The Missionary Review of the World — June 1892
THE SCOURGE OF AFRICA
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 6.-01d &ries.–JUNE.–VOL. V. No. 6.-NeUI Series.
THE SCOURGE OF AFRICA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, BOLTON, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Quite recently a contributor to the leading British newspaper endeavored to show that the Arab in Africa was a maligned person, who was far from heing the slave marauder which he had been so often protrayed. Readers of the article would be induced to suppose that the Arab's" hand" in slave dealing was either a thing of the past or much exaggerated. That both of these suppositions are false there is conclusive evidence to demonstrate. It is freely and sorrowfully admitted that the native races in many parts of the Dark Continent prey upon their fellow-Africans, and are frequently as brutal as the Arabs in their deeds of bloodshed. But in nowise can or shall this screen the Arab, the arch slave. hunter in every quarter of Africa; and although slavery is doomed, please God, in this generation, the Arab at the present hour, roused by the encroachments of European explorers and commercial enterprise, is showing' a revival of savage energy throughout Central Africa in the perpetration of atrocious crimes against humanity and a huge sin before God. Let a survey of his tracks be taken.
In North Africa the slave trade shows little diminution. As a base of operations Tripoli has an unenviable name. From that province young Arabs, as of old, make it their ambition to go on the grand tour of twelve hundred miles southward to Kuka, weilt of Lake Tchad, to exchange the products of semi-civilization for ivory, skins, ostrich feathers, and especially slaves. Their caravan either returns along the same route to Murzuk, where the slaves are distributed over the Nol'thwestern States, or an east.. northerly route is chosen via Baghirmi. through Wadai, the rival State to Bornu, Abeschr, Ogila, terminating at Benghazi, in the north, on the Mediterranean coast. Though a British consul is stationed hepe, the slaves are unaware or afraid of exercising their right to claim liberty. This path, said a missionary, lately returned from the mission field of Tripoli, to the writer, may be traced for hundreds of miles by the white, rotting bones of slaves, the victims of thirst and slaughter. Their awful suffering on these forced marches, chained and heavily laden, is hidden entirely from the eye of the civilized world. Turning to the northeast of Africa, there is a comparatively open seaboard, in spite of blockade precautions, between Tajurah Bay and Cape Guardafui, whence a regular debarkation of slaves is in full swing. Emanating from the African coast via Southern Arabia and the Persian Gulf eastward, the Indian papers say that" unabated vigor"
characterizes the slave traffic. Major Talbot has just stated that" many of the Omani boats fly the French flag and carry French papers, under cover of which they are able to practise their trade in slaves with impunity."
The news is welcome that various suggestions are being considered by the residents and goyernors for the purpose of stopping effectually the abomina- ble traffic. .
Within French protectorates in the extreme Western Soudan the slave curse reigns. In a current volume, "Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee,"
recounting exhaustive geographical research, the author, Captain Bin- ger, describes an extensive and fertile country, "often depopulated and devastated by war and slave-raiding." More terrible records of the pursuit and capture of slaves are furnished in another contemporary work, by Dr. Wilhelm Junker. Over an enormous tract of .country, having Meshra-el-Rek on the north and the Wel!e-Makua to the south, peopled by the Niam-Niams, the Mongbuttus, A-Madi, and smaller tribes, native -raids are prevalent, while all the races are preyed upon by the " Arabs," who gained a footing in the country at the time of the now de- funct Egyptian rule. Since the King of the Mongbuttus was assassinated, disorganization and slavery exist over the whole region watercd by the western feeders of the Nile, intensified by Arab sway and the tremendous advancing tide of Mohammedans from North Africa. It is very disap- pointing that Dr. Junker, whose services to geography, and particularly ethnology, are appreciated, should countenance a modified form of slavery, compulsory labor, and the administration of the courbash to promote the development of the African in regard of work and civilization. Possibly familiarity with Russian methods of government or contact with barbarous cruelties has suggested this kind of reformation. Of course other travel- lers advocate what the German paper, the Reichsanzeiger, urges to be in harmony with the" social and domestic conditions" in Africa. Such a procedure will have to reckon with the enlightened conscience of Europe and the United States! Again and agaiu distinguished men have said that in the principal slave provinces free labor never has had a rational trial, be- cause slave customs have prevailed from time immemorial. Humane methods of redeeming the negro are feasible. In some measure this has been shown in the diamond mines of South Africa, in the British West Coast colonies, in the coffee plantations south of Lake Nyassa, on the Shire highlands, and, notably at Blantyre, in the erection of the finest ecclesias- tical edifice between Egypt and the Cape, which the natives have built voluntarily for wages, under the direction of white men. Testimony like- wise to this effect comes from such African experts as Mr. Stanley and Sir Francis de Winton, who assrrt that a settled form of government, based on European principles, can be established, to whieh the natives in thousands, and millions even, will be easily amenable when their respect and confidence have been won by just treatmpnt. Combated by the resources of a benefi- ceut civilization and permeated by Christianity, the horrors of slavery will be most speedily checked and extinguished.
But whatever plan is proposed for slave abolition, it is imperative that the attention of the nations should be fixed on the slaughter roll in the Dark Continent. By the nobly organized African Association at Cologne, revelations of a dreadful character, scarcely paralleled in recent times, were published last December. That the atrocities now disclosed occurred upward of a year ago is a [foof of the backwardness' of civilization in Africa, and the need of communication and opcning np of the country. The shocking details brought to light at Cologne are. copied from the diaries of German missionaries stationed in the vicinity of Lake Tanganyika, the authority of which is fully verified.
When it was learned, on November 19th, 1890, at the German mission station that a notorious slave hunter named Makatubo had arrived with about two thousand slaves at I{irando, two days' journey south of Karema -within the German" sphere of influence"-Father Dromaux left at once to rescue, if possible, some of the prisoners. Nine days later he returned with sixty-one-bought and liberated. Many of their companions had died of hunger at Kirando, and a large number could not long survive. From the ransomed slaves and followers of the expedition the missionary had appalling accounts of the cruelties inflicted and fearful slaughters by the wild hordes of Makatubo in Marunju and Kizabi. The diary states: " When Makatubo set out on his march back he wished to get rid of all those who might have impeded the march; and at Lusuko, therefore, he had a great number of captives-old women and little childrendrowned. The caravan was now to advance with greater haste; but a large number of captives who were completely exhansted formed a fresh hindrance. Massacres, of which one can form no idea in Europe, followed. A Mgwana who belonged to the expedition assured us that daily ten, twenty, thirty, and even fifty were killed. In spite of this, about two thousand captured slaves arrived at Kirando. "
"The last pathetic fact makes it plain," says the London Daily News, in commenting on this shocking' waste of human life, " that the slaves per· ish by blows, by hardship, by starvation, and by the most devilish cruelty in every form;" proving, too, that while thousands reach the slave markets, a greater proportion die on the journey thither from the villages sacked. The British Commissioner in Central Africa, Mr. H. H. J ohnston, observes that" not perhaps a tithe of the captured slaves live to reach the slave market;" corroborated by Dr. J linker, with the remark that for every native captured ten are slain. Humanity in Africa is, indeed, of small value.
These harrowing statements are confirmed in letters from the mission station of Mpala, the missionary adding, respecting Captain Joubert, whose civilizing rule extends three days' journey from the station, that he " sent for fifty of our people to support him in defence of his station against Arabian slave hunters. They caught hundreds of slaves, and have killed a very great number and burned their villages." A fmther confirmation has arrived, of date January 9th, 1891, from Father Josset, of Karema, regard- ing Makatubo's return from his last slaving expedition with" no less than two thousand slaves of every age and sex." He thus continues: " They were chained together in groups of twenty to twenty-five, and looked like living skeletons. As there was a great scarcity of food in Kirando. they were forced to dig up and eat wild roots which wild animals refused to touch. Wasted away by hunger, fever, and dysentery, they were sheltered in huts which afforded no protection whatever against the weather. Father Dromaux told the writer that he had seen prisoners in a roofless hut: while next to it their masters' goats had a roof over their heads. Every morning corpses were dragged out of each hut and thrown to the hyenas. During the long march through Marunju, when a slave was too exhausted to follow the caravan, they killed him with cudgels."
In such grim fashion proceeds the recital of wrongs against a longinjured Africa, and now the question will be asked, and persistently be asked, " Is Germany, in whose' sphere of influence' these infamies are being enacted, allowing them through inadvertence, or is she incapable of stopping them?" For the nations which have given their adhesion to the Treaty of Brussels adequate provision is made both for the prevention of slave marauding and the mterception of slave caravans, and alsu of the strict. examination of these at their inland destinations and on the coast routes.
From this ghastly picture one turns with feelings of intense gratitude to the telegrams forwarded at the end of December, 18!H, and early the month following, announcing that the Commissioner of British Central Africa, Mr. H. H. Johnston, and Captain Maguire, in Nyassaland, have been delivering what appear like final blows to the iniquitous slave traffic in that region. For months and years the letters of Dr. Laws, Dr. Kcrr Cross, Bishop Smythies, Archdeacon Maples, and the ReI'. "'.V. P. Johnson have supplied terrible revelations of the scenes which they witnessed (ast and west of Lake Nyassa, which consequently invests the current news with special interest. The two British offieers and their forces surprised in October last a slave-trading caravan from Lindi buying slaves at Oponda's, on the Upper Shire. As the tradcrs refused to free the slaves the town of Mponda was stormed and captured, one hundred and three slaves released, and Oponda compelled to send the slave-traders out of his country, and to agree to the entire abolition of slavery in his dominions. This success was followed up by activc measures against other slave-dealers, and after severe struggles, in which the assailants had most r~markable escapes, some one hundred and sixty-three slaves were freed, making two hundred and sixtynine free in all. As the raiders in quc~ti()n had come from Kilwa, Kivinge, and Lindi only in July last, and knew of the pruhibition of slavery, they were tried and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Arriving at . Makanjira's, at the eud of October, in chase of a third slave.raiding caravan, their steamer was fired on by the attacked, who vigorously defended their town. After two days' fighting capitulation was made by the chiefs and agreements signed. From this point the expedition sailed to the opposite side of Nyassa, where a number of ~lave·raiding chiefs agreed to abandon slavery and to rekase their newly caught slaves. The chief of the slave- hunting Yaos, of whose doings Livingstone used to write heart-rending let- ters, was made to pay a heavy indemnity. It ought to be mentioned that the Commissioner had valuable co-operation in his movements on the lake from the African Lakes Company's steamer, the Domira, identified with the transit of goods, etc., belonging to the Livingstonia Mission. All this unexpected intelligence of the overthrow of slave strongholds is a sign that a brighter day is dawning at least on the leafy shores of Lake Nyassa, wh~re henceforth freedom's flag will wave.
Toward the extinction of the slave trade, which the English statesman Pitt declared to be "the greatest practical evil that ever afflicted the human race," there are in several directions encouraging indications. Even European powers are more sympathetic, and at length the Brussels Anti- Slavery Convention, for which Lord Vivian, the late British Minister at Brussels, rendered invaluable aid, will shortly eome into operation. Very recently a number of influential English philanthropists had in London a conference with leading natives of West Africa upon. the best means of circulating information respecting the progress of vVest African affairs, and of other parts of Africa, and also the widening of English sympathy with the native races and the protection of their rights.
That a protracted crusade lies before the friends of the negro in Africa is admitted, and were it not that one half of Christendom lacks imagination, the miseries of the slave would not be greatly prolonged. Nevertheless, manifold agencies are in league against this gigantic iniquity; and what was said of Wilberforce, that he had shared in "the most glorious battle that ever was fought by any human being," may become the honor and the crown of the humblest worker in every land prepared to serve on behalf of the complete emancipation of Afric's dusky race.
The Episcopal Church in England has 34 bishops and 24,090 other clergymen; in the United States, 61 bishops and 3800 clergymen; in Ireland, 13 bishops and 1807 other clergymen, and in Canada, 24 bishops and 1300 other clergymen; in Asia, 13 bishops and 713 other clergymen; in Africa, 13 bishops and 350 other clergymen; in Australia, 21 bishops and 269 other clergymen, and in Scotland, 17 bishops and 280 other clergymen; in scattered dioceses 9 bishops and 1:10 clergymen-a grand total of 189 bishops and 32,729 other clergymen. This is certainly a strong array of working force; with increased devotion to Christ, its evangelical power would be vastly multiplied.
'l'HE GREAT CALL OF GOD TO HIS CHURCH
TIlE GREAT CALL OF GOD TO HIS CHURCH.
BY TilE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
We have sought with increasing diligence to find by searching what is God's plan or purpose concerning the Church and the world. Certain we are, at least, of this, that He wills the largest and promptest proclamation of the Gospel, the presence of witnessing believers and a witnessiug Church everywhere, even to the uttermost part of the earth. Beyond this we are sure of nothing sa~ e this, that His Vord will not return to Him void, and that our labor will not be in vain in the L(lrd.
To all believers the Divine cOlllmand is, that they outgrow babyhood, cease to be mere objects of care, and become care-takers j and enter into that Divine plan which takes in the whole Church, the whole world, and the ~hole age. We must be satisfied with the hope that has its anchorage in Scripture promises, do our duty, and leave results with God j undertake a world's evangelization, and not be disheartened if we find that to the end of the age there is only an outgathering of the elect Church, and that, as in the apostolic age, some believe the things which are spoken, and some believe not. The stress of the command of Christ lieR on occupation, evangelization. A loyal servant or soldier simply obeys implicitly orders which are explicitly given. Here are our" marching orders j" and to follow them is to win what is better even than apparent victory-the approval of Him who will say, " WELL DONE, good and faithful servant."
Now, of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: Every saved soul is called to be a herald and a witness j and we are to aim at nothing less than this: to make every nation and every creature in every nation acquainted with the Gospel tidings. This is the first and ever-present duty of the Church j it is the heart of the whole missionary plan. God will give us souls as our hire and crown; large results in conversion of individuals, and the transformation of whole communities will follow, as they always have followed, a godly testimony. But we are not to wait for reBults; we are to regard our duty as never done, while any region beyond is without the Gospel. Let all men have a hearing of the Gospel at least j then when evangelization is world-wide, we may bend our energies to deepening the impression which a first hearing of the Gospel has made. But, again, let it peal out as with a voice of thunder, to be heard wherever there are believers; the first need of the world is to hear the Gospel, and the first duty of the Church is to go everywhere and tell every human being of Christ, the world's Saviour. To stop or linger anywhere, even to repeat the' rejected message, so long as there are souls beyond that have never heard it., is at least unjust to those who are still in absolute darkness. . Instead of creating a few centres of intense light, God would have us scatter the lamps until all darkness is at least relieved, if not removed. And if to any reader it appears that this is emphasizing a distinction that is of little consequence, let such an one stop a moment and consider what would be the result if our Lord's plan were followed. There are, we will say, about forty million members of Protestant churches, and at least eight hundred millions yet in entire ignorance of the Gospel. Let us suppose that the whole Church, under some mighty baptism of fire, should undertake to bear the Gospel message to every living soul at once. If every Protestaut. believer could so be brought into active participation in this work as to be the means of reaching twenty of these souls, now without the Gospel, the work would be done. All cannot go, but all can send. Let us suppose, again, that Protestant churches should sena out one missionary teacher for every four hundred communicants, we should have a missionary force of one hundred thousand; and by distributing this force in the entire field, each teacher would have to reach but eight thousand souls in order to evangelize the world. Allowing twenty years for that work, each laborer wopld have to reach but four hundred of the unevangelized each year.
We must push this work as we never have done; let men call us fools, fanatics, madmen; we can afford to bear it for the sake of doing the will of God. When Judson had buried himself in Burma, and teu years' work . could show but eighteen converts, he was asked, " vVhat of the prospect?" His heroic answer was, "Bright as the promises of God." When John Wesley proposed to go to Georgia as a missionary to the Indians, an unbeliever ridiculed him. "What is this ~ Are you one of the knights errant ~ How, pray, got you this Quixotism into your head 1 You want nothing, have a good provision for life, and a prospect of preferment; and must you leave all this to fight windmills-to convert American savages 1"
vVesley calmly replied: "If the Bible be not true, I am as a very fool and madman as you can conceive j but if the Bible is of God, I am soberminded. For He has declared, ' There is no man who hath left house, or friends, or brethren for the kingdom of God' 8 sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.' , vVith such heroic missionaries as Adoniram Judson and John Wesley we are content to follow our Lord's leading without regard to apparent results. The command is plain: "Go ye also into the vineyard j" and the promise is sufficient: "Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." God is a liberal rewarder, and He always exceeds His own promise. That workman is surest of blessing who does his Lord's work withont the mIsgivings of unbelief or the exactions of a carnal spirit. The path of the missionary is the way to Calvary, but beyond the cross shines the crown.
In a circular from Staunton, Va., "it is proposed to find two million Christians in the Ullited States willing to give one dollar, in advance per month for ten years, prayiug that God will raise up preachers and teachers and physicians to carry His Gospel to the heathen, and gO to bless their labors and o·ur gifts that the native converts shall be able thereafter to carryon the work through their home missions without additional help from foreign lands."
CASUISTRY OF BUDDHISM
CASUISTRY OF BUDDHISM.
BY REV. GEORGE L. MASON, GRANVILLE, O.
[This paper is designed by the author as an important addition to a former article.-EDIToR.] In the article" Buddhism and Romanism," in the September, 1891, number of the REVIEW, Buddhism was said to be without any authorized system of casuistry by which vices are explilined away. But if there is no authorized Rystem of casuistry, certainly the spirit of Jesuitism pervades the moral writings of the Buddhists of Ceylon, as translated by Spence Hardy in his" Manual of Buddhism." In that very keen critique, which every missionary in the far East should read, " Edwin Arnold as Poetizer and as Paganizer," Professor VY. C. Wilkinson quotes at length from Hardy. Many of the evasions and excuses framed by Buddhists for the evil-doer anticipate the very subterfuges planned by Roman Catholic moralists many centuries later. For example: "When a command if' given to take the life of a particular person, and that person is killed. it is murder; but if another person be killed instead, it is not murder." This sounus quite like Liguori, the highe~t ethical authority of Romanism, who maintains that" he who kills A, meaning to kill B, is not bound to make com· pensation, because the homicide is casual and inadvertent as regards B ;" and that if a man intends to burn the house of an enemy and by mistake hums that of a friend, the incendiarism is a very light offence. When time, place, method, and various circumstances must all be just as the evildoer intended or else his act is not a crime, there will be plenty of loopholes through which the Buddhist or Romanist criminal may disappear.
Says Professor "Vilkinson : "Christian morality at least does not confuse itself, defeat itself, first with absurd exaggerations and then with absurd extennations of rEquirement, or perhaps with subtle qualifying clauses. " But this is the Buddhist method. Among four things neces· sary to constitnte a lie, " there must be the discovery by the person deceived that what has been told him i~ not true. " That is to say, it is not a lie unless you are found out! Authorized Romau Catholic teachers make similar terms for the expert liar. When a crime is " altogether hidden"-that is, known only to the criminal and one witness-the witness is not merely permitted, but is actually bound to say that the accused did not commit it (Liguori, Theologia Moralis, iv. 152 sq.). This low ethical aim-not to prevent sin, but to prevent its discovery-appears also in the discussion of theft. If one stealfl fifty dollars at one time it is " a grave sin,' '. for it might be discovered; but if at many different times one steals small sums, amounting to fifty dollars in all, each single theft is " a light sin" (Theo. logia MoraIis, iv. 54).
The more one studies Buddhism and Romanism, the more he sees the mongrel character of each system, each containing many elements in common, whose origin can be fairly traced only to the father of lies.
AFRICAN THEOLOGY
AFRICAN THEOLOGY; OR, THE ZULU'S CREED, AS SEEN IN HIS FOLK-LORE.
IIY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
If any new encouragement or incentive to mission work among the Zulus were needed, it would seem it should be found in their earnest yet futile study for all the ages to find the light without the Bible. Their religious speculations, theories, notions, erroneous and absurd as they often arc, indicate thoughtful minds and an eager desire to solve the many physical, providential. and spiritual problems with which, like other heathen, they have ever been solemnly confronted.
The Zulus constitute a large element in the Bantu raee, a race that is only just now beginning to be known in its fulness and importance. It extends from the Orange River to about the fifth degree of north latitude, and numbers about fifty millions of people. The language spoken hy this widely extended Afriean family is virtually one, though among the different tribes there is much dialectic variety. Doubtless the best, most perfect representative of the family in respect to speech is the Zulu; and the same seems to be true also of their folk-lore, of which till late little or nothing has been known. In the extended specimens of this language, which the writer gathered some years ago from the lips of their more intelligent men, as they had no books from which to prepare a Zulu grammar, were included many of the myths, legends, fairy tales, and songs of this people. Similar collections were afterward made by Dr. Callaway, to whom the writer is here glad to acknowledge much indebtedness for aid in these studies. The number of what may be called Zulu legends and fairy tales seems almost without limit. Like other people in the midst of their development, the Zulus have ever been greatly delighted with excursions into the realms of myth and fancy. To them all things in nature are peopled with spirits of one kind or another. Wizards and witches, giants and dwarfs, are found everywhere. Their mythical stories, legends, traditions concerning the origin of men and things, their notions concerning the cause and cure of evil, the reason why men die, their ideas concerning the spirit land, or the realm to which the departed have gone, their objects and modes of worship-all testify to the vigor of their imagination and the earnestness of their bewildered efforts to solve the mysteries of life.
From some of their traditions we learn how their ancestors believed that not the dry land of earth alone, but the waters also, and the heavens above, are the abode of manlike inhabitants; while other traditions tell how their friends and all who have departed this life are occupying a subterranean region, and still engaged in cares and labors not unlike those they had here on earth. A mere outline of one story on this point is that, once on a time, Umkachana rose in the morning, he and his dogs, to go a-hunting. Presently they started a buck, which the dogs drove till it went and entered a cavern. Then in went the dogs and he too. On and on he went till he came to where the underground people dwelt, and there met with some of his old friends; but they charged him to return and go home. So he returned and reported to his friends at home where he had been and what he had seen. And now hIS friends at home, who had been wondering where he had gone, asked him: "Is it really so, that you saw men like us there in the underground region?" And he said, " Yes," and went on to give the names of some of them, and told how they had sent him back.
In another legend we have the story of another visit to thosc who dwell below, more minute and extended, which begiw'l with telling how a man started out one morning, in the dew, to follow the trail of a porcupine that had wasted his garden. Being much excited, angry because of the los8 he had suffered, when he came to the hole into which the porcupine had entered, he rushed in, saying, "I will go till I find it and kill it." Weapons in hand, yet without his dog, on and on he wcnt. At first it was dark; but when his eyes had got used to it he could see very well. At length he came to a pool, which he passed with some difficulty by the edge, and went on. When night came he lay down and slept till morning, then woke and went on, never doubting that if he persevered he would succeed and be satisfied. At length he came to a river, which he crossed, and continued his journey till, fiually, he saw it began to grow light in front. Presently he began to hear dogs baying and children crying. Passing on, he came to a village, and saw smoke rising, and said: "Hau! what place is this? I must have come to a settlement." Whereupon he returned, walking backward, returning upon his path, and saying: "Let me not go to these people, for I do not know them; perhaps they will kill me." So he fled, and went, day and night, recrossing the river and the pool he had crossed on his way inward, till finally he came out of the hole he had at first entered. And now he is greatly astonished to find that all things at the place where he has been are like to those here above-mountains, precipices, rivers and all. On going home, his appearance was an occasion of great surprise. His wife smote her hands together and cried. His neighbors rushed in and wondered, and again they shouted the funeral dirge. The woman said, " I have buried your kilt, pillow, dishes-everything that belonged to you save your mat and your blanket, and these I have burned, supposing you were dead." So he told them how he had been on a long journey to the" Abapansi," subterraneans, or those who dwell below-what he saw there, and why he came back.
These fanciful imaginings of the untutored Zulus remind us of the more studied productions of Virgil and Dante. They may not be so poetic or classical, but for a natural, truthful correspondence with their surroundings, mode of life, or mental and moral condition, it is not easy to see wherein the fonner would suffer in being compared with the latter. Dr. Callaway's suggestion is at least plausible, if not probable, that here, in these and other Zulu tales of a like character, we find the relics of an old belief, clothed after a new fashion-a belief having a common origin, probably, with that which, in other countries whose inhabitants have been in different circumstances and had a different development, has formed the basis of morc exact theologies or of such fanciful tales as the Arabian Nights' "Jullanar of tne Sea," Fouque's "Undine," or Longfellow's " Song of Hiawatha."
The folk-lore of the Zulus, their myths and legends respecting the source or orgin of men, animals, and other earthly objects, are numerous and original, and yet in some cases not wholly unlike what we find in other lands and races. Ask them in respect to the origin of man, as in the question, " Who made man? Whence came the race?" and the sum of their llsual answer is, " They burst from a reed," or, as some render it, " They broke off from a reed," as a shoot from a stem, or a bulb from a parent bulb. Bursting iuto life in this way, as the story goes, the first human pair, Unkulunkulu (the great·great one) and Umvelinquangi (the first comer), walked along the fields, fell in with grain, ate it, multiplied, and peopled the earth. Another legend makes U nkulunkulu himself the first man and great author of all. Having himself broken off or sprung into being, as the story goes, he broke off the rest. "He it was that made the first people, the ancients of long ago. These begat others, and these others, and these others. And so it is that we have heard about the origin of men, generations, and nations. It was our ancestors who told us." Still another legend, or another form of the foregoing, is that men sprung originally from a rock, which U nkulunkulu split, and they came out. In this we are reminded of the simile which the prophet used in his address to the Jews: ". Look to the rock whence ye are hewn . . . look unto Abraham your father."
As to the difference in color, an old man said: " When I was a little child, I heard from the old men of my boyhood that there were at first two mothers, one of whom gave birth to a white man, the other to a black. But how or where this happened we of to-day have no knowledge. When we were children, we, the offspring of the men of old, we were not like those of the present time, who worry themselves with finding out knowledge. For our parts, we used not to que~tion a great man; when he told us a tale we used just to listen. We now see how and why we ought to have inquired, but did not because of our great simplicity and respect for age. "
Onc of their legends would seem to have had its origin in some shadowy idea of the scriptural account of the first and second Adam. The sum of it is that there were two U nkulunkulus, one from beneath, the other from above. He from above came in a fog, and wa'l altogether white. When the people saw him they were afraid; but he said: " Why do ye fear, since I too am a man?" They say cattle were slaughtered for him at the place of llis advent j but he did not eat of these j he ate only of that whieh he brought with him. After a long stay on earth he disappeared in another fog, and they saw him no more.
Some of their legends give the order in which men, animals, and all things came into being. They say, " We black men had the same origin as you white. All came from out of the earth-we, the blacks, first. and after that the whites. But we did not bring much with us-only a few cattle, a little corn, spears, picks, fire to cook with, potter's clay, and just wisdom enough to help ourselves when we are hungry, and to know the time of digging, so as not to die of famine. And yet we thought we had all things, were wise, and that there was nothing which we did not know. But when the white men made their appearance wearing fine clothes, able to perform wonders, driving big teams, and bringing with them every kind of goods in great abundance, we saw how verily we black people came forth without a single thing, utterly destitute because wc came firbt and in a hurry, while the white people waited for all things, and delayed that they might sc~ape out the last bit of wisdom. And then as to the order in which men and things made their first appearance, we used to hear it said by our fathers, they too having heard it from others, that the first to come into being was a man, next a woman, then a cow, then a dog, then all the little animals, then elephant~-all in pairs-then corn." This part of the untutored African's story reminds us of some of Milton's words: " The earth obeyed, and straight, Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limbed and full grown."
And so the sacred Scriptures, where we are told that God said: "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so." Nor is it otherwise than natural. and in a sense correct" to refer the origin of all things secondarily to the earth; since from this it is that the elements of the material organism of all living things are derived."
In our day we hear not a little about the development of one species from another, as of man from the ape; but the Znlus have a legend which makes the transmutation go the other way, so that man is not an elevated ape, bnt the ape a degenerated man. The story is, that the chieftain of a certain idle tribe, too lazy to grow their own food, told his people to pack: up, take their picks and all, and follow him far away into the wilderness. So they took their effects-picks, pick-handles, and other things-binding these handles, withal, upon their backs. And so it was that in some way -we know not just how-these handles became caudal appendages; hair made its appearance on their bodies ; their foreheads became overhangiug ; and so they became apes, went to the precipices, and had their abode among the rocks. A Mussulman legend is to the same effect. It says that on one of Soliman's trips from Jerusalem to Mareb he passed through a valley inhabited by apes which dressed and lived like men, at which he was greatly astonished. But upon inquiring as to their orlgm and their many points of likeness to men, he was told that they were descended from men, being the remnant of a Jewish community which, notwithstanding all admonition, continued to break the Sabbath until Allah cursed them and turned them into apes.
Another Zulu legend hints, like the former, at the folly of idleness, by explaining how it came about that the monkey has such a long tail, while the rabbit has almost none at all. "Long ago," as the story goes, " a certain king sent for all the animals to come and receive their tails. Now the day on which t.hese were to be distributed being cloudy and wet, the rabbit, not liking to go out in the rain, called to the monkey as he was passing by, and said, 'See here, my good neighbor; when you get your tail, will you please ask for mine and bring it to me ?' The monkey said he would; but on his way home he managed to join the rabbit's tail to his own, saying, ' If he is too lazy to go himself for what he wants, I shall not encourage his idleness by waiting on him; he may go without his tail.' So the monkey has a long tail, and the rabbit scarcely any at all." Hence the common saying among the Zulus: "Remember the rabbit; and if you want anything done, and done well, do it yourself; and not trust to others. "
Having noticed several Zulu legends concerning the origin of man, we close with one concerning his end, or why he dies. The sum of it is that "Unknlnnkulu sent a chameleon, saying, 'Go and say, "Let not men die.'" The chameleon went, went slowly, loitered by the way, and stopped to eat the fruit of the Ukwebezanc, a kind of mulberry. Then at length the Great Being sent the quick-running lizard, saying, 'Go and say, "Let men die.'" So the lizard ran; and when he had arrived he said, 'I have to come to say, " Let men die.'" Then the chameleon came and said, ' I have come to say, " Let not men die.'" But to this the people said, ' Oh, we have already received the lizard's word, by which it is settled that men must die! '" This tradition would seem to have had its origin in the scriptural account, to which Milton refers when he sings: " Of man's first disobedience and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe."
And so it is that both of the above-named animals are looked upon by the Zulus much as the serpent is by manyin Christian lands. Both are hated, hunted, and often killed; both are charged with having been the cause of men's dying-the one from having been so slow, the other from having been so quick.
But no complete idea of the Zulu's creed can be had without a brief notiee of the object and mode of his worship. In his way the Zulu is one of the most religious of all people. lIe has, naturally, a broad, deep. religious susceptibility. The Great-great One, as we have seen, is his Maker, the Author of the race to which he belongs j but the object of his worship, the divinity that has power over his destiny, is the shades of the dead-the amahlozi, or amatonga, the departed spirits of his kindred and of the great ones of his race. For a Bible, a prophet, and a priest he goes to the inyanga, a fellow-man well versed in Delphic art. He admits that he is a sinner, believes in prayer and in the need of an atoning sacrifice j that" without the shedding of blood there can be no remission."
When som ecalamity, as sickness, comes upon him, he goes or !Sends a deputation with a cow or other present to the inyanga, to Jearn the cause and cure of his sufferings. After much inquiring of the shades, he it! told that they are offended at his neglect j it is long since he has made an offering of any animal to them j and now, if he will recover, he must slaughter that best cow of his for them. He accepts the answer, admits his negligence, says his prayers, brings out his spear and cow, gives her a stab in the side, and if she shows signs of distress, he says, "Yes, that is good j just what an animal for the gods ought to show j let hcr cry and drive away the evil." He then sprinkles the blood and gall upon his per- son and premises, puts the beef away in a hut by itself, and in the morn- ing professes to believe that the divinities have been there, had a taste of the blood and beef, and been satisfied. And now his hungry neighbors gather at his kraal, bring out the beef, roast and consume it, pronounce the sacrifice a good one, and express the hope that the sick man may soon be well and out again. If so, that priest is praised j if not, he is denounced and called a fraud j and the sick man, resorting to another, goes through the same process again, and perhaps yet again, till finally either health or death ensues.
Another somewhat noted article in the Zulu's creed-the last we name -is his belief that departed spirits sometimes come back and appear to men for a time on earth, especially to their kindred and friends, in the garb of a snake. Hence it is that rept.iles of this kind arc always looked upon with a kind of sacred awe, and never in any way harmed, lest some great calamity befall· those who maltreat them. When questioned on these points, and especially as to whether they really worship the snake, the Zulu says: "No j what we believe is, that we are mortal; that between us and the spirits of the departed -the amatonga-there is a broad chasm j and that the arnatonga are of two kinds-some good, some evil. Those of our families which have an interest in our welfare are able to take on the appearance of a snake, and by that means not only form a link between us and the world of spirits, but in this guise of a snake they are permitted to watch over us. We do not believe in the snake as a snake, but in the amatonga, the spirit or spirits which the snake represents."
From these few specimens of the Zulus' folk-lore stories, and a comparison of these with the like stories of other races and nations, we are impressed, for one thing, with the manncr in wbich they help to show the common brothE)rbood of men. We see this in the common faith of all in
THE J.AST OF THE COMBERS
some superior power or .livinity, to which all are subject, and on which all are dependent. ,Ve see this common brotherhood in the general interest which all take in the great problems of life, such as the origin and end of man, the cause and cure of evil, and in the general belief which all have in another life.
These folk-lore stories help also to show the great value of the light which the Bible throws upon all these problems, and, indeed, upon every question that we really need to have solved for us in the present state. We see, too, what cause we have for gratitude that our lot has fallen to us under the hallowed teachings and influence of the Gospel of Christ, and what obligation we are nnder to help extend a knowledge of these great blessings to those who grope and suffer for the want of them.
THE LAST OF THE COMBERS.
SIX LIVES SACRIFICED.
The death of Rev. Percy E. Comber from the terrible African fever terminates a pathetic episode in the history of the Congo Mission. Three brothers, one sister, and two wives-six in all-bearing a name ever to be honored and revered, have now found a grave beneath the palms. We question whether a similar example of family devotion to the missionary enterprise ean be found in the entire annals of the Christian Church. In the beginning of the year 1878 Thomas, the eldest brother, left Cameroons with Mr. Grenfell for the preliminary expedition to San Sahador. these two being the first Protestant missionaries to enter the Congo country. The following year, after a home visit, Thomas Comber returned with his hride, but the happy companionship was to last hut three brief months. Sidney, the doctor, who had distinguished himself at Edinburgh University, and from whose medical attainments helpful service was anticipated, was the next to fall. Referring to his brother's death, Thomas wrote: "Twenty years ago our dear mother, after eommitting us all to the care of our Heavenly Father, was called away home. One after another we have all given ourselves to mission work in Africa. My brother Sidney and I were on the Congo, my sistrr in Victoria, and Percy, my youngest brother, is preparing at Rrgent's Park College for the same work."
In 1886 the sister Carrie died on the West Coast; the next year Thomas himself, and now Percy has passed away, surviving his young wife only some twelve months. Very touching are the few words written in haste by one of the missionaries, teIling how he was ,mgaged in placing the memorial stone sent by loving friends from the home country over the wife's grave on the very day the widowed missionary had rejoined her.- The Christian.
WILLIAM CAREY
WILLIAM CAREY, THE MISSIONARY ORGANIZER, PREACHER, AND TEACHER.-PART II.
BY GEORGE SMITH, LT".D., F.R.G.S., EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
The same hand of God, in history, which guided Columbus to America, when he set ont for India, led William Carey to India, when he had desired to go to Tahiti. So, three qnarters of a century later, David Livingstone determined to be a medical missionary to the Chinese, but God kept him for Africa. The" fulness of the times" came in India, as in Great Britain, America, and France, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. 'Vhen Carey was mastering seven languages, as he sat on his cobbler's stall at Hackleton and Moulton or among his flowers and birds opposite his chapel in Harvey Lane, Leicester, the surgeon of an East Indiaman, John Thomas, was rudely trying to convert the natives of Calcutta and Bengal. He had no scholarship. and little common· sense, but he yearned for the souls of men, and in his three voyages he had learned the local facts. Filled with these, he met Fuller, Ryland, and Sutcliff-the three to whom, as the executive of his own Baptist Missionary Society, Carey had offered himself. He met Carey also, when they embraced each other with tears of joy, and Bengal was chosen as the scene of the mission. Carey and Thomas went forth, two together, one an ordained and tho other a medical missionary, with their families and £150 a year between them, to win to' Christ the Hindus and Mohammedans, first of a province in which they now number seventy-five millions, then of all Northern, Central, and ·Western India, and then of the half of Asia from the Gulf of Persia to the YcHow Sea of China. While we thank God for Carey's faith and love, which the delays of twelve years had only intensified, let us not blame the thirteen ministers who, at Kettering, subscribed £13 28. 6d. wherewith this mighty enterprise was begun. * As with a few loaves and fishes the Son of Man fed the multitudes of Ilis day again and again in the wilderness, so the Risen Lord and Reigning King multiplied the first mites then cast into His treasury, till before he died Carey saw them grow to £400,000 a year. And now, after a century, we reckon them at £2,500,000 a year, and count that all too small. Carey's minimum for" every person" was lOs. 6d. a year, which these poor strn1!gling ministers more than doubled at starting; and if every communicant of the Evangelical churches had given even the minimum in the last hundred years, there would not be • This is the ever memorable list: £ 8. d. £ 8. d. Samuel Pearce, Binningbam. . .. .•…. 1 1 0 John Ryland, Northamptot:. ………. . 2 2 0 Thomas Blundell, Arnsby… …..• …. 0 10 6 William Heighton, Road…………. 010 6 Reynold Hogg, Thrapstone ………… . 2 2 0 John Eyres, Braybrook……. … …… 0 10 6 J oBeph Timms, Kettering………….. 1 1 0 Jobn Sutcliff, Olr.ey………………. . 1 1 0 A Contributor, name not recorded Andrew Fuller, Kettering 110 (Carey?)…. …………… …….. 0 10 6 Abraham Greenwood, Oakham …….. . 1 1 0 Edward Sharman, Cottesbrook…….. . 1 1 0 Josbua Burton, Foxton……….•….. 010 6 a thousand million of human beings alive who know not Christ. It was the poor of Christ's flock who sent forth the first English speaking mis- sionaries, and who have supported their succcssors all through the century. It is still the comparatively poor who deny themselves to raise every year the two and a half millions sterling administered by the missionary churches and societies.
William Carey was thirty-three years of age when, on November lOth, 1793, he landed at Calcutta, and began there the forty-one years of his mis- sionary career. After months of poverty and hardship causing misery Lo his wife, which soon affected her reason, yet himself ever working for his Master among the natives, Carey found himself nominally an indigo-plantcr in the service of the godly Bengal civilian of MaIda, Mr. George Ddny, on £250 a year. No apprenticeship could have been better than the seven years which he spent among the Hindus of the district now known as Dinajpore. He had been ejected from the East India Company's ship in which his first passage had been taken, and had reached Calcutta unobserved in a Danish vessel. As a missionary he would not have been allowed to land, or, having landed, he would have been deported as some of his successors were. As a planter, daily doing missionary work, he was not interfered with, while he not only supported himself at no cost to his society, which he urged to send missionaries to Africa with the old salaries of Thomas and himself, but he gave more than half his income to extend his own mialiian. The self-supporting system was that on which the only evangelical missionary agency then known-that of the Moravian Brethren -was conducted; and Carey and his colleagues so carried it out till they died that they personally gave £90,000 to their mission. Carey's first congregation were the ninety Bengalees and Eurasians whom he employed, and for whose children, as well as those of the otber peasantry, he opened schools. Hi" first convert was the Eurasian trader, Fernandez, who at once a built chapel next his own house, and who acted as a missionary at Dinaj- pore till he died, four years before Carey. The firRt letters of Carey and Thomas were not received by Andrew Fuller, the Secretary, till the end of July, 1'794, and they were little more than a modest record of toil at the languages, of conversations with the natives, of hardships from the climate, and of the hypocrisy of the one Bengalee whom Thomas llad previously attached to himself as a catechuman and interpreter, Ram Bose. But Carey's faith and sacrifice lighted up the whole evangelical world of Great I3ritain- Anglican, Nonconformist., and Presbyterian-when Fuller published No. I. of his Periodical Accounts relative to the Baptist MisRionary Society, following Franke's Pietist example of 1710. Charles Grant, John Newton, and the Clapham men in London, and Charles Simeon in Camhridge, were delighted and resolved to renew their former attempt, which in a few years resulted in the establishment of the Church Missionary Society. Rylaud, in Bristol, called friends like Dr. Bogue to rejoice with him and spread Carey's letters before the Lord, so that the London Missionary Society sprang into being. In the far north Dr. Erskine and Greville Ewing founded the Scottish Mis- sionary Society; and the Haldanes, selling all they had in the beautiful estate of Airthrey, laid £35,000 at the Lord's feet. Every true Christian in the land was moved as successive numbers of the Periodical Accounts appeared, till in the two Quarterlies Sydney Smith scoffed and Southey rebuked him, while even the doubting churches began to deluge Parlia- ment with petitions, which ended in the comparative toleration of the East India Company's charter of 1813.
Carey's own society was not idle, for Fuller and Ryland were its execu- tive who had vowed, by prayer and toil, to hold the ropes while he worked below in the gold m~ne of the unconverted souls of the millions of Southern Asia. Before the' eighteenth century closed four colleagues and their families were sent out to him; but going as missionaries, they could not then sail in a British ship or lan~ on the East India Company's territory without the license or passport refused them. Again the hand of God ap- peared guiding the infant mission. At the very time when Carey's position in the Company's territory was becoming so intolerable that he seriously proposed to cross the Himalayan frontier into Bhootan, Charles Grant, a director and twice chairman of the Company, advised the four to seek the protection of the Danish flag, at Serampore, fourteen miles up the Hoogly from Calcutta. They shipped in an American vessel, the Oriterion, of which a Presbyterian elder of Philadelphia, Captain Wickes, was captain ; he sent them off in boats just before entering the port of Calcutta, and they landed without difficulty at Serampore on the" Lord's day, October 13th, 1799." Next day they were welcomed by Mr. Forsyth, of the new London Missionary Society, who afterward settled at Chinsurah, higher up the river. Next Lord's day the Danish Governor, with his fltaff, worshipped at their first service. Denmalk ever after protected them, and has not ceased to be proud of its trust up to the present Sovereign, although, in 1845, Serampore became British by purchase. Under a Danish passport, Ward, whom Carey himself had chosen when a printer and editor at Derby, went off to Diuajpore to persuade him ~o share the security of such a centre. January lOth, 1800, found the five, afterward joined by Thomas occasionally, united in loving fellowship and toil in what has been called the Canterbury of Asia. America and Denmark combined to save the infant mission from the persecution of the trading monopoly of the East India Company until, in 1813, and finally in 1833, the Christian opinion of Great Britain compelled the directors, by Act of Parliament, to learn full toleration. America thus really provided an asylum for its own sons and daughters when, having in its turn become missionary, it sent forth Adonirllm Judson and his companions, and Carey helped them to found the great Baptist Mission in Burma, and the noble missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Bombay.
Whcn Carey transferred his India mission to the unique and beautiful centre of Serampore he was in the perfection of his life and powers of every kind. Forty years of age; seasoned to the climate; master of the great Hindu languages of East and West, Bengali and Marathi, and having the key of Sanskrit from which they spring; knowing and loving the people of every class, especially the peasantry, artisans, and Brahmans; familiar with their intellectual and economic condition, their resources and agricultural wants; in command of the printing press and all its appliances; having translated the New Testament and written .ernaeular works; above all, yearning for the salvation of every man the more he knew the misery and the ignorance of all, William Carey stands before us at the opening of the Nineteenth Century the greatest-and is he not still the greatest 1-of the thousands whom Evangelical Christendom has sent to the conquest of the world. Of his colleagues we have mentioned the gentle, the accom. plished, the practical 'Yard, of whom we shall see more when we come to the translation of the Scriptures. The other was Dr. Joshua Marshman, of Bristol, who took with him the first' great woman missionary-before Anne Judson, of Burma, and Isabella Vilson, of Bombay, long after-the devoted Hannah Marshman.
For the six missionaries and their families Fuller had promised £360 a year; but Carey had not been with them more than eight days when they took the first steps to form a brotherhood, by adopting" a set of rules for the government of the family." On the early death of three of them, and as the others made the common fund not only self-supporting, but the means of planting new missions, their Agreement took the form of 1805, spiritual and administrative, under which, in loving unity, they sought to win Asia for Christ. Of their eleven" great principles, " this was the first: " It is absolutely necessary that we set an infinite value on immortal souls ;" and this the tenth: " That we be constant in prayer and the cultivation of personal religion, to fit us for the discharge of these laborious and unutterably important labors. Let us often look at Brainerd, in the woods of America, pouring out his very soul before God for the perishing heathen. without whose salvation nothing could make him happy." In the eleventh we again trace Carey's experience and language: "No private family ever enjoyed a greater portion of happiness than we have done since we resolved to have all things in common. If we are enabled to persevere. we may hope that multitudes of converted souls will have reason t<;> bless God to all eternity for sending His Gospel into this country."
Krishna Pal was the first of these" multitudes," ascertained by the India census of February, 1891, to be 2,284,000, or above two millions, if we confine ourselves to natives, besides the millions of reo deemed Asiatics who have joined the multitude which no man can number. He was an intelligent adult only a few years younger than Carey; a carpenter who read one of Carey's tracts as he lay with a dislocated arm; an inquirer whom Thomas healed, and who came, the first fruit of Bible and medical missions, to Jesus. He became a missionary to his countrymen in Calcutta and Assam, and a writer of such hymns as that whirh, in its English version, many besides those who use the Baptist Hymnal are singing this year with peculiar fervor: " 0 thou, my sonl, forget no more The Friend who all thy misery bore: Lilt every idol be forgot; But Oh, my soul, forget Rim not !"
Krishna Pal's baptism, along with one of Carey's sons, in the broad Hoogly River, beside the mission housl1, on the last Sabbath of 1800, in presence of the Danish Governor and his native subjects, was to the long- waiting and often disappointed missionary of eight years' standing an event " of great joy. I had the happiness to desecrate the Gunga (Ganges) by baptizing the first Hindu. . . , I addressed the people in Bengali, having sung a Bengali translation of the hymn' Jesus, and shall it ever be ?' and engaging in prayer after the address, I administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper." Converts followed slowly at first, and then faster from all castes and clasRes-from Brahmans as well as Mohammedar:s j from Eura- ~ians and Europeans j from English soldiers and their officers. Sir Henry Havelock was one of the last class. Calcutta city and its neighborhood became quite as much the scene of his missionary labors as Danish Serampore, for in the mOllt intolerant times Carey, as profe~sor in Lord V~I lesley's College of Fort William, was to the authorities a persona grata, and as the years went on active opposition ceased. Like every wise missionary since St. Paul, and unlike many ignorant critics of missions even in the present day, Carey followed every method, if by any means he might win men and women and their children to Christ: But his twiu methods of evangelizing the Natives and Eurasians were those of teaching and preaching. From the first he and Marshman opened schools-Bengali and English. From the first he and all his coadjutors, English and Bengali, preached Christ in season and ont of season in tl18 country languages. Dr. and Mrs. Marshman's schools for Eurasian children were the finest in the East, and most profitable to the mission. Carey's College, paid for out of his earnings as professor ehiefly, is still the noblest educational building in India since he and Marshman erected it, in 1818. He nel'er depreciated educational evangelizing based on grantsin-aid from the State, which he was the first to take, and he encouraged young Alexander Duff to follow the same method in happier cjrcumstance~ in the metropolis of Calcutta. Would that the successors of Andrew Fuller and John Ryland had been Christian statesmen like them and the immortal three of the Serampore Brotherhood!
For on Fuller's death, 800n followed by Ryland's, Carey'8 Society, in spite of Robert Hall, John Fo~ter, CLristopher Anderson, and the best of the Baptists, led by RylHlld's inexperienced snecessor as secretary, were guilty of so acting that the brothelhood were deprived of their own personal
1892.J THE DECENNIAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE
property, and in their last years the old heroes were wounded to death. There is no one who does not bewa"a the conduct of Dr. Marshman's assailants now. Alas! it is written in history forever, and it has not been atoned for, else would the great college, made over to the Society by Dr. Marshman's distinguished son and successor, not now be neglected. Writing in 1827 of. the "unceasing calumny" of sixteen years, for action of which Andrew Fuller approved almost with his dying breath, Carey and his colleagues of that time dedared: "We confidently appeal from the decision of the present age to the judgment of posterity." Sixty years afterward I republished that appeal, and have found Carey's confidence justified. All the more because this year is a centennial period of thanksgiving is it right to ask the Church and the world to ratify the verdict. 1< THE DECENNIAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
(1) Place.-The next Decennial Conference will be in Bombay. The daily sessions will be held in Wilson College Hall. A larger hall will be engaged for public meetings in the evenings.
(2) Time.-The Conference will open on the Wednesday following Christmas, DecemLer 28th. 1892, and will occupy a full week, possibly more. (3) Plan.-This Conference will convene on much the same lines as those of Allahabad and Calcutta, and all missionary workers and helpers will be regarded as members. There will be no " Ladies' Day" as such, but men and women will be accorded equal privileges, and be expected to participate freely in the discussion. (4) Papers.-In order to save time for discussion the papers will be printed beforehand. and not read to the meeting. Each writer will be requested to furnish at least 300 copies of his paper for distribution among members II day or two before his topic is taken up. (5) Topics.-Many topics have been sent in by onr friends in India and at home. These have been chosen for the programme, which wili be given to the public after the names of writers and speakers and otber details h'lve been settled-viz., 'Vork for the Depressed Classes and the Masses; Missionary Comity; The Religious Education of the Young; How can our ~liBsionary Schools he Made more Effective as Evangelizing Agencies ? Work among English-Speaking Indians; Special Evangelistic Work for Women; The Native Church in India; The Christian Press; Attitude of Mis,ionaries toward Reform Movements-e.g., The Sabbath, Temperance, The Congre~R, Marriage and Divorce, The Social Evil: Miscellaneous Topics-e.g., 'Vork for Lepers, Statistics in Misgionary Wark, Tbe Relation of Missionary Societies to tbe Management of the Work in the Field, The Relation betwc(m European and Indian Christians, The Influence of the J eSllit Movement on Protestant Missions, Horne Evangelists in India. and 'Vork for our own Countrymen.
* See the principal fnete "nd documents of the Dyer Controversy in the" Life of William Carey D.D., Shoemaker and :lli,,!o!1aI'Y" (2d ed, London, .John Murray, 1887), in which the late Charles H. Spnrgeon wrote. "The He.a."porc mistake is wisely treatecl"
THE ORIGIN OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA
THE ORIGIN OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, O.
From the founding of the first European settlements in the New World somewhat of zeal for the evangelization of the heathen has always existed, and Protestant efforts looking to that end date from the very beginnings of New England. Concern for the spiritual well-being of the aborigines manifested itself in various ways. Appropriations of money were made by the civil authorities, and urgent appeals for financial aid were sent back to the mother country. But much more, labors abundant and truly apostolic were beRtowed by Eliot and by the Mayhews through five successive generations, and were continued in the century following by such as Sargent and Edwards. A school was opened at Lebanon, Conn., for the education of Indians and missionaries, where Orcum, a Mohican, was trained for the ministry, and Kirkland, who for forty years devoted himself to unwearied toil for the Oneidas. As early as 1643 the Gospel was carried in their own tongue to the Mohawks in the vicinity of Schenectady by ministers of the Reformed (Dutch) Church j many were converted, and for their use the liturgy and portions of the Scriptures were translated. In 1741 the Scottish Society for the Propagation of the Gospel established a Board of Correspondence in New York, and sent Horton as missionary to the Indians of Long Island j David Brainerd to the Forks of the Delaware, aud, after his death, his brother John to the same region. The latter was supported almost entirely by American Presbyterians. But, on account of a strange succession of serious hindrance8, no lasting results were secured; and finally, after the close of the Revolution, these efforts almost entirely ceased, At the beginning of the present century the idea of world.-wide missions, the evangelization of the entire race, had not begun to dawn upon the consciousness of American Christians. Though for sixty years the Moravians had been bearing the glad tidings to distant lands j though Schwartz, Ziegenbalg, Carey, and Vanderkemp had been preaching Christ in pagan India and Africa; and though already in Great Britain three missionary societies had heen formed, stillDn this side of the Atlantic, even among the most earnest-hearted, the only heathen who llad any c'aims upon them were the aborigines at their own doors. To not a soul came overwhelming conviction and longing. Hitherto the best efforts had been unsystematic, sporadic, and transient. There had been no attempt at corning together in combination and co-operation to fashion some comprehensive and far-reaching scheme to carry the light far and wide through the lands of darkness. The first signs of something better to come appeared as the result of the call of the Scottish Christians, in 1746, for monthly, public, united prayer for the universal spread of the Gospel. vVhen Brainerd died, his last message to his Indians contained an injunction to observe this day. The Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was organized in 1802 "to promote the knowledge of evangelical truth in new settlements of the United States, or further, if circumstances should render it proper j" and, two years later, the Massachusetts (Congregational) Missionary Sociely changed its constitution so as·to read: "Among people of newly settled and remote parts, among the Indians, and through more distant regions as circumstances invite and ability admits."
The fact is patent that missions in America were an outgrowth almost direct from missions in Britain, though of course at the same time various causative forces, mighty, though less visible, were operating throughout Christendom, so that William Carey was the father of the former as well as of the latter, In spite of the violent sundering which had recently taken place between the colonies and the mother country, the relations still existing were most intimate, especially upon the intellectual and religious side. Great movements starting across the sea were quickly known and deeply felt here also. When, consequently, in 1792, the Baptists launched forth for their sublime endeavor, and when, soon after, Carey sailed for India, the New World also was looking on with wonder and admiration. In particular, the Baptists of this land were eager watchers. Dr. Staughton, later a pastor in Philadelphia, heard Carey's famous Nottingham sermon; like all the others, was stirred to the depths j into the collection which followed cast II half gainea, borrowed for the purpose, and" rejoiced more over it than over any other sum he ever gave in his life." Letters and missionary reports sent by English Baptists were circulated quite extensively. Since Carey, with all his stalwart faith in God, was also a staunch believer in the grace of vigorous works, and was a most indefatigable letter writer, information and exhortation were poured forth in all directions from his pen. Thus communications not a few reached New England and the Middle States, were read with interest, and, as a result, considerable sums of money were forwarded to Calcutta. In 1806-7 he acknowledges the receipt of $6000, and says: "The Lord has wonderfully Rtirred the whole religious world of every denomination to favor our work and contribute to a large amount j and our American friends have special claims on our gratitude in this respect." And, further, in 18ll, through the action of the Boston Baptist Associati:'n, $4650 were contributed by persons of different denominations in Eastern Massachusetts, to aid in carrying forward his numerous translations of the Scriptures into Asiatic languages. Rence the assertion is abundantly justified that" We are indebted to those pioneers for the example which gave a powerful impulse to missions by arousing the interest and embodying the efforts of all denominations. "
But an impulse vastly greater was imparted three years later when the London Mi8sionary Society leaped suddenly forth into vigorous life. Says Rev. Kiah Bayley: "In 1797 Rev. Alexander MeLean, of Bristol, Me., received from Scotland the sermons of Dr. Haweis and others preached at the organization, was charmed by reading them, and loaned the pamphlet to me. I took it to Newburyport, where it was soon reprinted and read with avidity by various others, and among them by the Rev. Samuel Worcester, who thus caught the sacred flame. And so was started the rill which led to the river." In 1796 a society was formed in New York, in which Presbyterians, Baptists, and Dutch Reformed were united, and monthly meetings were held to pray that" the God of grace would pour out His Spirit on His Church and send the Gospel to all nations." By 1807 five societies had been organized in Massachusetts to propagate Christianity, and similar ones in all the New England States, with some also in the Middle States. During the first five years of the century these periodicals were established, and combined to diffuse miRsionary intelligence from the Old World: the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, the :Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine, the Panoplist, and the (Presbyterian) Religious Intelligencer. In 1804 the Massachusetts Society chose the President of the London Society an honorary trustee. It was during this same period that Melville Horne's" Letters on Missions" and Claudius Buchanan's ., Star in the East" were published, and produced an impression widespread and profound. In addition, the churches began to be moved hy missionary discourses as never before. Upon the General Assembly in 1806 Dr. Griffin" urged the claims of the heathen and the greatness and excellence of missionary work with an eloquence and earnestness seldom, if ever, surpassed." The next year, Parish, before the Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, dwelt upon " the growing conviction of the value of Christianity; and so it was a good time to send missionaries to every nation." In 1808 the General Assembly appointed a day of fasting and prayer to beseech" God to bless the efforts of His people to Christianize the heathen and to extend the Gospel." The same year, in Cambridge, Holmes hailed the approaching day when idols would be cast to the moles and bats, and all false faiths be superseded by the glorious Gospel of God. Only a few days before the American Board was organized, at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Society, Norton had boldness sufficient to inquire: "Is the expectation visionary and unfounded that the time is not far distant when from the United States missionaries win go forth to every region of the globe, accompanied with the fervent prayers of thousands 1" Finally, as early as 1R06 Norris. of Salem, had given $10,000 to found Andover Seminary, and declared, " My object is the foreign mission enterprise, for we must have ministers if we would have missionaries."
These Were some of the preliminary and preparatory steps, and such were some of the more significant ~igns of the times. Hitherto zeal has been only general and indefinite, destitute of specifi0 object and aim; but now we cOllle upon desires and convictions burning in the bosoms of godly and heroic men, which cannot at all be c(lnt~ined within the realm of thought and emotion, but must Jeap fOlth and incarnate themselves in action. "With such feelings and utterances among the elders it is not strange that from among the young men some should catch the spirit and propose actually to engage in missions." At this point., in the person of Samuel J. Mills, there begins to come into very prominent view one who without doubt may be properly termed the American counterpart of Will- iam Carey. If there were need of proving this affirmation, it wonld be sufficient to set forth the distinguished and essential part he played not only in the formation of the American Board, the Cornwall School, and the mission to the Sandwich Islands, but also of the United Foreign niis- sionary Society, the American Bible Society, the American Colonization Society, and the school in New York for the education of Africans. Like the Hebrew Samnel, from his birth Mills had been lent to the Lord-not to serve in the tabernacle, but to offer living and life-long sacrifices in pagan lands. 'Vhen a child he "accidentally" heard his mother mention to a neighbor this fact of his consecration, and he never forgot it, but was inspired and impelled thereby to his dying day. She often also told him stories of Eliot, Braincrd, and others. Converted in 1802, at the age of nineteen, his controlling purpose was already so clear and so strong that. he could say to his father: "I cannot conceive of any course of life in which to pass my days that would prove so pleasant as to go and communicate the Gospel of salvation to the poor heathen." And even then his longing was to be a mi~sionary, not to the Indians at home, but in some foreign land.
Entering Williams College in 1806, his heart was too mu~h aflame with another passion to allow him to excel in his studies. Soon a few familiar spirits like Richards and Hall were found or fashioned, and at once they began to pray and plan. There is no time to dwell upon the memorable meeting under the haystack, or the secret society with its solemn pledge binding to the foreign work, or their careful canvass of prudent and efficient ways and means for furthering the momentous project they had so fervently at heart. The object of the organization was " to effect in the person of its members a mission to the heathen," and the constitution was drawn up in cipher, " public opinion being opposed to us," and" lest we ~hould be thought rashly imprudent, and so should injure the cause we wish to promote." They made the acquaintance of various clergymen of influence, and opened a correspondence with others. They secured the publication and distribution of various sermons and other works on missionary subjects. They visited several colleges, or wrote thither to kindle the holy flame in the breasts of other young men. Here, surely, was fonnd a remarkable combination of fervent zeal and knowledge of men and affairs. Yet with all their boundless ardor, anything approaching dangerously near to fanaticism would be hard to find. The spirit which lifted them up and bore them onward may be discerned in the reply of Hall, when, later, he was urged to take a pastorate: "No, I must not settle in any pariFh in Christendom. Others will be left who;e hellli h or pre-engagements require them to stay j but I can sleep on the gronnd and endure hunger and hardship. God calls me to the heathen. Woe to me if I preach not the Gos- pel to the heathen."
In 1809 the scene shifts to Andover, the doors of the theological semi- nary having opened for the reception of students only the year before j and the little band from Williams was re-enforced by Nott and Newell, and a few months later by Judson, coming each one from a different college, and each also having arrived independently at the dominant conviction. Judson had read Bnchanan's "Star in the East," and "the evidences of Divine power manifested in the progress of the Gospel in India fell like a spark into the tinder of his soul." "I could not Mtudy j I depicted to myself the romantic scenes of missionary life j I was in a great excitement." A· few months sufficed to bring him to the fixed purpose to devote his life to a mISSIOnary career. And though several with whom he counselled thought the idea was irrational, he would not change his determination, but wrote to the London SOCiety, and so began to move before he knew of any other who was like. minded. The meetings of these young men to strengthen one another in their planning to extend the dominion of their dear LOld has been likened to that striking scene in the chapel at Mont Martre, where, nearly three hundred years before, the seven founders of the Society of . Jesns mct to exchange their vows. Though wholly of one desire and pur- pose, they were as yet also wholly without knowledge as to who would authorize them to go and send them forth, as well as to what particular portion of the wide world they should direct their efforts. Consulting the faculty, and their designs finding favor, a conference with several clergy- men was arranged for June 25th, 1810 j they were advised to petition the General Association to move in the matter, and that body was to meet the next. day. The petition was duly prepared and presented, signed origi- nally by the entire six j but lest the large number should strike some through with terror, two names were taken off. The petition set forth that their " minds had long been impressed with the duty and importance of person- ally attempting a mission to the heathen," and inquired if they could ex- pect "patronage and support from a society in this country, or if they must commit themselves to the direction of a European society." And it was as the direct result of such urgency of appeal on the part of this con- secrated company that the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions came into being, the first of the kind on thi!;l side of the Atlantic, wh08e aim was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Thus, in 1810, American missions were born.
It is affirmed that at this date not less than eighteen or twenty persons had been seriously considering the perRonal claims upon them of mission- ary work, and, of course, more or less of interest had been excited in the minds of many. Bnt even now only a few ministers-and of laymen fewer still-had attained to the fill ness of faith and zeal. The Prudential Committee were thoroughly persuaded that a considerable timo must elapse before they could sUR[ain a mission on a pt'omising scale in any land. One of their number, a Bosion merchant, was oppo~ed to sending out any men unless a fund of at least $60,000 was in reserve for use in case of inadequate receipts; and a fruitless effort was made to raise a large sum for investment, while but one was venturesome enough to insist that ihey should go forward ju~t as soou as an eligible fidd was found, fund or no fund, holding that the Lord's hand was iu the matter, and that the way would be opened if they bestirred themselves. Meanwhile, the young men were counselled to pursue their studies and wait in patience. Recourse was had to the London Society to see if the candidates could not be sent out by the two bodies in co-operation, and Judson was sent to England to con· fer. Fortunately, however, nothing came of that timid project; and so all concerned were compelled to trust to God and their own exertions. And, verily, those wele the days of small things. At the end of the first year the receipts had reached but $099.52, and when the next year was well advanced the treasury contained only $1200. So, with a minimum of sight for a fOllndation upou which faith might stand and plume itself for flight into the unseen, it. is not strange that there was great hesitation abuut making the tremendous venture. But now, without warning, the supreme test of faith was thrust upon them. Word was brought from Philadelphia th'lt in a few days a vessel would sail from that city, in which missiunaries might take passage for India, an opportunity not likely to occur again for a period indefinitely long. Then, a little later, came intelligence that about the same time from Salem another ship would set fOlth for the same region. With this golden opportunity, and with four men ready and waiting, most eager and urgent to be sent, what should be done 7 To add to the sore perplexity, behold a fifth petitioner appears in the per· son of Rice, asking to be ordained and dispatched with the others. The courage of the Committee rose grandly to the height of the great occasion, and they determined to go forward. They stipulated, however, that Rice should himself secure the wherewith for his outfit and passage, and suggested that the four wives would better remain behind for a season to save the extra expense, and further intimated that if the worst came, a portion of the number, or even all, might be trangferred to the London Society. Nor did the outcome fail superabundantly to justify this act of faith. A call was issued to the churches for money, and arrangements were made for the ordination services. Fortunately, too, the day of sailing was postponed for a fortnight. Now enthusiasm began to rise. So Illany hearts wele opened, and so great was the eagerness to gin>, that by the end of three weeks more than $6000 wele in hand, Philadelphia alone contributing more than $1000. Thus it became posRible for wives and all to depart, with salaries paid for a year and a half in advance! On February 19th, 1812, Judson alld Newrll sailed from Salem, and on the 22d, Hall, Rice, and Nott from Philadelphia. In J nne following war was declared against Great Britain, :md for yean! communication with the East was practically closed.
The in~truction!l drawn up in haste for the guidance of thlse pioneer American missionaries, though, on the whole, surprisingly wise, both in what they contained and in what they omitted, have yd some passages which read strangely in the light of what experience has since taught. Thus they were enjoined to adopt as soon as possible" some plan of polity or social order," a sort of family or communistic arrangement such as Carey had contrived. And, still further, "to lighten expenses, apply yourselves to the most eligible ways and means of support, agreeable to the example of the English missionaries, and even of the apostles." But a few years were sufficient to demomtrate that neither of those ideas could profitably be reduced to practice. In those primeval days, as well as for more than a generation later, the conviction was prevalent that to send women to countries heathen and savage was of more than doubtful propriety ; for not only was thc matter of dElicacy, modesty, and even the greatest danger of gross ill-treatment involved, but, since they could not help, they would provc a serious encumbrance! But, somehow, it has happened that the weaker sex to this day has continued to get itself commissioned of God and of men to proclaim in darkest and vilest lands the Glad Tidings.
Ever since the organization of the Board, the two burning questions had been concerning finances and the location of the missions. During the early conferences of the student originators" sometimes we would cut a path through the moral wilderness of the West to the Pacific and sometimes to South America, the object always being the salvation of the heathen." The London Society suggested the Indian tribes and IIindustan. For long months the committee watched eagerly for the 'rising and moving of the pillar of fire. In 18ll they reported that" scarcely sny portion of the world is more important and inviting than Burmah," and that" Providence points to Canada and the Caghnawaga tribe ;" the latter, since they know of a pious native who longs to carry the Gospel to his people, and is getting an education for the purpose. India was looked upon with favor because of the presence there of the English missionaries, though Burmah seemed to be a more desirable fielil, being outside of the East India Company's domain.
When, in November of 1812, the actual beginning of a mission was heralded by the sailing of the first five men for Asia, this is the language employed: "The magnitude of the event, if estimated by the probable consequences, is such as to form an era in the history of the American churches, though the immeiliate consequences may be such as to dii'appoint" -words profoundly wise and prophetic as well. Up to this point the work had been but that of putting the hand to the plough, and now weTe to follow long and weary years of toilsome seed-sowing and anxious waiting for the harve~t. Jnst ahead were in store struggles again~t ub,tncles numerous, multiform, and well-nigh insuperable. The fir6t message wInch came from the migsionaries was to the ('ffect that they, arridng at Calcutta, . had been ordered to leave the conntry at once; and the next, even more crushing, that two of them had withdrawn from the Board and gone over to the Baptists. As was natural, the surprise and con8ternation which fol- lowed this revolution in sentiment was not unmingled with indignation, though, on the whole, the humiliating set-back was borne with commend- able resignation and forbearance. These words appeared in the next annual report: "The committee has no disposition to impeach the sincerity of these men, but they regret that the subject was not examined before so late a day. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. We repose our hopes on this in spite of the instability which we lament to record, bllt against which no human foresight could provide. Let it rouse a holy zeal; and should it be overruled and bring an accession of strength, it will be a joyful event."
In noting the most impressive series of providences which followed, it will be profitablc to transfer ourselves to the foreign field. After a voyage of five months Judson and Newell had arrived at Calcutta June 17th, 1812. At once a command was served npon them to return to America in the ship which brought them, nor would the Caravan be permitted to sail without them. Later it was concluded that they might depart to any region not within thc Company's jurisaiction. Presently information was received which "decisively deterred" them from attempting to enter Burmah; and as no door, either open or likely to open, appeared in that direction, their eyes were turned westward toward Bombay and Africa. On August 4th Newell and his wife took passage for the Isle of France in a vessel which could carry but two, leaving the Judsons to follow as soon as possible. And, behold, only four days later the Harmony arrived, bringing Hall, Nott, and Rice. They too were bidden to be off at the soonest. A passport was therefore procured by the two former from the police, passage was engaged, and their belongings were put on board, when the order came to go to England in the fleet about to sail; but, notwithstanding. they went on board by stealth and made their escape. Judson had already been baptized in Serampore, and Rice had followed him a few weeks later. Meanwhile, the Newells were enduring wave upon wave of trouble and sorrow. For a month they were beaten up and down in the Bay of Bengal. Mrs. Newell being very sick of a fever; and then in distress the ship put in at Coringa and lay for a fortnight. It was November before they reached the Isle of France, and on the last day or that month Mrs. Newell died; and, as the event proved, thus accomplishing far more for the cause for which she exultingly laid down her life than she could have done by the longest term of most devoted service.
After a voyage of eleven weeks, on February 11th, 1813, Hall and Nott landed in Bombay. But knowledge of their movements had preceded them thither, and they were met wit.h a commillid to depart forthwith for England. Appealing to Governor Nepean, fortun~tely a man large-hearted, and thoroughly Christian, he promised to do the best possible for them, and wrote privately to Calcutta in their behalf. 'rhey began at once to study the language. Just now came the news of the war between Great Britain and the United States, and, as was not 8trange, the missionaries became objects of political suspicion. In August they learned that their names were down on a list as passengers in a vessel which was to have sailed at once, but on account of a leak was delayed. In September they asked permi1'sion to depart for Ceylon, where Newell now was; but consent was withheld. A few weeks later, learning that a ship was to start in a few hours for Cochin and go thence to Ceylon, they went on board, leaving Mrs. Nott behind, and a letter for the Governor, explaining why they had left without authority from him. Delayed at Cochin, letters arrived ordering them to be returned to Bombay. On December 22d they must sail for England. As a final effort, a most solemn memorial was addressed to Sir Evan Nepean as a man and a Christian. But preparations were made for departure, goods were packed and labelled, coolies and boats were engaged. As a last step the captain applied for the passage-money at the pay-office, but it was refused; and not long after came a message granting permission to remain in the city. Newell soon joined them, after ten months in Cey- Ion; and at once the foundations began to be laid of the first American foreign mission.
At the annual meeting of the Board, held in Salem, September 20th, 1815, in the sixth annual report, this is the language chosen to set forth most fittingly both the achievements hitherto made and the current situation : "The last two reports had recitations of the pilgrimages and adventures, perils and deliverances, discouragements and consolations of our missionaries in the East, seeking a door of entrance, but obstructed, disappointed, and in continual anxiety and suspense. But thus have been showed the faith and patience, the firmness and prudence, the fortitude and devotedness of the brethren, and proofs, affecting and animating, of the wisdom and goodness, the faithfulness and mercy, the almighty protection and overruling providence of God. This report has less striking narrative and affecting incident, and because they have found an open door and a resting place, though even now they have scarcely commenced their public labors." The glad announcement was also made that, after three years of war, peace had returned.
During all this protracted period of sore trial, so well had the faith and patience of the saints at home endured, that now, a brighter clay having dawned, the way was open for an enlargement of the work. Five men,' who had long been waiting for the opportunity, were now dispatchedsome to Bombay, to re-enforce the mission there, and the others to Ceylon, to break ground for a second station. The year after, various hindrances, which had hitherto prevented, having been removed, a mission was started among the Indians of Northern Georgia. It is in the annual report of 1817 that for the first time ~everal distinct fields could be named. It informs us that $2200 had been sent to Bombay with which to open schools, and that a house of worship was much needed in that city. In Ceylon the Government had granted the use of certain old Roman Catholic churches, with their manses and glebes. Among the Cherokees, Mr. Kingsbury found much encouragement. Also a mission school had been founded at Cornwall, Conn. And this significant item appeared: "The late glorious events at the Society I..lands-particularly at Otaheite and Eimeo-make our hearts burn with desire to witness the same triumphs of the cross at Owyhee and vVoahu [Hawaii and Oahn]. From all accounts this field is white for the harvest."
In 1819 details are given concerning no less than seven missions- Bombay, Ceylon, Palestine, among the Cherokees, the Choctaws, the Indians of Arkansas, and in the Sandwich Islands. "The first only six years ago was struggling for a place and even for existence, the last just ready to embark, and in all extending from east to west more than two thirds around the globe. " In the North Paeific the way had been strangely prepared by the advent into this country of Obookiah, his quasi-adoption by Mills, his conversion and education with other Hawaiian youths at Corn- wall, and their letters sent home telling of the Christian faith; and per- haps even more, by the news carried by sailors that the idols had been cast out in Ot!lheite, as well as by the return of certain Hawaiians after their conversion in the Society Islands. It was a great event in the history of the American Board when, in 1819, Bingham and Thurston and twenty others-by far the largest missionary family that had yet been gathered and sent forth at one time-set sail in the brig Thaddeus, bound for the Antipodes, to tell to the perishing the Gospel story.
Little came directly from the projected mission to Palestine, from whieh so much was fondly anticipated, and about which so much of enthusiasm and fine religious sentiment had gathered; though indirectly and more remotely it led to the opening of the Board's most important work among the Oriental churches in the Turkish Empire. Tl~e Committee wrote: " Western Asia is an interesting region, and has powerful claims upon us. We owe to the Jews a great debt, and they are to obtain mercy. A disposition manifested lately and extensively, and recent successes among them, are indications not to be disregarded. Our minds and hearts have long been drawn toward Palestine in particular, and we determined to send a mission thither as soon as preparations could be made. So Parsons and Fisk were chosen and sent upon an extensive tour among the churches as missionaries to Jerusalem, whereby a wide and lively interest was excited, and a distinguished liberality of contributions was the result." As one says: "The vision arose of a reconquered holy city and an ingathering of the chosen people. They were to go to Zion, view her battlements, and from her towers get views of the land soon to be possessed for the Son 1"
In 1820, after ten years of most careful planning and most arduous toil, this is the summing up of tangible results. The cost in money had reached $200,000. From $1000, the receipts of the first year, the annual gifts rose to $12,266 in 1814 ; fell to $9494 the year after, on account of the war, and then climbed steadily to $37.521 in 1819. At the end of the first decade 110 missionaries in all had been appointed, of whom 62 were men; and of the 88 still in serl'ice or on the way to their fields, 28 were men ordained. Of the entire force 44 were laboring among the Indians, 25 were in the East, 17 in the Sandwich Islands, and 2 in Western Asia. As to fruit-gathering, even yet the report is: ' , We cannot reckon up much of tangible results." The ten years follOWing were devoted almost wholly to the development of fields already occupied rather than to the founding of additional missions.
Thus far we have been dwelling upon the early designs and doings of the American Board and the New England Congregationalists. In fact, for a number of years the bulk, both of money and men, was derived from the children of the Pilgrims. Williams College, Andover Seminary, and Massachusetts General Association were called of Providence to playa most prominent part in arousing and organizing the forces which laid the foundations and began to rear the superstructure of American missions. It was from accident rather than design-was the result of circumstances-that of the first eight commissioners chosen, five were from Massachusetts, and the others were from Connecticut. But no setting forth of the origin and growth of missions in the United States would be at all complete which did not make mention of the hearty sympathy and generous co-operation of various other denominations, and as well of other missionary societies, to which, directly or indirectly, the work of the Board gave rise. We have already seen what liberal contributions were bestowed by the Philadelphia Presbyterians when the first men were sent out in 1812. The same year the General Assembly was invited by the secretary to form a similar society to co-operate with the Board; but that body, in reply, expressed the conviction that foreign missions would be best served by a single organization, and added that their" churches rejoiced in the American Board and would sustain it to the best of their ability." For a generation that pledge was well kept. In order to secure increased 'denominational comprehensiveness, at the second annual meeting an addition of thirteen commissioners was made to the corporation, of whom eight were Presbyterians. In 1832, out of sixty-two corporate members, thirty-one were Presbyterians, twenty-four were Congregationalists, six were Dutch Reformed, and one was Associate Reformed. while the missionaries were chosen in about the same proportion. The German Reformed also assisted with their gifts.
But special mention must be made of a second organized missionary movement, whose beginning constitute" one of the very strangest passages of missionary history, and which came into existence by what seemed to most to be a piece of human frailty.' Out of disappointment and sorrow, out of apparent failure and disaster, came most remarkable success and enlargement to the kingdom. It was evidently the Lord's doing, and even yet is marvellous in our eyes. Of course the reference is to the famous change of opinion with regard to baptism on the part of Judson and Rice, soon after they had reached India. We have seen what impression that revolution iu seutiment made upon the Executive Committee. In their deep perplexity Hall and Nott wrote home as follows: " What the Lord means by thus dividing us in sentiment and separating us from each other we cannot tell. The Lord seoth not as man seeth, and it ill becomes us to be dissatisfied with what He does. We hope and pray that it will not damp the missionary spirit, but that it may burn with a brighter and purer flame. " That hope was well founded, and that prayer was not unheard. The work already begun was not weakened a whit except for a very brief period, while presently an entire denomination was set on fire with zeal for missions, and ever since has felt the tremendous impulse then received. Among the fruits of that earliest" failure" we may reckon the almost unmatched victories of the Gospel among the Karens of Burmah, and in our day among the Telugus of India!
As soon as the decisive step had been taken the two chief actors wrote to the American Baptists of what had come to pass. Carey also wrote, and their letters all reached Boston by the same mail in February of 1813. It will be remembered that Judson, on his departure, had suggested the formation of a ~aptiBt society; but the time was not yet. Now, all unsought, undesired, unlooked for, and of a sudden, they find two missionaries already in the foreign field, joining their fellowship at terrible cost, and fairly thrust upon them for support. Here were straits even greater than those ill which the Board had found itself with five men on its hands, and with a treasury poverty-stricken. Here, too, was a question without a negative. Almost at once a local society was formed, and circulars were soon sent out looking to a gathering to unite the whole denomination. The proposition was made to the Baptist Society in England to receive the two men into its Indian mission, their support being supplied from this side the Atlantic; but Fuller wrote in reply, and how fortunate for the Lord's work in the world: "Late events point to the origin of a distinct Baptist society in America. " "The intelligence spread with electric rapidity, and gave to benevolence and Christian obligation a'depth and fervor never before experienced. One sentiment of deep thanksgiving prevailed. The providence was too plain to be mistaken. The way had been opened, the field had been prepared, and the true-hearted must enter and prosecute that to which they had been summoned." In Maya preliminary convention was held in Philadelphia, attended by twenty-six ministers and seven laymen representing eleven States and the District of Columbia. As yet no meeting had ever been held for any purpose, which stood for all the churches; but now arrangements were made to form the" General Con~ vention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions." Much fuel was added to the flame when, in September, Rice reached home and began to tell what wonders he had seen and heard. "Here was one who had actually stood among the temples of heathendom and beheld the cruel abominations." His was an imagination most ardent, and his pictures were painted in vivid colors. "He reproduced the rapt predictions of the prophets of the Old and New Testaments and the thrilling exhortations of the apostles concerning the kingdom of heaven, and multitudes hung on his lips and followed his footsteps with an enthusiasm seldom known since "'~hitefield." Nothing could withstand the swelling tide of zeal which now set in. Before it indifference and prejudice-for the time at least-were swept away.
In the mean time, Judson, with no human arm to lean upon, but with unswerving confidence in the protection and guidance of his unseen Master, looked forward only to the accomplishment of the work to which he had been called. Ordered to England, he yet managed, by a remarkable train of circumstances, to escape to a ship bound for the Isle of France; after three months, returned to Madras, was immediately ordered to depart, and, as the only possible resort, took passage in a vessel with Burmah as its destination. So it was that July 14th, 1814, thirteen months after his departure from Salem, with his equally heroic wife, he was landed at Rangoon, in a region to which he had been originally assigned, but into which no door of entrance had been visible while in Calcutta. Here we must leave him upon the threshold of his work, the story all untold of the years of incredible toils, and sufferings, and afflictions next to follow, as well as the distinguished successes which even in his life-time began to appear. His name will ever stand high among the names of Christian heroes.
Space remains only to touch very briefly upon the beginnings of missions in the Methodist Episcopal Church, whieh started only at the close of the period to which this view is limited. Here too is found a peculiar ordering of Providence, which lends to the story an element of romance. As so often happens, it was but a commonplace incident, a mere accident, that started a movement of great importance. At Marietta, 0., a drunken negro, Stewart by name, while on his way to drown himself, was arrested by the voice of a Methodist preacher; was converted by the sermon, and not long after in a vision was called to set forth northward and westward to preach the Gospel to the perishing. Making his journey through the forest, he at length appeared among the Wyandots upon the upper Sandusky River, and immediately began to call those pagans to repentance. A revival ensued, the mission was continued, and later, the facts coming to the knowledge of Nathan Bangs and others in New York, their hearts were stirred, and they proceeded to organize a society which should systematize the work of evangelizing the heathen at home and abroad. For years the entire missionary zeal of this Church was expended upon the Indians; and it was not until 1832 that a venture was made in foreign lands by sending Melville B. Cox to Liheria.
The Prote:;;tant Episcopal Church was the next one to organize. The English Chmch Missionary Society as early as 1817 had urged the founding of a society, and in 1820 the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society was instituted ; but not until ten years later were missionaries sent out; then two
THE MISSIONARY AND THE LARK
were despatched to Greece, and, five years later, the mission to China was opened. By this time almost every denomination in the United States had at least begun to heed the command from Heaven to preach the Gospel to every creature. And finally the supreme test of loyalty to Christ has come to be the question: How abundant in labors, how liberal in giving, how earnest in prayer is an individual, or a body of Christians, for the redemption of the world 1 THE MISSIONARY AND THE LARK.
BY HUGH P. McCORMICK, ZACATECAS, MEXICO.
Through leagues of desert sand, from break of day, A weary traveller pressed his lonely way; And though his heart on mission high was bent, His tardy course betrayed a spirit well-nigh spent.
" What worth my journeying ~ What reeks my haste ~ Why sow my life on such a barren waste V My fainting heart by doubt and dangers torn, As are my limbs by cactus and acacia thorn."
Repining thus, he spoke-when his deep sighs All suddenly were hushed in glad surprise; For, perching lightly on an ancient palm Hard by the way, a field-lark raised its vesper psalm.
As water from the rock to Israel's eyes The pleasing sight and sound bade Hope arise Anew within the falling heart, and woke Afresh Faith's dying flame. Revived again, he spoke- " 0 childhood's mate, by what stern duty pressed Hast left thy native hedge, thy meadow nest, For this unfriendly clime 1 And can5t e'en here Forget thyself a fellow-traveller to cheer V " 0 Singing Angel, sent from God! To me Thou hast performed a holy ministry. Within my heart I'll bear thy sermon song, ~nd learn, like thee, to sing the thorny way along.
" Like thee, sweet bird, a missioner I'll be Of joy to spirits faint. My minstrelsy A lightsome one, that all the desert ways My pilgrim feet may tread b~ redolent of praise.
And will press on, o'er thorns and burning sand, With tuneful heart and lips, and helping hand, Till streaming down upon my paling face Shall fall the light of my eternal resting place."
A DYING TESTIMONY
A DYING TESTIMONY.
[From Graham Wilmot Brooke, of the Sudan Mission, C.M.S., who died at Lokoja, on the Niger, March 5th, 1892, perhaps the noblest young missionary of our time.-A. T. P.] He says, in his last letter: " Three great questions must determine our conception of the conditions amid which we work j and these I state, leaving my narrative of facts to supply the answers in some measnre.
"1. Is it part of God's plan that such mighty manifestations of the Spirit's power among the heathen as are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles should be as mnch a thing of past ages, as those mighty manifestations of animal energy which we wonder at in the gigantic skeletons at the British Museum 1 This position is often maintained.
"2. Is it true, as is often maintained, that ferocious and savage tribes have sunk themselves so low that they are no longer able'all at once to grasp the grand outlines of the plan of salvation 1 "3. Is it truP. that the fearful miseries of Muslim invasion tend, as has been often asserted of late, to bring the few survivors more within reach of the Gospel ~ And here I may point out in passing that while Islam prepares the mind to listen reverently to the idea of resurrection and future judgment-ideas quite novel to the pagan-it none the less trains its vota- ]jes to receive with indignation and derision the doctrine of atonement and of the Divinity of Christ.
" Besides these questions, other matters of scarcely secondary importance are constantly engaging the attention of missionaries-great questions as to the principles whil,h ah.mld determine our selection of methods of work. I will just state these questions, and then, without attempting to dogmatize for other fields or other workers, will mention the views which we hold on each point, and the reasons that have guided us to these decisions.
"1. Should we aim at magnifying or minimizing the benefits of civilization Y We carefully avoid praising civilization or civilized powers to the heathen, and if they themselves are extolling civilization, we tell them that they should not set their affections on ~hings below. We tell them that God has commanded kings not to greatly multIply to themselves sih'er and gold (Deut. 17 : 17), but that holiness is just as much at home in their little villages as in great palaces. Of course I use the word civilization in its strict sense. I do not refer to truthfulness or morality. which are far more likely to be found in the wigwam of the converted American Indian than in the halls of the Palais de Justice at Paris.
"2. Should we direct our effo;trs to the children or the adults ~ We preach to all alike; but in practice we find that the adults give more serious heed to what is preached, and work among them has been more en. couraging.
"3. Should we regard education as a pathway leading to conversion, or as a result to spriug from it V In these lands, everyone, from the Sul- tan in his palace down to the little child that scares the birds from the maize fields, can best be reached by the old apostolic fashion of preaching j and nothing in our experience corresponds to what we hear of India, that educational missions are the only way of reaching certain classes. More- over, we note that about 99.5 per cent of those who have been educated by the Niger Mission in past years have turned out very badly indeed, and the only effect of education has been to greatly increase their power for evil in the country. We, therefore, at Lokoja are endeavoring to reduce the education of the unconverted to the smallest possible limits, as the work of instructing genuine inquirers in the Scriptures seems likely to demand all our strength. . "4. Should we aim at getting influence with the natives as a preliminary to unfolding unwelcome truths to them? or, should we at once declare the whole counsel of God in faith that He will be responsible for our influence V It is our experience in this field that influence which is gained at the price of keeping unpleasant truths in the background is not worth having j for it parts like a rope vf sand the moment a faithful attitude is resumed. On the other hand, we have again and again been amazed at the way in which God has supported a message of uncompromising outspokenness, and has suddenly smitten the hearers with conviction, when, humanly speaking, nothing but curS!1S or violence could have been looked for in reply.
"5. Should we adopt in preaching among the pagans the methods prescribed for the evangelization of Palestine in Matthew 10 : 9-lfi V That we should do so was maintained, as many may recollect, in a very powerful series of papers in the Christian,papers which contained so very much that was true and searching that many of us were almost persuaded to adopt the writer's conclusions. Long and careful examination of the question, however, has convinced us all that taking nothing of the Gentiles is the command for us; and so, although free gifts of food are'heaped upon our delegates in all their journeys, we make a point of paying generously for all we receive, in spite of the people's protestations. A great principle underlies this j for all in these lands, even those who still adhere to paganism, have a g'reat idea of making' Sadaka,' or free-will offerings, to the mallams, as an act of religious merit, and with the great mass of the population a gift to a religious teacher is as much a salve to the conscience as five shillings for a mass is to an Irish Romanist. Those who have worked among Romanists will appreciate my meaning. It is, therefore, of no little importance to refuse such gifts, if we wish our words to strike home with undiminished power of conviction.
" For the last five or six months our work has been rapidly developing, almost, I might say, in geometrical progression, and that ill spite of the steady diminution of our nnmbers, and the fact that no European, except Miss Griffin, has had any prominent share in the mission work. ' The people are yet too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. ' These words, the subject of one of our Bible-readings in the end cf September, have sounded in my ears ever since. And now this is being still further carried into effect. Mrs. Brooke has been prostrated for nearly a month by a second attack of hmmaturic fever, followed by a very severe ,md obstinate attack of dysentery, so that a prolonged stay at Lokoja would be quite useless. I may mentiou that this same attack of dysentery was gradually getting worse and worse for more than a fortnight, in spite of every remedy and every care, when we called a special meeting for prayer. vVhen the party assembled the attack was at its worst, but from that hour, literally, all dIstressing or alarming symptoms vanished, and recovery has since progressed at a wonderful rate. And thus we know how near God is to us, even in Ollr seeming difficulties and disappointments. At the same time Miss Griffin has been invited to take up work in another part of West Africa, and we all feel she has done right in accepting. Thi~, while it will diminish our numbers, need not, to judge from the past, diminish our work, and it will set me free to go with the various agents over all the gronnd that has been visited.
" The dispensary work has grown greatly, the patients in the last month being as many as in the preceding half year. But the wonderful efficacy of the native medicines, in the hands of the best native physicians, must always prevent the dispensary work from reaching very many of those who can pay for native doctors. Indeed, in proof of the skill of good native physicians, I may say that, though native medicines are very unpalatable, I would just as soon have a first-class country doctor as a European physician to attend me in any i1Iness with the cure of which the natives are familiar, unless, perhaps, the European had five or six years' experience of the country, which is not very common. * Our dispensary work, how- ever, has been chiefly carried on among the Kakandas, that rude and savage t'ribe of fishermcn who live between this and Egga, whose little huts, now that they have fled in large numbers from Nupe oppression, are crowded along the waterside. These are the only people in all this country from whom we have met with insults or threats of violence, and now, since the district-visitors have been going to their huts, they all receive us eagerly, and flock up the hill-side every morning to bring this or that comrade to have some sore, or cough, or swelling seen to, and to listen to whatever they may be taught. Thus to the poor the Gospel is preached.
* While acting for a short time as medical attendant to the local garrison of R.N.C. Constabu- lary (at that time about 300 men), I alway" consulted with the· native physicians, who became very open, and freely explained to me their dmgs and their course of treatment. Many difficult cases I entrusted to them, and whenever they told me with confidence that they had a specific for the dis· ease in qnestion. I observed that they effected cures which any London physician would have envied. The natives, accustomed to their own very powerful drug~, look upon our mild remedies just as most English M. D.'s do on a bottle of homceopathic pillules.
LIVINGSTONE'S ANSWERED PRAYER
., At the church we are holding special Gospel services daily, to urge decision upon the many who arc now thoroughly instructed as to the way of salvation, and we see many signs that our efforts will be blessed of God.
" Thus closes 1891, the results of the work equalling our most sanguine expectations, for the Word of God has been fully preached over an area equal to Hertfordshire, Middle8ex, Kent, Surrey, and Hants. But the means chosen of God have been different to what we had planned. ' The people . . . are too many for me' was written in large characters across t he record of the first half year, and now, 'The people are yet too many' is written across the record of the last half year. The least we can do is to accept God's will, and not be as the horse or mule. He would se('m to wish that we should give up for a little any feverish attempts to reinforce the work with new men, but jllst wait on Him, and see how many He can turn to Christ with those whom we have already got. 'Come and let us go over, . . . it may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.'
LIVINGSTONE'S ANSWERED PRAYER.
BY MISS LAURA M. LATIMER, ROCK CREEK, o.
" And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer." -Isaiah 65 : 24.
In the year 1866 Dr. Livingstone was exploring Central Africa, in order to discover the sources of the Nile. Ten men deserted him. They made their way back to Zanzibar, and to excuse their sudden return and to obtain money they circulated the report that Dr. Livingstone was murdered by the natives on the western shore of Lake Nyassa. This was believed by his friends in England. He had ordered five hundred pounds sterling worth of goods to be sent him from Zanzibar. The man to whom they were intrusted stole all these necessary supplies and sold them for ivory and slaves. Dr. Livingstone was pursuing his way on foot through wild, trackless forests, wading knee-deep across deadly bogs and marshes, in damp, poisonous jungles, over famine-stricken plains, through broad districts desolated by war, trying faithfully to accomplish the object of his journey, and in total ignorance of the train of circumstances conspiring against him. In the year 1871 he was nearly to the end of the geographical part of his mission, when Ruddenly his men refused to go one step farther. Bribes, coaxing, nothing availed to change their purpose, and he knew that there' was a plot to kill him if he forced them to go on. When he thought of his children, whom he had not seen for six years, the desire became very intense to finish hiR work. But it was impossible, and heartsore and greatly depressed in spirit!!, he commenced the long, weary tramp back to Ujiji on foot, every step of the way in pain. It seemed so unnecessary to him, this long journey back-five hundred miles under a burning tropical sun. But he comforted himself each day of the toilsome way that there would be letters from his family at Ujiji, news from the dear home-land, and plenty of necessary supplies, comforts, and medicine; and he would find faithful men who would return with him to finish his explorations.
He arrived at Ujiji October 26th, 1871, "almost at death's door," and found that the supplies which he had left there for this hour of need had all been sold; the goods sent to him from Zanzibar were stolen. Not a single letter from his friends had reached there. Sick and without medicine, he seemed forsaken; for he knew of no possible way by which help could come to him. He said that he was like the man in the Gospel who fell among thieves; but in his case he was sure that there was no possibility of a priest, Levite, or Samaritan passing that way. Almost on the verge of despair, and in great destitution, he took up his abode in the poorest habitation in Ujiji. This new trial of his faith was very hard to bear, for the thought of beggary among the Ujijians made him very wretched. It was impossible for any letter to reach his friends while the fierce Mirambo was waging such a deadly war with all the tribes between him and the coast.
In the year 1869 Henry M. Stanley, who was in Spain, received a telegram from James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald. It read : "Come to Paris on important business. .. He reached there the following night, and in haste made his way to the Grand Hotel and awoke Mr. Bennett from sleep to learn why he was so hastily summoned to Paris. Mr. Bennett said: "Where do you think Livingstone is~" And he added, " I think he is alive and that he can be found, and I am going to send you to find him." Stanley looked at him in surprise and said, " Do you mean me to go to Central Africa~" "Yes," the young editor replied; "I mean that you shall go and find him wherever you may hear that he is; and perhaps," delivering himself thoughtfully and deliberately, " the old man may be in want; take enough with you to help him should he require it. Draw a thousand pounds now, and when you have gone through that draw another thousand, and when that is spent draw another thousand, and when you have finished that draw another thousand, and so on ; but find Livingstone." That night Stanley started for Central Africa. After a perilous journey of nearly two and a half years, he stood upon a rugged height and looked down upon the great Tanganyika. Below him was Ujiji embowered in palms, the waves of the silver waters of the lake rolling at its feet. Those dark, deadly, fever-haunted forests" with their appalling, intense silence, were behind him, and with our flag flying in the breeze, and with the firing of guns and the glad shout of his men, he marched into Ujiji and clasped the hand of the hero of Africa.
The Herald expedition arrived there just sixteen days after Dr. Living-
NEWS FROM THE SOUTH A~'RICAN MISSION FIELD
stone reached there. Mr. Stanley said: "Had I not been delayed at Unyamyembe by the war with Mirambo, I should have gone on to Manyema, and very likely should have lost him j but I was detained by a series of circumstances which chafed and fretted me considerably at the time, only to permit Livingstone to reach Ujiji a few days before 1 appeared. It was as jf we were marching to meet together at an appointed rendezvous, the one from the west, the other from the east."
The expedition had been kept a secret j for the young editor of the Herald was sending thousands of dollars to Africa to help a missionary whom nearly all the world believed was dead and buried years before. Rtanley himself felt that he was pursuing a shadow, and yet he was on the way more than two years before Dr. Livingstone knew that his supplies were stolen j he was pressing on with all possible speed, "lifting up his head and asking the silent plains around, and the still dome of azure upheaving to inJinity above, Where can he be g" and at last reached him, just at the hour of his extreme need.
NEWS FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION FIELD.
BY WILLIAM J. NEETHLING.
On Friday, February 26th, the minister of Stellenbosch received the following telegram: "Christening on Sunday, 11 A.M., chief, wife, and thirty-one others j pray for us."
This was from Moc;uli (Pilands Mountains, Rustenburg, Transvaal), where Mr. Beye~, the missionary, is working on behalf of our Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Colony.
This is a great event in the history not only of that station, but also of the Mission Society of our Church, that Linque has at last yielded himself to the Lord and consented to baptism.
He has long been favorable to the mission and built a church, but the attractions of heathendom-polygamy and the like-have hitherto kept him back. Now he is corning out openly for his belief, and we rejoice with the missionary and his lady assistants.
On Sunday 28th we heartily responded to the request. In our young men's meeting and in our large gathering in the Church special prayer was offered for a rich blessing on the ceremony, and for further manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the chief and those around him. All throughout the Sabbath our hearts were full of praise and thanks.
Most likely political troubles will arise from the heathen faction to test the Christian endurance of the king and other converts. They will need special grace to remain steadfast.
"If we Christians," wrote a lady from the mission field, " find it so hard to be spiritually minded how much more they who are undeveloped and in such surroundings!"
NEW MISSION IN AFRICA
Let us then ask for the prayers of Christians who love mission work, that the Lord may send His Holy Spirit into their hearts; that they may grow in grace and in favor with God and man, and lead many of the other heathen to the foot of the cross.
Dr. Laws, of the Nyailsa Mission, has been making a tour through some of our towns in the Colony on his way to Scotland from Bandawe on furlough. He has everywhere delivered addresRes, appealing to the young people to go to the mission field, explaining the needs and nature of the work, and telling us "what great things the Lord had done." He has been greatly blessed in this piece of service for the Master. His remarks are specially interesting for their sober, practical sense. His ideal missionary is to be (1) undersixfeet; (2) slim and wiry, not too much" beef;" (3) he must be a good sleeper; (4) must have good digestion; (5) must be of a calm, untroubled temperament, and more requirements of the same sort. All are welcome, however, provided they have the last (6) qualification-consecration. "Is everyone to have the fever~" "Most decidedly. Just make up your mind to that at once. If the malaria seizes upon you at the start-i.e., if the malaria works outward-you are safe; but if you do not get it within a year, the doctor gets anxious; and if not within two years, he knows that there is small hope of your living more than another year or two."
" Are we future missionaries to go to the mission field married @" Dr. Laws: "No, it would be very imprudent." ," What, are we to remain unmarried 1" "No! You must marry. But don't you see that your wife can follow later on 1 You first go, get a year or two's experience, find her a place, build a house, etc., and then by all means get married."
Such were the remarks he offered. It was to us thrilling when he pointed out the crying need and claims of the heathen, and when he mentioned the few devoted workers surrounded by millions of ungratefnl heathen. Mnch has been done, but oh! how much more remains to be done before we can meet our Master !
NEW MISSION IN AFRICA.
On June 5th last year, Rev. Dr. Stewart, of Lovedale, left this country for East Central Africa, at the request of Sir William M'Kinnon, Mr. A. L. Bruce, and others interested in the welfare of Africa, to found a mission to the natives in the Imperial East Africa Company's territory similar to the mission of the Free Church, Lovedale, South Africa. At Mombasa the other' members of the mission joined him, and thence they proceeded inland. Much difficulty was encountered in procuring the two hundred and . fifty porters necessary for the transport of the goods, and also on their in- ~ land march throngh the Taro desert, where for three days they were wlthout water. The original intention was to place the mission at Machakos.
A little more than half way to that place, however, Dr. Stewart was much struck by a site on the banks of the Kibwezi River. There was good water, good timber, good soil, elevation three thousand feet, and the people so friendly as to invite the mission party to remain with them. It was thought advisable to make a temporary camp there, while Dr. Stewart, ac- companied by Mr. Wilson and fifty native men, proceeded to Machakos to compare the two sites. While journeying to Machakos the chiefs and headmen were visited and friendly relations established. The chiefs were invited to send deputations to visit the white men to se" what they were doing, to study their ways, and to return and report to the old men of their villages. The march for two days was up the bed of a river, that being the only road. Although only the beginning of the rainy season, there was a foot or so of water, which, of course, meant considerable discomfort during the march.
The comparison of the two sites was found to be decidedly in favor of the Kibwezi. Although Machakos is cooler, being five thousand feet above sea level, the disadvantages of the want of a plentiful supply of water, want of timber (the nearest being ninety miles off), and the gWlt distance from the coast entailing so much expense in the carrying of goods-all seemed to outweigh the single ad vantage of cooler climate. A further consideration is, Machakos is situated at the extreme inland side of the Wa-Kamba tribe, while the Kibwezi is on the coast side, this being an advantage in the case of any disturbances arising in the country. Dr. Stewart's intention, however, is to work inland, establishing a chain of stations. Machakos would ultimately serve as a sanitorium for all. The site being fixe<1, on the return of Dr. Stewart and Mr. Wilson to the Kibwezi plans were drawn up, and the party at once set to work to layout the station. Two miles of roads and paths have been made round the station. Seven buildings of strong wooden frames, wattle and daub and thatch, are in various stages of completion. These are the church and school combined, dispensary, workshop, store, and three dwelling-houses. English vegetables have been used from the gardens laid out, and six of the small oxen of the country llave been trained to the yoke. This last item may seem of little importance to many, out in reality it means the ultimate freedom of the Va-Kamba women from being the general carriers and burden-bearers of that country. During the months ending December 22d, 1891, the sen'ices of the medical part of the mission, conducted by Dr. Moffat, included the following: Dressings and attendances, 354 j new cases during the four weeks, 99. Sunday services are held in English for the Europeans; in Swahili for the coast men, who went up ail porters, and remained to assist in the laying out of the station. The larger number of these men, however, are Mohammedans. vVa-Kamba services have also been held j but the natives have yet to comprehend the reason why the white man has come to live in their country. Therefore th~ work among them will be very slow.
Industrial training is also being introduced, and will constitute an important educational factor in the mission. Thus far, therefore, the new mission to East Central Africa may be said to be fairly set a·going j and Dr. Stewart looks forward to a great future for it with God's blessing and wise management. A cablegram received on the 22d instant from Dr. Stewart announces his arrival at Mombasa, whence he sails on the 28th instant for this country.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MAS AFRICA.
-Our French brethren in Basutoland have experienced a hem'y loss in the death of M. Louis Duvoisin, missionary at Berea. '1'he Journal des Missions, speaking of his articles, says: "They enable the readels to ap- preciate all those qualities of style, of penetrating observation, of delicate and sagacious judgmelJt, which distinguished M. Duvoisin, and which stamped him as being, in the true sense of the word, a thinker. But that which these articles do not reveal, and which only his intimate friends and associates have been able to appreciate, are the moral qualities which distin- guished him-that goodness, that sweetness, that charity, that piety which beame! from his countenance, and gave him, above all when he prayed, an expression almost celestial."
-A writer in thc Catholic Review, remarking on the apparent sickliness of the Catholic Church in Southern Europe, is quoted as at-king whether it can be that the instrumentalities of religion have there too much taken the place of that which alone gives them value, namely, the Christian regeneration of the individual. The following remarks of Professor Kruger, in the Journal des jJ/issions, appear to confirm this surmise of the correspondent of the Catholic Review: "The King of Congo is dead. The political journals have said little about it; and more than one reader will perhaps ask who iii this sovereign, mortal like others, but whose death causes so little stir. Dom Pedro V. died February 14th, 1891, in his capital city of Ambassi, better known by its Portuguese name of San Salvador, where he had been reigning since 1859 ; he filled a throne whose occupants once treated as brethren with the powerful Portuguese sovereigns of the sixteenth century. Their court then courted dukes of Sundi, counts of Sonho, marquises of Pango, and of Pemba. Great cathedrals reared their spires toward heaven; processions traversed the capital, upon whose sumptuous sacerdotal ornaments the sun of Africa gleamed resplendent, and above whose ranks floated the standards of white and gold blessed by the Pope. Dom Pedro V. still kept, as an regis, the Standard of the Cross blessed by Innocent VIII. about 1490. This, some crucifixes, some images of saints treated as fetishes, a sonorous and empty title of sovereignty, are all that is left of those Congo missions so much vaunted by the Portuguese Dominican. and the Italian Franciscans of the sixteenth century.
" What a lesson for the missions of the nineteenth or twentieth century! Is it, then, that the monastic orders which preached Christianity in the kingdom of Congo from 1491 until the bishopric of St. Thomas and of Congo was created, in 1533, were wanting in zeal or in sincerity ~ Neither zeal, nor resources, nor successes failed them; their enthusiasm in the sixteenth century is comprehensible, if Christianity consists in ceremonies, if the Church is a passive throng which conforms its movements to a prescribed ritual. That is precisely the germ of death which has killed Congolese Christianity; the outward institution has been accounted more important than the sinners who ought to have been summoned to a personal experience of salvation at the foot of the Cross of Christ; the imposing framework has hidden and smothered the individual; the name has been more than the reality; there were churches, priests, canons, and chapters; there was a fully organized Christian nation-and no Christians. " ARABIA.
-Major-General F. T. Haig, of the British Army, has published an interesting pamphlet entitled" The Evangelization of Arabia." Be remarks that missions in many parts of Arabia, contrary to popular impression, cannot be compared to going forth" as sheep in the midst of wolves," and that, though not destitute of risks, they involve risks far less than those of Paul and his fellows.
-As Islam was born in Arabia, we are apt to imagine that all its people are Moslems. Yet the Bedouins-one third of the Arabs-are for the most part only Mohammedans in name, and many of them hardly even this. They have a strong sense of natural religion, and are wont to pray, " Lord, forgive us in Thy great compassion, and have mercy on our friends that have gone before us," and there they stop. Even of the civic Arabs, those in the East follow all manner of opinions, and are rather hostile than friendly to Islam. In Yemen also, especially near the Britii'h post of Aden, there is considerable opportunity to present the Gospel. The simple, stern, and ferociously Mohammedan Wahabees, in the centre, are, indeed, at present inaccessible. " How such a mi~sion would in time develop it is impossible to foresee; but the Arabs are a noble race, with ~reat capabilities. They once bore the standard of the False Propbet from Persia to the Atlantic, and if fired with a similar enthusiasm for tbe glory of Christ and tbe salvation of men, might yet prove to be a powerful factor in the conversion of the world." There seems little doubt tbat Arabia Felix will soon fall from the hands of the Turks into those of the English.
" The work will be one involving suffering, occasional loss of health, and even risk to life; but it is one which Paul would have chosen and an angel might envy. Can the churches of Christ in Great Britain take it up, or is it of altogether too adventurous a type for our modern Christianity ~ The probability is that the difficulties besetting it are greatly magnified in most minds by ig-norance of the real feelings of tbe Arabs, and tbat those who approach them in a spirit of Christian love and kindness would be met, as the missionaries among the Mohammedan races of Algeria and Morocco have been met, not with fierce hatred and violence, but with a hearty welcome and tbe utmost readiness to listen to the Gospel message. Ve live in a wonderful time; it is the day of the LORD'S power and Abraham's prayer. ' Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee!' has yet to receive its full answer in the conversion to God of his descendants and of the other long-neglected races of Arabia."
-The Church Missionary Intelligencer, speaking of the infamous practice among the Hindu opponents of the Gospel of fitting the most loathsome words to revival melodies, and singing them about the streets as samples of Christian hymns, remarks: "For, failing to revive enthusiasm for the Hindu deities, has Hinduism thus recourse to the Indian Acheron alone. She cites to her assistance, out of the nethermost depths of unbelief, the free· thinkers, the atheists, and tbe agnostics of otber lands. She honors our own country with large orders for such mischievous wares. For these Hindus everything of the foreigner is hateful save his vices and his infidelity. With such Hinduism scruples not to ally itself in closest amity. Anything which is an enemy of Christ is the friend of Hinduism. One of our missionaries describes to us verv touchingly the effect, fatal and instantaneous, of one of these sulphurous shafts of infidelity. A Hindu actually on his way to baptism had placed in his hand one of these missives of atheism. He paused, he read it, his faith was destroyed j per- manently and completely was his trust in Christ uprooted. 'I would give worlds,' was his bitter lament, ' might I again recover Qgain the faith which I have lost.' We believe it is impossible to duly estimate the deadly influence of the scepticism of .the English materialist. We are con- vinced that the persistent assaults of infidelity represented in the coarse and yulgar secularism of the halls of science, or the refined criticism of popular reviews, is efficacious especially in our Indian dependency. We are even of opinion that many of such articles are penned for a far wider circle than our domestic England. Often their contention seems !lot to move in the same plane with the arguments they assail. VI!e have, we believe, detected also an inaccuracy of uncritical statement. a frequent misrepresentation of the most obvious positions of the faith, which seemed to indicate that the writer held not in his view so much the more immediate environment of his educated fellow-c.ountrymen, as the credulous receptivity of a crude, because ill-informed, Indian clientele. These prophets of sceptir.ism are not without honor, but it is not at the hands of their educated countrymen they receive it." .
– " The wilderness hour of this great Society, her time ~f weakness and peril is past. The time when five men in a room in London looked out on the desolate wilderness of the world and asked, 'What shall we do for the heathen g' the time when the power of a Christian State was arrayed not for, but against missions, and for heathendom j the time when to advocate missions was to incur, as its least punishment, the open con- tempt of the wise and prudent and even the good-all this has passed.
Our Society has won her way to a high and honored place; she stands OIl the pinnacle of the .edifice of Christian effort. Let us beware! The hour of prosperity is the hour of trial. When the seed becomes a great tree the fowls of the air lodge in its branches. Remember the promise is still that.
God will be with us only in our appointed ways. Still, the wider our field the greater our success, the greater need of humility and caution j need, in our missionary churches abroad, of wisdom, and power, and a sound mind in dealing with all the difficult questions that arise in new and growing churches j wisdom in avoiding all offence eave the offence of the cross; faithfulness that never shrinks from truth-strict, rigid faithfulness in dealing with errors of heathendom as such j wisdom and gentleness in dealing with the natural prejudices and infirmities of weaker brethren.
Ever as our churches grow will grow their difficulties from these sources.
False doctrines, heresies, schisms, have yet to be encountered. The strug- gle of the earlier Church is for existence j as it grows its trial is to order its life aright."-ARCHBISHOP ~1:AGEE.
-" Not in creeds, not in formularies, not in traditions, not in Bibles even, hut in the hearts of those who believe the creeds and repeat the formularies and read the Bible does Christ dwell. Remember that if He is present to bless He is present among the golden candlesticks to trim or remove the waning light! Let us not he high-minded, but fear. Let us pray to be delivered from self-glorification or party-spirit; delivered by a love of Christ and of His truth from the sin of tempting the Lord our God by spiritual pride and presumption." -ARCHBISHOP MAGEE.
– " The kingdoms of the world are the objects of the lawful ambition of the Church of Christ. To conqu('r them for her Lord is her aim, and her success in that conquest is her true glory. But it must be for her Lord she conquers them i the cities she wins must be called by His name and not by hers; it is His kingdom, and His alone, she is to establish. That kingdom is the kingdom of the Cross, the Cross of Christ. Not the Cross of JesuR, the great moral teacher, with its lesson of merely sublime self- devotion of man for men; but the Cross of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God as well as the Son of man, with its revelation of the infinite love of God for man. Not the Cross as some would have it, whereon hung a patient, loving, self-sacrificing man, whose death distresses us by its cruel injustice, and whose life perplexes us by its inconsistencies and its errors; but the Cross on which was offered up the spotless Victim provided from everlasting for the sins of men. "-ARCHBISHOP MAG:(!;E.
– " The new Christianity shall conquer the world for the new Christ, and all men own the Fatherhood of God, and all men feel the brotherhood of man. Yes! All these will I give thee, and the power over them, and the glory of winning them, if-if only thou wilt fall down and worship, only do homage to the father of all falsehood by yielding the supremacy of truth j only acknowledge that yours is not the true faith, but one of many, all partly true j only bow yourselves to me as you enter those temples where men sacrifice to me, and these shall vanish away, and in their place shall rise a great world pantheon, where your Christ shall still have high place, but others take their place beside Him; only be disloyal to God and God's ttuth, and you shall have the world now !"-ARCHBISHopMAGEE.
-" Be ours the glory of the warfare beneath the Cross. Let His be the glory of the final victory j but never let us be tempted to win the very smallest portion of our Lord's inheritance by compact or compromise with him who has usurped it. No truce in our warfare j no armed neutrality j no alliance, but war, steru, uncompromising, open war, for the truth, for all the truth of God against all the lies of the enemy j and, most of all, against that greatest of all fabehoods, which proclaims his lie to be greater than God's truth, which bids us do homage to the false in order to advance the true. "-ARCHBISHOP MAGEE.
-The Ohronicle for June mentions the Decennial Report of the London Missionary Society, which, however, does not accompany it. It remarks: " Among the many striking facts may be noted: the openings in China for a great extension of country work j that in India whole villages have gone back to heathenism' because, having waited long for teachers, no teachers were forthcoming;' the work of the Native Missionary Society in the Imerina Province of Madagascar, which has raised more than £3000 during the past ten years, and sent out twenty-three agents j the baptism of our first convert in Central Africa at the close of the decade j while the New Guinea decade ends with the arrival of the Rev. W. G. Lawes in England with the manuscript of the New Testament in the most widely used language along the southeastern coast of New Guinea."
-The Missionary Herald of the English Baptists for October, 1891, says: "There can be no perennial freshness in a superficial acquaintance with the Gospel, and if the churches fail to apprehend the end or purpose of the Gospel, then they lose at once its unfading charm. If the truths of Christianity are regarded simply as valuable treasures that are to be kept locked up in a sacred ark, and carefully guarded from all robbers, then we· may expect them to become mouldy and rusty j but if they are regarded as Heaven's coins for circulation throughout the world, or as weapons that have to be used in the conflict against sin and error, then they will always retain their brightness." AFRICA.
-The Free Church of Scotland, in its last report, says: "Almost year by year the Committee has rejoiced to be able, in the good providence of God, to form new and practical relations of co-operation with other churches and societies, as in the case of the Moravians and Berlin Lutherans above recorded. Such relations now exist with the following: With the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in Nyassaland, and to some extent in Kafraria and Bombay; with the Established Church of Scotland in British Central Africa, and-as proposed-in Calcutta; with the Ohurch Missionary Society and the Wesleyan Missionary Society in Madrns; with the Irish Presbyterian Church through the ·Wilson College, Bombay; with the Canadian and Australasian Presbyterian churches in the New Hebrides; with the Dutch Reformed Ohurch of South Africa in Nyassaland; with the London Missionary Society, South Africa, and now with the Moravian and Berlin Lutheran societies. Such co-operation of the different regiments of the Lord's army extends His conquests in a way which amalgamation even if it were possible, would arrest or weaken."
-PerilYdical.Accounts for June (Moravian) has an appeal from Rev. A. G. Hettasch, pastor of Genadendal (Gracevale), in ~outh Africa, which is interesting. He says: "What a church for Genadendal, the mothercongregation of the mission in Africa! I fear the police at home would never allow a thousand people to assemble within those walls, only kept from falling in by solid beams inside and large buttresses without. Yet it is not to be wondered at that this church presents such a miserable appearance, for it is the very first place of Protestant worship ever built for the children of Africa, and is nearly one hundred years old. It is a structure fnll of days and full of honors, but the tooth of time has long been knawing at it, and the process of destruction is far advanced. Genadendal must have a new church."
– " The Incarnation, involving the crucifixion and the present work of the Holy Spirit, is the abhorrence of Islam. Islam seems to make much of the will of God, and does of an external will of God. But its thought is of submission to the will of God, and not of suffusion with the will of God" (" Shall Islam Rule Africa g" by Rev. Lemuel C. Barnes, in Regions Beyond). This is a singularly thoroughgoing article. So also: " In general the fruits correspond to the roots. The result of Islam is stagnation; the result of faith is progression. Islam causes atrophy; faith causes development. There is one refrain on the lips of Muslims always: , There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the apostle of God.' Their thought is of the arbitrary, fixed, mechanical; three characteristic words of Curistianity are • Faith,' 'Ohrist,' 'Life.' They speak of that which is dynqmic /"
-Mr. Barnes remarks that Islam and Rationalism resemble each other in disliklllg the Cross. This reminds us of Mr. Wilfrid Blunt's remark that Islam, strictly speaking, is a rationalistic creed.
-M. George Liengme has been sent out to Delagoa Bay, Southeast Africa, as missionary physician by the Free Church Mission of French Switzerland. He has been also ordained as a minister in the Oratory at Geneva.
~M. Grandjean, of the same mission, writes: "As our mission extends toward the north, that of the Americans of Inhambane will advance to meet it; with them we are always able to extend ourselves, and labor hand in hand."
-M. Junod, of the same mission, remarks: "I am so delighted wheu our blacks preserve their individuality and originality. There is not yet apparent in these converts that varnish of imitation wherewith so many Negro Christians love to decorate themselves, and which in reality disfigures them."
– " A cardinal of the Roman Church sends out soldiers as champions of missions, and hallows their swords, as if Christ had never said: • All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.' These soldiers fail, sword in hand, and are then glorified as martyrs! What a cry would go through the world if any such anti-Christian thing was done among Protestant-above all, among English missionaries! But in Roman Catholic missions everything seems to be allowed, and everything to be extolled_"- Allgemeine If:fissions- Zeitschrift.
-It does seem to be a little late to return to the Crusades. Cardinal Lavigerie, in his speeches addressed to these military monks, blends Christ and France, Gcspel and sword in such an indistinguishable amalgam that it is hard to say what we are to make out of it, except that it is something with which a Protestant Christian of Teutonic race can have nothing to do, and with which we are sure that Protestant Christians of Latin race will have nothing to do. The latter, if they fight for France, will hardly do it under the banner of Rome. Fortunately, they have no temptation, being held altogether unworthy. Cardinal Lavigerie is a man of eminent qualities, but assuredly evangelical simplicity of aim is not one of them, nor even personal simplicity of character.
-The French brethren of Basutoland (Lessuto) have ordained their first native pastor, Carlisle Motobang.
-One of the most self-denying missions in the world is the French Zambesi Mission. After months and years of discouragement, the tide appeared to turn; the brethren were permitted to baptize their first convert; the king, Lewanlka, began to observe the Lord's day, to 0ppoile himself to intemperance, to cruel punishments inflicted on the pretence of sorcery. and to plundering forays against neighboring tribes; hi!! young son, Litia, showed very distinct evidences of a Christian mind, and the schools and the Sunday services began to be more largely attended. But" the clouds have returned after the rain." Malicious whispers have once more gained the ear of the king, while loss after loss has reduced the missionaries, whose comforts at the best have been very scanty, to a peculiar depth of privation. M. Coillard regrets to have had to write the saddest of all his letters home. "But the old soldier of Christ would not know how to linger long over a mood of discouragement. He adds: 'But be of good courage, the bark will not capsize.' "
MISCELLANEOUS.
-The Ceylon Friend (quoted in the India Watchman) says: " We must tell the home churches the whole truth, our failures as well as our successes. There is, of course, a great rage at home for pathetic incidents and striking facts, and they have their use; but when they are so placed before our people as to lead them to suppose that they furnish a correct index of the general character of our work they do incalculable harm; they arouse a momentary enthusiasm, but also hopes which are certain to be disappointed. Our people will never understand our work, appreciate our difficulties, or gain that kind of faith which IS necessary to success unless we place before them the whole truth."
-" According to the papal Osservatore Romano there still live among the mountains of the island of Sardinia descendants of those 80,000 Jews whom the Emperor Vespaslan exiled thither after the destruction of Jerusalem." -Jewish Intelligence.
-The Ohinese Recorder, referring to the abuse lavished by the Lepel Griffins and their confederates on the opponents of the opium trade, quietly remarks; "It would seem rather late in the day to ignore the fact that the conscience of a nation can be aroused, and that there is such a thing as moral stamina among a people." But what can those that have no conscience of their own know about other people's consciences ~ . -Bishop French, of Lahore, who threw up his bishopric that he might preach the Gospel to the Mohammedans, and who died of a sunstroke at Muscat, has been not unaptly likened to Raymond Lull, that illustrious missionary of the middle ages among the Moslems, and like him in fact, though not in form, he died a martyr. His brother, a clergyman, writes of him: "His whole time, from morning to night, was spent in preaching in the open air with varied success. . .. His intervals of time were spent in prayer and meditation, and a translation into Arabic of St. Hilary on the Trinity. His diary reads like an apostolic missive. I never knew a man so humble, so self-sacrificing, so perfectly heroic for his Divine Lord. He was a thorough Oriental scholar-Hebrew, Sanscrit, Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Hindi, Tamil, etc." Such men keep up the succession of saintly witnesses in the wilderness until the time has come to bring Ishmael in.
THE LEVANT.
-The Broossa Orphanage in Asia Minor, at the foot of Mount Olympus -not, indeed, the one venerated of old as the seat of the gods, but the most eminent of its four or five namesakes-being an institution entirely dependent on individual contributions, is deservedly commended to Christian benevolence. Contributions will be gratefully received and acknowledged by Mr. M. Baghdasarian, 303 West Twenty-first Street, New York City. This institution has the warm commendation of Dr. Cyrus Hamlin and of the Prudential Committee of the American Board. Bishop Whipple, quoted in the Spirit oj Missions, says that a new Armenian version of the Bible is now in preparation by a commission consisting cf an Armenia!] priest, a Roman Catholic priest, and a Protestant.
-Secretary Wright, of the Bible Society, at the anniversary of the London Missionary Society said that he felt that the tremendous wealth of influence and power in woman's work had hitherto been neglected. "In Damascus we men preach to the cheerless east wind of the Oriental Bazaars. A woman will go with her smile, and this smile will be answered by a smile. We dare not smile. She goes with this access to all these little springs of love and influence down among the people, into the homes, into the seed place, where the good seed can be sown in the hearts of the women."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Parliament of Religions at the excellent chief of the Liberal Arts De- World's Fair, partment, informs us that the space as· signed to, his division is more than BY BEV. JOHN HENRY BARROWS, D.D., PAS· double that provided at Paris, and more than ten times what was furnished at TOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, the Centennial. But to indicate the in. tellectual and spiritual sources of civ- CHICAGO, ILL., AND CHAIRMAN OF THE ilization, the World's Congress Auxiliary has been organized by the Exposition GENERAL COlllJl'IITTEE ON RELIGIOUS CON· authorities. The congresses provided for will cover the chief departments of GRESSES. knowledge, and will extend through the whole half year during whioh this During the next eighteen months World's University will continue. Hunnearlyall roads will lead toward the Co. dreds of busy men and women are daily lumbian Exposition. The latest WorId's planning for these conventious, corre- Fair will be the largest, the costliest, sponding with more than twenty thouthe most comprehensive. The English sand of the leaders of thought in all commissioners who carefully studied the lands. Religion, the supreme concern situation expressed the conviction that and glory of man, has been excluded, the coming Exposition will far surpass in as an element of discord, from all pre. extent, and eclipse in splendor, even vious world's fairs. In the coming Ex_ the Paris achievement of 1889. At the position, however, it will have a most Exposition Headquarters it is computed conspicuous place, not only in the mao that, by the Directory and th" Commis. terial exhibit, in the Liberal Arts Build. sion, by our National Government, the ing at the very heart of the Exposition, different States and the more than fifty but also in a series of congresses exnations who are to participate in the tending from August 25th through Sep- World's Fair, there will be expended, tember 29th, to be held mainly in the in the preparation and conduct of this great halls of the 'new Art Building procolossal undertaking, a sum not far vided by the Directory. President C. C. short of $40,000,000. The Director- Bonney, of the World's Congress Aux- General is confident that thirty millions iliary, believes that these religious' asof admission tickets to the magnificent semblies will overshadow all the other display will be sold. The vast interest oonventions. They have been assigned aroused in America and in other lands quadruple the number of days given to will increase as the months go by. The any other of the congresses. The meet- Rev. E. S. Williams, one of the special ings of the great churches will occupy a Commissioners of the Treasury Depart- week ; the mission oongresses, covering ment in promoting the World's Fair the whole field of oity, domestic, and abroad, wrote recently: "In Japan I foreign missions, will occupy seven or met almost unceasing ovations. No eight days; a week has been assigned halls would hold the mercurial and en- to the Evangelical Alliance, and three thusiastic people, glad to hear and proud days to the Sunday Rest congresses. that their government was preparing to The Parliament of Religions, to which vote a generous appropriation for the representatives of all the great historic Jubilee of Peace." faiths have been invited, will open the series, and one chief division of this But is the Columbian Exposition to Oongress will be the l'arliameo.t of be chiefly a brilliant illustration of material achievement and mechanical prog. ress? Far from it. No other World's Fair ever provided so amply for educa. tion, music, oharities, religion, and the liberal artl!. Dr. S, H. feabody, tho Christendom, for which invitations are of idols and objects used in ceremonial given to those who accept the moral worship would attract beyond any and spiritual leadership of Jesus. Ac- other. Models and illustrations of the cordingly, one who is able to attend great temples of the world and of the this whole series of meetings, or to read world's history would be in a high dethe full official accounts of them, will gree instructive. Add to these things confront the leaders of the religious the living word of living teachers, and world, will know what is Nported by the whole world may well pause to all its grand divisions, will gain a vision listen." Some years ago President of the supreme importance of religion Warren described an imaginary congress in human development, and will be es- of this sort, locating it in Japan, and pecially impressed with the proofs of giving it as its subject for discussion, the supremacy and the triumphs of an "The Perfect Religion." This interaggressive, world-embracing, evangeli- esting address has been translated into cal Christianity. The venerable Bishop several languages, and presents valuable Weaver, of the United Brethren Church, suggestions to those having the parliawrites: ,. Paul went to Rome, not to ment in immediate charge. Dr. Strong, preach, but to obtain simple justice. Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, God overruled it so that the greatest writes : .' It is in the interest of the possible good came out of it. A word final triumph of truth and of the brothspoken in Rome was like a sound nt- erhood of man that representatives of tered in a whispering-gallery-it could all faiths meet on a friendly platform. be heard throughout the whole civilized Such a gathering will be one of the world. It appears that Chicago is to be most significant as well as uniqne ex made a whispering-gallery, from which hibitions of modern and, I may add, of all nations may hear and know more Christian civilization." Rev. George concerning the kingdom of our Lord_ " Dana Boardman, D.D., of the First Bap- tist Church in Philadelphia, writes: "I Urged to provide plans for religious do not believe that a better tribute can meetings in connection with the WorId's be paid to Christianity than to put it in Fair, the Committee at once perceived fair comparison with other religions." that the religious world in its great his- Dr. Storrs, President of the American torio developments, and not anyone Board, has expressed his admiration of section of that world, should be invited the plan as " certain, if wisely carried to make some representation. Undoubt- out, to attract wide attention, to make edly the Committee believed that the happy and strong impression on a mulbest representation possible by the titude of minds, and to leave behind it ethnic religions would tend to the ex- permanent good effects." The Comaltation of Christianity. But the spirit mittee have been particularly pleased of the most generous human brother- with the responses from Christian mishood a~tuated them in sending out their sionaries and teachers in other lands, invitations and in making their ar- like President Washburn, of Robert rangements for the Parliament of Re- College; President Tison, of the Imligions. They have been delighted with perial Law School of Tokyo; Dr. Miller, the vagt favorable response which so of the Christian College at Madras; and many eminent men of many nations Dr. Henry H. Jessup, of Beirut, who is have given to their Preliminary Address one of the Advisory Council, and who and to their First Report. President has called attention to some intelligent W. F. Warren, of the Boston Univer- and English_speaking Mohammedans of sity, writes: "I am glad to know that Syria, who should be invited to the Parthe world's religions are to be repre- liament. It is well known that the sented at the World's Fair. Were they plans of the Committee have been apto be omitted, the sense of incomplete- proved by statesmen like Mr. Gladstone, ness would be painful.. Even a museum Count d'Alviella, and Professor James portant peculiarities distinguishing the Bryce; by the poets Whittier, Tenny- religions of the wol'ld is not to be cher- son, Holmes, Arnold, and Stedman; 'by ished. Logically following the presenta- Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Ireland, tion of common truths will be the and other leaders of the Catholic presentation of distinctive truths, and Church; by prominent divines of Great no discussion of differences is largely Britain and the Continent; by many useful till men discover what they be- bishops of the Protestant Episcopal lieve in common. It is a matter for Church and of the Methodist Episcopal thanksgiving that a notable gatllel'ing is Church; by leading college presidents to be held wherein men far-sundered of America, leading religious editors, in their inherited and acquired faiths and a score of the best.known teachers are yet to confer in the most catholic in our theological seminaries; by a host and irenic spirit. What a contrast it pre- of stalwart evangelical Christians like sents to those frequent pages of relig- Joseph Cook, Dr. T. W. Chambers and ious history which have been marked Professor Edwards A. Park, and by a by disastrous animosities!
large number of those who have the Since the. General Committee, with conduct of our missionary societies. one exception, are Christians, and since Assisting the General Committee of Six- the summons is sent forth from a Chris- teen is an Advisory Council of nearly tian land, the Parliament may be right- two hundred of the world's religious ly conceived as, in a large and general leaders, who approve the general plan, sense, the invitation of Christianity, ad.
and are furnishing timely and valuable dressed to all the great historic faiths, to suggestions. come and give an account of themselves.
A book has recently been published, The faiths that have been invited, " The Religious Systems of the World," through personal letters, are the Brah- a series of papers and addresses deliv- man, Buddhist, Confucian, Mohamme- ered on successive Sunday afternoons dan, Parsee, Jewish, snd Christian.
in London by expert representatives of Others may be included. The Japanese each. It is something like this school scholar, Morihiro Ichihara, of the Yale for the study of comparative theology, Divinity School, writes: "I dOUbt which the Committee desire to bring whether you can get any English.speak- about, accompanied, however, by sur- ing Shintoists who can competently roundings which will lead men of differ- represent that religious body. Still it ent faiths to a better understanding, seems to me that they should be repre- and to be followed by a Parliament of sented in a meeting like the one you are Christendom, in which the apologetic planning for, and I shall suggest the of Christianity will be set forth by the names of Baron Senge and Mr. Mato- ablest Christian scholars, and in which ori,as the two most prominent Shintoists not only practical problems of ethical at present."
interest, but also the great question of What kind of men are we inviting to the reunion of Christendom, will be speak in the Parliament of Religions?
amply discuesed. One of the many im- Let President Washburn, of Constanti- portant objects aimed at is the brother- nople, answer: ,. You must have able ly conference of religious men, a relig- men, pious men, who have full faith in ious fraternity involving no surrender their own religion and are yet broad of personal conviction and no abate· enough to conier with infidels." We ment of devout faith on the part of have invited such men as Justice Ameer those who recognize that Christianity is Ali, of Calcutta, to represent Moham- widely differentiated from other systems medanism ; Mr. Bunyin Nanjio, a Bud.
by an authoritative and miraculously dhist priest of Tokyo, and former lec- accredited revelation. The temper of turer in Oxford University, to represent indilferentism with regard to tllQ un· Bujdhism; Babu Mozumdar to reprosent th!' Brahmo Somaj of India. Many hear 1" Of course it will only be just names ha ve been suggested to speak for that the Christian faith, which is held these faiths and other3, and the Com- by nearly all the ruling nations of man- mittee will extend invitations after care- kind, should be presented in its argu- ful conference with experts. As the ment and in its historic results by those work adl'ances we are more and more who will speak with the greatest fair- hopeful of securing a good representa- ness, the widest learning, and the most tion from most of the historic faiths. conspicuous ability. Ifit be asked, " In What will the men of other religions be what spirit sheuld the representatives likely to SllY? It is hoped and expected of the great historic faiths be met?" the that they will make the best representa- reply is, " In the spirit of the most cor- tion of their own systems which can be dial brotherhood, attentive kindness, rightly offered. While it is probable and Christian love." It is in our that they will call our attention to the thought to have social conferences, for noblest teachings of their sacred books, example, of the representatives of the and disown the popular and widespread faiths of India. The Rev. Dr. Wherry, perversions of their scriptures, it is also of Chicago, for twenty years a mission- in the scope of our plan to discover what liry in Madura, believes that such social spiritual and other effects their religions conferences will be promotive of per- have produced upon the peoples among manent good, and that the J;epresenta- whom these faiths have prevailed. Chris- tives of the non·Christian religionB tianity has never rejected the biblical should be made practically familiar, by declarations that" in every nation he observation, with the work of the that feareth God and worketh righteous- American churches, charities, Sundayness is accepted of Him," and that schools, endeavor societies, and Young Christ" is the true Light, even the Light Men's lind Young Women's Christian which lighteth every man coming into Associations. the world." It believes that the relig- It is certainly a subject of congratuious nature itself and all its heavenward lation that the time draws near when yearnings are of Christly origin, and representatives of widely different faiths that whatever of truth and goodness will be able to meet in friendly confermay be discovered in the twilight of ence without compromising any per- Asia is a reflection of that original Light sonal conviction. While the Parliament which, in the fulness of time shone of Religions, like the Parliament of amid the hamlets of Galilee and in the Great Britain, is not an assembly whose streets of Jerusalem. The peoples who object is worship, the Committee are have received the ampler Divine radi- planning for the singing of devout ance should disclose the gentlest and hymns of thankful praise; and they most generous spirit to those who have may decide that, as at the Religious groped in a dimmer illumination. Chris- Convention which PreRident Warren tianity will doubtless be forced to face imagined, there shall be moments of thos~ mighty obstacles to misRionary silent prayer. But immediately precedprogress, the monstrous sins of Chris- ing the meetings of the Parliament will tendom ; and it will also be bidden and be daily morning conferences, under a encouraged to tell not only through great variety of suitable leaders, which American and European, but also will enable those naturally affiliated to through ,Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, worship together and to come into a Arab, and African Christians what the more perfect acquaintance. And who Gospel of Christ has wrought for their can doubt that not only will thousands races and nations. Quite as important of earnest hearts be praying to God in as the question, .. Wh!l.twill the Moham- the stillness of spiritual communion medan and the Bul1ilhist have to say," during the sessions of the Parliament, will be the question, " What are they to but also that millions of those who have learned the way of salvation through our own religion, serves only to make us Jesus Christ will, in many lands, offer see more clearly what is the distinctive up daily petitions that this phenomenal and essential character of Christ·s assembly of God's children may be teaching, and helps us to discover the blessed to the furtherance of that king- strong rock on which the Christian, as dom which they believe is yet to cover well as every other religion, must be the earth. The speakers who have been founded." The science of comparative suggested for the opening session of the religions, according to Preaident Fair- Parliament will represent twelve hUll- bairn, has shown the necessity of redred millions out of the fourteen hun- lifjlions to man, and the supreme neces- dred millions of the human race. Sure· sity of the highest of them all. Profes- 1y that will be a great moment in his- sor Legge, of Oxford, speaks for the tory, as Dr. W. H. Withrow, of Canada, Christian scholarship of to-day when he has suggested, " when men who profess says: ., The more a man possesses the the differing religions of the world stand Christian spirit and is governed by side by Ride." The Committee having .Christian principle, the more anxious this enormous undertaking in their he will be to do justice to every system charge fully appreciate the task com- of religion and to hold his own without mitted to them. They are pioneers en- taint or fetter of bigotry." The study tering a new country; they seek light of comparative religion has tended to and wisdom from Ilvery source. They strengthen Christian missionary enthu. desire to accomplish the greatest possi. siasm. Those disciples of Christ who ble good and to unite all tho~e who be· know most intimately the other faiths, lieve that such a congress as has been and appreciate most fully the truths outlined will promote the best interests which they may contain, are augmentof mankind. They desire (to q note ing their unselfish efforts to give to all from the objects of the proposed Par- the world the supreme blessings of the liament, as stated in the forthcoming Christian Gospel. In Christian lands revised edition of the First Report) one chief hindranee to the foreign mis- "to deepen the spirit of human broth· sionary cause is a deep ignorance conerhood among religious men of diverse cerning the non-Christian nations, and faiths ;" to set forth what are deemed a stolid indifference toward those remote the important distinctive truths taught and unevangelized myriads for whom by each religioll; to indicate the im- Christ died. Whatever can be done to pregnable foundatiolls of theism and make the non-Christian peoples le",s unthe reasons for man's faith in immortal- real to the Church generally will be an ity ; to strengthen the forces adverse to enormous gain to Christian evangelism. materialism; to inquire what light each Dr. Ellinwood, of the Presbyterian religion may afford to the others; to Board of Missions, who has widely and furnish an accurate account of the pres- carefully studied the Oriental faiths, ent outlook of religion; to throw all believes that in proportion to the intelpossible light on the solemn problems ligent discrimination which shall be of the present age, and to bring the na- exercised in judging of the non· Christions of the earth into more friendly tian religions, and the skill which shall fellowship. They invite the co-opera- be shown in presenting the immensely tion of all who are favorable to their superior truths of the Christian faith, plan in its grand outlines, and the sug- will the success of the great work of geGtions of all who believe that it may missions be increased; and he thinks be improved in its minor details. Max that a timid attitude "amounts to a Milller has written: "I have never dis. half surrender, and is wholly out of guised my conviction that a compara- place in this age of fearless and aggrestive study of the religions of the worli!, sive discussion. Evidently the one so far from undermining our faith in thing needed to disenchant the false systerns of our time is a clear and accurate the Creator." "That the Influence of knowledge of their merits and demerits, Religion on the Family of Life is to and of their true relations to Christian- make it Virtuous and Pure." "That ity." the Influence of Religion on the Com- I express a deep personal conviction munity is to Establish Justice, Pro- in saying that I believe that the Parlia- mote Harmony and Increase the Gen.
ment of Religions, in connection with eral Welfare." ,. That the Influence of the whole series of religious congresses, Religion on the State is to Repress will bring into glorions conspicuity the Evil, Vice and Disorder in all their supreme power and attractiveness of the Forms, and to Promote the Safety and cross of Christ. While we earnestly Happiness of the People." •• That Con- seek from our brothers beyond the sea science is not a Safe Guide, unless En- a frank and full presentation of their lightened by Religion and Guided by sincere beliefs, which is only possible Sound Reason." "That of a Truth in an atmosphere of confidence, mutual God is no Respecter of Persons, but in respect and affection, we shall speak every Nation he that Feareth Him, and from our hearts those truths which have Worketh Righteousness, is Accepted of come to us from the 'words and the life Him." "That throughout the World of the Son of God. Believing that the Substantial Fruits of Sincere Re- Christianity is not only the complement ligion include the following:. Improved of all other religions, filling out what is Personal Character; Better Citizen- imperfect in them, and correcting what ship; BeUer Business Methods; Nearly is erroneous, but is also a direct, mirac- all the Works of Charity;' Improved ulous revelation centring in a Divine Domestic Order; Greater Public Peace, Redeemer, they who hold this faith will etc." ,. That the Weekly Rest Day is have the opportunity to proclaim it as Indispensable to Religious Liberty, and never before. The religion whose dis- to the General Welfare of the People."
tinctive features are incarnation, regen- "The Triumphs of Religion in all eration, and atonement flings its loving Ages." "The Present State of Re.
challenge to all the world, and has no ligion throughout the World, including fears ! its Marvellous Advances during the Pres.
CHICAGO, April 9, 1892. ent Century." .. The Statistics of Churches as an Answer to the Alleged Prevalence of Infidelity." "The Domi.
nance of Religion in the Higher Institu- Seed Thoue:hts of the World's Congress tions of Learning." "'l'he Actual Hal'. Auxiliary. mony of Science and Religion; and the Origin and Nature of the Alleged Con- The scope of the World's Congress flict between them." .. The Influence Auxiliary is suggestively set forth in of Religious Missions on the Commerce the Committee's report, as intended to of the World," "The Influence of Re· reach a class of information and discus- ligion on Literature and Art." sion indicated by such themes as the following: Some of these topics naturally fall to the Parliament of Religions, of which " The Idea of God, its Influence and the Chairman of the Department writes Consolations." "The Evidences of the in a preceding article. Other portions Existence of God, especially those which will fall to the several Church denomi- are calculated to meet the agnosticism national conventions, and others to the of the present time." "That Evils of Congress of Missions, of which the Life should be shunned as Sins against Chairman of the Committe9 having it God." "That the Moral Law should in charge, the Rev. Walter Manning be obeyed liS necessary to Human Hap. Barrows, D,D" has promised to write piness, anl because such is the Will of in our pages at an early date. [J. T. G,] The OOIDnal'ative Study of Religions. knowledge. Just because the facilities [J. T. G.] for communication with all parts of the world are so exceptionally great, and be- There is in our day a search into the cause there is, as a consequence, a re- religious beliefs of all men, which is markable interchange of thought with popularly spoken of as comparative all quarters of the globe, the spirit of in.
theology, or the science of religion, vestigation becomes unusually active though there is as yet no such thing, and comparisons are instituted in all nor even a tolerable approach to any directions.
such thing as a science of religion or a Persons holding, as do Christians, science of comparative theology. All Jews, and Moslems, that their religious that has thus far been done is to insti. beliefs are the only original, uncorrupt.
tute a speculative and tentative inquiry, ed, and inspired religion, are supposed and an initial experiment as to whether to find it difficult to put themselves in the subject of religion is susceptible of mood for scientific examination thereof.
being in,estigated in the same manner Hypothetically this is to acknowledge as that which has been pursued in the that their religion is one of many, which study of the crusts of earth, by which is contrary to the permanent hypothesis we have the lair beginning of a science of the religion from which they derive of geology; or similar to that pmsued all their spiritual comfort; and most in the case of human speech, by which Christians SpUl'll the perilous principle it may be fairly claimed that we have of Descartes, that in order to be a phi.
laid a foundation of a science of lan- losopher a man must" once in his life guage or of comparative philology. Max doubt everything." Christians of the Miiller doubts whether the" time has most advanced spirituality and of the yct come for attempting to trace, after most profound faith in their religion as the model of the science of language, the one true revelation have, however, the definite outlines of the science of been among the foremost to welcome religion." Yet considerable progress searching analyses of all religions, and has been made in the collection and ar· to place Christianity not so much in rangement of the material of religion comparison as in contrast with all com· after the model alluded to, and there petitors.
are those who hold that" the logic of In a large sense it is incumbent on science is a universal logic applicable to the followers of any religion which lays all subjects of human inquiry." claim to universal acceptance to show " The advance of prehistoric study," that it is universally applicable. But says the author of ., The Dawn of His· this is, in fact, to make a beginning of tory," "has been, during the past few the comparative study of religion. Dr.
years, exceptionally rapid, and consider. Moffat, of Pfinceton College, well said: ing upon how many subsidiary interests "Were there no common principles it touches-questions of politics, of so· pervading all religions, or were all men ciallife, of religion almost-the science as religious beings severally so different of prehistoric archreology might claim from one another that knowledge of one to stand in rivalry with geology, as the man's religious nature could be no guide favorite child of the centmy." to that of other men, a scientific treat- Within thc historic period as well, we ment of religion would be impossible,"
may fairly be said to be in pORsession and we may add that the Christian of information from all quarters of the theory of religion would be seriously globe and of all the centnries, such as undermined.
was never equalled by any people on The very work of evangelizing the earth of any former time. non-Ohtistian world, which has become The natural tendency in all periods so prominent in the last three quarters like our own is to generalization of of a century, has itself thrust upon us the question of the relation of so·called fectly evident that in an age like this we religions to each other, and especially cannot propagate Christianity under to that which we profess. Hence really glass." "There is Christianity in Cal- no persons have been more eager to deal cntta, and there is Buddhism in Boston.
with the material of religions than the The line of battle is the parallel that most aggressive Christians. It is, in belts the globe. It is no time for mere fact, imp08siUe to do the work of a pious denunciation, There must be no Christian missionary without a mastery blundering; the warfare must be waged greater or less of the beliefs which Chris- with weapons of precision, and then tianity seeks to displace, correct or sup- victory is sure." The study of the non- plement. It is possible that the prose- Ch1'istian religions has been too long cution of these investigations may seri- allowed to be a monopoly of anti-Chris- ously modify some of our missionary tian scholars. In the department of methods. It is possible that thereby sociology religions are to be brought to we may find that many systems of reo book, as to their bearing on the condi.
ligious error may be most easily attacked tion of industry which they foster; the from within ; may be best approached Bocial habits of the people; the position through some inherent weakness of of woman and the character of the fam- themselves, and thus the work of evan- ily they are responsible for; the or- gelism become somewhat a work of ganization of Government, and the reformation rather than of religious character of the rulers they inspire; the revolution. Mohammedans, for in- state of public education, and the prac- stance, are bound to accept the Old tical bearing of religious worship on Testament Scriptures and the Gospel of actual life. We will as Christians in Jesus, because the Koran includes these many things have to lay our hands on among the inspired records ,which it is our mouths, bnt if we are shamed to se- obligatory on Moslems to obey; and it cure a freer course for our religion at thus becomes practical to present the home as well as abroad, we can prove acceptance of the Scriptures on the au- that there is in Christianity that which thority of their own acknowledged Sa- will produce it humanity which no other cred Book and prophet. religion among men can produce. Theo- Thus, too, Brahmanism is found to be logically we can show the defect of even weak. Investigation has shown that Chinese ethics as lacking any proper the Shasters and Puranas are but com- relation to God. Dr. Legge says, "I mentaries on the Vedas, and that the have been reading Chinese books for Vedas alone contain the originally re- more than forty years, and any general vealed truth obligatory upon Hindus. requirement to 'love God' or the men- But it is found that the Vedas do not tion of anyone as ' loving Him' has yet teach nor support caste, nor idolatry, to come for the first time under my eye."
nor many other things popularly held in the great Hindu form of heathenism.
The comparative study of religions be- A SIGNIFICANT MovEMENT IN BURMA.- ('omes thus a part of onr work in seek. Professor D. C. Gilmore writes to his ing to bring the world to Christ; awl so father, Dr. J. H. Gilmore, of the Roches- far from shrinking at the seemingly ter University, from Rangoon, under secular search after truth implied in date of March 2d, as follows: "I this comparative study of religions, have glorious news for you; the Bur- through fear lest the comparisons may mans have begun to come. At it village subject Christianity to less reverential near Pyinmana, in the Toungoo dis- consideration, the most progressiye and trict, a pure Burman village, the entire aggressive Christians hold it essential village has united to drive out the Bud- to the universal spread of Christianity. dhist priests and to ask the missionary Dr. Ellinwoocl well says, "It is per- to Bend them a Christian teacher. They've completely cleaned out the week the building was crowded to the priests, and I think- but of this I am door to hear the Gospel preached sim. not certain-that they have torn down ply and direetly to their minds and the monastery. Mr. Cochrane has sent hearts. At the close of this series of them teachers and preachers. services a request was sent to Dr. Pente· cost that those who heard him should ,. Do you realize the significance of be permitted to pay all the expenses inthat move? Such a thing has never curred that week; and at the last meethappened in the whole history of the ing a gentleman stood up, and in the Burman Mission. The Karens have name of all assembled thanked the Doc. come in that way again and again; but tor for what he had been teaching them never until now has a whole Burman vil- and trying to do for them, and he add· lage gone over in that style. It means ed, ., If any man had attempted fifteen a great deal-the first giving way, which years ago to speak in this manner to I doubt not will be followed by a rush. such an audience in Poona, he would It is the beginning of the end. Our have been torn in pieces; but here have hearts are filled with joy aud thankful- we been filling this place night after ness; even the least sanguine ar'! full night for a week, to hear, not lectures of enthusiasm." on secular subjects, but a plain, simple, direct exposition of the Gospel of -We are pleased to learn that it is Christ. This shows how great a change definitely settled that Rev. S. H. Kel. has come over us in Poona." – The Ol,ris. logg, D.D., is to return to India at the tian. close of this summer to act with other able scholars in the revision of the Old New Publications. Testament in Hindi. Weare certainly loath to see him leave this country; [J. T. G.] and the St. James' congregation in To. ronto, the pastorate of which he now reo Everything that increases our in. signs for this more special field, will formation in regard to a country with feel his departure sorely. But the duty which we are so little acquainted as we is plain. Neither America nor Europe are with Korea, .. The Hermit Nation," has a scholar, taken all in all, more should be hailed with pleasure. We are thoroughly fitted and furnished for the pleased to say to our readers that the important task to which the providence Religions Tract Society of Korea has of God now assigns Dr. Kellogg. His started a monthly magazine at Seoul, lectures delivered recently at Princeton called the Karean Repository. The price College, on "Modern Theory of the is $2 a year. It contains articles from Origin of Religion," were of a masterly all classes and nationalities represented order. A more genial gentleman could in the Peninsula, discussing the history, not be found. as an associate in the language, literature, religion, manners labors to which our brother is now ap- and customs of the Koreans, and all pointed under the British and Foreign other matters of interest abont this Bible Society; and we cougratulate his •• Italy of the Far East." The editor of associates in this great work. this department of the REVIEW will reo ceive subscrjptions from Americans as -At Poona, Dr. Pentecost preached showing his interest in this new and in a large theatre. The committee of worthy enterprise. management so arranged it that none but educated Brahmans should be ad. Two very excellent and helpful books mitted, and every night of a whole have appeared recently treating of the religions of the world, very unlike and yet each valilable after its kind. The one is a series of brief addresses given of martyrs, evangelists, and tbilan. in London by recognized able exponents thropists, who, just as the translator of each of the non-Christian religions, renders a word into vocables anll symand of the several branches of the Chris- bols intelligible to the ear of each Afritian churches. It is intended to present can tribe, so by their lives, their utternothing but a condensed, plain state- ances, and manner of dying, translated ment, in the working.man 's vocabulary, into symbols intelligible to the hearts of these several faiths and divisions of of the poor African the great, the eter- Christendom. Its title is "Religious nal and all-sufficient truth that Jesus Systems of the World" (Macmillan & Christ died on the cross for the salva. Co., New York). tion of the whole human race." It is not in our thought to review this excel- A wholly different book, and one of lent survey of the missionary occupa- far greater value to the student of the re- tion of Africa, with its valuable maps ligions of the world, is that of Dr_ Ellin. of every part; but we must make a wood, just issued by the Scribners, en· quotation applicable at this hour, when titled" Oriental Religions and Christian. our Student Volunteers illustrate it : " A ity," which, besides clearly presenting dying world lies at the door of Europe- beliefs of the Oriental world, dis· a world ignorant, but not by their own cusses candidly and boldly the several fault, of Christ's great sacrifice; from questions to which their study gives every rank of the community of the Neo- rise. The lectures were delivered be· Latin races, and of no other, men and fore the students of Union Theological women leap out and cry, 'Send me, Seminary, on the Ely Lectureship send me to my dying fellow-creatures, Foundation. The opening lecture deals dying in body and soul. Never mind with need of understanding the false reo whether their color is black or brown ligions, followed by a lesson drawn from or red or yellow. Never mind whether the _Apostolic Church as a model in the they are cruel, or gentle and tractable.
method of dealing with them. Hindu· Never mind whether they are healthy or ism, Buddhism, and Islam are consid· leprous. Never mind if I die just when ered ; the traces of a primitive theism I land on their shores, or live to Bee them are sought; the ethical tendencies of pass from their barbarous nakedness the Eastern and Western philosophies into the decent form and order of a holy are contrasted, and the divine suprema. church; send me! I have but the desire cy of the Christian religion contended and a few poor talents; the issue is with for. We have no space for a proper re- God.' "
view of this most timely contribution to this class of literature.
The dedication of Dr_ R N_ Cust's -Rev. T. J_ Scott, D.D_, who has been nearly thirty years in active missionary volume, entitled "Africa Rediviva," is service, has made selections from his touching and very suggestive_ It is as contributions to the press from time to follows: "To the memory of Simon of time; and Dr_ C_ C. McCabe's Self-Sup- Cyrene, the first African cross-bearer; porting Missionary Literature Departthe eunuch of Ethiopia, the first Afri- ment, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, has can who was baptized; Apollo of Alex- printed these. The title is "Sparks andria, the first African mighty in the from the Anvil of a Busy Missionary;" Scriptures; Cyprian and Augustine, the the price is twenty-five cents. We first men, and Katharina, Felicitas, understand that Dr. Scott asks no royand Perpetua, the first women who died alty from the publishers. The great for Christ in Africa; Frumentius, the variety of themes, crisply treated, will first tl'finslatorof God's Word into alan- make it helpful to a wide range of read· guage of Africa; and thnt great Ilrmy ers.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
A Letter from Dr. Kerr Cross. Sabbath, at four, besides the English service, a native service at the chief's From Uwundale, Song we Valley, Lake house, nearly 100 present. At first we had few women, but now a goodly num· Nyassa, East Central Africa, Dr. W. Kerr ber. It is amusing to see these rude men standing at the hymns and doing Cross writes : their best with grunts and groans to imitate the tunes. They are getting " Mrs. Cross and I reached our home on, however. Nyembere sits on a stool in the centre, and is all ears and eyes; here October 1st, 1891. I was sent by and when we pmy is most careful that every eye is closed. The idea of God the oomllittee to build on the hills if punishing by fire (hell) is entirely new to him, and he listened with rapt attenpossible before the present rains, Mrs. tion when I had occasion to refer to hell, and when I had finished turned Cross to remain at the central station to the women, saying, ' You women, you hear! if you do bad and don't cook half way up the lake, with Dr. and Mrs: our food, God will roast you in that fire,' pointing to the ashes. Laws till this home should be complet. " The windows and fireplaces of our ed. She did stay a month; but Dr. house are sources of great amusement The natives stare at one another and Laws, being unwell, left fer England, talk. When a fire is put on and the smoke does not fill the house they are and my wife came north. Meanwhile I amazed. Then one stoops and looks up the chimney; anotber explains that the had selected a site and begun building. smoke goes up a hole in the wall and comes out at the top. Out they go to " The country here is worth fighting see this, and explain among themselves how it gets beyond the thatch; then for-the finest in these parts, equally clapping their thighs, they say, ' He! th~ white men! what wisdom they have!' distant from the various settlements of " Our influence is not confined to one white men, English and German as a tribe, but reaches to many. Already we have been visited by several chiefs doctor should be ; from 5000 to 6000 feet and deputations from others. We aim at a large school with youth drawn from above the sea and 3000 feet above the various tribes, to be educated and sent back to open schools in their own counlake. This valley is ten miles by from try. "
three to five, and with aThriechperoepdlesoairl~ Some of the missionary dead of 1891 and abounds in cattle. are thus recorded by the Christian at Work: famed for their garden s. Here are many " Bishop French ascended from Aravarieties of bananas and plantains. bia ; Bishop Boone, having only for a short time been enrobed in the mantle .. When we began work here, Nyem- of bis father, the renowned missionary, died in China ; Newton, 'the beloved • bere, the chief, was at war with a neigh- boring chief, and appealed to me to de- cide on the affair. The discussion was opened' by my reading and explaining the ten commandments, lind assuring them that God was ever angry with war, and that, as white men who obeyed God, we could not but frown on such, etc.
Ny.e. mMbirearseeowfak, eetphiengoonfef thcehriaeif~ accused from his country last year. And so they fought, etc. I decided that both were wrong; and as Mirasewa began the war, he must bring a bull and kill it before me. This was done, and they shook hands and ate together as friends; and so our in- fluence began, and many disputes be- tween chiefs and private men have been deliberated on since.
" We hope soon to have a school and begin more direct spiritual work. Every morning at six we have 150, including workers, for singing and prayer. O~ of the Punjab, was followed to better Cairns had apparently in him the vigor than India's palaces by Winter, of the of his prime. He was born in 1818, and Delhi Mission, who loved his special was but seventy.four years old. His last work more than he did a bishopric. words were, ., Only they who openly Amid the lamentations of thousands identify themselves with the cause of that ' good servant of the Lord,' Bishop God will be victorious and trium- Caldwell, was laid to rest after fifty-four phant." James Calvert was born in years of labor in India for IndIa; Dr. 1813. and was, therefore, seventy.nine ; Luther H. Gulick, the founder of a large he died on Tuesday, March 8th, and Prin- missionary family, went up to the cipal Cairns on Saturday, March 5th. , bosom' of the 'Father of the faith- The two men were in many things ful ;' and dear and great John Inglis strikingly alike, though in others in dropped his finished translation of the marked contrast. But each in his visions of him of Patmos to open his sphere achieved an enviable success, eyes on the beatific vision of the An. and are together in one reward. cient of Days. Redslob, the Moravian sentinel of the outer patrol limit of Born a Savage, Died a Bishop. Christendom on the edge of Thibet, went to know the richer meaning of Those who attended the London 'Nam Thang Song,' and to find it' all Missionary Conference of 1888 will re- bright ahead' forever. Sheshadri, the call the kindly face of the aged Bishop first Asiatic whom America ever honored Samuel Crowther. He died in London, with a doctorate of divinity, found a December 31st, being something over fitting sepulchre in the sea for his body, eighty years of age. He was born, he while his soul went to the 'sea of never knew when, in the Yoruba coun- glass.' Goloknath of Jalander was car- try, one hundred miles inland from the ried to hill burial by 'devout men,' Bight of Benin. He was carried off by and honored by the presence at his Mohammedan slavers In 1819, and was funeral of European officials and a thou- exchanged for a horse. He was treated sand Hindus and Mohammedans." with the greatest cruelty. Again he was exchanged for some tobacco. The slave This list is but partial. Wellington J. vessel was captured by an English man- White's tragic end cannot be forgotten; of-war, and young Adjai, as he was . the Moravian Marx also died at Leh, named, was sent to the church mission and many more, obscure, perhaps, in school at Sierra Leone. In 1825 he was human eyes, but emblazoned on God's christened by the Vicar of Christ Church, immortal scroll. Think of the mis- Newgate, Samuel Crowther. In 1829 he sionaries dying in Africa alone in 1891 ! married a native girl,who had been educated in the same school. He taught The almost simultaneous death of for a while, and accompanied the first Rev. James Calvert, formerly of the Fiji Niger expedition. He then went to Mission, and Principal Johu Cairns, of England and studied in the Church Edinburgh, takes from earth two of the Missionary College. He became a min- most distinguished men of the genera- ister, and went with the second Niger tion-Mr. Calvert, very conspicuous for expedition in 1854. He translated the missionary toils and triumphs, and Bible into the Yoruba language. He Principal Cairns, perhaps the most gift- was set apart as a bishop-the Bishop ed, learned, and really great man in of the Niger territory, in West Africa- Scotland. If auy man survives who in 1864. In May, 1880, the Royal Geo- combined so much mental power with graphical Society presented him with a so much childlike gentleness and gen· gold watch. Bishop Crowther was a erosity, we know not who he is. Mr. ~odl! man, of llU(lh intellectual powerl Q~lvert had fetireq from, wgrk, but Pro ann with a great authority over the na- was already producing a vast social and tives with whom he dealt. He was very political revolution. People were to- highly esteemed in England. His life day taking to heart the suffering and is a striking illustration of the power of misery of their fellow·creatures as they Christianity to uplift the savage races. never did before. They who represent. All that he was he owed to Christianity. ed the London Mission were the illus- trations of that new awakening of ten- When we remember that only ten der sympathy. This movement in Lonyears ago the people of Uganda and Vic· don was the direct result of the" Bit· toria Nyanza' were almost unknown to ter Cry of Outcast London." When the world, it is surprising to read that that remarkable pamphlet appeared a the missionaries recently sold in a few few years ago it tortured the souls of weeks 4000 reading sheets printed in many. They felt it was a veritable the native language. They send word shame that while they were sitting in that they could. sell 10,000 copies at cushioneJ corners of their pews there once if they had them. They say the were hundreds and thousands standing people are most anxious to acquire the under the shadow of their sanctuaries. art of reading, and their eagerness for books is astonishing. "As long as we Christianity is not dying out, but has had a reading sheet or a book left." moved forward until it has obtained a writes one, "a crowd swarmed around marvellous hold among all civilized naus day and night, and hundreds were tions. The .Army Ohaplain states the foldisappointed when the supply gave lowing: "Three centuries after Christ out." there were 5,000,000 Christians. Eight centuries after Christ there were 30,000,- The work in Africa, with all its hin- 000 Christians. Ten centuries after drances, goes forward so rapidly and Christ there were 50,000,000 Christians. with such strides that the records of Fifteen centuries after Christ there were yesterday will be out of date to-morrow. 100,000,000 Christians. Eighteen cen- turies after Christ there were 174,000,000 London Wesleyan Mission. Christians. Now there are 450,000,000 Christians. The followers of the three The London Wesleyan Mission about religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, lind six years since began its work. Atten- Taoism, all combined, are less in numtion was first directed to the East End, ber than the Christians alone. Includand afterward St. James's Hall, in the ing the latest division of Africa among west, and other parts of London, were the European powers, about four fifths made the centres of important mission- of the land of the world is under Chris· ary (,fforts. In addition to the minis· tian control." So much for figures; terial staff, some seventy •• Sisters of but what of the general influence upon the People" and twenty lay agents are society! Of one thing we must beware. employed in the mission, and as the The above figures represent not the conoutcome of their work about five thou- verted disciples of Christ, but those sand persons are .. meeting in class, " identified with so.called Christian commost of whom previously belonged to munities. no church. Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, before a large assemblage in the Free We publish gladly the following cor- Trade Hall, Manchester. observed that rection : nothing wall more remarkable in the present age than the growing sensitive- .. In the MISSIONARY REVIEW for Noness to the amount of pain and misery vember there are some pages of in- for~ation respectins, British foreiRI!, iu the world, ',fhjl! te~derness of heart 464 EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS. [June missions, by Rev. James Johnston, Bol- asked him if he expected to end his ton, England. Respecting' English days in the poorhouse, since he squan- Missions in Canada,' he says: •With the dered his money in that way. .. Ah," translation of the Bible into the Cree said Mr. Carter, ., how little he foresaw language, the Bishop of Moosonee that the time was coming when Robert writes honie that he is making rapid and Alexander Stuart would gi-ve habituprogress.' The writer overlooks the fact ally $50,000 a year to foreign missions that the Bible was translated into Cree and $50,000 to home missions I" Mr. many years ago by the Rev. Henry Stein- Carter, speaking of Robert and Alexanhauer, an Ojibway Indian, but for many der Stuart, says: "They began to give years a missionary of the Methodist small subscriptions to benevolent ob- Church to the Crees, and John Sinclair, jects, which increased with increasing a half. breed of the Cree nation. Tl,J.at prosperity. They first gave hundreds, translation was printed by the British then thousands. then tens of thousands, and Foreign Bible Society, in the syl- and at last hundreds of thousands."- labic characters invented by the Rev. Churchman. James Evans, at that time Methodist mis~ionary at Norway House. The Extract from Christian Ltader, June manuscript was entrusted to another 25th, 1891. Mission field. "Baptist missionary-the Rev. William Mason- Blundering on the Congo." .. In the who subsequently became a minister in Monthly ~JJfessenger of Storie Street, Bapthe Church of England. Mr. Mason had tist Church, Paisley, of which Dr. O. the oversight of the printing, and dis- Flett is pastor, reference is made to an honestly introduced his own name into address lately given by Rev. R. D. Darthe title-page, completely ignoring the by, from the Congo." "The story work of Messrs. Steinhauer and Sinclair. which he told of the privations and He also represented himself as the hardships which he and his companinventor of the syllabics, thus robbing ions had endured was a sad and pitiful James Evans of the honor of the discov- one. His two companions died, and he ery. We are under the impression that himself only narrowly escaped. In the work on which the Bishop of Moo- listening to such a story one cannot sonee is now engaged is not a new trans- help feeling that there is great and lation in the syllabics, but a translitera- inexcusable blundering somewhere. tion into Roman characters of the exist- There is really no need why our mising edition, probably with such im- sionaries should be left in such straits proved readings as may be suggested by for the lack of the common necessaries his knowledge of the Cree tongue. But of life. If the Mission Committee in on this point we have no positive in- London, who are responsible, would formation."-Missionary OuUook. only show a little more business ability in providing for the wants of their A few years before her death Robert agents, no calamity of the kind would Carter called upon Mrs. Stuart, and she be likely to overtake them. The sad drew from a desk an old document, thing is that the lack of proper prowhich she handed to him. It was a vision for the wants of the agents sent call for a first meeting to discuss the out has less or more characterized the propriety of forming a Board of F<Yreign management of the committee from the _Missions. Mrs_ Stuart said that her hus- beginning. The effects of this are band had gone to that meeting, and in shown in the fact that about 60 per cent the enthusiasm of his heart had pledged of the missionaries sent out to the Conhimself to give $500. When he came go district have died. Surely a radical home his mother and his brother Alex_ change in the mode of conducting the ander were full of consternation, and mission is called for !"
1892.' THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF JIUSSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY ,VILLIAM EllENTON GREENE, JR., D.D.
AFRICA. and apes and slaves. The explorations The four evangelists record 0ur Sav. of late years have, however, acquainted iour's activity when He was on earth us with its principal physical features.
in the flesh. Luke, in the Acts of the It has few harbors considering its great Apostles, begins at His ascension and extent of coast. It rises gradually from narrates the continuance of His work a hard beach of yellowish sand; it in the Church by His Spirit for thirty- spreads out into broad plateaus; and four years. It was, however, promised these are traversed by five systems of that the Spirit of Christ should be the mountains, some of them lofty. It is life of the Church. " Iro ! I am with watered by many lakes and large rivers, you alway, even unto the end of the chief among which are the Zambesi on world," said our Lord. It is evident, the east, the Niger and the Congo on therefore, that the Acts must be an un- the west, and on the north the long, finished book. Christian history in mysterious, though historic Nile. It is every age is as truly the story of tho a land of forests, seemingly trackless activity of Christ's Spirit as is apostolic and impenetrable, which yield ebony, history. This is never more conspicu- dye woods, palm-oil, gums, copal, and ously the case than in the annals of india.rubber, and whose clearings pro- foreign missions; and nowhere prob- duce plantains, cassava, tapioca, Indian ably has the work of evangelization been corn, slIgar-cane, much else, so abun- more evidently supernatural, more dantly and readily that industry be- manifestly inspired and guided and de- comes useless and indolence inevitable.
veloped by Christ through His Spirit, At the same time Africa may well be than in that vast and dark continent called the country of the desert. For which, under the name of Ethiopia, is 900 miles along the western seaboard represented in Scripture as about to toward the south there is not a drop of stretch out her hands unto God, and to fresh water and but one fertile spot.
which our thoughts are for a little while An even larger region along the eastern to be directed. coast nearer the equator is dry and Africa is the southern continent of sterile. North of the eqlIator i;; the the eastern hemisphere. Bounded on Sahara or Great Desert, 3000 miles the north hy the Mediterranean Sea, on long, with an average width of 1000 the east by the Red Sea and the Indian miles; its area is almost equal to that Ocean, on the south by the Southern of the whole of our own vast country.
Ocean, and on ·the west by the Atlantic " Its surftlce, lower in many places than Ocean, it has, since the opening of the the Mediterranean Sea, is made up of Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to shifting sand, rough gravel, and barren the Red Sea, become a continental isl- rock, variously distributed, and occa· and. Lying between the 37° of north. sionally traversed by low chains of bare and the 340 of south latitude, it is al. hills. Extensive plains of salt also oc- most wholly within the tropics. Tri. cur. Throughout this sterile region rain angular in shape, its greatest length is is almost unknown, and the heat is ter- 4330 miles; its extreme width, 4000 rific," sometimes indicating, especially miles; and its area, 11,360,000 miles, during the hot wind and stand storms, nearly four times that of the United over 1200 F. in the shade. The western States. portion of the Sahara is the wildest and Until very recently little or nothing the most desolat.e. In the eastern part was known of the interior of Africa, ex- are numerous oases, some of which cept that it was rich in gold and ivory cover many miles of fertile territory. The climate of these oases and of the the ancient Egyptians, and are a mixed forests and rich table-lands of Africa, race, their ancestors having intermarwhich make up two thirds of the conti- ried with Greeks, Nubians, and Abysnent, is very different from that of the Sllllans. Their complexion is brownish desert. Rain is regular and abundant; yellow, their foreheads fiat, their hair the average temperature is about 80" woolly, their lips thin, and their eyes F.; and the thermometer seldom if bent upward like the Chinaman's. ever rises above 98° in the shade. Their home is Northern Egypt. Next we have the Nilotic race, comprising the Africa does not seem to be very rich Nubians in Nubia, the Abyssinians in in minerals. Gold, however, is found Abyssinia, and the Gollos along the in Guinea. Iron and copper occur in eastern coast farther south. These are many of the intertropical places. Seams all strong, vigorous people, often handof coal have been discovered along the some, more or less dark, and standing banks of the Zambesi. Salt is said to between the Berber and the negro. Of be plentiful everywhere. Diamonds of the latter no description is necessary. fine quality and great size have been Suffice it to say, that their home is the found. It is not unlikely that there are Soudan or Central Africa; that they are many mineral treasures yet to be un- very numerous; and that many of them earthed. are partially civili:led. They are found to improve as we penetrate the country, The vegetable wealth of Africa has and there is reason to expect gratifying been alluded to. Its fauna also are nu- developments when we sha1l become merous and highly characteristic. Land acquainted with the vast inland tribes animals preponderate over water ones, of which now almost nothing is known. and many of the quadrupeds are exclu- Nobler far and more characteristic of sively African in their origin. Such Afrioa than the negro is the Bantu race. are the chimpanzee, the gorilla, the dog- Nearly the whole southern half of the faced baboon, the two-horned rhinocer- continent is their home. A recent os, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, and traveller thus describes them: ""The five sixths of the known species of ante- Bantu is a fine, tall, upright man, with lope. It is in a land extensive, varied, delicately small hands and well-shaped productive, and peculiar as this that feet, a fine face, high, thin nose, beard the races live the problem of whose and;mustache. . .. Some of them are perevangelizatiolj. we are about to study. fect Greek statues as regards the splen- did development and poise of figure." The people of Africa may be divided Finally, we have the Gouipine race, into native and foreign. The foreign composed of Hottentots, Korannas, and element, which is numerous, consists Bushmen. ~enoe they originated is of Europeans, Arabs, Moors, Turks, and a mystery. They are thought to resem- Jews. The native element embraces ble the Chinese. Like them, they have six races which are, to a greater or less the high cheek-bones, the oblique eye, degree, allied, and which all spring the thin beard, the yellowish complexfrom the great Indo-Ethiopic fa·mily. ion. They differ, however, in their They are thus a mixture of the pure hair and in the formation of the bones African type with the Asiatic, and they of the pelvis. In height they rarely differ in race characteristics according exceed four feet six inches; and they as the one type or the other predomi- are lively, cheerful, and by no means nates. The Berbers are the descendants wanting in intellect. These six races of the primitive stress of the land. with the foreigners give a total not far a'hey vary in color from blaok to dark from 300,000,000, or considerably more bronze or copper, have high cheek- than four times the population of the bones, thin lips, expressive eyes, curly United States. hair, and athletic forms. Their home is Northern Africa. Then there are the Copts. These are the desQendants of Of the social, moral, and religious African people wherein lies the hope of condition of these millions little that is their future. They are born traders.
good can be said. The northern half They have created a true currency, of Africa has the characteristics of Ara- though not a money one. "In the bic civilization. The people are pas- m"nagement of a bargain," says Stan- toral and nomadic. They have the ley, " I should back the Congoese na- Arab's genius both for war and for tive against Jew or Christian, Parsee or trade, In general, we may say of them Bouyan, in all the round world. Un- that they are restless, fierce, warlike, sophisticated is the very last term I proud, aggressive; in trade, keen, ver- should ever apply to an African child satile, grasping; in morals, grossly sen- or man in connection with the knowl- sual, as the Abyssinians, or proudly ab- edge of how to trade. I have seen a stemious, "s the Nubi"ns, They are all child of eight do more tricks of trade in stamped with the'virtues and the vices an hour than the cleverest European of the Moslem faith. Many of them tmder on the Congo could do in a h"ve heard of the S"viour, but almost month."
none of them have found life in Him or As to morals and religion, the picture even realized their need of Him. is an extremely dark one. Degradation The southern half of Africa is utterly is well-nigh universal. Polygamy is destitute of any civilization worthy of everywhere practised. The idea of the name. The people live in indepen- chastity seems to have been entirely dent groups under the command of a lost. The value of human life is not king, whose slaves they usually are, appreciated. Mutilation and death are As to intelligence, there is a v"st differ- the punishments for the slightest of- ence in different tribes. The Bololo fences. Human sacrifices are common.
people, for example, in the bend of the Cannibalism is prevalent. Atrocities Congo, clear away the forest and raise which among us might not even be crops of maize and mandioc", They mentioned are with them of daily occur- are expert in the working and smelting rence. There is no worship in the of brass. They understand division of proper sense of the word. Religion has labor. Their streets are straight and deg'merated into a superstition called their houses commodious. Of the peo- fetichism.
ple in the Nyassa district, however, It does not come so near to the wor- Professor Drummond gives the follow- ship of God as idolatry does; for the ing description: " Hidden away in the idolater professes to worship God endless forests, like birds' nests in a through the idol, while the African, wood, in terror of one another and of though admitting the existence of a their common foe, the slaver, are small Creator and Father, gives Him no actual native villages; and here in his virgin worship. Sacrifices are made and simplicity dwells primeval man, with- prayers are regularly offered; but there out clothes, without civilization, with. is no confession of sin, no thanksgiv- out learning, without religion, the gen- ing, no praise. Fetichism conRists in'
uine child of nature-thoughtless, care- the wearing of charms or amulets to less, and contented. This man is appal" secure a wish or to ward off an enemy.
ently quite happy; he has practically These charms may be anything-a shell, no wants. One stick' pointed makes a bone, even a rag-that has been con- him a spear; two sticks rubbed together secrated by the fetich doctor, who pro- make him a fire; fifty sticks tied to- fesses to inject into it, by means of gether make him a house. The bark drugs and incantations, a spirit by he peels from them makes his clothes; whom one can be made successful.
the fruits which hang on them make his Ascetic rnles are also to be obeyed. In food." There is, howe,er, one com- a word, the only religion of the native mon characteristic of all the Central is a bondage to fear; and if we except the coast regions, this religion is well- of Belgium, losing his dear son, adopted nigh universal. "In Stanley's journey Africa with her sable children as his of 7000 miles from Zanzibar to Banana, own, out of his royal fortune giving a he saw neither a Christian disciple nor a princely sum annually for her sake. man who had even heard the Gospel What an event was that when, under message !" the presidency of Prince Bismarck. fif- teen nations, by their representatives, What, then, has been the work of the assembled to torm the "International Spirit of Christ for AfrIca? Association of the Congo" I And who are the 'national parties to this most reo He has inspired the explorations by markable compact against the slave which the Dark Continent has been tmde and for civil and religious free. brought to the notice of the Christian dom? Not only Protestant powers, but world, and opened up to the heralds of Papal kingdoms, the Greek Church as the Gospel; but for the patient and represented by Russia, and even Islam heroic forced marches or Speke and as represented by Turkey. When in Grant and Baker and Cameron and the history of the world has there been Stanley, missionaries could not go into such a union of the nations of the earth, the interior of Africa; and, indeed, the not to Ilpeak of different forms of faith, need of them there would not be appre- and all in the interest" of the kingdom ciated. It is significant, therefore, that of Christ? Can we do otherwise than these intrepid explorers, who for the exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" sake of science or adventure gave the Once more, He has developed as well best years of their lives to seeking to as inspired and guided the missions solve the mysteries of the Dark Conti. themselves. If wonderful works are nent, would probably never have seen it needed to prove t.he presence and power but for David Livingstone. Herein is of the Spirit of Christ, these works have the greatness of his work. He was mis- not been wanting. The Moravians taken in many of his geographical the. seem to have been the first in this field, ories, but his mistakes inspired those as in many otbers. In 1737 George who corrected them. He planted no Schmidt, one of their number, sailed missions himself, but his missionary from Holland and established a mission spirit inspired the most effe~tive mis- at Gnadenthal, 120 miles north of the sions in Africa. He did not live to see Cape of Good Hope. Here he labored the results of his arduous labors. After for nine years, gathering a little com· forty attacks of fever he died on his panyof converts numbering 47 families. knees in a grass hut amid the swamps He then went back to Holland to induce near Lake Bangweolo, early in May, others to join him, but was not allowed 1873; but that dying prayer was an· to return. Not until 1792 did the Mora ' swered. With his death began a new vians obtain permission to resume their era for the "Dark Continent." Who work in Africa. Then three humble will say that the Spirit of Christ that artisans were sent to that same place. lived in him did not inspire the explo· There among the first to welcome them rations which his death powerfully stim- was a poor blind woman, an aged pupil ulated, and which but for his life would and convert of Schmidt's, bringing with have been impossible? Again, the her the old treasure Testament which Spirit of Christ has controlled the pol- he had given her fifty years before. icy of empires in the interests of Afri. Who but the Spirit of Christ could have can evangelization. In the words of kept that handful of believers faithful Dr. Pierson, "Perhaps no more won- in the midst of a continent" dead in derful occurrence has been recorded trespasses and sins" ? Was there ever since Pentecost than the Berlin Confer· a more striking illustration of the truth ence, that, in the closing weeks of 1884, that He who begins the good work in met to determine the constitution of the Congo Free State.. King Leopold us will perform it until the day of Jesus tioned anarchy. The different tribes Christ? In 1799 the first four mission- are at war constantly. The same is true aries of the London Missionary Bociety of the different families of the tribe; arrived at the Cape. The Dutch Re- hence, unkind feelings are engendered, formed Church is another of the early and to deal with people so irritated agents in the South African mission '.lalls for unusual patience, prudence, canse. The two great societies of the decision, tact. Another obstacle is in- Church of England, the Society for the dolence. The wants of the natives are Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign so few that they grow up in idleness. Parts and the Church Missionary So- When they profess Christianity, thereciety, were erelong in the field, begin- fore, their change of heart does not at ning their labors, the latter in Abyssinia, once make them diligent. There is the former in South Africa. Egypt has small occasion for diligence. They been successfully occupied by the have, consequently, to be taught indus- United Presbyterian Church of the tries as well as religion. In no field are United States. '.I,'he western coast is lay missionaries, Christian mechanics, the Bcene of very many missions of very and farmers so much needed. many churches. Here we come to Ashantee, where the celebrated native Bish. A further obstacle is slavery. The op Crowther, whose death we have been united influence of the many mission. called on so lately to mourn, labored ; ary societies and the efforts of one and here, too, but farthest down of all Christian nation after another have enwe find Gaboon, and the field well oc- tirely broken up the slave trade, so far cupied by the American Presbyterian as the west coast is concerned. It is, Board, in which field, as in all this re- however still carried on clandestinely gion, the mortality among the mission. on the east coast, and it exists everyaries has been so great that it has been where unrestrained as a domestic instiwell called .. the White Man's Grave." tution. Indeed, slaves constitute the In 1875, a year after Livingstone's laboring class, and hence arises an exdeath, a memorial mission was founded cuse on the part of the free for their infor him on Lake Nyassa, and it has been dolence. In their view work is not very successful. Space, however, would only largely unnecessary, it is also disfail were even the barest enumeration honorable because associated with slaof the missionary agencies now at work very. in Africa to be attempted. Statistics, too, with reference to this field are sin. A fourth obstacle is intemperance. gularly unreliable. Like the maps of The natives have their own beer and the country, they change daily. Ten wine, but they have learned to like the years ago the report was 730 ordained more intoxicating qualities of imported missionaries, 73,000 native communi. rum, gin, and whiskey. 'I'hese are obcants, 250,000 under instruction-prob- tained in abundance at all the foreign ably a million more or less under the trading houses. The testimony of the influences of Christianity; and ten missionaries is that where converts are years ago the Christian Church was just now reckoned by hundreds they would beginning to rouse herself for the evan· be numbered by thousands but for the gelization of the .. Dark Continent." rum trade. "What a record against the Protestant Christianity of Great It should not be supposed, however, Britain and Germany and America !" that the work, because it has been rapid, is easy. It has peculiar difficulties. Polygamy. with its kindred vices and Perhaps no field calls for more of the the moral degradation which result heroism which only the Holy Spirit can from them, is another and most serious inspire. obstacle. 'rhe people have become so debased that there seems to be no moral Among these obstacles may be men- foundation on which to bnild. The climate, too, must not go unmentioned. It has proved singularly, fearfully fatal we account for such apostolic lives as to the missionaries. Now that they Moffat's, as Livingstone's, as Black's, have learned how best to adapt them· as Bushnell's, as Harrington's, as Mac· selves to it, it is less so. At the same kay's, as Crowther's, as those of many time, however, another difficulty has other missionaries that may not now be arisen. The natives cannot understand mentioned, unless the same Christ who why foreigners cannot the as they do ; lived in Paul by the Spirit lived also in and so it often comes to pass that in them? ·Can we doubt that the land in proportion as the missionary takes care which the Saviour Himself is thus diof his health he loses influence in his recting and sustaining the work of evanfield, on the ground that he is too lux- gelization will soon stretch out her urious. hands unto God? Is she not even now beginning to do so? Can we, then, reo That, therefore, the wonderful prog. sist the short and emphatic appeal ad. ress of the past twenty years has been dressed by David Livingstone from the made in spite of all these obstacles is centre of Africa to the Protestant in itself most encouraging. The simple churches of the world, "Coml) on, fact that the Bible has already been brethren !n Friendship for Christ, translated into sixty.six of the Ian. mere loyalty to Him, compels us to do guages and dialects of Africa is a stu- so. Not to be interested in the evanpendous achievement. Great expecta. gelization of Africa is not to be intertions, too, may be cherished with refer- ested in what is conspicuously the work ence to the missionary influence of the of our Friend, who redeemed us with colored people of the United States_ His own precious blood. In number 7,000,000, what might they not accomplish for their brethren over -A testimony to the value of misthe sea if only they themselves were sions is given by Jesse Seligman, the baptized witl~ the missionary spirit? Jewish banker, who is now travelling Can we doubt th.3.t it is God's purpose on the Nile. He says: "I am glad to make them missionaries? Have we, to inform you that the American misthen, any duty more pressing than to sionaries all along the Nile are doing give them the churches and schools splendid work. You can scarcely enter necessary for their religious and moral II single town or village without finding training? Most encouraging,however, one of these nicely constructed school. are the effects of the Gospel on the houses where these Arabs are taught, character of the Africans, who seemed and it would IIstonish you to hear with to have no character. The Pentecostal what pride they say they were taught at blessing has been repeated on the Con- the American mission school… go. In places not a few the people, thieves before, hhve become honest. -The statistics of the Presbyterian Liars before, they have become truthful. missions in Siam and Laos, as l·ecently Indolent, they have become industri- reported, are as follows: Ordained misous. Their idols they have burned; sionaries, 14 ; medical missionaries, 4 ; Christ they have enthroned Lord of all. single lady missionaries, 9; native The Christians in the neighboring isl- preachers, teachers, etc., 54; number and of Madagascar have remained true of churches, 13 ; communicants, 1113 ; in spite of persecution unsurpassed for number added last year, 239 ; boys in cruelty in any age. If the Waldenses boarding. schools, 208; girls in boardare rightly called the ~Iartyr Church, ing-schools, 146; day-school pupils, the believers of Madagascar are fully as 320.-Dr. Ellinwood. worthy 6f the honorable title. Can we explain this save on the ground that the Spirit of Christ sustained them? Can
GENERAL MISSIoNARY UtTELUGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
-Under 120 of the wills reported in this country more than 2,000,000 of during last year in this couptry, the be- Slavs; the Poles number 1,500,000 and quests for religious, educational, and the Bohemian~, 350,000. Chicago alon" charitable purposes have amounted to contaius 100,000, Cleveland and Detroit about $7,000,000. are also large centres, while the mining regions of Pennsylvania hold many -The population of the city of New thousands; but llJUong them only a very York exceeds that of North Dakota, slight beginning in missionary work has South Dakota, Montana, Washington, been made. Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming. The PresbyteJ:ians and Congre- -Says the venerable Archdeacon gationalists have only 85 pastors f>t work Kirkby, who in he service of the Church in New York City, while in the eight MiBsionary Society spent 27 years among new States the two denominations have the Indians of Rupert's Land: "There 540 pastors and workers. The Roman is no better argument for Christianity Oatholics have 115 parish churches and than a congregaMon of Indians repeatchapels in New York City, with 300 ing in their own tongue the Apostles' priests and 300 Brothers, and 2000 re- Creed." There are now 10,000 baptized ligious women constantly at work among Indian Christians leading consistent the people. lives, and reading daily the Gospel of Jesus Christ. -Probably the largest congregation in America is that of the Church of St -In mission work the progress of the Stanislaus Kostka, in Chicago, which Methodist Episcopal Church during the has 30,000 communicants. The num- quadrennium has been marvellous. ber of attendants at the several masses Each year the income of the Missionary every Sunday frequently exceeds 15,000. Society has risen to a higher level, The cUl'e of souls committed to its reaching last year $1,228,888.04. The charge requires the services of 12 sum named does not include $263,660.69 priests. It has a parochial school at- raised by the Woman's Foreign Mistended by 3000 children, and these are sionary Society, nor $155,398.54 raised taught by 26 Sisters and 8 lay teachers. by the Woman's Home Missionary So- The church maintains an orphan asylum ciety, nor $311,827.56 raised by the in which about 300 inmates are cared Board of Church Extension, nor $322,- for. 656.44 raised by the Freedmen's Aid Society, nor many thousands of dollars -Five years have passed since the raised by the various city missionary Students' Volunteer Missionary Move- societies. Even more encouraging are ment started, and in connection with it the spiritual fruits. During the past almost 6000 have pledged themselves to year, in a single field (North India Conthe foreign field, if the way of entrance ference), the baptisms of convertedheashall be opened. Of this number about then have averaged at times 500 a week. 70 per cent are young men and 30 per The accessions in that field alone within cent are young women. Not far from the twelvemonth have amounted to 350 have already entered upon their 16,000. work, while some 500 are yet in theological schools, 125 in medical schools, EUROPE. and a far larger number in various colleges. Great Britain.-Seven of the direct- ors of the British East African Com- -It is estimateil that there are now pany-aIl of them Scotsmen except one -have instituted a new mission, to be lire from Peter's Pence; 3,000,000 lire known as the East Afrioan Soottish Mis- from English Consols ; 300,000 lire from sion, and have personally subsoribed various sources. The expenditures ure £10,000 for that purpose. computed as follows: Salaries of car- dinals, 650,000 lire; expenses of the -Rev. J. Hunt Cooke, editor of the Vatican for kitchen and household, in- London Freeman, estimates the total cluding the Guardia Nobile, 2,000,000 gross ineome of the Church of England lire; for legates, diplomats, etc., 1,000,- at £5,750,000 per annum, of whioh only 000 lire; stipends and pensions, 1,500,- 5 per oent is derived from endowments 000 lire; Apostolic palaces, 500,000; made since 1700, and by far the greater for San Giovanni in Laterano, 300,000 ; part is an inheritanoe from the days Archivio Borghese, 250,000 ; monument when the Roman Catholio Church was of Innooent III., 100,000; other exsupreme. The same authority puts the penses, 1,000,000 lire. total value of the endowment at £300,- 000,000, and calculates that this vast -The election of a new General of sum is equivalent to a bag of 100 sover- the Jesuit Order has been set for May, eigns for every letter of the Bible from the Convention to be held in the Gerthe first of Genesis to the last of Revela- man-Hungarian College in Rome. In tion. connection with this announcement the Rome correspondent of the Paris Temps -New statistics of Austria, exclusive gives the latest official statistics of the of Hungary, hllVe been coJIe'3ted. The Order. The Society of Jesus now numtotal population is 23,895,424. Of these bers 12,947 members. Of these 1764 18,814012 are Roman Catholics; 2,814,- belong to Italy; 2863 to France; 3470 012 Greek Catholics; 544,786 Oriental to Germany, Austria, and Holland, Greeks; 315,528 Lutheran Protestants; which three countries constitute one 120,524 Reformed Protestants; 1,148,- province; 2570 to Spain; 2307 to Eng- 506 Jews. land and her colonies.
Germany.-Among the receipts of -The Orthodox Church of Russia is the Basle Missionary Society last year divided into 60 bishoprics. Of these were $58,000 from poor friends of the 48 are in European Russia, 4 in the sooiety, who subscribed one cent a Trans Caucasus, 6 in Siberia, 1 in the week. Collectors obtained the amount Aleutian Islands, and 1 in Alaska with from them once in ten weeks. These the seat in San Francisco. Of these 60 collections are known by the name of bishops 3 are metropolitans, those of the sou missionaire. Kief, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Ac- cording to the latest statistics Russia -The Moravian Church in the for- had 1418 archdeacons, 34,345 priests, eign field has 135 stations and out-sta- 6810 deacons, 42,371 psalm-singers, and tions, 295 missionary agents, 59 native some 6000 unofficial clergymen. missionaries, 1664 native assistants, and 31,480 communicants. The missions -Sweden is the most Protestant are in Greenland, Labrador, Alaska, our country, for out of a population of own country, the East and West In- 4,774,409 only 810 are Roman Catholics, dies, Demerara, the Moskito Coast, Suri- or 16 out of every 100,000 ; and next to nam, Africa, Australia, North Queens- it in this respect is Norway, which is land, and Central Asia. under the same sovereign, and has only 502 Roman Catholics out of 1,818,853 Italy.-The Italia Evangelica reports inhabitants, or 27 out of every 100,000. the papal budget for 1892. The income In both of these countries the mass of is from the following sources: 1,500,000 the population adhere to the Lutheran lire (a lira is about 20 cents) from spir- Church. itual dignitaries and offices and admission fees to the museums; 2,550,000 AFRICA. agents of the British Bible Society have kept step with the Italian soldiers, and –Unoccupied mission territory to the Swedish missionaries have been laborextent of 4,000,000 square miles still ex- ing llere since 1866. In 1877, with the ists in Centl·al Africa, an area larger assistance of General Gordon, they esthan the whole of Europe, says Rev. tablished the station MoncuIlo, near George Grenfell, of the Baptist Congo Massower ; and this iH the first evangeli- Mission. cal congregation in Abyssinia, consisting chiefly of natives. Representatives of -It must not be supposed that all the Basle Society have been engaged British commercial companies ar here for fifty years, but have been exwholly without conscience and wholly pelled several times. The station Mongiven to gain. The British East Africa cu110 has gradually become a village. Company, for instance, in its scheme Among the 60 pupils in the boys' school, for raising revenue within its territories 38 are Abyssinians, 10 heathen Gallas, forbids the growth, sale, and use of and the others Mohammedans. The opium, bhnng, or gnnji. It entirely pro- Swedes have advanced to the mountain hibi ts the passage of ardent spirits into districts inland, and several Abyssinian the interior, and near the coast it places priests have been converted. 'l'he proheavy restrictions upon licensing liquor- tection of the Italian army and the shops. It recognizes the helpfulness of medical work of the Swedes have been missionary laborers, and exempts al'I valuable factors in these successes. ministers from taxation. In a similar Fully 2000 natives come into contact spirit the African Lakes Company is with the mission and the missionaries conducting its operations north of the every week. Zambesi.
– The Belgium Roman Catholics are -The Ovambo Mission of the Finnish pushing their work in the Congo Free Missionary Society, on the west coast State. One order has 5 stations occu- of South Africa, was opened in 1868, pied by a dozen priests, extending from but its work has often been hindered, the coast beyond the last Baptist sta- and several times has been nearly broken tion. The Bishop of Ghent also has a up by wars among the natives. Nine station at Matadi; and the Sisters of stations are now maintained. At a Charity occupy 3 stations on the Lower single one, LanomlB Harbor, 153 per- Congo. A mission steamer of seven sons were baptized in 1891, making the tons is being built for use upon the number of converts 312 at the close of river. The Jesuits and Carthusian the year. An additional missionary has friars are also entering the field; and recently gone to that field, and another on the eastern coast are found the white will be sent during the coming summer. Fathers of the congregation of Cardinal Lavigerie. More than 100 priests and ASIA. novices besides Sisters of Chal·ity have recently entered, or soon will enter, China.-The China Inland Mission that country as missionaries. reports 123 additions to its force the past year, making the whole number -The Italian expedition to Abyssinia now engaged in that work 512, occupyhas had at least the one good result of ing 94 different points. reopening that land to the messengers of a living Christianity. The lowland -Summing up for the year 1891, Secalong the coast has been in possession retary Mitchell, of the Presbyterian of the Italians for some three years, and Foreign Missionary Board, says of the this, the" Erythrean Colony," has been work in China that the presbytery of made the basis of further operations on the province of Shantung, which now the part of the Gospel workers. The embraces 28 churches, 7 of which have been recently organized, has had" the cupied by missions. Mr. Dutt quoted most prosperous year" in its history; some very striking figures from the cen- 760 communicants have been added to BUS returns, showing how rapid the the churches, making a total member- growth of Christianity had been in reo ship of 3392. It is said that there is cent years. In 1851 there were 91,000 but one presbytery in the United States Christians in India; in 1861 there were in which last year" the number of con- 138,000, an increase of 53 per cent; in verts was as large in proportion to the 1871 there were 224,000, an increase of number of ministers as in Shantung." 61 per cent; in 1881 there were 417,000, an increase of 86 per cent. This year India.-Professor Lindsay, D.D., the Christians are reckoned to be 2,000,- speaking at the meeting of the London 000 in number. Missionary Society, thus defined the problem presented by India: "There -A missionary has recently given were a hundred Indias, with a hundred this bit of evidence that the Gospel is different languages, and representing making progress in India: "There is a every stage of civilization, from the very considerable relaxation in the rigor most primitive to the most advanced. of caste bondage. This is true both in Such differences formed a great part of regard to the scope of caste rules, and the problem of mission work. Hindu- to the question of restoration when caste ism included only about a third of the has been lost. It cost a man more than 280,000,000 inhabitants of India; there $100,000 to be reinstated after losing were about 5~000,000 Moslem!!, 6,000,- his caste 70 or 80 years ago, and men 000 Sikhs, Parsees, and Christians, and were known to commit suicide because about 20,000,000 of aboriginal tribes. they failed to obtain restoration on any The number of pariahs–outside caste terms. In recent years it has been pur- -was, he thought, from 40,000,000 to chased by a wealthy man, to the writer's 60,000,000, and these were practically, personal knowledge, for $300. Caste for mission purposes, outside the great will be dear at a dollar after awhile." realm of Hinduism." ~The Indian Home Mission to the -The Rev. Roger Dutt, a Bengali Santals is a Danish organization which, clergyman from Cawnpore, recently ad· however, receives considerable support dressing members of the committee of from England. Its secretary in Den- the Society for the Propagation of the mark is the well.known Dr. Vah!, the Gospel, said that he had been asked author of "The Mission Atlas." The whether the missions in India were fail- stations occupied are in Bengal, the ures, and that he answered that they head station being at Ebenezer. There were certainly not. There is an impa- are 6 missionaries with their wives, tience about missions. People appear 4 Santal pastors, 18 deaconesses, 80 to think that the Gospel has only to be travelling elders, and 5 catechists. Re- . preached, and that then the place where cently there has also been established it is preached will straightway be won; an Assam colony with 1 missionary, 1 but when Christian people are them- pastor, 9 elders, and 3 catechists. The selves so long in their contest with their last annual report shows that the work besetting sins, it should not be expected done during the year has been quite that those sunk in sin in India should successful. The baptisms of converts immediately rise. The conversion of were 201, and there are at present 6300 England occupied centuries. India is baptized members of the community. 2.7 times as large as England, and con- tains 280,000,000, as against perhaps -The popUlation of Burmah is 8,921,- 2,000,000 in England in the days of St. 700 ; Christians, 2.40 per cent; popula- Augustine. Even now only a few towns tion of Rangoon, 180,324; races from and a few chief centres in India are oc- India in Burmah, 356,087. (Half the population of Rangoon now is from India, servants and coolies.) Burmans, Miscellaneous.-The largest univer· Lower Burmah, 3,391,519; Burmans, sity in the world is at Cairo, Egypt, and Upper Burmah, 2,737,577; total Bur. it has 11,000 students. They come from mans, 6,129,096; total Karens, 633,657. every part of the Mohammedan world, The percentage of religions is: Bud. and they Iiltudy Mussulman law, history, dhist, 86 per cent; Nat worshippers, 3 theology, and other branches needed to per cent; Hindus, 3 per cent; Moham· confirm them in the faith of Moham- medans, 4 per cent; Christians, 2.4 per med. They sit on the floor of an enor- cent; others, 1 per cent; Shans, Lower mous court and study aloud, and the Burmah, 94,302; Shans, Upper Bur. Western visitor who calls on them duro mah, 112,492; Christians, Lower Bur. ing study hours thinks that he has mah, 111,982. struck the original site of the tower of -There is no missionary in Afghanis. Babel, and that the confused of tongue tan, wilh her 6,000,000 people. An· haven't i>topped talking yet.
nam, with 5,000,000, has only Roman -An interesting paper has lately been Catholic missionaries. India has one printed by Dr. Schreiber, of Barmen, missionary to 275,000 people; Persia, on the prospects of Islam. He calcu.
one to 300,000 ; Thibet, one to 2,000,000. lates that of the 175,000.000 Moslems 100,000,000 are already subject to Chris· ISLANDS OF THE SEA. tian Powers, and that it will not be long before the remaining 75,000,000 will be -Among the newer work commenced in the same position. As a political by the London Missionary Society is power Islam has already fallen, and the that in New Guinea. There are now loss of its temporal power is crushing 53 stations along the southeast coast, a and ruinous, unlike the effect of the staff of 6 missionaries, over 30 South loss of the temporal power by Rome.
Sea Island tea~hers, and some 20 New n Islam is gaining something in Africa Guineans. More than 2000 children among the negro races, it is losing are under instruction, and there are be· ground everywhere else. The Church tween 400 and 500 church-members. Missionary Society reports 1000 con- The whole New Testament in the Motu verts from Mohammedanism, the Rhen- dialect has also been put through the ish Society,2000, and in Java there are press. Within the first year a new sta· 12,000 Christians, most of whom were tion on the Kwato Island has been oc· formerly Moslems.
cupied by 2 missionaries. -There are 12,000 mission schools Then and Now.-Fifty years ago there sustained by the offerings of Protestant was not a native Christian on the Fiji Christians. They are teaching some Islands; now there is not a heathen. 600,000 children and young people Not long since 40 volunteers responded to a call for 15 native missionaries for dangerous and unhealthy work in New British Foreign Missions. By Rev. Jas. Guinea. Johnston, Bolton, England.
-The Friendly Islands 50 years ago Wesleyan Foreign Missions.-At had not a native Christian; now there length the clouds which have lain on are more than 30,000 church-members, the treasury of the Missionary Society who give from their scanty store $15,000 are lifting, and a brighter prospect is annually for religious objects. before the directors of this influential -The Samoan group has a Christian organization. In making arrangements population of 30,000. In the largest for the approaching anniversary ser- island there are not 50 families that fail vices, the Rev. G. W. Olver, one of the to observe family worship. missionary secretaries, stated that the financial year which had now closed al- perial British East African Company in lowed the officials to congratulate them. their approach t,O and occupation oj' selves on having" turned the corner" Uganda,has lamentably failed, as only with regard to their missionary income. a sum under £6000 has been subscribed. The year's receipts from the home dis- Although the Bishop eloquently urged tricts of Great Britain were slightly in the influence which the railway would advance of the previous year, which exert in checking slavery and extending would warrant the presentation of an the rule of civilization, it is doubted encouraging report to the Exeter Rail whether his project is a wise one. It is gathering. The annual meeting will be remarked that the King of Uganda will invested with additional interest by the be able to point to the bishop's letter as presence of a large contingent of mis. a justification for his oft-repeated asser· sionaries from all parts of the foreign tion that the missionaries have come to field. ., eat up" his country. A supplemen. tary estimate has now been issued by Under the leadership of the Rev. J. H. the British Government for the sum of Bateson, Wesleyan missionary. the Army £20,000 for the survey of a railway route Temperance Association in India, which from Mombassa to the Victoria Nyanza. the Rev. W. L. Glegson established, is making marked progress. The Confer- Some concern is expressed by the ence has released Mr. Bateson tempo. Church Missionary lntelligencerrespecting rarily, to enable him to act as secretary current income. From returns to hand, of the Association. No fewer than it is apprehended that the close of the 17,500 soldiers, or a quarter of the total financial year will show a decrease in British force in India, are now pledged funds, since the receipts to the end of abstainers. Vith one or two exceptions, January, though appreciably above the every corps in India has a branch so· average of the five previous years, were ciety, prominent among which stands nevertheless smaller than those of last the Welsh Fusileers with 535 members. year at the same time, while the expen- Lord Roberts and the army authorities diture was larger. warmly countenance the objects sought. It is said that the Church of England The Church Missionary Society.- Zenana missions have been embarrassed Very shortly an appeal will be issued of late. by the rise in value of the rupee, for more workers on behalf of the Ugan. which. with other causes, had made the da Mission. The greater danger~ and estimates for the year ending March the rougher experiences in this historic 31st, 1891, over £4000 in excess of the mission than obtain elsewhere do not previous year; and unless the regular deter the. enlistment of volunteers. income 'could be raised to £34,000 the Among the friends of the Society, Cen. foreign work, instead of advancing, as tral African missions attrMt special at. was urgently needed, would go backtention. Recent letters from East Afri· ward. ca, in which entreaties are made for more missionaries, add that the Bugan- The Rev. Canon Lloyd, speaking reda are" thirsting for knowledge," mak· cently on the operations of the Church ing the need of teachers as great as at of England in India, observed that, in any previous time. As the Society's 'dew of the more than 288,000,000 peo- English missionaries are greatly out· ple in India, they could not particularly numbered by the French priests, this rejoice in the statement that of this vast filet will lend emphasis to the cry for population only about 1 per cent bere·enforcements. longed to the Church of England. This percentage, however, represented an in· Thus far the plea of Bishop Tucker to creasing number. While the census of the British public for £60,000, says II 1891 showed that the population had in- London correspondent, to aid the 1m· creased by about 10 per cent, those at· tached to the Church had increased by about 20 per cent. India was on the added. In area it is about the size of threshold of a great moral and social England, and there are 13 clergy at revolution which was progressing quiet- work." Any subscriptions in support ly but surely. The natives were rapid- of the good work will be heartily ac- ly becoming Anglicized in their ideas, knowledged by Mr. Lewis Wigram, The and if they did not all study the Gos- Grange, Chislehurst, Kent, England.
pels, vast numbers of them read John Society lor the Propagation of the Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, and sim- Gospel.-Awaiting the publication of ilar writers, which, on the whole, tend- the formal finance statement of the Soed to their good. ciety, it is possible to foreshadow the Zululand.-A vigorous appeal has amount of the receipts for the year 189L been made by the Bishop of Zululand This is stated to have been £116,520 (Dr. Carter) in aid of missions in that lOs., a sum undoubtedly large, yet insphero of service. He writes: "I know adequate for the demands on the Sothat many missions, both at home and ciety from many lands. Though the abroad, have a special claim upon Eng- collections, subscriptions, etc., show an lish people, but I doubt if any people increase of £1100 on the year, there has have a greater claim upon Englishmen been considerabl<;l falling off in the at the present time than the people in amount received from legacies.
Zululand. Ten years ago England con- The Anti-Opium Cl'usade.-An in- quered this country and took away fluential conference of British Members from its people the discipline which of Parliament who voted with the ma- made them in many ways the finest ot jority in April, 1891, against the opium all the South African races. It was un- traffic as a morally indefensible source doubtedly a cruel discipline, and yet the of Indian revenue, has been held in discipline had its good side; and there London to consider what further imme- ill nothing now in its place. Surely the diate action should be taken. A propo- very least that England can do is to sition that the Government should be show them' a more excellent way;' and thanked for its issue of a Blue Book this is what the Church mission to Zulu- was withdrawn, one of the members re- land is trying to do. But we who are marking that renewed pressure was more working here feel that we are crippled called for than gratitude. In postpon- from want of means and workers. The ing any concerted steps this session, it work here was begun over thirty years was resolved to take every opportunity ago, when this country formed a part of of emphasizing in Parliament the view the diocese of Natal, under Bishop already recorded in the journals of the Colenso. The diocese was established House.
in 1870 as a memorial to Charles Mac- So much has been said in Great Brit- kenzie, the first Bishop of Central Afri- ain of late in the way of minimizing the ca. Since then the work has been going effects of the habits of opium-smoking on in spite of many difficulties, the in India that it is desirable to quote greatest of which was the Zulu war in from a report of Mr. E. H. James, an im· 1879-80, when practically every mission partial and well.informed authority, in station was destroyed. At the present the Government service in the Northern time a sum of about £1000 a year is col· Division of Bombay, who clearly distin- lected from private sources, and about guishes between the Chinese vice and £700 a year is contributed by the Society the Indian one. He says: "Opium- for the Propagation of the Gospel, and smoking in India is not, as in 99 cases this is the whole income of the mission. out of 100 in China, a harmless habit, The ,Hocese consists of Zululand, Swazi- like cigar.smoking among Europeans.
land, Tongaland, an(l a certain portion (I can testify to this from my own ob- of the 'fransvaal, which has lately been servations when travelling in the north of China.) In India it is a degrading conditions, she won her way into the vice, the mark of a debauchee; and 99 hearts of the natives. Broken down in out of 100 who practise it are degraded health in 1891, she was obliged to seek and worthless, perhaps criminal per- rest at home. Partially restored, Miss sons. In the ports, no doubt, respect- Hoare promptly returned to Calcutta, able, hard-working Lascars and others but soon died, leaving means, however, are to be found who indulge in it; but whereby her work will be continued. as a rule an opium.smoking native of India, of whatever rank of life he be, is Mr. Eugene Stock, the editorial sec_ vicious and without any self-respect. retary of the Church Missionary Society, The reverse is the case in China." has been invited by the General Com- mittee to proceed to Australia and New Dr. Thomas Smith, of Edinburgh.- Zealand on a special mission, and he will This eminent missionary, author, and sail without delay. It seems that the professor has resigned the professorship visit was suggested by a letter from the of Evangelical Theology in the New Col- Bishop of Sydney, urging the appoint. lege, Edinburgh. He was ordained in ment of a delegate of "tried experi- 1839, sailed for Calcutta to engage in ence" to travel through the British Colomission work along with Dr. Duff, and nies to stir up interest in foreign misfor twenty-one years was his colleague. sionary work. Than Mr. Stock's selec- The state of his health obliged him to tion, no better could have been made return to Scotland thirty. one years ago, either as regards minute knowledge. of when he undertook the pastorate of the Society's vast operations or capacity Cowgatehead Church, Edinburgh, and as a singularly graceful and persuasive in 1878 was called to succeed Dr. Duff platform-speaker. in the chair which he now resigns. As the author of biographies of Dr. Duff Methodist Free Church Missions.- and Dr. Begg, and of many valuable The Missionary Committee reports that works, an expert in mathematics, a mis· two new chapels have been erected in sionary authority, and a leader in eccle- Jamaica. An expedition started early siastical courts, the venerable doctor, last January fo1' the Mundi country, who has reached his seventy. fifth year, lying beyond Sierra Leone. is deservedly honored and revered. Germany and the Slave Trade in Miss Hoare, of Ca1cutta.-There re- Africa.-Information has been sent in cently died in Calcutta a lady whose a letter by one of the English officers in name is beloved in many a remote command of a Central African expedivillage in the Sunderbunds, and in tion, confirming the serious charges those swampy tracts south of Calcutta made by Captain Lugard against the wherein she had lightened the load of Germans with reference to the importamisery and pain which press so heavily tion of powder into Africa. Captain upon the poorest of a poor population. Lugard protested strongly to Mr. Stokes, Miss Hoare devoted a large fortune to the ex-missionary, who is now in the the founding of an educational institu- German service, against his selling tion in Calcutta, and of schools in the powder to the natives, and offered to v:illages. At the same time she exer- buy the entire stock brought by Mr. cised a large-hearted benevolence in Stokes from the coast for the British ameliorating their bodily distresses, and East Africa Company. As Mr. Stokes is for the last fourteen or fifteen years she employed by the Germans, they are had spent much of her time among the morally, at least, responsible for his villagers. Living in their houses, shar· actions. But the message of Captain ing their food, and patiently enduring Lugard is supplemented very strongly the discomforts which a European lady by the letter written from Tanganyika. must of neceijsity experience under such In his journey throngh German East Africa tUe writer states that he encoun_ tered numerous Arab traders who were work. For three years he had been in possession of large quantities of pow_ suffering with consumption, but he re- der, which they were taking into the in. fused to return hOlUe, preferring to die terior. And even more, the Arabs were among his choeen people with his armor actually in possession of written per· on.
mits, signed by German officials on the, Japal).-A Buddhist priest from coast, authorizing them to carryon this Japan, student in the jnnior class of trade. These Arabs carl'y thousands of the University of the Pacific, in Calipounds' weight of powder into the fornia, has recently been converted to Congo Free State, where it is used for Christ. He said: "Since last August I slave raiding. There appears slight have been contributing articles to a doubt that it was from German East Buddhist monthly magazine, published Africa the Mohammedan party in Ugan- in Japan, for $200 a year. It was my da and their ally, Kabrega, obtained the plan to support my school expenses supplies of ammunition which were used with this money; but as I am a Chrisagainst Captain Lugard in the recent tian I shall not contribute any more, troubles. Although the Brussels Act and shall not fail to tell them so by next has not yet come into operation, Ger· mail." many is a consenting party, and is certainly pledged as a civilizing European -The Japan Conference of the Meth- Power to do all that lies within her odist Episcopal Church lately held its scope to protect the African, and sup- annual meeting in Tokyo, and adopted press slavery, or connivance a t it, be- several memorials to be presented neath her flag of " influence… to the next General Conference of the Methodist Church of this coun- try, which will be held next year.
Monthly Bulletin. Among other things, the Japan Con- ference asks for the appointment of a India.-A native Christian hall just bishop to reside in Japan or China, and been appointed Administrator·General the establishing of a branch of the of Madras; and a native Christian girl, Methodist Book Concern in Tokyo.
graduate of one of the Christian colleges, -The freedom of Japan, to reside and has been appointed to the charge of the travel at will through the empire, subpost-office at Mandapasali. ject only to its laws, has been given to -The Pundit Iswara Chandra, who Rev. G. F. Verbeck, D.D., missionary died recently in India, was noted as of the Reformed Church, and his fam- having been more influential than any ily. The case is believed to be unique other single individual in securing the in the history of missions and of Japan.
abolition of the suttee, or burning of By reason of his long absence of forty widows on the funeral pyres of their years from the Netb,erlands, the land of husbands. his birth, Dr. Verbeck has lost his citi- -There was unity of the faith at one zenship in Holland. Not having repoint. A Hindu was asked by a lady sided in the United States for the missionary if there was anything on legally prescribed period after declaring which the differents sects of the Hindus his intentions, he failed to become an agreed, and he replied: "Yes, we all American citizen. He was thus pracbelieve in the sanctity of the cow and tically a ,. man without a country." On the depravity of woman." his return to Japan he made application for a passport to the Foreign Office, -The death is announced of the Rev. stating the peculiar circumstances in :S. Bradley, President of the Methodist which he was placed. A fow months College at Lllcknow (India). He had later, in a very complimentary letter, spent nineteen years in missionary he received from Count Enomoto a passport entitling him and his family to queen, and also the fact that slavery still perfect freedom of travel and residence exists in Madagascar. The pastor of lhe for a year, with the privilege of renewal. church at Androvakely, about twenty. It is alike honorable to the Japanese five miles from the capital, is a slave, Government and to the good doctor and though he has been much hindered himself. in his work by the claims of his master, Madagascar. -A revival is in progress he has done excellent Christian service in Antananarivo, the capital of Mada- in the district. Recently the queen, gascar. The missionaries of the Lon- hearing of the good work he had done, don Society write with great joy of the sent for him to preach in the palace work which began early in May. The church. She was so pleased with him meetings are attended by young men that she paid fifty dollars to redeem and women, many of them connected him. This pastor is not educated, but with the higher schools. An illustra- he is exerting a strong influence tion of the radical change wrought in throughout his district.
some is presented in the following New Zealand.-The Baptists of New story: One of those who attended the Zealand have recently established an meetings was powerfully wrought upon Aborigines Mission for Eastern Bengal, by the Holy Spirit, and came privately with a station in the district of Brahto confess a great sin, and to make man daria, Hill Tipperah, northeast of reparation. He would not confess his Calcutta. The Baptist Missionary Sosin until after prayer, and then he ac- ciety, of England, has stations all knowledged the stealing of some money. around, but this is the first attempt to •• If I could," he said, " I would do like work in the midst of the aborigines, Zachreus – restore it fourfold; but I whose condition is of the lowest. Two have not got the money. However, I missionaries have been on the ground can restore it twofold, and here, there- for some little time, and they have refore, are sixteen shillings." cently been joined by three others.
-West of the capital of Madagascar Samoa.-A communication has reis a tribe of the Sakalava nation num- cently been received from Samoa, bearbering about 1,500,000. Two years ago ing testimony to the demand among the one of the missionaries of the Society natives for the English Bible Society's for the Propagation of the Gospel pen- Pocket Edition of the Bible, of which etrated into this region to find that he few copies were left unsold on the was the first white man ever seen by the island; and urgently asking for a people, who were heathen, with no in- further supply of 5000 copies. In its tercourse with the outer world, and no way, the letter is an interesting illustra. idea of the value of money. He estab- tion of the extent to which the Bible is lished friendly relations with Tocra, the becoming the people's book all the ruling chief, who expres8ed his readi- world over. ness to receive a teacher. In August last the missionaries landed on the west -A clergyman travelling in the East coast, and with the assistance of a writes in the highest terms of the friendly princess, sister of King Tocra, American United Presbyterian Mission they have made their way inland, being in Egypt and Syria. He says they are oHen met on the way by natives bring- gathering the young boys about them in ing their sick for treatment. Many snch their mission 8cho,)ls, and in ten years cases having been alleviated the mis- the tourist will find the villages along sionaries have secured the respect and the Nile filled with hundreds of young protection of the blacks. men who not only speak English well, but who are washed and" clothed in –An incident that has recently oc- their right mind." curred illustrates the ch'1racter of the
The Missionary Review of the World — November 1889
OF ' BRAZIL, from a ~hbtograph taken on 7th September, [888, the day after the orR"anization of the Synod. AN OB1ECT
on the "Race Question.' The brother in black is an elder elected to represent a white constituency, for the grace of God that is in him. The red man's hlood is manifestly in the veins of the young licentiate on the lower step. The majority of the native ministers can not be distinguished from the Anglo-saxon missionaries. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XII. No. It.-Old Series.–NOVEMBER.–VoL. II. No.l1.-NewSerie..
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSION S.
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY IN THE ORIENT.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS" IN THE AUGUST REVIEW.
THE missionary is just now somewhat to the front. His presence in the world is nothing new, but the attention he is attracting at present is phenomenal. He figures largely in the religious, and often in thp. secular press, with now and then a place in the foreign telegrams. He is in half the monthlies and all the quarterlies. He is frequently a subject of comment in books of travel and exploration. He appears in the role of a foreign correspondent, and is on the platform of religious conventions at home, and in the pulpits of our churches. A theological controversy rages about him and his func~ tion in current discussion which has its echoes even in the novels of the day. Dr. Munger, in the Forum for last June, has a spirited article with the suggestive title, "What is the Missionary Doing?" He credits him generously and kindly with a general uplifting and civilizing function where the world most needs a helping hand, but proceeds serenely to justify him from any complicity in what he considers the recently-exploded theory that men require the gospel thisside of the grave. 'rhe missionary's contributions to various departments of knowledge are growing into a respectable library. He has a remarkable following of monthly reviews and magazines, which seem to be exclusively devoted to the cause he represents, and circle about him and the work he is doing. He handles millions of dollars annually, and requires societies and boards and secretaries and treasurers, and in Borne circumstances even ambassadors and consuls, to give him advice and support. He is dined, and comes near being wined also, at some of the most coveted tables at home and abroad. He is in many cases trusted and honored by the rulers of foreign countries and has a remarkable influence in the social, intellectual, moral and religious development of the awakening nations of the East. He is sometimes an obscure or indirect factor in politics and commerce, although usually he gives close attention to his own special business. Personally he is an object of considerable. scrutiny and comment, which, although
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY IN THE ORmNT. ~ov
usually favorable, is sometimes quite otherwise. What he is doing, how he lives, what he accomplishes, whether he has any business to be where he is, whether he is faithful in his duty, whether he is "having an easy time of it" or enduring the requisite amount of ,hardship, whether he is married or single, whether he has children and what he is going to do with them, whether he rides in a "pony carriage" or walks, whether he has copies of the Oentury and the Independent on his table, whether he has too many" comforts," whether he has any" culture" and how much; does he dare to be wealthy, or allow loving hearts at home to brighten his exile with a few" alabaster boxes" from Tiffany'S or Steinway's-in short, is he to be recognized or repudiated; is he genuine or is he a fraud; is he a" success" or is he a "failure"? Such are some of the minor currents of thought which seem to drift into little whirlpools about him.
In the meanwhile the missionary goes quietly and patiently on with his work, than which, for serious responsibility, and far-reaching influence, and fragrance of spirit, and charm of unselfish love, and power of uplifting and transforming energy, we know no higher and sweeter task for loving hearts to plan and human hands to do. He is undisturbed by criticisms, undismayed by difficulties, undaunted in purpose, unflinching in his loyalty to the sublime commission he holds from those pierced hands which rule the ages. He believes ina whole world of possibilities for this present existence, and in better and sweeter hopes which may brighten the future of even the most degraued souls. He is confident of a coming triumph which will thrill and gladden the world.
We have spoken of the welcome he receives from rulers and high officials in many of the countries whither he goes, but this is not always the case. In some lands his work is at present stoutly opposed, and he himself is uot altogether welcome, but is regarded with considerable distrust and disfavor. What to do with the missionary is just now a pressing problem in Turkish official circles. Where did he come from? who sent him here? what is his business? how did he get so thoroughly at home among the people? 'how has he accomplished so much before we knew what he was about? what is to be the outcome of his work, and what is the best way to deal with him? These are questions of both state and church at the Ottoman Porte. The missionary, in fact, seems to have unconsciously arranged a sort of "surprise party" to the Turkish parsonage, and as is often the case in those well-intended affairs the party surprised is somewhat embarrassed by the excess and variety of the gifts thrust upon him. In the traditions of the Ottoman Foreign Office there has never appeared a hint or a warning of an American invasion. In the rogues' g,allery of the Turkish police, although we may find pretty much every type of European and Asiatic physiognomy, there is no portrait of the American. missionary or his English colleague, unless possibly it is a very recent addition. The natives of India are said to look upon Englishmen as "very uncomfortable works of God." We suspect the Moslem officials of Turkey, were they to speak their minds freely, would pronounce the missionary to be a painful eccentricity of Providence by which their customary spirit of resignation to the. dispensations of divine sovereignty is sorely taxed. Let us distinguish here sharply between the views of Moslem officials and the Christian (and to some extent even the Mohammedan) populations of Turkey, for among the latter the missionary has had a warm and beautiful welcome. It is in both Moslem and Christian circles the hierarchy rather than the people who oppose him.
Sixty years ago and all was going on well. The Turkish authorities ruled in church and state with unquestioned supremacy; the Moslem was in his lofty position of religious, social, intellectual, and political dignity, and the Christian was in his rightful and proper condition of humiliation. It was the Moslem's duty to tolerate and endure. It was the Christian's privilege to exist, and his only safety was to bear with abject submission whatever injury or indignity the Moslem chose to inflict upon him. Christian communities were permitted to live unmolested provided they paid tribute and kept within bounds, and meekly attended to their own affairs. They were not to make any effort to get on, or improve their condition, or assert their ·existence ; much less to enter into any competition with the Moslem in any sphere of life. The idea of any effort on the part of the Christian to convert the Moslem or even argue the matter of religiou with him, was too dangerous and absurd to be thought of. To this day no Oriental Christian is attracted by this project, and is disposed to pray with the devout Anglican: "0 Lord, give us peace in our time."
The advent of the Protestant missionary has brought remarkable changes in many directions. His influence at first was not discovered. He was at work many years before the Turk realized he was there. He established his schools, made the acquaintance of the people, gathered his congregations, translated his Bibles, trained his native helpers, prepared religious and educational books, circulated his tracts, stimulated thought, awakened inquiry, carried conviction to many hearts, and sent the thrill of a new life through the stagnant East, and it was not until his work had assumed large proportions, with permanent buildings, and rapidly growing apparatus, and far reaching influence, that the Turk became aroused and restless. He has awakened slowly, and rubbed his eyes lazily, and even taken fragmentary naps in the process, while now and then he has hurled his arms wildly about as if determined to hurt somebody or break some- thing, until in the year 1889 he seems to have his eyes fairly open, and what does he see? If he should take the pains to survey the ground carefully he would find 185 organized churches, 200 church buildings, 70,000 Protestants, 15,200 communicants, and would be obliged to take note of an average annual increase of about 1,500 to the membership of the mission churches.
He would find, all told, inclnding the English and German missionaries residing chiefly in Palestine, and the Kaiserswerth sisters, about four hundred foreigners, male and female, engaged in mission work within the bounds of his Empire. Of these, 135 are ordained ministers of the gospel, and 20 are medical and lay missionaries, who, with their wives, and over one hundred single ladies, make up the total, of which probably four-fifths are Americans. He would light upon about six hundred localities where mission work is visibly established, and from which it radiates. He would find nearly two thousand native assistants engaged in the employ of these foreigners, many of them educated and accomplished preachers and teachers.
He would visit six American colleges, some of them well endowed, and occupying permanent buildings, and representing an investment of American money not less than $800,000. They are located at Oonstantinople, Marsovan, Harpoot, Aintab, Beirut and Ossiut. He would listen to the roll call of 1,200 names, as these college students gathered at their accustomed places. He would find them studying the ordinary branches of a liberal education, some of them pursuing advanced professional courses-at present about fifty in medicine, and seventy in theology-peering into science, turning over history, scanning the record of the House of Othman, weighing creeds in the balances. studying the Bible, listening to the gospel, receiving helpful and invigorating moral influences, having their lives shaped and guided by the truth of God and the inspiration of His Spirit, and growing into a type of manliness and culture that the Turk has never yet seen in his empire. Having finished with the colleges, our Turkish committee of investigation could be escorted to over seven hundred schools of all grades.. with 40,000 pupils in attendance. They could visit the mission presses, where 40,000,000 pages were printed last year, and issued in the shape of Bibles, religious and educational works, tracts, newspapers, Sunday-school lessons, leaflets, etc. There are issued by the various missions five weekly and six monthly papers, the latter mostly for Sabbath-school children. Upon the catalogue of the mission press in Beirut are 380 separate publications. The medical missionary work must not be passed by. Fully one hundred thousand patients are treated annually, if we include the 14 medical missions and the 20 hospitals and dispensaries of English, German and American societies.
If the influence of these missionary activities had been confined to the Oriental Ohristian communities, the Turkish Government would, not probably have interfered. The authorities seem to have gra:ve suspicions, however, that Moslems were being reached and influenced. Bibles and tracts and other volumes of mission literature were circulating among them; their children were attending mission schools; a desire for education was springing up ; a spirit of inquiry. was manifest; conversions were occurring here and there; a secret tendency toward liberal views cropped out in some quarters; new sects, like the Shathaleyeen, which, a1though nominally Moslem, were inclined to accept doctrines and practices suspiciously Christian in their character, began to appear; the Ottoman dynasty, representing the Turkish Khalifat, became conscious that its official grip, both religious and military, was being loosened upon not only the various politicallyallied or semi-Mohammedan nationalities of the empire, as the Druze, Nusairiyeh, Metawaleh~and Bedawin, but upon the Moslems of the Arab stock also, residing in Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt.
It must be also a very disquieting reflection to the anxious Turk that other agencies, entirely independent of all missionary operations and from an entirely different quarter, have been at work during the last fifty years, all pushing steadily in one direction, viz. : the political dismemberment of his empire, and the introduction of reforms in the interest of his Christian subjects throughout the Levant. Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Servia, Roumania, Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia have been cut off from the northern section of the Balkan Peninsula. Greece has won her independence, and by recent changes in her frontier has included Thessaly in her dominion. Russia has secured a small section of northeastern Asia Minor, including Kars, Batum and Ardahan, and will be ready again at the first favorable opportunity to unsheath her sword for the possession of Constantinople. Mt. Lebanon has been made a Christian province, under the protection of the European powers. Syria is in imminent danger of a French protectorate, should any circumstances occur to render such a move possible. Palestine, and especially Jerusalem, is tacitly in foreign control, as the Turk can hardly walk the streets of the Holy City without treading on European toes. Russian buildings by the cubic acre are going up at Jerusalem, and the Powers of Europe keep vigilant guard over every square inch of property in the holy places. A railway is now projected from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and its charter is already in the hands of English capitalists, so that our modern. pilgrim will soon buy an "excursion ticket" to Jerusalem and get his "baggage checked" for the Holy City. What an intrusion of the nineteenth century to have a modern locomotive puffing up Mt. Zion?
The Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula, where they are not entirely independent, are restless and rebellious. The mysterious Mahdi hides in the Soudan and is a constant menace to the Ottoman Khalifat. From the days of Mohammed-Ali Egypt has been ooly.a nominal vassal, and now England is in possession, and mZah alone knows if slll:l will ever move out. Cyprus, off the coast of Asia Minor and twelve honrs from Syria, is under the English flag, and a mysterious protectorate of Asia Minor is latent in English policy, the exact meaning of which probably neither Turkish nor English statesmanship would be willing to define until circumstances arise which make it desirable to give it whatever interpretation is a convenience to the parties interested. Algiers and Tunis have gone to France, and Tripoli is conveniently near to Italy. The Black Sea is once more a Russian lake, in defiance of the Treaty of Paris. The splendid" Orient-Express" train, without change of cars from Paris to Constantinople, now shoots down through the whole length of the Balkan Peninsula until it stops under the shadow of the Sublime Porte. A branch line to Salonica is also ready for use. The Turkish ironclads lie rusting and rotting in the Golden Rorn. The imperial finances are fermenting and threatening to explode in the very precincts of the Seraglio. Turkey is in sore straits, and God's will is mysterious.
Yet, despite these changes and harassing troubles within and without, Turkey still exercises an efficient and. increasingly defiant control over her internal affairs. Nothing which has been done, either by the great ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning, afterward Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, who was prominent at the Porte from 1812 to 1858, or by the united diplomatic efforts of Europe since then, has ever secured the slightest recognition on the part of the Turkish Government of the' liberty of the Moslem to change his creed. The Ratti-Sharif of Gulhane in 1839-which has been caned the 'I.'urkish Magna Charta-the Ratti-Rumayun in 1856, the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, all of which, so far as they refer to the Christian subjects of the Porte, amount in substance to a declaration on the part of Turkey that she will give entire religious liberty and full toleratIOn and equal rights to all her subjects if Europe will not meddle, have never for an instant been acknowledged by the Turk as referring to the Moslem, or recognized as securing to him any liberty of conscience whatever. Every time a Christian diplomat, or a missionary organization, or even the united corps of European ambassadors at Constantinople has quoted these or any other official utterances of the Turkish Government, in behalf of a Moslem's liberty to accept Christianity, the Turkish autporities from the Sultan downward have either repudiated the idea, or quietly and effectively snubbed it. The old Moslem law that the penalty of apostasy is death is to-day the inexorable rule in Turkey. The Ottoman authorities will not publicly execute, as was formerly the custom, but will arrest upon some false criminal charge, as for example desertion from the army, or attempting to avoid the draft, or some imaginary misdemeanor, and will transfer the victim from one prison to another and put him out of the way by some secret means. If any fanatical Moslem privately assassinates the victim, or his neighbors or friends poison him, no questions are asked and the government is saved all trouble. Even in Egypt, where there is considerable liberty, no convert is safe from private conspiracy by fanatical Moslems.
If we seek for the reason for this inflexible persistence in the desperate methods of the old Mohammedan bigotry we find it in the instinct of self-preservation, and also in the undying spirit of Islamic pride and fauaticism. Turkey is on the defensive. Islam sees that it is a struggle for existence. The 'furk re!tlizes that as things are now tending he must go to the wall, and Moslems must be left behind in the race. The Christian communities are coming forward so rapidly in wealth and numbers, and rising so conspicuously to positions of social respectability, education, influence, refinement and general culture, that the Moslem feels himself to be sadly behind the times and out of date. While he clings to his religion and to the old Islamic traditions and practices he cannot compete with the Christian in the race of civilization and improvement. He must, therefore, by all means at his command, strive to set back this rising tide of missionary influence and especially take stringent measures to prevent the Mohammedan constituency of the empire from coming at all within the range of its movement.
The Turkish Government, representing both church and state, is reluctant to allow and cannot ignore a social and religious revolution of this kind. Islam must not lose its proud position; its prestige and glory must not be dimmed. Liberality, so the Moslem reasons, would be fatal to both church and state. Self-reform is both dangerous and impossible. Islam needs no reformation. Amalgamation with other existing social and religious organizations is self-annihilation. Joining the march of progress and civilization is losing its distinctive identity. Concessions to Christianity are disparagements to Islam. The Sultan himself cannot make them without putting himself in danger. Christianity can be and has been tolerated in Christians just as many other nuisances are submitted to because you cannot get rid of them, but never can Christianity be tolerated in Moslems. Liberty of conscience in this sense is treason to heaven.
In many other respects mission work is an offense to the Turk. The translation of the Bible into so many languages of his empire,- the united work of the Bible societies and missionaries-the industrious and successful distribution of the Scriptures, at the present time, amounting to about 100,000 full or partial copies a year, and making a total of 2,250,000 copies since organized work of this kind began in,the Levant, is an impertinence which so annoys him that he l!Ieizes innocent colporteurs and puts them in prison as coihmon criminals, where they often stay for months. He will do this even though he has officially sanctioned the issue of every book the colporteur is selling. The busy activities of mission presses, -and the literary renaissance of the present generation, make him impatient, and his censorship of the press is both tormenting and amusing in its furious stringency. A solemn order was recently promulgated that hence- forth no mission press should have more than one en trance and that by the front door in full view of the police. Back doors to presses are too suspicious to be allowed. Orders have been given that every book henceforth to be printed must be sent in manuscript entire to the authorities for approval. An existing pUblications must at once be submitted. Strange to say, however, the official indorsement of the Imperial Ministry of Public Instruction has been obtained upon the Bible in every language of the empire.
Just at present the government has a severe spasm of restrictive oversight of all foreign books and periodicals. Everything bearing upon missions, Islam, Turkey, Oriental travel, Eastern history and the religious and political condition of the East, is at once confiscated. Encyclopredias are in special disfavor; they know too much and say too much on a great variety of subjects. The letter m is an exception- ally dangerous one, and if the book is not finally retained, it is re- turned with a portion or all of the letter m cut out. What propriety in having Mohammed talked about in the same breath with Mephis- topheles and monk and mule, or Mohammedanism with mythology and missions and malaria, or Moslem with Mormon and mummy and mIsSIOnary. Among the books recently confiscated at the custom houses are Robinson's" Researches," Thompson's "Land and the Book," Murray's "Handbook of Palestine," a copy of the" Schaff-Her- zog Encyclopredia" and of the" Encyclopredia Britannica," Pierson's "Orisis of Missions," Clark's" Ten Great Religions," English or French translations of the Koran, histories of Russia, and all reports and periodicals referring to missions. At a recent holocaust at a prominent sea-port of the empire 600 foreign books under condemnation were burned by the authorities. It is said that an old Moslem law was promulgated with reference to the famous" Apology of AI-Kindy" that any house in which it was found should be destroyed and forty houses around it. Who knows but we shall yet hear that it is the will of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan that the mission presses shall be destroyed and every house around them within a radius of half a mile!
Educational work is also a serious grievance to the Turk. He has closed many of the schools-at one time over thirty were closed in Syria and Palestine, and policemen forcibly removed all Moslem chilo dren, and stringent prohibitory orders were issued forbidding Moslems to send their children. A law was recently framed forbidding all re- ligious instruction in schools, but was never promulgated. By the good offices of Mr. Straus at Constantinople and Mr. Bissinger at Beirut several of these schools have been opened, but not all. The Turk publicly orders them opened and at the sam~ time takes measures to havethem kept closed. It is almost impossible to get a permit to purchase or build for school or church purposes. In some places all right of public assembly for religious worship has been denied. School teachers have been arrested as disturbers of the peace; churches have been closed and a government seal put on the door. The authorities are just now very jealous of even the foreign press, and European or American periodicals and journals are watched to see if anything of an unfriendly or critical ·tenor against Islam or Turkey appears. If so the magazine is not allowed to enter the emp-ire.
A conflict between Ohristianityand Islam is coming on apace; it will not be a conflict of arms, but a struggle for moral supremacy. Ohristianity claims the right in the name of her Divine Master to win her way in the world wherever she can by the use of weapons which He Himself has put in her hands-persuasion, entreaty, argument, the demonstration of her great foundation truths, the appeal of divine love in sacrifice, the touch of human sympathy, the word of cheer, the deed of kindness, the helpful ministry, the gentle reproof and the solemn warning. In this great ministry of instruction and reformation she has the indorsement-in fact, she is the embodiment of the highest authority in the universe. She' cannot concede that any earthly authority has the moral right-although it may for a time have the power-to forbid her entrance or banish her agencies, if she is true to her message and limits herself to the simple methods and the spiritual weapons she is entitled to use. The world is slow to recognize the fact that the consciences of all men are free. No authority has been given to any human power of church or state to rule the moral nature. God has created it free. Its freedom is essential to its moral accountability. When, therefore, a civil power undertakes to prohibit by force all contact of Ohristian truth with the consciences of its subjects, it is assuming an attitude which is an 'offense to the highest moral rights of the race, and usnrping .. function which does not rightly belong to human governments. We do not deny that much wrong has been done in this direction in the name of a false Ohristianity, but never with the sanction of the Ohristianity which the Bible teaches, and the Divine Master inspires and leads. Let the Ohristianity of our century, and especially of our beloved America, which we believe to be ripening into something nobler, sweeter, and more beneficent than that of long generations past, declare for a world-wide liberty of the conSCIence, and seek by all gentle and proper means to free the down-trodden nations from spiritual slavery, and bring mankind into that noble and genial atmosphere where the soul can have untrammeled intercourse with its Oreator and freely seek its own highest welfare as God gives it light.
THE MINISTRY OF MONEY
THE MINISTRY OF MONEY.-No. II.
THE MOTIVES AND METHODS OF GIVING.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] "Why and how shall I give f This question is answered at length in 2 Oorinthians, 8th and 9th chapt(.lrs.
The dignhy and gravity of the subject of Ohristian giving may be seen from the space here given to it, two entire chapters in this epistle being devoted to this theme. Giving lies lowest and highest in the structure of Ohristian life: lowest, for the idea of stewardship toward God and fellowship with man is at the bottom; highest, for. the ripest, richest fruit of godliness is unselfish benevolence.
The Levitical system of giving met all needs of church support and church work. The atonement money, Levitical tithes, temple tithes, and poor tithes, with the first things and free-will offerings, left no want unsupplied.
After the dispersion, the Jews and pJ'oselytes in foreign lands sent to Jerusalem annually the sacred money, or temple tribute, which was paid as a matter of patriotism and of piety. This usage may have suggested a contribution from the Gentile churches for the Mother Ohurch at Jerusalem during the extreme destitution which came of the social revolution, persecution, an overstocked labor market, and famine. At the first suggestion the matter was taken up eagerly at Oorinth, but not being followed up by systematic effort, easily gave place to lukewarmness, if not opposition, until disciples endeavored to hide behind complaints that Paul was too exacting in his demands, or was even seeking private advantage. Oonfident that the heart of the Oorinthian converts would react in favor of what was right, Paul sought to rekindle the spirit of alms-giving. Such is the historic introduction to these two chapters.
It would be impossible to exaggerate the supreme value of this perfect plea for Ohristian giving; for, in the course of this argument, every principle upon which giving is founded is distinctly stated, and every motive which could influence Ohristian giving is directly appealed to; hence, when this argument is thoroughly mastered, nothing remains to be added.
Examining and analyzing both chapters, we shall find fourteen grand divisions in the argument; half of them may represent princi~ pIes, and the other half motIves; though it will be often apparent that motives and principles run into each other. For unity and brevity we disregard the order of verses, and group the seven principles and the seven, motives in logical arrangement.
I.-PRINCIPLES, OF GIVING.
1. The basis of acceptable giving is self-giving. (See viii: 5.) "They first gave their own selves nnto the Lord." Oompare Psalm 1. where God teaches that the wicked who hate instruction and cast His words behind them cannot offer acoeptable sacrifice. This principle is fundamental, but is constantly violated. When we set out to get mqney, it is often without regard to the way we get it, the source from which it comes, or the effect upon the giver. We go forward to collect money even for great Christian enterprises without reference to faith in God, to His approval of our methods, or to the encouragement of self-righteousness in the wicked man who thinks his gifts atone for his neglect of God. Paul calls attention to Macedonian consecration as the triumph of the grace of God, and so he gives us the first great principle: the grace of God ,given becomes the grace of God ,givin,g.
2. The condition of 'aCceptable giving. (See 2 Cor. viii: 12.) This condition embraces two things: (a) It must be with a willing mind. (b) It must be in proportion to ability.
Here it will be seen that the principle suggests a motive; for we are asked only to give what the heart prompts and the ability justifies; hence, it is no exacting demand which God makes of us, or yoke of bondage which He lays upon us.
3. The law of equality. (2 Cor. viii: 13-15.) This embraces four particulars: (a) Individuality; every man is to be a giver; not even the poorest is excepted.
(b) There is to be equality by participation in burden-bearing, and for the obvious reason that the burden which all bear ceases to be a bnrden. " Many shoulders make a light load."
(c) There is to be equality, again, in mutual dependence. Those who are in need of help to-day may be helpers of the needy to-morrow. (See verse 14.) There is a strange law of circularity; the big wheel of fortune keeps turning, and those who are at the top to-day are at the bottom by and by. Hence, he who refuses to be almoner when he has means to give forfeits his claim on the gifts of others when the circumstances have been reversed.
(d) This law of equality contemplates a kind of brotherhood of believers, in which there shall be neither monopoly of wealth on the one hand nor extreme destitution on the other. This is beautifully illustrated by the reference to the manna, in the fifteenth verse. (Compare Exodus xvi: 16-1S.) No man in gathering the manna found that he had either more or less than the omer to which he was entitled.
4. The law of bounty. (2 Cor. ix: 5-S.) This means that when our gifts are contributed, it shall be without unwillingness, regret, or a disposition to recall what we have given. It includes five things: (a) It should be made up beforehand, or laid by in store. (Compare 1 Cor. xvi: 2.) Then our bounty is always ready against the appeal of need. (b) It should be a matter of principle, not of impulse or caprice. (0) It should be from habit; constant and systematic, and not simply occasional. (d) Giving should be the fruit of deliberate choice, not of hasty decision. (e) And, finally, it should be with cheerfulness, and never with reluctance.
In this way our gifts to the Lord will not be dependent for their regularity or sufficiency upon the state of the weather when the collection is taken, or the happy manner in which the, cause may be presented, or the feeling which may actuate us at the time, or the amount of money we happen just then to have on hand. Such principles as these would lift our entire system of giving out of the mire of its present wretched inadequacy. Think of the certainty and satisfactoriness of such a. system of giving in contrast with the uncertainty and precariousness of any other.
5. The law of quantity. How much shall I give? (2 Oor. ix: 6, 7.) (a) This will differ with every individual's measure of knowledge, ability and Ohristian growth. (b) It will be according to how large a harvest he both desires and expects to reap. We cannot but think that this sixth verse has a deeper thought than that which lies on the surface. There IS some sowing which we are justified in doing sparingly, while there are other fields so wide and so important that only he will sow with sparing hand who is governed by selfish greed. (c) The amount we give will be apportioned to the extremity and urgency of the need which appeals to us, and it is right that it should.
6. The law of quality. The spirit with which we give is far more important in God's eyes than the amount we bestow. (2 Oor. ix: 7.) (a) Motive determines the quality of our gifts. The question is not how much have I given? but, How much did I mean to give and wish to give? If I give a five-dollar gold piece, where I intended to give a twenty-five cent silver piece, I get credit with God only for twenty-five cents. If I give under constraint I get credit only for what I would have given with the constraint removed; hence, (b) My gifts must not be grudgingly bestowed; (0) Nor of necessity; that is, under compulsion; (d) But cheerfully as unto the Lord, as His servant and steward. Thus it will be seen that the inward moral condition determines quality. There must be deliberate preference. Grief at parting with our possessions, constrained giving for the sake of respectability, reputation, social position, or the urgency and importunity of the appeal, vi- tiates the character 0/1he gift. See Deut. xv: 10. To illustrate: if you give a hundred dollars because your neighbor has given the same, and you are too proud to seem behind him, you have given nothing; you have simply bouJht your own respectability. Again, if you give a hundred dollars to have your name appear in the published list of generous donors, you have given nothing; you have paid so much for popular applause. Again, if you give simply to get rid of an importunate beggar you have given nothing; you have simply bougkt _off a nuisance.
7. The law of faith in God. (See 2 Cor. ix: 8-11.) We are here taught that from first to last our giving is to be the result or outwork- ing of our vital relation to God.
(a) Faith that, in giving, I am simply heeding God's call; that the hand of the poor or needy stretched out to me is really God's hand. (b) Faith that my giving is really the work of His all-sufficient grace in me; that He is working in me to will and to do. (0) Faith that the supply of the means to give is of God; that of His own I am giving Him. (d) Faith that I shall suffer no serious lack for what I have be- stowed in answer to His call. (See verse 10.) This fine figure will bear examination: our substance is 4ere compared to seed which may either be sown for a harvest, or given to one who needs to make of it bread. If I, from the seed I reserve for the sowing, give to one who is in danger of starving, God knows how to make it up to me in my harvest. Money is therefore presented to us in two aspects: as seed of a harvest, as bread for human want; and we are warned against the subtle temptation of using it all as seed instead of giving it as bread. (e) Faith in the divine approval. (See verse 7.) God loves the cheer- ful giver. If therefore my giving is an act of faith, I am sure of God's approving smile. if) Hence, last of 3011, the law of faith includes the confidence of an abundant recompense. What I give, cast as seed on the waters, I shall find, even though after many days.
H.-MOTIVES TO GIVING.
1. The imitation of a beautiful example. (2 Cor. viii: 1-5.) Paul was eye-wItness of the zeal of the Macedonians. Out of their per- secution came both joy in God and loss of worldly goods; yet this joy and loss united to produce a rich liberality, or, literally, single- mindedness, that looked away from their own estate to the greater need of their brethren. John Howard says, "Our superfluities should give way to the comforts of the poor, our comforts to their necessities, and even our necessities to their extremities:"
The beauty of this Macedonian liberality lay in three things: (a) It was out of deep poverty, not of abundance. (b) It was in pro- portion to their ability and even beyond it. (e) It was spontaneous, entreating, rather than being entreated; instead of yielding only be- fore importunate appeal, they besought that they might have the privilege of giving, and so exhibit the true fellowship of all saints.
2. The necessity of a full chorus of graces. (Compare 2 Peter i : 5-8.) Grace is single in bestowment, but multiform in development and manifestation. We are like reservoirs in which a single stream emp- ties, but out of which pour many streams at different heights.
Paul says (2 Cor. viii: 7): "Thererore as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in .your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace' also." The emphasis is on this grace of giving. It is the highest up, hence the stream must rise higher in the reservoir, in order to supply this grace, than the others he has mentioned; in other words, faith, utterance, knowledge, diligence, love, all lie on a lower level than unselfish giving. In a sense, all imparted grace is in order to the imparting.
He who in anything lives to get, defeats God's order. The end of all getting is giving; and God has connected giving with growing.
3. The practical test of the reality and vitality of love. (2 Cor. viii: 8.) The grand question is whetherlove is a gush of sentiment or a law of life. Dr. Judson said that his hand was shaken nearly off and his hair almost clipped from his head by those who would let missions die for want of aid. A great deal of impression and conviction wastes through sentimentalism. It is vain to sing" Send Thy word and let it fly," unless we give something to make it fly.
(a) Love is practically tested byseH-sacrifice. (b) Itssacrifice, however, must be voluntary, not obligatory. Love knows no debt but love, and acts from privilege, not from cold duty.
4. The image of Christliness. (2 Cor. viii: 9.) Here is put before us the grace of the Lor.d Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich. This motive includes two things: (a) The law of self-denial. We are to consider what Christ gave up, and what He took, and, taking up our cross, follow Him. He died for all, that we which live should not henceforth live unto ourselves; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
.(b) The law of gratitude. Appreciating His self-denial for us, and His identification with the least of His suffering saints, our gratitude for what He has done for us should impel us to similar sacrifice for the sake of other members of His mystical body.
5. T hegood name of the brotherhood. (See 2 Cor. viii: 21-24.) The churches form one fraternity, bound by living links. Paul had undertaken, in -behalf of Corinth, to pledge their aid in this emergency; hence, the good name of the church and of the apostle was involved. It was necessary that they should make a fitting contribution: (a) To show their fellowship with their brethren. (b) To justify the reasonable hope of the apostle. (0) To fulfill the obligations which he had assumed as their representative.
6. The contagion of a true zeal. (2 Cor. ix: 2.) All good example insensibly influences others. Faith, courage, enthusiasm, generosity, are contagious; so is meanness. Every man is responsible for the evil that hides behind his own unfaithfulness. A whole congregation may wait for one man who refuses to do his duty, or may be inspired and stimulated by one pious, faithful, prayerful example.
THE GREAT CRISIS IN JAPAN
7. The glory of God. (2 Cor. ix: 11-15.) This is to b.e the crowning motive iu everything. Paul shows, iu the conclusion of his argument, that the exhibition of the grace of giving brings the highest honor to God. This he exhibits under two principal aspects: (a) The effect on the receiver. His wants are supplied. He is led to give thanks unto God for the bounty received through other dis- ciples, and to see the practical evidence that their professed sUbjection unto the gospel of Christ is a real partaking of the divine nature; for only grace could so soften the heart as to turn the selfish hoarder into an unselfish giver.
(b) The effect on the giver. He becomes enriched in his own soul, fitted for higher service-the power to impl1rt grace grows with the exercise of the imparting grace, and so the giver is increased in the fruits of righteousness, and enriched in everything to all bountiful- ness. (0) Last of all, God is glorified in the realization of a community of love, which is" as the days of heaven on the earth." Givers and receivers become more closely bound in the bond of a tender and sym- pathetic affectIOn; and those who have bestowed their alms upon other disciples receive in return the legacy of their love and prayers.
It is suggested in the" Speakers' Commentary" that the unl:lpeak- able gift, for which Paul gives thanks at the very end of this sublime discourse, is not our Lord Jesus Christ, but, as the context seems to . justify, this heavenly community realized on earth, in which all the members of Christ's mystical body, though strangers to each other in the 11esh, are one with each other by the spirit; and so this Christian grace of giving helps to bring forward that consummation of prophecy, namely, God's unspeakable gift, the restoration of the universal father- hood of God and the universal brotherhood of man!
THE GREAT CRISIS IN JAPAN.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D., NEW YORK.
AT the students' annual meeting in Northfield, a letter was read from Mr. L. D. Wishard, giving a sketch of his experiences in Japan during the last few months. He is endeavoring to extend the Young Men's Christian Association movement among the colleges and churches of the East, and his first field of labor was the Doshisha College at Kyoto, where there are over 700 students. Fully one-half of these were already professing Christians when Mr. Wishard reached the place. Daily meetings with personal conversations were held for two weeks, and as a result 103 students were received into the College Church.
At Osaka he held several crowded meetings in the Young Men's Christian Association building, which seats over 1,200. He was also invited to address a large gathering of students in the Government College building, the first meeting ever held within its walls in the in- terest of Christianity. A. Y. M. O. Association, composed of the students of this government institution, was formed soon after. "The last day," says Mr. Wishard, "was enriched by such outpourings olthe Spirit as I have never before witnessed in Japan, and seldom in America. On Sunday morning, notwithstanding the heavy rain, the building was full. Over 100 students arose to accept Christ, including many Government students." They returned late in the afternoon and spent two hours in an inquiry meeting, and also filled the building at night.
A Sunday was also spent in Kobe conducting meetings in a school of young women, over sixty of whom professed a desire to accept Christ.
At Tokyo for several weeks special meetings were held in the MeijiGaku In, the Presbyterian College, where twenty were baptized and ten more were expecting to receive baptism soon after. As there was no association hall in Tokyo, the work was hampered, but the difficulty is soon to be remedied. A lot has been purchased and a suitable building will be erected within five minutes' walk of the Imperial University and the Preparatory Oollege, which together number 1,700 students, while within twenty minutes from the place, are the leading Oommercial and Normal Colleges, containing a thousand more. During the present autumn a Ohristian Association building will be erected on this spot.
Meetings were held also at Nagasaki, the famous center of the bloody persecution of the Roman Catholic Ohristians two centuries ago. There and elsewhere the same wonderful encouragement attended the efiorts made to interest the young men. It may well be doubted whether in any other country of the world the young men as a class are so responsive to Ohristian influence as those of Japan.
There certainly is no better place for establishing young men's Christian Associations, and there is great reason to hope that through these as well as through the native churches formed by the missionaryorganizations, a self-propagating Christianity will be widely and rapidly extended. Who can realize that ouly seventeen years ago the first Christian church was organized in Japan?
On the other hand it is well to remember that forces hostile to Christianity are aroused to new efiorts. A large Buddhist college is being established at Kyoto, in which Japanese who have studied the Sanscrit and Pali languages are to give instruction. A new temple, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, has also been reared in the sacred city, of which some of the largest timbers were dragged from distant provinces by ropes twisted from the consecrated hair of Buddhist women. These large ropes are now hung up in the temple to show the devotion of the people to their religion. Where can such an expression of consecrated giving be excelled in Christian lands?
Meanwhile, there are in Japan several colleges neither Christian nor Buddhist, in which advanced instruction is given in every department of science, but whose influence is decIdedly hostile to religion. And in the new literature of the country, now imported ILnd in part translated, the modern agnostic philosophy, which has so • much in common with the old systems of the East, is extensively read by the educated classe swhile the coarse assailments of Ingersoll are sought for by those of more vulgar tastes.
The term H missionary" has been rendered a little ambiguous since the advent of the American Unitarian, Mr. Knapp, who as his last word t)ounsels the Japanese to cling to their old faith. In a recent address before the English law school in Tokyo he is reported to have said: H I have no sympathy with those who are seeking to engraft bodily upon your national life a foreign religion. There are to be sure many features in that religion which are true and good. There are none of the great religions of the world which do not contain a great deal of truth. But as Japanese you have a religious past, and it is upon that, what- ever help you may receive from foreign sources, it is upon that, that you will build the structure of your future religion." Mr. Knapp has returned to this country to seek recruits for the proclamation of this gospel of sedatives.
At the same time there is in Japan a small following of theos- ophists who do not look with indifference upon the general ferment of new ideas which Buddhism has encountered, and they have sent a special messenger to India. to bring out that high priest of their order, Col. .Olcott. Iu a meeting of the Theosophical Society of Madras this Japanese messenger, Zeushiro Nagouchi, gave from the native stand- point a vivid pICture of the marvelous changes and the urgent demands of the times. The miracle of the railroads, telegraphs, electric lights, newspapers, steain presses, sewing machines, and postal facilities, as well as the incoming of "whiskey and cigarettes," was aptly presented; and the total change from the old ideas to the study of physics, photogra- phy, biology, astronomy, geology, metaphysics, materialism and Chris- tianity, was bemoaned. These, he said, were now the dominant topics of thought and conversation and the former civilization was fast being " dIsguised in foreign garments." Much of all this sad upheaval Mr. Nagouchi laid at the door of the missionaries who, he said, had largely met the desire of the people for western knowledge by estab- lishing colleges and primary schools in all parts of the land, and they were converting many of the people to their faith.
He complained that, whereas, the Japanese emperors were formerly warm supporters of the Buddhist temples and ritual, and many princes and princesses entered the monasteries, the present attitude of the Government was indifferent; that royal contributions to the tem- ples were now given only for the purpose of preserving the sacred im- perial tombs.
The priests, too, of the present period he regards as a bad lot, lazy, wasting their time in playing games, only occasionally repeating the Pitakas before the image of Lord Buddha, and that without knoMng aught of their meaning, and by their worthless lives alienating mil· lions of the faithful. "Many of them," said he, "have become free. thinkers and materialists; while seventy.two thousand one hundred and sixty-four temples are going to decay and many are already in ruins and cannot be rebuilt. About one hundred and seventy thou· sand Buddhist priests are disturbed from their long sleep by the many opposing forces which are now in motion in the phenomenally excited atmosphere of Japan. They are in a state of confusion. Some have become laymen. Some temples are rented to the public. Some have been changed into European hotels. Buddhist writings, once proudly and sacredly kept in the temples, are being sold. Old Japan is no more. '1'he old grandeur and prosperity of Buddhism, alas ! 'tis no more visible. What shall we do? How shall we wipe off the rust accumulated on the solid gold structure of Buddhism, so that it may outshine the new brass structure which they are trying to erect?"
After delivering this plaintive jeremiad, the speaker supplied his own answer. "The different Buddhist sects in Japan (there are over a dozen) must be united and every priest must be educated. To rescue our Buddhists from the thralldom of western vices we have thought of only one way. I have hinted to you what it is. It is to obtain the unselfish help of Col. Olcott, the reformer of religions. All Japanese Buddhists are now awaiting his visits and they have named him the Bodisat (the coming Buddha) of the nineteenth century."
In response to this call Col. Olcott has visited Japan. He has come and seen, but not conquered. His audiences are said to have been" disap. pointed at the shallowness of his pretensions, and il)was the opinion of leading Japanese and of foreigners alike that his mission was a failure."
But what a battle-field of truth and error do these conflicting forces present. The Christian Church never had a more inviting field of effort, and it was never more forcibly warned that only consecrated diligence can hope to win. In such a contest there must be no mere "playing at missions. I, Meager efforts, grudging expenditures, easy- going interest, will not suffice. There must be a moral earnestness commensurate with a nation's life, nay, with tho eternal claims of Christ and the glory of His kingdom.
There are special reasons for rejoicing at the work of the Young Men's Christian Associations, both in sending out instructors for the colleges and high schools and in establishing branch associations. They are such as these: (1) The young men who are likely to be reached are largely of the Samauri class, and they represent the native energy and life of the nation. (2) From this class the clergymen and teachers have thus far been mainly drawn. (3) The thought of a direct alliILnC}
THE HISTORIC CHURCHES OF THE EAST
between the Christian young men of America and those of Japan is inspiring, and it carries with. it an appeal which is sure to meet with large response. And who imagines that it will end with Japan? It is only another grand link in a chain of fellowship which will embrace the world.
THE HISTORIC CHURCHES OF THE EAST.
BY PROF. GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH.D., COLUMBUS, O.
AMONG th~ many perplexing problems of modern mission enter- prise none is more unique or arduous than that which is presented by the remnants and remains of the once so flourishing churches of the Orient. Throughout the Turkish Empire and Persia, in Abyssinia, Egypt and other historic lands of the venerable East, are found forms of Christian communions bearing names of prominence in the annals of the church, but now presenting a condition of affairs little more than a petrification of dogJlla, a mechanical formalism, and a sterility of Christian life that indicates clearly the need of a new and renewing evangelical spirit. The various sections of the Armenian Church, the Nestorians or Chaldee Christians "f Persia, together with their brethren, the Thomas Christians of India, the Monophysitic Copts in Egypt and their associates of the Abyssinian Church, as also the other modern representatives of the early Christian Church of the East, live virtually on the grand reminiscences of a glorious past, but have retained little more than the name and forms of those pioneer days of Oriental Christianity. The spiritual elements have been eliminated to such an extent through the incrustation of centuries of unprogressive conservatism that a ne.w life-blood of evangelical principles and spirit is an absolute necessity for the rejuvenation of what is now practically little more than a lifeless faith and a faithless life.
It is a matter of not a little interest to examine into the conditions and status of this mission problem, and even more into the causes that have brought them about. It requires no deep knowledge of history or psychology to see that the present condition of these churches cannot possibly be the mushroom growth of a night, or the sudden whims of a people or individual. Causes, chiefly ethnographic and historic, have conspired to produce these results, and to properly understand and appreciate the latter, which practically !Beans to estimate at the correct proportions the problem involved, requires a somewhat closer inspection of the former.
'fhe East is the original seat of Christianity. Ex Oriente lux expresses one of the most far-reaching truths in the annals of mankind. But the East did not remain the permanent abiding-place of the Christian Church, although it flourished there for centuries to a greater extent than is usually accepted. The majority of the Eastern people are Semitic in character. Christianity itself sprang from SemiticsQil. The fundamental ideas of Christianity are deeply embedded in the Old Testament revelation, the sacred volumes of a leading Semitic people. At least in His manners and methods, both personal and as a teacher, Christ was Jewish. The natural aptitude of the Semitic peoples for the development of religious thought is so great that the philosophy of history is a unit in ascribing to this family of nations the greatest agency in unfolding that factor which has been the most powerful in the history of human thought and action, namely, the religious. The Eastern people are accordingly by nature intensely religious in character. The prominence which the reasoning faculties have in the make-up of the Aryan or western character is there occupied by the heart and the feelings. The development of the logical sciences, of exact thought, of rationalizing tendencies is the product of Greek or Aryan soil. Aristotle and his system could never have sprung from Semitic sources. Arabic philosophy is only a mechanical adaptation of Aryan thought to Semitic molds.
Yet, strange to say, Christianity did not remain the permanent possession of peoples seemingly so well endowed by nature for its reception and acceptance. The Christian peoples are nearly all of Aryan, origin, and the spiritual inheritance of Shem has come into the posses- . sion of Japhet. And yet originally a good beginning was made with the establishment of Christianity on Oriental soil. The first country in which anything like a national church was established was Syria. Evidences are accumulating to show that at one time the Christians of the East were a much strouger element than is generally accepted, and that the statements of early church historians making no sn-.all claim in this direction are substantially correct. Only within the last few months has a new discussion been carried on about the famous Chinese-Nestorian stone, which was discovered in 1625 in Si-ngan fu, in Shensi, China, and contains the names, in Syriac and Chinese, of seventy bishops and priests of the Nestorian Church, who before the. year 781 A.D., when the tablet was set up, had engaged in missionan work among the Chinese. Scholars are practically a unit that the statements of this stone are correct. Southward as well as eastward Christianity spread rapidly. There are ample data on hand to show that in the seventh century, when Mohammedanism arose in the East and began its crusade of death and destruction on the Christian Church, the doctrines ,of Christ and the apostles had spread as widely in Arabia as they had in the Germany of that age. The Sinai peninsula is still full of Christian inscriptions, written in a Semitic dialect, and dating from those early centuries. In India, too, Christianity had gained a firm foothold, so that the indications were favorable for the Christianization of the East as completely as the West has been brought to the feet of the Nazarene. Such progress became possible through the energetic activity of the early Christians of the East. In
1889·1 'l'JtE JtISTOtuO cHtfMftE9 OF Till!: teAST
strange contrast to the conservatism and lethargy so natural to Oriental peoples, particularly the Semitic, the new gospel seemed to transform national peculiarities and impel its adherents to an active and aggressive propaganda of the faith. The early churches of the East were missionary churches; of this there can be no doubt. The status of the church from the fourth to the seventh and eighth centuries is evidence sufficient of this fact.
The causes that produced the subsequent and present stagnation and {}ecay were of two kindlil, internal and external. Historically the former precede the latter and consist in the great theological and Christological controversies of the fonrth and subsequent centuries, which, while subserving the good purposes and ends of elucidating the great truths of revelation in their length, breadth and depth, succee~ed also in dividing the churches of the East into fully a dozen and more of antagonizing elements. No new error was developed by any of the prominent teachers of the day but what found a larger or smaller number of adherents; and when the various great representative councils of the church officially condemned such errors, a schism and separation of a section of the church was sure to follow. In this way arose the various branches of the Eastern Church now yet existing in venerable ruins, the Monophysites, the Nestorians and others. In the nature of the case, the divisions thus produced were of a more decisive and determined character than any which could be caused by other agencies. It is one of the clearest lessons of the philosophy of history that the religious is the strongest factor and force controlling the destinies of men, both as nations and as individuals. It outweighs ethnological, historioal, and even the family relations, subordinating them all where its real or imagined interests are concerned. The deepest chasms that divide men are the result of a difference of religion, beliefs and faiths. To this must be added as a further consideration that unfortunately the centrifugal forces 'in Christianity have almost at all times been stronger than the centripetal; the tendencies toward divisions ever more powerful than the desire or work for union. Church history furnishes a sad commentary on the injunction and prayer of the Lord that" all should be one." Even the strongly unionizing spirit of the Christianity of the nineteenth century has not been able to do much more than effect an outward friendly attitude of the various sections of believers toward each other; while in the harmonizing of the iuner dividing elements practically little has been done, except in so far as the distinctive historical features of the various denominations are more or less ignored.
Among the Oriental people, where the religious is so much more an all-powerful factor in the determination of character aud history than it is in the western people, where other interests at least divide with the religious this prominence, such divisions and schisms enter the very mar-
THE HISTOIUO CItUROHll:S OF THE EAST. [No"
row and bones of the people as they do nowhere else. The sects and sectlets of the ancient Orient were more distinguished by a complete isolation from the influences that were active in the other sections of the church. Each saw in its own peculiar tenets, for which it had chosen or been condemned to such isolation, the reason and right of its existence, and recognized in the maintenance of such tenets the one object of its life. As at that age when the lesson of religious tolerance had not yet been learned, these separatistic movements were followed by persecutions, the adherence to such doctrinal peculiarities became all the more a matter of life and death for their devotees: That in the nature of the case such an adherence should, in the course of time, become purely a formal and mechanical matter, without the vital energy of a gospel spirit, was only a natural consequence. The kernel was national1y allowed to decay while the energies were devoted whol1y to the preservation of the hull. Hence it is that the distinguishing feature of Oriental Christianity is the determination of clinging ito their historic idiosyncrasies, while the spiritual soil out of which they should receive sustenance has lost its life-giving power. King Theodorus of Abyssinia, a man much in his way like Peter the Great of Russia, and naturally gifted as a ruler far beyond what is generally the case of Eastern potentates, was accustomed to discuss by the hour with Christian missionaries from the West the doctrine of the one person of Christ, and to see no violation of his pretended firm Christian faith when soon after he ordered the hands and feet of a hundred prisoners cnt off.
Such a preservation of the traditional doctrines and errors of the dif_ ferent churches became all the more the one object df existence when to the inner causes of decay there came also the outer one, particularly the struggle for life and death between Mohammedanism and Oriental Christianity. The followers of the false prophet of Mecca managed to cut Eastern Christianity into a large number of fragments and sections, and the only national church which escaped this fate was that of Abyssinia. There a stereotyped and formalistic type of Monophysitic Christianity has been engaged in a struggle for existence with Mohammedanism for nearly one thousand years, and the latter is just at present making another strong effort to crush the last national church of Africa out of the Orient. The two great political powers of the East for many centuries have been the T,urkish and the Persian, both anti. Christian, a:ldagainst such fearful odds the remnants and remains of the once powerful Easte.rn churches have been compelled to maintain the struggle for existence. That against inner and outer agencies of decay like these even the outward appearance of a Christian organization was maintained is even more to be wondered at than that they have lost their vitality and evangelical life. 'Even as it is large portions of the church were doomed to destructhm, the ruins of which, in their way as interesting and instructive as are those of stone and brick in Egypt and Babylonia, are even yet being rediscovered. Only in recent months has a prominent Italian traveler found in the districts south of Shoa, in Eastern Africa, the remains of It once powerful Christian kingdom, of which only a few decayed churches and a few simple rites and ceremonies strongly corrupted by pagan and Mohammedan influences remain.
As to what has been done by the Ohristian churches toward the solution of this :problem presented by the Eastern Ohurch, the greater part of the data are readily accessible to the friends of mission work. For several centuries a large section of the Armenian Ohurch has been in friendly relations to that of Rome, and only recently has the Pope issued a document urging the others to join the so-called" United" Armenian Church, a step which was somewhat sharply resented by the Armenian Ohurch official at Oonstantinople. The American missionaries have for fully three or four decades been successfully at work among the so-called Nestorian or Ohaldee Ohristians in Persia; in late years an evangelistic movement among them has been inaugurated by one of their own number, Pere Johannes, who has had the good fortune of spending several years of study and observation in the evangelical center of (termany and Switzerland. • Indeed the Armenian Ohurch or churches are the only ones among those of the East that have shown anything like a desire to come under the influence of Western Ohristianity. Missionary efforts, both Catholic and Protestant, have been made in Abyssinia since the sixteenth century, but with little success, the so-called Black Jews or Falashar· proving even more accessible to the influences of the gospelthan the native Abyssinian Ohristians themselves. Naturally the case presents more than ordinary 'difficulties not e~ualed by those presented by the work among Gentile nations. In the former case the greatest task consists in the removing of obstacles that lie in the traditional formalism of a dozen or more centuries. To produce first of all a tabuZarasa of error as a basis for the building of truth is an undertaking as arduous as that of the evangeli~ation of Israel. It is scarcely an open question that the possession of an incrusted corrupt Ohristianity is not an advantage but a disadvantage to genuine Ohristian work, and where there is still retained a larger organization, as is the case in Abyssinia, the further difficulty of determining whether to operate within or without the established churches is met with. In Ayssinia, for instance, all efforts of organizing a renewed and rejuvenated Ohristian communion outside of the existing church WaS studiously avoided, partly, though, from necessity, as the political authorities would permit only this, and the ecclesiaRtical authorities sought to prevent also the missionizingwithin the church. Even the converted Falashar were directed to connect themselves with the exist-· ing church, although there seems to be now a separate organization of them consistini of from three to five hundred souls, who have but
S'ttl1>lCNf MISSIONARY trPkISING
_ i recently sent a communication of their condition and needs to their former missionary, Pastor Flad, of Wirtemberg. The reconquest of the East for Ohristianity is a most glorious ideal of Ohristian mission- aryactivity, butjt is one that will take work, time, patience, prayer and Providence.
THE STUDENT MISSIONARY UPRISING.
BY JOHN R. MOTT.
ONE of the greatest missionary revivals since the days of the apostles had its beginning in July, 1886, at the Mt. Hermon Oonference of college students. Two hundred and fifty-one students from eightynine colleges of the United States and Oanada had come together at the invitation of Mr. Moody to spend four weeks in Bible study. Nearly two weeks passed by before the subject of missions was even mentioned in the sessions of the Oouference. But one of the young men from Princeton Oollege had come, after weeks of prayer, with the deep conviction that God would call from that large gathering of college men a few, at least, who would consecrate themselves to the foreign mISSIOn service. At an early day he called together all the young men who were thinking seriously o£ spending their lives in the foreign field. Twenty-one students answered to this call, although several of, them had not definitely decided the question. This little group of. consecrated men began to pray that the spirit of missions might pervade the Oonference, and that the Lord would 15eparate many men unto this great work. In a few days they were to see their faith rewarded far more than they had dared to claim. On the evening of July 16 a special mass meeting was held at which Rev. Dr. A. T. Pierson gave a thrming address on missions. He supported, by the most convinc-' ~ilg arguments, the proposition that" all should to and to to all." This was the key-note which set many men to thinking and praying. A week passed. On Saturday night, July 24, another meeting was held, which may occupy as significant a place in the history of the Ohristian Ohurc~ as the Williams' hay stack scene. It is known as the" Meeting of the Ten Nations." It was addressed by sons of missionaries in Ohina, India and Persia, and by seven young men of different nationalities-an Armenian, a Japanese, a Sia~ese, a German, a Dane, a Norwegian and an American Indian. The addresses were not more than three minutes in length and consisted of appeals for more workers. N ear the close each speaker repeated in the language of his country the words: "God is love." Then came a season of silent and audible prayer, whICh will never be forgotten by those who were present. The burning appeals of this meeting came with peculiar force to all. From this night on to the close of the Oonference the missionary interest became more and more intense. One by one the men alone iri the woods and rooms, with their Bibles and God, fought out the battle with self and were led by the Spirit to decide to forsake a.ll and carry the gospel" unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Dr. Ashmore, who had just returned from China, added fuel to the flame by his ringing appeal to Christians to look upon "missions as a war of conquest, and not as a mere wrecking expedition." In the last consecration meeting in the parlor at Marquand Hall, where the lights were extinguished and men were left on their faces wrestling with God in prayer, many a man said in answer to the call of the Lord: "Here am I; send me." Only eight days elapsed between the "Meeting of the Ten Nations" and the closing session of the Conference. During'that time the number of volunteers increased from twenty-one to exactly one hundred who signified that they were" willing and desirous, God permitting, to become foreign missionaries," Several of the remaining one hundred and forty delegates became volunteers later-after months of study and prayer.
On the last day of the Conference the volunteers held a meeting, in which there was a unanimous expression that the missionary spirit which had manifested itself with such marvelous power at Mt. Her- mon should be communicated in some degree to thousands of students throughout the country who had not been privileged to come in con- tact with it at its source. It was their conviction that the same reasons which had led the Mt. Hermon hundred to decide, would influence hundreds of other college men if those reasons were once presented to them in a faithful, intelligent and prayerful manner. Naturally they thought of the ' , Cambridge Band" and its wonderful influence among the universities of Great Britain; and decided to adopt a similar plan. Accordingly a deputation of four students was selected to represent the Mt. Hermon Conference and to visit during the year as many Amer- ican colleges as possible. Of the four selected only one was able to undertake the mission, Mr. Robert P. Wilder of the class of 1886 of Princeton College. Mr. John N. Forman, also a Princeton graduate, , was induced to join Mr. Wilder in this tour. One consecrated. man, who has ever been glad to help on missionary enterprises, defrayed the expenses of their tour. During the year one hundred and sixty- seven institutions were visited. They touched nearly all of the lead- ing colleges in the United States and Canada. Sometimes they would visit a college together. Again, in order to reach more institutions, they would separate. Their straightforward, forcible, Scriptural pre- , sentation came with convincing power to the minds and hearts of stu- dents wherever they went. In some colleges as many as sixty volun- teers were secured. Not an institution was viSIted in which they did not quicken the missionary interest. By the close of the year, 2,200 young men and women had taken the volunteer pledge.
During the college year "1887-'88 the movement was left without any particular leadership and oversight. Notwithstanding this fact, I I 'rHE STUDENT itISSIONAR~ tTi>ittstNG. '.
it was so filled with life that it could not stand st,ill. Over six hun- dred new volunteers were atfded during the year, very largely as the result of the personal work of the old volunteers.
About fifty volunteers came together at the Northfield Conference in July, 1888, to pray and plan for the movement. When the reports were presented showing the condition of the movement in all parts of the country it was found that there were three dangerous tendencies beginning to manifest themselves: (1) A tendency in the movement at some points to lose its unity. All sorts of missionary societies and bands, with different purposes, methods of work, and forms of pledge and constitution, were springing up. It was plain that it would lose much of its power should its unity be destroyed. (2) A tendency to a decline in sOnie colleges. Because not properly guarded and developed, some bands of volunteers had grown cold, and a few had been led to renounce their decision. (3) A tendency to conflict with existing agencies appeared in a very few places. All of these tendencies were decidedly out of harmony with the original spirit and purpose of the volunteer movement; accordingly the volunteers at Northfield decided that immediate steps should be taken toward a wise organization. Another consideration helped to influence them in this decision, and that was a desire to extend the movement. Messrs. Wilder and Forman, in their tour, had been unable to touch more than one-fifth of the higher educational institutions of America. Upon Mr. Wilder, therefore, was urged the importance of his spending another year among the colleges which he had previously visited, and thoroughly organizing the missionary volunteers-a work which was impossible during his first visit.
A committee was also appointed to permanently organize the volunteer movement. That committee, after long and prayerful consideration, decided that the movement should be confined to students. It was therefore named the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. It was also noted that practically all of the volunteers were members of some one of the three great interdenominational stude:ht organizations, viz. : the College Young Men's Christian Association, the College Young Women's Christian Association, and the Inter- Seminary Missionary Alliance. This suggested the plan of placing at the head of the movement a permanent executive committee of three (one to be appointed by each of the three organizations) which should have power to develop and facilitate the movement in harmony with the spirit and constitution of these three organizations. The plan was first submitted to the College Committee of the International Committeeof the Young Men's Christian Associations and was heartily approved. They appointed as their representative Mr. J. R. Mott. Later the plan was fully approved by the !ational Committee of the Young Women's Christian Association, and Miss Nettie Dunn was
1889.1 TaE. STUb:llltiT MtSSIONAfiY tr1'RtSINO
chosen to represent them. The Executive. Committee of the Inter- Seminary Missionary Alliance indorsed the plan and named Mr. R. P. Wilder to represent them.
The new Executive Committee began its work in January, 1889. Since then they have perfected a plan of organization for the movement which has commended itself to the leaders of the different denominations to which it has been submitted. The plan of organization may be briefly outlined as follows: (1) The Executive Oommittee shall layout and execute plans for developing the movement wherever it exists; and for extending it to the higher educational institutiQns which have not yet come in contact with it. (2) The committee will have its agents, the principal one of whom will be the Traveling Secretary. Mr. Wilder has filled this office during the past college year (September, 1888,-August, 1889). During that time he visited ninety-three leading institutions in which he developed the missionary department of the college associations. He has also secured nearly ~six hundr(d new volunteers. In more than thirty colleges he has wisely induced independent missionary organizations to merge themselves into the missionary department of the college association. Another striking feature of his work this year has been the fact· that over forty institutions have been led to undertake the support of an alumnus, in the foreign' field. Their total annual contributions amount to $26,000. The plan pursued in denominational colleges has been to have the man sent by the regular Church Boards; in undenominational colleges the money is usually contributed to some form of undenominational effort; as, for example, sending teachers to the Government schools of Japan. As Mr. Wilder retires from this posi- tion to complete his seminary course preparatory to going out to India, it is no more than justice to state that he has done more than any one man to extend this great movement from its very inception to the present time. Mr. R. E. Speer of the class of 1889 of Princeton Col- lege has been chosen to succeed Mr. Wilder. Mr. Speer has been one of the most active volunteers in the country. Besides being a thor- oughly consecrated man, he was the leading scholar and debater in his college class. The committee will also have an Office Secretary and an Editorial, Secretary. (3) '1.'here is an Advisory Oommittee composed of seven persons-five representing as many of the leading evangelical denominations, and one each from the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations. The Executive Committee is to confer with this committee about every new step which is taken, so that nothing will be done 'which will justify unfavorable criticism from the Church Boards. The movement is designed to help the Boards in every way possible, and in no sense to encroach upon their territory or to conflict with their work. (4) Mr. Speer will be unable to visit more than one-fifth of the colleges next year. It was therefore plain that liIome other means must be devised in order to brin'g the other colleges in touch with the movement. The Executive Committee have accordingly decided to have a Corresponding Member in every State and province in which the movement has been sufficiently introduced and established to insure its permanency. This Corresponding Member will be the agent of the Executive Committee in that State and carry out their policy, viz.: to conserve and extend the movement in that State. The Traveling Secretary will touch only the leading colleges in each State. In States where it is thought to be advisable there will be a Corresponding Committee instead of a Corresponding Member. The States of Maine, New Jersey and North Carolina were organized on this plan last year and a strong work was done in each of them. New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kansas will be organized this year. The work in a State consists not only in arousing more missionary interest in the colleges and seminaries, but also in quickening thG missionary spirit in the churches by means of visits from volunteers. Volunteers, who have the time and fitness for such work, spend all or a part of their vacations in assisting churches. In this way the contributions of many of the churches have been increased. One volunteer in less than two months influenced a number of churches to contribute over $5,000 to missions over and above what they were already giving to that cause. This work is attempted only where the full approval of the church is previously obtained, and has always been highly indorsed by the pastors of the different denominations. A young man who is actually going into the foreign field has a peculiar influence over a congregation. (5) In the colleges the movement will be organized as the Missionary Department, of the College Young Men' s Christia~ Association. The reasons for this are clear. It will insure the permanency of the missionary interest in the college by placing it under the direction of an organization, which, from its very nature, is destined to be permanent as long as the college exists. This cannot be said always of independent missionary societies. Moreover. by making it a department of the Association it will have a far wider constituency and basis of support, because the Association includes students who are interested in five or six distinct lines of work. and not simply in one. Experience has abundantly proved that this is the best plan. In more than sixty colleges during the last two years independent missionary societies have been merged into the associations, and not one of them has changed back to the old plan. The chairman of the Missionary Department of the Association should, where possible, be a volunteer.
The movement has far outgrown the early expectations of its nearest friends. Even Dr. Pierson and Mr. Wilder at its inception could not claim over one thousand volunteers in the American colleges. Today there are recorded 3,847 volunteers ready, or preparing, to preach
THE STUDENT MISSIONARY
"the unsearchable riches of Ohrist" in every land under the sun. A very large majority of them are still in the different college classes. Probably not more than five hundred have reached the seminaries, medical colleges and other schools for special training. Between one and two hundred have ac~ually sailed for foreign lands. Well may Dr. McOosh ask: "Has any such offering of living young men and women been presented in our age? In our country? In any age or in any country since the day of Pentecost?" To-day, after over one hundred years of Protestant missionary effort, there are only about 6,000 ordained missionaries in the foreign field. If the church does not send out more than one-half of the present number of volunteers, it will still mark the most significant and encouraging chapter iin the annals of the Ohristian Ohurch since the Acts of the Apostles. But everyone of the 3,847 volunteers is needed, and many more. Mr. Wishard writes back from Japan that 20,000 native and foreign ministers are needed in that fastmoving Empire before the year 1900 in order to keep it from infidelity. Dr. Ohamberlain appeals for 5,000 missionaries for India during this century. "The evangelization of the world in thisgeneration" is the watchcryof the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. What does this mean? At a convocation of missionaries held a few months ago in India, it was estimated that at least one foreign missionary was needed for every 50,000 people in unevangelized lands. This is regarded as a very conservative·estimate. It means, then, that at least 20,000 foreign missionaries are needed in order to "preach the gospel to every creature" within this generation. Is this too much to ask and expect? Already nearly 4,000 have volunteered in less than two hundred colleges. From those same colleges during this generation will pass over a score of classes to be touched by this movement before they graduate. There are hundreds of colleges which have not yet had the opportunity to come in contact with this movement. The colleges of the South, of the far West, and of the Maritime Provinces know almost nothing about it. There are two hundred medical colleges and schools in America from which are going annually thousands of graduates. Nineteen-twentieths of those graduates are locating in this country, where there is one physician to every 600 of the population, whereas in unevangelized lands there is not more than one medical missionary to every 1,000,000 of the popUlation. Twenty thousand volunteers too many.to ask and expect from this generation! Over 2,000,000 young men and women will go out from our higher institutions of learning within this generation. The foreign field calls for only one one-hundredth of them. But where will the money come from to send and support them? It would take only one six-hundredth of the present wealth of the members of the Ohristian Ohurch in America and England. There are men enough to spare for this grandest mission of the ages. There is money enough to spare to send them.
THE CRISIS IN CITmS
May the Spirit of Christ lead His church to consecrate her men and money to the carrying out of His last command!
THE CRISIS IN CITIES.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] THE heathenism in our great cities is absolutely appalling and awful; and one of the most encouraging signs in onr social firmament is the growing thought given to the question of how to take care of the poor and outcast classes of society. No adequate attention has ever yet been paid to this question; here is one of the open, fester- ing and infectious sores of the world. Abject misery, poverty-all the worst features of heathenism,-hide in the alleys and lanes and crowded tenements of our great centers of population. No outside organiza- tions, no district visitations, no organized charities, no mission Sun- day-schools, mission halls or mission churches, will reach the evil, though they may serve to mitigate and alleviate it. This is but poul- ticing a cancer that needs the knife or the cautery. It is but touch- ing and cleansing the fringe of a leprous garment, green with the fatal disease. "The Bitter Cry of Outcast London," five or six years ago, startled the church of God, and even society itself, so far as ears were open to hear it. But even that startling tract touched only the borders of this awful theme-or, to use a more consistent figure; that " bitter cry" was only like the faint, smothered echo of a distant and almost inaudible groan or sob of anguish.
While we are rejoicing in the prosperity of our churches, in the pat- ronage of the rich and noble and cultured, and in the vast sums given to benevolent and philanthropic purposes, the poor are getting poorer, the wretched more wretched, the filthy more filthy and the home-heathen more heathenish. The gap between the churches and the poor and non-church-goers has already widened into a gulf, and will soon become a gulf like that between Dives and Lazarus, fixed and not to be crossed.
How shall we enlist the strength of the churches in local evangelization tt '
This is a question of supreme practical import. No problem is just, now pressing us more heavi,ly for sohttion.
Let us once again define evangelization; it is bringing the gospel into contact with unsaved souls. This needs constantly to be emphasized, that the church of God is responsible not for conversion but only for contact. We may not always win but we may always faithfully witness.
The emphasis of the above question lies in part on the word "strength."
A few in every church are enlisted; often it is the weaker portion of disciples, not only the few, numerically, but those of little education, influence and pecuniary means. The strength of the churches, nu- merically, influeJ:.ltially, financially, intellectually, has never yet been enlisted in the practical work of evangelization. What would be the rapidity with which that work would be done, if we might have the brains, he!).rts, will-power, ano. money-power of the churches yoked to the chariot of evangelization I 1. First of all, the needs of the local populations must be pressed upon the attention and conscience of our church membership both by public and private appeal. The most awful destitution may be found right around us, under the very shadows of our church spires, and beside our very dwellings. In the city of London you may, in less than three minutes' walk from the door of St. Paul's Cathedral, come into the midst of the worst slums of the city. In Glasgow, the homes of the most abject poverty and misery lie at the very rear of the palaces of merchant princes. In New York I went to the Florence Mission, and afterward, with the then employed missionary of that noble enterprise for fallen women, went out on a midnight tour of exploration. A few steps out of Broadway, we came to the vilest dens of infamy, where one shuddered to tread. In one .room, not morethan ten by twelve feet, we came upon eighteen human beings, men and women, black and white, American and foreign born, who there ate, slept and lived. In that room we found a woman of the highest refinement and culture with the faded dress of a courtesan upon her dishonored body; a former leader in the Salvation Army, a.J!oman of sweet song, half drunk; a snoring, disgusting negro wench; an opiumeating, licentious Italian, etc. Out of that den had been rescued a descendant of one of the most illustrious men this country ever produced; and there had been found a daughter of a Brooklyn clergyman who had no knowledge of her whereabouts.
Virtual heathenism, in its worst aspects, may be encountered in any' of our ci.ties within a stone's throw of our costliest homes and fashionable quarters. That" Bitter Cry of Outcast London" was a revelation of wretchedness, of which few people of that world's metropolis had before any conception; and that simple tract ought to sound its trumpet call throughout our churches, to wake up the dormant consciences of our people I "Bleak House" is an attempt on the part of Dickens to unveil the condition of our home heathen, as in the character of " J0," the poor street-sweeper, and the family of orphans, of which" Charlie" was the only support. What makes the condition of these virtual outcasts the worse is that there is a .irowin~ estran~ement between the poorer and more destitute classes and the church of God. There is a gravitation toward different centers-the poor huddle together in close, crowded tenements, while the rich move into the ampler, healthier homes of the " West End." The churches, finding no source of support in their old quarters, move, like a tree transplanted from an exhausted soil, to a mOr~ fertile territory. .A.u,d, thus~ t~e :places where the chqrch as anevoinielizini aiency is most needed are left destitute. Thenow thickly.crowded and heathenish quarters are abandoned to sin and Satan! Until this fact is understood and appreciated by the church, this evil cannot be reached. It is lamented by us all that the impression should exist in the minds of the" masses of the people" that the churches are indifferent to their welfare; that church edifices are 'built and conducted in the interest of social caste, of wealth, intellect and aristocracy. We wonder that the wage.workers will not come and do not feel welcome, while the whole method of our church management fosters and justifies their impression that they are not wanted. The poorer and more ignorant classes see the churches moving away from them and leaving them to degradation and destitution. They see no adequate effort made to reach them. A few ignorant but wellmeaning exhorters, or "exhausters," address a few scores of people on a street corner; a "mission" is begun in some tenement, or store, or hall; a "mission church" is built here and there which is conducted on the very principle of invidious distinction, as though it were labeled "for the poor and the outcast." In our methods of dealing with the degraded populations of our cities, we are contradicting all the known laws of human nature; yet we expect these methods to be effectual. Were foreign missions so conducted, they would have no success. But we send our best men and women, our noblest scholars and linguists, our most gifted orators and winners of souls to China, Japan and the Dark Continent. Why should we not do the same to the heathen in our alleys and slums at home?
II. Secondly, we must press the duty of universal evanieUza. tion upon all church members. "Give ye them to eat" is a command addressed to all who have the bread of life, and are in the midst of perishing millions, whether at home or abroad. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" is a c9mmand that in a double sense is universal; universal, first, because it includes all unbelievers as the objects of labor; universal, secondly, because it includes aU beUevers as the persons to do the preaching. These millions are by the plan of God providentially made dependent on us who know the gospel, for their own knowledge and, so, their salvation. No miracle is to be wrought in their case, carrying the gospel to them by angelic agency, or by direct spiritual illumination. The believer is the divinely appointed and indispensable channel through whom the gospel message is to reach human souls; and every beUever is constituted a herald. In the Old Testament, we observe a very marked line of division and separation between priesthood and people-rigid and almost frigid. But the moment we open the New Testament that line disappears. All believers are a kingdom of priests, a priesthood of kings; the terms "clergy" and "laity" are inventions of the dark ages; the idea of a clerical caste is wholly foreign to the New rresta- ment. (Of. Acts viii: 1-4; xi : 19-20.) Those who, scattered abroad, went everywhere preaching the Word, were common disciples, for the apostles were still at Jerusalem. And it was because Ohristianity was thus borne by all disciples in those primitive days, that its conquests were so rapid and far-reaching. This principle of universal obligation is not yet fully accepted-certainly, not yet felt in the church. And, not until it is, will the strength of the church be enlisted in the practical work of evangelism. The great bulk of church members have no sense of personal duty in this matter of direct work for souls. A few teach in Sunday-schools, or work in missions among the poor; but the body, of professing Ohristians content themselves by coming to cl;lUrch ser- , vices and supporting the minister by their contributions; and es- pecially if they help to sustain missionaries abroad, they think their full duty is done. We may as well understand that the world can never be reached by a few thousand men and women who go forth to do this work-it needs a whole church, as it needed a whole Ohrist, to save this world. The Sunday-school movement and the Young Men's Ohristian Association have done a great deal to revive in the church general personal participation in the work of preaching the gospel and working to save men. At present about 36,000 laborers are all that are in the foreign field, including the 30,000 who have been led to direct work for souls, from among the converts from heathenism. And could these 36,000 divide the entire unevangelized popUlation among them equally, each one of those laborers would have to care for 30,000 souls. It is so at home; there is not more than one of a hundred of our church members who can honestly be counted among those who are systematically engaged in the work of local evan- gelization. It takes fifteen church members to save one soul a year-as Dr. Strong says: while Ohr:st's lowest average increase is "thirty fold," we are increasing at the rate of one-fifteenth of one fold! How obvious it is that the church has never yet enlisted the strength of its membership in the work of God! There must be plainer preaching on this subject-and we must beat in this convic- tion by constant and emphatic repetition, until disciples outgrow this absurd notion of doing by proxy the work of saving souls!
III. We come now to the how of this matter-the question of methods; and a little consideration will suffice to show that it is entirely feasible not only to do this work, but to keep doing it, so as never to allow it'to outrun us. There are always virtue, truth and piety in every community to offset the vice, falsehood and irreligion, if properly applied. An applied Ohristianity is what is imperatively needed. " Ye are the salt of the earth"-a little salt, apphed to a considerable mass, will season it if the salt has not lost its savor. " Ye are the light of the world "-a little light, propl;lrly diffused, will relieve if not dispel deep darkness; provided, as a. quaint old Scotch lady puts it, "the light does not need snuffi;ng!" The piety on earth, properly distributed and diffused, would suffice to evangelize the world.
The root idea in this practical solution of the problem of local evan- gelization is the parish idea. Oonceive for instance of any great city like New York or PhIladelphia, carefully divided up into districts, and the churches in or near each district taking charge of the unevan- – gelized inhabitants within it-and you have an easy and practical solu- tion of the whole difficulty. Parish means "dwelling near"-it conveys the idea of neighborh60d. A first round of visits reveals cer- tain foundation facts: who goes to church and where such go; who does not, etc. Then a second visitation can be conducted with this, knowledge as a guide. Those known to be regular attendants become subject to congregationa~ care on the part of the pastors and churches with which they are identified, and can be remanded to their superVISIOn. Non-attendants who at first visit express preference for some particular church or denomination can be reported to appropri- ate parties; and so at every visitation the families to be visited, in any given district, become fewer in number, and the work becomes sim- pler and easier. Moreover, every new round of visits makes the visitor better acquainted, more at ease and at home, and more fitted to reach and win those who are visited. There is no reason why every house in any city ortown may not be visited by disciples, and the inmates known and kept track of, and gradually won to Ohristian contact if not to Ohristian faith! This parish, or territorial, plan is the simple, prac- ticable way of reaching the unsaved, non-church-going classes in our cities and towns. Suppose Philadelphia, with a population of 1,000,- 000, has 500 churches, large and small; this gives an average of 2,000 persons for every church to care for, including, of course, church members. Let each ch-urch see that two families be visited daily, having an average of three members each, and thus the whole city may be looked after and every house be visited once a year. How easy it would be, by increasing the frequency of these visits, to make sure, without any severe tax on time or strength, that every house should be visited four times a year, will appear without argument. Will any.,. one tell us what is to hinder every church of Christ undertaking to keep watch over two thousand persons every year, in its own vicin- ity? Let it be borne in mind that two thousand persons represent be- tween four hundred and five hundred families, and this would neces- sitate on the part of a whole church only from one to two visits per day each week! The fact is that for a church, alive with working members, this is not more than each member may well undertake.
IV. We have one word to aqd aboubenlisting the strength of the churches. Nothing impressed the writer during four months in England and Scotland in the summer of 1888 more than the fact that the most consecrated men and women he ever knew are to be found there, engaged in this very work, and they are the strong men and women of the British nation. We can show very few of our stronJest disciples here who have given up business, social leadership, public official honors and positious, for the sake of working among the poor and outcast. London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol, Liverpool, can show not a few whose whole time, strength and fortune are consecrated to service. It would be invidious to mention the names of those yet living. But there is a merchant in Glasgow who refuses a seat in Parliament, lest it imperil his work among the Glasgow poor. London can show earls, lords, gentlemen, ladies by the score, who have no other business but seeking to save the lost. There are wealthy memoers of the aristocracy who, with their wives and daughters, go habitually into the lowabodes of poverty and misery, and who conduct missions of every conceivable kind. Like Shaftesbury, they sacrifice everything to the one purpose of bringing to Christ and to virtue and temperance and chastity those who seem scarce worth saving. Why cannot we have a similar oonsecration in our own land? Why should Reuben make great resolves and then sit still at ease to hear the pipings of the pastoral flute while God's martial trumpet sounds for the battle? Why should Dan be so preoccupied with his maritime commerce that he abides in his ships? Why should the men of Meroz, at the very place of the narrow pass, come not up to God's help and cut off the retreat of His foes? It is a whole-hearted devotion to Christ that is the one want of our day. And this can come to us only when first there is outpoured a mighty spirit of prayer. Then we shall see our opportunity and realize our responsibility, and our touch on the unsaved will be a sympathetic, loving touch-not the cold and formal approach that repels. God grant us a spirit of prayer!
It ought to be added that the methods of city evangelization advocated in this paper are substantially those of the Evangelical Alliance. Dr. Josiah Strong and his noble associates have brought to this problem big brains and even bigger hearts. They have devised and put in operation in several cities the best general scheme yet suggested, and have proven it perfectly practicable and feasible. It is house to house visitation by districts, all denominations joining and co-operating in it. This is the latest and by far the most promising movement in behalf of our cities. It needs only to be vigorously and universally prosecuted to transform not oniy our city populations, but by its reflex influence even the churches themselves. We would earnestly counsel pastors and church officers and all earnest workers to send to Pl'.
Strong at the Bible House, Now York, for pamphlets, etc., which fully inform as to the details and practical working of this scheme, and which the Alliance furnishes free.
A CHRISTIA.N COLLEGE AT SAN PAULO, BRA.ZIL•. [N:ov
Let us. all remember that startling parad9x, which contains the whole philosophy of evangelism: Christ, alone, can save this world; But Christ cannot save this wodd,alone.
A OHRISTIAN OOLLEGE AT SAN PAULO, BRAZIL.
BY REV. G. W. CHAMBERLAIN, D.D., BRAZIL. " THERE is much that is' discouraging in the aspect of Brazil, even for those who hope and believe as I do, that she has before her an honorable and powerful career. There is much also that is very cheering, that leads me to believe that her life as a nation ill not belie her great gifts as a country. Should her moral and intellectual endowments grow into harmony with her wonderful natural beauty and wealth the world will not have seen a fairer land. "
The obstacles to progress patent to Professor Agassiz, who thus expressed himself in the closing chapter of "A Journey to Brazil," were: Slavery, whose" natural death is a lingering illness, wasting and destroying the body it has attacked"; clergy, who as teachers of the people "should not only be men of high moral character, but of studious, thoughtful lives," who are rather corrupt and corrupting the people by their example, who seem to "believe that the mind can be fed with tawdry processions, lighted candles, and cheap bouquets"; and in the third place, the" present condition of education."
Great changes have taken place in Brazil since those words were written. Slavery is a thing of the past, although its consequenceR still linger. The clergy remains unchanged in character. As a class their "ignorance is universal, their immorality patent, their influence very extensive and deep rooted," but rapid emancipation has been going on, and the cry for religious liberty (instead of the old-time toleration), which has been swelling from the Amazon to the River Platte, was voiced last year in the bill which passed the Senate; and though suffocated in the lower house, even as that of John the Baptist was silenced at the bidding of a woman, is yet a voice crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord! Make His paths straight! "
Even though, like that of the great forerunner of the Ohrist, this "VOICE" should be silent in the tomb, to which 14,000 women, moved by the imperial Princess, who in turn was moved by the clergy, would consign it, yet it has fulfilled its mission, for a greattlr than John is already there.
In nothing has His presence been more manifest than in the thirst for education which has characterized. the last decade. Professor Agassiz very justly observed: "In order to form a just estimate of the present condition of education in Brazil, and its future prospects, we must not consider it altogether from our own standpoint. The truth is that all steady progress in Brazil dates from her declaration of independellce, and that is a very recent fact in her history. Since she-has passed from colonial to national life her relations'
with other countl'ies have enlarged, antiquated prejudices have been effaced, and with a more intense individual existence she has assunH~d also a more cosmopolitan breadth of ideas.
"But a political revolution is more rapidly accomplished than the remolding o[ the na.tion, which is its result-its consequence rather than its accompaniment. Even now, after half a century of independent existence, intellectual progress is mamfested rather as a tendency, a desire. so to speak. giving a progressive movement to society. tllan as a positive fact. The intellectual life of a nation when fully developed has its material ex- istence in lal'ge and various institutions of learning scattered throug'hout the country. Except in a very limited and local sense this is not yet the case in Brazil." '
The tendency, the desire, giv~ng progressive movement to society, noted in the above extract, has been taking to itself a furm in the-past twenty years, and if it has not yet materialized into large and various institutions, it is crystallizing in plans for them.
Normal schools, under the fostering care of the Government, have sprung up in nearly all of the provinces, and, although crude and pedantic in their methods, are yet learning wisdom by the things which they suffer at the hands of many doutores (doctors), who are trying to make them walk on stilts. As soon as they get their feet on the ground, where the common people walk, they will do yeoman:,s service. – The "pedagogues," who see clear over the heads of the children, will yet give place to a class who will put themselves on their level, and so lead them up. It is true of Brazilian children, as of all others, that they are not forgotten of the "Teacher sent from God," who said: "For I say unto you that in Heaven their angels do always be- hold the face of my Father, which is in Heaven. It is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
Like the" root out of dry ground ,. which escaped the vision of the" doctors of the law," there was growing in Brazil, even while Agassiz and his honorable band of helpers were being filled with delight by the multitude of fishes which came to his net from the "many waters" of the Amazon and other rivers of Brazil, a little plant, which, if it was then despised and rejected of men, was destined by God unto honor, and shall yet divide the spoil with the strong.
The keen-sighted naturalist did not discern all the signs of the times floating in the air as clearly as he did the great ,ariety of fishes swimming in the waters of that marvelous land. He was brought into close contact with the earliest missionary of the Presbyterian Church, for the news of the assassination of Lincoln bowed all heads, and so general was the feeling among American residents in Rio de Janeiro that God only was our refuge and strength in such a time of trouble, that Simonton was asked to conduct a religious service appropriate to the occasion, and the heart of the great man of science led him, with the rest of our loyal countrymen, to the humble place" where prayer was wont to be made," and there he freely mingled his tears with theirs.
Yet, if the work which Simonton and his colleagues were doing to overcome the evils that Agassiz so plainly saw sapping the foundations of society in Brazil merited the attention of the naturalist, I have failed to find any reference to it in" A Journey to Brazil," other than that on page 497, where he says: "Independent religious thought seems, however, rare in Brazil. There may perhaps be skepticism, but I think this is not likely to be extensively the case, for the Brazilians are instinctively a believing people, tending rather to superstition than to doubt, Oppression in matters of faith is contrary to the spirit of their institutions, Protestant clergymen are allowed to preach freely, but as a general thing Protestantism does not attract the Southel'n nations, and it may be doubted whether its advocates will have avery widespread success, However this may be, every friend of Brazil must wish to see its present priesthood replaced by a more vigorous, intelligent and laborious clergy."
He who doeth His will among the inhabitants of the earth in His own time led. Agassiz to that southland. "Toward Brazil I was drawn by a life-long desire," he says in the preface, WhICh tells of the genesis of that notable visit. But even while he was "brooding"
over the prospect of realizing his life-long wish, the Spirit of God who moved his generous friend, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, to say, "Give it a scientific character. Take assistants. I will be responsible for all expenses," was" moving on the face of the waters"
in Brazil in a way which does not come under the ken of scientific or monied men, as such, and was drawing sons of that southern nation, not to Protestantism, but to Christ and His word, and raising in their hearts protests deep, long and strong against the spiritual tyranny which had for three centuries deprived them and their ancestors of the blessed Book, the law which is a lamp unto our feet. That very year it was that an old, gray-haired Brazilian, who stood in the open court of his house, surrounded by his twelve sons (stalwart fellows), said to me: " Young man, answer a question. You say that this book has been in the possession of your people for generations. What was your father doing that my father died and never knew that there was sucha book as theBible?
Why didn't they have mercy on us and send it?" "My friend," I replied, "the book was contraband once in your custom house, and it would still be so had your church the power to move 'the civil arm' as of old. You would hardly ask me the question if you read the daily papers, for only the other day, in the city of Oascoeira, near Bahia, a mob, led on by the vicar, surrounded a man who was distributing these books, robbed him of all of them and buned tRem in the public square in the full light of the sun. Time was when they would have burned the man, and you and me for talking about the Bible. But let me ask you a question.. I' What are you going to do with the Book now it has come?'" wAh, I shall see to it , that my boys have no reason to complain of me. I am going to hav~ one."
The book brought a school in its train, for neither Henrique Gomes de Oliveira, nor anyone of his 13 children (for like Jacob he had 12 sons and one daughter, knew how to read. "The schoolmaster abroad" on that farm 'reached a wide circle of the neighbors. They had a "bee" and went up into the woods and cut down trees and built them a school-house which served for a meeting-house on Sabbath, in which the gray-haired patriarch still meets with hundreds of his neighbors on the Sabbath, and if he is not a' clergyman" ordained of men," he is ordained of God to hold forth the word of life. . A few years since, as the sun was going down, I checked my horse at the gate of a plantation house and asked lodging for the night. Who ever was denied hospitality in Brazil? After supper, a bountiful one, I turned the conversation on the Bible. Mine host, a wealthy coffee-planter, at length said, frankly: "To tell the truth, I have no religion. That in which I was brought up never satisfied my reason. This of which you speak I know nothing of, for I have never had a Bible. But if you want to (encherasmedidas) be satisfied go up on the mountains sixteen miles from here and you will find an old man after your heart. I am chief magistrate in this district. The quarter where that old man lives used to be one of the worst for broils. Scarce a week passed that I was not called to adjudicate some quarrel or judge of some crime which had taken place on the previous Sabbath when they met to drink and fight. For two years I have not had a case, and I never understood it until I went up to spend the night at that old man's house and saw the Book out of which he reads to his family every day and to his neighbors Sundays. Now, although I never rell-d it, I wish you would propa· gate more and more, for if there was a man like that in every quarter my office would be a sinecure. I would be relieved of much bothe!'."
Well, such parish schools have multiplied with like results since 1865. That of the city of San Paulo has gone through the primary I and secondary (grammar school) stages, has become a high school, with a normal class for teachers, and a theological school with a class of students for the ministry, some of whose graduates were members of the Synod, formed in September of 1888, of 62 native churches with their elders and pastors. It has at present 342 pupils. And this is the genesis of the resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America at its sessions in New York, May last, after hearing the report of its Commission, appointed the year previous, consisting of Rev. A. A. Hodge, D.D., and Rev. Charles E. Knox, D. D., recommending to liberal members of our churches the immediate endowment of a truly Christian college at San Paulo, Brazil, as a necessary means for the advancement of the work in that empire, and extending to all evangelical churches a coraial invitation to co-operate in this catholic enterprise.
THE OONTINENTAL MIsSIONA1l.Y CONFERENOE
THE CONTINENTAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.
[THIS Conference was small in number, but highly representative in char-. !!octer. We were kindly favored with a report of its proceedings by one of its members, and knowing that our readers will be intere&ted in the results of the Conference we have had the salient features of its doings translated by Rev. Chas. C. Starbuck for our REVIEW.-EDS.] The Eighth Contlllental Missionary Conference met at Bremen, in Ascen- sion week, 1889. It consisted of twenty-one deputies, m9stly inspectors, with some missionaries. The societies represented were the Moravian, Bar- men,Berlin I. and II. ,Bremen, Breklurn, Hermannsburg, Leipsic,Neukirchen, besides two Dutch societies, the Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap and the Utrechtsche Zendingsvereeniging, and the Swedish Evangeliska Foster- lands ShHrelsen. There were also several eminentinvitedguests-DiJ'ector Frick, of Halle; Dr. Fabri, Missionary Hesse of Calw; Pastor Paul of Saxony, and Drs. Grundeman and Warneck.
The modest dimensions of the Conference were, in the view of its mem- bers, compensated by the fact that they are all experts in missionary matters, and by the fullness and intimacy of conference which their fewness facilitated. Their members were not enough for rhetoric, but all the better for solid discussion.
Pastor Leipold opened the Conference witha discourse from Eph. vi: 1-16, which was the keynote of the proceeding-so There were many differences of judgment, but not a single difference of feeling.
The subjects of discussion were six. I. What position should the Continental Protestant missions take in view of the fact that the number of trained clergymen is coming to exceed the wants of the congregatlOns? Prof. Plath answered this question in the foling sense: Undoubtedly this fact is likely to impart a new impulse to missions which on the Continent have hitherto, for the most part, had the command of scarcely any universIty men and have had to train their own missionaries in their own mission-houses. The Roman Catholics procure theirs chiefly fl'om monasteries. The earlyProtestant missions were colonial, and only employed regularly educated men. Zinzendorf first broke through this usage, and Rationalism made an end of it. But the present Continental method supplies only half-trained men. Complicated necessities are often beyond their reach, such as translation, tl'ainin.!' of native clergymen, etc. Their labors undoubtedly are often blessed. Not fewer of them but more university men are needed of course, such as have a living faith and have maintained it through their time of study. Such men, of course, must have a position accorded them, both of greater difficulty and of gt'eater influence, as answers to their deeper training. Even should they remain abroad only certain years the gain for missions at home and abroad would be marked. To this was opposed an energetic protest against the undervaluation of .the present system, which had done excellent things, even in the way of turning out translators, trainers of native preachers and organizers. Besides, the missionary pupils were apt to be more faithful in preparation than the university men, and the complications and responsibilities of missionary life were found to have an astonishingly educating power. The Conference rejected the notion of making any aristocratic distinctions between the two classes or of accepting a limited service from university men. Yet the Conterence fully agreed that m.ore university men were needed, and that all suitable measures sh.ould be taken t.o engag.e their interest in missi.ons.
II. The second t.opic, intr.oduced by Dr. Schreiber, respected the training .of native helpers. It was remarked that this sh.ould .only be begun, n.ot c.on· eluded, with their sch.o.oling.; that the f.oreign missi.onary by example, supervisi.on, c.ounsel, incitement, by h.olding with them .occasi.onal retreats f.or study and s.ometimes by interp.osing a further c.ourse between their first activity and a pr.oper past.orate, sh.ould endeav.or t.o bring them t.o a higher fitness. "T.o.o much sch.o.oling was deprecated, as als.o sending them t.o Eur.ope.or America. Elders, it was remarked, are .often better Chl'istians than native past.ors-Iess tempted t.o self-c.onceit and m.ore healthily r.o.oted in thes.oil. It was agreed that in India the native past.ors must learn English, but in general the learning .of Eur.opean tongues was deprecated.
III, Thirdly it was c.onsidered h.ow far missi.onary sch.o.ols .ough t t.o prepare sch.olars f.or earning a living. This questi.on was intr.oduced by Past.or Sehiillert.ot Peursum, .of Amsterdam. It was all.owed that these sch.o.ols, th.ough primarily, must n.ot be exclusively religi.ous, but must as sch.o.ols, .of c.ourse, prepare their pupils f.or their future callings. In Africa and such regi.ons they must d.o m.ore f.or mechanical andagl'icultural instructi.on than in China .or India. But it is n.ot their business t.o enc.ourage a veneer .of Eur.opean culture.or t.o estrange the sch.olars fr.om their c.ountryand their nati.onal ways, s.o far as these are n.ot evil. Only by their awakening .of higher wants they refine these nati.onal cust.oms and lift them t.o a higher plane.
IV. The fourth t.opic, respecting R.oman Cath.olic intrusi.ons int.o Pr.otest· ant missi.ons, deserves a full translati.on. We theref.ore pass it .over here. * On the aftern.o.on .of Ascensi.on Day a public service was held, in which a more p.opular presentati.on .of the vari.ous t.opics was given.
V. The fifth topic, intr.oduced by Dr. Warneck, respected slavery and the slave trade. It was generally agreed that while n.o Eur.opean member .of a missi.on and n.o native helper must be a slave-h.older, a rev.oluti.onary pr.oclamati.on .of immediate emancipati.on must be av.oided as it was av.oided by the ap.ostles. But the equal rights .of all men in the church must be maintained; slaves must be admitted t.o c.ommuni.on with .or with.out the g.o.od will .of their masters; slaves mllst be, in fact as well as the.ory, equally eligible, if qualified, t.o the deac.onship and eldership; cruelty.of masters.or an indisp.ositi.on t.o fav.or the self-purchase .of slaves must be treated as un·Christian behavi.or. The Basel S.ocietyhas refused c.ommuni.on t.oslave· h.olders, p.ointing .out that the chastity .of masters and their s.ons is .otherwise practically imp.ossible. Against the slave-trade, .of c.ourse, a g.overnment can act, but it was generally agreed that where, as in Africa, slavery itself is interw.oven with the wh.ole fabric .of life f.ormal g.overnment acti.on against it sh.ould n.ot be precipitate but sh.ould c.omm.only await the preliminary patience .of missi.onary w.ork in raising the standard .of human rights.
VI. The sixth t.opic was: Are special relati.ons .of determinate circles.of friends .of missi.ons at h.ome t.o particular missi.onary fields .or stati.ons desirable? This paper als.o was presented by DI'. Sch"reiber. He sp.oke appr.ovingly.of such special relati.ons. They had been largely devel.oped in the Rhenish missi.ons, and f.ostered by the C.ommittee. There is a rever!>e side, it is true. Narrow-mindedness, indeed, is a danger m.ore than c.ounterbalanced by the deeper interest.of fuller kn.owledge. But it is bad t.o have a *Will give this in our next issue.-EDs. sort of intermediate control between the missionary and the sOcIety. There should be a clear understanding as to this from the beginning. Nor should such opportunities be given to particmlar missionaries, by extraordinary advances, to cultivate particular tastes in leisure which might awaken discontent among their associates. All such liberalities should be brought under the general control.
The essay, as a whole, met with general approbation. Too specific a relation, however, to individual missionaries, or even stations, was thought less desirable than that of wider circles to special missions. Relations to natives, especially children, are peculiarly open to abuse. Correspondence with these is emphatically to be discouraged. It encourages sickly sentimentality on the one hand and vanity, boldness and an insincere display of religious phraseology on the other. Let correspondence be with the school, not with the fosterling. Nor should unreasonable fI'equency of correspondence be required. One of the Dutch deputies held the dangel' of these special relations in general to be greater than the essayist had represented. Relations to particular branches of work, he pointed out, and to particular persons, are to be sharply distinguished.
Finally, Pastor Kllrze of SchlOben, in his necessary absence, proposed that, in view of the fact that the Continental representatives to the London Conference, especially those possessed of specific missionary knowledge (Missionsfachmanner) regard themselves as havmg been treated with scant consideration there, and in view of the very inadequate knowledge prevailing in England and America respecting Continental Protestant missions, the Bremen Conference should authorize one of its members to volunteer in some Anglo-American missionary magazine-best in THE MISSIONARY RE- VIEW OF THE W ORLD-a serie.s of articles respecting this year's BI'emen Conference. He also proposed the publication in English in the name of the Conference, of a brochure, under svme such title as "Hints to the Next In_ ternational Missionary Conference," containing proposals for a more effective constitution of the next Conference, a copy to be sent to each British and American missionary society. The Conference resolved that Missionary Hesse should draw up such reports as were implied in the tenor of this proposal.
Pastor Kurze's second proposal is: That the representatives of the German missionary societies should, after obtaining full information from the American Board respecting late occurrences on the Marshall Islands, petition the 'German Government: {i) That the regulatIOn of the German Commissary, Dr. Sonnenschein in Jaluit, to the effect that the American Mission shall neither be permitted to hire nor lease from the natives plots of ground for churches, schools or mission-houses, may be revoked. (2) That the mission steamer, Morning Star, may be relieved of the lately-imposed yearly license of 1,000 marks. (3) That the Christian congregation at Ebon may have reimbursed to it the fine imposed on it by Captain Rotger in October, 1885, in view of the judicial decision rendered in a sui ~~I'ecting the Allgemeine Missions·Zeitschri/t.
The Conference was deeply and painfully surprised by the facts reported under (1) and (2). Understanding, however, that the American Board is itself about to make representations to the Gel'man Government through our minister in Berlin, the Conference decided this to be the most effective course. Messieurs Zahn, Schreiber. Fabri and Warneck were appointed a committee to communicate its feelings and action to the American Board.
TRANsLATIONS FR(l:1It FUREtGN MISStONARY
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
THE AllgemeineMissions Zeitschrijt, acknowledging, though ungraciously, that Cardinal Lavigerie has been doing a good work in rousing the con- science of Europe more fully to the crying need of suppressing the African slave-trade is, nevertheless, justified in calling attention to the fact that the first great abolitionists of our century were Protestants; that Wilber- force and Livingstone had pleaded long ago for the closing of "the world's open sore," and that it is our duty, in a forgetful world, to see to it that the ultramontane press does not, before very long, represent that a Catholic prelate was the one "who broke the chains of the slave," and that certain Protestant journals do not echo this false eulogy.
The Zeitschrijt says: .. There can no longer be a doubt that through the whole of Eastern aud Middle Africa there is awakening a hostile movement, and that this has its ground in the overhasty advances from all sides of the colonial powers of Enrope. Last year there was an abortive. but this year a more success- ful attack of the Arabs, or of the Arabianized Suahili. from the east coast against the commercial stations of the African Lakes Company on the north of Lake Nyassa. This evidently proves it to , be the encroachments of Enropean trade, in which the Arab dealers discern their foe. They seem a.lso to have got wind Of the fact that England is extending the tentacles of her colonial policy to· ward Nyassa Land • .. Like all the great questions which Africa offers ns to solve. so also the slave qnestion call only be gradually solved by patience: but patience is an irksome word to that haste which marks the modem colonial era ; nor of patience does the crwoading Cardinal appear to be any great friend."
Doubtless the Cardinal's French fire needs to be tempered by German pa- tience. Nevertheless, fire is a good thing in a holy cause against a hideous evil. Yet, as Peter once, so the Church of Peter has always been overready to take the sword.
There is now a perfect mania, in this whitewashing age, for glorifying Mohammed. Mr. Bosworth Smith IS one of his greatest admlrers. How- ever, as Herr F. M. Zahn, in the Zeitschrijt remarks, he is unfortunate in that his chief authorities turn against him. Thus he callI:! Sprenger "the greatest European authority." Now Sprenger calls Mohammed an "im- poster," asserts that "Omar has had more influence upon the development of Islam than Mohammed," and is of opinion that Mohammed, after estab- Hshing himself in Medina, degenerated into "a voluptuous 'theocrat and bloodthirsty tyrant, pope and king." So Bosworth Smith rates almost as high the authority of Sir W. Muir, whom, besides, he declares to be "un- partisan." But Sir W. Muir charges the prophet with "gross blasphe- my," with having" forged the name of God," and suggests that he must have been inspired of Satan. However, Dr. Bosworth Smith uses his au- thorities where they give matter for eulogy, but rebels against them as soon as they give him anything else.
Hindus are becommg very much wrought up over the results of mission- ary labor in their country. These are far less than they ought to be, the increase of late being, as the Allgemeine Missions Zeitschrijt points out, relatively less than in either Japan or China. But they are enough to be very disturbing to the heathen, who are borrowing the missionary meth- ods of schools, preaching and tract-distribution with which to oppose mis- sions, as Julian the Apostate endeavored to galvanize Roman paganism by an imitation of Christian organization. One very funny thing has lately happened. A catechism of the "Aryan. religion" had been issued and
FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
greatly admired. It was declared to be sca.rcely distinguishable from Christianity, and being so much more ancient, of course carried the inference that the gospel was a plagiarism from the. "Aryan religion." Great was the confusion when it was discovered that the "Aryan Catechism" was simply the" Westminster Shortel' Catechism" with the name of Christ left out. How so gross an imposture could have been attempted is a Hindu mystery. Yet when we see that in our own country the crucifixion is shamelessly declared to be a myth taken from the ~tory of Krishna, a lie which it is perfectly easy to refute, we need not wonder at what the Hindus do. As the Zeitschrijt remarks, it is almost a pity the imposture was exposed so soon, as with a little delay we should soon have had some of our Western unbelievers trumpeting it among the masses as a wonderful document of the beginnings of our race. This, it seems, was what Voltaire actually did with the Vedas interpolated by the Jesuit, Robert de Nobili.
The Dansk Missionsblad for January, 1889, remarks: .. At the great Missionary Convention in London last June. which has been often mentioned in the Blad, the director of our society, as the readers of the Blad know, was present. Of all the discourses which he heard there, Dr. Pierson's address on 'Home Work for Missions' made the strongest impression upon him; this, moreover, is distinguished both by its depth of thought and by Us beauty of form. We, therefore, give here a translation of it as it appears in THE MISSION- J.Bl' RSVIEW OF THE WORLD, edited byDr. Pierson and Dr. J. M. Sherwood. We take this occasion also to commend tbis publication to the friends of missions as one of the most comprehensive and most Impartial, best written and best edited of the many missionary magazines of our time."
The French brethren on the Zambezi, in the kingdom of Lewanika, find him still a thorough pagan. Yet he is very proud of his missionaries; and on a recent campaign against a neighboring tribe he compelled his people to a rigorous observance or Sunday, and availed himself of the presence of two renegade Christians in the army to have regular morning worship, with singing, prayer, and biblical instruction. In their evening bivouacs, also, they were required to recount biblical narratives and give lessons in reading. Some of the chiefs were very proud, on arridng back, to show the missionaries how much they had learned. Let us pray that this sowing of the word may turn out to be not wholly by the wayside, or among the thorns.
Another proof that the word of God is working. A chief said to Mr. Jeanmairet: "Know that neither I nor any of my men have kIlled a single man in the war. My son, it is true, had taken a woman prisoner, but I said to him: 'Let her escape,' and he obeyed me." And there is every reason to believe that several other chiefs have done as well, for never have so few prisoners been brought in from a foray.
One of the Finnish missionaries in Southwestern Africa, Herr Roiha, remarks that the kings of the country had discovered that during a recent rebellion the Christians had proved themselves to be more trustworthy defend~rs of their country and their lawful rulers, heathen as these were, than the heathen. Not a single Christian deserted his place in the van until the rebels were chaseq out of the country. Previously the heathen used to call the Christians "poltroons" hecll-use they would not join in their raids. Afterward they began to call them" heroes."
At the recent ordination in Paris of M. Benjamin Escandre, who goes out to Senegambia, the eminent clergyman, author and senator, M. Edmond de Pressense. made an address, or, as we should say, gave a charge, from which we give an extract: … Mil Dear Young BrotMr: You have requested that I would address you some farewell words iu the name of the free evangelical churches of France, to which you belong, and which are proud and happy to be represented byyou, as well as by various predecessors of yours in the missionary field. But God forbid that I should diminish in any way the char_ acter of evangelical catholicity which belongs to this touching hour. I address you a cordial adieu in the name of all our churches of France, which are never more thoronghly ,,0 united than in the face of missions, foreign and domestic. I express to you their deep affection, I promise you their solicitous interest and their prayers. You to represent them in that difficult field of labor where you will find two paganisms: that which comea from the desert, and tha~ which comes from our so· called Christian countries, to say nothing of Islam and its allurements for the black race. Without withdrawing any mea$nre of our deep love for our missions in the South of Africa we are assured that we are followin/:' tbe intimations of the Divine will in assigning a larger measure to our French colonies. That to which you go has long been dear to us, and it is consecrated by memories at once noble and sorrnwful. We shall never forget that our way thither has been opened np for us by that grea.t and heroic citizen, who was also a sincere and earnest Christian, Admiral Jaureguiberry. The work which you are about to undertake is grand, and will sometimes be perilous. I felicitate you that you are going to this post of honor. Transmit our messages of affection to your elder brethren, and carry with you the feeling that you remain present in the midst of us. I have'nothing to add to what has been said to you from this pUlpit concerning your duties. I confine myself to saying again, implying therein the full beauty of its present signification, the word of separation, which is also the implication of reunion: Adieu. • • • Permit me, in conclusion, to transmit to you the echo of certam great words, dating from the heroic age of Christian antiquity. One who remains at home experiences a, sort of shrinking from urging courage upon such a.s are setting out for a distant mission. He whom lam about to give you to hear had surely the right of address- Ing himself to a young soldier of Christ in a time of danger. Hear what Ignatiu's, loaded with chains, and conducted to Rome to perish there in the amphitheater, wrote to the youthful Polycarp, stationed in one of those posts of danger which are the greatest honor God can bestow on His servants. He was yet to seal his testimony therein with his blood.
… I require thee. in the name of the grace which thou hast received. to pnrsue faithfully thy course. and to exhort every man to be saved. Let thy support be constant. that God may support thee I Let thy charity never fail I Never be weary of praying, demanding e"ermore wisdom. Watch indefatigably. Speak to each one according as God ah:loll give it to thee to say. Bear the sufferings of all. Be a valiant soldier of Christ. The greater the pain the fairer the crown. As the wary pilot seeks the haven. ever seek thy God. Fight thy fight courageously. Thou hast before thee life everlasting. Be firm as the rock a'5ainst the billow. Remember that It becomes a great athlete to overcome undera temp. est of blows. Redeem the time and thereby win the time. He who, being invisible and eternal. has for us made Himself visible and a man of sorrows. having suffered all to save us.' This is the most beautiful farewell with which I can take leave of you."
M. Dieterlen, writing in the Journal des Mission8 EfJangeUques of the dis- gusting and immoral ceremonies-many of them secret-with which a. Bassuto youth, of eitl;er sex, is initiated into maturIty, remarks: .. The life of a young female Bassuto is yet to be written; it would explain, with elo- quence, why heathen women are. at first approach, so little interesting, why they are so lrl'OSS in appearance and in character, so little intelligent, and too often profoundly vic- ious. How many times my eyes have passed to and fro over a. group of heathen women to seek there a countenance bearing some reflection 01 a soul illuminated by a ray of in- telligence or of spirituality I I have sometimes remarked a head more expressive than the others. for the soul lives in spite of paganism and its turpitudes. It is not for nothing that it comes forth from the hands of God. But the impression which one gathers from the spectacle of a pagan auditory is that he is In the presence of some sparks burled un- der a heap or ashes which smothers them and which only a breathing from on high can revive."
As to the nature of these initiatory rites, no man is permitted to know a.nything.
.. What is actually known is. that things pass there not lIt to be spoken of; we have long known more of them than is supposed. but, as to explaining tbem, tbat Is another matter. The Cbristan women who have gone througb tbese mysteries sbake their head with a gril!ll.~. when-
"TILL HE COME." [Nov~
per a.lllmion ill made to them. And old Penelope, one of the best Christian women of &ssutoland, of whom I asked general information re81lecting this ceremony, answered me sadly and almost under her breath: • Do you see, DIY Child, that which is done there, a person who knows God would say that it is shameful; there are evil things which cannot even be mentioned.'
"In brief, the pagan initiation is a school of immorality, where the young girl loses what remained to 'her of innocence and self-respect. And it is her mother who couducts her thither, it is her grandmother who chaperons her, it is ~er father who authorizes it and defrays the costs of the ceremony I Where is that poetic and sentimental paganism, where is that state of nature from which certain philosophers would desire that Chtistianity should not set about lifting out the pagan peoples t .. These hideous and senseless cerem onies, however, which, if they ever had a meaning, are nOw but fragments which have long since utterly lost significance even to those who practice them, will fall. They cannot subsist indefinitely; the gospel and civilization will bring them to an end. The present paganism is a paganism in decay; it is coming to pieces by the very fact of its absurdity, notwithstanding the desperate tenacity with which, thus far, the Bassuto clings to it, as to the ark of their national salvation. Some happy day we shall assist at the most delightful collapse which the world has ever seen. When nothing remains but empty forms, the catastrophe is not very remote, and there is hope pf salvation for the people. "
Says the Evangelisch Luthe'l'i8ches Mi88ion8blatt : .. How earnestly has the Lord commeuded to us Prayer for Missions I When he says: •Pray the Lord of the harvest. that he will send forth laborers Into his harvest '-what is this, but a missionary prayer' which he has laid with plain words in our mouth f' And when He taught us •Our Father' as the prayer of His church, He has interwoven missions into it, so that they are to be a daily exercise for us, like the prayer for daily bread. For if we sincerely pray the first three petitions, it must be our earnest concJl'll, that the blaspheming of the name of God among the heathen may have an end, that on this account the kingdom of God also may be brought to them through the preaching of the gospeland that In alllands even unto the ends of the earth the will of God may be accomplished, so that the whole world may be full of his glory. Yes, the Lord's Prayer is a daily prayer for missions. "
"TILL HE COME."
By MRs. MERRILL E. GATES, NEW BRUN'SWICK, N. J.
NOT ours to know the day or hour, But ours to know that Thou wilt come in po~er; Ours to await Thy swift return, Ours to watch for Thee, while our bright lamps burn. Quickly, 0 Lord, assume thy power and glory great, Break through these starry heavens and claim millennial state!
Take crown and throne, faithful and true, Reign Thou on earth, the whole wide world subdue, Here, where by man Thou once wast slain, Here on this sin-stained earth in triumph reign. Hasten Thy glorious coming, Lord, nor long delay; We wait Thine Advent and the glad Millennial Day!
One thousand years with Thee as King!
o years of peace, what raptme shall ye bring!
Time's years for long have come and gone, But now we know your d.awn is drawing on. Oh, swiftly, swiftly onward roll, ye years of golden light, Oh, grand Millennial Years, break quickly on our sight!
Swiftly they come! Worker, awake; To the world's rescue for the Master's sake! Millions are yet to win. The night Is dark. The time is short., Urge, urge the fight! New millions must be won, to greet His world-wide sway, When Christ shall usher in the glad Millennial Day!
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENOE
II.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Africa.-Fighting the Arabs with their mated at nearly $400,000,000 annually. own weapons. The Arabs of Africa, espec- British trade is worth $125,000,000 of this ially in Uganda, have become so cruel, in- sum, while France claims as her share solent and obstructive to civilization and something like $100,000,000. The interest of Ohristlanity that a number of young Bel- Americans in Africa is so insignificant that gians and others have volunteered to fight it scarcely deserves mention. What bright them with carnal we~pons. Their friends and glorious visions will soon attract the are equipping them, and the movement is genius "of men to that last remnant of unspreading throughout Europe, especially in developed territory I Wit1lin the next five England. Oardinal Lavigerie has headed hundred years that entire continent will the crusade; in fact, he has been the prin- become tbe heritage of enterprise. Great cipal means of stirring up the people, and cities, huge manufacturing centers, will be he is receiving aid from all sources. In all found on its rivers, which resemble the the capitals of Europe he has met with Amazon and the Mississippi. Wheat fields, great enthusiasm. In London an associa- cotton fields, and coffee plantations will be tion has been formed for this purpose, with fonnd everywhere. Its forests of valuable the Prince of Wales and Commander Cam- timber will yield to the woodsman's ax, eron at its head. With his characteristic and saw-mills on every stream will make enthusiasm and benevolence, the King of the music of wealth and progress. Cables Belgium has promised half of all the ex- to the metropolis of Europe and America penses, and societies are formed in all parts will record the discovery of new gold mines of that plucky little kingdom to increase in the mountains and the prospects of the the amount and furnish men. The Pope crops on the plains. The savage aborigines contributes $60,000. Cardinal Sanfelice will be driven from their possessions or absends a valuable gold cross, presented to sorbed by the new civilization, and in the him for his care of the sick during an epi- streets of some prosperous city on the demic of cholera in Italy. The Protestant Niger, the Chadda, the Congo or the Zam- Congress, at Freiburg, have adopted strong bezi, on fete days, will be beard the" Marresolutions in favor of the movement and sellaise " and" Hail Columbia," or the stirmany volunteers are enrolled for military ring melody which informs us that John operations.-The African News. Brown's soul is marching on. Already a demand has been made for two transconti- -The future of Africa. Africa will tempt nental railroads. One is to have its westthe avarice of every race on the globe ern terminus at Monrovia, the capital of within the next century. Within the next Liberia, and its route will extend through five centuries it may become ODe of the Masina, Sokoto, Darfur, Abyssinia, and end great factors of civilization, crowded with on the eastern coast at the foot of the Red nationalities which may possibly hold the Sea. The other will begin at the mouth of balance of political power and dictate the the Congo and run through the heart of the policy of the rest of Christendom. It is the continent, already explored by Stanley, only large area on the globe that remains with an eastern terminus close to Zanzibar. unconquered. On its Mediterranean sea- All this reads like Utopia. But the latter coast are a few tangled tassels of the robe railroad project has already been seriously of civiliza.tion-Morocco. Algeria, Tripoli. considered, and it is declared by Stanley On the West is the struggling Republic of and other experts that it would pay a large Liberia,which has never received the credit interest on the in vestment from the start. it has so hardly earned. On the South the To be sure, it almost makes the brain reel British have captured a few square miles to think of the time as near at hand when with valuable harbors, and on the east are New York will hear from Oentral Africa by scattered hardy colonists with their herds telegraph, as we do from Dakota, of conof cattle. Still, Africa is comparatively tested elections and strikes in cities of a unknown as yet. Fifty years ago it was the million inhabitants, and .vhen it will be as Dark Continent; but travelers have re- attractive to spend a winter in some fashcently "xplored its inner depths in part, ionable heal th resort a few miles from Vicand come back with tales of inexhaustible toria Nyanza as it is now to make the tour resources, of mineral wealth, of a fertile of Europe; but the signs of the times foresoil capable of supplying breadstuffs to the cast these changes as likely to be wrought people of the whole planet. The merely before five more centnries shall have rolled tentative commercial relations with Africa into the past of history. The last unconwhich now exist have resulted so favor!l.bly quered spot on the earth will surrender to that pioneers are ali agog with excitement. the victorious eoaterprise of man, and Afri- The dream of the future is a golden one and ca, heretofore symbolized by nakedness and the prospect is alluring. The total value barbaric splendor, will be .. clothed upon" of exports and imports by the white men who live a.long its fringe of sea-coast is esti- with the robes ot a. Ohristllm civiliza.tion ana be admitted into the brotherhood of words of our church in these closing deca.dea nations. worthy ofa place in the councils of of the nineteenth century that Christ, the human progress.-The Herald, New York. Cbild of the Orient and the divine heir of her tribes and kingdoms, shall possess Hla -Missionaries for Central Africa. The de- inherita.nce. The Moslem world shall be pa.rture of Mr. T. H.Morris, Dr. Fisher, and open to the gracious entranceof theSaviour others to join Mr. F. S. Arnot's mission in and the triumphs of the gospel•.The spell Central Africa has been awaited with lively of twelve centuries shall be broken. That interest by many chnrches and cosgrega- voice from the Arabian desert shall- no tlOns throughout the country. Now the de- longer say to the chnrch of the living God. parture is a historical fact. Last'-'eek a Thus far and no farther. The deep and sad telegram was received from Mr. Arnot, who delusion which shadows the intellectual and was still at Benguela, stating that transport spiritual life of so many millions of our felinland was difficult. Thereupon Mr. and low-men shall be dispelled, and the blessed Mrs. Morris determined to leave their chil- life-giving power of Christ's religion sha.ll dren in England for the present. The last snpplant the dead forms and the outworn creed of Islam." day.. ot the devoted band in this country -Great changes at Bonny, in the Niger were happily spent, many friends commend- Mission. The worship of the Iguana is overing each and all to the God of all grace and thrown, the priest is a regular attendant a.t power. On Thursday last week a large fare- the house of God, and the iguana. itself conwell meeting was held in the Folkestone- verted into an article of food. The Juju road Gospel-hall, Walthamstow, and it was temple, which a few years ago was decofelt by many to be a very blessed season. rated with 20,000 skulls of murdered victims I found rottlng away in ruin and decay. I The party left the London Docks for Lis- passed through the grove which was forbOil on Saturday morning in the steamship merly the receptacle of so many murdered Gibraltar. In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Mor- infa.nts, and I found it had become the regris and Dr. Fisher there were: Messrs. Gall, ular highway from the town to the church, Thompson and Johnson, and Misses Davies and that the priest was now a baptized and Gilchrist. An inspiritmg meeting was Christian. At 11 o'clock I went ashore and held jnst before the ship left, twenty or addressed 885 worshipers, including the thirty friends being present. Among the king, the three former hea.then priests. melodies ,that were snngwas "Goye into all chiefs, and a multitude of slaves. and was the world," with its stirring and cheering thankful to ascertain that the work of conrefrain. "All power is given unto Me." version was still going on; for, in addition Afterward a prayer-meeting was held on to 648 persons already baptized, of whom 265 the green near the docks. the loved ones are commnnicants, there are over 700 at who had gone forth being earn<'stly com- Bonny alone who are now under instruction. mitted to the loving care of the Lord of the -Rev. W. Allan, West Africa. harvest. On the same ship were three American workers, also bound for spheres in Portuguese Advance. – Portngal is awakthe interior of Africa-Mr. Cotton and his ening to her presnmed rights In East Central Wife, the latter a doctor of medicine, and Africa. During the centuries of her nominal Mr. Lee. Our readers will, we are sure, join occupation she never gave a single missionary us in prayer for present and future blessing to Nyassaland. Britain, on the other hand. upon every member of both parties. since LiVingstone's discoveries, has been repre- sented by the Universities' Mission, the Estab- _co Watch the tightenmg grip of Christian lished and Free Churches of Scotland, several civilization upon the African slave trade, trading companies, and a large body of Chris- .which is the most hideous scandalofour cen- tian traders. Vast territories have likewise tury. and is almost entirely the work of Arab been explored by Englishmen. To this list the Mohammedans. Take a broad ont,!ook over following names should especially be added: the field where are gathered the momentous Bevs. P. W. Johnson and Alex. Hetherwick, interests involved in this Mohammedan M. A., Consul O'Neill, Mr. Bankin, Mr. J. T. problem, and let us have the prayers of Last, and 1I1r. Montague Ker. By the mission- Christendom in the interests of Christ's aries stations have been erected, schools buut, kingdom and its blessed reign. Within the tbe .language transcribed, and the natives memory of living men the Christian church taught agriculture and a variety of industries. was praying for open doors in Asia and It is now imminent that in the neighborhood ot through@utthe heathen world. To-day the these prosperous settlements bands of Catholic church is sending her missionaries through missionaries will be planted. In Algiers re- a thousand avenues into the heart of heath- cently, Cardinal Lavigerie, with imposing dem- endom. Let us have another triumph of onstrations, consecrated a batch of half a dozen prayer. If the church of Christ will march whose destination is the Shiril Highlands and around this mighty fortress of the Moham- also the banks of the lakes. The Cardinal un- medan faith, sounding her silver trumpets bhshinglyasserted the prerogatives of Portu- of prayer, it will not be long before. by some intervention of divine power, it will be Overtbrown. Let it be one of the watchgal from [the Zambezi to the Rovunna, and that his wants were few. He wore the Chinese Lake Bangweo)o, and eft'usively complimented dress, had no regular meals, drank only water, Portugal upon her spiritual fidelity to the dusky and lived on fruit with a little rice or millet. Angoni and Mgwangwara. . He aimed at translating his ideal Christ into reality. He wore long auburn hair, parted in Referring to the closed door on the East the middle, so as to resemble the pictures of Coast and at Uganda, the Cardinal extolled the Christ. Charitable people furnished him advantages of the Zambezi under Portugal's money for his refuge, and he never seemed to sway as the highway to the interior via Lake want fQr funds. He slept on a board or on the Nyassa, Stevenson Road, and Tanganyika. floor. Even in his last hours, being a deck This difficnlty is perplexing to the English and passenger on the El Porada, he refnsed to be Scotch residents, in addition to three others, transferred to the cabin, bnt the kindly captain viz.: the apathy of the British Government, some hours before his death removed him to a Arab hostility, and Portugnese obstructiveness. berth." It is plain to men of the type of Commander Cameron and Mr. H. H. Johnston that Britons I ndia.-Child Marriages. The arrival In on both sides of the Tweed will be compelled in a private capacity to retain the land already England of the gifted Rukhmabai from Bombay possessed. in order to qnalify herself for medical work among her sisters in India is another indication Mr. Cecil Rhodes will at once be joined by of the good time coming when the Hindu Captam Lngard on Lake Nyassa to defend the woman will be emancipated from her bonds and British missionaries and trading establish- disabilities. Rukhmabai's pathetic repudiation ments under the auspices of the lately char- or the Hindu marriage system has been intentered company. In prosecuting the combined sified by contemporary shocking disclosures in interests of civilization and Christianity for Bombay. In the Bombay courts of justice, above thirty years, upwards of £250,000 has Holkar's son-in-law was charged with cruelty been expended. It is monstrous that a country to his child·wife. The revolting facts adduced exerciSing a semi-civilizing policy only, should in evid_ce have excited strong public disgust trample rough-shod over promising fields. against the law which permits the existence Scotland, at least, is resolved to maintain every of a costom so iniqnitous. It was shown that foot of soil in her possession for the welfare of the accused was 47 years old and his wife 9, the defenseless tribes .-Our English Corre- and that he had previously been married 14 spondent. times. The father of the child admitted that he had sold the girl for 20 rupees a month. A Ch ina.-Remarkable Career of an Amer- few days before the trial the poor girl was seen on.the parapet of her house, intensely agitated, ican Missionary. The Department of Stale threathening to throw herself into the street has recei…ed from the legation at Pekin, China, below. To a native policeman. who hurried under dale of July 3, an account of the death Into the house to restrain her, the girl told him and extraordinary life-work of the Rev. J. that her husband had whipped her and vowed Crossett, an independent American missional'y to take her life if she failed to undo a knot in his in China. He died on the steamer El Porado, hair witkin five days. Unable to confirm the acen route from Shanghai to Tientsin, on June cusation of habitual cruelty the magistrate re- 21. He leaves a widow living at Schuylers- leased the defendant. ville, N. Y. In speaking of Mr. Crossett, Min- i.ter Denby couples his name with that of The case has nevertheless provoked indigna- Father Damien, and says: " ~lr. Crossett's life tion among the Hindus. It illustrates the out- was devoted to doing good to the poorest classes rageons wrongs whicn spring from existing of Chinese. He had charge of a winter refuge marriage laws and justifies the demand for for the poor at Pekin during several winters. Immediate reform. In the interest of social He would go out in the streets on the coldest life and the weal of common hnmanity, legisla- night, pick up destitute beggars and convey tion cannot long be delayed. An influential them to the. refuge where he provided them Hindn, the Dewan Ragunatha Rao, has made a with food. He also buried them at his own powerfnl protest against the prevalent mar- expense. He visited all the prisons, and often riage contract in India in the light of the Bom- procured the privilege of removing the sick to bay trial. He intreats the Indian Government his refuge. The officials had implicit confidence to display snfficient moral courage by proposing in him, and allowed him to visit at pleasure all remedial measures in order to rescne millions the prisons and charitable institutions. He was of Hindu women from a life which is not less known by the Chinese as the' Christian Bud- detestable than slavery itself. A paragraph dha. ' He was attached to no organization of from his letter says, .. British blood and money men; he was a missionary pure and simple, have ftowed like water in efforts to stamp ont devoted rather to charity than proselytism. He slavery in other countries; yet in India the literally took Christ as his exemplar. He trav- British Government sits by with folded hands eled all over China and the East. He took nO while a father is permitted with impunity to sell care for his expenses. Food and lodging were in marriage a danghter of eight years to a man vohmtarily furnished him; innkeepers would of 47, already rendered notorious by his mar- take no pay from him, and private persons ital trranDf. ThiS cbild-wifeis then se~re~ated were ~lad to flntertalll him. It mllst be sli~ from the companionship of her own sex, and is of custnm. We all have the will for freeso persecnted and terrorized that, child as she dom, but not the power. We look to our is, she is driven to attempt suicide rather than men fnrassistance, but that simply amounts continue in such cruel bondage. And yet the to dependinl: on a rotten reed. British magistrate is compelled to ~tate in open court that the law gives him no power to re- .. It cannot be denied tioat this enforced strain revolting oppression of this character, as system of secluslOn is inconsisteut with the it is justified by law." It is unnecessary to re- divine laws, and it is therelore not by mark that an epistle of this nature, which choice that we assume a custom by which clearly reflects the opinions of an advanced and we are completely shut out of tbe beautiful enlighteued section of the Hindu community, world wherein the Almighty has created us will hasten the abolition of a crying abomina- to live and admire His works. It is idle to tion lying at the very root of Indian national think that our Indian women are content Iife.-Our English Oorrespondent. with their treatment; they have resigned themselves to their fate. Our rights ha.ve -Zenana seclusion. To overcome the sec- been utterly ignored, while our men have ond gigantic evil of Hindu tradition, zenana not forgotten to prefer preposterons claims Isolation, the English spcieties are being on us, so as to render us powerless to plead nobly reinforced with funds and helpers. on our behalf. We are the weaker sex, and A growing array of educational, medical, instead of being helped and respected on and evangelical organizations are destined this account, we are i1I-treated, tortured to break down the barrier which deprives and repudiated as thongh we were enemies Hindu women of the rights and privileges of the human race." of social life. The urgency of woman's work for the deliverance of Hindu females The continued favor which the manifold was never more vividly realized than now. branches of zena.na operations comma.nd in Of the 100,000,000 of womell in India., only England and the UnitedStates constitutes one in 800 is under instruction. Th", state the most effectively sympathetic answer to of widowhood, which, in itself, is one of this piercing cry from an empire of spiritual appalling sadness, has the additional burden darkness. For the past year, 1888, tile of austere confinement. There are 23,000,- Zenana Bible and Medical Mission report 000 belonging to this class, or about everl' an income of £11,500, the largest raised durfiftll female in India. Every third Brah- ing the last eight years. The Baptist zemanee woman is a widow. Mrs. Duthie of nana roll of workers is now 42 lady zenana Nag-ercoil, Southern India, says that the visitors,30 assistants and 114 native Bible widow question in its many painful phases women and teachers, and the number of is the despair of all well-wishers of India. zenanas regularly visIted is 1,000, and of pupils receiving daily lessons 1,250. With In publishing portions of a letter written these are afliliated some 50 schools, conby a native lady of Calcutta the London taining 1,650 scholars. In the emancipation Times has rendered eminent service to In- of the women ofIndia, China and the Orient dian missions by making widely known the it is yet, as the Rev. R. W. Thompson,of the nature of the degrading customs of zenana London Missionary Society observed, "emimprisonment. The burning earnestness, phatically the seed time and not the harvest which pervades her words cannot fail to time. " Nevertheless, the discoura.gement, touch the hearts of Christians in every self-denial, persecution and waiting shall land. Says the writer: "This horrible cus- be exchanged for the long sunny day of tom of purdah has been enforced upon us reaplDg.-OUr English Oorrespondent. through the jealons cruelty of our men, and is a proof of ignorance. Our men are -In India there are missionary schools apparently not as yet ci vilized to such an in which a Christian influence is exerted, extent as to be able to repose implicit faith and also government schools which seek to in the fidelity of their women. Thoug-h we be neutral in matters of religion. But the are by nature extremely adverse to thissys- result in the case of the latter is irreligion, tern of exclusion. yet it has been so blindly and hence the young men they seud forth. and cruelly enforced upon us by many who while intellectually improved, a.re insuborhave either no idea or conscience to realize dinate, headstrong and without a sense of the horrible outra~e they commit on nature moraloblig;ation. 80 obvious has been this that we cannot help it, bntsuccumb to this fact that at a. great representative meeting cruel treatment in the best way we can. of Moslems it was, after deliberation, re- We are too weak to rebel against the in- solved that in 8011 places where they had no schools of their own the young men of their junctions of the stronger sex, no matter community should be sent to miSSionary how ignominious they may be. Yet when schools rather than to Government schools. we think of some of our sisters' struggles Tbis was by a vote of 170 to 30. Many most for freedom, we cannot help but regard the respectable Hindussre of the same mind. world as a picture of hell. Our men enjoy all the freedom of the bird, bnt love to keep Italy.-··Evangelical Schools at Fiaa. Rev. their women in seclusion as tortured slaves T. W. H. Jacob (formerly English chaplain at Turin), who baa lately had the privilege of. visiting and thoroughly inspecting the schools deavor to keep the unity of the body in the carried on by ]fiss Carrnthers at Pisa, sends to bonds or peace. All unordained missionaries ns some details of his visit. After describing who shall become pastors will be expected to what he saw in the variolls classes he eays : seek ordination from the ordained missionaries already in the tleld . .. Here was a glorious sight I More than 640 children being trained in clear gospel truth. -Protestant Missionaries and Lepers. In Here, in Italy, the land of darkness and snper- a time of popular excitement there is always a stltlon, is this Christian lady working alone, in danger of allowing oneself to be carried on the feeble and delicate health (the last eight weeks top of the wave. It is easy and it is pleasant, actually contlned to her room), yet standing but we sometimes find we are carried too far. tlrm and steadfast to the glorions gospel, and in Jnst now there is that danger with regard tothe the strength of the Lord propagating its blessed great stir that has been created by the heroism trnths. She does thls not only by means of the of Father Damien, that noble Belgian priest schools, but hy Bible and tract distribntion who has jnst tallen a martyr to his Christ .like work among the factory girls. Bible-classes and devotion to the lepers. It would be all right night-schools. She has gained euch a power were it not that by so doing we may intlict inover the hearts of the people that the very place justice on others. We would yield to none in is called' Inghilterra' (or England) by the par- onr admiration of the noble Damien, but we ish priest himself. cannot hide from ourselves the fact that for many years before he was heard of in this con- .. Should any readers feel moved to help this nection, yea, even before he was born, there efl'ort they may commnnicate with Mrs. Filby, were devoted missionaries of the Protestant 10 Chapel Field Gardens, Norwich. Above all, faith ministering to the wants of lepers in pray for this servant of God and her work for India and elsewhere. Some of these, it has mm. For OVer 20 years she has labored in it. been my privilege to know, and, thongh their Hnndreds of Protestan,t children have gone names have never appeared in the public prints forth from these schools to carry the good seed or been passed from mouth to mouth in Lendon throughont the land. Who can tell what a drawing-rooms, they are written in heaven, and share the present tIOO may have lu the evangeli- Jesus will one day say unto them, .. Inasmuch zation of Italy f "-The OMi.ttan (London). as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it nnto Me." KOrea.-The Korean Umon MiSSIon has been established and issues a circular as follows Let us tlrs t mention the Moravian brethren, from Toronto: who, as far back as 1819, were working amongst lepers in Sonth Africa. In J annary, 1823, Basis of faith: All connected with the mis- Brother Leitner and his English wife entered sion, whether at home or abroad, must hold and the leper settlement of Hemel en Aarde (Heaven practice the fundamental trnths that form the and Earth), .. probably so called because of the basis of the Evangelical AIliance. pecnliar character olthe locality -8 narrow val- ley, afl'ording no prospect beyond the rocky Basis of union: A prayer-meeting to be boundaries that hem It in and the strip of sky held every Saturday evening to wait npon the above." For sixyears did Brother Leitner con- I,ord for gnidance and blessing. tinue his arduous and Christ-like work in that· terrible abode of living death, a work that re- Basis ofaupport: There shal! not be any sembled in most respects that of Damien, and, collections or personal solicitations of money. like him, he fell at his post, though, happily, not a leper. The following is the touching ac- No debts will be incurred by the mission. ('<ount of his death, which we tlI:d in a small All who go out as missionaries shall go in de- tract by Bishop La Trobe, entitled, .. Self-dependence npon God for temporal supplles, with votedness in the service of Christ": .. On Easthe clear nnderstanding that the mission does ter Monday, April 20, 1829, having preached not guarantee any iucome whatever, and that it with great earnestness on the snbject of the will ouly minister to those concerned with it, season, he proceeded to administer the rite of as the funds received from time to time will al- baptism to one of the converts. During the low. prayer offered up over the candidate his voice Executive Oommittee: An Execntive Com- was observed to waver, and, while in the very mittee of twelve members shall be chosen by act of baptizing, as he was nttering the words, the subscribers from among their own number, 'Into the death of Jesns I baptize thee,' his and all vacancies in this Committee, as they hand suddenly sank, and, canght in loving arms, may occnr, shall be filled In a similar manner. he was conveyed out of the church amid the A qnorum of seven of this Committee shall have lond weeping of the whole congregation. Beanthority to transact all business in connection fore medical aid conld be obtained his redeemed with the mission. spirit had taken its tlight into the mansions of Mi88ionaries.' Duly qualified candidates for eternal bliss, at the age of fifty-nine years." missionary labor, whether ordained or unor- The Leitners were followed by Brother and dained, and without restriction as to denomina- Sister Tietze, who remained in the settlement tion, will be accepted and sent ont, as the Lerd nearly ten years, when :Brother Tietze too may may open up the way. Organization in the field: While freedom of conscience will bl! allowed to all missionaries in the organizing of churches among their con- 'YIlrts, it will be expected that they shall enhave been said to have tallen at his post. Here that of the preaching bishop, using that word in its accurate and not in its English sense. His is what Bishop La Trobe says othim: "In this bllsiness is to make, to inspire and to guide na- tive Christian evangelists. It is from these, devoted spirit Brother Tietze labored tor nearly and these only, that the apostle can come who will make converts by tribes and nations, and len years, remaining at his post till he became pending his arrival they can do the work, which it is sought to have done through cheap so dangerously ill that three times he seemed missionaries, infinitely better. They have no languages to learn; they understand the to breathe his last. He, however, recovered thoughts as well as the ntterance of their conn- trymen; they can rouse, with their natural gift suJl!.ciently to be removed to Genadendal, where of poetic eloqllence, the enthusiasm for which the European sighs in vain. They are beginhe lingered in much sulfering till April 18, 1838, ning to be counted in thonsands, they do not' cost one-fourth of the cheapest Ellropeans, and when he fell gently asleep in Jesus." Next they have often a burning faith which puts that of ordinary Christians to shame. All they came Brother and Sister Fritsch, who were fol- need is wise gnidance, occasional stimulns and, npon points, strict disciplinary control. That lowed by Brother and Sister Lehman. It was control need not last forever, but at present it is indispensable. The native preacher, often to while the Lehmans Were in charge that the set- my mind an admirable man, and occasionally a mo~t gifted one, haa still the fanlts of all early tlement was moved from Hemel en Aarde to CODverts, a tendency to bark back on old super- stitions, a liability to moral weakness, especial- 'Robben Island in 1846. These devoted laborers ly as regards pecnniary alfairs, a tendency to exaggerate morsels of Christian doctrine whkh were followed in turn by the Stoltzes, Brother might easily lead to a development of singular and dangerous heresies. Like the native judge Wedeman (who was once for two years without and the native soldier and the native revenue officer, he needs still the help of the stronger a visit from any of his brethren on the main_ European, who knows instinctively the prob- lems which perplex him, and is, when the case land), the Knsters, and Brother John Taylor. is fairly before him, incapable of swerving. To my thinking, the true white missionary is a At present, as is pretty generally known, man who is the head of a group of preaching natives, who coufers with them every day, who the Moravians have an interesting leper home perpetually stimnlates their zeal, whose con- trol, thonghnot obtrusive, is always felt, who is near Jernsalem, where there are men and the personal friend, the spiritnal director and the conscience, of them all. There are seven women who for Christ's sake are in hourly at- hnndred Protestaut missionaries in India. Snp- ply each of them with one hnndred native tendance on the snlfering inmates of that insti- preachers, costing, say, £1,500 a year only tor each group, and we have an evangelizing tntion. force of 70,000 men, directed by able offi- cers, fnlly aeclimatized, with no language to ac- In India the missionaries who minister to qnire and no prejndices to unlearn, gifted with natural eloquence and fnll of the zeal for the exlepers do not need to come into the same close tension of the faith which belongs to early con- verts." and continnous contact with them as did Father -Literary Missionaries. .. The Mission- Damien and the Moravians, and yet some mis- ary in Relation to Literature" is the title of a paper prepared by Dr. H, W. Weitsionaries and native Christians have done brecht, C. M:. S., Punjab, and read at the World's Missionary Conference in London things as tryiug to the flesh, and which must last year. Mission Boards and missionaries will do well if they adopt mauy of his sughave required as much ot the heroic spirit of gestions.
self-sacrifice, as anything we have heard of. One of the tremendous problems that is still awaiting solution iu every great mission Mr. Kirke, a humble, earnest soul, but little field is how to provide stimulating Christian literature for the native cburch" and for known except to those with whom he came into evangelistIc ends. Every mission in India. has madll some attempt to solve It ; but th~, immediate contact, took charge of a new asy- lum for lepers in the Himalayas; and on one oc- casion when one oftheiumates died, he, with his own hands, prepared the poor body tor bnrial and then, taking it up in his arms, anli carrying it to the grave, bnried it himself, being nnable to get anyone to help him, even from amongst the lep- ers. I stood beside a man" full ofleprosy," and as I spoke with him the poor fellow moved sever- al times as If in pain. "You are not comforta- ble," said a native Christian doctor who was close behind me, and suiting the action to the wor!!, he went behibd the sulferer, and, placing both arms round him, he raised him gently till he got him into a comfortable position, and then with a "There, is that better' " he left him arid went back to his place behind me. This native gentleman had been a Mohammedan, and was dressed in spotless white muslin, while the poor leper was dressed in the coarsest of clothing, and was in a deplorable condition. 11 Was, I thought, a beautiful illustration of "the love of Christ constraineth us."-W. C. BAlLEY in Word and World. – -The True Missionary Method. Mr. Mere- dith Townsend brings to a close an article in The Oontemporarll Review on •• Cheap Mis- sionaries " as follows, and his ideas in the mat- ter do not differ from those having in charge our American mission work in those conntries : "I contend that there is for the white mission- arT in A,sia and lodia bqt >De natqral place,
most successful has much to learn. Home economical both of men and money, and at boards show an inexplicable reluctance in the same time secure the ends sought. making provision for the support and equipment of missionaries whose sole business Speaking of the distribution of mission shall be that of creating and pushing Christ. literature, the writer calls atteution to a ian literature into circulation. Other work very practical matter when he says, "What is expected from men who do this. The con- we need in the distribution of our mission sequence is they can only give fragmeuts literature is that commercial principles of their time and strength to this all-im- should be more fully applied to it. For inportant task. They have not leisure to be- stance, iu the get-up of books. Such matcome masters of the various vernaculars, ters as the best arrangement of the titlenor to study the pec·uliar tastes and mental page, the best style of binding • . • and peculiarities of those for whom they the various minuti.., of typography and a write. hundred other things, demand attention. Again in the sale-room,showing up thestock Dr. Weitbrecht emphasizes the need of at without exposing it to damage from glare. least one literary missionary for each lan- weeding out old stock, advertising new arguage area. His work will be .. to watch the rivals . . . all this and much more has needs of his province, to inquire after liter- to be considered with care and vigilance. ary workers, native a.nd European; to sug- • • • The Church of Christ must enlarge gest to them the part that each shall take, her ideas of missionary work. We need layto unify and press forward the production men acquainted with the book trade,yet full of Christian books iu each of the great lan- ofa desire to win souls,who will devote themguages ot India." The writer does not raise selves, with no thought of wordly gain, on the question whether each society should the same footing as other missionaries, to have its own literary missionary in each of the work of pushing the sales of mission litits language areas, or whether several soci- erature in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allaeties working in one area should unite in habad and Lahore without neglecting the "evolving" and supporting such a worker. many opportunities for direct evangeliza.- If wisely done, the latter would be far more tion that will come in their way."
I1I.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Ohina, inlluenced by national prejudice, but by an impartial judgment upon his acts, may be VALUABLE communication from inferred from a letter of the Missionary Bishop Rev. George W. Wood, D.D.: of the English Church in China to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, In which he says: • It is G1I:NESEO, N. Y., July 27, 1889. right that the friends of Christian missions, on DEaR EDITORS: Among my newspaper clip- both sides of the Atlantic, should know how pings of past years I lind the following highly much they are pre-eminently indebted for the ill terestlng correspondence, in connection with Christian element in the wording of the treaties, the treaty made by our Government with China to the hearty zeal, sympathy and co-operation in 1858, between the Hon. William B. Reed, the of his Excellency William B. Reed, ably second- U. S. Commissioner and the American mis- ed by his Secretary of Legation and Interpreter, sionaries. I find no allusion to Mr. Reed in Dr. Williams, and the Rev. W. A. P. Martin- Liggin's recent work, "The Great Value and names well known in connection with the· mis- Success of Foreign Missions," Is not this tes- sionarywork in China.' " timony to the service of Mr. Reed in negotiat- Ing the Important treaty of 1858 with China and We can only find room for Mr. Reed's reply: of his noble commendation of the work of Christian missions in China, worth perpetuat- "LEGATION Oli' THE UNITED STATES, } ing in the pages of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW On Board the Minnesota, oll·Wusung, Oli' THl!: WORLD Y "The Journal of Commerce (New York) pub- November 6, 1858. lished an interesting correspondence between "GENTLEMEN: I thank you cordially for your some American missionaries in China and the words of approval and farewell. There are Hon. William B. Reed, United States Commis- those in my distant ·home who will be prouder aioner to that empire. The Journal says: of kind words, and wishes, and prayers from "The missionaries acknowledge with grati- you, the ministers of religion, than of any tude and high consideration his successful efforts political honors I can carry back. For them, in behalfofour common Christianity, by procur- and for myself, 1 thank you. Ing the insertion in tlie treaty of a clause which "It is not always that a policy which restless provides for a full toleration of the Christian people think so ungrateful as neutrality, comr<lligion throughont that vast empire. That in mands approval-and when 1 think oCthe fever- ish condition ·of the public mind ID China this making this acknowledgment they were not time last year, it is matter oC wonder that health and equanimity should be so soon
· restored_nd my countrymen, I believe, with- .. I went to the East with no enthu~laBm as
out exception, should admit that the course missionary enterprise. I come back with the pursued was the right one. tlxed conviction that it is, uncier Providence, the great agent of civilization; and I feel it my .. For this, credit is mahily due to the instruc- dnty to add that everywhere in Asia and Africa, tions of the Governmeut at home, and to the among the Kalllrs in Natal, on the Continent Of wide discretion and thorough support which, India, among the forests of Ceylon, and over from first to last, the President has e:iven me. the vast expanse of China, the testimony to the Buccess and zeal of our countrymen, as mis. .. In my dispatches homeward, I have spoken sionaries of troth, is earnest and concurrent. of my high obligations to the American mis- I heard It everywhere and from high au- sionaries in China, without whose practical aid thority." I could have done little, and to whose good example, making a deep and favorable impres- India.. sion on the Chinese wind, what is called diplomacy owes much. A SUGGESTIVE LETTER_ H.UDA, C. P., June 15. 1889. .. The missionary is never by his own act in trouble here. He is never importunate for MB. CAINE has tried to prove the uDfruit_ assistance, or clanlOrous for redress. He is fulness of missions and the unfaithfulnes. never querulous; and your kind address shows of missionaries generally_That the wa.ys that he is ready to do a public servant more and means of carrying on the Lord's work than jnstice. and to give him unsolicited words in foreign lands, or that the workers them- of generous approval when his work is done. selves could be improved and bettered, no one will deny. .. When the American negotiations were in progress at Tientsin, the Impel'ial Commis- It is useless to break down and not to re- sioners, of their own accord, offered to concede build, and it is equally vain to treat for a to missionaries the privilege of free access to disease without knowing the cause of it_ all parts of the country of China. Honorable :Sow the question is. "Is money the root of as was this testimonial, I could not accept it, the evil Y" "Is thereno other alternative Y" for various reasons-the controlling one being I believe there Is. In this country one oC that it involved the recognition of classes the greatest stumoling-blocks in the way of among my countrymen which I could not missionaries, and one of the most formid- admit. The missionary, the merchant, the abie obstacles towards the spread of Chris- scientitlc explorer, should share the same prlvi- tianity, is CASTE. It Is the missionary's le~e. They do so now, and I look forward to mountain of difficulty and is not to be the early day, when uuder the providence of easily overcome. But how can we expect God, with an improved state of feeling, invig- snccess to attend our preaclling against orated loyalty, and sense of obedience to law, this terrible evil, when the same curse, which creates as wany duties as privileges- though under a different, and therefore Americans shan pass the opened gates of the more subtle, form, is lea.vening our own so- mysterious empire, alike doing good, obeying cieties r I write cautiousiy because it isa law and giving no evil example. sore point. It is right and proper that a body of people entrusted with funds tor the .. Every missionary to whom I have men- propagation of the gospel in heathen lands tioned the offer which was made to me, and should have a voice In the choice of their my reasons for declining it, approves what I own representatives; but are they bound did. to select only their own countrymen and converted heathen r We see in this land .' Permit me, gentlemen, with renewed thanks missionaries from Great Britain, America to you and all my missionary friends-and I and other parts of the Christianized and extend them to those devoted and accomplished civilized world working in concert, and women whom I have seen here laboring in the upon almost the same footing, with well- great cause of Christian education-to express educated and high-toned moral Christian my earnest wish for your welfare and success natives. This is good, and a true and in China, and for what to me just now seems powerful exposition of Christianity. But the greatest happiness this world can give, a why is such manifest distinction made be- return to your friends at home, and to that tween the English and Americans and distant land of whose institutions one becomes Anglo-Indians and Enrasians! Why are prouder every day he lives, and which he loves the latter made to feel that they are looked better and better every hour of his life, at home down upon and despised by the former rAre and abroad. they not equally related to each other on Christian principles; and, as regards na- " Very faithfully, your friend, tionality, more closely connected to us than "WILLIAM B. REED. the natives of the country r Yet Isay, with- out fear of contradiction, that the same op- "To the Rev. Messrs. Nelson, Mills, Barton, portunities are not afforded them. It ap- Lamballo, Carpenter, Gayley and Macy, pears to me that any person, whatever hia no- Shanghae." After his return to America Mr. Reed ad- dressed the merchants of Philadelphia, as fol- lows:
11lS~10NA1l.'Y'ooaR1tSl'oNnENC:d FROM ALL
tlonalitll, haVing tke qual(ftcati01lB to fulfill anll But this is not all. Lack of unity to a deposition worthilll, is entitled to tke jtill privileges the (,.f/lC<I or appointment gives. But an- plorable degree exists among the ditl'erent glo-IndJans and Eurasians are handicapped. Is It considered that mentally they are un- missionaries of anyone society. We are not fit f Have they not brain power equal to 80 Hinduor Parsi, who obtain, under our so- so much surprised, though that is bad cieties, appointments from which-the others are debarred f We see them filling admira- enough, where the difference arises from a bly positions of honor and of trust in Government service; and it is only reasonable sect.arian spirit; but to have co-workers, to conclude that were equal opportulllties for training In the Lord's work open to them, co-wrangling, to have division in the ranks, with an outlook of being treated with the same respect and cousideration 80S workers cannot be buta source of weakness and uufrom home holding similar positions, much increase of work and reaping of fruit would profitableness. result. And why, The missiouaries who come from abroad have not ouly to spend Verily we need to pray to be made one in t.he time but strength and money upon a foreign language, and have to learn the habits and Father, and in His Son, and in one another, cnstoms of the country, whereas most of those on the spot who would offer themselves and to pra.ywith the intention of practicing for the Master's service are acquainted with these things, and would be in a posi- this spirit, that the world may know that tion to actively and successfully engage in work within six months. There are men the Father sent the Son, and loves them as and women here who would be only too glad to devote their Iives to this important work, He loves the Sou. W. E. C. but who couldnot associate themselves With those who would snub and sneer, their only [We print the above suggestions because fault being that they are born in this country, or that their skin is of 80 darker hue. the writer, by his remarkable success, has This is no new question; but it is none the Jess a preSSing one. I do not say that there won the right to be heard. He is no captious are noexceptions, thank God there are I but the admission of these upon an equal footing critic, but a workman needing not to be has been only after an exhlbition of jealousy and selfishness on the part of those sent out ashamecl.-EDs.] by the societies. It seems strange that they can engage inaU kinds of Christian labor and [WE regard the following movehave the <IOndMcerlding approval of the societies' representati ves as being fully capable ment as one of the most startling of undertaking the work in hand without movements of our day, and we are the manifestation of mnch iIl.feeling until the shelved ones venture to express that glad to record it as a matter of the they need, as weH as their self-opinionated overseers, a house to live in, food to eat and history of modern missions.-EDS.] clothes to wear; and that it costs as much to support four of them as it does to provide THE ARABIAN MISSION. for four of the others. This is caste-horri- Organized 1889. Undenominational. ble caste-a child of pride, and the SOoner it .. Oh, that Ishmael might live bifore Thee!" is cast out of societies the better for mis- Syndicate of……….. . sions generally. Subscriptions payable quarterly, in advance. Subscribers may change or cancel their sub- I refer to no particular society, workers, scriptions at any time if necessary. or places specially. Bombay Presidency, Fiscal year begins October 1, 1889. Fnll Central India, Central Provinces and the financial statement will be mailed subscribers at Northwest Provinces, all tell the same sad the close of every fiscal year. story. It is 80 shame, a. crying shame, that lIuch 80 state of affaira should exist I Mav PLAN. the time speedily come when all these terrible barriers and hindra.nces shall be thrown We, the undersigned, believing ourselves to down, a.nd when righteous jUdgment, with- be divinely caHed npon to engage in pioneer out partiality, shall &"uide the choice of mission work in some Arabic-speaking conn· worker", try, and especially in behalf of Moslems and slaves, do at the ontset recognize the foHowing facts: li'irst.-The great need of, and encouragement for, this work at the present time.
Second.-The fact that hitherto comparatively little has been done distinctively in the chan- nels Indicated.
Third.-Tbe non·existence of such a mission under the charge of American Church Boards generally.
Fourth.-Tbe general financial inability of these Church Boards to. organize such a mission and send individuals to snch fields in addition to the work they have already assumed.
Therefore, in order that the ohject desired may be realized we agree to the following plan which is hereby adopted: FirBt.-This missionary mO"l"ement shall be known as The Arabian Mission.
Second.-The field, so far as at present it is possible to be determined, shall be Arabia and the adjacent coast of Africa.
Third.-Selected by and associated with the
C6RR1!:SPONbENCll: fROM: ALL PAR'l'S. tN"o~
underSigned shall be a Committee of AdVice, Korea. composed of Cour contributors, to assist in advancing the interests of this mission. A LETTER of friendly criticism.
Ji'oorth..-In view of the fact that this mission Two things concerning Korea in the MISSIONis of necessity undenominational in its peraon- ARY RBVIEW OF THE WORLD for September, nel and working,contributions are solicitedfrom call for remark. One is the statement that" The any and all to whom this may come, without predominant religion is Buddhism, though there reference to denominational adherence. are some Confucianists and Shintoists." The caSA is rightly stated in the paper of Prof. Hul· Fij1h.-The amount reqnired to carryon the bert in the same numbe,·:" Buddism still work of this mission will be the sum necessary struggles for existence. . •. But for many cen to meet the eqnipment and working expenses of turies the people have been devoted Confucianthe individuals approved of and sent to engage ists. . . ." Prof. Hulbert is, of course, hein tile work of this mission. No debt Shall be cause of his three years' residence in the counincurred and no salaries be paid to other than try, well qualified to spe~k. As he intimates missionaries. Buddhism is not the regnant belief. Almost its only adherents are the monks, who are intrnst- Bi:tth.-Tbe funds necessary for carrying on ed with the gnardianship of the king'sfortresses, the work of this missiou shall be raised upon a and who find in the fact that, as thus doing sIndicate plan. according to which yearly snb- garrison duty, they draw food from the royal scriptions shall be solicited in amounts of from garrisons, compensation for the low position $5.00 to $200.00, the subscribers of like amounts socially they are compell<,d to take. I think Dr. to constitute a syndicate with such organization Pierson is ri~ht in saying that there are traces as sball be desirable. of Sllintoism, as I have vi.ited temples which certainly have some closer affiliations with that Seventh .-The fnnds necessary tor carrying on system than with Buddhism, Certainly, howthe work of this mission shall be solicited and ever Confucianism, while not the only religion, secured according to the following subscription is b; far the most important and is almost uniform : versal in Korea. The sacred books are not the Vedas, but the classics of Confucins and Men~ Ist.-The amount subscribed shall be so much cius. per year. Prof. H1llbert has given several reasons for 2d.-The amonnt thus subscribed shall be the persistence of Confucianism, having refer" payable quarterly, in advance. ence, I suppose, especially to Korea. These reasons are: (ll it,s basis on respect for parents; 8d.-The year shall begin October 1, 1889. (2) its freedom from ecclesiasticism; (8) tbe con- 4th.-It is desired that the amount sub- sequent freedom from drain upon the purs" of scribed shall not interfer6 with. tkeindividua!'8 the people; and (4) its appeal to family pride, regular derwminational contributions to for- or .. clannishness." Tllese reasons apply of eign mis8i()Tl8. course to its existence wherever it is found. Butoverand beyond aU these there is a special 5th.-Subscribers sign with tbe understanding reason for its continuance in Korea. It might that they shall be at Uberty to change or cancel have possessed aU tbe foregoing characteristics their subscriptions at any time ifProvidence so and yet have failed in a particular conntry to dictates. maintain its supremacy or even its existence. Tbisspecial reason is theprevalenceofthe.tudy 6th.-In accordance with the above I agree to of the Cbinese literature. Korea is bilingual. contribute the sum of – – dollars a year for While all, from the Kiug: down, speak Korean, the work of The Arabian Mission. Signed, the language ofliterature and ofcourt documents is Chinese. The latter is the language of culture, Eigkth.-Of the undersigned the first party and occupies just the position of Latin in Roger shal! be Treasnrer, and have general oversight Bacon's time in England. orthe interests of the mission at' home and as such shall render an annual statement, while the Presumably mandarins are made and promotmissionaries in the field shall have the direction ed for, their proficiency in this tongne. Examof those interests abroad. inations for admission from the ranks of pess- antry to those of mandarins are in Chinese. Ninlh.-lIissionaries shall associate them- The educated classes speak Korean and write selves in the work with the mission already Chinese. There is no lIteratnre, that is, no established in that field, to which mission and classic. in the Korean. The science of the counits board the brethren sent are most cordially try is Ghinese, and the sacred bookS are precommended. served in that character. Probably half the male population can read and write both Chi- Tenth.-It is understood that this plan is, nese and the vernacular, a large proportion do either eqnally well, since only in this way can with the consent of contn"bntors, subject to they reach the heights of mandarinship, which is the haunting dream Df every Korean. such change as may be necessary or advisable for the advancement of the desired object.
Signed, J. G. LANSING, JAJI[RS CANTINE, S. M. ZWElIIER. N. B.-Please fill out the blanks in No.6 and return to J. G. Lansing, Treasurer, New Brunswlck,N.J.
188f1;1
Bence tbe !OUrces of Confnclanlsm and Its Iy a greater readiness to embrace it. Among tenets are always before tbe people, and In the masseS there is no affection for COnfncianreading and learning this mass of literature ilm barring the way to the entrance of Christhe liUrati imbibe along with Confucian tenets tianity. Another cheeTing fact apropos of the more or less of that intense conservatism which present discnssion is that the eleemosynary Is the characteristic of the Chinese people. Since then only Confncian literatnre is read-f work of our missionaries In "Cho Son" has barring ont the cheap native .. stuff" (short the sanction olthe Government. The kingdom stories oChalf-dime novel caliber)-it ilt no won- which six years ago was shnt in from all light der thatin the" Hermit Klne;dom " the exclusion has now as a part of the national government of sources of information concerning other re- the care of a Presbyterian hospital! Remem, ligions adds power to other reasonS for the per- bering that it is necessary, for the sake of the eeverance of Confucianism there. converts, for Christianity to woi-k down through society, as well as up, how Providential and Prof. Hulbert has done good service in re- how encouraging seem the snccess of Dr. Allen marking that one encouragement for missions in evoking an interest in such an institntion, in Korea is roun~ in the fact that Confucian- and of Dr. Heron for maintaining tbat Interest ism is not really a religion, there. It is rather in the very palace of the King, by their profesa custom. It does not among the masses grasp sional skill. Firm friends of all the missionthil emotions and sway the WIlls. It is also to aries are found among mandarins of high rank. be noticed, that this system's grip is less firm as .. Checks" may occur, but judicious conservawe proceed downward from mandarin to cool- tism on the part of our workers will undoubtie. Pride of position and of family tends to in- edly work good resuits. tensify mandarin opposit ion to Christianity. In the lower ranks there is less reluctance to [Rev.] GEO. W. GILlIon, examine the truths of our faith, and consequent- Late of Government School, Seonl, Korea.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEP.IRTMENT.
The Missiona.ry in the Midst of Poverty, bread, and often do nut know how future wantsare to be supplied. They BY REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, D.D.* suffer from want and from oppres- sion. "The poor and him that hath IT is the destiny of most mission- no helper" are inseparable terms. aries to witness great displays of They first of all are disposed to give wealth, but to come into close and ear to a message of hope and deliverdaily relations with poverty. Unto ance. There may at first be no apthe poor the gospel is preached. This prehension of sin 01' of spiritual want bl'ief assertion of our Lord is signifi-' or spiritual deliverance. Very narcant of the condition of the race and row and eat·thly views may govern the resultant attitude toward the the first movements toward the gosdivine message. It is divided into rich pel, but they are powerful enough to and poor. A certain number have bring numbers of the poor to heal' all that heart could wish. "They are and to recei~e the gt'eat salvation. notin trouble as other men." "Their eyes stand out with fatness." They Very often one of the first and most prosper in the world. They increase keenly felt results IS greater strinin riches. As in the days of Asaph, gency in the means of satisfyingdaily so now the rich are not generally the wants. Hostility is raised, the poor God-fearing, the devout, the benevo- believer is deprived of employment, lent. They are not disposed to listen and perhaps his children cry for to the message of salvation to sin- bread which he cannot give them. ners, lost, ruined, under condemna- What shall the missionary do? tion. The world is theirs, and they What course shall he take? .He sees are satisfied. that these cases will multiply-that the spiritual blessing which he seeks But by far the greater number are to bestow will multiply them. the poor. They are those who have no laid-up resources. They are de- Now, what principlesof action shall pendent upon daily labor for daily he, as a missionary, lay down with *Rea.d before theInternationalMissionary Union, 1889. .
8M INTERNA.T10NAL bEPARl':MIllNT
relation to these his spiritual chil- which the truth has found a lodg- dren in distress? ment, out of distress and crushing, paralyzing poverty is to introduce an First, he cannot throw off all re- orderly, Christian family life. sponsibility in the case. He cannot say to them, "I have brought you (a) A Christian breakfast, the the words of eternal life, but as to family all present, a bles5ing asked your temporaL life I have nothing to upon the meal, the children with do with it." If any missjonary has clean hands and faces, has been often ever relieved himself from care and the beginning of a new and more 01'- effort in this way, he was probably derlylife. not worth much as a missionary, although the temptation to do so is (b) The Sabbath kept sacred from sometimes strong. unnecessary labor and from amuse- ments, the time devoted to worship, Secondly, a missionary cannot call reading and the Sunday-school, is upon his society to support these another efficient means of rescuing poor converts. That would be to the poor fl'om the squalor of their establish a pauper Christianity, and poverty. the result would be paupers enough, but no Christianity. (C) Everyone who comes under the enlightening powerof the gospel Third. The missionary cannot be must grow in knowledge as well as reasonably required so to exhaust grace. If parents, their children his own resources for their relief as must be educated. The missionary to endanger his health.and the wel- should insist upon this. In most fare of his family. There seems to cases he will find parents ready, be something noble in this. but as a often eager to secure the benefits Qf rule is it wise? education to their children. The idle, careless, shiftless, should be But still he has a great and holy dealt with faithfully, and if incorri- duty to perform toward these his gible should be set off as not belong- brethren in the Lord. ing to the children of light. Chil- dren well trained in schools will not He must understand them fully. grow up to be paupers. He must get down as nearly as pos- sible into their family life. He must (d) Schools should always be in know how they live, what is the food part industrial, after a certain age, they eat, the clothes they wear, the to be governed by CIrcumstances. houses or huts they live in, the occu- This is a difficult and laborious part pations upon which they depend for of education, but a most important sustenance, their hours of labor or one. It will teach the dignity of amusement, or listless idleness, their labor and will teach the hands to sicknesses, theil' general sanitary con- war and the fingers to fight in the dition, and indeed all that relates to struggle for existence. their mode of life. I have known families living in wretchedness who It will give character, courage and only needed advice and encour- confidence to youth to feel that he agement, and to have the better has the uSe of tools, that he has mas. way opened clearly to them, and tered some of the forces of nature, then the emancipation from poverty that he can by his own industry and eame through their own efforts. knowledge provide for himself and The most questionable way of aiding be useful to others. However low " the poor is by money. There are may have been his condition, this cases which demand it, but they are will raise him to a higher level comparatively few. and make him a living force in so- ciety. I hold thatone of the most effective ways of bringing a poor family, in (e) The missionaI'y must teach the
tN'I'EkNATIONAt
poor to give something every week, " The young lions do lack and suffer however small the sum. It may hunger, but they that seek the Lord seem hard, but it is the truest kind- shall not want any good thing." It ness. OUt'Lord Himself taught it by must be so or the Bible would not be commending the poor widow who true. I have been young and now cast in all her living. The gifts of the am old, but I have never seen the poor for the support and extension righteous forsaken nor His seed begof the gospel retul'n a hundredfold ging bread. into their own bosoms. It may seem to the earthly, materialistic mind a (g) The missionary must laborsheer contradiction, but it is true in iously fit himself to be the wise adfact, in philosophy and in the word viser and helper ofthe poor converts. of God. Tire writer has known too They must live, and so far as possimany instances to doubt it. Giving ble a comfortable life. The poorman for the promotion of a noble object may be as happy as the rich man, ennobles the soul. It makes it con- but he must have food and clothing scious of thus entering into the and gratitude and trust in God. And brotherhood of the benefactors of he must obtain all these himself. man and of the disciples of the Lord. The gl'eatest kindness the mission- It gives a joy that is new and pure. ary can possibly do is to help him to There will be new efforts at economy, work, to put him in the way of oba new inventiveness and industrious- taining his living by his labor. A ness in both saving and earning. little assistance in money may some- Teaching the poor to gi ve systemati- times be necessary as a start, but for cally, constantly to some noble ob- the most part aid in money, except ject is one of the surest ways of re- to the sick and disabled, is corruptlieving theit' poverty. The causes of ing. The superiorintelltgence of the poverty are in part mental and missionary and his wider acquaintmoral. The environment may be ance with men and things will enunfriendly to success, but the person- able hIm to open doors which the ality of the poor man is after all the humble and ignorant convert could chief factor. When you change that nevllr reach. But if there be a naall is changed. If you find a poor tive church already formed he may person not susceptible to benevolent often work more effectively through and generous Christian motives you the officel's and more intelligen t memrna' be pretty sure that his poverty bers of the church. is remediless. Persecution, oppression and wrong (j) 'fhe missionary must teach the must often be met. Thereis in some poor believer to seek help from God. flfllds so much of this that the soul There is prevalence in prayer. The cries OLlt, 0 Lord, how long! "Via earnest suppliant becomes strong in lucis via crucis" is the destiny of taking hold of the strength of God. whole sections of the struggling "Ghe us this day our daily bread" church. The sympathies of themisis a hint of what he should do in s,ionary are taxed often beyond enprayer. By it he walks with God durance, but he must face the enand God walks with him. Such are emy with all the patience, wisdom the methods of God's grace and and firmness which God shall give providence that neither can do his him, knowing that the Lord will best without the other. never forsake His persecuted people.
The promises of God are scattered From this very brief and imperfect all through the Bible, encouraging view of the relation of the missionapd inviting the poor to seek from ary to poor or persecuted converts- Him whatever they most need. and they are often both poor and persecuted-it is plain that the mis-
·~ov
sionary should be a man of varied cannot look for his reward here. 11· attainments, and especially of great his wants are few they will be pro.· practical common sense. He must vided for, and he will be happy. If undel'stand men and things. He they are many he may suffet' and be must understand at least in a gen- unhappy. He is to be a good soldier eral way the industries, the trade, of Jesus Christ, whowentaboutdoing the commerce by which the converts good, a.nd where the Mastel' leads he must live. He should be able to in- must follow. troduce them to the better way of -doing things. All his attainments The lady missionaries are generally will be called into action. All his much better fitted for their work resources will be dl'awn upon. He than the men. They all know housewill often have to contrive new ways hold arts, while the men often know of doing things, and his inventive little outside of their study. The powers will be taxed to the utmost. missionary woman is at homQ in the Happy is the missionary who is not households of the POOl', and knows called upon for a great deal more just what they need to be ,taught and than he knows. how to teach them. No machinery has set aside woman from the care Our present modes of life and ed- of the household. The infinite Jehoucation do not prepare the yo'}ng vah invented one machine and enmissionary for such a life. Every- dowed it with faith, love and immorthing is done by machinery. Ap- tality, and placed it in the social prenticeship has ceased and we im- paradise to keep it, and it will never port our skilled labor from Europe. be replaced by any patent taken out I have known a young missionary against Him. Woman's whole life who could write a good sermon, but at home in its daily industries· and if he had a board nail to drive he had cares is a better fitting for missionary to call upon his wife to do it. I life than man's. She goes into the would not blame him. He was never field fully equipped for her work, required to do anything demanding man but poorly fitted for his. He human muscle beyond the absolute has an apprenticeship to serve, and needs of locomotion and nutrition. he needs abundant antecedent prep- aration and great grace and wisdom If the missionary is to have no con. in the process. cern with the earthly liCe of the poor converts. if he is to declare to them Through them both the Lord must positively and clearly that he comes work as best Hecan to accomplish the simply to bring to them the truth, and great purposes of His redeeming love. they must fight their own battles without bothering him, such a man The experience of the last· fifty may do much good. And yet there years has made one fact prominent is danger that the convert will not that we cannot omit. It is the feel for his teacher all the veneration supreme importance of medical misand trust that are desirable when he sionaries, men and women. Theyfolsees him a mere child, in many low eminently the footsteps of the Sathings needing a guardian rather viour who healed the sick of all their than pupils. But the missionary is diseases. This service gains the ear to be a guide and teacher in all that otherwise would have been deaf things. He is the model man, and to the message. This compensates his family is the model family. HIS in part for the necessarily impractilife must be above reproach. It must cal character of the young missionbear the scrutiny of watchful and ary's education. jealous eyes. It must be a life of great self-denial. The missionary In some mission fields the Chris- tian mechanic and farmer may be quite a.s useful as the ~ost thor-
-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
oughlyeducated man. The heathen i'epresented therein. At the close of are to be raised out of degradation this meeting, also, a committee to and ignorance and indolence to a. life carry out these suggestions was elect- of decency and mdustry. Every kind ed, consisting of the following ladies: of consecrated talent WIll find its Mi88 Abbie B. Ohi'd, Chairman, SecretalT sphere in this diverse work. The Woman's Board of Missions, Congregational progress of missions is intensifying House, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. this demand. Some successful missions in China and Africa illustrate Mra. A. S. Quintan, President of the Woman'8 it. Self-supporting missionaries must National Indian Association, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.A.
Miss BenMtt, London Miselonary Society.
have resources of their own. Then Miss Mulvany, Secretary of Church of Engwho can forbid their going? "The land Zenana Missionary Society, 9 Salisburr Lord gave the word, great was the Square, Fleet Street, London, E. C. company of those that published it." Miss Reid, Secretary of SClltland Ladies' As- sociation for Foreign lIisslons, 22 Queen Street, The Revised Version has it, "The Edinburgh. women that publish the tidings are a MI". John L<no~, 56 George Sqnare, Edingreat host." This seems to be in process of fulfillment. This must have burgh. amazed the Oriental mind. It was kindred to the prophecy of Joel, ADDITloN.A.L MlCJ[B1I:RS OF THE COJlllITTEB.
Miss Amelia Angw, Secretary Ladies' Asso- ciation Baptist Missionary Society, The College, Regent Park, London,N. W. C.
"And it shall come to pass afterward Miss M. A. Lloyd, Church or England, Wo- that I will pour out my spirit upon ma.n's Missionary Association, 143 Clapham all flesh, and your SOilS and your Road, London, S. W. daughters shall prophesy." Miss Christina Rainy, 25 George Sqnare, Edinburgh. Ladies' Society for Female Educa- tion in India and Souih Africa.
World's Missionary Oommittee of Ohris· Mr•. Weatherly, 51 Gordon Sqnare, London, tian Women. W. E. Indian Female Normal School and In- struction Society. AT a woman's meeting held in con. Mi88 Rosamond A. Webb, 267 Vauxhall nection with the General Missionary Bridge Road, London, S. W. Society for Pro- Conference in London, June 9-19, motion of Female Education in the East.
of 1888, it was proposed that a World's Mi.. rJOtI. 58 St. George Road, London, N. W. Zenana Medical College. Missionary Committee Christian 1£..s. J. B. DlJvi., Rochester, N. H., U. S. A.
Women should be established, which Free Baptist lrnsslonary Societr.
should form a means of communica- Mi.. S. O. Durfee, 84 Waterman Street, tion between the different denomina, Providence, R. I. Woman's Baptist Foreign tional, union and other great (not Missionary Society, Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
local or parish) societies. The object Mrs. A. M. BlJC()n, 3112 Forest Avenne.
of such committee would be to secure Chicago, Ill. Woman's Baptist Societr of the concerted action on the part of all West. Women's, General, Foreign and Home Missionary Societies: 1. For Mrs. A.. M. Ca.tlen, Cllestnnt Street, Evans- ville, Ind.. U. S. A. Woman's Board of Foreign Missions of Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
special prayer. 2. For united effort Miss Mary F. Bailey, Milton, Wi•., U. S. A. for other objects, as, for example, Woman's Board of Seventh-Dar Baptist the legal relief of the 20,000,000 of. Church. widows in India. 3. For the ar- Mr•• H. R. Ma8sll, 133( Chestnut Street, Phil- adelphIa, Pa., U. S. A. Woman'. Foreign }fls- rangement of any general confer- sienary Society of the Presbyterian Church. ence that may be deemed desirable. Mr,. C. N. Thorpe, Philadelphia, Pa. Wo- It is suggested that each member man's Board of Missions of the Preshyterian of such World's Committee should Church.
Mr•. L. R. K~ilter, corner Main aad 4th be requested to send annually some streets, Dayton, 0., U. S. A. Woman'. Mi.- communication from her society, sionary Association of Brethren in Christ. either by letter or printed document, to its <;:h<tirman, and to each society Mr•. W. H. Hammer, Oakdale, corner Stein- way Avenue, Clevelaud, 0., U. S. A. Woman's Missionary Society Evangelical Association. Mrs. BerlJamin DouglaBB, Presid~nt Woman' same privileges as natives of the Presbyterian Board of the Northwest,48 Mc- country. Cormick Block, Chicago, III. It is now announced that a similar Mis8 Nathalie Lord, Secretary Woman's treaty has been agreed upon between Home Missionary Association, 32 Congregational the United States Minister and the House, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. rep.resentatives of Japan, and only walts the sanction of Congress to Mrs. Darwin B. James, 58 5th Avenue, New rendel' it effectual, This kindly treat- York, N. Y. Woman's Executive Committee of ment on the part of the United States Home Missions Presbyterian Chnrch. is looked upon with great favor by the Japanese, and will add still more Hus 8. E. Haight, Morvyn House, 248 Jarvis to the high esteem which is felt for Street, Toronto, Canada. Woman's Foreign all who represent our glorious re- Missionary, West Section. public. Other nations will undoubt- edly follow in the same line, but the Mrs. E. T. Strachan, 113 Hughson Street, fact is evident that it is not a matter Hamilton, Ontario. Woman's Missionary So- of choice, but of necessity on theil' ciety of the Methodist Chnrch, Canada. part, or they would otherwise be at great disadvantage in the conduct of Mr8. J. T .. Gracey, 202 E.tgle Street, Bnffalo, business. N. Y. International Missionary Union. The r.esult of this treaty will give Mrs. Carruthers, Ceutral House, Central Hill, a new Impetus and strength to the London. S. E. work of missions. Up to the present time no foreigner could travel in the ~otes from Japan. interior except by special permission of the Government, and the only THE subject of treaty revision has reasons for which passports would be issued were for either" Health" or been one of the leading questions of "Scientific Observation." So that really there was no chance for misthe day for some time in Japan. Up sionary tours except by violation of the terms of the passport. All misto the present time the Imperial sional'ies and others living in the in- terior, or even outside of the very Government has not been allowed to narrow concessions given at the treaty ports, have been obliged to fix the rate of duties upon imported engage in teaching of some sort in order to procure a residence of that goods, and foreigners resident in the ki.nd.
country were not amenable to the The effect of the treaty will be to remove aU such obstacles and give Japanese laws. Of course, this was Christian workers from the United States an oppOI·tunity to live or travel very annoying to this people of so wherever they choose. In this way there can be a better arrangement of much national pride, and who have the missionary forces and also more time devoted to direct evangelistic now attained such a high degree of work wherever it is thought best.
civilization, and their efforts to ob- A Moslem Manifesto.
tain a position of perfect equality The Punjab Mission News, a paper published in Amritsur, India, and dehave ·been frequent and arduous. voted to the interests of missionary The representative of the United States Government has always been ready to concede all that was just and desirable, but the European powers have been a unit in denying all claims of equality to the Japan- ese people.
After a long series of meetinO's by. 0 the varIOus representatives a plan of revision was agreed upon, but Count Inoye could not get the sanction of the scheme by the Imperial Cabinet, and so the whole matter was dropped for a time.
But the Japanese were not content to let the matter rest. And S(l a treaty was recently made with Mex_ ico in which all the rights that were asked for were fully conceded. In return for these concessions all M ex- ican subjects, of which there is said to·be one in Japan, were allowed the work, published in a recent number .. These Mission Englishwomen and their Hindu and Mohammedan of the latestMohammedan manifesto. servants who teach, take their women and girl pupils on Sundays This manifesto was issued at La- to church, and under pretense of keeping them behind a red curtain, hore, and is circulated in India. It seat them in the mIdst of men, and they join in Christian worship, and is signed by several of their lead- sing with them, and this is nuw common.. and these things are to be ing teachers, or men learned in the found everywhere in cities. Women and girls become Christians in Koran. churches, and so blacken the face This speaks for itself. The Mo- of their families (i. e., are a cause of hammedans would like to counter- shame and disgrace). If their rela- tives seek legal redress, missionaries act, if possible, the Christian influ- spend hundreds of rupees and win the case in law courts. ences which are being exerted among "0 Mohammedans I haye you not their women. even so much sh;me left as to make you save your wives and daughters .. What, 0 Mohammedans 1 do from this dishonor and blasphemy, you remember that blessed time and to camle you to make propel' when your forefathers spread the arrangement yourselves for their teaching of the unity of God in the education? whole world? Theirlabors al'e still your boast 1 To-day these great "Some people labor under the ones sleep in graves of excellent delusion that these Mission Englishreputation, but you who pray for women are appointed by Governthe repose of their souls, careless of ment. The Government interferes the greatness of your true faith, with no one's faith; this is the wor!): have reached such depths of degra- of missionaries only, who collect dation, that Christians, morning and subscriptions to enable them to evening, are wiping Islam out, and propagate their faith. If you forbid you sleep J If there is a remnant of them to come into your houses, and the excellence of your great ones deciine to send your girls into their left you nowadays, then it is this schools, they cannot force you. only, that Mohammedan women are For this reason an authoritative unmatched in the world for good- declaration has been obtained from ness, modesty, obedience to their learned men of Islam, and is pubhusbands, and adhet'ence to the lished. Let all men act upon it. faith; but herein is the misfortune, Those who do not do so, a list will that they too are becoming snakes be published of their names, and in your sleeves, and you do nothing I Behold the spies and be- thl'y will be dealt with." guilers, English women of Christian missions, under pretense of educat- The followmg was the question ing and teaching handiwork, go about teaching all your women-folk submitted to the doctors of Islam: in every house, saying, 'Why do you waste your lives? Come, be- "What say the learned in the come Christians, be free!' and num- faith, the understanders of the law, berless households have been de- about this, that the English women stroyed (i.e., have become Christian) of Christian Missions come into and are being destroyed. Especially houses under cover of giving worldare the tender, innocent, under-age ly instruction, and go about teachgirls of Hindus and Mohammedans ing their own faith, employing taken in dolis to their schools. and Mohammedan women as th!'ir servthere they are taught the Testa- ants and teachers? They do also ment, and hymns which tell of by mel»ns of them spread their relIg- Christ being the Son of God, and so ion. Is it lawful or not for Mohamthe sel'd!' of blasphemy are sown in medans to let their women and chiltheir hearts. Whatever the seed dren be educated or taught needlesown is, that also will the fruit and work and so forth by these English harvest be. When from childhood women and their Mohammedan these things are instilled into them, teachers, or is it lawful even to let then when they grow older, nay, in them come amongst their womentwo or three generations, all women folk? If a Mohamml'dan lets such being drawn to the Christian faith, women come into his household, and careless of their own, will go into the churches and become Chris- does he transgress the law or DQt? " tians. Examples are not wanting. This is the Fathwa of the Maul- and liberal views, it is sa.id, ca.n. not work with them. Here is an ilvies: lustration. After several futile at- tempts a native Bulgarian pastor in "It is not at all right even to a prominent city obtained an inter- allow such women to come into view with the Bulgarian Minister of houses, and to let the purdah Foreign Affairs and Public WorshIp, Women come before them, much less in regard to persecutions to which to let them give that religious teach- he had been subjected, when the foling by which we see such great lowing conversation took place: damage done to the faith. For these women come in reality in order that Minister. Where do you hail they may beguile Mohammedan from? women and make them Christians, B.nd that then by means of them Preacher. I was born in Macedonia. they may ensnare the men also. Therefore, whoever allows these M. When did you come to Orchawomen to come into his house, he nia and from whence? does in truth destl"oy the root of P. Two months ago from T–. his true faith, Islam. Whatever M. What is your business? Mohammedan, therefore, does, by reason of ignorance of the evil re- P. I am a. preacher of the gospel. sults of his act, allow such women to come into his house, commits a M. How many Protestants are great sin; and if, after he has been there in O. where you live? duly warned, he does not stop them, he is in great danger of losing his P. There are five families and 20 or faith." , 24 persons. M. Will you lie to me' There are The lawyers ,declare : "The unbe- only two Protestant&thereand there lieving woman of another faith is as is no need of your preaching. a strange man;" that is, just as it P. But the people there have deis unlawful for a woman to appear sired me, and my superior has sent before a strange man, so it is not me th, re to preach.
lawful to show herself to such a M. Your superior has no authority woman. It also written in the in O. He can give ordel's only in L.
Sha.ru Mukhtar: Beside that Bulli'arians must not " It is not lawful for a Moham- preach. Let the Americans do the medan woman to appear unveiled before a 'Christian woman, a Jewess, preaching. or an infidel woman; yet, verily, If she have a slave of these religions, P. But my predecessor in O. wasa. then it is lawful for her." That is to say, if the slave-girl of a Mohamme- Bulgarian. dan woman is a Christian, Jewess or infidel, then it is lawful for a woman M. But you shall not preach. They to appear before her slave. will break your head if you do. " Let Mohammedans be extremelv wary of such women, and on no ac- After abuse and threats the mincount let them come into their houses; nay, further, whatever ister said: "I will permit you to restreet such women are in the habit of g'oing' to, it is incumbent on the turn to O. on condition that you do chief man of it to use every effort to stop their g'oing into the houses of not pi"each. If you begin to preach Mohammedans. If he has the power and does not use it, he too is a ,I will send you out of the country. sinner." (Jome to-morrow and hear my decis- BULGARIAN ANOYANCES.-Bulga- ion and then go." . ria is now free from external press- The next morning this Methodist ure, hut her present ministry is Bulgarian preacher called for the about as tyrannical as if they were final answer and one of the subordi- Russians. They carry rather a high nates read to him the following: "It hand, and men of broad culture is permitted to 1– D– to return to 0– and find himself work-not to remain idle." The next day he found himself work preaching to his congregation.
DEACONESSES IN OROOMIAH, PER- SIA.-At the ladies' meeting of the International Missionary Union at Binghamton Mrs. Rev. Dr. J. H. Shedd said: The churches in 01'00- miah, Persia, all have deaconesses.
Th~ iutentio11 is to selectiQt this offi~
1889.j TH. MONTHLY CONCERT OF
such women as are described in 1 lage a short time after the afternoon Tim. v.: 10, but it is not always pos- church service for a prayer-meeting. sible to find them. During the winter, when the peo- The larger churches are well or- ple are at leisure, the pastors often ganized, and the pastor divides the district their villages, and over each female members into companies, division places one of the deaconplacing over each a deaconess. It esses. She directs those under her is her duty to look after the spirit- charge, and thus every house in ual interests or her charge. to rec- the village is visited and every soul oncile any who may have fallen invited to meeting. Often the Bible into quarrels, to admonish them of is read and prayer offered in the neglected duty and to report to the houses. pastor any cases which may require his attention. The pastor at stated The missionary ladies hold meettimes· meet these deaconesses and ings for Bible stUdy with these deagives them needed instruction in the conesses from the various villages. Bible and counsel. In these the various methods of work are discussed and sug-gestions made These different companies usually and much prayer is offered for the meet in the different parts of the vil- divine help.
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY ARTHUR T. pmRSON, D.D.
FOR this month our subjects are rique, 12 years old, is a remarkably South America and Cuba, Home Mis- bright and promising child. His sions, the Y. M. C. A. work and pa- father had long hoped that the Lord pacy. We refer the reader on all whom he had served so faithfully these topics to the gl'eat mass and would honor him by accepting the variety of material found in these gift of this son for the ministry, but pages in this and previous numbers, the way had not appea.red. At last, particularly to the work of Alberto in June, 1885, it seemed necessary J. Diaz in Cuba, etc. In this number that the boy should commence to we call attention mainly to Braziland earn his own living. The father the papacy in South America, and tried in vain to find a place for sundry facts as to Home Missions in him in some business. Taking the the United States. failure as a sign that God had bet- BRAZIL. ter things in store, the old man de- cided to wait three months longer, In Rio de Janeiro lives an old man for many years employed as colpor- and to spend the time in earnest teur by the British and Foreign Bible prayer that God would provide the Society. He is a native of the Madeira. Islands, whence he was ex- means to educate the boy.
pelled with other converts to Prot- In this same month a young mis- sionary was preparing to leave the estantism in 1846. After years of United States to join the Presbytewandering he was invited to Brazil rian mission in S. Paulo. The last to meet Dr. R. R. Kalley, just com- Sabbath but one bad arrived. An mencing his labors in the capital. intimate friend of the family, 8. Ever since he has been employed in young man just commencing his distributing the word of God. business career, was a visitor in the He has raised a large family, but cottage by the sea.
with his sman salary (less than $40 a At bed-time the youngel· of the month) could give them only a prim- two called his friend aside, and handaryeducation. Three little boys re- ing him a roll of bins, said: "I feel ma.ined at hOIp.e i the oldest, Hen- tba.t I 'muat send this money with you to Brazil. I do not know why, ha.nds virtues, graces, being and but it has been on my mind all day, preservation; graces not only natand the impulse is too strong to resist ural, such as hea.lth, riches, rain, longer. It is rare that I carry so much hal'vests and remedies, but also sucash when I travel, but yesterday I pernatural, as inspirations, aids and dre wthis to pay my tailor, and a series every gift: willing and commanding of unexpected interruptions kept me that nothing be gra.nted or commubusy until the last moment before nicated to creatures save by the train time. Please take it with you hands of the lady, and that she be and use as you think best." arbiter and mistress of aU the wealth and treasures of God. 'For,' (the After a six weeks' voyage the cus- words of the Lord are literally todian of this money landed on Bra- quoted) 'all our possessions are thine, zilian soil. A month later a special as thou al ways wast ours; and there· providence let him into the secret of fore thou shalt reign with us for all the old man's prayers, and it became eternity.' " plain what it was that kept pulling all day long at his friend's purse- And this is the purest type of Rostrings that Sunday in America-the manism to be enllountered in Brazil! very day undoubtedly in which faith And yet some doubt whether Brazil had determined to make its final needs missionaries! effort. The money sufficed for travelingexpenses and two months' charges PAPAL DOCTRINE. in the S. Paulo boarding-school. Before they had expit'ed more money So early as 1681 "acompendium of was on hand, and ever since, though often from unexpected sources, and Christian doctrine" in the Ir:.dian always unsolicited save by prayer, the means have been graciously sup_ tongue was prepared by Romish misplied to continue the boy's education. sionaries in Brazil, and printed in WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN. Lisbon in parallel columns of Portu- It is not a rare thing to meet in the interior towns women of lovely char- guese and Tupy, and reprinted by acter devoted to the Romish faith and observant of all its precepts, but order of HiB Royal Highness in 1800. taught to substitute Mary for Christ, and to lavish on her the devotion due The follOWing extract is a sample of to Him alone. A favorite picture represents the Father and Son plac- the" Chl'istian doctrine: " ing a crown on the Virgin's head, and the Holy Spirit as a dove descending HlJllter, How maDJ places are there in the upon her. A cUI'rent pamphlet of thirty pages, octavo, is filled with center ot the earth which S8rv8 for the abode of fabulous details of the Virgin's life. We translate a portion. After de- 800ls f scribing her resurrection and as- ])i,dpl~. There are four, Hen, Puf'gatory. sumption and crowning by the three persons of the Trinity the writer Limbo of children, and Limbo. of the Boly proceeds: "She was thus proclaimed Queen and Mistress of all creatures, Father8. with entire control, bestowed by divinity, over them all, so that all de- H. What is Hell f pend on her, and receive from bel' D. It is a flaming, inextinguishable fire; and a place most horrible of penal sutrermg. and eternal torments of devils alld of those dying in mortal sin. Jf. Wbat is Purgatory f D, It is a great Are Il little aboTe Hell. in which are the holy souls (atmlJll6tJntIJllJ oC those who died m grace. giving satisfaction for their sins for which they had not fully 8ati(jlw. in this world. Jf. What Is the limbo oC children 7 D. It is a. dark cavern above purgatory In which are the children who died without bap- tism. 11. What Is the Limbo oC the Holy Fathel'8, or bosom of Abraham f D, It is a cavern above the limbo of chIldren, in which were anciently the souls oC the Holy Pathers, before Ohrist our Lord took them out d~ . A pertinent question was first ad. dressed to the writer, but 'he passes who prevents any other 'man from it on to every reader as pertinent to working. Strikes that countenance each, and not impertinent to any. violence become treason against law and government. " What was your father doing; that my father died, and never knew As to the religious characterof our that there was such a book as the mixed population, another year will, we hope, give us a more accurate Bible '" census. But it is said that, of our I could excuse the fathers by alledg- 61,700,000 people, 70 per cent. belong to families of which oneor more pering that when they attempted to put sons are members of evangelical the Bible in the hands of the last churches-4,500,000 Methodists, 8,- generation of Brazilians" the Book" 750,000 Baptists, 1,000,000 Presbytewas contraband. But who will ex- rians, etc. Seventy per cent. of our cuse us if such a question is put to people are native whites, and 12 per our children? It is in our power to cent. more are native blacks. Eighty bring the gospel in its fullness within per cent. of our people live in the reach of everyone of the present rural districts. Theforeign-bornare generation in Brazill C. W. C. only about 17 per cent., including Chinese as well as Europeans, some HOME MISSIONS. of whom are excellent Christians. JOSEPH COOK says the very features of our land hint a providential As to the growth of the country, pm'pose, and that the rapid growth notwithstanding all the reverses to of population verifies the prediction. which it has been subjected since the As the Jews were intrusted with the formation of the Constitution, the guarding of the first table of the law extension of our domain, the inwe seem to be intrusted with the crease of population, the developworking out of the principles of the ment of resources, the progress of second table. Duty to man as man manufactures and the accumulation and the heterogeneous character of of wealth have ast9nished the world. our population seems to afford us an . The population in 1790 was 3,929,- opportunity, never before realized, 214; now it probably approaches 66,- to. exemplify the assimilating power 000,000. Great Britain and It-eland of the gospel. had in 1831 a population of 24,000,000; Certain gl'eat reforms seem to be in 1881,34,000,000. Franceincreased imperatively demanded in this land from a popuation of 32,000,000 to 37,- before we can accomplish our true 000,000 in the same 50 years. But in destiny. There must, first of all, be these 50 years the United States adsuccessful resistance to the growing vanced from 13,000,000 to 50,000,000. spirit of anarchy; secondly, an ad- In. half a century the increase of justment of the disturbed relations popUlation in our Republic was equal of employers and wage-workel's, so to the whole population of France at as to prevent the alarming strikes the end of that period. And to-day and outrages that interrupt com- we have a majority of the Englishmerce, travel and business. Our speaking people of the world. elective franchise must either be reshicted onegulated. Impartial suf- Equally marked has been the adfrage we believe in, but we doubt the vance in wealth. In 1850 the total expediency of universal suffrage; wealth of Great Britain and Ireland and especially do we believe thatany amounted to $22,500,000,000, while man who perverts the ballot by brib- that of the United States was only ery or in any way corrupts it should $8,430,000,000. But 30 years afterbe permanently disfranchised, and wal'd Great Britain and Ireland had so would we punish bl·ibe-takers. We $43,600,000,000, while the United would put in State's prison any man States had gone up to $48,950,000,000. the arrests made by the police are of Our national debt is becoming less persons of a foreign origin. The in- lluence of the gambling-room and every month, .while t.hat of leading the saloon in originating. fosterin.lr nations in Europe is on the increase, and pel'petuating crimes of all kinds owing to immense standing armies. can hardly be ovet·estimated. Such incentives to industry, such good wages, such favorable oppor- THE pen of Mr. Warner Vanorden tunities for the poor to better their we think we recognize in these stir· condition and such general content- ring paragraphs: ment and happiness among the masses of the people exist only here. Weare come to a crisis unequaled The followers of such demagogues as since the Reformation, and church Most or of theorists such as George and state are beset with dangers are comparatively few, mostly for- threatening social progress. eigners, as are nearly all Anarchists. In 1880 we had only five persons out I. Note first the immense, unof every 1,000 who were the objects ceasing and ever .nlarging inftWlJ of of public charity; but in Europe the foreigners-more than a thousand numbel' was five times greater. souls a day-mostly ignorant and irreligious, often discontented and ACCORDING to Rev. Frederick How- restless, and not seldom vicious and ard Wines, Secretary of the National criminal. Our civilization is thus Prison Association, the census of undergoing dilution. We are en- 1880 showed nearly 60,000 convicts gorging ourselves with crude barin all the various grades of prisons barism, far beyond the possibilities in the United States; 11,000 inmates of easy assimilation. of reformatories; in all, a criminal population, actually incarcerated, of II. The country tOwns of the East, 70,000. He estimates that the next the old-time nurseries of our,nationcensus will give 75.000 or 80,000 in al piety-suffering from the attracthe prisons; 15,000 in the reforma- tion of cities and the alluring invitories; in all between 90,000 and 100,- tations of the West, 1D part depopu- 000 men, women and children con- lated of the fOl'mer devout stock, fined for some crime or offense. and rapidly filling with foreigners, Among the 60,000 in prison in 1880 hostile or indifferent to evangelical nearly 10,000 had been sentenced for religion, threaten now to paganize terms over fi ve yea.rs or for life. The our future rural population. Religdirect cost of maintaining the pris- ious indifference replaces devoutness, ons is $15,000,000; of police, $15,000,- and there creep in spiritualism and 000. While the expenses borne by various low forms of fanaticism, folthe public on account of proceedings lowed by lunacy, vice and crime. against criminals in the 2,000 courts and before BO,OOO justices of the peace III. In the South eight millions of in the United States, and the losses ft'eedmen and their descendants, a incurred by means of them, is some- distinctive and utterly unassimilated thing enormous. State prison re- people, doubling in numbers every ports show an increaseof convictions twenty years. of whom scarce 10 for high crimes one-third more than per cent. can read, appea.l in tones 20 years ago. monitory rather than suppliant, not only to benevolence, but to patriot- The large number of objectionable ism, nay, even to the instinct of selfarrivals from Europe is undoubtedJy preservation. Among large masses a potent agency in the growth of of the white population of the South illiteracy and degradation are as cl'hne, .A. very large proportion of great as among the negroes.
IV. In the west new villages and cities constantly crystallize out of threatened by facts so colossal and diverse and often inferior social frag- portentous. For these evils there ments, which come fro~ all lands is but one thorough and lasting and races. Foundations are forming remedy-the gospel-which, that it of future states, that must be god- may be practiced, mus t be preached; less, immoral and dangerous if not and not only from pulpits oC self- possessed and controlled by the mili- sustaining churches, but in the high- tant church. ways and by-ways, in the hovel as in ·the hall, on the hill-top and V. And even more alarming and in the wilderness. The pastor and pI'essing is the problem of our mod- the church must be SUpplemented ern cities, In 1800 our entire popu- by the Home Board and the mis- tation, except some three pel' cent" sionary. Nor have we begun to was rural. In 1850 twelve pel' cent. realize the.vastness of the work the lived in cities, and now a quarter of Lord has called us to do, our citizenship. In 2000 A.D" one- third of our population will be civic. SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. Commerce, manufactures, railroads, sanital'y reform and infrequency of IF there was any district of which wars have made it possible for the missionary must despair, any enormous masses of men and women one would have said it must be to swal'm at certain centers. Social that apparently God-forsaken region congestion and disease result. Pov- of Tierra del Fuego, southern-most erty becomes the grievance of hun- inhabited land of this Western hemi- dl'eds of thousands, vice abounds, sphere, Yet the very misery of the and socialism and anarchism arise people, the very hopelessness of to mock at wealth and culture and their condition, drew to their shores to assail society. Thus in NewYOl'k devoted men, whose inspiration in nearly one million of human beings life was the doing of good. One dwell in tenemllnt houses; and the group of such perished of absolute prevalent social depravity which starvation on that inhospitable like physical contagion flourishes coast, Another was murdered in nowhere so virulently as in crowds, cold blood, in an ebullition of savage bids fair to rival the common per- hate and fury, To-day if you visit sonal discomfort and discontent, that coast, you find a Christian vil- From these overcrowded retreats of lage there, in which, instead of the human misery, churches and all self- miserable wigwams, cottages have supporting institutions of social or been erected, gardens have been . religious cultUl'e flee away, In 1840 planted and fenced, roa~s have been there was in New York one Protes- made, cattle and goats have been tant church to 2,000 of population; introduced; polygamy, witchcraft, now there is one to 4,000. A like infanticide, wrecking, theft, and fate seems to impend over all our other vices have been abolished, great or growing cities. And these A grammar of the language, an ex- misbegotten, unfed, untaught and tensive vocabulary and dictionary, unhappy multitudes are American hadbeen prepared; among thebooks, citizens, and at the ballot-box peers the Gospel by Luke, and the Acts of of the most eminent of our voters; the Apostles, The list ofchurchmem- their political freedom, a perilous bership, years ago, enrolled one hun- privilege for them, is a fearful men- dred and thirty-seven names, ace for us. DE TOCQUEVILLE declared the Mis- It is no exaggeration whatever, to sissippi Valley the most magnificent say that all our institutions and our abode which the Almighty ever pre- very civilization are challenged and pal'ed for the habitation of man.
ItDITOltIAL NOTES. [No~
This central vale, touching the East- they banded themselves together, ern and' Western mountai~s, and with the high and holy pUl'pose of holding the nation into a geogoraphi- the development of Christian char- cal unity, this imperial domain acter; that they might not be mere through which descends the father nominal Christians, but active work- of waters, draining the snows of a ers, for whose-lives the world would thousand peaks and fed by the cur- be better. They organized the ji;rst rents springing from a thousand women's aS8ociation; another was· lakes, was discovered by the chival- formed in Northwestern College, III., rous vanguards of French and papal in 1875 j in 1876, one in Olivet College, enterprise and exploration, and few Mich. j in 1881, one in WesterviUe, events in our history are of equal O. These knew nothing of each importance with that long, fierce other's existence, and it may well fight, which gave the supremacy of seem a divine suggestion which the infinite West, not to the French- came at almost the same time to dif- man and the Jesuit, but to the ferent girls in different places. The Anglo-Saxon and the Protestant. first idea of unified work was in 1883, in THE largest city in Dakota, Sioux when a constitution was suggested, Falls, has 11,000 inhabitants. Ten and associations formed many years before it had but 697. places on the same plan. Last year FOURTEEN years ago, atNoi'mal, Ill., there were 135 associations in twenty- six girls met in a student's room to five different States, and perhaps hold a prayer-meeting for girls espe- 5,000 young women banded together.
cially. Work sprang from their -(Selected.) prayers: an associati&n was formed; VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Private Missionary Enterprises. organization. People will natnrally ask why, if this is a good thing, you should set So many of these are springing up up entirely on your own responsibility; and all over the church, and we are re- since you pay over, as you say. every cent ceiving so many appeals for our in- received by you, whence your support dorsement and for space in the RE- comes? We have not the knowledge that VIEW to set forth their claims, that justifies us in vouching for your honesty we feel constrained to say a word on a.nd responsibility, however little doubt we the subject, and perhaps we cannot inay have of it. Your 9th report acknowldo it better than to give here our re- edges receipts but gives no account of ex- penditures, which is hardly a business methply to an application of this kind od, and will look to the public suspicious. just received, and one that had many You will see that as editors we may not do what we might as persons, or Individuals. things to commend it. We must not commIt the REVIEW to such an enterprise until we are fully satisfied by DEAR SIR. – We return herewith your personal knowledge of its perfeot claim to statement and appeal which as editors we publio recognition and confidence. We think it unwise to publish. The missionary should lay ourselves open to deserved cenpnblic will regard the REVIEW as indorsing sure if we were to do otherwise. this private enterprise and indirectly appealing for help. This were a bad precedent We write frankly because a principle is at fo~ us to establish. The circulation of the stake. In last week's Independent there REVIEW is now becoming large and its influ- appears a. statement to the effect that there ence still larger. We must be very careful is a Mission to the Jews in this city (we how we open the door to applications for our withhold the name) "which publishes no official indorsement of private schemes. flna.ncial account whatever, and has refused Many a man who is conducting such may be to show it to us when asked." ' a worthy and consecrated man; but of this we cannot always be sure. Moreover your We are pained to hear it, for many feel enterprise is aperBonal affair, without any a deep Interest in its success; but this polbackinl:' from any church, denomination, or icy, if persisted in. will prove fatal. No so- ciety, much less no individual, can gain a.nd hold public confidence unless its financial was virtu'Ous, intelligent aud truly account is ma.tter cif public record. patri'Otic, universal suffrage might be safe, but we have nQt reached In view ot the Bcores of new agencies that state yet. apringing upall Over the country which are responsible to no one. we feel the absolute Missions a.nd the New Theology. neceB8itll of being on the alert, and never giving our indorsement to anything of JOSEPH COOK well says in 'One 'Of which we bave not a personal knowledge. his B'Ost'On lectures," The strength 'Of missi'Ons has been fQund, by pr'O- Very truly and fraternally, l'Onged and m'Ost varied experience, t'O c'Onsist 'Of these three things: The EDITORS. belief in the necessity 'Of the New Birth, the belief in the necessity 'Of The Imp'Ortance 'Of Oities is grQW- the At'Onement, the belief in the ne- ing uPQn all thinking men. They cessity 'Of Repentence in this life." are becoming mQre than ever the Apr'Op'Os 'Of this, 'One 'Of the 'Oldest centers 'Of populatiQn and the SQurces and f'OremQst missi'Onaries, Rev. Wil- 'Of influence. PictQn's maxim was: liam Ashm'Ol·~, D.D., testifies what "Always keep yQur center strQng: he has 'Observed 'Of the w'Orking 'Of put yQur best men there." The the "New The'Ology," both abr'Oad maxim that is gQQd in war is gQQd in and at h'Ome. Citing from a periodi- , peace: in fact war is eternal. We cal publicati'On, printed in the mter- . are never thrQugh with the cam- est 'Of this latest dl:ift 'Of speculative paign 'Of the ages a.nd the cQnllict 'Of thought and thinking, Dr. Ashm'Ore rIght and wrQng. The "bestmen" reaches the f'Oll'Owing generaliza- are nQt the mQst brilliant, but the ti'On: mQst herQic j nQt thQse whQ draw the biggest crQwds but whQ are m'Ost .. From this, and other material of the same drawn t'O the m'Ost destitute and neg- sort, it will be seen, and can be shown, that lected. S'Ome men and w'Omen wh'O the New Theology as there exponnded is a con- are the salt 'Of 'Of 'Our city p'Opulati'On census of certain views of Unitarianism, Uni- are n'Ot kn'Own in the public prints, versalism. 'Higher Criticism,' Evolutionism, but they are kn'Own in the back al- Rationalism, Phariseeism, Sadduceeism, Pan- leys and slums. Their kingd'Om theism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, mixed c'Omes, n'Ot wit.h Qbservati'On, but in with Christiaulty. The men who criticise where it c'Omes there c'Omes the sav- old-fashioned Christians for holding to a the ing p'Ower 'Of the g'Ospel. ology which they show to be Pauline now offer in its place a theology which they claim to be The New Ja.pa.nese Oonstitution, only Clementine, and which is also heathen. , Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. ' .. I THERE is 'One pr'Ovisi'On in the new C'Onstituti'On 'Of Japan, limiting the Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. right 'Of suffrage t'O pers'Ons wh'O pay taxes t'O the amQunt 'Of $25 a year. IT is pr'Obably kn'Own t'O m'Ost 'Of 'Our There 'Ought tQ be s'Ome pr'Operty readers that 'One 'Of the edit'Ors, Dr. qualificati'On f'Or vQters in this c'Oun- Piers'On, has resigned the past'Oral try large en'Ough t'O shut 'Out fr'Om charge 'Of Bethany Church, Phila- the right 'Of suffrage lazy, visci'Ous delphia. N'Otwithstanding state- and irresP'Onsible perSQns. If a man ments made by a p'Orti'On 'Of the sec- d'Oes n'Ot value the right 'Of suffrage ular press, there was n'O cause 'Or QC- en'Ough t'O make the needful exer- casi'On f'Or this step in any contro- ti'On which w'Ould give him a title t'O versy 'Or m'Oral issue, either with the it, he 'Ought nQt t'O be intrusted with church 'Or any individual in it. Dr. the right. As a nati'On, we have Piers'On felt that the past'Oral care s'Old the suffrage right tQQ cheaply. 'Of this immense fl'Ock was t'O'O 'Oner- This dem'Ocratic idea 'Of universal 'Ous ; and that G'Od had called him t'O a manh'O'Od suffrage w'Orks disas- wider w'Ork 'Of missi'Onary evang.elism, tr'Ously in practice. In a millennial at least f'Or a time, in the dissemina- state 'Of sQciety, where every citizen tiOh of knowledge of the facts about zeal and consecration, and meeting modern missions and the arousing of and minglingfreely with the leaders interest and zeal in reference to the of missionary thought and the great workoC the world's salvation. army of missionary workers abroad, he will be able to enl'lch the pages of Thesessionof BethanyChurch pro- the REVIEW with contributions of posed thattheirpastorshouldretaina rare value from his own eloquent a sort of unique connection with it as pen, and enlistinits behalfthe pens of a sortofmissionary pastororbishop; several of the most eminent writers thatthus heshouldgofreely wherever on mission themes on the other side called of God to stir up greater ac- of the water. tivity in the church at large. But on mature consideration Dr. Pierson Dr. Pierson sails for Great Britain foresaw that such a relation might Nov. 9, in response to aloud call from interfere with both the calling of the Central Committee in. Edinanother pastor, and with his cordial burgh, which conducted his mission. acceptance of such call, and in or- ary campaign in Scotland in 1888. der to leave the field without any such hindrance, he preferred to sever J. M. S. his connection entirely. When a new pastor is called, should he coin- Death of Dr. Theo. Ohristlieb of Bonn. cide, such a missionary bishopric may be instituted, and the previous THE departure of this grand man pastor be invited to resume connec- from the ranks of the living withtion with the church in this new re- draws from the sphere of missionary lation. activity one of the most apostolic men it was ever our privilege to Whether this plan be feasible or know. It may be doubted whether not remains to be tested. But any man of 011.1' generation has at 56 should it be adopted and prove a suc- years of age reached a pinnacle of cess, Bethany Church will add to its true greatness more exalted. He world-wide reputation for evangel- was born at W urtemberg in 1833, and istic work a new feature, namely, studied at Tubingen. He aftt"rward helping a pastor, who is admitted taug-ht in France, then preached at to possess eminent fitness Cor such a Islington, where he also lectured to work, to go about freely among the cultivated Gel'lDans; then some churches in this and other lands to twenty-four years since he returned arouse and stimulate missionary to Germany, and since 1868 has been zeal, information and consecration. university preacher and professor at Bonn. Dr. Pierson, after a few months spent in England, Scotland and Ire· Germa.ny presented no man who land. expects to return to this coun- could cope more successfully with try and will be open to any call of modern rationalism. Those who in God, and to any work which may 1873 heard him at the Evangelical seem to be of God. Alliance in New York will remember his martial bearing, his peculiar Meanwhile this REvmw will not manliness of mien, his ringing clarsuffer by his temporary absence, but,. ion tones, his marvelous handling of on the contrary, will be benefited English, his unction, his powerful by his visit abroad. His editorial logic, his magnificent metaphors, his relation to it and his work upon it, startling antitheses, his overwhelmwill go on the same as if he had re- ing exposure of the rottenness ofthe mained in Philadelphia. Freed from basis of rationalistic philosophy. a. great pastoral charge, devoting all After he had given the substance of his time, energy and gifts to the his masterly paper in Association cause of missions, with apostolic Hall, the repetition of that pa.per
1889·1 ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTICS. S7S
without abridgment was so impera- by a bjrd's eye glance; accurate sta- tively demanded that he was con- tistics, gleaned facts, and helpful strained to deliver it entire, at Dr. hints,interspersed and adorned by Adams' church. There I heard it- some of the most eloquent appeals to and it took nearly four hours to de- be found in any language. We had liver-but I would have sat another hoped that he would have lived to four hours, willingly. No one who have issued a new edition bringing heard it will forget it. It is publish- this invalua.ble compendium down to ed in full in the proceedings of the the present dll.te. In its way, it has a.lIiance; and is the substance of all had as yet no rival.
that is found in extenso in "Modern What a blessing God gave to the Doubt and Christian Belief," which world when, in the very hot-bed of is the great classic on infidelity• German neology and mysticism and . But Dr. Christlieb was as eminent rationalism, he set this bl"illiant, as an advocate of missions. His lit- saintly scholar, who could smite tp tle book, " Foreign Missions," mod- the earth such giants as Strauss, estly put forth, was the first brief . Schleiermacher, Baur, Renan, resume of the whole work and field Fichte and Hegel, and at the same which late years ~ave produced. time lead the hosts of God in an of- Within the compass of 260 l8mo fensi ve warfare against the powers pages the whole field is given as of Satan. A. T. P.
VII.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTICS.
Reformed (Dutch) Ohurch in America. Less Amount paid in $10 $93,132 U South America…… 50600 SEORBT.A.RY. REV. H. N. COBB. D.D., 26 RUDlI: Cash received on de- 37,500 00 STRlIIET. NEW YORE. N. Y. posit………· …….
REPORT I'OR YlII.A.R ENDING "pRIL 30, 1889. Cash borrowed from bank…………… . Receipt•• Balance from old ac- count……………. $82865 Contributions fr 0 m Churches……… ..• $41,58917 Expenditure•• For Missions ………………….. $100,28796 Contributions from Administration expenses……… 6,271 51l General Security Fund……….. 2,04750 Sunday Schools….. 11,67258 Loans and interest…………… 22,37721 Balance………………………. 97189 Contributions fro m $131,76189 Individuals………. 22,086 (3 Total deficit dueat bank………. 823.500 00 Miscellaneo u s sources………….. 13,3'7692 Legacies………….. 4,~17 92 $93,H2U 8T.A.TISTICS 011' THE RElI"D (DUTCH) CH. IN J,)(ERIC.A., GEN'L SYNOD I 111 611 1551"1 121 China…. 3 81 81 21 26 861 73 11 .. 186 $2,367 66 India….. 8 88 8 .. 816 3 .. 210 213 23 1.711 79 14 .. 103 3,171 611 ~6 91 I Japan…… 3 20 2 14125118 .. 17 35 20 12,517 610 20 .. 61 373 5.078 95 15ti 261-1 usl m TotZ- 14 127 23 1"3 ii 27451 5,089 762 45 – 3-:-'lii $8,o.5SU1 Presbyterian Ohurob in ·the United States of Amerioa..
Secret.al'ies, 53 Fifth Avenue. New York. N. Y. .
REPORT FOR THIC YKAR JeNDING Il.A.Y 1. 1889.
Receipts. Expenditures.
Balance from old ac- $4.214 38 Payments toMissions …………..$~.189 45 count ……•….•..• Home Department…………….. 53.53740 Bala.nce to new account……….. 31,166 72 Receipts from churches…………$308.6'79 13 Receipts from Wo- Total. ………………………$002,893 57 man·sBoard ….•.•• 278.004 17 *This amouut must be repaid to these Receipts from Sab- funds. Omitting this item there is an aC- bath Schools…….. 83.400 55 tual detic.it of $44.696.62 in the transactions Receipts from Lega- of the year. Attentiou is especially callea to two facts: 1. The general decrease In the receipts. 2. The large amount con· cies ……………… 145.581 95 tributed by the Woman's Board. An inde- pendentSynod has been founded in Brazil. Receipts from Indi- 852.81585 with the cordial approval of the Northern viduals. etc……… 86.250 05 Borrowed from In- and Southern Presbyterian Churches. In Africa also the work has advanced, and vestment Fund….• *75.863 34 everywhere throughout the many tields oc- Tota.l. ……. cupied by the Missions of the Board there . $932,893 57 is grea.t encouragement.
STATISTICS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH NORTH "' Missiona'ies Native W'kers Churches. Etc. :+;>, .; -Sch-oo-ls. " -" -'" -" -c" -"" " -"., 3 – -8=- – – .; ~ ——- " " …. . .. .. -."..-" "'"." '" –" i.''."". —. -.'"- -~B'"- :MISSIONS.r:i..;..e-…;..;..: +>:i ,,; … .~>"" ,'g0"], ~ 0:1 &: +> oj >:fJ 0:1 Z ~""~0 ",r/; 0 … § ..; ',; .,; .~ .; 8 ~~ A 0 .,; 0:1 ~~ >:fJ .t:i .; .; :;J 0 .Cl 'j;j '5'. .~ 0._ .+C>l oj fi« .Cl 8 ~E ">:fJ oj … .,.9 .~ "0 ~ .~ "0 oj +'O">J S 0 .0 .c .Cl '0 ~ 0 '0 '0 0 .Cl 8 ~'" .Cl .0 0 0 0 oj >:fJ OSo P – 0 0p0:1 0 al i::= – al Mexico……..• 5 7 .. 10 17 26 24 44 94 85 5,003 26S 29 1.795 41 1.292 $4.219 Guatemala….. 1 .. .. 1 .. 3 4 1 1 1 4 .. 2 30 1 16 408 South America 15 20 1 23 44 8 8 61 72 41 2.780 384 1 761 23 1,052 7.423 Africa ………. 12 11 9 10 30 3 4 27 84 15 1.266 279 11 1.:162 17 519 530 India……….. 18 Siam and Laos. 5 .. 37 2 62 101 21 11156 188 24 1.106 126 4.623 1:; 9.462 1,152 .. 11 3 17 31 1 4 27 32 12 983 162 555 23 629 2r.J China ………. 14 41 7 56104 20 38201 259 41 3.852 313 13 2.656 118 2.613 2.034- Japan………. 4 Korea ………. 1 20 2 41 63 18 20 .. 38 30 4.345 968 29 2.000 11 1,130 7.814 .. 2 2 3 7 .. 5 5 1 65 45 8 .. 2 39 ….
Persia………. 6 14 7 83 54 36 50157 243 25 2.290 225 19 4,878 122 3.164 2.280 Syria ……….. 589 12 1 2235 4 37160 201 20 1.584 63 6 4.620 140 6.032 7.355 —– – — —- – —- – -_.— ——– Total foreign .. 8689 176 84280 490 137 191 839 1,167 295 23.258 2.833 118 23,280 513 25.978 33,4,88 – — – — – – – — – – – — -I – – — Indians ……… 15 9 .. 20 29 14 4 16 34 22 1.713 186 1 510 10 343 '3.054 Chinese and – – – – — – – — – – Japanese in U.S.A ……. 3 – 4 1 8 13 .. .. 8 8 4 388 51 4 i~-) 20 1.073 2.199 – — – — – 104 89 18935 308 532 151 195 863 1.209 321 25.359 3.070 123 24.4 543 27.394 38.7 1 General Synod of the Reformed Pres- This Board reports for 1888 an increase byterian Ohurch in North America. amounting to $4.500.
SECUTARY.RICV. D.STICELE.D.D•• 2102!:!PRlNG It has one mission at Rurki (Roorkee). Sa- haranpur district. North·West Provinces of GARDICN STRICBT, PHILADJCLPHIA. PA. India: 8 outstations; foreign workers, 11.ot which 4 ordained. 8 unordained. '1 Juvenile Fund………….. .. £1.'789 15 0 medical missionary and 8 missionaries' Edinbiirrh Committee..•….. 2.240 0 0 wives; 12 native helpers, 2 teachers, 8 Legacies……………….. .. preaching places. Average attendance at Donations………………. .. 945 111 each, 75; adherents, 100; 1 organized Students' Missionary Society. 1,745 8 IS church. and Id communicants, 6 added dur- Miscellaneous……………. . ing the year; 2 Sabbath schools with 40 355 IS 2 scholars. Amount contributed by native 991 14 8 church, 1100. Total…………………. £14,374 4 4 Presbyterian Ohuroh of England, Expenditurea. £ 8. d.
SEClETARY MR. ,JOHN BELL, 13 FENOHUB()H For Missions…………….. 12,909 o 4 AVENUE, LONDON, E. C. Home charges…………… .. Amount drawu on account.. .. 778 3 11 REPORT POR THE YEAR ENDING DEO. 31, 1888. Interest …………………, Balance on new account….•• 100 o 0 Receipt8. £ 8. d. Balance from last account ….• 295 18 2 88 7 :I 498 12 11 Congregational contributions. 6,061 1 0 Total. …….. ;: ………. , £14,874 4 4 STATISTICS.
Mission- Native .; .; '" .- .. ". .. .'". . .~=.s,; Workers. a.ries. "", .!l .; 2l <> ::s ::s .; .,; .; .; .; '" ·=S~ ~ — — ._0 – .<:l '=("i <> .".::.s. .,; .: "',<,<I>'" -p~"~"",l,,.-a""lc ~-0…,. "0. ….;, ~ .; "<IJ <IJ … "=~ ~… ·'""S" ::;; '0 '"=(i "8 .c -..'<."""."..:.,l ·"S :~a -'0.".-. 0 '<Ic. .f.c. 0 – – -0 – – ::s – ~ ".<:l t"! p" -0 – -E-<- -~ – 8 8 0 -0 Amoy…………………… 47 6 2 9 6 33 38 1.574 8 918 53 1 4 Swatow ……………….. 27 5 3 10 2 24 22 1,497 9 1,003 52 1 11 Hakka Country………… 14 3 1 5 …. 11 10 407 4 258 5t' 1 6 Formosa ………………. 85 8 4 9 …. 26 4 2.875 21 1,807 80 1 13 Singapore ……………… 5 1 3 …. 4 163 2 111 26 …. …. Bampore (India) …..•….. 1 …. 1 4 1 No reports. ….. 2 .,, 129 18 11 40 8 1001 75 6.016 1'44j3,597 :J12 4 34 This Boa.rd pays especial attention to Interest ………………….. 343 17 6 medical work, two of its ordained and nine Investments repaid ………… 765 0 0 of the unordained missionaries being medi.. Miscellaneous …………….. 1,896 15 11 cal men. The missions have suffered from the enforced absence of some of the mis- Total………………….£9,092 8 8~ sionaries, but generally are in a hopeful condition. Paymentl. ;£ 8. d. For expenses of mission in The Presbyterian Church of England's Mission to the Jews reports expenditures Assam. . . . …. ………….. 5,868 17 7 amounting to £1.260 3s. Id. It employs one missionary and assistant in London, White· For expenses of mission in chapel; and a medical missionary in Mor· rocco. It is expected that he will receive Brittany ……………. ,. . .. 398 ·14 7 the assistance of an ordained evangelist, as the work opens up most encouragingly General expenses, ~ printing, among the Arabs and Berbers. Over 330 visits have been made to the houses of the secretary, etc. . . . . . . . .. . .. •.. 748 13 0 people. Interest and investments…… 83 2 :3 – – – – – – Balance on hand in bank ..•..• 1,993 1 4~ Tota. ………………… £9,092 8 8~ In addition to the general Treasurer's Report, the Treasurer for the India. mis· slon acknowledges Govern- Welsh Oalvinistic Methodists, England. ment ~rants for schools…… £600 0 0 SEORETARY, REV. JOSIAH THoMAs.M. A., 28 Church contributions……… 106 8 ~ BRECKPIELD RoAD SOUTH, LIVERPOOL. From pupils, sale of books, REPORT POR YEAR ENDING DEC. 31, 1888. •medicine, etc…………… 468 7 2 £574 15 10~ R~ipt8. Donations, etc ……………… £1,508 18 1 £ I. d.
Balance from last account. …. 1,106 15 3 £2,683 14 1~ Total expense of Assam ColJections. …. . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . 4,792 26 ~ mission ……………… £8,552 11 8~ Legacies.. …. …. ………… 187 3 10 STATISTICS.
1II18slon· Native .sloll _ 'g" • . -ar-tea-. helpefl!. .. .s • OIl {,.gl..1s8..! :; . • . g. t;i !~~ ~~ !e g~.~a~ ~ s~o j 8 j ttl . ilf !!' ~li ,,"1:1XI• .!…, ~ ~~~ ip~l 0 ~~ ~~ .. I ~0a) ~-o1-!:1~5" A 'S. ~ ~~j~:-~~ – – – – – ~'I~~ ~~ Assam ….. 8 oS £ ,. II.
186 8,080 1>.1M 2M 186 II 903 4,197 ';69 11 II The Society "s180 carries on work In Brit- Zellalla Fulld………. •….. …. 4.U6 5 7 tany where It has three missionaries. No sta- Miscellalleous……………….. 3,415 7 11 tistics are glvellin such form that they can be tabulated, bu the work seeins to be progreso Total ………………………£42.185 I> 8 slve and successful. The regular basis of expendi- 'United Presbyterian Ohurch of Scot- ture made up of the contribu- land. tions and a certain propor- tion of securities and lega- SEORZTARY,REV.JAKKS BUCHANAN.COLLIGE cies amount to …•..•.•.•..•••£27.030 8 8 To this were added certain spe- BUILDINGS. CASTLE TIIRIUCII. EIlIJIBURGH. cial receipts………………. 9,152 10 10 lDPOaT J'OR YIIAB ENIlING IlIlC 81. ISB8. lIaking .. total of………….. £36.182 19 II Recdpt.: £ •• d. Expenditure. : £ &.11. Contributions. donations. etc•.• 21.946 2 9 Legacies… •••• . . . .• …. •••••••• I;.~ 18 0 Balance from old account …•.. 1.972 811 Transfers aDd proportion of se- Expenses of mlssioll ..•..••.••.•• 30.561 11 3 curities.. •••• ••• .• •• . . . . •.. ••.• 3,419 9 11 – – – – – Ba.lance to new account ••••.••• 3.64819 4 Contributions to £20.000 ElI'ort. 3,693 3 ( Total. •. .. •• ….. ….. …. . .• •.£36,182 19 6 BTATJ8TICS 011' vmTED PRBIIBYTIIRlAN CHURCH 011' SCO'l'LAND.
.". ….. .- " . i…,~ i.'". . ~ SCHOOLS.
. .. … S '" 5 ttl — – . — – — — — — 4a6 is 8 11 10 llIBsIONARI_ NATlVlI WORlurns.
c .,.,; ;b&;> . li I. ~>. 'i "" .,; 0- 'a" .£ 'i ., 8 I." .,; 0; "'c 01 lIIBaIOll8. .,., ., 'i ..0… "8- ~ S -.. -.. -.., :5 -.,- .. 17'<i..=, '"Ii -'Iei .g J::. a '0 '0 Jamaic•••….•••. .. .. 2 s J::…c:= Trinidad ………. 0 :"a 0 0 aI I. 8 .0g .Q Old C.Jabar '" ••. 6 ~ -0 . Eo< o0 Kall'rla ………… 14 11 ~ l' 16 J::. ttl "ttl India …………. I; 11 80 24 1 0 e0- '16 5 39 1/ '6 .'3. a1 2i '.7. 127 10.614 8.0. '1'.471 a 164 8 888 1 'j 37 41 Mi8 19 W 11 15 2,852 43 1,735 87 318 Mi6 85 4.839 Chin………….. 4, 9 I) 8 1 15 4 20 47 895 6 67 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – J.pan…….. …. 4 5 8 " .• :: :: 1 2 .• Total………… /-.-. 6 '100 – – . – – 55 "9 21 4 20 90 304 114 617 16,363 l!33 14,676 *Fourof thesea.re ordained medical misslOn.rles.
Free Ohuroh of Scotland Oommittee on Various funds… ……………. 32,375 '1" 6 Foreign lliuioIlS. Investments,etc., paid up…… 10.774 0 0 SIICRIITABY. Dr. GIIOIIGB aKITH, C. I, E., 15 Total……………………… £86,678 13 1 Expenditure. : NORm BANItSTBIIBT, EDINBUIIGH. Sco'l'LANIl. £ B. II.
BIIPORT II'OR YEAR IINDIJIG KAROH 31.1839. General and special mission ex- penses. . . •. . . •.. . ••. •. •.•. . . . . .. 55,4l!O 6 11 R«cipt.: £ •• d. General charges and home ex- penses……………………. 2.477 6 3 Balance from old accounts….. 8,674 lU 'I' COllections and do- Investments and transferences 14,1170 0 0 Ba.laoce to new accounts ….. 18.810 19 11 nations ….. ~ ••• £25,358 17 • Lepcios……….. 9,495 17 1 Tota.l……………………… £86.678 18 1 – – – – 34.8M 14 10 STATIBTICS J'BlllIII OHUMH or IICOTL.U{D roDIS. 1118810NI.
3Ol8 IKnadtifar.a.r.i.a•.•.•…•… 192 7616 10 13 198 …. 122 91 22874 12103…. 209 23..018634 327368 1] 25016 138,.509468 £552809 112 18 Natal………. 3 20 3 5 II .. .. – 13 45.. 1 615 128 6 14 795 131110:1 Llvingstonia.. 1 13 " 7 .. .. .. – " 3…. 16 8.. 10 2.303 .. 16 II ll New Hebrides. 2 1 1 1 .. .. .. — 37 …. 2 340 67.. 16 256 356 10 0 1 1 …. .. 4 … 1.. 1 61 1 Syria…… …. 1 1 1 1.. ..- 3 …. 50 0 S.Arabia…… .. 2 60 ;; 183 50 35"ii 14 14 i!29s 368 182 -:-:- 303 6.279 818 25.052 £1,608 10 8 Presbyterian Ohuroh of Oanada. Expenditure•• S5,552 87 Balance from old account…….. 'llI,136 4D SECRETARY, REV. WILLIAII REID. D.D., TOB- General mission expenses.•.••••• 3,81122 General home expenses..••.•…•• ONTO, CANADA. S82,OOO 58 BIlPORTI'OR THill YUR ENDING .t.PRIL 110, 1889 As tbe statements of the dltferent mis- Receipt•• sions are pesented in very ditferent forms, the arra~ement of these tables is not sat- General and fiscaloontributions. $42,388 68 isfactory. They are not presented 1'8 com- Woman's Foreign Missionary So- plete, !limply as indicating so tal' as we could gather from the Annual Report the oiety, western division……… 29.700 67 work being done by the Board. Balance…………………… 9.961,48 $82,000 58 STATISTICS.
MISBlONABlES. ! SOHooLS, ETC.
'"" I~. .~.. ~. i'.l 3… . '" …a. . i.. I . S HIssIONB. ~ ~ ~ .; i ;":: ,It,a'"> -10- ."=8 ~ .; "i 1.,;',5~ ;o".$~. a> .I,I "'tI ."= :~=a ~ ,..S., ~ ii It –………a..~.."=~-….l-……..–..0.3.=""'=-".813. oi <1 "0 II ~ J:> .! "<i 'tic "::;/ ~ "aa J:> .0= ~" :.I.l,t 1..0, -e0 0 .~• 8obJ.l 18 ca> ~.= a> 0 160 – "al b al 0 0 10- 0 69 6 D :l 428 S..7.7.6..0.0 -..2.. 1.961 ~ '943"83 — – — — — —— – – — …. – -…-3.6..-6.
New Hebride~… 3 20 3* …. 6 100 319 ~ 'i!:7iil' – – …. – – – – – – – – – – – – – Trinidad ……..4…4.4'i2'37"'79' 8 5 31 Central India•.. 2 5 1 14, 12 51 China ……….. 6 ~l~~ Total…….. 18 4 1923 19 61 230 3.4:M 247 7 …… 42 2,755, $8000 5100 N. W. lndi8.DII … 9 12 9 4 6 19 …… 178 47 3 Grand total. 20 –~- -.–~- 294 10 100 58 8,07% 111 00 16 26 33 25 84 230 3,598 1 *There are 15 other with , miSSion, but as they are supported missionaries connected thlll by the Free Churc h of Scotland and the AU8trahan Societies, they are not included here.
United Presbyterian Ohurch (Amerioa), From Ladies' AuillllJ'7 •.••••• '" •. •• 8,MO 78 Miscellaneous ………….. '" 18,107:11i 8EOBII:TARY, REV. J. B. DALII:B, D.D., 136 N. 18TH ST., PHILADELPHIA, PI.. Total………………………. SI08,58G 13 REPORT FOR THIll YEAR ENDING APRIL 30, 1889. Ef1JPenditure8. ' Receipts. For Missions …………………….879,368 2& From Presbyteries.•….••••••.••••..$52,792 71 " Legacies………………….. 17,1Il5 lilt Debt in fnel, also specials …..•…… 21,56218 If 6a1)1)MIl SChOQls… , ……….. 11,888 ~ —– Investment by terms of bequest…… 4.000 00 General expenses …….. , ………. , • 8,659 72 Total….. ".,',•.•.•• "., ••••.. ·'108.seG 18
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
STATISTICS OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHUROH (AMERIOA).
Misslon- Native Schools, etc. j aries. workers· Churches, etc. — —-.. —–t- ————– Missions… !, .; ~ " .;; <'"""l ., ~ al i .. 5 .. . -! ."2.,.,;j.,.,;j :!sot.t,: ..,; i ~ .; .=;; .,-ge" e'::1 ~ ~ 0 0 .. .. I ~ "" E0'""~.s O.!: '0 ''0" —— — — — —- — -1-12- 0 0 a -~,."E"l . – 1-12 – 1-".1",2 – -r-"n" – 0 ~ I<t 0 ~–~- -1-"1"2- 0 ",,1; ~ -<-I-l"-, -0 – -0 – India ……. 5 75 9 20 11 153 8 6,188 1,495 67 3,488 139 3,938 $57930 – – – – – – – – Eaypt …… 5 100 11 17 10 :;28 ~6 2,624 2,346 78 4,285 97 5,701 6,97400 ~–, 381 84 8,712 l,l:S74 145 7,773 236 9,689 87,55330 Total. …… 10 115 o i 37 21 2 VIII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa.-",There are to-day, within the ment, 'and the priests have offered bribes and lake region of East Africa, extending to the made threats to the Spanish converts to induce coast froJll KiJimanjaro in the North, to the them to cease attending the meetings, but so highla.nds of the Shire in the South (not far the converts are holding lirm." reckoning Borne little ont – sta.tions). 44 Protestant missionaries, inclusive of the -The mail steamer "Congo" from the West unordainedf such as physicia.ns, artisans, Coast of Africa and the Canary Islands brings etc., male and female. A small number it is news of the most revolting hnman sacritrne,compared with the extentof the. region, fices. The old king of Eboe died a few months which is from five to six times aslarge as the ago, and his funersl ceremonies were made whole German Empire; bn t then 15 years the occaslou of the sacrifice of at least forty ago two little missionary attempts were all hnman beings. More were held in readiness that was to be fonnd there,and this advance to be sacrificed when certain traders arrived has cost muoh. not in money merely, but in andputan end to the horrible butchery. Verily the sacrifice of human lives and health; Africa needs the gospel.-:-Indian Witne88. for at lea.st fifty men and sevaral women have given up their lives for East Africa. -At Banza Manteke. on the Congo River, There ha.ve not yet been great visible re- 69 Were recently baptized in the Baptist suits; the baptisms which have taken place Mission. The work is becoming increasingare perhaps about 1.800 in all, but the dUII- ly enCouralrlDg at all the stations. cuities have been both numerous and peculiar.'" -Henry M. Stanley aeems to be emerg- ing safely from his long and dan.srerous ex- -A correspondent of The Christian {Lon- periences in Central Africa, and is expected don}, writing from Gibraltar, says: "We have at Mombassa, a port on the East Coast, in a. had very cheering news from Morocco. A won- little more than a month. derful work has sprung up among the Spanish and J ewi.h people of Tangier. Meetings, com- –A Christian tribe, sunounded by paga.ns, menced· two or three months ago, have been has just been discovered in the heart of held in Spanish. addressed through an interpre- Africa. They had never before seev a white ter by some brethren of the North African Mis- man. While their religious ideas are crude, sion. and there has been an inten.e eagerness to still they have a priesthood. the cross, and hear the truth. The Holy Spirit has carried other emblems of Christianity. They are home the gospel messag.. with conviction to believed to have been exiled from Abyssinmany hearts, and a few days ago the brethren ia abou t 800 years ago.-Catholic Review. informed me that seventeen Jewish and Spanish converts were baptized, and others were wait- -The Southern Presbyterian Church pro- .ing for baptism. The meetings have been pose to establish a mission on the Congo. crowded night after night, so much so that the friends in Tangier contemplate hiring a music- Belglum.-Consumption of liquor. It hall. at present used for midnight revelry and iM stated that seventy million liter of whissin. This revival has aroused the enmity of key are consumed annually. and that the both rabbi and priest, consequently bitter per· amount is constantly on the incl-ease. secntion has followed. Several Jewish inqui- Withi~ the last fifteen years the population rers have been beaten in the synagogue. con- has increased 14 per cent.• but the use of al- cohol37. the number of the insane 45 ; of verts ba.ve been dismissed from their employ- crime the increase was 74. and of suicides 80 per cent. With a population of about six millions Belgium annually spends 135 million francs for spirituous liquors, a.nd but 15 million for public instrUction. There are 5,500 schools, but 136,000 saloons.-Dr. are more or less regularly visited. There are 13 8tuckenberg, in Hom. Review. ' schools, an average attendance of 14,000 per • Burmah.-A severe famine is prevail. month. In one village the workers were asked ing in the Tavoy district in Burma. Many to preach the gospel by some of the inhabitants of the Karens, who live by tilling tbe sOlI, petitioning for tblS, their signatures being wit- are dying from starvation. The work of nessed by the Mayor, aud themselves offering the missionaries Is :;reatly hindered in con. light, fire and room for the services. Tbere is sequence. an unmistakable reaction in favor of religion, Chi n a.-A remarkable missionary meet- Roman Catholics coming to the places of wor- ing was held in the large foreign settlement ship in unusual numbers. Tbe superintendent at Sbanghai on May 1. Gen. Kennedy, U. S. is Pastor Mouron, 76 Rue d'Assas, Paris.
A. Consul-General, presided; Rev. T. R. Creat Britain-The Record of the Free Stevenson, pastor of the Union Churcb, Chqrch of Scotland states that there are 47 opened with prayer; Rev. W. Muirhead, Protestant Jewish missionary societies in the L.M.S., spoke on India, Ceylon, and Bur- world, employing 377 miSSionaries among the mab; Dr. Anen, American Episcopal Meth- Jews, and spending about a half·mlllion dollars odist, on ChiRa and Japan; !ll:r. C. Thorne, annually. There is, therefore, about one mis- an English resident, and a member of the sionary for every 17,000 Jews. About 80,000 C.M.S. Finance Committee, on the mission- copies of Delitsch's Hebrew New Testament ary work going on in Shanghai; Rev. F. L. have been distributed in Eastern Europe and Hawks Pott, American Episcopal .Church, Siberia, while of Salkinson's Hebrew Testa- read a paper by Dr. Percy Matthews, de- ment two editions of 200,000 have appeared. It scribing personal visits to Moosonee, etc.; has been estimated that fully 100,000 Jews have, Rev. G. F. Fitch, American Presbyterian, during the century, beeu brought into the spoke on !ll:exico and South America; and Church of Christ, Archdeacon Moule, C.M.S., on Africa and -DurIng the past year British Foreign Mis· the Islands of tbe Sea. Rev. H. C. Hodges, slonary societies have contributed $6,134,000 for British chaplain, closed with a tew hearty work in pagan and Mohammedan lands. Of words. this amount $2,300,000 came from societies -Church of tbe United Brethren;-Suri- connected with the Cburch ot England; nam. The official report made' to the late $1,885,000 from English and Welsh :Noncon- General Synod noteR an increase of 5,000 formists; $1,014,000 from the Presbyterians in members in this Held during the last ten Scotland and Ireland.
years. The increase in Paramaribo itself -C. M. S. Missionaries. There will be a isstartling. Ten years ago w<' had 7,324 mem- goodly number of missionaries going forth thiR bers in tbat town, now tbere are 13,140 di- autumn. As far as we can see at present (says vided into four congregatIOns. Our Surinam The Ohurch Mi88ionary lntelligencer), there mission-staff at present consists of 36 mar- will be about 40 iucluding wives, returning to ried pairs and one single brother, 73 In all. the mission field, and about 50 going ont for the Besides these tbere are some native mis. IIrst time. The latter figure includes about 25 sionaries in charge of cOl1gre~a tions, as clergymen and 140r 15 single ladies. Never be- John King at Maripastone, Charles Edward fore has the Society sent forth such a rein- Bern at Kwattabede, Samuel Treu at forcemeut at one time. The lady missionaries Gansee and Marius Keeks, the itinerant are for the most part either wholly or partially agent for the neighborhood of Portribo. honorary; it is for the men that we want our The report also states tbat the deficiency missionary boxes filled.
of £3,662 136. in the accounts of 1887 has Ceylon.-A lady who has labored for fif- been entirely wiped out by special contri- teen years in Ceylon writes: .. A marvelous butions; change has taken place since the winter mis- A new edition of tbe New Testament siOn of 1887. Many of the planters, who were considered a very diftlcult class to influence, and tbe Psalms has lately been issu~d by have come ont graudly on the Lord's side, and now carryon work among their own gangs of the Bible Society in tile Negro.English, the coolies. Moreover, the power of God has, of colloquial dialect used by the negro popula- late, been remarkably manifested among the soldiers stationed in CeylolJ, and several meet· tion of Surinam. Writing from Pa.ramar- , ings for prayer are held weekly. So we have ibo January 22 of this year, Dr. Kersten very great canse ror thankfulness, but we are says: "At tbe end of December we bad the pleasure of receivIng the first thousand of the Negro-English Testament. It gives uni- versal satisfaction both as to print and not satisfied, for much remains to be done. binding."-Periodical Account8. God is graciously sending us again His s<,rvant, Rev. G. C. Grubb, and we are prayIng for a France.-Th. past year of the Socitite mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Evangeliqne of France bas been one of progres- Island." sive work. In connection with-Mr. McAIl three new popular conferences were started in Paris, Japan.-Dr. G. W. Knox believes that Tonnerre and Poitiers. Regular sen-ices were Japan will yet become the center orthe Christiau held in two large villages. Alrout 400 places ageucies that are to revolutionize the East. Last ,ear the Japanese converts gave for church 10,000 Armenians; 10,000 Franks 80nd LoTanand misslbna17 purposes a sum equivalent to S8OO,OOO trom 211,000 Cbristi&ns in tbe United tines. This is only an approximate esti- States, .. a standard that no denom!n&tion haa yet reacbed… mate, but probably not far from the truth.
-The Japanen government bas removed United States_-A MIB.,ona17TraJn~ tbe tax from Cbristiau cburcbes, thus placing them on the same basis of Shinto and Buddhist ing School was opened at the Baptist Tabtemples. The barriers are breaking down. ernacle, Boston, Mass., Oct. I, under the -Ar sIgnificant contrast. Tbe mission ot Col. Olcott, tbe noted tbeosophist, to Japan presidency of Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D. The was a tallure, while the visit of Secretary Wishard, representing the Y. 111. C. Associations object is not to interfere with existing edu.- of tbe United States, was a graud success. cationallnstitutlons, but to supply to those -Though faith In the old religions is certainly declining In Japan, yet there are still who are called to missionary labor but are over 250,000 Buddhist priests in the empire -over eilrht times as many priests as Christ- unable to avail themselves of the usual adians-and the old superstitions have yet a very strong hold upon the masses. vantages, the best possible training to fit -Japan i. moving forward on the line of them for the work which they feE'l God inself-support. In 1882, 92 cburohes were wholly and 157 partly self·supporting. tends them to do. Evidences of piety, -In certain Sbintu poems and songs of earnestness, and a reasonable degree of fit- Japa.n, the idea. is brought out frequeutly that beasts have kept their first estate. ness for religious work will alone be required Man has fallen. of those desiring to enter. Both ladies and -The imperial University of Tokio has 188 professors and teachers, all but 16 being gentlemen will be admitted, and boardinK Japanese. ThiS year's students number 788. facilities are provided adjoinin&' the Ta.ber- -While only ODe in 1,500 of the popula.tion nacle. The course of study will be chiefty of Japan Is a Christian, one In 20 of the students In five of the leading Government exegetical and pra.ctical. Rev. F. L. Chap. schools hall been converted. ell of Flemingtou, N. J., is to be the resident Switzerland.-The Evangelical SocletyoC Geneva has80t present fifty students Instructor; but, aside from his classes, the preparing for the ministry, whilst its large staff of earnest colporteurs is constantly at services of a number of teachers and lecturwork with encouraging success. These agents sold last year over 27,000 Bibles and ers have been secured, whose instructions Testaments, and disposed of 000,000 tracts. will beof grea.tvalue. Furtherinformation This society labors in some of the most des- can be had by addressing Rev. R. M. Demtitute parts of France, where no other work is carrIed on. ing, Secretary, Baptist Tabernacle, Bowdoin -There is an interesting work among the Square, Boston, Mass. Jews at'Basle, an outgrowth of the work under the care of Rev. Mr. Gotthiel in Stutt- -American Board. Tbe total receipts for gard. • brother of a Jewish Rabbi in New Y6rk. Bis work has extended over a large tbe last month were over 8106,000, making the section of country in West Germany. In East Genna.ny the inftuence of Roman Ca- receipts' for the year from these two sources tholicism is so strong that little work can be done by Prutesta.nts. The Jews care nothing $548,698.62, a gain of nearl, 88,000. for a religion which countenances idleness 80nd ain indailyhfe. InWest Germany they -The annual report of the Japa.n mission of are brought in contact with a purer Christia.nity. Every year there are additions to the American Board gives the statistics of the the church'in Stuttgard from their number. year's work at tbe various stations down to RUBBla.-The Government of Russia has laid a tax on dissentingchurches, hoping to April 80, 1889. One evidence that the Japan hinder their progress. mission has advanced far beyond its incipient Syrla.-The population of Smyrna is esti- mated at over 200,000. About 100,000 are stages is furnished by the statement of the Greeks, perhaps 50,000 Turks; 00,000 Jews; condition of a church like that at Oks,ama, wblch bas 542 members, and Is the largest Con- gregationslist church in tbe countr" and the tbird in size smong Protestant cburcbes. It supports, beside. Its pastor, four paid evangel- ists and thirteen out-ststions, a Y. 111. C. A., a woman's temperauce society, a montbly maga- zine, a small dispensary, and neigbborbood meetings. Tbe Sunday-scbool has a regular attendance of over 1,000. Evidently our mos enterprising City churches are not so far in advance of this Japanese sister.
-The African Methodist Episcopal Church, which has not a wbite JD8n amOll1t its members, reports a membership of 460,000. It has 19,000 places oC worsbip, numbers 10,000 ministers, has 15,000 Sabbath·schools, supports its own denominatioual papers, bas mlssious In the West Indies,. Mexico and Africa, and its re- ported contributions foot up more tban .2,000,- 000 annuaUy for the support of church work.
-The Baptt8t .Ml.8BWnary Magazine for October reports 429 baptisms.
-Two checks went through the New York Clearing House recently for 13,168,432 They did not cover a year's expenditure for mis- slons; they p~id for ~ 8ln&,le purch~.e of. -B~rl '