The Missionary Review of the World — August 1896
GEORGE MULLER, PATRIAROH AND PROPHET OF BRISTOL
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIX. No. S.-Old Series.-AUGUST.-VOL. IX. No. 8.-NBID Serie8.
GEORGE MULLER, PAT~IARCH :AND PROPHET OF BRISTOL.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Probably Bristol itself has never seen such an imposing sight or heard such an impressive address as when the venerable patriarch, George Miiller, now in his ninety-first year, with eye undimmed and natural force unabated, stood forth, on the evening of March 25th, before an audience that packed even the aisles of the Young Men's Christian Association Hall, and for fifty minutes held the vast throng enthralled by the matchless story of the Lord's dealings with His servant in answer to believing prayer. After thirty years, during which I have been attending great missionary convocations and hearing great missionary advocates on occasions of absorbing interest, I can deliberately say that, for simple, unpretending eloquence-the eloquence of experience extending through seventy years of daily walk with God-that address far surpassed any I hav~ ever heard, as also for awe-inspiring and faith-incentive power.
The whole occasion and surroundings were unique. It was the closing evening of my so-called" mission" in Bristol, and the services of four days, during which such themes as the authority, inspiration, and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures, the personality and power of the Holy Spirit, the secrets of victory over sin, etc., consecutively treated, had prepared the way for the consideration of Christian missions. It was by my own invitation that Mr. Miiller spoke-in fact, somewhat reluctantly, as he shrank from occupying time which he thought belonged to me as a stranger visiting the city. But I was. desirous of impressing most emphatically upon my hearers tbe Divine aspect of missionary work, as an enterprise of God, rather than a mere scheme of church activity and philanthropy; and hence dependent for its success mainly upon the believing prayer that puts and keeps man into contact with God, and makes him a true co-worker with Him. For years the conviction has been growing that here lies the secret at once of all past failure and of all future success: we have not used the power which lies in the prayer of faith, and God is challenging us to put Him to proof in the faithful and believing use of our privilege of asking in Jesus' name. To accentuate and emphasize this thought as it should be done, I knew of but one man living who was in a sense without a peer, and that was my beloved friend and father in God, George Milller.
And he ,. filled the place." Erect, strong, childlike in manner, Saxon in simplicity, mighty in faith and hnmble in spirit, giving all glory to God, with a loud voice and clear articulation, so that everyone might hear, he gave his testimony to the livmg, present, prayer-hearing God. The address cannot be reproduced, even had it been most accurately reported. George Muller's face and form and voice and manner, and the authority of a seventy years' daily experimental proving of God's promises, no printed page can supply. There is a certain evasiveness about such a personal presence that is subtle, and refuses to be overcome by man's mechanical devices like the ethereal perfume of a flower, the aroma of the most delicate natural products. But those who heard that master address will never forget it, not because it was George Mullcr's speech, but because in it and back of it the God of prayer was speaking. There was the majesty of Sinai and the melting tenderness of Calvary combi.ned ; it sounded like the utterance of some old prophet of God who had outlived his generation.
If we cannot reproduce the scene, perhaps we may give a few of the bald facts, without the radiant atmosphere which lent them its holy charm.
Mr. :h!fUller told us briefly of his conversion in 1825, at the age of twenty, when he turned from all the seductive worldly pleasures of the card-table,the dance, the billiard-table, etc., to find his portion in God; and how, in 1829, four years later, he made an unreserved surrender of himself to God, henceforth to have Him ., all in all ;" giving up the love of the world, the love of money, the love of fame, the love of pleasure, the love of applause, for the love of God. At once he felt in himself the desire and yearning to go to a foreign land as a missionary, and particularly to India. Five times in succession he offered himself to God for this service; but for some reason not then apparent, God did not accept him for this form and field of activity, much to his disappointment and surprise. He did permit him, however, in various ways at once to become a helper to others who did go forth, and even to the extent of assisting more than one hundred men to enter the foreign field by aiding them pecuniarily as well as in other ways.
Afterward, from the Church he has gathered, and to which he has so long ministered, sixty persons have been sent to the various parts of the mission field. Again, he has been permitted by prayer and faith, in these later years, to assi.st hundreds of other missionaries both to get to their chosen spheres and to help them in their acti ve service.
Still more marvelously God has permitted George Muller himself to go forth on mission tours, to forty-two different countries, to preach and teach and testify, into all parts of Europe except Spain, Portugal, Sweden, ~Ild Norway i threll times i11 the principal centers of population in. America i twice in .the main cities and towns of Canada ; twice in India ; in the Straits of Malacca, in China, Japan, New South Wales, Victoria, Austraha, Tasmania, and New Zealt!nd. For seventeen years of his later life he, with his beloved and now departed wife, moved about in this manner, traveling in aU over two hundred thousand miles. He was able to speak in three languages-English, French, and German-and in other tongues through an interpreter. What abundant and marvelous opportunities God has thus given to him who in youth wondered that he was not accepted as a missionary to foreign lands! In Russia for eleven weeks he was in the princess' palace, speaking in immense drawing-rooms to the highest dignitaries and estates of the realm ; and thus among the highest and lowest alike he gave his witness to a prayer-hearing God, showing how God delights to use those who are surrendered entirely to His will, and ready to be only instruments that all glory may be His.
At this point of his great address Mr. Muller tarried to emphasize prayer as the one great weapon for carrying on God's war against the powers of evil; urging on his hearers, first, that only God can qualify or select and send forth men and women for such missionary service. Hence, the command in Matt. 9 : 38, "PRAY ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest." Secondly, he urged believing prayer as the only source of confidence for blessing on tlteir work. In answer to united and believing supplication that God would abundantly own tbeir labors, in the salvation, sanctification, and edification of souls, Divine blessing may be surely expected; and, thirdly, prayer must command supplies for all needful temporalities. Ten times, yes, twenty and even fifty times as much wealth lies at the disposal of God's people as they have ever yet consecrated and utilized; and if they are to show greater liberality, God must move His people in answer to prayer, to completely surrender themselves and their property at His call.
Then this venerable founder of the orphanages in Bristol resumed his powerful argument, drawn from personal experience of God's dealing, and the audience was again electrified by the magnificent testimony to a prayerhearing God. He gave a summary of the results of his life work. The sum total of money received and expended by him has been 1,394,800 pounds sterling, or about $0,974,000 ; and, as he emphatically added, all received from God in answer to prayer, without in a single case directly or indirectly asking any man for a penny. Mr. Muller solemnly challenged anyone in the audience or elsewhere to show any case in which he had sought pecuniary help, even in the greatest difficulties, from man, it being his distinctive purpose to demonstrate to an unhelieving world and a half-believing church that God may be depended upon for snpplies in answer to prayer.
As to the way in which this immense sum of money has been expended, Mr. Muller said: l. Aside entirely from the orphanage work, there have been established schools for 123,000 pupils in various countries-Great Britain, Europe, Asia, etc.-and through the schools many thousands have been converted unto God.
2. The work of the wide circulation of the Scriptures in many different languages has been carried on. For example, as soon as Spain and Italy were opened to the Bible, he entered these couutries at once with the 'Word of God. Up to this time there have been distJ:ibul;ed 275,000 Bibles, 1,426,500 New Testaments, 218,000 portions of the Bible, such as Gospels, etc., and 21,000 copies of the Psalms.
3. Upon direct missionary labors, in various lands, 255,000 pounds sterling ($1,275,000) have been expended, giving partial or complete support to hundreds of missionaries. Thus, during fifty-five years, he has been enabled, in answer to prayer, to give help to hundreds of His servants who have been, in God's hands, instrumental in the conversion of at least 20,000 persons in heathen and Moslem communities.
4. Tracts, pamphlets, books, and various kinds of Christian literature have been scattered in various lands and languages, to the number of 106,500,000! And who shall measure the blessing thus reaped as the harvest of such wide seed-sowing! Lett.ers come to the orphanage day after day, sometimes five and ten at a time, communicating knowledge of the wonderful way in which God has owned the dissemination of Christian literature in widely scattered fields of labor.
5. Then comes, last but not least, the orphan work. Five massive buildings have been erected on Ashley Down, at a cost of £115,000, or some $575,000, for building, fitting, and furnishing. These buildings have a total of 500 rooms, and can accommodate 2050 orphans and 112 teachers and helpers. The average sum expended yearly in support of these orphans is £26,000, or $130,000.
All this colossal work, the like of which no one man in our generation has ever wrought, is all to be traced to believing pmyer. Here is the unique spectacle of a solitary man, himself entirely without money, poor to this day so far as independent means are concerned, undertaking, in simple reliance on the promises of a prayer-hearing God, to support hundreds of missionaries, distribute millions of Bibles and other books and tracts, build five huge orphan houses and support 2000 orphans, himself traveling over forty-two countries, from the rising to the setting sun, and in all of these lands preaching the Gospel and bearing his witness to the faithfulness of God, and yet he has never had any property in lands or money in banks, wherewith to meet these immense daily costs. Thousands of times he has not had enough in hand to provide one day's meals, or even the next meal; and has had prayer-meetings between breakfast and dinner, or between supper and breakfast, to ask supplies for the immediate need j and yet in fifty-five years he has never known one instance in which the prayer has not been answered and the need met, tho sometimes literally only from meal to meal, with no adequate surplus for the next! And let it be noted that Mr. Miiller, in order not to weaken his testimony to a prayerhearing God, has enjoined on all his helpers never to make known the exigencies of the work to anyone outside the institution, but to unite with him in spreading all such wants before God alone; and lest his annual reports might be thought to be indirect appeals, for some three years no report was published, and yet the supplies continued to come with as little interruption and in as great abundance as before.
All this and more was said to that throng in Bristol, not only without self-glorying or vain boasting, but with the repeated and humbling affirmation that it was with the overwhelming consciousness of weakness and unworthiness, simply and only to show that God is a faithful God; and that every believer who wholly surrenders himself to Him and depends on believing prayer, may know God for himself, as the unchanging friend and helper of every suppliant soul, and equal to every crisis of need.
Interviews with Mr. George Muller were accorded me during every day of my stay in Bristol, and are cherished by me as among the most precious memories of my life. It is not once in a century that the world has a chance to enter upon its annals the story of a life such as that of the grcat patriarch of Bristol, and I wished to avail myself of what might be my last opportunity of such converse.
George Muller was born on September 27th, 1805, and is consequently, as has been noticed, in his ninety-first year. He is hale and hearty, quite erect, in good state of preservation, and said to me, as I renewed the precious acquaintance and friendship of eighteen years, in this series of interviews, that he was never better in health or more able to endure the strain of daily work than now. He may be found, day after day, in his office in " No.3" of the great orphanages on Ashley Down, and his hair is not more gray than that of many a man of fifty, while his eye is bright, and his vigor even greater than it was sixty years ago ; and the same serenity of God is on his face as of old-in fact, his dear face and form both wear an aspect of habitual repose, so long has he known the perfect peace of God.
Here is a man-let me repeat it for emphasis-who for sixty years has been living by faith and prayer, and has had under his care thousands on thousands of orphans, without often knowing where the next meal was coming from, or rather always knowing where it was to come from, and so having no care beyond the care which prayer at once carries up to God and leaves at His feet, to be borne by Him, that we ourselves may carry no burdens.
Two of his long-associated co-workers were asked in substance the following question: "You have seen Mr. Muller in all circumstances; when there was plenty of money in the bank and plenty of food in the larder; have you noticed any difference in his COn;lposure and calmness of spirit at these different times~" One of these intimate co-workers responded, "Not the slightest difference ;" the other replied, "If possible, his composure seems rather the greater wheu all supplies of money and of food are exhausted." Then followed another question, " How do you account for this ~ Any father would feel natural and unavoidable solicitude if his entire supplies for his children were exhausted; how much more the father of 2,000 orphans 1" Then came another answer, never to be forgotten: "The only way I can account. for this is Mr. Muller's own philosophy of holy living, which is that the beginning of anxiety is the end qffaith, and the beginning of true faith i.~ tlw end of anxiety."
·What a solution is contained in Lhis pregnant saying for all our doubts and difficulties! We treat the living God as dead; as one who was, but is not, who wrought wonders of old, but has" forgotten to be gracious," or " in anger shut up His tender mercies." 'IVould that we might come to the conclusion of the Psalmist (Psa, 77 : 10) : "This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." It was my privilege to hear this holy man of God expound that Psalm at Bethesda Chapel on the morning of March 22d, and that exposition will henceforth be inseparable in my mind from the interviews that followed it, and the great testimony borne in the memorable public meeting of March 25th. He showed, with marvelous insight into the meaning of the Word, how the first half of the psalm down to the tenth verse is the experience of a suffering soul that in unbelief refuses to be comforted even by the promises of God, whose spirit is in rebellion against God, so that the thought of God is not a comfort, but rather a burden, and the spirit complains, is agitated instead of peaceful, so that sleep departs and trouble deepens. Then, at the" Selah," which at the end of the ninth verse bid8 us" Pause and consider," and which marks the turning-point of the Psalm, he confesses, " This is my infirmity;" in other words, I have been a fool! From this point on, comfort comes. God's wondrous doings in the past are recalled, His unchanging and unchangeable fidelity to promise, and new courage takes the place of despondency. He who brought His people out of Egypt can bring them into the Land of Promise, their true inheritance.
·What new power would enter into all our mission enterprises could we but come to this same mind! vVe have been fools to doubt and distrust the God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think; and are slow to remember that, from the time of Christ's resurrection, God's unit of measurement, aR to what He can do for us, is this: "According to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead."
Mr. Muller's confidence in prayer is boundless, yet childlike in simplicity. He gave this fact shortly since, to his co-workers, as a tonic to their faith. "I have," said he, "only yesterday afternoon received the answer to a prayer daily offered unto God for twenty-five years." And he added in conversation with me, "I have been daily praying to God for fifty-two years for the conversion of two men; and I have no doubt
THE GOSPEL IN SPAIN
they will both turn to God, for God has laid on my heart, and permitted and enabled me daily for over half a century, to hear before Him in faith in the name of Jesus this request, and now I often praise Him in advance for what He is going to do III answer to my prayers."
Bristol will henceforth be forever associated with these three precious reminiscences: that simple exposition of the seventy-seventh Psalm in Bethesda Chapel on Sunday morning, March 22d ; the blessed personal interviews with Mr. Muller and his beloved son-in-law, James Wright, after that S8rmon, and at the orphanage on the three days following, and finally that great word of witness before a vast throng on the evening of March 25th.
The least that I could do-and, alas! the mORt also-for the readel's of the REVIEW was to reproduce as far as possible the main features of this personal experience, with the grand salient points of Mr. Miiller's tes1imony, in the hope that God will deign to use this humble effort to impress His people, wherever these pages may be read, that the one grand key to all the problems of world-wide missions is an alliance by faith and obedience and believing prayer with the God whose work it is to evangelize and redeem this world through the instrumentality of his believing people.
Let prayer be offered as it should be, on the part of a peculiar people zealous of good works, in Jesus' name, and in the spirit of undoubting faith, and every result will follow that is essential to the speedy and glorious accomplishment of the work. God will thrust forth laborers, open the doors of access and of faith to the nations, open the hearts of His people to give money, and will visit with showers of blessing both the fields abroad which we till, and the churches at home which send the workmen and bring ill the tithes.
THE GOSPEL IN SPAIN.
BY REV. WILLIAM H. GULICK, SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN.
It is not infrequently asked : "What need is there for sending evangelical missionaries to Spain?" Does not the following simple reply sufficiently answer the question ~ It is the inalienable right of every man to own a copy of the Bible and to have the liberty to read it for himself. Every community in which the Bible is not within the easy reach of every man, or where the" Word of God is bound" is a true missionary field to which the Christian missionary may not only go with propriety, but to which, from the evangelical standpoint, it is his duty to go to make known the truth. The question to be asked, therefore, is: "Are the masses in Spain allowed by their religious teachers to freely read and study for themselves the Word of God?" If they are, I would say: "Let the missionary go elsewhere; let him spend his money and life in taking the Bible and in explaining its message and in teaching its doctrines to people who do not have it."
We who have the Bible in our hands are aware that the Apostle Paul intended to visit Spain, and, so far as anything to the contrary is known, he did so; and we can imagine the Gospel that he must have preached! Spanish Roman Catholic tradition, however, entirely ignores Paul's proposed journey to Spain, and it affirms that Saint James was the first apostle to visit Spain-Santiago-who in sculptures and in paintings innumerable is represented as mounted on his white horse, and, with a lance in hand, prancing over the heads of the hapless Moors. That which interests us now, however, is not whether Paul, or James, or any other apostle or disciple in particular was the first to preach the Gospel in Spain, but, rather, whether" the glorious Gospel," which either the one or the other of the apostolic band must have preached, is the Christianity of the Spanish Church of to-day. Does the " Word or the Lord have free course" in Spain of to-day 1 A few facts taken from a multitude that might be cited will give us the answer to that question.
The archbishop of the see of Santiago de Campostela, the capital of Galicia, one of the most important dioceses of all Spain, on one occasion promised to give to a Protestant of that· parish a Roman Catholic Bible in exchange for his Protestant Bible; but after spending a long time in looking for one, he had to confess that he could not find one in the episcopal palace-that he would" have to send for it to Barcelona," all across the peninsula!
In the city of Zaragoza, on one occasion, one of the canons of the cathedral of La Virgen del Pilar, now and for many years one of the most popular shrines in Spain, took upon himself the mission of winning back to the Church of Rome a class of bright young men, members of our Evangelical Church. All testified to his trained skill as a controversialist, and to his gentle ways and winning manners both in conversation and in debate. Once and again some of these young men-after he had met them in their own hall-accepted the invitation to visit him in his private apartments, where they still further discussed, among others, the questions of justification by faith, Christ as our only mediator, and prayer-our young men ever appealing to the Bibles that they carried in their pockets. This rather piqued our good canon, and it forced him, much against his will, to refer to his Bible, which they insisted he should do. And here was his weak point. He knew that he did not know even his own Roman Catholic Bible. Once he confusedly sou.ght a familiar New Testament passage in the Old Testament, among the books of which he floundered painfully until the Protestant boys came to his rescue. That was the end of his mISSIOn. But not long after this episode he was elevated to a. bishopric, and it was no secret that it was in reward for his active efforts to reclaim the Protestants that infest that district. If the bishops show such ignorance of the Word of God, it is not to be wondered at that the parish or village priest shoul~ be found at a still lower level. A missionary was talking with one of these when the question of the worship of images came up. Allusion was made to the Second Commandment; and when he quoted the words, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water nnder the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, . . . " the honest priest, instead of arguing, as an astuter man would have done, tllat Roman Catholics do not worship images, nor bow down to them, bnt only to the being or the spirit that they represent or that they suggest, he frankly admitted that they do worship them, and that their worship was permitted if not taught by the Church; and he declared that he could not believe that the words quoted by my friend were to be found in the Bible, a~Q much less in the Roman Catholic Bible. So a copy of the Bible sanctioned by his Church was produced. He read and reread the fatal words, and could hardly believe his own eyes. At last, with hands clenched and teeth set, he turned on his heel, and with intensest feeling exclaimed: " God made a mistake when He put that in the Bible!" Poor man! he could not believe that his Church could be guilty of deliberately suppressing that part of the Decalogue from its liturgies and from its catechisms; he could more easily believe that God had blundered! "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
The Roman Catholic Church in Spain is not merely ignorant of the Bible-of their own Bible for that matter-and indifferent as to its circulation, it is actively and bitterly hostile to it. Pages could be filled with accounts of the indignities and abuses that evangelists and colporteurs are continually suffering who are engaged in this work.
It is not very long ago, and under a much more liberal government than that of to-day, that the Custom House authorities in the great and liberal city of Barcelona intercepted an invoice of Bibles that had already been examined and legally passed, and without pretence of law-but because advised so to do by the ecclesiastical authorities, who knew that they could control the civil officers to whom the case might be appealedmade a bonfire of them in the open court of the Custom House! The religious press joyously commented on the deed, and boasted with delight of " having revived the auto da /e of Inquisitorial times !"
One of the active colporteurs of the American Bible Society in the north of Spain, a prudent and godly man, is continually reporting to me obstruction to his work, and personal violence on the part of the priests. One day he found himself a fellow-traveler in a diligence for several hours with three women and a village priest, all strangers to him. Under the folds of his ample capa he carried, concealed on his knees, his colporteur's pack of Bibles and Scripture portions. The conversation of his companions was chiefly on the success of a " mission" that had recently been held in the parish of one of the women, the most interesting feature of which seemed to have been the tearing up of several Gospels in the pulpit by one of the " missioners," and a furious attack upon the Protestants, and espe- cially upon a man who was going about through the district selling BiMes and Gospels to the ignorant and innocent people. If it sometimes may do us good to see ourselves as others see us, our colporteur passed an edifying hour that forenoon-for it was of himself that they were unwittingly talking!
The priest was eager to meet him; he only hoped that he would come into his parish, and that he should have the good fortun~ to meet him face to face. "I know how to rid my parish of such vermin. There is no better remedy for such than a pair of revolvers. Oh, yes, I know how to do it! It will not be the first time that I have carried them under my gown."
At last they stopped to change the llOrses, and the priest and the women left the diligence for a few minutes. At that instant the thought flashed across our friend's mind, " Put a Gospel of Luke into the priest's bundle, that lies there loosely folded!" and no sooner thought than done. The travelers take their seats again, and before long the journey is ended and each one goes his own way-the priest with his bundle.
Three months later the colporteur is in the neighborhood of that priest. In spite of the priest's boasting, he has made several friends there and has sold a number of Scriptures. He asks one of his friends if the priest ever talks about the Protestants. " YeR, indeed. Some three months ago he fairly raved against them from the pulpit. He called them ' the spawn of hell. Look at this,' he cried, and he shook a little book in the face of the congregation. 'Worse than Satan they are; for by some black art they ]lave thrust this book upon me. And do you know where I found it ~ On the floor in the middle of my room! I know not who put it there, nor how he did it; but this I tell you and of this I warn him : once I come to know what Protestant has dared to pollute my room with this I will do to him what I now do with it !' And he wrenched the leaves from the precious Gospel, crushed them with his hands, and tore them with his teeth. And he added, 'If ever any of you meet ally of these pests of the earth, anything that you may do to them, even to the killing of them, will be well done ! ' " * But why multiply these cases ~ They are but a few taken from many that show what the attitude of the immense majority of the Spanish priesthood is toward the Word of God-a priesthood without the Bible, ignorant of the Bible, and in many cases hating the Bible.
And "like priest, like people." Right here in this little terrestrial paradise of San Sebastian, so gently nestling by the side of the sea, surrounded by the protecting hills, that one would think that the love and the goodness of God proclaimed by nature would fill and soften every heart; • MtssiDnary Herald, Jannary, 1895. rIght here, so recently that it seems but as yesterday, there occurred a case the memory of which makes one shudder. A member of our church, a daughter of the Basques, loved her Bible and read it as a child reads with love and reverence the treasured letters of a dear frIend, which late in life have been discovered by others and have been placed in her hands. Her fanatical Roman Catholic husband took that Bible, laid it upon the block at the door of their cottage, and with his ax chopped it to pieces. When she died suddenly a little later we were not allowed to know of her illness or death until she was buried. * But, not to make this recital too long, it may be said that the immense distance that all too often separates the intelligent heartfelt. worship of 1he evangelical Bible-loving Christian from that of the Roman Catholic of this country is strikingly manifested in the public processions for prayer and thanksgiving, and iu the relation of the bull-fight to the religious fiestas.
At the time of the last epidemic of cholera in Spain, when the population of Zaragoza was nearly decimated and great numbers died in the country near about us, San Sebastian escaped almost entirely. San Sebastian is the religious center of one of the roost sincere and faithful Roman Catholic communities in the world; and how did it give thanks to Almighty God for 1he unspeakable blessing of having been practically freed from the scourge that had wrought such havoc in so many of its sister cities and provinces ~ The city government, then made up of especially Catholic and devout men, ordered the singing of the Te Deum in the principal church of the city, at which all the government officials and the entire consular force of the city attended, and which was conducted with unusual pomp. This in the forenoon of a Sabbath day; and at noon, and again in the afternoon of the same day, these city fathers arranged sham bull-fights, or, as the public-announcement says, " Se corl'eritn dos bueyes bravos" (" Two fierce bullocks will be baited' ').
The animals are tied with long ropes in the center of the public square and are then tortured by a crowd of men and boys armed with pointed sticks and with goads until, in the effort to escape their tormentors, the bullocks rush one way and another, upsetting those of the rabble who may be entangled by the ropes. And this is the " thanksgiviug" of Christians !
But to go no farther away than the very week in which I am writing this article. Last Sunday, the 24th of this month of May, was the Feast of Pentecost in the Episcopal and Roman Catholic Chris1,ian year. Judging from what we know of the Day of Pentecost, from the tender and stirring narrative in the Acts of the Apostles, one would suppose that any church calling itself Christian would try to celebrate the day, if it thought of doing so at all, in a truly spiritual and devout way. In the morning, it is true, there will be celebrated a mass; in rare cases, and only in the more important cities, will there be preaching; but in Madrid last Sun- .. Missionary Herald. January. 1896. da.y there was a bull-fight, as there is there every important feast day of the year, including the Sundays-with 1he sole exception, I believe, of Good Friday! And the unfortuuate cities that have not the money for so splendid an exhibition of their joy and thankfulness for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the primitive Christians on that memorable day do more humbly and economically show the fervor of their piety by worrying the baited ox in the town or the village plaza. Our dear little San Sebastian can aspire to that degree of emotion.
How far removed fl·om all that is worthy the name of Christian must be the heart that would not be shocked by the matter-of-fact and commonplace announcement in the morning paper, received by telegraph during the night, that" The bulls of Pentecost" (los toros de Pentecostes), of Madrid, proved to be " a poor lot; dull, lazy, and not showing fight until a number of explosive darts had been fired into them which rent great holes in their sides and awakened in them a fine frenzy." The multitude left the bull-ring quite disgusted that the pentecostal feast had been such a failure.
On the other hand, the bulls of the day of the Ascension of our Lord -some days before-were a " brave lot, and disemboweled the horses in splendid style," and well-nigh killed the brilliant torero Reverter, who was " colossal through all the fight. " And this morning I read that in Bilbao they have taken time by the forelock and have already" engaged the bulls for Corpus Christi !"
Only one case more to close this study or the" Christianity of th~ Spain of to-day." For months the country has been afflicted with a drought that has threatened the crops in a great IIlany of the provinces. As the weeks went by and no rain fell the anxiom; people scanned the heavens for signs of relief; at last these appeared, as in the order of nature they were sure to do, and then, and not until then, did the ecclesiastical authorities bring out their miracle-working images, and bones, and relics to bring the rain.
San Isidro is the patron saint or Madrid. They say that they have preserved his bones in that city for centuries. For many years these had not been exposed for " veneration," nor had they been taken out in solemn procession through the streets. Never was there greater need than now that he should work a miracle, for the farms around Madrid were parched and dry. The day was announced when the bones of the saint would be taken out, and all the faithful were urged to swell the ranks of the procession. But the clouds that had been gathering for two or 1hree days broke up and were wafted away, and the sun looked out again from a brazen sky. It was too plain that the bringing of rain out of so dry a sky would be too much to expect of even the patron saint of Madrid. So the authorities announced that it had not occurred to them that a bull-fight had been organized for that same day and hour, and as they did not wish to force the faithful to lose the bull-fight while following the procession, they" had decided to postpone the procession," and all Madrid laughed, and the bones of San Isidro remained undisturbed until a more propitious occa- sion. Travelers waited in Madrid from day to day, wishing to see the great function that would rival the processions of the holy week in Seville. But no, the sun blazed and the saint waited. At last nature came to the help of the sorely tried managers of the show, and the heavy clouds full of water hung over the thirsty land. The procession was formed, the saint was aroused, and the miracle was performed! While they were parading the streets a gentle shower fell, and shortly after the rain poured down not only in Madrid, but in other parts of the country, until in some places the floods have drowned or have washed away what the drought had not killed.
But while the papers are telling of this miracle wrought by San Isidro in Madrid, and by other bones or images in other places, how many really believe it? Probably a few, a very few, and those among the most ignorant. And yet the farce goes on ; for no one among them all dares to be the first to voice the belief-the unbelief-in almost all their hearts.
One of the leading Roman Catholic papers laments in bitter terms the widespread national impiety mixed up in these demonstrations of loyal catholicity. It says: " The horrible, the fearful, that which hurts and disheartens, is to see a people that is suffering the calamities that to-day weigh upon Spain, forming part in a procession of penitence and of prayer in the same spirit as they would assist at a bull-fight; to amuse themselves with the show, to laugh at the interruptions and the occurrences, not in the spirit of simple indifference and lack of religious interest, but with ostentatious impiety, the men with their hats on and making coarse fun of everythingone's soul revolts at the shameless speeches and the blasphemies that are heard on every hand and at every step."
The Word of God is first ruled out of the Church and home, so that the benighted conscience shall become the slave of the priest; then upon this ignorance and docili1;y is reared an immense fabric of man-made rites and ceremonies, confessions and penitences, that starve the mind and dwarf the soul. Superstition is heaped upon fable until the soul reacts from the very absurdity and impossibility of the old wives' tales and the ridiculous claims of a worldly priesthood; and then naturally and inevitably follows the baldest irreligion while" following the procpssion" because " our fathers did so," and because the weakened soul dares not face the sneers of a churchly infidelity that finds it easier" to take things as they are" than to commence a struggle that will not end until death.
And does one wish yet to ask, " What need 1S there for sending evangelical missionaries to Spain~" If the picture that I have drawn is painful it is because that is the character of the facts. I have" not set down aught in malice;" I have recited the facts only for the purpose of making clear to the reader the conditions of the country from the religious point of view. No one more quickly than myself wonld deprecate a censorious or polemical spirit in such a matter. It is not onrs to sit in judgment on our fellows; but it is our mission, in all charity and gentleness of spirit, to give to this people the Gospel of Christ; if they do not want it, to press it upon them ; if they revile us and persecute us, to revile not again.
And what has been accomplished during these twenty-seven years ~ This paper is already too long to allow of any tabulated statistics; but some general statements will suffice to show that our labor has not been in vain. Evangelical churches have been organized in most of the more important cities of the country, and the number of preaching stations and of school-rooms where the Gospel is taught and where meetings are held with more or less regularity are about one hundr<ld and fifty. Every Sunday several thousand adults regularly attend the public meetings for Protestant worship, and many more children arc found in the Sunday-schools, and a still larger number of children arc daily taught evangelical doctrines in the common schools. Some forty colporteurs-the larger part of them being under the British and Foreign Bible Society-are continually traversing the whole country, and yearly put into circulation thousands of Bibles, New Testaments, and portions of Scripture, and many thousands of pages of evangelical literature in tracts, pamphlets, and books, and there are some seven evangelical periodicals.
In San Sebastian is the flourishing International Institute for Girls in Spain, incorporated in Massachusetts under the auspices of the Woman's Buard of Missions, connected with the American Board. This" high school," under the care of Mrs. Gulick and a corps of university-educated American ladies, for several years has had yearly some forty pupils, who study on the lines of the government institutes preparatory for the universities. Eight of these girls have already taken the degree of B.A. in the government institute of San Sebastian, five others expect to take that degree in June of this year, and two- of the former graduates last year received the highest marks given in the first year's course of philosophy and letters in the University of Madrid. Each and everyone of these girls, in both institute and university, were known to be outspoken Protestants, and as such they are recognized cmd respected by. fellow-students and by professors. Besides these, several Protestant young men are always found in the different universities of the country.
'Ve are ready to admit that the numbers that would figure in any statistical table of the evangelical work in Spain would in some respects appear small j but we believe that in view of the history of the country and of its customs and of its traditions, and in view of the comparatively insignificant forces that have been brought to bear upon these institutions that are rooted in the centuries, and the comparatively short time that t.hese influences have been at work in the land, the results are encouraging.
Indeed, when we Gowe to review the peculiar circumstances of the peopIe, it seems marvelous that so much has been accomplished, all things considered. A SpallIard who knows his own country well, and is an ardent patriot. as well as an influential Protestant, and than whom no man in the country could speak on thIS subject wIth greater authority, has recently expressed hImself as follows : " Spain is greatly weaned from Catholicism; and this is not the result of infidel propaganda, but it is plainly caused by the influence of evangeli- cal doctrines. Infidel publications leave the heart dry; they leave the boat in the open sea without oars and with no port in sight, and it is not in the serious nature of the Spaniard to accept such a situation. The number of Spanish infidels who maintain their scepticism up to the hour of death is very small. The Spaniard cannot do without God and Jesus Christ; what he can dispense with is Catholicism, which is a sacrilegious trading upon the Christian sentiment.
" So it is that the presence and the labors of the Evangelical Church produce positive results, altho its enemies may try to prove the contrary. This result is not necessarily manifest to the superficial observer; it is not all embraced in the statistics of our churches nor even in the number of those who form our congregations. It is seen in the multitude of persons who openly say of themselves, , My belief is Catholic, but not Roman.' It is seen in that large number of people who boldly deelare, ' I do not want saints of wood-they are for idolaters; I do not want the absolution of a priest who may perhaps be as bad a man as I am ; I do not believe in the possibility of a man being infallible j I cannot accept as apostles or as ministers of Christ men who masquerade before the public in dresses of so many colors, in so much luxury, with such fine coaches with their lackeys and liveries in gold, etc.' I know that a great many of these are evangelical at heart.
" So it happens that in nearly every city and town in Spain to which a colporteur or evangelist may go he finds some sympathizers. So if in each one of the eleven thousand villages iu Spain a Protestant evangelist or colporteur or school-teacher should be placed, we would see in a short time eleven thousand groups of evangelical Christians.
" We very serionsly and earnestly invite the attention of those who in foreign countries are interested in the evangelization of Spain to this condition of things, so that they may not lose their faith in this work. Spain is slow in making np her mind to a new thing j her political and her religious and her social history prove this. But her determination once taken, she is persistent, and does not easily yield to difficulties."
Coming from a thoughtful and able and spiritual-minded Spaniard, these are weighty words, and yet it is to be lamented that the missionary societies, to which must be credited in large part these hopeful results, are, in many instances, withdrawing their help and are reducing their forces in this field. We who are here and in closest touch with those who have dared to separate themselves from the church of their fathers, and to suffet:
WORK AMONG FRENCH PRIESTS
all the consequences, feel that this is most unfortunate, in many cases even cruel, and we would lift up our voices in appeal to the favored churches of England and America not to abandon these their needy brethren.
Especially do we hope that the churches in America will not do so. We feel that just now, while the bitter question of Cuba is pending be. tween Spain and the United States, is the time of all others when we must show ourselves the true friends of all t.hat is good in this country. Every one of the pastors and evangelists and teachers, and of the members of our different congregations and of the writers in the evangelical press has been very true and kind to us who are Americans, and have neither said nor done anything to annoy us. There could be no better proof of their love and esteem. It WillJ..lg. be beyond measure unfortunate and harmful should we now be obliged to"'dls~~ ;tny of them.
WORK AMONG FRENCH PRIESTS.
BY PROFESSOR L. J. BERTRAND, PARIS, FRANCE.
A mission among priests I The mere title is to many a cause of great surprise; even my servants and neighbors cannot understand why Roman Catholic priests in their cassocks, monks of all denominations in their monachal robes, should call al; the house of an old Huguenot like me. Is it true that, as in the time ot the apostles (Acts 6 : 7), ., a great company of the priests are obedieut to the faith?" No, say the few Protestants.
who disapprove that Roman Catholics should be troubled in their faith, tho they are very thankful to Luther and Calvin for having broken with Rome; no, that new mission must be a very aggressive and useless one."
The reality is that we receive a great many Roman Catholic priests and monks, and that our little mission is the least combative of all works of evangelization, for it never made an appeal to priests, but aims only at sav- ing those who leave a church in which they no longer believe. To the drowning man who cries" Help I" we cannot turn a deaf ear.
These shipwrecked ones are legion. It is heart-rending to think of the numbers of priests who daily tread on their couscience while they say Mass. And if they leave the Roman Church, what will they do to earn their daily bread 1 " We know how to say Mass," said one of them, "and l;hat is all we know." • Some are well read; but not one o~t of twenty is in possession of the university degree, which in France is indispensable for all liberal profes- sions. They are not better fitted for commerce or business. "In all practical things," sadly remarked a former priest, "we are mere chil- dren. " If the poor unfrocked priest was esteemed and pitied, as he so often deserves to be, his life would not be such a hard one! But alas! he is looked down upon by Roman Catholics as a traitor in the camp, and by Protestants themselves as an outcast.
I could name a priest who set up a small shop. His affairs prospered at first, but no sooner did Jesuits know his story than his customers mysteriously disappeared, never to come back.
On the other hand, we have heard this sad fact quoted by the principal of a Protestant divinity school in a public meeting: "I am often asked by parents to recommend a tutor for their sons. If I happen to mention a young man, pious and clever, but who, unfortunately for him, was formerly a Roman priest, politely but coldly the parents-a few enlightened ones excepted-decline my offer."
This is why hundreds of priests are now driving cabs in the streets of Paris. Things seen are mightier than things heard. Former priests, who had passed through such sad experiences, were the first to lend a helping hand to their brothers in distress. The example of Father Chiniquy, Father O'Connor, and Father Connellan gave heart to a few French evangelists. They founded the mission for priests, which, tho quite recent as yet, has been the means of rescuing more than fifty.
These men come to us saying, "My conscience forbids me to remain in my Church; help me to earn my bread out of the Church. I am no longer a Roman Catholic; help me to become a Protestant. "
To speak of the present only, we have a Capuchin in our missionary school, a Jesuit and a priest in the theological seminary of Paris, two former priests in the theological seminary of Neufchatel, and are expecting three more; three are evangelists, five are engaged in teaching or business. Through our influence, a Spanish ecclesiastical teacher has been received as a member of the Evangelical Church of Spain, and an Italian cure has entered Christ Mission, New York.
What happened in 1895 happens every year. Most of our converted priests become pastors or evangelists. They feel bound to preach to others the Gospel which has made them other men.
The following remark will surprise many : Heretofore we have sent Protestant pastors to evangelize Roman Catholics; but has our harvest been as fnll as we might have expected? We are obliged to confess it has not, and that our system is to blame.
"Protestants are utterly unable to realize," writes a man of great authority in these matters, "how our own technology seems strange to those honest peasants, who have never heard anyjhing in their lives save the poor sermon of their cure. Can we imagine Luther and Calvin preaching to crowds in the style of our consecration meetings? No; Luther and Zwingli were priests; they had done away with the errors of the Roman Church, but not with its traditional language. There lies the secret of their influence and of their success."
Oh, that we had many priests fully converted who knew both the Protestant and the Catholic shibboleths! Then we might revolutionize France. Indeed, if we have obtained successes, we owe them to proselytes. At St. Aubin de Blaye, the mayor, formerly a Roman Catholic, gave the signal of the reform, and most Protestant mission stations in the Pas de Calais, Monteynard, Soubran, Tonnay-Boutonne, etc., were founded by former Catholics and former priests. Why ~ Merely because they know and understand these people, and that we do not, because we are Protestant by birth.
When Jesus wanted to evangelize the humble, He chose His disciples among the humble; but to evangelize the Pharisees He wanted a Pharisee i for the Greeks He wanted a Grep.k scholar i to avoid crue~ty and danger He wanted a Roman citizen, and therefore He said to His persecutor, Saul of Tarsus: "Thou art My man!" And here is a striking fact similar to the above : Eight years ago a young priest was accused by the Archbishop of Bordeaux of having used" imprudent language i" indeed, he had declared openly that Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and men. The priest left France and went to Brazil, but when he came back he was accused once more of having used "imprudent language," for he had preached that the Gospel was the Christian's all in all. However, he was appointed cure in the little village of St. Palais, in the west of France. He had not remained there long when another cure heard him publicly declare his doubts about purgatory and the confessional; and for the third time he was accused of having used" imprudent language." His bishop urdered him to retract publicly or to resign. The poor priest was thunderstruck. He felt bound to preach what he believed to be the truth, but he loved his parishioners so dearly that he was broken-hearted at the mere thought of leaving them. They, on the other hand, could not bear the thought of parting with their cure, and they drew up a petition begging the bishop to retain him at St. Palais. But if the priest Bonhomme was a Protestant without knowing it, the bishop knew it so well that he was immovable. If this unruly son of the Church did not choose to atone for his fault, he ~as to leave his parish on the spot.
In his perplexity M. Bonhomme bethought himself that some years ago a Protestant called M. de Rougemont had asked him to speak on the McAll missionary boat, and immediately he set out for the neighboring town of Pons, where resided a Protestant pastor, M. Robert. The pastor was struck at once by his courage and joyful piety. When he had listened to his story and understood the cruel plight in which he was, M. Robert said: "If your conscience refuses to obey, tell your parishioners that next Sunday you will preach on this subject: 'My reasons for leaving the Ohurch of Rome. ' Theu, as in the days of the Reformation, remain at St. Palais among your flock. I will hire a hall of some kind or other, where you will preach what you believe to be true, and the Mission for Priests will help to support you. " " I may have encouraged him by these words," adds M. Robert, "but I knew, somehow, that he had already made up his mind. The struggle had been a painful but triumphant one. "
Indeed, the following Sunday M. Bonhomme preached a sermon on those errors and abuses which had brought about his rupture with Rome. The parish church of St. Palais was too small to contain the crowd. And the speech was so thrilling, so pathetic, and earnest that all those Catho-. lics thought, "Ought we not to do likewise? "
When M. Bonhomme left the church to divest himself of the cassock (soutane), which he had worn for the last time in his life, numbers of peo- ple, men and women, followed him to his home to shake hands and con- gratulate him. His heroic decision had won for him the respect and ad- miration of all. But the bishop was so indignant that he sent in all haste fifteen priests to purify the sanctuary by sprinkling it with holy water. ·With the exception of a few old women the inhabitants of St. Palais re- fused to attend a ceremony which they called a " popish farce." "Our Cure Bonhomme," they said, "is far more pious and conscientious than those men."
'Vhen I heard of these facts, I hastened to St. Palais to open the new hall. Whereas the new cure, who succeeded M. Bonhomme, had little more than a d,ozen hearers, our meeting was so crowded that I had to tell the men to leave their seats to the women and to content themselves with listening through the doors and windows, which were thrown wide open. Every oue had spoken of Bonhomme for t~enty miles round; everyone wished to hear him and to learn something about Protestants.
After my departure, Pastor Robert, priest Bonhomme, and two other conjerenciers come .from Paris, went all over the country giving lectures in twenty villages. From five or six parishes rose the cry: "Send us a former priest to teach us the Gospel of Christ!" Our committee felt that tarrying was no longer possible, and decided to grant in some measure this request. While we were discussiug that question in Paris, M. Bonhomme was called far away to Bourg du Bose to deliver a lecture. The next day the Maire, the Conseil Municipal, and the better half of the inhabitants resolved to turn Protestants, and begged us to give them a converted priest for a pastor.
Now that a second priest, Abbe Cornelollp, is settled in these parts, the wl)rk is spreading more and more, and Pastor Robert asks us to· send him a third priest. Unfortunately, our funds do not allow us to answer, as yet, in the affirmative.
But the conversion of a priest has not only been the means of bringing the Gospel into twenty villages, it has also awakened the little church of Pons, perfectly asleep till then. Now the members of the church go about the country helping our converted priests in preaching with them the Gospel to the peasants.
Thus the Mission for Priests may not only be a powerful instrument
NOTES FROM PARIS
for evangelizing Roman Catholics, it may also infuse new blood into our Protestant veins. Pastor Robert says: "Give me ten truly converted priests, and I will convert the diocese of La Rochelle." * NOTES FROM PARIS.
BY REV. RUBENS SAILLENS, PARIS, FRANCE.
The present ministry seems to be fairly minded with regard to the rights of Protestants and their missionaries both at home and in the colonies. We have the most radical government we ever had; and it is only from the Radical Party that we can ever expect, in this country, measures which will lead to the separation of Church and State-one of the greatest needs of France.
The Resident-General for Madagascar, now on his way to Antananarivo, is M. Laroche, a Protestant gentleman. Mme. Laroche, tho born a Roman Catholic, lIas joined her husband's religion, and is well known in Protestant philanthropic circles. Several Protestant officials-along with a great many Roman Catholics, of course-have been sent with M. Laroche to the new colony. We may hope, therefore, that the Swedish and English missionaries on the great African island will be impartially dealt with. Of course these appointments excite the anger of the Romish press-a bishop having gone so far as to say, in a public letter, that: "Abroad, Protestant means English and· Catholic means French; and that, therefore, the appointment of Protestant officials is paving the way for English influence in our colonies." Yet French Protestants have ever been loyal to their country, tho it has often treated them very harshly.
The Paris Societe des Missions Evangeliques (French Protestant Missionary Society) has decided to send a pastor (M. Langa) to Madagascar, in order to make inquiries as to the opportunity for French Christians to est,ablish missions and schools in the island. M. Langa will sail very soon.
While trying to carryon, according to their abilities, the great command " Go ye into all the world," the French Christians cannot overlook the fact that their own country needs the Gospel as much as any foreign land. Think of 500,000 or 600,000 at the utmost, nominal Protestants, scattered throughout a population of nearly 40,000,000 ; of these nominal Protestants, only a small proportion being thoroughly converted! It is, therefore, sad to see that, owing to financial difficulties, such valuable work as the McAll Mission and others have been able to do is now reduced rather than enlarged and extended as it ought to be.
Our own mission (Baptist) is greatly encouraged. While seven years ago there were only 9 churches with 900 communicants, we have to-day in '" I have saW nothiug about bad uufrocked priests; they are numerous, but we refuse them all. French-speaking countries (France, Belgium, Bernese Tura) 26 churches with about 2000 communicants. Some of our young men are offering themselves for the Lord's service, whether at home or abroad.
Among the noblest and truest servants of the Lord Jesus Christ in our country, one whom He has taken away from us during the present year deserves especially to be mentioned. I refer to Pastor Ernest Dhombres, of the Reformed Church of the Saint Esprit, Paris. He died a few months ago, aged seventy. He had been blind for several years, but had borne his affliction in a most submissive and even joyful spirit, still preaching and visiting the sick and bereaved ones of his flock. A beautiful preacher, he was faithful to the old doctrines of the Gospel, now disregarded by so many.
Twenty-five years ago, during that cold, deadly winter of 1870-71, which saw the German armies surround Paris like an iron circle, Ernest Dhombres remained with his parishioners, preaching to them with more than his usual vigor the Gospel of peace and love in the midst of the horrors of war. He was a true patriot, and did not shrink from the painful duty of denouncing from the pulpit our national weaknesses and sins, which were the causes of our sufferings, while he heartily joined in the aspirations and hopes of his people.
The sermons which he preached during that eventful period, and which were published at the time, have been gathered together by loving friends in a beautifully printed volume, with an introductory note by Pastor Couve, the well-known moderator of the Reformed Church. The volume contains a fine portrait of the author, and a most interesting account, by himself, of all the religious and charitable work which the French Christians, imprisoned with their fellow-citizens, accomplished during the siege. This is a chapter almost ignored of French history.
Each sermon is accompanied by a historical sketch, written by Pastor Dhombres, relating all the events which had happened in the city and outside during the period preceding its delivery. Fears and hopes, hunger, cold, revolts of the mob, false news soon disproved, desperate attempts to break the iron circle, all that described by a Christian, a minister of the Gospel, who, while belonging to the same creed as the enemies of his country, is intensely at one with the people among whom God has placed him, and who are his own flesh and blood. This makes of the book" Foi et Patrie" a unique work of its kind. We have read it with passionate interest, and recommend it to the readers of French who love our country and would join with us in praying that the lessons of L'.Annee terrible may * yet bring fruit for this poor, deluded, yet noble and truly great nation.
* "Foi et Patrie," vol. octavo, 232 pp., printed on fine paper. Paris, Berger-Levrault, 5 me des Beaux-Art/!. Price, 80 cents (4 francs).
CENTURIES OF J3Um:iHISM
NINE CENTURIES OF BUDDHIS~f.-V.
BY F. D. SHAWE, LADAK, TIBET.
After thus comparing in detail the actual state of a Buddhist country with the claims of Buddhism, we may well ask, " What is the practical outcome of nine centuries of Buddhism?" As il; now stands at the preseut day, Ladaki Bud'::'llism is a mixture of fetishism and demonism. Images, books, and the Six Syllables are nothing more than fetishes, which, properly treated, have the power of warding off the attacks of countless evil powers. Ladaki Buddhism knows no love, no compassion, no gratitude, no reverence, not even fear of punishment for misdeeds, but only a groveJIing terror of malignant spirits, who find their delight in bullying mankind. With all its vaunted compassion, Buddhism has produced a people whose sole idea is self. With all its vaunted morality, Buddhism has caused the disappearance of all moral cons~iousness. "Vith all its vaunted intellectuality, Buddhism has rendered the people intellectually feebler than they were a few hundred years ago, and so unnsed to reflection that they are absolutely unconscious alike of their own state and of that of their priests. ·With all its vaunted purity, Buddhism has allowed the people to lapse into the most debasing idolatry and abject superstition. Self, and nothing but self, is the center of every man's thought. Not even intellectual selfishness has been attained; food, clothing, and sexual delights are the end-all and be-all of the life of a Ladaki. After mature consideration, I am constrained to believe that those qualities which endear the Ladaki people to those Europeans who have intimate dealings with them are not the results of Buddhism, but exist in spite of Buddhism.
James Gilmour wrote as follows: "Mongol Buddhism and holiness have long ago parted company, and it seems possible for men and women, living among and participating in scenes of unblushing evil, to be at the same time experiencing the effectual consolations of religion. This seems, at first sight, incredible; but I am convinced that it is true. And perhaps no more serious charge could be brought against any religion than this, which holds true of Buddhism: that, notwithstanding many excellent doctrines which characterize it as a theory, its practical effect is to delude its votaries as to moral guilt, to sear their consciences as with a hot iron, to call the wicked righteous, and send men down to the grave with a lie in their right hand." This scathing denunciation is, word for word, true of Ladak and Tibet generally. And inquire where you will in Buddhist countries from those who have in lengthy residence acquired some behindthe-scenes knowledge of the real state of the people, the answer is always in similar terms: " Buddhism has not accomplished what it professes to do; it does notsustaiu a moral life among its adherents."
But, it may be said, "Your description is very sad; but really such things as those you mention are not rmknown in so-called Christian coun-
OF BUDDHA . CARVED IN THE ROCK, LADAK, TIBET, A STREET IN LEH
NINE CEN'l'URIES OF BUDDHISM
tries. " I am not concerned at present to contrast Christianity with Bud. dhism; but I may yet be allowed to suggest two points for reflection: Firstly, the evil and immoralIty in Christian countries is not so unblushing as in this Buddhist land. In Christian countnes such things are obliged to keep in the background, while in Ladak they stalk unashamed in broad noonday. There is an immense difference in degree. Secondly, these things happen in Christian countries in direct antagonism to the efforts of Christianity. Not only by words from the pulpit and in the press, but by unwearying efforts, entailing great expeuse of time, money, and men, real Christians are striving to stem. the evil. In Ladak and Tibet not an effort is made to bring about a change, not even a voice is raised in protest. Christianity is engaged in a perpetual warfare ; Buddhism tacitly assents in evil. This is a fundamental difference.
Indeed, nothing else can be expected. As long as the lamas remain unreformed, a salutary influence cannot be exerted from within Buddhism. But the lamas cannot be reformed. An earnest effort was made by Tsongkapa, the founder of the yellow sect; the impetus, however, exhausted itself, and his followers are rapidly disappearing in the slough of iniquity and self-righteousness which represents Tibetan Buddhism. Nor need this astonish us, for Tsongkapa has merely shown by example what was foreshadowed in theory. Buddhism is in doctrine the apotheosis of selfishness. While in othe, religions the commands of a deity are the standard of life, in Buddhism the advantage of self is the center point. All existence in every form brings misery, and selflshness demands that release from this misery be found. All self-denial, compassion, love and charity, enjoined as they are by Buddhism, are merely a means for freeing self from pain. They are not commanded because they are in themselves good, but because they are a profitable investment. No appeal is made to the sympathy inherent in most people for what is good simply because it is good; in Buddhism the appeal lies solely to the selfish advantage of the " ego." True, this is a higher, so to say, aristocratic form of selfishness, and has produced many really deep and beautiful moral precepts, especially as shown in the Ohammapada, ~ ')ok from which apologists of Buddhism draw most of their quotations. None the less, however, selfishness remains the mainspring of action, and it is impossible but that the higher selfishness must deteriorate into self-indulgence and finally sensuality. Tibetan lamas and laymen have arrived at this latter point, and a greater power than sublimated selfishness is required to cause a chauge.
The fact is, that the Buddhism of Gautama as the religion of the people is dead. As the application of electricity produces movements in a corpse, so can Buddhism be temporarily galvanized into action. The intense earnestness of Christianity is having a reflex action, producing at the present day galvanic spasms in the dead body. But that Buddhism is absolutely dead is written plainly enough in the pages of history. Where are Buddhist charitable hospitals 1 Where free dispensaries 1
ROMANISM IN CHINA
Where orphanages ~ Where teachers of the deaf and dumb 1 Where asylums for the idiot or the leper ~ We must go to Christian countries, and to the efforts of Christian people in Buddhist countries, if we would see these. While Christian countries are-very slowly and with many a halt and relapse, yet still surely-advancing, Buddhist countries have been for centuries stationary, or are even, as Tibet and Mongolia, engaged in a retrograde movement.
Let me not be misunderstood. The Buddha Gautama I consider to have been a most earnest and thoughtful searcher after truth ; and I know of no scheme, outside of revealed religion, which contains more of eternal truth and justice, not excepting the Greek philosophies. The Heidelberg Castle is II great edifice, justly exciting admiration ; but it is a ruin, and no longer fit for human beings to inhabit. Gautama reared a splendid building, worthy of all attention on the part of those interested in the spiritual housing of mankind; but it is a hopeless ruin, and has proved itself unable to protect those who have sought shelter in it from the attacks of what was long ago defined as "the lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." " A whited 2epulcher, which indeed appears beautiful outward, but is within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. "
ROMANISM IN CHINA.
BY REV. JOHN ROSS, MUKDEN, CHINA.
The history of the Roman Catholic Church in China is one laden wit.h lessons as to the character of that Church, and one which gives the only satisfactory key to open the mystery of Chinese hostility to We,stern peoples. The Jesuits who zealously pushed their way to the foot of the throne in China were men who were guided by wise counsels and men . trained in all the learning of the West. Professors of the Sorbonne, with men of leading minds among the Jesuits of Paris, were seut under royal auspices and with regal gifts. By their mathematical learning they procured for themselves the control of the observatory in Peking, the construction of the all-important annual almanac, and the respect of all who loved learning. Never in any court had they so thorough a hold of royalty as they had during the long reign of Kanghi. Had they been able to get him baptized, as they had hoped, or had they continued the policy which guided them into and retained them in his favor, China might have long ere now been virtually a vassal of the Pope. From among the most brill. iant scholars of the Empire they had numerous converts, and some of the best books ever written in favor of Christian doctrine were the product of high officials converted to Romanism. That Church was not then wholly given over to the idolatry of Mary as it is now. But the Nemesis of Jesuitry, despite that splendid commencement, rapidly followed in the wake of prosperity. The successor of Kanghi did not reverence them with the affection of his father. A younger brother was a great friend of theirs. With other younger brothers the Jesuits conspired to dethrone the Emperor and set this friendly younger brother on the throne. The Em- peror was aware of the treason, but left it alone till some of the leaders retired into Mongolia to take steps to collect an army. Then suddenly the chief conspirators were apprehended. The Jesuits were banished to the west of Kansu. The intercession in their behalf of a special embassy of Portugal, which then possessed the commercial supremacy i~ the East, was the cause of the death of the prisoners. For learning, by overland mount- ed courier from Canton, the design of that embassy, the Government sent messengers to the vVest, and the Jesuits were put to death. Steps were taken to prevent the high-handed proceedings of converts all over the em- pire. The administration of justice was impossible where the Roman Catholics congregated in any numbers-·for they went in a body to the yamen and terrified the magistrate into acquiescence to their will. No Roman Catholic convert, accused of any crime whatsoever, could be brought to justice. Measure after measure was adopted to stop this con- stant overawing of magistrates; and as nothing else availed, the persecu- tion began which put an end once for all to the unbearabie authority which the Roman Catholic Church had arrogated to itself in the interior. From that time the Boman Catholics were under a cloud more or less dark till the French war dispelled the cloud and gave them as much liberty (1860) as ever they had to carry out their will-which they could now do without any fear of resulting persecution. The manner in which they have acted in China since has produced the fire of anti-foreign feeling which has roused every riot which has occurred in this land. The Chinese are as yet incapable of differentiating between the peoples of the West. Americans are as much foreigners as French ; and the hatred is against the foreigner on account of the doings of the French. The Chinese dread the spread of the foreigner into the country-for every foreigner is a center of more or less disturbance. If, therefore, an American missionary is mobbed when building a foreign house or a church after the Western fashion, let no one think that the mob is opposed to the teaching of Christianity. The Chinese have nothing but respect for the Christian system; but thcy hate, because they fear, the foreigner. Not as a missionary has anyone ever been attacked, but as a foreigner. The story is too long to relate why this anti-foreign feeling is so deep-seated and widespread. But it is all to be laid at the door of the Roman Catholics. That Church is said to be semi-political. In China you must omit the "semi" before you can understand the truth. The Roman Catholics never preach to the heathen. They rarely preach to their own people, who are grossly ignorant of the elementary principles of Christ's teaching. They don't preach; but if a convert has a grudge against a neighbor he goes to the priest and tells him that so and so is "reviling the Roman Catholic Church. " If the quarrel is serious, he takes with him the fragments of the cross worshiped by the converts instead of their former idols and accuses his enemy of having broken the cross. In nine of ten cases the Roman Catholic breaks the cross and goes with this story, as the common people dare not quarrel with a Roman Catholic. The priest sends ~ document to the judge purporting to proceed from a high official by imperial authority, stamped with a formidable-looking official stamp. This docnment demands the pnnishment of the offender. That man is imprisoned, and gets out again only after the Roman Catholics are satisfied with the punishment received and the amouut of money paid; for in all cases money is the chief concern. If the judge is slow in carrying ont the desire of the priest, the latter waits upon him in person, and will not leave till his object is attained. In very exceptional cases the jndge is unable to bring himself to carry out the outrageous demand. Then the priest goes in person to the Governor-General, lays his complaint against the judge, who has at last either to yield or be degraded and succeeded by one who will decide according to the pleasure of the priest or bishop. Often, however, the offender is taken to the Roman Catholic Church, where there is a place of torture, which no native ever leaves without bitterly repenting ever having called in question the power of the Roman Catholics.
The Roman Catholic priests are high officials with civil rank. They assume a style and dignity snperior to that of a county judge. The bishop has the dignity of a judge of appeal. The cardinal is " King" of the Church, and the Pope "Emperor." The demands of the Roman Catholic Church-at least in Manchuria and in Szchuen,.not in Shantung, I understand-are the demands of civil officials acting under imperial authority. What know the Chinese of all this ~ They only know that France upholds all these pretensions, and has once and again refused to curtail the action of the priesthood in this dictation to the native officials. These latter are degraded in the eyes of the people because of their subserviency to this foreign despotism which has gradually enveloped them round. The people are indignant that there is no appeal from the unrighteous tyranny of Roman Catholics. Is it speciany wonderful that there should be occasional riots 1 Would such action-and far worse, which I care not to mention at present-be tolerated for a day in America or in any of the nations of Europe? For a quarter of a century I have resided among the Chinese and Manchus. The outcry against them is a libel upon one of the most sober, diligent, gentle races on the face of the earth. My sympathies are entirely with the Chinese, despite the blind folly of the means they take to get rid of the foreigner. They believe the missionary is a teacher of religion only as a pretext under cover of which he carries on political aims to subvert Chinese subjects from their allegiance. However long those have been in China who declare that this hatred is confined to officials and literary classes, they are ignorant of the
1896.j
facts of Chinese present life and past history. In the open ports you can never come to uuderstand the Chiuese. You must live among them and come into contact with all classes. There are few of the poorest families in China who are not connected with or interested in some one or more of the literary and official classes. There is no caste in China. Did the common people not regard the foreigner with at least as great a hatred as the official and literary classes no riot would be possible. They would not run the risk of losing their life merely to act on what they considered the falsehoods of the ruling class. Chinese are exceedingly ignorant of us ; not a few of us, missionaries and merchants, are equally ignorant of the Chinese.
What is the practical outcome of this hurriedly written paper? It is the desire to earnestly entreat everyone directly interested in the conversion of the Chinese to manifest Christian forbearance instead of worldly revenge; to show the Chinese in practical life what is the real meaning of Christ's teaching and of Christ's example. Instead of the ready fault-finding-for which there is reason enough-let there be the quiet sympathy which will endeavor to understand the Chinese mental attitude. Let, above all, the desire be everywhere manifested in our dealings with the Chinese to remove from their minds the root of all the mischief-the belief that we are political agents. Never let anyone lightly move the foreign power. Appeals to Cresar and cries for the gunboat, for ministerial dictation in Peking or consular action in the provinces should be resorted to only in the most extreme cases. There has been lately on the part of many an unexpected eagern()ss to cling for protection to worldly power, instead of leaving all in the Power which is over all. To me it is saddening in the extreme to discover how much it has been forgotten that the " weapons of our warfare are not carnal. " Every resort to carnal weapons is but another proof to the Chinese that we are political agents. Remove this belief, you open the way for the best classes of Chinese-those who most love their country-to become Christian. It is gratifying to know that many in the church are iI'ltensely patriotic. It is still more gratifying to know that gradually the _truth on this matter is making its way slowly but steadily into all ranks. No Chinaman will be found who is ready to object to the teachings of Christianity. The most bigoted Confucianist, in coming face to face with Christian teaching, can but explain, "Jesns is the sage of the West, Confucius the sage of the East; you follow yours and allow us to follow ours." There is but one great seriously mighty barrier at present against the speedy advance of Christianity, and that is the belief that we are political agents. China sorely needs Christianity. Confucianism is an ethical and political system second ('mly to Christian teaching. Buddhism is an atheistic pessimism holding out the cessation of being as the ultimate hope of man's greatest and holiest efforts. Taoism has degenerated into a poor magi?al system worthy, perhaps, in many of its exhibitions, to be placed side by side with the absurdities of
FHOM: l{OMISII MISSIONS
" spiritualism. " These three systems, despite the lunatic attempts of some Westerns to galvanize one or all of them into something like life, are utterly unavailing before the heart-cries of this nation. Heart-sickness everywhere in this land can be cured only by that which is foolishness to the wisdom of this world. Here, as elsewhere, it is true that Christianity alone contains and alone bestows the highest promise and fulfillment for the life that now is and for that which is to come.
LESSONS FROM ROMISH MISSIONS.
BY REV. WILLIAM: FUTHEY GIBBONS, FORTY FORT, PA.
However corrupt the Romish Church may be in practice at the present time, howevcr false as the custodian of doctrine in the past, it is well to recall the fact that she has always been faithful to her missionary principles. It is true there have been ages when the flame burned low; worldliness and luxury have at times been more attractive than hardship and martyrdom; but we must not forget that it was the Roman Church which preached the Gospel to our ancestors in Germany, in Britain, in Gaul, and in the Scandinavian peninsula, and that Rome to-day sends her missionaries to all parts of the world. Let us not despise the experience of the Romish Church in the work of missions, even tho we send missionaries among the members of her communion, while she sends missionaries to Protestant lands. If her methods are bad, let us avoid 1hem ; if they are sound, let us adopt them.
1. The first great lesson that Rome can teach Protestantism in mission work is the law of economy of effort. The Romish Church is divided into more sects and parties than any other church in the world, yet all these discordant elements and interests are held together by one common aimto gain power among the nations of the earth. How much nobler would be the purpose to unite all true believers of one common Master for the sake of advancing His kingdom throughout the whole earth! But if we cannot as yet agree on terms of church consolidation at home or on mission fields, let us at least learn from tlle Roman Catholics not to embarrass each other by multiplying denominational missions in the same district. The plan of apportioning out different mission fields to different societies and orders of monks has been one secret of success of Romish missions. As each new field is opened the Pope appoints as missionaries to it the members of that society which is best fitted to carryon the work.
2. The law of the necessity of self-denial. Dr. George VV. Knox has recently said: "It is not surprising that the heroic missions of the Romish Church win the plaudits of onlookers who are not impressed by the pleasant home life, the wife and children, and abundant comforts of the Protestant missionary. However out of sympathy with the dogmas of the Romish Church, their poverty, endurance, patience, and suffering excite the admiration of us all. Every thoughtful missionary at times is forced to ask himself whether the reformation did not go too far; whether the priestly monastic, militant types are not, after all, more in accord with the missionary spirit. And Protestants turn to the older church for instruction as to the conduct of the great campaign."
Whoever reads the Annals of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith must be struck by the somewhat theatric nature of modern Catholic mISSIOns. The Romish missionary never forgets that he is a spectacle to angels and to men, and especially to Protestants and to heathen. Especially when he is telling his own story does this dramatic element show itself. Yet after all allowance has been made for the exaggerations of heated imagination there is still room for a large amount of genuine self-denial. It is not strange that this shonld be true when we remember the Romish doctrine of the merit of good works.
No one can read many pages of medieval history without finding the story of some zealous Catholic-merchant, monk, or missionary-who sought the crown of the martyr or canonization as a saint through exposure to the dangers incident to carrying the religion of Christ to the savage heathen tribes of Northern Europe. The shores of the Baltic were as many days'journey from Rome in that day as the banks of the Congo are from us, and the means of obtaining a footing for civilization on the new soil were much less efficient then than now. Just as surely as there were many beautiful examples of earnest Christian living in the midst of the spiritual dearth of the Church of Rome during the Middle Ages, so surely were there examples of earnest, self-denying missionaries during the same period.
Of all the records of devotion none is more striking than that of Raymond Lull. It may with truth be said of him, in the words of one of his own treatifles, that he labored afl a missionary" that the blessed name of the Lord Jesus, which is still unknown in most parts of the world and among most nations, may be manifested and obtain universal adoration." The intense energy of the man may be seen from the fact that he traveled more widely, in spite of the inconveniences of thirteenth-century locomotion, than most modern missionaries do in these days of express trains and ocean greyhounds. In addition to, and in spite of his long journeys to preach to the Mohammedans and to appeal to the Pope and councils to establish schools for the teaching of Arabic and to undertake and support missions to the Mohammedans, he was the author of 486 treatises, most of which are still in existence. The great Humboldt speaks of him with enthusiasm as a natural philosopher and chemiflt and as the independent inventor of the mariner's compass. His life, after his sudden and striking conversion, was one long succession of suffering, imprisonment, and banishment, ended by martyrdom. Altho he had been banished from Tunis for disputation and for preaching to the followers of Islam and forbidden to land there again on the pain of death, yet when his work was done in Europe, at the age of eighty he returned to Tunis, went boldly into the open square of Bugia, the capital, and proclaimed salvation through Christ. A erowd gathered; it was known that he was uuder sentence of death by stoning; a few stones were thrown, and he was hustled by the crowd toward the seashore. Yet in the confusion he kept his face toward his enemies, still crying out, " None but Christ!" Once outside the town, the crowd of angry Turks fell upon him with showers of stones. At last he fell, but rallying and raising himself on his hands and knees he shouted again, "None but Christ I"~ It was his last testimony. Left for dead, he was taken on shipboard by a Christian sea captain, only to die. Thus perished a man who did more than any other single missionary, from that day to this, for the conversion of the Mohammedans. The motto of his life might well have been these words from one of his own books: " lIe who loves not lives not; he who lives by the Life cannot die." He advocated, as the most practicable method of missionary work by the Church, the establishment of institutions of learning where holy monks of great wisdom could learn various languages, so as to be able to preach to unbelievers. Had the Church responded to his call, Raymond Lull would have anticip'l.ted William Carey by exactly seven centuries.
Details of similar mart.yrdoms in China and Japan in the Middle Ages, among the Iroquois and Hurons in the early days in our own couutl'y, in the Soudan and the Congo country in our own time might easily be multiplied. Parkman's histories tell of such cases as those of Brebeuf and Lallemant, who, having been tortured with the most exquisite cruelty, escaped from their rescuers to go back to their tormentors in order to preach to them and to administer the sacrament of the Mass. However mistaken or even fanatical such men may have been, we cannot help admiring their lofty courage, their steadfast devotion, and their splendid self -denial.
3. The Law Concerning the Preaching of t,he Word. There are several lessons we may learn from the failures of the Romanists. Nothing they have done is more clearly a mistake than the dependence they have put in other ageucies than the Gospel of Christ. The whole question of the efficacy of the sacrameuts emerges here. Could anything be more pathetic than the wonderful sacrifices made by the Jesuits to baptize Indians who did not know they were being baptized, to sprinkle holy water on sleepiug heathen Chinamen, or to administer the sacrament of extreme unction to dyiug Africans unconscious of what was being done ~ Of course Protestants believe that such methods are not worthy of the name of missionary effort. But some people who ought to know better are advocating other meaus than the presentation of the Gospel as missionary work.
We do not for a moment discount the educational work of the missionary. He must teach the people among whom he labors to use both brain and hand. He mllst do all he can to civilize them. He will reduce their speech to writing if it is not already a written language. He will teach them to till the soil if they are not already an agricultural people. He will teach them all the arts and sciences possible. He will aid them to develop the resources of their country iu every possible manner. He will be the apostle of culture and material prosperity, of literature and enterprise; but first and above all he must be the herald of Christ.
Altho not au example of the most illegitimate methods of Romish mission work, Francis Xavier is the most conspicuous failure because he failed to teach the Word. It is pure extravagance to call him " the Apostle of the Indies," and to compare him with St. Paul, as some historians of the Church of Rome have done. It is pure partisan blindness which does not see that his work amounted to almost nothing that was permanent. To be sure, he opened the way into Asia for other members of the Society of Jesus, of which he was one of the founders; but the lasting spiritual results of his work were pitifully small. This poverty of results was due, we believe, to dependence on other agencies than the Word of God. Xavier always speaks of having made Christians: "Feci Ohristianos" is his constant expression. These people were manufactured into Christians by holding up the crucifix before the multitudes who gathered to hear him and persuading them to bow before it, or by taking the branch of a tree and sprinkling them with consecrated water. His zeal knew no bounds. All day long he toiled to administer the sacraments to as many people as possible, taking neither time for eating nor sleeping, and spending the short remainder of his nights in prayer. "Amplius /" (" More !") was still his cry, even when he was most thronged with candidates for baptism or confession. If snch methods could havc been permanently successful, there was no reason why Xavier should not have succeeded; for he had every advantage of money and power behind him. He could make it profitable to become a Christian in India. The poor and the suffering were liberally relieved. Besides administering to the bodily diseases of all who would come to him, and feeding all the hungry who swarmed to his ministrations, he had the temporal power of the Viceroy of Madras behind him. Four thousand gold fanams were granted by the Viceroy to pay the " priests," so-called, which Xavier appointed from among his converts in each village. When it is remembered that St. Francis spent but a few days, or at most but a few weeks, in each village, we need not be surprised that his converts soon lapsed back into heathenism in name, from which they had never emerged, in fact, even tho they were presided over by the" fit persons," as he calls these priests, who had been selected to draw the salary from the royal treasury. Xavier's failure is acknowledged not by Protestants only, but even by members of his own society, the Jesuits. Abbe Dubois laments that the work was not thorough. Indeed, St. Francis himself felt that he had failed. In a letter to the King of Portugal, when he is about to leave the country for China, he gives up his plan for converting the Hindus through the offices of the Church, and urges that the Viceroy be held accountable for making his subjects Christians by civil power. He says: "I wish that you would mention each of us by name, and say that we are not responsible ; but that the duty of spreading Christianity depends upon the Viceroy and upon him alone." He goes on to urge the King to punish, by imprisonment and confiscation of property, the governors of such provinces where there were few neophytes added to the Holy Church. This he feels it his solemn duty to urge.
It would not be fair to speak thus of the failure of Xavier's work and to seem to cast discredit upon him without going on to say a word concerning his piety and his sufferings. His letters show a wonderful zeal, and his life of self· abnegation proves that his zeal was genuine. One of the most beautiful hymns we owe to him, " Jesus, I love Thee, not because I hope for heaven thereby,"
reveals the pure and beautiful soul of the mau. Notlling was too painful for him if he could move the hearts of men thereby. One of his methods was to scourge himself vicariously in order to make merit for the person whom he was endeavoring to convert, and in whose presence the penance was performed. .
Hough, in his "History of Christianity in India," says: "His personal character appears to have been unexceptionable. His missionary character also in many respects is worthy of admiration. For grandeur of design and diligence in execution; for disinterested love to man ; for unwearied devotion, self-denial, renunciation of the world, intrepidity in dangers, and many other estimable qualities, he has left behind him an example which few have surpassed since the apostles' days."
4. The Law of Separation. The Romish Church is a mighty political engine of power. We may learn that the success of the missionary comes " not by might or by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." The wholo question of the union of Church and State is involved in the Romish theory of missions. More than once the Pope and his agents have secured the promulgation of a decree by the governments of certain provinces declaring allegiance to the papal see only to find that the people would not submit; or it has been found that if the people have become Catholic in name, they have remained heathen in fact. Men cannot be made Christians by proclamation, even tho they be willing.
The experience of Rome ought to teach us to avoid all political entanglements. One of the most amusing failures which the Romish Church has made to introduce Christianity by treating with the government of a country was in the case of the successors of Jenghiz Khan. Messengers had come from the Tartar empire, which was threatening to overrun all Europe, to the court of Louis IX., "Saint Louis," with stories of the willingness of the Tartars to accept Christianity, As the Tartars were known to be Deists, with little or no religion of their own, and as they looked with equal favor on Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity, the pious King of France sent an embassy with rich presents to the Grand Khan Gajuk, asking him to make Christianity the religion of his empire. But the barbarian Mongols regarded the presents as tokens of the submission of Louis to their authority, and sent back the messengers. The a famous William of Rubruk was sent by St. Louis at the head of a second body of ambassadors on journey of 5000 miles to be bandied about from one chieftain to another until he reached the Grand Khan himself. But instead of being allowed to introduce Christianity, at the close of a disputation with Mohammedans and Buddhists, the Franciscan monk was sent back with a threatening demand to Louis to tender his submission in due form and become tributary to the Khanate of Tartary.
5. The Law of Unworldliness. One cause of the failure of the Romish Church to do permanent missionary work in certain countries has been the immoralities of those who have followed the missionaries. The Romish missionaries who followed Xavier were expelled from Japan by the indignant natives in 1614 principally because of the flagrant wrongs done by the merchants, sailors, and adventurers who swarmed into the country in their wake. We may learn from the Romish missionaries in another field to labor with the settlers and traders who have gone among heathen tribes. In 1586 the famous Jesuit mission was established in Paraguay. Here the intolerable cruelty of the Spaniards had long rendered fruitless all the efforts of the Franciscans to convert the Indians. The Jesuits wisely judged that the Spaniards needed reconverting first. They turned their efforts toward their reformation with so good effect that before long the Indians, believing that there must be something in a religion which could so change the conduct of the whites, began again to return to Christianity or to seek baptism for the first time.
But the Romanists are not alone answerable for crimes against weak, helpless, uncivilized. nations. It is impossible to estimate how much the liquor trade, licensed vice, and the immorality of so-called Christian nations have done to retard the progress of the world's evangelization. No pages of statistics nor figures of speech can give an adequate idea of the wrong done to China by the opium traffic of Christian England or to WeRtel'll Africa by the liquor trade of Christian United States and Germany. It is of no use to say that the Church does not stand responsible for these evils j the heathen, among whom our missionaries go, look upon the missionary and the merchant as being equally the representatives of the same country. If the missionaries are merchants, if the missionaries make money profit out of their converts, worse still, if the missionaries are cruel or licentious men, how impossible is it that their efforts should be successful, no matter what they teach. While we are far from charging these sins against the Romish missionaries as a class, yet the history of the work of Cardinal Ximenes in the West Indies and Mexico and of the Jesuits in Paraguay may stand as an illustration of the cause of failure to win the natives because of worldly or sinful lives.
6. The Law of Other Worldliness. Closely connected with the last is the failure to do permanent work because the missionaries of Rome have been satisfied with a Christianity that is merely nominal. To secure this outward assent to the doctrines of Rome, her missionaries, but especially the Jesuits, have been willing to make almost any concession to the heathen prejudices of the people they were trying to win. Mosheim gives a very full account of the methods employed by the Society of Jesus in India and China. In these countries during the seventeenth century they won converts by wholesale by adapting the doctrines of the heathen to the teachings of the Church of Rome. Only the more flagrantly wicked practices of the heathen were condemned; whatever could be twisted from a heathen to a Romish significance was kept. The Jesuits of this period concluded that St. Francis Xavier had made a mistake by beginning at the lowest classes. They supposed they could easily win the lower after they had converted the higher classes. So, in order to win the Brahmins, Robert de Nobili, a nobleman of Tuscany and a member of the Society of Jesus, having perfected himself in Sanscrit, Telegu and Tamil, as well as in the social customs of the Brahmins, went to India and declared himself a Brahmin come from the West. He conducted himself after the manner of the most ceremonious of the Brahmins, and would not suffer hims3if to be approached except by men of high caste. He brought with him a parchmentforged of course, which declared that the Brahmins of Rome were descended from the god Brahm, and were of more ancient foundation than the Brahmins of India. The parchment declared, further, that the members of the Society of Jesus were the direct descendants of Brahm. When the authenticity of the parchment was questioned, De Nobili did not hesitate to declare on his oath its truthfulness. He also forged a Sanscrit book purporting to be a fifth Veda, which he and his fellow-Jesuits swore they had received from Brahm. The result of this policy was that in three years seventy high.caste Brahmins had accepted tha Christian doctrines concerning God, the atonement, and the leading teachings of Christian morality. They abandoned their idols, but retained caste distinctions. Angry opposition arose; but in spite of this thirty thousand converts ware gathered. Separate churches were built for the high and low castes, while the outcasts were forbidden even to approach the Brahmin-Jesuit priests. But however successful the work seemed, it is not strange that such a policy of falsehood and accommodation should soon have brought disastrous failure. The noble kinsman of Robert de Nobili, the great Cardinal Bellarmine, himself a Jesuit, protested most solemnly against such a policy. Altho the order compelled him to retract, other orders of the Church had influence enough to secure a bull from Gregory XV. in 1623 which was unfavorable to the Jesuits. To this bull the Jesuits paid no heed; but in time their own falsehood, their mercantile speculations and other secular
1896·1 THE INQUISITION AND ITS" HOLY OFFICES.'"
undertakings, all contributed to the collapse of the order, which was repressed by Clement XIV. in 1773.
Such are some of the lessons whIch we may learn from our friends the enemy. What shall be the outcome of the struggle carried on along such different lines to WIn the world from heathenism? In the language of a modern writer: "The future of Protestantism depends upon itself. Our clergy must show a greater readiness than Catholic priests to go anywhere at the call of duty. The welcome to Protestant houses of worship should be more free and cordial than to Catholic sanctuaries. Our laity must prove that their gratitude to Christ for a free salvation is at all times a larger draught upon their financial resources than the doctrine of penance which supplements the cross by works of personal sacrifice and merit. Our missionaries must swarm most numerously among the millions of heathenism. In the competition with Catholicism we must not depend solely upon principles-we must show larger and richer fruitage than they."
But this is not all. We must not sit down to rest in the hope that Protestantism will survive because it is the fittest to surviv€l. Some meu are questioning whether the Anglo-Saxon type of Christianity is the fittest religion for the Oriental mind. Such a question proves that that man's religion cannot win because it lacks the great force of faith. Our hope is in the promise of the Lord of Hosts, who has said that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ. With faith in Him we hasten the coming of His kingdom.
THE INQUISITION AND ITS "HOLY OFFICES."
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Few people, even among intelligent Protestants, are familiar with the infamous history of the Inquisition. When in Rome, few spots more repay investigation than the Palazzo del Santo Uffizo, near the Vatican, the building formerly used for the" Holy Office" as instituted by Paul III., in 1542. The tribunal was abolished by the Roman Assembly after the revolution of February, 1849, but restored in the June following by Pius IX. During the French occnpation of Rome, the old Palazzo was turned into barracks, and the business of the Inquisition was transferred to the Vatican.
When Paul III., seeking to deal a death-blOW at the Protestant Reformation, issued his bull in 1542, creating the tribunal of the" Holy Office," (!) he appointed six cardinals-Caraffa and :roledo being the chief inquisitors-who were clothed with power to appoint successors, and with authority to decide all cases as a court of final appeal. All parties, rich and poor, patrician or plebeian alike, were given over into their hands to imprison on suspicion, to punish on conviction, to torture by way of compelling confession. TIle only power not entrusted to them was the right of pardon-His Holiness reserving that prerogative to himself. And the Inquisition thus became, in a double sense, a court that showed no leniency, and its victims had indeed" judgment without mercy."
The rules of its action are a curious relic of papal equity. Let those who think the papacy needs no " missions" carefully read and ponder them: 1. In affairs of faith there must not be a moment's delay, but on the slightest suspicion proceedings must be taken.
2. No regard must be paid to any potentate or prelate, whatever his power or dignity.
3. On the contrary, the greatest severity must be shown toward those who seek to shelter themselves under the protection of a ruler; only where confession is made are leniency and fatherly compassion to be shown.
4. To heretics, and especially Calvinists, no toleration must be granted. The cardinal chiefs of the Inquisition did full justice to their" Iloly Office" as thus defined. And if Paul III. was a severe superintendent, his successor, Paul IV., out-Heroded Herod for the violence of his persecuting zeal. When he assumed the papal tiara he was already in his eightieth year, yet it was said of him proverbially that he knew not what it was to make a concession; and certainly in his conduct of the " Holy Office" he exhibited an unrelenting hatred of heretics, mixed with a severity which was absolutely merciless, and an intolerance that was absolutely unbending. He was the impersonation of Talus with his iron flail. His very eyes flashed fire, and his tall, erect, spare form seemed wrought of iron with nerves of steel. To one end all his energies were devoted-at any cost to put down heretics and make the Roman Catholic See triumph~ ant over all " reformers," a world-wide power with undisputed supremacy. In fact, so terribly hard was his iron rule that when, on August 18th, 1559, he died, a riot arose, and" hell broke loose. " The prison 0'£ the Inquisi- tion was broken open and fired, the prisoners being released. The rioters went to the chamber of 1he Inquisition and slew the chi.ef inquisitor, burned or spoiled all the archives, and were hardly restrained from bnrning also the convent of Sofia Minerva, where the old court of the Inquisition existed, and where Galileo underwent his famous ordeal of trial for astronomic heresies.
Abont the saddest things there is often a grim humor; and the " Holy Office" is not without its absurd and semi-ridiculous aspects, as when, for instance, in the name of religion, it calmly and systematically countenances the most atrociously irreligious and barbarous proceedings, reminding one of the enormous cruelties inflicted on helpless brute in the name of science, amid the horrors of vivisection, in the interests of eliciting truth, as from victims of inquisitorial tortures.
For example, in the new Palazzo, near the Vatican, one may see the cells lined with reeds, in which a prisoner could not stand upright. A curious advertisemeut appeared iu 1880, offering for sale the" halls of the tribunal, prisons, and dungeons of torture. "
Dr. John Stoughton saw, while in Rome, that unique volume whose title is, "Sacro Arsenale, over oprattica dell' offitio della Santa Inquisitione-con l'insertione d'alcune Regole fatta dal p. Inquisitore, Thomaso Menghini Domenicano, e di diverse annotationi del Dottore gio Pasqualone. MDCCXVI." The sixth part, which treats of the detection of heresy, unblushingly describes methods of interrogation by torture. One would think even the " Holy Office" would hesitate to put such things in print and give such a formidable weapon to the" reformers" and other enemies of the " Holy Roman See;" but the reader must be the judge of the depravity akin to madness that can unhesitatingly commend such atrocities.
Three of these modes of examination by the agonies of torture are specified: Tormento del fuoco, or torture by fire; tm'mento della stangl~etta, or torture with the bolt or bar; and tormento della cannetta, or torture with the soldering pipe! Here, as Dr. Stoughton remarks, is a typical example of "framing iniquity by a law;" and in the pages of this extraordinary volume, with the coolness of the most audacious effrontery, rules are given for the infliction of the most exquisite pain.
And yet, with the most pious conformity to a religious routine, all this holy vivise~tion was inflicted on the helpless human victims in the name of the Church and the compassionate Christ! The inquisitors assembled in solemn fashion, invoking the name of Christ, and prayerfully proceeded to the duties of the Holy Office! Records were put before them of personssuspectos he1·eticaJ pravitatis, as the names of prisoners are entered on the calendars of Newgate, and they summoned before them the accused parties.
Severe questioning, accentuated with exhortation, threatening, persuasion, extorts confession ; if not, then the gentle persuasions of flame and bolt and soldering pipe and other humane appliances are added to elicit the truth, until, to get rid of the intolerable torment, the victim acknowledges anything, however false-for no eonfession satisfies the Holy Office which does not confirm previous suspicion. It is a hall of judgment in which judgment is virtually pronounced in advance, and the examination must confirm the previous decision. Penalties of greater or less severity fonow-a public whipping, confiscation of property, solitary penance, slavery in the galleys for any period, life incarceration; public abjuration is the least of penalties, the auto da fe is the greatest. And all this for what ~ For holding that there is no future purgatory ; that auricular confession is not necessary ; that there is no sin in eating meat on proscribed days; that images and relics are not to be worshiped; that Christ is our sole Advocate with God; that popes who do not live like Peter are not his true successors; that papal indulgences and anathemas are not of any value or weight, and priestly absolutions are not efficacious; that justification is by faith alone; and that the host is not the real body of Christ. How one exults to trace the history of these victims of papal tyranny, who, like the three holy children, could not be intimidated even by torture-like Bartolomeo Bartoccio, who after two years in a cell, doomed to the fires~ walked with a bold step up to the stake, and amid the flames shouted: "Vittoria! Vittoria!" It was said of Savonarola that as the Bishop of Florence threw at him a burning brand, crying, "I cut you off from the Church militant !" he triumphantly replied: "Aye; but you cannot cut me off from the Church triumphant /"
We have not in this brief paper traced the Inquisition either to its beginnings or into its ramifications. Suffice now to say, by way of completeness to the outline of its history, that the first permanent court of inquisition was established in 1248 undeI Innocent IV., the chief direction being vested in the then recently established Dominican order. Previously it had been local; now the tribunal became general, and was introduced successively into Italy, and Spain, and Germany, and Southern France. In France, the Inquisition came to an end under Philip the Fair, tho under Henry II. an unsuccessful attempt was made to revive it as an engine of extermination against the Huguenot heresy.
In Germany, it fell into disnse in the days of the Reformation. But in Spain and Portugal it has a history which has perhaps no parallel in the annals of the race. Early in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, Sixtus IV., in 1478, revived the organization after a 'long period, during which it had but a nominal existence; the crown, however, both controlling the acts and appointing the actors of the court.
In 1483, a little more than four hundred years ago, the Spanish Inquisition began its terrible c~reer under Thomas de Torquemada. The number of victims, as given by Llorente, the popular historian of the Inquisition, is nothing short of appalling. During the sixteen years of Torquemada's tenure of office alone there were nearly nine thousand persons who were burned! Under Diego Deza, the second head of the tribunal, in eight years over sixteen hundred suffered at the stake. Some have doubted or denied the accuracy of these statements; but after making all possible deductions and reductions, it is impossible calmly to contemplate the amount of cruelty undoubtedly practised. The horror which these records excite finds little parallel except in that awakened by the modern Armenian massacres.
The rigor of the Spanish Inquisition abated in the later part of the last century, after a period of three hundred years, the full history of which can never be written; and if it were, should be written in blood and deposited in the archives of hell.
The whole method of inquisitorial proceedings illustrates the irony of history. A party on mere suspicion could be arrested and imprisoned at will, and kept in prison until it pleased his judges to submit him to exami· nation. The proceedings were secret. He was confronted by no accusers, nor did he even know their names, and, in some cases, not even the
REGt1LA1'En VtcE IN GE~VA
grounds of suspicion! The evidence of an accomplice was inadmissible, and torture was always the dernier ,·esort to extort confession of guilt. If, after the torture ceased, the victim disowned the confession made on the rack, he was put to torture again till he once more "cmifessed the truth" as before. The fact that no such tribunal is in operation to-day proves, alas! nothing but that the Holy Roman Catholic Church has no longer the autocratic power which made such high.handed atrocities possible. When Father Recker can boldly assert that" Heresy should be reckoned and punished in the thought," intolerance is not dead, and only the power is necessary to revive the Holy Office. Rome no more tolerates Protestant heresies today than at any other time since 1248. Let us not deceive ourselves, nor abate our solemn protest against the errors which ensnare human souls in the name of Christianity. " Separation" is the watchword of the day, not" Union," and charity itself demands this separation that we " be not partakers of her plagues."
* REGULATED VICE IN GENEVA.
In a letter to the friends of repeal in Great Britain, an esteemed corre- spondent gives a vivid picture of the course of events at Geneva on 8un- day, March 22d, when by a large majority on a popular vote, the regula- tion of vice was confirmed. The writer says: " ::: have been called to witness a dark page in the history of human life. It is painful to me to have to record it; but its lessons are needful and solemn, and I wish I had a voice to reach to the end of the civilized world, that those lessons might be heard. How many years we have had the hard task imposed on us of trying to show people-good people-the horrible princiids embodied in the State regulation of vice, and the results which must necessarily follow; and they would not, will not, believe us. You already know the result of the popular vote-we had 4068, as against 1;300, a crushing defeat. I must presently explain how the people were misled by the Government; so that this cannot be quite truly said to be the verdiet of the people, tho to all the world it seems so. It will be, and is, a great triumph for our adversaries everywhere. I am glad that the gates of this inferno were thrown open, and that the results of a hundred years of Government organized and protected vice have been fur once fully revealed.
" Sunday morning-the voting day-I went to an early service in a Free church, wher<l most of our friends go. There was great life in that service, at the end of which most of us had the Sacrament together in almost absolute silence. I should rather have liked that we had all received it Rtanding, with a drawn sword in one hand, as the old crusaders did. The spirit of war, however, was there. as well as the Master's benediction, ' My peace give I unto you.' A dozen or more of our bravest Il"lll * This astouudiug article appeared in the London Ohristian of April 16th, and iB to my mind unequalled in its revelation of human depravity by even the massacres in Armenia. It reminds one of Paul's words: "It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret," only here it is done shamelessly and openly.-A. T. P. were absent from that service, having to preside from eight A.M. to six or seven P.M. at the different' urns' (polling-places), and as the Aboli- tionist gentlemen were comparatively few, the best of them had to stay all day at that post. .
" When the result of the poll was known, the leading , tenanciers,'
with their banners and following, forced their way into the Church of the Fusterie, at the entrance of which the final result of the voting had been made known; and then began scenes and processions which had been or- ganized beforehand. It is a pain to write of it; but it is well that the worst should be known, well that the Genevese should have had the awful revelation of the vileness of what they had been harboring in their midst.
You may know, perhaps, that every house of debauchery uuder Govern- ment sanction and protection is obliged to hang up a red lamp over the door, as a guide to visitors. So that now, and especially since Sunday night, that powerful institution which rules Geneva is desiguated aR the , Lampe Rouge.'
" They had organized procesRions in case of a victory, with designs and red lamps. They marched through the whole city, a mass of deviltry and obscenity which I suppose could hardly be seen anywhere else except perhaps in Paris. Soldiers had been posted all about the Fusterie ; but, nevertheless, the red lamps rushed into the church and marched round it inside, locking the gendarmerie out. The latter could not even succeed in forcing their way round the outside of the church, so dense was the crowd.
Inside, it seems, the red lamps held a sort of service to the devil, tramp- ing, swearing, and singing songs of the utmost blasphemy and obscenity.
They sang a hymn which is often sung at meetings or street preachings here, addressed to the Holy Spirit, beginning, 'Source divine of light and life' (in French), and they turned it into a hymn of praise of the' red lamps ' – ' Divine source' to them of all they find most agreeable! They had a banner on two poles, with the names in large letters of de Meuron (a prominent Abolitionist) and the' Bon Dieu,' and a red lamp hanging over both names. They cursed and hissed and howled at the names of God and de Meuron. 'A ba8 le Bon Dieu!' 'A ba8 de Meuron!'
, Vive la Lampe Rouge!' They also parodied a hymn which spoke of the Savior on the cross in a way too awful to speak of, and the indecencies were on a par with the blasphemies.
" Having' consecrated' the red lamps in the large church, they went on to all the other churches and filled the air in front of each with their blasphemies. Then branches of the procession went running to the differ- ent places which they hated most, and where they hoped to find some Abolitionists. They went first to the Young Men's Christian Association, but they had an avant-courier in the person of one of our scouts, who ran faster and told that the' red lamps' were coming, so that all the men as- sembled had just time to get out and disperse, and only windows were left to be battered in. They went to our federation office, but it was locked np. So through the long hours deviltry reigned in the city-an open and impudent saturnalia, flaring its own shame before the eyes of all.
" This revelation of the source and nature of the opposition to us, and of the fruit, 'after its kind,' which State protection of vice brings forth, was necessary, and has begun already to bring about a reaction. Most of all, it has opened the eyes of all the good men, pastors, etc., to the moral pestilence in the midst of which they have been living for several genera- tions. It is profoundly humiliating to the proud Genevese ; for they are a very proud people, and they feel it all the more coming just before their
1896.J AN OPEN LETTER '1'0 OUR MISSIONARIES IN TURKEY
great exhibition, and because they are being taunted and exulted over by the press of France and other countries.
" Now to explain, in a degree, the great majority against us. If the question had been, ' Do you desire the abolition or the maintenance of the rnaisons tolerees.2' every man, woman, and boy would have understood, because the maisons tolerees are as much in evidence and known, as the Cathedral or market-place. But the regulationist majority on the Grand Conseii invented the double question in order, no doubt, to perplex the people. Our friends in the Grand Conseil opposed it with all their might for several days, but in vain. The questions put before the electors were: 1. 'Do you approve of the projet de loi de t'initiative.2 Yes or no.' 2. , Do you approve of the projet de loi of the Government 1 Yes or no. ' You can see what a throwing of dust in their eyes this was. Working men were honestly asking, ' vYhat does it mean l' and during the past five weeks our party were not allowed to hold meetings to instruct the p'eopIe. Every meeting was broken up by the Lampes Rouges, and finally every hall and room was closed against us by a police order. Attempting to speak in the streets or roads, our friends were stoned aud assaulted and silenced by noise. Freedom of public meeting and freedom of speech no longer exist in Geneva. If we had had those liberties it is believed that we might have had a majority of votes. Working women told us that their husbands were good men, but meant to abstain from voting altogether because they did not clearly understand the questions. Many hundreds abstained. Then the Gene'vois had worked hard to tell the peo. pIe that we had deeply injured La Patrie, and troubled Geneva, and spoiled the prospects of the exhibition, and that all the agitators were paid by an English lady who had been sent from London with hundreds of pounds in her pocket. The poor people were misled by this kind of stuff. When one considers all these traps and deceptions put before them, to say nothing of the drink, one almost wonders that there were found 4000 who voted for abolition.
" I have many good things still to report, which we should never have known of but for this appeal to the whole people-so many unexpected adhesions, and, above all, such brave and right action on the part of young men at the university. and even boys in schools."
AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR MISSIONARIES IN TURKEY.
DEARLY BELOVED IN CHRIST: During the past few months I have sought to comfort myself by trying to comfort some of you. Unable longer to continue this, I will put my last effort in the form of a general letter, which, tho it may be too broad for Turkish mail-bags, is not too large for the religious paper of a free people. It may show that the situation is appreciated at home without any compromising utterances on your part.
Bible lands are depicted on the pages of the Bible not merely by the descriptions of the doomsday Book of Joshua, but by the highest spiritual utterances of the prophets. Take an example: "He stood and measured the earth." What mere didactic statement could equal the terseness of that? Measuriug the broad earth without moving from his place! " Then he beheld and drove asunder the nations." To appreciate this we must place ourselves at sunrise outside the gate of some city east of the Jordan and see its flocks pour out in one undistinguishable mass. Sudden- ly a shepherd calls his own sheilp by name, and they follow him to their own pastures, and others do likewise, leaving the place recently the scene of so much life t.otally empty. So here the Lord looks on a crowded bat- tle-field of Syria, where the enemies of Israel hasten to His overthrow.
He does not speak. He only looks; and at that look the hosts of each nation gather by themselves and disappear homeward. "Then the per- petual hills did bow," like the moving cloud splendors that resemble them, and yet even while the mountains flow down at His presence, "His wayI'!
are everlasting." No mere didactic utterance could express these truths so forcibly.
Let us look on another picture. When the primal flood of Turkish carnage and devastation left Asia Minor and entered Europe, their organi- zation was so complete and their weapons so perfect for that age that Europe trembled at the battles which were to decide whether Christ or Mohammed should rule in the land. These men judged Islam by its re- sults, and the impression made by them was intense. In the lapse of a years, however, it has faded out, till now scholars, from the text of their sacred books, tell us priori that the writings of Sakyamouni are the best for Buddhists ; KthoeranChainndestehecltarsasdiictsiofnosr*tahraet nation ; and, passing over others, that the most edifying for the Mos- lem. But while they daintily work out their theories, like a thunderbolt from heaven the word:;; of the Master break on the ear: "By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles ~"
And, 10 ! the fruit lies to-day before the eye:;; of the nations.
All men know what it is.
The first impression may be to make the bloodshed prominent in the picture; but the ethical foundation is so remarkable as to demand our no- tice. To introduce a new religion, the law against murder is set aside that the proselytizer may indulge in it without stint. Then the murderer is re- warded by the property of his victim, while the one he professedly seeks to convert is stripped of every right that a Moslem is bound to respect.
Even the family, tho built up by the most sacred sanctions, is shattered into fragments, and every member of it made to pander to the lusts or the covetousness of his oppressor. Each one may judge for himself whether the perpetrator of such crimes would think more of securing a convert who may reclaim a portion of his goods or of numbering him among the slain.
Nor are the massacres to be measured hy the number of victims nor by the cruelty of the methods employed. We must look at the victims themselves. The Armenians are the New Englanders of Western Asia.
A householder might dwell between an earthen floor and an earthen roof with very little furnishing between; his clothing might be of the coarsest material and bear the marks of much repairing, yet he lived in the house that had been occupied by his ancestors for many generations. There is something about him that commands respect, not in his surroundings, but in himself. He constantly submits to the greatest privations to enrich his * A Moslem tradition of Jerusalem teaches that in the great day Jesus Christ will sit on a pro- jecting stone high np on the eastern wall of the 'l'emple Enclosure to jndge the world assembled below in the yaney of Jehoshaphat. One or twoquestiolls occur to ns. Should a martyr, slain by Moslems, come forward to be Judged and be condemned for not renouncing Christ and accepting Mohammed, what becomes of the prolnise held to in the dying hour: ., Be thuu faithful nnto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." If Christ bestows that crown of life, what becomes of Mohammedan teachings? Again, should a Moslem aPl?roach, claiming to have slain a Christian who refused to accept Mohammed, shall Christ reward him, aud so stultif;V all tbose exceeding great and precious promises that are ours in Him? If He fulfils those promIses, again what becomes of Mohammedanism? Turkish landlord. His submissiveness is amazing to one accustomed to our free institutions. This is the victim selected for a sacrifice on the altar of Turkish fanaticism.
The news of the massacre reached the nations, and on all sides arose one cry of mingled amazement and execration. Many felt ashamed to be related to such murderers, even by the tie of a common humanity. Let Christians see that these feelings do not spend themselves in idle complaint that the dark ages have intruded into this nineteenth century, but let the words of Jesus, " By their fruits ye shall know them," sink ever deeper into their hearts. One day our Savior was conversing with the Jews, and, looking them through and through-for He " knew what was in man"- He said: " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the trut.h, for the truth was not in him." Christ looked so deep into their 11earts that He saw the connection between murder and falsehood-a connection that existed long before the days of Uriah the Hittite, and shall exist to the end. And what an interweaving of bloodshed and mendacity runs conspicuously through all these recent events! One cannot look on the one without seeing the other. Daniel speaks of two kings" speaking lies at one table;" but here more than two engage in the work, and they would need very spacious parlors for their nefarious councils. This characteristic of the Government filtrated down into the common people,so that the whole land became a nation of liars. When missionaries first went there it was noticed that they were speakers of the truth, and the people gravely decided that it was because they had not the necessary adroitness to make lying a success.
Some may think that the Turks are included in the apostolic teaching, "The powers that be are ordained of God;" but he goes on to describe the powers that he speaks of in saying that they are a terror not to good works, but to the evil-a character which the Turks have not yet learned to exhibit. Still, as at the first, they are an organized banditti, continually devouring the lands that have fallen into their hands by the fortunes of war. Some of their methods of devouring we have seen within the last few months. The Turkish Govcrnment strains every nerve to keep out the truth; but it might as well try to shut out daylight from the land when the sun is risen. The Turks think that they have a monopoly of the art of covering it up, hence their unwillingness to have spectators on the scenes of their intended wickedness; but they forget that Christ said : " There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed ; and hid that ·shall not be known." These, His words, abide true forever. That mythical quarantine in Sassoun, where no epidemic existed, stirred up a more thorough investigation than an honest statement of the facts would have done. Those kerosene cases intended to consume the last traces of massacre only brought to light more clearly the forethought employed in preparation for it. At first the Kurds were employed as a screen behind which the real actors could do their work; but soon rewards and promotions revealed the true agents, and not long after the pet name, "Hamoudiyeh," identified the originator beyond possibility of mistake. This outbreak of evil shall pass away. Its authors and abettors shall soon stand before their judge, but the qniet work of preaching the Gospel shall go on, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, for Christ has said: "I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." And so it shall remain even after the" earth is burned up and the elements shall melt with fervent heat."
SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY 011' TIlE COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY
One of the good tidings foretold of ChriRt, in Psalm 72: "He shall break in pieces (scatter as dust) the oppressor." It is our privilege to turn this promise into prayer until it is completely fulfilled.
There is one topic vitally affecting our missionaries, on which I would say a word with great diffidence. It has been said that the difficulty in some places of protecting an American citizen is so great that they should be forbidden to go to them, and if they persist in going, they must take the consequences. On this topic I am moved to present certain truths. The rights of an American citizen are inalienable. They can be fOlfeited only by crime or extreme rashness. To ascertain whether any course is rash we mURt go back to the authority for taking that course. Now, it is not churches or mis~ionary societies who send out missionaries, but Jesus Christ in person. It is His lips that say, "Go ye into all the world." The Lord Jesus makes very much of this fact, for He says: "As the Father hath sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent you into the world." He also has a perfect knowledge of those whom He sends, for He says: "Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." He also foresaw that personal violence would be offered. "The time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." Were they on that account to turn baek? No; for He says: "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it : but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it." "If any man come to Me and hate not . . • yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a erown of life." Is a missionary to be accounted rash who lovingly seeks to walk according to these words of his Master? Let men ponder well these words of Christ before they make the charge.
Your brother in Christ, THOMAS LAURIE• .SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY. * Sixty years ago, May 13th, 1836, a number of men were appointed " to manage the affairs of the contemplated mission to the British colonies," among them, John Remington Mills, the first treasurer; and the ReI'. Thomas Binney, Andrew Reed, and Mr. George Gull, the first secretaries of what became the" Colonial Missionary Society." Rev. Henry Wilkes, M.A., was appointed first missionary, and Montreal, Canada, chosen as the sphere of his labors.
A circular, issued immediately after that meeting, stated that the society had been" instituted to sllstain and extend among our fellow-countrymen in the British colonies the ordinances of Divine worship and the blessings of evangelical religion." This it proposed to do by selecting and sending out well-qualified ministers; and by supporting them, partially or wholly, for such periods as circumstances may require. Sixty years have gone since then. All who took part in those early meetings have passed away -but the work still goes on, and its need does not lessen. True, there are colonies which have not the strong claims for help which they presented sixty years ago, but other colonies are opening out, and so the work of the society grows from more to more. Its new " Forward Movement" is ,. Reprinted and condensed from the Christian llJnr1eavl)ur of May 7th, 1896. now to be inaugurated. As to its present-day work, the new secretary (Rev. D. Burford Hooke) says: "Our young people are going out every week to the colonies, and no society ought to receive more loyal support from those who are left behind than the Y. P. S. C. E., which seeks to meet the spiritual needs of young men and maidens far away from home and kindred. "
Recently, when in Manchester, he spoke to the adult classes at Roby School of that city-a school in which there is a strong missionary spirit.
Well there might be, for it was while sitting in one of the pews of Roby Chapel that Robert Moffat resolved to be a missionary, and thus few places more than it interested the Chief Khama, when he recently visited this country. From the 3551 Young People's Societies in Great Britain our younger brothers are going over the sea, and the society which helps them to be true to "Christ and the Church" has surely great claims upon them. Our colonies are making history, and they need the Christian leaven in them from the very foundation-so that the whole after-history may be permeated with the spirit of Christ. .
On the other hand, the young missionaries and ministers who are going forth are mainly Christian Endeavorers. They owe something to societies with which they have been connected in the homeland, and they will doubtless plant branches in the countries to which they are going. Last month two thus went out-one, the Rev. Leonard Joseph Thacker, to be minister of a group of churches in the Kat River Settlement, Cape Colony, and the other, Mr. Herbert D. Whitmore, to do evangelistic work among the fishermen in Fortune's Bay, Newfonndland.
He is the fifth minister who has· recently gone forth, in connection with the Colonial Missionary Society, to South Africa. The first was the Rev. F. Tucker, to Florida Road, Durban, Natal; the next, the Rev. D.
Smith Carlyle, to Graaff"Reinet; then the Rev. Alfred Olver, to W orces- ter, followed by his father, the Rev. Richard Olver, to North End, Port Elizabeth; and he will soon be followed by others to Bulawayo and Johannesburg.
The work of the Colonial Missionary Society has recently been greatly increased by the resolve of its directors to include the supervision in the colonies of native churches, founded by the London Missionary Society, which have not yet reached the robustness of character and sound moral habit needed for spiritual independence. It was in consequence of this that the directors sent their secretary to South Africa, and subsequently the Rev. Dr. Barrett to Jamaica, the latter being accompanied by the Rev. W. J. Woods. The result shows that in Africa there is a field for effort singularly rich in promise and with special reasons for solicitude, while from Jamaica, where more teachers are wanted, there has come the most gratifying testimony, showing that, tho the native churches in that beautiful island are, in some respects, infantile, yet they are growing in numbers and usefulness, tho greatly crippled through the extreme poverty of their members.
In connection with this new departure the society has initiated a Forward Movement in Johannesburg, under the leadership of the Rev.
Charles Phillips, a native of Nailsea, near Bristol. On the completion of his college course, he labored first in Samoa, and later at Graaff-Reinet, in South Africa; but the" vision of souls" has drawn him to Johannesburg, where it is believed his life work will be found. Mr. Phillips' labors will be chiefly in connection with the 40,000 colored people working in the compounds, for whom but little has yet been done.
INTERNA1'IONAL DEPARTMEN'lI
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
International Missionary Union. where a blank is found in the second THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. place, it means such persons are still in The International Missionary Union the active service, expecting to soon convened June 10th-17th in the Tabernacle at Clifton Springs, N. Y. This return to the foreign field : beautiful structure was erected at a cost of some four thousand dollars by 1892- ,Miss Louise A. Babe (Afri- Dr. Henry Foster for the use of this ca); 1872-92, Mfs. B. H. Badley (In- organization. Dr. Foster was the dia); 1890- . Rev. W. S. Bannerman founder of the Clifton Springs Sani- (Africa); 1890- ,Mrs. W. S. Banner- tarium, and he has been its patron man (Africa); 1885-94, Rev. J. L. Bar- saint until now. tho some years since ton, D.D. (Turkey); 1885-94, Mrs. he made it over to trustees to perpetu- J. L. Barton (Turkey): 1879-81. Rev. ate the benevolent intent with which it W. H. Belden (Bulgaria); 1879-81, was begun, of affording medical aid to Mrs. W. H. Belden (Bulgaria) : 1888- , missionaries, ministers of the Gospel, Miss Florence E. Ben-Oliel (Syria): and teacbers. Dr. Foster has thus 1886-87, Mrs. G. A. Bond (Malaysia); handed over for these purposes a plant 1887- , H. J. Bostwick (China): worth six hundred thousand dollars, 1887- ,NIrs. H. J. Bostwick (China); notwithstanding its beneficence of an 1889- ,Miss SURie M. Burdick (China) : annual donation in the form of relief to 1856-86, Mrs. W. B. Capron (India); the classes above specified, of a sum 1890-92, Rev. W. A. Carrington (Braranging from twenty thousand to thirty zil); 1859- , Rev. J. Chamberlain, thousand dollars annually. M.D. (India): 1890- • Miss Sarah Chambers (Brazil): 1896- ,Miss Ella The International Missionary Union Chapman (Burma) ; 1888- ,Miss Ella is an entirely distinct organization, R. Church (Japan); 1887- , Rev. wholly independent of tbe Sanitarium, Cyrus A. Clark (Japan); 1887- ,Mrs. which meets annually for the purpose Harriet G. Clark (Japan); 1883-94, of discussing missionary problems, Rev. J, Thompson Cole (Japan): comparing experiences on different 1883- ,Mrs. Mary M. Conklin (Burma, fields. addresses by individual mission- India); 1881-85. Samuel Cross (Siam); aries giving accounts of their work, 1878-79, Rev. C. W. Cushing, D.D. and for the deepening of spiritual life (Italy); 1888- , Miss Mary A. Danin their own souls, as well as greater forth (Japan); 1883- , Miss A. Daughpersonal acquaintance by social inter- aday (Japan); 1869-~0, Rev. J. A. course. It convened two years at Davis, D.D. (China): 1869-70, Mrs. Niagara Falls, Canada, two years at J. A. Davis (China); 1876-90, Mrs. Thousand Island Park, and at Bridge- Andrew D'Ouseley (India, China); ton, N. J., aud once at Binghamton, 1880- , Rev. J. A. Eakin (Siam); N. Y. Since that it has convened on 1880- , Mrs. J. A. Eakin (Siam); the invitation of Dr. Foster at Clifton 1888- , Miss Elizabeth A. Eakin Springs, chiefly as the guest of the Sani- (Siam): 1886- , Miss Susan Easton tarium, this being the seventh time in (India); 1868- ,}>Iiss Charlotte E. Ely succession it has been thus entertained. (Turkey); 1868- ,Miss M. A. C. Ely (Turkey) ; 1890- , Edward Evans The missionaries present this year (China) ; 1887- ,Miss!'I. Estelle Files were as follows, the dates preceding (Burma); 1892- ,Edwin N. Fletcher the names indicating the year of enter- (China); 1853-55, Mrs. O. }>1. Ford. ing and of retiring from the field.; M.D. (Africa); 1872- , Rev. Daniel O. Fox (India); 1881- ,Mrs. Daniel O. Fox (India); 1882- ,Mrs. A. A. Fulton (China); 1878- ,Miss Frances A. Gardner (Japan); 1879- , Miss Sarah F. Gardner (India) ; 1880- ,Miss Elsie M. Garretson (China); 1861-68, Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D. (India); 1861- 68, Mrs. J. T. Gracey (India); 1889- , James S. Grant, M.D. (China); 1873-85, Rev. Thomas L. Gulick (Spain); 1885–, Miss Emma ~I. Hall (Italy); 1837-77, Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D. (Turkey) j 1864-73, Mrs. Cyrus Hamlin (Turkey); Grace Tucker (Japan); 1889- ,W. J. 1840-93, J. C. Hepburn. M.D., LL.D. Wanless, M.D. (India); 1889- ,Mrs. (China and Japan); 1840-93, Mrs. J. C. W. J. Wanless (India); 1859- ,Rev. Hepburn (China and Japan) ; 1883- , G. T. Washburn, D.D. (India); 1859- , Miss G. Y. Halliday (Persia); 1879·- , Mrs. G. T. Washburn (India); 1859: ' Miss Emma Inveen (China); 1884- , Rev. J. W, Waugh, D.D. (IndIa); Miss Carrie 1. Jewell (China); 1887- , 1880-91, Mrs. Wellington J. White Rev.Geo. Heber Jones (Korea); 1872-75, (China) ; 1881- ,Rev. M. C. Wilcox (China); 1838-86, Rev. G. W. Wood, :Miss Marr Kipp (Syria); 1888- ,Mrs. D.D. (Turkey); 1871-86. Mrs. G. W. M. B. Klfkpatrick (Burma); 1853- , Wood (Turkey); 1870-73, Miss Sarah Mrs. Lucy A. Knowlton (China); L. Wood (Turkey): 1859- • Rev. 1887- , Rev. W. H. Lacy (China); Simeon F. Woodin (China); 1859- , 1887- ,Mrs. Emma Nind Lacy (Chi- Mrs. Simeon F. Woodin (China) ; 1860na); 1887- , Rev. H. F. Laflamme 95, Rev. B. DuBois Wyckoff (India) ; (India); 1889- ,Mrs. H. F. Laflamme 1860-95, Mrs. B. DuBois Wyckoff (India); 1879- , Miss Margaret W. (India). Leitch (Ceylon); 1881- ,Rev. Spencer Lewis (China); 1881- ,Mrs. Spencer The societies respectively were repre- Lewis (China); 1880-90, Mrs. C. S. Long (Japan); 1886- ,W. L. Macrae sented numerically as follows: Ameri- Crrinidad); 1849- ,W. A. P. Martin, can Board, 42; Methodist Episcopal, D.D., LL.D. (China); 188t!- , Miss 27; Presbyterians, 25; Baptists, 10; Stella H. Mason (Assam); 1887- , Protestant Episcopal, 4; Reformed Miss Mary L. Matthews (Bulgaria); 1889- ,David McConaughy, Jr. (In- (DutcL), 3: Canada Baptist, 2; China dia); 1894- ,Rev. Arthur II. Mellen Inland Mission, 2; Independent, 1; (Cuba); 1885- ,Rev. C. P. W. Mer- United Presbyterian, 2; Woman's ritt, M.D. (China); 1885- ,Mrs. C. P. Union, 2; Canada Presbyterian, 1; W. Merritt (China); 1888- ,Miss Em- Established Church of Scotland, 1; ma Mitchell (China); 1887- , Rev. Reformed Episcopal, 1; Seventh-Day G. W. Morrison (India); 1889- ,Mrs. G. W. Morrison (India); 1869- ,Mrs. Baptist, 1; Southern Presbyterian, 1 ; Charles B. Newton (India); 1874-90, Young Men's Christian Association Rev. A. B. Norton (India); 1880-84, foreign field, 1. The total number en- Miss Helen S. Norton (Hawaii) ; 1880- , rolled in this assembly of Christians Miss Frances E. Palmer (Burma); 1859- , Rev. E. W. Parker, D.D. was 127. (India); 1859- ,Mrs. E. W. Parker The countries represented, as will be (India) ; 1877-83, Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick (Africa); 1881-83, Mrs. C. C. Penick seen from the list, were Africa, Bul- (Africa); 1879-82, Miss Fannie A. Per- garia, China, Cuba, Italy, Japan, Korea, ley (India); 1895- , Horace Tracy Pitkin (China) ; 1868- ,Rev. Theodore Persia, Siam, Malaysia, Syria, Turkey, S. Pond (Turkey and Colombia); Spain, West Indies, South America 1868- ,Mrs. Theo. S. Pond (Turkey and Colombia); 1885-87, Rev. William (Br!ziI, Colombia), India (Assam, Burde Ronden Pos (Africa); 1878–80, ma, Ceylon), Persia, and the Hawaiian Miss Mary Priest (Japan); 1886- , Miss Carrie E. Putnam (Burma); Islands. 1886- ,George M. Rowland (Japan) ; Two thirds of these had never before 1886- , Mrs. George M. Rowland (Japan); 1877- ,Miss Anna Schenck attended one of these annual gather- (Persia); 1873- ,Rev. J. E. Scott, PhD. ings. About that proportion of the (India); 1896- • A. L. Shapleigh, M.D. whole number in attendance each year (China); 1896- ,Mrs. A. L. Shapleigh (China); 1883- , Rev. Frederick A. are present for the first time. The Steven (China); 1886- ,Mrs. Freder- meeting is so unique that none but ick A. Steven (China); 1881-90, Rev. M. Luther Stimson (China); 1881-90, those who remain throughout the week Mrs. M. Luther Stimson (China); come into any apprehension of its 1889- ,Miss Cora A. Stone (Japan) ; worth and power. Salutations and 1878- , Miss Ellen M. Stone (Bulgaria): 1873- , Miss Eliza Talcott communications are annually received (Japan) ; 1868–73, Rev. C. O. Thayer, from members laboring in foreign mis- M.D. (Turkey); 1868–73, Mrs. C. C. Thayer (Turkey); 1869-72, Miss Mary sion fields all over the globe. On the platform on Tuesday evening, June A. Thompson (China); 1890- , Miss 16th, thirty-six missionaries appeared, who made brief addresses of two minutes each about the kind of work which the emperor, he upheld the Jesuits.
they would take up on their arrival on The Dominicans appealed to Rome, their several fields, as they all antici· and the Holy See, after some waver- pated ret~rning before another annual ing, decided in their favor, coining a meeting of the Union. We present a new term for God, or what was more sketch of a few of the addresses: elevating in the place of Shangti- Tienchu, a petty deity, one of eight mentioned in the ancient books, as di- RELATION OF THE CHINESE GOVERN· viding the sway of the universe, and MENT TO MISSIONS. condemning the worship of ancestors.
BY REV. w. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., PEKING, The emperor stood aghast at the pre- sumption of a foreign potentate to reo CffiNA. vise his decisions, and he learned for My recollection goes back to a time the first time that in the event of his when the walls of exclusiveness stretched professing the faith there was a human all around China; and I have lived to authority to which even he must bow.
see the gates wide open. They did not, Tolerant of religious opinions· in gen- however, roll back to the sound of celes· eral, the Chinese Government is not so tial music, but to the roar of Western liberal when those opinions contravene cannon. I shall speak of five periods. its most sacred traditions and imperil 1. A period of persecution by im- the order of society. The Emperor perial power. 2. A period of restricted Kanghi withdrew his favor, and his liberty granted by imperial edict. 3. A successor, in 1723, commenced an open period of religions freedom under the and relentless persecution, expelling protection of treaties. 4. A period of missionaries and slaughtering or ban- popular persecution excited in part by ishing their converts.
the success of the missionary work. 2. 'l'he first war with England, known 5. A peep into the future, when the as the Opium War, changed the rela- Church of China shall enjoy the fullest tions of China to the Western world.
privileges in the sunshine of Imperial The British treaty of 1842 opened five favor. seaports to foreign trade, and Protes- The period of persecution, which tant missionaries were prompt to oc- lasted for over a century, was brought cupy them, tho there was not as yet a on by dissensions in the Roman camp. word of toleration from the throne.
The Jesuits, who were first in the field, In 1844, however, after the singing of were many of them learned, wise, and his treaty, the French Minister pre- devoted. Winning the favor of the ferred a request for the annulment of government by their science, they persecuting edicts, and the recall of profited by their prestige to plant exiled missionaries and converts. The churches in the capital and all over request was freely accorded, and at China. So favorable was the disposi- the instance of a British minister the tion of the Emperor Kanghi, that he same privileges were extended to Protes- and his people appeared to he on the tant missions.
verge of becoming Christians. 3. The wider franchise under treaty Then came the Dominicans, tradi- stipUlations was the fruit of the second tional inquisitors and professional her- war with England known as the esy hunters. They accused the Jesuits " Arrow War," in which France took of complicity with idolatry, because part. At Tientsin, in 1858, the minis- they accepted for God, Shangti, "The ters of the four powers, Great ·Britain, Supreme Ruler," worshiped by the France, Russia, and the United States, Emperor of China, as do a majority of each in his own treaty, inserted full Protestant missionaries of the present stipUlations by which the whole empire day. The question being referred to was thrown open to missionary efforts, a thing unprecedented in the history of lics, who claim that foreign priests acthe world. companied the Japanese veterans of Hideyoshi in their invasion of Korea 4. The period of popular persecution. in 1592. The fruit of this work was by means of mob violence, began with chiefly Korean martyrs, who suffered the massacre of French missionaries at in the persecution following the Shima- Tientsin in 1870. Prostrated by the bara Rebellion. Roman Catholic work iron hand of Germany, France was in dates really from the last decades of no condition to exact suitable repara- the eighteenth century. and was intion, and the people were emboldened augurated by nations interested in to repeat the outrage at sundry times Christianity through contact with and in divers manners. These attacks the priests in Peking. For a generawere s.lways excited by the circulation tion the work was confined to native of tracts and placards containing horri- efforts entirely, and is reported to have ble charges against missionaries and all provoked some persecution. The first foreigners. When the storm burst the foreign priests arrived in 1835, and mandarins generally contrived to be from that time their work has been absent. Some of them, indeed, includ- carried on after their fashion, and has ing a few of the highest rank, have had a checkered and disastrous career. had a direct agency in fomenting these There is danger that we may be unjust troubles. In some instances mission- in any attempt to summarize the work aries suffered from riots aimed at for- of the Roman Catholics. They had eigners as such, and foreign traders made no visible imprint on the charachave suffered from riots aimed at mis- ter or thought of the people except to sionaries. The leading governments call their attention to Christianity_ of Christendom wisely agreed to hold Under their efforts Christianity became the Chinese Government to its obliga- known as a pestilential heresy. the sum tions. Decrees of the most favorable of all immorality and villany, and from character have been obtained from the this charge it was reserved for Protesemperor. Officials concerned in the tantism to vindicate our blessed religpersecutions (in one instance a viceroy) ion. At the present time they have have been degraded. If the great a well-organized hierarchy-bishops. powers maintain this attitude, such priests, schools, orphanages, and 25,000 riots will be of rare occurrence; but converts. They confess that it was they can hardly bj3 expected to cease not until 1885 that the cassock of the entirely, until officials and literati be- foreign priest dared appear in the come convinced. as they will, that streets of Soul, and at that time Pres- Christianity is the one thing needful byterian and Methodist Episcopal misfor China. without which her renova- sionaries had been working for a year tion is hopeless. in that interest. Mission work was carried on in the north province of 5. The growth of the churches to a Korea by the Rev. John Ross, of the hundred thousand members for the Scotch Presbyterian Mission in Man- Protestants, and a million for the Ro- churia, for several years before the first man Catholics who entered the field missionaries arrived in Korea, and into centuries earlier with a vast apparatus his labors we have entered. of schools, colleges, and printingpresses. is auspicious of the final tri- " For the purpose of'temporary clasumph. sification, our history since December, 1884, may be divided into three epochs: KOREA. The period of suspicion; the period of indifference; and the period of dawn- Rev. George Heber Jones, of Korea, ing interest. said: "The Koreans are neither Chines!) "The first attempt to Christianize Korea was made by the Roman Cathonor Japanese, and they are very anx- PERSIA. ious to have the world realize the distillction; but the basal structure of the Miss G. Y. Halliday, of Persia, said: grammar of their language resembles "We sometimes hear it said, • All that of the Japanese, seeming to indicate the world except Tibet is open to the that in some remote period they came proclamation of the Gospel.' Is it? of the Bame stock. There is a large Of what avail is it that the missionary element of Chinese in their vocabulary. is physically present in a country, when 'rhey regard the Chinese as petrified the main body of its population is shut barbarians, who, having periodically off from him by an interdict, and forthrashed Korea into a reverent attitude, bidden to hear his message or to heed are not to be trifled with. They regard it on pain of death? Such is the case the Japanese as mushrooms of an in- with the greater part of the 200,000,000 ferior quality, so short in stature that of Moslems in the world to-day. Do they are even beneath contempt. I we dare let this st.ate of things consuppose this, because Japan, instead of tinue? They outnumber the populafollowing China's example, and dev- tion of the Unitcd States three to one. astating Korea every time there was I! their forces were concentrated, what a shadow of a pretext, only did so a fearful menace to Christianity and twice. civilization, while nothing but oppor· tunity is wanting to repeat in every " The religion is of a triple character. land the • horrors of Armenia.' It is Ancestor worship with the Confucian the worst of the false religions, because code is the State religion; Buddhism intolerant and aggressive. Is there any has a large number of monastic com- other religion that claims the right to munities patronized by the people when slay and plunder and possess the earth they have occasion; Spiritism, a form by force, exterminating heathen and of Shammanism, is the religion of every reducing Jews and Christians to slavery home. and tribute? These people are inclosed in a triple wall of iron. The first de- H Medicine opened Korea to mission- fense is broken when the Christian misary wOlk, and has occupied a most im· sionary gains access to their country ; portant place ever since. Schools close- the second, when they have liberty to ly followed, and held the respect and hear him; the third, when prejudice endorsement of the people. There are and unbelief are vanquished and he at the present time the following mis- yields to the Spirit of God. Within sions at work in Korea: Presbyterian, these walls our brothers and sisters are North, 20; Presbyterian, South, 11; imprisoned, many of them restless, un· Presbyterian, Australia, 4; Baptist, satisfied, groping for the light, saying, A. J. Gordon's church, 5 ; lIfethodist, • Who will show us any good? ' They 24; Anglican, 12; Independent, 4; are not satisfied with what they have, Workers, 80. but they think there is nothing better. We must' remember those in bonds as H Work is carried on at forty differ- bound with them.' An A.rmenian said ent places, and the number of converts last year, • Those massacres are our at the end of the first ten years was own fault. We a Christian nation have 1100. The attitude of the government lived in the midst of ~Ioslems all these has changed. The storm of war and years. It was our duty at any cost to desolation has driven us ten years nearer give them the Gospel. We have not our ultimate g~al. The chief results done it, and God has thus punished us.' have been the relief of Christianity Perhaps Christendom may yet say the from misconceptions of the people, the same. The Armenians have feared to mastery of a hitherto unknown tongue, tell them of Christ, because it was find the successful inauguration of a Christian foundation. Woman's work has been specially successful." against the law; but they have not political society called Vegetarians, feared to sell thcm wine, cqually for- whose animating principle is hatred of foreigners. Their enmity is, therefore, bidden, for the sake of profit. A Roord, in Hamadan, had been invited naturally directed against the present Manchu dynasty, which has ruled to our service. He went to thc Arme· China as a conquered country since nian quarter, and saw a man whom he A.D. 1644. Smarting under the over- whelming defeats inflicted by Japan, followed, thinking he was on his way these so-called Vegetarians thought to church. In a few minutes the man that by murdering" the missionaries said, 'I have some good brandy to sell. they would not only be rid of them, wm you come to my house and drink? ' but would thereby involve China in wal' with Great Britain. During that • May your neck be broken,' answered war the anti-foreign party hoped to the Koord. 'I follow you, expecting throw off the yoke of the Manchus and to be led to the house of God, and you seat a native ruler on the dragon t1lrone. This theory of the massacre is held by ask me to come and get drunk.' If Turkey had closed hcr markets to the well-informed persons, and appears to be borne out by a rlocument fent me trade of Europe, would it have been just before I left China by a seceded many days before the cannon would Vegetarian. Now let us glance briefly at some of have opened them? What can we do? the consequences of the massacre. The power of prayer must bc invoked; For months after that sad event every- the same that opened Japan and China thing looked dark as regards the lutme must open the Moslem world… of mission work in all that part of the province, In many villages the native THE KUCIIENG MASSACRE AND ITS CON- Christians were repeatedly nlarmed by bands of ruffians, who threatened their SEQUENCES. chapels and their lives. In a number Rev. M. C. Wilcox, Ph.D., lIetho- of villages companies of men-Chris- tians and heathen combined-took turns dist Episcopal :Mission, Foochow, said: night after night standing guard with Wherevel' one chanced to be early in the light of torches. 'rhus threatened August, 1895, if within reach of the attacks were averted, and no native telegraph, he was shocked by the news Chl"istian l()st his life or was seriously of i:he sudden and unexpected massacre injnred. But these dangers drove the of English missionaries on the first day Christinlls nearer to the Source of all of that month lit Hua-sang Mountain, help and strength. I do not know of near Kucheng City, which is about one a single Christian who during those hundl'ed miles nearly north of Foochow, months of turmoil and anxiety denied the capital of Fookien Province, South- his Lord and Master. As a rule, the eastern China. Chinese are slow to accept anything Greatly as you were saddened by the new; but when, after careful consider- news, your sorrow could not be as keen ation, they become Christians, they are nor your sense of loss as deep as ours. not easily moved. They furnish good It was my great privilege to know, as stuff for martyrs.
a beloved and devoted fellow·worker, About six weeks after the massacre, each of those whose death has been so the United States Consul, lIon. J. Court· lamented. ney Hixson, who has rendered such , By whom was this awful crime com- vnluable service to the mi~8ionaries, mitted? Not by the people. They wrote me expressing his sympathy at have become more and more friendly seeing the results of years of labor de· toward us, as is shown by the fact that stroyed. I could not even then believe during the last eight years, While I that our work had been in vain. My have served as presiding elder of the faith was I'trongcr than his, and I be- Kucheng District, the lIethodist mem- lieve that God would ().I/errule everybersand probationers have nearly quad· thing for His glory. But I could not rupled, being now nearly 1400. Dur- believe the darkness would so quickly ing that period. the ELgIish workers be overpast, and that such a wonderful have had similar prosperity. The rank interest would so soon be manifest, and file of the Chinese had no sympathy not only in the Kucheng District, but with the murderers; but, on the other in all that part of the province. lland, many of them wept aloud in the Yet reports from various sources instreets when they heard the terrible dicate that prosperity, such as has never been seen, is crowning the labors news. The murderers belonged to a semi- of those representing the three mis· sionary societies operating in the north. tion of such rigMs by our own governern half of Fookien Province. Un- ment as is given by it to other classes usual eagerness to hear and receive the of its citizens residing or traveling in Gospel is everywhere shown. The the same country; as has been well churches and schools are attended as illustrated by the action of the United never before. A letter, received to-day States Government and other governfrom the head teacher of the Kucheng Boys' High School, speaks of the great ments in reference to recent deplorable interest manifest throughout that re- events in China and Turkey. gion. Tieng Ang Dong (the large .. Church of the Heavenly Rest") at While grateful for the degree of suc- Foochow cannot accommodate the cess which has attended endeavors of crowds that come. One hundred persons were received into this church the Government of the United States alone during four months from Decem- to protect the rights of American citiber to March last. zens being missionaries in the Turkish Empire, we are constrained to deplore In contrast to this remember that the much failure to secure them fully, and American Board and the Methodist Episcopal missionaries labored in the to express apprehension of danger of same field from 1847 to 1857, with only greater violation without redress. The one baptism for each society at the end of that period. whereas, in spite of question seems to be at issue whether the massacre, there were last year In Americaus engaged in a lawful calling, the Methodist Mission alone nearly two thousand accessions, or almost six a and guilty of no wroug-doing, shall be day. So the glorious work is going permitted longer to enjoy rights of forward more triumphantly even than before the massacre. The number of which they have had the exercise for Christians in China has doubled during more than sixty years, aud in the use the last five years, and the rate of progress is constantly accelerating. of which they have been benefactors to the peoples of that land. It is to be We mourn for our dear martyred decided whether the duty of the United friends; but we believe as they look States Government is exhausted by down upon the scenes of their earthly securing the lives of such citizens only toll and suffering, they realize that their death, like their labor, was "not in by allowing them banishment from vain in the Lord." As in the early Turkey, and by making demands of years of the Church, so to-day .. the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the indemnity for property destroyed, Church." which indemnity is readily enough The following action was had on our promised, but never paid. Missionaries will under such a blow to American Government and missionaries in Tur- prestige, if it be not averted, not suffer key: alone. American commercial and ma- terial interests will also suffer, and a PRONUNCIAMENTO ON GOVERNMENT damage to American inH.uence in the world, greatly to be deprecated, will PROTECTION OF MISSIONARIES. be sustained. Will American public 1. As missionaries of the Gospel in sentiment allow this to come to pass? foreign lands we recognize as a fundamental principle of action the duty of The International Missionary Union ourselves and all whom we teach to expresses entire sympathy and accord obey constituted Civil authority in those in judgment of all its members with lands, as that duty is inculcated in the our missionary brethren and sisters in writings of the New Testall).ent, and Turkey in their steadfast holding to that we imitate the example of the their position under great perils for apostles of Christ in our manner of themselves, and in the presence of the conduct in all that we do; and awful atrocities perpetrated upon the peoples among whom they labor. They 2. Regarding missionary work as law- thank God for the grace given unto ful where we are carrying it on, we may claim as the Apostle Paul did in them and the ordering of His provirespect to his Roman citizenship to sus· dence in so far preserving all of them tain no loss of rights by reason of our from a violent death ; and we express being missionaries, and that where there our high admiration of the heroic deare rights guaranteed to us by treaties with a forElign government, we are en- votion, Christian fidelity, aud self-sactitled to the same care for the protec- rificing benevolence of which they are affording so eminent an example.
While with the whole civilized world we have been shocked by the unspeak- able outrages inflicted upon Armenians in Turkey, and sympathizing deeply with the stricken people, we recognize a merciful Divine purpose in their per- mit,ted martyr sufferings for the name of Christ, endured so largely with un- flinching choice of death rather than of life by denying Him. which purpose foot, torn into fragments, or tbrown we trust will exalt. them as a people in service to the spiritual kingdom that is into the flames. The contents of our surely to triumph in all the earth. We station book-room were, on the memo- invoke for them richer blessings than rable November 11th, emptied into the the realization of their national aspira- street, and a week later we gathered tions would bring them. while earnestly up precious bits of Sc~ipture to san supplicating for them speedy deliverance from the woes of their present ex- them from the mud and dirt.
perience; and exhort to prompt and This has been a nation of martyrs, generous giving in our own country but probably never having had in the for such relief as can reach them through the channels that are open for past those who so intelligently and sending it. gladly laid down their lives for Christ's Also that in the appalling massacres sake as now in this nineteenth century.
that have occurred, in the systematic Those in past centuries have been woroppressive treatment of Armenian and certain other Christian subjects of the shiped as saints in the Gregorian Sublime Porte, the facts of which are Church. Those of the present century undeniable, and the responsibility for will never receive such homage, I trust, which is beyond reasonable question, but by their death will surely hasten on the longed-for day when "every we see more thau self·excited outbreaks of popular Moslem fanaticism, and are amazed and distressed in view of. the knee shall bow and every tongue shall proofs of a governmental policy having confess that Christ is God, to the glory for its aim the virtual extermination of the ancient and worthy Armenian na- of His name. " The first of the honored roll whom I tionality in Asia Minor and Eastern Turkey, that the so·called Christian shall mention bears the noble name of powers which are pledged to protect Paul.. His face was like the pictures Armenians. and are, if so disposed and united, able easily to counteract that of Luther or Calvin; strong, stern lines about the mouth, and deep, far-seeing policy, should exhibit the apathy and maintain an inaction which allows its eyes. His voice was rich, his manner yet unhindered execution. We fear commanding. There Was a reason for that under just judgments of the Supreme Ruler of nations a terrible retri- 'all this; in his early youth he was a hermit, dwelling on a lonely mountain, bution may be visited upon Europe in which America also may share for the in a cave, in the wild regions south of sin of unjustifiable neglect of so great Mardin. The cave was damp and only a duty of humanity and justice. lighted by a hole in the roof. He had the Bible in the ancient tongue, and "The Noble Army of Martyrs Praise spent his time in reading, prayer, and meditation. His food was roots and Thee." herbs, his bed straw, and he.wore sack- BY MISS CARRIE E. BUSH, HARPOOT, cloth and resorted to self-discipline to TURKEY. chasten his soul before God. Simple It has long been in my mind to write villagers came to worship him, or to you the story of some of our martyred touch and be healed of disease. Rob- pastors and preacbers. I did not do bers on the mountains laid no hand so during the early part of the winter, upon him, but begged for his interces· because I could not endure the sorrow sions.
of the recital. Shall we ever reach a Like the three hermits of whom Lew time when we shall cease to suffer for WaHace tells, he was waiting for a this blow to Christ's work 7 Protes- revelation, and God gave it. A mis- tant chapels and Gregorian churches sionary found him out, gave him the are torn down to the ground. Those Bible in modern Arabic, invited him that are still standing are used as stables to Mardin to study, and he was trained or barracks, or are wilfully and foully there and at Harpoot for the ministry.
desecrated. At the time of the assaults Tho born at Harpoot, being a Syrian all over the land, Bibles, Testaments, and having been long absent, the Ar- and hymn-books were troddeu under menian was a language which he Was
IN'i'EIWA'tIONAL DEPARTMEN1'
obliged to learn, and he did it beauti- two sisters were wounrIed, and one of fully_ He mal'ried a graduate of our the last died of her wounds.
college, and together they did a rare The next in the list shall be PaRtot'
work for the humble village of Hula- SarkiR, of Choonkoosh. He was a kegh. The discipline he had gi ven him- good man through and through, untir- self he was able to bestow upon his ing in his work, faithful in study and people. Everything in church and in the oversight of schools and all school work was doue" decently and church work. Every department was in order." He required even personal under his control. He gathered a large and home cleauliness of his people, congregation. His SR.bbath-school was silence in God's house, and faithful one of the most successful in our field.
study for the Sabbath-school. His He was conscientious in home expenses, wife was a lovely, ladylike woman, and yet most hospitable and generous.
and earnest in study and work with The .. Koords" gathered before the him. city and waited for hours until sunset, Paul and Mary fled with all their and then made their first attack. Pas- people toward Mezereh the day before tor Sarkis soon saw that his house was the attack on their village. JHost of no place for shelter, but wherever lIe them camped down in the fields near went all refuge was refused. Fire was Mezereh, but this young preacher and set to his house, and he was somewhat his delicate wife reached the city, and burned, but ten days later, when the what they supposed was the shelter of " Koords" came for another onslaught Mary's father's house. and robbery, they first demanded of On Sunday, November 10th, there him money, then when he said he had was an attack made on that quarter of none they insisted upon his accepting the city, and Paul was wounded. Islam, or they would kill him. "You They all then fled from that quarter, may kill me if you wish," was his where they were surrounded by Turks quiet answer, and he was felled to the to his father's house. The next day earth with a blow from the guns of the came the general attack. IHary re- ruffians.
ceived a fatal blow. As she Ielt the Pastor Krekore, of the Ichmc Church, blood gushing from her lipq, she looked small like ZR.ccheus, had as childlike at her father and said, " What is this ?" amI loving a heart as St. John. His " Go to Jesus, my child," was thc calm wife was so saintly, that the villagers reply. and her spirit passed on and hlld dropped her real name, :a-Iartha, was set free from these horrors. " Give and called her" Artar," which means the Moslem formula, or die I" was the righteous. The hearts' of both were fierce command to Paul. I cau see his like that of the "Israelite indeed" in eyes, like the martyrs of old, looking whom was" no guile." A couple of into heaven; I can hear his stern voice years ago our good Artar, after years ring out, "Never I" There was a of feebleness, lay down one night to rush, a blow, and he found his Savior, sleep and awoke in heaven, thus being his wife, and the holy ones he had spared the agonies of these later-I had sought to imitate on the other side. almost said" latter" days.
.. Lovely and pleasant in their lives, in Pastor Krekore was preserved alive death they were not divided." Yet it after the first onslaught 0n the village, often seems as if they were in the room but several days later he and some with me as I write or talk about them, twenty-seven others were taken to the so near is the other world in these days. Gregorian church, from which, one By We had had so many beautiful talks one, they were ordered out to decide together about living a heavenly life between Islam and death. He received now I)n this earth. four wounds, and after each. with a.
Paul's aged father and hrother were faith undaunted and a power to be killed, and Mary's father, mother, and looked for in one of sterner mold, he proclaimed his creed, " I believe in the many Gregorian priests who even bore name of the Father, Son, and Holy torture and faltered not in their testi· Ghost," and he and twenty-seven others mony for the faith. Perhaps they were were with those "who have washed ignorant in their lives, and tbeir faith their robes and made them white in the but dim, yet in death a miraculous blood of the Lamb." He was the glory seemed imparted to it for which friend of Turk and Christian alike. we ca.nnot but bless God. Laymen, He never had an enemy. It was Christ too, whose lives had not borne strong in him whom they sought to destroy. testimony for Christ, in that last, sol· Pastor Ghazaros, of Chernonk, had emn hour of testing were unflinching.
borne much persecution for Christ's May we not believe that the Spirit did sake, at the time of his conversion in for them in a moment what we ordi- his youth. He was wild and worldly, narily believe must require years of but the Savior met him in llis way, and chastening and experience?
turned him into the paths of righteous- We would draw a veil over the life ness. His religious nature was of the of that aged bishop and those priestR Puritan type, and I shall never forget and preachers and laymen who, loving how, in his sermons, he was accustomed their life, lost it by denying the faith.
to warn his people against their sins, As some one forcibly expressed it, it saying. "Unless you leave them off, was often because they knew that wife some day they will persecute you. and children would not be massacred Yes, they will per8ecute you." And he also. It is easy to say What they said it as if he well knew what it was should have done; let us be charitable, to suffer from sin and the stings of and remember that we have not yet conscience. He and his two sons were met such an awful ordeal and such an slain together in their home, and his alternative, to be sure that we should wife was four times stripped of all her be "faithful unto death" and "re- garments save two. He also was given ceive the crown of life." Enough that the privilege of life on one condition, our duty should be moved to its depth but "counted not his life dear unto by their present wretchedness. 0 bliged himself" at such a cost. to lea.rn the tenets and the forms of the Colporteur Mardiros, of Ainetsik, new faith, to keep the fast of Ramazan, was a tall, large man with a fine, rich and to use the language and don the voice and a warm, earnest heart. For dress of the other race, they are still some time he has not been in the work, not respected by either Christian or but he was ever preaching the Gospel. Moslem. and with all their compromis- They came upon him with the demand, ing " through fear of death they are all .. Islam or death!" He raised his eyes their lifetime subject to bondage."
to heaven in prayer, and as he stretched They call for our earnest, pleading forth his hands in petition they cut prayers as well as pity. May God them off, then ended his life as he have mercy upon them I breathed it out, like Stephen, in loving We give joy to those who are" gone communion with God. into the world of light." It was one The story of Mardiros, of Keserik, is brief struggle, and now an eternity of one of devoted and self·sacrificing effort peace, while we who are left know not on the part of his wife to save him by what a day may hring forth; but they, hiding him here and there. "He loved "the souls under the altar," and we not his life unto death." His choice yet lingering here and longing" to de- also was heaven rather than an hour of part and be with Christ, which is far life on this earth in denial of his faith. better," unite in ascribing "blessing He was a good man and worker, strong and honor and glory and praise unto for temperance and every right cause. Him that sitteth upon the throne and Time would fail me to tell of the unto the Lamb."
FmLD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
IlI.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
Papal Europe,* The Papacy.t THE. PAPACy.t seat of the Emperor. The Saracens Clement III. called the sun the sym- soon wiped out Alexandria and Anbol of pontifical authority, and the tioch. The Turks did the same for moon, shining with borrowed splendor, Constantinople, so that in process of he likened to the secular power. Ac- time the Bishop of Rome found himself cording to this theory, there is, strictly, without a rival. but one ruler upon earth-the Pope; in him all authority is centred; from In 378 came the law of Gratian and him all jurisdiction flows; at his hands Valentinian II., empowering the metrokings receive their crowns and bishops politans to judge the inferior clergy, their miters; to him all are accounta- and the Bishop of Rome to judge the ble, while he is accountable to no one, metropolitans. The Bishop of Rome save God-and sometimes apparently and his subordinates at once acted upon not even to Him. it, but never once claimed a spiritual authority for their newly found juris- It is indisputable that this system, diction. In 445 Valentinian III. and which at one time overshadowed the Theodosius II. called the Roman Ponworld, had a merely human origin. tiff the" Director ot all Christendom," The New Testament is conclusive on and in 606 Emperor Phocas constit.uted the point that Paul, not Peter, laid the Boniface III. Universal Bishop. There foundations of the Roman Congrega- i:5 not in any of these instances a shred tion. During the first Christian cen- of claim to DIvine authority. It was tury the Bishop of Rome had spiritual only when the Western Empire fell oversight only over his own congrega- that the Bishop of Rome began to tion. In the second century a custom search for titles in support of his newly sprang up of regulating the ranks of acquired power, and for the first time bishop by the importance of the cities the Pope claimed universal dominion in which they resided. Rome was mis- because of his succession to the" blesstress of the world. Pagan Rome had ed Peter." Pope Gelasius (492 to 496) exercised sway over all the nations, and informs the world that it became kings her centralized and universal despotism to learn their duty from bishops, but would seem to have suggested to ·the especially from the" Vicar of Blessed aspiring bishops of the capital the first Peter." The same Pope proclaims at . ideas of a spiritual empire alike cen- a Roman Council, A.D. 495, that "to tralized and universal. the See of Rome belonged the primacy in virtue of Christ's own delegation, Under Constantine the empire was and that from the authority of the keys divided into prefectures, provinces, there was excepted none living, but and dioceses, and thesa were presided only the dead." In due time even the over by patriarchs, metropolitans, and dead were brought under the power of bishops. Rome, Antioch, and Alex- the keys, but Rome was in process of andria were the patriarchal sees; then what Newman called" development." Constantinople was added, and placed second in dignity, because it was the But one thing more was wanted- namely, that the" Presbyter of Rome'.' * See also pp. 294 (April); 379 (May) ; 567,576, should step into the vacant throne of the Cmsars, and the "Prince of this 580 (present issue); NcAll's Mission Record and World" soon made even that step easy A Voice from Italy; .. Makers of Modern for his subordinate. Pepin bestowed Rome," Mrs. Oliphant. the sovereignty of Lombardy upon the Pope in 700. Charlemagne enlarged t See also pp. 1 (January) ; 302 (April) ; 321 (May); 584, 588, 595 (present issue); The Oonverted Oatholic (monthly); .. Life of Cardinal Manning, n E. S. Purcell.
~ Extracts frOIll lID. address by Rev. Thomas COllllel.l.llD.. the gifts of his father, and in return sacerdotalism, and the Pope appro- Pope Leo III. placed upon Charle· priately assumed the title of the pa- magne's head the crown of the Western gan high·priest Pontifex Maximus, Empire. Formerly the election of Pope and now calls himself Supreme Pon- was confirmed by the Emperor, now tiff.
the election of Emperor was confirmed In the fourth century images began by the Pope. to be introduced into the churches, and What were and are the secrets by so-called hones of the martyrs were which such a system has been able to hawked about as relics. Pagan festi- captivate and enslave a seventh part of vals were changed, with a thin dis- the human race? The reason is simply guise, into Christian feasts. The Lord's that Romanism offers everything that Supper begau to be dispensed at funer- our carnal nature craves. als, to develop at a future period into Christianity, tho pure in itself, was masses for the dead. Lamps and can- committed to the keeping of imperfect dles burned in the churches at noon- beings. The Jewish, the Roman, and day. Chasubles, copes, mitres, crosiers, the Grecian systems had all to be en- flowers, and incense all were combined countered and conquered by the Gospcl in the worship of God, who seeks to be of Christ. The converted, or semi-con- worshiped in spirit and in truth.
verted, Jew took with him the symbol- "The religion of Constantine," says ism of the synagogue; the Greek at- Gibbon, "achieved in less than a cen- tempted to engraft the philosophy of tury the final conquest of the Roman the academy upon the Christian stem; Empire; but the victors themselves and the Roman, taught to regard poly- were insensibly subdued by the arts of theism as the breath of his nostrils, car- their vanqnished rivals."
ried his ideas and prejudices into the For a long time bishop contended Christian fold. The presbytery upon with bishop about their possessions and the seven hills began to look more to jurisdiction; they imitated the secular the visib,Ie than the invisible church. princes iu their manner of living.
Rome would be all things to all men; Then the chief bishop got his throne but alas! in a very different sense to established by secular authority, and that intended by Paul. Christianity placed his iron heel upon people and soon became the fashion. The funda- bishops alike. Ignorance spread her mental principle of Grecian philosophy dark pall over the world. Corruption -viz., that the flesh is the seat of all infected all classes. The most aban- evil, and that it becomes a sacred duty doned and wicked scourges of human- to weaken and mortify the body-soon' ity were taught that their crimes might found a home in the Roman system, be expiated by donations to the Church and flourishes there to-day. The Jew at the moment of death. To build a took with him his ceremonial observ- cathedral, endow a monastery, or make ances, and fused them with a sensuous a grant of land to the Church was more ritual borrowed from paganism. The meritorious than a Christian life. Sal- Latin polytheist resigned the names of vation no longer was of grace, but by Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, but found works. To abandon society with its equivalents in the Virgin :Mary and the obligations and duties, and bury one's saints. The statue of Jupiter was self in a desert, surrounded by filth and changed into that of St. Peter, the two indolence, was a proof of the highest keys being SUbstituted for the thunder- virtue. To shirk honest labor and don bolt. Its toe is reverently kissed by the wallet of the beggar gave one the pious pilgrims every hour. The Church right to work miracles here and be can- that had followed Christ faithfully in onized hereafter. The modest maiden the Catacombs emerged therefrom to was forced to tell the secrets of her possess pagan basilica.s. The very past to a man generally a hundred-fold vestments were borrowed from pagan more sinful than herself. But Satan was not yet satisfied. His and every secret of that household is hatred for the seed of the woman the property of the priest. Three popes prompted him t.o go a step farther. have admitted that the confessional has Accordingly even Christ was dethroned been abused, and have enacted penal and a creature put in His plaee. The legislation with the object of guarding Pope arrogated to himself the title, against the scandals arising therefrom.
"Vicar of Christ." The press, and not infrequently the It is a solemn thought that we at the Protestant press, has been inveigled close of the nineteenth century are con- into the service of Rome.
fronted with this same system, still What is the remedy for all this? claiming all its old prerogatives, still The remedy is in God's Word. There sighing for universal domination. In is no pbce in the New Testament for a the Syllabus, approved of by the pres· sacrificing priest. Peter himself says ent Pope. Pius IX. teaches that the that Christ possesses in all His faithful popes of former days, in deposing kings, children "a holy priesthood, to offer and claiming universal supremacy, up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to never exceeded by a hair's breadth their God by Jesus Uhrist" (1 Peter 2 : 5). just rights and prerogatives. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that we have also one great High·Priest, Since the decree of Papal Infallibility Jesus Christ the Righteous. That is the entire Roman machinery is moved God's eternal truth. It cuts theground by a single hand. He sits in his very from Romanist and Ritualist. It takes agreeable prison at the Vatican, with the sinner straight to God with Jesus, his Sin-Bearer, his Advocate, and his High·Priest, alone standing between.
the Superior General of the Jesuits whisperiug into his ear, and moves his Those who have traveled in Spain subordinates as if they were pawns know how rigorously the laws against upon the chess-board. This is done Protestants are enforced. Religious secretly, and its effect upon the world liberty is almost unknown in that is not lessened thereby. He is carefully providing for the future also. The couutry. school, the confessional, and the press Started in 1868 under the auspices of are his three great levers by which he hopes yet to sway the world. Get pos· the Free Church of Scotland, the Le· session of a child in its tender years; ganitos Chapel in Madrid has for the isolate it from all contact except your last quarter of a century been familiar own, teach it that darkness is light, to almost every American visiting the falsehood truth, and hypocrisy relig- Spanish capital, owing to the fact of ion; place it in a groove where it can· the lower portion of the building being not possibly measure such notions with devoted to the English service held the views of the world around it, and probably your protege will cling to such there every Sunday. The work was teaching to the death. The Roman organized by the Rev. John Jameson Church all the world over IS fighting aud Don Cipriano Tornos, an ex·priest for possession of the children. of such distinguished eloquence that he had drawn immense crowds while The confessional is the most potent acting as chaplain to Queen Margherita, weapon in Rome's armory. How can the wife of Amadeo of Savoy. After any man afford to quarrel with him to many years of faithful work-part of whose gaze he has laid bare the secrets the time as agent of the Bible Society be would hide from the child of his -Mr. Jameson returned to Scotland, affections, the wife of his bosom? To- and Senor Tornos remained in 80le gether with changing men and women charge of the work not only in Madrid, into slaves, it enables the priest to carry but also in outlying centers, such as in his pocket.book all the secrets of his lIocejon. There, as in the capital, the parish.. Let but a single servant in a congregation is composed almost exclu· household frequent the confession!'>l, sivelyof persons in the very humblest walks of life, and as the Church of Scotland makes it a rule to gradual- ly diminish its support of con)l:rega- tions as they advance in age, Senor Tornos is now constrained to appeal for financial aid to friends in this coun- try. Evangelical work tn Spain since the return of the Bourbons has never enjoyed more than the barest tolerit' tion, anel the recent consecration by the call, which nf'vcr comes, to go and Archbishop Plunket of Senor Cabrera wllrk for the brt'ud, which they do not as bishop seems to have aroused the wish to beg for t.hE!ir starving, weeping bitterest opposition to all Protestant children, whose cries ring incessantly work. While t,he Obra de Leganitos in their ears! The government, not was the first started, and has always having wherewith to provide work for had the largest congregations, yet such a number of people, has consid- Qther missions have since been added, ered it prudent to send troops to main- among them one at Chamberi, and this tain public order, knowing well that had recently to be moved from a most hunger is a terrible counsellor. But central location to one far inferior, ow- never has it been known that firearms ing to the landlord yielding to the have had the power to quell the crav- wishes of the clericals and declining to ings of an empty stomach I Many peo- renew the lease. The Methodist chapel ple think that the pangs of hunger are in the Calle del Gobernador had alto- more easily borne under our sunny gether to close its doors. and yet an- Italian sky. Ah, little can they know other mission, that of Calatrava, is lan- of the horrors of the situation I guishing for lack of funds. What There is no need to explain why the makes the situation still worse is that industries languish altogether. Agri- many tourists who, when passing culture remains; but just in the mining through Madrid, might feel disposed to districts the agricultural life is less ex- aid the various chapels, remain totally tensive, owing to the configuration of unaware of their locations, as the law the land itself. How can furrows be prohibiting all insignia on the exterior made in such a volcanic soil? how can of any non-Catholic religious edifice seeds be sown in such an arid, unkindly has recently been rigidly enforced. All ground? And besides all this, i8 the interested in promoting the evangeliza- agricultural condition or the island so tion of the country whence Columbus flourishing as to induce the miners to sailed to discover a New World have abandon the pick-ax for tbe spade? For thirteen years the Waldensian now an opportunity of doing so.
Church has carried on a work of evan- gelization in Grotte, where there are The Need in Sioily. now 33 church-members, 250 Sunday- school children, 155 night-school and The helpless cry of anguish of the 125 day-school pupils, 1200 casual hearstarving inhabitants of Hussia, of the ers at the meetings. persecuted Christians of Armenia, has Rooms necessary to carryon this found an echo in many hearts in all work have been secured in an old palnations. Will the piteous cry of the ace, which the proprietors now desire suffering, starvin~ children of Sicily for their own use. Another suitable find no answering note in the bosoms place of worship cannot easily be seof their fellow-men? cured. It is absolutely necessary to Stern reality, and not the desire to provide for such an emergency, and touch the hearts of the charitable by there is only one way possible-viz., an exaggerated statement compels us by building a honse which would anto give such a heading to our appeal. swer t.he purpose. The starving in- Two districts of Sicily have especially habitants of Grotte, and especially the been stricken by the sulphur crisis- members and frequenters of the church, viz., Caltanissetta and Girgenti. do not ask for a momentary relief of Of 657 sulphur mines existing in money, which is soon spent, but for Sicily, 587 are to be found in these two work, which thev are willing to do on provinces; of 33,266 miners working very modest terms. By building a in the whole island, 28,038 belong to church and schools for the mission, a these two districts. The almost entire great number of bread-winners would shutting up of the mines, and the gen- be employed, and would thus be eneral suspension of the works has not abled to draw their families out of only struck a blow at the 25,000 or misery. more families of the miners, but has Everyone therefore who holds out a also injured those who got their living helping hand to these his brethren will from the earnings of tbese men, and be doing at the same time good service has especially put a stop to the small for the cause of God. * trade in these places. If we could only lead our readers to the principal ~quare of Grotte, where daily and hourly are • Donations may he forwarded in checks or post-office orders to the Rev. Comm. M. Proto be seen groups of men, who with chet, D.D., President of the Waldensian Compale, careworn faces and anxious, mittee of Evangelization, 107, Via Nazionale, troubled looks stand waiting about for Rome, Italy.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
:&markable Revival in the North of vaster expenditure, are as legitimate an object for investigation by the State as Scotland. the effects of the existing Company There seems to be a general spiritual Laws or the reduction of the area under impression over the North of Scotland. wheat cultivation in England." In Wick hun1reds of men and women, Could the $350,000,000 spent in the chiefly from eighteen to thirty years of last hundred years on Protestant mis· age, have apparently been converted. sions and the $12,000,000 a year now In one east·coast fishing village the being spent not be better used? Mr. boats have been beached for six weeks, White seems to think the missionaries and as the evangelist passes along the have now too easy a time of it, certainstreet, one and another beckons to him ly an easier life than that of ministers to come and talk about soul concerns. in East and South London. Their readi- One rural village reports some thirty ness to ask for aid from imperial powcases of decision; this is a sample of er, their sectarian divisions, their con· others. In a country parish the crowds flicting message, their opening the door flocking to hear were so large that the to drink and vice, as well as the unrewindows had to be taken out of the buked iniquities of professedly Christian church, that those outside might hear. Powers would, Mr. White argues, form _ From another district a minister re- good material for inquiry. Dr. Cust ports: "Numbers of young and old thinks a c!}nference of missionary exhave been brought in, and the work has perts would be of much more use. This by no means ceased. . " The times proposal is welcomed by Mr. Eugene have been to us all very wonderful, and Stock, of the Church Missionary Sothe 126th Psalm alone can give adequate ciety. Mr. Wardlaw Thompson, of the expression to our feelings. What God London Missionary Society, caustically has wrought is not yet fully known. criticises Mr. White's attitude, and holds From many places a similar message that any examination of foreign miscomes. If the people of God were to sions which affects to judge its results arise and pray, Scotland might once would be an utter failure.-Seleeted. more experience a great revival."
The blessing in Stornoway appears To our minds, this proposition, from to have begun at the Communion sea- whatever sources emanating, involves a son, when Rev. J. McIntyre (successor total misconception of the nature of the of Dr. Andrew Bonar, Glasgow) had missionary enterprise, and might be- gone to assist Mr. Martin, the Free come atrociously arrogant and imperti- Church minister. nent. It seems to be forgotten by some people that Christian missions stand ab- A Oommission on Missions. solutely unique and solitary as repre- senting the one and only Divine enter- The principal feature in the Review prise ever committed to man. All other of the ChurcllMJ for April is Ii series of enterprises, however laudable, are hu- papers on the project, mooted by Chi· man, or at best Christian, philanthro· cago professors, of sending out a world's pists, devout and earnest men in or out commission to investigate into the suc- of the Church, have seen somewhat to cess or failure of foreign missions. Mr. be necessary to the progress of man- Arnold White thinks that" an impar- kind, and hence have come Sunday- tial inquiry into the finance, manage· schools, young men's Christian associa- ment, and results of It century of Prot- tions, societies of Christian Endeavor, estant missions, with ever multiplying Bible societies, tract societies, and the machinery, urgency of appeal, and hundred-handed organizations which are auxiliary to the Christian Church whIch that unhappy struggle gave for and the enlightened State. And what- ministering to the wounded Chinese sol- ever man originates man is competent diers-a service which the Government to discuss. criticise, alter, amend, or have not been slow to acknowledge in abolish. But there is one enterprise a practical way. The work of the purely of God. He took no man into Chefoo hospitals generally has been that His counsels, but matured His own plan of increased and marked blessing to the and committed it to the cooperation of bodies and souls of the people. As to converted disciples. To criticise it is the sulilsequent trials and persecutions impertinence; to alter or amend it is which have been the lot of many in arrogance and blasphemy; to abolish China, they have strikingly proved the it, apostasy. And we may as well under- stedfastness of the native Christians in stand that any commission that should time of adversity.
undertake a survey of missions with In a brief secretarial statement, Mr.
respect to any possible radicaZ change in Sloan dealt mainly with the statistics of their prosecution would be an invasion the year. Ninety-seven new workers of a Divine prerogative. We shall wel- went out in 1895. Nine workers in the come any investigation of the methods field and two at home had died during whereby the commission is now carried that period. It was stated that, owing out. any survey of the progress of the to the rise in the price of Chinese money, work, any attempt to make more effi- the expense of sustaining the work will cient the means whereby the Lord's be increased from 20 to 25 per cent.
plan shall be speedily executed; but we The steady growth in the finances of may not touch the Divine foundation .the mission, through its three decades, of missions, nor even raise the question has been remarkable. Mr. Sloan point- whether it is expedient that this work ed out that the total income of the first of God be carried forward. To do this ten years, from 1866-75, was some £40,- would be the last act of crowning im- 000; that of the second ten years was piety and daring outrage, and provoke £119,000; and that of the third, £309,- condigu judgment. As well undertake 000. Last year's income was £42,925 to abolish God's way of salvation, and (including £9150 from America, Aus· question whether vicarious atonement tralia, and China); this shows a total be not an antiquated notion. increase over the previous year of £9767.
These figures seemed to the chairman Ohina Inland Mission. so eloquent of growing favor with God and man that he called for the singing The anniversary (which was the thir- of the Doxology when the secretary sat tieth of the mission) was held at Mild- down; the assembly joined with heart may Conference Hall. in London, in and voice in this ascription of praise and May, and divided into afternoon and thanks to the Fount and Giver of all evening meetings, as usual. Mr. Hud- good.
son Taylor with Mrs. Taylorwas on the Five short speeches followed-four way home, but the calls of the work in of them by workers from the great China did not enable him to be in Lon- China field. Rev. J. J. Coulthard, who don in time. has worked for nine years in the prov- An interesting letter from him was ince of Honan, took as the burden of read. giving a bird's-eye view of the his theme the native Christian-what past year's work. It has been in many he has to endure because of his con- respects the most remarkable year they fessed discipleship of Christ and the had ever experienced-a year of great readiness with which he counts it all trials and of abounding mercies. Ref- joy to suffer loss for the sake of his erence was made to the. war between Master. Very much the same strain China and Japan, and the opportunities was taken up by Mr. Lawson, a Scotchman of pronounced accent, from the when they become Christians. It was province of Shalllii. He spoke feelingly a black recital, the chief items in the of the small beginnings there, and of indictment being the crime of baby-girl the growth of the work as well as of the murder, well-nigh universal among Chizeal. fidelity, and liberality of the con- nese women, the horrors and mutilaverts_ Then Miss Hanbury gave an ad- tions of foot-binding, the slavery of mirable little address, telling in turn opium, etc. A.ddressing his fellowsome of her experiences, first at Pao- Christians, Mr. Studd called fOI" snch an ning, Szchuen; next in the training intense aud unqualified belief in and home at Yang-Chau; and lastly at the devotion to the claims of J csns Christ schools in Chefoo. Her exposition of as would make them disregard snch the great advantages that accrue to the matters as climate, and personal considyoung lady missionary by a stay in the erations 01 every sort, in tlleir desire to training home must have been deeply carry the saving Gospel to the millions interesting to all home friends who ha ve of perishing Chinese. relatives in the field. It was also most encouraging to hear, with respect to 'fhe meeting in the evening was ad· the school work at Chefoo, that a spirit dressed by other workers from China of consecration to the work of the mis- and by the editor-in-chief of this REsionary is being evidently manifested VIEW, the outline of whose address will among the young people being educat- subsequently appear in these pages. ed there. BOLIVIA.-'l'his South A.merican re- As a representative of the Australian publie, four and a half times the size of auxiliary Rev. Alfred Bird was cordially the United Kingdom, has not one setreceived, and his account of the incep- tled missionary to 2,500,000 people! tion and spread of the missionary interest in that distant colony gave cause for The Nineteen Hundredth Anniversary much thankfulness. It was striking to of the Birth of Ohrist. hear him report so maDY conversions as taking place in Australia in conDeetioll In the January issue of this REVIEW with missionary meetings and farewells. the editor called attention to the fact He told of one young man of much that this year (1896) is, by correct reckpromise who conducted a bel"ies of ser- oning, the closing year of the full ninevices before going to the front in China. teen hundred of the Christian era. The At these meetings over 100 converts subject has since been tllken up by were enrolled, and these young Cluis- others, as the following shows: tians are now furuishing the support in China of their spiritual father. It is an interesting chronological point as to the year of the birth of ,our Lord. Last of all came Mr. Charles T. Studd, Geikie and Edersheim give the date as who unfolded some of the realities and late in B.C. 5. Farrar deals with the actualities of Chinese life, and of work question in the appendix to his" Life on behalf of the Chinese. He said the of Christ," and says that "under no history of the China Inland Mission in circumstances can the nativity have the province of 8hansi is of itself a place later than February. B.C, 4." sufficient confutation of thuse who say Lange adopts that month and year. that missions are a failure. Christian Lichtenstein and others prefer the midmissionaries, lv1r. Studd thinks, ought dle or end of B.C. 5. to be like quacks-believing in one specific remedy for all sorts of ills. Christ Thus the consensus of the best opinhas given His disciples one remedy and ion is decisive that the next anniversary only one, and that is Himself. Then of Christ's birth will be the nineteen the speaker went on to tell something hundredth. Dionysius Exiguus, when of wllat tlle Chinese are saved from, computing the time and making up the vulgar chronology in the sixth century, made a mistake of four years. Both Geikie aud Edersheim accept December 25th as the most probable day and month. The true nineteenth century of Chris- agents take special care to make known tianity will therefore close with this and exaggerate all over the district; year. It will thus, as a matter of bare and so thousands are flocking to the fact, be earlier by a trifle over four Romish Church who have no more years than the vulgar era. knowledge of the first principles of Christianity than they had before; but, Anything in the nature of a centenary unhappily, they have drunk in almost of our Lord's birth transcends immeas· instinctively the first principles of Rourably in importance that of any person manism-viz., persecution and hatred or country. It becomes, therefore, a of the truth. Their priests permit them matter worthy of consideration whether to subscribe the usual amount to the next Christmas should be a period of support of the heathen idolatrous ceremore than usual rejoicing. If it be monies, and thus they escape the perdeemed so to be, will it not be a time in secution of the heathen against our nawhich nineteen centuries of history and tive Christians, who are expelled from work may especially be reviewed, with our communion if they should be found the errors and triumpl}s? Will it not in any way to support idolatry. In be a suitable period for discussing any Hok·chiang these Romanists join the reunion of Christendom, and for con· heathen in abusing the Protestants, be· sidering the work of Christ generally f cause the latter will not subscribe to The nineteenfh century will have been the heathen rites." completed. It may be desirable to think how to make a good start with Japan is Japanizing her Methodthe twentieth century of our religion. ism. She is doing it fast. She cannot The firm resolve may be formed to do avoid it. But this does not mean that what is possible by work and self· sac· she is changing the doctrine and experirifice to make it exceed the nineteenth ence. The discipline and practice adin llll that pertains to God's glory. justed to American life and determined and compelled by exceptional local I write upon tbis subject with all peculiarities and history cannot, in the humility. I would like to foster inquiry nature of things, be exactly adjusted to as to the correctness of the statement Japanese life. American life and Japthat our Lord was born about the end anese life are as distinct as the poles. of B.C. 5; and supposing it to be true Japan is just now the last place for the – and the highest authorities force me .. great Methodist," the" stalwart Presto the conclusion that it is-I think it byterian, " the" rigid Baptist" from the should be fully considered as to any Oceident·-that is, the man or woman honor so strangely important an anni- who is a stickler for the minutire of versary should receive. home forms and practice. Doing God's service in motive it will be hindered in F. B. BOYCE. aet.-Rev. John Wier.
In addition to sums already acknowl· Colston Hall, Bristol, has the figure of a dolphin on it. It is a memorial of edged for the Armenian sufferers, we deliverance. When a vessel at sen was exposed to sinking by a hole knocked have received the following contribu- in the bottom, the founder of Colston Memorial Hall vowed his fortune to tions: God if He would spare tbe ship, and a dolphin suddenly rushed into the aper- Mrs. Julia Waller, Bloomsburg, Pa …..• $30.00 ture and effectually stopped it until the Presbyterian Church, St. Croix, Wig….. 3.25 damage could be repaired.
Archdeacon Wolfe writes from Hok- chiang: "The Romanists also have commenced work, and many have joined them. The priests require nothing in the way of knowledge or instruction in the Christian religion from those who join them, except a promise that those who join shall attend mass four times a year; their names are then en- tered as Roman Catholics, and they are from henceforth entitled to all the pro- tection arising from the influence of the French protectorate of the Romish Church, and which the Romish native
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.~GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED :BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign of the village street destined to receive Periodicals. the ancestral gods. This takes place not only in the lately opened west, in BY REY. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, the region of the stations of Fadow and MASS. Lahagu, but also in the elder eastern stations, where, for instance, Mission- NETHERLANDS INDIA.
-Pastor EDWARD KRIELE, speaking ary Cramer, working outward from in the Allgemeine jl/issions· Zeitschrijt Gunong Sitoli, can draw one heathen of the mission of the Rhenish Society village after another into the net of his on the island of Nias, a little westward activity; where Missionary Sundermann of Sumatra, remarks: "Notwithstand- is on the poiut of establishing a new ing the comp!lIatively small size of station, some two leagues to the west Nias, it is an important mission field, of Dahana; where in particular Mis- not only on account of its dense popu- sionary Thomas, working from Gumbu- lation, but also because the Niassans humene as a center, has won almost extend into some of the other islands. the whole region around for the Gospel.
Nias promises more and more to be- In the very promising west, where, we come a second Sumatra, and Is at pres- may remark by the way, the mission ent one of the most hopeful terrItories has also contributed largely to secure of the Rhenish Missions, having only to the greatly tormented land outward become so, however, within a very few peace and security against its enemies, years. Inspector Schreiber called to especially from the south, the attempts mind at the last Barmen anniversary, to found a third and a fourth station that when he was still a missionary in have thus far failed when near accom- Sumatra, a government officer very plishment, among other reasons because friendly to missions argued with him no missionary forces were to be had.
at length that the Barmen Board could Here also grave and momentous prob- do nothing more to the purpose than lems await their solution, especially as to recall the missionaries from Nias; between the more thinly peopled north and, in fact, Nias was formerly regard- and the uncommon density of the popu- ed as one of the most difficult and hope- lation in the south of the island, where less fields. Even in 1892, when the a solitary missionary grave reminds mission completed its first quarter of a one of a fruitless attempt made years century, there was little to be heard ago, and thereby of a painful tragedy except admissions of the small results. in the Nias Mission. Thus Nias in the Then it was as if, with the jubilee year, coming years will call for a very pecul- a wholly new spirit from above had iar attention, and therewith also for a begun to breathe over the valley full special enlargement of the missionary of dry bones; the number of the Chris- force. Here also we conclude with a tians has in the last five years risen word out of a 'layman's mouth.' The from 706 to 1813-that is, has almost Java-Bode of September 5th, published tripled-and even as we are writing at Batavia, reprints an article of the thus letters come in announcing numer- Alg. Handelsblad, in which, alluding ous baptisms of heathen at several sta- to the MissWns1'1lndschau (missionary tions. Whole heathen villages, which round) of Dr. Schreiber respecting had long closed themselves against all Netherland3 India in the last number influences of good, now declare that of the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrijt, it they wish to cast away their idols. It remarks; is said that pits are dug in the middle .. 'Our best wishes to the mission·
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS. 625•
aries in Nias. May their expectations Turkish Caliphate. This is as if the not be brought to shame, and may we Italians, for five centuries, bad quessoon be able to say of Nias what can tioned the authentic election of the be said of a great part of Bataland: it Pope. is owing to the missionaries that peace and prosperity have been brought to the What will ensue now when, as must lands, t1lat its inltabitant8 have beeome happen before long, Turkey falls to other and better men, and tl13.t they feel pieces, mostly lapsing to Russia? themselves happy under the Dutch Either an extinction of the Caliphate, Government, which rules them as or its reerection at Mecca, either event Christians should.' involving a profound dislocation and readjustment of Islam. " When the Lord was on earth, the Pharisees came more than once to Him, All talk of any change in Mohamdesiring a sign from -heaven. And medanism must be given up. It shows many friends of missions are so far itself to·day reaJIy more cruel than the like the Pharisees that they want to be Koran allows. The spirit of Mohamalways hearing of striking occurrences, med is more powerful than his limiting powerful conversions, astonishing precepts. events from the heathen world. But as the Lord gave small heed to the crav- All pretence that a Moslem governing for wonders among His contempo- ment can or will protect Christians, nararies, still less does the kingdom of tive or foreign, except under absolute God now come with observation. The coercion from Christendom, must now Gospel, altho it appears in the heathen be given up. worlds as a power of God to salvation, works in the manner of the leaven; The savage dangerousness of Turkslowly but surely does it exercise a re- ish Mohammedanism (Arabian and Innewing and sanctifying intluence upon dian standing considerably higher) can the domestic and social life." Yet in only be kept in check by the proximity the rapid advance since 1831 of the of a watchful Christian power. Rus- Gospel in the Minahassa, or northern sia, by her very hardness and semi· bar· arm of the island of Celebes, until barousness, as well as by her vast exheathenism, out of more than 100,000 tent, seems best suited to this function. souls, has hardly more than 7000 left, We may well recognize the hand of we have a fact which is at once a quiet God, who doubtless knows His own leaven and an open slgn.-Maandbericltt mind, in choosing out a flinty hammer 1,an ltet Nederlandsche Zendelinggenoot. to pulverize a flinty rock. scltap (Netherlands M. S.). Among the Armenians, these martyr- TURKEY. doms, renewing the greatest days of the Church of Gregory the Illuminator, -We wonld call attention to Dr. seem not unapt to fuse together Protes- James S. Dennis' tl1orough and com- tants, Gregorians, and perhaps Cathoprehensive article on the Armeno·Turk- lics, of this eldest of Christian nations, ish question, in the Evan.qelist of JrIay in some great spiritual renewal for 21st. We note a few of the salient some great evangelizing work, against points. the day when orthodox and heretical Mohammedanism alike, held in the When the Arabs controlled Islam, all grasp of a Christian power, shall begin the faithful (not reckoning the Persian to acknowledge, as Julian, in those schismatics) acknowledged the Arabian same regions. found. at least, if he did Caliphs. Now the Arabs, Mohammed's not say, "0 Galilean, Thou hast conown people, in whose language alone quered !" has the Koran any sacredness, question the legitimateness of the barbarous JAPAN.
-A leading Japanese journal, Kok,lt- riun Sltimbun, cited in the Zeitschrijt fUr Missionskunrk, declares not only
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
that the cold, abstract moral teaching to us the question, Is not, after all, beer given in the Japanese public schools a main cause why, among us, too, so amounts to little morally, and directly many cannot press through? Through deadens the religious sense (which what? Through all the prejudices and might be said of a great many of our hindrances which place themselves in own public schools, particularly in the the way, so soon as anyone would fain West), but that very commonly the enter devoutly into the service of Jesus teachers take occasion by it to make Christ. In order to overcome these open attacL'I on Buddhism, and of hindrances, such as fear of man, false course still more violent attacks on shame, frivolous company, idleness, Christianity. .. The reasons," it says, and all the lounging ways of our nomias quoted by the Rev. E. SCHILLER, nal Christianity, there needs a clear " why in our day Buddhism is declin- head and a firm will. But here comes ing, and Christianity also is not advanc- in the beer-I mean beerhouse lounging, may in part be found in the fact ing, with all implied in that-obscures that Buddhist priests and Christian the understanding, fetters the will, and ministers are not fully fitted for their so it results that there can be no gencalling, but the main cause, unques- uine conversion, even where the contionably, is the decline of the religious science had been awakened, and had spirit of the nation, and the cause of induced a longing after better things. this is, that the moral teaching of our How many thousand good intentions schools is a teaching hostile to relig- have been drowned in wine and beer! ion. " "Yet if we ask why, among us in MISCELLANEOUS. Germany, notwithstanding all our Christian knowledge, there is so little -" Ambassador Bayard spoke a true Ohristian life to be found, why, in word to the Seamen's Hospital Society, the churches, in the missionary meetin London, when he said: ings, in all labors for the kingdom of God, there are so few men, why the " , At sea there are no such things as youth are becoming so wild, why recktroublesome boundary disputes, coJ.- lessness and greed are growing, piety tested spheres of influence, buffer and contentment waning, we may con- States, or other creations of diplomacy. fidently answer, The Main Cause is Scarcely a day has passed without a Beer. Beer impedes the young people, token of gratitude and goodwill being even the theologians, in their studies ; sent by America to English seamen for beer makes many men, I fear even heroism in rescues upon the high seas. many pastors, sluggish in work and When I was attending to my dnties in sluggish in prayer. Moreover, beer Washington, I remember how there empties numberless purses, so that was a constant current of thanks and there is nothing in them when there is gratitude from Great Britain to sailors 1 call for missions or other good of the United States. Such acts are works. . " And so it is coming to healing differences and strengthening pass that in fact heathenism. and that the friendship between the sailors, and not a refined, but a thoroughly gross, may be the means of binding friendship wild, and vulgar heathenism is coming and good feeling in the homes on both in upon us, and spreading more widely sides of the Atlantic.."-Bailol"s Maga- from year to year."-Calwer Missionszine. blatt.
-" A Caffre Christian made his mis- -J. HESSE, of Caho, in the Evangelisionary many years of trouble. ' It seltes Mis8iomblattfw Wwttemberg, conwas because the beer would not suffer siderE the question how some German instruction to take hold of him.' (and other) societies, with a larger num- " These words have given us much matter of thought. It has suggested
1896·1 ENGLISH NOTES
ber of laborers and larger income, are English Notes.
less successful than others, with fewer BY JAMES DOUGLAS.
workers and smaller means. For instance: Basel, last year, having 157 Olmrch Mis8ionary Society.-Numermissionaries, and spending 1,000,131 ous letters from Uganda furnish a view marks, reports only 30,200 members; of the operations of this society, not the Gossner Mission, having 23 mission- only in Uganda proper, but also in the aries, and spending 162,955 marks, re- extensive districts of Busoga, Koki, ports 40,000. The Bm'men, having 96 and the Sese Islands of Lake N yanza. missionaries, and spending 497,701 All lovers of the Lord must rejoice in marks, reports 56,944. Moreover, the the marvelous blessing given; and, llnitas Fratrum, having 174 mission- despite the things pel' contra, in the aries, and spending 1,610,420 marks, re- manifold tokens of encouragement ports in 1894 only 366 adult baptisms; which the present outlook affords. As Basel, 1418. The Leipsic Mission, hav- Mr. Pilkington points out, the country ing 26 missionaries, and spending 356,- from Mengo is now open to the Gospel 225 marks, baptized 433; the Gossner, for 200 miles east, south, and west; with fewer missionaries, and less than while north ward 70 or 100 miles is open. half the income, baptized 1570. Whether regarded as a field white al- ready to harvest, or as a basis of mis- Whence these differences? Differences of training and economy sionary operations, Uganda is rich in doubtless count. But differences of promise. To,qnote from Mr. Pilkingfields count much more. Manyfold ton: "The country is healthy; native more laborers and more outlay on the help is available as it is nowhere else in the world; the desire for rtading rock will, of course, bring in scant fruits compared with few laborers and has already been carried to some of the little outlay on the good ground. The Brethren, for instance, have chosen of elaxntrgeumageepaonindtssewnittihminentthiasndradmoiuds~' in of preference, the backward, and even'the life the whole region is closely knit todying races, It is not, brilliant results gether-in a word, there is good reason for which they aim, so much as a min- to hope that as far as local conditions istryof life for the forsaken. So, while are concerned, a circle including within its radius of A20l0bemrtileEsdwthaerdth, reaendlaktehs~ Basel has, on the Gold Ooast, a field of the Albert, pestilence, Barmen and G08sner have in Sumatra and among the Kols, com: Victoria-an area (excluding the lakes) paratively healthy lands, requiring also of nearly 100,000 square miles-might less outlay. These two peoples, more- be fully occupied if not evangelized over, are more receptive of the Gospel within three years' time." than any others among whom German To turn this hope into fruition, Mr_ missionaries labor. The Kols had a Pilkington makes the following derude heathenism, burdensome yet not mand: "Wanted. in all, from home, attractive, easily given up for Hindu- 100 additional men missionaries and ism, more easily for the Gospel. Among some lady missionaries, full of the Holy the Sumatrans idolatry was already in Ghost. "
decline. Islam or Ohristianity, coming The Sesse Islands of Lake Nyanza.- first in any district, easily carries the The work, now being carried on, in day. How different in South India these islands has many gleams of en- among the Tamils, even among the couragement and no inconsiderable fruit, Parias! The elaborate system binds notwithstanding various forms of hos- them, even while it curses them. tility. On Bukasa, a Sunday congre- The great difference, therefore, is gation of. nearly 280 are collected in the still, as of old: The Road, the Rock. church built by the Ohristian chief.
the Thorns, the Waiting Grounds. In addition to this there are three other
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
places of worship on the island where being of a good family thcy fear the Basese teachers minister to growing conseqnences of a public profession of congrega tions. Christ. "
On Bufumira the work has been car- The Rev. R. Wright Hay, of Dacca, ried on by Adam Musoke, a voluntary writes: "I have baptized four converts Muganda teacher and a small chief. during the year-two Mohammedans, For two years or more he has labored, one Brahmin, aud an Eurasian." He and all who have come forward for also says: " There are many in whom baptism have been instructed by him. it is evident that the Holy Spirit i~ This worker hail now returned to Bu- working, and no small part of our work ganda, but a band of young Basese consists in a laboring in prayer for teachers, numbering eight, are filling these." the gap, and, in the face of the chief's hostility, trying to let their light shine The Calcutta Press. – From the refor Christ. port of translation and literary work, prepared by Dr. Rouse, we learn that The largest island of the group- the revision and printing of the Bengali Kome-has also a band of earnest and Bible is now far advanced. A tentat i ve faithful Basese teachers; and, in addi- edition of the Psalms has been issued, tion, there are 19 Buganda teachers aud the printing of a commentary on .. engaged in reading through the Gos- Genesis is just completed. pels with the candidates for baptism, visiting, and giving a good name to The Outtack Press hs,s issued during the Gospel which they preach." On the year over 35,000 tracts and 6000 this island the work is particularly Scripture portions. hopeful, and has already taken considerable hold, a result largely due, under Presbyterian Ohu1'ch of England.- GoJ, to the labors of the Muganda Concerning }ivrmosa, reports have been teacher, Yoeri Wamala, who, having published by Mr. Barclay and Mr. Ede. lived down much opposition from the Both reports are of a cheering nature. chief and others, has now had the joy Notwithstanding the Black Flag trouof seeing much fruit accruing. At the bles and the Japanese march through large church ou this island there is now the island, "no cases of apostasy a congregation of over 500. through fear occurred at any of the stations." In the hill country the ab- Baptist Missionary Society.-During original churches are being attended the past year there has been 655 addi- by greatly increased congregations, tions to the native Christian Cburch in while at Moatau, "in spite of the mas- India in connection with this society. sacre, the membership at the close of In every case the missionaries have the year is larger than it was at the anxiously sought to ascertain the pres- beginning. " ence of a work of grace in the individual beart. North Africa Mission.-Mr. Eaward H. Glenny, the indefatigable secretary At Cuttack, in Orissa, the church has of this mission, writes: "We have had, during the past year, an unusually had and still have a certain amount of large accession from the ranks of the difficulty with the rulers of the counyoung people. tries in which we are laboring. I have just heard of a plot whieh fortunately An interesting circumstance is re- was discovered, the object of which ported by the Rev. J. G. Potter, of was to incriminate certain missionaries Agra, to the effect" that there are sev- in illegal actions; but, after all, what eral Mohammedan young men who is it we have experienced compared have hired a room where they meet for with the persecutions and atrocities in religious discussion; that most of these Armenia ? • •• Then this year there young men are Christians at heart, but have been several baptisms in Tunis just what the Lord does think oj 1t8 alland Morocco, and Mr. Summers was some of us, anyway?" hoping to baptize a young convert, from Palestine, in Alexandria this -It is said that when the mother of month. Mr. Patrick also speaks of Professor Drummond met a young encouraging services and professed con- friend who had offered his services as versions among the Spaniards, so that a missionary, but was declined, and we have causes for thankfulness as well was obliged to take a position in a comas reasons for prayer." mercial house in a foreign land, shc suggested: "My dear boy, you can THE KINGDOM. be a merchant missionary." In like manner Commodore Perry, when in- -Nobody could express it more hap- troduced to a foreign missionary in· pily than the missionary did who said: Japan, added, "I also am a mission- " When you cannot see any bright side, ary. " polish up the dark side, and look at that. " -How strange! When Jonathan Edwards, one of the very greatest of -And this likewise is a faithfill say- Americans, was dismisaed from his ing. "A dime whispers, 'I will help pastorate, well-nigh with ignominy, save America I ' a dollar says that same and removed to Stockbridge with an thing out loud; a hundred dollars Indian mission as a portion of his field, shouts it. One prayer helps the good a salary was voted him of £6 138. 4d. work on; two prayers help it on a bit and 1UO sleighloads of fire-wood. farther; half a dozen prayers possibly make it go faster yet; and only the -" Nothing but a missionary!" angels know how marvelously the But the man who gave that toss of the prayers of a few millions might acceler· head and that half-scornful look should ate it lOne man or womau saying a cast an eye down the long central aisle good thing or doing a brave thing of the hall at Mildmay Park. Whom somewhere makes America a little bet- do we see coming up the aisle-a son ter; a band of laborers affects perhaps of Anak in stature, erect, his features the development of a whole country; strongly marked, his venerable locks while a host of workers may reap a and long wbite beard adding majesty harvest waving in fields as broad as a to his appearance? On discovering prairie, or mine out nuggets of spirit- him the whole great audience rise sponual ore rare and rich as a thousand taneously to their feet. A Wesleyan mountain mines. " brother with powerful voice is in the midst of an address; yet. no one heeds -Miss Auna L. Dawes also states a him till the patriarch has taken a seat profound truth in terse and impressive on the platform. Who is the old man? form when she says: "If anyone is Is it the Earl of Beaconsfield? Is it willing to go up there and live with Gladstone? There is but one other those Eskimos, I think the rest of us person in the realm to whom, under may well enough agree to help. Noth- the circumstances, such a united and ing has been so good for me for some enthusiastic tribute would be paid, and time as Mr. Lopp's visit. It not only that because she is on the throne. This makes our Christianity (mine at least) hoary-headed man is the veteran among look like a mustard seed, but makes South African missionaries. He went you wonder whether it isn't a dead out to the Dark Continent more than seed at that I I have been to hear Mr. sixty years before. He is now eighty- Moody, but he didn't begin to give me three; his name, Robert Moffat.- such' conviction of sin' as the urgent RM!. A. O. Thompson. and eager interest Mr. Lopp showed in going back to his people. 1 wonder -According to Acts 10: 35, was it not an or~hodox proceeding under the salary. A woman has two sons-one circumstances? .. We went to call on earning good wages, the other a boy at the new Methodist minister and his school. The elder son gets into debt.
wife (Mexicans), and listened to the The mother's salary as a Bible-woman most touching account of her conver- just keeps her and her younger son in sion, simply by the reading of God's food and clothing. The younger son, Word; and how, just following out being clever, should receive a higher the Divine command, she went to a education. Who is to pay? Not the stream and was baptized by her father- elder brother, but the missionary. At in-law, and they all took the juice of least that is the result of a discussion grapes she squeezed from a fresh clus- that occupies nearly a day. We re- ter, and ate unleavened cakes she herself fuse, say. The missionary is then ac- had made. Some time after she found cused of spending his money over the a Protestant church, where she an- heathen to the loss of the Christian."
nounced herself as a member of the church of Christ, and that church was WOMAN'S WORK.
our own in Hermosillo." -A missionary writes that India's -Tho we all knew that the whirligig "new woman" is only one who can of Time brings in his revenges, yet read and write and perhaps occasion- whoever supposed that the Hebrews ally ventures out to a public meeting.
would "get even" with their foes, as .. There are many yet among the upper they have, if the current statement is classes who look out on the world with true which alleges that tho nearly 2500 one eye peeping through the folds of a years ago Babylon took their whole cuddah, and who feel that to allow any nation into captivity, now two Jews man, except those of their own house- have bought all that is left of the fa- hold, to look on their faces is to be mous city. guilty of a heinous sin. We have a -It is a fine tribute to the efficient patient just now whom we wished the and self-denying labors of General civil surgeon to see, and I had to spend Armstrong that the institution which a good part of a forenoon coaxing her he founded suffered only sorrow of to allow him in the room. We made a heart at his death, and has made steady compromise at last, I agreeing that she progress along the lines he laid down. only draw her cuddah far enough aside As a recent visitor to Hampton said: to allow her tongue to be seen. • How .. I never knew of a man'who was less can I go before God if this strange man dead." The last request of the general, looks on my face?' was the pleading " See to it that Hampton does not go entreaty of this poor young woman. down," has been well obeyed.-The In most cases, however, the veiling of Advance. the face is more a matter of social dis- tinction than of religion." -A missionary to India describes a sample day's work: "A child Ilwal- -What a passage in modern history lows a coin. Its mother brings it to is that of the Zeitoun women on guard us. A wife turns obstinate. Her hus- in their mountain eyrie! When every band comes for us. A husband beats boy over thirteen years old was away his wife. The wife comes weeping to fighting, and 250 Turkish soldiers were us. A man in a fit of despair joins the preparing to break out of their prison army. We are asked to liberate him. and fire the town, these women rose in A member of the church loses his char- desperation, killed every man of them, aeter. We have to examine into things, and threw them down the cliff. It and discriminate truth from lies. An was in defense of their lives and the educated Christian man runs into debt. Iives of their children.
His device is to apply to us for higher -There are now, as the result of eleven years' work and growth, 51 dea- How to get our Endeavorers to read coneS!!' institutions in the Methodist more missionary books. Episcopal Church; 590 deacones.~es, including 80 who are still in training Putting the Endeavorers in touch and 100 trained nurses; and property with their denominational mission employed iu this work to the value of boards. $656,950 above debt. In the United States there are 35 institutions; in Ger- How to make missionary meetings many, 6; in India, 8; in China, 1; in interesting. Africa, 1. Who should go as a missionary ? Practical evangelistic methods for Christian Endeavor societies.
-In 1893 the Presbyterian Woman's -The Endeavor News tells about a Boards contributed over $329,000 for missionary committee that managed to foreign missions; in 1894, $324,000; make missions interesting in the follow- in 1895, $309,000; and, now, $302,000. ing diversified ways: At first they in- But there seem to be as many fine feath- vited a few of their friends to meet on ers as ever, as many Christian women a certain evening at the honse of the traveling, as ample home comforts. chairman. There they found a num- No more boasting from us, until we ber of garments already cut and pre- make a new record "concerning the pared for the making. Upon these the collection."- Woman's Work jor Wom- guests and entertainers set themselves an. to work. In the centre of the group sat one of the best readers of the soci- -In Great Britain and Ireland there ety, who entertained the company dur- are 12 women's missionary societies, ing the evening with the reading of an supporting 770 female workers in for- interesting missionary biography. This eign fields, 38 of these being medical biography and the work laid out occu- workers. These societies reach 20 dif- pied the Endeavorers for four evanings. ferent countries, employ 2000 native The last fifteen minutes of each meet- workers, and have over 60,000 girls and ing were given up to business, general women in their schools. discussion, and prayer.
-The Church of England Zenana -Let the missionary committee get Missionary Society has 53 stations in ready a series of scrap-book meetings. India, 8 in China, 1 in Ceylon, 186 The members and their friends gather European missionaries, 90 native mis- scraps on all subjects connected with . sionaries, and 637 native workers. The missions and Christian work in gen- associations contributed £24,299 last eral, and on their scrap-book evenings year. gather about a large table and fill vari- ous scrap-books with what they have -The Female Association of the gleaned, these scraps being appropri- Irish Presbyterian Church sends out ately classified. The scrap-books thus three new representatives this year, formed make a valuable addition to and has under its care in India and their missiouary library. China 18 women, of whom 4 are medi- cal missionaries.
YOUNG PEOPLE. -The Christian Endeavor societies of the Reformed (Dutch) Church now -These are some live questions for number 525, and last year gave to for- Endeavorers (and Leaguers also with eign missions $3909 ; to domestic misthe change of a word or two) to think sions, $2396; to the Woman's Board about and discuss: of Foreign Missions, $609; to the Woman's Executive Committee, $504; How to get a society enthusiastic for and to the Arabian Mission, $535. missions. Other gifts to denominational objects bring the total up to $8286. How to push systematic giving among our Endeavorers. -Some of the most earnest and wide- lowing the pOOl' to use the vacant lots awake young people's societies in the in Detroit for potato-patches has been world are to be found in Australia. copied with success in 19 leading cities.
The Golden Link states that the Wel- In this way in 1895 Boston gave em- lington society has been devoting spe- ployment to 54 persons; Brooklyn, 31 ; cial attention to missionary work with Buffalo, 560 families; Cincinnati, 37 the result that they support 2 native families; Detroit, 1546 persons; Du- teachers in the New Hebrides; con- luth, about 300; Minneapolis, 226; tribute to the support of the Wellington Seattle, 141; St. Louis, 120 families; Chinese missionary ; hold cottage meet- St. Paul, 118 persons; Toledo, 62 fam· ings every Sunday and Wednesday ilies. There were 8 other cities for evenings; have just begun open-air which statistics have not been given.
meetings; have sent 2 boxes to the mis- New York furnished tools, the sweep- sion field; write regularly to various ings of the streets as a fertilizer, and a missionaries, copy the answers reo practical instructor.
ceived, and hand them round among '':''''It is estimated that there are 10,000 the members; have twice circulated Chinese living in New York and adself-denial envelopes, thereby raising a jacent places. Of these 500 are in Sun· considerable sum for missions; have day-schools, and 200 are professed issned a small missionary pamphlet for Christians. The remainder are under the benefit of the members. no direct Christian influence or instruc- UNITED S'fATES. tion. Here is a piece of China within our gates having its joss worship, the- -The financial distress prevalent in atres, opium joints, and other charac- the country during the past two years teristics of Chinese heathendom. It is is set forth in a striking way by the a foreign missionary field within reach fact that the total net earnings of the of every church on Manhattan Island national banks in the year 1893 amount- or in its vicinity.-EvangeZist.
ed to $68,000,000, While during the year -The census for 1890 gives 18 col· 1894 they amounted to $41,000,000, a ored denominations having no connecfalling off in a single year of $27,000,- tion whatever with white church or- 000. As most of the business of the ganizations. These 18 denominations country is done in the national banks, have 18,835 societies, or organizations; such a falling off in earnings indicates 19,631 church buildings, with church a very serious condition of affairs. property valued at $20,318,714, and a During the year 1895 matters did not membership of 2,500,000. The preachimprove to any extent. ers and religious teachers are, with few -The Chicago Flower Mission has exceptions, uneducated and ignorant.
existed for twenty-one years, and the -During the year gifts from the liv· quantity of flowers distributed has in- ing to the American Bible Society creased from 300 bunches the first sea- amounted to $67,102; the amount reson to almost 100,000 last year. The ceived from legacies, $70,977, and the president, Mrs. Frederick Dickinson, total receipts were $204,670. The sureports that" the bright, fragrant bIos· ciety also received $232,552 in return soms sent us by kind friends in the for books and on purchase account. country have qarried light to 'darkest The appropriations for the foreign work Chicago. ' The Ohristian Endeavor so- for the coming year amount to $182,- cieties throughout the State of Iowa 756. For the first time in the society's have organized a flower mission depart- history it is announced that the num· ment, and send immense quantities of ber of volumes circulated abroad for flowers for us to distribute." the past year exceeds the number circu- -Major Pingree's noted plan of 801- lated in the United States. -The fifty· ninth annual report of been vouchsafed to any foreigner, ex· foreign missions contains this general cepting, perhaps, upon the ruler of summary of work done by the' Pres- some friendly power. This honor is a byterian Church from May 1st, 1895, recognition on the part of the emperor to May 1st, 1896: American mission- of the American physician's services in aries, 214, with 54 medical missionaries; connection with the Red Cross Society wi vcs of missionaries, 223 ; other mis- during the late war, and of the success- sionaries, 177; native agents, 2101; ful efforts of Dr. Atterbury in advanc. churches, 387, with 30,882 communi- ing medical and surgical science in the cants, who have raised for self-support empire. His services as a physician $20,085; added last year, 3000; minis- have been frequently in demand at the . terial students, 88; day schools for imperial palace, and when Li Hung boys, 390, with 14,545 pupils; girls' Chang set out on his journey to Russia day schools, 154, with 7310 pupils; to attend the coronation of the Czar Sabbath-school scholars, 21,993, who Dr. A. was invited to accompany him have raised a total sum of contributions as his medical adviser, but declined the of $88,384 ; pages of literature printed, honor. 72,139,832; hospitals and dispensaries under care, 52, with 313,197 patients -American Friends have organized treated. work in various parts of Mexico, Alas- ka, .Tamaica, in India, China and Japan, The financial cxhibit is as follows: in Palestine, and among the Indians. Through members of that church they Receipts from Churches ….•…..•….. S2i·2,OOn are represented in work of other or- H Woman's Boards …….. 302,626 ganizations in Central America, Brazil, " Sabbath-schools……… 30,221 Morocco, and West Africa, and a little " Young People's Societies. 26,694 assistance is given to the Chicago lIe- " Legacies…………….. 146,827 bre w Mission for Jews, and various H Interest, Individuals, and other missions for Jews in large cities. Miscellaneous Sources. 101,369 In addition to these two are on their way to join William Duncan's work in $879,746 Alaska, and another to Sitka.
-Dr. W. R. Lambuth, of the Pres· -Rev. K. Ishisaka, the pastor of byterian Church, South, is quoted as the Japanese Methodist Episcopal saying: "The collections for foreign Church in San Francisco, was in at- missions for 1895 under the assessment tendance upon the recent Methodist of the Board amounted to $240,802, to Conference in Cleveland. He has 340 which we add the sum of $70,348, re- parishioners, and besides the Sunday- ceived by the Woman's Board, making school, his church conducts a night a total of $311,151. With a member· school to teach the English language ship of 1,500,000, tbis makes an avcr- to his countrymen. There is a dormi- age contribution of not quite 20 cents tory in the rear of the chUl'ch, where per member, or less than 2 cents a from 25 to 30 poor people find a place month for foreign missions." to sleep every night.
-The Ohurch at Home and A.broad GREAT BRITAIN. for June gives the names of nearly 50 men and women, and the cost of sending out and sustaining each one, and says they must be despatched.
-The Emperor of China has con- -From the Bible Society warehouse ferred' upon Dr. B. C. Atterbnry, a between 6000 and 7000 volumes go ont medical missionary of the Presbyterian daily. This, however, represents only Board, the Imperjal Order of the Double part of the total output, as a great Dragon. second degree, a distinction many volumes are printed in China, which it is believed has never before India, and elsewhere. The daily cir· culation is about 13.000. Of the an- sion : The total income of the first ten nual output of about 4,000,000 volumes, years, from 1866-75, was some £40,000 ; it is estimated that from 1,000,000 to that of the second ten years was £119,- 1,500.000 are in English. Among the 000; and that of the third, £309,000.
many interesting translations is a pile Last year's income was £42,925 (includ- of Scriptures in Pashtu, the language ing £9150 from America, Australia, of Afghanistan. Each section of the and China) ; this shows a total increase Bible has been written out with a reed over the previous year of £9767.
pen in the Panjab, and been reproduced -The Foreign Mission Board of the by photography in London. For cer- Scottish United Presbyterian Church tain languages photography is found at the recent meeting of Synod reportvery useful in saving compositors' ed that the income of the ordinary forwork and avoiding errors.-Bible Society Reporter. eign mission fund for 1895 was £31,- -Nowhere else in the world are there 378, being a decrease upon the previous under one roof so many copies of a sin- year of £3766. The expenditure was gle book in so many languages as at £34.639, less than that of 1894 by the Bible House in Queen Victoria £2591. In the course of the year they Street, London. appointed 6 additional missionaries, or- dained and medical, 1 missionary teach- -This is concerning the Church Mis- er, and 2 missionary artisans. They sionary Society, and its plans for the have in the field a staff of 154 fullythree years to come: Finally, the com- trained agents, of whom 70 are ordained mittee intend to ask the cooperation of European missionaries, 14 medical misthe archbishops and bishops of the sionaries, 19 ordained native pastors, whole Anglican Communion, and of 12 European evangelists, and 39 r.enana the heads of missionary associations, missionaries, with a contingent of over and other Christian bodies, in making 700 native workers. The total memthis a time, not for the glorification of bership ot their native church is almost one society, but of defin.te advance on 20,000. the part of the whole Church in her divinely appointed task-the evangeli- ASIA. zation of the world. Many other mis- sionary epochs cluster round the close Islam.-The guilty conscience makes of the nineteenth and the beginning of a man suspicious that everybody is try- the twentieth century; the Society for ing to abuse him. The 'rurkish centhe Propagation of Christian Knowl- sors prohibited a chemical book which edge and Society for the Propaga- contained the symbol of water-viz., tion of the Gospel reaching their bi-centenaries in·1898 and 1901, respectively. n.o. These wiseacres read it as sig- nifying, what else could it mean, while the Religious Tract Society and " Hamid II. is naught, a cipher, a no- the Bible Society look forward to the body." No Sultan would stand such celebration of their centenaries in 1899 nonsense in his empire.-Nortl. and and 1904. The committee earnestly de- We8t.
sire that these and all other societies -We learn through the other misand missions laboring faithfully for sionaries that Dr. Kimball is adding to the extension of Christ's kingdom, both her other departments of relief work at at home and abroad. should share in Van the manufacture of plows, shovels, the special blessings which they believe and other agricultural implements, and pray will be granted to them and that the people may have some means to all their work at this memorable time. of raising the next harvest. A priest -These figures will tell something of in speaking of Dr. Kimball called her the growth of the China Inland Mis- " God's little servant." -A remarkable incident is reported burning sun, in a desolate and feverfrom the Harpoot District in Eastern stricken country, and with little appear- Turkey, where on Sunday, at Mezereh, auce of success to cheer them, work three miles from Harpoot, the Protes- steadily on, in faith and prayH. "Howtant Christians were invited to hold a ever little show it may make in the eyes communion service in the Gregorian of men, Sheik Othman is a post of dischurch. Dr. Barnum and other mis- tinction among the strongholds of atsionaries were also invited, and the ser- tack which Christendom has reared vice was crowded, hundreds being amid the heathen world."-Journal des obliged to go away for lack of room. Missions Evangeliques. It is not long since such a mingling of Gregorians and Protestants would have -An affecting incident connected been impossible, and would have been with the massacre at Oorfa was that of deemed a pollution of the old church. a mother, in whose presence her two In the congregation were many whose sons were caught by the mob, while husbands and fathers were among the men with drawn swords, ready to cut recent martyrs for their faith, and also them down, demanded of the young many pastors and teachers from neigh- men that they should accept the Mos· boring villages. The service of song lem faith. But the mother called out was divided between the Gregorians to them, "Die, but don't deny the and Protestants. The Protestant pas- Lord. " They stood firm and were imtor then received some 15 men and mediately cut down. women into the church, and preached a sermon on "Christ our Passover is India.-Some time ago in Calcutta, sacrificed for us." Dr. Barnum fol- there came together 1000 of the most lowed with an address, and with the prominent men of the native races of doxology and benediction the Protes- Hindustan. They were Parsees and tant service closed. But the people Brahmans and Mohammedans and men were requested to remain, aud the of the lower Indian castes. They Gregorian priest spoke most pleasantly spoke the languages of the native races and evangelically, rejoicing in the fel- of the great Indian Empire-the Tamil, lowship they were thus manifesting, the Hindustani, the Hindi, the Telugu, and thanking Dr. Barnum and his fel- the Punjabee, and the rest. But there low-missionaries, who had brought was only one tongue in which they them a new faith and an open Bible, could make themselves intelligible to and were now following up that work each other, and that was the language by bringing relief to suffering widows into which EngIi~hmen have translated and orphans. Other addresses followed the Bible.-J. H. Barrow8. from both Protestants and Gregorians, when this most remarkable service was -The Bengalee, a native Indian pabrought to an end. It is a sign of the per, praises the French administration times in Turkey.-Missionary Herald. in Madagascar, and makes some very disparaging comments upon that of -M. Kriiger, one of the deputation Britain in India in like circumstances. just sent by the Paris Missionary So- This leads the indian Witnes8 to make ciety to Madagascar, took the oppor- this telling rejoinder: "Does the Bengatunityof the steamer's call at Aden to lee really believe that French colonial visit the station at Sheik Othman, administration is more liberal than the where Dr. Mi1Iar and Dr. Young, the British? Would France allow such a successors of Keith Falconer, carryon paper as the Bengalee to be published his mission among the Arabs. M. in Algiers? While France ruled Egypt KrUger writes with enthusiasm of the were there any national congresses work of these two men, who under a there? And how many native gentle-' men are in authority at Tonquin? If France ruled Iudia, would we still have the Nizam ruling at Hyderabad, sionaries, over 50 Christian workers, lind Maharajahs ruling at Mysore, Ba- over 100 students and teachers repreroda, Gwalior, Indore, and a score of senting 16 educational institutions in other places? Verily, prejudice is the province, and over 100 visitors. more obstinate than ignorance. Igno- The hall, which seats about 300, was rance can be overcome, but prejudice crowded at every session, several havis invincible." ing to find seats on the platform steps toward the end." -In some quarters the annual subscriptions to the Dufferin Fund are -A recent visitor to the sehool of nearly all supplied by Europeans, but the Pundita Ramabai at Poonu says: native princes and noblemen have prac- " Of the 57 pupils, 43 are widows and tically provided, it may be said, at 39 are Brahmins. About one half of least four fifths of the sum whiuh has the pupils attend daily prayers in Rama· been given to the Dufferin Fund. The bai's own room, to which the door is last report shows that 4 lakhs have always open and where any may come been spent in buildings in native States, in, and the shy ones are not noticed Baroda, Bhopal, Kapurthala, Kotah, until familiarity has done away with Oodeypur, Mysore, Patiala, Ulwar, the shyness. The Pundita told me that and Tonk have all built and entirely she did not put new pupils at books support hospitals, and Jodhpur has re- for some time, but turned them into the cently declared its intention of also garden to learn of God's wonderful doing likewise. In Gaya over a lakh works. Next they were told about has been lately subscribed for the hos- themselves and their Creator. Then pital by natives. In Dacca the Nawab came the books. "-Woman's W01'k for has given half a lakh for the same pur- Woman. pose, and in 1894-95 all big sums given to the Provincial Committee of Bengal -Only one passenger killed by acciwere entire from nativ!, sources. In dents to trains, out of upward of 34,- the jubilee year, when nearly 5 lakh3 000,000 carried in the course of three was collected in India, Jeypur gave 1 months, is a record that has probably lakh, aud Ul war and the Nizam each not been beaten by any railway system half a lakh, and by far the greater por- in the world. That is the return of a tion of the remaining 3 lakhs was given quarter's working of the Indian railby thousands of natives throughout ways, which ran 17,250,000 of train the country.-EngZi8hman. miles during that period, and carried the enormous number of 1,526,241,428 -A most striking indication of the passenger nnits per mile. The proporchange which has taken place in India tion of passengers injured by accidents as the result of missionary work in that to trains was one to little less than land is mentioned in the Indian Stan- 7,000,000. The total mortality, includdard. Speaking of a three days' con- ing suicides, accidents at level crossvention held at Lahore for the deepen- ings, and deaths resulting from pering of the spiritual life, that journal sonal carelessness, and including accisays: "The conference, which was dents to railway servants, was 160 only, the third of a series of six, was held in while the number injured was 30 more. the Forman Christian College Hall, – Times of India. and was fully attended from the opening session to the closing one. Dele- -In 1880 only one society had misgates from upward of 20 different sta- sionaries in the Nizam's dominions, but tions between Saharanpur and Pesha- to·day 7 societies are represented by 23 war, and representing 9 different soci- men, about 10,000 baptized converts, eties, were present all the time. A and property worth 600,000 rupees. rough calculation gives over 60 mis- -A Presbyterian missionary to Siam pictures the striking difference between the city of Peking is due to the super- .the Presbyterian Mission to the Laos stition that the sacred precincts of the country, Upper Siam, open in 1867, imperial residence must not be contamiand the older mission in Lower Siam, nated by Western improvements. In opened so long ago as 1840. The mis- his decree the emperor says: "Railsionary forces in each region have aver· roads are important to commerce and aged about the same, yet the Laos con- beneficial to the laboring classes. This verts are numbered by the thousand, government having determined upon are constantly increasing, and among its construction, it is desirable that tho them are many ordained native helpers, work be undertaken. " This decree while in the older mission there are also suggests to merchants who have only about 300 converts, and not a means that they build a line from the single ordained native helper. Lu Kou bridge to Hankow.
China.-" Thrifty and patient and -Russel & CO.'8 banking house, in cunning as Jews, the Chinese can ac- Shanghai, whose Chinese loans amountcommodate themselves to any climate ed to $100,000,000 in its fifty years' and to any environment. They can existence, never lost a doUa?' by them. live in Java or in Siberia, in Borneo or This house employed thousands of in Tibet. Unlike the modern Jews, Chinese, and never one betrayed his however, they are more to be feared in trust or became a defaulter. One emindustry than in commerce, for there ploye for twenty-five years never knew is scarcely any form of manual skilled a Chinaman to break his word in a bus:- labor at which they are not capable of ness transaction. killing white competition. Their history in Australia has proved this fact. -The coal-fields of China are said to But in commerce also they are able to be exceeded in value by few in the hold their own against the cleverest world. Some of the richest districts merchants of other races. They are are only about 30 miles from Peking, adepts at combination, excellent finan- the capital. They have hitherto been ciers, shrewd and daring speculators. worked only in the superficial, mole Tho not yet rivals of Europeans in that fashion of the Chinese. As soon as class of production dependent upon the they have penetrated deep enough to application of modern science to manu- encounter water, the Chinese have been facture, they have given proof of abil- accustomed to abandon such mines. ity to master that science whenever the Now, however, stirred by the railway stndy can profit them. They are learn- movement, some of the wealthy, entering thoroughly the commercial condi- prising Chinese have entered into contions of every country which they visit; tracts with foreign engineers to devciop and tho the history of thcir emigration their mines, which give promise of began within recent times, they are al- large yiolds. It may be that the develready to be found in almost every part opment of these immense coal deposits of the world. "-La!cadio Hearn. of China will soon become an impor- tant factor in the commerce of the Far -United States Minister Denby reo East.-Free Ohurch Monthly. ports that the emperor has issued a decree, directing a certain Mr. Hu, a Japan.-In this empire all Christian protege of Prince Kung, to build a rail- bodies together have 111,588 members, road from Tientsin to the Lu Kou 858 missionaries, 331 native ministers, bridge, which is within 8 miles of and 981 catechists. Of the church- Peking. The distance is 70 miles, and members the Catholics have 50,302 (inthe road is to be built at government cluding all baptized children); the expense. That the line does not enter Greek Church, 22,576; and the Protes- tant societies, 38,710. -Christian influence in Japan is in- teaching, and even to some extent de- creasing, and one proof of it is that a cidedly hostile toward it. The very comparatively large number of Chris- success of the decade following 1880 tians belong to the upper classes. One itself awakened a host of active ene- minister, 2 deputy ministers, the chief mies among the adherents of the older judge of the Supreme Court of Justice, religions of the country, who formerly the president, and many members of felt so confident in their strength and the House of DeputiOls are Christians, numbers as to be either indifferent or and many other men of consequence only passively hostile. The most im- are favorable to Christianity. There portant point in Mr. Yokoi's conclu- is a great deal of unrest just now in sions is that the influence of Protestant Japan, and no one knows what changes Christianity on the nation at large is the next year or decade may bring. disproportionately strong compared Perhaps there will be a revolution of a with its numerical strength.-Evangeli- non-political character. Perhaps we cal Churchman.
shall live to see that in the midst of wars and rumors of wars the Prince of AFRWA..
Peace will establish His kingdom in -The circulation of Bibles and por- Japan. – Evangelisches lrfissions-maga· tions issued by the American Bible Sozin. ciety continues to increase. These are -The Nurses' Training School at mainly distributed through the agency Kyoto, commenced and carried on by of the American Presbyterian Mission, Dr. Berry, bas proved an efficient evan- and are all, or nearly all in Arabic. gelical agency. The school now passes Bible circulation among Mohammedans wholly into the hands of the Japanese, in Egypt has but few restrictions. The and Miss Fraser, who has been associ- following figures show how the work ated witb. Dr. Berry, reports that the has expanded within. the last thirty only remaining non·Christian member years: From 1865 to 1874 the number of the graduating class has asked for of copies distributed was 6630; from baptism, and that, including the 13 1875 to 1884 it was 45,586; and from members of this graduating class, there 1885 to 1894 it was 116,474.
will have been sent out 75 nurses, only -Dongola is about 850 miles in a 1 of whom has graduated without being direct line south of Cairo, about 1000 a professing Christian. These nurses miles by river. Wady HaIfa is about are scattered all over t.he country, and 650 miles in a direct line from Cairo most of them are doing excellent work, and Akasheh is 60 miles north of Wady and their influence must be far-reach- HaIfa. This place to which the rail- ing. way is to be built is about 150 miles -A Japanese scholar, Mr. Tokiwo south of Assouan, on the boundary be- Yokoi, has recently written in the In- tween Egypt and Nubia. Dongola is ternational Journal oj Ethics an article 300 miles in an air line north of Kharon the ethical life and conceptions of toum, but quite double the distance by his fellow-countrymen. Passing on to river. The railway at present runs to Protestant Cb.ristianity, which first Girgeh, about half.way from Cairo to gained a footing in the country in 1859. Akasheh. It is difficult to either write Mr. Yokoi says that between 1880 and or speak about distances and directions 1890 most wonderful progress was on the Nile without blundering. The made, the number of converts being river runs the wrong way, and it is alraised from 5000 to 30,000. Since 1890 most impossible to realize northward the revival of the intensely national means down stream.
feeling of the country has made them -The Rev. Charles H. Robinson, less enthusiastic for Western religious sent out by the Hausa Association on a linguistic expedition, returned during from the book of independent nations the year 1895. He first visited Hausa would be a crime at which freemen all colonies in Tripoli and Tunis. Then over the world would stand aghast.
by the rivers Niger and Benne he Now look at a map of Africa, and see reached Kano, the commercial centre what enormous extent of territory al- of Hausa land. The result was 3000 ready belongs to England-most of it new words for a dictionary, materials acquired by her since the last twenty for a Hausa grammar, and native manu- years. The South African Republic scripts containing history and historical and the Orange Free State are, in com- and religious songs. The Hausa, who parison with that territory, mere specks.
occupy the central Soudan, northeast They are surrounded by and englobed of the Niger, are an intelligent people, in those colossal English possessions.
a black race, but not of pure negro They constitute an African Switzer- blood, a people of splendid physique, land. Shall free and powerful Eng- whose manufactures are known all over land be the meanB of annihilating them?
Northern Africa. They were, if their It would be a dark and indelible blot history is correct, at the time of the upon her escutcheon; and all that can Norman conquest of England more be done to hinder the perpetuation of ci vilized than ourselves. so shameful a crime will be a service to right, to justice, and to England's -Dr. W. H. Leslie, of the Baptist own freedom and fame. "
Miisionary Union, writes thus of his work on the Congo: "This work is not -The Zambesl Industrial Mission child's play with over 700 church-mem- has purchased 50,000 acres with which bers, 2 or 3 outside churches, 30 native to sustain a great evangelizing work.
evangelists and teachers, a training school that is continually preparing more, 600 or 700 children in the schools, SLANDS OF THE SEA.
200 in our station schools, 1500 pa- tients a month to doctor, with build-· -We give the following extracts ing, printing, etc. Farther and wider from a letter by a missionary's wife in is the circle of the Gospel light extend- Madagascar: "I have come to the ing from our station. Faster than we capital to attend the first public Protes- can traiu them come the calls for tant service ever held in Madagascar in preachers and teachers. The station the French language. Two pastors of here is like an oasis in a great desert the Reformed Church of France, both the cool waters of which, encroaching truly earnest and consecrated men, upon the waste, change it from a wil- reached Antananarivo three weeks ago.
derness of sin into a veritable garden Their names are M. Lauga, of Rheims, of the Lord." and M. Kriiger, of Paris, who is tutor at the training institution of the Paris -Karl Blind closes his article on Missionary Society. M. Kriiger has " Problems of the Transvaal" in the been laid aside with fever, and it is April North American Review with M. Lauga who has arranged every- these words: "Switzerland, with a thing for this French service, which is population of barely 3,000,000, sur- to be held regularly every Sunday morn- rounded by three great monarchies and ing. There was a difficulty about a republic, possessing enormous mili- hymns, no French hymn-books having tary strength, might be torn to pieces yet arrived, and also about a choir to by them to-morrow if her existence lead the singing. The hymns were were not placed under international taken fro.m a solitary copy of the McAll guarantee. To strike out SwKallr.&ond hymnal waich had found its way into M. Lauga's box, and were printed on being given to the Dayspring Fund.- leaflets at the Friends' printing-press_ ClLri8tian (fu,tlook. 11. Lauga had thought there would probably be only about a dozen wor- -Mrs. Hore, who visited New Guinea shipers, so that he was agreeably sur- on the last voyage of tho John Willprised to find some 25 Frenchmen, in- iafll,8, thus describes the wedding of a cluding M. Laroche, the Resident-Gen- native pastor in a letter to a friend in eral, and several staff officers, and one this country; "We brought the bride French woman, but for whose presence from Mangala to be married to the son I should have found myself the only of a native pastor; she had nover seen woman in the congregation. Six of her intended. She is a very pleasing the Frenchmen-officers, I think-were girl .of about seventeen. and he is a nice Roman Catholics, but had attended M_ youth. On her wedding day, which Lauga's services on board the vessel was the day after we landed her, she during his voyage out, and been so wore a white muslin dress, and her much interested that they took the first headgear was a wreath of artificial opportlinityof coming again on land." flowers, and yards upon yards of rib- -London C hri8tian. bon of all colors. They were much concerned because they could not get -It is said that the substitute for the any mosquito netting for a veil. After marriage ring on the island of Anei- the ceremony, which Mr. Pearse pertyum, New Hebrides, was the" mar· formed, they went to the father's house, riage rope," put round the neck of the where the feast was prepared. All the bride. This she wore all her life, and presents in print which the people had when her husband died she was stran- given her were tied together; no presgled with it by his nearest relative. ent was under 8 yards; they were tied The Rev. John Inglis, who began his at the corners, and came to over 100 work there in 1852. reported that there yards, and the friends took hold, marchwas not a widow on the island, nor any ing round the village, announcing the word in the language for widow. The generosity of the people. Then the law demanded that on the death of her couple were seated in the garden, and husband the wife be strangled, and her the print wrapped round and round body cast into the sea with his. the two, and 6 shirts placed on the knees of the bridegroom. A hat was -A notable mark of progress hIlS then placed on the ground, and money been made in the mission field occupied was thrown into it, lOs., £1, and £2 at by Mr. MHne, in the New Hebrides. a time, and at each fresh gift a man His Christian natives have undertaken shouted out double the value, first givto support their own native teachers. ing an unearthly yell, I suppose to call These number between 30 and 40. The attention. They really got a good bit. full amount for their salaries for the To wind up, they sang hymns and sapast year has been provided on the sev- cred songs for hours." eral islands. The more populous and the richer have helped the less popu- -The Roko of the district at Naboulous and the poorer. Having entered walu. Fiji, has lately erected at his own upon this p!l'th, they will, no doubt, do cost a large Wesleyan church. The their best to pursue it. Should their size of this building is an indication of example be followed by Mr. Michelsen's the congregations which now gather in natives, who are understood to be in once cannibal Fiji. It is 100 feet long even better circumstances than those of by 70 feet wide. About 1000 people Mr. Milne, a considerably less sum will were present at the opening, and the be required to be remitted to the islands services were prolonged throughout an for the support of native teachers, and entire week. the way opened up for a larger support
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1895
TOlIB OF EZR_ OX THE TIGRIS
A GLIMPSE OF THE CHEEK AT Bl'SRAH. ARABIA. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVIn. No.lO.-.Oltl&riu.-OO~OBER.-VoL. YIn. No.lO.-Ne?JISerie8.
MIRAOLES OF MISSIONS.-No. XXIV.
* THE ROMANCE OF THE HovA BIBLE.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
As the heart makes the theology, so, it is to be feared, it often makes the history, or at least misreads it. Because amid the four millions of Madagascar nine tenths still ramain heathen, there is on the part of some no little proneness to depreciate the grand results of Protestant missions there, and to disparage the magnitude of the work begun in 1820.
We have thought well to reproduce, from the ·panorama of these seventy-five years, one scene which is at once full of romance and reality, pathetic and poetic, vivid in its contrasts and intense in its interest-the story of the Malagasy Bible. Christian missions have many such pictures, which need no retouching by humau hands to make them brilliant with historic lustre, and fascinating with romantic beauty; but this story of the Hova Scriptures wiJl bear to be Fut beside any similar narrative of this Illissionary century.
Seventy-five years ago two humble Welshmen landed on the coast of Madagascar-David Jones and David Griffiths. But one year apart in their arrival at Antananarivo, they were the pioneers of Protestant missions on this great island, which has been called the Britain of the Dark Continent.
They found the French missio~, which had preceded them by more than a century and a half, had scarce left even a permanent footprint to mark its twenty years of experiment. Madagascar was still virgin soil ; the people lacked all true knowledge of Christ, and had not even a written language. It waa still a pioneer work that was to be done ; and a score of years of teaching, discouragement, and hardship had failed even to lay the foundations for a church of Christ.
* See" Mada,galiCal'.of To-d&y." By Rev. W. E. ColllliDl. F. U. Revell" Co.
JlI&ACLIII 0.- 1II11l0lfS
The reason was obvious. Roman Catholics had made there, as in 1M) many other places, the fatal mistake of not gitJing to the J"OPle the Wortl of God. God has ordained that no mission work shall be lasting which does not magnify the Holy Scriptures as the corner-stone of Christian education. These two WcIslunen recognized the cause of the failure of Nacquart and Gondree, and they began, as soon as they learned the Malagasy tongue, and when, in fact, they were u yet novices in this strange language, to translate into it the Word of God. Distrusting their own imperfect acquaintance with the vernacular, they selected from their more promising ~cholars, some as usistante, and they are still honored in Madagascar as "The Twelve." So faithful was the work done, that by March, 1830, only ten years after D~vid Jones had reached the capital, the first edition of three thousand copies of the New Testament was com. pleted j and considerable portions of the Old Testament had likewise been translated.
The devil now came down, having great wrath, as though he knew that, with an open Bible, his time would be short. Already the Word of God we had begun to turn the little world of the HoVAS upside down; and need no greater proof of the mighty power and inlluence it had begun to wield among the people than the organized opposition it now encountered.
Soon after King Radama I. died, in 1828 clouds began to gather OD the horizon, and lurid lightnings played amid the darkness. There were threatenings of a coming storm, and seven years later the violence of a malicious and cruel persecution burst upon the infant church. Queetl Ranavalona I.-the Bloody Mary of Madagucar-issued her famous edict against the religion of the Christian's Bible, March 1st, 1835.
At that time a part of the Book of Job, and the whole of the Old Testament from Ezekiel to Malachi, remained yet to go through the press. Uncertain how soon, by expulsion or martyrdom, they might have to leave the young church to itself, the missionaries prayed for time and strength to complete the Malagasy Bible. It wu like attempting to gather up household goods and put them in a place of shelter when a volcano WIUI belching out lava and ashes overhead. Undismayed by danger, undaunted by difficulty, deserted by timid converts, and watched by a suspicious government, they toiled without resting and prayed without ceasing.
Unable to secure native aid, they had to do the work of printing aDd even of composing type; but by the end of June, four months after the edict of intolerance had pealed out its thunders, the first bound copies of the complete Bible were ready for the HOTa Church !
And now the next question wu bow to prevent this whole editiOD from destruction by the Satanic queen and her sernle miDions. Most of these new Bibles were secretly scattered among· the converts in whose piety and loyalty they could repose most confidence. But, for greater securi~1' and so that, if all these were discovered and consigned to the lIames, as many of them were, a precious remnant might I1U'vlVe, they bnriedsevellty
189r;.] KIRACLES OJ' KI88IONS. '728
copies in the earth-precious seed for a future harvest when the storm should have spent its fury.
They had done their work none too soon or too speedily i and now their expulsion was decreed, and for twenty-five years Protestant missionariel!l were exiles. The translators of the Bible were driven from Madagascar, but the Bible they had translated was not so easily driven away. In th. story of that martyr church two facts stand out like opposing mountain peaks on a landscape-like Gerizim, the mount of blessing, and Ebal, the mount of curse, at the gateway to the plains of Sychar-the intense hatred of the persecuting queen and her court toward the new Bible, and. the equally intense love and devotion of the Hova martyrs toward that hateci and proscribed book.
History furnishes few more pathetic tales of heroism, even where touched with the pencil of romantic fancy, than is found in the Inartyr church of Madagascar. The blessed Book had to be treasured in secret, and in secret read and studied. Discovery meant the sure destruction of the book, and the almost equally sure death of the possessor. Every copy of the Bible was therefore kept and read at risk of life. A quarter of a century is a long period of testing i but they stood th~ test. When some of the Bibles were found, as they were, and committed to the flames, they hid the rest in trunks of trees and in rock caves, and many of them committed large portions to memory, that at least one imperishable record might be preserved which no fire could destroy. And, when the missionaries once more found welcome at Madagascar, very few complete Bibles were. left i perhaps not more than a dozen or so survived i and with these was associated a most pathetic interest. They were thumbed and worn into shreds, or patched and so preserved, but treated as precious relics that no price could buy i and he was counted specially bappy who could produce even a few leaves of the sacred Word, however soiled or ragged through much use, or mildewed with the mould of the damp place where they had been secreted.
The revision of this early translation supplies in its way a story scarcely less romantic. On December 1st, 1873, eight foreigners and three natives began a work, not completed until thirteen years later, of retranslation. When the first Bible had been prepared, the knowledge of the language had been so imperfect that, as in all other similar cases, errors had inevitably crept in, and it became necessary to prepare another version, embodying all the results of later and, more accurate scholarship. On that new Revision Committee five denominations of Christians were represented, all working in loving harmony during all the years of the work, though only two Europeans and one native, who were members at the inception, remained on the committee until its completion.
The meetings were held on Wednesdays, and two sittings of three hours each were given to the task. So slowly and carefully was the work done that a day was sometimes spent on a dozen verses, though sometimes from sixty to eighty were covered. But what a beautiful sight in God's eyes it must have been, when, for nearly fourteen years, Anglicans and Lutherans, Presbyterians, Independents and Friends sat every week studi- ously seeking to make a new and complete Bible for the people, forgetting all minor differences in one absorbing aim and work! and, as Mr. Cousins beautifully says, even Mr. Richardson's Malagasy Dictionary lying com- paratively unused on the table, because at one end was a living lexicon of the native language in the person of three native helpers, * to whom, in fact, the final re,·ision was mainly entrusted.
When the labor of these long years reached completion, and the prayers of more than six hundred successive sessions had been answered, it was felt that a thanksgiving service should signalize the close of such a gigantic task. And the place chosen for such a praise service-there could be none so appropriate-was the stone memorial church at Ambonin' Ampamari- nana, the sanctuary reared on the verge of the precipice over which, thirty- eight years before, fourteen Malagasy martyrs had been fiung, because they loved that Bible and would not disown the Christ it had revealed !
But in what different circumstances that thanksgiving service was held!
When that earliest edition had been completed, a storm of pitiless perse- , cation was beating on the heads of native Christians, before which even the ,translators were driven away. Now it was eighteen years since the public burning of the idols, and at the thanksgiving meeting behold His Excellency, Rainilaiarwony, the Prime Minister, sent by a Christian queen, Ranavalona II., the first Christian sovereign of Madagascar, to represent her and convey to all who, had aided in this great work the thanks of the queen. With what emotions must they who remembered the horrors of the reign of the first Ranavalona have heard this noble premier, the queen's consort, as he told of the profound personal interest his royal wife had taken in the work of revision, and how in her jealousy for its perfec- tion she had herself often suggested to the revisers certain suitable words and phrases to convey tho sacred sense. And so in more than two thou- sand congregations and nearly as many schools, representing more than three hundred thousand Protestant Christians, this revised Bible is to be used. .
If facts have any force, surely no one who candidly surveys this pano- ramic scene can doubt that a Divine Artist has been at work. The hand of God has drawn these outlines, and there is a touch of celestial color- ing. The rainbow round about the throne reflects its sevenfold beauty in the history of the Hova Church; there is something which arches this whole seventy-nve years, in sight like unto an emerald. Shall we question the Divine sanction upon missions when seventy-five years among the Hovas work such chang.es and reveal such fruits ~ • P. 122.
THE GOSPEL IN RUSSIA
THE GOSPEL IN RUSSIA.
The writer, in conversation with a highly placed Russian official, in- quired what he thought was the greatest obstacle to the progress of true religion in the great empire of the Czar, and the remarkable answer was immediately given: "There are no obstacles j the people are ready, even the Church is ready. Let the movement but have life, and be in harmony with our Russian sympathies and character, and nothing can oppose or retard it. Before all else, we are a religious people. "
From his peculiar point of view there is much of truth in this dictum of the Russian official. The people are unquestionably prepared for a great religious revival, and in many ways the Orthodox Greek Church shows a liberality and a receptivity which is quite remarkable. Nevertheless, in spite of the official's opinion, there are obstacles to the spread of evangelical religion in Russia, so formidable and so numerous that one almost despairs of seeing them altogether removed in onr day. Let us look for a moment at the position of affairs. Of the one hundred million Russians inhabiting Russia in Europe and Siberia, about eighty millions are orthodox Greek Churchmen, and some twent.y millions are heretics of one school or another-Old Believers, Old Ritualists, Molokans, Stundists, etc. The policy of the Church and State toward dissent has been almost invariably one of severe repression, appalling sometimes in its severity. The result is that persecutor and persecuted view one another with an hostility difficult for people to judge who enjoy perfect religious freedom. Besides, the conduct of the" heretics" themselves has been often so indecorous, so fanatical and intolerant, and the excrescences which they have put forth have been frequently so offensive, that almost all the sympathy felt for them by the warm-hearted and more liberal of the orthodox has been chilled. In Russia, therefore, dissenter and Churchman are face to face, hating one another bitterly, the former excluded from every privilege, from every office in the State, hunted down by those two steady allies, priests and police, prohibited in most cases from worshipping in his own way, his children often taken from him and forcibly brought up in the orthodox faith. The position of the Russian dissenter is an intolerable one, and only the most steadfast belief in the infallibility of his doctrines, and the ever-present hope that his fidelity to principle will have its glorious reward hereafter, could compensate him for his !ifeof toil and trouble, for the ignominy and contempt poured upon him.
There can be no doubt that among the different dissenting bodies in Russia there are, on the whole, far greater evidences of energetic religious life than among the orthodox. The very multiplicity of sects among them, however harmful and disastrous it may be in many ways, is still proof that they are thinking, that religion is a reality to them, that it is a tremendous force playing a controlling part in their lives. Hardly a sect among them that is not eagerly missionary in spirit and practice. Generally it is this very propagandist zeal of theirs which gets them so often into trouble, for no orthodox Russian is allowed to leave the Greek Church without being liable to transportation to Siberia, and the same terrible punishment is likewise meted out to any sectarian who either attempts to or succeeds in perverting any member of the Orthodox Church. These drastic punishments, however, have never deterred enthusiastic propagandists anywhere, and the result in Russia agrees with universal experience, that danger lends attraction to the missionary's work, and that a martyr's crown is often a far greater inducement to work than the prospect of full money-bags and an easy old age.
I am often asked, apart from the Stundists and other Russian sects professing what is known as Protestant doctrine, is there any vital evangelical force at work among the numerous millions of the other heretical bodies f I believe there is. To too great an extent the leaders of the Old Believers, the most numerous of these sects, are taken up with the empty points of ritual which divide them from orthodoxy, their minds are too full of an antipathy almost absurd in its strength to anything modern or that deflects in any way from the methods of their fathers, but their very isolation, and the fact that they give their minds to the consideration of sacred subjects, are evangelical forces of the strongest character. Many of them will not take a New Testament or other religious book in their hands if it is written in modern Russ. They deem it profane to quote Scripture in auy language other than the ancient Slavonic, but this very conservatism of theirs has forced them to pay attention to the Scripturel, and to learn by heart whole chapteri of the Bible, which are handed down orally from father to son, from generation to generation. One of the most affecting services I ever attended was in the little hut of one of these sectaries. Before retiring for the night my host and his wife stood in the middle of the room and recited psalm after psalm, passage after passage, without an error so far as I could judge. Neither of them could read, and their parents and grandparents before them were equally illiterate. After careful study of these, the more ancient of the sectaries, I am led to believe that the vital principles of religion are slowly and steadily finding their way among them, and that there seems to me some slight softening of the asperities which used to mark their dealings with those who were not their co-religionists.
But in addition to the hostile attitude of sect toward sect and of orthodoxy toward heresy, there is another far more fatal obstacle to the uninterrupted course of evangelical truth in Russia. I refer to the influences which centre in the great lay procureur of the Holy Synod, M. Constantine Pobedanostseff. This able man, notwithstanding a temporary eclipse at the accession of the present Czar, is still the most powerful statesman in Russia. He is thoroughly sincere in his notion that the welfare of the empire depends upon the intimate connection of Church and State, and no
I•.] TO fiOfI'ZL IN BVIIIU
pains are too great and no labor is without reward which has for its object the welding together the closest interests of both. Dissent from the Church is, in his view, disloyalty to the empire. The dissenter who, enamored of Luther's doctrines, hangs up a picture of the great reformer in his room, is not far from hanging up a picture of the German Emperor, or from deposing the picture of the Czar. These are in reality M. Pobeda- nostllej!'s views more than once expressed. The passionate love which this statesman bears to his church is part of the fibre of his being. In a well-known passage he once declared to the leaders of the Evangelical Alliance, that it was the Russian Church which stood for two hundred years between Western Europe and the Mongolian invaders from the East, that if the East has left its impre88 too deeply on the Russian character, it is because Russia took upon herself what might have destroyed Europe, and that instead of the Western churches sneering at the supposed intoler- ance and immobility of their Russian aister, they should be filled with admiration at the constancy and fortitude which has enabled her to preserve inviolate her holiest traditions and her undying hopes. Both as Churchman and as politician, therefore, Pobedanostseff will tolerate no deftection from the atandards of the orthodox faith, aud if a handful of peaaants here and there in the interior maintain their right to liberty of conscience, or if the Lutheran pastors of the Baltic provinces interfere with the rights of the RWlSian clerC', or if the Roman Catholics of Poland attempt any undue aasertion of the rights of the Latin Church, they are one and all summarily crushed. We can have nothing but admiration for zeal properly directed and guided by discretion into right channels, but when a highly placed statesman, a man of great culture and knowledge of the world, thinks that he can advance the cause of true religion by petty restrictions, by vexatious harryings of peasants' cottages and kidnapping of their children, by prison and stick and banishment, by depriving hundreds of innocent men and women of their personal rights and privileges, by conduct, in a word, which approaches in its ferocity the methods of the Spanish zealots of the seventeenth century, we have nothing but reprobation for such a statesman, we have nothing but condemnation for his principals, and our most entire sympathies are wholly with the wretched victims who for the faith that is in them remain undaunted in face of the priests and police who hound them on to prison and exile. It was the foolish notion of many well-wishers of Russia that the persecutions which had disgraced the last years of Alexander Ill.'s reign would cease under the sway of Nicholas, but auch hopes have turned out to be groundless, and after a short spell of quiet the jails are again receiving the more prominent of the Stundists and Baptists, and almost every chain of prisoners which crosses the anows of the C~Ucasus from Russia contains one or more representatives of that patient and heroic body of Protestant peasants who have done far more for the real advance of RU8sia than all the states.. mell in Peteraburg.
72i PEACE WITH JAPAN' :RIOTS m SZOllUAN'
But despite persecution and many a dark cloud on the horizon, the outlook in Russia is anything but gloomy. Even if we abide by the somewhat uncertain test of numbers, there is every reason to believe th&t the Protestant or evangelical sects are increasing. If in one or two places the Orthodox Church can boast that it has eradicated dissent, there are innumerable districts all over Russia which now contain il!lolated bodies of Stundists where ten years ago there were none. Th8 very dispersal of these brethren must tend to their rapid increase. Filled with zeal for his cause, the banished man and his family at once start to make known to their neighbors the great truths which have done so muw for them.
Perhaps no factor in the situation is so important and far· reaching as the extraordinary circulation of the Scriptures, which is effected year after year in the mighty empire stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific. Between five and six hundred thousand copies of the Word of God are circulated every year in Russia, and he who would learn what is being actually done in bringing the Gospel to the people of Russia has only to study the deeply interesting reports of the agents of the British and Foreign Bible Society and t.he report of the Russian Society for Circulating the Scriptures. From all parts of the huge country the colporteurs of these societies meet with encouragement. It is not merely in the towns and cities that this work is being done. We read of hundreds of copies being distributed in a village, of the peasants on steamboats sitting all day long reading the Gospell!l, of employers buying copies for their workmen, and officers for their soldiers. The writer of this article has seen the colporteurs at their work, and more than once has noticed the tears start to the eyes of great rough fellows as they became possessed for the first time in their lives of a copy of the New Testament. This wonderful sowing will some day, and some day soon rather than late, bring in a rich harvest of Bible-illuminated souls.
Unquestionably the prospects are bright, and it is safe prophesying that the day is not far distant when the sweet faith and tender paRsions of the Russian nation will be used by the Master in the advancement of his kingdom to the uttermost ends of the world.
PEACE WITH JAPAN! RIOTS IN SZCHUA~ !
BY REV. WILLIAM M. UPCRAFT, SZCHUAN, CHINA.
Again the flame of persecution and destruction has broken forth in China. While lovers of peace specially, and th8 world generally, were rejoicing at the restoration of peace in the Orient, and all were hoping for the fruits of peace in enlarged opportunities for intercourse with the subdued Chinese, Christendom was startled by reports of widespread uprising and persistent attacks on all kinds of missioB :wark and workers, such as have not been known before since the right to travel and rellide in the interior of China was granted to Western nations. On May 29th, a date coincident with the annual fifth month festival, the trouble began at Chentu, the capital city of Szchuan province.
Owing to the recent extension of missionary enterprise in the western provinces, quite a large work was in course of development at Chentu, this being one of the most eligible as it is one of the most important points in this vast inland province. The China Inland Mission (pioneers in this as in many other places), the Methodist Episcopal, and Canadian Methodists, each had a company of workers and a working plant in operation, so that some seventeen adults (all young and nearly all new to the work) and eleven children, English and American, were at home in Chentu.
For some weeks before the actual riot ugly rumors had been spread throughout the city and neighborhood, retailing the old stories of child murder and mutilation, with local embellishments, but nothing serious was apprehended. Missionaries in China are accustomed to a maximum of misrepresentation.
Inflamed with wine toward the close of an exciting day, the crowd of riotous rowdies bore down upon the Canadian premises, forced the doors, took possession of the courts, and finally caused the little handful of helpless missionaries to lieek Hight by a rear gate, where escaping to the city wall, they hid in the darkness till midnight, and then escaped to the house of the Inland Mission. Repeated applications to the officials failed to bring relief, owing, as we now see, to the hostility pf mandarins high in office, who refused the help that might easily have averted the disaster.
Returning early the following morning, the rioters finished their work of destruction upon the Canadian Mission, and then began an attack on the Inland Mission, in which the refugees of the previous night had taken shelter. Flight again was forced upon them, and having no door at the back, the wall was scaled by means of a ladder, and shelter purchased in a neighbor's house, where men, women, and children were hustled behind the curtains of a friendly bed, and the little crowd forced to wait in suspense and discomfort, within earshot of the yelling mob outside.
Who can tell of the hours of suffering in that poor refuge, and the uncertain future pressing upon them all! Meanwhile, over at the Methodist Episcopal Mission a similar scene was being enacted. Calmed somewhat, after the excitement of the previous night, by official assurance that no harm could befall them, the missionaries had returned to their house and arranged themselves for their usual work, when the crowd swept down upon them intent on destruction. Before the outer gate gave wa.y they were able to get the children and a very few things over the back wan, into a loft placed at their disposal by a friendly neighbor. The dust of years was in accumulated wealth on floor and rafters, a hot slln beat npon the unceiled tiles, while the motherli stifled the cries of their babes lest such a sound should attract the rioting crowd in the next yard.
01lJUSTIAN MIllION. IN ABAJtIA
All that day they remained as spectators of the scene, while home and chapel and dispensary, their furniture, books, even trees and 1l0wers, were destroyed, so eager were the crowd to wipe out the traces of the foreigners' home and work.
For ingenuity and diabolical delight in finding reasons why this should be done, the Chentu mob holds the palm. Bones were dug up and displayed, recent corpses exhumed and paraded, chickens killed and their blood smeared around on the walls, as evidence to support the charges made against the missionaries.
At length, from various points the driven, hunted ones were gathered together at the magistrate's yamen and found all safe; no one missing, though many a narrow escape was related as experiences were compared and the day's full total made up.
Starting from this central point, the contagion spread till Kiating, Suifn, Yachow, Lnchow, and many other points were involved. At some only a partial wreck was made, at others again the ruin was complete. In happy contrast to the conduct of the officials at Chentu, the mandarins at some other places did their utmost to protect the foreigners, and in a few cases succeeded.
The full tale cannot now be told. God intervened for His people marvellously, and in all the widespread trouble no life was lost. The native Christians suffered much and suffered well. And China stands again disgraced and discounted in the eyes of Christendom. The causes are not far to seek for this and other similar outbreaks.
It is, in the nature of things, only too true that we reap as we sow. Like seed like harvest. Given a credulous people, an incompetent administration, an assiduous misrepresentation of all foreigners, a relentless slandering of mission work and doctrine, and the result is not difficult to foresee. Sow Hunan placards; reap Szchuan riots.
A diligent inquiry should be promptly instituted in this cass and safeguards devised against a repetition. The right of Westerners to residence thronghout the interior should be made unquestionable, and freedom guaranteed. There is a strong plea in present circumstances for prayer and intercession on behalf of China, her rulers and people, that she may see her hour of opportunity and acceptance.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN ARABIA.
IIY GJ:NERAL F. T. HAIG.
It would be deeply interesting, did space permit, to trace the gradual unfoldings of the Divine Providence in the re-introduction of the Gospel into Arabia, thirteen hundred years after Christianity had been blotted out in that land by the sword of Mohammed and his successors, but the limits imposed upon this article forbid anything more than a glance at this part of the subject. For many centuries the Arabs had ceased to be a menace to Christianity and civilization. As the great missionaries of Islam they had spread their creed over nearly half the African Continent, and the ever-advancing wave of Mohammedanism had begun even to threaten the young Christian churches on the western coast. Still it was not until some time between 1880 and 1890 that Arabia itself, the cradle and home of the race, seriously engaged the attention of the Church of Christ. About that time, however, it became evident that the Spirit of God was moving upon the hearts of His people, and that the yearninga of His love were beginning to find expression in their prayers for the 1000t sons of Ishmael. "For some years," wrote an American minister in the far West, " I and my people have been praying for Arabia. " More than one appeal went forth, pleading for the Arabs. Interest was awakened. Old Dr. Lansing, of the American Mission in Egypt, who for over thirty years had labored there, waiting for the dawn of a brighter day for the Moslem world, when one of these appeals fell into his hands, was all on tire to start for Yemen. "I could scarcely keep him," said his wife, "from mounting his donkey and setting off at once." Keith-Falconer felt the same mighty impulse, left home and country, and settled oat Aden, which for two short years became his mission field, and then his grave. The mantle of the elder Lansing fell upon his son, and he with a few other kindred spirits rose up at the Divine call and started the Arabian Mission, which now occupies the three most important points on the eastern side of the peninsula. Another mission, afterward taken up by the Church Missionary Society, was commenced at Kerak:, on the mountains of Moab, by a Methodist preacher, Mr. Lethaby and his wife; and Bagdad, which had already been occupied by the same society, in connection with their PerSian Mission, now assumed new importance as a great Arab city. Finally the venerable Bishop French, who, after some thirty years of missionary labor in India, could not, though feeble and broken, cease from his loved employ, commenced work: at Muscat, where shortly after, in a little nook: at the foot of the cliffs, where the waves have washed up just sand enough to afford space for a few graves, he was laid to rest, consecrating the whole movement by his noble example of devotedness Ullto death for the salvation of his fellow· men.
Thus six of the most important strategic positions aroUlld the great peninsula are now held for Christ : those on the East Coast and at the head of the Gulf, commanding the whole hinterland of Central Arabia, by the (American) Arabian Mission i that at Aden by the Scotch Mission; and the two on the north by the Church Missionary Society. When we remember that this has been accomplished in little more than ten years since the attention of the Christian Church was first drawn to the subject, including all the preliminary organizations at, home aud inquiries abroad, before actual settlement on the spot could be effec'ted, there is cause for thankfulness and praise. At the same time it is necessary to point out that each of the three stations of the Arabian Mission is held at the present moment by only one man, whose death or disablement by sickness would instantly stop the work at that point. Immediate and strong reinforceme~ts are called for. Only one side of the great fortress is as yet, and that but partially, invested, and no advance into the citadel, the great populous centres of Nejd and Jebel Shommar, is possible without further help. Ten millions of Arabs need- something more than half a dozen men for their effectual evangelization. It is surprising, indeed, how much of vigorous forward movement and exploration has been done, chiefly by the Americans, in this short period. They have explored the beautiful mountainous country of Yemen in the southwest; several hundred miles of the coast of Hadramaut on the south, including the centres of Makallah and Sheher; and many hundred miles of the Euphrates and Tigris on the north, making the acquaintance there of new forms of Arab life, and of the interesting little community of the Sabeans, the descendants of the Hemero-baptists of the first centuries.
They have annexed Bahrein and Muscat to Busrah, their original settlement, and Rev. S. M. Zwemer has pushed his reconnaissances inland as far as Khateef and Hofhoof, on the way to Nejd and Central Arabia, finding more than one evidence of t.he truthfulness of Palgrave's picturesque descriptions of that country. Thousands of Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Scripture have been scattered by the Bible societies and missionaries around the various mission centres. Thus a good beginning of the great work has been made, most of the strategic points for mission work have been occupied, but nothing more; but enough at least has been done to show that if only the men now in the field be properly backed up by the churches at home, not many years will elapse before all Arabia, north, south, east, and west, shall have heard the joyful sound, and " Ishmael shall live."
Let us now look a little more closely into the conditions of this great problem, the evangelization of Arabia. Nothing need here be said about the geography, climate, etc., of the country. Ample information already exists upon this part of the subject, and may be easily found elsewhere by those who desire it. Of the present distribution of political power, however, some account must be given, and I take the following from a tract by Rev. S. M. Zwemer.
" Sinai is Egyptian, and also the 200 miles of coast south of the Gulf of Akaba. Hedjaz belongs to the Turk, and he also grasps (not holds) Yemen, Asir, El Hasa, and Irak. All the rest of Arabia yields neither love, obedience, nor tribute to the Sublime Porte. The oppressed tribes of Upper Yemen were recently crushed into submission, but do not despair of future revolution. El Rasa (on the East Coast) frets like an Arab steed under the yoke of taxation, and Mecca itself dictates at times to the
THE TOMB OF A MOSLElIl SAINT AT
2. A CONVERTED 1Il0SLElIl HELPER. 3. REV. S. M. ZWEMER IN ARAB DRESS. 4. NATIVE HOUSES AT BUSRAH.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN ARABIA. ~83
power behind the throne at Constantinople. The tribes near Aden, and the entire South Coast, including Oman with. Muscat, are in one way or another under subsidy or ' protection' by the English, who ruIe the Gulf, and have a voice at Busrah and Bagdad. Wide, wild Nejd bends to the iron sceptre of the greatest Arab of our day, Ibn Rasheed, the Ameer of Jebel Shommar. For the rest, nomads roam the free desert, acknowledging no Sultan save the sword ; they hold the parliament of war or peace in the black tents of Kedar. Thus, within the last fifty years have the schisms of Islam, the turmoil of Arab rebellion, and the diplomacy of English commerce, burst the barriers of the land of Ishmael for the Allconquering Son of Isaac ; the very cradle of Islam is aJmost unveiled for the heralds of the Cross." To ~hich I may add that Bahrein, the name given to two islands which lie just off the coast of EI Hasa, and are the centre of the pearl fishery, has in a remarkable manner been preserved from Turkish aggression, and is ruled by an Arab Sheikh under the control of the British Resident at Bushire. The islands have a large population, are the nearest point along the coast to Nejd and all Central Arabia, and are therefore of the utmost importance as a mission station for an advance in that direction. In all these political arrangements we clearly trace the overruling hand of God, curbing Turkish aggression, suppressing Wahabee fanaticism, and so preparing the way for His Gospel. There is not room to dwell here upon other influences which have told in the saIDe direction, such as the extension of commerce and intercourse with India, and the spectacle of the beneficent results of the British Government in that country, in Aden, and in Egypt.
But of yet greater interest is the question of the present religious condition of the Arab races. Does Islam retain its hold upon them as firmly as ever ~ How does their present mental attitude toward it, and toward the Christianity which it once supplanted, compare with that of the past ages and with that of the Arabs of North Africa ~ The question can only be lightly touched upon here. To treat of it at all satisfactorily would need a wider and fuller acquaintance than we yet possess, not only with the extent to which the outward forms of their religion are observed, but also with the inner thoughts and life of the people. Arabia is an immense country, about three fourths the size of India. Vast portions of it have as yet been unvisited except by a chance traveller passing hastily through, and having little real intercourse with the inhabitants. There may be lying, deep below the surface, phases of religious thought in parts of it with which we are wholly unacquainted. Has Christianity quite died out in the course of ages, or are there still faint memories and traditions of it which have influenced the religious ideas of the present day ? We know not. It is certain, however, that in another country which might be named such a survival of as remote a past has actually taken place, and may yet prove a powerful factor in the conversion of its inhabitants. In general terms, however, it may perhaps be said that the influences of
C. .I.TLUi MIIIBIOlf. Ilf AllA.:aIA
time have told less unfavorably, from the Christian point of view, upon the Arabs of Arabia than upon the scattered but probably equally numerous ponions of the race in North Africa. Romanism with its idolatry, on t.he one hand, and the scepticism and atheism which are the reaction from it, on the other, are the only forms of religious opinion, under the general name of Christianity, which the Arabs of North Africa have been acquainted with. The one they contemptuously reject, but. the other is secretly spreading among the more cultured classes, especially in Algeria and Tunis, where French education is rapidly extending, and the state of mind it produces is even more unfavorable to the reception of the truth than the most fanatical forms of Mohammedanism.
The isolation of Arabia has to a great extent preserved it from these forms of error, while there has been nothing within the borders of the peninsula itself to strengthen or resuscitate faith, or effectually to counteract the disintegrating forces of sectarian division, Persian speculative thought, and, more perhaps than either, the indifference to all religion. questions, which seems, according to some authorities, to· be a characteristic of the race, and which in the case of the; Bedouin is said to have led even Mohammed to despair of their conversion. In point of fact, Islam from the very first seems to have taken far less hold upon the Arabs than might be supposed. Immediately after the death of its founder a general revolt from his teachings took place, and for centuries the popular religion seems to have been little more than semi-paganism. Wahabeeism, which was an attempt to reinstate the religion of the prophet by his favorite weapon, the sword, has failed egregiously, and is now in the last stage of decay. The Arabs remain Mohammedans simply because they know of nothing better j fanatical in some parts, doubtful and bewildered in others, not because they have rejected the Gospel, but because they have never heard it. The Bedouin, constituting perhaps a fourth or fifth of the population, are for the most part Mohammedan only in name, observing the prescribed forms in the neighborhood of towns, but speedily casting them aside on regaining the desert. Yet there are men among them not without reverent thoughts of the Creator, derived from the contemplation of His works, thoughts which, according to Palmer, take sometimes the form of solemn but simple prayer. A missionary who some years ago spent more than two months with one of these tribes, living with the Sheikh, and accompanying them in their wanderings from pasturage to pasturage, found them willing though not particularly interested listeners, and singularly amenable to the Word of God as the one authority in matters of faith. The Sheikh, seeing that the missionary disliked travelling on the Sunday, inquired the reason, and willingly accepted the word of the Book as de. cisive upon the point, and indeed upon every other point, and from that time the tribe never marched upon the Sabbath. How sad it seems that 10 few of the race have as yet come under the sound of the Gospel !
In the cities and toWJll there is, of course, a more rigorous observance
CIIlUSTIAN MISSIONS IN ABABIA
of the outward forms of Mohammedanism, but there is also among the upper and middle classes, especially on the eastern coast, widespread doubt. A missionary writes: "There are very plain indications of an undercurrent of scepticism and free thought. Indeed, to anyone who knows the Mohammedans intimately, it is scarcely an undercurrent at all. I know men in the most learned Mohammedan society of B– who, judged by their dress and outward appearance, would be taken for bulwarks of the Mohammedan religion, and who yet have no more belief in it than Professor Huxley has in Christianity. One of these men astonished me by his expressions of downright loathing of the religion of which he is a professed teacher."
It would be foreign to the special object of this paper, and altogether beyond its scope, to give any detailed description of the doctrines and practices of Islam. It may suffice to say with regard to them all, that holiness of heart has absolutely no place in the religion of Mohammed, and that just as polygamy, unlimited concubinage, and divorce, being regarded as of Divine sanction, are not in the least degree revolting to the moral sense of its votaries, so there is no connection, either in fact or in popular estimation, between the most rigorous observance of the outward forms, which are of its very essence, and a holy life.
Arabs are not in the least deceived by what they know to be merely outward and ritual, and wholly without effect upon the heart j they draw, in fact, an unfavorable inference from much outward show of religion. In North Africa they have a saying, " Shun a man who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca once; live not in the same street with one who has performed it twice ; and reside not in the same country with one who has visited the Kaaba thrice. " I once myself formed one of a circle of some twenty gnests in the house of an Arab gentleman, who (excepting myself), when the evening adtham, or call to prayer, sounded forth from the mosque, joined the host in the most solemn and impressive recitation of the prayers, with the prescribed genuflexions and prostrations, but of whom he afterward privately declared that everyone was a thief, handing me at the same time the key of a room where he had had my baggage locked up, and warning me to be on my guard. The true Christian idea of prayer appears to be wholly wanting, though in times of great distress short ejaculatory prayer will be put up. The intercession of saints is much resorted to; prayer is offered at their tombs. At times the poor people, failing to receive an answer to such prayers, resort in their despair to necromancy.
In Arabia the women" pray." "At home," says Mr. S. M. Zwemer, "a larger proportion observe the times of prayer than do the men." (This is not the case in North Africa.) In the towns girls seldom, and boys never, "pray," until they are over twelve years of age. Women. are seldom or never allowed to attend the public prayers in the mosque.
Few of the Arabs can read, perhaps not above 10 per cent ot the dwellers in towns, and only some of these nnderstand what they read of the Koran. The Bedouin are wholly illiterate. Slaves are imported via Jeddah and the Persian Gulf, they are sold in Busrah privately, and doubtless in other towns, being brought from Mecca as merchandise by the returning pilgrims. Polygamy is· practically universal among the well-to-do classes, and divorce, almost unlimited, with its attendant horrors of cruelty and. suffering, takes its place among the poorer. Thus, with polygamy, slavery, and divorce (all sanctioned by their religion) the state of Arab society may be imagined. Happily space does not permit me to enlarge upon this terrible subject.
So, with fasts and prayers and pilgrimages, hoping in his good works, the mercy of God, and the intercession of the Prophet (such intercession being wholly unauthorized by the Koran), the poor Arab wends his way down through life, is laid to rest at last with his face toward Mecca, and passes into eternity with a lie in his right hand. One thing he never knew, that gracious message that was intended to be familiar as a household word to every member of the human race, that God loved him as God only can love, that Christ died for him, and that a free pardon and full salvation awaited his acceptance. He knew it not because he was never told, and he was never told because for ages the Church lost the blessed truth, and since it recovered it has neglected the one great duty, to proclaim it to every creature. Thank God those times of ignorance are nearly over. Through the tender mercy of our God the day-spring from on high has visited Arabia. And may we not hope that the churches which have taken the lead in this gr~at movement will spare no effort, neither men, nor life, nor money, to carry it on to the destined consummation.
Thus far we have traced the rise and progress up to the present time of the Arabian missions. A few brief remarks as to the future may not inappropriately conclude this paper.
1. It will be seen from what has been said that all the western and southern sides of Arabia are still without a missionary. The Free Church of Scotland Mission at Aden is doing an important work, and there is a wide field for extension before it. Not, however, being acquainted with its plans for the future, I do not venture to say anything on the subject here. Jeddah, however, the port of Mecca, might afford a base where, in spite of the intense jealousy and watchfulness of the Turk, a work might be begun. Asir and Yemen may not be accessible just at this moment, but they soon will be so.
2. As to the rest of Arabia, including the eastern, central, and southern provinces, in fact quite one half of the peninsula, I am indebted to the Rev. S. M. Zwemer for the following sketch, the result of four years' study of the subject on the spot, of a missionary scheme, such as the Church which sent him and his fellow-laborers out can hardly stop short of. I give this sketch only in very abbreviated form. Such a scheme would
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ARCH OF CTESIPHOX NEAR BAGDAD.
ARAB PILGRIMS BOUND FOR lHECC_~.
OllRlSTLUT lUBSIONB IN ARABIA
include thre~ provinces, HasS3, Oman, and Nejd, with Busr.1h on the north, and a part at least of Hadramaut on the south. There would be twelve centres-viz., the seven coast towns already occupied, or visited, by the American Mission, four inland towns, Hail, Boreyda, HOfhoof, and Riad in Najd, and two or three inland towns of Oman, and Hadramaut (MakalIah is included in the coast centres). These would require twentyfour missionaries and twelve native helpers. The cost would be, in round numbers, $30,000 a year-viz., *25,000 in addition to the present outlay on the missionarie!!l and native helpers, new in the field. "With this demand supplied, all of Eastern, Central, and Southern Arabia would in ten years be p&rmeated with the Gospel message, by word and printed page. Leaving all other results with God, is that too much to pay for such a privilege! Can the Dutch Reformed Church do it ? Will she do it 1" To such an appeal there can be but one reply. That Church when it took up the mission originally commenced on an independent basis as the Arabian Mission, did so with full knowledge of the plans and purposes of its founders, which, as the very title of the mission shows, embraced nothing less thaD. !!Iuch a comprehensive scheme of evangelization as that above described. Surely then that church will feel it to be both a duty and a privilege to carry that scheme through to the end.
is As to the qualifications needed for the work, here a description by one of the missionaries now in the field: " 1. A strong and sound constitution. " 2. Ability to acquire the language. This is the one aud only quaIl- fication needfRl, mentally. Scholarship is good, but not at all necessary. Deep and abstruse arguers will not be wanted in Arabia for fifty years to come.
" 3. As to character-humility, patience, love-these three. A man with a hot temper could never stand three seasons in the Gulf. But after you have got these for foundation, pile 'on all the fire and zeal and enthusiasm you can get.
" Lastly, men foll of the Holy Ghost, sine qua non. " Christians of America, hearken to your brethren's call from the Gulf, come and take your stand by their side. The future of Arabia is largely in your hands. It will be very much what you make it. "Who among you is willing to consecrate this day his, service to the Lord ~ The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up."
SPECIMEN OF A MOHAMMEDAN PRAYER.-·O God, bestow blessing upon our lord Mohammed the beloved, and upon his father Abraham the friend, and upon his brother Moses the word, and upon the faithful Jesus the Spirit of God, and upon David and Solomon and Zechariah and John the Baptist and their people, as long as the thoughtful ones remember thee, and the thoughtless ones neglect to think of them.
THE JEWS IN PERSIA
THE JEWS IN PERSIA.-I.
BY REV. S. G. WILSON, TABRIZ, PERSIA.
The Jews in Persia can themselves Beni-Israel, which accords with the Bible account of the captivity of the Israelites in "the c:ties of the Medes," " by the river Gozan," which may be the Guzul-Uzun, the longest river of Media. Shahpoor II. transported Jews from Armenia to Persia.
The Jews now found in the limits of ancient Media are in the western part, having been driven there by Tamerlane. Starting at the northwest. ern border, we find them in Salmas, Oroomiah, Suldooz, Sonjbulak, Miandnab, Sakkus, Senna, Kermanshah, Ramadan, and other places. In Azerbijan there are twelve hundred and thirty houses of Jews. They are found also in Teheran, Kashan, Khorasan, and Ispahan.
These remnants have survived the persecutions of centuries. Tabriz has none except a few strangers. The cause is that old slander which is constantly renewed even in the present day and in Europe. It was reported by some renegade Jews that the Jews had killed a missing Mohammedan child and drunk his blood. The late Kala-Begi narrated how the police snatched a Jew, thns accused, from the hands of an infuriated mob, which followed him mto the courtyard yellmg for hIS blood. The Kala-Begi bastinadoed him to appease the mob, and afterward told the English consul, who remonstrated with him for beating an innocent man, that it was the only way to save him ahve from the mob. At that time the Jews fled from Tabriz.
A somewhat similar affair occurred in Oroomiah in Dr. Perkins's time. A Mohammedan infant was found dead before a Jew's door. The latter was accused of murder and arrested. The Mohammedans collected in an angry mob, and for several days surrounded the governor's palace, demanding that all the Jews should be put to death. To appease the mob, the Jew was delivered to them, beheaded, and burned.
In Meshed, the ancient Tus, the Jews have resided for centuries. It was one of their rabbis who made the first Persian version of any part of the Bible in the eighth or tenth century. They continued there near the sacred shrine of the Emaum Reza, until several decades ago a report was spread that the Jews had killed a dog in ridicule of the ceremonies of the Festival of Sacrifice. A mob rose, killed a Jew, tore down some of their dwellings, and finally gave the Jews the alternative of Islam or the sword. In fear of death they accepted an outward profession of Islam.
At Balfurush, in Mezanderan, in 1866, a massacre of Jews occurred. * The cause was, perhaps, a lack of rain. For this an efficacious remedy was supposed to be the disinterment and scattering broadcast of the dust * See Mormsey's "Through the Caucasus and Persia."
TJ[]I JBWI IN PBlUIIJ.•
of a Jew. For some unknown cause the Mussulmans rose one night, set fire to the Jewish quarter, and killed eighteen men and six women. Two of the men were besmeared with petroleum and burnt alive. The rest, to the number of four hundred and fifty, escaped to the woods. The British Minister made representations for redress. The Shah gave orders for the punishment of the culprits, and indemnifying the Jews j but the mollahs rose in their wrath that anyone should be punished for injuring a dog of a Jew. Popular fanaticism rose high in Teheran. An attack on the British Legation and on foreigners in general was even contemplated. The Shah was alarmed by the agitation, and to appease the mollahs dis· missed some French army officers from his service. Finally the Jews were partially indemnified for their losses.
In November, 1892, I was in Hamadan during a reign of terror for the Jews. 'Wishing to find a cause for the cholera, the Mohammedans turned their wrath upon the Jews, an ambitious mollah instigating the attack. Several Jews were seized and beaten. The mollah commanded that the Jews should wear a distinctive cloak, should have a badge of red on their coats, should not come out on rainy days, should dismount until a passing Mussulman went by j that Jewish women should wear black veils, and houses of Jews not be higher than those of their Mussulman neighbors. Some of the Jews took refuge with nobles, others fled to the telegraph office and appealed to the Shah and the English Legation. A crowd of Mussulmans shouting, "Ya Ali ! Ya Ali !" surrounded the refugees and threatened them, so that a dozen were frightened into accepting Islam. The Jews in Bagdad hearing of the disturbances, appealed to their friends in England. Lord Rosebery made inquiries concerning the affair. The Shah sent word that the mollah should come to Teheran. A month of confusion followed. Once the police seized the mollah. A frenl'ied crowd attacked the governor, looted his house, and killed a servant. It then turned toward the Jewish quarter, crying, "Kill the Jews!" The gate of their quarter was closed and the Jews escaped.
One young Jewish convert, who is a pupil in the school, was surrounded by some Mussulmans and pressed to become a Mussulman. He stood his ground as a Christian, and afterward gave before the governor the reasons for his faith.
After a while the mollah was taken to Teheran, and the Jews were again in peace.
These incidents do not show the continual state of the Jews, but they well indicate the continual attitude of the people toward them. Continual watchfulness is necessary on the part of the government, as there is no moment when fanaticism may not direct its attacks against the Jews. The Shah always tries to protect them from such attacks and oppressions.
Thus situated, it is no wonder that the Jews have a downcast mien and abject manner. They live apart from all, and not only hate, but no doubt despise their oppressors. They largely maintain their laws of food. I
'740 THE JEWS IN" PERSIA
invited a Salmas Jew to send bis boy to our Tabriz boarding-school. He replied that God had commanded the Jews not to eat the l-read of other races. Some Jewish doctors were invited to the wedding of our teacher in Zenjan. Separate dishes of natural products, as honey and fruits and bread prepared by one of their own race, were set before them. They gave thanks to God both before and after the meal. It is only lately and with difliculty that they have at last yielded their prejudice in Teheran and Hamadan, and pupils have begun to eat with their companions of other races. The Jews of Persia always kill their own animals, -and cut the meat into bits in extracting the sinews and veins from it. They are particular about the condition of the meat. If they find the liver diseased, they will eat none of the animal. Armenians, who are not so particular, sometimes buy such a butchered cow for one dollar.
Christians in Persia somewhat reciprocate the feeling of the Jews toward them. I took lodging in Sonjbulak in a Jew's house, much to the astonishment of the Armenians. They did not want me to drink milk furnished by Jews, saying it was unclean. Our evangelist for the .Jews in Sonjbulak told me that his innate feeling of aversion to Jewish food was so great that when he first plucked up courage to eat it, it stuck in his throat.
The Jews are limited in their occupations. Very few, if any, are farmers. Many sell dry goods in the bazaar or peddle them in the villages. Some are goldsmiths and jewellers, and dealers in antiques, real and false. A considerable number are physicians, sometimes celebrated, and the Mussulmans who refuse their food will take their medicines. In Hamad,n there are about one hundred Jewish doctors, and many more druggists. Many of them are liquor-sellers, and are themselves much addicted to drink.
On other points of morality they differ little from the rest of the population. They are polygamists, as the Mohammedans, and with the same results. They are very strict in keeping their Sabbath. They will not light a fire on that day, but will hire a Mussulman to do it for them. Some say that Sabbath-breaking is the sin for which they are suffering. They look for a national return to their own land, when they shall rule over the nations. Their schools are taught by their rabbis. Most of the men can read Hebrew, though they do not understand it perfectly. Their spoken language is an Aramaic akin to the Syriac. They speak also either Persian, Kurdish, or Turkish, according to the language spoken in the region in which they reside. They best understand the Persian Bible in the Hebrew character.
(To be C01IIJlud«l.)
HI88ION.A.BY JilFFOBT AND THE NESTOBIAN CHUBCH. '741
RELATION OF THE PROTESTANT MISSIONARY EFFORT TO THE NESTORIAN CHURCH.* BY REV. WILLIAM A. SHEDD, OROOMIAH, PERSIA.
It is generally known that the purpose of Protestant mIssIonaries among the Nestorians was at first to reform the old church, or rather to revIve spiritual life within that body. Various causes prevented the reali- zation of this effort in the manner and to the extent anticipated, and the missionaries have striven to establish an evangelical church, scriptural in constitution and spiritual in life. The change has been gradual, not sud- den, and the' relation of the old and the reformed Churchmen has never been that of bitter hostility, except in individual cases. The old Church is the mother Church, and the history and traditions of the past are rightly cherished by all. Within the last ten years a new force has come into the field, which is doing much to rear a wall of partition and to excommu- nicate and place reformed Christians under the ban. The old Church is persistently warned against the errors and schism of Protestant heresy by the members of the mission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Just as far as possible, directly and indirectly, by precept and by example, in ser- mons, in teaching, through Nestorian ecclesiastics, the old Church is being , fortified against Protestant influences. This is simply a statement of fact based on daily increasing evidence.
'Vhat right Anglicans have to pose as the exponents of Nestorianism or Englishmen to represent the long descent of Assyrian Christianity is not easy to comprehend. They are unable to commune in the Nestorian Church, for she is, from the High Church point of view, the most venerable schismatic in Christendom, and yet forsooth t.hey offer themselves as her stanch defenders. Our right to preach the Gospel of repentance and life to those who call themselves Syrian Christians and our duty to do so are based on the great command, not only to baptize, but also to teach men to do.
I shall attempt briefly to discuss the question before us, viewing suc- cessively the old Church itself, the Reformed Church, and the Protestant missionaries from abroad.
1. The Old Ohurch. The theology of this ancient Church of the East iii, of course, Nicene, with the addition of the Nestorian definition of the relation between the human and Divine natures in the incarnate Son of God. Definite and logical development has not gone much farther, due partly to the character of the Syriac mind, impulsive in initiative and often vigorous in execution, but not constructive of either theological or ecclesiastical system. Another reason, perhaps the principal one, is that the vital conJiict of this church • A paper read at the Conference filf Mi~~ionarie8 to Persia, Hamadan, September, 1894. •
UroB'l' UD THE NESTOBUN CIIUlWR
has not been with heresy or variations of Christian doctrine, but with heathenism and Islam. On most theological questions, except the person of Christ, the Trinity, and the authority of apostolic and Old Testament Scriptures, a diversity of opinion is found in their literature. For example, transubstantiation is both affirmed and denied. There is, however, a practical tendency to replace simple faith in the crucified and risen Saviour with some sort of sacerdotal mediatorship. Still stronger is the tendency to trust to legal works instead of living faith. The fast is the greatest Christian institution, votal offerings and pilgrimages to shrines are most important auxiliaries. The priesthood of the clergy in succession to the Levitical priesthood is recognized, but the name commonly used to designate the clergy is not priest, but elder (qasha or qa8hi8ha), the New Testament presbyter. The sacrament holds a high place in popular regard, aod yet the fact that there is no confessional deprives the priest of inquisitorial power. Vows to famous saints are trusted means of curing disease and procuring blessings. Religion is largely divorced from morals, and has little power of moral restraint. The clergy are no better than the common people in general morality. are more given to idleness, and possibly more generally demoralized by begging in Russia. The higher clergy (there being at present the patriarch, one metropolitan, and eight diocesan bishops) are, with a few exceptions, shamelessly venal, and in some instances of notoriously evil life. Two favorable points may be emphasized.
The authority of Scripture has never been impugned, and is a holy tradition of universal acceptance; nor is there any objection raised to the Scriptures in the vernacular. The old dispute of Cyril and Nestorius has been fought over again by every educated Nestorian for fourteen centuries; and the appeal is always to Scripture as against conciliar authority. The possession of a pure and ancient version is an additional advantage.
The true catholicity of the Nestorians is the second point-that is, if catholicity consists in the recognition of other Christians as members in the viilible body of Christ. How far this has been true in the past is a subject for historical research, but certainly Protestant missionaries have been recognized as true ministers administering valid ordinances. The only exceptions, if any, are within the past few years, when the invalidity of non-episcopal ordination has been preached by the archbishop'S mission.
The dangers threatening this old church are mainly two : disintegration and perversion•..
The terrible storm of persecution which broke out under the Mongol emperors at the close of the thirteenth century was followed by the deluge of blood and fire when Tamerlane swept over these lands. Troublous days followed, and when peace was in a degree restored under various Turkish and Persian dynasties, the two Syrian churches, Nestorian and Jacobite, were shattered wrecks. The story since is one of continual loss. Oppression and fighting have held the Christian population in check. There has been a constant but small secession to Islam. Rome has beell the
MISSIONARY EFFORT AND THE NESTORIAN CHURCH
great gainer. As early as the thirteenth century the Nestorian patriarch, Mar x:-abha11aha, acknowledged by letter the primacy of the Pope j in 1445 the Nestorians in Cyprus became Roman Catholics, and in the beginning of the stJventeenth century a large part of the Christians of Saint Thomas, in India, were won over. During the sixteenth century the disorganiza- tion of the Nestorian Church led to various rival patriarchs, who were not slow to recognize papal authority in the hope of securing their own. About 1580 the present line of patriarchs, from its beginning dynastic, gained the authority over the Nestorians in Persia and Kurdistan. If we may trust Roman historians, patriarchs of this line during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have acknowledged the authority of the Pope and renounced Nestorianism. In the region of Mosul the proselyting to Rome has gone on so successfully that to-day nine out of ten of the Nestorian churches south of the Kurdish Mountains are in the hands of the Roman Catholics. This same work, begun in Persia over two hundred years ago, has not met the same success. The inaccessibility of Persia, and still more of Kurdistan, which have been ecclesiastically joined, is one reason, but not the chief one. French monks came to Oroomiah fifty years ago, but it was too late. They had now to meet not only Nestorians, but American Protestants, -the most watchful defenders against Rome. The struggle is not yet over, for Catholicism on the south is pressing to enter the mountain valleys of Kurdistan. Three years ago (1892) beyond question the Chaldean patriarch, subject to the Pope, had bargained for the submission of the Nestorian patriarch. The scheme was frustrated by an American missionary.
The condition of affairs in Turkish Kurdistan and Armenia is a most terrible disintegrating influence. Recent events have illustrated the misrule and anarchy more vividly than words, and leave little occasion for remark. Suffice it to say that extinction and ruin threaten most imminently.
A thir~ such influence emanates from Russia. The Greek Church has shown little concern for the Nestorian Church, but for half a century Russia has been open to Nestorian laborers and beggars from Persia. The former have supported their people very largely, the latter have demoralized them. Many thousands of roubles have been gathered from the superstitious Christians of Russia by beggars, working on their pious credulity in the name of shrines and churches with the aid of pretended relics. Long absence from home, often years at a time, and vicious habits contracted in a wandering life, have been the cause of an alarming increase of transgressions of the seventh commandment. The ill-gotten wealth, spent in extravagance and gluttony, has impoverished rather than enriched. The shameless blasphemy and sacrilege of these adventurers have gone far to destroy the simple faith of the people. Canting hypocrites in Russia at home are cynical scoffers. A chief source of revenue to the bishops in Oroomiah is the ordination of priests and deacons, that they. may beg more successfully, The old church alone cannot withstand this evil influence. In the conllict with Rome the higher ecclesiastics have again and again proved traitors j and the ignorant and superstitious people have been tho conserva- tive force. The archbishop's mission will do something to preserve the fabric of the Church, and most effectively in so far as it is a purifying power. Theirs is a helping hand held out to this tottering, falling sister church, and may God guide their efforts. They are ne~essarily and 'in loyalty to their principles under manifest limitations.
1. Moral reform is subordinated to ecclesiastical reform. 1£ the Church's life is its legitimacy, like a decrepit dynasty, thiil is right j but if the Church's charter is its life, it is wrong. The Anglican mission must either reform the bishops or effect moral reform under immoral bishops. A distinction is made between spiritual authority and spiritual character which is destructive of righteousness.
2. Emphasis is placed on conservatism. The life, the faithful endurance, the bold testimony, the zealous evangelizing, these are the glory of the old Nestorian nation-and these are lost. The old rituals are doubtless full of spiritual truth, but.the archbishop's mission prefer, in their zeal for the old forms, to hide the truth in an unknowll. tongue rather than print them in the vernacular.
3. The doctrinal reform cannot be more evanielical than the mission. This is a truism, but implies much. Loyalty to their conception of Christianity will compel a doctrinal reform. Nestorianism must be obliterated, and St. Cyril substituted for St. Nestorius. That old controversy is dead, and the name signifies little. More than this, the doctrinal reform means impressing on the old Church in fixed form the doctrines of sacramenta· rianism and sacerdotalism. Much can doubtless be found in Nestorian practice and teaching to support these errors, but they have been tindencies rather than dogmas. To impress this old Church with nineteenthcentury High Church Anglicanism is a perversion of her doctrines, a narrowing of her historic catholicity, and leads her to the schism of cutting herself off from other members of Christ's body. When a bishop of the old Church, a man of pure character, at his own request communed with Protestants, he was said by an Anglican priest to have taken part in " a blasphemous mockery." The past few years have been marked in Oroomiah by a revival of masses for the dead, a practice of late years fallen into discredit.
From such a source can we hope for reform, or must we expect the entrenchment of error'
II. The Reformed Ohurch. The first duty of the Reformed Church is to exemplify the Gospel of Christ. A strong, pure, loving Church of Christ will do morEl to hring about a reform in the old Church than any other rower. Let us emphasize the adjectives, strong in loyalty to truth and in its proclamation j pure in that life which is the characteristic of tho kingdom of heaven j loving in her conduct to aU, especially those who love the Master. The first duty is example.
The second duty is clear and unwavering protest. This, I take it, must be threefold and not entirely against the mother Church.
There is, first, the protest for morals, against the unrebuked evil in the old Church, against the bloody hands that receive the broken bread, the lips filled with revilings and foulness that are raised to His cup, the avarice that sells for gain the offices of God's Church, the unspeakable hypocrisy that uses holy things to coyer schemes of lying beggary.
There is the protest against false doctrine, against sacerdotalism and sacramentarianism binding God's free grace to men and rites, against Rome with her great high-priest on earth. This protest is not against the old Church as much as her self-appointed guardians.
There is,finally, the protest against formalism. Some years ago a Christian, to escape punishment for a kinsman's crime, became a Moslem. Authority was obtained for him to return to his own faith. "How can I~" he exclaimed, "I have eaten the great fast." Fasting is to multitudes the chief evidence and exercise of Christianity. It must also be a protest against unintelligible worship and ignorant ministers.
The Reformed Church must be a Protestant church. A third duty is that of nationalloyaIty. The true inheritor of the missionary spirit that inspired the fathers of this people is the Evangelical Church. Her sons have been the pioneers of missionary labor in this age, and from her sons in large measure must be expected the evangelization of Persia.' She is also the inheritor of the love and loyalty to God's Word shown by the Fathers. The best loyalty is devotion to the highest national ideal, and the past of this people is full of glorious aspirations. Herein lies a danger. Experience is showing us that breaking from old ties is too often the loosening of all ties, that the past is despised and not honored. There needs also to be a loyalty to the present duties and needs, a recognition of national unity and common sympathy. None have been more ready than our Protestant brethren to bear common burdens and to honor those who are in positions of honor. The patriarchal house in its civil functions has been frankly acknowledged and cheerfully honored by the Protestant Churchmen. III. The Missionaries from Abroad. The fundamental principle is that missionari8S are sent· to the whole people, not to the Evangelical Church alone j indeed, to all the peoples. While Christian equality seems best exemplified by our becoming members and ministers of the Evangelical Church, we must keep ourselves free from partisan animus. Neither our personal activities nor the missionary ;nstitutions must be confined to a section of the people. Our medical work is without any race or religious limitations whatever. Our educational work benefits many hundreds outside the Evangelical Church. Our literature is
DIVEBSITY OF OPJDU.TIONS IN TO MISSION FIELDS
by no means confined in its inll.uence to the Protestants. All this must be maintained, and if possible increased.
We need a fuller knowledge of the old Church and a deeper sympathy with its peculiar trials and dangers. Superstitions, old customs, and traditions are elements in the life of the people which we need to understand. Furthermorfl, we are losing in some measure an inll.uence of the highest importance in not making more use of the past as an incentive to present achievement. Martyrology, in spite ofits extravagances, has been a power in the Church everywhere. Such a martyr history as that of Mar Shimon bar Saha'ee, killed by the Sassanian king Shapor, is too precious to be forgotten. Scholarship is fostered· by the memories of former scholars, and this nation has many honorable names. We have no more right to doubt God's providence in the past than in the present, and the history of one's own nation is a book of God to him.
It may seem to be a strange Providence that has brought us children of the New World, even by our Old WorId ancestry only a few centuries removed from barbarism, to be the guides of this old apostol!c Church and ancient people. May God give us the wisdom to lead them aright, and to be warned and encouraged by the lessons of the past. May we and our generation be worthy of those who once before gave the Gospel to these lands, often sealing their testimony with their blood. Every one of the missionary stations in Persia was a bishop'S seat in the old Church of the East, Ispahan, Ramadan, Rhages (Teheran), Tabriz, Salmas, and Oroomiah j while Bagdad and Mosul were successively patriarchal cities. May the time soon come when everyone of the many other places where the banner of Christ was once raised may be made strongholds of truth and righteousness.
DIVERSITY OF OPERATIONS IN THE MISSION FIELD.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
if mISSIonary zeal is to be according to knowledge, and so prove worthy and lasting, it must have length and breadth as well as depth, and facts are the fuel upon which this celestial flame must be fed. Let one, informed only concerning the doings of his own denomination, enlarge his field of vision sufficiently to include the entire evangelizing activities of Christendom, and an astonishing revelation will ensue. His little island is at once transformed into a continent, a universe crowded with strange phenomena. Row exceedingly complex the nndertaking, which before seemed so simple! What a heterogeneous mass of conditions to be taken in hand! All this we might well expect when we recall that multitudinous sects are engaged iu telling the glad tidings, and each with its marked idiosyncrasies of opinion, conviction, and ruling tastes i and remember also that heathen humanity is represented by peoples intellec-
DIVERiITY OJ' OnKATIOHI DIi TIlE KIIIilOH J'DU.DI. '14'1
tuallyas far apart as Eskimo, Hottentots, Pariahs, Brahmans, and lapsnese. A glance at this much-embracing realm may help to understand how mnch more is required for the world's redemption than the mere sending of a host of fervid souls to go up and down through pagan lands, by word of mouth declaring to the perishing millions the way of life opened by the sacrifice of the Son of God.
First, all to the matter of organization for the carrying on of missionary operations. It was Carey's idea that the task of proclaimwg Christ to the nations should be taken in hand, not by monarchs, or by ecclesiastical bodies as such, but rather by societies formed for this expreas purpose, and controlled by those who longed for the universal coming of the kingdom. The Moravians are unique at this point, since they make the furtherance of missions the reason for their existence as a church. Some denominations appoint mission boards and control their action. Curiously, the great English Establishment bears no direct part in Christianizing the nations, but all planning and performing are left to Churchmen who co-operate with the Church Missionary Society, the Propagation Society, the Universities' Mission, etc. In certain cases a close corporation hali entire control, while in others a single individual is supreme. And when it comes to details of management, the fashions are almost as numerous as the sects. For example, almost a treatise would be required to set forth the relations existing between the various woman's societies and the " parent" organizations.
It sometimes happens that a single fundamental principle will characterize an entire mission, like self-support. Carey's scheme was that, as soon as possible after arriving at the field appointed, he and his companions must needs in some way secure their own living. This is also the conviction of Bishop Taylor among others. The common conception, however, is that the herald of the Gospel can be engaged in far better business than "pending his time and strength in earning his daily bread. There are" faith missions" also, of various kinds and degrees, shading off from Hudson Taylor's China Inland Mission, which constitutes one of the chief evangelizing forces at work in that vast field, through the East London Institute, Bishop Taylor's, the Missionary Alliance, to certain. Swedish and other bodies, of which nothing commendatory can as yet be wisely said. Of all these the idea is not to solicit funds, to seek no certain income, and to make no pledges of salary. " Faith-healing," too, seems to be a natural concomitant. Industrial missions constitute another class. For these tracts of land are required, shops and machinery, the teaching of trades, etc. Commerce and merchandising are in order to supply funds. In tropical countries, and among sarage tribes, it would seem to be necessary to teach industry and impart mechanical skill. It was largely in this way that William Duncan, at Metlakahtla, has been able to work such wonders of transformation.
Unfortunately, even yet not everybody is able to see just how" mil-
DIVERSITY OJ/' OPERATIONS IN TB1!l MIlstON FIELDS
sionary money" can be expended for spelling-books and arithmetics without robbing God. The time is sho~t, the emergency is so great that we have no time to educate. Let us send forth great hosts of evangelists. Or if schools must needs be, who shall be admitted ~ Heathen children, or only those whose parents are Christian? And how much" secular" knowledge shall be bestowed? In aU this there is wide diversity in opinion and practice. Some societies have ·no place for the school-teacher, and others again lay spch emphasis upon education as almost to cast into the background matters lying much nearer to the realm of the heart and conscience. Happy indeed are they who keep the spiritual and the intellectual each in its place, and in proper balance j but alas for him whose soul does n.ot kindle as he ponders upon the sublime achievements wrought for the Gospel by such institutions as Lovedale, Robert College, and the Doshisha !
Then there are medical missions, or rather medical missionaries are in ever-increasing demand. But what I Shall we turn away from ministering to diseased souls, and stoop to caring for the bodily aches and pains of humanity? Even yet in societies not a few the physician is conspicuous by his absence. Others commission him, though without enthusiasm, and because such is the fashion, or because other missionaries may need his services j while yet others set great store by hospitals and dispensaries. Surely at this point it should be enough to justify and even to compel, that the Saviour of the world was the Great Physician as well as the Great Preacher. But, besides, the fact is thoroughly established that there is no more effectual method of reaching the indifferent and prejudiced soul than by relieving suffering and healing disease. Salvation is also meant to restore to wholeness the entire man.
At least until recently there has been diversity of opinion as to the length and breadth of woman's sphere as a missionary. By the fathers she was regarded mainly, if not wholly, as an adjunct, a helpmeet to the man. The Germans believe most heartily in missionaries' wives, but have slight occupation for unmarried women. Most American and British societies regard it an advantage for men to be married, though also according to women without husbands a large and honorable place. The Universities' Mission to East Africa, however, tolerates only the celibate of either sex. But probably, on the whole, at no point has missionary development been more marked during this generation than just here; and whether we regard the thoroughness and vigor of organization, the amount of interest excited and of money gathered, and the increase of laborers in the foreign field.
Neither is there any agreement as to what constitutes fitness for evangelizing work in foreign lands, what grade of intellect, what degree of education shall be required. Probably the standard is highest in the United States, though even here there is wide diversity of judgmel:t and practise. With some the noblest specimeils of cultured manhO<.)i and womanhood are eagerly sought, while for preachers a college and seminary course is required. With others much less care is taken in selecting, and almost anybody with a proper spiritual experience will pass muster. European societies commission a far larger proportion of persons possessed of only average natural abilities and education. Self·supporting missions and industrial missions readily make room for those whose skill is in the hand rather than in the brain. Besides, the world is wide, the unevangelized range all the way from savagery which approaches the bestial, to lofty attainments in intelligence and refinement. And hence, though in a sense there is room somewhere for every humblest disciple who longs to help hasten the day when the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God, it still remains that in every field learning and the qualities of generalship and statesmanship are imperatively demanded.
This further question is yet under debate. To what countries is the missionary called to go, or who are the proper subjects' for his pray~r and toil 1 Clearly, to all lands where Christ is not known, and to all classes both high and low. And the queer Moravians actually prefer tribes that are most degraded and wretched. As clearly, also, to Mohammedans and Jews. Yes, and most would add, Roman Catholics and all other corrupt churches; and hence Austria, Italy, the Spanish-American States are visited, arid a pure Gospel is taken to Copts, Armenians, and the like. Here probably most would draw the line, though several societies go further and sustain missions in Lutheran Germany, Scandinavia, etc. At the extreme in this direction are certain rilects whose" missionary" zeal is wholly expended upon Great Britain and the United States, and in proselyting to the utmost from their brethren of every name. Since some 800,000,000 of the human family are perishing in the darkness of utter paganism, this proceeding would seem to be a case of missions gone stark mad.
One of the burning questions in the foreign field, as well as at home, relates to what constitutes fitness for baptism. The conclusions are various. The Baptists, of course, administer the ordinance only to adults who give evidence of conversion, while others would include such and their children. The continental societies make much of catechizing in the doctrines and church rites, and count those Christians who pass an examination, while the Methodists with their system of probation are ready to count as brethren any who desire to flee from the wrath to come. Some who are soundly orthodox believe that mass-baptism, baptism by the wholesale, is in order in certain cases, as when whole communities cast away their idols and put themselves under Christian instruction. Ah, what wisdom is required to decide just how far to go in meeting such poor souls whose faces are turned toward the light !
Can it be that not all missionary bodies require their representatives to preach and practise total abstinence from all that intoxicates! In this country those who come short at this point are few and far between.
'750 emTIOIfXI Olf 'I'D ORltI8TUN b»….VOlt CON'YDTIOlf
Aeroo the sea. also a large number are just 8S scrupulous; but yet, accord. ing to credible rumor, there are societies still retaining the conviction that alcohol is nece888ry for the stomach's sake, and so despatch regularly invoices thereof as a portion of the supplies required for the furtherance of the Lord's work.
It is worth while to take note how societies differ as to size and strength. While a few have attained to mammoth proportions, the many possess but a limited treasury, a little group of laborers, and a handful of converts. The English Church Society is the greatest, with an income of ,1,500,000, and an army of men and women scattered all the world over. The American Baptists can count 115,000 communicants, , and the London Society almost 95,000, with 125,000 pupils in the schools.
And, finally, no society is equally successful in every field. If here great successes are won, then over there certain fields stony and barren are likely to be discovered. The American Board can point to the Sand. wich Islands, the English Wesleyans to Fiji, and the London Society to Madagascar. The Baptists have beheld wonders among the Telugus and Kar.ns, but not among the Burmans, while over against the frnitful Northwest Conference of India the Methodists must set Bulgaria with its years of sowing much and reaping next to none. In every case, such are the wisdom and goodness of God, with succe!l8es enough to inspire, are mingled failures sufficient to keep the saints humble and prayerful.
Thus in missions as elsewhere it is "many men of many minds." The tremendous problem is perplexing because so complex, composed of such a heterogeneous mass of facts. Countless experiments must be tried, that proving all things the good may be held fast. No single denomination is in possession of the wisdom required to couquer the whole world for Jesus. And when any disciples in His name undertake to cast out the devils of paganism, we are not at liberty to " forbid them because they follow not us," our ideas, our convictions, our methods of work. Paul W&8 made all things to all men, that by all means he might save some.
CRITICISMS ON THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR CONVENTION.
BY UT. JAMES M. GltAY, BOSTON.
Now that the Christian Endeavor Convention is over, it is very notable how much is Mid in commendation of it and how little criticism of any kind is heard. Concerning the latter, however, the question is being raised in some quarters as to whether so great a gathering pays. It is estimated that the Boston convention cost, in round numbers, .1,000,000 ; might not this sum have been expended to better purpose in the Lord's cause' Fifty or sixty thousand enthusiastic young people collected together at one time and in one place, bent on Christian culture and ser·
18915.] CBITICI8H8 Ol'f TBIl CBlUITUN ENDEATOR CONVENTION. '751
vice, is an impressive and valuable demonstration before the world, and there can be no question also but that it has its effect upon the young people themselves, and through them upon the work of the churches they represent. But did the average individual delegate obtain as much, either of instruction or inspiration, as he would bad he been able to hear better, or to get nearer the heart of things, or had his attention and interests been less divided by other powerful attractions incident to such an occasion? This is not a question for Christian Endeavorers only to consider, but appertains also, for example, to the Baptist Young People's Union, whose convention, more recently concluded in Baltimore, is open to something of the same criticism. Could these great conventions be divided into three or four parts, and held in as many different locations, and could their officers and principal speakers be conveyed from one place to another after the manner of the bishops who preside over the Methodist conferences, might not the expense be very much less and the benefit proportionally more?
Speaking of the great size of these conventions, another inquiry is being heard as to whether it has not a tendency to beget a trust in numbers, or rather a trust in men, instead of the power and grace of God. And if this be put aside, then there is the other thought, that so large a concourse makes great demands upon the commercial world for financial help and upon the political world for civic recognition, which give to the convention or the movement a semi-secular tone, if they do not necessitate a spirit of compromise on certain critical questions of public moment.
Moreover, the success of such mighty gatherings means the perfection of organization and machinery of a certain kind; and while every one admits the value and importance of both, yet there are true friends of the movement who deprecate the utterance of one of its representatives that "Christian Endeavor stands for organization." This cannot be true. Christian Endeavor should stand, and we believe it does stand, before everything else for spiritual life. But organization is not life. To quote the suggestive words of one of the critics we have in mind: "The organization, rules, and practices of the Christian Endeavor may have been the expression of an ardent and devoted life j but the mere adoption of these expressions wm never produce that life, and the too rigid adherence to them or the too great dependence upon them may be a hindrance rather than a help to the desired end." While this criticism bears rather upon the society itself than its convention, yet the latter is what it is only because of the nature of the society.
The convention which has just closed gave a powerful impulse to the subject of good citizenship as one of the principles of the Endeavor movement. Indeed, before the convention met, at the preliminary meetings of the great chorus, the speeches that were heard bore chiefly upon that topic, the addresses of welcome climaxed upon it, some of the Ressions of the convention were charged to the very full with the electricity of patriotism, and tho pilgrimages that followed it to points of historic interest gave a culmination to " Boston '95" that must make it memorable as the great " civic" convention. Every true Christian citizen must rejoice over this. Moreover, it seems the most likely thing imaginable that a real revival of religion such as Christian Endeavor is should result in purer primaries, in better legislators and legislation, and in the more thorough execution of righteous laws. But it is just here again that a danger signal is raised. Can young Christians have their attention turned and their energies en- gaged with such persistency and power toward the betterment of their earthly citizenship without in some degree detracting from their apprecia- tion of that which is from above 1 In other words, if more attention be paid to the cultivation and development of their own inner IIpiritual life, will not that be the better way of promoting good citizenship in both direc- tions 1 There is in this city an institution known as the Sunday Patriotic Meetings. It dates back to the time, in 1888, when there was a great uprising of the communi/;y against an attempt on the part of the papal hierarchy to dictate the policy of our public schools. These meetings were then begun on Sunday afternoons in one of the largest places of assembly, for the purpose of educating the people in the history and plans of the Church of Rome as a political machine. They have been continued ever since with immense audiences, and at times manifesting the most intense enthusiasm. But many who were interested in them at the first have come to see that they have taken the place of religion to a large ,proportion of their regular attendants; they are the only church they attend, the only worship they engage in, and practically the sum and substance of the gos- pel which they know. To be an intelligent and consistent opponent of the papacy is to have a clear title to a mansion in the skies. Those who have passed through a temperance revival have met with the same phase of ex- perience, and have found scores of otherwise very intelligent people who • believed that total abstinence was not only the chief good in the present time, but that merit which had the all-inclusive claim on the time to come. It is suspected and feared in some quarters that the enthusiasm for good citizenship in Christian Endeavor may work: somewhat in a similar direc- tion unlellS most carefully watched and guarded. Of course it is not alISumed that it is not carefully watched and guarded. The criticisms which the writer has heard and read, in other words, are not those of ene- ' mies of Christian Endeavor seeking in some way to weaken its hold upon the young people of our churches, but sincere and sympathetic friends, in some sense leaders in the movement, who speak of these things chiefly in the hope of awakening each individual society to exercise special care and supplicate special grace on account of them.
In my own judgment, God Himself, who has originated this movement and is directing it, has in this last convention provided a safety-valve of escape from many of these anticipated dangers. I find this in the engage- ment of Endeavorers in evangelistic effortS. The different conventions have seemed in their particular features to mark a progress or development in the principles and work of the movement as well as in its numbers. At first consecration and loyalty to Christ and the Church were insisted on, then special attention was called to the duty of foreign missions, then came good citizenship, which we have seen culminating in this convention in a mighty patriotic impulse ; but side by side with the consideration of this last subject in the present gathering, there has been an aggressive movement for souls which marks an advance upon the work of any convention hitherto. Not only were the noon meetings at Faneui! Hall and Bromfield Stre~t Church filled to overflowing with audiences who came to hear the great evangelists, but the young men and women of the convention themselves went everywhere preaching the Word. They visited the wharves and lumber-yards, the stores and engine-houses, the factories and lanndries, bringing the glad tidings to thousands of needy souls at the same time that they were training themselves and stimulating their appetites for more of such work in their own respective localities. Dr. Duff once said that the e~angelistic Church would be the evangelical Church. He might have added also that it would be the holy Church. Practical work for souls not' only makes for sound doctrine, but consistent living. Let the Endeavor conventions henceforth seek more and more for the evangelization of the cities in which they meet, and the reflex benefit upon every society represented will be the best that their truest friends can desire.
There was just one feature of this convention that the writer of these lines would deprecate, and that was the tendency to speak jocularly of older people, and to intimate that if it had not been for this uprising of the young people all our churches would have been dead and buried. There is such a"thing as pressing a truth like that too far. When the once noted theologian and revivalist, Dr. Lyman Beecher, was too aged to engage longer in regular employment, he removed to Brooklyn and attended the ministry of his more famous son, Henry Ward. One Sabbath morning, as the congregation was retiring, he heard them praising the sermon and the preacher in, the most exalted terms, and turning round when he reached the vestibule he shook his finger at them, and with a merry twinkle in his eye exclaimed, "Ah, if it hadn't been for me you'd never had him 1" It is certainly not only bad taste but bad judgment, as well as bad religion, for Christian Endeavor to make too many comparisons to its own advantage at the expense of the Church to which it is almost entirely indebted.
But critics may say what they please about the Boston convention, it was, nevertheless, a great demonstration. It was a great demonstration of the fact that yonng people are now coming to the front in religion, as they have long been coming to the front in other lines of thought and action. Such a convention makes it very much easier to present the subject of personal religion to a young man or woman of your acquaintance than if it had never occurred. It was a great demonstration of the life and power of the Gospel. These young people bore witness to something
THE LATEST BLOW TO THE AFRICAN SLAVE POWER
different from the Unitarian cultus of Boston. Theirs was an infallible Bible, a salvation of grace, a Divine Saviour. Theirs was a faith that awakened a lively and unselfish interest in the lost. Theirs was a faith that begat a life and walk of righteousness. A great army of youth entering a city within forty-eight hours of one another, and not a keg of beer or cask of wine added to any cellar, not an extra chair placed in any gambling-room, not an additional ticket sold at any low theatre, no brothel made richer by them, no low rough crowd following them, no uncouth manners or bad actions seen in them, no increase in the number of arrests on their account-a decrease rather of thirty-three per cent! Boston entertained the flower of the world for one week when it entertained the Endeavor convention. Evil was out of harmony with these young people, and yet they had a happy time. They sang continually in the houses, and on the streets, and in the cars, as well as in the hall and tents. Wherever they went the richest laughter fell. upon the ear. There was a peculiar urbanity about them, a winsomeness in their Christianity, as another expressed it, which has left a most delightful impression on the whole city. Yes, and this convention was a great demonstration of anotherfact, namely, the power of a Divine idea lodged by the Holy Ghost in the heart and brain of a consecrated Christian man.. This Christian Endeavor movement is of God. There can be no doubt of this when we consider its origin, its character, its development, and its results. No man, no hundred men can account for it. And yet God was pleased to use a man in bringing it into being. How this thought exalts our human personality! It is the truth that is to convert the world and conquer it for Jesus Christ, but truth incarnated, truth dwelling in men, borne witness to by men, lived out in the lives of men. As one thinks of what has been accomplished by this religious movement among the young people of our generation, and what its possibilities are, he may well ask, who would not be a man, sanctified and surrendered, for God to use ~ THE LATEST BLOW TO THE AFRICAN SLAVE POWER.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, DARWEN, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Another crushiug defeat has been delivered to the slave traders in Nyassaland. By the intrepidity of Acting Commissioner Sharpe, Kawinga, a notorious human hunter and terror to his peaceful neighbors, has been chivalrously resisted and defeated. So far back as 1859, when Livingstone explored the Nyassa regions, this same chief, then known as Kainka, belonging to the Yao race of slavers, was in the habit of harrying the Mauganja tribes, and of his ravages Livingstone wrote graphic and thrilling narratives. Kawinga has ever !lince been one of the most active slavers firmly intrenched on the southern and eastern shores of the lake. Part of the country of the Yaos lies in the northeastern corner of the British Cen- tral Africa protectorate and a greater portion within Portuguese territory, and over the entire district the slave trade has had a vigorous stronghold through unknown generations. Similarly Kawinga's own town, though covered by the British flag, has been a regular halting-place for slave cara- vans on their journeys from the slave fields of the interior to the Portu- guese settlements on the east coast. To rid himself of Kawinga and two or three minor chiefs holding effective positions, Commissioner Johnston, who has rendered valiant service against slave chiefs along the shores of Nyassa, was obliged to leave for India in order to recruit a few hundred Sikh soldiers for the accomplishment of his unavoidable militant object. Kawinga assumed that the commissioner's absence would afford a favorable opportunity for an assault on the protectorate. Happily this anticipation has been wholly frustrated.
The incessant energy of Commissioner Johnston in putting down slave operations around the lake, which has a length of 350 miles and a breadth averaging from 16 to 60 miles, roused Kawinga some time since to plan an attack on the Shire settlements to the south of his town. To effect this he determined last March to make war on Malemya (a chief under British protection), and, subsequently, to destroy the thriving Domasi mission station, for long years associated with the famous Blantyre missionary headquarters of the Church of Scotland. If success had attended Kawinga it meant an invasion of the whole of British Nyassa (looking southward) ; and, inasmuch as six chiefs rallied to his call and others were awaiting the results to share in the spoils, it is apparent that this perilous combination of slave raiding-chiefs would have swept away the promising civilizing colony from end to end. Unpleasant as it is to make use of the Angel of War as the forerunner of the Angel of Peace, the Acting Commissioner, Mr. Sharpe, bravely confronted his wily antagonist and proved a sufficient match. In the darkness of night Domasi, the branch of the Blantyre Mission lying to the southwest of Lake Shirwa, was assailed hy a tremendous force of native Yaos from different points, and, save for the gallantry of the Sikhs at hand and the traders acting under the directions of Messrs. Sharpe and Fletcher, Domasi and its surronndings would have been utterly lost. With considerable loss Kawinga was repulsed, and ultimately his pursuers, following up their advantage, took possession of his capital, the fugitive chief being obliged to find refuge across the Portuguese borders in the valley of the upper Lugenda River.
Had Domasi been captured by the Yaos, the Scotch missions and plantations on the Shire highlands, for the growth of which a quarter of a century of patient labor has been required, would have been levelled to the ground. If the defeat has not finally broken the back of the Yao slavers, it will enable the colonists to extend their activity northward unmolested and eventually abolish the old slave trade route around the south end of Nyassa. The passage of the slave traffic across the lake is impossible,
'156 THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL.HEREDITY
states Archdeacon Maples, of the Universities' Mission, now that the last. of the slave dhows is destroyed. On the arrival of Commissioner Johnston's reinforcements from India there will be no further dread of victorious slavers overunning Nyassaland. At an early day it may be expected that the country stretching to the distant north between Nyassa and Tanganyika will be equally cleared of Arabs, whose staple commodity is hnman flesh, and whose forays are stained by organized murder. By that achievement the slave trade in East Central Africa will have received a deadly blow. For its extirpation it would almost seem, as an authority has observed, that" of the slave trade it may be said, without extravagance, that there is nothing in African human nature which leads us to suppose that this abomination will eventually yield to any argument save force."
Meanwhile, the outlook over Nyassaland presents an encouraging prospect. Missionary and civilizing agencies exhibit a forward movement. Strangers unarmed are growingly trusted by the natives and welcomed as defensive allies. As a thoroughly interesting race of people, skilful in a variety of native trades and willing to adopt Western ideas and handicrafts, the Nyassa tribes are universally described. Nor is it anyexaggeration to say that for their moral, material, and spiritual salvation magnificent efforts have been made by men and women, mostly of Scotch ancestry, whose record makes an epic volume in the history of modern mlSSlOns. The standard of the cross has been unfurled on the sonth, north, east, and west, at many points of the silvery beach of Nyassa (the Lake of the Stars) by the ensigns of faith whose sanctified vocation it has been, as Whittier sings, to "Right the wronged and raise the weak."
THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL HEREDITY.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, LL.D., tells how he once climbed to a mountain peak in the Western Ghats, in India, in search of the source of one of India's noblest rivers, the Godavari; and how at last the exploring party reached a spot where a few drops were trickling from the rocks, so few that for two or three seconds the whole stream was held in the hollow of the hand, and it needed but to scoop out a small channel to divert the stream in a new direction. From this small beginning the insignificant rill could be traced, descending the slope and gradually broadening. It flowed eastward toward the Bay of Bengal, widening, deepening, gathering volume and momentum, until it was the secret of fertility to tens of thousands of acres of otherwise barren desert.
That river is a parable of human life. "The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, and He turneth it whithersoever He will." Is not that proverb a reference to the point in the stream of life, near the heart, out of which flow life's issues, and where character and destiny wait for a determining hand ~ And does not God put the mother at that point of power where the heart of the child-and every child is one of God's born kings-is in her hand to be turned whithersoever she will ~ Thackeray says, ' , We sow a thought, and we reap an act; we sow an act, and we reap a habit; we sow a habit, and we reap character; we sow a character, and we reap des1iny." What an awful responsibility when you or I have the opportunity to give direction to the thought, the aim, the desire, the motive from which conduct, habit, character, destiny spring!
No lesson of missions is more sublimely and pathetically grand than that which is taught us in the proof afforded by the lives of missionary heroes and heroines, of the power of a spiritual ancestl·y, of a faith first dwelling in a mother and a grandmother, and by a law of spiritual heredity descending to the son or daughter. It almost seems as if there were an inheritance, not of aptitudes only, but a legacy of character.
Ziegenbalg was trained to be Christ's pioneer in the East Indies, not first at Halle, under the saintly FrancH, but before that in the primary school of his own home, under the teachings of a mother who baptized her words with tears and hallowed them with prayers. In a humble hamlet near Dresden that consecrated mother was dying with a group of little ones about her, and being very poor she amazed them by saying, "A great treasure I have laid up for you-a very great treasure. Seek it, my children, in the Bible, and there you will find it. There is not a page which I have not wet with my tears. " One of those children was Bartholomew Ziegenbalg. And when after thirteen years of apostolic labor he passed away singing, "Jesus, my Confidence," it was his mother's treasure that had been his from childhood to the end.
In Sonnenberg, Germany, another holy woman Jay dying, and with her last breath confided to her weeping husband this whispered secret, "Our youngest son I have dedicated to God for such service as He shall appoint. Assure me that when he hears the Lord's call you will not discourage it." That lad was christened Friedrich Schwartz. Then, under Francke, at Halle, what his mother had begun in his heart received development, and Schwartz went home to announce to his father his conscious call from God to the career of a missionary in India. Then the father sought the dying chamber of that holy mother, and in that atmosphere, after three days of agony, gave up his boy to God. At twenty-three Schwartz sailed for India, where for forty-three years he did so grand a work that it may be well doubted whether any other man has so impressed that empire for good. Schwartz's name is to this day spoken with a sort of holy awe in India. This man, who lived in one room barely big enough for a bed and table, who was cook for himself and ate rice and other vegetables, and who spent less than seventy-five cents a day on his entire support, held a sceptre which swayed not only the common people, but princes and kings in their palaces.
The story of Zinzendorf, the Moravian bishop, is very familiar. His grandfather was a martyr in spirit, resigning his estates for the sake of Christ, and he was brought up by a grandmother and aunt who faithfully nursed his infant piety. At four years of age he covenanted with Jesus, "Be Thou mine, dear Saviour, and I will be Thine," and the simplehearted boy, yearning for communion with Jesus, used to write to Him little notes, un burdening his heart, and flinging them out the castle window to be found and read by Him. It was he who could say, "'One passion have I, and it is He, He alone j" it was he to whom any country was home and native land where Christ had need of him j he it was who would rather be hated for Jesus' sake than loved for his own. How little did the grandmother know that she was shaping the whole course of Moravian missions !
Alexander Duff, so famous in the history of missions in India, owed everything to his spiritual ancestry. Back to and through a former generation the subtle influences must be traced that ripened into the self-offering of this marvellous man, so that from the hour when he was led io care for his own soul he began to know a passion for the souls of others, and especially the heathen, that led him once for all irrevocably to devote himself to their salvation.
Samuel J. Mills is entitled, if any man is, to be called the father and founder of missions on this side of the oceltn. Though he died at sea, on to the African coast, and was never permitted enter fully upon the work for which he set himself apart, he had set in motion the springs of both home and foreign missionary effort and organization. A score of various forms of benevolence, wide as the United States, the continent, the world, owe to him their inspiration and encouragement, if not their origin. And yet that wonderful life whose lamp went out so early and yet wrought such marvels, was sealed with consecration to God and to missions before birth by a holy mother j and when Mills grew to boyhood and was yet unrenewed by the Spirit, and even blind to his own need of regeneration, it was his mother's prevailing prayer that on a definite morning caused him to be overwhelmed with a new sense of sin and guilt, and l~d him to a full surrender to a new master.
When the secrets are brought to light, what wonders will be revealed of parental influence, known only to God, shaping the character and lives of children !
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BlIV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The International Duel in the Far East. the fact that France and England con. stitute, either merchant or missionary, It is well to remember the severe their avant IXntreur. Either may afford strain put on some non-Christian na- occasion tor new foreign political comtions. So far as China is concerned, plications. The missionary may preshe stands chullenged to single-handed cipitate national disturbances as well combat against the combined nations of as the merchant. He is the picket of a Europe and America in their solidarity. new order of things. If we remember correctly, it was Hon. William B. Reed, as United States Pleni- Let us illustrate. The Republic of potentiary, who, now, nearly fifty years Liberia prohibits titles of property to ago, introduced into the treaty with any white man. She needs foreign China the" most favored nation" clause. capital and knows it ; but she knows, Perhaps the most penetrating diplomat too, that property investments by forof the world had little anticipation of eigners become, too frequently, the occathe ultimate result of that shrewd and sion of national strife. The Chinese apparently just demand. But what has know this as well as the black man of been the outcome? Every treaty-con- West Africa does. cession, however incidental or however ruinous to China's interests, made After having pigeon-holed for more amicably or at the cannon's mouth, to than a third of a century applications anyone of the European nations or to to allow titles to the Christians, and to that of the United States, is necessa- direct that the vendor who chooses to rily made to everyone of them. For lIell to them property be allowed to do so forty-five years all the Western powers unrestrained, the emperor has just now have been a unit as against China. 'fhe gazetted the governors that this must be duel is unequal. the order. At the same time, Christian missionaries are urging their govern- It is little wonder that the Chinese, ments to demand anew treatybywbich finding themsel ves in danger of being the foreign missionary or his society parcelled out, like Africa, into ,. spheres shall be granted the privilege of holding of influence" by Europeans, should titles, alleging as one reason, that if held grow increasingly restive In their pres- by the Ohinese Church the government ence. Millions in China have before may at any time confiscate their investthem the prospect of starvation during ments of foreign money. and their own the transition from the old industrial governments be powerless to demand and commercial conditions, to the new redress. It is just this that the Chinese ones which contact of foreigners is re- themselves know. We make now no sistlessly introducing. A million of argument, pro or con, but state the pro idle, pensioned ex-soldiers or their de- and con of this case as a mere illustrascendants organized about the gambling tion. Take as another illustration the den as a unit, are ever present to stir the following : The hcad and centre of the quiet people to riot that they may plun- anti-foreign agitation is the province of der. The ruling class, the literati, are Hunan. Thence issues indecent and always disposed to resist the presence strife.engendering literature against for· of foreigners' as liable to become the lIigners, missionaries in particular. A occasion of disturbance, and thus af- Hunan Inan, an officer in Szechuen, ford ground of fresh encroachment of boasted during the recent riots at Chenforeign powers. They are not blind to tU,that if a foreigner entered Hunan they killed him and wiped the streets with him. This riot occurred in Szechuen, but Kucheng, the turbulence having sub· the diplomatic pawn that it is proposed sided-Dr: Gregory, of the same mis- to move forward is,that the French army sion, also. We have no tidings whether march on Hunan and demand the open- the missionaries of the English Church ing of at least one port for foreigners in removed or not temporarily from Ku· that province. The" most favored na- cheng at the time of that disturbance.
tion clause" will of course apply. The But it appears that several of them were Chinese see all this, resistless as the tides. at a health·station at Whasang farther A thousand other similar complications up in the mountains. Miss Hartwell steadily result in foreign political, com- went up there also. It was at Whasang mercial and religious advance. Seen that the massacre took place; those mis- from their standpoint, it is humiliating sionaries of the American Board, the and irritating. We must bear all this in Methodist and the English churches who mind in judging of and dealing with were at Kucheng were undi~turbcd.
China. On the night of July 31st the mob rushed into the mission premises and The Massaore in Kuoheng, Ohina. murdered Rev. R. W. Stewart, his wife, and two children;' Miss Elsie It is scarcely worth while, except for Marshall, Miss Annie Gordon, Miss Bes- making the historical record in this peri- sie Newcombe, and Miss Flora Stewart, odical, to repeat the details, which the all of the Church of England Mission.
secular press has made widely known, Miss Hartwell was lodging in a native of the riots of March 28th and massacre house near by, and escaped with minor of Christian missionaries, which took injuries, after a severe struggle with one place at Kucheng, China, July 31st last. of the mob and a race for her life.
That of March 28th was conducted Mr. Stewart, who was slain with his by the vegetarians, who, whatever wife, had been some twenty years in the their original organization was designed country and was the head of his mission.
to effect, are now known as one of the In his last report of the Church of Eng- secret political organizations which are land zenana mission he referred to the a constant menace to the peace and pros· ladies who were since cruelly murdered perity of entire Central China from the as follows: seacoast to the borders of Tibet. .. Nangwa is the centre mission for the Previous to March 28th everything ladies in the far Northwest. It is four had been quiet for a long time, and no days' journey over high mountains from disturbance whatever was apprehended. Kucheng. I visited them ,at the be- On that day the rumor was current that ginning of the year, and found there the vegetarians would march into Ku- :Miss Johnson, Miss Newcombe, Miss cheng, kill the local magistrate, and Rodd, Miss Bryer, and Miss Fleming; burn the missionary property belonging they have also among them a Miss Sin· to the llethodist and other missions. clair, who has come from England in- The wildest confusion prevailed for dependently, and is making herself use- three days, when the United States ful in various ways. These ladies are consul at Foochow warned the Ameri· living as nearly like the native women can missionaries that they must retire as possible; no knives or forks are seen to Foochow, as no soldiers could be sent in the house. I am told that one knife to protect them. Dr. Gregory, Miss is kept for any unhappy guest who can· Rouse, and Miss Hartwell proceeded not manage chop.sticks, and though the to Foochow, which lay s:lUthwest of locality is far from healthy, and our Kucheng, the route being thirty miles C. M. S. missionaries have one after an· " through the mountains by chair, and other felt the effects of malaria, your sixty miles by the river Min, in boats. ladies have in a surprising degree main· Miss Hartwell subsequently returned to tained their strength. You know the kind of life they lead, visiting from vil- at a place called Sek'ci-Du, with Miss lage to village, sometimes at long dis- SaunderS, of the Australian Association, tances from home, putting up not at who is stationed in Kucheng while chapels or at Christians' houses, for, learning the language.
alas! there are none, but in the native " A letter has come to-day from Miss inns or the house of some hospitable Marshall telling of the great encourage- heathen woman. Their reward for this ment they find in Sek-ci-Du. This is devotion is being used of God. It is remarkable because, although we have truly invigorating to the soul to sit down been for years endeavoring to rouse an and listen as they tell of the good hand interest there, hitherto we llave entirely of their God upon them, and the spir- failed, and purposed retiring from the itual results they have seen. Oh, for station altogether. Thank God for the more of these" women that publish the ladies whom you send us; wherever tidings" I They have, too, a little hos- they go God gives His blessing, and the pital here, and this year they tried a secret lies in the quiet, unwavering trust small station class, though in doing so in a living Saviour by their side. Such they had to face difficulties that were trust He does not disappoint."
not met with in the old districts. The only American missionary who "The three other ladies who regard suffered personal harm in the murder- Kucheng as their headquarters are Miss ous Whasung attack was Miss Mabel Gordon, Miss Marshall, and Miss Stew- C. Hartwell, of the Methodist Episco- art. .Miss Stewart is still working for pal Mission, who was in a native house her examinations; when she has got near by the mission premises where the through them her sphere of labor will English missionaries were quartered.
be in the country, in the western sec- Miss Hartwell makes the following tion of the -district. Miss Gordon's sta- statement: tion, where she spends the greater part "August 1st, at 7.30 A.M., I heard of the year, is Dong-Gio, the chief cen· shouts. They were the yells of servants tre of the Ping-Nang district. This who rushed in shouting to me to get great district, or, as we should say in up, for the Vegetarians were coming, England, county, has no other lady tearing down the houses on the hill be- worker, and I need not say that, how- longing to the English mission.
ever hard she may try, she can do little " A few minutes later a teacher came more than touch what is waiting to be to my door and told me to run. I put done. At that one station of Dong-Dio on my clothes and rushed to the door.
80 or 90 women usually attend the Sun- I was met by a man with a trident day service. We have to thank the spear, who yelled, 'Here is a foreign Rev. H. R. McCartney, of Melbourne, woman.'
for this valuable missionary. Miss " He pointed the spear at my chest.
Elsie Marshall's work is also in the coun- I twisted it to one side and it just try; she only returns now and then to grazed my ear and head. He threw me Kucheng as headquarters. Her sec_ to the ground and beat me with the tion lies north of Kucheng, and covers wooden end of the spear. A servant more than 300 square miles. She has came and wrenched the spear away, several centres in this region, where she then told me to run. I jumped down stops for a few weeks or two months at the embankment and ran along the road.
a time, collecting the women together A servant came and pulled me along and visiting from house to house. Our until I got up on the side of the hill. I plan is for your missionaries to travel then lay down there to get more breath.
in pairs, accompanied by a Bible wom- After resting twice I reached a seclud- an and Christian servant, and to put up ed spot and lay there. All this time at chapels where a married catechist is the yells went on and two houses were stationed. Just now Miss Marshall is burning to the ground. " After a while the yells stopped. I but I only saw one, the man who rat· supposed tbe Vegetarians had gone tacked me, who shouted, C Here is a away. A servant went to see how foreign woman.' He had a trident matters were. He returned in half an spear. Some had swords. There was hour, telling me to come home, that five at least one gun, for I heard it fired off. ladies of the English Mission had been The natives say there were more." killed. and some had been wounded, but that my house-a rented native Government Defence of Missionaries. house-had not been troubled at all. A great deal of nonsense has ap· " I went home to find Miss Codring· peared in the secular press of this coun· ton much cut about the head and beaten try since the riots in Chentu and Ku· all over; Mildred Stewart, twelve years cheng as to the duty of the United old, with knee cut and bleeding very States Government to demand redress hard; Herbert Stewart, six years old. for injury done to person and property cut on the head and almost dead ; baby to missionaries. Even such rubbish has Stewart, with one eye black and swol· found place in influential newspapers. len; the second Stewart girl; Kathleen, as that, affording protection to missiona· eleven years old, with the second boy, ries and missionary property is propa- Evan, three years old, were beaten and gating religion by the sword. pierced with a spear, but not seriously injured. The boy vomited all day, So far as missionaries are concerned, but we thought it was from fright. they go to these foreign fields fully aware that they are liable to be harmed .. Mr. Phillips, of the English Mis· by such outbreaks. Weare not aware sion, who lived in s native house some that the missionaries from America ever distance away, escaped all injury, only asked government aid or protection in arriving in time to see the bodies of the the prosecution of their calling. If they dead and hear the Vegetarians say, ' We obtain it it is on the basis that they are have killed all the foreigners.' American citizens. It might be possi· ble that they would advance their influ· U At first we heard that some foreign. ence more by not demanding redress at ers had escaped and were in hiding, but all. Native Christian Chinese have over Mr. Stewart did not come and we feared and over refused indemnity proffered the worst. Mr. Phillips went to the by the authorities for injuries to person ruins and found eight bodies-five not and property. They gained greatly in burned and three burned so as not to influence as religionists among the peo; be recognizable. Dr. Gregory arrived pIe thereby. There may be occasions at dark and dressed the wounds of the when missionaries might choose to do patients. Coffins were made and the likewise. The missionaries in Uganda bodies put in them. The bones of the gained great triumphs while absolutely burned were put in boxes. unprotected to any degree by the Brit· ish Government. The Gospel can win .. When I was thrown down my its way without patronage of any po· teacher's wife called on some Whasung litical powers. But no state can afford men around to save me. There were to see its subjects unprotected. This, four men there to only one Vegetarian, regardless of their calling, whether mis· but they would not help me. She came sionary, merchant, or bicyclist reporter. and tried to pull me away as he was The British Government in one instance beating me. The Vegetarian kicked spent millions to defend a single one of her. its subjects-and he a Jew! The per- son and property of the citizen of any U When the Vegetarian who beat me country must be held to be absolutely started down the hill to come to our inviolate in every other country, Thus house three others were with him; but these ran off after some Chinamen, so I escaped with only one persecutor.
" There were about fifty Vegetarians, missionaries as citizens or subjects must it appear vast and well worth remark be protected by their governments,' not for size. But this knowledge isolated, for missionary interests, but for the pres· counts for nothing. Look at the" Dark tige of the government. Whatever the Continent ;" our land would go more missionary may choose to do or not to than three times therein; then recall, for do in the ca8e, when wronged or harmed, our one minister to 800 persons, Africa the government has no alternative. It has one for every 600,000. Or note must protect an American citizIJn, Brazil, larger than us, yet with as little though he be a Jew, Moslem, or Budo chance for enlightenment as Africa. In dhist propagandist, or whatever else, in the land east of the Mississippi (India'S any part of the globe. A government area) put one·sixth of the world, or that does not do that, or attempt to do let the swarming millions of China over· it, is not worth owning. flow our fnll area, somewhat. You are utterly powerless to grasp even the out· Maps and Money. side edge of these facts unless you have BY v. F. PENROSE. a map of the world.
But if you have been constantly in The Christian Church is nowevery· contact thus with maps, your present where using maps. Hence we read rate of giving fails to satisfy. How that the " estimated increase of wealth could it ? "There remaineth yet very among evangelical Christians in the. much land to be possessed," and your United States was four times greater utmost efforts cannot make up for the than all the contributions for foreign anti·mission and partly.mission multi· work by all American Christians duro tudes. What railroad would proceed ing the entire century," for we are giv· to work without maps? What army ing at the rate of twenty·five cents a could be active unprovided with map~ ?
year apiece. The latest historical books are having What does the use of maps mean? their maps so printed that a blank space Accurate knowledge. The children who equal to the page is on the bound·side never have a meeting without maps of of each map in order that it may be al· the world and of the country studied, ways before the reader.
comparing every land in area with our It is not, however, enough to have own, and then imagining the quarter of maps; you must use them. "Oh, yes, the world's population, the Chinese, we have maps. They are put away in our somewhat lesser area, while reo somewhere. I forget where and what membering we have 65,000,000 people, they are; but we have maps ;" and the are gaining the intelligent interest based search the minister then made for me on business and scientific information revealed a map of Paul's missionary that will make their future gifts, put to journeys, which scarcely answered my shame those of grown people who are needs in telling of India after the above yearly giving without ever seeing and methods. The same incident occurred realizing the vast areas utterly un· in more than one locality.
touched by any Christian influence. A .. Weare so impressed by your map map of the world cannot be done with· of the world," a missionary speaker was out. You do not know China or Mex: told, "that we are going to buy one.
ico unless you compare it with other How much did yours cost ?"
lands and see its neighbors and find " A dollar and a half. It is paper their political influence. which I mounted on cloth, is eight feet Take Pennsylvania; it looks large six by four feet six, and came from the when compared with the New England American Board. I add our own sta· States. Bring California or Washing. tions as I need them. Your members ton forward and it is tiny. A large can -examine it, and ten·cent donations railway map of the United States makes will soon secure it," and they got it. When new members join your so- meeting while the influence of each naciety, if you have no map of the world, tion is being described. while you are studying China, how can they be expected to take a money inter· Have you ever tried to have an exest in your Osaka scholarship-for few hibition of all the maps of your local· can locate our mission stations without ity? Such a one has recently proved maps. Therefore first make or buy a wonderfully suggestive. Each society map of the world, and then secure the had individual map-methods. maps of the lands to be studied. It is not difficult to draw an outline of the Start an audience from where they live continents on a large sheet of paper or across their continent-on the map-reo on cloth. ferring, in passing, to the missionary' from Japan who returned- home after Clay or putty maps moulded on a ten years' absence and could scarcely large board covered with oil cloth, In· credit the increase of luxury in every terest greatly. Putty, not cracking place, and ye1; everywhere, as excuse for readily and softening in linseed oil, Is not giving, heard: "Debt, debt, debt." better than clay, though both can be Then crossing the Pacific, show the rela· used over and over again. Candles In tive size of the United States and China, Christmas-tree holders mark the mission and turn to a large map of China, speak. stations, and are lit one by one as bits of ing of the swarming population, illusinformation are given of the medical trating by the popUlation chart of China. work at this one, the press·work at that. A hundred squares, each representing The grains or names of animals can be 4,000,000, form a square, ten each wuy, affixed. Tiny flags may indicate where and all are needed for China. InRide, our missionary heroes have lived, or the tbe United States have their 65,000,000 mission stations. (A bit of ribbon and a in one corner; underneath, Great Brit· big pin make a flag.) The "black ain, France, Germany, and the Russian map," a map of the world with tbe Empire half fill the square, and China continents painted solidly black on some has one missionary for 300,000. They cheap material, or else on your ordinary give for their "spirit offerings" an· map covered with black paper or cloth nually $400,000,000. We gave in 1890, cut to fit, has the various denomina- $11,000,000 for home and foreign mistions' work represented by little circles sions; $1,200,000 we spent for drink in of white fastened by means of a pin, as that year; $24,000,000 we spend for work is described in Africa and Asia, cutjlower8 each year. till, at th<l last, a fringe of white repre· sents the Gospel in all lands. After such a map-illustrated talk, a most interested auditor said he felt com· Represent Africa alone in this way, pelled to arrange his household exor any country, marking all the socie- penses that he might ha ve more to give, ties at work. While the different col- so overwhelming was it to ored circles are being placed for the missions, you might have some defini· U Contrast tions read by various persons-diction- The petty Done, the Undone vast;" ary definitions of darkness, light, uncivilized, evangelized, mi88ionary, Ohristian· and others have proved the 8ame by ity, ending with Jesus as defined in their gifts when facts were once thus Matt. 1: 21. presented.
Again, have a mere outline of Africa Three leaflet·charts may be enlarged on brown paper, and cut the areas to assist this map force. They may be owned by England, France, Spain, etc., had for thirty cents per hundred of in red, blue, yellow, and other papers. W. B. Jacobs, 148 Madison Street, Chi· Have these fastened on at a public cago: "A Mute Appeal," "Trifling with a Great Trust," and "A Com· parative View;" the first two may be also had enlarged for sixty cents aim of miSl!ionary work. They either each. lay too much streSl! on the work of testi- fying, or they depend wholly on the Grown persons need not rebel at such Holy Spirit regardleSl! of human methmethods. Money comes spasmodically, ods. from impulse of the moment, unless the mind can recur again and again to the Such is the gist of the criticism. reasons for giving. The two· tenths area Now, while we do not belong to the of the whole world that alone have class of men who imagine that miSl!ionknowledge of Christ is a fact not to be ary methods are above criticism, we canforgotten when once seen demonstrated not but take issue with Professor Kozaki on a map of the world, and is empha- in what he says regarding present methsized each time the map is seen afler- ods of work, and also in what he outward. lines as the" true scientific method." It is somewhat startling to read that to- At oncll we feel we must give morc. day, after a hundred years of mission- Ask for birthday offerings of dollars, ary work, neither the churches at home dimes, or pennies. Give out nickels or nor their representatives abroad have dollars for investment. Find out every any idea of the true aim of missionary way in which you may increase your work. If that be true, no wonder that gifts; nay, lessen your indebtedness to our methods are bad and our converts the One whose light makes our life. few. The wonder is that such aimless men should have any methods or any To this, a constant use of maps, im- converts at all; and, wonder of wonpels me. ders I how have they been able to ac- complish what even Professor Kozaki From Another Standpoint.* speaks of as a work not inferior to what was done in apostolic times? It seems BY REV. W. WYND, BAPTIST MISSION. to us that, although the churches are not all that they ought to be, the ones OSAKA, JAPAN. which support missions are pretty clear about the aim of missionary work. As In your June issue of the MISSIONARY for the missionaries, God knows how REVIEW we were favored with a discus- hr short we feel ourselves to be of these sion of the missionary problem by Pro- grand ideals that we read of in the fessor Kozaki, of the Doshishi College, .. Acts of the Apostles," but even of Kioto. Looking at the problem from the worst of us, it cannot be truly said the point of view of a Japanese Chris- that we have no .. definite idea of the tian, the learned professor sees the prea- true aim of missionary work." In that ent methods of missionary work to be at least we k7W1J) our Lord's will; how wholly at variance with scientific prin- we are doing it is another question. ciples. More especially is his criticism Some, he says, are laying too much levelled at present methods of conduct- stress on the work of testifying, thinking work in civilized c(luntries. ing when they have done this their work is done, whether men are converted or Neither the missionaries who are sent not. to the field nor the churches that send If a missionary gives his time and them have any definite idea of the true strength and whatever talent God has given him to the work of testifying, is *[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the he not following in the footsteps of the great apostle of the Gentiles, who went views of contributor., and much prefer that r~ from city to city doing nothing else 1 joinders to any article that appears should take Without minimizing in the least the imthe form of independent presentation of oppo- portance of educational work; without site opinions, common now, as a symposium. But as this paper is written in a good spirit we make an exception. In securing Mr. Kozaki's paper we intended it to inangurate a series by pastors native to several fields. We expect to furnish such an article from a Mexican minister in an early issue, and invite others of these brethren to send US contribntions from time to time.-J. T. G.] detracting from the value of work done verts that the missionary searches for, by noble-hearted, courageous, consecra- and it is converts that together both ted native workers, the fact remains that Church and missionary rejoice over.
to·day in non·Christian civilized lands Again, he says II we depend too much the foreign missionary of the right on the Holy Spirit regardless of human stamp,by the power of his testimony can methods." Those who believe the words do at least as great a work as he could do of Christ have a right to depend on the in any other sphere; a work that but for Holy Spirit; but certainly they have no his presence would probably not be right to depend on Him unless they done, even if the independent native themselves are using means and meth- churches had plenty of funds at their ods to accomplish the work with which dispolilal. they have been entrusted. The mis- I would remind the reader that in sionary who does so, to say the least of Japan, during the last three or four it, betrays a sad lack of sanctified com- years, the gain in almost the whole of mon sense.
the independent churches has been very In Japan each mission has its yearly slight; in some cases, indeed, they have or quarterly meeting for discussing, gone backward, and the churches Which formulating, and improving methods of have gained have been for the most part work, for devising new meaDS of reach- churches with which the missionary has ing the unbelievers. I know not of a had more or less to do. From the days society, a mission, or a missionary that when the disciples went everywhere tes- expects to see men becoming Christians tifying that Jesus was the Christ, the without human means beiDg used to Saviour of men, the blessing of the Lord make them so, and am consequently has followed the work of testifying; wholly at a loss to know where Profes- and statistics to.day will show that that sor Kozaki found the type of men of blessing hath not been withheld from whom he writes. The advocate of foreign missionaries testifying in non- " scientific methods of Christian work"
Christian civilized lands. To say that ought to have been the last man to de- too much stress is laid by, the foreign part from a scientific method of criti- missionary on the work of testifying is cism.
to betray a superficial knowledge of the After a careful perusal of the article subject in question, and to tell the in question, the following I take to be churches at home-these churches that the substance of the new II scientific hunger to hear of conversions, that scan method" outlined by the professor in every missionary periodical to find out his article : how many conversions are taking place 1. Send only a few first·rate foreign -to tell these that both they and their missionaries, and let their work be edu- representatives in foreign lands regard cational.
their work done when they have testi- 2. Instead of sending missionaries to fied, whether men are converted or not, testify to the unbelievers, send funds to is to betray utter ignorance of these the independent churches and do the great principles that are working in the work through them.
home churches and impelling them on He is convinced that the great need to missionary efforts. of non-Christian civilized lands is na- If the Church regards her work done tive workers; and in order to provide when she has testified, why has she these he would have the home churches again and again kept her missionaries send out only a few select teachers.
ten, fifteen, and twenty years working With the help of these, and a staff of in fields where not one has turned from eq ually gifted native teachers, first-class idols to serve the living God '1 Even a institutions of learning could be estab- superficial observer might see that it is lished. from which a sufficient number converts the Church longs for, it is con- of cultured workers might reasonably be expected. With these at work the native churches, doing the work through first step would be taken toward put- them.
ting missionary work on a scientific That is not an original idea. For the basis. We also believe that what is last year or two it has been the pet cry, greatly needed in these lands is more not of the Church in Japan. but of a native workers of the right stamp; but few leaders more or less imbued with however important a part schools may an anti-foreign spirit. That such a have in furnishing such men, with all spirit should manifest itself at times is our applications of modern science to most natural, human nature being what our school system we have not yet it is. In the churches at home there reached the point where we can take in are always those who are ready to hug men, by disposition, sentiment, and some personal grievance against their training, estranged from God, and turn pastor until they are firmly convinced out spiritually-minded men, full of the that he is the round man in the square Holy Ghost, of faith, wisdom, and hole, and so in all good conscie!lCe they power, for only such men are titted to clamor for his removal.
be entrusted with the future wellbeing of If so at home, the foreign missionary the Church. To get such men, the in civilized lands must always expect present system, in spite of its draw- some ready to clamor for his removal; backs, seems to be preferable. The but in spite of these things, until the missionary who sees the young Chris- native self-governing, self·supporting tians in their home and at their places churches are ready to take the whole of business, who listens to their first responsibility of raising up other self- feeble testimony, who witnesses them governing, self-supporting, self·propa· conquering pride and making a Chris- gating churches, are the home churches tian confession before unbelieving justified in withdrawing their repre- friends-in short, the missionary, even sentatives? We think not. When the if he be a " mediocre man," who watches gardener sees the plant push out its the development of the spiritual life of tendrils, the tendrils taking root, grow- the young Christians, is better fitted to ing, multiplying, and surpassing the make a wise selection of workers than parent plant in strength and beauty, he the professor who hears the student knows .that there is no danger of that demonstrate a problem, prove the exist- species dying out. It will,even under ad- ence of God, or conjugate a Greek verb. verse circumstances, propagate its kind.
Itmight be mentioned, in passing, that It were foolish of the missionary to Captain L. L. James, who is mentioned leave a great nation in darkness as soon as an example of a foreign educator as he sees a few independent churches j doing a great work, is a man who, what- but when he sees the children and grand- ever he may have been in the past, now children of these churches shooting out, makes a specialty of ridiculing every- taking root, springing up, and surpass- thing that Christians hold sacred, while ing the parents in faith, hope, and char- some of those men whom he was the ity, he may depart with gladness, for a means of raising up are not the kind of church has been founded which, even men the Christians at home would care under adverse circumstances, will prop- to entrust with the care of the Japanese agate its kind. As for the home church. Others, it is true, of the men churches ministering to the independent whom he taught are men of ability and native churches, that is to reverse the piety and worthy of all honor i but that order that we read of in the good old is in spite of the fact that in their early Book containing the first missionary days they were under the influence of records.
Captain L. L. James. Professor Kozaki reminds us that the Again, he would have the home church at Philippi did so to the church churches send fewer missionaries, and at Jerusalem; but that is no plea for send the money saved to independent the churches at home to do so to their independent offspring abroad. We can un- missionary station to the Sassoon mas- derstand how the church at Philippi sacre, writes that one of the Turkish would be strengthened by the effort it soldiers, troubled in mind by the mem- made to pay back in temporal gifts what ory of those awful scenes, told his wife it had received from the mother Church to ask the wives of the' Giaours ' (in- in spiritual gifts; but we fail to see how, fidels, unbelievers), who is 'Hissoos in civilized non-Christian lands, the Nazaretsee ' (Jesus of Nazareth). For churches which have attained their ma- all the women whom they had to slaugh- jority will be strengthened for their ter died calling upon Him. They could work by continuing to draw money have life by just saying, 'Mohammed from the parent who has still to support is the prophet of God.' The Turks call many children under age. On the con- Jesus'Isa,' and so the ignorant soldier trary, we see every reason for believing did not understand the Armenian form that such a course would be the means for Jesus of Nazareth. This incident of stunting the growth and dwarfing must touch any Christian heart."
the life of these churches, not because the brethren in the independent churches The Turki8h &ldier to hi8 Wife after the are unworthy to be entrusted with the Ma8SaCre8 at Bas8oon.
funds-far from it-but because such a "Who is this' Jesus of Nazareth '?"
course would be a violation of the law The Mussulman soldier caught his breath of growth and development. In these And knit his brow, like a man oppressed lands there is no lack of money. Let Whom the soft divan hath brought no rest. the leaders of the independent churches not turn to the foreign churches or the He had come from a field of God accursed: foreign missionary and demand that He had fought where devils did their worst! The fearful fray he would faiu forget- In his soul its echoes were ringing yet.
more responsibility be put on them. .. Who is this ' Jesus of Nazareth '? Let them rather open their eyes to the The women all called His name, in death: great fact that the responsibility is al- And the very children, caught to impale- ready on their shoulders, placed there Nay1 not for a woman's ear that tale 1 not by any society or any missionary, .. Your blood would freeze at its very fount; but by the Lord Jehovah. When the Yet the fire up into your brain would mount, leaders realize that fact and the mem- Till you shrieked at night, when the wind awoke, bers realize that they are but stewards And, shuddering, cowered till the morning broke. of the Lord, that their time and talents and means are to be given without stint "Nay, ask no question! I know not why for the spread of the Gospel, then the The women and harmless babes must die. 'Twas my chief's to order-mine to obey. Be it on his head at the Judgment Day I missionary problem will be one step "Yes-there was one alternative: nearer solution. • CalIon our Prophet, and you live I'
But every victim, with dying breath, Called upon' Jesus of Nazareth !'
"Who is this Jeaus of Nazareth 7" .. Who is this ' Jesus of Nazareth'?
Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, one of the ablest Does He bear the sword that conquers Death? of the able corps of the corresponding Must I meet Him there, when Azrael calls editors of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF My naked soul to the Judgment halls? THE WORLD, sends an interesting explanatory note of the incident in the .. Go-ask the Giaours-and tell me true, Who is this 'Jesus of Nazareth'? Who? I have fought for Allah 1 But if He be massacre of Armenians at l:lassoun, Allah's vicegerent-woe is me I"
Turkey, which inspired Mrs. Hamlin, J ""US of Nazareth 1 Lord of Life, wh:> was many years with her husband Conqueror of all this world's mad strife 1 in Constantinople, to write the follow- VeJlgeance for blood that cries to Thee 1 ing lines, which appeared in The .Ad- Bow the False Prophet on bended knee, 'Dance, under the caption quoted above. Dr. Hamlin says: Till the Cross shall quench the Crescent's ray From St. Sophia to the Gates of Day; "Mrs. Knapp, of Bitlis, the nearest And murderous Moslem, with contrite breath, Shall call upon Jesus of Nazareth !
FIELD OF :MONTHLY SURVEY
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY D. L. PlEBSON.
Turkey,* Persia,t Arabia,t North Africa and Egypt,§ Russia, I Oriental Ohristianity-r Mohammedani3Dl. ** '
THE TURKISH EMPIRE. impulse or resentment. Missions in Turkey have always been carried on The feeling against the .. unspeakable amid tremendous difficulties. Islam has Turk" has by no means subsided either here undisputed sway in the governin America or in England. There is but ment, so that while, according to the letslight difference of opinion in the gen- ter of the law, freedom of religion is pro· eral condemnation of the action, or non- claimed, the law is interpreted by the action, of the Porte in regard to the Ar- Moslem to mean simply that any man menian massacres. It seems certain, at may become a Mohammedan. The any rate, that the government is not Turk has no sympathy or mercy for an grieved at the sufferings of the Chris- " infidel," whether he be so by birth or tians. It is rumored that the Turkish au- conversion. The Moslem races of Turthorities are trying to induce grain mer- key consist of Ottoman Turks (the chants to hold back food products in rulers, chiefiy in Asia Minor and Conorder to increase the sufferings of the stantinople), Arabs (in Mesopotamia, Armenians. What the final outcome Arabia, and Syria), Kurds (mostly outwill be is not yet determined, but in laws in eastern Asia Minor), Circassians, any case it seems that it will be as the Turcomans, and various smaller tribes. result of calm deliberation and not of The Christian races are the Armenians * "History of the Ottoman Turks," E. S. (in Asia Minor and northern Syria), the Greeks (Greece and Asia Minor), the Creasy; "My Life and Times," Cyrus Hamlin, Bulgarians, Jacobites, and Chaldeans D.D.; "Forty Years with the Tnrkish Em- (tn Mesopotamia), and the Maronites in pire." E. D. Prime, D.D.; "Antoblography of Syria. W. G. Schoulller, D.D.;" "The Armenian Crisis in Turkey," F. D. Greene; also pp. 32 (Janu- The chief missionary organizations at ary), 133 (February), 339 (May), 604 (Angust), 768 work are the American Board, laboring (present i~sue). in the Balkan peninsula and Asia Minor; the Presbyterian Board in Syria t See "Persia and the Persians," S. G. W. and Mesopotamia; the Reformed Pres- Benjamin; .. Henry Martyn," George Smith, byterians, in Syria; the Methodists in LL.D.; "Woman and her Saviour in Persia," Bulgaria ; the Church of England. 'the Dr. Thomas Laurie; "Dr. Grant and the Monn- Friends, Disciples, and Free and Estaio Nestorians;" "Persia, the Land of the tablished Churches of Scotland, and Imams," Rev. James Bassett; also pp. 3 (Janu- various other independent educational ary), 738, 741 (present issue). organizations in Syria. Turkey in Asia has an area of about 500,000 square :I: See "Memorials of Hon. Ion Keith Fal· miles and a population of 16,000,000. coner," Sinker i h Arabia Desena," Doughty; The total number ordained missionaries also pp. 1 (January), 414 (June), 730 (present is- is 75; lay, 15; medical, 18; and wom- en, 140. With these labor 270 native sue). pastors and 640 other workers. Prot- § See "Daybreak in North Africa," Mrs. estant communicants number about F. S. Haig; "Pioneeringin Morocco," Dr. Rob- 01040,00n0o. miBneaslidCeshrtihsetisaensthewrheoaraere5'0s0c0a~- ert Kerr; "Morocco as It Is," Stephen Bon· sal, Jr.; "Open Door for the Gospel in Egypt," tered throughout the empire, and among Mrs. F. 'f. Haig. whom the most promising missionary work has been carried on. The earnest II "The Highway of Sorrow" (Stundlsts), and united prayers of Christendom are Stretton; also p. 725 (present issue).
~ See "Missions to the Oriental Churches," Rufus Anderson, D.D.; "The Armenians," Rev. M. C. Gabrielian, M.D.; "Romance of Mis· sions," Miss West; also pp. 523 (July), 741 (present issue).
** See "Mahomet and Islam," Sir William Muir;" "Islam and its Founder." J. H. Stobart; "The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,"
H. H. Jessup, D.D. neeued for these downtrodden strug- kinds-the people living in the cities, gling races. the wandering tribes, and the inhab- itants of villages and country districts_ The government censoi-Bhip of the The latter are engaged in agriculture, pres8 is one of the features marking the and some of the best wheat in the world opposition to all religious and elevating is raised in Persia. Cotton, sugar, rice, influence. As is stated in the official re· and tobacco are also raised in the southports of the United States Government ern provinces. The wandering tribes (1893), the quotation of words of live in tents, and move about with their Scripture has been subjected to the will flocks and herds as the seasons change. of the censors. Appeal from the deci- They spend the spring and the summer sion of the censors is practically unavail· on the mountain slopes, and the winter ing. The censors insist that the phrase on the plains. The two principal races " kingdom of Christ" may not be used are the Turks and the Persians, the latter by Christians. The censors refused to of whom belong to the Mongol race. Bepermit the publication of the index to sides these, there are Arabs, Kurds, and Bible lessons for 1893 unless certain Gypsies, and other smaller tribes. words were erased-e.g., "Gospel lib· erty," omit liberty>" "sorrow turned to Most of the people belong to the joy" must be suppressed; "encourag- Shiah, or heterodox system of the Moing the people" must be erased; hammedan religion, although there "wicked devices frustrates" (Ps. 33) are a few adherents to the Sunni, or must be stricken out; also" sorrow in orthodox system. There are also the palace" (Esther 4), "saved by Parsees, Jews, Armenians, and Nesgrace" (Rom. 4), "hope in distress" torians. (Ps. 38), " fear not" (Josh. 1), " rejoicing in persccution" (Rom. 8), " a benevo- The Persians were first called Elamlent object" (Rom. 15). iteB. Their descent is traced to Shem, through his son Elam. The first relig- The references indicate the passages ion of the Persians, as well as of their on which the Bible lessons were found- neighbors, the Medes, was that of Zoroed, and the erasures are in themselves a aster, which knew but one God, though commentary on the Turkish Govern- fire, the sun, moon, and stars were, by ment, indicating, as they do, the ideas its followers, worshipped as his symwhich the authorities consider might bols. The Jews and the Persians were foster rebellion, etc., in the minds of brought into contact through Daniel the people. and the other captives in Babylon, and when Babylon was overthrowll and the PERSIA. ]Iedes established the Medo-Persian Empire, Cyrus, King of Persia, was in- The" Land of the Lion and the Sun" strumental in the restoration of God's has an area of 628,000 square miles and people and the preservation of the true a population of about 9,000,000. Mis- faith. sionary work is carried on chiefly by the American Presbyterians and by the It is conjectured that Thomas and Church of England Society, mainly Bartholomew carried the Gospel to this among the Nestorians, Armenians, and land. Old documents tcll of the mis- Chaldeans. The missionary force con- sion of Thaddeus to Edessa, in Mesosists of 23 ordained men, 8 physicians, potamia. There are documents, too, 20 women, and 84 native preachers; recording the acts of martyrs at Edessa these have gathered about 2500 commu- in 115 A.D. The Christians were numernicants. ous at that time, and the conversion of [ As elsewhere in Mohammedan coun- the king is proved by coins as early as tries, Islam is the great obstacle to the A.D. 165. spread of the Gospel in Persia. The Jews and the followers of Zoro- The population of Persia is of three aster opposed Christianity, and terrible persecutions began in Persia, and lasted released, as well as in direct evangeliza- for a century after they had ceased in tion, the physician is a power of GOd.
the Roman Empire. In the sixth and The missionary physician does a great seventh centuries there was much mis- work in promoting true medical science.
sionary activity in the Persian Church. The old medical practice is very defi- The missionaries even went into China. cient. At its best it is unscientific, but, Later, the ~lohammedans overthrew the mixed with superstition, it is still worse_ whole system of the Zoroastrian relig- The conjurer and the astrologer are the ion, and now its only followers arc companions of the physician. The about 5000 souls in Yezd, and 100,000 Vendidad of ancient Persia says: "If Parsees in Bombay. several healers offer themselves-name- Christians were subject to heavy ex- ly, one Who heals with a knife, one who actions by the Moslems, but were recog- heals with herbs, and one who heals nized as the" people of the Book," and with the holy Word-it is the latter who the Nestorians had special privileges will best drive away sickness from the and held offices of trust. Missionary body of the faithful." The astrologer work was still carried on and gained consults the stars as to the favorable influence in Tartary and China, beyond time for calling the doctor, and which the Moslem rule. When the Moguls one shall be called, and whether the conquered Chinese Tartary and Persia, medicine he has given shall be taken.
in 1202 A. D.. Christianity was tolerated A noble living in a distant city consult- for awhile, but finally the Nestorian ed the astrologers as to what physician Church fell before persecution, and not he should consult. The lot ,indicated a vestige of the Christians was left east Dr. Holmes, so, leaving the able help of the Kurdish Mountains. The Nes- at hand, he took a five days' journey on torians left, however, a monument in horseback to Tabriz. At a case of China in the shape of the Nestorian childbirth a Mollah led a sheep into the Tablet described in our February issue. room and around the couch of the wom- Persia has been gradually reduced by an, and then took it out and offered it Russian aggression and Mohammedan as a sacrifice for the life of the woman.
misrule to a desert. The American Sometimes the priest will write a pray- Presbyterian Board conducts successful er, and the patient will swallow the missions at Oroomiah and Tabriz in the paper or dissolve the writing in water west; at Teheran, Hamadan and Resht and drink the solution. For craziness in the east; the Church Mission is at priests are called, as their holy robes, J ulfa, the Armenian suburb of Ispahan. especially the blue and green of the There Dr. Bruce has amended Henry Sayids, are supposed to frighten the Martyn's Persian translation of the devils. Sometimes they exorcise by New Testament. It has a medical mis- beating in a barbarous manner. Others sion at Bagdad. In 1747 two Moravians are taken to a shrine and shut up in a made the first and unsuccessful attempt dark cave for several days to be cured to reach the Parsees or Kerman, and of lunacy. Others make the long pil- the Greek Church of Russia drove out grimage to Kerbela, hoping to be healed the Scottish and Basel missionaries who, by being tied in the portico of the from Shooshab in the Caucasus, sought shrine.
to influence Persia. European science is being introduced, Medical missions are very influential partly through European physicians, in Persia. In relieving suffering, mak- through the Shah's College, and natives ing the heart tender and friendly to re- who have received a foreign education.
ceive the truth, removing prejudices, The medical department of Oroomiah CUltivating the friendship of the authori- College, in charge of Dr. Cochran, is ties, so that doors of opportunity are doing a good work educating Christian opened, and the persecuted or:oppressed physicians. The hospital gives full opportunity for practical work. Instruc- them /lore at present mainly occupied in tion is from the best English text-books, learning the languages. As the bulk and is thorough.* of the population are in villages, many workers are needed to evangelize this country. The Scotch Presbyterians North Amollo and Egypt, have a mission in South Morocco. Algeria is the most advanced in civ- North Africa consists of Morocco ilization of all the countries of North Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt, and Africa, having been held by the French the Sahara. Almost all its native in- since 1830. After great expenditure of habitants are Mohammedans whose life and money, it is now thoroughly creed has nothing in its teaching that subject to their rule. Its extent is can save the soul. It carefully denies ~bout three times that of England, and the fundamental doctrines of Christ's Its popUlation about 4,000,000, princidivinity, death, and resurrection. No pally ltIoslems, but with some tens of effort has, until recently, been made to thousands of French, Spaniards, Italevangelize this part of the Moslem ians, Jews, etc. The country has a world. It was considered impossible good climate, and much beautiful scento gain an entrance, much less a hear· cry; there are many good roads, and ing, among these followers of the False more than fifteen hundred miles of rail- Prophet. God has lessened and is still way. The North Africa Mission has lessening the political power of Mo- seven stations and twenty-two brethren hammedanism in Africa. Its vices and sisters working there. The bulk were too glaring for civilization to en- of the people live in villages scattered dure. Slavery and piracy in Algeria over the country, and only a very few led to its subjugation by the French, ha ve, as yet, been reached by the Goswho also are paramount in Tunis. pel. Tripoli is still under the Turkish Government. Egypt enjoys :the protection Tunis is under French protection, of England, and Morocco is as yet an and practically under French rule. It independent ~,[oslem empire. Islam's' is hardly so extensive as England, but spiritual deceptions and social degra- has a population of about 2,000,000, dations cannot be r€moved by force of nearly all of whom are Mohammedans. arms. Only the reception of the truths There are, however, a few thousands of of the Gospel can remedy these evils. Italians, Maltese, French, and Jews, etc., on the coast. Thirteen workers 'Morocco has an area of about 260,000 of this mission are stationed in the capsquare miles, and a popUlation estimated ital, some of them at present engaged at from 5,000,000 to 8,000,000. It is in study; the remainder of the Regengoverned by a Sultan, whose name is cy, with its cities and villages, remains Abdul Aziz, a youth of about 'sixteen unevangelized. Who will go to them ? A medical mission is now carried on in years of age. The North Africa Mission (British) began work in Morocco Tunis. in a small way in 1884; at the close Tripoli is a province of the Turkish of 1892'it had substantial mission premiscs, with hospital in Tangier, and sta- Empire, several times larger than Engtions in Tetuan, Fez, and Casa Blanca. land. It has a population of about It has twenty·six missionaries in the 1,350,000, who, with the exception ot a few thousands, are followers of the False Prophet. The Moslems here are country, laboring among Moslems, more intelligent and better educated Jews, and Europeans; but several of than farther west, but much opposed to the Gospel. Two brethren began, * For much of this review of Persia we are in 1889,. to labor for Christ among them, and others have since been sent, A indebted to an article by Rev. S. G. Wilson. medical mission has been conducted as midwifery diploma. Ability to ac- quire Arabic should be manifest. here with cheering results. 3. Stewards or associations of Chris- Egypt is still tributary to Turkey, tian contributors are earnestly sought but under the protection and super· of the Lord.
vision of the British Government. The' (a) To support individual miBBiona- ries. The inclusive expense of ft single miBBion commenced work in Lower brother may be reckoned at $500 (£100) Egypt in April, 1892, and has, includ· yearly, and a single sister at $350 or ing wives, six missionaries there. The $400 (£70 or £80); married missionaries population of this portion of the coun· at the same proportion, according to the extent of their families. try is estimated at nearly 4,500,000, the (b) To support forms of work such as bulk of the people being Mohamme· medical mi.ssions, schools, or provide dans. There are 40 towns with from for itinerating and rent of miBBion 7000 to 40,000 inhabitants each, and houses. 500 towns with from 2000 to 7000 each, (c) To secure and, if po~sible, find without any Gospel agency whatever. working expenses of a house·boat. As The vast Sahara, with its few scat· the Delta is a network of canals an easy tered millions of Berber and Arab Mo· and inexpensive method of evangeliza· hammedans, remains still without a soli· tion is at our hand, if only we had a tary missionary. We pray God that small craft at our disposal– one to ac· soon some brethren full of faith and of commodate three or four missionaries the Holy Ghost may be sent to preach could be procured for $1000 (£200). Christ amid the inhabitants of its palmy Perhaps some would like to pay the oases.-North Africa. hire of a boat for a few journeys dur· Northern Arabia is peopled by the ing the winter season. Bedouin descendants of Ishmael; they 4. Remembrance8 at the Throne of are not bigoted Moslems, like the SyrI· Gl·ace.-To be daily importunate on ans, but willing to be enlightened. behalf of the Egyptians and the mis· One brother went to labor among them sionaries who labor among them. in 1886; he has now retired, and an· Besides the North Africa Mission, other brother and his wife, who were which supports three men and four thinking of taking up the work, have women missionaries in Egypt, there are: through ill·health been obliged to come 1. The United Presbyterian Church home. of America, with headquarters in Cairo.
The Lord has greatly blessed their work among the members of the ancient The spiritual claims of Egypt are Coptic Church. They have raised up a strongly presented by Mr. W. Rum· native Protestant Church in Egypt with mers, who thus voices the needs of this native pastors. 2. The British and Foreign Bible S0ancient land of the Pharaohs : 1. Men are needed as evangelists ciety, with principal depot in Alexan· whose first qualification is to be soul· dria ; and the American Bible Society winners. They should not be without in affiliation with the American Pres- some intellectual and theological train. byterian Mission. ing. If possible, a rudimentary knowl· S. The Church Missionary Society edge of the healing art would be of carries on work in old Cairo. They great assistance. Fair linguistic abil· have a medical miBBion, small hospital, and school work. ity is absolutely necessary. Qualified Physicians. – Medical mis· 4. Church of Scotland Mission to sions are practically a forgotten agency Jews, with four well·conducted schools. in Egypt. What little has been done 5. An undenominational Dutch mishas proved successful. Government sion has been working for eighteen hospitals have free dispensaries, but years in Calioub, a town near Cairo. are as a drop in the bucket among those A native church is formed, and schools needing medical aid. There are dozens are efficiently conducted. of centres in the Delta alone where 6. Sailors' and Soldiers' Institute in medical missionaries would find large affiliation with Miss Robinson's work. Besides individual effort among Engand unoccupied spheres. 2. Women who have a passion for lish and other Europeans. souls, even if they live in the midst of Still the dense Mohammedan popula- filth and disease. Much patience and tion in the Delta remains unreached by ,love for Christ are needed to win the the news of the world's Saviour. They Moslem women to Christ. Ladies hav· mU8t be evangelized, for " They shall ing some medical knowledge should know that I am the Lord God" (Ezek. take an elementary qualificati.on such 29: 16).
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. aonf dAsmuecrhicaannaatnidonBarsitiCshhinmaissshioonualdrie~s A massacre of missionaries began at held to strict account, entirely apart Whasang, near Kucheng, China, on from any religious question involved, August 1st. A mob fired the mission for the sacrifice of valuable lives, not to premises, killing ten people-one man say buildings. No money indemnity is and his wife, with seven other women, adequate in a case like the present. It and one child. Several other Christians is too loose and easy a method for rewere more or less seriously hurt. All pairing au irreparable wrong, and sets the killed were British citizens. The a premium on such merciless crimes. attacking party are said to belong to a Nothing less thau the arrest and severe Chinese sect, the "Vegetarians," and punishment of such assassins can satthe outrage was unprovoked and mali· isfy the common conscience and act as cious. The Chinese Government was a preventive. China should be made to compelled to take steps to discover understand that about the person of and punish the guilty parties, but the every citizen of America or Britain all governmental action was slow and un- the power and prestige of these two satisfactory. great nations wrap their guarantiel!, and that whoever unlawfully touches them, These murders are the more unac- when innocent of violating law, will be countable as being in the Fo·Kien prov- treated as an enemy of humanity. We ince, where a friendly feeling has gen- see nothing un-Christian in extreme reerally existed between the natives and sorts when nothing less suffices to inforeigners. Kucheng is on the Min sure immunity from such acts of vio- River, some ninety miles above the lence. treaty port of Foochow. The river is not navigable at this point, and hence The Armenian atrocities, as disclosgunboats cannot be used to protect the ures and exposures now warrant us in foreign residency. For months past saying, exceed for wanton outrage and the officials, or literati, have been at cruelty and nameless horrors anything work breeding discontent and riot, and on record. No wonder Britain's" Grand this is the result. All Americans at Old Man" finds one more burning fire work there were sent to Foochow for shut up in his bones which must have safety in June last. The mandarins are vent. Indignant protests from civilsaid to be charging ou foreigners the ized nations seem unheeded, and peace failure of China in the present war with may be purchased for Armenia at a Japan, as having stood by indifferent heavy cost. Mr. Gladstone sums up and beheld China whipped. the crimes committed against these people by four fearful words: "plun- The indignation aroused by these der, murder, rape, and torture;" he wholesale murders, and outrages on charges the Sublime Porte with the reproperty, is intense, and severe measures sponsibility, which, he claims, must be are threatened. We have no conscious brought home to the Turkish governspirit of retaliation or desire to magnify ment. China's faults unduly, but avenging is not revenging. There is a protection The treaty of 1856, he said, gave the which Government owes its citizens, Powers the right to march into Armenia and which Britain is usualJy jealous to and take the government of the country afford. We have long felt that, while out of the hands of Turkey, and under any nation may lawfully exclude for- thetrcatyof 1878 the Sultan was bound eigners or compel their withdrawal from to carry out reforms. He makes three proits territory, all needful guards should posals. First, that the demands of the be put about the person and property Powers should be moderate; second, that out .. fear of contradictIon." Of these no promises of the Turkish authorities should be accepted; and third, that the gatherings we have 5rowing conviction Powers should not fear the word •• coercion." .. We have reached a critical that, whatever good may be the outcome position," said he, .. and the honor of the Powers is pledged to the institution one way, the ultimate result is confuof reform iu Armenia." A resolution was then adopted by the meeting which sion-a Babel of ideas as to religious Mr. Gladstone addressed that the government would have the support of the obligation and the way of salvation. If entire nation in any measures it might adopt to secure in Armenia reforms guar- all religious faiths are entitled to recog· anteeing to the inhabitants -safety of life, honor, religion, and property; and nition, not as ethical systems having in that no reforms can be effected which are not placed under the continuous them a modicum of virtue and value, control of the great Powers of Europe. The speech made a profound impres- but as entitled to comparison as having sion. Mr. Gladstone said he was glad to see that as much indignation exists in in them essentials of salvation, the America as anywhere over the atrocities. unique position and claims of Christian· It is becoming a question whether those who act as the Turks do should ity must at once and forever be aban· not by other nations be treated as burglars, highway robbers, and murderers doned; Christian missions become im· generally are served. There is a broad question of political economy that is pertinent as a declaration of one only awakening Blore and more attentionviz., whether the race is not to be con- Name whereby we must be saved, and sidered as a whole, in its solidarity; and whether an "international police" is sink to the level of a friendly confer· not a demand of the age. It is felt, and not without reason, that there are some ence in which we may have as much to crijlles which are against humanity as such, and should so be punished. It is learn as to teach. hard to see why a city, State, or nation should exterminate a band of villains We quote from Ohristian Work, a who infest the highways, lurk in hiding places to assault the innocent, and paper so liberal that some orthodox peouse weapons of torture and assassination, and yet the community of nations ple think it lax. Yet hear its earnest stand by in helpless inactivity and see a whole district swept.by atrocious mur- and faithful testimony: derers I .. To whatever extent the Toronto The Pan·American Congress at To- Congress would place an equal value ronto, which was held in July, provid· and authority upon each religion, to ed a platform from which the various that extent it is misleading, dangerous, .. religions" of the world might plead and false to the facts. And it is signifithrough their respective advocates. cant of the character-'of the discussions Bishop Ireland, of the Roman Catholic held at Toronto that none of the relig- Church, Rabbi Gottheil, the Jew, with ions was put on the defensive; conserepresentati ves of nearly every Christian quently their reverse side was not seen. denomination, as well as of Mohamme· Take, for example, Mohammedanism. danism, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc., Mohammed certainly did perform the had the" right of presentment" with· noble service of overthrowing idolatry in Arabia, and he proclaimed the one- ness of God: so far we are with him. But the failure of Mohammedanism is to be found in its wholly inadequate conception of God, which rests on the mere fact of his unity and sovereignty-. The sacrifice for sin, the fact that 1D love only is there power to save from sin and turn earth into heaven-the abo sence of all this is the fatal weakness of Mohammedanism: this weakness was not brought out at that Toronto Con- gress. Then, take Confucianism: the cause of its failure-snd it has failed- is that Confucius based religion on man and wholly ignored God. Confucianism makes no full provision for dependence, fellowship, progress; certainly there can be no sense of dependence where the worship of God is restricted to the offering of sacrifices on State occasions by the emperor, thus relegating God to the background; there can be no fel· lowship with a God who is afar off! It is _little wonder that Confucianism failed. And Buddhism ; how could it be expected to succeed, excellent as is embarrassed by a gift made by Robsome of its ethical precepts are, when ert Arthington, of Leeds, England, some it is agnostic, if not positively atheistic? yeats ago, for the opening of a miBBion -for Gautama considered there was no south of Khartoum, on the Nile, which such spirit. Really, Buddhism, with has grown by regular increase and the its act force, is only an older form of addition of other donations till it amounts the deification of force and is nineteenth to $52,400. The money cannot be used century materialism dressed in the garb to carry out the design of the donors on ilf twenty·two centuries ago. account of the Arabian occupation of the Soudan and tbe exclusion of all for· " The one tremendous fact not to be eigners, and yet much of the money ignored is that whatever be the ultimate given could not be restored to the unfate of the deluded heathen in their known donors. The society has there- fore brought a friendly suit to secure a ignorance of sin and of the fact that love decision that the use of the fund in the only can save the sinner, Christianity region specified is impossible; and jualone supplies this: the religion of dicial instruction as to what use shall be Christ alone satisfies the wants of the made of it. This leads us to say, again, weary, sin-burdened soul. bringing him that it is well for donors not to condiinto reconciliation with God. Theolo- tion their gifts too restrictedly. gies are misleading. and confessions and standards and creeds are imperfect and Many questions of vital importance often foolish: but these are not relig- to missions require carefully to be ex· ion; but the implanting of the Christ amined and adjusted. The Independent life in the soul is. Any' congress' spirit of the Japanese makes them imor • parliament' which ignores this su- preme fact, and thinks to bring all religions down to a common level along the line, not of thorough discussion even, but of presenting the best photograph of each, makes a jest of the eternal verities and sows a crop the harvest of which will be fruitful of tares."
From a Chicago journal we quote: patient of foreign control even in the missions established by missionaries "Without assuming to decide the from abroad and in the schools they question, the Living Ohurch ventures originated or helped to develop, and a an opinion as to the cause of the gen- deputation has bee!. appointed by the eral falling off of mlBBionary offerings. A. B. C. F. M., consisting of Hon. It is an opinion which two years ago W. P. Ellison, Boston; Rev. J. L. Barwas a prophecy, when the extraordi- ton, D.D., foreign secretary; Rev. J. nary spectacle was presented in Chicago G. Johnson, D.D., Chicago; Rev. A. H. of the apostles of all the false religions Bradford, D.D.. Montclair, to visit of the world being invited to give an Japan. Some changes may be made in ea;-parte representation of faith and life the deputation, which started in Septemunder the religious systems which they ber. represented-or, rather, misrepresented. The Babel of Christian sects was mar· August 26th a company of missionshalled by Drs. Barrows and Bonney, aries of the Protestant Episcopal body who did what they couId to make a left Vancouver for China. Bishop good showing for the Christian religion Samuel 1. J. Schereschewsk; goes to (without any church), while they afded superintend the publication of his Bible in working up a hospitable enthusiasm translation into the Wen-Ii, his wife for the savants and picked men of all and daughter accompanying, also Rev. heathenism. Returning home, these D. T. Huntington and Miss Steva L. represented Christianity to be a failure Dodson, with Dr. W. L. Ludlow, mediin the countries they had visited; and cal missionary. in one case, we believe, missionaries were sent to America to convert our benighted people. Some part of the present falling off of enthusiasm for missions may be fairly attributed to this • exploiting' of heathen systems (without rebuttal) at the central point of the world's interest in 1893."
The African Inland Mission sent forth, The American Missionary Association August 17th, Rev. P. Cameron Scott as pioneer, who llaS spent already seven first at Shanghai, and then at Tung- years in Africa, with his sister, Miss chow for over thirty. He was of a Margaret C. Scott, a medical mission· genial spirit, full of humor, a fine stu- ary, Miss Bertha M. Reckling, Lister R. dent, especially gi ven to historical study, Severn, and Rev. Willis Hotchkiss and [.nd a cultivated man of scholarly tastes.
Rev. Fred W. Kreiger. Walter MeL. He was a native of Buffalo, N. Y.
Wilson joins the party in Scotland. The Such deaths leave a great void.
mission is interdenominational, and em· phasizes basal truths, such as the divino The death of an American citizen of ity, atonement, and second coming of Siam, Marian A. Cheek, is announced.
Christ, person and work of the Spirit, He went there twenty·two years ago as the verbal inspiration of the Word of a medical missionary of the Presbyte- God, salvation by faith, the eternity of rian Board, at the age of twenty, and future punishment, and the evangeliza· had become one of the most influential tion of the world as the duty and mis- men in the country, the intimate coun· sion of the Church. They go in the sellor of the king. Ten years ago he strength of these truths to confront severed his connection with the Board, deadly climate and relentless Moslem engaged in trade, and accumulated a hatred in the Soudan. May God go large fortune, and at the time of his with them! death was pressing a claim against the United States for several hundred thou· The well-known Charles N. Critten- sand dollars alleged to be due on ac· ton, of New York, founder of the Flor- count of the negligence of American ence Mission, attempts a t(Jur of the officials in Siam. Some years ago he United States to found similar missions -obtained a concession from the king to for outcast women. He left New York farm out a teak forest. While he was August 19th in a special car, Good floating thousands of logs to market in New8, and a trip of eighteen months is be- the form of a raft, they were confiscated fore him and his party. Portland, Ore., by representatives of an English com- California, the Southern States, and pany. Cheek floated the stars and Atlantic coast are the boundaries of the stripes on his rafts and called on the trip. Services of song and exhortation American officials for assistance. They from the car platform wherever there is failed to come to the rescue, and Cheek a wait of a quarter of an hour, and more accordingly sued this government for extended services where longer stops damages. The officials at Washington are arranged for, with meetings in halls contend that he had no right to fly the or churches wherever a night can be American flag in the situation he was spent in a city, are among the plans. then in.
Up to this time nineteen missions have heen established through the efforts of At St. John's l'lission, Grand Cape this New York merchant, whosedaugh- Mount, Liberia, Mrs. M. R. Brierley, ter's death gave such impulse to his life. one of the oldest missionaries on the What strange ways God has of leading African field, died July 6th. She was His people who are ready to be led. We about sixty-five years old, and went to know of no one man whose life is more the Dark Continent with her husband telllng on the reclamation of fallen in 1865 as missionary of the Church of womanhood. May great blessing fol- England. After her husband's death, low this new method of extending these in 1882, she was transferred to the mis· rescue missions. sions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States and placed at the Rev. Charles R. Mills, D.D., died sud- head of St. George's Hall, one of the denly in Tung·chow, China, June 22, largest schools in Liberia, and was at having been in China about forty years, the head of it when she died. The death of J. L. Phillips, M.D., of practice in general use of assigning It young, inexperienced girl to each China- Oalcutta, already noticed in this RE- man for the purpose of teaching him VIEW, has awakened widespread sorrow our language and bringing him to a and left a great gap which will not be knowledge of the truth. I stated that easily filled. He will be most lovingly in all my experience among the China- men of this city I had never known a remembered in connection with the De- single one that·1 regarded as hopefully cannial Oonference of December, 1882. converted in this way, nor was I at all He was a man of deep spirituality and hopeful of ever seeing one thus brought great spiritual power, and had marvel- to Ohrist. I was simply criticising a lous tact in harmonizing discordant ele- method, and not considering the ques- tion as' to the possibility of the conver- ments. He was a peacemaker. If he sion of a Chinaman to Christianity. It had a new method to introduce he had is too late to discuss this latter question, singular felicity of manner, which made since many have been hopefully con- verted both in China and California. I • it seem unlike an innovation. He kept am not now, nor have I ever been en- a weekly prayer-meeting in his family gaged in missionary work among the on Friday evenings. and this is one of Ohinese.My interest in these people the influences which moulded his fam- has simply been a philanthropic one, the work being forced on me as an offi- ily for Ohrist and His service at a tender cer of the Prison Society, in which I age. His whole influence was in favor have been called to defend them against of a consecrated life. The memorial the cruel and' unjust persecutions to service was an impressive and mem- which they have been from time to time subjected at the hands of our own peo- orable occasion, in the college chapel ple. In this way I have come to be at Keuka Park, N. Y. According to recognized as their friend and advocate previous announcement the people as- in this region, and not because of any sembled, and all seemed intent on special missionary work among them. I have the hope and confidence that paying homage to the model modern God's elect will be safely gathered into Ohristian hero in the world's great the kingdom out of every nation and mission work. tribe under heaven; but I do not be- lieve that the coddling methods used to get these Ohinamen into the Sabbath- The newspaper8 have been making school will ever result in any success.
no little capital of a reported remark of " Respectfully, .. E. R. DONEHOO." Rev. Dr. Donehoo, of Pittsburgh, to the effect that, after long and large ex· perience of mission work among the Yukichi Fukuzawa, the" Grand Old Ohinese in this country, "he has never Man of Japan," though about twenty yet found, and never expected to find, years younger than the members of a thoroughly converted Chinese." ,This that famous triumvirate, Gladstone, statement has been made the more of in Bismarck, and Li Hung Ohang, has view of Dr. Donehoo's advocacy of more than any other man brought Japan Christian missions, etc. And now Dr. to her position among civilized nations.
Donehoo rises to explain; and, as a Thirty-five years ago he visited this country, and on his return home intro- specimen of the facility with which duced the Webster Dictionary to his countrymen, a book that is considered some people misunderstand and mis- the foundation of Japan's intellectual power; he also introduced English into quote, it may be well to append his own all the schools. In days when Japan was divided into two parties-one for explanation. He writes to the New and the other against foreigners-he ad- vocated the opening of his country to York Obser'l!er: the New World; and his book in be- half of Western civilization, which he .. Entirely too much has been made wrote from his studies and travels in out of a very .innocent statement of America, had a considerable effect in mine, not intended for publication, in restoting to the throne the dynasty of regard to the outcome of missionary work in this city. When questioned as to my opinion of the method"here em- ployed to reach Ohinamen with the Gos- pel, I unhesitatingly condemned the which the present emperor is a member. familiar friend by his carefully pre- The Jiji Shimpo (the Times Newspaper) is his organ ; and although he does not pared monthly notes of the progress of actively manage it, his sons are the editors, and its influence is widespread, the kingdom. We have seen no other doubtless because it is independent in every sense_ Perhaps his greatest bene· book that covers the same ground. And faction was the founding of a school known as the Kewgijiuku University, this was one reason for the work so carewhich is second only to the Imperial Uni.versity at Tokio in point of num- fully and admirably done. The book bers and rank of scholarship. Mr. ]j'ukuzawa comes from the common begins by laying down principles, the people, and is known as the "great commoner," and what shows above all basis of all missions, in Christ's own the character of the man is that he has never allowed himself to be carried conception and command. Then are away by his success, and has modestly refused to accept decorations, honors, briefly traced early attempts at evanor even the peerage from the Mikado.- Exchange. gelization, the influence of medireval " Missions at Home and Abroad" is missions on European history, etc. ; the title of Dr. E. M. Wherry's com- then the modern revival or renaissance pilation of papers and addresses at the of missionary life from Carey on to World's Congress of Missions in Chicago our day. He describes what he aptly in 1893, of which the editor was corre- calls the phenomenon of missionary ex- sponding secretary. It is published by pansion, traces the work done in India, the American Tract Society, New York. Africa, Persia, Korea, Turkey, China, In this book are thirty or more essays South Seas, Japan, North and South or addresses from representative men and women on home and foreign mis- America, etc., and then gives a final outsions, the questions that concern Jews and Mohammedans, Turks and Indians look on the unpossessed domain. For and lepers, etc., and city missions as well. Some of the papers are profound- this book we invoke God's blessing. It ly philosophical, others as profoundly practical. While there are flentiments is a new and valuable contribution to here contained which we could not agree with, the body of this testimony the study of the greatest practical probis of peculiar value. We would call special attention to Bishop Nicholson'S lem ever put before the Church. paper on" The Jew and his Land ;" Dr. Dennis's, on "The Inaccessible R. H. Woodward Company, 220 and Fields;" Wellesley C. Bailey's on "The Work Among Lepers;" George 222 North Charles Street, Baltimore, E. Post's on "Medical Missions;" 'Ehomas Kane's on "Consecration of Md., have published" Forty Years in Property;" and Joseph Cook's on " Victories and Hopes of Missions." China," by Rev. R. H. Graves, D.D.
One of our editorial staff, Rev. D. L. The retail price is $1.50. The work is sold by subscription, but where there Leonard, recently published .. A Hun- are no agents the book may be obtained by writing direct to the publishers. A dred Years of Missions, " through part of the proceeds from the sale of this book are to be given to missions, Funk & Wagnalls. This is the story and iu order to interest ministers in for- eign missions, the publishers furnish of the march of events since Carey's this volume to any minister whose year· ly income is less than $500 upon receipt humble beginning in 1792. The author of 40 cents in stamps.
was himself a very useful superinten- Dr. Graves has been in China for more than one generation, and has been dent of missions in the home field of a personal witness of the stupendous changes which he chronicles, and which Utah and surrounding territory, and in have nearly all of them occurred since the Tientsin treaty of 1861, when he had theso pages he has for years been a already been in China five years. In this valuable book an unusually ob- servant man has traced the conservative and reconstructive forces which have been contending for the mastery. He shows that ruin is before the Celestial Empire which can be arrested only by the acceptance of the lessons taught in history as to the secrets of a true and progressive national life, and especially the necessity of a religious faith that has in it the elements of individual and SHANGHAI, May 21, 1895.
national regeneration. The illustrations DEAR FRIENDS: I feel it laid on my in Dr. Graves's book are superb. heart to communicate with you by let- ter, as I have done before when delayed in China, and to thank you very warm- Mrs. M. G. Watt writes from Guelph, ly for your continued help in our ser- vice here. I shall not be able to meet Canada, that much more is being done any of you personally for some time, for the lepers of India and other lands and I have been unable to keep in touch than is usually known, and that a large with you as I could have wished through amount of .. leper literature" is free, Ohina'8 Million8. I am, therefore. ask- ing Mr. Sloan to forward to you a copy distributed only on one condition-that of a little sketch of the mission which I it be passed round after reading. Her daughter prepares pamphlets on the mrwas able to prepare when confined to room by sickness. You are partners subject of European lepers, etc., and wIth us in this branch of God's work in China, and will, I am sure. rejoice wit h thus th'lY were enabled to send $1500, us in what He has wrought tor the in· $600 of which came from Guelph, to terior of this needy land.
the treasurer in the old country. Six It is over a year now since we again auxiliaries are already at work iii. Can- reached Shanghai, expecting, after a short stay, to return to England. We ada, that in Guelph being the pioneer had not been here long, how('ver, ere and holding monthly meetings in all the we felt unmistakably called to visit a churches in turn. number of our inland stations. While away in the interior the sad war be- tween Japan and China broke out, and F. A. Jefferd, missionary in Funchal, it became clear that my duty was to re- Madeira, asks prayers of our readers for main here until thc rest.oration of peace.
the mission work he is conducting in A second journey enabled me to visit other stations, und was safely accomconnection with W. G. Smart, his plished before the end of the year.
brother-in-law. In 1884 the Protestant In January I was laid aside, and a General Mission was founded, with the protracted tIme of weakness ensued, object of evangelizing the island, with from the effects of which I have not yet its population of 140.000. They have fully recovered. I was able, however, since been permitted to form the first to visit Yang-chau and Gau-king be- Baptist church and two sub·stations in fore the scattering of the students; and other parts of Madeira. The objects my heart was greatly rejoiced a); each kept in view are the work among sail- place. Never have parties of brighter, ors stopping at the port. the teach- more capable, and more consecrated ing in day schools. and preaching among workers gone out from these homes the residents of the island, and the circulation of the Word of God and Chris- than this year. tian literature. After these brief visits, when consid- The mission among sailors was found- ering the question of reaching home in ed in 1876 by the late George Smart, time for Keswick, we were led to see and the Sailors' Rest in 1882 by W. G. clearly that Mr. Stevenson should re- Smart. turn and we remain in CIJina. I trust that he may have the opportunity of During 1894 vessels carrying a total crew of 31,225 men and 29.191 passen- meeting many of you. gers entered the port. It will be seen The restoration of peace will have rewhat ample opportunity is afforded for most needed service among seafaring joiced you, and is the answer to many men. Only 5 per cent of the inhabit- prayers. We must thank God for the ants of Madeira can read or write. preservation of His servants during the time of war, and continue to pray that These brethren. Smart and Jefferd, rebellion may not be permitted to folwill gladly respond to any inquiries. low, and that the troops may be safely and welcome any gifts to aid in their blessed and self-denying work. The disbanded and dispersed. address is 29 Rua do Conselheiro, Fun- A new call is given us to hasten the chal, Madeira. evangelization of China; let us remem- ber the power we possess in united prayer. Five years ago there were 1296 China missionaries. The Shanghai Mis- The following letter, addressed to all sionary Conference of 430 missionaries prayed and appealed for new ordained friends and donors to the China Inland and unordained workers-1OOO men in Mission, will be read with interest: fl… " years. What has been the response? No less than 1153 new missionaries have filled missionaries may be <lent out, and come out since that time-481 of them that all of us here may be filled to overhaving been men. Not just as we asked, flowing with the living water, and bebut as God saw best. And doubtless lieve me, there would have been a still fuller re- Yours gratefully in Christ, sponse but for the war. Now we have J. HUDSON TAYLOR. peace, and we must look for large and immediate reinforcements.
We in the C. I. M. have been con- Ohina's Orisis. scious that God was preparing us for this. Needed facilities have been sup- An .. Appeal for Missionaries for plied without which large reinforce- China, " addressed to all Protestant ments would have embarrassed us. The need of enlarged premises in China and churches of Christian lands, has been England was spoken of at our annual issued by Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, and meetings in 1887, and it was mentioned that a site had been obtained in Shang- we gladly reprint it : hai, and that one was in view in Lon- In May, 1890, the General Conference don. In the record of the annual meet- of Missionaries, assembled in Shanghai, ings of the following year Mr. Broom- and representing the 1296 Protestant hall reported that the latter also was missionaries then in China, issued an obtained, and gave the reasons why the urgent appeal for 1000 men within five mission needed and should have" much years; and appointed a permanent com- more accommodation" for the home mittee to observe and report the results work. Both these needs hal'o been of the appeal, consisting of Rev. J.
met, and we have to thank God for suit- Hudson Taylor, of Shanghai; Rev.
able premises, not only in London and William Ashmore, D.D., of Swatow; Shanghai, but also in several important Rev. H. Corbett, D.D., of Chefoo ; Rev.
centres in China. God has also given C. W. Mateer, D.D., LL.D., of Tung- us valued workers who are carrying on chow; Rev. C. F. Reid, D.D., 01 Shang- the business work of the mission in hai.
them. My beloved brother-in-law, Mr. At the same time the lady missiona- BroomhalI, has retired from the work, ries of the Conference put forth an ap- and we shall often miss him; he has peal for additional lady 'Vorkers.
not done so, however, before our hon- The five years have now elapsed, and orable secretary, Mr. Sloan, with our the Rev. C. F. Reid, D.D., has carefully competent staff of helpers, was thorough- collected and tabulated the returns.
ly able to carry it on. Miss William- From these it appears that 45 societies son, who as an honorary missionary had have sent new workers to China since superintended the Shanghai home for May, 1890. Some unconnected mis- some years, is at my request rendering sionaries have also come out. Includ- the same kind of service in London. ing these, the following numbers are And I need not further refer to the help reached: Male missionaries, 481 ; wives of Mr. Marcus Wood in England, of of missionaries, 167 ; single ladies, 505.
Mr. Graham Brown in Scotland, or to Total in fi ve years, 1153.
Miss Soltau's honorary services in the These numbers do not exactly corrc- ladies' training home, etc. Here in spond with the appeal-only 481 of China. during Ml·. Stevenson's absence, them being men. God knew the needa Mr. William Cooper, who has been of China, and sent those He saw would helping him for some time as assistant be most helpful. The answer, there- deputy director. is conducting the fore, is a gracious response, and shows work; and we have now the help of What may be done by united prayer and Mr. C. '1'. l!'iske here, who for so many effort; and thus adds to our responsi- years acted as financial secretary in bility to use these means stilI more large- London. Never before were we so well ly for the advancement of the Redeem- prepared for definite advance, and our er's kingdom in China. An important hope and prayer is that now that the crisis in China's history has been war is over we may have given to us reached. The war just terminated does many" willing skilful" helpers-men not leave her where she was. It will and women-for every department of inevitably lead to a still wider opening missionary service. of the empire and to many new develop- Continue to pray for us, dear friends, ments. If the Church of Christ does not and to help us as God may lead you. enter into the opening doors, others Thank God for the hundreds of souls will, and they may become closed against being reaped each year, and ask that her. We would reiterate some of the soon the aunual increase may be very earnest words of appeal, written five llluch larger. Pray that only Spirit- years ago, which have to-day, on the eve. of great changes and of great op- help. • •• That the holy and loving portunities, still more urgent weight and Spirit of God may incline your hearts should lead to more vigorous effort. to respond to His call is our earnest The Conference said in 1890 : prayer." " Realizing as neTer before the magnitude of China and the utter inade- To the above extracts we will only quacy of our present numbers for the speedy carrying into execution of our add the last paragraph of the appeal of Lord's command, 'Go ye into all the the Conference for 1000 men: world and preach the Gospel to every .. We make this appeal in behalf of creature,' therefore " Resolved, That we, the 430 members 300,000,000 of unevangelized heathen j of the Missionary Conference, now in we make it with all the earnestness of session in Shanghai, earnestly and unanimously appeal to you to send out our whole hearts as men overwhelmed speedily as many hundreds as can possibly be secured of well-qualified or- with the magnitUde and responsibility dained men…• of the work before us j we make it with "We appeal to young men to give unwavering faith in the power of a risen themselves to this work, .•. to indi- Saviour to call men into His vineyard vidual congregations to greatly increase their contributions for the support of and to open the hearts of those who are one or more of these men ; to Christian men of wealth to prayerfully consider His stewards to send out and support the duty and privilege of giving themselves personally to this work, or of them, and we shall not cease to cry supporting their representatives. mightily to Him that He will do this "This Conference • • . would also present a direct appeal to the home thing, and that our eyes may see it." churches for lay missionaries. . . . ,It would point to the many millions of Time is passing. If 1000 men were our fellow·men who have never heard the Gospel of the grace of God j and to needed five years ago, they are much some millions more who, though tbey have possessed themselves of some por- more needed now. Of the 1296 mis· tions of His word, still fail to compre_ hend its meaning for want of some one sionaries in China, only 589 were men j and of them not a few have entered into to guide them. . • . .. We appeal, then, to our lay breth- their rest or have returned home from ren .•. to solemnly ask themselves various causes. In view of the new whether, for the greater glory of God, they are not called to meet this pressing facilities and enlarged claims of China, need and to devote themselves, their the next five years should see a larger service and their wealth to this missionary enterprise in China." reinforcement than that called for in To the above earnest words we add 1890. Will not the Church arise and the following extracts condensed from the" Appeal of 204 Lady Members of take immediate and adequate action to the Missionary Conference" : meet the pressing needs of this vast land? " We . . . come to you, our sisters in Christ, with an urgent appeal on be- On behalf of the Pel'manent Commithalf of the • • . women and children of J. HUDSON TAYLOR. China. . • • tee, "Beloved sisters, if you could see SHANGHAI, May, 1895. tbeir sordid misery-, their hopeless, loveless lives, their Ignorance and sinful- (Additional copies of this appeal may ness as we see them, mere human pity would move you tJ do something for be had at the Presbyterian Mission their uplifting. But there is a stronger motive that should impel you to stretch Press, at $1 per 100.) out a helping hand, and that we plead -the constraining love of Christ. We Rev. J. Hudson Taylor well says: who are in the midst of this darkness " We need persons who will consecrate that can be felt send our voices across their lives to foreign mission service at the ocean to you, our sisters. and be- home. It is for some to consecrate their seech you, by the grace of Christ our lives, their thoughts, their prayers to just this service. I believe that some Saviour, that you come at once to our of the best missionary work that is done to-day is done by invalids who never leave their bedrooms, or by old people, or by those who are very poor and have not much to give; but they give the Lord what is most precious-a true yearning heart, a constant remem- brance, a constant prayer."
W. Burns Thomson, M.D., F.R.S.C.E., FiR.S.E., was in some sense one of the fathers of modern medical missions. He accounted it his highest earthly honor to write "medical missiouary" after his name, for it identified his whole career They arrived in Yokohama without any with the Lord and His apostles. This place to live, but soon rented a Bud- godly man was God's elect servant to dhist temple for a house, and all the cOlhmunicate to the Church the medical idols were taken away and stored. Mrs.
missionary impulse after the way had Hepburn was the first American woman been prepared by Asahel Grant, Parker, who ever landed in Japan, and was con· Hobson, Lockhart, in various quarters sidered a great curiosity. She is pres of the globe, and when the Edinburgh ent with her husband here. Dr. Hep- Medical Missionary Society had been burn opened the first dispensary in that organized, and men like Dr. Coldstream country; and performed the first surgical and Dr. Handyslde had been the elo- operation. He worked for six years quent advocates of such forms of mis- before the first convert was made, who sbn work by both their tongues and was baptized in Dr. Hepburn's dispen- pens. sary. He assisted in the first transla- Dr. Thomson we have long regarded tion of the Bible into Japanese, a work as the finest specimen of a medical mis- which was completed in siX; years.
sionary we have ever met. His large Now there are 40,000 converts, and pos- brain and well-furnished mind was the sibly :t.oO,OOO under Christian instruc- handmaid of one of the tenderest and tion.
most sympathetic natures trained in Seven of the great missionary family suffering's school. And his passion for of Scudders were present. This famhis Lord and for the souls He died to ily counts five hundred and thirty years' save brought him into such identity service on the mission field. Dr. and with Christ that he was ever filling up, Mrs. Blodget have been in continuous like Paul, that which is behind of the service since 1853, and Dr. William Ashsufferings of His Master in his own flesh more since 1850. These men do not for His body's sake. With holy insight " die at the top." They are out on the into God's truth, rare singleness of aim, picket line of all the thinking and childlike simplicity of character, de- movement of the age. voutly prayerful l$bits, and a peculiar charm of personality, Dr. Thomson The Sunday morning service will be stands before those who knew him as ever memorable. The Fellowship and one of the most unique men of modern Consecration Meeting at nine o'dock history. furnished a fitting prelude to the ser- mon at 10.30 by Rev. W. E. Witter, These reminiscences of his life, edited M.D. The serVlCe for young people, a by Dr. J_ L. Maxwell, published by stereopticon composite lecture, the presi- Hodder & Stoughton, Paternoster Row, dent's reception on the lawn, and the London, E. C., will be thankfully read farewell meeting for those returning to by thousands. their fields before another annual meet- ing were all interesting. Forty-four of We cannot find space for the bio· those present expect to be once more in graphical sketches of the veterans. We the midst of the fray abroad within a give only one. Dr. Hepburn graduated few coming months. at Princeton, and in 1840 was appointed to missionary work, and he and his The officers elected for the ensuing young wife sailed in a whaling ship year are: President, J. T. Gracey, when there were only two steamers in D.D., Rochester, N. Y.; Vice-Presithe world. They went to Singapore, dents, Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., S. L. Baldand soon were transferred to Amoy, win, D.D., Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick, China, when they were associated with D.D., F. A. Cassidy, William Ashmore, many of the early missionaries. Owing D.D., Henry H. Jessup, D.D., Jacob to failing health they returned home, Chamberlain, D.D.; Secretary, Rev. and in 1859 were appointed to Japan. W. H. Belden, Clifton Springs, N. Y. ; Associate Secretary, Mrs. Dr. C. C. Thayer; Treasurer and Librarian, Rev. C. C. Thayer, M.D. ; Executive Com- mittee, Rev. J. A. Davis, Chairman, Nyack, N. Y. ; Rev. C. W. Cushing, D.D., Rev. J. L. Ammerman, D.D., Rev. L. R. Luther, Mrs. W. H. Belden, Mrs. Wellington J. White, Mrs. J. T.
Gracey.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
lIDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign manam vres both on land and sea; has Periodicals. utilized ironclads for sea fights; has availed herself of the most modern type BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, of death-dealing weapons; and has seized on the most approved forms of MASS. high explosives. She has struck terror into the hearts of the Chinese, and has MISCELLANEOUS. pUed up dead Chinamen all over the neighborhood of Japan. What more -" Dr. Glover, in his valedictory ad· evidence is needed? Our brethren of dress, at the Baptist Union, to missiona- Korea are indeed civilized."-Catholie ries returning to the field, gave utter- Home JOU1'nal. ance to some weighty thoughts which are more and more coming to the front. -The brethren of the Rhenish Mis- He said: •If you could reproduce in sionary Society are, on the whole, India and China a churcb exactly on cheered by a steady progress of their our pattern it would be to your dispar- work: 50, 60, or 70 baptisms in a month agement and not to your praise. There seems to be a very usual report for It. are bits of the Gospel which only the missionary. heathen can see, and which, in this atmosphere of smoke, we cannot behold. _co Her Majesty's Acting Consul- Find those out, brethren. Let forms of General at Seoul, in Korea, Mr. C. T. church life be native to the place. You, Gardner, has published a pamphlet exin all your judgments, must be inde- pressing his views on the question of pendent of us, and you must teach your • How to lessen the recurrence of anticonverts to be independent of you. Christian and anti-foreign riots in You must decrease that Christ the Mas- China. ' Among the causes of dislike ter may increase, and that you may which actuate some of the Chinese serve Him. Your work, so great, use- against Christianity he instances jeal. ful, successful, has opened t~e way for ousy at the superiority in intelligence work still greater, more useful, and and morality of the Christians. He more successful. Go on, not with the says: • The Christian education of the idea of mere continuance, but walking children of converts undoubtedly proby the cloud and fire, and then become duces greater intelligence and a higher to others a pillar of cloud and fire which moral tone than the Chinese non-Chris· will lead them.' "-Bombay Guardian. tian education; the consequence is that Christian Chinese are obtaining a suc- -" That world which assumes to it- cess in life far greater than non-Chrisself the appellation of civilized awakens tians of the same class. There is hardly to a realization of the fact that the a ·high official in the empire who bas genius of civilization has retraced a not one or two ChrIstians in his employ course back to the farthest East, and as confidential servants. These Christhat the Zeitgei8t has possessed even the tiaus are equally successful in obta.ining heathen of those lands. Japan has at clerical and other employ in Governone bound stepped into the ranks of ment and commercial offices, such as the civilized powers. England has by the Imperial Maritime Customs, Mining treaty explicitly recognized it as such. and Public Works, the China Mer- What else could be done? Japan has, chants' Steam Navigation Company, as It were, passed a public examination etc. "~Chureh Missionary InteZZigeneer. and demonstrated its fitness for admission into the company of civilized pow- -The Tibetan, published at Toronto ers. She has displayed her skill in war
EXTBACTB AND TRANSLA.TIONS
by the Tibetan Missionary Union, baa in consisted for the most part of serfs and the December number a full notice of slaves; few of the noble or wealthy be- "The New Acts of the Apostles," longed to them, as Paul attests. Chris- which it pronounces "pre·eminent tianity always found a firmer hoid in a among the books iBBued from the re- people in proportion as it took hold of ligious press during 1894,." "The vol- the poorer classes. The successes of ume is 80 replete and complete with all Boniface in Germany would not have that concerns the extension of God's been possible without the previous toil- kingdom on earth that we feel con- some activity of the Irish evangelists strained to recommend it to the careful addressed to the insignificant and weak, study of all who have the interests of and of such men as St. Severinus, who, that kingdom at heart. A handsomely from 4M on, was, amid the hostile colored map showing the extent of pre- storms of the Volkerwandm·ung, a help- vailing religions of the world and the ing, comforting messenger of Heaven progress of evangelization forms a valu- to the sorely harassed dwellers in the able supplement to the book, being the ancient Noricum along the Danube, and most complete thing of the kind ever at the foot of the Alps, and in no mean published. " measure alleviated their distress. He -The Harvelt Field (English Wes- was one of those figures that remain unleyan) has changed its place of publica- forgotten in the memory 01 a people betion to Mysore. Wherever published, cause they knew how to grave imperit is one of the wisest and most valu- ishably into the fugiti ve current of time able of missionary publications, and one the characters of self·denying love. So of the freest from partisanship. also to.day is Ohristian Frederick Schwartz (t1798) unforgotten in South -" Some weeks ago we alluded to India, who for fifteen whole months in the increasing number of well-lo-do· Tanjore fed daily before his dwelling Ohristian men and women who enter more than 11)00 persons (heathen, Mos- the mission field at their own expense. lems, Ohrlstians), and, among other We referred also to the increasing prac- deeds, delivered, by his intercession, tice of missionaries being supported by the city of Ouddalore from destruction. {ndivldual friends. Our editor has re- ..• We may well say : The measure of cently been the guest in London of Mr. the active benevolence which a mission Benjamin Broomhall, the General Secre- exercises is the measure of Its success. tary of the Ohina Inland Mission. In If missions ceased to account benevoregard to the two subjects above men- lence as the soul of their work, assuredtioned, Mr. Broomhall says that there ly their results would become a soundare 82 missionaries of the Ohina Inland ing brass and a tinkling cymbal. This Mission laboring at their own expense; fundamental tone and attitude of mis- 87 are supported entirely by friends, sions is under all circumstances a social and 16 are partly so supported. One factor of the first rank. In the measure friend supports five missionaries; three in which the individual missionary suppornwo each; and 39 support one shares in this temper, his activity will each. In two cases two friends support be lure in some way to result in an abiLl- one missionary between them. "-BtIfn,. ing blessing. The application of this 11(1,1/ (}u(1,rdi(1,1I.. principle to definite individual rda- -" Everywhere it appeal'll in hi.tory tions demands great wisdom. "-HERB that building from below upward hu I!IToSCH, in Der Mi88icn, Freund.
greater 8UCcess than the revel'll!. The way to the hearts of the great goes -" The year 11191) finds Nicaragua in through the hearts of the wretched. So undisturbed possession of what has for was it even at the time of the apostles. so many years been the territory of the The congregatioDi founded by them HOIklto Indians. A free nation, the
GENERAL HISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [Octobel'
majority of whom are Protestants, has from God the gifts needed for the crisis : now, contrary to its strongly expressed wise fearlessness and faithful endur- desire, been incorporated with its Ro· anee. Amid the waves of excit6ment man Catholic neighbor. This has hap· and anxiety, amid frequent disquieting pened in spite of the Treaty of Managua, rumors, amid arrests and acts of vio- which guarantees independence and lence, amid lawlessness and public inse- autonomy to the }Ioskito Indians sub- curity, amid the flight and emigration ject. to a limited and defined 80verelgnty of those around them, tbey have stood on the part of Nicatagua. The explana- like rocks, a comfort, a help, and a tion of the strange riddle Is the attl· strengthening of the faith of many.
tude of the United States In view of They have lived as they have prayed, American interests in the projected endeavoring, as far as consistent with Nicaraguan Canal. So it comes that the the Word of God, and teaching their most decisive word that has been spoken people to • submit themselves to every as to this incorporation of the reserve Is ordinance of man (yes, of their new Ro· Prellident Cleveland's message to Con- man Catholic rulers) for the Lord's sake, gress, January 3d, 1895. He accepts and to seek the peace of the place where the Nicaragnan representation of the they dwell.' Without cessation they circumstances which led to their, occu- have discharged all their regular offices pation, and supports the action of that as pastors and teachers as far as e'ver the rcpublic. The Moekito side of the ques- circumstances allowed. And when duty tion has never been heard. "-Periodical demanded. they have stood out boldly Accounts (Moravian). against the pride and unreasonableness – " Bound up as our mission has been of the conquerors, defenceless as they for nearly half a century with the best were, save for the might of the Spirit, welfare of this little seml.independent of truth, and of a good conscience."- country, we cannot but regard the Ibid. Nicaraguan occupation as a sore blow for Moskito. It will be many a day be· -The excellent Australian missionfore Bluefields and Magdala recover It. aryof the Brethren, Dr. James Ward, has been called home.
Several of their best citizens have gone, -We observe that De Vrije Kerk, of never to return, and their slowly revlv· Holland, describes the Parsees as fire· ing trade has to contend wIth the in· worshippers, and says that the cbief creased customs duties demanded by object of tbeir worship is the sun.
the new rulers. As ,to the cost of the They, however. emphatically deny the mission, whose maintenance in full effi· designation, declaring that they wor- clency is now doubly necessary, it:is ship God alone. They reverence all the plain that it will be very much higher elements as being the work of the good in the future than it has been in the God, and especially fire, but deny that past. "-Ibid. they identify it with God.
-" Not one of our missionaries has -The FJrije Kerk from time to time been touched ; not one has fled from his publishes valuable reprints on various post, though advised to do so by white missionary Bubjects, under the title of as well as colored neighbors; not one Zendingsrubriek. Among them have of them has sat for a single hour within been some excellent papers on medireval prison walls, though the intruding missionaries, drawn out with true Dutch • Spaniards' have shown them much thoroughness . distrust, and though varied calumnies have threatened to issue In violent meas- -The Abogado Ori8tiarw Ilu8trado ures of that kind. The brethren in very justly holds up to those Mexican Bluefields have had to bear the brunt of Catholics who will not give charity to this situation, and they have received anyone that cannot show a confessor·'s certificate the example of the present
ENGLISH NOTES
Pope, who is paying the expenses of a of the Bible.' "-RlJ1Jue au ltli,l1onI young Protestant art student in Roml', Oontemporainea.
saying th!lt his Protestantism has noth· -:-The Jesuit missions of Paraguay, ing to do with his profession. whIch fell ultimately into such unhappy -" As the hardest struggle of Paul's abuses of cupidity and tyranny that missionary life was with those who, Spain and Rome were obllged to pro- pretending that the heathen were not scribe them, have been succeeded J>y ripe for the Gospel, insisted on first missions of that simple, cheerful, bibll- making them Jews, so the missionaries cal kind which are not likely to need of our day are bound manfully to with· any proscription.
stand those who, under a similar pre· tence that the heathen need a special preparation, insist on making extraneous English Note8.
additions to the proper missionary com· BY JAMES DOUGLAS. mission."-Dr. F. M. ZAHN, in Allge· meine Mi8sions·Zeitach1-ij't. London Mi.Bionary Society-The I88a· -" The following official report, ad· mutti DiBtriet.-The Rev. W. R. Le dressed by the Chief Surveyor to the Quesne, who was recently entrusted President of the RepUblic of Paraguay, with the charge of this district, gives testifies to the results obtained by the an account of a visit lately paid to its South American Missionary Society three stations, Baduria, Goburdanga, among the Chaco Indians: and Bongong. At Bongong he found the society's agent cowed by a sense of " , Knowing the interest which your educational inferiority and unable to Excellency cherishes in the prosperity take the bold stand called for. At Go· of the Chaco Indians, I have the honor burdanga the outlook was equally de· to inform you that I have to-day reo pressing. Here some three or four yearl turned from an excursion into the inte· ago a convert of great promise had been rior, made for the delimitation of a ter· won, and after his baptism at Calcutta, ritory in which the S. A. M. S. desires had returned to his home. But since to establish a station. In traversing the then he has disappeared, whether as the country I have been struck with the se· result of foul play or not has never come curity which we can now enjoy in the to light. The ZemindarB are hostile to bosom of this tribe, thanks to the labors the missionary aim from mercenary and of the agents of the aforementioned oppressive reasons. What is needed to society. Six years ago, when I last withstand them is such a witness for traversed this country, I dared only Christ as adds to his faith courage. The venture into it accompanied by fifteen state of things in Badurla has not yet picked men armed to the teeth. We properJy entered the reaping stage. never dared to stray to any distance The good work has been carried on in from our camp; at night sentinels kept this place for many years, and there guard and we remained with our arms have been in the course of the years within reach. several baptisms, but the converts won have removed elsewhere, and there is as " , This time I made my survey with yet in Baduria no church at all. Thil Indian help and without fire-arms. At is trying to the workers, but out·door night we slept in full security, no mat· preaching and house·to-house visitation ter where we chanced to be ; instead of are maintained, as well as two schooll, avoiding the villages, as formerly, we one for boys and the other for girls. sought to encamp near them. . .. A missionary lady, a young unmarried Englishwoman, can traverse without Ohinese Oovenantera.-The Rev. J.
danger countrios absolutely unexplored, Sadler, of Amoy, has just made the dis- healing the sick and teaching the trutba covery that at Lohin there is a little
'788 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
company of men who, for seven or eight funds not available for the society's years, have entered into a covenant with general work, have amounted to £272,- all diligence to stir up each other to 000, thus exceeding by more than £20,- right conduct. They are known among 000 those of any former year. Cause the Christians as Covenanters. One of for praise Godward is due for the mani- these writes: "The most lamentable fest evidences of the working of His thing is that vested interests of the fam- Spirit all over the world which is great- ily hinder one in obeying Christianity· ly in excess of former years. The total and getting itf:l instruction. What is in number of adult converts this year is my heart cannot be written by the pen ; 4200. including 1500 in India, 1400 in but the doctrine does not despise those Africa, 650 in China. Among these are less instructed. The great thing is a many individual cases of deep interest, holy life. This is the essential. Now, including a notable band of prominent though I meet that which fetters me, men in the Punjab, of whom Dr. Clark stm my heart keeps on hoping. Please writes: .. Such splendid fellows, with pray for me, so that what we say to one gentle yet strong faces; it is an inspira- another may not be without effect. In tion to see them." We felt special in- this way my grief may be assuaged." terest in the sentence, "Among the B4ptist Mi88iona'1'1f Societll.-The Rev. Ainu there are now more than 400 H. Ross Phillips, who has just returned Christians." The remotest outpost of to the Congo, writes in B most cheerful this society is occupied by Edmund strain of the hearty welcome received Peck, the intrepid Bailor missionary, and the missionary prospects. .. The who bas been conveyed in a whaler, people," he says, .. came a long way on with a young companion, to Cumberthe road to meet us, and Saturdayeven- land Sound, in the polar regions, where ing they crowded the station and ex- the Eskimo have put up for them a litpressed very heartily how glad they tle tabernacle twenty feet long. made were to see us. For several days I had of whalebone and sealskins.
people coming in to sec me from other We,leyan Mis8iona'1'1f Societll.-We towns, bringing messages of welcome glean the following particulars from from those whom I had visited when the abstract and general summary of out in itineration in former years. . . . the operations of this society during the The decided increase in membership, past year: Circuits, 328 ; chapels, 2104 ; the ever.deepening interest in the Gos- missionaries and their assistants, 349 ; pel in the outlying towns, and the ear- other paid agents, as catechists, daynest appreciation of the New Testament school teachers, and interpreters, 2587 ; in their own language, to say nothing full and accredited church·members, of the wider-spread efforts of the native 40.994; scholars, 80,791. More than Church-all these convince me that half the missionaries are natives of the there is every reason to thank God and countries in which they are working, take courage." and no part of the work is more steadily G!&urch Mis8iona;ry Society.-From held in view than that which is directed the general review of the year we cull toward raising an Indian ministry in the following particulars: Within Benn India, a Chinese ministry in CWna, and years the total number of missionaries an African ministry in Africa. Evan- bas almost doubled. In 1888 the num- gelization, as the primary and central ber reported was 888; to-day It is 684 duty of the missionary, is kept ever -in both cases exclusive of wives. prominent, and the number of those en- Financially. too, the result has been in gaged in it increases year by year. The accordance with the forward movement work among the children comprehends of faith. During the past year the total a total of over 65,000 in Asia and Af- receipts, excluding gifts to special rica.. Ital!/.-In an address recently given Kottedankada, four years ago heathen, on the subject of Wesleyan missions In and now transformed into a Christian Italy, the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes re- community. At the present time the lated the following circumstance of agents of this society are preaching the which he was an eye-witness: "I went Gospel in 54 different languages in vari- to our church in Rome and haw Capel- ous parts of the globe.
lini addressing a hundred young sol- Ohina Inland Mi88i0n.-As instances dIers. fifty of whom were received into of Chinese brotherly love, the Rev. the fellowship of our church that night. James Meadows relates the two follow- Later in the evening, one of them, who ing incidents: .. At Hsinghien, while was going to America, gave an account we were there holding services for canof his history. He said he had come to didates for baptism, news came that "ne them nominally Catholic, but really of our very poor brethren in the counagnostic, but that Capellini had brought try had just been burned out of house him into that hall, and bit by bit the and home. One of our earnest preachlight had dawned on his mind. Now ers broke into prayer for him and his he was rejoicing in Christ, and he was wife and family, but was so affected going to be a minister for Christ." that he could not proceed, and straight- Pre&byterian Ohurch oj Englarul.- way $16 were subscribed, $11 of which Speaking on the subject of Formosa, the poor men and women assembled Mr. Campbell, missionary from that contributed 1 The Christian affection uland, described the work there as in a existing among these country people is hopeful and encouraging state. " The often thus manifested in most practical Church," he said, .. was well advised ways. A widow could not get her fields by Dr. Douglas thirty years ago, when reaped, as all her deceased husband'.
she turned her eyes to that rich country, friends were opposed to her being a wherein mission work was commenced Christian. The brethren in a neighbor- by Dr. Maxwell.•. _ One thing that ing village heard of this, and meeting was beyond all cavil and criticism was together, deputed certain of their num- that whereas thirty years ago the island ber at once to reap the harvest for her, was a spot of unbroken heathen dark- while the remainder kept watch I"
ness, there was now a large native church." Mr. Campbell further said THE KINGDOM. that at a recent conference held with a view to form a presbytery on that island, -" Which is tbe 'foreign nation' in two intelligent young men were chosen the thought of God 1" pertinently asked to be ordaIned as native pastors. a foreign miBBionary in a great audience recently. And it is more than likely Societyj01' the Propagation oj the Gos- that not one in that multitude was able pel.-This society, which .will in the to make reply. course of a few years close its second century of labor and prayer, has many – A recent writer notes that the visit signs of increase. Special attention is of a very disagreeable and unappreciacalled to the venture into Kashmir; to tive Afghan prince recently cost Engthe expansion of the Church in Assam land the sum of $250,000. This amount and the Transvaal; to the independence would pay for 250 men, good, faithful of the Malagasy in building their own and agreeable, who would return the churches and restoring those destroyed visit each by a year's missionary work. by a hurricane without thought of aid – Ob8e1"/!e1'.
from the mission; to the increasing -The Westminster Gazette says that hunger of the people in the Telegu the popularity of Spurgeon's sermons is country for the privileges of the the most amazing literary success of the Church; and, further, to the village of century. The number of sermoDll published is 2396, and the total number of come was £2,477,132, a decrease of volumes sold is nearly 100,000,000. nearly a quarter of a million compared They are kept in sheet form in a large with that of 1892. Of the decrease, cellar in Paternoster Square, in long £31,000 is in English contributions, lines of cupboards, so that a supply of £18,000 in Scotch; the decrease in any particular discourse can be got at American over £200,000, The contri- once. Four fifths of the supply have butions from England amonnted to £1,- been sold in the United Kingdom; the 159,888; from Scotland to £197,856 i remainder have gone to this country from America to £614,594.
and to Australia. -" When the history of the Protes- tant churches, at the end of the nine- -Not long ago two Americans, trav- teenth century, shall be written, two elling in Alaska, approached the Kus- facts will have to be related, contradickokwim district. They heard the na- tory in appearance, and yet equally true. tives everywhere talking about the The first .is the sterility of religious " Kilbuckamuks," and expected to thought, the strange disintegration of meet with some tribe hitherto unknown beliefs. Criticism has so analyzed, disto georraphers. Presently they reached sected, and discussed the objects to a Moravian station where they found the which it has been applied that the facts missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Kilbuck, and which were formerly the most certain, It trsnspired that the new" tribe" con· the facts on which our most sacred slsted of those who had surrendered hopes repose, have become, as it were, themselves to the infiuence of the Gos- volatilized in our hands, and even the truest believers ask t.hemselves in hours no.- pel, the name of their teachers being at- of anguish: .. Am I really sure of that tached to them by the surrounding tlvel.
-India, like Ohlna, Is to have its own which I believe 1" This is one fact, medical missionary journal. Each of and it is a sad one. But there is an- the following countries have medical other which is very consoling: it is the missionary magazines: Scotland, 1; development in our Protestant churches England, 2; America, S. Two others of a multitude of works which are the in England are largely devoted to thIs product of faith, works of mercy, of agency, and several missionary journals help, of reformation, of evangelization, devote space specially to medical mis- and among all these enterprises the most sions. admirable certainly is the work of mis- -In May, 1890, the General Confer- sions. It is certain that never since the ence of missionaries in Shanghai, repre- first days of Christianity has the Gospel senting 1296 Protestant missionarIes accomplished more rapid and more asthen in China, issued an urgent appeal tonishing conquests than in our own for 1000 more men for China within five epoch. Missions march with giant years. At the same time the women-of steps, so that we can already foresee the conference appealed for more wom- the moment when the good news shall en workers. Rev. C. F. Reid, of Shang- have been carried to the very ends of hai, for a committee appointed to report the earth, and when, in accordance with the results of the call, states that in the the word of our Lord, the times shall five years there have been sent out 481 be ripe for the end. "-.M. Jean Meyer.
male missionaries, 167 wives of mis- WOMAN'S WORK. sionaries, and 505 single women, mak- ing a total of 1153. -The Intelligencer has this to say -Dean Vahl has issued his mission- with reference to the Church Mission- ary statistics for 1898, relating to no ary Society: "In Jnne, 1887, there fewer than 381 societies engaged in mis- were-22 women on the roll. Since that sions to the heathen. The entire in- date, more thaD 200 names have been entered; and after deducting a few home and abroad such a noble reinforce,.
deaths and retirements, 192 remain, ment of women filled with His Spirit, which does not incJude those lately ac- it is our part, surely, to render Him un- cepted togo out this autumn. We have faltering praise."
41 in West and East Africa; 39 in -The last report (1895) of the Lon. Egypt, Palestine, and Persia; 35 in don School of Medicine for Women ex- India; 11 in Ceylon; 32 in China; 30 hibits in detail the high standing and in Japan; 4 in the North Pacific." work of its IItudents. A steadily in· But in addition, at the stations of the creaSing number of the graduates are same society no less than 214 other being appointed to responsible official women are at wOlk, sent out by socie- pOllitions in Great Britain and the coloties in close affiliation. nies-iluch as medical officer to the gen- -As a result of such remarkable eral post-office; examiner for the govfeminine consecration and activity, to ernment life assurance fund; queen's quote again from the same magazine: lecturer on physiology to the National •• It has been said C. M. S. is becoming Association of Nurses; lecturer to the a women's society. If this referred to Technical Instruction Board, London our home circles, the word ' becoming' County Council; assistant medical offiwould be inadequate, for there is noth- cer, St. Stephen's Hospital, Delhi; resiing new in the fact that women take a dent physician, Kama Hospital, Bomlivelier interest in all Christian work at bay; lady principal female department, home and abroad, including C. M. S., Ceylon Medical College; and resident than men do. From the earliest days physician, Lady Aitchison's Hospital of the society, or at all events since for Women, Lahore. Last, but not least, 1813, when local associations began to we may mention by name the acting be formed, the larger part of the work house surgeon at the Kama Hospital, of spreading information and raising Bombay, Rukhmabaf. This high-caste funds-other than the actual preaching young Indian woman, after successand speaking-has been done by wom- fully resisting, through the English en. But the remark no doubt refers to courts, an attempt to coerce her into the increase of women missionaries; fulfilling 8 marriage contract made for and we have even been asked' why we her during infancy, came to England neglect the. men'! Neglect the men! to study medicine; she passed satisfacwhy, we are always appealing for them. torily all her examinations and took the Thank God, their numbers .have in- triple qualifications of the Scotch colcreased more rapidly than ever before leges and the M.D. degree of Brussels. during these very eight years that have -New York Evening Post.
seen the accession of so many women to -A paper, by a German zenana mis· our ranks; and the idea that men are sionary, in the Allgemeine Hi88ions-Zeit.
hindered from coming forward because schrift, gives a vivid glimpse into the women come forward is opposed to life of women and girls in the Moham· plain facts, besides being an unreason- medan harems of North India. This able notion in itself. It might as well woman was in the habit of visiting the be said that the Church of England is houae of a 1tlohammedan saint. One of becoming a female Church, because the his daughters was a bright: lively girl, large majority of workers in most par- to whom the visits of the missionary ishes are women, and that the' dearth gave the greatest pleasure. She over- of curates' is due to the increase of whelmed the .. Doctor Miss Sahib" with lady district visitors and lady Sunday- questions about the beautiful world school teachers I Seriously, when it which she had never seen. Her great has pleased God of late years to add to desire was to visit the missionary's our armies of Christian workers both at house, and as, in spite of her father's salntship. her notions of right and etoriea and basement, and containing 24 wrong were very elementary, she sue· rooms, was secured. The outlay, In.
ceeded at last, by feigning a aerlou! ill· cluding rent. taxes, and repairs, for the ness, in moving her lather to send her use of this property will be about $120 to the mission hospital. She was filled per month. The house is now being ,.ail with delight at the pleasant tlower gar. rearranged to make it suitable for the den of the hospital, a Bight ,he ne'lJeT' work.
8een before. But her fraud was discove~ It is expected that during the com· ed, and the poor girl had to go back to Ing fall and winter 21i students will be her cage. And even such 111 Moham· in residence. The co-operative board· medanism. Ing rate has been fixed at $4 per week, YOUNG PEOPLE. ea"h student to help with the work. The home Is at 112 Loomis Street, near -One of the most remarkable phases Jackson Boulevard, and is conveniently of the development of the Y. M. C. A. located for students attending the medimovement has been the increase in the cal schools.
number and value of the association -The BrooklynTimea evidently be- buildings. In 1890 there were reported lieves heartily in "practical politics,"
205, valued at $8,352,910. In the Year but has no stomach at all for such prac- Book of 1895 there are reported 805, tical religion as the Endeavorersof that valued at $16,091,780•. The increase in city display in their activity in helping five years is thus 100 buildings, or to enforce the law closing saloons on nearly one every two weeks; the total Sunday. This perturbed sheet would valuation being, In round numbers, have thoae youthful saints " go back to doubled. This remarkable growth in- primitive Christianity," and let good dicates two things chielly-that; the as· citizenShip alone I sociation movement has permanency – Yes, it is even so. "That in fourand that it meets with favor on the part teen years a single society, formed withof business men.- Young Men', Era. out any Idea of the future before it, but -An ~nalysis of .the attendance at the bent on a local work, should increase to recent World's Student Conference, at more than 10,000, and spread world- Northfield, shows these facts: Number wide, embracing a membership of 2,500,- of institutions represented: State, 10 ; 000, and generate a high enthusiasm and deuominational, 24; medical, 10; pre· consecration in Christian work, is a phe· paratory schools, 23; scientific, 8; nomenon not to be passed by with in- agricultural, 2; training, 8; theologi- difference or a sneer."
cal, 4.; unclassified, 39. Total, 118. -This table tells what the Presbyte~ Number of students in attendance, 459 ; rian Endeavorers have been doing for other delegates, 41 ; speakers and work- foreign missions : ers, 37. Total, 536. Amount subscribed to intercollegiate work, $2400. The de- Year Ending Societies. Amount. nominations represented were as fol- $5,265 April 30, 1891…. .. ….. . 864 14,228 April 30, 1892.. ………. 864 lows: Presbyterians, 120; Congrega- April 80, 1898….. . . . …. 1,269 24,808 tionalists, 89; Methodists, 76; Bap- April 30, 1894………… 1,856 29,244 tists, 78; Friends, 17; Reformed, 13; April 80, 1895………. ,. ~,487 38,161 Lutherans, 13; Episcopalians, 12; Total tor Aye year………….. '" ..S106,706 Christians, '1; no denomination speci- Increase of societies in four years, fied, 56. Total, 485. 2078 i average increase per year, 518, or -Chicago contains a home for young about Ii new societies for each day. men and women who have volunteered They are now supporting 45 missionafor the foreign field as medical misslona· ries.
ries. Last May a large tlat of three -The wide reach of the Endeavor
movement is Hown ia the fact that The first year the income reached but there is in Los Angeles a Chinese society 8187.62, with which only GO were sent of 15 boys and girls who aupport a na- into the country for two weeks. Since tive helper in China; one in Atlanta, then it has grown to near $80,000, with Ga., supports a free dispensary and a over 15,000 beneficiaries. In all about Bible training class and cultivates dOlV· $328,000 have been donated to this fund, ers for distribution among the sick and and almost 270,000 have been afforded aged. The society on board the Ohalrle8- an outing, one half for a aingle day and ton is planning for a seamen's mission half for a fortnight. with a reading-room and temporary home at NaillSaki, Japan. -The Christian Alliance, at its recent meeting lit Old Orchard, Me., raised -The societies in Cleveland have $72,000 for foreign missions. One memundertaken to set up about a score of ber gave land in California worth .10,- fountains or drinking-placeS in conven- 000, which rllpresented the savings of ient localities, and for the comfort of years, and a like spirit was shown by both man and beast, not omitting the others. Within a year this society has dogs even. lost 10 of its missionaries by death. The number now in the field or at home UNITED STATES. on furlough is 240, while 40 more are under appointment and about to take -General Carl Schurz is bearing a their departure. hand in home missionary effort in New York City by preaching righteousness -Rev. A. McLean, Secretary of the and sound sense to his brother Germans Christian (Disciple) Mission Board, hIlS in the current Parkhurst-Roosevelt sailed on a world tour to last a year, and campaign. He tells his fellow-Tcutons to include a visit to all the fields of that that they cannot afford to act as though society. they were the slaves of beer or the servants of the brewers in the controversy -During the last four yeara there over the enforcement of the excise laws. have been erected in the city of Chicago Also that they can .. get along better 41 new Methodist mission churches, without the opening of saloons on Sun- valued at nearly $500,000. Of these, days than without clean streets, a 81 have become self supporting. This plentiful supply of good water, good work has been accomplished through schools, public security, effective Bani- the efforts of the City Missioaary and tary arrangements, and the like, all the Church Extension Society. days of the week," IlS would be the case if Tammany government were re- -The Presbyterians can tell of " our stored. Quoth he: .. We should not twentieth church among the Sioux. " overlook the relative importance of this and other public interests, and espe- -To all appearance the American cially we should not make interests of Indian, like Dickens's little Jo, is fated more general importance dependent on evermore to be moving on. Even New this one thing." Metl&kahtla, which William Duncan, after being thrust out of .British Colum- -A recent I~pe~nt has an article bia, founded on Annette Island, Aluka, on the summer charities in New York has been invaded by a wild rush of City which traces them back to their miners, and his much·affiicted flock may beginning in 1878, when George F. be compelled again to abandon their Williams, of the Time8, was deeply homes. moved by hearing five ragged urchins in the City Hall Park say: II Let's play EUROPE. that we're in the country." The Tribune Fresh Air Fund dates from 1887. Great BritaiD.-At one of the recent meet.ings of the London Hissionary So- ciety, Dr. Wardlaw Thompson, the sec-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLI!'IENCE
retary, announced that since its com· work is done. Nine missionary socie- mencement the society has received ties share in this, and are represented £5,500,000 ($27,500,000) in contributions by 18 physicians, of whom 5 are natives.
lit home, and that nearly another mill- -Rev_ S. M. Zwemer, of Busrah, has ion had been contributed in the field by an article in the IntelZigencer entitled Christian friends, and especially by na- " There Is Much RulJbish," with refertive ChrIstians. In commenting upon ence to the Koran, to divers lives of this fact, he exclaimed," Why, we the prophet, and to Mohammedanism could buy six ironclads with that in general as a religion. And the text money, and in five years they would be of the article fully justifies the title_ obsolete. The first vote for the present French expedition to :lHadagascar was -Rev. R. M. Cole, secretary of the more than £2,000,000. They will spend Bitlis mission station of the American on that expedition more than all the Lon- Board, tells of their regret on the death don Missionary Society has spent for the of Rev. G. C. Knapp, who died of apoconversion and transformation of mul- plexy March 12th, after prolonged prostitudes during the century. Expendi- tration. He entered this mission fleJd tUfe on missions is the most economical in 1855 and continued in charge till channel for spending money, and yields 1890, when he was succeeded by his son, the largest return." As the ample re- George Perkins Knapp. He met with turn for such cost, 95,000 Malagasy are great opposition in his early days in the now members of the churches, with . field from the Gregorian Church. He nearly 500,000 under Christian instruc- lived to so win their esteem that they tion, While about 100,000 have cntered tendered burial for his body in their own church, which was, however, deinto the life of the redeemed above. clined. Mr. Cole says: <. The Lord -The medical auxiliary of the Church gives us this cheer of late, that the old Missionary Society gives this as a sum· Church people, who in early times permary of work accomplished: 29 fully secuted Protestants, even latterly lookqualified medical missionaries; 4846 in- ing askance, as if our only business in patients in the mission hospitals last the land might be to transmute Aryear, and 373,355 out-patients. The menians into noxious Protestants, now auxiliary proposes this year to relieve turn toward us as genuine Christians, the society's general funds entirely of having deep sympathy for abused huthe medical expenses of the missions, manity, so that our congregations and other than the personal allowances of schools are much increased of late. the missionaries and the cost of new Partly from this and partly from high buildIngs; to defray, that is, no less esteem of our aged associate a throng than £4000. of some two thousand crowded our -When recently Mr Wigram, so church and yard at the funeral, three long secretary of the Church Mission- leading priests, with their select singers ary Society, sent in his resignation, he and all the paraphernalia of a burial of enclosed in the letter a gift of £1000, their highest grade, taking prominent with which to start the fund for the part in the services at their own re- new Calcutta Divinity School, as "a quest. "
thank-offering for mercies and privi- India.-A live American Brahman leges enjoyed during upward of four- has been discovered, believed to be the teen years as honorable clerical secre- first of the gemt8 (may his tribe not intary." creaae) presiding at a shrine in the ASIA.. depths of the Himalayas. It is enough to know his name, which is Charles Islam.-In Palestine are to be found William De Rousette. He leads a her- no less than 14 stations where medIcal mit's life and one approaching to the asceticism of the average fakir. He and all, both young and old, some with becomes known to fame through an in- one eye, and some with the remains of terview lately published in the Phila- two, and some with terrific squints, and delphia Ti'TMII. baring their heads, proceeded to form a circle, with their hostess in the centre. -A calculation appears in the Indian Then all, with one accord, continued to Ohurch Quarterlv which figures it out shriek piteously for the space of two that, at the present rate of progress, at hours, while they beat their thighs and the end of four hundred years it will temples alternately with both hands. be found that Christianity has made ad- This is the customary mode of public vances in India equal to those made in mourning, though usually practised Europe during the first four centuries. only on the death of a husband or a son. A woman, to show her excessive -Rev. F. L. Neeld, in charge of the grief, will frequently go on day after Bareilly Methodist Theological Semi- day for a month, inflicting blows on her nary, India, reports that that institu- temples in the manner described till tion now has: Seniors, 22; middle blood flows and severe inflammation is class, 23; juniors, 30-total, 75. He excited in the eyes, accompanied by inemphasizes the necessity of training a tolerable headache. And now follows native ministry on the field. ulceration of the cornea, followed, after months of suffering, by cicatrices and -F. J. Martin gives this well-nigh opacities, and frequently as not by cata· incredible story of the lengths to which ract and all but total blindness. And Hindu women carry their" grief." He all this for the sake of, not genuine lays of the sex: II As a rule, one eye is grief, but for the sake of making an imgone, or both are red, bleared and tear· pression of mourning on the neighbors. ful; the eyelashes have turned inward And though aU the neighbors know it and have scratched the cornea till it is is sheer hypocrisy, yet each and all will, opaque and nearly sightless and past in her turn, do the same thing, iDlbginhealing; or a cataract has formed in ing she is imposing on the rest." one or both the eyes. On inquiring the cause of all this, the usual reply is that China.-Miss Ford, of the Canadian she has lost a son, and has cried till she Methodist Mission, gives this bit of obhas literally cried her eyes out. It is servation and experience: "One has to always a son, sometimes a husband: learn to have the Easter joy in the but a daughter-I never heard of a heart, and not depend on outward cirwoman crying seriously for the loss of cumstances out here, where • on every a daughter. In the present case, how- high hill and under every green tree' ever, the patient I was called to see, are shrines, pagodas and images. For both eyes had been sacrificed for neither a few days past we have been noticing son nor husband, but, by way of vari· an image very different from any seen ety, for a buffalo. Gurmukh Singh in- before, and wondered what it was. formed me that he had lost a valuable This morning Mr. Cady asked the wife buftalo for which he had paid the ex- of the boat-owner, who explained that travagant sum of seven times twenty there are a great many devils around rupees, and that his wife had been in- the section of country we are just passconsolable ever since. The women of ing through; so these images are more the neighborhood would come in to re- numerous than in other parts; and at mind her of her loss, exaggerate it as regular intervals a rooster is sacrificed far as possible, and finally their advice to them, after which process the idol was that she should cry about it as long has knowledge of the devils, and proand loud as possible. In fact, in the tects against them. These devils are discharge of this duty they were pre- mimy of them spirits of people who pared to assist her. So the dames of Mrs. Gurmukh's acquaintance came, one h&ve committed suicide, and are waiting Chinese idolatry and superstition. In around to torment those who troubled consequence of this the mission W81 al- them while they were on this earth." most given uP. but just when things -A story is told by Rev. Hr. Adams, looked darkest a ray of light shone of the American Baptist Mission in Cen· which has steadily increased. In 1861 tral Chlna,ot a Mr. Tsen, formerly a 3 men came out from idolatry and dewealthy merchant, but who, ruined by clared themselves followers of Christ. oplum·smoking, became a low fortune· and to-day in that one province there teller. He came afterward under the are no lesa than SO,OOO converts to Chrilinfluence of the Gospel and burned his tianity, 12.000 of whom are connected magical books and BOught· to reform. with the mission of the Church Mis- The sufferings he endured while seek- sionary Society. This society has at ing to break off the habit were intense, present 10 ordained Chinese clergymen, but Wf'J.·e borne patiently. Thetempta- 170 churches. 120 catechists or lay readtion to seek relief by returning to the ers, 110 Christian schoolmasters who use of the drug was such as few could have charge of as many schools. and a have resisted, but he would not yield large number of trained Bible women though he died. And die he did, stead- carrying on effective work among the fastly refusing to yield again t<' the women of the province.
seductions of the drug which had blight- Korea.-A private letter from Rev. ed his life. T. H. Yun, dated Seoul, says: ., The -Rev. Mr. Ament writes: "As to government is now more firmly settled China, people may talk of great internal than some months ago. The Japanese reform and a general renovation of the influence Is strong ;it makes for prog- government, but there Is no evidence of ress. and therefore for good. On my any change at present. Personally I first returning to Korea. I was appoint- expect no reforms except under compul- ed private secretary of the prime minis- sion. No sledge-hammer blows from ter. A few weeks ago I was promoted without will break the hold of this em- to the position of vice-minister of edu- pire on the past; but the little plant cation. I thank the Church and the truth, working from within, will do this friends in the South. who made it possi· some day. If there is any growth in ble for me to get such a position, and I China I am afraid it will be more in the shall try to make my fidelity and con- line of military enlargement and a de- 'scientiousness show that a Christian is sire to get even with Japan. The war not one who forgets his own country.
has utterly failed to arouse the nation; as he is often charged out here with in fact, the nation as a nation knows doing. I am the only outspoken Chris- nothing about the war. and no lesson tian in the Korean Government."
can be taught the officials before the -Mrs. Underwood writes in Wompeople are instructed. The growth an's Work for Woman of A II Baby's must be from the lower strata upward. Visit to the King," as follows: I II as it has been in all lands. Hence I went to the palace yesterday. taking look for a patient continuance in the little Horace with me. who had a fine usual lines of work, being assured that time of it. The palace ladies caught our first duty Is to sow the gospel broad- him up in their arms and fairly ran with cast and let the truth do its own perfect him into the presence chamber. The work." king and queen and prince hugged and -Rev. Llewellyn Lloyd, of the kissed him. exclaiming how beautiful Church M.issionary Society, says that he was and how pretty his hands. The for nearly eleven years missionaries king had him lifted into a chair and labored in Foochow Ilnd its neighbor- . ~hen got down on the floor on his knees hood without one single convert from in front of him and talked to him, pet· ting and caressing him. The queen than ever before for the conquest of took him in her arms in a motherly this kingdom for Christ. grasp, smoothing his hair and saying anxiously, 'His head is too hot.' They " The war and attendant alarms have ordered about four quarts of Korean in no way interfered with the wondercandy, as many nuts and about a hun- ful prosperity God has granted the work dred oranges, and had them sent home in Korea. In faith, hope, and charity, for him. The queen also gave him an· n eincerity, steadfastness, and patience, other of tIle pretty little embroidered the Korean Christians are a constant bags full of beech nuts, which means source of joy and gratitude to God, to 'long life and happiness.' When we the missionaries. The Korean Chris. came away the palace ladies whirled tlana are distinguished by simplicity of him off, and about tifty of them got faith in God, and patience, endurance around him. petting and caressing him. of aspersion, both by the heathen na· I could not get near the child. The king tive and the unsympathetic foreign. himself put on his hat and coat and er. We need reinforcements. The mis· buttoned it up for him, kneeling on the sionarles spend many an anxious hour floor in front of him." because they are not forthroming ; the native Church goes half shepherded be· -The Korean boy at tirst sight can cause of the lack ; the highest authori· easily be mistaken for a school-girl Gut ties in the land ~y, 'Send us more of doors without her hat. His hair is teachers (missionaries).' " parted in the middle and hangs in a heavy braid down his back. When he , AFRICA. is married, his hair is twisted in a topknot on the crown of his head and adds -There is considerable perturbation much to his dignity. You may see a among the French authorities in AI· boy with his hair querIed on top of hi!! geria, owing to the work of the North head making mud pies by the road- Africa Mission, which Is chiefly carried side, and feel sure that here, at least, is on by English young ladies. The gen· an exception to the custom, but on in· eral council of the department of COI1quiry you learn that he is a married stantlne has addressed a note on the man. He enjoys his sport none the less subject of the supreme authority, in for the dignity of his topknot. which it states that the safety of Algeria is menaced by the work of the English -Rev. George Heber ~Tones writes Methodists (sic). .. The English danger from Chemulpo, Korea, June 10th, becomes from day to day more serious 1895: "Just one year ago to·day the in Algeria, as its agents become more tirst Japanese troops landed in Chemul· numerous. The Methodists and the solpo, to begin their astonishing campaign diers of the Salvation Army work under against China. What changes a year the guise of benevolence and charity, has witnessed I China is tOOay a beg- and thus attract the natives. They dis· gar among the nations, with few tribute money, clothes, medicines, Ara· friends, and a sad prospect of internal bic books (among others, translations of dissension, rebellion, and anarohy, and the Bible), and in appearance they only the certain prospect of being stripped occupy themselves with proselytism; of some of her territories by foreign but in reality a vast net of espionage is powers. Korea has reaped great benefit being drawn around us, and a propafrom all the changes of the year, and ganda of disaffection among our native especially the infant Church of Christ, subjects Is being carried on." The which has rode safely and steadily the council, therefore, petitions the Mlnl8try waves. We have reached a position of the Interior to put an end to these where we can Btrike mightier blows manmuvres.-.Re1JU8 deB Miuio1l8 (Jon. temporainu. -The New York Sun, in an editorial speaks specially of one of them who ia on climatic conditions and health in Ar- now the leading man among the Zulu rica, gives the following data: "In preachers, saying, " When r first came British India the annual death-rate to Umzumbe this man was a naked, among Europeans in the early part of scrofulous, hard boy, with a dirty sheep- this century was 84 to the 1000; but in skin thrown over his shoulders. We 1890 it was reduced to 16 to the 1000. cured him of his scrofula; then the So in the Dutch East Indies, the Euro- Lord cured him of his sin·sick heart, pean death-rate has been reduced from and to·day he stands up among our 170·to the 1000 in 1828 to 16-much leM churches as Dr. Storrs stands among than the native death-rate, which in 1892 your churches-a lsader of men."
was 23 to the 1000. In the basin of the -Sir Gilbert Carter, Royal Governor C.:>ngo the death·rate among white men of the British colony of Lagos, has rein 1893 was 70 to the 1000, but this em- cently given some interesting figures braced many mere adventurers and respecting the extent of the gin and rurn campaigners deprived of the comforts traffic on the west coast of Africa for and conveniences of life. In Leopold- tbe year 1893. The colony of Lagos, ville and Boma, white settlements, where with a population of 85,000 souls, imgood homes are available and fair sani- ported $450,000 worth of ardent spirits tary conditions, the death-rate is but 32 -more than $5 worth to each inhabto the 1000." itant I The Gold Coast, a British col- -In June, 1869, the missionary Ram· ony with a popUlation of 1,500,000, im- seyer, of the Basle Missionary Society, ported gin and rum to the value of was dragged as a prisoner into Abetifi, about $500,000. Sierra Leone, another then a city of Ashantee, with his wife British colony, with a population of and child. They spent three days in a 180,000, imported liquors to the value miserable hut, with their feet in chains. of $100,000.
Human sacrifices were then common in -At the recent annual meeting in Abetifi, which was under the tyrannical Londonof the Native Races and Liquor rule of the Ashantee chieftains. To- Traffic United Committee, Sir George day, in the same streets, under the same Goldie, Governor of the Royal Niger shady trees, instead of the bloody exe- Company, stated that in the Niger reo cutioner going his rounds, a Christian gion 1,100,000 gallons of spirits were congregation gathers together every imported in 1892,1,'700,000 in 1893, and Sunday, followed by a troop of Sunday about 2,000,000 in 1894. He said: scholars. Christian hymns, such as .. There is ample evidence of this extra " Who will be Christ's soldier 1" ring liquor finding its way to the Mohamjoyfully through the streets of Abetifi. medans of the interior, whose nominal The people come out of their houses, religion is no barrier against drunkenthe chieftain is invited ; he comes with ness. " Furthermore, this royal govhis suite and listens to the joyful tid· ernor said that after sixteen years of ings of salvation. And it is not in experience in administration :n Africa, vain; many have become the disciples he was prepared to affirm " that if steps of Jesus. Many even dare to tell their were not taken to prohibit the liquor fellow·countrymen in the streets what trade, a state of things would be brought joy and peace they have found in Him. about that would lead to the total aban- Who would have dreamed of this donment of the country." twenty-five years ago ?-.t1Ugemeine Mis- 8ions-Zeitaehrift· -Dr. J. E. Hine gives a ghast- I.Y account of a witch.burning near -Mr. Bridgman, of Umzumbe, in Unangu. The" boys" came and re- writing of the five Zulu preachers who ported. that a witch was being burned have been raised up under his care, alive at a place two miles from the sta· tion. He was incredulous, but went to young fellows from Borneo, Sumatra, see. "When I got a little nearer," he Java, Celebes, and New Guinea are says, "a sudden whiff as of burning eagerly studying the Scriptures in the flesh made me suspicious that the story Malay language, under the tutorship of might ,be true, and a little farther on I a German scholar and hisnativecoadju. saw it was. The body (of a woman I tors. Looking into the faces of those was told) .was lying on a heap of ashes, two men from Dutch New Guinea, of face downward, with the charred re- those converted Bataks from Sumatra, mains of the skull and hands projecting how his heart was moved by the from the end, and fastened to a small thought that the Gospel had brought tree, the feet apparently having been together here in this Christian semfastened to another tree behind. All inary the descendants of cannibals, the flesh on face and arms had been de- east and west, and of savages of all this stroyed, but the body was still burning, Asiatic archipelago I The Bataks on frizzling and spitting in the flames-a the west coast of Sumatra have furhorrible sight, such as I never thought nished 100 missionaries already for the to see in my life." army of our King.
-J. E. Burdett Meakin has told in ISLANDS OF THE SEA. the London Ohri8tian a most remark- able story of the rise and spread of tllC -The seamy side of the work of the kingdom in a portion of Java. Fifty Gospel in Madagascar is seen in the years ago the son of a Russian colonist persistence with which the converts and a Javanese woman was converted still cling to slavery. In particular the by a dream that he was called to evan- English Friends are urgent in seasollj gelize the nations, and forthwith set and out of season to end this" relic of about the task and continued, though barbarism," but hitherto with slight sharp persecution befell. Later the effect. The Malagasy conscience is dull Dutch Reformed Church came to his at this point, and strong feeling is aid, and now a Christian settlement of stirred by exhortations to let the op· 2500 is found with 1000 besides in out- pressed go free. stations, 725 children in school, a kin- dergarten, hospital, etc.
-The Methodists have been at work in Singapore for ten years, and are able -Dr. Schreiber writes thus of the to report substantial progress. Rev. W. success with which the Rhenish So- F. Oldham has a school, with an average ciety is meeting in one portion of the attendance of over 500. In 1880 only Sumatra field: "When we began our 10 natives were connected with the mis· work six years ago in the almost entire· sion, and these were Tamils from South ly Mohammedan district of Padang India; but by the end of the next year Bolak, a Dutch official of high position, 31 adult Chinese were members of the who was friendly to our work, assured church, and now the number has in- us that it was a most foolish step, that creased to more than 200, with the addi-' we could not accomplish anything in tion of 80 Tamils and 30 Malays and the Padang Bolak, we were too late Malay-speaking Chinese. there, since Islam had already occupied the whole region. This was the uni· -The late J. L. Phillips, M.D., versalopinion at that time about work wrote to the Sunday-&lwo~ Timea of a among the Mohammedans in Sumatra.
visit to a seminary for the Dutch and But we did not allow ourselves to be German missions of Malaysia, at Depok, discouraged : the work already done by south of Batavia. Here 40 bright a capable native missionary, Marcus, gave us good ground for hope, and a – -New Guinea has a missionary col- zealous and experienced missionary, lege well started with buildings, stu- Irle, took possession of the field with a dents, etc. W. G. Lawes writes of it : cheerful courage. And what has been .. In aU the work that has been done we the result? Missionary Irle, who works have had the ready help of a number of with a nati ve preacher and /) teachers at natives from the surrounding villages. one central and 4 out·stations, an- Every piece of timber used in our buildnounces in his last report that he has ings has been carried up from the coast baptized 350 persons, and haa no less (two miles) on men's IIhoulders. We than 500 preparing for baptism, among cannot always get help wben we want them a large number of Important chiefs. it ; but the people have been TOry good Earnest requests for teachers are con- and willing. Of course we have had to stantly coming from new districts; even pay them for their services, but the rate formerly fanatical Mohammedans have of wages is not high, and as waist-cloths turned to tbe Gospel; and from several and shirts are most in demand, we thus villages the Mohammedan mollahs have help the people in their efforts to get already retired in confusion because the ell!ternals of civilization. I ought, they see that they have nothing more perhaps, to explain more fully our purto hope; and the impression is becom- pose in establishing the college. The ing general that, over a great part of name may appear mi6leading, and yet the country, Islam is breaking up." it.ls the best for the object we have in view-viz., to train and fit young men -The friendly attitude of many gov- to be _teachers of Christ to their counernment officials toward missionary trymen. Before we receive a candidate, work is a feature of the time. Tho work we must have evidence that he is a sinin New Guinea, whore tho London Mis- cere Christian, and then he must be able sionary Society has no less than 114 na- to read in his o~ language. That is tive teachers and 57 students, has re- all. The minds of the most advanced ceived marked commendation from Sir are only just opening, and the time has William Macgregor, the governor of not yet come when any, except a very the British portion of the island, who select few, will acquire ,knowledge eays, .. Several years' work of the Lon- from books." don Missionary Society has greatly changed the habits of the Lese tribe. A -At the missionary devotional meetbrief glance at the work done by the ing of the Jamaica English Baptist London Missionary Society from Maiva Mil!lBionary Society, attended by memto Carama was considered to reflect the bers of the Baptist, Congregational, greatest credit on Rev. James Chalmers. Moravian. and Presbyterian denomina- Under the firm discipline practised at tions, an addre88 of much spiritual pow- Dobu in the schools and services estab- er was delivered by Rev. D. J. East, lished there very extraordinary progress who has had fifty-seven years of minis- terial service. His reminiscences of has been made. Rev. Mr. Abel is en- misaion work in the West Indies, where he has labored for forty years, were of couragin« some of the young men in his district to form Industrial settle- a atfrring character. He emphasized menta tor the cultf"ation of cotton and such-like commodities. an attempt that the fact that the Baptist churches in duerv" enry enooura,emant the 10"- Jamaica lon, ago became self-llupporternmlnt can give to it." It is only ing, and are now contrlbutin, 8. larie twenty years since the missionaries sum every year tor home and fonilgn landed among these cannibals. and took missionary work. MOlt ot the conpossession of thofr island ill the llama ot JUUI.-TM OlvrUtian. tributora give over a dollar each, thouih they receive lC&uty wage&.