car· lished in London, 1880. ried on at Loredale, South Africa, with over 100 pupils. About 30 missionaries' wives This is an unsectarian institution. Its object have supervision of the work. is to train Christian women for medical missionary work in the East. The ladies wl10 The income for 1887 was about $55,000. have finished their college course have been sent to Iudia, China, Ceylon, Syria, and Africa XIII. The Helping Hands Zenana by various missionary societies. The appli- Association. cants for admission have been more than could be accommodated. The income for 1887 was The object of this Association is to bring about $4,000. G. G. Griffith, M.D., Secretary. the young people of Great Britain and Colo- 'nies into active sympathy with the Protest- X. Ladies' Committee in Connection ant missionary societies working among the women of India. The Society has sup- / with the London ,MissionaryS 0- ported schools at various places in India, paid part of the expenses of a medical mis- ciety. sion,and aids in several other departments of missionary work. This Society supports 24 missionaries, 15 in India, 6 in China, and 3 in Madagascar; This Society publishes a monthly paper also 136 girls' schools, boarding schools. 20; called Indian Jewels. day schools, 116; with OVer 7,000 scholars. Over 250 Bible women are employed. It is WOMAN'S BOARD OF THE CUMBERLAND difficult to properly present this work, because of the lack of classification of the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. information concerning it which obtains in the report of the Society. Recently this WE gladly correct a mistake in stat- Society has issued a magazine of woman's work called Quarterly News. ing the income of the Board last year XI. Ladies' Association for the Promo- (p. 922), which we made but $1,920.87. Rev. H. C. Bird, one of the leading tion of Female Education among the pastors of this Church, writes us: Heathen in the Missions of the So- "The figures are incorrect as you may ciety for the Propagation of the Gos- see by referring to the Assem8lv's Minutes, p. 104. The receipts of the board were $7- pel. 6.',8.44 ; and the whole amount in the trea- sury during the year was $11,212.63. I would This Society has work in India, Burmah, be glad to have you make the correction. South Africa and Japan. In India 61 mis- It is still a poor exhibit, but is a little betsionaries, and in Africa 10 are at work, ter than in your notice." with over 300 female native agents.
The Society publishes a monthly magazine called Grain 01 Mustard Seed.
III-CORRESPONDENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
Ohina. Chinese elders. Seven of the native pastors came from Central China, and one from Pe- LETTER from our editorial corre- king. The foreign missionaries represented different stations along the coast, and in spondent, John L. Nevius, D.D. : the interior, as foHows: Two from Canton, one from Ningpo, two from Shanghai, .two CHEFOO, Oct. 5, 1888. from Hang Chow, two from Suchow, one The Synod of China connected with the from Nankin, two from Chefoo, two from American Presbyterian Church, North, Weihien,~two rom Chi-nan-fn, one from Pewhich convenes once in five years, held its king and three from Teng-CllOwfu. One of last meeting in Ling-Chow-Fu. in the Pro- the representatives from Canton was' our vince of Shantung, on the 13thofSeptember_ veteran missionary, Dr. Happer. Though It was composed of twenty foreign mission- forty-five years have passed since he first aries, eight Cbinese pastors, and twelv~ came to China, there IS very little a.ba.te- * Over 2,000 Zenanas under visitation, and ::,187 pupils regularly ta.ught. ment of his physical and mental vigor, and ganizations in the West have now their recetltainly none in his missionary enthusiasm presentatives in China, viz.: American and zeal. Presbyterians, North and Sonth; Dutch Reformed, English Presbyt.erians, Scotch All the delegates, except those who reside Presbyterians, Irish PreslJ) terians, United in the interior of Shantung, came to Chefoo Presbyterians, and Canadian Presbyterians. by steamer, and completed the journey to A committee was ·appointed to open a cor- Teng-Chow, distant about fifty-five miles, respondence with these Presbyterian bodies, in mule-litters, or on mules and donkeys. inviting them to meet us by their represent- The road lies over a rough and compara- atives at the next General Missionary Contively barren and sparsely populated coun- ference, to be held in Shanghai, in 1890, to try, presenting, however, many picturesque devise a plan of uaion. It is hoped that it views of hill and valley, while much of the will not be many years before the moveway the Pechili Bay is in full view on the ment towards organic union will overleap north. Our guests from the south of China Western denominational bounds, and incorwill have many interesting experiences to pOl'ate different families of churches mto remember connected with our rough, and one Chinese National Church. to them novel, modes of locomotion. Now the mule-patH winds round the edge of a The longest and most spirited discussion steep gorge or precipice, again we ford a during Synod, related to the use of other st,ream or fiounder through a pool of mud than grape wine in the administration of the and water. The mules and donkeys meeting Lord's Supper. In China, the manufacture on the road make the hills resound with of grape wine is unknown. There is, howtheir vociferous salutations, and sometimes, ever, a fermented wine produced from gluwhen sportive or intractable, overturn the tinous rice and millet in common useamon<:, litter, and leave the passenger to extricate the people, and believed by some of us to himself from his portable mat-shelter, and correspond in almost every respect, except the muleteers to catch the refractory ani- its origin, to grape wine in the West, and to mals, repair damages, and make a new start. be equally appropriate as a symbol. This Wheu Dr. McCarter came to this region, wine has been generally used in Shantung, about twenty-five years ago, he very aptly especially in stations in the interior. It was characterized the motions of these mule- objected to enjoining the use of grape wine litters as a constant alternation between in all cases, that such a course would be unthe motions of the" sieve" and the "pepper- necessary and burdensome; that the nse of box." Dr. Gulick, who visited us later, very grape wine is not essential to the validity of discriminatingly added the" bottle-washing the ordinance, and insisting on it would be motion." The U SIeve motion" is the result contrary not only to the intent of the ordiof the animals keeping step; that of the nance, but also to the general spirit of "pepper-box" of their breaking step; while Ohristianity; that the introduction of this the U bottle-washing motion" comes from· new wine in China would excite curio.ity the mules jumping down the rocky inequali- and a superstitious reverence for outward ties of the road, From these happy simili- and uuessential formR; and that it wonld tudes the experience of a traveler during make the Ohurch the instrument of introa journey of a day and a half, including a ducing a new beverage into Ohina, and innight in a Chinese inn, can be imagined. crease drunkenness with all its attendant evils. Differences of language form a serious difficulty in transacting business in this A resolution expressing the o;>inion of the Synod. The records of the Synod are kept Synod tha.t grape wine should be used whenin the universal written language of China. ever it could be obtained was passed by a Members speak in English and Mandarin, majority of 21 to 17. Another resolution which is the spoken language of North enjoining the exclusive nse of grape wine China. The native members from Central was negat,ived by a large majority. The China have learned to speak Mandarin, so minority entered a complaint against this that they are fairly well understood. As a. last action of Synod, and the matter will thus rule speeches are formally translated from be brought before the next General Assem- English into ~landarin, andvice-versa. Busi- bly. ness is conducted in a very orderly manner, the native members being now almost as Some of the statistics of the Synod of familiar with rules of order as the foreigners Ohina are as follows: Initiatory steps were taken toward securing the organic union of the dlfferent Pres- Number of Churches……………….. 42 byterian bodies in China. This movement .. .. Church Members added which nas been a matter of great interest to many missionaries in China for years past, since last Synod …………………. 1,981 has been much stimulated and facilitated Number of Church Members Expelled.. 560 by the action of the recent Pan-Presbyterian .. " H " Died. . . . . . . 292 Alliance. Seven distinct Presb;yt~ri1<n 01'- Total Number of Male Church Members 1,837 U Female" .~ 1,325 " ..
" ., Foreign Ministers….. 38 .. Native .. .., . . 23 .. Preachers of all Grades 85 .. Preaching Stations••• 179 Brazil. diminished. The so·called enthusiasm over the abolition of slavery in Brazil was largely dne to PERNAMBUCO, September 24, 1888. the popularity of the movement. Althougb but HOWEVER high may be th estandard of morals One case has com~ to my knowledge, I am so of the Romish Church, her practices have so well acquainted with the Brazilian character nullified her precepts that in Brazil morality that I do not hesitate to say that many people seems to form no part of religion. Morality who were not in sympathy witll the work of the separate from religion is .a frail bark on the abolitionists, and who will evade the law as 10lllt swiftly fiowing current ofsin, and religiou with. as they can, contributod to defray the expenses out morality is a vehicle for hypocrisy to ride of the public demollstmtiOllS, and decorated and in. An indication of how little moral infiuence illuminated their own houses becanse abolition is exerted by Romanism may be taken from the was popnlar and they had ltot the courage to fact that in this city of Pernambuco, the popu. appear on tbe othor side. If they shonld bEt lation of disreputable characters Is thickest called upon to justify tbeir action, they wonld right around the principal churches, where they make patriotism their shield. 'l'he Brazilian is attend mass for the purpose of display and con- very jealous of the honor of his country, and in quest as they would a theater. the abolition of slavery the thOugbt of the re- From this separation of religion and morals moval of Brazil's reproach of being the only civarises one of the chief difficulties for the gospel ilized country maintaining slavery seemR to give to overcome. Romanism answers the purposes more satisfaction than that of the right and of those who desire to be religious without in- jnstice done, or that of the oppression removed terfering with their morals; and those who dis- from so many Imman beings. This same national regard religion are not snsceptible to appeals for pride has been of great service in suppressing 190rality through religion. Hence it is that persecution whenever it has arisen against us while tbere are many people wbo have practi- missionaries. The tOlle of inflnential people who cally renounced Romanism because of its being endeavor to pl'Otect ns is: "Are we not a civil· found wanting and not because of something ized people, and sball we permit indignities such better having been presented to them, it is hard as only could be expected of barbarians? " now to make them desire religion of any kind; and since they will not see it, we mnst deVise It is somewhat of a trial for us who, methods to more fully carry ont Christ's word, through experience, have learned wba~ it " Go." We hold our services in private houses, is to be a Christian, not to be able to use the halls and small churcbes. Occasionally a passer- word" Christian" as we understand it; but by is attracted by the singing and enters shyly. in this land, the simple question" Are you He hears the Word of God read or proclaimed. a Christian? "would invariably be answered Perchance his heart is prepared by grace to re- in the affirmative. Christening is what ceive the word, and he at length becomes a makes a Christian; so we have to resort to member of tbe church. But oh ! the many who other phraseology in speaking of 01le'8 renever come to hear of Jesns. We go in private lation to Christ. Amollg the followers of to this one and that; but the masses are not Christ, the word" believer" takes the place reached. Street preaching is prohibited bylaw. of the word H Christian.n In differ~nt parts The colporteurs of varions Bible societies have of Brazil the names given to Protestants by planted the Word in many parts of the country; tbe popnlace vary according to circum-· but, except ill the principal cities, no misSionary stances attending the introduction of the Apollos has entered. work. In Rio de Janeiro, the first place in While the Romish Chnrch fails to exert a moral which the gospel was preached, they are infiuence, it has made its impress on the so~ial called "bibles," due probably to the st"ess life and cbaracter of the people. The deception laid on the use of the Bible alld the estimaengendered shows itself not only on lying lips, tion with which it was held by the first bebut in the disposition of tbe people to appear lievers_ Before the good news would be acwhat they are not. The maintenance of a good cepted, the genuineness of the evidence had reputation is of more importance than that of a to be established. In another part, the good character, and to a wonderful degree the Protestallts are called "Jesus," for that Brazilian is bound to that which is conventional name, of course, was above every name in and popular. Many people there are who regard the preaching_ In the province of Ceara, the Ro!nish Church and the various social cns- where the first missionary was a married toms out~·! J. in;; therefrom as folly and super- man, every believer, whether man or wostiiion, an" ret, rather than be thought pecnliar, man, married or single, is called a U marthey conform thereto. Others there are who are ried priest." Here in Pernambuco We arc impressed with the truth of evangelical teach- called H new sect." ings and practices who are kept by tbis false pride from frequenting our meetings, insignifi- There are. several things that lead me to cant in aspect and attended mostly by people of advocate" self-support" as the most feasilowly station. Let our cause once become popnlar in Brazil, and missionary reports will con- ble ba.si~ for missionary work in Brazil. tain large figures, but the proportion of genuine Christian character among our members will be First, it is possible. I consider that theobh- gation to support me rests 110 more upon the whole church than upon the individual members of it. of which I am one, and therefore, it being possible for me to support my- the missionary is not self.supporting, any self and serve my Master a& missionary, I am compelled to do it. To live 'on the char- convert who shows any capability for pubityof others when God puts it within my lic work expects, if he engages in it, to ~ive power to provide for myself would be incon- up his present occupation and receive a sistent and insincere. In so saying" I am salary from the missionary society. not accusing anyone who does not support himself. The question turns upon the p08si- A self-supporting mi.sionary in Brazil is bilityof supporting one's self and fulfilling bound to have the respect of the general pubone's obligations as missionary at the same time. It has been said that if a missionary lic when it would not be given to another. for has to,take time to earn his own living he two reasons; first, because his occupation cannot do as much missionary work as if he were free from all care as to his income. I brings him into constant contact with the people, will not dispute that point in this paper; and lack of respect for a missionary is in most but it must be granted that whatever mis- cases due to lack of acquaintance with him; sionary work is done by a self-supporting missionary in a foreign field is just so mnch and second, because the Brazilian looks with more than wonld be done if he stayed at snspicion upon anything that may be propaganhome for the wa.nt of a salary. Let the dism for tbe sake of the money there is in it. churches in the home lands support as many missionaries as they can-as many as need Their own experience with priestcraft and the to be supported-and let as many go forth Jesuits has made it so. Only recently a gentleas are willing to support themselves, and man who comes to our meetiugs told me that yet the laborers wiII be inadequate to the work to be done. Do some of you say you the vicar of a certain important parish in this don't see how any missionary can support city had told him that he is a priest because his himself; that yon are overworked as it is, and to attempt to earn your own living be- father had educated him for one, and although sides would be death to yon? Let me say that earning one's own living is a check he does not believe in half that Romanism against breaking down. With nothing to teaches, he remains a priest because it is his restrain you, and surrounded by so much that appeals to your sympathies, and work occupation. Is it at all unreasonable that a pouring in upon you which you did not seek, Protestant missionary, against whom Romanists how can you refuse even thongh you know that you ought to rest? Self-support puts are already prejudiced, and who lives in better you under obligations that compel you to style than their own priests, should be suspected refuse, and so takes your mind from the very work: that wears you out as to be more of being what he is for the sake of what he is beneficial than idle rest. paid? ', Moreover, there are other things to be taught'the people besides what is done un- Up to the present, the best resource for selfder the head of regular 'missionary work. Lessons of thrift aud industry are best com- support in Brazil s~ems to be that which arises prehended if exemplified by the mission- from the demand for private tutorage in varions aries themselves. With au appearance of good living: without any ell'ort on your part branches of learning, and particularly in the to obtain it, what idea can you give them of industry? You may tell them of how English language. There are always to be many hours a day you devote to study in found people of too liberal ideas to be governed order to labor ell'ectively among them; but what idea have the majority of our converts in matters of business and secular education by ';f what intellectual labor is? If they can religious prejndices, while many most unyieldsee what you do to earn your livelihood, they wiII understand better what industry ing Romanists do not hesitate to employ us means, and the ell'ort you put forth in order to live among them to preach Christ will be rather than not receive instruction on a par with a strong proof of how much you love Him that of their neighbors. In choosing this occuand them., In imitation of you, they will coutitiue to support themselves, and labor pation we are not obliged to take upon ourselves for Christ among their own people without any more work than is necessary for our supexpecting any pay therefor. This feature has been noticeable in connection with self- port, or any that interferes with our gospel supporting work in Brazil, while, on the other hand, we have observed that where work. We invite our pupils to our meetings; some of them become regular attendants and a few have been converted. Besides the indirect beneficial results of our contact with the people, there are others that the missionaries of the next generation, and even we in later yelJ.rs, will feel. God ha,tl blessed the missionary work of the past century to a wonderful degree. He has not despised the inexperience and poor methods em- ployed; yet He would have us profit thereby and improve thereon. Let the Pr.otestant churches of Europe and AmericlJ. give their millions of money; but I believe that the acme of missionary times will not be reached till there are millions of person~ going forth from those same churches into all the world, depend- ing only on God's blessing, on the labor of their hands or brain to provide them with means to live and labor among those who are dying for the want of the bread of life. God speed the day. GEORGE B. NIND, Methodist Episcopal Layman. Persia.; Islam in the village of Ula, to begin work there until It could be opened in Haft Dewan. The LETTER from Rev'. John C. Mech- first thing to do was to secure a house In that village. A man who was connected with civil lin: matters was willing to rent us his property, pro- vided we would give him big rent. But before SALMOB, May 16, 1888. the bargain was made the proposed transaction became public, and the man received such II I was one of the 2,000 young people that beatin~-bastinado-that he died from the ef- fects of it. Thus the work was begun in blood, pledged themselves for Missions a year ago. I though the man was not a martyr for our cause, bnt for money. Before long another man vengraduated from Western Seminary, Allegheny, tured to offer his place for rent. He received large money in advance for three years. As Pa., was accepted by the Presbyterian Board soon as this became known it caused an awful stir. He was fined-one-quarter of the money and sent here. bein<: taken from him-and he was also severely beaten. Afraid for his life, he fied to Tillis, Rus- Three of the seven missionaries that arrived sia. Many times his wife came to Dr. Shedd and pleaded with him to take back the money and here in October remained at Salmos-Mr. Mech- give her the paper. But though we had the right to the place, the next qnestion was to get lin and his wife, and Miss Emma Roberts of possession. The people were furious and it did not seem safe to go to our house. We had to Atlanta, Ga. Messrs. McDowell and St. Pierre appeal to the government; finally, our minister at Teheran carried the matter before the Shah, and their wives went on to Oroomioh. and a special order was sent froin the throne to the Governor of this province~ I will tell you how this station was opened, A chain of circumstances showed God's and how God's hand was seen in it. Work has providence and answer to prayer. The present Ameer was then Governor of been done in this Plain for several years by Oroo- Oroomioh, and on the death of the then Ameer, who had been unfriendly, was apmioh helpers. But frequently "they disgraced pointed to fill his place. Jnst as he left for Tabriz, he got the mandate of. the Shah. their profession by quarreling and by lying. He sent for the Governor of Khoy, who was responsible for the troubles having The missionaries felt it necessary to put a mis- gone so far, and degraded him before the people, probably more to revenge himself sionary here who could always aid and control than to punish the Governor, with whom he had a qnarrel. He also gave orders that no the helpers. As to the peoples of Salmos, five one molest us iu Salmos. Posters were put up in DHimon, the central market town, nationalities are represented here. 1. Per- wa.rning all against interfering with us. Here was the chain of providences: The sians-from whom come our rulers and many death of the Ameer, the appointment of a friendly successor, his receiving the decree business men-all, of course, Musselmen, but when he did, and the orders he left in Sal- mos. And this was not all. He r~ported the very friendly. We call On them anc1 they on us. Governor of Khoy to the authorities in Teheran and they summoned him to the Many of this class are reading the Bible. Sheik capital. He knew that if he obeyed, he would be beaten, and deg~aded from his Islam, the religious head of this Plain, is very position. So instead of going, he sent a present of seven hundred Tomans ($1,050), friendly, and a man of such infiuence that the and aU trouble passed over. As soon as Mr. Wright, who was stationed here by the mis- Governor does not meddle with his affairs. sion, could take possession, he made his home in Haft Dewan. Some of the leading Much prejudice has been broken down by the men met him and said that they would op- pose him in every way, would raise money medical treatment of Drs. Holmes and Cochran, and have their own schools, and their child- ren should not come to his. They said: whom they hold in high esteem. 2. Jews. .. Why don't you do as your Master did? If they did not want him in their city, he They are many and very friendly. We will went to another." Mr. Wright answered soon open work among them. They are here, as everywhere, a marked race, and their busi- ness is trading. 3. Nestorians. These people, among whom we have one church, belong to the Oroomioh Plain, and still cling to the Old Church. 4. Monntain Koords. They are 80 near that we may count them as belonging to the Plain. 5. The Armenians. They are the rich- est, and are either farmers or merchants, hav- ing a strong national pride. Their great hope is one day to become a separate power, but Russsia, Turkey and Persia will all resist this.
Snrroundcd by Mohammedanism, and often sorely pressed to become followers of the False Prophet, they never gave up their form of wor- shiplor their belief in Jesus as the Son of God; but they did not hold so strongly to ltJe spirit as to the letter, of the Bible. Formality took the place of heart worship, and the priests cared more for the fieece than for the sheep.
But here they remained, as if to witness for the doctrine of the Trinity; and it seems as if God had left them here, that, revived and qnickened, they might give salvation to all these peoples.
At the annual meeting in the fall of 1884 it was, therefore, resolved to open a station for work among the Armenians. Haft Dewan was chosen because it was one of the most central and in- flnential Armenian villages of the Plain.
Dr. J. H. Shedd, of Oroomioh, came that fall to Salmos, and rented a house from Sheik that he loved their souls too mueh to leave alHicted are drawn to the gospel wi~ them; he would stay. A year passed by greater interest. Since reaching the coun. and all parties became and have continued try it has been my privilege to preach two very friendly. or three times weekly. In Tarsus from 200 to 400, and in Adana from 1,200 to 1,500 per- The hostility to our mission may be easily sons were gathered each Sabbath; prayer_ accounted for. Twenty minutes ride from meetings are largely attended, and the Haft Dewan is the village of Khosroo-Shah, Sabbath-school lesson has to be given from where for nearly fifty years the Catholic the pulpit, there not being room to arrange Lazarists have had a mission. When they classes for such large numbers. came there the town was one of the richest on the Plain, partly Armenian and partly The Kenerous contributions of Christian Nestorian. To-day it is one of the worst; friends in America for the famine sufferers its lewd women and drunken men give it have proved a means of grace among everywhere a bad odor. Tke Catholics have the people. A few Sabbaths ago we had taught them to gamble and encouraged' communion in Adana, at which 54 perstrong drink by their own example. For sons united with the church on profession the first time in twenty years a man has of faith. In Tarsus the work has not been been seen in Persia dead-drunk by the road- so prosperou~ owing to the lack of a regular side. For many years these monks meddled pastor and an unsuitable place of worship. with civil affairs, securing justice only for Yet there are many to be gathered into the those that favored tbem and pnnishing churches. whom they would. They also farmed the taxes and became so obnoxious that the Gov- Another promising feature is the educaernment gave strict orders that they should tional interest among the youth. Besides let civil matters alone. They are now under the contributions for the famine sufferers, the ban. Dreadful lies had been circulated which were $2,445 last year, there was given concerning us, and these poor people of $2,400 for the scholarship fund for the poor Haft Dewan expected the worst from us. and orphan children of St. Paul's Institute. But as time showed that we did not meddle From this last amount $425 was seut with with their affairs, they became friendly and the famine money for immediate use in now wonld not wish us to leave. Though helping our poor children. On our arrival' none have come out on the Lord's side, we were surprised to learn that 75 children many seem glad to hear the Word. The had been assisted. Calling at their schools woman whose husband rented to the mis- we saw dozens of pale, sickly-looking, yet sionaries at first stole everything she could bright children, sitting on the hard fioor, get, but this sbe has ceased to do, and has their clothing patched with pieces of many been known to speak good words for Mr. colors, and worn daily for more than a year Wright. She seems in fact to be a Christ- (they stay in the house while their ollly garian. ments were washed and dried). Some had only worn-out books, which they· shared The work has thus begun; .the Bible is with others. Asking the teacher, ' Is this read and studied, and the fields are ripen- the condition of the children all the year?" ing to the harvest. Next winter I hope to the reply was: .. They are now in a better work on the Plain among the Armenians, state, as the famine is passing. Many conmany of whose villages have not been vis- tinue the school with insulHcient clothing, ited. barefooted and often hungry for days." Many lived on two or three metallics (cents) Asia Minor. daily. .. Often hungry, yet industrious; shivering with cold, burning with heat, still ST. PAUL'S INSTITUTE, TARSUS, Ang. I, 1888. most eager to make progress." Beyond the EDITORS OF lI1lSSIONARY REVIEW.-YOU will pale faces and frail bodies we saw active be glad to know of the safe arrival of our minds and souls to be loved and won for party, our expenses being paid by Col. Christ. They are entirely dependent on Elliott F. Shepard. Arriving at Mersine, benevolent friends for futher education- •Tarsus and Adaua, we were most cordially if they are properly cared for and educated, welcomed by the missionaries and hundreds what a greatblessing they will prove to this of the native friends. These three cities needy and darkened lalld J now being connected by rail are almost as one city, having a population of nearly It was God's own time for us to come while 100,000, consisting of Mohammedans, Arme- the people are so needy and eager to receive nians, Greeks and Fellaheens. The first the gospel. Our mission is to teach and thing we noticed was the exceeding poverty preach the truth. The kind interest of the of the people, owing to the recent severe missionaries and people here encourages us famine. This year's harvest is good, still in our work. Tarsus will be our head- there are thousands of sick, aged, feeble quarters, where our school will be located, women and little children who are unable yet we will worK in other cities and villages to work for their support, whose suffering throughout Asia Minor, is beyond description. The people thUS We expect to.open our school in a rented her husband was on a journey far from hOIDe. house, October 1. There are many appli- He heard a rumor of what was going on, and cations for admission, most of whom are started in a hurry for home, telling his friends orphans and poor children. The sum of $50 that if his wife had taken up with these fanatics will support a child for one year in the he and she would soon separate. Within two school. days he and his wife were found with hands joined praising and blessing God for His good- For the success of our mission we depend, ness In giving them such a blessed outpouring with God's blessing, upou the direction of of His Holy Spirit. our Board of Trustees and Managers and the benevolent support of Christian friends. Whilst the Boers were praisio!( God for His I hope you will always be interested in this goodness, it came into the hearts of some that work, and help it any way you can. It is they had a duty toward the heathen, whom they the Master's work, to whom be all the glory. had hitherto looked upon as little better tban animals, to serve them, the snperior race. In I shall be glad to correspond with -and their gatherings for prayer they brought the hear from you at any time. condition of the heathen before their heavenly Father, and SOOn they felt that they must be up Yours in Christ. and dOing. Applications for help were made to (Rev.) H. S. JENANYAN. various missiOnaries, especially to those of the, Free Church of Scotland. These appeals were Mission Work Among the Zulus in gladly responded to, and before long 'they had NataJ, Africa. several native evangelists preaching the gospel throughout the country. There are now fifteen BY REV• .TAMES SCOTT, IMPOLWENI. stations or preaching places where the heathen are gathered together to hear of Jesus and His A VERY nnexpected and interesting work has love. These stations are just the Boers' farmbeen begun amongst the Zulns in Natal. The houses. On the Sabbath the Zulus may be seen European population of the county of Umvoti, gathering in from the neighboring kraals and of which Greytown is the principal place, are villages, old and young, men and women, a few Boers, who belong to the Dntch Reformed clothed, but mostly heatheu in their blankets, or Church (Presbyterian). Their minister, the even without one. The largest shed available, Itev. James Turnbull, was a licentiate of the generally the wagon-house, has been prepared Free Church of Scotland, educated at the New for the occasion, and there the missionary or College, Edinburgh. native evangelist, or, in absence of either, the Dutch farmer, conducts a simple service in the Mr. Turnbull's congregation, like their coun- Zulu language. The writer has on some of these trymen throughont Sonth Africa, read their occasions seen as many as eighty Boers and Bibles, attended ordinances, and were ont- three or four hundred Zulus gathered together wardly good Christian people. Their Christi- to worship the one true God, the services comanity, however (except in some special cases), mencing on Saturday and being continued till did not extend so far as to caring for the salva- Monday afternOon. There was often a dearth tion of the heathen perishing around them. of preachers, but gradually this difficulty is van- Being nnder British rnle, they showed no open ishing. Most of the Dutch farmers know the hostility to mission work; probably, however, Zulu language, and are well acquainted with the same spirit was in them -as in their country- the Word of God; and though at first diffident men who burned down Livingstone's station, of their own powers, they were persuaded to who destroyed the stations of the French mis- hegin by reading a few verses of Scripture and sions in Basutoland, and who hindered the ad- offering up prayer. Now they are conducting vance of rmissions whenever they had the services more and more freely, and thus are bepower. coming bound together, black and white, in one common love to the Lord Jesns Christ. Very Three years ago God's Spirit worked in a soon God gave the blessing to this wonderfnl marvelous way amongst these people. The work. Not many months after the first attempts commencement of this outpouring of the Holy were made, over One ,hundred gave in their Ghost has been attributed to different human names as candidates for baptism, These have agencies; the Boers themselves say the chief now been formed into a native church in conagent was the reading and meditating upon nection with the Dutch Church of Greytown ; God's holy Word. many more have professed faith in Christ, and are now under instruction and being gathered in After varied experiences, one and another from time to time. Tbe work is carried on amongst them began to feel that they were new under the direction of a committee of Dutch creatures in Christ Jesus; although they had f:irmers, who, besides being themselves heartily been members and office-bearers of the Church, engaged in the work, employ three native evanyet they now for the first time felt Christ a)iv- gelists. ing power within them. No SOOner did one speak to his neighbor of the change which had Amongst thElse evangelists is one man, Petros come upon him or her than the reply came: Skosan, whOse case is a striking fulflllment of J.' Such also is my experience" ; and soon whole families were rejoicing together and praying for theil' neighbors and kinsfolk.
One case worthy of mention is that of a WOIDan who was brongbt into the light while the prophecy of Isaiah xi. This man's father government, foster a universally spread was one of the regiment of Zulu warriors who, sense of distrust and insecurity; Everyone sees a foe in his neighbor and a snare in iu 1836, at asignal from that cruel tyrant, Din- friendship. Thelife of the chiefs, great and small, is one of extortion, sensuality and gaan, fell upon and in cold blood murdered, in intrigues. Revolutions, like fever, are en- Dingaan's own palace, the Dutch leader, Retief, demic. and all his party of about seventy men. The son is now an evangelist, supported by the de- Some time ago, in London, the cloak of scendants of these same Dutch Boers to preach respectability was torn asunder, and the the gospel of peace to his heathen fellow-coun- world shuddered. Here there is no cloak trymen. The father, who still lives, is also a of respectability, no law, no public opinion member of the Church of Christ. to fear. Passions are let loose without any restraint, and the grossest bestiality goes GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. about in broad daylight, barefaced and shameless. There is no innocent childhood Central A.frica.-Themail from Europe and or family ties. National brigandage and news from our nearest neighbors, 900 miles slavery have borne their fruits, and brutalolf, reach us only once a year by occasional ized man.–The Christian (London). traders or travelers. The rest of the year We are entirely cut off from the outer world. North Africa.-Within four days' journey of I send these lines by a caravan of Portu- Britain one may land on African soil and find a guese traders returniug to Benguela. We large field-almost untouched-for Christian hope that in time communications may be labor among the natives of Algeria, the Kaopened with the West Coast through our byles. Visiting recently among these people, American brethren of the Biha. The be- and making known to them for the first time ginnings of a mission like this, far away the glad tidings of salvation, I was much struck from the great arteries of trade and immi- with the atteution given to the message. Doubtgration are expect.ed to be bard. Pioneers less the novelty of an Englishman speaking to ought to bE' giants in faith and courage. them in their own unwritten langnage and deliv- ering snch a message as a free salvation with,ont The climate is most trying to Europeans, works was sullicient of itself to caI1 forth snch and bardly less so to tbe natives. The land attention. Seated one evening in a Kabyle devoureth its own inhabitants. Independ- house I was greatly delighted with the readiness ently of that, there is much worry in set- to listen to the gospel. The wonderful story of tling in a place so difficult of access, and in the resurrection of Lazarus was being read laboring to make a wild sand-hill overlook- when my host announced that supper was ready ing marshes habitable•.Materiallife is very and when I liked I conld have it bronght up. difficult. It is a constant struggle and trial Having expressed a desire to finish the narraof faith, a daily lesson of trust and un- tive the little company of Mohammedans conreserved confidence in the loving-kindness tinned to give the ntmost attention to the words and faithfulness of -our heavenly Father. read and spoken. Snpper ended, the conversa- Far from complaining of hardships and pri- tion was renewed. One of onr company, an vations, I must say that, on the whole, they honorable Marabont or religions Mohammedan, are less th!l.n we had anticipated. who, becanse of ha'i'ing made a pilgrimage to Mecca, was called Elhadj, entertained us while Those who read our monthly, Journal des he read from an Arabian tract. The man Missions Evangelig:ues, know that when we showed us with evident pride a book in Arabic crossed the Zambesi we penetrated into one (I presume a portion of Scripture) gh'en bim of the Prince of Darkness's strongholds. two years ago in Algiers by a Christian English During '30 years of mission life I have lady who was distribnting tracts among the found nowhere the ideal heathen, so good, people. Frequently dnring that evening's con· so meek, so yearning after the things of versation my statements were met by the words, God, which some preachers at home rel'lre- "You are right," "Trnly." That night I had sent the African savages to be. But no- two sharing the sl~eping apartment with me. where have I met with a tribe so hopelessly Having seen me bow the knee in prayer, one of degraded. The Barots6 themselves say that them asked me afterwards U I had been pray· theirs is a land of murder, that no one is ing. Replying that I had. he added, "May God allowed to grow old: their soil is saturated answer yonr prayer I" How one is saddened with blood; human bones bleach every- in observing these people praying, as they proswhere in the sun. The spear, a terrible trate themselves toward the east! How the piaything in the hands of these Zambesians, longing comes up to see them worship God in does not ever get rusty. Superstition and spirit and in truth I Who will offer himself to witchcraft spread their wings of darkness help make known the gospel among them? and death over every village, hamlet, hut Those of us who are in the field wonld do more and individual. We live in the middle age", if our hands were s!rengthened by brethren at but the middle ages in savagedom. The in- home. Sometimes too much is expected of missatiable l:Teediness of these poor people, sionaries in forei&n cl/untries, where, with 11Imitheir inveterate habit of stealing and lying, the total absence of anything like justice, the utter powerlessness of the so-called lies to be looked after and no domestic help olany growth of grass covered the formerly weUreal value, and often without means to tlnd even trimmed paths. proper help, the missionary has much secillar .. As we approach the skirt of the groves we labor to perform which necesarily reduces his are strnck by the dead silence which reigns. No laughter is to be heard, no sign of a welcome tilne and strength for his proper work. Like from our old friends. The silence of death breathes over the lofty crowns of the palms, the China inland missionaries we are without slowly waving in the wind. We enter, and it gnarantee of salary. Moreover, no fixed sum is in vain we look to the right and left for the can We look for regularly. The society sends to happy homesteads and the happy old· scenes. its missionaries that which is entrusted to it, Tall grass covers everything, and a charred pole but it leaves the missionaries free to receive here and there, a few banana trees are the oilly from any source through which God may be evidences that man once dwelt here. Bleached pleased to send to the help of His servants. sknlls by the roadside, and the skeletons of Want of means often puts a drag on the chariot human hands attached to poles tell the storr, of wheels, and causes the worker not a little anxi- what has happened here since our last visit. ' ety as he finds the will present to perform more, but the wherewithal to perform lacking. May It appeare<i that the notorions Tippoo Tib had the Lord of the harvest enable all who pray that been there to " trade," and in the coorse of that laborers be thrust forth to help also in the send- process had killed all who offered resistance, ing of them on their way.-Aifred S. Lamb. carried off the women, and devastated the flelds, gardens and banana groves. Bands of destroyers -Mohammedanism and;Missions. An inter- from the same gang bad returned again and again, esting article on the influence of Arab traders and those who escaped the sword perished by the in West Central Africa, contributed by Lieuten- small-pox and famine, which the marauders left ant Wissmann to the current issue of the" Pro- in their train. The whole tribe of the Bene Ki ceedings of the Royal Geographical Society," ceased to exist, and only a few remnants found throws light on the qnestion of Mohammedan- refuge in a neighboring state. ism and missions, raised by Canon Taylor at the last Church Congress. The writer's experience Snch must be counted amongst the'resillts of of Mohammedan influences upon the native Arab "trading" in Africa, and if it is at such popUlations is in direct contrast with the asser- cost that the bleSSings of Mohammedan civllzation that the creed of Islam is that best suited tion are purchased by the native races, it is no to their need.. He gives a graphic account of wonder that they are not considered a desirable two visits to Bagna Pesihi, and certaiu villages acquisition. Even if it be true that Christianity of the Bene Ri, a division of the Basonge, in is sometimes tardy of operation in its beneficent Central Africa, before and after tbe arriv/!l of effect upon the blacks, Christian missionaries a gang of Arab traders on the scene. and Christian traders can at least boast that they have never wittingly acted otherwise than On the first occasion, in 1882, he was welcomed beneficently towards them. In their case the by a prosperous and contented tribe, whose perpetration of such atrocities would be imposcondition and occupations bore ample evidence sible. With the followers of the False Prophet it to the existence of its villages for decades In is different. Their religion is merely a superstipeace and security, free from the disturbing tion, adapted to the needs of aggressive and elements of war and slave·hunts, pestilence and militant tribes, and does not profess to inculcate superstition. The huts of the natives were tenderness or humanity, mnch less the loftier roomy and clean, fitted with shady porches, and teachings ofthe:gospel of Christ. surrounded lly carefully kept fields and gardens, in which were grown all manner of nsefnl England.-" The Christian Union plants and fruits, including hemp, sugar, to- for the Severance of the Connection of bacco, sweet potatoes, maize, manioc and mil- the British Empire with the Opium let. A thicket of bananas and plantains occupied the back of each homestead, aud shady Traffic," with Sir S. A. Blackwood palm groves supplied their owners with nuts, oil, fibers and wine. Goats, sheep and fOWls as its President and Dr. Maxwell abounded, and no one seemed afraid of thieves. Honorary Secretary, gives the fol- The people all had a well-fed air, and were anxious to trade, their supplies being plentiful lowing reasons for its formation: and ell'tremely cheap. A fowl could be pur- Became as a nation we are responsible cbased for a large cowrie shell, and a goat for a yard of calico. Everywhere the visitors found through our Indian Government for a trade a cheerful, courteous and contented population, which is ruining the oodies and souls. and uncontaminated by the vices of civilization, and destroying the homes of multitudes of the yet not wholly ignorant of its arts. Chinese.
Four years later Lieutenant Wissmann Became our national connection with this chance(l to be in the same district. and after the evil traffic is peculiarly close and revolting. privations of a toilsome march through dense, The poppy is grown in Bengal alone over an inhospitable forests, rejoiced as. he drew near to . extent of more than 500.000 acres, and this the palm groves of the Bal:D& Pesihi. A dense growth is carefully fostered by the Indian Government. The OpiUIU drug is ma.nufac- tured under c.onstant Government direction and supervision. It is sold at auction by the Government, expressly and intentibn- ally for the Chinese market. Including that from the native states, about 85,000 of the vilest offenders in .. the trade," some chests, containing over 5,000 tons of opium, holding positions as office-bearers, others', are thus exported annually from India to through taeir liberality and pecuniary aid China, and a revenue of five, six, or seven to missionary and charitable institutions, millions sterling is derived by Government enjoying contentedly the admiration of from it. It is a great Government institu- their fellow-worshipers as great Ohristian tion, for which England is directly and pe- philanthropists. It is a sin and dis,,"Tace culiarly responsible. tb.a.t the representation of a Christian to a heathen mind should be the rapacious Because through many, many years this cupidity of merchants whose merchandise traffic nas been carried on in spite of the is making the unhappy peoples they trade remonstrances of the Chinese Government, amongst .. twofold more the children of hell and of the thousandfold testimony that it than themselves." It is impossible that the ministered only to debauchery, and to moral Church's foreign missionary effort can sucand social ruin. The Convention of 1885, ceed as long as she goes with a soul-saving though it has given to the Chinese the right gospel in the one hand and a soul-damnIng to put a heavier tax upon imported opium, trade in the other. May God give her minishas not altered in the slightest degree our ters grace to declare His whole mind and own relations as a country to the gross im- will in the matter, and enable her to wash morality of the trade. her hands and garments clean from all complicity therein. If her efforts in the Because while, for very shame's sake. we ensuing struggle are not to prove futile, in have done a little (only a little) to restrain deep contritioll her first step must be that the bavoc which opium was working among of self-judgment and purification. Judgour Burmese Ifellow-subjects. we have done ment must begin at the house of God. As nothi"g to check the ruin which it is work- co-workers with God all His true followers ing in Ohina among a people in friendly alli- are under a threefold obligatIon to do their ance with us. utmost. We owe this for the sake of our Lord and Master, who has commanded His Because eVJlry thoughtful and educated gospel to be preached in every part of the Ohinaman, heathen though he be, cannot world; for the sake of our missionary brethhelp denouncing the immorality and un- ren, in removing the stumbling-blocks we righteousness of the nation which has de- have placed in the way of their work; and liberately sown among his people a seed of for the sake of the poor heathen whom we ever-extending vice and degradation. have enthralled body and soul.-Christian Leader. Because in the largest mission field of the world, according to the unanimous testi- India.-We have received the report of mony of missionaries in China, our relations the Travancore District Committee of the as a country to the opium traffic form one London Missionary Society. It is a closely of the chiefest hindrances to the spread of packed little volume, and its perusal leaves the gospel. a vivid impression of unusual activity and ingenuity in all :departments. Read- Because national judgment must surely ing-rooms have always played an important follow upon national sin, and it faUs upon part in Travancore. The room at Nager- British Ohristians especially, not only to coil has now been the scene of special gathacknowledge this sin, but to lead the com- erings on Sunday afternoons for many munity in protesting against it, and in con.. months. At these meetings the people have tinuous efforts to effect its removal. produced the publications of the Hindu Tract Society, and have put forward their -The Foreign Liquor Traffic. Weare glad best men to argue the case against Ohristto hear tbat the Foreign Missionary Society ianity, while the Christians have replied of the Glasgow Y. M. O. A. are making in- forcibly and clearly. This is excellent vestigations into this subject with a view work, stirring up in the people a great exto the taking of some definite action. Brit- citement, and making them feel that Hinain has a terrible account to settle with the duism must fight if it is to continue to live. Almighty in this matter. The blold of thou- The medical mission has proved itself of sanas of natives in India and Africa is to- great value. There is a medical native day ('rying out to Heaven against her. agency, carefully trained, and doing most These dark races implore our aid in turning valuable work in the branch dispensaries, the tide of a traffic which threatens them and it is proposed to enlarge this departwith rapid ruination; but Ohurch and State ment by training a large number of young alike seem to turn a deaf ear to every ap- Christians as dressers. Classes have been peal. Why is the voice of our churches held in which domestic medicine has been silent? Oan it be that the terrible extent carefully taught to catechists who have to of the trade is not fully known? or is it that labor in the remoter parts of the districts; the Church shrinks from fear of the revela- a.nd the elements of obstetrics have been tion" which a careful search would entail Y Silence, in view of the facts which many' of her ministers and pastors do know. only increases her blood-g1liltmess. Alre.a.dy it is lmoWll that in her very bosom a.re a number ,ta.ug,ht to Bible,women similarly situated. II. They are to have in 18110 a constitutional A new dispensary has been opeued at Par- government-the first native example of it uttipalIi, and another one is being erected in Asia. at Nagercoil. Toward the latter H. H. the Maharajah of Travancore has con~ribnted 10. They have separated Shintoism and Rs. 800. The evangelistic work of the mis- Buddhism from the Government, and abolsion 'has been encouragingly su~cessful, 411 ished their administrative Bureau of Reliadults from heathenism having'beeu bap- gion. Universal toleration prevails. The tized during the year. During that period ancient faiths are considered barbaric and 593 persons were admitted from the rank of incompatible with the new career of 1;he adherents to that of church members. empire. The Government acknowledges itself to be without a religion, and is consid- Japan•..:….Progress. An interesting ering what form of Western cultus it may best adopt. letter appears in The Ohristian Advocate from Abel stevens, D.D., now 11.' They have legally recognized the in Japan. He groups together an Christian Sabbath, and it is observed as a. extraordinary chapter of events, in- day of rest by all Government offices, the dicating the rapid approach of Japan public schools, banks, etc. toward Christian civilization. -Japanese Views of Christianity. Several The following is a summary of the remarkable changes that have taken eminentpnblicists ofJapan are carrying ona very interesting discnssion just now. The object is place amongst the Japanese: to determine whether or not it is advisable for the people of Japan to embrace the Christian 1. They have abolished their old dual sov- religion. The Japan Weekly Mail, in a recent ereignty, and restored to power their an- issue, summarizes this discussion. It states cient Mikado, the representative of a that those connected with the movement say dynasty more than 2,000 years old. that Christiau dogmas are a bitter pill to swal- low, but advise that it be swall~,wed promptly 2. Theyhave thrown off the strongest sys- for the sake of the after effects. Mr. Fukuzawa, tem of fendalism that history records. a well-known writer, nrges this course, although he says he takes no personal interest whatever 3. They have established a single national in religion, and knows nothing of the teaching of army, a navy, and a general police after the Christianity; but he sees that it is the ereed Western models. All these are clothed in of the most highly civilized nations. Professor European costume and drilled in European Toyama, of the Imperial University, has pubmanner. lished a work to support his view. He holds that Chinese ethics mnst be replaced by Christ· 4. They have organized a remarkable sys- ian ethiCS, and that' the bene1lts to be derived tem of national education, which Gen. Grant from the introduction of Christianity are: (1) pronounced, when here, the hest he had the improvement of music;. (2) union of senti- Seen in his circuit of the globe. It was de- ment and feeling, leading to harmonious co·opvi~ed by an American. It comprises primary eration ; and (3) the fnrnishing of a medium of or common SChools, n..rmaland polytechnic intercourse between men and women. It is academies, and an Imperial university on argued by others that the youth of Japan, being the model ofthe German university. . free from tbe tbraldom of creeds, and free to act according to reason. are so far in advance of 5. They have established a mail system, Europeans, and instead of talking about adoptand have entered into the "Postal Union." ing " foreign religion, Japanese should go After the example of England, their postal abroad and preach their religion of reason to department includes the savings-bank sys- foreign countries. Other writers nrge the same tem, and the deposits (mostly by the poorer views. The writer in the Yokohoma newspaper classes) for last year amounted to $12,500,- says that those wbo urge the teaching of Cbrist- 000, nearly double the amount of the preced. ianity represent an in1lnential section of eduingyear. cated Japanese opinion; they are signs of the times. "To Japan, in an emphatically agnostic 6. They have esta.blished a scientific medi- mood, came Western science, with all its marcal faculty, with native physicians educated velous revelations and attractions. At the in Europe, and all the European improve- shrine of that science she is worshiping now." ments, in place of their old medical jugglery. Jews.-Dr. Dalman's statistics of the work 7. They had Ino knowledge of the public and success in Jewish evangelization must surjournal before the arrival of Perry; they prise all who have not watched the course of now have the public press, including no less events. There are no less than 47 Protestant than 500 per10dicals – dailies, weeklies, missionary societies devoted exclusively to this monthlies; political,literary, scientific. arduous vocation. These employ 377 mission- aries, laboring at 157 centers of Jewish pop- 8. They have introduced the steamboat, ulation, and have an annual income of about the telegraph, the telephone, etc., now made by native hands. Native companies navi· gate the rivers and neighboring seas with excellent steamers, quite satisfactory to foreign travelers. half a million dollars. In addition .to these very patent fact in n very plain phrase. The Proother missionary societies engage in this special testant Church has not only skeptiCism and inwork, as a branch of their general work. Eng- differentism, but also Vaticanism, to deal with, land has eight of these 47 societies, sends out and a fresh illustration of the nalTO w. persecnthlg' about two-thirds of the 377 men, and supplies and intolerant spirit ofthe Roman ChIll cli is seen about two-thirds of the money. Scotland has in the trial and imprisonment of Rev. J. M.'Vila, a five societies, Ireland one. Germany twelve, hard-working and successful Protestant pastor Switzerland one, the Netherlands three, France of Malaga, in Spain, A Roman Catholic priest one, the Scandinavian lands five, Russia (i. e. issued a violent pamphlet against him, to which the Protestant churches of,) four, North Mr. Vila replied in another pamphlet. Vila was America seven. The cities in which the larg- arraigned in the courts on charges, the chief of est number of mIssIOnaries are engaged which was that he had said that the" timber of are London, lBudapest, Constantinople, Da- the manger out of which the priest's horse fed mascus, Jerusalem, Tunis. As the total of was the same kind of wood employed by the all the Jews on the face of the globe is artificer to mannfacture an image bf the Virgin abont 6,400,000, there is one missionary of Sorrows, and that one timber had quite as for every 16,976 Jews. In addition to these the much virtue as the other." From an account Roman Catholic and the Greek Churches also just at hand in Light and Truth we learn that engage in this work. Pastor de Ie' Roi,of Bres- the trial took place in the presence of a large lin, also a reliable statistician, claims that at crowd of people. The public prosecutor asked least 100,000 Jews have confessed Christ since the Court to sen~ence the accused to six years' the beginning of the present century. Those imprisonment, a fine of 2,500 pesetas and costs. yet living of these, together with their descend- The counsel for the defense claimed that the ants, probably nnmber 250,000 children of Abra- Bible supported everything found in the pamham who havh entered upon the spiritnalinherit- phlet. ance of their father. When we recall the fact that ten years ago there were in existence only .. Then Se:'ior Vila spoke, and his simple, elo- 20 societies for the evangelization of the Jews, quent address greatly moved the people-many with only 250 laborers and an income less than of whom wept, and said, as they left the hall, half of what it is now, the marked progress in 'We are now Protestauts, also l' He said his this sphere of Christian activity. is peculiarly intention was not to make a personal attack encouraging. on the priest, but to combat the false teachings of the Roman Church. As true followers of -The existing Jewish Congregation at Mos- Christ, they did not hate or attack anyone. The soul (Mesopotamia) boasts of very ancient or;- Roman Church, on the contrary, had always opgin. When Tiglath Pileser, King of Assyria, posed the truth of the gospel; and, without apconquered the northern regions of the kingdom pealing to history or uncovering the ashes of the orIsrael, he carried captive a uumber of the il1- thousands sacrificed by the execrable Inquisihabitants, and settled them in different parts of tion, his presence in the tribunal that day was a his own dominions. At that time a Jewish con- living testimony to Romish persecution. A gregation was established at Nineveh (now large crowd followed Senor Vila from the Mossoul), and it is this congregation which has court, and expressions of lively sympathy rewithstood the vicissitudes of ages. The Jews ~011nded on every side. He teIls us that he was of Mossoul even now consider it as a special full ofjoy that he had been priYile~ed to testify favor of Providence that their ancestors became publicly beCore the tribunal concerning the truth captives before the destruction of the first Tem- of the gospel." ple, so that they were spared the great misfortune which overtook Jerusalem. They glory in "Great attempts were made to influence the the fact that their congregation is older than tribunal, and so powerful are the Roman Caththat of Babylon, and that later on, when the olic clergy in Malaga. that only one paper dared kingdom of Judea came to an end, those of the to refer to the case. At last, on April 3, the inhabitants who made their way to Assyria, magistrates pronounced sentence, and Senor were enabled to enjoy their hospitality, and to Vila was forthwith condemned to two years, receive every possible support from their breth- four months and one day's imprisonment, beren in faith already settled in that country. The sides 250 pesetas fine and payment of costs. Mossoul Jews possess two synagogues, a Beth The Spanish prisons are such abominable dens Hamedrash and a cemetery. The ancient burial of filth and iniquity that this sentence is no gronnel which was first used by the early settlers light matter. Senor Vila lias appealed to the was destroyed at the capture of Nineveh. The Supreme Court at Madrid, the sentence of present-day Jews have adopted the Sephardim which will be final. ritual as their minhag.-Jewish Chronicle. " The trial has been the means of producing a Spain.-Persecution. When (in 1883) the great awakening in :Malaga, and numbers of late ArchbiSHOp of Canterbury said .. power- persons are confessing Christ. It has also led ful influence.. are at work which are entirely many to attend for the first time Senor Vila's antagonistic to Christianity," and that .. the church, and all the services are very crowded- Church of Rome is absolutely powerless to meet even on week-nights persons are turned away. these anti-Christian movemente," he expressed a ill" The same growth is taking place at the mission IitatiftDi ill t.~ i.rreu•• villai'eli. "
INTERNATlVNAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
Mohammedanism in Ohina. Clarke in 1886. (6) A proclamation BY REV. H. V. NOYES, CANTON, CHINA. published in Peking in 1866, by a How was Mohammedanism intro- Mohammedan mandarin, and trans- duced into China? What has been lated by Professor Vassilief, a Rus- its history? What is its present sian learned in Arabic.
status? The evidence is all in favor of be- In this attempt to answer these lieving that Canton City is the place inquiries, information has been de- where Mohammedanism was first rived from the following sources: (a) established in China. 'rhe account Mainly from a work printed in Paris given in the" Annals of Kwantung"
in 1878, and written by P. Darby De seems pretty well corroborated, viz.: Thiersant,Consul General and Charge "At the commencement of the dy- d' Affaires from France to China. nasty of Tang (618 to 908) there He tells us that his book is the result came to Canton a considerable num- of investigations running through bel' of strangers, natives of the king- fifteen years, and that he got much doms of Annam, of Cambodia, of Me- information from Mohammedan dina, and of several other countries.
priests. Doubtless he was able also They worshiped heaven and had no to get much definite knowledge from statue, or idol, or image, in their Roman Catholic priests, who are temples. The kingdom of Medina is scattered so widely through the coun- near to that of India, and is where try. (b) From writers on the subject the religion of these steangers, which in the eighteen volumes of the is very different from that of Bud- "Chinese Repository." (c) From dha, originated. They do not eat Williams' "Middle Kingdom." (d) pork, nor drink wine, and regard as From writers in the Chinese Re- 'impure the flesh of every animal not corder, and the China Review. slain by themselves. HaVing asked It is generally conceded that little and obtained f,'om the emperor an information, as to their origin, can authorization to reside at Canton, be obtained from the Chinese Mo- they built magnificent houses of an hammedans of the present day. architecture different from that of What is known in regard to it, seems the country. They were very rich to have been obtained from: (1) In- and subject to a chief chosen by scriptions on tablets found at the themselves. By reason of their good mosques in or neal' Canton City. (2) fortune, they became so numerous Accounts of India. and China by two and influential that they were able Mohammedan travelers, written, to maltreat the Chinese people with one A.D. 850, and one A.D. 877, in impunity. This was carried to such Arabic, and transla:ted into French a pitch that a mandarin high in by the Abbe Eusebius Renaudot. (3) rank'was impelled to issue a procla- The Chinese annals of Kwangtung mation in the name of the emperor, (Canton province). (4) A Chinese warning these foreigners that if they work" Ui UiYuen Lvi," that IS "Ori- continued to conduct themselves so gin of Mohammedanism," "Ui Ui" badly they would be punished se- being the name given to Mohamme- verely."
dans in China. (5) A Chinese book The tablets at Canton, the Peking found in the province of Yunnan proclamation and the t~o Chinese and translated by Rev. George W. books alrE'ady mentioned all give, in somewhat different forms, the story China. The first Mohammedan temof a bright appearance in the West- ple, built afterwards in the Northern sky, connected with a singular west, at Si Ngan Fu, one of the two dream of the emperor, which the as- capitals of the empire, dates from trologers and soothsayers interpreted A.D. 742, from which we may suppose to mean that a great sage had arisen that Islam did not penetrate by land in the West, who was ruler 01 a pow- into the north of the empire until erfulcountry named Medina, and that that time. In the flourishing period it was very important, in the inter- of Kai Yuen (713-742), relates the Si ests of the empire, that friendly rela- Yu Chen, 'the barbarians of the tions be established with him; that W est arrived en masse in the Middle then the Emperor sent an embassy Kingdom, and, as by an irruption to Mohammed, who appointed three from more than a hundred kingenvoys, of whom only one lived to doms, removerl at least a thousand reach China, by way of Si Ngan Fu, leagues, bearing with them as presand afterwards settled in Canton. ents their sacred books, which were This sounds wonderfully like the received and deposited in the hall for story of the introduction of Bud- translation of sacred books and candhism, and may be taken with at least ons of the imperial palace. Starting one grain of salt. This much, how- from that epoch, the religious docever, appears to be true, that in the trines of different countries of the early part of the Tang dynasty, West spread themselves and were about A. D. 628, a maternal uncle practiced openly in the empire of of liohammed, Wahib Abi Kabcha, Tang.' came to China, was received with much favor by the Empet'or, and " The first real nucleus of Mohamestablished himself in Canton. P. medans of the West implanted in Darby de Thiersant states that" this China was a contingent of 4,000 man obtained an authorization to Arab soldiers, which the Kaliph build a mosque at Canton, and, at Abu Giafer sent, in the year 755, to the same time, the right for his co- succor the Emperor Sou Tsong, menreligionists to profess freely their aced by the rebel An-Io-chan, and worship in the empire." He then who. as a recompense for their sergoes on to say: "Wahib Abi Kabcha, vices, permitted them to establish his mission accomplished, returned themselves in the principal cities of to Arabia in 63-&, hoping to find again the empire. These soldiers, who the Prophet, but on arriving he was married Chinese wives, may be conapprised of his death, which caused sidered the first stock origin of Mohim profound grief. He rested for a hammedan Chinese." time, and when Abu Becker had. formed the Koran from the scat· The above extract contains the tered leaves left by Mohammed, he substance of what is known concerntook the holy book and set out again ing the entrance of Islam into China, for China. He ,suffered much in and the account is corroborated by returning to Canton, where he died, the fact that those who have given worn out by the fatigue of the voy- attention to the matter say that the age. He was interred in one of the Mohammedan Chinese are different suburbs of the city, where his tomb by race from other Chinese; that in remains until this day, an object of them may be clearly recognized a veneration to all believers in the ex- mixture of Arabic, Turkish and treme East. It is to him that lVlus- Chinese blood. sulmansare indebted forthe construction of the most ancient mosque in From this time, A.D. 755, or there- about, until the lattel' part of the ninth century the trade of Canton With Arabs and other people fro~ the West must have been very dians. This is the account given of flourishing. One writer says that them when Yunnan was constituted "under the dynasty of Tang the a province of the empire in 1295. ocean was fatigued with the thou- "They were true savages, without sands of ships sailing from the Orient the least trace of civilization, living to the Occident." In 1068 the em- in a state of nature, ignorant of how peror appointed a foreigner named to cultivate the soil, sustaining them-. Siu Ya To Lo to administer the gov- selves by hunting and fishing, and ernment of merchants from the burning their dead without cere~ W-est. That functionary designated mony." The emperor, Kublai Khan, quarters for the fOl'eignel's, and their appointed one of his ministers, called families continued to be inscribed on Omar by some, by others Sayid Edthe registers of the State. It is prob- jell, or Si Tien Che, to administer the able that harsh measures were after- government of the province. He wards employed against them, for a taught the people agriculture, social number emigrated to Kiungchow, obligations, and the art of writing, on the island of Hainan, whel'e they and by wise institutions succeeded in built foul' mosques which still exist. civilizing th,em. He taught them the On that island also are yet found the religion of Mohammed, and at the descendants of ancient Mohammedan same time the respect which they families. From this time the com- ought to have for Confucius, to merce of Canton with foreigners whom he erected temples, and also diminished continually, and they for built mosques in all the cities. He the most part returned to their na- gathered around him a great numbel' tive land. of Mussulman scholars and others whom he loaded with favors, and In the Yuen dynasty, commencing who established themselves in the 1280, the Arab merchants, profiting country. He governed for six years, by the influence which their co-re- and died much lamented. The people ligionists had at the court of Kublai- built fol' him a magnificent tomb, Khan, renewed on a grand scale their while the emperor erected a temple relations with China. But for thel in his honor. This man was originmost part, instead of returning to ally from Bokhara, but submitting to Canton, they betook themselves to Genghis Khan became a part of his the provinces of Fuhkien, Cheh- guard. He evidently had a large inkiang' and Kiangsu. The port of fluence over the people. Marco Polo Foochow became by this circum- says that from 1280 to 1300 the stance a grand center of commerce. whole population of Yunnan was Mohammedan. We have given a view of the course of events which brought Islam There have been several rebellions. into the provinces that lie along the One, in 1817, induced by the massacre eastern coast of China. It evidently of a number of Mohammedans by came by means of commercial inter- other Chinese, the burning of a course to a great extent, and by way mosque, and the injustice of certain of the sea. mandarins, sustained by the gov- ernor. The insurgents, after having It remains to inquire how it was defeated in several encounters the planted in the remaining provinces. imperial troops, laid siege to the capi- At thE' extreme south of the western tal of the province, where the gov- border is the province of Yunnan, ernor had shut himself up. The em- said to contain three and a half mil- peror sent at once, a large body of lion Mohammedans. In the earlier soldiers who defeated the rebels and centuries this province seems to have obliged them to take refui'e with the been inhabited by wild tribes not less savage than the North American Insavages on the frontiers. The chief all the Mohammedans in China. was made prisoner and cut into frag- And these Mohammedans came by a ments. This Insurrection continued different route from those who enabout a year. tered the eastern provinces. Those came from Arabia, by way of the sea, Another rebellion broke out on the but these from Turkey and Persia, western frontier in 1826 which was through Bokhara, and thence into ended in 1828. Another took place the province of Kansuh. THis provabout 1834, provoked by the manda- ince is therefore considered the cenrins of Chan Ning Fu, who caused tral point of the sect, in the extreme a massacre of Mohammedans at East. And the sect has had its exthe city of Mong Mien, under the istence there mainly since the genpretext that they wished to revolt. eral breaking up that took place More than 1,600 men, women and when that fearful Tartar general, children had their throats cut with- Tamerlane, swept not only through out mercy, and this horrible butchery Central Asia, but over the burning was continued until Mohammedans plains of India, and over the frozen from the neighboring towns ran to steppes of Siberia, passed beyond the their succor, and meted out terrible Caspian Sea, beyond the Black Sea reprisals. The troubles were settled to the banks of the Danube, conby a general whom the Viceroy sent quered Asia Minor and Syria, and for that purpose. even went down into Egypt, and stopped, at last, not because de- By far the most serious rebellion in feated, but only tired of conquest. this province commenced in 1855, and was not ended till 1873. It origi- The first mosque in the northwest nated in a contention about some sil- was built at Si Ngan Fu, in the provver mines, but grew until the whole ince of Shensi, A.D. '742. The Ohinese province was embroiled. Near its Repository mentions an embassy commencement a fearful massacre of sent with valuable presents, by way Mohammedans took place, encour- of Kashgar, as early as 708. From a aged and even ordered by the officers Mohmamedan writer in the same periof government.' This was followed odical we have the following: "In by eighteen years of bloody strife the reign of Wan Tsing, A.D. 842, sevculminating in the surrender of eral myriads from the tribes of the Ta Li Fu by the Mohammedans, Ui Ui (Mohammedans) petitioned to which virtually ended the rebellion. enter China, and the emperor directed After the surrender seventeen Mo- them to be settled in the various dehammedan chiefs were invited to a partments of Shensi, where they banquet, and suddenly, a precOIi- have enjoyed the support of many certed signal being given, were all sovereigns and have furnished a sucbeheaded; those who had favored cession of loyal and upright scholars the surrender as well as those who for the service of the State. These had opposed it. To the lasting dis- have maintained the pure, true faith grace of the Chinese general, within for a thousand years without defecthree days, in the city and surround- tion." The information about Kansuh villages, out of 50,000 inhabitants in these early times is very meager, 30,000 were mercilessly butchered by but we have the following in regard the soldiers acting under the com- to the country lying farther west. mand of their chief. In 713 a Moslem, Couteybe Ibu, con- quered Bokhara, and took Samar- In regard to the rest of China, it is kand. The Chinese eIt!peror was only necessary for our present pur- much alarmed at his conquestH, and pose to consider particularly the treated the ambassadors that he sent provinces of Kansuh and Shensi. They contain nearly three-fourths 'Of with the gl'eatest respect. This there by the rebels or abandoned by event is important, as from it dates the owners, who had been obliged to the establishment of Mohammedan- ism in ~houresm, where later was flee to save their lives, The Chinese founded the kingdom of Ui Ui, or militia of the neighboring districts, Mohammedan Chinese. In 1124 this kingdom gave its subjection to China learning of this, clamored for a part at Samarkand. There is not much more of importance to relate in con- of the booty, which the Mohamme- nection with these provinces, until the present dynasty. It is evident dans stubbornly refused. TheChinese that in the contentions which were did not dare to attack them, but continually occurring between the Chinese and th.e Mohammedan prov- waited an opportunity for revenge. inces on the west and in Central Asia, It came at length from quite a small the Chinese now and then conquered portions of Mohammedan territory, affair. One day a Mohammedan cut and now and then theseoutlyingprov- inces regained their independence; some bamboos from a grove neal' the that Mohammedans were more 01' village where he was. The owner, less employed as allies 01' soldiers in not a Mohammedan, ('harged him the Chinese army, became officials, with cutting them without permis- sometimes 'occupying very high po- sion, and was answered arrogantly. sitions, and that in this general mix- He then complained to the Moham- ing up along the border a large num- medanreligious chief, and not obtain- ber of Mohammedans became per- ing l'edrel>s went to the Chinese dis- manent inhabitants of the western trict magistrate. The magistrate did provinces of China. not dare to punish the offender, but plotted with the leader of the large This account would not be complete town of Chely to massacre the Mo- without some notice of the great re- hammedans. One of their villages bellion which took place in Shensi was therefore laid waste by the and Kansuh from 1861 to 1873. Like Chely militia. This was followed by all othet' Mohammedan rebellions in a general uprising of the Mohamme- China, it was not on account of relig- dans, and a sanguina,ry contest of ion. The members of this sect are three daysand three nights, in which quite as clannish as the pure Chinese, they came off victors. When the and generally go together in any mandarins sent imperia,l troops to attempt to resist what they deem op- succor the vanquished, these were pression or to gain dominion. The also obliged to bea,t a shameful outbreak of 1861, commencing in retreat. Shensi and spreading to Kansuh, originated in this way: "A Chinese "The insurrection then spread rebel chief, after having devastated throughout the provlllce and made Sz Chuen, invaded Shensi. To resist its way into Kansuh. It was kept the invasion the militia was organized up for twelve years, and cost an im- in every locality. The Mussulman mense amount of blood and h-eccsure militia, commanded by their own before it was finally and most thor- chiefs, were by their own wish kept oughly put down by that valiant . separate from the other militia. The General Tso Tsung Tang." bandits at length took the city of U Nau. The Mussulman militia took " In regard tothe central provinces back the city, in which they found of the empire, the following quota- immense treasUl'e, either brought tion will suffice: "The history of lfohammedans in these provinces is the history of the inhabitants of each province. We need not speak par- ticularly of them. We only say that since the dynasty of Yuen, 1280, a great number of them have occupied very high positions, both in the capital and in the pr.ovinces, as ministers, noting, h.owever, some facts whi"eh generals. vicer.oys .or g.overn.ors." have a bearing upon the answer.
Mention ought also to be made .of (1) Mohammedanism in China does those colonial dependencies of the not seem to have gained its numbers empire which are largely Moham. by proselytizing. The Mohammedans medan, viz.: Koko Nor on the south of to-day in general trace their deof Kansuh, and on the west all that scent, fo!' hundreds of years, from part of IIi which lies south of the Mohammedan families. They have Tien Shan Mountains, and where multiplied by a natural increase. are situated the noted eight Moham- They also add to their strength by medan cities. purchasing, in times of famine or other calamity, large numbers of The following is an approximate children, who!:n they bring up accordestimate, in round numbers, of the ing to the doctrines of their religion. present Mohammedan populati.on of They llaye been known, during a China. Dr. Williams says that. single famine, to purchase 10,000. n.orth of the Yang-tsz Kiang, there are at least 10,000,000. (2) They hold to their religion very tenaciously, by which is only meant P. Darby De Thiersantgivesan esti- that they do not easily leave their mate, more partIcularly by provinces, sect. The instances are rare where as follows: Kansuh, 8,350,000; Shen- they become Christians. On the si, 6,500,000; Yunnan, 3,500,000 to othe).' hand, they sit so loosely on their 4,000,000 (this includes the savage foundations of doctrine that they tribes who reside on the frontiers of find no difficulty in going through Burmah); Shansi, 50,000; Chihli all the forms of the Chinese ritual 250,000. Of these 100,000 are in the when they are appointed to office. neighborhood of Peking.. There are They can wOl'Rhip the tablet of the in the city eleven mosques, one near emperor, but they put the picture of the palace, vel'Y beautiful, built the Prophet hehind it. opposite the imperial pavilions, in honor of a Mohammedan queen, (3.) There does not seem to be any whom the Emperor Kien Lung es- special 'antipathy against them, on poused in 1735. Shantung. 200,000; the part of either rulers or people, Hunan and Hnpeh, 50,000; Kiang,;i, on account of their religious belief. 4,000; ~iangsu and Nganhwui, 150,- They have often held office and have 000; Kwangtung, 21,000; Kwangsi, had many favors granted them. Tho 15,000; Kweichau, 40,000; Szchuen, contests or rebellions in which they 40,000; Honan, 200.000; Chekiang have been, from time to time, conand Fuhkien, 30,000. If we add to cerned have seemed more like imthese a probable estimate of 300,000 mense clan fights than any contenfor Koko Nor and the southern part tion about religious belief. The of IIi and take the larger estimate for question has been about dominion, the province of Yunnan, we have a not about faith. This is evidentfr.om total of somewhat more than 20,- the fact that when, in one part of 000,000. the country, Mohammedans are en- gaged in a bloody rebellion, those in Having given a cursory view of other parts are not molested. Durthe introduction of Mohammedanism ing the years of rebellion in the into China and its subsequent history northwest, and also in Yunnan, Mo-' there, having given statistics to show hammeclans, under the very shadow its present strength, we wi}} not ven- of the imperial palace, lived without ture to tread the delicate ground of the least appearance of molestation. prophecy, but leave others to an- The great clan fight ahout a silver swer the question, ,Vhat in the future mine in Yunnan' could never have is likely to be its influence itl China? been dl'awn out into an eighteen N. Y., became Corresponding Secre- years' bloody contest, unless there tary. Twenty-five thousand dollars had been something more than that was estimated as necessary for pur.
silver mine at stake. So in the north- chasing and finishing buildings to ac- west, a contest about the division of commodate fifty boarders, and $5,000 spoils, or the cutting of a few . annually for its maintenance. Salubamboos, was, indeed, the match tations came to the organization which set fire to combustibles, but from England and from India. certainly did not furnish fuel for . Sir William Wedderburn, of Engcombustion to the flames of that land, lately retired from the Indian fierce contest that raged for twelve Civii Service, wrote: years, and was only quenched at last "Both Lady Wedderburn and myself are in rivers of blood. The contest was very glad to receive news of Pundita Rama- a contest for power. bai. We are both much interested in female (4) We can never be sure how education, especially in India, and it will give us much pleasure to do what we can to much the Mohammedans in China promote the Pundita's proposed normaJ are influenced from without. Dr. schooL When you have completed your Williams says that the last great plans I shall be glad to hear from you rebellion was largely fomented by again; in the meantime allowme to express Turkish sectaries. the pleasure I feel that Pundita Ramabai has found such good friends and snpporters Ramabai'a Institution for Ohild- in America." Widows. Dr. Ramakrishna Bhandarkar, pro- THE little high.caste Brahman fessor of Sanskrit in a college in widow, Ramabai, bearing the high- Poona, India, after a confet'ence with est honorary and literary degree be- several of his friends, wrote: stowed by the Brahmanic brotherhood, and known by the title" Pun- .. We are glad that you American ladies dita," invented by an English lady are going to interest yourselves actively with the amelioration of the condition of your unfortunate sisters iii India. I assure 'for convenience of foreign introduc- you we shall consider it a duty to give you tion, came among us in an unosten- all the assistance we can. I suppose the tatious way, studied our institutions details of the scheme will De settled when and organized support of a cherished Pundita Ramabai and the female teachers will arrive in India."
plan of her own for elevating and Dr. Bhandarkar and his friends educating "little widows" of high- were indol'sed by Hon. Lionel As- caste families in India, and departed bUrner, who was for thirty-six years the country as unostentatiously as in the Indian Civil Service, as "very she entered it. The organization responsible, influential men."
which she accomplished while in On the· eve of her departure from this country is entitled "The Ram- the United States we received from abai Association," which was formed her the following personal note: at Channing Hall, Boston, Dec. 13, .. VALLEY STATION, NEB., Jun" 16, 1888.
1887. It was supported by Rev. Ed- .. DEAlt BROTHER IN CHaIST : ward E. Hale, D.D., who was elected President, and Dr. Phillips Brooks, .. I received your kind letter a few weeks Miss Frances E. Willard, Rev. Geo. ago, but could not answer it through want of time. I have sent a few circulars to you already, and am sending a new one which A. Gordon, and the since ascended, has just come out. It isjust twenty months Dean Ra.chel L. Bodley, M.D., who since I have seen you when we talked about was Ramabai's patron saint all the· my work and when so little of hope seemed while she was in America. to exist, but the Heavenly Father has been with me in all that I have attempted, and A Board of Trustees was consti- my hopes are now almost realized so far as tuted for America, and an" Advisory the material assistance goes. The main Board" was appointed for India. work is y..t to be done, and I hope and pray Miss A. P. Granger, of Canandaigua, that the heavenly grace will strengthen and sustain me in my undertaking. .. Many good people seem to have a misun- religious schools. High-caste girls, derstanding about the work that I am try- she says, may be in the missionary ing to start, and are generally inclined to schools in some instances prior to discountenance my project. Their fears marriage, but not after that event, seem to have arisen from th"fact that my institution for child-widows is to be a purely either as wives or widows. She says secular one, and also from a misappr..hen- the missionary schools are open to all sion that its founder is diverting in this castes, as they should be, and are none direction the energies of Christian women of them devoted exclusively to highand funds which should properly go into missionary channels. This latter I emphati- caste women, much less to high-caste cally deny, having never, in public or pri- widows. In the circ-ular referred to vate, attempted to do such a thing which in herletter, she set forth some feawill injure the foreign missionary cause. tures of the case. The movement is truly unique, its author, talented, .. I havegood reasons for making my school purely secular. Such institutions are a necessity at present. sincere and standing in her individ- uBecause: ual capacity for what she esteems an .. The orthodox Hindu widows will notgo to important reform in her own coun- try, by what she thinks is the only anv school home if the study of Christian religion is made a condition to their admit- tance . feasible method for reachlllg and re- .. It is against their faith, and they will not lieving high-caste Hindu widows, sacrifice their conscience to worldly advantages. whose trials and deprivations she has .. Such a condition will prove a strong •experienced. It would seem that even temptation to many light-minded women, Anglo-Saxon love of fair play, not to and make hypocrites of them. say of freedom of speech and press, .. Missionaries do not reach the strictly or- would justify us, even if we disap- proved her measures, which we do thodox widows, who suffer most, and who not, in allowing her to reach those of are in the keeping of their male relatives. Some of these relatives will be glad enough to have their daughters or sisters educated our readers who may not other.wise in purely secular schools, but they will by have had the opportunity, through no means let them be instructed by mis- the following quotations from her sionaries. Such widows, if once educated own statements of the case. and become self-supporting, having all the freedom of action and thought, and un- She says: trammeled, it is hoped that they will accept .. A few Hindu parents would not mind tbeir daughters coming in contact with chil- Christ, when they realize the advantages of dren or people of inferior castes before the marriage, but this cannot continue after the His religion, which they will be requested girl has gone through the marriage cere.. mony, the only religious sacrament to to study if they choose to do so. And even which she is entitled and which is consid- ered the means of her regeneration and by if we are disappointed in our hopes fur their virtue of which she becomes a high-caste woman and a member of her husband's famconversion,.we shall at least have the com- ily. A few married high-caste girls and women are allowed to be seen and instructed fort of having done ()ur duty in relieving by foreign missionaries in the zenltnas, but not in the missionary schools. These women, their sufferings and giving "them the means it must be remembered, do not belong to the strictly orthodox families; their husbands, by which they may lift themselves out of fathers-in-law or fath~rs, in whose keeping they happen to be aR wives or widows, being the lamentable state of drndgery, and be- half skeptical, half Brabmanical, or, per- haps, partly Brahmo and partly Christian come self-respecting, self..supportin~ mem- ill belief, and all of them men who are edu- bers of society. The Bible will be placed in their hand, but we cannot make its study a condition for the above reasons. I do not ask any people to give their money to this instead of to missionary work, but I ear- nestly solicit the assistance of our friends who have it in their power to help forward more than one good cause.
•• Very truly yours, RAMABA!."
Ramabai affirms the unique char- acter of her proposed institution cated in Western ideas.
as devoted to high-caste widows-a U Even among these families the educa· class which she thinks is wholly un- tion of Women is limited to merely reading, reached and absolutely unapproach- a little writing, and at the best the four fundamental rules in arithmetic-an educa- able through missionary or other tion not so thorough as to enable them to think for themselves or to qualify young together with the pious Hindus who look widows to become teachers or to engage in upon this movement as dangerous heresy, any occupation which would make them in- may try to annihilate it. dependent of male relatives. There may be a few exceptions to this statement among "But our trust is in the Heavenly Father, the Brahmos and other non-orthodox fami- who is our st:rE'JIgth aud who~ because He is lies, but among these the necessity is not so almighty, is aole to bring us safely out of great. as widows are not put to the severest this serious difficulty." trials as in orthodox communities. Death of Mr. Ahok's Mother. .. It is strictly true of every orthodox Hindn family that women are never allowed WE say" Mr. Ahok's mother," beto be visited or instructed by a foreign mis… cause we cannot present her after sionary. I derive my knowledge of the so- our custom by her own name, and cial condition of the orthodox high-caste also because her estimable son has Hindu women neither from fables nor from become so Widely known that the the statements of half-informed persons, but mother shares in the luster of his I get it directly from what I have seen and renown, though her sterling qualiknown. I myself Was born and reared in ties merit wide recognition and rean orthodox Brahmanical honsehold, and spect. Mr. Ahok is a wealthy Chithough my parents approved of women be- nese merchant who was led to Christ ing educated they would have been the last through the agency of Rev. S. L. persons to allow their daughters nnder the Baldwin, D.D., now Recording Secinstruction of missionarjes~ retary of the Methodist Episcopal 1IIissionarySociety,and who before he .. It was not until after their death when I professed Christianity at all donated had attained my leg-al age, and then there $10,000 for the founding of an Anglobeing no male relative to control me, and Chinese College at Foo Chow. 111'. my education having enabled me to get my Ahok waR a lay delegate from the Foo independence, that I had any chancL' of see- Chow Conference to the Methodist ing the missionaries and other people not of Episcopal General Conference held my own caste, and of reading the books in New York last May, but was unwhich were antagonistic tomy ancestral re" able io come; whether alone because ligion. This is true to-day of every other he was unwilling to risk his chances household like that of my parents. of escaping the leasllPs of our ob- structive Chinese legislation, we can- "I have deduced from these facts that not sav. Ahok's mother stoutly anthe orthodox high-caste women of India tagOlized his acceptance of Chriscannot be helped by missionary societies. tianity, but later herself beC>1:{llle a An agency which is neither identical With genuine Christian with marked indinor antagonistic to these societies lllust be viduality of experience. employed in order to draw these women out of t~eir secluded homes. Purely secular in- 'Ve take from the California stitutions are the necessity of the hour in Christian Advocate the following India, institutions which will be like homes account of the funeral of Mr. Ahok's to the little widows, where their material mother: wants will be supplied, and their physical pain alleviated. The education afforded in Not long since~ at the age of eighty..six, these homes must prepare them to face the occurred the death of the mother of 1I1r. world and must pnt within their reach the Ahok. The first intimation the writer had power which will be the means of their in- of the sad event was the receipt of the fol- dependence,leaving them free at length to lowing note, written by an Eng-lish-speaking think and choose for themselves. . . . clerk in Mr. Ahok's store: .. I am sorry to inform yon that my mother left this world "As for ourselves we are convinced that at 7 o'clock this evening, and we shall pnt it is not against our Christian belief to carry her in her everlasting bed to-morrow morn- to those who need it help in any shape, even ing at 8 o'clock. Will you please notify though we may not be able to carry our others," etc. Having been requested to creed with it. It will do no harm to any of conduct the funeral exercises, we reached us to read the beautiful parable of the Mr. Ahok's residence a little before the . Good Samaritan" twice over, and try to time appointed, a,ud noticed a. coffin in II find out what our Lord Christ meant to teach by it .
.. I am aware that even after setting forth this plan in the plainest language, many Christian people may still mi.apprehend or misrepresent it without meaning to do so; and, on the other hand. all enemies of woman's_progressand freedom in Hindustan,
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
framework of a recess of the room where day until the burial; but, instead of having the services were to be held, Soon after senseless heathen ceremonies, social religious the company had assembled loud weeping meetings are held, and the gospel Is preached. was heard, aud immediately Mr. Ahok and Thus our Chinese Christians adhere to harmless his two adopted sons, together with several native customs, only substituting Christian for other ",ale relatives, slowly entered the heathen worship. recess from another room, bearing the body, encased in elegant silk, and laid it in We are informed that about five years ago the collin. The weeping continued wh~e Mr. Ahok's mother had quite a protracted the unoccupied space in the collin was struggle, deciding whether she wonld become a being filled with the pith of a certain plant, Christian or remain a Buddhist. Since his conand with bits of paper rolled into small version, Mr. Ahok has had preaching Sunday balls. After this, the assembled friends afternoons at his residence, as well as mid'- viewed the face of the deceased, when we week social meetings and family prayers. His were requested to proceed with the ser- mother used to alternate between these services vices. These consisted of the singing of a and the worship of the idol, which had for so hymn, prayer, a short address from the many years delnded her. While continning words," Blessed are the dead that die in the this practice she had a good opportunity to com- Lord." etc.• followed by another hymn and pare the two religions. One day, after attending the benediction-aU, of course. being- in Christian worship, she said to her friends: Chinese. During tJ,e services Mr. Ahok sat "You may take my idol away; hereafter your on a piece of matting on the floor, near the God shall be my God, and your Saviour my head of the collin. 'Vhen tbe benediction Saviour." And the joy which shone in her was pronounced, the friends quickly dis- countenance showed that she had indeed found persed, leaving the sorrowing relatives him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, alone with their dead. In a short time tbe Jesus of Nazareth. The idol was presented to collin was closed and hermetically sealed; Bishop Merrill when he was here in 1883. From but it has been decided that the interment the time of her conversion, this aged Chinese will not take place until the forty-ninth day lady had a bright evidence of acceptance with after the death. In this part of China the God, and became more and more firmly estabwealthy families, and many of the middle lished in the faith during her few remaining classes, begin on the seventh day after a years. Through her influence Mrs. Ahok's death a series of U meritorious" ceremo.. mother, who still survives, was also constrained nies for the repose and general benefit of the to turn from idols to the true and living God. soul of the departed, or the three souls, according to the heathen notion. In one form How encouraging all this to the missionary of or another these ceremonies are repeated the cross, who, in such a benighted land, is every seventh day from that of the death, oftentimes depres8ed by the mass of heathenism, some continuing until the forty-ninth day. which, like a moral miasma, environs him as Buddhist or Taoist priests are hired to man- does the very atmosphere I What proofs the age these exercises, which are described in conversion of these aged ones that in China, as that painstaking work, .. Social Life of the elsewhere, the gospel of Christ is "the power of Chinese," by Rev. Justus Doolittle. for four- God unto salvation to every one that believteen years a missionary here at Foochow. eth " lOur millions of dear brothers and sisters in America, who, by their prayers and money, Mr. Ahok is following the custom of having are advancing God's cause in heathen lands, his friends and relatives meet every seventh may well rejOice with us over all such triumphs of grace.
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
GENERAL SURVEY. MARCH: Mexico Central America. OUR intention is during the twelve- City Evangelizati;n. month to turn the whole wheel round and bring successively to view every A PRIL: I n d'la and C eyI on. Brahpart of the world-wide circle of missionary labor. We give the scheme manism. for the year, and as far as may be the MAY: Burmah, Siam and Laos. structure of THE REVIEW will conform throughout to this plan: Buddhism. JANUARY: General Outlook. Sur- JUNE: Africa. Freedmen in North America. JULY: Islands of the Sea. Utah.
vey of the World. North American Indians.
FEBRUARY: China and Confucian- AUGUST: Italy, France, and Papal ism. Thibet. Eurqpe. SEPTEMBER: Japan, Korea. Medi- and master the languages that must cal Missions. be the vehicle of communication.
OCTOBER: Turkey, Persia. Mo- To estimate the entire number of hammedanism and Nominal Chris- converts in all foreign mission fields tian Sects. at 3,000,000 is very liberal, in fact in NOVEMBER: South America, West excess of the real number; but it Indies. Papacy. Home Missions. ~ust be remembered that these rep- DECEMBER: Syria. Jews. Educa- resent not less than 600,000 families tional Work in Missions. and 30,000 churches, mission stations As in January we propose a gen- and schools; and that out of these eral survey, it may be well, first of 3,000,000 converts, 30,000 workers all, to keep before us certain figures have gone into the field, Of' one out of and facts of world-wide significance, every 100, while Protestant Christen- even at risk of repetition. dom has sent forth but one out of There are 3,064 languages in the 5,000 !
world, and its. inhabitants profess The money annually raised for more than 1.000 religions. carrying on Protestant foreign mis- The most cat'eful computation sionsis a little short of $11,250,000, or which we have been able to make an average of 37Yz cents per year for at' find makes the present popula- each evangelical chul'ch member, or tion of the globe somewhat over leES than one tenth of a cent a day.
1,500,000,000. Of these, pagans, Accurate figures we are unable to heathens and Mohammedans con- give or get concerning either medi- stitute 1,040,000,000, and the rest cal missions or the educational work.
(460,000,000) are nominally Chris- As to the first, theil' growth is so tian, Papal, Greek and Protest- rapid that if we could present accu- ant. There are, however, not more rate returns they would be hope- than 31,500,000 Protestant church lessly in the rear before we could get members. At least one-half of this this number of THE REVIEW electro- 460,000,000 are Nothingarians and typed. For example, the Edinburgh Oonfucionists, To these more than Medical Missionary Society alone, thousand millions, Protestant Chris- which had in Hl71 only 7 students, tendom sends 6,230 messengers of the and in 1881, 16, had in 1886, 170 qual- cross, of whom 3,000 are ordained ified medical missionaries in active missionaries and 2,500 women. To service. Within ten years the in- these, in estimating the sum total of come of the society increased five- workers, we must add some 30,300 fold.
native preachers, teachers, catechists As to schools, they exist in con- and lay helpers, who have been raised nection with all missions and are up out of pag'an, heathen and Mo- often the first form of evangelistic hammedan communities as the first ageney. It is computed that for fruits of missions, making a total every fifteen church members and ad- force in the foreign field of 30,530, of herents gathered in heathen lands, which about five-sixths are converts there is one school. If so, then the from heathenism, Could these work- total number is not far feom 200,000, ers so be distributed as that the en- which, including schools of eveey tire .unevangelized po>puiation could size and grade, feom the primary to be equally divided among them, each would still have to reach, within an the collegiate, is not, we are persuad- ed, far from correct. But we hope average lifetime, at least 28,400 souls before the year closes to gather more with the gospel! And this, too, with accurate and trustworthy figures.
all thp. disadvantages of having to There are in the world 16,447,990 get to the field and get over the field, Sunday-school 'pupils, by the last figures published, The average Of the rellults of missions, w,: have membership is probably about fifty, no space to pl'esent facts, which must which gives 329,000 Sunday-schools be exhibited as the various fields pass in the world. All these figures are before us. approximate only, but they may The American Board alone occuhelp to form a general conception 9f pies 1,000 centers of evangelical in- the world's present condition and fluence, and $124,274 were contrib- needs, the comparative growth of uted last year by native converts in missions, and the outlook for the these various fields!
future. The largest body of the Prpsbyte- Certain grand facts ought to stand rian Church of our land, and in the 'boldly before us like the mountains North. has organized and sustains 34 on a landscape. miSSIOns in both hemispheres, 1. The world has been fully ex- manned by 550 foreign missionaries, plored. There remains probably no of whom 115 are ordained mi;J,sters llndis'covered territory. and 154 unmarried ladies, besides 151 2. The origin and history of every native ordained ministers, 171licen- nation have been traced; languages tiates and 804 other native helpers.
have been reduced to forms, and lit- The churches number 311, with 23,- erature created. 740 communicants, of whom 2,897 3. The present marvelous facilities were received during the past year; for rapid travel and communication in schools of all grades 23,770 pupils give easy access to all parts of the were enrolled; 80,000,000 of pages in globe. 21 languages were issued from 8 4. Commerce of the globe, espe- printing presses, and upward of 75,- cially by sea, is in the hands of Prot- 000 patients were treated in hospitals estant nations; postal and telegraph and dispensaries.
unions extend into all countries. Reports of other denomination!
5. The Bible has been translated may be found in our pages for the into more than 300 tongues-the past year, and can be traced by the press is greatly utilized. copious index appended to the De- 6. Barriers so completely removed cember issue.
-Christian missionaries under pro- Missions to the Jews are assuming tection of law in every land. new importance and meeting with 7. A native ministry is developing, new success. The professed converts and the churches gathered out of from Israel number 1,000 to 1,500 heathendom will ~on be taking care annually; and most of these are from of themselves. the educated class. Joseph Rabin- As to missionar:y societies, etc., The owitch in Bessarabia, and Rabbi Lich- Quarterly Review for July, 1886, es- enstein near Buda-Pesth, are leaders timated the total number asnot fewer in this modern movement among than 146. They must in 1889 exceed their own countrymen.
150, at the least, and more likely The destitution of the world must reach 170. In Great Britain there not be overlooked. During the cen- are from twenty-five to thirty; in tury since Carey went to India, Dr.
the United States from forty to fifty; Murray Mitchell computes that at on the continent as many more, least 200,000,000 have been added to known to exist at the beg'inning of the pagan population of the globe; the last year, while scattered through and that for every 10,000,000 added heathen and Mohammedan lands are to nominal Christendom, fully 15,- as many more; from the Hawaiian 000,000 have been added to heathen- group to Japan, and from Japan to dom.
Syria; and Madagascar round to Some countries like Thibet hav.eso Polynesia again. far been practically inaccessible to evangelism. Immense tracts, em- For thirty years his life was spent bracing a thousand iniles square and in an unwearied effort to evangelize millions of people, have not, in some the' native races, to explore the un- cases, one missionary station. Mex- discovered secrets, to abolish the des- ico is called a Christian country, yet olating slave traffic of Central Africa, Bishop Hurst of the Methodist and with his last words he wrote, , Church says that there are 8,000,000 "All I can add in my solitude is, people there who never saw a copy of the Holy Scriptures. In many papal may Heaven's rich blessing come lands St. Joseph is practically wor- down on every vne, American, En- shiped as superior to the Virgin glish, or Turk, who will help to heal Mary his wife, and Jesus Christ her this open sore of the world." Son. "And other sheep I have which SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, PAUL and Barnabas went on a and there shall be one flock and one mission tour. (Compare ~cts xiii: 2-4; xiv: 3, 27; xv: 3, 7-12.) Their shepherd." career and report to the churches at Antioch and Jerusalem typify and TEXTS AND THEMES FOR MISSIONARY prophesy the whole history of mis- sions. It has been a history of su- SERMONS. pernatural interpositions. God has given testimony unto the word of THE following is old, but worth His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by the hands of preservation: His servants. At the London Con-' ference the modern apostles of mis- .. Go lie into aU the world, and preach the gos- – sions gathering the Church together pel to every creature." in the metropolis of the world, re- Unbelief. There are so many heathen, and so hearsed all that God had done with them and how He had opened t.he much oppositiou to the gospel, the world can door of faith unto the Gentiles, de- never he converted. claring what spiritual miracles and wonders of transformation God had THE LORD. " The God of heaven shall set up wrought among the nations by them. a kingdom which shall never he destroyed: but Every result wrought in apostolic it shall break in pieces and consume all other days has its correspondent and coun- kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Read terpart in modern days: Dan. ii : 44, 45. Psalms ii: 8, and lxxii: 8. Isa.
1. God gave testimony to the word ii: 2, 4. of His grace. Unbelief. The heathen will be saved without, 2. Opened the door of faith to the the gospel. Gentiles. St. Peter. "There is none other name [but 3. Converted the Gentiles and puri- Jesus] under heaven, given among men, fied their hearts by faith. whereby we mnst be saved." Acts iv : 12.
4. Gave them witness, imparting St. John. .. He that believeth not the Son the Holy Ghost. shall not see life,. but the wrath of God abideth on him." John iii : 36. LIVINGSTONE'S SLAB IN WESTMINSTER. Brought by faithful hands JESUS CHRIST. .. He that believeth not shall be damned." Mark xvi: 16. Over land and sea, here rests DAVID LIVINGSTONE, Unbelief. The gospel makes the heathen no Missionary, better. Traveler. Philanthropist, Facts. Eighteen hundred years ago, except Born March 19. 1813, the Jews, there were none but heathen; what nations are now better have been made so by at Blantyre, Lanarkshire. the gospel. Died May 1, 1873, GO, PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. a.t Chitambos Village, Ulala. Scruple. But all have not gifts to preach. St. Paul. "Having then gifts, differing ac. cording to the grace that is given to ns; whether MINISTRY, let ns wait on our minister· ing-he that GIVETH, let him do it with sim· plicity. For as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ… See Rom. xii :4-13. 1 Cor. xii: 14-22. Read 1 Cor. ix : 7, 13. Rom. x: 15. Truth. God hath made all nations of one blOOd. Eyery man is one m"mber of Ii bod.y of
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIOKS-;)!O~THLY BULLETIN
1,500,000,000, 800,000,000 of whom are perishing, yon, 0 ye oj tittle faith?" "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Read Matt. vi : l1H34. through ignorance of the gospel and the way of Miser. Then you forbid me to providefor my life. – i'amily? "He that provideth not for his own Inquirer. As one member of this family, is worRe than an infideL" Experience. Is the best way "to provide" what ought Ito do' for your own to "rob" God and your fellow JESUS CHRIST. Have the same care for your men? Read Mal. iii : s-:.10. The very way" to provide" a curse. "Thel'e is that maketh himfellow men, as the members of the body for self'rich, yet hath nothing: there is that mak€'th every part. Place yourself in their condition, himself poor, yet hath great riches." Provo xiii : 7. See also 2 Cor. viii : 9. then in yours. .. Whatsoever ye would that Avarice, I am not able to do much. IfI had as they should do to you, do ye even so to them." much as 80me men I shouldn't value giving.
Per}Jlexity. I have a family and friends to St. Paul. "If there be tirst a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath." provide for-so many calls, I cannot attend to 2 Cor. viii: 12.
the wants of the heathen. Ignorance. I would give, but I know not what becomes of my money. Bellevolence. _Yourself in their condition, Public Prints. Read and understand. would you have them lhus treat you? "Render Pride. I am ashamed to give so little as I feel able. I must do more, Or it won't be to all their ducos." Provide for every part. thonght anytTling. THE LORD. "The pride of thy heart hath de- False Philosophy. By giving much to send ceived thee." Obad. iii. See the widow's two mites. Luke xxi: 1–1. the gospel abroad, I shall rob myself and child- Self-Indulgence. But why banter and urge a man so? What the" great hurry" of sendren, and come to want. ing the gospel to the heathen? THE LORD. "There is that scattereth, and Mercy. Heathen die as fast as Christians; yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth 15,000,000 sink into the grave every year, and go, without the gospel, to the judgment unpremore than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." pared.
" The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that Zeal. "What thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Ecc. ix : 10. watereth shall be watered also himself." Prov. GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD .ilID PREACH TIDli xi: 24. 25. GOSPEL. Selfishnes8. But I ought to lay up something beforehand, for myself FIRST.
JESUS CHRIST. "He that trusteth in his riches shall fall." Prov. xi : 28. " Seek FIRST [to promote] the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." Matt. vi : 33. "Lay not up for yourselves trea8Ures on earth."
WO'l'ldly Prudence. But if I lay not Ull some- thing against time of need, who will take care of me, when old and infirm?
JESUS CHRIST. "Take no thou-ght for your life," etc.-" Shall he not much more clothe VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa.-The native boats on the Upper ciative attendance of colonists at purely mis- Congo have begun to liy the Free State liag, sionary meetings than at the public evening seswhich insures to them protection. From Stan- sions of the conference this year. We were ley Pool to Equator Station, traveling is per- thankful to see it. MiSSIOnary work among the f~ctly safe. One boat brought from Stanley natives here is not definitely understood ~mong Falls five tons of ivory. the colonists generally. They get some strange impressions of it which a very little personal -At Badza Manteke, in the Congo Mission observatiou shows them to be wrong. Wewant of the American Baptist Missionary Union, them to inform themselves. seven persons have been put to death for the testimony of Jesus. The work is steadily pro- -At Kangwe, on an island of the Ogowe, 379 gressing. candidates were recently received into the class for catechumens, and 91 persons have -REV. CHARLES W. KILBON writes entered tbe churcb. from Adam's Mission Station, Natal, -The first section. of the Trans-African South Africa, July 19, as follows: Railway from St. Paul de Loanda to Arubaca has heen finished, and the work is going on. "You will be interested to know that while This section is forty miles long, extending from the' International Missionary Union' was open- the coast to Kabiri. The road from that point ing its sessions in New Jersey the Natal Mis- turns sonth to the Coanza River, whence it is sionary Conference of our little colony was hold- to be extended directly west to Ambaca, 225 inlJ; its annual meeting at the capital, Pieter- miles from the coast. maritzburg. Your first day was our last. On that day, in our devotional exercises, your meet- ChinR.-The communicants, which were ing was spoken of, and special mention of it scarcely a score forty years since. accordwas m'lde in their prayer. ing to the report of the American Board. _"We have never had fuller and more appre- now exceed 32,000. and are increasing at the rate of 2.000 a year. Telegraph and railroad faith and as a missionary force. Now he appears Jines thread the land, a knowledge of the in an article with the title, "The Great Mission- J%iglish language is eagerly sought, and tbe ary Failure." He enters into calculations and stir of a great movement is felt in the land. comes to the conclusion that" it would take the A proclamation lately issned in many prov- Church Missionary Society 2,7!JO years to overw inces describes the missionaries as teachers take the additions made in India by birth in a of virtue, and their influence as helpful to single year." His manipulation of figures is the state,' enjoining all citizens to refrain deceptive. Sir Charles Atchison, an Englishfrom violence, and to live with them in the man in India, says that" in the Punjab, the relation of hosts and guests. Hindu and Mohammedan religions are practi- cally stationary, that of the Sikhs has declined, -After eighty years of contact with Eng- whereas the Christian religion has increased land, there are 32,000 Christians, for which 38". per cent." The quality of Canon Taylor's we may be thankful, and 150,000,000 opium intellect may be j lldged by the fact that at the smokers, for which we may hang our heads late Episcopal Congress at Manchester" he exin shame. The slave trade, the liquor traf- pressed the opinion that the bishops' physical fic, the licensing of immorality-these were pO'~'ers often g'ave way because they were corow bad enough, but the opium curse is the sum pelled to put their hands on the greasy heads of of all vilJainy.-J. Hudson Taylor. thousands of confirmation candidates." There were cries of" shame" from the audience. -The Chinese Government threatens to drive all missionaries out of Pekin and Can- Franre.-The annual report of the Societe ton in retaliation for the bill which has been du Nord says that they have now in the adopted exclndlng the Chinese from the north of France 52 pastors and 145 places of United States. worship, of which 84 are temples, and nearly 30,000 adherents. -The Baptist Missionary Magazine for December reports 260 baptisms, and news -Dr. Pierson was present and made an adhas been received of 23 recent baptisms at dress at the opening of a new station in Swatow, China, and 73 at Ongole, India. PariS, the Salle Rivole. The very name of this hall is associated in Paris with all that -The first railroad built in China with the is included in the words, .. The world, the sanction of the government was completed tieRh and the devil," and where ior .one hun w in August. It runs from Tientsin to Taku, dred years Satan has held sway. It is situfifty miles. and the trains are crowded with ated in a densely populated quarter, at the passengers. confluence of the rue St. Antoine and the rue de Rivole, abont half way between the Englnnd.-London Missionary Society. The Bastile and the Hotel de Ville. It was for- Ladies' Committee, in connection with the so- merly nsed as a ball room; then a fashionciety, does not form a separate organization, as able billiard room; later it was most notoriin the case of some of the other large societies. ous for the low dances which were held in We append the leading statistics: Mission sta- it; and since the days of the republic it tions and sub-stations, 1,.87 (1,161 in Madagas- has been the meeting-place of the Anarcar) ; foreign workers, ordained, 150; lay, 21 ; chists. This wicked den, in the very heart native workers. ordained, 1,143; lay, 5,156; of Paris, has been transformed, by the McAll communicants, betweeu eighty and ninety thou- 1iission, into a gospel temple, where every eand, of which more than sixty thousand are night the H good news" will be proclaimed. credited to Madagascar. The statistics are not Its support is furnished by the New York quite complete. Full returns would show some- Anxiliary. whst increased figures. The total income is over a htindred thousand pounds sterling. lndia.-Out of the 555 adult converts bap- tized by the English Church missionaries at -The valedictory dismissal of a band of Amritsar, India, since the establishment of forty-five missionaries in connection with the the mission in 1852, no less than 253 have Church Missionary Society took place in St. been converts from Islam. While this be- James's Hall, Piccadilly. Twenty-five of the tokens no great movement among the Momissionaries are returnin!( to the field, and hammedans toward Christianity, it shows twenty are new recruits. Already nearly twenty that Moslems can be reached and brought others have departed, chiefiy going to Africa. under the influence of the gospel. Except Bishop Crowther, who returns to the Niger, and one lady for Lagos, all the forty·five -A revival of Hinduism is taking place in taken leave of are for Asia-Palestine, Persia, Madras Presidency, India. In the past the India, China, and Japan. Eight of the new re- Hindus have looked on the efforts of the cmits are university men. Sir J. Kennaway, missionaries with contempt or indifference. Bart, M. P. (presiden t), presided over a large Now they are becoming alarmed at the gathering of friends and supporters, and on be- progrbss of Christianity, and are opposing half of the society and the meeting bade the it by every means in their power. They missionaries Godspeed. have formed U preaching societies" and u tract societies," and are fighting for Hin- -The latest outburst of "Paganism" in England is an arrai!(nment of missions as a duism by the methods which have proved "failure." Canou Taylor last year made a sen- .'tiou b111 laudatiou of Islam as a system of so effecti ve for the spread of Christianity in English missionaries, it reports the astoundthe hands of the missionaries. ing number of 838 native ordained ministerll, and 4,005 native preachers, 61,000 chur"h Japan.-The Christian converts increased members and 280,000 adh~ents. But as yet 50 per cent. last year, till they number over scarcely one-half of the population has 7,000, with more young people seeking in- been reached by the gospel. struction than ever before. Contributions of Japanese Christians the past year for lIfexico.-Mexico is a Christian conntry, educational and religious objects amount yet Bishop Hurst of the Methodist Episto over $41,000; and not only professed copal Church says that in Mexico 8,000,000 Christians give, but others who see the have never seen a copy of the Holy Scripwork in progress, especially parents, for the tures. sake of the moral culture 'obtained in our New ]lexico.-The South American Mis_ schools. Mr. Neesima reports $3i.ooo sub- sionary Society has started a new missiou in Pa.ragua.y under encouraging circum… scribed by a few Japanese gentlemen, in- stances. cluding tw ' of the highest officials of the government, toward the enlargement of the New Guinea is one of the most interesting Doshisha school into a Christian university. points in the world's missionary work at Count Okuma, minister of foreign affairs, present. A few years ago the whole people Count Inouye, late minister of foreign af- were the worst lotof cannibals known. Now fairs, but who has recently returned to the many of them are receiving the gospel, and cabinet as a minister of agriculture and a change is rapidly coming over the island. commerce, have subscribed l,OOO yen each. Viscount Aoki, vice-minister of state. gives New Zealand.-New Zealand, as a matter 500 yen, while six other prominent officials of fact, is evangelized. Christianity has and bankerc have given together 28,500 yen. not failed of success in a single island. In India and elsewhere they had to gather the -The number of converts in the Japan converts one by one, but in New Zealand a Mission of the American Board has in- movement set in, and great numbers came creased in fifteen months from 4,226 to forward; its advance was almost like a bush 7,093, a gain of 2,801. This ie. the most re- fire. The number of native clergy at presmarkable record in any mission of the ent laboring there is qnite three times what Board, except the Sandwich,Isbnds. they had previously been. These are not supported by money from home, bnt by the -Awakening. The Rev. A. B. Hntchlnson, contributions and endowments of their own C.M,S., Nagasaki, says: .. In this remote people.-Bishop Stuart, D.D., of Waiapu. corner of distant Japan there is an awakening and inquiry after the truth which have Scotland. – A recent number of The already resulted in the baptism of over 200 Scottish Geographical Magazine has papers converts, principally adults, in the northern dealing with subjects specially engaging the part of Kiushiu, which is the portion allotted attention of the friends of missions. Not to to me as my special sphere of work. Others speak of Mr. H. O. Forbes's paper on .. Atare being prepared for admission into the tempts to Reach the Owen Stanley Peak," fold of Christ. My fellow-worker on the which goes over ground occupied by the eastern side of Kiushiu, Rev. J. B. Brandram, New Guinea Mission of the London Missionanc1 our brethren of the Presbyterian and ary Society, we have notes on .. Recent Ex- American Episcopal Methodist missions, are plorations in the Territories of the African rejoicing over similar proofs that the gospel Lakes Company," by E. G. RavenBtein, is still the power of God uuto salvat,ion to F.R.G.S., with a map of the territory, at everyone that believeth. I would ask 'ear- this moment of more than usual interest, nest prayer for the workers in this land." between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, far in advance of anything that has y+t been -According to The Ohinese Recorder the given of that region of Africa. There is need of Japan at the present moment is also a very graphic account of .. Lnkoma," 1,000 preaching missionaries. Out of 100 an island in Lake Nyassa. by Archdeacon ordained missionaries, only thirty are en- Maples, F.R.G.S., the headquarters of a gaged in preaching. Some Buddhist priests hopeful branch of the Universities Mission have taken snch titles as bishop and rever- in Central Africa. The Archdeacon,like his end, and a Professor of the Old Testament chief, Bishop Smythies, warmly commends has been engaged by the Kioto Buddhist the work of the Scottish Mis~ion~ on the college. There is a crying demand for lady Lake, referring to the members of the teachers for women of rank, and also for Established Church of Scotland at Blantyre Christian teachers for pri vate and govern- as competent translators of the Scriptures, ment schools. This is as tr..e of India as of and to the Buchanan brothers as the enter- Japan. prising missionary-colonists at Zomba. His account of the work of his own mission at Madagascar. – The London Missionary Lukoma is most instr,uctive, showing how Society continues to push its work here with the missionaries in their mission ship, increasing success, notwithstanding the political changes and the aggressive atti- OharleS Janson, rea.ch the coa.st villa.ges to tude of the Church of Rome. Witu its 30 the south, holding classes for inquirers and he was for more than thirty years superin_ preaching the gospel to the people who tendent of tbe Sabbath-school of the First come out to hear. Presbyterian Church, Augusta, Ga.
Syria.-The first volume of Dr. Eddy's -A Gift '-_ Books. The author and pub. Arabic Commentary on the New Testament, in lishersof "ThA Crisis of Missionst'~ Rev. Dr. chIding Matthew and Mark, has been published Pierson and Robert Carter & Brothers, have in a book of nearly six hundred pages. offered to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions a second thousand copies for gratu. -The Abeih field hasa force of 50 workers, 89 itousdistribution. These will be sentprompt. ly by the Board, postpaid,to all who will order being teachers and alicensed preachers. There them witb the understanding that they are to be read and loaned to others. A thousand are 4 'organized churches, with a membership copies have been offered by the same parties of 297, 24 having beeu added during the past to the American Board. year. Regular preacking services are maiutained at 18 places. There are 20 Sabbatho -'ii, M, C. A. The eleventh World's Y. schools, with 980 scholars; 43 high and com· M, Co A. Conference, at Stockholm, in mon schools enroll 1,681 scholars. The total August, showed the American continent at contributions for benevolence and education the front of this great work. The United amouuted to $2,308. States and Canada, taken togetber, report 1,240 associations and 152,721 members. -The Death of Dr. Meshaka, of the Jewish Canada organized the first association on mission in Damascus, is a great loss. Says the the American continent in Montreal on the Presbyterian Messenger, London: 9th of December, 1851. The choice is to be between Amsterdam and Paris for tbe •• He was, perhaps, the oldest Protestant twelfth World's Y. M. C. A. Convention. Christian in Syria, and exerted a powerful influence for good. He was respected by his -Christian Endeavor. The report of the townsmen of all classes and creedS, and his Seventh Annual Convention of the Society of funeral was the largest eVer Seen in Damascus. Christian Endeavor gives the very rapid growth The streets, windows and housetops were of this movement within two or three year., uncrowded all the way through the city, and eveu til it numbers over five thousand societies with outside the gate vast crowds were assembled." Over three hundred thousand members (while scores of new societies are being formed every 1'urkey.-Government opposition to all evan- week in all denominations). This indicates a gelical inlluences is manifested in restrictive widespread desire and need for that which in legislation towards the mission schools, and in in- some degree at least is met by this organization. terference with the personal liberty of native The United Society of Christian Endeavor asks teachers, and sometimes of missionaries. Mr. no allep;iance, exercises no authority, levies no Straus, the American minister at Constantino- taxes. It simply exists to give information, ple,is ably guarding the interests submitted to his aud to aid the societies, by giving them the best care, and his efforts are warmly appreciated by methods by which young people can be traiued the missions, and are worthy of hearty commen- for usefulness in the Church. Its affairs are dation. • . . Colleges at Aintab, Harpoot, managed by representatives of the evangelical and Marsovan, almost the only schools of this denominations. grade in the Turkish Empire, the great numher of boarding-schools for boys and girls.in all -Protestant Episcopal Missions. The 20th these missions, and the far greater number of annual session of the Missionary Council day-schools taught by graduates of these higher of the Protestant Episcopal Church was recentschools, are far superior to all other schools of ly held in Washington, D. C. About 250 delethe same grade in the land, and are steadily gates were present. Tbe report of the Board pervading the life of the whole people with the of Managers of the Domestic and Foreign sentiments and examples of the Christian faith. Missionary Society showed that the SOCiety The theological seminaries at Marsovan, Har- has in foreign lands 41 priucipal and 145 poot, and Marash are quietly raising their stand- ont stations, an increase of 37 since last year; ards according to the growing needs of the field that it has 133 missionaries and 227 native and the better class of candidates for the min- helpers in the field. an increase of about 60; istry furnished by the colleges.-Report to the that it has 91 day and boarding schools, an in- American Roard. crease of 12, and 3,364 pupils, an iucrease of "193. At the hospitals and dispensaries in Japan and United States.-Magnificent Gift for Freed- China 16,331 individuals were treated during the men. Securities to the amount of $1,000,- year. The treasurer's report shows a balance 894.25 ha.ve been placed in the hands of the of $53,000 to the credit of foreign missions. treasurer of the American IIlissionary Asso- The report of the Woman'8 Auxiliary to the ciation' by Mr. Daniel Hand of Ciinton, Board of Missions showed that the gifts in Conn. The interest of this munificent gift money and boxes this year amount to $276,154. is to be spent every year in the education of the colored youth of the South, and is -Inter-Seminary Alliance. The meeting given by one who for many years was in held in Boston this year was the largest of the business in the South. He has had a pur- gatherings of this association ever held. It was pose to devote his fortune to this work for the ninth convention. Five hundred young men a long time, and has fulfilled it in the clos- from the seminaries were reported to be p"esing years of bis life. He is now in the ent. The papers presented were valuable. Drs. eighty-ninth year of his age. It is said that Herrick Johnson, Phillips Brooks, A. J. Gordon and Joseph Cook stirred the bearts of these young men.
STATISTICS OF TBE WORLD'S MISSIONS
VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
BRITISH OONTRIBUTIONS TO FOREIGN MISSIONS, 1887.
[WE are indebted to Rev. W. A. Scott Robertson, Hon. Canon of Canterbury and Vicar of Throwley, England, for these highly interesting statistics, summarized and analyzed.-EDs.] Summary of British Contributions to Foreign Missions, 1887.
Church of England Societies (Table No. I.)•…..•…………………•..•••….••……. £461,236· Joint Societies of Churchmen and Nonconformists (Table No. II.). ……….. … ………. 187,048 English and Welsh Nonconformist Societies (Table No. III.) ………………………… 367,115 Scotch and Irish Presbyterian Societies (Table No. IV.)…………………………….. 202,940 , – – – Roman Catholic Societies (Table No. V.)………………………………………….. 10,420 Total British Contributions for 1887………………………………………… £1,228,759 N. B.-This total does not include any fund.• derived from Rents, Dividends, or Interest, nor Balances in kand from the previ0U8 year, nor any Foreign Contributions. ANALYSIS OF THE RECEIPTS, 1887.
Table No. I. Foreign Missions of the Church of England.
Analysis of Receipts.
From Abroad British When & from In- Contri- Founded. Name of each Society, and Total Amount of Receipts for 1887. "estmeuts. butions.
1799 …. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £221,330 (in addition to £48,604 received at Mission Stations). British Contributions………………………………………… . £207,704 Borne Receipts from Churchmen Abroad …………. , ….•……… £1,075 Dividends, Interest, and Rents. . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . ……………..••• 12,551 No B.-This Society maintain8 the Church Missionary College at Isltngt(}n, which it founded in 1825. 1701. ••. S00IETY FOR THE PRoPAGATION OF TilE GoSPEL, £112,245. British Contributions ……………………………………….. . 9~,811 Borne Receipts from Churchmen Abroad………………………. . 3,388 Dividends, Interests, and Rents ………………………………. . 10,051 1808 ….LONDON SOCIli:TY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS, Brft~!~~ontributions……………………………………….. .. Borne Receipts from Churchmen Abroad……••..•……..••…•..••• 1,090 28,174 Dividends, Interest, etc………………………………….•…… 2,700 1880…•CHURCH OF ENGLAND ZENANA MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £23,268. British Contributions………………………………………… . '22,674 From Abroad ………………………………………………. . 594 1823….COLON[AL AND CONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY, £37,673. British Contribntions ……………………… , • •……………. . 18,395 Raised and Ex-pended Abroad ……••………………….•……… 19,237 Dividends, Interest, etc•……….•……………………….•…•.• 41 1698 …. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, £33,699 (in addition to £79,000 derived from trading).
Portion paid in aid of Foreign Mission work, about …………….. . 12,000 1860…. CENTRAL AFRICAN MISSION ON THE UNIVERSITIES, £13,285. British Contributions ……………………………………….. . From Abroad ………………………………………………. . 399 12,169 Intere"t ……………………………………… ; …………. . 717 1844…. SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £12,215. British Contribntions…. . …………………………………… . Raised and Expended Abroad …………………………………• 3,470 8,745 1870…. MISSIONARY LEAVES ASSOCIATION (aiding Native Clergy of the Church MIssionary Society), £8,348.
British Contributions……………….. . …………………… . 8,315 Dividends………………………………………………….. . 33 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE CHURCH AID SOCIETY, £4,787. British Contributions………………………………………… . From Abroad and Sales ……………………………………… . 115 4,672 1865 ….LAPrE.' ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING FEMALE EDUCATION AMONG THE HEATHEN, £:;,188 (included above in the S. P. G. total), 1860…• BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS, £4,196.
British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 4,010 Grants and Interest ……………………………………….. . 186 MELANESIAN MISSION, £4,703.
British Contributions …………………………………….. . 2,215 From Abroad……… ……………………….. …………….. 2,488 1841. … COLONIAL BISHOPRICS' FuND, £12,546.
British Contribution………………………………………. . 495 Dividends and Interest…………………………………….. 11,437 Grant from S. P. C. K. and S. P. G………………………… ••• 614 1869 …•"THE NET' 8" collections, £2,084. For McKenzie Memorial Mission …………………………… . 110 1,311 For other Funds …………………………………………… . 663 1883 …•CENTRAL AGENC.i FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS, £1,646.
Sums not herein included in the totals of other Societies, about 385 1848….ST. AUGUSTINE'S MISSIONARY COLLEGE (exclUSive of Endowments for a Warden, a Sub-Warden and three.Fellows), £2,862.
From Missionary Studentship AssoCIations•..••.•…•..•..•••••.• 2,251 From Funded ExhibItions, ••••• , •••• , •••• , •• , .. ,., ••••• " •• , …… . 611 ,An-a_ly_sis_oJf-R_e-c-e-ip-t.s.. , From Abroad British When & from In- Contri- Fonnded. Name of each Society. and Total Amount of Receipts for 1887. ,estments. butions.
1860 ..• .CORAL MISSIONARY FUND (to aid Schools and Catechists of Church £22 £952 98~ l1i"sionary Society), £974. 69 997 British Contributions…………….. ………………………. 2,176 570 Interest……………………………………………………. 442 1840…. FOREIGN AID SOCIETY (for France, B"lgium. Italy and Spain)…….. 300 18M .. .. ANGLO-CONTINENTAL SOCIETY. about.. …………………………. 1867 …. DELBI MEDICAL MIS~ION TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN, about. ……… 437,236 1877 …. CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI………….. ……………….. …….. 1691 …. CHRISTIAN FAITH SOCIETY FOR THE WEST INDIES (Rents)…… ……. 24,000 COLUMBIA MISSION, about……………………………………….. Tot;al amount of Donations, Legacies and Annual Subscriptions from the British Isles to the Societies above named for 1887… ESTIMATED VALUE of other gifts sent direct to Mission Stations, or gathered specially for Missionary dioceses, schools or Zenana work………………………………………………
Total for Church of England Foreign Missione. 1887 …………. . £461,236 Table No. II. Foreign Missions-Joint Societies of Churchmen and Non- conformists-A. D. 1887.
1804…. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOOIETY, £147,881 (in addition to £102,443 derived ('rom sales) Devoted to Foreign Mission Work, abont………………………. £89,000 1799 …. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, £Z9,J40 (exclusive of £170,950 derived from 16,812 29,961 Trade). 9,883 Devoted to Foreign Mission Work…………………………….. 8,109 1866…. CHINA INLAND MISSION, £J3,717. 5,171 , British Cvntribntions ………•.•……. ;………………………. 4,626 From Abroad ……………………………………………….. £3,756 6,000 18fi2 …. INDIAN FEMALE NORMAL SOCIETY, £9,995 …………. :……………. 112 3,274 184ll…. BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE 3,100 JEWS, £~,183 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,……… 74 1,517 2;595 1834 …. S0CIETY FOR PROMOTING FEMALE EDUCATION IN TIlE EAST, £6,249 (in 7,00« addition to needlework sent abroad, valued at £.,306). £187,04~ British Coutributions……….. ………………………………
Dividend", etc., £931; Grants, £147.. .. ….. . .. .. . . . .. . . . …. . . .. . . .. 1,078 1732 …. MORAVIAN (EPISCOPAL) MISSIONS OF THE UNITED BRETHREN, £16,803.
British ContributlOns ………………. , …… ,………………..
1872 …. EAST LONDON INSTITUTE FOR HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS, £11,592.
Portion de·oted to Livingstone Mission and other Foreign Mission Work, abont ……………… , .. , ………….. ,…….. ……..
)858 …. CHRISTIAN VERNACULAR EDUCATION SOCIETY FOR INDIA, £4,742 (in addition to £4,904 received in India from sales).
British Contributions…………………………………………
Grants and Contributions in India ……………………………. '.' 1,402 Interest…………………….. .. ……………………….. …. 66 W ALDE:r{8IAN MISSIONS AID FUND.
English and Irish Contributions, about…………. ……………… TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCtEl'Y, £1,5~1 (iu addition to £456 from sales).
British Contributions ………………….. '" …………………. Interest .. _…………………………………………. _.. , ….. 4 1856.•.. TURKISH MISSIONS (FROM AMERICA) AID SOCIETy…….. ………….
ESTIMATJIlD VALUE of other contribntions in money and in needlework, &c………….. ……………. ……………. …………………
Total amount of British Contributions through Unscctarian or Joint Societies of Churchmen and Nonconformists for 1887…… ……….
Table No. III. Foreign Missions of English and Welsh Nonconformists, 1887.
1813…. WESLEYAN MISSIC:l1ARY SOCIETY, £133,303 (in addition to £58,827, raised and expended in Mission Stations).
British Contributions … _……………………………. , …… . £119,898 From Abroad …………………………………………….. . £7,035 Dividends and IntereRt …………………………………….. . 6,370 1795 …. LoNDON MISSIONARY SoOIETY, £146,410.
British Contributions ……….. , . . 0 ………………………… . 118,554 Raised Abroad .. _ ………………………………………… .. 23,716 Dividends and Interest ……………………………………. .. 4.140 1792….BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £7;;,058.
British Contributions ……………………………………… . 56,173 Raised Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,3.31 Dividends,Interest1 etc…………………………………… . 1,534 1855 …. ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISSIONS, £13,450.
British Contributions……………………………………… . 13.400 From Abroad. etc…………………………………………. .. 50 For Women's l'lission Fund see below.
1867 …… FRIENDS" FnREIGN MISSION ASSOCIATION. £8,964.
British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 8,529 Dividends and Interest……………….. . ………………… . 435 1832 .••. WESLEYAN LADIES' AUXILIARY FOR FEMALE EDUCATION, £7,529.
British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 7.347 Interest I'nd I' Grant..• , .. , …… , ……… , …………… , … , .. . 182 Analysis o.f Receipts.
From Abroad British When & from In- Contri· Founded. Name of each Society, and Total Amonnt of Receipts for 1887. vestments. bntions. 1~56 …. UNITED ME1'HODIST FREE CHURCHES' FOREIGN MISSIONS, £17,475. British Contril:>utioDS………………………………………. £7,722 Raised Abroad. . . . . . . .. •• . . . • . . . .. •• . • . . . . .. . • .. . … . . • . . .. . . ….. £9,753 1840 .••. WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS FOREIGN M,SSIONARY SOCIETY, £.,bll. British Contributions…………………………………….. . 5,118 From Abroad………………………………………………. 2,332 Interest, etc………………………………………… ……. 361 1817 …. GENERAL BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £8,107. 4,735 British Contributions……………………………………… .
From Abroad…………. ………………………………….. 3,181 Interest, etc……………………………………………….. 191 METHODIST NEW CONNECTION FOREIGN MISSIONS, £3,782. British Contributions……………………………………… . 3,210 From Abroad ……………………………………………… . 464 Grants £61, Interest £47…………………………………… .. 108 1845…. EVANGELICAL CONTINENTAL SOCIETY, £2,208. British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 2,194 Interest, etc ………………………………………………. . 14 1836…. COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £6,314 ……………………………. . 6,053 British Contributions ………………………………………." . Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 190 Interest, etc ….. " ………………………………………….. , 71 1,829 h FRIENDS" MISSION IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE . ……………….. .
PRIMITIVE METHODIST COLONIA.L MISSIONS, about …….. .., … : ……. . 2,000 PRIMITIVE METHODIST AFRICAN MISSION, £2,154 ………………….. .
British Contributions………………………………………… . 2,042 F'rolD Abroad" .. .. . . ……. … . …………………………….. . 112 ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN'S MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION, £2,356.
British Contributions………………………………………. . 2,311 .
Interest …………………………………………………… .. 45 ESTIMATED VALUE of needlework sent to mission Stations, and other un· reported Contributions. …. ….. . …………………………. .. ~,ooo Total British Contribntions throngh English and Welsh Nonconform- ist Societies for 1887…….. …………………………………. £367,115 Table. No. IV. Foreign Missions of Scotch and Irish Presbyterians.
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSIONS, £102,112.
, (British Contribntions .. £35,488 F orel.gn "JIU,SS.lOns ………………………. 1J SFcrohomolAFbereosaadn.d..G..r.a.n.t.s £5,465 2~,053 LInterest …………. .. 5,792 Ladies' Society for Female Edncation………………………….. . Jews' Conversion Fund ……………………………………… . 11,005 921 6,706 Continental Fund ………………………………………….. .. 130 5,116 Colonial Mission……………………………………………. . UNITIW PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISS[ONS, £57,465. 63 3,373 General Fund.. { British Contributions and Legacies…………. . 48,309 Interest, etc……………………………….. 4,077 CZeonnatinnaenMtaislsaionnd.C..o.l.o.n..i.a.L……………………………………l…………………………………. .. 931 J CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION BOARDS, £55,709. 4,148 British Contrioutions ………………….. . Foreign Missions. '1 rna{::~st~.~~~~'.~~.~~~.l. ~~~.s.'.~.~~~.t.~,. ~.t.~ .. :" 10,~: 24,481 Jewish Mission ……………………………………… , ……. . 1,131 7,165 Colonial ",nd Continental Missions………………………….. . 11 4,938 Ladies' Association for Foreign Missions… …………………. 5,721 Ladies' Association for Educating Jewish Girls…….. ……… 811 1,117 1864…. NATIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, £16,077 (in addition to £16,439 500 15,266 from sales). 6,481 British Contributions …………………………………….. .. Interest …………………………………………………. .. 3,000 1841 …. EDINBURGH MEDICAL 1I1ISSIONARY SOCIETY, £6,981. 1,300 British Contributions ……………………………………. .. • 774 Interest …………………………………………………… . 3.000 W ALDENSIAN MISSIONS AID FUND, abou t …………………………. . 18.",1 .•.. LEBANON SCHOOLS, about ………………………………………. .
1,s'j'1, … OR.IGINAL SECESSION CHURCH'S INDIAN MISSION, about …… _………. .
ESTIMATED VALUE of other Scottish Contributions ……………. ..
Total Scottish Presbyterian Contributions, 1887…………… . £188,319 IRISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS, £18,500. 2,053 6,098 British Contributions…………… .. 285 274 3,553 Foreign Missions, £8,710 .. School Fees and Grant.s …………. . 3 2,800 { From Abroad. .. .. .. .. . .. .. … . ….. . 1,'719 Interest………………………… .. 97 288 Jevish Mission ……. o • o • o ••••••••••••••• _0 ••• 0 ••••••••••••••••••••• 1,167' 163 Ladi..s' Female Missionary Society…………………………. . Colonial Mission….. ' ………………………………………. . £202,940 Gujarat Orphanage ……………….• o •••••••••••••••• •••••••••• _ Continental Mission ………………………………………… . Mrs. Magee's Indian Education Fund (interest)……………… .
Total British Contributions through Scottish and Irish Pres- byterian Societies for 1887 ……………………………. .
NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
Table No. V. Foreign Missions of British Roman Catholics, 1887.
Founded. British Contributions. ASSDCll'rION FOR 'rHE PROPAGA'rION OF THE 'FAITH, £8,760. England …………………………………………………………….. £1,883 Ireland. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . …. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . .. … . . . . .. .. .. .. . . . .. .. … .. .. .. .. 6.572 Scotland. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . … 30li N.B.-7'he total 'income of the Roman Propagnndafor 1887, collected fl'Ome1lery diocese in Christendom, amounted to 6,462,276francs .. i. e., about £258,491. 1870.•.•ST. JOSEPH'S FOltEIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY A,l'm COLLEGE, at Mill HIli, Hendon. 1,660 Total. …………………………………………………………… £10,420 SUMMARY FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS.
TOTAL BRITISlI CONTRffiUTIONS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS.
1871 …………………………….. £855,742 1880 ……………………………. £1,108,950 )872…………………………….. 882,886 1881. ……………………………. 1,093,569 18T& …………………………….. 1.03:!,176 1874 …………………………….. 1,009,199 1882 ……………………………. 1,191,175 1875… , …………………………. 1,048,408 1883 …………………………….. 1,216,530 1876 … , …………………………. 1.018.472 18~4 …………………………….. 1,220,861 1877…………………………….. 1,100.793 1885 ……………… , ……………. 1,228.951 1878 …………………………….. 1,071 ,944 1886 …………………………….. 1,195,714 1887 …………………………….. 1,228,759 1879 …………. , .. , ….. , ………… 1,086,678 VIII.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Earl of Aberdeen. man in the House of Lords and at the same time moving as a benefac- THE Earl of Aberdeen, whose pic- tor among the common people ! We ture forms our frontispiece, was hon- are pleased to be able to put before ored by the presidency of the great our readers the "counterfeit pre- Conference of Missions in London, sentment" of a man noble in a douwhich began June 9, 1888. ble sense, perhaps the nearest to the late Earl of Shaftesbury of any of He is a man comparatively in.his the many lords of England, and youth-we judge not over thirty-five whose lady is not a whit behind him years of age-with black hail' and in true nobility of character. eyes, a slender figure, and a nervous temperament. While speaking he As president of the Conference he moves from side to side, rests on one performed the duties of the chair foot at a time, frequently crossing with much g'l'ace and manifest pleasone leg over the other; is by no ure, and right cordially welcomed means a flueut speaker 01' a great the delegates in' a brief speech. He orator. But his character and life aLso entertained the Conference at his are his standing oration. He is country seat a few miles from London. known among his countrymen as a Our readers, we are confident, will be man foremost in every good word glad to look upon his face. A. T. P. and work, a friend and patron of all benevolent societies and institu- The Slave Trade in Eastern Afrioa. tions, While other landed proprietors are using their immense estates IT begins to look as if the hour had for their own emolument, grinding struck for the suppression of this their poor tenants into more abject curse of curses! For the first time poverty, and while the wretched in history there is a coalition formed crpfter system leaves the land which of the great powers of Europe effectthe tenant has improved and e,"en ually to stop a traffic that for centhe hut he has built to revert to the turies has been the scandal of Chrislandlord when the term of the ap- tendom, and has entailed untold prenticeship expires, the Earl of Ab- miseries and horrors upon Africa. Competent witnesses testify that the erdeen is enabling his tenants to be- trade was never carried on more excome owners of their own little farms tensively than at the present time, and houses, parceling out his own nor with greater cruelty and sacrifice estates among his tenantry. What of life.
a blessing- to Britain to have such a Against this enormous and iniquitous trade the British Government prosperous, there was a disposition has waged a single-handed and al- to regard the activity of England in most useless warfare for half a cen- the same quarter with jealousy, and tury. Her vessels have pursued the there was ground to suspect that slavers wherever they have been the value of British co·operation found. She has kept' them in con- was not thought of till the A~ab stant fear and mitigated the evils of slave traders had proved more than the trade, but has not succeeded in a match for the company. breaking it up; indeed there has of late years been a revival of it. With England's support secured, Thank God, several of the other the circle of the alliance was com- European powers have now agreed pleted by assurances of assistance to assist in the good work. The first from Italy, Austria, France, Belsuggestion for a movement of this gium, Russia, Greece, and, last of character is credited to the Nor-th all, Portugal, in maintaini.ng a naval Ger-man Gazette, a paper which is blockade of the East African coast. supposed to be the mouthpiece of For a century or more Portugal Prince Bismarck. Recently an article has been the greatest European appeared in the Gazette which stated helper of the slave trade, having not tbat the Arab slave hunters werp not only not interfered with the slave only the curse of the native tribes hunters, but encouraged them by but a menace to the English, the putting difficulties in the way ofthose Belgians, and the Germans, and to who attempted to do so. For years the work of civilization carried on by England has endeavored to force a those nations. Hitherto, it was said, reversal of her policy. but Portugal's England had been the only power very weakaess has protected her. and that had made any effort to put a she has only yielded now reluctantly stop to the slave trade. The work, and when the pressure has become however, was too large for any sin- irresistible. gle people. "Only by co-operation can the. civilized nations concerned Among the methods of action sugsucceed in putting a stop to a state gested by these powers for the supof things which is a disgrace to our pression of the slave traffic, the most century, and we may confidently practicable, under the present cirhope that the German as well as the cumstances, is the establishment of English people will prove equal to a naval patrol along the coast of the the task which is here imposed upon Red Sea and as far south as the them alike by the sacred principles southern boundary of Zanzibar. This of religion and of humanity." In coast is now controlled for the most other words, Germany invited .Eng. part by England, Germany and Porland to join her in putting down tugal, and these three power;; might the slave trade-the invitation being together form a most effectual b.lockback~d up by a subsequent proposal ade against the slave ships touching which seems to suggest that the at Eastern ports. If these outlets anti-slavery crusade started by Car- are permanently closed and the slave dinal Lavigerie might be advantage- traders cut off from all their princiously used as the basis for common pal markets, the traffic must soon action. come to an end of itself. J. M. S.
What stirred up Germany to make THE refusal of the American Gov- . this proposal were the troubles lately ernment to unite with other great experienced by the German settlers powers in putting an end to the drink and traders on the East African coast. traffic, so utterly destructive of piety, So long as the affairs of the Ger- morals, human happiness and human man East" African Company were life in the Western Pacific, may well arouse all true men and women to a vigorous remonstrance. In Polynesia This evil of drink is so mighty and the native races are in danger of ex- so increasing that the most strenuous termination by the" unrestricted use exertions should be at once put forth of firearms, ammunition, dynamite, and especially intoxicating drinks." to at least prevent its fiuding new fields for its destructive and demoI,li- acal work with the countenance of u.
For the sake of the profits accruing Christian government. A. T. P from this infamous business traders The Brazilian Synod. pus!} their trade and thrust "firewater" upon these poor savages. IT is doubtless known to our read- ers that the last General Asseml,ly Then these ignorant and degraded of the Presbyterian Church appointed and half brutal people. maddened by Drs. J. Aspin wall Hodgeand Charles drink, act like madmen, and use E. Knox to assist iIi the organization murderous weapons and explosives with fearful recklessness. Is it any of the independent Union Synod of ~onder that Christian missions Brazil, representing both the Northmake but little progress among ern and- the i:::louthern Presbyterian them? What head way can the most Church. While these two branches heroic labors make when offset by a of the great Presbyterian family at home were not ready to come to- gether again as one, the mission churches of both and the missiona- diabolical intoxicant that unseats ries of both, in "Brazil, earnestly reason from her throne and turns the sought a union, which has been haphuman body into a stronghold of Satan and sets every power and pily accomplished. The occasion was one of intense and memorable inter- est, and the Union Synod will un- passion on fire of hell! Austria i doubtedly become a great power in and Germany, Russia and France, that kingdom. The delegates came and even Protestant England and America, join hands in this nefarious back full of enthusiasm, which they have imparted to several of thegr~at home synods.
traffic. To such a terrible extent has .. It is a grand truth, when one fully compre. hends and measnres it," says The Church at it gone that an effort to terminate it Home and Abroad, .. that another independent was inaugurated through the "sim- Presbyterian body las been created in the world by purely missionary work. Five months ago ultaneous and united agreement of the Presbyterian Chnrch of PerSia, also a child of missions, was taken into the fellowship of the all the powers interested." Lord Presbyterian Alliance in London. Now the Granville, the Eng-lish Foreign Secre- second, the offspring of the Presbyterian Boards North and South, is ready to be added to the tary, the prime mover in the under- Alliance; and by the time that the next quad- rennial meeting of that body shall be held in taking, received favorable answers • Toronto we hope that there may be still others from all the governments except the ready for admission."
United States, which should have Fr.om the letter of our Editorial Correspondent at Chefoo, China, Rev. been prompt to respond and to Dr. Nevius, elsewhere given, we learn second the laudable movement with- that one of the important questions out regard to the money interests of discussed by the Synod of China, at traders. Secretary Bayard has here- its recent session, was the union of tofore taken high moral grounds in his state papers, but the Christian all missions in the empire holding sentiment and conscience of the na- the Presbyterian system of doctrine and form of government. A com- mittee, consisting of A. P. Happel', tion demand a better and more posi- D.D., John L. Nevius, D.D., and Rev. George F. Fitch, with an equal numtive answer than the following, of ber of native brethren, wasappoi'lted to correspond with the representaour Secretary of State: tives of the other" consulting" mis- sionary bodies laboring in China, and "While recognizing and highly approving the to propose a meeting of delegates moral force and general propriety of the pro- from all such bodies at Shanghai in posed regnlations, and the responsibility of con- 1890 during the meeting of the Misducting such traffic nnder proper restrictions, sionary Conference already arranged the government of the trnited States does not· for. Another forward step in the feel entirely prepared to join in the international interest of union on mission ground nnderstanding proposed, and will. therefore, for the present, restrain its action to the employ- J. M. S_ ment, in the direction ontlined by the snggested arrangement, of a sonnd discretion in permitting traffic between its own citizens referred to, .and the natives of the Western Pacific Islands."