The Missionary Review of the World — March 1890
MISSIONS IN OLD SCOTLAND
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIII. No.3.-0ld Series.—MARCH.–,-VoL. m. No. S.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. MISSIONS IN OLD SCOTLAND. No.' II.
BY A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
The old year died in a pathetically becoming way. December 31 beheld a funeral cortege in Westminster Abbey, when an illustrious poet was laid to rest among the great dead that there find a shrine and throne. The latest of the sons was given a tomb close by the father 9f English poesy, and Ohaucer and Browning lie side by side in the" Poets' Corner."
Notwithstanding fog and frost, crowds lined the avenues along which the bier was borne, and when, at 11 :30, the doors were opened, the Abbey was at once filled, and when the tolling bell was pealing out its weird monotone at twelve, there was not a vacant place save those reserved for clergy, choir and mourners. It was a brilliant as- semblage-lords and ladies, dukes and earls, ambassadors and minis- ters, bishops, deans and canons; all were there to do honor to the pure and reverent poet, whose lines have been an honor to humanity and to God. Mrs. Browning's exquisite lyre was sung, " He giveth His beloved sleep," set to music by Dr. Bridges; and the first part of the ceremony closed with Wesley's anthem, " All go to one place." During the whole service there lay on the coffin Tennyson's floral wreath, and Miss Browning's cross and wreath of palma violets. We have said that it seemed a most fitting closing ceremony for the dying year. And those two musical selections, how they seemed to present the two sides of humanity's solemn history! The eschatology of missions! On the one hand the Christian's death and burial; "He giveth His beloved sleep ;" resting awhile until the resurrection. asleep in Jesus. And, on the other hand, unredeemed humanity, sweeping on promiscuously, a generation together, all going to one place, and that place a grave without hope-a grave of unbroken gloom. And to think how easily, if the Church would obey the Lord, and resolutely preach. the gospel among all the nations, that hopeless and indiscriminate, . sweeping of human beings into the rayless pit of sheol might be transmuted with a. peaceful, hopeful composing of saintly forms for' a sleep that looks forward to its rapturous waking! With December 31 the mission tour of Scottish churches, which has engaged my attention for more than a month, closed for the time, to be resumed in February. It is purposed to give .Tanuary to London and the great centers of population in England, and then, if God will, to give two months uninterruptedly to Scotland, until at least all the main body of the population has been overtaken.
This is a natural point of retrospect; and it may be generally said that the results every way, so far as they can be now estimated, abundantly repay all the cost in time and toil. On Monday evening, at Airdrie, I gave the fifty-seventh address on missions since the. Etruria l~nded her human cargo on the 16th of November. First, I spent between three and four days in Liverpool, of which some account was given in a previous letter. Then, on November 20th, a welcome meeting was held in the Church of Scotland Assembly Hall, in Edinburgh; and from that day the meetings were held almost daily until the year closed.
The very efficient committee at Edinburgh, with Rev. .Tohn Lowe, M.D., as chairman, supported by a committee in the west of Scotland, of which Rev. John Pagan, D D., is the energetic chairman, have arranged the entire tour, at my request, so that all I have had to <1.0 has been to go where I have been sent, thus relieving me from all needless correspondence and perplexity. The arrangements have all :been singularly complete. We have been met at trains and escorted to hospitable homes; welcomed with a genuine cordiality; we have found everywhere warm hearts and excepti<;>nally generous co-operation.. The whole tour reminds me of Paul's testimony to the Galatians, who" received him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus," "and would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him." We have met abundant hospitality and Christian generosity elsewhere; but never any experience of loving kindness that on the whole quite equals this.
A word further ought to be added as to the way in which the meetings have been planned and conducted. The resident clergy and leading laymen and laywomen, too, have been enlisted in the movement in advance, and their cordial support secured. Then their preference for the time, hour and place of meeting has as far as possible been consulted. The meetings have followed each other in so well ordered a sc~eme that there has been neither loss of time nor retracing of steps. During these past thirty days there have been large and enthusiastic gatherings at Leith, Peebles, Innerleithen, Dalkeith, Haddington, Glasgow, Port Glasgow, Dumbarton, HcIcnsbnrgh, Kilmarnock, Paisley, Irvine, Ayr, Greenock, Gourock, Stl'athaven, Bothwell, Hamilton, Wishaw, Lanark, Motherwell, Airdrie, etc., a.nd in all cases the audiences have been large and the attention earnest .and absorbed.
The plan has been connected with a. few features of marked value, which might be well imitated elsewhere. Afternoon meetings have neen held for women especially, and addressed ordinarily by some . .man and woman who have been on the foreign field and were at home on a furlough-as, for instance, Rev. Mr. Rice of India, Ross of Manchuria, Alexander of Jamaica, Christie, M. D., likewise of Manchuria, and Mrs. Edge of China, and Mrs. Armstrong of Burmah. Then in the evenings, general meetings, held in the largest available church or hall, addressed generally by one of thesQ returned missionaries and myself, and sometimes briefly by some one of the local clergy. Some man or woman has been called to preside at the respective meetings, whose name and known interest in missions gave added power to the gatherings; and the common custom of voting thanks to the speakers, which often diverts attention from the subject matter to the person bearing the message, has been happily omitted. We see no reason why similar campaigns may not be planned in our own land, so that without needless cost of time or money, such men as Dr. Gordon of Boston, Dr. Barrows of Chicago, Dr. McVickar of Montreal, Dr. Goodwin of Chicago, Dr. Chamberlain of Brooklyn, Dr. Taylor of New York, Dr. Gracey of Buffalo, and such women as Mrs. Bottome, Mrs. Gordon; Mrs. Bainbridge, Mrs. Rhea, Mrs. Douglass, Mrs. Capron, Mrs. Harvie, Mrs. Hoge, Mrs. Moses Smith and Mrs. Barakat, may be brought into living contact with large congregations throughout the United States and Canada.
Scotland is a land of martyrs and missionaries, and the two naturaIiy go together. The martyr spirit has survived the martyr fires, and so the vital energy that onco made martyrs now runs into the channels of missionary enthusiasm. We go nowhere without feeling ·ourselves to be on holy ground. Hallowed associations make every spot sacred. At Bothwell we had to walk but a few steps along the Clyde to find ourselves confronting the mills where David Living- Jltone worked, and the humble home of Blantyre, where that "adventurous laddie" first saw the light. At Strathaven we were but .seven miles from the battle-field of Drum Clog, where Douglass led a little band of Covenanters against Graham, of Claverhouse, with the royalist troopers; and from that little town where the hand looms still produce their beautiful products, wentfrom one house, William and Gavin Martin to India, and James Martin to Jamaica, and James Martin's son to India, and now Miss Martin, the sister, to Jamaica. What an outcome of one consecrated home! Five missionaries almost from one cradle! No marvel Scotland is interested in missions! With a view to touching as many centers as was practicable, I have generally had three services on each Lord's Day, but so aided by resident ministers as that no part of the service but the address and a short prayer just before it fell to me. The large attendance at all these services, especially those held in the evenings, has been a matter of congratulation and surprise. At Paisley, the large town hall" erected as a memorial to George Clark, Esq., of spool-cotton-thread' fame, and holding 2,500, was literally packed; and at Glasgow, St. Andrews, holding from five thousand to six thousand, was similarly crowded. Instead of coming across the sea to kindle a missionarT revival, the flame was found already burning, and needing only the fuel' of facts, and the fanning of the breath of the Spirit of God, to become a consuming fire. Could all this intelligent and aroused enthusiasm be effectually applied to action, the whole machinery of missions' would move with greatly increased rapidity and efficiency.
We think we see some signs of greatly increased giving. These meetings have not been with immediate reference to raising money" and no collections have been taken except for current local expenses. But from time to time voluntary offerings have been sent in to me, by those whose hearts the Lord has touched, and some of them have' been very significant, because the fruit of evident self-sacrifice. In some instances the facts attending such gifts have become known to me. One lady sold a bracelet and sent the proceeds to be applied to. mISSIons. One young man took off a solid gold vest chain, and another a diamond scarf-ring, and enclosed them to me. Others sent· the price of a pair of kid gloves, or a box of cigars, or a concert ticket, or a package of Christmas cards, or various other gratifications and indulgences foregone for the sake of the perishing. What· would be the result were only John Howard's maxim followed, that our "luxuries should give way to the conveniences of the poor; OUF conveniences to their necessities; and even our necessities to their extremities!" The nakedness of the indigent world might be clothed from the superfluous trimmings of the vain. That will be a new era and epoch in missions, when even our luxuries are sacrificed for the· sake of supplying the gospel to the world.
With this last day of the year we enter upon the closing decade of this century. Dr. George Smith, of Edinburgh, the accomplished biographer of Cary, Duff and Wilson, reckons the first century or modern missions from 1788. He divides the century into three periods: First, the period of preparation, when the ground was' being broken up and made ready for the seed, from 1788 to 1838. Secondly, the period of sowing, when the seed was being scattered,. from 1838 to 1858. Thirdly, the period of ingathering, when the harvest began, from 1858 till now. I have often thought of a somewhat similar division into periods of seven years each: 1. From 1788 to 1837, seven periods of seven years, the times of organization when the great missionary agencies were forming. 2. The times of aggres. sive activity, when the Church was pushing rapidly forward into new nelds, three periods of seven years, from 1837 to 1858. And 3. The times of realization of results, when both aggressive movement and great success marked missions, the plowman and reaper going side by side.
However this be, we are now in the nrst years of a second century of modern missions. Never since Christ arose from the dead has there been at once such magnificent opportunity and such inspiring encouragement. No previous generation has had suoh facilities .and applianoes for giving the gospel to mankind as have we. Divine Providence has furnished us weapons for our warfare such as men in .apostolic ages never imagined. The marvelous f:.bles of the Arabian Nights are eclipsed by the realities of printing press, steam engine, ·electric telegraph, postal system, and all the other helps which are now challenging the church to use air, earth and water in her great mission to the race of man. No man can show a sensible reason why within the next ten years the Word of God should not be published throughout the world. Thirty millions of Protestant disciples can .evangelize the world if each one will become responsible for fifty <>ther souls. If one missionary will go to the field out of every 300 Protestant church members, we shall have 100,000 missionaries in t~e foreign work, besides native helpers that now outnumber the missionary band five to one. If every such church member could be led to consecrate habitually and systematically to missions,jive cents a day, it would yield the enormous sum of about 550,000,000 dollars yearly, 01' one and a half million dollars a day! Think what could be done in evangelizing the world if there were a band of 100,000 missionaries -sent out by Christian churches, with the grand sum of $550,000,000 a year to provide for their support!
This decade ought to be the most glorious of all history in the progress of the gospel. But there must be new giving and new liv- .ing, more men and women sent t.o the front, and more money and means furnished for the work. Dr. McAll writes that for sheer laok .of money he has to close thirteen of his stations, at a time when every door is open and every demand i5 for expansion rather than retrenohment. The Churoh of God does not respond to the providence of God as she ought. The very air is vocal with the calls of God, the very horizon is blazing with signal lights. Who will come forward .and say, "Here am I, send me?" Who will bring their silver and gold with them and lay on God's altars their abundance? Who will go into that holy of holies, where wrestling Jacobs become prevailing Israels, and learn the secret of that mighty prayer which brings down ..showers of blessing upon earth's dry ,and barren wastes?
EDINBURGH, Dec. 31.
THE BOERS AND MISSIONS
THE BOERS AND MISSIONS.
BY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
Among the many new and interesting missionary developments of the present day, that which is revealing itself among the Dutch farmers, or "Boers/' as they are often called in South Africa,is oneof the most remarkable and cheering. Their two hundred years of life in that land have been years of a most unique commingling of the romantic with the real,-a life characterized for domestic simplicity,. wild adventure, independence, and a high regard for at least th~ forms and observances of a sound Christian faith. They have everhad a great love of liberty, been vigorously tenacious of their own rights; and yet have had ll- firm helief, at least many of them, that, the natives, the black people, were divinely appointed to be the servants of the white race. Out of all this have come many border' wars, repeated collisions and conflicts with the English, and sometimes a hostile feeling towards Christian Missions, all which has led many of them to a most unsettled, migratory way of living. But, now, at length, their ideas of liberty are taking on a more intelligent, scriptural aspect; their formalism giving place to spirituality, and theirfeelings and conduct towards the natives beginning to undergo a happy" beneficent change. The spirit of that true and living faith which their' pioneer fathers carried to that land, is beginning to be revived, and one of the most important reasons they originally assigned for going there and taking up their abode among or by the side of the natives -to aid them in their religious well-being-is beginning to be honored: in the mission work they have already entered upon in their behalf.. During the two centuries of their abode there, the Boers have had much to do towards developing and utilizing the secular l'~sources of the country, and in giving shape to the social and political affairs of all South Africa. Their molding influence was never greater than it is to-day, nor will it fail to increase and extend as the years go on. Their past career is fraught with instruction, if not also with admoni– tion; their present trend with encouragement to all true friends of law and religion. To all who are interested in the ever-changing fortunes of men, the different phases of social life, and especially in' knowing something of the many mighty forces now at work for thespeedy redemption of that long neglected and much wronged land of the sun, which has come to be called the- "Dark Continent," a brief sketch of the early life, general character, and present promise of the' Dutch Boers in South Africa can hardly fail to be instructive and encouraging.
When Diaz discovered the southern angle of Africa, 1486, andproposed to his royal patron, John II., of Portugal, to call it "the stormy cape," the King said: "No; call it 'the Cape of Good Hope," because of the promise it gives of my finding in it a good way to. India." So, through the moral and political storms that have raged in that region, the eye of faith sees a "Good Hope" for yet making • that cape as a stepping-stone and means of reaching a realm larger than India with the gospel of God's love. It was about the middle of the seventeenth century, 1652, that the Dutch East India Company, seeing what a good replenishing station the cape would make for ships plying between Europe and the East, sent a colony of soldiers and others there to build a fort and plant a garden, hoping, withal, as they said, that the religious interests of the aborigines might be thus promoted,-that the formation of said fort and garden may not only tend to the advantage of the East India Company, but, what is of more consequence, may also be the means of preserving many souls to the praise of God's most holy name, and for the propagation of his holy gospel,-that, by living on good terms with the natives, their children may become useful servants, and, if educated in the Christian faith, should the Almighty grant.his blessing, many souls may be brought to a knowledge of religion and saved to God. But these ends, if ever practil,lally sought in those early days, were soon forgotten, and for two centuries left virtually out of account, though they are now beginning to come to the front.
The infant colony went on to prosper. The natives brought them cattle and sheep, their gardens gave them vegetables, the plains gave them game, and the sea gave them fish, but for some years they were subject to many trials. At first, it is said, they had to ~ontend with their fears, lest the wild men by day or the wild beasts by night should attack them and their fort, and carryall by storm. They had to contend with want; and one poor soldier was sentenced to many blows from the butt of his gun for wishing the purser at the devil for, serving out penguins instead of beef and pork. They suffered from thieves, and one poor fellow was sentenced to be flogged and put in irons for stealing a cabbage. At times a Hottentot would walk off with some of the cattle, or the leopards and lions would take them for their own use. They had the scandal-monger among them, and one of them was sentenced to ask pardon on his knees, be bored through the tongue, and be banished three years for words spoken against ladies of rank. The colonists were sometimes chided by the Home Directors for want of enterprise and self-support, and told that a country which could not grow its own corn did not deserve to be called a colony_ Then the Home Company sent out fifty young farmers, and an equal number of maidens to aid them and others in their new home. Next came three hundred Huguenots, men, women and children, the salt of the earth: – – " Pilgrim fathers, noblest blood of sunny France, Broad-browed men of free-born spirit, lighted with the eagle glance."
Robbed of " freedom to worship God" in the land of their birth: " To this far nook the Christian exiles fled, Each fettering tie of earthly texture breaking; Wealth, country, kindred, cheerfully forsaking For that good cause in which their fathers bled."
To these may be traced some of the most valuable elements of the white race in South Africa; though, for a long time, the illiberal policy of the Home Company was far from giving such scope to the enterprise, industry, and influence they were prepared to exert, as the highest welfare of all parties, both immediate and future, required.
The sturdy Hollanders and Huguenots of those early days, the real Pilgrims and Puritans of South Africa, glorying, as they did, in being" free-born" and" liberty-loving," were, nevertheless, remark- ably patient under the many frivolous and discriminating laws and customs to which they were subject, touching private, social and civil life. Some of the good-hearted rulers, such as "Father Tulbagh," who lived .about :the middle of the last century, men of great simplicity of life and never lacking in rigid discipline, evidently failed to see what was really the great opportunity and object of their office, and yet were diligent enough in prescribing such laws and forms of social and official etiquette as they thought the people should observe. They had full faith in ranks and grades of society, and eschewed the doctrine that all men, even the white, were made or designed to be equal. The low vehicles of that age were admirably adapted to the fashion, made imperative by law, that every person should stop his carriage and get out when he should see the Governor approach, and should likewise give the members of the" Court of Policy" a clear pass for their carriages. The exact amount of velvet which gentlemen of different ranks might wear, the amount of ornamentation for their carriages, the number of servants each rank might boast, the particular costume of the footman, the dress of brides and their friends at weddings, the cloth and cut of dresses for the wives of men .of different ranks, as the junior merchant or the senior merchant, the wearing of diamonds, mantles, hoops, and dresses with a train, as the chronicles of thos.e days tell us, were all determined by laws made, not by the modistes of Paris, but by the Governor and his grave Council in the castle of Good Hope. And yet there was evidently much of good feeling and genuine enjoyment among that people. If they went to one extreme in the respect and deference they paid to age, rank and office, it is worth considering whether the people of this day have not gone to the other.
The religious character and observances of the Boers at that early period were not less marked and molding than their civil code and social life. Their means of education, teachers, ministers, books, except the Bible, outside of official ranks, were few. But the attachment of the scattered people to all the sacred institutions of religion was then, as now, remarkable; and evidently the guiding and re- straining influence of these simple ordinances and teachings of the gos- pel, during all the years, have done much to prevent the nomadic dasses from lapsing utterly into the heathenism of the native tribes with which they have ever been in contact. Even now, in those who lead a migratory life, rouch as the greater number of their fathers were wont to lead, " While on from plain to plain they led their flocks, In search of clearer springs and fresher field,"
-both the spirit and the forms of religion are everywhere far from rare. They hold the Calvinistic doctrines, and, in many respects, are not unlike the sturdy Scotch of three centuries ago. Rough and un- couth as the" trek Boers" (nomadic farmers) often are, they have, at least many of them, a habit of saluting their Maker at break of day with supplication and song. Nor is it any uncommon thing for the patriarch of the family to bring his household together, morning and -evening, read a chapter from the well-worn family Bible and offer prayer. They still retain tha.t resolute, republican spirit of freedom for which their ancestors were distinguished in the Netherlands many generations ago. From their religion and their politics together, it is -easy to see how they should be often thought a stubborn, sometimes a bigoted, if not also a proud race, of an independent spirit, a posi- tive purpose, and ever ready to fight and die for their rights and their liberties.
In their general appearance, domestic life and common pursuits, the Boers are tall, stout, strong, hospitable and kind, frank and cour- teous, sometimes surly and phlegmatic. Their farms and their fami- -lies are large, the former numbering from six. to ten thousand acres of land, the latter from six to a dozen children, to say nothing of serv- ants. Their wealth consists of their lands, cattle, sheep and horses. Where they have been able to settle down to live undisturbed for a few generations, they are not unlike the average New England farmer "in the general ordering of their affairs. When they are given or driven to constant change, the wide open field is their home, and the large tented wagon, usually drawn by twelve or fourteen oxen, is their house, where they sleep at night, and in which the women and chil- -dren ride by day, while the men, in their saddles, are out with their rifles for the game they need for the larder. If one thinks his stay in a place may be for a few months or years, he builds a cheap -" wattle and dab" house and covers it with thatch for himself and family, a hovel for his horses, and a pen for his cattle; encloses a few _.acres of land for a garden, and plants out a few fruit trees, and, even- .tually, if not too much annoyed by the natives, or forcibly ousted by ~the English, he comes to find he has a permanent home.
But the civil and political career and experiences of the Boers have been full of variety and trial. The original settlement went on to grow till it came to number fifty thousand souls and embrace a hundred thousand square miles of territory, when, in 1795, the English came' in and took possession, held it till 1806, then gave it back, but recov- ered it again in 1815; since which time it has continued to be an, English colony, much to the disgust and grief of the Dutch. The peculiar views of the Boers in respect to the natural rights of the na,..' tives, the frequent encroachments of the former upon the territory of the latter, and the consequent strife between the two races, all went, to make the life of each for many years one of almost constant fear' and unrest. The Boers could neVer forgive the English for taking from them what they claimed as their own country; and, being accus- tomed to take and hold many of the natives as slaves, or, a'S the Dutch said, as "apprentices," when, in 1833-7, the English abolished the system, the already disgusted Dutch became highly indignant. But the more considerate still remained in the colony and made the, best of it, while great numbers of them withdrew for good. Not less than five or six thousand of them, heads of families, gave up their big farms, gathered up their more valuable and portable effects, took, their families, cattle, sheep and horses, their Bibles and their guns, inspanned their big wagons, called the ugliest ox in the team by the opprobrious name of "England," set their faces toward the North Pole, and journeyed on till they crossed the Orange River, the northern limit of English rule, and there took up an abode wherever they could find green grass and good water. From this, in a year or two, 1837, a thousand of them inspanned their wagons again, took their families, cattle and other effects, followed up the Orange River and came down into Natal, hoping to make that beautiful country a new Netherlands, and there find rest and peace. But after two years of" war with the Zulus, and then two more of war with the English, the, land of their delight became a British colony. Again, a few of the more considerate of them remained and tried to make the best of it;, but great numbers of them withdrew, went back over the mountain, rejoined their fellows, and established the Orange River Free State and the Transvaal Republic, with an alleged promise from the English that they should not be disturbed. But, under the so-called "jingo policy" of the British Government a few years since, this promise, which the Dutch declare to have been plain' and positive,. seems to have been forgotten; and an attempt was made, or at least conceived, t.o deprive the Dutch of their independence and establish a grand Anglo-African Confedracy which should embrace all South Africa. This led to a war between the English and the Dutch, and also with the ZuIUjl. But in this the Dutch had the best of it, and are still preserving their independence.
The Free State embraces about 50,000 square miles, and has a population of about 130,000, of whom the whites number about 60,000.. The Transvaal, now called the South African Republic, embraces about 80,000 square miles and has a population of about 300,000, of whom about one-sixth are white, and of these about three-fourths are- Dutch. The eastern frontier of this State is about forty miles from Delogoa Bay. A railway to connect the capital, Pretoria, with the bay is nearly completed. Between this State and St. Lucia Bay the· Boers have formed what they call the" New Republic," of about. 16,000 square miles. This new State has already negotiated a treaty with the Transvaal, by the terms of which the two are to form them- selves into one State, to be incorporated under the name of the Dis- trict of Vryheid. Many of the English, both at home and in South Africa, especially in Natal, have been urging and hoping that British rule might be pushed northward, so as to take in Zululand, and what. was otherwise soon likely to be known as the" New Republic;" or even that the scheme of a grand Anglo-African Republic might yet be realized at an early date. But the latest utterance and phase of the Imperial policy on these points are that Mr. Gladstone emphati- cally repudiates any intention to interfere in Zulu affairs; that the Home Government is not prepared to adopt toward the Boer settlers in the New Republic district a hostil~ or aggressive attitude; and that· England especially desires to maintain friendly and cordial relations. with the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The more considerate and humane course of the Boer towards the native is taking away one considerable pretext of the British Government in former years for interfering with Dutch rule.
From interesting addresses at the World's Missionary Conference last year in London, and from other fresh and valuable sources of information, it is clear that a great change is coming over the Dutch in their feelings towards the natives and in their attitude towards mission work among them. For many reasons, probably few men are ableto give more correct; valuable testimony on this point than the Rev. John McKenrie, of the London Missionary Society. In a recent speech of his, having referred to the opposition which mission work had to· encounter from the Dutch in former years, he goes on to say that, in the course of time, such work has come not only to have their high approval, but to find their own sons and daughters engaged in it;. that the Dutch Reformed Church of Cape Colony" has its own missionary society now, and if, in any village throughout the colony, there· should be a community of black people not ministered to by a European society, there you will find the Dutch Reformed Church at. work." The superintendent of the Berlin Missionary Society, Rev•. A. Merensky, having referred to the fact that, in former years, the- Boers of the Transvaal had refused to allow any mission work to becarried on in that State, goes on to say: "Our missionaries now have· in the Transvaal alone twenty-three stations, with five thousand mem- bel's; and altogether there are now about twenty-five thousand native Christians in the 'fransvaal." The Swiss have a flourishing mission in that State. Nor is the changing of sentiment and bearing on the part .of the Dutch towards the Zulus in N atalless marked. Some two years -ago there was a religious movement of great power among both races in the upper part of that colony, in the Greytown region. Several na- tive evangelists, being employed to hold meetings among their own people, often held them, by invitation, at the houses of the Dutch, .and many of both races were hopefully converted. The pastor of the Dutch church in Greytown gave the work every possible encourage- ment. Many of the farmers not only gave it their hearty approval .and shared in it, but contributed much of their own time and personal -effort to carry it forward. Rev. James Scott, a missionary of the .scotch Free Church, was called in and" assisted at the baptizing of -about a hundred natives who had been converted by those Boers who .destroyed the station of Livingstone, and interfered with the work of .our French brethren. Having received an outpouring of the Spirit of .God two or three years ago, these Dutch farmers are now gathering . their Zulu servants together and are themselves preaching to them the .gospel of Christ."
The veteran American missionary, Rev. David Rood, for forty years a faithful laborer among the Zulus in Natal, bears similar testi- mony to the interest the Dutch are now taking in mission work among the aboriginal races in all parts of Soutlt Africa. And, as among some of the more important causes, or agencies, that have wrought .and are still working this cheering change,-a revival of religious and missionary zeal among the Dutch,-he mentions the labors and prayers ~f the many devoted teachers that have been going out, for some years, from New England, and especially from Mt. Holyoke Seminary, under the call and direction of P-astor Murray, of Wellington, superintendent .of the Dutch churches in South Africa, to establish schools of the South Hadley order and spirit among the Dutch in different parts of .all that broad field. Nor is their influence limited to the sections in which the schools are set, but" reaching Dutch families far away."
At the annual meeting of "The Natal Missionary Conference," held in Durban last July, Rev. James Turnbull, V. D., of Grey- town, read an interesting paper on "The Boer Farm Mission, or the Introduction of Christian Life into the Kraals of the Kafirs," which .serves to prove and illustrate the real practical interest the Boers .are taking in the religious well-being of the nations around them. The Boer's farm is generally large, comprising from five to ten thousand acres. On it may often be found a goodly number of Zulu Kraals; and the aim of "The Boer Farm Mission" is to fur- .nish religious instruction for these natives by providing a native
MORAVIAN MISSIONS AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 17~
evangelist from some regular mission station to labor for them~ The evangelist thus employed is to have a hut of his own on the farm, together with a field for planting and pasturage for his cows; also a small salary, part of which is to be paid by the Farm Mission and part by the farmer for whose people he labors. This evangelist is to teach and preach also on the neighboring farms, and the owners of these shall be expected to help make up the salary of the minister whose services his people may share. The enterprise promises to be attended with much success. The members of the church have increased from 45 to 96 during the last year, and some 50 candidates are now waiting for baptism.
MORAVIAN ~IISSIONS AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANSr BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, OHIO.
It is much to the shame of American Christendom that so little is known of the character and doings in general of the Moravian Church, and in particular of her efforts to evangelize and civilize the' aborigines of this country. For not only does the story constitute one of the most thrilling and pathetic portions of our early annals~ but a number of her representatives rank high for distinguished public services among our pioneers and founders. This church was the first to cross the Atlantic upon an errand purely evangelistic. For the better part of a century she stood in the very forefront of the fearful strife with the wilderness and with savagery in New York. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Canada West. Nor did any heralds of the cross ever surpass, while few were able to equal, for patient endurance of hardships, or for length and energy of effort, such truly apostolic men as Heckewelder, for forty years a missionary among the Delawares, and Zeisberger, who for upwards of sixty years, bestowed most lavishly upon the same people the wealth of his wisdom and zeal, and died when past eighty-seven with the armor still on, and so, even more than Eliot, fairly earned the honorable title of Apostle to the Indians.
Already Dober and Nitschman had been despatched to the negroes of the West Indies, and the Stachs, with Christian David, to the Greenland Eskimos, and now in 1734, when the renewed church had been in existence scarcely more than a decade, a company of Moravians made their advent into Georgia to tell to the Creeks the story of redemption. But various troubles ensued and the mission was transferred to the more genial atmosphere of Quaker territory, and to the Forks of the Delaware. Here in 1741 a permanent settlement was made, destined to be a sort of second Herrnhut, a centre of gospel power for the New W orId, and named Bethlehem, Zinzendorf himself being present. A considerable accession soon followed of <settlers from Europe, and several tours of exploration through the forests to the north and west.
Meantime in Herrnliut Christian Henry Rauch h~d been set apart .as the first missionary to the Indians, and had landed alone and a ~tranger in New York. Only discouragements met him. But hearing that a delegation of Mohicans was in the city, he sought them out, and, sad prophecy of woe, found them in beastly intoxication. They had learned the Dutch language from their neighbors, and taking advantage of a few rational moments, he offered to return with them as a religious teacher, and in due season set out for Shekomeko, in Dutchess County, and near the Connecticut line. For a time his message was heard with interest, but when the novelty was gone his hearers fell away, rebuffs and insults became his daily portion, and he was bidden to be off' by the way he came. However, additional helpers were sent, and at the end of a year the seemingly barren soil suddenly began to whiten with a harvest. Tschoop (Job) and Shabash, the debauched wretches he had followed to their homes, through ,deepest penitence entered thoroughly into the kingdom, though one of them before had been "the greatest drunkard and most outrageous villain" in all that region. Savages came twenty and thirty .miles to listen to the" great words," a church of 70 was gathered, a ,-second station was opened further east upon the Housatonic (Pachgatgoch), and five missionaries were kept busy preaching, teaching and visiting from lodge to lodge. But those were troublous times. Evil doers found their gains from the vices of the Indians sadly les- ,1lened by the success of the Moravians, much sectarian bigotry and jealousy were abroad, and, worse, there was constant peril from the French. So from these combined sources fierce opposition arose, and their arrest followed upon the charge of being" Jesuits.in disguise," and finally in New York an act was passed which ordered" the sev- -eral Moravian and vagrant teachers to desist from further teaching .and preaching, and to depart the province." Thus expelled and the mission broken up, teachers and converts were presently transferred to Bethlehem. This was the first forced exodus in a long and lament- .able series.
In 1745 a Delaware chief and his wife were baptized, the first converts from that tribe upon which the bulk of Moravian fervor was henceforth to be expended. But just now great things were planned in behalf of the Iroquois to subdue their haughtiness by the power of the Cross, and inspire their hearts with the pity of Christ. .A mission board was formed. Young men were to be chosen and trained for the task by years of study and familiar intercourse. David Zeisberger was one of the first appointed (destin irter Heidenbote), and was sent to the Mohawk Valley to study the language. Arrested as a French .8P'!I and sent ba<?k, and little later with Bishop Spangenberg he made .a trying and most perilous trip to Onondaga to secure from the Grand Council permission for teachers to reside among the Six Nations. This was followed by several other visits of similar character, <and by two periods of residence, by which he gained such great ad- miration and affection from those redoubtable warriors that by the ·Onondagas he was with great ceremony adopted into the tribe of the "Turtle. As another means of reaching and winning the Iroquois, a mission was opened at Shamokin upon the Susquehanna, a great gathering place, with a blacksmith shop to sharpen their tools and weapons, and Zeisberger as an assistant. For some reason nothing flubstantial came of all this planning and labor. The French war <lompelled suspension, and after twenty years' continuance the attempt nnally ceased (1766).
But the work was vigorously pushed in the Wyoming Valley and <at other points. With <what heroic spirit is shown in a resolution adopted by the Mission Board " to carryon the evangelization of the Indians in an apostolic manner, and with resistless energy, to the glory of God, and to deem fit for this service such men and women only as are willing to lose their lives for Christ's sake." And, verily, it soon appeared that only such faith and fervor could meet the demands of the case. The Delawares were found comparatively docile and easy to be reached by such simple, earnest and loving presentation of the truth as the humble-hearted Moravians gave. So that by the end of 1749, 300 converts could be counted in Eastern Pennsylvania. But Braddock's defeat was the beginning of protracted disturbance and disaster. The entire frontier was exposed to bloody forays, morbid fear of tomahawk and scalping knife was universal, and the baseless suspicion spread that the Christian Indians and their teachers were in league~ith the French. Then, as if in cruel irony, a troop of Monseys, who were hostile to the English, made midnight assault with wholesale slaughter upon a Moravian settlement only a few miles from Bethlehem.
The mission came forth from the French war sadly scourged and a decimated, and then, when only a brief breathing space had been en- joyed, the Pontiac Conspiracy followed, with similar train of evils. The old charge against the converts was revived, but was proved to be a calumny by the meekness and resignation with which they endured severe and manifold trial and affliction ensuing. In part, at least out of kindness, they were ordered by the civil authorities to give up their arms and gather at Philadelphia, but, obeying, were met by a howling mob with insults and threats. In spite of all orders from their officers, the soldiers refused them a refuge in the barracks. Transported next to Province Island, a few weeks later they were packed off to New York, but on the border of the province were met ·with a command not to cross. Back then they tramped through a snow storm, and durance followed in all of sixteen months. Most of the time the missionaries were with them giving protection, council and good cheer. And the poor creatures were marvellously patient and steadfast through the whole. But during the summer smallpox and dysentery broke out, and almost half of the entire number died•. When finally released less than 100 remained, and so inveterate was– the prejudice against them that this remnant must needs at once re- move westward. So that presently we behold the afflicted flock and their loved shepherds, forsaking homes and worldly goods, plunging into the pathless forests, climbing Broad Mountain, crossing' the. Great Swamp, often able to advance but few miles a day, and, after' five weeks of hardship, fixing themselves upon the Susquehanna and. laying the foundations of a Second Friedenshutten (Tents of Peace).
This was in 1765. And now a few years of respite were vouch- safed. Comfortable homes were soon built, as well as a chapel and school-house, while a post-and-rail fence was constructed about the~ -entire cluster of cabins. The streets and yards were kept scrupu- lously clean. To every family was a garden, an orchard and a canal" while 250 acres were given to meadows and grain fields and cattle;, . hogs and poultry were abundant. To crown all a rich spiritual bless- ing also came, bringing a large increase of converts, while the gospel sounded out among the Mohawks, the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Tuscaroras, Wampanoags, Tutelas and N anticokes.
In 1767 intelligence was brought to Bethlehem that the Delawares .of the upper Allegheny desired to hear the glad tidings, and Zeisber- ger was deputed to journey thither. He found a very den of heathen- ism at Goschgoschunk, with debauchery and all manner of depraved doing rife. But, nothing daunted, he was on hand again the year following with Gottlob Senseman and three families of Christian Indians.. to begin the first Protestant mission beyond the mountains in the vast Mississippi Valley. For a while life was well nigh intolerable> so furious was the opposition. The settlement was removed a few miles. to a spot now in the midst of the oil region of Venango County, but at le~gth, by gentle bearing, coupled with zealous teaching and fervid appeal, such a turning to the Lord began that the heathen party lost control. In 1770 a call came to introduce the gospel still further west upon the Beaver, and a number of families journeyed thither iu canoes by way of the Allegheny and Ohio, and built Languntoutenunk, or Friedenstadt (City of Peace). Among the trophies of a revival,. which soon ensued, was Glikkikan, a famous chieftain and warrior,. who from henceforth threw the whole might of his influence in favor' of Christian civilization.
But serious trouble was brewing in the Susquehanna region. The bitter strife beween Yankee and Pennanite for the possession of . Wyoming was in progress. By the treaty of Fort Stanwix the territory in which Friedenshutten stood was sold to Pennsylvania, and the whites were crowding in upon the red inhabitants. Hence, re- moval, sooner or later, became necessary. And just then an invitation came from the Grand Council of the Delaware nation upon the Tus- carawas anG Walhonding, streams which unite to form the Musk- ingum, to remove, with tile promise of an aml)le tract of most fertile river bottom covered with magnificent forests full of berries, vi deer, turkeys and other game, while the stream was fairly alive with fish. And all hard by Gekelemukpechunk, the capital. Therefore, on every account it seemed best to transfer the mission from the Susquehanna. to the Muskingum, and in the spring of 1772 upwards of 200 crossed the diviaing ridge and made the long pilgrimage.
Zeisberger chose a spot upon the bluff nellr to a large rivulet which leaped forth from under ground, and called it Schonbrunn (Beautiful Spring). At a later time, to accommodate the growing numbers, he located two other settlements distant each a few miles, Gnadenhutten (Tents of Grace) and Lichtenau (Pasture of Light). These solid be- ginnings of religion and settled order were made by the Moravians, be it known, about half a generation before the Ordinance of 1787 and the founding of Marietta. And now followed in this far-off Arcadia what on the whole were the halcyon days in the career of the mISSIOn. Of material prosperity there was no lack, so that the heathen came from far to behold and wonder. Several sachems of high degree openly espoused the truth, among them Netawatwas and White Eyes. The chapel, though holding 500, could not contain the . audiences which gathered to hear the" great words." Baptisms, too, were frequent, and some of the shrewdest of the chiefs judged that a few years would suffice to give the victory to the gospel.
But, alas, sorest tribulation was in store. The Revolution was hastening on apace, with all its terrible moral strain and waste. When open collision came, it was neither from cowardice nor lack of patriotism that the missionaries decided to stand neutral. It was $ matter of conscience. They were non-combatants from principle. But this fact was the direct cause of continued embarrassment, though it is impossible to see how their case would have been bettered by choosing either for Congress or the King. But here, as also before and at a later time, upon them fell the" frequent penalty of peace- makers, the distrust of both sides." Certainly their course was ad- vantageous to the Colonies, since, though the Delawares finally went over to the British, it was not until after the surrender of Burgoyne and the alliance with France, and so for years 10,000 warriors were held back from their bloody forays by Zeisberger, Heckewelder and the rest, as in New York were many more by missionary Kirkland. The situation on the Muskingum was most trying and critical. The Christian Indians occupied the border between the English settlements and the savages of the 'Vest, and so were between two fires. War fury was rampant, and it required the utmost of sagacity and watehfulness to keep the hands of the young Delaware braves from seizing the hatchet. War parties frequently went back and fortb and all were entertained with strictest impartiality.
At length, to the British commander at Detroit, the attitude of this influential tribe became intolerable. And well k!lowing that the missionaries were tbe cbief obstacles in h.is way, be determined to strike at them a telling blow. It was when the long and weary strife was well nigh over, only four weeks before Cornwallis surrendered, that a few hundreds of Wyandots, lVlingoes, Shawanese, etc., with Elliott, an English captain, among them, suddenly appeared at Schonbrunn and the other towns, and by force compelled an exodus of the entire Christian population, Zeisberger and the four. other lVloravians included, and a long journey to Upper Sandusky, involving a wholesale destruction of property; and at the approach of winter, destitute of food and robbed of nearly all their clothing, were left by their captors in the wilderness. A little later the missionaries were ordered to Detroit to remain, and their followers to separate and find a home where they could.
But, meantime, the climax of horrors had come-the crushing (latastrophe. In a starving condition small companies had begun to return to the lVluskingum to gather some of their corll, which by the thousand bushels had been left unharvested. Toward the end of winter a larger party had gone upon the same errand. Theil' presence became known to the borderers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and an <expedition was planned to cut them off. Under the lead of one Col. Williamson, while scattered through the fields, they- were suddenly set upon and made prisoners. A few hours were given in which to prepare for death, and then they were taken to two "slaughter houses," and one by one butchered and scalped. Ninety.six victims, wholly innocent of evil, of whom some thirty were women, thirty-five children and twelve babes. And this" not in the flush of victory, but in cold blood, leisurely as animals for the shambles." After the slaughter every building was burned.· Can American history match this woful and altogether sickening narration?
The residue of the dolorous story, though extending yet over the better part of a half century, need not long detain us. Permission was soon given to Zeisberger and his white associates to remain in Detroit, or to retire to Bethlehem. But the thought of forsaking the souls they had gathered at such cost could not be cherished for an instant, and a·re-establishment of the mission was determined upon. By consent of the Chippewas, a location was selected a few miles to the west of Lake St. Clair and upon the Huron (now Clinton) River, and a call was sent to the Christian Indians to gather at New Gnadenhutten. Not strangely, the response was so meagre that a start was made with but nineteen, and fifty-three was the sum total at the end of a year. A long succession of troubles, repeated removals with great loss of property, set upon and harried alike by British and American, and fihally the ruthless and unprovoked slaughter of scores of their brethren, whom could they trust, and what ground was there for hope and courage? In the almost insanity of despair they were haunted with the suspicion that the massacre was instigated by their teachers! Though others returned later, and not a few relig- iously alone and unhelped from henceforth lived and died true dis- ciples, yet too many made utter shipwreck of faith and relapsed into paganism, counting the gospel a cheat and snare.
Nearly four years was passed in the forests of Eastern Michigan in :severest toil and with slight encouragement, and then since the Chip- pewas broadly hinted that their presence was no longer welcome, the future ownership and government of the Northwest was uncertain, ;and since Congress had taken steps towards ceding to them the lands they had occupied on the Muskingum, in 1786 their steps were turned in that direction. Crossing Lake Erie they were driven ashore by tlevere storms, and were compelled to continue their journey on foot. .At length the Cuyahoga was reached, and upon its banks, some miles :south of where Cleveland now stands, a halt was made upon the site <>f a former Ottawa village, and the work of building and planting was at once commenced. This was their Pilgerruh (Pilgrims' Rest). It soon became apparent that though Congress stood ready to bestow titles and gifts of corn, blankets, etc., yet, on account of the deter:: mined opposition of the neighboring Indian tribes to a return to the Muskingum, the project must be postponed.
A more favorable location for a settlement was sought for and found some sixty miles to the west on the Huron river, and near to the Milan of this day. New Salem 'was the name which expressed their hope, and four years followed of rest and peace, and consequent prosperity. A grateful calm it was after a protracted season of dis- astrous storms. Or, as the event proved, it was a brief period of sun- shine succeeded by the gloom of a tempestuous night, and so its beauty . was but a bright sunset glow. A thriving town sprang up as if by magic, cattle increased and large harvests were gathered. Three .schools were opened and a hundred dusky pupils filled them. The chapel was thronged with Delawares, Chippewas, Ottawas, and even Wyandots, inquiring after the better way, and an old time revival began, which, with overwhelming power, laid hold of such as Gelele- mand, a head chief, and Gegeshamind, a notorious sorcerer,' and the membership of the church rose to 212.
·But evil days were oJ?ce more at hand. An Indian war broke out and raged with fury over the Northwest, with the crushing defeat of St. Clair and the brilliant victory of Wayne as chief incidents. Again missionary work was rudely brought to a Fltl).ndstill, and~ finally, lest a second massacre befall, a flight for safety to Canada was planned and executed. Some fifty appiicants for church membership declined to go, but the residue, in thirty large canoes, crossed the lake, located upon the Thames, founded Fairfield and received from the Government a large grant of land. After six years, or in 1798, a fraction numbering thirty-three formed a colony and set out for the Muskingum to rebuild the waste places and occupy the 12,00(} acres set apart for their use. Sixteen years had wrought great changes. The ruins of the former settlement could be traced.. Heaps of bones mingled with the ashes showed where the slaughter had occurred. But the fields were again wild with briars and underbrush. For some reason no attempt to restore and rehabilitate prospered. The missionaries and early converts were aged, and one after another- ;were passing away. Zeisberger, the chief leader and inspirer from the beginning, the center and soul of every movement for fifty years,. in 1808 went to his reward. The whites were crowding in from every direction, bringing the demoralization of their vices. And, finally, the migration of the Indian tribes across the Mississippi had set in. So in 1824 the lands were receded to the United States and the work came to an end. Unsuccessful attempts were made to open missions upon the Wabash and in Georgia among the Cherokees. Fairfield was burned by Gen. Harrison after the battle of the Thames, upon the false report that the Moravian Indians had fought with the British. That mission, however, still survives, and two stations are maintained in the Indian Territory. And this is all that remains after the utmost of wise, and earnest, and consecrated endeavor continued through one hundred and fifty years.
And what shall we say to this most painful narrative of hope deferred, of toil unstinted, and in His name, but constantly beset with appalling difficulties and doomed to failure at last?· Well, this at least: The work undertaken was a sublime one, and in the truest sense Christian, Christlike-of a piece with that done by the same church for the degraded African, and Australian, and Eskimo. Preaching of the gospel to the Indians was the thing to do, and th~t regardless of results, great or small. It was in obedience to the Divine call. Nor can we accurately reckon up returns in such high matters. It is no slight thing that some 1,400 or 1,500 souls were converted and trained for glory, and that christianizing and civilizing influence~ were carried to many hundreds more. Then Moravian missions to the aborigines of this country have but shared the sad lot of all similar undertakings. What is there to show for all that Eliot did, and Edwards, and the Mayhews, and many others in later times? In every case the obstacles were overwhelming, and the tribes have
THE JEW IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
well nigh vanished from the earth. Therefore, it was not their fault that they failed. There was a true Providence in the matter. They .did all that mortals could do. " Were strenuous ~xertions, indefatigable labor, patient perseverance, constant self-denial, and devoted zeal sufficient to secure success," then no sort of failure would have resulted. Best of all, such godly doing is never to be accounted "waste." In the spectacle I have been endeavoring to portray, as in so many bright passages from the history of Moravian missions, the gospel ideal is held up to the gaze of Christendom as seldom elsewhere. How blind and reckless, how unquestioning and resolute was their faith! At the divine bidding, like others of God's heroes, they gladly and with fine enthasiasm 'dared to attempt the impossible. And so in all centuries to come, and to thousands, what such as Zeisberger, and Heckewelder, and Senseman, and Rauch, and Buttner, and J ung did and assayed to do, will prove a mighty inspiration and ' impelling force to similar heroic efforts for the redemption of lost men.
THE JEW IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D., BUFFALO, N. Y.
Seven millions of people are an inconsiderable numerical proportion of the fourteen hundred millions of people on the globe. But this number of Hebrews have managed to secure a large share of attention from the rest of mankind in our time, as for centuries preceding. We say seven millions, but this is probably under rather than beyond the real number, which has been estimated as low as five millions, while Herzog reckons, on the ground of information derived from many quarters, that at the lowest they number twelve millions. If the Jewish population of Europe be correctly estimated at five millions-and the statistics are doubtless more trustworthy here than ,elsewhere-then we strongly incline to the very high figures of Herzog, rather than to the extremely low aggregate of two millions in all the world outside of Europe. But Herzog says two millions is too 10w for Europe. This would be one Jew for every forty-five of the entire population. In Amsterdam alone there are thirty-six thousand Jews; in Poland no one estimates the Jew population at less than one million; and in Russia, including Poland,> at three millions. Germany has upwards of half a million, and the United States probably three-quarters of a million of Jews; European Turkey contains about 350,000, mostly about Constantinop~e; Roumania, 250,000, and North Africa, 100,000.
We will not now classify the Jewish communities only to say, there are J ews-and Jews. The Falashas in Abyssinia, the Black J'ews on the Malabar coast, Loango Jews in Africa, and the Karaites in Russia, Crimea and Damascus, are not Jews by lineage. The last named claim to be descended from a leader of their own who lived twenty-two centuries ago. They are not Talmudists. They number about 100,000. They disclaimed being Jews to escape the Russian outbreak of the anti-Jewish riots of 1881.
Nor can we stop to say more than a word about their language. In Europe they speak J udeo-Spanish and J udeo-German. The one is the corrupted Spanish and Hebrew they carried with them when expelled from Spain; and the other has Hebrew roots and German flexions. Over Asia 'and Africa they speak a peculia~ jargon, yet generally, besides, the vernacular of the country where they live.
But the change in the position of the Jew within the last half century is one of the most remarkable character. Fifty years ago the Jew was inert and imbecile. Now he exercises a power greater than in the days of David or Solomon. The Jews to-day influence more people, control more bullion, and exercise more legislative power than they did when they had their temple, their land ati.d their scepter. They have been stationary for eighteen centuries and hunted into obscurity. To-day they attract wider attention than ever before in tbeir bistory.
They are "ministers of finance, ministers of education, peers of the realm, mayors of great cities, senators in the assembly, close counsellors of kings." Painters, philosophers, poets, professors, physicians, editors, lawyers, members of parliament, bankers,-none of them could name those who have attained eminence amongst them without naming a modern Jew. In all countries of western Europe> except Russia, they enjoy Civil Equality and all the rights of citizens. It is estimated by those who claim to see the drift of things, that in a brief period all the seats of justice will be in their bands. Out of twelve hundred students at .Jaw iu Berliu, six hundred were Jews. The Berlin and other Councils are ruled by a Jewish majority, and aU offices are in the gift of Jews. The German tradesman sinks to a. secondary position alongside his Jew competitor, the best squares are filled with Jew shops, the best estates have passed into their hands;. in Germany they have ousted the best families from their patrimonial possessions. This is true of Holland also.
One Jew at least has reached the Senate of France, and another the Chamber of Deputies. Lord Beaconsfield achieved undying notoriety as the Prime Minister of Great Britain; and M. Simon the French Premier, and Gambetta the leader of the opposition, were both descendants of Jewish families. One of the best minds of the Southern councils during the rebellion was that of Judah P. Benjamin, a Jew; and in the North, a Jew, August Belmont, was Chairman ~f the National Democratic Committee in 1878. The Jew is the world's chief banker to-day. No existing civilized nation has failed to f~el his influence in monetary matters. National loans in Europe have long been dependent on Jewish coffers, and it is doubtful if any nation would dare to declare war until they knew if Jew bankers would float the loan necessary for the conduct of the campaign. Almost the whole Cif the liberal press of Germany is in their hands. The two leading papers of Rome, Italy, were, and possibly still are, edited by Jews. The power of the Jewish press of the continent of Europe is very great in ID'ltters political, scientific and theological. The learned Rabbis publish many journals.
At the bar the Jew has achieved great eminence within thirty years of opportunity. It is fifty-six years since the Jews were admit- ted to the freedom of the city of London. The first Jew sheriff of England was elected in 1835, and a little earlier the first Jew was ad- mitted to the English bar. It was as late as 1847 that Baron Roths- child was returned for the city of London, and eleven years later (1858) the first Jew was admitted to the House of Commons. There were but twelve Jew brokers in London at the beginning of this cen- tury. ~he number was limited to twelve. The rare privilege to be- come one of these twelve brokers was conveyed by title deed, and as late' as 1826, when a vacancy occurred, over seven thousand dollars was paid by a Jew for the privilege of its occupancy.
The children of Jews are being educated in a ratio disproportioned to those of Gentiles in many countries, especially in Germany, Austria, and even Russia. This finds an illustration in the Grand Duchy of Baden, where the number of the population being a trifle over a million and a half, one million were Romanists, a half million Protestants, aud twenty-eight thousand Jews. But in the grammar schools the Romanists and Protestants counted two thousand each, and the Jews over five hundred, or the Romanists 41 per cent., the Protestants 47 per cent., and the Jews 11 per cent" or, more roughly and roundly, the Romanists had one pupil in these schools for every five hundred of their number, the Protestants one for every two hundred and sixty, and the Jews one for every fifty-seven. In what are known as the commercial schools the proportion is about the same.
The Jews in Turkey are reported as taking a great interest in education. There is said to be a class of educated Jews, liberal minded and prosperous, untiring in their efforts to develop education among the native Jews by establishing schools.
The increased prosperity and power of the Jew was a foremost occasion of the anti-Semitic riots in Russia in 1881. It was alleged that they had increased in population and wealth until they exercised an undue preponderating influence in affairs of State. It was said that their presence in such numbers and their power endangered national unity and the Christian faith; that they could never be true patriots, and as a money-lending people they exerted a corrupting influence on commerce. It is charged against the modern Jew that he carries out no mission for the good of the human family, and that he seriously interferes with brotherly unity and love. As a class, it is true, they originate no organization of their own looking to practical beneficence beyond their own race lines. But the mercantile Jew of our country has been a generous contributor towards relief of national calamities by fire, flood and pestilence. That his motive may be mixed in his subscription to the relief of sections whence he finds his patronage, even if established, would, we fear, not prove that he occupied a lower level than many Gentiles by his side.
As the Jew has entered into the civilization of the age and become a part of it, Rabbinical Judaism has necessarily undergone considerable modification.' The public schools and other educational establishments give them their curriculum of study, and the study of the Talmud has so far declined that German Jews have to imp~rt their Rabbis from among Polish and Russian youths. The catechism learned by the Jew children in Germany teaches rationalism, not Biblicism, and many have first learned the Bible through the Christian missionary. Amongst multitudes of them in Germany, the hope of a Messiah has totally disappeared. Dr. Philippson, editor of the Allgemeine Zitung des Indenthens, acknowledges that a spirit of skepticism has laid hold of the yonnger generation, so that conviction has disappeared; that there is truth, and that man can obtain it; all idealism is gone, and nothing is considered to be useful and worth while anyeffor.t but that which promises material advantage-wealth, honor, power and enjoyment. Hence this mad spirit of speculation, this ef~ fort and anxiety to get rich quickly, and at the expense of others. A writer in that same periodical said a few years ago: "I see that among the educated classes the religious indifference has so much grown that they do not take the least interest in Jewish literature. I cannot get rid of the doubt whether Judaism, which rests on an historical foundation and is built up with historical stones, can stand and continue when those stones are loosened, and that foundation is forsaken."
The Jewish Chronicle and Jewish World are full of lament that the privileges granted by the Russian government to educated Jews, and the drafts of Jewish youths fOl' ten years into the army, with other causes, are rapidly resulting in the same decline of faith among the Russian Jewish community, and the younger generation is acknowledgedly skeptical, though often secretly so at home. The Is~ raelitish Alliance of Paris is rapidly planting the same forces-schools, etc., among the Jews in Turkey, Asia and Africa. Of two thousand shops kept by Jews in the city of Paris, not over a hundred are closed on Saturday. Of the seventy thousand Jews in New York City, not over twenty-five hundred are attached to the synagogue. Rev. Theodore J. Meyer has therefore pertinently said that the " consequence of this new spirit is that the synagogal service, which for centuries had existed without any change, can no more attract and ,satisfy people whose mental horizon has been enlarged by the study of history, science and philosophy, and whose tastes and modes of living have been revolutionized by the contact and intercourse with civilized society. The disorderly, noisy service of the synagogue could not but be repulsive to such men. A reform of it was therefore generally de- manded. Under great opposition, not only from the still poweI"ful orthodox party, but in many cases also from the political authorities, a. change was at length effected. Everywhere in the principal syna- gogues of the Continent and Great Britain more order and decorum prevail, choral singing, regular or occasional sermons in the vernacu- lar were introduced, although with a very few exceptions the language ·of the prayers remaiI).ed Hebrew. For a time that succeeded in at- tracting again to the synagogues those who had turned away in dis- gust from the old unresthetic service; but it could not satisfy them for any length of time. The cold decorum of the new service left them cold, too; and moreover they discovered that the spirit of the prayers of the synagogue was more in opposition with their views than even the old form of service had been with their new 1abits and tastes.
" The writings of Zunz, Geiger, Holdheim, Furst and others had rudely shaken the belief in the authority of the Talmud and in the .institutions of the prayers and service of the synagogue by Ezra .and the great men of the Sanhedrim. These men, and the leaders of this movement generally, had been all more or less imbued with ration- alism and pantheism, which at that time prevailed in German litera- ture and society generally. What sympathy could they have with a liturgy which on every page gives expression to its hope for the com- ing of the promised Messiah, prays for his appearance, for the gather- ing of scattered Israel, and their return to their own land; for the re- building of the temple and the restoration of the sacrificial service? After the charm of novelty had worn off, the synagogue again stood :empty, notwithstanding their reformed services. Greater, more thorough-going reforms were required-reforms which introduced into the synagogue not only better decorum, music and singing, which e., did not merely lop the liturgy a little here and there, but would bring it into harmony with the spirit of the age, both internally-i. doc- trinally-and externally."
The Jewish World is a weekly penny paper, published in London, which week by week has reproduced in popular form the subtlest and boldest infidel thought of Strauss and Bauer. There is little room to ,doubt but that where Judaism has come in contact with Christian civ- ilization it has resulted in a death-blow to Rabbinical Judaism. A re- turn to simple Mosaic Judaism has proven to be an impossibility.
Even in other countries Rabbinism has been undermined.
The question of their conversion to Christianity would require a ,separate article. A few statements, however, may be presented.
Seven or eight years ago it was said the number of Hebrew Christians in Berlin alone was upwards of fifteen hundred. In 1876 the Irish . Presbyterian Mission Board estimated that there were twenty thousand converted and baptized Jews then living in the communion of Christian churches, and the Missionary News estimates that at the present day at least a thousand. Jews annually are converted to Chris- tianity, who join the churches in about the following proportion: Greek Church 450; Romish 270 ; Evangelical 250 ; and that during this century at least a htlnarea tliousana have been baptized, among whom are many eminent persons. Professor Paulus Cassell, D. D., a member of the German Parliament, is a convert from Judaism. The Irish Presbyterian Missionary report" of thirteen years ago, said that not less than three hundred and twenty converted Jews were known at that time to be occupying high and influential p08itions as ministers" theological professors, and teachers in the Christian church. The Church of England alone had one hundred and ten converted Jews ministering as priests at her altars, and amongst the most eminent di- vines of the Presbyterian and dissenting bodies were many of the chil- dren of Jacob. Christian Jews have won for themselves a world-widereputation as commentators and expounders of the Christian Scriptures,. and some of the brightest centers of Evangelical light on the continent of Europe are universities whe'reJewish Christian doctors occupy the chairs. There are indications among the Jews of Persia of a large movement'towards Christianity. Among the sixty thousand Jews of London there is said to be an increasing approximation of many J eWI> to the Christian church. Some well-to-do Jews say that many would any day become members o~ the Christian church if there was an important movement that way from the synagogues. Many Christians. found in London have Jewish names, and have had for at least one generation. Sixty Jews have applied for membership cards in our' Young Men's Christian Associations. Forty years ago there were not fifty Jewish Christian converts in Gteat Britian ; now the missions. count three thousand, and it is estimated that fifteen hundred Jews. leave the synagogue every year; whether they become Christians or infidels, we are not told. Europe has nineteen, possibly more, Jewish societfes. In this country it was thought twenty-five years ago that there was no room nor need for a mission to the Jews, but we now have several, and through them many have been brought to Christ.
An able Jewish authority says: "The majority of Jews are more familial' with the doctrines and sayings of the New Testament than they are with the Talmud and the Pentateuch." Rev. Rudolph Koenig of Pesth says of Professor Delitzch's translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, which has gone through several editions, that the J ewe are its readers, and a considerable movement among them has been the result. He also speaJ-:s of the Jewish Missionary Association formed among the theological students of Leipsic, called" Institutum Judaicum," holding prayer-meetings for the conversion of the Jews. The methods of appeal to the Jews which experience discloses,
ROMAN CATHOLIC LAY CONGRESS OF 1889
are often curious and instructive. There is, for instance, the appeal to the Jewish character of the New Testament. It is affirmed to bemore Jewish than the Old Testament, containing not a' particle of Gentile element within its pages, whereas the Old Testament containsprophecies communicated through Gentiles like Jethro and an idolatrous priest, and a pseudo-prpphet like Balaam.
We have no room so much as to outline the independent Jewish Christian movements, like that under Rabinowitz, the learned Jewish lawyer, who teaches the Jews" Jesus is our brother," and" The key to the Holy Land lieslin the hands of our brother Jesus." We forbear reference now to the oft-repeated suggestion that the conversion of the people would provide not a missionary agency but a missionary people, and an indigenous evangelistic force.
They are sleeping under all stars, trading in all marts, sailing overall seas, scaling all mountains, tracking all deserts, wearing all garbs,. speaking all tongues, familiar with all customs and codes, "the source of all the monotheism of the world," holding in their hands the prophecies of their own peeled, scorned, and scattered: condition; at once no people and the mightiest of people; steeped in prejudice and often in poverty; without prophet to inspire, or priest to rally, or' prince to rule, or standard for rendezvous; without country that they may call their own, without shekel or shield, without miracle or sacrifice, without urim and thummim or cloud pillar, they remain, defying all influences that have worked the extinction of other peoples from the days of the Czar of Egypt to those of the Czar of Russia; and they remain to accomplish so high and holy mission as witnesses to Jesus Christ in another and a better sense than in that of the terrible, "rrarry thou till I come," whIch has made the monumental through centuries of the judgment of God.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC I~AY CONGRESS OF 1889.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D. D., NEW YORK.
The significance of the Roman Catholic Centennial, which was· held in Baltimore in November last, is admitted by all. A review of a hundred years of progress was presented with skill and enthusiasm. The advances made both intrinsically and relatively, and the promise which those advances give to the future of Roman Catholocism in this country, were received with manifest pride, and with an apparent assurance of faith for the time to come. This was the first of a probable series of conventions designed to represent the laity. Very apparent was the desire to show the people a little ostentatiously that the Church is not bound hand and foot by priestly authority, but in the influence of and powers of its laymen is abreast with Protestantism. The speeches and papers were presented by laymen, mostly young or in their prime, and supposed to represent the, wide-awake spirit of our country and our generation. It is under- stood, however, that all the papers had passed under the eye of the Bishops, and that the Convention as a whole was held firmly in hand.
The general plan was well conceived and executed. The whole {lase of the Roman Catholic Church in this country could scarcely have been presented, in its beginnings, progress, and attainments, more adroitly. According to programme, two days were spent at Baltimore, and a third day at Washington in the dedication of the National Catholic University.
The Convention was dignified by the presence of a special repre- sentative of the Pope, and by Cardinal Tascheraeu of Canada. Car- dinal Gibbons was supported by about a dozen American Arch- bishops, eighty Bishops, and nearly a thousand priests, .while the attendance of Catholics upon the different sessions is supposed to have numbered tens of thousands.
The address of welcome given by Cardinal Gibbons, as reported, seems rather.disappointing. Much was doubtless expected from him, {lonsidering his acknowledged ability, his progressive spirit, and ad- mirable tact. He stated that he had not at first been favorable to the idea of holding this Congress, as the time seemed too short. His reference to the fact that the business proceedings "would have to be dovetailed between the religious festivities of Baltimore and 1Vashington," and his facetious sympathy for a body thus "sandwiched," as he said, "between two other corpulent bodies, which is always so much the worse for the individual sandwiched, rendering it difficult for him to breathe, and-still more difficult to speak," would seem to lack the dignity deml.nded from so august a personage upon so great and historic an occasion. He expressed, however, a desire long felt, to see the clergy and the laity drawn more closely together, believing that while the clergy are divinely constituted channels for instruction in faith and morals, they may learn much from the laity in practical wisdom and worldly common sense. He expressed his earnest prayer that the deliberations of the Congress might be marked by the "freedom and independence which becometh patriots,' by the wisdom and discretion which becometh enlightened {litizens, and, above all, by the charity which becometh Christians, sons of the same Father, brothers of the same Christ, members of the same family, having one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all."
Important papers were read by Dr. J. G. Shea of Newark, N. J., who gave a history of the Roman Catholic Church in this country, .and emphasized with much pride the fact that its growth had been achieved without any appliances of home or foreign missionary agen- {lies; and by Hon. H. T. Brownson of Detroit, who urged that "the ,Church should adopt all that is good in modern civilization, and not try to return to oldconditions,"-that more should be made of the lay element in all practical work, that "politics and religion should not be separated, if purity in politics is to be looked for," that the cause of temperance and every means of purifying the politics of the country should be encouraged.
The most eloquent speech of th~ Convention was delivered by Daniel Dougherty, Esq., of New York, who regarded the opportunity of the hour" as the great honor of his life." For peculiar glow of imagination, brilliancy of utterance, broad and rapid sweep of history, and skilful arrangement of facts for the purpose in view, the speech has rarely been excelled. The fact that America was discovered by a Catholic navigator under royal Catholic patronage, that a Roman Catholic Christian service was the first to consecrate the Western hemisphere so far as .history records, that one great aim of Catholic discovery was the establishment of the religion of Christ, that Catho- lics had been the first to stain our fair land with their martyr blood, that although" they had been spurned with suspicion, disenfranchised, hunted as criminals," yet a Catholic was among the signers of the Dec- laration of Independence, and Catholic powers of Europe aided us in our struggles against the Protestant powers that denied us liberty, that the blood of Catholic patriots was freely shed for the Colonial cause-all this was shown forth with consummate tact. He maintained that in spite of "constant abuse heaped upon Catholics in later times, in newspapers, books and periodicals, speeches and sermons, by sectarian assemblies and political conventions, and even on the .floor of Congress," yet, Catholic volunteers had been among the first to consecrate their lives to the Republic on every field of battle. He did not allude to the New York Catholic riots to resist the draft: still we would not detract from the worthy service rendered by Catholic soldiers in the support of the Government. " From 40,000" said :Mr. Dougherty, "the Roman Catholics in this country have become 10,000,000. From a despised people they are a mighty power. In every avenue of industry and intellect they are the peers of their fellow men. Their schools and colleges, libraries, asylums and hospitals are scattered far and near. In every village, a steeple or tower tipped with the cross tells where Catholics pray. In every metropolis a cathedral lifts its massive walls high above all surrounding piles, or with its stately dome crowns the city's brow. Our grand old Church," he continued, "rescued the jewels of classic lore from the ruins of the Roman Empire, and preserved them through the convulsions of a thousand years. She was the pioneer of civilization, the founder of States, the conservator of order, the champion of the people against the encroachments of tyrants."
Now, there is a large per cent. of truth in all this, but it is ereparte. The almost total destruction of civilization in Spain is not mentioned. And as to Catholic resistance to tyrants, Charles V. and Phillip II. are passed in silence, as well as the fact that Pope Paul IV. remonstrated with the Spanish Sovereign for his leniency and tardi- ness in crushing the Protestants, and even withdrew from him the >subsidies of the Church.
At the inauguration of the Catholic University at Washington, Father Fidelis, in an eloquent sermon, treated history in the same eclec- tic manner. Those events which we all admit to have been sublime he thus set forth: "She [the Church] has waited in the wilderness and 'crouched in the catacombs, and from her throne of honor she has ruled the world with more than regal sway. She met the barbarian and curbed his rage; she organized a new civilization on the wide ruin of the old; she cleared the forest, and drained the marsh, and built the town' >she covered Europe with her cathedrals and colleges; she was the foster mother of learning and the patroness of art; and all the while ,she forgot not that which was ready to perish, but in meekness and voluntary poverty she went her ceaseless rounds of mercy."
Evidently the leaders of the Church are using the immense prestige of their past history to the best possible account. The masses of the people will be made more intellige~t and more enthusiastic. They will not be carefully instructed in regard to the Inquisition or the wrongs of Albigenses, Lowlanders and Huguenots. They will know -only the brighter side: possibly we have dwelt too exclusively upon the dark side. If the late Congress has really struck a new key-note of advancement,-if, as Father Fidelis claims, "the Catholic Church is capable of infinite adaptability,"-is "constantly shaking off and casting from her that which is outwo:n and worthless,?' candid Protestants will rejoice in every slich change.
The declarations contained in the Platform are as follows: First. That there is no antagonism between the claims of the Church and those of the country, and that if the freedom of our .country should ever be in peril, its Catholic citizens will be found ready as one man to pledge anew:' their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." Second. A regretful reference to the social and political dangers which threaten the laId in pauperism and discontent. Third. A recognitl:>ll of the importance to society as well as the individual, of Christian education, and since religion in the public schools is denied, the indispensable necessity of parochial education for the children of all Catholics. Fourth. A declaration of the sacredness of the home, coupled with a denunciation of Mormonism, and" the facility for divorce which has gained such alarming currency under the auspices of Protestant sentiment and legislation." Fifth. A warning against the danger of political or industrial guilds, and an earnest recommendation of Oatholic societies only, since in a religious basis, and not in a race or national basis, lies true safety.
. Sixth. The conflict of capital and labor, and the associational tendencies connected t4erewith ar~ looked upon with regret. Nihil- ism, socialism and communism are pointedly condemned, and equal condemnation is visited upon the heartless greed of capital.
Seventh. Strong ground is taken against intemperance and Sabbath desecration. "Without going over to the Judaic Sabbath," says the Platform, "we can bring the masses over to moderation of the Christian ::;unday, and to effect this we must set our faces sternly .against the sale of intoxicating beverages on Sunday. Let us resolve that drunkenness shall be made odious, and give practical encouragement and support to Catholic temperance societies." All Catholics are urged to join their influence, with that of other enemies of intemperance, against the corrupting influence of the saloon in politics.
Eighth. The importance of disseminating Catholic reading matter, not only in books and tracts setting forth Christian doctrines, but in acquainting the people with Catholic teaching and opinion on the important questions of the day. Circulating libraries and Catholic reading circles are recommended, but not a word is said about reading the Word of God in any version.
Perhaps the most difficult plank in this platform, yet the most crucial and important, considering the present status of the Church, is that relating to the freedom of the Pope. The Oatholic Mirror, the supposed organ of Cardinal Gibbons, published a week before the Congress, an article declaring that" American Catholics do not desire that the temporal power of the Pope shall be restored) they only demand that the independence of the Pope in spiritual matters shall be guaranteed to him by the Catholic powers of Europe." This utterance, which was not challenged by the Convention, gives a somewhat enigmatical significance to this plank in the platform, viz.: "The absolute freedom of the Holy See is necessary to the peace of the Church and the welfare of mankind. We demand in the name of humanity and justice that this freedom be scrupulously respected by all secular governments. We protest against the assumption by any such government of a right to affect the interests or control the action of our Holy Father by any form of legislation or other public act to which his full approbation has not been previously given; and we pledge to Leo XIII., the Worthy Pontiff, the loyal sympathy and unstinted aid of all his spiritual children in vindicating that perfect liberty which he justly claims as his sacred and inalienable right."
The question which it is difficult to decide is, to what particular rights does this freedom apply? This protest against the rights of any government "to affect the interest or control the action of the Holy Father by any form of legislation to which his full approbation has not previously been given" may admit of an immense latitude of interpretation. The language, if it is to hinge upon a Pope'<i own decision;;;, wodd open the way for all shades of sentiment, from the mild and patriotic utterances of Cardina! GlObons to the preposterous.
assumptions of a Hildebrand. .
Our perplexity is still furtner increased by the fact that since the- rising of the Convention, viz., on December 30th, the Pope, in con- sistory, gave his interpretation of the issue in question by declaring that his liberty required nothing short of· a recovery of temporal power.
Weare inclined to accord a real sincerity to the intelligent Catholic: laymen of this country in the avowal of their loyalty and patriotism, but they may believe that the best thing that could happen to thi~ country would be to bring it under Sl)iritual control of the Vatican.
We, on the other hand, desire a prevailing Protestantism because we are afraid of the Vatican. There need be no question of motives,-it.
is a matter of principles and of history. Protestants profess an al- legiance to this realm, and to no other. It does not meet the case to say that we also owe a supreme allegiance to God. We gladly ac- cord that to Catholics, but we protest against an earthly vice-regency which is supreme. And when we suggest possible conflicts between the Government of the United States and the Government at Rome, we are talking of no idle dreams. The history of the past is full of _ concrete and terrible realities on this subject. When we remember that only twenty-five years ago Pope and Cardinals and Bishops were in league with the French Emperor in trying to overthrow the repub- lic of Mexico; when we hear that not many months ago large sums were contributed by Catholics in this country to aid Boulanger in overthrowing the republic of France; when we learn that only a few days ago the Catholic priests of Toronto successfully resisted a free ballot in a special election of trustees of the schools,-we think we have some reason to fear the influence of a two-fold, and, perhaps, conflicting allegiance. It is just here that the chief issue with Ameri- can Catholics lies.
When we settle down into our most charitable and hopeful mood~ some ungarded utterance is sure to appear which dispels our hopes.
We are not permitted to draw our conclusions from the Centennial Congress alone. We cannot forget an encyclical of the Pope in which he distinctly says (Art. XLII.): "In case of conflict between the ecclesiastical and the civil powers, the ecclesiastical powers ought to prevail. "
We cannot forget those words of Cardinal Manning while he was Archbishop: "I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince! I claim to be the Supreme Judge and Dictator of the con- sciences of men; of the peasant that tills the fields and of the prince that sits upon the throne; of the household that sits in the shade of privacy and the legislator that makes laws for kingdoms." We have a declaration of the late Cardinal McCloskey, that the Catholics of the ITnited States are as strongly devoted to the maintenance of the temporal power as those of any other country. We have a prophecy of Father Hecker, made in 1870, that "there will yet be a State religion in this country, and that that State religion will be Roman Catholic." It may be said that these are only the vaporings of fanati- cal Ecclesiastics, but Prince Bismarck, judging from actual experience in statesmanship, said in 1875: "This Pope, this foreigner, this Italian, is more powerful in thIS country [Germany] than any other person, not excepting the king." In view, therefore, of many conflicting indications, our Catholic friends must not think us bigoted if we receive the enthusiastic utterances of their Congress with some measure of abatements.
But what is the outlook of the Catholic Church in this country? The question is largely one of comparative numbers.
It is to be borne iI1. mind, of course, that the Roman Catholic body now claiming at least 9,000,000, is reckoned by a different principle from that which obtains among Protestants. All baptized persons are considered full members of the Church, and it is customary to count families and circles of kindred. By the same method, the total number of Protestants, whose communicants number say twelve and a half millions, would reach forty-five or forty-six millions, or about five times the number of Roman Catholics. But, in considering relative power in the State, it would not be safe to count upon such a ratio as this. There is no such political unity in the Protestant body as among Catholics, and in some matters of a social and religious nature there is a serious lack of co-operation. Were the Protestant Churches as thoroughly united as are Romanists, in demanding this or that claim from the municipal, the state, or the national, authorities, their demands would be irresistible; but politicians are accustomed to judge that from their standpoint Protestant political unity is a rope of sand, while-Romanism is a strong-stranded, hard- "twisted, agency which they cannot afford to ignore.
The members of Protestant bodies are indep!Jndent citizens, thinking for themselves, differing in their views on many questions, and voting according to their political opinions. But in the main the Roman Catholic body is a solid mass which can be hurled on either side of any political issue with great effect, and it is not so much the numbers as the compact organization which enables the Catholic in- :fIuence to tip the balance of power between parties, and thus secure: its ends. Even aside from the ratio of numbers, therefore, the· Roman Catholic Church must always possess an advantage as a mctOl" in popular government. In reference to numbers and increase, it should be said, in the first place, that the great Catholic gain in this country has been due mainly to the constant tide of immigration. This is not likely to cease so long as the populations of Europe throw off a surplus, and this alone will constantly affect the comparative ratios of Romanism in this country. In the second place, there is a greater increase of Catholic population by natural generation. The influence of wealth upon our native-born citizens of the Anglo-American stock, ·and the increased extravagance which widely prevails, operate unfavorably upon the number of marriages and the natural increase of population. This check exerts a far greater influence upon the native American element, which is largely Protestant, than upon the immigrant population which is mainly Catholic.
Some suggestive statistics are furnished by Dr. Josiah Strong, showing the comparative increase of Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches in different periods of the past. Thus, from 1800 .to 1850, the population of the country increased 9 fold; the membership of all evangelistic churches 27 fold; the Roman Catholic 63 fold. From 1850 to 1880 the population increased 116 per cent., the communicants of Protestant churches 185 per cent., and the Roman Catholics 294 per cent. Or, to take another line of comparison, in 1850 the Catholics equalled 45 per cent. of the total Protestant church membership, and in 1880, 63 per cent.
In looking forward to the future of this important question, there are various considerations, lying some OJ}. the one side, some on the other. When we consider the boldness and assurance of infidelity, I think that every true friend of the cause of Christ must rejoice in the alliance of the Roman Catholic Church in this country. That it is a Christian church in its great body of believers, and aside from its hierarchial assumptions, I, for one, have no doubt. That there are tens and hundreds of thousands of real Christians in its communion, I am confident. That its strong faith and its unflinching maintenance of its principles will help to interpose an important barrier against the flippant infidelity of the day, there is good reason to believe. Cardinal Gibbons' able book, recently published, is a strong defense of 1lhe common Christian faith.
In Italy there is danger from extravagant and infidel legislation in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as from the reactionary schemes of the Cardinals. That the temporal power of the Pope shall ever be restored, is impossible. The whole trend of sentiment among the Latin races is against it, and when Archbishop Corrigan said recently that the Catholics of this diocese "long for the day when the Sovereign Pontiff shall be restored to the fullness of his timehonored and necessary rights," he only did injury to the Papal cause at Rome. The constant utterances of this sentiment by Catholics in
A PLEA FOR ENTHUSIASM IN MISSIONS
3011 lands, and the extravagant demands which the Pope is thus encouraged to make, can only add fuel to the flame Qf indignant radicalism in Italy, and so strengthen that resistance and repression with which the Papacy cannot continue to cope. .
That the Roman Catholic Church in this country will become a. great power, we have no doubt: That it will exert a disproportionate influence in our politics, seems probable. That it will ever gain such power as to overthrow our liberties, I do not believe. The American people are long suffering under the encroachments of particular sections or classes, but when the evil is ripe for retribution, they rise up and sweep it away as with the resistless power of the tides. Meanwhile, let us hope that American Catholics themselves will become so broadened that they will lose their interest in the dead chrysalis of Italian supremacy, and will seek to enthrone here the true "Head ()ver All," who is confined to no country or hemisphere.
A PLEA FOR ENTHUSIASM IN MISSIONS.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] Among the most startlingly rapid movements of the present day are the" Societies of Christian Endeavor." Though but a few years old, already they are spreading over the earth.
" Christian endeavor" is too sacred and meaningful a phrase to be <larelessly used and applied. "Endeavor" is from the French, compounded of en and devoir, and means exertion in the line of duty, labor directed to some specific end, guided by a supreme aim. "Christian endeavor" is, therefore, the highest expression for holy €xertion along the lines of Christian duty, activity, set to the music Qf love and loyalty to Christ and souls. We must beware that it <lomes not to be a meaningless phrase or the mere motto of a formal, superficial, external, mechanical stirring about-a noisy, bustling activity that makes up for devoutness and devotion by" mouthing" and motion!
"Christian endeavor" is the soul of missions, and there are a few indispensable requisites to its exercise.
First of all, a holy enthusiasm. That word has been thought by some to be derived from the Greek .E'V and eEO~, meaning entheism, or God-indwelling. Certainly, in its highest use and application, it means nothing less than a divine passion burning in the human soul and yearning for the accomplishment of high results. And so understood, enthusiasm is the soul and source of all Christian endeavor. Without it there cannot be the heroic, self-sacrificing worker for God. Without it in any sphere there is no high achievement. All successful men in every department have been enthusiasts, and sometimes ~onsidered as fanatics.. Michael Angelo, attacking with hammer and chisel an old dingy, yellow block of marble, declaring that within it was imprisoned an angel, and as a sculptor seeking to set the angel free, was a poetic example of artistic enthusiasm. So also was Da Vinci, who wrought for ten years upon his master picture of the "Last Supper," in the refectory of the Convent of the Madonna della Grazea at Milan. Often for whole days he was so absorbed in his work that he forgot to eat. Again, for days he would only come and stand in silence before it, as if devoutly studying his great theme and criticising his own work. Again, in the heat of noon, he would leave the cathedral where he was modelling his colossal "horse," and, hurrying to the convent, add a line or a touch of color to the picture and return. Who does not remember the story of Palissy, the potter? In 1539, having seen in Italy some decorated pottery, he determined to discover the secret of enamelling. For sixteen years he tried experiment after experiment. He put his whole life into his work, regardless of cost, of toil, of hardship, from each new failure and disappointment rising to another endeavor, and rejoicing even in failures because they narrowed down the circle within which lay the secret of success. He reduced himself and his family to poverty and the verge of starvation, and, with almost insane persistency, broke up even his household furniture to feed the fires of his glazing furnace when other fuel failed!
Christopher Columbus was an enthusiast or he would never have discovered the New W orId beyond the Atlantic. There are few sublimer scenes in all history than that on which the Southern Cross shone, when, on the early morning of October 12, 1492, the great Genoese navigator sleeplessly walked the deck of the Santa Maria watching for land. His three ships had been 71 days at sea. He had met every disappointment and obstacle undismayed. He had encountered storms 150 violent that his crews insisted he was tempting Providence. The cry of " Land !" had set the ships echoing with the Gloria in Excelsis, only to have it change to the minor strain of .De Profundis, when the next day it was found that the supposed point of land was only" Cape Cloud." The crews had been not only turbulent and despondent, but mutinous, and had plotted to throw overboard the pertinacious Admiral. But Columbus never swerved or faltered. He dared everything and kept on his course. He peered into the heavens to catch sight of birds of short flight, which by their nature never wander far from land; and he watched the waters to detect drift wood, branches of shrubs and floating seaweed, .whick might indicate the proximity of shore. And now, at 2 O'clock, A. M., Rodrigo Triana, on the Pinta, first caught a glimpse of the New WorId, and Columbus was awaked from his reverie by the boom of a signal gun. The great discoverer's enthusiasm was rewarded. J ames Watt was an enthusiast. As a boy, he sat for hours ex- perimenting with the tea-ke~tle, holding a saucer over the spout, studying the expansive, expulsive and explosive force of steam, the laws of vaporization and condensation; while his aunt, Mrs. Muirhead, warned him that no lad would ever make much of a man who wasted his time on a tea-kettle. That was sublime enthusiasm that led Agassiz to turn away from the tempting offers of gain, answering, "I have no time to make money," and going on a lonely pilgrimage to the Pacific to gather new fauna and flora for the museums of science. Sir .James Young Simpson conducted experiments in amesthesia, making trial of chloroform upon himself, and nearly losing his life, a martyr to science, before he perfected his discovery. And who has ever read the story of Francis Xavier, without wishing that the example of his sacred, even though misguided, enthusiasm might move us all to simi- lar devotion! Follow him, in Bologna, preaching, visiting hospitals and prisons; embarking, in April, 1541, for the Indies, and when scurvy raged among the crew, himself cleaning the sores and cleansing their soiled clothes. At Goa, ringing his bell in the streets to call to- gether the people, eager to teach children and even slaves; going to the coast of Cormorin and the island of Ceylon; visiting Japan, and just about to enter China, when, at forty-six years of age, fever burned up his very life in its terrible furnace. During ten years this s, Apostle of the Indies" had planted his faith in 52 different king- .doms, preached the gospel over 9,000 miles of territory, and baptized over 1,000,000.of persons. Where is our enthusiasm for the truth, for Christ, for the souls of men, for the Kingdom of God? If merchants and manufacturers, discoverers and inventors, scientific men and artists exhibit such passion for their calling, how shall we account for the apathy, lethargy, listlessness, inactivity of God's children? What an example he set us, of whom it is said that the" zeal of God's House ,consumed him."
Enthusiasm comes not unsought. It has its purchase price, like every other hid treasure or precious pearl of the Kingdom. Its basis is sincerity, without which, as Carlyle says, there is no truly heroic ,character. To be genuine in spirit, and honest in conviction, to believe ()ur.ti>eliefs, and act upon them, that is the actual basis of enthusiasm. A deep experience of Christ's power and love-that is what makes disciples genuine, for it enables them to speak what they know. When Morse sought to get from Congress an appropriation of $30,000 to build the first telegraph line from Baltimore to Washington, a committee of five was appointed to consider and report. There was a tie-vote. The chairman left the room with Mr. Morse, and by and by came back and said: "Now, gentlemen, I am prepared to give the ,casting vote for the appropriation, for I have myself sent and received a message over the wires." Well may he have an enthusiasm for God who has been in personal communication by prayer with the throne ()f God, has sent and received messages from above. Such holy enthusiasm 'comes not without that intimate touch of God, that is the reward of absolute self-surrender. To find out God's plan in our generation, as Prince Albert said, and our place in it, and then fall into that place,-to take our work as from God,-a little segment of His own eternal work which lies over against us and bears our name,-to undertake for God all tpat begets a holy frenzy,-we become co-laborers with the Father, co-sufferers with the Son, co- witnesses with the Holy Spirit. Back of our feeble Chr.istian En- deavor lies the whole power of the Godhead. What wonder if such enthusiasm makes foreign missionaries mighty to the pulling down of strongholds!
Enterprise is the natural handmaid of enthusiasm. Alexander the Great, referring to his indebtedness to the teaching of the great phil- osopher, said: "Philip of Macedon, my father, gave me life; but Aristotle taught me how to make the most of life."
This is a time for enterprise, for the combination of "dash" and " push," which the word suggests. This nineteenth century easily leads all the centuries of human history. During the last fifty years more:o£ Nature's secrets have been unlocked and her resources utilized than during all the centuries preceding. Railways, ocean steamers,. telegraphs, telephones, electric lights and electric motors, spectroscopes and spectral analysis, steam presses and sewing machines, giant explQsives and anresthetics-what have not these fifty years brought forth? Now is the time, ripe in the providence of God, for the greatest of all enterprises,-a world's evangelization, to be pressed and hastened forward with every appliance of modern civilization. And this great uprising of young disciples in the" Students' Crusade," and the "Young 'Men's" -and" Young Women's Christian Associations,'~ and in the" Societies of Christian Endeavor," may yet become the signs of the dawning of the millennial morning.
I want to live long enough to see this world mapped out for God,. to see a definite o;rganized movement for the occupation of the whole world for Christ. When Christ fed the five tho~sand, he showed to. all of us the value of systematic, o.rganized methods. The mul~tude were made to sit down in ranks, by fifties. Then distribution bedame possible o.n systematic principles. In a miscellaneous crowd or mob,. some would selfishly press toward the front, and others would be pushed toward the rear, overlooked, unsupplied. But when the whole mob became reduced to the subjection of order, and classified like a military encampment, it became easy to snpervise the disbursement of supplies, so that none should be neglected.
At least a thousand millions of people are to day perishing for lack of the bread of life. We are commanded to" give them to eat. ,~ We have an ample supply, and the most wonderful thing about that supply is, that as we divide it, it multiplies; the more we distribute
NICARAGUA AS A MISSIONARY FIELD
the more we have to distribute. Let the unevangelized world be di- vided into companies, set off into definite districts, and the thirty mil- lion of Protestant church members may easily reach every living soul within the life~time of a generation. For it is obvious that a thousand million divided by thirty million leaves but thirty-three to each disciple, i. e., if each Protestant church member shall take 33 human'souls as his share, and undertake to reach one new soul every year during the average life-time of a generation, the whole world would be evangelized within that time. Or, to present again in another form the entire feasibility of doing this work in our generation, Ahasuerus may once more be referred to, who sent out his royal decree over his 127 provinces, reaching two thousand miles east and west, and twelve thousand miles north and south, within nine months, and had no help from any of those modern appliances and inventions which make possible for us a thousand-fold success. The unevangelized world covers, perhaps, thirteen times as much territory as the old Persian Empire. If he could reach all his subjects in nine months, surely we can reach all mankind in thirteen years!
The fact is that were our Christian Endeavor simply inspired by holy enthusiasm and directed by consecrated enterprise, more would be accomplished within the next quarter century than during the past thousand years toward the pervading of the world with the gospel. In this matter the Church is doing nothing worthy of herself, her Master, or the cause of missions. Satan himself puts us to blush by the promptness and eagerness with which he pours his agents inte? every open door. His pre-occupation often prevents our occupation of the field, or seriously and effectually delays all our missionary operations. "It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing." Oh, for some potent influence from above to make God's people zealous to push the occupation of a world for Christ, and to do it in our own generation!
NICARAGUA AS A MISSIONARY FIELD BY REV. S. D. FULTON, AZTEC, NEW MEXICO.
The actual commencement of work on the interoceanic ship canal across Nicaragua and bordering on Costa Rica, calls attention to that point as the most important Qentre for mission work in the world. The commerce of all nations will transit there; men of every language will be among the sailors and passengers on the vessels. The gospel message can be planted by word of mouth and printed page in the hearts, heads and hands of representatives of every people, tongue and color on the globe. Central America itself, and South America and Mexico can be reached and evangelized from this mission centre. It is evident that the coast lines of vessels running down the Pacific and Atlantic from Pana~a and Aspinwall will extend their routes to Nicaragua, or be supplanted by new lines starting from there, thus affording the most comprehensive and far-reaching medium of carrying gospel ideas in printed page, and by the simple story of the Cross, told daily, wherever passengers to or from South American ports could be reached in their transit or stay at Nicaragua.
A method of work which might grow out of this would be to have an ocean colportage on these coast lines of vessels. The writer was impressed by these thoughts from travel in South America, and from seeing the numerous passengers arriving and departing at Panama some years ago.
If consecrated Christian money could ~. e brought to bear upon this work, no greater highway for the message of the King will exist in the world than the Nicaragua route and its connections will afford.
It is not too soon to plant our mission and begin our preparatory work along these lines. A printing press ought to form part of the mission plant from the first, from which leaflets and tracts, in Spanish, of simple, striking gospel thoughts, and translations of current gospel literature, could be issued and used gratis, as in our similar work in New Mexico and Colorado. Mission schools should be planted at once, in which native Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans, both Indian and Spanish, could be educated and begin to form an evangelistic force such as we now have in the Presbytery of Santa Fe.
A glance at the map of the world will show what a marvelously .cosmopolitan centre Nicaragua will become. Lines of vessels will run to the West Indies and New Orleans; to New York, Boston and Halifax; to Liverpool, London, Hamburg and North European ports; to the Mediterranean and the nations, ancient and modern, that border on that great commercial ocean; to all the Atlantic ports of South America. and to the West Coast of Africa; while on the Pacific, side lines will run along the Mexican coast, to San Francisco, Portland, British Columbia and Alaska; to all Pacific ports in South America; to China, Japan and Korea; India, Persia, Arabia, Madagascar and the Eastern Coast of Africa; to Australia and islands of the South Pacific; with vessels passing through the canal from all these countries, bringing the world to our very doors. And when the canal is finished and people of every tongue can be reached, there should be a large depository of Scripture literature in every language, so that, as on the day of Pentecost, every man may have the gospel in the language wherein he was born.
In view of this, surely no such centre for Christian missions exists at present on earth as Nicaragua can be made-a citadel for Christ, a very Gibraltar of missions.
The Scientific American, February 16, 1889, said on this subject from a business standpoint: "The effect upon the world's commerce, and upon that of the United States in particular, of the opening of the Nicaragua Canal route, is a matter in which even the most careful calculations are almost certain to be far below the reality. The canal itself will certainly have advantages over one at Panama, in being in a healthy climate, and in the heart of the northeast trade winds, where it offers especial convenience to all sailing craft, both in the Atlantic and Pacific. . . In the 49 engineers and 150 men in the employ of the com- pany during the last survey there was not a single case of serious sickness, .although most of the members were; from the nature of their occupation, almost .daily exposed to constant wetting."
As it is now quite certain that there is to be no Panama canal, the importance of the Nicaraguan one is the greater.
The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions ought to enter the -field at once; its work is the most successful in Mexico and New Mexico, and it has the best trained force to start with; but when lately approached on the subject, though appreciating the magnitude <'If the opportunity, it responded that lack of funds prevented its as- .suming any new work, only one man being added to the force in Guatemala, and none to that in Mexico!
What an opportunity Nicaragua presents to a Christian man or woman of wealth to say to our Board of Foreign Missions: "Go ahead; I will pay all expenses of the work in Nicaragua; devise lib- ·eral things for Christ's kingdom there, and draw on me." Or, better yet, to settle a sum sufficient to prosecute the work for at least ten years in the hands of the wise, responsible Board. No amount of wealth left to heirs can afford a millionth part of the joy and eternal reward that such a step will bring to the person taking it.
Let me quote a few words from Dr. Josiah Strong's notable work, ," Our Country" (page 219): "Says a New York daily paper: A gentleman died at his residence in one of our up-town fashionable streets, leaving eleven millions of dollars. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, in excellent standing, a good husband and father, and a thrifty citizen. On his death bed he suffered great agony of mind, .and gave continual expression to his remorse for what his conscience told him had been an ill-spent life. ' Oh I' he exclaimed, ' if I could only live my years <Jver again! Oh! if I could only be spared for a few years, I would give all the wealth I have amassed in a lifetime. It is a life devoted to money-getting that I regret. It is this which weighs me down and makes me despair of the life hereafter.' "
And Dr. Strong adds: "Suppose so unfaithful a steward is permitted to enter the many mansions, when, with clarified vision, he perceives the true meaning of life, and sees that he has lost the one opportunity in an endless existence to set in motion infiu- ·ences which, by leading sinners to repentance, would cause heaven to thrill with new joy, it seems to me he would gladly give a hundred years of Paradise for a single day on earth in possession of the money once entrusted to himtime enough to turn that power into the channels of Christian work." Nicaragua affords one of the rarest, choicest opportunities in the -world to-day for the investment of large means in Christ's work. A
THE STUDE~7 VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT
most reliable medium exists in our Foreign Board. Trained men and women clfl. be placed in the field at once, who have learned theil"" calling in self-denying toil in similar work; and only the round world itself bounds the wide-reaching influence which would emanate from this great centre.
THE STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT.
The annual meeting of the Executive Committee and Agents.pf the Student, Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions met at Cleveland, oTrio, Dec. 21-23. There were present, Miss Nettie Dunn, representing the Y. W. C. A.; Mr. J. R. Mott, the College Y. M. C. A.; Mr. R. P. Wilder, the Theological Seminaries;, Mr. R. E. Speer, the Traveling Secretary; Messrs. W. H. Hammon and W. J .• Clark, Corresponding and Recording Secretaries, and E. W. Rand, Editorial Secretary. The entire meeting was one in which the unity of the Spirit was, manifest, and each one present was conscious that the Spirit of God was in the movement. The questions under discussion were all of importance. They consisted in a full and open discussion of what should be the financial policy of the movement, how the States can be better organized, what makes a model band, the work in theological seminaries, the volunteer pledge, how to put volunteers to work, missionary literature and periodicals, and the relation of the student movement to the press. Full reports of all de- partments of the Movement were presented. Respecting the progress of the- movement at present, the report of Mr. Speer showed that the cry is still " for- ward." He commenced speaking Sept. 6, at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since that date, he has delivered 150 addresses, an average of two a day, address-, ing 43 colleges and seminaries, 4 theological seminaries, 3 Y. M. C. A. and Y.W. C. A. conventions. 23 churches, besides other miscellaneous organizations. He has traveled about 9,000 miles, his route embracing 12 States. There were 550 new volunteers, some of whom are ready to go at once, and the entire number represents some of the finest Christian students to be found in our Western Universities; $4,000 was pledged by colleges and $1,000 by individuals" to support missionaries in the field, and '&elp to swell the fund for a Y. M. C. A. building in Tokio.
On January 11, Mr. Speer will again start out, and visit the principal colleges of New England, such as Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Williams, Brown, and then the colleges of New York; after which he will go South, stopping over Sunday at Princeton, his alma mater. Only the principal colleges of the South will be touched, after which he will go to Canada, and from thence to Michigan and Pennsylvania, where the tour will end.
Some very interesting statistics were presented by the recording secretary at this meeting. There are now 4,752 volunteers. Up to December 10, there were 4,632, of whom 194 have been sent out as missionaries, to be found principally in China, Japan, India and Africa, all scattered in 21 different fields and representing 25 different organizations; 10 volunteers are under appointment to sail, 25 deceased, and only 18 withdrawn, so far as can be known at, present. There are still remaining in this country 4,385 volunteers. In sex, 78 per cent. are males and 22 per cent. females; 35 per cent. are graduates from college, and 31 per cent. are still in college. In special training 16 per cent. are, graduates of theological seminaries, and 2~ per cent. medical graduates, 10! per cent. are in course in seminaries, and 1! per cent. in medical schools. Last June about 3,500 circulars were sent out asking confidential questions of volunteers respecting their names, age, time of going to the foreign field~
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
denomination, whether they were weaker or stronger in their determination to go. Thus far 800 have responded. On the basis of this 800 the following statistics have been prepared: Ready to go, 24 per cent.; in professional train- ing, 12 per cent.; in college, 31 per cent.; academy, 5 per cent.; out of school, 9!
per cent.; withdrawn, only 2! per cent. Denominational preferences: Pres- byterian,27! per cent.; Congregational, 18 per cent.; Methodist, 14 per cent.;.
Baptist, 11! per cent.; in all 40 denominations represented 65 per cent. are stronger in their determination, and 10 per cent. weaker.
In the r;sing of money, the movement has been very aggressive. Thus far there has been raised among churches $11,500; colleges, $17,350; seminaries, $8,500; miscellaneous, $3,011; R. E. Speers, $5,OOO,-making a total of $45,406.
REPORTS FROM THREE STATES.
Ohio.-Mr. Haskell, the corresponding member for Ohio, has been able to, give his whole time to the work, and hence shows a very cheering report. He has held 40 meetings, visiting in all 23 institutions; 100 volunteered, 63 in meet- ings, but 37 were the result of personal work; 12 colleges and seminaries give annually about $4,800. Virginia reports 54 new volunteers, making 107 the whole number of vol- unteers in the State; three can go this year. Only one volunteer has renounced his decision; $1,000 was raised. Kansas reports 13 new volunteers. There are 150 volunteers in this State, of whom 19 are young ladies ready to go at once. Four colleges contribute to the support of missionaries; three volunteers have sailed; one renounced de- cision, and $4,260 raised in money. Reports of other States will be given from time to time. E. W. R.
n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
[The initials to this article, which we copy eration is the brightest jewel of from The Christian, London, indicate that it empire. Such is the fixed policy of' comes from a source which entitles it to the the Government of British India; and most serions attention. Its statements will manifold blessings of every kind, macause painful surprise and indignation.-Ens.] Aftica.-The Royal Niger Com- terial and spiritual, have attended it pany.-It is no longer a secret, close during the last half century. But the or open, that this newly chartered rulers of the Niger Valley, to whom company has made treaties with the the Imperial Parliment has dele– several Negro Mohammedan Powers gated their foreign powers, propose in the Soudan of Africa, east of the Ni- to do something more. They promise ger, promising that they will not only their treaty-allies to obstruct the do nothing through their own em- Christian missionary, to deny him ployees to attempt the conversion of passages in their steamers, succor the Mohammedans, but will do all that from their stores, and to erase his lies in their power to obstruct others name from the list of British sub- who come under their influence. This jects, entitled by the custom of Great amounts to open war of 8<Klalled Britain to succor in case of need, Christian men with the Gospel. rescue in case of captivity, and retri-, Let us think it out. The company bution by the nearest British authori- gives a free hand for the conversion ties in case of murder.
of the Pagans. It is very proper and The true-hearted missionary asks.
expedient that the rulers of a country not these things for himself. His.
should do nothing directly or indi- friends raise no voice in the country, rectly to influence their subjects in calling for vengeance for the slaugh- their religious views. Their king- tered Hannington. That particular- dom is of this world, and entire tol- crime has, however, been avenged by a higher Power; the assassin-sovereign were there long before this company has been deposed, and is now an exile came into existence, and will outlive from his country. Whether the Royal it. The Mohammedans of the Soudan, Niger Companylikes itornot-whether whether Fulah or Negro, are pigmies it will affect their dividends or their in strength, culture, power, and popu- {)ommerce with the Soudan or not-it lation in comparison to the fifty mil- is well that these gentlemen should lions of British India.
reflect on the policy which they are The gentlemen of the Niger Com- inaugurating, and consider what the pany talk with bated breath of the House of Commons will say, when it fanatical Mohammedan, in his turban, comes to hear of it. cloak, and trousers. The phenome- It is true that the East India Com- non is new to them, butAnglo-Indianii pany previous to the year 1815 adopted have lived all their lives in the midst this same policy. They did so in of noble, though fanatical, Mohamme- iimidity, in ignorance, and in ma- dans. Some as fair in color as our- terial weakness. They had to face selves, and many much more learned mighty empires, and armies of sol- and polished; some of gigantic stat- diers, supplied with cannon, trained by ure, and hereditary warriors. Yet the Frenchmen; they had to fight for their gospel has its free course amidst the hold of India, and regarded matters Baluchi and the Afghan, the Patan, from the point of view of a mercantile and the converted Mohammedan Raj- -company. India was too far off for put, and the Empire of the Empress its affairs to be influenced by public of India flourishes, because it is -opinion at home. Public opinion at founded upon righteousness.
home had not been formed; it was the We doubt whether treaties with day of small things; and the individ- such clauses should not be denounced ual missionaries, who appeared and as derogatory to the dignity of Great were rejected, though saints of God, Britain, as if we were ashamed of the like Carey and Judson, had not the religion which has brought us such prestige of the associated strength of blessings. The thing is doubly offen- the great middle classes of Great sive when we are kindly told that we Britain behind them. Moreover, it is are allowed full leave to convert the admitted that the East India Com- Pagan; but must not address the pany did wrong; we palliate their Negro who has got himself up with {)ffence, we do not excuse it; we can- the veneer of Mohammedanism, for it is not justify it. no more. Their knowledge of Arabic Things have changed now. The and the Koran is scant; all the bad, thoughts of men have become "wider salient features of Mohammedanism with the process of the suns." A great are asserted,-intolerance, polygamy, majority of the British people recog- slavery, unnatural crime, contempt of nize that the mighty power and vigor human life, and overweening pride- vouchsafed to them were not conceded while the better things to be found by the Most High for the purpose of in the Koran, and the learning and exporting liquor (of which sin we refinement of the polished Moham- gladly acquit the Royal Niger Com- medan of India, Persia, and Turkey, pany), or making dividends of profit; are totally absent.
but to benefit, in every possible way, At any rate, the public notice has the subject people, and to give them been dispatched, and January 1, 1890, the free opportunity of accepting fixed as the date of the new policy.
Christianity, should they see fit to do We must recollect that when a so. The Niger Valley is not far from British subject is killed or imprisoned, Great Britain. Public opinion will something more than his life and lib.
nave its sway there. The missionaries erty are lost to his country, viz., the prestige of our nation. The represen- leaf, had recalled his edict against Christians, and had welcomed the tative of the British Government in English missionaries with honors un- precedented. It is said that his over- China remarked in 1873 that there was throw last year was due to the discov- ery by his gtards of a plot he had a necessity to protect the missionary formed to destroy them. At all events, his exile was followed by Arab· sufrom actualviolence, but nothing more. premacy, the burning of the English and the French missions, and the The present foreign secretary two years flight of the missionaries. To the lat- ter, Mwanga wrote recently, predictago told a deputation of missionaries ing the triumph he has now accom- plished, and promising them welcome that the Great Powers of Europe as- should it occur; so that his restoration must be added to the stock of good serted the right to deport an alien, news which has come after so long a. story of disasters in East and Central without cause shown, from their terri- Africa.
tories, but they would shrink from the As to Bushiri, he certainly did not make war on all white men, but upon charge of ordering his death, or im- the Germans; and the native uprising which he headed was largely provoked prisonment, without the form of a by their overbearing ways. He was a. chief of great influence, and stories are regular trial. Mr. Jones, of the told of his personal protection of Brit- ish missionaries and others, during the L.M.S., was expelled by the French revolt against the indiscriminate fury of his followers. The outbreak swept Government from the Loyalty Islands; over the whole coast region, but Wiss- mann had weapons which mere force and, for the sake of argument, we of numbers could not resist, and also the money with which to enlist and may concede that the Mohammedan arm native auxiliaries. Bushiri, who would have been called a patriot had potentates of the Soudan might deport he succeeded, suffered the ignominious fate which has been meted out to many a British missionary; but, when they another unsuccessful leader, both in civilized and savage lands. hear that there is no risk, they will Now, accordingly, the way seems certainly kill him. R. N. C. open for resuming the march of civil- ization from the Zanzibar coast East ACrican Coast. – The toward the great lakes. It is evident that this will be one of the main routes hanging of Bushiri practically com- for the African commerce of the fu- ture. First, however, a clear underpletes the immediate work for which standing of British and German rights in that region would seem to be neces- Capt. Wissmann was sent to Zanzibar, sary. Up to half a dozen years ago England had matters pretty much her and clears the way for the resumption own way there, and then, the energy of Peters and his associates threatened of German schemes of conquest and to carry all before it for the Germans. colonization. The pleasure which this news creates at Berlin may have been a little qualified by the evidence that Dr. Karl Peters and his party were massacred by the Somalis; but as Dr. Peters, though the most promi- nent of the founders of German colo- rues in East Africa, had in his Tana River expedition defied Bismarck and irritated the British, his fate will be less lamented at London, and will in- crease the Chancellor's prestige at Ber- lin. Emin's progress toward recovery is a subject of universal congratula- tion, while another promising piece of news is that King Mwanga, who was driven from Uganda, his brother be- ing made ruler in his stead, has marched back in triumph. Mwanga was infamous a few years ago for his horrible persecution of the Christian converts among his subjects, and the murderof BishopHanningtoncrowned his atrocities. Yet, before his de- thronement, he had turned over a new Of late,the British have been greatly under Major Serpa Pinto, and sancstrengthening themselves, aided by tioned by the Portuguese Govern- the strained relations between the ment, against the Makololo in the high-· Germans and the Sultan. The latter lands of the Shire, a river running thinks the Germans do not pay him from Lake Nyassa to the Zambesi the revenue agreed upon, and that river. The object was to esta1;>1ish the they try to shift on him losses arising authorityof Portugal over'the territory from disturbances caused by their by force of arms. This Major Pinto, want of tact. Lately he has given to after entering those Highlands by deihe British Company the administra- ceiving the British Consul, attacked tion of the ports of Lamu, Kismayu, the unoffending Makololo, slaughter- Brava, Magadisho, and so on, so that ing hundreds of them with his Gattits government now stretches along ling guns; when, believing themselves 700 miles of coast line from Warsheikh abandoned byEngland,whoseflag they in the north to the Umba river in the carried, the poor people felt compelled south. The Germans contended for to submit to Portuguese authority; the possession of Lamu, the third port whereupon the bloody soldier avowed ()f importance in East Africa, commanding the trade of the Tana river; his intention to extend the Portuguese but it really belonged to the British, who controlled most of the trade of dominion as far northward as Nyassa, the port. Mr. Stanley, on reaching Zan- and to include the Lake shores; and zibar this time, found British interests warned all missionaries and others rematerially improved from their con- siding on the river and on the shores dition at his previous visit, when or- of the Nyassa, to submit to Portuguese ganizing his Emin relief expedition. But there is no reason to think that rule! The request was as modest as Germany and England will come into conflict in this region. Count Herbert it was just. How far he would have Bismarck recently declared that Ger- carried his victorious career, ifhe had many's policy there would go hand in not been sent to the right about by the hand with England's. " We will ne- prompt action of England, cannot be gotiate with the East Africa Com- told. pany," hesaid, " in order to arrange for further action." The next ten years These Makololo, who have suffered will be remarkable for the develop- from this cruel raid of the Portuguese, ment of that coast and its communi- are a very interesting people. We cation with the lakes.-New York were first introduced to them about Times. thirty years ago by the publication of Livingstone's narrative of his great -England and Portugal in Africa. journey across Africa. It taught us Every friend of Africa will rejoice to admire the Makololo for their simthat England has taken up the dispute plicity of character, their incorruptible with Portugal with a determined en- honesty, their loyal devotion to that ergy that has brought matters to a great explorer, their grief when he crisis; and that Portugal. has escaped left them for a season, their long and further humiliation by a prompt sur- confident waiting for his promised rerender. Nothing was ever more im- turn to lead them back to their homes, pudent than the pretensions of the and their rejoicing when at last he aplatter to the country in dispute, and peared to fulfill his promise. A large nothing more high-handed than the majority of them, however, had formcourse of her representative. It makes ed a liking for the beautiful country one's blood boil to read of the savage on the right bank of the Shire, where atrocities perpetrated by the forces they settled at the request of its peo- ple, who needed their protection, and laid the foundation for what is now a really prosperous State in Nyassaland, and one which has always refused to allow slavery 0'/' slave-trading within the same purpose, the empire has be- its bounds. It is this State which the come a republic. A century ago, be- Portuguese attacked under a disputed fore God's time, there was an attempt claim. to establish a republic in Brazil, and since that time the spirit of the repub- Other and still more important in- lic has been nourished. -terests would have suffered by this Portuguese raid upon the Makololos, A Portuguese college was founded in 'and would probably have been destroy- 1554, and around it has grown up the ed by their permanent occupation of city of San Paulo, with 50,000 inhabit- the country. We allude to the won- ants, and the largest law school on the derfully successful missions of the Es- western hemisphere. Through this -tablished and Free Churches of Scot- school Brazil has disciplined the life land. The former has for twelve Cif her people, and some of the fruits, years been at work in these beautiful of it have been seen in the last month's Shire Highlands, on the eastern shore peaceful revolution. It was not the ,of Lake Nyassa, its head station being sword that made the republic in Bra- Blantyre, a name derived from Liv- zil, but the pen. It was not the small ingstone's birthplace. At one station army that overthrew the empire. it boards eighty children, and at anoth- There was a newspaper that advocated er has a school of one hundred pupils. the republic in Rio, openly, for three It has expended $200,000 in its work; or four years. There is wonderfnl it has introduced the successful culti- ability in Brazil to carry out the re- vation of coffee, tea, wheat, and other pUblican idea. and there is little danger products, and if allowed to proSecute of faction fights. The future of Brazil its work, will soon make the Shire is in the hands of the school teacher. Highlands a civilized and prosperous ;section of Africa. Cbina.-The New York Chamber of Commerce has done itself credit by The Free Church mission has been adopting a paper urging the re-open- at work on the west shore of the Lake ing of negotiations with China for the for 14 years. It has a Medical De- friendly adjustment of all questions partment, which treats about 10,000 between the two Governments. The ])atients annually. Its headquarters New York Observer says: "This coun- are at Bandawe, where 1,300children try would do itself credit, and would are in its schools. It has a prospero~ only do what is right to China, by station among the Zulus, who rule seeking to put our relations with that the country west of the Shire; .and country upon a basis of justice and three other prosperous stations in dif- community of interest. But justice ferent parts of the country. This mis- is the more important consideration. 13ion has already expended $225,000 in Lest it should be supposed that the its work, and its annual expenses are Chamber of Commerce is acting from about $20,000. any extraordinary or sudden twinges of conscience in China's behalf, it is Br32;i1.-Rev. Dr. Chamberlain, only proper to say that it views the of the American Presbyterian Mission necessity for action from a financial m Brazil, lectured recently before the standpoint. The subject was brought American Geographical Society at to the attention of the Chamber by Chickering Hall on the condition and C. P. Huntington, who in a letter to 'prospects of Brazil, illustrating his re- its ex-President, A. A. Low, speaks of marks withstereopticonviews. Hesaid the injury to our commerce, caused that it was God's purpose that Portugal by the action of Congress and the dip- .should hold Brazil, with its 4,000 miles lomatic treatment of China. ' It ·Qf Atlantic coast, until the present seems,' writes Mr. Huntington, 'that century, until the time came for the without uttering a word or lifting a ,empire, and now, in furtherance of finger, the Chinese are enabled to re- with an endowment of Rs. 18,000 per- taliate effectively against our com- annum, contributed by the State rev- merce, so that we have not only af- enues." That idolatry is endowed by forded them a wanton affront, but the British Government in India. and also injured ourselves in a twofold that high functionaries consider it, way, by excluding a tractable and proper for the heir presumptive to the- cheap labor, which we very much throne to visit idol temples in state, is need to built up desolate places, and no doubt news for which many read- by the loss of valuable trade, which ers of the Bombay Guardian in Eng- we might have kept to the exclusion land will not be prepared.
of our rivals.' It is to be regretted -Sir William Hunter, K. C. S. I., that the trade basis should be the only who is so often quoted as the highest, one on which justice toward the Chi- authority on civil and political mat- nese can be urged with any hope of ters in India, has recently added t() success; but whichever way it comes, his testimony in reference to the work we trUst that justice may at last be of missions in the Indian Empire. In done. Hitherto We have been unjust an address before the British Baptist in our attitude towards China." Missionary Society he speaks as a lay- -According to Imperial decree the man, whose work in India has been 200 picked scholars of Hanlin College altogether of a secular sort; but he- are to revise the great " Encyclopre- affirms that the missionary work is ilia" of China, which was compiled a one of the greatest and best move- century ago, and which contains the ments which at the present moment Chinese classics, the history of China is going on in India. " It has been for 3,000 years. and embraces all rich in results in the past, and it is knowledge under heaven. New and fraught with incalculable blessings in strange doctrines have been intro- the future." In enlarging upon this duced in late years, and the whole- statement Sir William dwells upon some truths of Confucius and Mencius the fact that the Christian work in are in danger of being set aside by India has passed the stage when it Western ideas. Hence the revision. was wholly dependent upon foreign This vast work, which requires four- mlssIOnaries. "The Indian native'
teen volumes to contain its index Protestant Christians have nowgrown alone, is expected to roll back the tide llP into an Indian native Protestant of Western learning, and hold China church. They have their own pas- securely to its old traditions. This tors, numbering 575, men ordained in shows how Christianity is making it- one body or another of the ministry.
self felt in that ancient and conserva- They have also a body of 2,856 quali- tive empire.-Exchange. fied lay preachers, natives born in the India.-Govemment maintaining country, educated in the country, idolatry.-A writer in the Bombay working in the country for the wel- Guardian speaks of the visit of Prince fare of their own countrymen. The AlbertVictor in state to the idol tem- native Protestant church in India has ples of Parvati, near Poona. He was ceased to be an exotic, and if the Eng- accompanied by the Governor of Bom- lish were driven out to-morrow they bay, the Duke of Connaught, Com- would leave a Protestant native mander-in-Chief of the Bombay army, church behind them. While the and other high officials. Before en- Protestant Christians in India num- tering the temples, the Prince was bered about half a million, there were presented with an address, giving an nearly 200,000 pupils in Protestant account of the idols contained therein, mission schools. This is an immensely and stating that" the temples are at sigruficant fact; significant of mis- present ma,intained by Government, sionary zeal in the present, but still more significant of Christian influ- been lately completed from Batavia to ence in the future."-Miss'y Herald. Bekassi. Other brancfl roads are be- ing constructed. 6. In Sumatra a line Korea.-Among the members of has been built by a private company a single Congregational church in to connect several tobacco plantations, Tokio are a judge of the supreme and a branch is beinglaid to Babougan. court of Japan, a professor in the Im- And other lines of tramway are oper- perial university, three Government ated. 7. Turkey in Asia is also lay- secretaries, and members of at least ingrailroads. .The one from Ischmidt two noble families. Two influential to Angora, 375 miles, is to be laid members of the legislature of Tokio, this year by an Anglo-German-French one of them the editor of the Keizai syndicate, who have taken the job off Zasshi, the ablest financial journal in the hands of the Ottoman government~ Japan, are also members of another Congregational church. Eighty kilometers of the road run- ning into Constantinople have already Turkey.-The influence brought been constructed, and the road is in to bear by foreign ambassadors at operation. From' Ischmidt for 150 Constantinople to induce the Turkish kilometers the roadbed has been congovernment to visit upon Mousa Bey, structed but no rails have been laid, the Koordish chieftain, some punish- and then from that point on is where ment for his crimes, has resulted in the American bridges will be put in. the exile of this ruffian and his fam- The road continues to Sivas, which is ily to Syria. The Porte has agreed to in the middle of the Angoran country, increase the police force in Armenia 600 kilometers from Ischmidt. Eventwith a view to the checking of Koor- ually the whole system will take in dish outrages. Mousa Bey in Syria some 3,000 or 3,500 kilometers, runwill be about as near the site of his atrocities as he is at Constantinople, like ning to Bagdad and the Persian Gulf. yet with the sentence of exile against him representatives of foreign gov- The total cost will be something ernments will be able to see that he $75,000,000. It will be completed does not return to his old home. This within 31-2 ,ears. A branch line certainly is again.-Miss'y Herald. will be run to the Holy Land, Jerusa- lem,andSmyrna.-J. T. Gracey,D.D. -Miscellaneous. -Java has its railroads. The system of railroads -The Anti-Slavery Congress of in Netherlands, India, dates from Brussels has had its counterpart in the year 1862, when a concession was the Anti-Rum Congress at Khartoum. granted to the Netherlands India While Christians are earnestly con- Railway Co. to build a road from Sa- sidering how they can crush out slavmarang to the independent States of ery, Moslems are considering how Djokjokarta and Sourakalta, with a they can preserve slavery and crush branch line to Cembarawa or Fort Wil- out intemperance. The means sug_· liam I., which was completed in 1873. gested are curiously similar, if we 2. In 1871-87 the Government built may trust the somewhat vague rea west linefrom Djokjokartato Tjilat- ports that come from the Mahdi's jap. 3. Another runs east from Djok- camp. Europe on the one hand is jokarta to Pasarouan with several to draw a cordon of her ships of war . branches. 4. There is a railroad al!>o around Africa, and capture every from Batavia to Buitenzorg. It is in- Arab dhow that can be found, release tended that this shall be extended to its prisoners, and scuttle the ship it~ form a junction with line No. 2, so as to self. The slave traders on their part; reach the only port on the south coast· are also to draw a cordon of dhows: of Java. It is to be completed in around the continent, and capture· three years. 5. A branch line has every vessel that contains the abomin-· 8ble firewater that is eating away tha strength of the natives, and thus de- but it consecrates men and women to priving them of the material for their the cause of God. Wheresoever there trade. Boston rum, English gin, and is that spirit..of consecration which German schnapps were doubtless not says, 'I give my money, I give my represented at Brussels, as the purvey- sons and daughters,' there Christ will ers for Eastern harems were at Khar- be glorified. When that spiritof con- toum, so that the pai:all.el is not quite secration reaches the great heart of complete. There isenough of truth in humanity, then the missionary work it, however, to set us to thinking.- will go forward with a velocity that Rev. E. M. Bliss. we have never dreamed of. Thework is'in its infancy to-day. What will it -Intelligence comes this month be one hundred,-two hundred years from all our mission fields. We hear hence? The promises to women are of missionary meeting in Jamaica, vital of celestial blessing, which give and specially of one little country to them the powers that men somecongregation that by its gifts for mis- times lack. It is a woman's hand that sions puts many a larger home Church is scattering subtle poison through the to shame; of the 'arrival of Mr. Por- delicate pages of books such as ' Robteous in Old Calabar, and of a suc- ert Elsmere,' and in many other ways; cessful conflict with cruel heathen but the height of Christian purpose custom at Okoyon on the part of two can never be attained until all womanof our agents. From Kaffraria we kind have given their hearts to hear of a most cheering revival at Christ and Christian work."-Home EmgwaIi–of which Miss Hope's letter Missionary. told us something last month. No fewer thaD. 150 young persons, all pro- -The good that one woman, singlefessing conversion to God, have been handed, can do, is interestingly illus- ~urolled in the condidates' class. trated in the case of Miss Arnott, of Surely there is ground here for thanks- Edinburg, in her work in Palestine. giving and continued intercession. Some of the details of what she has We hear also of the arrival at East accomplished are given by Dr. Mutch- London of Mr. Hunter, our mission- more thus: ary to the Xesi.be country. Mr. Davidson sends us from Japan a deeply " Miss Amott went to visit the East interesting record of a recent visit to and was induced, temporarily, to take Hokkaido, with notes of the progress the place of an absent teacher. The of Christian work there. From Raj- condition of the people and their exputana Mr. Gray sends a most in- treme wretchedness awoke her pity, structive account of the history and and she conceived theidea of applying tenets of the Arya Samaj, and Mr. moral leverage where all true eleva- Bounar continues his "Notes of a tion begins, at the individual, and so Tour through Bundi and Kotah." elevating the home. She began alone, From Manchuria we have brief drawing on her own resources, obsketches of three native agents.- tained ground on moderate terms and The Mission Record Of the United began a school. She taught such poor Presb. Ohurch. girls as she could persuade to come. Her curriculum was very simple; its -Woman and Missions.-Dr. Storrs two great lessons were how to live and said in a recent address: "The intro- how to die. God stood by her, and duction of the feminine life and heart soon she had a building and as many intothis missionary work brings in the scholars as she could care for. force that fires and intensifies its onward progress. This intensity of the "Her work (by some) was looked purpose in women does not work only upon as visionary, until its manifest in the direction of filling up treasuries, success brought offers of abundant help and even management. One of
MISSIONAlI.Y CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PAlI.TS
the finest school properties now in the very little to begin with. Twenty-five Levant-worth, probably, $75,OOO-is years she has been in the field, during a part of the result of ~r work of which time she has had wonderful Iaith and love, and all the outcome of tokens of the divine favor in guidance, her own indomitable spirit, for she had help and results."
lII.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Africa. Arabs, from Morocco to TrIpoli; and, indeed, desires to include the Europeans, French, IIRIEII' LBT'l'ER PRO. REV. JAIIES SCOTT. Spanish, Italians, Maltese, as well.
Impolweire, Natal, Dec. 4, 1889. Weare.here on the fringe of this great African DEAR DR. PIERSON: We got back to our work Continent, In countries bounded on the north here In September, and, although we have by the Mediterranean Sea, now the great high- found some coldand lndi1ferent who once gave way of the East. So far from verifying the promise of better things, and Satan at work In thoughts of our chIldhood-ofvast Satldypla.lns many ways, yet we have rea.son to thank God peopled by blacks-it is here, on the contrary, .and take courage. The times of blessing have a lovely, fertile, mountainous country, and our DOt quite gone from us. In the last three Berbers and Arabs are white, and many with months I have baptized fifty-eight, and expect noble, manly traits. However, as to their reli- ;in the next three months to have as many gion, they are Mohammedans. Yon, dear breth- more, as I have not yet had time to visit all ren of the United States, have long been occu- .my out-stations, some of them being far away pied with these adherents of the false prophet, .and the season unsuitable for traveling. but here In Algeriawe have the immenseadvan- Amongst those whom I baptized last Sabbath tage of proselytizing In a landruied by equitable 'was an old woman who had first heard the laws, and where the acceptance of the religion gospel from a native evangelist sent out by my of Christ does not entail the danger, if not the predecessor-this was some thirty years ago. penalty, of death. We hear from our Brother 'The good seed, watered by the Spirit, has at Baldwin of persecution by the authorities In ;length brought forth good fruit. Another, a Morocco, and it may be so if the Truth prospers younger woman, had resided on the station of In Tripoli, still barbarous States. We circulate .my dear old friend, the Rev. C. Possett of the the Arabic Scriptures prepared by the Ameri- Berlin Society, who was called to his rest some can brethren at Beyrut, and we spread them yearsago,andshehad received herfirst impres- abroad everywhere around us. 'SIons from him; so it is, "one soweth and another reapeth," but may the glory be to the Lord Kabylia itself is a most romantic region, en- .and Master. Although we have our troubles closed by the range of the Jur-Jura mountains, with backsliders and others who have fallen from which spurs are projected enclosing ferinto sin, yet the Zulu who has once professed tile valleys, richly cultivated, and bounded on {)hristianity and been admitted to the church, the north by the hills of Beni-Djennad, where .and then gone back to heathenism, has not as two American brethren have entered a village yet been met by me; though I have heard a and run up a mud-hut and have begun their good deal of such, and read about them In work, braving all the discouraging circum· newspaper articles and books by travelers. stances connected with their position.
AiIectlonately, The people have built their villages on the JAMES SCOTT. summits of their mountains for protection against the Arabs who Invade the country, NORTH AFRICA AS A MISSION FIELD. but they cultivate their slopes In every avail- Algiers, November, 1889. able spot. Some of the tribes take their flocks In summer to the higher valleys of the moun- DEAR EnITORS: Your valuable MISSIONARY REvIEw has not hitherto dwelt on the move- are tains, which, In the winter seasons, covered ments In Northem Africa; and as I have been ,some ten years seeking, with the blessing of with snow, where they find delicious pasturage. .Qod, as an Independent Missionary Pioneer, to Its summit, the Lalla-Kadidja, is 8,000 feet 'OCCUpy myself with the spiritual Interests of high. Every village has its Djemaa, or ParJia.. its various populations, I have no doubt that a ment House, where the affairs of the village few brief notes will be acceptable' to your and the Tribe are discussed, and where every readers. We (that is, myself and my earnest man capable of carrying a rifle, or keeping the and zealous wife) first directed our attention Ramadan fast, is a member; Indeed, the Kuto the Kabyles, an interesting'people located in byles have presented what many have aimed the mountainous regions of Kabylia. 'The at-the purest and most economical Republic "North Africa Mission" has since extended its the world has ever known. It is true, before -operatiOIllr to all the Berber races and the the French invasion, the tribes were often at loggerheads, owing to their self-assertion and jealousy. Happily, that is all at an end, through poli also, the Arabic. The range of Berber in the wise and firm rule of the French regime. Algeria is. cOllsiderable, taking in the whcle Theyare a fine race, with manynoble qualities, country, from Dellys southeast to the borders. very susceptible to kindness, and systematic- of Tunis, havi~ its boundary on the east at, ally hospitable; the more they are known the the River Kebir, but extending to Constantine more they are loved. Their women are un- and the region north of the city. Many dis- veiled, and when young, many are extremely tricts to the northwest of Algeria contain handsome; but like all Mohammedan women, Berber-speaking people, but they are speedily are a subjected, if not an enslaved, class. becoming Arabized. The whole of this district. from the river Sapil, which has its embouch- As far as they know it, they observe the re- ure at Boagie right up to Tunis, is unevangel- ligious prescriptions of the Koran, though it is ized, except a few sisters at Constantine and likely that some tribes do not possess a copy. Bone. These extend to circumcision, the response to the call to prayer, fasts and feasts, etc., but Here is a sphere of missionary labor for- they do not observe its prescriptions as to in- some of your noble young men who are conse- heritance. They have no written language, crating themselves to foreigu mission work. and we have only at present the Gospel of Arabic would be the language most necessary John translated into Kabyle in Roman char- to study, and which might be partiallyacquired acters, and Mr. Mackintosh has' translated the in the United States. It opens the way to mil- Gospel of Matthew into Refllan in Arabic char- lions of Mohammedans. French also would be. acters. Happily there are now many French necessary in Algeria. We have here a most schools throughout Algeria, and an interpreter healthful climate, and have spent several may generally be found in most villages, and summers without inconvenience. The tempera- by this means we have been enabled to preach ture. Farenheit, would be about 82 in August. in various places. and 48 in winter months, December and Janu- ary. The North Africa Mission has upwards We have in most of the towns a peculiar race of forty missionaries, including ladies, and. of Berbers, known by their varied colored there are at least forty more independent, or coats, and keeping grocery and other shops- conn'!Cted with other societies; but there is the Mzabs from the Sahara. They are Mo- room for eighty more, and we want American hammedan dissenters, and very accessible, re- zeal and push to overcome, with the help of ceiving our Arabic Testaments very gladly. the Spirit of God, the tremendous difllcultie~ Our butcher here tells us he reads his Testa- of mission work among Mohammedans. ment to three or four listeners of an evening. Yours truly in the Lord, The Arabs are mostly a nomadic race, GEORGE PEARSE. though many get settled in towns, and are be- coming agriculturists. We have seen cara- Ohina. vans moving after wheat harvest down into the Sahara to reap their dates. Three hundred HIGHLY INTERESTING LETTER FROM DR. RAPPER., villages of French colonists without a single evangelist'cry:aloud for workers in that tongue. Canton, Dec. 3, 1889. The physical features of the country are ex- DEAR REVIEW: Last evening was" Mission- traordinary. We have first, the Tell, a strip of ary Concert" night-the old concert of prayer territory varying from fifty to one hundred for the conversion of the world. It has been miles, bounded by the Mediterranean on the kept up at this station from the days of north-hilly, mountainous, romantic, very di- Bridgeman and Abeel, the first Americanmis- versified. Next, the High Plateau-vast plains sionaries to China. They arrived at Canton in separated by parallel ranges of mountains and Feb. 1830. I cannot say positively whether subject to alternationsof intensecold and great Dr. Morrison held such meetings before the heat, devoid of trees and very little inhabited, arrival of their brethren or not. I infer he though affording in many parts pasturage for had not, for want of men of like mind to meet cattle. Beyond these lies the Sahara, diversi- with him ; but I feel assured that he rejoiced fied by vast plains of sand with rocky plateaus. to unite with them after their arrival, in this. The French have their military stations far concert of prayer. They were sent in answel' down in the south; and again beyond this lies to his long continued prayer to God, and after oft ;repeated and urgent requests sent by him the Soudan. to the American Board of Foreigu Missions, to The Atlas mountains commence at Agader, send men to China. The meetiug has been continued down through their successors to, near the coast, to the south of Mogador, and this pre..«ent day. It is 45 years since I first extend in a northwesterly direction through met with it. It was then attended by Drs. Morocco and Algeria, and terminating at Cape Bridgeman, Ball, Parker, Brown and Dean Bon. In Tunis there are no navigable rivers. Williams, Rev. Messrs. Sheeck, Roberts, Devan, M. D., Waltel' M. Lowrie, myself, and some With respect to the languages spoken: In others. These all have finished their course, Morocco it is a corrupt form of Arabic, but the and gone to their reward. Their places are Shelluhs and Rifi's speak Berber, and, perhaps, occupied by worthy representatives of the comprise two-thirds of the population. In ,Algeria and Tunis, and we may include Tri- 1l8JIle societies, and of other societies not then rying lighted torches. When asked why thoy represented. did so, they stated they carried the torches to frighten away the tigers. The necessity of The meeting last night was one of "/musual doing so was made clear by the statement, interest from several circumstances. There that a few days before, a woman, who was out was a very large attendanceo-in all some 35 cutting grass on the mountain, was carried missionaries were present. Of these, there away by a tiger and eaten. were new missionaries from the church of " The United Brethren in Christ" in the It has been widely known that the Chinese United States, just arrived to commence a people of this city, some 16 years ago, organ- mission at Canton. This is their first mission ized a society to counteract and hinder the in China. .All the brethren welcome their new spread of Christianity, by the use of the same brethrenand sisters to the fellowship of labors means which missionaries use to spread the for Christ among this numerous people. The gospel. That society established a large dls- Rev. E. P. Thwing, Ph. D., was also present, pensary for giving medical advice and pre- -as a visitor. The great interest of the meet- scriptions gratis to all applicants. They also ing, however, in connection with the prayers give cOWns to all the poor who apply for offered, was the information communicated of them. They also opened halls, and employed some few of the results of work done. speakers to preach Confucianism. They opened schools in which the children of all The Rev. C. Bone, of the Wesleyan Mig.. those who wished to send them should be -sion, gave some details of his recent visit to taught the Confucian classics. the stations of that mission up the north "river from this city. During this visit he had The same has been done at the manufactur- baptized some fifty persons on profession of ing town of Fatchan, 12 miles from this city. their faith. When visitmg these same stations The Wesleyan Mission commenced a mission- last spring, he had baptized about the same ary hospital there some' six years ago. It is a number, making over 100 baptisms during the town of some 600,000 inhabitants. There had year. In one case, he went 12 miles from the been Christian churches and preaching halls 13tation to baptize an old man, who could not there long before that; but after the hospital <lome to the place of worship by reason of age was opened the people took measures to preand inflrmities ; but the son, through whose vent their people being led away by it. They instruction the old man had come to the collected funds to build and maintain a dispensknowledge of the gospel, sent two horses for ary and hospital, and sustain the preaching Mr. Bone and his companion to make the of Confucianism in halls for that purpose. journey. All the other stations on the moun- They have expended about $42,000 in building tains Mr. Bone had to reach by walking; in the dispensary and hospital. The dispensary >(lne case walking 25 miles in one day, over is quite numerously attended. The hospital mountain roads. At one mountain village he has 100 rooms for the accommodation of pabaptized nine, in another seven, and in an- tients; but for some reason they have not other three. The baptism of these last three been occupied to any extent by resident pawas performed in a stable, as that was the tients. The conditions on which they can be only .place which the very few members in occupied are said to be unsatisfactory. These that village could get to meet in. We may efforts of the Chinese to counteract the efforts feel assured that He who "was born in a stable of missionaries testify to two things, Viz.: to and laid in a manger" met with those who the efficiency and wisdom of the means which met to engage in His worship, and in the cele- missionaries are using for the dissemination of bration of the ordinances of his appointment the gospel, and of the desire and purpose of in such humble surroundings. the people to adhere to and support their own system. A little company also gathered in a village where there is a large Buddhist Monastery, Other items of intelligence were communiand the inhahitants of which are largely de- cated by Dr. A. P. Happer from a letter revoted to Buddhism; hut a little company have ceived from Rev. Dr. Corbett, of the Shanprofessed Christ, and we may hope that the tung Mission, in which he gave a statement of number may increase yet more and more, for his work on a recent itinerary. He had just "the entrance of God's word giveth light." returned (Oct. 28th) from a trip of 49 days among the churches, stations, and schools un- I cannot _relate all the personal incidents der his supervision. During this time he bap. which give such special interest to "viva tized 58 persons on profession of their faith, voce" statement by one who saw and experi- making 100 baptizyd since March, 1889. He enced what he related. One may be given: says "God is greatly blessing the schools in Theyhad to cross a swollen stream by wad- the country. Not ouly teachers and pupils are ing it ; his companion had to hold his watch finding Christ; but not a few of the parents upon his hand above his head to keep it from have come out on the Lord's side. At one getting wet. Another most interesting scene place where we have three schools, 19 were redescribed: the appearance, as seen from the ceived, every one of whom said that their first chapel door, of the groups of people coming serious interest in the Truth dated from hearto the evening service, many of the men caring their children or grandchildren singhymns kind of information I want, and I wish to tell or repea.t scripture which had been learned you how much I appreciate it. .
in school. So important has this work grown At each meeting of the Society two boys are that now we have 84 schools in different cen- appointed to prepare papers for reading at the tres. A Normal school has been opened for next meeting. The countries for discussion.
the special purpose of training school teach- are appointed, and during the month follow- ers and lay preachers. We have now 15young ingthe boys come to me for their information.
men who have been in native schools from 8 They write down roughly the facts, statistics,.
to 12 years, taking & special three years' etc., whlch I have prepared for them, and then.
course. Pray for this work. Rejoice with us at their leisure go over this carefully, and pre- that Shantung Mission is to be re-inforced pare their papers, which are usually very this autumn with 17 missionaries; six have al- good, and sometimes written in such high ready arrived, and the others are on the way. .. wen Ie," or book ljmguage, that I gasp, and.
We have been praying and waiting for years wonder how they manage to change the ma- for more help." terial I have given them in such common.
These items of information adaed interest to . words and broken sentences, into such lluent, our .. monthly concert." They are communi- high sounding sentences, some of which I can- cated in the hope and belief that they willln- not underStand at all. The spoken and writ- terest many readers of your REviEw, and draw ten language of the Chinese are so different.
forth prayer from many hearts for yet more They have one good rule, which would be- abundant outpouring of the spirit in every well If followed by our home societies.
part of the world. Each boy appointed to prepare a paper, who- A. P. ILu>PEK, fails to do it without a very good excuse,' is Editorial CoITe8pondent. 1lned, and the money put in the treasury. At Tungclu:nd Fao, Sept. Zl, 1889. the close of each meeting the roll is called,. My DEAB DB. SHERWOOD: I have read with interest your article in the August number of and the members answer by stating thethe REvIEW, entitled, .. Have we too many missionary periodicals ,.. Without express- amount they have for contribution. Thirty ing an opinion of other missionary periodicals, allow me to say that I regard THE MII!SION- cash, or three cents, is a large sum for one boy ABY REVIEW OJ!' THE WORLD as excellent. to give at anyone time, and if a member says: Please give us more of it. There is a large and 1l0urishing Missionary he has four or llve cents to give, a murmur of Society here in the College. They have eft!.- cient oft!.cers chosen from the more advanced astonishment goes through the room, and th&' students and native teachers. They have excellent rules, good attendance, and 1lrst-rate smaller boys give vent to a prolonged .. Oh-h,.. order at their meetings, and all the members seem interested and wide-awake. The chief which they fondly imagine is whispered, but diftlculty in their way is in getting information on Missionary topics, 88 they can read no in that they are mistaken. How good a thing. English, and can 1lnd nothing suitable in their native books. It is necessary for one of the It is that God regardeth notthe amount given, missionaries to hunt up all avallable material, but the spirit In which it is given. With best wishes for the success of your magazine, I am, Very truly, FANNY COBBETT HAys.
P. S.-Perhaps you are acquainted with my father, Dr. Corbett, of Chefoo' He is now visiting his country stations, from which he- writes good news of addition to the church, and more interest shown by the common peo- ple. F. C. H ..
and translate it to them. While Mrs. Mateer Engla.nd. was here, she was translator, general advisor, and an .. Encyclopedia of Missions" in living A BUSINESS LAYMAN'S VIEWS. form, and the interest was largely kept up [We gladly give space to the follow- among the boys by her contributions of inter- ing letter from a leading merchant of esting and suitable material. Since she left I Liverpool. Not only is his citation have been trying to take her place as translator, and apprecIate all the diftI.~·1it from Palgrave to the point and of great; 1lnding suitable material, and of giving theSe value, but also his personal observation boys, who have no other source of informa- from fifteen years' residence in Olll tion, a real wide outlook on the Mission lleld. Calabar, West Africa, is important. I do not want to con1lne myself to our own Here ,he struggled nobly to carryon church work-what couid I ten them ot trade without dealing in liquor, but. Egypt, for instance, lf I did' I cannot incnr the expense ot taking each church's particUlar was obliged to give in and relinquish.
organ, and even if I could, would have no time business. Andhesays: "Theamazing to hunt through them all and select what is thing is that all this traffic is conductsuitable. Your bright, readable magazine is ed in the main by not over a dozen ;just what one in my position needs. You select, and arrange, and put in order, just the firms, the members of which are most; excellent men, many of them I be- whatever weakens QI' distorts them more in.
lieve sincere Christians." Mr. 'Irvine jurious. Hence, a Malay :Mohammedan is a. is a. Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian cont~ction, an anomaly, a failure, much as Church, and says: "I hope to be one a Hindoo Christian, or a European Buddhist to welcome Dr. Pierson in a. day or might be. The system does not suit him, nOl"
he the system. Not 80 the Malay of the Philip.
two."-J. M.S.] pino-Christian type. His family, as tbat of DBAB BIllS: Although somewhat late, it may his Chinese or Japanese cousins, moderate not yet be out of place in the controversy polytheists like himself, is a pleasing sight: raised by Canon Taylor regardiug the compar- much subordination and little constraint, uni. ative merits of Christianity and Islamism in so~ in gradation, liberty not license; orderly Africa, to give you a quotation which I came children, respected parents,womensubject but 8Cr01!8 lately in .. Ulysses, or Scenes and not suppressed, men ruling but not despotic Studies in Many Lands," by .the ,late ,accom. reverence with kindness, obedience in aiIe:. plished W. G. Palgrave. tion-these form a lovable picture, not byany At page 153, in an article on Malay life in the means a rare one in the villages of the Eastern Philippines, Mr. Palgrave says: .. Tb&t the Isles. "
adoption of Islam may be, and,in fact is, a real It is no secret that at one time in his life the benefit and an uplifting to savage tribes, genial Gift'ord Palgrave sympathized to such amongst whom the lowest and most brutaliz- an extent with Mohammedanism tbat current ing forms of fetichism would else predominate, report, though without foundation, stated he does not admitof doubt. Anthropopbagy, hu- had actually become one, and therefore such man sacrifices, and other kindred horrors, bave testimony as tbat given in this extract carries thus heen banished by Mohammedan teach- additional weight. ing from whole tracts of Africa, and, 80 far, la I bave not seen it quoted elseWhere, and I welL But not less does experience show that trust you will consider the extract of suf/lcient sooneror later, the tribe, the nation, tbat casta importance to give it a place In your REvIEw.
in its lot ,with Islam, is strioken as by a blight; Perhaps I may also add, tbat long before Canon Taylor shocked the sense of Christian its freshness,.its plasticity,disappear first, then England, Professor Blyden of Monrovia, who has been repeatedly a guest of mine, and its vigor, then its reparative and reproductive whose writings on thla subject formed the power, and it petrifies and perishes. With the ground work of Canon Taylor's views, had dis-' abstract and theoretical merits of Monothe- cussed the matter with me, and I do not hesl· lam or Polythelam, Islam or Christianity, I tate to say tbat the Canon injected views have nothing to do; but thla much la certain, and ideas into Dr. Blyden's writings which tbat within the circle of the l'hillippine Archi- were far from those Intended to be conveyed. pelago itself-not to seek examples further away-the contrastbetween the Mohammedan That Islamlam is better than Fetichism, no viIIages of the southernmost lalands and the one will deny, nor will anyone who knows the Christian ones elsewhere, is very remarkable, country refuse to acknowledge that the follownor by any means favorable to the former. ers of the Prophet are spreading rapidly over the centre of Africa; but to plead that tbe sys· .. For a satisfactory explanation of the prob- tem is better for the Negro than Christianity, lem before us, there isno need for recurring to and to raise it for one moment to the level of a. causes, if such there be, hid in the extra-mun· favorable comparison, and that by the mouth dane and unknown. The reason is near to of a Christian minister, is sad in the extreme. seek. Family life, family ties, family aiIectiona, these form the only true, stable, and at I respect the Canon for his courage, and if the same time expansive basis for communi- he would only allowit to take him to any of the ties, states, empires even; and tbat these may, mission stations on the west coast of Africa, and actually do, co-exist after a fashion with a and witness, as I have often done there, the vigorous profession of Mohammedanism, no beauty of simple, consistent Christian life onewho has experimental knowledge of Turk- among the hundreds of native converts, he ish orArab population can possibly deny. They would, I am sure, if he lived to return, not be exist, but even when at their best and strong- slow to acknowledge that Christianity had est are always cramped, stunted, and hindered lost none of its powers. from their full growth and development by theforced demarcation between the sexes, the Yours most truly, sanctioned polygamy, the over·facility for di· J.ums mvnnll, F. R. G. S.
vorce, and the other social mistakes inter. India. woven-whether by the hand of the prophet himself, or, rather, as with Sprongel I incline [Our readers may remember that after the death of her father, the to believe, by that of ,the narrow-minded and Rev. Royal G. Wilder-the founder and editor for ten years of THE MIsascetic Omar-into the very texture of Islam. SIONARY REVIEW-his gifted daughter Nowherearefamilybondscloserdrawn,tamily aiIections more enduring, t1I#In among the Malay races, and nowhere, in consequence, is Grace, with her aged mother, re. can count! The memory of these children is turned to India, as missionaries, and remarkable. Why shouldn't we take advan- tage of this to store Christian truth in their are laboring among the same people minds? These Government schools are sending out hundreds of good readers every year. where he and they had formerly lived What are these boys to read? and wrought. Miss Grace is ~ sister of Mr. R. P. Wilder, who has done This month mother and I have made a short so gran(i a work among the students tour of thirteen towns near us. In only one of in the United States and Canada, and these we found a Cbristian home. At one tlie who expects soon to join his mother women acted wildly curious. They sat down on the temple steps, and listened eagerly. As and sister in Indian missionary work we took out our lunch, some head men of the in that vast and inviting field. This village tried in vain to drive away our audishort letter from Miss Wilder we are ence-the women especially were so anxious sure will be read with great interest, to see us eat. Even at this village-reached by a rough cart road-we found a boys'
knowing these facts.-J. M. S.] school. I distributed some leafiets, asking the Kolhapur, Dec. 4, 1889. boys to commit the Lord's Prayer. We had My DEAR DR. SHERWOOD: I fear you think driven out quite a distance from the village, I have not been very good in carrying out when across the fields, running and panting, the request you made me shortly before we came a boy to tell us one boy had failed to get sailed. I little realized then what a pressure a paper.
we find out here to do rather than to write At Miraj, a town of 24,000, we visited a Gov- about it. ernment school of over 200 pupils-one of I want to thank you for the regular coming eight similar schools. There are also private of the REVIEW. I cannot but wish that dear schools, and a girls' school, with a roll of 105, father might know how God is using it to and an average of some 75 girls. Miraj is at carry, with such zeal and rapidity, the news the junction of our new Kolhapur Railway of His workings in every part of the world. It with the. Southern Marathi Railway. It is a seems to me that the prayers of father's last trade centre, rapidly increasing in population year were prophetic of the REVIEW'S future, and importance. Yet in this large place, only and I feel that I could ask for it no greater 35 miles from us, there is no missionary or na- gift than that God will raise up hearts to pray tive preacher, no chapel or Sunday school.
for it, as dear father did. The same can be said of lnchalkarangi, with I cannot but take it for granted that you a population of 11,0001 Here I found two have a very special interest in our Kolhapur girls' schools. • field, and so would like to know of our pur- All this Government education awakens poses and needs. feelings of fear, as well as hope. All this One subject lies very much upon my heart training means power, but power which just now, and that is, our present opportunity can be used for evil. Enough miserable of reaching the children of India. Mother novels and infidel books are circulated to and I have been much together in our work, alarm us.
and in spite of other calls, our attention has We have from our mission bungalow dur- been drawn to work among children. We find ing the past few weeks, sold some 30 rupees that aiming at children is a good way to get worth of books. Mr. Seiler is now getting village audiences, so we have started Sunday from Boston, for English students, some of schools in two near villages. Our greatest op- Mr. Hastings' tracts. We hope soon to have a position comes from Government school sale room for books in our city-Christian teachers. We hear that one boy's hand was books, story books, and school books, would swollen from the beating he received because be very acceptable for this. I am now loan- he committed the Lord's Prayer. Another ing Christie's" Old Organ," as I have but one teacher burned some of the papers we had copy.
given the boys. One of our brightest boys Our great need just now is workers. One told me that the teacher refused to take him earnest Christian at a centre like Miraj could into school until he gave up the books he had carry on Sunday-school work in many large received from us. Satan is not going to let us villages. Three of the five Sunday schools infiuence these bright children if he can help which mother and I atten,! are held on week it. This is not to be wondered at, but a great days. One under a tree, one on the verandah wonder will it be if we fail to see and seize of a school house, and the third in a "chow- this, our present chance. die. " or inn.
These little ones are not all the rough, wild, Will you, Dr. Sherwood, especislly remem- ignorant creatures which we at home label as ber us, asking that God wlll raise up workers " heathen." Many have trained minds-are for this field? We are greatly rejoicing to- beautiful readers; boys who can recite the day in the thought that Dr. and Mrs. Wanless multiplication table up to thirty as fast as we and Miss Sherman are probably in Bombay;
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
yet the unoccupied stations, Pawlialla and seek subscriptions to a Vedic school, where Rutnagerri, leave little hope of our taking Pantheism is to be taught. One native judge new places unless more workers come soon. gives 50 Rs., and other prominent ·educated men are contributing! I wish friends at home might realize our present chance in India. This week men have May God richly blessyou in yourgreat work. iJome up to KolbaI!ur from Southern India, to GRACE E. WILDER.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
'The United States and the Congo Free the President phrased it, wherewe had State. no interests or control.
From time to time a good deal of 3. The Convention of Delegates, public criticism filters through the however, drew up a formal act of the nature of an international convention, press, and emanates from platform which laid down certain obligations and pulpit, because the United States to Government does not actively inter- purporting to be binding on the signa- -fere to stay sundry wrongs and inju- tories, subject ratification within ries being inflicted on the simple one year. inhabitants of the Congo Valley, 4. Notwithstanding the reservation €minently by the introduction of rum into that region by foreign and so- of our Government on its delegates, 1:alIed Christian nations. It seems as their signatures were attached to the if the naming of the evil beingfos- general act in the same manner as -tered by the commerce which Europe those of other plenipotentiaries, makand America are cultivating in that ing the United States to appear withquarter of the globe, would be suffi- out reservation or qualification to eudent to secure the intervention of our tel' into this joint international en- Republic to stop it. We earnestly gagement. wish that our Government could do :something, but we have to judge of its 5. But the President of the United power and the propriety of its course States, in reporting the matter to Con- -of non-interference in the light of the gress in his annual message, distinctly repudiated the comp~ct, regarding the act of the delegates as in no sense -attitude it has assumed toward the impairing the original reservation Convention of Powers in the case of made in the premises by which its the Congo State, and of the funda- delegates were sent merely to take mental principle underlying its course part in a deliberative body. And so ()f procedure. profound was his personal convic- tion that the Government ought not 1. The United States Government to enter into a compact for the" consent delegates to the conference at Ber- lin held by the representatives of some servation of the territorial integrity of fifteen of the most powerful nations distant regions where we have no es- -of the world to discuss methods tablished interests or control," and so whereby the Congo Basin might be sure was he that the country would kept open to the world's trade. not support a policy of possible "ezi.- 2. The definite understanding of our tangling alliances" abroad, that he -Government was that the proceedings said to the Senate in concluding the were to be only deliberative, without traversing of the case in his message: imparting to the result any binding " I al:iJstain from asking the sanction <character so far as the United States of the Senate to that general act." were concerned. This was grounded We are not aware of any public act '<In the old policy of this Government not to share in "jurisdictional ques- of the Government or of its representa- -tions in remote foreign territories," as tives since, that has modified that position. Our Government and our people, as a people, stand wholly out- political or moral, to hold back thi~ side of that convention, and of all cup of the sorcerer from those poor other political relations, so far as the degraded races. Politically, so far as… writer now thinks of, to the so-called the powers and proceedings of the in- "Congo Free State." Of course, the ternational convention that seeks t()- action of the country's delegates was controIthe imaginary Free State go. of no effect without the sanction of our Government can no more interthe Senate, and that should have been fere than it can with Home Rule in had within a year of the date of the Ireland, or the imposition of customs. signatures. The rather mythical dutiesin Liverpool or Berlin. It would "Free State" is, therefore, the busi- be told to mind its own business if it. ness of the people and nations who did. chose to create it. Itis not a political power, nor probably soon to become What we desire is, to have our such. It will probably furnish the people see that- whatever we do 1;() occasion of disputes between the suppress the rum traffic on the Cong()- nations who entered into this danger- is to be done in our individual ca-· ous alliance; and we will rejoice that pacity, or through our churches' and. we are not involved in a broil for the other voluntary organizations. We. preservation of "territorial integrity as Christians, 88 philanthropists, or' of distant regions where we have no through our missionary evangelistic established interests or control." force, may protest, appeal, create· sentiruentin anyway, and the respon- It is fitting, therefore, to consider sibility is on us to do with our might. whether any attempt on the part of what our hands find to do. There is. our Government to interfere with that some better way for Christian rule 1;() of the signatory powers in the Congo be established in Africa than by mawould be anything short of an imper- nuring the soil with the graves of its. tinence. How could we, having re- people, first ruined and rotted witlL fused to enter into that convention, rum. 88k to be permitted to dictate its policy? The Native Languages of Mmco.
Let it be borne in mind that we are BY REV. WK. P. F. FERGUSON, B. D. no party to that contract; and, among our national sins and shortcomings, Because of its vast architectural reis not to be enumerated the sanction mains, Mexico is often called "the by our Government of the introduc- Egypt of America." In view of the· tion free of duty amongst the low great number of .languages which races of.the Congo, with their feeble have been spoken among its moun-· force of resistance, that which tains and valleys, it might also bethreatens to decimate them as surely called the India of the New W orId. and 88 speedily 88 slavery has done It may be supposed that the common the central belt of the continent. expression, "the Land of the .Aztecs," is an adequate expression of the an- We do not desire to soften the sense tiquity of Mexico; but before it cameof indignation against the signatories, under the sway of that great but uno. whose very self-interest, or whose hu- fortunate people, it.had been the land manitarianism of the lowest grade, of the Chichimecas, the Toltecs, the one would think would have induced Zapotecas, the Mayas, the Otomies, them to restrict the agency which the Xicalancas, the Quinames, and of" threatens the destructioil of the very perhaps as many other peoples, some population with which they seek to of whose very names are lost to hisbuild up a market. We do not seek tory. Nor are these the names of to excuse our Government from every mere tribes, rather of nations, and legitimate exercise of its power, some of them of races distinct in cus- toms, langua~es and blood. .. PopulOils realms in its sounds, but to the writer it d~ Swept by tbe torrent see tbeir ancient tribes not seem to be particularly so. As a. people the Otomis are of special inter- Engulfed and lost." est, from the fact that they are proba– bly the oldest race now extant in. To-day there survive of these peoples Mexico. only remnants, hiding, as it were, among the mountains that once The Mayas, in the far south and formed the ramparts of the empires southeast, number about 400,000. of their fathers. While those of them who live along' the coast have been visited by many It is the object of this article to pre- travelers, the deadly climate andtheir' sent some facts with regard to these supposed hostility have almost com- peoplesand their languages, and to of- pletely isolated those who iDhabit the' fer some suggestions as to giving them interior. These, it is generally be- the Gospel in their' own tongues. lieved, still retain almost intact their ancient civilization. Whether the be- Omitting any mention of a number lief is well founded or not, remains of minor languages, each spoken by for the explorer to show. Their lan- from a few hundred to a hundred guage was anciently one of the most thousand people, we will notice five of cultivated, and has received a consid- the most important, namely: the erable study from modem scholars. Otomi, the Maya, the Zapotaca, the The results of this study are, how- Tarasca, and 'the Nahuatl, or Mexi- cano. These must not be thought of ever, difficult of access.* as simple dialects; they are rather distinct languages, with differences The Tarasca is the language ofas great as those that exist between about 250,000, chiefly inhabitants of any of the tongues of the Aryan fam- the State of Michoacan, on the Pa- ily, if, indeed, some of them have cific coast. They are to-day all that even a remote connection. All of remains of the once powerful kingthem, with the exception of the dom of Michoacan, which success- Otomi, were expressed in picture fully resisted the Aztecs even in the writing, which was, especially among height of their power. Tradition con– the Mexicans, or Aztecs, developing nects them closely with the Mexicanos ; toward an alphabet. The use of this but their language does not seem tohas ceased, and they are now all writ- me to warrant it, bearing in its roots. ten by means of alphabets given to and formations only a very small rethem by the Spanish conquerors. semblance to the more cultured Nahuatl. It is not, however, with- In detail: The Otomis are one of the out elements of strength and force, most widely distributed of the native and must have been well suited to the· races, being found in five States of the neeas of a hardy, warlike people. Republic, and in a ward of the national capital. They seem to be The Zapoteca may be taken as the· among the most intelligent, and cer- representative of a family of dialects. tainly are among the most industri- sometimes classed as the Mixteco-Za– ous inhabitants of the country. They poteca. As a refined language, this number about 700,000, of whom many would doubtless be ranked as next to. of course have more or less knowledge the Nahuatl, though the two seem aI– of the Spanish language; but the most entirely distinct. A very consid- .greater number still retain and con- erable literature, comparatively speakstantly use their own. This is one of ing, has been formed by translations. the most complicated of the so-called Indian languages. Unlike most of • There are some excellent monographs the others, it abounds in vocals hav- worthy of study, such as Brenton's, on ing no less than sixteen vowels. It is tbe Mayas, in tbe south, and their language. usually spoken of as harsh and rude -J.T.G. and a few original compositions. This soldier and the Roman priest h.as been was the native language of Mexico's to destroy all that, in the old ciziliza- most illustrious statesman, Benito tion, was worthy of preservation, and .Juarez. to make the entrance of the tr:ue The Nahuatl, or Mexicano, was the ,Gospel ten fold harder now than it language of the Aztecs, and, as well, . would have been four hundred years of their predecessors, the Toltecs. It ago.
is the most cultured and elaborate of Protestantism has as yet attempted .all these ancient tongues, as the peoples very little toward the evangelization who used it were the most refined and of the native races. A few who are progressive. In no sense is it a bar- able!' to be reached through the Span- barous dialect, but rather a worthy ish language have been gained. In a ·compeer of any ancient classic speech, few points work is conducted among furnished with all the elements re- them by means of native workers who quired by a people great in arms, state- are able to speak the Indian languages.
craft and literature. To-day it is But I do not think there is in the Re- :spoken by about 1,750,000, dwelling in public a single American missionary .sixteen States of the Republic, and able to preach in any indigenous forming nearly one-sixth of the whole tongue, nor more than one or two even population. Its extant literature far able to converse in it.
exceeds that of any of the other native During the year 1889, the press of languages. the Methodist Episcopal Mission in the The number of people in Mexico to- City of Mexico has issued the Gospel day who still speak some one of the in- by Luke in the Nahuatl, the necessary digenous languages, is very little less funds being furnished by gentlemen than 4,000,000, out of a total popUlation in the United States. The work is a ·()fless than 12,000,000.* reprint of an older edition that had Toward the Christianization of these almost wholly been destroyed. It millions, there has been done by the seems to have been partly revised, Roman Catholic Church-not any- though a very slight knowledge of the thing. True, very few among them language shows one that it still lacks are unfamiliar with the cross and much of being a faIthful translation.
rosary, and very few have never heard This one Gospel is the only portion of the names Jesus and Maria, but these the Holy Scriptures, excepting a few .are to them only the symbols of a blind verses, as the Lord's Prayer, available fetichism. Certain branches of the in any of the native languages.* old paganism have been lopped off The Roman Church, with all her and replaced by shoots of a pseudo- boasted learning, never has attempted 'Christianity. Planted in Mexico by this first duty of missionary labor-to . men whose hands were foul with every give the Holy Scriptures to the people.
·crime of blood and lust, the Roman These, from among many facts of Church has wrought nothing other interest, must suffice. Upon them I ihan the works of its fathers. " The base the following suggestions: Mexican Church," says one, "fills no These peoples should not, alone mission of virtue, no mission of mo- among the nations of the world, be rality, no mission of mercy, no mission forbidden to hear of "the wonderful ()f charity. Virtue cannot exist in works of God" in their "own lan- its pestiferous atmosphere. The code guages." This is emphasized by the of morality; does not come within its fact that they are living and dying practice." The work of the Spanish * There is in existence a MS. copy of the * The 1lgi.res of this article are based upon Four Gospels in Nahuatl. The writer saw it several times in Mexico city. It is now somethe "Cuadro Geografico" of Sr. Antonio where in the United States. -Garcia Cubas. within a few hours of our very doors. The character of mission work But the missions already established among these peoples must be from the in Mexico have already fields de- foundation. The priest has scarce manding all that they can expend of placed a stone upon which it will be money or labor, while the unap- safe to build. The same is true with proached Spanish-speaking popula-, regard to literary work. The alpha- tion offers room for the expansion of bets given to these languages by the many years. Thus, it seems that the padres are without exception faulty, establishment of special missions to and their grammars attempt to force the Mexican indigenes offers a favor- into the moulds of the Latin and able field for some missionary society Spanish languages that have scarce not already engaged in that Republic. a trace of likeness to them. This Such a step would, of course, meet work is of value now only to the stu- the opposition of some, as did even dent who is able to detect and reject the publication of the Nahuatl Gospel. their mistakes.
It will be urged-as it has been urged The limits of this article forbid more -that the keeping alive of any sparks than the briefest suggestion of the of the old civilization, as such an ef- possible results. The indigenes are, I· fort implies, would be disintegrating believe, equal in mental and physical in its effect upon the Republic, and endowment and vastly superior in would be so looked upon by the Gov- morals to the Spanish-speaking popu- ernment. This objection is of no lation. Upon them must, in a great weight with anyone who has noticed measure, depend the solution of some the growing native-Mexican spirit in of the problems of Mexico's state and both the literature and politics of the social life. Experience, such as has country. It is also objected that any been had, shows that they are not such effort is unnecessary, as the pres- more difficult to reach than their ent generation of Indians can be neighbors. The" everlasting gospel"
reached by the employment of native does the same work in the heart of an workers in connection with Spanish Aztec that it does in the heart of a missions, while succeeding genera- Saxon. It is only a question of effort, tions will have ceased to use the native and light can at last shine in this tongues. I doubt if the history of ancient darkness, and these long op- Christian missions. furnished an ex- pressed peoples can be endowed with ample of equally great peoples evan- the" heavenly citizenship."
gelized without the direct use of their REV. DR. HAMLIN'S VIEWS.
language and the creation of a Chris- When the subject of the use of the tian literature. And I do not believe, vernaculars of Mexico for missionary judging from the history of the past purposes, and the propriety of pub- three and a half centuries, that the lishing the Gospels in one or more of Spanishcan ever supplant the stronger these tongues, was under discussion three or four of the :Mexican verna- at the International Missionary Union culars. Meeting at Bridgeton, N. J., the Rev.
The initial step of such an effort Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., gave utterance should be an exploration to determine to his views and experiences on the the dependence of the various sec- general subject, and especially on the tions of the country upon the native application of the principle advo- languages, the dialectic changes, the cated, and, as these views of the ven- customs and many other questions erable and vigorous founder of Robert concerning which there is not now College are of value, and the facts al- sufficient information. Such an ex- luded to concerning the Armenian ploration might be so conducted with- language are of force and fitness in out financial loss. this discussion, we present now a .summary of ·Dr. Hamlin's address at waYs follow every translation, sooner the time referred to. He said : or later. It reconstructs its language " I regard the subject of the trans- by bringing it into new use. It re-.
.lation of the Bible into any unevan- constructs it by reconstructing the .gelized language, as one of prime im- mind and heart, and new meanings j)Ortance. If Mexico is to be evangel- come into old words. Let the Bible ized, it will be done through the native enter among those Mexican tribes en- languages of the people, Spaniards, forced by the love of missionaries, and Aztecs, Zapotacas, or what not. We it will make all things new. They have had a somewhat parallel condi- w1ll never be evangelized through the tion of things in Turkey. The Turk- Spanish.
ish language is the language of the Missionary Education in China. Empire, as much as the Spanish is of Mexico; but there are fragments of Now that the subject of higher edu- nations conserving more or less their cation as a missionary agency is beown languages, and we have used ing debated, it is well to note the those languages as the channels of the gospel to them. The translation of angle of vision of some persons on the Bible has been life from the dead, the field, who might claim to be unnot only to the people, but to their prejudiced because outside the circle languages. Fifty or sixty years ago the modern Armenian was a gross of participants. The Ohinese Times is and vulgar language, ungrammatical, an independent secular weekly paper full of foreign idioms and words of published at Tientsin, in North China. ¥i1eness and blasphemy, and it was The Methodist Episcopal Mission has regarded by the people as a desecra- for some time past had an education to translate the Word of God into it, and it must be confessed the first tional institution at that place known translation was very imperfect. It as the "Wiley Institute," named >could not be otherwise, for the instru- for the late Bishop Wiley, once an ment itself was very imperfect; but efficient missionary of this church in the most imperfect language can express the Sermon on the Mount, and China. The Ohinese Times had a 'some of the most beautiful Psalms leading editorial a little while ago on .and the gospel narratives, with clear- the relation of this institution, which ness. The first Armenian translation was immediately attacked and ridi- has now become incorporated as -culed by Jesuit missionaries and >others. Replies were made to them; "The Peking University," to the gen- -criticisms, friendly and unfriendly, eral situation at present in China. were noticed. Altercation sprang The editorial referred to says: up. The language grew. It began to drop off incongruous elements. Af- " The prospectus of t~s institution "ter ten or fifteen years a new transla- shows it to be the natural develoption was demanded and made, greatly ment of the Methodist Episcopal improved upon the first, because the Mission in Pekin~, which grew first language was undergoing a transfor- into 'Wiley Instltute,' and is now mation. Since then a third revision about to pass into the more advanced has been made. The language has stage of the Peking University. The become a cultivated language, and ca- title is apt to strike those who hear it pable of expressing, with great clear- for the first time as ambitious, and ness, the truths, the facts, and the sen- even audacious, but when calmly timents of the Bible. This will al- considered it is scarcely out of keep- ing with the general tone which the outer nations assume towards China.
" The assumption not only of un- doubted superiority, but of the right to impose that superiority on the Chinese, has a substantial basis of fact to rest upon, and whether it can be altogether justified on the princi- ple of non-interferenpe or not makes no practical difference. Facts come before theories, and if no formula yet exists to explain the fitness of the .domination which the foreign spirit is a brief history of the present' Wiley resolved to exercise on the Chinese Institute,' and a report by the princi- mind, such a fonnula will in time be pal, Rev. L. W. Pilcher, for the year ·.discovered. Meantime the aggressive 1887-88. These well-written papers movement is in full play and the show what a very good foundation forces behind the movement are ap- has been already laid in Peking for parently too potent to be seriously the new university, and what oppor- hindered in their operation by anr tunities of teaching the future literati obstacles whatever. The Peking Um- and official class, the teaching of the versify, under the auspices of an new sciences would give them. These American Mission Board, is an apt papers are backed up by a stirring ar- expression of the whole attitude of ticle by Bishop Fowler, who is Cllan- enlightened foreigners towards the cellor of the new university." ()hiriese Empire. .As such it deserves the best consideration which we can The International 14isaionary Union. give it. The Seventh Annual Meeting of the " The idea of this university seems International Missionary Union will be to have been flashed into the mind of held at Clifton Springs, N. Y., the lat- Bishop Fowler, during a recent visit to ter part of June next. Peking, by the ImJ?6rial Edict which .allowed Western SCIence to share with The invitation from Dr. Henry Fos- Chinese learning in the honors of the ter, the founder of the famed Sani- tarium at Clifton Springs, to the Union .competitive examinations. ' Here,' to hold a session at that place, has thought the Bishop, ' is our oppor- been a standing one for three years tunity. The Chinese Government past, but not till now has it seemed provides the motive for study in the practicable to accept the generous of- reward it offers for success, but it fer. The Sanitarium is so widely <does not furnish the means of study. known as a local point of missionary We will supply the want, and with interests, that it needs no introduction the teaching of science we will mingle to missionaries. We do not know the teaching of Christianity in such a what number of hundreds of mission- way as to spread the :principles among aries have received the advantages of the literati of China. treatment and of a home in this insti- tution while invalids or semi-invalids. " The missionary spirit is as much The spiritual atmosphere of the place a. living force in the world as the has always been spiritually hygienic, greed of gain or the passion for and if it is possible for sectarianism to knowledge, and the China field is so lose caste and color more thoroughly large and attractive that we may anywhere else in the land than here, reckon on substantial and perhaps we can not name the place. The ofstartling results of its operations in ficers of the Union have never urged the course of a generation or two. It missionaries to attend the annual is probably the most potent factor of meetings. It has been enough just to the coming invasion of China, and, as announce where it was to be held, and ,such, challenges attention to its all returned missionaries-men and methods. And if by discussion and women-who could possibly command free comparison these methods could the time and money and had the be in any degree divested of error, strength, gravitated thither, like .and their success assured without the "doves to their windows." But if it drawbacks which are apt to mar all were necessary to appeal to the brethgreat enterprises, then public benefit ren and sisters to be courteous to an will be certain to result from the ven- invitation, it would not be easy to tilation of missionary work outside over-emphasize the claims of Dr. Fosthe professional sphere. It is, on this ter and the Sanitarium to the compliaccount at any rate, that we consider ment of a largeattendance. Of course, it our duty to direct attention from time to time to what the missionary body is doing, and the new Peking University marks a most important :stage in that work.
" The appeal of the Methodist Epis- ·copal Mission to the liberality of the United States is for the round sum of half a million dollars to build and endow the university, of which a copy ·of the design is given in the prospectus. The appeal is accompanied by the physical advantages and charms evangelistic work effected by the often. of Clifton Springs are second to no maligned Christian College at Madras. health resort in the land. Missionaries of which he is a professor. Soneed not feel unwelcome in a place stro~gly was it felt that missionary which for a third of a century has education is a branch of evangelisticbeen dedicated to their physical up- work, that a protest was entered building. against the proposal, now favored in. many quarters, to substitute laymen We make this early announcement for missionaries in charge of educaof the next meeting, that all returned tional institutions. This approval of missionaries in the country may be educational· work did not involve. able to make their summer plans to in- however, any undervaluing of agenclude this meeting. Also, we wish to cies more obviously evangelistic. urge upon every member of the Union Preaching to low castes and nonnow abroad, to send some communi- castes has of recent years been prosecation, longer or shorter, to this meet- cuted with increased energy in seving. They are all members of the "Out- eral of the fields occupied by the Weslook Committee," and are expected to 1eyan Society, which has thus anticireport· on the situation in their part of pated the clamor that has recently the world. Either the President, arisen for the evangelization of the Rev. J. T. Gracey, D. D., 183 Glen- masses. This work will still hold a wood Avenue, Buffalo, N. Y., or the foremost place in the policy and oper- Secretary, Rev. W. H. Belden, Bridge- ations of Wesleyan missionaries; but ton, New Jersey, will receive these at the same time they are not inclined papers. to abandon those means of presenting the Gospel to higher, yet more be- India Wesleyans on Recent Criti- nighted, classes which their educacisms.-The Fifth General Confer- tional institutions afford. ence of Wesleyan Missionaries in India assembled at Bangalore at the -The questionof the employmentof' close of 1889, and sat for eleven days. a cheaper Europeanagencythan the or- Since they held a similar meeting dinarymissionary, is one that has lately three years ago, the work in Ceylon been prominently before the Weshas so far developed as to demand a 1eyan Society, as it has been beforeseparate organization and an inde- others. Experiments have been made pendent Conference for that Island. on some of the stations of the Society There were 24 ministers present from in South India; but the results so far every part of India and Burmah. have not been very encouraging. The Conference considered the ques- The Indian Methodist Times says: tion with much carefulness and in " On the subject of higher education great detail, and while it expressed as a missionary agency, the' Confer- its willingness to give the system a. ence showed that its views had not fair trial, it did not express much been at all affected by recent noisy hope that a permanent relief forcontroversies. It affirmed the im- straitened funds or a large multipliportance of maintaUring all the exist- cation of missionary resources could ing educational institutions of the So- be looked for in this direction. The· ciety, and the desirability, in some qualifications which must be required places, of adding to them. It heartily of European lay agents, the minimum encouraged the brethren in Calcutta rates of stipend at which their health to support and co-operate in the and efficiency could be maintained, scheme for a united Christian College and the kind of service in which they in that city, and the Rev. Gao. Pat- could be most effectively employed,. terson testified, in a remarkable speech, to the powerful and extensive
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF'MISSIONS
were all duly considered and reported ized in the removal of all hinderances on to the Home Committee. to the settlement of herself and fellow- workers among the women of Kash- -The death is announced of Dr. mir. She was thoroughly qualified Fanny J.'Butler of Srinagar Kashmir. for her work, and was a most compe- She went out in 1880 as the representa- tent physician and a most earnest tive of the Church of England Ze- and devoted missionary. "Our sisters nana Missionary Society, and was sta- have had to mourn over the removal of tioned at Jabalpur, and about a year several of their most honored workers ago was transferred to her present lo- in the last three or four years, but cation, and passed away just as the no loss is greater than this," says the great desire of her heart had been real- Missionary Intelligencer.
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
Mexico. murder, and a slavery which was al- Before the year 1519. heathenism most worse than murder, are not edi- bore unquestioned sway in the Valley fying topics. Disgrace, rather than of Mexico. It was not without some glory, was reflected upon the Christian redeeming qualities. It was attended name. So grievous did the general by an advanced civilization; it was system of peonage become in the first presided over by a mild and humane twenty-five years, that in 1642 an op- sovereign, whose laws promoted the pressed people rose in a formidable re- general welfare of the people; yet in bellion against the Spaniards, and it its prevailing religious rites it was one proved so far successful that Charles of the bloodiest and most cruel of all V. of Spain issued an edict abolishing systems. Under the Aztec rule it the enslavement of the Indians, and had taken on cruel observances as a whatever forms of oppression tended war measure. The Aztecs, in con- to degrade them. But the planters quering the Toltecs, substituted for were not to be foiled, if "money, in- their gentle and grateful offerings of fluence, false,4ood and intrigue" could fruits and flowers, the awful rites of prevent it. A strong delegation sent human sacrifice. Cowardice dictated to Spain caused the edict to be re- this method of disposing of prisoners voked. In 1550, Velasquez, as vice- taken in war-at the same time that roy, made another effort in behalf of the fostering of a bloodthirsty spirit the peons, but Phillip II. had come to was supposed to give new valor to the the throne, and he was not a man to Aztec soldiery. appreciate humane measures. The THE SPANISH PROPAGANDA. people sank even lower into that deg- In the full noontide of this Aztec pow- radation from which three centuries er, the Spaniard appeared on the east- have not been sufficient to raise them.
ern coast, and the mysterious symbol In 1572 another and peculiar mis- of a cross was borne before his daunt- sionary agency was established in less troops. This was ostensibly a re- Mexico in the form of the Spanish In- ligious crusade-a missionary enter- quisition. If this could secure purity prise. Paganism was to be done of faith in one hemisphere, why not away, and the beneficent reign of in another? Out of its dark history Christi!l-nity was to take its place. an occasional flash of lurid light ap- But over the opening scenes of this pears, only to reveal the blackness of Spanish Propaganda de Fide it were the night. One or two illustrations.
charitable to draw a veil. Perfidy, will suffice. At a single auto-da-fe cruelty, robbery, bloodshed, wholesale in 1659, fifty persons were burned alive, the viceroy presiding on the oc- the Mexican people had a heavy score casion. .As late as 1872 or 1873, when to settle with the Papacy, and they the Methodist Missionaries were re- proceeded with the business right modeling an old mOI).astery at Pueblo earnestly. Every trace of the Em- for a church and school, they found pire was obliterated, the Jesuits were the skeletons of heretics walled into again expelled from the country, the its subterranean dungeons. In 1776 rich estates of the Church-the fruits the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico of centuries of extortion-were largely by a concerted movement of the chief confiscated; the monasteries were cities. thrown open, religious liberty was proclaimed; the Bible, hitherto ex- THE RISE OF THE REPUBLIC. cluded, was granted free course, and Protestant enlightenment was wel- In 1808 Napoleon I. usurped the comed. throne of Spain, and led on to great results in America. Two years after The First Napoleon, by his blunderthat usurpation and the crowning of a ing ambition, had sprung that move- Bonaparte in place of Ferdinand VII., ment for civil liberty which extended Guadaloupe Hidalgo, a cure of Guan- not only over Mexico, but over all the axato, raised the standard of inde- Spanish-American States in the short pendence. The cause of Liberty was space of twenty years, and now the finally won in 1821, and the Republic Second Napoleon, while also attemptwas established in 1824. A year ing to dispense thrones and sceptres, later the Mexican Congress framed becomes the unconscious instrument a constitution, which declared the in securing religious liberty. Roman Catholic religion to be the faith of the country forever, and it From 1519 till 1867, or through the forbade the exercise of any other form entire period of 348 years, the Roman ()f worship. Catholic Church of Spain had been engaged in <Jivilizing and Christianiz- In 1835 President Santa Anna abol- ing Mexico. Waiving the question, ished the State Governments, and in whether any advance had been made -consequence Texas and Yucatan de- in civilization, whether the welfare of ~lared their independence. the whole people was in any degree better cared for before the arrival of In 1846 Texas was a~mitted into the Maximillian than before the landing United States, and the Mexican war of Cortez-what had been done in the followed, which resulted two years way of spiritual enlightenment as the later in the accession of Arizona, New result of a propaganda of 300 years? Mexico, California and a part of Nevada, to the United States. A FRENCH-CATHOLIC ESTIlIIATE OF THE MEXICAN CHURCH. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. The testimony of a French-Catholic priest, who visited Mexico at the time, In 1864, Maximillian, an archduke and resided for some time in the ()f Austria, was placed on the so- country, will be accepted as unbiased. called throne of Mexico by Napoleon Emanuel Domenech was a chaplain III., and the Republic was declared to in the invading army of Napoleon be at an end. Three years later, Na- III., and he became director of the poleon III. having withdrawn his press in the Empire of Maximillian. troops through fear of the armies of His observations were published in the United States-now released from Paris in 1867, under the title, "Le duu"y by the close of the War of the Mexique Tell Qu'il Est." First he Rebellion-Maximillian was arrested speaks of the clergy, as follows : "The and shot by order of President Juarez. clergy are in general very poorly edu- At the close of this effort-in which cated. They have the most errone- Pope, Cardinals and Mexican Bishops had joined-to destroy the Republic, <Qus and absurd ideas of morals and of the devil with God, the absence of in- ternal exercises of pietr, have killed Catholic dogma. • • . They traffic the faith in Mexico. It IS vain to seek in the sacraments, make money out any good fruit from this worthless 'of every religious ceremony, undis- tree, which makes the Mexican relig- ion an assemblage of heartless devoturbed by the fact that they become tion, shameful ignorance, insane su- perstition, and hideous vice. • . In guilty of simony, and liable to the vain you seek in this country, called Catholic, houses of refuge for the aged censure of the church. If the laws and indigent, for 'penitents fallen through betrayal and misery, or for of Rome were to be enforced in Mexico, works of benevolence and mercy. • • In Mexico, faith inspires nothing, inthe majority of the Mexican clergy vents nothing; it does not even imi- tate-it is a fossil. . • • The idolwould be excommunicated. Mr. Biart atrous character of Mexican Catholi- has said that 'the priests are forcing cism is a fact well known to all trav- the people to live in Qoncubinage, by elers. The worship of saints and ma- donnas so absorbs the devotion of the -exacting from them for the marriage people that there is little time left to think of God. . . . For want of {)eremony a sum which the Mexican serious instruction, you find in the Catholicism of the Indians numerous laborer, in view of the low scale of remains of the old Aztec paganism."
wages, could not accumulate in five REASONS FOR CARRYING ON PROTEST- years of the strictest economy.' There ANT MISSIONS IN MEXICO.
is little exaggeration in this. The ac- We are often asked, "Why send {)ounts which Abbe Domenech gives missionaries to Roman Catholic coun- of the scandalous lives of the priests tries?" The above extract must sup- have never been surpassed by any ply the answer. The virtual pagan- which were published by Protestants. ism of the priests and the moral cor- As to the rapacity and the consequent ruption of the people are admitted.
wealth of the Church, the Abbe de- Last summer an intelligent American dares that three-fifths of the cities priest said: ' , We send missionaries to were in 1867 occupied by convents Mexico and South America to convert and churches. "I do not speak," he our priests." A distinguished Mexi- says, "of the fabulous riches of these can general, whom we had the honor churches. I think it right that the to meet on a steamer from New York temples of God should be better adorn- to Vera Cruz, expressed a hope that ed than the apartments of a stock- Protestant churches would be multi- broker; but is it not a lie in a man to plied in Mexico, as a means of elevat- make a profession of poverty, and ing, by their influence, the Mexican then live in possession of abundance Ohurch itself, and making it more like and comfort, as the ecclesiastics of the Oatholic Ohurch in the United Spanish America do?" States. If even the priests need con- Of the people, the Abbe says: "The verting, and if intelligent statesmen Mexican is not a Catholic. He is a Christian, simply because he has been and army officers welcome, and even baptized. I speak of the masses, and not of numerous exceptions in all desire, the influence of Protestantism, classes of society. I say that Mexico is not a Catholic country. First, be- there would surely seem to be an open cause a majority of the native population are semi-idolaters. Second, be- door. It would be a criminal indiffercause the majority of the Mexicans carry ignorance of religion to such a ence and neglect not to heed the call. point that they have no other worship than that of forms; it is materialism With regard to sending priests to without a doubt. Third, because the clergy themselves in general have lit- convert priests, they are in fact sent tle education, know very little of theology, and are ignorant of the canoni- from Spain and Italy, and not from cal laws and of the decrees of councils. . . • Mexican faith is a the United States. It is whispered in dead faith. The abuses of external ceremonies, the facility of reconciling Mexico that the real design is not so much to convert the Mexican priesthood to Christianity, as to Ultramon- the city. In 1872 the Presbyterian tanism-to overcome dangerous tend- Church (North) established missions encies toward independent republican- in Mexico City and in Zacatecas. The ism and a national spirit, and to bring Methodist Church (North) soon fol- them under the more thorough con- lowed ; also the Southern Methodists, trol of the Vatican. If this be so, the Southern Baptists; the Southern there is not less, but greater reason, Presbyterians, and the Congregation- for extending the free and enlightened alists. spirit of American Protestantism, lest the last state of the Church be worse The work of these various Christian than the first. And it must be Ameri- bodies has prospered along all the can Protestantism, if any, that shall usual lines of missionary labor. accomplish this work. Our geographi- Churches, schools of various grades, cal position is such that other Protest- printing presses and colportages have ant nations will naturally assign the been established, and many religious task to us. Weare only separated books have been translated into the from Mexico by a river. Great rail- Spanish, and several able religious road lines have already crossed the papers are now published. We shall border at different points, and the two not deal with statistics here, except to countries are bound together by a state that the membership of the thousand commercial bonds. Mexico churches now number many thous- and Central America are in sympathy ands; but there are some special feat- with our institutions. They have ures of the work which may be specadopted them, in fact, and their states- ially noticed. men have more than once expressed the desire that their countrymen may 1. It has never been free from perenjoy the same liberty of thought and secution. In one case, an American the same general enlightenment which missionary fell a victim to the hatred we possess. of the priesthood, and at least two others narrowly escaped. Of native WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. ministers and people, many have fallen, and a still larger number have Even before the collapse of the been maimed. Even within a month Maximillian Empire and the procla- stones have been thrown at the winmation of religious freedom by the re- dows of a newly dedicated church. stored Republic, good seed had been These acts of violence have invariaplanted, and was only waiting for the bly been instigated by the priesthood proper conditions for growth. With -never by the Government officials. the American army, under General It is greatly to the credit of the au- Scott, many Bibles found their way thorities, from the President down, into Mexico. Here and there little that they have, as a rule, striven to bands assembled together to read the carry out the guarantees of religious Book, which was almost as new and freedom, and to punish their violation. strange as if it had just descended out One of the most fanatical States of of heaven. Its messages were re- the Republic is Guerrero, and it is ceived with joy by many hearts, and only the determined spirit of its Govlittle churches – the "ecclesire" of ernor, Arce, that has prevented the apostolic days were formed in private extirpation of the Protestant cause. houses. Somewhere about 1870, Father Aguas and other priests in the 2. The work of the various societies capital began to proclaim a free and has in the main been well organized. blessed gospel of faith and of power. It has wisely considered permanence Aided by the Rev. Mr. (afterwards and self-reliance in the churches. It Bishop) Riley, Protestant congrega- has fostered a national spirit, and has tions were organized in and around studiously avoided all appearance of a desire to hold Mexican Protestantism_ by any American leash, or in any way not extend to the smaller States on its (as has often enough been hinted) to southern border. Nevertheless, at open the way for anriexation. Belize and along .he Mosquito Coast, Great attention has been paid to the there has been a limited missionary training ofa native ministry. In few work for several years, and there have mission fields is the work so largely been times of remarkable refreshing done by native preachers, or done so in the Wesleyan Missions of that field.
well. Whether Methodists or Pres- Altogether, the most progressive of byterians, these men are true" itin- the Central American States is Gua- erants." Mounted on Mexican ponies, temala, and yet until within the last they ride over mountain roads where six years, there was no such thing as a no vehicle could be used, and often Protestant religious service in the en- long distances, to villages where be- tire State, with its million and a half lievers from half a dozen hamlets as- inhabitants.
semble to hear the Word with glad- The history of the establishment of ness. It has been our privilege to the Mission of the Presbyterian Board hear from some of them truly elo- in its capital is full of interest. In ,quent appeals. 1884 President Barrios, of Guatemala, 3. For the most part there is an and Minister Romero, of Mexico, were admirable spirit of harmony and co- at Washington, seeking the arbitra- operation between the different Mis- tion of President Arthur in a bound- sionary Boards and Societies. Rules ary question between their respective <>f comity, which had been agreed States. Their relations personally 'upon have, with few exceptions, been seemed to be friendly, and other mat- ,observed. Rivalries in the price of- ters than the question in dispute were fered to native laborers are avoided, discussed. While President Barrios and it is rare that efforts have been and his staff were stopping for a time made to convert to the tenets of a in New York, Senor Romero wrote a particular sect those who have al- note to a gentleman in the city, inti- ready been converted to Evangelical mating that the President of Guate- truth. Conferences of a friendly char- mala would gladly welcome the estab- acter are held from time to time, and lishment of a Protestant mission steps. have been taken to economize among his countrymen, and he sugges- missionary resources by the establish- ted that the fact be communicated to ment of a Union Protestant College. some of the missionary societies. The There is great reason and great en- contents of the note were made known couragement to unite in a "Concert to a secretary of the Presbyterian of Prayer" for the one missionary Board, who sought an interview with work of Mexico as a whole. the President, which proved to be of the most cordial and satisfactory char- Guatemala. acter. Full protection and every fa- The Central American States have cility were promised, and even the not been the theatre of extended Prot- traveling expenses of the missionary estant Missions. Insalubrity of cli- to the field, though this was not ac- . mate has doubtless been one obstacle cepted. A missionary family was ,supposed, and the unsettled state of sent out promptly, and in fact they the country, as well as the general accompanied the President on the fanaticism of the people, has also had steamer from San Francisco to Gua- its influence. The impulse communi- temala. A few months later two cated to Mexico twenty-five years ago young ladies were sent to establish a by the re-establishment of the Repub- girls' school.
lic, and the general awakening of the The proInises of the President were 13pirit of liberty among its people, did generously fulfilled, and several American and British residents lent try furnishes such varying degrees of their influence to the work. Upon altitude as to secure healthful condi- the death of President Barrios, it was tions-and such is the obvious need feared that serious reaction might fol- of enlightenment that there is reason low under the administration of his to believe that the authorities every- successor; but, fortunately, the new where, in spite of the bigotry of the, President, Senor Barrillos, has also ex- priesthood, will guarantee liberty and tended full protection to the Protest- protection. Whatever may be the is- ants in all their rights. A change in sue of the schemes now discussed for- the missionary force, which left the transit from the Atlantic to the Pa- work of the little church for a time cific, the geographical position which without a head, seriously retarded these small States hold in the commu- the work; but it is again in a flour- nity of nations will rapidly increase ishing condition. Two ordained mis- their commercial importance and sionaries and two unmarried ladies bring them into contact on all sides, are at present engaged. Suitable and with the active forces of the age.
commodious buildings have been The status of the Roman Catholic purchased during the year, and the Church in Central America is that of mission is regarded as now estab- the Middle Ages. The period of Lu- lished on a solid foundation. The ther and Zwingle has not yet come.
church membership is pot large, nor but it will be hastened; the country is there a long list of pupils in the has waited long. Yet not exactly a.
schools ; but the right to exist in the Luther is needed-the times require a face of Catholic prejudice, the tried somewhat different method. An fidelity of the Government in the equal earnestness, but more of con- maintenance of every right, and the ciliation is demanded. It has been general sympathy of the foreign com- fully demonstrated in the efforts made'
munity, as well as of many natives- in Roman Catholic countries in this all these are assured. hemisphere, that not denunciation is.
The climate is salubrious, and the needed, but the 'plain, kind, and per- country beautiful. The people are sistent presentation of a more excel- impressible, and the Romish priest- lent way. The Government of Gua- hood are at least incapable of serious temala, while extending complete· harm. The Indian tribes of the in- protection, and giving every facility terior, not very firmly held by -the to Protestant missionary effort, has.
Catholic padres, are peculiarly recep- made known its want of sympathy tive. Unlike the Indians ofthe United with anything like an assailment States and Canada, whose roaming of the errors or corruptions of the ancestors have lived for generations Roman Catholic Church; and this we by the chase, the aborigines of Guate- believe to be the sentiment of those'
mala are industrious, for so warm a liberal minded statesmen in all the latitude, and for the most part thrifty. Spanish-American Republics who are They present a most promising field most ready to extend a welcome to.
for missionary labor. Protestant effort and influence. There The signfiCance of this young mis- is scarcely one of these States in which sion is much broader than the meas- instances of this enlightened spirit_ ure of its present results would show. have not been shown. If President, It is a demonstration of feasibility and Juarez was ready to welcome and success. It is an encouragement for protect Protestant missions; if the- other organizations to establish mis- noble minded General Esquibedo,_ sions in the Central American States. though a sincere Catholic, could wish The existence of mountain ranges for the organization of Protestant through the whole extent of the COUll- churches in Mexico; if Minister Ro-
EDITORIAL NOTES ON ClJRRENT TOPICS
mero could intercede for the extension and simply do the work of earnest, of the same work into Guatemala, and Christlike evangelists-simply show her own President could invite mis- the purity and beauty of a true gossionaries into his capital,-are not the pel; or to change from the standpoint sentiments of these broad minded and of statesmanship to that of the New noble men worthy of being heeded? Testament, shall they not show the Shall not missiontlries take counsel spirit of Christ at the well of Samaria, from their moderation and charity, and the tact of Paul at Athens ?
VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Oonference at Brussels. into slave trade territories, the estab- At the Anti-Slavery Congress, which lishment of stronglyoccupied stations, opened in November, delegates were and the placing of efficient cruisers present from the United States, Great upon the waters of the interior. The Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Powers having territorial interests in Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Africa are to assist each other, and Italy, Norway, Sweden, the Congo may commit their work to chartered Free Statel and even from Turkey and companies, and also protect private Persia. Its task is a difficult one, and companies whose object may be to it is compelled to move slowly. It had crush the slave trade. Among these been much easier if the death of Gor- proposals there are also particular don and the fall of Khartoum had not stipulations for the punishment of extinguished the germs ot civilization slave traders and their accomplices, which had been introduced into the for the just disposal of fugitive and valley of the Upper Nile. Although liberated slaves, and for negotiations the work of the Conference progresses with such African States as have not slowly, it is none the less likely to give signed the General Act of the Confer- a decided impetus to effort for the sup- ence, with a view to obtaining their pression of the evil. The Powers have adhesion to its action. and to the in- assembled through their representa- terdiction of fire-arms and munitions tives for the purpose of entering upon of war.
a united and determined crusade The fact that these propositions are against this great outrage upon hu- said to be generally regarded with manity, and their determination will favor by the members of the Confer- be opportunely stimulated by recent ence, leads us to hope that the work occurrences in Africa. Two commit- of that body will not disappoint the tees have been appointed; one to re- earnest expectations of the civilized port upon the most available measures world. To the latter the recent cable for the suppression of the traffic by despatch from Rome makes the sur- sea, the other by land; to the former prising announcement that the Pope of which the English representatives was not invited to send a delegate to have proposed the right of searching this Congress. If this be true, the vessels over a zone comprising the managers of that Congress have openly whole East African coast, from the slighted one who has manifested more Persian Gulf to Madagascar. sympathy with the purpose for which The Belgian Plenipotentiaries have it was called-to take measures to submitted proposals providing for the break up the slavetrade-and agreater necessary action in territories ruled or willingness to promote it, than several protected by civilized nations, for the ot its members, and a good cause may construction of highways and rail- suffer from the folly of its professed roads, the discontinuance of negro friends. But if, as reported. the Pope carriers, the prohibition of the impor- has been ignored in this indecorous tation of fire-arms and ammunition way at the instigation of the Italian Gove=ent, that Government has which has for ages ravished and deso- been guilty of an act which can lated African soil. J. M. S.
scarcely be excused by any degree of provocations to which it may have A Grand Farewell Meeting.
been subjected. A great meeting was held at Exeter Portugal is not represented at the Hall, London, Monday evening, Jan. 20.
Conference, and her position and prac- It was called by the Church Missionary tical policy are hostile to its object. Society, to take leave of the Rt. Rev.
Here may be found the explanation of Bishop Crowther, D. D., and the fol- the virtual failure of the combined lowing missionaries, about to depart English and German forces on the East far the Delta and Lower Niger Mis- African coast to suppress the infamous sion: The Rev. F. N. Eden, M. A., the slave trade. That trade has not been Rev. H. H. Dobinson, B. A., and Mr.
materially diminished in extent, and P. A. Bennett; for the Soudan and its cruelties seem to have been aggra- Upper Niger Mission: Mr. Graham vated, rather ·than alleviated, by the Wilmot Brooke and Mrs. Wilmot presence and possessions of the three Brooke, Rev. Eric Lewis, B. A., and European powers. If Portugal does not Miss L. W. Lewis, and Mr. C. F. Har- openly favor the old-fashioned slave ford-Battersby, B.A., M.B., M.R.C.S., trade, she certainly manifests no real the Rev. J. A. Robinson, 11. A., having and active sympathy with any efficient sailed on Jan. 15; for the Eastern Equa- efforts for its suppression. Among torial Africa Mission: Mr. Douglas the first, if not the first, of nominally A. L. Hooper, B. A., and Mrs. Hooper, Christian nations to engage in that Mr. G. L. Pilkington, B.A., Mr. G. A.
trade, she seems determined to be the Baskerville, B. A., and Mr. J. D. 1'1.
last to abandQn it. So far as she has Cotter, B. A., and for the Yoruba been able to do so, she has persistently Mission: Rev. H. Tugwell, B. A., and thwarted such efforts as England and Miss Aimee Wright. A goodly com- Germany combined, or singly, have pany of 16-12 of them men and 4 made for its suppression; and what women-and, what is very noticeable, she has done in the past, she may be mostly college graduates, and people expected- to do in the future. Only that represent the very flower of En- upon compulsion will she co-operate glish civilization and culture. Not with England and Germany, or with often does a sight so impressive and either, or with any other nation or inspiring greet our eyes.
nations, for the suppression of the Sir John Kennaway, M. P., pre- African slave trade, so long as that sided-a man who values far more trade can be made profitable to her- than all his titles and honors, the self. privilege of being President of the In view of this fact, the civilized Church Missionary Society. With a world has reason to rejoice at the bold few well chosen words, the meeting stand which the English Government was opened. Rev. Mr. R. Lang, Sec- has just taken in reference to the ab- retary for Africa, explained the na- surd claim of Portugal to territorial ture of the work to be undertaken.
rights in Africa. Not only is the action Two of the departing missionaries are of the English Government just in it- to go to the old Yoruba Mission, and self, but it is manifestly in the interest a large band are destined for the Niger of humanity and Africa's welfare. It field, under Bishop Crowther. Mr.
is quite time Portugal was made to see Lang remarked that an important and to realize that she can no longer question has been, whether that small defy the sentiment of the whole civ- church now existing on the west coast ilized world, and, for the sake of gain, can be expected to furnish needed h~lp to sustain the accursed traffic laborers for the evangelistic work demanded. And, as it seems unjust to which to address the vast assembly, -expect it, the C. M. S. has invited and never have we heard so many ad- these qualified workmen to go and dresses where there was nothing that live in Africa beside these people, and could have been left unsaid. Wilmot Brooke referred to the new ~onditions lead in evangelism.
The Niger Mission is not only to be under which the mission band goes Teinforced, but reorganized. 1. The forth. In Mohammedan lands, the upper portion is to be the scene of missionary, ordinarily being under labors comparatively new, or at least the regis of a nation feared by the extended on a new scale, on methods people, is put in the anomalous po- that will enable the native population sition of urging converts to brave dan- to realize the purpose of Evangelizing ger which he himself is not called to Agencies, and the missionaries will face. This band goes out, claiming live, as far as may be, on the level of no such governmental protection, and the natives-identified with them. venturing to dare the same perils -There will go out with Wilmot that the converts must face. Mr.
Brooke, a doctor for Medical Mission Lewis asked that prayer may be of- work at the base of this northern mis- fered _for "spirit-taught converts,"
sion, ladies also working with them who inay become winners' of souis side by side. 2. The Lower Niger themselves. Mr. Battersby said that Mission among the pagans, southward he had often said, that he " would not of the confluence of the two rivers-a be a doctor, and would not go to Af- vicar and his curate have left their rica," but found himself doing both.
parish at home to go abroad. On the Mr. Eden, of West Hartlepool, is East African side, Douglas Hooper the vicar, and Mr. Dobinson, the cu- leads a band, and in that band go rate, who leave their parishes for the "three of his own university friends. foreign field, believing that successors The principal of Ridley Hall, Rev. may be more easily found for them -G. Hundley Moule, who had trained than substitutes for them, as intending ,several of the missionaries, suggested workers in the African field. Mr.
that.those who stay at home should at Dobinson beautifully spoke of the least promise to pray for the depart- high level of preaching the gospel ing band, and keep the promise, re- to the nations, inasmuch as in Luke membering especially how, in the xxiv:_ 46-48, Christ puts this on the _,stifling atmosphere of Mohammedan- same plane as his own sufferings and ism and paganism, they need to be di- death.
vinely kept in the fresh air of God's In course of these addresses many own presence. Reference was also stirring and suggestive thoughts were made to the "African Prayer Union," presented, that the "good done by which meets on every Thursday for leaving home is often more than by specific supplication. staying," is often illustrated in the ef- The Bishop of the Niger, Crowther, fect of such consecrated examples.
then referred to the establishment of The resignation of two curates em- the Niger Mission in 1837, and the dif- braced in this party has already im- ficulties met and the obstacles sur- pressed some of their congregation, mounted during these fifty years. hitherto seemingly uninfluenced by The pioneering stage has passed, and their preaching. The long waiting the era of development begun. Pagan time was referred to as one of especial -chiefs see the folly of idolatry, and temptation, while the missionaries are -even Moslem leaders begin to ask for getting ready to go to work.
the knowledge of Christ. The motto of this out-going band is : Then the various men of the band "AFRICA FOR CHRIST,"
-were each given a few moments in "HIMSELF FOR ME." And on the reverse side of the more dread than overstatements.
printed motto is the verse: They are sure to be found out, and " Every step of the way, Lord! then they lead to an increasing skep- Yes, every step of the way, ticism." We gladly publish this re- Thine all is Mine, mark, both in order to correct the And I am Thine, overstatements, and to show the ani- For every step of the way."
In course of the addresses, Mr. mus of such men as Mr. Stock, in Mackay's words were quoted: "We seeking to avoid any romantic rose- have stolen Africans from .Africa, and colored presentation of the facts of now a process is going forward which missions. We were misinformed as is very much like stealing Africa from to the real intention and influence of the Africans;" and again it was aptly this institution, and are glad to correct said that the "civilization and com- any wrong impression.
merce which the natives are pressing The Statistical and Comparative upon the Dark Continent are but the Tables in the December number of the names for fire-arms and fire-water." REVIEW are regarded here as of such The evening abounded in appropri- value, that at a meeting held Jan. 22, atereferences to HolyScripture, among at Rochdale, Canon McClure, in re- which two impressed me as both very ferring to them, declared his intention striking and suggestive: II. Chroni- to have a copy of them placed in the cles xiii: 12-" And, behold God him- hands of every church member in self is with us for our Captain ;" John Rochdale. And Dr. R. W. Dale, the viii: 29-" He that sent me is with eloquent preacher and WI'iter, of Bir- me; the Father hath not left me mingham, publicly, and of his own alone." impulse, called the attention of the From these indications. our readers audience the previous evening to the'
may gather how deeply devotional in MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, character, and how stimulating to pronouncing it "incomparably the heroic endeaver and endurance for best and most stimulating and help- Christ's sake, was this whole meeting. ful periodical on Missions to be found The Church Missionary Society is do- in the world." The compliment was, ing a most noble work, and deservedly as grateful as it was unexpected.
takes rank among the noblest socie- .A. T. P.
ties in the world in its furtherance of foreign missions. How far its great Medical Missions.-The Edinburgh leading men are from any disposition Medical Missionary Society will keep· to place the work of missions in any its Jubilee year in 1891. Rev. G. D.
deceptive light, may be inferred from Cullen, the venerable vice-president, the following note from my friend, is still living, though his name ap- Eugene Stock, Esq., one of its secre- pears in the first list of Directors in taries. Referring to an erroneous 1842. It is a Home and Foreign Mis- statement, which, by some inadver- sion .Agency, and abroad has Medical tence, crept into the article on Bishop Missionary Training Institutions in In- Crowther, he says: "In one sentence dia, Medical Missions in Nazareth and about the Preparandi Institution, I Damascus, a band of 28 students fit- cannot think whence came the idea ting for foreign service, and enrolls that it' is a 'centre of light for the from 60 to 70 fully qualified Medical whole coast.' It was only intended missionaries, formerly students of the for the Upper Niger. [It ought to be a Society.
centre of light for the whole coast, but The home work is centralized at the it is not, said Mr. Stock, to me.] Cer- Livingstone Memorial Training Insti- tainly, we have never published any- tution and Dispensary. The total thing of the sort. There is nothing I number of ministries to patients during the year 1889 was 10,089, an in- necessity for an appropriate special crease of 553 over the year before. education for missionaries is almost as This number includes only patients obvious as the necessity for having registered at their first visit. Includ- them; that if the demand for Mis- ing all visits, even where repeated, the sionaries be reasonable, so is the de- number rises to about 23,000. mand for their suitable preparation." After indicating the lines upon which Evangelistic work is carried on by a new departure in the education of the students in Cowgate and else- missionaries should be inaugurated, where. The famous Magdalen Chapel, such as a less rigidly fixed Arts cur- where John Knox preached, the birth- riculum, which would provide for the place of Scotch Presbyterianism, is student making himself faIniliar with the chapel of the Institute. The at- those subjects which would be of the tendance is so crowded that enlarge- greatest service to him in his future ment of premises is imperatively work-especially anthropology, and needed. Sometimes nightly services the science and history of religions- are held, and every effort is made to departments of knowledge with which serve the people-body and soul. missionaries ought certainly be ac- quainted, and instruction in which Since 1880, 44 students have left for Universities should certainly supply, service abroad, and 11 more are pre- Professor Flint proceeded to say: paring to graduate this year. " There is still to be desired, it seems to me, the directly practical training of Medical Missions have developed a ~tficiently equipped Evangelistic with amazing rapidity. When Dr. and Missionary Institution, placed in John Lowe went to India in 1861, the midst of a suitable training only 14 medical missionaries, with ground, such as the east end of Glas- British qualifications, were in the for- gow would furnish. Our Scottish eign field. Now there are 125, and Churches would do a very useful one-tenth of .these are ladies, and thing if they were to unite in setting nearly one-half of the whole number up and supporting such an Institu- from this Edinburgh Society. Besides, tion; they have been tried, and found there are some 140 from America. highly beneficial by other Churches in This goodwork is owing to Dr. Parker, other countries." who was the pioneer in the movement, and an American; but now the Edin- Mrs. Dr. Ohristlieb. burgh school is ahead of the American. Of the 280 now in the field, about Among other great privileges of the 37 are ladies. In the Edinburgh In- mission tour in Boetain, not least has: stitution about £40, or $200 a year, been the joy of personally meeting, at pay for board of students, and but for Mrs. Watsou's in London, the widow lack of funds, the number of students of my friend and that lamented adwould be indefinitely increased. vocate of missions, Professor Theodor Christlieb, of Bonn. In course of con- A. T. P. versation I find that Mrs. Christlieb is living at No. 22 Konigstrasse, Bonn, In his opening lecture, in Divinity and is proposing to make her house a Hall of the Edinburgh University, at home for a few young men who are the commencement of the last session, proposing to sojourn abroad for pur- Professor Flint took for his subject poses of study, etc. She has issued a "Christian Missions." Speaking of little circular, as follows: the special training needed for Missionary work, he said: "We may .. Mrs. Christlieb, widow of the late Professor· now naturally pass on to consider Christlieb, D. D., of the Bonn.University, offers what is, for us here in Scotland, a comfortable Christian home to the sons of' one of the most practical of ques- gentlemen coming to Germany for education. tions. It seems to me that the 'The number of pupils received is limited to six. that great river whose COU'l'Se was Special motherly care bestowed on junior pu- first made known to the world by pils, and every attention paid to health and Livingstone. The powers and duties comfort, as well as to the studies of the pupils. of the new company seem to be dis- It is Mrs. Christlieb's special aim to train the creetly guarded for the protection and young people committed to her charge in the promotion of the best interests both fear and love of God. The language spoken in of the natives within the territorial the family is German. concession and of the supervising British Government. While its gen- "The house is situated in the best part of eral sphere of operations lies between Bonn, and has a good garden; and the beauti- the Lower and Central Zambesi on ful country around Bonn affords plentiful op- the north. the Transvaal boundary on portunity for walks and excursions, with first the south, and westward to the twen- rate Rhine swimming baths and gynmastic tieth degree of east longitude, its more .sports, if desired. special sphere will be north of British Bechuanaland, north and west of the "As a university town, Bonn offers special Transvaal Republic, and to the west ,educational advantages. The Latin schools, border of the Portuguese dominions. or the University lectures, can be attended as The more important legislative acts of soon as young gentlemen have sufficient the company are to be approved by knowledge of German. Mrs. Christlieb's son the British Secretary of State before .will act as private tutor, if desired. " they can become valid.
Parties proposing a temporary stay Among the powers granted to this ,abroad would do well to correspond new company are those of abolishing, with Mrs. Christlieb, especially intend- by degrees, any systems of the slave ing missionaries and sons of mission- trade, or of domestic servitude, that .aries who wish to fit themselves for may exist in the ceded territory, and :service. Mrs. Christlieb's home will of so regulating the traffic in intoxi- be found full of a pure, evangelical cating drinks, as to effectually pre- .and missionary atmosphere, and free vent their sale to the natives. The from the rationalistic influences found company is also required to maintain in many households of Bonn, a careful regard to the customs and laws of the natives of the country in A.T.P. all its dealings with them, so far as such customs and laws are consistent Hope for the Dark Continent. with an impartial administration of Our readers will excuse our fre- justice. That these humane injunc- 'quent reference to events occurring in tions will be followed, we have suffi- Central and Southern Africa, for they cient guarantee in the persons to are Providential heralds of a brighter whom the charter has been granted. day for Africa. The recent grant by Among these are the Dukes of Fife the British Government of a royal and of Abercorn, Lord Gifford, George charter to the new South African Cawston, and though last, not least, company is assuming large propor- Cecil John Rhodes, who is really the tions in the estimation of the English leading person in this great and prompeople. The newspapers express the ising enterprise, and whose past his- {)pinion that it may mean the estab- tory in Africa and. elsewhere is well lishment of another British Empire known. like that in India, opening up another vast area to British enterprise, coloni- To speak of this new and important zation and capital. The territory in- concession as embracing Bechuanacludes the whole region lying between land, the whole of what is known as the Transvaal and the great lakes. Khamin country, to the Zambesi, the By the organization of this company, whole of Matabeleland, and several to be known as the South African 'Company, with a liberal charter and a large concession of territory, and in the hands of trustworthy men, Great Britain has recently extended her ter- :ritory to the banks of the Zambesi,
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTICS
large outstretches, is to speak of what gold, which may prove its curse until appears from the map an insignificant portion of Africa. Yet in doing this, the supply is exhausted, and for some we have included a country of 400,000 square miles-an area equal to the time afterwards. Under judicious, combined areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, management, this new concessionmay Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana become a grand radiating centre for' and Illinois. This large territory has far-stretching plains and high moun- the civilization and Christianization tains; it has a rich and rare 'variety of climate and soil. The country has of South Africa, if not of the entire'
continent. But if such a result is to be secured, England must avoid the serious and patent errors she has for- merly made in that quarter of the world. She is, we believe, now wise enough to do so. J. M. S.
VII.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND ST A TISTICS.
Methodist New Oonneotion Missionary and a Christian community of 3.634; about Sooiety. 1.700 scholars in the day and Sunday-schools.
Secretary: REV. W. J. TOWNSEND, Richmond Young Men's Association in Aid of Hill. Ashton-under-Lyne. England. the Baptist Missionary Society. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MAY. 1889. Secretary: MR. C. HOLLIDAY. Baptist Mis- General Mission Fund ………………£4.409 sion House. Furnival St., Holborn. London. Special Foreign expenses……………. 2.751 E. C.• England. REPoRT FOR YEAR ENDING APRIL 26, 1889. A considerable portion of the General Fund is still used for the more strictly Home Mission Receipts …. .. ….. .. …. .. .. .. .. . £193 13 10 work. in the Isle of Man and in England. the Expenses ………….. ……….. 1931310 Home Mission Fund not yet being large enough to meet all wants. The only foreign work The work of the Society seems to be in the is in North China. where there are 6 ordained way of furnishing lectures and imparting gen· -1 medical. and 5 female missionaries; 25 na- eral information on Mission topics. rather than tive ordained ministers. 18 other helpers. S in the actualemploymentof Missionaries. As stations. and 48 out stations. 4 churches. with such it does good work. 1.495 members. of whom 26 were added during the year. Striot Baptist Mission.
General Baptist Missionary Sooiety. Secretary: JOSIAH BRISCO. 58 Grosvenor Road, Secretary: REv. WILLIAM HILL. Mission Highbury, New Park. London, N.. En- House. 60 Wilson St.. Derby. England. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1889. gland. £634 Receipts. REPORT FOR YEAR 1888.
GeneralPurposes……. : ………. £4.842 10 0 Receipts…. …. .. ……………. Special Funds.. .. …. …. …. •• …. 265 7 :I In India………….. : …………. 2.61010 6 The whole of this goes to the Mission ex- In Rome………………………. 184 13 3 Balance… …………………… 20 12 11 penses, except a small sum for stationery and £7.923 14 11 printing. The Mission in Madras numbers: Expenditures. Balance….. .. •.. … .. .. …. …… £ 887 10 10 6 ordained. and 8 female missionaries (some Orissa Mission….. ….. …. …… 2.858 10 5 In India (see above)…. …. …… 2,610 10 6 of them natives). 22 helpers. It occupies 22 Rome…. …… .. •… .. … …….. 484 13 3 Annuities. expenses. etc…. …… 1,082 9 11 stations and out-stations, with 15 churches and Total…………………… £7.923 14 11 890 members, of whom 38 were added during The Orissa Mission in India numbers: 9 ordained missionaries. 7 female missionaries. 20 thayear. native helpers. There are 19 places occupied as stations or sub-stations. provided with 17 Baptist Missionary Sooiety. chapels. There are 1.401 church members, Secretary: ALFRED H. BAYNES, Baptist Mis· sion House. Furnival St.• Holborn. London, E.C. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31. 1889. Receipts.
Balance. Special Fund………. .. £26113 a Receipts…………………… .. 80.818 94 Balance drawn on General Fund. 2,862 3 G £83.942 61 Receipts at stations.. .. .. ….. .. 9.096 0 () TotaL. . .. .. .. …….. .. .. .. . £03.038 6 1 Expenditures. £5,859 97 Ladies' Committee……………… 40 0 0 Balance Debt …..•••••••••.. , . 73,188 19 Balance from old account. .. ……. 1 1 2 Expenses •••.•••••••••••••••••• 4,894 14 9 Balance Special Fund……… . Total. ……………………. £346 7 6 ExpenditnresinMissions………… 343 15 1 £88,942 61 Balance…. . .. . .. … ……………. 2 12 5 Expenses at stations (see above) 9,096 00 Total. … ……………….. £93,038 6 1 Total. ……………………. £346 7 6 The work, carried on by a single mission- Statistics. 118 ary and his wife, since 1877, has increased far Missionaries…. ………………. beyond the possibility of meeting its demands.
partly supported…….. 11 Pastors of self·supporting churches 62 Ohristian Vernacruar Education Society for India. Evangelists…. ……………….. 581 Secretary: REv. JAMES JOHNSTON, 7 Adam St., Stations and sub-stations. .. . . . . . . •• 496 Strand, London, W. C., England.
Baptized………… …. …… ••••••. 2,871 REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1889. Receipt•. Members…… …………. ……… 47,133 Subscriptions, etc., England …••• £3,361 16 0 Day-school teachers .. _………… 371 Contributions, India. ………… '" 841 18 9 Scholars…… ……… ……. ……. 16,381 Sale of Publications, India.•••••• " 4,611 6 3 Sabbath·school teachers…… …… 2,225 Grants…………. … .. •……… •• 692 4 0 scholars…………. 26,870 The Missions of the Society are in India (Bengal and northwest provinces), Ceylon, China, Japan, Palestine, Europe (Brittany, Total…………………… £9,507 50 Norway and Italy), the West Indies, and Payment•. Schools, India………………… £!,968 9 6 Africa (Congo River). Publications………………….. 4,894 16 6 London Society for Promoting Christi- Colportage .. .. ……….. _…. " 75 18 9 anity among the Jews. Administrative expenses, etc., The Secretaries: LONDON SOCIETY'S HOUSE, England.. .. ……… … . …. .. .. 1,050 13 4 No. 16 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W. C., Total …………………… £8,989 18 1 Repayment to working capital. . . • 142 12 5 England. Balance ……………. ……….. 374 14 6 REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING lIlARCH 31, 1889.
Receipts……… …… ……….. £34,814 11 7 Total. … ………………. £9,507 5 0 Expenditures ….. _………….. 34,561 15 1 The Society has a working capital fund of MisSion stations …………… . • 37 £1,000, and a special fund for publications of Ordained missionaries………… 27 over £3,000.
Unordained" and lay agents. 26 Children under instruction. ………. 8,900 Colporteurs, etc………….. …. 44 Students in training institutions…… 98 School teachers. .. . . . . . . .. .. …. .. 41 Copies of publications printed……… 690,5SS Christian Israelites…………… 84 Of the stations: 6 are in England, 20 in Con· British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. tinental Europe, 2 in Turkey, 4 in Syria and Secretary: REV. JOHN DUNLOP, 96 Great Rus· Palestine, 1 in Persia, 3 in North Africa, and 1 sel! St., Bloomsbury, W. C., London, Eng. REpoRT FOR THE YEAR ENDING MAY, 1889. in Abyssinia. Receipts……………………. £8,926 0 0 Sunday-school Union Cont'l Mission. Expenditures…. ……………. 8,911 19 10 Missionaries employed…………………. 31 (Branch of the Stmday-school Union.) Voluntary workers …………………… 90 Secretary: MR. WM. H. MILLAR, 56 Old Bailey, Complaint is made of the disproportionate London, E. C., England. cost of admintstration, but it should be reo REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 30, 1889. membered that it costs no more to administer an income of £18,000 than one of £8,000. Out- Receipts . …………. ……. £1,860 13 4 side of England the work of the Society is car- Expenditures. ….. ………… 1,729 110 ried on principally in Germany and Austria, though there is a station at Jaffa, and one at The work of the Society includes cash grants, Adrianopie, in European Turkey. and grants of costs and publications to Sunday-schools in France, Germany, Hoiland, British and Foreign Sailors' Society. Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Secretary: REV. EDW. W. MATTHEWS, Sailors' Young Men's Foreign Mission Society of Institute, Shadwell, London, E., Eng. Birmingham. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1889. Secretary: A. H. KNOTT, Y. M. C. A., Needless Receipts. Alley, New st., Birmingham, England. REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1889. Snbscriptions and collections … £14,138 19 9 Receipts at Missions in Natal, Africa. Legacies. . . . . . … •• .. .. ……… 348 7 4 Donations …………………….. £225 16 4 Y. M. F. M., Birmingham…. ••••••• 59 10 0 Y. M. C. A., Shrewsbury…. …. •… 20 0 0
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
Dividends, sales of books. etc… 488 15 3 Scripture portions distributed. .••• •••• 18,821 Balance, March 3f, 1888………. 1,811 14 6 Tracts, magazines, etc. •……. 592,394 Total………………… £16,787 16 10 Free beds (London), 6,764. Meals ..•• 39,781 Expenditures. The work of the Society covers almost the 'Chaplains, Missionaries, etc …. £3,315 12 10 whole world, and is in most cordial relations Provincial and Foreign stations. 8,879 4 11 with the American Seamen's Friend Society.
.sailors' Institute……………. . 782 9 4 German Evangelical Synod.
Deputation expenses………. .. 357 2 8 Secretary: REv.PAUL A.MENZEL,Annapolis,Md. REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING HAY 31, 1839. General …………… . 788 7 4 Income. . .. •••• •…………………. £9,510 Statistics of Missions among the Sutnaml, .Special Funds…………….. .. 396 10 11 Birvampore. India: 1 station, 3 out-stations, 4 ordained missi0lli!ries, 4 teachers, 5 cathe- Total payments•••.••••••• £14,519 8 0 chists, 3 schools, 2 churches, 200 communi· Investments…………. …….. 545 2 0 cants. Balance, March 31, 1839……… 1,722 6 10 There is a printing press employing 40 men. This Society worked through the Basel and Total .. . …… £16,786 16 10 Barmen Societies for many years, but since 1883 has had the care of this.work committed Summary of work for the year: to it by the Missionary Society of New York, composed of members of several Lutheran and Meetings on board ship 1,661, on shore. 4,818 Presbyterian churches.
Attendance 91,477," 491,427 Visits to ship lodging houses, etc.. …. 51,563 .. the sick and families.. .•• ….. 8,535 Bibles and Testaments sold (English and Foreign)…. …….. …… …… 8,768 VIII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
""f'rlca.-Lieut. Taunt, of the United Africa. The Missionary Gleaner gives tidings of the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Cole, of Mpwap• :states Navy, is the commercial agent of this wa, at Zanzibar, while Mr. Price and Mr. Wood, being bachelors, remained at their per· .country on the Congo. His experience of the ilous post. It seems that Bushiri, the Arab leader, arrived at Mpwapwa with 250 armed country dates back several years. • men on July 5. He assured Mr. Price that he had nothing to fear, but on the eighth of July Lieut. Taunt has spent a suftlcient time on the a Christian native warned the missionaries that they were in danger, and they left by Congo to know the country and people fairly moonlight for Kisokwe. six miles distant. The next morning Bushiri's men broke into the well, and we give an extract from his report mission house, and cleared out all that was of any use to them, and set fire to the place. Tecently received at Washington, given by the The natives assure Mr. Price that he shall not be disturbed, aud though the perils are great, correspondent of the Boston Journal: he and his associates will remain. Though there are said to be letters from Mr. Mackay •• The Protestant missions on the Congo are and others on the Lake Victoria, the Gleaner contains no definite tidings concerning the the American Baptist, American Methodist situation of affairs either at Msalala, or at Rubaga. (Bishop Taylor's), American Faith Cure (Dr. -The Royal Niger Co. has been so suc· Simpson's), the English Baptist, the Balolo cessful in suppressing the liquor traftlc in its territory in Africathat very little liquor is sold Mission (English), and the Swedish Mission. in the interior. Cannibalism is also declining.
'The Roman Catholic are the Belgian and the -The first convert in the Upper Congo Valley was recently baptized at Equator Sta· French Missions. The American Baptist Mis· tion. The valley contains 30,000,000 people.
sion, formerly Livingstone (English), is doing -Miss Sharp, the well·known teacher in Africa, has ten students from the Dark Con· excellent work, and is in a flourishing condi· tinent, who are prepared for a better educa· tion than her school proposes. She wants to tion. It is under the control of and supported send them to England to have them prepared for missionaries in Africa. by the Baptist Mission Board of Boston. Its five -Rev. David A. Day, a missionary stawell equipped stations extend to the Equator tioned near Monrovia, in Liberia, writes thus: "I sat on board a boat at one of the promi- 'on the upper river. Palabala, on the lower river, is the headquarters. The steam launch, Henry Reed, on the Upper Congo, belongs to this mission. The majority of the members are English, formerly of the Livingstone In· land, but now almost every steamer brings out American missionaries. The other two American missions are in anything but a lIourishing state."-Missionary Herald.
But our correspondent on the Congo, Rev.
Wm. Clark, of the A. B. M. U., writes us: .. Lieut. Taunt's published statement that the .A. B. M. U. is the only successful mission on the Congo, is not true. Both the B. M. S. and the S. M. S. have prosperous churches and 1!Chools. " J. M. S.
-English Church Missionaries in East nent African ports, and saw landed on a single Six or seven years ago, when Mr. Mozoomdar. Sunday from two steamers, about 50,000 casks of gin. Think of one missionary and 00,000 the second minis~r of the "Church of the' casks of gin coming into Africa at once I" New Dispensation," was in this country, and -The natves of Swaziland, South Africa, have agreed upon a triumvirate to govern published "The Oriental Christ," fresh hopes, their country. It will consist of two British members and one resident of the Transvaal. were raised as to what might be the grand is- The chiefs of SwazUand have also joined in a petition for the abolition of the liquor trafll.c sue of the movement. The Brahmo Soma;;, in their country. has since then suffered eclipse, and Mr. Mo- -Mr. Stanley has written a letter to Mr. Bruce, the son-in-law of Dr. Livingstone, de- zoomdar now writes sadly of it, but he adds: scribing the expulsion from his kingdom of Mwanga by a revolt of the combined native " Christ is a tremendous reality. The destiny Christians and Mohammedans, and the subse- quent conversion of Mwanga himself to Chris- of India hangs upon the solution of his nature· tianity. This Mwanga was the persecutor who murdered Bishop Hannington. Mr. Stan- and function and our relation to him. Let us. ley says that the fact that the native Chris- tians had grown strong enough to make a not hide in darkness, and rest contented with revolution in one of the most powerful of the African kingdoms, is one that if Livingstone random streaks; but place ourselves in open could have known it would have filled his dy- ing moments with content and love. The most light, and solve the problem, 'Who and what deadly persecutions-the stake, the knife, and the bullet-had failed to shake the staunch is Christ?' " fidelity of these African converts. -The Indian Witness states that secret be- -After all our explorations and discoveries, the future of Africa seems very dark. lievers in Christ are rapidly multiplying. For Our trust must be that ull;der the guidance of a divine Providence, there may soon come a every convert who openly avows his faith, league of our most powerful Christian and civilized nations, which, making the African there are hundreds who withhold such declaraslave trade more criminal than piracy, shall move promptly to its suppression at whatev.er tions for fear of their own households and cost. Such a league might conclude to begin its work by the construction and operation of caste circles. Thousands are being made' transcontinental African railways, bisecting the slave trade regions of Africa. and so ex- readyfor public avowal and loyal service when tinguishing the inhuman and infamous traffic. the break shall come. Harmah.-Sir Charles Bernard recently stated that the Christian Karens number .Japan. – In the course of his journey 200,000, or fully one-third of the Karen people. About 500 congregations are practically self- around the world, with the design of arousing supporting. They tithe the produce of their land for the support of their pastors. They interest in Christianity among the colleges of also send missionaries to Siam, and furnish all their support. the Orient, i:lecretary L. D. Wishard has Cbfna~China has 82 medical mission- reached Ceylon and India, where he is meetaries, a majority of whom are from the United States and mission hospitals and dispensaries ing with happy results. His nine months" in severa.! cities. A large part of the expenses of these hospitals is borne by the better classes stay in Japan afforded him opportunity to of Chinese, who highly appreciate the work. visit eighteen leading cities, and twenty-nine :J;;ngland.-The Church ofEngland has nearly 360,000 members in India. Government and eighteen Christian colleges -£1,334,491 is estimated as being the aggre- and schools. He conducted over 200 meetings gate amount of the year's British contributions for foreigu missions. This is $105,000 attended by thousands of students and busimore than the previous year's total. ness men. Over 140 students united with the Indta.-A few years ago Keshub Chundel' Sen and his Brahmo Somaj, in India, at- church connected with the Doshisha School at tracted wide att~ntion. The new religious movement was hailed as one full of promise. Kyoto, and large accessions to other churches followed his labors elsewhere. He writes strongly of the need and demand for special work for young men in Japan, on a basis similar to that OIl which our Y. M. C. Asso- ciations rests in this country. In his inter- views with more than 100 missionaries, he says that not one raised an objection to such an ex- tension of missionary work.
.Java.-Java is the most fertile, the most productive, and the most populous tropical island in the world. The Dutch have had pos- session of it many years, and have derived great revenues, especially from the coffee plantations, but have done little for the re- ligious elevation of the people, who are 1110- hammedans.
ltJadagascar.-The missionaries of the London Society in Madagascar affirm that their hold upon the people is as strong as it ever was, while the French influence is much less than it was feared would be the case.
Just now an event of much political import- ance is taking place. An attempt is being made to establish the authOrity of the Hovas over the Sakalavas, near Saint Augustine Bay.
A strong military expedition has been sent for this purpose, and if it succeeds, that portion of Madagascar wm be open to missionary ef- fort; it it should fail, the central government.
will be seriously Crippled. J. M. S.
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1888
A ROMANOE OF MODERN MISSIONS
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XI. No. 7.-0ld Series.–]ULY._-VOL. I. No. 7.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
A ROMANOE OF MODERN MISSIONS.* BY REV. J. W. BASHFORD, PH.D., BUFFALO, N. Y.
ONE day in the winter of 1832-3, four Flathead Indians appeared upon the streets of St. Louis with a request which no white man had ever heard before. They came, they said, from the land of the setting sun. 'rhey had heard of the white man's God and they wanted thtl white man's Book of Heaven.
General Olarke, then commanding the military post at St. Louis, was a Roman Oatholic. The Roman Oatholic missionaries have per- formed heroic service for the Indians. Unfortunately, however, they have tried to give the Indians Ohristianity without :civilizatiOi,Q So . while the four Flatheads were received with the greatest hospitality, and were shown the Roman Oatholic church, the pictures of the saints, etc., yet they were steadily denied their oft repeated request for a Bible. Two of the Indians died in St. Louis from the fatigue of their long journey from Oregon. The other two, homesick and disappointed, prepared to return. Gen. Clarke made a banquet for them and bade them God speed on their journey. One of the Indians was called upon to respond. His response deserves to rank with Lincoln's Gettysburg speech as a model of eloquence and with Washington's Farewell Ad- dress in the influence it subsequently exercised. We can give no just idea of the circumstances, or of the impression it produced. We can only give the English version of the speech which, like all translations, loses much of the force of the original: "I came to you over the trail of many moons from the setting sun. You were the friend of my fathers who have all gone the long way. I came with an eye partly opened for more light for my people who sit in darkness. 1 go back with both eyes closed. How can 1 go back blind to my blind people? I made my way to you with strong arms, through many ene- mies and strange lands, that 1 might carry back much to them. 1 go back with both arms broken and empty. Two fathers came with us. They were the braves of many winters and wars. We leave them asleep here by your *Barrows' Oregon, Gray's History of Oregon, Reed's Missions of the Met.hodist Episcopal Church, Gov. Simpson's Narrative, Parkman's Oregon Trail, and per- sonal correspondence with Rev. Daniel Lee. great water and wigwam. They were tired in many moons and their mocca- sins wore out. My people sent me to get the white man's Book of Heaven. You took me where you allow your women to dance, as we do not ours, and the Book was not there. You took me where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, and the Book was not there. You showed me images of the good spirits and pictures of the good land beyond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the way. I am going back the long, sad trail, to my people of the dark land. You make my feet heavy with gifts and my moc- casins will grow old in carrying them, yet the Book is not among them. When I tell my poor, blind people after one more snow in the big Council, that I did not bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by . our young braves. One by one they will rise up and go out in silence. My people will die in darkness, and they will go on the long path to other hunt- ing grounds. No white man will go with them and no white man's Book to make the way plain. I have no more words."
A young man was so impressed with the address that he wrote to friends in the East some account of this strange visit and of the pa- thetic plea of the Indians for a Bible. The letter was published in The Christian Advocate in March, 1833. When President Fisk, of Wilbraham, read the thrilling story, it was like fire shut up in his bones. He issued through The Advocate a trumpet-blast, entitling it, "Hear! Rear! Who will respond to the call from beyond the Rocky Mountains?" The church was aroused. Contributions began to flow in. President Fisk at once wrote Rev. Jason Lee, who had been at the Academy in 1828, and was then waiting to engage in mis- sion work among the Indians of Canada. Jason Lee was six feet two inches high, physically strong, intellectually clear, and morally with- out a blemish. He is pronounced by the Oyclopedia oj Methodism "the peer of any man who adorns the role of modern workers in the Church of Christ." Jason Lee selected his nephew, Rev. Daniel Lee, now living at Caldwell, Kansas, to accompany him. Three laymen, Cyrus Sheppard, T. S. Edwards and P. L. Edwards, volunteered to share the danger and the labor with the ministers. These five men, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Board, joined Captain N. J. Wyeth of Cambridge, Mass., who had been West asa fur-trader, had built Fort Hall in south-eastern Idaho, and was returning West. After a journey of many months the party reached Oregon, and Jason Lee preached the first Protestant sermon on the Pacific coast at Vj:tn- couver, September 28, 1834.
Meanwhile, what had become of the two remaining Indians, and where was the tribe from which they came? After leaving St. Louis for the West in the spring of '33 the two Flatheads fell in with George Catlin, the famous Indian artist. They traveled with him for days. But with Indian reserve and stoicism they did not mention the object of their visit or their desire for the white man's Book. Upon Mr. Catlin's return to Pittsburg months afterward he saw the letter written froin St. Louis, and said it must be false. He wrote to General Olarke to learn the facts. General Clarke wrote back, "It is true. That was the only object of their visit, and it failed." It will interest you and add to the romance to learn that Catlin, without knowing that these two Indians were to be historic, yet enriched his gallery with their portraits, which are numbered 207 and 208 in his Collection. After leaving Catlin one more of the Indians died on the journey home, and only one returned to announce to the great Council the death of his companions and that the white man refused them the Book. The tribe was embittered and gave up all hope of help from the white man's God. So when our missionaries at last found these Indians, they received no welcome from them. Worse still, the tribe was small and their location poor. So that if their invincible prejudices could be overcome they offered a very limited field for missionary labor. At first the Lees were discouraged. The whole movement seemed a miserable, methodistic fiasco, in which zeal had outrun knowledge.
Did you ever think that the Bible says nothing about Paul finding in Macedonia the same man who appeared to him in his vision? But Paul found Macedonian heathen in abundance, and thus concluded that he had a mission. So Jason Lee found Indian heathen in abundance in the Willamette valley and some members of the Hudson Bay Company who had never heard the gospel. So, nothing daunted, he concluded he was sent of God, and prepared to stay. He established a Manual Labor School for the Indian children and began to teach the Indians Christianity and civilization. Now see how God was in this movement-how He aimed at and accomplished through these missionaries a far greater work than they had ever dreamed of! It was really the battle between the school-house and the Bible on the one side and the steel-trap and the rifle on the other, between American self-government and British domination, between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism upon the western coast, that these missionaries were sent to Oregon to help fight out. Nay, it was even the battle between freedom and slavery in our Republic which they providentially helped to settle. You remember that by an agreement between the United States and Great Britain, made in 1818 and renewed in 1827, the western boundary between Canada and our Republic was left undetermined. The territory remained open to settlers from both nations. Under this arrangement the Hudson Bay Fur Company, which outnumbered by far all other whites upon the coast, laid claim, under an English charter, to the territory. It broke down in succession eleven fur companies which the Americans organized; it drove from the country a man of the indomitable zeal and enterprise of John Jacob Astor; and its Governor, Sir George Simpson, practicallyexercised control over the whole territory north of California and west of the Rocky Mountains. But the Hudson Bay Company found motives loftier than money making and perseverance surpassing that of the indomitable Astor in the Methodist missionaries; and a contest between these two parties now began. When under the Methodists some of the Indians were converted and civilized, the company refused to sell them hoes and spades and ploughs. It sent to Oanada at its own ex- pense for Jesuit missionaries to teach the Indians Ohristianity without civilization, and thus at once appeal to the native indolence of the Indians and keep the country from cultivation. On the refnsal of the company to sell the Americans cattle, Lee organized an American Oompany, went to Oalifornia, and bought 600 head of cattle of the Mexicans. Four more Methodist missionaries, including two women, arrived in 1835; and in 1836 eight more, including Jason Lee's wife, sailed from Boston for Oregon. The Methodist missionaries saw at this early date that the allegiance of the country would be determined by the predominance of English or American settlers; and in the inter- ests of Ohristianity, of Protestantism, and of freedom they determined to save the land to the United States. In 1838 J ason I~ee started to the States with two Indian boys. A messenger overtook him with the sad intelligence that his wife and child had succumbed to the hardships of the frontier and were both dead. These were the first martyrs to the cause in Oregon. Broken-hearted and lonely Jason Lee pressed on and induced thirty-six persons to emigrate to Oregon in '38, and about seventy more in '39, and one hundred and twenty more under the guidance of another Methodist missionary in '42. The letters written home from Oregon began to have an influence, and other settlers fol- lowed in the next few years. On the arrival of Jason Lee in Oregon the British outnumbered the American whites ten to one. After 1840, . chiefly under Lee's management, the American population outnum- bered the British ·population, and had chosen the permanent industry . of farming while the English had chosen the temporary occupation of hunting and trapping.
But the struggle for the possession of this joint territory was not over; and it might not have ended favorably had not the missionaries of the American Board come to the assistance of the Methodists. The Board of Missions fQr the Oongregational Ohurch had been stirred by the appearance of the Flathead Indians, and planned to send two missionaries in company with the methodists to Oregon in 1834, but could not secure the men in time. So this Board sent out in 1835 Dr. Marcus Whitman and Mr. Parker who were to explore the country and return. Dr. Whitman returned and reported favorably, and in 1836 Dr. Whitman and his bride and Rev. H. H. Spaulding and his bride were sent to found a mission in Oregon. Methodist women had gone to Oregon in 1835 by ship; but these were the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains-six years be- fore General Fremont the noted pathfinder disoovered the pass through which they entered Oregon. There was a marked di:8'erence between Mr. Whitman and Mr. Spaulding. Mr. Spaulding was a man of some literary tastes, but was certainly not one of wild nature's fa.- vorites. On the trip out he was shaken by the ague, kicked by a mule, pushed off a ferryboat by a cow and saved himself from drowning by clinging to her caudal appendage; while an incipient western cyclone carried off his tent and stripped him of his blankets. We do not wonder that he concluded he was not adapted to western life# and that he would have turned back had not his brave wife persisted in going forward. But Dr. Whitman was one of nature's noblemen. He was not tall but was compactly built, was a physician as well as a missionary, was keen, independent, self-willed, had the lofty courage of Sheridan and the unconquerable tenacity of General Grant.
Despite the protestations of the British agent at Fort Hall Dr. Whitman insisted upon taking his wagon through and actually took it as far as Fort Boise before he abandoned it in 1836. Later he had it brought on to Oregon and thus proved against the persistent statements of the Hudson Bay Company that a wagon road from the United States to Oregon was practicable.
In October 1842 Dr. Whitman was called to visit a sick man of,the Hudson Bay Co. at old Fort Walla Walla. While there the express rider from Canada dashed up with the mail. Dr. Whitman now learned for the first time that Governor Simpson had gone to Canada some months before, and had dispatched a body of one hundred and fifty emigrants to Oregon, to bring the English numbers above those of the American settlers; that these emigrants were only ten days behind the express-rider, and that Governor Simpson had gone on to Washington to try to arrange for the yielding of our claim to Oregon. On receiving the news the traders and the priests cheered for England and Oregon, and cried: "America is too late; the land is ours!" Dr. Whitman saw at once that the country would be lost without a most daring effort to save it. He rode back twenty-four miles to the American missions that afternoon, announced his determination to try to reach Washington, and asked for a companion. General Lovejoy of the Methodist Mission offered to go with him, and October 3d, with a guide and two pack mules, the two men set out on horseback for the United States. These two brave riders saw before them a journey of four thousand miles. The first three thousand would be across trackless wilds, and the first one thousand through mountains which were almost impassable in the summer-time. They knew they would be exposed to wild beasts. The Blackfeet Indians had been aroused to savage ferocity by the advance of the whites across the Mississippi, and their fierceness had infected many other tribes. Worst of all, these travelers saw the winter coming on. From the human standpoint it did not seem probable that a journey of three thousand miles could be made over mountains and across trackless plains in the depth of winter, with scarcely a house to shelter them. But they felt that God would help them. They were struggling for the civil and religious institutions of a region of large extent and boundless fertility, and the cause was worth their lives. To avoid the Blackfeet Indians and the cold on the northern plains, they resolved to bear southeast from their starting point- Waiilatpu, Oregon, to Fort Hall, thence almost South to Taos and Santa Fe, in New Mexico, thence east to Bent's Fort in Indian Territory, on the Arkansas River, and thence northeast across Missouri to St. Louis.
General Lovejoy's brief notes of the trip show that the winter overtook them soon after they left Fort Hall. 'l'heir progress became very slow because of heavy snows. The snow covered the familiar landmarks so that the guide became uncertain of the way. In one instance they rode a week, supposing they were going east, and came back to the camp they had left seven days before. Again they started forward, and succeeded in reaching Grand river, 600 yards wide, and frozen on either side about 200 yards, but with a swift, dangerous current in the center. The weather was biting cold, and the guide declared the stream impassable. Dr. Whitman, however, determined to risk his life; and Gen. Lovejoy and the guide pushed the horse forward with poles until the ice broke, and both horse and rider disappeared in the rapid current. They rose far below, and Dr. Whitman guided his horse to the other shore~ broke the ice with a pole for a distance, then dismounted and helped his horse out. Then the others took the fearful plunge. Their clothing was frozen before they could build a fire. Again, a few days later, they encountered a western blizzard. For ten days they were imprisoned in a canon by the storm. They kept the horses alive on the bark of cottonwood trees, while they ate the faithful dog that had followed them. It was fast becoming, not a question of reaching Washington, but a question of life or death with the heroic travelers. On the eleventh day Dr. Whitman resolved to break the barricade of the storm, and they attempted to cross the mountains. But the storm blinded men and beasts; and after riding for hours they resolved to turn back to the canon they had left in the morning. But alas! after riding back a short distance, they found that the storm had obliterated their tracks. At last the horses came to a standstill, and all were becoming rapidly chilled with cold and hunger. Dr. Whitman now gave up in despair. He dismounted, and, kneeling in the snow, commended themselves and the loved ones in Oregon and their beloved land to Almighty God. Just then the mule on which the guide sat began to prick up his ears. The guide gave him the rein. The mule started, then hesitated, and at last, by a strange instinct, started again and led the party back to the morning camp. The guide now refused to go farther east. One of the men must go back with him to the nearest friendly tribe and procure, if possible, another guide. As Gen. Lovejoy was beginning to fail, he was advised by Dr. Whit-
THE GREAT COMMISSION: FACTS AND THEm PHILOSOPHY
man to rest and recruit his strength(?), out of doors in a fearful storm in the winter, while the doctor went back after a guide. Dr. Whitman's imperious will overcame the returning guide's representation of certain death, and another guide was induced to undertake the dangerous trip.
The Doctor and the new guide reached Gen. Lovejoy seven days after Whitman had left him in the cafion. They started on and at last reached Taos, and soon after Santa Fe. Despite Gen. Lovejoy's exhaustion, he accompanied Dr. Whitman to Fort Bent, on the Arkansas. The dangerous part of the journey was now past. Dr. Whitman crossed the State of Missouri alone, and reached St. Louis Jan. 3d, just three months after they set out from Oregon; and pushed rapidly on to Washington.
[Ooncluded in next number.] THE GREAT COMMISSION : FACTS AND THEIR PHILO- SOPHY.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] THE Duke of Wellington, in the familiar phrase of war, called the last command of our Lord the "marching orders" of the Church: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." That was indeed a short but suggestive and impressive valedictory. The Son of Man, about to leave the scenes and companions of his earthly life for his heavenly throne and crown, himself in person delivers the first great missionary commission and command to the first missionary band. From the grand universal center he was to survey and supervise the whole field, while they were to disperse from the earthly center, carrying on a world-wide campaign.
These marching orders are remarkable, first of all, for their comp1'ehensiveness: "all the 10orld": "every creature." What world-wide breadth! What sublime universality! This must have sounded strangely in the ears of a Jew. The Hebrew church was not a missionary church: its policy was exclusive. The idea was inbred, if not inborn, that Israel was God's peculiar people, and all other nations had for centuries been regarded as simply so many obstacles or hindrances to the progress of the one church and the true faith, for whose speedy removal or annihilation the believer ought to pray and work. The thought of the conversion of the world to God probably never entered the Jew's mind. How sudden and startling even to those first followers must have been that grand flinging open of the doors of the church of Christ. Eyes yet blinded by Jewish prejudices, ears yet dulled by spiritual apathy as to the world's condition, could not at once take in the sublime significance of these words: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Here was the enunciation and annunciation of the peculiar law of the new church of Christ. Her gates were to stand forever open as a perpetual invitation to all to come in and share her blessings, and her walls. were to stand four-square, facing the cardinal points of the compass, as though to tell us in symbol that her bounds shall ultimately be nothing less than the North and South, the East and West, and that from every quarter believing souls shall approach and entel'.
" Into all the ~lJorld" they were to go. Not alone to classic Athens, royal Rome, elegant Ephesus; not to balmy Sicily, queenly Crete, fragrant Cyprus; not to the lovely cities and lonely isles of the Mediterranean, the coasts of Italy or Greece or Syria, but into all the world. East to the farthest Orient, the golden Indies; West to the unsailed seas which laved the sands of Britain and of France. North to the fir forests of Scandinavia, South to the confines of Cush and the Arabian Sea; wherever man had gone Christ bade them go, bearing the news of salvation. There is no possibility of honestly mistaking the breadth of the great commission. It is the first thing we are to learn, as of the love of God-its" breadth "-that it reaches even to us and to the farthest off and most hopelessly alienated from God.
"To every creature;" as though even to the dumb beast would accrue some part of the blessing attending upon the spread of the gospel, in the better treatment which might be expected from the prevalence of humane and Christian feeling. The phrase evidently means the whole family of man. Not to the rich, refined and learned only, to the Areopagus or Amphyctionic Council, the Sanhedrim of Judea or the Senate of Rome; but to every man, whatever his class, color, caste or condition, rank or residence, amid the snows of Siberia or the sands of Africa, the stormy waves of the far west or the serener seas of the remote east. They were to pass no human being by without a word of warning,. witness and invitation.
The first and fundamental truth which is the broad basis of missions is this: the Gospel is an economy of grace for a ruined race. Man was created in God's image. When the representative man fell, with him fell the whole family of man which he represented. The Hebrew name, Adham, means manj Adam's fall was man's fall. By reason of its organic unity, humanity went down in that first sin, as the oak is crushed in the acorn; and Redemption is the rescue of that fallen race.
In two senses the fall is universal. First, as a clean thing cometh not forth from an unclean one, as like begets like, a corrupt nature passed from sire to son, exposing to suffering even those who bore no actual part in the first sin; and secondly, as each human being, coming to the age of conscious moral choice and action, falls anew for himself by a voluntary course of sin, he adds to the fall of the race his own personal fall by willful transgression. The whole race is thus doubly ruined, and redemption appeals to the whole race. Had none of us ever sinned; save through the representative head, redemption would no doubt have been purely representative, and we should have been saved absolutely through Ohrist. But as we all choose to sin, the entrance of choice-that imperial endowment of a will-into our fall, makes it necessary that we entet into redemption also by voluntary choice; choice implies appeal to motive, and hence the necessity of a proclamation of redemption. Here lies the power of Paul's argument in Romans X. 14,15, where interrogation becomes the boldest form of affirmation: how, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, believe without hearing, hear without a preacher?
The necessity for a world-wide preaching of the gospel must become obvious upon the bare statement of these four facts: 1. The whole race is fallen. 2. Redemption is provided for every creature. 3. Ohoice is the condition of salvation. 4. Proclamation is necessary to choice. Fix in mind these four facts, and it becomes plain why Ohrist's last command was: "Go ye into all the world," etc. The rescue provided must be co-extensive with the ruin, and preaching is God's way to bring that rescue face to face with that ruin. The more we study the philosophy of the gospel the more do its simplicity and necessity flash upon us, as beneath a clear and sudden revelation of light, which makes us wonder we have not sooner seen the truth and felt its power. The fall is a fact, and it is not worth while to stop and discuss its philOllophy; but being a fact, the gospel is its companion and collateral fact.
Redemption is for all, though all may not be redeemed because all will not accept what is adequate for all. God's electing purpose can, in no case, impair the freedom of man's electing choice! This, however, has nothing to do with your duty and mine. We cannot foresee who will accept and who will reject, to whom the gospel will be a savor of life and to whom of death, aud so the proclamation is to be absolutely universal, and without discrimination. We are to do our whole duty, and leave results with God.
'fo the eye of God all souls are precious. If there be any discrimination, it is doubtless in favor of those whom we are prone to pass by in neglect, perhaps in contempt. He has always chosen, in a special sense, those whom man would not have chosen. The only Ohrist-like evangelism is that which loves every human soul for Jesus' sake.
The comprehensiveness of this command found illustration in the history of the New Ohurch. For fifty days after Ohrist's crucifixion, for ten days after his resurrection, the disciples remained at Jerusalem. Then Pentecost, with its reversion of the miracle at Babel, opened the door of the church to the world. At that time and place representatives of every nation under heaven were gathered, and heard, in their own tongues, the wonderful works of God. Then came the death of Stephen, and a persecution which scattered the brotherhood of believers to spread the good news. Then came Peter's vision and call to the Gentiles, and the unfolding to the church of the lesson so long and plainly taught, yet so ~lowly learned, that "God had also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." Finally, Paul's missionary journeys actually bore the message of redemption to every nation under heaven, and it is supposed to Gaul and Britain. To us, in these latter days, new worlds have been thrown open by the disco'veries of the explorer and the enterprise of the merchant. The area of civilization is doubled, trebled, quadrupled, and all this vast territory is crowded with the race iuvolved in the same ruin, interested in the same rescue. If to Paul and Peter Ohrist's last words came with mighty force, how shall we measure the momentum which that command has acquired in the sweep of eighteen centuries of invention, discovery and human progress? Behold the area of O1tr "world I" the extent of the race in our day 1 How shall we ever overtake the march of the centuries unless we bestir ourselves and begirt ourselves for giant strides?
This great commission also contains a Charge for every believer. Examination will show that these marching orders are not more universal as to the unbelievers theycomprehend than to the believers they commISSIOn. Ohrist appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and said unto them: "Go YE." This commission was special, but not exclusive. The whole world was dying; the grace was world-embracing; the message short and plain. It was natural and needful that every believer should have part in spreading the good neWfJ. The infant church, like an army of raw recruits, must, however, have organizers and leaders; and the eleven, commissioned directly by Ohrist, constituted those leaders; but only leaders. The rank and file were to do the work.
They were commanded and commissioned to " go" and"preach." A positive duty and responsibility was laid upon disciples, as such. To stay at Jerusalem, build a grand mother church of the world like St. Peter's at Rome-" Omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum, mater et caput," though they might indeed let the gentiles in when they sought entrance, would not do. Ohrist made all believers heralds of grace, bidding them go forth and tell the good news, and compel the nations, whom they had despised as barbarians, to come in. They were to seek others and not wait for others to seek them, giving the gospel even to the unasking and unwilling 1 To lose sight of this aggress~'ve feature of evangelism is to leave out its most emphatic and distinctive characteristic. The world will never come to the church, save to corrupt it and conform it to itseJf; the church must go to the world and constrain even reluctant ears to hear. The attitude of rejection makes the word of witness no less our duty. And as in the apostolic days, so now; no class of ordained preachers can ever meet this world-wide emergency. While the church waits for such alone to do the work of preaching this gospel to the world, or for the training of a regular ministry for its official pro- clamation, whole generations perish. Christ foresaw this, and so a wider commission was given and actually made the basis of spreading this good news; and the commission was: "Let him that heareth say come! "
The divine scheme was to reach every human soul by the shortest road. Hence, (1) an oral proclamation was chosen as the method, and (2) every believer as a means. -': First, an oral proclamation. God chose to send the gospel to lost men, not by means of miracles or the agency of angels, but through natural channels and by means of those who had part in the ruin and rescue. Man could use two methods: books for the eye, the voice for the ear. Christ chose the voice! He said, "Preach." The word means, as Homer uses it, to be a public crier, herald. Oral proclama- tion then was God's chosen method. Why? Books were then written laboriously and expensively upon huge, heavy parchment' scrolls by scribes. The world could not wait to get the knowledge of salvation from books. Even had the press, which dates from the fifteenth cen- tury, been then ready as a mute but mighty messenger of grace, still no doubt the commission would still have been, Go, ye, preach / For had Bibles been so plenty as to be sown like seed broadcast over the world's field, reaching every man in his own tongue, how few among the masses could have read them! To a very late day even in enlight- ened England, the famous "privilege of clergy" indexed the ignorance of the common people even of the simplest rudiments of reading and writing; and the Magna Charta was signed June 15, 1215, by nobles who could only make their mark for a signature!
Beside this, when Christ said, Go, preach, there was no New Testa- ment. The gospel according to Matthew, the pioneer book, cannot date earlier than A. D. 38, and John did not add the fourth and last of the gospels till close to the birthhour of the second Christian century.
But had a complete New Testament been ready, how tedious and tardy the process of translation and republication; and how few could have availed themselves of it, even in their own tongue!
The grand reason, however, for an oral proclamation was the peculiar force andfltness of the voice. It has a strange magnetism, when through it thrill a true earnestness and enthusiasm, which no book has. More- over, a man can fit his methods and measures to new times, places, men and needs, as no book can; and the voice has a flexibility and fa- miliarity, compared with which the formality and stateliness of a vol- ume is a disadvantage. And so from lip to ear flew the good news, every hearer a herald; and so while a Bible society would have been translating, publishing and circulating one version, the gospel actually wheeled its first circuit round the known world! The duty and privilege of preaching was thus from the first, universal. All who had an ear, a voice, must say, Oome. To have excluded any from this simple part in heralding salvation would have been to shut up an inward fire, and the voice of a pent-up flame would have burst forth in utterance saying: "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
Whatever marks of distinction may rightly exist between the ministry and membership of the church, they should never become lines of division in the work of saving souls. Those who are set a.part for the special office of leadership, are to project the advance movement, plan the campaign, and conduct the hosts: but who must do the fighting, but the bannered hosts who come after with the whole armor of God?
And so there is a sense in which every believer is a preacher, and every hearer a herald. The whole' world is the audience, and not a soul is to be passed by; the whole church are the witnesses, and not a believer is ~o be tongue-tied with a ruined race about him, God's grace within him and a voice wherewith to make himself heard! To all, of every age and nation, pardon is to be proclaimed with its simple conditions: repentance toward God and faith in the Lord J eaus Ohrist. By the words of our Lord the missionary office is laid upon the whole church till the whole world is evangelized. Not a man or woman or child can escape or evade this responsibility. Let this be really apprehended, and wherever God locates our sphere of service, we shall be found leading essentially the life of a missionary.
Out of 1,500,000,000 who crowd the earth to-day, 1,000,000,000 have not heard the good news. Generations are sinking into an abyss or hopeless ruin, one after another. Yet forevermore ring in our ears those words of responsibility and indirect rebuke: "Go ye," etc. You and I are charged with this duty, only more imperative because neglected. Weare to help tell the good news to every creature under heaven; if we can go, in person, here is the call of God, and the condition of a lost world calls if possible more loudly. He who cannot go to the heathen in person must go by proxy. But how shall they preach except they be sent! Send the Bible with a man behind it, a man to bear it, to add to its pure precepts, its glorious messages, the inspiration and magnetism of the living voice / If you must stay here at home, still go you and preach! to your children, companions, neighbors, friends, and by your prayers and purse, help others to preach to the millions over whose very souls hangs a funeral pall! And yet we stand still, while we have one minister for every 700 of our population, and Ohina one for 2,000,000.
There is no reason, or even pretext, for the present apathy of the Ohurch of Ohrist. We can gird the globe with a zone of light in twenty years if we have men and money, both of which the church is perfectly able to furnish to-day in abundance. The awful extent of
MISSION PROBLEMS AND WORK IN
the field need not disoourage us. We can reach this thousand millions with the gospel and we can do it with surprising rapidity, if we have the will to do it in God's way. He has gone before us. He has flung the doors wide open, actually ohallenging the church to enter and take possession. He has wrought results within a half century that have constrained even unbelievers to Baf, 'This is the finger of God.' There is muoh said in these days about the amazing progress of soience and invention. Within a quarter of a century the most stupendous aohievements of the human mind seem to have reached their climax. Think of the telegraph and telephone; the photometer and audiphone; the speotrosoope and microscope; the wonders of optics and anresthetics of photograph and phonograph, of steam-printing and typewriting; and these are a part of man's ways in scientific research and ingenuity. But God always keeps pace with man. However rapid man's strides have been in letters and art, in discovery and invention, God has moved yet more rapidly in his providence and grace. The study of history shows that in the march of humanity God has always led. Even the van is always but the rear of a vaster procession. Acoordingly God has accomplished within half a century what we should have supposed it would require half a millenium to effeot. Talk of "waiting upon God?" God has been long waiting for his people. He is a thousand leagues ahead of the foremost of his missionary hosts. Japan could fully occupy ten thousand missionaries to-day. Ohina could fill the hands of ten times that number. Africa has only been explored; the first chain of stations is yet to stretch from Zanzibar to the Oongo's mouth. What are we doing? 0 for a kindling of apostolic fires on the smouldering altars of the church! We have scarcely made a beginning and we talk as though the work were almost done. Ten millions of dollars is all the entire Ohurch of God can raise to prosecute the missions of the world; while one city spends far more than that on a city hall and two others, on a suspension bridge, and there is buried in jewelry, gold and silver plate and useless ornamentation, within Ohristian homes, enough to build a fleet of fifty thousand vessels, ballast them with bibles and crowd them with missionaries, build a church in every destitute hamlet and supply every living soul with the gospel within a soore of years! only let God's fire come down and take possession of our hearts and tongues, and the gospel would wing its way like the beams of the morning and illumine the world's darkness!
MISSION PROBLEMS AND WORK IN ABYSSINIA. By PROF. GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH.D., OOLUMBUS, O.
PROBA:BLY nowhere in the wide world has this great mission cell~ury to deal with a more unique and in some respeots more diffioult problem than in the Ethiopia of history-the Abyssinia of recent centuries. All the remnants of Oriental Ohristendom, found scattered chiefly among the Moslem conquerors, the Armenians, the Syrian or Northern Nesto- rian Ohristians in the Persian Empire, the Thomas or Southern Nesto- rian Ohristians iIi India, the Oopts of Egygt, and their ecclesiastical monophysitic allies of Abyssinia, all to a greater or less extent present a more or less solid petrifaction of certain phases of Ohristian doctrinal development. Their divisions and schisms are near]yall due to the great theological and christological controversies that, from the fourth century for more than three hundred years, agitated the whole Greek Ohurch. Their individual existence over against the rest of Ohristen- dom generally originated in their maintenance of certain doctrines, which were condemned as heretical by the great Ohurch Oouncils, be- ginning with that at Nice in 325. In this way sprang up the Nesto- rian, the Monophysitic, and other branches of Eastern Ohristianity.
The source of their individual existence, namely, their peculiar doctri- nal position, was also the source of their vitality. They lived for the one object of defending their peculiar standpoint. The great charac- teristic of Oriental nations is their intense conservatism and adherence to the traditions of the fathers. These factors combined to cause these Eastern Ohristian sects gradually to solidify their idiosyncracies.
Thoroughly incrusted in the traditions of centuries and defended with their life's blood, not only over against the rest of Ohristianity, but also against the fire and the sword of the Moslem conquerors, these systems have gradually become nothing but a petrifaction of dogmas, liturgies and worship. The spir,i.tual element has long since been lost and its place has been taken by a cold and mechanical formalism. Ohristianity is not a life nor a living power, but only certain ancient dogmas and forms; , These singular factors, which make the regeneration of the stagnant Oriental churches and the infusion of the principle of evangelical Ohristianity a matter of extreme difficulty, have all existed and do yet exist in aggravated forms in Abyssinia. '1'he historical surroundings of the· introduction and early development of Ohristianity in Ethiopia were such, in connection with the natural disposition of the people, to produce that extreme case of a soulless ecclesiasticism, which has for more than twelve centuries reigned supreme in Abyssinia. Of all the strictly national Ohristian churches on the globe that of Abyssiania is the oldest. It was established already in the fourth century. Its first bishop, or abuna, received his ordination from the hands of Athenasius.
It played an important part in the dogmatic controversies that followed, being organically connected with the church of Egypt, as an import- ant element in the Oriental church at large. With the Egyptian, the Abyljlinian church adopted monophysitic doctrines concerning the person of Ohrist; and when, in 451, the Synod of Ohalcedon con- demned this doctrine, the monophysitic portion cut loose from the church general and formed a new sect. In this way the living connection between the Abyssinian church and the church universal continued for only about one century, and that was a century of intense dogmatical controversies, in which the ideals of Christianity were more and more regarded as consisting in the acceptance of certain metaphysical formulas, however true these in themselves doubtless were, to the detriment of the feeling of spiritual connection between the church or individual with Christ, as the essential requisite of true Christianity. In the interests of one phase of this general tendency of tbe times the Abyssinian, with the Egyptian church, took a standpoint hostile to the church at large, and thus voluntarily withdrew from the influence of that progressive element that controlled the development of the church, and it recognized as the object of its existence the maintenance of its doctrinal position over against any change or modification. That such forces controlling the spiritual life of a nation or a church must inevitably lead to the despiritualization and encrustation of its doctrinal teachings, is easily understood from psychological reasons, In the education of a nation such factors could lead only to such results.
What made matters in themselves bad even worse, was that the Abyssinians were called upon to defend their national and religious existence over against the Mohammedans, who, by taking Egypt and all northern Africa, completely isolated the Abyssinians from the rest of Christendom. Indeed, it is the glory of the Abyssinians that they were the only Ohristian nation of Asia or Africa that was not overwhelmed by the hordes of the false prophet of Mecca. Partly because of the character of their country, which is a high plateau accessible only through narrow defiles easily defended against invaders, but also because of the bravery and prowess of the Abyssinians, they were enabled to hurl back every attack of their Moslem foe. This complete isolation and entire separation from all people who might have had an influence in developing the national and religious chl',racteristics of the people, made the Abyssinians, who, as a Semitic people, were naturally as unprogressive as the Arabs and the Hebrews, live only for the faith and the worship of the past. Having defended the nation and the church against such enemies as heresy from within and a false religion from without, their conservative instincts led them to guard with jealous care what had been handed down as the most sacred inheritance from earlier generations.
For over one thousand years, namely, from the time when the Moslem conqueror of Egypt isolated Abyssinia, down to the end of the last century, almost the very existence of a Christian nation on the Black Continent was unknown to Western Christianity. It is indeed true that in the sixteenth century the Portuguese formed an alliance with the Abys¥– ians, and the Jesuit missionaries attempted to win the venerable Abys- sin, ian Church for the pope; but these were only passing incidents, and, if anything, only hardened this church in its traditionalism. ThE!
Jesuitic measures of the fathers won over the great king Susmejos, and he attempted to compel his people to submit to the yoke of Rome. An insurrection followed, attended with extremely bloody scenes; and finally the national party, headed by the clergy, succeeded in driving out the hated "Franks." Under the next king, Bosilides, the old faith and worship were re-established more firmly than ever.
The first attempts to revive and instill a new evangelical life into the different members of this ancient church that were made with a full appreciation of the difficult problem involved, aud with an aim rather to win them back to a genuine Christianity, and not to an ecclesiastical hierarchy merely, date from the beginning of the present century.
They belong to the first fruits of that spirit which has made the present the greatest missionary century since the apostolic era. They aimed first, indeed, at the regeneration of this old Christianity, but also at making Abyssinia the base of operations from which to operate further into the heart of Africa with the mission of the gospel and of civiliza- tion. This idea was all the more attractive because there are remnants of older Christian nations also south of Abyssinia, and at least one of the missionaries, Krapf, endeavored to penetrate further and found these at Cambat and Wolamo. The leader of this missionary band was Gobat, who first reached Abyssinia in 1829, and who died several years ago as the Bishop of the Anglo-Prussian bishopric of Jerusalem. He was sent out by the British Society, as were also several of his coadju~ tors, while the Basel Society later also sent out some men. With these the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews co-operated, because in Abyssinia are found a most peculiar class of people-the so-called Falashas, or Black Jews. How they ever got there no man knows; even their traditions are silent on the subject. They have the Old Tes- tament and observe the Mosaic ritual. They know nothing, however, of Talmudic Judaism and the latter Pharisaic phase of their religion as this is developed in the Talmuds and Midrashim and is practiced by the extreme orthodox Jews of southeastern Europe. The probabilities are that they are a portion of the great Jewish Dispersion, the" Dias- pora," but whether they found their way to Abyssinia before the days of the New Testament, or after the destruction of Jerusalem, is uncer- tain. The fact that ethnologically they could be classed as Abyssinians does not speak against their Jewish origin, since the Abyssinians them- selves are a Semitic people, and hence belong to the same family of na- tions of which the Hebrews are such prominent members. Then the hostility of centuries that has existed between them and the Christians of Abyssinia would speak for a difference of nationality. They usually live in separate villages, mostly in the province of Goodar, and are often persecuted by the ruling race. Among these peculiar people mission work was also done, and with good success. The Rev. H. Stern, a German sent out by the London Society, did some service, but was not as careful as he should have been, and contributed not a little to arouse the anger of the great king Theodorus in the sixties, which finally induced that monarch to imprison and threaten the lives of all the foreigners, especially the missionaries laboring in Abyssinia. They were only liberated through the expedition of Lord Napier in 1868. At the .same time Krapf was laboring with great success among the Falashas, and to the present day; while living on the retired list as a missionary veteran in Germany, keeps up a correspondence with the eight hundred who have been won for Ohrist, and who have braved all the dangers that have threatened to deprive them of their faith. Although for a number of years no missionaries have been allowed in Abyssinia, except from time to time, one or two in the most southern province of Shoa, and, of course, least of all among the hated and despised Falashas, these dusky children of Abraham have yet, amid all persecutions, maintained their faith and confession.
The mission work among the Ohristians of Abyssinia has been a remarkable record of successes and failures, and at present is at a standstill. Such men as Gobat, Isenberg, Krapf, Stern, Flod, and a number of others, have labored hard and long to re-evangelize Abyssinia. What the full fruits of their labor are or will be no man could presume to say. Statistically but a discouraging report could be given. But there can be no doubt that in Abyssinia, as is the case in that wonderful Ohristward movement among the Jews of southeastern Europe, there are many in whom the seed of the word is silently bearing good fruit, but whose outward profession may not be loud "for fear of the Jews." Like Nicodemus, they come to Ohrist by night. But on the subject of missionary method and a clear understanding and appreciation of the intricate problem involved much has been gained. Again and again have the missionaries been expelled from Abyssinia. Gobat and his friends were compelled to withdraw on account of the anarchy that prevailed in the land. When that talented and, in his early days, excellent prince, Theodorus, managed to secure the crown of all Ethiopia, hope revived, and a number of men were sent from Europe and were welcomed by the king. They went not merely as preachers of the gospel, but also as teachcrs, who prepared books for the instruction of the people, and translated the Bible into the dialect of the people. They took with them mechanics who aided the people in learning useful arts and learning useful trades. But a number of untoward circumstances again blasted these hopes. Theodorus became involved in wars with his lieutenants who commanded the provinces; his good genius, namely, his first wife, died, and his second wife was wilful and tyrannical; he took to drink, and rum converted him into a typical Oriental barbarian, whose cruelty delighted in cutting off his enemies' hands and feet. With his subjection by Lord Napier in 1868, and his suicide when his capital was taken, ended the flourishing period of Abyssinian mis- '
sions. .
Since then attempts have been made again and again to build up these waste places, but with poor success. The present Emperor, John, is hostile to western ideas, and is seeking a reunion with the Oriental Church, particularly: with that of Russia. The golden opportunity for Christianity and for modern civilization in historic Ethiopia would have been in 1868. If England had then, instead of leaving the conquered land upon which she had taken her vengeance to its miserable fate, to anarchy and internecine destruction, assumed so much of a protector- ate as to secure freedom and liberty for the gospel messengers, a new and encouraging era for Ethiopia's Christianity would have been inaugurated. The complications with Italy are not promising as far as the cause of the gospel in Abyssinia is concerned.
But whatever the fate of Abyssinia may be, and of Christian work in Abyssinia, certain it is that this work there will always be one of peculiar difficulties. The Abyssinian being a church with a highly developed ecclesiastical organization of bishop, priests, deacons, monks and nuns, with a fixed dogmatic system and settled and stereotyped forms and ideals of worship, it will always be a vexed problem as to the position to' be taken over against the native clergy and the native church. Are the Christian missions to co-operate with the native church, to revive the church from within, or to establish new commun- ions of renewed Christians as opposition organizations to the existing church? Heretofore the first has been the only method pursued, not .
so much from choice as from necessity. The missionaries could labor only as long as the king permitted it, and no greater danger to the king's authority could be imagined than the opposition of the native clergy, who control the minds of the people almost absolutely. For this reason none of the missionaries established new churches or entered into open opposition to priests or monks. In the case of the conversion of the Falashas these were baptized by the native clergy and made mem- bers of the national church of the land. The little bands of converted Christians were thus an eccle,~iola in ecclesia, and it was thought that they as a leaven could eventually leaven the whole lump. Whether they would have done so if the missionaries had been able to con- tinue their work, only a prophet or a prophet's sou could say. But as long as the new gospel spirit could find its way only into 'the hearts of the people, and not into the hearts of the spiritual leaders, the success of this method would seem to be doubtful. Sooner or later the con- flict would be inevitable; indeed it at some places already had com- menced when Theodorus turned against the mission enterprise. Future mission work in Abyssinia must be guided by the light of the experi- ence acquired by gospel workers in the last sixty years. The task is not hopeless, nor have all hopes bean given up. On the contrary, socia-
THE RELATIV1!: PROGRESS OF CHRISTlA.NlTY
ties and men are only waiting for a favorable opportunity to reorganize the work in Abyssinia. If this can be done, and if a firm foothold can be gained there for a living and aggressive Christianity, then one of the greatest problems in the Christianization of Africa has been solved. It is a task of peculiar difficulties, but it is one whose consummation and success will be attended with peculiar blessings.
THE RELATIVE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.
BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D., BUFFALO, N. Y.
[Continued from page 411.] INCREASE OF ISLAM IN AFRICA.
Turning to Africa,where Islam is alleged to be spreading rapidly,. we touch a region again where the indefiniteness of the information preeludes more than qualified judgment, but accounts reach us that indicate an encroachment of Moslem power and some Moslem missionary advance.
Journal des Missions EvangeUques states perhaps most of the truth about this feature of Moslem advance in Northern and Central Africa when it says: "Among some of the negro tribes a missionary work, properly so called, is being carried on by the Khouan, or members of a religious order that originated in a very remarkable reformation. It was an attempted return to primitive Islam. The man who founded its powerful association was Si- Mohammed-ben-Si-Ali-ben Snoussi, born at Mostaganem, in Algeria, about 1792. He traveled much, lived a long time in Mecca, and in 1843 took up his abode in the Tripolitan district. A few years after the Djebel-el-Akhdar, where he lived, abounded hi Zaiouya, or establishments for instruction in the Koran. To all his disciples he imparted his Puritan doctrines, his gloomy and silent character. The Snoussiyas or disciples of the Sheik Snoussi are very numerous, and are going in every direction, trying to win over to their pan-Islamite notions the Mussulman Arabs and the negrpes, who know little more as yet than the prophet's name."
The Journal also thinks they are preparing the materials for one of those sudden and gigantic explosions of Islamite fanaticism, the result of which it is impossible to predict.
Dr. Blyden is a full-blooded Christian negro, born in the Danish West Indies,. now long resident in Liberia, at one time Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Liberia to the Court of St. James, and Secretary of State for the republic in 1864. He made a journey to the East in 1866, "visiting Egypt and Syria, chiefly with the view of studying the Arabic language in order to its introduction to the curriculum of the College" of Liberia, in which he was for some time a professor. He has had large opportunities for personal knowledge along the west coast of Africa and for perhaps two hundred miles in the interior, and of learning from Moslem pilgrims and merchants what they had to say about the remoter interior. Dr. Blyden has contributed articles to Fraser's and other magazines and quarterlies during twenty years or more, and has recently collected and published these in a book entitled " Ohristianity, Islam, and the Negro Race." He says, "From Senegal to Lagos, over 2,000 miles, there is scarcely an important town where there are not at least one mosque and active representatives of Islam" ; and he speaks within touch of the facts. He further says, "A man might now travel across the continent from Sierra Leone to Oairo, or in another direction from Lagos to Tripoli, sleeping in a village every night except in the Sahara, and in every village he would find a Moslem school." The writer will perhaps never forget the thrill of emotion that passed over him when, in company with Dr. Blyden, sailing up the St. Paul River, Liberia, the distinguished author-guide pointed to some steps cut in the bank of the river and a little footpath soon lost in the forest, he said, "Do you see that path? That leads straight to Egypt."
The Methodist Recorder of London says of the character of these African conquests to Islam: " At least in Northwest Africa the Moslem missionaries win their way without assistance from any earthly power. Their advance is due both to the truth and the errors which their creed contains. The pure monotheism of their religion is an undoubted advance upon the gross idolatry of savage tribes. The semi-civilization introduced is an undoubted improvement. It is no small matter to teach these degraded tribes a measure of self-control, decency, reverence, and such virtues as Christians are glad to know Moslems both teach and practice. But it is comparatively easy to whitewash a number of tribes with a superficial religion which never changes the heart, though it may outwardly improve some habits of the life. If the Christian missionary of to-day were content with a form of baptism and a simple item or two' of his·creed, while permitting polygamy, granting social equality, and promising the certain blessings of a material Paradise, how many tens of thousands might be 'converted' in a year."
The writer of the above is too candid to desire to belittle the aggressive work of Islam in Africa, but he probably states what is about the truth over very extended districts, The extension of Islam in Africa must be conceded, and the full force of the rebuke should b~ felt that the Ohristian church so long neglected the swarmiug multitudes of this continent. Yet within the century we have planted missions all round the coast, have occupied outlying Madagascar as a base of operations, and have at least taken up the line of march" from salt sea to salt sea," and from the mouth of the Zambesi to the delta of the Nile, and a good deal of reconnoitering has been done.
We have s'aid nothing of the character of the civilization which Islam 'superimposes on that of the ruder African, because it does not come within the scope of this article. Weare not, however, ofthose who hold that it will be materially more difficult to convert these people from the rude form of Islam, which is all they have to any con- , siderable extent adopted, than from the fetish, with its most aeaden- ing and blighting superstitions. They may turn intelligently from Islam to that which is higher and better, and if they can be saved from the persecution of Moslem fanaticism, they may at once throw off its shackles; but the dreadful overshadowing superstitions represented by the fetish are ever and anon wont to burst upon the Ohristian convert in after years in the presence of calamity, and to carryall before thein. It will be another thousand years before Islam can bring the African to the cultured and lettered prejudices of Moslem, civilization, snch as bind its snbjects at Oairo, Ispahan and Delhi; and the Ohristian church has no need to be discouraged from attempting vigorous evangelism of the African Islam by just such methods as she has pur- sued in Fiji, Benares and Yokohama; and she should address herself to the duty which is now in so marked a degree providentially imposed upon her.
CAN :MOSLEMS BE REACHED?
The question whether Christianity can make inroads on Islam is quite another and very interesting one. The common assumption has been that it was much more difficult to make converts from Islam than from any other quarter, but it must be borne in mind that in no quarter of the globe has there been any attempt to convert them corre- sponding with the efforts made to reach other classes. Rev. Mr.
Wherry, American Presbyterian of North India, writing to the Missionary Intelligencer (Jan. '88), says: "The Muhammadans of India are a hopeful class for missionary ea;ort compared with the three high castes of Hinduism. I venture to assert that, so far as North India is concerned, and in proportion to the labor bestowed, five Muslims have been converted to Christianity for every Hindu convert." And at the Decennial Conference in Calcutta he saId: 'Almost every mission in North India numbers among its preachers, lay and ordained, those who were once followers of Islam. I recognize among the names of ordained missionaries and evangelists contained in Mr. Badley's Directory fifteen converts from Islam; the number of catechists and lay preachers who were convel'ts from Islam would increase this to at least fifty.' "
The "Church" missionaries say that most of their converts at both Peshawar and Krishnagar are of Muslims. The Indian Witness, noticing Canon Taylor's statement that out of 841 converts to Christian- ity last year in Central and Northern India only 17 were Moslems, says: "We know of one mission in North India where thel'e were 1,183 conversions and 1,114 baptisms last year, to 892 conversions and 584 baptisms the preceding year. Thirty of last year's converts were from Islam."
The ablest, calmest and fairest discussion of this entire subject of the missionary activity of Islam in India, the character of its converts, its accessibility to Christian effort, and the nature of its antagonism to the same, will be found in the proceedings of the Missionary Conferences held in Allahabad in 1872-73, and in Calcutta 1882-83. It requires self~restraint to refrain from making numerous quotations from tb:ese able papers and addresses. They were not spoken in the heat of the present controversy, but afford testimony the most definite and reliable on perhaps every point now raised. In a broad survey of the relative progress of Ohristianity it would be neooBSairy to deal with a vast num- ber of subjects not yet ,alluded to, but which want of space precludes our entertaining.
THE OUTLOOK.
The vast array of preparatory agencies which Mr. Johnston so ably summarizes. might easily be augmented by a "great variety of other facts. Not only, as Mr. Johnston says, does the "vital force of the native church increase in geometrical ratio; " not only have we twenty times as many languages subject to our use as were spoken on the day of Pentecost; not only have the 120 of the apostolic" upper chamber"
become 120 millions of Protestant Ohristians; not only has the Ohris- tian community of the world been augmented by double the three thousand accessions of the day of Pentecost, for each day of the past hundred years; not only have the great systems Buddhism, Brahman- ism and others been so materially modified by Ohristian influence that even if there were more Buddhists there is less Buddhism, or more Brahmans there is less Brahmanism; not only have we learned the methods of a.pproach on the inside, where these systems are weakest; but the forces of Ohristian attack are strategically distributed over the globe as are those of no other one system, and the measure of our out- posts is that of the measure of the geographical extension of our century. It is not only that there are 30,000 Ohristian communicants in Ohina, but that these are distributed at important points. Twenty-five years ago there were only five churches in Ohina, now there are enough to make one for every 25 miles along the coast, and a traveller might sleep, as Dr. BIyden would say, under a Ohristian roof each night while traversing the entire coast line of that vast country. Then, too, the spirit of evangelism is infused into these mission communities.
Fiji and other islands were not Ohristianized by Europeans, but by Ohristian natives from Tonga, and this spirit is being developed in all mission fields.
But besides all, it must ever be borne in mind that in dealing with Ohristianity we are dealing with the supernatural, and in the divine economy there is provision for far more than merely steady advance even in geometrical ratios. There is provision for leaps, for vast up- heavals, for sudden uprisings. Do we forget the six weeks in 1878 when in Nellore 8,691 heathen were baptized, and the 34,564 registered applicants for baptism the same year in Tinnevelly? Are we blind to the fact that forces are already at work which will probably, ere many decades, result in the collapse of the great systems of heathen religions?
There are epochs and revolutions, as well as reformations, in the divine economy.
lVBY DOES THB COST INOREASE'1
WHY DOES THE OOST INCREASE P By REV. JAMES F. RIGGS, BERGEN POINT, N. J.
WHAT is the reason of this constant advance in expense? Why is it that each mission is more and more costly from year to year? Ought we not to set a fixed limit to the appropriations in advance and adhere to our own rule?
A mission grows just as a healthy child grows. It has the same vital organs from year to year, but it needs more food. Growth is the evi- . dence of life. If any particular mission did not grow that would be a just cause for alarm, but the demand for a larger appropriation is a clear proof that the sums expended already have been well spent. This general law of depth and width applies to a mission just as it applies to a schoolboy. More books, and those of greater depth, better grade. A wider range of facilities and a more expensive system of defense. For in these days there is a double process in our foreign work, like that in Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah. It is not trowel only, or sword only, but both sword and trowel, and both must be paid for. It is perilous to sleep after we have aroused the enemy. The cost is the certain result of pushing on such a warfare. It is daily more absorbing and the demands more inexorable.
Mission work is generally conducted in departments, like the branches of a large business enterprise. In each of these we shall see the reasons that belong to that particular part of the work. These departments are six: viz., the evangelistic, educational, publication, medical, churchbuilding, and Sunday-school.
FIRST.-Evangelistio: The missionary is sent to preach the gospel to the poor. He makes a "tour" in the territory assigned to him. traveling at the smallest possible expense, and preaching in the villages. Such a tour is planned according to the work that must be done. It may be completed in less than a week, or it may require all the summer months. In each village the missionary talks with old friends, and draws about him some new friends. But when the trip is ended he hastens home, because much work of other kinds yet awaits him in his own place of residence. Notice how the system works. When the missionary sets out on the same tour again, three months or six months later, he is compelled to make it a little longer. Why? Because earnest entreaties are sent to him from villages not yet visited asking that he come to them also and preach. In each case he weighs the reasons, and is often obliged to decline. Time is precious, and he must hasten on. But yonder is a village only an hour's ride off his track, .and four men have come down beseeching him to give a day to their place. The fire is already kindled, and he deems it his duty to go. He is more than pleased, delighted, to find a real work of divJne grace going on in that village, and he stays two days instead of one, preaching to crowds in the coffee-shops and under the trees. But at length he leaves them, promising to come again, and such a promise must be kept. Thus each tour becomes a longer one than that preceding it, and the vital force of the missionary is taxed to the very limit of safety. In many cases he comes home after a month's tour so hoarse that it is a difficult matter for him to discharge common daily duties. In the meantime, as these trips to the villages become longer and more exacting, the other work of that station is neglected, so that matters get into confusion, and the next thing reported to headquarters will be that a new man is absolutely necessary if work is to be carried on at all. Thus the cost of the journeys is increased, and at the same time the local expense of each station is increased by reason of the absence of the man who makes the tour: For there are accounts to be kept, and books to be sold, and schools to be superintended, and candidates to be watched.
SECOND.-Educational: After work has been begun in any place, 'the kindling of a new flame is certain. A Protestant school must be started. And although the object is to keep expenses as low as possible, yet there will be some points of outlay in every instance. Even if the school should be from the beginning self-supporting in respect to tuition, there is the cost of sending a teacher to the place. And in some schools, as the high-schools for girls, and the theological schools for young men, a considerable part of the expense must always be borne by the mission. An increasing number of candidates for the ministry means increasing expense at every point-for instruction, for books, for postage, and innumerable miscellaneous items. If there be in any particular mission a bill rendered annually for the freight paid on books used, and if the number of pupils in those schools be increased ten per cent., will not that freight bill be somewhat larger?
The growth of a mission is like that of a child, not sudden, but certain: it will not be surprising, but it must be met.
THIRD.-Publication: No part of the work is more essential than this. If a soul has been saved, the work of Ohristian culture must begin, and a pure literature is absolutely a vital need. Standard religious works, such as "Pilgrim's Progress," are translated and sold (not given away), but the cost of the first publication is a large item, and every subsequent reprint involves some fresh outlay. For the book trade is not advanced in the Asiatic world to such a position that we can leave it to take care of itself. It must be fostered, and if a depot for Bibles be opened in any village, the rent of a little shop must be provided for. No money is wasted in experiments, but that which has been tried and found the very best is employed, and this arm of the service hail been greatly blessed. A modest weekly religious paper is of very great value for the cultivation of a living practical piety.
MIRA.CLES OF
FOURTH.-Medical,' If each medical missionary were sent out simply to practice medicine, as he would at home, he would then earn far, more than his salary, and so be a source of revenue to the board, instead of being an expense. But as a rule this would be a mistake in policy. For it would shut off the great mass of the popUlation from any advantage. It would be easy for an educated missionary physician to confine his labors to the wealthy portion of any people, and the men of rank are' willing to pay large fees for genuine skill. But in that case a serious loss of moral opportunities would ensue. The example of Christ himself is a better guide than modern financial policy. To go about like him "doing good" is the true wisdom of a physician on heathen ground. Much medicine is given free; many cases are treated without charge. Small hospitals are established, and sometimes the missionary in charge is able to earn enough to support his own hospital. . But as a whole, the medical branch of the work is an additional expense. And the reports of such an institution as the hospital at Aintab, Turkey, will abundantly justify both the hopes and the outlay that will be identified with such an undertaking.
It will require no argument to show in like manner that any progress in the fifth and the sixth of these departments must involve heavy cost. No church can be built at first by an unassisted native community. No large measure of success can be attained in Sunday-school work without some expense for the books circulated and the lesson helps provided.
If we believe that the expense of ploughing and of sowing is to be justified, then surely by all means we ought to provide for the expense of harvesting. If the church of God persevered in cherishing a lofty faith in His promise, when the doors of the kingdoms were ahut, shall we permit that faith to fail us in these days, when the angel' of God is leading us, and the heavy iron gates that lead to the cities are opening before us of their own accord?
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.-NO. V.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] THE ISLES OF THE SEA. NEW ZEALAND.
IN the South Pacific, east of Tasmania, nearly midway between the capes, Good Hope and Horn, is a curious inverted boot that from end to end would measure nearly 1,000 miles, and is cut in two just above the ancle. It is New Zealand. The physicalfeatures are very interesting: the 4,000 miles of sea coast, with some of the finest harbors in the world; the highlands, with the Pumice Hills, the volcano Tongariro, 6,000 feet high, and Mount Ruapahu, 3,000 feet higher, and others rising to a height of 14,000 feet; the 'forests so dense that beasts of prey
JOBA.OLES OJ!'
are not found and sound does not penetrate; the fine rivers and boiling lake of Rota Mahana.
But we wish to trace the early triumphs of the gospel among the Maoris or aborigines of these islands of the sea. Let us get an idea of the condition of the Maoris in the days when Europe first made their acquaintance and down to a comparatively recent date.
They li~ed in very contracted dwellings, not high enough to permit a man to stand upright in them and were unfurnished, showing no orderly arrangement. Their cooking utensils, a few stones. Polygamy had no limits but the ability of a man to procure wives; every household was a. little hell, with daily strifes and deadly hatred. Extreme barbarism prevailed, in fact the lowest type of savage life. New-born babes were left in neglect to cry themselves to death. When five days old, infants were sprinkled or dipped at a stream and named, while a priest mumbled a prayer to an unknown spirit, "May this child become brave and warlike," or perhaps, "cruel, adulterous, murderous." Stones were forced down the throat to make the heart hard and pitiless.
Tabu prevailed. It set apart men from all common approachno one dared visit or converse with a tabued person; death was the penalty for being found in a canoe on a tabued day, or for a woman to eat certain articles of food, even accidentally. Tattooing with chisels or fish bones, dipped in indelible dye, was quite universal, slow, painful and prostrating. Superstitions too absurd to be soberly recorded ruled the people. A pain in the back was treated by jumping and treading on the patient. Dreams and omens were regarded infallible. The issue of a war was determined in advance by setting up sticks to represent contestants and watching which were blown down. Jugglers were their oracles, and witchcraft was the dreaded foe, to defeat whose malign designs any innocent person was liable to the most cruel death.
The Maoris were the worst cannibals. They drank the blood of enemies as it flowed on the battle-field, and then feasted on their roasted remains. Their virtues were so few, and their vices so many and appalling, that not a few Christians doubted whether there was anything left worth saving, or possible to use as a basis for the gospel. They could scarce be called idolators, for they were so low sunk in barbarism that they had not even the invention to construct a god, and had no gods nor any objects of worship. Thunder they attributed to Atua, a great spirit whom they feared as author of all calamities. They believed him to come as a lizard and prey on the vitals of the sick, and hence incantations were used, and they threatened to burn or kill and eat the demon unless he should depart. They also believed in Wiro, the Satan of the Maoris. They were virtually atheists, or, at beat,
MIRACLES OF
devil-worshippers. They had a vague belief in a future state, but, of course, it was robed in gross and sensual conceptions. When a chief died, slaves were killed to wait on him, and widows sometimes put themselves to death to rejoin their husbands.
When, at Samuel Marsden's request, the Church Missionary Society sent out three laborers in 1814, they were met at first with curiosity, then distrust and hate. The task of acquiring the language was great, but it was next to impossible even then to get a hearing. The few who came, almost nude, or in fantastic dress, would rudely leave in the midst of the service, saying aloud: "That's a lie; let's go." .
When, in 1821, Samuel Leigh and other Wesleyan missionaries went to Wangaroa, the chief Jarra bade them welcome; but Mr. Leigh and his colleagues had some hints beforehand of J arra's treacherous nature. The sailors called him "George," and he had a notorious history. He was one of those who, twelve years before, had left Port Jackson for England with a few other Maoris. Oapt. Thompson found" George" mutinous; he rebelled, refused to work, claiming to be a chief's son, and was reduced to submission only by being whipped and half starved. He brooded over his punishment, and hatched a terrible revenge. He pretended to be penitent, and so gained the captain's confidence that he put up for repairs at Wangaroa-. Once ashore, George moved his father to vengeance. With great subtlety he induced the captain and crew to land, drew them into the woods, under pretence of selecting timber, then murdered them, and, in their clothes, went to the ship, assaulted all he could find, and plundered the vessel. But a sudden retribution ·was awaiting these murderers and plunderers. George's father set a powder keg on the lower deck, and amused himself trying the muskets, a large number of New Zealanders being on board. An accidental spark caused an explosion, which blew up the npper works of the ship and killed every Maori on board. Then the natives on shore set fire to the vessel and ate every survivor.
With such a record, Jarra was not likely to be trusted; and about six weeks after they landed he began to show his tiger teeth. He threatened to burn Mr. Turner's house and eat the missionary and his wife, simply to extort a present. Other like-minded chiefs harassed the missionaries by similar threats and outrages, but were kept at bay by the remarkable Ohristian coolness and fortitude of these brave souls.
The cannibalism of the Maoris has never been exceeded in atrocity. Mr. Turner found several chiefs rollicking by a fire. On turning toward the fire he saw a human being roasting between the logs. Sick at heart, he tried to warn them of the wrath of God, to preach to them the new law of love; but to what an audience I An English missionary, while on a cruise, touched at New Zealand for fresh food, fruit and vegetables. Of these he obtained a fresh supply, and was about leaving, when a chief asked him if he would like some flesh food. Says the missionary: "Thinking that doubtless they had hogs, I said yes. He gave a quick glance around him, as if he were looking for a messenger, and singled out and, called to a fine young lad, apparently about eighteen years of age. The boy came and stood before him; and before I knew what he was about to do, and having my back turned to him, looking at the fruit, etc., I heard the sound of a heavy blow, and looking quickly around, found the still quivering body of the boy laid at my feet, with the words: 'Hevi ano te kai ? ' (Is that blood sufficient for you ?) Horror-stricken, I denounced most bitterly the deed, and, leaving all the provisions behind on the ground, returned sorrowfully on board."
The natives were very indolent. The missionaries could get no help in building mission premises, and not until 1824 were the buildings completed. But where idleness prevailed, curiosity, its kindred vice, also existed, and this led the natives to send their children to learn to read, and so many of the young Maoris were taught the catechism and learned to pray and sing; and the same curiosity led the adults to go and hear what the missionaries had to say.
'1'he work looked hopeful; but despair came. A civil war became the occasion for acts of violence; the mission houses were burned, and it was a long time before quiet was restored and houses and fences rebuilt. Ohief" George" was taken very ill. The death of a Maori chief rings the tocsin of vengeance-the quarrels and grudges of his life are then settled. The natives insulted the missionaries, stole their goods, broke down their fences, and replied to expostulation only with new threats of worse violence. George gave ominous signs that if he should die the missionaries would be held accountable for the fatal explosion on board the Boyd, when so many Maoris were killed, as the God of the OhriOitians had caused that spark to leap from the gunlock to the powder keg. Of course, with such unreasoning and insane passions no argument was possible.
The women and children were sent away to a distance, and the missionaries lived for weeks in constant apprehension. George died, charging his followers to exact vengeance for 'his wrongs. The poultry of the missionaries was stolen, and some of it offered as a sacrifice to George's father. In January, 1827, the whole party of Wesleyan laborers were compelled to embark for New South Wales, after under- going numerous exposures and barely escaping with their lives from these treacherous and cruel savages.
To one of the New Zealand chiefs, however, their departure was a matter of great regret. He, Patuone by name, had" rubbed noses" with the missionaries, and was known to be very friendly to Europeans. From him, in October, 1827, came an invitation for the exiles to return. It was an irresistible Macedonian cry; and the whole, band, in the early part of the next year, landed on the north island and settled in Patuone's province.
Two years of fruitless labor passed by. Few would hear the message. The very chief whose letter had recalled them neither attended their place of worship nor gave them any encouragement. With the strange faith, seen nowhere so richly as among missionaries, they toiled and prayed, believing "that prayers and tears in Christ Jesus can accomplish anything." In 1830 there were manifestly more attendance and attention given to the truth. But the most powerful witness was that of the lives of these godly men and women. " Ye are the light of the world." Bunsen said to his English wife, when dying, "My dear, in thy face I have seen the eternal!" And these Maoris could not but see a tremendous contrast between themselves and the heroic and unselfish souls who were risking life itself for their sakes.
The first conversions startled the whole community. Tawai and Miti, two of their greatest warriors, openly declared their allegiance to the new captain of their salvation. God's Spirit was at work. Some came forty miles in canoes to hear the gospel, and, as in one day, multitudes turned to God. The natives overflowed the chapel, and the forests and hills became sanctuaries, where the Word was preached to attentive listeners. The missionaries could now travel far and wide only to find multitudes ready both to hear and heed the gospel.
When Mr. Leigh first came to Wangaroa there was no book written or printed. The missionaries no sooner learned to talk than they began to teach spelling and reading. They sent to England and had types cut, and books were printed in the Wangaroan dialect. 1840 was the golden year, when a new religious literature was introduced into New Zealand. Within two years the press printed 5,000 scripture lessons, 3,000 spellers and readers, 6,900 catechisms, etc. ; 13 regular stations were established, 4,000 boys and girls in schools, 3,300 church members were gathered into the fold. The demand for native New Testaments greatly exceeded the supply, though 15,000 copies had been printed.
It will be remembered that in 1809 the ship Boyd had been plundered and burned .by these cannibals, who devoured every survivor of the crew. Behold the contrast, and let who will dispute the miracles of missions! A shipwreck at Kaipara Heads cast over 200 persons naked and destitute on the shore. How were they received? With humane and Christian kindness. Not to be clubbed and roasted, but snugly housed and fed in Okaro, and not one farthing would these Maoris accept in return for their hospitality. On the shores of Christian England a nobler reception could not have been awaiting shipwrecked sailors!
Most wonderful of all, these New Zealanders felt that they must send the gospel, which had brought them such blessing, to the destitute about
EGYPT SMITTEN AND HEALED
them. A grand missionary meeting was called by the Okaroans. It was a three days' meeting. One whole day was consumed in addresses on missions, fifteen or sixteen of which were made by converted natives. No wonder if all eyes wept as these regenerated cannibals told of him who had saved them, and of their passion to tell of Jesus to the lost. Poor as they were they made an offering of sixty-five dollars-an average of about thirty cents for each attending native Ohristian !
The subsequent history of New Zealand was one of large and frequent outpourings of the Spirit. They sought to water others and were watered themselves. Hundreds were converted, new churches were organized, and new buildings erected in all peopled districts; native young men were trained and sent forth as evangelists, and the isles resounded with praise to God!
We have designed only to give the early history of the New Zealand missions; but in 1860 the Wesleyan Ohurch numbered 5,000, with 200 Sunday-schools, where 7~000 children were taught. Over 12,000 were regular attendants at worship. About one generation's life time, thirtythree years, had been spent by the Wesleyans in securing such results. No Ohristian land can present any parallel in the same space of time. Even skeptics stand in mute astonishment at the results wrought by Ohristian missions, constrained with Mr. Hume to acknowledge that these are things which their infidel philosophy cannot explain in the 'Christian life.
Mr. Darwin was not regarded as a Ohristian, but he had the greatest respect for good in Ohristianity, and was great enough to acknowledge it. This is the way in which he answered some shallow critics of foreign missionaries: "They forget or will not remember that human sacrifice and the power of an idolatrous priesthood; a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world; infanticide, a consequence of that system; bloody wars, where the conquerors spared neither women nor children-that all these thing-s have been abolished, and that dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by the introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to forget these things is a base ingratitude; for should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far."
What a fulfilment of prophecy! "The isles afar off that have not heard my fame neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the gentiles! "
EGYPT SMITTEN AND HEALED.
By ORAS. S. ROBINSON, D.D., NEW YORK.
[The Rev. Chas. S. Robinson, D.D., of this city, recently delivered a course of Sunday evening lectures to his people on Egypt, which attracted wide attention and were received with marked interest. Few persons have studied the subject more closely, or are better prepared to discourse or write upon it than he. Egypt figures prominently in the sacred writings, as well as in profane history. Egypt occupies a conspicuous place in prophecy. Egypt has indeed been" smitten" of the Lord as scarcely any other land has been; but Dr. Robinson brings out the particular prophecies which relate to her splendid future, and weaves into his familiar but finished lectures not a little of history, incidents of travel, and matters of missionary interest. These lectures have not been published, and we have arranged with him to give those bearing on the scope of this REVIEw-about six of them-in consecutive numbers. Our readers, we are confident, will be profited by them.-EDs.] The Persians have this proverb: "God's club makes no noise; when it strikes there is no cure for the blow." This is no Christian sentiment; it is heathen and hopeless. God does sometimes smite, but never with a club. His rule of dealing with his creatures he announces: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a . moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer."
So well known to spiritual believers is this fashion of his discipline that no one is surprised by the declaration contained in that passage concerning Egypt, which is familiar to all students of Isaiah's prophecies-the predictions and the history combined as they must be: "The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it : and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them." Egypt is to have a time of sorrow and smiting, so the prophet declares in this verse, but that is to be succeeded by the outpouring of blessing, and a new glory is coming upon the land. Has this in any measure become true? Certainly the discipline commenced years and years ago.
For one thing, the national integrity is vanishing. Oppressions are killing the soil and the people. Every traveler sees this the moment he becomes domesticated in anyone of the cities and looks about. Two visits, with five seasons between them, make manifest great changes which have occurred in the meantime. True oriental scenes can never be found now outside of Constantinople, or even distant Persia.
The experiences of our first day in Cairo were all so novel that my memory is hardly firm enough to range them in order here. I cannot give a connected description. of them. Grim and shadowy do all eastern outlines of things appear. Yet th~re is a decided sense of familiarity with the objects, and acquaintance with the people, which one feels he has carried over from his reminiscences of text-books in his childhood at school. You remember the pictures in the earliest geographies you ever studied, and here they are suddenly come out into reality and fact. The Nile river has erected banks for itself on either side; its level lies higher under the current than the district it runs through, .after each annual overflow; thus it rolls lazily along, muddy and solemn, pretty much as a canal might be expected to run, if at any time a freshet should render it excitable or antic. The edges of the embankment are of a dirty brown color, without any vegetation to speak of or even verdure upon their ridges. Bare and unattractive as these appear to a tourist, they are, nevertheless, in the absence of hills and forests, the only background for one entering a settled precinct, against which afar off shine the graceful minarets and towers of the city.
The train paused at the station, and immediately on alighting we seemed to be in a world of fantasy. The oddest and most picturesquely bewildering of the sights was the train itself-especially the third-class cars. These were crowded to suffocation with the aborigines belonging to the region, in all their motley costumes. The sides of the rather rough and box-like enclosures are high and close, and hence the small windows are placed on the level of the passengers' heads; thus a row of turbans alone appeared as the inmates sat while we tried to become acquainted with them from the platform. It looked like a collection of heads without shoulders, really, head-dresses without visible heads. And these were of hues so positively innumerable and of so amazingly brilliant and flaring display, as the colors of red, crimson, white, yel- low, and green, shook in the sunshine, and mingled with each other, that the entire thing seemed to me more like a crate, a gardener's market-wagon, or an animate conservatory of poppies and tulips on its travels, than like anything else my western eyes ever admired.
As we took our way to the hotel, the scene grew wilder still. A winding course with mysterious turnings carried us along thoroughfares narrow, crowded and offensive, filled with men and women gazing vacantly at the new-comers. One would imagine the inhabitants to be on a masquerade; for the habiliments are so showy, so gaudy in bold contrasts of dye, that it strikes one- as being impossible that he sees the living people in their ordinary dresses. Many of the females studi- ously conceal their faces; it was according to the ancient regime of modesty that all should do so; but this, I am prepared to say, is just an affectation now; the fear or shame of exposure hardly exists. For ladies of rank and fashion use only white gauze of the most preposter- ously transparent gossamer, which pretends to hide their features, but which, as they are very well aware, only sets-them off more finely, if one chooses to invoke their attention with an admiring stare. And the common women employ black muslin, which they twist most uncom- fortably across their countenances, but take any occasion comfortably to drop.
It is said by those who have been resident in the city that many of the customs are yielding more and more every year to the demands of the French, the Italians and the English, who frequent the place. An interesting account has just been published by an American mission- 11 ary: "Where ten years ago you saw one European costume you to-day see a hundred. Formerly, if a man heard another speak in a foreign tongue in Cairo, that tongue would be French; to-day it is English. In every street signs attract your attention to British goods, whether , dry' or 'wet.' I am sad to find so many bar-rooms; but I must say that I have seen but one intoxicated soldier among those thousands who have passed before my eyes in five weeks. Every afternoon, in Ismail Pasha's day, I saw chariots filled with the white-veiled ladies of the Khedival harem, and such vehicles were preceded by the swift-footed, picturesque-looking syces or heralds. To-day you might see English ladies driving in their pony phaetons, or riding out with their husbands, brothers, or friends, as quietly as if they were at Brighton or Saint Leonard's-by-the-sea." It is thus that the national integrity, the whole fabric of Egyptian individuality as a people, is yielding to outside pressure at every point, and ere long the oriental characteristics ' will disappear. The likelihood now is that a permanent protectorate, so-called, but in reality a constant absorbent force of occupation will be established; if so, the mastery of some European governments must greatly increase.
But note besides this disintegration of the nation by the arriving of new forces of disruption from without, there is also the unfortunate scourge of the climate, which has just begun to manifest changes most unexpected and peculiar. For ages those mummies, lately given to the world in the cave at Deir-el-Bahari, were preserved because the rains did not fall on the rocks beneath which they lay. Egypt was almost literally a land without showers. Now the skies have begun to arouse fears to which the Egyptian world has been an utter stranger. A wide illustration might be offered just here, but it serves my present purpose better to quote in full what the public prints are saying in a warning letter addressed to such as are seeking the Nile for health in the winter season. Some information may prove very valuable to all.
Under the sanction of high medical authority it is said that the prevalence of typhoid and other fQrms of malarial fever at Cairo within the last few years tends to complete the ruin. of the reputation of the Egyptian capital as a winter resort for invalids. The climate has been undergoing extensive and disadvantageous changes. Whereas, until 1878 at least, such a thing as rain was entirely unknown in that city, there is nowadays one perpetual and almost tropical downpour, commencing in November and lasting until March. Not only this, but two years ago there was actually a snowfall at Suez, on the shores of the Red Sea itself, which astounded and frightened the natives like a scourge.
Archooologists have reported that nowhere among the pictures already" copied in the illustrated volumes has there ever been found anything like an umbrella or portable shelter from showers, nor is any open gutter or eave-trough to be noticed in the ruins of ancient buildings. Evidently there was no expectation of rain, nOr any protection from it, in the plans of the architects of those olden times.
The atmospheric phenomena, which are often attributed to the existence of the Suez Canal, and of the Sweet Water Canal, are naturally causing a complete revolution in the construction of dwellings and the mode of life. The entire roofs have had to be rendered water-tight, as they are in the rest of the world. Fireplaces and stoves have already begun to make their appearance in the rooms, instead of the old-time open braziers. Even the unfortunate fellaheen are on the lookout for a material capable of resisting the weather better than the dried mud it has been hitherto traditional to use in putting up their pitiful huts.
Nor is this the worst; a much more serious result is found in an unmistakable increase of the unhealthiness of the larger towns. Cairo, as it now exists, is builded on the ruins of a dozen defunct cities, an older, and then an older town, belonging to the remote past, lying deeply sepulchred beneath the cellars and the streets. The present buildings are perched upon the summit of a sort of plateau, formed by some sixty feet of detritus of all kinds, and all unwholesome, as might be imagined. Potsherds, wicker-work cinders, scraps of metal, bits of tile, and no man can conjecture what else besides, constitute the substrata that underlie the city. And the roadways appear never to have had a sewer or a gutter for deliverance from the reek of men and beasts for ages.
As long as there was no regular fall of rain, no ill efi'eets had to be apprehended. The annual inundations of the Nile did not come up so high as the elevated towns. The waters were poured only on the depressed and arable plains. But now the heavy rain which drops day after day during the winter months eventually soaks through the terrible mass, and in fact renders it (so it is declared) nothing more nor less than a heap of wet garbage. Hence, in the warm nights, a dense mistiness of gray fog may be observed rising up from the ground, enveloping the city-this city, to which invalids are strangely sent for health!
Moreover, the moisture in conjunction with the detritus produces a sort of chemical liquor and acid vapor which saps and literally eats away the fouudations of the old buildings. In a few years the beautiful tombs of the Caliphs and Mamelukes, with all their delicate tracery and emblems of the most glorious period of Saracenie art, will have disappeared. It was high time for the wonderful providence of God now to interpose, and gather the inscriptions and the mummies for his use.
Thus is the Lord smiting Egypt; but he is going to heal Egypt in the better days to come. Signs of his turning are already to be found in thll>t desolate lll>nd ; they will come under our consideration next.
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES. By REV. CHAS. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER. MASS.
M. COILLARD, of the French Protestant Mission in South Africa, writes of the work in Africa: " Now at· never is the time for vigorous and sus- tained action. Let us be on our guard against a spasmodic zeal, subject to all the mutations of the passing caprice, as novelty may suggest. For you who give and pray, as well as for us who are at the breach, the work which is confided to us is eminently a work of patience, of perseverance and of faith j let us be ready to carry it forward through dangers however serious, disap- pointments however keen, as well as through sacrifices ho~evercostly. Let us recoil before nothing. The disasters of Dr. Holub's expedition, the mar- tyrdom of Bishop Hannington, that of a Wesleyan missionary and his wife on the west coast, the massacre of Count Porro and of M. and Madame Bar- ral, and other similar facts, clearly apprise us that it is not with impunity . that science, civilization and Christianity attack the Dark Continent, one of the principal fortresses of Satan." ___ M. COILLARD, who has gone to establish a mission on the Zambesi, writes: "The Zambesians do not know how to speak in public, nor to discuss affairs with the decorum of the Bassoutos j they love pleasantry, and among them no'One is safe from the stinging darts of mockery and sarcasm. It is hard to understand how people of so volatile a disposition can be so cruel. Alas! we cannot so much as take a walk without stumbling over some shattered skull, or some caleined fragments of human bones. Leivanika" [the king] "I'jhowed us the remnants of the fuel which but a little while since, only ten paces from here, had served to burn some sorcerers. Verily,' the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.' "
IN the Dan8k Mi88ions-Blad for April, Missionary Kofoed, of Southern India, writes: " I have often wondered that many at home suppose that these souls, gathered in from the lies and excesses of heathenism, are to be better Christians than people at home, reared in an atmosphere of civiliza- tion and domestic love, with good examples before them. No, this is not to be looked for j the higher fruits will only come with future generations. Even when baptized and weaned from devil worship, and all their other ear- lier follies of heathenism, yet their families, their friends and their fellow- laborers are so infinitely ignorant and degraded that we may be well content if, from one year to another, we are conscious of a step or two of moral advancement."
NOTWITHSTANDING the intense Protestantism of Denmark it appears that some Danish Christians grudge missionaries the joys of a family. Herr Kofoed writes: "Everything in this world must accommodate itself to facts. The notion of unmarried missionaries would never go down among the MalayaIee, for among them no man, be he white 01' black, dare speak to a woman, be she young or old, unless he is a married man."
THE Dansk Mi8sion8-Blad for April fills ten pages with a biographical sketch of Royal Gould Wilder. In it Denmark the land of sailors, and America, the land of mighty wielders of the axe, are thus incidentally con- trasted: "He who does not know how to pray should go to sea," says the proverb. The experience of Royal Wilder might have taught him to say, "He who does not know how to pray, should go into the woods;" for it was in the woods that he learned the art of praying.
THE Blad has lately given a statement of the missionary contributions of various countries proportionately to population and wealth. Denmark stands very low, but it mentions one" happy exception." This is the little town of Soeby, in upper Jutland, a place of about 1,550 inhabitants. In the Epiphany collection for foreign missions the people contributed in 1883, 181 crowns; in 1884, 384 crowns: in 1885, 452 crowns; in 1886, 571 crowns; in 1887, 81J2 crowns; and at the Epiphany offering for 1888, 1,370 crowns; besides many and liberal gifts on other occasions. The amounts are modest, answering to the probable wealth of the place, the last being $367.16. But the rapid growth shows how the cause has taken hold of hearts.
HERR JENSEN, writing in the Blad about hiring a house, incidentally mentions one of the thousand ways in which an influence radiates from a mission upon. heathenism: "The landlord was glad to secure a European family as tenants. As I am also a missionary, he knew that he should have no trouble about the regular receipt of his rent."
THE mild summer climate and many quiet beauties of Denmal'k make the change from that to the terrible heat of Southern India a self-denial greater than we, accustomed to fiercer extremes than our kinsmen of the Olde:;t England, can altogether appreciate, though for all of us it would be sufficiently felt. I have made the following extract from Mr. Jensen's letter or considerable length, as giving us an insight into the unappeasable longing with which those who go from such a home to the torrid fierceness of Lower Hindustan have to contend: ,. Though only May, we have it in the house night and day, 86°. Our little son, four years old, will often throw himself despairingly on the floor, exclaiming, '0 mother, this country is too warm, too warm; can't we go into the great ship again and sail home to Denmark?' In the morning we find no application of our Danish hymn, 'Renewed in strength by nightly rest.' The power of the hot, scorching wind is the same day and night. The water-caraffe is our constant resort. Yet we are thankfulfor general health. But we cannot help thinking how, when nature is the most withering upon us, she is opening into her fullest loveliness in Denmark. This very day letters were received from home, and all spoke of the spring, of the beeches that were ready to leave out, of wood anemones and violets, of gardens filled with Easter lilies, crocuses, hyacinths, and all the other delicate and gracious flowers which are now covering the Danish land. Nor did the letters merely speak of them; for in one there were violets, in another tender beech leaves, blue and white violets. We are fresh from seeing all this; how living it all becomes on the receipt of such letters. Involuntarily we exclaim: , The Pentecostal feast does natnre keep In robes of flowery magnificence.'
Ah I how lovely is Denmark I "
THE Missions-Blad, in answer to the contemptuous disparagement of mIssions which seems to be much more common in Denmark than it now is with us, though common enough here, subjoins: "But after all, we must not make out that worldly men are wholly in the wrong. 2,000,000 converted heathen I how few compared with 1,000,000,000 unconverted heathen! 2,700 missionaries for this thousand millions, how few! It is as if five clergymen set out to Christianize our Denmark. 27,000,000 crowns annually, how little, when Germany alone, every year, exports some 15,000,000 crowns' worth of brandy and powder to Africa. Ofithese 27,000,000, England alone gives 18,000,000. America, Germany, Holland, France, and our Scandinavia give the rest, and how little after all! And even England's missionary munificence is less than she spends in three days for wine, ale and brandy. And yet let us not lift ourselves up against her. The missionary contributions from our native country amount at most to $21,440, two-thirds of what we spend in one day for intoxicating drinks."
THE comparison of various countries as to their contributions of money and men to the foreign missionary work, published in the Blad, is as follows: Missionaries (male and female) to every 100,000 of the population: England, 48/ 10 ; France, 4'/,., Switzerland, 2"/10; the Netherlands, 2'/10; Germany, 18/ 10 ; Norway and North America, 1'/10; Sweden,~8/,o; Denmark, 6/10' This estimate includeil, we see, both Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries, of which France furnishes the most and the best.
Money, contributed pel' head of the whole population: England, 60 ore; France, 39; Switzerland, 19; the Netherlands, 179/ 10 ; North America, 15'/10; The ore is a money Norway, 9'/10; Germany, 9; Denmark, 4; Sweden, 19 10, / of account, worth 0.268 of a cent. We must remember that most of the work of church-building IS regarded in Burope as complete, and that of our vast home missionary work at the West they have nothing. The exactness of this estimate it is difficult to test completely.
THREE hundred years ago some Roman Catholic missionaries made a flying visit to the Caroline Islands. On the strength of this the" Missionsblaetter" (quoted in the Allgemeine Missionszeitschrijt) makes the following statement: "No other nation than the Spanish has brought the light of the gospel to the Caroline Islands, and what we know of the natives and their ways is derived only from the 'Catholic'missionaries." This is putting a good front upon it. But the conclusion is still more astounding: "It is, therefore, evident that the right of Spain is beyond dispute." The writer goes on to declare that of all rights to the sovereignty of a barbarous country none can be compared in cogency with the right inuring from having been the first to send the gospel to them. Of course, then, since Rome first sent the gospel to England, not only does the spiritual, but the immediate and plenary temporal sovereignty over England, and over America, as descended from her, appertain to the Pope. No doubt this course of reasoning would be quite satisfactory at Rome. The Zeitschrijt pertinently inquires; to what Roman Catholic nation Rome attributes the sovereignty of China, and to what one the sovereignty of Japan. Or are these two nations exempted as not being barbarous? One protest must be lodged before Leo XIII. is installed in Windsor Castle, namely, that the archiepiscopal province of York was converted by the Irish, and ought, therefore, to be governed from Dublin, not from Rome, which two powers at present seem not quite coincident.
The Zeitschrijt concludes its comments on this astounding doctrine thus: , "In brief: it is a most flagrant outrage against Christian Missions, aD;d against the peoples, among whom they are carried on, to deduce from the diffusion of the gospel a 'right' to the assumption of colonial sovereignty. This is in a measure intelligible as done by politicians; but it is doubly, nay, tenfold, to be deplored, when done by the man before whom the jubilee rites of apotheosis have burned incense as the' light from heaven,' as the 'kingly highpriest of mankind.' " MR. THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON has disparaged Christian missions as being, from his point of view. merely an endeavor "to render the condition of barbarians a little more comfortable." It is true that his point of view would never have evoked foreign missions. Yet even from his point of view it seems to be an exaggerated disparagement which so describes, for instance, the Zenana mission. This is one of the thousap.d cruelties which it is gradually helping to abolish. "A female missionary physician is summoned to a Zenana patient down with the smallpox. The young woman lay in a little chamber into which no ray of light and no breath of air could penetrate. It was in the very middle of the hot season in Upper India, and yet there stood a dish with burning wood coals right under the bed of the patient, who lay in a burning fever, tormented with devouring thirst! But not a drop of water had anyone been allowed to give her. She died, and her clothes were -given to her attendant, a woman of lower caste, who took them home. At once the disease was propagated throughout this part of the city, where it raged fatally for weeks."
IN South Africa there is among the whites a great deal of contemptuous hatred of the Caffirs, and disposition to believe them incapable of either intellectual or moral improvement. Various travelers take occasion of this to discredit the missionary work. In answer to such opinions Mr. Charles Brownlee, who lately, on retiring from the office of Minister for the Aborigines, was granted by the Cape Parliament his whole salary as retiring pension, entirely without precedent, as a mark of esteem, says: "I once asked a heathen who complained that some goats of his were concealed in a mission station by the Christian natives, whether in fifty years he, a great man and privy cOUnCillOl", had ever known a Christian Caffir convicted of theft. He owned he had not. Had he ever known cattle-tracks traced to a mission station?" No." That is saying a good deal for a people among whom cattle-stealing seems to be the principal crime. Again:" In one of the wars 3,000 Christian militia-men camped for two years on Brownlee's station, and during this whole time it was never needful to station a single policeman there." Particular umbrage is taken that the Goverment makes grants to the mission academy of Lovedale. It is declared that the scholars, once dismissed, forthwith revert to heathenism, grease and red ochre. Mr. Brownlee says: "Baron von Hubner makes much of it that out of 2,058 scholars 15 are lmown to have reverted to heathenism. Fifteen I" "The question, says he, has been proposed: Where are the young people trained in Lovedale, and what is now their occupation? Again I refer to 'Lovedale past and present' from which I find that four have gone as missionaries to Livingstonia, of whom two have died. We find them str€wn over Natal to the farthest 'end of the Transvaal Republic, in Mashona, Bechuana, Basuto and PondoJand, and over the whole of the Cape Colony, employed as pastors, evangelists, teachers, mechanics, as policemen, justices, interpreters and clerks in the service of the Government, and of merchants and lawyers, while the greater part stay at home honestly earning their living. The most of them-excepting the fifteen returned to heathenism-exercise a wholesome influence among their countrymen, requiting the Government double and treble for the support which it has contributed out of the public funds toward their instruction."
THE Journat des Missions Evangeliques for April reports a. remarkable awakening among the pagans in the district of Thaba-Bossiore, in the Bassuto country. At the main station 110 have lately been en-
THE ADVANCE GUARD OF MISSIONS
rolled as catechumens, making the full number 210. At an out station 15 have been enrolled. At Morija 373 have been enrolled during 1887. Seven hundred at Morija have been enrolled as "desiring conversion," but not yet admitted as. catechumens. The remark is made that the churches as yet remain strangely cold, compared with the rising fervor outside. M. Jacotiet says: "Most of the converts received by me showed an .individual physiognomy of conversion, which, as all my colleagues will assure you, is by no means the most usual fact." One old woman baptized was over a hundred. At Morija "we had," says M. Mabille, "a communion service, peaceable and solemn, in the open air. Nearly or quite 600 persons approached the Lord's table."
"But all is not beautiful and satisfying. In the midst of our joys we have had the deep sorrow of learning of the shameful fall of one of our evangelists not yet a year in the service. Here, as of old, there is no lack of Pagan enemies of the Lord to blaspheme."
THE ADVANCE. GUARD OF MISSIONS.
By JOSEPH COOK.
"BECAUSE I do not believe in a Probation for men after death, therefore do I believe in sending the Gospel to all men before death I" Like a pillar of fire should we be guided by that definitive declaration that we shall be judged" according to the deeds done in the body." We know nothing about another opportunity for men in an "intermediate state," therefore will we send missionaries to them in our present state. In Pagan, as in Christian lands, now and always, our peace with God depends upon our similarity to God, hating what he hates, loving what he loves, and, everywhere and always, is there a deadly dissimilarity to God; and a dissimilarity which tends to permanence of character. Over all the world is it equally true of every man and woman that to be happy there must be salvation from that sin which is true, alas, of everyone. If I possess a Christ who alone can save from sin, and from the inevitable, invariable consequence of sin, my responsibility toward other men is simply immeasurable. Science teaches this. Nature prompts to it. Common sense ratifies it. Three hundred millions of women hold the Buddhist belief, as it is held of them, that they will reappear on earth after death as bugs and all manner of vermin; unless, indeed, they are extraordinarily good, in which case they will be born again, this time as men. The money we give to send the Gospel to these, our yearly contributions to missions, will not pay the liquor bills of the United States for three days; will not pay for the spirits drunk in the British Islands during two days I Protestants give ten millions of dollars annually to evangelize the heathen. What is ten millions in comparison to what we could do? Some one has said that this nineteenth century will seem to those coming after us an amusing century, and nothing in it will amuse our posterity more than our absurd conceit that we are doing great things for the world. It is because we have so slight a conception of the visible need of the heathen. Out of the sixty-three millions of Bengal, ten millions so utterly depend upon the current harvest that for it to fail is for them to perish; thirteen millions more do not know, except while the mangoes are ripe, what it is, the year around, to have a full stomach. In China sixty dollars a year is wealth beyond the reach of myriads. In India many a million of men has to support life, each man on less than *15 a year, multitudes of widows supporting existence on a dollar a month.
WHAT IS SUCCESS?
Their bodily poverty is but a type of their spiritual penury. If they live as upon the extreme edge in temporal, how much more in spiritual things! The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions is decidedly in the lead of every other missionary association. In this, for instance, that they require their mission churches to be self-sustaining, laying it down as law that every convert should give a tenth of his income to the Lord, in which they differ from other boards. If they are charged at home with being extravagant of expenditure, everywhere in heathendom the reproach is that they are too close-fisted. The missionaries of other boards are rich in comparison to theirs, have better accommodations for guests, larger, handsomer, better adapted church buildings and school-houses. Bombay is the second most populous city in the British dominions, and at a large gathering there of missionaries it was voted, seven out of ten, that the policy of the A. B. C. F. M. in devolving the churches upon native support, is right; and everywhere in my travels around the globe I found this to be the conviction of native converts themselves-a converted Brahmin urging this view with great force upon the Bombay people. There is this difference, that Christianity is being embraced by people of the middle classes in Japan, while in China and India its suocesses are rather with the lower classes, as was true of the world at large when the gospel was first preached. There is not now one ordained missionary for a million heathen; surely there should be atleast one for every fifty thousand. Remember that the population of the world is increasing at a more rapid rate than the increase of missionary effort. It oug~t to be the law of every Christian in the world: "For every five dollars I expend upon myself I will give one dollar to the spread of the gospel." Because, bear in mind if we send the heathen the gospel, we are sending them also an English, German, American Infidelity. which is more bitterly hostile to Christ than is heathenism. What with hereditary and imported belief there, it is essential we should send as missionaries our ablest men. The longer we delay, the harder the work to be done. The more penurious we are now, the heavier will oe our expenses in Pagan lands hereafter. In the last lines written by Longfellow he expresses this sentiment: "The day is breaking everywhere, and God deliver us from dawdling at the dawn of such a day!"
WHAT IS SUCCESS?
SINCE writing the brief article on George Bowen for the June number of this REVIEW, I have been made acquainted with his own thoughts in regard to his lack of direct success in winning souls, during his long missionary ministry. It was a great sorrow to him. It weighed heavily upon his heaq all through his life in India. In a letter written not long before his death and shortly after the fall which fractured his thigh, alluding to this apparent failure, he said: "Compared to the great trial which has followed me for forty years, this physical disability is a very small thing to bear."
This is certainly suggestive. The Lord measures success in a different way from man. The greatest of the prophets threw himself under the juniper tree, bewailing the utter failure of his life, and requesting for himself only that he might die. How pathetic was the career of Jeremiah. When a mere youth called to confront the desperate depravity of a whole generation, king, priest and people against him, with never a ray of hope thrown upon the future of his ministry. Dying in Egypt without a convert! Yet the influence of these two old heroes will never die out of the world. Many
MISSIONS FOR MILLIONS
a man is never so influential as after he is dead; dying prematurely, perhaps, like Abel, but like him, though dead, still speaking.
Foreign missions afford many illustrations of such ways of God. Samuel J. Mills was buried in the ocean when his work for the heathen was only in anticipation. Harriett Newell, at nineteen years of age, died when her lips had hardly been taught a heathen syllable. Yet their brief lives are still great living forces in the work of foreign missions. David Brainerd's brief and marvelous work among the Indians won perhaps seventy heathen souls to Christ. Of the subsequent lives of these converted Indians, or their de- scendants, who can speak? But the short life of Brainerd is among the richest treasures of the Church. When he was dead he became at once a greater power than when he was alive. So he continues to be, and so he will be so long as his memoirs live in missionary annals. Good and great men and women are usually greater powers after dea.th than during life. They wait for the last of earth before the men of the earth know how great and good they were; then they begin really to live.
Among such as these, undoubtedly, Bowen will have his place. Filled with the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the mount with God, while yet among men, exerting a widening influence for Christ and holiness through India, his name will not die out of mission records; and he, too, will henceforth be greater after death than he was during life.
MADISON, N. J. ROBERT AIKMAN.
MISSIONS FOR MILLIONS.* By REV. IRA G. Ross, NEW YORK.
Air-" Marching Thruugh Georgia," arranged.
1. HARK, the sound of bugle calls from Zion's mission bands, Raise a song triumphantly o'er earth's sin-darkened lands; Legions now are speeding forth to do their Lord's commands, Planting the missions for millions. CHORUS. Hosanna! Hosanna ! We'll bring the jubilee! Hosanna! Hosanna! The Lord hath made us free! So we'll sing redemption songs o'er ev'ry land and sea, Planting the missions for millions.
2. See the gleaming signals are now flashing from on high, Watch the fiery pillar's light appearing in the sky; Forward march with fearless mien though hosts of Hell defy, Planting the missions for millions.
3. Rally at the battle cry, ye soldiers of our King, Let each church her quota full of men and money bring; Deeds of love and courage high in endless chorus sing, Planting the missions for millions.
4. Doors of hermit nations now unhinged are tumbling fast, Towering wall and buttress fall at blare of trumpet blast; Vain is heathen rage or boast, we'll crown our King at last, Planting the missions for millions.
5. Quick! the crisis-hour has come: then forward all the line, Dare not flinch or falter now, a failure would be crime; Jeweled crowns for victors wait that shall the stars outshine, Planting the missions for millions.
* Missionary Song Leaflet No.1. Copyrighted by Funk & Wagnalls.
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK
H.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian at NewcastIe-on-Tyne, 1888, shows Ohurch of England.. progress. The mission of this church holds a prominent, place among the THE work of this Society is carried various missionary bodies in China. on in China and India. The report for 1887, presented to the Synod STATISTICS OF THE MISSION FOR THE YEAR 1887.
,; '.". ~…., .~….'S~co…" ~…. ,; ~ C;; ~~l .; .. ….';"="l .1l aa","Q", 8 ,; CI A'" .S '8 .S :'"."a… g~ ,Q …;.. A'" ,:'Q.'a"" i'."", '" B ,~Q" aa" '""''i""""il' s.~~ 1sol O'"J ~ '".'".".. ,Q ~ CENTEBS. .., "g ~~ 0 r"n ~ "'"" ~.; ".: ~'" ·'s" ,Q !3 ",,,, OJ .."s ~ "" "at: ,Q~ ·!"a"a..:0.I..cw.0..o… '."… -$a~':"""a '" '"~ .~.p:.s .~ .s 0 s~ .''..""0.. '; 0" 0"" ~ C) Eo< 0 ~ ~","Q'.''~' ~ ~ ~"" 0 …. ~.~ 0 :=;! 0 Eo< – — – – – – — — — Amoy …………………… 822 56 15 21 3 5 5 14 893 69 587 36 1,516 – Swatow…………………. 942 54 7 2 8 31 4 962 47 371 80 1,413 Hak·ka …………………. 211 16 3 2 2 6 2 1 225 12 86 36 347 – Formosa· ………………. 1,317 79 – 1 11 27 33 1,348 87 937 119 2,404 – Singapore ………………. 105 9 – 20 4 7 19 100 7 43 7 150 – — — – – – – — — — Totals ………………. 3,397 214 25 44 18 50 78 33 3,528 222 2,024 278 5,830 .. * In revIsmg the Formosa r.olls, a mIstake has been discovered in the statistics for 1887 and for Bome previous years, and conseqnently there is a discrepancy between the number returned then and now. JrceiPts of the year from all source~ …………………………………………… £13,769 17 4 xpenses.. .. .. .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. . .. . .. . . .. .. .. • .. .. • .. ………. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. …. 13,473 19 2 B~ance in bank.. . .. .. .. .. .. .. • .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. • .. .. .. … …………………… £295 18 2 WOMEN'S MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
JrceiPta for 1887………………………………………………………………. £2,777142 xpenses.. • .. .. .. .. . .. .. . . .. . . • . .. .. • . . . • . …. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. .. . . .. • … .. ……. … 2,009 18 1 Baptist Missionary Society (English), support – these and kindred facts surely give promise and pledge of THE ninety-sixth annual report, far wider conquest, and of the combearing date May 1, 1888, furnishes ing of that glad time when the evidence that this venerable society Saviour shall subdue all things unto is prosecuting its great work with himself, and the kingdoms of this ever-increasing zeal and vigor. Its world shall become the kingdoms of missions are planted in almost every our God and of his Christ." part of the broad mission field. The Committee report" continuous pro- "The balance sheet for the year gress, a larger number of conversions just closed exhibits a debt of £5,859 than for many years past, a wide- 9s. 7d. It is, however, matter for spread spirit of inquiry, a growing thankfulness that this deficiency is desire for copies of the Scriptures not due to any falling off in receipts, and Christian books, and the develop- but to a considerable increase of exment of the native Christian church penditure. The total ordinary rein aggressive earnestness and self- ceipts for the year just closed show an increase of £2,938 5s. Sd. upon Ba.ptist Sta.te Oonvention of North Oarothose of the year previous, the actual lina. figures being: THEFifty~seventh Annual Meeting 1887-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . … £61,341 5 1 was held in Durham, N. C., Nov. 16- 1886-7…………… …….. 58,402 19 5 20, 1887. The report was highly en- couraging. Increase 1887-8………. £2,988 5 8 FOREIGN MISSIONS. "In addition to this increase of £2,938 5s. 8d., £2,385 2s. 8d. has been We give the following summary: contributed for the extinction of the debt of 1886-7. Brazil-Missiouaries (native and foreign), 14; "The contributions for general churches and stations, 6; baptisms, 30; mempurposes, as compared with the year before, show an advance of £863 bers,I75. ' 9s. lld., the figures being: Mexico-Missionaries, 17; churches and sta- 1887-8………………… '" £43,625 18 1 tions, 21 ; baptisms, 100 ; members, 350; contri- – – – – – – 1886-7.. . . … .. .. . . .. . . .. . .. •.. 42,762 6 2 butions, $823. Increase 1887-8…. . . .. . . £863 11 11 Italy-Missionaries, 15 ; churches and stations, " The special gifts for the Congo Mission also exhibit an increase of 14; members, 306; baptisms, 26. £9884s. 7d., and the Calcutta Press profits and gain on exchange are also Mrica-Missionaries, 16; baptisms, 26 ; memin advance of . the year before by £1,08419s. 4d. bers, 138.
"While, however, the receipts have China-Missionaries, 54; churches and stakept in advance, the expenditure exhibits a much larger increase, the tions, 24; baptisms, 46; members, 677; COnfigures being: tributions, $699; besides a chapel built at 1887-8…………………… £67,208 14 8 1886-7…. ……. …………. 62,576 4 6 Shanghai by Deacon Wong, costing about $1,000.
Our Foreign Missionaries are 58; of whom 2{ are ministers and 34 ladies. The baptisms for one year were 238, and the contributions In mission fields, $3.012.61.
The receipts of the Foreign Mission Board were 187,830.53, the largest in its history. Of this amount North Carolina contributed $7,942.- 34. The amount contributed in this Convention during the year ending November 10, 1887, is $6,428.53.
Increase 1887-8………. £4,624 10 2 Wesleya.n Mission. in the Mysore Prov- mee. "The large deficiency is mainly due to the Congo Mission, the Forty – ninth report for the year amount charged to the account of 1887. 1886-7 having been only £5,820 8s. 3d., and for 1887-8 £9,955 9s. 5d.-an ap- " The past year has been distinctly parent increase of £4,135 Is. 2d.; one of encouragement. There has although as explained before, the been no great spasmodic outburst of real increase is only £2,192 Os. 5d., power, but there have been everythe balance in hand of the Congo where 'signs following.' In the re- Fire Fu.od(£1,943 Os. 9d.) having been ports of the various departments we credited to the previous year's ac- find reason for praise and hope. To count, as fully set forth in the bal- the country generally the year has ance sheet for 1886-7. brought prosperity. The rains were ample and timely; the crops have "With regard to the debt of been sufficient; no severe epidemic £5,859 5s. 7d., the Committee are has visited us, and the people have thankful to report that they have been comfortable. and contented. received intimation of certain lega- This state of things has found its pacies which, by the special direction rallel in the Mission. Our workers of the legators, are not to be added have, almost without exception, been to the Legacy Reserve Fund, but de- able to sustain thsir industry uninvoted to expenditure, which will terrupted; our members have been probably be sufficient to extinguish generally freed from pressinganxiety, the present burden." and in God's mercy all outward circumstances have been fairly favor- NOTE.-In this account are not included the able to the progress of our work." salaries of the missionaries, as these are paid directly to them by the treasurer of the Execu- In connection with the English churches in tive Committee. Bangalore, there has been gracious spiritual quickening aud accessions. Sixty-nine mem- Expenditnres in America, October 18, 1886 to bers were added to the nativechurches making August 26, 1887: 844 in all. There has been great advance finan- Drafts (salaries of missionaries). ….. $4,273 33 cially. English schools are growing in importance and influence. The need of additional " (general expenses).. . . .•. . . .. . . . 3,900 00 fnnds is keenly felt. Interest on loan…………………. 116 00 Mrs. L. V. Artman, on account. . •. . . . 50 00 TA"BULAB. VIEW OF MISSIONS IN THIS Salary of agent. . . . . . . ••. . •••. . .. . . . . . 75 00 Three copies of Missionary Review DISTRICT. Number of cbapels, 19; number of other and Mission Zeitschrijt ……… . 1410 preaching places, 21 ; catechists, 33; day-school Printing Cent Collection Books . …..•. 12 00 teachers, 327 ; Sabbath-school teachers, 91 ; lo- Type for printing office in India……• 2400 cal preachers, 39; number of full church mem- The Artman Memorial. ………….. . 29000 bers, 990; on probation, 101; number of Sab- Error …………………………. . 3780 bath-schools, 26 ; number of scholars, 982; number of day-schools, 117; number of scholars, Total expenditures. . . . . •. . . . . . . .. $8,792 23 7,929; total number. deducting those who at- Leaving a pretty heavy indebtedness. tend both Sabbath and week-day schools, 8,038; attendants on public worship, 2,983. Oounoil of the United Missions in Japan. Total amount of receipts, 27,819 reals. Eleventh annual report, presented Geueral Oounoil of the Evangelioal at the annual meeting, January 21, Lutheran Ohuroh, 1888 : Annual report at its meeting, Sep- CHURCH STA.TISTICS. tember 8, 1887 : Eight churches have been added to our list All our missionaries have been at work in the since the last report, making a total of fifty-eight field during the past year. churches connected with the United Church of Receipts in India from July I, 1886, Christ in Japan. During the year 1,688 adults and 199 children have been baptized. The total to June 80, 1887. . . . . . . . . . . •. •. . .. $4,903 23 church membership is 6,859. The contributions Total expenditures in India.. •. ••••••• 4,918 8l for Christian work amount to 18,553,832 yen, the equivalent of about $14,250 U. S. gold.
STATISTICAL TABLE.
e;. '" PBESBYTERIES !:l~ BAPTISMS IN MEMBERSHIP, ~ .; CZi!>il~• A>: AliD 18117. OCTOBER, 1887. Ol .; 'z" 0'" 11<"" ~ Ii! .; "… …,. .. CHUBClIES. IQ Ol 0<'lri' >:> p>.:>. ~'~" Z E< ~ E< <Xl:oIOl ~ ~ ~ '" "" ~ Oll'l fo1 A;~'" ~ ,~g c:i c:i c:i f9 -<l – 1 – – – – – – – – – – – —- — – SUMMABY.Ol:>1~-""'-l E< 0 .; S" :::I ~ II< ,.;l o – Z i~!l -~<l=0l <'l ,.;lO 0 E< ~'" 0-'" E-< ~ ~ IQE< >:> :01 ~O -:>1- ~ ~ 0 >:> 0 E-< 0 ~:>1 Z ,E-< Daiichi, To"kyo.. …. 21 2,882 704 77 781 1,491 1,089 371 2,951 9,115.385 12 2 5 Daini, 17 1,526 228 20 248 939 651 257 1,847 5,437.373 10 3 7 Chinzei. .••…… 7 449 80 18 98 223 180 132 535 523.590 4 1 7 8.4. 463 428 337 1.3. 3 898 1,286.314 205 297 439 189 628 2,191.170 Naniwa ………. 7 464 379 6- 2 5 Miyaga……….. S 331 297 – – – – – – – – – – – – — – – – 1199 Grand Totals .. 58 5,152 1,688 1,887 3,520 2,446 893 6,859 18,553.832 4834 8 29 AustraliaIl Wesleyan Missionary Sooiety. ers 2,659; local preachers 2,100; class leaders 3,761; full members 39,546; on trial 4,647 ; cate- The expenses of the Society for 1885 was £11,- chumens 11,888; communicants 20; deaths 1,156; 479 4s. 5d. Deficiency for the year, £593, 168. 1d. Sabbath-schools 1,584; Sabbath-school teachers Receipts for 1886, £11, 632 7s. 10d. Total expen- 2,812; scholars 44,840 ; day schools 1,887 ; scholditure, £12,,403 Os. 8d. Deficiency, £770 12s. lCd. ars 43,900; attendants on public worship 110,242. The deficiency in both years was paid out of the special grant fund. The work of the society is carried on in five districts: Samoa, Fiji, New SUMMABY OF GENERAL EETlffiNS. Britain, Chinese Mission in Victoria, Nnmber of churches 973; other preaching and Chinese Mission in New South places 432'1 missionaries 17; native ministers Wales. 62; catechists 66 ; teachers 1.079; school-teach- Bethlehem Hospital. station where missionaries can tarry and learn languages. Here they have 155 head We are indebted to Dr. George H. of horned cattle as mission property. (. Savage of London for his succinct Pungo Andongo is 39 miles farther on a· and valuable report as Medical Super- mountain elevation. 5. Malange is 60 miles intendent of Bethlehem Hospital. further along the same path. .. On each side There have been 560 cases treated the of this path is a continuous grave-yard 150 past year, and the number of in- miles long. The hundreds of thousands of mates at the close of 1887 was 246. slaves sold in Loanda for two hundred years There were 32 discharged improved trod this weary way amid tears and blood… and 139 recovered. Over thirty came as voluntary boarders, recognizing The objective point of this line of stations their peril on the borders of lunacy. is the Tushilange country some 1,200 miles Women are willing to sew, read and from the coast. It may be reached along paint, but men are not disposed to do Pogge and Weismann's route, and Dr. Summuch. There are 49 paying patients. mers, one of Bishop Taylor's missionaries, Heredity, anxiety and parturition has already arrived there. But it may also lead in causes. There are more be reached by going up the Congo river and unmarried than married, and the thence by the Kasai river. average a,ge of admission is 36. Most of the patients are of good education. Bishop Taylor started to reach the Tushi- Clerks and governesses form a large lange country by this Congo-Kasai routeand number. has established several stations on the Congo, and has a steam yacht in process of This hospital has a history of more transportation around Stanley Falls, for use than six centuries. Hogarth's "Rake's on the Upper Congo and Kasal. The Bishop Progress" and Shaksspeare's "King makes a very interesting statement of Afri- Lear" picture the condition of thfl can hospitality as bearing on Moslem propalunatics of Bedlam. An order of gandism, and which is equally available for monks, named "Star of Bethlehem," self-supporting Christian evangelism. He had care of the insane in olden time, says: and wore a star on their mantles as a badge. .. The king, chief or head man of each town, assisted by his wives, clears and sows Bishop William Taylor's Report. or plants a field each year for strangers. All Bishop Taylor made his Quadren- the products of that field are kept for strangers, except what may be used for the nial Report to the General Confer- chief'S head wife who has charge of it. When a stranger enters the town he goes ence of the Methodist Episcopal directly to the king, chief or head man and Church on May 12th. He says: shows himself and tells what he came for. If the king or head man is satisfied he replies, .. The productive iuterests of Liberia are 'I receive you.' Soon he will be shown into fairly prosperous. Within ten miles of Mon- one of the best houses in the town, to use as rovia, up St. Paul's River, there are ten his own indefinitely, and he not only gets his steam sugar-cane crushing mills, and during daily rations from the supply for strangers, the past year more than 600,000 pounds of but it is daily prepared for him and brought coffee have been exported from Monrovia. to him. In opening stations on the West The Bishop had superintended the regular Coast of Africa among native savage tribes work in the Liberia Conference and estab- they thus provided for me and those who lished self-supporting missions on the Ca- were with me the best houses they had, and valla River. brought thrice per day boiled rice, palm but- ter, fried chicken, good kid soup, etc. They He has made a beginning in the Congore- are good cooks, and can make more out of a gion, and Angola south of the Congo river; little than the cooks of any other country. in all 36 new stations have been opened by In every place we found it difficult to get him. with 32 mission houses, built at a cost away from their hospitality, and such peoof £20,000 and all are free from debt. The ple never begged us for a cent; but when stations in Angola are, 1. St. Paul de Lo- our people went to take possession of the anda, with a self-supporting school. 2. houses built for them, and took with them Dando, 240 miles distant from Loanda, with needed supplies-boat-Ioads of trunks, boxes, a self-supporting school also. 3. Nhangue- bales, etc., such a profusion of stores the pepo, ~ 51 miles farther inland, a receiving- natives never saw before. Their meager supplies were kept out of sight, their cupid- ity was excited, and quickly a large propor- tion of them were perverted from benefac- tors to beggars."
The Bishop says the Moslem teachers avail
CORRESPONDENOE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. [JULY
themselves of this hospitality, and their As to his organizing a missionary society heralds have consequently overrun the separate from that of the regular missionary northern half and a large part of eastern society of his church, the Bishop says it Africa. .. From the days of Moses," the was necessary, because his methods were so Bishop says, .. or earlier, the provision for diverse from their's that to try to manage the reception and support of strangers has the two from one office would be like trying kept an open door In Africa, and supplies all to run a cdal-yard and a milliner's shop in in wait~ to be utilized by God's ambassa- one office. He cannot consent to be on the dors." Still the Bishop says they must have advance picket line as a leader and be compermanent stations and training schools, as manded by men nine thOUlana miles in the well as industrial schools. rear/ lII.-CORRESPONDENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
Java. and its Missions. and every kampong or town section its punden or holy place, where is oft'ered to the spirit of [WE give with pleasure the follow- him who was the lirst man to cultivate that ingvaluable statement from the Rev. grouud. In a word, the religion of the Javanese W. Schuurmans, of Holland, concern- is a mixture or conglomeration of heterogeneing the missions on the island of ous elements of Mohammedauism and heathen- Java.-EDS.] ism, mingled together, but not united as to be- Java is one of the lsrgeet: and most fertile come one, the various parts or ingredients ever iSlsnda of the Dutch possessions in the East In- dian Arcbipeisgo. Except the two small States seen separately. Therefore it can truly be said Jogjokarta and 8oerakarta, that have their own of this people that it dwells "in tenebrIs," princes, called Sultan and 8usuhunam (though aud is in great need of the glorions" hun wholly dependent on the Dutch Government), Mundi." the island is divided into several provinces, called Residences, because administered by resi- Though in former times some ell'orts were dents. Its population at present numbers more made in order to propagate the gospel among the than eighteen millionli, besides the Dutch, the Chi- Javanese, miSSionary work, properly said, benese, the Arabians and some other Eastern people gan at work about the year 1848. At present that have taken np their abode on Java. The the following Missionary Societies or Mission natives, called Javanese on the Eastern and mid- Unions of Holland have their stations and agents dle parts of the isisnd, and Sundanese on the on the isle of Java. Western part of it, profess the Mohammedan religion, at least outwardly, for at home they 1. The Dutch Missionary Society, with stations are heathen. A Javanese, with respect to his at Semarang, Kediri, Swaru, Modjowarna, and relipon, may be compared with somebody who 5 missionaries. wears an upper garment and an under ,coat. With his upper garment, i. e., the Mohamme- 2. The Mennonite Mission-Union, with a stadan faith, he is seen in public, and he is proud of tion (better said a native Christian colony) 'at It, thongh this habit does not suit him. When Margaredjo, and 2 missiouaries. he returns home, he puts it off, and is at his ease 3. The Ermelo Mission, with stations at SaIin his undercoat, t. ~., he thinks and acts like a atiga, Wonoredjo, Klampok, Kalidjeret and Fjemeh, and 5 missionaries. heathen. For, though he confesses, "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his apos- 4. The "Java-Comite," with statious at Batatie," thongh he practices circumcision, abstains via and Sumber-Pakem, and 2 missionaries. from eating swine's tIe.h, and some of the Javanese, namely the alim, ia e., "pious people," 5. The Dutch Mission-Union, with stations at say prayers, spend alms, keep fasting or are going Meester-Cornelis, Cheribon, Indramaju, Madjafnpilgrimage to Mecca according to Mohamme- lengka, Sumedang, Sukabumi, Fjiandjur, Pangdan rites, the greatest part ofthe natives adores harepan and Buitenzorg, and 7 missionaries. any object that has something extraordinary in it, because it is belleved such objects are ani- 6. The Mission-Uuion of the Dutch Reformed, mated with good or evil spirits; for instsnce, a with stations at Pnrweredjo and Pnrbolinggo, well, a river, a tree, a Itone; also animale, as a and 3 missionaries. tiler, a crocodile, a snake, etc. Nay, even the priests and santris, or they that have received 7. The Mission of the Christian Reformed rellgious teaching in the priest-schools by the Church, with stations at Batavia and Surabaya, Mohammedan Gurus (teacher of rellgious and 2 missionaries. truths), in man, cases tollow the heathen customs or habitA. Moreover, the 25 stations and 26 missionaries .Besides the superstitions above mentioned, on J aVI! that had been mentioued above, there ~er, village has its Dahnjang, or titular deity, are.many outposts or native Christian communi- ties and several native helpers, evangelists and schoolmasters. At Depok, on the western part of the isle, is aIso a large native Christian com- munity under the care of an European Assistant preacher, snstained or paid by the Dutch Gov- ernment. Iu the neighborhood of this commnn- ity is a training-school for native evangelists or helpers with a missionary as Director, assisted by an appointed European schoolmaster. The number of native Christians on Java quite unknown. Sometimes a few boats with amounts to 12,000. heathen Eskimos trom these parts would come round the Cape Farewell to buy various articles IlA.ABLBK, M.6.Y 11, 1888. at Jnlianshaab, the southernmost colony; but every attempt to reach them having failed, the [We have received the following eastern coast was considered as inaccessible, interesting letter from Rev. V. until one of the Moravians, Mr. Brodbeck, some Holmes, Secretary of the Danish 1ears ago, made his way through Ice and other Evangelical Missionary Society, Co- impediments, I do not know how far to the north on that side of the country. In 1884 a penhagen. We gladly correct the Danish expedition, led by a lieutenant of the royal navy, succeeded in proceeding to the 66° statement made in the item to which N. Lat., and found some 600 heathen living on the coast. A mission to them is planned by the he refers, which we copied from an ·ecclesiastical government, and a young man, who has been a sharer in an explor1ug expedition exchange.-EDs.l in Greenland and during a year's stay there has learned to love the people, has offered to go GLADSAXE (NEAR COPENHAGEN), thither. He is now studying In Copenhagen, March 10, 1888. and will, when he has passed his exa.mination, be ordained and sent out to begin a mission REv. J. M. SHERWOOD, D.D. Dear Brother. among these people. -In possession of your memoraudum of Feb. 25. I bave ordered our missiouary paper Letter from Miss Grace Wilder: (DaTl8k Mi88ionsblad) to be sent to your address, and I shall not omit to give you what iu- KOLAPOOB, INDIA, Feb. 23, 1888. formatiou I cau relative to Danish missiou DBAR EDITORS: work. The January REVIEW, so rich in facts and soul- As a beginning, I beg leave to make a few re- stirring words, reached here a little before us. I marks in regard to au item on Greenland iu the rejoice that you are striving to make the RBVIIIW February number of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW one of such personal interest to missionaries. 011' THE WORLD (p. 144), as some of the state- The great thonght in enlisting missionary letments given there are iucorrect. ters is their effect on home readers ; but if old missionaries are willing to express their honest Rev. Hans Egede did not begin the missiou convictions, thoughts which are the result of of the Moravlans in 1728. He was a minister in years of experience-the RBVIEW will be a power Norway, belonging to the Danish-Norwegian among its missionary readers. You cannot Lutheran Church, and as a true member of that realize what an inspiration it is to us here to get church he began the mission in the said year. magazines from home which assure us that the This work has since that time been carried on churches are watching us and are eager to hesr by the Dauish State Church. The Moravians a word from the lIeld. went out to Greenland in 1733. I long to say a word for Kolapoor, which The Danish Mission has always been the prin- might help the young people of America to feel cipal. According to the last census, in 1880, the a per8fJnal interest iu this kingdom and mission. popnlation was 9,767. Of these 8,250 belonged The natural advantages and beautiful scenery of to the Lutheran Church, 1,517 to the Moravian. the Kolapoor State snrpass my brightest recol- From this It will be evident that nilssion service lections. The name Kolapoor is applied to a proper is not carried on in Greenland. All the plateau of some 2400 square miles, with a popinhabitants belong to either of the two bodies nlation of 800,000. Besides six chief rivers that are at home there. this region is well supplied with spring water. The hills are a chief feature, and when near I have not the last report of the Moravians at streams these hillsides are carefnlly tilled by the hand, so that I cannot compare the statements in poor hard-working farmers. THE REVIEW with those of the report, but I do not think that the extracts are quite correct. The capital, Kolapoor, is the largest city in It 1s qnlte impossible that 115 adnlts can have the Southern Marathi country. It Is nearly 1800 been baptized, as the Moravians are not Baptists. feet above the sea and Including the suburbs has I dare say that the brethren would scarcely be a circumference of 4% miles. Though we are able to find one adult who was not baptized. sixty miles east of the coast we have a strong The number of Moravian Greenlanders being sea breeze. Koiapoor is supposed to be one of some 1,500, it is quite impossible that they, in the oldest cities in India. Buddhist coins have the course of a year, should baptize 475 children been found in the city, which are believed to -so many babies cannot be found in a popnla- belong to the first century before Christ. The tion of 1,500. finding of shrines at a depth of over 15 feet; also the discovery of the bed of the chief riTer, On account of vacancies which cannot be the Panchganga (five Ganges) 70 feet above the filled up now, there are at present only six or- level of its present bed, lead to the conclusion dained ministers in the Lutheran Church of Greenland, three of whom are natives, three Danes (called missionaries). The number of catechists and teachers in 1880 was 88.
What I have stated here refers to the Danish colonies on the Western coa~t of the land. The Eastern coast has, up to our day, been almost that in the 8th century an earthquake over- ris. There is here a church of 18 members. turned many temples and buildings. During Mr. Ferris has built a chapel, a church in the the last of the 18th century, under the MarathaB, town, and is just completing a dispensary. I Kolapoor rose in importance, aud at this time its cannot understand how our mission has waited stone wall 30 feet high and 10 to 26 feet thick so long for a medical missionary. In a single was built. Outside of this was a deep wide day 60 people have come to Mr. Ferris for medicine. It makes my heart ache to look at ditch. these poor suffering creatures. This is hard, but Kolapoor is now a great religious, as well as a what can I say of the feeling that comes over me as I look out from these old towers upon trade center. Of some 250 temples in the city scoreS of villages and know that among them six are noted. The most noted and very old there is not a single Christian home? The views temple of Ambabai is visited by large numbers of pilgrims, many coming long distances. Ac- cording to tradition the cost of this temple from here remind me of the Connecticut, as seen equalled the weight of the stones in gold. Be- from the top of Mount Holyoke. The small sides contributions from pilgrims, which amount patches. under careful cultivation, turn these val- to some $2,000, the temple receives a yearly al- leys into beautiful gardens, and in some ways the lowance of £500. country is even more beautiful than our lovely Among all these temples there stands but a Connecticut. Why should this land be so differ- single Christian chapel. This stands on one of ent spiritually? Why ten and twenty church the most valuable lots in the whole city, just spires in a New England town and here in many in front is the grea.t city Bazaar, where thou- a city not one Christian to tell the people that a sands of people assemble on Sunday-the great Saviour lived I In the vaIIey east of us there market day. At half-past eight Sunday morning are some ten native Christians, but north we we have Sunday-school here. The songs of our touch no mission station until we reach Ratna- native Christians attract many, but the vague geri, some sixty miles distant, and there the wit- faraway looks of these people say plainly, .. We nesses for Jesus are a church building, a mission don't understand." Many have come from dis- bungalow, and a schoolhouse and homes for tant villages. and some have never heard the Christians-all deserted now, siuce Mr. Tedford name Jesus. A few Sundays past I was stand- has gone to Sangli. Though Ratnageri has a ing near an elderly woman. While our heads population of some 10,000, the claims of Sangli were bowed in prayer she said in a {oud earnest seem even greater. Mr. Graham tells me that voice, .. What is this?" I cannot say that the within a radius of 15 miles from SangIi there are people here are eager for the truth. They do 125 towns and viIIages. One of these, the trad- not say that they want the bread and the water ing town of Miraj, has a population of over of life, but they look it. Just now there is a 20,000. This is 30 miles northeast of Kolapoor.
very special crisis in Iudia. Government schools Some 27 miles east is another large town, Nerla.
are rapidly increasing. Kolapoor has not only a The surrounding country is densely popu- college but the Rajaram High School, attended lated with people that seem favorable to the by 375 pupils, six vernacular schools, with some gospel. Mr. Seiler has toured in this district, 760 boys, and four girls' schools with about 150 and says that some of the Nerla people lingered girls. Christianity is not allowed. The Eng- until eleven at night to talk with him. Mrs.
lish ,officials seem to guard these educational Ferris said this morning that when the band of institutions as zealously as the Canatical Mos- missionaries just about to sail shan have left, lem does the Mosque of Omar. Even the within a single year 16 missionaries and 15 mis- British president of our college says that the sionary children wiII have retired from our India present system of education, while destroying field I The railroad brings us now right into faith in HindUism, is giving nothing to take its the heart of this Southern Marathi country.
place. My pundit, a finely-educated man, Said Five weeks brought us from New York to Born to me one morniug in Marathi: "The present bay, and 18 or 20 hours more on the railroad condition of our people is fearful. They don't hrought us to Miraj, 30 miles from Kolapoor.
believe in their own religion, and they don't he- I wish the nearness of India to New York lieve in any religion." At another time he said: might lead every young man and woman to " Our people are a religiOUS people. They want think and pray very earnestly before deciding to to find God, but they don't know how. Feeling remain in America. If the dear young gIrls of their own inSufficiency in religious things, they America could walk through th~ 1,079 viIIages go to a Sudu priest." of this single State; if they could look into the The other day a young Brahmin borrowed the hungry, and stolid, and painful, and, in some January number of THE REVIEW. It is returned cases, beautiful faces of these poor women and with marks along the article" Christian and children, it seems to me there is but one ground Non-Christian Religions." I do wish that I had ou which they could hesitate to carry them the brought out with me some short pamphlets on joyful news of the gospel, and that is, the fear the central truths of Christianity. There are that they are not fit to he messeugers. I do many opportunities of lendiug a book or a realize more than ever the need of our being flned with the Holy Spirit, so that God can use us leaflet. Just now we are on the hill fort of Panhalla, for soul work. But God is wiIIing to do this.
spending the hot season with Mr. and Mrs. Fer- He even promises a daily filling. This week I have fonnd one of these preclons assurances in three months' study, and then three months in Isaiah I, 4. preaching and itinerating work. .A. member of one of our churches in the interior lately died, The facts and figures and sights and sounds all 89 years of age. He has been a devoted Chrisspeak so loudly of the needs of this land, that 1 tian about fifteen years. His triumphant death long to tell my friends about them. Yet I do has left a happy impression not only on his famhope and pray that nothing but deep, trne ily, but on all the church members. God has love Cor Jesus and souls will lead anyone to proved faithfnl to all his promises to our people india. In talks with dear father, 1 have been here again and again. helped to see that a lack of true missionary spirit is no excnse Cor us. God Is certainly will- I have, for the money you kindly sent about a ing to give us what he asks us to keep, and he year al:o, secured the services of a worthy says: "Let this mind be in yon which was in brother for six monilis to labor in a district Christ Jesns." about 200 miles in the interior, where as yet the gospel has not been fully preached, ,In some We are now pleading for three more mission- places the preacher has been kindly received aries. Can you not send twenty 1 If Gene- and he is greatly enconraged. A nnmber are ral Assembly could convene on Panhala Fort reading Christian books and a few have asked next May, it seems as if little else could be dis- to be taught to pray and what they are to do in cussed and prayed about except Jesus' last com- order to become followers of Christ. One old mand. Letters are coming assuring us that this man who heard the gospel.a. number of times Kolapoor field is being remembered by name in and professed to believe, lately died. To the family circles, and by individuals. last he said he believed Cbrlst would save him. He regretted that he had not been more diligent Letter from Rev. Hunter .Corbett in learning the trnth, and delayed a public pro- fession of faith in Chlist until too late. of China. You may be interested in knowing that one of CHEEFOO, March 9, 1888. our theological stndents who will soon have lin- ished the full course was, for several years sup- DEAR DR. PIERSON: 1 send enclosed a copy ported by the Sunday-school connected with Bethany church. He is well educated and in Chimse of the letter sent by the General As- gives promise of being an able and faithful preacher. He has been invaluable as a teacher sembly of 1886, to our Chinese Cbristians. It in our training school here, for two years after he left college. He has been my companion durhas greatly cheered our people. Some of them ing eeveral itinerating journeys and rendered efficient service both in preaching to the heathen have read it again and again, and are seeking to and in conducting services with the Christians. He understands music and has been able to live so as to be worthy oC the conftdence of God's teach our people to sing. Surely if it was known that the sum of $40 per year wonld enable a people in A.merica. young man to devote his whole time to stndy, there would be many in our home churchee who Since 1 saw you in April last, when leaving would gladly undertake the education of one or more worthy youths in China. for China, I have made a journey of three It gives us joy to welcome Rev. Mr. Goforth months, visiting our country stations, assisted in and wife from the Presbyterian Mission in Can- ada, who are to be followed by others to begin teaching our class of theological students one work in the Honon prOvince, where as yet the gospel Is scarcely known. term, and since then have had a class of 23 men Brazil Mission, Under the Superintendstudying the Scriptnres. One of the class is a enoe of Rev. Emanuel Vanorden.
man of 64 years w110 heard the truth for the " In the providence of God the province of Sao Paulo has become the headqnarters of Protestfirst time only a few months ago. He teUs me antism. Already four denominations are at work there. In the city of Sao Paulo the South that day by day he sees new beauties in the Scrip- American Missionary Society has a fine church building and a devoted chaplain; the Methodists tures and feels his heart drawn out in love to have a very flourishing school for boys and girls in Piracicaba; and the Presbyterians have a Jesus. One young man of great promise won- newly-erected chnrch, capable of holding 600 persons, a girls' and a boys' b01lrding-school, a ders how he should ever have been so blind and stndents' boarding-hall, and a day-schOOl, at- tended by a goodly number of scholars. They stupid as to have worshiped idols. His father, have taken the preliminary steps of organizing, 86, bitterly opposed his son's studying the Scrip- tures, until a few weeks ago he said he wished to be taught, and hear how Christ .could save the soul.
To-day I had a conversation with an old man.
He said he must soon die and that would be the end of all things with him. He seemed to have no ears to hear as I tried to tell him the way of salvation through Christ. He left me saying if the Heavenly Father would give him food, he wanted nothing more. I pleaded then with some young men, as we stood on the street at the market place, to live with reference to the next world. They seemed to feel that this world is all they need to be concerned with. How help- less we are without the power of the Holy Spirit I We have a very interesting class of nine theo- lOgical students near the end of their stndies.
Most of them are men of good edncatlon and of much promise. Onr plan is to have a term of in August next, the Synod of the Presbyterian will furnish a dwelling, SChool-rooms, an office, Church in Brazil, to be composed of 3 Presbyte- and in short all the room we will want for a ries, 50 churches and 32 ministers, of whom 12 long time. It is worth half as much as the are natives. The missionaries of the Presbyte- Zacatecas property, that we bought cheap at rian Churches in the United States, North and $25,000, but they do not ask 810,000, but only South, will unite in effecting this organization. $3,000, and the ground would cost us that were we to build. If we get it we will save twelve .. Thousands of emigrants continually pass per cent. on the investmeut at once in the saving throngh the capital. Already 70,000 Italians are of rent. And we can get the property at ten per scattered In the province, of whom 13,000 are in cent. of wbat it is wortb. The mission has never the city of Sao Panlo, besides thousands of Ger- had such an opportunity. May I not ask that man and Portuguese emigrants who continually you use your infiuence to help us get the prop· arrive. The Italians bring their priests with erty Y Very sincerely yours, M. E. BEALL. them, and the Germans are steadily increasing the number of their priests and sisters of charity [Will not some of our liberal givers by fresh importations. cheer the heart of this noble mission- " The priests are more afraid of our smali pam· phlets than of the Bible; for it is these silent ary and her devoted husband by a preachers which are directing the people to God's Holy Word. Many a member of the con- generous response to this reasonable gregation I have been permitted to gather in Rio call?-EDs.] Graude has been called tbrough tracts given us by the Religions Tract Society; one of them is FIGUERAS, SPAIN, April 17,1888. now supplying the pulpit during my absence. DEAR EDITORS.-LaSt autumn you kindlyin- serted in MISSIONARY REVIEW OJ!' THE WORLD .. We need help to establish printing and book- an account of the work in Vilabertran, one of binding workshops in the city of Sao Paulo. The our seven mission etations. We have since subcost Is estimated at £1,500, but they will be en- scribed and read it regularly with much interest, tirely self-supporting if not a source of income. being a link between us and fellow-workers in Our converts will thus have an opportunity to the mission field all over the world. Some time learu a useful trade, aud those who lose their em- ago we sent you a report of this mission; with ployment because they refuse to work on Sundays, yeady balance sheet. I now beg yonr kind inwUl have an opportunity of earning their living. terest in enclosed letter, with plan of Figueras, and the pressing need of a gospel hall in tbe .. General Couto Magalhres, an eminent Brazilian center of this town. Just now tbere is a bit of scholar, the day I left Sao Paulo for England, land for sale in an erocellenl; situation where 813: gave me nearly $1,000 towards opening these 8treeta meet. We are 11W8t anxious to secure it. workshops, and said, •I give you tbis money The importance of tbe step may be judged by the towards opening a Christian printing office be- following incident: Tbe other day a conference canse we most urgently need it ; tell your frieuds of priests was held in Gerona, presided over by abroad that we appreciate your labors and those the bishop. A friend of the pastor was admitted of your associates, that we need many more of in a business way, being a lawyer, and he has them, and that the workshops will be a means told us that one of the subjects discussed was of teaching our people those habits of industry tbat of the plot of gronnd in Figueras. Tbe and application in which they are so much de- resolution was passed that" something must be ficient.' He Is as yet not converted, but prayed done to prevent the Protestants making the with and prayed for; he has also given £900 to- purchase." The price is £400. Toward that wards educational work in Sao Paulo. sum we now have £132-2-6, and £100 promised. The lease of Our present han expired in Febru- .. EMANUEL VANORDEN." ary, and our landlord may turu us out at any moment. The fact that in all tbis prOvince there [We print this brief appeal, hoping is not one permanent gospel hall is a sufficient plea. Are the Romanists to trinmph by secur- that some whom the Lord has ing that plot of land for lack of £167-17-6 Y The Jesuits, those indefatigable enemies of God's blessed may find it in their hearts to troth, have ample means at tMir disposal. Surely tbe Lord's people wUl not allow the gos- respond.-EDS. ] pel to sn1fer for want of so small a sum. No wonder Romanism gains ground when Cbris- SAN LUIS POTOSI, MEXIOO, March 15, 1888. tians do so little to stop its progress, and Pro- DEAR EnITORs.-Our mission has no property testant missionaries are crippled in their efforts in San LUis PotOSi, though established here in by lack of means. .. Who will come to the help l872, and otber missions tbat have come in since of the Lord, to the help of tbe Lord against the have secured important properties. Our present mighty Y" If you will kindly aid by inserting congregation is now too large for the .. hired thIS note in your valaable REVIEW we shall be house" in which we worship, and there is no grateful. With kind regards from the paRtor prospect of getting a better in this fanatical and myself. Yours very truly, place. And now just as we are wanting some- thing better, there is offered to us a Catholic MADAlItE ElIILY LoPEZ RoDRIGUEZ. church and the part of an old convent, that is just what we need. The church is a very fine one, will seat at least four hundred people, is of dressed stone, and the rooms .that ~o with it A New Development. three to five active men, who shall have charge of detailed work. , [THE University Students' move- 2. The annual meeting of this State Committee ment is assuming every day larger and of its Executive Committee should be held at a time and place of the State Convention ot proportions. The following address the Y. M. C. A. This assumes that all the mem- bers of this Committee will be delegates from recently issued to the Colleges is so their college to the Convention. Other meet- ings of the Executive Committee may be held as Important in its possible near and the work may require.
remote results that we give it in full. S. The special work of the State Committee at its annual meeting should be to consider the -EDS.] Colleges individually, and on the two-fold basis of the nnmber of students and their approxi- The wonderful wave of missionary zeal which mate individual expenses at college, it should has swept through our American colleges dur- suggest to each college its proportiouate share ing the last eighteen months has moved about of money to be raised. 1,800 young men and 600 young women to offer their lives in service to Christ as for_ 4. The Y. M. C. A. of each college should take eign missionaries. If all these could be up the estimate suggested by the State Commitsent out and supported in the field as tee, and after public consideration the Associarapidly as their education may be completed, tion should decide npon the adoption by a vote the next ten years would witness a missionary of its members. If a favorable vote is given, advance and success such as has never been they should then pledge themselves to raise the known. The finauces of the Missionary Boards amount, pushing the cauvass to a successful in this country are already too heavily taxed to close as rapidly as possible. carry on this additional and extensive work alone. The feeling has already found expression 5. The State Executive Committee should be in a number of colleges and seminaries that they composed of young men of special ability and should not ouly furnish men, but share in the energy as well as of marked missionary enthusiduty of providing money as well. Princeton asm, selected from colleges in different sections College has raised $1,600 for this object, Rutgers of the State. It will be the dnty of each mem- $780, Hampden Sidney $6~5, University College ber of this Committee to aronse missionary in- $250 ($500 expected), Knox College $1,425, and terest in his own and in neighboring colleges by Queens about $800, (the last three are Canadian.) pnblic meetings, to be present and advocate the Knox College took the initiative in this move- report of the State Committee when presented ment. The seminaries have also made a good at these colleges. and, if necessary, help them in beginning, Princeton Seminary having raised pushing the canvass. $850, Alexandria (with about 45 students) $750, Allegheny U. P. (annually for ten years) $530, 6. An effort should be made by the State Com- Xenia (with 26 subscribers) $325 and Union $700, mittee to secure from friends of the move- (total amount in the latter for missionary pur- ment outside of the colleges a fund suffiposes $1,130). $800 is the average amount cient to cover the necessary railroad exneeded to support a missionary in the field. This penses of the Executive Committee, so that feeling that tbe colleges should support one or this extra burden may not fall upon the more of their alumni missionaries is without colleges. This money should not be nsed, howdoubt unexpressed in many of our colleges, and ever, to pay the expenses of the Committee as with proper effort could be awakened into ac- delegates to the Y. M. C. A. Convention, this tion. The few dollars which each Christian' being provided for in the usual way. student would need to give annually to effect this in his college would be but a paltry item in 7. There should also be in each college a spehis annual expenses, of which no part surely cial Missionary Committee (or if one already ex- would be better invested. Now, an organized ists the work may be placed in their hands), effort among the colleges and seminaries would whose duty it shall be to canvass for and secnre accomplish vastly more than mere scattered and pledges for the full amount at the beginning of local action. The following plan which seems each college year, make the collections, select practical is snggested, which we trust may meet the candidate to be seut ont, and whatever yonr hearty interest and approval. other matters demand attention, all their action being brought before the Association for adop- PLAN POR CO-OPERATIVE ACTION AMONG COL- tion. This Committee should consist of two men each from the senior and junior classes, and oue LEGES AND SEMINARIES POR THE SUP- each from the sophomore and freshman. In case of special departments in any college, as the Pre- PORT OP ALUlIINI MISSIONARIES. paratory for instance, such department should also be represented by a man. In the case of 1. Each State should have a State Missionary seminaries it may be lidded that the plan of hav- Committee, composed of one member from ev- ery school of learning in the State which has a ing two members from each of the three classes Y. M. C. A., (or in Seminaries some other form has been found satisfactory at Union Seminary. of organized Christian work), and which agrees to raise money for the support of a home or for- 8. Each college should of course raise its eign missionary, or a foreign Y. M. C. A. Sec- money and send out its missionary under the retary. This State Committee shonld elect from their number an Executive Committee of from auspices of the Missionary Board of the denomi- Street, New York City, at the low rate of $1.10 nation which controls the college_ The candi- a thousand.
date selected by the college as missionary will 12. Special questions, as for instance whether be snbject to the approval of this Board. In the the faculty should be asked to contribute to the case of colleges too small to support a mission- fund, or in co-educational colleges, what share ary, two schools of the same denomination in the young women should take in the movement, any State or neighboring States could unite in may be left to the discretion of the colleges.
providiug for one. When this is impracticable the money can be put Into tlte hands of the De- GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. nominational Board to be used in helping to pay the expenses of some missionary whom they are Africa.-[Mr. G. Wilmot Brooke, about to send out. who has gone up the Congo on an in- 9. If possible, the missionary to be sent out by dependent mission, sends home the any college should be a graduate of the college following dark picture of Central who is finishing a seminary or medical course. Africa. EDS.] When none such is available, the support of a graduate already in the mission field is advised. " I am now at the furthest post on the Congo, 10. The system of support should be on the ' with a vast sea of heathenism around; amaz- basis of at least four years, each student upon ingly shameless immorality, habitual lying, and entering the Freshman class pledging himself to the utmost ferocity now to be found on the give not less than a certain amount yearly while globe, shut out"the faintest hope that their con- he Is in college, The following pledge adapted sciences will excuse them in 'that day.'
from the one used in Union Seminary is sug- " Away a hundred miles or so to the south a gested. .. We the undersigned students of small island, so to speak, some four square . , ……….College, feeling that the honor of our miles, has had the gospel preached for a testi- college, the sphere of Its infiuence, and our ac- mony for a few months-I may almost say tive interest in the work of Christ in foreign weeks. Away to the east nothing but the vast lands would be greatly increased by binding our- sea of towns and villages, town. and villages, selves together for the support and encourage- • doiug evil with both hauds earnestly,' till over ment of a man who will be our special charge, 1,000 miles away to the southwest we come to a and will be known as the, …•. , .•.•• CoUege little spot of light, where Arnot is working. Mi88ionary, do pledge for his snpport not less Again the darkness is broken by some scattered than the sum of, …•. , , , …cents each week for points of light in the lake district, but 1,000 the forty college weeks, this pledge holding good miles of utter darkness is between us and for the four years of the college conrse. This them. pledge shall not be binding until amounts aggre- " Then comes another )!rilliant spot, sending gating $800 annually (or whatever the amount suggested by the State Committee may be) has light round the world, the Christians of Uganda, been subscribed." but nearly 1,000 miles of almost fiendish ferocity Is between us and them, and then the last gleam 11. Payments of subscriptions can' best be of light ends. made weekly by the systematic plan of giving. .. If I look northwest, nothing but 1,700 miles Each student upon filling a pledge to give a certain amount each week is presented with forty of utter darkness, the huts garnished with huenvelopes (one for each college week), each of man sknlls, human limbs boiling in cauldrons, these envelopes having the same special number man-hunting, and droves of wretChed women which dlstingnishes that student from the oth- and children in chains, and the desert strewn ers in the record book of the treasurer of the with human bones till we come to the Red Sea. Missionary Committee. Each student having a ditl'erent number obviates the necessity of writ- .. Away to the north the same, or rather worse in, names and amounts upon the envelopes. -crowded villages, with the fiercest cannibals; On a certain day of each week, a locked box is large vill.geA, with great walled towns, and put in some public place. into which the students drop their envelopes. If any student crowded markets and schools, and all in darktails Into arrears the treasurer sends him a note ness-away over the Sahara, with its fierce robonce in ten weeks informing him of the fact. ber tribes, 2,000 miles to the Mediterranean, but and stating the amount. In colleges of less than not a ray of light. 200 students, 135 can raise $800 annually, without anyone being too heavily burdened, If 30 "Northwest, again the same, till 2,200 miles ,will each give twenty-five cents weekly, 40 give away we see the scattered points oflight rapidly ftfteen cents and 65 give ten cents. A college spreading from the North African Mission, and which would find it qnite impossible to raise then comes bright light from the Niger and the that amount in one or four instalments will be Cameroons, but from the latter we are separated sure to find this system an easy and a practicable by 500 miles of the very fiercest and most deone. Sultable envelopes already numbered can graded cannibals. belt.d from Goodenough &Woglom, 122 Nassau " I wish the churches at home would pray over these facts. I think that some of them would have their eyes opened to see new things."
-Church Miss. Gkaner.
-Writing from Lake Nyassa, in the northeastern portion of Southern Upper Burma.h, within sight of the Africa, a correspondent of the Man- prison pens of Ava and Oung-penla. chester (England) Guardian gives a very interesting account of one of the China. – Urgent Appeal. In view of the grea.t need for more missioncauses, and probably the main cause, aries in the province of Shantung, of the revival of that Mohammedan or Sha.ntung Presbytery has made an Arab influence in Central Africa, of urgent appea.l to the Presbyteria.n which so much has recently been Boa.rd of Foraign Missions for an adsa.id in England a.)'ld in this country. dition to the working force of ten ordained ministers, two physicians Until 1883 the blockade of the eastern coast of and three unmarried ladies. Dr. Africa by English cruisers was so efficient as to Nevius writes to the New York Obmake the slave trade unprofitable. ThiS, and server from Chefoo : the immigration of Europeans into the lake regious, seemed to make it probable that the "This province, containing abont 21,000,000 forces of a European civilization would be al- inhabitants, was entered by our missionaries in lowed to operate efficiently in that country. The short-sighted withdrawal'of the cruisers in 1883 1861. There was not a single convert and the seemed to the vigilant slave-trader au indication language had to be learned before direct mission of a return to the old slave-trading era, and as work could be begun. We have now seventeen the Congo Free State was closed against them, ordained missionaries; fourteen wives of misthey begau to drift acrOSS the country northward to Lake-Tanganyika. ,There, taking prompt ad- sionaries; five nnmarried female missionaries; vantage of an opportunity given tbem by a quarrel with one of the native races, which they one ordained native minister; twenty-nine unpromptly subjugated, they have continued to ordained helpers; 2,203 communicants, and 871 grow stronger and more audacious, and are put.. tlng forth all their efforts in a very successfUl pupils in Christian schools, and in the interior way for au early conquest of the whole country. more than one hundred stations and sub-ststions, Their success presents to us the important question whether Mohammedan or Christian in- including fifteen organized churches. Four fluence is to be dominant for many years in central Africa. boarding·schools (one the high school or college at Tung Chowfu, having about seventy students), -The Livingstonia Mission on the East Ceutral African lakes is a memorial or Dr. liv- absorb a considerable proportion of our working ingstone, founded by admirers of this great man. force. Some of the younger missionaries are as It is not strictly a denominational enterprise, though it is a mission of the Free Church of yet only prepariug for work by the study of the Scotland and receives support from the United language, and others will soon be obliged to Presbyterian Church of Scotland. It was plan- leave in consequence of impaired health or other ned and has been prosecuted as an evangelistic miSSion, linked with an industrial settlement causes. Our country stations are snJl'ering for for the introdnction of Christian oivilization by want of sulllcient supervision. In the capitsl of commerce and indnstrial arts. "The African Lake's Company" was organized as an ally of this prOvince, Chinanfu, where there is an unthe Livingstonia. The African Times says it usually hopefnl opening for chapel preaching and was intended "partly to supply mission material needs, but mainly to introduce legitimate tralllc for work in the country in every direction, we with the natives. The company was founded on broad commercial principles, but with the im have at present ouly three ordained missionaries portant provisO, thoroughly carried ont, of supplyiug no intoxicants to the natives. The (iucluding one principally occupied in the study financial basis of the company remains with of the language) and one physician. This torce the wealthy Glasgow capitalists, who rather for philanthropy than gain began the undertak- is wholly inadequate to attend effectively to the ing and who alone still direct and control it." work required in that city alone." Burmah.-The one hundredth an- niversary of the birth of Adoniram [AMONG the delegates to the great Methodist Conference now in liIession Judson occurs August 9, 1888. In in this city is the Rev. Sia Sek Ong, commemoration of this event it is from China. We give the substance of a brief address he made at a mis- proposed to erect a Judson memorial sionary meeting on the evening of Ma.y 9.-EDs.] church in Mandalay, the capital of "Fathers, brothers and sisters in the gospel, with deepest gratitude and highest respect I come here to greet yon.
"In speaking of the miisionary work in China, I would ask you to look back into the condition of China in the past, and then glance at the present.
"For generations China had little dealings with other nations. No other country was regarded her equal. From the emperor on the throne, down through all classes of society, they re- garded China, with her sages and her clasSics, as com.plete within hel'Slll'f. When western na- tions wanted to come in, they objected, and re- sisted with violence. .. These old custoDlS and sentiments were Dot productive of moral or mental growth to the na- bigoted a Hindu as can be found in tion. They were like the great forests in Amer- Northern India. The name Newal ica that shut out the sunlight and dews of Kishon is derived from the Sanskrit, and Mohammedans do not go to that heaven, and the earth produces no fruit.
.. But now there is a change. The Government language fo'r their words, much leSS of China is seeking friendly relations with West- for their family names. The first ern nations, and coming in contact with these word, Newal, means weasel or ferret, nations, we realize more and more the deficien- and the second, Kishon, youth or cies in our own civilization. son, so the shrewd old publisher might "Now China is erecting various grades of be the "son of a weasel." Any com- schools and colleges, seeking to acquire your mon cooly in the streets of Lucknow arts and sciences and language. Schools of or anywhere else in India could have medicine and mining after Western systems, told the "nodding" bishop that the railroads and telegraphs, have been introduced. name was that of a Hindu and not of "It is a remarkable fact that while for ages a Mohammedan.
past the study of the Confucian classics was the -British rule in India has not reonly preparation for the competitive examina sulted in the removal of the hateful tions, now the stndy of mathematics and some customs which prevail in reference ot your Western sciences are admitted. Look- to marriage. Parents continue to ing at the past and the present, is it not like that forest now cleared away and the fertile soil contract marriages for their children.
appearing f One bad feature of such marriages is illustrated by the story of two sisters " Do you ask, what has this to do with preach- In a zenana school at Serapore.
ing the gospel r Very much indeed. Forty years ago your missionary toilers entered China, morally a dark forest. Much of their time was These girls resemble each other, but spent in felling the trees and clearing the one has ugly scars on her face, which ground before sowing the seed. Now the soil disfigure her. It is said that the lies open to the sun and the dews of heaven, and father intends to repeat Laban's the seed they have sown brings forth this won- fraud on Jacob. The expectant bridederful change. groom will be told by his parents " Where once there was opposition, and every that the bride is all he can desire eWort to introduce the gospel was rejected, now (they will have seen the scarless we hear the people say, The' Jesus doctrine' sister) ; but when the marriage is very good, and followers of the Jesus doctrine actually takes place the disfigured are good men.' " girl, duly veiled, will be seated at India.- Bishop Hurst wrote an the lad's side, and not till too late to • article in Harper's Magazine on "A draw back will he see her face. Of Mohammedan Publisher in India," course, as Leah was hated, so will this Hindu girl be when she becomes Manshi Newal Kishon. He says of a wife. No government, however him: "He is a Mohammedan and paternal, can succeed in insuring makes no secret of it. But with the happy marriages, but the wrong we publisher's instinct he keeps his reli- have instanced ought not to have gionin thebackground. Heneverputs the semblance of the sanction of his faith on the top of hisbillheads. He British law.
is a broad man-broad in everything -A Hindu Husband's Creed.-The Hindu idea of marriage is curious. except Christianity, and it is noLlikely A man both day and night must keep that the gospel has a more vigorous hater in the whole Gangetic valley than this wily man. He is no big-ot- his wife so much in subjection that ed professional. Bitter hater as he is she by no means be mistress of her of Hinduism and of all the numerous own actions. If the wife have her non-Mohammedan faiths, he seems own free will, notwithstanding she is as ready to publish books for the J?ro- motion of Brahmanism and its rlval of superior caste, she will go amiss.
faith Buddhism as to issue apologies A woman shall never go out of her and text-books in behalf of Islam." house without the consent of her hus- This, to use the mildest words, is band, and shall pay proper respect to a strange and unaccountable blunder her husband's father, the spiritual for a man in Bishop Hurst's position guide and her guests, and shall not to make in such a prominent maga- eat until she has first served them zine. In the first place the man is a with victuals (If it is medicine, she Hindu of the Hindus, and has a num- may take it before they eat); a wo- ber of priests to do pooja or idol-wor- man shall never go to a stranger's ship several times a day, and is as house, and shall not stand at the door, and must never look out of the useful as a native preacher; while window. If a woman, following her the first native minister ordained by own inclinations, goes whithersoever the Church Missionary Society-a. she chooses and does not regard the convert of Henry Martyn's-was in- words of her master, such a woman strumental in getting some sixty shall be turned away. If a man goes soulE! into the fold of Christ.-Mison a journey, his wife shall not di- sionary Outlook. vert herself by play, nor see any public show, nor laugh, nor dress herself -THE work done for India. by mis- with jewels or fine clothes, nor see sionaries, as viewed by Sir W. Hundancing, nor hear music, nor sit at ter, is matter for amazement and the window, nor ride, nor behold any- gratitude. He speaks of two distinct thing rarE' or choice, but shall fasten periods of missionary work-private well the house-door and remain pri- effort and organized effort. The vate; and shall not eat any dainty private effort, conducted by those victuals, and shall not view herself solitary workers who first came and in a mirror; she shall not exercise had to seek refuge from English op. herself in any agreeable employment position behind the Danish fort walls during the absence of her husband. of Serampur, was wonderful: -In the eloquent words of Dr. "They created a prose vernacular Hterature Stevenson: for Bengal; they set up lhe lIrst steam-engine in India; with its help tbey introduced the modern " It is just three centuries ago since English manufacture of paper on a large scale; in ten adventurers, traveling in pursuit of commerce, years they translated and printed the Bible, or bronght back from India such reports of the parts thereof, into 81 languages. Altbough they splendor of Its princes and the solidity and mag- received help from their Baptist friends in Engnillcence of its government, that they llred the land, yet the mail.. part of their fuuds they heart of England, and became the unconscious earned by their own heads aud hands. They founders of the English rule. built a college which still ranks among tbe most splendid educational edifices in India. As one "Is It unlikely that travelers of no remote contemplates its maguidcent pillared facade date will bring DB back from the same East overlooking the broad Hooghli river, or mounts tales of another and greater splendor, not, as its costly staircase of cut brass (the gift of the they might to-day, of an Indian ruled by Cbris- King of Denmark), one is lost in admiration at tian men, but of a Hindu population that from the faith of three poor men who dared to build the Himalaya to Cape Comorin has accepted on so noble a scale."-Indian Witneu. Christ' " -Sacrifice.-The heathen sacrifice To-day the Christian church is more than money. Miss Grace Wilder asked at a Woman's Meeting in India working in India as the people worked in days gone by at those how many had given up friends for superb palaces a)ld tombs which, al- Christ. Many arose, and the story though in ruins, still dominate the of their sacrifices was pathetic. This towns and cities of the Mohammedan one's mother had not recognized her conquest. Far down into the foun- since her conversion; anothel" one's dations they sunk-with what infi- sister had refused to speak to her; while still another had been cast off nite patience we may imagine-vast by her whole family as a " despised masses of dull red sand-stone, and Christian." Miss Wilder says, "how built it up in mighty walls that only hard it is to preach sacrifice to people lose their gloom when glowing in who live it." the setting sun; but on the summit they placed, as if to last forever, -Says the Indian Witness: some structure of fair, white, pierced and fretted stone, so fitting and beau- " The high court of the native State oflndore tiful, so airy and delicate, that it has decided that child-marriage is not always to seems like a marble dream. be confirmed." The Hindu judge declared: "That the appellant should not be compelled to go and Let us be patient and persevering, live with her husband, and that the framers of pouring into the foundations of this the section of the code never intended or meant that it should be used as an engine of torture to Christian India true hearts and noble compel young innocent wives into submission to lives, the named and the nameless together, until there shall arise on those foundations-once the dream, but then the fair and stately fact-of a Christian India, a fragment, yet complete in itself, of that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from God, and where the nations of the saved walk in the light of His glory.
-CAREY'S first Hindu convert built· a chapel at Serampore entirely at his own expense, and ws:s himself very husbauds who were deformed or uoobletomain- home and to those laboring in other tain them, although it has been their misfortune fields. to be mamed in their infancy when their wishes -Rev. Mr. Fyson, in an address could not have been consnlted or paid attention to by their parents." before the British and Foreign Bible -The" Harvest Field," published Society,refers to the willing reception in South India, says it could mention of the Scriptures by the people of twenty or thirty places in which Japan, and says tha,t they are ready to pay for the copies which are Brahmans have formed themselves brought them. He says: "I once found the Scriptures being sold where into societies for the sole purpose of I never should have expected it. I came across a little book stall near studying the Bible. No missionaries one of the Buddhist temples in the heart of the country. This stall was are admitted to their meetings; but standing on the temple grounds, and I noticed Scriptures and other Christhey occasionally submit questions to tian books on the stall. I was sur- prised, and said to the stall keeper, missionaries by messenger, and the 'Do the priests allow you to sell these books?' The man replied, 'They buy am,wers are reported back to the them themselves; they are some of my best customet·s.' I went into the meetings of the societies. A writer temple and talked with the priest. He was quite willing to hear what I says, "Even in the monasteries of had to say, and to buy some books of me." this land, and by some of the high- -The Japanese Gazette rt'grets priests of Hinduism, the Sanskrit " to say that Buddhism cannot long hold its ground, and that Christianity Bible is to-day a book anxiously stud- must finally prevail throughout all Japan. Japanese Buddhism and ied." Western sciences cannot stand to- gether. They are inconsistent the Japan.-The type of Christianity one with the other." The Buddhists coniinue to make a most vigorous now growing up in Japan is intensely effort to counteraCt the spread of Christianity in Japan, and the HomIsSIOnary. In almost every indi- ganji sect was never so busy., One school in Kioto alone is to be rebuilt vidual church the members combine at a cost of twelve thousand dollars, and other Buddhistic seminaries and to carry the gospel to their uncon- colleges are being started in various parts of the country. verted friends and neighbors. Many -A Chinese official recently disof the churches have regular preach- covered in Japan a copy of Hwang ing places in the localities lying out- Kan's "Confucian ARalects," over side their own congregational limits. 1,200 years old, with all the ancient Already numerous home missionary commentator notes. This work has boards and societies have been organized and are in full operation. This disappeared in China for 700 or 800 missionary spirit must soon make itself felt abroad. Indeetl, attempts years, and, as the whole history of have been made already to organize foreign missionary socicties, but the present copy is known, the Chithey have failed because of the great pressure upon the church from the nese Government has directed its necessities of the work at home; and no doubt this will be the caS6l for minister in Japan to borrow it, in many years to come. The Japanese church will be so much occupied with order that a carefully corrected copy the work at home that it cannot give much attention to foreign work. It may be taken. i1l probably true also that, in case Japanese missionaries should be sent -That the Jews largely despair of to China, their influence would not be so great as that of missionaries finding the Messiah in the future and coming from countries that have been Christian for a lop.g time, but it can- begin to look for him in the past is evinot be doubted that, if Japan should become thoroughly Christianized, the dent from the present success of misfact would have a great influence in favor of Christianity in China. The sions among them, and from the fact mere fact that a great nation like Japan. s.hould ~ecome practically a that 100,000 Jews have been baptized ChrIstian natIon as a result of missionary effort would prove a great stimulus both to the churches at 1888.] CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 587 by Protestants during the present ising, and a great movement toward the Christian faith on the part of century. The oldest society organ- Russian Israelites seemed just at hand. Shall it be hindered by the ized for Jewish missionary work is the interference of anti-Christian rulers?
London Society for Promoting Mis- Madagascar.-Canon Farrar, in sionary Work Among the Jews,which writing of the liquor traffic in East- was organized in 1808 and has ex- ern Africa, says: tended its work over all Europe and .. Turning to Eastern Africa, we are faced by the tragic story of Madagascar-a story which parts of Asia and Africa, and notably the Rev. H. W. Little, once a missionary on the island, calls 'without parallel for pathos and in Jerusalem and Abyssinia. When consuming interest in the history of the world.' this society began its work there In 1800 the Malagasy were a nation of idolaters; now, thanks in great measure to the London werE' only about fifty baptized Jews Missionary Society, they are a nation of Chrisin England. There are now more tians. They loved, they almost adored, the than 3,000. This society has 35 sta- English, who had done so mnch for them. Untions and 145 agents, and for more happily, however, Mauritius became a sugarthan seventy years it has sustained in producing colony, and rnm was made from the London a church for Jewish converts, refuse of the sngar mills. What was to be done a workshop for teaching themtrades, with it f It was not good enough for Enropean a school for the education of their markets, and Madagascar' was made the recepchildren, and a Hebrew college for tacle for the damaged spirit of the colony.' They the education of missionaries to the received the curse in their simplicity, and it pro- Hebrews. A dozen or more societies dnced frightful havoc. 'The crime Q/ the iBland of various denominations are doing rOle in one &lwrt year by leaps and liounds to a excellent work in Europe. The work height too fearful to record.' The native govern l of the German Lutheran Societies in ment was seized with consternation, and the Southern Russia, under the control of able and courageous king, Radama I., paid the Prof. Delitzsch, is perhaps the most dnty, and ordered every cask of rnm to be promising of them all. staved in on the shore, except those that went to the governni ent stores. -The Longevity of Jews.-Dr. Ben- "The merchants of Manritins complained, the jamin Richardson, the leading sani- Engli8h officials interfered, and from that day the ' cursed 8tuJ!' has had free course, and t1iltary authority of England, delivered uged the land with miBery and C'l'ime."
a lecture recently before the Jews of -The government ofM adagascar lately London upon the "Vitality of the passed a law declaring that any Malagasy women Jews and the Mosaic Sanitary Code." who lived in concnbinage with a foreigner shonld After giving some interesting statIs- forfeit all property held by rights peculiar to the tics as to the large proportion of native of the conntry. This law having come Jews who reach old age, Dr. Richard- into operation last month, many foreigners have son took up the causes of this lon- appeared before the Home Minister for foreign gevity, chief among which was the affairs, and expressed their willingness to conobservance of the laws of Moses. Its form to the new law by marrying the native woprovisions, he said, form a marvelous men with whom they lived. :British subjects collection of sanitary rules. The rest who took this line were referred to Her Majupon the seventh day is a most im- esty's Vice·Consul. According to the Madagasportant provision for health, which, car Times, Mr. Pickersgill said to them: "I if strictly obeyed, would insurE'! to any cannot marry the woman to you without, at the nation an extra term of life. The same time, marrying yon to the woman, and if cleansing of the house, vessels and you are married here, yon cannot unloose the persons which is enjoined, aud the bonds again." The great majority of the appliabstaining from the flesh of animals cants shrank from the responsibility of placing which feed upon garbage, are great themselves under the marriage laws of England. checks upon the spread of disease. In order to secure the enjoyment of the lands or In addition to these are the control of other property which their native concnbines the passions and the special care of possessed, they were willing to recognize them the aged enforced in the Command- as wives under the Malagasy law, and to allow ments.-Hebrew Christian. them to be registered as such in the government -Joseph Rabinowitz, the Christian booka ; but they would not, if they could help it, bring the contract within the jnrisdiction of reformer among the Jews, has re- the British courts. The British Counsellor aucently been warned by the Russian thorities in Madagascar have made it known government to cease from his mis- sionary labors among his brethren in the south and west of Russia. The work he had begun was most prom- 538 INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT. [JULY"
that they do not Intend to be parties to the eva- and prince, which was very bitter at the comaion of the Malagasy marriage laws in order to mencement of the mission, and also In the opporenable British subjecta to coutrol the lands or tunity which it affords the doctor and his helpers the slaves of native womeu. to refer to the needs of the sonl while attending to those of the body, and giving access to places Siam. Friends' Syrian Mission.- otherwise closed against mission effort. A new This mission is situated at Brumana, meeting-house has recently been erected to hold on the heights of Mount Lebanon, 300 persons, and the message of life and salvaoverlooking Beyrout, and is under tion throngh the Lord Jesus Christ Is faithfully the joint management of the Society preached to an attentive congregation, which of Friends in Great Britain, Ireland usually fills the building. There are twenty-six and the United States. There is a persons working in connection with the mission, training home for boys, with thirty seven of whom are Europeans. inmates, and for girls, with twenty, and a well-ordered hospital with fif- At Ramallah, near J ernsalem, the Friends teen beds, besides a dispensary, open have another mission, which is dOing a good five days a week. The mission has work among the inhabitants of that dark region. the charge of various day-schools for both sexes in several surrounding vil- -Miss M. L. Cort writes from lages, in which more than 300 chil- Petchaburee, Siam, for the Herald dren are under instruction; it also and Presbyter: employs a colporteur and several Bible-women. There are also two " A Japanese prince has been in Bangkok this mothers' meetings, which in earlier month, and some Siamese ladies were invited to days had sometimes to be short- one of the dinner parties given In hiB honor, and ened because of fights among the they actually sat down and ate with their royal women, but which now are com- husbands for the first time in the history of this posed of large numbers who delight little kingdom. to learn texts of Scripture, and be read to, rather than give vent to evil pas- " The old foreign minister dined with us lately. sion. Althongh he is not a Christian, he Is great friend to us and our work, and he told one of us that he All these agencies have been prodnctlve of prayed every day to the Creator that the condimuch good In the district, and even over a wider tion of his poor people might be improved, slavarea. Many of the pupils of the training homes ery abolished, and opium,. liquor and gambling have gone to their various villages imbued with be prohibited by law. He says, •Siam need true Christian principles, and several boys have never expect to be recognized among civilized taken In1I.nential positions. In the medical de- nations till she throws away her Idols and Budpartment also the work has been much blessed, ftrstly in largely disarming oppositiou from priest dhism.' " The Siamese newspaper lately started pub- lished a very good article abont Japan, and a splendid one on the abolition of slavery which, if carried into effect, will set free thousands of these wretched, debt-bound boys and girls, who were sold by their parents before they had sense enough to object, and whUe they were too young to know",hat slavery meant."
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
The NeoeB8ity and Rule for the Oome- successes of the gospel in heathen, Mohammedan and papal lands. oration of Property to Ohnst.* Many illustrations have been related of the removal by the Almighty hand BY REV. WILLIAM SPEER, D.D., WASH- of the obstacles which for ages had seemed to be insuperable to the ad- INGTON, PA. vancement of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been Dear orethren and sisters in lifted up to higher faith and courage Christ: We have come to the last by proofs of the awakening through hour of this most refreshing and in- the Holy Spirit of some classes of structive series of meetings. Many those who possess the knowledge of wonderful testimonies have been borne in them, of the power and the *Address before International Missionary Union, 1887.
INTERNATIONAL
the truth to the dl,lties which these religious blessings such as no otliel" things impose upon them; such, es- land on earth possesses; blessings in pecially, as the enlistment of women so many forms, blessings in such and children in distinct efforts in be- boundless profusion. Second, that half of the heathen, and as the spon- He has heaped upon this natioll taneous uprising of thousands of the wealth, agricultural wealth, mineral young men and women in our col- wealth, commercial wealth, the stat- leges and schools, and their avowal istics of which are appalling; wealth of their willingness to go forth to so distributed, wealth so within the teach the gospel to the nations in reach of the toiling and poor classes, darkness, if only the churches are that, as many of us can testify, the willing to send and maintain them. rich in Asiatic and some European Now our minds turn to the momen- countries do not enjoy the comforts tous inquiry: What more is needed and luxuries of the common laborers in order that salvation may be pub- here. The horrible want and suffer- lished to the perishing millions in ut. ings, and degradation and helpless- tel' ignorance of it? To answer this ness of the poor in those lands, peo- should be the consummating aim of ple brought up here do not know and these meetings. It should be the could not conceive. And third, that consummate end of the prayers and these incalculable and overflowing thoughts and efforts of the entire riches are mostly spent in self-indul- Church at this time. gence, in uses of vanity, or in acts and employments which create and Is it not evident that the Church foster crime or are made necessary to has come to the borders of the great the repression and punishment of final movement in behalf of the king- crime. Itis ounces of holy and wise dom of her Lord? Does she not now prevention; tons of ineffectual cure. confront the crowning duty, the last It is grains and straws for the glory and most difficult requirement, of of God and the welfare of mankind; her long and desperate. warfare with huge mountains of outlay and waste sin in the world? Is it not that of for the world, the flesh and the engaging the whole body of his fol- devil. lowers in the provision of the pecuniary means which the employment See how we fling down thousands of earthly instrumentalities, accord- of millions of dollars for war I how ing to God's sovereign plan, makes we cover land and sea with thousands an indispensable necessity? of millions of dollars' worth of the agencies of trade I We pour out in The greatest of all practical ques- every passing year hundreds of milltions now before Christendom is: ions of dollars for liquid poisons; Or How shall the prOfessed believer in for articles craved to pamper the ap- Jesus Christ be aroused to consecrate petite and uselessly adorn the body; to his service the money and prop- or for palatial houses and luxurious erty without which sin and evil can- churches. But oh I how we toil and not be overcome, without which the groan to wring out of some great degifts purchased by his blood cannot nomination, numbering hundreds of by any possibility be conveyed to thousands of assumed followers of men dying of hunger and thirst, the Christ, and several millions of adherhunger and thirst of the immortal ents and worshipers, possibly one palsoul? try million of dollars a year for any oneof.its general organs to employ in The paramount need now is, plain distributing through the nation or and earnest instruction in duty. through the famishing world a few crumbs of the benefits which fall from These are awful facts in the sight of heaven and hell: First, that God has loaded Christian America with
DBPARTlIBNT
these peoples' tables and are swept acceptance· by the Judge on the from about their feet! throne, will be the reward of him who has been faithful in this heaven- The existence of such facts as these ly stewardship. " Ye have done it means judgment. Judgment upon unto Me," shall the King of glory the nation. Weare warned by the himself say. "Ye have done it unto wrath which has turned countries Me!" "He shall walk with Me in that formerly rejected the warnings white." " To hIm will I give to eat of God into barren wildernesses, and of the tree of life, which is in the which left not in Jerusalem one stone midst of the Paradise of God." upon another; which removed their candlestick from Antioch and Alexan- Oh, how vast is the range and varidriaandEphesus, and Constantinople ety of subjects which the glorious and Rome; which has given up theme of "the kingdom of Christ" Greec~ and Spain and France to idol- opens before the mind-the revelaatry and unbelief, spiritual blindness, tions of the Scriptures,the providences a blight upon all their former honor of God-the condition of the church, and power, a decay withering all or of the nation, or of the world-the their prosperity, outbursts of crime, opportunities in the different contirivers of blood. And such beyond nents and nations-the operations of question will be the doom in its turn the various agencies of good-the hisof our nation, if it repent not, and do tory of the past, the prospects of the works meet for repentance. Judg- future-the duties of men, and of ment upon every man and family women, and of children at this juncthat shares in God's spiritual and ture-the recompences and the pentemporal benefits to it and in its un- alties, for time and for eternity! If paralleled opportunities; everlasting only looked into, and thought upon, punishment to unbelieving and sloth- and plainly and earnestly presented, ful professors; a sword of wrath to accompanied with the prayers of minmany a slumbering watchman, who isters and people forthe influences of has not warned them of their evil the Holy Spirit, how would they kinways, and let them die in their in- dle in young and old, in male and feiquity. We dare not shut our eyes to male; yea, in all classes of people, the plain declarations of the eternal in the few who could give millions Word in respect to the account to be and in the multitude who can give given for all these things. mites, aglow of interest which would lead them to consecrate life, and time, "He that withholdeth corn, the and means of every kind, to the adpeople shall curse him; but blessing vancement of the cause of their Reshall be upon the l)ead of him that deemer and Lord with a zeal which seneth it." Upon him that with- would work wonders in themselves, holdeth the bread of life, the true and in the churches, and in the bread from heaven, the bread which spread of the knowledge of Christ givethlife unto the world, the bread throughout the world. which if a man eat he shall live forever, from immortal souls, the The parallel momentous need of curses of nations, the curses of the the present time is, that the ministry assembled universe, the curse of God shall teach professing Christians their forever, the wrath of the Lamb whose obligations to obey God's word, and agonies and blood of atonement to follow God's rule, in respect to matsave haye been made ineffectual ters of money and property. through his wickedness and sloth, will in the last day be poured without It appears self-evident that those measure. But blessing, glory, riches, whom Christ has set to be teachers honor, the rejoicings of angels, the of his people should instruct them that they are to be guided by the
INTJmNATIONAL DBPARTMBNT
principles and inculcations of God's Consider the rule: "UPON THB word in this as in other duties, and FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK LET EVERY that they should follow in thE.'ir em- ONE OF YOU LAY BY HIM IN STORE AS ployment of their material means in GOD HATH PROSPERED HIM."
his service the definite, practical and This is an inspired "order." It is all sufficient rule which God, by his given in Omniscient wisdom; to Holy Spirit, has given. And yet how further the Divinepurposes of mercy little are the lessons which stand out to mankind through Christ. It so massively in the commands and teaches us the Christian use of money admonitions and history and typical and property.
appointments of the Old Testament, I. Universal responsibility. "Every and in the teachings and promises one" must give. All are created by and warnings of the Lord Jesus and God, dependent upon God, can only his Apostles, pointed out in our pul- be saved through Christ, must give pits. How wonderful in itself, and account in the judgment; those of in its relations and influence is this every age, sex, condition.
divine rule I-brief as one of the ten II. From Ohristian motives. Re- commandments; the complement, lated to "the first day of the week."
we might almost say, of the peti- From love to the risen Lord. For the tions of the Lord's prayer; vital to advancement of his cause among the fiscal success of the kingdom that men. In harmony with the aims is to come; the neglect of which has and efforts of his church. With been the woe of the Church, and the prayer and thanksgiving. Looking ruin of her children, and the means chiefly to the recompenses of the of withholding the bread of life, final day.
Christian truth, Christian agencies III. As a personal transaction with of mercy, Christian forces of civiliza- God. "Laying by him in store. "
tion, from the hundreds of millions With private prayer, intelligent in- of our brethren and sisters of the hu- quiry, business calculation. Employ- man family now living, and from the ing care and with sense of responsi- thousands, oh, the thousands and bility for what belongs to God. A thousands, of millions in the genera- part to add effect to personal labors, tions which have passed beyond the charitable and religious. A part to dread bourne of such opportunities. be distributed to general claims as How astonishing, before earth, and they are providentially presented.
heaven and hell, that this rule is not IV. In definite measure, and in ceaselessly and commensurately with the ratio of increasing ability. A its importance to the King's revenue, lower proportion when poorer, a .explained and urged in sermons, larger proportion as means in- taught to the young, inculcated in crease. Bestowing thank-offerings families, enforced by personal ex- for special and unexpected beneflts.
ample, represented in inscriptions Guided by the standards of holy con- and pictures, commented upon and secration exhibited in the ancient illustrated in nlany ways by religious saints; but recognizing the higher periodicals, insisted upon in ecclesi- light and privileges, aims and prom- astical proceedings, as must be done ises, and duties and opportunities, of to accomplish a reformation in Chris- this dispensation and above all of tianity, to effect the promised open- these "last days."
ing of the windows of heaven and the Here is a rule which is perfect as a outpouring of its celestial blessings, financial measure. Its divinity grows and to introduce a new era, the res- upon one with the contemplation of toration of more than its first para- it, and with his efforts to apply it in dise, to our sinful world. practice. It is evaded by many; human "plans" are·substituted for it home· was at Norway-House, 400 in church work. Those who heed miles north of Winnipeg, and on the little Christ's command to ., preagh the gospel to every creature," will lake of that name. His circuit was be indifferent to the method by which he instructs his followers to 350 by 550 miles, the temperature fallregulate their earnings and their gifts. His precept should be taught ing sometimes as low as 550 below especially to the rising generation, zero. Mr. Young told the following story: and to the young men and women .. At Norway-House, on a certain occasion, a who are to be its ministry and guides. number of Indians came into my room, noise- When its principles shall have been lessly, after their fashion, so that the room was put widely into operation, according filled with them before I knew it. When I be- came aware of their presence I asked whence to its full scope and design, the king- they were. 'From a journey of fourteen nights,' they replied ; for they reckon distance by the dom of heaven will be advanced with number of nights they are delayed to sleep. 'We majestic strides and the arm of the have got the Keesenaychen [the Great Book], Lord will awake to wonders of sal- but we don't understand it, although we can vation. read it.' I thought they were joking, for the In- dians cannot read unless some one has· taught The Voluntary Demand for the Gospel them, and I knew from their account that they Among Hea.then. must live far away from any missionary; but I asked them: ' From what missionary did you ONE of the most interesting hours learn l' 'We nevel'saw a missionary nor a of the International Missionary Union teacher I ' I took down from my shelf our meetings in 1887 was the one devoted Bible, printed In the beautiful syllabic character to testimony from personal experi- for the Cree Janguage, and opened to Genesis; ence of the call directly and spontan- they read It with ease and correctness. I turned eously from heathen, both individ- the pages and they read in many places. I uals and communities, for the Gospel. was amazed, and asked them again where they Rev. W. H. Belden to.ok notes of the lived. They described It to me ; it was far away conversations and narratives, and north of Hudson's Bay, hundreds of mUes from collated from other sources subse- any mIssIonary. Their hunting-grounds, it quently, more testimony of the same seems, adjoin those of some Christian Indians- kind. He published selections from they cover great distances in hunting-and, con- these for use in the November Sim- tinued my visitors, 'We visited your Indians ultaneous Meetings, held in New Jer- and fonnd that they had the KeeBerta'Vchen. We sey, last year. It has been our pur- got them to read it and then to teach it to us ; pose for some time to yield to the de- and we wel:e so pleased with It that we all learn- mand for the publication of some ed to read it during the winter.' Every soul In of these recitals in the more perma- a village of three hundred popnlation had thus nent form of this REvmw. We can actually learned to read the Bible without ever now only give a few samples. The having seen any white teacher; and having Editor of this Department will be providentially come Into possession of Bome grateful for further illustrations of copies that happened to be in the hands of the this" feeling after God" among non- Hndson's Bay Company's agent, these heathen Christian peoples. Let missionaries Indians had journeyed throngh the snows four-' on all fields favor us with such nar- teen nights' distance that to them might be ratives and we will promise to make given instruction In the Book they had thus the best possible use of them. learned to love.
At the Thousand Island meeting, Another response came from J. L. the first to speak was the Rev. Eger- ton R. Young of Canada, for nine Phillips, M.D., D.D., at present act- years a missionary amongst the In- ing as chaplain of State institutions dians Qf the far North-land. His at Howard, R. I., while waiting to return to his (Free Baptist) Mission in India. He said: "A little mission station two mUes trom us had, almost every week, companies of men coming in from the jnngle, some of them travel- Ing many mUes to reach a native evangelist. Among the Santhala aronnd me, one day a native helper came to say: A man ont here has just asked me, 'Are there any Christians here? for I have Been a black Christian and a neighbor of received some benefit, but hia great gain was to mine once saw a white one; tell your Christians his soul. A deep impression was made on him that tbere are some of ns who want Christianity.' by the worship and the kindness in thehospltaJ. So we went away to where this stranger lived. After he returned to his home he went about An old man came and prostrated himseU on the from "Village to "Village telling what he had grass before us. He brought out a little book earned and pleading with all to accept Christ as printed by the English Baptists at Cuttack, Oris- their Saviour. Many scoffed, but some believed, sa [India]. It was not even a chapter of the and these sent a request to the missionaries to Bible; it was some Scripture truth metrically send some one to teach them more fully. A written, and these people had been singing it teacher was sent, and the missionary subsewith their lips not only, but with their hearts. quently baptized thirty inquirers." • A man,' said one of them, • went to a Sunday market and would not let some whites who were Miss Mary L. Cort, of the Presbythere preach; but they lert some books. One terian Mission in Siam, author of day I heard my neighbor reading in one of these and I aaked him, as I found he cared nothing for " Siam, the Heart of Farther India," it, to give it to me; and I brought it home. I wrote: believe it, and my wife; the priest and his wife, and my son and his wife.' So [continued Dr. .. In April last, while making a mission tour to Phillips] we found eight souls, now ready for Ratburee, I met an old nobleman from KRnbuwhalevcr Christianity should require of them." ree, a large city fifty miles further up the river who begged us to visit his city, for, he said, he Among those who wrote to Mr. had never before heard of a • Jiving' God and of forgiveness of sin I " Belden was Rev. J. B. Porter of Kan- Rev. J. L. Nevius, D.D., of Chefoo, azawa, Japan, who said: China, wrote: .. It has become 80 common in this part of Japan for heathen to make known voluntarily .. In the Spring oflB85, while itinerating In a their own desire to have the gospel brought to them or to their people, that at this station we region about 260 miles from here, previously uthave adopted the following for our' out-station' work: WMreaa, the invitations are 80 numer- visited, I was by providenti~l circumstances OU8 from towns and villages to give them the drawn aside from the road I was traveling, and gospel, and preachers are so scarce, Resolved, a person whom I should not bave met in the that we, 8S far as possible, will open new preach- proposed course of my journey, waa providening stations only at those towns and villages tially drawn from his home to meet me. While where people have expressad a desire to have the crowds with whom I met in the marketthem; and we call upon those persons who send town where I was stopping sought me out and invitations to become responsible for at least the listened to me from mere curiosity, this manexpense of the preaching place from the begin- listened with intense interest to all I said. Arter ning." listening for some time he introduced himself and addressed me as follows: •This is what I Rev. T. C. Winn, of the same sta- have been waiting for, for twenty years. I have been earnestly seeking for light and guidance, tion in Japan, says: but without success. This is the very truth I want.' This man-his name is Yang-yiu·shin- .. On a visit to the city. of Tayama, in 1881, we received and embraced the truth at once, as a were visited by an old gentleman, in our hotel, person prepared and called. He has been an who said, • I have long held an important posi- earnest and successfol student of the Bible ever tion in one of the temples here; but I have lost since, and he has been God's instrnment in es- faith in the religions of Japan. I am an old man tablishing three churches in and about his home. and must soon die. But my religion gives me I have met with no similar caae in my experi- no hope for the future. I find no consolation in ence." it. For some time I have been thinking that there must be some other and true religion. The Church Missionary Society of From what yon have said I believe that you have England has published numerous ac- at last brought it to me. Please teach me all about this true religion.' This man became a counts similar to the foregoing; we Christian. " give one as a sample: In sympathy also with these letters, .. One who had been a heathen red mau," says Bishop Whipple of the American Episcopalians, the Rev. Dr. Hunter Corbett wrote whose missionary labors in the diocese of Min- nesota have made him illustrious on both sides from Chefoo, China: the Atlantic, .. came 60S miles to visit me. As he came into the door he knelt at my feet, say- .. Our hearts are constantly made sad by the ing: •I kneel to tell you of my gratitude, that supreme indift"erence of the masses to the claims yon pitied the red man.' He then told this sim- of the gospel, but occasionally the clouds lift ple, artless story: •I was a wild man living be- and light appears to cheer our weak faith. A man yond the Tnrtle Mountains. I knew that my from a certain district in Manchuria, where the people were perishing; I never looked in the United Presbyterians of Scotland are engaged, face Of mf child tbllt my heart was not sick. went to a millsionary Jlhfsician for llls efes. He My lathers told me there was a Great Spirit, and its educational course, the first of its I hllve often gone to the woods and tried to ask Him for help, and I only got the sound of my kind in the country, having under voice.' And then he looked in my face in that instruction over a hundred girls. artless way and said, 'You do not know what I mel'n. You never stood in the dark lind reached In one of the mission schools in out your hand and took hold of nothing. One this city one of the civil officers (a day an Indian came to my wigwam. He said to Mahommedan) said to the missionary, me he had heard you tell a wonderful story at Red Lake: that you said the Great Spirit's Son "You can teach your Bible as much had come down to earth to save all the people as you like, only give just a little th~t needed help; that the reason that the white while to the Koran." man was so much more blessed than the red man, was because he had the true religion of One writing from another part of ' the Son of the Great Spirit; and I said I must India says ': see that man. They told me you would be at the Red Lake crossing. I came 200 miles. I " The work among the Mahommedans is inasked for you and they said you were sick, and creasing very mUCh, and I am asked constantly then I said, 'Where can I see a Missionary 1' to go and preach to them. In trying to explain I came 150 miles more, and I found the Mission- to some that Christ died for all, one asked, 'Did ary was a red man like myself. My father, I he die for the Mahommedans, too 1' And when have been with him three moons. I have the I replied, ' Him that cometh to me, I wiJI in nostory in my heart. It is no longer dark. It wise cast out,' they said, 'Then we can come, laughs all the while.' And he turned to me and too.' " said,' WiJI you notigive me a Missionary l' " A lady writing from another point Oan Moslems be Reached? says: BY MRS. J. T. GRACEY, BUFFALO, N. Y. "A Mahommedan moulvie has opened his house to us. He said to me, 'You know it is FROM the discussions which have considered a disgrace amongst us to let our' recently attracted the attention of women and girls learn, but I now think that nothe Christian public, one might sup- tion foolish, and I want mine taught.' He is the pose Christianity had in Islam an first one here who has had the courage to send unconquerable foe. But even the his daughter to us." Mahommedans cannot accept what Canon Taylor said. His Wolver- .another writes,: hampton address was printed by them in Constantinople, in Damascus and .. There is an increasing desire among the :Mein Beyrout. One Moslem editor calls hommedans to read the Scripture. They often upon the faithful to hear what the ask for the gospels, and sometimes buy the "English Monk" says about them. whole Bible. Where the Canon describes Islam as a brotherhood, the editor says, •• An intelligent Mahommedan girl, very bigot_ " Would to God it were so !" ed, was reading the story of Christ's entry Into Jerusalem. She asked: But there are facts showing that many of these followers of the false … Why did Jesus ride on an ass 1' prophet are seeking for light. In " 'Because in old times among the Jews king'. the province of Mysore, India, which sons and judges rode on them.' contains half a ~illion of Mahom-, " , But he was not a king's son.' medans, there is no distinctiveLy mis- " , Oh, yes; he is the Son of the KIng of kings. sion work among them. Yet, in the He Is God's Son.' city of Bangalore, one of the largest " She then said, thoughtfully: •It says In our in the province, there is a great awak- Koran that Jesus rode on an ass, and' I never ening among the Mahommedan popu- knew what it meant, but I understand It now.' .. lation, and particularly are they stirred on the sub~ect of female edu- Another writes: cation. They have here a "female educational institution," with its " A special bleSSing seems to rest just now on committee of native gentlemen, and work amongst Mahommedans. In one mission alone eight of them are nnder instruction for baptism."
The Mahommedan Educational Congress held in Lucknow, not long since, decided, by a vote of 200 to 20, that weak and inefficient schools were better than no schools at all; that missionary schools, where the Bible was taught, were better than schools where nothing religious was incul- cated, and that the Koran was not taught as much as formerly, and this fact was eonsidered as a national dis- 'I am a Slav [Slahv], but I am a captain II: the Tnrkish army. I want to ask you when Enggrace. land is going to give us liberty . • • r Be- These facts are all suggestive. cause, if there was any freedom, I should become a Christian, and here in these provinces (Euro- There are many of this class, not pean,Turkey) out ofour 4,000,000 Mahommedans, only In India but elsewhere, who one-fourth would embrace Christianity.' I reare earnestly seeking for" the way, plied: 'What are your reasons for such an opin- ion l' He said: 'Don't you know that tbere are the truth, the life." a great many of us who are not really Turks at The following incident is only one all t And to this day, when a Mahommedan fatber has a son born to him, it often happens illustration of many: that he takes him into a dark room and puts The son of a very influential and water on him and says certain words-tbat Is a remnant of Christianity. A Turk will never do famous Afghan has been baptized in that 1 And I said to my colonel: 'I wish there Amritsur. The young man is him- was liberty to profess Christianity l' 'Tush,' self a moulvie (teacher). He says: said my colonel, 'don't say that, for I feel just so, and you know what the consequences would .. From my earliest years I have been care- be." fully taught in the Mahommedan faith. Three years ago I began to have great doubts, which Archdeacon Farlar is stationed at wonld not Jet me rest. The consciousness of Magila, East Africa, engaged in the sin crushed me, but I could see no salvation Universities Mission. He says: anywhere. I wanted to get,the Bible, to see if it could help me, but I did not_kr.ow where to .. I cannot speak for tribes, as no tribe in East get it. The weariness ,and misery of my heart Central Africa has ever accepted Islam; but I God alone knew. At last, one day, I heard a can speak from personal experience as to the Christian was in our village. I found it was a fact that many Mahommedans relapse into lady preaching about Christ. I got a Testament paganism, and that many Mahommedans become from her, and very soon Christ gave me rest." Christians. Last week a Mahommedan Mualim was baptized by our bishop in one of the sub- The lad suffered persecution, and stations. Yesterday I baptized a young man, finally had to leave home, hoping to tbe dying son of a Mahommedan, at his father's be baptized. His father offered $100 earnest request. I am now preparing for bap- tism another Mahommedan Mualim and two reward to anyone who would bring Mabommedan master tradesmen. I have this him his son's head. A number of Ma- day received into our school a young Arab, or hommedans asked him why he for- Mussulman Hindi lad, born in Zanzibar, who sook th~ religion of his fathers, and made his way to Magila, wishing to be taught. his answer was as simple as it was Three of our most promising teachers, two of whom are preparing for holy orders, are Mahombeautiful, "Because there is no soul- medan converts.
rest in it." .. I am speaking uow only of the results of our work in one tribe; there are many other in- At the International Union Mis- stances of couversions from Islam; but as these sionary meeting, August, 1887, the are just taking place as I write, I mention them especially. Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, founder and first president of Robert College, Con- .. In a number of villages in the neighborhood stantinople, Turkey, arose and said: of this station, where I remember seeing a mosque a few years ago, there is now a school .. There is certainly a suppressed demand chapel, while the mosqnes have fallen down, for the gospel among Mohammedans in the and no one rebuilds them. Many a young man Turkish empire. They do not hate Cbrist; that I used to see at his ablutions, preparing for they honor him; it is Christianity that they the Sala-ya-Gioni at sunset, is now a worshiper hate, from the false examples of it seen around in the Christian church." them in the corrupt Oriental churches. Among the great Mahommedan population in the three Notes. empires of Turkey, Persia and India (150,000.000 to 200,000,000 of souls) there is a suppressed de- -Three monthly periodicals of one mand for the word of God and for freedom to hear of Christ. Years ago, before the founding missionary society of England had of the present mission (American Board's) to the Bulgarians, I was in Philippopolis (350 miles a circulation in 1886 of over 900,000 west of Constantinople), now the capital of Eastern Roumelia, or, as it is just now called, copies. Many of these were distrib- Southern Bulgaria. A military man called upon me, who I at once saw belonged to the Slavic uted gratuitously, but the public race, of which the Bulgarians are a part. I said to him: 'You are not a Turk?' 'No,' said he, bought over $13,000 worth of them. -Murray's Magazine for August, 1887, has an article on "The Church of the British Empire" which treats and these Christian Japanese conlargely of foreign missionary work. tributed $160 toward starting the The National Review, for June, 1887, Hawaiian Mission. has a lengthy article on" The Foreign Missions of the Church of England." -A number of Dundee gentlemen The Nineteenth Oentury for Novem- have purchased a barque to be sent ber, 1887, had a long article on "Brit- on a commercial and missionary exish Missions in Africa." pedition next July into the Arctic seas about Pond's Bay to Christian- -Books of travel through non- izE' the natives. If thE' report is favor- Christian countries almost all now- able from this expedition a Polar adays treat favorably or unfavora- mission will be carried out. bly of Christian missions in those lands; vide "Journal of A. R. Mar- -" Moslem prayers are rarely supgary," p. 71; Mr. Charles Darwin's plications for blessings. It has been "Journal of Researches" in Tahiti stated that among the 10,000 verses and New Zealand, 2d edition, pp. 414, of the Quran, there are not as many 425, 428, 505; "At Home in Fiji," by petitions as are in the Lord's Prayer." Miss Gordon Cumming; "Wande)'- ings South and East," Mr. Walter -The Bengal Methodist Episcopal. Coote, in Fiji, Loyalty and Sandwich Conference, reports last year's pap- Islands. Almost every author of tisms as being, from Hinduism 46, travels treats missions as one of the from Muhammedanism 21. This foremost topics of popular interest. large proportion of Moslem baptisms is significant. The inflexibility of the -Governments take cognizance of Moslem too often means that no SPE'- missions in our times in official re- cial effort has been made by Chrisports and in Parliamentary and Con- tians to reach him. gressional debates: e. g. " Report of the Secretary of State and Council -In a history of the London Misof India for 1871-72," ordered printed sionary Society in South Africa, pubby the House of Commons April lished in London, Mr. John McKen- 1873; "Report of Madras Census for zie, for twenty-five years missionary 1874;" Report of the Indian Education in Bechuanaland, discourses of the Commission, 1884, p. 535; Reports of prevalent impression that the introseveral Secretaries of State for India. duction of Christian civilization has a tendency to seal the doom of native -Eminent men are connpcted of- races. Mr. Mackenzie cites the case ficially with the conduct of mission- of the Gariepine people at the Cape, ary boards. Before us lies a list of Hottentots, Bushmen, Korannas, those of the Chnrch Missionary So- who were once so degraded as to be ciety, alone having one duke, ten hardly accepted as human, and who earls, 6everal lords, one major-gen- at the commencement of the century eral, three generals, three colonels, were "fast dying out.'· Not only one admiral, five members of Parlia- has decrease in their numbers been ment, and eight men knighted for arrested, but a steady increase has valor or worth. been going on, so that the 15,000 Hot- tentots increased to 98,561 in 1875 -Rei Kanichi Miyama, a Japanese and the race there are now all prowith his wife, left San Francisco on fessing Christianity. March 8 to commence a self-supporting mission among Japanese in the -"Missions are so characteristic a Sandwich Islands. He had previous- feature of our church, so essentially ly made a visit of inspection to the a part of her functions, that, even locality. He has been connected had they not yet sprung into existwith the Methodist Episcopal mis- ence, their commencement could not . sion to Japanese in San Francisco, but be daily expected."-Baron Von Schrautenbach, Moravian Historian.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS. M7
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
[THE month of July we have given to the At the request of the chief, he Islands of the Sea and the Indians, Chinese and chose Raratea as his first center. It Japanese in America, together with Utah and was the largest of the Society group, Alaska. We shall devote our space to such se- politically supreme, and the stronglections and snggestions as may cover these hold of idolatry-the "Ephesus of various interesting themes.-EDs.] that portion of Polynesia." Thence he bore the gospel in succession to I. THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. the Hervey and the Samoan clusters, and to over 300,000 souls. The story of the gospel in the South Sea Islands reads like a ro- He found that a ship, at his own mance. John Williams was the disposal, was indispensable to the pioneer messenger to so many of prosecution of his work; without it, those jewels of the deep, and his "what prison-wall had been so strong "narrative of missionary enter- as that white and wailing fringe of prises" seems almost incredible, but sea?" And he set about making one every word can be verified by the with his own hands, with some help testimony of successive visitors to from the wondering natives. Marthose beautiful islands. His work of velous is the account of the making marvelous adventure, transcendent of his own machinery and the buildsuccess and sudden martyrdom should ing of his ship at Raratonga, where be studied by every lover of missions. he spent a year. He had to sacrifice three out of his four goats to secure John Williams was born near Lon- leather for a pair of bellows, and, to don in 1796, and murdered by the na- his dismay, when they were comtives at Dillon's Bay, in Eromango pleted, ready, as he hoped, to blow Island, New Hebrides, in 1839, at the the fire that should melt his iron, age of 43. Yet what usefulness was every particle of goat-skin was eaten crowded into that short life! off them in a single night by the hordes of rats. Seventy-five years ago this ironmonger's apprentice stood at the cor- Discouraged by no hindrances or ner of a street in London one Sunday difficulties, in less than four months evening, waiting for some wild com- the Messenger of Peace was companions. That was the man with pleted, and bore him four thouwhom the destinies of thousands of sands of miles to hundreds of thousavage South Sea Islanders were sands of heathens, whom he found mysteriously linked. His master's sunk in idolatry, superstition and wife, going to worship, observed the nameless pollution, practising polad, and, with difficulty, persuaded lygamyand infanticide, sluggish in him t.o go to church with her, where intellect, and, when not at war, living he heard the words by which he was in indolence. It would be difficult to saved. find a people over whom a feeble faith or a mere human philanthropy His early love for practical and would have been more ready to bend mechanical work developed, in after in mingled pity, disgust and despair. years, into skill so many-sided as to greatly increase his influence over Believing that Christianity not the simple-hearted natives that only emancipates man from his vices, crowded around him in wondering but most effectually awakens the admiration. torpid intellect, he looked to God for His blessing on the ministry of the In 1817 he sailed, with his wife, Word, preached the gospel faithfor the Pacific, and in exactly one fully, and used all prudent secuyear cast anchor in the beautiful lagoon of Eimeo. Ten mvnths later he was preaching to the people in their own tongue. lar measures. He built himself a 1821, and left there two native preach- .tasteful house, with due regard to ers. He found the natives very noisy ventilation, neatness and comfort. and wild savages; some tattooed Outside were vine-shaded verandas, from head to foot, others fantasticalgardens and poultry-yards. Soon ly painted or smeared with charcoal, the natives began to rear houses after dancing, shouting and madly gesticuthe same models; then a house of lating. They were cannibals, killing worship, holding three thousand, and eating one another. Eighteen with an ornamented pulpit and ten· months after, he again visited the chandeliers of turned wood, holding island; and as he approached, canoes cocoanut shells for lamps. Gradually, met his boat with Christian salutathe wliole aspect of the people was tions: "Good is the word of the changed; all the idols were cast Lord! it is now well at Aituaki! away; multitudes became Christians The good Word r.as taken root !' in heart and life. A code of written laws was formed, and trial by jury On landing he found chief and peoestablished, so that within three ple had embraced the Gospel, and years, Raratea became a Christian had built a church 180 feet x 30, in island, its sea-beach studded with which he preached to about 2,000 white cottages, with their own people from J no. iii, 16. One such an schooner lying at anchor. example is an irrefragable proof of the Divine sanction upon foreign· Williams' mechanical gifts, his missions. rare ingenuity and fertility of resources, made him a missionary of a FIJI GROUP. thousand. God had brought about a wonderful juncture in the history IN 1874 Sir Arthur Hamilton Gorof missions, and had raised up the don was sent out by the British Govman to meet it. Even his joyful, ernment as the first Governor of Fiji. hoping spirit, contributed largely to The Fiji Island group, consisting of his success. "Like the sunny islands about 250 islands, of which eighty or among which he sailed, his soul lived ninety are inhabited, and two of in a perpetual summer." He used to which are about t!e size of Long say, "There are two words in our Island, was voluntarily placed under language that I always admire, the sceptre of Queen Victoria by Trust and Try. You know not what King Thokambau and his chiefs. you can or cannot effect until you The reason for this step given by try, and if you meet your trials in the Thokambau, who had been converted exercise of trust in God, mountains of some years before by Wesleyan misimaginary difficulties will vanish as sionaries, was that foreign advenyou approach them, and facilities will turers had become so troublesome in arise which you never anticipated." their unprincipled efforts to instigate This was the golden motto of his war between the chiefs, that he whole missionary life. feared the total extinction of the tribes, and the destruction of every- His short, bright, beautiful career, thing that was good on the islands. closed in mid-splendor of his usefulness. Faith could only be silent It was a singular spectacle which when the bitter tidings arrived- these chiefs, headed by their king, that John Williams had received presented, when the great war-club, from the hand of his God the double the emblem of Fijian power, was crown of missionary and martyr. handed over to the representativlls of the British throne, and an island em- His whole career furnishes another pire was made over without bloodspecimen of' Gospel power, John shed or any other means of conquest Williams went to Aituaki island in than those which had been used by a handful of faithful missionaries. It was to them that this wonderful way they do. You may now PIISS from isle to transformation was due; it was by isle, certain everywhere to find the same cordial their influence that the auspices of reception hy kindly men and women. Every village on the eighty inhabited isles has built British rule had been estimated and for itself a tidy church, and a good house for its teacher or native minister, for whom the village coveted. also provides food and clothing. Can yO'U real- ize that there are 900 Wesleyan churches in Fiji, at everyone of which the frequent services are crowded by devout congregations; that the A niece of Governor Gordon, Miss schools are well attended, and that the first sound which greets your ear at dawn and the C. S. Gordon Cummings, went to last at night is that of hymn singing, alld most Fiji as a member of his household. fervent worship rising from each dwelling at the In a well-written book entitled" At hour of family prayer? '
Home in Fiji," she has much to say .. Strange indeed is the change that has come of the wonderful transformations over these isles since first Messrs. Cargill and wrought by Wesleyan missions Cross,Wesleyan miSSionaries, landed here in the among a people known to have been year 1835, resolved at the hazard of their lives to bring the light of Christianity to these ferocious the worst of all known cannibal tribes cannibals. Imagine the faith and courage of the two white men, without any visible protecupon the globe. Living for eight tion, landing in the midst of these bloodthirsty years in the country, not as a mission- hordes, whose unknown language they had in ary nor in the missionary circle, nor the first instance to master; and day after day witnessing such scenes as chill one's blood even even belonging to the same body of to hear about. Many such have be,en described to me hy eye witnesses. Christians as the missionaries, she may be considered an entirely disin- .. Slow and disheartening was their labor for many years, yet so well has that little leaven terested witness. She speaks as fol- worked that, with the exception of the Rai lows: Shobes, the wild highlanders who still hold ont in their mountain fastnesses, the eighty inhah- H I often wish that some of the cavillers who ited isles have all abjured cannibalism and other are forever sneering at Christian missions could frightful cnstoms, and have lotered (embraced see something of their results in these isles. Christianity) in such good earnest as may well But first they would have to recall the Fiji of put to shame many more civilized nations." ten years ago when every man's hand was against his neighbor, and the land had no rest n.-N. A. INDIANS. 'from barbarous intertribal wars, in which the REV. DR. TIMOTHY HILL, in his last foe, without respect of age or sex, were looked upon only in the light of so much beef, the pris- report, said of the Indian Territory: oners deliberately fattened for the slaughter, dead bodies dug up that had been buried ten or .. There are something over thirty tribes and twelve days, and could only be cooked in the portions of tribes, varying in the widest exform of puddings, limbs cut off from living men tremes from each other. There are remnants and women, and cooked and eaten in the pres- from the far East, descendants of men who ence of the victim, who had previously been heard David Brainerd preach. There are Mocompelled to dig the oven and cut the firewood docs from the lava heds of the Pacific coast; for the purpose; and this not omy L time of others from far North, and from Mexico and war, when such atrocity might be deemed less Texas on the South. They differ as widely as inexcusable, bnt in time of peace, to gratify the possible; on the one hand a painted savage, caprice or appetite of the moment. a blanket Indian, dependent on government rations, the extremity of human ignorance, " Think of the sick buried alive; the array of degradation and general worthlessness; on the widows who were deliherately strangled on the other we may see an Allen Wright, the gradu- ,death of any great man; the living victims who ate of Union College and our own Union were buried beside every post of a chief's new Seminary-the governor of his tribe by official house, and must needs stand clasping it, while election, the pastor of large churches, the earth was gradually heaped over their devoted heads; or those who were hound hand .. There are five civilized tribes who have a reg- and foot and laid on the ground to act as rollers ularly organized government of their own. They when a chief launched a new canoe, and thus are the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws. doomed to a death of excruciating Mony; a Creeks and Seminoles. time when there was not the slightest security for life or property, and no man knew how .. These five tribes may be justly called civi- quickly his own hour of doom might come; lized. A considerable portion of them speak when whole villages were depopulated simply to and read and write the English language. Each supply their neighbors with fresh meat. of these tribes is, within narrow limits, a nation, H Just think of all this and of the change that has been wrought, and then just imagine white men who can sneer at missionary work in the electing its own officers, making and executing Episcopalians have' 856 communicants in eight / their own laws. They have a regnlar system of mission5. The American Missionary Association schools, which are taught in English. has in Dakota and Nebraska four churches with 274 members. We do not undertake to verifX "In religion these tribes have ceased to be the entire 30,000, for we suppose it wonld be pagans; they all profess some form of Christian necessary to embrace the reports from Roman faith. But the standard of morals among these Catholic missions. civilized rndians is low. There are still 4.0,000 wild Indians in this " Other tribes and bands occupy more than country, 12,000 in government and mission half of the conntry. What shall be done for schools, 28,000 to whom no school opens, no their moral elevation and religiOUS welfare? missionary comes; 60 whole tribes npon whose The first thing we need there is a large increase darkness no ray of gospel light has ever fallen, as of educated men.for the ministry. There are to- pagan and as savage as were their ancestors when day in the new synod, living in the Territory, the tlrst white man landed upon these shores. twenty-eight ordained ministers and four licentiates. Earnest efforts should be made to carry THE annual report of the Indian the gospel to all these people as quickly and as Bureau shows the past year one of fully as we can. distinct advancement, on the part of the Indians, in education, industry "There is a favorable opening for us among and other lines of civilization. The the Indians of the five tribes, ariSing from the good effects of the severalty act are great r~spect that is felt for the old missionaries. already apparent. Under this act The names of Worcester, Butler, Kingsbnry, many of the Indians have acquired Byington, Wright and others, are spoken of their own lands and homes, and with great respect. An old missionary is al- started upon the way to independways remembered with respect, and we are ent citizenship. According to the considered as coming in their places; and report about thirty-three pel' cent. as they were benefactors, so they expect us to of the Indians on the reservations be. The field is white for the harvest for ns wear the clothes of civilization; there, and wherever faithful labor has been about 2a,OOO speak English intelliseen, large results have followed. gibly; 10,000 of their children are in schools. More than 31,000 families .. They clamor for schools; it comes to them are engaged in industrial pursuits. cheap; bnt with us all the schools must be but There are cultivated more than 238,- the scaffolding by which we may build the sanc- 000 acres of land, on which have tuary of the Church of God. been raised 750,000 bushels of wheat, 950,000 bushels of corn, 402,000 bush- .. It is plain that we cannot nndertake to edu- els of oats, 68,000 bushels of barley cate the whole population, nor would it be wise and rye, 514,000 bushels of vegetables, to attempt it with our limited means. Bnt we and 83,000 pounds of butter. They can have a few schools of a high character, have built houses, fences and sawed where the Bible shall be a daily stndy, where lumber. They own cattle, horses prayer and a deep religions inbnence can be a and other stock, their sheep reachpresent thing which silently bnt effectually ing the number of 1,120,000. shapes all who come under its influence. The schools should be religiOUS first 9f all ; the end III.-CHINESE IN NORTH AMERICA. held in view above all others shonld be bringing the gospel before the pupils in all its beauty and THE absurdity of the outcry against power. There shonld be no teacher employed the "Mongolian Invasion,"-as the who is not considered a Christian; the teacher .arrival of a few thousand Chinese in shonld always be a missionary. California was called-is more ap- parent every day. In 37 counties of "What is to be done must be done quickly; that State, not including San Franthe race is passing away, bnt a remnant can be cisco, there were, according to the saved." late census, 350,000 people, of whom only 26,000, or less than 8 per cent., The present religious statistics published by are Chinese, while of the population the Government give the following: "Number in these counties fully one-third is of missionaries-male, 77; female, 27; total, composed of foreigners. 104 ; number of Indian church members-male, 14,550; female, 15,994; total, 30,544; number of church buildings, 155." Where are these 30,000 church members? The Southern Baptists have an association in the Indian Territory, embracing 81 churches. "that may be nnderstood as composed of aboriginal members," and these number 4,263. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has a conference in the same territory with 5,394 Indian members. The Cumberland Presbyterians have there two Presbyteries, including nine native ministers and 37 congregations. In the diocese of South Dakota alone the The celebration of the Chinese welcomed at their shrines. A brief New Year took place in San Fran- acquaintance with these deluded recisco with great rejoicing. The ligionists is sufficient to at'ouse the principal ceremonies were on Satur- missionary zeal of all who know the day, Feb. 11, and the pageantry was superiority of a pure monotheistic continued in a less degree for several faith. days. The festival in " Chinatown" was ushered in with fire-crackers SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. and noisy discords, which form the prevailing strains in Oriental music. Universal evangelization. – The The Chinese stores, restaurants and matter is primarily one of simple theatres were gaily decorated, and obedience to ollr Lord's Jast comall the celestials were in their best mand. Here are our marching attire. At the several joss houses orders. A true soldier does not hesithe priests of Buddha adorned their tate, parley, or even delay to ask a hideous idols with robes of costly question. brocaded silk. The number of incense sticks was doubled, and in front Secondly. It is a matter of love to of the i ma~es were placed offerings of man as well as loyalty to Christ. rice and other articles of food. Sup- Every motive of humanity and piety pliants with written petitions, at- unite to constrain us to give the gostached to little bamboo sticks, pros- pel to the world. Huber, the blind trated themselves before the sense- naturalist, observed that a wasp will less deities. H"ere, as in Christian not stop to eat a precious morsel by churches, the majority of the wor- himself. He goes to the nest and shippers were women, and the value leads others forth to the feast. He of their votive gifts was proportion- that withholdeth corn, the people ately large. The need of Christian "shall curse him. No monopoly is so ladies as missionaries in this West- inexcusable and monstrous as that el"n metropolis is painfully apparent. in the Bread of Life.
An impetus was given to the hea- There is nothingeither impossibleor then ceremonies this year, by the impracticable in the immediate evanopening of a new and gorgeous joss gelization of the world. We need. house at No.9 Brooklyn Place, near the most thickly settled portion of 1. To accept the principle of Evanthe Chinese quader. This temple gelism-that every believer is a herof degraded Buddhism is under the ald, responsible for his proportion of auspices of the Hong Yen Gi, and the unsaved world; bound to do the idols were recently imported from directly his share of bearing the good China by the Lung Gong Gung Com- tidings. The curse of the church is pany. The uncouth images are the dependence on proxies. known as the supreme god, the god of wealth, the god of agriculture. the 2. We need a spirit of Enterprise. god of medicine, and the god of war. Men of the world, simply to serve In the centre of the group is the chief worldly interests, have made it posdeity, resplendent with lavish orna- sible to go round the world in three ments. On his right is the god of months, to reach by the mails the wealth, monopolizing a large share remotest quarters inside of six weeks, of worship. Next in Oriental esti- and by telegram all great centers mation is the god of medicine, regard- inside of an hour. What might not ed as the impersonation of wisdom. a little enterprise do for God!
The Pagan priests are very polite, 3. We need a holy Earnestness, an and American visitors are cordially enthusiasm for God. This is the inspiring soul of all Christian effort. It makes one man chase a thousand, etc. ; it makes him a hammer to break the hardest; a fire to burn and melt away; a sword to pierce.
PROGRE!'lS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
4. We need the divine Enduement, 2. The disciples going into all the The power that converts cannot be described any more than the frag- world. rance or tinting of-a rose; but it may be fQlt. Faith and prayer are the 3. Particulady into the byways, conditions of this enduement. The means will always be inadequate. hedges, etc. Our salvation lies in being in straits. The work cannot be done on a 4. Encouraged by the promise, "La mathematical basis. We must attempt great things for God, while I am with you alway," etc. expecting great things from God; and then the victory will come. The proof that God is with us : TEXTS AND THEMES. 1. The providential opening of WHEN Bishop Hannington preached doors. his farewell sermon at Hurst, before departing for Central Africa, his text 2. The gracious transformations of was 1 Samuel xxx. 24: "As his share is that goeth down to the battle, so individuals Rnd of society by the shall his share be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall share alike." gospel.
God's plan is : 3. The exalted character of the 1. The gospel preached everywhere as a witness. consecrated laborers.
Weare debtors!
Thrice, thrice are we the debtors of the heathen world. Debtors-for we possess what they have not.
Debtors-for we have kept back for centuries what should have been given them with generous hand.
Debtors-for instead of a loaf we have given a stone; instead of a fish a serpent. • VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa.-To-day 34 Missionary So- tance of fifty miles for the building of cieties aloe at work in Africa, and all a chapel. Most of the men have its 200,000,000 souls are practically made the journey three, and some within the reach of Christian mis- four times. bringing loads on their sions. Thirty-three societies have heads. To do this requires a walk of begun work in China, and all its 350,- three or four hundred miles, and it 000,000 souls may be visited with the is well asked, "How many hypocrites would do that?" The women have message of the gospel. More than hired carriers, and thus have done fifty societies have entered India, and their part. The boys, too, have the light is dawning upon its 250,- brought half loads. This disposition 000,000. Turkey and Persia and Japan to labor for Christ is the best sign are filling with misi;ion churches and that the Christian professions of the people are sincere. mission schools. Practically, the whole world is open, and the grand- -At a recent meeting of the Presest day of opportunity for the king- bytery of New York, a committee dom of God that the earth has ever seen has fully dawned. was appointed to prepare an overture -The Mission of the American Bap- to the General Assembly with regard tists sends further reports of the re- to the rum traffic in the Free Congo vival at Banza Manteke. About 200 State. The whole business is a shame to our civilization, to say not a word have been baptized and enrolled as relative to its character, as carried on church members. More are asking from seaports whence Christian misfor baptism. There is much persecution in some parts, and in December sionaries go out and come in! three persons were killed for profess- -The Romish Church is pushing ing to be Christians. In the towns about Banza Manteke there are peo- for the open regions of the upper ple who are anxious to hear the gos- Congo. Two Portugese steamers repel. An interesting incident is given cently carried from twenty to thirty Jesuit priests and nuns to labor in showing the zeal of the converts in Africa for the propagation of their transporting timber and iron a dis- faith. -It is stated that a nephew of the ing in numbers and improving in late King Cetewayo, after six years moral and religious life. The 15,000 in Sweden in theological and other hottentots of that region have grown studies, has gone back to carryon to 98,561 in 1875. The gospel has put mission work in his native land. physical and mental vigor into them as well as moral. Central Soudan.-The last letters Alaska. – From Alaska come tidand journals received from .~fr. Gra- ings of progress. Sitka, which is the central and most important mission, ham Brooke are from Equator Sta- has been freed from the outside op- pressions of last year, and has made tion, on the Upper Congo, where he rapid progress in good work and fa- vor with all who see and know it. stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Banks and The workers are much the same- Rev. Mr. Austin as minister, Mr. Mr. Murphy. He writes from the Kelly as superintendent, and Mrs. Austin, Mrs. Winan and the Misses Equator Station, December 5, 1887 : KelRey, Rodgers, Palde and others. Mrs. McFarland has the Hydah mis- " The diJference is very striking np here be- sion and labors with Mr. and Mrs. Gould. New building-s have been tween the natives of this country and those erected, and a boarding-school of 20 scholars begun. Mr. and Mrs. Wildown river. Those are degraded, sqnalid and lard are at present laboring among the Chilkats and other tribes who puny; these are warlike, proud-looking and center at Juneau to get employment at the mills. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. prompt in action." "December S.-Time slip- McFarland are at Hoonyah, laboring 'ping by, and nothing heard from the chief. He at some disadvantage because of the cannot get the men, I suppose. The great Arab migratory habits of the tribe; but ~ettlement of Ali Kobo is the most southern they still report a large school and hopeful worJi:. Rev. S. Hall Young known, and that is what they at present hope to is at Fort Wrangell, where a church of 54 members is reported, some of reach, and then begin itinerating work. Of whom are bright examples of the power of the Christian faith. course, there are the two dangers of passing SUMMARY. through savages and being ill-received by the Ministers. . . . . . . . . . . 1886. 1887. Arabs. v?e ought to hear from them once more 30 31 Native ……….. _.. 8 17 from Equatorville before plunging into the in- Churches. . . . . . . . . . . 48 59 Church members… 2,001 terior."-Reg.ions Beyond. Teachers. . . . . . . . . … 63 2,306 Schools ………… , 20 95 Western Africa.-New version of 26 the Scriptures. Mr. Heli Chatelain, Scholars………… 1,134 till recently a member of Bishop 1,607 Taylor's American Episcopal Methodist Mission, on· the West Coast of Britisb America.-A recent num- Africa, has labored at Malange, in- ber of the Gleaner contains an hisland from Loanda, among people of the same race as those described by torical sketch of the work of the Livingstone, and he is visiting England and America to obtain the means Church Missionary Society among for providing the Scriptures for "those studious, industrious and the Indians in BritIsh America. The progressive natives." He reports that in Angola there are plenty of following extract shows how remarknative scholars able and willing to be of use to the man who sets to work able has been the growth of the translating the Scriptures into the principal dialects, only they cannot work: afford to give their services without payment. The Committee of the "In 1887, from an area of 'thirty-five miles on British and Foreign Bible Society each side Qf the river,' the '.York has spread over have expressed to Mr. Chatelain their most of 2,373,490 square miles, from Rupert's readiness to undertake the work he House and Fort George on the eastern shores of desires, as soon as they have sufficient .ames bay, away to the Rocky mountains, and preliminary evidence that the trans- over them to Queen Charlotte's islands in the lations will be correct and satisfac- North PaCific oceau, and from Fort Francis in tory.-Bible Society Reporter. about 48° north latitude, to Rampart House on -The Gariepine people, at the Cape the Porcupine river, more than 2,000 miles -Hottentots, Bushmen, Korannas- north from Red river. There are nine huge sunk to the deepest degradation, were dioceses, six on the eastern, and three on the fast becoming extin~t at the begin- western side of the Rocky mountains. In the ning of the present century. Mr. five dioceses of Mool'lOnee, Rupert's Land, Sas_ John Mackenzie, laboring in connec- katchewan, Athabasca and Mackenzie, and in. tion with the London Missionary that of Caledonia, are 14,687 Christian adher- Socie~y for 25 years in South Africa, states that, instead of dying out, these native races are now multiplyof ents connected with the Church Missionary So- westerly province bordering on Bur- mah, there are two Mission stations. ciety. The Bishops Moosonee, Athabasca, It is hoped that a highway will soon Mackenzie river and Caledonia are all mission- be opened between Burmah and this province. From Kwei-chau there arics of our society. There are about 80,000 are cheering accounts. Itinerating work has been carried on in Hunan, red men with whom our work has to do." though there is no station 'at present. Burmah.-Rev. G. Holbeck writes from Burmah that thero is a gl'eat In Hu-peh the work among the movement Christianwards in Man- women is particularly encouraging. dalay and district; many persons In Gan-hwey there are more openhave been baptized. He concludes ings than cau be filled. This provhis letter by a statement that the ince has been selected to found the people are ripe for religious teach- training home for young men before ing, and an appeal for help. going into the far interior; while the -The Church of England has a mis- training home for young women is sion in U ppel' Burmah under the lead of six priests, two English, one Tamil in the province I,)f Kiang-su. In and three Karen. Fifty villages are Shan-tung are thl'ee stations. At reached; there are 1,237 communi- Chefoo thirteen persons were bapcants and 597 scholars. tized in the summer. The name of Jesus is widely known in Cheh- -The Burmah Baptist Missionary Convention held its 13th annual kiang. Showers of blessing from on meeting at Moulmein, November 5-7. high are wanted to quicken the seed The convention represents about sown by the workers of the Mission. 500 churches and more than 26,000 communicants. Its meetings were -In China there are among the difharmonious and profitable. The dis- ferent Protestant denominations 79 turbed condition of the country has prevented its missionary work from persons who devote themselves chiefly being as extensive as usual. Itsfields to medical work. Twenty-seven are of labor are the Karens of Northern Siam, the Red Karens and the Chins. women. There has been issued by The reports from the different fields their Medical Missionary Association showed a goodly numberof baptisms. The convention is the Foreign Mis- the first number of a medical journal, sionary Society of the Churches in whose columns contain valuable pa- Burmah. None of its money is used pers from native and foreign physiin the old fields, where each associa- cians of high standing. 1.'he articles tion is supposed to care for home mission work, of which much is done by the Chinese doctors, 1.hemselves by the associations. Christians, in the Chinese language, will have a wide influence among China.-Progress has been made their countrymen in removing the III the work of the China Inland prejudice against foreign physiciaml. Mission during the year 1887. The -Presbyterian Journal. greatest success has been in Shan-si where in April 200 converts were -The Ningpo Presbytery recently baptized, largely through Native met in the city of Hangchow. There agency. Opium refuges, which are are 9 pastors, 26 elders, 9 deacuns. almost self-supporting, have been 7 evangelists, 6 licentiates, and 6 greatly used. There has been a con- theological students. The additions siderable development of women's to the several churches during the work. Three distinct stations in year were 68; children baptized, 21; Shan-si are occupied by two foreign deaths, 31; expelled, 5; the whole ladies each. The same plan is pursued in Kiang-si. Honan has been number of communicants, 719; coneventful, not only from the inunda- tributions, $991. . Of this $73 was for tion of the YeHow river. but from the formation of a Native church in education, $60 for home missions, connection with the Mission. In $20 for foreign missions, $712 for Shensi there has been development pastors' salaries, the remainder for and consolidation. At Hang Chung, sundry expenses in connection with the Natives take entire charge of the church work, and for the care of the service!!. In Kan-suh four impor- poor. tant centers are occupied; and in Si-ch'uen there has been decided im- -Recent statistics show a total of provement. In Yun-nan, the most about 500 church members within the walls of Peking, connected with the five Protestant missions in that city.
-Mr. Stanley Smith, of the China Inland Mission, reports 210 baptisms in Central China, at one time. An- other missionary states that he has been preaching to immense audiences, sometimes numbering as many year $165 towards the extension of as 4,000. Some of the most influen- Christ's kingdom. The total amount tial men in the Empire have em- paid last year by natives for all purbraced Christianity. poses, church schools, books, Sab- bath-schools and zenana work, was -Chinese in America.-The New $29,188, an average of $14 for each York Chinese mission has between professing Christian. Dr. Lansing 4,000 and 5,000 Celestials in its reports that 53 of the congregational Sunday-schools. About sixty have schools are entirely supported by the joined the various churches. The natives, as well as over two-thirds of the salaries of the nine natiye pastors first Sunday-school for these people being paid by the people whom they was founded in New York 18 years serve. ago. England.-More than twenty can- Columbia.-There is an established didates have offered themselves for agency at Bogota, the capital of work under the Universities' Mission Columbia, for the burning of Bibles and are awaiting Bishop Smithies' and Protestant books. Columbia is answer. It is feared that lack of probably more undel' the power of funds wiil keep many of them back. the priesthood than any Roman Cath- To bring the income of the Mission for general purposes up to £10,000. it olic country in the world. is proposed to appoint correspondents in each rural deanery, The increase Ciscuucasiu.-The first portion of in the figures of the Mission are thus the word of God ever printed in given: 1n.1874 the income for genethe language of the Kumuks is now ral purposes was 2,9921. ; other funds, on the eve of publication. The peo- 448l. ; gross income, 3,440; European ple live on the western shore of the missionaries, 5. In 1887, General Fund, 8,713l.; other funds, 6,9001.; Caspian sea, northeast of the Cauca- total, 15,600l. ; missionaries, 63. sus Range, near Kisliar and the rivel' Terek. The Gospel of St. Matthew Fiji Islands.-Of the 17,743 Fijians inhabiting the Fiji Islands more has been translated for them by than nine-tenths attend church Khasan Bey, a young MoHah, and with fair regularity; where, fifty his work has been carefully revised. years since, there was not a single The printing has been done in Ger- Christian, to-day there is not a single many. The difficulties to be sur- avowed heathen; all the Fiji chilmounted in securing a reliable ver- dren are in the schools; the schools sion have been great, and the labor and churches have wholly displaced has extended over some six or seven the heathen temples.
years. [From a speech by Rev. A. G. Egypt.-A most remarkable his- Webb at Melbourne in November tory attaches itself to the mission work in Egypt, since its very begin- last, we give the following account of ning. Along the valley of the Nile, from Alexandria to the first cataract, his work in Fiji.-EDS.]: are 79 regularly established mission … Now, the great work that has been done stations and 70 Sabbath – schools, numbering 4,017 scholars. The 65 in Fiji has been touched upon by others, and day and boarding – schools number over 5,200 scholars. A recent Amer- manystories have been told of the terrible doings ican traveler, after looking into the faces of the 327 native students of of the Fijians when heathens. But I am not Asyoot Training School, said: "This going to tell you those stories to-night; I prefer is the grandest sight I have seen in all the East!" The steady growth to tell you a story that is a Christian story. I in the evangelistic and educational departments is almost without prece- think that Christian people ought to be far more dent. The opportunity for such work is to-day greater than ever before, interested in that than in the doings of a race and never in the history of Egypt of wild cannibals. All traces of their ancient has there been such a demand for the Bible. . During the past year heathenish practices have been cleared away, 9,651 copies of Scriptures, 8,993 vol- and visitors now cannot imagine tbat this people, umes of religious books, and 19,179 v()lumes of educational books were with their almost Parisian manners and their sold by colporteurs and shopmen. Four women's missionary societies meliftuous speech, were the cannibals of ancient have been organized among the na- times. tives, with a membership of 217. These fOUl' societies contributed last .. I have the latest Government returns, show- ing the present state of the people, bnt they only partially represent it. The true character of the work cannot be estimated by figures, bnt by the inner lives of the people. There are at present in Fiji-Fijians, 111,743; Europeans, 3,567; half-castes, 796; AsiatiCS, 4,230; Polynesians, 5,664 ; Rotumans,4,214-total, 128,414. Of these India.-Sir William Hunter gives 111,743 Fijians, 100,154 are attendants atonr own very encouraging figures as to the pnblic worship-a very large proportion indeed. progress of Christianity. In the nine years preceding 1881, while the gen- " I may say, that where fifty years ago there eral population of Bengal increased was not a single Christian, to-day there Is not an 10.89 per cent., the Mohammedan avowed heathen. There may be heathens, but population at the rate of lQ.96 per If so, they don't stand up and say so. When I cent., and the Hindu population at went to Fiji there were thousands of them. In less than 13.64 per cent., the Chrismy first circuit of Rewa there were more heath- tians of all races, the natives exens than in any other-men who would stand up cluded, increased at the rate of 40.71 :lDd avow It proudly, too. I well remember one per cent., and the native Christians 'Wild young fellow of an immense size (some at the rate of 64.07 per cent. Fijians are very fine looking men), and with a head of hair standing out on all sides, which -" They have in Bombay a special fund of added to the wildness of his appearance, coming right in front of me, and looking me boldly in 16,000 rupees for the support of new converts to the face, saying, 'I'm a heathen, and I'm going to be.. heathen,' as if it were something to be Islam; a house bought for 6,000 rupees, whose prond of. Bnt there is none of that now. Instead of it, we have as many people worshiping in rent aids in supporting such converts; and in Fiji as you have in Victoria; we have as many people whose names are on the class-books in Lahore, about fifty rupees are collected each Fiji as yon have in Victoria, and those whose names are on the class-books are not conspicu- month for the support of open-air preachers of ons by their absence. Islam. These Mohammedans have their eyes .. We have at present 53 native ministers, 44 open to all that is goin~ on around them. They catechists, 1,877 local preachers, 3.192 class leaders, 27,421 members of the church, 4,121 on trial, preach against Christianity in the bazars of 2,795 catechumens, 1,019 teachers, as well as day and Sabbath-schools with their teachers, for all nearly every important city and town in India; the children of Fiji are educated in the mission schools. It is diJllcuit to believe that in a place they reply promptly to nearly everything of imwhich fifty years ago was studded with heathen temples-where the first parsonage was a canoe portance written against Mohammedanism; and honse, open at both ends, in which the Rev. David Cargill and his noble wife were glad to they have five papers, all of which are ably take shelter-there is not to-day a single heathen temple; in 1,255 places of worship God's Word edited, and are devoted to the defense of the was preached yesterday (Sunday), and will be preached again next Sunday."- ltZUB. Miss. claims of Islam. 'In addition to all this they New8. publish works claiming to point out serious dis- Home Missions. – The American Baptist Home Mission Society received the past year crepancies In the Christian Scriptures; a work $551,596, of which $145,603 was received by contributions for general purposes, $41,579 for in which they are greatly aided by European schools and buildings, and $39,629 for church extension. The receipts from legacies were Unitarians and infidels." $245,485. "It is also a singular fact that, since the The annual report of the Board of Home Missions of the United Presbyterian Church gives bloody mutiny of 1857, the adherents of Islam the total receipts of the year as $53,ll96.61; total expenditures, $51.696.09. have written no single book against Hinduism, Foreign Missions.-The Presbyterian Board and that the five special organs of the former did not get the $1,000,000, but it had $901,180.89 when its books closed May 3. say nothing of any importance against the latter, The receipts of the M.E. Church for last year and do not urge Hindus to embrace Islam. In for missionary work were upwards of $1,000,000. fact the efforts of Islam seem at present to be Total receipts of the American Baptist MissloRary Union for the year ending March 31, almost entirely directed in India to securing 1838, were $411,385.39. converts from Europeans and native Christians, The annual report of the American Tract Society shows that the receipts for the year were and to meet with a very limited success in both $459,858, and the expenses $448,504. One hundred and ninety-four colporteurs have been em- directions. " ployed in the United States during the past year. -The Presbyterian women of India raised last year, in their missionary societies and Boards, in cash and missionary boxes, nearly $8,000 for home missions.
Japan.-Mrs. Rhees, an American missionary at Kobe, Japan, writes: "There is so much written about Japan and the desire of the young people to study English that I need not write about it. But there was a convention of Japanese physi- cians held in Yokohama a few months ago. that to me seems of great importance. The object of the meeting was to consider what could be done to prevent the diseases that cause so much weakness and suffering among the people. The decision reached by the meeting was that they recommend the placing of the daughters of the people in Christian schools. It seems to me a great gain when really educated physicians ac- knowledge sin to be the cause of many of their diseases and Christianity the remedy. All the boarding-schools among the mission- aries are enlarging their accommodations to meet the constantly-increasing demand." -Spirit oj Missions.
STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S HISSIONS
VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
JEWISH MISSION STATISTICS. SCOTLAND. 122,910 State Church Mission …..•. 23 Ii 117,000 [These valuable statistics were Free Church Mission ……. 43 8 Scottish Home Mission ….. 2 2 6,720 translated and arrangad for us by Edinbur~h Emig't Mission .. 1 1 6,000 United resbyt. Mission …. 2 1 Prof. Chas. H. Schodde, Ph. D. EDS. Total ………………….. 71 17 252,630 IT is not generally known that our 72,680 own day and generation has witness- IRELAND. ed a growth of mission interest in the welfare of the once chosen people of Irish Presbyt. Mission …… 27 9 God, which can compare favorably with the miracle of missionary activ- Totalfor the British Isles. 312 81 1,513,180 ity that we see before our eyes in heathen lands. In the " Supple- GERMANY. 20,440 ment," which Dr. Dalman has been 1,840 publishing for the past two years Edzard Endowment……… – 2,310 to the quarterly called Saat auf BerlinSociety… ………… 3 1,710 Hoffnung, edited by that zealous Berlin Proselyte Society… – 11,000 and veteran friend of Israel, the Saxon Society…………… – 3,200 translator of the classical Hebrew Bavarian Society……….. – version of the New Testament, Pro- Central Society (at Leipzig) Ii 1 21,600 fessor Franz Delitzsch, of Leipzig, Wurthemberl§ Society….. 1 1 1,410 in the interests of Jewish missions, Mecklenburg ociety……. -_ the former has collected the statistics Rhenish Society.. . . . . . . . . .. 4 3 260 of Christian work in this field, which Lubeck Friends of Israel. .. — are doubtless the most complete ever StrassburgFriends ofIsrael – published. As a result of extensive correspondence and reading, Dalman Tota!. ………………… 13 6 63,780 has learned that there are 47 Protest- ant Mission Societies devoted exclu- SWITZERLAND. 10,350 sively to this work, laboring at 135 Basel Friends of Israel. …. 1 3,260 stations with 377 men and expending 11,090 each year 1,800,000 marks (1 mark NETHERLANDS. 3,400 equal to 24 cents). In 1881 C. F. He- Netherland Aid Society…. – 17,750 man had published similar statistics, NetherlaDd Israel Society.. 2 1 1,200 but reported only 20 societies with Christian Reformed Society 1 1 270 laborers and an anIJUal income of I 1,400,000 marks. In other words, in Total for the Netherlands 3 2 scarcely half a dozen years the activ- FRANCE. ity in this arduous field has literally been doubled. And this does not in- Mission of Pasteur Krueger – clude the other societies who engagtl in the work in addition to other mis- SCANDINAVIA. sion enterprises, such as the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Amm'i- Norwegian Central Society – 22,810 ean Tract Society, and others. Swedish Israel Society….. 4 2 31,220 Evangel. Fatherland Assoc. – 2,020 Swedish Mission Associat'n 2 2 1,570 Danish Israel Society……. – Totalfor Scandinavia…. 6 4 57,626 e., RUSSIA (i. the non-orthodox churches).
St. Petersburg Mission….. 2 1 3,800 Baltic Mission………….. 2 1 5,000 Pastvr Faltin's Mission…. 3 2 20,000 J. Rabinow;tch's Mission… 1 1 Dalman's summary of this work Total for Russia………. 8 5 28,800 is given in the following table, and 113,000 NORTH AMERICA. the whole is translated for THE MIS- Episcopal. ……………… 2.5 25 6lO SIONARY REVIEW of THE WORLD. Hebrew Christian work…. 3 2 Missouri Lutberan ………. 1 1 ~i~ns SOci<cty:" …………. 2 2 Chlcago Mlsslon ………. , . 1 1 J1ethodist Mission………. 1 1 Wesleyan Society………. 1 1 ENGLAND. Total for North America. 34 33 113,610 Of these, the oldest is the Edzard endow- Mission.. Sta- Income ment (in Hamburg), established in 1667. aries. t'ns. (in M'ks.) This had no imitators until in 1808, when the great London Society was organized. Other London Society…. . . . . . . .. 135 29 733,280 societies were established in 1822 (two), 1830, British Society…….. ….. 31 20 206,880 1835, 1836, l841 (two), 1842 (two), 1843, 1844 Mildmay Mission.. ……… 31 1 189,690 (three),1849, 1860,1861,1870, 1871 (two), (1874 London Cit.y Mission……. 6 1 (two), 1875, 1876 (two), 1878, 1879 (two), 1880, Parochial Mission… …… 6 1 18,630 1882,1883 (two),1884, 1885 (five), 1886 (three) . English Presbyt. Mission.. 3 2 23,500 •Jewish Emig't Aid Soe'ty.. – 5,860 The missionaries labor wherever BarbicanMission…. ……. 2 10,030 the chief centers of Jewish popula- Total …………………. 216 55 1,187,870 tion are found. In London there are fied that these figures are substantial- 58 at work, in Budapest 14, in Con- ly correct. Of course this includes stantinople 33, in Damascus 31, in also those who have been won by the Jerusalem 28. In other places from agents of the Roman Catholic and 1 to 5 men labor in this cause. The the Greek Orthodox churches, both total number of Jews on the earth is of which are also active in this work, about 6,400,000. Accordingly, there but not as much so as are the Protesis one missionary for every 16,976 tant Societies, especially those of New England. Dalman's articles, of Jews. Concerning the success of the which we give here only a bare skelework, no complete statistics can be ton, are full of interesting details collected. However, as good an au- concerning this important though thority as the Jewish convert and little known, and, unfortunately, ofmissionary de la Roi says that at least 100,000 Jews have been con- ten little loved field of Christian misverted since the beginning of the sion activity. present century, and Dalman is satis- Foreign Missionary Sooieties of Germany, they covel' nothing more recent than the reports of the years 1883 and DR. R. GRUNDEMANN published in 1884. In response to a request for . several numbers of the Allgemeine information, Dr. Grundemann now kindly sends us in manuscript a sta- Mi88ion8 – Zeit8chrijt for 1885 elabo- tistioal table of German societiescov- rate statistical reports of evangelical ering the year 1887, and we gladly missions throughout the world. Those tables were remarkably complete, but give the table here: STATISTICS OF GERMAN EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY SOCIETIES FOR THE YEARI887.
SOCIETIES.
———-,— — ——— — —-. — Moravian …………………………. 107 147 83,052 29,283 590 208 17,407 $101,261 Basel, Evangelicallllission…… .. . . . .. .. 42 120 19,187 9,497 1,057 208 7,486 199,507 Berlin, Evangelical lIIis8ion…………. 48 60 17,764 8,400 1,225 53* 3,377 71,611 Rhenish Mission (Barmen)…………. 53 66 29,125 9,666 1,100 66* 5,370 E8,440' North German, (Bremen)…… ….. ….. 4 8 556 325 114 5 199 20,389 Gossner Mission…………………… 13 19 34 000 11,868 1,775 80t 1,685 42,431 Evangelical Lutheran, Leipzig.. ,……. 23 22 14,014 4,500* 7g6 129 3,993 67.5g6 Herrmannsburg .. ………………. … 61 71 11,196 5.000* …….. 63· 2.000* 63,713 St. Chrischona tOo………. ………… 1 15 4CO J ernsalems-Verein.. .. .. .. …. .. .. .. .. .. 3 2 150 20 5 1* 120 8.132 40* …. .. . . 4* 200 6.585 Brecklum (Schleswig-Holstein)………. 4 8……… ….. .. …. ,. 21 * * 43 14.914 Berlin Woman's Mission for China.. .. .. 1 40 3.778 1 81.. .. . .. . 17 New Church Mission………………. 5 5 305 80* 77 3* 74 2,523 East African Verein <Berlin).. ………. 1 2 …….. …….. …….. ….. …….. 3,239 Bavarian Verein for East Africa… ….. 11 2………. …. .. …….. …… …….. 3,000 ms50 Oen'! Prot. Miss. Verein (for Japan.)… 1 220* …….. …….. …… 2 3,COO , Totals ……… ' .. . …………… ~ '3681550 ~ 6.756 823- 4l.994 $700,1i4 *Estimated. t2Statistics ofSyrian Orphan Home only.-MI8sionary Herald.
The M. E. Ohuroh in India.
The statistics of this Church for 1887, as compiled from the Annual Minutes of the Conferences, show a marvelous growth in the past twenty years.
North India, South India. Bengal. Total. For 1867. 28 32 86 18 Foreign Missionaries………… 26 4 4 46 5 Native Do………… ,….. 38 28 Zenana Do.. .. . .. .. .. .. …. . 3 5 338 20 4.450 Members………….. … ……. 3.121 563 766 3,523 212 151 473 10.180 500 Probationers……….. ………. 2.899 6.484 400 Native Christians.. .. .. .. .. … . . 9.226 163 771 62 133 531 515 2.563 Da.. Communicants……….. 5.!l2O 4 23 16.515 62 Schools………. …………….. 488 752 Scholars…. ………………… 15.298 212 1.005 689 15 36 39 23.146 20 Sunday Schools.. .. .. . …. . …. .. 594 2.204 2.029 Scholars……………………. 23.913 109 Churches…………………… 19 14 54 76 9 5 Parsonages………………… , iO • Protestant Missions in Africa.
(THE following report was made January 7,1888, by Mr. Wm. Coppinger, Secretary of the American Colonization Society for Africa.) The British and American Missionary Societies operating in Africa, with the statistics of their work, are given in the following table: MISSIONARIES. i j 8 – – – – – – – – – – – -8 – BRITISH SOOIETIES.
Chnrch :….., .. :. …………………………… 17 12 4 277 4,164 UniverSitIes MIssions……………………… 26 23 14 218 … 5;00." 12 Society for Propagation of the Gospel. . . . . . . . . . . . 122 London ………. …. … ……… ….. …….. … 48 1 6,052 United Free Methodist.. . .. .. .. .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . 10 Primitive Methodist.. . . . . . . …. . . .. . . .. .. . . .. . . . . 2 233 14 3,035 Church of Scotland…….. ….. ……. ………. 2 5 1 Free Chnrch 0, Scotland………………….. 15 …. laij" 181 15 n Baptists. .. . . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . .. 20 5 Wesleyan Methodists…….. . … .. . … .. .. .. .. . 33 2 30 "'i,427'" 8,280 United Presbyterian Church of Scotland…….. 17 9 Moravians……………………………….. 58 …. ·7 .. 69 "i:,,',io7"
336 2,073 Friends…………………………………. . …2.0…. ………. 2,828 Bible Society.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . 6 3,509 AlIIERlOAN SOCIETIES.
American Board. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. …………….. 17 1 25 11 866 Baptist Missionary Union……….. …………. 12 7 429 2 12 22 Presbyterian.. .. . …. ……………………… 9 868 ~ 5 8 125 Sonthern Baptist …………………………. '. 5 3 United Brethren………………………….. . i 53 3,929 Protestant Episcopal.. .. …… .. .. .. ……… . . . . 42 640 African Methodist………………………… . Methodist Episcopal……………………….. .. ..ii… iii'" 76 … 2;400"
Bishop Taylor Mission…………………….. . l 22 1 1 .0.0. Lntheran.. ……………………………….. i Free Methodist…………………………… . 4 16 _._…_.2.1._ 9..-.-'-._…..i_;.S..4_.3.". United Presbyterian………. …. .. .. … . .. .. .. . Western Colored Baptist……………….._._,,_._.' -_ _1 – -_ _ _- '-_ _ _'
Foreign Sunday-School Association, Countries. S. Schools. Teacher•• Scholar•• DURING the twenty-flve years' work Italy. .. .. …. .. . .. .. . 200 850 12,560 of this society it has introduced Sun- France …………… 1,100 4,500 115,000 day-schools, as a specialty, into Ger- Belgium…. ……… 57 many, and aided in their establish- Switzerland ……… 1,590 160 2,350 ment, until now there are in that Spain……………. 100 6,522 97,890 country over 3,000 schools, with 30,- Portugal………… 30 8,009 !l00 teachers and 300,000 scholars. Holland!…………. 1,291 400 1.000 "The work is now spread all over Bohemia.. . . . . . . . . . . . 90 100 141,640 Germany," writes Mr. Brockelmann, Moravia.. .. .. ….. .. 38 3,800 2,875 its great Sunday-school worker, Sweden.. …. …….. 500 260 1,423 "and all clergymen who are not Denmark………… 300 60 200,000 rationalists have Sunday-schools." Russia (among the 18,000 25-;lO,000 The association has also aided and 2,000 established Sunday-schools in Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, German popuiat'n) 23 428 6,017 Portugal, Holland, Denmark, Swe- Brazil…… ………. 21 35 518 den, Russia, Hungary, Bohemia,Mo- Chili…………….. 255 ravia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Turkey, In- Uraguay…….. ….. 11 40-45 dia, China, Japan, Mexico, Cuba, 700-900 San Domingo, Guatemala, U. S. of Colnmbia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chili, American Sunday·School Union.-The last Uraguay and Southern Africa. three annual reports of the American Sun- day-School Union show that since 1884 it has The following table gives the fig- brought 185,034 ohildren into 4,947 new Sunures, as nearly as can be ascertained day-schools, a number equal to 5,000 more at the present time: than one-half of all the increase reported as having been secured by this and all other a~enoies during these three years. The Union aided 4,825 other schools, which have 46,774 teachers and 515,714 scholars, so that in these three years it reached 9.872 com- munities and Sunday-schools and 700,748 chil- dren and youth, and then re-aided and re- visited these sc.hools 11,245 times, hesides making 92,584 visits to families, supplying 45,019 destitute persons with the ScrIptures, and holding 27,247 religious meetings. . Sunda.y-School Sta.tistios-1881~87. [The subjoined statistioal table is given by Rev. B. H. Badley, D.D. of Lucknow, in the Indian Evangelical Review (April). It was prepared'ror the recent Sunday-school Convention held at Cawnpore, India.-EDS.] FOR lE81. FOB 1~87. ~ .; .Sg NAME OF CHUBCH. .; …;. Date. ~-§ ~ "0 rl ..C:: '"0 ''c0" ~ ,,<11 os S ..:: "0 -"- "" -""- – – -"" – – – – ————— r.J:J Q '"r.J:J " <.> ~"
-<11- <11 – – – – – r.J:J I Baptist Miss'y Socy ………………. . 26 730 15 942 Oct. 1, 1886 1,966 Burma 2 London do. do.. ……………… . 17~ 6,670 44 2,206 May 1, 18b6 23,311 is in- 3 American Bd., Marathi Miss. If ' 76 2,339 Jan. 1, 1887 Do. Madura do. …… . 105 3,999 2,523 eluded 123 3,337 u " 5,019 in these 4 Church of England……………….. . 640 11,299 640 11,299 Jllly 1, 1887 47,089 stati"- 5 Socy. for Propagation of Gospel. …… . 126 2,447 126 2,447 (1881) 21,329 tics. 6 Wesleyan Miss'y Socy ……………. . 50 2,113 124 5,983 Jan. 1, 1887 10,772 7 General Baptist do ……………… . 676 Mar. 1, 1887 531 7 347 (f) 8 Church of Scotland ………………. . 12 821) 12 825 (1881) 6,507 9 Free do do L..u.d.i.a.n.a..I. . … . . … . 55 3,172 55 3,172 (1881) 11,156 10 Am. Pres. Church. Do. 24 2,437IJan. 1, 1886 6,637 Rothapur ( ……… . 16 2,523 8 584 Jan. 1, 1885 578 Do. Farruckahad ) (?) 1,095 Nov. 1, 1886 1,990 11 Basel Miss'y Socy ………………… . 7 330 7 409 Jan. 1. 1887 4,696 12 Am. Bapt. Miss'y Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 4385 131 5,348 Jan. 1, 1885 16,549 13 Am. Free Baptist Mission …………. . 3i 1:532 (1) 2,672 Apr. 1, 1887 3,628 14 Gossner's Lutheran do……………. . 1 20 1 20 (lH81) 2,045 15 Leipzig Miss'y Socy ………………. . 16 Irish Pres. Mission ……………… . •• I (1881) 2,788 17 Welsh Cal. Meth. do ……………… . 8 '3141 5 235 Jan. 1, 1887 8,042 56 2,682 (1) 4,290" 8,141 H 18 Am. Evan. Lutheran Miss ………… . 65 3,145 65 3,145 (1881) 2,087 19 Am Reformed Church……………. . 36 1,074 (?) 1,074 Jan. 1, 1887 2,~ 20.Episoopal Moravian Mission. '" ……. . "11 940 .. (1881) 8,260 15,298 I 21~Am. Un. Pres. Church… ……. …… (f) 1,473 Jan. 1, 1887 591 23,913 Nov. 1, 188~ 2~ Meth. Epis. Ch. North India B~: ~~~~~fndia . . . . . . . . 226 13,566 34 1,973" u (?) 39 2,029" " (f) 23 Un. Pres. Church of Scotland."……… 27 1,313 27 1,313 (1881) 3,726 24 Danish Ev. Luth. Mission …………. . (1881) 10 12 25lpres. Church of England………….. . 10 (1881) 282 26 Hermannsburg Mission …………… . .. t1881) 160 27IFriends do. .. …………. . ] 36 1 3" (1881) 56 28iIndian Home do. . …………. [ 8 280 8 2801 (1881) 745 329OIA,Cman. aGdI;eann. EvaI?-' do. . ………… . 2 70 1 8.'5 Jan. 1, 1887 171 Baptist do. . ………….. . 7 177 7 177 (1881) 603 31,Scotch Epis. Church …………….. .. ..' 32,Orig. Secession Church of Scotland … . 1 30 1 80 ., (i881) 208 33 canadian Pres. Mission. . . . . . .. . ….. . 3 120 3 120 (1881) 348 (1881) 34 Swedish Evan. do.. .' .. " …….. . 1 69 1 69 124 35 Am. Free Methodist Mission………. . I 36 do. . …. . 37 tDOitshceirpsl.e.s. . … . . ….. .. .. 5 500 NOV. 1, 1887 (1) … . …… 2,690 _1~ 2,690 _ (1881) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . ~ 11,498 Total… … . . .. .. .. . ….. …. . . . … 1,992 65,728 2,337 89,2331_.:.:_'_._ 216,447 I .. 345 23,505 .. Increase………… , .. .. … .. .. . .. . . .. ..
Sunday.Schools of 111. E. Chnrch.-The nn- nates who have gone out as missionaries, to merical statistical summaries presented in the end of 1887. Of these,Ill went for C.M.S. i the Quadrennial Report of the corresponding secretary are as follows: 48 as chaplains, or for S.P.G., or for the DelhI Mission (this includes Henry Martyn and Number of Sunday-schools, 24,225. other East India chaplains, but the list is Number of officers and teachers, 268,391. incomplete); five for the Universities' Mis- Number of Sunday-school scholars, 2,006,- sion to Central Africa.; five· for the China 328. Inland Mission; three for the London Mis- These show a net increase during the sionarySociety. In the C.M.S.lIst 14 stand quadrennium of 2,272 Sunday-schools, 38,826 for the year 1887; only one other year (1860) officers and teachers, and 312,708 Sunday- had as many as six. Even taking all socieschool scholars. ties together, no year came up to the C.M.S. The conversions in the Sundays during 1887 list alone. The best was 1885, when the the four years reach a total of 410,224. This is an increase over the number reported five China Inland men went, with five C.M.S. during the preceding quadrennium of 112,421. and two S.P.G. Eleven on the C.M.S. list were Ridley Hall men. The report expresses Uuiversity lIIissions.-The last report of the the hope that the increase last year" is but Cambridge University Church Missionary the earnest of a still larger increase, and Union gives a list of 172 Cambridge grad- that the number mav never fall again to its former low standard'."