The Missionary Review of the World — April 1895
ADONIRAM JUDI!ION GOBDON, D.D
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
V~L. XVIII. No. 4.-0ld Series.-APRIL.-VoL. VIII. No. '.-Hem Series.
REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON GORDON, D.D.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
While life lasts, delicacy, if not propriety, restrains the tribute to exalted worth. Love keeps her costliest ointment for the burial, and then breaks her alabaster flask. The tongue is no longer sealed with the seal of silence.
When, at midnight of Friday, February 1st, Dr. Gordon's spirit left his body, one of the greatest and best men of this generation went up higher. It was, like the death of Spurgeon, three years before, the uprooting of one of Lebanon's giant cedars, and the vacant place is correspondingly vast, which such uprooting leaves behind. Fifty ordinary men might have been withdrawn without occasioning such widespread sense of irreparable loss.
Dr. Gordon was, in an exalted sense, a great man. His intellect was of no common order. He had genius, the creative faculty, as well as tal-' ant, the administrative; capable of origination as well as organization. He had the versatility which would have won distinction in other spheres beside the ministry. Had he been a judge', he would have rivalled Sir Matthew Hale for judicial equity and probity;, had he been a trained musician, he might have given to the world oratorios like those of Handel and Haydn; had he indulged his passion for poetry, he might have left epics as well as lyrics behind him, worthy to stand beside Milton's. He could have ruled an empire with the ability of a Cresar, the dignity of a Charlemagne, the urbanity of an Alfred. Only those who knew him best would be able to confirm this judgment, for but few read the man and recognized his real greatness. He was habitually retiring and reticent, and revealed his inmost self only to a few with whom he deeply sympathized, and who held fast the great truths which were to him the cardinal points in his spiritual horizon. Only such were competent to measure him.
He was greatest in his humility. Human standards reckon growth by progress from infancy toward manhood; but, in God's eyes, the truest advance il!l found in a perpetual return toward childhood j we "'Te to. become ae little children. As J. Hudson Taylor says, " God's man moves toward the cradle; it is the little ones that get the Divine fondling and are carried in the Father's arms."
Coleridge sagaciously hints that the highest accompaniment of genius, in the moral sphere, is the carrying forward of the feelings of childhood and youth into the period of manhood and age. Dr. Gordon, beyond almost any man I ever knew, while he put away childish things, kept the child-like traits to the last-nay, grew in childlikeness, so that, when most a man, he was also most a cllild. His whole life and speech'; his habitual temper and disposition, incarnated the filial spirit; he practised the presence of God, as Isaac Taylor would have phrased it, and his eyes were unto the Father, daily waiting for guidance. He haa little need of bit or bridle to bring him to yielding submission: God's glances were all the reins he required.
Certain it is that he was "great in the eyes of the Lord." lIe had the higher genius of go~dness. Such generosity and gentleness, such unconscious unselfishness, such suavity and courtesy, such humaneness and tenderness, are seldom combined in any man. And yet his goodness was never to the abatement of firmness in maintaining principle. His uprightness was inflexible, and, when need arose, intrepid. Here again he was like the late pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, in London-that modern Joshua, whose hand could carry the grapes of Eshcol with a touch so dainty and delicate as not to disturb their bloom; yet which same hand could, when occasion demanded, seize the sword of the Lord and utterly destroy the Anakim from before Him.
Vhoever knew Dr. Gordon to shrink when conscience commanded him to testify I And yet he was so gentle and genial, even in witnessing to unpopular truth, that one of his opponents confessed that he would rather hear Dr. Gordon speak what was not according to his mind than to hear any other man discourse what he liked aud agreed with.
He died at fifty-eight, like Spurgeon before him; but he was not cut off in the midst of his days, if such a phrase implies any disastrous failure of incompleteness. It grows upon us that his character and life had rounded out into singularly symmetrical and spherical perfection.
In the beauty of his Christian character, culture, conduct, nothing seems wanting. He had grown to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Even Patience, 1hat last and ripest of graces, had her perfect work. The whole communion of believers can, perhaps, present no one man more mature in godliness and usefulness. He was a ripe fruit, which God simply reaclled down and plucked, as though He would have a closer taste of it at His own banquet board above. There was such a heavenly light on his face that it seemed like a transfiguration begun; and as we beheld llim sitting on the platform at his late twenty-fifth anniversary, one verse came irresistibly to mind: "And all they that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face, as it had been the face of an angel." .
Dr. Gordon was, first of all, the preacher And teacher, and here he was at his best. His pulpit was his throne. He was one of God's modern seers-essentially a prophet in his insight if not his foresight. He magni- fied his office, and he sanctified it. How reverently he handled the Word of God! To him the Scriptures were the infallible, inspired Divine Oracles.
Other truth he believed because he understood it ; God's truth he under- stood because he believed it. Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowl- edge. He long since sought absolutely to yield himself to the Holy Spirit, and his eyes were anointed with God's own eye salve, that he might see, and his ears, that he might hear; then, what he saw and heard he testified.
The only time I ever saw him betray impatience was when he referred to the audacious irreverence of so-called "higher criticism." To him the point of view from which many modern scholars approach the Word of God is one which disqualifies for a true insight into its hidden mysteries.
They assume the power of mere intellect and learning to discern spiritual things; they assume the absence of the supernatural element, and so do not recognize it. Their theory is essentially a Procrustean bed, and the Scriptures must be made to fit the theory. He could not calmly regard such profanation; it stirred him to indignation.
His preaching was as far as possible from any mere oratorical perform- ance. He had the graces of the finished speaker, but they were all invested with the higher grace of God's ambassador. He taught with authority, but it was with a derived and deputed authority. Among all the renowned speakers at the Northfield Conference, he was facile princeps; and the ad- dress he gave there last summer, on the Holy Spirit, has been pronounced by competent judges the most complete ever given, even from that platform of great teachers. There was this supreme charm in his utterances, that, while those who are less taught of the Spirit seek to defend the inspiration and inerrancy of the Word of God, he so exhibited its wonders, so led the way into its mysteries, so unfolded its hidden riches, and showed such articulated and organic unity in all its parts and members, that doubt was disarmed; and the hearer felt shocked that even scholarly" criticism"
should presume to usc the scientific scalpel upon a body of truth instinct with the living Spirit of God!
Dr. Gordon's literary work had reached singular completeness. The three latest. products of his pen in a remarkable way carry his literary structure to a cl'owning point. First, his" Coronation Hymnal"-mark the uuique title-as though it at once set the crown on his life work, and marked the hour of his own coronation. Second, his new book, "The Ministry of the Spirit," issued on the day of his death, which, more than any other, expresses his characteristic insight into the truth which God gave him to discern and develop. He was to his generation what Luther was to his- a restorer of paths to dwell in ; he brought up from out of the debris of ages the apostolic doctrine of the Holy Spirit's personality, deity, and actual presidence in the assembly of saints, ,and gave it increasing emphasis, for a decade of years. And, third, his spiritual autobiography, just completed, or lacking only its last chapter, which another's loving hand will supply, as the closing chapter of Deuteronomy was added by another pen than that of Moses.
His work at the Clarendon Street Church, in Boston, which extended over a full quarter century, marks his greatest achievement, for there he proved the practicability of his apostolic theory, by reducing it to practice. He built up what is probably the most apostolic church in this country, because characterized by the closest approximation to primitive worship, doctrine, spirit and life. Its central charm, that in which it stands absolutely unique, is not apparent to the common eye-the administration of the Holy Spirit. For a score of years he patiently sought to impress upon his people such vital truths as these : that the Spirit of God has come down to find His seat or "see" in the body of Christ, where, invisibly indwelling, He is ready practically to oversee and overrule all holy activities j that, so far as disciples enthrone the world in His temple, they dethrone the Holy Ghost j but, so far as He is recognized and realized as present and presiding, He actually administers all church affairs, inspiring prayers and praises, preaching and teaching through human lips, leading in the choice of officers, thrusting forth laborers into God's harvest-field, prompting to self-sacrificing giving and whole-hearted serving, and qualifying for varied forms of service by His own enduement. He taught, moreover, that such a heavenly ministry demands spiritual co-operation; that, to introduce or allow worldly men to hold office, or secular methods to usurp those which are scriptural and spiritual, implies an affront to the Spirit of God and hinders His operations, who will not force Himself upon His people. The consequence of such teaching, so persistent ana persevering, is that there has been a gradual elimination of secular maxims, measures, entertainments and methods of management, until this church stands the purest model known to me of an apostolic community. The sittings are free, all income being from voluntary offerings j nothing but simple Gospel teaching is sanctioned ; there is congregational praise led by one of the most devout choirs in the world, which, instead of being a burden on church finances, holds its own prayer-meetings and supports its own missionary j and the whole church is a radiating centre of holy activity in missions among the outcast, * the intemperate, the Chinese and the Jews, and in far-off lands.
This church-life is Dr. Gordon's most complete biblical monument, his permanent living epistle. Here the golden pen of action, held in the firm hand of an inspired purpose, has written out history in sentences which are living deeds, read and known of all men. And the great problem now .. Those who desire to study more minutely the methods pursued in the Clarendou street church under Dr. Gordon's ministry, will1lnd a special paper on this subject prepared by me, and published in THE HOMILETIC REVIEW, October, 1890. before this church-which may God help them to work out to His praise! -is to prove that, in the absence of the beloved pastor, the Holy Spirit still has there His seat, and will demonstrate His presence by the uninter- rupted work He administers. We shall be greatly disappointed and sur- prised, should there be found there any disposition to say, " I am of Gor- don" rather than" I am of Christ." This church is not a mere sheaf of which the late pastor was the bond, and which, now that· the bond has broken, must fall apart. We have confidence that the work Dr. Gordon left behind him will in the noblest sense both survive and follow him, and that no part of it which ought to outlive his personal presence will either decay or decline.
Let those who would rear above such a man the broken column of an unfinished life work, note how God permitted him to tarry until, like Moses, he had led the people of God to the borders of their inheritance ; till he had written his" Psalm of Life" in the" Coronation Hymnal;" till he had shown them the Divine pillar of cloud and fire in the Spirit's leadership, and until he had finished his Pentateuch, leaving only the last chapter to be added. He had written nine books, yet they fall naturally into five classes. " The Ministry 01 Healing" stands alone. " The Twofold Life," " In Christ," " Grace and Glory," and" Ecce Venit," belong together, for they exhibit Christ's work in us and for us, here and hereafter; "The Holy Spirit in Missions" and" The Ministry of the Spirit" form a pair, and his "Hymnal" and "Spiritual Biography" complete the fivefold group.
To his beloved wife he imparted his impression that his work was drawing to a close. He even said to her that if it should be so he would have four hymns sung: "The sands of time are sinking," " My Jesus, I love Thee," " Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well," and "Abide with me." To one, who was to him what Luke was to Paul, "the beloved physician," and who asked for a message, he gave one word-" VICTORY."
There is an advantage in a man's departing in the midst of his prime, when in every respect at his best. We remember men as they are when they leave us; our latest impressions are our lasting impressions. When a man dies in the glory of his complete manhood we have him forevermore with us as he was when he departed, and his influence survives him as it was at its summit of power. When men grow old, feeble, decrepit, and the mind and memory decay, and they verge on imbecility, their influence often declines; they not infrequently commit serious mistakes, which mar the impression of their lives. Dr. Gordon will be remembered as the fullstatured man, whose power was full-orbed, and whose sunset was without a cloud. He is forever beyond the possibility of marring his own life work even by imprudence or incaution, and no one else can impair its symmetry. When his character and career reached their nearest approximation to the ideal, God suddenly crystallized the vision into permanence, and so it will forever stand for men to eontemplate and imitate. I C:ln think of but one man to be compared wi1.h Dr. Gordon for this peculiar type of aLtainments or achievements-Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who, beyond the seas, built up, like him, a Baptist church with singular loyalty to the same apostolic ideas and ideals j who edited, like him, a monthly magazine, The Sword und Trowel, and was, like him, an author of varied and versatile genius j and died at the same age-fifty-eight-and within twentyfour hours of the same day of tho month-Spurgeon dying on January 31st, at five minutes of twelve P.M. (1892) ; Gordon, just as the first day of February, 1895, passed into the second, at five minutes past twelve P.M., and both of pneumonia, after a week of delirious illness.
Of Dr. Gordon's contributions to both the literature and the work of missions, no reader of the REVIEW needs to be informed. For years he has been our associate editor, invaluable in counsel and co-operation. His work in forwarding world-wide evangelization deserves and will hereafter receive separate treatment. Suffice it now to say that, without ever having personally visited heathen and pagan lands, he thoroughly informed himself as to the progress of missions. His best" prayer-book on missions" was" the map of the world," which he kept constantly before him; and with the command of Christ as continually in mind, and the spirit of missions in his heart, he could not live without obedience to the Lord's last words. His will was pliant before conviction and affection, both of which were absorbed in a strong, calm, but resistless current of passion for souls. He could no more limit his Christian activities to Boston or the United States than the sun could forbid his rays to go beyond Mercury or Mars. Any less field than the world was too small for such a man. Samuel J. Mills said he felt, with the Mississippi Valley before him, "pent up as in a pin-hole," becanse his heart yearned over the thousand millions of unsaved souls outside its limits. And so Dr. Gordon's heart refused to be satisfied with any travail for souls that would not satisfy his royal Master and Lord.
As we look back over such a life, it seems so apostolic that it links the first century with our own. It is no extravagant encomium to say that there was, in the passionate ardor and fervor of this man of God, that. which reminded of Paul j there was, in his calm discretion and uprightness, that which suggested James; and no one could observe his deep insight into the mysteries of the truth and his absolute devotion to the person of Christ, without thinking of John. Some disciples pos!!ess the active temperament, and abound in energy j others, the reflective habit, and, like deep and still waters, mirror heaven j but Adoniram J. Gordon united in himself both the active and the reflective. While he led the way in aggressive witness and work and war in behalf of truth and evangelism, he so sedulously cultivated the devotional spirit that his daily life was a secret chamber where he communed with God, and whence he came radiant with the glory of the Holy Presence.
THE APOSTLE
THE APOSTLE COLUMBA.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D.
It is remarkable in what obscure places the seed is often sown which feeds distant generations. Bethlehem Ephrata was but little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of her came He who was to rule ·Israel. And in no less an humble and obscure place did he labor and pray who is, in some sense, the parent of Teutonic Christianity, the only type of Ch~istian belief and life in modern times which is in any respect worthy to be called Christian. A,. bit of land amid the lashing waters of the Irish Sea-a basalt reminiscence of awful geological disturbance-a dank, stern islet shrouded in IIebridean mists, and yet the home of a saint of Hebraic earnestness, of a ruler whose sceptre was religion, and whose kingdom was the rough hearts of whole septs of barbarians, of a prophet who, with his Keltic contemporaries, laid deep foundations for the blessing of mankind in the succeeding thirteen hundred years.
Of all places, how was it that Iona should have been chosen as the fulcrum for Columba's activities ~ 'Vhat site more bleak, more forbidding, more isolated ~ The story is interesting. Somebody has called attention to the fact that every Irishman who has distinguished himself has done so either on the battle-field or in the courts of law. Columba was no exception. His unregenerate days were spent in foray and feud. The saint was, in the first instance, a red-handed kern, and it may have been penitential and remorseful reminiscence which made 1his lonely spot so congenial to him; but the immediate impulse to settlement there came from his legal entanglements ; for the record is that before his migration from Ireland to Iona, the future saint-his soldier life being abandoned for that of a priest-became involved in a lawsuit with his bishop. The Irish fighting instinct was not yet crowded out of the converted soul. Yet the cause of the trouble was so manifestly the bishop's unreasonableness, that we cannot refrain from giving Columba our sympathies, or from palliating his offence in deviating from the apostolic injunction with which the sixth of Corinthians opens. It seems that Columba, with unwearied enthusiasm, had thrown himself into the task of copying large portions of the Bible verbatim et literatim from the precious episcopal manuscripts. When the work was completed the bishop claimed the copy as a sort of propertyplagiarism. This led to litigation, and the judge (an original Dogberry) decided in the bishop's favor, on the ground that he who owned the cow owned her calf. Thereup~n Columba determined to shake the dust of the homeland from his feet. With a few followers he embarked in a boat of hides, and coasting along the stormy shores of the Scotch islands, landed finally upon Iona, there to begin h~s noble career of evangelization.
Not a very remarkable incident this, taken by itself. As if, for example, a chieftain of the Shire Highlands should become enraged with his tribal suzerain, and retire sulkily to some island in Nyassa Lake. Re- member, however, that events are only truly great or insignificant in their final result; and then recall how far-reaching the influence of Iona and of similar Scoto-Irish communities became. Its domestic mission was that of those who are called the children of God. Columba became a sort of court of arbitrament with final powers, to all the rude tribesmen of Northern Ireland and Britain; and who can measure the blessing which the faithful performance of such a function meant among these barbarous peoples 1 As a foreign missionary his influence has not ceased yet. To him we owe it, in the first instance, that the nation of Livingstone, of 11offat, of Mackay, and of John Paton is what it is. The Erromangians, the Tannese, the Kaffirs, the strangers scattered throughout U nyoro and Uganda and Formosa and Hunan, and every spot which Scotch missionary feet have trod, are to him, at the last, debtor.
How beneficent, how apostolic that Irish missionary movement in the dim twilight of the medireval era! Everyone who has read Schaffie's "Ekkehard" knows how much Switzerland Owes to it. Reichenau and St. Gallen are names redolent with the memories of the distant island. That Scandanavia felt the impulse is clearly seen from the fact that when Magnus, the free-booting king of Norway, swept over the British isles, Iona was the single place which he refused to injure. Northumbria, Germany, even distant Iceland are all under deepest obligations to Columba and to his successors at Iona. Alas that the nation which was a source of blessing to others should have so fallen herself! Alas that the word Ireland should awake, in modern' minas, the miserable associations which group themselves around rack-rent and moonlighting, Tammany Hall and' the Clan-na-Gael! Alas that the candlestick should be removed from the land of Patricius and Columba, and that their home should have become the nesting-place of oppression, of ignorance, and of priestcraft! 0 that the former things might come back! "God save Ireland !"
The following- notes on Iona and Columba are taken from the writer's journal of a visit to the spot six years ago. They are published in the hope that a new interest may be awakened in this father of missions and in the land which cradled him, and in his countrymen, whether in Europe, Australasia, or in America, who under false teaching have drifted so far from the New Testament faith in which he labored.
The day of our pilgrimage to this historic spot will ever stand as a marked day in our calendar. Was it the strange fascination of saint legends and hoary antiquities that drew us with such strong attraction to thi8 rock island of the Hebrides 1 Not altogether. Saint Columba, who lived and labored here thirteen hundred years ago, is called a monk indeed; and the stone ruins which mark his home are called a monastery ; and all this is sufficient to have incited a recent pilgrimage of Roman Catholics to this spot, and an earnest effort by means of masses and
VIEW OF CATHEDRAL AND RUINS OF CHAPTER HOUSE AND
CONVENTUAL STRGCTURES. (From S. W.) CATHEDRAL OR CHURCH OF ST. MARY'S, IONA. (~"rolll S. E.)
THE APOSTLE COLUMBA•
• canonization to hallow it as a popish shrine. The real fact seems to be, however, that Columba was a Protestant, a thousand years hefore the Reformation ; and that in his little sea-girt kingdom he kept the primitive faith in comparative purity, while in its earlier habitats it was sinking into hopeless corruption.
As to his vocation, he seems to have been a missionary more than a monk, and his so-called monastery a seminary for training his disciples in the Scriptures and in Divine communion, to fit them to be his co-laborers in the great work of carrying Christianity into Britain. Let us think of Iona, therefore, as a fortress of the ancient faith, a stronghold of primi- tive Christianity, from which the spiritual conquest of our Saxon ancestors was undertaken and carried on by the sturdiest band of warriors that ever " subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions."
In spite of its rocky solitude, there is a singular charm in the natural aspects of the place ; companion islands stud the horizon in every direc- tion, their rock-caverns affording shelter to myriads of white-winged birds; the peculiar velvety green verdure, which the moist climate nour- ishes, transforming stormy islands into emerald gems; and encircling all, an atmosphere so capricious that it alternately veils and unveils the land- scape with clond and sunshine, giving constant variety to the scene. In- deed, as the Duke of Argyle has said: "There are not many places in the world where those three voices~ the sky, the sea, the mountains, can be heard sounding in finer harmony than round Columba's Isle."
Yonder within near sight lies Staffa, with its wonderful Fingal's Cave.
The tourist who has visited cathedral after cathedral on the Continent, and has become satiated with the voluble discourse of verger and guide, can here gaze in silence upon one of God's cathedrals built without sound of hammer or saw, but far surpassing all others in grandeur; for" there is nothing like this great hall of columns standing round their ocean tioor, and sending forth in ceaseless reverberations the solemn music of its waves." Let a party sing "Old Hundred" as we did, beneath these arches of stone, and as its strains thunder and echo through the " long drawn aisle," let them tell us if they ever heard such majestic music before.
In Iona, however, there reigns an impressive silence, broken only occa- sionally by the lowing of herds and the sounds of sluggish life which issue from a few low cottages by the shore. We wander among the ruins of the little cathedral, believing or disbelieving the legend that here is the stone pillow on which the head of Columba rested at night, and here the grave in which his body was laid at his death. We enter the ruined chapel, made sacred as the scene of fervent and prevailing prayer, and the monas- tery where the Scriptures were profoundly studied and patiently tran- scribed ; but it is not the stones of the arches or the timeworn carvings which most strongly hold our attention. It is of Columbll. and the Culdees that we are thinking; of the life they lived, and the work they wrought, aud of the debt we owe them in common with all English-speaking Christians, as the planters of the Gospel among our forefathers, and of their brave resistance of such as strove to supplant that Gospel by papal counterfeits and corruptions. "7e will not, however, yield to the romancing to which the antiquity of the place tempts us, but rather we will seek to learn the profitable lessons which are to be gathered from the career of a great missionary who chose this as the centre of his operations.
1. The foundation principle of the Gospel which he sought to propagate was sound-justification by faith. We have called him a Protestant before the Reformation. A saying which passed current in his order, and which has come down to us, is, ., Not that the believer lives by righteousness, but the righteous by believing." How much this sounds like Luther's ,. Weare not saved by good works, but being saved by faith we do good works" !
2. Whatever of monasticism marked his order, it was intended as a means to a higher end. He cultivated solitude only for the sake of ser· vice; he was a monk only that he might be a greater missionary. "Farewell, Arran of my heart. Paradise is within thee. The garden of God is within sound of thy bells." So he is reported to have exclaimed on leaving an earlier retreat to become Abbot of lona. But of that selfish asceticism which seeks an ideal Paradise Regained in the ecstatic visions of angelic apparitions in the cloister, while leaving the real Paradise Lost -a condemned and perishing world-to take care of itself, he knew nothing. Perhaps we have something to learn of Columba at this point, if we would be better missionaries. The command to tarry precedes the command to go; a retreat into God should prepare an advance upon the heathen. "As the Father hath sent Me into the world," says Christ to His messengers. But before we can successfully carry out this commission, we must make real that other word of His, " Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." And withdrawal from this present age, and entering into profound communion with the Lord by prayer and meditation, are the essential conditions of such realization.
3. Columba deeply reverenced and profoundly studied the Holy Scriptures. Who can tell how largely the deep root and tenacious hold which Christianity gained in Scotland may have been due to this characteristic of the earliest missionary to her shores ~ If we would have an established church in the truest sense, we must have a church rooted and grounded in the Word. Columba may be said to be the former of that Scottish Christianity of which Knox in later times was the rpformer. And in no land, we believe, has the religion of Christ borne such a biblical stamp and expressed its worship and its confessions in such scriptural forms as in that country which was the principal mission-field of the lonan saint.
4. All traditions agree in ascribing to Columba a spirit of extraordinary prayerfulness. So much did he depend on communion with God, that, even when laboring among the heathen, who mocked his devotion and disturbed it by violent interruptions, he would never intermit his worship, hut always succeeded in establishing a closet in the midst of his enemies. "It seems," says Dr. Smith, in his" Gaelic Antiquities," "to have been his invariable rule not to undertake any work nor engage in any business without having first invoked God. If about to officiate -in any ministerial duty, he would first implore the Divine presence and aid to enable him to discharge it properly. If he himself or any of his friends were to go anywhither, by land or by sea, their first care was to implore God to be propitious, and their last words at parting were solemn prayer and benediction. If he administered medicines for the cure of any diseases, he accompanied them with prayer to God who healeth. If he administered even counselor advice, he would attend it with a prayer to Him who disposeth the heart to listen, often accompanying that prayer with fasting. In seasons of danger and alarm, whether public or private, he always hltd recourse to prayer as the most effectual way to prevent, or cure, or bear every evil to which man is subject."
What wonder that, with such a spirit, he should have earned the ban of papal malediction ~ Instead of penance he preached repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. In a time when the blasphemous pretentions of the papacy were attaining shape and form, his little community ordained and sent forth missionaries, as though in utter ignorance of the theory of apostolic succession and bishop's ordination. On account of these and many other distinctively primitive doctrines, this community was long under the suspicion of Roman Catholic authorities. Bede lamented " their perversity and blindness." St. Bernard denounced them as a " stubborn, stiff-necked, and ungovernable generation;" which ban we must count their highest benediction, considering the grounds on which it rested.
Beautiful and full of patriar('~al grandeur were the circumstances of his death, as the ancient tradition has handed them down to us.
" In the sacred volume this day is called' Sabbath,' which means rest, and truly to-day is to me a Sabbath, for of this my toilsome life this day shall be the last; on it after my vexatious labors I shall keep Sabbath; this night of the day of the Lord I shall go the way of my fathers." So he spake to Dermid, his faithful disciple. Midnight of that day in June found him worshipping in the church; there the sleep of death fell upon him, and when they had sought him, found him and lifted him up, his face, as the beams of their lighted candles fell upon it, shone like the face of an angel. And so they buried him amid great lamentation.
"Sublime recluse" he has been called; we prefer to name him the master missionary of those whom God used in early days to subdue kingdoms for His Son.
[NoTE.-The correction of this proof was one of the last acts of our lamented co-editor.-A. T. P.]
ANDREW P. RAPPER, M.D., D.D., I.L.D
ANDREW P. HAPPER, M.D., D.D., LL.D.
BY PRESIDENT SYLVESTER F. SCOVEL, WOOSTER, OHIO.
This missionary century has produced no more thoroughly missionary man than Dr. Happer, and few have been so long, and not many so prominently, identified with its missionary spirit and movement. In most things the full and rounded life just closed may be called a typical missionary life. As such I believe it will pass into the history of the kingdom, which is the true history of the world.
It was certainly so in its early consecration and Christian training. A statement preserved in his own handwriting runs thus: "I was born in Washington County, Pa., in the bounds of Mingo congregation, on October 20th, 1818. I was early dedicated to the ministry by a pious mother. I was sent to the Preparatory Department of Jefferson Uollege when eleven years of age. I was carefully cared for by friends in the advanced classes from the first day of my arrival. During a revival in the college in December, 1830, I was received into the communion of the church at Canonsburgh by t.he Rev. Matthew Brown, D.D., when a little past twelve years of age. I was a reader of missionary biography and literature. In my fourteenth year I formed the purpose of being a missionary, and resolved to study medicine as well as theology to fit myself for the work. All my plans in life were made subservient to this purpose. As I was too young to be a member of the missionary association known in different colleges as the Brotherhood (indeed, I did not then know of its existence), my only confidante, was an elder sister. There are three grandchildren of that sister in the mission field now." Is it not typical? Here are the home, the school, and the church combining to set an ingenuous youth of the same age as the Boy-Christ in the temple about the same " Father's business. " Here is the best product of a region and of ancestors of a noble religious type, growing, by the help of the mother (who pondered these things in her heart), the sister, the men in the Christian college (the true annex to the Christiau home), "in stature and in wisdom and in favor with God and man." Moved from within, by steady choice of the world as his field, he found every gracious influence he needed, and appears to have been untouched by any malign one. What an example for our young volunteers of to-day, and what an encouragement for Christian homes!
And the next stage shows only the normal succession to the first. " After my graduation I taught four years. I entered the Western Theological Seminary in November, 1840. I then chose India as the field of my prospective labors. I made its history, geography, philosophy, government, and mythology the subject of careful study during leisure time. In the summer of 1840 I commenced my medical studies, and in October, 1842, I went to Philadelphia to attend medical lectures." Graduated at eighteen (1836), the four years of teaching took him to twenty-two; the two years of theology (with medical reading) occupied him until twenty- four; and the fuller course in the medical college brought him at twenty- six to professional graduation in March (1844), and to missionary ordination in April. Beginning early did not mean imma~urity and. haste for him, even when there were so few willing to enter the white harvest field.
The definite purpose of complete equipment held him fast. Another type to be remembered.
And yet this purpose did not render the future missionary either con- ceited or inaccessible to advice, as witness this further paragraph: "The Rev. Drs. Swift, Elliott, and McGill were my special friends and coun- sellors. During April, 1843, I visited Princeton Seminary and made the acquaintance of Messrs. Culbertson, Loomis, Brown, and Lloyd, who were under appointment to go to China; and in Philadelphia I made the acquaintance of Dr. B. McCartee, who was going to China. During the meeting of the General Assembly in May, 1843, the Hon. Walter Lowrie suggested to me that the Board wished me to arrange so as to go to China with those who were under appointment for that field." Reluctantly the matter was submitted for counsel to the advisers before mentioned, and their advice decided for China. Then followed immediate readjustment of studies. "In Philadelphia I enjoyed the privilege of the Franklin Library, and immediately commenced to read the history of China and to study its geography, philosophy, and religions as a relaxation from medi- cal lectures, quizzes, and studies." It was evidently a larger purpose to be useful that could so easily substitute one line of culture for another, and it was determination of a high order whIch could turn to the study of the new land with a breadth and thoroughness which gave tone to his whole work there. Nor could the yet youthful missionary enthusiast help endeavoring to kindle the fire in other souls. "During the winter of 1843-44 I often made addresses on China as a field of missions, with a map of China suspended before the audience, which, so far as I know, was the first use of maps in connection with missionary addresses. "
Now begins the steadfast service of half a century-1844 to 1894.
" I sailed for China on June 22d, having graduated in medicine in the previous March at Pennsylvania University. As I was a medical missionary and there was no other medical man not located, I was assigned to the Canton station, though my own preference for the station and for my own location was for Shanghai. Subsequently alone and senior mem- ber of the mission at Canton, it became my duty, contrary to my expecta- tions, to mark out the lines on which missionary work would be pursued.
Influences not subject to my control led me to engage in educational work.
In an exigency of the mission, in order to maintain my residence among the people, I commenced medical work, and I was thus engaged in all three departments of mission work-preaching, educaiionaI, medical. I itinerated all about Canton with Dr. Ball when it was considered not safe to go into the country. " Was there ever a clearer case of God's willingness to use the sanctified common-sense of thorough preparation ~ And was ever courage more needed or more rewarded ~ That was no light matter to go out on the good ship Gahota for a passage of one hundred and twenty days. Only five ports were open, and Hong Kong had just been ceded to England in 1841. Everything was to be shaped, even if not to be planted. The hatred to foreigners was intense. Those willing to rent to the missionaries were imprisoned for it in every case, and one such inhabitant died in prison. A mob was raised to exterminate all foreigners, Dr. Happer has told us, when one of them happened to knock over a fruit-basket which stood in a gateway. A little improvement came with the treaty of 1847, but as England would not consent to use force to open the city gates as promised, they remained closed until 1856. No wonder there were years of waiting for first converts. They were able to keep possession of any rented quarters only by stratagem. The case of the Arrow in 1856 brought such riots that all missionary labor was suspended at Canton, and the workers retired to Macao till order could be restored. In 1858 the American treaty protected the Chinese converts, and surpassed, in that, the provisions of the British treaty. From this time on property could be rented or purchased. Other cities were opened. The good conduct of the missionaries had been reported to the central government in answer to a series of inquiries. Facilities for them (it is worth remembering) were first tendered to our ambassador (Hon. W. B. Reed). Though he could not accept the proposal limited to one class, he would not conceal a fact so favorable to the missionaries. Dr. Happer received independent confirmation of this fact from Bishop Boone, and mentions it in the pages of a very brief " Retrospect," printed but not published in 1884, after forty years of service. Just at that time serious complications were arising, and yet the clear testimony was given that" none of the converts had been known to deny their faith even when cast into prison. "
The courage necessary for persistent service sustained this noble man under varied labors and contrary winds of influence. It enabled him to bear the severities of the climate and the severe test of failing health. With serious disease of the heaIt he journeyed once, alone, from China to the United States.
The waiting and the working brought the blessing at last. " It was only after ten years of the most assiduous labor that I was permitted to welcome the first convert, and during those ten years of clearing the ground and of seed·sowing, I felt no more discouragement than I did during a subsequent period of ten years, during which there was a continuous revival, and I was permitted to receive forty persons into the church each successive year" (Anniversary Sermon, p. 26). "As soon as we had any room Mrs. Happer commenced a girls' boarding.school. The work was enlarged on several liues. Dr. Kerr was sent, at my request, to relieve me of the medical work. Miss Noyes enlarged the work for the girls. Mr. Preston and Mr. Condit continued the itinerating, and I continued the pl'eaching and the educational work. Some fille hundred converts were received into the first church while under my charge, and some fifty of the pupils of the training school became assistants in various capacities as preachers, teachers, colporteurs, etc., while under my care. Some of them went to California, the Hawaiian Islands, and Australia. Two were ordained as evangelists, and three others were licensed."
This would seem to be enough for even a largely planned life, but there is more. Side by side with the engrossing work, and off the field as well as on it, Dr. Happel' has kept up a remarkable literary efficiency. He never wrote without some specific end in view, and always with the real logic and eloquence of facts. He was careful of authorities and painstaking in examining them. Some of the earlier studies in Chinese literature are of permanent value, and the range of subjects is large. We regret they cannot be mentioned here in detail.
But it was for China that his pen and thought were most busied. He began the stndy of that marvellous country and its massive population and its venerable institutions before he had seen either. He began to write about these things toward the latter part of his work, and after his return from the field he maintained the keenest interel:tt in and watchfulness for China's good. It is to be desired that in some form his views and experiences may be given to the Christian public. They must be omitted here.
Passing on from this we are arrested by another marked feature in Dr. Happer's life work. He believed not only in the educational side of mission work, but had special convictions concerning tbe place of the higher education as a factor in winning the world to the great Teacher. It has been seen how early his own attention was turned toward this work as indispensable in preparing a native ministry for China; and he had a high conception of the function of the Christian college in the civilized countries as imperatively demanded for the raising up of ministers and missionaries. A child of such an institution in the very origin of his spiritual experience and missionary purposes, he could never feel that any other purpose should supersede this for a Christian college, nor could he understand anything of the feeling that marks this end as relatively inferior. His interest and conviction were both expressed in moving pleas for his Alma Mater (Washington and Jefferson), and in connection with all that he said and did after his removal to the seat of the University of Wooster. His early work in this department was fruitful. "The students of this training school were all converted under my own ministry except a very few. Some fifty were connected afterward with the mission as Christian workers in various capacities." And this though the boys were required b~fol'e they left home to promise not to become Christians, and forced at each return home to worship the ancestral tablets to show that the promise had been kept. He had been effectively aiding in the work of developing a medical missionary college during the last year of his life by correspondence and personal effort. He could not but deplore the fact that while so much help was afforded those who would enter mission work in other directions, almost nothing had been done to aid in the necessarily expensive medical training now so much needed. He wrote with a heroic tone against the idea that self-sacrifice kept young men out of missions and the ministry, and was only anxious to facilitate their way through difficulties for which they were not responsible by pleading for the Christian colleges at home and abroad. To the latter he had given most earnest efforts. About $120,000 had been secured in payments and pledges for the endowment of such an institution, which, for evident reasons, he thought should be situated not in the district in which he had labored, but in Northern China. To this, it is proper to say, his will intended that the accumulated result of a life-time of economy and wise use of originally small sums should be dedicated. It is to be hoped that his wishes may yet be carried out as to location, endowment, and the predominance of English as the language of instruction. And as he expected the final influences of his life to be concentrated in this direction, it was most eminently fitting that the subject should be chosen for the discourse delivered in April, 1894, on the occasion of the celebration by the Presbytery of the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as a missionary. That address was published by the Presbytery (Pittsburgh), accompanied with a brief biographical statement and a photograph. A large edition was circulated, and it is soon to appear as one of the permanent documents of the Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colleges.
But let no one suppose that even this marked estimate of one agency led Dr. Happer to be ignorant of or out of sympathy with any other. On the contrary, that which finally impresses itself upon us is that he was pre-eminently a "fellow-worker unto the kingdom of God." Nothing that promised to glorify Christ and save men was foreign to him. For evangelistic work at home and abroad, on frontier and in city depths, among our home-born and among all the scattered and exceptional populations, he has expressed the profoundest interest. Nothing elicited warmer commendation than the enterprise into which the Young Men's Christian Association has grown-the sending of secretaries for work among the young men of the East, who are, just as they emerge from heathenism, in such special peril. No participator in the great Detroit Convention of the Volunteers enjoyed it more keenly or understood its significance more thoroughly. He loved loyally his own denomination, but nothing fettered his affection for the Church universal or his intelligent enthusiasm for the Church militant. His constant reading and questioning were concerning the things of the kingdom. Missionary literature of more than one epoch he haa at command. He was an ardent patriot and had clear convictions as to governmental policies, internal and international, yet he was profoundly convinced of the true brotherhood of man, and knew better what it meant than thousands who use the phrase ignorantly and selfishly. The kingdom of God was not only real to him, but the greatest and all-embrac- ingreality. The future consummation was certain. All the work in the hot sun was nothing but a condition. The fewness of the laborers and the vastness of the harvest were burned in upon his soul. He thought of all young lives given to this service as reaching man's highest possibilities.
He was willing to take any place and any reward, though entering early and working late. Everything that touched the kingdom anywhere touched him.
Physically he was tall, straight as an arrow, and, when in health, moved quickly. His eye was especially bright, his face expressive, and his manners courteous enough to be called courtly. I never heard him say a bitter word of anybody. Charity and not criticism was the law of his lips. He was quiet and self-contained, yet responding most readily in conversation. He rather sought than gave advice. Modestly estimating the worth of his own work, he never paraded either attainments or honore, while yet sensitive to genuine appreciation. He was dowered with in- domitable perseverance, and could carry forward a life purpose as silently as a deep river would flow. He loved books much, but men more and the kingdom most. He had the deepest sense of the merit and worth of his fellow-workers, and delighted in honoring them in every way possible.
He was hopeful, pre-eminently, because he belie·ed so profoundly. To the last day of his life this was evident. I cannot forget the glow with which he expressed the conviction that all was going well in the world despite all appearances to the contrary. His confidence was invincible, and certainly none knew the difficulties better than he. He was devoted to prayer. Almost every article closed with a call to prayer. His last look on retiring for the last time rested on the" Cycle" of prayer. The last publication to which he called my special attention was that number of the Student Volunteer which was wholly given up to prayer. The last book he was reading was Dr. Piersoll's "New Acts of the Apostles," and his paper-knife laid in the chapter on prayer.
Dr. Happer's life was long. He died on October 27th (1894), having lived one week of his seventy-seventh year. Yet he never seemed con- scious of being a member of a past generation. The work was so much to him that the" sunset hours" were felt to be the right ones for special diligence. There was just a gradual deepening in the intensity of the desire to be useful. He was nearly a complete exception to the general rule. Whittier wrote to Holmes: "The bright, beautiful ones who began life with us have all passed into the great shadows of silence."
And Holmes answered to Whittier: "You and I are no longer on a raft, but on a spar. At our age we must live chiefly in the past.
We are lonely, very lonely, these last years." But loneliness I never saw in Dr. Happer's life or heard from his lips. The glow of something more than life's sunset was visible in his remarkable activity. It was the Christian's sure hope for himself and for the race that not only gave him something more inspiring than Whittier's" calm trust in the eternal goodness, " but made the knowledge that he could still be useful a complete deliverance from a life in the past. Glorious result!
Dr. Happer did not seem to have a cloud of disappointed ambition or a murmur of discontent as to the ratio of progress in the great work. Around him gathered appreciative friends, and during this year his third degree was granted by the University beside which he lived. Influence through the press and speech continued to the last. There were plans to meet and mould successive classes of young people, of whom there was good reason to hope many would enter the mission field and of whom some 'would go to China. He was permitted to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. One of his sons (Mr. Andrew Happer, Jr.) was at home from civil service in China to pay affectionate attention du:ring the last months and days. And death itself, it was so ordered by God's good providence, came quietly and with the least possible suffering. It was as Whittier wrote (in 1869) : " I will not teach, in mournful speech, That joys are brief and hopes are lies; To life well spent, its sun's descent Is cloudless as its morning sides."
And it was true as Holmes wrote (in 1881) : "The dismantling of the human organism is a gentle process more obvious to those who look on than to those who are the subject of it."
Taking his life as a whole, the epitaph the poet already quoted wrote for Samuel E. Sewall (1884) may be applied: " Noiseless as light that melts the darkness is, Be wrought as duty led and honor bid; No trumpet heralds victories like his, The unselfish worker in his work is hid."
Dr. Happer loved nature. He chose the site for his new home because it opened upon scenery like that specially associated with his youth, and now, by his own direction, he lies with his forefathers amid the scenes of his youth, the impression of which he had borne with him over all seas and through the long years. The picture will never fade out of the minds of some-this venerable servant of God and friend of man, seated in his study surrounded by mission books and by the brilliant colored Chinese inscriptions which adorned the walls. His identification with that land continued unbroken. The estimate of him there, on the part of the Church general, was expressed in the resolution passed by the four hundred and thirty missionaries present at the great Conference of Shanghai in 1890. At an earlier visit to this country the following testimonial was numerously and representatively signed: "The undersigned foreign residents of Canton, irrespective of creed or nationality, desire to unite with your friends and colaborers in Pekin, Shanghai, Canton, and other cities of China, in hearty congratulations that you have been permitted to enjoy so long a career of usefulness and honor, with its arduous duties and great responsibilities, on a field of missionary labor demanding unflinching fidelity and steadfast devotion to a sacred trust, blended with judicious action and exemplary life." The Daily Press, of Canton, at the same time said: "He is, we believe, the only Protestant missionary who has remained at his post for the long period of forty years. His sympathies have always been ardently enlisted in his work. He will be missed in Canton and China." We may add that his death will be a great loss to China in the United States. He knew the past of missions and of diplomacy. He had received the highest marks of respect and confidence there. He had the ear of the people here. Close touch was maintained with the best sources of information. He was always ready to correspond privately or write publicly as to what needed to be known or done with regard to China or the Chinese in our own land. He had the wisdom of long experience and the courage of conviction.
Dr. Happer's place in missionary biography will be a marked one. He entered China just after the earliest pioneers. His work admirably supplemented theirs, and enlarged it and made it bear permanent fruit in all departments. He aided to give standing to all missionaries and all their work by his unblemished life and intelligent service of nearly half a century, and by close intercourse with high officials. He took up the questions of his time with profound study. He helped to interest thou. sands incidentally and directly in the work for the vast Empire of the East.
In closing wc may recur to thc intimation made at the opening. This is a typical missionary life. Its ultimate origin was in the heart life of a covenanting mother. Its conscious origin was in a choice as early as it was intelligent and firm. Its proportions were indicated by the thoroughness of the preparation determined upon and actually realized. It exhibits a remarkable combination of initiative and submission to sound advice. No opportunity came amiss, whether in preaching or printing or practising. the medical art, or teaching or planning or research or diplomacy. Some. thing creditable was done wherever there was occasion to do anything. Closest intercourse with the best side of the great nation he learned to respect and to admire in some things never blinded him to its lost condition or to the necessity of the stricter Christian casuistry in guiding the lives of the converts amid their perplexities. This life was helped in saving men by keeping in touch with everything which could be counted an important factor in their earthly lives. Seeking first the kingdom, knowledge of all was sought which could either help or hinder it. This whole life was marked by intense devotion, steady persistence, unflinching courage in all dangers, invincible hopefulness under all delays, and the patience which marks the perfect man. The motive of this life was love
HINDU REFORMERS OF TIDS CENTURY
of men, the sustaining power in it was the whole Word of God, and prayer was ever, through wrestling with God, the renewal of its vigor. Its activity was incessant, and continued by the willing spirit to the last possibilities of the failing flesh. Never content with what could be accomplished alone, this life was characterized by a generous enthusiasm for co-operation with every agency that could serve or save mankind, and ever deeply concerned for the number and character and quality of those who were to come after and press on the work to its certain and glorious consummation.
And now what an appeal for enlistment sounds out of this missionary life so typical in its duration and breadth, its intensity and efficiency! Can anything be too good for foreign missions ~ Can any career go beyond the possibilities of missions in offering to our Christian youth (young women as well as young men) the noblest possible opportunities for the employment of the rarest endowments most carefully cultivated ~ Joseph Cook has said: "There is a best way to live, and it is best to live the best way." In the light of missionary biography, the best way seems to be the missionary way. Who will be " baptized for the dead" 1 HINDU REFORMERS OF THIS CENTURY.
BY J. E. TUPP.
Hinduism is often spoken of as one of the most conservative forces of the world, and in some respects it may be considered to be so. But the Hindu religion of to-day is not the religion of two thousand years ago. Excrescences of all kinds, the natural growth of many centuries of ignorance and superstition, have accrued to it, and it has been the aim of all reformcrs to remove these excrescences and to restore Hinduism to an older and purer form. Many such reformers there have been. Through all history a constant succession of them is seen, but only in a few cases has their influence extended beyond the people and race of their own time. In this century three prominent men have arisen, who have endeavored to lead their countrymen back from idolatry and polytheism to the theism which they profess to find in the Upanishads and Vedas, the early and sacred books of their religion. Many have hoped that Hinduism, assailed by them from within and by Christianity from without, was about to enter on a brighter day and a purer faith. These hopes have not been fulfilled.
Ram Mohun Roy, the earliest of the three reformers, of whom we wish to give a short account, was born at the close of the last century in Burdwan, a district of Bengal, of rich and high-caste parents. As with many other reformers, his more iconoclastic opinions disappeared with his youth, and the temperate zeal of his mature age brought him fewer converts than the fiery zeal of his earlier years promised. While still very young, he published, with the aid of the press established by the Serampore missionaries, a protest against idolatry, thereby raising against himself such a storm of indignation that he was obliged to leave his father's house and for some years to become a wanderer. During this time he was, however, supplied with sufficient funds to enable him to travel about the country, making religion, practical and theoretical, the object of his study and research. He penetrated as far as Thibet, attracted thither by the fame of the Buddhist religion j but after a time he was compelled to leave the country, having there also condemned the mass of fable and idolatry which had grown round what he had expected to find the pure theistic religion originally established by Buddha. In his twenty-first year he returned to his father's house j but the idolatrous practices of his countrymen again compelled him to break silence, and again he had to leave his home, and this time he made his way to Calcutta. For some years he appears to have remained there mastering the languages–Hebrew, Sanscrit, Arabic, and Greek-which would enable him to study the holy books of the great religions, Jewish, Hindu, Mohammedan, or Christian, in their original dress. He had thus access to all sources of human knowledge, and was well fitted to arrive at conclusions to which intellect alone was guide.
The opinions he formed were such as have appeared very attractive to many minds. In the sacred books and in the minds of men he thought he saw everywhere implanted a belief in one great Supreme Being, the Arbiter of the destinies and lives of men during their passage through this world, their Judge in the world to come. The fatherhood of God, the brother hood of man-two prominent dogmas–he thought he found imbedded in all religions j the love and veneration due to the first aud the duties to the latter everywhere inculcated. Caste he denounced as anti-social j idolatry as degrading to the worshipper and insulting to the Ruler of the world. He preached pure theism as a basis on which all the religions of the world might be re-established, and all nations united in concord and peace. It is both strange and interesting to see, from the East as from the West, this idea arise as the great hope of the future, given out by those who believe in the power, the benignity, and the love of the great Ruler of the universe, but who are unable to receive the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Inspired by the hope that these doctrines had only to be preached and to be made known to ensure their universal adoption, Ram Mohun Roy, in 1830, established an association, since known as the Brahmo Sabha (the Society of Brahm, the Supreme Being). The idea attracted many, though there were few declared adherents. A house was bought in Calcutta, a small endowment was raised, and regular services were established. But now it was evident that the founder was no long~r the root and branch reformer he had been in his earlier years. Caste was recognized, though formerly so strongly condemned j the Scriptures read were confined to the holy books of the Hindus, and were expounded by learned Brahmans. The life and character of Christ, though often spoken of before in terms of the greatest love and reverence, were never referred to in thc services. In everything it was evident that the adaptation of Hinduism to what was deemed an enlightened time, not its radical reform, was the object aimed at. Instead, however, of remaining in Calcutta to watch over the interests of the young society, Ram Mohun Roy, within a year of its foundation, left the country for England. There he received great attention and notice; but he was chiefly, as was perhaps natural, attracted by the Unitarians, so much so, indeed, that at this time he might almost be considered one of their number. He continued his religious studies, and published a book in which he spoke of Jesus as " the Founder of truth and of true religion," and of His precepts as "the sole guide to peace and happiness." But though he called himself" a follower of Christ," who is " the spiritual Lord and King of Jews and Gentiles, " he refused, when dying shortly afterward in Bristol, to be baptized, and gave special instructions that he should not be buried as a Christian, lest the interests of his heirs should be prejudiced. His visit to England was in itself a violation of caste ; but from his time to our own Christian baptism has been the one final breaking of caste rules, from which no recession is possible.
The early death of its founder was an irreparable loss to the little society in Calcutta. It lingered on for some years without much life or influence, known only to a narrow and ever-narrowing circle, until new impulse and life were given to it by the rise of another reformer, a man of much the same stamp and spirit as its original founder.
Babu Debendro Nath Tagore was born in Calcutta in 1818, the son of millionaire parents, and was, in his early youth, surrounded by all the sensual indulgences which especially beset such a family in an Eastern city. The account of his awakening to serious things-an account given in words which would seem appropriate to some medireval mystic-may be best given in his own language: "From my sixteenth to my twentieth year I was intoxicated with the pleasures of the flesh, regardless of spiritual interests, and dead to c.ooscience and to God. Once, on the occasion of a domestic calamity, as I lay drooping and wailing in a retired spot, the God of glory suddenly revealed Himself in my heart, and so entirely charmed me and sweetened my heart and soul that for a time I continued ravished, quite immersed in a flood of light. The world outside and the world within both seemed bathed in a sweet and serene stream of celestial effulgence. What was it but the light of truth, the water of baptism, the message of salvation ! Was it a vision that so charmed me 1 No! The living presence of the living God, who could doubt 1" But this season of ecstasy was followed by a long period of struggle, and it was not till he reached the twenty-fifth year of his life that he felt his "inferior propensities curbed," " the wild fury of passion abated," "conscience reinstated in its exalted place," "the world shorn of its attractions," and" God made his only comfort and delight. "
The zeal of the young and eager enthusiast soon attracted notice, and a circle gathered around him. His wealth was of the greatest help in enabling him to erect a school, to found a press, and to start a periodical. The new society attached itself to the old and now languishing one established by Ram Mohun Roy, and. branches' were established. Its object was, as his had been, to revert to the pure theistic doctrine of their forefathers; to encourage a knowledge of the natural sciences, astronomy, and natural history, believing that increase in such knowledge could only add to the glory of God; to lead lives of holiness and self-dedication to good works. Authority for this faith they believed to be enshrined in their sacred books. Nath Tagore not only set himself to the study of Sanscrit, in order to have access to the original writings, but he deputed four pandits to visit Benares to procure and to investigate there the earlier Vedas.
The result of their labor was disappointing, as, indeed, might have been anticipated by anyone acquainted with the works, of English Sanscrit scholars. Though pure theism might be inferred from some parts of the Vedas, yet their teaching was so contradictory, and in some places so unmistakably pantheistic, that they could no longer be considered the source of fundamental truth. A new covenant was therefore drawn up, by which all the members of the association bound themselves to worship no created being, but only the supreme Brahm, the Maker of all.
But though the authority of the Vedas had thus been radely shaken, they still retained the first place in the worship and in the services of the Brahmo Sabha, or Somaj. The Christian Scriptures were acknowledged to be entirely theistic, but were not allowed to supplant the national writings.
In 1858 the Brahmo Somaj entered on the most vigorous portion of its existence by the accession to its numbers of Babu Keshab Chandra Sen, a man well fitted by character, learning, and position to be a leader to his countrymen. Hope ran high, not only in India, but in England and other countries where he was known, that here at last was the man who would lead his countrymen to Christ. These hopes have· not been fulfilled.
Babu Keshab Chandra Sen, a member of a distinguished family, was born in Calcutta in 1838, and was brought up in the special worship of the Vishnu. But the education he received in the English college, though not directly Christian, proved, as it so often does, destructive to the Hindu faith. In the light of Western knowledge, founded on facts and on history, the old legends concerning the gods of the Hindu Pantheon seemed ridiculous, and the rites by which they 'were worshipped debasing. For some time he remained in religious apathy, believing all religions to be equally unfounded; but at last he felt that in this state of mind no happiness could be obtained, and he sought refuge in prayer. He has himself told us how, at this time, he was helped neither by book nor by any man, but by the voice of God speaking directly to his soul. His experiences even more than those of his predecessors seem like those of the Christian convert.
It was not nntil this time that the Babu heard of the Brahmo Somaj, so quiet and unaggressive had it become. A tract that came his way made him acquainted with it, and he immediately sought an interview with Rajendra Isath Tagore, aud soon joined his association, which now took to itself the high-sounding title of " the Church of India."
Though at this time still very young, the Babu's influence soon became paramount. For the first time the little society was roused into missionaryactivity. Even Nath Tagore, still the nominal head, was so moved by the younger and more ardent reformer, that he gave up his Brahmanical thread, and removed the family idol. Every effort was made to quicken the life of the association, to rouse them to a purer worship and more active philanthropic life. The Babu himself gave up his appointment in the Bank of Bengal in order to become the minister of the community, and to devote his whole time to its service. Like his predecessors, he had prepared himself for this position by devoting much time to the study of all religions, and to the onslaught that had been made on them j and, like them, while he spoke of the Christian Scriptures with the highest reverence and praise, the traditions of his race and his feelings as a patriot still tempted him to give the Vedas the first place among the religious writings of the world.
For some years the two leaders worked together with as much harmony as could be expected from two men who, though one in aim, were very different in temperament j but at last dissensions arose, and the younger and more advanced section of the community broke off, under Babu Keshab Chandra Sen's leadership, and formed a more democratic society of their own, under the title of " the Progressive Somaj."
As with the older societies, they proposed to find the foundations for their beliefs in the sacred books of the world, and more especially in their own j but the Babu has put it on record more than once that, in his opinion, the highest authority of all was to be found, not in these books, bUl in the direct voice of God to the human soul. In contradiction to his frequently declared disbelief in supernatural revelation, he maintained that at different times God had raised up for Himself prophets, to whom He had, in a more special and intimate way, revealed Himself and His will. In this category he placed the prophets of the Old Testament, Christ and Mohammed, and in more or less express terms he claimed himself to be the prophet raised up in these last times.
Of the extreme eclecticism of his views, the following extract from a contribution to the Theistic Quarterly in 1880 will be the best exponent: " To me the Bible is a blessed home, to which I often like to retire after my refreshing devotions, and I read and meditate over the Old Testament and the New. From such perusal I derive much help, much sympathy and much comfort, much profound response to what I treasure as the most sacred treasure of my being. The Bible is the Word of Life indeed. It seems as if the Bible was written for me especially. In the Shastras of my own country, III the Upanishads, the Bhagvat Gita (the Divine Song), I feel as if I am breathing my own natural atmosphere. It is to me an- other home, replete with clear and hallowed associations of national an- tiquity, full of the fragrance of a piety as original as it is true and congenial to me. It is as impossible for me to cease to be Hindu in spirit and aspiration as it is impossible for me to change my skin. The Upanishads and the Bhagvat furnish the staple food of my being. I may as soon cease to contemplate on them as lose my spiritual existence. Buddhism is to me also divine. The discipline and ordinances of Sakya Siddartha have a strange authority and attraction for my nature. In meditativeness, in self-congeniality, in peacefulness, in mental illumination and internal peace, Gautama is my ideal, and from Buddhism I sincerely declare I derive spiritual help which no other religion can afford me. With some of the sentiments of Hafiz, Sheikh Sadi, and Moulana Roum I-have come in contact; and what is there to equal their beauty, their depth, their tenderness, their intoxicated spirituality ~ Therefore, I say, my glorious religion has opened out to me the Scriptures and the spiritual treasures of all nations."
The great aim of the Brahmoists from the first had been the unification of all religions, but few could subscribe to such a confession as the above.
As time went on there were again disagreements in the society, largely caused by the extravagant claims and autocratic behavior of the leader. In 1878 a definite split occurred, the immediate occasion being the marriage of Babu Keshab Chandra Sen's daughter to the Raja of Kuoh Behar. Both bride and bridegroom were under the marriageable age, and child marriage was one of the customs of his country which the Babu had most strongly opposed, while the rites by which the marriage was celebrated were such as seemed idolatrous to many Brahmoists. Again a band of seceders formed a new church, believing themselves to be returning to the faith and aspirations of the parent society.
The Babu still led the older association, but in time his pretensions alienated many from him. In imitation of the Church of England, he issued a creed of thirty-nine articles, and in extravagant words he proclaimed his new dispensation.
" All other dispensations," he wrote, " are harmonized and unified in the synthetic unity of the new dispensation. A whole hos/' of churches art:. resolved into a scientific unity. In the midst of the multiplicity of dispensations in the world there is undoubtedly a concealed unity, and it is of the highest importance to us all that we should discover it with tlie light of logic and of science. " Hi issued a proclamation to " All my soldiers in India." "Ye are my soldiers, my covenanted soldiers. Ye are ' bound to fight valiantly and faithfully under my banner, and no other shall ye serve."- Such language did him at the time much harm ; but after his death, which occurred soon afterward, the extravagances of his later years were forgotten and the great services of his earlier ones only remembered. No successor has been allowed to enter his pulpit, and his memory is still fondly cherished by many. In his later years some enthusiastic followers worshipped him as if he were a god, and these honors were accepted by him.
One other band of reformers must be briefy mentioned. It is that which is now known under the name of the Arya Somaj, and was founded in the middle of the century by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a Mahratta Pandit. Like the other reformers of whom we ha.ve written, Dayananda was in early youth repelled and disgusted by the idolatrous rites of Hinduism. Like them, he set himself to travel and to a study of the other religions of the world. He became a convert to pure theism, for which he thought he found sanction in the Vedas. He proclaimed their authority as entirely contradictory to the Hindu practice of his time. But, unlike the other leaders, he refused to acknowledge the sanctity of the ancient books of the other religions of the world, and a determined opposition to Christianity and a desire if possible to suppress it, even by law, in India became in time one of the most marked aims of this society. This aggressiveness has been in some ways an advantage to it, and of all the sects of reformed Hinduism, it has no'w the largest number of adherents. It has given itself up largely to fostering education, and ha~ branches in many parts of India and one in London.
Notwithstanding the high character and elevated moral aims of the Brahmoist leaders, the movement cannot be considered to have had a success at all commensurate with its early history and expectations. It has, indeed, been a half-way house for some who, in the light of modern education, can no longer believe in the grosser superstitions of Hinduism, but are still unable to accept the Christian Gospel. Its negative creed, without anything 9f that" super-rational" element (as Mr. Benjamin Kidd calls it in his lately published and much-talked-of book), has been unable to affect changes in the life or to keep the active devotion of its professed adherents. At the last census its numbers were found to be below five thousand, and these were divided into three different and sometimes hostile parties. Not only have the hopes of its own party been dashed to the ground, but the hopes also of the Christian world. The reformers had been hailed as men likely to lead their countrymen from idolatry through theism to the bright light of the Gospel. Something they have done, and their influence has probably been of wider extent than their numbers would indicate; but we have again seen that more vivifying influences than purely intellectual ones must be at the bottom of any great religious movement. The love of Christ constraining the hea~t of man is the only lever that will
FACTS AND FIGURES FROM BRITISH INDIA
be found sufficient to raise the people of India from superstition and heathenism to the worship of the one living God and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
FACTS AND FIGURES FROM BRITISH INDIA. * BY PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PR.D., COLUMBUS, O.
The English Government has published in a volume of 299 pages the tabulated results of its last census of India, the most extensive that was ever undertaken, upon which more than a million dollars were expended. A census of the entire Roman Empire would have been a small affair in comparison with that of British India, which contains fully 287,000,000 human beings, or the fifth part of the human family. It is a territory in which the population each year increases on the average 2,700,000, and the collector of statistics returning in a decade will find an increase of 27,900,000, a popUlation almost as great as the entire kingdom of Prussia contains. The number of children under five years of age is 45,000,000, almost equal to the population of the whole German Empire. In India there are no fewer than 22,600,000 widows, of whom 250,000 are not yet fourteen years of age.
Some of the figures and data of these census statistics are very instructive. British India is no industrial country; 171,700,000 of the inhabitants devote themselves to agriculture. The era of large centres of population has not yet reached India. Only 27,200,000 Jive in cities, and these do not increase at a greater ratio than the population as such. The census reports only 28 cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants, the total population of these being 6,173,000. In all India there is not a single city with a population of a million. Bombay, with its suburbs, is the largest, but has only 821,764 people.
European ideas but slowly permeate these masses. It is naturally impossible to compel the Indians to marry widows, but the law has prevented their being burned alive. It is a doubtful specimen of human feeling to permit lepers,1)f whom there are 126,000, to marry. But the law has certainly did the correct thing prohibiting their being buried alive, as was done before. In 1891-92 there were 655,500,000 letters, papers, and packages sent through the mails in India. Railroads have now been built over 27,077 kilometres (nearly 17,000 miles), but even this means of intercourse has not been able to break down the caste spirit, although 126,600,000 passengers were carried in 1890• • Digest largely from an article by Director Zahn, In the .AUge1Mine Mi8BiorI8. ZeU8ehrift, No.7, h. a. _nd what a Babylonish confusion of tongues exists in polyglot India! The most widely spread is the Hindustani, yet this is spoken only by 85,600,000 of the population, or only about 29 per cent of the entire people. The census reports no fewer than 117 different languages in the country. Of these, however, there are 5 Indian, 8 Asiatic, and 23 European tongues, which are together spoken only by 5601 people j 17 other languages constitute the means of communication for contingents of from 1000 to 10,000 ; 22 per cent of 10,000 to 100,000, and 22 more are used by fewer than a million people. Yet there are more than 20 languages in British India, each spoken by more than a million people. The least of this class is the Pashtu, with 1,080,931. Next to the Hindustani comes the Bengali, with 41,300,000 to use it. Five other languages, "among them the Telugu and the Tamil, are each spoken by more than 10,000,000.
These languages are anything but closely related, and by no means belong to the same family of tongues. The census divides the 117 languages in question into 17 groups or families. Of these the most important is the Aryan or Indo-European, spoken by 195,400,000 Indians, while the next numerically is the Dravidic, including 14 languages spoken by 52,900,000.
In educational matters excellent progress has been made. It is less than half a century since the government determined to take this matter into its own hands. The census makes a distinction between public institutions of learning, which are supported entirely by the State; aided institutions, supported in part from the State treasury, and unaided private institutions. The middle class has decreased in the last ten years; the first and third class have increased. About two thirds of the pupils attend the private schools and one third the public. The schools of the second and third class each number about 60,000 j the public State schools, 21,235. Of these 142,038 schools in India, 139 have university courses, 154 are seminaries or normal colleges for teachers, 10,496 are secondary or advanced schools, 130,874 are elementary schools. The elementary schools report 3,284,751 pupils j the secondary, 548,036, and the seminaries and universities, 21,632 students. The number of natives who secure academic degrees is comparatively small. Five universities have the right to examine for degrees, and these have an established reputation for refusing degrees to any and every unworthy candidate. In the last five years 81,086 applied for admission to final examinations, but only 26,940 were passed. Of course the masses in India as such are not yet educated. The great majority of the natives are still analphabets. An examination of the report shows that of every 100 East Indians, 94.7 cannot read nor write, this percentage being unequally divided between men and women j but of 100 men nearly 10 per cent can read and write; but of 1000 Indian women only 4 have this accomplishment.
The religious census is probably the most interesting in these instructive tablets of figures and facts. Here is the result: 1. Hindus (Brahmans)………….•..•… 207,731,727 2. Mohammedans …….••••……..••… 57,321,164 3. Aborigines (Animists) …………. , … . 9,280,467 4. Buddhists..••.•….•……….•…… 7,131,361 5. Christians •••••••….•.••••………. 2,284,380 6. Sikhs..•.•.•.•.•..•……….•.•…•• 1,907,833 7. Parsees …•….••••…….•……..• 89,904 8. Jews..••….••…•…•…….•.•….. 17,194 9. Unclassified ……………………. . 42,763 TotaL …• " .•••.•…….•…•..•. 285,806,793 The Christians are scattered all over India, but constitute different percentages of the population in different localities, varying from 7 in every 100,000 in the Panjab, to tIle Presidency of Madras with 2 out of 1000 ; in fact, about three fourths of all the Indian Christians live here. The Christians of India are not all the fruit of mission toil. Fully 35,645 European, 36,082 Eurasian, and 200,000 Syrian Christians are not converts of this work. Of the remaining 2,012,197, the Roman Catholics can claim 1,243,529 adherents. It is interesting, in this connection, that the official census for the first time gives us reliable data on the Roman Catholic work in India. The reports of the Missiones Gatholica! concerning the propaganda have all along been inaccurate and exaggerated. Of the Protestants, 371,692 are found in the Presidency of Madras, while 102,367 are found in Bengal and 96,226 in Burma. There are 592,612 native Protestant Christians in India. divided among the denominations as follows: Church of England ..•••…•.•••.••……• , … 164,028 Presbyterian ………•.•.•.•………..•…. 30,915 Protestants ……….•.•••…•.•………… 49,223 Lutherans …•………•.•..••……••…..• 64,243 Baptists•..•….••••….••••…• ' ..•.•••…. 186,487 Met.hodists ………….•………•••…..••• 13,412 Others …………….•………….••..•.. 84,305 Total. …•……………. , ….•….• 592,613 Just who are meant by " Protestants" and" Others" in the tables does not appear. The growth of Protestantism is seen in the following: 1861 there were 198,087 Protestants, 1871" "286,987 " an increa8e of 88,890, or 44.9% 1881" "492,883 " " " "205,895" 41. 7% 1891" "592,612 " " " " 99,730 "20.2% Dr. F. M. Zahn, who is a well-known German authority on mission subjects, in discussing these statistics, draws attention to the fact that there is a heavy decrease in percen'.;age during the last decade compared with the figures of preceding decades, but inclines tq the belief that there must have been some error in making the summary, either in the last report or in the data for earlier years, and thinks that the matter cannot be definitely decided until the statistics for 1900 will be on hand. Should, however, all the figures as given be entirely correct, then the ratio of increase is smaller in India now than formerly. Zahn thinks, too, that the objection urged to Christian work, that while the increase in population in India is each year 2,700,000, the entire number of Christians is only 2,200,000, and that consequently the absolute increase in population is greater than the entire Christian community, is not to be regarded as discouraging, because similar objections could have been made in the early days of Christianity, when the apostolic Church went out conquering and to conquer. The question is whether the leaven of Christianity is at work in India, and this is th~ase beyond a doubt. At any rate, the Protestant Church there increased at a greater ratio than the population of the empire. During the period in which statistics are at hand, the population has increased 10.9 per cent, while Protestantism has increased 20.2 per cent. This increase is, however, disproportionally distributed. In Bengal the increase of population stands to the increase in Protestantism in the proportion of 7.3 per cent to 22.4 per cent; in Madras, 15.9 to 24 per cent; in the Central Provinces, 12 to 58 per cent; in the Northwestern Provinces, 6.2 to 271 per cent. In Bombay the data are even more favorable to Protestantism.
These last figures go to show that when Christian communities once begin to grow they increase in per cent more rapidly when in the hundreds and thousands than they do when in the tens and hundreds of thousands. Again, these statistics show that the general rapid development of Protestantism in India is not only the direct result of mission work. Without doubt the marriages of Protestants, because contracted on a higher moral plane, are more fruitful than the heathen marriages. While a general comparison in this matter is not possible, such comparisons can be made in some special cases. The Basel Mission congregations in India during the decade of 1882-91, in a community of 7557 souls, report an absolute increase of 1875 souls by births, or 24.8 per cent, while the general increase in Gentile India has been only 10.9 per cent. A further increase of 6 per cent the Basel missions secured during this period from without, making a total of 30.8 per cent. Deducting losses of all kinds, these mission congregations during the past decade grew through natural increase by 24.8 per cent, and a further 20.5 per cent through additions from without. If other Protestant missions can leport the same experience, it is safe to pronounce the development of Protestant missions in India as healthy and safe, and the prospects for Gospel conquests more than fair.
Dr. Cust does not pass so hopeful and favorable a judgment on mission work in India. In a recent article he criticises Protestant missionaries, and compares them unfavorably with Paul and Columbanus and Bonifacius, as also with modern Roman Catholic missionaries, and, in fact, even with
THE LONDON MISSION IN TRAVANCORE
the propaganda workers of the Hindus and Mohammedans. In this regard he seems to like the view which the German traveller Weismann expressed some years ago of the missionaries he met in Africa, who claimed that the Protestant missionaries worked on the principle of ora et labora, while their • Roman Catholic competitors inverted this order and attended to the labora before the ora-i. e., sought first to civilize and only then to Christianize the natives. Cust's leading criticism is that the Protestant missionaries of India do not exhibit to the native the living example of " the most ex- cellent gift of self-sacrifice. " Dr. Cust also fears that if once the protect- ing arms of the British Government are withdrawn from India, the whole fabric of Protestant churchdom in that country will crumble to the ground, the reason being that it has not been established on an independent, self- sustaining apostolic basis.
Zahn, in answer, very properly draws attention to Cust's inability to prophesy or predict in this matter, owing to his strong convictions that the mission churches should be under native government and authorities exclu- sively. Recently he protested loud and long in the Times against the ap- pointment of a European bishop for Africa. Zahn thinks that possibly Cust's ideas could be applied to the churches in Africa, and that these could stand on their own feet and become indepQndent of European con- trol, but that the time to establish this principle in India has not yet arrived.
THE LONDON MISSION IN TRAVANCORE.
BY THE LATE REV. SAMUEL MATEER.
The Western Coast was the first part of India where Europeans landed and opened direct intercourse with the people, thus commencing a new era in the history of mankind. As Columbus first lighted upon the Bahamas in his search for India four hundred years ago, so, about the same time, Vasco da Gama was blown to the West Coast of India, under the rule of the Zamorin, of Calicut, which became the subject of the npble epic poem in Portuguese called the Lusiad. South of Calicut lies the native State of Travancore.
The shores of Travancore are covered with the feathery cocoanut-palm, in its gardens are cultivated numerous fruit-trees, bananas, coffee, tea, and fragrant spices, while the valleys and' lowlands are irrigated and green with rice, producing a golden harvest twiee a year. Inland, the country is well called Malayala-hill and dale-while in the background rise the lofty range of the Western Ghauts, with grand precipices, beautiful waterfalls, primeval forests, and scenery of romantic beauty. The torrid heat of the East Coast is not so often experienced, but there is no winter to relieve the pressure on the European constitution. Travancore must be studied as ethnologically a distinct and very peculiar district of India. There are no child-marriages among the Malayalis, but females have considerable liberty of choice when arrived at maturity. Numbers of celibate Brahman women will be found there, because only one son in each Malabar Brahman family is allowed to marry, in order. that the ancestral estate may not be diminished by subdivision. Among Malayalis no woman ever can be a widow, because she never is truly a wife. The system is one of concubinage, in consequence of which the mother's brother is the guardian of her children, the paternal relationship being of no account in the eye of the law. Malabar law is, therefore, curiously opposed to ordinary Hindu law.
Among the two and a half millions of people in Travancore we find a marvellous variety of race and religion. The ancient colony of Jews numbers (including those of Cochin) about 1400. We have 150,000 Mohammedan traders, fishermen, and agriculturists, for the most part ignorant of their own religion, bigoted, and superstitious. All along the seashore are seen the churches of the Roman Catholic fishermen, with others inland, for 180,000 of that sect; while over North Travancore are the venerable churches of the Syrian Christians, with their ancient hierarchy and elaborate ritual, followed by 250,000 of that faith. Altogether no less than half a million, or one fifth of the whole population, are already nominally Christian,. constituting that country the most Christian country in India.
Among the Hindu population there are no less than 420 distinct castes, most of whom cannot eat together, and none can intermarry. In their secluded groves and villas dwell the high Malayali Brahmans, before whom the king himself must bow. Around the sacred temples dwell the numerous servants who attend the shrine. In lowly huts among the palm groves live the tribes who climb these trees for their produce, on which they live. On the sands of the seashore dwell the laborious fishermen, in the rice swamps the toiling slave castes (now nominally freed), and in the hills the wild men of the woods, while in the towns are found, besides artisans of various trades, the gentry, the magistrates, lawyers, teachers, and other professional men. The strata and gradations of population are many, and their diverse manners and usages would form the study of a lifetime.
This interesting little country was formerly the scene of cruel oppression and Oriental misgovernment. Being quite a corner of India, shut off and hemmed in by the great mouutain wall on one Flide and the Indian Ocean on the other, modern advance had not reached it, irritating and depressing taxes and benevolences were levied, criminals were tortured and torn asunder. Impalement was the punishment for the murder of the sacred cow; internal conflicts were frequent, and two thirds of the Hindu population were regardetl as low and polluting in caste, to whom, therefore, the rights of citizenship were denied, clothing above. the waist disallowed, and their property and lives were at the mercy of the higher classes.
The government of Travancore under its native maharaja or king is purely Hindu, the country having been too far from the seat of Mohammedan rule to be conquered by them. Hinduism has, therefore, been conserved in its primitive purity and power. The country is regarded as dedicated'to the god Patmanabhan, or Vishnu, represented by the Brahmanical priesthood. The iron shackles of caste have been closely maintained. Demon worship, serpent worship, ancestor worship, sorcery, and the darkest and most terrifying superstitions multiplied the sorrows of those who had turned away from the light of the God of heaven presented by the Jews and early Syrian Christians, and who" did not like to retain God in their knowledge."
In this populous and diversified field our fathers and predecessors labored, for it they prayed earnestly and gave liberally, especially sixty years ago, when multitudes came over to Christianity, destroyed their devil temples, and ranged themselves under the banner of the cross. Our missionary predecessors, whose names are little known now in Britain, but are recorded on high, did a noble work in the conflict with the powers of darkness and evil, and in toiling to teach and discipline and organize the rising native church. The missionaries were foremost in pleading for needed social and political reforms, and thus greatly benefited the country, and now gratitude for British justice and freedom and religious privileges fills the hearts of many. We are known there as the friends of the poor, yet not enemies to any; only opposed to priestcraft, injustice, and oppression.
The beginning of the mission was small and unpromising. A single missionary, a German, humble but learned, laborious, and self-denying, entered the country single-handed, in spite of the frowns of the native government and the opposition of the Brahmans. During his period Ringeltaube brought hundreds to Christ, and afterward was succeeded by others, under whom many thousands were instructed. Now we have a great mission, our joy and rejoicing in the Lord, well conducted on a scriptural basis, fairly equipped for past needs, and now receiving considerable reinforcements, while a great step in advance is being taken by strengthening present stations, opening a new one in the north, and raising the seminary to the grade of a college affiliated to the Madras University.
The success achieved in Travancore has been fully commensurate with the means used, and quite repays the devoted efforts and loving gifts and earnest prayers expended upon it. From a memorandum of the statistics of 1880, compared with those of 1890, furnished to the Census Commissioner, we find that there has been growth during those ten years in every item of missionary work. There has been a steady increase of native agency, preaching and educational, male and female; an increase of the total number of professing Christians and baptized communicants j an increase in the number of boys and girls attending school, and in the contributions of native Christians toward the work of God among themselves, with a view ultimately to self-support and self-propagation.
While the total population of Travancore has increased during the past decade from 2,400,000 to two and a half millions, a ratio of 6.4 per cent, the number of Christians in the London Mission has grown from 41,347 to 49,260, equal to over 19 per cent-just three times the natural increase of the population. And we can see the progressive improvement of each generation under Christian education and discipline and pastoral care, though we also see and acknowledge that there are still many unconverted hearers who are Christians only in name and profession. In our Sonth Travancore Mission we have now 299 congregations comprising 50,637 native Christians, and 16,393 children, over half of whom are the children of heathen parents, but also taught to love the Lord and read His word and sing and pray, and promising, most of them, to become Christians as they grow up.
And still cheering tidings continue to reach us from Travancore, notwithstanding the death of several valued laborers, such as the ingathering of a hundred and ten persous in four months in a village near Trevandrun, among whom were nine devil-dancers and priests, one of whom had been for fifty years a most bigoted heathen. Indeed, the number of devildancers converted this year in our various districts is very remarkable. We have also heard of the destruction of two demon temples and the capture of several images of Kali, queen of the demons, of the progress of native pastorates, the baptism of several lepers, some of the wild Hillmen learning to read, and asking for teachers and schools, and classes for medical stuuents and for Bible women progressing. Several persons of good caste and education are inquiring, and hundreds of caste women under instruction in our zenana mission.
Could our readers witness the results already achieved in Travancore, they would realize more fully the importance of the work that has been accomplished. Could you see something of our congregations of people, once devil-worshippers trembling before malignant spirits and seeking demoniac possession and familiar intercourse with the powers of hell, now clothed and in their right minds, heartily singing the praises of our blessed Saviour and humbly bowing in prayer before Him, then contributing to His cause their little coins and garden produce ; could you see some of those dear children in our schools and hear them read the Gospels and sing their sweet lyrics ; could you be present at the weekly report meetings of our preachers and teachers with the missionary for counsel, instruction and prayer-men who a hundred years ago would have been leaders in devil-dancing, sorcery, and mischief, as now they are in godliness and work for the Master, your hearts would be cheered and invigorated for further effort, and you would join as never before in the song of praise to Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. In fact, Christianity is becoming a power in Travancore. As already mentioned, Christians all told number half a million, a fifth of the population of the State, and fully equal in number to the Sudras, who regard themselves as the Malayalis, and are the rulers and landowners, the magistrates, police, and military of the kingdom.
And not only in Travancore, but throughout South India native Christians are coming to the front in education, law, and medicine. Their children are attending schools in larger proportion than any other class, taking part in government service, and beginning even to beat the Brahmans in university examinations, who have for three thousand years been the brain and the men of leading in India. Native Christians are likely, according to a recent report of the Director of Public Instruction in Madras, " in the course of a generation to secure a preponderating position in all the great professions, and possibly, too, in the industrial enterprise of India."
I have sometimes pointed out to respectable Hindus, as a secondary argument, that if they do not embrace Christianity and place themselves in the front of that forward movement, while such numbers of the poorer classes are coming under instruction and rapidly rising, they will ultimately become the despised heathen and virtual low castes, while the Christians shall be in the truest and most real sense the " high caste" people of India. The balance of power will, in time, with the progress of enlightenment alter from the haughty and oppressive Brahmans, relying on their traditional prestige alone, to the middle class Sudras, the present bone and sinew of the country as regards property and general influence, and from the Sudras power must inevitably come in time to the native Christians, if they will be faithful to the principles of God's Word and commandments, taught them by the missionaries. God is forming a new nation in India. Already signs are visible of the revolt of the Sudras tlgainst Brahmanical ascendency in many ways. In Travancore they begin to protest against the corrupt favoritism and costly gifts bestowed upon the priestly Brahmans in the Land of Charity. In 1892 the maharajah was weighed with his sword and shield and royal ornaments against his full weight in pure gold, and of this sum half was bestowed on the officiating priests and half on the Tamil and Malayalam Brahmans, and nothing for the Sudras!
But the more successful our work becomes, the more it needs in men and means and united effort. We must care for our present converts and congregations and schools, else they will retrograde or even die out. The convert churches, like our own children, must be fed and nourished till they arrive at some maturity of growth, as some have already done. We need still to labor on for the conversion of all classes in Travancore. As yet the high castes have not been brought in in any considerable numbers. The barbarous laws obstructive of Christian progress that still obtain call for reform, and the family relationship must be purified, which only
THE CONDITION OF PARIAH ., OUTCASTS" IN INDIA
Christianity can effectually accomplish. We need prayer and more indio vidual dealing with souls for the spiritual conversion of mere nominal Christians, and a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit to fit them to evangelize other parts of India. A forward movement is needed in Travancore as well as in England.
We want more native teachers for Pulayars, Kuravars, and other humble castes that are appealing for instruction for themselves and their children. I have for years been obliged to caution our catechists against extensions which we had not means to maintain. With a sufficient staff of teachers we could at once bring under instruction many thousands of the poorer classes in Travancore. We want some help toward church buildings required not for individual congregations, but for special united meetings. We are opening a new station intermediate between Trevandun and Quilon with two missionaries, for whom a staff of helpers and suitable buildings will be required. Magnificent opportunities for usefulness present themselves, of which we should eagerly avail ourselves.
We who labor in the foreign field have no doubt as to the ultimate result. Victory is assured to us by the Divine promise, and we are on the winning side, for God is with us. Any day we may see, after all the preparatory work that has been done, greater results than the Christian Church has ever witnessed before-the ingathering of a glorious harvest, a new Pentecost, a nation born in a day.
I have seen in one of the Hindu temples a beautiful life-size piece of sculpture representing the god Krishna treading on the head of a great serpent, while he securely grasps the body and tail of the reptile in his hands. They tell us of a black serpent whose infectious breath poisoned the river Jumna, so that cattle and men died as soon as they drank of the waters. Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, appeared for their rescue, combated with the serpent, which twisted its mighty folds round his body, but he seized it, trampled upon its head, and danced in triumph over its mangled body. Here is a reminiscence of the old promise, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," and an unconscious prophecy of the glorious time coming, when Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, shall triumph over Satan, and abolish his dominion and works and worship and rescue the nations so long enthralled by his mighty power and poisoned by his deadly venom.
THE CONDITION OF PARIAH "OUTCASTS" IN INDIA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, DARWEN, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Abject poverty holds millions of natives in its withering grip throughout the Indian Empire. It is impossible to find another country on the face of the globe where so many are in bondage to want or endure continually such terrible misery. While the patience of these hapless myriads is characteristic, the time is overdue for efforts of a more decisive nature to effect some amelioration of their lot. Strange as it appears, even Hindus themselves of very enlightened type have scarcely grappled with the physical misfortunes of their fellow-countrymen. Of that large body of India's own children who have figured as educationists, reformers, statesmen, and patriots, not one has stood above the evils of caste system or devoted adequate attention to the miseries of the despised and wretched beings known as the "outcasts" of India. The pariah in India is the pitiful counterpart of the four-footed animal pariah-the dog, with which every traveller is familiar on Eastern shores.
Numerous causes of a general and specific nature haTe intensified the degradation of vast numbers of India's population and relegated them to shameful wrongs and disabilities. Of these the most potent is the unfeeling system of caste. Suffering humanity presents its worst disclosures among natives at the lowest point in the social scale, for whom the members of caste, with rarest exceptions, have neither regard nor mercy. On this question Christian missionaries are in strong unanimity. A trustworthy agent of the London Missionary Society at Salem, in Southern India, has lately rebuked the leaders of the National Congress, who, in denouncing the unwillingness of the government to grant a wider franchise, are themselves equally exposed to the charge of refusing corresponding privileges to their humbler fellow-countrymen, which all classes share in virtue of a common nationality. " England," he says, "may have given a tardy recognition to the demand for political enfranchisement, but India still withholds social enfranchisement from thousands of her own sons." In illustration of this it is related that a public well was sunk in a garden belonging to a certain union. The well was approached through a narrow gate, and over this was affixed a signboard with the inscription: "Pariahs are not allowed to enter this enclosure, or to draw water from this well." On account of such privations the Hindu pariah has a claim upon the sympathetic ear of the world of brotherhood hardly surpassed by any other being on earth. Ill-treated perpetually, he is an exile in his own land, and, of him, it has been pathetically said that he is in reality an " out-caste," living outside village bounds, existing on the verge of starvation, and often disputing his food with the dog and carrion bird. The pariahs are practically slaves, whose afflictions cry for the swift help of mankind, and the coming of the time when there shall be " -no more crippled, nor weak, nor bent; No more painful, nor impotent."
The multitudes in this travail reach amazing figures. They were returned from the Madras Presidency alone in 1882 at 4,439,253, or over 15 per cent of the population. Throughout Southern India in particular such unfortunates are exposed to a heartrending struggle for existence. Lack of water is a dreaded spectre. The sun, especially in the summer season, dries up the streams and tanks, when these children of the soil are scorched and shrivelled. To satisfy the cravings of nature, tens of thousands of them have to drink water from dirty, stagnant pools, gener- ally at great distances from their miserable bamboo huts, or go without it altogether. Little can it be wondered that their dwellings are beds of cholera, dysentery, and fever, and should a slight water famine fall upon them, they are said to die off like flies. What tragedy this implies may be gleaned from returns during the span of the last generation. As against the. thirteen famines which happened in India between 1802 and 1854, when 5,000,000 perished, there befell the people, between 1860 and 1879, w.hen railways and irrigation works were supposed to do away with the perils of famine, no less than sixteen, in which 12,000,000 natives died of starvation, a large proportion of them belonging to outcast tribes and communities. These appalling figures lend urgent emphasis to the noble words which Mountstuart Elphinstone addressed to posterity regard- ing India: "It is not enough to give new laws or even good courts; you must take the people along with you, and give them a share in your feel- ings, which can only be done by sharing theirs." In the present age, which assuredly is being swayed by the most intelligent and widespread humanitarian movement that the world has ever seen, it is not improbable that the pangs of India's needier millions may be relieved by the outflow- ing of more brotherly compassion.
Acknowledging heartily the endeavors of the English Government to elevate the social status of the Hindus, these, it must be observed, have not materially affected the non-caste populations. Through a variety of circumstances the latter have not come within the scope of the justice and liberality of the British raj, and consequently they require exceptional protection and assistance. Even the charitable exertions which radiate from the mission centres merely touch the fringe of this national misfor- tune and evil.
From another source reformation must gradually proceed. By the most competent authorities on Indian life it is allowed that the prevalence of caste is answerable for the bulk of the wretchedness and cruelty, and on its relaxation depends the happiness of multitudes. Whatever 'govern- ment and Christian institutions may accomplish, the barriers will in a great measure stand, unless the caste orders are convinced that no moral pollution is incurred by the ministry of pity to the meanest of their fellow- creatures. It is along this path that missionary teaching is being incul- cated, not without some encouragement of the breaking of a glorious dawn: " From whose broad doorways seems to shine An effluence Divine."
Notwithstanding the occasional plea that the discipline of caste has certain moral and social advantages, Protestant missionaries glory in preaching a Christ who is equally the foundation and crown of the whole
1891S.] FAMILY LIFE IN INDIA
race, in relation to whom" there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." From that Oriental empire, with its solitary missionary sower for every 500,000 natives, rises a yearning cry inviting the witnesses of a fruitful faith to herald a humane and spiritual righteousness, by which the "Eye of Asia" shall yet become a jewel of light in the kingdom of Christ.
FAMILY LIFE IN INDIA.
BY ALBERT NORTON, B.D., MACEDON, N. Y.
Family life is not the same among all the Hindu castes, nor is it the same in the same caste through all the varied provinces and districts in India. As Max Muller says, "A sentence beginning with' The people of India,' or even with 'All the Brahmans,' or 'All the Buddhists,' is followed almost invariably with something wrong j as there is a greater difference between a Hindustani, a Bengali, and a Dravidian than' between an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Russian, yet all are classed as Hindus."
Tn regard to the ill-treatment of Hindu women, as a general thing, judging from my experience in Western and Central India from 1872-89, I feel that it has been much exaggerated in missionary addresses and litera- ture-no doubt unintentionally. During those years spent in Berar and Western Central Provinces we did not find the women of the low castes nor of the middle castes, like the Kunbis (farmers), to be imprisoned in their zenanas j but, as far as we could discern, they seemed to lead a very freeand-easy life, and to have it no harder than their husbands.
For some years my wife and self, with our five boys, lived at Bhaisdehi, a Hindu town of about three thousand population. We were the first persons of European descent to live within thirty miles of that town. The town and surrounding country had never been under Mohammedan influence nor very strong Brahman control. There were two leading families: one belonged to the Kshattriyas, the military caste (and this family were descended from the native general who had defended Fort Gawilghar against the Duke of Wellington in 1803), and the other family (its leading member claiming the title of " prince") belonged to the farmer caste. While the women of these two families and a few others were kept in seclusion, the great majority, like the wives of farmers, goldsmiths, and merchants, were not. When I quoted the statement from the MISSIONARY REVIEW, "At the head is, not the husband and father, but the wife and mother, to whom are subordinate all within the house," my older boys, remembering our intimate life and close association with the Kunbi families at Bhaisdehi, at once said, "That is the way it was in the part of India where we lived."
Afterward, when our home was in a wild region on a mountain plateau, where we had built a house partly for health, a Kunbi family, which we had known for years, during a seyere storm stopped with us in our house for two days, eating and sleeping there. There were the husband and wife, their two boys, about twelve or fourteen years old, and the two girlwives, a little younger than the boys. Our impression was that the little girls were very fond of their mother-in-law, and that she was as kind and gentle to them as though they had been her own daughters; and we felt thankful that a Hindu family could be as happy and comfortable as they seemed to us to be, though it was contrary to the tradition of the missionary story-books of the cruelty of the Hindu mother. to her daughters-inlaw. There are many good things in the prevalent customs and laws of the Hindus, like their abstinence from intoxicating drink, their hospitality to kindred, and their kindness to strangers. Of conrse there is a dark side to Hindu life. On this we have the testimony of Hindu women of high caste, like Ramabai, of Poona, and Sundarbai Powar, of Bombay; and their witness as to women's condition in the Hindu home is of more value than all the papers read at Chicago on the subject at the Parliament in 1893.
Yet the conviction has been growing upon me that harm has been done to the missionary cause by exaggerations as to the immoralities of the natives of India. The statements of Dubois, James Mill, and other writers in wholesale denunciation of a large empire of people, about whom they actually knew but little, have received too much credence by missionary speakers and writers.
I have no doubt that the idolatries and superstitions of Hindnism cause great suffering and harm to both men and women, and the only way to remedy it is to bring in the light of the Gospel to banish the darkness of heathenism. At an inland town like Bhaisdehi, almost wholly cut off from the influence of ungodly Europeans, the influence of earnest Christian teaching is soon felt on the Hindu community in raising it to a higher and better moral level, though there be but few converts; so that such a place would cease to be a fair representative of average Hinduism.
Dr. J. Murray Mitchell says: "Hinduism, confirred to India, is professed by over 200,000,000. For the most, the wildest Polytheismreckoning gods and goddesses by hundreds of millions. Among educated men, it becomes Pantheism, acknowledging only one being in the universe-spirit: the world around having no existence. Only say-believing it-' Aham Brahma,' 'I am God,' and you have attained the height of wisdom.
"Hindu caste is a stupendous system, affecting one's whole life. Violate any of these rules, and you are expelled from society ; father and mother cast you off; you suffer social death.
"Suttee, self·murder under the wheels of Jagannath, and infanticide have been suppressed by the British Government; but the general heartless treatment of widows and of the lower castes, child marriages, and many similar things survive, inwoven with the whole framework of Hindu society and thought."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GBAOEY, D.D.
Higher Educa.tion on the Mission Field. nati ve converts has been gathered in, then in that station the great work of the mis· BY REV. W. M. HAYES, TUNG CHOW COL· sionary is to make of them .. Iiving epis- tles known and read of all men. .. This LEGE. NORTH CHINA. was the plan of the most successful mis- sionary the world has ever seen, for un- During the past twenty years there less those already received walk' as has been in many parts of the world a " children of the light" and lead better rapid development of educational work lives than the heathen around them, fur- as a mIssIOnary agency. As a result. ther preaching is well· nigh foolishness. we now have a reaction. Many, view- ing the expenditure, are beginning to This pastoral care can seldom be suffi· question the wisdom of such a course, ciently provided by the foreign mission- and ask. " Why this waste of the oint· ary himself. The experience of almost ment? Would it not be better to employ everyone has been that stations spring these men and use this money in direct uP. not where he chooses. but where evangelistic work 1" the Spirit listeth; and so, without any design on the part of the missionary, ex- There is no question but such a course cept that of going wherever men seem would yield larger immediate results. most inclined to believe, he finds the lit- The different mission boards would be tle bands of converts widely scattered. able to extend their agencies over a The result is, he cannot visit these sta- larger territory, and temporarily we tions more than once every two or three should probably have a larger number months. Some of the hardest working of native Christians. Unless, however, and most successful missionaries in proper pastoral care and religious in- Shantung find that once in six months struction is made possible, this growth is all that they can do. Even if the for- will not continue. Not only will the eign missionary could instruct each lives of the converts. as is too frequent- flock every Sabbath, provision must be ly the case, fail to commend Christian- made some time for a native pastorate. . ity to their heathen neighbors, but the The Church does not propose and defections in their own number will be should not be expected to keep up an most disheartening. It is not strange apostolic succession of missionaries in that it should be so. To expect a native any field. To educate a native ministry church, composed of untaught converts, is the one feasible method of providing to grow spiritually, to take an active in- instruction for the native Church, and, terest in the advance of the Redeemer's without controversy, it is the only pas- kingdom, and that without anyone torate which the native Church can capable of ministering to them in the afford . Word of God, is to expect of these .. babes in Christ" what the Church at In regard to the education needed, home does not expect of her members. many reason that the most intelligent of the converts, if given the elements of Remember that the great majority of a theological course, are as pastors suffi- our converts are still in the wilderness, cient for the present need. But if such only a few removes as yet from the dark men-and their usefulness in many ways Egypt of heathenism; that, owing to is not denied-are sufficient for the pas- human inability to always separate the toral care and instruction of the Chris· true from the false, there is with them tians, much less Is It necessary to give the a" mixed multitude," and the necessity missionary himself a college and semiof continual pastoral oversight becomes at once evident. After a small band of nary education before sending him out These are in the China field at least to instruct the heathen. This experi- the main objects of higher education ment, as well as that of taking young as a missionary agency. That once men and giving them a fair collegiate in a while a graduate engages in and theological education, have both some different employment is no obbeen tried, and there is no question but jection. It is not to be expected that the latter, all in all, are by far the more every man is adapted for one of these efficient men. forms of work. We must not be dis- couraged even if a man now and then Higher education on the mission field fails us. Even such a personality as is designed not only to furnish pastors Paul's could not prevent some of his for the native churches, but teachers helpers going back to the world. We also for the elementary schools. The cannot, even at the risk of a failure now almost universal adoption of this agency and then, allow anti-Christian schools is a sufficient proof of the efficiency of to furnish all the educated men. these primary schools; but here, too, higher education must precede the low- To give a good education in mission er, for the reason that we must have the high schools and colleges is necessary, teacher before we can have the school. not only to train men, but also to at- The teacher in such cases is not only tract men of good ability into the serexpected to teach, but also to be a lead- vice of the Church. It is often urged er, in the station, to conduct the Sab- that a mission school should confine itbath services, to preach to the people self chiefiy to religious instruction; but who may drop in, and to defend Chris- even in a Christian land it iEl obvious tianity before the heathen literati. In that very few young men of talent such cases the keener the scythe the would be attracted to a school whose better it will cut; in other words, if curriculum consisted mainly of the these men are carefully selected, the "Peep of Day," .. Pilgrim's Progmore thorough their education, the ress," etc., gradually advancing to the more efficient they will be. more difficult moral and theological treatises. Much less may we expect The medical work is also one of the such a school to attract talented young main indirect missionary agencies of the men belonging to heathen or non-Protpresent time; yet, to make it of lasting estant families. benefit, it should accomplish more than the mere breaking down of prejudice. In the case of some of our most use- It should be self·propagating. A dis· ful men Christianity was not that for pensary with from eight to ten thou- which they first came to us, but none sand patients a year can accomplish have graduated without voluntarily much among the more thoughtful na- first becoming Christians. The aim of tives as long as the succession of medi- the mission school is both to attract and cal missionaries is kept up. That, to train men. While religious instructhough, is not and cannot always be tion rightfully claims an important done; too often the dispensary has been place, yet we must also remember that closed because the" beloved physician" knowledge is power, and that a disciis called elsewhere. The higher educa- plined mind is one end of education_ tion, by providing young men ready At the same time, its instructors, while trained for a medical course, tends to teaching science, should teach God in obviate this difficulty, and the medical that science. Geology can be taught missionary who gives his time to their so as to impress its students with His training, while he may not for the present far-reaChing plans for human comfort; make such voluminous reports of work astronomy with the vastness of His done, is doing both as a Christian and a thoughts; physics so as to show the philanthropist a work of a far more wonderful powers with which He has abiding character. endued matter powers which are continually showing new capabilities of cation on the mission field is that men ministering to human wants. If, in are needed " who shall be able to teach teaching these and other science, we others also," who as evangelists, pasfail-as sometimes we sadly do-to in- tors, and teachers can feed the Church fuse a sense of reverence, of humility, of God, for it is as true now as it was in of gratitude, of adoration to Him who the days of Peter, the unlearned as well is God over all, the fault is ours and not as the unstable" do wrest the Scripthat of higher education per 8e. tures to their own destruction."
How extensive the curIiculum of a Present Sta.tus of Instruction on Mismission college may be is often a vexed sions in Theological Seminaries. question. Unless the funds are specially contributed for that purpose, I BY REV. JAMES EDWARD ADAMS, TRAVdo not think that they should be used in teaching anything except that which ELLING SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN has a direct bearing on evangelistic work. To give students, e.g., a course INTER-SEMINARY MISSIONARY ALLIin civil or electrical engineering, while good in itself, can hardly be claimed to ANCE, CHICAGO, ILL. be the intent of the original donors of those funds, and honesty requires ac- In the fall of 1894 the American Incordance with that intent. The lim- ter-Seminary Missionary Alliance unitations of the curriculum are found in dertook to gather precise statistics the fact that these funds were contribut- from the theological seminaries of our ed for the evangelization, not civiliza- country concerning specific, systematic tion of the world.. The latter will fol- instruction in them upon the evangelislow as a result without our direct effort. tic mission of the Church in the world. This investigation covered 51 of our Time fails me to speak of the diffi- leading schools. In as many cases as culties of such work-the disposition so possible the data were collected not often shown by the students to pay for only from the authorities, but also just as little as possible, their unendur- from student sources in order that the able conceit, and in some cases their un- information might cover both points of willingness to serve the Church which view. Personal visits were made to 11 has educated them unless they receive seminaries, and the subject studied in remuneration equal to what they could its local bearings. As a result, it was command elsewhere. We must remem- found that of the 51 seminaries, (1) none ber, though, that college students in had individual chairs on missions; (2) 6 Christian lands are not noted for mod- had the subject as an officially recogesty, nor do seminary students always nized integral part of a chair; (3) 34 pay their own way as far as possible. reported the subject as unofficially in- We are sometimes_ cast down to the cluded in the general instruction of depths because a young man, after some other chair, as of Church History. being educated, is not willing to endure Practical Theology, etc.; and (4) out hardness as a good soldier, and neither of 34 catalogues examined, 18 made no is every man here who has been educat- mention of the subject in their printed ed by the Church. These are difficul- course of study ; one reported an opties, however, to be overcome, not to tional course of several terms in the be excused by comparison, nor to be specific history of missions; and sevregarded as unsurmountable. The final eral had special endowed lecture courses end of mission effort-a self-taught and for the occasional treatment of missionself-sustaining native Church-will not ary themes. Under class (2), of the six, be reached if we draw back because of three either never have had, or have a few lions in the way. not now the missionary part of the chair in actual operation; in the re- The great imperative reason for edu- maining three the average amount of time actually given to the subject is thirty-sil: hOllIS for the,seminary course. 19 could not tell where Duff labored; Under class (3), 12 state that they refer and 16 were unable to tell in what to what is given of the history of mis- country Carey worked. No comment sions in the general instruction in is necessary concerning the need of Church History; 19 reported having missionary instruction. it included in Practical Theology, and the average amount of time given to Not only has the specific discipline the subject was only eight lecture pe- been of such a character as not to equip riods for the course. Out of the eleven the pastor to train his church, but that institutions visited, in six where the it has also failed to lead the students to instruction took this form, it was the face the question of personal service in almost unanimous opinion among the the mission field, the following statisstudents that as a disciplinary training tics amply prove: 43 of these seminaconcerning the missionary character ries In the last three years have gradand work of the Church, calculated to uated 4452 students. Of these 107, or affect the students' future ministry, its slightly over 2 per cent, have gone to value was very small. Men in the the foreign field. Investigation was senior classes confidently affirmed that made personally in eight of these instithere had been nothing on the subject tutions where 652 had been graduated, of missions in the course, until their and 43 had gone to the foreign field in attention was called to what work was the three years; and it was found that done in this department. The actual 32 of these had the purpose of becomstatus of comprehensive, scientific dis- ing foreign missionaries before entercipline on the subject of missions is Ing the seminary. Of the 11 who dewell illustrated by the following case. cided to become foreign missionaries One of the large seminaries of the coun- after entering, nine were from a single try is recognized as a strong missionary seminary. In the other seven instituseminary in its church. The church is tions, graduating in this time 488 stuone which prides itself upon the thor- dents, but two arrived at their decision ough training of its ministry. Scarcely to be missionaries while in the semiany place could be found more suited nary, or four tenths of 1 per cent of to a favorable test. Iu this seminary those who graduated. 48 of the senior class were canvassed upon the following questions: It is only just to say that in most of these institutions the true place of mis· " 1. In what foreign fields is our sions is recognized. All the outside inchurch at work ?" fluences available are converged upon the students. Outside speakers, re- "2. Where did Robert Morrison turned missionaries, and Board Secrework, and what was the character of taries, are brought in and heartily welhis great work on the field 1" comed. Professors often turn aside from the regular instruction of their "3. Where did Alexander Duff work, department to draw from it lessons in and what was the character of his great missionary service. Missionary movework on the field f' ments among the students are endorsed and encouraged. Yet even this may "4. Where did William Carey work, have a vicious tendency, so far as solvand what was his great work on the ing the problem of the Church is confield 1" cerned, when it is made the principal factor in the seminary's missionary Of the 48, 28 failed on all the four training. From its character as an questions; 34 failed on the fields of the outside or incidental influence it unconchurch; 45 failed on Morrison; 46 sciously confirms the student in the thought that missions is no essential failed on Duff; and 38 failed on Carey. part of his ministerial training.
One man who canvassed 23 of his classmates kept an account of separate parts of the same question. Of those 23, 20 could not tell where Morrison labored; Grant that it is impossible to state Church strong in the Lord, we give the fairly the actual condition of mission- candidates three years of hard disci- ary instruction in the individual semi- pline in dogmatics. In order certainly nary in the form of bare statistics; to have a ministry able to defend the grant that all such statistics must be faith, and so a Church able to render a taken with a measure of allowance; reason for its hope, we train them in grant all that can reasonably be asked, Apologetics. In order certainly to and what do we still find? Simply have a ministry able to sound the depths this, that in the vast majority of the of Holy Writ, and so a Church anchor- training schools of the ministry, there ed in the Word, the students are drilled is in actual operation very little definite, through the entire course in Hebrew systematic, comprehensive training and Greek. Is the certain accomplish- concerning the essential missionary ment of the e8sential end for which the character and work of the Church in Church of Christ exists on earth of such the world; such specific training as minor importance that the training of shall be calculated to most certainly her ~ministry to that end can be safely beget in the mass of the ministry the left to influences brought in from out- conviction and the equipment necessary side the seminary or to incidental infer- to actualize this character in the ences drawn from the instruetion with- Church's life. in?
It will be borne in mind that this in- Even as we recognize in other depart- vestigation has been pursued in abso- ments that convictions of such a char- lutely no spirit ot antagonism to the acter as to have abiding power in the training schools of the ministry. This life of the ministry, and to certainly is simply a problem which confronts work their way out through the rela- the Church. It involves all equally as tions of the ministry into the life of the students of the things of Christ. It is Church, must be given a foundation of not that the training of the schools is systematized knowledge, so must we inefficient. They have been developed also recognize it in this department.
and are conducted by the best minds of Never will the purpose for which the the Church. It is that in this vital Church was founded be realized in her point their training is insufficient_ It life until her ministry is specifically does not suffice as the actual conditions trained to this end.
in the Church and ministry, existing Any fair consideration of what Is suf- under the present training, demonstrate. ficient and practicable must keep in The point of weakness has been this: view three postulates which relate to we have recognized the giving of the the practical conditions of seminary Gospel to the world as the essential end life: 1. The financial question is prob- of the Church; we have recognized ably the most grave of any which the the necessity of a ministry, with deep majority of seminaries have to meet.
convictions on this subject; but we In many seminaries this would be felt have expected these convictions to be to be the principal obstacle. 2. The begotten by outside and incidental in- amount of time at the command of the fluences. We have largely depended student is not unlimited. The average upon the student himself, inferentially, theological student is pressed for time.
to collect from the various other de- S. The material for study upon which partments of his instruction the mate- the instruction in such a department rial necessary to his equipment along should be based is In some important this line. What would we have lines sadly deficient. Text-book liter- thought of a seminary which pursued ature upon the philosophy of missions this policy along other fundamental is scarce.
lines? In order certainly to have a Nevertheless, God does not put a ministry sound in the faith, and so a primary obligation upon His Church and ministry and accompany it with own station, the prevalence of murder impossible conditions. Freely granting and the laxity of family ties. He then the limiting conditions, it is quite pos- discussed the difficulties which the missible to arrange a course calculated to sionaries encounter in preserving their accomplish the desired end. health, in erecting suitable buildings, learning the language, and preaching Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance. the Gosp~l to the natives. Mr. Moody has spent four years on the Upper Con- EIGHTH ANNUAL DISTRICT CONVEN- go, and his experience, though limited, was valuable in giving a plain, unvar- 't'ION. nished description of the practical diffi- culties and the every-day happenings of BY H. B. RATHBONE, COLGATE ;UNIVER- missionary life. Interesting questions were evoked by the address concerning SITY. the mortality among missionaries, the visible results of their work, and the Notwithstanding the exceedingly un- outlook for the future. pleasant weather, the eighth annual district convention of the Inter-Semi- Mr. A. Faduma, a native of West nary Missionary Alliance with the Col- Africa and now a student in Yale gate University at Hamilton, N. Y., Divinity School, followed Mr. Moody February 7th-10th, passed off with with one of the best papers of the conmuch profit to all that were able to at- vention. His subject was Of Industrial tend its meetings. Many of the speak- Missions in Africa." After speaking ers and delegates from a distance were of the present enthusiasm for the ele· blockaded on their way to the conven· vation of Africa, Mr. Faduma said the tion by the blizzard which visited the songs of the past were on .. Arms and country just at the time of the meet- the Man." Physical prowess was the ings; consequently much of the pro- inspiration of poets. Over the Contigramme had to be revised, and the nent of Africa the Arab wandered singdelegates were deprived of the pleasure ing "Ivory and Slaves;" then civilized of listening to many whom they had nations of Europe sang along her sbores expected to hear. " Cotton and Slaves." The age of war i3 now followed by that of peace. It is The opening session of the convention not Homer nor Virgil, but Christ, who was held in the Baptist Church, Thurs- il:! the inspiration of the times. Indus· day evening, February 7th. Mr. L. C. trial missions were prophesied by Isaiah H. Biggs, of Hamilton Theological when he said, "Jehovah shall arbitrate Seminary, presided. After a short among the nations, and shall rebuke praise service the Rev. C. S. Savage, many people; and they shall beat their pastor of the Baptist Church, offered swords into ploughshares and their prayer, and Dr. S. Burnham welcomed spears into scythes; nation shall not the delegates to Colgate University. lift up sword against nation, neither Rev. J. Pierson, pastor of the Congre- shall they learn war any more." Our gational Church, spoke words of wel- song to-day is, " Christ, Tools, and the come on behalf of the village. Man. " As soon as a man becomes a complete master of tools he is no longer Dr. Harper, President of Chicago a savage, but a civilized creature. A University, was announced as the civilizatiou with Christ is the highest speaker of the evening. The subject, form of life which can be taught to .. What are the Problems of the Day, men. I feel confident in the assertion and How Shall we Regard Them 1" was founded upon observation, that a man treated in a most scholarly manner. without the knowledge of tools is an abnormal man; and if he is a Christian, The Rev. Thomas Moody, from the Upper Congo, addressed the meeting of Friday morning on " Mission Work in Equatorial Africa." He spoke of the social conditions which exist at his an abnormal Christian. All attempts tools, and the man. It is Christ im- to present Christ to the heathen with- pressing Himself upon the civilized out sufficient emphasis on this l)oint man, ennobling his character, widening will be fruitless. The saved man of his horizon of life, and so transforming Africa must be thoroughly saved. We him that he shall beat bis sword into must not forget that man is a complex: ploughshares and spears into scythes.
being. He is not merely physical, nor On Friday afternoon, after a brief is he merely spiritual. The wonderful service of song, Mr. James Simister, of insight of Christ when He was on the Drew Seminary, read an able paper on earth led Him to be a physician both "The Negro in America, and his Re- to the bodies and souls of men. We ligious Condition," in which be traced approve of medical and industrial mis- the marvellous advancement of the ne- sions in heathen lands, because they gro and emphasized the imperious need contribute to the upbuilding of Christ's of education. Mr. McLellan, of Ham- kingdom. The great prophet and her- ilton Seminary, read a paper by Mr.
ald of industrial missions was Isaiah. Sly, of Rochester, on Alexander Mac- With prophetic vision he foretold the kay. An abstract follows: cessation of war and the conversion of The history of the Uganda Mission in warlike implements to agriculture. Equatorial Africa is one of the most Such a mission we advocate in foreign fascinating stories of modern missions.
fields to-day. But there are other rea- It cannot be understood apart from an sons why industrial missions in Africa acquaintance with the life and labors of should be fostered. They are necessary its pioneer missionary, Alexander M.
(1) for the development of the native, Mackay. " No man is born into the (2) for the self-support of the missions, world," says Lowell, "whose work is (3) for the self-respect of the native, and not born with him." How true this (4) to cure parasitism. was of Mackay is evident; for surely But who is to be the leader in this in- the same Divine wisdom which raised dustrial mission? who the director and up William Carey, the cobbler, in Eng- instructor? Here we meet with two land, and sent him to India; which difficulties: (1) with the missionary, prepared Adoniram Judson, the stu- (2) with the funds. It is not possible for dent, in America, and sent him to Bur- every missionary to be a mechanic. To ma; and which trained Robert Morri- obviate this difficulty it is best to sup- son, the clerk, in Scotland, and sent ply each mission with a missionary me- him to China, also prepared Mackay, chanic, a practical man of affairs with the student and engineer of Scotland a hundred hands, who can teach ordi- and Germany, to be the pioneer mis- nary trades while the missionary is de- sionary to Equatorial Africa. The voted to purely evangelistic work. In speaker then traced the unmistakable the working of an industrial mission, evidences of a Divine plan by showing agriculture must take the first place. how Uganda was prepared, by the ex- The native must be taught improved plorations of Stanley, for the coming methods. There should be introduc- of Mackay; and how at the same time tion of new seeds and kitchen garden- God was preparing Mackay, in a strange ing, the vegetables and meat of the way, for his labors in Uganda. The whole region should be raised by the life of the heroic missionary wa.s then natives. What Africa needs is a Chris- presented by showing (1) the prepara- tianity which will respond to the yearn- tion which Mackay received for his ings of her spiritual and physical life, mission; (2) his actual labors in Ugan- not antagonizing the two natures, but da; (3) his character and in1luence.
bringing both in complete harmony Friday evening was devoted to an ad- with the law of Christ. It is a rounded dress on "Mohammedanism and MIs- Christianity she needs. It is Christ, sions to Mohllmmedans," by Dr. H. H. Jessup, of Beirut, Syria. Dr. Jessup over far more Moslems than the SUltan. presented his subject with the freedom If Mohammedans were united, they of one who has enjoyed a long experi- would be such a tremendous menace to ence among Moslems; his address was civilization that all Europe would forlistened to with marked interest. After get its petty quarrels and unite against discussing, with the aid of a large map, them. But the sword has fallen forthe countries which are now the strong- ever from the hand of Islam. Dr. Jesholds of Islam, the speaker called atten- sup then described the annual pilgrimtion to the growth of the :Mohammedan age to :tvIecca. In 1893, 100,000 pilreligion, which, although not arising grims went to Mecca, 50,000 of whom for nearly seven hundred years after died from cholera on the journey. The Christ, now claims 200,000,000 adhe- immense trenches dug to receive the rents. In discussing the character of offal of countless sacrifices of sheep Mahomet, Dr. Jessup expressed the were filled instead with the dead bodies opinion that if the prophet had been of the worshippers. The saying pre· brought into contact with an able ortho- vails, " If a man goes to Mecca once, dox Christian before entering upon his all right; if he goes twice, keep an eye career, he would have preached a pure on him ; if three times, have nothing Christianity. The form of Christianity to do with him." He is then so holy which he saw was of a grossly pervert- as to become dangero~s, for a pilgrim. ed type. In discussing the Koran, Dr. age to Mecca will atone for innumer- Jessup reminded his hearers that it was able sins. Missionary work among the spoiled in translation, and read choice llos1ems is necessarily slow, but full of passages in the original Arabic in order promise. They have a tremendous to show the beantyof the rhythm. At- conviction of the sovereignty of God, tention was called to some of the curi- and feel the necessity of forgiveness for ous blunders in the sacred book-viz., sin. in the confusion of Miriam, sister of The session of Saturday morning Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, opened with Mr. H. F. Swartz, of Hartand in uniting into one story Saul, ford Seminary, in the chair. Mr. W. Gideon, and David. The scholarly B. Steele, of Hamilton Seminary, gave Moslems have high esteem for the Bi- a review of the life of Dr. Paton, after ble, according to Dr. .Jessup. The which Mr. Shobaz, also of the Hamilcommon people, however, abhor Chris- ton School, spoke briefly of his own tians as dogs and infidels. If we take country of Persia, and the progress of the Koran from the Moslem, we must missionary effort among his people. give him the Bible; for it is a danger- Dr. H. H. Jessup then responded to ous thing to rob a man of his faith and questions concerning work in Syria, not give him something better in its and gave an enjoyable and profitable place. In describing the present state talk. Mr. H. F. Swartz discussed the of Islam, the speaker referred to the University Se.ttlement in the place of great college at Cairo, where 12,000 :A-Ir. R. A. Ashworth, of Union Semistudents are engaged in study. The nary, who was snow-bound. malediction they are taught to repeat at Dr. Halsey Moor, District Secretary stated intervals aglJ-inst the infidels is of the American Baptist Home Mission like spreading gunpowder through all SOCiety, delivered his illustrated lecture the Moslem world. In 1860, Chris- on home mission work on Saturday tians to the number of 12,000 were kill- evening. He brought out some exceeded in Syria during an outburst of fanati- ingly significant facts concerning the cism. The Mohammedan world is now work with which he is connected, and hopelessly divided; more than one half gave his hearers a better knowledge of of its people are paying tribute to Chris- the home mission field than they had tian rulers. The English Queen rules had previously. Sunday furnished II oontinual feast 2. An open door confronting the Church of good things. Dr. Thomas Marshall led the devotional meeting at 10 o'clock in every quarter of the globe. 3. An in the Baptist Church, and preached in the Congregational Church at 10.30. army of laborers such as has never Mr. Simister supplied the Methodist Church, and Dr. W. N. Clarke, of Ham- been seen before, bestirring itself for ilton Theological Seminary. preached the morning sermon before the Alliance the conquest of the world for Christ. from 1 John 2 : 6. C This is the Lord's doing, and it is mar- Missionary service, he said, is simply Christian being and action. Fields are vellous in our eyes.' alike in their deepest requirement. We all have the same call and must all have " The Master urges the obligationthe same life, whether we are foreign the duty-the privilege. It is He that missionaries or home Christians, great or small. Thus we are one, and our assigns to every man the sphere of his power lies in our dwelling deep in labor. It is He' that has said: C The Christ, and showing forth the fruit of His grace in walking as He walked. field is the world,' • God so loved the May our communing together in this meeting strengthen our Christian desire world,' , I am the light of the world,' for this chief good, and help us with one heart to seek it for ourselves, • Go ye into all the world,' • Ye shall be At 3 o'clock a prayer-meeting, espe- witnesses unto Me, unto the uttermost cially for members of the Alliance and for students, was held in the Baptist part of the earth.' To go or to send Church. The meeting was conducted by the President of the Alliance, Mr. is clearly the solemn obligation-the H. F. Swartz, of Hartford Theological Seminary. Dr. Marshall addressed the bounden duty-the inestimable privimeeting for a few moments, emphasizing the need of a thorough preparation lege of every follower of Jesus Christ. for missionary work. At the close a short meeting of the members of the A groaning world waits for the coming Alliance was held. of the messenger. It is Christ who The closing service of the Alliance was held Sunday evening, when the commands us, saying, ' Go ye into the Rev. C. S. Savage introduced Dr. Marshall, Field Secretary of the Presbyte- world and preach the Gospel to every rian Board of Foreign Missions. Dr. Marshall's subject was" The Triumphs creature.' The appeal is to every child of Modern Missions," and he spoke, in part, as follows: "The conquest of of God in this Christian land. Will modern missions, during the last hundred years, forms the brightest page in you go 1 If you cannot go, will you the history of the Christian Church. C Conquering and to conquer' is the send 1" motto emblazoned on its banner. Some of the triumphs that modern missions Notes from Japan. may justly claim, for the strengthening of our faith, we may with joy recount. -Rev. David S. Spencer, of Nagoya, A century of missions and we behold: Japan, writes: 1. Every opposing barrier swept away. " The war has generally had a bad effect. upon the direct work of the churches in Japan. So much attention has been given to war preparations and supplies, that no time remained for work for the souls of men at home. But along some lines more Christian work has been done during the last six months than in any six months since Christianity came to these shores. No man can measure the good results of the work of the Red Cross SOciety. That organization has opened the eyes of many to the strong points of Chris- tian teaching in its practical bearing among men. The official classes are now everywhere inclined to encourage Christian teaching. Prince Komatsu, cousin of the Emperor, and command- er of the Imperial Guards, numbering 10,000, has given permission to distrib- ute copies of the Word of God to all under his command, and went so far as to encourage the project by thanking the workers, and by appointing men to assist in the work of distribution. Per- mission to distribute in the whole navy was voluntarily given. The distribution is permitted in all the garrisons fitorsupspolmieetd,hinagt learsetliainblepart,in threegdaerdmandto and prisons in Japan, and 14,000 copies Korea, a Jand that suffers more than its have been distributed in Hiroshima proper share of misrepresentation. Its alone, while thousands of others have publication was suspended, but it now been put into the hands of the men in appears, from the wide demand for other garrisons. The work has but back numbers, that it was fitted to do just begun. There must be grand re- an important work. sults following this work.” Its publication was resumed January, —Miss E. A. Preston, of the Canada 1895. The conflict between Japan and Methodist Church, writing from her China has brought Korea very promi- station, Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan, Jan- nently before the world, and it is dis- uary 30th, 1895, says: covered that here is a nation of 15,000,- 000 people distinct in language, tradi- ‘*My home, Kofu, is about 90 miles tions, and physique from their neigh- from Tokyo. It takes us about two days bors east and west; a people whose to get here, as the road is mountainous customs and manners are strikingly unique, whose mythology and folklore aWnde cfaonra magkoeod tphaert diosftatnhcee wtaoy Toa kcyloimb.in teem with matter interesting to the eth- shorter time by means of the Fuji nologist, whose language affords the River, a swiff mountain torrent that philologist a key to some of the most carries us over a distance of 45 miles in vexed questions in regard to the disper- seven hours’ time. This city, Kofu, sion of the Turanian peoples. is the capital of the province of Yamanashi, and is surrounded on every side Civilization has taken Japan and is by mountains. Our Church—Canada trying to make Korea a stepping-stone Methodist—is the only Protestant one to the Continent. The world demands at work inthis province. The Japanese information as to what is going on along pastors and evangelists are carrying on the skirmish line of enlightenment in the East. To-day Korea is that line. the work vigorously, but there are no foreign male missionaries of our society In the first place, the magazine deals here. In our woman’s work we have a with the actual facts of to-day. It disgirls’ school with between 80 and 40 cusses social, commercial, religious, popupils; meetings held in different litical, and general topics of the hour. places throughout the province, and 7 Tt contains articles on the history and Sunday-schools in operation in the city development of the nation, the material of Kofu itself, besides helping in the being taken from the best native hischurch Sunday-school. My associate tories, presenting for the first time the eaingdnermsysienlfthearpelacteh.e oTnlhyereEinsgalisFhrenfcorh- history of Korea from indigenous Catholic priest, I believe, living in the sources. The topography and geogcity, but we never see him, raphy of the peninsula, the theory of the government, the officiary, the ad- “The war still progresses, and the ministration of justice, the penal code, Japanese are intensely interested in it. Jand tenure, will be discussed. The They are unanimous in their desire to religions and _ superstitions of the peopush it through to a successful conclu- ple, demonolatry, witchcraft, myths, sion. The Christians think it will help legends, folklore, the rise and fall of their cause in Japan. They consider Baurcdhdehoilsomg,y minonguemneernatls. anTdhe ruliansn,guaagned that the Japanese are exemplifying the —its affinities—com parative studies, the spirit of Christianity in the assistance evolution of the alphabet, Sanscrit inbeing given to Korea, and that it will tfhleuenccoeusr,t etcg.azettFerewqiullentbe egxitvreanc,ts anfdroma open the hearts of the people to the re- calender of news from the eight provception of Christian truth. The people iqnuceersi.es, Spcaocrerewsiplolndbeencrees,ervsedympofosr inuomtess,, are at one in this war ; they are intensel. weather statistics, deaths, births, marpatriotic. The soldiers have been well riages, and the like, Religious intellidisciplined, and they have the country gence will receive special attention, and behind them to stimulate them to high- missionary items of general interest est endeavor, and so they ought to suc- will be frequently inserted. ceed. As a sheer act of kindness, Rev. J. T. “* To-day is a holiday to celebrate the Gracey, 177 Pearl Street, Rochester, death of the Emperor’s father, All N. Y., will receive subscriptions, acthe government schools take the day as companied by the cash, on behalf of a holiday.’’ Rev. H. G. Appenzeller, the editor-in- Echnigelfi,shSeopule,riodKiocraela. or Tphaipser is puthbelisohneldy “The Korean Repository.” in Korea, In 1892 a magazine was published in Seoul, called The Korean Repository. It was a step in the right direction, for
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY D. L. PIEBBON.
India,* Bnrma,t Oeylod-Hinduism.§ INDIA. stand and largely to speak English num- ber about 3,000,000. India is a world in itself, comprising many countries, races, languages, and Over half the popUlation is engaged religions. Although including Burma in agriculture; other occupations,largeand Ceylon, the empire has only half the area of the United States, exclusive ly followed, being * general labor and of Alaska, but has a population nearly five times as great. British India is earth work; preparation of food, made up of 17 provinces with an area drink, and stimulants; household serof 964,992 square miles, and a popula- vice; manufacture of textile fabtion of 221,172,952; native States num- rics ; professions; administration; comber 13, with an area of 595,167 square merce; work in wood, cane, and matmiles and a popUlation of 66,050,479, ting; transportation; work in metals, making a total area of 1,560,160 square etc. ; care of cattle; light, firing, etc. ; miles and a total popUlation of 287,223,- leather, etc. ; glass, pottery, etc. ; and 431, the latter showing a net increase of di8Teputable, 1,563,000. 27,821,420 in the last ten years. Twelve languages are spoken in India and 117 India is the hotbed of religions. dialects. Hindustani is the language 9f The table on following page, from the 85,000,000; Bengali of 41,000,000; "Statesman's Year Book," gives the Marathl, Telugu, Pajabi, Tamil, Guje- numbers of adherents and the distriburati, and Uriya of 8,000,000 to 17,000,- tion by provinces of the more numer- 000; making in all eight languages ous sects according to the census of 1891. spoken by 201,000,000, and into these and other tongues the Bible has been Protestant communicants number translated. Those natives able to under- about 250,000; adherents, 700,000. The study of the religions of the East !-iter.: • See also pp. 4 (January), 142 (February), 203 reveals a vast difference both in princi- ple and practice. The precepts, how- (March), 267, 271, 276, 279 (present issue~. ever good, have failed to effect much change in the lives of the people. The ature: "India: Country, People, and MISSIOns, moral and intellectual condition of the masses is extremely low, even the re- Dr. Gracey; "India and Malaysia," J. M. Tho- ligious ceremonies often including namebum, D.D.; "The Indian Empire," W. W. less abominations. Like the Pharisees, Hunter; "Every-day Life in India," Rev. A. even the better educated Brahmans em- D. Rowe; "Children of India," "Once Hindu phasize the letter of their law and obnow Christian," J. Mnrray Mitchell, LL.D.; serve useless forms and ceremonies, " The Conversion of India," "Life of William while the weightier matters are utterly Carey" and" Life of Alexander Duff," George neglected. The slaughter-houses of Smith, LL.D.; "Indian Missionary Manual," Chicago called out a fierce denuncia- John Murdock. tion from a representative Hindu at the Parliament of Religions, who declared t See also p. 30 (January). "Four Years In that India did not want a Christianity Upper Burma," W. R. Winston; "The Bur- which tolerated such atrocities. man: His Life and Notions," Shway Yeo; "Life of Adoniram Judson," Edward Judson; " Yes, alas I" it has been well re- plied, "but then, per contra, while the *•. Adoniram Judson," Julia H. Johnston. Hindu is shocked at the killing of a cow See also p. 30 (January). "Two Happy for food, and the Buddhist carefully Years in Ceylon," Miss C.'F. Gordon Cumming; "Some Years in Ceylon," Mary and Margaret * Named in order of nnmbers engaged in them Leitch. -~,ooo,ooo to 1,500,000. § See also p. 260 (present issue). "Brahmanism and Hinduism," Sir Monier Williams; " Hindnism: Past and Present," Rev. J. Mur- ray Mitchel~ LL.D. Preaidencie., Provinces, and Hindus. Sikh!!. States.
————– — — — —— Ajmere………………. …… 437,988 tif 'm 213 26,939 1'974:.67917~ 1.9..8 74,265 ~A:•~•la~m::.:.:.:.:..:.:…..:……..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:……::. 42~,:9~97;,~0~7f2 83 l1~,:3:6g8 ~13,,4g83~,:9~7i4 ~~=y~:::::::::::::::::::::::: 21,414701,.959717 3,196142 5.5.5…20.9. 6,888,067958 76,77946 6,329503,,093915 Central Provinces· •….. , … … 10,489,620 178 49,212 325 781 309,479 34,715578,,582405 23~97 ~~~!~;:.'. :.':. ::'.::: :::: ::::: :::. 40,951,803 128 27,413154 1,036 342 2,47152,,866654 10,237,700 11,348 84,803 1,494 412 6,589,183 N. W. P.·………………….. 1,870,481 45,683 6,236 39 12,915,643 Punjab·………….. ………. 11,699 1,129 Quetta, etc.. ….. ………….. 9,483 3 ' i:200 1.058 11 ,368 Andaman. …. ……………… 10,315,249 395 27,845 8.206 3,980 HaidarabAd …. ……………. 2,137,568 4,637 5O,33'~ 1 1,138,666 Baroda…………………….. 4.639,127 5 35 188,740 My.ore…….. ……………… 691,800 11 13,278 9 252,973 Ka.bmir .. .. … ……………. 10,192,829 29 593 29 ,608 238 1,793.710 RAjputana.. ….. ……………. 7,735,246 11,399 417,618 837 991,351 Central India……………….. 1,855 1.116 89,984 2 568,640 Shan States…….. ……… … 1,825 175 196 609 Total. …………………. ·1207,73l,7271.!i07-;saa 1.4t6,638 7,181,361 89,004 57,321,iM Presidencies, Provinces, and States. Christian.. Jews. Animistic. Others. Total.
~::::::',::…•:::'.:::'.:::..•…:….:: ':.:::::: 2,683 71 009;765 2 542,358 16,844 5 25 5,476,833 ':::::::.':::::::::::::::. ::::.:::: ~:~t.al.•::.:::::::::::::: .::: .::::::::. :::::. 192,484 1,447 2,753,061 74,643,366 1,359 137.108 11,430 2,897,491 ~~~:y,.: 2 311.259 5 26.960,421 170,009 13,547 168,449 27 7,605,560 120,768 351 49 Central Provinces· ………………….. . 13,308 176 2,081,721 10 12,944,805 Coorg……………………………. .. 3,392 472,808 i4',536 173,055 Madra.· ………… , …………………. . 1,580,179 1;309 39331 062 N. W. P.· ………………………….. . Punjab· …………………………… , 58,518 60 25 47;697:576 53.909 30 25,130,127 ~~~~~a';;:.":::: .":::.:.":::."." ::::."::."::.": .".".: 3,008 33 27,270 483 23 4 Haidariibad…………………………. .. 24 1 15,609 20,429 29,130 · …. 2 Baroda……………………………. . 646 26 29,654 11,537.040 36 2,415,396 Mysore………………………………. . 38,135 1 4,943,604 Kashmir…………………………… .. 21 2,543,952 Rijputiina…………………………. . 218 16,615 12,016,102 Central India………………………… . 1,855 15 4ii:078 2 5.999 7'~ 1,916,209 10,318,812 – – – – – – – – – – Shan States ……………………….. .. 154 2,992 1 ——— Total… ….. …………………… 2,234,380 17,194 9,280,467 42,762 287,2'23,431 • Inclrding Native State•.
avoids killing any animal, neither finds sentative of this horrible, obscene, and special occasion for concern in the death filthy religion is invited to Christian of a man. India in the past has been America to lecture us on the evil8 of one vast slaughter.house of humanity canned meat! Why could he not find under the sanctions of Hinduism. :Men time to answer Mrs, Palmer'S question have been fayedalive, mangled under on What has Hinduism done for womthe wheels of idol cars, drowned in the en 1" Ganges, • the sacred river.' Women have been cursed, crushed, burned on Even the Hindus themselves are befuneral piles, and subjected to every ginning to realize the inadequacy of form of shame. Even to-day harlots their religion to transform the heart and form a part of the sacred service of life. Reforms have been numerous the Hindu temples." .. And," as an among the educated Brahmans, who, indignant sister exclaims, .. the repre- while not willing to accept Christian- ity, have still been seeking for light and life. Not a few adherents of Hindu- missionary effort. There are at pres- ism acknowledge that it is tottering and ent In India no fewer than 65 Protes- is doomed to fall. tant missionary societies directing the The editor of the Madras vernacular work of 936 ordained missiouaries- newspaper, himself" an astute, staunch, viz., 16 Presbyterian societies, with 149 an orthodox Brahman of a renowned laborers; 13 Baptist societies, with 129 priestly family," takes this gloomy view missionaries; 9 societies of the Estab- of the situation: "We entertain no lished Church of England, with 203 mis- more any hope for that religion which sionaries; 7 Lutheran associations, with we consider dearer to us than our 125 men and women ; 4 Methodist so- life. Hinduism is now on its death·bed, cieties, with 110 Gospel ambassadors; and, unfortunately, there is no drug 2 Congregationalist associations, with which can be safely administered into 76 missionaries; 1 Unitas Fratrum and it for its recovery. There are native 1 Quaker society, with 16 in their em· Christians nowadays who have declared ploy; as also 7 independent societies, a terrible crusade against the entire together with 5 women's associations.
fabric of Hinduism, and many men of Of these societies 26 are English, 8 splendid education are also coming forth Scotch, 1 Irish, 7 German, 1 Swiss, 3 even from our own community, who Danish, 1 Swedish, and 18 American have already expressed a desire to ac- (including 2 Canadian); 46 societies cept Christianity; and should these are largely evangelistic in their meth· gentlemen really become first Christians ods, 7 are literature and Bible societies, and then its preachers they will give 4 are medical, and 8 are educational.
the last death·blow to mother Hindu· There are, in addition, 21 societies with ism, because these men are such as will headquarters in India, 2 in Bnrma, and never turn their backs from the plough 1 in Ceylon.
after having been once wedded to it. The published statistics of the Born· Every moment our dear mother (Hindu- bay Conference, covering the entire ism) is expected to breathe her last. evangelical mission work of all societies This terrible crusade is now carried on in India, exclusive of Burma and Cey· by native Christians with a tenacity of lon, in the year 1893, are as follows: purpose and a devotion which in them- Foreign and Eurasian oruained mis- selves defy failure." sionaries, 857; foreign and Eurasian The chief non-Christian reform move· lay preachers, 118; foreign and Eura· ments, the Bramo·Somaj and the Arya· sian teachers, 75; lady missionaries, Somaj, number about 5,400 and 40,000 711; total of foreign and Eurasian respectively. agents, 17Gl; ordained native preach· Protestant mission work began in ers, 797; native lay preachers, 3491; India in 1705,* when two Danes, Bar- native female evangelists, 8278; total tholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plut- of native agents, 7566; total of foreign schau, were sent out to Tanquebar in and native missionary laborers, 9327; South India. congregations, 4863; communicants, It was not until the end of the last 182,722; evangelical native Christians, century that any persistent and perma· 559,661; zenanas visited, 40,513; ze· nent work was done toward evangeliz. nana pupils, 32,659; theological and ing India; and not until 1830 did the training schools, 81 ; pupils in the same, English Parliament legalize Protest ant 1584; mission schools of all societies, * In 1642 the Reformed Church of Holland 6737; pupils in the same, 238.171 ; for· eign medical missionaries, 97; native had been declared the established religioll of the medical missionaries, 168; hospitals and Dlltch colony in Indi", bllt this was a political, dispensaries, 166. not a splritllal movement, and left no lasting re- A comparative view of the present SUltB. results with the state of things forty 2. Mu?'der of Ohildren. years ago is as follows : By dedication to the Ganges, to be AGENTS AND CONVERTS. 1851. 1891. devoured by crocodiles.
Foreign* ordained .•…….••.. 339 857 By Rajpoot infanticide, west of In- Native ordained ……..••..•.. 21 dia; Punjab, east of India. Foreign-Jay…………….. . 797 3. Human SaIYl'ijice8. 118 Native-Jay……………. . 493 3,491 Temple sacrifices. Foreign-female …………. . By wild tribes-Meriahs of the Native-female ..•…•.•..•••. 711 Khonds. 4. Suicide. 3,278 Crushing by idol cars. Devotees drowning themselves in MEDICAL MISSIONARIES. rivers. Devotees casting themselves from Europeau and Eurasiau ..••… 97 precipices. Native . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • • . . . . . 168 Leaping into wells-widows. Hospitals and dispensaries…. By Traga (threatening to kill or actu- 166 ally killing a relative at the door of a debtor who will not pay, or at the door CONVERTS. of a person from whom something is desired). Communicants…. •••… .•. … 14,661 182,722 Native Christians…………. 91,091 559,661 5. Voluntarl/ Torment. To these must be added : By hook-swinging. 33,037 By thigh.piercing. Burma-Communicants ….. 89,l80 By ton~ue-extraction. Native Christians .. 8,182 By fallIng on knives. By austerities. Ceylon-Communicants …. ~,442 Native Christiaus .. 6. In'l!Oluntary Torment. 223,941 Total communicants ..••.. 671,285 Barbarous executions. Total native Christians…. Mutilation of criminals. Extraction of evidence by torment. • Foreign includes also Eurasian. Bloody and injurious ordeals. Cutting off the noses of women. There is one foreign ordained missionary to 325,000 people. If each male 7. Sla1!6'I'l/. and female missionary had a parish of Hereditary predial slavery. 50,000, 200,000,000 would be untouch- Domestic slavery. ed. Nepaul and Bhutan and the coun- Importation of slaves from Africa. tries bordering on Iudia (except Siam) are still unoccupied. S. Extortions.
The work in India takes the follow- By Dharana (killing one's self at the ing general forms: 1. Among the masses door of one who will not grant one's (preaching in halls, streets, houses, and request). at festivals). 2. Among young men (educational and special addresses). 3. B.v Traga. Among women (zenanas and special 9. Religious Intolerance. meetings). 4. Among children (day schools and Sunday-schools). 5. Among Prevention of propagation of Christhe sick (hospitals, dispensaries, and ze- tianity. nanas). 6. Christian literature (Bibles, tracts, books, papers, reading-rooms). Calling upon the Christian soldiers to 7. Among native Christians (preaching, fire salutes at heathen festivals, etc. pastoral work, etc., Y. ::'II. C. A. training mission agents). Saluting gods on official papers. Managing affairs of idol temples. The reforms in India during the past century, due wholly to Christian influ- 10. Support of Oaste by Law. ence, are thus enumerated by Rev. John Exclusion of low castes from offices. Wilson (see" I,ife of John Wilson," by Exemption of high castes from ap- George Smith, LL.D., page 352) : 1. Murder of Parent8. pearing to give evidence. Disparagement of low caste. By suttee. By exposure on the banks of rivers. But there is still much, much to be By burial alive. done; 22,000,000 widows in India arc doomed to a life of misery; 40,000,000 women are imprisoned in zenanas; thousands of girl children are yearly killed in infancy; SOO die hourly with- out Christ, and 285,000,000 are living without Him. From the temple of Ju~annath are sent out annually to pro- clRlm the name and glory of that god ten times as many monks as thele are ordained missionaries in India.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. truths of the Word of God and work of Christ, sought to build up a church The one leading occurrence of the on apostolic principles, and led in evanmonth of February, not only to this gelism; both were editors and authors, REvmw, with its editors and readers, and did grand service with the pen; but to the whole circle of evangelical botli originated training schools for believers, will be the death of Adoni- evangelists and Christian workers, etc. ram Judson Gordon, of Boston, Mass. The comparison might be carried much further were it needful or helpful; and At 3 o'clock on the morning of Feb- we venture to add that, if Spurgeon ruary 2d a telegraphic message was were the best-loved man in Britain, brought to the door of the editor-in- Gordon was the best-loved man in chief, with this brief announcement: America.
" Dr. Gordon passed away at twelve- We reluctantly arrest the pen in porfive, this morning. traying his beautiful character, because already a large space has been assigned " ERNEST GORDON." to his memorial; but we can never hope to supply his place. Such a man That message of nine words meant, has no successor. When God made to the writer of these lines, the depar- A. J. Gordon, He broke the mOUld. ture of one of the dearest of friends and the most sympathetic and helpful The Japanese-Chinese war still goes of co-workers-a man who seemed as forward, and victory still attends the part of himself. It meant to the Clar- sunrise kingdom. The Wei· Hai-Wei endon Street Church of Boston the loss island forts and defences have surrenof a pastor who for twenty-five years dered-a serious blow to China on achad been a servant of servants to his count of the strategic importance of this brethren, while the master of all by post. conceded supremacy in holiness, faith, and consecration. But, far beyond any It would seem that Pekin is destined narrow limits of personal friendship, to be occupied by Japanese forces. Yet church pastorate, or denominational Japan claims readiness to concludo the connection, Dr. Gordon was a universal struggle at any time when Proper and benefactor. No man of his generation honorable terms of peace can be arhas had more to do with the spiritual ranged. education of the Church in the direction of holding fast the faithful Word, Pastor Archibald G. Brown and his pushing the lines of aggressive mis- great work in London was the sul!ject sions, and enthroning the Holy Spirit of a sketch in the Maroh REVIEW. It in His true seat in the Church. should be added. to make the story of this consecrated life the more complete, In the previous issue, Charles H. that, at the late twenty-eighth anniver- Spl1rgeon and his world-wide work sary, a third daughter of this devoted confronted the reader as he opened pastor presented herself to follow her these pages. This month Adoniram J. sisters to the great Flowery Land as a Gordon fills the leading place-a re- missionary. Nellie and Gracie having markable coincidence. These two meu already gone forth on the same mission. died, each at the same age,their Ii ves ruu- Lucy goes with her husband, Dr. James ning strangely parallel in many things. H. Bennett, under the London Mission- Both were Baptists and both leaders ary Society. Secretary R. Wardlaw in their denomination on different sides of the Atlantic. Both were great preachers, emphasized the foundation Thompson stated that Dr. Bennett, its convener and two ex-conveners, by who is a fully qualified physician and its order." surgeon, goes to succeed the lamented Kenneth Mackenzie and Frederick Rob- The committee's letter reads as folerts at Tientsin. Thus a pastor who is lows: perhaps doing more than any other one man in London for home evangeliza- .. DEAR DR. PATON: Since your retion rears up daughters to become. for- turn from Great Britain and America, eign miRSionaries. we have learned with much regret that you have been the subject of grievous To those who feel interested to know misrepresentations concerning your poof Pastor Brown's methods, we may sition and mission in these countries as give the following account of his an- the representative of the Foreign Misnual thank-offering day, when, accord- sion Committee of the Victorian Church. ing to his custom for many years, he We are more pained on your account, sat in his church office to receive free- because we should have thought that will offerings, from morning to night. your good name and the world-wide fame of your untiring and self-denying By 7 A.M, offerers were waiting, one labors In the cause of missions would of the first having walked from Isling- have been sufficieL.t protection against ton. Throughout the day they contin- any such slanders as have been issued. ued coming in a steady stream. Four Under these circumstances, we desire, crowded prayer-meetings were .held on behalf of the Forei&,n Mission Comduring the day. At the close, ~!:e mittee, to express our smcere sympathy amount raised was: In bank-notes, with you, and to assure all concerned £20; in checks, £105 11s.; in postal that you have the perfect confidence of orders, £3 Us.; in sovereigns, £155; our Committee, and also of our Church, in half sovereigns, £64; in five-shilling as was shown by the enthusiasm of pieces, £7 lOs.; in four-shilling pieces, your reception at our General Assem- £1 168.; in half-crowns, £37 lOs.; in bly last month, aud by the satisfaction florins, £27 18s.; in shillings, £17 lOs.; expressed on all hands over the report in sixpences, £3 198. 6d.; in three pen- you presented of your tour in Great nies and coppers, 128_ 2d.; the total Britain, Canada, and America.. •. being thus £445 Os. Sd. The committee has unanimously ap- proved of the scheme, and so had our Dr. John G. Paton, one of our edi- General Assembly. In this connection, torial correspondents, has been the sub- it may be stated that our Assembly has ject of vile slanders, originated, it is simply proceeded on lines laid down believed, by a pretended agent of Dr. some ten years ago, when you were Paton, who was exposed by the minis- commissioned to visit Great Britain for ters of Buffalo and put in jail for get- the purpose of raising funds to build a ting money under false pretences. vessel, and your success then has been followed DOW by the raising, through We think best to let Dr. Paton give you, of sufficient money for the vessel's his own answer, hoping that for once maintenance, a result which has given truth may overtake a lie. satisfaction to all and called forth an expression of gratitude from our Assem- He writes: bly. We, therefore, hope that you will not be disturbed by the misrepresenta- .. A paragraph has been printed head- tions that we have alluded to, and our ed, 'Dr. Paton's Phantom Ship-Dr. fervent prayer is that you may be long Paton Condemned by His Own Church spared, in the providence of God, to -~Iissionaries Need to be Looked continue in the service of our Church, Aft.}r,' etc. I thought best to make no where, it is almost needless to say, you reply till I had laid it before the Com- are honored and beloved by all. mittee of Foreign :Missions of my own Victoriau Church. I now send you a .. On behalf of the Foreign Mission copy of a letter sent to me by our For- Committee, we are, with kindest reeign Mission Committee, and signed by gards, yours faithfully, " JOHN GmsoN, Convener. " ANDHEW HARDIE, ex-Convener. " M. MACDONALD, ex-COnVenC1'."
The following paragraph from Dr.
Paton's letter will be of interest to all : " You will be glad to hear that from my recent tour in America, Canada, and Great Britain, I was used of God so to draw forth the liberality of His people that He enabled me to hand over nials from many who are better qualito our church and mission nearly £26,- fied ~o judge." And we have only to 000 on my return, including £2000 to say that never, knowingly, are these keep the new mission ship, and '£1000 pages anowed to be the vehicle of any subscribed yearly by Christian friends unjust or partial statements. We welto help keep her. And instead of get- come any light. ting a commission on all I raised, as stated in a Buffalo newspaper, I Rev. Robert Howie, of Glasgl)w, has never expected, would not have taken, published a statistical work in which and never got a cent from it or by it. he presents some startling figures and But I have had the joy of so working reaches some still more startling confor Jesus, my church and mission, and clusions. He shows, between 1876 and of getting the sympathy and prayers 1891, an increase of popUlation in Scot· and help of very many of His dear ser· land of 13t per cent, and an increase in vants in all branches of the Church, to whom I feel forever grateful, and wish they may all ever enjoy every bless- ing. "
The letter was written by the doctor the number of the three great Presbyon board of a steamer bound for Tas- terian churches of nearly 20 per cent, mania, where he was to work four or yet during the same time a decrease of five weeks in the interest of the mission, 34 per cent in church attendance, and and then was to start for the New Heb- states that even in "Auld Scotland" rides. the average of church-goers is but 192 to 1000 of the inhabitants.
.A personaZ friend, Lord R – – , writes He also shows that during the last from Biarritz that" many, the major- three years there has been a most Zaity of Christians in India, entirely deny mentablefaUing off in giving. For exmany of the statements in the January ample, in 1891 the Established Church REVIEW article on India, and resent the gave, per member, 14s. 5d.; the Free comments on the employes of the gov- Church, 48s. 1d., and the United Presernment as a most slanderous pervCi'- byterian Church, 418. 6d. During the sion of truth." ne adds that Mr. A. last three years a notable change is ob- Dyer has made charges he could not servable, so that now, "as a rule, the Bnbstantiate and would not withdraw, richest districts give the least." One but has been obliged to contradict at of the wealthiest presbyteries gives only least one statement, etc. 48. 6d. per member, and another only 38. 3d.! And he accounts for all this We have only to say that the state- decline in church attendance and benevments in the January REVIEW were net olent giving by the insidious spread of the editor's, but appeared under the the Rationalistic doctrines of the Highauthority of Rev. W. B. Boggs, D.D., er Criticism, robbing the Word of God of the Telugu Mission, who, after long of its former hold on the popular mind residence in India, is supposed to know and heart, and so weakening the entire more even than an English lord not grasp of evangelical truth and holy moresident. Still, we gladly give the other tives. Here is something to be considside full benefit of any contradiction. ered at least! For ourselves, we know more than one government official that represents the highest type of moral and Christian B~'ble conferences for the advance of character. But we had supposed that biblical study, spiritual life, and Chris- the statements so often made-and un- tian evangelism are multiplying, and contradicted-in Exeter Hall and else- we rejoice in this fact. Rev. George where, represented too much truth to C. Needham and his fellow-helpers, be denied. Lord R– says that the Rev. W. J. Erdman, Rev. D. M.
"opinions expressed in Dr. Boggs's Stearns, Rev. James M. Gray, Rev.
article have called forth indignant de- Drs. Dixon, Gregg, Sabine, Professor Stifler, etc., are doing most efficient ser- The death of the beloved Maria A. vice. The voice of Dr. A. J. Gordon West, in London, June 28th, 1894, will be sadly missed, than whom no should some time since have been noteacher of our day was more widely ac- ticed here, as also of Rev. Samuel ceptable and useful. It is very remark- Mateer, of Travancore, an article from able that wherever the Word of God is whose pen appears in this issue. devoutly studied the spirit of missions is invariably quickened. Pastors could Miss Evelyn Russell (sister of Grace dono better than have one of Mr. Need- Russell, of Oroomiah, Persia), married ham's three days' conferences in their fonr years ago to Mr. Cruikshank, a churches for quickening of spiritual missionary under the Christian Alliance, power. He may be addressed at East had entered with him upon their new Northfield, Mass. field. Two little ones had been born to these parents; and, while the mother Two young missionaries, braving the lay ill, the father, who had gone to the weather, sailed for Europe on the Cir- country for his health, returned and ca88ia last month, to labor in a section suddenly died. He was buried in the of the Dark Continent as yet practi- little English burying-ground on Mount cally unvisited by foreign missionaries. Zion. The English and American flags The men are D. M. Reoch, until re- were at half-mast in Jerusalem. The cently a student in the Union Theo- Rev. Edwin Wallace, the American logical Seminary, and Sidney V. Whitte- Consul, held a short service in the more, a son of Mrs. L. M. Whittemore, home of Mr. Cruikshank, and the Rev. founder of the Door of Hope, an insti- A. 1-1. Kelbe. of the London Jewish Sotution for women. lIlr. Reoch had ciety, committed the body to the grave. been employed in a commercial newspaper office in this city. He had a The sudden death of Mrs. Benjamin good business position, but two years Douglass, of Santa Ba.rbara, the forago he was led to give it up in a resolve mer President of the Board of the to devote the remainder of his life to Northwest, has brought great sorrow to missionary work in a foreign field. the friends of missions in the North- west and Pacific Coast. Her work Our obituary notices for this month among the Chinese in Santa Barbara must include Rev. Stanley K. Phraner will long be remembered. Upon her (youngest son of Rev. Wilson Phraner, arrival in California, she at once identi- D.D., who was for many years Pres- fied herself with the Occidental Board, byterian pastor at Sing Sing, N. Y.); and was one of its officers when she he died at Singapore, China, December was called higher. She was one of the 15th, 1894. This beloved son was born ablest and most devoted of all the misin 1860; was graduated from Prince- sionary-spirited women of this country, ton Seminary in 1887, ordained in 1890, and II sister-in-law of Mt·s. Z. Chandler, and went to Siam, 1891, to labor in of Detroit, the widow of the former Cheung l:lai, Laos Country, Northern senator from Michigan and Cabinet Siam. He was so deeply interested in officer. his work, that, although for some time in ill health, he kept at his post until Another sudden death, that of the beordered home by his physician. He loved Rev. W. Gibson, of Paris, France, was on his way with his family, and has much embarrassed the work he so had reached Singapore, when death much loved, for his own personal efforts overtook him-a very sad blow to the raised annually some $5000. Just as the affiicted family and his venerable and mission was entering upon an enlarged beloved father. work this amount is thus cut off from its available funds. Are not some of The American Baptist Missionary the Lord's stewards ready to be " bap- Union began the present financial year tized tor the dead," and step into the with a debt 0/$203,595.88-an appalling breach and supply this need? Will not deficit, due, not to extravagance or missuch communicate with James H. Rigg, management, but to the unprecedented Treasurer, Wesleyan Mission House, financial distress of the previous twelve Bishopsgate Street Within, London, months. Retrenchment became neces- E. C., England? sary; the expenses for the current year were cut down promptly to the extent The Chinese Government paid £1000 of more than $100,000 I It was not to the father of the Rev. James Wylie, possible to do more, for even this most the Scotch missionary, murdered by seriously cripples missionary enterprise, Chinese soldiers near the Liaoyang Mis- and entails severe self-denial on a band sion early in the war. The father has of devoted missionaries. The approdevoted the money to the erection of a priations for the present year, even after chapel and hospital at Liaoyang in this heavy curtailment, are $474,551.55, memory of his son. The olood of this making, with the debt, a total of $678,- latest martyr thus becomes the seed of 147.43 for the year. And yet the rea new mission for healing body and ceipts, up to January 1st, 1895, were soul. only $162,653.09, leaving $515,494.34 to be made up before March 31st I The McAll Mission continues its great work in France, notwithstanding Surely the Church needs a new conits founder's death. It aims to bring secration, when economy begins at the France back to the pure Gospel, and house of God I Easter flowers in one God's blessing still rests upon it. Dur- city alone cost $500,000 in one year I ing the past year it received $80,820 for And yet we must cut down missionary the prosecution of its work. $26,730 of appropriations and abandon advanced which came from the United Kingdom, posts of aggressive enterprise because and $31,780 from the United States. of pressure in the money market I Twenty cities enjoy its evangelistic agencies. Only more funds are needed There is certainly money enough in to plant its missions in every city and the country. Last year five persons town in the French Republic; and this who died in Britain each left more is the very land of the massacre of the than one million pounds sterling, and Huguenots in 1572 ! one hundred and thirty-four left thirty- five millions. Surely sucb estates Mrs. Safah 11. Wood, of New York, might well bear an increased taxation. again sends five dollars for the Students' It was to lighten the burden on the Review Fund. poor and place more on the rich that Sir William Harcourt graduated the A donation of £4 sterling is just reo death duties last year. Think of the ceived from Mr. Thomas Greenwood awful account some stewards of God and his son, Pastor B. .T. Greenwood, must have to render! of London, to apply on the same fund. From these donors, known to the editor R. SaiIlens writes from Paris: as persons of surpassing worth, a gift is •• The Revue de8 Deux-Mondes, the leaddoubly welcome, for we are assured it ing French monthly review, contains in has been consecrated by prayer and its January number a paper from its sanctified by the altar on which it is laid. editor, M. Brunetiere, a distinguished Would to God many more might hear historian, writer, and academician, the call of God in this direction I which is no less than a manifesto show- ing the present tendencies of the leaders of French thought at this time. M. Brunetiere has seen the Pope, and takes occasion of that visit te:. speak of the mutual relations of modern society and round number of two hundred million Romanism. He shows; 1. That sciencA has failed in regenerating society; it copies. The two societies, founded one has not done what it was hoped it might in 1804 and the other in 1816, have an do-viz., furnish a new basis for social average age of eighty-four years, and and individual morality, apart from re- their aggregate receipts from the beginligion. 2. That religion IS necessary, and of all religions, Christianity is the ning are computed to be $84,000,000. only possible one. 3 That Catholicism The average age of the two above- is far more suitable than Protestantism mentioned societies, with the London to the needs of modern society, because Religious Tract Society and the Ameriit is less gloomy, does not give such a tragical view of sin, does not make per- can Tract Society, is eighty-three years, IJOnal salvation the one thing necessary, and within the century their united re- is more social by its system of indul- ceipts have amounted to $140,000,000. gences, which allows the saints to pay for the wicked, thus establishing a strong current of charity throughout The Arabian Mission of the Reformed the world I Church in America is one of the most " Notice that hitherto the Re'lY!le des promIsmg. By the sale of Bibles, it Deux-Mondes has been on the side of makes the Bible itself a missionary in free thought, and that M. Brunetiere, even while he writes thus, rejects all Arabia. To the Arabs not only the the dogmas of Christianity. His ac- Old Testament, with its records of Abraceptation of Catholicism as the religion of the times is merely on the ground of ham, Moses, and Ishmael, is particularly expediency, and for want of something interesting, but the New Testament is better. In other words, the need of a acknowledged as God's book. How moral power is felt, and Catholicism is encouraging, therefore, is the fact of • chosen because it requires less sacrifice of self. But what will this movement continually increasing Bible sales? lead us to' I doubt not, to hard and They are all sold rather than given perilous times for the French evangeli- away. These sales have nearly doubled cal Ohristians !" in the past twelve months, being for the Palestine &pZoration is going for- previous year 1055, and for the year ward. New excavations are soon to be just closed 2023. At Bahrein a :Mosmade. The Sultan has granted a fir- lem came one moonlight evening and man to the Palestine Exploration So- said: "The old man" (myself) .. feels ciety, of London, giving permission to the sting of death is sin, and then I dig around the walls, outside, exclud. bought this book, and now I believe ing only Moslem burying.grounds and that Jesus is the Son of God." Medicertain holy places. The work is to cal missionary work is also accomplishbe under the directIon of Frederick ing much in exposing and displacing Bliss, a young American archreologist. the barbarous cruelties inflicted to cure Shafts will be sunk on the hill of Ophel, diseases, such as burning holes in the the site of the royal gardens and the body to let the disease out, branding tombs of the kings. It is hoped that with red·hot bars, chopping off woundthe old wall around the southern brow ed limbs and sealing them with boiling of Zion may be exposed to view. The tar. The medical missionary who imperial firman grants a two years' brings relief from disease and infirmity privilege, time enough to make the old thus points souls to the Good Physician.
city of Solomon and the Jebusites yield up some of its treasures and long·hidden London journals of February 5th secrets. published a dispatch from Constantino- ple saying that anti·Christian outrages On the 1st of October last the joint of the Armenia type are being com- circulation of volumes of the Bible by mitted in Sidon, Beyrout, and Damas- the British and Foreign and the Ameri- cus, Syria. The Christian inhabitants can Bible Societies had jnst passed the of Damascus declare t11at they apprehend a repetition of the massacre of discharged after trial, Patton had in· 1860, when thousands of Christians curred Gray's enmity, and Gray is said were murdered. to have hypnotized McDonald, and while the latter was in that condition Dr. Henry S. Lunn, preaching in compelled him to commit the murder I Boston lately, said, in answer to Vire- No researches into the mystery of hypo kananda: " An idea prevails that idol- notism have ever proven that such in· atry is not to-day the evil and horrible thing that it was when the apostles ex- fluence can be obtained over another posed it; that the • Ethiopian has party agaimt his own will. Otherwise changed his skin and the leopard his what becomes of moral responsibility?
spots.' Idolatry- in India to-day, as elsewhere in hIstory, tends to deterio- rate and not to evolve the higher ideals The editor some time ago received a of duty and religion. The philosophy of India has ceased letter from a theological student asking certain questions which, for the sake of to have any practical effects on the life of its people. It is a remarkable fact similar inquiries, it may be well to anthat when R. Rao, the prime-minister of 8wer in this more general way. The the Maharajah Holkar, a famous student of the Hindu Scripture, had been writer says: challenged to support his statements "Is there not some way to get men as to certain things being found in the to devote part of their lives, if not Hindu Vedas, he produced in reply all, to the work of missions? I know what was avowedly a Hindu catechism, that men ought to be consecrated and but was really composed verbatim from so filled with the life of Christ that extracts of the Shorter Catechism of the they would go even to death, but as a Presbyterian Church. matter of fact, many are not. Mean- " The Hindu religion is but the deifi- while, that mighty army in foreign cation of lust and other evil passions. lands never ceases its march to the Krishna, the great Hindu god, is shown grave. Why not follow the military in its scriptures to be a perjurer, a thief, plan of a limited enlistment? What and a murderer. army would have full ranks that would "Such is the obscene character of take none who did not enlist for life? the pictures and carvings in the temples Why not start a movement to secure and on the idol cars, that an act of the men for missions, say for eight or twelve Indian Legislature in 1856 against ob- years? In such a way we would secure scene pictures had especially to exempt the best, most buoyant, and most enfrom its operation' all pictures, draw- thusiastic part of their Ii ves for work ings, or carvings in the temples, or on which needs just sucb elements, and the idol cars: " when the limited term was up many He concluded by picturing the worn· would see that their best way was to en of India in a miserable condition, in continue as they had begun, and would contrast of the glowing picture drawn stay in the foreign field. Or, if they be Virekananda. returned home, they would at least be fitted to begin in this country a more Advices from:Washington declare thoroughly missionary and evangelistic that Great Britain surrenders all claims ministry, broadened and deepened and informed as to the needs of the Lord's to the strip of the coast of Nicaragua work, having lost their denominational over which it has exercised a protecto- prejudices and having a more catholic rate. The news is both surprising and spirit. "
gratifying, and all this is without com- This is the substance of the letter. In pulsion I reply we would say that this plan would involve, even if it were otherwise feasi· Hypnotism and Crime. -The recent ble, the necessity of learning the lan- sentence of Judge Burnett, condemning guage of a foreign people and of adjust- to death Anderson Gray for the killing ing one's self to other conditions and of Thomas Patton, marks a new era in needs, only for a limited and brief period.
criminal history. Thomas McDonald, Again, it would remove a man from his while under the alleged hypnotic influ- field when he was just beginning to be ence of Gray, did the killing, but was thoroughly fltted for usefulness. But the fundamental difficulty we have not -on gloves, necktio, canes, and ribyet touched. God wants, especially in bons. Candy, soda, table delicacies, the foreign field, consecrated men, and etc., might have been added. In five any such reservation would interfere years our band has raised $1796, of with consecration. It would leave men which we have given $898 to the Ameri· to enter upon the most self-denying work can Board C. F. M., and the Bame in the world without the spirit of self- amount in the aggregate to the various denial; to go in a half-hearted way to Congregational societies working in the undertake what demands a whole-heart- United States. Many other bands have ed self-dedication. In our opinion, it been formed since ours started, and have would be far better that we have fewer rendered substantial aid to both branches men, but those whose hearts are thor- of the missionary work. oughly in the work. I have pondered this plan for years, TM London Standard says: "The and believe that no valid objection can Turkish Ministry of Pnblic Works has be brought against it; but there are determined upon the reconstruction of many considerations in its favor. It is the ancient water conduits of Jerusa- simple; within the means of almost lem, dating from the age of King everybody; does not interfere with Solomon. By this means it would be other ways of giving; is marvellously possible to convey 2500 cubic metres efficacious. of water daily to the Holy City. Of this it is proposed to give 1000 metres Consider what the magnificent result away free of charge to the poor of Jeru· would be if all the Christians of this salem, the distribution to take place at land actually and continually gave each the Mosque of Omar, the Holy Sepul- an extra cent a day for missions. Fifchre, and other places frequented by teen million members of Protestant pilgrims. evangelical churches in the United States, each giving one extra cent a day The new conduits are to be joined to for missions, would add yearly to the the ancient aqueducts of Arob, and are Lord's treasuries $54,750,000 I The to be carried through a tunnel 3570 amount now contrihuted to all missionmetres in length. The total outlay in ary societies in the United States for connection with these works is estimat· both home and foreign work, not ined at 2,000,000 francs." cluding domestic and local, being about $10,000,000 a year. The Extra-Oent-a-Day Band for Mis- Should you think that your people sions. are giving well already, and will not want to give more, still will you not BY SAMUEL F. WILKINS, NEWTON CEN- place the plan before them in its sim· plicity, with its tremendous possibili- TRE, MASS. ties, and let them say whether they will not, for Christ's sake and the world's, Will you not, pastor or layman, or- adopt it? ganize an Extra·Cent-a.Day Band in your church, it none now exists, or join If, on presentation, your people do one, if there is such a band to which you not favor it, will you not yet show do not belong? In every church there them the binding and blessed obligation must be at least one man or woman able that rests upon all Christians to carry and willing to do the necessary work, the Gospel to the whole creation, and which is not great. Propose it at the that by coming into this movement they missionary concert, and start a band, can help easily and mightily? however small the beginning. If Christians can be brought to realize The band of the First Church of New- the dreadful darkness and degradation ton, Newton Centre, Mass., was formed of a thousand million fellow-beings; if late in 1889. Not wishing to interfere they can be shown t':tat the Lord's comwith other ways of giving, we asked for only a cent a day extra, and sug· gested ways of saving that small amount mand, clear, unqualified, imperative, r have heard that my sisrer's baby has to preach the Gospel to every creature died from opium given by its Hindu nurse. English children suffer fr(!)m is for them " if they can be led to consid- this poison, given by native nurses. er that for almost nineteen hundred The high-caste women of India are years Christ hall waited for the accom- prisoners in the zenanas. Sometimes plishment of His great commission; if their husbands kill them if they have even been seen by another man. But then they can be made to comprehend when they heard of anti-opium meetings the vast results to be attained by the their interest was so intense that they Extra·Cent-a-Day Band system, it seems crowded to them without fear. They to me they cannot fail to adopt the plan. say, 'If the English want money let them come into our houses and take all Then the question of money supply will our goods, and we will work; let them be answered, the treasuries of the mis- take the skin off our bodies to make sionary societies will be abundantly them shoes- but spare us the opium supplied, and tens of thousands of new curse. But if they will sell opium, let them kill the wives and children of the workers can go forth to tell the story of opium-smokers. '
the Redeemer. " The Tim.e8 has said that the drug is The need of extra help was probably harmless, and that it is good for fever. Did you ever see hundreds perish from never so urgent as now. Several of our a harmless thing? In India we never great missionary societies are burdened use opium for fever.
with debt. New work is almost impos- "The opium den is large, dark, sible and old-established work is hin- filthy; 20, 40, 100, 200 men, and some- times women, are there, wallowing like dered or even abandoned. pigs in mire ; no earthly power can res- Would that every Christian might be cue them; they are going to hell.
inspired to give according to this sim- When I spoke to them, several smok- ple system, by which this time of dis- ers said, ' Woe to us; the English peo- ple have brought this on us.' To protressing need can be changed at once mote the sale they will drng tea and into an era of plenty! coffee with opium, to produce the desire Do not, reader, merely think about for it. You drink it a few times, and this plan, waiting for another to act, you want that tea or coffee, not know- ing why, but in a little while you are but put it into operation immediately. an opium eater or smoker. These opium Glorious is the privilege allotted to us dens are really Government hells. You to be workers with God! splendid is hear that there are 11,000 licenses; but the opportunity that lies at our hands to each license allows for 10, 20, or 30 shops. While millions are perishing, publish at home and afar the tidings of for your gain, God says your gold and salvation! Be it our ambition to hasten your silver are cankered, and shall eat on the day when the Saviour's edict your flesh as it were fire. " It is not good for India. The opium shall have had its complete fulfilment. smoker disgraces his family and de- NOTE.-Mr. Wilkins will be glad to grades himself; and starvation, want, and misery reign. Few in India can correspond with any who wish to form bands. He will supply E. C. D. B. en- write, yet last year We sent petitions with 54,000 signatures against this cruel velopes free of cost. and destructi ve trade. I come from heathen Indian women to implore Chris- The Anti-Opium War. tian England to put an end to it. We want opium to be sold, as in England, only for medicine, and its sale restricted Miss Soonderbhai Power, of Ir:dia, as any other poison. Last year I spoke thus pleads before the citizens of Eng- in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and I went home and told my people, ' Now land in behalf of her native land: you will have justice.' But it is the « I want to see my India free from same as ever. So I have come back this opium curse; for in India opium again. This battle is God's, and if you is sold openly. The sale of arsenic to Christian people all join together in poison rats is guarded and restricted, prayer and work, the battle will be but a child of eight can buy 360 grains won, and India will be freed from this of opium. Since I returned to England dreadful blight."
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTEI,LIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign Provinces, and his upbringing has been Periodicals. in the centre of Moh!!mmedan learning BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, and polish at Delhi. A most interest- MASS. ing life his has been. Reared in the INDIA. strictest sect of Mohammedanism all his life long, he has been zealous for the -Dr. H. Martyn Clark, in the Ohurch faith, and, as touching the law, blame- Missionary InteUigencer, states that a less. A true seeker after God, the time translation of the Koran has appeared came when the husks of Mohammedan- in simple idiomatic Urdu. "That is a ism could no longer satisfy the hunger blow under which Islam will reel for of the soul. He wandered far and wide many a day. Its safety hitherto has to the holy and learned of Islam, seek- been that its' holy' book was shrouded ing rest and finding none. At last he in unapproachable Arabic, or in cum- determined to leave 'the land of the brous, ambiguous translations. This enemy' (dar u~ harb-i.e., a land where literal, faithful rendering has produced other than Mohammedan rule obtains), dire consternation. The Moulvie says, and to seek' the land of peace' (dar u~ 'I am now old and gray-haired. I aman), where, under a Mohammedan thought I knew the Koran, but I never government, the virtues of Islam might knew the iniquity of it as I do now.' .. be found in full flower. Beyond the What folly in the mawkish optimism British border there are here and there of our day, to treat every religion as colonies of fanatics, whose declared good in its measure, as if there could purpose it is to ' war against the infidel.'
be no such thing as a cancerous growth They are all that remains of the Waha- in religion I Islam appears to be one bis, and are recruited still from the of these, and Mormonism another, and ranks of religious enthusiasts and po- far more virulent. Why are we not litical malcontents in British India.
told that the craving for dirt and for They lose no opportunity of stirring up yet viler things which we sometimes strife, and have had a long finger in meet with is good, since it is a form of most of our border troubles. The Ak- the fundamental and God-given appe- hund left all behind him, and set for- tite for food? A healthy appetite and ward to join these zealots; but it was a wholesome supply are the two points not to be-God's purposes for him were that determine the answer to both ques· fast approaching maturity. While he tions. waited his opportunity in the frontier ~peaking of the first recent convert, town of Peshawur, an emissary of the Dr. Clark adds: "The next to come Mirza met him. He learnt that a great forward was a Mohammedan gentleman prophet had risen in Islam, that Christ of education, position, and good fam- the Blessed had come the second time.
ily. A trusted friend and apostle of He abandoned his journey, went to the Mirza" (who is the head of a spe- Qadian, and became the Mirza's dis- cial Moslem sect), "he had been his ciple. He was trusted with much spe- ambassador to Zanzibar. He was one cial work, and had the honor of being of the embassy to me to settle the rules the leader in the public prayers in the of the Controversy, and was the secre· Mirza's mosque. At the Controversy taryin behalf of the Mohammedans his belief in Mohammed was consider- while it lasted. The Akhund Sahib, ably shaken. Months after he wrote to as he is termed, belongs to Buneyr, in me from Meerut. It was the cry of a Afghanistan, beyond the British border. despairing, perishing soul. He detailed His father settled in the Northwest his wonderful life's history, the unrest
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
and sorrow of his heart, and said, 'If otherwise known as " the Swami Vive- you ha ve any really strengthening pre- kananda," before the so-called Parlia- Bcriptilm for the soul in your armenta· ment of Religions at Chicago: .. Allow rium, let me have it in the name of me to call you, brethren, by that sweet God. ' I cannot relate here the subse- name, heirs of immortal blis8; yea, the quent steps by which he was led to the Hindus refuse to call you sinners. Ye feet of the Saviour, in whom he now are the children of God, the sharers of rejoices with exceeding joy. His bap- immortal bliss. Ye, divinities on earth, tism, together with his daughter, was sinners? It is a sin to call a man so.
a wonderful occasion. A short sketch It is a standing libel on human nature.
of his life, well worthy of translation Come up, choirs, and shake off the de- into English, has been scattered fa.r a.nd lusion that you are sheep-you are souls wide, and from all sides come letters immortal, spirits free and blest and of grateful thanks, telling us it is ' just eternal. Ye are not matter, ye are not the thing' for Mohammedans. It is bodies. Matter Is your servant, not silently doing a great work. The poor you the servants of matter."
Mirza burst forth into torrents of im- On this the Harvest Field remarks: potent abuse, and found in this baptism .. This passage"-we have given only another proof of his own Messiahship- the conclusion-" reflects perfectly the for was not this Judas Iscariot? This sadness of tone which characterizes the blasphemy did not, however, deceive Upanishads. The Hindus of former even Mohammedans, who have not been days yearned for release from the mis- slow to point out that the second time ery of life. It also represents the uni- Christ comes to triumph, not to be be- versal belief that the only release was trayed. by the loss of life itself. Misery was " It was a very bitter blow; but the the result of the soul being in fetters to unkindest cut of all came a fortnight the body. The wail was not about the ago, when the Mirza's own brother-in- burden of sin, but the burden of exist- law, his near relative and trusted pri- ence. The Christian notion of sin was vate secretary, was admitted by bap- practically unknown. There is really tism into the Church visible. A bright no place for sin in Pantheism. Imag- young fellow, very highly connected, ine a Christian preacher saying to his his, too, is a history worth hearing. I hearera, 'Ye, divinities on earth, sin- shall here only note that all through ners? It is a sin to call you so. • The the Controversy he was the trusted Hindus can find no place in their ser- confidental agent of the Mirza, who, to vice for the Litany of the English use the Oriental metaphor, 'sat in his Church or the Penitential Psalms. The lap. ' Our friend the Akhund has been members of the Brahmo-Somaj ac- privileged already to lead four people knowledge that they have derived their to Christ. The :Mirza'a brother-in-law sense of sin from Christian teaching.
is a fruit of his labor." They certainly could not have got it -The Mohammedans, about one fifth from Hinduism. According to the of the total popUlation of India, are, as Swami, the soul Is already perfectly might be supposed, very unequally dis- blessed, but it fails to recognize that it tributed in the various provinces. In is so. the Punjab, nearest to the place of first entrance, there are 11,000,000 Moslems, "Does the Swami really thinK that 9,000,000 Hindus. In Bengal, 74,000,- he will thus commend his teaching to 000 Hindus, 20,000,000 Moslems; and men who have learnt the Christian docso in varying proportions. trine of sin, and whose consciences tell them that they are sinners? He might as well go to a convict prison and tell -The Harveat Fi'eU quotes this from the inmates it is a sin to call them crimi- the address of Babu N. N. Butta, B.A., nals."
· 306 GENERAL MISSIONARl INTELLIGENCE
TlIE LEVANT. current Moslem assumption that our Scriptures are essentially corrupted has -Dr. Masterman writes of a visit to no support in the Koran. It will also, Samarin, in Galilee: "The situation of of course, bave to yield to the scientific this quickly rising Jewillh town is mag· demonstration of fact. But 'as the nlficent, the finest site I know of in Koran is so easily demonstrable to be, Palestine, embracing views of the sea, not casually and occasionally, but forest, mountain, and plain. The well- throughout, in statements and implicabuilt houses, solid streets and roads, tions, in tone and temper, and fundamen. public gardens and miles of vineyards tal doctrines concerning God and man, on all sides. present a scene unlike any- absolutely irreconcilable with the New thing else here. The Jews seem to be Testament, therefore tile unquestioning industrious and happy. Much of the recognition of inspiration wbich the actual labor is performed by the fel- Koran requires for the New Testament lahin under Jewish supervision. Euro· must, however slowly, be working pean ploughs and carts are used exten- against the authority of the Koran sively. Splendid roads, which would itself. be a credit to any European country, are being rapidly pushed from the col. Herr Kozle gives the royal firman of ony toward Haifa, on one side, and 1831, acknowledging the receipt of Nazareth on the other. The main Henry Martyn's translation of the New street of Samarin is fully a mile long, Testament. It expresses very lumiwith comfortable houses and small side nously the attitude which a Moslem is streets on each side. At the centre of obliged by his religion to assume towthe town there fs a fine large synagogue. ard the Scrir-tures, and it will be ob- Water is laid on to the streets and served tbat it makes no use of the sub· houses, being pumped up the hill by a terfuge of alleged corruption of the steam-pump. Smaller colonies are t.ext. It is as follows: springing up, under the protection of the great one, in the districts aro-md." " In the name of God, the All-glori· -MedicaZ Missions. ous! It is our exalted will that our dear friend, the Right Honorable Sir -Pastor Christian K5zle, missionary Gore Ousley, Envoy Extraordinary of among the Mohammedans in Persia, His Majesty the King of Great Britain, has a very interesting communication should be apprised that we have duly in Nachrichten a'US dem Morgenlande, received the book of tbe Gospels ren- Heft 5, 1894. He justly remarks that dered into tbe Persian tongue by Henry our current assumption that the Mo- Martyn, of blessed memory. We bold hammedans are intractable to Christian worthy of our higb appreciation this missions is not true, but it is true that work, presented to us in the name of we have been intractable to our duty the learned, worthy, and enlightened toward them in this respect. Society of the Christians, united for tbe purpose of diffusing the Divine As Pastor Kozle remarks, it is a great books of the teacher Jesus, to whose advantage to us in dealing with Mo- name, as to those of all prophets, be hammedanism not only tbat it acknow l- ascribed honor and blessing I For edges that Jesus is the Messiah, and is many years, indeed, the four Gospels sinless (indeed, extending sinlessness to of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John his mother, in early anticipation of the have been known in Persia, but now Immaculate Conception), but tbat it the whole New Testament is translated, recognizea-in fact, enjoins the duty of an event which must be a great satisreading the Scriptures. As Sir Will· faction to our exalted soul. By the iam :Muir, we believe It is, remarks, the grace of God, the All-merciful, we will commit to those of our servants, to
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
whom access is granted near our 'per- Velsen, of Urma, Westphalia (who had son, the function of reading the afore- arrived with us the day before), and 1- said writings before us from beginning sang the hymn, • Ein' feste Burg ist to end, that we may hear their observa- unser Gott.' It made a great impres- tions thereupon. Express to the mem- sion on all, although they only under- bers of the above-mentioned enlightened stood it as translated. Then we consid- society our deserved thanks. ered with one another the glorious "Given in Rebialaril, in the year of promise of the prophet Isaiah, its par- the Hegira 1229 (A.D. 1831). tial fulfilment, which we behold even "FETH ALI SHAH KAJAR." to-day, and the glorious hope, which Of course this is merely the language the words of Philippians offered us for of form, but it is a regal acknowledg- all, and therefore for the Moslem.
ment of an admitted Moslem duty, and After a prayer we took leave. It was therefore can always be used to advan- an hour of deep refreshment. Our tage in Persia. Mohammedan friends bade us a most Herr Kozle haB entered into very in- cordial farewelI, saying that they were teresting relations with two brothers, not yet so far advanced as we, but they descendants of the prophet, Mirza Ha- would pray that tuey might be, and bib Allah and Mirza Abdul Vauuf. that we must pray with them, and re- The former was an intimate friend of main their brethren and friends. Mirza the martyr Mirza Ibrahim. He avowed Habib Allah also made me a present of that he, too, was inwardly a believer a Mohammedan rosary, having, accord- (and his br.)ther seems to think with ing to the 99 attributes of Allah, 99 him), but confessed that he had not had beads, by which the Moslem direct their the strength to become a martyr. But devotions. The beads were baked of for his wife and children, he said, he holy earth, from the grave of Hassan would gladly flee to Europe and profess and Hussein. at Kerbela on the Eu- his laith. He declared that God had phrates. But I was much more de- heard his ardent prayer in bringing lighted with his photograph, which he Christian missionaries to him, and ear- gave me with a French inscription, as nestly entreated that they would settle follows: • &rviteur d6 JeauS-Okri8t, in Chof. ITe brought a number of his Mirza, Haln7J Allah. Moll, amour 8'etend a friends who, like himself, were longing '/)OUR tOU8 en J08U8·0ltriBt. Que la for something more soul-satisfying than grace d6 Dieu Boit avec tom qui g,Vment the externalism and fatalism, the cruelty nOtre Seigneur JbiuB-Olwi8t en purete.'
and sensualism of Islam, and who had That is, 'The servant of Jesus Christ, found it in the Gospel. Mirza Habib Allah. My love extends Pastor K5z1e adds: "On April 15th to you all, who are in Jesus Christ.
-it was a Sunday, according tu the The grace of God be with all them that Christian calendar – we assembled love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.'
around us for the last time our Moham- This is a beautiful testimony, well wor- medan friends, who had become to us thy of being communicated to Chris- veritable brethren in Christ. The next tians everywhere, inciting them to sus- day we were meaning to leave Ohoi. tain with their prayers this man, thus How should we take leave of them? struggling to carry through the convic- We thought it would be the most ex- tion of his faith."
cellent way, if we once more seated We are not aware whether a lineal ourselves around God's Word, and took descendant of Mohammed has ever leave with this. We chose Isa. 45: 21- gone so far before toward an open con- 24 out of the Old and Phil. 2 : 9-11 out fession of Christ. As Dr. A. J. Gordon of the New Testament. At the begin- has shown, the hour has plainly struck ningwethree-Dr. Zerweck, Pastor von to remember Raymond Lull.
GENERAL MISSIONAUY INTELLIGENCE
English Notas. we judge it well that Mr. Waterhouse BY JAMES DOUGLAS. should tell the story in his own words: "My father received in Tasmania a WealeyanMis8ionary Society.-Owing letter from his old friend, Theophilus to the financial crisis, October 5th was Lessey, informing him of the miserable set apart, by the request of the Home cry of ' Stop the missionary supplies.'
Committee, to be observed as au Inter- It almost broke his heart. It was not cession Day at home and abroad. From for himself he feIt so deeply. but for all parts of the mission field tidings those under his charge, faithful men of have come as to the way the day was God, who, with their wives, had en- spent. In most places collections were tered the mission field for life, and made and offerings received in behalf whom it was now proposed to leave of the deficit; while in various places penniless 18,000 miles or more from the day was followed up by a series of home. As I have said, it nearly broke services having in view the conversion his heart, and I have no doubt that his of sinners and the increase of spiritual- effort to sustain the cause in Van Die- ity among the members. men's Land brought him to a prema- Some of the reports from distant ture grave. When on his death-bed I lands are especially cheering. This was at his side. He appeared to have applies to all districts in Ceylon, where ceased to breathe, and the doctor said, out of their great poverty the people , He is gone,' when I took him by the brought willingly from their tiny store shoulder and said, 'Father, speak.' to the common fund. In Hassan, ]''l:y- lIe rose in his bed, stared liS if on va- sore, India, the large sum of 120 rs. cancy, looking in the middle of the was forthcoming-a wonderful response room with glassy eyes, and exclaimed, if the smallness and meagre resOUrces 'Wesley, Clarke, Smith. Missiona- of the church in question be consid- ries I Missionaries!! Missionaries!!!'
ered. Writing from Hassan, Mysore, He then sank down on his bed, breathed the Rev. H. Gulliford says: "We are two or three times, and the vital spark delighted to think there is a prospect of had fled. . ., I enclose you a check growing prosperity in every depart- for £25, with my sainted father's ap- ment of the Methodist Church. . • . peal on his death-bed, 'Missionaries I If we could multiply our Christian in- Missionaries !! Missionaries!!!'"
fluences a hundredfold, there would be a vast turning to God. As it is, we are Presbyterian Olturch of England.- afraid to begin any new work, lest we The Swatow Council is clear as to the desirability of planting a missionary at should have to abandon it again." Sua·buc, a large port half-way between In Freetown, Sierra Leone, a day of Swatow and Hong Kong, but for want fervent prayer was spent, interspersed of funds the project lies in abeyance. with appropriate addresses, and the free- " Weare afraid," writes Mr. Maclagan, will offerings of our people amounted in the name of the Swatow Council, to £10. The largest amount received " that at home it may not sometimes be from the foreign field came from La- realized how much even the ground gos, West Africa, where the people's nearest us is unoccupied. Within a gifts reached the agr;regate sum: of day's journey from Swatow there are £107 Sa. 5d. Altogether Intercession numerous large towns and villages as Day seems to have been well spent, yet untouched. It is with reluctance and to have been fraught with much spiritual stimulus. The most effective that we leave these unvisited, to spend part of the record is contained in the a fortnight in mere travelling for a letter received from Mr. John T. Wa- month or six weeks' hurried visit of the terhouse with an accompanying check. southwest stations."
The circumstances are so unique, that Kaisua lsland.-Recently the reaping
ENGLISH NOTES
of the firstfruits of the Swatow Mission face to face with them; and in addi- in Kaisu& Island was recorded. Since tion as a man to whom prayer is as the then two more adults have been bap- breath of life. He is known as a scru- tized. pulous man, simple, prayerful, and Ohi'M8e HOBtility and How to Meet It. willing to do the right thing, although -As a means of obviating native hos- it may bring him any amount of riditility, Mr. Gardner recommends the cule.
adoption, as far as possible, of their She-K'I-Tien, Ho-Nan.-Some inter- ideas in things non-essential. For ex- esting " Tokens for Good" are supplied ample, he would have native styles of by Miss Leggat, who now occupies the arch'tecture used in the erection of mis- field where Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hud- sionary bUildings. He mentions that son Taylor used to labor. One case the new college in the Hak-ka centre cited concerns an old woman on whose was built a year or two ago on this plan heart the Gospel speedily laid hold.
with the happiest results. The public Coming in one Sunday from her coun- opposition raised entirely subsided, and try home, Reven li distant, she opened now there is no dissenting voice. The out her little napkin, in which her din- principle cited has a place in the social ner was wrapped, and exultingly pro- customl$ of the people also. To sample duced her kitchen god. When tearing the meaning, the case is told of a vil- it down from off her wall, her son and lage headman in the Hak·ka region daughter-in-law said, "What are you who became a Christian. His father doing? You are leaving the house dying, it fell to him in the natural or- without a god." She replied, "This, der to perform the funeral rites. His does tMs reckon as a god? I spurn it ; Christian conscience would not allow Jesus is my Saviour," and down the of any complicity with ceremonies that paper came before they could interfere.
were mixed up with the worship of On being asked by Miss Leggat if she idols. Thus far it behooved him to was not frightened to burn it-" Fright- " watch and keep his garments. " But ened 1" she replied. "No, I have while he could not be a party to the Jesus now." And so by the applica- cost incurred in idolatrous rites, he felt tion of a match the thing was very Boon that he ought to bear all the larger reduced to ashes. The refrain of the share in the purely civil and necessary old lady's life now is, " Jesus loves me, part of the funeral expenses. In this this I know," and " I am weak, but He way, without surrender of principle, is strong."
the name "Christian" is freed, in the THE KINGDOM. public view, from the charge of shab- biness. "The offence of the cross will -What a commentary upon Chrisnot indeed cease; yet we may reason- tianity is found in the fact that a young ably avoid needless offence." Jewess, 'who had embraced it, has ex- A Ohinese Pastor.-Pastor Hsi has pressed a desire to •• read church hissent a characteristic epistle to the father tory to find out how and when Chrisof one of the China Inland Mission mis- tians came to be so dif!erent from sionaries, in which, among other things, Christ."
he figures as one instructed from above -A recent editorial in the Foreign to dispense medicines for the body as Mi88irmary (Lutheran, General Council) well as salutary counsel for the soul. is entitled "Congregational Selfish- In his own land, among the band of ness, " and has these for the opening disciples, he is recognized as a man of sentences: "Our attention has recently wonderful power in 'casting out devils, been called to the fact that there are the devils themselves recognizing him members of our congregations who will as God's servant the moment he comes give willingly, and even liberally, for
GENERAL HISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the current expenses and the enlarge- If you go alone to a man, you will get ment and improvement of the church something. If you take another person property of the congregation with with you, you will get more. If you which they arc connected, who will do take three with you, you will gilt the little or nothing for the work of the whole amount you ask for.''' Such church outside of and beyond their is human nature, and only similar own congregational limits. Their will- methods will do the work of raising ingness and liberality in this respect money for missions.
both begin and end at home. That others have not the Gospel, and, as a -How persistent are the, heresy and'
consequence, are perishing in their sins superstition that Christendom is being and helplessness, would seem to be a seriou&ly robbed ):;y silly enthusiasts for matter of small concern to these mem- the sake of evangelizing the far-off and bers with this narrow, limited view of good-for-nothing Hindus, Chinese, Jap- the work of the church." anese, etc_ The Ohurc7t Missionary In- teUigencer devotes fourteen precious -The American Board Almanac pages to an article on "The Alleged quotes the 'following: "A man who Drain of Men to the Fordgn Field,"
does not give definitely, and who does and easily shows that no such" drain"
not set down in his account-book ex- exists. The amount of toil bestowed actly what he does gi'le, is apt to think upon heathen lands is inexcusably small that he is always giving_ There is no as compared with work at home, and falsehood larger and deeper than this especially when we consider that fully in practical life_ If you will put down three fourths of the earth's popUlation just what you give'to charitable' pur- is yet wholly unevangelized. Let this poses, you will be surprised at the end single specimen fact suffice: While 17 of the year how little you have given; of the neediest wards of New York City yet you may have the feeling that you have a population of about 443,000 and have been always parting with your 111 churches and chapels, there are 8 money in response to benevolent ap- provinces in China whose 75,000,000 peals. .. In other words, stop not short have only 57 missionaries.
of the" cold facts" in the case. Fig- ures do not lie ; wherefore, be not de- -How solemn are these words pen- ceived, brethren. ned by Rev. Dr. De Forest for the In- dependent, and in explanation of the re- -General Horace Porter, speaking of cent falling off of conversions in Japan: the way in which he raised the $400,- "The unwise and, in some cases, un- 000 needed to complete the monument just criticism of missionaries; the dis- to General Grant, said: "It is a great covery of gross immoralities and the mistake to suppose that, on such an occa- social and political corruption that ex- sion, people are crowding around, try- ists in all the great centres of Christen- ing to force their money into your dom ; the seeming political injustice of hands. The money is .there, but you the West toward the weaker nations of have to go for it. I found there were the East; the knowledge slowly gained 128 trades in New York, represented that Christ's Church is almost hope- each by its separate board_ I worked lessly divided, and that Japan has been through these boards, and went from used as a kind of dumping-ground for one board to another, organizing com- missionaries of every sect; the conse- mittees in each one, in all more than quent incompetence, mistakes, and 3000 committees. Then I instructed waste of forces in the missionary body the committee in regard to getting -these are, in the main, the causes that money. I said to them, 'If you write stand across the path of the past and to a man you will not get anything. future success of missions." -The Canada Presbyterian is in a total capital invested in railroads In the sore quandary. The missionary treas- United States in 1893 was $10,500,000.- ury is empty, but half a score of would- 000. The railroad employes number be missionaries are urging, "Here are 823,700. Considerably more than one we, send us." Shall they be dispatched half (7185) of all the steamers, and more at once and the churches be called upon than one quarter (4475) of all the sail- to supply the means required, or be ing-vesselS in the world, fly the British bidden to wait ,until the money is in flag. Next in importance in steam-ves- hand? How sad that such a question sels comes Germany, with 912; the should ever be possible; and, oh, for United States, with 610 ; then France, heavenly wisdom to decide just when with 555; Norway, 554; Sweden. 535 ; hesitation is unbelief and disobedience, Spain, 392; Rnssia, 248; Denmark, and when faith lapses into presumption 253; Italy, 214, etc.
and folly I -The Church of Scotland has a mis- sionary debt of £2506, but 5 of its Afri- -Can it be that the day is really ap- can missionaries have just Bent each proaching when the nations will learn one month's salary to aid in its extincwar no more? In 1890 our Congress tion; and, moreover, 42 native Chrisadopted a resolution recommending the tian workers at Blantyre and 20 Domas! President to invite negotiations with boys have dODe the same thing. The foreign countries with a view to arrang- " self-denial" donation of these last ing treaties of arbitration. In 1893 the alone amounts to nearly £4. British House of Commons unanimous· ly adopted a resolution referring to this -Mr. James Croil has a book entitled action, and recommending co-operation "The Noble Army of Martyrs, and with the United States in this matter. Roll of Protestant Missionary Martyrs' It is said that a motion is soon to be in- from A.D. 1661 to 1891." The" roll" troduced into the Senate instructing the contains 130 names, and does not in- President to endeavor to negotiate an clude the native workers or converts, Arbitration Treaty for twenty-five nor in the case of Cawnpore Mrs. Hayyears, and that Mr. Cremer, M.P., is cock, the missionary's mother who now in this country as the bearer of a shared his death, nor the sister of the letter from 354 members of the House Rev. M. I. Jennings, and the Misses of Commons to the individual members Thompson at Delhi. of Congress, requesting them to .sup- port this motion. -Dr. Pauline Root, of the Madura -And commerce is a great peace- Mission, has had 20,000 patients, with maker and help to the spread of the nearly 5000 surgical operations. They Gospel. The Brooklyn Eagle gives came from 216 Villages. Dr. Mary these figures: The total number of Niles, of the Canton MissioD, has had steamers of 100 tons and upward com- 5000 patients, with 600 surgical operaprising the fleet of the world is 12,907, tions.
with a gross tonnage of 16,066,202. -There are some large congregations The total number of sailing-vessels of in heathen lands. In the city of Para- 100 tons and upward is 17,814, with a maribo, Dutch Guiana, there is a Prot- net tonnage of 8,503,294, making a to- estant church with an attendance of tal of both steam and sail, 30,721, with 8000, of whom 3500 are communicants.
a tonnage of 24,569,486. The value of The great cathedral at Uganda, Central this sea-going tonnage is estimated in Africa, holds 5000, and is 1illed. A IOund numbers at $2,000,000,000, and correspondent from Aintab, Central.
the number of men employed is in the Turkey, states that one church there is Ileighborhood of 650,000. As a matter crowded with an audience of 2000, and of comparison it may be stated that the in the same city is another church with a Sunday-school of 15,060.-Pittsburgh I have been present since reaching Ohl'i&tian Advocate. Chou-ping. "
-Yet again does David with his harp -Dr. Ida E. Richardson, of Phila exorcise the evil spirit. For:" Sigau- delphia, in an interview recently, at- Fu, a notoriously hostile city, was ' cap- tributed her professional success largely tured' by the late Mr. Holman. Suc- to this fundamental rule of Christian cessful in renting a house, he shortly conduct: "Every patient, in hospital found himself the object of the rage or private practice, has been treated as of· the populace, who, gathering some I would like to be treated were I the 2000 strong, proceeded to eject the patient." What is this but the Golden 'foreign devil.' A good musician, he Rule and the heavenly spirit of misstood for three hours in the doorway sions? with his guitar, playing and singing to the peoplc in Swedish (his native lan- -The Woman's Home Missionary guage), English, and Chinese. The Society of the 1r!ethodist Episcopal crowd grew tired, and left him for that Church has 16 industrial schools and day. On several occasions subsequent- homes,' established in various localities ly this was repeated. Finally he was iu the South, 18 among Indians, Morpermitted to remain, and Sigan-Fu was mons, and New Mexicans, aJ;ld 20 in the ~pened to the Gospel." cities, including Deaconess Homes.
-An excellent little book of nearly -The twenty-fifth annual report of 90 pages bas been written by Rev. A. the Methodist Woman's Foreign Mis- C. Chute, of Halifax, and is published sionary Society is a model with its by the Baptist Book and Tract Society maps, statistical tables (which are of the same city, upon the life of John usually so conspicuously lacking in Thomas, physician, and first Baptist such publications), and whatsoever else missionary to Bengal. The supreme is needed by the seeker after informaservice of this man lies in the fact that tion. In particular, the maps go far to he led Carey to his magnificent work illustrate and illuminate. Nor is there in India, while but for him the peerless any patent on this style of a report. modern apostle would have buried him· Verbum 8ap. StU for life in far-off, tiny Tahiti (Otaheite). -In several important particulars the thirteenth annual report of the WOMAN'S WORK. Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Canada, approaches -Miss Aldridge, of Chou-ping, China the same high standard. The mission- (English Baptist), writes: "Last week aries number 32, and are to be found I attended a baptism service, when 14 in China and Japan, as well as among women and 18 men were baptized. It the Indians, French, and Chinese of the must mean something for the poor Dominion.· The receipts last year were women; and, although they have to $34,837, derived from 571 auxiliaries wait about eighteen months on appro with 13,645 members, and 273 circles bation, I am afraid they know compar- and bands with 6424 members. atively little even then. It is very difficult for them to stand in the water with -The women of the Methodist Epistheir little feet. Mrs. Drake baptized copal Church, South, support 35 misthem. and they all went to the women's sionaries in China, Mexico, and Brazil. rooms at her house afterward, and then The society through which they work the men who had been baptized met at has 1834 auxiliaries with 37,330 memthe chapel, where an address was given bers, and 2312 young people's and juand II. communion service held. This venile societies with 26,545 members; is the second baptism service at which a total of 67,595 members. -.Tanuary 21st the Woman's Board -Seven languages are regularly of Foreign Missions of the Reformed heard in the meetings of Chicago Chris- (Dutch) Church celebrated its twentieth tian Endeavor societies-"Welsh, Nor- birthday. To each one who attended wegian, Swedish, Dutch, German, Bo- an opportunity was given to place an hemian, and Chinese.
offering in the floral ship, Lux Mundi, and $1500 "was the freight which it -What can be more beautiful and floated into a safe harbor." During becoming than the movement which the first year the amount raised was has been started by the Endeavor So- $2891. This has gradually increased, ciety of the Clarendon Street Baptist and in 1894 the sum raised was $27,727. Church, Boston. Honoring the mem- -The boarding-school building at ory of their beloved pastor so recently Jackson, Miss., known as Mary Holmes deceased, whose love for missions was Seminary, and designed for the educa- consuming, and though already suption of colored girls, under the care of porting two of their number in China the Presbyterian Freedman's Board, at a cost of $600, they undertook to was totally destroyed by fire on Jan- raise $200 as a memorial fund (but over uary 31st. The building with its fur- $400 was soon pledged), and propose to nishing, and subsequent additions and all the Baptist young people of the improvements, cost a little less than United States to join them in paying $27,000, and was insured for $15,000. the debt of the Baptist Missionary The Board appeals for immediate help Union, which amounts to $200,000. toward rebuilding. How easHy this could be done if all would bear a hand I And what a YOUNG PEOPLE. blessed consummation it would be if the translation of Dr. Gordon should -Says the Young Men'8 Era: "Al- lead to a great revival of misdionary together the best of the Indian national zeal I conventions was the third and latest -Rev. E. B. Stiles makes this claim held at Madras, December 27th-Blst, for the Free Baptists in the Morning 1894. Twenty-four associations were Star: "So far as I know, the first misrepresented by 54 voting delegates, be- sionary to be sent by young people's sides 21 honorary delegates who at- societies as such was sent by our young tended most of the sessions. Burmllh, people in 1888. To Miss Perkins be- Ceylon, and 4 unorganized places in longs the honor of proposing it; to India sent representatves, so that the loyal Free Baptist young people betotal number attending was 75, of longs the honor of carrying out the whom 27 were European and Eurasian proposal. Quick came the responses, and 48 were natives of India." led by the Endeavor Society of Dan- -The Young Women's Christian ville, N. H.; and in a few months from Association is becoming an important the first suggestion your missionaries factor of Christian activity and progress were on their way to India, going as in India. In Calcutta a fine building the representatives of a few isolated has been secured for an institute, and societies without any central organiza- also a house for a home. Extraordi· tion. Loyally did they rally to the nary opportunities are opening up support of him whom they called' our among the Eurasians and English- missionary.' I think that the treas- speaking girls. Two young English urer's books will show that more than women, who have had considerable ex- enough was raised during the five years perience in association work at home, that I was in India, to pay all expenses. "
have recently decided to give them- He laments, however, that their zeal selves to this service in India. has since grown cold in some measure. 314 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [April -In Life and Light Miss S. Louise Forest, $100,000: Knox College, $100,- Day has it that there are more than 000; Chicago Theological Seminary, 100 Endeavor societies connected with $50,000; Presbyterian Seminary, $50,- Congregational mission schools and 000; Presbyterian Hospital, $60,000; churches: 29 in Japan, 6 in China, 13 Young Men's Christian Association, in India, 4 in Africa, 15 in Turkey, 1 in $30,000; Women's Board of Foreign Spain, 7 in Mexico, and 4 in the Sand- Missioll9, $20,000; Yankton College, wich Islands, etc. $50,000; Whitman College, $50,000, and other deserving institutions to the -An Epworth League in Minneapo- extent of $400,000 more. And the best lis, Minn., is able to give a good ac- of it is that in each case he stirred up count of its stewardship during 1894. the friends of the institution to raise a This is a partial and condensed state- sum two or three times as great as he ment from the department of mercy himself gave. and help: $53.51 expended for fuel; clothing, and groceries, and to defray -Not all millionaires are selfish and funeral exp"enses of a little child; abun- sordid, as witness how the Medical dance of grocery supplies given by in- School of Columbia College has redividual members, impossible to esti- ceived $350,000 from Messrs. Cornelius, mate; 38 yards of material purchased William K., Frederick W., and George and given to the poor; 30 meals and W. Vanderbilt, of New York City, to many delicacies, such as lemons, or- be used in constructing two new buildanges, and jellies carried to the sick ings for the school's hospital, to be a and poor; 20 bouquets carried to those memorial of William H. Vanderbilt. shut in from church privileges; 435 Mrs. W. D. Sloane, who was a Vanderarticles{)f clothing distributed, 100 sent bilt, has given $200,000 for the erection to the Hinckley sufferers; dishes and of an enlargement of the Sloane Mabedding provided, and children fitted ternity Hospital. out with clothing; 14 pairs of shoes, -Vermont, the mother of States, ac- 1 pair of rubber boots, 3 pairs of new cording to the census has a native pop- ulation of 249,590, and besides has 172,- mittens, several good overcoats, com- 769 sons and daughters resident in other fortables, and ladies' jackets to Asbury States of the Union; and it is mainly Hospital; 4 pairs of pillow-cases (new), because of this astounding depletion 8 bundles of old linen, 1 pair new by emigration that some regions within sheets, 23 new towels, 15 cans of fruit, her bounds have lost their former spir- 2 dozen oranges, and groceries to the itual estate, and that Roman Catholics amount of $5; 977 calls made on the now outnumber Congregationalists sick, poor, and aged. more than two to one.
UNITED STATES. -The Southern Presbyterian Insti- tute for the Training of Colored Min- -Let Dr. Parkhurst beware, or he isters, now called Stillman Institute, will attain to the highest rank among opened in 1877, has had under instruchome missionaries, though the iniquity tion 168 students, of whom 109 have which he is called to fight to the death been Presbyterians, 45 Methodists, and is as far removed from whatsoever is 14 Baptists. Thirty-six Presbyterians Christian and truly civilized as any the have been graduated, an average of 2 a heralds of the cross are likely to find year, "while the Methodists and Bapon pagan soil. tists got a good salting with Calvinism that may keep them safe." The Com- -And Dr. D. K. Pearsonshas justly mittee of Colored Evangelism is aiding earned the title of the benefactor of 66 churches, with 130 elders, 83 deacolleges. What a fine list of benefactlons: Beloit College, $100,000; Lake cons, and 1500 members. Use is made, Army, 1-a total of 62. To this numin establishing ·new churches, of evan- ber might be added the Salt Lake Bible gelistic work, of which nearly all the Society, the Salt Lake Sunday-school colored ministers do some. Besides Association, the Salt Lake Deaconess this work in the home field, arrange- Board, the Utah Union, the Woman's ments have been made for the instruc- Christian Temperance Union, the tion of men under appointment to go to Young Men's Christian Association, and Africa as missionaries. the Ladies' Auxiliary, the combined Christian Endeavor Societies, and the -A special train with 450 negroes combined Epworth Leagues, a total of aboard arrived at New Orleans the 9, which make a grand total of 71 reother day, from Atlanta, destined for ligious bodies in this city-a most excel- Mexico. The exodus is under the con- lent showing.-Salt Lake T1ibune. trolof the Mexican Colonization Society, which, it is said, has made con- -The Methodist CQinese Mission, of tracts with thousands of freedmen in San Francisco, has just" lost" 3 most Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, to useful converts, who have returned to settle them on lands in the northern China to bear the Gospel to their kinsstates, near the Rio Grande. This folk. One of them, Rev. Lee Chin, land will be sold to them on long time, says the California OMistian Advocate, and at very low prices. Another and " was converted twenty years ago, has a larger party is expected soon, and it been preaching the Gospel eight years is thought that if these two parties are at Sacramento and other places, and pleased with what they find, there will was admitted as a preacher on trial at be a weekly train of negroes to Mexico. last year's Conference. An ex.cellent Christian woman offered to send him -Captain R. H. Pratt's fifteenth an- out and support him. The offer was nual report of the Carlisle Indian school accepted, and he leaves the limited field shows a successful year, with advances here to itinerate among the towns and in all departments. There were 493 villages of that part of the Kwangtung boys and 328 girls. The present num- province that is the home of 9 out of ber of pupils is 602, of which 358 are 10 of the Chinese in America." boys and 244 girls. The new pupils number 152, and 215 have been return- -The Southern Methodist Review of ed to agencies. Forty-four tribes are Missions for February fills its opening now represented at the school, the prin- pages with the life story of " Uncle cipal ones being Oneida, 74; Sioux, Larry," of the Virginia Rosebuds. His 62; Chippewa, 58; Apache, 57; Sen- real name is John B. Laurens, who saw eca, 42; Cherokee, 33; Assiniboine, hard service both in the Mexican War 31; Pigean, 23; Pueblo, 24; Nez and in the Rebellion. It was in his Perces, 21; Osage, 20; Ottawa, 20; heart to be a preacher, but after years Tuscarora. 19; Crow, 17; Shawnee, of trial it became evident that bodily 12; and Winnebago, 11. infirmity made this impossible. By a strange providence, in 1878 he drifted -Surely Salt Lake ought to be indeed into the office of the Richmond Ohristhe" city of saints," since a "careful tian Advocate. and to the head of " Our count of religious bodies having regular Little People" department, with his places of worship shows the following business to stir up the children (Rosefigures: Baptist,4; Catholic,2; Christian, buds) to organize and give to missions. 1 ; Congregational, 3 ; Episcopal, 4 ; He- So earnest and discreet did he prove brew,1; Josephite,l; Church of Jesus that when he died last year there were Christ of Latter Day Saints, 27; Lu- 450 societies with 30,000 members, and theran, 4; Methodist, 7 ; Presbyterian, receipts which some years rose above 4; Scandinavian Free Mission, 1; Scientists, 1; Unitarian, 1.; Salvation $4000, and had amounted in all to '47.- 297. Surely, for a hopeless invalid this Dutch Scriptures to Cape Town, of was efficient service. Spanish and Portuguese to Rio de Janeiro, and of others to Auckland and -The enterprising A88embly Herald Singapore. is 'able to publish to its readers: "The weight of our February edition is be· -These statistics, prepared for Temtween 7 and 8 tons, and if stretched perance Sunday by the Nonconformist out in a single, continuous sheet would churches in England, indicate the status reach almost from New York to Phila- of this great reform. The WesleylUl delphia. Nearly aU of these 125,000 Methodists have 435,141 juvenile and papers are sent out in separate wrap- 68,798 adult members in: their temperpers, every wrapper being hand ad- ance societies; the Baptist Total Abdressed." stinence Association has 1419 names of minisj;ers on its roll, and reports that -Writing from Constantinople un- 203 out of 221 students in the Baptist der date of November 19th, Rev. Dr. College are known to be abstainers; EUas Riggs says: .. To-day is the the Congregational Association claims eighty-fourth anniversary of my birth- 2160 out of 2718 ministers in England day, and I have entered upon the sixty- and Wales as abstainers, and 373 out of third year of my missionary life, hav- 400 students in the British theological ing sailed from Boston for Greece in colleges, While most of the Congrega~ October, 1832." This venerable and be- tional ministers in Scotland and Ireland loved missionary is still engaged, heart are also abstainers. The Methodist and soul, in the work to which he gave Free Churches have more than 800 temhiIUSelf more than threescore years ago, perance societies, with a known memo and he writes in a clear, strong hand: bership of 83,668 ; and the other Meth- .. I have had my trials, but I can say odist bodies and the Society of Friends that Divine goodness and mercy have are practically all abstainers. followed me all the' days of my life hitherto, and I am sure will follow me -Not less than 202 medical missionthrough the remainder of my days."- aries are in the foreign field who hold Mi88ionary Herald. British diplomas and degrees, though what are these to the 26,000 physicians -When, on January 9th, at New to be found in the United Kingdom! Rochelle, N. Y., Mrs. Mary R. Schauf. Edinburgh sent 45; Glasgow, 27; Lonfier departed this life, another soul emi· don, 12; Dublin, 9; Aberdeen, 7; etc. nent for devoted service entered into Of these healers 29 represent the Church the reward in store for such in the life !Iissionary Society, 28 the Scottish Free to come. She went out to Turkey in Church, 19 the London Missionary So- 1827, the first unmarried woman to sail ciety, 14 the United Presbyterians, 12 from this land on such an errand. In the English Presbyterians, 10 the China 1834 she was married, and remained in Inland Mission, 9 the Church of Scotthe field until 1877, dwelling at Bebek, land, 9 the Propagation Society (S. P. on the Bosphorus. G.), etc.
EUROPE. -The ahurch Missionary Intelligen- cer, the organ of the Church Missionary Great Britain. – The British and Society, in referring to the centenary Foreign Bible Society has recently sent of the London Missionary Society, pays out over 2000 Sinhalese Bibles and 4100 this generous tribute: .. No society has Gospels for the Colombo Auxiliary. had greater men, or been permitted to These books were printed from plates do a grander work. First in the South made by the photographic process. Seas, first in China, first in Madagas- Other large shipments have recently car, first in New Guinea, with such been made of Kafir, Buto, Chuana, and names on its roll as John Williams, Gospel. And hence we are not sur· Morrison, Moffat, Livingstone, Ellis, prised to learn that the "Executive Mullens, Gilmour-not to speak of liv- Committee has published a memoran· ing men-and with by far the largest dum recognizing the free right of lay- total number of adherents among all men to engage in evangelistic work missionary societies; it deserves to be among the heathen, the instruction of honored, indeed. Although the society Christians in Bible classes and the like, is by its constitution undenominational, and school work, medical work, and it is practically supported almost ex- literary work of various kinds, such as clusively by one section of English is generally recognized as within the Nonconformity-the Congregationalist. province of laymen, without first secur- Relatively to numbers, influence, and ing formal episcopal authorization.
wealth, they put us Churchmen to There are, however, other fanctions for shame. We wish the society very the exercise of which it would be prop- heartily God-speed in its almost world- er to have a special arrangement with wide work." the bishop of the diocese. They are -The flrst missionary party was sent the habitual conduct of public worship out by the London Society, August in settled congregations where there is 10th, 1796. bound for Tahiti, and con- no resident ordained pastor, and preach- sisted of 30 persons. A" miscellane- ing to such congregations, and the minous selection" truly, for only 4 of the istering from time to time by Europeans, 30 were ministers, 6 were carpenters, on the invitation of the ministers, to 2 shoemakers, 2 bricklayers, 2 tailors, congregations having ordained minis- 2 smiths, 2 weavers, a hatter, a shop- ters in charge. While the committee is keeper, cotton manufacturer, cabinet- willing to arrange with the bishops maker, draper, harness-maker, tin- concerning these matters, it distinctly work~r, cooper, and butcher. Only 6 stipulates that it in no sense surrenders were married, and there were 3 chil- , the inherent right and duty of Chrisdren. tian men to use all and every means of winning souls to Christ.' It con- -The Church Society gives these ceives that' in the mission field no legal eignificant figures to set forth the disqualification exists to prevent laygrowth of seven years: Then 247 or- men from performing even the official dained missionaries, now 344; then 40 functions above referred to without laymen, now 82 ; then 22 women, now episcopal authorization.' Nothing in 193. Total:· then 309, now 619. That the memorandum is to be interpreted is, the Whole staff has doubled since • as infringing upon 'the reasonable lib- 1887. Besides that, there were then erty of the society's lay missionaries to 4 honorary missionaries, now 70, self- do so, either in cases of emergency or supporting, and 80 supported by special even in ordinary cases, in the earlier contributions, When particular mis- stages of missionary work.' " sions are viewed, the retrospect is even more striking. Thus West Africa had The Continent.-Hungary is rejoicthen 11, now 43; East Africa, then 26, ing over great advances made toward now 58; Mohammedan lands, Egypt, religious freedom. Within two years, Palestine, and Persia, then 17, now under the lead of Premier Wekerle, 63 ; India, then 133, now 222; China, three bills have become laws which esthell. 17, now 63; Japan, then 14, now tablish civil marriage, regulate the reo 53. ligion of the offspring of mixed mar- -This, the largest society in the riages, and provide for the civil regis- world, is nothing if not evangelical, tration of births, marriages, and deaths.
and fully determined to defend against And it looks as though the Emperor every foe its sacred rights under the would find no rest until he gives his sanction to a bill establishing freedom " 2. Jewish teachers giving Hebrew of worship for Protestants, Jews, and lessons in such schools. all. " 3. Jewish womcn attending moth- -But in Bohemia there is a step ers' meetings. backward toward the Dark Ages. The Free Reformed Church has for "4. Jewish women going out withsome years enjoyed a limited toleration out white sheets or izara over them, -" house worship with invited guests." and married women omitting to wear But now there is a different interpreta- the regulation wig." tion of the privileges of this religious body. All guests, even special friends -Since the return of Dr. Mackinnon of the members, and members of other to Damascus in April, 1893, until the evangelical 'denominations, must be middle of JUl!-e, 1894, upward of 3140 strictly excluded. For not enforcing out-patients were treated at the disthis rule to the very letter, one preach- pensary, besides close on 500 in Bludan er has been imprisoned, and afterward (the mountain station of the mission). fined. A second preacher has been Allowing Iln average of 3 visits for each fined twice by the same official. At of these, a total of upward of 10,900 Husinetz, Southern Bohemia, Paul sick folk were seen and treated during Zelinka, the Free Church preacher, this period. Of these 39 per cent were and the members there, are persecuted Moslems, 37 per cent Greeks, 10 per by bigoted officials. Prayer .and Bible cent Greek Catholics, 6 per cent Protstudy are dangerous and criminal. estants, etc. In addition, upward of 200 surgical operations were performed ASIA. during the same period, and about 40 in-patients resided for a longer or short- er time in the dispensary premises.
Islam.-It is enough to exhaust the -The report of the British Syrian faith and patience of the saintliest the Schools shows that £4330 was received way the Grand Turk and his under- in England toward their support during officials have of procrastinating and the year ending last midsummer. The contriving hindrances to block all prog- fees and other contributions received ress. The tale is amazing which Rev. on the spot, more particularly at Damas- H. O. Dwight tells in the Independent, cus, raised the total income to £5202. of how in 1880 a lot was purchased in The mission has 3 male and 20 female Constantinople for a church, and in European workers at Beirut, Damascus, spite of most persistent efforts fifteen and Hasbeiya, Lebanon, Baalbec, Tyre, years have passed, and no permit has and among the Bedouin. These are been gi ven to build. And this though assisted by 95 teachers. There are 20 the old chapel long since became unin· schools, with an aggregate attendance habitable, and last July by the earth- of 2809 scholars, 5 preaching stations, quake the congregation was driven with an average of 217, and 1341 pafrom hired premises and "turned into tients in the :Medical:Mission. the street." -Well may the Gleaner (Church :Mis- -According to the Church of Scot- sionary Society) exclaim: "Surely one land Mi88ion Record, this is the Hebrew of the most notable facts in modern of it in Beirut: "On Saturday, De- missionary history is this, that last Aucember 8th, an anathema extraordinary gust 30 missionarie8 (belonging to vawas ordered to be read in the various rious missions) met at Hebron-of all synagogues, cursing with curses posi- places in the world, except :Mecca, pertive and negative all Jews found gUilty haps the most jealously guarded by of the following misdemeanors: the :Mohammedans-and held a kind of convention, for prayer and study of the " 1. Parents sending their children to Word of God. The possibility of such the Scotch Mission schools., a thing is probably one fruit of the -Though himself by no means a Mildmay Medical Mission there. Miss Christian, the late Maharajah of Mysore Hester Campbell writes: "Truly He was no foe to the Gospel, and was a who stood at Abram's tent-door long ruler truly enlightened and of a benevo· ago in Mamre's Plain was very present lent heart. Educated under English with us, and more than one has gone influence, he was a firm friend to the away to Jerusalem, or Beirut, or Cairo, paramount powcr. He was also a stead- to thank God for that week at Hebroll." fast friend to reform of many kinds, only a few months ago greatly limiting India.-The Rev. J. TrailI, of Jey- the practice of child-marriage. pore, has this to say of the" holy" men he saw at the Pushkar mela: "It is a China.-Who does not sorrow with holy place and a holy time, and all the the Celestial Empirc in her humiliation, holy men have come in from far and so abject and utter? Somc 300,000,000 near. Let me tell you these men are bursting with conceit, beaten time after the embodiment of sanctity. They are time, on both land and sea, by a puny so pure that the touch of even the Eu· nation of only 40,000,000 I And yet ropean_would defile them. They have China has only herself to thank. Nor forsaken the world for religion. They can the remote outcome of these months have clothed themselves with ashes. of chagrin and shame be other than They subject themselves to terrible beneficial. The Great Wall of exclu- penances. I saw a man there on a bed siveness will tumble at many points, of spikes; men hanging by the heels to and many a highway will be opened for a tree; a man buried up to the neck; the entrance of Christian forces. a man sitting between five fires before the blazing sun; a man lacerating him- -Rev. B. Baring-Gould has returned self till the blood gushed out; a man from a journey around the world, and holding up a right hand till it dried after abundant opportunities to inform up. And all to gain salvation." himself, declares: "In no part of India or Japan have I ever seen anything at -Rev. W. D. Hankinson writes as all to compare with the aggressiveness follows to Mr. Baynes, of the English of these [Chinese] native Christians. Baptist Society, concerning Buddhism Inquirers are being brought in by the in Ceylon: "This priest is one of the Bcore every week by the converts them- 9950 at present in the island. Each selves. Individual Christians, in one wears a long yellow robe, and possesses case a medical man, in another a pedan alms-bowl in which he receives his dler, in another a blacksmith, have been food. From house to house he moves, recently the means of evangelizing a and silently takes his stand before each, village, or villages, or in one case and with his alms-bowl in front of him, twenty-eight village8, in which 126 inwaits for a small gift of rice or plan- quirers are now waiting to be taught. tains, etc. The giver often does obei- In the districts I have visited, thousance to the priest, and in the case of sands of women are willing to be evanone sect the priest pronounces a bless- gelized, and hundreds of female cateing before departing. Priests of the chumens are waiting to be taught, and other sects depart in silence. No priest can only be taught by their own sex." must take a meal after twelve o'clock noon. When my friend called in to see -The Foochow Conference (Meth· me the other day, one of his attendants odist Episcopal) reports these encourseveral times tested the hour by the aging figures: Members, 4225; probalength of his shadow, lest the priest tioners, 5227 ; baptized children, 1973 ; should be too la*e to partake of his adherents, 7221 ; Sunday.school scholbreakfast. " ars, 5901 ; collected for missionary so- ciety, $405; for self-support, $2314. Of the principal items the increase for the year is as follows: Members, 539 ; avers, " whether on ordinary occasions, probationers, 1722; adherents, 3642; fair days, riots, or war times, deserves Sunday·school scholars, 1285; self-sup- to be mentioned in the same week with as port, $480. The 68 ordained and 125 Hiroshima to orderly conduct."- unordained preachers, together with l'1w Pacific.
the members, probationers, adherents. -Nobody has written more thorand baptized children show a ·total of oughly and impressively of what the 27,509. future probably has in store' for this Korea.-EvidentIy this peninsula, . empire than Rev. J. T. Yokoi, of which was innocently the casus belli be- Tokyo, in a recent issue of the Congre- tween China and Japan, can never gationalist. And his conclusion is for again be considered to be but an out- substance, that while we cannot reason- lying dependency of the Son of Heaven. ably expect Japan ever to adopt the Concerning the outlook for this land, peculiar type of Christianity borne by Rev. Henry Loomis writes: "One any church or nation of the Occident, thing has especially impressed me, and it is yet scarcely possible that she will that is that one of the best statesmen in stop short of possessing the essentials Japan, Count Inouye, has been sent to of Christian civilization.
Korea to assist in inaugurating the new order of things, and has taken as his as- AFRICA. sociates two Christian men, Count Hirosawa and Saito Shinchiro. This means -South Africa includes all :of that that henceforth the religion of Jcsus portion of the continent which lies to Christ is not only to be tolerated but the south of the Zambesi, a territory held in esteem by those in power." with an area of 1,250,000 square miles. Referring to one of the Korean leadeIs On the whole, the soil is fertile, and the who visited the United ·States and be- climate such that white men endure it came a member of the Reformed without much ril!k to health.
Church, he says: "I was pleased to -At Lovedale the attendance last hear him avow his Christian principles, year was 725, of whom all but 33 were and he expressed a very warm interest native Africans, and these pupils paid in the missionaries and their work. He last year for tuition, etc., the snug sum regards Americans as brothers." of £1885 ($9425).
Japan.-In the city of Tokyo there -The Rev. Dr. Steele has printed a are 120 newspapers and magazines. short journal of a ten days' mission The Asabi Shimbun, or Morning News, tour in Angoniland. He visited 19 vilhas a circulation of 100,000 daily, and lages, held 20 meetings, dispensed medithe paper of the same name in Osaka cine to 320 patients, extracted 20 teeth, of 130,000 copies. But with this circu- and preached to over 2000 people. lation they may well rebuke Christian There are no inns, rest-houses, nor shops America; for there are no Sunday pa- in Angoniland. The mission caravan pers in Japan. included 11 carriers-tent, 2 men; bed, 1 man; bedstead, 1 ; magic-lantern, 2 ; -Rev. Mr. Pettee, writing after a medicine chest, 1 ; 2 baskets with food visit to Hiroshima, which has become, and cooking gear, leathern bucket and for the time, the royal residence and basin, 2 men; box with books and the real capital of the nation, speaks of clothing, 1; chair and folding table, the good order which everywhere pre- 1 man. In addition, Dr. Steele took vails. This city has an ordinary popu- with him a native evangelist and 3 boys. lation of 88,000, increased now by 40,000 The cost of the tour amounted to £1 48. more drawn thIther by the exigencies Od.-Free Church Monthly. of the war. Yet no American city, he
The Missionary Review of the World — November 1893
KINGDOM COME
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVI. No. 11.-0ld Series.-NOVEMBER.-VOL. VI. No. l1.-New.8eriu.
THY KINGDOM COME.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
[The substance of an address delivered at the World's Congress of Missions, Chicago, Ill., October 5th, 1893.] What the outlines are to the artist's picture, definitions ~re to the author's essay-the limits within which he is to work. In dir:.;cJ.8sil'g the kingdom of God, experience furnishes no sufficient data, and we mllst resort to the witness of His Word. To follow the deducti ve method might lead us to warp the Scripture to fit the crook of some preconceived theory or dogma; and the only safe way is the inductive, co~!aii:lg and comparing the various testimonies of the inspired Word concerLing the kingdom, and patiently seeking that centre of convergence where apparent contradictions meet as Roman roads met at the Golden Milestone.
A kingdom, as the word implies, is the house or dominion of a king -the realm he rules. The kingdom of God is therefore to be found wherever a community or even an individual soul owns His sway.
Five factors in the New Testament stand closely iinked with each other and with the kingdom: the" world," the" Church,o, "Israel," the" nations," and the " ages." The English words used in translation are not always the true equivalents of the originals. For example, the word, " world," stands for three Greek words (Y'I, [(,0(11'0" ot!wvl'I'v7J), one meaning the earth, another the cosmos, and a third the home of man; and, to increase our perplexity, the English word, "world," is used by us in three senses: a material sense, the globe; a social senS3, the family of man j and a chronological sense, an indefinite period of time. The word "church" (€[(,[(,A7JlTta) means an elect or outcalld body of believers; "Israel" is always distinct, alike in history and prophecy, from both "church" and" kingdom," and all these are to he distinguished from the" Gentiles" or " nations."
The other word which has a vital relatiou to the study of the kingdom is the word "age" or " a!on" (atwv), whidl has in the Greek a specific usage : it means an indefinite period of time marked off by some peculiar dealing of God-a dispensation. The ages may vary in length, but they have each definite bounds. It is an infelicity, if not an inaccuracy, in our English version, that the Greek word is so seldom rendered " age" and so often" world." Dr. Upham suggests that the term, atwv, should be uni. formly translated" time·world. " Certainly the word should be represented by some English equivalent which expresses time, for these ages, or reons, are to the kingdom its successive periods of preparation and development, and both-must be studied together to be gtudied successfully.
According to the testimony of the Word of God, the ages form a part of the created order. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read that God "made the ages," €TrOI.1JGEV TOVS alwvas (Heb 1 : 2) ; and more emphati. cally, that" the ages were framed together by the ,Vord of God," ttaT1JpTE<Y· Oat TOVS atwvas MfJaTt (}EOV (Heb. 11 : 3). About three structures of God kindred terms are used-the world, the church, and the ages-all of which are said to be built, framed, fitted together according to His almighty fiat. All are His creative products; the physical world, because matter is foreign to spirit; the Church, because a spiritual temple is foreign to sinful man and a carnal nature; the ages, because time is foreign to eternity.
The ages, then, are, as much as the universe, both a creation and manifestation of God. History is HIS STORY. As creation came forth at His word, cosmically framed, in af( hitectural symmetry and resthetic proportion, so the reons have been built up upon a divine plan, in numerical symmetry and geometrical proportion; in other words, there is, in the construction of these time.worlds, something which corresponds to architectural design and artistic structure. In all true architecture there is a fixed relation between the parts of a building, as in all normal Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian columns there is a certain proportion of length to breadth. So God built up the time-worlds, first laying the foundation ages; then story upon story, columns upon their bases, and capitals upon their columns; and finally there is to be a heading up of all in Christ, – aVattElj>a7tatW(1aG. Oat Ttl 7taVTa tv T~ Xpt<JT0 (Eph. 1 : 10); as all the lines of the pyra· mid head up in the apex, as all the subordinate parts and proportions of a symmetrical building reach completion in spires or pinnacles, capstone or dome, so the ages are to find termination and consummation in Him.
Five ages are distinguished in the Epistle to the Ephesians: "Before the foundation of the world;" "from the beginning of the world;" " this age;" "that which is to come." (Cf. Ephes. 1 : 4, 21 ; 2 : 2 ; 3 : 5, 21; Heb. 9 : 26). These expressions distinctly outline four periods of duration: one terminating, having its end (TEAos) at creation i a second, reaching from creation to Christ's ascension, and, therefore, "past" when Paul wrote; a third, called the "present age," and reaching to Christ's second advent; and a fourth, known as the" coming age." Beyond all these lies yet a fifth, concerning which we find that most remarkable expression, " unto all the generations of the age of the ages", EtS miaas TaS yevecls TOV alwvos TWY alwvwv (Eph. 3 : 21). Here word is piled on word, each of huge meaning, as the Titans heaped Ossa upon Pelion and Olympus upon· Ossa. I Augustine said: "Distinguish the ages, and the Scriptures will har- monize." To discriminate between these five "ages" is essential if we would remove or relieve the difficulties and perplexities in our study of the kingdom. There was a past eternity before time began j there was an age at the end of which Christ appeared (Heb. 9 : 26)-itself including subordinate ages j then began the "present evil age," which extends to His advent in glory j beyond is the coming age, which reaches to the close of the millennium j and beyond all these lies another and future eternity.
These five ages have a distinct relation to the. kingdom of God. In the age before time, that kingdom was undivided, undisputed, universal.
The past age, between creation and Christ's ascension, ',"as experimental; the kingdom was. in revolt, and preparation was making for its re-establish- ment. During the present evil age, the kingdom is invisible, and indi- vidual, and elective. In the coming age ij; is to be visible, general, collective, extensive. And in the age beyond, it will be once more un- divided, undisputed, universal, as in the eternity past.
Our present' purpose limits our study mainly to the present and coming ages. But it may be well to mark that, in the past age, dominion was given to Adam at his creation and lost by his fall. Satan wrested the sceptre from his hand and became the god of this world. Afterward God called out an elect family and nation to represent His kingdom, and became Himself the Head of a theocracy. His people disowned Him and chose an earthly king, and so came apostasy, captivity, dispersion~ When Christ came, He offered the kingdom to the Jews, but they both rejected the offer and crucified the King Himself. This apostasy brought another captivity and dispersion, already lasting for almost two thousand years.
The present age is known in Scripture as an evil age, during which evil is dominant, because Satan has usurped control of this world. This is the age of the Church, the eKlcA1]6'la, the outgathering of the Body or Bride of Christ from all nations j and this age belongs to the times of the Gentiles, because it is by the preaching of the Gospel as a witness to all nations that the elect are to be thus outgathered.
The Church, however, is not the kingdom, nor is the kingdom the Church. The kingdom is constantly referred to, as having an existence in the past age and in the coming age j but in neither age is the Church found; that seems to fill the interval between the sufferings of Christ and the glory that shall follow. To confound a mere visible, external organization of believers with the kingdom, or the church of men with the Church of God, is a disastrous blunder j and still worse is it to confuse the kingdoms of this world with the kingdom of Christ, or trust to that most dangerous and deceitful device of the devil, a superficial union of Church and State.
We carelessly talk of ., Christian nations," forgetting the fatal fallacy that lurks in that term. A nation is a political organization, having no personality or individuality apart from the individuals which compose it, and can exercise no faith, and has no proper conscience or will. In the common phrase, "the Christian world, " we combine two things as mutually hostile as light and darkness.
How, then, are we to conceive of the kingdom, during this present evil age? To answer this question we must first remember that this is preeminently the age of the Spirit-the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. It opened with His advent, and is especially the period of His personal administration. His peculiarity is invisibility. He is never represented as incarnate. He took, for special and temporary reasons, the form of a dove and of tongues of fire; but He has no proper form or body. During this age He is administering the kingdom instead of the King, and hence during this period the kingdom also is marked by invisibility. No emphasis is ever laid upon externals, but upon internals. Unseen by men, " the kingdom of God is within you" or " among you," invisibly present in individual souls, elective rather than collective, marked by intensity rather than extensity. Obviously the visible Church is not the kingdom; for while the Church embraces a militant body of true disciples contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, there is also within it a termagant body warring against its peace, and even an apostate body fighting against the truth and the faith. Within the same outward human organization God sees at once the true " circumcision," the " concision," and the " excision. "
During this present evil age the kingdom undoubtedly exists, but it is in human hearts, and its conquests are one by one-its extension, like its exhibition, is individual. As every vessel that floats a flag on the sea, or every soldier that wears a uniform on the land, represents the kingdom of man, so every loyal disciple is a little empire ruled by the King. Hence the vice and risk of statistics. At our peril do we lay stress upon counting up converts or parading numbers. " Numbering the people" brought David only the choice between plague, famine, and war; in the spiritual sphere it brings to the Church the peril of all three at once.
We are not justified by Scripture in expecting during this age the real triumphs of Christ's kingdom. This being an evil age, evil will permeate and dominate it to the end. ChI·ist, as the second Adam, recovered, in His temptation, the sceptre which Satan had wrested from the first Adam four thousand years before; but Christ does not actually mount His throne of this world until His" return." Meanwhile, Satan usurps that throne as prince of this world and god of this age, and claims the riches, wisdom, and power of this age to bestow them upon whomsoever he will (Luke 4 : 6), and many facts seem to support his claim. If Satan is now unbound and evil is triumphant, of course the saints are for the time correspondingly in humiliation, bound by fetters of restraint and restriction, and the Church is in the wilderness.
The phrase" kingdom of the heavens," which is peculiar to Matthew, seems applicable to this present evil age while the King is in the heavens, * and from thence in the person of the Spirit, as His substitute, administers the kingdom. During this age the sheet is let down from heaven and gathers of every kind, to be drawn up again at our Lord's second advent.
As to the coming age, it seems to be peculiarly the age of the Son of Man, as the present age is pre-eminently the age of the Spirit. Christ Himself spoke of the "Son of man" and" Hi., kingdom" (Matt. 13 : 41, 16 : 28), a marked change of phraseology which cannot be without meaning. He will come to resume and complete His own personal dispensation, which was interrupted by His ascension, when He gave place to the Spirit of God as His substitute.
The peculiarities of this coming age are these: First of all, Christ's personal reign, which is so frequently and plainly set forth in Scripture that even the most tortuous exegesis cannot evade it. The kingdom will then be marked by visibility; it will be not elective, but collective, comprehensive, extensive, and advance toward universal dominion. Then all the sheep shall be gathered into one flock under the one shepherd. Then" all Israel shall be saved:" one "nation" at least is to be "born at once" (paam, at a beat, or step), the only nation of whose conversion the Bible speaks as of a totality. The collective and universal feature will doubtless then be as prominent as the elective and individual is now; organization will doubtless be conspicuous and world·wide, a compact government of which Jerusalem was in its best estate but a type (Ps. 122 : 3).
This coming age is to be the age of conquest. In the present age the policy is persuasive, not coercive; it is the period of witness, not war; of the Word, not the sword. The sword belongs not to the Church but to the kingdom. But then there are to be, both at the beginning and end, wars of conquest, and judgments more or less destructive. Satan's dominion is to be destroyed, and he himself, bound at first, is to be burned at last. And the saints, bound now, are to be unbound then; the first resurrection from among the dead will let loose the bodies of "them that sleep" from the bonds of death and the bars of the grave, and they, with the living saints, caught up to meet the coming King, will be associat.ed with Him in power and glory. Then shall we understand the full significance of those ten mysterious words which mark the sweep of that grand circle of the coming age-return, revelation, refreshing, restitution, restoration, regeneration, resurrection, reception, recompense, redemption. t This coming age is also the age of completion, when all things are to "head up " into Christ, who is cap-stone, as well as corner-stone, to the time-worlds.
There is an age yet beyond even this coming age, when time shall be no longer-an eternal age, hetter described by the word atr5lO. than alWVW.. This seems to be distinctively the period of the" Father's king- * Dr. Bullinger, "The Church and the Kingdom."
t Luke II): 12; 1 Peter 1 : 13; Acts 3: 19-21 ; 1 : 6 ; Matt. 19: 2S; Rev. 20 : 6 ; John 14 : 3 ; 2 Thes. 1 : 6; Rev. 22 : 12 ; Eph. 4 : 30, etc. dom," as the present is that of the Spirit, and the coming age, that of the Son. The leading text is 1 Cor. 15-: 24-28, " Then cometh the END, when He delivers up (n-apa&ow) the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. Death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith, all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted wh,ich did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him that God may be all in alL"
If words can be plain, these words must indicate a still grander END (T€Ao,)-a close to Christ's proper mediatorial reign, the object thereof being attained, and the consequent delivering of the Son's sceptre back into the -Father's hands.
Toward this final consummation, as in one grand march, all the ages move. This is the final fulfilment of that prayer which we call" the Lord's Prayer." That prayer, dictated by the Son Himself, is specifically addressed to the" Father," and seems to have reference to an ultimate state of perfection, to be reached and realized only in the "Father's kingdom," and therefore in this the last and" eternal" age. It is customary to repeat this prayer without much thought upon its meaning. Its whole structure is unique. "Our Father, who art in heaven." Note the double designation : "Our Father," " in heaven. " We carelessly connect the qualifying phrase, q On earth as it is in heaven," only with the last of three petitions, to all of which it undoubtedly refers. Coustrue this prayer by this law, and you have not only a new grammar but a new commentary. "Our Father," "Thou who art in heaven." "As IN HEAVEN, so IN EARTH, let Thy name be hallowed j Thy kingdom come j Thy will be done." That lights up the prayer as sunshine transfigures a cathedral window. We are taught to turn our eyes to heaven, toward Rim whose Fatherhood has been disowned, whose benignant paternal rule has been dishonored, whose blessed will has been resisted, by His rebellious children. Weare taught to pray that, once more, the conditions of a celestial state may be restored in the terrestrial sphere j that, on earth, as in heaven, that name of Father may be hallowed and worshipped; that here, as there, His kingdom may have universal, undisputed sway j that on earth, even as in heaven, His fatherly will may be done j obedience as immediate and implicit, selfsurrender as complete and cheerful, here as there. This prayer so understood is a prophecy and forecast of an age, beyond this present evil age or even that coming millennial age j for, during neither, not even the millennial, is any triumph or transformation so complete anywhere predicted. This age is a militant age, and is marked to its close by earnest contending for the faith. Even the triumphant age-the millennium-is to close with a battle against foes yet found in the four quarters of the earth, " the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." A prayer that anticipates a triumph over all evil, so grandly complete that earth shall witness a worship as devout, a sway as absolllte, and an obedience as complete, as heaven itself, must contemplate a period when the last enemy is destroyed, and all foes have been put beneath the feet of the enthroned Son of God.
There is, then, a final period of the kingdom when the work of the Spirit and of the Son shall be complete, when Satan shall have been bound and destroyed, and the kingdom, visible, universal, eternal, shall be re-estab- lished and God the Father shall be all in all. This appears to be also the full and final revelation of the ultimate glory of the saints, when the righteous are to "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt.I3 : 43).
It is not easy to find an illustration sufficiently dignified for mysteries so stupendously celestial. I venture to use one, only premising that the illus- tration is not an analogy, though it may fit at the one point to be illustrated.
Imagine a world-wide empire of a father who associates with him, in equal honors and dignities, a prince and princess royal. The administration of a distant and revolted province is by this father committed to the son during the period of revolt. The son goes there in partial disguise on his mission of reconciliation, revealing himself to certain who repent of their rebellion, receive him, and gather around him as the nucleus of a restored State. Being rejected, insulted, and outraged by others, he withdraws, having used no coercive measures, and sends the princess royal to use her singular charms to win backother rebels to their allegiance. Rers is a strictly secret mission; herself always unseen, she prompts messages of love and sends out far and wide her heralds with the good news of amnesty, until the whole province is pervaded by the tidings and a large body of loyal subjects has been organized. Then suddenly the prince royal, in all the glory of his father, and wit.h a vast army, appears on the scene and leads on his elect host to a final contest and an overwhelming conquest. All enemies who do not voluntarily bow before his power are slain by his .sword ; and, perfect peace being re-established, he surrenders back the reins of government into the father's hands.
This study of the ages and the kingdom is a reverent treading on holy ground. The ages are the courts, of which the kingdom is the tabernacle, and we have been advancing from outer court to inner shrine. The present age is the outer court, with its altar of burnt offering and laver, reminding us that during this age the two great truths to be emphasized and proclaimed are the" terms of communion," nay, of communication with God-a new relation by the blood of atonement and a new nature by the Spirit and the Word. Behind the first veil lies the coming age, with its ideal "forms of communion," the sevenfold lamp of an ever-shining witness, the consecrated offering of self and service, and the ever-burning incense of heart worship. But, beyond cven the second veil, through whose rent we catch a glimpse of glory yet beyond, there is to be realized a perfected ideal-God Himself dwelling in the midst of a redeemed and glorified humanity as the Shekinah blazed and shone between the wings of the cherubim. The bearing of this study of the kingdom and the ages upon mISSIonS is not only important, it is fundamental, vital. To a true disciple duty is delight, and the one grand question is, " lfThat is my Maste,.' 8 will 'I" Our great commission is a world's evangelization, and its sphere is this present evil age. Now, our crucifixion with Christ, our fellowship with Him in travail; the coming age is to bring our coronation with Christ, our fellowship with Him in triumph. To the end of this age we are to be content at His command to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," leaving all results with Him, and not caring to measure success by superficial signs.
Now, the kingdom is invisible, and extends its sway in the hearts of disciples one by one. Its conquests are in silence and secrecy, and come not" with observation," sounding no loud trumpet as a signal for advance, sending no imperial herald to cry, "Lo, here!" "Lo, there !" Sometimes its progress is like that of ocean tides, which rise toward a higher flood mark even while the waves seem to recede toward a lower level. An invisible Spirit leads on, leaving behind no track traceable by the carnal eye. An unseen Christ assures, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." 'Vhy cannot we be satisfied to do our duty, and give up vaia attempts to gauge the kingdom by man's measurilJg rod ~ Though unseen, the kingdom is as divinely real, the Spirit as divinely mighty, the Master as divinely present, as though supernal splendors smote our eyes. To look for a world's complete conquest during this present evil age is to delude ourselves with a falsll hope, unaffirmed in prophetic promise, unconfirmed by historic facts. After nearly twenty centuries" the offencll of the cross" has not ceased. Evil still rules this world, and Satan is still its god. Yat from all nations the Bride of Christ is surely being outgathered, though the race of man is still in rebellion i and into one temple of God the "living stones" are being built, though vast masses of bed-rock lie dead in the quarries.
The Church waits for her full salvation, the world for its true transformation, the whole creation for its final redemption, until He comes who maketh "all things new." LET us DO OUR DUTY IN THIS PRESENT EVIL AGE, and the kingdom will come now, so far and so fast as God means it shall come, in hearts subdued and renewed by the Spirit. Then the King will return, and the Hngdom will come in that grander sense and on that grander scale that befit the glory of His new advent and formal aSRumption of regal dignities. And when that final age shall open, which is the apex of the time-worlds, whose eternal noon knows no shadow of sin or death, then the kingdom will have come in splendor, consummate, infinite, eternal. On a new earth, arched by a new heaven, God's name shall be hallowed and God's will shall be done by a redeemed race of humanity, as now before His throne the intelligence of cherubs and the affection of seraphs blend in ceaseless adoration and ecstatic obedience.
THE STUDENTS' YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 80!
THE STUDENTS' YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION IN JAPAN.
BY LUTHER D. WISHARD, NEW YORK.
Less than seventeen years have elapsed since the Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association was organized. During this time nearly one hundred thousand students have been enrolled in its membership. The lives of multitudes of these men have teen powerfully affected by this Christian fellowship. The commanding influence which this movement is already exerting in the Church's work at home and abroad has been commented upon by not a few of the Church's leaders; nor has its destined influence upon the national life escaped the notice of eminent men. Its present standing and prospective influence cannot but suggest the inquiries: How much greater would be the strength of the Church in America and foreign lands, and how much stronger and purer would be our life as a people if such a movement had been inaugurated at the very fountainheads of influence in our colleges and universities at the close of last century? These reflections emphasize the significance of the fact that the birth year of constitutional government in Japan was signalized by the inauguration in that country of the Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association. What this movement might have been to the civil institutions and Church of our country it may he to the people and Church of Japan and all Asia.
Nine months of almost daily contact with the students and educated young men of Japan revealed the following facts, which inspire a confidence that what this movement may be to that country it will be : 1. The student life presents a wide field. A well-organized educational system has been built np. There are over two million male students in schools of all grades. There are at least two hundred government schools of high grade containing not less than fifty thousand young men. Tokyo alone is said to contain upwards of fifty thousand students in Christian, private, and government schools above the primary grade.
II. It is an accessible field. The students are thinking about the ques. tions of the divine origin of Christianity, the deity of its Founder, the relation of Christianity to moral character, its numerical strength among the educated classes in the West, the part which Christianity is performing in the self-governing nations of the West, etc. I found the largest halls and theatres in the educational city centres none too large for the audiences of students who gathered to hear these subjects discussed. During my residence in Tokyo I secured the translation and publication of " The Christ of History," by Young, containing an inimitable inductive argument for the deity of Jesus. I learned a year later that the book had had a larger sale during the year than any other book except the Bible. The students of Japan are disposed to hear what the foIfowers of Christ have to say in defence of their religion.
III. Ohristianity is firmly intrenched in the Ohristian colleges. In reply to the remark "this is to be expected," it may be said that this is a fact which could not have been affirmed of the Christian colleges of America at the close of last century, when Yale had but three Christian communicants at the time Timothy Dwight entered the presidency, and class after class was graduated in other colleges with scarcely a Christian. As a rule the majority, or at least a strong minority, of the students in Japanese Christian colleges are professing Chr:.stians.
IV. Ohristianity has many adherents in the government colleges. Careful inquiry revealed the fact that one fourteenth of the three thousand students connected with the first seven government colleges of the empire were Christian men. The students often asked, "What, in your opinion, are the prospects for the spread of Christianity among students~" Great was their surprise at the reply: "Christianity already has more adherents in your leading government colleges, where its teaching is forbidden, than it had a century ago in our leading Christian colleges in America, which were expressly founded for its promotion. "
V. Ripeness for evangelization. I found a degree of readiness on the part of Japanese students to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour which I have rarely seen equalled in America. At the request of the professors, Mr. J. T. Swift, the representatiye in Japan of the American Associations, and I delivered a series of addresses in the Doshisha University, the institution founded by the sainted Neesima. When we arrived we found the atmosphere per'aded with a spirit of prayer, which was an earnest of the wonderful blessing which followed. A system of personal work was organized, which was carried out with a faithfulness and enthusiasm which 1 have never seen excelled. Inquirers multiplied by the score, and on the first communion Sabbath following the meetings, one hundred and three students publicly professed their faith in Christ, and were received by baptism into the college church. Forty additional students were received at the next communion. In 1he college of Meiji, the Union Christian college in Tokyo, a scarcely less interesting series of meetings was held, resulting in thirty accessions to the Church. A memorable meeting of confession, at which I was not present, was held one morning, lasting four hours, which some of the older missionaries declared was the most remarkable scene they had ever witnessed in Japan. In the preparatory school in Kumamoto, where a week was spent, there were twenty-five accessions to the communion. I have never known of an all-night students' prayer-meeting being held in America; but such a meeting was held by the Kumamoto students unknown. to me until the following morning; and the mighty display of spiritual power in the evening meeting of the day following was an evident answer to that night of prayer. Such incidents as these are an assurance that a wellorganized evangelistic movement conducted by the students themselves will yield rich results. VI. Readiness for organization. In the aptitude for organization the Japanese is not far behind his fellow-student in America. Administrative ability both in the conception and execution of plans is a marked national trait, and accounts in large degree for the marvellons political, commercial, and educational development which has brought Japan to the front of all Oriental nations. In no other Asiatic country has the Church displayed so commendable a spirit of independence and self-support. This spirit has manifested itself in a marked degree by the promptness and energy with which the students and other young men have taken hold of and pushed local and national association work.
Soon after Mr. Swift arrived in Tokyo in 1888 he formed Bible classes, composed of stndents of the three principal government colleges. His occasional references to the College Young Men's Christian Associations in America prompted the inquiry on the part of thc students: Why cannot we have similar organizations in Tokyo? Encouraged by Mr. Swift, and with his assistance, three associations were formed, composcd of the students of the three institutions. Three or four similar organizations had already been started in Christian schools. This movement has spread until there are now eleven government and four Christian college associations. While the work is not yet as comprehensive as in our colleges, it is maintaine.d with a spirit of faithfulness which affords bright promise for the future. Associations of young business men have also been formed in thirteen cities.
The two strong guarantees of permanence which characterize American associations-viz., general secretaries and buildings-have also entered into the Japanese work. The first Japanese secrctary, Mr. S. Niwa, a graduate of the Doshisha University, has already taken hold of the associations at the capital with a spirit of judgment and an energy and skill which insure success. The second Japanese general secretary, Mr. Ichikawa, who has been educated in America, will soon take charge of the association in Kobe. The association in Tokyo will serve as a training school for secretaries for other cities whose associations are in urgent need of well-qualified men.
The Osaka association was the first one in Japan to secure a bnilding, the money for which was given by members and friends of the associations in America, England, and Australia. Four years ago Mr. Swift was instrumental in obtaining pledges of $60,000 from America for the erection of two buildings in Tokyo-one for students, the other for business men. This liberal sum was headed by the splendid gift of $25,000 by a business man in the South. An urgent call is before us now for $1500 for the erection of a Christian boarding-house in Tokyo for students. The association has conducted such an enterprise for a couple of years in a rented building with such good results that it feels justified in asking for a permanent home for the guarding of young men from the country from the awful vices and temptations of the tea houses, the only places at present in, the great city where students can secure food. This is a small amount for some man to give, and it will be of great service to the Association in its work of rescuing and guarding young men.
The first steps preliminary to permanent national organization have been taken by the holding of a national conference or summer school for the study of the Bible and the discussion of methods of work. It was my privilege to assist in the conduct of the first gathering of this kind. The meeting was held in Kyoto, in the buildings of Doshisha University. Five hnndred students and educated young men from ten government and twelve Christian colleges spent ten days together. The American Student Summer School was in session in Northfield during the same time. The Japanese students sent a cable greeting to Northfield in the words: "Make Jesus King," the idea being suggested by the rallying of the young men of Israel at Hebron to make David King over all' Israel. That idea was the inspiring watchword of the 'great gathering, and the hearts of the young men were filled with holy enthusiasm at the thought. that they live in the generation during which every creature in their nation may, and probably will, hear the Gospel.
The conference has been held annually, and for the convenience of students in the South a second meeting has been started in Kiushiu. During the past four years seven such conferences have been held, attended by fully fifteen hundred young men, representing at least thirty colleges.· Who can overestimate the effect of such gatherings, whose influences shape and direct the lives of Japan's best young men ~ Yale and Cornell universities are honored by having America's representatives for the promotion of this movement in Japan chosen from their alumni. Messrs. Swift and Miller reside in Tokyo for the purpose of representing to the Japanese students the Christian fellowship of American students. It is rarely, if ever, the privilege of two young men to see in so short a time such rapid and solid development of a movement fraught with such far-reaching helpfulness to the young men of a nation.
This article cannot be closed without mention of the valued services rendered this cause in Japan by t.he Hon. Taizo Miyoshi, Vice-Minister of Justice, the most distinguished member of the judiciary in Japan. As president of the Tokyo association, member of the World's Committee, and corresponding member of the International Committee of the American AssociatIOns, he has given to the work a breadth of judgment and faithful oversight which largely accounts for the prominent place which it already holds among the Christian enterprises of the empire. He is the most prominent member of the educated class which enters so largely into the membership of t1le new Church in Japan. The fact that Christianity has so early in its history in Japan won so large a part of its adherents from the educated class is in striking contrast to its ordinary experience in its conquest of nations. It is the royal privilege of the Young Men's Christian Association to press this advantage until the university life of the country shall be fully committed to the cause which has won some of its
THE "TO-DAY" FROM KOREA
greatest victories through the lives of university men, from Saul of Tarsus to John Wesley.
THE "TO-DAY" FROM KOREA.
BY HORACE G. UNDERWOOD, D.D., SEOUL, KOREA.
But little more than a decade ago Korea was still a hermit nation j every avenue of approach, as far as ·Western nations were concerned, was sealed j and the law of the land made it death, not simply to any foreigner found upon her shores, but even to any Korean who harbored a foreigner. Attempt after attempt had been made, year after year, by means of hoth diplomacy and force of arms, to entice or compel the old hermit to emerge from his seclusion and to accept the advantages of Western civilization and Christianity j but all had been useless. The Church of Christ, realizing that God had commanded her to carry His Gospel to the ends of the world, bowed in prayer before her Father, asking that the seals might be broken and that the doors might be open to the Gospel, and in answer to her prayers God opened Korea by treaty in 1882. To-day, then, Korea stands wide open, and the Church has treaty right to send her sons to Korea; they have treaty right to enter, carrying the Bible with them j yea more, by the wording of that same treaty they have the right to distribute and sell copies of the Bible, Christian books and tracts, not only in each one of the four open ports, but throughout a section of the country, four hundred and fifty miles in extent, around those cities. Thus as early as 1882 did God say, • Son, go work to-day in My vineyard," but the Church went not. Again and again from this open door came the call from converted Koreans in Japan to the Church of Christ for the Gospel for their poor benighted brethren. All through 1882, 1883, alid the spring of 1884 the Macedonian cry sounded loud and long from the Korean shores in these providential openings j but it fell upon deafened ears and upon hearts that in the midst of the corruption and pleasures of the world had forgotten that He who had washed them in His own most precious blood had said, " Freely ye have received, freely give."
But at last, late in the fall of 1884, the first Protestant missionary to Korea-a physician, Dr. Allen-reached the capital, and was followed in the spring of 1885 by several others from the Presbyterian and Methodist churches of America. At the most, they were but a mere handful; and as they looked around upon the millions who knew not the true God, and realized that every day in that one little land one thousand souls were passing into eternity with no knowledge of the way of salvation, their hearts sank, and they almost fainted under the burden laid upon them. The presence of Him who said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end," sustained and supported them. Aware of the long-continued opposition to the opening of her doors, that had existed throughout Korea, fully convinced of the intense hatred toward foreigners and everything for- eign that must of course be met on every hand, we naturally expected that the overcoming of this prejudice, the dispelling of their erroneous ideas concerning Christianity, would for many long years be the main work of the missionary. God had, however, gone before us; not only had He broken down the legal barriers that hitherto hindered us from entering tho country, but by the workings of His Spirit He had prepared the hearts of the people to receive us and to listen to the message of His love. But now-to turn to the first-fruits that God gave us-naturally, on entering Korea, which was a new field, in our preparations we studied the history of missions in their incipiency in other fields. We saw how Judson and others had worked year after year, and almost decade after decade, without a single convert. We saw how the missionaries to China had becn called to plod tediously along many years without seeing any fruits. We saw how even in Japan they had to wait almost ten years before they baptized their first convert, twelve years before they had six members with which to organize their first church, and we naturally expected that we too would be called to spend long years in mining aud sapping, in laying the foundations and preparing the ground. Conversions were not to be expected for at least a period of years.
Iu the winter of 1885 the Rev. H. G. Appenzeller, of the Methodist Mission, invited all the missionaries-less than a dozen, men and womento meet in a watch-night service at his house j and as we gathered around our Father's footstool the burden of our prayer was that we might have souls as seals to our ministry. 'What! We had been in the land, most of us, not a year j what could we expect? for what were we asking ~ but our Father had told us to open our mouths wide" and He had promised to fill them. We must expect great things of God and undertake great things for God, and then we will be blessed. Our faith was indeed weak j but oh ! how we did plead with God for souls, and on July 11th, 1886, we baptized our first convert. He was one of those led of God, who, from the reading of a heathen misrepresentation of Christianity, was induced to inquire into its doctrines and thus to know Christ and trust Him as his Saviour; and he remains with us to this day, a testimony to the saving power of the Gospel. Like most of the converts to Christianity in our mission, it cannot be said of him, as men of the world have so often said of native converts in other lands, that he was led by any pecuniary inducements, as, being a man of means himself, not only has he never received anything from the mission, but he has been a contributor towards our work, and has even paid for all the books and tracts that he has received either for himself or to give away. It may be well, right at this point, to digress for a moment to state the policy of the majority of the missions now working in Korea with regard to the employment of native helpers and our treatment of converts. Believing that we are here to build up, not a branch of any home church, and that the main work of heralding the Gospel must be done by natives, with a view to incul- cating a spirit of independence among the people themselves, we employ but very few paid agents. vVe encourage all natives to remain in their own calling, and strive to teach them that every follower of Christ should be a preacher of the Gospel. Where the mission needs and uses the en- tire time of any man, the laborer is worthy of his hire, and he receives not a salary for work done, but what, according to the circumstances of the case, will be, as near as we can judge, a bare living. But-to return to the story of our work -after praise for what had been granted, and earnest prayer for further blessings, we were permitted to organize the first Protestant Church of Korea in the fall of 1887, which before the end of the year numbered over a score of souls, and before the close of 1888 there were almost one hundred baptized converts in the two churches then working in Korea. Not all of these converts have remained firm. As it was with the work of the apostles, so it has been with our work; some have fallen back into their old idolatries, some have denied the Gospel they once professed; but, as we learn from what we read in the epistles of the conditions of the early apostolic churches, especially that of Corinth, we take courage. We remember that it is God's work, and we leave results with Him. Perhaps it is due to our lack of faith in the power of God's Spirit, in that, unlike Philip, we have hesitated-aye, have refused-to baptize the convert of a day's acquaintance by the roadside, though he were rejoicing in Christ; unlike Paul, who baptized the jailer and his family after one night's ac· quaintance, we have bidden the poor Korean wait his three or six months, pass rigid examinations, after more or less prolonged instruction, and even then only, after the endorsement of some earnest Christian (known personally to the missionary) that the candidate was a changed man, is he baptized. But even with this careful and timid policy the results accomplished show us most plainly that God has in a mosi wO:lderful way opened the hearts of the people of Korea, and this is His call to us to go forward-.
It is the voice of God saying to His Church, "Go work to-day in My vineyard," and it is for the Church to say whether she will heed God's call. As we noted above, we were most agreeably surprised by the attitude of the people toward ourselves, our message, and our books. Whenever, in my trips into the interior, we have opened our packs of books quick and speedy sales have been the result; and in every case where I have taken trips to the country, though on each occasion I have taken a larger proportion of books than previously, the sales have far exceeded my highest expectations. I ha'e invariably been forced to send back for more. Do not for one moment understand me to say that the Koreans were so eager for Christianity that they bought these books; but the fact that they were willing-to buy them, in spite of their being Christian, shows what a wide door was opened for the entrance of the Word, and the entrance of God's Word giveth light. They were eager to know what the foreigner had, and to read those books for themselv(js, ~nd they showed a corresponding willingness to listen to what he had to say, and to hear the story of a Saviour for the world. In my travels over the country, in no place have I failed to find an audience ready and willing, and, in some places, even eager, to learn of Christ. The bulk of the crowds may have come simply from curiosity; perhaps they came to criticise, perhaps to ridicule ; some we know came to scoff; but if only Christ were preached and the message of His love were heard we must leave the rest to Him and to the quickening power of Ris Holy Spirit. Still more, at various times calls havi come from different parts of the country for us to go and give instruction in the way of life, but, alas! in most cases there has been no man to scnd. Space will not permit us to tell of all these calls; but perhaps it may be as well to refer to the one instance, to which reference has lately bcen made in another periodical, of a village where nine were baptized by the writer, and as the facts have been misl'epI8sented, a statement of them here will clear up doubts and at the same time illustrate the methods of work pursued by the mission at that time. Mr. So Sang Hyun, now the trusted and tried chief helper of our mission, came to me in 1886 (seen by me then for the first time) and asked me to go down to his village and baptize some men who for some time past had been believing in Christ. At that time Mr. So was not in anyone's employ, but had learned of Christ from Mr. Ross in China and had been baptized by him. I was not able to go, and he returned to Chang yan, his villa;;"e. Not long after, he returned with a delegation of four, who asked baptism. They were rigidly examined in the presence of and by Dr. Allen, Dr. Heron and myself. They were seen on several occasions by us all dur:ng a stay of several days in Seoul. At the end all felt and said that we had no right to refuse baptism, and they were baptized. Of course they paU all the expenses (not small) of coming up, going back, and their hotel ch:uges in the city. They all again urged me to go down to their village, but the way did not seem open. A few months later another came up to the city, and, after spending several days and showing a clear understRuding of the way of salvation, he too was baptized. For all this we praised God and asked all we knew to rejoice with us. He too brought word asking us to go down to Chang yan. This was almost two years afkr Mr. So had first come for us, and we felt we could no longer delay, but th:).t it was God's call for us to go. So we started on our first missionary trip, taking medicines for the body and tracts and Bibles. Stopping all along the way, we proclaimed Christ as the Saviour for the world, a:~d after a couple of weeks-for we travelled slowly-we reached Chang yan. Here we stayed for a 'week, reading the Bible, expounding the Word, talking and praying with those who were Christians. There were quite a number who desired to profess Christ, but among them all we only found four whom we thought ready to be baptized. All of these were able to give a reason for the hope that was in them; all of them were with me constantly during the week that I was there; all of them were said by the Christians of the village to be changed men in .~ their lives. On the night before I left them I baptized these four, and went on my way rejoicing at the wonderful opening that God had given for His Word. Though these were the only four who were baptized on this trip, which was continued for several weeks, we proclaimed Christ everywhere; crowds listened to the" old, old story," and many were found who professed a faith in Jesus and desired to be baptized.
Still further, God has not only prepared the natives to receive the Gospel by breaking down their old prejudices concerning foreigners, but in the very attitude of the people toward their own nati ve religions we see the workings of a Divine hand. A sort of mental rel'olution seems to be in progress throughout the land. Buddhism, which at one time held such sway over the hearts and minds of the people, seems to have entered upon its dotage ; and the educated Korean will tell you that it is now relegated to women and children. Confucianism, too, has lost almost every vestige of a real religion as it is found in Korea, and is not much more than a system' of morals, which all might, but few attempt to, follow. The species of Tauism or Demonism in natural religion that is to-day most prevalent throughout the whole land seems also to be losing its influence upon the life and habits of the people. The educated of the land are beginning to realize that the pounding of tambourines and the offering of incense to the god of small· pox cannot have the same remedial effects as the proper use of medicines; that the tying of ribbons upon the branches of a tree or the burning of paper prayers before paper gods will result in little definite good. Thus throughout the land there has been a wavering in the adherence to the old faiths; we believe it to be a providential opening for the Gospel, and that it is the voice of God saying to His Church, "Go work to-day in My vineyard in Korea."
Thus also these immortal souls with heavenly longings and God-given aspirations after the truth appeal to you for bread. He who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour has prepared for them a stone in the likeness of bread, the false in the semblance of the true, and thus it is that hundreds and thousands of the Koreans, recognizing the little truth that there is in it, have been drawn into the Church of Rome. Her agents, with a full and complete hierarchy, are here to push forward the work; they recognize that it is now, if ever, with Korea j and when God so plainly says, " Go," it is for the Church of Christ to say whether the poor, hungering, thirsting, starving Korean shall have the bread of life that the Master has commii!sioned us to give, or the stone that has been offered in its place. As we have stated before in the REVIEW, the Protestant Church of Christ must awake to a realizing sense of her duty, or Korea will become a Roman Catholic country, and either the true light of the Gospel will be forever shut out or we shall have a Romanist instead of a heathen country•. Heathenism is darkness-Romanism is blindness.
Thus successively, by the doors opened by treaty; by the successes that have attended the preaching of the Gospel j by the hearts of the peo-
METLAKAHTLA, A MARVEL AMONG MISSIONS
pIe prepared especially to receive the Word; by the wavering in the adherence of the natives to their old religions; by the activity shown by Rome; by the favors and protection bestowed by the government npon Christi all missionaries and their work, has God been showing that the field in Korea is NOW ready for the harvest, that rich fruit is NOW ripe and waiting to be gathered and garnered, and loudly and clearly does lIe say, "Go worl; to-day in My vineyard in Korea."
METLAKAHTLA, A MARVEL AMONG MISSIONS-I.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, OBERLIN, o.
The story reads like a romance from the first chapter to the last, and proves once more that sober truth is often stranger than baldest fiction. The name is every way worthy to stand in the same category with Serampore, Tranquebar, Kuruman, or any other illustrious scene of apostolio labors in heathen lands, while the most remarkable results of evangelistic effort enable us to gain a glimpse of what achievements are possible for the Gospel in the midst of difficulties most appalling, when Divine grace cooperates with human qualities of a high order, when to boundless devotion and heroism are also joined boundless good sense, breadth of view, and genius for leadership and invention.
The narrative to follow relates to the northwest coast of America-to British Columbia and Alaska-while for a starting point we go hack more than a generation and cross the ocean to England. Admiral Prevost had been ordered upon a cruise to those hyperborean regions, and knowing somewhat of the unspeakable degradation and savagery which characterized the native tribes, offered the Church Missionary Society to transport thither without cost whoever they might select to bear the glad tidings. For though since 1821 the Hudson's Bay Fur Company had been in possession of the Pacific border, the message of salvation had not yet there been heard. Then about the same time it happened that two representatives of the Society went out from London to hold by appointment a mi.ssionary meeting, but the night being stormy only nine persons were in attendance. One, therefore, thought that a postponement was advisable, but the other judged it better to go forward and perform their part; and behold, after the addresses a young man came forward and offered himself for service in tb.e mission field. This was none other than William Duncan, a clerk in a'mercantile establishment. Hearing of his purpose his employers endeavored to dissuade him, offering to increase his salary and to give, in addition, such a percentage upon sales as to make wealth certain at no distant day. But the great decision was irrevocable. After a few months at the training institution he was ready to depart, though but a layman and alone, for his distant field by way of Cape Horn. While yet some five hundred miles from his destination, and halting a few days at Vancouver, the earnest attempt was made by friends to induce him to give up his crazy scheme, since the particular tribes to which he was appointed were famous far and wide for measureless depravity and villainy, and to put himself in their power would be but to give them the chance to murdcr him and then to feast upon his flesh. Sir James Doug- las, the governor, joined in these protests. None of these things moved him, however, and October 1st, 1857, he was landed at Fort Simpson, only a few miles south of the Alaskan boundary. What deadly perils were in store could be inferred from a glance at the pali:sadw surrounding the trading post, which were high and constructed of lwavy timbers, supplied with massive gates, four bastions with cannon, while s~ntinels kept guard day and night. More than once for weeks together the gates had been shut and barricaded when the bloodthirsty.savages were stirred to more than their usnal ferocity. And so continual was the danger from treachery that, even for purposes of trade, access to the inside of the fort was allowed only to two or three at a time. It was not long after his advent that to the eyes of Mr. Duncan was brought testimony convincing and most impressive that the task he had undertaken contained elements in abundance of the terrible and the loathsome, the beastly and the demoniac. For, gazing from one of the bastions, he saw a troop of naked and frenzied cannibals rushing, with hideous yells and every conceivable demonstration of fury, to the water, and dragging forth the body of a slave girl, who had just been murdered in cold blood by an old chief, tear it limb from limb with fiendish accompaniments, and then proceed to devour the raw flesh. Bespattered with blood, and with rum to add to their delirium, the orgies lasted through the night and for several days, and with the loss of a number of lives. And it was the shamans, or medicine men, who were the instigators and leaders in such ceremonies, which had a deep religious significance. Besides, there was a dog-eating portion of the com.. munity, whose rites, not seldom performed, were wellnigh as loathsome. 'Val's were frequent also, in which the women and children taken were enslaved, while the men were slain and their heads were carried home as trophies, during the devil-dances following to dangle from the girdles of the victors. Parents were glad to sell their daughters to white men for the vilest of purposes, and also to hire out their slaves and their wives to the same abuse.
However, in some measure to offset these traits, at once so dreadful and disgusting, the Tsimsheans, dwelling in the vicinity of Fort Simpson, were of superior stature and strength, and, for wild Indians, of unusual intelligence also. They spoke a language quite full and rich in forms of expression. They knew how to produce fire by friction, and to boil water and cook food by casting red-hot stones into wooden bowls. Baskets and pouches were woven of grass, and with such skill and care as to hold water. Perhaps carving ranked highest among their accomplishments, and with no insignificant show of artistic taste canoes, totem poles, war-clubs, fish-spears, as well as ornaments of gold, silver, and copper, were covered with a great variety of designs. Unlike the bulk of barbarians, these laid up in store regularly and systematically against future needs. There was actually an ambition quite prevalent to acquire property, mainly in the form of blan- kets, and so intense that in the effort abstinence and self-denial would will- ingly be endured for years; though the aim was, after all, but the childish and absurd one of becoming able at length to outdo one's neighbors, for so was it possible to rise to renown and recognized greatness.
At first, for safety, Mr. Duncan took up his abode inside the stockade to make prudent preparation for the arduous and hazardous campaign upon which he had now entered. As a beginning, at the soonest the native tongue must be mastered, and for this purpose one Clah was engaged to visit him daily and give instruction, for as yet no white man had undertaken to communicate with the natives except through the sign language and the Chinook, a jargon composed of a mongrel mixture of words borrowed from the French, Canadian, English, and Indian. Eight months had elapsed before it was deemed wise to attempt to face an audience, but in the mean time and frequently, with the assistance of Clah, the statement was sent out that a stranger had come whose errand thither was not to trade and get rich, but rather to teach them concerning the white man's God, and give instruction in the things in which the whites are superior. In this way at length an eager curiosity was created to see and hear this nnknown personage, and when his carefully prepared address was ready and he ventured forth he was received with no little show of good feeling, and erelong was regarded with almost reverence. No less than nine tribes dwelt in the neighborhood, numbering only some twenty-three hundred in all, but were so effectually divided by ancient custom that nothing could persuade them to meet in the same assembly, and hence our missionary was compelled to deliver his discourse nine times over during the same day! Something was given of the Bible story centering in the cross; certain abominations werc held up to their gaze, especially the sin of taking human life, and some of the benefits were portrayed of walking in ways that are civilized and godly. Of course similar addresses followed at frequent intervals, and visits were made to thc Indians in their houses.
Jnne 28th, 1858, a school was opened with twenty-six childrcn and thirteen adnlts, and so rapid was the increase in attendance that the next month, with the willing aid of a number of the natives, a log school-house was built, while before the close of the year this popular schoolmaster could count one hundred and ninety pupils, of whom nearly one fourth were of mature age. Such confidence and esteem had now been won, and in many ways such a marked impression had been made, that no wonder the shamans took the alarm and began to plot how they might withstand their dangerous rival. So great was their influence over Legiac, the head chief, and also one of the most outrageous of evil-doers, that he ordered the school to be closed for a month during the devil-feast. Mr. Duncan, perceiving the design, sent a reply to the effect that the school would go on as long as any scholars came. Then threats against his life were made, and when it was found that these produced no effect, one day Legiac and a number of the medicine men burst in, crazed with whiskey, and all hideous with paint and bedecked with feathers and charms. They were faced calmly and with firmness, were told that he was not to be frightened, and were urged to turn from their wicked courses. But, beside himself with brutal passion, the old savage raised his knife to strike a deadly blow. At the same instant, however, Clah, who had heard of the assault, and entering the school-house had taken his position behind the missionary, raised a revolver in his defence. At this the arm of the would-be murderer fell, and he slunk away. Nor was it many years after that this same chief, who was notorious for his violence and the number he had slain, was thoroughly subdued by the power of the Gospel, and became humble and childlike and full of the spirit of love. Several times Mr. Duncan narrowly escaped a!!sassination. Among the rest another chief (Cushwaht), having failed in an attempt on his life, proceeded to smash all the windows in the school-house. Some time afterward, for some offence, he was arrested, publicly whipped, and then sent to prison. While there the man he had sought to kill called upon him, found him truly penitent, interceded in his behalf, vouched for his future good behavior, and secured his release. And gradually, by showing himself to be fearless, and a true friend wholly devoted to their welfare, a company of faithful disciples were gathered, who also began to manifest the genuine workings of the renewing Spirit of God.
As early as 1859 the conviction began to take shape that in some way a separation must be made between those who appeared to be indissolubly wedded to the abominations of paganism and those who were dispbsed to accept civilization and Christianity-for a large number of the Indians, while well disposed, were yet also very weak, and their surroundings were all against them. Finally the plan was formed of gathering a community of the best elements to be found, where temptation could be reduced to a minimum, and all manner of needed holps could be supplied. The scheme was talked over at great length and explained again and again to those who were interested, and met with so much favor that in due season a spot favorable for the experiment was selected, lying some twenty miles to the south of Fort Simpson. A set of rules were prepared and published, to which all who proposed to join the movement must heartily assent. For substance these were the provisions of the constitution provided for famous and happy Metlakahtla to be. Negatively, every inhabitant must cease from " all Indian deviltry," and in particular from painting the face, from gambling, from calling in medicine men when sick, from giving away property for mere display, as well as from indulgence in strong drink. And, on the other hand, the pledge was taken to keep the Sabbath, to attend religious sen ices, send their ch.ildren to school, be cleanly, industrious, peaceable, honest in trade, to build good houses, and pay the village tax. May 27th, 1862, was fixed upon for the exodus, and in a public assembly all who were willing to stand out among their neighbors and kinsmen as ready to cut loose from wickedness and folly, and for this purpose to leave home and friends behind, were asked to rise. At first only a handful responded with hesitation, but were graduAlly joined by others until fifty of old and young were upon their feet, and not long after all these took their departure in six canoes for the new Zion, to found a little Christian republic. On June 6th enough more followed in a fleet of thirty canoes to give to Metlakahtla a population of between three and four hundred, including two chiefs and almost the entire membership of one of the Tsimshean tribes. From time to time yet other additions were made of those who were admitted and subscribed to the rules, sufficient to create a village of not less than one thousand inhabitants.
It was not until this radical step had been taken that the genius of this statesman-missionary found an adequate field in which to exercise itself ; but from this hour onward one is almost bewildered by the multitude and variety of his undertakings. These are among the arrangements, then or at a later period, introduced. For himself he secured the appointment of magistrate, becoming thus possessed of civil authority under the statutes of the realm. A council was chosen by popular vote to care for the public weal, and on all matters of importance this body was consulted, though until they by practice had been trained in ideas of justice and equity he sometimes sct aside their decision.s and took the management of affairs into his own hands. A sufficient force of constables was maintained, furnished with uniforms, but receiving no pay except when on special service. Among the fixed institutions of Metlakahtla may be named these also : a fire brigade, a rifle company, a two-gun battery, and a brass band of twentyfour pieces. A tax was laid amounting to a blanket for each adult male inhabitant, valued at $2.50, and from each youth approaching manhood a shirt worth $1. The first assessment brought into the treasury no less than the sum of ninety-six blankets, seventeen shirts, a pair of trousers, a dressed eel-skin, and $7, or a total of $267. The public expenditure was for making roads, building wharves, and slides and rests for canoes, digging drains, the construction of houses for the entertainment of strange Indians who came to trade, etll. Besides, a public well was dug, and a common and a play-ground were Jaid out. The wise purpose was in every possible way to interest the minds of these grown-up children of the forest, to keep them busy with useful occupations, and make the settlement selfsupporting, nor less to meet the ever-increasing pecuniary demands consequent upon a steadily advancing civilization. Improvements were devised for the current methods of fishing and hunting, and effective assistance was rendered in exporting fish, both salt and smoked, fish oil, dried fruits, and furs. Thus a schooner was purchased at a cost of $1500, of which the natives subscribed $400, the government loaned $500, which was afterward repaid from the profits of trade, and Mr. Duncan supplied the balance from his private funds. On the first voyage to Victoria our manyhanded evangelist was transformed for the time into the navigator, the pilot, and the helmsman. A steamer afterward took the place of t~e schooner. Another important step was taken toward self-support and independence, and effectual relief was provided from extortionate prices for goods, when a co-operative store was opened, a joint-stock concern, in which each villager took at least one share. Both vessel and store were managed with so much of business energy and sagacity that in carrying to market the products of toil and bringing back supplies to meet their own needs and those of the neighboring tribes, a steady and substantial profit was made, and dividends were declared to the stockholders. Still fnrther to the store a savings bank was attached-that is, the villagers were enconraged to place on deposit their surplus of blankets, furs, and other like valuables, which were liable to receive damage from moths and mildew, and, much to their astonishment, instead of being compelled to pay storage, they actually received interest. For a long time, however, their poor heads were sorely puzzled over this before unheard-of matter M interest, profits, and dividends.
Among the useful industries established at Metlakahtla may be named weaving, shoe. making, blacksmithing, rope-making and brick-making, a tin shop, a carpenter's shop, and a cooper's shop; an extensive salmon cannery also, and, by no means least of all, a soap factory-for Mr. Duncan had found these savages reeking with filth in their persons and their dwellings, and took an early and determined stand for cleanliness. But at the fort a piece of soap no thicker than the hand cost a dollar. As a beginning, the company was persuaded to sell this prime necessary at greatly reduced rates, and as soon as possible the natives were initiated into the mysteries of manufacture, which to them bordered on the miracu· lous, of changing grease into soap. Nor was it long before these apt scholars were able to produce and sell an entire bar for sixpence. In early days lumber was sawed by hand, and sold for $15 a thousand feet; but when the demand greatly increased it was decided to build a saw·mill to be run by water-power. Here again, when the startling project was broached, there was a general wonder and shaking of heads, while one aged ex-cannibal exclaimed: "If it is true that the missionary can make water law wood I will see it and then die."
All these steps were only preparatory to other and yet more important ones. At the suggestion of their leader, whom they had by this time learned to trust, and at whose inexhaustible gifts for invention and leadership they were continually so astounded, the log structures of which the village had originally been eomposed were torn down, and in their places others were reared, which, whether for size, comeliness, or arrangements for comfort and convenience, would do credit to any civilized community. Upon lots 60 X 100 feet some five score houses were erected, mostly double, two stories in height, 25 X 50 feet, clap-boarded and shingled, supplied with chimneys, doors, and glazed windows, and inside with such furniture as cooking-stoves, chairs, tables, bedsteads, clocks, window-curtains, looking-glasses, and some even with pictures upon the walls. As.: sistance was rendered in building at the rate of $60 for each double house for the purchase of material. In front were courtyards fenced and 'beautified with flowers, while in the rear were vegetable gardens. These dwellings formed two sides of a triangle, at whose apex stood a church and a mission house, a store, market, lock-up, etc. The sidewalks were ten feet in width and macadamized. Two school-houses were erected to accommodate seven hundred pupils, and a town hall of size sufficient to hold the entire population, that was used for councils, a drill_room, etc. A public reading-room was provided, and a dispensary_ But the church was easily the chef d' auvre of toil and skill. In architectural style it was Gothic, imposing, and really attractive. The material was yellow cedar, a graceful spire and belfry were ill place, nor less a bell calling often to worship. The seating capacity was twelve hundred. Within were a vestibule, groined arches overhead, a gallery across the front, organ and choir, stained windows, a carved pulpit; Brussels carpet in the aisles-in short, all the appointments of a first-class Christian sanctuary. And as the crowning wonder, from foundation to capstone, everything, though under the tuition of the missionary, was wrought by native hands !
The cost of all these public and private improvements was not much less than $100,000, divided in part something as follows: Roads, wharves, etc., $3040; aid bestowed in building houses, etc., $7240 ; establishing various industries, etc., $11,425; and the church, $12,570. Though friends in England gave generously, and Mr. Duncan also from his private resources, yet by far the largest portion of the expense was met by the profits derived from the various business transactions to which allusion has already been made. It is well-nigh bewildering to recall the occupations, so numerous and so diverse, with which the life of this devoted and tireless servant of God was filled to overflowing; who was preacher and pastor, universal counsellor and friend to a dependent population numbering one thousand, schoolmaster, magistrate, chief trader, carpenter, secretary, treasurer, etc., and physician withal-for when once a terrible scourge of small-pox fell upon tl:e coast, among the Tsimsheans alone five hundred died, though in Metlakahtla, so thorough were the sanitary precautions, that almost all escaped, he vaccinated every outside Indian who applied, and went everywhere administering to the sick and dying. And, as if all this were not enough, as tIle crude and chaotic minds of his disciples unfolded to regular and systematic instruction bestowed in the school, lectures adapted to their capacity were added from time to time upon history, natural history, geography~ astronomy, etc., with maps and a stereopticon to assist.
FORERUNNERS OF (JAREY
FORERUNNERS OF CAREY-DR. J. THOMAS.
BY REV. WALTER L. MAYO, POINT PLEASANT, N. J.
In several issues of the REVIEW we have been favored with interesting and instructive papers under the above caption from the facile pen of Dr. Gordon. We will now introduce to the reader Dr. John Thomas as one of these" forerunners" in a somewhat closer and more emphatic sense, seeing that he was of the same denominaC ,)U of Christians, and labored a few years earlier in the same field a8 Carey. In so doing, we will show the part taken by Dr. Thomas in the el!itablishment of the Indian mission which in this centenary year is so much in our thoughts. Should any of our readers deem us tardy in introducing this subject to them we would remind them that the first missionaries did not reach India till the month of November, 1793, so that we hope to place this sketch before them for perusal before the century has expired.
John Thomas was born in 1757 at Fairford, Gloucestershire, England, about one hundred miles west of London, his father being an honored deacon of the Baptist Church in that place. Having studied medicine in Westminster Hospital, he passed his examination, received his diploma, and secured an appointment as naval surgeon. His conversion is recorded by him in the following terms: "It was before the month of August, 1781, had expired, when I Ileard Dr. Stennett preach from John 6 : 27. Now, if ever I was effectually called by the grace of God out of natural darkness into spiritual light, it was on this occasion."
This would have been about the time that Carey was converted nnder the ministry of the Rev. Thomas Scott ill a distant country town. In 1783 we find the young doctor starting as medical officer on the Earl of Oxford, East Indiaman, bound for Bengal. On his landing in Calcutta he longed for Christian fellowship, and advertised in the India Gazette of November 1st, 1783, for a Christian, in such a way as to draw out anyone who was interested in the spread of the Gospel. This brought no favorable response ; but he finally succeeded in discovering a pious tradesman, with whom he had sweet fellowship.
On his return to England in 1784 we find him at Soho Chapel, London, on Christmas Day, putting on Christ by baptism at the hands of Rev. R. Burnham, known to us as the writer of thc hymn " Jesus, Thou art the sinner's Friend." Soon after this he began exhorting, and had frequent calls to exercise his gifts. There were some among the aged Christians who strove to deter him from preaching. In his journal he refers to these as "Christians of thirty years' standing, not running."
During the following year he was invited to the charge of the Baptist church in Hoddesdon, some miles north of London; but, by the advice of Rev. Abraham Booth, he did not accept it, on account of his youth (twentynine years)-mark that, ye young pastors! Accordingly he accepted a second commission as surgeon on the Earl of Oxford, and in July, 1786, he reaches Calcutta a second time.
Now he counts himself favored in meeting with Mr. R. Udny, by whom he is introduced to a small circle of Chrislians, who met for prayer and reading the Scriptures at each other's houses. By these he was heartily welcomed, and as often as he could be absent from his ship he found much joy in meeting with them.
In December of that year Mr. Charles Grant reached Calcutta, and at once received Dr. Thom:ls into his confidence, making known to him his plans for the diffusion of the Gospel in Bengal. After further acquaintance he requested him to stay in Bengal" for the work of the ministry." This at first the doctor deemed impracticable, but after much meditation, fasting, and prayer, he concluded the Lord had called him to preach the Gospel to the heathen. At this time he wrote in his journal: "I feel as though I could do anything for Christ-go or stay, live or die. I would go and suffer shipwreck and death to glorify Him but a little, or even to satisfy His desire; but if He should tear my heart away from these heathen, there wonld be a bleeding, for my soul is set upon them." When, in answer to many prayers, the opposition of his captain melted away, and, though at great sacrifice, he was released from the ship, he considered he had an unmistakable call of God to this work. His engagement was with Mr. C. Grant, an important official under the presidency, who, with eight or nine others, formed a small Christian society. The plan was for Dr. Thomas to go to MaIda, where Mr. Grant had what was called" the English Factory," situate about two hundred miles north of Calcutta, of which Mr. G. Udny wa3 manager, who would entertain him. There he should study the Bengali, and conduct services in English for the benefit of the English residents. When he had gained a knowledge of the language he was to remove to Goamalty, where was an indigo factory belonging to Mr. Grant, with about two hundred families of natives under his employ. During the three months' stay in Calcutta the Lord blessed his labors to the conversion of two or three young men, one of these being Mr. R. T. Burney, who lived in that city upward of twenty years subsequently and was the means of turning many to righteousness.
Just before leaving 'for MaIda, he wrote in his journal these remarkable words: "May 5th, 1787.-Dayand night I meditate on the Word of God, both when awake and when asleep, and have much fellowship with God, and much confidence of being sent with a message from God to these poor heathen, and that the Lord will certainly bless the preaching of the Gospel now, at this very time. I have said that the Gospel will never depart from this country till the glory of the latter times comes; I have made my boast of God among the people, and told them that I had unshaken trust in God ; and I do not think of being ashamed of this boasting, but believe what God hath spoken concerning those that wait for Him and put their trust in Him." It is clear that it was not to improve his worldly circumstances that he became a missionary. Never had his prospects of pecuniary gain been so bright as when he resolved to quit the Earl of Oxford, and the sacrifices he made to purchase his release sufficiently prove how indifferent he was to all temporal advantages as compared with the desire of his heart to be a mIssIOnary. "It cannot be denied that he was actuated by a zeal for the glory of God and ardent desire to be consecrated to His service, with tender compassion for the perishing heathen around him. "* Mr. Lewis gives us an extract from a letter written at this time by one of the MaIda household, and published in the Missionary Mapr.zine for March, 1797 : " Our society here at MaIda underwent a great change about the beginning of the year. Mr. Grant and family removed to Calcutta, and was succeeded by a gentleman who has been in the family seven or eight years, and who, being like Mr. Grant, a well-wisher to religion, the alteration has caused but little difference in our way of living. God has, since that time, been pleased to add another man-Dr. Thomas-to our little family, and everyone of us has great reason for thankfulness for such a gracious providence. He was surgeon of the Oxford Indiaman, but a desire of becoming serviceable to the souls of the heathen here induced him to leave his post on board ship and to remain in this country. He has been blessed with great gifts for preaching and praying, and gives us a regular discourse extempore twice every Sunday, and short exhortations frequently on other occasions. He is now busy learning the Bengal language, and being of a conciliatory temper, he may very probably, through the blessing of God, become serviceable to the natives as well as to us."
We find him, then, at the age of thirty, devoting .a large part of his time to the study of the language. This was difficult then, having nothing but a small grammar j no dictionary or even vocabulary was in existence, and yet, with as much English work in hand as au ordinary pastor, so diligent was he that, in December of that year, he writes to his father that "he had spoken for twenty minutes or so about the first things of religion." Soon after this he began a weekly service in the native language, both at MaIda and Goamalty, where he had usually two hundred hearers.
Thus was commenced that minstry of the Gospel in the language of the millions of India, which has been taken up and carried on by so many of the Lord's servants in the past century. Nor was he one whit behind the chief of these in this work. As Dr. Lewis writes: "He was well understood wherever he went, and he so spoke in Bengali that crowds everywhere delighted to listen to his address.es, and were often deeply moved by his pungent and affectionate appeals. In dealing with those subtle and difficult metaphysical questions which the learned or unlearned Hindu is ever ready to propound and discuss he showed great ability and power."
On June 13th, 1788, the waters of the sacred river Ganges were con- … Life of John Thomas," by C. B. Lewis (Baptist missionary, Calcutta), page 'td. secrated to the service of the Redeemer of men when Dr. Thomas baptized a young man therein at Goamalty. This was doubtless the first instance of a believer putting on Christ by immersion in that country. In connection with this act there arose considerable discussion in the circle of Christian Episcopalians that supported him. This resulted in Mr. Grant withdrawing all support, in 1789, when he left India. In a few months, however, in view of the good work he continued to do among the natives, Mr. Udny and others offered him their aid, and asked for his ministra- ~ tions. In the beginning of the year 1791 he writes: "Oh Lord, my God, without desert Thou hast cl:owned the past year with Thy goodness. Thine it is to crown the next. To Thee I look. Be Thou, Thou alone, the glory and crown of this year to me for Jesus' sake. Very, very precious is the Saviour to a sinner of my magnitude. His word still rejoices this heart, as though it had found treasures and spoil. Afflictions are my choice mercies, though I hardly say so cordially while I feel them."
In August he wrote his brother: "You need not be surprised to see me in England about the middle of 1792. My intention is to make types, procure a press, also a fellow-laborer, and if I can establish a fund in London for the support of this work, regain my family and return after eight months' stay in England." Mr. Udny urged him to stay at MaIda with them a year or two longer and then return to England with him; but Dr. Thomas felt an unaccountable drawing to England, and decided to start in January. Shall we fail to observe here the guiding hand of God ~ Had he yielded. to Mr. U dny's request the young society in Kettering would have sent out their first agents to some other and smaller field, and Carey might never have been found in India. As it was, he reached England in July, 1792, less than two months after Carey had preached his renowned sermon at Nottingham. He was the bearer of a letter, from two of his pundits, addressed to Dr. Stennett in London, asking for Christian teach-, ers to be sent out to their people. He was invited to preach for the doctor and other prominent London ministers, and lost no time in urging his plans for establishing a Baptist mission to Bengal upon these brethren.
When in October the society was born in Kettering, the questions before the committee were : "Where shall we begin~" and " Whom shall we send~" Reports reached them subsequently of what Dr. Thomas was endeavoring to do in London, when Mr. Fuller, the secretary, was instructed to make inquiries concerning him, the issue of which we read in the minutes of the next meeting.
On January 9th, 1793, a solemn meeting of the committee was held at Kettering, where the following resolutions were adopted: " That from all we could learn, it appeared to us that a door was open in India for preaching the Gospel to the heathen. That the secretary write Dr. Thomas immediately, and inquirEr if he be willing to unite with the society and become its missionary. That if Dr. Thomas concur, the society will endeavor to procure him an assistant to go out with him in the spring." Mr. Fuller adds: "In the evening Dr. Thomas arrived, ac- cepted the invitation of the committee, and gave us all the information he could. Brother Carey than voluntarily offered to go with him if agreeable to the committee, which greatly rejoiced the heart of Dr. Thomas. Things of great consequence are in train, my heart fears, while it is enlarged. We must have one solemn day of fasting and prayer on parting with our Paul and Barnabas." Mr. Lewis writes: "Surely the reader must admire the providence of God so wonderfully working toward the formation of our Indian mission in all these particulars. Here was Dr. Thomas, who for several years had been separated from his brethren, now again in England to form a society 'to support the labors he was anxious to carry forward. Here, too, was the very society he needed, formed, as it were, in anti· cipation of his coming-men's hearts engaged in the project of the mission to the heathen, and plans organized for the collection of needful fuuds, only needing determination as to the direction in which the first missioU3ry effort should be made. But for Dr. Thomas it is to the last degree unHkely that this society would have thought seriously of India as their field of labor. But for the society it is more thau probable that Dr. Thomas would have failed to evoke the sympathy and support essential to the continuance of the work. This concurrence of events issued in that practical success and blessing which all should regard with grateful acknowledgments to Him who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." Few and meagre are the references to Dr. Thomas in the literature of the centenary. In most cases Dr. Carey is referred to as thc first missionary of the Baptist Society. The records of the society, however, show that to be incorrect. In order of time Thomas was first, and Carey was considered his assistant, while in order of importance and ultimate usefulness Carey was first, and so was fulfilled the saying, "the first shall be last and the last first." Though Mr. Fuller refers to Thomas as the "Paul," would it not be more in keeping with the llistory of the two men to say Thomas was the" Peter," to whom the Lord gave the keys of the kingdom in regard to India, being permitted to first proclaim the Gospel in the native language, and being the first to win a native to Jesus. Krishna Pal, being the spiritual son of Dr. Thomas, who, in giving his testimony before the brethren in December, 1800, referring to the words spoken to him by the doctor while his arm was being set, said: "I shall never forget them. Oh, how they have softened my heart! I am a very great sinner, sahib, but I have confessed my sins; I have obtained righteousness of Jesus Christ, and I am free." Dr. Thomas for months prior to this joyful event had been toiling and travelling incessantly night and day almost, caring for the sick members of the mission household when he ought to have been cared for himself, so that when the day for which he had been longing and laboring for fourteen years arrived-viz., the breaking of caste for Christ, his mind lost its balance in the exuberance of its joy. He could not join his own child in the faith either at the waterside or the Lord's table. His reason returned in a few weeks, when he returned to his loved· employment, making his home at Dinajpur, with his wife and child, in the house of his friend, :Mr. Fernandez, during the rest of his earthly course. On October 13th, 1801, after several weeks of intense suffering, his soul burst from her prison and winged her way to a brighter and better world, where pains and toils are nnknown. Thus we find the" Peter" removed and the" Paul"-Careyremaining to build up the Church in India, and prove himself the greater apostle. Some have concluded that Dr. Thomas must have been of doubtful character Lecause of :Mr. Charles Graut's refusal to aid him. ,Ye will let Mr. Carey be heard on this point. He writes: "June 17th, 1796.- Mr. Grant's opposition to the work I think abominable. The fact is, as can be proved by a long correspondence between him and Dr. Thomas, now in preservation, that Dr. Thomas left a much more lucrative employment and the society of his family at Mr. Grant's desire to preach the Gospel among the natives, who afterward, because he would not conform to his peremptory dictates in matters which he could not conscientiously do, cut off all his supplies and left him to shift for himself in a foreign land. "
Dr. Marshman wrote concerning him in 180J : " When everything is considered, he was a most useful instrument in the mission. To him is owing, under God, that the Hindus now hear the Word of life. His unquenchable desires after their conversion induced him to relinquish his secular employment on board the Earl of Oxford to devote himself to that object alone, which ultimately led our beloved society to their engagement in the present mission. Though he was not without his failings, yet bis peculiar talents, his intense, though irregular, spirituality, and his constant attachment to that beloved object, the conversion of the heathen, will render his memory dear as long as the mission endures."
Mr. ·Ward also wrote at that time: "Brot.her Thomas led the way to India. and was the means of the planting of the Church by the conversion of the first native." He was, as Mr. Carey declared, "one of the most affectionate and close exhorters to genuine godliness and to a close walk with God that could be thought of." With these floral tributes to the memory of " our first missionary" from the pen of the renowned" Serampore Trio," we close this sketch, praying the Lord of the harvest that He will thrust out into the harvest many more wit,h a similar self-sacrificing love for the souls of the perishing millions of the heathen world.
N.E.-The writer is indebted for the informat.ion contained in this article to a volume obtained many years ago from a book-store in Kettering, entitled " The Life of John Thomas, Surgeon of the Earl of Oxford, East Indiaman, and first Baptist Missionary to Bengal," by C. B. Lewis, Baptist missionary. This is, we believe, a rare book, but very valuable for the true record it contains of the early work of the society and its agents not otherwheres published.
CHINESE MISSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
MISSIONS AMONG THE CHINESE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CAN~<'DA.
BY REV. A. SUTHERLAND, D.D., TORONTO.
When the Anglo-French forccs entered Peking in 1858 a breach was made in the wall of Chinese exclusiveness, through which the foreigner found permanent entrance to the " Flowery Kingdom." But it does not seem to have occurred to the diplomats of that period that a breach large enough to let the foreigner in might also be large enough to let the Chinaman out, and that an exodus of all overcrowded population might take place that would be far more embarrassing to the nations than the exclusive policy of China had been. Yet so it proved. Through the open breach made by French and English cannon the congested population of the southeast coast provinces of China began to pour in almost countless numbers, and in less than a couple of decades more than one Englishspeaking nation-notably the Uuited States, Australia, and Canada-found itself confronted by a problem that baffied its wisest statesmen, and led some to fear that Anglo-Saxon civilization might be seriously handicapped by the inroads of Asiatic heathenism.
The bitter antagonism to the Chinese finds no parallel in the feelings entertained toward immigrants from any other nation. Even the Italian laborer, whose morality and religion, for the most part, are no higher than the morality and religion of the Chinese, finds comparative welcome. But wherever Chinamen appear in any considerable numbers hostility, and in many cases mob violence, becomes the order of the day. It is not easy to account for this often unreasonable and always unreasoning prejudice. True, the Chinaman in America ranks low, as a rule, in the scale of intelligence and morality, but not any lower than a great many others, against whom no such prejudice is entertained. He is said to underbid the white man in the labor market, and thus inflicts a wrong upon the industrial classes; but if John takes lower wages than his Anglo-Saxon competitor it is not because he wishes to do so, but he thinks it better to work cheaply than not to work at all. He has vices, it is true, smokes opium and is an inveterate gambler, but for the most part he gratifies his vices in private, and does not flaunt them in the light of the sun as the white man of the same class very often does. He does not become a citizen, it is said, nor assimilate readily with the population of this continent; but it may be doubted if immigrants from other lands would assimilate one whit more readily if they received the same treatment that is accorded to the Chinaman.
The problem presented by the Chinese "invasion" has been dealt with by the various classes affected in characteristic ways. The hoodlum class in the cities and mining regions of the Pacific coast, influenced, it would seem, more by pure deYiltry thau anything else, have resorted to brute violence, and by unprovoked and murderous attacks upon the Chinese have not only proved that the savage instinct still lives, and that civilization is only a comparative term, but have placed American missionaries and others residing in China in great danger from Chinese mobs, who have sought by open violence to revenge the indignities put upon their countrymen in America. I am aware that other causes have been assigned for the outbreaks in China; but those who are competent to speak, and are not deterred by political considerations, do not hesitate to affirm that resentment against American treatment of Chinese has been at the bottom of outbreaks from which Americans in China have suffered. The politicians, pandering to the labor organizations and the hoodlum class, have sought to meet the case by repressive and oppressive legislation, culminating in the Geary Act. Whether this Act can be enforced remains to be seen; but if it can it will remain, to all coming time, a standing blot upon American honor. No one pretends that this Act is not a direct violation of rights guaranteed by solemn treaty; and no nation, were it twice as strong as the United States, can long stand before the opprobrium that attaches to treaty-breakers. The politicians have yet to learn, however, that national honor, although involving some inconvenience at times, is of infinitely greater importance than any temporary advantage gained by breach of national faith. Canada, I regret to say, has been moving in this matter in the footsteps of her sister nation, but has not gone so far; and I hope she may yet see occasion to retrace the steps she has taken. Meanwhile, there is one circumstance which all concerned would do well to note, namely, that the characteristic quality of the Chinese is plodding perseverance. They are slow to take a step forward, but having taken it, they never go back. The fact may as well be recognized first as last-the Chinese in Australia, in America, in Canada, have come to stay ; and as mob violence and unjust legislation have failed to drive them out in the past, so they will fail in the future. The Chinese problem will have to be solved along entirely different lines from these.
While labor, mobs, and statecraft, with a good deal of bluster and ostentation, have been moving along the lines of lawless violence or legalized wrong, and yet have utterly failed to meet the emergency, Christianity has been attempting, in a quiet way and on a small scale, to apply the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the solution of this international problem, and it may be confidently affirmed that Christianity is the only force that has thus far accomplished anything in that directiofl. For more than a score of years in the Pacific States, and for less than half that time in British Columbia, mission work among the Chinese has been carried forward with varying success, and enough has been accomplished to show that the Gospel can do what other forces have utterly failed to accomplish. It can transform the heathen into a Christian, the alien into a citizen, dis· turbing elements in society into law-abiding members of the commonwealth. An agency that can do this is surely entitled to respectful consideration and a fair stage on which to try its experiment on a large "cale.
The Methodist Episcopal Church began work among the Chinese on the Pacific coast in 1868, and in the last twenty years over two thousand converts have been received into the Church, many of whom have returned to their former homes in China, carrying with them the light of the Gospel. In the report of the society for 1892 the situation is outlined in a few sentences: " We may consider it a privilege to have a share in the evangelization of the oldest and most populous nation in the world without the necessity of crossing the seas. Heathen as dark as any to be found in heathen lands are to be found at our very doorsteps ; their children, born on our soil, are growing up in our midst. To instruct them in the saving truths of the Gospel is a responsibility which God has laid upon the churches of this land." But the work of the missionaries has been greatly hindered by anti-Chinese legislation. Many Chinese who were formerly friendly are now hostile, for they find it hard to believe that a nation that has enacted such unjust laws can be sincere in its professed concern for their spiritual welfare. In spite of these and other hindrances, however, the work has been fairly prosperous, and in San Francisco there has been a decided gain. The Woman's Missionary Society of the Pacific Coast has also been doing a good work among the women and children. In San Francisco alone there are fifteen hundred native-born Chinese children, and these, I suppose, are by birthright citizem1 of the United States, born under her flag, and entitled to all the privileges which that citizenship guarantees. In its Annual Report the society not only protests against the exclusion bill as " unjust, unwise, and un-American," but also arraigns the federal Government for its complicity with the opium traffic, from which it receives an annual import revenue of $1,000,000, and from smuggled and confiscated opium $500,000 more. In New York there is also a Chinese mission under the care of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but it has not yet assumed dimensions calling for special notice.
Of the California Chinese Mission (Congregational) the writer has been unable to procure any recent report; but the latest information available shows that the society is in vigorous operation, and that the results of the work are encouraging.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the Presbyterian Church has not been remiss in its efforts to reach and uplift these " strangers within our gates j" and in these efforts churches, schools, anti rescue homes play an important part. Splendid work is being done by the W oman's Occ~dental Board of Foreigu Missio!ls, with headquarters at San Francisco, Cal. The twentieth anniversary of the society is marked by the issue of Occidental Leaves, a quarto of some fifty pages, the get-up and contents of which go to prove that the editors are adepts in the art of presenting missionary in7 formation in most attractive forms. Work is carried on in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Diego, all under the care of women. In San Francisco (at 911 Stockton Street) there is a handsome and commodious building known as the First Chinese Presbyterian Church, of which Rev. J. M. Condit is pastor; and at 933 Sacramento Street there is a mission Home, where many a friendless Chinese girl has found shelter and protection, and training for future usefulness.
Across the Canadian border, in British Columbia, a chapter has been written on Chinese mission work that is full of interest. In the summer of 1883 a Christian merchant of Montreal visited the coast and found in the city of Victoria more than three thousand Chinese utterly uncared for, and numbers more scattered throughout the province. On his return home he wrote a letter to a member of the General Board of Missions of the Methodist Church, asking if something could not be done for these destitute strangers, and offering $500 toward founding a mission if considered practicable. The letter was laid before the Board, and it was resolved to begin a mission in Victoria as soon as a suitable agent could be found. But a" suitable agent" meant, in this instance, one who could speak to the Chinese in the tongue wherein they were born of the wonderful works of God; and no such person appeared in sight. A few months later a firm of Chinese merchants in Victoria had a case of some importance coming up in the courts, and they wanted a competent interpreter who could be thoroughly trusted. They knew that in San Francisco there was a young man (John Endicott Gardner, son of a Presbyterian missionary) who had been born and brought up in China, was thoroughly reliable, and spoke Cantonese like a native. He was sent for, and promptly responded to. the call. Seeing the spiritually destitute condition of the Chinese in Victoria, he tried to enlist the sympathies of the churches in the form of a union mission, but did not succeed. There is not space to relate all that followed; but suffice it to say that :Mr. Gardner was temporarily engaged by the Methodist Board, and subsequently became a regularly ordained mISSIOnary. The work took root from the very beginning. One year after the first services were held th8 writer had the privilege of baptizint; eleven converts-the first-fruits of ille mission. Now there is a large mission church in Victoria, suitable blJildings in Vancouver and New Westminster, and work has been begun at Kamloops aud Nanaimo. There is also a Girls' Rescue Home in Victo:'ia, under the control of the Woman's Board, which, like the one in San Francisco, has rescued and sheltered many friendless girls. Some of these have been sent home to China, some married to Christian Chinamen, and still the good work goes on. At the present time there are over two hundred Chinese communicants in the churches in British Columbia.
Reference has already been made to the prejudice against the Chinese, especially in the Pacific States and British Columbia. This prejudice leads many to doubt the sincerity of a Chinaman's professed conversion, and the "baser sort" do not hesitate to affirm that it is all hypocrisy, and is prompted by purely selfish motives. But when it is remembered that when a Chinaman is baptized he is ostracized by his own people, his possessions often destroyed, and his very life endangered, while, on the other hand, he receives scant sympathy, if any, from white men, or even from white Christians, the origin of the" selfish motive" is not easily'discovered. It is not claimed that all are sincere, or that all have proved faithful; but it may be safely affirmed that cases of defection are as few among Chinamen as among the same number of any other nation, not excepting English or American. In regard to this matter testimonies like the following should carry some weight: The Rev. Ira M. Condi~, for twenty-five years a missionary in China and California, says: "As a rule I have as much faitli in the religion of Chinese Christian professors as I have in that of our own people. "
Rev. J. Endicott Gardner, of Victoria, B. C., says: "In point of character, consistency, zeal, and liberality, I consider my Chinese church-members are on a level with the average members of any church."
Rev. W. S. Holt, of the Presbyterian Mission, Portland, says: "I have been among the Chinese in China and the United States for almost nineteen years, and am well qualified to judge. I consider the Chinese Christians compare favorably with those of lIny nation in character and fidelity. "
Dr. Pond, Secretary of the Congregational Chinese Mission, says: " During the last seventeen years eight hnndred Chinamen have been admitted to our church. • . , I affirm that by every practical test of character, by their steadfastness, zeal, honesty, liberality, growing knowledge of the truth, and in increasing efficiency in teaching the truth to others, they give, on an average, tokens of true conversion as clear as can be found in the Christians of any land."
These are samples from a multitude of testimonies, and may be appropriately closed by the following concrete instance : In Victoria, B. C., two Chinamen, members of the Methodist Mission, formed a business partnership as merchants, and adopted certain rules for the regulation of their bnsiness. Three of the rules were as follows: " 1. We will not buy or sell anything that is injurious to our fellow-men." This at one stroke excluded opium, intoxicating liquors, and tobacco. "2. We will do no business on Sunday." "3. Of all that we make, one tenth shall be given to the Lord's work. " Such principles are not common even among white Christians, and are somewhat rare on the Pacific coast. The two men referred to found that their" new departure" was not popular, and seeing that they must change their principles or give up their business, they deliberately chose the latter alternative, and cheerfully suffered loss rather than do what they believed to be wrong. Further comment is unnecessary.
Whether, therefore, we have in view the command of the Master, the needs of these strangers, the interests of Christian civilization on this continent, or the reflex influence of our work on the millions in China, the call is urgent to push forward the work of evangelizing the Chinese who have come to our shores.
ROMANISM ON EXHIBIT
ROMANISM ON EXHIBIT.
BY REV. GEORGE W. CHAMBERLAIN, D.D., BRAZIL.
Not as she will flaunt herself at the World's Fair, all fair in her best dress, with a view to court the nations, but as she is to be seen in undress " at home" or " behind the scenes." Here in Brazil, she shows herself as she is ; there, as she would be thought to be, that she may lead in to her net the feet of those who are yet free, and bring them step by step down to the " chambers of death."
It is clear to any seer who scans the news of the day that the " see of Rome" is laying herself out with all her enchantments for the" play" so accurately described in the seventh chapter of Proverbs, and qualified in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation. She would persuade herself, and men void of understanding, that" the good man (God-man) is not at home; he is gone a long journey," and that His house is at her will. She will hide from their eyes Paul's letter to Timothy, telling" how men ought to behave in the house of God, which is the Church of the livil}g God, the pillar and stay of the truth." Such orders of the " good man" she would carefully conceal. "She is loud" not only in dress, but in her cries- "Hear the Church;" "go to Joseph;" "pray to Mary;" "worship angels;" "invoke saints." She affects religion. "Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day have I paid my vows." She designs politics, and for politicians she spreads her couch, perfumes her bed, and says: "Come, let us take our fill," etc. Young America will see her in force at the IVorld's Fair. Shall she, " with her much fair speech," cause him to yield? with the flattery of her lips force him away from the old paths which God ordained, that we should walk in them? Goeth he after her straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver ; as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life ?
A peep hehind the scenes should arrest his steps. "Now, therefore, hearken. Let not thine heart decline to her ways . . . for she hath cast down many wounded; yea, all her slain are a mighty host. "
Is this the language of an alarmist, a crank? IVe accept the title if you will admit the definition given of a crank by one of our large dailies: " A specialist in matters which you know little of or are not interested in. "
A letter, dated March, 1893, from a city on the Pacific coast, from one who made a leisurely tour of observation round the globe, not omitting South America, says: " You will scarcely believe that there is not a Protestant church in this city willing to have me give a lecture on Romanism as I have seen it around the world. They' don't want to antagonize the people about us.' So Romanism washes its face in the United States and is taken by the hand by the churches." Well, why not 1 Is she not a sister church 1 Is she g The question is not, "Are there Christian men and women within the communion of the' Roman Church' g" but, " Is that communion, as such, a church of Christ 1" He says: "Come out of her, my people. " "By their fruits ye shall know them."
" A pretty sort of bishop came on board my steamer at M–, going to P– to help reconsecrate the enlarged and redecorated cathedral. All the women and children and most of the men on board were flocking around him whenever he appeared on deck, kneeling before him, kissing his hand; and he blessed them with rolled-up eyes and quick, light touch of fingers on the head if it was a man, boy, or old woman; a very lingering, caressing one, apt to slip off the hair upon the cheek, if the suppliant was a young woman. This .pretty bishop had three families of children in three different houses in his city and everybody knows it-all these people who asked his blessing }." "A priest, the most popular and well-beloved in P–, has a large family of children, whose mother is his own sister. The Lord smite thcm with His curse-such vile men, who lead thousands down to hell, pretending to point the road and open the gate to heaven !"
Is this indignation of a purc and devoted Christian woman, justifiable, reasonable g Yes. Are such" vile men" the" holy men" of the Roman Church ~ Men upon whom a pure woman and mother cannot help invoking the curse of the holy God, are these the men on whom the" Holy Mother Church of Rome" dotes as " defenders of the faith" g In lands where she has undisputed sway she exalt,s such to the " office of bishop," of which the Apostle Paul says: "If any man desire the office of a bishop . . . the bishop must be without reproach, the husband of one wife . . . one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; but if a man knoweth not how to govern his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God ?"
But the " Holy Roman Church" expressly contradicts these Scriptures. She will confer" orders" on no man unlcss he promises not to obey these instructions given, by the apostle commissioned by Jesus Christ to preach His Gospel to the Gentiles, to the evangelist Timothy, that he might " know how to behave himself in the house of God, which is the Chnrch of the living God, the pillar and stay of the truth. "
If a so-called" bishop" or "priest" in her "holy commnnion" becomes the "husband of one wife" he is ipso facto suspended from the priesthood. If he persists in his effort to " rule well his own house" he must cease to "take care of the Church of God" as Rome conceives of that church. He may not have" his children in subjection with all gravity" without coming under" major exeommunication"-i.e., being by the tender mercies of " Mother Church" consigned to hell for the attempt to obcy the Lord Jesus Christ in this particular.
Here is a case in hand : A Brazilian priest of the diocese of Bahia, the archiepiscopal see, availing himself of the legislation of the Republic of Brazil concerning civil marriage, was united in holy wedlock with a lady teacher in the public school, before the proper authorities and in the presence of a vast concourse of his parishioners, who thus gave public demonstration of their approval of this step. He was promptly suspended from his functions and substituted by the ecclesiastical authorities in his office of pastor of that flock by an Italian of bad repute. This priest, a young man who was, as a student in the Bishop'S Seminary of this city, in good repute with his professors and colleagues, might have retained his office undisturbed had he persuaded the lady, to whom he is now wedded according to the ordinance of God, to become his concubine.
Early in the seventies I was journeying f,rom Sao Paulo toward Minas Geraes, preaching the Word. An old. priest, for more than forty years the vicar of the parish of Mogy-merim, gave me a letter of introduction to another priest in a parish farther on, through which I had to pass, saying, " You will enjoy conversing with my colleague, who is, like myself, of liberal ideas, convinced that you are doing a good work for our countrymen. "
I was received as a friend by the priest to whom I delivered the letter. While we were in conversation a group of romping children came into the room, and were presented to me by name as " sons" and" daughters" of mine host. When they had retired I said to the vicar: "You are very frank. I never met a padre so frank." " How so~" he replied. " You present me your 'sons' and 'daughters.' I have heard others speak of 'nephews' and ' nieces' and 'god-children,' but you are the first priest who has been frank and called the children by their right name. "
" They are my children. Why should I deny it ~" " You should not. I honor your frankness. Will you allow me to be as frank and outspoken with you ~ Before God these are your children j before the law, civil and ecclesiastical, of your country, they are not -they are illegitimate. They may live to curse your memory, as I have heard more than one ' bastard son' of a priest do. " You are li'ing in open breach of three of the ten commandments. Honor thy father and thy mother. You have dishonored the mother of your children. How can you bid them honor you, or expect them to do so when they come to know, as they will, that they are bastards, and their mother and yourself are adulterers ~ Your breach of the seventh is also a breach of the ninth, since you are under a vow of celibacy, and are a perjured man-a false witness. " Excuse my plainness of speech. I may never see you again until we meet before the judgment·seat of Christ. I would not have you reproach me there as an unfaithful friend and minister of Christ. Honor the mother of your children by marrying with her, for marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled j but ~horemongers and adulterers God will judge." / My friend replied: "Would that I could! But'if I marry I shall be suspended from orders."
"Be suspended, and give thanks that you may be suspended from orders which God never gave. On the contrary, He says: 'If a man de- sires the office of a bishop he may be the husband of one wife, and a father governing his own children in all honesty of life.' "
" That is not the question," my host replied. "If I am suspended I have no other means of livelihood."
" Say not so in a land where a man with a hoe in one hand and a handful of beans in the other has a means of livelihood in the soil which the Lord has blessed. But you are not limited to manual labor. You are an educated man. Open a school; teach your own and the children of your parishioners. They will honor you when they see you honor yourself, your family, and the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ."
For reply I got an indolent shrug of the shoulder, telling of a conscience cauterized by the " prohibiting to marry and commanding to abstain from meats wllich is characteristic of the Holy Mother Church," who has fairly won her God-given title of "mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." I am well aware that it is no longer "in good tone" to use this inspired language in regard to "a sister church," and that he who uses such terms in the public assemblies of God's people is heard with astonishment. It may even be that they will be discounted by the readers of the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE ·WORLD as the prejudiced utterances of an uncharitable man. Let all such reflect that the writer has given thirty years of his life to the service of his Roman Catholic " neighbors," and is willing to give as many more as God shall give him, and to lay down his life in their service. He has given in this article only a few specimens of facts of which he has a store. He will never cease while God gives breath to cry : " Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her plagues. "
[The editor thinks Dr. Chamberlain entitled to a hearing. He has seen the Romish system bereft of its rose-colored halo or superstitious nimbus of glory. He has found millions of people in Brazil, nominally Christian, who have no Bible, and most of whom do not know a Bible when they see it ! hundreds of priests, nominally celibates, living openly in violation of their vows, raising families and not denying it! He has seen thousands of people actually worshipping St. Joseph, and living in vice and sin, more hardened to the Gospel because they belong to " the Church. " He has spent all his public life battling with a form of Christianity which he has found more impenetrable to the truth and more implacable as its foe than the darkest paganism he has encountered by its side. Those who have looked on the system in the person of the scarletrobed "cardinal" sitting as a prince in the" Parliament of Religions" at Chicago, may perhaps do well to see the other aspect of Romanism as it appears to one of the most self-sacrificing and devoted missionaries we have yet known in the entire ranks of that heroic band.-A. T. P.]
INTERNATIONAL DKPARTMENT
, 1I.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND OONDUOTED BY BEV. J. T. GRAOEY, D.D.
The Oongress on Africa at the OoIum- and moral likeness and of the equality bian Exposition. of rights in every individual of all the [J. T. G.] races shall be passed over to all the chil- dren of the whole family named in There is a significance attaching to heaven and in earth."
the African Congress held at Chicago The long array of eminent names which is quite unique. The ultimate actually present included Mrs. French- result it is hoped will be the pushing Sheldon, the celebrated African explor- of Africa. afresh into importance under er, Heli Chatelain, Bishop Arnett, Le •circumstances which will not divorce Ghait, Frederick Douglass and others, its commerce and politics from moral a total of fifty-one. Essays were sent ,and religious obligation of the civilized by nearly an equal number of eminent white man, who, if events go as the scholars, explorers, and philanthro- dial indicates, must be the leader of the pists. These included such names as black man for the next hundred years. Chailli Long, Robert Cust, Grout, Nas- The Chicago Post declared that the two sau, forty-nine in all. The Secretary congresses which would attract the of the Congress, to whom we are indebt- greatest public attention were the con- ed for information, says essays yet to gress on Africa and that on arbitration. be furnished for pUblication in the vol- After the event, Dr. Edwards declared ume of proceedings are promised. by in the Northwestern Christian Advocate Rholfs, Stanley, Stead, Tourgee, Bly- that, "not a single congress had so far den, State Director of Congo, and made so deep an impression upon Chi- others, numbering in all twenty·seven. ,cago. .. The Congregationalist noted These will make a grand total when the distinguished scholars who had pre- published, of one hundred and twentypared papers, and said it meant much seven papers and addresses, covering that King Leopold of Belgium sent his the greatest questions of interest conminister to represent him and to give cerning the Dark Continent. the history of the Congo Free State. It also noted the gratitude of the freed- Eminent names will be missed from men for this recognition of their part this roll of contributors. Sir Samuel in the saving of the republic in the late Baker, Count de Brazza, Ravenstein, war•• Schweinfurth, Wangemann, Wissman, and other recognized authorities were Rev. Joseph E. Roy, D.D., Chairman invited, but twelve or fifteen of the of the Congress, in his address of wel- most eminent African geographers and come said; scientists declined the invitation from .. I have a word or two of congratu- loyalty to their professional societies.
lation, that in this assembly we are to Distinguished men of the Southern have opportunity to observe and ex- United States rejected the invitation press the moral unity of the human outright. 1'here was considerable dis- race. Not that we have with us all the crepancy between the theory of the sov- races; but I mean that, having with us ereign of the Congo State as presented our brethren of the race and the land by Mr. Le Ghait, especially on the sup- that have suffered the most of wrong pression of the rum traffic, and that of from our own, the Caucasian, we may Mr. Cherry, who for three years has recognize in them and they in us the travelled in the Free State, who de- common constitutional elements of the clares the Congo Free State only free one man made in the Divine image, and in name, manned by officers banished so that the ideal of this identical mental from Belgium for her benefit, and says that it pays its soldiers in rum, and that congress by every African tribe which liquor is as free as ever before the Brus- knew of it, and instanced a meeting of sels Treaty. the chief magi of one of these tribes, at Bishop Tanner, speaking of negro which they invoked the blessing of the journalism, said the Freedman'8 Jour- spirits upon it, provided it was not or- nal, established in 1827, was the first ganized to take from them their coun- newspaper published by negroes, and try. Mrs. French-Sheldon spoke on be- the growth of negro journalism has half of the women of Africa, and Mrs been rapid since the war. Mr. Cable, J. T. Gracey presented a paper on the however, declared that the modern ne- subject of" Women's Work for Afri- gro's achievements in literature have can Women."
been slender. He said there has not On the languages and literature of been time to develop it. In medicine Africa much of a learned character was negroes are acknowledged to have made presented. Dr. R. N. Cust, author of progress as nurses, physicians, and Bur- " Languages of Africa," sent a paper geons, but they lack opportunity of ne· in which he pointed out the fact that gro hospitals and training schools in the linguistic divisions corresponded large cities, since only at the Freed- with the different native races, Semitic, man's Hospital in Washington and the Hamitic, Nubah-Fulah, Negro and Provident, in Chicago can they practise Bantu, and the woolly tuft·haired races, surgery. These are the only schools like the Hottentot and Bushmen. Trac- for negro women to be trained as sci· ing these languages in detail, he showed entific nurses. The Rev. Joseph Cook their relation to each other and to a named twelve causes of the miseries of common origin. Rev. Lewis Grout Africa, and traced the hand of Provi- treatt'd " The Function of each Family dence in historical events relating to of African Languages," and Professor Africa, and said commerce, Christian- Scarborough, LL.D., the" Future of ity, and both the co-operation and com- Foreign Languages in Africa."
petition of nations were being visibly Minister of Public Instruction in combined by no human power for the Egypt, Yakub Pasha, sent a paper on regeneration of Africa. He claimed "Egyptian Folk·lore," and Mr. Chus- that if the colored popUlation of the tensen read an essay on "Folk-lore of world were to occupy their opportuni. American Negroes," which was fol· ties they must develop native leader· lowed with an address on " Folk-lore"
ship. He thought the brightest star of by Rev. Josiah Tylor, of South Africa.
hope did not hang over Africa, but over Professor Seward's brief paper on the United States. "The Songs of American Slaves"
John M. Langston, a colored ex-Con· pointed out as two characteristics of gressman of Virginia, read an address these as distinguished from those of on" The Negro in Latin America, 1493- other aboriginal people, that the ex- 1893." He thanked God that Christo- pression is of idea as well as of emo· pher Columbus discovered America and tion, and the sentiment is almost always the 'Vest Indies, and if it were necessary religious. He quoted Dvorak, the great for negroes to get to America that they composer, who was satisfied that the fu- should come through slavery, then he ture music of this country must be was grateful for the slavery. Madam founded on negro melodies. "These,"
Sofia Bompiani sent a paper on " Ital- Dvorak said, "are the folk-songs of ian Explorations in Africa," and Fred America, and your composers must S. Arnot one on "What the Africans turn to them. All the great musicians Themselves had Done to Develop Afri- have borrowed from the songs of the ca." An African prince, Maurolou common people. In the negro melo- Massaquoi, of Liberia, declared that dies of America I discover all that is there was very great interest felt in this needed for a great and noble school of music. They are tender, passionate, torily established till it is practically melancholy, solemn, religious, bold, self-supporting.
merry, gay, or what you will. It is Self-support implies not only the mmdc that suits itself to any mood or raising on the ground of the necessary any purpose." funds to provide for the work, but It was fitting that a half-dozen of the quite as important is the production Jubilee Singers from Fisk University and training on the ground of the men were at hand to reinforce these points necessary to direct and lead the work.
with the negro and classical music This, of course, implies a system of which they furnished from time to time schools competent to afford the train- throughout the congress. An impor- ing J).eedful for this result. The differ- tant paper was read on " Disease and ent missions in Turkey, each in its own Medicine in Africa," prepared by Dr. way, have entered upon this work and Felkin, Lecturer on Diseases of the made important and hopeful progress Tropics at the Edinburgh School of toward the end desired.
Medicine. Bishop William Taylor, of In the Central Turkey Mission the Africa, discoursed on self-supporting movement has been decided and bold.
missions in that country. The Central Turkey College has been Mr. Fred Perry Noble, who with in- organized with the definite plan of turn- domitable energy and tact as Secretary ing over the institution to the care and of the Congress seconded the able leader- direction of the native brethren in ship of Dr. J. E. Roy, the Chairman, twenty-five years from its organization, in the preparation of the programme or as soon thereafter as the trustees in and conduct of this Congress, read a America are satisfied that it is proposed paper on" Christendom's Rum Trade on that basis to fulfil the objects for with Africa." which it is established. Already more We have not been able so much as to than three fourths of its teaching force catalogue the greatly varied proceed- is native, and in its general manage- ings. Taken altogether, the influence ment it is put frankly and fully into of this Congress must be stimulating the hands of the faculty and local man- and permanently advantageous to the ager, when all questions of policy are broadest interests of the African race, decided by majority vote. It is true, and to the broadest consideration of the the president has certain powers of relations of other continents and other veto, and any question in regard to races with the Afro-American and the which there is serious division of opin- races of the polyglot Dark Continent. ion may be' referred to the trustees in America; but practically these methods are never resorted to. Some misgiving Higher Ohristian Education and Self- has been expressed by friends as to Support of Missions. whether it was wise to share such in- terests and responsibilities so fully with BY REV. A. FULLER, D.D., PRESIDENT the native brethren till they have had CENTRAL TURKEY COLLEGE, AINTAB, more experience in college building. TURKEY. but the belief is that the quickest and The aim of every missionary worker surest way to raise up men of experi- should be to make himself unnecessary ence and ability is to put them to work to the work as far as possible. The under conditions involving grave re- Word understood, accepted, and living sponsibility. No doubt there is danger in the hearts of men raised up on the of mistakes, but mistakes under such field is the measure of his success so conditions may become most valuable far as his work as a preacher and evan- as educators, and if men of ability and gelist is concerned, but the work in any high and generous purpose are secured field cannot be regarded as satisfac- for the direction of the work there can be no reasonable doubt of the success 2. Education had long languished, of the plan. The same principle ap- and few among the masses could read plies, of course, to all other forms of fifty years ago, and vast numbers of work ; responsibility and trial are the the priests and higher clergy were sadly conditions under which. all vigorous deficient in this respect. Few of the leadership must be developed. The priests understood the ritualistic ser- problem, then, is to select able and true vice of the Church which they rea,l men and put upon them responsibility daily, and hardly one of them couLl as fast as they show themselves com- read intelligibly to others a passage petent to meet it. It is on this line of from any book in his own language.
policy that the Central Turkey Mis- These being the leaders, there was lit- sions have fully and distinctly entered, tle or no desire upon the part of the and so far the results have been most masses for education.
satisfactory and hopeful. All friends 3. There was little morality even of missions will watch the further de· among the officials of the Church.
velopment of the plan with the deepest Drunkenness, dishonesty, and an utter interest and liveliest hope. disregard of the simple demands of the Gospel were common.
4. There was no spirituality or at- Movements Toward Reform in the Old tempt at any, upon the part of the clergy, who used their office largely' Gregorian Ohurch. for personal gain.
BY REV. J. L. BARTON, HARPUT, TUR- It was thought that if the Word of KEY. God could enter the Church in the lan- The Gregorian Church is the Arme- guage of the people, and the clergy bc nian national church. The Christianiza- so educated as to preach it at the regu- tion of the Armenians was largely lar services of the Church, that alone brought about by Gregory the Illumi- would ultimately work out a reforma.- nator at about 300 A.D., hence the name tion in doctrine and practice, without " Gregorian." Some two hundred creating a division in the Church as a years later the Bible was transla.ted national organization.
into the Armenian language. A few Therefore centuries after this the language of the II. The following attempts were people so changed that neither the Bible made to reform the Church : nor the ritualistic books of the Church 1. The Bible was translated by the were understood by the people. missionaries into the spoken tongue of I. We must first consider what are the masses, and a Christian literature the needs of reform in the old Grego- was created.
rian Church. 2. Schools were opened throughout 1. In doctrine they are not far from the country for giving a Christian edu- the Greek Church. They use pictures cation to the masses, but with a special in their churches, pray to the saints, purpose to help the clergy.
the greatest of which is "the mother 3. The Gospel was preached in the of God," believe in baptismal regener- old Church by missionaries and" evan- ation, and the salvation of the entire gelicals" with the hope of arousing it Armenian Church. as a church to a reformation.
But their errors in practice are more The result was marked than in doctrine. As the Bible 4. That all of the" progres8ivCi" or for centuries has been to them a sealed " evangelicals" were cast out, and thus book, and the Church a national and the .. Protestant Armenian Church"
therefore a political body, there has was formed, and the Gregorian Church been nothing to keep spiritUality alive declare_d itself as opposed to the Bible among thein.,_ in the language of the people, to the education of the clergy and the masses, mitting daily Bible lessons with the pu- and to Gospel preaching. pils, and even a Sunday-school lesson in HisWry.-For over fifty years the some cases.
separate work has gone on. The evan- 3. The better educated can no longer gelized have been gathered into" Prot- be satisfied with only a form of wor- estant Armenian churches, " and a Prot- ship, led by an ignorant priest whom estant political organization was early they know to be corrupt, and who has formed. There are now fully one hun- no interest in that which is spiritual dred Protestant churches among the nor in the general elevation of the peo- Armenians scattered throughout the ple.
regions where Armenians dwell, and 4. Three young men, Gregorians. are these are surrounded by a Protestant now studying in a Protestant theologi- body numbering over 30,000. cal seminary in expectation of taking There is also now a very well-estab- positions in the old Church.
lished school system, including the 5. Many churches, and the leading common village school, the high and national periodicals, are calling vigor- boarding-school, the college, and the ously for a clergy which is sufficiently theological seminary. There are about educated to prepare and deliver a Gos- fifteen thousand Armenians in these pel sermon, and thcy wish to have the schools alone, while large numbers are sermon incorporated into the reguln.r studying in schools which have sprung service of the Church.
up under the stimulus of these institu- 6. They are also demanding a clergy tions. which is morally upright and able to The mission press, which was early command the respect of the people.
started, and the presses of the Ameri- The superstitious veneration of the cauBible Society have been busy from clergy which once prevailed is passing the first turning out a Christian litera- away.
ture in the spoken Armenian language, 7. The priesthood is poorly support- which has been circulated among all ed. Many churches are now starving classes. one priest where years ago they sup- During these years the pastors of the ported two or three or four. Many churches, the teachers in the schools, churches are without priests, because the colporteurs, the evangelists, and men cannot be found who will accept the missionaries have made effort to ordination. The priests are supported break down prejudice in the minds of largely by fees for various services the old Church adherents. They have which the people are not now demand- seized every opportunity to present the ing, declaring them to be mere super- claims of the Gospel in simplicity, not stitions.
declaiming against the errors of the 8. Many new churches have no pic- Church, but presenting the simple, posi- tures except one or two about the altar.
tive doctrines of the Bible and their re- Shrines are not so popular as hereto- lation to life and practice. fore, and there is a marked unbelief in Let us now see what this is effecting the power of the saints and the efficacy in the Church, and how it is producing of fasts.
movements toward reform. 9. Protestant preacbers are very freely 1. Schools have sprung up in all of called to preach in the old churches.
the cities in which Gregorians are 10. The Christian literature which fo~ which are largely patronized. has sprung up has a large circulation ThoUsands of Gregorians are also in at- among the Gregorians. The majority tendance upon our own schools. of the regular readers of the paper pub- 2. Protestant teachers are desired, as lished for the evangelical churches in far as they can be secured, for the Turkey, and edited by a missionary, Gregorian schools, they frequently per- are members of the old Church. 11. The new translation of the Bible numerous incidental expenses thereof is practically accepted by all as the and the feast as well being paid by the Word of God. It is found in thousands parents). of non· Protestant homes, where it is read to a greater or less extent. It is The joy and pride of the successful also found in some churches where Gos- families in such cases cannot be apprepel services are occasionally held. ciated by people living in western countries. Conclusion.-This movement is marked and positive. It may never lead to One of these persons was a lad of a general reformation of the Gregorian fourteen, while one of the others was Church, but it is already leading to the an old man of seventy·six years; the evangelization of many within the latter had been trying for a degree ever Church, and we certainly have reason since he was twenty. The Literary to hope that, as this number increases Chancellor regarded the essays of the and as those other outside influences old man as only of moderate excellence, become stronger, even the Church as a yet agreed to give him a little" face" body may be so reformed that we will and the much-coveted degree. class it among the evangelical churches of the world. For this we labor and It is not an uncommon thing for a pray. father to select one of his sons for liter- ary life, and sometimes even force him Ways Ohinese-Literary Examinations to struggle for the coveted honors. -Oivil and Military Degrees. We are told of the case of a young man whose father was determined that his BY s. L. GRACEY, UNITED STATES CON- son should be literary, whether he liked it or not. The youth worked for many • SUL, FOOCHOW, CHINA. years under rigid compulsion of a teacher who realized the father's ideal No people in the world have higher of severity and thoroughness. At the regard for literary attainments than the age of nineteen these efforts were re- Chinese. It is the absorbing desire of warded by the young man's attaining most families to have some relative who the first degree. He now hoped for rehas received a literary degree, and all lease from exacting and unwilling toil, will unite to support a brother or more but to his dismay found that his father's remote relative who is fitting himself for ambition was only whetted to a keener examinations. This they will continue edge by his son's success, and the latter to do for many years, even after the was given to understand that he was candidate has grown to mature age, not to pause until he h>J.d taken the secand has a large family; the parents, ond and even the third degree. Find· brothers, and cousins may be very poor, ing his father inexorable, and fate too but they will willingly contribute of strong for him, the young man struck their scant means to support the liter- for liberty in a way peculiarly Chinese, ary aspirant. for he hanged himself with his girdle, and was examined no more. Among the successful candidates in a late examination for the "siu ts'ai" An effort is being made to introduce degree, which is the first or lowest in something of Western mathematics In honor, in Shantung province, one vil- the examinations in the northern provlage enjoyed the distinction of having inces, and at the last, two problems in three successful competitors-a very mathematics were given out: one of unusual thing. One was for a civil, these asked for the superficial area of and the other two for military degrees. a globe the diameter of which was eigh- The villagers regarded themselves so teen inches; the other was, If eight highly honored that they united to thousand piculs of rice are carried at present the parents of the three young thirteen tael cents per picul, and the men with a theatrical exhibition (all the freight is paid in rice at taels two and a half per picul, how much rice is ex- Literary Chancellor and his assistants, pended for the freight? It is said that who pass to each candidate blank paper this question was given to ten thousand of a fixed size and ruling used only in students in the TUngchang Prefecture, these examinations, and on which he is and that only one man attempted its to write his essays. Under guard of solution, tlnd failing, was snubbed by officers all are hurried along a broad the chancellors as being an ignorant uncovered passage-way, from which . pretender; yet if anyone had been able over a hundred alleys run off on either to give an answer to such a simple side at right angles. Each of these al- question, which would not have puzzled leys is about three feet wide, and on most American boys of twelve years, one side is a plain dead wall eight feet he would doubtless have obtained his high and toward which each cell faces. degree at once. Since Western mathe· The cells are about seven feet high, matics have been given a place in the four feet wide, and three feet deep, and examinations to even a small extent, are entirely open in front, Two or there has been a great desire manifested three boards, whose length is about four to learn the formula (fa'rh) by which inches greater than the width of the foreigners 80 easily and quickly get cell, are made to slide into grooves on correct answers. The Chinese scholar either side; one of these, being pushed pays no· attention to scientific, mathe· back against the inner wall of the cell, matical, or philosophical books or forms a seat for the scholar, facing outstudies, the five classics and the four ward; the other board is slid in tcward books of Confucius, Mencius, etc., him at a height convenient for him to being the only studies considered of any write upon, and forms his desk. The value by the literati __ and these are the cells are not much better than the calfonly things on which they are examined stalls of a common county agricultural for degrees and promotion. A few fair, being very barren, dirty enclosures, days since, accompanied by a graduate unfit for anyone to remain in one hour of the second degree, I made a visit to during the heat of summer, when these the examination halls at Foochow, examinations are usually held; but where last summer over eight thousand these eight or ten thousand persons restudents assembled in the triennial ex- main there closely confined for three amination for the second degree. Out days together, when all are dismissed, of that number one hundred and twenty and the worst of the deb1'i& is cleared passed satisfactorlly. Over the en- away. In two or three days all return trance gate are characters announcing again for three days more of confinethe hopelessness of anyone attempting ment and work, and this is repeated for to enter there who is not a diligent the third time. I have visited these scholar. At a short distance another halls months after the examinations wide gate or folding door is passed and were over, and found the passage-ways entrance gained to a passage-way di- still cluttered up with the refuse Jeft by vided down the centre by a stout, high the scholars_ picket fence. which separates into two !Jtreams the crowd of persons entering. During the examinations last summer As they pass an open window the name, three persons died in the cells; one from family, age, and place of residence of the bite of a serpent, and the others each is recorded, and each one is given from exhaustion. The alleyways are a slip of paper on which is written the constantly patrolled by guards, who numbers of the passage-way and cell he keep the students from communicating is to occupy for the next three days and with each other, and have the general intervening nights. He is then hurried charge of them while in the enclosure. along through an archway under another large building occupied by the Each student has provided himself with provisions, candles, fuel, and bed- ding, else he must go without such com· forts until the three days have pass- prevent any possible communication by ed, unless it may be that some boiled marks, blots, or omWed spaces with rice is distributed by the authorities, as the examining commissioners. The is sometimes done. copies and originals are again carefully examined by two persons. as proof-read- At the end of the third day or earlier, ers, to see that they have been truly reif the candidate has completed his task, produced. The copy in red ink is then all are discharged for three or four sent to the twelve higher literary critdays, when they must return for a sec- ics, who each examine it in turn, and ond tour of three days. On entering as each one reads he places his verdict the second time, each one draws new upon the paper in a small red-ink circle numbers for his cell and alley, care upon the top of the roll, or lays it aside being taken that a candidate shall not if he does not approve. Those marked occupy the same cell or passage-way he with the red circles are sent to the Prewas in before. Near each of the four fect, and as each one is handed to him, corners of the barracks watch-towers a drum (called the recommending drum) are erected and soldiers placed on duty, is struck once by him. These essays with instructions to shoot anyone who are then passed to the examining commay attempt to communicate with per- missioners, who have come from Peking. sons outside the walls. There is, in Each is read care! ally, and distinguishfact, an outer wall about twenty feet ing marks of excellency are placed upon from the inner wall, which would seem each. This method is pursued at each to make communication impossible; of the three sessions. The students enbut the people must be duly impressed ter the arena of conflict, and at the end with the determination of the officials an immense collection of essays and to have the examinations conducted poems are on hanc~ to pass the scrutiny in all fairness. Notwithstanding this of the official eX8p}iners, who do not seeming etIectual scrutiny, there are leave the enclosure until the papers are ways enough devised by the crafty to all examined and marked. The govget their essays passed upon favor- ernor is allowed to come out ten days ably. When all are properly seated in after the examinations have closed. their respective closets, the themes for The others must J amain prisoners until the essays and poems are given out, their work is com,)loted. Large rooms when the student has the first intima- are provided for their occupancy, food tion concerning the subject upon which being brought to them by attendants, he is to write. The first set of ques- but nothing from outside the enclosure. tions are taken from the four books of the Chinese classics. As the essays are When the question of the successful finished they are taken for the first candidates is deh-rmined, their names examination to a company of literary are written in lUi"ge characters on a men whose duty it is to examine, not the paper, which is put up on the" Drum substance of the essays, but simply Tower," some t:lirty feet from the whether the rules for writing have been ground, and a great crowd soon assemobserved. If any of these rules are bles in the street in great eagerness to violated the paper is posted in a public know the 1'esult. place, and the merit of the essays is not considered. That ends the chance of The successful candidates are officially that poor fellow, however good his com- notified some days later by receiving a position may be. large piece of red paper with the name and rank in the examination written Such as pass this examination as to thereon. Congratulations from the offiform and appearance are then tran- cials follow, and an invitation to a feast scribed in red ink, a large number of at the ya-men. FEasts at his own parproficient copyists being employed in ents' house and at his father-in-Iaw's this part of the work. This is done tQ l1Quee are followed by complimentary feasts given in his honor by his Men Wanted for Ohile. friends. The Rp-v. John Mather Allis, D.D., He must perform the worship of heav· Santiago, Chile, sends us an .. appeal" en and earth, the aneestral tablet of his just i.ssued by the Presbyterian Mission own family and that of his wife, if in Chile, suggesting that as the special married, etc. The graduate is a;[owed mission of the REVIEW is "to inform to put up two tablets: one ov~r the and stir up the churches," the publica- front door of his house, the other over tion of this "appeal" may "stir up the ancestral tablet inside. These are not only the people addressed, but all about six feet long and three feet wide, who read the magazine." He adds . and if of the first twelve in his cbss the that they of the mission field find in the characters proclaim also that hig; hon· REVIEW" stimulus and cheer." 'Ve or, and all the near relatives are allowed have the alternative of summarizing to erect duplicate tablets over their loors. from the "appeal" or postponing the whole for a future number, and we The successful candidates in this trio choose the former. (J. T. G.) ennial examination receive the ,;econd degree, which corresponds to the A.M. They say: of American colleges, and entit:;}s the " 1. We need a new man for Con- person gaining it to go to Peking to cepcion, a most important point, hav- take part in the examinations fJr the ing about 30,000 people, and rapidly third degree. This is much more severe, growing. It is the main distributing as the contest is between the best schol· point for the south of Chile. It has ars, who have thus been selected from already an established church and a all parts of the empire. Out of several good force of co.operating workers. thousands who present themselves, only " 2. To the south of Concepcion is an a small number obtain the honors of the important region which we call the new third degree, which corresponds to our south, as it is the frontier of Chile, and LL.D. Of these several are selected is being filled up with a mixed popula- to pursue their studies at the Imperial tion from Europe. It is the most fertile College, the Hanlan or Tung Weng part of Chile, and from an agricultural College, which is under the charge of point of view the most valuable part of Dr. Martin, and where the modern Sel· the republic. Ithas railroad communi- ences and mathematics are taught, and cation with the capital and with the where men are prepared for duties as seaboard. In this region are the cities engineers, master.mechanics, interpre· of Los Angeles, Angol, Collipulli, ters, etc. Graduates from this college Traigen, and Temuco, with popUla- are also deputed to act as chancellors tions varying from 2000 to 10,000, and of examinations, state historians, poets. rapidly growing. In some of the new- etc., are allowed a compensation, and er places the Roman Church has not are regarded as expectant officiaL Se- yet taken hold, being without build- lections for office are made from lhe list ings and with only occasiopal mass. of graduates of the last two mentioned To these towns a good man would have degrees. All successful graduat( s from a cordial welcome, and find a very the first degree onward are regarded as promising and encouraging field. giv- composing the literati, and their opin- ing largest opportunities for hard work ions in regard to all matters of a social. and for rapid results. A man who political, or religious character have knew German and French would be great weight with the common people. It is from this class that the opposition desirable. to Christian missions comes chief1y, and " 3. To the north of Concepcion and they will generally be found at t!:le bot- tom of most of the disturbances in 250 miles away is another important which foreigners arc involved in China. section, which we have entered and which we should more thoroughly man. Talca is its chief centre. Formerly we had men there, but for several years the place has been vacant. We still hold some special funds contributed several years ago for a church building in Talea. To the north of Talea are San Fernandes and Curico, cities of 8000 and 15,000 inhabitants, and Talea is soon to be connected by rail with Constitucion, a port town of 3000 peo- ple. In this latter city we have a church and a school for poor children. The church is languishing for want of pastoral care. We have no one to take charge of that point. We desire to from the leprosy of sin, which has combine this immense region of 50,000 honeycombed her every fibre, .has inhabitants under the care of some live reached the very marrow of her bones, man who can do hard work, can strive and is showing itself in horrid effects against every difficulty. and who will in her priesthood, in ller political preach the Gospel to these thousands developments, in her business relations. who have no spiritual acquaintance with and in all her social life, would plead the truth. with groans that would touch every "4. In the northern provinces the heart that you would come over and most important city is Antofagasta, help her, were not her very tongue de- 15.000 people. This place is the most stroyed by the dread disease that is rotimportant port north of Valparaiso, as ting her poor body to death piecemeal. " it IS the natural entrance to Southern Bolivia, and there has been constructed The Oongress on :Peace and Arbitration. a railroad from it to Oruro. and this railroad will soon reach La Paz. An- Among the congresses at Chicago tofagasta is an important minin~ and which necessarily interest missionaries nitrate centre. Here is a noble dlOcese was one on Peace and Arbitration. Asfor a consecrated Presbyterian bishop. The Roman Catholic religion has ceased sistant Secretary of State Quincy preto be a spiritual force, and is no lon~er sided. W. Evans Darby, of London, a strong social factor; even in politIcs England, contributed the first paper on she has lost her grip. The people will "Origin, Principles, and Purposes of welcome a capable, energetic minister. A lot was offered not long ago on which Peace Societies. " Letters were reto erect a house of worship. There are ceived from many distinguished for- here a goodly number of English-speak- eigners, among whom were Bjorn- ing friends who will rally around the stjerne Bjornson, the Norwegian poet; right sort of a man, and he could begin at once to or~anize his forces, and do M. Dumas, France; Dr. Gobet, Engwork in EnglIsh while he was getting land; Jean Clerc, a member of the hold of Spanish. Thus he will not be Swiss Parliament. A paper on the alone, but will at once have spiritual, history and' work of peace societies in social, and financial co-operation. There are other important ports to the Europe was read by William C. Braithnorth and to the south of Antofagasta waite, in which he did not claim that within easy reach by steamer. At Tal- all the triumphs of law over brute force tal there is a faithful little group wait- were to be traced to peace societies. ing to be organized into a church, and ready to co-operate with any pastor But he said these societies had special that will come to help them from time duties, among which he enumerated the to time. These are Cbilians. In Toco- following: They should act as vigi- pilla a lot and $1000 have been offered lance committees, scrutinizing the forfor a church provided a right kind of a man came. It might be noted that a eign and military policies of govern- missionary physician might have vast ments. They should watch the tone influence in the northern coast towns of the press and public opinion, and and find a good support." The "appeal" has the following show ·themselves alert against every deviation from national justice. paragraph: .. So we plead for Chile. Chile, Fourthly, they should press forward blind with the heredity of Romanism, practical means to the establishment of which has here reached a fearful phase of development, would turn her sight- arbitration and peace. Lastly, they less eyes to ;you did she understand that should investigate the fundamental for her afflIction you have a remedy; principles of peace and work out solu- Chile, palsied with the false philoso- tions of the international problems phies of Europe, which in advance of Christian missions have scattered them- which confront the world, so as to be selves broadcast in all this land, and has ready with a wise and practical scheme taken a stron~ hold on many who are of pacific policy. The bare statement dillBatisfied WIth the puerilities of the of these five points shows the value of Papacy, would stretch her palsied arms to you had she the power and did she peace societies and the need of supportknow that you have for this dread ing them at the highest point of effi- malady a certain cure j Chile, suffering ciency.
DEPARTMENT OF CHRIS'rIAN ENDEAVOR
lII.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED BY PBO!'BSSOB AMOS B. WELLS.
The Reformed Church now purposes history, will be a working body in- interesting its Endeavorers in missions deed.
• 'by the use of " Christian Endeavor mis- One of the most important actions of sionary tracts." The first one is on the last English convention of Christian "Qllitoor, India-the Christian En- Endeavor societies, held at Bradford, deavor Missionary Station," and is by was a resolution inviting the annual the wife of Rev. W. I. Chamberlain, conferences of the various denomina- Christian EndeavOl.' superintendent of tions to consider the Christian Endeavor India, the "Christian Endeavor mis- work, with a view to its formal adop- aionary" supported, through their de- tion. The' response has been remark- nominational board, by the Endeavor- ably cordial, and very gratifying. The ers of the Reformed Church in America. Conference of the Methodist New Con- The beginnings of what may prove nection placed its imprimatur upon the to be an important extension of Chris- Society, and since then the Endeavor tian Endeavor are to be found in the societies have multiplied in many of Mothers' Society of Christian Endeavor their circuits. The Annual Assembly which exists in the First Presbyterian of the United Methodist Free Churches Church of Topeka, Kansas. It has a -a large and influential body-has also pledge, wherein the mothers promise adopted the Christian Endeavor Society aid to the Junior society in which their without change. Says the denomina- children are at work, promise daily tional organ, The Free Methodist, prayer for that work, and an earnest " Among the decisions of the Annual attempt at regular attendance on the Assembly which are likely to have far- Mothers' society and to add to the in- reaching and blessed results, we place terest of its meetings. The gain from the one indorsing the Christian Endeav- lIuch a society as this will be felt equally or movement, and directing that minis- by the mothers and by the Juniors. ters shal~ be instructed to bring the The meetings of such a society may be matter before the various churches in held monthly, or whenever the mothers' their circuits. It was notable that the 1U!80ciation would regularly meet. judgment of every speaker in the As- The Presbyterian Endeavorers of sembly, who had practical acquaintance Carbondale, Pa., are certainly worthy with the workings of the Society, was of prai!le. For some years the society not only favorable, but strongly so."
has been carrying on a mission school. The Synod of'the Moravian Churches Last spring the session of their church unanimously adopted the following suggested that they should build a resolution: "That in response to areso- chapel for it. This they undertook to lution from the last national Christian do. They subscribed, invested, solicit- Endeavor convention, addressed to all ed funds, drew up their plans, and evangelical churches, this synod ex- finally built the mission chapel. It is a presses its official and formal approval beautiful building, fully equipped, and of the movement of the Y. P. S. C. E."
cost $1400. Under the direction of the The Guilds' Council of the Congrega- society two weekly services and a Sun- tional Union of England and Wales, day-school are here maintained, and having in charge the young people's very appropriately it has been named work in that denomination, has heartily Endeavor Chapel. In this mission a recognized the Christian Endeavor new Christian Endeavor society has movement, and placed Congregational been started which, if it is truc to its EndelJo.ror societies on an equal footing with Congregational Young People's Missionary Institute, of Chicago, was Guilds. Dr. Booth writes for his own planning, for the Junior Endeavorers denomination: "The Council of the of Chicago, a missionary trip around Baptist Union, at their meeting on the World's Fair. Under such guides Wednesday last, unanimously resolved that would have been an experience the'
to commend the work of the young Juniors could not forget.
people's societies of Christian Endeavor A group of Chicago Endeavorers, re- to the sympathy and support of the turning from the Montreal Convention'i churches of our denomination." Thus were singing" Throw out the life-line.'
the cause is growing in England, not By this an unconverted sailor near by merely in the love and enthusiasm and was attracted, and drawn into a conver- earnest labors of the young people, but sation which resulted, as the Endeav- in the favor of their cool·headed and- orers afterward learned, in his conv. r- wise-hearted elders. sion.
Some Denver Christian Endeavorers A Massachusetts society sends out have led the way in a line of work that regularly, in the name of its pastor, in- might be taken up by united or sepa- vitations urging the Endeavorers to rate societies everywhere, to the great take some part in the next Church good of all. In the basement of one of prayer-meeting. Each week these in- the churches they have opened an em- vitations are sent to five Endcavorers, ployment bureau, which aims to furnish different from those that took part the working people with situations, and week before. The plan works well, of employers with workmen. No com- course. Another society-thi~ time in missions are received; the entire ser- St. Louis-prints on the inside of its vice is free. At certain hours in the topic cards the Christian Endeavor day members of the society are to be topics, but on the outside the subjects found in the rooms, to receive applica· for the prayer-meetings of the older tions for work and workers, and fill folks. 'I'his also is e:i:cellent.
them. A large committee of Endeav- The Missionary Committee of the orers seeks out places to be filled. The First Oongregational Endeavor Society experiment has started favorably, and' of Trinidad, Col., conducts a flourish- it is to be hoped that it will meet with ing Chinese Bible School. This school abundant success. With necessary has sent $50 to China for missionary modifications, the plan might be adapt- work. One of the Chinese boys in it is ed to small towns, and even to country an active Endeavorer, and is to become communities. a missionary. One member of this so· Of the 603 churches of the Reformed ciety is a missionary in Mexico, two Church in America, 312 possess En- are preparing for the ministry, one deavor societies. young woman for the foreign field, and A single Christian Endeavor union, others intend to become missionaries.
that of the Galesburg, Ill., district, The pastor of a certain Methodist contributed last year to missions the Protestant Junior society of Christian sum of $1600. This is half a dollar Endeavor decided, last summer, that a member more than they gave the the society ought to have a vacation.
year before, !lnd is an average of $4.86 He announced the vacation to the so- apiece. ciety. To his surprise, the little faces What promised to be something began to cloud over. "You are glad unique in the way of missionary educa- to have a vacation, are you ·not 1" he tion was nipped in the bud by the asked. .. All who are, please raise opening of the World's Fair gates on your hands." Not a hand went up.
Sunday. With the help of returned In astonishment the pastor asked, missionaries and prominent travellers " Who would rather have the society from the Orient the Christian Endeavor go on just as usuaI1': Every hand went up at once! That society took These banners will be given, one to the no vacation. local union that, as a union, docs most The young men in a Presbyterian in the cause of Christian citizenship; Endeavor society of Victoria, Austra- another to the union that reports the lia, hold evangelistic services regularly largest number of proportionate givers; at three points, and expect soon to be- and the third to the one that brings into gin work at a fourth station. The Bap- the Endeavor interdenominational fel.
tist Endeavor Society of North Shields, lowship the largest number of Endeav- England, has organized a very success- or societies. Doubtless the presentation ful mission band, whose services are of these diplomas and banners will fur- almost always attended with conver- nish one of the most interesting features sions. of the Cleveland Convention, but by England now has over seven hundred far the best part of it will be the noble Christian Endeavor societies. work for which the symbols will stand.
An English Christian Endeavor so- The Junior Endeavorers are indeed ciety recently combined pleasure and progressing rapidly where they are able, service in the following beautiful way. as is related of a Junior society in Lin- They went on an excursion to a beauti- coln, Neb.• to conduct, in the absence ful glen on the river Liddel. After a of the pastor, an effective missionary praise service they had a picnic supper service on Sunday morning!
there. On their way home they halted Rev. W. C. Pond, D.D., thinks the at a mining village and conducted an Y. P. S. C. E. especially helpful in mis· open·air Gospel meeting. sions among the Chinese, because it At the International Christian En- teaches them to speak tersely. It di- deavor Convention, to be held next year vides the work fairly among all, keeps at Cleveland, a new and most interest- the business meeting in a subordinate ing feature will be the awarding of one place, and discourages long exhorta- hundred beautifully engraved diplomas tions-three lessons the Chinese convert to one hundred societies, under the fol- needs to know. The Endeavorers of lowing conditions: Twenty-five will be the Pacific coast give a most cordial given to those societies that, during the welcome to their Chinese brothers when coming year, report the most work they appear in the union meetings.
dOue in the interests of Christian citi- zenship. Twenty·five more will be given to those societies that, in propor- The Christian Endeavor Society is tion to their membership, report the looking up as a force for evangelizalargest number of systematic and pro- tion. Its contributions to the mission portionate givers of one tenth of their work of 18 denominations last year annual income. Twenty.five will go to amounted to $63,000. Of this the those societies that report the most work Presbyterians received $24,568, the done in the promotion of good litera- American Board, with the woman's ture, especially in the circulation of de- boards, reports $13,579 ; the Home 1'llisnominational and other religious papers sionary Society, $3317; the American and magazines. And twenty·five diplo- Missionary Association, $3472; the mas will be given to the societies that Church Building Society, $2100; and are instrumental in forming the largest the New West Education Commission, number of Endeavor societies-Junior, $494. Young People's, Senior societies-any kind will count, if they are genuine Endeavor societies. In addition to the " He that soweth the good seed is the State banners of badges usually given, &n of Man, and the field is the world; there will be awarded at Cleveland and the good seed, these are the Bon8 three beautiful local union banners. oj the kingdom."
EDITORIAl, DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
Woman's Work for Missions. 3. Woman's influence at home. As the centre of home life she helps to cre- Christian women, for centuries kept ate its atmosphere; the shaping of child in the background, are beginning to life, through the bearing and rearing hold their true place and wield their of children, lie especially in her deft true influence; and we are learning hands, and she has set us a glorious exmore and more to emphasize three ample of self-denying giving, consethings with regard to Christian woman- crated wealth, and the renunciation of hood: luxuries and even of comforts for the sake of her Lord. 1. Woman's normal status in the kingdom of Christ, and her position in Who can measure the influence of the family, in society, and in the consecrated parentage upon children I Church, through her identification with The records of criminal life supply her Redeemer; her infinite debt, not startling facts as to the influence of a only for salvation, but even for social godless ancestry. The Jukes family standing to Christ, as seen in the con- was traced through five generations to trast between Christian lands and pagan one vicious man, from whom over seven lands. hundred children and descendants had come, and they were a body of crimi- 2. Woman's work abroad. When nals, paupers, prostitutes, and vaga- Dr. Eli Smith, of Syria, was asked bonds. There were not twenty skilled whether he would advise young men to workmen in them all, and of these half marry before they go to the foreign had learnt their trades in prison. More field, he said, " In ordinary cases, yes," than 50 per cent. of the women were and for five reasons: (1) Every man is prostitutes. If such a criminal ancesdependent for certain home comforts try may come from one degraded stock, upon woman's care and thoughtfulness, who shall say what might be the results and if he has no wife of his own he in the consecration of ojIspring if marmust depend upon somebody else's riage and the family life were properly wife, which is not fair; (2) that ordi- consecrated as the sources of missionary narily it is a ground of suspicion that a supplies I man appears on the field unmarried; (3) that he would find that instead of We are to have companionship with taking care of his wife, she largely Christ in travail for souls. In Isaiah takes care of him; (4) that nothing is (53) we are told that" He shall see all more needed in the foreign field than the travail of his soul, and shall be satisthe practical exhibition of what Chris- fied ;" and in Galatians (4 : 9) Paul says, tianity does for woman, as daughter, " My little children, of whom I travail wife, mother; (5) that no work done in in birth until Christ be formed In the foreign field is oftentimes more ef- you;" and again, "In Christ Jesus I fective than that which is done directly have begotten you through the Gosby the woman herself. The fact that pel." In Colossians (1 : 24), " I fil~ up only woman can reach woman in many that which is behind of the afflictions Oriental lands constitutes a Providen- of Christ in my flesh for His body's tial call for woman's work as a neces- sake, which is the Church." These sity. The work of Mrs. Capron, in and kindred passages show us that India, of Miss Agnew, in Ceylon, of Christ's travail of His soul is to be par- Miss Ferguson, in South Africa, not to ticipated in by all true believers who speak of hundreds of others, is suffi- form His body, and must therefore, as cient proof of what woman is capable the members of that body, share in the of doing among the women and children of these degraded lands. travail of the body. We do not see be provided for; and for this reason it how there can be any true discipleship is that we have so many vacancies at which is not connected vitally with the the present time, and find it so difficult missionary work. to fill them up." Mr. Milller finds it necessary to advertise for orphans-a God seems to reckon history accord- novelty in the history of beneficence ; ing to the fulfilment of His plan. The and it is pleasant to see that faith in four hundred and eighty years (in 1 God, continued prayer, and well-organ- Kings 6 : 1), from Israel's going forth ized labor can thus meet and supply a to the building of Solomon's temple, human want.
cannot include the seven periods of ser- vitude. Six hURdred and eleven years There has been a marvellous promi- seem to be the full time, but deducting nence of consecrated shoemakers in the for servitude one hundred and thirty- _work of missions. Ooleridge when at one years, we have just four hundred Ohrist's Hospital was ambitious to be a and eighty. And so as to the seventy shoemaker's apprentice, declaring that heptades of years in the ninth of Dan- shoemakers had given to the world a iel, it would seem that certain years are larger number of eminent men than omitted from the reckoning, during any other one handicraft. Oompare which the people of God were unfaith- William Oarey, John Pounds, Milne.
ful to their covenant. There seems to be a prophetic calendar in accordance DEAR MR. EDITOR: Are there many with which time is reckoned only by missions in India that have stations sup- what is achi.eved for God, and, if so, ported entirely by their own native how many centuries of the Ohurch's members, at least local expenses met- life must be dropped out on the calen- i.e., the support of its pastor, etc.?
dar of God! "We live in deeds, not Might it not be of great use if an in- years; in thoughts, not breaths; in vitation in your columns were to bring feelings, not in figures on a dial; we sbort accounts of the different plans should count time by heart throbs. tried by the various missions, and the He most lives who thinks most, feels measure of their success. The expenses noblest, acts best." It matters not how of travelling and generally superintend- long we live, but how; and so judged, ing .may for many years be required the" how" determines the" long." from without, but if any missions hav- ing many stations can raise a body of George Miiller, founder of the Or- members who will in most places keep phanages on Ashley Downs, Bristol, their own local affairs on their own England, gives facts which show what feet, they must feel indeed the work is a stimulus has becn given, in late years, succeeding, and that from among such in Great Britaiu to the work of caring members must come the best class of for children who are without parents men who will give them8elves for the or helpers. He says: "When I began work.
the orphan work, fifty-seven years ago, Here are a few methods carried on in there was accommodation in this coun- some places: A handful of grain set try for three thousand six hundred or- aside each day before cooking (Oeylon phans only; but sin1::e that time, and South India) ; collections of grain through the blessing of God, which has and coin in meetings; members' regu- rested so abundantly upon my labors, lar" class money," weekly or monthly; such an impetus has been given to tithes; harvest thanksgivings; conse- orphan work that institutions have crated portion .of field, grain or dairy sprung up in various parts of Great produce; free labor; villages invite Britain, by means of which more than teachers to feed in turn at each house ; one hundred thousand orphans can now fees for offices performed, as marriages, etc.; special subscriptions for special eral have already gone. There are not objects, as buildings, etc.; self-denial less than twelve young men who can proceeds. W. H. GREET. entirely support themselves now in con- AHMEDABAD, June 29th, 1893. nection with the school. The tripod of religious progress consists of the pulpit, An appeal comes from Samokov, the school, and the religious book. We Bulgaria, February 23d, 1893. have the three. and wish to make each "We lack type iIi the printing divi- more efficient by union with the others.
sion of the Industrial Department of the Every one says that a good book is a Collegiate and Theological Institute. very precious thing to poss~ss in one's Immediately on the establishment of own language; that a young man pos- this enterprise the number of students sessed of a good education and an excel- went up from less than thirty to more lent character is a far more priceless than seventy. We have a fine body of treasure to the c<UIlmunity where he teachers, native and foreign; lower lives. We wish to use the creation of classes always well filled; scores and a good book as a means of raising up hundreds of students come, hoping to young men of this type. The need is learn a most useful art, and support great, the call imperative. Friends themselves during their course. The who are led to send money (exchanges present is a crisis with us. The dimin- on London are best) may send directly ishing number of students, on account to me, and I will give such a good re- of our inability to give them work, is a port of the work it has accomplished in painful sight. The increase of licen- . a short time as will astonish them. We tiousness and intemperance all over the read THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE land, both protected by the govern- WORLD with intensest interest.
ment; the formation of societies for the " Yours very sincerely, purpose of extending infidelity and " FREDERICK L. KINGSBURY, atheism; the corrupt influence of the "Medica~ Mi88ionary of the A. B. a.
socialists and the socialistic press and RE the almost entire absence of a healthy literature spur us on. It is proposed to raise $25,000 as a " There is a sad lack of good, elevating "Mitchell Memorial Fund," to be ex- books. The people are poor, but there pended upon the Laos field, toward is an increasing demand for instructive which he felt so tender an interest. To books if the price is cheap. Now we this proposition we give our heartiest can print a book of two hundred pages concurrence. No man of modern times and sell it at twenty cents, or half the has had a more seraphic missionary size for half the price. The work on spirit than Dr. Arthur Mitchell, no field such a book would support two young is more needy or more promising than men for a year. If we have plenty of the Laos.
this work to do, so as to employ from The appeal of the Laos 1Ii88lon, len'
twenty to thirty boys, then we get or- out from its last meeting, has been scat- ders in abundance from without; while tered far and wide, and every friend of if we do not have our own work on missions is familiar with the large open- which to depend, few boys can be em- ing in that land for wide and fruitful ployed and the patrons are not satisfied service. It might be well to repeat the with the necessitated slowness of the closing lines of that earnest appeal.
work. We need at once eighteen cases .. We ask for four ministers, four phy- of type, which, with the brass rules, sicians; their wives, and two young galleys, etc., will cost $100 each. Un- ladles-in all eighteen laborers. We less we can get a considerable reinforce- ask for the establishment of three new ment in our type, many of our students stations and the building of l1ve new JDust leave within a few months. Sev- residences, besides the enlargement of the boys' school building. We offer iam Dulles, Jr., Treasurer, 53 Fifth no apologies for the large amount ask- Avenue, New York City. ed. One of our number has thus voiced our unanimous feeling: 'I believe that The following note has been received God has awakened us as a mission and from Mr. Meakin: as individuals, and woe be unto us if we allow this awakening to go no fur- Please correct an error, in the opening ther than our own hearts. We ought to shout this call-shout it until the sentence of my article on "The Greek Church must hear it.' Church and the Gospel," in t:le Octo- ., Tell the Church that the hand of God is in this matter. The Presbyte- ber REVIEW (1892), in which, by a slip rian Church has a free field and full responsibility in this Laos land_ With a of penman or compositor, the words meagre force, and working on a small scale, we have been signally blessed in "Greek Church" stand in the place of the past. We now appeal to the Church to seize the opportune moment, obey " Eastern Church," as numbering more the voice of Christ, and evangelize the whole land. Our appeal is sanctioned than Protestantism and Romanism toby the judgment of every missionary on the field, by unusual providential gether. The Greek Church is subseopenings, and by the most urgent necessities. It is backed by all the pJ;ayers quently shown to be only one section of the missionaries, and, since the first day of the week of prayer, by the daily of that vast Eastern Church so little supplications of hundreds of Laos Christians. The form of the answer we known, to us, yet holding in its darkleave with Him who has inspired the prayer. It may be that one or more ness so large a proportion of our race. far-sighted, wealthy Christians may be led to make themselves a name, and I take the opportunity of pointing out earn an everla.~ting reward by handsomely endowing this mission. We be- that my home is Morocco, not Tunis, lieve, with Dr. Pierson, • that the time is coming when men will dispose of as there given (where the article was whole estates, as Robert Haldane, of Airthry, did, that they may give the mailed), and that my name should have entire proceeds to the erection of new mission stations, and the sending forth read J. E. BUDGETT MEAKIN. of new missionary laborers. ' The following missionary programme " Or, the auswer may come through has been suggested for the "Crossincreased contributions from the whole Bearer's Missionary Reading Circle" Church. The fact is, that the Church for October: as a whole has never undertaken to obey her Lord's commands. It may be The World's Congress of Missions that a • little child shall lead them ,- asks all Christians over the whole world to observe Sunday, October 1st, the little Laos Mission may be the one as the World's Missionary Day. to sound the trumpet·call which shall start the whole Church on the forward MORNING SERVICE. movement of the new century of missions which is just opening." 1. Hymn, "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his successive journeys ContPbutions should be sent to Will· run."
2. Prayer for the world's evangeliza- tion.
3. Scripture lesson, Matt. 18: 1-20. 4. Hymn, "Watchman, tell us of the night, what its signs of promise are." 5. Sermon by the pastor (thirty-five minutes). No manu8cript, if possible. Direct, pointed, awakening. Subject, "John G. Paton and His Work among the South Sea Cannibals." 6. Prayer. Prayer-hints: That the Church may have the faith of the Old Testament prophets concerning the success of the Gospel; that the apos- tolic spirit may abound in this age; that the Church at home may be awa· kened to the needs of the nations, and within Hinduism which the more en· that the spirit of Christ may take pos- lightened Hindus have made and are session of those who resist him at now making." Dr. Robson leads his home, and of even the savages who hear reader to the conclusion that, notwith- of the Prince of Peace. standing Hinduism, India must have 7. Question (to be asked by the pas- the Word of God and the Gospel of tor), How many present will agree to Christ, or perish in sin and night.
read at least one book on missions be- The Arya Samaj and the Brahma tween now and Christmas Day? Take Samaj both deny the forgiveness of names. sin; in the latter the premises are Chris.
S. Hymn, "The morning light is tian and the conclusion is Hindu; in breaking; the darkness disappears." the former both premises and conclu- Sources of information: "The Story sion are Hindu. And now, while Ind- of John G. Paton" ($1.35) may be ob- ian thought is introducing theosophy tained from the Secretary of the C. M. as a new cult into British and Ameri- R. C. M. L. GRAY, Pres. can society, as the worship of Isis crept into Italy in the first century; now Hinduism and its Relations to Ohri8- that the Mahatmas, Metempsychosis, tianity, by the Rev. John Robson, D.D., and Karma are becoming familiar terms of Aberdeen, Scotland, is issued in a to Christian ears, it is time that intelli- new edition by Oliphant, Anderson & gent students of missions followed such Ferrier, Edinburgh and London. a guide as Dr. Robson In the critical It is an admirable treatise by a com- and candid investigation of Hindu re- petent and scholarly hand. To those ligious philosophy.
who would grasp the great questions of Indian civilization and Indian mis- Rev. Josiah Tyler's Forty Years sions, it furnishes a brief, clear, and among the Zulu8 is published by the comprehensive analysis and synthesis Congregational Sunday-School and of matters of great importance. Dr. Publishing Society, Boston and Chica- Robson writes from twelve years of go. It is a book of just 300 pages, in personal, practical study, when in con- clear type, and embellished with excel- stant contact with the system. He lent illustrations.
makes no such mistake as to under- The author is a son of Dr. Bennet value or depreciate the subtle philoso- Tyler, of wide repute for theological phy, high ethical teaching, and many and teaching faculty, and the son is social virtues of Hinduism; nor does not unworthy of his sire. He gave up he deny that it embodies many of the his whole life to his work among the leading religious truths of Christianity. Zulus, and followed his missionary ca- But, while conceding all that can be reer with zeal for God and enthusiasm safely conceded, he stoutly and intelli- for humanity. He saw in the actual gently maintains that Christianity is savage the potential man and saint, and the only true faith, and the only hope wrought in faith and hope to develop for India or the world. The" light of the seed of the Gospel into the holy reo Asia" is practically darkness, and great newed character.
darkness. In this seductive and subtle To him who wants to understand the system there is no such exuberance of Zulu people, the most interesting fam- wisdom and goodness as makes the Gos- ily of the Bantu race; to see the capac- pel needless, but in the chalice there is ity and possibility wrapped up in this mingled a poison which fatally pre- really great people; to know their vices vents its benign influence-an" ineradi- and virtues, their vulgarities and super- cable vice which neutralizes all that Is stitions, impurity, intemperance, igno- good, and has paralyzed and must rance, and their receptivity to the Gos- paralyze all those efforts at reform pel, with all its holy and uplifting influ:.. ence, this volume will prove a most en- for its practical end the education of the tertaining as well as instructive path of heathen for Government and secular exploration. Mr. Tyler knows how to employments and not for the education teZZ his 8tory, how to seize the most in- and training of Christian men for the teresting matters, and array them be- work of the Gospel and the service of fore the reader so as to make the scenes Christ" ought not in fairness to be rehe depicts move as in a procession, where garded in any sense whatever as a misvariety and novelty constantly charm sionary handmaid. and chain the attention. Few books of its sort have elicited more general enco- Rev. Paul De Schweinitz sends us mium. and more deservedly. A. T. P. the following notes on Moravian Mis- sions: ffigher Educational Methods in India. ALAsKA.-The latest intelligence from At the annual public meeting of the the Moravian Mission on the Kuskok- Baptist Missionary Society, recently held wim River, in Western Alaska, is quite in Exeter Hall, Dr. Pentecost delivered encouraging. The regular mail is only a carefully prepared and masterlyad- received once a year, when the vessel dress in contravention of the so-called of the Alaska Commercial Company reo higher educational methods at present turns to San Francisco from its summer dominating the Indian missionary field. cruise. The advices this year report It must be confessed that in this exceed- that the work at the station Bethel coningly able speech he somewhat wore tinues to spread, ten more souls having out his welcome. The indictment was been won under the preaching of Misnot preferred against the Baptists; and, sionary Kilbuck. Miss Mary Mack, a as it was directed against opponents not recent missionary recruit from Nazawithin earshot, it fell upon ears that reth, Pa., conducted school at Bethel were tuned to a different key. All the for two hundred days through the winsame. the discerning few could appre- ter very successfully. A remarkable ciate what to the main body lay outside awakening took place in the village the region of immediate interest. Dr. Akiagamute under the preaching of the Pentecost had sixteen reasons or argu- native helper Kawaleg. The Rev. J. ments to prove that the system of high. H. Kilbuck was able to pay only three er education in India is unscriptural. visits to the village, and yet practically We have not the courage to recapitulate the whole village seems to have been the whole, sixteen, nor can we, though won for Christ. A regular marriage we may sample them, reproduce in any ceremony is insisted upon in the cases instance the pistol-like effect which at- of couples desiring to enter the Church, tended the enunciation of each in suc- and therefore the number of those regucession. Those who know Dr. Pente- larly married is one of the indications cost-and we write now to his friends of progress. The missionary reports and fellow-countrymen – can imagine that there are nineteen married couples the fire informing the utterance and the in this village. the Lord's Day is obexplosive force accompanying each sev- served, even hunting and fishing being eral point. We congratulate the Eng- stopped, regular evening prayers are lish Presbyterians on the acquisition of 'held, even when the native helper is such a born leader of men. All his absent; and that this village is sincere reasons seemed to us sound and forcible iii evidenced from the fact that for two from the first, which was grounded on years now no "masquerade" (ff heath- Christ's commission, and onward. To enish ceremony) has been held. contend that a Western secular and scientific education is required as a prepa- At another village, Kikichtagn.mute, ration for the reception of the Gospel is under the influence of the native helpto reverse the terms of the Divine com- er, Tomuck, some progress has likemission; while "a system which has wise been made. This place is the stronghold of shamanism, but recently the son of the chief shaman has been buck's account of her reception in every received into the Church. congregation she visited. An Indian At Ougavig a white missionary, the does not weep often for pain or grief, but kindness will touch him in the Rev. Ernst Weber and his wife, was quickas nothing else will. In tWs letstationed for the first time last winter, ter I am not forgetting those outside of and all the villagers were taking a deep our own Church. Thank God for this interest in their spiritual welfare. They gift of His, the brotherhood of ,Chrlsattended all the services regularly, ob- served the Lord's Day, and quite a tians.
number came forward and made a con- For the physician, Dr. Goodell, I fession of faith in Christ Jesus. have no word, I have no possessions, When it is remembered with what silver or gold, that is good enough; so external difficulties the missionaries I have called upon Jehovah Himself have to contend in that far distant and for a blessing upon this physician, who frozen north, ana how their labors are is beloved of God. often attended with the risk of their Brethren, more I cannot say. God lives, these results are indeed encour- help us to be always true to our brother. aging. hood. J. II. KILBUCK. It may be remembel"ld from the account of this mission, which appeared TmET.-The Moravian Mission in in THE MISSIONARY REVIEW in 1890, that the pioneer missionary in this field, Tibet, and especially the station at Leh, and 'the present superintendent of the mission, is a Delaware Indian. Last 11,000 feet above the sea, has been deyear his wife, an American lady, had to return to the States on account of ill scribed in a previous issue of this REhealth. In spite of her illness she spoke constantly in public, drawing crowded VIEW. The almost impossibility of audiences wherever she appeared, and winning converts here is also well carrying the people away with enthusiasm. She returned to Alaska this known. Forty years has the mission summer, taking with her three new laborers. Her husband sent back to the been carried on, and yet at the three States the following touching letter: stations together only sixty-three souls belong to the mission. Yet the Mora- vian Brethren persevere. When, there- fore, this year on Good Friday, March 31st, 1893, they were able to baptize one of the citizens of Leh, giving him the name Paul, they rejoiced greatly. He has been ostracized by all his former STEAMER" DOltA," KUSKOK.WIM BA.Y, friends, and has had to undergo much persecution, but thus far he has re- July 3, 1893.
To the Brethren of the Moravian Ohurch: mained firm.
On the 30th ult. it pleased the good The Maharajah of Cashmere, under Lord to bring my wife safely back to whose government Leh stands, indi- our field of service. God be praised – rectly opposes the mission work by re- for His loving-kindness, not only for fusing to allow the missionaries to put Sister Kilbuck's safe arrival here, but up new and badly needed buildings.
also for the promise of her complete Two more married couples and a sin- restoration to strength, thus giving gle sister have entered this trying field promise of a longer term of service. of labor during the past year.
My dear brethren, I know you rejoice The Annual Report of Moravian Mis- with me, and it is for this reason I pen sions for the year ending July, 1893, you these few words. I am not writ- reports 91,844 souls (1300 more than ing to the Provincial Elders' Confer- last year), taken:care of by 392 mission- ence, but to all the brethren. Accept aries (209 brethren and 183 sisters), at the hearty thanks of a grateful hus- 147 stations in 21 different countries, band. I do not exaggerate, when I at a total cost of $384,050, includlng say that the tears often ran down my administration, pension, and education- cheeks, while listening to Sister Kil· al expenses.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
South Amerioa.,* Home Missions,t Y. M. O. A.,t Y. p. S. O. E.§ IGBmoD~ ~ork in South Amerio~ ous Christianity? Crosses there are in abundance, but when shall the doctrine BY REV. J. B. KOLB, ATLANTA, GEORGIA. of the cross be held up?"
The aim of this article is not so much The Methodist Episcopal Church sent to discuss the necessity nor yet the out Mr. Spaulding in 1836, and Mr. propriety of carrying the simple Gos· Kidder in 1838. By 1842 both had repel of our Lord Jesus Christ to those turned. Dr. KaIley, a Scotch Congrewho are sitting in the region and shad- gationalist, having been expelled from ow of death of nineteenth century Re- Madeira, commenced his notable work manism, which has been styled a com· in Nichteroy, the capital of Rio de bination of Judaism, Christianity, and Janeiro, afterward transferring it to paganism, as to give some account of the city of Rio, where to·day there is a what is being done in the line of the large central church with branches in Saviour's command, It Go, preach My several parts of Brazil. This work of Gospel." Dr. Kalley is now termed the" Igrija Fluminense. " The second Presbyteri- The territory of South America em· an effort was begun in 1859, when Rev. braces twelve different portions, count- Simonton began his labors in the city ing the Guianas as one and Patagonia of Rio, being followed the next year as a separate portion. In but four has by the lamented Blackford. The Meththere any extensive evangelistic work odist Episcopal Church, South, renewed been done. Probably the first evange· her mission in 1877. Next came the listic effort was made on Brazilian soil. Southern Baptist Convention, having In the days of Calvin a considerable been interested in Brazil through Gencolony established itself near Rio de eral A. T. Hawthorne, who during a Janeiro. Some ministers were sent out visit to Brazil had become so thoroughto the colony in 1555, but the colony ly interested in the country and its peohaving been betrayed into the hands of ple that, after his conversion, he imthe Romanists, some were put to death. mediately set about the giving of the some were sent back, and some fled to Gospel to them. Through his influence the Indians, one of whom, John Boles, the first Baptist missionary reached was thrown into prison in Bahia, where Brazil in 1881. Since then the Epishe lay for eight years, afterward being copal Church has established a flourishtaken to Rio and executed. Two hun· ing mission in the most southerly State, dred and eighty·one years followed, Rio Grande do SuI. Some independent during which no voice was lifted for workers are there, all adding their mite Jesus. In 1805 the sainted Henry Mar· to the general result, and blessed of tyn, on his way to India, touched at God. Bahia. The idolatry which he saw everywhere led him to cry out, "What We add some more minute statehappy missionary shall be sent to bear ments of the work of the principal the name of Christ to these western reo evangelical churches, beginning with gions? When shall this beautiful coun· Brazil. try be delivered from idolatry and spuri- Baptist.-Their work was begun in • See also pp. 42, 50 (Jannary), 836, B48 (pres. 1881. Since then their churches and entiMne). workers have so increased that it was deemed advisable to form a convention t See pp. 266 (April), 510 (July), 831 (present for greater efficiency in the administra- tion of the work, and to bring the dif- Issne). ferent missions into a more hearty sym- ~ See pp. 336 (May). 580 (August), 809 (present pathy, so that now there is a line of Issne).
SChristian Endeavor Department (Monthly). missions extending from Pernambuco modest but comely brick church in to Sao Paulo. The present missionary Juiz de Fora, built almost entirely force consists of seven married and through the energies of Brother Tarfour single male and two single female boux and the efforts of ollr native missionaries, with six native ministers church; a very neat church of brick in and assistants. There are nine churches, Piracicaba; a cbapel and parsonage in in some of which the principle of self- Sao Paulo, bought by Brother Walling support is being carried out; for in- since my departure in August last stance, the church of Bahia pays all of rBrother Kennedy is now in the United its current expenses. Very little has States], and other chapels and church been done by the Baptists in the line property of many thousands in value. of education. A school has been begun The present status is very gratifying, at Bahia. Much use has been made of when we remember that about six years the printed page. A newspaper, en- and a half ago Bishop Granberry ortitled A Venlade (The Truth), has been ganized the Brazil Mission Annual Conpublished for years. From their own ference with only three members aJ;ld a press they have issued a large number church-membership of 211. As to the of tracts, etc. The report for the year outlook, our work is very promising says: .. We begin the new year full of bright hope for our field, and trust that now in manl respects. 1. The Brazil- God will greatly extend the operations ian Church IS not only a mission, but is of the missions, while He pours out His distinctively missionary. This is shown Spirit upon people and workers." by the fact that last year our Brazilians contributed about $5 per capita for mis- We add partial statistics for 1892: sions, and nearly that amount for Baptized during the year, 96; whole church extension. 2. Our native minnumber, 453; churches, 9; contribu- istry is growing in quantity and qualtions, $1344.17. ity. 3. Our membership is now includ- ing quite a number of the well·to-do Methodist Epi8copal Ohurch, South.- and influential classes. 4. Our growth The Brazil Mission Conference was or- will henceforth be more rapid; for at ganized in 1886; however, the renewal the last session of the Annual Conferof their work dates from 1877, since ence our net increase was double what which they have been very much pros- it was the year before, and ere the half pered. One of the distinctive features of this present year had elapsed our inof the work has been the educational. crease was not far behind what it had In this and the regular evangelistic been for the entire previous one. Methwork the Church is giving evidence of great spiritual power. Rev. J. L. Ken- odism is firmly. increasingl1" and fornedy gives the following 1'esume of the ever established in Brazil.' The anwork during the last conference year: nual report yields the following statis- .. Never before was our Brazilian work tics: Local preachers. 11; members, in a more prosperous and promising 679; members baptized during the condition. Never before was it in a year, 157; infants baptized during the more thoroughly organized shape, ac- year, 58; Sabbath-schools, 11; Sabcording to our system. The machinery bath·school pupils, 431 ; total contribuof all our conferences, from the annual tions. $8027.27. No statistics are given down, is fully at work. We have our which would throw light upon the educonference organ, the Expositor Ohris- cational work. tao, with a circulation nearly or fully double our membership. We have a PreJ!byterians, South, began labors in limited number of our own theological 1868. For convenience they divide and religious books, and the religious their work into that of Southern, Inliterature of the Portuguese language, terior, and Northern Brazil. The southin the form of books, tracts, weekly ern field embraces eight churches with and monthly periodicals, though com- 420 members, who contributed $4000 toward their support. Owing to the paratively small, is by no means insig' violent epidemics of yellow fever in nificant. Our membership, which, ac- Campinas, the central station, the mis· cording to the latest official statistics, sion has removed its headquarters to numbered 679, is no less than 825 at Lavras and Sao J oao del Rei, two flourthis date. We have a corresponding ishing towns in Southern Minas. One Sabbath·school population. There are of the features of this station will be three districts, manned by ten mission- its school. The churches left behind aries, of whom nine are married, and are all manned by excellent native minsixteen native preachers, besides whom isters. we had at our last annual conference five local preachers. We have a beau- The interior field has its centre in tiful stone church in Rio de Janeiro; a Bagagem, where the sainted Boyle la- bored with such good resultl$. Mr. ( Cowan, who succeeded Boyle, writes: carries on work through its missionaries " Six years have passed since Mr. Boyle and schools in six different mission sta- came to live in Bagagem. As the ri- tions. Rio Station is now occupied by suIt of his labors, there are four tlour- but one missionary, who is laboring in ishing congregations of native Chri8- the lines of the McAll Mission of tians; and these congregations are all France, and reports for the last year ready to be organized and officered, and very encouragingly. East Rio Station, will soon be at work on their respective Novo Friburgo, is a new station. The buildings-. " Probably Mr. Boyle did synod's theological seminary is located his best work on the 0 Evangelista, a here, with four students. Sao Paulo is newspaper which attained a notable ac- the centre of the school work. Here is ceptance. He began by an issue of a large mixed school under the direc- 400 copies, which soon reached 1200. tion of Dr. H. M. Lane; 513 children The object which Mr. Boyle had before were enrolled, a large part from Roman him was to give the people a clear idea Catholic families. Religious exercises of the worth and value of the Christian open and close the school. There is religion as compared with infidelity and the study of the catechism, and a thor- Romanism. Mr. Cowan writes eucour· ough course of Bible study for the ad- agingly of their school work. vanced grade. In the boy's boarding In Northern Brazil work is carried hall is a class of eleven. pursuing a on from three centres-Pernambuco, course of higher instruction, the begin- Ceara and Maranham. The mission· ning of the Protestant College, which aries and native ministers form the aims to do for Brazil what the Syrian Presbyter.v of Pernambuco, which is a Protestant College is doing for Syria.
part of the Synod of Brazil. This pres- Curityba Station is in the State of Pa- bytery reports as follows: From July raUll., south of Sao Paulo. Here earnest 1st, 1891, to June 30th, 1892, churches, and successful effort has been made to 9; received on examination, 46; re- establish a girl's school. . Its limit of ceived by letter, 2; total number, 374; 100 has already been reached. Both infants baptized, 13 ; total of baptized here and in Sao Paulo the supply of infa.nts, 285; children in Sunday- students is nnlimited. From this point schools, 162;' total contributions, also an extensive evangelistic work is $1254.10. The annual report gives 9 being carried on. Bahia Station is male married, 1 male single, and 4 fe- one of the oldest, but at the present the male single missionaries. The report weakest. Much has been done in the shows the work to be tlollrishing. way of scattering the seed. Being a Presbyterians, :NortJ., began work in commercial centre, many have heard 1859, when the Rev. Simonton was sent the Word of Life, and so the Gospel out to Rio de Janeiro, followed by the has been carried to the distant interior.
lamented Blackford the next year. Larangeiras, the newest of the stations, After some years' labor the first Pres- is in the State of Sergipe. The growth byterian church was organized over a of the Gospel has been steady and is shoe shop with four members; it has gaining ground, and there is a good now grown to 200, and has its own school in connection with this station.
building and native pastor, and pays The published statistics show: Ordained all its expenses. The first missionaries missionaries, 9; medical missionary formed, with the native ministers, the (director of schools), 1 ; single lady mis- Presbytery of Rio de Janeiro, which sionaries, 5; colporteurs, 7; ordained was a member of the Synod of Balti- native ministers, 2; scholars in schools, more, and originated a plan of home 771.
missions for the support of the native The report of the Synod of Brazil pastors by the native church; it also for 1891: Presbyteries, 4; churches, promoted. education, not only of the 59 ; ministers, 43 ; communicants, 3780 ; young, but also of a native ministry. contributions, $21,874.
Then the cause of city and country The synod meets triennially, and for evangelization came in for its fostering that reason there are no later data than care. All these causes were more dis- above; but from all parts the reports tinctly emphasized by the union of the are most encouraging. The home mis- missions and missionaries together with sion cause is still the great cause. The the native ministers of both the South- synod has established a foreign mission ern and Northern Presbyterian churches committee, which has been receiving in Brazil, forming the Synod of Brazil, some funds. Formerly the mission with four presbyteries, making it the published a journal, the Imprensa Evan- largest body of Christian workers in getica, which has been replaced by the 0 Estandarte, edited and published un- Brazil.
The Presbyterian Church, North, der native direction. A tract society has done some gooi work, and con- ters, 3; native helpers, 12; churches, stant effort is made toward training 5; communicants, 295; added last young men for the ministry. .. All the year, 36 ; students for the ministry, 6 ; true friends of Brazil are filled with schools, 4 ; pupils, 409 ; pupils in Sabanxiety for the future, and are praying bath-schools, 516. that hi the reorganization of the public The Presbyterian Mission in Oolomschools a cause may be found to hope bia. The Bogota Station was opened for better things, and that by some in 1856. There are now two other sta- providential turn a course may be taken tions: Barranquilla and· Medellin. that will lead to the cultivation of a Something is done in the line of school higher moral and more .patriotic spirit work, but under difficulties. There is among all classes of the people" (Dr. a growing opposHion to all evangelistic Lane). effort in this republic. The Colombia Besides these missions, there is that Mission reports: Ordained missionaries, of the Episcopal Church of the United 5 ; male teachers, 6; female teachers, States, which a few years ago sent out 10; churches, 3; communicants, 144; two missionaries who are much blest in added dnring the year, 19 ; schools, 5 ; their work in the State of Rio Grande pupils, 251 ; pupils in Sabbath-schools, do SuI. They report several schools, U~ . etc. The Igrija Fluminense, estab- The Methodist Episcopal Church, lished by Dr. Kalley, is an active, ag- North, is at work in the Argentine Re- I gressive church. The American and public. Besides this there is the sys- British and Foreign Bible societies have tem of chaplaincies, established by the done much toward the evangelization British Government; these, however, of Brazil. Both have agents and agen- are not for the evangelization of the nacies in Rio de Janeiro, and employ a tive peoples, but for British subjects.
number of colporteurs. Rev. Tucker, This work, together with that ver.v in- of the American Bible Society, reports teresting work of the Lord in Tierra del a larger distribution of the Scriptures Fuego, are under the Bishop of the last year than ever before. At one Falkltmd Islands. time Bishop Taylor had some men at The work in South America hasjive work in the coast cities, but no results great needs,' 1. The education of the followed. young, with especial reference to in- Next after Brazil in importance comes stilling into their minds a proper sense Ohili. The Presbyterian Church, of responsibility to God. 2. The wider North, appears to be the only worker distribution of the Holy Scriptures, not here. Dr. Trumbull has maintained a only in Portuguese to Brazilians, and Union church in Valparaiso for many in Spanish to all others, but their intro- years. Dr. Allis s.ays: "The general duction into the great Indian family.
outlook was never so bright as now in 3. The practical Christian living on the Chili. The friends of the Gospel are part of members of churches, and of multiplying everywhere. Weare look- those who go to these lands for pur- ing for the harvest of souls from the poses of trade or otherwise. 4. The long seed sowing. We see signs of in- simple, practical preaching of the Gos- terest which have never appeared be- pel, offsetting the corruptions and in- fore-in the press, in public utterances, novations of Romanism. 5. The cry in private and personal response, in the comes from those countries which have interest in our publications, papers, and not heard the Gospel as yet, or only to tracts, in the increased circulation of a limited extent: Venezuela, Guiana, the Bible, in the decrease of opposition, Uru~uay, Paraguay. the Argentine Re- in political attitudes, showing the work pubhc, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and of some overturning power. I am as Patagonia. In the midst of this cor- sure as one can be of anything that the rupted and degraded Christianity there next five years will show a demand for is a mass of pure heathenism, made up workers all along the line that will test of the many tribes of Indians for whom to the utmost our resources, and, I fear, nothing has been done. They, in some far outrun any increase of men from cases, have been catechised by Bomish the States or from this country that we monks, but only to be the more deeply can properly expect." Educational enslaved. The door stands wide open and itineratmg work seem to be the in nearly all of the unoccupied coun- specialties of this mission. tries, and in those already occupied in The work of this mission is carried part there are still abundant opportunion at five stations: Valparaiso, Santi- ties. Who will heed the call that comes ago, Concepcion, Copiapo, and ChilIan. from out of this great seething mass of· The statistics are as follows: Ordained sin, corruption, ignorance, superstition, missionaries, 7; ordained native minis- and heathenism ?
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. 1,. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign French accusations against the English Periodioals. missionaries has been amply demon- strated by a French author, M. SaiIlens. BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, In what a mental and moral delirium French journals must be that charge MASS. upon an English missionary a plot to poison French soldiers, and regret that MISCELLANEOUS. he was not shot instead of being im· prisoned I -" There have lately appeared in Le Portefeuille, a weekly magazine pub- -It is known that the Chinese Emlisbed in Paris, some articles on • Les peror once a year adores" Heaven," or Fran9ais ll. Madagascar,' containing Shang-ti. The Lunds MissiolUltidning some very grave charges against the gives the following prayer as used by a Malagasy Government, and reflecting former emperor at this time. It shows seriollilly upon English officials, traders, reverence, humility, and a lack of filial and missionaries. It is easy for us, who confidence: "To thee, 0 thou myshave lived long in the island and know teriously working creator, I look up in what Frenchmen are there, to infer that my thoughts. How lofty is the im· these charges come via Bourbon, and mense vault of that temple wherein have their origin in the minds of baffled thou art enthroned! Now is the time Jesuit priests and disappointed filibus- at hand (the winter solstice) when Na· tering Frenchmen, who, to serve their ture's forces begin to unfold th~mselves, own ends, would be only too delighted and I am ready to bring to thee the if they could cause a diplomatic rup- great sacrifice. I, thy servant, am but ture between the French and the<IMala- a reed or bending willow, and my heart gasy. It is made to appear in these is as that of It mere emmet. Yet' hast papers that the "Malagasy are more in- thou in thy Divine grace determined debted to the French than to any other that I should reign over this realm. I nationality, and that France has a far deeply feel my ignorance and blindgreater right to the first position there ness, and greatly fear that I shall be than Englishmen could possibly have. unable to show myself worthy of thy English influence is undoubtedly para· great goodness. I would fain req~ite mount In the island, and we think this this, insignificant as I am, byobservmg is owing to the fact that English influ· all the rules and laws incumbent on ence has been mostly gained by un- me for the fulfilment of my regal duties. selfishness and upright dealing; almost From this immeasurable distance I look all her agents have acted for the good up to thy heavenly palace. Come of the people, and have openly avowed down from thence to the altar in thy that England had no designs on the isl- costly chariot. As thy servant I bow and; while Frenchmen have labored my head to the earth, humbly expectfor their own aggrandizement, for the ing thine overflowing grace. All my estabJfshment of the Roman Catholic officers are here placed in order so that, J.:eligion, and have proved to the natives while I adore thee, they may adore the ihat they could desire to be complete spirits who attend thee as thy escort masters of the island; nay, it is claimed and fill the air from east to west. 0 that Madagascar has been a French pos- Lord, we pray thee condeseend to acsession since the year 1642 !"-Mada- cept this offering, and in grace look uaacar News. upon us during our devotions, thou, -The absolute futility of the' French claims upon Madagascar and of the
EXTRACTS AND TRANSJ,ATIONS
whose goodness is without measure 1" wished to give up his work. On being There is not here, we see, as there is in asked the reason he Baid that he had to Solomon's prayer, any distinct entreaty preach the Gospel, and yet his heart for Divine internal aid to fulfil the regal was quite dark. On being questioned office. further, it appeared that he had not -The Rev. Wilfrid Bird Hornby is realized the forgiveness of his sins. to be the new Bishop of Nyasaland, so After some conversation on the subject that Bishop Smythies will henceforth he was able to tell the missionary that confine himself to the Diocese of Zanzi- he had come to understand the full bar. message of the Gospel, and that his heart was filled with joy. Shortly -" Pastor Warneck, preaching on after he told the missionary the story the occasion of the yearly festival of of hi! life. The name he was known the Rhenish Missionary Society, re- by was not his true one. He had left ferred to the relatively small extent of his native place and adopted an entirely missionary work among the heathen as new name in order to avoid detection. compared with the work done at home. He had, when employed in an office of Deducting, he says, the 155 missionaries trust, stolen some £30, and accordingly sent out by the Moravian Church, there was wanted by the police. Thus far are only 450 German and Swiss foreign he had eluded them; but now he felt missionaries; while the home workers that he must gi ve himself up to justice. (ministers) number 15,OOO-i.e., forty He did so, and so unique was the case times less abroad than at home. Again, of a defaulter surrendering himself the contributions for foreign missions that he was dealt gently with, and conamount to £150,000 as compared with demned to only three months' imprisonsome £5,000,000 expended on the home ment. What may be the effect on the churches. Dr. Warneck said he could people when they know all the facts not present the figures relating to Eng- of the case and' see the power of the land and America, but he reckoned that Gospel remains to be seen."-The the whole number of foreign mission- Ohronicle.
aries throughout the heathen world is -" Regard IDlSSlons as students of in round figures, 4000; and the totai history or of Church polity, and we income of all missionary societies is must own that our present organiza- £2,000,000; and this is all that is done tions and the necessity of pleasing our for the thousand millions of heathen. religious mass~s are leading us into Not so much, he adds, as is done for their extensiOl: s, and are not kindling the six eastern provinces of Prussia. those white hot foci which wrought the As to the reasons of this sad dispropor- establishment of Christianity and the tion, Dr. Warneck said that the fact Church in the past. Our present meth~ that there is no living Christianity in ods make us extremely distrustful alike large sections of the Church is not a of our own leaders and of our own disfull explanation of the matter. The ciples, afraid to trust the former with reason, he thinks, is that the world·em- power and to brace the latter with rebracing character of redemption is not sponsibility. And yet it was by snch sufficiently realized by Christian peo- confidence in converts and such relipIe."- The Chronicle. ance in emissaries that the apostolic -" In Java a missionary had among churches and the churches which his people a man whose general conduct Christianized ourselves did their work~ and bearing were such as to induce The ancient ways evoked genius, orig- him to take him as a helper. In this inality, entire fJ.crifice. Have we found position he conducted himself for some these powers spring in the track of our time most honorably. At length he methods? Have we given them free-
MIBSION ARY INTELLIGENCE
dom when they appeared? Conse- power of force; for this will be sure to quently, do the really great religions recoil upon him hereafter and spoil all of the world give any sign of surrender ?-TIIE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTER- his work, if he goes out of his sphere BURY, quoted in Th~ Ohri.~tian. and snatches a power which God has -" UpOD what principle was our own not committed to him. Weare careful country established? to teach our people that even heathen chiefs have their power from God, and .. The principle of religious liberty that they are to be obeyed as holding a in our own worship of the Lord God is power from God. It is not our place at the basis of our Government and of to usurp that power, but it is rather our success as a nation. America was to persuade the chiefs to use that powdedicated to God from the very first. er by the light of the principles of when Isabella sent out Columbus to righteousness and justice."-BISHOP discover a. new world and convert its SMYTIlIEB, in Centml Africa. inhabitants. The cross was the first religious emblem planted on A.merican -" In a speech at Bradford, a few son, and the pioneers of the country weeks ago, Sir Henry Mitchell said: were, in the main, Christians of a fer- • War has not yet come to an end, but vent spirit, serving the Lord with dili- I am looking forward to the time when, gence. The Pilgrims in Massachusetts, in civilized countries especially, war the Baptists in Rhode Island, the Qua- will be known no more, and I will venkers in Pennsylvania,the French Hugue- ture to prophesy that I shall never see nots in the South, the Catholics in -I hope nODe of you will ever see-a Maryland and Delaware, and the Jesuit war between any English'speaking peo- Fathers in the Northwest-all are silent ples. I do not think that there will ever but powerful witnesses to the fact that be a European war in my time in which America is essentially a Christian land, England will take part. There is a perhaps the foremost in the work of growing healthy public opinion among converting the world. Should we for- all civilized nations against war, and I sake the Lord our God ?"- Woman's am confirmed in this opinion by a very Home His8io1UJ (Methodist Episcopal). eminent man. I refer to M. Wadding- ton, the French ambassador at our -" A. danger which has to be avoided court. 1 was dining with him some in an uncivilized country by a mission- time ago, and, speaking upon this very ary is the danger of becoming a chief. subject, he expressed the same opinions People will gradually gather round that I have expressed, and he gave me him, and it may be that in time of diffi- three reasons why he entertained those culty they would gladly welcome him opllllOns. The first was that public in such a position; but surely that will opinion among all civilized countries be fatal to his spiritual power. Every and among the most thoughtful and missionary has clearly to discern be- influential people was growing stronger tween the two powers which God has and stronger against it. The second placed in the world, that which we call was a reason that we in this country do the power of the keys and the power of not happily understand. .. In my the sword, and he has always to take country," he said, .. every mother has care that in all he does he confines him- to part with a son at the most interestself to the use of the power of the keya ing period of his life." Mothers feel -those means of advancing the Gospel this most keenly. They exercise a very by persuasion and by the spiritual pow- powerful influence upon public opin- . ers granted to him by our Lord, never ion, and will have something to say snatching, under whatever temptation, when any serious war threatens to break to gain a temporary advantage-never onto Another reason he gave was this snatching- at p()litic~l power or the -though it may seem paradoxical-
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONI!l
that the very instruments of warfare hothouse methods, to try to bring a are now so deadly that war must now premature Herrnhut out of every na- destroy itself.' Sir Henry went on to tive station. Even the question of say that his reason for referring to polygamy he would have handled care- these questions, when a more distinctly fully, and is not fully settled in his religious address might have been ex- mind that the converts ought to be re- pected of him, was that all the men quired to separate from those wives to who had been chiefly instrumental in whom they were married before their bringing about those great reforms and conversion. He utterly opposes the improvements were animated by Chris- manner that was then in use in the few tian principles. On the other hand, if existing Protestant missions, of begin- they looked outside the Christian world ning instruction with a demonstration -in all heathen and non-progressive of the existence of God, proceeding countries-they would find none of through creation to the flood, and then these improvements."-Heraldof Peaee. through the Old Testament hi!tory, and only coming out up on Christ as & final -The Allgemeine Mis8'i01Ul-Zeitachrift historical result. Put Christ first, last, for August, 1892, has a very interest- and in the midst, is his watchword. ing paper, by H. Roy, of the Brethren's His theology is Christocentric in the Unity, on the missionary principles of intensest degree, and would even verge Count Zinzendorf, as illustrated in his on Patripassianism were it not that the letters and instructions, especially from historical theology of the Church al- 1730 to 1740. His fundamental princi- ways remains the foundation. All the- ple seems to have been: Seek out the ological expositions are to be addressed Corneli'us souls. He was greatly averse to the longing for redemption. to efforts for conversions in the mass. Zinzendorf would have the mission· He was also exceedingly averse to in- aries not too solicitous for apparent re- troducing among the heathen the par- sults. Bear witness to the saving tisan names of European Christianity, Name, and leave this, like the kernel or those forms of doctrine which have of wheat, having disappeared out of been developed under special historical sight, to spring up and bear its harvest conditions. He did not want the heath- of salvation in its own time, it may be en so much as to know that Christianity after more than one generation, under was divided into sects, and where this another ministry, which shall evoke knowledge has filtered in among them, from its long latency that which seemed he exhorts the missionaries to say as to have long perished. This, remarks much good and as little evil as possible Mr. Roy, may explain the many begin- of every Christian body. He does not nings of missions soon given up, which want the converts to be bothered with occur in the early history of the Unity. such names as Luther or Herrnhut or Neverthelcss, wherever baptism is Zinzendorf. He deprecates introducing administered, it should be where the among them the peculiar forms and or- institutions of the Church are already ganization of the Unitas Fratrum, and firmly established. To baptize men insists that on the fundamental lines of without previous instruction and then Christianity every nation shall have a send them off to take care of themchurch accommodated to its peculiar selves is no part of Zinzendorf's methtemper and habits of action. Sin Is od. not to be tolerated, but .converts from The count utterly abhors the dispo- .among the heathen are not to be plagued sition of some missionaries to lord it with ethical refinements which they among their converts. Brethren among could not comprehend, and which are brethren is what he would have them the ultimate fruits of Christian devel- to be, in genuine and not in affected opment. The missionaries are not, by humility. The chief power of the keys
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
which he would have them use is the mony. The missionary, of course, has power which radiates from a holy life his own opinions concerning this testi- and from an unreserved identification mony, but I would advise him to give of themselves with their people. From not his thoughts about this testimony, all business, except such handicrafts as but the testimony itself. The Bible, they need for their .own support, and too, is one of those books that are more from all complications with govern- praised and criticised than read. Nor ments, they are to hold themselves reso- does it maintain or lose its position in lutely aloof. He even carries his dis- the world by what we hold concerning like of any activity not strictly relig- it, and is not through opinion, but ious to such an extreme as to take ex- through itself. what it is. It is very ception because some of the brethren in unpedagogical to disturb the quiet the West Indies taught the negroes to working of this book, the naIve enjoy- write. Perhaps, however, this was be- ment of it, so to speak, by dishing up cause be feared this would cause trouble to young converts every latest edition with the authorities. Dealing, as he of critical dogmas respecting it; nor does, with the beginning of missions, yet is it wise or reasonable to impose he does not look forward to the era of on them a doctrine of the Scripture . schools, which, however, we believe which leaves them incapable of resist- that the Moravians have not been back- ance, perplexed in faith, so soon as they ward in providing for their people, hear of what is going on in the world ; though they have never, like the Scot- and there is no danger but that they tish and some of the American mission- will hear it. If we would, we could aries, carried them to such a point as not hinder even the ruder tribes, not to invited criticism and necessitated reo say those of higher standing, from trenchment. hearing what in our country is pro- Zinzendorf's views have their limita- claimed on the housetops. Strauss and tions, but they commend themselves by Renan, etc., are known also in India their keeping so near the centre. As and Japan. The best weapon against Mr. Roy intimates, Spangenberg did the mischief which they are working is, not maintain Zinzendorf's level. It inmy judgment, not to teach them much was hardly possible. The far-reaching about the Bible, but to teach them THE Christian wisdom and the perfect Chris- BIBLE, to teach them to read it, to use tian temper bound up in these instruc- it, to live in it."-F. M. ZAHN, in All- tions is gradually filtering into the gen- gemeine Missions·Zeitschrijt.
eral consciousness of the churches. As -" The main difficulty of a school for the Unitas }<'ratrum herself, her which aims to give popular education shortcomings as viewed by Zinzendorf's is how it can so concentrate itself as to standard are more apparent to herself give a thorough development, and not than to others. The rest of us would to fritter itself away in the multiplicity do very well for awhile if we reached of objects which it may be desirable to Spangenberg's position. learn. The centre is found, when re- – " Those who are converted by liv· ligious instruction is placed in the midst, ing personal testimony, the missionary and when in this again the Bible is refers to the Bible. That is the second made the classic of elementary popular step. He gives them the Bible, no dog- training. Scholars that have enjoyed ma about the Bible. When the hearer an education which has always steeped of the Gospel asks whence this message them afresh in the Bible will have re- comes, the missionary must speak of ceived a thorough mental development, the history of Christianity and say to and at the same time be prepared in the him that through God's goodness we best way for a church which knows have a testimony of the normative be- how to use the Bible. "-Allgemeine ginning, and must give him this testi- Mis8ion8-Zeit8chri/t.
ENGLISH NOTES
English Notes. MedieaZ M'zaBionary Cu'l'1'icu~um. BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS. White FieZd8, the organ of the Zenana The AnnuaZ Report of the Church Medical College, London, strongly ad- M'&88ionary Soeiety.-This report fur· vocates the sufficiency, for general purnishes a compact remme of the proceed. poses, of their two years' curriculum. ings of this society during the year. The committee ~int out that all young A hopeful financial advance has been missionaries have not the ability, time, made. The contributions during the or means to secure the full registrable past two years have been £30,000 in ex- diploma; and besides, how few of those cess of the average income previously; who have will devote themselves withand there has been a large increase in out fees to minister to the poor and the number of candidates accepted for needy and moneyless I The gaps are the work. Whereas, during the ten too many to fill from such a quarter. years ending 1882 the yearly average In view of these facts, the two years' was twenty.six, during the ten years curriculum seem to supply the golden I ending 1892 it was forty·eight. The mean; and experience confirms the actual number for last year was eighty- wisdom of it. Those who have gone one-by far the largest number of any forth from this college testify to the past year. This great increasc, how- adequacy of the tuition. Miss Rains· ever, is regarded by the editor of the ford, a former student, writing from Ohurch MisBionary IntelligenceI' as Naromal, says: "I have found my somewhat deceptive, for out of the to- knowledge, in nine cases out of ten, tal of eighty-one fifty-two are women_ enough to relieve or cure where possi· It is not that he deprecates the accept- ble. Here we are thirty miles from a ance of so many women, but where are railway and doctor. I have seen over I the men to keep this large company of women in countenance? Let us hope, i 8000 patients last year, and done over with the late Dr. Guthrie, that in this 300 operations. I saw a few weeks ago i 177 patients in a day. "
instance" the women are the boys." Prince William SherklYl'. – This A Threefold PZea.-The Rev. T. prince, who has been duly elect.ed by Walker, of Tinnevelly, in his recent the Kaffir Bullom people, West Africa, speech at the Church Missionary So- to be their king, has written a letter to ciety's annual meeting, entered a three- Mr. Humphrey, of the Church Mission- fold plea (1) in behalf of a great exten- ary Society, which abundantly shows sion of educational work, in the gra· the good name which that society has cious results of which, unlike Dr. Pente- won for herself in those parts. He cost, he fully believes; (2) in behalf of says: "Bearing in mind the friendly a wide extension of evangelistic work; relations which always existed between and (3) in behalf of a warmer interest that society and my predecessors, you in the native churches. Speaking in will be pleased to learn that among the support of the second plea, he says: instructions I received from my princi- "I have known a poor Hindu seek me pal chiefs or headsmen on ascending out with much difficulty, and speak to the throne, one was that I should by no me in words like these: 'Ab, sir, I means let the cord of friendship be- have long been seeking peace in Hindu- tween your noble society and this coun- ism; I cannot find it there. Now I am try be broken, which already shows going to seek it in the religion of the the extent of her influence. Taking all Saviour, because I have watched the these into consideration, together with lives of Christians and believe they my own personal wishes to be led and have it.' Time only forbids me cit- advised by wiser minds, I feel I cannot ing similar instances and illustrations refrain from expressing the hope that by the score." my humble note to you, the representa-
GENERAL MlBBIONARY INTELLIGENCE
tive of that noble society, may tend to you won't affect us.' So is it with the cement and 1)lace on a surer basis, if hearing of God's Word: the young are that be possible, the good relation which startled, tbe old become indifferent. so happily existed between the Church Resist its appeals and it loses its~power. " Missionary Society and my predeces- sors." Mohammedan T1·ophiea.-The Rev. R. H. Tregillas, of the Baptist Mission, Personal Mia8ionary Obligation.- Jessore, has been much encouraged by Canon McCormick, in a sermon preach- the fruits of his labor among the Mo- ed on the ninety-fourth anniversary of hammedans of that district, particularly the Church Missionary Society, on the in the village of Dowlatpore. The first words, " So they, being sent forth by convert was a 1Ylohammedan named the Holy Ghost, departed," treats of Dhonai. generally known as the doc- missionary obligation in two connec- tor. His mother and two brothers soon tions: (1) the idea of unfitness for it ; took up the same stand, and for over (2) a wrong estimate concerning the four years this family bore solitary con- work itself. We subjoin what seemed fession for Christ in the village. Dur- to us the most forcible passage : "Not ing the last two years, however, acces- only is there a tendency to make ex- sions have come; and In particular dur- cuses for not going into the mission ing the last few months eighteen breth- neld, but there is a danger of resisting, ren and sisters have there professed to some extent, the inward impulses of their faith by baptism. thirteen of these God's Holy Spirit. It is quite true being natives of Dowlatpore. In some that God's people shall be willing in other cases the persecution that fol- the day of His power to obey His call. lowed the avowal of Christ has been so It is quite true that the voice of the nerce that the constancy of the new Spirit, when heard as at Antioch, is disciples has quailed and broken before obeyed both by churches and individ- it. Let us hope that this is due, not to uals; but it is equally true that the the entire absence of faith, but rather nrst whisperings of the Spirit ought to to the temporary weakness of it. – obtain earnest and prayerful attention, lest they should not be followed by a Missionary Institute, Harley House, direct, clear, loving summons to holy BOW,London, E.-At a valedictory meet- work. It was in the darkness that ing recently held a bird's-eye view was Samuel was called..•. What is to given of the scope of this society's oper- be dreaded is lest, when conviction ations. In all, between 600 and 700 possesses us concerning the state of the have been sent to foreign lands. Of heathen world and our obligations in this number 80 are scattered over the reference to it, we should in any meas- Empire of China; 31 are in India; 103 ure stifle that conviction. If we do, in Africa. Though greatly tried, this it may not come to us again; or com- mission has been greatly blessed, " and ing, may not have any power over us. at the different stations there are some- where about 1300 natives who have con- " A gentleman was sailing down a fessed the name of Christ." Dr. Harry river under some high cliffs, and the Guinness, commenting on the readiness loud report of a gun was heard. Im- with which £250,000 worth of presents mediately the air was full of birds; had been given to the Princess May, but it was noticed that there were thou- appealed for increased financial sup- sands unmoved by the startling sound port on behalf of the Institute and the on the rocks and in their numerous Congo Mission, both of which need holes. The secret was, the young birds £2000 for carrying on their work. were startled, while the old ones seemed to say, as the artillery practice went on, ' Fire away until your guns burst; THE KINGDOM. ance. ' The Brahman went out of the house, and I never saw him again." -The stanchest of Protestants will agree with this noble utterance of Arch- -Truly, heathenism hath its draw- bishop Ryan, at the recent Catholic backs and positive inconveniences. Congress in Chicago: "Jesus is the Thus one of the delegates to the World's great capitalist, for is He not the King Congress, a Jain of India, was com- of kings and Lord of lords, and is not pelled during his entire stay in this all wealth His? And is He not the country to cook and serve his own carpenter of Nazareth, and did not He food, and this under pain of apostasy labor in the sweat of his brow? Who, from his religion. No person of any then, better than He, can settle the other faith might even touch a dish problem of capital and labor? Who? from which he ate. While on railway The world waits for a personality that trains and elsewhere he was often sadly is equal to the task, and all the time put to it for culinary facilities. He stands at the door and knocks." – A missionary in Alaska saw a Bible -Says Sir Monier Williams in his tied at the top of a stick three feet long, co Buddhism" : "Christianity demands and placed near the sick-bed of an old tlte suppression of selfishness; Buddha man. When asked the reason for this demands the suppression of self. In arrangement. the man said, co I cannot the one the true self is elevated; in the read, but I know that the word of my other it is annihilated. " Lord is there, and I look to heaven and say, 'Father, that is your book. There -This is the way a bright young is nobody to teach me to read. Very Celestial expounded the doctrine of good; you help me.' Then my heart -original sin when on examination for grows stronger, and the bad goes baptism: .. Sin is like garlic. You away." may keep the seed going for five thou- sand years, one plant after another, but -According to Rev. R. Steel, of Syd- garlic seeds will always produce garlic ney, New South Wales, missions are stock. They will never turn into some- not so very expensive after all, consid- 'thing sweet. You may cut all the top ering the abundant harvest in souls off, but if a bit of the root is there, up which they bring. For his estimate is will come garlic again, and it is garlic that in one hundred years, at a cost of 'for everlasting, and nothing but garlic, $10,000,000, some 350 islands have been and the same kind of garlic." evangelized, with 500,000 now in the churches. This would be at the rate -At the recent Northfield Confer- of 5000 converts a year, and at an ex- ence President Gates, of Amherst, said penditure of only $20 for each soul re- that he once asked Dr. Jacob Cham- deemed. No economical unbeliever berlain, the missionary, .. How did you ought to call this extravagance and find the consciousness of sin in India ?" waste. "I never but once heard a man deny the consciousness of sin. 1 took it for -The people of the Samoan Islands "'granted that they were sinners, and have not only supported the churches that they knew it: but once, as I was and ministers in their own islands, but preaching, a Brahman interrupted me, last year they sent $9000 to London to 'I deny your premises. I am not a help to send the Gospel to other lands. sinner. I do not need to be better.' For a moment I was abashed. Then -The contributions of the Malagasy I said, 'But what do your neighbors Christians to the London Missionary say?' Thereupon one cried out, ' He Society amounts to $31,240. Now the '.cheated me in trading horses ;' another, average wages of a Malagasy laborer is ;' He defrauded a widow of her inherit- about 6 cents a day, which makes the amount given tl.'ltonishingly large. Christianity in Madagascar was once with this parable: II Once upon a time almost annihilated by terrible persecu· a congregation asked their minister to tions, but it has sprung up into a large- give them strong meat The next Sabhearted, open-pocketed, and stalwart bath he preached on the duty of Chrislife. tian giving; and they sent him no more requests for strong meat." -The crescent and the cross, how do they compare for strength, and what is -It appears that Alpheus Hardy, the outlook for each? After thirteen the friend of Joseph Neesima and the hundred years Mohammedanism has noble servant of Christ, set forth for 200,000,000 adherents, and stretches the ministry, but by ill-health was comover a vast region 5000 by 10,000 miles pelled to desist from study_ For a time in extent, even from Gibraltar to the his disappointment was bitter and his Malay Peninsula and Java, though soul was in agony ; but soon a great practically confined to Southern Asia light fell upon him, and he saw that a and the northern half of Africa, Chris- sacred calling was open for him, and tianity after nineteen hundred years has said with rapture: .. 0 God, I can be 400,000,000 adherents, is the religion of Thy minister. I will make money for Europe and the New World, politically Thee, and tltat shall be my ministry." is universal ruler except in China and From thenceforth he felt himself to be Turkey, and is rapidly spreading its God's man, and as much chosen and dominion into every region on the face ordained as though preaching the Gosof the earth. pel from the pUlpit.
-Why should not the tribe increase -Mrs. Bishop, who has travelled and spring up in every Christian land? much in mission lands and visited some Mr. Evan Spicer finds that from Great 140 stations, witnesses this good con- Britain have gone forth as missionaries fession: "I am a convert to missions 125 persons who support themselves through seeing missions and the need whoJ1y, and 24 more who partly sup- for them_ Some years ago I took no port themselves_ The Church Society interest whatever in the condition of alone has 50 of the one class and 23 of the heathen; I had heard much ridicule the other.; the China Inland Mission cast upon Christian missions, and per- ' has 41 ; the Universities' Mission, 10; haps had imbibed some of the unhalthe Propagation Society. S; the Free lowed spirit. But the missionaries by·. Church of Scotland, 5; the Baptists their life and character, and by the and the London Society, 4 each, and work they are doing wherever I have the Wesleyans, 3. seen them, have produced in my mind such a change and such an enthusiasm, -A friend of the Wesleyan Mission- as I might almost express it, in favor ary Society has intimated his intention of Christian missions; that I cannot go to supplement his missionary subscrip- anywhere without speaking about tion by a birthday donation of £100 a them, and trying to influence others in year. A good precedent to follow, and their favor who may be as indifferent why should not thousands of such an- as I was." niversaries be marked by such thankofferings? -And Dr. R. N. Cust puts himself on record in these words: "The mis- -He said to the Quaker, "I can't sionary appears to me to be the highest help feeling for the poor, perishing type of human excellence in the nineheathen." And quoth the Quaker, teenth century, and his profession to be "Does thee feel in the right place? the noblest. He has the enterprise of Does thee feel in thy pocket ?" the merchant, without the narrow de- sire for gain; the dauntlessness of the -It is related of Dr. Andrew Bonar soldier, without the shedding of blood ; that he began a sermon to his people the zeal of the geographical explorer, -Dr. Anderson, of the Taiwanfoo but from higher motives than science." Hospital, Hainan, says that a sick man, long unable to work, had raiseu money -" What impressed me most," said for the journey to receive treatment by a recent visitor to Alaska, .. was the the sale of his wife to anotbcr man. difference between Fanny Willard, our One young man, having been unable to native teacher at Sitka, with her beauti- work for some time, had been dismissed ful face beaming with joy and love, and by his wife, who then married some the unchristianized, bent, worn, crea- one else. She had been honorable tures whose faces were disfigured with enough, he said, however, to give him lamp-black and fish oil, and made more back the $15 he had paid for her, and hideous with labrets piercing the chin; with this money he was able to live at and to think that Fanny was a few the hospital while the doctor sought to years ago a heathen child on the ranch effect a cure.-Lmdon Pre,byterian. at that wretched place, Fort Wrangell" -Given Christianity, and how soon WOMAN'S WORK. the position of women begins to rise! The king of Uganda recently sentenced -Does it mean that the Spirit of an offender to pay as a fine so many Christ is entering China that the em- cattle and sheep and two women. Impress dowager, on the occasion of the mediately a Christian chief interposed: celebration of her sixtieth birthday, .. But Christians do not give men or told the various mandarins not to send women; they give cattle and goats, not her the nsual presents, but to use the human beings." The king forthwith money instead for relieving the poor_ altered his sentence, and a new princi- It is said that she gave about $20,000 ple in Uganda jurisprudence, let us to the poor of each province from her hope, was established. own purse_ -The 40 zenanas in Rampore Bau- -Miss Jane Williamson, who shared leah, India, are like small churches, with her brother the blessings and dan- says Mrs. Morison, for whenever it is gers of the pioneer mission among the known that the missionaries are to visit Sioux, is over ninety years of age, and them, the neighbors are invited, and a has been for fifteen years totally blind_ congregation of 20 to 30 is quickly gath- In the depth of a Dakota winter she ered, eager to hear the good news of met one day a suffering Indian woman. the Gospel. The change wrought in She took off ,her own skirt to wrap the lives of the women is testified to by about her, and thus caught the cold their husbands thus: .. We cannot nnwhich caused her loss of sight_ derstand it, but the very atmosphere of home is different." -Missionaries have lively times now and then. Miss Russell, of North -H. H. Maharajah Holkar lately China, writes of a tour spe made alone sent for Miss Oliver, M.D., and miss among the Celestials, visiting in all 14 O'Hara, M.D., of the Canadian misvillages: .. My cart 'was upset twice, sion, Indore, told them how highly he and the mules ran away twice. Once appreciated the work they were doing we were in the cart, and the second among his suffering people, and asked time had just got out." if he could do anything to help. He then supplemented his former donations -A girl is prized in Kaffraria because with the gift of Rs. 500, and the promshe represents so much property to her ise of another piece of land. father. He marries her as soon as possible to any old man who will present -The Society for Promoting Female him with many head of cattle. The Education in the East, with an income older the man is the better, for the of $27,000 last year, kept 40 mission- Booner she will be a widow and married aries and 9 assistants in the field, with a second time. 76 native helpers. The schools were are exactly parallel. " For utter shame- 74 and 64 others aided, and the pupils lessness and infamy this declaration is were 10,112. The attendances atmedi· fit to stand with another which two or cal missions were 29,087. three years ago came from the lips of a certain Kansas ex·senater. -The Zenana Bible and Medical Mis- sion received $94,735 last year, and was -Look here, upon this picture, and represented abroad by a staff of 52 mis- on this; .. The new Chinese embassy sionaries and 30 assisi ants, and 206 na· [and heathen, mind you] has arrived in tive helpers. To this large force of Washington, bearing the message that, workers an addition of 20 is about to be for the present, China will not avenge made. herself for the insults put upon her citi- zens in this country, in direct violation -The Ladies' Association for Pro· of treaty obligations, by any commercial moting Female Education in Kaffraria measures of retaliation, and will exert was represented in 1843 by a single mis· herself to protect American citizens sionary – Miss Thomson at Pirrie. resident in China. This friendly and Now, as incorporated with the Wom- conciliatory attitude is avowedly taken an's Foreign Missionary Society of the in the hope and belief that the new Free Church, it employs more than 100 Congress will reverse or modify the agents, European and native, in South anti·Chinese action of its predecessor, Africa, and has extended its labors to in the simple interests of justice and the Transkei, to Natal, and to the bor· honor." ders of Zululand.
UNITED STATES. -The Oongregationalist says; .. We may learn more than one lesson from -Though it was not in the official the Chinese. In the matter of benefiprogramme, and perhaps was not cence, a Chinaman who lately died in thought of as possible, yet how pleasant Neponset, Mass., offers a worthy ex· to learn that on almost every Sunday ample. A few facts as to his liberality one or more in attendance at Chicago in a single year are significant. He sent from non·Christian lands has cast off $160 to China to establish a Christian his false faith and accepts baptism as a school. To his sister, the only other disciple of Jesus. In how many ways living member of his father's family, the Fair is destined to bear fruit in the he sent $300. He collected $1100 among furtherance of the Gospel I the Chinese between Providence and Marblehead, to establish a home for -The wicked and ungodly animus poor children in his native land. Last of the crusade against the Chinese in spring, when Trinity Church, Nepon- this country appears in this language, set, which he attended, proposed to reo which, according to the New York pair and enlarge its building, he insist- T'I"ibu1U!, was recently uttered by Mr. ed upon contributing $50 in spite of the Geary; •• I am perfectly willing to vote pastor's remonstrance. Later, when a for a bill requiring every American fair was held to aid the church, he gave 'missionary in China to return to his the equivalent of $25. His offerings country within a year, the protection were voluntary, constant. abundant." of this Government to be withdrawn , from him at the expiration of that time. -Far-away Alaska joins in the prean I would do this just as I would vote to of praise. From Juneau comes the expel every anarchist from the United glad tidings, .. at our last communion States within a year. The principle 16 united with the church. Seven of that would exclude anarchists from our home children, 4 boys and 3 girls, this country would keep American communed for the first time."-Home missionaries out of China. Their cases Mission Month&1I (Presbyterian). -The Seventh International Confer- -The Presbyterian Church, South, ence of Sunday-school Field Workers, recently sent a party of 10 new mis- which met August 30th in St. Louis, sionaries westward 'l1ia San Francisco was every wayan important gathering. to reinforce the missions in China and The harmony of sentiment among the Japan.
1000 delegates was remarkable, and -In the death of Rev. J. B. Dales, after all the sharp criticisms of past pastor of the Second Church, Philadelyears the fact is significant that by phia, and since 1859 corresponding secunanimous vote the general plan of les· retary of the foreign mission board, the sons was left essentially unchanged. United Presbyterian Church has lost The statistics presented are impressive one of its moet prominent and useful and inspiring. In the United States ministers. His was a spirit remarkably and British provinces are 130,197 Sun- kind and fraternal toward all. day-schools, with 1,372,558 officers and teachers, and 10,870,104 scholars. The SOUTH AMERICA.
total for the world is 227,496 schools, -At the present time four lines of 2,239,674 teachers and officers, and railway are being built across tbis con- 20,158,134 scholars. tinent. These evidences of quickening -The Chicago Hull House has made commercial life are signs of duty to the a substantial addition to its instrumen- Church. For the sake of gain millions talities in the shape of a model kitchen of English capital have been poured and coffee-house, the gift of one man. into this country. Why should not the A play.ground is maintained large Church pour in her millions for the enough for 200 children at once to sake of leading this people to Christ? frolic in. -These figures from the "States- man's Year Book" relate to the vast – The American Baptist Missionary spaces lying between the Isthmus of Union has a living membership ..of Darien and Cape Horn, and constituting 170,000 souls, and more than half of a region nominally Christian, but most these (87,445) have been gathered in sadly benighted : non· Christian lands. Sqnare miles. Population. -Not a few of our large missionary societies have a "gilt edge" financial Brazil. •.•…•••. 3,209,000 14,000,000 reputation in the marts of trade, though Argentina…… 1,125,000 4,086,000 perhaps none can quite match what the Venezuela… •.•. 600,000 2,323,000 Ohri8tian Adoocate is enabled to say Bolivia.•••.• , • • • 570,000 1,200,000 respecting the drafts of its missionary Colombia ….. , . 505,000 3,880,000 wociety: "Behind is the Methodist Peru.. …. . ….. 465,000 2,622,000 Episcopal Church, which for one hun- Chili. . . • . . . … .. 295,000 2,820,000 dred and five years has sustained the Ecuador…….. 120,000 1,270,000 credit of the Book Concern and for Uruguay ….. , .. 75,000 . 700,000 seventy-five years that of the mission- Paraguay. . . . . . . 100,000 330,000 ary society. To-day our drafts, on the The Guianas… • 200,000 500,000 Total. …… 7,264,000 33,830,000 whole, are rather more valued in the In general, though Catholicism sits East than those negotiated through in the place of power, the law grants London bankers. In interest and ex- freedom to other forms of faith, though change in the last fourteen years over the priesthood is bigoted, and scruples $55,000 has thus been saved to the mis- at nothing to prevent Protestant teach- sionary society." Orders for money ing. To Ecuador belongs the bad emi- are drawn on its local agents in various nence of having a constitution which •great cities in the world abroad, and maintains the papacy to the exclusion the banks readily cash them, of all else. -The ruling spirit is identical with EUROPE.
that disclosed by this handbill, which Great Britain.-It would require was extensively circulated in Leon, many pages of the REVIEW to set forth Nicaragua: the numerous and costly beneficences " ATTENTION! CATHOLICS I of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Pos- "The wolf of Protestantism has sessed of an immense fortune, she gives found its way into the Catholic flock I herself to administering it as a true dis- A minister of the sect of Luther and ciple and steward of the Master. She Voltaire is in Leon, accompanied by has endowed sevelal bishoprics and various mercenaries, who are busy sell- churches, she has reared costly bu.ilding in the streets Protestant Bibles and ings for educational purposes, she has a false book of the Gospels. Do not built whole blocks of edifices for the buy these books, Christians 1 Scorn poor, and the Columbia Market to supthese propagandists of a sect divorced ply them with good and cheap food, from the Catholic Church of Jesus the latter alone costing £200,000, etc.
Christ, divorced from the truth, and -The coffee·house is a very promiwhich is resolved on depriving us of nent Christian institution with our Britthe most precious legacy received from ish brethren, and is used in all the large our forefathers' Do not allow your cities as a rival to the drinking-places. religion to be harmed by these knight· The amount invested is stated byauerrants of evil I Let us hurl them thority to be at least £2,000,000, the away 1 No law authorizes their com· number of establishments is 7000, and ing here to dechristianize us. Liberty the number of persons directlyemploy· of worship does not exist here, and ed, 56,000. The plan is so to manage these peddlers of adulterated Bibles affairs that the receipts shall pay the and Gospels are of a foreign flock. expenses and a little more. Nicaragua belongs to God ; Protestant- ism, to the devil. Away with them I" -The British missionary societies -The devotion and perseverance of have 139 physicians engaged in mission Mrs. Hemmings, who has met with work, of whom 13 are women.
much success in her work among the -In connection with tte recent Keswomen of Tierra del Fuego, is inspir- wick convention, about 150 students ing. The Yahgan Indians of this re- who have pledged themselves to the gion are genuine savages, but she set foreign work held a series of enthusiasabout teaching the women first of all tic meetings. Besides these enough to be industrious and useful. A sort others have promised to go abroad to of mothers' meeting was gathered in bring the number up to 500. They are her kitchen, and she attempted to teach found in all the leading universities of the women to knit. The c01!nting of the United Kingdom. stitches seemed an insuperable difficul- ty, for the Yahgans are only able to -Rev. Thomas Brockway, who had count up to three; but Mrs. Hemmings already seen thirty-four years' service was ingenious in contriving ways to in Madagascar, has offered hiwBelf to impart the necessary knowledge, and fill the vacancy caused by the death of they now do excellent knitted work of a young Welsh missionary, Rev. Rob- all sorts. She next determined to teach ert Roberts, on the threshold of a prom- them to spin their own wool, and on ising career. The directors of the Lon- returning to England for a holiday don Missionary Society have availed learned the art of carding, dyeing, themselves of his proposal, and he has spinning, and weaving wool, and a few taken passage for the island which he weeks ago sailed with a loom for considers "as near to heaven as Eng- Oooshooia. land. " The Continent.-The delightful cor- church, and in Copenhagen an average respondent, the devoted McAll mission- of 26,00<: ; or, including the suburbs of ary at Marseilles, E. Lenoir, wrote Fredericksborg, even of 28,000. Should June 8th: "We are at this moment Copenhagen bl' supplied with churches very much encouraged in our confer- only as well as Christiania is, the numences, our meetings in open air, in the ber of parishes would have to be instreets and faubourgs; we have just creased from 13 to 28. proclaimed the Gospel to 330 persons, and since we began this effort we have -The Jewish Synagogue at Moscow, evangelized about 1500. The Lord which cost £40,000, has been closed by Jesus has richly blessed our endeavor the government. The Jews are deand glorified Himself in us and through prived of it, and it is to be turned to us, despite our infirmities and unwor- "charitable uses" I It was only comthiness." pleted last year. Such is religious lib- erty in Russia-in her ancient capital. -Shades of Philip II. and Torquemada I Angels and ministers of grace. ASIA. defend us I The Calvinists are actually capturing Spain. and their presumption Islam.-A telegram from Tunis is to is amazing. The last and worst move this effect: Of 9000 pilgrims who went is found in the setting up of two church to Mecca from here in May, 4500 perjudicatories: to wit. the Presbytery of ished in the Holy Land (Arabia) of Spain and Portugal and the Presbytery cholera and other diseases. The surof Andalusia, both composed of native vivors have just returned, and say that Protestants. on June 24 over 100,000 MU8sulmans, Arabs, Turks, and Indians gathered on -Of the 700 colporteurs in the em- the sacred mountain, when cholera ploy of the British and Foreign Bible broke out among them, causing terri- Society, 30 are at work in Italy. Dur- ble havoc. The returned pilgrims add ing the year 1892 these workers dis- that of 700 Turkish troops sent to bury posed of 7132 entire Bibles, 15,322 New the dead, 500 died while performing Testaments, and 140,103 other portions this dangerous duty. Another report of the Bible-a total of 162,637 vol- gives the loss of life as not less than 10 umes. Besides these, the Evangelical per cent of the entire number of pil- Book Concern in Florence publishes grims. and sells its own editions of the Italian Bible. -The statement is made that the rec- ords of the college at Marsovan will -Isabel C. Barrows says, in the Out- show that the two teachers, Messrs. look, that the excellent work of the Thoumaian and Kayayan, at the time deaconesses is making rapid progress when they were charged with being in Germany, where every year there is present and participating in a seditious a stronger conviction of the value to meeting. were at the college attending humanity of this service. At the out- to their duties there. In this and in break of the cholera, every deacon· other cases the opportunity to prove an esses' home sent to the government a alibi was refused on the ground that list of the women who at an instant's there fDIU 1W time for BUch matters. notice could be sent into actunl service. -Rev. H. H. Jessup, of Syria, gives -Home missions would seem to be some statistics as to mission growth in order in and about the land of within the past eleven years, which are Luther. Last year we heard of the quite encouraging. Since 1881 the dreadful paucity of churches in Berlin, number of Protestants in Syria and and now comes the statement that in Palestine has increased from 6311 to Christiania, Norway, there is an aver- 8593 ; the communicants from 1693 to age population of 13,000 for each 3974. Foreign laborers have Increased by 4,6 and native laborers by 59. There medan, Rev. Abdul Maseeh, ordained has been an increase of 4213 in the by Reginald Heber. number of pupils in the schools, making the present number 18,837. -Among the novelties of the times is a " New Islam," the term applied to -In all from tbe beginning of work a group of Mohammedans in India, in 1834 among the Nestorians 100 men who profess to have returned to the and women have been sent to this field purity and simplicity of their early from America. And all concerned are faith. They have abjured polygamy just now rejoicing in the completion as a corruption of the teaching of their and printing by the American Bible So- prophet. ciety of the revised translation of the SyriSc Bible. -Without fleeing from the scorching heats to the mountains for a few weeks India.-Some one remarks that in each summer it is next to impossible India the hot weather is so palpable it for Europeans to live. And in these might be peeled off. sanitariums quickening of another sort is conjoined; for from Kodaikanal in -In some of the district con~rega the PaInai Hills, some. 7000 feet above tions in India the native Christians close the ocean, comes an interesting account their services with three words that of a spiritual conference not unlike the mean .. Victory to the Lord Jesus." yearly gatherings at Keswick, Eng- land, and at Northfield in this country. -In the North India Conference Churchmen and Non(,,onformists stood there are 42 native pastors who draw side by side in speech and knelt totheir support entirely from the people. gether in supplication for the deepen- ing of spiritual life. Preceded by a -Missionaries of the EngUsh Church week of prayer-meetings, the convenengaged in itinerating in Southern India tion was held in the early mornings in find numerous instances of educated one of the bungalows, where sometimes men and Brahmans who are convinced over 30 missionaries assembled. of the truth of Christianity. In one place a whole Brahman street was found -The poor god has seen his best to be in a state of dissatisfaction with days, is fallen into the sear, the yellow Hinduism, their leader confessing, leaf. That is, it would appear that the "The more I read of it, the less I be- temple of Jaganath, like many another lieve it." structure, is the worse of wear, and a Temple Repairing Fund was started -There are still among the hills and some time ago. How the scheme has mountains tribes scarcely more advanced prospered may be learned from the folthan those who used agate knives and lowing translation from Utkal Dipika : _ flint weapons, erected Druidical stones, .. Cuttack, June, 1893. Repairs of and formed mounds at a period antece- Jaganath's Temple, Pooree. More dent to that remote age when the Aryans than three lakhs (300,000) of rupees are conquered the aboriginal people. It required for the repair of the Pooree: was only in 1B71 that the women of the temple, but, up to this time, only a little· Juangs, or leaf-wearers of Orissa, were over one lakh has been promised, and' induced to wear any kind of clothing. out of this about half has still to be realized. It is a matter of sorrow that, -The native ordained pastors have after unwearied zeal and endeavor for increased by 90 per cent within nin3 about two years, no more than this sum years. has been raised throughout the Whole of India. On account of this, why -The first native of India 'to receive should not the adherents of other religordination from the hands of a Chris- ions laugh at the HindOO8 1" tian bishop was a converted Moham- CHINA. the mob, and the entire affair makes a -This is the most conservative of chapter full of unmitigated horrors.
natioll$, yet it is surprising how many JAPAN. material changes have been introduced in recent years: the development of -In this country as in China, noting commerce, building of a navy, foreign how Europe is establishing " protector- weapons for the army, extension of ates," and annexing by the wholesale telegraphic and railroad lines, and a in Africa, Southern Asia, etc., multi· growing desire to learn the use of for- tudes are possessed with the idea that eign arts and sciences. With these the design of Christianity is to steal changes, Christianity has found en- their country; that it produces disloytrance among the people, and the growth alty to the emperor, etc.
which has taken place is most striking. -The Buddhists of Japan are renew- -In this empire as in no other field ing their fight against Christianity; are medical missions have been made prom- organizing .. salvation armies" and inent. In 1890 there were 126 physi- .. moral associations;" buying up timcisns, 61 hospitals, 44 dispensa.ries, and ber so that churches cannot be built; 100 medical students. seeking to persuade hotel keepers not to lodge Christians, and in some cases -A military graduate suffering with they are resorting to force. destroying cataract was successfully treated in the chapels and other buildings. Hankow Hospital. Returning to his home with restored sight, 48 persons -Madame Tel Sono, as the result of with diseased eyes soon gathered about several months' effort in America and him, begging him to take them to the Great Britain, has secured £1200 to aid foreign doctor. So he led them, a pro- in establishing Christian training and cession of blind men holding on to one normal schools for girls of the higher another's rope, 250 miles to Hankow. classes.
Nearly all were cured -Islam is to invade Japan as well as -A Chinaman in Swatow (a non- the United States, and with the aid of Christian) has given £300 toward the funds subscribed in India and Turkey. cost of a woman's ward in connection Some three years ago a young Japwith the medical work of the English anese went to Constantinople to study Presbyterians in that city. the Koran, and is now again in his na· tive land toiling with all his might to -A native preacher in the Foochow propagate his new-found faith.
Conference refused an offer of a con- -Of the students in the Tohoku sular position at $50 a month, prefer- Gakiun, 12 were baptized during the ring to preach the Gospel with a salary last year, and 39 are under special spiro of $3 a month. itual instructions. " The students hold -Rev. O. F. Wikholm and Rev. A. services of their own in addition to the D. Johansen, massacred by the Chinese regular instruction and services. There mob at Sungpu. about 100 miles north- are 52 young men studying for the east of Hankow, belonged to the Swed- Gospel ministry, with more to follow."
ish Missionary Society, one of the earli- AFRICA. est of the Scandinavian societies in China. They had been in the country -After many false reports to the more than two years, and were acting same effect, there seems to be no doubt under the direction of their senior, Mr. that Emin Pasha has lost his life in the Lund, an experienced missionary. depths of the Dark Continent, in which There seems to have been no unwisdom for so many years he has dared and en- on their part; the local authorities ap- dured so boundlessly. The saddest pear to have been in full sympathy with _ part of the account is that he was killed by an Arab in revenge for his execution -It is fashionable in Madagascar to of three slave dealers. His death oc- be a Christian, and this fact js a hincurred last October, and his body was drance. The missionaries have to given to the cannibal natives to be de- strive, not to get people into the church, voured. but to keep them out until they give evidence of being truly converted. -Civilization is bound to enter Africa, for thousands of miles of railroad ISLANDS OF THE SEA. are already in use, and various projects are crowding forward. Erelong the -When the missionaries went to locomotive is likely to be climbing from Borneo, they found a fierce population Mombasa 650 miles to Uganda, and the who beautified (?) their rude huts with construction has been commenced of the skulls of their enemies. These the Cairo and Cape Town telegraph skulls were also their chief offering to line, with capital enough subscribed to their gods. In the southern part of the build it as far northward as Victoria island the Netherlands Missionary So- Nyanza Lake. cietyhas a church-membership of 4000, and among the various tribes may be -Over 200 African converts in Ugan- found 3000 members of the English da and the regions about have suffered Church. death rather than give up their faith in Christ. -In the Dutch East Indies there is a population of 27,000,000, and but 79 –The Anglican Church has started a missionaries. labor colony in South Africa, much like that which General Booth has projected -In Malaysia is a population of in England. 60,000,000, mostly Mohammedan Ma- lays. The British and Foreign Bible -Rev. S. Trotter Williams, native Society has 7 European colporteurs at superintendent of the Countess of Hunt- work, and 25 who are natives. At ingdon's churches in Sierra Leone, has Singapore alone Bibles are furnished in recently dedicated two mission chapels 45 languages. in heathen localities, occupied by Sherbro and Mendi tribes. The entire cost -On the Sangir Islands, near Celebes, of one of the stations was defrayed by and recently desolated by a volcanic Mr_ William List, of London. eruption. out of a population of 80,000. the Protestant Christians number -It is pleasant to find French testi- 20,000. mony to England's good work on the Nile from the pen of Felix Dubois in -Nine casks of missionary arrowroot the F'igaro. He confesses that he went have been sent to Edinburg:h this year to Egypt to get documentary and other from Aneityum, New Hebrides, and evidence of England's tyranny. But three from Fortuna. The latter is a he feels bound to confess that not only contribution from the native Christians has his mission entirely failed. but hon- to help prepare native teachers and to esty obliges him to acknowledge the build the first church in Fortuna. It beneficence of English influence. The was these same" savages" who were fellah, he found, is not crushed by taxa- glad to pay for their Bibles at the rate tion, the United Debt is at par, agricul- of about $2 a leaf. ture improves daily. He gives a pic- ture of Colonel Scott-Moncrieff as " The -Though Fiji is so thoroughly re- Gordon of Irrigation," who carries on deemed from the terrible savagery of the works with a Bible in his hand, and former days, yet Christian toilers have has for his motto, ,. God, embankments, no rest. but rather find themselves com· and canals." pelled to resist determined aggression, and also to take in hand the heathen Hindu coolies, who are brought in great number& to the islands,
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1892
APOSTOLIC MISSIONS; OR, TIlE GOSPEL FOR EVERY CREATURE
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 'I.-Old &ries.–JULY.–VOL. V. No. 'I.-New Series.
APOSTOLIC MISSIONS j OR, THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY CREATURE. * BY RBV. JOSEPH ANGUS, D.D., REGENT PARK BAPTIST COLLEGE, LONDON, ENGLAND.
" And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."-MARK xvi. 15.
It is a hundred years since the revival of the spirit of missions. At the close of the last century, amid the din and bloodshed of an earlier French revolution, Dr. Carey was publishing his first translation of the New Testament into one of the languages of Bengal. After seven years of apparently fruitless labor, he had begun to desecrate the water of the Ganges by the baptism of his first convert. In the same year Dr. Vanderkemp reached the Cape, and began missions in Africa. It is only a cen. tury since j and now the Bible has been translated for the first time into more than a hundred and fifty languages, spoken by more than half the ~Iobe. Three thousand missionary evangelists are now laboring among the heathen. More than twenty thousand native preachers and teachers have been raised up through their toils, and native church-members are counted by hundreds of thousands. There are still found men who ask tauntingly for evidence of our 8uccess, and yet I venture to affirm that as mighty a work has been done in these last hundred years as in any hundred since the beginning of the Gospel: while in Biblical Translation as much has been done in this century, to give the Bible to the world, as was done in the eighteen centuries that preceded it-Pentecost included!
Cheering as this success and these labors seem, they have not kept pace either with the march of Providence or with the needs of the world. Knowledge and commerce and material civilization, the bounties and the openings of Providence have all multiplied faster than our missions. When Carey began his work India was closed to the Gospel, as was nearly all Asia. Over Africa there brooded a darkness which made even its geography a mystery. Europe was everywhere under the power of the man o~ • See Ed. Notes for Editor'. Introduction. sin, or its churches frowned upon all evangelical labor. Within living memory, India and China, Turkey and Egypt, Burmah and Persia have all become open. Africa has been traversed from end to end; and as to Europe, there are two Baptist churches in Madrid, and dozens of Protestant churches in Italy, while the Gospel is now preached again" at Rome also." The march of Providence, I repeat, has outstripped the progress of the Church.
Or, if that march be measured by other standards than the number of open doors, it is no less striking. When Franklin, the American printer and statesman, proposed for his wife, her mother objected to the marriage, because there were already two presses in America, and she thought there was not room for a third. It is little more than a century since, and there are now ten thousand printing offices in that country alone. To reach that Continent required as many weeks as now it takes days. Only thirty years ago to crOSi from the Atlantic to the Pacific was a six months' journey, perilous and toilsome in the extreme; now it is pleasantly done between Monday morning and Saturday night! Any man who has to travel much will save ten weeks out of every twelve; and if he were to spend his life in travelling, the facilities of travel would practically multiply his years fivefold. Half a century of life spent in travel would now effect as much as two centuries and a half a hundred years ago! In 1871 I read, in San Francisco, what had been written that morning near Sedan, seven thouaand miles away j and most marvellous, perhaps, of all, I reached that city within a month of leaving home, by the gentlest touch of human hands controlling iron and steam-forces that are among the mightiest that men wield. Yet within eighty years the man who spoke of " steam wagons" was deemed insane, and was helped only because" his invention," it was said, "could do no harm, and might lead to something useful." So it is with everything. The human eye can now see through 'space millions of miles farther than it could even when we were born. The three thousand or four thousand fixed stars which the apostles saw are now known to be six or seven millions. The yearly income of England is six or eight times larger than at the beginning of the century, and has trebled within thirty years. The effect of all this is that, for openings of Providence, for facilities of usefulness, for material strength and resources, this year of grace 1892 is much further beyond the year 1800 than are the missionary labors of this year beyond the labors of our fathers. The march, the bounty of Providence, has outstripped us all.
What are the feelings in which we ought to indulge ~ Devout thankfulness and as devout discontent.
Our labors have been" more abundant," the results are highly encouraging, and yet comparatively very little has been done. In this spirit I shall discuss the subject of missions, under the twofold division: (1) The work itself j and (2) the cxtent to which we are to prosecute it. We are to preach the Gospel-that is our work, and we are to preach it to every creature, to all creation, as the word is also rendered-that is the limit of our work. May the Good Spirit Himself help us to understand and to observe both parts of this command.
1. Our Work.-We are to preach the Gospel. The Gospel. In an important sense, it is as old as creation. From the very first men knew of a Divine law, fixing distinctions between right and wrong. Their sinfulness and guilt, atonement through vicarious suffering, God's free and yet righteous mercy, the obligation and th(' efficacy of prayer, the necessity of holiness-all were revealed. But now these truths are set forth with new proofs, are enforced by new motives, amid stronger light, and for a wider audience. This Gospel we may describe in various ways. It is a threefold message-of repentance and remission of sins through our Lord; of personal holiness, and of the work of the Spirit whereby the new life is begun and perfected; of blessedness for all who love and !lerve God. Forgiveness, holiness, blessedness. What more can we need ~ Or it is a twofold message: Christ's work for us, in living, and dying, and pleading, and reigning; and Christ'!! work in ns beginning in grace and ending in glory 1 Or is it a single message: of Christ as crucified, the true Revealer of the Divine holiness and love, the Redeemer and Comforter, and Pattern and Sanctifier of us all ~ This Gospel-at once a threefold, and a twofold, and a single message-Christ came to found even more than to teach. Yet it is the Gospel He taught, as it is the Gospel His apostles taught. So mighty did it prove that the most successful preacher of the apostolic age resolved, as much, perhaps, from experience as from direct inspiration, to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ as crucified-the power and the wisdom of God. And this Gospel we are to preach. The words that describe our duty in this respect are all of them suggestive. The first of them is the one used in the text at the head of this article. Weare to proclaim it as heralds-not making our message, but carrying it and announcing it with boldness and authority. Sixty times in the New Testament is this word found. Everywhere it describes the bearing of men who feel that they are speaking in God's name. A second word, translated in the same way, means" to talk." It is applied to the easy conversational method adopted by our Lord, and to the somewhat exaggerated sayings of the woman of Samaria. It describes a gift of priceless value-the power of readily introducing and speaking of religious themes. A third word means" to reason," "to discuss." It is the word used to describe Paul's discourses; and it was preaching of this kind that he continued at Troas till midnight, as it was under such preaching Felix trembled. The fourth, and one of the commonest words of all, translated "preach," means to announce " glad tidings." More than fifty times this word is used. It forms the glory of the new Dispensation-that" the poor have the Gospel preached to them." This is the thought that justifies the outburst of the prophet : " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace." "Blessed [happy] are the poor in spirit," is the first word of our Saviour's longest discourse, and it is the word that is found oftenest ther~. Weare then to be heralds, and talkers, and reasoners, and publishers of good things.
Constantly connected with these terms, which are all translated" preach," are other three. One means to " testify, or bear witness" -from Scripture, and especially from our own experience; another means" to teach ;" and a third " to exhort, or entreat." Thus, at Pentecost, Peter testified and exhorted, saying, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Thus Christ sent His disciples to teach all nations: thus the apostles ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ; the word suggesting that the truths which we announce we are also to explain and apply. Thus also, wherever Paul went, he exhorted and entreated; his own summary of his ministry is " As we go, we beseech men in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled unto God."
Here, then, we have in brief the inspired description of our calling. Weare to proclaim the truth with the authority of ambassadors and in God's name j we are to announce it in quiet talk j we are to enforce it by argument, by explanations, by appeals to what we have ourselves felt, by earnest entreaty. There is a preaching that never speaks with authority, but questions and doubts on all things. There is a preaching that never reasons, but is always dogmatic or emotional. There is a preaching that never " talks," but is ever stilted and formal. There is a preaching that is cold discussion, or bare announcement, and never entreats. Apostolic preaching was a combination of all these processes, saturated with prayers and tears.
These statements of the work of Christian evangelists are, I hope, familiar to all our readers. It is part of their glory that they ('.ontain nothing new; and yet they rebuke theories and practices which are found on all sides. They tell us that it is the Gospel we are to preach-not science, or art, or ethical duties; not what we think on public questions, or even on subordinate pointli of theology, but what we know of essential truth. This Gospel we are to preach-not to discover, or to manufacture, or to excogitate from our own consciousness. We are to preach the Gospel-not become pastors of the churches which our preaching may form; not exhibit a gorgeous ritual, or repeat a solemn litany. Weare simply to preach it as men who feel its power, are conyinced of its truth, and know that they have a Divine authority for all they are saying. To this work we are to restrict ourselves when carrying out our Lord's commission. This is the command that is embalmed in the tenderest feelings of true disciples; the one Jegacy which, besides His peace and the promise of His presence, He bequeathed to His Church until He come again.
2. But the second part of my theme may create difficulty. The words of the text not only tell us what our work is, but what its limits are-to what extent we are to prosecute it: "To every creature," " to all creation" is this Gospel to be preached. "In Jerusalem and Judrea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth," is the inspired description of the duty as defined in the Acts j and in thirty years after the death of our'Lord, it had been preached, as the apostle expresses it in the Colossians, "to every creature, , in the whole creation,' under heaven. "
The words are addressed to the apostles-" the eleven j" but to the apostles as the representatives of the entire Church j for it is a duty in which all share. It was in the spirit of this command that Andrew found Peter, as Philip found Nathaniel, preached Christ to him, and brought him to Jesus. It was in the spirit of this command that the woman of Sychar went and told, in the fulness of hel' heart, of Him who seemed the Christ, and .through her talk great multitudes believed. It was in obedience to it that the members of the Church at Jerusalem, when scattered by persecution, all except the apostles went "everywhere preaching the Word." Hence apostles welcomed all fellow-helpers-men and women-in the patience and kingdom of Christ. Hence, the Thessalonian Church earned the high praise that they were " ensamples," a model Church to all that believed j for from them sounded out the Word of the Lord through all the region beyond them. A common duty!
The only other peculiarity that needs notice is that the form of the command, as given in Matthew, shows by the very expression that this work of preaching t.he Gospel to every creature belongs to each age. It is not done once for all. It has to be done again and again. The Church of each generation redeemed by the same blood, renewed and blessed by the same Spirit, has practically the same honor and responsibility-the honor of making known to the world of each generation" the manifold wisdom" and mercy of God.
Here, then, is our work, and here its limits. The Christians of each age are to give the Gospel to the people of that age. Every Christian is to tell the" good news" to everyone he can reach j and Christians collectively are to tell it, if they can, to all the world. Till this is done we are not free from obligation j and if any of the millions we can reach perish unwarned and unbidden, we divide with them the guilt of their ruin. " Many have not the knowledge of God. I speak it," says the apostle, " to your shame."
The Gospel for every creature! Can we give it 1 Is it possible for the age to tell to the age, for the Church to tell to the world the glad tidings of the kingdom ~ In ten or twenty years can repentance and remission of sins be preached through Christ to all nations 1 I believe that they can. The Christians of the nineteenth century are more able to preach the Gospel to the whole world than the Christians of the first century were to preach it to the world of their day. If so, the duty is binding, and the precept of the text is a literal command, a summons claiming obedience from all disciples. Carefully mark once more what the duty is, and how, in the light of the gospels and of the Acts, it is to be fulfilled. In 1he three years of our Lord's ministry He travelled three times over Galilee. Three times He travelled through Judrea and visited Jerusalem. He preached for weeks at Capernaum, His home, and a border town where many were coming and going. Six months He labored in Perrea ; twice at least He was in Samaria. Twice He sent out disciples-the twelve, the seventy; and in all these districts there were believers, hundreds of them, though no church was yet formed. Such was His three years' work-an itinerant home ministry-among, perhaps, three millions of people.
In five-and-twenty years Paul travelled three times over a great part of Asia Minor and Europe. Twice he was kept as prisoner for two years, at Cresarea and at Rome, preaching to all who came to him, and especially to successive soldIers to whom he was chained. At one place he wintered; at another he spent a year and a half; at a third two whole years, " So that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus." The charm of each scene of labor was an open door and many adversaries. If churches were formed, he encouraged others from among the churches themselves to take the oversight of them, sending written instructions for their government. Those instructions are now the inspired handbooks, which we give in a printed form to our converts, and which are, under God, the means of the growth and permanence of our societies. This missionary rented buildings and used the houses of those who were disposed to receive him. He took nothing of the Gentiles-i.e., of the unconverted-but gratefully ackll0wledged the gifts of all fellow-Ohristians who ministered to his necessities, and yet was ready to work with his own hands, that he might preach a free Gospel, and maintain his character for disinterested independence. In this spirit he travelled from Jerusalem even unto I1Iyricum, fully preaching by his life and by his words the Gospel of Christ. Fellow-helpers he found or made wherever he went; so that within thirty years after the ascension, the sound of the voice of the first preachers-the music of their message, as the terms imply-had gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. And I believe it demonstrable that with apostles, messengers of the churches-missionaries, as we call them, of a like spirit-we are able to do for our world, in the way of preaching, more than Paul and the apostles did for the world of their day.
To the extent of our ability we are to preach it, and we can preach it to all. Take the least favorable case. Suppose that this work is to be donp hy members of churches in Christendom only-i. e., in Europe and America.
We might need fifty thousand preachers, and their support might amount to fifty or seventy-five millions of dollars a year for ten years. In that time, and by snch an agency, the Gospel might be preached, and preached repeatedly, to e'ery man and woman and child on earth.
It seems a great company-fifty thousand preachers. And yet the number is less than ten per cent of the Baptist evangelical church-members in Great Britain and her colonies alone. Two out of every hundred mem- bers of Baptist churches alone, in Great Britain and America, would yield more than we need. While if Britain and America and Protestant Europe were to combine, our fifty thousand would mean one Christian worker out of every three hundred church-members only. England sent as many men to the Crimea to take a single fortress and to keep up for a few years a Mohammedan despotism. Ten times this number of men fell on each side in the great American war to set free three or four millions of slaves.
Five hundred years ago the Crusades had cost more lives, and they sought to win from men wellnigh as chivalrous as the invaders a material Jerusalem and an earthly" sovereignty." And cannot fifty thousand redeemed men be found to win back the world to Je~us Christ 1 Have our hymns no meaning 1 " Oh, send ten thou8and heralds forth, From East to West, from South to North, To blow the trump of Jubilee, And peace proclaim from sea to sea."
It seems a great sum-seven hundred and fifty millions of dollars in ten years. Y6t it is only five dollars a year from each member of the Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches of Europe and America. England alone spends nearly as much every year on intoxicating drinks; and the blessings of civil government, imperial and local, cost Britain every year more than two thirds of the amount. The Crimean War cost five hundred millions of dollars; the American War more than ten times as much. An annual tax of three and one-half ceuts on a dollar on the taxable income of Great Britain alone would yield the seventyfive millions of dollars we need. Nay, more; it would be easy to find ten thousand professing Christians who could give it all.
Looking only at men and money, is it not self-evident that it can be done 1 But, in fact, the process is less costly than I have supposed. In America and England, and generally on the continent of Europe, the Gospel might be preached, fully and tenderly, without much more cost than the loving personal labors of our church-members. In India there are, say, one hundred and fifty millions of heathen. Suppose that we could send out at once three thousand men, who should each spend a couple of years in learning one language or more, and go for eight years or ten of work. They might gather around them, or get from existing churches, three thousand more-plain men or women, competent to preach the Gospel with tenderness and power. And then in ten years the Gospel might be preached, and preached repeatedly, to all India. The entire cost of such an agency for ten years, and for six thousand agents, need not amount to fifteen millions of ponnds. Five thousaud men sent iu the same way to China might, in the same time, evangelize the whole country. It can be done. I have not forgotten the difficulties of all kinds that surround this enterprise-travel, health, unknown regions, barbarous tribes, the great wrath of one who perceives that" his time is short." I know, or can imagine, them all. But I venture to say that. whatever these difficulties, they would be overcome if national honor were at stake; if diamond beds or gold fields of sufficient value had been discovered i nay, if even a Nile were to be traced and mapped. Is there a part of the earth that Englishmen could not penetrate-jor a consideration? And shall Christ's command and the world's needs fail to move 1 I repeat it-It can be done!
The recommendations of some such plan, so simple and comprehensive -the preaching of the Gospel, and, nothing more, to every creature, and nothing less-are clear and decisive.
There is, first of all, the Divine command and the Divine example. Education is of value i so is the relief of distress; the alleviation of suffering ; so are canals, and railroads, and commerce the implements of a material civilization. We honor them all i but they are most honored when made subservient to the Gospel. When the blessed God stepped forth from his place, as philanthropist (Titus 3 : 4) He gave His law and prophets, and sent His Son. And now all the improvement He work!! begins in human hearts, and is to spread from within outwardly till all is renewed. There are, be assured, profound reasons, as there is a Divine command, to justify the announcement that the preaching of the Gospel is the first business of the Christian Church.
Some such comprehensive plan, moreover, will have the advantage of proving to the world that we believe what we profess-viz., that the Gospel is God's remedy for human misery and sinfulness, and that it is the Church's honor to make it known. Everyone sees that our present agencies, with their million pounds a year, for the evangelization of eight hundred millions of people, do not mean businels; and there is, in consequence, widespread infidelity in relation to the Gospel and in relation to the sincerity of the Christian Church herself. . •• What an answer it would bc to rationalism, and secularism, and sectarianism, and popery, and infidelity in all their forms i and what a healthy confirmation of our own faith if the evangelical churches of Christendom were to resolve, in God's strength, to preach the Gospel to every creature. It would be the fitting reply at once to papal infallibility and to rationalistic unbelief.
And how our work would simplify and extend if we confined it to this business of preaching the Gospel. Many men would be found, of every class and of various social positions, competent to do this work, but not competent to become pastors, and not caring to take upon them the business-labors of many modern missionaries-good men, full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost. Nay, might not our best men-our laymen and pastors -whether young or old, be prepared to give five years,or ten, or parts of every year, to this specific work, who are not prepared to become missionaries for life, in the common meaning of the term. "'hat enormous anxieties would be spared us in connection with mission.buildings, and churches, and schools-the dead weight of many existing agencies. All thege things would come in time, but they would come independently of those who make it their business to preach the Gospel. Churches would be formed by thousands; but they would be left to their New Testament, and to native pastors, being commended, not selfishly, but from enlightened conviction, "to God and to the word of His grace. " A freer Christian life might be the result of such an arrange· ment; but the life would be more true, more natural, and, I believe, more abiding.
And what a blessing would it be to the heathen to filld hundreds of men in their country all preaching substantially the same Gospel, and all pointing for details of spiritual and ecclesiastical life to the same book!
It can be done. It is our duty to do it, and there will be blessing even in the attempt. Yes, you say, in the attempt j but in anything besides' Can we, without miracles, hope that men will believe' Is a message of human sinfulness, of Divine mercy, and of holiness-in one word, of Christ, and of Christ as crucified for us-likely to win men who have grown old in sin Y Must we not rather keep to our schools and be content to elevate men by the gradual training of a few in each generation, till, centuries hence, the whole are trained? I think not. The contempt of the foolishness of preaching has not yet died out. Signs, miracles, are still deemed essential. Wisdom, education, is still sought for as the precursor of the Gospel or its substitute. Yet is the Gospel more than a sign. It is power itself, and the power of God; and more than wisdom-the wisdom of God. Miracles have their place in introducing a new revelation, but they are not needed to justify us in preaching the Gospel, nor were they the means of the repentance and faith of the first converts. The truths we have to preach-man's guilt, God's free and righteous mercy, the necessity of holiness-still appeal to men's consciences and hearts, as they did at Jerusalem and at Corinth j the preaching is still followed by "greater things" than Christ Himself wrought j and, in short, the meso sage of the Cross, delivered as it ought to be, with prayer and tears, is still the power of God j and our strength is in proclaiming it. Some will not believe, but multitudes will ; and we shall have discharged our con· science and have obeyed our Lord. There will be a blessing in the attempt, and in much belides.
Thill, then, is the conclusion to which I come. If the Christian Church will give itself to this business of preaching the Gospel, it has wealth enough and men enough to preach it, in the next fifteen or twenty years, to every creature. All we need is a " willing mind"-a Pentecostal spirit of prayer, and faith and zeal. Only expect what God promises to give, only attempt what God bids us to do, and the thing will be done.
The Divine method of ruitlsions has been briefly marked out. We are to work to this model j make the preaching of the Gospel to every creature our ambition, our passion, as it was Paul's. Begin with our children and our friends. Continue in our busineils that we may have the more to give. Take it up as work, not as play.
Let the resolution of our missionary boards be to have hundreds of missionary evangelists with simple work, requiring few, though noble qualifications-love, insight, faith. And let our resolution be to give, not single dollars, but fives, tens, hundreds, and thousands-sums we think we can ill spare; and let all give. And soon-the Lord hasten it !-" His way will be known on earth, and His saving health among all nations."
And yet it is not so much men we need, or money! Not 80 much demonstrations of the sufficiency of our wealth and numbers. What we most need in order to use the wealth we have and to send the men is a heart of warmer love-still greater tenderness and simplicity, more faith and more prayer; in short, the Holy Spirit in us and with us. All I have here written on the power of preaching takes as granted that it is not we who speak, but God who speaks by us. The consciousness, the temper. and the reality of a Divine presence-is not this the great need of us all?
Yet is it less accessible than the men or the money ¥ Nay, it is more accessible than either, and the only thing needed for the acquiring of both. If God give us the Spirit-and can we doubt His willingness-nothing else essential will be withheld.
STATISTICAL FACTS.
I. NUMBERS.
BAPTISTS. Ministers and Members or Communicants. Missionaries. 505,090 Briti.sh. Empire, Colonies, and 3,281,500 MlsslOns ………….•.• 2,853 America and Foreign States .. 25,005 Total (a) …. …. .. 27,858 3,786,590 CONGREGATIONALISTS. Ministers and Members or Communicants. Missionaries. 360,000 Great Britain (b) .. ……•.• 2,722 492,000 America (c) •• '" .•.•.•••.. 4,640 Total …•…•••••.. 7,362 852,000 EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH. Benefices. Sittings.
England (d) …•.••…•… 14,250 6,250,000 Ireland …………..• _.. America .••••..•…••….. 1,210 602,300 4,163 (Members) 1,650,000 Total ••••………. 19,623 7,502,300 (a) "Baptist Handbook," 1892. "The Congregational Handbook" (Boston) for 1891 gives American Baptists as a million more.
(b) "Whitaker's Almanac," 1892. A very inadequate view of the influence and working power 9f the body.
(0) .. The Congregationalist Handbook" (Boston) for 1891. (d) This seems the simplest way of giving an idea of the strength of the Established Chnrch. 'fhe ministers are much more numerous than the benefices, and the nominal melDbers than the Eit~ tings. See H Whitaker's Almanac," p. 236. PBlCSBYTERIAN . Ministers. Communicants.
United Kingdom, Colonies, 5,510 1,418,000 and Missions .•••…….. 5,527 469,000 11,918 European Continent …..•.. 1,561,000 America …•..•••……… —– Total (e) . ••••.••••.• 22,955 3,448,000 WESLEYAN AND OTHER Ministers. Communicants. METHODISTS. 7,285 1,362,000 Great Britain, Colonies, etc. 31,365 4,983,000 (7 bodies) ……•……. —— America (14 bodies)…….. 6,345,000 Total (I) …. ……. 38,650 23,000,000 —- Grand Total (about) …… 120,000 The number of commllnicants is equally divided between Europe and America.
It will be gathered from this list that in these five denominations there are upward of 15,000,000 of church. members who are pledged to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus thrist, with seyen or eight millions more who are equally pledged as members or Episcopal churches.
II. WEALTH.
[NOTE.-It is not deemad necessary to alter these figures to represent dollars. We have only to remember that a ponnd is abont five dollars.-ED.] Since modern missions began in 1792, the wealth of England has enormously increased. Ninepence in the pound from income-tax payers alone would now yield £15,000,000 a year. We spend each year on our army and navy £35,000,000. We spent last year on drink £140,000,000.
Our yearly contributions for foreign missions amount to £1,300,000. (g) In 1850 the communicants of evangelical churches in America were wurth £200,000,000 ; in 1880 they were worth £1,800,000,000. The AmerIcans spend on drink £200,000,000 a year; on tobacco, £120,000,000 a year; on jewelry, £110,000,000. Their yeady contributions for foreign missions amount to £1,400,000. (h) Looking at our numbers and wealth, am I wrong in affirming that the Chris~ian churches of Europe and America alone have men enough and money enough to do a11 I have described in a fraction of the time I have assigned for the accomplishment of this great and blessed work?
<el From" Reports of General Presbyterian Council," sent by Rev. Dr. :ltlathewi (f) From" The Wesl"yan Methodist Kalendar," sent by ~bjor Smith. (g) See Church Missionary Intelligencer, January, 1892, p. 64. (fi) See" Report of the Centenary Conference on Missions," ii. 502, 534.
DECENTRALIZATION IN MISSIONS
DECENTRALIZATION IN MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS.
In a very able article on missions in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review, the writer makes this startling statement, that" the churches of Great Britain have never as yet made foreign mi.~sion8 a part of their work. ,.
What strikes us at first as being a strange assertion is, however, justified by a further statement, which is almost as true of our country as of Great Britain: "The great missionary societies in England are all outside the churehes, which, as churches, have nothing to do with their maintenance or management. It is true the money comes from members of the churches, and church-members are managers of the societies; but all that the churches do is to manifest a benevolent neutrality, or to bestow a benevolent patronage. Missions to the heathen world are not made the work of the churches; they are a parergon-we had almost said a by-play, or a May holiday-instead of being the Church of Christ's first work, as it was her Lord's final commission-a work demanding the highest talent and most devoted service."
It cannot be denied that this statement is strictly according to fact, and the fact is one of the most serious whith eonfronts us in our missionary operations. Responsibility is the mother of activity. Only as Christians are sensible of their obligation will they be moved to active consecration.
Therefore, how to distribute responsibility for the work of evangelizing the world is the great problem to be solved in the present "crisis of missions. "
Now we do not question for a moment the great value and indispensa- ble necessity of our missionary boards. The splendid work which they have done during the last hundred years has amply justified the wisdom of their founders j and it is to be earnestly hoped that the number and efficiency of such societies may be greatly increased in the years to come; but there are certain perils connected with these great organizations to which we should be keenly alive. .
In the first place, they tend to create a missionary trust, in which re- sponsibility is 'centred in a few hands, funds administered by a few men, and the world's evangelization syndicated in a few trustees. As great emporiums shut up small shops and drive the petty store-keepers out of business, so wholesale missions tend to concentrate the trade in Gospel pearls in a single firm, and thus to create a ~ind of evangelical monopoly.
President Wayland, whose views of missionary policy, expressed more than forty years ago, have been more and, more justified by events, had very strong convictions on this point. He predicted that the tendency would be steadily developed to carryon missions by representation instead of by participation-churches turning over their responsibility to boards, boards relegating it to executive committees, and executiye committees to secretaries. " Thus, in fact," he says, "the work of extending the cause of Christ, which belongs essentially to every disciple, is devolved on some fifteen or twenty men, who, overburdened with business, do. all they possibly can i but to what does this amount in comparison with the universal effort of six or eight hundred thousand communicants, each laboring in his own sphere, each building over against his own house, all animated with the same spirit, each determined to do with his whole heart the whole service which his Master has appointed to him individually 1"
In confirmation of this statement, let us ask how many pastors and churches practically discharge their responsibility for missions with an annual contribution, gathered on one Sunday and sent to the missionary society ~ Those who have an intimate acquaintance with the subject well know that many make this the sum total of their interest in this Divine enterprise. Thus the missionary Christ, with His great commission, is treated as a beggar to be discharged with an alms, and not as a yoke-fellow in the Gospel to be supported in daily co-operation. As a consequence, missionary contributions do not grow with the growth of the churches, and missionary interest does not increase WIth the increase of communicants.
On the other hand, whenever ~ndividual churches have taken up the work of giving the Gospel to the heathen, as their own first and inalienable obligation, the results have been surprising. God is constantly giving object-lessons on this subject: The single peasant church of Pastor Harms, in Germany, sending out and supporting more than three hundred and fifty missionaries within thirty years; Pastor Gossner commissioning and maintaining one hundred and forty-one missionaries i and in our day, Pastor Simpso~ sending out one Imndred missionaries in a single year"and receiving for their support within twelve months more than two hundred thousand dollars ! We may not altogether approve the policy and methods of these leaders; that is not the question. Here are "examples writ large" of what single pastors and local churches can do who make missions their principal business, and constitute themselves wiih the Holy Ghost sole agente, and not silent partners in that business.
A second tendency growing out of our present methods is to produce an undesirable uniformity of method in conducting the work of foreign missions. The method is the man himself. Churches which achieve unusual success in parish work generally do so by absorbing and reducing to action their minister's personality. The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a kind of organized Spurgeon iNorthfield is a sort of incarnated Moody. These types of men and method should be transplanted bodily to the missionary field, instead of being> minted and restamped with the uniform signature of a missionary board. There are churches which are hot, and there are churches which are cold. Pour their missionary spirit into a common receptacle, and lukewarm is the mean temperature. In some way the tn0St fervtfut, most evangelical, most spiritual churches ought to make their influ(mce felt directly on the foreign field through agents who shall properly represent them. Professor Christlieb in his book on missions attaches so much importance to a " variety of operations," in order to the highest results, that he even sees a beneficent Providence in denominationalism, in the partition of Christendom into a multitude of sects.
The versatility of method is really provided for in the wide dissimilarity in churches and in their administration.
Without proposing anything either revolutionary or radical, we do believe that the time has come for decentralization in missionary operations. The way to accomplish thi!l is obviQJls and the reason for it scriptural. Let every church become a foreign missionary society having its own field or station, and its own representatives for whom it is directly responsible. Confederation instead of delegation or of relegation might thus be secured. The local churches could co· operate in the work of missions without funding their responsibility in a common treasury.
The missionary boards would carryon the same work which they now conduct with considerable relief from responsibility. They would be the commission housel of the churches which they represent, doing their banking and book-keeping j transporting their missionaries to and from their fields j building their mission house8 and chapels-in fact, doing everything which they now do except supporting and directing the missionaries. We are profoundly persuaded that this responsibility should be retained by the local churches, and for this reason, that the Head of the Church has fixed it there, and that it cannot properly be transferred. The individual church is a missionary society, complete in itself. So it was ordained to be in the beginning, and so it must continue to be in order to do its largest work for the world.
And what would be gained by this method V 1. It would greatly promote the spirit of prayer for missions. Necessity is the spur to importunity. " Lord, make me sensible of real needs," was the petition constantly on the lips of an eminent saint. One who has his larder filled to repletion finds it exceedingly difficult to plead with intense unction, "Give us this day our daily bread." Christ's constant warnings of the perils of wealth and His strong dissuasions against laying up treasnres on earth are sufficiently explained in this fact. Neither wealth nor poverty are praiseworthy conditions in themselves j but the one begets independence of God, and the other dependence on God. Therefore it is not more wealth, but more need that is required in our churches to increase their missionary power. Let the burden of the support of missionaries and missionary stations rest directly on the local churches j let the trials and discouragements of the foreign field be made an immediate and sole concern of these churches, and what a new and wonderful stimulus to prayer it would furnish. Do we hear the plea that single churches are not able to undertake a foreign mission V Our answer is, let them undertake that which they are unable to perform, if ever their praying and working ability is to be brought out. It is the business of a good teacher to give his pupils problems to work out larger than their present capacity, in order to expand the mind j and Christ would have us undertake more than we can do, in order to throw us upon Himself with strong crying and intercession, and so teach us how His strength is made perfect in weakness. Missions rightly conducted are the greatest school of prayer: they nourish that by which they are nourished j they create a necessity which supplies a necessity. In a word, the most pressing demand of our day is more responsibility for missions in order to greater importunity for missions.
2. It would increase vastly the contributions of the churches j and for this reason, that it would make obligation more immediate and personal. A financial pressure resting on a board a thousand miles away is not sufficient to lift the benevolence of the local church to its proper level. Duty is what is due j hence the more personal a debt can be made to appear, the more obligatory will seem to be the claim. How churches will lift and strain their resources and tax their self-denial to build a house of worship or to purchase a new organ! What lover of missions has not longed for the same energy of self-sacrifice on behalf of this greatest of all works? The secret of the earnestness in the one instance is that the work is counted a personal obligation, and therefore since it cannot be relegated it is heroically done. Let a church have its own missionaries who will starve unless it supports them, and there will be a possibility that some at home will go hungry in order to feed a far-off workman j but there is little likelihood that such self-denial will be evoked where responsibility for a missionary'll support is subdivided among several thousand Christians. The wisdom of Sidney Smith's saying is even more apparent than its wit: " Benevolence is a universal instinct j A cannot see B in need without desiring C to help him." How much of the amiable well wishing and even fervent praying for missions is of this sort, an asking God to move others to do what we ought to do ourselves j a pleading for the cause of missions by those who are daily shirking the claims of missions. Never can the resources of the Christian Church be laid under contribution till in some way the missionary enterprise is understood to be the principal business of the Church, and a business which cannot by any possibility be entrusted to an ecclesiastical commission house.
3. It would vastly multiply the number and the variety of missionary agencies. It is quite common in these days to hear the phrase, the " scandal of a divided Christendom." This condition is doubtless to be lamented on many grounds. Nevertheless, it has unquestionably been overruled to the wider and more rapid propagation of the Gospel. An able article appeared in one of the numbers of this REVIEW, showing conclusively that when the unity of the Church bas been most compact and absolute missionary success has been the least.' All that we would emphasize here is, that centralization tellQs illIJl.9lit always to a waste of energy. A
THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION
hundred horse-power can be had by hitching a hundred horses into cne team, but a hundred church-power does not and cannot result from uniting a hundred churches into one society. Indeed, the paradox is constantly witnessed of gaining strength by diminishing the numbers, as in the reduction of Gideon's army. Churches which are strong ought doubtless to be yoked up with churches which are weak, and so to share their burdens j but we know of no law requiring churches that are zealous and thoroughly alive to their missionary obligations to dilute their consecration and to lower the temperature of their zeal, by union with those which utterly lack in these qualities. The responsibility of being devoted, and the obligation to be zealous and self-denying ought, in other words, to be thrown upon each Christian and upon each church with no opportunity to shift them upon others.
In the immense call which is now made upon the churches of Christ for multiplied giving and multiplied laborers, it is natural to ask what further methods can be suggested. "Churches to the Front" is the answer of one of the oldest missionaries in China, in a tract now before us. If separate churches will take up the work of missions, he believes that missionaries will be multiplied a hundred-fold within a fAw years. Another eminent laborer in China has for seyeral years been advocating the same view. What is the suggestion but a call for a " policy of missions which multiplies a thousand-fold the eyes that watch for their success, the hands that work for their prosperity, and the prayers that plead for their blessing i"
THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION.
BY REV. ROBERT STEBL, D.D" SYDNEY.
The first year of the second half century of the New Hebrides Mission witnessed the introduction of steam power to serve the interests of advancing Christianity as well as of progressive commerce in this group of islands. There are thirty islands, most of which have now resident or visiting missionaries, and all of them have native teachers. The first of the interisland vessels was the Columba, a boat of five tons. The second was the John Knox, a larger craft of twelve tons, in which was a little cabin six feet high, where ten persons could sit. and a hold which could accommodate between twenty and thirty persons. This two-masted schooner did good service for a few years, but soon proved too small. The next vessel was the result of an appeal after the martyrdom of the Rev. G. N. Gordon and his wife on Eromanga in 1861, and the perils on Tanna which caused the flight of the missionaries. The Rev. J. G. Paton, who has since become so famous, raised a sum of £3000 by his fervent appeals in Australasia for a new vessel and £lOOO for additional missionaries. A brigantine of 120 tons was built at New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, and sent out to the New Hebrides under the command of Captain W. A. Fraser, in 1864, with a reinforcement of three missionaries, including the courageous brother of the martyred Gordon. In 1866 three more missionaries came from Scotland to occupy stations in the group. The vessel called the Dayspring was supported by the Presbyterian Sabbath scholars in Australia and New ?:caland, with the aid'of £250 annually from Nova Scotia and £250 from the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland. In 1873 this vessel was wrecked on a reef in the harbor of Aneityum during Ii hurricane, but no lives were lost. She was immred for £2000, which was recovered, and formed the commencement of a new fund. The Rev. Mellsrs. Copeland and Paton collected £2000 more, and with this a vessel built in Sydney, New South Wales, was purchased, and adapted to the missionary work. It was a three· masted schooner of 159 tons, and a remarkably quick sailer. For seventeen years this second Dayspring served the mission well, making two voyages snnually from Sydney with stores and mails and mission passengers, and waiting on the missionaries at their several stations. Much pioneer work was done by the aid afforded by this vessel and her master, officers, and sailors, as well as by the native crew always employed in the islands. She was insured for £2000, the premium for which was paid by means of an insurance fund inaugul'l1ted in New Zealand by the Rev. J. Copeland, and completed to a sum of £3000 by Mr. Paton. One of the services of this vessel was the conveyance of the missionaries, and often also their wives, to the place where the mission synod was held, and the entertainment of them during its several sel!lsions. Having had the pleasure of being prellent at one of these synods, I can testify to the happy and comfortable arrangement for the missionaries staying on board and meeting each other at meals. It secured proper attendance and much comfort. The wives of the missionaries were quartered at the mission house. The annual expense of the vessel was about. £1800, of which £1300 were raised by the Sabbath scholars of the Presbyterian churches in Australasia. Indeed, they frequently raised much more, and thus met the necessary repairs required from time to time. It was found, however, that this vessel was too small for the wants of the growing mission in the New Hebrides. The Rev. J. G. Paton, on a visit to Great Britain and Ireland in 1884-85, collected over £9000, of which £6000 were given for the purchase of a steamer for the use of the mission. Negotiations were entered into immediately after his return to Melbourne with a view to ascertain the probable cost of maintaining a steam vessel, and as that was found to involve an annual outlay of some £3000, considerable difficulty was felt in getting those supp-orting missionaries on the islands to undertake so heavy a responsibility. But in Divine Providence an unexpected solution of the difficulty was obtained when the mercantile marine stepped forward and offered to establish a regular line of steamers if encouragement was given. The Victorian and the New South Wales Governments each subsidized a monthly service to the illlands by way of New Caledonia and Fiji. This did not exactly meet the wants of the mission, as the steamers called only at one port on the group. The mission vessel therefore continued its voyages for another year, when the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company offered to place a steamer in the islands, with a view of promoting trade for the main line. The New South Wales Government gave a sub· sidy of £100 per month to this service, and the Maritime Board of the mission entered into a contract with the company to get all the work of the mission done among the islands. The steamer caUs at every station once a month, and conveys all passengers 'and stores. The steamer on this route meets that on the main line, and cruises entirely among the islands. In the early part of this year, and during the hurricane season, she was driven on a reef in the very harbor where the first Dayspring was wrecked. Fortunately no mission goods were lost, and no lives, but the vessel was rendered useless.
A larger and better steamer has now been put on the inter-island trade. The missionaries have greater comfort in travelling, and are altogether more satisfied. The expense has been increased some £500 a year, but no more than £300 of this faUs upon the New Hebrides Mission. The Dayspring has since been suld. In addition to all this, a small steamer is to be provided for the new mission' just started on the most northerly and largest island of the group-Espiritu Santo-hy the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. This is to be provided for by the fund raised by the Rev. J. G. Paton-now D.D., by the University of Edinburgh. The Rev. D. Macdonald, who has been for eighteen ycars at Havanna Harbor, in the island of Efate, is to superintend this new mission, and two other missionaries have been appointed to that work.. Soon all the group will be under missionary care. The evangelistic work is !!preading rapidly. There are cighteen missionaries of the Presbyterian churches now on the group. Bishop Selwyn and his missionaries operate on three of the islands to the north. There are about 180 native teachers employed. On some islands there are o·er 500 communicants; on others, 350, 200, 60, etc. On many there is a large attendance at public worship; on others it is still small. On all the work of the Lord is advancing, but the largest islands are only lately begun to be evangelized. There is still much to be done, requiring faith, prayer, labor, and perseverance. The mission contains agents of six Australasian Presbyterian churches and of the Free Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Thus eight churches work together in the cause of missions. It is no wonder that the late Rev. Dr. Duff, of Calcutta, commended this union to the first General Council which met at Edinburgh as an example of what might by done by Presbyterian churches. The same spirit is at work both in India, China, Japan, and Africa, and will doubtless prcvail. May this consummation, devoutly to be wished, soon be realized !
In April last the Rev. VV. Vatt and wife returned to their station after a visit to Europe, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and New South Wales. Mr. Watt took with him the complete New Testament in Tannese,
WILLIAM CAREY
which he had carried through the press in Scotland. Dr. Gunn, medical mis- sionary, also returned after a short furlough with his wife and family in New South Wales. The Rev. H. A. Robertson, of Eromanga, with his wife and family, came lately to the same colony for their health. Mr. Robert- son had suffered from exposure in aiding the wrecked steamer. The Rev; P. Milne, whose career has been so successful on Ngunna and other islands, is visiting New Zealand and addressing congregations. The Rev. Dr. Paton has been doing similar work in AUlltralia. Altogether this mission, in a very difficult field, is making much progress in evangelizing the dusky tribes of the New Hebrides. A perplexing difficulty has lately been felt. British vessels are not allowed to sell arms or intoxicating liquors to the natives. French vessels are allowed to do both j and the natil'es have been refusing to sell. land unless they receive muskets in exchange. This has aided the acquirement of land by French settlers, and it has hindered purchase of land and other trade to British settlers. American vessels have also, it is said, been trading in these articles among the New Hebrides islands. It is matter requiring some diplomatic settlement, so that all • nations may be on an equal footing, and that the people be protected from trade that tends to their injury and to the injury of thc missionary work. It is high timethat enlightened nations should all agree not to take intoxi- cating liquor to the aborigines of any continent or island. Humanity and religion alike require this course.
WILLIAM CAREY.
IlL-THE TRANSLATOR OF THE 'BIBLE AND THE BENEFACTOR OF ASIA.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LL.D., F.R.G.S., EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
When, in his great work, the" Annals of the English Bible," Christopher Anderson, thc accomplished Baptist minister, of Edinburgh, reviewed the principal translations of Holy Scripture which Carey had made into the languages of the peoples of Iudia and Southern Asia, he declared that that generation lived too near the object to be able to descry the proportions or estimate the value of the work. " Fifty years hence the character of this extraordinary and humble man will be more correctly appreciated." Dr. A. F. Cox, the historian of the first half century of the Baptist Missionary Society, wrote about the same time that Carey might have been a Luther or a Newton had he lived in their age, "but his faculties, consecrated by religion to a still higher end, have gained for him the sublime distinction of having been the translator of the Scriptures and the benefactor of Asia." Catholic and evangelical Christendom, after another half century, gratefully adopts as its own the eulogy.
As a man and a missionary William Carey's forty:one years' apostolate in India formed an all-round career. His plodding-the only merit he would admit-his natural genius j his consecration to the highest good of the dark races; his faith in God and personal "ove t~ Jesus Christ; his splendid health and capacity for patient toil; his simple Melf-denial, free alike from consciousness and asceticism for its own sake ; his chivalrous affection to family and friends, and his courtesy to his friends' enemies- for he llad none of his own-all constitute a character nearer perfectness than any since the inspired John died at Ephesus. But if analysis leads us to study each great service that he was called by the Spirit of God to render to the Church and the world, we have no difficulty in selecting these two as the greatest-the founding of his society in 1792, and the translation of the Scriptures into thirty-six Asiatic languages. If Robert Ball could, amid the controversies of his lifetime, declare Carey to have been, even then, "the instrument of diffusing more religious knowledge than has fallen to the lot of any individual since the Reformation," and if the poet Southey could challenge his own Church of England, all combined, to show the like, what shall be the verdict of evangelical Christendom now?
Carey himself estimated his own position when he declared that he was only a pioneer. He meant it modestly, and he would have admitted every' word written down to our own day by English university scholars who desiderate academic tone, microscopic erudition, and college-bred culture. But it is precisely such university gifts, so desirable in themselves and out of reach of the Northamptonshire shoemaker, that unfit their possessor to be a leader of men, an originator of a great movement, a reformer of Church or State. The Spi~it of God prefers the child-weakness of the world, and makes it mightier than all that mechanical training can do to be the spiritual force, the moral regenerator of humanity. Carey was the pioneer translator of the Word of God into the languages of Southern Asia in this sense, that he was the first-cxcept into Tamil and Telugoo-and that, not know. ing how soon he might be called away, he must make haste to give every people the good news of God in their own tongue. He worked night and day for this end, while neglecting no other imperative duty except his personal correspondence. To one lady he excused his silence thus-that eve-ry letter he wrote meant the sacrifice of a chapter of the Bengali Bible !
The providence of God had, unconsciously, trained him for this work far more effectually than if he had gone to college like Claudius Buchanan and David Brown, like Henry Martyn and Thomason afterward. When a thoughtless boy in the church of which his father was clerk and schoolmaster, he knew the Scriptures. When at eighteen he sought food for his new spiritual life among the Nonconformists, he 80 studied the Bible for himself that he "formed his own system" of belief from its self-evidence of self-revealing" contents, and found in it what all the Reformers and universities of the past centuries had failed to seethe missionary call. As the youth learned each new language, he read his daily morning chapter in it, till the number became seven. He might preach with the voice and teach with the lips and the effect might pass away with his own life, which must be brief at the longest. But, his trans- lations of the Scriptures, the first into the Oriental vernaculars, would, if once made, be improved on by others, and would carry the message of God to man far and wide where no missionary could go, and down through the ages when the pioneer was forgotten. Carey loved to preach, but he thirsted to translate; he worked sixteen hours out of ever.y twenty-four, because he hasted to. send out from the press the portions and then the whole of the vernacular Bible, while neglecting no other department of the missionary's duty that fell to him. And God so accepted His servant's work that his holy ambition was realized beyond all his yearning, and in a rapture of thanksgiving he said to Marshman as he lay a-dying: " I have not a wish left uns~tisfied." God so blessed His servant's self-denial and toil that He enabled him to contribute personally £46,625 to the creation and extension of the Serampore Mission, so that he saw before his death "twenty-six Gospel churches planted in India within an area of about eight hundred miles, and above forty laboring brethren rail'ed up on the spot amid them," as his surviving colleague wrote.
Let it not be supposed, however, that Carey neglected either the erudi- tion of scholarship or the delicate variations of literary style and colloquial idiom in his Orientalism. Comparative philology was only coming to the birth as a science in his day, and hill is the merit of having done more to prepare the data for its generalizations, as well as to apply its laws to the mastering of other tongues, than any contemporary ~r predecessor. Sir William Jones, the Christian judge, who died all too early at thirty-four, alone was before him. Sir Charles Wilkins and the elder Halhed had made the first translations from the Sanskrit and the Persian, and the former had cut the first Bengali types. Henry Colebrooke, greater than all, and in- spirer of the German Orientalists, was Carey's immediate contemporary and sometimes fellow-worker. The slightly later scholar, Horace Hayman Wilson, who beca~e first Bodleian Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, and was no friend of missions, has more warmly eulogized Carey's Sanskrit • scholarship and fluent and correct speech than any other, remarking that " it was not in Dr. Carey's nature to volunteer a display of his erudition ;"
the marvel how even be could find time for his translations of the Sanskrit epics, the Sankhya Metaphysical treatises, and for the texts of the Hito- padesa, the Dasa, Kumara, Carita, and the Apophthegms of Bhartri-pari, still more for his many and magnificent dictionaries and grammars. But the motive accounts for it all when he confesses, in 1811, in reference to his" Universal Dictionary of the Oriental Languages Derived from the Sanskrit," which was burned in the great fire of the Serampore press soon – after, the desire" to assist biblical students to correct the translation of the Bible in the Oriental languages after we are dead."
His knowledge of the many dialects and e'en patois of the widespread Bengali and Hindi peoples was unexampled, and has probably never since been equalled. For he was a missionary who daily worked among them, and among the lowest as well as highest classes of them. He had facilities for learning their very slang and vocabulary of abuse which no one has ever since possessed in Bengal save the revenue settlement officials, who may happen to love languages, and the people in other provinces. That rare book, " Dialogues Intended to Facilitate the Acquiring of the Bengalee Language," with its curious preface, published by Carey in 1818, throws a flood of light on the life and beliefs of the eighty millions even at the present day too long neglected. In one hundred and thirteen parallel pages we have the talk of every class, learned and illiterate j the" grave style" and the" common talk of laboring people," the language of women " considerably differing from that of the men, especially in their quarrels j" the proverbial expressions and the very irregular talk of fishermen. Some of it is almost too coarse for repetition, even in EngliSh j but all, includ- ing dialogues which set forth" the domestic economy of the country," forms a priceless revelation of the inner life of the dumb millions of Ben- gal, and no less a testimony to the wonderfully human tenderness and minute knowledge of the first English missionary to India. William Carey used to exhaust three Pundits daily as his amanuenses and fellow-workers. He had the power, like some great generals, of falling asleep in a moment and for a fixed time. Each Pundit had instructions to rouse him for a new spell of work should he not be awake at the hour, and when the Oriental's reluctance to summon a sleeper back to life prevailed occailionally, t.he eager scholar never failed to reprove him. Only then was the perfect temper ruffled, for the translator had been allowed to steal time from his work for God and posterity.
If the science of comparative grammar had not been formulated in Carey's time, still less was that of biblical criticism in the modern sense dreamed of. Theology, though the queen of the sciences, was then as little studied as the active life of godliness was pursued in Christian churches and communities. The two have a far closer relation than the extreme advocate of each-right in what he asserts, bnt wrong in what he denies- ever admits. Carey accomplished his splendid work with no apparatus criticus worthy of the name in those days, and with the help of no com- mentary more critical than Doddridge's "Family Expositor," which had appeared in 1738. His Greek concordance was always at his side. An interesting parallel might be drawn between him and Henry Martyn, his yoting contemporary and neighbor for a time, at the translating work. As to Hebrew, like biblical criticism, a scholarly knowledge of that on any extensive scale is only now coming into existence j but Carey was at the – level of the best Hebraists of his day. The grammar was known then j but exegetical methods are of to-day. The problem which God gave to the Church in the evangelical revival a century ago, was that of evangelizing the dark races j and to-day there has been added that of consecrating all . recent knowledge and critical inquiry by evangelical fidelity to the true inspiration of the Scriptures. The more that Carey toiled at his translating the nearer he was drawn to the Spirit of God, and the more his faith was fed by the revelation and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
William Carey's two greatest translations of the Bible wele that into Bengali for the blind millions, and into Sanskrit for their blinder leaders. In four years after landing at Calcutta he had made his first experimental Beng~lee version of the New Testament from the original Greek. After four revisions of the MS., read to natives of all classes, he had received his first printing-press. The printer landed at Serampore in the person of William Ward, and there, in February, 1801, the first edition of two thousand copies appeared. Ward himself and Felix Carey set up the types in nine months; four Hindus worked the press. The whole, on rough, country· made paper, cost £620. The rare and precious volume is now a curiosity as it rests on the shelves of Serampore College Library. The first page in Matthew's gospel was struck off at press by Carey himself, and this one Gospel was published at once, that the Bengalees might not for a day want a complete and inspired life of the only Redeemer of men. This first ledition was presented to King George III., at the instance of Ead Spencer, owner of the great library at Althorp; and the king replied: "I am greatly pleased to find that any of my subjects are employed in this manner." The whole Bengali Bible appeared complete in 1809. Fivc editions of the Old, and eight editions of the New, Testament were revised by Carey hefore his death. As the first sheets had been offered to God on the altar or communion-table by prayer in the first Bengali chapel, so thc venerable scholar took the first copy of the last edition with him into the pulpit and addressed his converts from it, from the words (in the Bengali), " Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy sal1"ation," just two years before the Lord lovingly answered the prayer. But to the last he persisted in his ruling passion" now and then to read a proofsheet of the Scriptures."
The Sanskrit Bible completed by Carey, burned in the fire of 1812, retranslated, and therefore not all published when he died, was his answer to the Vedic and Puranic literature of the Brahmins, who" cordially received it." As milk in a vessel of dog's skin, utterly polluted, was truth to them in one of the tongues of the common people. But in its Sanskrit dress, as afterward improved by Werger, the Bible has bem at once welcomed by not a few to whom it has proved the power of God and the wisdom of God. Every Pundit' knows Sanskrit as, of old, every educated European knew Latin; so that "by translating the Scriptures into this language we in effect translate them into all the languages of India." Carey translated and wrote every word of the great book with his own hand. It was his thirty-sixth translation and his last, though he edited and revisea the work of others in other languages.
Space fails me to tell the details or even to generalize the romantic facts of William Carey's manifold services to humanity, Indian administration, science and manufactures, botany and forestry, agriculture and horticulture,
DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
literature and education, the mo'ral advancement of society and mlSSlon economics. These appeal to the men of science and of society, to the statesmen and atbninistrators, who rule two hundred and eighty-eight millions today, on lines which this friend of many a governor-general marked out, to all who love the progress of man in any upward direction, to unite with the whole Church in grateful commemoration of the founder and the f/lther of missions a hundred years ago. All may adopt the lines of a contemporary verse-writer, a man of the world, who knew him: .. Thou'rt in onr heart-with tresses thin and gray, And eye that knew the Book of Life so well, And brow serene, as thou were wont to stray Amidst thy flowers-like Adam ere he fell."
'But the believing Christian will specially take to his heart the last written message of the dying saint sent to Christopher Anderson on September 30th, 1833 : "As everything connected with the full accomplishment of the Divine promises depends on the almighty power of God, pray that I and all the ministers of the Word may take hold of His strength, and go about our work as fully expecting the accomplishment of them all, which, however difficult and improbable it may appear, is certain, as all the promises of God are in Him, yea, and in Him. Amen." Carey began the first modern missionary century with " Expect Great Things; Attempt Great Things;" he summons us to enter on the second not only fully expecting the accomplishment of all God's promises, but taking hold of God's strength as we go about the work of evangelizing the world.
[EJrrata.-In Part 1. of this series, page 321, for first date, A.D. 51–55, read B.O. 55-A.D. 51 ; also on page 322 under THE THBEE NEW BIRTH EpOOHS.] DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
[NOTB.-Thls.paper gives the substance of au address delivered In City Temple, London, April 27, 1892, before young men in behalf of the Baptist Missionary Society, and as the opening of the centenary celebration.] Deus in historia (God is in history). The undevout historian, like the " undevout astronomer, is mad." If only the fool can say in his heart, as he beholds the universe, with its marvellous arrangements and adjustinents, " There is no God," only the fool can say, as he looks upon the unfoldings and infoldings of the historic mystery, " It is the work of chance."
Yes, events have an articulated pla~ : they are not disjecta membra. As the author of Psalm 139 said of yet unborn life, we may say of the historic ages to come: "Thine eyes did see their substance, being yet unperfect; and in Thy Book all coming events were written, which in continuous succession are fashioned when as yet there was none of them."
Christ said to the imperious demand for" a sign from heaven" that the signs were already in the very horizon, but were not diicerned by that evil and adulterous generation. The red sky of evening was understood by them to be a prophecy of a fair to-morrow; and the red and lowering sky of morning to be a forecast of foul weather. Yet with all their skill in reading the weather signs, they had no discernment for the " signs of the times. " The comparison implies a profound and most weighty analogy, nalIely, that God gives U8 in the Present a prophecy of the Future; and that it is our duty and privilege to watch the historic horizon, note politi- cal, moral, spiritual phenomena, and make abroad and safe induction as to the times to come; and especially developments nigh at hand even 8t the doors.
Another grand truth implied in all this is that, as God has a plan in history, so it is an infinitely wise and good plan.j and that therefore grand historic epochs wait for the fitnes8 and fulness of times. Accident determines nothing; there is no blunder or mistake, no anticipation or procrastination. When everything is ready, and not hefore or after, with the precision of the mO!lt perfect mechanism, everything moves according to His appoiutment. There may be a wheel within a wheel, but there is the spirit of a living creation in the wheels, and they all move in one direction, obedient to the guiding spirit, and the rim of the wheel is full of the eyes of Omniscience before and behind.
Now observe what follows: God having a definite historic plan, and the fitness and fulness of times being the determining law, we have only to study carefully and prayerfully the events of the present day to see the plan revealed and read the forecast of the future, and especially the near future." The current history of mankind constitutes the putting forth of the leaves of the fig-tree, which reveals the summer as just at hand. The prayerful consideration and comparison of events occurring before our eyes thus becomes to the disciple the spirit of prophecy.
How, then, are we to know that the fitness and fulness of times for the vigorous and successful prosecution of the work of I!lissions has at length arrived 1 What, in respect of missionary enterprise, are the signs of the times now appearing on the world's horizon? This question we seek, with God's help, to answer.
There is a grand fundamental principle which underlies all discernment of the signs of the times, namely, the comparison of prophetic scriptures with providential developments. The Word of God and the work of God must agree; and we must know the former to interpret the latter. At all great crises in history it will be found that prediction, inspired prediction, has long pointed as with uplifted finger toward that crisis j and then there has been at that crisis a singular convergence of events showing a presiding genius in history far above man.
For example, take the Incarnation, that new birth-hour of history. How plainly had prophetic prediction foretold God's manifestation in the flesh, and with astonishing minuteness of detail. The Messiah was to be "Compare Matthew 16 : 1-3 and 1M: 12-14,80-34. bmn in Bethlehem of Judea, of the Davidic line, and after the expiration of sixty-nine of the seventy heptades of years from the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. * Devout men like Simeon and godly women like Anna were not taken by surprise when they beheld the Lord Christ, for, like Daniel, they had studied prophecy, and knew that the time must be near. Then there was the convergence of events: a world-wide expectation of the coming of some great deliverer, a sort of prophecy of the human heart; there was a world-wide preparation in the universal empire of Rome and the prevalence of universal peace; and a world-wide destitution in the acknowledged failure of even Greek philosophy to supply a knowledge of God. That wide famine of soul, that altar at Athens" to God, the Unknown," those Roman roads made ready for the messenger of peace-what a gatheri,ng of rays into one burning focal point! And so because prophetically and providentially the fitness and fulness of times had come-Christ came, and as the very hour struck in the belfry of the ages.
Who can deny what Dr. Croly said years ago in St. Paul's, London, that the Reformation of the sixteenth century was another birth hour of history 1 How plainly had prophetic Scriptures pointed to a period of dark ages, succeeded by another new dawn! The long-buried treasure was once more to be unearthed, and the pearl of great price recovered from its depths, and the greatest age of world-wide evangelism to follow. There had been a general decay of evangelical faith, and there must be a revival in that direction before there could be a revival of missions; for there can never bc evangelistic era until there is an evangelical spirit.
And what a strange convergence again of providential eventlil! What can be more signally wonderful! As God's fit and full time came, preparations on a colossal scale were made for the Reformation. In 1453 Constantinople fell, and the revival of learning followed, el'pecially significant because it scattered over the Continent Greek scholars and the Greek New Testament. In 1497 the new passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope prepared the way for closer contact and communication between the centres of Protestantism and the centres of Oriental heathenism, as in 1492 the discovery of America had opened the way to the planting of a grand Protestant republic, a new missionary nation beyond the Atlantic. Then let it be remembered that about this very time the fall of feudalism, after its thousand years of petty despotisms, prepared the way of the development of individual liberty.
Equally marvellous were the marks that God's fit time was come in the theology of inventions. About the beginning of the fourteenth century the mariner's compass, coming into general use, became a guide to thc marinAr over unknown seas; the printing press issued its first book-a Latin Bible-in 1450 ; and the steam engine wag an assured success in 1543. Just at this very time Luther awoke the Church by his hammer, * Daniel 9 : 25. and the Reformed Faith, joint product of the prayers and tears of Huss and Knox, Wyclif and Calvin, Jerome of Prague and Savonarola of Florence, found its full development under the monk of Erfarth. Surely another great birth-hour was reached when William Carey led the way at Kettering, in 1792, in organizing a society for exclusively foreign mission work, and the next year himself in a uobler sense led the way by going to India.
Here again prophecy linked hands with Providence. More than three thousand years before Carey God had called another man-Abraham- " alone, " * and promised that in his seed all the families of the earth ~hould be blessed. Chri3t had distinctly foretold that the Gospel must first be preached as a witness among all nations before the end should come. And now again events converged and pointed to the time as at last arrived for world· wide evangelism. How any candid and careful student of history can doubt that the nineteenth century was distinctly indicated by God as the new century of missions passes comprehension. The whole historic horizou was aflame with an aurora borealis of splendid signals, which even at this distance are still startling and dazzling. The decay of evangelical doctrine and holy living, which made the first half of the eighteenth century seem like a sepulchre of faith and piety, had given place to one of the mightiest revivals of religion the world ever knew under such men as Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, and a score of others like them. Those trumpet blasts had gone forth from the two Northamptons, summoning all disciples to united prayer for a ~peedy and world. wide effusion of the Holy Spirit, and the new openings for effort in the South Seas and Asia challenged the Church to fulfil her Lord's last command. Corruption in the Church had constrained the remnant who had not bowed to Baal to call mightily on God j and the new life in the Church demanded vent in missions. William Carey could not but be a missionary and an organizer of missions, for the new birth hour had come, and this was the Divine issue.
Has another great birth hour come to u~ ~ Who of us discern~, the signs .of the times 1 While we begin to celebrate this centenary of missions, there are Divine signals on the world's horizon more startling than any which fixed Carey's eye on the signs of the times. It may be doubted whether in all history there hal!! been such a convergence of testimony that the fulness of times has come for the prosecution of God's work.
During this century there has been world-wide exploration, so that now the map of the world is complete-there is no untraversed sea, no undiscovered land. We know what the" whole world" is which is to be evangelized and possessed. There is also world-wide communication. There are no nations, new afar off-the whole world is brought into one neighborhood by steam carriages and vessels, the telegraph, the postal union, etc. Man is in contact with man the world over. There is likewise world-wide fro,ternization. Nation is not ~rJ.'ayed against nation. There are friendly * Isaiah 51 : 2. and even fraternal relations existing j prejudices have been removed, treaties established j there is commercial interchange and mutual acquaintance by travel, diffusion of literature, etc. The year 1884 witnessed the august spectacle of fourteen nations assembled by representatives at Berlin to mature a constitution for the Congo Free State, and in that conference not only Protestant and Catholic peoples united, but even a MohaJJlmedan power was represented! Again, there is world-wide emancipation. Britain and America ~ave made all their slaves free, and RUBBia her serfs i and there is not one civilized and nomigaJly Christian nation to-day that upholds slavery! There is world.wide civilization-i.e., barbarism, savagery, cannibalism, snperstition, and cruelty are fast disappearing before the advance of a new civilization, with its greater intelligence and enterprise, liberality, and humanity. There is also world-wide organization. Every class of men, every calling, however humble, finds strength in association. The world is belted· by these monster zones of associated and organized capital and labor, brains and brawn.
Besides all this invention and discovery seem to have. reachecl their golden age, constraining the greatest statesman of Europe to declare that one decade of years in this century has seen more progress than five millennium~ before it. Who has opened world.wide doors before His Church i pnt in the hands of Christian nations and Protestant nations the sceptre8 of the world j given the printing pres8 and steam engine in wedlock, 80 that their countless offspring should pour into all lands; who has provided the Church with between 35,000,000 and 40,000,000 of evangelical members, and given them thousands of millions of pounds sterling, and organizations that reach round the world' And for what has God done all this if these .are not His signs of the times, which mean that just now the King's business requireth haste, and His swift coursers, even steam and lightning, are yoked to His car!
While the Church lingers and hesitates, behold the activity of the devil, who seems to work with mad haste, as though he knew he had but a short time. See him organizing anarchy to destroy the foundations of all government, pouring his missionaries into every land, to carry their doctrinal demons; see him setting up his printing presses and scattering infidel books41nd tracts, undermining the family, poisoning the fountains of public learning, pulling down the palladium of liberty, the Sabbath, destroyingthe very flower of our society by strong drink, locking up the very will in the chains of opium, and using Christian nations to forge the fetters; if we do not, he does discern the signs of the times !
At this centenary of William Carey j God's signals flash like lightning and boom like thunder around the whole sky. By every mightiest argument and most persuasive appeal j by every motive drawn from a world's need and our opportunity; by every open door and loud cry; by every Scripture prophecy and promise, and by every unfolding of Providence Christ is just now saying to His Church, "Go YB: INTO ALL THE WORLD,
TWENTmTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE McALL MISSION IN FRANCE
AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE!" He buttresses up the command and commission by the declaration, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth j" and by the promise, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." His omnipotence, omnipresence, eternity, are on our side. And if this world-wide work were but taken up by the Church with the determination that no creature should be left without the Gospel, it would again be written, "And they went forth and preached everywhere j the Lord working with and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen!"
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE McALL MISSION IN FRANCE.
REPORTED BY ANNA W. PIERSON.
Special meetings were held in Paris on January 16th and 18th last, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the McAIl Mission, and the seventieth anniversary of the birth of the beloved president.
The first meeting was held on the afternoon of January 16th, when friends and workers were invited to meet Dr. and Mrs. McAlI. The ladies had been busy decorating the hall with wreaths, 11ags, etc., and the place was completely transformed.
As the guests of the day arrived, they were met and escorted to the platform by Pastor Holland, the chairman of the meeting, while all rose and sang in French the hymn, •• Great God, we bless Thee; We celebrate Thy praises."
After reading of the Scriptures and prayer Pastor Holland made 8 brief address of welcome to Dr. and Mrs. McAIi. He explained the object of the gathering, and spoke of the longing they had felt for an opportunity to express the affection and gratitude which filled their hearts toward these two dear missionaries who had " Come over to Macedonia to help" them. He gave glory to the God who had prompted them to leave their native land, had broken down every barrier, and had caused these foreigners to become a bond of union between so many French Christians. He told of the rapid growth of the work and its wide extent in Paris and France.
In the name of the churches of France he thanked them for the good they had done in the community, and for the recruits received into their ranks from his attendants. He thanked them in the name of the missionary societies, both home and foreign, and also in the name of his beloTed country, to whose good they had so generously devoted themselves. He closed by saying: "There is something supremely beneficent-a symbol and prophecy of better times for which we long-in this spectacle of a foreigner who thinks of France only to bring her the most precious gift he possesses, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May our Lord give you, dear Mr. and Mrs. McAlI, good health, long life, courage and strength ever increas- ing! May He bless you and the Church which ~o generously gave you to us! May He bless you for all the blessings you have brought to us !
May He grant you here below to reap an abundant harvest from your faith- ful sowing, while we wait for that other, better, and still richer harvest which we together shall behold in the light which shall reveal all the fruits of faith and love, and, above all, of the infinite faitbfulnestl of God."
After the singing of a duet, M. Louis Sautter, one of the directors and an attached friend, spoKe in behalf of the co-workers and friends of the miSSIOn. He told how the news of salvation had been proclaimed to many who had never heard it, and spoke of the conversions which had changed the lives and households of so many. He spoke of the love, goodness, de- votion, gentleness, patience, and perseverance which they had never ceased to show to all. Then he said that the friends of the mission in Paris and France had contributed in order to offer them some tangible testimony of their affection as a souvenir of this happy anniversary j that they were much perplexed in choosing a suitable gift, and had finally decided to let him choose for himself. He then presented him with a pocket·book con- taining 4750 francs ($95()) entirely for his own use and personal comfort.
ITe also presented to Mrs. McAIl a beautiful vase and palm plant as a gift of gratitude from the lady workeff) at the mission.
Dr. McAIl then rose, greatly affected, and testified to his surprise and gratitUde, and how deeply he and his wife were touched by these testimo- nies of affection j he spoke of his personal unworthiness, and of the vahi- able co-operation with which he and his wife had been surrounded, and said that the friendship and affection exhibited had made them feel that they were no longer foreigners. He spoke touchingly of those of the workers whom the Lord had called home, and of the attachment and grati- tude he felt for their patience with him, and closl1d by calling upon pastors, Jaymen, and Christian workers to consecrate themselves anew in seeking to advance in this beloved country of France the kingdom of our glorious Saviour. .
After singing, Pastor Dhombres (Reformed Church), now quite blind, addressed a few words to the assembly. He spoke of Dr. McAll's coming to Paris after the Commune and ministering to their spiritual necessities in the time of famine, preaching the Gospel in its ~implicity and power. He referred to the conversion and transformation not only of people and homes, but of whole districts near the missions. In clolling, recalling the fact that twenty years ago Dr. and Mrs. McAB had come as strangers to Paris, he said: "Look around now on this assembly, so full of warmth, so responsive j this host of friends who lIurround you j and then say whether these two foreigners, these two voluntary exiles, have not found in our midst a new home, a new family, a new church, and a new country!"
Mr. J. F. W. Deacon, of London, then rose and presented to Dr.
McAlJ, through the president of the meeting, a resolution from the committee in London, conveying congratulations and assurance of their w/.lrm interest in the work.
Pastor Appia (Lutheran Church) then made one of his characteristic little speeches, so full of terse and brilliant thoughts. He told how, in an un- equalled degree, Dr. McAIl had been able to secure the co-operation of almost all the Christians in Paris. He spoke of the influence of the sacred songs used in the mission, and the solid biblical instruction imparted to both children and adults in the Bible classes and schools. He closed with the prayer that they should soon see a revival in all the churches in Paris.
Pastor HocaIt, on behalf of the Illesleyan Church, spoke of the great success of the mission, contrary to everyone's expectation. Of the future of the work he said: "I see in the present state of the mission a preparation for future work, perhaps very near at hand-a work much greater, much deeper, and much more extensive than we see to-day. A preparation for future blessing is, I believe, being brought about especially by the instruction of the young. Win the children to the faith of Christ and you insure a glorious future. You train up a generation, transf~rmed to grow in the ways of temperance, justice, and piety." He said: "I would also speak of the influence of the evangelization of the masses on the speakers themselves. The evangelists have learned to apeak a new language j they have found the level of their auditors, and have become truly lay preachers. They have made themselves 'all things to all men, that they might save some.' "
Pastor Decoppet (Reformed Church) then read an original French poem. The day's meeting was closed after the reading of a letter from Laura M. Fetterolf in behalf of the American McAll A~sociation, expressing congratulations and good wishes. On Monday evening the great church of the Oratoire was crowded to its utmost capacity. It was the people's meeting. They had gathered to show their affection and gratitude to the two friends who had loved and served them for the last twenty years. After opening with Scripture and prayer, PaRtor Recolin (Reformed Church) retraced the work to its beginnings. He told of how Dr. MeAll was called to the work when he and his wife were in Paris on a visit. He was accosted by a workman, who, strange to say, spoke in English-" Sir, are you not a pastor? Then why not come to speak to us of this religion of peace and love of which you are a minister 1 Ille have had enough of the attempt to impose religion on us j but if you will come to speak of a religion of liberty and earnestness, many of us will listen with joy." This was to Dr. and Mrs. MeAl! like the call to Macedonia, and some months later they left home and friends and took up their abode in Paris. Pastor Recolin stated that now, after twenty years, there are 136 halls connected with the mission in Paris and its environs. "Dr. McAll has succeeded in securing the co-operation of the pastors and Christian laymen in all the evangelical churches of Paris."
ANSWERED PRAYER
Pastor Monod then spoke, and after a few pithy opening remarks he said: "In the name of all the accustomed attendants of these 136 halls, I desire to offer you a lasting memorial of this twentieth anniversary. Don't be alarmed. No heavy burden has been laid upon anyone j the sum contributed by each would not pay for an outside place on the omnibus." He then uncovered an elegant bronze statue of Luther, twenty-seven inches in height, representing Luther as a boy singing in the streets to earn his bread. The pedestal contained a time-piece. Pastor Monod made a beautiful speech, comparing the reforms of Luther to the putting of the Bible into the hands of the people by Dr. McAll. Finally he said: "I arrive now at my third point-that is, at the third souvenir which I have to present to you. It is the humblest of the three, but, possibly, the one you will most appreciate. Do not search in this album for photographs or pictures. It contains only letters-letters in which the frequenters of your mission halls express their cougratulations and their desires for you. Their number is 11 '7, representing 136 halls. The signatures are 5300. They are very diversified in character-in some cases truly touching in their naivete." He then read one as a sample.
The meeting closed after a touching address of thanks by Dr. McAll, who closed with an invitation to the unconverted.
Many letters and telegrams of congratulation were received from friends in different parts of Europe. The occasion was one never to be forgotten. It illustrated beautifully the two sentences which were the only utterances which at the outset Dr. McAll could make in French, but which were the basis of his whole work: " God loves you," " I love you."
To Dr. and Mrs. McAB the whole Church of Christ owes a great debt. He has done immense service in welding the disciples of Christ, both in France and in the whole Christian world, into a " living, loving, lasting union," and although the days of his years are tl;iree score and ten, we hope and pray that they may reach at least four score years, and that then strength may not prove labor and sorrow, but a marvellous experience of the power of God to sustain p,nd the grace of God to reward and compensate work for him.
ANSWERED PRAYER.
BY A. B,UNKER, D.D., TOUNGOO, BURMA.
In the Toungoo district of the province of BurlDa are the Ga-Moung Mountains, the general trend of the ranges being north and south. Travelling east from the Sittang River, you climb range after range, each higher than the preceding, till you reach the watershed between that river and the Salwen. This mountainous country comprises the fields of the Bghai and Paku Kare~ Baptist missions, now numbering about 150 churches, having their village and normal schools-largely self-supporting-associations, pastors' quarterly conferences, newspapers, books, printing pre8s, and all necessary apparatus for growth in Christian civilization and for evangelistic work among their heathen neighbors. Formerly these hill tribes were worshippers of demons, believers in witchcraft, which they punished with death or exile, blood feuds keeping them constantly at war with one another.
In 1866 the churches of the Bghai Karen Mission numbered nine j now they have increased to 81 well-organized churches.
In tours up and down among these villages to the west of the watershed, the missionaries often looked away to that high range of mountains, and wondered what was beyond; In the Bghai Karen Mission ten or more tribes had already been brought under the influence of the G08pel, but information concerning the tribes beyond was small. There were reports of many tribes; and in subsequent years the missionary explored on the south, going round the more savage tribes as far east as the Salwen River, also the great Red Karen tribe on that river. Various accounts, however, located a wild and savage people between the watershed and the Red Karens, called the Brec Karens. So great was the fear of them that their country was seldom entered.
About the year 1866 Dr. Bixby, now of Proddence, R. I., made a brief visit to one of the northern chiefs among this people. He reports them as exceedingly savage and degr~ded, "fond of uncooked meat and blood." Much prayer was offered by this devoted missionary and his fol· lowers for them, but no permanent foothold was gained in their country. God, however, heard prayer, as after-events showed. Little more was learned eoncerning them for nearly ten years after this visit. As the boundaries of the Bghai Mission extended, the missionary reached the top of the watershed range, which is about 6000 feet above the sea level. The view from that lofty elevation over the land of the Brees was most grand. Here and there columns of smoke marked the locality of numerous villages as far as the eye could reach. Broken and craggy mountain peaks, dense fOlests and deep ravines showed the country to be a natural fortress. When would God give this wild people to His Son? From 1870-80 efforts were made from time to time by native evangelists to penetrate the country and plant the Gospel, but the inhabitants repelled all advances, and little progrcRs was made. The people were found to be the lowest morally and the poorest of all the Toungoo hill tribes. Living largely by plunder, their hand was against everv man, and every man's hand against them. The inaccessible fastnesses vf their country enabled them to carryon this predatory warfare with impunity. So fearful was their name, that it was a brave man who dared to go among them. Thus the missionaries were led to bestow their efforts on better and nobler tribes, going around this one as practically inaccessible or beyond Christian effort. How different God plans from man! The missionary in this case sought the nobler races, but God was preparing to display nis power and grace among the despised Brees. Previous to 1879, as has been said, little progress had been made in planting .the Gospel in the Brec country. A few churches only had been gathered on the borderland, while the heart of the country was almost unknown. In that year the Spirit of God rested upon a young man named Soo-Yah, who had recently graduated from the training school in Toungoo, and called him to work among the Brees. He set out on his journey alone, with only his hymn-book and Testament. Climbing the great range of mountains, he soon passed through the narroW' belt of the Brec country, already occupied for Christ, and took his way through the forests over an unknown road into the heart of the country. Losing his way, he finally reached Sau.pe-Ie-cho, a village famed far and wide as the haunt of a notorious band of robbers; but God was with him, and was leading him in answer to his prayers. On reaching the village, he was at once surrounded by a band of savage and angry men, who drew back their spears and lifted their long knives, crying, " KiIl him! kill him! He is a spy sent by our enemies! Cut him down!" Soo-Yah stood unmoved in their midst, and when he could make himsel£ heard, said: "Do men of war do spies go about unarmed and openly as I do ~ See!" and he opened 3 bag which he had hanging on his shoulder, showing bis hymn-book and Testament. "See! Are these the weapons of bad men 1" The people had Rot yet recovered from their amazement when he opentid his hymnbook and began to sing to them one of the sweet songs of Zion.
Never before had this poor people seen a book or heard anything in music but their own discordant battle cries or rude attempts at song; but here was a wonder before them almost as if an angel had descended from the sky and stood in their midst. They listened entranced j and having won their attention, Soo-Yah boldly declared to them thQ message God had given him.
The Gospel of Christ had come to these savages and taken hold of them. As they listened to Soo-Yah's singing, they said: "This cannot be a bad man j we never saw bad men do this way j" and they received him to the best they had, and listened to his message gladly.
Sau-pi-Ie-cho comprised four villages near each other in a natural fortress, numbering not far from 1000 souls.
In 1882, while attending the meetings of the Karen Association, on the western slope of the water-shed, the mission party were surprised one day by the approach from over that range of an armed band of wild men with drum!! and horns, as if approaching for battle. As they marched up the hill into the circle of the encampment they proved to be two chief!! from Sau-pe-Ie-cho, with their follower!!. They said they had heard the Gospel from Soo-Yah, and of this great meeting of the Christians, and had come for !L teacher, that they might learn how to worship the living God.
The spokesman was their principal chief, a man of gigantic stature named Ho-Wee, or" the blessed"-a strange name for a man who afterward told the missionaries tbat he had killed not less th~n ten men, and how many more he could not remember.
In response to their request, a mission party visited Sau-pe-Ie-cho, and after a week's instruction one of the four villages gave up their worship of demons, destroyed their altars, and received a Christian teacher. In 1889 a church of 40 members was formed. and the remaining three villages asked for teachers. About this time the heathen of this tribe began to be envious of the Christians j for since they had taken up the worship of God they had greatly prospered. Instead of eating roots and herbs, and such game as they could trap in the forests and streams, they had rice. Now no longer sacrificing to the demons or engaging in war, they had time for the cultivation of the soil, and food was abundlint. Not so with the heathen. Having destroyed all the weaker villages on their borders which they could reach, food became scarce, and the prosperity of the Christians excited their envy.
They began to discuss an attack upon them. Some, however, opposed, for, said they, " the Christian's God is not like the Burman's god. lie is a living God j and we have heaJ:p. that Be takes care of His people." Others disbelieved, and wished to make the experiment on one of the Christian villages j and " if the God of the Christians did not interfere, ,. they said, " we shall know that He is a dead God like the Burmans', and that He cannot take care of His people. Then we will eat up all the Christian villages. " These plans were reported to the missionary some time before they were put into execution j but it was hoped that they would not come to the trial.
This tribe being outside of English territory, the Christians had absolutely no protection save God alone.
During the rainy season of 1SS9 these heathen put t.heir plans to the trial, raided the village of Than-thee-per, and carried off two children. Messengers were immediately sent to the missionary, four days' journey distant, with a letter reporting this fact. The issue was now clearly drawn by the heathen. It was tIle God of the Christians or the powers of darkness-which would conquer ~ The missionary took the letter, went into his private room, opened and spread it out before the Lord, and pleaded. for help for His name's sake. If these children were not delivered from their captivity the eight churches would be scattered, and the faith of all the native Christians would be greatly shaken, for they had been taught. from the first that God would take care of them. The matter was discussed with the native pastors, and an arrangement made to have the pastors and deacons, with their missionaries, meet at Sau-pe-Ie-cho after the rains, to plead with God for help and deliverance. Sau-pe·le-cho was about a day's journey from the village holding the captive children. At the time appointed they met, strengthened each other with the promises, and with cases of the deliverance of God's people in Bible history; offered much prayer, and chose messengers to go and demand the liberation of the captives. They were told to demand their liberation in the name of Jehovah, the living God. The messengers went, were driven in shame from the face of the chief who held the children captive. Said he, " If you have brought three hundred rupees ransom for each of them, pay the money and take them away j if not, and you are men, come and take them." The mes- . sengers retnrned greatly discouraged, and so were most of the native pas- tors at their report.
The fall of Jericho and other Bible instances of trial of faith were quoted for their encouragement, and a second delegation was sent with express orders to demand the liberation of the captive children in the name of Jehovah, the living God, the God of the Christians. These were also followed by the united prayers of those who remained behind. Again they were roughly refused j but not a few things occurred to strengthen their faith that God would answer their prayers. The fear of the Lord was beginning to be manifest among them.
The next day, moving to the village from which the children were taken, another meeting was held, and in the evening, while yet at prayer, word came from the village holding the children that if the chief of the village where we were assembled and the parents of the children would come for them the children would be given up. To some this message brought joy, but to others-among whom was the chief of the village-it meant treachery, an ambuscade formed in order to seize the chief and parents of the children, to make their success more certain. Among the pastors and deacons, however, were some who believed that God was about to answer their prayers, and these volunteered to go for the capt~ves. They were led by one of the bravest of the pioneer pastors, and were joined by one of the palents of the children. They lighted their torches and set out on their night's jonrney through the forests for the third trial for the cap- tives. Allllight they went on through the woods till the next day, in the forenoon, they reaehed the village where the captives were. They had been threatened that they would be sh'ot if they came again without a ran- som, yet they marched boldly up into the open place in the centre of the village. The women and children, thinking a battle was about to be fought, fled into the jungle. The old chief came out with all his armed men, ready for battle. He took up his position on rising ground at some little distance, and there he stood. The leader of the Christian band then took out his hymn·book and said, "Let us sing," and the whole band united with a will. This brought back the people who had fled. It was to them a new kind of warfare j they were charmed with the sweet song of Zion, which they had never heard before. After singing, the pastor said, " Let us pray." Another surprise for tile heathen j but as he prayed, all his companions kneeling with him, the Spirit of God fell upon them, and the effeet was great. How earnestly he besought God to soften the hard heart of the chief, to open his eyes to see how the degradation and poverty in which his people lived WIIS due to the fact that they had forgotten the living God and joined themselves to the worship of demons. Rising from their knees, the pastor said, " Now I am going to give you a message from the living God. Listen all of you." Taking a hymn they had just sung for a text, he proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus to that crowd of warriors with most remarkable effect. The singing and the prayer had wrought upon the people greatly; but as the speaker described their ignorance, poverty, and slavery to sin, and the prosperity, joy, and happiness of the children of God, the people were melted. During the address the old chief had drawn near, and when the doxology had been sung, while yet seated on the ground, he looked up and said to the preacher, "Take the children; take them; but give me your trousers as a token of good wiII." This pastor seems to have been better off than many of his brethren, for he had on two pairs, which fact th~ chief had discovered; hence his request.
With what anxiety and with what earnest prayer had those who remained behind followed this band of native Christians on their perilous mission!
All the next day, till near nine 0' clock in the evening, they waited in supplication that God would now vindicate His honor among these heathen, and deliver these captives with power, that all, both Christians and heathen, might hear of His mighty works, and be led to fear Him.
About eight o'clock in'the evening two gunshots were heard on the mountain opposite. Directly torch lights came into view, and in about half an hour the band marched up into the assembly, two of the number bearing the captive children on their shoulders.
The scene following was indescribable. One gray-haired old pastor took one of the children and put him between his feet, and solemnly lifting his right hand to heaven, exclaimed: " We never saw it on this wise before. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has answered our prayers. He has easily done what our might or wisdom could never do. Hehas put His fear upon our enemies, and deli,·ered us from their snares. Praise be to His great name!" Then followed such a praise meeting as is seldom seen.
This, however, was but the beginning of a most gracious answer to prayer. Much had been asked for, but a gracious God gives heaping measure when He bestows answers to the prayers of His children. So it proved in this case. The heathen, as they heard of this deliverance, wrought by the manifest power of Jehovah, the God of the Christians, were greatly moved, and came by villages to the missionary, asking for teachers to show them how to worship this great God. "This is the God we want," said they. "He takes care of His people." Teachers were supplied as fast as they could be procured. Nor was the work confined to the heathen alone, but some of the old churches caught the missionary spirit, and assembled for prayer and contributions for this work. Young men came forward and offered themselves. So great was the fear of God
THE WORK IN THE DIAMOND MINES
among the heathen that in several cases captives were surrendered on demand of native pastors, and in other cases, when chiefs holding captives heard that the Jesus Christ teacher was coming for them, they were sent to meet them in the way. Already some score of captivEs have been surrendered.
In October last a missionary meeting was held at the Toungoo training school, at which about seventy pastora and evangelists were assembled. A good delegation from the Brec country were present. Their reports were thrilling. Said one pastor. "So many villages among the Brees are now asking for teachers that we no longer remember the number." Manyexpressed their belief" that if the churches were faithful, the whole tribe would turn to the Lord." The missionary spirit seemed to take full possession of the meeting, when th!Jleader arose and said, "Indeed, the Lord is doing marvellous things for us. Let us sing 'Jesus shall reign.' "
Said a missionary present, "It moved us deeply to see with what enthusiasm these native pastors, once savages, now joiu in praise to Jesus, who has redeemdd them, and has given such wonderful answers to their prayers.
THE WORK IN THE DIAMOND MINES.
BY MRS. H. B. ALLEN, MERIDEN, CONN.
On the occasion of the first visit of my sister, Miss Ferguson, to the Kimberly Diamond Mines, she was deeply impressed with the opportunities for Christian work among the multitudes gathering there-Europeans, Cape natives, and Kaffirs. In writing of it, she says: " I do not know when my heart has been so stirred. Among the Europeans there is much of sin, much of poverty and suffering. The Cape natives, away from the helps they have had in the Colony, have drifted; but that which has deeply moved me has been the tens of thousands of heathen gathering from all the tribes of South Africa from the Zambesi to the Transkei-heathen bronght in God's providence to our very doors, where they may learn of Christ and carry back the good tidings to their people. It is calculated that 30,000 pass through the Diamond Fields every year, remain for a few months, and then are gone, giving place to others. Mr. Teske, a Dutch missionary, is working among the Colonial natives, and some are much interested in building a church, and it is hoped he will become permanently their missionary."
Miss Ferguson became so much interested in the possibilities of work here, that after nine months' journeying through the mission fields of South Africa she again visited Kimberly before returning to Wellington. She says: "We had a little conference at Beaconsfield, to consider the great need and what was to be done-Rev. Mr. Kriel and Rev. Mr. KeRtell, pastors of Dutch churches here, with their wives, Mr. Teske, and myself. For three hours we consulted and waited before God. It seemed very important that Mr. Teske should be retained for work among the Colonial natives, that a missionary be found to give his entire time to the foreign natives, especially those in the compounds, and that Christian nativee be found to assist in the evangelization of the heathen. We resolved to bear the matter continually before the Lord, to do what we could to find the missionary and the money needed for this most important work-one of the most. jmportant I have seen in South Africa, and promising sl1ch large results.
" Dear friends, will you who believe in prayer and in a God, who hears and answers prayer, pray that the Diamond Fields may become a fountain from which pUl'e streams of living water may flow to all parts of our land ~ " Rev. Mr. Kriel has written to Mr. MabilIe, at Morijah, for six natives from the Bible school for the compounds j only two were found. They had gone into the mines as workmen, as it is the only way they could be admitted. This is a test of a man's love for souls certainly, and it is a question whether the native Christians in our mission churches are willing to make the sacrifice for Christ's sake.
"Mr. Kriel is very anxious several ladies should take up the great work waiting outside, having a mission home, and forming a centre for mission work."
Later Miss F. writes: "You will be glad to hear that Miss Mary Murray, Rev. Andrew Murray's eldest daughter, has offered herself for work at the Diamond Fields. She has visited Kimberly, and was so much moved by all she saw of the need!! for work outside the compounds that she said, on returning: I If there is no one else to take up this work, I must.' She speaks Kaffir well, ha"ing been a missionary at the Moculi station, and is admirably fitted for the work. Two others, also our Huguenot daughters, will go with her, and Mr. Walklett, who has corne from England with the Cape General Mission party, will superintend the work in the compounds."
When the ladies arrived in Kimberly, Mr. Kriel went with them to look for a house. They found one with dining-room, sitting-room, five bedrooms, and a large room which could be used for meetings for £5 a month. It seemed just the place for the work. They were soon settled, and commenced with house-to-house visiting. Then followed Bible-classes, Sunday-schools, mothers' meetings, evening schools, visiting the poor and sick-so much that could be done! One of the ladies writes: "It is wonderful f how the Lord leads us just to t.he places where we are most needed, when we g-ive ourselves to His keeping and guidance. "
Two months later Miss F. visited the little mission home. She says: " We came into the town in the rain and stepped out into a sea of mud. We passed the wretched huts of the Kaffirs, scarcely bigger than the anthills we had been seeing, and found a warm welcome at this little home. Many loving hands have made it bright, attractive, and homelike. This bit of carpet aT that ornament came from kind ladies in Boston; the texts on the wall and table-covers from other friends. It is a sweet resting- place for weary workers.
"'Ve were· greatly interested in visiting among the people with our workers. They are reachinga helping hand to as many as possible. It was a great joy to see the eagerness with which the boys come to the evening school-white boys who cannot read, the eldest seventeen years old! but they are eager to learn, and they will.
" It is such a wonder to the natives in the compounds to see a woman • who can speak to them in their own tongue. It was beautiful to see their faces light up when they heard their own language. The first time they heard it they seemed almost beside themselves. They called others to -come, and soon hundreds were pressing close around our workers, laughing' and shrieking, eager to catch every word that was said.
" The first evening of my visit we met in consultation with Mr. Kriel as to the purchase of a house, either this or some other, as the centre of our work:. It is very desirable that the workers should have a fixed habitation, and in many ways much better to own rather than rent. We are very anxious to have the money in hand before we purchase-no debt!
" Our pupils are taking up the work heartily, and are interesting others in taking shares. Weare searching for something more precious than diamonus. We ask "ur friends not to take shares in the mines, bnt shares in a home for the workers, where we hope many precious souls may be gathered. The shares are one shilling (25 cents), and certificates are given to all who take them; of course, one person may take a number of shares. Some friends have taken twenty each. "
A letter has just come from Miss F., saying: "Rev. Kriel wrote early in February to say that the owner of the mission house had died, and the house was to be sold at auction. How much were we willing to give for it 1 The money for the shares had been coming in, so that we had about £80 in hand. The rent was £60 a year, and it seemed much better economy to buy. , " On the day of the sale Mr. Kriel telegraphed: ' Property bought for £150.' This was certainly very little to pay. A year ago the owner valued it at £800, but property has depreciated in value.
II The £80 has just come of itself, and the Lord knows we still need the £70. He has cared for this precious work most wonderfully. Weare anxious the house should be wholly paid for outside the regular funds of the Woman's Missionary Union.
" We congratulate the shareh alders that they are part owners in this bit of the Lord's work, and will they ask that we may be helped to the money still needed for the purchase of the property, so that it may be quite free from debt 1 "Certificates are sent to all who send one or more shillings, to show tJ!at they are shareholders. In these days of bank failures one is afraid of shares, but this is simply to show that you have a share in the Lord's
A PROTEST AGAINST NEEDLEf'S EXPOSURE IN MISSION WORK
work, and you have no further responsibility excepting to bear the work on your hearts before the Lord, and no dividends excepting such as the Lord gi ves. "
[The editor would add to this statement of the noble work at the Diamond Mines, that he would be glad to have any of his readers take shares in the Lord's stock. A" Lover of Missions" has already sent five dollars, which has been forwarded. 'Viii not the readers of the REVIEW ~ake up the needed $350? Send to Mrs. H. B. Allen, Meriden, Conn.] A PROTEST AGAINST NEEDLESS EXPOSURE IN MISSION WORK.
BY W. R. LEE, M.D.
In the New York Observer of February 18th, 1892 (sixth column, page 54), the following appears: " News has been received of the death of Rev. W. D. Dalrymple, a Presbyterian missionary, at Rampur Beauleah, in Bengal, from leprosy, contracted about two years ago while attending upon the lepers. Rev. W. D. Dalrymple had devoted himself to the service of the wretched sufferers, and he had only been six months in their midst before signs of the disellse made themselves evident in his own frame. Surely this is a noble martyrdom. "
Ever since Father Damien made himself so famous, a few years ago, by exposing himself to leproRY and becoming thereby a leper, the popular mind has been running riot on this martyrdom, so called. It is high time a halt was called by some one, and this dangerous and foolish error looked squarely in the face. Looked at through professional eyes, the report bears some marks of not being well authenticated; but whether true or not, it has served the purpose of bringing to the surface the expression of a dangerous sentiment, and it is this sentiment I desire to attack.
While the best authorities on leprosy disagree on the subject of how close a contact is necessary to transmit leprosy from an infected person to a clean one, yet they are at one in saying that the contact must be close and long continued (such as eating, sleeping, and living in the same rooms), or by direct inoculation (as a fresh wound coming in contact with a leprous ulcer).
This is certainly borne out by the experience of everyone who has had an opportunity of studying the disease from a scientific standpoint.
Further, it is a noticeable fact that in hospitals sustained for the exclusive use of lepers, those who come in daily contact with the dillease yellr after year (I refer to physicians and nurses) do not become lepers.
Under peculiar circumstances, it may occasionally become necessary for a medical missionary to put himself into dangerously close relationship with a leper; yet even then, if he be worthy the name of a nineteenth century. physician, he possesses sufficient knowledge to protect himself from contagion. A PROTEST AGAINST NEEDLESS EXPOSURE IN MISSION WORK.
Under no circumstances that I can think of is it ever the duty of a (medical) layman missionary to come into such close contact with lepers as to make it possible for him to become infected.
While a missionary of the Presbyterian Board at Petchaburi, Siam, and later, as a medical officer of the Siamese Government, I saw and treated many lepers. I also saw, at the same places and time, missionaries (not physicians) preach the Gospel to these lepers; but I never saw the least occasion for dangerous exposure by either myself or them. The life of a missionary, particularly if he has heen on the field long enough to have learned the native language, is too valuable a thing to be exposed to needless dangers; and it is enthusiasm" badly run to seed" for such a person to expose himself on the threadbare plea that lepers are neglected.
With reasonable care for his health, a missionary may last years and preach the Gospel to thousands of heathen whose souls are of equal value with a leper's soul; while by needless exposure he will, probably, not last longer tha~ four or five, the later part of which will be useless to the cause of missions because of the worker's (physical) inability to do his work. vVherever it becomes necessary for a missionary, or any other person, to expose life for the safety of others, let us give bravery its just reward; but that state of things very ra1'ely occurs to a medical missionary in working among lepers, and never to a missionary who is not a physician.
Preach the Gospel to them, my brother, but keep your place, which is far enough away from them that you are in no danger of contagion. If you do not know how many feet that is, ask the medical missionaries of your station.
[Rev. George A. Huntley, of the China Inland Mission, at Chien-kuhsien, China, also writes very earnestly on the subject of proper precautions being taken by missionaries against small-pox. W8 publi.l!h copious extracts.-ED. ] All interested in missions in China must have been saddened by the great mortality among missionaries through that awful disease small-pox. Through it many of our youngest, strongest, and most promising missionaries have been removed from the ranks during the last two years; and what makes the matter more 8ad is the fact that the simple precaution of vaccination or revaccination before embarking had been neglected in the majority of instances.
I will give particulars of a few cases out of the many; and it will be noticed that in each case the sufferer had not been vaccinated successfully for several years before contracting the disease; while the nurses, who had either' been recently vaccinated or had already suffered from the same com· plaint, did not in one single instance contract the disease.
Case 1. Patient had not been vaccinated since childhood. Symptoms of confluent and hlack small-pox developed, and later, hemorrhage, proving fatal on the eighth day. A medical man and traiued nurse were in attendance. Among those who assisted in nursing, one had previously contracted the same disease, the remainder had been recently vaccinated. No one contracted the disease.
Case 2. Patient had not been vaccinated since childhood. The disease assumed a very serious type, !lnd has left the patient very badly marked. There was no medical attendant j and of the two ladies who undertook the nursing, one, a trained nurse, had been recently vaccinated, and the other had previously suffered from the same complaint j neither contracted the disease. The patient believed in "faith healing," and thought it would not be trusting the Lord to be vaccinated.
Case 3. Patient contracted disease while travelling, and reached his station with much difficulty. He had not been vaccinated since childhood. The brother who nmsed him had been recently vaccinated, and did not eontract the disease. Patient was delirious and blind for some days, and took no medicine. The sufferer's hair came completely off, and his face is pitted.
Case 4. Patient had not been vaccinated'for thirty-seven years-viz., in infancy. Duration of disease, fourteen days. A medical man attended. The patent's wife, who did the nursing, had not been vaccinated since childhood, but was revaccinated as soon as symptoms of small-pox were discovered, and did n~t contract the disease.
In addition to these melabcholy particulars I have received the following valuable testimony from medical gentlemen in China: The Rev: J. Hudson Taylor, M.R.C.S., Director of the China Inland Mission, writes: "I quite agree with you that it is most desirable that the home officers of the various missionary societies should not merely recommend, but insist on all candidates being vaccinated shortly before leaving for these shores. Our China Council is urging on our home councils the following rule: ' All candidates who have not been successfully vaccinated within a recent period must be vaccinated before leaving, and must procure a certificate as evidence that this is done.' If I were not so pressed, it would be very easy to collect a large number of cases in which missionaries have taken small-pox owing to this practice not having been carried out. I can only, however, just now refer to the fact that in our Ladies' Training Home at Yang-Tcheou, or the stations immediately connected with it, we have for three successive years lost a lady worker each year by death from small-pox, not to mention other cases in which there has been recovery. The question has been asked by one of our branches, ' In the event of a candidate having conscientious objection to vaccination, what would you advise? ' And my reply was to advise that the candidate work at home, where the danger is less, and where there is sufficient strength to nurse, or hospital accommodation procurable in the event of small-pox taking place. It may be very well for the patient to take the personal risks of the disease, bnt what about the attendants-are they to be exposed? As you know, the work of a station may be seriously interfered with by cases of this kind. " I would like to add that it should not be too lightly assumed that a person is protected because revaccination is not sllccessful. I eould men- tion eases where persons have been unsuccessfully revaeeinated, but who at once took the disease on exposure. A lady missionary reeently arrived' in China, having been three times unsuceessfully revaccinated before em- barking. I recommended her not leaving Shanghai withont being vacci- nated again. This time the vaccination proved very suceessful. '1'he pustules wcre large and fully formed, and showed that there would have been no protcction whatever had she been previously exposed to the disease. May the Lord prosper your undertaking, and precious lives be saved for Chri~t's service 1"
J. A. Lynch, Esq., M.D., Chin-Kiang, sends the following: "I am strongly of your opinion as to the need of vaccination for missionaries coming to China, and wish you every success in your efforts. Small-pox is so widely prevalent in China that no resident can hope to escape being repeatedly exposed to contagion; and my experience has taught me that a single vaccination in childhood is far from being a reliable safeguard. Within a single twelve months I have seen half a dozen cases of small-pox occurring in foreigners, all of whom had been vaccinated as children. Two of these cases were very serious, and one fatal. I know of no instance where a recently vaccinated person has taken tAe disease. It is clearly the duty of missionary societies to take such measures as may secure from needless risk the health of those whom they send abroad. The neglect of such a simple and obvious precaution as revaccination amounts to criminal carelessness. "
Dr. Howard Taylor, C. 1. M., says: "In reply to your question on revaccination, allow me to say that I regard it as of supreme importance that every civilized man and woman should be as completely safeguarded from small-pox as possible. There is no shadow of a doubt as to the efficacy of vaccination properly carried out and repeated twice in diminishing the severity. at least, and in most cases in absolutely preventing the diseases.
" Every candidate who has not thus been thrice successfully vaccinated (unless it prove impracticable, on repeated trial, to do so) ought, I am satisfied, to be refused on that ground alone, if they are unwilling, for their own sake and that of their fellow-workers, to be revaecinated before leaving for the mission field.
"A baby I suecessfully vaccinated a few weeks ago had been thrice before vaccinated without effllct. But in adults it would be enough for practical purposes to attempt inoculation with vaecine three times; if all these failed, the candidate might with reasonable certainty be pronounced immune from small-pox, and might safely come out."
Dr. Randle, C. I. M., Tungshin, Chefoo, sends the following: "Smallpox is one of the most prevalent diseases in China, and I think of the more dangerous diseases it is the most common. It is not specially deadly in its ravages among the Chinese; but Europeans are apt to suffer considerably, mortality among them running very high. We have lost a good many valuable workers in the C. 1. M. through small-pox.
" I don't know how necessary it would be ill England to insist upon each candidate for mission work in China first being vaccinated, for I should have thought that recommendation would be sufficient, seeing that the necessity for protection is indeed great.
" I would urge, too, that the vaccination should be done thoroughly, say in five places at least. It is more important, too, for intending missionaries to China to be vaccinated at home rather than after they get to Chim, for here vaccine is very uncertain, besides being expensive."
Dr. Parry, C. 1. M., Chien·tu, writes: "In reply to your note, I need only say that I am in hearty sympathy and agreement with you in regard to the matter of your appeal to the societies at home in vaccination or revaccination being insisted upon in the case of all their accepted candidates.
"I cannot support this by any experience personally of tQe disease among missionary families, the only case under my own care being that in our own family last year, when among our three children, who were equally exposed to infection, the only one to take the disease was the youngest, who had not been successfully vaccinated."
These facts and testimonies will speak for themselves. Weare ju~t now on the eve of a great influx of Christian missionaries into China, and my earnest desire and praye~ is that this important subject should be at once brought before the committees and boards of the various missionary societies, and intending missionaries throughout the world, and that the simple precaution of vaccination should be insisted upon in the case of every accepted candidate for mission work in the Celestial Empire.
There is, happily, good reason to believe that leprosy is rapidly decreasing in our Eastern Empire. Commissioners have been conducting a Government inquiry into the numbers and localities of lepers; and instead of half a million, as it was believed they would find, they have ascertained that the total number is only 100,000. It is also asserted that the evidence goes far to prove that there is not much risk of contagion, if reasonabJJ precautions are observed by those who come in contact with lepers, and also that the disease is not hereditary. But no such hopeful dil'lcoveries can or should abate our admiration of the saintly missionaries who have been carrying the Gospel, and with bright success, to the miserable victims of what still remains a loathsome and incurable disease.
" The two greatest demands of the hour are the liberal giver and the winner of souls. Given these in the individual church, there will be occasions for a spiritual rejoicing over pastors sustained, church improvements made, and sinners saved. Multiply the number of those who devise liberal things for God and labor for souls until every congregation feels their activity, and what fresh life will be infused into Zion at large, how the Gospel will be extended far and near, and what myriads will be won to Christ I"
EXTRACTS AND TRANSL.T10NS FIWM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
THE UNITED KINGDOM.
-During the last twenty-five years the voluntary contributions of the Church of England have amounted to £85,000,000, an annual contribution of a million is made toward Church extension, and three quarters of a million toward foreign missions. Three hnndred mission preachers halTe been appointed in 20 dioceses. In London there are 6000 appointed lay workers of the Church of England. Since 1877, 32 university and public school missions have been founded. When the time of general spoliation of the Church of England comes, under the united forces of political dissent and embittered atheism, the £85,000,000 will doubtless be swept away to secular uses, with no regard to the claims of the donors j but the miosions, home and foreign, being in private ownership, may escape.
-The President of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, at the Annual Meeting, held November 26th, 1891, said that" he thought the jubilee year of their society could not have fallen on a more auspicious time. He did not suppose that in Scottish history there had been a time when Christians were looking forward more prayerfully and hopefully to widespread blessing. They welcomed the visit once more of Messrs. Moody and Sankey to their shores. The requisitions received daily from all parts of the country, urgent and impressive, sent by minist~rs of e,rery denomination, and by Christian workers of every class, meant that all over the land there was a yearning for and expectation of a blessing."
– " We would strongly insist that nowhere within all the range of religious narrowness has such ignorance been illustrated as that which places the whole of man in the crucible of a physical analysis, or reckons the sum and crown of human knowledge to be incomplete without the rightful exposition of the families of the Monotreme. We mnst suppose that the Chair of History will be discredited by the authority of these later days, and the ethical factor in the conduct of human affairs will be eliminated from the treatment of the problem. Yet it will be affirmed, in spite of the confident contention of the physicist, that considerations of justice and equity, however rightly or wrongly understood, are the pivots and bearings on which the axles of socialistic and individualistic ideas revolve, and these ideas appear to be extending their sway over the whole horizon of political life. Nor have we, we believe, uselessly pointed out that neither locomotion nor commerce, with the extension of their several facilities, are any more than the improved instruments of true culture j and we have, we trust, established that it is missions, or, in other words, Christianity in motion, that, seizing upon the central and cardinal points of human nature, implants there the germ of that mysterious growth which, though the fulness of its perfect nature lies out of sight in the far distances of eternity, still lends on earth its lower fruit!'! of culture and the branching shades of its civilization to the sons of men. "-Rev. GEORGE ENSOR, in Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer.
MISCELLANEOUS.
– " Rev. J. B. Gribble, incumbent of St. Paul's, AdeIong, New South Wales, is contemplating a missionary journey to the Bellenden Ker Mountains, in Northern Queensland. He writes: 'The poor blacks in this region are sadly neglected and wronged. There is vast scope for real missionary enthusiasm in Australia, and it is passing strange that such a field should be so overlooked.' "-Bombay Guardian.
-Miss Leitch, the a11thor of" Seven Years in Ceylon," has, with her sister, raised more than $150,000 for foreign missions during her visit to this country and Great Britain.
-Mr. George Smith, of Aberdeen, returning from the East, says: "The secret of Palestine is outside itself. It is something that can be preached and believed on in any spot on earth j something that is not a mere message j something that was and is and evermore shall be a living presence with men. People would mistake the Crusaders if they imagined that their error, fatal as it proved, was anything more than an excrescence on a true life and faith. The soldiers of the cross sought Christ's land because they had first found Christ in their own land. And so with the living pilgrims of to-day."
-IGNORANCE OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE.-" The type of Anglo- Indian who has ne'er heard of Llissions in India, or who superciliously assures his credulous acquaintances at home ·that they are doing no good, is by this time sufficiently well known to be taken at his true value. But here is a story of ignorance which, if more incredible, is at least naif. In the end of 1890 Herr Buchner, a Moravian missionary director, went into Berlin to transact some 'business on account of the new missions which the Moravians were then establishing on German tel'ritory at the northern end of Lake Nyanza. He called at the office of the German East African Company to' inquire about transmission and exchange of money. The cashier, not being able to give him definite imformation, took the matter before the directors, who happened to be holding a meeting at the time. The directors invited Herr Buchner to their room, showed the liveliest interest in the project of a new mission to East Africa, and asked' whether the Moravian Church had ever attempted any mission enterprise before ~ , It was like asking whether Germany had any soldiers, or Britain any sailors. "-Missionary Record (U. P.).
-An old rabbi perfectly well saw the logical conclusion that Jesus must be the Messiah, but when I pressed the point as a personal matter, he said to me, , Ah, sir! God hath given us the spirit of slumber-eyes that we should not see, and ears that we should not hear.' "-Dr. PRINSKI SCOTT, Smyma, in QUa1·terly Paper of Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society.
-The Ohurch Mi8sionary Intelligencer says that ihe statement sometimes made that India is on the very verge of coming to Christ overlooks the fact that there are tens of millions in India who never heard of Christ at all.
-The Spectator, quoted in the Jewish Herald, says: "While the question [of the return of the Jews to Palestine] has not yet come within the range of practical politics, yet it has ceased to be what it would have been thought to be fifty years ago by aJIbut a few students of prophecyridiculous. "
It also quotes the New York Evening Post as follows: "This is no longer a dream of visionary Bible students, but an actual reality. . . . The question of the return of the Jews to Palestine now seems to be one that interests all nations."
And so it still is; the students of the words of God are" visionaries ;" but their visions come at the last to be practical realities, of which unbelievers have to take heed. The word which has come' out of God'8 mouth shan not return unto Him void.
-The Catholic Government of Nicaragua has given a cordial consent that the Moravian brethren should open a mission within its territory. 'rhey are, however, in hope of obtaining a general permission for the whole of Nicaragua-that is, for the pagan Indians subject to it.
-The oldest Protestant church in Africa, the Moravian church in Gnadenthal (Gracevale), South Africa, now ruinous, has seen its last service, and is to give way to a new one.
-The 48 pages of National Righteousness for May (special number) are filled with the exquisitely painful but very encouraging report of the National Christian Anti-Opium Convention. Sir Lepel Griffin, and his associates, of course, imagine that their ribald abuse is going to bring all this to naught. The haters of Christ have often measured their strength with Him before, but the result has not been encouraging for them.
-A very interesting article on " Religious Movements in the United States," by the Rev. John Smith, M.A., in the November number of the U. P. Record, cO'lcludes: "This is a very cursory view, but it may explain so far the conviction which has come with quickening power into my own life, that America is with us in the van of Christian activity, and tlHlt through h~r co-operation the day of victory is nearer and surer than wc had dreamed."
THE EAST INDIES.
-It 'appears that Bengal alone was lashed into a flenseless fury of opposition to the Age of Consent bilL "The rest of India," says Dr. K. Macdonald, " accepted the position with composure, if not with gratitude. "
– " Dr. Grundemann states that of all the missions he has seen in India, none is more hopeful, none less adequately provided for, none more attacked by enemies and rivers than Gossner's Evangelical Lutheran Mission among the Kols, in Chota-Nagpore. . . . Caste, so formidable an obstacle to the spread of Christianity elsewhere, forms no particularly great hindranco here, and hence it happens that the field of the Kols is ripe for the harvest; they embrace the Christian religion in families, in groups of families, in whole village communities."-Ha1·vest Field (Madras)., – " , A Brave Life,' by Annie H. Small. This sketch contains the personal reflections of a Mohammedan lady. It iii an autobiography in ontline of one who, though not a Christian, yet' had the habit of referring all to God; who cultivated a spirit of meek and sweet submission to His will as revealed to her.' Its mere literary charm is great. The story is told in an artless manner, which is all the more effective from its artlessness. "Vo seem to be in the shaded veranda of a Mohammedan house, and seated upon the razai with the old lady while she recounts the stirring scenes of the past, giving us glimpses of a life which is certainly ~hat of a Christian, though we may not call her by that name. "
-Sir Charles A. Elliott, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, says, as quoted in the Chinese Recorder: " The mere reduction of the missionary's income would only tend to lower his life to the pitiful level which we sometimes see in a poor white or Eurasian clerk, and would condemn him to a life of squalid poverty, which would undermine his constitution without in any way increasing his usefulness, or making him venerabl~ in the eyes of the people. On the contrary, I believe that the sight of a missionary bungalow such all I have often seen in the midst of a wild and rude population, with its modest comfort, its decent order, and its friendly accessibility to all visitors, is a civilizing agency of a high order."
– " A Bombay news writer, commenting upon the arrival of a large number of missionaries in India, remarks that if their coming has no other significance, it will at least affect the price of one-horse victorias. The missionary and his one-horse victoria are too much for a nnmber of the Europeans in India, though why so it is not clear. The missionary always pays for his victoria, and with his own money, too, and his one-horse victoria has as much right on the Breach KUlldy road as any four-horse drag or two-horse barouche. The missionary pays his debts, and, according to his income, pays his share toward all pnblic institutions and more than his share toward benevolent enterprises. He dres not come into competition with any class of professional men, or take the bread out of the mouths of , the merchant or artisan. The worst that can be said of him in this direction is that his wine bill is very small, and he never l:1ubscribes to a Derby sweep. He is not; a noisy neighbor, nor a quarrehome member of society, nor an officious personage, usurping the rights and honors of other people; but he does sometimes drive a one·horse victoria. We more than half suspect that it is the man in the victoria and not the vehicle itself that is such an eyesore tG our critic. "-Indian Witness.
-" The English language works wonders in India. It gives access to three millions of cultivated Hindus." -Calwer Missionsblatt.
– " The idea prevalent so widely among English Christians, that the world' is thirsting for the Gospel, ' is, alas! as far as possible removed from the truth. The world is not thirsting for the Gospel. Men are not disposed, in India or elsewhere, to accept the terms of God's salvation and to wear the yoke of Christ. Thfl evangelist to the heathen, if he speaks the unvarnished truth and avoids exaggerations, has to record a routine with unwilling souls. He sows the good seed of the kingdom on ground which has long been tramped by the feet of profane and degrading superstitions, and his feelings and experiences find oftentimes their truest expression in the cry, , Lord, who hath believed. our report ~' But, thank God, it is not always fruitless toil."-Rev. T. WALKER, in Church Missionary Intelligencer.
– " The feature that marks this year in the Methodist Episcopal Mission is the great increase in the number of baptisms. This increase is , more clearly seen by contrast. One jubilant over the baptisms of 1888 wrote: 'In our whole Indian work, about 2340 have been baptized;' but this year the baptisms will exceed 15,000, or an increase of about sevenfold since 1888, and thousands refused baptism because there is no provision for the care of the converts. This is a harvest from a part of the field which has been sown with Gospel seed for over a quarter of a century."~ Indian Evangelical Review, January, 1892.
-The Ais~ionary Herald reports the ful and warm acknowledgment lately given by Lord Harris, Governor of the Bombay Presidency, to the American Marathi Mission of the American Board, of the obligations under which it has laid the Presidency as respects vernacular, female, industrial, and normal education. Officially Lord Harris confines himself to the edu- cational aspect of missionary labors.
AFRICA.
-" FRENCH CONGO AND ITS PROSPECTS…..:…MM. Tessieres and Allegret, after spending a year in the French country to the north of the Congo cataract region, have returned and reported to the French Protestant Mis- sionary Society which sent them out on this immense new region, which seems to have such claims on them for the Gospel. They find the sphere a perfectly open and inviting one, not so unhealthy as Senegal, and the people not prejudiced against the French by a long series of wars and fight- ingR, as in AIgiers and Tunis. The tribal organization of the country averts all fear of dangerous combined opposition. Each tribe is anxious to be good friends with the white man, and most are very favorably disposed. The climate, too, is fairly good-better, at any rate, than that of Senegal, where yellow-fever is such a scourge. But, as in the rest of Central Africa, the total absence of roads is a hindrance to the occupation and civilization of French Congo. The Ogowe is very much broken by rapids, rendering any continuous navigation impossible. Commerce cannot at present assume any importance, but there is no reason why missionary work should not be vigorously prosecuted. Our French brethren are making a brave attempt to IItart work in that country, and MM. Tessieres and Alh3gret have volunteered to return as the first missionaries j but large funds are needed to start Central African missions. Protestant~ are not numerous in France, and even the few there are not all true Christians, much less consecrated givers and workers for the world's evangelization. The Societe des Missions Evangeliques will have a hard struggle to add a new and expensive mission to those it is already conducting, none of which can possibly be abandoned. May God Himself move the hearts of French Christians to rise to the level of their responsibilities and opportunities !"-Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
-Dr. R. N. Cust, quoted in Central Africa, says of the missionaries: " The schools, hospitals, and printing presses which have come into existence through their efforts are distinct milestones of progress j but the very presence of a missionary raises the moral standard of all who come into contact with or even gain a sight of his holy life. The spectacle of a holy, self-restrained, chaste, benevolent, and laborious manner of living is a phenomenon which astonishes, attracts, and gradually brings into subjection the wayward, though not necessarily evil, will of the unsophisticated races. Not to be plundered, not to be ill used, not to be robbed of wiffl and children, by one who certainly has the material power to do such things, creates a new sensation. The employment at free work in a mission station is a new surprise, for there is an absence of violence, forced labor, and the whip, and the presence of a day's wage, a kind word and a smile, a careful attention to bodily injuries or sickness. Add to this a continuous respect to old age, a delicacy toward the weaker sex, and a kindness to children-all this would go for nothing in a Christian land j but it opens out new fields of thought to barbarians, and is a living, walking, speaking Gospel, presented to their understandings and hearts. Let no one undcrvalue the civilizing effects of the presence of a self-restrained man of European culture in the midst of an African population. "
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
China in Paragraphs. The proclamations made this year, he says, are the only effective notification [EDITORIAL, J. T. G.] of the people as to the intent of the im- perial authorities ever given, and even' The Rev. G. T. Candlin, of China, these we know are very limited in the writing to the Manchester Guardian, in very quarters where most needed. In England, says the right of residence and consequence of this ignorance of the real the right to hold property have never rights of the native Chinese Christians been conceded to missionaries in the in- and the absence of any suitable mao terior of China. There is a clause in chinery for enforcing the conditions of the treaty between the French and the the treaty, a species of indefinite Mis- Chinese which declared this right, but sionary Protectorate has arisen, which that is held now to be invalid. Never· Mr. Candlin thinks is irritating to the theless, missionaries do reside and hold Chinese officials and others. He does property in the interior and away from not think well of the missionary becomthe treaty ports. How is this done? ing the guardian of the convert's rights Mr. Candlin explains that it is done in the courts. The foreigner, to begin under the passports granted to foreign- with, claims exemption for himself from ers. These protect the travelle:r, and, as the jurisdiction of the native courts and a matter of fact, are not inquired into, authorities altogether; and for such a and the custom has obtained of allow- person to interfere besides, with the naing them to extend practically without tural operation of the course of justice limit. Right to hold property he has in the indigenous courts having jurisnone other than this, which subjects diction over the native converts, he him theoretically to being told by any thinks intolerable to any government. local authorities to "move on." It is The remedy seems to lie in the fuller under this fiction that all foreigners, as and sufficient advertisement of the enwe understand it, hold property and re- tire population of the treaty rights conside indefinitely away from the treaty ceded by the Government; and the exports. If Mr. Candlin is correct in this, tension of these to the full recognition it is an easy thing for the Chinese Gov- of the rights of residence and property ernment to retaliate the disrespectful holding in the interior; and then let action of the United States Congress the missionary, Romanist or Protestant, without contravening any phase of treaty abandon all claims to protect his concompact with any Western Government. Vel·ts, leaving them entirely in the hands It can thus break up foreign missionary of their constituted rulers with the work in the interior, at leo.st so far as same remedy at law that they would the foreign missionary residence and have in any other case. holding of property go, which would be well nigh destructive of it in places, and Another subject which has found obstructive of it everywhere. some recognition in the preIs of both Europe and China, while it is novel, While we are dealing with this com- seems worthy of more 'than superficial municaHon of Mr. Candlin, we may add examination. It is nothing less tha-n that he thinks a great deal of trouble in the proposition to have a representative regard to foreigners arises from the fact of the missionaries, as Minister of Reof insufficient advertising to the people, ligion, at Peking, with whom the impe· of the concessions which the Govern, rial authorities of China and the acment has made by treaty with foreign credited envoys of the foreign countries countries, and of the protection which shall deal in the matters pertaining to has been promised to native Christians. the missions in all their branches. On should devote his attention to missionathe Chinese side it is thought such a ries, and keep the British Minister admeasure would not seem so unusual as vised on all such questions, that thus on our side, as the Chinese Government he might be prepared to bring up queshas a Minister of Religion as it has a tions before the Chinese Foreign Office. Minister of War, at Peking, with estab- This would form a link at least between lished offices in the provinoes for the the British missionaries and the Chinese express purpose of attending to mis- Government. The French Government, sionary questions. On their side the this correspondent says, has been tried idea would not be novel. It is urged as an intermediary, and has in some rein favor of the proposition to estab- spects failed. The Roman Catholics lish such a missionary representative have representation through their bishthat the leaders of Christian thought op, who has direct access to the Foreign ought to have some way of direct access Office. But the present proposition is to the Government leaders of Chinese quite other than that of the missionary thought in order to understand each secretary attached to a legation. It is, other aright. This is impossible to the if we understand it, to relieve the narepresentatives of the missions and tional ministers of the charge of mischurches severally, but might be got sionary affairs by setting np, as a sort through a single accredited central officer of imperium of their own, the missionacting for them all ; a personal'"1lnit with ary force in Ohina. It is certainly an whom the Government might deal. The interesting and may be a very imporsuggestion, we may say, is not a new one, tant suggestion, and we fancy there it having been broached as long since might be great gain in many respects if as 1883 ; but it has not been considered some Buch arrangement could be effectwithin the range of practical politics ed. hitherto, as it was complicated with representation of the often diverse in- Missions on the Gongo. terests of the Roman Catholics and Protestants, and with the difficulty of the BY JUDGE JAMES w. LAPSLEY, ANNISTON, Protestants agreeing on a representative agent. It is now, however, growing ALA. easier to overcome both these obstacles. In some of the larger cities in China tb e Their importance may be estimated missionaries are organized as evangelical when we observe that they extend over alliances, and it is held that they could a million-and-a-half square miles, an extend this organization over the coun- area thirty times that of New York, and try, and could form a sort of national or- containing fifty millions of souls, ganization and elect a president, and heathen, but now known to be capable perhaps a vice-president, who should be of high development j for from Cape recognized as thereby selected as the Town nearly up to the Soudan the domi- Minister of Religion at Peking, at least nant tribes and races in the interior befor the Protestants. One correspondent long to what has been called goes so far as to mention, by way of illustration, the fitness of Rev. W. A. P. THE BANTU FAMILY, Martin, D.D., now at the head of the Imperial University, as such minister. of whom a recant traveller sayB : Another correspondent, who thinks com- ., The Bantu is a fine, tall, upright bined aotion of the several nations impracticable, suggests the appointment man, with delicate, small hands, an(l of a Missionary Secretary of Legation to well-shaped feet; a :fine face, high, thin the British representation in China, nose, beard and mustache." who might perhaps be a consul who Mr. Lapsley, of the Presbyterian Mis- sion at Luebo, corroborates this descrip- tion, speaking of some of those around him as" magnificent men and handsome ,If women, variously colored, from a.bright a great slave trade carried on by raids yellow to black-brown being the pre· on his neighbors on all sides. Villages vailing shade." He speaks also of their are burned, men are killed, women and handiwork in iron and coppbr, mined children are enslaved. The stockade in and worked by them, as marvels of skill which Msidi lives has every post surand beauty; and 'of the product of their mounted by a skull. He thins out his looms as sometimes like" a compact, hundreds of wives by frequent decimastout, smooth, straw – cqlored linen," tions. Mr. Swan has often Been piles sometimes" soft as satin, of elaborate, of heads of men and women freshly cut. elegant pattern, woven of different col- Slaves are Bold for cloth, beads, and ored threads. You would think it came brass wire. What would cost a half dolfrom Europe." Stanley discards the lar in Europe will buy a boy. Two or name" Bantu," but speaks of .. finely three dollars' worth must be paid for a formed men, tall, warlike creatures, girl. with Caucasian heads and faces." He says they are descendants of Shem. While man is thus vile, every other prospect pleases. The country is 3000 Stanley tells, however, on the other to 5000 feet above the sea. The climate hand, of many tribes in that region who is salubrious and the soil ri<lh, producare at the lowest point of debasement. ing every tropical plant and fruit. It He describes a village of low conical is not very warm during the day; is fresh huts, from which the people thronged in the evening, and cold at night. The out to see him-" a promiscuous popu- country is full of buffalo, zebra, antelope lation of naked men, women, chil- and small game; and elephants are ,hen and infants, over a hundred beings numerous. Some of the Belgian offiof the most degraded, unpresentable cers speak of parts of the country as type it is possible to conceive of. I beautifully wooded and covered with could only comment to myself, ugly, uglier, ugliest." grass like" un v;ritable pare Anglais.' , * But all, high and low, are alike wicked, Their official reports fully corroborate cruel, and miserable, whose very crimes Mr. Swan's accounts. A recent Brusand miseries cry to heaven for the up- sels paper reports the people as "une lifting which the Gospel alone can work. race ires belle, tres forte, intelligent et vail- lanie, se distinguant non seullment par sa GARENGANGE. bravoure, mais egalement par son aptitude au travail." The Arnot Mission has Beginning at the head.waters of the been well established, the children es- Congo, in the southeast corner of the pecially being taught, and a new gen. Free State, 10° south of the equator, and eration is growing up with new ideas about a thousand miles from the Atlan- and principles. Mr. Swan brings with tic, and an equal distance from the Ind- him a grammar and dictionary of their ian Ocean, we find a Scotch Presbyte- language to be printed in England. rian mission, estlbliRhed some years ago by F. S. Arnot, in what he called" Ga- The Belgia~ [Free State] authorities rengange," but which the Belgians name have within a year past sent several the" Katanga" country. It is watered well-armed expeditions to take formal by the Lualaba and other large streams possession of the country, and in a lit· which flow northward and, united, make the Congo. * Le Marinel, chief of the Expedition to the Very recently Mr. Swan, of the Arnot Katanga, reports (February 1892): .. Le pays est Mission, has returned to Europe, afte- d'un bel aspect ..• maio c'cst -certalncment six years in Central Africa. His home dans la region des petits lacs du Samba qu'il est for four years has been at the capital of Ie plus bean. Le paysage n'y a rien d'africaiu ; Msidi, the king of that region-a bloody iI nous rappelle plutot nos sites de predilection despot, who has l<mg been the centre of des pays civili.e: de grands arbres au feuillege epais, nne herbe courte et fraiche, une belle piece d'ean . • . "-UBBile laurier rOBe et une pIllS graude varlete de fleurs que dans Jes autres contries. " tle while Msidi's cruelty may, we hope, THE AMERICAN BAPTISTS. be effectually curbed. Their farthest station is near where From Garengange down the Lualaba, the Congo crosses the equator. They through a chain of beautiful lakes and have also a station at Leopoldville, on past Stanley Falls, we would go for Stanley Pool, and a number of others considerably over a thousand ~iles be- on the caravan road from Leopoldville fore reaching any more Protestant mis- down to Matadi, the foot-path 230 miles sions ; the first being long, by which everything that goes or comes between the Upper Congo and THE CONGO ROLORO MISSION, the Atlantic must be carried on the heads or shoulders of bare-headed, bare- located on the Congo, and some of its footed Africans. They have about thirty tributaries near the equator. These are missionaries, and also own a steamer, English Baptists, Dr. and Mrs. Guinness, the lIenry Reed, and around some of of London, being ~he controlling spirits their churches whole communities have in organizing and directing the work. been brought nnder the influence of They have fi ve or six stations, and are Christianity. Banza Manteka and.Ln. doing good work. although only about kunga have been especially blessed. three years old. It has just lost two of Mr. Richards, their pastor, said of the its best men, John McKittrick and John first named: "The glorious fact is that Luff, both from hrematuric fever, so Banza Manteka is no longer a heathen fatal in that country. country, but more Christian than any I am acquainted with." Dr. Harry Guinness, in Regions Beyond for March, says of Mr. Luff's station at Mr. Lapsley, of the Presbyterian Mis- Lulanga: "After a steep climb of forty sion, was there on his way to the inor fifty feet of river bank we found our- terior, and his diary contains these selves in the capitally laid-out station notes: "Banza Manteka, 300 members, of Lulanga, only seven-months old, yet 28 villages, some of them 16 miles quite a convenient and beautiful spot. away; almost all professors now, though not all received yet. Their church And behind the garden beds with building was given by the Clarendon their sweet flowers there stands a com- Street Church, Boston [Dr. Gordon's], fortable brick house, with outhouses and was brought from Tundwa, 50 and dependencies, including carpenter's miles, on members' heads. Gray corshop and brick.yard. . .. After the rugated iron; Gothic arched windows. evening meal I walked through a string Store and vestry on either side. Ordiof villages two miles long, and must nary platform and desk, plain benches have passed a couple of thousand of for 600 people. People put their confolk in my little walk. . .. The popu- tributions in the big baskets in which lation in half an hour's walk of the women carry their great loads to marhouse Mr. Grenfell estimates at 6000. ket. Two of these go around and Kindly interested and warm-hearted, come back loaded with strings of blue they appealed to me strongly." beads, handkerchiefs, etc." There is no other currency. Again he says: "Tears of joy and sorrow mingled lately as we stood on Mr. Lapsley was also at Lukunga, and two successive days by the grave of Jobn his diary has this description of the McKittrick [at Bonginda], and at the preaching hy a native, and of the apbaptism of the first converts from Bolo- pearance of the congregl'.tion. boland. We rejoiced as we baptized five converts, and wept over 25 of them After describing Mr. Hoste's regular awaiting immel·sion." service, he writes: The C. B. M. have a steamer-the .. Luwawa rose, one foot on a bench, Pioneer-by which they communicate and his body twisting nervously around. with each other and bring up supplies He soon got his foot down, and his from Leopoldville. hands in use, and his tongue loose. first station at Luebo, on the Lulua, a Began slowly, but soon caught fire- tributary of the Kassai, the great south- spoke like his life depended on it. Not ern tributary of the Cbngo. It is about ranting style. Not very loud, but in a 5}0 south of the equator, and 600 miles hot stream of emphatic words; and his east of the Atlantic. It is the initial little eyes back under his forehead effort of the Southern Presbyterians in burned like coals. His gestures were not Africa, the pioneers being a white and extravagant, but natural and animated. a colored man, Messrs. Lapsley and The men had-some of them-a cloth Sheppard working together. Mr. and about the shoulders and another about Mrs. Adamson, Scotch Presbyterians, the loins. Some were stripped to the have also recently joined the mission, waist. Women had bare shoulders and and have reached the field. Luebo is one large cloth to the knees, or two some 1500 feet above the sea. They say aprons, one tied before the breast, and it is never very hot or hot long at a the other about the waist. Strange con· time, and never hot at night.
gregation met for communion ! Yet Belgian, French, and Portuguese trad- '
quiet and attentive, though some eyes ing posts are loclOted there, and it is a wandered, and some did like Eutychus busy centre of population and of trade in the warm room. The bread broken in ivory and rubber. * The location waR was the common bread of the cOl'.ntry made in April, 1891. Native houses -quanga." were bought and put up, and gradually THE ENGLISH BAPTISTS. some better shelters have been erected. Land has been cleared, and gardens and They have five or six stations. Mr. fruit ~rees planted; and all the time the Grenfell, missionary and far·famed ex· language has been diligently studied plorer, has a well·built station at Bolobo, and the materia. for a dictionary and on the river, 2° south of the equator. grammar carefully gathered and record-.
There Mr. Bentley, of Ngombe, on the ed. The following brief extracts from Lower River, has done greut service to Mr. Lapsley's letters give a view of the all African missions by his Kikongo die. country and the work.
tionary. This mission seems especially October 4th, 1891, he writes: .. Your engaged in the work of educating and summer in Alabama is past, but our civilizing the natives, and their stations spring is just on. We have had fonr are models of good and orderly arrange- months of dry, colcI weather, with bar- ment and thorough preparation in the ren-looking hilI.sicIes,rnsty, leafless trees way of building and appliances. They overhanging the dusty road, and almost also have a steamer, the Peace. hiding the more faithful ones that keep their green. 'Dry,' I saicI; yes, from THE SWEDISH MISSION. ten o'clock till sundown, and dead hot This mission has several Btations, all out in the open exposed places. But on the Lower Rher, and about twenty when the dew begins to fall it is a very missionaries, who are doing good work rain. By the last watch before day- both as preachers and translators of the the hour I used to wake often-I could Gospel. Mr. Lapsley says of them: hear the uncanny sound of the wlltcr " Their piety is most refreshing; they dropping, dropping, when there had seem as if they had only just heard the been no rain. And a dense mist fell story of Jesus, and had not got used to then or about sunrise, so you couldn't the new joy and wouder. Such charm- ing simplicity and earnestness !" * These arc the ouly products tradou in, be- cause they alone are valuable enough to staud THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIA.N CONGO MIS- lJle heavy expense of being carried down that SION. long foot-path to the coast. Ivory is worth say 23,000 francs per ton, and rubber about 7,000 This youngest of the missions ha~ its francs. – .. Then I made a little sketch of what see fifty yards, and it was cold enough for more than my two good blankets. I might say in the town today-largely But a few weeks ago the raiIis began a translation of Paul on Mars' Hill, with nicely – not too much, but a good the clause about the Saviour enlarged drencher every evening – until the till it balanced all the rest of the dis- ground was ready for the seed. Then course.
the women of the town, Bena Kasenga, " Then about 3 P.lIT. I found a quiet held their annual meeting, to assign to corner in town, with a group of women each group of friends their patch to around, whom I knew very well. The plant of the great fields north, east, houses made a screen from the nois9 of south and west of the town. Now the the street, and the subject came np roads are walled with a mass of first naturally. My patient, lounging op· green, like our woods at home in April." posite, repot"ted herself as nearly well.
October 24th, 1891, when he had been " • That's God's doiDg,' I said; and there six months, he writes: "To·mor- asked her what she knew of Niuliuli row I hope to speak to the people. I have (God).
now enough 'Bakata'-as tha natives, the " Bomba, nursing her poor little baby, Bakete, call their language-to attempt which I think will die, and another preaching to them. A Christian soldier woman opposite began to listen and from Zanzibar, who knew Bishop Han- repeat everything, to be sure that they nington and Mackay, has lent me his heard rightly. Milembo, a great friend Kiswahili testament, and owing to of ours, comes up between two of the the similarity of thesa Bantu languages, little houses, and I ask her again abou~ it may help me in the little translation he,· knowledge of God. She answers I intend to make for use to·morrow. right along, and explains fully when I " Weare on very good terms with the stop to breathe.
Bakete of Bena Kasenga. I began to " She said : 'The Bakete know God take a little medicine to the town, and made and preserves us and everything, now I have several cases every day, and, and gives us all things.'
they all have got well so far. My boy, .. , Yet,' I said, 'you don't clap your Shamba Mwana, says they have a song hands softly three timeS-SD-and say in my honor, the refrain of which runs "Wolah," as you do if I give you only like this: a Iittle salt.'
" 'Mutomba Njila, wlltuambika bWllnga " • The Bakete would sing to Him if Watumouekisa mayo.' they only knew how,' said she.
('" Pathfluder [that's me} gives us medicine, "Then I explained who Jesus was, Makes us see health.' ") and they listened earnestly, with some The next day-Sunday, October 25th doubt about His coming again in the -he writes: "The station boys and clouds. But their usual complaint was, women came in for prayers, and we had • We haven't heard this. You white a pleasant little service. . .• Little people know, but we do not. . . .' "
Tumba came in and sat down in front Under a later date Mr. Lapsley writes of an array of ' Children's Friends' with that it is probable that the State has pictures, and went to sleep on the mat. granted his application for the right to Early dinner was brought on and dis- occupy Bolek~ at the junction of the patched-not 'Very plentiful to-day. God Kassai and Kwango. This new station was pleased to answer my prayer. A will make a small ~teamer, such as the few petitions and promises written out other missions use, very desirable to with a pencil and lying before me on keep up communication and procure my little desk took definite hold of my supplies. When necessary, it will doubt- heart, I trust, as I Bat alone in the in- less be given. In the time of need, one tense solitude of tropical noon, when all generous man in far.off Australia was others were gone away. moved to gi ve the mission steamer Henry Reed. now owned by the American Bap. who allowed him to visit them, to state tists. and explain the great leading truths of OTHER MISSIONS. the Gospel. The fierceness of the feel.
There are some voluntary, self-sup- ing against Christianity has been in this way reduced at headquarters, although porting missions, of which Bishop Tay- even now the prejudice of rich Hindus in the city is still so strong that those lor, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Who have CUIne under the power of the Gospel have had to seek employment is the head, and some purely inde. elsewhere. Mr. Hewlett was the Prin· cipal of the Mission Oollege, and in pendent work is being projected. A addition to much educational success he made every possible effort to main. few weeks ago a devout family from the tain its missionary character. The Northwest sold their home and all they had, and are now on their way to the COlIgO. going all of them as missionaries and at their own expense. '
THE ROMAN CATHOLICS Scriptures were read and expounded, also have stations scattered from the and prayer offered daily in the presence Atlantic Coast to the far eastern border, of all the students. The strain of over. and are now about putting a little steam- work has for some time been telling er on the upper river. It is estimated upon Mr. Hewlett. While feeling that that soon they will have as many as 100 the Church can ill spare such wOo'kers priests an~ nuns at work on this great it is a mournful satisfaction to kno~ field now white for the harvest. that this loving and faithful missionary has pursued his course without slack. There is the utmost activity, commer- ness to Itil very end. cial, political. and religious. The dead sleep of centuries is over. The conti· nent is moved from the centre all Great Missionary Conferenoe Next Year around. Ethiopia is at last in very deed in Japan. stretching out her hands unto God. "THE BAKETE WOULD SING TO HIM IF At a meeting of the Central Japan THEY ONLY KNEW HOW" is the plaintive answer that Africa sends back to Chris· Missionary Association, held on the tendom on hearing the first time the Gospel in Bakete. 15th inst., in Osaka, it was decided that God grant that a host of earnest men II general missionary conference, to be and women, full of the love of Jesus composed of Protestant evangelical mis. and fired with a holy ambition to be lik~ sionaries in Japan, be held in 1893 to Him. ma,y hear this sad cry from afar, and be moved by it! discuss the religious interests, p;os.
pects, and other important subjects per.
taining to.the cause of Christianity in Japan. A few present at the meeting were not in favor of II bceoennfepreuntcet~ but after the question had the Death of Rev. John Hewlett, vote and it was fonnd that a large mil.. jority were in favor of holding a confer· The death of Rev. John Hewlett ence, these declared themselves ready M.A.• one of the foremost missiona: to do all they could to further the ob· ries of the London Missionary Society, ject desired by the majority. occurred February 21st last. Seventeen of the thirty years of his laborious life The Anti-Chinese Legislation at Wash· were spent in Benares, the stronghold ington. of Hinduism, and in many respects the most difficult post in India. He wns [J. T. G.] well qnalified for such work, being both The enactment of the two houses of talented and amiable. He knew many Congress relating to the Chinese in this emin,ent Hindu priests and teachers, country has givlln offence to roany mill. ions of our citizens. It is not a case of Foreign Affairs Committee, said this sentiment merely, but one for grave registration was similar to the slave aod dignified deliberation. It is rather regulations in force before the Civil painful to note the ease with which this War, and to the ticket of leave cf the whole subject has been transferred from Australian convict system.
the domain of statecraft to tha.t of poli- The Minister says that these features tics. This whole business ought to have of the bill are in direct violation of the been begun at the other end. It should treaty of 1880, which guarantees to the have been settled long ago by diplo- Chinese laborers in the United States macy; it iR a matter for treaty, not for the treatment of the subjects of the most " municipal legislation." It is with lit- favored nations. He further says that tle grace that the President should be the treaty of 1880 was agreed to by obliged to plead in defence of his 1!aste China at the express request of the Gov- in signing this Bill that there were but ernment of the United States, which a few hours before the expiration of Bent three of its most distinguished citi- existing legislation should be outlawed. zens to Peking to ask for it. He de- Great interests, like those involved in clined to state what course his Govern.
this issue, should not be dealt with ment would take on account of the pas- merely to throw" a sop to the steer. sage of the bill.
ages of the vessels that are being un- loaded at the Battery." It had no The World's W. a. T. U, business to be a political question, which undor the prejudices of a " presi- The World's Woman's Christian Tern.
dential year would almost of necessity perance Union have prepared a polyglot drive noble senators and an unimpeach- petition to the rulers of the world, be- able President to participation in in_ seeching them "to raise the standard iquitous business." of the law to that of Christian morals, The Chinese Minister at Washington to strip away the safeguards and sanc· protested against this Bill for three rea- tions of the State from the drink traffic sons: 1. It renews the Scott Law of and the opium trade, and to protect 1888. 2. It deprives the Chinese ot. the [our] homes by the total prohibition of right of bail in habeas corpus cases. 3. these curses of civilization throughout It requires a registration of Chinese all the territory over which [their] gov- laborers which it is practically impossi- ernments extend." Miss Frances E.
ble for them to comply with. They Willard, the president of this distinct must all prove by white witnesses that organization, informs us that this peti- the~ are lawfully entitled t~ be in the tion has already been translated and Umted StateM, and as the first Exclu- signed in forty languages, and is to be sion Law was passed in 1882, every presented to the different governments Chinaman must produce before the Col- of the world by a commission of wom- lector of Internal Revenue II white wit- en, headed by Lady Henry Somerset, ness who knew him ten years ago and who will go round the world within a can swear that he was in the United year or two for that purpose. The peti.
States at that time. tion is signed by women, but endorsed The law leaves the issuance of the by men, and co·operation is sought on certificate of registration entirely to the the ground that this petition seeks the discretion of the revenue officer, and suppression of opium as well as alco· provides no way of compelling him to holies. They anticipate that the signa- do justice to the Chinaman. He must tures to this petition will swell it to ten register and produce his evidence in the mile!; in length. and as it would not be district where he resides. His white right to go to the expense of carrying so witness may be 3000 miles away. great a bundle round the world, they Senator Sherman, Ohairman of the seek the endorsement of societies, signed by the presidents and secretaries But as so little is known of this part of thereof. For this purpose they have the world, as little as of most interior prepared blanks, which are to be had of parts of Africa of late years, it is of the Secretary, Mrs. Mary A. Wood- great interest to the scientist, and in bridge, Ravenna, O. many ways to the bulk of intelligent Another feature of the movement is people of our time. It is well known under the direction of the Department that few persons have ever been success- of Scientific Instruction in Schools and ful in effecting an entrance into Thibet.
Colleges, of which Mrs. Mary H. Hunt The author of this work, Gabriel Bon- is superintendent. Mrs. Hunt writes valot, is no novice in travel and ex- to us that for several years she has been ploration, he having, on a previons oc- in correspondence with Christian mis- casion, in company with two other sionaries, irrespective of denomination, Frenchmen, accomplished the difficult urging as a means of grace in nominally if not unprecedented feat of scaling the heathen lands the introduction of table-lands of the Pamir, " the roof of physiological temperance teaching in the world," as this region is called.
mission schools. Mrs. Joseph Cook, of The volume he wrote about that adven- B.)ston, recently invited to her parlors ture, "Aux lndes par Terre" (its Eng- the missionary leaders in the various lish title was" Through the Heart of evangelical denominations to listen to a Asia"), made him known as an intrepid proposition that had been privately and wise traveller. The present volume talked over, to the effect that the Chris- gives an account of his journey over tian missionary organizations of the Central Asia, parts of which had hith- world should unite in some systematic erto been u¥traversed by any European.
method that would secure such teaching Starting from the frontiers of Siberia, of the fundamental facts called scien- and coming out at the other end of Asia tific temperance in mission schools. A on the coast of the new French colony third feature of the world.wide move- of Tonquin, M. Bonvalot and his com- ment, we belis"!e, includes the sending panions, one of whom was Prince of missionaries representing their own Henry of Orleans, the eldest son of the body, SCtile of which, if we are correct- Duc de Chartres, traversed not only ly informed, are already in heathen that portion of Thibet which several lands. English travellers and the great Rnssian, Whoever has seen the hindrance of Prje'falsky, had explored, but going be- the mission work from the alcohol habit yond their routes OTer the table-lilnds, he of nominal Christians in heathen lands, accomplished a journey through a coun_ and knows anything of the terrible curse tryon which the eyes of no European of opium among heathen in Asiatic had before fallen. It is to the credit of cOllntrieq, will surely wish these noble their shrewdness and knowledge of women God-speed. If it is not direct, human nature that they sncceeded in it is certainly indirect missionary work doing this without much active hostil- in every land under the sun.-J. T. G. ity, though not without great petIt This volume is charmingly and instruc- New Publications. tively illustrated from photographs taken by Prince Henry, is elegantly [J. T. G.] bound, and is accompanied with a fine map in a pocket showing the route trav- The extraordinary int.erost that at- elled. The ethnographer and student taches to Thibet, as the only land not of religion will find here very interest- open to evangelization, would of itself ing contributions to their stock of spe- gi ve interest to a new book jnst issued cial information-information given in by the Casspll Puhlishing Company a clear and unpretentious manner, (New York) entitled" Across Thibet." which really enhances its value, as there is no evidence of any coloring or .. JodhpOl'e and the Empress Noor Jahan bias from any preconceived theories. (Elioi Stock, London, publisher).
T.he writer simply states what he saw The same publisher has just issued and what was said that throws light on the fifth edition of "The Christian problems of world.wide interest. It is Traveller's Continental Handbook," a not a volume about missions, for mis· small but very helpful book, telling of sions there are none in this part of the the places of Christian work and wor· world; but it shows the religious con· ship in all the principal cities of Eu· dition and the social customs of the peo. rope. Others besides travellers wiI' find pie, and affords a gleam of hope that it of value.
where this intrepid explorer has gone, others may yet be able to go with the -There will be a pathetic interest Gospel of the kingdom. attaching to th" article in this Depart- ment by Judge Lapsley, which was .. Woman's Influence in the East" compiled largely from letters received ny John J. Pool, is a compilation of from his Bon, Rev. Samuel N. Lapsley, stories fabulous and historical, showing engaged in planting the new mission the noble lives of some of the past of the Southern Presbyterians in the queens and princesses of India, which Congo Valley. As we go to press we might be greatly enlarged, and perhaps ha.ve the Bad news of the death of thi~ with advantage, to the impression which devoted and capable young mission. the author seeks to make, that the women ary. Our sincerest sympathy goes ouC of the East are not without influence to the honored father and Church thus even where they are esteemed by West· stricken. 0 Africa! thou art a. great ern people to be very much degraded. prize for the Master, but thou art being That women fail of influence over so- redeemed at great cost by those who cietyand even over public events in the adore the world's Saviour, and thine East, is a figment of the imagination as a part of the whole! only of the thonghtless. Women are J. T. G.
everywhere the conservators of religion, -Rev Dr. George W. Northrup, in good or bad; women mould the child- his address at the Seventy.seventh hood of all the races of the East, and anniversary of the American Baptist throughout the continent of Africa. Union, said: "1. That the Christian What ails them ill, that they have, as a churches of the world should be satisrule, low ideals, I!.nd are content with fied with nothing less than lIending out their place in the social scale. But the one ordained missionary for every illustrious instances which are well 50,000 of the accessible pl!.gan populaknown in Indian annals, of women in tion of the world. 2. That no church high rank having the highest qualities ought to call itself thoroughly aggrespossible to the type of civilization to sive and evangelical that does not ex·' which they belong, command our ad. pend, for the support of missions at miration and suggest the possibilities large, at least one dollar for every five of Indian womanhood when elevated by it expends for itself." Christianity. Quite apart from any moral pmpose, this book is entertain.
ing reading. The Ramayana is the -Among the congresses to be held in " Iliad of the East," and the first char· connection with the Columbian Exposi.
acter presented by Mr. Pool is the myth- tion, one of the most important will bA ical one of Sita, the peroine, the Helen the" Congress of Missions," which will of this, the most popular piece df lit· occnpy eight days-September 10th- erature in all Hindustan. Among the 17tb. Societies of every name, lan- historic characters are the Ranee of guage, and location will be represented.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Ba.ptist Missions on the Oongo. to an address lately given by Rev. R. D.
In justice to all parties concerned the Darby. from the Congo. .. The story following correspondence is published which he told of the privations and in full. It is a matter of sincere regret hardships which he and his companions that the extract from the Christian had endured was a sad and pitiful one. Leader should have appeared in our last His two companions died, and he himissue (p. 464) without editorial com_ self only narrowly escaped. In listenment, explaining- that it did in no de- ing to such a story, one cannot help gree receive our endorsement. We now feeling that there is great and inexcusareprint the extract with the remainder ble blundering somewhere. There is really no need why our missionaries ot" the correspondence, hoping thus to should be left in such straits for the lack of the common necessaries of life. do justice to everybody. We aim at ac- If the mission committee in London, curacy; but while we glean from all who are responsible. would only show a sources, we cannot of course secure in little more business ability in providing all cases" original sources." We should for the wants of their agents, no calamprint little intelligence if compelled to ity of the kind would be likely to over. do this.-A. T. P. take them. The sad thing is that the lack of proper provision for the wants Mr. Grenfell's first letter was dated of the agents sent out has less or more .. Baptist Missionary Society, London, October 10th, 1891."
DEAR Sm : I note that on page 800 of characterized the management of the your (October, 1891) issue you say : committee from the beginning. The .. Grave charges of mismanagement effects of this are shown in the "fact that have been made against the directors about sixty per cent. of the missionaries of the Baptist Congo Mission." If this sent out to the Congo district have died.
refers to the Congo Mission of the above Surely a radical change in the mode of society, it is quite unfounded, and should conducting the mission is called for."
be contradicted. You ought not to ac- Thereupon the whole correspondence cept such statements upon any other was sent to Mr. Grenfell, and from him than the best authority, and should be the following has just been received. all the more careful, seeing that your We think best to print in full : reports are so widely read and accep•. ed. I should be very glad if you would UNDERHILL, CONGO STATE, give me the name of your informant, April 5, 1892. and beg to remain My DEAR DOCTOR : It was very good of Yours faithfully, you to take so much trouble about the GEOBGE GRE"IFELL. paragraph to which I referred in my Dote of October 10th last. The fault is Upon receipt of this letter diligent evidently with the "lfonthly Messenger of endeavor was made to trace the item the Storie Street Church, which has in. to its source, and at last we found it terpreted some remarks as to the hargcame from Rev. James Johnston, of Bol- ships endured by Mr. Darby and his col. ton, England, who sent the following, leagues as an impeachment of the Misasking justification: sion Committee. That hardships were (From The Christian Leader, June 25, 1891.) endured, and more than need have been BAPTIST BLUNDERING ON THE CONGO. endured, had every one been gifted with the faculty of seeing into the future, In the Monthly Messenger of the Storie cannot be denied-such things occur in Street Baptist Church, Paisley, of which every African enterprise-but that the Dr. O. Flett is pastor, reference is made loss of life suffered by our society on the Congo can be attributed to the lack .ward it seemed best to issue it imme.
of "proper provision for its agents," diately in pamphlet form, and by per- or to the want of business •• ability" on mission of author and publishers (James the part of its committee I most dis· Nisbet & Co.) it appears with some tinctly deny, as would also Mr. Darby. slight verbal changes in the present were he here. issue of our magazine.
The statement that sixty per cent of A good word has permanent value.
the missionaries sent to the Congo died "A word fitly spoken" -literally" on as the effects of this lack of business his wheels"-" is like apples of gold ability and neglect will quite account set in framework of silver."
for Mr. Johnston's paragraph; but it is 'l'he discourse is a message on wheels, most distinctly untrue. The total losses and ought to mn round the world.
of the mission, while they are very, very Though first delivered in 1871, twenty heavy, and the cause of great sadness years ago, it is no less adapted to the of heart, are less than forty per cent; wants of the present day than it was for and I assert that no single death in the the time when it was originally con- ranks of our society can be attributed to structed. In fact, it will perhaps stir the causes mentioned. and arouse the Church of God more 'l'hanking you for your courtesy in effectively, as this new century of mod- this matter, I remain, my dear doctor, ern missions is opening, than it could Yours very sincerely, when the interest felt in a world's evan- GEORGE GRENFELL. gelization was less extensive and less P.S.–" Two educated negro women intense, and when the openings for at Vasten have begun to issue the first mission work were far less numerous newspaper in the Congo Free State. It and clamorous. aims to • enlighten the souls of the black-likinned.' " At Ollr earnest solicitation, Dr. Angus now permits us, in this REVIEW, to reo I presume the paragraph above, quot. print this vigorous address, he having brought down th e facts to this centenary ed from, your REVIEW, refers to the Se year of modern missions, 1892. It im- presses us as one of the boldest, wisest, Kukianga, published at the Baptist strongest appeals for immediate and world-wide evangelization we have ever Mission Station, Wathen; but how you read. Years ago it sounded its clarion. call, and the echo of its trumpet-peal is can have got hold of the news of two now heard wherever missions to the heathen are planned and undertaken. educated negro women having anything So far as we know, it was this address from which was drawn the motto of this to do with it is a marvel. I simply call new crusade: .. THE WORLD Fon CHRIST IN OUR GENERATION!" May the Great attention to it, and ask you to be care.
ful of Congo news derived from the same source A paper of the standing of your REVIEW can't afford to make it- self the medium of news so grotesquely metamorphosed. G. G.
II Apostolio Missions j or, The Gospel Head of the missionary host use the new and louder repetition of tbis trum- for Every Orea.ture," * pet.blast to set the whole army of the Lord moving in a mighty assault on The editor obtained a copy of this every fortress of the devil. May the grand article, with which we open this venerable and distinguished author of number of the REVIEW, as it was orig- this pamphlet yet live to see the Church inally delivered, April 26th, 1871, be- preaching to every creature the Gospel fore the Baptist Missionary Society, in he loves. London, and personally besought Dr. Angus to remodel it for republication in the REVIEW. He consented. After. A letter, inclosing five shillings ster- * See lcadin~ article of this nnmber, page 481. ling, and accompanied only by a pseudonym, has come to me, which is too let it go to the heathen." There is a suggestive to be withheld from the pub- wide gulf of dillerence between the five lic eye. shillings amI this, which is equal to £70. But in each case a luxury is surrendered e< GLASGow. April 4, 1892. for the sake of giving the Bread. of "Two or three years ago you ad- Life to lost souls. What immense sums dressed a crowded meeting in the Synod of money would our self denial bring to' Hall, Edinburgh, upon missions, in the treasuries of God were even such which many must have been very deep- self-sacrifice which does not touch our ly stirred. You spoke of giving up lux. actual necessities universal with dis- uries for missions, and suggested that ciples! ladies could give up a pair of kid gloves a year to aid such a work as McAIl's at The Fiji Islands hllve been the great Paris, etc. model field of mission operations in hea- " I thought, 'That does not apply to then lands. At the beginning of the presme; I can't do anything in that way. ent century the people were barbarians. I give one fifth of all my income and In 1835 the Christianization of them was what I earn to God's work, and never commenced, when, in October of that spend anything but what is needful on year, the Rev. W. Cross and Dr. Cargill, dress. I must have decent gloves even Wesleyan missionaries from England, if I have to buy many pairs, and I cannot proceeded from one of the Friendly Islkeep my dress account below £15 [$75] ands to Lactremba, one of the Fiji Islthis year.' ands. The population of the latter num- " However, conscience prevailed, and bered a thousand souls, some of whom next day more than I usually spend on had heard of Christianity in the Friendly a pair of 'four-button kids' went into Islands, and a few understood its charthe collection plate. I had never had acter ; and the chief gave the missiunamany presents of gloves, but at Christ- ries a friendly reception. In a short mas a friend sent me a beautiful lined time a number were baptized and began pair, and shortly after some very good the Christian life. 'rhe missionaries gloves were sold for very little, and so I then introduced the Gospel into other got a supply and lost nothing by the islands, and in 1845 there was a powerprice of a good pair sent to the MeAll ful revival throughout the entire region. Mission. Next year I sent the price of Among the many converts, the Napoleon a better pair, ~ndagain never J.I1issed of an entire island was numbered-a them, for two pairs were given to me. man who had been the most bloodthirsty You see your words were not lost, and of all the people. In 1854 the head their latest fruit is five shillings, which king, with his tribe, embraced Chris- I enclose, and which you will kindly tianity ; and so Divine truth made reforward at your convenience to Dr. markable headway in all directions McAll from one whose interest in mis- among all the people and tribes. Since tiions you have helped to stimulate." that phenomenal period a number of This letter is probably from Bome white peoples have settled in the islands, poor seamstress or woman clerk of slen- and the entire population are now far der means; and it is sent to the REVIEW advanced in civilization; and Christiancolumns simply as a very pertinent illus- ity controls the overwhelming mass of tration of the possible fruits of a little the inhabitants. Out of a popUlation of self-denial. Since that address in Edin- 120,000, 105,000 belong to the Wesleyan burgh many other fruits appeared, and Methodist denomination, Ilond are reguamong others a very brilliant marquise lar attendants in their churches and ring set with Beven diamonds, and halls. The other 15,000 have identified worth probably $350, has been sent to themselves with the various bodies me with the remark: "I can do without that, and never will wear it again; which have entered the field. It was in Summer School of Ohrlstian Philosophy. 1879 that other denominations began their work among these people, Ilnd The school of the American Institute they are helping in raising them to of Christian Philosophy begins July Christian life and civilization. This 12th at Prohibition Park, Staten Island, mission of the Wesleyan body has test· with a lecture by Joseph Cook, on ed the wonderful power of Methodism "Fast and Loose Theories of Evoluwhen permeated by the Divine Spirit in tion." The remainder of the week's converting heathen souls to a practical programme is aa follows : knowledge of Christ and the Gospel. The marvellous success here met with Wednesday, 13th.-G. R. W. Scott, should be generally known among Chris. D.D., Andover, Mass., "Man's Retians and prayerfully considered in con- sponsibility for his Belief." Nightnection with all foreign mission work R. F. Cutting, New York, " Tenementand home mission effort. House Evil."
REV. ANDREW LEES. Thursday, 14th.-George Alexander, D.D., New York, "A Believing Spirit Essential to the Learner." Night- It is proposed to hold a general con· paper prepared by Richard Abbey, D.D., ference of missionaries in Japan. Mississippi, " Where Was Man Before He Was?" Circulars are addressed as follows : Friday, 15th.-William Leroy Broun, To ..••………•…. •• The Progress of Education of the Col- At a regular meeting of the Mission- ored Race in the South." Night-·-Anni- versary. Addresses by Rev. Dr. Deems ary Association of Central Japan, held and others.
in Osaka, December 15th, 1891, the fol- Saturday, 16th.-Professor E. Herlowing minute was adopted, to wit: shey Sheath, Yale University, "Stoicism •, That the Chairman be requested to and Christianity." Night -" Prison Life," by W. M. F. Round, Esq. nominate a Committee consisting of one member from each mission in this dis- Sunday; 17th.-Annual Sermon by trict, to continue inquiries concerning Carlos Martyn, D.D., Newark, N. J. a General Missionary Conference and to Night-" The Brotherhood of Chrisreport to the next meeting of the Asso- tian Unity," Professor Theodore F. Seward. ciation.' ' In accordance with this action, the Monday, 18th. -Hon. Walter B. Hill, Georgia, "Anarchy, Socialism, and the Committee appointed desire to pro· LaborMovement." Night-" Our Shop pound to the missionaries of the various Girls," by Professor Hyslop, of Columsocieties laboring in Japan the follow- bia College. ing inquiries: 1. Is it desirable to hold a. General Conference in the near fu- Tuesday, 19th.-Ethelbert D. Warture? 2. If so, in what year? 3. Shall field, LL.D, President of Lafayette the Conference be composed of evan- College, "The Philosophy of Educagelical missionaries exclusively, or shall tion. " others be admitted? 4, If others a.re to be included, would you be unwilling Persons wishing circulars of the Sumto take part? 5. If they are to be ex- mer School and Prohibition Park, or included? 6. Shall our Japanese breth- formation concerning hotel accommoren be invited to participate? 7. If so, dations, etc., should address Mr. C. L. to what extent? Haskell, Superintendent, West New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y. For in- The Committee earnestly request all· forma~ion about the Institute, address missionaries to give this matter their Mr. C. M. Davis, Secretary, 4 Winthrop careful consideration and to send in Place, New York. t~eir replies as promptly as possible to eIther of the undersigned.
The Ven. Archdeacon WARREN, Ohairman, No.3 Concession. Rev. T. T. ALEXANDER, Secretary, No. 14 Concession. OSAKA, December 22, 1891.
1892.J THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Ohinese Miss:ons in British Columbia. ample facilities for preaching services, prayer.meetings, class.meetings, Sun. BY BEV. E. ROBSON. day and week evening schools, all of wh,ich are now much more successful. The Chinese population of British The missionary is aided by a Chinese Columbia is a very uncertain quantity, assistant, two lady teachers for the evenvariously estimated at from 6000 to ing school, an efficient corps of Sunday- 9000. 'Though some .thousands arrive school volunteer workers and !I care. in the course of a year, yet there is not taker, who is a useful Christian worker a rapid increase in the aggregate num· -a native Chinese. Mr. Gardner him. ber, as many leave the province, some self speaks the Chinese, reads and for China and some, by means best writes it with elegance and fluency. known to themselves, make their way into the United States in spite of the The Woman's Missionary Society of exclusion enactment. The Chinese are this saIDe Church has had, for some mostly located in the towns, but during years past, a Refuge Home for Chinese the fishing season are to be found in Girls in Victoria, by means of which considerable numbers at the salmon can· quite a number of these poor creatures, neries scattered throughout the coast some of very tender years, have been districts; while others are engaged in rescued from cruel slavery and present mining, farming, market gardening, and or prospective social degradation and serving as oooks and laundrymen in shame. The inmates of the home are town and country. There are a few under the care of two most excellent merchants and manufacturers of mod. ladies in the employ of the Methodist erate pretensions among them, but the Missionary Society, and are instructed bulk belong to the laboring class. in everything that is calculated to do them good and render their future lives About fourteen years ago efforts were useful and happy. Most of them have put forth by the agents of the Method· given cause to hope that they have been ist Church of Canada, to bring these converted to God. Some have been reo people to the knowledge of the truth; turned to their parents in China, but but the work did not at that time make the larger number have been married to much headway for want of agents con· Chinamen resident in the province. versant with the language. These generally are doing well.
The present work of the Methodist The spiritual results of the Victoria Church of Canada among the Chinese Mission as a whole have been encourag. commenced seven years ago, in Victoria, ing. Numerous conversions have taken the capital of the province, where there place, and a very marked improvement is a resident Chinese popUlation of, say, has been brought about in the com· 3000 during the winter season, and 2000 munity known as the Chinese quarter. during summer. 'fhe Rev. J. Endicott There are 105 communicants in connec· Gardner, who had the honor, assisted tion with the church, and a good at· by others, of inaugurating the work, is tendance upon the various services still the recognized leader of it as agent especially the preaching of the Word. of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church. For years the work of In Vancouver mission work was begun the mission was carried on in rented in 1887 by the formation of an evening halls, at considerable disadvantage. class for the study of English and relig- There is, however, now a handsome ious instruction. Under the kind and and commodious church, with school earnest labors of Christian ladies (the and class – rooms attached, affording leader being a daughter of the present writer), not one of whom could speak to, been blessed with gratifying success. or read a word of Chinese, there were, Upon invitation of the chaplain Mr. in a few months, eleven Chinese brought Ch'an preaches to the Chinese in the to a saving knowledge of Christ, all of provincial penitentiary, ten of whom whom were publicly baptized after due have given evidence of a change of examination and trial. The mission was heart and life, and have received Chris. reinforced by the arrival, from China, tian baptism at the chaplain's hands. of Mr. Ch'an Sing Kai, who was selected and sent to our aid by the Rev. Dr. The expenditure for land and build. Wenyon, of the Wesleyan Mission at ings at these three stations has been, Fat Shan.' Mr. Ch'an brought his wife including the Rescue Home, nearly and children with him-probably the $24,000, and the amount paid by the first Christian Chinese family in the society for current expenses was, last. Dominion of Canada. The work in Van. year, $4200, exclusive of the Home. couver is now carried on by Liu Yik Are the results satisfactory? Reason. Pang, who had spent three years in the ably so. The Gospel-preached, sung, study of medicine, hospital practice, and personally explained-is put within and evangelistic work in Canton, and is the reach and pressed upon the atten. a man well fitted for and useful in his tion of the Chinese population in the present position. Dr. Liu is assisted three leading towns of the provinCE> by two ladies, who teach the English every Sunday and during every week. classes and give efficient help in all the Many outlying neighborhoods have been services, which are not by any means visited, and the message of salvation confined to the mission premises, but made known. Scores of Chinese men are also regularly conducted on the and several women have been converted street, in the centre of the Chinese quar. to God. Some of these have been the ter and upon the great steamships of means of winning others of their fel. the Canadian Pacific Railway Company low.countrymen to Christ in other parts plying between Vancouver, China, and of the province, and at least several Japan, the crews of which are princi. have gone back to visit their native land pally Chinese. The society has a suit- fully resolved to do all they can, by able building, comprising chapel, school, God's help, for the salvation of their and reading.room and residence for the friends and neighbors there. The inmiSSionary, and, in addition, a number fluence of these missions has done much of pleasant lodging rooms for the Chris. for the Chinese here, and will undoubttian young men who have no homes of edly be felt in the distant Orient. their own, thus obviating the necessity for their spending their evenings and Though the Methodist Church has nights among the demoralizing associa· had the honor of leading in this inter· tions, sights, and sounds of heathen. esting work, other churches are now ism. taking hold tlnd planning for more ex· tended efforts in the future. May God New Westminster also is favored with give an abundant harvest of souls! a Chinese mission, the history of which is very similar to that just described. NEW WESTMINSTER, B. C., March 30th, Mr. Ch'an, now an ordained mission- 1892. ary, is in charge, assisted by lady teachers and volunteer helpers. On the 6th Ohinese Mission in San Francisco. inst. new mission premises were taken possession of, consisting of chapel, BY REV. F. J. MASTERS, D.D. school, and reading-room and residence for missionary-all very complete and Our first convert was baptized in comfortable and well situated. This 1871 ; since then 394 adults have been mission has, like those already referred admitted to church membership. At least 90 per cent of these converts reo main faithful. It must be borne in mind that the effect of the" exclusion" rather, most of them-come from one bill, passed in open violation of treaty, county of the Canton province). Over and the unfriendly local legislation of $1000 have been raised toward this ob. the State Legislature and municipal ject. councils, as well as the daily instances of brutal ill·treatment at the hands of One of our members, Mr. Lum Foon, white ·people, tend to alienate the Chi. lately gave up a splendid business in nese, and to make them sullen and bit· San Francisco, and has gone to China ter. Then we are working among a com· at his own expense as a self.supporting munity of young men, of whom only mIsslOnary. He has bought land and one per cent are married or have their erected a fine chapel and school, with wiveR with them. prophets' chamber .for the missionary, all at his own expense. There he We have branches of our mission in preaches the Gospel and teaches a day Oakland, San Jose, and Sacramento, school. He has already been greatly where young men are gathered in for blessed in his labors. Scores have been religious and secular instruction. As converted, and he is known throughout most of the Chinese are anxious to learn the district as "the Jesus man," and the English language, numbers have his premises as " the Jesus house… come to our school to learn to read and write, and have there been brought Liberality.-During the six years I have under religious influences that have left been here our Chinese members and an impress that will never be effaced. scholars who, according to San Fran. Of the 5000 scholars who have passed cisco newspapers, are so base, sordid, through our schools, hundreds who have and unsalvable, have contributed $2650 not had the courage to confeRs Christ to the funds of the missionary society. before men have, in theory at least, ac· Besides this they have come up to their cepted the great doctrines of the Bible, apportionment in benevolences, and and have forever broken with idola· have sent $500 to aid in missionary tr.v. work in China. Every year we average $5 per member for missions. The open.air services, in which other missions take a part, are full of interest Steadfastness.-We have received 78 and encouragement. It was an impres. new members during the last three sive scene last Sabbath afternoon to see years, and only three have fallen away. 400 Chinese gathered around our preach. A Chinaman who becomes a Christian is er, the Rev. Chan Hon Fan, to hear the ostracized by his fellow.clansmen even Gospel on the open street. On the very in San Francisco, and cursed as he goes pavement that arew days before had been along the street. reddened with the blood of murder, and under the rooms of a highbinder society, Open-air services in Chinatown are the crowd stood for an hour while this held every Sunday afternoon. About brave young preacher preached on " Re. 30 or 40 Christian Chinamen sing Gos· sist not evil, but whosoe'fer shall smite pel hymns, and the crowd gathers. We thee on the right cheek, turn to him the have kept up these services with unother also," and openly denounced the abated interest for over five years, and murderous societies that had disgraced last Sabbath I preached in Chinese to a their nation and terrorized over China· congregation on the street numbering town. upward of 500. It is astonishing to see the interest and the respect that is Zeal qf Our Members.-We have a shown us, notwithstanding the brutal church of 123 members, and they have treatment theyl'eceive from street hood· just formed a Native Missionary Society lums. What I have said applies to the to employ native itinerant preachers and Chinese missions of other denomina· physicians in their native country. (All tions. The Congregational Chinese the Chinese in San Francisco – or, Church here supports two or three mis· sionaries and doctors in Kwantung. The Japanese in San Franoisoo, and circulated over 3000 tracts each month. These have been prepared REV. M. C. HABBIS, D.D. here, with special reference to the The Japanese community in this city needs. of their people.
and surrounding towns numbers about Many workers now in Japan were con- 2500. This small colony receives addi· verted here, and many more are being tions by every steamer from Japan. raised up to glorify God in Japan, They began to come about fifteen years Weare without a church home. They ago in very small numbers, but latterly live and work in rented buildings, and at the rate of 100 a month. They are have done so for six years. Now they all young men, except a score or two of are trying to buy a lot and build a women, and mostly students, seeking church.
for something from the West to enrich and beautify the far East, their home The Island World. land. Still there are some merchants and laborers among them. Those who Religion in New Zealand.-Census repush out from home into a new and dis- turns recently issued show that there tant country are usually self·reliant, am- are in New Zealand 1197 churches and bitious, and energetic, much above the chapels, being an increase of 134 in five average. years. Two hundred and forty-one school.houses are used for Sabbath ser- For some time this renewing and vices, and 161 dwellings and public strengthening power was confined chief- buildings. These val'ious edifices have ly to church-members, though many sin_ accommodation for 278,114 persons {or ners were being converted all the time. less. than half the popUlation of the About one year ago, however, the breth- colony), and are actually attended by ren, filled with the new wine of the 197,055, or about a third of the popu- Spirit, went forth to testify among the lation. Presbyterians report 40,785 unsaved. They met with startling suc- church-goers; Episcopalians, 37,252; cess, and rejoiced with unspeakable joy. Roman Catholics, 30,525; Wesleyans, Within the past six months more than 27,106; Salvationists, 14,442. There 400 have been hopefully converted. Of are 450 Jews, 200 Free-Thinkers, and this number 188 have been baptized and 3803 of no denomination at all.-Free received into the Church. But few of Church Monthly. these have been converted in the regu- lar preaching services. In private rooms, in class meetings, in the field at work, Rev. Hiram Bingham is at Spring- in the quiet places, the great transac- field, Mass. He went out to the Gilbert tion was done. It is a personal work. Islands as a missionary on the first Two things, the two great facts of the Morning Star in 1856. He brings home Bible. sin and salvation, have been pre- in manuscript a translation in the na- sented and held up to the Japanese, and tive language of the entire Bible, which pressed upon the conscience and the he intends to carry back in book form.
heart. Conviction of sin, and in most Mr. Bingham's father was also a mis- cases intense suffering, followed by sionary, going out to the Sandwich faith in Christ and rapturous delight, Islands in the brig Thaddeus in 1819_ are the usual characteristics of the ra- The son was born at Honolulu in 1831, Tival. and was graduated from Yale in 1853.
The believers carry forward the work Soon afterward he married Clara M.
with great energy, both in the city and, Brewster, of Northampton, daughter of country. They meet and welcome the the late Jonathan Brewster, whom he comers by every vessel. All the clubs persuaded to accompany him to the Gil- nnd lodging houses are regularly visit- bert Islands.
ed. For months past they have printed Soon after their arrival on the island of Apalang their first child was born monthly mail steamers plying between Il.nd died, for there was no physician Sydney and Fiji. This is a great im- nearer than 1000 miles. While Mrs. provement on the old arrangement. Bingham was ill, one of the most thrill- The Dayspring often took several days ing experiences of his life came. The to do what is now done in a few hours. king rushed into his house one day, and It several times took three days to do seizing his spy-glass, looked over toward forty miles, and what is now accom- Tarawa, the nearest island, whose palm- plished in a night was often formerly tree tops were just visible. He soon accomplished with difficulty in a week. dropped the glass and ran. In a short This change enables the missionaries to time hundreds of warriors rallied about be present at the annual meeting of the house, and about 100 war canoes Synod without being more than a month :filled with hostile Tarawas approached absent from tbeir stations, instead of for battle. The boats seemed to single three or even four, as formerly. It also out the conspicuous cottage, and made enables the missionaries more easily to straight for it, so that Mr. Bingham help one another in times of sickness, fully expected to be in the centre of the or to take a change to another island battle. He barricaded his house and when required. It enables the native prepared for the worst, being especially teachers to move about from island to distressed concerning his sick wife. island, and promises to make the whole But just before they reached land the group of islands much more accessible war oanoes tacked and headed up the to mission work. The little steamer is coast. The army of savages followed a great favorite, and is known among with a yell, and the battle was fought the islanders, like the Dayspring before about five miles away. The Tarawas it, as the missionary or Christian ship. were routed and the Apaiangs victorious, It is also called the sacred ship, as set although the Apaiang king was killed apart for God's work, and sometimes and the prince terribly wounded. The the good ship, as those on board do young man was nursed in the cottage, nothing but good to the natives. and became a firm friend to the missionaries.
Recently a Chinese convert, of San Within fifteen years from the entrance Fra~cisco, who refused to reveal his of the missionaries on Aneityum, New name to Rev. Dr. Masters, handed him a Hebrides, the entire population em- little package, directing him to expend braced Christianity. A similar change the amount in securing a native China· has taken place on several other islands. man to preach the Gospel in China. It The missionary ship has been an im- embraced nearly all of his earthly posportant factor in this work. In 1862 the sessions. The package contained $100 first Dayspring was built, and did good in gold coin. service for about ten years. It was wrecked in Aneityum harbor by a fear- Sm NEWS FROM THE NEW HEBRIDES.- ful hurricane, which visited the islands Mrs. Lawrie, of Aneityum, had a sunin 1872. A second Dayspring having stroke, and her mind has become serio been procured and the money raised, it ously affected. She is quite helpless, continued to serve the mission till 1890, and requires the constant watchfulness when it was found necessary to intro- of her husband. Mr. Lawrie has taken duce steam power. The sailing schooner her to Sydney, where, by medical ad. Dayspring could only visit the islands vice, she has been placed in the con. twice a year, but now a little steamer, valescent ward of the asylum. Truganini, sails every month between The wife of the Rev. T. W. Leggatt, the islands. Its headquarters are of the Victoria Mission, died while tem- Aneityum, and there it meets the porarily insane. A young Englishman, Mr. Sawer, who instance for a writ of habeas corpus by had been only two days married to a a Chinese person seeking to Jive in the lady who went out to become his wife, United States, to whom tbat privilege was killed by cannibals. They shot has been dellied, no bail shall be al. lowed, and such application shall be him through the heart, and murdered heard and determined promptly, with.
and feasted on the bodies of two natives out unnecessary delay, SECTION 6. And it shall be the duty of who were with him. His body was reo all Chinese laborers within the limits of covered and brought to Tungoa by the the United States at the time of the Rev. Mr. Annand. The sympathy and passage of this Act, and who are entitled prayers of friends of the New Hebrides to remain in the United States, to apply Mission will not be lacking to the be. to the Collector of Internal RevE-nue for their respective districts, within one reaved survivors.-Free Church of &01- year after the passage of this Act, for a land Monthly. certificate of residence; and any Chi.
nese laborer within the limits of the United States who'shall neglect, fail, or GOVERNMENT MONEY AND :MISSIONS.- refuse to comply with the provisions of The .1!lcaminer says: "A resolution was this Act, or who, after one year from unanimously passed by the Methodist the passage thereof, shall be found within the jurisdiction of the United Episcopal General Conference that the States without such certificate of resi- Church should hereafter' decline either , dence, shall be deemed and adjudged to make a petition to or to receive from to be unlawfully within the United the national Government any moneys States, and may be arrested by any United States customs officer, Collector for educational work among the Ind. of Internal Revenue or his deputies, ians.' In the arguments for this action, United States Marshal or his deputies, telling appeal was made to the example and taken before a United States Judge, of the Baptists, 'the only evangelical whose duty it shall be to order that he be deported from the United States as denomination in this country,' said Dr. hereinbefore provided, unless he shall J. M. King, ' who have never consented establish clearly to the satisfaction of to take one dollar from the Government said Judge that by reason of accident, for education.' We should, perhaps, sickness, or other unavoidable cause, he better deserve praise for our consistency had been unable to procure his certifiin this respect if we had done as much cate, and to the satisfaction of the Court and by at least one credible white wit.
in the cause of Indian education as our ness, that he was a resident of the Unit.
friends of other communions, but we ed States at the time of the passage of this Act, and if upon the hearing it shall rejoice that the powerful Methodist in- appear that he is so entitled to a certifi.
fluence is henceforth to be thrown in cate, it shall be granted upon his pay· the right scale." ing the cost. Should it appear that said Chinaman had procured a certifi.
The" Chinese Exclusion Bill. cate, which has been lost or destroyed, he shall be detained and judgment sus· The sections of the Chinese Exclusion pended a reasonable time to allow him to procure a duplicate from the officer Bill against which Senator Sherman and granting it, and in such cases the ,cost others most rigorously protested-pro. of said arrest and trial shall be in the tested, we may say, in representation of discretion of the Court. And any Chi.
the judgment of many millions of the nese person other than a Chinese lllbor. er having a right to be and remain in people of our country-we herewith reo the United States desiring such ce;tifi. produce, in the faint hope that after cate as evidence of such right, may ap.
November next the United States Con. ply for and receive the same without gress may be in a better judicial mind charge.
to weigh the arguments and recognize A Chinese clergyman was asked.how the indignation against them. They many clergy he thought there were in are: England, "Perhaps 1500," he said. When he heard that there were 24,000, SECTION 5. That after the passage of "Can you not," he asked, "spare 100,0 this Act, on an application to any Judge for China?" or Court of the United States in the first
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by .Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
THE WORLD AT LARGE. workers, and expend annually not less -11'1:. Ravenstein has published in the than $7,500,000." Prooeedings of the London Geographical It is certainly within bounds to say Society his calculations about the time that the Protestant churches of Ameri.
that it will take to fill the world with ca, Great Britain and Europe are repreall the people it will hold. The pres· sented in their work for other lands by ent population of the globe is supposed 9000 missionaries and more than 50,000 to be about 1,467,000,000 ; and he esti. native workers, and have expended durmates that the maximum of the inhabi. ing the past year about $12,500,000. tal,lts that can be sustained on the en· But this is not all. During the past tire land surface of the earth is 5,994,- half century a considerable proportion 000,000, and that this figure will be of the annual expenditure of these soreached A.D. 2072, or in about 180 years, cieties has been in the form of investat the present ratio of increase, which' ments in churches, schools and colleges, dwelling-houses, printing-presses, bindis eight per cent per decade. eries, manufactur!>d volumes of Scrip- How Muoh and How Little.-Says the In- tures, educational and religious books dependent: "There are to-day in the Unit- -pretty nearly all the machinery and ed States, including Bible, tract, and apparatus of modern aggressive Chrismedical societies, 51 Protestant general tianity. The total of this investment societies or boards, engaged either ex- has never been even estimated, but clusively or partially in the work of for- could it be done it would open our eyes eign missions. There are also 30 wom- as never before to the tremendous force an's boards, which work through the that the churches have put and are putgeneral boards of the denominations ting into the work of foreign missions. they represent; and an uncertain num- ber, not less than 10, probably not more -The cost of the McAl! Mission in than 20, of individual enterprises, in- France last year was $89,563, of which cluding the various faith missions, so- $33,910 came from the United States, called-the Plymouth Brethren, the $37,671 from EnglanJ and Scotland, and Pentecost Bands of the Free Methodist $13,340 from France and other coun. Churches, and the Pioneer Soudan Mis- tries.
sion. These all employ in the field not THE UNITED STATES. far from 3000 missionaries (male and female) and about 11,000 native agents ; -Mr. Moody's Bible Training Insti.
and at home a force of officials, includ- tute is represented on the foreign field ing secretaries and clerks, of which by 24 workers, among the North Ameri.
tl<ere i8 DO published record, but which can Indians by 4. while 19 are engaged cannot fall short of 1000; and they ex- in work in Chicago itself. The foreign pend annually in the whole work an workers are in Africa, India, China, amount not less than $5,000,000. In Japan, Turkey, Persia and South and Great Britain, Germany, France, Scan- Central America. The officers of the dinavia, etc., there are about 130 regu- Institute can locate 37 men and 9 wom- larly organized independent societies, en who are engaged in evangelistic 30 woman's boards, and perhaps 30 in- work; 31 men are engaged in pastoral dividual enterprises. These are repre- work, including many ministers who sented on the field by nearly if not quite came for further study, and 29 men are 6000 missionaries and 40,000 native now in other schools and colleges. City mission work emJ!!loys 9 men and sides other institutions, educational, 10 women; 5 men are engaged in Sun- theological, and industrial. In the day.school missions, 2 men in home Indian work aa:e 76 schools, against 51 missions, 7 women in church visitation, schools three years ago, and 87 churches.
7 men in Young Men's Christian Asso- -The" American Baptist Year-Book," ciation work, 2 women in Young Wom- which is just out, shows II total memen's Christian Association work; 18 bership of 3,269,806, an increase over men and 2 women are teachers, 5 wOmen the last year of 105,579. The number have positions in charitable institu. reported as baptized has risen from tions, and 8 are now wives of minis· 140,058 in 1890 to 160,247 in 1891 ; the ters ; 5 men and 1 woman are singing total contributions were $11,886,558, evangelists. only a slight increase on those for the Fbr the Freedmen.-Beginning in the previous year, which were $11,215,579.
dark days that followed the war, with The endowment of the seven theological 15 pupils, sheltered in the rude bar- seminaries has risen from $2,000,088 to racks bequeathed by the" Freedman's $2,259,346, and the total value of the Bureau," Hampton now houses and property from $2,992,728 to $3,269,723 ; teaches 960 students in a settlement of the college endowments, not including fitting and permanent dormitories, the University of Chicago, have risen school.rooms, and workshops. It has from $6,097,270 to $9,784,526, and the sent out 723 graduates. almost all" of total value of property from $11,074,327 Whom are teaching their own people. to $16,037,133.
At Hampton and III the various off. -The American Baptist Missionary shoots of Hampton 120,000 pupils have Union closed its financial year March been taught. not only the contents of 31st. The total receipts for current books, not only industrial knowledge, work for the year were $569,172.93 as but the elements of manhood and wom- against $472,174.21 for the preceding anhood. And from these 120,000 pu- year. The Society commenced the year pils has been drawn a body of 2000 with II debt of $61,593.94, and has 'made teachers. Its plant has cost $550,000, during the year appropriations which, free from debt, the gift of friends. The with the debt, amount to $635,927.24. school requires an income of $100,000 Thus, notwithstanding the advance of a year. Of this sum $40,000 is annually nearly $100,000 in receipts, the new year assured from regular sourcef'. The re- commences with a debt of $66,754.31. maining $60,000 General Armstrong has raised year after year, from churches, -The Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, District Sunday-schools, and private individ- Secretary of the American Board at uals. From $25,000 to $30,000 of this Chicago, has proposed a plan by which sum is contributed in annual $70 schol- the young people shall take care of the arships, each of which pays the ex- young missionaries. An annual fund penses of one pupil for one year, in the of $25,000 is to be raised in the Chrisacademic department. But more of tian Endeavor Societies and Sunday. these scholarships are needed. The schools in the form of 1000 shares of permanent endowment fund, which is stock at $25 each. The missionaries slowly growing, should be at least supported by it are to be young mis- $500,000, and will have reached the sionaries of three years' service or less, sum of $300.000 at the end of this year. and not otherwise supported.
-The American Missionary Associa- -The Roman Catholic Mission among tion (Congregational) in July of 1890 es- the colored people and the Iudians re- tablished a mission in Alaska. It is ports $361,000 r.eceived during the last situated on Cape Prince of Wales, the five years. There are now 115 colored extreme western point of the North schools. against 98 two years ago, be- American Continent, only 46 miles from East Cape Siberia, about 1000 miles $16,870,000 to unsectarian societies. north of Sitka, some 3000 miles north The amount contributed through soci- of San Francisco, and just south of the eties of the Established Church of Eng. Arctic Circle. The importance of this land was about $46,100,000; through station is seen in the fact that it is the societies of the Establishecl Church of largest Eskimo settlement in Alaska, and Scotland, $3,018,000 ; through Protestant the third largest native settlement of any Non-conformist societies in England and kind. And the school is already much Wales, $32,600,000, and through Presby- the largest in Alaska. For the first terian Nonconformist societies in Scot. school year the total enrolment was land and Ireland, about $13,000,000. 301 ; the average daily attendance for He claims th us that the societies of the the whole nine months, 109; for the two Established Churches of England last five months, 156. and Scotland contributed at least $3,160,000 more than the societies of -The Missionary Society of the all the other Protestant denominations Methodist Episcopal Church has in its of the British Isles put together. From foreign missions the following members his twenty years' study of the subject, and probationers: In heathen lands, he states his belief that of the ~16,870,- 45.745 ; in Protestant lands (in Europe), 000 contributed to joint societies of 41,413 ; in Roman Catholic lands, 5967 ; Churchmen and Nonconformists during in Greek Church lands (Bulgaria), 171 ; the past twenty years, at least $10,000,- a total of 93,296. In 1891 there were 000 was contributed by members of the expended from the regular appropria. Established Church of England. tions for these missions: In heathen lands, $315,627.50; in Protestant lands, – The Church Missionary Society's $93,380.19 ; in Roman Catholic lands, income has exceeded that of the pre- $147,655.83; in Greek Church lands, vious year, but the expenditure is great. $17,539.28 ; a total of $574,202.80. er, so that there will be a deficit of something like $20,000. The total reo -At the annual meeting of the Gen. ceipts have been about $1.157,645, of eral Executive Committee of the Wom· which $807,880 wer", received from aSb,)- an's Foreign Missionary Society of the ciations, $98,165 from special gifts, Methodist Episcopal Church, held in $146,495 from legacies, and $105,105 Kansas City, Mo., receipts were re- from other sources. The expenditure ported of $263,660.69, being an advance or the coming year is estimated at over those of last yeer of $43,330.73. $1,177,700. The estimates for the coming year were announced as $368,000. -The London Missionary Society calls for 4, men more than are at present -'rhe Southern Presbyterian Church available to fill vacancies in the staff in has decid~d to open a mission in Korea, India and China, and for 15 new mis. and two members of the senior class in sionaries, some of them ladies, to com- Union Seminary, Va., have been com- plete the first year's contingent of the missioned to commence it. They will additional 100. The Evangelical' Union sail probably in August. of the Scotland Foreign Misiion Com· mittee calls upon the churches repre. EUROPE. sented by it to ilupply 10 of the required 100 missionaries, aud notes with grati. Great Britain.-Canon Scott Robin. tude that 2 from their number have al· son has estimated that during the last ready been accepted by the Society. twenty years the sum contributed by the British Isles for foreign mission -The Unitad Presbyterians of Scotwork has amounted to $112,790,915. land raised last year, for foreign mis· Of this total about $840,000 was contrib. sions, £41,602, and for home missions, uted to Roman Catholic societies and £17,725. Their foreign work is being carried on in Jamaica, Old Calabar taught. The English Protestants have (West Africa), Rajputana (Central India), 5 schools-1 for boys, 2 for girls, and 2 and Manchuria (Northeast China). It for small children. Then there is II was their mission that suffered most in school for girls, conducted by the Dames the recent riots in Manchuria. Next to de Nazareth, who are Roman Catholic the Moravians, they are said to be the nuns; and, lastly, a school for small most missionary church in the world. children, conducted by the Loonor de St. Joseph. In most of these manual -The British missionary societies training is also a fixed part of the currichave 139 physicians engaged in mission ulum. There are a number of charitaworks, of whom 13 are ladies. ble institutions, such as the Syrian Protestant Orphanage for girls, con- Sweden.-The Swedish Missionary trolled by the Presbyterians; the Aus- Society is actively at work among the trian Hospital, and the Hospital of the Laplanders. They have an orphanage Scotch Mission. at Ange, and 6 mission schools in other parts of Lapland, in which 173 children India.-Says Professor J. R. Seeley: have received instruction. The king " As time passes, it appears that we are granted them 2000 crowns; but during in the hands of a Providence which is the past year their expenses were 1500 greater than all statesmanship; that crowns in excess of their receipts. this fabric so blindly piled up has a chance of becoming a part of the perma- ASIA. nent edifice of civilization, and that the Indian achievement of England, as it is Palestine.-Selah Merrill, United the strangest, may after all turn out to States Oonsul in Jerusalem, says that be the greatest of all her achievements." the effort to colonize the country with Jews has been a signal failure in spite -Some idea of England's grave reof the generous encouragement given by sponsibility in India may be gathered such capitalist:> as the Rothschilds. The from the latest reports of the popula- Jewish immigration is only sufficient to tion of that country and its rapid inmake the number of Jews at Jaffa 2700 ; crease. In 1881 the popUlation was Ramleh, 166; Jerusalem. 25,322 ; 257,000,000 ; in 1891 it was 288,000,000, Hebron, 1200; Nablous, 99; Taba- showing an increase in a single decade reeyeh, 2900; Safed, 6126; Acre, 200 ; almost equal to that of the whole popu- Haifa, 1640, or a total of 40,353. The lation of England and Wales. Of these, agricultural families added to this will 207,000,000 are Hindus, 57,000,000 are make a total of about 42,000-less than Mohammedans, 7,000,000 are Budhalf the number of Jews that live in dhists, while as yet only 2,284,196 can New York City. be spoken of as in any sense Christians. The increase of population in ten years -Nazareth has a population of 7419. is equal to thirteen times the number The Latin Christians have 4 churches of those who" can be spoken of as in or chapels; the Maronites, 1; the Or- any sense Christians." thodox Greeks, 4; the synagogue in which Christ is claimed to have taught The Host oj Hindus.-It is said that so is now in the hands of the United many are the millions, that if all should Greeks; the Protestants have 1 church; take hold of hands the line would reach the Moslems, 5 mosques. Then there three times around the equator; that are 7 cloisters. The Moslems have 1 there are women enough to form a collarge school, recently erected; the Or- umn, sixteen abreast, reaching across thodox Greeks have 3 schools, all taught this continent from New York to San by Russians, and only 1 for girls; the Francisco; such a host, that if each Latins have 2 large schools, in 1 of one should pick up a pinch of dirt and which several European languages are cast it upon the 100,000 Englishmen who rule them, they would be buried the people is fetichism of the lowest under two feet of Indian soil! The grade. The whole of the Congo Valley land contains 25,000,000 widows, with is now freely open to missionary operaall the woe unepeakable that word rep- tions. In this vast region the American resents. Baptists have established 10 stations.
-In the Telugu Baptist Mission, in On Lake Nyassa.-Dr. Lowe reports India, during 1891 there were about the baptism, on September 13th, of 10 8000 baptisms. There are now 60,057 men and boys and 2 women, and on Baptist members in the Telugu Mission September 20th of 17 men and boys.
in 75 churches. On this last Sabbath, 64 communicants, China.-The needs.-Says a mission. including 6 Europeans, sat together at ary : "Turn to your arithmetic and see the Lord's table. From the north end bow long it will take the 1270 missiona- of the lake we learn that Dr. Cross and ries in China to reach the 400,000,000 Mr. Aitken have selected a new station, heathen, if they use the personal meth- which they think will, in the course of od. And really, nearly all the converts years, be one of the finest places in all in China are made in this way. Sup- Africa. It is in the Uwandala country, pose you seek the aid of every Chinese at an altitude of about 6000 feet, well Christian, and then you would not have watered, free from marshes, with plenty a force of 50,000. Let.these 50,000 visit of good clay and rock lime. The letter each one person a day and talk to him speaks of a valley in which there are two hours, and let them labor in this five miles of gardens.
way for 365 days in the year, and only -The Government census of Basuto- 18,250,000 persons would be reached in land shows that the people have in- one year. At this rate, it will require creased one third during the last sixteen more than twenty years for every person years, thus illustrating the great vitality in China to hear the Gospel once. But of the African races. Tlie nnmber of is one hearing sufficient? Go and adult Christians connected with the preach the Gospel to the Chinese, and French stations of the Paris Evangelical you will find that it requires days and Society in that section is 9662, or about weeks of teaching before they really one eleventh of the whole adult popula- know what the nature of the Gospel is. tion. The mission has 13 stations and And the native Christians of China can- 116 places of worship.
not yet be relied upon for this work."
-There are 109 medical missionaries AUSTRALIA.
in China, of whom 38 are women; and of -Societies of Christian Endeavor are these last, 36 are Americans. In all but only at their beginning, but already four of the provinces medical missions number 223, and are rapidly increasbave been established. ing. 'l'hey are divided among the va- -Miss Madden bas travelled 2000 rious sections as follows: about 53 miles on horseback on her mission for societies in South Australia, 6 in Tas- the lepers of Siberia. She has secured mania, 5 in New Zealand, 20 in New $5000 for a hospital. South Wales, 13 in Queensland, 1 in AFRICA. Western Australia, and in Victoria 125, ~ith an aggregate membership of over –The Congo Valley contains 1,300,000 4000 members.
square miles, or one tenth of Africa, -The Roman Catholic mission among and an estimated population of 39,000,- the Dyaks of North Borneo has now 8 000. From above the Livingstone Falls stations with 600 Christians. There are it is easily accessible to commerce and 14 priests, 2 brothers and 9 Franciscan civilization. The religious condition of sisters. The sisters have 2 convents where they instruct the girls and small From the annual review of the progboys. One of the missionaries-the ress of education in India the figures Rev. Thomas Jackson-is if this coun- are highly encouraging as a whole. The try seeking to arouse interest in the public and private institutions for in. mission. struction increased from 134,710 to 138,054, but the increase was wholly in Bntlsh Foreign Missions. By Rev. James public institutions, those under private Johnston, Bolton, England. management having decreased from 40,547 to 38,279. The number of pupils The Niger Mission.-At a meeting has risen from 3,626,390 to 3,682,707, of the Correspondence Committee of the and the scholars who study English are Church Missionary Society on April 5th returned at 353,515. Young India's rethe question of a successor to the late ligions and races are thus represented Bishop Crowther was introduced. Arch- scholastically: Of Hindus, 2,512,916, or deacon Hamilton and the Rev. W. Allan, 68.24 per cent; of Mohammedans, 836,. who went out to Africa last year as a 389, or 22.71 per cent; of Europeans deputation from the Society (to whom and Eurasians, 25,568, or 0.69 per cent; l'eference was made in the March issue of native Christians, 86,314, or 2.34 per of the REVIEW), presented their report. cent ; and of "miscellaneous races and After a long discussion the matter was religions," 221,520, or 6.02 per cent. referred to the General Committee. The Government of India, in speaking Whether an Englishman or a native of the results as "generally satisfac. should be recommended for appoint. tory," regrets that municipal bodies do ment is causing much division of opin- not contribute more liberally to educa.· ion. Some of the members are strong- tional institutions. Possibly when Inly in favor of a black man, and, were dia's "dumb millions" are permitted this desire to prevail, one of the most to have a greater share in moulding the likely of the native clergy to be selected national policy on which their interests would be the Rev. Isaac OIuwole, a essentially depend, a more generous regraduate of Durham University. The sponse will be made in this direction. general feeling appears to favor an English bishop with a native assistant at a Wesleyan Foreign Missions Relater date. port.-With a comparatively small sum annually contributed, the Society was Education in India.-The endeavor sustaining a vast missionary system of the National Indian Association to represented by 338 missionaries, and promote female education in British 2163 paid agents besides-interpreters, India is bearing remarkable fruit. In catechists, day school officers-as well aid to girls' schools, scholarships for as a staff of 4234 unpaid a.gents. The promising students. facilities for the missionary stations number 363, with training of native teachers, and similar 1572 places of worship. The mission advantages, the special movement of church membership was 34,722, with two years ago is commending itself both 5250 on trial, and the number of schol. to native and officiai support. English ars in mission schools, 65,803. In France women graduates are being earnestlyre- and Germany the work, both among the quested to go out to India. Special people of those countries and the Engcongratulations are offered regarding the lish, had been fruitful and cheering. success attending the effort to train Ind- By the action of the governing powers ian widows as teachers in native schools. in Vienna operations there had been The marriage of Indian girls at an early seriously hindered. From Italy good age stops any supply of young unmar- reports came, and in Spain the staff had ried teachers, but the system which cre- been re-enforced. To the Wesleyan solates the difficulty provides the remedy diers stationed at Cairo constant spirin t,he very large body of young widows. itnal ministrations were given. If the crease had reached the remarkable rate Society were to take its place as one of of 250 per cent;" and then he adds, the leading missionary societies of South " The growth of Christianity in India Central Africa, this vast field, reaching has been a solid fact, and sufficiently to the Mashonaland border must reo rapid to give all needful encouragement ceive a far larger share of help than was to the supporters of missions."
at present granted t-: it. The mission- Dr. Harry Guinness.-After a year's ary staff in India needed immediate absence in Africa, in perilous journey. reinforcement. In the Madras district ings to the heart of Congoland, where alone 300 new converts had been re- he was smitt{)n by serious fevers, this ceived during the year; and in the heroic servant of God has safely reached Hyderabad district the number on trial English shores. He reports that in the had risen from 448 to 795 in addition to Upper Congo regions, where he was 482 baptisms. In China there was great often in imminent danger of death at hope )f opening up the province of the hands of the N'Gombe savages, the Hunan, with its 22,000,000 heathen. spiritual work at the Balolo stations, London Missionary Society.-From both in the cataract region and in the all sources the income of this society is depth of the continent throughout Ba.
£11,000 more this year than it was lololand, is making steady and most twelve months ago. The recent self-de- surprising progress. At the Missionary nial contributions amounted to £5375. Training Institute, London, for whose At a meeting of the directors the follow- support and management Dr. Guinness ing were accepted for service in the for- is responsible, there are nearly 150 mis.
eign mission field: Rev. R. J. Ward, St. sionary students, men and women, Helen's; Mr. W. J. Edmonds, Hackney under his care. For the maintenance College; Mr. T. W. Ingram, Cheshunt and equipment of these future missiona- College; Mr. R. C. Porter, Nottingham ries a sum of £300 is needed every week Institute, and Miss Mary Harris. The decision of the first-named gentleman FALLEN STANDARD.BEARERS.
-Mr. Ward-to go abroad has caused Rev. James Calvert.-By the demuch surprise and admiration among cease of this eminent man at Hastings, English Congregationalists. He is one on Mar~h 9th, at the age of seventy. of the most honored and successful of nine, British Wesleyanism has 10Rt a Lancashire ministers, whose career at conspicuous missionary figure. Trained home has always been marked by a spirit at Hoxton College, he was sent out, in of self·sacrificing devotion. A prayerful company with the late John Hunt, to study of the call of the millions in dark- labor in Fiji; and, nobly aided by his ness has constrained him to take up the heroic wife, he toiled for eighteen years cross very literally in order that he may among cannibals. He succeeded in share the joy of reaping on India's winning over King Thakomban to the white fields. Christian faith, whose influence after- Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Ind- ward was a powerful factor in the Chris· ian Mission.-An eloquent testimony tianization of the people. Returning to to the success of this work has just been England for five years, Mr. Calvert borne by Sir Charles Elliott, Lieutenant· superintended the translation of the Governor of Bengal. While the general Scriptures into the Fijian language, and popUlation of India increased from afterward sailed again for Fiji. In 1866 1872-81 by 8 per cent, and Christians he again arrived in England, and in 1872 by 30 per cent, yet he says, .. In the was sent to South Africa, where for Khasia Hills, where a devoted band of eight years he rendered invaluable ser- Welsh missionaries-with whom I am vice throughout the diamond fields and well acquainted-is at work, the in- other parts of the colony. In 1882 he lost his honored partner, who with him· Brooke at rest March 5th-black water had spent nearly thirty years in active fever." His demise adds another to'
mission service abroad. . When in 1885 that swiftly lengthening list of English- the jubilee of missions was celebrated men who have died in attempting to in Fiji, he went out by general request, evangelize Africa. Born twenty-seven visiting Australasia and the South Sea years ago, he was the son of Lieutenant- Islands, and was everywhere received Colonel Brooke, of Redhill. For some with great joy and affection. Since his years he had been passionately interest- final return to England he had been ed in the salvation of the Dark Conti- diligently employed in translation nent, and had tried to enter the Soudan work, in revising the Fijian Bible, and from the Co~go and Morocco before he in various ways aiding the Bible Society joined the staff of the Church Mission- and the cause of foreign missions. ary Society as an honorary member in Rev. Percy E. Comber.-The death 1890. Mr. Brooke had clearly defined of this young and intrepid missionary ideas about missionary methods, and from the terrible African fever termi- the courage to put them into execution. nates a pathetic episode in the story of It was his conviction that by adopting the Congo mission. Surviving his native habits of life and dress he could youthful wife only some twelve months, remove the antipathy of natives to Euro· he himself forms the last of a noble, self- peans, which had done so much to hin- sacrificing family, three brothers, one der the work on the upper waters of the sister, and two wives-six in all-who Niger. He tried his experiment, and 'have found graves, sacred indeed, be- with admitted success. It is said that neath the palms. Such an example of of late French movements had stirred a family's consecration to the claims of Mohammedan feeling to a dangerous missions has probably no parallel in the pitch, and consequently it was feared annals of the history of the Church of that Lokoja, Mr. Brooke's station, might Christ. .Finis coronat opus-the end become untenable for Europeans. Send· crowns the work. ing away the ladies of the party, he himself stayed at his post, and shortly Rev. Joseph J ohnston.-Intelligence afterward died. has been received of the death at Fremantle, Western Australia, of this Mr. J. H. Redman.-News has been worthy in his seventy.eighth year. Mr. received at the Church Missionary Johnston was appointed to Tahiti as a House, London, of the death of this normal schoolmaster, and was one of missionary, another victim to the clithe band of missionaries who sailed in mate of East Africa. Toward the close 1838 for the South Seas with Rev. John of last year he sailed with Bishop Tuck- Williams. In Tahiti Mr. Johnson con· er, and it is presumed that he ~as actinued to labor, with the exception of a companying the bishop up country, as few months, until the close of 1849, and it is stated that he died at SaadanL on resigning his connection with the Monthly Bulletin, society, accepted the pastorate of the church at Fremantle. -The first subscription for mission Mr. Graham Wilmot Brooke.- purposes in modem days was made by Great sorrow will be felt throughout Sir Walter Raleigh in 1589, when he the missionary world that the beloved gave £100 to the merchants to whom he and devoted leader of the mission on resigned the Virginia patent, ., in spethe Upper Niger has been taken" home" cial regard and zeal of planting the by the Lord of all service. The tele- Christian religion in those barbarous gram received from Brass, West Africa, places."
on March 19th, by the Church Mission- -Some one wrote Chaplain McCabe, ary Society, briefly read: "Wilmot asking him to take stock in a silver mine which was to be worked in the interest of duced seven languages to writing, and missions and church extension. His re- have done a large evangelistic work.
ply was as follows: "We have two mines The Dutch Reformed Church mission- already:, which we are working with great aries now work with this mission.
success. One of them is ' self·denial, ' Thirty.six chiefs have each offered to situated in the valley of Humiliation; provide a home and food for as many the other is • consecration,' which is en- European missionaries if they will come tered on the heavenly side of the book and reside with them.
Peniel. These are glorious mines! -Missionaries of the Norwegian Mis- Their riches are inexhaustible. There sionary Society have established a leper is enough in them to bring the world to settlement at Autsirabe, in Madagascar, Christ." containing besides 30 cottages, a chapel -The following, from the pen of Mrs. and a hospital. Ninety-eight lepers are Mary Clement Leavitt, who has trav- now at this asylum. A number of them elled much in mission lands, will be have been baptized, and there is a painful reading to not a few-the last church for lepers only.
sentence in particular: "Not more than India.-Among the recent accessions half the British misRionaries are total to the force of evangelists is Mr. James abstainers. It is a cheering sign, how- Monro, C.B., late Chief Commissioner ever, that nearly all young missionaries of Police in London. Mr. Monro for- from the British Isles have adopted this merly held a high position in the civil principle and practice. There is more service of India, and has always been than one British mission station in especially interested in mission work India, where all gray-haired missiona- there, being a member of the Corre- ries, male and female, are regular, daily sponding Committee of the Church drinkers, and every young one is an Missionary Society at Calcutta for many ardent abstainer. In all my journey I years.
have met with but one total abstaining Moslem ConverI8.-The Church Mismissionary from the continent of Eu- sionary Intelliqencer contains a report of rope, and I have heard of only two the conversion of the number of Moothers. Most, if not all, of the conti- hammedans who some months since nental boards send out wine and beer to were baptized at Poona. Among them their missionaries as openly and as free- was a Maulvi, who was said not to have ly as they do other supplies. " his equal in Poona. He has lived in Africa.-Among the centenary con- Arabia eighteen years, made 16 pil- tributions received by the English Bap- grimages 1;0 Mecca, and was for a time tist Missionary Society was one from the interpreter for the English Consul at native Congo church at San Salvador, Jedda. He has been a great student of amounting to £33 148. 3d. (about $165), the Koran, knows Arabic well, and is an forwarded by the deacons of the church, eloquent speaker. All this gives him with a letter thanking the Society for the great influence ove~ his people. He has Gospel, which has done them so much come to abhor Islam, and rejoices in the good. The subscription list contains the light of the Gospel. He has about him names of 45 native men and women, in Poona, as Maulvi, 200 or 300 disci- whose offerings were all in goods, the ples whom he is seeking to bring to largest being" one pig and one piece of Christ.
cloth." -Four methods of giving are prac- -The Livingstonia Mission, founded tised by the Christians of Ceylon, it is by the Free Church of Scotland in 1875, said : first, the tithes of their earnings ; at Dr. Livingston's request has opened second, the setting apart by each of a up for Christian work a field as large as tree, the produce of which is for benevo- Scotland. The missionaries have re- lent purposes; third, an offering of labor; fourth, a handful of rict! from . -An extraordinary turning from every day's meal. idols on the part of the people of Kale· van is reported by Dr. Mackay, from -Steps were taken last fall for open- Formosa. Nearly 500 idolaters cleared ing a new Burman mission station at their houses of idols in his presence, Miubu on the Irrawaddy. It is the and they also gave the missionary, as a residence of a commissioner and the place of worship, a temple built for centre of political influence for the idols. southern sections of Burma, and is also well stationed for access to a large Bur- Japan.-An orphan asylum is being man population. At a school at Bassein established in Tokio, Japan, by a Chrisa " do without" band has been organ- tian teacher, who devotes to it all his ized, with a membership of 100, who own property. It is designed for girls pledge themselves to do without some- under six years of age, that they may be thing every month. In one month 36 trained for Christian service. rupees were realized and given to religious work. "':"'A missionary writes: "There are many very poor people in Tottori, and -About forty years ago Dr. Bradley, there is very little money among the one of the earlier medical missionaries, Christian people here. In Okayama the went to labor in Siam. •• Have you girls pay 60 sen (a sen is 8 mills) per come here with your little chisel of month for tuition, while here they can Christianity to try and uproot our great only afford 30 sen. The teachers here Buddha?" was sneeringly asked of him receive only 8 yen, while in Okayama soon after his arrival by a priest. they receive 12 yen a month. (One yen is 75 cents.) The officers of the girls' Uhina.-An English Church mission- school came in the other day to see if ary in Ningpo says: .. Never have I we could do anything to help them pay heard a missionary address a heathen off a debt of 67 yen. They had been Chinese audience without the opium falling behind recently, and are much question being brought up. Often and troubled about it. One .of the teachoften have I been interrupted by the ers whose pay was 5 yen per month has sneer, • Who brings the opium?' 'Do taken no pay for the past three months, not mention that name again!' in- though he is poor and needs the money, dignantly cried an old Chinese woman but says the school must live for the -an eager listener in the crowd-to the sake of the Christian work here." preacher from whose lips had just fallen the blessed name of Christ. 'Do not New Guinea.-At a meeting of the namention that name again. I hate tive Christians held at Port Moresby re- Jesus; I will not hear another word. centiy, the collection (which was for You foreigners bring opium in one missions) consisted of $37 in money, hand and Jesus in the other! ' " 320 spears, 65 shell armlets, 92 bows, 170 arrows, besides drums, shell neck- -An important statement carrying laces, feathers, and other orpaments, all an equally important confession is made of which have, of course, a marketable by Commander F. M. Barber, of the value as curios. This, as Canon Scott U. S. Steamer Monocacy, the gunboat Holland said, at the meeting of the Uni. maintained on the Yangtse – Kiang. versities' Mission, in a similar case, .. Fourteen years ago," he says, •• I may well remind us of those three kings thought that China was a country where who knelt to offer gold and frankincense even the continued dripping of the and myrrh; for we believe and know water of Christianity would never wear that these offerings of New Guinea are away the stone of heathenism, but now as valuable in the eyes of God as those it is apparent to my unprejudiced mind rich gifts of the kings. that the stone will ultimately be forced bodily from its bed."
The Missionary Review of the World — August 1888
562 THE BICENTENARY OF BUNY.A.N'S DEATH
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XI. No. B.-Old &ries.–A UGUST, _ _VoL."I. No. 8.-Ne1II &rlu.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
THE BICENTENARY OF BUNYAN'S DEATH. [EDITORIAL.-A: T. p.] NEXT to inspired writers no man is more conspicuous for both the quantity and quality of his influence than John Bunyan.
As he was born in 1628, and died in August, 1688, this year and month bring the two-hundredth anniversary of his death. The eyes of all the world will naturally turn to the author of the greatest English classic, the" Pilgrim's Progress," and the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD gladly offers its pages for a tribute to a man whose wonderful allegory has already been translated into nearly one hundred languages and dialects, and is to-day next only to the Bible, the most useful aid to the missionary in winning souls to Christ and training believers for service.
John Bunyan was in the best sense an evangelist, a missionary, and a producer of literature, at once evangelical and evangelistic. The son of that Elstow tinker, wild and wayward in boyhood, comparatively uneducated, God had for him a career of service for which He trained him in the school of poverty and obscurity. He gave him an imagination which was both a temptation and a terror to him as an evildoer, but which after his conversion became the mighty instrument for weaving the golden tissues of the greatest of allegorical narratives.
It was perhaps a blessing that Bunyan had access to so few books, for as the Bible constituted the bulk of his library he was not tempted to dissipate his mental energies upon literary trash or even inferior products of the press. After his conversion, his simple faith accepted the Word of God in its literalness, and he read it so assiduously and reverently that it became permanently lodged in his memory; and when in Bedford jail he was left to an enforced solitude, and wrote the" Pilgrim's Progress," as a means of employment and amusement, his thoughts naturally ran in the dialect of Scripture, so that this marvelous book is little more than a vivid Scriptural dialogue.
The vivid imagery of this allegory may easily be accounted for-first, by his unusually active and creative imagination; and secondly, by his actual faith in angels and demons, heaven and hell. These. were realities and verities to him, and they were ever present to his inventive fancy. His brief experience in the army in 1645 may account for the military captains and martial adventures so abundant in the fascinating fable.
He was about twenty-one years old when the tide of his life took a turn, and its whole direction was changed. Those who would know more of his biography may find it in the guise of allegory in «Pilgrim's Progress." Every step of Christian's way the author had trod before he wrote the book. It was Bunyan himself who fell into the Slough, sought Mr. Legality, fled from the thunders of Law, found help in the Evangelist, entered the wicket gate, was taught and refreshed and equipped at the House of the .Interpreter, climbed the Hill Difficulty, fought with Apollyon, got into the Doubting Castle, and reached the Land of Beulah.
From the day when John Bunyan was baptized by Mr. Gifford in the River Ouse, he began to be an evangelist. The tinker had a tongue, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth spake. Believing the doctrines of the Reformation, the universal sin and need of man, the reality of eternal life and death, the freeness of grace and the fullness of salvation, he was compelled to speak. In 1655 he began to preach, at first in a private way; but as he showed a genius for preaching, especially to the masses, he could not be hid, and his spreading fame caused the Bedford Church to release him from his duties as deacon, that he might follow, unhindered, his obvious divine calling. His popularity and power were immense. By some he is ranked the foremost preacher of his day. In his annual visits to London twelve hundred people have been known to gather before daylight, thronging the doors of the chapel where he was to preach at early morning.
It is worth while to remark that this remarkable success as a preacher was due to no sen3ational oddities or heretical notions. He was thoroughly evangelical. He pricked men with the sharp needle of the law, and then drew after it the thread of gospel consolation. He believed in total depravity, and he preached it. He believed in damnation, and his warning trumpet gave no uncertain sound. His theology was that of Paul, and Augustine, and Calvin, and Luther, and Knox, and Wes- . ley. Whatever books he had not read, there are three with which he was thoroughly familiar: the Word of God, the grace of Christ, and the heart of man.
A thoroughly evangelical faith begets an evangelical spirit. He was ready to preach anywhere if he could get at souls. If shut out of chapels, he would go to barns, or the woods, or the green fields, like Whitefield, and he was so much a missionary and a martyr that he would not keep his mouth shut. Even Bedford jail heard his prayers and his preaching, as the Prretorian guard were compelled to hear the gospel from the prisoner to whom they were chained. His twelve years imprisonment is not hard to account for. The Pro-. tectorate of Cromwell had passed away, and with the Restoration came the revival of the Act of Uniformity. To worship in any other than parish churches made the offender liable, first to three months in jaiL then, if persisted in, to banishment, and even to death.
Bunyan would not be silenced, nor would he consent even to evasion to escape the hand of law. When he was arrested in 1660, Bible in hand, the magistrate, Wingate, leaned to leniency, and would have discharged him from custody if he would have promised" not to call dissenters together," which might mean anything or nothing, as he pleased. But Bunyan was God's witness, too earnest to keep still when bidden to preach, too honest to hide behind an equivocation; and so he went to jail, and as the door shut upon him said: "Were I out of here to-day I would preach again to-morrow." He might have been pardoned out in 1661, but pardon could avail nothing for a man who would repeat the offense as soon as he was out of jail; and so he stayed in his prison, with but one brief respite of release about midway in his long experience of confinement.
What a blessing in dark disguise was that twelve years in jail! The talking tongue is generally the foe of the thinking brain. Here he could talk but little, and he had leisure to think. Reason and imagination had time for a new creation, and the ripest product of these years of meditation was this immortal allegory.
The popularity of "Pilgrim's Progress" probably exceeds that of any other book. Even those who do not read the Bible read this, and the charms of the book are many. First of all it is a story, a continuous narrative, full of plots and counter-plots, characters and incidents, interesting to the very close.
Again, it is robed in the dress of the marvelous. It is like a fairy tale, fascinating the reader with the superhuman and supernatural, giants and goblins, dragons and demons, good angels and fallen spirits; and withal these fictions are facts for vividness and realistic effect.
Again, the allegory charms. Under the guise of parable lies the mighty moral meaning. The very names are the keys that unlock the fable. Great Heart, Fickle Mind, Obstinate and Hateful tell their own story. The House of the Interpreter, the Valley of Humiliation, the Hill Difficulty, Beulah Land-who does not at once know what they represent! And what wit and wisdom are comprised in the allegory!
Most of all this story, marvelous, mythical, allegorical, is a mirror of the human heart. The reader sees himself, and a mirror has a strange charm even to the homeliest of us. The very ugliness of our deformity attracts us by the exactness of its reflection. Even those who are repelled by Bunyan's theology are attracted by his accurate dissection of the heart of man. The styl~ of the" Pilgrim's Progress" is enchanting. Bunyan drove his nails with the short hammer of the Saxon, and no wonder. He had studied that Saxon Bible that is the purest Engiish book in the world. The ray of light comes with great clearness through a transparent window-pane, and Bunyan's style is so translucent that his conceptions are never bedimmed in their passage through the medium of transmission. It is not to be thought strange that the "Pilgrim's Progress" is one of the first, if not the first, of all the books which missionaries at home and abroad seek to make accessible to those to whom they preach and among whom they labor. Next to the Bible, upon which it is perhaps the most popular and helpful commentary, it has been the greatest preacher of the gospel which the printing-press has ever created. What a blessing that such preachers can be made by the million! This pictorial representation of a human soul in, its spiritual progress from the first awakening consciousness of sin, guilt and peril to the full enjoyment of a conscious salvation, God has made a mighty witness to His word, and a moving witness to the heart of man. And why? Because human nature does not change. Spiritual experience in all the ages is almost as stereotyped as the customs of the Orient. Science and art and letters may change, but humanity still echoes to the humanity of antediluvian ages, and the allegory that faithfully portrays the human soul can never be antiquated or out of date.
Bunyan never dreamed how useful God would make his pen when his tongue was in fetters. It doubtless seemed to him that life's opportunities were almost lost to him behind the doors of Bedford jail, but God saw that the way to make him a missionary for the whole world, and for all the ages, was to lock him up for twelve years-another example how" God moves in a mysterious yvay, His wonders to perform." Moreover, Bunyan did not write his book for the public eye, but for his own. entertainment and profit. He was like a child that suddenly strikes a rippling rill and unconsciously follows it till it broadens into a river and loses itself in the serene sea.
How would Bunyan's heart have thrilled with joy had he foreseen that the Lord would use his humble allegory in every land beneath the sun to awaken sinners. in the city of Destruction, and guide disciples all along the pilgrim's way to the consummation beyond Death's river.
The various stages of the pilgrim's journey are unique in interest and suggestion. Does the sinner ask how to get rid of his burden of guilt? Here he is taught that it is not by the works of the flesh nor the deeds of the law. The Obstinate will of sin, the Pliable will of the half-persuaded will not get him past the Slough, and Legalism can only bring him into a greater peril. He must go through God's gate and find deliverance at the Oross.
Does the believer as~ how he shall grow in grace and knowle'dge? Let him. see in the Interprt:lter the Holy Spirit opening his eyes to the hollowness and shallowness of things worldly and temporal and the beauty and excellence of things divine and eternal. Does he seek to be a growing Ohristian aud a valiant soldier? He must climb the Hill Difficulty and not seek to evade or avoid struggles or conflicts. God's resting-places,· like the Palace Beautiful, crown the heights of hills up which we toil, and Beulah Land lies beyond the place of Apollyon's assault.
That Palace Beautiful, how. it reminds us of fellowship with God, that makes the Ohristian graces our constant companions, gives us rest in His peace, glimpses and foretastes of the coming glory, and arms us for the fight b6fore us. Everywhere the allegory is but a veil of golden tissue through which we clearly see the features of the truth.
It would not be consistent with our limited space, nor indeed our primary purpose, to follow further into detail the beauties of this allegorical prose-poem. We had designed nothing more than to pay a deserved tribute, among the thousand offerings which this bicentenary will prompt, to Bunyan's great work, as a missionary agency. The whole Ohristian world delights to read the" Prilgrim's Progress"; from childhood to old age it fascinates the reader with a charm ever new. Even Papists, with a few expurgations, are glad to use it. And when it was translated into the Japanese and Oree languages, for use among the Buddhists of the Sunrise Kingdom and the red Indians of this Occidental world, it was at least the eighty-second time that a new language had robed this versatile tale of the human heart.
He who has the missionary spirit cannot be shut out from a dying world. The cell of the prison will become the pulpit for a world-wide evangelism. 'rhe tongue will find utterance, if only to the ears of a jailer and fellow-prisoners. The pen will become a tongue to tell the story of redemption, and the press will bepome the ally of the pen in making its voice universally heard and immortally effective. What a blessing was Bedford jail, that made John Bunyan the omnipresent and undying preacher to the millions whom his voice could never have reached through the centuries during whiCih his voice is hushed in death!
If our lives are given to God, they may be safely left in His care. Not a hair of oui' head will perish. The lamp we have sought to light at His altars and then to place high up upon His lampstand, He will not put under a measure or quench in darkness. We may think our influence circumscribed and even lost, when He is but enlarging its circumference and extending its dominion. How wide is the circle of true missionaries and how enduring the period of their power! Two hundred years have passed since the tinker of Elstow breathed his last. But like the fabled grave of another beloved John, at Ephesus, the very earth heaves with his breathing. He is not dead and cannot die.
A ROMANCE OF MODERN MISSIONS
In every hamlet of Ohristendom and every center of gospel light in heathendom, Bunyan still teaches sinners how to become saints, and pilgrims how to make progress in holy living.
Such a life and such a book as Bunyan's would have been impossible had he held lax views of gospel truth. Loose notions of law and penalty, the guilt of sin and the need of Jesus, forfeit stalwarlness of Christian character and energy of endeavor. We may call evangelical doctrine illiberal and narrow, but it is the backbone of all evangelism. Somehow, on just such diet, have been nourished the most heroic men and women among the martyrs and missionaries of Ohrist. Because these" severe" truths are God's truths they give to character masculinity and muscularity, and to influence both power and permanence. It is because this great work of John Bunyan's is true to God and man, to the awful fact and guilt of sin, to the dreadful penalty of broken law and the blessed deliverance of penitent faith; it is because this allegory is true to the Bible, the Ohrist and the Holy Spirit, that God has chosen, as one of the chief commentaries upon His Holy Word, Bunyan's" PilgVm's Progress."
And is this death-what men call endless sleep? When Life's high powers in ceaseless action keep? In every land remote, in every age, The pilgrim shall peruse this charming page, And learn through wicket gate to find the Way That leads from darkness to the Land of Day; Shall at the Cross lay every burden down, And pass the river to the goal and crown. He is not dead who guides the faltering feet To where the saints in tearless triumph meet; Who, when his tongue is still, by magic pen Proclaims the gospel to his feUQw-men ; Who, by a hundred voices, loud and clear, Is still discipling nations, far a.nd near. If this be death, what is it not to die, Like stars whose deathless ray illumes the sky?
A ROMANOE OF MODERN MISSIOS.
BY REV. J. W. BASHFORD, PH.D., BUFFALO, N. Y.
[Concluded from page 487.] THE great northwest region beyond the Rocky Mountains was supposed to be practically worthless. Public men naturally believed that our western coast was as cold as the eastern on the same parallels of latitude. They were not aware of the great warm current in the Pacific which raises the temperature of the whole northwest region as far east as Dakota. In fact, many leading statesmen were opposed to the extension of the American Republic west of the ROcky Mountains. Senator Benton of Missouri, father-in-law of Gen. Fremont, and author of "ThirlyYears in Oongress," perhaps the best-informed Senator west of the Mississippi, said in 1825, "The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be named as a convenient, natural and everlasting boundary. Along this ridge the western limits of the Republic should be drawn, and the statue of the fabled god Terminus should be erected on its highest peak, never to be thrown down." Senator Winthrop of Massachusetts quoted Benton's remark in the U. S. Senate in 1844, and heartily approved it. In 1843 another U. S. Senator declared in the Senate Chamber that he would not give a pinch of snuff for the whole territory west of the Rocky Mountains, and thanked God for His mercy in placing these mountains as our western boundary. Even in 1846 Senator Winthrop declared that we would not be straitened for elbow-room in the west for a thousand years, and that neither the west nor the country at large had any real interest in retaining Oregon. Even Gen. Jackson, a western man, held the opinion in 1825 that our safety lay in a compact territory and a dense popUlation. Webster in 1845 a.pproved Gen. Jackson's view, and said, "The Government is very likely to be endangered, in my opinion, by a farther enlargement of the territorial surface." This sentiment, combined with the opinion that a desert tract more than 700 miles wide lay east of the Rocky Mountains, that the mountains themselves were impassable, and that the western coast after it was reached was worthless save for hunting and trapping, combined to make the transfer of this territory to Great Britain a matter of light concern. In fact, it was simply due to divine Providence on the one side, and to our national pride upon the other, that this territory was not yielded to Great Britain in the Ashburton treaty of 1843. It was a second matter of divine Providence that the Methodist missionaries had entered Oregon and taken a sufficient number of settlers over to outnumber the Hudson Bay Company. It was a third matter of divine Providence that Dr. Whitman and Gen. Lovejoy should attempt the most heroic ride recorded in history, and that Dr. Whitman should be permitted to complete the journey.
A new phase is now put upon the question. A man stands face to face with Daniel Webster and President Tyler and assures them that they control a territory of boundless possibilities west of the Rocky Mountains. A personal residence of six years and the eight years' experience of the Methodist missionaries show the climate to be remarkably mild. He claims that with the poorest cultivation they have produced crops which outstrip the most careful husbandry in Virginia. The fish in the rivers almost interfere with navigation by their abundance. Mr. Tyler and Mr. Webster would as well talk of ceding to Great Britain' all New England as of yielding the northwest part of the United States. Better still, the claim that 700 miles of desert lie east of the Rocky Mountains and that it is impossible to enter Oregon from the east is a story of the Hudson Bay Company. The Doctor himself had a wagon in Oregon which he took through the mountains in 1'836.
President Tyler showed how his credulity was taxed by his reply: "Your long ride and frozen limbs bespeak your sincerity. Your missionary credentials vouch for your character." The President evidently thought his statements needed the support of his missionary credentials. Dr. Whitman simply asked that no farther action should be taken in regard to the boundary west of the Rocky Mountains until he could lead a band of emigrants .over and prove that the passage was open, the climate mild, and the soil rich.
Whether or not Webster distrusted Dr. Whitman we cannot now fully settle. From all the accounts we are inclined to think that the great Secretary believed he was in contact with a half crazy western land agent, though he knew that Whitman had no title to a foot of land in all Oregon. But Tyler gave his personal pledge that he would not sign a treaty until Dr. Whitman had time to lead a colony to Oregon. Nor was the effect of Whitman's visit lost on Mr. Webster. In a. letter to Edward Everett, then Minister to Great Britain, in 1840, Mr. Webster had said: "The ownership of the whole country is very likely to follow the greater settlement and larger amount of population." So he was in hearty sympathy with the effort Jason Lee had already made, and with Dr. Whitman's proposal to take emigrants to Oregon. In his next letter to our Minister to England, after Dr. Whitman's visit, Mr. Webster is ca.reful to claim the territory which the Doctor had described in such glowing colors: "The Government of the U. S. has never offered any line south of forty-nine, and never will. It behooves all concerned to regard this as a settled point." Again, near the close of the letter, he says: "England must not expect anything south of the forty-ninth degree." England was expecting territory south of the forty-ninth parallel larger than New England, and would probably have secured it had it not been for the missionaries. Mr. Webster leaves no doubt as to the importance of the missionaryoccupation of Oregon, in a remark which he later made to a friend: "It is safe to assert that our country owes it to Dr. Whitman and his associate missionaries that all its territory west of the Rocky Mountains and south as far as the Columbia River is not owned by Great Britain."
Meanwhile Gen, Lovejoy was not idle. He was spreading reports of the soil and climate of Oregon. Whitman had a brief circular printed in St. Louis announcing that he would lead without charge a colony to Oregon. Dr. Whitman in June 1843 met Gen. Lovejoy at a point on the Missouri, not far from the present site of Kansas City. Over two hundred families of emigrants had been collected by their joint efforts. Dr. Whitman piloted the company safely across, and when in September 1843 his long line of 200 wagons with 870 American settlers filed through the Blue Mountains into the valley of the Columbia, the Americans outnumbered the English five to one. The Americans at once organized a provisional government to counteract the influence of Gov. Simpson and the Hudson Bay Co. They elected Dr. Elijah White, who had been sent out by the Methodist Missionary Society in 1836, governor; and this government was obeyed until the United States organized the Territory five years later. The Secretary of the Interior, in a decision awarding the Methodist Missionary Society its property at the Dalles, said: "From 1834, when the American missionaries first penetrated this remote region, a contest was going on as to which nation should finally possess it; and that probably depended upon the fact as to which could first settle it with emigrants." (The Hudson Bay Company and Jesuit priests were on the one side.) "On the other were the missionaries of the American Board and the Methodist Society, who had established their stations among the Indians and who attracted the tide of American emigration that turned the scale in favor of our government, resulting in the establishment of the Territorial Government of Or.egon, wholly American in interest which exercised all the functions of government until the erection of the Territory of Oregon by Congress in August, 1848."
The inspired author of the Gospels mentioned as a token of divine favor that Peter caught a fish and found in its mouth a stater, $1.10, by which he was able to pay the temple tax of Jesus and himself. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia and its tributaries yielded last year over $15,OOO,000-about twice as much as the contributions of the entire Christian Church for missions. Would not a Paul or a John to-day find larger illustration of the divine Providence? A territory larger than all New England with finer climate, richer natural resources, and facing the most populous part of the globe saved to our government by missionary enterprise is God's way of saying to the Christians of the nineteenth century, "A hundred fold in this world and in the world to come eternal life."
But this is not the end. It took three years after the Americans began pouring into Oregon by the thousand and were outnumbering the British five to one to induce Great Britain to sign the treaty. Noone dreams that the boundaries would have been settled in 1846 had not a thousand Americans through missionary effort reached Oregon in 1843. But in less than three years after the papers were signed by Great Britain gold was discovered in California, then belonging to Mexico. When the negotiations for our western boundaries had dragged along since 1783, and Great Britain was so loth to give up her claims to that territory, do you suppose that had she waited until gold had been discovered and reports of untold wealth had spread l~ke wild-fire-do you suppose that she would then have signed away her claim?
But there is another important fact which made it necessary that the Oregon_ question should be settled not only before gold was discovered in '49, but before 1847. The south western part of th~ United States, embracing part of Texas and all of New Mexico and Oalifornia, was owned by 'Mexico in 1846. A few days before Great Britain signed the final settlement, war had broken out between Mexico and the United States. Had this information reached Great Britain in time she would at least have delayed to sign the settlement of July 18, '46. Then, in our war with Mexico of '47-'48, Mexico would have been backed by Great Britain. With this international alliance the war would have been prolonged until the discovery of gold in Oalifornia in '49. This discovery would have led Mexico and Great Britain to redouble their energies for a share of this western continent. How rapidly these events press upon each other! How certain it seems that only the missionary settlement of Oregon, which resulted in the yielding of all claims by Great Britain before she learned of the Mexican war, alone saved us from a great international contest with two powers, one of them the greatest upon the earth! You say we could have waged the war and won against both foreign powers? Possibly. But the United States could far better afford to give the Methodist Missionary Society and the American Board each a million dollars a year in peI'petuity than to have incurred the cost of this gigantic war, to say nothing of its bloodshed and desolation. These Flathead Indians were as truly messengers from God as was the vision of Macedonia which came to Paul; and Jason and Daniel Lee and Marcus Whitman were following plans as miraculous and providential as Paul in leaving Palestine and starting toward the west.
But the acquisition by the United States of territory of vast extent and boundless wealth in the West was not the end of this missionary enterprise. We sent our brothers out from our homes to bless others. They indirectly helped us win the greatest blessing for ourselves. The Oregon and Oalifornia questions were settled in our favor in 1848, only thirteen years before the Rebellion. We were then called upon to fight the great battle between freedom and slavery. You remember that east of the Mississippi river the free territory of the United States embraced a little over 400,000 square miles, and the slave territory nearly 500,000 square miles. After crosing the Mississippi river and running through Missouri the line embracing the slave popUlation fell rapIdly south. It was this western territory into which slaves had not yet been brought that restored the balance in area to the side of freedom in this contest; and Oalifornia, which had been acquired for the extension of slavery, was providentially settled by northern enterprise and poured her money and men into the Union side in that gigantic struggle. Suppose this territory had been held by foreign powers or that we had been still battling for this rich gold field against Great Britain and Mexico, and suppose that Mexico had been backed by France in the interest of absolutism and the Roman Oatholic faith, as was the case during the Rebellion, do you not see that it would have been, humanly speaking, impossible to free the slaves and preserve the Union?
The divine Providence is the key to our national history. The British lion chained at the 49th parallel of north latitude; Mexico backed by France rendered powerless by the previous conquest of her western territory; and California pouring her gold and her men into the Union side during the struggle for freedom are God's providential way of saying to a missionary age, "one hundred fold in this world and in the world to come eternal life. "
Once more, while we sometimes entertain an undue prejudice against , the Roman Catholic Church, yet no candid man can doubt that the Protestant faith is far more helpful to free institutions and to modern civilization than is the faith of Rome. But the contest in Oregon was a struggle between the Jesuit and the Protestant. Had not Jason Lee gone to Oregon in '34 and led out American missionaries and settlers, had not Marcus Whitman followed his missionary call in '35 and led over nine hundred more American settlers in '43, had not the four or five thousand American settlers organized a provincial government in '43 and elected a Methodist missionary governor, the Jesuits, backed by Great Britain in the north, and by Mexico and France in the south, would to-day hold our western coast and shape its civilization for the twentieth century. A territory larger and richer than the Atlantic seaboard saved to our government, the whole Pacific slope thrown into the balance of freedom in the greatest contest of the nineteenth century, and the civilization of the richest part of the globe started under Protestant auspices for the twentieth century is God's providential answer to the faith of Jason and Daniel Lee, and Marcus Whitman and H. H. Spaulding and the unnamed heroes and heroines who died for the Oregon mission, and whose bones rest in unknown graves in the valley of the Willamette. When the popUlation of that golden coast rises to thirty millions, will not the landing-place of the ship that sailed from Boston with Methodist missionaries in 1836 be the Plymouth Rock of the Pacific, and Whitman Institute and Willamette University be their Harvard and their Yale? Will there not arise a Longfellow or a Buchanan Read to sing of a ride more heroic than Sheridan's, and of far greater importance than that of Paul Revere? Will not a spiritual descendant of a Mrs. Hemans arise to sing of a second pilgrim band who left home and native land not for freedom to worship God themselves, but to carry light to those who sat in darkness?
572 EGYPT'S RETURN AND HEALING
EGYPT'S RETURN AND HEALING.-No. II.
BY CHARLES S. ROBINSON, D.D., NEW YORK.
WE have already contemplated one phase of prophetic announcement concerning the ancient kingdom of the Pharaohs, and have seen how rapidly was fulfilled the prediction that it should become desolate, that the nation should be scattered and wasted. The princes of Zoan before long showed themselves fools, and the princes of Noph were deceived to their ruin, for the mouth of the Lord had already spoken their doom.
But now there is a second verse of equal force, and of a serener temper, far more hopeful for the depressed nation. He who smites here covenants to heal; there are certain conditions annexed to the promise He makes, but these are only the common conditions of pardon in case a penitent is forgiven. Egypt must" return," and the people must be eager in "entreaty" for the blessing engaged: "And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them."
We keep in mind what has been said concerning the loss of political integrity, the dorninance of foreigners, the changes of the atmosphere, the pestilence, the vices, and the destructive rains of heaven. The worst of this, however, is found in the debasement of the nation's feeling. Egypt has lost heart, and so is altogether gorie astray. Let us consider also that with these violent interjections of an outside and dangerous European spirit among the people, the old reverences are gone. A Mohammedan will stop in his prayers any time to ask a traveler for backshish; he is not in earnest, but is working under a mere mechanical pressure of tradition, so much to the square inch. No patriotism, no loyalty, no public spirit, no interest in anything can be found worth mentioning in all that land. Intrigue is the basis for· each form of government, and assassination is the plan of revolutions. No homes are established; the family tie is almost nothing. There can grow up no sentiment, no poetry, no imagination, under such a regimen. It would be preposterous to think of such a thing as -embalming Joseph or Jacob, or having any pomp of real feelmg over any leader or friend whatsoever. We read the romances of "Uarda" and "The Sisters," written by the historian Ebers; such scenes of venerable and youthful life, with love and fidelity and truth in them, could not be discovered there in Egypt now. It was a crime, long generations ago, to pledge the sacred mummies of one's father and his ancestors; but one might redeem an abhorrent pawn like this in three months. If he did not he fell into infamy the most scorching that could fasten itself upon an Egyptian in that'grand old age. One king, belonging to the fourth dynasty, Asychis by name, is mentioned by Herodotus as the earliest known man to put in peril his ancestor's body; and the Father of History denounces with an unusual vigor so frightful a scandal: "He who stakes such a pledge and fails to redeem the debt shall sleep, after his death, neither in his father's tomb nor in any other, and burial shall be denied to his descendants." Thus did that reverent era punish the villany of ingrates.
Now contrast this with the modern treatment of mummies. For the I last hundred years has been conducted a traffic in the contents of ancient sepulchers. Pyramids have been broken into, mausoleums have relentlessly been pillaged, bodies been used for fuel, burning the faster because of the resins and gums with which they were embalmed. Modern funerals are a mere mockery. Processions are met in the street as coarse and tumultuous as anywhere among the heathen; a singing, swinging, screaming throng, full of gesticUlation that means nothing, proceeding afterwards to the residence of the departed man for a festivity at the expense of the heirs. The dignity of the former generations is all swept away, and a shallow hypocrisy is flaunted in its place.
Add to all this the devastations and demoralizations of the wars which have been waged on the soil of Egypt. The history of the region around Cairo and Alexandria is nothing but a bulletin of siege and rapine. The Nile has run with blood more than once since the day of the ten plagues. Lately, the moral destructions have been by far more serious; for intemperance and immorality have become rampant. I have myself seen viler pictures, more indecent photographs, on public sale in the windows of Cairo than I ever saw in Paris, even during those awful days just before and after the Commune. And drunkenness is the beastliest of sins when it lays hold of those Mohammedan renegades. If one disobeys the Koran, and dares the loss of heaven, for the sake of giving himself up to intoxication, his sin will burn him soul and body.
Thus it appears that the scourge has fallen on Egypt as the prophet predicted. Does one insist, then, that still there is hope for a country so lost? The answer to that question is found in the same way as was the answer to the other we have already considered. The "smiting" and the "healing" seem to have followed the usual law of divinely ordered providences. As we did before, we must look at particulars.
Now, one of God's processes in the fulfilment of prophecy is what we call restoration. He deals invariably with remnants. Some abiding good is supposed to be left behind whenever such ruin is wrought. The old times come back again, and the ancient standards are raised afresh into prominence. There is intense significance in the expression used in this verse of Scripture that we have just now been quoting, for the declaration is made that Egypt shall "return even to the Lord." There is implication in this that Egypt has had a history of obedience heretofore, that the seed of the gospel has once flourished there. Can any facts be found to substantiate such a claim? Has this African continent an honorable record of religious life worth "returning" to now ? Not before Isaiah's time, perhaps, but in later years of ecclesiastical annals there was great service credited by the churches to Egypt.
When Herodotus, the Father of History, began his best book of Oriental annals, he said as his opening sentence: "I shall now speak at greater length of Egypt, as it contains more wonders than any other of the lands and is pre-eminent above all the countries for works that a writer can hardly describe." But Herodotus, poor heathen that he was, could not know that the greatest glory of that spot was to be found in its singular relations to the gospel of God. There the church was begun; there the dispensation of the law was fashioned; there Jesus, the Lord of Glory, was housed from the violence of Herod; there the prophecy was fulfilled, "Out of Egpyt have I called my Son." Thus this almost forgotten strip of territory naturally grew to be the earliest of the great centers of Christianity in wealth, intelligence, and doctrinal orthodoxy. For some scores of years one stronghold of the patristic faith was conspicuous along the northern shore of Africa. There a fresh hold was gained by the use of the Greek language; there the Pentateuch was transiated by the noblest scholars of the age; there council after council was held, in which the greatest errors were silenced which ever harassed the churches, and the grandest doctrines were proclaimed which ever buildcd them up. The Scripture says those good old days are to come back again, and that strip of land redeemed from the sands is yet to grow fruitful and beautiful with graces for God's glory. It may not be far away from even our time when there may be another good Augustine at a new Hippo, another Aurelius at some Christian Carthage, and another Athanasius to stand lor the truth at a more glorious Alexandria than those ages ever knew before, in the purer Egypt yet to be !
Add to this a fresh proof: the declarations of prophecy concerning Egypt are more profuse than those concerning any other nation, unless perhaps we except Assyria.. God will see what is best in the past faith, and will restore it. He will see what is best in coming histories, and will secure it. He will accept kindly and gently what Egypt herself is doing to grow wiser, holier and better, and when He fin,ds a feebleness which is open to pity, He will not break the bruised reed.
Influences are at work already. War has been like" the breaker" promised of old, and has opened strange sluices of information, and of course has awakened new interest. Prayer and effort are going steadily through the land hand-in-hand, and tokens of unmistakable prosperity are beginning to appear. Civilization is opening the path for gospel grace. To us the crescent on the Turkish flag does not seem to be the symbol of the young moon, but of the old ;' it is waning rather than waxing. The stamp of a firmer tread is felt now on the Egyptian soil. The sound of a voice sweeter than that of the muezzin from an old minaret is often heard in that desolate country; singing comes forth from some of the dwellings; prayer is offered publicly by converts in dedicated houses of God; missionary work "has been prospered marvelously in that unpromising land, and God is fulfilling His covenant rapidly. An American Sunday-school has been in progress there in Cairo for several years. The experience is almost weird, when one winds his way through a labyrinth of streets crowded with Turks and Nubians, cafes and Punch-and-Judy stands on every side, bands playing and trains marching, soon to find a sheltered room, clean and bright, in which he listens to the teachers from his own far-away country as they give the New Testament lessons, just as they would at home, to a large throng of pupils, old or youug, as it happens, from ten to seventy years of age, all devout, interested,full of zeal as they read what God is doing for their souls, and what He has covenanted to do for their troubled nation by and by.
They repeat the Lord's Prayer in the beautiful Arabic; they sing, "Safe in the Arms of Jesus," and hymns like that. And one scholar, an earnest Christian, sent this message to be delivered across the ocean: " America is a good land; everybody loves Jesus. Ask your girls to pray for our people, that we may all begin to love Him and serve Him too."
And, finally, the most practical proof of the divine covenant as to Egypt's ultimate conversion is found in the entrance of the British influence and rule there. The coming in of foreigners is not a curse, but rather a benediction to Egypt. The finances are better managed in these days than they have been for centuries before. The national indebtedness is more firmly provided for; the bonds have risen from seventy to one hundred per cent. lately; blood and treasure have not absolutely been wasted on that soil by the best intelligence of Great Britain through these years. Say what we will concerning England's domination in the East, one thing at least is true: no civilized Christian man or woman has visited the lands of the Bible, traveling along among the heterogeneous peoples, and crossing the frontiers of miscellaneous governments, without feeling at the moment when the border-line of any British possession was reached: "Here is law and order, here is truth and decency and sa.fety! Happy is the nation that hears the tread of a foreigner so beneficent, a stranger so kind, a conqueror so noble!"
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS
THE MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.-NO. VI.
[EDITORU:L.-A. T. p.] THE MCALL MISSION IN FRAN,CE.
THERE is a class of phenomena connected with modern triumphs of the gospel in unpromising fields which is so remarkable that it should be placed conspicuously by itself as an example and proof of a supernatural force at work. There are some barriers which have been removed so suddenly, so unexpectedly, so peculiarly, that tb,e hand of God has been very marked in connection with them: they have subsided even before they have been encountered by the advancing mission band. It is to one of these examples of the subsidence of obstacles that we now call attention.
The promise that "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," is not only a prophecy but an illustration of the world's evangelization. The time is coming when the good news will have spread in every direction like the omnipresent sea in its vast bed. The disciples of Christ have only to be faithful to their great trust, and. like the pulsations of great tidal waves swept onward by mighty winds like the breath of God, the knowledge of the Lord shall JI).ove onward till it touches every foreign shore, advance into every strait and bay and estuary, and "sound the roar of its surf-line" from Greenland and Siberia to the southern capes and Australia, and from Britain and Iceland to Japan and Polynesia. The gospel is destined to be all-pervasive, like the sea, the air, the light. God is giving us some hints on a vast scale how He may bring all this about.
The sea may flood the land either by the rising of the ocean Or the sinking of the shore, and the subsidence of the land is in effect the upheaval of the sea, since the comparative level is reversed. How often have disciples rejoiced to observe those mighty movements of God's grace, which, like the rapid rising of some far-reaching tidal wave; have flooded extensive districts of the world with the knowledge and the power of the gospel; and devout souls look and pray for the day when that great prophecy shall find its fulfilment, and some such wave o~ revival shall sweep over the whole habitable globe. But it behooves us not to forget that without this startling upheaval of the sea the ocean can make its bed on the continents if they sink below its level. Often in the history of missions has God gone before His people and, by the slow or sudden subsidence of opposing obstacles and barriers, prepared the way for the flooding of the land; and in many cases systems of false faith, or customs of formidable antiquity, that have stood like mountain barriers of adamant to keep out the gospel flood, have actually disappeared, as though the Himalayas had suddenly sunk out of sight, leaving China and India to flow together. In fact, the more carefully we study missions the more we shall see that the false faiths of the world are almost if not altogether without exception in a state not only of decline but of decay. An unseen work of undermining is going on, and some day we may all be startled by the general subsidence of barriers which have hitherto seemed as deep- founded and as high-reaching as the everlasting hills. We content ourselves with one example, which may be used both to demonstrate and illustrate this truth.
The eyes of the world are to-day on France, beholding with aston- ishment the wonderful work of God there. Yet this is but an instance of this subsidence. France has been the right arm of papal power for centuries, and seemed, a century since, likely to develop the antichrist.
How little we knew what preparations were going forward for the in- flowing of the gospel tides, and what a divine power was conducting this preparation !
In 1877, Paul Bouchard, ex-Mayor of Beaune, wrote an open letter to the bishop of his diocese, renouncing Romanism and transferring his adhesion to Protestantism, on grounds of consist~cy and patriot- ism. It was not the act of a man converted to a nel-ta.iih so much as disgusted with an old one. ' He forsook the State religF8~' as a patriot and political economist, denouncing Roman Oatholicism as the enemy of social and political progress, the ally of ignorance and superstition.
His act was one echo of Gambetta's declaration that the Romish Ohurch is the enemy of French republicanism-" clericalism is the foe of France." But he went beyond Gambetta, for he reproached him with atheism; Bouchard took this great step alone, and boldly wrote five tracts for the people, giving wider expression to his views.
At the same time Eugene Reveillaud, a lawyer, journalist, orator and statesman, born and bred a Romanist, a college graduate and a free- thinker, had his eyes opened to see the rottenness of Romanism, and became the champion of Protestantism, on similar grounds to those of Bouchard, and wrote a pamphlet on the "Religious Question and the Protestant Solution." Oompelled to give up the Papal Ohurch, he felt he could not be without a church and a religion, but had as yet no change of heart. The faithful Huguenot pastors boldly taught that Protestantism required more than a mere renunciation of Romanism : and in July, 1878, in the Protestant meeting-house at Troyes, Reveil- laud arose and addressed the congregation, declaring his conversion, and manifesting a remarkable baptism of the Spirit. From January, 1879, his tongue and pen have been enthusiastically given to the evan- gelization of France. He publishes a weekly paper, Le Signal, and and goes everywhere-to halls, theaters, ball-rooms and barns-to address the people, showing them the need of a new gospel of faith, repent- ance and holiness. .
Our generation has seen no religious movement to compare with this arising of a whole people. "There is Protestantism in the air." In Avignon, the old residence of the popes, Renouvier adds to his "Critique Philosophique" a "Critique Religeuse" to chronicle the Protestant movement; and in Belgium Emile de Laveleye writes on the "Future of the Catholic Nations," a warning to all peoples of the inevitable results of Romanist supremacy.
The rapid and radical change that has come over France no one can conceive who has not been there during this quiet religious revolution. Scarce a century ago Protestants were tortured and murdered, till even Voltaire's atheism vented its invective against perseccution for religious opinion, and shamed France out of her course. Then came the reaction of atheism, but no religious liberty. But under McMahon, a majority of nine ministers of the Waddington cabinet were Huguenots, though the Huguenots represented but one-twentieth of the population. November 2, 1879, Protestant worship was held at Versailles, in the palace of Louis XIV., and not far from the chamber where he died, beneath the room where Madame de Maintenon induced him to sign the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes nearly two hundred years ago.
The news. of one week ~ould fill a journal with startling itemspeople assembling in hosts everywhere, in halls, tents and open airlistening with intense interest to denunciations of Romish priestcraft, and the good news of grace: and families, fifty at a time, coming out to take their places with the Protestants. It is scarce three hundred years since the St. Bartholemew masssacre in 1572, and yet the nation is turning from Rome. The McAll Mission has developed with a rapidity unparalleled in church history, establishing new preaching stations as fast as men and money can be obtained, and finding everywhere an open door. The tides of a pure gospel that surged vainly against mountain barriers for centuries are now rushing in like a flood. But it is a case of subsidence. The tide has not risen so much as the barriers have given way, and so France is being covered with the knowledge of the Lord.
But let us not hastily dismiss this marvelous story of missions in the very citadel of the papacy. Go and study the work of McAll and his associates. See that man at the very crisis of affairs called suddenly and unexpectedly to take the lead of the most conspicuous movement of modern times. He did nothing to prepare the way; he knew nothing of the grand movements that had made the way open. He simply went to Paris on a visit, but it was God who was guiding. He had made the hole in the board, and now set the peg in it, as Sydney Smith would say. Never in the course of history has the right man, at the right time, dropped into the right place, if Robert W. McAn did not in 18711 Before, he. would have come too early; after, he would have come too late. He did not know, and could not, the ot e~ernaJ fitness thinlSs. Let us bow" and say with Pharaoh's magicians, "It is the finger of God." The steps in this history it may be worth while once more to put on record, for the encouragement of our faith that there is a supernatural factor which cannot be eliminated from the work of missions.
In the summer of 1871, Rev. Robert W. McAll and his wife, visiting Paris at the close of the terrible war with Germany, and led by a 'deep desire to reach the poor, priest-ridden workingmen with the gospel, were giving away tracts in the hotels and on the public streets, when a workingman said: "If anyone will come among us and teach us, not a gospel of priestcraft and superstition, but of truth and liberty, many of us are ready to hear."
Mr. McCall returned home, but above.the murmur of the waves and the hum of busy life he heard that voice, "If anyone will come and teach us • . • we are ready to hear." He said to himself, "Is this God's call? Shall I go?" Friends said, "No!" But a voice within said, "Yes." And he left his English parish and went back-back to Belleville, whence, in days of anarchy and violence, issued forth the desperate mobs to burn and destroy and kill.. There, in January, 1872, in the Rue Julien La Croix, he opened one little hall in a faubourg of 100,000 desperate, lawless communists; one man conducting a gospelmeeting to save millions! In the midst of men known as assassins he had no weapon but a pocket Bible-his" double-barrel revolver," and in a district worse to work in than St. Giles in Londou he began to tell the old story of Jesus. Soon the little place was crowded, and a larger room became a necessity; and sixteen years later that one gospel hall has become 112, in which, in oue year, have been held 14,000 religious meetings, with a million hearers, and 4,000 services for children, with 200,000 attendants. No such history is to be found elsewhere, and no statistics can adequately represent the results of a work so apostolic in principle and. pattern. These many services are "recruiting offices" for new volunteers for the Lord's army; no new sect or church is formed, but converts are gathered, and then fall into the neighboring churches. But the work is only at its beginning. The cry comes from all parts of Frauce for new stations, and the work needs only more men and more means to be indefinitely multiplied.
The McAlI Mission is perhaps the most remarkable movement of Providence in modern times. At the critical hour of the history of France, God raised up the right man for the place and the work. It was in the very period of transition, when, breaking with Romanism and the clericalism which Gambetta declared to be the foe of France, the uation was left without a religion, and in danger of drifting into infidelity and atheism. Mr. McAll, hearing the call of God, fell almost unconsciously into his place in the divine plan, and introduced a mode of worship without a vestige of superstition or a relic of empty formalism and hollow ceremonial. He was building more wisely than he knew; but the Architect who callea him to the work had. prepared the material for the structure, and guided in its erection. Without those very principles that underlie the work of the McAll Mission there could not have been this phenomenal success. Those very principles are a proof that God is in the work.
1.' The Gospel for the Masses.-The leader of the movement and his fellow-helpers are moved with compassion for the multitude~ that have no true knowledge of Ohrist and faint for spiritual food, scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Mr. McAll has confidence in the adaptation of the gospel to every need of every human soul, in the accessibility of the common people, and in the susceptibility even of the criminal classes to approach.
2. The Pmoer of Pass'ion for Souls.-Who dared to hope that this priest-ridden people, ignorant, superstitious, hardened and halfatheistic, would exhibit such readiness to receive the Protestant gospel? ·But love is omnipotence; and before it even the barriers of a strange language melt away, and the iron doors of distrust and hatred open as of their own accord. Simple love for souls, unmixed with self-advantage, was the moving-spring of all this work, and proved resistless. When Mr. McAll began his work he could not speak French. but he could utter two sentences in the tongue of those workingmen. One was, "God loves you," and the other, "I love you"; and upon those two, as pillars, the whole arch rests.
3. The Attraction of a Free Go.<pel.-From the first free distribution of tracts on the streets of Paris until the work reached its present grand dimensions nothing has at once surprised and drawn the workingmen more than this, that for all this ministry to their good they have not been asked a centime! The feast spread on a hundred tables has been without money and without price. They have associated all that is called religion with a tax, heavy and oppressive. The priests have fattened on the money paid for masses for the dead, and cathedral churches have been reared out of poor men's scanty wages. But all this is an unselfish labor, for which no return is asked.
3. The Simplicity of Gospel Work.-These methods are at the farthest remove from ritualistic formalism and ecclesiastical ceremony. Any place of meeting is good enough where the people can be com- fortably gathered. A Bible, a simple stand, a small reed-organ, a few' hundred chairs, a plain, earnest address, singing, prayer, hand-to-hand contact-this is all the machinery of the greatest mission movement of modern times! A bare hand reached out to the poor workingman, through which may be felt the warm throb of a loving heart, with not even a kid glove between to act as a non-conductor-that is the secret of power.
5. The Exemplification of true Ohristian Unity.-The effect is both unsectarian and undenominational. No lines of division appear between workers, and no "tribal standards" are unfurled. Christ's is the only name known. They are "all one," and hence "the world believes." The energies often expended in contests and conflic~s, or at least rivalries and jealousies among disciples, are here all turned into the channel of pure evangelistic work.
6. The Moral Eilucation of the Oommon People.-~r. McAll saw in Belleville extreme poverty and misery side by side with mental and moral degradation. He felt that material and spiritual conditions must be remedied together, and that the gospel was the lever to raise the whole man to a higher plane. Hence the prominence given to schools and class instruction.
The work has been successful along all these lines, and the more successful because projected along all these lines. In recognition and encouragement, the "Societe Nationale d'Encouragement au Bien" presented McAll with a silver medal for his devot-ion to humanity, and the" Societe Libre d'Instruction et d'Education" with another medal for services rendered to popular instruction. These public acknowledgments of McAll as a philanthropist and educator were aside from all questions of religion; while the Government also recognized his work as the best security for order and good citizenship, declaring his gospel stations the best" police measure" for the prevention of disorder and crime.
This humble man came to Paris, and removed the barriers between the "unchurched and churched," and came close to the people; gathered the multitudes into his "halls," making those halls not only nurseries of piety, but grand training-schools for future evangelism; meeting papacy and infidelity, not controversially and negatively, but experimentally and positively. And here, where it was thought there was no field for evangelization, a foreigner proved papal France to be the foremost missionary field. And so among this mercurial people, whose very blood is quicksilver, God is carrying on a work whose depth and reality are beyond all question. The gospel is God's remedy both for infidelity and instability, and so far and so fast as the gospel permeates the French nationality every noble characteristic develops.
McAll has put in motion a host of agencies, all evangelistic. Mission stations, with schools, classes, mothers' meetings, prayer-meetings, evangelists, visitors, tract-distributors.-everything thoroughly evangelical, variations of one key-note-" Christ crucified." The labors are great, of providing speakers for so many meetings, and with no free day but Saturday. The appliances are very comprehensive and complete, avoiding only open-air preaching, which conflicts with muni- cipallaw. The methods are very simple; no expensive buildings or outlay-a clean, whitewashed wine-shop or commodious room, adorned with texts and provided with platform and seats. And, withal, no mission anywhere is more economically, honestly and conscientiously
THE WORLD'S MISSIONARY OONFERENOE
conducted and administered. Every centime is accoqnted for in detail.
Here, then, even in France, long supposed to be the most hopeless field for Protestant missions, we behold another of the modern miracles which constrain us to exclaim, "What hath God wrought I"
THE WORLD'S MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
LETTER FROM REV. A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
[Our editorial associate is present, as .. delegate-at-Iarge from the churches and societies of the United States," and an active and prominent participator in the doings ot thhl Grand Oonncil. The readers of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD will be treated to graphic sketches of its inter· esting and important proceedings from his facile pen, as well as enjoy the reading of many of the important papers given to the Oonference, obtained by Dr. Pierson's personal presence and ac- qnaintance with many of the leading workers in the mission field. We give belOW the first Instal· ment, as an earnest of good things ~come. We have kept back the press to be able to give at this early date an acconnt of the opening of this world's council, which is sure to mark a new epoch in the religiOUS history of the world.-J. M. s.] LONDON, June 11, 1888. My DEAR DR. SHERWOOD :-Saturday, at five o'clock P.M., the great World's Conference on Missions assembled in Exeter Hall. Great as were the expectations that had gathered around the occasion, they were all surpassed by the reality. It had been the thought of the commit- tee that, before entering formally upon the business of the convention, a reception should be given to the delegates, affording an opportunity for free, familiar and social intercourse and acquaintance. Tables were set at the opposite ends of the great hall, capable of accommodating hundreds of persons, and after supper a few words of welcome were to be spoken, and a short prayer and praise service was to conclude this first general meeting. But all these arrangements proved inadequate; they were divinely displaced by the unexpected throng that crowded Exeter Hall and made locomotion almost impossible. Where thousands had gathered hundreds found but little room for freedom of movement; and so we all rejoiced to have the well-planned arrangements give way to the necessity of readjustment, and we conformed to circumstances. We were glad to stand where we hoped to sit, to fast where we expect~d to feed, and to be held as in a vise where we meant to go about and shake many loved hands. As I stood on the upper platform and looked over that augustassem- bIage, I said to myself, This is indeed the grandest ecumenical council ever assembled since the first council in Jerusalem I What a fitting commemoration with which to mark the completion of the first cen- tury of modern missions; what a fitting inauguration with which to in- troduce a new century of evangelism I The promise of our Lord is: "Where two or three are gathered to- gether in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Such a promise . and such a gathering must challenge the faith even of a very weak disciple. For when were the conditions of the promised presence more amply fulfilled! If there be such a thing as meeting "in His name,'~ surely it is to be found here. From the East and the West, from the North and the South, from every continent and the isles of the sea, representing every Ohristian denomination, missionary field and missionary agency or organization, delegates have gathered. The veteran missionary secretaries are here, the war-scarred soldiers who have fought for fifty years the battles of the Lord. They come as the maimed and scarred martyrs gathered at the council of Nicea, over 1,500 years ago. The authors of great books on missions, the editors of missionary magazines which chronicle the progress of the campaign of the ages, the eloquent pleaders by tongue and pen for the speedy evangelization of the world, the translators of Scripture into the many languages and dialects, missionaries from ,aU lands, and natives who have been converted and transformed into evangelists, pastors and teachers-these are here. Godly women, representing the legion of women's boards and auxiliary societies which have come to the front and kept at the front in the march of modern missions, are also here. Again we say, and deliberately, there never before was such a gathering" in His name." Ohrist has waited nearly 2,000 years since he gave His last command, before He has seen His whole Ohurch gathering by chosen representatives to plan a world-wide campaign for His gospel; forgetting all minor differences or divisions in rallying about the one ark of the covenant, and in obedience to providential and gracious signals, sounding the trumpet for a new onward, forward march!
It was obvious from the first that the Master of assemblies was in the midst. After a season of mutual introduction the Earl of Aberdeen-a very courteous, noble, simple, unpretending Ohristian man, yet in comparative youth-took the chair and called the great assembly to order and announced the opening psalm: "All people that on earth do dwell."
Those who would set an operatic quartette upon the stilts of high art to "perform God's praise" should have heard two thousand people sing Old Hundred then! And those who have been known to admire eloquent prayers, addressed to the audience should have heard the beloved Webb Peploe, as he led the vast audience in prayer that took hold of the very horns of the altar in importunate and earnest pleading for such a blessing as should surpass exceeding abundantly all we ask or think. It was a marvelous prayer, because it was so self-oblivious. He prayed in the Holy Ghost, and in praying with him we all draw near to the mercy-seat where God is enthroned. The blessing he asked had already come.
After a few graceful words of greeting from the Earl of Aberdeen, the Rev. Dr. Underhill, the veteran Secretary, now retired from active supervision, gave a resume of the various steps and stages by which, since the first comparatively private conference in 1854, in New York City, with Dr. Duff, the thought and plan of a world conference had grown in scope and in realization. Ten years ago a conference similar to this had been held at Mildmay, but it had no such cosmopolitan character, and was but a. herald preparing the way for this colossal gathering. To give any adequate idea of this masterly address we should be compelled to reproduce it entire, and even then the aroma of a flower is not more elusive, as to the printed page that may represent the form and even hues of a blossom, than is the ethereal atmosphere that invests such an address from such a man I Rev. Mr. Wigram of the Church Missionary Society then spoke, followed by the Rev. Dr. A. C. Thompson, the beloved representative of the American Board, who in a singularly graceful speech in behalf of the American delegations, left absolutely nothing to be added by the rest of us. Remarks were made by representatives of the German and French Societies, and by the Secretary, Rev. James Johnston. Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission led in prayer and the assembly adjourned. It was difficult to part. Handshakings innumerable followed, until slowly the great crowd separated, reluctant to leave a place manifestly filled with the Holy Ghost.
It was quite remarkable that in a land where aristocratic institutions prevail, there was no parading of great names, either at this opening· meeting or on the programme. We saw no man save Jesus only. As the Secretary justly said, it is a compliment and tribute to many of the men whose names are on the programme that they are not well and widely known. It is because in a self-oblivious spirit they have buried themselves among the heathen, and from these living sepulchers they have been called by the voice of this Conference to tell of what they have seen and heard amid the dark places of the earth, full of the habitations of cruelty, and to bear witness to the gospel, which, to the highest and lowest alike, is still the power of God unto salvation.
No meetings of the Conference, as such, were held on Sunday, but the delegates, scattered throughout the city, either occupied the pulpits or sat as worshippers in the churches. Neither Spurgeon nor Canon Liddon were well, and many were disappointed in not hearing them. There is on the part of the best people in London a conscientious objection to the use of the horse-cars and steam-cars on Sunday, and meetings at Exeter Hall were opposed because they would necessitate much needless travel on the Lord's day.
But Monday's meetings opened with a prayer-meeting at 9:45 in the large parlor adjoining the assembly rooms, which meeting was itself one of the richest and most Pentecostal feasts we ever attended. God poured out a spirit of grace and of supplication, which became for the whole day a fragrant anointing, and filled the entire house with its odor and atmosphere. It is now definitely ascertained that 150 delegates are present from the United States, representing 51 societies; 27 from Canada, representing 6; 22 from the Contine.nt of E~rope, representing 13; and 1,060 members, representing 52 societies in England, Scotland and Ireland. There is thus a total constituency in members and delegates of 1,259, represe:uting 122 societies.
In attempting to describe or chronicle these great gatherings, the like of which the world has never seen, we labor under two embarrassments: first, an embarrassment of riches, for thus far we have heard not one poor paper or weak speech; and, secondly, an embarrassment of limitation, for, not being ubiquitous, we find it impossible to be in two places at one and the same time, and hence cannot attend all the sectional meetings held simultaneously. At 10: 30 on Monday two meetings were held for members only, at one of which Missionary Methods were discussed, especially as to the selection and training of missionaries; and at the other, Medical Missions. At three P.M. again there were three meetings, one for discussion of Missionary Modes of Working; another, an open meeting, on the Increase of Islam, and a third, in the great hall, on China. Similarly in the evening, two meetings, one on the Jews, and the other in the large hall on the Condition of India, China, Africa, and the world at large.
This will afford a general notion of the modus operandi, and make repetition needless. And as the best way to promote brevity and interest in these editorial communications, I will henceforth simply touch on great salient features of the Conference, and refer in particular to the addresses and paperB, which, for originality of suggestion or practical value, seem to demand individual recognition.
Without invidious distinction, we may select the remarkable paper of Henry Grattan Guinness, the well-known evangelist and missionary trainer, as a representative of the papers read in the morning. Clear, practical, pungent and powerful, it captivated the assembly. And we have secured it for the pages of this REVIEW, and it may be expected entire in the next issue.
The general drift of the morning discussion was in the direction of a thorough qualification, both intellectually and spiritually, for the work of missions. It was insisted that it will not do to send abroad inferior men and women; that the strain and drain upon the faculties and resources are such as demand the best equipped and most thoroughly furnished men and workers. But we were glad to hear emphasized the pre-eminent need of spiritual anointing. The man who is not ready to preach anywhere is fit to preach nowhere. Love for souls is the highest genius-inventive, versatile, omnipotent, sagacious. During a course of training there must be constant contact with souls, to keep up vital warmth and prevent a cold intellectuality, a scholarship that is unspiritual and unconsecrated. The whole day was a feast of fat thillgs. But the great meeting of the evening was'the crown of the whole. The Earl of Aberdeen took the chair, with the Countess at his side. The' address of Prebendary Edmonds on the Condition of India was one of the brightest, keenest, sharpest and most brilliant we ever heard. It was a two-edged sword, and its edge was not keener than its point was piercing. For example, he made the Tabernacle in the wilderness a type of our duty. There were some things behind the veil which were still obscure; but before the veil were three others quite plain: the table of shew-bread, the candelabra and the altar of incense. God means that, in order to personal and national prosperity, there shall be three requisites-first, bread on the table; second, light in the house; and third, an altar of prayer. And wherever one or more of these is lacking, we are to seek to supply it.
Again, he said that the " Light of Asia" was the light of Oxford and Oxford Street; that it was Oxford thought read into Oriental systems. Again, he remarked that in India the great lack was the lack of a sense of individuality and of personality, and told a story of two learned Brahmins discussing as to whether God has or has not personal attributes. Both contestants received a prize for the conclusiveness of their respective arguments / He beautifully spoke of the 119th Psalm as stamped with the most impressive. personality in the conception both of God and of man. It contains the pronoun" I" 140 times, "thine" 180 times, "me" 100 times.
Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, of Chfua Inland Mission, then briejly, but with great power, outlined the history of missions ill China, and the present condition of the people. He referred to the numbers of the Chinese, their intelligence and industry, perseverance and resolution; succillctly referred to the great resources of the country, illstancillg the colossal coal deposits, capable of supplying fuel to the world for 2,000 years. Then he rapidly, by a few strokes, sketched the history of Chinese missions-Apostolic, Nestorian, Roman Catholic, Jesuit, the defect of all which was that they gave the people no Bible. Then came Robert Morrison, whose first work was to translate the Scriptures. Mr. Taylor arraigned the opium traffic as the sum of all wrongs and villaillies, and affirmed that when the first British ships bore to the land that fatal drug, an injury was inflicted that in one day works still more harm than the gospel can offset in a year. He calmly said, with deep emotion, that the opium habit works more damage than drink, slavery and the social evil combined.
It fell to the writer to make the closing address, a general survey, At that late hour all that could be done was rapidly and in outline to sketch the Present Position and Condition of Christian Missions. Amid all our congratulations we must not forget our humiliation, for while completing the first century of modern missions, it is only the first. Ohrist has patiently waited for nearly 1900 years to see of the travail of His soul. The evangelistic activity of the first centuries gave place to secularism and selfishness. A thousand years of the dark ages succeeded, during which Christianity scarcely survived. The Lutheran Reformation'revived apostolic doctrine, but did not revive apostolistio activity and evangelism. The church had to wait three centuries more before she recognized her duty and debt to a lost world. And even now the bulk of Christian disciples do not feel their individual responsibility for the lost. We do work by proxy. We erect great societies and boards, and by them girdle the world with a network of missionary organizations, and content ourselves with trifling gifts and sending forth some 5,000 or 6,000 men and women, while the converts from heathenism furnish five or six times as many workers as all Christendom! We give ten millions of dollars a year to foreign missions, while in London alone enough wealth is buried in ornaments, jewelry and silver plate, to carry the gospel round the world in ten years. During the nineteen centuries that haVtl pass€d away, not lesS than fifty entire generations have perished, and these have included not less than an aggregate 30,000,000,000 souls, or twenty times the present population of the globe.
The question is, Can the problem be solved, of reaching with the gospel the unsaved millions of the race? Of'course it must be solvable; for our Lord never would commit to His people an impossible task. If we study the gospels we shall find God's way of solving the problem outlined. It embraces some important factors, which we have comparatively failed to emphasize. Two of them I desire to make very prominent: first, individual call to direct labor for the unsaved; and secondly, the supernatural power of God. Had these been as prominent in the life of the church as they should be, the work of the evangelization might already have overtaken the population of our globe.
In my address at Exeter Hall I dwelt upon these two necessary requisites to the successful prosecution of mission work. We must return to the primitive conception-every believer a herald. In the 13th chapter of Matthew, our Lord gives us two parables of the kingdom : In the first He teaches us that the seed is the Word of God; in the second that the good seed are the children of the kingdom. Only as we take both together do we get the whole truth. If we would sow the world-field, we must scatter side by side with the seed of the Word the seed of Christian lives, the Word made flesh and dwelling among men, as the Master did. The world will never be brought to the knowledge of Christ by the Bible alone-but the Bible with the man and woman beside it. We must send forth colonies of disciples to plant Christian homes amid the dark places of the earth.
And, secondly, we must have hearty confidence in the supernatural factor in missions. We have had a book on "Natural Law in the Spiritual World ;" let us have another on Supernatural Law in the Natural World. In these days of naturalism we are in danger of practically denying the direct Divine hand in history. Nothing more attracted me to the study and advocacy of missions than the manifest interpositions of superhuman, supernatural power. Nothing short of God's own hand ever opened within one generation the door of all these kingdoms, shut and sealed a century ago. The children of Israel, led by the pillar of cloud, had no plainer proof of God's presence than the ordinary missionary band. The parting of the Red Sea and the Jordan, the route of Amalek, and the falling of Jericho's walls, were not more conspicnous signs of God's power than the marvels wrought in modern missions.
The Conference ought to yield two permanent results. First, it ought to revive in our hearts the sense of the supernatural, and drive us to importunate prayer. All our machiuery, our organizations and agencies, even the multiplication of money and men and means, can accomplish nothing without the providence and Spirit of God. This we must not only acknowledge, but realize anq. feel. The greatest lack in modern missions is, after all, the lack of believingprayer. All great results for the kingdom have been and will continne to be wrought in answer to the prayer of faith.
The other result should be energetic and enterprising action. We should forget that in which we differ and emphasize that in which we agree. Our tribal standards should be set up abont the Ark of God, and we should move together about that ark. The King's business requireth haste. A soldier of Queen Victoria, being asked how long it would take for the army and navy to carry a proclamation round the world and publish it everywhere, answered, "I think we could do it in about eighteen months." In the days of Esther, the decree of Ahasuerus was translated into every language spoken in the empire, and borne through the whole hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from the Bosphorus and Nile to the Indus and Ganges, in less than nine months! What might we not do with the help of the printingpress, steam navigation, the telegraph, and all the appliances of modern invention, if the church would but give herself to the glorious work! We might publish the gospel to all living peoples before the end of the present century!
Sounding the imperial clarion of advance along the whol~ line of battle, moving as one host, let us pierce the very center of the adversary, turn his staggering wings, and unfurl the flag of the Cross upon the parapet of every stronghold of the Devil.
DR. CHRISTLIEB ON MEDICAL
DR. CHRISTLIEB ON MEDICAL MISSIONS.
[The AllgtrMine Mi88ions-Zeitschriff; for 1888 contains a profoundly valuable article by Dr. Theodore Christlieb, continued through several numbers, upon Medical:Missions. The Rev. ehas. C. Starbuck has translated for us the salient passages of this article, which we give to our readers.-EDs.] "ALL genuine missionary work must be in the highest sense a healing work." So writes that vigorous missionary pioneer, Mackay, from that newest martyrland of missions, Uganda. As certainly as sin disintegrates soul and body, and these are most strictly conjoined, so certainly also must a complete redemption extend itself over the whole personal life, and therefore finally over the body. Therefore, forgiveness of sins, or preaching of the gospel, and bodily healing, are only two sides of the same comprehensive salvation, brought nigh to man in Christ, although its realization in the two spheres may be widely divergent in time. Therefore we see Christ not merely Himself preaching and healing as He goes around, but also sending forth the disciples' to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick,' giving, on the one hand, especial power to the Twelve 'to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease,' and, on the other hand, commissioning the Seventy (Luke x : 9) to heal the sick and to announce that the kingdom of God was at hand, here even giving the commission of heaHng the precedence. Nor is this power of healing given merely as a sign confirmatory of their mission, but as a manifestation of 'the universal compassion of the gospel,' which brings help for every harm.
" Though there had been now and then sporadic instances of medical skill applied by the English to missionary ends, it was the practical Americans who first gave this impulse a definite form, the first regularly trained and designated Medical Missionary having been Dr. Peter Parker, sent out by the American Board in 1834 to Canton. In a few years the London Society sent Benjamin Hobson after him, inaugurating the principle in Europe.
"It is little known that to the magnanimity of an English physician England in great part owes her influence in the East. In 1636, Dr. Gabriel Boughton, having cured a princess of the Great Mogul's court, who had been badly burned, asked, as his only reward, leave for his countrymen to trade with India. This was the beginning of English power and civilization in the East.
" The first, or at all events one of the first. missionary physicians, strictly so-called, sent out by a missionary society, was Dr. Otis R. Bacheler, sent out by the American Baptists (as I think) to Orissa in India, and still laboring there." [Dr. Christlieb has here confused the larger Baptist body with the Free Baptists, to whom Dr. Bacheler belongs, and who have long been associated with the General Baptists of England in preaching Christ" where Satan's seat is," in the very region of the temple of Juggernaut.] "Before 1861 there were not over twenty missionary physicians in all heathen countries, and before 1871 probably not more than forty at most. In 1878 there were ninety or one hundred, and by 1885 there were from one hundred and seventy to one hundred and ninety regularly graduated physicians in the work. The Edinburgh Medical Missions Society had, in 1871, an income of $6,240; in 1881, of $26,400.
"Notwithstanding that the number of missionary physicians since the beginning of the last third of our century has grown so rapidly and gratifyingly, yet in the majority of the heathen cities in which they labored half of the sick remained almost wholly excluded from this benefit-the female half. Especially in India, where the women of the upper classes regard it as / contrary to religion and propriety to show their faces before men, where, as a rule, not even the heathen physicians (hakims) are summoned to treat the cases of sickness in the zenanas, the way is completely barred to the Chris- tian male physician. Nor is this. merely true of the wealthier. ' All Hindu women,' writes Mrs. Weitbrecht, after a wide tour of inspection in 1878, 'whether rich or poor, are completely neglected in time of sickness. Preju- . dice and usage banish medical help. Fever, ophthalmia and other conta- gious ills·propagate themselves without check in the dark, filthy dwellings. From this results the enormous mortality among women and children, or chronic diseases, one of the chief hindrances of zenana missions. A female medical mission in the center of every populous district is one of the most crying necessities of India.'
"How rapidly, with growing confidence, the work increases; how rapidly the sphere of effectiveness widens out, in spite of the strange phenomenon of a female doctor, especially to the Hindu mind; nay, in spite of the great dread felt at first, especia.lly by women of the higher classes, of losing caste under Christian treatment, appears from the register of the Presbyterian Female Hospital at Lucknow. It was opened in 1883, and in that year had only thirteen patients. In 1886 it had 212, besides 2,712 outside patients and 6,930 distributions of medicine. The Church M. S. has nine ladies in service, more or less medically trained. In Travancore last year there were 4,946 patients receivin~ medicine. In Lodiana, in 1887, the Fern. Ed. Soc. supplied 4,985 patients with medicine. The Zenana Mission in Amritstar (the seat of the Sikh religion) in 1887, with a staff of six female physicians and one nurse, received 242 patients into the hospital, assisted at 454 births, visited 4,000 patients at home, and supplied some 30,000 with med- icines. Really it does seem as if Col. Higginson was authorized to concede that Christian missions accomplish something toward' making the condition of barbarians a little more comfortable.' Dr. Lowe of Travancore speaks of the disinterestedness of his native medical helpers. Though receiving only twenty-four cents a day, they have refused offers of three and four times as high wages in order to maintain the missionary work among their people. Missionary physicians, hospitals and dispensaries are indeed multiplying in In- dia, and extending their operations so fast that it is almost impossible to keep up with them. And the movement has now passed beyond missionary circles, and under the patronage of Lady Dufferin, as representing the Empress, has become national. The Female Medical Aid Association in its first year en- joyed an income of $110,400. 'The cry for capable lady physicians goes through the whole land.'
" All agents of this national society are forbidden to exercise any mission- ary influence. This prohibition is remarked upon by Dr. Christlieb as fol- lows: "Doubtless this undertaking is thoroughly well meant by its found- el'll. Upon this broad basis help can be much more quickly procured for the neglected world of invalid Hindu women. To the female physician, who merely comes as a sympathizing human being with her skill for the body, the prison-doors of the zenana will swing open much more quickly than to the Christian woman who leaves out of sight neither sick body nor sick soul. This explains the enthusiasm over this new foundation, and the shower of wealthy gifts from England and India which has watered it. And yet we must inquire: Will this fruit of Christian culture be permanent, grafting itself into Indian society, without its root concealing that from which, never- theless, it is, in its deepest origin, derived? Does a right view of moral edu- cation, or even of the history of culture, warrant us in playi~ into the hands of the haughty rationalistic assumption that Hinduism, Islam and Christianity are religious equivalents, or have eyen an equal level of scientific right, viewed merely from the medical point of view? This is very nearly the same as to say that they all three signify the same; that is, signify nothing. Against whom is the edge of this anti-proselytizing principle turned? Practically against Christian physicians, and the course hitherto held by missionary practice. Hindu doctresses are not touched by it, and hardly Mohammedans, allowing that there should ever be any, and that Western science had not dulled the energy of their fanaticism.
"Imagine a Christian lady attending at the bedside of a patient mortally ill. She sees death approaching. She does her best for the relief of the bodily distress. But for the restlessness, or it may be the torpor of tbe spirit, for the deep distress of soul which often oppresses the sick one far more heavily than bodily pains, she may not offer a word of Christian truth or evangelic gospel comfort! With the saving light in her hand she yet may not venture to cast a beam into the darkness of the poor heathen soul, even when she sees it deepening into the darkness of death! Her lips for this are as good as sealed. What cruelty to the poor patient, and to the compassionate physician no less. Will the young Christian Hindu women, who are now sent by local corporations to study medicine at Agra, be able to prevail on themselves to be silent before their Hindu sisters concerning that which has become the bliss of their own life and the .rest of their own heart, concerning their faith? It is to be hoped not.
" And when, as above all in India, the use of certain medicines or other remedies clashes severely with religious prejudices, will it not often import to remove or at least to mitigate such scruples? And so far this necessity involves an interference with religious opinions. And abo¥e all: does Christ's commandment to preach the gospel, which assuredly embraces India, apply only for well women, and not also for sick? Has any person, or' any society, a right to restrain it? And must a reference to the Saviour of all the world necessarily be made in an importunate, wearisome, hea-dlong manner? Can there. not be a friendly, heartily sympathetic offer of salva.- tion, such as shall awake a living hope, and finally implant in the uneasy spirit a divine peace, a state of mind which can only react favorably upon the bodily condition? How often do humanitarians, out of mere respect of man, fall into pure cruelty! How certainly, on close examination, the Christian interpretation of love to our neighbor app~'oves itself as the only genuinely human interpretation!
"Lady Dufferin allows that the' quiet influence of Christian virtues' must be permitted the agents of the society. No doubt. No gracious permission of royalty or its representative can be required for that. It is its own authentic warrant. But to the catalogue of Christian virtues, under some circumstances, it also belongs to confess with the mouth, not merely by quiet example, as the latter can only inspire respect for the person of the physician, or at most for his religion, but cannot alone help the poor patient out of his heathen ignorance into true faith and peace. The appeal to public policy, while entirely intelligible from the Vice-Empress of India, can never justify the position in Christian eyes. For, as we judge, the more said about earlier government policy in India the worse the case turns out. Heathen customs of worship, not merely endured but for long years supported (and sometimes, it is hinted, l'upported even yet by donations to temples, etc.), have proved, not only as viewed by Christians, condemnable, but to be also a.
mere short-s~hted opportunism) contributing perhaps, for the moment, to avert popular tumults, but in the event mOl"'J.lly injurious to the government, as giving to many thinking Hindus an impression derogatory to a power which could prove itself so weak as virtually to deny its own Christian faith.
"The assumption that, however it may be with certain Indian princes. the Indian people object to female physicians who bring the gospel, is far from being of universal validity. Otherwise, how is it to be explained, that the 'General Council of Education in India' some time ago, when strongly urging a multiplication of girls' schools, acknowledged that 'the natives decidedly prefer girls' schools conducted by the missionaries to those conducted by the Government or by natives.'
"Therefore, with full acknowledgment of the noble designs of Lady Dufferin, the periodicals representing medical missions have, so far as I can see, unanimously declared this principle of silence as to religion to be unpractical and largely impracticable, indeed, unchristian, and therefore for the more earnest Christian women morally impossible of acceptance.
" In China also the medical missionary institutes are hardly less numerous than in India. They already extend from Hong Kong and Canton to Peking, and even into Mantchuria and Tartary. The number of missionary physicians, male and female, at present working there, Fomosa included, already exceeds 80. Of this whole number Continental societies at present reckon not one; 38 are British; 44 American, including Canada. Among these the heaviest representation is of the American Presbyterians, 14; next the M. E. Church, with 10; the A. B. Q. F. M. English Presbjt:erians and China Inland Mission, 8 each; London M. S., 7; English Wesleyans, 5; Church M. S., 4, etc. The most comprehensive single medical mission of China is that of the English Presbyterians in Swatow. The hospital was opened by Dr. Gauld in 1863. It can now accommodate 200 inmates, and has elsewhere in the town a lepers' department. In 1885 there were in all 3,867 patients from 1,824 localities, besides 1,770 treated at home, Of 944 operations 544 were ocular.
" Many societies can already look back upon a series of names of physicians which have become names of renown in the missionary history of Asia.: the American Board upon the consecrated zeal of a Dr. Scudder, or a Dr. Parker in Asia; upon Dr. Osgood, who died, 1880, in Foochow; who, in the hospital there, in nine years treated 51,838 sick persons, and at whose death thousandS of heathens raised a loud lament; upon Dr. Grant, who in his medical practice found twenty times more opportunity for intercourse with Mahommedans than his clerical colleague, and whose memory is to this day a power among the poor Nestorians and wild Koords, for whom he offered up his life; upon his successor, worthy of him, Dr. Wright, of whom an intelligent Nestorian said, 'his influence is that of a prince '; upon Dr. H. A. West in Sivus (Asia Minor), who by his simple method of treatment freed the natives from the terror of the measles, which were there as destructive and dreaded as the small-pox; who educated a company of most capable native physicians, and received therefor from the Turkish government a most emphatic expression of thanks; a man whom his innumerable surgical operations (one hundred and fifty simply for stone) rendered a celebrity even in Europe and America, who in cases innumerable opened the eyes of the blind; who, for services which at home would have brought him in hundreds, yes, thousands of dollars, would accept nothing, contenting himself with his simple missionary salary; who, go where he would, was surrounded by the sick, ~he lame, the palsied, so that the nativ,es often said of the simple, unpretentious man: 'He is like Je~!Us.' And so with the'Presbyterian and other missionary societies.
"It is worthy of note that two stations in Western Asia, at which missions have proved themselves peculiarly effective, Aintab and Ooroomiah, were founded by missionary physicians.
"Of late years Syria and Palestine are, of all Turkish provinces, the most abundantly supplied with medical missionaries. And here again Beirlit, already mentioned as a centre of medical missions, where the American Presbyterians have five professors and doctors of medicine, partly for instruction ani partly for missionary practice. In Tripoli (of Syria) three-fourths of Dr. Harris's patients are Turkish women, who even overcome their usual aversion to showing the foreign doctor their faces; nay, invite him into their houses for further treatment. It is, he says, a moving spectacle to see fifty or seventy-five white-clad, deeply veiled Turkish women listening reverently to the Scripture lesson which always precedes the treatment, and to hear them ratifying the prayer with a loud' Amen.' Dr. Harris is an Englishman.
"In Jaffa the London Mildmay Institute has a female medical mission. Here, in 1886, a roomy hospital for women was dedicated, for the building of which a firman had been secured from Constantinople, and which cost some $24,000. It is open every morning at 9, but the patients begin to gather by 6. Of the 231 persons received into it in one year 180 were Moslem; 11,176 received outside treatment. In the wards every evening the holy Scripture is read in Arabic, and, as the latest report says, 'the black eyes of the sick women fix themselves as eagerly upon the reader as if they would fain drink in every word she utters.'
"As a final notice of Mohammedan countries, we must not pass by the latest, singularly self-denying essay of medical missions, that of the young Scotchman of rank, the Honorable John Keith Falconer, in Arabia. This admirable Orientalist, not unknown in Germany itself, son of Lord Kintore, in 1885 went in connection with the mission of the Free Church of Scotland to Aden, and at his own expense established the mission station, Sheik Othman, at some leagues remove from the town. Having returned to England and been appointed professor of Arabic at Cambridge, he taught there a short time, but in 1886 returned to Aden with the missionary physician, established at his own expense a little hospital and free dispensary, preached the gospel to sick and well, distributed Bibles and tracts, and was about to travel throughout Arabia with one of the chief Bedouin tribes when death overtook him in May, 1887. To the service of the Lord he had given up his eminent academical position, his Oriental learning, his social rank, his ample means, the bright morning of his wedded life, and his well-proved physical vigor."
Dr. Christlieb remarks that,' in comparison with the medical missionary work of the two Anglo-Saxon nations, the three or four German medical missionaries form a rather humiliating contrast, although more of such work is done than is registered. On the other hand, the Kaiserwerth deaconesses are aecomplishing an excellent missionary work in the Orient. "If they are not academically trained doctresses, they have yet been thoroughly trained in hospitals and deaconesses' houses to the care of the sick, and, along with the teaching sisters in schools and orphanages, render uncommonly important pioneer services to Protestant missions. Theil' quiet work receives fuller and fuller recognition both from Christians and Mohammedans, especially as being,'for the most part, older than that of the English female physicians. In Alexandria, where their work began in 1857, they have a hospital With 11 deaconesses, who daily tend 66-70, yearly 1,100-1,200 patients, while the clinics are visited by nearly 3,000• .. The oldest field of labor of the sisters is Jerusalem, where, in 1851, on Mount Zion, near the Anglican Church, they opened, under the direction of Fliedner, a hospital 'for the sick, of all religions and confessions.' This hospital, after successive enlargements, now receives over 450 patientsyearlyj while 8,200 visit the clinics. Four sisters are in charge. The original aversion of the Mohammedans to the' dogs' house' was soon overcome, In 1862, of the inmates 178 were Mohammedans; in 1863, 278; in 1864, 312. At present over one-third of all treated are Moslems. They, too, 'listen gladly to the message of reconciliation,' while to many Christian patients also a clearer light rises here upon the true substance of our faith. As a traveler was telling a Mohammedan-a former patient-about the German victories, the latter replied: 'It is the Prussian sisters who have conquered us.'
"German love has of late also extended its compassionate care to the poorest of the poor and sickest of the sick, the lepers of Palestine, by means of the Lepers' Asylum in Jerusalem, erected 20 years ago by the CountE'ss von Keffenbrinck. This is conducted and served by the Unitas Fratrum, the domestic chaplain being the former German pastor at Jerusalem, and the resident physician Dr. Chaplin, of the English Mission to the Jews. The imposing new building, situated not far from the Templar Colony, and dedicated in 1886, witll room for some 30 patients, was last year occupied by 24 patients, mostly men. An Arab evangelist gives a Bible lecture twice a week, which the inmates willingly attend. The Word of God, says the latest report, often prove& to these afflicted ones a deep consolation. It moves the heart to hear a leper, with his hoarse and hollow voice, from which all the resonance is gone, uttering the words of the Psalmist: 'Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, 0 Lord!' Leprous children, so long as they yet have fingers, learn to read and write. The faithful house-parents (Tappe and now Franz MillIeI') maintain, even here in the Orient, to a surprising extent, the fame of the Herrnhuters for neatness and clea.nliness.
Dr. Christlieb, after speaking of a German-Swiss medical missionary who went to Calicut, in India, last year, and whose consultations in the first three months stood 640,950,1,332, raises the question, "How are we, in Germany, to find physicians of the true Christian and missionary spirit ?" and proceeds: " And with this question we come to the deepest ground of our altogether disproportionateinferiority in this branch of missionary activity. Itisfound in the almost universal prevalence within our medical faculties, both among teachers and students, of a naturalistic spirit, hostile to revelation, for which, indeed, the way has often been prepared, both directly and indirectly, in the Gymnasia. On the other hand, in the English-speaking world, especially in Scotland, but also in America and England, the Christian and missionary interest among young medical students is positively strengthened by not a few even of their most eminent teachers. With us, a student of medicine, though perhaps of a Christian family, has the greatest possible difficulty during his course of study even to keep hold of his Christian convictions. AmolJ.g his companions, the very thought of engaging in missions would be utterly unintelligible. It would make him a target of scorn. Who in these circles concerns himself about the extension of the kinglom of God, a phrase which, almost without exception, is for them a dead letter. Who among them so much as casts a look over missionary literature. unless, at most, now and then. to glean from it some newly-reported fact of natural history? Yet
THE DRINK TRAFFIC AMONG NATIVE
even in Germany we find medical students, here and there, in our missionary associations. Missionary societies in Germany may therefore be exhorted, when looking for missionary physicians, 'Seek, and ye shall find.'
"So much respecting the development and diffusiqn hitherto of medical missions and their auxiliary institutions in our Protestant missionary work. Considering that, independently of medical missions in Christian lands, there are to-day, of regularly graduated Protestant physicians, male and female, in Africa and Madagascar, 37; in China, Formosa and Corea, some 86 or 88; in India and Burmah, at least 76; in Siam, 3; in Japan, 14; in the Pacific, 6 ; in Mohammedan countries, some 40; and that, moreover, in Turkey, India, China and elsewhere, there are dozens of deaconesses and nurses, with no mean measure of medical knowlege, we are well entitled to declare that the branches of this great growth are already world-embracing. Weare now in a better position to give a compendious judgment respecting the necessity and the value, the methods and the present results of missionary medical practice."
THE DRINK TRAFFIC AMONG NATIVE RACES.
[The Bev. Henry Duncan, Convener of the Church of Scotland's Committee on Intemperance, contributes an important paper to the Church 0/ Scotland Home and Foreign .Mi88ion Record on the effect of the drink tramc among native races. Some months ago the same writer gave a stakling account of the" Effects of the Liquor Tramc on Native Races." Since then fresh light has been thrown upon the subject. It has been discussed in both Houses of the British Parliament, and the different churches and temperance organizations abroad are combining in an earnest effort to grapple with the evil. Nor is the voice of American Christianity and civilization silent. Protests, petitions and remonstrances have gone forlh from many of the leading Christian bodies in this country. The state of things is indescribably awful. This diabolical tramc is cursing Africa to·day far worse than ever the slave trade did. It muat be stopped, and the responsibility rests with the three great Protestant nations that are mainly responsible for the introduction of rum into and are flooding the Dark Continent with it-namely, Great Britain, Germany and the United States.-EDs.] " ONE of the minor difficulties of the problem lies in the fact that the traffic is carried on by men of different nationalities, and that no single government has the power of preventing or even controlling the traffic. All that can be done in the meantime seems to be to collect and disseminate information on the subject, in the hope that a plain narrative of facts will lead to such a rousing of the conscience of the Christian Church, and such an awakening of the European and American powers to the gravity of the question as will issue in combined and energetic action lor the suppression of a traffic that is a disgrace alike to our Christianity and our civilization.
"In dealing with the subject, it is extremely desirable that we separate the case of the native races of India from that of the native races of Africa and of other parts of the world. Not that there is no room for earnest action in regard to India, but because the cases are in many respects so widely different that what is true of the one is by no means always, or in the same sense, true of the other. Confining our attention, then, just now to Africa, what are the facts with which we are confronted? Briefly these, that British, German, French and American traders are pouring alcohol into the Dark Continent in such quantities and in such forms as to produce the most disastrous results, not only on the moral and spiritual condition of the natives, but even on their physical and commercial interests-that, in fact, as has been said by an eminent traveler, 'the great continent of Africa is being ruined by rum.' One or two facts will make the meaning of this statement clear.
" It is a well-known and admitted fact that native races cannot partake of alcohol in its European forms without sinking into a state of decay and degradation. Men sometimes speak as if the decay of the native races was a. necessary consequence of the advance of civilization. But clearly there is nothing in civilization to account for such decay. Sir John Thurston, Assistant High Commissioner in the Western Pacific, states the case tersely and truly when, repudiating such an idea as regards the natives of these islands, he says, 'Arms, gunpowder and alcohol are the solvents under which native life disappears.' And yet, in the face of this fact of the total inability of these native races to survive the introduction of this agent, there is carried on at this moment by professedly Christian men an enormous trade in alcohol in its most destructive forms. The merchants of Mauritius senttheir refuse rum, which was worthless in any other market, to the recently-converted island of Madagascar, and, despite the entreaties of rulers and people, forced upon them a trade which has done much to nullify the work of Christian mIssionaries for many years. It is the same on the West Coast of Africa. As the Archbishop of Canterbury said lately in the House of Lords, 'There is a trade rum and a trade gin which aret neither more nor less than liquid fire, mere poison, which destroy in a very short time the men and women who consume it, and they consume it without stint.' So deadly is it that among the natives, we are told, some of it goes by the name of death! And this, which ruins body and soul, imported by men who are members of our churches and subscribers to our missions I It is perhaps not to be wondered a.t that men who are destitute alike of principle and humanity should yield to the temptation to engage in so nefarious a traffic when 700 per cent. can be gained by it. But surely the Christian Church should protest in the strongest possible manner against a traffic which is a Q,isgrace to Christendoml "But the evils of the traffic consist not only in the character of the spirit that is imported, and its general effects upon the native population. It is only when certain testimony which has recently come to hand is carefully considered and weighed, that the full extent of the evil can be at all appreciated. The Rev. Horace Waller, F.R.G.S., not only says that 'the degradation of the wretched tribes of West Africa has reached a depth which is appalling,' but testifies to his having seen hundreds of native girls lying in a 'state of intoxication round the wagons of the spirit-sellers. And that his is no exceptional experience appears from the testimony of others no less trustworthy. Dr. Clarke, speaking of South Africa, saysthat he has seen thousands of girls lying drunk round the traders' wagons. And Mr. Moil', of the African Lakes Trading Company, writes, 'I have seen boys and girls of fourteen and fifteen getting their wages in rum.' In fact, there ar~ parts of the country in which there is practically no other currency. Let the church consider such .appalling facts as these, and then say whether it is possible that Christian mission work should be successful when all this shame and degradation and ruin is connected in the native mind with the Christian name. ' The time has surely come,' in the words of Mr. Joseph Thomson, the great traveler, 'when, in the interests of our national honor, more energetic efforts should be made to suppress this diabolical traffic. There can be no excuse for its continuance, and it is a blot on Christian civilization.'
"One of the most pathetic circumstances connected with the whole subject is to be found in the pitiful appeals which come to us from the natives them- selves. Sensible of their weakness, they have appealed again atld again to the Christian people of this country and the governments of Europe to pro- tect them from a temptation they feel powerless to resist. Quotations from such appeals could be given to a large extent, but space will not permit.
THB HBRO-MISSIONARY. • I!i9'l
'There has broken out, I Mr. Waller tells us, 'not only in one or two,but ';'n several densely populated tracts of Africa, an intense desire to shake off the drunkenness which has arisen as a contact with civilization.' 'Why,' asks the Rev. Mr. Johnson, the able native pastor of Lagos (into which small island, with a population of 37,000, Europe imports 1,231,302 gallons of spirits, 1,205,160 gallons of which are' trade rum' and' trade gin,' described above) -' why should European proximity to Aflica be Africa's ruin?' Archdeacon Farrar, in a powerfully written article in the Oontemporary Review (now reprinted in pamphlet form), tells us that in 1883 the natives of the diamond fields implored the Cape Parliament to have public houses removed from them for a distance of six miles, and that their petition was refused. Strange that the cry of weakness and helplessness should be so shamefully disregarded, and that nations that stand in the forefront of civilization and missionary effort should turn away from such appeals, and force upon unwilling peoples that which is working their complete destruction I "Hitherto, our own special mission field at Blantyre has escaped the blighting curse that has fallen on other parts of Africa. But we should realize the fact that if, through any of these changes which are always possible in an unsettled country, drink should be introduced among the native population there, our mission may be wrecked, and the labor of years wholly lost.
"It is earnestly to be hoped that measures will speedily be taken to deal practically with the facts now set forth. There is no lack of facts to prove the greatness of the scandal. The difficulty is to get the citizens of this country, the men in power in the State, and even the Christian people in our churches to look them in the face, I trust therefore that the Church of Scotland will take her place among the other branches of the Christian Church and throw herself heartily into a cause with which is so closely bound up the success of her missions and the progress of the cause of Christ."
THE HERO-MISSIONARY.
BY ROBERT NEEDHAM CUST, LL.D.
[We are Indebted to the distinguished anthor for an early copy of this remarkable address, delivered In Henry Martyn Hall, to nndergradnates of the University of Cambridge. The part we here present gives ns pen portraits of three heroic missionaries of world-wide fame. The latter part oCthe address sketches graphically the Heroic Missionary Society, taking as his type the MoraVian Church. We hope to give that In our next number.-EDs.] As a member of the Committee of the Church Missionary Society, I am not likely to undervalue the plodding day by day, and year by year, of the simplehearted missionary, who, like Rebman and Krapf atMombasa, in East Africa, and William Smith and Leupolt at Banaras, worked on from year to year, and only left the scene of their quiet labors when failing powers compelled them to do so. Such uneventful Ii ves do not strike the imagination so much as that of the hero-missionary, whose career is short, but brilliant: it may seem unjust, but it is so always; tho bravo man who leads the forlorn hope, or gains the Victoria Cross by risL:nc hi/: life, obtains a niche, and his career is an incentive to others: the faithful old soldier has nothing but the feeling of duty done to reward him, and the thought of him will not rouse others to deeds of valor.
My subject is the Hero-Missionary and Heroic Missionary Society. It is hard that the man must die to be deemed a hero, but so it has been at all times from the days of Achilles to our own times. Death throws a halo round the departed one. Some examples have been brighter in death than in life; it is another illustration of our Lord's remark about the corn of wheat, "If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." I have selected three great characters, Allen Gardiner, .Coleridge Patteson and John Williatns, as types of the hero- missionary, and the lf:oravian Missionary Society as the type of the heroic mission.
ALLEN GARDINER-THE PIONEER MISSIONARY.
Life is such a tangled web that it is only as he a.pproaches the end of his career that the worker can see the pattern of the web at which he has been working all his days. He has had only one portion of the pattern exposed to his view, but he has been permitted to work at that faithfully and patiently, though it may be only a leaf or a flower, and he is able to do it truly, strongly and firmly; but the hero-missionary seems in his youth, or in the early part of his career, to have grasped at some purpose unseen to all but himself; he wishes to accomplish something which the world will not let die; a.nd to some few this is granted. In others the one only life which the worker had to offer is not sufficient; but the Master accepts the will for the deed, as young McCall said on his early deathbed, "If the Lord's will be to take my- self, and not the work which I would do for Him, His holy will be done." 'Ov 01 eeOI tplAoV(fl, !JvrJU/coVUIV VeOl.
Heroes, being men of marked character, are deemed by the vulgar herd to be eccentric: their very superiority prevents their being duly estimated. The circumstance of their death shakes weak faith, but the true Christian through death to life sees clearly how God of seeming evil works lasting good. To die for one's country is a great gain; to die for one's Saviour, to fill up what remains of His sufferings, is sweeter. Such was the life of AHen Gardiner: no doubt he was thought to be an enthusiast, and crazed, and a bore; butthe opinion is now changed. His story is simple: he was an officer of the navy who lost his young wife early. He thus went per crucem ad lucem, and thenceforth consecrated himself to the missionary service heart and soul, and he kept his vow: to be a pioneer missionary to the most abandoned heathen was the great object of his life. He was neither qualified for ordinary mis- sionary work nor would it have satisfied him to have reaped the harvest which others had sowed. His was a harder and more thankless task, but none the less blessed.
He tried many countries, but found no opening; his missionary spirit, like a dove let loose from home, wandered about seeking a place of rest. At length he definitely chose South America as his field; he was prevented by the Roman Catholic priests from settling among the wild tribes on the continent.
He found at length a spot where even the Spanish priests would not care to follow him, at the most southerly point of the island, separated from the mainland by the Straits of Magellan, within a small distance of the Antarctic Circle, the Island of Terra del Fuego.
The possibilities of the human family are not to be found in one single race, or at'one particular epoch, or in one region of the world. Grace is sufficient for them all, and the missionary, who brought captive to the feet of his Mas- ter the poor Eskimo, the halI-brutal Fuegian, the cannibal of Melanesia, oJ.' the short, stunted races of Australia, glorifies his Saviour by showi~g that the gospel message was designed for all, can be understood by all, that Christ died for all, and that there is no other way of salvation but through Him. The message is so divine, and yet so clothed in ulfiversal humanity, that it finds its way to the spiritual necessities of all, and satisfies the heart's cravings. The student of missionary chronicles has added this new weapon to the armory of the theologian. Darwin, one of the gentlest and wisest of heathens (for he that is least of the kingdom of heaven is greater than him), when he saw the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, declared that their intenect~ ual improvement was beyond the efforts of man; but he lived to replace that hasty opinion by the following: "The lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand."
Both nature and man were against Gardiner: the climate rendered the country most dreary and inhospitable: the sky rarely cleared: rainy squalls in summer alternated with the snow and sleet of winter: the winds were ferocious. The people belonged to the Patagonian race, of a dark color, with long black hair: they had low foreheads, flat and thick noses, scanty clothing, wretched habitations, and they were arrant thieves, cruel, and, when brought to bay, furious wild beasts: the women possessed some traces of gentleness, but were treated as slaves. Gardiner's first attempt to land and house himself on land was a failure: the conduct of the natives was such that he had to retreat and return to England. NothingJlaunted, he determined to have a floating home, and to keep his reserve stores at the Falkland Islands. He could not collect sufficient funds to buy a suitable vessel, so he supplied himself with two decked boats: two catechists and three pious sailors accompanied him. The Ocean Queen steamer deposited the boats and men with provisions for six months at Banner Bay in Terra del Fuego: they had given up all the ties of home for Christ's sake, but they were called upon to make a greater sacrifice, even of their lives, and none of them were ever seen alive again. It reconciles us to our common humanity, that men are always found, when the cause of Christ requires it, to face the greatest danger at His bidding. These men all died of starvation, Allen Gardiner being the last survivor. When, months later, the frigate, sent out to make inquiries, arrived, their dead bodies were found, and their journals and letters: one by one they had died, but there was no despair, 110 imputation of blame to others: "Poor, weak though we are, our abode is a very Bethel to our souls, for we feel and know that God is here." " Asleep or awake, I am happy beyond the power of expression." Allen Gardiner penned a farewell letter, expressing his unclouded joy in the Lord, his perfect resignation to His holy will, but eamestly imploring that the mission should not be abandoned, and sketching out a plan for future operations, which was acted upon. In his death he antICipated the coming of this Master's kingdom. He rejoiced to see the day-dawn of the gospel: he saw it, and was glad. His last words were, "Great and marvelous are the loving-kindnesses of my gracious God unto me. He has preserved me hitherto, and for four days, although without bodily food, without any feeling of hunger or thirst!" Here the journal ends: but one letter was dated a day later: "Yet a little while, and through grace we may join that blessed throng, to sing the praises of Christ to all eternity. I neither hunger nor thirst, though five days without food: marvelous loving-kindness to me a sinner!"
I remember the news of this sad tragedy reaching India in 1852, and many a sigh was wafted from India to the South Pole. His life was not given in vain: the pioneer's work was done: and the Lone-Star Mission was estab- iished, which has worked northwards intQ the mainland of South America, and is now spreading itself among the heathens of Paraguay. Bread cast on the waters is found after many days.
'Humanly speaking, but for Allen Gardiner's determination, and the interest excited by the sad end of himself and his noble companions, this footing would never have been made good. When nations and tongues are assembled beforE. the great white throne, Allen Gardiner will be there with his savages: "Lord I behold, with the talent, which Thou gavest me, I have gatheIed these poor sheep into Thy fold I" * BISHOP COLERIDGE PATTESON.
Differing in everything-in method, in gifts, in training, in result, but with the same spirit, that of lowly and entire self-sacrifice, was the career of Coleridge Patteson, Bishop of the Islands of Melanesia, which lie 120Q to the West, and in a more northern latitude. I knew Patteson as a boy at Eton, and he had the advantage of a University education, and I well remember Bishop Selwyn the elder going out as Bishop of New Zealand. He also wal:' of the hero type, strong, brave, wise and determined: he had established. the mission in the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands, and he chose Coleridge Patteson to be his coadjutor and his successor: there is something sad and solemn in the details of the selection of the lad by the bishop, and the surrender of him by the parents: the mother, like Hannah, consecrated her son to the Lord, and the grand old father made the great sacrifice of his eldest boy, for he never saw his face again. How foolish, and even wicked, seem the efforts of parents to retain their children whea the Lord has unmistakably chosen and called them I Every act of this beautiful life stands out in the pages of his biography: whether in his solitary ~hip cabin, or lonely hut, he was a great writer of letters, and they tell us unconsciously of his exalted character. He had no settled home, but .he had a settled plan, devised by Bishop Selwyn, and worked out by himself. He had to deal with a black, woolly.ifmired Negrito race, savage, inhospitable, cannibals, not so low down in the scale of humanity as the natives of Terra del Fuego, for they possessed some arts. and they spoke numerous distinct languages. The training-school on Norfolk Island, the mission ship taking up and putting down lads at the different islands, thus accustoming the people to his presence, acquiring a knowledge of their languages, and creating a confidence in his kindness: these were his methods. As his blessed ship passed from island to island, it left a track of light, of mercy, and loving-kindness. and his plans seem to be realizing. We read in his journal: " I think of the i~lands, and see them in my dreams, and it seems as if nothing bad been done; lint, when I think of what they were a very short time ago, oh t I do feel thankful indeed, and amazed, and almost fearful."
He was so far more blessed than Allen Gardiner, for he saw some fruits of his labors: brighter prospects of more fruit: the harvest was ripening: laborers, both European and native, were gathering around him: the time for putting in the sickle was at hand.
"Hundreds of people are crowding together, naked, armed, with uncouth cries and gestures. I cannot talk to them but by signs: lmt they are my children tuno. May God enable me to do my duty by them I "
The great Controller of the lives of men had provided him fellow-laborers from an unexpected quarter: lads whom he found on Norfolk Island, descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty, who, having married native women of Tahiti, left to their offspring a legacy of the blood of Europe and Ogeania united in their veins in.a mixed stream; these lads were endowed with singular sweetness of character and ardent faith. Two were killed by poisoned arrows during the lifetime of the bishop: one died with him. It is well known that the bishop was killed at the Island of Nikapu: I need not tell the sad story: he died for the sins of others, so closely did he tread in the * Story of Allen Gardiner (7th edition), Marsh & Stirling, 1887. steps of his Master: a boat floated qut containing his body with a palm branch laid upon the five wounds: and at the age of 46 his warfare was accomplished, his hero life was ended. The poor lad, however, lingered a few days in in- tense agony under his. wounds, and made tlfe following remarks. when he saw his leader's body, showing the spirit which had been imparted to him by his contact with a hero• .. Seeing people taken away when we think that they are most necessary to do God's work on earth makes me think that we often think and talk too much about Christian work: what God requirea is Ohristian men. He does not need the work: He only gives it to form a perfect charaeof the men, whom he sends to do it."
.. It is all right now. Do not grieve about it, because they did not do this thing of themselves,for God aUowed them to do it. It is very good, because God would have it so, and because He looks after us, and He understands abont us, and now He wille to take away us two (me and the bishop), and it is well…
The poor lad's knowledge of the world was limited to Pitcairn Island and Norfolk Island. His faith had not been weakened in the schools of learning.
The bishop had by his own hero life brought Christ home vividly to his im- agination, and in his simple eloquence, with dying lips, the poor lad sought to palliate the offenses of the ignorant savages, who had killed him in re- venge for the wrongs which they had suffered at the hands of others, and to justify the ways of God to man. Who can say that Coleridge Patteson lived and died in vain? If you seek his monument, read the annals of the ever-ex- panding Melanesian Mission, spreading from tribe to tribe, and from island to island.* JOHN WILLIAMS.
John Williams belonged to an earlier generation. He had accomplished his course while Patteson was an Eton boy, before Allen Gardiner had conceived his great idea. He was indeed an ajla~ ILVopi:w, and seems to have been specially brought upon the scene by a wise Providence at a moment when his peculiar gifts were required. Oh! if we could only un- derstand, and be satisfied, that we are all of us but pots in the hands of the potter, made suitable for the work which is laid upon us! Williams' educa- tion, intellectually and even religiously, had been very defective: the hour of his call came at the appointed time: as he was going to a tavern to meet worldly companions, he was overtaken by a lady in the streets, who persua- ded him to accompany her to a place of worship, and this chance event was the commencement of his great change of life: he had energy of character, strength of faith, ardent desire to preach the gospel, and a wonderful power of conciliation: he could moreover turn his hand to anything in the smithy, or carpenter's shop: he proved his capacity to build a seaworthy vessel: he could saw timber, or teach in a school: his object was to rouse the people to the duty of introducing new arts and reasonable requirements, Such was the man who was sent out to preach the gospel in the Island of Tahiti in 1816; early in his career he wrote to his mother, that he prayed that he might be faithful unto death, and his prayer was heard, for it was so : he had a heart too large to wish to keep the duty of evangelizing the vast region of Oceania to one denomination of Christians: he invited all the churches of Protestant Christianity to take tHeir part in the holy crusade.
Early in his career he conceived the idea of evangelizing the whole region, and he lived to see great progress in carrying it out. His plans were bold and original, but always practical, and which would work. There was noth- ing in him Utopian, sentimental or illusory, and success crowned all his en- deavors, though he did not live to see it, and half a century's experience has * Life of Bishop Patteson (2 vols.), Yonge, 1875. confirmed the justice of his views. He could not rest satisfied with the tiny . populations of Raiatea and Rarotonga (of which island he was the first discoverer): the fervor of his spirit led him to desire, in spite of the inadequacy of his means, to go on from island to island, and plant a living Christianity; for he formed and carried out the bold conception of training converted heathen to become teachers and evangelists in other heathen islands, a truly divine method, and blessed beyond his utmost dreams. It seems almost fabulous, if subsequent years had not proved the reality. He came, he saw he conquered: like a giant he strode over leagues of sea, and anticipated difficulties seemed to vanish before him.
There was no steamers then, and few sailing vessels; but he built his own, the "Messenger of Peace," and he dauntlessly navigated the vast realm of Oceania, dotted with many hundred isles; in the last year of his life his exertions in England enabled him to provide a better and larger vessel, and the steam missionary ship has long superseded his slow means of progress. After his return from England in 1838, he made his first attempt to evangelize the black races in the New Hebrides: he landed with success in 1839 on the Islands of Futuna and Tanna: on the Island of Erromanga he was killed and devoured by those whom he came to save and bless. The last words in his journal before he started on this fatal voyage were, "None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I finish my course with joy. and the message which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of His grace." The last sentence written by him ~m the preceding evening was, "This a memorable day," and almost his last words, "Oh, how much depends upon to-morrow! "
The darkness which for a time shrouded Erromanga was like the darkness before day, the precedeI' of an exceeding light, which has overshadowed the New Hebrides. John Williams had been unwilling to build on another's foundation, for he was a pioneer, and the settled desire of his soul was to preach the gospel in regions beyond, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to his hand; but he paved the way for others. It is a wonder that he had been spared so long from fever, shipwreck, the poisoned arrow, or accident by land and water; for 23 years he had been permitted to carryon his work, his blessed work, the beginning and continuation and end- Ing of which had been predestinated at his birth: if he died. at the age of 43 he had accomplished a work left undone since the beginning of time, the linking of these scattered islands together in one blessed chain. Love to his Saviour and the souls of men, faith in the veracity of the divine promise as to the universal diffusion of the gospel, conviction that the gospel was suited to and intended for the wants of the most debased of mankind, and the only cure of human ills: these were the great principles of this hero-missionary.
John Williams is described as having no personal interests apart from his people. A missionary who is unable to identify himself with the people among whom he labors cannot under any circumstances be an efficient laborer, and if he has any other object in view but thus to identify himself, he has mistaken his vocation. A man who never allows himself to forget that the people are not his equals according to his European notions, though in the sight of God they are in very deed his equals: who cannot ov('rlook the fact that they are rude, noisy, naked, and in some outward matters even offensive; who cannot admit them at aU times into his own simple ha.bita.- tion, but treats them as if they were servants, and confines his intercourse with them to the hours of his public duty: such a man is destitute of the one great qualification of a hero-missionary; such a man will not bring souls to
BRIEF NOTES ON BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER
Christ; his name will not sound stirring in the legends of the converted tribe; he will not be hailed as a father on his return, and wept for as a father when he dies; the mention of his name will not stay the attacks of wild heathen tribes, as it is reported in the biography of John Williams that they spared a village for his sake.
The Hero-Missionary, with' his supernaturally enlarged and enlightened powers of vision, looks over the barriers which limit the view of the less gifted. He admits, indeed, that segregation from the civilized world, want of opportunity, a different climate, a difference of race, an absence of culture have made men differel'lt, but not necessarily inferior; he recognizes the innate weaknesses of every son of Adam, which, if uncontrolled, turn men into devils, and the germs of innate goodness, which exist in all, and which, if developed by the touch of the Holy Spirit, can transform some, whether their skins be white, black, yellow or red, into angels. It has shocked me to hear how some missionaries speak even of their own flocks. As regards the people of North India, who are of our own Aryan bone, I can certify that they are good and loveable; and in myoId age I have learnt to love and esteem and honor men of pure negro race, who appear in some matters to be even of a higher type than my own countrymen. No doubt St. Paul was of the highest type of gentleman and scholar of his period; yet we find in his writings no assertion of a superiority over his converts, some of whom were slaves, and yet dear brothers: we find in him, though aHebrew of the Hebrews and a Roman citizen, no assertion of caste over the Galatians. Ae came in contact with all men-of Europe, Asia and Africa, Jew and Greek and Roman, bondmen and free-but none were to him common and unclean. Alas, how far below this standard many of our missionaries fall! * BRIEF NOTES ON BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER.
PM Life Qf William Carey, D.D. By George Smith, LL.D., author of the "Life of Duff,I, and "Life of Wilson," etc. London: John Murray. Svo, pp. 389. With portrait and illustrations.
Weare indebted to the distinguished author for this beautiful volume, which contains beyond all question the first and only complete biography of this world-renowned missionary. As we propose at an early day to pay our respects to this intensely interesting and instructive and grandly written work at considerable length, we simply now chronicle its appearance and express our unfeigned pleasure in reading it. The missionary world could afford to wait nearly sixty years to get a memoir of William Carey so complete and satisfactory in all respects as the present one is. At his death, in 1834, Dr. Marshman agreed to write the life of his great colleague, but he died too soon after Carey to begin the task. Several biographies have been written before the present one, but they are all very incomplete, and on many accounts unsatisfactory. The author of this noble volume went to Serampore less than a score of years after the great missionary's death, and there as editor of the Friend of India, came to know the work done by him for India and for Christendom, and collected there, on the very theater of Carey's long services, the materials, out of which, with those gathered from other sources, he has wrought this finished and skilfully constructed biography, which deserves to rank, and will rank, among the foremost in the annalsof the missionary world.-J. M. S.
Medical MisBiCJn8: Thdr Place 'Und Pwer. By John Lowe, F. R. C. S.E. London: F1l1her Unwin. 12mo, pp. 392.
The high value of medical missions in saving the world is rapidly growing * Life of John Williams. Prout, 1848. in the public estimate. This book contains an exhaustive account of the benefits that accrue from the use of the medical art as a Christian agency.
Mr. Lowe is eminently qualified to write on this subject, having himself been so long engaged in the same field. Some may think that medical work is too strongly insisted upon by him as a necessity to missionary success; but, bating possibly a little excess of enthusiasm for the grand work which has engaged the labor of his life, we may, on the whole, accept his conclusions as sound, and commend his book as timely and important.-J. M. S.
Ro1Jert MorrlBon. By Wllliam John Townsend, General Secretary of the Methodist New Connex- Ion Missionsry Society. London: Partridge & 00. l2lno, pp. 160.
This neat little volume gives a pleasing memoir of the first Protestant missionary to China. It is evidently prepared with care and discretion, and will be read with interest. The opening of China to Christianity and to western civilization, and the interest felt in the evangelization of that great kingdom, makes this a favorable time to issue such a work, specially adapted to interest the young in our churches and Sunday-schools.-J. M. S.
A lIlimp86 at Indian JIi88ion-lI'ielll and Leper Aqylu11I8. By Wellesley O. Bailey. London: Shsw & 00. 12mo, pp. 188.
The author of this interesting volume is Secretary to the Mission to Lepers in India, and he here gives an account of a journey made on behalf of this afflicted class in 1886-87. It is hoped that its publication will awaken a greater interest in their spiritual and temporal welfare. It is sold for the benefit of the lepers. The book is of general interest, as it touches upon the work of twenty of the leading missionary societies of the world.-J. M. S.
27Ie Life qf DaVid Livtng8fJ0n8. By Mrs. J. H. Worcester, Sr.
The Life qf Hen1'1/ Martyn. By Mrs. Sarah J. Rhea.
The Woman's Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions (Chicago) has added th~se abridged memoirs to its series of "missionary annals." The series is an admirable one. Theyare gotten up well, and sold for 30 cents each in cloth; paper, 18 cents.-J. M. S.
m'mp868 qf Maori-Land. By Annie R. Butler. Price, $1.25.
Kem and 8aigiroj or, Lights and Shades of Lile in Japan. By Mrs. J. D. Oarrothers. Sl.50.
The American Tract Society publishes both these volumes. They are well written and illustrated. They are adapted to create a lively interest in missions on the part of the young. They form part of a Series.
Alden's Manifold, (Jyclopedia is a new departure in book-making. It is a small, compact duodecimo, which aims to combine the advantages of an encyc/Qpedia, a biographical dictiona1'1/ and a leIricon. Five volumes are issued and twenty·five more are to come. And Mr. Alden offers the complete set at $8.35 paid in advance, or 4() cents per volume in cloth, 55 cents in hslf morocco.
We are glad to call attention to this remarkably comprehensive, complete and unique production. It is valuable in the line of missionary biography, etc. For example, in the first volume is a short but very complete article on Abyssinia, Afghanistan, Africa, Alaska, Albigenses, America, etc., full of valuable information relative to home and foreign missions. In subsequent volumes we find other articles on Brainerd, Boer, Bogermann, Bogomili, Bohemia, Bombay, Katherina Von Bora, Boro-Buddor, Borromeo, Brahma, Brahmasomaj, Bible, Bible Society. Having had occasion frequently to consult the volumes now out, we say unhesitatingly that single articles on missionary themes have proved worth the price of the work, not to refer to the wider range of topics pertaining to generalliterature.-A. T. P.
Proceedings 01 86C(}f1,(j Convention of Christian Workers in the United 8tate8 and Canada. Held in Broadway Tabernacle, N. Y. Olty, Sept. 21~, 1887. 60 cts., two copies, SI. Rev. J. O. Collins. New Haven, Oonn.
Such is the title of a pamphlet of some 300 pages full of suggestlons for all
OORRESPONDENOE AND GENERAL
true millsionary workers at home and abroad. It Covers all great qnestions of evangelistic activity. The paper by Dr. Beard on the McAll missions is invaluable. But this is only a specimen of the careful, often exhaustive, essays and addresses which are packed into this closely printed pamphlet.-A. T. P.
The Biblical IlluBtrator. By Rev. J. S. Exell, A.M. New York: Randolph,& Co.
'Though not directly a missionary volume, this work will be found to stimulate every form of missionary work. It is a book of rich stores of analyses of Scripture, with illustrations, anecdotes, similes, emblems, gathered from a wide range of reading. We have examined it with care and delight. It will be a help to any Bible student. How far it may help in preparing missionary sermons and addresses may be seen by consulting this abundant storehouse of truth and fact, under such texts as the following: Matt. ix: 36-38; x: 1-16; xxviii: 18-20, etc. This volume is confined t~ Matthew. We hope others will follow, equally deserving to be called mines of gold.-A. T. P.
H.-CORRESPONDENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
Ohina. the college the necesSity of increased contribu- tions, in order to provide the necessary buildings LETTER from Dr. Rapper, President as soon as possible. I hope that those who have the matter under consideration will decide imof the Christian College, China: mealately and send their contributions to the treasurer of the Board of Foreign Missions of CANTON, Apri12, 1888. the Presbyterian Church, who will forward DEAR MESSRS. EDiTORS.-I am much obliged them to me. In the January REVIEW there apto you for the favorable reference vou made peared an item copied from the NO'ftk (Jhina in the Febrnary number of THE REVIEW to New., stating that some benevolent gentlemen the effort to establish a Christian College in the United States had subscribed $300,000 for in China. You and your readers will be inter- the establishment of a university at Nankin. ested to know that some classes have been This was a misstatement. Some one wrltliig annonnced in a rented building. They com- from Tientsin to the NO'ftk (Jhina New. made menced on the 28th March. I have received the mistake. He changed the fact, which was thirty pupils out of some eighty applicants. that I desired to secure $300,000 for a Christian The number of applicants would have been college, into the statement that some.one had greater, but that it was known that only a few given the $300,000. I will be very thankful inconld be received, and none under sixteen years deed if some Christian givers will make this of age. Of these six are Christian young men SUlD an accomplished subscription, and thus who have returned from the Sunday-schools for secure the establishment of a well-equipped and Chinese in America. Two of them are sons of thoroughly furnished institution. It is hard to native pastors in the Ningpo Presbytery, who conceive any other way in which such a sum of wish to get a college education. They are Chris- money would accomplish a greater Christian and tians. One has passed through the Presbyterial educational work than by establishing a Chris- Academy, and the other has nearly completed the tian college among the 300 mUlions of China. COurse in it. And five others are sons of Christian parents here in Canton. These, I trust, will Yours in Christian work, give a Christian infiuence among the students. _ A. P. HAPP:rm. The fact that only thirty could be received when there were eighty applicants shows very impres- LETTER from Rev. Gilbert Reid: sively how desirable it is that the college buildings should be erected as soon as possible. It PEKING, March 14, 1888. is very desirable that the bmlding shonld be DEAR EDITORB.-I havejust received the first ready for use in January, 1889, at which time of number of the Dew series of THE MISSIONARY year students will be making their educational REvmw. I am delighted with the whole arrangearrangements for that year. ment. Nota8ect, but the (Jhurchistoappearbe- fore us. Progress is the watchword. Good for the I am using efforts to secure suitable grounds people at home, and good also for us missionaries. as soon as possible. The asking price for desir- Some such medlUlD is needed for the growing able sites range from $500 au acre to $1,000, ac- work everywhere, and I hope that soon China cording to location near the city. As we need may appear like Japan as the land of urgency in twenty acres, the cost of the ground will take a evangelizing. To one who catches the spirit ot cousiderable out of the estimated sum of $50,- the people, and especially the government of 000 for grounds and buildings. As the sum al- China, great things are already in sight. Educaready secured is not snfilcient to purchase that tion is the opening wedge-an education in Westamount of ground, it presents to the friends of em studies, but not to iguore Chinese knowl- power. When in clistre!ls, the Mohammedan cries: "AUahu akbarn I" [AUah is great] edge; an education aa far as possible on Ohi- which means: "I have to submit, thoug" I am like a stone in the hand of a mason. AUah nese lines, but not necessarily to the separation knows it best: it is His will. What will we do against it ,,,' of Christianity. What we need for China are Now, is not such teaching antagonistic to the educated men imbued with the Christian spirit, Christian's faith' Does not the Christian love a Father, a Preserver, who is tender and carefnl r and living the Christian life, who know how to He trusts himself also to the superintendence of the Almighty; but this Almighty God is not give tkem8e1ve8 to China and educate the nation bound by fate, his law is principled in tbe love for His children, in order to give them eternal to the true paths of wisdom. Such men wonld bliss. He sent His only Son, that men might be united to this Son by faith, and by means of Him be countenanced by the government; and if obtain an eternal inheritance in heaven.
such do not appear at the call of duty. men of In a few words, the contrasts of Mohammed- anism and Christianity may be described thus: skeptical teaching will not be lacking at the Allah: a king with a heart uninfiexible, man his slave; God: a Father in heaven, man His call of interest or fame. GILBERT REID. child. Islam: the state of being subdued; Ohristianity: eternal love. As for our Lord Holland. Jesus Christ; though reckoned in Koran among the prophets which brought new laws or dis- LETTER from Rev. W. D. Schuur- pensations: i. "e., Adam, Noah," Abraham, mans: Moses, Jesus and Mohammed; only two of HAARLElIf, May 18, 1888. these prophets are held in high esteem and men- tioned with reverence, namely Abraham (or DEAR EDITORS.-As I did not receive the Ibrahim) and Mohammed. The first has founded February number of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW the trne faith, i. e., Islam, and the last has af- firmed it and propagated it with vigor and ('n- OF THE WORLD till May 11, I conld not earlier ergy everywhere. The prophet has subdued every one who wonld not accept the Islam; he take notice of what had been said by Canon is a conqueror with a sword in his hand; he has been triumphant in all places, therefore he is Isaac Taylor about" The Progress of Islam." called Mohammed * the praiseworthy. Jesus is also called a "nabi" (prophet), but he wa.s a After reading the article, I wondered how such weak person. He was revealed the .. Indjil " (gospel). but he had no power to propagate it. a lea~ned man should be so little acqnainted Only twelve persons "al Hawaryuna" (the Apos- tles) believed in Him. That the Moslems regard with Islam itself and the manner of its spreading onr Lord" as a perfect pattern of humanlty," I never heard; ou the contrary, there is a legend in the different parts of the world as to proclaim accepted as a trne narrative or statement by many Mohammedans, that relates, "When the the .. Faith of the Prophet" to be "a stepping- Jews had the intention to seize our Lord their eyes were blinded by Allah; in consequence of stone from heathenism to Christianity," and "that it they seized another person, who thus W88 crn- cified. Jesus was taken away by Aliah, who its teachings and methods might well be adopted placed him in a country and invested him with kingly power. Soon afterwards he became so by the promoters of Christianity." proud that he pronounced himself to be Allah. For this crime he was severely punished. After In consequence of the Canon's assertion, as be- receiving forgiveness he stirred up an insurrec- tion against Allah, and invited his grandson, Wa ing not in accordance with what I myself have Djudja (Dju dja wa Madjuj Gog and Magog), to join him. Now Mohammed was sent to subdue seen and read, I feel urged to write a few lines Nabi Isa (the prophet Jesus), and to be his suc- cessor." According to the opinion generally reabout" Islam and its progress," which I offer ceived Jesus stands in rank to Mohammed like a servant to his master. Even at the last day, you for your REVIEW. when every man will be rewarded or punished as his deeds were good or bad, Mohammed will For mauy years I lived in a Mohammedan *Mohammed-laudatus, a verbo hamlda -laucountry (Java), and dally had familiar inter- davit. course with Mohammedans of every rank, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, young and old.
I have studied the Koran, especially the relig- ious precepts, the religious tracts or catechisms, that are used in priest-schools, and in this way I came to the following couclusion: The Moham- medans have their Allab, the Most High, who dwells in gloom aud finstemiss, far from men.
He is a great king, who rnles by the Book of Fate,* which is the law of his kingdom. He is called the mercifnl, notwithstanding a man is judged according to his deeds; these are weighed, and when the bad deeds are more or heavier than the good ones, be it a dzarat (atom), then he is doomed to hell. The Lord Himself does not interfere with His human ,creatures; like a king, He has His messengers, His angels, that have revealed His will to His favorite Mo- hammed, who has written down this revelation in the Koran, in order to be a dahUl (guide) for all men. The Lord is great, He may do what He likes j man ought to trust himself to His *See Sale's translation of the Koran, chap xcvii. and the notes: also the French transla: tion of Kasimersky, same chapter. The Arabian word Kadr and its derivations have in most cases the meaning of Fatum. What I call the Book qf Fate is meant by Sale as "the preserved table by God'8 tl/,rone ." receive knowledge of the ultimate !'ate of men, curslons to get slaves; even anows a man to and M will command Isa to act as his servantexecutioner ; M will give to Isa the keys of make his wife his slave, whom he may buy and heaven and hell in order to bring into his place every man according to his deserts. Iss, there- get rid of at his pleasure. Islam ftatters the fore, will act as doorkeeper of Mohammed. Every Mohammedan I me~ with had the opinion convert with a paradise where he may enjoy that the Nab! Isa has made himself Allah, and though they did not dare openly accuse him of such pleasures as are desired by a sensual man. blasphemy in the presence of a," white man" (a Christian), I often heard them do so when in And last, though not least, Islam inspires hate familiar intercourse with their fellow-countrymen that embrace the same religion. against .. white men "-Christians, European How then can it be Baid that the Moslem re- and American, the conquering race. The Mogards our Lord Jesus as a perfect pattern of humanity' hammedan missionary persuades the black, Moreover, though according to Islam man's brown or yellow nations not to be Christians, blessing or eternal doom is written in the Book of Fate; notwithstanding every one is obliged lest they will be subdued in a political sense by to work out his own salvation, especially by means of prayer or spending alms. The Mos- those" Kafirs" (infidels), those" dogs," those lem has no SaviO'llr who has died for him; he cannot become a new creature because he does robbers, who come with their religion. feigning not know anything of a Spirit of Life who will work in him eternal life. He does not man's salvation, but really with the intention of have either medium or mediator, by whom he can get into commnnion with our Father in taking possession of his life and his conntry. heaven. How then can it, be said that in the Koran or in Mohammed,anism are" undeveloped The Arabians and their missionaries invite the seeds of Christian truth." The seeds in the Koran when developed cannot but separate men heathen to join the ranks of their Prophet in orfrom God, as Islam separates man from man when not having the same opinion in matters of der to form one vast standing army to fight in rellgion_ Islam is very unlike Christianity, as it preaches subjugation (literally) to all who will the Holy War to conquer the" Nazarani "(Chrisnot embrace its faith. As the gospel bids ns to love all men, even our enemies, Islam proclaims tlans)_ the holy war against the Ka1l.rs, the infidels. The follower of Mohammed subdues every These things may account for the" rapid progheathen Or Christian (when it is in his power) by the sword; the disciples of Christ use spirit- ress of Islam and the comparatively slow growth ual weapons to bring into the obedience of faith. of Christianity in Mohammedan countries and Mohammedanism is not a stepstone to Christianity, but an obstacle, a hindrance to the in heathen lands where our missionaries are spread of the gospel. All missionaries know, as I know from experience, that a heathen once confronted by the emissaries of the false Prophet. converted to Mohammedanism Is ftlled with bitter and increased animosity against the gos- I could give many examples, especially from pel and against Christians. the East-Indian Archipelago, to illustrate what A word as to .. the progress of Islam." That its progress is more rapid than that of has been said above about Islam and its prog- Christianity must be ascribed to the following facts: Islam in most cases, when seeking the con- ress_ Perhaps in the future I may write you version of a people, only requires them to utter the formula: "There is no God but Allah, and again On this important matter, that the readers Mohammed is his Apostle," and be circumcised. This done he is a Mohammedan. Islam, at least of TilE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF TilE WORLD its propagators, leaves untouched the heathen customs and habits, even the superstitions, that may know how to judge of the worth of the Mohave a very immoral character. Iolam, in followin::- the example ofits prophet, allows a man hammedan religion, and also that all Christians to have mOre than one wife, besides many con- CUbines, which is very much to the taste 01 may be convinced that all hands ougM to be put Eastern and uncivilized people_ Islam permits slavery and the slave trade, and marauding; ex- to work to remove the great bulwark of Moham- medanism and conquer the world for our Lord Jesus Christ. Yours affectionately, N_ D. SCIlUURMANS.
Brazil.
LETTERfromRev.E. Vanorden,San Paulo: We purpose to establish in the City of San Paulo, the headquarters of Protestantism in Brazil, printing and bOOk-binding workShops for the production of a sonnd evangelical literature, in order to interest the minds of children, to sat- isfy the desire for Christian knowledge on the part of adults, and to counteract the great evils which immoral and infidel publications are alarmingly producing. We cannot leave our young men and women, edncatedin our schools, withoutgood books_ Our 3,000 church members, their families, and the large number of attend- ants at our services, must and will read some- thing, and if we do not provide good books for them, they will be tempted to read the transla- tions of French novels which are being scattered all over the empire in fearfnlly increasing num- bers.• The necessity for such an effort is not only felt by ~e Brazilian native pastors and converts, who have already organized the Brazilian Evan- gelical Tract Society, but one of Brazil's most eminent scholars, Gen. Couto MagaJbaes, has developments with eager interest.- given 81,000 towards this object, and he thinks EDS.] that the friends of the mission In Brazil should follow his example. DEAR EDITOBS.-At this station we are meet.- ing a very great deal of opposition from We must have onr own printing-press, because the chiefs. The head chief has ordered the we caunot pay the high prices exacted by good people to stay away from our meetings, and workshops or be satisfied with the bad or slow few dare disobey. They fear the chief, not work done by cheap printers. The Religious for his kingly power, but because of his Tract Society of London is qulte willing to aid " fetishes," and because they know he could In this work. They will make aud have already at any time get up a charge of witchcraft made grants of paper and of money toward against them. Of course the witch doctors are evangelical publIcations. one with the chiefs in their opposition to the gos- pel, and they are glad of any" cue" to indicate In connection with this printing-Office it is proposed to open a depository of Bibles and books e., who may be "ndoki," i. in league with Sain different languages in a conspicuous place, iu order to reach the large number of Italiau and tan or " a devi!.," German emigrsnts who are constantly arriviug. Some of the converts, too, have given us a Already there are in the Province of San Paulo 80,000 Italians. 50,000 Portuguese and 25,000 Ger- good deal of sorrow. One has been accused of mans. adultery. He says he is innocent, but the peo- ple say it is trne, but the proofs we cannot well The British and Foreign Bible Society has in- get at. He, in turn, blames his own (the head) strncted their agents in Rio de Janeiro to co- chief, who is his principal accuser. Ouly about operate In establishing such a depository; the a year ago a similar charge was brought against American Tract Society has made a free grant the said chief ere he was appointed chief of the of $300 worth of books for the same purpose, place, and it was proved to be true; so it may and it Is expected that the Presbyterian Board of be the young man is not guilty. Two others Publication will also give us substantial aid. At have not shown the" true color" on one or two present we have hardly eight or ten books occasions ; but a ch811ge was arranged for them, adapted for children or young people. where amongst new associates they would have a good chance of making a new start. The property of the press will be vested In a Board of Trustees, and as soon as the BrazUlan At the same time there are some tokens of Evangelical Tract Society is incorporated, trans- good being done. From Banza Manteke I learn ferred to its Board of Directors, which is com- that the chapel sent by American friends is proposed of foreign missionaries and native pastors. gressing rapidly; Mr. Lewis, sent out from Bos- The cost will be between $7,000 or $8,000, in- ton, being an experienced builder, It is running cluding freight and duties on material, of which up very quickly. Work is deepening there 83,OOOhavebeen secured. It will be entirely self- though there are few new cases of professing supporting and be the means of scattering mil- conversion. At Lukunga station there is a relions of pages of religious matter among the cent baptism and several professing conversion. people. They are expecting "a harvest time" there soon. Congo Free Sta.te, Afrioa.. Dr. Sims has sent me, from Stauley Pool, the PACAVALA STATION, A. B. M. UNION, } tlrst chapters of John's Gospel in liltcke, which April 12, 1888. I hope to print for use at the Pool and beyond. We have recently had Mr. Harvey's translation [We allow our correspondent to of "Mark" in Kikongo, and Mr. Richard's give facts and express his views in Luke iu Kikongo is also in the printers' regard to Bishop Taylor's mission, on hauds. From the B. M. S. (Eng.) there come the principle that free discussion is reports of good health and good work. From best. The principles and methods on Bishop Taylor's party come rather discouraging which missionary work should be reports. One went to England by last mail and conducted are far from being settled. another is dying of some chronic disease. Three We have yet much to learn, and this have spoken to me against the plan and work of REVIEW will welcome light from their mission, and they have tried what could whatsoever source it comes. We be done. Only a small part of their steamer have given Bishop Taylor and his has left Vivi, and I helieve not a plate yet has mission frequent hearing in these passed Isangila, tlfty miles beyond, while the pages, and shall rejoice in his success greater part of those who came to bnild the as much as any of his friends. And steamer have gone home or left the mission. still we are far from being assured of One steamer that came out after the bishop's is the wisdom of his policy, and await by this time almost atloat.
Would it not be better for the Methodist Church to establish a mission here that would spend the Lord's money in .. cultivating souls" and "farming the Lord's kingdom," rather than proceed on what seems to us wastefal alas I not so clear. For a Turk to promw Is lines f Let them send one or more missionaries one thing, to perform is quite another. We to each of the stations, and, if wanted, also hailed the assurance that there would be no several Christian workmen along with the mis- more trouble over the school question. Our sionaries. Those set apart for the work of the work in Asia Minor and Syria lies chiefiyamong gospel could be relieved of all business and the Ansairlyeh, whom the Moslems -claint as Mohammedans. A partial account of them will seculsr duties by the Christian artisans, and the be found In a book called" The Asian Mystery," written by the Rev. Samuel Lyde, an English Lord's work would take root now and souls clergyman, who was the first missionary to these people, and worked in the mountains near Latdying In darkness would receive the light. akia. This work was begun in that region more The command to the church was not, "Go than thirty years ago, and there is now a fiour- ishing church there and a number of schools. ye forth and cultivate farms, and do what gospel In Cilicia we began work among them six years work you can find time to do"; nor does Paul ago, and already our hearts have been gladdened say, "Go and support yourselves." Let the by the baptism of several yonng men, and this church attend to the spreading of the gospel, and winter we have had large schools both for boys those who cannot "go forth" let them help and girls in Adaua. Tarsus. Merslne and two vilothers to go who can go, but lack the means; lages on the east coast of Mersine, Karadawar and let those in whose hands the Lord has and Karadash. These were mostly composed of placed In trust plenty of money to pay their Ansairiyeh and Orthodox Moslems. Sometime own expenses, also go out. Christians at home ago a number of the schools in Syria were closed think that because the Lord does not send their by order of the local authorities. Our schools money through a missionary society He has have been threatened for two years, and l8st very little claim on it-not more than a tenth at fall they were all closed except that In Mersine, the outside; but I think the Lord looks at it in which is in American premises. Orders having another light. I believe to hundreds in America been given to open the closed schools, we did and in England, He has given the needed money, so, and there was an immediate increase in the the mental talent and bodily energy. that they number of pupils, which showed how the work might go out as the Lord's agents-like Keith was regarded by the parents. Relief from the Falconer of the Scotch Missions, and like num- famine was given to all who came to our schools. bers In the China Inland Mission. The school in Karadawar, which was not at fir&! very large. after having been closed by the local Thank God for these bright examples, and authorities locking up our rented house and above all for the glorious example of Jesus taking the key, and then being re-opened had Christ, who left His Father's house in the glory 106 pupils. Seeing no other way to compass the above and took " long and trying jouruey destruction ofthe school the Governor of Mersine through the land of Judea and Samaria to the imprisoned the chiefs of the village, and under Cross of Calvary, that through His life and pain of having soldiers quartered in the village death might become kuown to those then lying compelled them to sign a declaration that they in sin, the love of God and His infinite salvation. did not want the teacher, and thus forced the villagers to remove their children. This effectuo that the churches-Methodist, Baptist and ally closed the school.
any other .. ist" or "ian" that proclaims sal- The teacher who had been at Karadash had vation fall and free thl'ough God's crucified been for a considerable time absent, but last Son-WOUld rouse themselves and send forth winter, when the order came from Constantinolaborers into this poor, degraded land I ple to allow the closed schools to be opened, we sent Daoud Saade, the former teacher, to that Yours in the Lord's work, place. All went smoothly, and there was a Jos. CLARK. fiourishing school until two weeks ago. Mr. Saade was then arrested on the charge of being Asia Minor. a Russian propagandist. After being kept under arrest for several days, he was taken to Adena, INTERESTING letter from Mrs. Mary but in a day or two he was marched back to the E. Metheny of the Reformed Pres- village under escort, and ordered to open his byterian Mission : house for search. This he refused to do, as being a Greek subject they had no right to enter MEBSINE, May 10, ] E88. his hou&e except in the presence of a Greek EDIToBs MISSIONABY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. official. He told them if they chose to search -I notice in THE REVIEW for May this state- his house they must do it on their own responment : .. The good tidings comes from Syria that sibility. This they did, seizing his books and the late attempt of the Turkish authorities to papers and taking them and him back to Adana. force uew and intolerant restrictions upon the The school-books were examined and foimd to cause of'Christian education has been earnestly bear the Imperial stamp. They then examined resisted by the diplomatic representatives of the different powers; that it has utterly failed and has finally been withdrawn." It is true that the .. diplomatic representatives," urged by Hon. Oscar Strauss, United States Minister, and Consul Bissinger of Beirut, have made strenuous efforts to have the obnoxious law prevented or repealed. Whether it has" utterly failed" is, the letters, and tlie ~vernor-general in an inter- emment would seek redress? How long must the view with Dr.Metheny, the AmerIcan missionary, declared that they proved hinI to be a very selfish/jealousies of these Ohristian nations shut bad man, and very treasonable sentiments were contained in them. Dr. M. afterwards out the light of the gospel by which they enjoy found that the paragraphs were these: "I hope the work of yonr hands will prosper, and that snch glorions privileges Y the Lord will open a wide door for the gospel. " "You say, • Send my remittauces by a faithfal Thanks for the earnest and stirring words man.' That means either that you must bring them or that I must take them." It so happened which reach us every month in the REVIEW. My that it was the Doctor himself who had written these suspicious sentences, so that Daoud was to husband, the only male missionary in our mis- be tried for letters written by another man I It seems that they concluded that there was no sion here, is so engaged in the '?ork, and espe- toundation tor the accusation as a Russian spy, so they changed the offense and charged him cially in tbis case of Daoud's, that he has not with having reviled the Sultan. The ground for this appears to have been that eight or nine days time to write abontlt, being very feeble albest. after his first arrest, and, as the villagers spon- taneously testity, nnder great provocation and Our force is very small, my husband-minister, ill-treatment, he said that as a Greek snbject he was not under the Snltan. In an interview with physician, treasurer, overseer of schools and of Mr. Dawson, U. S. Consul in this place (of whose indefatigable efforts to have justice done everything else; Miss Sterrett, pioneer in the in this matter it is impossible to speak too high- ly), the Governor-general claimed that this case work among the girls, and her assistant, Miss had nothing at ail to do with the matter of the schools. Mr. Dawson then said, .. Very well, Joseph. This is all the force for the thousands then. Shall we send down another teacher?" Thns hemmed in, the Governor-general said, of Arabic-speaking people in this region. We .. No. That could not be allowed, as Karandash was a Moslem village." Thns the true reason expect Dr. Henry J es,up to be with us next Sab- appeared. bath. Yours in the work, Now, yon will observe that this flagrant ont- rage has taken place after the snpposed settIe- M. E. METHENY. ment of the school question. Daoud is still in prison, notwithstanding the prompt and contin- Madagasoar. nons remonstrances of both the U. S. and the Greek Consnls: tbe former as representing the ANANTANARlVO. March ffl, 1888. interests of American schools in Turkey, and DEAR EDlTORS.-I have to acknowledge, with the latter In defense of Daoud's rights as a Greek many many thanks, the receipt of the first num- subject whose passport is in the Consul's hands. ber of the new series of THE MISSIONARY RE- This all goes to show that it is useless to hope VIEW, as also the numbers of the old series dnr- for any justice, unless there be force enough in ing the year 1887. I need not say that the maga- the hands of the other powers to compel the zine was to me full of interest and its pro- Turks to fulfil their express agreement in this gramme fnll ofrich promise. It is being circulated matt1lr. among the members of our social circle here, and I hope will be voted into oor Magazine Mr. Saade is an educated gentleman and a stu- Club, whicb, however, contains members ont- side the missionary band. dent of theology. Is there no remedy for such I am sending by this mail a copy of the Re- port of the L. M. S. Madagascar Mission for a state of affairs as thi~ Y 1885-6, printed in the island. The succeeding My desire to have the Christian world know one I cannot get a copy of, and we are not print- ing one this year. The L. M. S. annnal report, to what extent evangelical work is possible printed in London, will convey the latest infor- among Moslems prompts me to write the above mation. This report, however, will perhaps for your REVIEW. Liberty of conscience for enable yon to see something of the working of Moslems is a thing that does not exist. Many this mission, as it could not be seen when , Moslems freely express their belief in the New mixed np with other missions, as in a general Testament, but the knowledge of the persecu- report. tion that must certainly follow deters them Since the pnblication of the report the mis- from professing it openly. How long will the sion in the Sihfinoka country, to the north of so-called Christian powers sit by and see these Imerina, has been re-established by the Rev. E. things? Does not the Hatli Humayon give them H. Stribling and Mr. J. S. Mackay, and an en- the right to interfere? How long would Ameri- tirely new mission commenced by the Rev. G. cans engaged in mercantile bnsiness be treated A. Shaw (formerly at Tamatave) on the south- as missionaries are often treated before the gov- east coast, in the Miltit&naus District, among the Til.imClro and TaUasy and Taisilka tribes. This new enterprise has been met at the very commencement with difficulties arising trom civil war between the tribes, which the Hovas power they profess to acknowledge has not been able to quell. Teachers from the Native Mis- sionary Society in Imerina have been employed in the district for some time past, but Mr. and Mrs. Shaw are the first Europeans to settle in the district as miSSionaries, and are deserving the sympathies and prayers of all friends of missions.
The government return of schools in Imerina for 1882. which I also enclose, would ,probably fairly represent the state of the case at the pres- of the Roman Catholics and others, who offer ent time. None of the missionary societies have cheaplJ'l' alternatives to the people. any responsibility for these retnrns, as they were collected and arranged entirely by the na- Wishing every success to your undertaking, tive government. and bidding you, in the name of our common' Saviour, God·speed, I am It wonld be misleading, ,however, to snppose that becanse there is an edncational depart- Yours very truly, ment with a really trnstworthy man at the head, J AJl[ES WILLS, L. M. S. and because they are able once in a while to get np snch a statement as the enclosed, that there GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. is really any efncient governmentsystem of edu· cation In Imerina. The work and organization -A Noble Tribute. Travelers in and paymeBts are left entirely to the missionary foreign parts do not always bring societies, and the government keep their finger back with them a favorable report of on these organizations, just as they do on missions among the heathen. All everything In this paternal system of rnle. The edncational system of our societies is exerting a the more welcome was the cordial great inBnence on the people. It is questionable, however, whether the religions and spiritual testimony of Lord Brassey in his Influence of the missions keep pace with the in- capacity as chairman at the annual tellectnal. meeting of the Church Missionary From some of the statements in THE MISSION- Society in Exeter Hall last week. ARY REVIEW it is clear that, in common with the vast majority of people, you have far too His Lordship has been a great voyhigh an idea of the extent and depth to which Christianity has inBuenced this country. Imer- ager round the globe, and he has ina, the home of the Hovas, is only as a small table to a large room, in the center of which It nothing but praise for the work of stands. The remainder of the country, with gospel missions. In his excellent the partial exception of Betsilio, Is as dark and speech he said : heathen as Central Mrica, and the Christianity of the Hovas is but very superficial. The sta- "I have been on board the storm-tossed vestistics we publish are correct, and any others' sel in which a good bishop of the Anglican would be false; yet they mislead. People who Church was engaged in carrying the gospel to read the number of preachers and church mem- the distant and storm-bound and ice-bound bers apply the same standard that they would In shores of Labrador. I have been In the stormy America or England, forgetting that it is only waters of the Straits of Magellan, and have seen twenty years ago that the idols were burned and at what sacrifice and by what eBorts the gospel the people in tens of thousands pressed into the is carried to the savage people of Tierra del church suddenly, bringing all their ignorance Fuego. I have aeen the devoted missionaries and superstitions with them. It was no gradual who are'sent forth by the United States at their Infiltering, such as the missionaries conld con- work at Beyrout and Lahore. On the occasion trol (and they were fewer in number than now), of a recent journey, both at Amritsar and Agra, I but a great Inrush, like the Hoang·Ho, suddenly saw what devoted men, and not less devoted changing its channel and depositing "its silt in womeu, were doing in the great cause of the another province. It is wonderful what has education of heathen children. I have had the been accomplished, and doubtless there are privilege at the Island of Tahiti of listening to a many sincere and devout Christians, but the French Protestant pastor, a man of great cnlgreat mass are still destitute of spiritual appre- ture, a man who had formerly held the post of ciation of the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. teacher to one of the most distinguished nobles Whilst we praise God for what has been done of our land, and I have heard that man deliver a by divine grace, don't let us expect too much sermon which was listened to with great attenfrom these people, and do not think of them as tion by his native audience. The last missionenlightened, self-denying Christians, burning ary station which I visited was that estabwith missionary zeal to carry the gospel to the lished by yourselves in Darnley Island,' We outlying tribes, if not to Africa Itself. had the pleasure and the privilege of taking the wife of Mr. Hunt, your missionary, In The statement that $10,000,000 have been the S'IIhIlieam from Thursday Island to Darnley raised here for Christian purposes must surely Island. At Darnley Island we met your own be a misprint. The country is very poor, and mission schooner, which had brought:Mr. Savthe people are very fond of money, and although age from Murray Island to Darnley Island to in the aggregate a good round sum is raised meet his newly arrived colleague. We spent a year by year, yet we find great dtmcnlty In get- most Interesting day with Mr. Hunt and Mr. ting their quota from the churches for educa- Savage at Darnley Island. We saw the place of tional, church building, missionary and other worship on the island-a humble but picturesque objects; and this is Intensified by the presence building; we saw much of the native teacher and his wife, persons whom it was impossible to know without feeling the greatest admiration and respect for them. We heard a most inter- esting narrative of the dtmcnlties and efforts which are involved in carrying the gospel to the Turning from 1837 to 1886 we find a savage races of New Guinea. We heard, and it remarkable advance in funds, agenwas impossible to hear the story withont a thrill cies and results. The British socieof admiration, of the devotion which is shown ties have increased from 10 to 31; the by the native teachers acting under the guidance 7 in the Umted States have risen of their English leaders in this great canse. The to 39, and the 10 of Continental greater the peril, the more imminent the pros- Europe to 30. The number of forpect even of death, the more earnest is the en- eign ordained missionaries is now thusiasm of the native teachers to go forth into 2,980; of lay missionaries, 730; of this dangerous field." lady missionaries (including wives of missionaries), 2,322; the number of Lord Brassey went on to declare nati ve Christians is 2,750,000, and the total income of all the societies is that it is England's highest mission £2,000,000. Of this sum £780,000 comes from the United States, £210,- and imperative duty to civilize, edu- 000 from Continental Europe, and £1,010,000 from British Christians." cate, and Christianize those in for- -(English) Illustrated Miss'y News.
eign lands whom her influence can -Victory Will Come. The age is reach. He made a strenuous appeal one of intense life in all departments for increased help towards the so- of activity-in commerce and indus- ciety's operations-an appeal backed trial pursuits, and the church must up by a generous donation and the be alive to keep pace with it. The promise of continued support.-The coming century will not be one of un- Ohristian. broken tranquility. There will be -In 1837 there were in Great Brit- wars and rumors of wars, internal ain 10 missionary societies; in Amer- conflicts as well as struggles between ica, 7; and on the Continent of nations, which, with the new inven- Europe, 10. The total income of the tions of weapons of war, may be more British missionary societies in that destructive than any ever waged be- fore. But whatever the passmg year was not more than £300,000; years may bring, this we know, that the Church of God will live, and will their missionaries, lay and clerical, have to do its great work in the world. For this it needs to be prepared. New about 760; their lady missionaries avenues are opening before it. The past half-century has seen an adand their native ordained ministers, vance, greater than many centuries before, in the modes of communiless than 12 each, and their converts cation between different countries, whereby distant nations are brought less than 40,000. The Continental nearer to each other. Even the Dark Continent is being piel'ced on every and American societies united had side. Explorers are ascending the Congo to the Great Lakes, and plantnot more than one half the income, ing the flags of European countries on the highlands of Central Africa. the missionaries and the converts of To the church it belongs to see that commerce does not outrun the gospel, the British societies. The heathen so that our boasted "civilization" may prove a blessing and not a curse. and Mahommedan population of the At present, rum on the Congo causes more destruction than all the misworld was estimated at one thou- sionaries can repair. These are dansand millions in 1837; and, laboring gers which the church has to conamong these vast masses of people, front at the same time that it recogthet'e were in Africa perhaps 65 Prot- nizes the splendid opportunities openestant missionaries; in India, 180; in ing before it. We are not blind to Burmah only 6. For the evangeliza- the former, and yet we have untion of the millions in China 12 mis- bounded faith in what the future will sionaries had been appointed; Japan, bring. When we think of all that Siam and Central Asia were without will take place in the century to any; most of the islands of the Pa- come, we are almost ready to pray cific were in darkness, and a thick cloud hung over the missionary work of Madagascar. On the whole continent of America, north and south, the missionaries did not exceed 25, and of these more than half were lHol'avians. The most successful and promising missions at that time were in Polynesia, where good work was being carried on by the London Missionary Society, the American Board, and the Wesleyan Missionary Society. that we may not taste of death until lives and wealth, it is, on the other hand, conwe see at least the approach, the soling to redect on the immense services which faint dawning, of millennial day. But missionary enterprise has renf.ered to Africa, to we trust we may look down upon it the world at large, and to Gr~at Britain in parfrom the heights above. For the ticular. When the history of the great African present, let every man spring to his states of the fnture comes to be written, the duty, intent to work while the day arrival of the drst missionary will, with many lasts, knowing that the night com- of these new nations, be the first historical eth in which no man can work.-The event in their annals. Almost invariably it has Evangelist. been to British missionaries that the natives of interior Africa have owed their first acquain- -A Veteran Missionary. Rev. Jas. tance with the printing-press, the steam-boat, Chalmers said recently in an address and the saw-mill. Most of the great lakes and in London: rivers of this little-known continent have been navigated, in the first instance, by the steamers "I have had twentyo()ne years' experience of British missionary societies, which may now among natives; I have seen the semi-civilized and be seen plying on Tanganyika and Nyassa, on the civilized; I have lived with the Christian the Upper Congo, the Niger Binue, and Zambenative, and I have lived, dined and slept with the si. Indirectly, and almost unintentionally, miscannihal. I have visited the islands of the New sionary enterprise has widely increased the Hebride2,which I sincerely trust will not be hand- bounds of our knowledge, and has sometimes ed over to the tender mercies of France. I have been the means of conferring benefits on science, visited the Loyalty Group; I have seen the work the value and extent of which itself was careless. of missions in the Samoan Group; I know all to compute. For missionary enterprise in the the islands of the Society Group; I have lived future I see a great spherQ of usefulness."-H. for ten years in the Hervey Group; I know a H. Johnston, Vice- Consul at CamerOO'fl8, West few of the groups close on the line, and for at Africa. least nine years of my life I have lived with the savages of New Guinea, but I have never yet -The death of the Sultan of Zanzimet with a single man or woman, or with a single people, that your civilization, without Clu·is- bar removes the most noticeable of tianity, has civilized." Testimony such as this is worth volumes of theory. all rulers in the Dark Continent, and -" In every corner of the world," one whose character has been felt in says Mr. Froude, "there are the same phenomena of the decay of es- the work of opening up Africa to the tablished religions. Among Moham- whites. He was not without some medans, Jews, Buddhists, Brahmins, of the elements of greatness. Born traditionary creeds are losing their hold. An intellectual revolution is in 1835, Bin Said was only fifty-three years of age at the time of his death, sweeping over the world, breaking down established opinious, dissolving and was not forty when this ruler of foundations on which historic faiths have been built up." This condition the Eastern Coast of Africa-with an constitutes the summons to the island and a capital c:ontaining little church of the Living God to bestir itself to the grandest opportunity less than 100,000 inhabitants -had which it has ever had to conquer the made himself felt. He represented the nations for Christ. No nation can aristocratic Arabic dynasty which long survive the decay of its religion, and the decadence which Mr. Froude for more than a century had held points out is the indication that the sway over the African negroes of the world is preparingforChrist.-Spirit territory familiarized by Dr. Livingof Missions. stone and other explorers. In 1873 Africa.-" If the immediate success of the British missionaries in sprea d Sir Bartle Frere went on a mission, ing their religion over barbarous on behalf of the British Government, Africa be doubtful, if the aver- to the ruler of Zanzibar for the pur- age type of their converts seems an unsatisfac- pose of suppressing the slave trade. tory product ofBo much labor and expenditure of The result 0 f this was an acquiescent treaty on the Sultan's part, which led to a friendly visit of the Sultan to England in 1875. He was welcomed by Under-Secretary Bourke in the name of her Majesty's Government. He also visited Paris, and before leav- ing England concluded a second treaty, and subsequently did much to suppress the slave trade, nothwithstanding the political antagonis~s invoked by him, if by Our exertions the wound and dangers resultingfrom his policy. is stanched and the sick man made whole." He protected the missions against no little opposition. The effect of his -In a single year 3,751,557 gallons death upon missions has yet to be seen, and, of course, depends wholly of spirits were imported into Africa. upon the character of Said Khalif, who becomes the dead Sultan's; suc- The sources of supply are England, cessor, and who is eleven years of age.-Christian at Work. Germany, :portugal and the United -The Liquor Traffic.-In the Brit- States.
ish House Of Gommons, April 24th, '-The Soudan in Africa is 2,000 Sir John Kennaway, on the motion miles long, 500 miles broad, and con- condemnatory of the liquor traffic tains about 60,000,000 of a population.
among native races (which was car- Mohammedans have proselytized ried in an amended form), thus re- these. The Protestant churches of ferred, in concluding, to the work of England and America have sent out the Church Missionary Society, of to this wide field two missionaries.
which he is President: One of these, "a S6udaneselad," saw "I have urged upon the House the acceptauce his father murdered before his eyes, of this motion On the grounds of morality and expediency. I think it will not be out of place was afterwards sold into slavery, was if I ask for it on behalf of the great mi6sionary societies, which have done so much to spread at last rescued, brought to England, Christianity and civilization. The Church Mis- sionary Society, in which I have the great honor educated, and is now baek to Africa to fill a position of responsibility, has always made Africa her first object. She has lavished as a herald of the cross. Surely the her treasure, she has sent forth of her best and church will speedily send at least one bravest on behalf of the negro race in Western, miSSionary for every million persons Central and Eastern Africa, and not a few of in the Soudan,-Presb, College Jour- nal. them have laid down their lives-martyrs as real and true as any to whom the church does Austro.Hungary.-Dr. Somerville . honor. We have present to-day-present in this House, a listener to Our debate-an evidence of of the Scottish Free Church has spent the labors of the society, in the person of one taken as a slave, educated by her, ordained, con- five months in evangelizing work secrated Bishop of the Niger-8amnel Crowther, who has in every sense proved himself worthy in Austro-Hungary, and has preach- , of his high calling and shown the real capabili- ties of his race. ed in about fifty towns and cities.
.. But the Church Missionary Society Is only Many obstacles were encountered,but one among many. The Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel, the Universities' Mission, many encouragements were met with. the Scotch, the London, the Baptist, and other societies, are all working for the same end-all Among the latter was the permission find themselves thwarted and repelled by the same evil influence. Is it always to be so f Do granted by the authorities to hold we need more than to have the mischief brought hbme to us, to make a great effort to put a stop public religious meetings for Jews to it f Among England's greatest men lie very near to where we nOw sit the remains of David and Gentiles (a decided innovation), Livingstone, and engraven on· the stone which the heartiness of reception and co- covers them are words of his which remain as his undying legacy to us, the keynote of our pol- operation on the part of the ministers, icy, and stimulus to Our exertions in the present distress. In burning words he, from his grave, the thronging of the people in multi- •invokes Heaven's richest blessings upon any, tudes to hear the gospel, the readi- be he English, American or Turk, who shaH do something to remove the open sore of the ness with which the Jews came out world.' We are not dealing to·day with the to listen to a Christian Gentile, and slave trade, but with a sore, in the opinion of many, as pernicious. Ours may be the blessine: the general stirring in the towns where the mission was carried on. On one occasion Dr. Somerville ad- dressed an audience of 7,000. In many of the towns in Hungary there is but a single congregation of the Reformed Church, embracing 15,000 or 20,000 members. As to the Jews, not only dId they attend the ordinary public meetings, but, when on sever- al occasions Dr. Somerville gave a public address, specially to them- selves, they came together in crowds, both men and women, even to the number of 1.500. Instead of referring to controversial points, Dr. Somer- we are hoping for much blessing." Dr. Pruen, of the same' mission, ville adopted the plan of showing writing also from Ch'entu, says: how much Christianity owed to the "We have opened a new house for Jews, and having gained the ear and om' mission in this city near the hearts of his audience he then set Manchurian garrison, and so are forth Christ as the crucified Messiah. having crowds of visitors. The gos- pel is being preached, and I am see- Bengal.-R~v. R. Wright Hay, late ing patients twice a week."-China of the Cameroons, in a recent letter Medical Missionary Journal. from Dacca, Eastern Bengal, says: -One of the best provisions re- .. In Dacca there are sevp.ral thousands of cently made by the Chinese Governstudents resident during the greater part of ment is that which requires every the year, in attendance at different colleges, foreign missionary to hold a passport and I am thankful to say that there is the from his own government, declaring beginning of a work among these. It had been his nationality. French officials have a great joy to me to meet some twenty stu- affectp.d to assume a p'rotectorate over dents in a Bible-class every Sabbath morn- all Roman Catholic missionaries of ing, and to witness the intense interest with all nationalities and their converts. which they read and inquire into the story This has been found to have more of of Jesns. I have also lately started a week- the French flavor than the Chinese evening class for the study of questions taste requires. It is now proposed to arising out of the Sabbath lesson, and have deal with men according to nationalbeen much gratified by the devout spirit ity and to recognize them under their manifested, whilst personal intercourse with own proper colors. This is an impor- Individual students convinces me tha t many tant step in the right direction. of them are feeling after God. I have also an opportunityof reaching English-speaking -The great Island of Hainan, off natives through a service held in the mis- the south coast of China, is the newsion chapel every Sunday evening, which is est of the Presbyterian missions. For getting to be pretty well attended by Hin- the first time in the history of misdus, Brahmos, and occasiQnally Moham- sions its people hear the,gospel. medans." -Referring to the work in Shantung Brazil. – Christian people in the Dr. Arthur H. Smith of Pangkiach- United States ought not to lose sight wang writes to the Chinese Recorder: of the fact that Brazilian society is passing through a period of change, " The work of the English Baptist Mission at and that all social changes are crises Tsing Chu Fa in Central Shantung deserves to be better known that it may be much more care- -that the fate of this nation hangs fully studied. The modesty of its founders and upon the manner in which Christian their indefatigableindustry have prevented them from appearing in print; yet here is a mission people do their duty during the next composed for many years of but two missionaries and a native pastor, which, within thirteen years ten years-the forces of Rome are [rom the baptism of its first convert in this rebeing trained to meet the crisis with gion, has two elders, eight stewards, about sixty country stations (each with itsownleader), above that far-seeing, patient cunning for 1,500 members (with additions, after eighteen which Rome is noted. Shall the months' probation, at the rate of about 100 per annum), contributions averaging half-a-dollar a church of Christ in North America member, a central theological school, a central let this ripening grain fall ungather- school (or boys with numerous country schools, a respectable Christian literature ofits own creed? Young, strong men and women ation, and only fiye persons receiving foreign are wanted who can preach and teach pay-the native pastor and four evangelistsand sing of a purer, better Christian- three of whom are assigned to the regions beity than is known here.-Brazilian Missions. yond. 'No cash and no consul' has been the China.-Dr. Perry, of the China motto of this mission from Its inception; and Inland Mission, writes from Ch'entu, while it has experienced the Same obstacles as Szechuan, that he has "already found an open door to several official families in this great city, and a goodly number are attending the dispensary twice a week. There is a church of thirty members here, and all other aggressive Christian work, its results Baptist mission, sustained by the are well worth careful examination. The work Home Mission Board of the Southern of the Baptist Mission is exceptionally compact; Baptist Convention. In January, and now that the mission has received a great Dr. Tichenor, the Secretary, Mr.
number of new recruits, it is looking toward Adair, the Treasurer, and Dr. Mc- the opening out of new statious to the west." Donald, visited the mission. Mr.
-In the city of Pok-lo, on the Can- Diaz was ordained at Key West, Fla., December, 1885. In the month folton East River, a Confucian temple- lowing the first Baptist church was keeper received the Scriptures from a formed in Cuba, with him as pastor.
colporteur of the London Mission, After two years there are six Baptist became convinced of the folly of churches and twelve preaching-sta- tions inand about Havana, each havidolatry, and was baptized by Dr. Legge. He gave up his calling, and ing a Sunday-school. The churchset to work among his acquaintances members number 1,100, the scholars 2,000, and the congregations 5,000.
and friends as a self-appointed Scrip- There is also a church at Matanzas. ture reader. He would go through /The churches are all crowded, people standing at the doors and windows. the streets of the city and the coun- The people seem to have lost faith in try round with a board on his back Romanism. There is need of a meetcontaining some text of Scripture. ing-house in Havana and in other So successful was he, that in three places. Mr. Diaz and his brother, and his mother, and many of his labor years' time about 100 people were ers, seem remarkably raised up for baptized; and so mightily grew the this work. word of God and prevailed, that sur- prise and hostility were excited, and India.-A Brahmin writes to a Mada fierce persecution broke out. The ras paper on the decay of Hinduism. Christians were driven from the vil- He says, "Hinduism is a corpse, out lages, and their property was plun- dered. The colporteur was seized, of which the life has fled, and yet it and twice within forty-eight hours is a living force." The writerexplains dragged before the literati and called these seeming contradictions by upon to recant. This he refused to showing that the moribund, inex- do. He was therefore tortured by being suspended by the arms during pansive creed is still able to perform the night. The next morning he ceremonial functions. The late tour was brought forward in an enfeebled of the Madras governor was marked state, pale and trembling, for a Bec- by continued demonstrations, in which prayers for the protection of ond trial. The officials and mandarins were cowed into submission by the gentry; but this brave old man temples and the preservation of their was still firm in his resolve to cleave to his Bible and Christ, and expressed tithes formed the chief part. Tae Brahmin writer thinlrs that the a hope that his judge would some day , embrace the new doctrine. This was "cream of Hindu society" regards more than they could tolerate, and, their old faith as dead. He mentions like the judges of Stephen, they ran caste as the only saving element in upon him with one accord and killed Hinduism, and thus refers to the difhim on the spot by repeated blows of their side-arms, and threw him into ficulty felt by all friends of reform: the river. Thus perished the first "Another cause of the survival ofthe strength Protestant Christian martyr in China. and integrity of Hindnism is the Intellectual in- Cnba.-The Baptist movement in consistency and moral cowardice of the general- Cuba is wonderful, as all things are ity of the so-called reformers. Mighty as they that are begun by the Lord without are In feats of words, carried on in a foreign lan- guage-which consequently gives an exaggeratthe planning of men. Rev. A. J. ed notion to foreigners of their earnestness and Diaz, the originator of the work, the courage-they are in practice the tame follow- .. Cuban Paul," was himself convert- ers of orthodox priests and Ignoraut women.
ed by a Christian nurse who read the Bnt this state of things cannot last forever. The Bible to him while he was sick in disciples of Spencer cannot always dwell In New York. The one bright and hope- peace and amity with the followers of Shank- eracharya. The dense ignorance of the masses ful spot on the Island of Cuba is this will melt away before the spread of edUcation. The opposition to reform will daily become remark among the Hindus that the old form of weaker and weaker. The ranks of the progres- immolation by tire was preferable as a fate for a sive party will be swelling day by day. The young woman, or even for an old one, than wid- courage inspired by increasing numbers will do owhood. DistreSSing beyond our conception what constitutional courage-rather the want of must be the life to which suttee is a bleSSing; it-has failed to achieve. The fate of Hinduism and yet suicides are occurring in India almost is therefore sealed, although it will be some every week, prompted ouly by the terrible suf- time, probably a long time, before that consum- ferings incident to enforced ·widowhood. Who mation takes place."-Indian Witne88. can remedy these terrible mischiefs endured by -Discouraging Facts. An Indian women In Asia except female medical missiona- Brahmin has lately published a tract ries f They are wanted all through India. They on infanticide, in which he shows are wanted in large numbers. They are wanted for zenana work, for teaching, for all kinds of that the murder of 12,549 infants has iustruction in mission schools and secular estab- been made public during the last fif- lishments of varions kinds. An angel from heaven itself, as has often been said, would not teen years. This, we are told, repre- be welcomed in Hindu zenanas more cordially than a well-instructed female physician." 3ents only a fraction of the murders committed. J apan.-Japan is not only growing spiritually and intellectually, but is – Brahmins Searching the Scriptures. "We pushing ahead commercially at a :auld mention some twenty or thirty places in which Brahmins have formed themselves into 8abhaa (societies) for tbe sole purpose of studying rapid rate. Recent statistics show surprising results. For instance, a the Bible. No missionary has the entree to their tt'ade of $95,000,000 last year nearly doubles that of 1880, which was $51,- meetings, and their existence is not talked about outside. Yet their questions come to us, sometimes anonymously, always secretly. During the last month the writer of this has sent an- 000,000. In 1878 there were nine.
swers to more than a score of such questions- miles of railway, which have been exall of them serious, and many of them very acute. tended to 151 miles. Eleven railway They were answers, not to an individual, but to companies were started in the year varions bodies of Brahmins, and would receive due discussion. Even in the monasteries of this 1887, which also gave birth to 111 land, and by some of the high-priests of Hindu- large industrial companies in three Ism, the Sanskrit Bible Is to-day a book anxious- citie3 alone. Two important naval ly studled."-The Harvest Field. stations have been formed and are being fortified, and the first modern -The number of foreign mission- waterworks in the empire were com- , aries, European and American, labor- pleted in October last. With the exing in India, Ceylon and Burmah, is ception of these last works everyestimated at 689. Native laborers, thing has been done by native skili ordained and unordained, are counted and native capital alone. This is not by the thousands, while the number a bad record for a country where the of baptized Protestant Christians is feudal system was in lull swing reckoned at 500,000. Medicalmissions twenty-five years ago. are a powerful ally•. Zenana mission work is a godsend to millions of wo- men in India. A royal lady in India -Protestantism in Japan. According to the sent to Queen Victoria a petition in a statistics for 1887, there are at present working locket, asking for medical relief for in this empire the representatives of twentythousands of women in India. The four missionary societies. Seventeen belong to the United States, four to England, and one each Countess of Duffel'in, wife of the Vice- to Canada, Scotland, and Switzerland. Japan roy of India, learning of this appeal, has proved such an attractive and promising has established training-schools for field of labor that the number of societies Is nurses among the native ladies. greater than one would expect in view of the comparatively recent date at which the land Joseph Cook says: was thrown open to Christian etiort. Of course, " Between Cashmere and Ceylon, according to the number of workers varies greatly. Three an authentic and most recent official statement, have but one man each; while one has forty-nine there are 21,000,000 widows, and half of these male and female workers, not including the were never wives. Even under the rule of a wives of the missionaries. The 8um total of Christian empress, paganism makes the condi- foreign workers is 25.1.
tion of India yet so desolate that it Is a common Six missions have combined the results of their labors in the " United Church of Christ in I Japan." This body includes all the Presby- as an experiment the giving of Christian lectnres terian and Reformed Churches, save the Cum- for Jews exclusively twice per week in different berland Presbyterians. The Congregationalist parts of the city. Up to the time of his report Mission has decided to join this union, thus they had been increasing in interest and attendmaking it the most extensive of all the Protest- ance. ant bodies in the empire. " At one of the society's anniversaries in Bir- The total Protestant membership shows a mingham recently 400 Jews and Jewesses were – gain cif five thousand over the figures for 1886 ; present, and gave also liberally for the work of a grand gain, and yet how painfully small when the society. Dr. Cassel, who has been at work we consider the thirty-five millions still without In Berlin five years, reports 60 baptisms, 20 of the fold. These figures, however, by no means which took place last year. The HailYrai, a indicate'the limit of Christian infiuence. Japan Jewish organ, is our authority for saying that in is being permeated with Christian truth, and we I Vienna 248 Jews were converted last year to trust the time is not far distant when the em- Christianity. Recently the Rev. Canon Bell pire shall be thoroughly reached with the gos- made this statement: 'Ten days ago I was in pel. Amsterdam, and went into the Portuguese syn- agogue, which is one of the finest in the Nether- Christianity is not persecuted, and its most lands. There are in that city 50,000 Jews. And vigorous opponents, the Buddhist priests, use a few years ago there were only a few Christian infidel arguments against it in their public lec- Jews there, now they are counted by hundreds, tures, trusting more to modern 'free thought' and the work of conversion is going on rapidly.' and materialism than to the ancient Buddhist teachings for their weapons of offense against "The movement of Prof. Delitzsch of Leipzig the new way that is putting their craft in danger. Is a wonderfnl step towards the conversion of the Jews. In nine of the German universitiea HAKODATE, JAPAN. GIDEON F. DRAPEB. he is starting a movement for mission work amongst the Jews, and already over 300 students Jews.-[The Indian Evangelical of the universities have enrolled themselves as Review for April contains a valuable members of a special school for traiuing to this end. article on " The Jew." We give extracts from it which are of a mo~t " With the mention of the name of Joseph Rahope!ul character.-EDs.] binowitz, who was a lawyer and a Jew, but who has been converted to Christianity, I must close. " Have we any indications that the Christian He has given up his profession and preaches' Our religion is having any Impression upon them 1 I Brother Jesus.' It was his ind ependent study of think there is every evidence that a great work the Scripture which led to his conversion. He is being commenced in this direction. There are is exerting a wide-spread infiuence." many agencies at work to this end, and amongst the number is the London Society for the Pro- MadagasCBJ:.-" As is well known, motion of Christianity amongst the Jews. Its on the death of Radama I., one of name defines its object, and its efforts are widereaching. This society was conceived in 1809, his widows, an adopted child of his when there were but 35 believing Jews in all Engiand. In 1813, H. R. H. the late Duke of father, but by no means a chief Kent, accompanied by members of Parliament member of his seraglio, succeeded and other high Officials, in the presence of thou- in usurping the crown, which she sands ot people, laid the first stone of the Hebrew confirmed to herself by murdering Episcopal Chapel and Schools in Palestine Place, nearly or quite all her husband's London. Since then the work has gone Rteadily family. She as~umed the name of on. The late Earl of Shaftesbury was deeply interested in it, and for 39 years only once failed Ranavalona I. Radama II., her son, to take the chair at its anniversaries. The so- whose brief reign succeeded hers, is ciety employs 140 agents, consisting of 24 ordained missionaries, 25 lay and medical mission- plainly esta.blished, by the date of aries, 44 school teachers, 47 Scripture readers, his birth, to have been illegitimate. colporteurs, and other lay agents. Of this number 89 are Christian Israelites, and 17 ordained The evil woman has succeeded in esministers of the Church. tablishing her own race, though not " In very many places the Jews are anxious to her own descendants, upon the throne hear the word of God as explained by the mis- in place of the line of her husband. Sionaries. Iu a Jewish paper in London, whose But her family has become what she sole object is to oppose Christianity, the editor most hated, a Christian dynasty. tells his readers that they 'cannot afford to lose great numbers e1'ery year,' that' they (the Jews) She seized the throne in 1828 and died are being caught in the net,' they are most in 1861, having reigned just a geneanxious to attend mission halls, etc. ration. We all know what followed- .. In PariS, last March,:Mr. Mamtllch undertook the expUlsion of the English mission- aries, and the scenes of cruel and heroic martyrdom, resembling those on Lake Nyassa will be cut off from lately enacted in Uganda, under the civilization, owing to the demands young tryant Mwanga. Mr. Shaw made by the Portuguese. These sta- sums up it thus: 'Ranavalona I., tions, and a great trading establish- who has been compared by some to ment besides, were founded on the the worst of the Roman emperors, to faith of invitations from the British Nero or Caligula, and by others call- Government, and have flourished to ed the Malagasy Catherine II., whom an unusual degree. They are now she resembled in her vices, without threatened, on the one hand, by the having any of the redeeming qualities Arab slave-catchers, who are in full of that empress, commenced a relig- energy again, and on the other by th~ Portuguese, who claim the right ious crusade against Christianity. of imposing any duties they please on All kinds of inhuman cruelties were the Zambesi, and of annexing a strip practiced upon the converts, and of territory right across Africa. If many of those of the highest rank these claims are allowed, .the sta- suffered death or imprisonment for tions must be broken up; but the English Government is unwilling to their determination to serve the true disallow them, because it is essential for the progress of South Africa to God. Some were burned, others purchase Delagoa Bay, which the Government of Lisbon will not sell buried alive, others scalded to death, without territorial compensation. The position of the churches is amost some speared, and others cast from painful one, made so by the tempo- rizing policy of the English Governthe rock on which the capital is built, ment. Certainly it would be a calam- ity to concede to the Portuguese the and dashed to pieces in the valley right of closing the access of the South African colonies into the intebelow.' rior of Africa. There is trouble, if not war, in that matter in the future. " The missionaries were gone, but Turkey.-One ofthe most successful had left behind them the Word of missionaries in Oroomiah is a blind God, the blood of the martyrs, and Armenian from Harpoot, Turkey.
the presence in the furnace of Him He knows the Bible thoroughly, and, riding on a miserable little donkey, whose form was that of the Son of which is led by a one-eyed, deaf God. Therefore, as a Swedish maga- man, he goes boldly from village to zine has lately summed it up, the village preaching the gospel. His church of a few hundreds which blindness protects him, and the peowent under the cloud came out of it ple crowd to see the wonder-a blind a church of 37,000, and has now in- man reading. creased, including in the term all the -Dr. Jessup, of Beirut, writes that avowed adherents of Christianity, to "the Sultan of Turkey has set his a church of 400,000. Of these the seal Of imperial approbation upon 32 major part, that is, the Christians editions of Arabic Scriptures, allowadhering to the London Society, ing them to be sold, distributed and which first brought Madagascar the gospel, present, according to the An- shipped without let or hindrance."
nual Report for 1887, the following Of the books issued by the Beirut statistics: press,290 have passed under examina- Principal stations or districts. . ••. . 28 Out-stations. . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . • 1,1:!:! tion in Damascus by the government English missionaries…….. …… Female missionaries (not inclnding .., officials, and have received authoriza- 4 wives). ………….. ……… tion.
Native ordained ministers.. . … . •• 828 Telugus.-In 1878, 2,222 Telugu Native preachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,395 converts were baptized in one day. Church members……………… 61,723 Native adherents. . . . •. ••. . •. . . . . . • 230,418. Schools……….. .•…•••. .•…… 1.043 Scbolars. . . . . . •. .. . •. . .. …….. . . 97,891 Fees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • ••. . . . . . • •. . . . • £589 19 5 Local contributions……….•…. £2,410 17 11 -Be'll. O. O. Starbuck in Andover Be'IIiew (June).
Scotland. – The Scotch churches are afraid their large mission-stations
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
It was done by si~ administrators, ening. The shrewdest busluess men ten me though only two baptized a.t one time. that they cannot foresee the future, but it looks dark. It is a time rather for taking in sail than -It is said that Dr. Luther F. for puttiug on more sail. This mission is, at Beecher, then pastor of the church best, but a 'lone star,' with no prospects of in which the anniversary meetings mnltiplication," etc., etc: were held, first applied the term "lone star" to the Telugu Mission. This was probably the origin of the In the debate on the question of abandoning or re-enforcing the Telugu name, caught up as it was by the ad- Mission, Dr. Beecher very earnestly advocated abandonment. He said: vocates of re-enforcement. Dr.
" The commercial horizon is dark and threat- Smith's poem was written in the evening after this speech of Dr.
Beecher, and appeared in the next morning daily. " Shine on, Lone Star, thy radiance bright."
IlL-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE" INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
The Opium Ourae in Ohina. pany, which was abolished thirty BY THE REV. JOHN LIGGINS, ASBURY years ago amid the contempt of the PARK, N. J. ' civilized world. In many respects IN a recent speech in London, Mr. there was a great change for the John Bright referred to the opium better when Indiawas brought under war which England waged with the more direct rule of the Queen China in language of emphatic con- and Parliament, but, alas! the demnation. He said: greatest iniquity of all, the enforced "I am snre scores of times in the year, when opium traffic with China, was con- I am enjoying the beverage which we get tinued by the Indian, and sustained chiefly from Cbina, I am shocked to think of by the Home Governments, because the barbarous cruelty with which we have treated that people, who, so far as all Europe is of the large revenue derived from it. -concerned, are the most peaceful people in the The iniquitous trade has been of whole world. You know that the beginning of the war was opium, the compelling of the incalculable injury to China, and a most formidable obstacle to the Chinese to admit a drug which they did not Christianization of that empire. It 'wish to admit, which they thought hurtful to has also caused much demoralization their people, and which they bad a right to exclude, but which we forced upon them." and misery in India, as the opium vice is spreading there also. It has Remarking upon this statement, the Friend of China says: also worked much injury to India in "The whole story of the opium question is other ways. It causes, or increas~s, the periodic famines, owing to the told in these few graphic words. We hope Mr. perversion of such a vast area from Bright will co-operate with our Parliamentary food crops to crops of poison, and the friends in tbe further measures wbich it Is government traffic shocks the moral sense of the better class of Hindoos. necessary to take in order to relieve England of complicity with the odious traffic."
The abominable trade was begun by Warren Hastings and other agents The greatest and best of all the of the East India Company, and Earls of Shaftesbury, in 1881, un- England's opium wars with China, equivocally condemned "the posi- which as Dr. Arnold of Rugby, Mr. tion of a great imperial government Gladstone, the Earl of Shaftesbury manufacturing the opium, selling and other eminent Englishmen have the opium, and entering in aU the said, are among the most infamous details of retail dealers. It is," he in history, were instigated and fo- said, "a nefarious traffic, and a na- mented by this dishonorable com- tional abomination." The terrible evils of the vile traffic, .. We were listening yesterday to a description of the horrors of the slave trade-of the untold and the very formidable obstacle it is multitudes who must have perished before reaching their destination. But, having labored to the Christianization of China, con- many years in China, my solemn conyiction is that all the misery and sin and suffering caused tinue to be referred to by travelers by the slave trade are not equal to the wrongs in1licted upon China by the opium tramc. That and missionaries. The distinguished may seem a strong thing to say, but it is not at all too strong. I could not possibly describe Miss Gordon Cumming, in her the incalculable misery which I have witnessed as a result of this curse which we introduced "Wanderings in China," Vol. 11:., into China. As a medical miSSionary I have been into many homes where people were enpage 307, says: deavoring to kill themselves by taking opinm, to escape from the greater evils they had " We all know the seqnel, and the storY!Jf the brought upon themselves by the habit of opium two utterly nnjustifiable wars whereby Christian smoking. If you love your country, pray God Englaud not only forced unwilling China to le- that He will raise up a standard against this galize the import of the drug which is rnining horrible, awful curse, and that He will deliver millions of her people, but (like a schoolmaster us from the guilt of it." exacting the price of his birch-rod) compelled her to pay heavy war indemnities. In short, in The Lady Dufferin Movement. the matter of the opium trade, England has acted precisely like one of those hateful 1Iies WE have been studying with some which alight on some fat and comfortable cater- care what is known as the "Lady pillar, and despite its vain struggles, deposit in Dufferin" medical movement in Inits luckless body the eggs whence in due time hat- dia, 'and are led to caution medical ches a crop of vile maggots, to prey on its vitals. women, who desire to devote them- selves to medical missionary work, "The British ollicial conscience has lulled from entering this service without a careful study of its character and itself, Cain-like,* with the assurance of having aim, and the limitations which will be imposed upon them as evangelno responsihility in the destruction of China- ists. The movement is, so far as men, while gaining a solid advantage in the we can detect, after the uttermost revenue of about nine million pounds sterling, stretch of Christian charity, purely which has annually enriched the Indian treasury humanitarian. As such we have from this source. So year after year Britain only kind words for it, though we has turned a deaf ear to every remonstrance believe it might have been made from luckless China, or from those who seek much more than that, and we feel her weal." regret that it was not so made at outset. The objects for which" The The editor of the Missionary Her- National Association for Supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women ald, in a recent number, says: of India" was formed are classified in the Third Annual Report of the " The deep resentment existing in the minds "Countess of Dufferin's Fund," pubof many Chinese against foreigners, on account lished January, 1888, as follows: of the opium-traffic. is well showu by an incident narrated by a member of the China Inland .. I. Medical, Tuition: including the teach- Missiou, who reports having found one day, in ing and training in India of women as a large house, three women sitting together, doctors, hospital assistants, nurses and midsmoking their pipes-oue an old lady in her wives. ninetieth year. As SOOn as this old lady caught the name of Jesus in the conversation she arose .. n. Medical, Relief: including (a) the esand, coming toward the missionary, said: • Do not mention that name again I I hate Jesus I tablishment, under female superintendence, I will not hear another word I You foreigners of dispensaries and college hospitals for the bring opium in one hand and Jesus in the treatment of women and children; (b) the other I' Later, takiug the book from the hand opening of female wards, under female of the missionary, she read a few sentences, but superintendence, in existing hospitals and seeing the name of Jesus, she contemptuously shut the volume, saying: • Take it away I Take it away I I do not want your opium or your Jesus I' Can anything be sadder than having our holy faith thus connected, thoagh wrongly, in the minds of the Chinese with a vile traffic 1"
The Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, M.D., the founder and principal director of the China Inland Missions, and who has traveled very extensively in China, said, at the Mildmay Confer- ence, London, in June, 1887: * .. Am I my brother's keeper r" dispensaries; (e) the provision of female religion cIau2e, so, as so<>n as I could do it medical officers and attendants for existing qnietly, I closed it np." female wards; (d) and the founding of hospitals for women where special funds or en- The Indian 'Witness says, "There dowments are forthcoming. was not the slightest use for the In- dian Association or Lady Dufferin's "III. The Supply of Trained Female Nur- committee introducing the clause ses and Midwives for women and children in they did" ; and Medical Missions at hospitals and private houses." Home and Abroad asks, "Why this never-ending fear on the part of This, practically, is a medical ser- our Indian Government to acknowlvice for women exactly the counter- edge essential Christian rights, the part of the Government's system of right of Christian missions, the medical provision for men which has right of individual Christian confesobtained all over India, and is purely sion?" "Maya Christian," it asks, a secular, though certainly a benevo- "come under any such bond? May lent enterprise. It will not hinder a Christian woman· say, 'I promise and may help medical missionary that, working among dying women, work indirectly. But if any· young my lips shall never be opened to Christian women, graduated in medi- offer them, in Christ's name, the gift cine or as nurses, zealous to do evan- of eternal life ? ' " gelistic work in connection with their profession, think of responding The greater anomaly here arises to the demand for persons skilled from the fact that this movement deand trained for medical work in the rived its initial inspiration, ensample Dufferin system, we must caution and hope of possible success, from them against so doing without care- Christian medical missions by wofully weighing the rule of that aRSO- men to women, and these had met ciation which says, "No employee of with no obstacle on account of relithe Association will be allowed to gion, but were successful to such exproselytize, or interfere in any way tent that they were not equal to the with the religious beliefs of any sec- demands made on them. Woman's tion of the people." If this does not medical work among heathen women absolutely debar them them from is distinctly and divinely Christian, speaking on religious subjects to and yet this association divorces it their patients, and practically from from its ackno.wledged source. carrying the gospel to hospitals or homes, it is not easy to discover how A Great Obstacle in India Removed. the English language can be made to inhibit such deeds. IT is with unusual gratification that we learn that the British Govern- We in nowise depreciate the coun- ment is to discontinue its relation tess' scheme for the relief of suffer- with a system of camp-regulated liing, but from the distinctively mis- centiousness in India. It is some sionary stand-point it is not an arena time siBce the moral sense of Great affording scope for the medical mis- Britain rose in its might and consionary. Dr. Sarah Seward was en- demned the Government system of gaged as a medical missionary at licensed lust that had obtained in Allahabad, India, and lent her aid the British Isles. But the State regfor awhile to the countess' associa- ulation of this iniquity was not distion, but withdrew from it, and said, continued in the army of India; and through Woman's Work for Wo- it has recently been exposed as sinmen: gularly monstrous, facts having been brought to the knowledge of the "I gave up the Dulferin work in October Christian public of England which (1887) ; they could not hamper me, as I was have exasperated them intensely. distinctly promised that I should not be fettered, but they wanted that all assistants paid by them should come under the non- Mr. Alfred S. Dryer, who became ed demand for "more and younger widely known a few years since when women," together with the fact that he exposed the continental traffic in English girls, went to India with the these women were not found to volintent of opposing the system for regulation of harlotry among British unteer to meet the military demand, soldiers, and has been revealing, as and as a consequence had to be huntfar as regard to common decency ed and procured through the exercise would allow, something of the state of direct official force, only intenof things he found. The Christian sified the righteous indignation of of London has from time to time the British Christian public. At the published diagrams to illustrate Mr. meeting in Exeter Hall, Rev. Hugh Dryer's letters, and the effect of the Price Hughes moved the following agitation has been to stir the moral resolution: and religious sentiment of Great Britain to demand, not merely a " This meeting, representIng all sections of modification, but the out-and-out the Church of Christ, learns with deep and abandonment of the connection of burning indignation that the India Office, after the State with licensed prostitution. having been forced to admit the authenticity of We have read these published letters a terrible official document known as the during several months past, and had Circular Memorandum of June 17, 1886, purposed lending the force of our issued by order of the Commander-in-Chief in utterance, and possibly of American India, giving authority to obtain attractive-lookpetition against this abomination, ing harlots, and plenty of them, to provide but are happy in the tidings that houses of ill-fame, and other abominable sugsuch action on our part has been gestions of a kiudred nature; this meeting is rendered unnecessary; at least we astounded to learn that the India Office proposes hope the cablegram means so much. simply to suspend, instead of utterly to repeal, the system under which such atrocities are per- A great public meeting to demand pretrated, and this meeting pledges itself to from Lord Cross, the Indian Secre- carry out, both in this country and in India, an tary of State, the instantaneous and agitation for repeal till repeal is gained_" unconditional abolition of the system of State-provided vice in India, was He said there was no nonsense held in Exeter Hall, on Friday even- about the resolution: ing, May 18, under the auspices of the Gospel Purity Association. Mrs. "Requisitions for the class of women referred Josephine E. Butler, and several to had been made by various commanding offimembers of Parliament were sup- cers, and one, the officer in command of the Con_ ported on the platform by mission- naught Rangers, had asked the Commander-inaries, clergy and ministers of all de- Chief to request the cantonment magistrate to nominations. The bishops of the give all possible assistance to procuring them_ Indian Empire had strongly memori- Let them imagine what that meant in a country alized the Indian Government against where there was no constitutional government_ the continuance of this iniquity, Not only so, bot in at least one part of India a and 300 missionaries joined in the sort of recruiting officer had been appointed for petition to Parliament for its aban- the purpose who was to receive a capitation donment. grant on the victims brought in_"
The specific character of the gov- It is not necessary, as we now ernmentregulations, such as that the judge, to enter more largely into the number of women should be "sllffi- subject. cient," that the women should be "sufficiently attractive," that they If the British Parliament, on June be "young women," and the repeat- 5, responded to the demand of Brit- ish moral sentiment and uncondi- tionally repealed all legislation licens- ing and regulating a great system of iniquity which the British army had inaugurated and which was spread from end to end of the Indian Em- pire, that I is something for Chris- tian gratulation, though rejoicing be still tempered with a sense of indig- nant shame that such a system was ever contemplated, much less en- stringency of its regulations against forced for an hour. This has been a the importation of liquors. In April, great obstruction to Christian work 1887, they prohibited their importa.- in India. And the horrible anomaly tion entirely into about one-third of of State-procured women to' pander their telTitories. In May, 1887, they to the base passions o.f BritiSh made a further regulation imposing soldiers in State-provided harlot's penalties on the payment of wages houses, in juxtaposition witha State- in spirits throughout the whole of provided Christian Church, is an ef- their territories. The matter of the frontery of deviltry that human his- decadence of these native races and tory has not often equaled. Thank the destruction of commerce among God! it is to be no more. Missiona- them in consequence of the introducries like those of Seetapore, who have tion of European intoxicants has at been compelled to pass such quarters last forced itself upon the British on their way to preach Christ's gos- Parliament, and on April 24, when pel to heathen women, must have Mr. McArthur moved in the House of had the courage of an infinite faith in Commons, "That this House, having the discharge of their duty. regard to the disastrous physical and moral effects of the liquor traffic Sturdy British moral sentiment has among uncivilized races, as well as again set an example that will lend the injury it inflicts on legitimate new fire and force to all who are commerce, is of opinion that Her struggling with giant iniquities. Majesty's Government should take " Men of thought and men of action" steps to suppress the traffic with will shout, "Clear the way!" An- natives in all native territories under other "brazen wrong" has" crum- its influence or control, and that bled into clay! " whenever self-governing powers are granted to crown colonies, stipula- Rum and the Native Races. tions should be made for the effectual THE General Assembly of the protection of the natives against the Presbyterian Church, held in Phila- sale of strong drink." delphia in Ma,y, spoke in the following unmistakable way about the drink In supporting this, he said that traffic on the Congo and amongst England did not alone conduct this other uncivilized nations: trade. During 1885 more than 10,- 000,000 gallons of the vilest spirits WMreas. The exportation of intoxicating were sent to Africa, of which England sent only 311,384 gallons, liquors to heathen lands has become a most Germany 7,823,042 gallons, and others alarming hindrance to the civilization and smaller quantities. Christianization of the inhabitants thereof, and as this tramc is assuming snch proportions in the He said that they at .home had great Congo Valley of Africa by virtue of an some international treaty in which our own Government is a party ; therefore "protection in the Adnlteration Acts, but in warm countries, inhabited by races unac- Re8olved, That the Assembly views with customed to such liquorR, the natives had, with shame, horror and apprehension the progress of the exception of Madagascar, no protection this tramc by civilized nations with ignorant and whatever; there was no supervision, no examheathen lands; that this Assembly nnite, as far ination, and the drink sold was so bad that it as possible, with other churches in an effort to speedily decimated and destroyed them. This induce Christian Governments to abolish and traffic was bringing abont wholesale murder in prevent the horrible practice of carrying intoxi- the islands of the Western Pacific over an extent cants into the uncivilized nations of the world, of 3,000 miles of coasts. In Africa the picture aud that a committee be appointed to lay this was almost as dark. The consnmption of strong .whole matter before his Excellency the Presi- drink was increasing and leading rapidly to the dent of the United States, with the request that demoralization and destruction of the native he would present the facts to Congress, and ask races. No doubt, in parts of South Africa the that such steps may be taken, with the least possilXe delay, as will free us, as a Christian nation, from all complicity with this ruinons tramc, especially as re!,(ards the treaty concern- ing the Free Congo State.
We do make some headway. The Royal Niger Steamship Company has for some time been increasing the Government bad not complete control, bu. In or Protestant, and the latter are otber parts they have full sway, aDd m some of quite indignant that either Grover those places the natives fared as badly as at the Cleveland or the President of the Cape Colony. Once the passion for brandy was United States should have sent a gift roused, it became msatiable, and the natives which indirectly was a recognition of were destroyed. A native king wrote begglog sovereignty. that the traftic might be stopped. If not, his people would have to abandon their town, and A correspondent writes us from go Into the desert to escape frem the white Italy as follows: man's brandy. He believed we were morall,. bound to protect the natives over whom we had " I wonder if you are inoorested in been called to govern. Even the motive of seIC- European, in Italian politics. Of interest ought to Induce us to take such a course, course we here follow them with because to a manufacturing countr,. it was of interest. From remarks that I somethe utmost importance that we should have a times see in our home papers, I nota wide range of customers, and the native races that our Italian politics are often sadwould, if protected a.gainst this evil, become ly mixed up and misunderstood. It valuable customers. He recollected hearing the is, of COurse, a difficult thing for late Dr. Moffat, who laboced so long and so sue- American journalists to have a just cessfully in Africa, state that when he first went idea of conditions here, just as it is to Bechuanaland there was not £5 worth of difficult for Italians to form a just British manllfactured goods sold in that district, conception of our ways. Of course, but before he left tens of thol1sands of pounds the Pope and his jubilee have occuworth were sold annually. And this is the case pied a prominent place in the eye of where Christian civilization extends." this public, but I think it must be conceded that it has not been the suc- Sir Edward Kenneday, in support- cess that was hoped for. It would ing the resolution, said the thought seem that the Pope hoped by its is that means to make some advance toward the regaining of the temporal power, "co.tact between Europeans and the native and he must have been .disappointed races must necessarily result in benefit to the in the very guarded tone of the comlatter. It ought to be so. If the proper intiu- munications from those monarchs ences were brought to bear and the evil infin- from whom he perhaps expected most ences were kept away, U would be so; but to a efficient aid. But he no doubt flatgreat extent we defeated our own objects by in- ters himself greatly on the attentions troducing among those races that which was not received from Protestant rulers. You for their good, but for their harm. The African will have noticed, I do not doubt, especially had a tendency to be corrupted. In that he celebrated his jubilee New addition to making large quantities of his favor- Year's morning. I wonder if the ite native drink, the African acquired a liking papers on the other side of the sea refor the rum and gin which were imported by marked the fact that the miter which European merchants in large quantities. The he wore on that occasion was the gift result was that he became careless of every- of the Emperor of Germany, and the thing else, and had no money left to purchase chalice which he used was Queen Victhe manufactures of Manchester. Mr. Joseph toris's gift. In our English prayer- Tholl¥lon and Sir Richard &rton had showed meeting during the week it was comthat Africa would even be the gainer if the mented on that two Protestant rulers country reverted to the old state of slavery and should have furnished so symbolic the importation of liquor was given up. There gifts for that occasion. Italian newswere dilllcuities in the way, but similar diffi- papers commented on the fact. But culties were overODme by. Wilberforce and Sir that which occasioned most surprise, FowellBnxtonin overthrowing the slave trade." and was perha:ps most commented on by Italian journals, and most deeply Grover Oleveland's Present to the Pope. regretted by Protestant Americans WE say "GroverCleveland," rather than His Excellency the President, because it is claimed on the occasion of his sending a gift, a very appropriate one, by the way, to the Pope on his jubilee that he acted in his individual and not in his official capacity. The distinction,.however, is quite too ltice for the Italians, eiMler Romallist resident here, was the fact of a. girt pontiff seemed to him illogical.' from the President of the United When will our Protestant nations States. They may say what they recognize that it is not only illogical, like about its not being sent by him in but that it is dangerous ?" his official capacity. that the Secretary of State knew nothing of it, and Recent Ohurch Action on Missions. as much more as they please, but that was an occasion when the man THE General Conference of the could not separate himself from his Methodist Episcopal Church, at its office, and before the eyes· of the Jast session, had some very liignifi.- world it was not Mr. Cleveland, but cant action concerning its foreign the President who sent a gift to the missions, a part of which interests Pope. the general Christian public. Two tendencies have been manifest for "In marked contrast is the action of some few years past. One looking to the preservation of the foreign misthe Italian government in regard to sion-fields in organic relation simi- lar to that which obtains in this counthe Mayor of Rome. He is a devoted try, and to the erection of a worldand bigoted Roman Catholic, and wide Ecumenical Methodist Episcopal just before the New Year went to call Church; the other looking to the ulon the Pope, expressed his salutations timate autonomy of the great diand those of the city. It was said visions of the foreign church, in althat he went in his private capacity, liance and closest sympathy with the not in his official relation. The ac- home church. The latter view obtion was not ordered by the munici- tained more fully in the action of pal council, nor the. subject consid- this General Conference, and the ered by them, and they held it was Methodist Episcopal Church of Japan distinctly his private act; but the was authorized to effect a union with government at once declared that on other branches of Methodism in that such an occasion the man could not country, and to erect the Methodist separate himself from the official, Church of Japan. A part of the acand that a government officer might tion is as follows: not perform such an act, and promptly demanded his resignation! Reaolv~d, 1. That this General Conference will not interpOfle any objection. to the Japanese "The Italian Government has sent Methodists declaring themselves independent of no gift to honor the Pope's jubilee. . the Methodist Episcopal Chnrch, provided they She knows the toe she has within her unite with one or more of the other Methodist borders. I wish our own loved Churches in Japan. America would wake up to a realiza.. tiOli of what an enemy to all her in- 2. That whenenr it shall he made evident to stitutions she harbors with a certain the Bishop in charge of Japan and to the Board calm indifference. The Pope makes of Managers of the Missionary Society that it Is a very gracious reply to the gift of the desire of the Methodists of Japan to be so the President, but to me the words declared independent, and whenever arrangeseem to contain a threat, a moral ments satisfactory to said Board of Managers purpose, which he and the Jesuits and Bishops shall have been made, securing the have never surrendered. One of the real estate in Japan of the Missionary SOciety of Italian papers had this item on it not the Methodist Episcopal Chnrch, the said Bishop long ago: 'King Oscar of Sweden is and Board shall proceed to make all the arrangethe only sovereign who has not taken menta neco.sary to the independence of said part in the festival of the papal Church and ita anion with the Canada Methodist Mi••ion or any other Methodist missions In jubilee. He replied to the committee Japan.
for the jubilee that the participation 8. That in ca.e, during the present quadrenof a Protestant prince in rendering ninm, the Methodiet Church of Japan shall be homage to the Roman Catholic created In harmony with the spirit and purpOfleB ofthi8 action, the General MissionaryCommittee and Board may coutinue, under proper regnla- tions, appropriations and payments to the work in Japau, and that onr people in this conntry be encouraged to continne to manifest th8ir interest in the eTan~elical, educational, pnblishing and other work In that country.
4. That our mi8Bion in Japan be advised, in the drat place, to earneetly seek a nnion with aU the bodies of Methodi.ts in Japan, that the,. may nnite together in laJing the foundations and eatabllshina the dl8cipllne of the new church. The same tendency was manifested served as 1 day of prayer, when all onr churches by the definition of the powers of a and Sabbath-sclIoola and Christian homes may Missionary Bishop as co-ordinate with unite in speech and song and prayer and service those of the General Superintendents to deepen interest in, and consecration to, the (the other Bishops) within his partic- work of giving the gospel to the heathen world. ular field j and by the erection of "India and Malaysia" into a Mis- "That the week following this Mission Sabsionary Episcopate, with Rev. James bath, or some other week soon succeeding, be de- M. Thoburn, D.D., as Missionary· voted to " simnltaneons meetings" at centers ot Bishop. inftnence within the bonnds ot the respective Synods, tor which Synodical or Presbyterial Anotherimportant adjustment was Committees shall make proviSion, inviting the made by providing for the organic co-operation of the Secretaries of the Board and relation of missionary work which the different missionary agencies in the respecthad developed somewhat out of the ive fields. Such an arrangement made and carusual order, under Missionary Bishop ried into effect by the Synod of New Jersey last William Taylor of Africa, and the year was greatll fruitful. "Bishop William Taylor Transit and Building Fund Society," who have " That we eDJoin upon pastors and church oMhitherto conducted what are known cers a wide dissemination of the current litaraas "self-supporting missions." The ture of missions, that the people may keep pace with the miKhty movements of our tinie and may realize the possibilities of power and vic- tory before the chnrch, assured that a snstained and large-hearted Christian liberality must be conditioned on intelligence, and that a swift step throngh God-opened doors is the only loyal answer to the order of the King.
.. That we make not less than a round million dollars as our joyfnl offering to God this coming year for laying at the gates of our beloved Zion this golden and matchless opportunity to possess much land lor Christ."
following was adopted: . -Signs of the Times in India. Rev.
R68olfwl, 1. That the Missionary Bishop for T. J. Scott, D.D., writing from Ba- Africa be and is hereby authorized to continue reilly, India, says: "The two most his efforts to extend the Methodist Episcopal notable points in India to-day are, Church in Africa on the plan of self-supporting first, a remarkable stir among Hindus miasions. to get Government to interdict the killing of cows, or rather of the cow 2. That we direct that all property acquired In kind. The movement began with the the prosecution of the self-supportln/L mission new sect of the "Arians," as they plan, be held by and for the Methodist Episcopal call themselves. A second phase of Church. the times is a growing alienation be- tween Moslems and Hindus, partly 8. That the Ji[!ssionary Board be advised to over the cow question and partly appoint a standing committee on self-snpportilli: over the National Congress movemissions conducted on this plan. ment which is very generally headed by Hindus. The National Congress 4. Tha.t. missionaries employed and chnrches meets annually and means more of organized under this plan shall be entitled to the India for the natives. Moslems fear same righta and amenable to the discipline or that it means more of India for Hinthe church the earne as missionaries and dus, hence their opposition to it. The churches in other fields. Congress is a native movement."
5. That Missionary Bishops In charge of self- -IN a missionary sermon, Rev. W. supporting missions be instructed to report an- BUally to the Missionary Board the condition or all self-supporting missions, including the number of missionaries, the number of stations and circuits, and the number of communicants in each; and a finaucial exhibit of ali receipts and expenditures.
6. That the Argentine Republic~Uruguay, the Southern province of Erilzil, raraguay and Chili be organized into an annual conference, to be called the South American Conference.
7. That the General Ji[!ssionary Committee be requested to organize the Portugnese stations in Northern Brazil into a mission.
S. That the name of the Liberia Conference be changed to Africa Conference, ita boundaries to include the whole of Africa.
The General Assembly of the Pres- L. Watkinson of England lately dealt byterian Church adopted the follow- with some considerations touching ing: missions with which we are familiar in general literature, and some of the .. That we recognize the advantages of co-oper- recommendations of critics. One of ation and union already secured In foreign fields, these was that we should attend to and approve the continuance of the same, ac- questions within our own borders and cording to the advice of preceding assemblies. let the great world of pagan"ism alone. The scientific reason assigned for this .. That in accordance with the su!!gestion oftha was, that in this world there was a Board, we recommend that a viSItation of the missions by the Secretaries be made not less frequently than once in ten years, aad not more fr~~~J:ft:'e~~a~b!r: ~Fagovember be oil- I 628 INTBBNATIONAL DKPARTlmNT. [AUGUST, Jaw permanently active, by which and yet at last it bore roses upon its degraded tribes are carried forward to the utmost civilization and refine- top. ment, and that we should stand by and let this internal 'force operate. -ANENT the criticisms that Chris- Then, little by little, debased peoples tian missionaries present a too spiritwould be lifted to the level of an accomplished and noble civilization· ual view of religion to barbarians, and Upon inquiry, however, as to whether that they would make greater prothis was an explanation of the whole question, we are told there is also gress by withholding part of the another law, not of evolution, growth and development, but a law of degra- truth, read the following: dation, by which noble organisms are carried backward to simplicity and .. But men say to·day, 'Cannot you accelerate utter debasement. Now, when we the progress of Christianity f' And they ree-' look within the circle of Christendom, ommend us to modify our doctrine. Max Miiller we find the law of development, says-and he has to a considerable extent symwe find peoples slowly approximating pathized with missions-that evangelical Christo a magnificent ideal; but outside tianity can never hope to triumph in India. that circle we see the law of degene- What Christianity do they require f A purified ration-magnificent civilizations go- Christianity-that is, a Christianity from wllich ing back, great peoples becoming you have eliminated the Incarnation, the Atonemore ignorant and corrupt. This ment, the Resurrection, and the Fnture; and law could only be arrested by bring- that purified Christianity would commend itself Ing into the midst of the race the su- to an Intellectual race, and we might count our perhuman wisdom and inspiration of converts by thousands inst~ad of tens. What Christian doctrine and faith. These must we say to this f Did we triumph in Fiji critics say the Christian church should with an emasculated Christianity? The apostle !et the pagan world alone. Do they Paul went to II most refined people, and they let it alone politically, educationally listened to him, and when he Came to the resur- or commercially? Not for a moment. rection of the dead some mocked. What did As we say, if these are good, super- the apostle do? Did he go to the, race with a natural faith is better than all. Chris- "purified Christianity" after that? No, with tianity made us what we are, and perfect consistency he continued to declare that maintains us at the dizzy height at Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip- which we stand; we cannot afford to tures, and how He rose from the dead, and will let the pagan world alone, because it come again to judge the earth in righteousness. will not let us alone. If we do not We aim not at civilization-that is a sweet acci- civilize the pagan world, it will de- dent-but we aim at the spiritualization of the . moralize us. During the last fifty race, and when we look into history we can say years there has been a revival in Eu- with Paul, only with greater emphasis, 'We are I rope of Oriental philosophy. Where not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the < do the notions of nihilism, atheism, power of God unto salvation to every one that and pessimism come from which to- believeth.' Then they say we must modify the day work so disastrously in our liter- moral standard, Christianity is too exalted, and ature and life? From the East; and if we will only accommodate the ethical claims unless we convert the East, it will of Christiauity to the weakness of mankind we convert us. Mission work is great, shall have ten thousand converts where to-day but we are on the winning side, and we have only ten. But God will not make the may remember the words of the hair's-breadth of a compromise with sin. Men Italian poet, who saw the thorn, all outside say: Briug the law down to the race; winter long, intractable and fierce, Jesus Christ says to His Church: Bring the Church up to the law, and take an eternity to do it. They also say if we want to' get on faster with Christianity we must revise the methods, begiu with an intermediate system, and so find our way little by little to the magnificent design of Christianity. But the Bible teaches us that we can take the pure truth to the most debased peoples, aud they have a faculty for its imme- diate recognition. The teaching of Christianity is that the lowest man has a faculty for the high- est, and the common people hear Him gladly who spake as never man spake. We have every reason for encouragement, and although men speak of the slowness of it, truly we may feel that its, progress is marvelous."
THE. ](O~Y CONCERT OF IIIISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF. MISSIONS.
PAPAL EUROPE. to 1875, England gained 119 per cent. ; Prussia, 72; Austria, 27; France, 12 ; IT is one of the wonders of the a.ges or, taking excess ofbirths over deaths: that changes so radical and revolu- if Fl'ance be represented by 1, Austionary should have taken place in tria will be represented by 3, Russia Europe. In the age succeeding the by 5; but Prussia by 6, and Britain Council of Trent, Papal Europe em- by 81 In 1825 Protestant population braced the oldest and grandest of was to Papal as 3 to 13; and, in 1875, monarchies: the German Empire as as 1 to 3. the political and military center; France as the intellectual and social The transformations in Italy are center; Spain and Portugal as the incredible to one who has not wit- "center of expansive force"; Italy as nessed them. Where two-thirds of the historical and ecclesiastical cen- the people could not read or write, ter of all. Papal Europe then repre- education is now compulsory. Where sented all the old, polished languages the very conscience of the people and every great historical city, an- seemed paralyzed, and the sense of cient university, and every influential personal responsibIlity and accountanucleus of letters, art and civiliza- bility dead, we have seen the church tion, except those developed after the party in Rome opening numerous Reformation. schools, issuing cheap literature in large quantities, establishing soup- In Luther's era Rome held Europe kitchens, relieving poverty, and inin her firm grasp. Great moral and forming ignorance. Where the Pope political revolutions have cut oB.: Eng- swayed with an absolute scepter, Pius land, Scotland, Holland, Denmark, IX. was a prisoner in the Vatican, Sweden, Prussia, and part of Ger- bewailing the losij of temporal power; many and Switzerland; and even the and it is obvious to the world, if not countries that have not thrown off to the College of Cardinals, that even allegiance to the Pope have under- the spiritual scepter is very loosely gone great change. Papacy has lost held, if not already broken. The beyond calculation or restoration, and Pope will never again make emperors in nQwhere more surely than in Italy bow as penitents before him, or toritself. "Papal Europe" has now a ture heretics in thedungeons of the different meaning ; Protestantism has Inquisition. been, and is, steadily gaining in numbers, wealth, prestige and in power- The ignorance which is the mother intellectually, morally, politically and of superstition is giving way before spiHtually. the intelligence that is the handmaid of faith and devotion. In fact, as to The balance of p01ver has been act- the Papacy, we mark a grand crash ually reversed since 1789. At the in the whole wall which has shut out period of the Reformation, Spain and the Bible and the pure gospel from Portugal and Austria were the domi- the people. It is like the falling of nant powers in Europe. Spain, that the ramparts of Jericho before the made England quake at the terrors of trumpet blast of joshua's hosts ; and her" Invincible Armada," had three wherever the army of God faces times, perhaps six times, the popula- Romanism, every man may march tion of England; now England, after into the breach straight before him all the millions she has sent to colo- and take the city. nize India, America and Australia, has still twice the population of We can hardly credit it that Spain. During fifty years, from 1825 Protestant churches and Protestant schools are multiplying within the The" twelvehundredandsixty " days walls of the Eternal City; that Rome of dominion seem to have expired. itself is open to the circulation of the No man can foresee the changes that Bible and the preaching of t4e Cross; within ten years may yet t8.ke place. that under the shadows of St. Peters There are many indications that there and the Vatican Protestants may not only worship unmolested, but is to be a Reformed Catholic Church, carryon the work of evangelism; that the Bible cartsroll out of Madrid, on a great scale, in which those who and in the very Spain whose name is within the Papal communion hold to the historic synonym of the Inquisi- evangelical truth shall find a refuge tion the people should so clamor for from companionship and complicity the Word of God that copies cannot with error and heresy and iniquity. be printed fast enough to meet the Rev. W. T. Bainbridge, whose demand; that in France, that right " World Tour" did so much for misarm of the Papal power for centuries, sions, met in Asia many Catholic land of the exiled Huguenots and of priests who seemed to have been inawful st. Bartholomew, both French fluenced by the accompanying evan- Chambers order elimination of priests gelical missions; and there are many and nuns from government schools signs in the British Provinces and within five years; and the greatest in our own Republic that Roman work of popular evangelization ever Catholicism, in close contact with known should now be in progress, Protestantism and remote from the and the government aid and encour- Papal centers, is being essentially a.ge the McAll stations as the best modified by such contact. The future possible police to restrain and reform may show us a great exodus from that mercurial people, whose very Rome, of those who "comeoutof her blood, like the Irishman's, is quick- that they be not partakers of her sins silver. nor receive of her plagues." Nay, even a reconstructed church, that Savonarola's dying cry was, "0 casts off the cerements of the sepul- Italy, I warn thee that only Christ cher and comes forth in a new life of can save thee! The time for the purified faith I Holy Ghost has not come, but it will !" What if that martyr of Fer- SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. rara could have seen Italy's history from 1848 until now! Where in 1866 God's Hand in Our History.-In a Protestant preacher was expelled 1588 Great Britain did not possess a for preaching, twenty years later Leo foot of land on this continent. France XIII. says to his cardinals, "With and Spain possessed all. In 1688 deep regret and profound anguish we Spain owned vast tracts of North and behold the impiety with which Pro- South America, and was in effect still testants freely and with impunity supreme. France claimed much, and propagate their heretical doctrines, her possession seemedsecure. France, and attack the most august and sa- Spain and Portugal carried out the cred doctrines of our holy religion- behests of the Pope wherever they even here at Rome, the center of the hoisted their flag. There was no tolerfaith and the zeal of the universal ation of Protestantism. It was about . and infallible teacher of the church!" two hundred years ago that France claimed the St. Lawrence and the What we may now see or have seen whole territory which it drains, and in Italy and Spain and France, is but also the Mississippi valley down to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward to a type of what to a greater or less Texas. In 1788 France and Spain still held much territory, though their extent is true of all lands held under grasp upon the continent was much the nominal control of the Papacy. less secure. By this time all Acadia TEXTS .A.ND THEMES. and Canada. was lost. And now, in Darkness and the Shadow of Death. 1888, Spain does not control an acre of Continental America, and France ISAIAH ix : 2: "The people that has nut an inch of territory on the walked in darkness have seen a main-land of North America, and great light: they that dwell in the very little in South America. At land of the shadow of death, upon this moment Great Britain and the them hath the light shined." United States possess all North America, with the exception of Mexico and A divine description of the condia few small "Central" American tion of people without the gospel: States. As a result, we have free in- " WALK in DARKNESS"; •• DWBLL stitutions, free churches, a free press, in land of DEATH-SHADE." the Bible and the public schools. The thought grows intense as it Progress in India.-The progress proceeds, and the terms more emand success of modern missions is phatic: from dark~ess to deathnot only enc.()uraging, but indeed shade; from WALKING to DWELLING. marvellous. Considering the nqmbel' of persons employed in foreign Darkness is coupled with distress. missionary work, the achieved suc- (Of. chap. viii: 21,22.) Walking in cess is greater than in the home darkness is especially distressing and field. The Ohristian Guardian, in perilous. Men dread to be overtaken referring to Sir William Hunter's by a moonless, starless night in paper read before the Society of mountain passes and gaping crev- Arts, in which he bears strong testi- asses or unknown districts. The mony in regard to the rapid progress very gloom seems to be oppressive of Christianity in India, gives the and pei'ilous. following statistical facts of much interest: These people to whom the prophet refers, however, DWELL in darkness; .. In 1851 the Protestant missions In Indlllllnd they are not simply traveling Bnrmah had 222 stations; in 1881 their stations through, in which case the night ithad increased to 601, or nearly threefold. The self is transient, and the journey tonumber oC their congregations or churches had, ward light. But DWELLING in darkin the same period of thirty years, mnltiplied ness as a. permanent abode. from 267 to 4,180, or nearly fifteenfold. In the I18me way, while the number of native Protest- Death-shade implies darkness most ant Christians increased from 91,091 in 1851 to profound and unbroken. Compare 492,882 in 1881, or fivefold, the number of com- the Egyptian plague of darkness of municants increased from 14,661 to 138,254, or three days' duration. (Exodus x : 21, nearly tenfold. The progress, therefore, is not 22.) "Darkness that might be FELT," only in numbers, but also in pastoral care and as though something tangible in that internal discipline. The chief means by which pall of gloom. these eDormous increments have obtained has been the larger use of native agenc,.. A native Some idea may be formed of this Protestant Church has, in fact, grown up in In- plague, which was next to the last and dia, capable of supplying, in a large measure, its only surpassed by that in horror and 0'lVll staW. Instead of twenty-one ordained na- terror. Darkness profound and pertive ministers in 1851, there were, in 1881, 575 ; manentmeans not only no LIGHT, but and the native lay preachers had risen from 493 no heat and no life. Vegetable life to the vast total of 2,856." thrives only in light. So animal life. Shut a man in utter darkness, and This is but one field of missionary you drive him to madness or suicide. effort, yet it gives us a sample of Hence shadow of death. Literally, what is being done, and the progress death-shade, such as in the place of that is being made to win the world the dead 01' SHEOL, implies a certain to Christ.-Methodilt Recorder. fatal quality in this darkness, ten- dency to destroy all true life.
Man's condition, indepQndent of God's interposition, is one of intellect- indifferent to VICE, even to nakedness. ual, moral and spiritual NIGHT. But it is not the indifference of inno- cence, but of iniquity and abandon- 1. Darkness of ignorance. Even ment. highest culture may leave sublimest realities unknown. Athenian wisdom Atheists in Siam have no hope but went side by side with ignorance of of a higher transmigration. The God. "The unknown God." And soul may go into the white ant or red so of immortality, even Plato could ",nt, buffalo or elephant. Priests in but muse and surmise. Godlessness temples preach to Siamese in aha"'" leads to intellectual apostasy. The dee, a language none understand. most brilliant minds have crowned folly with wisdom's diadem, and said The annual license for gamblingin their heart, "There is no God." houses in Bangkok is lSeveral hundred Systems of philosophy have left God thousand dollars, and gambling saout, as Humboldt did from his" Cos- loons numbered by thousands. mos." 3. The darkness of moral estrange- 2. Darkness of idolatry. ment and alienation. "Evil, be thou Ps. cxv : 8: "They that make them my good," is the last expression of are LIKE UNTO THEM." Idols are help- iniquity. This is the very shadow of less, dumb, stupid, powerless; the death: when a man is left to coneffect of idolatry is to bring idolaters sume himself by his own vices. into similar condition. This is illustrated by the history of Polytheism. If these lost souls were in the pit Men began by worshiping grandest of perdition, it would be too late; but objects-sun, moon, fire; then silver they are not yet hopelessly, remediand gold representations of men, lessly lost. Some of them "have etc. ; then wood, stone, down even to seen a great light"; have received gree-gree and fetich. knowledge of GOD and of SELF. Idolatry opposed to religion. (See Life and immortality have been Paul on Mars Hill.) Opposed even to brought to LIGHT, and with light has REASON. It is itself consummate come warmth: LOVE, life. FOLLY. – It is not enough to see the light- Isa. xliv: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. A mall as men have walked in darkness, manufactures a deity out of the log, they must, when they see the light, part of whieh he uses to warm his body and roast his food! walk in it. The African takes mud, mak~s an Thousands who see in the light, idol, bakes it in the sun, stands it up against a tree, and WORSHIPS mud yet strangely grope in the darkness; that would be regarded filth on one's outwardly dwelling in land of the garments. light of life, they still actually live in This is not only so among the more the death-shade! All history demon- degraded. The children of Israel strates that no mere intellectual made a golden calf at Sinai, after- progress can prevent spiritual death. ward at Bethel and Dan. The Canaa;nites seemto havebeenthe I The late King of Siam was an edu- principal inventors, yet among them wickedness appears to have conspicu- cated man, an astronomer, etc., yet ouslyabounded. The two civilizations he gilded an image of Buddha daily, moved side by side, thus early in his- made of cast-iron, the same material tory demonstrating that no intellect- from which his cooking utensils were ual activity could insure the eleva- made-the "RESIDUE A GOD." tion or prevent the degradation of the race, independent of religion. This is only a type of the inteUect- ual, mocal and spiritual degradation He who said "Let light be, and of heathen people. They become light was," and dispersed the deep darkness when as yet light was not born, repeats that grand miracle in a moral sphere. (2 Cor. iv: 6.)
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
V.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
– The American Board of Foreign Bacon, Mill, Darwin, HnxIey and Herbert Spen- Missions reports the death of the cer were read. Agnosticism was spreading, and Rev. J. W. Smith, M.D., a mission- the speaker asked for Christian effort to provide ary physician at Koloa, Sandwich an antidote to its inftuence. The Rev. Eynon Islands, in the seventy-seventh year Davis, who boasted that there was not one atheis- of his age, and forty-sixth of his tic book published in Welsh, a!ld the Rev.
work. Sixnewmissionaryfamiliesare Canon Fleming strongly commended the' Pres- needed for the Madura Mission in the ent Day' series of the society's publications, next six months. The mission field embraces 10,000 square miles j with a intended to meet the modern forms ofunbelief. population of about 2,000,000, divided into twelve districts. Thirty – six Sir Harry Verney also spoke and expressed a churches have been gathered with 3,000 members, and a nominal mem- warm interest in the cause."-London Times. bership of over 12,000. The dedication of a church is reported at Shuchi, Africa. – Addititional intelligence near Kyoto, Japan, and wide openings at Kumamoto. Among the In- has been reyeived concerning the condians of Mexico the doors are opening, and the calls are coming faster fiicton Lake Nyassa between the Engthan ever. Among the Zulus a great work is going on, and reinforce- lish Consuls and missionaries of the ments are earnestly asked for, as three of the laborers have been in Scotch Free Church and the Arab the field thillty-nine years. In their West Central African Mission, Mr. slave-traders. Dr. Kerr Cross wrote, Currie of Bailrudu and Mr. Sanders of Bihe, have explored the regions January 27, that both Consul Hawes north and north-east of their stations. hoping to find a favorable site for a and Consul O'Niell advised the misnew station. In the Central Turkey Mission a delegation of Armenians sionaries to leave the country for six came to the missionary at Zeitoon with a petition, signed by forty months and return with more guns heads of families, begging to be enrolled as Protestants This was in- and plenty of ammunition j others creased afterwards to sixty-five. felt that any absence would mean -Pure Literature. "Much stress was laid at the abandonment of the mission, and would encourage the Arabs, with the the eighty-ninth annual meeting of the Religious consequent discouragement of all native allies. It was finally agrMd 'rract Society, over which Lord Balfour of that the members of the African Lakes Company and Dr. Cross should Burleigh presided, at Exeter Hall, on Friday fortify themselves at Chirenje, and that the consuls should go to the livening, on the work which this great organi- coast and send to the besieged men such reinforcements as were needed. zation has accomplished in the diffusion of pure This was done. The native chiefs adhere to the mission and are bitterly and Interesting, as;well as religious, literature. hostile to the Arabs. It appearsthat it is but a small section of the Arabs The whole number of its issues last year was who have engaged in these slave- trading raids. Dr. Cross is perplexed OTer 76,000,000, and since the formation of the as to what course he shall take. Hith- erto he has taken no part in the society 2,602.390,390, which have been published fighting, offering his services to alIas a surgeon, and he hopes to maintain In 191 languages and dialects. During the twelve this position, and to show that the mission means peace. Unless the stamonths the outlay amounted to 41,7081., the tion is wttacked and defense is neces- sary, he will take no offensive meas- Chairman remarking that the profit in the trade ures. At last accounts the African Lakes Company, which is a commertransactions entirely covered the expensesoC cial and philanthropic company, en- gaged in the work of opening the management, so that all the contributions were region about Lake Nyassa, had re- ceived telegraphic information that devoted to missionary objects. The Re'v. J. Karonge, a station on the northwest coast of the lake, had been reoccu- Piper,for thirteen years a missionary in China and pied, but that the Arabs are still hos- tile, and an attack is apprehended.- Japan, gave illustrations of the value of Chris- Mis8'y Herald.
tian books and tracts among the dense popula- tions of those lands, a large proportion of whom are readers. In .Japan English was th.. vehicle of Buropean civilization, and the works ot -The Transit and Building Fund dead of Havana are buried in the ~aptist cemetery. It is stated that Society of Bishop Taylor's self-sup- eIght thousand persons have applied porting missions makes a financial report for the last four years, or from for membership in the churches though many of these are ignorant July 1, 1884, to March 24, 1888. It of the true qualifications for church shows total receipts of $153,341.24 in membership. the four years, of which $993.16 re- France.-The annual meeting of main on hand, and the rest has been ~xpended, partly for the South Amer- the Societedes Missions Evangeliques, ICan ",,:ork, but chiefiy in Africa. held in Paris, April 19, was supple- Ai giers.-On the 20th oAflNgoievresm, wbe~r mented by a second gathering at 1887, in the suburbs of their Maison des Missions, April 22.
opened the first Presbyterian church Full and delightful services are re- of Northwestern Africa. The beau- po:ted: The re~ent religious awak- ~iful edifice of freestone and marble enmg In connection with their mis- IS the gift of Sir Peter Coats to the sion among the Basutos of South Synod of the United Presbyterian A~ri.c~ furnished matter for special reJOIcmg and gratitude. The number Church of Scotland. of candidates for baptism at Morija had risen by the first of March to Arabia.-The Keith-Falconer Mis- nearly four hundred. Among the ~ebruary baptisms was that of a sion in South Arabia is at last fully sloIsntgersoinfcMe doesahde.sh,SthheeisBmasouretothkainn"O''~ hundred years old. One of the naequipped. Dr. Paterson, the new tive helpers says that he has never heard anyone speak of her love to medical missionary, is in charge, with the Saviour like this woman. Last February a large and fine industrial Mr. Lochhead as his assistant. The, school building was dedicated at Outing, which has been wholly built committee asked the Rev. W. R. by the apprentices of the school W. Gardner, who had volunteered without cost to the French Missionfor Africa, to go to Aden asan ordain- ary Society. edmissionary; and Mr. Gardner who As to the financial situation of the will be presented to the Free Church Society, says their Journal, "the Assembly, with great self-denial gave up long-formed plans to carryon Mr Keith-Falconer's work. .
Assam.-TheChristian Santals who ha:ve. settled ill: Assam have begun a miSSIon of theIr own among a native tribe, the Metsches.
Bolivia.-Bolivia, which has an area of 500,000 square miles and a report is good, but ought to be popUlation of 2,000,000, is without a better." The general expenses amounted to 288,495 francs, and the single Protestant missionary. Two deficit of the year was 5,476 francs. American teachers, encouraged by Bolivian gentlemen and recommend- Greece.-In Greece the Governed by the Presbyterian Board of Mis- ment permits the free distribution of sions, expect soon to establish a the Scriptures, and protects the colschool in La Paz, the capital. porteurs. The gospels in the origi- nal (old) Greek are used as a reading Cuba. – The Southern Baptist book in the higher classes of the Board has sustained a mission in primary schools. Gospel preaching Cuba, which it characterizes as one of the most remarkable works of is yet on a limited scale, owing to modern missions. In little more than two years since the organization of the lack of qualified preachers. the first church, 1,100 have been bap- India.-Malayalam Mission, Tratized. Nine native preachers have been engaged. Daily schools as well vancore. From the annual report Il:s Sunday-schools have been estab- for 1887 in connection with the lIshed. The interest of the people is London Missionary Society, we see that this mission, which com- menced in 1838, and is now under ,~hown by their contributing $4,610 the charge of the Rev. Samuel Ma- m one year. The report says that teer, has a district with an area of almost one-half the population of a:bout 632 square miles and a popula- H~v~na are in sympathy with the tIon of 253,280, congregations nummiSSIon, and that nearly half the bering 46 with 7,241 adherents and 1,026 church members, 55' schools , Jewesses were baptized in Christ and 1,710 scholars, and that the Church, Mount Zion, Jerusalem. native contributions during 1887 This is the largest number ever adamounted to 2,382 rupees. The gos- mitted into the church there at one pel has been proclaimed by both time. Several other candidates are European and native agency; evan- awaiting baptism. The three daughgelistic services have been held; ters of Joseph Rabinowitz, the leader Bible women have faithfully labored of the Hebrew Christian movemont among the women; the medical mis- in south Russia, have lately been sion has actively carried on its opera- baptized.-Presbyterian Journal. tions; and the services of the press -A German paper states that "at have been engaged, issuing maga- Vienna last year 363 Jews became zines, handbills, etc. Christians," and another paper says -The Marathi Mission of the Amer- that "at no period since the first ican Board has increased its list of century have conversions from Judacommunicants from 707 to 1,776 in ism to Christianity been so frequent the last thirteen years. The number as they are at present." who can read has doubled in the Madagascar.-In fourteen years same period, and there has been 700 Protestant chapels have been decided growth in spirituality and built in Madagascar, making the morals. present number 1,200. There are -The Lutheran missions among 8,000 Protestant communicants, and the Tamils of South India amount to all the churches are self-supporting. 14,000 adherents, 22 European mis- The Queen recently attended the sionaries, 12 ordained natives,.6 can- opening of two Christian churches didates, 56 catechists, 241 teachers, at Ambokinanga.
149 schools and 3,653 scholars. Japan.-The different Presbyterian -At the last Calcutta missionary and Congregational churches in Ja- conference, Mr. Ball said: pan, feeling the need of union, have "The most cheering thing in onr work to-day been in correspondence upon the subis the demand for the Scriptures. A Hindu ject,and have reported favorableprogdoctor bought 100 copies of the Gospels recently ress. A constitution has been formed to distribute among his frieuds ; and a still more by a joint committee of seven missionextraordinary fact is that a Hindu priest has aries and thirteen natives. The matbought some Bibles and given them away. The ter will now be left to the action of missionaries who have attended melas this year the churches. -The English and American Episreport au unprecedented sale of Bibles." -Dr. Baumann of the Church copalian missionaries agree to co- Missionary Society recently asked a operate, and will educate their clergy well-known Brahman in Calcutta if in one theological school. he ever read the Bible. The man -Native converts in Japan, with looked at him, and th{'n replied, "I average wages oflessthan twenty-five have read the New Testament 83 cents a day, contributed lastyear $27,- OOOto mission work. During the year, times, and the Old 27." -In the college and schools in 3,640 adults were baptized, making a connection with the Free Church of total membership of 14,815. There Scotland mission at Madras there are are now 193 organized churches, 64 about 1,800 students. of them self-supportmg, 93 native -In Ceylon many high-dass Bud- ministers and 169 theological stu- dhists have joined the SalvationArmy, dents. and two stations have been formed. Mexico. – According to statistics, -It is stated that the Maharajah of there are in Mexico, including all Darbhauga, of Bengal, has given evangelical workers and work, the $25,000 for a hospital and dispensary following elements and agents for in connection with Lady Dufferin's evangelizing this people: 86 centers medical work. His gifts for benevo- of operation, 393 congregations, 48 lent purposes the last eight years foreign missionaries, 44 unordained foreign workers, 43 missionary ladies, reach fully' 1,700, 000. Jews.–:Dr. SomerVIlle of the Free 31 ordained native preachers, 65 Church of Scotland is having extra- unordained natIve preachers, 96 ordinary success in his evangelization teachers, 49 other helpers, 12,000 mission to the Jews of Austria. His communicants, 503 pupils in graded meetings in Vienna were crowded, schools. Besides this, we have ten and a strong impression was made, Protestant papers, and several presses that are actively engaged in scatteras at Prague. -On Christmas eight Jews and iIIg religious literature over the land. Altogether, there have been issued thing like reliable estimates by Ro- 50,000,000 pages of religious literature man Catholics of their strength in in Spanish since Protestantism first pagan lands. We regard with interentered Mexico. There are 10,000,000 est therefore the following figures inhabitants in Mexico; this gives quoted from the Madrid Directory, them five pages of religious literature 1888, apparently with approval, by each. The value of mission property Les Missione Oatholique : is nearly $600,000. "There are in India and Ceylon 1,235,631 Poles.-It is estimated that there Catholics, besides 586,386 under Portnguese are over 70'0,000 Poles in the United States. They are almost universally patronage, 1,722,0.17 in all. 'Adding 1,191,935 in Romanists, are very clannish, and can be reached only by a native min- China, Indo-China, Japan and Corea, there apistry. Mission work in their behalf is but just now receiving the atten- pear to be 2,918,952 Catholics beyond the Indus." tion of Christian societies. This seems remarkable. We can Roman Catholic. – The activity believe it to be near the truth. It is important to remember that Roman and success of Roman Catholic mis- Catholics count all their adherents of sions in the East should not be under- whatever age; also, that they have rated. The total working force of been at work in Eastern lands for the papacy in China/roper, Korea, centuries. When these considera- Japan, Manchoria an Thibet (suze- tions are kept in mind, the results rainties of China), Indo-China and will strike one as proof of wonderful India, is 2,440,481 baptized per~ons, weakness. Only three millions in all 2,639 missionaries and native prIests, Eastern Asia, and they without the 7,293 churches and chapels, 4,469 col- Bible, without religious literature, leges and schools, with 112,359 schol- without a native priesthood, and ars, and 76 theological institutions, without the power to propagate their with 2,746 students. In Syria, of the own faith, but still under foreign 700,000 people accessible by mission- tutelage as much as their ancestors aries, more than one-half recognize were three centuries ago I Surely the Pope of Rome as their spiritual Romanism is not conquering the head, and Jesuits are found in full Asiatic world! force. In fact, Protestant missions in Syria closely resemble missions to -Out of a total population of Roman Catholic countries. At the same time, Protestantism there has 1,549,000 in the Province of Quebec proved strong enough to elicit the active propagandism of the Romish it is shown that there are 1,475,000 church. When the Arabic Bible of Drs. Smith and Van Dyke'lwas com- people professing the Catholic faith, pleted and scattered through Syria, directed by one cardinal, two archthe Jesuits accepted the implied bishops, seven bishops, one apostolic challenge, and, going back to the or- prefect, and 1,546 priests and reiginal Hebrew and Greek Scriptures ligious. There are 957 churches, 28 rather than to the Vulgate, they pro- seminaries and colleges, 232 convents duced an edition of the scriptures in and 69 hospitals. The different ecthree volumes, and in the choicest clesiastical districts into which the and most literarv Arabic; a strange province is divided, are peopled as proceeding Or;t the part. of ~ church follows, by Catholics: Quebec, 729,- which practlCally demes Its own 000; Montreal, 619,000; Ottawa, 137,- Douay version of the Scriptures to its 000. In the Diocese of Quebec there people, and one entirely self~defen are 666 priests, 400 churches, 108 CODsive. This edition of the SCrIptures vents, 18 seminaries and colleges, 25 has been fully circulated, and has hospitals and 1,927 schools.-St. Louis been the means of bringing many to World (Oatholic). the truth; and when Protestantism opened its school and its college at Persia.-In the old Nestorian mis- Beirut, it was closely followed by sion of the American Board, more Romanisthigh schools and the Jesuit converts have been made during the college at Beirut, which are now full last year than in any previous year of pupils, Rome evidently means of the history of the mission. During business, both in eastern and west- last winter's revival, which was conern Asia. ducted wholly by native. pastors, there were over 500 inqUIrers. Of -We are always glad to see any- the 79 students in the college at Oroomiah, 70 are Christians.
Zulu. – Two hundred and thirty- two Zulus were baptized in the Herr- mitnnsberg Mission among the Zulus last year. There are now 1,529 Zulu Christians.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT
VI…..:….EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT EVENTS.
Our Indian Mission Schools. teach in the vernacular only with a view of reaching those Indians who cannot have the ad- THE late General Assembly of the vantage of instrnction in English.
Presbyterian Church appointed a 5. A theological class of Indian young men, committee to confer with the Presi- supported wholly by mission fundS, may be trained in the vernaculsr at any missionary dent with reference to the order of school supported in whole or in part by missionthe government virtually prohibiting ary SOCieties, the object being to prepare them for the ministry, whose subse'luent work shall teaching in English in our mis- be confined to preaching unless they are employsion schools. The com~ittee have ed as teachers in remote settlements where Engpromptly discharged the duty as- lish schools are inaccessible. signed them. The President desired 6. These rules are not intended to prevent the to "have submitted in writing such possession or nse by any Indian of the Bible, changes as would be acceptable to the published in the vernacnlar, but such possession Assembly." This was done on a per- or use shall not interfere with the teaching of sonal visit to Washington, and the the English language to the extent and in the result is given by Dr. Thompson, manner hereinbefore directed. Moderator of the Assembly, in a letter to Dr. Field of the Evangelist. Practically this settles the matter- He writes: for the present. The President" fully " • • • He [the President] gave us full met the views of the committee." hearlug and promised an early consideration. I have to-day received the order in its new form, He could not have been expected to and it will be gratifying to our church not only, but to all the churches interested in this work, do more. But we do marvel that to know that the views of the committee have been fully met by the government. the committee wholly ignored the " The President expresses • the hope that the PRINCIPLE involved in this whole conclusion reached, as embodied in the paper herewith sent, will settle the troublesome ques- bungling and extraordinary matter. tion.' We believe it will. It conserves the policy of the goverument to give the Indians a That is the chief offense; the appliknowledge of the English language as rapidly as pOSSible, and it restores to our missionaries their cation of it is of secondary importjust right to teach and preach to the Indians in •the tongue in which they were born.' " ance. The government assumes the ORDER REGULATING THE INSTRUCTION OF IN- RIGHT to regulate mission schools, DIANS. and exercises that right in this very 1. In government schools no text·books and no oral instructiou in the vernacular will be al- " Order." (Read 3d, 4th and 5th lowed, but all text-books and instruction must be in the English language. No departnre from items.) "May be conducted," etc. this rule will be allowed, except when absolutely necessary to rudimentary instruction in Eng- " A theological class of Indian young lish. But it is permitted to read from the Bible in the vernacnlar at the daily opening of school men may be trained," etc. when English is not understood by the pupils. Do we live under the Czar or under 2. In schools where Indian children are placed under contract, or to which the government con- the stars and stripes? tributes in any manner, the same'rule shall be observed in all secular instruction. ReligiOUS The committee should have struck instruction in the vernacular may be allowed in such schools, both by the text-book and orally, at the root of the outrage, and insistprovided not more than one-fourth of the time is devoted to s'lch instruction. ed on a repudiation of the principle 3. In purely mission schools-that is, in schools on which the government has issued toward whose snpport the government contrihutes nothing-rehgious and other instruction everyone of its "Orders." The may he conducted in the manner approved by those who maintain the schools, provided that battle may have to be fought over one-half of the school hours shall be employed in instruction in Enldish. again. Mr. Atkins' place is vacant 4. Only native Indian teachers will be permit- in the Indian Bureau. It is underted to teach otherwise in any Indian vernacular, and these native teachers will only be allowed so stood that Mr. Upshaw seeks. the to teach in schools not supported in whole or in part by the government, and where there are no place, and if he gets it trouble will government or contract schools where English Is taught. These native teachers are allowed to break out afresh. Herbert Welsh, Esq., Secretary of the Indian Rights Association, says: .. The real control of the Indian Bureau since the incoming of the present administration has not been so much in the hands of Secretary La- mar, its distinguished nominal head, or Com· missioner Atkins, as in those of Assistant-Com- missioner Upshaw, a politician of the narrowest type, whose devotion to the spoilS system of ap- pointment has brought the gravest scandal upon the Indian service."
Sorry we are that when this important question was up for adjudi- many leave their fields and work to welcome cation it could not have been settled me and attend services. Don't think all such, in a way to put it forever beyond the and a thousand times as much more, will carry poyver of politician, demagogue, or President to reopen it.-J. M. S. me away. Different motives will be at work, and I claim, without any sham modesty, to know WE take the following from The something about all these things, and also to Missionary for June. We share in the feeling of the editor expressed take them into account. In one word, don't think these people will be baptized in 1887 or in the first paragraph. Certainly we 1888. At the same time it is a glorious, a grand are departing widely from the prac- opportunity. Two men came up for 300 hymntice of the first preachers of the gos- books. If any one should be disappointed at pel. Is not the condition of things results from all this, I. for one, will not be. I in Japan and China to-day quite as will see what I expect, and if God exceeds our favorable for the direct oral preach- expectations, so much the better, and, at auy rate, I will give Him all-all the praise and ing of the Word as it was in any glory, for ever and ever. This is the region part of the Roman empire in Paul's travelled most by me, barefooted, many years day? While it is necessary to lay ago, when going in amongst the savages." broad foundations for permanent fruits, let the church stick closer to WE have received from Robert N.
the letter of her divine commission Cust, LL.D., one of the ablest leadand the example of apostolio days.- ers of missionary thought and life in J.M.S. London, a "Classified Catalogue of "We have thought for some time that one of the chief dangers of mission work lies in the the Missionary Enterprises of all edncational feature, which is allowed often to displace evangelistic efforts. Mr. Du Bose states the Protestant Churches and of the that out of the hundred and more ordained missionaries in Japan, only thirty, perhaps forty, are Greek Orthodox Church in the engaged in preaching. •Little work is done in the towns, villages and hamlets. Preachers World," specially prepared for the listen to the siren voice of the native press urging them to teach school.' recent Missionary Conference at "Missionaries In Japau have spoken with ad- London. It is a work that must miration of the willingness of the Japanese to listen for hours at a time to the preaching of have cost him much and patient in- Christtan truth. This happy feature of the work is not confined to Japan. Dr. Mackay, writing vestigation. It is exhaustive in its from Formosa, says that in preaching at Tek- Cham he had to preach five consecutive sermons fulness. Its permanent value for before the people would disperse. At the end of each discourse the audience said they would reference isvery great. It is the first sit there till he spoke again. attempt to supply a catalogue of this " No missionary among the Chinese has reaped a richer harvest from his work than Dr. nature, and it deserves general recog- Mackay. It is interesting, therefore, to see the estimate he puts upon the work of sowtog. nition and circulation. The extent of • Shall I call the crowds I saw and addressed,' mission organized work, as here he says, writing of one of his evangelistic tours, • the kindness, the welcomes, the apparent in- shown-the names, respective -fields terest, etc., a great movement, an awakening, and connections of no less than 223 a revival? Not so. I have never yet seen here societies being given-will be a surwhat would be called a revival in the West. I prise even to the well-informed. mean in the common acceptation. And I have not seen fruita anywhere during all the past We have space for onlythe abstract: years without hard, hard work, and we have no business to look for fruits unless solid, real, GREAT RRITAIN AND ITS COLOl!lIES. bard, genuine work go before. Taking all in all, I never saw such willingness on the part of Undenominational………………….. f!'f 80 many Chinese as during this trip. I never Episcopal …………………………. 25 saw Buch a tremendous reception; never had so Methodist …………………………. 6 Congregationalist.. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Presbytertan……………………….. 7 Friends……………………………. % Bible Christian. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . •. . . . . . 1 Baptist……………………………. 2 Plymouth Brethren. .. . •. . . .. .. .. . .. ….. 12 Miscellaneous.. .. .. . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. . . … 5 Colonisl…………………………… 26 . ~1l3 FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
Germany………………………….. 20 Switzerland……………………….. 4 France ……………………………. 1 Denmark ………………………….. 2 Sweden …………………………… 8 ~~;:r:~:::: ::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::: ~ Netherlands ……………………….. 14 United States (North America) …..•….~ 110 Grand total.. .. ….. .. . •• …. ••.. . . .. 223 God is Marohing On. ization and for Christian missions if ~ Dr. A. J. GORDON, taking Jacob as this array of women reformers and a type of Christ, says: pleaders were all enlisted under the " Our Immanuel has been serving six millen- banner of the Cross, and with singleiums for his bride, the church, and the seventh is close upon us in which I expect the marriage ness of heart were preaching the of the Lamb; and because the thne is short God evangel of spiritual redemption I leems to be iu haste to gather in the guests for Woman's organized power in human the bridal feast. society is for the first time seen and "For quick resuits and large returns there was never .uch an age before. • Man's extremity is felt. Henceforth it will be a tremen- God's opportunity,' we are wont to say. What it I tum it about and reverently say that' God's dous factor in the world's thinking extremity is man's opportunity.' It is such now. He is pushed Cor time; He is straightened and acting. Unhappily, while there for help. He will hire in at the eleventh hour it laborers have not come at the first. He will is much to rejoice in and hope for in take reformed drunkards and converted gam- it, no intelligent observer and stublel'l!, salvation armies and traveling gospelers, dent of the times can avoid grave it only His work can be done before the night fears. At least there is abundant cometh in which no man can work. It Is God's extremity, and therefore man's opportunity. Ob- reason for earnest and constant ligation presses a pound to the square inch where once it pressed an ounce. The Lord is prayer on the part the church· for in a hurry, and It becomes ns, as never before, to be in haste. We have a magnificent oppor- the descent and power of the Holy tunity on this continent, and we have magnifi- Ghost upon these countless rallying cent resources if only we will use them. Let us have done with glorying In our numbers then hosts of female agitators, thinkers and give attention to our opportunitiell. It is and actors in these stirring and not more men, but more man, that the Church of God needs for the accomplishment of His work. eventful times.-J. M. S. John Wesley, looking over the needs of a lost world, made the startling exclamation: 'Give .. The International Couneil of Women, in me a hundred men who fear nothing but God, !lession in the city of Washington Crom March hate nothing bnt sin, and Ilre determined to 25th to April 1st. makes public announcement know nothing among men but Jesns and him that fifty-three different organizations of women crncilled, and I will set the world on Jlre with have been represented on its platform by eightythem.' Therefore 1 exhort that we all, and al- seven speakers and delegates from England, together, do these three thlnga : France, Norway, Denmark, Finland, India, Cansda and the United States. Of all these " (Jqntemplate. Lift up yonr eyes round about, organizations but four are of national scope, and and behold whllt lIelds are white unto the har- three are of national valne. The subjects of vest, what wide and effectual doors are waiting education, philanthropies, temperance, industo be entered. tries, legal conditions, social purity, political conditions and religion have been discussed. "Cin8ecrate. Boast no more of numbers or While no restriction has been placed upon the resources. For' It Is not by might nor by fnJlestexpression of the most widely divergent power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' The views upon these vital questions of the age, it is meekest man among us with the Holy Ghost cause for rejoicing that the sessions, both execuresting upon him is stronger than the strongest. tive and public, have been absolutely without Therefore, through all our borders let us fall on friction. our faces and wait upou God anew for the enduement of the Spirit. .. It is the unanimous voice of the council that all Institutions of learning and of professional "~ntrate. Too long have we been using instruction, including schools of theology, lllw our wonderful prosperity as a magnifying glass and medicine, should, in the interests of hufor enlarging our own importance and so minis- manity, be as freely opened to women as to men; teriug to our self-complaceucy. Let us use It that opportunities for industrial training should henceforth as a burning glass for concentrating b. as generally and liberally provided for one our religious IBlIuence, and bringing it to be&r sex as for the other; and the representatives of upon a perishing world, kindling the love of organized womanhood in this coun~1I will stead- God where now there is only the love of sin and Ily demand that In all avocations in which men seU,80 shall we do our part towards setting the and women engage equal wages shall be paid for world on fire for Christ." equal work, and finally that an enlightened so- ciety should demand, as the only adequate ex- The Great Women's Oounoil, pression of the high civilization which it is its omce to establish and maintain, an identical WHAT a grand power for evangel- st..ndard of personal purity and morality fOl men and women. to Is Christianity a Spent Force? They would not, coul" not, be responsible for what thllY consider my idiosyncracies. What Bishop Huntington of Central New then f Why, down with the brakes I So, in- stead of freedom at the front, to be led by the York preached some time ago to the God of missions, I would be under the command of good men nine thousand miles in the rear." students of Cornell University on the "Courteously and strongly said! text," Ye are the light of the world." Maria Theresa lost Silesia and the seven years' war by thinking to man- We append :ilis closing touching par- age armies in the field from Vienna. Bishop Taylor evidently thinks a agraph: missionary army in Africa cannot be directed at New York by good men "You must be struck with dismay, as I am, at 9,000 miles in the rear. It has a look that way."-Ohristian at Work. the growth of great iniquities, the recklessness of material ambition, the rivalries of gain, the The MiSJ!ioilary Language. excess of pleasure, the terrible prevalence of in- THE rapidity with which the Engtemperance and lust, the prostitution of law, the lish tongue is becoming the com- mon language of the commercial, abuses of the press, the frightful disproportion learned and religiOUS world is note- worthy. Providence iii making it of waste and charity in wealth. Where, my apparent that, as the English-speak- ing nations are to take the lead and brother students, do we take our place? On be the chief factors in commercial supremacy and in the evangelization which side do our uncompromising will and our of the world, so the English language unfiinching courage and.our cheerful self-sacri- is to be the vehicle of thought and civilization-in other words is to befice tell? We cannot throw up the contest with come the Missionary Language of any despairing excuse that our cause has lost its this globe.-J.M.S. leader or its nerve. Test it where the night has The fact that at the recent National Conlasted longest. On the Dark Continent, within gress in India all the speeches and proceedings less time than It takes you to complete your uni- were in English is a striking illustration of the versity cOU1"fe, three pillars of holy fire have wide diffUSIOn of that tongue. There were gathered at Madras seven hundred delegates opened pathways for the feet of the Lord into the from all parts of India, Afghanistan, Nepaul, deserts. As !took my text I laid down a famous and Sclnde. They spoke nme different lanbiography-that of an intellectual English girl, guages, and the English was the only medium through which the proceedings could be satispassing in her early years with honor the most factorily conducted. Great Britain's colonial advanced mathematical examinations by the pa- enterprises have been probably the largest factor in spreading a knowledge of English. It pers of Oxford and Cambridge, rapidly master- is found also that In countries like Java, where Great Britain has no control, the knowledge of ing many sciences aud many languages ; a type English is steadily growing. Not long ago the of our eager modern culture, too, In this, that French language was the medium invariably employed in all international conferences. At the while these conquests for awhile satisfied her last Berlin conference, however, English and mind, they left her heart hungry with unbe- German, as well as French, were employed. The other leadiug languages of Europe have gradulief; yet gradually, rationally confronting all the ally been insisting on recognition on an equal footing with French in their proper domain. It problems fairly on either side, she rose to a clear was Mr. Canning who led the way when at the foreign office he ordered that certain correspondvision of the truth as it is in Christ crucified and ence, hitherto writ~n in French, should be sent in English. .. The time will come," said Bi.- risen, bronght her splendid learning an offering marck in 1863, "when I intend to have all my dispatches written in German, and when I shall at His altar, and in South Africa, with the heroic find means to make them understood even in love of a missionary to the natives, died' in the France." He kept his word, and both the Engcon1!dence of·8 certain faith. ' Far northward, fish and German tongues have profited by the a volunteer or'the Cross from Scotland, vigorous considerable decline of French as the internain every attribute of manliness, makes his solita- tional language of diplomacy and polite society. ry way into the hiding-places of that Ethiopian -New YllI'k Sun. idolatry with the burden of. its salvation on h!s conSCience, and now the kmgdom of heaven .IS THE universality of the movement pressing iu after hi1jl to seek two hundred mil- which originattld and· accomplished lion souls. Just before he died alone there, he the great London Conference is shown wrote in his journal, •My Jesus, my King, my by the fact, that, while the entil'e Life my All' Accept me, and grant that before revenue of all Protestant missions is this' year en'ds I may finish my task I' lA.'ter rather less than $12,500,000 per anstill all over England, on a week-day mortling, num, the societies taking part in the throngs of worshipers of every class, from the Conference have an aggregate anuniversity and the palace to the digger in the nual iMome of fully $10,000,000. ground, gave humble ,!nd hearty tha~ks to God for their graudest soldIer, dead, who m those far quarters of the earth fought, commanded, suffereLdo~pdroayf ehdosatsn.d made peace, in the name of the These are not sigus, my friends, of a spent force, a decaying worship, or an eclipsed faith. "
IN the address of Bishop Taylor be- fore the Methodist Conference, he says: " • Why not work under the missionary com- . mittee f' you will ask. My methods are so di- verse from theirs that the two can't be mixed up in tbe same 01lice any more than can a coal y~rd and a milliner's shop. I am informed on hlgb 01liclal authority that my method8 are wrong, and that I am deceived and deceiving the people.